It was — it looked exactly like—
“That’s not a zombie,” I said, smiling.
“Huh?”
“Come on, look more closely.” I took Al and walked closer. It was a figure carved from wood into the shape of a person. Horrifyingly black holes had been cut into the figure for eyes, and it bared rows of teeth made from the quills of bird feathers. The wood used was probably the same as the pillars.
“Maybe he’s a grave keeper?”
“G-Grave keeper?”
“Yeah.”
The fact that they had placed a frightening figure like this here probably meant that—
“This is probably a burial mound. A graveyard.”
I looked around at the lines of pillars. Each one of these was surely the tombstone of someone who had once lived here. Once I started thinking that way, I got the feeling that it explained this strange place neatly.
“The reason for the figure with the frightening face is probably to intimidate grave robbers.”
Some may think, “It’s only a figure, what’s the big deal?” but just like the Japanese dolls from my previous world, humanoid figures that feel as if someone’s intent lives within them are pretty scary. It would probably seem even scarier to people who came here with a guilty conscience intending to loot the graves. It might not be able to scare off all unscrupulous people, but if at least those who still had some doubts could be kept away with this, that alone would be useful. It was kind of like fake security cameras in my previous world.
“Actually, the mist might be a magical barrier too, or some kind of agreement with a local fae.” The people of the past had probably arranged this so that the ones they loved who had passed away before them could rest in peace. “I think this place was probably made over many generations and with a lot of effort and feeling.”
I gently laid down my spear and got to my knees. Then, I put my hands together and prayed.
We haven’t come here to disturb your burial place. Please rest in peace.
After praying for a while, I opened my eyes and saw that Al had been doing the same.
“Um… but then…”
“Hm?”
“But then where are the undead?”
“Now that we know this is a grave, I’m starting to think there’s a good chance they were just seeing things.”
“Huh? I’d have thought undead would be more likely to show up if it’s a grave…”
Al’s words confused me. I tilted my head. “Why? They’ve all beenrespectfully laid to rest. ”
Graves generally contained corpses that had been given a memorial following a proper procedure. It was actually rare for graves to produce undead, despite the image they may conjure up.
“It’s when someone is killed and their body hidden or when a dead body is left out in the open that it becomes more likely for them to receive the protection of the god of undeath.” I paused, then added in a subdued voice, “He’s a kind god in his own way.”
“The god of undeath is… kind?”
“Yes. Really kind.” I shrugged.
Even though I had once fought him as an enemy, I had to admit it: the god of undeath, Stagnate, was kind. It was just that I and most likely the majority of everyone else couldn’t accept what that god viewed as kindness, and that was why we called him an evil god. But the way I saw it, that label did nothing to change the fact that he was kind.
“People suffer miserable, hopeless deaths that are too awful to watch.
Stagnate, the god of undeath, can’t stand that. So just as the seasons and nature shift with the blessing of the god of the fae, the god of undeath grants all creatures who have met with death the right to overturn their tragedies by becoming undead and rising to their feet again.”
“Um—”
“Yes, I know what you’re going to say. That wouldn’t make most people happy. In fact, a blessing like that would be nothing but a nuisance.” I shrugged.
“For the living, it would be a little bit unbearable to say the least if their dead parents rose rotten from the grave for a final embrace. And as for the dead, regrets of the moment just before death are usually burned into their heads. No real rationality is left; they just lose control. Only a very small subset of people can become rational undead. Only those with strong wills and souls.”
But even so—
“But even so, it’s a fact that what the god of undeath is giving is a blessing, not a curse. From the bottom of his heart, he’s trying to tell them that they don’t have to end their lives in frustration and encouraging them to overturn death with the radiance of their souls.”
“Um…” Al looked like he’d been badly wanting to say something. “Master Will, err, you know an awful lot about Stagnate. Could it be you’ve…”
Oops.
“Have you met an Echo of — no, what am I talking about. That couldn’t happen, not even to you. Have you met one of Stagnate’s Heralds or something?”
“…”
“Why are you looking away from me?!”
“N-No reason, I just, uh, I just… Hahaha…”
“Don’t laugh!”
“Hahaha…”
With the odd moment like that to break things up, we walked around the hill for a while, but as I expected, we didn’t spot anything suspicious.
“Yeah, it feels likely they were just seeing things.”
“S-So it was all a false alarm…”
I laughed sympathetically. “Well, it’s like that sometimes.”
Al had come steeling himself for his first battle, and it had just been a false alarm. His shoulders sank and his expression showed a mix of disappointment and frustration. “Ah — b-but, the hunter said they sensed an unholy aura, didn’t they?!”
“An ‘aura’ is a pretty vague concept, after all. With an atmosphere like this place has, if you thought you saw something undead here, you might feel like you sensed an aura, don’t you think?”
“I guess so…”
That being said, he did have a point. That ‘aura’ was the one thing that was still bugging me. If the hunter really was seeing things, we just had to go back and say it was nothing. But it would be terrible if we reported that it was nothing and then there were casualties later. With these thoughts in my head, I went around the hill one more time.
“Hm?” Through the mist, behind bushes and undergrowth at the bottom of the hill, I got the feeling that I caught a glimpse of something. “Al, this way.”
Making my way through the undergrowth, I moved towards it.
Hidden among bushes and undergrowth at the bottom of the hill was a dilapidated old door.
“Is that a way into the mound?”
It probably wasn’t very large, judging by the size of the hill. I regarded the door with suspicion. There was a chance that some magic or a trap had been set up as a measure against grave robbing, but I had to check. I mentally said some words of apology to the people buried here.
“Let’s check this out, too.”
“Right.”
I listened out carefully and cautiously placed a hand on the door. It had an extremely simple construction without even a lock, and even though many years must have passed, it still just about opened.
“Lumen. ” I converged mana onto the Sign engraved in my favorite spear, Pale Moon, securing myself a magical source of illumination. “Okay. Good.
And… Flammo Ignis. ” I also used a Word to create fire and light the torch I’d brought with me. “Al, hold onto this.”
“Yes, sir. But why two different types of light?”