SING CRIER CH.12 Old Necromancy 「 ...Poly? 」 Hmm? I blink. 「 ...Poly! Sis is back! 」 「 Poly? Where? 」 「 Where? I wanna see! 」 「 Pol-eeee! 」 There were just four at first, kicking around a glowing ball in the twilight, but the number quickly grew as more emerged from the shadows. From within and behind the aged windowless building, they came... twelve smiling... dusty human children! ... Did I make a mistake? Wasn't this the necromancer's house? 「 Giii... Why are so many of you up so late? 」 「 We always stay up super late! 」 「 Yeah, so we can see in the dark! 」 Adaptation training? I don't think that trick works with humans, but it's adorable that they're trying anyway. 「 Did you finish your adventure?! 」 「 Did you bring more cool stuff? 」 「 Tell us about The Highlanders again! 」 「 Are you going to eat with us? You will right? 」 They're all talking at once... 「Hmm? You eat late too? 」 「 Some of us do... 」 Their heads turn in unison to one particularly tall boy in the back; the oldest of them, a boy with his hair tied back, staring at me in a stupefied state. He seems to be a bit slow to the draw, so I tilt my head to wake him up. He blinks, then takes in the situation. 「 ...What are you looking at?! 」 He swipes at the children who scatter away giggling. I giggle too, to which his ears redden in response. Such mischevious creatures, children... ...Hmm? Now that I get a better look at him... he's older than them by a significant margin... Could he be...? 「 Do you take care of these kids? 」 His lips part slightly, as he weakly scratches his cheek. 「 S-Sometimes... 」 ...Ah, I'm getting distracted. I clasp my hands together in apology. 「 Sorry... but does Xaiyoya still live here? 「 I have important business to talk about with him. 」 「 I'll call Alph-Xaiyoya... 」 「 Alph... Xaiyoya? And he's here after all...? 」 As I ask, an old man with children at his ankles emerges from the building. His eyes are sunken, stuck in a perpetual no-nonsense expression. He has a thin beard, moustache, and a full head of kempt hair, all greying. His unexceptional clothes are of only two colours, pale, and darker pale. The only outstanding feature in his attire is his short cylindrical cap on which a small feather attached, although... the feather too is pale... He has his unmistakable necromancer face, but everything else... erm... 「 Po... Polimion... 」 「 Hi-ho~ It's me. 」 I give him a slight wave. I'm sure he has his reasons for dressing the way he does. Reasons to be holding what appears to be a late-night daycare. 「 Please! Please, come inside, make yourself at home... 」

I give the old man a moment to sweep all the children outside. While I wait, I start the arduous process of unhooking my rucksack... 「 That's not fair! 」 「 I wanna play with Poly! 」 Oh my. These kids are so flattering... I could gobble them up... Maybe I'll help him out. 「 Listen to your old man. 「 If you're good, I'll give you all a present~ 」 Immediate obedience. The kids scamper off into the dark and hide out of view. The old man's brow furrows with concern at my gesture. 「 Ah, you don't need to do that... 」 「 It's fine, I love kids. 」 Once I have my rucksack on the ground in one piece, I detach the coffins from its sides and strap them directly to my back. Now all that's left is... ...to push the bulk of my inventory in through the doorway, top end first! Huff! ...By a miracle of The Goddess, it all just barely manages to fit through the frame without squeezing. As I push my things inside I notice him just standing around idly. I thought he'd gone in first. Was he thinking I needed help? 「 Coming in? 」 「 Y-Yes, after you... 」 I hum, and step inside, setting my wares against a wall with ease. Looking around, I quickly notice that... there are little to no furnishings here. A large straw mat blankets most of the room's clay floor, and a dozen or so wooden toys lay strewn in piles all across it. ...What happened here? Last I remember, this place was ornately designed with meticulous consideration for professional magical practice... But now... the room is barely being lit by a handful of melted candles... If not for the light glowing from the conjoined kitchen, it would be unreasonably dark. The "kitchen" being comprised of a single stone oven; no counters or even tables. Utensils, bowls, and pots... they simply lay stacked on the ground. ...I-Is he really okay here? Shouldn't I be concerned? Xaiyoya sits carefully in the middle of the room, next to a solitary candle. As I move to sit in front of him, he pulls out yet more candles from a box behind him. I promptly glance around the room with one eye open as a reminder I can see just fine in the dark. 「 I like what you've done with the place; it's... rustic? 」 To that, he pauses for a second, before putting the candles away with a nod. I smile in thanks. Neither of us prefer the light, may as well save coin on the candlewax. 「 So... what business brings you back to... Exaibon? 」 I give him a blank stare. He opens his mouth to continue, but nothing comes out. The silence continues on long enough for him to come up with something else to say. 「 Erm... sorry, I know more or less why you're here. Did the town gua- 」 「 It's fine, I wasn't really interested in small talk anyway. 」 I would very much have preferred to start with small talk. Have I really been that greedy of a person?! Do I come off as someone who lives and breathes profit? All business at all hours, every day of the week? Someone who spares no time for the small things? My antennae droop. We both know why I'm here; I know he's heard the stories... I just thought it'd be nice if we could put that aside for once is all... I've been trying my hardest to change, you know? I don't want to be known as a greedy merchant forever... I have feelings too, in spite of it all... Giii... If he just wants to get it on with, then we may as well... I can't, in good faith, hold a miscellaneous talk knowing he'd rather not. I get back up and stroll over to my rucksack, leaving the twin coffins next to where I sat. 「 Well then, Xaiyoya? What's your budget this time? 」 「 Well... I-I'm not really- 」 「 Not really interested in buying anything? 」 I stiffen. 「 ...Yes, I... don't mean any disrespect! 「 I'm sure you truly do bring offers of a lifetime, a-a-as they say... 「 But... I don't have any money to spare... at the moment... 「 I'm sure there's no treasure of yours I could affor- 」 「 I will let you know if there's nothing you can afford. 「 Xaiyoya, give me a budget. 」 I stare at him. He takes off his cap and holds it. His hands have started to wrinkle on closer inspection. How old is he, exactly? I'm not too sure myself. 「 ...Two silver pieces. 」 I shuffle in place, then sift aimlessly through my pack, perusing for items he might be interested in. Two silver could be stretched for a handful bland meals in this town, at best. I'm curious as to who's responsible for so poorly funding this daycare. The township? Overworked parents? Or is he... 「...Are any of those kids yours? 」 「 T-The taller boy, yes... 」 「...Where's the wife? 」 「 Working... in the cities. 」 「 Lafokian city? ] 「 Ah, yes... 」 「 Does she send money home? 」 「 Yes, she's our lifeline. 」 「 You aren't working as a necromancer anymore? 」 I pull out some waxed and bound sheets, placing them on the ground. He doesn't respond immediately so I keep digging. I have a general idea of what I can offer him at this point. 「 ...My son, wants to be an adventurer. 」 「 Mm... so he found out? He called you Alph earlier.」 The hunched man sighs. He sounds tired. 「 Don't be too hard on him, that kind of thing is becoming more common. 「 Only more common as The Highlanders gain more and more fame. 」 I return to the centre of the room and lay out three items on the floor. 「 Alright. This scroll... is a favour owed to me. 「 Bring it any headmaster presiding in the capital, 「 and you'll receive whatever you need to get into their institute. 「 Something your son might be interested in? 「 「 And this... is a protective scabbard from a faraway land. 「 Ineffective in the hands of a hardened soldier, but given patience... 「 its magic can grow dramatically carried by someone with inexperien- 「 「 ...Xaiyoya? Do you need a minute? 」 「 I-I'll be fine, go on. 」 「 ...And these, are pages from a distant text. 「 If you were at all interested in resuming necromancy, that's all. 」 I glance up at him. 「 You can only pick one... and they're eighty gold each... or... 「 you can be a necromancer for one day, and pay just one silver. 」 His distraught expression stays firm. Shadows cover his eyes, whilst mine glow gold. I can see the minute tensing of the joints in his fingers. 「 I need you to animate these two, Xaiyoya. 「 Then I need you to walk with me up the mountain to the north, 「 I need you to release them, let them act for a while, and that's all. 」 I glide my hand over the ornate wooden coffins, the contents of which, exceed the price of everything in my rucksack combined. And I don't just say that for their sentimental value... 「 ...Then you can go home with one of my treasures, okay? 」 「 I... have to take care of these children until midnight. 」 My hand stops. 「 Then it will take me several hours to prepare one, several more to prepare both... 「 I-I-I'll need to find someone to take care of my son while I'm gone- 」 「 What's the rush? 」 He rubs his throat and looks around. Is there... something more intimidating than me right now? 「 It doesn't have to be today. Tomorrow is fine too. 」 After a moment of consideration, he gets up, grabs a scrap of fabric, and plucks the feather from his cap. Scraping wax off a candle, he writes two lines. The wet wax dampens the fabric, forming words. The first line I don't understand, it just looks like a bunch of rat scratches, but the line under it is written legibly, albeit poorly, in Lafokian human-tongue. I read it as: "Crudely in local Exaibon." ...Does that mean those rat scratches were really supposed to be words? I remember learning a bit of the local language last year while I was waiting for the day Mak was due to appear at the mountain shrine... But does he honestly, truly believe I can decipher this on the spot? I look up at him. No-nonsense, huh? Well... no harm in giving it a swing... I sigh. ...Th...ey...ar...? 「 One evening... while I was away... 「 my son, and his friends... they snuck into my workplace. 「 They saw my work and left... to go tell all of their parents... 」 ...ri... arrive... 「 I managed to convinced them I was a shaman, but... the children... 「 They know what they saw that day... it had burned into their memory. 「 The day after... he told me he was going out to meet his friends... 「 a-and after seeing the look on his face when he came home early... 「 ...I had to seal it all away. 「 ...I had to swear never to do necromancy ever again, understand? 「 I quit, for good. I'm sorry, but this is just not a deal I can accept... 」 ...d...ay...th...ree... ...High...lan- ...Highlanders. Highlanders are coming in three days. An assembly of adventurers of world renown... Twenty-three adventurers from all across the mapped realm... The twenty-three adventurers that... Th... I... ...I breathe out. ...I, who am well known the world over for selling treasures, am well known because I regularly supplied them their equipment. I know the names of their swords, their lances, tomes and shields.

They're the best of the best; when you tell your children of legends, you tell them tales of The Highlanders. When the world falls to peril, and The Demon King rises, it is they that find the hero, and together, save the world as twenty-four... What reason could the legendary hero band have... for coming to the small town of Exaibon...? They don't just go around killing threatening monsters aimlessly. If they're gathering again, it's to execute a worldwide objective... such as... killing The Demon King, sealing a gate to Ludibrio... crushing particularly infamous organizations... or... ...slaying a rogue god. 「 Okay... I undestand. 「 Your son's a good kid, Xaiyoya. 「 I think he'd make a great adventurer... 」 As I talk, I dip the tip of my glove in the wax and start writing quickly. "Coming in three days," does not necessarily mean they will all arrive at once. It's possible for there to be Highlanders already in the town. And their ability to gather information... is frankly, unparalleled... With them, a mere closed room is no longer good enough security. It's negligible if they were to overhear our talk of necromancy... but leaking information on their logistics can justify mobilizing national guard. It's a mess that a former necromancer would reasonably want to avoid... A request that a practising necromancer would find suicidal to accept... But... 「 May I... stay here for a while? 」 I turn the paper to him. He rubs his hand over his grim face. ...I don't have much of a choice right now. Please prepare immediately. I will finish preparing the meal for the kids, send them off once their parents come for them, and find someone to take care of your son. We need animate just one. He starts to get up. 「 I'll pay you with all three and I'll buy back the ones you don't want for full pri-! 」 「 Sunrise. 」 I sit back down. 「 The second the sun hits the horizon, you must leave. 「 You can sleep in the last room on the left, there's a hatch there, don't fall in. 」 ...I'm sorry, Xaiyoya. He picks up the paper, and throws it on the candle, leaving me alone with the shrivelling contract. I hug my legs and watch it burn for a while. ...I can't let them kill White Ash. I have my own personal reasons for wanting to avoid them as well. We need to get out of this town as soon as possible. 「 Groooaawr! 」 I hear the children screaming outside. I run out to see what's going on. 「 Wonderful Merchant of Myth and Magic...! 」 「Ah- 」 「 ...What a pleasant surprise to see you here. 」 [END]