~ Adventurer"s life Day 5 (Fri) Afternoon ~ Comnes Town Southeast – [Beginner"s Rock Field] Outer Boundary

After experiencing a deus ex machina for the first time, I continued to stare at that strange looking thing in front of me.

Seems to be keeping a lookout as it paces around me.

It"s a little creepy how it moves around on its own.

Skeletons. A popular rpg low levelled undead mob.

Unlike slimes, at least this one was in the game.

But having it suddenly appear was definitely a surprise.

I don"t think I did anything special that would summon this guy.

I looked around to see if I could get any hints, and right next to me is a large amount of splatter.

"Uwa…."

The corpse of the sh.e.l.led rabbit that was facing up, and had it"s body split open from the stomach where the intestines all spilled out…

It reeks, but I took a closer look inside the body, and as I"ve thought, the bones seem to all be missing.

… If that"s the case, then this guy was summoned from these bones as a catalyst…

"Gh-!!… Ouch…"

I almost forgot how badly injured I was after that surprise.

My right hand and both my legs in particular are especially in a bad state. It"s not to the point where it"s deep enough to see the bone, but the wolf cut my flesh with its claws a number of times deep enough that it"s hard to move my body.

Although it"s painful, it"s bearable. So I grogged up towards the boulder where I left my bag and took out a flask of water. For the time being, I"ll wash my wounds first. I also washed the blood around my eyes with what remaining water I had left.

I looked through my bag again to see if there"s anything else I can use.

There"s the remaining ingredients from yesterday"s attempt to make a potion. Two of each, Yacchoutai and Toorinagusa.

I collapsed back to the ground and took out the tub, crossing my fingers that I have enough mana for a potion… And as I"ve hoped, green liquid filled up the basin.

So a nights rest is enough mana for at least one potion.

Immediately, I started to apply the potion over the deeper wounds on my arms and legs, making sure not to spill a drop…

I can feel the wounds healing and the pain lessening, but this doesn"t seem to be enough to make a full recovery.

I"m not complaining though. It"s not as painful as before, and the blood around my eyes seems to have stopped.

(Hah… Good thing I still had some herbs left…)

I never felt more grateful from having the Alchemist divine protection more than I have now.

Compared to healing magic, potions take longer to heal. But it"s continuous, and if you wait long enough, it completely heals the wounds eventually.

It"s still painful and I stagger a bit, but at the very least I can walk now….

Even though I used up all the potion in the tub, I still don"t know to what extent I"ve been healed.

After calming down a little more, I a.s.sessed the situation once again.

(So, what now… )

I"ve thought about what I should do about the rabbit and wolf"s bodies.

The rabbit"s all messed up so I can forget about that, while the forest wolf only has that one cut on its body, so it should still sell for a good price. If possible I"d like to take this one back with me…

However, I don"t think I have any more strength to disa.s.semble it, and it"s pretty heavy too so carrying it back is not an option.

Ugh, I really don"t want to leave it here after all that…

(Hm?)

That"s right, I have this guy don"t I?

~ Adventurer"s life Day 5 (Fri) Afternoon ~ Comnes Town Southeast – [Beginner"s Rock Field]

After about 15 minutes, I (or rather "we") are already walking towards the town gate.

I couldn"t help myself and stripped off some sh.e.l.led rabbits scales, while my skeleton has the wolf dragged along by it"s feet.

Putting aside it"s intelligence and dexterity, skeletons have quite a bit of strength with them.

Even with the heavy wolf, it"s still able to carry it with ease.

When I told it to come with me, it stops it"s vigilance and creepy walks behind me with no hesitation. Though as expected of its AI, I can"t have it help me walk as it only follows behind me at a set distance.

This guy does seem a little too bizarre, but for the time being I should hopefully be able to meet up with the soldier guards soon.

Thankfully, I didn"t get into any awkward situations in meeting with some people along the way.

The potion managed to heal me to a certain extent, but even after awhile, walking is starting to become more and more difficult. I can feel my fatigue increasing, wounds reopening and this skeleton still won"t help me.

However, I finally see the south gate in the distance.

(… Hm?)

Front of me, I can see some soldiers coming this way.

There"s six of them and they all seem to have some leather armor equipped along with some long swords and bows.

They seem kinda tense there.

Then, the person in the centre of the group put up his visor and called out this way.

"Hey! There"s been a notice of a forest wolf being here! It"s best if you were to stay away from… "

He cut off on what he was about to say next, as if he was at a loss for words.

It"s probably because he just noticed the state I was in.

But at least I know why there wasn"t anyone around here.

It would"ve been nice I was also told before I came.

"Hey, you have blood all over yourself! Are you alright!? And what"s that thing beside you?"

"I"m alright, I guess… As for this guy, he"s a companion of mine…"

My head started to feel dull all of a sudden…

Ah, that"s right. I can"t believe I forgot…

This skeleton is a summon, so of course it"s going to cost mana to maintain it…

I knew it was a bad idea to waste time taking scales off the rabbit.

It"s getting more difficult to support myself, and I collapsed onto my knees.

"Hey! You sure you"re alright!?"

One of the guards helped me up.

… Ah, I still have some things left to do.

"Sorry, but… can you take this wolf to the guild for me?… And later, can you take these scales to the shop owner of Adonnis" Blade please?"

… Once I said that, I lost consciousness.

~ Adventurer"s life Day 6 (Sat) Noon ~ Comnes Town – 3rd Guards Station – Medical Ward

I woke up on a bed I don"t recognise and looked around the room.

(The room"s made of stone, and I don"t know this place.)

There"s a number of beds other than mine all lined up making this room considerably big.

I try to get myself out of the bed, though I feel a little weak doing so, probably because I slept for so long.

I can vaguely remember what happened after I collapsed.

Like how I"ve been carried or something.

I"ve just noticed, facing this way sitting on a desk is a forty something year old woman wearing a white robe.

She"s coming over this way… Probably the nurse right?

"I"m going to call someone over so please wait for a bit."

At that, she left the room through the door.

… After a while, she came back along with a guardsman that I feel I recognise from somewhere.

The guardsman sat beside my bed and spoke.

"So you"ve woken up. This place is the medical ward for the south east gate. You lost consciousness so we brought you over. Did you remember that?"

Ah so that was the case. So the voice I heard was probably from this guy.

When he was wearing a helmet, I was given the impression that he would be a bit younger, but here he has long grey hair. He looks to be around his mid 30"s and his voice along with his expressions give off a gentle vibe. But it feels somewhat unusually strong, most likely from being used to giving orders.

"… I somewhat remember before I collapsed… How long have I been asleep for?"

"About a full day. How is it, does your wounds hurt?"

"Just a little… But I think I"ll be fine walking by myself. I can at least move a bit."

"That"s good… Ah that"s right, I haven"t introduced myself. My name"s Ruben, pleased to meet you."

Oh, so he"s Ruben.

I"ve heard that name before. He was a well known swordsman from the third division during the time I was still a part of the guards.

The ones from the third division in charge of the gates from the rock fields facing Noden forest were the cream of the crop.

That forest is swarming with forest wolves. I"d be killed there in an instant.

On that note, along the wide road where you"d hardly see any signs of sh.e.l.led rabbits at the north gate. Around there is where the young recruits are stationed at.

Of course, I was placed there too.

"… Ruben is it. Even I heard of you. Ah right, thanks for helping me out."

"Don"t worry, that wasn"t a big deal for us, it"s our job after all… In any case, it seems you used to be part of the guards at the northern gate. There were some adventurers and a couple in my group that knew you."

"Ah, is that so. I"m honoured someone so famous has come to talk to me."

"What are you saying? No need for flattery."

From this conversation, I can guess that Ruben has a couple of connections with some adventurers.

Even so, I only just started becoming an adventurer, so there shouldn"t be a lot that he would know about me.

"However, you did well in defeating a forest wolf and bearing with those wounds. Regarding your history, you came out of nowhere, worked as a guard for about two years then suddenly quit to become an adventurer?"

"… Even then, I didn"t get the warrior divine protection."

"Yes I heard that…"

Where did he manage to hear that? Perhaps he also have some connections with some of the guild staff.

I brought up the topic regarding my skeleton.

I don"t really know much about it to begin with except that"s it"s a part of my divine protection. Even the method of summoning it again is a complete mystery to me.

I"m hoping that maybe he might know something about it.