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“Perhaps,” Mr. Skelly said and sighed. “I don’t feel like a monster. There’s no urge for me to attack anyone. I just want to see my wife and kids before I depart for the next world.”
“I understand,” the receptionist said. He turned around and shouted into the back room. “Polly, call in three available guild sweepers for a quick mission.”
“Sure thing,” a woman’s voice said from the room. Moments later, a group of three women stepped into the lobby from upstairs. They had dark circles underneath their eyes as well, and their skin was pale as if they hadn’t seen the light of day for several weeks.
“We’re very busy since the guild master’s left,” one of the woman said and frowned at the receptionist. “What do you want?”
The receptionist pointed at Mr. Skelly. The undead leader waved at them and smiled before ducking a spear thrust.
The guild sweeper frowned as she withdrew her spear. It disappeared into thin air a moment later. “A skeleton? An undead is in Anfang?”
“There were special circumstances,” the receptionist said with a dry laugh. He stepped in front of the sweeper, blocking Mr. Skelly from her view. She frowned and pushed his head aside before leaning over the counter.
“Undead aren’t allowed. Not here, not there, not anywhere. All undead are to be exterminated as per town, city, guild, nation, and holy dragon rules.” Her spear materialized in her hand again, but a group of adventurers stepped forward and shielded Mr. Skelly. “Step aside. As a guild sweeper, I have duties to perform. My responsibilities are even greater now that the guild master is on vacation. If she finds out a skeleton managed to enter Anfang, she’d burn the guild to the ground. And if that happens, I’ll be out of a job, so move!”
“Wait!”
The sweeper ignored the man who shouted and thrust her spear at Mr. Skelly. An adventurer stepped forward and blocked her strike with his shield. “You can’t do this! He’s Richard, leader of the Happy Frogs!”
“He’s an undead.” The sweeper twirled her spear as she stepped on top of the receptionist’s counter. Her spear stopped twirling, its tip pointing at Mr. Skelly who was crouched on the ground, skeletal hands covering his skull. “Undead are irrational, unable to make conscious decisions, mindless monsters bent on fulfilling their basic needs despite the fact they’re dead. They can’t speak or—”
“Richard can speak!”
The sweeper’s brow furrowed, and she stabbed her spear into the counter. “Really? Then why don’t you say something, Richard? If you can’t—”
Mr. Skelly raised his head, meeting the sweeper’s gaze. “Please, I just want to see my wife and kids before I resign myself to the cemetery.”
The sweeper froze. The other two guild sweeper’s behind her murmured to each other. “…What the heck?” the sweeper asked. “What’s going on?”
“After I died, I saw a messenger of god who granted me a final wish. I asked to see my loved ones one more time before I passed on,” Mr. Skelly said. “When I woke up from what I thought was a dream, I was like this. I didn’t know what else to do other than head home. I was given a chance to tell my wife goodbye. I have to take it.”
The guild sweeper sighed and lowered her hand, the spear disappearing from her grasp. “If only the guild master were here, she’d know what to do.” She turned towards the receptionist. “Have you sent word to the mayor?”
“I was about to,” the receptionist said. “But I wanted you three to escort them to their families first, then make sure they go to the cemetery to be purified and buried.”
“I understand.” The sweeper frowned at Mr. Skelly and his two companions. “It really wouldn’t feel right to kill them again. If he couldn’t speak or showed any signs of being a monster, I wouldn’t hesitate…, but as he is now, I can’t do it. It’s a shame, really. The Happy Frogs were a role model for aspiring adventurer groups.”
***
“I’ll wait outside.” A woman stood beside a skeleton, facing a gray building marked with black flags on the corners.
Mr. Skelly nodded at the guild sweeper who had guided him to Richard’s home. Richard’s wife had cried her eyes out, and their two children were devastated. If Mr. Skelly had a heart, he might’ve broke down and told the woman her husband was still alive albeit a prisoner on a beach. He did tell her to pray to the Corrupted One for a miracle, but he didn’t know if she’d listen.
Mr. Skelly entered the building and walked up to the counter inside. A man wearing a black suit and a veil that covered his face was reading a book. He looked up when he heard Mr. Skelly’s clacking footsteps approach. The man’s book slid out of his hands as he froze. A second passed as Mr. Skelly scratched his skull. “Well, this is a first,” the man said and picked up his book before sitting up straight. “None of my clients have ever spoken to me before. Because they’re dead.”
Mr. Skelly laughed. “So you’re the mortician.”
“That’s right,” the man said with a nod. “And you’re a skeleton. Is this a fairy’s prank?”
“No,” Mr. Skelly said and shook his head. “It seems like you haven’t heard the news.”
“The news?” the mortician asked. “What—”
A skeletal hand wrapped around his mouth and waist as a skeleton appeared behind him, cutting off the mortician’s words. Strangled cries escaped from the mortician’s mouth as he bit down on the skeleton’s fingers, hurting his own teeth in the process. Mr. Skelly grinned as Rella flitted to his side. She held up her fingers in a ‘V’ for victory. “Easy as pie.”
Mr. Skelly nodded. “Excellent work. Now turn me into him.”
“Okay,” Rella said and twirled her arm before pointing at the skeleton. Mr. Skelly’s image distorted as a black covering enveloped his body, slowly turning into the image of the mortician. “I’ll do your voice too.”
Mr. Skelly nodded as he turned around and left the building. “I’ve received the client,” he said to the guild sweeper.
The guild sweeper pursed her lips and took a step back as if she’d turn ill from touching him. “You don’t need my help?”
Mr. Skelly chuckled. “Maybe it’s because I have an affinity with the dead. He’s very compliant.”
The guild sweeper nodded once before turning to leave, practically running away. Mr. Skelly scratched his head as she vanished from his sight. “It seems like people don’t take too kindly to morticians here,” he said before reentering the building. Rella had cast an illusion to turn the mortician and the skeleton into Mr. Skelly. Mr. Skelly took a seat and picked up the mortician’s book. “I didn’t think you’d be interested in romance novels.”
The mortician, who was invisible, grunted in reply. He couldn’t speak with the bony fingers in his mouth.
“Relax, I’m not here to kill you. Or anyone for that matter.” Mr. Skelly tossed the book aside as he leaned forward, propping his elbows up on the mortician’s desk. “Why don’t we have a chat while we wait for my companions to arrive?”
The mortician gasped as the bony fingers left his mouth. “W-what do you want?”
Mr. Skelly shrugged. “Have you ever lost anyone? Is there someone you’d like to bring back from the dead? Not as a brainless corpse or skeleton but as someone like me: conscious, whole. I can do that, you know? My lord and resurrector, Lindyss the Corrupted One, invented a spell to do just that.”
The mortician fell silent. Mr. Skelly waited, his body completely motionless. “The dead are meant to stay dead,” the mortician said after a while.
“Says who?” Mr. Skelly asked. “If they were meant to stay dead, then I wouldn’t be here, would I?”
The mortician fell silent again. He sighed before shaking his head. “Every magic has a price. Something like bringing back the dead…, I can’t pay the price for that.”
“Three fat mana crystals.”
“Pardon?”
“That’s the price,” Mr. Skelly said. “Three fat mana crystals to reanimate one person, and one small mana crystal per day to maintain the spell.”
“You’re joking,” the mortician said.
“Though it’s true I joke a lot, I’m being completely honest here.”
“That’s—”
“Shh.” Mr. Skelly raised a finger and the mortician’s voice was cut off. Mr. Skelly cleared his throat. “So you two are the other clients?”
Two skeletons wearing the Happy Frogs’ symbol walked into the building. They exchanged glances. “Boss?”
“Already done,” Mr. Skelly said and stood up. He left the building and greeted the two guild sweepers. Like the first one, they shied away from him and immediately left once he told them he received the skeletons. He closed the door behind him as he entered the building. “Now then, shall we start?”
“What are you going to do?” the mortician asked as his mouth was once again relinquished.
“Reanimate everyone inside of the cemetery,” Mr. Skelly said. He exhaled. “This investment better pay off.” He turned his head towards the mortician. “Have you thought about it? Would you like to join our religion?”
“My wife…,” the mortician said. “You can bring her back? Will she remember me?”
“She’ll remember everything that’s ever happened to her,” Mr. Skelly said with a nod. “As long as my lich friend over here can touch her body, there will be no issue with her resurrection. But if she’s a skeleton, there’s no way for her to regrow her flesh.”
“What do you need me to do?” the mortician asked.
“Take us to the cemetery. Occasionally be our spokesperson. Nothing that will bring harm to your life. Probably.” Mr. Skelly nodded.
The mortician clenched his fists. “I’ll do it.”
“Excellent,” Mr. Skelly said and clapped his hands. The illusions surrounding his and the mortician’s bodies dispersed. Mr. Skelly grinned. “If you try to betray us…, well, use your imagination.”