Dullahan.
A knight without the head attached.
Traditionally they rode black steeds and held their head one with hand, and took the souls of people who were ready for death with the other.
But of course, they only existed in the fairytales, but here, they could for real. I was yet to find any real evidence of them existing but I did have one particular idea.
"They left another corpse in the north eastern part of our borders," the blue haired lady, Col said.
We went down to the basement of the guild. There were six of us. Including me and Vivia, the blue haired lady, the one-eyed man whom I'd met the day of registering with the guild and two others; all beastmen. All of them were high ranked adventures, B at the very least. Col was A rank.
So technically I was the lowest rank here, C.
"But if they leave and we just find the corpses, how will we find them," I said.
They stared at me. All of them. The intensity gave me a rather bad feeling….
"You don't mean-" I paused.
Apparently, holy knights and Paladins were the natural enemy of undead. These knights were all human and as usual, humans loved playing the game of 'justice'.
"Yes, but fear not. It won't be just us. We'll assemble half of the guild and… and I'm sure you have an army of your own," the blue haired lady, Col said. "So as soon as you draw them out, we can safely extract you."
"In that case, everyone would have to keep their mouths shut of the events, just so we're clear," I said. "Oh, and what happens to the bodies once we're done with them?"
"I was hoping it wouldn't come to that and we would just have a casual conversation but I suppose that's not possible," Col said.
"If they're just hunting the monsters and not doing anything else, I don't see why we have to get rid of them," Vivia said.
"They're hunting the monsters now but 'they' also have a track record of killing half-dead mercenaries and merchants. Right now, our economy is going through a minor crisis. We're losing tourists. And quite a lot of merchants have stopped trading altogether. If this continues…" Col sighed.
"So, they're not really helping us but trying to ruin our economy."
"Make it impossible for us to live here, so once we leave, Sondar can expand its territory. Nothing new," one of them said. One eyed man. Apparently named Xax. "Though with Lord Sean here, they're probably getting restless."
Made sense. But not enough. If they wanted to just get rid of the people here, then they could have very easily just poisoned the city's water supply or something along those lines but, they didn't. Instead, they're playing the ally of justice route. Wait… so they're pretending to be good and-
But then how would they just claim this land later if they loved playing the good guy? Was I missing something? "So, when will we start the operation?"
"One week from now," Col said.
"Excellent. I'll leave the preparations to you. Meanwhile, I have some business to attend to." I signaled Vivia and together we got out of there.
"What do you think?" I asked.
The guild was half empty. Already evening.
"Rather roundabout way of claiming territory."
"Yeah. Something's not adding up." And I wasn't even part of this world.
Regardless, I had a week to prepare and we had enough money.
"Let's go stock up on supplies."
"But my lord, you don't need anything," she said.
"Not for me you dolt," I sighed. "Let's just say, we'll put on some theatrics."
***
We bought some supplies, ate dinner and were done for the day. Or at least Vivia was. I wasn't.
I told her I'd be in my room, but just as soon as she left for hers, I snuck out of the inn, heading for the library.
People were out, as usual, but something was different. For the first time, I saw less people and some general lack of enthusiasm. And the number of undead was far lower than typical too.
I didn't wear my armor, and I didn't really wear that showy aristocrat dress either. Just a robe and a hood. Some people often stared but not as much as going hoodless.
Ring.
The door swung open with ease, as I stepped in. Large library. Typical books on the first floor and exclusive ones on the second. You could see both floors and almost all the aisles just from the entrance, or at least I could, since I was the tallest of the bunch. As usual there were few people here, mostly half dead. I got some nods but that was about it, they were too used to me.
One of the librarians came rushing. She led me to the private section of the library on the second floor. I had my own table and some snacks too. Red meat!
"What would you like to read today, sir?"
"Do you have anything regarding Sondar and their history?"
"Yes, we do actually. But it's an intermediate read in Sondarian and might prove difficult for you. Shall I read it to you?"
She was nice. So nice that she was willing to sugarcoat the fact that I didn't really know Sondarian. There were apparently ten languages in this world and I just knew one…barely.
"No, I'll manage," I said. "Been learning."
Just one… till now that was. Lately, I'd been sneaking out and learning different languages. This world was full of knowledge and I didn't know jack shit. So, learning languages and history and trivia was the least I could do…. I wasn't fluent or anything but I knew how to read at the very least.
"Alright then, I'll be right back my lord."
She bowed once and left.
I told these people to not be so overly dramatic about respect and stuff but they weren't listening. That itself was a little disrespectful but oh well.
She came back some time later with the book and stood by in the corner, waiting for the next order. "You can sit down you know," I said.
"I'm fine, thank you."
Sometimes, I wondered if she really was being respectful or just… rude.
But anyway, I opened the book and stared at its contents. A history book about Sondar. Written by JJRS Sarton.
'Sondar, the realm of men, existed before the apocalypse, exists after the apocalypse and would perhaps exist even after the end of the world, for it is blessed by the goddess of fertility; Freyja.'
Huh?
I mean, I wasn't necessarily that surprised but the 'Great apocalypse' didn't wipe these people out? So that's why the other books don't claim Primarchs created humans.
I read on.
The book didn't describe anything about how Sondar was working or what was going on or what even happened in the past. It just spoke about their long and rich history of gods and goddesses who apparently were either at odds with each other, or worked alone.
Honestly, it made absolutely no sense to me.