The Smell of Death

"Ugh... what a fucking mess."

This expedition was supposed to be so easy that it would be nearly impossible to die even if I tried on purpose. But when a party member dies during a mission, the full record remains. The supervisors know every detail of those logs. They sort people by career into S-grade, A-grade, B-grade, or complete trash before handing out assignments. My record is bad. The biggest stain came from the very first dungeon run, when I panicked and got several party members killed. I chose an easy mission to try and fix that image, but at this rate I was worried they might stop using me altogether.

The small tavern attached to the explorer association headquarters is commonly known as the explorer's shelter. It's the kind of place where explorers gather before heading out or after returning, forming parties and sharing stories of their runs.

"Welcome."

I had ordered a beer out of habit and was staring blankly into space when Yumi, fresh from turning in her mission report, appeared. Noer was... nowhere in sight.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Four silver coins sat inside the small pouch. Four hundred ron. Roughly four nights at an inn. It was basically errand-boy pay.

"Goddammit."

My pockets were already scraping bottom, and I'd deliberately taken an easy job anyway. If I'd known it would turn out like this, I should have gone for something that paid better. A heavy sigh escaped me.

My class is Necromancer. When I first got swept up in the dimensional rift and opened my eyes in this world of Dungeon Overseer, a status window and class selection screen appeared like some twisted joke from a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠higher power. Dungeon Overseer has ten distinct classes. The goal of the game was to combine their unique traits, clear dungeons, farm gear, and lead the ultimate explorer to retrieve the Crown of the Forgotten buried in the final dungeon.

If left alone, it was the kind of god-tier game packed with secrets that would have led to countless supervisors abusing broken strategies to steal the final objective. Because it was early access, everyone cleared the dungeons however they found most comfortable. I had beaten it with a fifty-fifty split between farming and speedrunning.

Some classes are strong early and weak late. Others are weak early and strong late. Like most games, Dungeon Overseer had perfectly acceptable balance. If I had started as a supervisor, I would have built the most efficient roster possible and blitz-cleared everything. I had every unlock order, every dungeon's difficulty, every must-have class and carry class memorized.

The problem was that I wasn't a supervisor. I was just one character ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠among many.

A class that was strong early? If it fell off in the endgame, it would be discarded before the final dungeon. There had to be a reason I became a character instead of a supervisor. At the very least, I needed to be strong enough to participate in that final battle. After long, painful deliberation, the class I chose was Necromancer.

It was pathetically weak in the early game but scaled explosively once you passed certain thresholds. A classic late-game carry class.

I had braced myself. I knew it would be painful to raise and that I'd have to scrape by like garbage. But I never imagined it would be this bad.

The Power of Death and Necrophile traits were excellent for a dungeon supporter. Dungeons were littered with corpses, and the weaker a character's mentality, the more likely they were to break. These two traits prevented that. The problem was the Smell of Death. No matter how good the other traits were, that single negative completely ruined early-game Necromancers. Other NPCs turned hostile far too easily, and those "occasional" negative events were almost always party-destroyers. The party itself would get attacked, or you'd be imprisoned for no reason, or you'd suddenly get hit with extra taxes.

In the very early stages, a Necromancer had mediocre firepower and could only function as a basic dungeon supporter. Run into a negative event on top of that and the thought "This supervisor is screwed" came naturally. That was why Necromancers were ignored in the early game and only properly raised once the expedition team had stabilized in the mid-game.

Yeah. This was all my fault.

Back then I hadn't been thinking straight. My mind had been completely occupied with the need to pick the strongest, highest-carry, most active class possible in a dungeon. That was why I had instantly chosen Necromancer. If I had been even slightly more rational, my suffering would have been cut in half. Damn it. But who could stay rational in that situation?

In this city of explorers, Necromancers were treated like absolute garbage. Simply walking around got you labeled as a potential criminal. The moment you revealed your profession, favorability plummeted. Historically it was natural for professions that touched corpses to be looked at with disdain, but experiencing it firsthand made me feel like shit.

There were exactly three professions forbidden from entering taverns in this city: gravediggers, executioners, and Necromancers. Taverns were places where people gathered to talk and drink. Being banned from them meant your entire social life was crippled.

Not knowing any of that, I had walked into a tavern during my first days trying to adapt to the city and gotten the hell beaten out of me by drunk old men. The moment my plan to gather information and meet people in taverns was shattered, I realized what had gone wrong. The job penalty for being a Necromancer was far harsher in reality than it had been in the game. It was an inconvenience I could feel on my skin.

Because of that, my daily route was extremely simple. My lodging was at the Necromancer Guild. Necromancers might be an unlucky bunch, but they were essential for expeditions. No one was bold enough to come all the way to the Necromancer Guild to cause trouble, so that became my home. I rented a room at the association, ate and slept there.

When I woke up, I ate a simple breakfast at the association and stopped by the expedition headquarters. If I felt like drinking, I had a beer at the explorer's shelter. Since only explorers used that place, no one complained about a Necromancer sitting there. If there was work, I took it. If there wasn't, I wandered around until sunset and returned to the guild. My life pattern was the very definition of simple.

Even though I had returned from a mission just yesterday, I had nothing to do. What was the point of sitting around? I needed to get stronger even a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠little faster. That was why I was sitting in the explorer's shelter today when a decent job offer found me.

Whether I had work or not, I always planted myself in the expedition shelter. Other classes would have returned to their guilds immediately to focus on getting stronger, but that didn't apply to me as a Necromancer.

The reason I hated the Necromancer Guild was simple: it was always deathly quiet. The people sitting there with master qualifications had no reason to chatter like lunatics. What the guild needed wasn't monsters or living people, just corpses. There was no reason for anyone to visit the Necromancer Guild for fun, so it was pure silence.

No matter how much of an outcast I was, the guild felt suffocating. Even though it was more expensive, I preferred sitting in the explorer's shelter, eating, and people-watching. And if I was lucky, I could pick up a job. Like right now.

"Are you alone by any chance?"

Some male explorer approached me with a pickup line. No, save that for the women.

"Yeah. I guess."

"My name is Daro, from the Raider Guild. We're currently recruiting party members. If your schedule is open, would you consider taking a mission with us?"

The man who introduced himself as Daro had impeccable manners. From his speech to his smallest gestures, he was polite enough that I would have believed he had served as a knight in some lord's castle. But something felt off. A Raider Guild?

"I don't mind, but... is it a difficult mission?"

"It's a combat mission. The target is goblins. If you're not interested..."

"No, no. I'll do it."

The Raider Guild. As the name suggested, it was a gathering of outlaws and plunderers. They accepted anyone regardless of background, so it made sense that an oddball like this would be among them, but still...

"Are you the party leader?"

"Yes. Including myself, we have three people so far. Once you join, we can depart immediately."

Oh. The fact that he was inviting me without even asking my class showed good character. That confidence that he could accept anyone as a party member. I got a good feeling. This guy seemed decent.

Daro led me to where the other party members were waiting. It wasn't far from the table where I'd been drinking. Two female explorers were whispering and sipping their drinks. The moment they noticed me, they started giving me side-eye.

"I've brought the final party member."

Daro gave me a look. He wanted me to introduce myself.

"I'm Hajun. My class is Necromancer. I'm currently working under Supervisor Gawin."

When I introduced myself, the party members gave half-hearted applause. Maybe it was the typical Necromancer paranoia, but it felt unpleasant. If they had a problem, they should just say it.

"Did you come from far away? Your name is unusual."

The woman who introduced herself as Somi spoke while looking at me. Wasn't Somi about as unusual as Hajun? Maybe my face looked slightly different from the locals, so it sounded stranger. Or maybe it was just because I was a Necromancer.

"Since you work under a supervisor, I suppose you're reliable. You've been through quite a few dungeons, right?"

As expected of the party leader. The man named Daro spoke coolly without any unnecessary questions.

"Yes. I've been through my share."

"But you know... I heard that among the Necromancers in the city, there's only one person capable of running the dungeons around here."

Somi suddenly started causing trouble.

"Weren't you the one who joined that mushroom-gathering mission a while back?"

"What are you talking about?"

The woman who had been quietly sitting with her arms crossed showed interest.

"There was a party that went to pick mushrooms. I heard the Necromancer in that party suddenly tried to saw off a spore sac and take it with him. The party fell apart and the mission failed because of it..."

Somi stared at me with suspicious eyes. The other woman had an unreadable expression. Cold sweat ran down my back.

Fuck. That's me.

There were many explorers active in the city of explorers. But the number of people handling similar levels of work within the same guild was limited. Rumors spread quickly in small circles. It was a mistake from back when I had zero field experience. But someone still remembered that?

I had simply seen the massive mushroom spore sac and instinctively tried to grab it, wondering why something of that level was spawning here. It was during the time when I was desperately trying to make use of my game knowledge.

"That was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right after I started working... It won't happen again."

I made myself perfectly clear. I'm not a troll. Please take me with you.

Daro looked at me, then calmly spread out a map.

"I trust you, Mr. Hajun, but I still need one promise. Please swear that you will not take independent action without my orders. If you can keep that, there won't be any problems."

"I'll only do exactly what I'm told."

When Daro glanced around as if asking if anyone had complaints, the women said nothing. With no objections, Daro began the mission briefing in a calm voice.

"You probably already heard from the supervisor, but I'll summarize for Mr. Hajun. The mission we've taken is goblin extermination. As the weather has warmed and the frozen ground has thawed, damage reports caused by goblins have been pouring in. Our four-person party will patrol the area around the explorer city, locate goblin nests, and destroy them. While killing goblins is important, the mission is only considered successful if the nests are destroyed as well. Please keep that in mind."

Daro pointed to a spot marked in black ink on the map. That must be the goblin nest. After rolling around as an explorer myself, I had at least learned how to read maps. They were messy compared to modern ones, with inaccurate scales and different symbols depending on the cartographer, but they were still better than nothing.

Hm. I could see the Unclaimed Cemetery that I had visited not long ago.

"Ms. Somi has agreed to serve as our guide."

The brown-haired woman wearing thick, round glasses placed a palm-sized lantern on the table. It was the signature equipment of the Dungeon Seeker class, a Seeker Lantern. It automatically found paths and provided various utilities. A very useful support tool.

Somi narrowed her eyes sharply, looked around, and spoke.

"Daro is the leader, but until we enter the dungeon, I'd appreciate it if you followed my instructions. If you want to return alive, that is. Especially you, Mr. Hajun? If something catches your interest or you want to check anything, you must tell me first. Do not investigate on your own. Understood?"

"...Yes."

Who the hell does she think she's talking to? I wanted to snap back, but my position in the party was weak. A Dungeon Seeker was literally the party's navigator. With their unique Seeker Lantern, they turned various events positive. In the early game, bringing a Dungeon Seeker provided many benefits, so people usually took them. The role they played in our party was far too important for a mere Necromancer to complain about.

Like in other RPGs, there were noble classes here as well. And Dungeon Seekers were always treated as nobility. As long as combat didn't break out, a Dungeon Seeker was always useful.

"If combat occurs, please follow my instructions. I'll take the vanguard, so Mr. Hajun and Ms. Jian should support me."

"Understood."

The young woman with long platinum-blonde hair must be Jian. She was wearing gloves made of white leather, which meant her class was Mystic. A hybrid of martial artist and mage.

"Mr. Hajun."

Daro spoke in a calm voice.

"There is an additional task that requires your help. If we encounter a goblin shaman during the dungeon run, the supervisor asked us to bring back its spine."

"The shaman's spine?"

I roughly understood. Corpse dismantling was the perfect dirty work for a Necromancer! Among the party, the only one who could rummage through corpses and pull out organs was the leader, Daro. There was no way a Mystic or Dungeon Seeker would do it. So Daro had recruited me because he didn't want to do it himself.

Necromancer. The one most skilled at handling corpses.

"Understood. Leave it to me."

It wasn't a difficult task. Until I grew stronger, I was a useless supporter anyway, so I had to do chores like this. Otherwise I'd never get a chance to grow. When I answered readily, the party members nodded as if it were obvious.

"Once Mr. Hajun finishes his task, Ms. Jian will perform the final consecration with holy water and we'll end the mission. We're scheduled to clear two nests, but if conditions are good, we'll aim for three."

At that moment Somi suddenly raised her hand.

"What is it?"

"Um... does the guild lend us a carriage?"

There was no way they would lend a carriage just to go to the mountain behind the city. While I was thinking that, Daro delivered the final blow.

"We're walking."

"Ah..."

She let her hand drop, looking disappointed. To me, she just looked shameless.

"Any other questions?"

There was nothing else to ask. Daro's briefing had been quick and accurate. After making sure we all understood our roles, we split up briefly for personal preparations. The assembly point was the western outskirts of the city. It was time to deal with some goblins.