Volume 10 Chapter 3 Graveyard Investigation
――The Undead King.
The Undead King, who rules over the dead, has been appearing in the graveyard for some time now.
According to rumors, the Undead King has a skull-like head, similar to a demon's, and controls the dead.
Furthermore, it's said that the Undead King lures the living who wander into the graveyard to the underworld...
It's unclear how much of this rumor is true, but one thing is certain: there have been a series of mysterious disappearances in the graveyard.
It's possible that these incidents are related to cursed equipment, but we can't deny it.
That's why we, the low-ranking Investigators, have been assigned to this case.
As I'm organizing the information I heard yesterday during our weekly morning assembly...
"Hey, you're spacing out again, you'll get caught!"
"Ah, sorry about that, Senior."
Senior Rikka pokes me, and I hastily straighten my back.
Looking towards the podium, I see Chester, who seems to be in a bad mood, yelling at us.
He looks like he's getting anxious about something.
"Listen up, you bunch of strays! Tomorrow is the Memorial Service, and an Inquisitor from the central office will be coming to inspect us! You'd better be on your best behavior and do your job properly!"
The man standing at the podium spits out his words while giving a passionate speech.
After that, Chester's rant continues for a while.
"That's all. Get back to work, now!"
About an hour later, the meeting finally adjourns.
The Investigators quickly scatter, trying not to get caught by the Inquisitor.
"Shall we get going too?"
"Yeah, let's do that"
We start walking.
"It was really short-staffed today, wasn't it?"
"Yeah... it's all because of the Undead King. Lately, it seems like the Undead King has been causing a lot of trouble around here"
Senior Rikka slumps her shoulders, looking a bit down. She's been an Investigator for longer than me, and many of the missing people are probably acquaintances of hers.
Still, the Undead King...
It's exactly what we're about to investigate.
It feels like we've been assigned a really tough case...
"It's not just Investigators who are being targeted, either. People who get close to the graveyard keep disappearing."
"Is it indiscriminate?"
"...I'm not sure if it's okay"
"Eh?"
"Yeah, an old acquaintance is working at the graveyard. Since they're someone I owe a favor to, I'm a bit worried."
"Ah... that's tough, isn't it?"
I couldn't find the right words to say, so I just muttered something vague.
"Ah, yeah... Anyway, why are we doing this kind of work right before the memorial service?"
"Yeah... it's a bit too much for us, isn't it?"
As I said that, I started to get a little interested in the Undead King.
He's an 'Accursed' who's made many Investigators go missing.
Probably, the Undead King has... powerful cursed equipment.
* * *
We began searching the graveyard to investigate the Undead King.
However, no matter how far we went... all we saw was a desolate wasteland and crosses.
The endless, monotonous scenery was making me lose my sense of direction and distance.
It wasn't just that; the graveyard stank. There were open graves everywhere, and the air was thick with the smell of death. Just being there was suffocating.
And to make matters worse, the sand here was mixed with quicklime and salt, making my eyes and nose itch, and my throat feel dry.
"Peh! Ugh, I've had enough of this sand...!"
Senior Rikka spat out a mouthful of sand.
"And yet, the sand here is salty, isn't it?"
"That's because of the salt damage that occurred here."
"Salt damage?"
"A long time ago, this area was a farm."
"A farm? This dead land?"
"No, it's the opposite. The farm died because of this."
The ground here was scattered with salt.
This wasn't something that was sprinkled later as a countermeasure against evil spirits or the undead.
When someone over-irrigate dry land, the salt in the soil rises to the surface, and the land dies.
It's as if nature is being defiled, and it's a common occurrence.
So, Ravenyard is known as a "land abandoned by God" even within the Holy Kingdom.
"And then, Ravenyard started using the graveyard as a way to make money, inviting people to bury their dead here."
In big cities, corpses are usually buried in the countryside due to lack of land, bad smells, and disease.
Ravenyard saw a business opportunity in that.
As a result, this vast graveyard was created.
The reason why there's a cursed burial ground in this land is probably the same.
"It's really eerie, isn't it? I'm sure you said you're not from this country, right?"
"I did some research, so..."
Well, it's all just knowledge I got from Sui, but...
She's trying to impress me, so she's telling me all about what she learned from books. I wasn't really interested, but it got pretty detailed.
"A land abandoned by God, huh?"
"So, that's why these cursed disasters keep happening, right?"
"Maybe."
Senior Rikka says with a yawn.
"Well, it wasn't like this before, though. When I investigated, it was just stray cats and crows causing trouble."
"Is that so?"
So, has the situation changed recently?
I've been staying in Ravenyard for a while, and I've noticed that the number of cursed equipment circulating in this town is... ridiculously high. Abnormally high, even.
And, in the places we were ordered to investigate, there were a lot of cursed equipment too. It's like they knew there was cursed equipment there and ordered us to investigate.
Well, as for me, it's lucky that I can get my hands on a lot of cursed equipment, but...
"And, were there any sightings of the Undead King around here?"
Senior Rikka compares the scenery with the map.
"Hmm... something smells, doesn't it?"
"What smells?"
"Something like death."
"Death... does that even have a smell?"
Senior Rikka looks puzzled. She doesn't seem to be feeling anything, though.
Maybe it's because she was born and raised in Ravenyard, which is covered in death, that her sense of smell is numb.
It's enviable that she can't smell this strong, pungent odor...
"Ugh...!"
I press my mouth shut, trying to swallow back the bile that's rising up my throat.
This is a hard-to-describe, stimulating stench. It's like the smell of sewage mixed with a weird, sweet smell, like rotten fish and eggs and cheese.
This is... the smell of a human rotting away.
The smell clings to the back of my nose, making my stomach churn, and inducing a strong urge to vomit.
I've gotten used to the stench of death, but this is something else.
It's supposed to be a pretty strong smell.
"Ugh, are those unburied corpses?"
"It's possible. Graves are often left open... and..."
Senior Rikka's voice trails off. Her face has turned pale and anxious.
"What's wrong? Do you need to use the restroom?"
"N-no"
"Then, what's..."
"A-ah..."
Senior Rikka points to a spot.
There, people are standing.
Not just one or 2, but dozens... no, even more people are walking in a line.
"...Eh"
I wasn't careless, but I didn't notice until I saw them.
It's as if they didn't have any presence at all, like shadow puppets emerging from the darkness of the graveyard.
I thought they might be having some kind of gathering, but the atmosphere is off.
Men, women, children, adults... everyone is n*ked.
Not a single piece of cloth on them... their bloated bodies are exposed, with blue-white skin and red-purple blood vessels and water blisters. Their mouths are open wide, with their tongues hanging out.
It's clear... everyone is dead.
And what's even more bizarre is... these corpses are carrying other corpses. Freshly killed bodies, still dripping with blood, are being dragged along with their hair grasped.
I don't know where they're being taken, but...
――The Undead King is said to lure the living to the underworld.
Suddenly, I remembered that rumor.
"Obabababa!"
Senior Rikka lets out a strange cry and clings to me.
Was that the trigger?
The walking corpses stop in their tracks.
――Clack.
And, turning only their heads, they face us simultaneously.
Dozens of cloudy white eyes stare at us, unblinking.
Then, they freeze again.
Standing upright, they don't move a muscle, staring at us with an unbroken gaze.
And then, for some reason...
――Splish.
One of the corpses starts walking towards us.
With a squelching sound, water drips from its bloated belly.
And then, the others follow...
――Splish, splish, splish, splish, splish...
The horde of corpses started walking towards us.
They kept staring at us with an unblinking gaze....
"No, Noa! Obaba! Obababa!"
"Well, it's probably a Ghoul, yeah"
It's an undead creature that feeds on human flesh.
Its true form is a corpse possessed by some kind of monster or spirit. It desecrates graves to feed on human flesh in order to provide nutrients to its host.
It also hunts and eats the living, so it's a monster that's recommended to be eliminated.
"I see. So the rumors about the Undead King are actually about a massive outbreak of Ghouls, huh?"
"Y-you're so calm..."
"I'm used to seeing Undead, so it's no big deal"
We had an Undead-themed dungeon in our hometown, and besides, Ghouls aren't high-ranking monsters. Their combat power is only slightly above that of a Skeleton.
Still, this overwhelming stench of decay is unbearable, though.
"Hmm, but...what's weird is that their condition is too good, you know?"
"What do you mean by 'good condition', Noa?"
"Ghouls are usually all black and withered, right?"
Human corpses change color as they decay, from blue to red to black, but these Ghouls still have blue skin. They probably haven't been dead for more than 5 days. It feels like they became Ghouls too quickly compared to normal Ghouls.
And since they're buried with quicklime to prevent decay, their skin should be burned and rotten, but there's no sign of that.
Moreover, can Ghouls that devour each other really form a horde like this?
Something feels off...but this isn't the time to think about it.
"...for the King."
The Ghouls are approaching us, their jaws chattering away.
...King? Did they just say "King"?
No, that's not the issue.
"Senior Rikka, let's escape"
"But...if we take this many Ghouls to the streets..."
"Our priority is to gather information, just like you taught me, right?"
Getting information back is top priority. Everything else is someone else's job.
It's no problem to defeat the Ghouls, but...I glance at Senior Rikka.
I can't fight here.
We have to escape, at least for now.
But...
"...King"... "...for"... "...King"... "...oh, King"...
At some point, other Ghouls had appeared behind us.
No, not just behind us... I realized we were surrounded.
There were dozens of them, but they moved with an eerie sense of unity.
"...They're quite used to this situation, aren't they?"
They must have hunted many living humans... The Ghouls pulled out the grave crosses and held them like spears.
It seemed they had no intention of letting us escape.
"Alright, fall back, Noa."
Senior Rikka stood in front of me, knife at the ready.
...But she was completely trembling.
She was trying to look cool in front of her junior, but...
"Uh, Senior Rikka, can you take down Ghouls?"
"Hmph, of course. I'm a senior, after all."
She was trying to smile confidently, but her voice was shaking. She looked like she was about to cry any moment.
When the Ghouls pointed their cross-tipped spears at her, Senior Rikka flinched back.
"...No, Noa... where's the weak point of Ghouls...?"
"Ah, I guess it's no use, huh?"
I knew that already.
But then, suddenly...
One of the Ghouls clicked its jaw and pointed at Senior Rikka.
"...Rikka"
"Huh?"
"...Rikka...""...Ri...""...Ka...""...Rikka""...Ri..."
"What's going on?"
For some reason, the Ghouls seemed to know Senior Rikka.
The Ghouls stared at Senior Rikka, and then...
"...'Material'"
With that word, they pounced on Senior Rikka.
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