Volume 7 Chapter 8 Skinning
"Hey, wait a minute. Look at this."
The 3 of them were about to start the disassembly and skinning of the Six-Legged Tiger when Madoc, who was checking the surroundings, peered into the bushes where the Six-Legged Tiger had been hiding and raised his voice.
"What's wrong?"
Orson and Najira hurried over to him. They looked where he was pointing and gasped in surprise.
"What's going on? It doesn't seem like a magic beast has appeared or anything."
Al, who was by the campfire, quickly came over to see what was happening with the three people. In the bushes, he found two human skulls lying next to each other. When he looked closer, he saw many bones scattered around. These bones appeared to belong to humans, Barbarians, and possibly other creatures.
"It looks like people was hiding here and being attacked. If we had gone in like that, it would have been bad."
"Wow, I'm glad we defeated it."
Al also let out a big sigh of relief.
"You have holy water too, right, Al? Let's pray for the peace of the dead sleeping in the bushes."
Adventurers sometimes find human corpses during their journeys. If these bodies are not buried, they might become undead zombies or ghosts. Usually, a priest prays for the souls of the deceased, but this isn't always possible.
In such cases, holy water is used. Holy water is blessed by priests or bishops and can be obtained with a donation at the church. Al had prepared some after Orson's suggestion.
Now, He, along with Orson, Madoc, and Najira, entered a dense area. The ground was mossy, and they saw torn clothing and bones scattered around. How many people had died here?
"Souls of the departed, rest in peace..."
Al and three others opened a bottle of holy water and poured it onto the ground, praying for the victims' peace. While doing this, Al saw a piece of a sword's hilt sticking out of the soil. Could it belong to someone who had died? If there were any unique markings, they might be able to identify the person.
"Did you find something?"
"Yeah, it's this."
Al lightly dug around the sword's hilt. The sword was about a meter long and quite wide. It was covered in rust, but it had very fancy decorations, and a large red gem on the sheath was still shining.
"This looks really nice. Can you pull it out?"
At Orson's suggestion, Al carefully dug the sword out of the ground. He gripped the hilt and pulled it from the sheath. To his surprise, the sword came out easily and showed no rust; it looked shiny and new. Al then used a spell called 'Magic Sense' and felt a reaction.
"It seems this sword has been buried for a long time, but it's not rusty. It must be protected by magic, which means it's likely a famous sword. However, someone related to the owner might be searching for it. If we take it back, we should inform the Adventurers' Guild that we found it. If we don't, it could be seen as stolen, and that would create problems."
Al nodded at Orson's words.
"So, the corpse near this sword might have belonged to someone of high status."
"The amount we can take back is limited. The skin will weigh a lot, and it's impossible to bring back the whole body."
Orson's words made Al nod, but he thought it would be good to search the area for anything else that could identify the body and take it back if possible.
"Then let's start skinning it. Madoc, Najira, let's do our best."
"Wait a second, hey, Al. If your dizziness is gone, can you use some magic to flip this corpse over?"
Just as Orson and the others were about to get back to work, Madoc asked Al that question. The Six-Legged Tiger was huge. Even with all 3 of them working together, it was almost impossible to move it.
"Yeah. The only thing I can do is 'Physical Boost.' Can you try using that to move it?"
"You can even use the 'Physical Boost' spell? It's really helpful to have you around, Al."
Najira murmured in amazement. Thanks to a little rest, the 3 of them were able to use the 'Physical Boost' spell. They managed to finish the disassembly work, even though it was tough.
* * *
After that, Al and the others spent 2 more days and got about 100 more Raindrops, finally returning to the border city of Lester. Along the way, they fought a Stone Hurling Bongo that had gotten separated from its group, but fortunately, they didn't encounter any more Stone Hurling Bongos or other Six-Legged Tigers.
"It's rare to see all 4 of you together."
When Al entered the Adventurer's Guild, he saw Quinta sitting at the counter. She was the one who helped him when he first visited this guild.
"We're all staying at the same inn. We decided to go together."
Orson, the oldest among them, replied.
"Are you here to sell materials? Or do you have something to discuss?"
"Yeah, both."
Orson started by talking about selling the fangs of the Raindrop and the Six-Legged Tiger. He probably planned to take the hides to Cody, the dismantler. She would evaluate what Orson brought in.
"That's a total of 70 gold coins. Each person gets 17 gold coins and 50 silver coins. You made quite a bit."
Quinta said, impressed, as she handed out the gold.
"Now, about what we want to discuss, we actually found this."
Orson said, prompting Al. Al nodded lightly and took out the sword he found in the bushes where the Six-Legged Tiger was hiding, along with a ring he found nearby, placing them on her desk.
"Wow... it's rusty, but it's a fine treasure sword. Hmm? I can see a faint emblem engraved on it. Is the ring a magic tool?"
Quinta examined the sword and ring that Al had handed over.
"The sword glowed blue with the 'Magic Sense' spell, so it might be some kind of magic tool, or it could be protected from rust. The ring also reacted, so it might be a magic tool too."
"I see. What do you want to do?"
Quinta stared at Al's face as she asked for his thoughts.
"I think it's quite something, so I believe the owner is looking for it. Haven't any requests like that come to the Adventurers' Guild?"
Quinta smiled and nodded at Al's words.
"I see, that's commendable. I thought you were asking to keep it for yourself. Well, you are a magician. Even if it's a magic sword, it would probably be Najira who can use it, but it might be too short to be a main weapon. With 2 magic tools for 4 people, it wouldn't be easy to share them."
Quinta glanced at Najira, who nodded in agreement.
"Okay. But it will take time to investigate. Can I hold onto it for now? I'll write you a receipt."
Al looked briefly at Orson, but Orson smiled back, as if to say it was fine. They probably trusted him.
"Alright then, Quinta. I'm counting on you."
"Leave it to me."
Al and the others firmly took the receipt from Quinta and left the Adventurers' Guild.
"Next, we go to Cody's place. If all goes well, it should be around 20 gold coins. Adding that to the earlier one, that makes about 22 gold coins each. That's quite a bit of money."
"Yeah, Orson, if you hear of any good stories again, let me know."
Madoc nodded happily at Orson's words and then patted Al on the shoulder.
"Thanks, Al. When we first met, you seemed like a beginner, but now you're already a pro."
"Yeah... thanks."
Al's response felt a bit distant. He was thinking about how he might be able to buy one or 2 more spellbooks with this. He kept wondering what he should buy next.
"That face means you're thinking about buying another spellbook, right? Make sure you save some money just in case. Got it?"
Seeing this, Orson couldn't help but murmur anxiously.
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