The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon

"The first emperor might have liked that measure."

"Maybe. Well, at least the statues remain, right?"

Statues of Seiron could easily be found throughout the empire. Heroes often ended up in such tragedies.

I commented, "But wouldn't he be pleased if one of those months was named after Clemens? Maybe it would be more peaceful to remove a month and dedicate one to the current emperor. This time, it's Clemens. Next time, Ashton?"

Rubia giggled at my words. I didn't think that was particularly funny.

Thud!

She tripped over a stone while laughing. Her sudden fall caught me by surprise, but I quickly moved to catch her.

That's different.

Before, she hadn't tripped at this point. The first time she stumbled was after we left the cave. She also didn't initiate conversations like this about the decree and Seiron.

Her body and mind were much more relaxed now.

Before she could speak, I interjected, "I know you didn't fall on purpose."

I probably said something like that the first time she tripped outside.

Rubia's face turned bright red.

Embarrassed, she averted her eyes and changed the subject. "I actually wanted to visit Ember. After we buy the armor, wouldn't you like to go there with me?"

Clatter.

Rubia's question about a new topic made me feel unsettled. My neck vertebrae rattled.

Embermere.[1] Why did I forget about that place?

"Why are you so surprised? You seem to know everything, so I figured you'd know that city too," Rubia asked lightly.

"Oh!"

I marveled in thought for a moment. A legendary necromancer resided in Embermere, the neutral city.

Did she die this year?

Of course, it was a story I'd heard secondhand, so I didn't know the exact details. However, the legendary necromancer named Gith-Za-Rai might be able to help me with the phenomenon of my repeated regression.

My master had told me many things. There were stories she had told me while stroking my skull.

Ember, a place where those who could not fit into the framework and order gathered, was full of all sorts of beings. Unsurprisingly, Gith-Za-Rai, an especially brilliant necromancer, resided there. She had come from an unknown world. Gith-Za-Rai had traveled across the sea with her skeletons to study the corpses of a new species on this continent.

"If you had met her... you might have had a chance to become much stronger," my master had said with a hint of regret.

Necromancer Gith-Za-Rai had developed a unique bone grafting technique due to her incredible obsession with the skeletons she commanded. If she grafted a horse's bone onto a skeleton's leg, then the skeleton would gain speed. If she inserted a split ogre bone into an arm, it would gain strength. She could even transfer some skills in the process.

I don't know exactly how it worked. It's not verified. They say she died soon after...

The wizards from the Azure Tower were the ones that killed her.

Why did they do that? They probably thought she was too dangerous. Even if she had lived, would she have joined our side? Maybe not.

Afterward, many necromancers tried to replicate her bone grafting technique, but none succeeded. They only managed to create grotesque and unbalanced monsters through crude physical splicing. The core was a technique that extracted some essence from the bones, and that technique died with Gith-Za-Rai. The method was assumed to have originated from the unknown world she hailed from.

She died in the solar year 1148, or so I heard.

There isn't much time left if I want to try the bone grafting technique to make new possibilities for myself...

It's not confirmed, but...

I had probably been wearing a stern expression because Rubia asked in a cheerful tone, "You look so serious... Are you an anarchist? It might suit a skeleton without a nation to go to Ember."

She was right. Embermere was the city of anarchists. A Thousand Fiefs was its nickname, representing Embermere well. The humans of Embermere rejected any form of coercion, and they governed themselves. Each human there was a walking fiefdom.

I had been to Embermere before, but I hadn't entered through normal procedures. I had been conscripted as a legionnaire of a high-ranking demon to invade that place. However, Embermere had already been dead by then; all that remained had been a city of ashes and corpses. Each fiefdom had been snuffed out.

I remembered the sight and was filled with melancholy.

Rubia added, "They recognize neither the emperor nor the council as an authority, nor do they acknowledge any deity. I've always wanted to visit Embermere at least once to see how they've managed to survive between two great powers."

The long, narrow Cabrolta Isthmus connected the Empire and the Free Confederation. If one sailed up from the midpoint, they reached a small island. That island was the city of the anarchists. Politically and geographically, Embermere was just a small island.

I remarked, "I've heard that the Republicans secretly support Ember."

"You know everything! Even though I thought I'd gotten used to it, I'm still surprised now and then. How do you know such things?"

I was merely a Skeleton Soldier. No matter how long I lived, knowing such things was hard. But I had always been one to listen carefully to human stories. I had consciousness, after all. I had even picked up half-burnt books to read.

I recalled scenes of humans fleeing in terror... I had been aware of which flag they carried.

Amidst the countless screams and shouts on the battlefield, there were occasionally things that could be called knowledge.

"I just know."

"Just like that? You're not some relic of Seiron I, are you?"

I chuckled slightly at her words and replied with a clatter. "Is that so? That cemetery back there seemed poorly maintained for being the Empire's Cemetery Zero."

"What? That's a weird joke!"

"You started the joke first. Is it true that you want to go to Ember?"

"Yes."

"Have you done your research?"

"Well, they say there's only one rule there: do not infringe."

"That's right."

Rubia went on to criticize that rule. "But do you think that's enough? If you just deny human nature, won't the streets, alleys, wells, and walls be littered with corpses?"

That wasn't a new opinion. Many people agreed with that perspective and criticized Ember. I hesitated for a moment, thinking that viewpoint might be the safer one.

However, what I had seen of Embermere was only the ashes after its downfall. Maybe that was why I somehow felt the urge to defend it.

"Will it, though? It might turn out to be a surprisingly peaceful city."

All I had seen were ashes, but that meant I could freely imagine what Embermere might have been like before its collapse. That was the beauty of ashes.

"You're an idealist. Should we make a bet before going?"

"I'm not confident enough to bet. But if there's something you want from me, just say it. A rib?"

Rubia laughed cheerfully for a moment. "Hahaha..."

Her long brown hair fluttered.

"Ember is quite far, though."

"It's far... that's why I want to go."

If I wanted to argue, I could say it was dangerous, or I could say that going to a place without laws could lead to anything happening. But I didn't feel the need to say that. Someone she called her uncle was pursuing her.

I thought of my past lives. I remembered the times when I hadn't been able to protect Rubia, even on the first day. She had no idea, but the pursuers would have tortured her. Then they would have either killed her or sold her off to somewhere she could never escape from. It was meaningless to tell her Embermere was dangerous; staying here was the most dangerous thing for her.

Instead, I just said, "It'll take about a month."

I walked through the cave and quietly recalled the stories Rubia had told me about Clemens II and Embermere. Before her Affection increased, Rubia hadn't talked about these things. She had only acted cautiously in front of me. Once her Affection reached 20, she began to discuss the emperor's decrees. She expressed a desire to visit the city of Ember.

She was selectively hiding certain things based on her Affection level. I felt like I had gotten much closer to her. She was still amazed to see me navigating through the cave. That remained unchanged. But this time, she expressed her amazement more freely.

"It feels like you've been here before!"

"I have. In fact, I used to live on the other side of this cave. I walked through the cave to be buried."

Rubia giggled as if she wasn't afraid of facing a skeleton. "Oh, that's a boring joke!

"The cave is so complicated... there aren't even any bats. But it feels like we're on the right path, which is amazing."

Well, we were on the right path. She seemed to have good intuition. I stopped at a suitable clearing. It was a place where all sides were relatively open. I spread out a place to lie down, and without hesitation, she laid her head on my thigh bones and fell asleep. I watched her as she slept peacefully, more at ease than before. I thought it had been a good decision to raise her Affection through the special perks.

When we left the cave, it snowed, and the mountain birds sang. I felt a slight sense of discord and then... nothing.

Was I expecting something?

There was nothing when we left the cave. I didn't get a maze-clear message. After I cleared the C++-grade maze, flashy notifications appeared, showing that I had leveled up by ten at a time. I had unconsciously been expecting that. It was amusing to feel disappointed in myself.

Do you not get rewards for going through it again?

Honestly, it was a bit disappointing. There wouldn't have been many easier ways to level up than that.

"Why do you look like that?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

"You seem a bit disappointed."

It appeared that Rubia was quite the perceptive woman.

Increasing Affection wouldn't allow her to read my mind, right?

"No. Let's go."

***

Solar year 1147. Over a thousand years had passed since a man liberated a human who had been kept as a plaything by the ancient apostles, shattered the crystal of space-time, and severed the link between the netherworld and the real world.

After the Month of Ascension (November), when Seiron died, and beyond the Month of Freedom (December), when the Anti-Empire Republic was founded, it was the morning of January 21, about a third of the way through the Month of Sardiya. This was when the only flower that bloomed crimson through the snow in the dead of winter appeared.

A skeleton and a novice necromancer walked along the mountain path. They were heading toward the neutral city of Embermere. Of course, Embermere was still a long way from here. People couldn't say they were going straight to Ember, even as a joke. This time, they planned to stop at a city and interact with humans as they traveled.

***

"Are we not going to Grassmere?" Rubia asked.

"Armor is best bought there. However, you should rest in an inn along the way."

Rubia made a vague expression. "Hmm..."

We walked through the snow-covered mountains. We found Sardiya, and she threw snowballs at me again, and I dodged them easily. She looked crestfallen, disappointed by how effortlessly I dodged them.

As I found her dejected state amusing, a thought suddenly came to mind.

Oh no. There were remaining points, weren't there?

I had forgotten to allocate Rubia's points.

I pulled up Rubia's status window.

[Name: Rubia Ray

Necromancer Lv. 1

Health: 7

Strength: 5

Agility: 6

Wisdom: 12]

[Affection: 20]

[Remaining Points: 9

— Please allocate!]

I had raised her health by one, but I hadn't paid attention since.

I was being foolish.

I pressed the small + button next to Health.

[Rubia's Health has increased.]

[7 -> 8]

[Rubia's Health has increased.]

[8 -> 9]

[Rubia's Health has increased.]

[9 -> 10]

"Ah!" Rubia suddenly lifted her head and looked at me. "I feel strange."

"Are you hurt?"

I pretended not to know.

"No, I feel incredibly healthy... full of energy..."

The effect appeared to be positive. It seemed like a good idea to press the button once whenever she felt down or depressed.

Rubia asked, "What's the nearest city?"

"Yubram. We're almost there."

"It's a small city, but there should be a decent inn, right?"

"We'll go to a good place. No need to save money."

"I'll save enough for the armor."

"Here, ninety roti."

The crossbowman and the hammer-wielder had a total of seventy-two and eighteen roti, respectively.

"This is more than enough! We could buy it here."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.

"Wouldn't we lose money on the price?"

"Going to Grassmere is more about the quality than the price."

It sounded as if she knew quite a bit about armor.

"Do you know anything about the prices?"

"A mass-produced one costs around sixty roti, and you could bargain down to twenty-five roti for a poorly maintained secondhand one. Maybe we could even buy a donkey."

Rubia spoke as if she had haggled before in a blacksmith's shop, but she seemed less confident about the price of a donkey.

"Is there really a need to buy armor here when Grassmere is just three days away?"

"It's because I don't want to be apart from you even for one day!"

1. Full name of the city Ember. ☜