An A-Rank Quest
“Are you asking me to deliver this to your wife in the royal capital...?”
―Indeed. My former wife, to be precise. I am a dead man now, after all.
“Ah... I-I see...”
―Why? Is it too simple for your liking? I can change it to something else if you wish. A talent like you would make a fine addition to my personal guard. Serve as an undead for about two hundred years, and I shall grant you eternal rest.
“N-no, thank you. I must politely decline...”
I hurriedly bowed my head.
The reason Orgilrian had called me aside wasn't anything difficult.
A simple task: deliver a letter he had written to his former wife living in the royal capital.
It was such an easy mission that the hours I spent preparing answers for every possible question before meeting him felt like a complete waste of effort.
At that moment, a blue window materialized in my field of vision.
Orgilrian, a legendary knight of the Teuton Knights, was attacked by a Lich during an expedition to subjugate pagans on the Iberica Peninsula and became an undead.
To resolve his lingering regrets, deliver his letter to his former wife in the royal capital.
Reward: ???
Difficulty: A-rank
...Wait.
I was about to accept the quest without a second thought when I flinched at the very last line.
A simple letter delivery, and the difficulty is A-rank?
What's the catch here...?
I cast a suspicious glance at the Death Knight.
In Velheim, A-rank quests typically only appeared for high-level players; newbies rarely even got to see them.
Under normal circumstances, it was the kind of mission where dying multiple times along the way was par for the course.
Just what kind of absurd trials were hidden in this quest to warrant an A-rank difficulty?
―What is it, human? Surely you aren't planning to reject my request?
“O-of course not... I would be honored to accept. Haha...”
The high difficulty weighed heavily on my mind, but declining wasn't an option.
If I refused, the Death Knight standing right in front of me would undoubtedly feed me to the fishes himself!
As I bowed deeply and accepted the task, Orgilrian contentedly stroked the pile of gold coins on the table.
―Good, my thanks. You are a peculiar fellow... I have a feeling you will do well. Ah, and by the way, I heard that some madman on your ship was leading a squad of skeletons with his arms draped over their shoulders. Do you happen to know who that was?
“I-I wouldn't know...”
―Hmm... Is that so? What a pity. I was curious to see the face of the bastard who had the sheer audacity to pull such a stunt. ...In that case, do not delay and leave at once. My subordinates are starting to grow restless.
Looking out the window he pointed to, I saw the undead staring back with greedy, predatory eyes.
I quickly bowed to Orgilrian and slipped out of his cabin.
The sky over the pitch-black, vast ocean was still shrouded in gloomy sea fog and the aura of death, but my heart felt incredibly light.
Before leaving the fleet, I lingered for a moment to look around at the surrounding ghost ships. From them, the eerie, somber singing of the undead echoed as they hauled ropes to resume their voyage.
...Singing?
Straining my ears, a solemn melody that sounded like it belonged in a cathedral drifted from beyond the countless lined-up sailing ships.
Yo ho... Yo ho...
Raise the sails... everyone...
We are beggars, vagrants, and snitches.
Listen, you corrupt nobles.
Yo ho... Yo ho...
Pull the ropes... everyone...
We are slaves, criminals, and smugglers.
Hear us, you old and sickly king.
You have heard the Undead Choral [Introduction] [Sea]!
The cohesion of the undead increases.
The fighting spirit of the undead rises, and their battle lust boils!
Solving the mystery woven into the song will yield a great reward!
This... was a choral?
It was something I had never known in my ten years of playing the game.
I was astonished to find that the songs the undead sang actually had a proper structure.
Until now, I had assumed it was just the sea wind whistling through the skeletons' ribs or some random mumbling.
Did I acquire the language of the undead because I had transformed into a skeleton once?
“Just how many hidden pieces are there in this game...?”
Even as a former top-ranked player, I was constantly encountering firsts. I could only imagine how lost other players would be.
If I had uncovered all these hidden details back then, could I have become even stronger?
Perhaps I could grow even more powerful than I ever was in the game and actually clear this world.
Finding my heart racing over a discovery I hadn't known before, a self-deprecating smile played on my lips.
Certainly, I did love the world of Velheim.
In a way, that love might have been the very reason I was brought here.
“Yo ho... Yo ho... Raise the sails, everyone...”
I hummed the undead song as I made my way back to the Barba.
“L-land! I see land!!”
“Land?! Move your lazy asses! Anyone caught slacking will have their back kissing the whip!”
“Unfurl the sails! Full speed ahead!”
It had been three full days since we escaped the ghost fleet, where human lives were treated with less value than fish.
After navigating through a dense sea fog that obscured everything, heading toward the nearest port, a lush green coastline finally came into view in the distance.
With our water and rations running dangerously low, the pirates embraced one another, sharing their joy at having made it back alive.
“We're alive, damn it! We actually survived, hahaha! What are you bastards waiting for? Pop open the rum!”
“Ugh...! When we ran into those ghost ships in the middle of the ocean, I thought we were dead meat...”
“We might be the only humans to ever face a Death Knight and live to tell the tale. It's a high-tier undead, for crying out loud...! Well, though only one of us actually faced him face-to-face...”
The pirates, who had been cheering and grumbling on the deck, all turned their gaze toward me at the same time.
Looking up at Doran, who was still disguised as Captain Barbo, the pirates' eyes burned with deep respect and trust.
How can a man look so incredibly badass just by standing there?
He definitely wasn't like this before!
As Doran silently steered the ship against the sea breeze, the first mate approached him with a bottle of rum, stepping away from the pirates who were already heavily drinking in celebration.
“...Would you care for a swig on a day like today, Captain?”
“Drink amongst yourselves. At least one person needs to stay sober to steer the ship.”
“But... surely just one sip wouldn't hurt...?”
“I'm fine.”
“Come on... don't be like that, share the joy with us! Riding the waves, the wind, and the mood is also a virtue of a captain!”
“Hmm... If you insist, First Mate... I suppose I can take a sip.”
Doran offered a wry smile at the pirate's banter and took the bottle.
He didn't trust alcohol offered by pirates, but refusing too adamantly might arouse suspicion about his identity.
“Whoa! That's our captain! He drinks like a true man!”
“Barbo! Barbo!”
As Doran chugged the rum straight from the bottle, cheers erupted from the drunken crew.
When Doran handed back the completely empty bottle, the first mate stared up at him with a complicated expression, clearly not expecting him to drain the entire thing.
“...What? Disappointed?”
“Ah, no. Of course not...”
The first mate quietly set the empty bottle down, his gaze lingering with a complex mix of emotions.
Soon, he swallowed hard and asked cautiously, as if testing the waters.
“Um... but... there's still something I can't quite wrap my head around. May I ask you a question...?”
“Speak.”
“Well... when we were surrounded by the undead... how did you ever think of sailing right through the ghost ships? What kind of sheer guts did that take...?”
“That...”
Doran, about to answer nonchalantly, realized that every single eye on the deck was now fixed on him.
Though they had kept quiet, it seemed everyone was dying of curiosity.
Doran let out a soft chuckle and offered the excuse he had prepared.
“I once read an old tome in the imperial capital. It said that Liches and their subordinates possess high intelligence, so they occasionally refrain from attacking if you approach them first.”
“So you made such a bold decision based on what was written in a book...?”
“Indeed. It was a gamble, but at the time, I judged it was a risk worth taking.”
“Th-then, what did you talk about when the Death Knight called you aside?”
“Hmm... He had a favor to ask.”
“A-a favor from a Death Knight...! Then, what exactly is this favor...?”
“I cannot share that with you.”
“Just how monumental of a secret must it be...! Th-that is incredible! We were too terrified to even look at those horrible undead...! You truly are amazing, Captain!!”
The pirates looked up at him with eyes full of awe.
In truth, it was more of a forced chore than a favor, but there was no need to correct them.
Once we reached the port, we would go our separate ways anyway.
However, there was one crew member whose reaction to my words was subtly different.
“As expected of the Captain...”
“...First Mate, do you have something else to say?”
“No, it's nothing...”
The first mate hesitated before bowing his head.
Doran scrutinized him closely for a moment, then shrugged and headed toward his cabin.
As the first mate watched Doran's retreating back, a young man limped up to him.
“Um... First Mate Robert, there's something I'd like to discuss...”
“Discuss? You?”
The first mate narrowed his eyes and looked back at the man.
It was Philip, the youngest rookie who had joined the crew not long ago.
He had heard that during the fight with the skeletons, some lunatic had stabbed him in the thigh.
When the first mate gestured for him to get to the point, Philip spoke up.
“It's about the Captain... Doesn't it seem like he's been a completely different person ever since we encountered the undead? No matter how I look at it, it's just weird...!”
“...What do you mean by weird?”
“I-I mean, you don't actually believe what he just said, do you? Our captain doesn't even know how to read! And he's definitely not that brave! I know people can change after experiencing something traumatic, but...”
Captain Barbo of the Barba was not a wise man.
He was a coward, utterly lacking in courage.
To sail right into the midst of the undead and boldly negotiate with a high-ranking Death Knight?
Even if the heavens and earth split open, he was simply not the caliber of man capable of such audacity.
If he had been that outstanding, he wouldn't have caused the first mate so many headaches in the past.
As Philip rambled on passionately, First Mate Robert spoke in a cold, firm voice.
“Philip.”
“Yes?”
“Shut your mouth.”
“Huh...? Why so suddenly...”
“...I mean if you value your life, you shouldn't ask stupid questions, you idiot. Lest the mysteries of the sea take your life, just like Tyrosh, who suddenly burned to death below deck.”
Sometimes, there are things in this world that are better left as secrets.
The first mate cut off the naive Philip.
While repeating one undeniable fact in his mind.
The 'Captain Barbo' I served... never drank rum.