Uninvited Guests
While Maya recruited the final party member, I stayed in the city and took care of several tasks. I stopped by the Explorer's Association to collect the mission completion reward. The Artisans Guild paid out 2,000 Ron per person for the successful mission, and the Dungeon Seeker Guild gave another 2,500 Ron. Altogether, that came to 4,500 Ron. It was decent compensation for nearly dying. The amount was hard to believe for a Bronze-rank explorer. No wonder so many explorers chased after one big score. A single windfall could set you up nicely.
Next, I visited the blacksmith to commission new armor and repair my weapons. I couldn't keep wearing that shabby cloth armor forever. With money in hand, I decided to splurge on a full set of chainmail. Expensive, but armor was directly tied to survival. If I got hurt, I'd be the only one paying the price, so I had no intention of skimping on defense. The chainmail set cost 2,800 Ron. I pocketed the rest and headed for the Necromancer Guild.
After returning from the Ant Cave, I'd reached Level 3. I planned to learn a new spell. Passing through the familiar skull decorations and the lawn, I felt the usual chill. The guild was as dark and gloomy as ever, no matter when I visited.
"Hello?"
As always, a deathly silence hung over the Necromancer Guild. This was exactly why I didn't like the place. It was far too quiet.
"Seoha?"
She seemed to have stepped out. I sat on the lawn and read for a while. After some time, a woman in a black dress walked through the guild's main entrance. It was Seoha. She wore a wide-brimmed hat and the black dress—the standard women's attire for the Necromancer Guild. It served as both identification and a warning to others: this person dealt with corpses, so proceed with caution.
Like me, Seoha rarely ate out after joining the Necromancer Guild. The people of Runen weren't exactly fond of necromancers.
"Oh? Hajun, you're here."
"Where did you go?"
"Just to the market. You haven't eaten yet, right?"
Seoha started pulling out food. Today's lunch was grilled fish with rice. Some kind of fish—I couldn't tell what—cooked over charcoal.
"How's work going?"
Her expression said everything. She looked exhausted.
"Almost done."
"That's good."
Seoha worked as a guild receptionist while studying necromancy whenever she had free time. The receptionist job was basically a part-time gig. She earned tuition during the day and studied at night and dawn. She really lived diligently.
"Master says we'll start dissections next week. I need to memorize the human anatomy charts and summarize the Introduction to Necromancy again."
"When is it?"
"He said four-thirty."
People who handled corpses didn't sleep late. Gravekeepers, executioners, necromancers—they were all the same. The dead didn't move on the living's schedule.
"Same as always."
I remembered when I first joined the Necromancer Guild. I'd woken up at dawn to practice necromancy too. Thanks to the system, I'd coasted through it, but without that cheat, it would've been brutal.
"How about you? Finished everything?"
"The Ant Cave job is done. I've taken on something else now."
"You took another request?"
"Lucky break."
Or maybe not. I wasn't sure. The Alchemist Guild hadn't paid me, so I'd ended up escorting Maya instead. Hard to call it purely good or bad luck.
"I told you to take it easy."
"I'm already going pretty slow."
"Fine! Like you'd listen anyway."
Seoha grumbled under her breath again. She didn't get it. If I slacked off, I'd be finished. My expiration date was coming.
"So what's this new job?"
"It's an escort mission..."
I was about to tell her about the drinking party yesterday when Seoha suddenly closed her mouth and stared somewhere.
"What's wrong?"
"I hear someone coming."
I didn't hear anything. But moments later, someone really did walk into the guild. How had she heard those footsteps?
Seoha stood up like it was second nature and hurried to the entrance.
"Welcome! I'm Seoha, the receptionist for the Necromancer Guild's Runen branch!"
A group of men entered. When Seoha's eyes met theirs, she froze on the spot.
What was going on?
"Seoha."
"...Oden."
Even the man who seemed to be the group's leader knew Seoha.
"Hah. When you stormed out saying you'd quit the guild, I wondered how far you'd go. And now you're just a receptionist at the Necromancer Guild?"
"Don't pick a fight. You didn't come here just to say that."
Seoha and the man named Oden stared each other down calmly. The atmosphere was tense. I stood up too.
"What's going on?"
I rushed over to Seoha. Oden stepped forward, pushing past her.
"I heard there's a Bronze-rank explorer among the necromancers."
Oden approached me. Up close, his size was no joke. He looked a full head taller than me.
"Is it you? That Bronze-rank explorer?"
"Hajun, necromancer."
Oden launched straight into his business.
"I'll keep it short. Stay away from the alchemist Maya."
"Excuse me?"
"Drop the request you accepted."
The more I listened, the angrier I got. Was this guy insane? Who did he think he was, ordering me around?
"No. If you're going to tell someone what to do, at least introduce yourself first. You can't just bark orders and expect me to say, 'Oh, sure, whatever you say.' Who the hell are you to interfere with my contract?"
"Oden. Alchemist."
Oden introduced himself proudly when told to. It was absurd. He didn't seem right in the head.
"That's not what I meant."
"Then what?"
"...You should explain who you are and why you want me to cancel the contract with Maya. Isn't that basic courtesy? Am I missing something here?"
Was this really another world? Was this level of rudeness normal? I figured an explanation would follow. But Oden's response exceeded my expectations.
"This is between alchemists. A necromancer has no business interfering."
"..."
Damn it. This stupid guild system.
"Earlier you said Maya wasn't an alchemist. Now she is again. What do you want from me?"
"Like I said, this isn't your concern. Back off while I'm still being nice."
Oden nodded. One of the men behind him stepped forward with a bag. Inside were six bottles of bright red potion that looked like molten metal.
"Healing potions made with elixir. A thousand Ron each. Six thousand Ron worth in total."
"So?"
"I'll give them to you. In exchange, walk away from this job completely."
Six healing potions. In Dungeon Overseer, healing potions were incredibly valuable. An item that could heal you in any situation was basically cheating. But they came with a steep price tag. Compared to the reward Maya had offered, this was overwhelmingly better.
...But damn it. Selling Maya out for six potions would make me look like a total villain. Even if extreme choices were sometimes necessary in dungeons, I wasn't so greedy that I'd chase profit in a situation like this. And even if I were, Oden's attitude alone made me refuse to help.
Oden smiled triumphantly. I turned my back on him. His expression hardened.
"Is that a refusal?"
"Yes. I refuse. And I'm starting to wonder why you're going this far. What, is Maya someone who needs to die in a dungeon?"
I couldn't understand what the alchemists were thinking. But I had zero intention of handing them what they wanted.
Right then—
"Wait. What are you doing right now?!"
Several alchemists had grabbed Seoha. She struggled, but they already had her.
"Hajun!"
Those crazy bastards!
"Shit, you—!"
"If you're not interested, we'll have to talk to Seoha instead. Don't worry too much. She used to be part of our guild."
Oden blocked me as I tried to reach Seoha.
"Get out of the way!"
"Huhu. Go ahead and try to move me."
Suddenly, Oden threw off the coat he was wearing. Bulging muscles were revealed underneath. He shouted proudly.
"Behold! This is the power of the muscle enhancer I created with my secret alchemy! Look at this body! These muscles!"
Damn it, what was an alchemist doing making muscle enhancers? Oden's massively inflated bodybuilder physique was intimidating just to look at. I couldn't just walk past it.
Oden looked down at me with his enormous frame and laughed loudly.
"How about it? Something a corpse-fondling underground rat like you could never achieve—"
I didn't have time to banter. I charged straight into Oden's chest.
"Gah!"
Oden went flying with surprising ease.
"How did you—!"
"If you want muscles, try exercising!"
Even if I was a support-class necromancer, I was still an explorer. A Level 3 explorer, no less. No matter how weak a necromancer was, there was no way I'd lose to some neighborhood alchemist.
"O-Oden, sir!"
I charged through the panicking alchemists and punched each of them once. They dropped like goblins. This was why pure support classes were like this.
"Seoha, are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. What about you?"
"I'm good."
Oden and the alchemists lay sprawled across the floor. I'd heard plenty of rumors about alchemists going too far, but seeing it firsthand was something else. They were basically gangsters without knives.
"Ugh... How dare you... beat up an Elixir Alchemist Guild member?"
Oden, who had taken the least damage, slowly pushed himself up.
"I didn't want to use this, but... I have no choice!"
Oden reached into his coat pocket. I felt extremely uneasy. What crazy thing was he about to pull now?
Right then—
"Huh?"
"W-What?!"
Pale white hands burst from the ground. Pure white bones. Human bones. Countless skeletal hands shot up from the earth and grabbed the alchemists.
...Had this lawn actually been a graveyard?
"Is that you, Hajun?"
The guild master's voice came from inside. I felt my lips curl into a smile without meaning to. Right. This was the Necromancer Guild. If someone caused trouble here, the master necromancer would show up.
Unlike yesterday, I answered honestly.
"Yes. It's me."
The guild door opened. A suffocating chill and gloomy deathly mana poured out like fog. An old man in a robe, leaning on a staff decorated with bones.
"Kekeke... If you're here, you should announce yourself."
Chad, the Necromancer Guild's master. Level 7. A monster among monsters.
Chad extended a bony finger and pointed at the alchemists.
"What are those?"
"Kidnappers."
At the appearance of the master necromancer, the alchemists immediately tried to flee. But Chad moved first.
"Bone Prison!"
The Level 7 necromancer cast the spell with ease. The bones wrapping around the alchemists rapidly grew, binding their limbs like snares. The alchemists were forced to the ground, completely restrained.
"Y-You are..."
Oden barely managed to lift his head and look up at Chad.
"Tsk tsk. Youngsters these days have no manners. If you came to ask a favor, you should've spoken politely to Seoha. Don't you think?"
"Exactly. This is the Necromancer Guild, not the Alchemist Guild."
Chad picked up the leather bag rolling on the floor. It contained six healing potions. He took one out, uncorked it, and took a sip.
"Hmm. Healing potions. Made with elixir."
"He said a thousand Ron each."
"Good stuff."
Chad handed me the bag of healing potions. Then he spoke to Oden.
"Go tell your guild master. We received the gift well. So we'll send you back in one piece."
"..."
"However, if you ever cause trouble in front of the Necromancer Guild again..."
Chad smiled ominously.
"I'll gather every alchemist's soul in Runen and turn them all into undead. Understood?"
"...Yes, sir."
"If you understand, then leave."
When Bone Prison disappeared, the alchemists fled in a panic. Chad also turned and slowly walked back into the guild.
"Kekeke... As expected, going outside... isn't good for your health."
The guild master appeared like a ghost and vanished just as quickly. I stared at the street where the alchemists had disappeared. After getting thoroughly scolded by Chad, they probably wouldn't come near this area for a while.
...Just what was Maya that they were so interested in her?
"Whew. What a mess."
Seoha sighed as she looked at the guild lawn. Then her eyes met mine. We both burst out laughing at the same time. The lawn was wrecked thanks to the skeletons Chad had summoned. It would take a long time to get it back to how it was before.
"Should we start cleaning up?"
"You go inside and rest first, Seoha. I'll handle the cleanup."
"No. It'll go faster with two people."
Even when I tried to stop her, Seoha grabbed a rake. We worked with shovels and rakes until sunset, tidying up the lawn.