Overlord Gaiden - Chapter 2

The Two Set Off

1

It had been two days since Suzuki Satoru met Keno Fasris Invern.

Suzuki Satoru had spent this time on exploring the divergences between his knowledge and abilities

and this world, as well as verifying the abilities of the items he carried.

After making ample preparations one morning, the two of them arrived at the vicinity of the royal

castle.

After taking shelter behind the walls of an abandoned house — it looked to have once been an

opulent home belonging to some noble or other — they poked their heads out from time to time to

observe the situation inside the castle.

The undead possessed darkvision. Therefore, when both the infiltrators and watchmen were

undead, the night was the ally of neither side. However, certain undead — like Vampires, for

instance — were weakened by sunlight, which would diminish their abilities.

If the undead being occupying the castle that they were hunting was an Overlord, then it would not

be penalized by sunlight, but the same could not be said for its minions. With that in mind, they had

chosen to launch their attack during the day.

The castle had not changed from when they had scouted it out yesterday. While it might still be

trapped, one could not do anything when one was afraid of everything,

“Are we really going to enter from the front?”

That’s the fifth time you’ve asked that, Suzuki Satoru thought, and then he answered her.

“That’s the first step. Well, we’ll probably be spotted. However, what the opposition does at that point

will be crucial. While we’ll change up our own actions at that point to match our alerted opposition in

the castle, it would be best to pinpoint the location of the enemy mastermind the first time around

and launch an ambush to eliminate him quickly. After all, the chances of failure grow the more time

passes between the first scouting and wiping out the enemy leader.”

Keno knew Suzuki Satoru could use tenth-tier spells and apparently she had assumed that he would

strike down his foe from the outside with some powerful spell. However, such a thing was

impossible, especially if the enemy was on Suzuki Satoru’s level. It would not fall to a single spell.

After that, once the master of the castle knew there was an assassin coming for him, he would

probably heighten his guard. In that case, it would be very hard for Suzuki Satoru, who lacked thief

skills, to infiltrate by himself.

Suzuki Satoru glanced at Keno.

She was equipped with various items she had borrowed from Suzuki Satoru. The most eye-catching

example was a gauntlet that had large gems set into the back of its hand.

It was a superior piece of workmanship called the Gauntlet of Primary Colors.

It was imbued with three spells: 「Body of Effulgent Beryl」, which reduced bludgeoning damage,

「Body of Effulgent Heliodor」, which reduced slashing damage and 「Body of Effulgent

Aquamarine」, which reduced piercing damage. Thus it could be said that it lessened all physical

damage taken by the wearer. Normally speaking, these three spells would overwrite each other

when cast and so they would not be able to coexist, but this gauntlet stood as an exception to that

rule. In addition, each spell could completely negate one instance of the damage they resisted, and

this item also retained that ability.

However, this item was not as handy as it sounded.

The item would break if any of the negation abilities were used. Still, if that was all, one might still

consider gathering a large amount of them and using them as disposable items. However, it also

bore the extreme drawback of not being able to equip any other items to that item slot within four

hours of it breaking. In addition, the activation of those abilities was not up to the wearer; rather, it

would automatically activate if a certain amount of damage was taken. Frankly speaking, it would be

considered a trash item by players of Suzuki Satoru’s level, and so he had around ten of them in his

inventory.

There were probably at least twice that amount in Nazarick’s Treasury.

He sighed as he thought about Nazarick. If only he had the various items in there, he would have

more options to choose from and be able to adopt a more spell-heavy strategy.

Pathetic…

The Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick had vanished when the game ended. All that remained

was the legacy of the guild, the character Momonga, the Ring, and this Staff.

“Now then,” Suzuki said, and after regaining his spirits, he cast 「Summon Undead 1st」 to conjure

an Animal Zombie, specifically a Dog Zombie. 

Zombies moved slowly, and the Zombies of this city looked different from the Zombies that Suzuki

Satoru had created. While he could not do it in YGGDRASIL, it was not impossible to disguise them

with clothes. However, in the end he had still chosen a Dog Zombie for its speed.

After that, he cast 「Undeath Slave Sight」.

This way, Suzuki Satoru could see what the Dog Zombie could see. 

Wraiths were incorporeal and could pass through walls. They were thus suitable for infiltration, but

he could not use 「Undeath Slave Sight」 with them. Suzuki Satoru knew that it had been possible

once, but it had been patched out at some point. Perhaps the patch might not have applied to this

world, so he tested it out, but in the end it did not work after all. 

It would probably be best to consider that all of Suzuki Satoru’s abilities were operating under the

rules of the latest patches. 

In that case, what would happen if Keno used 「Undeath Slave Sight」? While the question had

crossed his mind, he could not test it out because she could not cast spells of that tier. However, the

magic of YGGDRASIL and this world were quite similar, so perhaps she would be using the post-

patch version of the spell as well.

What on earth is with this world?

He could not believe that this was just a game world, no matter how he tried. However, neither could

he believe that Suzuki Satoru had met with some accident in the real world and this was a dream he

was seeing in the moment before his death.

It might be better to say he had been transported to another world — or reborn into it. Perhaps such

an explanation might be closer to the truth. 

Well, I don’t have the time to be thinking about questions like this now, do I? If my opponent is on the

level of an Overlord, then distraction might mean death for me. I need to utterly destroy him and

leave him nowhere to run.

Finally, he had given it a cash item to hold in its mouth.

It was called the Exchange Puppet.

Both the distance that Suzuki Satoru had come and the fact that Keno was here had been carefully

calculated with this item in mind. If he could not use this item, then there would have been no need

to bring Keno at all.

With that, his preparations were complete.

He gave a mental command of “Go,” and the Dog Zombie walked forward. 

Personally, he would have preferred it to run, but he had checked and confirmed that the Dog

Zombies within the city did not run. For that reason, having it run would be very suspicious, and so

he had ordered it to walk instead. 

It leaped over a ruined portion of the castle wall and walked straight through the castle gate.

Suzuki Satoru had thought that undead minions would have shown up. He felt slightly disappointed

when there were none.

According to Keno, the undead creature that had taken over the castle had not brought any minions

with it when she had first seen it. However, a long time had passed since it had taken the castle, and

so he should have gathered several minions to itself, most likely undead ones.

Well, I guess I’m lucky that there aren’t any… although I can’t be sure that there really aren’t any.

「Undeath Slave Sight」 took effect through the vision of the Dog Zombie. Therefore, Suzuki

Satoru’s ability to see through invisibility effects would not work. Thus, it was possible that there

might be invisible undead around. However, he would not be able to do anything if he kept cowering

from everything. 

Suzuki Satoru had the Dog Zombie enter the castle. He had already learned from external

observation that there were Zombies wandering throughout the castle. Since they had been

protected from the weather, those Zombies were better dressed than others, allowing others to see

that they were people working within the castle. 

These Zombies did not show any hostility to the Dog Zombie, much like how they had treated Suzuki

Satoru when he had first arrived in this world. In other words, they were not under the control of the

mysterious undead being within this castle.

Still, even if they had the same abilities at Suzuki Satoru, surely they would not employ their limited-

use abilities on a mere Dog Zombie.

“…Zombies, then. No, only Zombies.”

“Yes. There are Zombies inside the castle — everyone inside the castle who turned into a Zombie.”

In other words, he could not consider them as defensive forces.

As the Dog Zombie continued forward, Suzuki Satoru began to feel baffled.

There should have been high-tier undead here, standing watch over the entrance and passages. But

as he had expected, there were none.

There’s an upper limit to the levels’ worth of undead that one can control. That should still be the

same even in this world, so it’s possible that he might have placed powerful undead creatures by his

side. Speaking of which… shouldn’t he have at least positioned one such creature near the castle’s

entrance?

He continued advancing the Dog Zombie through the castle.

It carried on as though its surroundings were totally devoid of people, although there were Zombies

wandering all over the place.

Suzuki Satoru gradually began to feel uneasy.

Things should not have gone this smoothly. He began wondering if this was a trap.

According to Punitto Moe-san’s PKing For Dummies, right now I should back off and assess the

situation, right? However, that assumes the enemy is on the same level as me and has PK

experience. Is it possible that he might not have such experience, which is why his defenses are full

of holes and he seems to lack any sense of caution?

The Dog Zombie continued past the Zombies wandering inside the castle, as laid out in the

infiltration plan. Its wobbly gait from just now was calculated to make the opposition think this was an

ordinary Dog Zombie that had accidentally stumbled in.

That said, I don’t think it’s going to be of any use. Still, most unintelligent undead — the controlled

kind, who only know how to obey simple orders — probably won’t notice or run off to tell their

master.

Yesterday, he had asked Keno, “If you had to position sentries, where would you put them?” and the

Dog Zombie was following the path she believed to be safest. It ended at Keno’s father’s room —

the biggest and most luxurious room in the castle. If there was an enemy leader, it would most likely

be found there.

Fortunately, the floor and ceiling had not collapsed from decay, and the Dog Zombie soon neared its

destination. If the enemy had deployed a wide-area 「Delay Teleportation」 effect, then all his plans

would go up in smoke; therefore he had also factored in the maximum radius of such an effect.

“We’re going into close contact after this. Use the crystal in an emergency.”

“Understood — I’m counting on you, Satoru-sama.”

He memorized the scenery that the Dog Zombie had seen, and then had it back off. Suzuki Satoru

could still switch places with it by using its cash item if he felt he was in danger, so he sincerely

hoped that it could successfully escape.

He then began to buff himself.

He could not forget to cast 「See Through」 on himself. There was a limit to the powers of a Dog

Zombie’s vision. There might really have been an invisible undead being along the way, and there

was no telling if it was trailing behind the Dog Zombie. Such caution was well-warranted.

And then there was the most important thing — 「Perfect Unknowable」. 

There was no need to change out his equipment. He had already kitted himself out to face a

necromancer before coming here.

In the moment that Suzuki Satoru cast 「Greater Teleportation」, he was taken to his memorized

location.

He looked around to see if there were any undead creatures that the Dog Zombie had missed.

—There were none.

He could not be relieved just yet. What took its place was a tension born of fear that filled his bony

body. 

The idea that he was in the heart of the enemy territory made his nonexistent heart pound, However,

that anxiety did not make him stiffen up, probably because he was undead.

He advanced without a sound, using flight to ensure he did not touch the ground. 

Slowly, he approached the king’s chamber.

He was almost there. Just then, the door suddenly opened, and he could see an undead creature

beyond it.

Suzuki Satoru’s face turned gray. 

This was one of the worst-case scenarios.

It was an encounter.

The appearance and equipment of the undead being he saw looked very similar to what Keno had

described.

Seeing the undead being that looked like an Overlord did not make Suzuki Satoru feel like his

chance had come. Rather, it felt more like danger approaching. The words “fall back” came to mind,

but the plan had always been to conduct a reconnaissance in force; how could he leave without

seeing a single one of the opposition’s trump cards?

Negotiating with his opposition had never been an option from the start. Therefore, Suzuki Satoru

cast his spell, like a killer from the darkness.

“「Triplet Maximize Magic Reality Slash」”

He opened with his most damaging spell. This was a good move that allowed him to disregard his

opponent’s resistances. However, it would not allow him to gain much information. That said, he did

not care much about finding his opponent’s resistances and he did not have the time to use 「Time

Stop」 and similar spells to discern his weaknesses.

The spell, known as the most damaging of tenth-tier spells, struck the undead being, who wobbled.

Suzuki Satoru immediately considered his next move.

I can’t take out an Overlord in one hit. Then what about repeating the same spell? No, the enemy

might teleport away and come back with reinforcements. Then should I block his teleportation?

「Perfect Unknowable」 was dispelled when I attacked, should I recast it and then make my

escape? Come to think of it, why did he show himself alone in front of an intruder who could make it

this far into a powerful undead being’s territory? Where are his minions? Is he taking me lightly?

As his mind raced, inspiration suddenly struck Suzuki Satoru.

It was all a trap, designed to create an opportunity where Suzuki Satoru would leave Keno’s side.

“Tch!” 

Suzuki Satoru could not help exclaiming as the anxiety got to him.

That was very likely.

And then the undead being which lay flat on the ground crumbled to nothing, as though a long time

had passed for it, leaving only its gear to roll along the ground. Among them was an important item

that Keno had mentioned — a crystal wand.

“Is, is it dead?”

Impossible, Suzuki Satoru thought. That single attack could not have beaten an Overlord.

Could it be an illusion?

Suzuki Satoru immediately ruled out that notion. Anything short of special illusions or specialized

class skills were useless against undead beings like himself. Therefore, it was most likely not an

illusion.

No, wait, could this be something unique to this world, an illusion-specialized Overlord? Something

which doesn’t exist in YGGDRASIL? If we go by the basic principle of losing something to gain

something else, then is it possible that it lost the ability to dominate other undead as a price for its

abilities? It’s not impossible, right?

Of course, Suzuki Satoru had also harbored doubts that, “Keno had overestimated the opposition’s

strength and they were actually very weak.” However, any losses caused by overestimating the

opposition ought to be lighter than the losses incurred by underestimating them.

It would just be a joke if the former was the case, but things would not be that simple if it were the

latter. Therefore, Suzuki Satoru rejected the possibility that he had overestimated his foe.

Given the present circumstances, that left only one answer.

“It’s a trap!”

What was the objective of this trap?

Why had the enemy given his double imitation gear? Had it really come out of the room by accident?

If that was not the case, then he ought to assume that the opposition was already aware of his plans.

Did word get out? Then this might be a trap targeted at me or Keno — or even both of us!

If the trap was only intended to catch Suzuki Satoru, then this was a place that could seal his doom,

and the danger would only grow the longer he remained. But what if Keno was their target? Or both

of them?

Looking around, he saw no sign that the enemy was launching an attack.

Erk!

It was most likely that this trap was aimed at Keno. After all, Suzuki Satoru had only just appeared

several days ago.

—No! Wait! Could it be that this undead summoned me to this world? But — could this be possible?

Normally speaking, this would be a trap for Keno.

Or perhaps there was some secret to this castle and so he was looking for Keno, who was its key.

Perhaps he had been observing everything Suzuki Satoru and Keno had been doing, just as Suzuki

Satoru had been observing the opposition. The enemy was probably waiting for his chance to

separate Keno from her trump card, Suzuki Satoru.

It’s possible!

After considering that it was very likely it was all a trap, Suzuki Satoru heartily congratulated his

enemy.

He had probably been in the palm of his opponent’s hand all this time. 

If he went to look for Keno now, it was very likely that he would be walking into a lethal ambush by

his enemy’s main forces that had been laid beforehand. Suzuki Satoru — no, Punitto Moe would

have done such a thing. 

If it was him doing it, he would probably use Keno as a hostage to negotiate with his enemy.

This would be killing two birds with one stone.

Right now, the best course of action for Suzuki Satoru would be to teleport somewhere safe. After

that, if Keno were captured by the enemy, he would find some way to rescue her. If there truly was

no way to do so, then that would be farewell for her.

From the opposition’s point of view, not killing Suzuki Satoru here was because he was wary of him.

If Suzuki Satoru fled right now with his tail between his legs, he would probably not give chase. All

would be fine as long as they did not gain anything from Keno.

“Tch.”

Suzuki Satoru clicked his tongue and looked outside, then decided to teleport into the air.

His field of vision suddenly shifted, like it had when he had invaded the castle. It would seem there

were no teleport-blocking measures in place. The worst-case scenario, the one that Suzuki Satoru

wanted to avoid, was if he could teleport into the castle but not leave the same way.

While one could not teleport into or out of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, there were

many dungeons in the game that prohibited escape by teleportation.

Looking down from the air, the outer walls of the noble estate where Keno was hiding were plainly

visible to him. Using his improved eyesight after becoming Momonga, he could tell with certainty that

there had been no changes from before his intrusion, However closely he looked, he could not see

any enemies around Keno. 

Is he… using Keno as bait? I see. His plan is probably to wait till I take the bait and seize us both

together. Well-played.

Suzuki Satoru smiled.

It was the smile of one who had completely seen through his opponent’s plans.

Suzuki Satoru cast 「Perfect Unknowable」 and looked down from the sky.

There’ll be a good chance to save Keno when the enemy notices me in the air and moves into action

on the ground.

Suzuki Satoru observed Keno from the air, in the hopes of divining his adversary’s intentions.

And so, three minutes passed.

He heard nothing, besides the wind blowing through the air. Nothing flew over at him, and certainly

nothing attacked Keno.

What, what’s this? Why isn’t the enemy doing anything!? Could it be — he’s waiting for me to make

a move, and then respond to it?

“Dammit! You’re pretty good!” Suzuki Satoru muttered to himself.

The opposition’s pretty smart. They know we don’t want to die too. In that case — I’ll do this.

Suzuki Satoru decided to make a move and change the situation.

He would contact Keno with 「Message」 and then change the location of the battlefield.

“Keno, it’s me, Satoru. I’m watching you from the air. Your present location is now very dangerous.

Head to the hiding place in the sewers right away.”

“『You’re lying!』”

And with that, the 「Message」 was cut off.

“What!?”

What was the meaning of that? The undead Suzuki Satoru panicked at Keno’s wholly

incomprehensible reaction.

The 「Message」 was a lie? …Don’t tell me Keno’s already been hit by an enemy spell? But she’s

undead, right? She shouldn’t be subject to mind-affecting effects. No, that’s just my YGGDRASIL

knowledge. Are the undead in this world vulnerable to mental effects too? I don’t get it! Was Keno in

league with the enemy all along? But she was the one who found the hiding place, don’t tell me that

was the enemy’s doing too… what should I do?

The PK handbook did not mention situations like this, and Suzuki Satoru had no prior information to

fall back on.

Should I just forget about everything and run? Suzuki Satoru thought. He had observed Keno’s

surroundings from the air for a full seven minutes and nothing had changed.

Having grown tired of listening to the wind, Suzuki Satoru spoke quietly.

“…There’s no signs of movement at all.”

The pointless wait had banished the excitement of being involved in a life-or-death battle.

No, this is also an enemy trap. Time means nothing to we who are undead… that said, waiting is

hard to bear, but it’s no big deal. The enemy must be waiting for me to get anxious and rush out!

A voice in his heart said, “That’s probably the case,” and Suzuki Satoru abandoned his plans to flee.

Instead, he continued waiting.

—Ten minutes had passed.

…This is strange. Something is definitely not right. Anyway, I’ll start by getting the Dog Zombie… ah.

That would mean the Dog Zombie with the cash item would disappear… I wouldn’t be able to find

the item either. Urgh…

He could not have it deliver something to Keno either.

He could not summon or create undead.

He considered that the opposition might have avoided them and entered the sewer, then stationed

fairly powerful undead there. If he wiped out those undead now, then he would need to worry about

being ambushed by the enemy in the sewers while they were retreating.

As he thought that, he shifted his attention to the Dog Zombie he had summoned with his excess

mana. It had already returned to the vicinity of the castle gate to stand by.

Then should I send it over to Keno and show her the way?

Perhaps the enemy had not attacked because he had discovered Suzuki Satoru in the air.

Therefore, if Suzuki Satoru was gone, the enemy might decide to take action.

After considering that point, Suzuki Satoru cast 「Greater Teleportation」 again and teleported to

the courtyard of a house not far from Keno’s position. After he made sure that he was not visible

from the castle, he ordered the Dog Zombie to move towards Keno.

It would seem Keno was using 「Invisibility」, because the Dog Zombie could not see her. However,

when the Dog Zombie reached the area he had seen from the air, Keno suddenly appeared.

The Dog Zombie tugged at the hem of Keno’s dress.

Keno seemed to understand its meaning and jogged behind the Dog Zombie as it led the way.

After finally emerging from hiding, Suzuki Satoru could see Keno as the Dog Zombie brought her

over. However, he could not relax yet. Undead beings with high-level thief skills were not common,

but they still existed. Someone like that might launch a sneak attack. 

“Satoru-sama! You’re safe!”

It had been far beyond the appointed time, and she was probably very worried. Keno looked

overjoyed, but now was not the time to be happy.

“Come here!”

Suzuki Satoru leapt out and took Keno’s hand. There was no time to explain everything to Keno,

whose eyes were wide. Suzuki Satoru immediately cast 「Greater Teleportation」, taking Keno and

the Dog Zombie to their sewer base.

He checked his surroundings after arriving, paying particular attention to the entrance. There was no

sign the door had been opened. The Eyeball Corpse floating in the air had not been damaged either.

He could be sure that it was safe.

“Whew.”

It was only when he returned here that Suzuki Satoru allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief.

After that, he remembered that he had to explain things to Keno.

After dismissing the Dog Zombie and picking up the cash item, Suzuki Satoru began his explanation.

The main points were that he had wiped out the undead being Keno had been talking about, but the

enemy was far too weak, so it was possible that it might have been a body double or something

similar. Thus, he had chosen to withdraw.

“No, I don’t think that’s the case. Don’t you think you defeated it so easily because you’re such a

powerful magic caster, Satoru-sama?”

“If it had been an Overlord like me, then surely it would not have gone down so easily. “

“The difference between my strength and the enemy’s is too great, so all I could tell was that it was

very powerful. Could that be possible?”

“I considered that too… in that case, I’ll go check by myself again.”

It was very dangerous, but it was also the only way. 

Suzuki Satoru could sense the presence of the undead, but he could not sense their strength.

Therefore, he had no choice but to evaluate them with his own eyes.

“Thank you very much.”

“The search might take one or two hours, so you’ll need to wait here.”

After ordering the Eyeball Corpse to protect Keno, Suzuki Satoru teleported to the noble estate

again. He observed the interior of the castle from there, but there was no commotion or any sign that

the alert level had been increased.

He conjured a powerful undead being with 「Summon Undead 10th」 and sent it into the castle.

However, no battle ensued. Thus, Suzuki Satoru steeled his resolve and followed closely behind it.

He retraced the Dog Zombie’s path to the throne room.

On his way there, he did not encounter any other undead besides Zombies.

The door to the throne room remained open. The robe and gear of the undead being he had wiped

out earlier were scattered on the ground.

No way… don’t tell me he was really too weak? —Ah, this is bad, I made a mistake. Perhaps that

really was a body double and the real thing fled immediately once he realized he couldn’t beat me.

That’s certainly possible. If I’d known this back then, would things have been better if I had opened

with 「Dimensional Lock」 or some other battlefield control spell instead of attack magic?

I made a bad move, he lamented as he directed the undead being beside him into the room. There

were no undead reactions from inside, but he could not eliminate the possibility that there were

guards inside who were not undead.

After seeing that his minion had not been attacked, Suzuki Satoru stepped in front of the room and

peeked inside.

Of the many tables inside, a lot of them had been moved over from other rooms. They were stacked

with books, until they formed a heaping pile. Parchments and rough papers were strewn all over the

ground, and they were filled with characters that Suzuki Satoru did not recognize. 

It looked like the room of a scholar, or a bureaucrat who dealt heavily in paperwork. 

“The information’s all here… but there’s nobody around?”

Suzuki Satoru took all the items on the ground into his inventory. While he wanted to investigate

them right away, he ought to keep being on the lookout for powerful undead as his top priority.

Suzuki Satoru pretty much turned the interior of the castle upside down.

Two hours later, he folded his arms and began to think.

I can’t find him anywhere! He’s fled… no, I doubt it. Escaping by himself would be one thing, but it

would be impossible to flee with all his minions under my watch. More importantly, he left all these

document-like things here. In addition, there were no signs that any other rooms were used…

basically I can conclude that the opposition was too weak.

Suzuki Satoru fumed over all the time and brain cells he had wasted. One could say that this was a

failure brought about by fighting without making appropriate backup plans ahead of time.

If Punitto-san heard about this, he’d nag me all day long about “Things went so well simply because

you were lucky,” etc.

In truth, he might have been worse off if the enemy had not been so weak. This place was different

from the game. Perhaps he only had one life — after all, he did not know how the resurrection

mechanics worked — and therefore, he needed to take better care of himself.

After reaffirming his thoughts, Suzuki Satoru set off to where Keno was.

“Hahhh, the Zombies are still Zombies… as I thought returning them to normal isn’t that easy. Still,

that’s why this was such a priority… but when you get down to it, can you really restore them?”

Suzuki Satoru took the wand he had picked up just now from his inventory. He looked it over, then

put it away and cast his teleportation spell.

2

Suzuki Satoru returned to the castle with Keno in tow. This time, he was planning to search the

interior more carefully. He lent Keno an item that could cast 「Fly」 and the two of them used

「Fly」 to look around the inside of the castle. All Keno did was to see if there was anything different

about the castle compared to when she had lived in it. Even so, checking such a huge castle took

quite a lot of time.

In the end, they had not turned up anything special. Keno had locked her parents in her mother’s

room. While they were still undead, they were also still intact. It would seem that undead being had

not been interested in anything other than turning the throne room into a research lab. 

And so they returned to the sewer for the time being. After Keno’s mana recovered, they cast

「Fly」 again and headed to the throne room for more in-depth investigations.

The sun set, and night slowly descended upon the land.

The throne room was divided into three rooms. The one adjoining the door was piled high with

books, the second was heaped with treasures gathered from throughout the city, and the final room

was the undead being’s lab. It contained some mysterious fluids and a stench that would not go

away.

After seeking Keno’s opinion on the matter, Suzuki Satoru decided to put all the items into his

inventory since it did not exceed his weight capacity, and then he moved them into a random room.

Keno had originally wanted to go back to her own chambers, but Suzuki Satoru shot that idea down.

If they were going to do that, they would not have needed to use 「Fly」 while conducting their

investigations.

After that, they decided to move on to the room once used by the maids. When Suzuki Satoru had

first explored it, both he and his minion had prepared to move into the room, but instead they had

gotten a faceful of white dust. It was less dusty now, though.

“There’s so much dust…”

Suzuki Satoru had been mentally prepared for this, and all he could do was shrug at Keno’s

lamentation.

“Well, it’s been a long time since someone lived here.”

The floor was thick with dust, which indicated that nobody had set foot in here for a long time.

Therefore, the two of them did not dwell on it after giving it a once-over. 

Keno was the first one into the room. She went through it and opened the window.

The wind that rushed in threw up a great deal of dust. If there were any living creatures present who

needed to breathe, they would probably have been coughing by now. However, both of them were

undead, who had no such need, and the most that the clouds of dust could do was mildly annoy

them.

“May I clean up this room?”

You don’t need to ask my permission for that, Suzuki Satoru thought, and then he answered.

“I don’t mind. However, what do you think of cleaning up the dust this way?”

Suzuki Satoru took out a scroll. As a compulsive hoarder, he was the sort of person who did not use

consumable items lightly. However, this was just a low-level item and he had many superior

substitutes for it, so it did not matter to him. 

The scroll contained a 「Summon Monster 1st」 spell. 

It could summon a low-level Lesser Air Elemental. There was no need to speak to it; it was as

though it had a mental link to the caster, who could give orders with a mental impulse.

The Air Elemental began spinning, and it swiftly blew the dust within the room outside.

“Keno-san, this scroll contains the same kind of spell. Why don’t you try summoning a Water

Elemental with it?”

Suzuki Satoru handed the scroll to her and Keno cast the spell, summoning a Lesser Water

Elemental, as he had said.

“Thank you, Satoru-sama.”

“There’s no need to stand on ceremony. Don’t take it to heart. Elementals summoned by first tier

scrolls only exist for a short time. Please keep your priorities in mind when cleaning the room.”

“Alright!”

“Also, you can dispel the 「Fly」 spell now.”

“Got it!”

Although there had been no great changes in the situation, perhaps being able to regain her home

made Keno visibly happier, and she nodded. As he observed the marked change in Keno, Suzuki

Satoru contemplated it with a calmness that surprised even himself.

He had given Keno the scroll for a reason.

While he had conducted many tests after coming to this world, this was the first time he had actually

used a consumable item like a scroll.

I see… so YGGDRASIL scrolls can be used by the inhabitants of this world. Then what about the

other way around? I’d like to test that out too. Also, the Elementals summoned by the scroll are very

short-lived — she didn’t seem to find anything wrong with that. So my knowledge of scrolls in

YGGDRASIL is also applicable to this world… am I right?

While he had asked Keno about things like that before, he had his proof now. It was not that he did

not trust her, but seeing was believing, after all.

As he had said, the two Elementals soon vanished, but by that time the room was already quite

clean.

“Where shall we look next?”

“I wanted to start from this bundle of parchments.”

Why had that undead creature come here?

Who was that undead being?

What lay behind all this?

And most importantly — was there really a way to restore the people who had been turned into

Zombies?

It was those questions in her heart which drove her, giving her the faint hope that she could find the

answer within those parchments, which was why she wanted to start with them.

Just as Keno was about to open up those rolled-up parchments that reeked of a foreboding odor,

Suzuki Satoru stopped her.

“Is something the matter, Satoru-sama?”

“Allow me to remind you, but have you checked if they contain traps? Is it possible that they contain

some sort of magical trap?”

“—Eh?”

“Some traps are disguised as scrolls. When people try to use them, they explode, and so on.”

“Do, do such things exist?”

“Huh, you mean they don’t?”

The two of them looked at each other.

“Ah, er, Satoru-sama, do you have a solution?”

“I’m not good at disarming traps. I think it would be best to let one of my created undead open it.”

Saying so, Suzuki Satoru created a Death Knight.

He had the Death Knight go outside the room and open it from a distance. However, the problem

was that ordinary parchment would also burn in the event of an explosion, so he had to take each

piece out individually to check if they were safe.

After repeating the process with all the parchments, they moved on to the books.

While the Death Knight repeated a rote action, Keno was also checking the parchments that had

been declared safe.

However, Keno’s face froze.

“I’m sorry, Satoru-sama. I don’t understand these words…”

“Ah…”

He had heard before that many languages existed in this world. Suzuki Satoru stood behind Keno

and looked at the parchments. Wow, I can’t believe it’s in Japanese — but such wishful thinking was

not to be.

“In that case—” Suzuki Satoru took a monocle out of his inventory. “I’ll lend this to you. This item

should allow you to translate languages.”

Suzuki Satoru did not use it himself because he felt that he would not be able to understand the

contents of the research.

As a proper adult, he ought to check if it contained any content that was not suitable for children, but

this was still better than looking at it and saying, “It’s too specialized, I don’t understand it,” and then

handing it to Keno.

Keno did not seem to realize that Suzuki Satoru was abasing himself in his heart and thanked him.

Then, she put on the monocle and began reading.

It would seem the monocle was effective, because Keno began perusing the contents of the

parchments..

She read in silence, reaching for the next parchment after finishing the first. In order not to disturb

Keno, Suzuki Satoru moved aside. 

There was nothing he, as a person who had never considered magic to be a field of study, could

learn from them. From time to time, Keno would mention a question about magical principles — to

Suzuki Satoru it was just confusing. He did not feign knowledge either; instead replying with a simple

“I don’t know.”

Even though Suzuki Satoru did not seem to know anything, Keno did not seem to distrust him.

After all, the fact of his overwhelming power was on full display, and there were some classes which

controlled magic by feeling rather than theoretical knowledge. She must have taken him for one of

those feel-based magic casters.

As he looked at Keno’s small frame, buried in her books, Suzuki Satoru began to lay out the items

he had discovered on the ground.

At the same time, he used his spells to see what kind of magic was imbued into those items. The

first one he investigated was a staff.

After seeing the magic it contained, he called out to Keno, despite feeling a little embarrassed.

“Excuse me, but could you come over and take a look at this item?”

“Ah! Yes!”

Keno hurriedly turned to look his way.

“About these it—”

“—Ah!”

Keno stood up from her seat and ran over to the items, where she picked it up.

“This is it! As long as we have this!”

The look of delight on Keno seemed like it would revert to normal from time to time, but it was

unconsciously replaced by joy again.

“Is this the resurrection item you mentioned earlier?”

The notion in his heart had been validated; this was an item the undead being had abandoned when

he invaded.

This was one of the nation’s treasures, along with the Mask of Ilvia Hordan, the Robe of the First

Invern, and the Gauntlet of the Griffin Lord.

It was a transparent wand, carved out of a gigantic crystal and further worked upon.

Its name was Lost White.

If what she said yesterday was right, then Suzuki Satoru believed that the spell contained within it

ought to be the fifth-tier divine spell 「Raise Dead」. But according to his investigations just now,

the spell’s effects were slightly different. Or rather, it looked like a wand, it should be usable as a

wand, but fundamentally, it was something else entirely.

It felt like a bit of a shame to just use it like that.

However, while Suzuki Satoru also had resurrective items which contained higher-tier spells, he had

no intention of taking them out until yesterday. 

One of the reasons was because he was not sure if resurrection magic followed the same

mechanics in this world. But it was true that he had covered that part up.

Suzuki Satoru was not nearly thick-skinned enough to be frank about that. However, Momonga now

had no skin to speak of. 

“Yes! Now I’m sure everyone can be…”

Keno bit her lip for a moment, probably because there was no way to save everyone with a limited-

use item. No, it was obvious that a powerful item would have some kind of limits on its usage. Keno

was now in a position where she would have to decide who to save.

“Even so, we’ll need to destroy them first before we’ll get a chance to restore them to human

beings.”

“Then how can I bring them back to life?”

“Erm… how about ending their life as a Zombie and then trying to resurrect them with this item?”

“I see… we won’t be able to test it out in the castle, then,” Suzuki Satoru explained to a mystified

Keno.

“While my knowledge of this nation might differ from this one, if we destroy a Zombie here — pardon

me, if we kill someone here, it’s possible that we might incur the hostility of all the surrounding

Zombies. In order to avoid that, we need to take our test Zombie far away where it won’t generate

hostility. However, I have no idea how far that would be. Do you have any ideas?”

“Huh? Ah, yes, is it like that?”

“…It isn’t?”

The two of them looked at each other.

This was not so much a divide in their understanding of the world so much as neither of them not

being sure what the problem was. Therefore, they needed to discuss the gains and losses of such

an action together.

In the end, they decided to let Keno finish reading all the books first. This was a decision made in the

hope that one of them would give her an answer, entrusting their luck to the heavens. 

After seeing Keno pick her books up again, Suzuki Satoru went back to examining the remaining

items from that undead creature.

As Suzuki Satoru picked up a silver necklace, he knitted his nonexistent eyebrows. 

This isn’t a magic item… it’s an enchanted necklace. Is this kind of accessory in style?

One could not equip multiple magic items to the same item slot. While one could wear many magical

items around their neck, he had heard from Keno that only the powers from the item that had been

last put on would be usable, so it would seem that principle was the same in this world as it was in

YGGDRASIL.

While he did not particularly mind if that undead being was the sort of fellow who adorned himself

with pointless ornamentation, it did not seem to be the case. He did not have any other non-magical

items besides this necklace. 

There must be some meaning to this.

There was a circular silver object depending from the necklace. It looked slightly worn, but he could

clearly see what looked like symbols and letters carved into it.

Is there some significance to this? Is it a key for something? No, it might be a holy symbol of some

kind, for an undead creature. Or was this some core item with religious significance? 

There seems to be something on the back, it looks like some kind of… guild badge… ah! Does this

imply that it belongs to some organization?

He was unsure of the meaning of this, so all he could do was conjecture. However, it would be bad if

it belonged to some group.

While I’m wary because it’s possible… I just have to pay that Keno knows the meaning of that

emblem.

Keno was speed-reading, flipping rapidly through the books.

From the side, he could see a tense and frightened look on her face. He probably would not be

hearing good news from her. 

“Keno-san, I’m sorry to interrupt while you’re busy, but could you help me take a look at this

necklace?”

“Huh? Ah, yes… let’s see, it doesn’t look like letters. Are they… marks?”

“I see. Then what about things on your end?”

There was a pile of books that had been read and a pile of books which had not been read. He had

asked because the former dwarfed the latter. Keno sighed heavily. It was a sigh which sounded like

it came from a company employee who would be working overnight. It did not sound like a sigh that

ought to have come from a youthful-looking girl.

“Firstly, those books concerned various kinds of magical knowledge. The parchments, on the other

hand, contained matters that the undead being was looking into — messily-written research notes.

But they were too complex, so it’s possible I might have misinterpreted them to some extent.”

Keno rounded her shoulders in dejection. Her voice sounded gloomy too.

“It’s just… that powerful undead being that I thought was the mastermind doesn’t seem to have

anything to do with the people of the city becoming undead.”

I thought so too, Suzuki Satoru mused.

That undead creature had been far too weak for someone who could turn an entire city into

Zombies.

“While I found something that looked like a diary, it only said that the undead creature you killed was

also puzzled by how everyone in the city could have turned into a Zombie, and that he’d liked to

have investigated it if he had the time. Also…”

Keno looked like she was about to say something, and then she changed her mind.

“…That’s all. It didn’t have anything to do with that undead being.”

“Is that so? Then what are you going to do?”

“…Even so, I still want to see if they can be resurrected.”

There was a hollow determination in Keno’s voice. She probably understood that it would be

useless. After all, she was the one who said that there might be a possibility if they eliminated the

main culprit, and now she was the one saying that the undead being that Suzuki Satoru had wiped

out had nothing to do with it. That said, even if she understood, she still had to give it a try.

Suzuki Satoru looked at the girl and thought about a fire.

It was about how even if one was alone, there was no need to put out a fire that had been prepared

for others.

“Is that so… in that case, we won’t use your parents. We’ll experiment with one of the guards.”

Keno’s face twisted as she heard the words “experiment”. However, she did not say anything,

because she knew that pretty words would not be able to change the reality of the situation.

Suzuki Satoru began by opening the window and jumping out, using 「Fly」 to hover in mid-air.

From there, he memorized a location far in the distance, beyond the city limits, and teleported there.

Once he reached his destination, he surveyed his surroundings with his ability, and after verifying

that there were no undead around, he memorized the area and cast 「Greater Teleportation」 to

return to Keno’s side. 

After that, the two of them left the room. Keno led him to a guard who had apparently been quite

strong in life before becoming a Zombie, and then he cast 「Gate」.

He grabbed part of the guard’s armor in order to make certain that it could not be interpreted as an

attack, then dragged him into the 「Gate」.

And so, the three of them were transported outside the city. 

Just as Keno said, “I’ll do it,” Suzuki Satoru killed the Zombie in one blow, without saying a word.

He did not smash his head to bits with a crushing weapon. Instead, he lopped his head off with a

magically-conjured sword.

“Now then, can you use that item?”

“A-Alright…”

The pure white light within the wand moved to the corpse of the Zombie guard. 

The corpse slowly got to its feet, but that was not a sign that it had returned to life. It was simply a

Zombie moving once more.

Keno lowered her head, and Suzuki Satoru, who had been worried about being attacked, let his

caution fade. The Zombie just walked around aimlessly, with no signs of hostility. Presumably, any

aggro that had been generated had faded with its death.

“…What should we do?” Suzuki Satoru asked. After a brief period of introspection, Keno raised her

head and looked Suzuki Satoru in the eye.

“—Satoru-sama. Do you think that I can restore everyone if I work hard enough on my research?”

Her voice was ponderous and heavy.

It was the voice of someone who did not even believe herself. It was the voice of someone whose

only hope had been crushed to bits.

Suzuki Satoru thought for a while. He could try to comfort her or simply to gloss it over. He could

also try to steer the topic back to an appropriate direction. However, he compared it to his own

image from several days ago, and then he discarded all those selfish notions.

He quickly inhaled, and then Suzuki Satoru met Keno’s gaze before speaking.

“I won’t say the possibility is zero. While I haven’t studied magic academically, I feel that there might

be someone out there in this world who might know what happened here. If we ask them for help,

perhaps we might be able to devise an effective solution. However… it’ll be very difficult.”

“…I, I think so too.”

The undead could not cry. They lacked the capacity to shed tears.

However, Suzuki Satoru knew that Keno was crying.

“Actually, I’d sensed it from a long time ago. There wouldn’t be a happy end to all of this, with the

sun rising and everyone waking up by themselves. In the end, I couldn’t save anyone, and I couldn’t

bring about an ending like that…”

“You can’t be certain that you can’t save them.”

“I can’t be certain that I can save them either, right?”

Suzuki Satoru expressed his agreement with silence. However, that was based on the YGGDRASIL

knowledge that Suzuki Satoru had.

“…Like I said earlier, we can’t say for sure that the possibility is zero.”

Suzuki Satoru looked to the sky, and the faces of his former friends floated in the night sky. After

making up his mind, Suzuki Satoru expelled a breath. 

“…I have a friend called Yamaiko. She often said that children were a treasure. Right now, I will carry

out her will.”

Suzuki Satoru produced the Ring of Shooting Stars that Yamaiko had given him. Truth to be told, he

did not want to waste it in such a way. But Yamaiko would scold him if he did not use it now.

After all, with this in hand, I can use the remaining two wishes for whatever I want.

A strange sensation assailed Suzuki Satoru as he activated the ring.

He understood how to use the spell 「Wish Upon A Star」.

He could pay several levels’ worth of experience to make a bigger wish. However, he only planned

to use a single level’s worth of experience. In other words, when he made a wish, a smaller wish

was more likely to come true than a bigger one. But if it failed, the experience would be burned and

that would be the end of it.

He had the feeling that “restoring Keno’s parents to normal” was more likely to come true than

“restoring everyone in the city to normal.” However —

“I WISH! That I would learn a way to restore the people of this city to normal!”

That was all.

Once he understood the means, he could carry it out.

However, after one of the three shooting stars carved into the ring vanished, all that remained with

Suzuki Satoru was frustration. And then, he hesitated over how he should explain all this to Keno,

who was staring at him with a blank look on her face.

He mock-coughed a few times, and the Suzuki Satoru addressed Keno with the look of a salaryman

on his face. 

“I just used an item which could grant wishes. After using it, I came to realize something — Keno-

san, I’ll get to the point. There is no way to restore the Zombies of this city — its people — to their

original state.”

That was the answer. He had lost a chance to grant a wish forever for that answer.

In YGGDRASIL, you were forced to pick an option from a random list of selections, so which way

was better? Suzuki Satoru hurried continued speaking.

“However! This is simply the information I have obtained with my magic. There might be another

way. Therefore — let’s explore the world together. We’ll find someone who’s far better than us, ask

them for help, and see what possibilities open up.”

“Is… there really such a person?”

“I believe there is.”

Although a part of his mind was wondering why he was going this far to cheer her up, he had not

forgotten the kinship to her which he had felt back then. 

Keno stared at Suzuki Satoru, and then she nodded.

“Alright — I believe there is. Still, will it be alright?”

Suzuki Satoru asked Keno what was alright, and she answered.

“Going out and exploring the world together. Is it really alright for me to accompany you?” Keno

looked down at her little palms. “I mean, I’ll get in the way—”

“—You won’t.”

“Huh?”

“I need your strength for this. Also — in for a penny, in for a pound, as they say. I’ll help you out a

little more.” At the very least, until she could travel by herself. “Otherwise— I feel like Yamaiko-san

and Touch-san would scold me. Keno Fasris Invern. Let’s — yes, let’s travel together.”

Keno took the hand that Suzuki Satoru had extended to her.

“Th-Thank you… very much… Satoru-sama…”

Keno bowed her head and trembled. While she could not shed tears, that was all. Keno was quietly

sobbing without crying.

Still, it would not do for her to thank him that much. After all, he had ulterior motives.

Well, forget it, Suzuki Satoru thought. After all, she lost everything at that moment. Helping her for a

while more won’t hurt.

In any case, he had no goals of his own now. The things he was supposed to protect were gone, and

the bonds he was supposed to maintain were broken. All that remained were this ring and this staff,

as mementos, but that was all.

“Then let’s hurry and finish our preparations so we can leave. I have the feeling there isn’t much time

left.”

Keno voiced her doubts, and Suzuki Satoru explained himself.

If their adversary belonged to an organization, they might have kept in contact. In that case, the

enemy would get worried about losing touch with him, and so he suspected that it was very likely

that they would send reinforcements over. While he could probably slaughter them all if that undead

being’s power was any indication of their strength, he could not conclude that there was nobody

stronger than him around. Therefore, the best course of action would be to take what they could

carry and leave this place as soon as possible.

For that reason, he had set up little tricks in various places to keep the information from getting out.

After he saw that Keno understood, the two of them returned to the castle again.

3

“So we’re going travelling… Keno-san, do you have experience travelling, pardon me, I mean, going

abroad?”

“I apologize, Satoru-sama. When I was young — younger than I am now — I think I went to various

places within the country, but I can hardly remember it now.”

“I see… in that case, you won’t know what to bring.”

“We’re undead. We don’t need to eat or sleep. Surely it would be fine to not have anything, right?”

“Well, that is the case. But according to what you said, Keno-san, the undead are the enemies of all

living beings, and they are to be destroyed on sight, am I wrong? Living openly in a world full of

enemies… well, I’m not sure if it counts as living, but even if we’re just existing, I feel we need to

disguise ourselves to some extent?”

“Disguise? You mean wearing masks like the Prince of Phenia, is that it?”

Keno’s eyes lit up. It was the first time he had seen her do that ever since meeting her.

Had she allowed herself to relax? Had she been liberated, more or less? Or was this her look of

anticipation about the outside world? It was not a bad thing, so he did not comment on it, but who

was this Prince of Phenia? Still, he had the feeling that she would talk his ear off if he asked about it.

He could settle any questions he had during the journey; for now, he could just take things as they

came. It was only later that he learned about such a short story from her.

“Ahhh, no. People will suspect we’re up to no good if we wear masks… maybe it’s not so bad… no,

they’ll suspect us.”

“Is that so?”

The look of childish delight on Keno’s face fell away, which Suzuki Satoru found both strange and

new, but he hid his feelings and continued speaking.

“While disguising yourself implies changing your physical appearance, it also involves not doing

things that will make others suspicious of you. Don’t you think people will get suspicious if you don’t

eat a single meal with them?”

There were items that could do that, of course, but if they had to explain this to each and every

person they met, they might end up blowing their covers by accident. Instead, it would be better not

to arouse suspicion in the first place.

“We’ll pretend to eat and sleep like other travellers, but the most important thing is taking a steam

bath to cleanse ourselves of the grime of the road.”

“A steam bath? You mean a mist sauna?”

“Ahhh, they have those here too? That’s right, a sauna, or a bath.”

The undead had no metabolism, so they would not produce waste, but dirt and dust and the like

could still get their skin dirty. While it did not particularly inconvenience him, it felt better to be clean

than dirty.

“But will we be able to enter a city, Satoru-sama?”

Suzuki Satoru touched his face.

“I’ll need to think about that part. However, I’m looking for knowledgeable people. I’m sure we’ll be

able to find some way to enter a city without trespassing into it via magic, in order to make friendly

contact with them.”

Keno nodded several times in approval.

“Therefore… well, I guess we need something for travel expenses and tolls. Of course, I have some

money of my own, as well as gems and items which can be sold.”

Suzuki Satoru casually took a gem out of his inventory. Keno gulped as she saw a ruby that was the

size of her palm. A brief shadow crossed Keno’s pretty face, but the change had been so subtle that

Suzuki Satoru thought that he might have been imagining things. Besides, why would such a big

gemstone make her gloomy?

“Still, I don’t know if this will be enough.”

“We don’t know how long this journey will take, and we’ll probably need to give gifts when we meet

these knowledgeable people, and we might also need to buy expensive items. Is that it?”

“Yes. So, if possible, can we take all the wealth in this country or this city? Of course, you’ll be

managing it, Keno-san. We can pay our own way during the journey.”

“All of it?”

“Indeed. I apologize for saying this, but these people who are now undead don’t need money, do

they? Who knows, some country might send in their troops to seize all their wealth too. Therefore,

we should make effective use of it—” Suzuki Satoru did not miss the pained expression on Keno’s

face. “—Does it displease you?”

“Ehhh? Ah! I’m very sorry. That’s not what I meant. If that is what you think, then I will go along with

it, Satoru-sama.”

Keno immediately adjusted expression and put on a winning smile.

“Keno-san.”

Keno’s body trembled.

“Ah, ah, please forgive me, Satoru-sama…”

“Ahhhh, it’s fine, I’m not angry, Keno-san. We are travelling companions, and since we are

companions, I think we should be honest with each other. That’s all. You can tell me if you have an

opinion on the matter, you know?”

However, Keno lowered her head after he said that.

This was quite vexing for Suzuki Satoru. Keno was the one who had a better sense of how the world

worked, so if she did not speak up right away, it might lead to a lethal failure.

“What’s the matter, Keno-san?”

Keno hesitated for a moment, and then her face tightened up before a pained look came across her

face.

And then, she spoke quietly. It was as though time had reversed itself and she was speaking in the

same way she had when they had first met. However, Suzuki Satoru’s keen hearing still managed to

pick it up.

“I, I’m not your equal, Satoru-sama… I don’t have any right to say anything given that I’m relying on

your mercy, Satoru-sama…”

Indeed, that was the case. 

Learning about the world was Suzuki Satoru’s payment for destroying the undead being in the city.

That could no longer serve as terms of trade. Also, after travelling for more than a year, he would

have picked up enough knowledge. After that, he would have no reason to help Keno any more, and

neither would he benefit from doing so.

In other words, Keno had nothing she could offer Suzuki Satoru to buy his help. After seeing the

huge gem Satoru had taken out just now, she realized that mere money would not be enough to

entice Suzuki Satoru.

“Even so… I don’t want to be alone any more. Compared to that… I’d rather not say anything at

all…”

This time, it was Suzuki Satoru’s term to hold his breath.

There were times when he felt that this girl was very similar to him. But after seeing the forlorn

expression she had shown just now, he realized that she felt exactly the same way as him.

Had he not felt like she had when he entered YGGDRASIL by himself, staying in a Nazarick without

anyone in it?

Suzuki Satoru got to one knee, so his eyes were even with Keno’s.

“Let’s make a promise. Keno-san. I will not abandon you for personal — no, for my own reasons.”

Yes.

I wanted someone to say that to me.

I wanted someone to stay with me until the very end.

He could see the various emotions in Keno’s eyes.

“Can, can I really believe that?”

“Ahh, like I said before, we’re travelling companions. So… let’s travel. Yes, on a journey to uncover

the unknown. We won’t need any “just a little mores”. Let’s go find a way to save your parents.”

Silence fell upon them, and Keno bowed her head deeply. Then, she repeated “Thank you, thank

you,” over and over again.

“Now then, can you raise your head?”

Suzuki Satoru took out a gold coin and showed it to Keno, who had only looked up after her had

asked her to do so three times.

“There‘ll be times during our journey when neither of us are willing to give way to the other. And of

course, there’ll be times when we’re unable to determine who’s right, even after we exchange

opinions. At those times…”

Suzuki Satoru flipped up the coin with his finger and let it land on his palm. He was quite impressed

with how he could land it so neatly on a skeletal hand. He had to keep the fact that he felt more

natural this way a secret.

“—We’ll flip a coin. We’ll use the results of the coin toss to determine who we go with. What do you

think?”

“How could I! If possible—”

“—It’s fine. We’re travelling together, after all… yes, we’re friends.”

As he said the word “friends”, the faces of his past guildmates suddenly appeared in front of him.

Friends, Keno turned the word over and over in her mouth.

“How about it?”

“I understand, Satoru-sama.”

“Satoru will do. In turn, I will call you Keno.”

“But as my senior…” Keno began stammering. “A-Ah, how old are you, Satoru… sama… san?”

“My age, huh…” In terms of time spent alive, Keno was undoubtedly his superior. “Ah, I think I’ll just

call you Keno-san.”

She ought to understand with that. A complicated look crossed Keno’s face, and she muttered “I

don’t like it,” before puffing up her cheeks and smacking them.

“It’s Satoru and Keno, then.”

“Ehhh, you mean Satoru-san’s no good?”

“Well, that works too! Still, as friends, we ought to speak more familiarly with each other. Now then,

Keno. I’ll ask you again. Are you unhappy with my previous proposition?”

Keno thought about it for a bit, and then nodded.

“By all the wealth, do you mean all the money in everyone’s homes too?”

“That was what I meant, yes.”

“Could you not do that, please? Er, Satoru… san? After all, it belongs to everyone.”

Had she said that because she was considering the possibility that everyone might be restored? Or

was she speaking in her capacity as a princess who stood above the common folk? Satoru did not

know which was which, but truth be told, spending time to collect pocket change was definitely not

worth the effort.

It would be best to leave this place as soon as possible. 

“Is that so? I see. I’ll go with that, then. But how about the money in the castle? Do you think it’s

alright to take it?”

“Um… I guess…?”

She sounded like she was asking herself the question more than Suzuki Satoru. Therefore, Suzuki

Satoru said nothing, but waited for Keno to reach her own conclusion. And then, a minute later—

“I think it should be fine, yes.”

Perhaps her stiff manner of speech just now had been because she could not gauge the distance

between them. In truth, Suzuki Satoru also found people who immediately closed the distance and

acted all chummy with him to be very annoying too.

And from Satoru’s point of view, even if the clients buying his company’s products said, “We’re

friends, right?” it would not particularly endear them to him. Only time could solve that problem.

“We’ll do that, then. Let’s take all the money and items in the treasury… oh yes, what about the

furniture?”

“Eh?”

“I’ve shown you a few times, but I can store items into a pocket dimension. Of course, there’s a

weight limit to that, but I can easily fit cabinets and beds inside it. I don’t mind if you want to take

them with you. Of course, we won’t be able to use them on our journey…”

He thought about his homebase in the past.

It was a wonderful base, one which he had built with his friends, and which he had filled with all sorts

of items from the stores.

He had told Keno that it was fine because he did not want her to feel the same emptiness that he

had felt at its loss.

“No, there’s no need for it. Er, it’s fine. But I want to take a few small things with me, that should be

okay, right?”

“It’s fine. Let’s go to the treasury, then.”

After indicating that she understood, Keno led the way to the treasury.

As they walked, Suzuki Satoru began to think.

In YGGDRASIL, gold coins were always in a single stack and they had no weight. It had been like

that since it was a game, but he still enjoyed that benefit now. But would the currency in this world be

treated in the same way? Or would the weight of each and every piece be totalled up? That would

be troublesome.

While he could take the gems and trade them for money and items, things might be different from

how they were in the game, and he might need to put effort into negotiations.

The vault he was led to was tiny by YGGDRASiL standards.

The coins were not piled into a big heap like in Nazarick, but separately packed into sacks. There

were also paintings whose value eluded Suzuki Satoru and a great deal of silverware, ornaments,

and the like. There were also many weapons which looked like they had been used before. They

struck him as belonging to a museum as opposed to an art gallery.

The image Suzuki Satoru had conjured up in his head of the Treasury from YGGDRASIL vanished.

“Now then, Keno. All these are yours, as a princess.”

“Eh? Don’t you need it, Satoru-sama, no, Satoru-san? They’re all the treasures of the royal family, so

I don’t mind offering them, er, I mean, giving them… no…”

Suzuki Satoru smiled at Keno, who did not seem to know what to say. “You don’t need to force

yourself to be polite, you know.”

“In any case, this is the wealth your family built up over time. Given the circumstances, it should be

kept by you, as the only one who retained her senses, don’t you think? Put it all in this rucksack. It’s

a magic item that can ignore up to 500 kilograms of weight. I’ll give you one.”

“Ehh? But isn’t this really high-end stuff? I can’t take it, Satoru-san.”

Really? Suzuki Satoru began to think in earnest.

It was not a high-priced item in YGGDRASIL. Rather, it was commonplace to use several of these

rucksacks to organize the contents of one’s inventory.

“Don’t worry about it. No, if you’re worried about it, then treat it as a loan. If you don’t want it any

more — yes, if we have to part, then return it to me.”

“W-What if we’re together forever?”

“Then you can just use it forever, right? Alright, take it.”

Suzuki Satoru forced Keno to take the rucksack.

He should probably have checked to make sure there was nothing inside it before loaning it out. It

was fairly common for YGGDRASIL players to forget magic items from slain monsters inside them.

After seeing her accept it without complaint, Satoru concluded that he ought to assume that the

inhabitants of this world did not have inventory spaces. However, she was not surprised by the

magical effects of the rucksack, because she had been told about such items in the past.

It feels like I could become something like a salesman if I could make good use of my inventory

space.

However, things could get messy very quickly if he used a power which nobody had for profit.

Even someone who knew as little as Suzuki Satoru could understand how to use it with just a little

thought. Surely there were people out there who were smarter and who would want it. If he became

an information broker, it was very likely that he would expose himself as one of the undead, an

enemy to the world. Therefore, he should try his best to avoid using this ability to obtain things.

He watched her carefully place various objects into the bag with a gentle look in his eyes. That was

because the items inside it would not bump into or damage each other even if one just chucked

them in at random. But surely a child who did not know that would pack them in that way.

While he wanted to help her, those were her family’s treasures. It should not be interfered with by a

third party, right? He would help if she asked for help, but that said, Keno was also undead. Her

body would not tire, so it was very unlikely that she would seek help.

“Keno. What will you do with the weapons over there?”

Suzuki Satoru cast a spell to investigate to see what magic was imbued into them. All of them were

mediocre and would be classified as low-class magic items in YGGDRASIL. While they were

practically worthless, they were magic items from this world, and to Suzuki Satoru now they were

extremely rare.

Incidentally, the national-treasure level gauntlet was a middle-class magical item. However, the

breadth of the middle-class was quite broad, and it was among the topmost examples of that

grouping.

“Can we… take them?”

“That will be your decision. But since they possess magical power, they should be magic items. If

you don’t mind, could you let me appraise them?”

After receiving Keno’s permission, he cast 「Appraisal Magic Item」 to perform a more in-depth

analysis.

As he thought, they were all nothing much. The armor’s enchantment boosted defense, the weapons

boosted attack power, and so on. They were all boring magic items.

“Keno, these items seem to contain enchantments that boost their effectiveness as battle gear. As

for how much they’re worth, I regret to say I‘m not sure.”

Saying so, Suzuki Satoru grabbed a sword and essayed a swing with it. And then — the sword fell to

the ground.

He saw Keno look over in shock as she heard the crashing sound of metal.

“W-What…”

“What’s the matter, Satoru-sama! Is something wrong with the sword?”

Had her tone reverted to its previous stiffness because of the sword?

“It, it’s nothing, I’m sorry. It seems my hand slipped. Hahaha, my palms must be sweaty!”

How the hell do bony hands sweat, Suzuki Satoru mocked himself as he casually put the sword back

on the table.

The sword slipped from my hand before I knew it. Could it be that this body of mine can’t equip

swords? What’s going on?

“Ah, Keno. Can you equip — no, hold it, no, that’s not it. Could you swing this sword?”

“Huh? This sword?”

“Ah, that’s right… but it seems a bit too large for you, Keno…”

Keno picked up the sword instantly.

Then, she swung it with a whoosh.

The child-sized Keno was swinging a sword that was as long as she was tall, but she did not lose

her balance because of it.

“It feels really light. Is it because it’s got lightening magic inside it?”

“No… Keno, were you always very strong?”

“Huh?”

Keno’s expression told him that the answer was no, and after looking at her, Suzuki Satoru thought I

see. It would seem she had gained that strength after becoming undead.

There were restrictions on how much force a human being could exert, supposedly to keep them

from tearing their own muscle fibers. Had those limitations been removed after becoming undead? 

That might be possible, but perhaps there was another reason behind it.

“Keno, what race did you become after turning undead? While the people in the city became low-

level Zombies, you’re nothing like them. You’re intelligent and you don’t look rotted. Meanwhile, I am

of the Overlord race, but you did not gain a bony body like mine.”

“I, I don’t get it…”

“Don’t you think sorting out your race might help change the present situation? To that end, would

you mind answering a few questions?”

While he did not know how far his YGGDRASIL knowledge could go in this world, learning Keno’s

race would probably not be a bad thing.

After some questioning, he arrived at what might be the right answer.

She was a Vampire.

However—

YGGDRASIL Vampires look more disgusting than this, right… or is she something like that Shalltear

which Peroroncino made? Or is this a Vampire unique to this world? There’s almost no change in

her appearance before and after becoming undead, so could she be a special case?

Vampires in YGGDRASIL were typically frontliners — warrior types.

Perhaps that was why Keno’s strength had increased, However, the fact that her height was frozen

like this was a major downside. Having a short reach was very disadvantageous.

Maybe she should aim to be a Fencer… would it be wrong to let Keno decide how she wants to

develop herself?

Suzuki Satoru the backliner and Keno the frontliner. This was not a bad combination. However, it

was a little embarrassing to use a child as a shield. He probably would not mind it in a game like

YGGDRASIL—

Honestly. I used to be the sort of person who wasn’t bothered by seeing the corpses of street

orphans, since they showed up so often that they were nothing rare, but now…

Had he changed, or was he particularly interested in Keno?

“…I’ll appraise this later on. Sorry to have disturbed you. You should hurry up and empty the

treasury.”

Suzuki Satoru took this time to blow the dust in the treasury around so nobody could tell that anyone

had entered.

“Now then, we’ve collected the contents of the Treasury — is there anything else you want to take

along?”

“Yes. After this, all I need are a few small items from my room.”

She had reverted to polite speech at some point. Satoru thought, You can be more casual, you

know, as he replied, “I trust you understand that we will be leaving this place soon. After that,

someone might come here to take everything in the castle or to destroy everything inside it.”

Right now, he was still unsure why the people in this city had become undead. Perhaps there was

some kind of plague that turned people undead. If that was the case, the people who came here

might think that burning it all down would be the best way to deal with it. 

While she had thought of that long ago, actually hearing Suzuki Satoru say it put a shocked look on

Keno’s face.

“You wouldn’t want to be attacked by the undead either, right? Then it’s possible that they might

decide that all the undead in the city should be des…” Just as he was about to say “destroyed”

Suzuki Satoru suddenly realised that his phrasing was too provocative, and so he changed his

words. “…Should be eliminated. That would be the normal way of thinking, right? After all, to the

living, doing so would get rid of the threat of whether or not the undead in this city would attack

theirs.”

“…Mm…I get what you mean.”

“Therefore… since you’ve decided to leave, I want you to be mentally prepared for this. After all,

today might be the last time you see this city. For that reason, Keno, while there’s a limit to the things

you can take with you, you must make sure that you don’t regret the choices you make. Right now,

I’m not sure whether the memories of the undead will fade away, but even if that happens, you must

keep in mind the fact that you might forget this, and you must take good care of the things you want

to preserve. As long as you preserve them… mm, it’ll become one of your unforgettable memories.”

Suzuki Satoru took out a picture.

It was a memorial picture that had been taken when the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick had

still been called an underground tomb — in other words, when it had first been conquered.

What he took out was a group photo of all the group’s members.

“Yes, something that will never be forgotten.”

“What’s this?”

“These are my friends. It’s a picture we took together.” Suzuki Satoru could not help but smile as he

heard Keno’s question. “Oh yes, if we have time during our journeys, I’ll tell you about the

adventures I had with my friends.”

“Sure!”

Suzuki Satoru chuckled as he heard her cheerful reply.

“Alright! Then go collect some things that you want to preserve as memories, Keno… unfortunately,

your body will probably not grow any more now that you’re undead, unless you’re a special undead

being that I’ve never seen before. Therefore, you should be able to wear your clothes for a long

time.”

“Sure! …Huh? But should I feel happy about this?”

“Isn’t eternal youth the dream of all women?”

“I’d be glad if I could grow a little more…”

“Is that so?”

“It isn’t?”

As a man, Suzuki Satoru did not quite understand. However, she might have some resistance to the

idea of looking like a child and never growing again.

“Alright, then why don’t you start by picking out clothes?”

“Alright! I will!”

That said, I don’t think a princess is going to have any clothes suitable for travelling. As for me, well,

I obviously don’t have any.

In YGGDRASIL, it was perfectly natural for people to walk around fully armed and armored, but

given her attire and the undead he had seen in the city — in other words, ordinary civilian attire —

his robe stood out too much. That being the case, he would need to change into clothes that could

better blend into an ordinary town, but he did not have any unassuming, ordinary garments.

Even if he did, it would be weak gear with low data capacity. It might be very dangerous once he got

into a fight. 

In other words, he needed something with acceptable defense and toughness, while still looking

plain. And with Keno included, he would need two sets of that clothing.

After checking Keno’s HP values with 「Life Essence」, he could tell that they were very low. She

might even end up getting killed by the splash damage from an area-effect spell.

That said, I don’t really want to fight in battles which are big enough that she might get caught up in

them…

Unfortunately, Suzuki Satoru was not gifted at divination magic, and even if he could maintain a

certain level of alertness with magic, he was not confident that he could protect against 100% of

enemy sneak attacks.

It would probably be best to just directly give her items like that. However, if he gave her a high-level

item and it made others target her instead, that would be the opposite of what he wanted.

There’s too many things I need to think about. Maybe I should prepare two sets of gear, one for

when we approach a town and one for when we’re travelling… no, if I’m not mistaken, I think I’ve got

a robe of rapid gear switching… forget it, I won’t think about this for now.

“Let’s go to your room, Keno.”

“Alright… er, but… this sort of thing, ah, no, er, maybe I should just ask. At the risk of offending you,

you are a man, aren’t you, Satoru-san?”

“But of course. Granted, I don’t look the part.”

I’m clearly speaking with Suzuki Satoru’s voice, why’d you ask me a weird question like that all of a

sudden? Are there women in this world with voices like this?

“Ah, this is kind of rude to say to a benefactor, but my room has always been forbidden to all men

except my father — ahem, that’s the rule that was laid down.”

Oh? Suzuki Satoru was somewhat surprised.

She might be a child, but she was still the princess of a country, and it would seem that these rules

were quite strict.

“I see. Well, a rule is a rule. I’ll just wait outside, then… you can handle things by yourself, right,

Keno?”

He thought of the undead in maid uniforms inside the castle. There should have been a maid to help

Keno with her daily tasks. 

“Um, that’s not a problem either… oh yes, as my savior, it’s only natural for me to invite you into my

room. No, please step inside… or would you rather not?”

Keno tugged on Suzuki Satoru’s robe as she asked him that question.

“Ah, no, I’ve got no reason to refuse.”

He had only said he would not be entering Keno’s room because she had said no strangers were

allowed into it. In truth, Suzuki Satoru did not mind going inside or staying outside.

He used 「Fly」 to reach Keno’s room and followed her inside to take a look around. It was much

classier than Suzuki Satoru’s room, but in turn it paled in comparison to Momonga’s room.

However, once she opened her cabinet, he found a great deal of dresses inside. That certainly

seemed like a princess’s room. However, their colors and decorations were much simpler than those

of YGGDRASIL; or rather, YGGDRASIL’s clothes were much more lavish. 

Keno rifled through the dresses — although some had already become discolored — and then she

turned her head back in Suzuki Satoru’s direction to ask him a question.

“Which do you think is more suitable?”

Who was the one who had once said, “which do you like better” coming from a woman’s mouth was

one of the hardest questions in the world? Was it Touch Me?

Suzuki Satoru very much wanted to say “I have terrible aesthetic sense, please don’t ask me.” But

she had asked him because she trusted him, and he owed her a serious answer.

“While I think all of them suit you very well, taking them all will be very troublesome. For instance, if

there’s an organization behind that undead being, they might send backup over, which would expose

your presence. And we’ll be heading off on a journey, so I don’t think anyone’s going to walk around

in outfits like that, right?”

“So that’s how it is — no, is it?”

He did not know the common practices of this world, so all Suzuki Satoru could say was “most

likely.” However, he felt that it was probably not too far from the truth.

“Also, you can’t go around dressed as a member of the royal family if you want to keep a low profile

— oh yes, Keno. I’m sorry, but a problem came to mind. Do people in other cities, or perhaps other

countries, know your face?”

“I”m not sure. Maybe someone might have an impression of me, uh, I guess. The royals of other

countries should know me. I remember there was a portrait exchange once.”

“Is that so… while you should probably be careful, it has been quite a while since you became

undead. In that case, it’s not likely that you’ll run into people like that. Alright, we’ll go with that.

Leaving aside the question of whether or not you should wear a dress while travelling or what we

said just now, you should go collect the mementos you want to keep. In any case, if we come back

after several years and nobody’s cleaned the place out, we can take everything here with us. For

now, just pick a few dresses that you like best and let’s go.”

No matter what, surely they could not keep an eye on this place for so many years.

Keno took a while — slightly longer than Suzuki Satoru had expected — to pick out four dresses,

and then she began tidying up the smaller things in her room.

Because moving anything would leave traces and clue people in to the fact that something had been

there once, she decided to shuffle around everything in the vicinity to cover up those marks.

“Is that all you need to bring? In that case, we’ll put your parents and maids in a room in the sewer.

That way, they might be able to escape the attention of anyone who comes to this city.”

“Alright… that should be… the best way.”

“If you know of any other way to avoid outsiders finding their hiding place, we can go with your

suggestion.”

Keno shook her head.

Then there was nothing for it. They would simply have to make do.

“Now then, Satoru-san.”

“Hm?”

“Since we’ll be heading out, could you help me cut my hair?”

“Eh?”

The change in topic had come as such a surprise that Suzuki Satoru responded in an oafish way.

“Um, it’s like this, please look at this.” Having cast 「Fly」, Keno glided over to one side of the room

and nimbly retrieved a book from a shelf. “This is Book 3 of the Chronicles of the Prince of Phenia. In

this book, when the princess set out on a journey, she cut her long hair.”

Keno looked a little embarrassed, but her eyes were shining bright.

“Ahem. Alright, I don’t mind…”

Just as Suzuki Satoru was waffling over whether it would be alright to cut her hair for that reason,

Keno came back in front of Suzuki Satoru with a pair of scissors.

“Then, please do the honors!”

“I, ah… I’ve never cut anyone’s hair before, so let me get this out of the way first, I’m not confident at

all in being able to give you a pretty haircut. Maybe if I had hair clippers I could do a passable job…

But before that, I have something that I want to tell you.”

Suzuki Satoru took the scissors, picked up a lock of Keno’s hair and snipped off part of it. The

severed hair landed in Suzuki Satoru’s hand, where it aged and degraded as though several

hundred years had passed for it, until it became a puff of ash, vanishing cleanly just like the undead

did when they were destroyed.

“Keno, I’m going to cast a spell on you. Don’t resist it, alright?”

“Eh? Alright. It should be fine.”

He returned the scissors to her, and while still holding the lock of Keno’s hair, he cast the offensive

spell 「Ray of Negative Energy」. While negative energy damaged the living, it would heal the

undead instead. 

Upon taking the magical “attack”, Keno’s hair — to be precise, the lock in Suzuki Satoru’s hand,

which had been trimmed — regained its original length.

That was how it was. 

In the moment that one became undead, one’s appearance was fixed. In that case, what would

happen to people who were missing limbs or otherwise maimed when they became undead? That

question flashed through his mind, but he could not think of an answer and it would have been

pointless anyway, so he banished the thought from his mind.

“Keno, I think cutting your hair is considered damage to you.”

“Ehhh? Really!?”

At least he could save himself the trouble of cleaning up the cut hair.

“So even if I mess up, I can start anew over and over again… So I’m just going to do a careless job

this time round.”

“Carelessly!?”

Suzuki Satoru ignored Keno’s cry of surprise and cast 「Life Essence」, then cut Keno’s long hair to

shoulder-length.

“It’s fine. The damage is minimal, to the point where you could ignore it.”

“Eh? Ehhhhhh!?”

It was only after she felt the hair behind her that she managed to calm down.

“Satoru-san! When you said you were going to cut it carelessly I got the shock of my life!”

After hearing the reproachful tone in Keno’s voice (“Eh? Should I apologize, then?”) Suzuki Satoru

began to seriously consider the matter. Nothing good would come of ruining his relationship with a

future travelling companion.

“It was my fault, Keno.”

“Ah, no, it’s alright, ahem… It’s okay now…”

Then why were you so eager to blame me just now? Suzuki Satoru barely stopped himself from

saying.

Keno’s just a child… huh? A child? Don’t tell me she’s a senior lady?

Suzuki suddenly began thinking about that… but abandoned it in the end. In any event, he trimmed

the rest of her hair to roughly shoulder length. Then, he used a borrowed comb — truth be told, he

had no confidence in himself at all — to comb out the hair.

“It’s done. Or rather… I think it’s done.”

Keno walked in front of the changing mirror, but it was covered in dust and could not show Keno’s

image. Just as she was about to wipe the mirror, her hand stopped halfway as she remembered the

reason why she was sustaining a 「Fly」 spell. Then, she turned around to Suzuki Satoru.

“How does it look?”

“It suits you. Mm, it becomes you,” Suzuki Satoru answered.

“Really? That makes me happy.”

Keno gave him a winsome smile.

She seemed to be in good spirits. Suzuki Satoru knew nothing about what was pretty, what was not,

the finer points of women’s hairstyles and the like. But it would seem what he had said had played it

safe.

“N-Now then, let’s move on to the next step.”

---

After taking Keno’s parents and a maid in the room in the sewer that had been Keno’s base, he

shackled the door with rusty chains so it would not open. 

While mindless undead like Zombies could not open the doors on their own, it was probably best to

bar it just in case.

Keno had mixed feelings as she looked at the room door, and Suzuki Satoru spoke to her. 

“Alright, next up… how do you want to travel, Keno?”

“Huh?”

“We are undead. We do not tire, we don’t need to eat, and we don’t need to sleep. We can head out

right now without taking anything else with us. But when that happens, people will start asking

questions when we enter villages or cities. Therefore, I’d like to do something that won’t arouse

suspicion.”

“Like say, dragging lots of luggage around with us?”

“Won’t that make people suspicious?”

In truth, Suzuki Satoru had no idea how the people in this world travelled. Therefore, he had no idea

how to avoid suspicion.

Keno turned her head aside and said she did not know.

“In that case, which do you prefer, between taking a carriage or going on foot?”

“I’m not bothered by either… it’s fine. We don’t have the concept of fatigue, after all. Ah, but I walk

really slowly, so…”

“It’s fine, don’t worry. I’ll match your pace, Keno.”

That said, since they were undead, could they not just run at full speed all the time? That said, surely

seeing an adult run around with a little girl by his side would leave a bad impression on others.

“I”ll go get a carriage, then…”

“But what about the horses… hm — how should we get one?”

“Ah — that’s true. As for horses…”

Suzuki Satoru looked out the window. He could not see any sign of horses, but he could see

Zombies. Even if there were horses, they would probably be Horse Zombies, and the other people in

the city would not suffer a Zombie horse pulling a carriage through a city. That was definitely out.

Suddenly, just then, Suzuki Satoru had an idea.

“Don’t worry. I’ll do something about the horses. Just relax and leave it to me. The problem is the

carriage. Covered wagons, cargo wagons, box wagons, on what grounds are we going on our

journey?”

“Huh?”

“Are we going to be a princess and her magic caster follower? In that case, then perhaps our country

has a kind of pumpkin-shaped carriage. That might be the best scenario for us.”

Suzuki Satoru had said so in a slightly joking tone, but Keno nervously said, “…What about a kind

magic caster and his follower?”

“…Just in case, I want to check but, am I the kind magic caster in question, while you are the

follower?”

“Yes.”

“Then that suggestion is rejected.”

Suzuki Satoru did not think he could make full use of Keno as his follower to put on an act. “In that

case,” Keno said, and then she fell into thought. After that, she absentmindedly spoke up.

“How about friends?”

“Friends, huh… so we’re travelling companions… alright, our backstory is that we’re friends?”

After taking the difference in their ages into consideration, a lot of people would probably find it

strange that they were friends. However, Suzuki Satoru did not feel that way. He had often seen kids

who had just graduated elementary school working alongside him, and it was very hard to tell

someone’s age by their appearances in YGGDRASIL.

In fact, the leader of a guild which had rivalled Ainz Ooal Gown had been a child in real life. And on

the flip side, there were players who looked like kids, but whose actual age was over double that of

Suzuki Satoru’s. When he heard them talk about their grandchildren, Suzuki Satoru froze in

confusion for a moment. He still looked back on those days with nostalgia.

To that Suzuki Satoru, there was nothing strange about treating Keno as his friend.

Of course, Suzuki Satoru knew that Keno was weaker than him, so the two of them were probably

protector and charge. However, it was very common in YGGDRASIL for experienced players to team

up with newbie players to powerlevel them, as well as partying up with non-combatant crafter party

members to run around.

“Still, we need an explanation that will convince people we’re friends when we enter towns. I guess

we can take our time thinking it up during out journey.”

“Alright… although, when you mentioned a pumpkin-shaped carriage, did you mean the edible kind

of pumpkin? Is it a carriage that can be used as emergency rations when we’re hungry?”

“Ah, no, it’s just shaped that way…”

Suzuki Satoru felt that verbally explaining would be troublesome, and so he rummaged through his

inventory.

“I wonder if I have one…”

He took out a photo album taken with his friends.

Suzuki Satoru flipped quickly through it.

The memories recalled by the many pictures filled Suzuki Satoru with nostalgia. While part of him

wanted to keep staring at them, he forced himself not to do so and continued going through the

pages.

The photo he was looking for was not in this album. Suzuki Satoru switched to another one, and

then a third.

“This one. Keno, look at this picture. The carriage is in the same frame as one of my female friends.”

Keno pressed in from the side, and then her jaw dropped.

“A Slime in a dress… a woman? Is she a Slime Princess?”

Upon the wagon was a princess in a white dress, holding a shield aloft — Bukubukuchagama. It had

been a picture to commemorate the completion of the carriage, but Bukubukuchagama had ended

up becoming the subject of the photo. That also showed which of them had a more striking

appearance.

“Hahaha, I’ll tell you about this during our trip. Now, slightly below is the pumpkin carriage. I heard

that shape is the kind girls dream about. That’s why she’s so happy.”

Although, her brother had once muttered, “You can’t call her a girl at that age…”

“…”

Keno looked over, visibly disturbed.

“You mean, like bad dreams?”

“Hahahaha… wait, what?” Suzuki Satoru was confused.

He had laughed out of genuine mirth, but Suzuki Satoru felt a sense of discomfort as his joy was

quashed.

Don’t tell me the undead emotional suppression doesn’t just apply to negative emotions… no, when I

think about it, that is the case. Not needing to eat or drink isn’t bad, but that also means you can’t eat

buffing food. It’s got its good and bad points…

“What’s wrong? Satoru-san?”

Perhaps it was because his worries had been suddenly quelled, but Suzuki Satoru responded to

Keno’s question with a gentle “It’s fine.”

Even so, it didn’t completely suppress my happiness. There ought to be a way to live on while

seeking joy.

“Right, then let’s start looking for carriage. Ideally, we want an old traveller’s carriage, the kind that

doesn’t make people suspicious when you use it.”

“Yes!”

“Keno, when you told me not to take other people’s property, doesn’t that mean taking their carriage

would be a bad thing?”

Keno thought about it for a while, and then answered:

“It’ll be fine because we’re paying for it.”

Then, she raised her rucksack.

“I see… In that case, can I borrow some money from you, Keno?”

“Huh?”

“As I showed you earlier, I have ample funds. However, all of them are gold coins that aren’t in

circulation throughout this country. It seems dangerous to try and pay with them.”

“Is that so? Well, if you feel that way, then I can lend — no, I can offer… give you some.”

“No, that won’t do, Keno. To some extent, that money is your inheritance from your parents. You

can’t just hand it over to others.”

“I, I see.”

“While you might not be able to agree under these circumstances, that also includes the relics of

your ancestors. You mustn’t spend it blindly, okay?”

“I understand.”

Keno might have said that, but her expression suggested that she did not quite get it. Perhaps

Suzuki Satoru was simply forcing his views on her.

“…Therefore, can I borrow some money? I’ll pay you back until I sell the gems I have on hand.”

“Alright!”

“Good. Then we’ll split the cost for buying the wagon. We’re friends, so we’ll put up the same

amount.”

“Of course!”

“Right! Then let’s go find a carriage!”

“Sure thing!”

Suzuki Satoru responded to Keno with great gusto, and the two of them wandered around the

streets.

Along the way, Suzuki Satoru put the gold coins from this world which he had borrowed from Keno

into his pocket dimension.

While it was stored in a separate location from the YGGDRASIL coins, they did not seem to count

against his weight limit. If they did, then he would not be able to store anything in his inventory. This

was a perfectly rational design decision for a game, but he ought to be in a real world now.

It’s really handy, but it kind of ruins realism in a place like this… am I really not in a game?

Although his undead body had confirmed to Suzuki Satoru that he was not in a game, the handiness

of his inventory made him feel like he was still in a game. It felt unpleasant, like the game was

overwriting the real world.

Ultimately, however, Suzuki Satoru would not get an answer, no matter how much he thought.

More importantly—

There are still many other things to consider.

They had found several carriages, but all of them were heavily worn out from age and looked like

they would crumble if one tried to use them. He did not want to waste too much time, but searching

alone would have been dangerous, so he brought Keno with him on his search.

After a long time, they finally found a serviceable covered wagon in a small shed adjoining a large

house. The strange thing was that this shed had a jail of some sort in its basement, and there were

countless female Zombies inside the jail. It was an insoluble mystery, but Suzuki Satoru pretended

that he had not seen it. After all, no matter what he did now, it would be too late.

Suzuki Satoru pushed the wagon with his superhuman strength to test it out. The wagon creaked,

but the axles did not feel like they would break straight away. It would seem the wagon had been

enchanted in its key areas.

But they didn’t enchant the whole thing. Why is that? 

Still, it was pointless to think about such things. Suzuki Satoru created a 「Gate」 in front of the

wagon and began to push. Keno went to Suzuki Satoru’s side and helped him push. The idea of

summoning the Griffin Lord had come up, but he had asked her to save her power.

While it was hard to say if Keno’s strength was of much assistance, the two of them pushed the

wagon outside the city. He kept the 「Gate」 open, then grabbed the shirt of the guard from earlier,

who was still wandering around in the vicinity, dragged him over, then pushed him through the

「Gate」 before ending the spell.

“Now then, I’ll prepare a substitute for a horse.”

What Suzuki Satoru took out was a majestic statue of a horse with its forelegs in the air. He placed

the Statue of Animal: Warhorse on the ground, and it instantly expanded into a mighty equine.

“Wow! That’s an amazing horse! We didn’t even have anything this great in our home! You’re

amazing, Satoru-san!”

The smile on Keno’s face might have been the first to match her age that he had seen to date. After

seeing her honest reaction, Suzuki Satoru chuckled.

Suzuki Satoru ordered the golem horse to move to the front of the wagon, where he tied it to the

wagon with ropes.

He sat on the driver’s seat and ordered it forward, and the golem horse complied.

Only then was Suzuki Satoru relieved.

This relief was because the horse conjured from an item could be used to pull a wagon.

Suzuki Satoru had never sat on a horse or even touched one before, so he should not have been

able to make an ordinary horse in this world pull a wagon. But fortunately enough, that problem had

been solved. Suzuki Satoru could not help but be awed by his quick thinking.

“Now then, Keno, let’s head to the neighboring city first and see how things are there. Then, we’ll

solve the mystery of the zombification someday and find a way to save everyone!”

“Yes! I’m counting on you, Satoru-san!”

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