Chapter 93: When It Rains, It Pours

Night was about to fall over Tirelia, so Nerez had decided to return to the inn and report back to the guild about the cemetery quest the following morning.

However, while his plans for the evening went no further than trying out the inn's baths before bed, Ilyra's day was far from over.

At that moment, two of her subordinates from Mirror were kneeling before the visiare as they finished delivering the tragic news. Once they were done, they vanished from the room without a trace.

"This couldn't be worse…" Ily murmured, deep in thought. "I have to act as soon as possible, or it'll be too late."

***

Meanwhile, Nerez was enjoying the inn's spacious communal baths. In fact, they were so large that they were housed in an adjoining building and run by the innkeeper's husband.

It was a separate business in its own right, though as a guest at the inn, he could use the baths at a discount. Never for free, of course. Nothing in this life was free, the innkeeper had told him with a laugh after giving him a hearty slap on the back.

Not that he had asked whether they were free. The innkeeper was simply rather talkative, the complete opposite of her husband, who seemed made of stone and never spoke more than one word at a time. Nerez even wondered whether the man kept an altar to Aion in his room and was trying to follow his example.

It really is impressive how different things can be in a world with magic. Something like this would be rather unusual for an inn in the middle of a medieval city. Of course, villages near hot springs would be a different story.

Nerez sank a little deeper into the water until his shoulders were submerged, then exhaled with satisfaction.

Truly wonderful. I still remember, as if it were yesterday, the days in other worlds when I had no choice but to bathe in freezing rivers…

"With all these conveniences, it's hard for them to advance much technologically," Nerez muttered to himself, then raised his voice. "And, well... what exactly do you think you're doing here, Ily?"

It was then that Ily appeared at the edge of the enormous bath. Her sky-blue hair hung loose down her back, and her naked body was covered by nothing but a towel.

"As expected of my lord, no presence escapes your notice."

"You, on the other hand, have a bad habit of overlooking weaker presences."

"Mm? What do you mean by that, my lord?"

"That aside, why are you trying to look at me through the water as if it were perfectly normal? And you still haven't explained what you're doing here."

"I wasn't looking at your perfect naked body! Not at all…! Only a little!"

"…"

"I came to wash your back!" the visiare answered his earlier question, blushing, before muttering under her breath, "And his front too, if I can talk him into it, hehehe."

"Oh, so you've come to wash backs?" Nerez replied with a smile. "Are you going to wash all of our backs, then?"

"All… of your…?"

As if in answer to Ily's question, the mist hanging over the baths parted at that very moment, revealing three elderly men bathing nearby.

"The baths at this inn really are the best."

"I can feel my tired old bones coming back to life…"

"Oh, who's that beautiful young lady? I thought this was the men's bath."

"She has little drooping white ears. Is she dressed up as a bunny? Did she come to play with us?"

"She must be a gift from the owner to thank us for being such loyal customers all these years!"

Covered by nothing but a small bath towel, Ily froze as the three old men talked about her. The faint blush on her cheeks quickly spread across her entire face, turning her red as a tomato.

"N… n… no… no…"

"No?" Nerez asked, trying not to laugh.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Ily bolted out of the baths and vanished from sight in an instant.

"She even forgot she could turn invisible. Hopefully she remembers before she ends up running through the entire inn looking like that…" Nerez sighed and sank into the water up to his nose.

Really, what am I going to do with her?

***

When they came down for breakfast the following morning, Nerez and Ily found the innkeeper chatting with Jeanne beside a feast she had apparently prepared for her.

"Oh, Nerez, Ilyra! Come congratulate Jeanne!" the innkeeper exclaimed when she saw them.

"Please, Tessa, there's no need!" Jeanne quickly interjected, placing a hand on the innkeeper's shoulder.

"Did something happen?" Ily asked curiously.

"Ah, Ilyra, dear, did you manage to find your clothes? I heard you were running naked through the inn."

"Yes, I found them! Please, let's not talk about that!" the visiare replied, once again red as a tomato.

"What are we celebrating?" Nerez asked, equally curious and trying to spare Ily any further embarrassment.

"A dragon!" the innkeeper answered.

"A dragon?" Nerez and Ily asked in unison.

"Jeanne's party defeated a dragon!" the innkeeper exclaimed proudly. "They're the first party in Tirelia to do it!"

"Wow, that's impressive," Nerez said, applauding. He wasn't sure where dragons ranked among Eryndea's monsters, but it had to be a major achievement for mortals.

"Not bad for a human," Ily agreed, applauding as well.

"Please, don't make me blush," Jeanne laughed, then brought a hand to her mouth. "Ah! Last time, I left without introducing myself. Please excuse my manners. Tessa has already told you, but my name is Jeanne."

"I'm Ily," the visiare replied, raising a hand cheerfully. "And this is my lord and master, Nerez."

"Lord and master?" Jeanne asked, tilting her head.

"Apparently, it's an inside joke between them," the innkeeper explained with a laugh.

"By the way, forgive my ignorance. I don't mean to offend you, but what race are you?" the young woman asked, leaning in so close that Ily had to step back to avoid being headbutted by the enthusiastic adventurer.

"I was wondering the same thing, since I've never actually seen one," Tessa said, resting a hand against her cheek. "But you're a visiare, aren't you, dear?"

"That's right, in the flesh," Ily replied with a smile.

"A visiare?" Jeanne asked, just as confused as before.

"They're a race that lives exclusively in the underworld, so it's extremely rare to come across one," Tessa explained. "My inn truly must be blessed by the gods! With guests like all of you, it practically advertises itself!"

"At least one of the gods may have blessed it," Ily said with a smile.

"How interesting… To be honest, I'd pictured the inhabitants of an underworld rather differently," Jeanne mused.

"There are demons too…" Nerez pointed out.

"Ah! Yes! That's more like what I had in mind!"

"How rude!" Ily protested. "We offered our loyalty to our god long before they did…! At least several months earlier!"

It was only then that Ily seemed a little offended.

"Speaking of the god of death…" Tessa began, resting a hand against her cheek once more. "There was quite a commotion in Tirelia's lower districts last night."

"A commotion?" Nerez asked, a bad feeling coming over him at the mention of the god of death.

"Apparently, a tavern frequented by criminals went up in flames," Tessa explained, gesturing with her free hand. "Good riddance. It was a den of lowlifes. But the strange part is that the survivors said a single person was responsible: a pretty girl with red twintails."

"Just one person set fire to a tavern full of criminals?" Jeanne asked.

"Of course, that's nothing compared to defeating a dragon, dear," the innkeeper laughed.

"I wasn't competing, Tessa!"

"And rumor has it that this pretty girl was looking for someone who looked like Nereziel," the innkeeper added, crossing her arms.

Nerez was already massaging his forehead with his fingertips. It seemed his bad feeling had been right.

Ily, for her part, let out a heavy sigh of resignation. Apparently, the news hadn't surprised her.

"Nereziel… Nereziel… Nerezi… Nerez… Was that girl looking for Nerez?" Jeanne asked as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Do you know her, Nerez?"

"No, dear. If you weren't staying at my inn, I'd think you lived under a rock," the innkeeper answered instead. "Nereziel is the name of the god of death. There aren't many temples dedicated to him in Phatar, but you can see his statues in cemeteries. If we didn't at least do that, the undead would rise against the city. Entire towns have disappeared that way."

"Sorry, Tessa," Jeanne laughed, scratching the back of her head. "I don't know anything about religion… or history… or geography… I'm really sorry. I'm a complete ignoramus!"

Well, Jeanne isn't even from this world, so that's to be expected. On the other hand, I'm pretty ignorant about what goes on outside the underworld, even though I've lived here for more than fifteen hundred years… Well, learning a little more is part of my vacation. Only a little, though. The more you know, the more complicated life gets. I'd rather be a happy fool in my ignorance.

"Whenever you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me, dear," Tessa said, puffing out her chest. "Anything for my poster girl!"

"Poster girl…" Jeanne giggled. "Ah! I'm running late again! Tessa, thank you so much for the celebration. Nerez, Ilyra, see you around, either here or at the guild!"

The three of them watched as Jeanne dashed off just as quickly as she had the last time.

"All right! Who wants breakfast?" the innkeeper exclaimed, clapping her hands.

In contrast to Tessa's enthusiasm, Nerez and Ily barely lifted a hand, each lost in their own thoughts about what they had just heard.

***

"Lord Nereziel, what are we going to do about you-know-who?"

"We have no choice. Once we're done with our business here, let's go find her before she causes any more trouble."

After breakfast, the two returned to the Adventurers' Guild, since Nerez still had to turn in the cemetery quest.

But the moment they entered the main hall, Rinda, the receptionist, greeted them enthusiastically.

"Adventurer Nerez!"

"Can't you just call me Nerez? 'Adventurer Nerez' feels too long…" he asked as he approached the excited woman.

"Of course! And you can call me Rin. That's what everyone calls me," the receptionist replied with a smile. "Ah, but more importantly! A carriage from the Artius family arrived with a reward for you!"

"A reward?" Nerez asked, puzzled.

"That's right! A small fortune!"

"I don't think I did enough to deserve it…"

"How can you say that, Lord Nereziel?!" Ily exclaimed in his ear. "You saved the city! Maybe even the entire world!"

All I did was walk around a little and talk to people. It was awkward, sure, but it wasn't that big a deal…

Nerez sighed and turned back to the receptionist.

"All right, Rin it is, then. I'm not sure whether I'll keep it, but we can look over the reward later. First, I wanted to report that I'd completed the cemetery quest."

"Ah, of course! Thank you very much! I think I mentioned it before, but the undead have always caused problems here. They should build more temples dedicated to Nereziel, but who am I to meddle in the affairs of this kingdom…" This time, Rin was the one who sighed as she marked the quest complete in her ledger. "All I can do is ask guild headquarters to send more priests and other healers, but we've already reached our quota. If only more necromancers were willing to come to Phatar…"

"There can never be too many temples dedicated to Nereziel," Ily said, nodding with a self-satisfied look.

"And on top of that, recent reports say the undead have been more organized than usual over the past few days," Rin continued as she handed Nerez a bag of coins, the reward for the cemetery quest.

"More organized?" Nerez asked as his second bad feeling of the day began to creep over him.

"That's right. They seem to be forming small armies of undead…" Rin replied, crossing her arms. "The first reports came from around Lender, and since then similar reports have been coming in from farther and farther away… You were really lucky to escape just in time."

"…"

"Mm? Nerez?" Rin asked when she saw him bury his face in both hands.

At his side, Ily was giving him a few pats on the back.