Chapter 13. Awakening from Life (13)
With nowhere else to go, I spent three years clattering around inside the cave, wandering here and there.
Did that help?
Actually, it took me over a year to find the exit after I first entered.
I wasn't even paying much attention.
There was nowhere else to go anyway. I didn't need to eat or get sunlight. So, I wandered inside the cave, not feeling lost at all. I naturally became familiar with the subtle tilt of the ceiling, the shapes of the stalactites, and the patterns on the walls.
Indeed.
I probably would have died in the cave if I hadn't known all that. No animals would enter it, not even bats. They must have known that entering this cave meant death.
Hmm...
I checked my status window.
[Name: None
Skeleton Soldier Lv. 16 (57)
Health: 29
Strength: 27
Agility: 25
Wisdom: 9
Remaining Points: 10]
Well, this is something.
I stared at the final message for a moment.
"Are you okay?" Rubia asked.
"Ah, yes, I'm fine."
I was more than fine. In fact, I felt like I could fly. Leveling up always brought a significant sense of pleasure. It was like soaking in a hot spring and then dipping into a cold bath. A tingling, refreshing sensation enveloped me, and I gained ten levels at once. Pleasure flowed through every one of my bones, and I took a moment to savor the feeling.
I stood still, aware of Rubia's gaze.
"Just wait a moment," I told her.
"Ah, okay!"
Rubia stopped speaking to me.
I pondered on where to allocate the ten new points.
Should I focus them all in one area? Should I invest everything in Strength? Or Agility? Definitely not Health or Wisdom.
My Health was already quite high, and investing in Wisdom didn't seem practical. I wasn't going to become a wizard anyway. After a brief consideration, I finally allocated seven points to Agility and three to Strength.
[Strength increased.]
[Strength...]
[Agility increased.]
[Agility increased.]
[Agility...]
It felt as if the world was slowing down and becoming clearer. The effect of seven points in Agility was impressive. I suddenly wanted to swing a dagger, but with a human next to me, swinging a weapon in the air would look rather ridiculous.
I checked my status window again.
[Name: None
Skeleton Soldier Lv. 16 (57)
Health: 29
Strength: 30
Agility: 32
Wisdom: 9]
Now, my Health, Strength, and Agility were all above twenty-nine.
I feel much more comfortable now.
I had struggled a lot when dealing with the hammer-wielding and crossbow-wielding hunters. Now, I felt that things would be much easier if I faced them again. Increasing Agility would make it easier to dodge enemy attacks and land my strikes. Strength would mean that my hits would land harder. Of course, that was just in theory. If things always went as planned, there would be no challenges in life.
In reality, skills were the issue. Although the hunters demonstrated greater strength and agility, their skills further widened the gap in our combat power.
I need to learn some skills too.
I dismissed the status window with a wave of my hand.
Suddenly, I noticed Rubia staring at me with wide eyes.
Feeling a bit embarrassed, I said, "Shall we go?"
She nodded.
"Shall we?"
***
"Ugh... ugh..."
"First, we need to buy a pack animal," I muttered to myself.
Rubia was exhausted, her head drooping as she barely managed to take each step. Even so, she would occasionally lift her head to look at me and smile. She was trying to act as if she still had energy, which was a pitiful sight.
She had gone through quite an ordeal last night. Moreover, we walked for two hours inside the cave. It was only natural that she was tired.
Rubia was a human woman, and she was only at Lv. 1. There was no point in expecting her to have much stamina. Judging by her stats, she was at least four times weaker than me.
She panted heavily while walking.
"Huff... huff..."
Should I carry her?
I was already carrying all the baggage, so she was a bit of a burden.
Should I just leave her behind now?
Whether she became food for wolves or was torn apart by a snow troll, I could simply continue on my way. After all, I wouldn't be able to protect her if a troll showed up.
Regardless, I didn't have a specific destination either, which meant that I wasn't much different from this woman. I didn't want to abandon Rubia, but it wasn't out of any moral obligation. This woman had plenty of value to offer. For example, I needed her to buy me armor. If she managed to get money from humans, I would need someone to purchase things for me.
A Skeleton Soldier couldn't conduct transactions. This world belonged to humans, and I needed a connection with them. If that were the only reason, it wouldn't necessarily have to be this woman.
But…
I opened my status screen. Below the stats and skills was a new category called Servant System.
[Servant System]
[Title: Pathfinder]
[When moving with the master, vision increases by 10%.]
[Description: A special servant.]
[Combat power increases by 20% when fighting for the master.]
These things had not appeared when I had been with Lady Succubus. They were completely new, and the granted effects were astonishing. I needed to learn more about this servant system. For that reason alone, I needed to stay with this woman named Rubia.
Does it only apply to the one who awakened me from the grave?
I looked ahead. A 10% increase in vision was significant. Not only could I see farther, but my field of vision itself seemed to have widened.
I took a step forward.
Crunch.
The rain poured down as if to wash away the world, but it completely stopped when we left the cave. Now, snowflakes were falling, covering the dry winter branches in white. The snowflakes were fine and sparse, but after the rain had stopped, it felt as though it had snowed all night, enough to make the ground crunch underfoot.
I didn't dislike the snow. It was light and soft. I walked quietly, watching the falling snow. The wind carried a floral scent.
Where is that coming from?
I looked around, then suddenly turned back. I saw the footprints we left behind. The snow didn't feel entirely welcome.
Hmm.
Tweet, tweet!
Caw, caw!
"Even in winter... the mountain birds are singing... It's nice to hear," Rubia commented beside me.
Do mountain birds sing in winter?
I couldn't remember well, so I replied nonchalantly, "Not much of an outdoor person, are you?"
"Reading books is the most fun—ugh!"
Rubia nodded, but then she suddenly started vomiting. Nothing came out, but she was clearly in distress, supporting herself on the ground. It seemed the journey was too much for her.
"Let's take a break."
"Huff... huff..."
Thud.
Rubia collapsed under a tree. I sat down nearby, staring blankly at the sky.
"January 20th is truly a mysterious day."
Rubia said something out of the blue. January 20th was yesterday. She had mentioned it to me yesterday.
"Why do you say that?"
"They say that Sardias picked between 1 and 6 PM on that day have special properties. Accidental properties, that is."
I knew Sardias was a flower. The one that blooms red alone, piercing through the snow in winter.
Rubia continued, "If used as a reagent, you never know what effect it will have until you try it. Sometimes, you won't even notice the effect until later. And that night, you might realize the effect in your bedroom..."
Tap, tap.
I lightly tapped my teeth together. It was a gesture similar to a human clearing their throat.
"You're awfully comfortable talking about such suggestive things."
"What? What are you imagining? I was talking about having a good dream."
Tap.
Speechless, I closed my mouth. She was a woman who knew how to tease a skeleton.
"Besides, the weather is always different on January 20th compared to the day before. And it's different compared to the next day too. It stands out on its own."
"The weather changes?"
"It's sunny, then it snows, or it's snowing, and then it clears up, or it's raining, and then it snows."
"It rained this year, so... it must have snowed the day before?"
"That's right. It snowed, and then it poured rain. And after January 20th passed, it snowed again overnight."
That sounds plausible.
Was January 20th really such a day? I couldn't quite remember. It didn't seem like I had heard about it from the master or any other humans.
"How long have you been observing this?"
"For fifteen years! Isn't that enough time? And... more importantly, today is the day a talking skeleton rose from the grave!"
Rubia grabbed my armbone tightly, transmitting her warmth through her hand. Although I could feel her touch, it would feel cold for her.
Those with warm blood instinctively drew closer to one another when they were cold, holding hands and embracing to stay warm. However, I had no blood or warmth. I was just a skeleton that stole the warmth of others.
I grabbed her hand and removed it from my arm, not wanting to steal her warmth.
"Hmm... that's cold of you." Rubia stood and walked a little to the side, burying her face in the snow. "Oh."
I turned my head at the small exclamation. There was a red flower. It was the January Sardia she had just been talking about. She slowly moved her hand toward it.
Is she going to pluck it?
According to her, today was January 21st. The 20th had already passed. If she was picking it to use as a reagent, she had missed the right day.
Clatter.
However, that was none of my concern. I left Rubia alone and leaned against a tree branch. As I sat there idly, Rubia snuck over and...
"Hup!"
She tossed a snowball into my empty eye socket.
Thud!
The loosely packed snowball hit the back of my skull. White snow spread between the vertebrae of my neck like powder, but a sizable lump of snow was still left inside my skull.
"..."
"Hehe. Cold, isn't it? I win, right?"
"..."
I turned my head away and ignored Rubia. She looked embarrassed.
"If you're rested enough, let's move on."
"Ugh..."
I didn't mean to be harsh. I was just worried. We were walking on a mountain path, and footprints were clearly visible on the untouched snow. There were two entrances to the cave. The place we entered and the place we exited were completely different from each other.
But our tracks were blatantly obvious. The crossbowman and the hammer-wielder were dead. I had thrown them into the grave and covered them with a coffin, but assuming the pursuit was over would be too optimistic. There could be more of them.
I considered the situation from the perspective of the new lord, Rubia's uncle. The first two men that he sent out hadn't returned with Rubia's body. Instead, they became corpses themselves. When the lord learned of this, he would send more or even more dangerous people.
If necessary, he will.
To be honest, it was hard to understand the specific value of this woman, who was just the daughter of the former lord. Human power struggles often involved various circumstances unknown to outsiders. Rubia could be hiding something from me, but I had no intention of prying into things because I wasn't interested.
Anyway, we need to hurry.
Rubia apologized. "Uh... if I upset you, I'm sorry."
"Hmm?"
"Uh..."
"What?"
"About... throwing the snowball."
I had already forgotten about that while thinking about the footprints. There was no need for an apology.
"That's not it. If you're still tired, feel free to rest longer."
I looked at her and saw the hand that had thrown the snowball still holding the flower.
"Is the flower useless now?" I asked.
"No! No flower is useless. I thought it would match well like this..."
She approached me and placed her hand on my head. I thought she might attack me, but she inserted the red flower into a small gap in my skull.
Pat, pat.
Then, she covered it with snow to secure it tightly.
"It looks nice, doesn't it? I'm glad I tried it."
I asked, "Is this some sort of mark or branding?"
"Huh?"
She laughed out loud. I didn't understand why she was laughing, so I just laughed too. Trying to imitate something might help me find the meaning when I didn't understand something.
Clatter.
The experiment was successful. I felt like I understood her laughter a little.
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