Chapter 94: Old Friends, New Troubles

After going over the reward with Rin, the guild receptionist, Nerez decided to accept it for the time being. After all, returning it would have been rather awkward after reading what the father and daughter had written in their lengthy letter of thanks.

It was a considerable sum, so Rin offered to open an account for Nerez at the guild bank, which was considered quite reliable since it was not tied to any particular nation. But her mouth fell open when she saw that the entire fortune fit inside the small leather pouch Nerez used as a coin purse.

Unlike the ring Thaelor had given him (or offered to him in worship, as the Atre Achonte liked to put it), he had obtained that coin pouch in Empyrean Peaks, so he had to make something up when Rin eagerly asked him where it came from.

"Now that we've taken care of our money problems, are we going to keep working as adventurers, Lord Nereziel?" Ily asked once they had left the Adventurers' Guild behind.

"That's a good question... With this much, I can afford a small plot of land away from the city and spend some time pretending I have a normal life."

"I'm not against that idea." Ily smiled mischievously. "A mortal life can have its own thrills. We could discover them together..."

"...I didn't say I was taking you with me."

"Don't be like that, Lord Nereziel!"

"Well, continuing as an adventurer for a while has its advantages too. Like I said, I'd like to be a little more aware of what's going on in Eryndea, and being an adventurer is ideal for that."

"We don't have to stay in Phatar for good. Adventurers travel all over the place, after all," Ily added. "Though, well, first we have to do something about Lady Cerys..."

"That's right. We have to find her before half the city explodes. On top of whatever Lirien is doing with her Yggdrasil seeds, now I'd have to put up with Helux too."

"I think the sun god has had his sights set on you for quite some time..."

"Maybe, but there's no reason to add fuel to the fire."

The two continued walking while Nerez checked his Godscript to locate his servant.

But before they could find her, a rather peculiar group blocked their path.

"Well, this is a surprise! I'd heard the stories, but I never expected to meet a visiare in person!"

The voice belonged to an adventurer coming from the opposite direction, probably on his way to the guild.

He was very well dressed and smelled of perfume. His long, gleaming hair flowed in the wind. His appearance suggested he was one of the famous "adventuring nobles", heirs to noble houses who, with no great wars in which to prove their valor, took up adventuring in search of great feats.

But he wasn't the strangest thing about the group. That was the retinue surrounding him. They were all female adventurers, each of a different race: an elf, a dwarf, a beast-kin with cat ears and a tail, even a reptilian who, for some reason, wore a maid outfit.

"Lord Macelas, be careful. This adventurer is Nerez," the elf beside him warned, pointing at Nerez. "According to the rumors, he's a necromancer."

"Ugh... a filthy corpse lover? This is what happens when the Adventurers' Guild is independent. They let anything into our beautiful Phatar."

He seems to be trying to insult me, but honestly, I bet corpses disgust me more than they disgust him...

"Look, we're not looking for trouble," Nerez said, trying to force a smile. "If you let us through, this filthy necromancer will be out of your sight in no time."

"Not so fast, bone-licker." Macelas stepped in front of him again as Nerez tried to pass.

Bone-licker? Is that a reference to me pretending to be a necromancer? Or is he calling me a dog in an unnecessarily roundabout way?

"Or, if you prefer, you can leave on your own," the noble of Phatar continued. "But I have things to discuss with your companion, so she's staying for a while."

Nerez was about to leave, delighted by the offer, but when he glanced beside him, he saw that Ily's expression had darkened, her fists clenched so tightly that the veins stood out.

Realizing that walking away would mean leaving a ticking time bomb behind him, Nerez sighed and decided to stay and keep the situation under control.

"Do whatever you want," Macelas snorted. "Just don't come near me. You smell like rotting flesh."

"Well, I've had to visit the cemetery twice in pretty quick succession, but all you can smell there is the scent of the flowers people leave as offerings..."

The only response was mocking laughter from Macelas's retinue. Macelas himself had already moved in front of Ily, his full attention now fixed on her.

"It is my fervent conviction that it was a mistake for a race as magnificent as the visiare to end up in the underworld. Such a noble race deserves to live beneath the light of our almighty lord, Helux."

Macelas reached toward one of Ily's drooping white ears, but the visiare slapped his hand away in a flash.

Yet the noble of Phatar merely smiled, unfazed.

"My apologies. Fair enough, we've only just met... Tell me, instead of spending your life digging graves with that necromancer, why don't you join my party? We have incredible adventures, whether outside the city or at my mansion..."

While Nerez couldn't help thinking Macelas must have rather exotic tastes after noticing there wasn't a single human woman in his retinue, the giggles that followed the noble's invitation only made the vein on the visiare's forehead throb harder.

"Thank you for the offer, Lord Macelas," Ily finally hissed, barely containing her anger. "But I think the pig they're about to slaughter in the guild kitchen would accept it more eagerly. And only because if it doesn't go with you, they'll butcher it."

This time, it was Macelas who had to restrain his anger, though he could not stop one of his eyelids from twitching.

The giggles from the noble's party died away as well, and understandably so, since all of them had been indirectly insulted.

However, while three of the four looked ready to explode, the dwarf could not take her eyes off Nerez's clothes and did not seem as certain as the others about starting a fight.

"It seems the necromancer has brainwashed you," Macelas said, resting a hand on the hilt of his sword. "I dislike stooping to violence, but I cannot abandon a visiare in distress. Don't worry. Once you're safe in my mansion, there will be plenty of time to undo whatever he's done to you."

Things just got complicated... If they really attack us... how do I keep from killing them by accident? Or rather... how do I keep Ily from killing them very much on purpose...? I come to the mortal world to escape divine conflicts, and immediately end up in one of the most clichéd conflicts imaginable...

"Nerez!"

A shout in a very familiar voice pulled him back from his thoughts.

Her eyes sparkled like two tiny flames, and her twintails were as red as blood. She wore clothes very similar to Nerez's, though hers were embroidered in silver, a style later adopted by all the reapers of the underworld.

"Cerys..."

"Another friend of the necromancer?" Macelas growled. "But she's only human. How boring... I mean... no matter how many enemies appear, I'll rescue this visiare."

But the redhead shoved her way through, completely ignoring Macelas's party. When the noble blocked her path, she grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him to the ground before continuing toward Nerez.

"I've been looking for you everywhere!" the newcomer shouted, then turned toward the visiare, whose anger had vanished completely and who was now shrinking in on herself. "And you, Ily! Don't think I haven't noticed the presences that have been spying on me since I arrived in the city. Be grateful you still have any subordinates alive."

"Uuu... I was going to contact you myself, Lady Cerys..." Ily replied, averting her gaze as she rubbed her fingertips together. "We were just getting to that, I promise..."

"How dare you! Don't you know who I am?!"

Macelas got back to his feet with the help of his party and dusted off his clothes.

"This will be the end of your little party in this city! Just wait until I speak to the baron of Tirelia!"

"Silence, mortal."

"Mortal? Ah! Aaaaaaaa!"

Macelas never got the chance to say anything else. A single look from Cerys was enough to set his long, gleaming hair ablaze.

"Lord Macelas!"

"Quick! Water! Water!"

"Get him to the well, quick!"

The members of his retinue picked the noble up and raced off until they disappeared into the distance.

At least the cliché didn't last long...

"I'm going to send Falme a letter and see what she thinks of that man," Ily grumbled as some of her anger returned. "A noble family whose heir has to become an adventurer can't hold a candle to the Artius family."

"Don't change the subject!" Cerys snapped, completely indifferent to what had just happened. "First of all, why are you here too, Ily?"

"It wasn't planned! I found out Nerez was about to set out on a journey, and well..."

"Nerez?! Since when does a mortal get to address a god so casually?"

"I'm sorry, Lady Cerys! It's just that this commotion might have drawn attention, and someone nearby could be listening..."

"Lady Cerys?"

"Lady Supreme Reaper!"

"Much better."

"No, it isn't much better." Nerez, who had been massaging the bridge of his nose, stepped in before the scene could draw a real crowd. "I asked her to call me that. You'll be Cerys in the mortal world too, understood?"

"Tch... fine..."

"So... what happened? Why are you here as well?"

"Why am I here?! Looking for you! I searched the entire underworld for you! Luckily, I sensed you while I was searching Empyrean Peaks, so I was able to track you here!"

I knew going to Empyrean Peaks was a bad idea...

"Well?" Cerys asked, crossing her arms, somewhat calmer now that she'd vented her frustrations. "Can you finally tell me what you're doing here?"

"I'm... on vacation..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"We're on vacation," Cerys declared, nodding to herself.

"..."

"Yay..." Ily said without much enthusiasm.

***

A colossal fortress stood at the center of a vast territory encircled by impenetrable mountains. Its enormous walls, crowned with countless battlements and reinforced by monumental bastions, dominated the heart of that divine domain.

A majestic pegasus flew toward the fortress, far larger and more magnificent than the steeds of the winged cavalry following it. The formation landed on a broad elevated terrace and, while the escort led their mounts toward the stables, the young woman leading the group dismissed her own mount, since it was her Eidolon.

With her golden hair tied in a braid that fell down her back, swaying with her hurried pace, and worry showing in her sky-colored eyes, she made her way through the fortress's broad corridors as her soldiers bowed to her. She knew many of them, for she herself had gathered their souls from the battlefield when their time had come.

She eventually reached a spacious throne room, but the throne itself stood empty. Its usual occupant, the god of war, stood before the gigantic windows that rose behind it.

"I heard some of the souls we'd invited to the Hall of Champions have been forcibly summoned in Phatar..." Vilkie said as she took her place beside Aren. "That's a kingdom under Helux's influence, isn't it?"

"That's right. More precisely, they've been forcibly called back into their bodies, or what's left of them," the athletic young man with chestnut hair replied with a nod. "In Phatar, they worship the sun god and his subordinate gods almost exclusively. Most of our souls come from kingdoms like that, which fall under our faction's influence, after all."

Vilkie frowned slightly.

"But what kind of necromancer can summon souls from a god's domain?"

"That's the strangest part," Aren replied, turning his gaze toward her. "It's the kind of necromancy you'd expect from the Eternal Empress, not some ordinary necromancer, especially one living in our faction's territory..."

"I wish we'd been able to ask Nerez for permission. Then we could have his help figuring out what's going on..." Vilkie murmured. "They're only the fallen among the god of war's most fervent followers, not every warrior who dies. I don't think he would've minded. But Helux didn't want us to contact him..."

"Even though they're the souls of my most fervent followers, they're still souls that belong to the underworld." Aren's expression darkened. "And we've been stealing them for more than a thousand years without asking the lord of the underworld for permission. Vilkie, I don't think Nerez would help us. Quite the opposite... I think this is the beginning of an open war with him."

"You're saying the underworld is responsible for what's happening in Phatar?!"

"Most likely." Aren nodded. "I can't think of any other way someone could wrest souls away from me in my own realm unless they had the blessing of the god of death."

"We only knew him for a short time, but I was sure we'd gotten to know him well... Gods don't change who they are in just fifteen hundred years..." Vilkie lowered her head and her voice. "I really thought he'd thank us for helping him keep the underworld from getting so overcrowded, or something just as ridiculous..."

"Those were my thoughts as well, Vilkie," Aren replied gravely. "But something we did, or perhaps something Helux did, finally angered him. We need to prepare. The wrath of an absolute god is coming..."

***

"Achoo!"

In the middle of a rather noisy tavern, Nerez nearly spilled his beer onto the table the three of them were sharing.

"What's wrong... Nerez? Has... has this place already weakened you so much that... that... you ended up catching a cold like a mortal?! Hic!"

"If a god catches a cold... if he catches it... a sick god could wreak havoc in Eryndea...! You must take better care of yourself, Lord Nereziel... I can keep you warm at night if you wish..."

"Hey...! Ily! Are you taking advantage... right in the middle of the conversation...?! Hic!"

"You two are drinking too much... And I don't have a cold. If I were superstitious, I'd say someone was talking about me, but I probably just got some pepper from this chicken up my nose."

"The chicken's good! Cheers to the chicken! Hic!"

"Cheers... Lady Supreme Reaper!"

These two really do have synergy, but it's the worst possible kind...