Corpse-Wiping Part-Time Job at the Magic Tower #2
Corpse-Wiping Part-Time Job at the Magic Tower #2
A monster corpse disposal request.
It was a job the Yoen-su Magic Tower periodically entrusted to the Adventurer's Guild.
The tower had its own dedicated staff, the Corpse Disposal Unit, but retirements were frequent, so they apparently outsourced for extra hands.
I'd handled corpse disposal requests multiple times before.
It was the kind of job you avoided even more once you had experience with it.
"Is that really the only request I can take? There are plenty of others — monster subjugation, caravan escort, herb gathering. Why does it have to be corpse disposal...?"
"Actually, we do have a monster subjugation request that just came in. And there are several other jobs I could introduce to you. But they all seem impossible for you, Luke."
"Why's that? I might not look it, but I've got two years of experience in the adventuring business. Are you looking down on me?"
"It's not that. The requests are assigned to parties—"
Ah.
Wendy's single sentence shut me right up.
The truth was, the Adventurer's Guild's requests were mostly party quests demanding a set number of members.
Solo quests for Bronze Tier adventurers like me were rare.
It was to cut down on cases where green adventurers struck out alone and ended up screaming their last.
"As you know, Luke, it's hard for an incubus to get hired by a party. Female adventurers recoil, obviously, and even male adventurers find it uncomfortable. Incubi usually can't focus on the job and wander off down some other path."
"I-I'm not like that."
"I know you're trustworthy, Luke. But the general perception of the incubus race is what it is. You're aware that party recruitment in the adventuring world is entirely based on perception, aren't you?"
"...Yeah."
It was exactly like the online RPGs I'd enjoyed back in my old life.
Whether you got recruited into a party had nothing to do with an adventurer's actual ability. Only the perception of the adventurer's race or class decided everything.
For instance, barbarians from the Northern Sea could easily get hired by any party.
Everyone on the continent knew how courageous barbarians were.
But I was an incubus.
A race whose heads held nothing but thoughts of mating — adventurers' perception of us was rock fucking bottom.
I, Luke, was naturally culled from every adventuring party.
"I know. That it's hard for an incubus to get into a party. I'll take the monster corpse disposal request."
In the end, the only option left to me was doing the corpse disposal job.
I had no money on hand, so I couldn't wait around for a decent request to appear.
And I sure as hell didn't want to go off solo hunting again like yesterday, getting into some vicious chase with a monster.
As if she'd been waiting, Wendy held out a thick wooden tag to me.
A wooden tag carved with the horn symbol of Gjallarhorn.
"Show this tag to the guards and you'll be allowed inside the Magic Tower. You can head out right away."
The wooden tag was an identification marker the Adventurer's Guild used.
I took the tag from Wendy and left the guild.
'The road to the Magic Tower was definitely this way.'
It was early morning, the sun well up over the streets.
I walked along, retracing my memories, heading for the tower.
My memory wasn't anything special, but at least there was no way to get the tower's location mixed up.
In this city, there was only one building that soared upward like a high-rise, and that was the Magic Tower.
If I ever lost my bearings, all I had to do was lift my head and look at the sky.
Look around, and the tower was bound to be visible.
I arrived at the Magic Tower entrance before long.
"I'm here on a request from the Adventurer's Guild."
"The monster corpse disposal job, is it? Show me the tag, then."
I showed the wooden tag to the old guard at the entrance and was granted entry inside the tower.
Before starting any monster corpse disposal, you had to change clothes first.
A lot of the monsters the Magic Tower dealt with were as huge as dinosaurs, and when you carved up the carcasses, body fluids splattered everywhere and left you all sticky. If you worked in your regular clothes, you'd be throwing out a perfectly good set of garments.
Obviously, I wasn't about to let that happen.
Not after all the blood and sweat I'd poured into getting this leather armor.
Armor that cost two silver, paid for with money I'd saved up for half a goddamn year.
I stepped into the changing room, carefully removed my armor, and stripped off the clothes I wore underneath.
Inside a basket in the changing room were work clothes provided for laborers like me.
I guess you could compare them to the poncho-style smocks they used in Earth's military.
They never quite got clean, so the work clothes always reeked of something sickening.
"Ah, fuck... What a shitty stench."
I hurriedly changed into the work clothes and moved to the Magic Tower's underground level.
The Waste Disposal Area.
A sector located beneath the Magic Tower.
It was where all kinds of garbage produced by magical experiments went to be processed.
Every landfill probably stinks no matter where you go, but the Magic Tower's waste disposal area was especially vomit-inducing.
Because it was heaped full of monster carcasses discarded after being used as experiment materials.
Looking at corpses whose skin had turned a sickly green or whose bodies had deformed into grotesque shapes felt like it'd drain your San points.
"Hello. I'm here on a request from the Adventurer's Guild."
"An adventurer, eh. Good to meet you. I'm Thompson, the work supervisor. Is this your first time handling this request, by any chance?"
"No. I've done it a few times before. There's no need to go out of your way with an explanation."
Thompson, the supervisor of the Corpse Disposal Unit, had a brief chat with me and then wore an expression of relief.
"Not your first time — glad to hear you're reliable, then. This job is brutal labor for someone new to it. Physically, mentally..."
It was plain from his look that he wasn't eager to see any first-timers.
From a supervisor's perspective, he had every reason.
Most adventurers who took a corpse disposal request for the first time turned into escape-artist ninjas.
As soon as break time came, they'd pretend to go piss and then bolt straight out of the tower.
I shrugged my shoulders at the supervisor's welcome.
"What needs processing today? Just let me know that much."
"A giant basilisk the tower turned into a variant. It'll be transported here shortly, so get ready. And don't forget to wear your gloves. Basilisk mucus is toxic."
Rrrrumble!!
The moment the supervisor finished speaking, a long stretcher connected to dozens of carts rolled into the waste disposal area.
Riding atop the cart was a monster shaped like an enormous snake.
'Fucking huge... What kind of monster were they even making in the tower?'
Even just eyeballing it, the basilisk was goddamn massive.
I stared at the basilisk's scale-covered body and gulped.
"Alright, let's get started. The new adventurer will work in Group B."
"What's Group B handling?"
"The basilisk's entrails."
You've gotta be shitting me. Processing a monster's entrails?
Had the supervisor rolled his brain in breadcrumbs and eaten it?
That was a truly foul body part, what with all the undigested remains left inside.
The moment you got assigned the entrails on a monster corpse disposal job, you could pretty much kiss your appetite for the day goodbye.
The stuff rising up from your stomach would obliterate any desire to eat.
'You son of a bitch. Is this fucker deliberately screwing with me?'
I groused internally, but silently did as I was told.
If any friction happened and I ended up unable to even take corpse disposal requests, my life would genuinely turn pitch-black.
The knack to monster corpse disposal work was simple.
Store any parts that could be sold for money separately, and cut all the rest into small pieces for disposal.
Nothing valuable ever came out of the basilisk entrails I was assigned to.
Thanks to that, I could focus every ounce of my attention solely on tearing and slicing into small pieces.
'What the hell did they feed this lab animal? The stench is something else.'
The stench stabbing at my nose was pure agony.
But with daily wages on the line, I couldn't complain.
The basilisk corpse disposal job took about seven hours total.
"Adventurer friend, you're remarkably skilled at handling the dismantling tools. How about working for the Corpse Disposal Unit full-time? The wages are quite decent."
"I'm good."
The supervisor extended a scouting offer, but I refused flatly.
I had no desire to rot away for years in a waste disposal site like this.
It was the first praise I'd received since being born an incubus, but it didn't make me feel the slightest bit happy.
Jingle—
The pay I received after finishing the job was forty copper total.
If I scrimped, it was enough money to cover three days' living expenses.
Money in hand, I changed clothes and immediately left the Magic Tower.
My stomach was growling after finishing the grueling labor, but I didn't particularly want to eat.
The sights I'd seen in the waste disposal area were so spectacular they'd naturally suppressed my appetite.
If I tried to force food down my throat, I might end up vomiting.
I chose instead to return to the inn and get some rest.
But before I could make it back to the inn, something happened to stop me in my tracks.
A murmuring of people's voices.
The middle of the main road was wide open, and my eyes landed on a middle-aged man walking down the street.
As though a king were parading by, citizens stood aside on either side, doing their best not to obstruct the man's path.
"Is that man really...?"
"That's Lord Gregory III himself."
I'd been standing vacantly by the roadside; the moment I heard the citizens' voices, I hurriedly stepped off to the outer edge of the road.
Gregory III.
I'd heard the name before, knew exactly who it referred to.
'So that's the Tower Lord I've only ever heard rumors about...'
Tower Lord Gregory.
He was a man who held greater authority than the feudal lord governing the city of Yoen-su.
"Wow."
I stared at Gregory's attire and clicked my tongue.
Expensive ornaments covered his entire body, and his skin had such a fine, lustrous sheen — a sleek middle-aged man.
Just prying off one of those jewels on his body and selling it seemed like it'd let you live and party like a nouveau riche for a whole year.
'Just how much money does he make?'
Even from outward appearances alone, the man looked wealthy.
Most of the mages I'd run into inside the tower had that same glossy look about them. It wasn't just the Tower Lord — every mage was probably living a wealthy life.
I stared at the Tower Lord's retreating figure and sank into pointless thoughts.
Fantasies about what would happen if I learned magic.
If I could even pick up some basic magic, parties would reject me a hell of a lot less. Adventurers who learned magic were treated like VIPs regardless of their race.
Maybe I'd even get an invitation to accompany an S-rank beauty adventurer in the city.
I pictured a scene where female adventurers reached out their hands toward me with soft, gentle voices.
— Luke, would you like to come raid with us? Teehee.
— YES!!!!!!!
Just imagining it made my balls quiver. A blissful fantasy.
I let myself drift in the daydream for a moment before reality sank back in and a bitter smile crossed my lips.
After all, any path I had to learning magic was impossibly far away.
I didn't have the money to buy a spellbook, nor did I have any personal connections to a magic tutor.
On top of that, magic was ultimately the domain of talent.
They say the majority of people could dedicate their entire lives to training magic and still never produce a single spark.
Those born with a talent for magic appeared maybe one in a thousand.
There was no way a loser incubus like me had been born carrying that kind of extraordinary gift.
It was now late afternoon, closing in on sunset.
I let out a sigh and returned to the inn.
When I dragged my exhausted body back and opened the door to my inn room,
I suddenly swept my eyes around the room and felt something off.
The sense that something had changed compared to when I'd left.
I stood in place, quietly scanning my surroundings, until I finally realized what was different.
"Huh?"
It was the book.
The empty book I'd bought from that mysterious old man.
The book had undergone a change.