Published: August 15, 2025
Today, four chapters are posted simultaneously.
This story is the first chapter.
The next day.
I woke up at the base we made in the ghost town, and it was closer to midday. Since we had been performing memorial rites late into the night, I got up quite late this morning. I greeted Mr. Sebas and Lord Reinbach, who had taken the watch, and then ate the leftovers of the food that had been placed on the spirit shelf as breakfast.
Throwing it away would be wasteful, and having people eat offerings is part of the memorial rites—it means "sharing a meal with the deceased" or "sharing food," so it’s also a form of honoring them. While I was leisurely enjoying my meal, Miss Remily and Mr. Seaver, who had been outside, came back.
"Welcome back."
"You were awake, huh? I took a quick look around, and it seems the magic from last night was quite effective. Depending on how many undead remain, we were thinking of spending another day on the hunt, but judging by the situation, heading towards the central tower shouldn’t be a problem."
"Oh? I thought it was surprisingly quiet, but even around the tower?"
"The miasma throughout the town has greatly thinned, and the number of undead has drastically decreased. The remaining undead also seem calm, showing no signs of moving. At most, they direct their gaze but are mostly just 'dead bodies' lying around. Although we might need to deal with the corpses scattered about, at least they don’t seem to pose a threat."
"Then, let's ask the Goblins and grave slimes to handle the remaining undead."
It just occurred to me—feeding the corpses to the grave slimes would be either burial or a kind of 'slime funeral'... There are cultures where feeding bodies to carnivorous birds is called 'sky burial,' so maybe this is a 'slime burial'? In any case, it's better than leaving the bodies out in the open.
"Thank you for the meal."
As I finished eating while asking about the town’s condition, we began today’s operation when the sun reached its zenith. As planned, we left the undead in the town to the Goblins and grave slimes, and we headed for the central tower. There was no ambush along the way, and we smoothly arrived in front of the tower.
"There’s still an unpleasant miasma lingering here."
"That’s because this place is the town’s center and houses the execution ground. Last night’s smoke probably didn’t reach inside the tower."
So, before entering, we decided to purify the miasma once more. We prepared as usual and began the purification.
"This magic really is convenient..."
"What do you usually do to remove miasma in such places?"
"If it’s something flammable, burning it to ash is the quickest way. If more is needed, specialists are normally called in."
"Those specialists are called 'Exorcists' or 'cursed sorcerers,' mages who specialize in undead extermination and miasma countermeasures. They have abundant knowledge and experience, so they’re safe and reliable. I know something about it, but I can’t compete with them."
Since Miss Remily specializes in combat with shadow magic, this is probably outside her field. I’ve learned how to remove miasma like this, but mostly I do it based on intuition.
"Considering the research on grave slimes, maybe it’s better to properly acquire knowledge about miasma..."
"If you’re interested, I can introduce you to a cursed sorcerer friendly with the Duke’s household... Remily, what do you think?"
"If you gain solid knowledge, you can do more and be safer. But if you get a tutor, you need to choose carefully. Otherwise, Ryoma-chan might get overwhelmed."
"Lord Ryoma already uses at least one magic comparable to a specialist; he might be interested. These are trustworthy people, but it’s true that they’re very passionate about magic refinement."
Many would want to be attached to the Duke’s household. To be selected from many candidates, one needs skills and passion. That explains why many are sort of magic geeks.
While we talked, watching the smoke sent into the tower, we saw many moving shadows beyond the smoky entrance... but the undead without miasma were easily wiped out by the capable adults—they weren’t a match at all.