‘Tell me more about the undead form, first.’

[In undead form, the undead received an upgrade in strength, speed, reflex, and regeneration]

‘What about the real form?’

[Real form will turn the undead into what they were like when they are still alive. This removes all extra attributes such as regeneration]

‘And the crazed form?’

[Crazed form will triple all attributes for 10 minutes. After that the undead will disappear, and can only be summoned again after 24 hours]

‘That’s good. If I can turn the undead into the real form, they can pretend to be soldiers, and people won’t be scared or weirded out.’

Aldred told the undead to disappear except for the new arrival.

The three of them bowed with the female magician in the center.

“We are here to serve you, master,’ the magician said.

“What is your name?”

“My name is Bella, Master.”

“Can you turn to real form?”

“Yes, I can.” She then transformed as he ordered. The mist spun around her body. Starting from the leg, her beautiful skin showed up to her thigh as her blue revealing dress swayed. Aldred was shocked to see such a beautiful woman. He did not have the chance to look at her properly when in battle, but now, oh my god, if someone told him that she was a goddess, he would absolutely believe it.

Even the female soldiers were amazed by her appearance.

“Bella humbly greets the master,” she bowed her head._-.

Aldred nodded a bunch of times. “So what is your opinion on sleeping together?”

Mareona hit his head. “You damn pervert! Sleeping with Mary, Sophia, and Mira is not enough for you?”

Aldred rubbed his head in pain. “I just want to feel more warmth. As they say, the more the merrier.”

Mareona hit his head again.

“Ouch. Don’t hit me again. It hurt.”

“I will hit you however many times I want to. Now tell her to disappear.”

Bella giggled. “Miss, please do not hurt my master. Although he is quite mischievous, he is not a bad person.”

Mareona raised an eyebrow. “You just met him. What do you know about Aldred?”

“Although I only met him recently, I know more about him than anyone else. That is because when he turned me into his undead, all of his life events entered my memory.”

“What?” Aldred and Mareona asked in shock.

“So you know everything he knows?” Mareona asked.

“You see everything I see?”

Bella softly nodded. “That is correct. For example when that time the empress invited you to enter the barr—”

“Ahh! I believe you now. Don’t say it!”

“What happened with the empress when she invited you to enter the barrack?” Mary asked.

“She only tells me about the treasure and how I should take you guys along,” Aldred lied without the slightest hesitation.

Mary looked at Bella. “Is that true?”

“That’s no—”

Bella disappeared.

“Oh, seems like my mana has been depleted. It’s sad but she has to disappear for a while.”

Mareona put both hands on her waist and gave Aldred the expression that said ‘You think I don’t know you’re lying?’

Aldred coughed a couple of times. “And what about you two?”

“My name is Crook,” the one of the left said. Both of them looked similar. They had strong and large stature, and they both had the same black, large axe.

“And my name is Brook. We are twin brothers.”

“I see. Both of you can leave now.”

“Eh…” They were expecting to be asked more questions, but their master did not seem to have that intention. Sigh. Life was unfair.

They disappeared with a dejected expression.

“Since everything is over, why don’t we continue our journey?” Aldred asked. He then glanced to the side. The carriages’ wheels broke down.

“After we fix the carriages that is.”

——

——

——

A man with thick, muscled arms and legs walked into the village. A sign stood beside the road that read; Vilmiers. The man saw ten Gold Ranks entering an inn and decided to follow them.

Entering the inn, the man realized that the ten people that entered earlier were terribly wounded. A Silver Ranked woman with an apron was treating their wound.

“Lady, can you be a bit faster? We’re dying here.”

“Sorry, but I only have two hands,” the innkeeper said.

“Fuck! This is the problem with small towns. They don’t even have a proper hospital.”

“I told you to bring the potions.”

“You’re the one who said it’s going to be an easy ambush and we don’t have to bring it. Now we lose ten members.”

“It doesn’t make any sense. They only have seven Gold Ranks, while there are twenty of us. How can we be defeated?”

“That non-elemental magician. Remember the debuff she cast on us? None of us can clearly see anything during that battle, and we got wounded by the undead. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, but her debuff worsened that wound.”

“That’s right. I felt so exhausted during the fight, and my thoughts were confused.”

“She did not cast any offensive spell on us, but she was deadlier than any magicians I know.”

They gritted their teeth. “Debuff spell is the hardest to learn among non-elemental spells. She’s a rare magician that does well in a team battle. They are clearly sent by the empire. You saw their armor, they are from Ruandeurtin. The front line that fought the Montcresian countless times.”

“It was a wise choice to retreat. We could kill a few of them, but as long as that boy and that non-elemental magician are still alive, we would have no chance of winning.”

“Pity. That adamantite ring might be worth the treasure itself.”

The man with the thick arms approached them.

“What do you want?”

“My name is Thinker,” he said with a slightly robotic voice. “I am intrigued by your story. Can you tell me more about this adamantite ring?”

“Go away, weirdo.”

“Weirdo? Is that what you call someone who behaves in a not usual way specifically to your culture? Although this term is subjective as what people consider weird differs from person to person.”

“You really are a weirdo. Listen, you get the hell out of my face right now, or I will kick the shit out of you.”

“It took me a while to process your words, but do you mean to tell me that I should distance myself or you will do something that can harm me?”

“Who the fuck is this guy? What is your business with us?”

“As I said before, I am intrigued by your story.”

“I have no story to tell. Go fuck yourself.”

The man tilted his head. “My master did not add that phrase into my memory. But if I take that literally, you meant to tell me that I should reproduce by myself? That is impossible for most creatures, especially for humans unless they use certain techniques or machinery to do it.”

“That’s it, you fucker!” The man swung his fist.

Thinker grabbed his arms with stoic strength, preventing the fist from budging.

“You are the first human I have met prone to anger. I did nothing to harm you, yet you tried to harm me. According to my program, you should be eliminated immediately.” Thinker squeezed.

“Ahh! My arm! Let go of my arm!”

“Request denied. You are to be eliminated.” Thinker’s right arm turned into a steel blade, and it slashed across the man’s neck.

His friends looked at this scene with widened eyes.

“He killed Hork!”

Thinker glanced at them. “I apologize if I offend you by my action. I am new here you see, so I do not know the costume of this place. You, humans, are very diverse after all.”

“I am going to kill you, bastard!”

The nine of them attacked.

“Harmful action detected. Proceed to lock onto the targets. Analyzing the most efficient way to eliminate… analysis complete: Guns.”

Both of his thick arms opened, revealing a large muzzle. It then blared with flames and sent out large rounds at a rapid rate, blasting their heads in an instant.

“Multiple targets eliminated. Detecting any threats… zero found.” Tinker glanced to the side. The innkeeper was looking at him, trembling in fear.

“Analyzing scenarios… It seems you can be a threat to my existence, innkeeper. You see, my existence is not supposed to be known by many except for a handful of people, but here, you have seen my power and capabilities, and for that, I have decided to eliminate you.”

“No, please. I won’t tell anybody. Please,” she cried with teary eyes.

“Analyzing… complete. From the data I received in my internal memory, humans make promises they cannot keep 78% of the time. This means that the chance of my existence leaking out to the masses is 78% if I let you alive.”

“No! I promise! I just want to live.”

“I am sorry, innkeeper. I know humans do not like pain and suffering, so I will end this quickly.” His arm turned into a large gauntlet.

Splat!