Chapter 67 – Encounter With No Life King

「Uhm… According to this map, the city called Luoshi is right over there, right?」

I was in the middle of my lonely journey toward the port city.

I was currently in the vicinity of a city called Luoshi, one of the important marks on the map.

When I was still alive, I always traveled by myself with a map in hand.

That was why I should be right… but I couldn’t help but feel restless.

I wonder just how furious the female Holy Knight would be if she discovered that I didn’t arrive in time before the ship’s departure…

Thus I was being careful.

「…I just need to ask 『Excuse me, is this Luoshi city?』 to someone in the city. Their answer is what I need to hear from them, so even I should be able to do that.」

Honestly speaking, asking the inspection officer when I entered the city was faster and easier, but they would end up checking my birthplace, something that couldn’t be faked.

Thus, I, who made such a judgement, entered the city with my most favorite method: jumping over the wall.

「Well then… let’s go looking for the most suitable person to ask…」

I landed in a rather desolate place in the city.

I used the shadows of the buildings to hide myself and was currently looking for the best person to ask amongst the passersby.

Young women were out of the question.

I crossed out the old ladies too.

I mean, those old ladies would surely escape immediately the moment they saw a mysterious man wearing a hood suddenly approach them.

That left me with the men.

Please, let me find a nice person.

I mean, even amongst the men, I could only talk to a limited group of them.

And then, after waiting for a while, I finally found a man walking by himself.

He was a man in his twenties.

He was a mage-like man who seemed to be kind and intelligent.

Yes, I decided on you.

But wait a minute…

How should I address him?

I mean, asking for the city name when I was right in the city itself was strange… right?

D-Dammit… Why did I only realize such a huge problem right now?!

Asking such a question would make me even more suspicious.

I was at my wit’s end, but I suddenly hit upon a certain idea.

THAT WAS IT!

I could ask without raising a suspicion if I used this method.

I steeled my resolve, and called out to the young man.

「E-Excuse me!」

…Dammit, I bit my tongue.

”
”

Fortunately, the young man didn’t sneer upon seeing that.

He seemed to be slightly wary of me though.

I did my best to squeeze my bravery to ask him.

「U-Uhm… C-Can… I ask… you… a… question…」

「…Yes, what might it be?」

The young man replied after a brief pause upon hearing my question.

「U-Uhm… I… want… to go to the port… can you tell me… which direction… I should take?」

I asked him a roundabout question while showing the map I got from the hero king.

Yes, this was my sure-kill tactic to avoid the suspicion.

As long as he traced his finger from our current position toward the port city, I would know the name of this city without having to ask him!

「…Port? Ah, you mean Wakol, right? Let’s see, it’s around this direction…」

And the route pointed by that young man was in accordance with my expectation.

Yup, I came to the right place after all.

「Normally, you’ll take the train if you’re going to head to Wakol… and the train station is on the other side of this city.」

…Train? Station?

I tilted my head upon hearing the unfamiliar words, but well, I had no reason to ask the meaning of those words.

That wasn’t the kind of question that I could ask even without my communication disorder, reason being it would blow my cover.

「T-T-T-Thank, you…」

「Don’t worry, it’s not a big deal.」

Anyhow, I was really glad that he turned out to be a kind guy.

After I expressed my gratitude and bowed to him, I left that place immediately.

But as I turned around…

When I glanced at the forehead of the young man, I saw that he was sweating profusely.

It didn’t seem to be due to heat; the sky was rather cloudy after all.

He might have felt a bit too hot since he wore a slightly thick robe, but… could it be that he was simply someone who got sweaty so easily?

Or else… he might have the same communication disorder as me.

◇◇◇

===A Certain Over Imaginative Silver Rank Mage of Adventurer Party===

「B-B-B-BIG NEWS EVERYONE!」

I rushed toward the inn room which was rented by our party while shouting at my comrades.

Although mages were well known for their weak stamina, I ran as fast as I could until I arrived at our base. I had no leeway to readjust my disordered breathing right now.

「I-Is everyone here?!」

Our party rented a huge room.

Everyone in the room turned their head upon seeing me suddenly opening the door in such a hurry.

「Why are you in such a hurry? Rather, the heck, ain’t ya sweating way too much.」

「We could hear already your loud voice when you were climbing the stairs, you kno~w?」

”
”
「Gahahaha! Could it be that you’re running back as fast as you can because of the big one! No one is using the toilet right now. Feel free to use it!」

Our leader, Ilran; thief, Mitt; and lastly our fighter, Ronda.

Fortunately, everyone had already gathered.

「I-It’s not toilet… the truth is…」

Thus, I told them about my experience before I ran back to our base.

「I… met the No Life King right before I ran back to this place.」

「「「WHA?!!!!」」」

Ilran and the others’ opened their mouths wide upon hearing the news from me.

「I-Is that true?!」

「Yeah, no doubt about it. It was definitely him. He might be trying to hide his face with a hood, but I could confirm his identity since he was right in front of me back then. He definitely has the most prominent features of the No Life King, red eyes and white hair. Moreover… his presence isn’t that of a human; it’s the presence of an undead.」

I fought countless undead in the past.

The reason for this was I often received undead purification quests from the guild since they knew that I could use purification magic.

Thus, I became familiar with the peculiar characteristics of an undead.

Nevertheless, I would never have expected for the No Life King himself to call out to me.

Back then, even when I somehow managed to suppress my agitation and replied to his questions like normal, I ended up sweating profusely from head to toe.

「So, do you know where that guy is right now?!」

「Worry not. I used tracking magic on him. We can find him immediately.」

「Great! This guy gets lucky when wandering around, huh!」

Ilran raised his greatsword in high spirits.

We couldn’t waste our time anymore.

We prepared our weapons immediately and left the inn without even returning the key to our room.