After weighing all my options I choose to enter the eerie-looking shop to get a body for myself. The shop felt cool. The temperature felt comfortably low. Maybe it was because I was already an undead, now even the cold felt comfy. The inside of the shop was spacious and decorated with wooden furniture. The deep mahogany furniture was tastefully harmonious with the deep green walls. The whole atmosphere reminded me of the late 19th-century decor.
There was a huge counter in the middle of the room, dividing the long hall into half. The walls were lined with wooden shelf reaching up to the ceiling. These shelves stacked with thick books.
Of course, I was not expecting to see bodies on display!
And behind the huge counter was sitting a lanky man. There was no other word to describe him other than that. He had light blue hair with silver streaks in them (or was it the other way around?) and beautiful turquoise eyes. The only thing off about him was his very prominent bony cheekbones and those dark circles. He had the breath of the living so he probably was alive I guessed. The guy was wearing a white Chinese Hanfu and was lazily dozing off behind the counter with his eyes half-opened. He was lying on a rocking chair with his feet on the counter.
"Umm... Excuse me-" Just as he heard me speak the man jolted up on his feet, with a sunny smile that made it seem like the previous laziness was just an illusion he said cheerfully.
"Welcome to the Body Shop dear customer! What kind of body would you like to-" He paused as his eye fell on me. He sized me up from 'head to toe' (not that I had any) and said with a crafty looking smile on his face.
"First time here?"
The question itself felt wrong in many ways but there was nothing I could point out so I just nodded. It really reminded me of some shady drug dealers in the back alleys!
"We have the best of the best in the Body supply industry! The quality of our product has never been questioned even once in the last 132 years of our business. We also boast a 100% satisfaction rate from our customers. And what's more, this year we are also introducing a new offer." The man took out one thick book from under his counter and opened it showing various pictures of men and women. All of them were looking perfect with special features. Some had wings some had horns, unique hair colours and much more.
"These are the new batch of bodies that just arrived recently. You'll get a 50% off AND an offer to get a fully customized body for yourself." The man continued.
The man went on and on about half an hour about various offers, benefits and stuff about how I could make the best use of my money to get the best body for myself, loans for students and other stuff. But the biggest question I had in my mind which was growing by seconds was this:-
"How exactly do you... umm... procure your....merchandise?" I tried to make it as less creeped out and professional sounding as I could. No matter how open-minded I was, there were certain things that were too uncomfortable for me to do. Like possessing a dead person's body. Or possessing a body which was killed for the sole reason of being possessed. It would make me feel like a murdered. I do understand it is a naive thought, but some things are too much.
It seems like the shopkeeper probably understood what I wanted to know. He gave a kind smile and said. "What you are worried about can never happen."
"Never happen?" What do you mean? " I asked feeling confused and lost.
"Any body which has or was once occupied by any kind of soul cannot be sold." The man explained patiently. "You may not know it since you are new, but overtaking a body which once had a soul is very risky for any ghost, so the weaker ghost can not possess making them very vulnerable in the environment. Thus a new way was discovered by the researchers. That is making a soulless artificial body." He said pointing at the display windows near the door.
The man then crouched down and took out a big glass coffin from under his table, and put it in front of me. He skillfully opened the crystal coffin and I could feel the surrounding temperature dropping rapidly.
"Let me prove it to you!" He said with excitement hidden in his eyes and slashed open the body which was kept inside it.
...
That scared the daylights out of me! But the thing that I feared never happened. There was no blood, no organs. I hesitantly peaked inside the tummy of the body.
Glow?
Some glowing stones were inside kept in some kind of artefact. The artefact was disc-shaped with a glowing gem embedded in the middle. The disk itself was bronze in colour with some incomprehensibly complicated words carved in gold densely packed around it. The words and the disc itself dimmed and brightened in a set pattern, like the beating of a heart. The artefact itself was just floating inside the thoracic cavity surrounded by metal armour like ribs. Other than that all other structure of the body seemed to be made up of metal and other synthetic material.
I looked at the shopkeeper then at the body wide-eyed. Was this some kind of robot? How High-tech!
"That would be 500 Gold coins!" The shopkeeper said with a crafty glint hidden in his eyes but sincere smile on his face.
?????
"B-But weren't you the one who slashed it open? A-and I never asked to see it-" I argued angrily' "This is daylight robbery!"
"Don't worry. The body has self-healing mechanism. It will be as good as new in no time." The shopkeeper reassured in a soothing manner. And yes. The wound started closing by itself in a speed visible to the naked eye.
"No! I mean.. why do I have to pay?" I started to stutter anxiously.
"The seal on this coffin is already broken because I wanted to show the product to you. Nobody will buy such a product. Moreover... Weren't you here to buy one for yourself. This model is best suited for someone like you. This is the most economical and latest model. And you don't need to worry about money or anything. We also provide very customer friendly loan service! And we do not support Animal Cruelty! So you can enjoy your body without any hard feelings!"
....
.....
A few minutes later~
A plain-looking girl with light brown hair and emerald green eyes wearing a plain white dress stepped out of the shop. Her movements were little clumsy as if it was the first time she was walking. Her wheatish skin glowed under the afternoon sun as she clumsily walked towards the main building of the Academy.
"I should learn how to be tough!" The girl grumbled in a melodious voice.
This was, of course, Pearl who had recently bought a new body and got herself a huge loan which will become her personal hell in the future.
"I have not even started my education and I already have a student loan!"
The later procedures went on swiftly. She found the girl at the introduction ceremony, submitted her recommendation letter and followed the girl around completing the paperwork.
Apparently, the cake baking director was the real deal. She could get her whole 4 years of education and accommodation for free, as well as a job at the guild once she joins.
The day finally ended with her getting to her dorms. They were apparently only divided into those for living and those for the undead. And she began her school life again like this.