Okano The Unwanted Undead Adventurer: Volume 4

1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-1-7183-2106-9
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, Band 4, 250 Seiten

Reihe: The Unwanted Undead Adventurer

By drinking a vial of vampire blood, Rentt Faina, undead adventurer, successfully achieved his next stage of existential evolution and has become a lesser vampire!

Rentt, now short on funds, sets off on a journey to retrieve items required to craft equipment and weapons for his disciple, Alize. With his faithful mouse familiar, Edel, Rentt sets off to the New Moon Dungeon, slaying his share of forest wolves and lizardmen. But is he prepared for the legendary monster that's appeared in the labyrinth's boss chamber, in place of the usual earth dragon...?

Meanwhile, a priestess-saint and Gold-class vampire hunter show up at the doors of the Stheno Company, where the sale of the tarasque is to be negotiated. But they're here for one reason: the suspicion that a certain adventurer is actually a vampire in hiding...

An undead with a dream, eternally striving toward the rank of Platinum-class, even in undeath! All this and much more in the fourth volume of Rentt's undead adventures!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Okano, Yu

Weitere Mitwirkende

Jaian

Yeung, Shirley

Leseproben

Chapter 1: To the New Moon Dungeon

I found myself with some free time on my hands. I’d been summoned by the adventurer’s guild earlier today, so I assumed it was about the payout from the tarasque carcass. With that incoming money in mind, I made plans to visit the blacksmith, armorer, and even a general merchant. I even ensured that I had enough time to complete my tasks. However, while I’d obtained quite a bit of coin from the sale of the tarasque, the amount I received was hardly enough for the extravagant schedule I’d initially planned for today.

While the trips to the blacksmith and general merchant were to procure basic adventuring equipment and weapons for Alize, the trip to the armorer was personal in nature. Of course, I had a fair amount of clothing I’d accumulated over my lifetime spent as Rentt Faina, a regular human. But those hardly had any openings in the back. As such, it was safe to assume my wings would have a hard time finding their way out of said garments—and that was a bit of an understatement.

It was with those thoughts in mind that I set out to purchase some custom clothing. It was all made to order, and it was specifically tailored to brave the dangers of the labyrinths. As a result, it was considerably more expensive. I’d expected the payout from the tarasque would be more than enough, but, of course, I was very much mistaken.

To make matters worse, the clothing I originally owned was already quite tattered and in dire need of repairs. Due to my relatively low income at the start of my journey, I hardly made any unnecessary purchases. On top of that, I’d been wearing the clothes on me for quite a while now—through both my ghoul and thrall evolutions. They were dirty, to say the least, and they had unusual debris stuck in the fabric. After all, blood and fragments of flesh weren’t exactly normal to find in clothing.

I did my laundry daily...but that wasn’t the issue here. Now that I was almost indistinguishable from a normal human, the mere thought of me wearing the clothes I’d worn when I was still more monstrous... Well, it was a difficult thought. This was an opportunity as good as any other, so I set off to purchase replacements.

Unfortunately...it wasn’t meant to be.

The main concern, of course, was of coin. I’d receive a fair sum from the dissection and sale of the carcasses, yes, but if I ordered some custom clothing, I’d hardly have anything left for Alize’s weapons, equipment, and the like... Not to mention Lorraine’s tutoring fees.

I suddenly felt myself under immense financial strain. I could feel the weight of debt crushing my very being.

Ah, to be an individual with multiple debts... To think I’d have to live like this, hand-to-mouth and shouldered with debt... What sins, exactly, had I committed in my past life to warrant this? I couldn’t help but think I should have lived a more pious, upright life in my previous incarnation.

Well... In any case, I suppose this was how things were. Rather than complaining repeatedly that I had little in the way of coin, I should instead come up with some sort of plan. Yes, a plan to earn a sum of coin. Sooner or later, the undamaged carapace of the tarasque would sell, and, when it did, I’d be blessed with a remarkable windfall. Until then, I’d just have to continue living my hand-to-mouth lifestyle, saving where I could...

But alas...

These thought patterns were precisely why I was currently in this unfortunate situation.

I shook my head. If I were to live my life depending on the next windfall to come, I’d never have any sizable amount of savings to call my own.

What was the most basic means by which an adventurer could save themselves some coin...?

Ah, yes—the provision of materials. An adventurer could present the craftsman with the appropriate ingredients when creating new equipment, gathered by their own hand.

At least, that was what I thought. However, due to the currently unique nature of my body, and the fact that the equipment I required was largely made to my specifications, gathering the appropriate materials was difficult at best.

Take my sword, for instance. An instrument capable of channeling mana, spirit, and divinity. Surely such a feat wouldn’t be possible without some rare, hard-to-obtain materials. In addition, few craftsmen would be so eager to educate an adventurer specifically on how their equipment was made. This made things difficult, because I didn’t even know what to bring the craftsmen in the first place. I could place an order and be told by the establishment what I had to fetch; even so, unless I was explicitly instructed on what to bring, I couldn’t just assume. See, only a skilled craftsman would know what they required to craft an item. This would make attempting to save on the construction of my weapons and equipment problematic.

Yes, she could use a stronger weapon, or at least one that met my expectations in terms of quality. But there was no need for her very first weapon to be overly fancy. If an adventurer were to use a specially constructed weapon from the very start, they’d become dependent upon it, eventually leading to imbalances in their martial prowess. In fact, there was a high chance of said adventurer becoming one that was severely lacking in adaptability. While that wasn’t strictly fatal for an adventurer, one should be prepared for all eventualities. For her sake, I should guide Alize away from this potential pitfall.

All things considered, gathering the materials for Alize’s equipment by hand wasn’t too bad an idea. Average materials with average performance... That’s what I’d set out to gather. It was by no means an arduous task, and, thankfully, I had some free time on my hands. I could very well use the entire afternoon to scour the New Moon Dungeon.

If the search took longer than expected, I’d likely return to Lorraine’s abode tomorrow morning. I suppose I should make a trip back and let her know. Even if I had to work through the night, I’d just keep moving until I completely ran out of stamina. I had no need for sleep, after all. My stamina had become somewhat inexhaustible in nature, a fact I’d discovered having lived this way thus far. A special trait of the undead, one could say. Mental strain could possibly build up over time, but that would be the only sort of exhaustion I’d refer to if I spoke of it.

Now that I had an idea of what I wanted to do, I turned, intending to discuss matters with Lorraine back at her abode.

?????

“A weapon for Alize? You do have to prepare one, yes... But is there really a need to assemble the very raw materials themselves?” was Lorraine’s response as I informed her of my thoughts upon my return.

She was hardly disagreeing. If anything, she was expressing her thoughts on the matter. In fact, it wasn’t hard to understand why she felt that way. In most cases, equipment for new adventurers was usually settled by blacksmiths and armorers; such equipment was hardly difficult to manufacture.

However...

“It’s a matter of coin, Lorraine. I thought to save on costs and decided to gather the materials myself...”

“Ah, is that so? I understand then. In that case...you have yet to sell the tarasque carcass?” Lorraine inquired.

If anything, Lorraine had most likely already figured this out this very morning, and, as it turned out, it had gone just as she predicted. I continued my explanation, all the while feeling a little deflated at the accuracy of Lorraine’s deductions.

“Yes... The matter became quite troublesome indeed...”

“Hmm? Explain yourself, Rentt.”

I supposed even Lorraine hadn’t envisioned the entire picture, given the strange turns in recent events. Lorraine remained inquisitive, her head tilted, as I explained what exactly occurred in the guild’s dissection chamber. As I did, Lorraine’s expression slowly changed to one of worry and exasperation.

“It would seem like sticking your head into strange affairs has become quite the regular occurrence for you...”

exasperated.

“Don’t be like that, Lorraine. For starters, it was the auctioneer who requested this of me. The corpse wouldn’t sell itself if it were simply left there. It’s also a large, somewhat respectable establishment, so ensuring our interests align would lead to rather...considerable gains in the long term. Don’t you think so?”

“Yes, yes. I suppose there are merits to the whole thing, and it’s not exactly a situation that can simply be ignored. However, consider this. The risk of your true identity being discovered is very real. In this particular case...that would be the sole, but still quite large, demerit.”

I could hardly argue with the validity of her statements. However, so long as I continued living in Maalt, I’d eventually be forced to deal with either issue. When I thought about it...