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nCh. 101: Requesting after Moving

n“So you want to talk about a job, right?”

nThey were at the bar in the guild.

nThe blonde girl sitting in front of him squirmed in her chair as she looked around.

nLoren was looking at the girl suspiciously, while Lapis, who was sitting next to him, was looking at her with a small smile that didn’t anyone know what she was thinking.

n“That’s right, but you chose quite the lively place.”

nAround them were adventurers looking for jobs and drunk customers, and the waitresses were weaving in and out between them, and it was indeed a sight that could be described as lively.

n“You don’t like it?”

n“It’s not bad. It’s aesthetic.”

nEven if they were to move, Loren didn’t know a quiet and fancy shop that the girl might like.

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nLapis might have known, but such a shop would be very expensive, and he had no intention of going somewhere like that.

n‘Onii-san, Onii-san, be careful.’

nThe voice of a girl that couldn’t be seen rang out in the back of his mind.

nThe girl that became a no life king, the highest ranking undead, after a whole city being sacrificed.

nExisting in her astral body after losing her physical one, she was living within Loren’s astral body.

nThat was the girl named Shayna, who had spoken to Loren.

n‘I sense something strange from her. The same smell as me, to be exact…’

n“Hmm, you. You have a strange air about you. You’re keeping something inside, aren’t you?”

n“Choose your words carefully, alright? I’m not keeping anything around me.”

nBefore thinking that she found out, what came out of Loren’s mouth was a warning filled with killing intent.

nEven if he could put aside the fact that Shayna was an undead, it didn’t change the fact that she had helped him many times.

nSince the girl had said he was keeping her without even knowing anything, there was no way he could just take it, and he couldn’t help but put killing intent into his words.

nIt was killing intent that had been toned throughout countless battles.

nEven though it wasn’t pointed towards them, just feeling it made the waitresses stop in their tracks and the people around him widened their eyes and looked towards him, making him the center of attention.

nBut even though the girl in front of him got the full brunt of it, she didn’t even blink, and looked at Loren’s face coolly with interest.

nBecoming upset with her attitude, Loren started considering leaving without hearing about her job request, but he stiffened at the cold air that came from in front of him.

nIt might have been actual cold air.

nBut Loren felt the chill in his spine sending a fright all the way inside to his core and ended up not being able to stand up from his seat.

n“Don’t get so upset. I admit that it was a poor choice of words. I won’t ask you to forgive me, but I’d appreciate if you’d accept my apology.”

nAs the girl switched to a commendable way of talking and bowed her head, Loren looked at her in disbelief.

nAround them were customers who were bubbling at their mouths, waitresses that became paralyzed with fright and sank to the ground, but no one had no idea what happened.

nIt seemed that it was only Loren, who was in front of the girl, and Lapis, who was beside him, that understood that the blast of cold air was from her.

n“It seems like we’ve been noticed by something ridiculous.”

nAlthough she had felt the same thing as Loren, Lapis said so in a joking manner.

nThe girl, who had been called something ridiculous, didn’t seem to be upset and just smiled.

n6

n‘Onii-san, this person is probably an Elder.’

n“Elder?”

nLoren unthinkingly repeated what Shayna had told him.

nHearing what he said, the girl looked at him like she had found something very interesting.

n“Oh, I’ve been trying quite hard to hide it, but you found out.”

n“Huh? Is Kauffa going to end today? A lot of things have been destroyed and ended ever since I started being with Loren, but this is the most extreme out of all of them.”

nWith Lapis muttering on about gathering her belongings and money before everything ended at the corner of his eye, Loren asked Shayna about elders.

n‘To put it simply, they are vampires.’

nShayna used the knowledge of the no life king to explain to Loren.

nVampires were beings that sucked blood.

nThey were like a catastrophe, attacking humans, getting stronger when they drank their blood, and turning their victims into low class undead, and a single vampire could even destroy a whole nation.

nVampires differed based on how they were born, and the lowest class was born from men and women with pure bodies that had their blood suck by a vampire and becoming the same type of vampire.

nEven if they were low class, they were still something to be feared, since they had enough power to annihilate a village or a town.

nFor the higher classes, there were those who became vampires by ritual called Trues, in the same way Shayna had been turned into an undead, and depending on their abilities when they were alive, they were feared to be able to annihilate a whole nation.

nThe ones above them were what Shayna had just told Loren, called Elders.

nThey couldn’t really be considered being born, but instead, it was said that they were beings that just came into existence for some reason.

nThey had mana and life energy that enormous couldn’t even fully describe, and they couldn’t be wounded by mediocre magic swords or spells, had a lifespan that could be described as infinite, had almost complete resistance to things such as holy water, sunlight, and silver that were weaknesses of normal undead.

nWhether they could be called undead or not was still a popular discussion among scholars, and they haven’t reached a conclusion.

n“So, this is an elder?”

n“What do you mean this? Well, I messed up my wording earlier, so I guess it’s fine.”

nAs the girl puffed out her cheeks slightly with a complaining look, Loren looked at Lapis with a troubled face.

nIf what Shayna said was correct, the girl sitting in front of him had the power to destroy a whole nation by herself.

nTo be honest, Loren felt like this was out of his hands.

n“For starters, can you tell us your name miss Elder?”

nWhen she noticed Loren’s gaze, she easily took the role of being the negotiator.

nFrom her personality, Loren thought that she would be reluctant or tease him about it but seeing that she instantly came in to help him, he realized that they were talking with a dangerous individual.

n“I can’t tell you my family name for a reason. Call me Dia.”

nThe girl who called herself Dia nodded slightly.

nLapis nodded back and continued her question.

n“About the job you told us you want to request. What kind of job is it, and would it be something that humans like us could do?”

nWhen thought about calmly, if the girl named Dia was indeed what Shayna said she was, there shouldn’t be a reason for her to come to humans, who were way weaker than her.

nThat was why Lapis said ‘humans like us’, but after hearing that, a troubled smile appeared on Dia’s face.

n“I was thinking of asking that young one as well…”

nA hint of annoyance missed in her voice.

nEveryone who was there when Dia appeared should have been there as well, but Klaus and Ivy were not.

nNow that Loren recalled what had happened, he realized that it was a frightening thing that happened.

nWhen Dia stopped their battle and told them she wanted to request a job, Klaus had said that he didn’t have any business with a child, and to come back after a few years.

nAs a result, Klaus was spun around on the spot two and a half times and landed on the ground face first and lost consciousness, so Ivy had to take him to the hospital.

nLoren couldn’t see what she did to him, but he did know that she wasn’t a magician.

nLoren thought then that maybe even a young girl could spin Klaus around vertically, but now that he found out what she was, he was surprised at Klaus’ luck that it only ended with getting spun.

n“Well, no use talking about those who aren’t here. To the question of do I think you two are up for the job, the answer is I have no idea.”

nIf you could know whether the person could successfully get the job done just by looking at them, you could just request it to those who could.

nBut if that were possible, the word called failure should disappear, and the number of adventurers would increase, but it seemed that reality wasn’t so, and no one had that ability.

n“Next, for the question of am I fine with the two of you, I can answer that with confidence. If I’m going to request a job, I’d like to request it to you.”

n“Can I ask why that is so?”

n“It’s easy. I’m interested in you two. So much that I want to request this job.”

nDia put her elbows on the table and leaned forward, putting her chin on top of her folded hands.

n“Interest, you say?”

n“Yes, interest. I was also a bit interested in the boy with the gift that I patted a bit…”

nShe stopped talking and looked at Loren with a meaningful gaze.

nNot knowing why she would do so, Loren looked away feeling troubled, and seeing that, Dia smiled.

n“You two are more than interesting enough to pique my interest. A swordsman with a strange air about him, and a priestess with a strange air about her as well.”

nAt Dia’s words, Loren’s heart started beating a tempo faster.

nIt seemed that this vampire girl not only notice the presence of Shayna within him but was close to finding out that Lapis was a demon.

n“The greatest reason was the gesture that the swordsman made.”

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n“Me?”

nLoren cocked his head, not knowing what she was talking about.

nSeeing him confused, Dia’s smile became even wider.

n“If you don’t know, I can tell you about it, but doing it for free won’t be exciting. How about I make it one of the payments for accepting my job?”

n“So, what would the job be?”

nAs Loren almost responded without thinking, Lapis stopped him with her hand and asked Dia about the job.

n“It’s nothing difficult. Two days south from this city is a ruin. I want you to escort me there.”

nDia said again that it wasn’t difficult.

nHearing that, Loren and Lapis looked at each other, trying to find out what their client’s intentions were.

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