***
It was a hot sunny day. Somewhere around the land of Concord Kingdom, there was a certain city where grapes were so popular amongst the farmers that the whole economy depended on them
This place, Maschar City, was known to produce the best wine out there in the entire country. Although the city was slightly modest, most of the buildings were made of fancy stone bricks and sturdy wood, and they also had cobblestone roads for carriages to drive on.
Maschar can be navigated in the west of the land of Concord Kingdom, not far away from the capital city. The Concord Kingdom has been known to have a large portion of plain grassland and forest land, giving their country an advantage in agriculture but a slight disadvantage to the coastal border as the country is in the middle of the world.
Nevertheless, the Concord Kingdom was thriving on its own with land resources on its side, making other neighboring countries slightly envious of the country's success.
People in Maschar City were happily living their normal daily lives. Some of them were having a great time with food and drinks, some were doing work for money, and some were enjoying their leisurely old time in life.
In the midst, a young girl was walking on the cobblestone path in broad daylight. She was wearing a cloak with a hoodie and her appearance looked to be a student wearing a white dress uniform with a blue robe. She was also wearing white stockings for details.
The young girl has blonde hair and brilliant green eyes. She appears to be around 16 years old and she was a human. Her name is Lea Healen.
She looks around the city while she is under the hood of her cloak, seeking a place to settle from the long journey. But she also has another task aside from finding a place to rest– she was looking for someone.
She was walking around the city for 20 minutes after arriving from the neighboring city of Alvard. The distance between Maschar and Alvard was about 140 kilometers from there and out, meaning that she had traveled to a long-distance destination.
Truth be told, she wasn't even from the Alvard, she was just merely stopping there to rest and continue her journey after the rest. She had traveled far just to find a certain person she was looking for.
"I have been traveling for around two months now. Grandma said that I needed to find this certain person who was her old comrade and wanted to meet him." Lea said to herself, slightly exhausted.
Before she was traveling on a journey, she was given a task by her grandmother. It was about finding a certain individual, though, she never knew why her grandmother suddenly asked her to do so.
Lea Healen is a loyal and sweet girl who follows her grandmother's legacy. She was raised in a noble family and oath to be a respectable mage. Thus, she was allowed to attend one of the most prestigious academies in the entire country of Concord.
Her parents were part of the Vitalis Faction and a noble being with high regard when it comes to magic contributions to society. For the past centuries, their family has been part of one of the five most powerful factions in the entire world.
"I'm so tired. I wanna go have some rest and eat something delicious," she mumbled, looking depleted from all the walks she did especially when she was right under the sun.
She couldn't find this certain person her grandma told her. After asking some people when she was traveling around, and even people in Maschar, she was left with no clues of where this person could be.
In the distance, not far away from her, Lea could see the sign of the tavern hanging above and she was relieved to have stumbled upon a tavern place.
"What a save," she said to herself, "I was just thinking about eating some food. Good thing there's a tavern around this place."
She quickly approaches the entrance of the tavern and profusely enters. Upon entering, she was met with a delightful atmosphere.
The tavern was full of laughter and grumbling of people talking about the enjoyment of their lives. Some of them were chatting to each other while eating and some of them were casually finishing their meal.
Lea walks in and approaches the counter, sits down on the stool, and asks the tavern clerk with her delighted face.
"Can I have a glass of apple juice and a meat dish?"
The clerk just finished cleaning a glass cup and put it on the counter, looking at Lea with a friendly attitude.
"Sure thing! Just give me a minute to prepare for your meal, young lady," the clerk replied and started preparing her requested meal.
Whilst making her meal, Lea rested her chin on her hand at the counter with a wonder expression, contemplating what she was going to do next.
It was evident that she hadn't found anything related to the certain individual she was looking for. She doesn't know where to get the credible information she needs to find this individual.
She tiredly sighed and rested her head on the counter in a tilted position, trying to clear her mind from the problem.
"This is making me feel miserable that I'm too tired to even complain," she mumbled.
The clerk heard her mumbling and noticed that her appearance was familiar to him. He recognized her uniform, given the blue robe and elegant white dress, especially about a certain insignia on her robe attached.
The insignia is adorned with a majestic crest consisting of a shield and sword in the center, encircled by enchanting magic orbs that seem to be in motion. The outer part of the crest is a vibrant shade of blue, while the inner colors are a striking combination of white and red, which adds to its overall grandeur and elegance.
The clerk was taken aback when a student from a prestigious academy showed up at their door, having traveled quite a distance from the school itself.
"You're a student from Veritas Aurea Academy, right?" He asked right away.
Hearing the clerk asking, she straightened her upper body and addressed him.
"Yes, I am from Veritas Aurea Academy," she sluggishly answered.
"Well, that does mean you belong to a high noble family that prestigiously attended the academy of our country. My apologies, please forgive my rudeness," the clerk humbly said.
"Don't worry about it, you don't have to go out of your way. I'm fine with how you talked to me, it's just a normal conversation between people." Lea eagerly persuaded him to act normally.
"If you say so," the clerk replied and continued, "Traveling from Veritas Aurea Academy to here in Maschar is quite the distance. It must have been a long journey to get here."
"Well, some people were kindly generous in giving me a ride for a long distance in their carriage, so I was able to get here in one month. Though, traveling from Alvard to Maschar took me two days to arrive."
"That's quite surprising to hear from a young lady like you. Most adventures would take five days to arrive in that distance. Let alone, this summer season is giving you a stroke!"
For a while, the clerk had finally finished working on her order and placed it on the counter. With a delicious meat dish on the plate and apple juice ready to be drunk, Lea smells the savor and eats the food she ordered.
"Delicious! I haven't eaten something so delicious like this for a while!" Lea mumbled excitedly while eating.
"I am honored to serve all of my customers with satisfaction." The clerk humbly replied.
In the meantime, while Lea was eating her food on the counter, the clerk seemed to ponder on why a student from a prestigious academy came to travel such a long distance. Deliberately, the clerk humbly asks.
"Um, sorry to bother you, but may I ask you a question, young lady? Veritas Aurea Academy is in the capital city and it's far away from here. Hence, I am wondering why a student from a prestigious academy is traveling across the country?"
Lea gulped the food in her mouth and furrowed her eyebrows, thinking about how to answer his question.
"I am traveling across the country to look for someone. Well... It's more like I have to do this because of a promise." Lea replied, holding the glass of lime juice.
"Huh... Because of a promise, you've traveled to find this person? That's romantic."
"I-It's not like that... It's more like someone I know has tasked me to find this person because of a promise." Lea clarify.
'Now that I think about it, I have almost forgotten about the reason why I am traveling in the first place...'
"Is that so? Well, I'm pretty sure you'll find the person you're looking for. It's more like an errand, eh?"
"Honestly, I don't know what word I can describe to this task. I've been looking for this person for almost two months and haven't gotten any clue of where this person could be. I've been asking a lot of people during my travel but they always gave me a 'No, I've never met that person in my life!'."
With her response becoming more complaining and annoying, the clerk had to ask to break the anguished mood.
"What does this person look like?"
Lea took a drink of her lime juice and put down the glass on the counter, gulping the juice before she grabbed something on her robe and showed it to the clerk. It was an old photo, almost tainted in dirty white.
The clerk observed the photo and noticed that the photo was of an old graduate student from a certain academy that hadn't existed since the downfall of the Aurelian Empire 70 years ago. There were at least 30 students in the photo and there was a single person who was completely different from the rest.
"My grandma described this person as an average-height male with white hair that looks good in his young adult age. Although she gave me a photo from 80 years ago, there's no way this person could have looked the same as he did 80 years ago."
"Average height, male, white hair, and young? Hmm, that's strange, because there's a person who's exactly like the person you've described. He's also similar in this photo you've shown me!"
"Yeah, figures, you would say something like that... Wait, what did you just say?!"
Lea shouted, baffled, and stood up as she slammed down her both hands from the counter with a loud bang, getting some attention from the other adventurers around the tavern.
"Uh, well, there's a person who's exactly what you have described... and he was here recently." The clerk awkwardly replied with his both hands in the air.
"W-What?! So you're saying that he was here recently?! Where is he now?" Lea was shocked that she was becoming impatient, though it was not her fault for becoming like this.
"I-I'm sorry. I'm kinda surprised that you know about this person I was looking for so I was flabbergasted." Lea deliberately apologized to the clerk.
"It's okay. You're not causing me any trouble. I'm also surprised that you responded this way."
Lea sighs in relief and looks at the clerk after clearing her mind.
"May I know where this person could be? I have been looking for him for a long time now." Lea asked sincerely.
"Well, if I remember correctly, he should be still here in the tavern as I never saw him leave the tavern. I've been keeping my eyes peeled all the time, in case of any situations that could happen here. Maybe you should check the upper floor."
To be frank, Lea didn't even know that the tavern had an upper floor until she realized it after looking around the place. She finished her last bite and drank the lime juice, put the glass on the counter, and left with some copper coins.
"Thanks for the information!" She said and walked away from the counter, going upstairs without hesitation.
She goes to the stairs and slowly goes up as she steps one by one. She is not wasting any time in finding this person and surely meets this person. She's been looking for this person for a long time.
After taking a few more steps, as she is almost to the upper floor, she can see a lot of people on the upper floor with tough and rough clothes. There was no doubt that they were adventurers.
While she peeks at the wooden railing, there are lots of human-made noises around the upper floor, most of them are conversation and laughter.
On a specific table, right beside the railing, there were a couple of adventurers who had gathered around with excitement in their yells, most likely cheering on someone.
At the table, there was a bald adventurer with heavy armor and a brute appearance and a male adventurer with spiky white hair and a peach color scarf around his neck.
They were having an arm wrestling competition, and the hype was there in the room, cheering and jeering. After a moment, the male white hair adventurer suddenly stood up from his seat and used all of his strength in his right arm, defeating the bald adventurer with a bold strength approach.
"Ha! Looks like I won again!" The male white hair adventurer said with a triumph on his face.
"You won by luck, kid, don't get cocky!" The bald adventurer replied in denial.
"Well, as lucky as I am, the winner is still me. Now, you gotta do what I say to you; pull your underwear up to your head and let it slap your butt crack!"
As the white spike-haired young man heeds his request, the surrounding adventurer murmurs as they chuckle and look pity at the bald adventurer.
"Hahahaha! It looks like fun to see! What are you waiting for? Do it, like a real man does!"
The adventurers around them were excited as they cheered the bald adventurer who dared to stretch out his underwear to the top of his head.
The bald adventurer can't do anything but obey, standing up from his chair and pulling out his underwear from the back, stretching it to the top of his head, and letting it go in an instant. The sound of a rough slap waved in the air and the people burst into laughter.
"Y-You prick! You'll pay for this humiliation!" The bald adventurer said.
Despite the warning, the white spike-haired young man stuck out his tongue and shrugged like he was mocking him.
The adventurers around them, including the white spiked-haired young man, continue on their business as the fun remains.
Meanwhile, on the stairs, Lea was peaking and she saw the white spiked-haired guy having fun at the table. She was relieved and annoyed because she had finally found the person she was looking for, yet she couldn't be sure that this was the right person.
'I gotta go and speak to him!' she thought of it.
But suddenly, a loud thud burst on the entrance door, catching the attention of the people around the tavern, including Lea who was caught off guard and almost slipped out of surprise.
The adventurers went to the railing as they looked at the ground floor. There was a huge smoke in the entrance and a silhouette of a man began to move inside the tavern.
A sly smirk played across his lips, a toothpick precariously perched between his teeth, giving him a roguish air. He surveyed the onlookers with a piercing glare, the intensity of his gaze cutting through the air like a blade.
His hand rested casually on the hilt of a sword strapped to his waist, the gleam of the weapon hinting at the lethal prowess hidden beneath his nonchalant demeanor.
"I'm robbing this place, you all hear me?" He declared arrogantly.
The people on the ground floor were scared and dared not to say anything because they couldn't do anything about it. The clerk on the counter panicked as he knew what would happen to his tavern.
The adventurers heard the rogue man and they murmured on the second floor.
"What kind of punk are you to rob such a place like this? Huh!?" One of the adventurers replies with a sense of retaliation.
"Huh? Do you want to see a demonstration of what kind of punk I am, disgusting pig?" The rogue man replied in irritation as he unsheathed his sword and drew it.
One of the adventurers gave a stern look to the rogue man and recognized him as he became annoyed and intimidated.
"Crap, it's the punk from the wanted poster! Gareth the Slasher!"
"Huh?! That's him?!" One of them responded.
Gareth Darkmoor, dubbed as the Slasher, was a wanted man in Concord Kingdom. The kingdom put a massive amount of bounty on his head for his crimes such as killing innocent people and robbing places. Though he's not well known to the world, he's still a wanted criminal.
On the stairs, Lea crouched down and peeked through the railings as she witnessed the scene. She was a bit scared, but she was also brave enough to encounter a moment like this.
'A wanted criminal... I could use my magic to stop him here.' she thought of that idea.
But she quickly denies it as she realizes it's a dumb idea to confront a criminal.
'What am I thinking? That's absurd! But, what if I could...'
As she witnessed the commotion, suddenly, someone let out a hysterical laugh on the second floor and averted the attention of every person in the tavern. It was none other than the young man himself.
He stood up and walked into the railing, resting his tummy and both arms on the railing and looking at the man condescendingly.
"You're making such a magnificent scene, don't you realize that? You're Gareth the Slasher? I don't think we have met before." He said disdainfully.
The rogue man became irritated as he gave a stern look to the young man.
"Well, certainly, I've never seen you before. But you are already making me irritated, just by looking at your smug face." Gareth replied lividly.
For a while as the murmurs of people resonate faintly, the young man jumps down from the railing and lands on the ground floor. He mockingly smiles at him, trying to provoke him, which makes Gareth even more irritated.
"I don't think you'll be able to do something nasty to this place, not in my watch I suppose. I mean, you criminals always do that, right?" He said while slowly approaching without any sense of danger like he was confident.
"You think so? That's a wild guess, but I can assure you I will do something really bad." Gareth replied, trying to look intimidating.
"Blah, blah, blah. That is so boring! Every bad guy like you always talks like that." The young man nonchalantly replies while twirling his finger on his ear.
Gareth's irritation simmered just beneath the surface as he glared at the arrogant young man. Clenching his jaw, he felt the toothpick snap between his teeth, a sharp tension crackling in the air.
Without giving a care about the situation, the young man turned around casually and looked at the clerk who was hiding behind the counter with an assuring pose.
"Don't worry, sir. I'm sure your place will not get robbed by this idiot behind me." He said casually.
After hearing the young man's arrogance, Gareth gripped his sword and swung in the air as he targeted the young man's neck in the back.
The clerk who saw Gareth was about to decapitate the young man shouted at him in fear as he stood behind the counter.
"LOOK OUT!"
Before the young man could react, his expression was a bit surprised by what he heard from the clerk, the sword went through his neck, and in a few moments, his head fell and decapitated.
The people, including the adventurers on the second floor, were in disbelief because of what they witnessed. Some of the people screamed in fear after seeing the gruesome decapitation of the young man.
Blood gushed out on the young man's decapitated body as it slummed down to the floor. The head rolled around for a bit of distance from its body. Gareth gave a satisfied reaction as he swiped his sword in the air.
"What a dumb person." He disdainfully said.
Amidst, Lea was numbed at what she saw. She couldn't believe that the person she had been looking for ages was killed just like that. A shiver surged through her spine as she was horrified.
'N-No way...'
Seeing people's horrified reaction, Gareth smiles devilishly and slowly walks inside the inner of the tavern. His face was evident he had an intention to rob the tavern. He had no remorse for killing anyone too.
"Now, back to the business..."
As soon as he said something, suddenly, he stopped and looked in disbelief at what he was witnessing in front of him.
In front of him, the body of the young man suddenly stood up and crouched down to pick up his head. He puts his head on and mysteriously attaches it with his hand as it glows in red.
The people, including Lea and Gareth, stood frozen, dismayed, and thunderstruck. They never saw a person still alive after getting decapitated, let alone, they never saw it attaching their heads like a twisted helmet.
The young man sighed and rubbed his neck as it was still healing from decapitation.
"How troublesome... You don't have to do that, you know?" He grumbles while brushing off the dust in his clothes, and turns around to confront Gareth.
Stunned by the shocking scene before him, Gareth instinctively raised his guard, his sword glinting in the fading light as he confronted the young man, whose wide eyes and frantic demeanor betrayed a deep-seated paranoia.
"W-What are you?!" He was tense to say that.
The young man looked up, imitating a thinking pose, and looked at Gareth with a smirk.
"I'm Luke, and I'm a zombie."