The man who had interrupted me earlier was sitting close to the librarian's desk flipping through a small book and taking some notes in a leatherbound notebook. He must not have noticed me since he leaned a little to the side and a few seconds later I could smell it. I know it's a bodily function, but it's just rude to do that sort of thing in an enclosed public space. There was a public toilet in the far back corner of the library that could be used.

“Edmond!” Illia popped out from behind a shelf nearly startling me into dropping the books I was placing on her cart.

“I have told you that I will not have you stinking up the place. One more time and you will have to leave.”

I did see her point it was a rather bad one and it was lingering around. What the heck did this guy eat?

“It's fine Illy! It's natural. I don't smell anything.” He griped at her.

“It's not fine, and it stinks. Just because you've killed off all sense of smell doesn't mean the rest of us have. One more time and you have to leave, and I'll let Mary know why.”

“Now Illy, that's not fair, I can take care of it.”

I started to walk back to my desk, planning on ignoring the entire thing, when Illia gave a piercing scream.

I turned to see her smacking the old man with a book. While at the same time she was stomping on something. I smelled sulfur in the air and the man had a small box in his hand. I recognized it from the camping gear that Crue had me buy.

“OUT!” Illia screeched, “Get OUT!”

“What! Why! Stop hitting me,” he was trying to fend off her book attack with his notebook held in front of him as a shield.

“You just lit a fire in a room full of books!” She smacked him one last time then grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

“I didn't set fire to the books I was covering up the smell. I was doing you a favor!” He huffed as he was hauled up out of his chair by a person half his size.

“Don't do ME any favors. You are banned for the next month. I will talk to Mary to see if that ban will be permanent.”

“If I'm banned I want my money back!” He yelled as she pushed him out the door.

“No refunds and all books must be returned within the week or all fines will be doubled.”

With that, she did her best to slam the heavy door in his face, but since it had some sort of triangle spring thing at the top that prevented the door from slamming, the effect was lost.

By this point, a few more people had popped up from behind shelves and were watching the spectacle. A lady with graying hair pulled back into a tight bun, actually applauded lightly. A young man of about fourteen was trying to contain his laughter. Another older man who was standing behind him was grinning from ear to ear. It was nice that the library patrons found it all amusing.

Illia was red all over from embarrassment when she saw she had an audience. She started to blurt out an apology but was interrupted by the lady.

“It's fine dear. Old Edmond is a peculiar sort and sometimes you just have to take a stand. He lives out there all on his own surrounded by all that death. It's bound to make you a bit lax about social graces and common sense. Sometimes the smartest people are the ones who have the dumbest actions.” The old lady practically bounded over to Illia then patted her gently on the arm. I must admit the way the lady moved was new. I don't think I'd ever seen someone of her age with such a big stride and a hop in her step. It was amazing she hadn't broken a hip.

I left Illia still trying to make apologies while the teen and the older man tried to keep their laughter from spilling out. The teen was losing it in a fit of snorts. Which made Illia try to apologize more.

I was trying to figure out which of the six monster migration books had this particular region in it when Illia showed up carrying a tea tray with two cups and a small selection of cookies.

“I needed to take a break and I thought you'd like some tea,” she said lifting the tray.

“Yes, that sounds nice,” I moved all six of the thick books to a nearby desk and pulled that chair to the front side of the one I was working on.

“I wanted to apologize for that incident earlier,” she placed the plate of cookies between us and handed me a cup. Placing one in front of herself she propped the tea tray on its side against the leg of the desk.

“He came up to me, wanting to know if Mary was here,” I commented taking a sip of the tea. It was still a little too hot to drink, so I put it down to wait for it to cool.

“Yes, Edmond has a bit of a public crush on Mary. He can be very annoying about it too.”

“In what way?”

“It's nothing too scary, but when he's in town he always tries to meet with her. Even follows her when she runs her errands. One time he even followed her home. Her brother scared him off, so he hasn't done that twice. He just doesn't understand that his actions are more creepy than showing loving devotion.”

“I can see how some guy following you around could be creepy,” I nodded in sympathy. “He doesn't live in town?”

“No, he lives about one and a half days ride from here. So we don't have to deal with him often.”

“Is he one of the farmers?”

“No, well, what he does is very grim,” she picked up her cup and held it in her hands blowing on it briefly before sipping.

“You see, he's technically a priest of Edomael, but he's more of a researcher. He studies the decomposition rates of human bodies when exposed to certain elements. That's probably why he's in town to pick up the bodies of the criminals. It would be a rare chance to see how a body that's life was taken by a god decomposes.”

“Wait, so he studies dead bodies? Can you explain? It seems like an odd thing to do.”

“He is odd, but no one can say his research isn't useful. He takes human bodies, mostly criminals, out to his research base. From there he puts them in simulated situations to see how fast the decomposition is. There is something else about bugs and wildlife, but I'm not clear on all of it. Anyway, he then sends his studies out to the priesthood of Edomael and they use that information on murder cases or on dead bodies that are too decomposed to identify.”

So he was doing dead body forensics. I never would have thought that something like that would happen in a place that seemed to lack technological advances.

“That actually seems interesting,” I commented, hoping she could tell me a bit more.

“While the work might seem interesting, it takes a special sort of person to be able to study a body rotting. Having a bunch of dead rotting bodies near where you live would be enough to give me nightmares so bad I wouldn't sleep.”

“I don't think I could either, though I think I'd be fine living near a cemetery.”

“We mostly burn our dead out here. We are rural enough that we can't risk having an old cemetery having an Undead uprising. Every once and a while we get the odd stray Undead bothering the farms, but those are usually the idiots who get killed by the Death Bees. Their bodies become so toxic that scavengers won't eat them so they rise up as Undead.”

“That wasn't in the book I read. So all people killed by Death Bees end up as Undead?” I quickly looked up Undead on my Gamer Glass.

*Undead. Skeletal monsters that used to be humanoid. Most of the body must be present in order for an Undead to rise.

Undead rise with the ability to use any equipment they were killed with. A soldier who becomes and Undead might rise wearing armor, carrying a shield and a sword. A farmer who becomes an Undead might rise carrying a hoe or scythe.

To kill an Undead one must first separate the majority of the body from the head. The easiest way to do this is by decapitation. If the Undead is in full metal armor this might be difficult so attacking the limbs first then decapitation is suggested.

An Undead that kills a humanoid in combat rises in difficulty. Undead Warrior, Undead Soldier, Undead Archer, Undead General are some of the variations an Undead can take once they have risen in rank.

Anyone killed by an Undead eventually becomes an Undead as long as their bodies remain intact. If a member of your party should die because of an Undead attack it is standard protocol to decapitate the victim and keep the head separated from the body until priests can perform funerary cremation. However, if you are in a remote location this might not be possible. It is up to the surviving party members to perform the cremation ceremony themselves to the best of their abilities, making sure that they burn the victim's body.

Failure to perform these duties will result in possible fines, jail time, and possibly forced labor. Some exceptions are made in the case of an Undead uprising where the safety of the majority is paramount.~

“No, there is a lot of debate about what causes an Undead.” She shook her head slightly. I was a bit distracted by what I was reading and it took me a few seconds to remember my question. I really needed to get better at holding conversations and reading at the same time. “Some people think it's just random chance, that as long as the body remains intact with all its bones it can rise.

“Others think there is more to it. Edmond has never had an Undead in all the years he's been studying decomposition. Some think it's because those bodies aren't forgotten. That as long as a person is remembered they won't become Undead. Since Edmond is basically studying them, they aren't forgotten. It's just a theory, but there is some merit to it. It's usually the older cemeteries, battlegrounds that have an Undead uprising. You don't see that with grave sites that have loved ones visiting.”

“But don't Undead create Undead? So it shouldn't be so random right?” Becoming an Undead couldn't be as random as it just happening. I was thinking that maybe the people who died all fought Undead at some point and some sort of mutated Undead virus or something got into their blood. So even if they did survive an attack, when they eventually died that virus would cause them to rise as an Undead.

“Nope,” she was firmly negative on that point. “There's actually a book about a similar theory over in the monster's section,” she waved her hand in that direction of the library.

“The group of researchers went out with several theories on why the Undead rise. One of the theories was that if you're ever in contact with an Undead you become and Undead upon death.

“This theory was passed around for generations, I guess. For the longest time, the Guild had a hard time getting adventurers to take on the extermination requests for the Undead, because of this fear of becoming an Undead when they died.

“Anyway,” she shifted her position in her chair and took another sip of tea. “These researchers went out and they gathered all the data they could on the Undead. Where there were single risings, entire uprisings, and even if the dead had come in contact with Undead within their lifetimes. They mostly had to rely on family and friends accounts on the Undead and that really couldn't be used as 'evidence',” she made little finger quotes.

“It wasn't until they had the Orphanage Uprising of 989 that the theory of catching Undead was really debunked.”

989? There was a yearly system in place? What year was it now?

*The current year is 52 in the Cycle of Erasmus God of oceans, seas, sailors, and water.~

Cycle of Erasmus?

*The Godly Cycle, every thousand years a new God is given dominion of that era. There have been five eras in recorded history, the first beginning after the defeat of the God Apep named after the God Zeus.~

Illia had seemed to pause in her story which was good for me since I was just learning about how they tracked years in this new world. However, after a bit, it seemed like she was expecting something from me. I didn't know how to respond, so I tried to come up with something plausible while being partially honest.

“To be honest I've never heard of this uprising. There weren't any Undead where I grew up, or if there was it was something you'd hear about from someone's uncle who heard about it from some guy they met while traveling to someplace.”

She gave me that odd look again as if she was studying some sort of new creature that had just popped up in front of her in the forest.

“It wasn't that long ago historically, I guess, but it does seem like a long time ago to us. My grandma told me about it when I was a kid. It was such a big scandal at the time that everyone from all the kingdoms got word about it. Scandal does travel fast and far.

“So what happened was that this guy left the priesthood and decided to devote himself to helping children. He felt that his temple wasn't doing enough. My grandma said he was a priest of Edomael, but I've also heard he was a priest of Torque and Zanthis. At this point, I don't think anyone remembers which temple he actually left.

“He starts this orphanage with funding from the local nobles. His plan is to offer free medical services to unwed mothers and provide the unwanted babies for adoption and the people would be willing to adopt. There was this really bad sexual disease going around at the time that left most men unable to father children since the cure for the disease was the removal of,” she blushed slightly and held up two fingers and wiggled them upside down. I got the idea.

“On the surface, the adoption business goes really well. The orphanage actually makes a sizable profit selling the babies. That profit is what got people looking into how the place was run. The other orphanages at the time were barely able to break even with expenses and would often have to ask for donations.

“They started to investigate and realized that more mothers were going in and giving birth than there were babies being adopted. Where did all the missing babies go?” She leaned in as if she was a teacher asking her student a difficult problem.

“Did this sexual disease cause any harm to babies in mother's who had it?”

She looked a bit surprised, then shook her head.

“I hadn't thought of that, but no I don't think so.”

“Considering that there is an Undead uprising I'm guessing that some of the babies were dying,” I answered her.

“Yes, while some of the deaths could be contributed to stillbirths many of the women testified to having given birth to healthy babies. So where were all these healthy babies?

“This ex-priest had realized that after a certain age it was harder to adopt out a child. So once a child was considered too old for adoption they were given something that made them sleep and in the morning they were found dead. The bodies were then buried in a small grave boarding the woods on the orphanage's grounds.

“The orphanage was shut down and the ex-priest and the people who worked with him were executed for his crimes.”

“That's horrible, but how does this tie in with Undead uprisings and the Undead creating more Undead?”

“I'm getting to that,” she ate a cookie and sipped her tea just to make me wait for my impatience.

“It was about eight months after the orphanage was shut down that the first Undead appeared. It was a toddler and had walked miles into town. Someone made the connection of the mass grave behind the Orphanage and the Undead Child.

“They discovered nearly a hundred Undead Children and Babies walking or crawling around what used to be the orphanage. Some of them too young to even crawl just sort of popped up from the graves and rolled around trying to attack the people who were there.

“It was declared an emergency, but since people were still afraid that coming into contact with the Undead, the army had to be dispatched since no adventurers would take the assignment.

“They had to decapitate children. I can't even imagine how horrible that was. They were Undead, but they were also children and babies. It was truly one of those horrifying things that caused the entire world to take notice, and it just happened to be an event that happened when a small group of researchers were looking into what caused an Undead.

“So researchers show up and they determine that there was no way that all the children had come into contact with an Undead in their very short lives. So they were pretty much able to debunk the idea that coming into contact with an Undead would make you an Undead, and since the story was so widely circulated so was their evidence.”

“I'm sort of surprised everyone actually believed in the logic behind their findings. From my experience, once people believe in a superstition it's hard to get them to see the logic.” It was true. Back home no matter what scientific evidence was put forth, people still chose to believe in that one thing that guy on the internet said ten years ago.

“I don't know about that. I'm sure there are still some people out there that believe in survivors of an Undead attack becoming Undead upon their death.”

We both sipped our tea and ate the last of the cookies while contemplating the horrors of the past. It didn't feel like an uncomfortable silence to me, but after a while, I felt some pressure to say something. I was glad that a conversation starter was sitting in front of me.

“This book,” I held up the unknown book and flipped it open to the first page. “I found it behind some magic books. It looked like it had fallen behind the shelf from above, but I couldn't figure out where to put it since it doesn't have a title. I thought I'd get an idea of what the book was about by looking at it, but honestly, I'm stumped. Do you know what this is?” I pointed out the first diagram, then the cookbook like list, and the math.

“Let me see,” she turned the book to face her and began to flip through it. She paused a couple times to flip to the back of the book and then to examine the cover again.

“It looks sort of like an alchemy book, but not. Hold on a second I'll be right back.” She left the book on the table as she walked off between the shelves. She came back carrying two other books.

“These are alchemy books. This one is beginner level and this one is advanced.” She opened both at random and showed me pages with very simple diagrams circles with triangles in the first book and concentric circles with more triangles in the second. Both also had math and lists of ingredients but they were also very simple. Neither of them matched the beautifully detailed work of the mystery book.

“Could this be an even more advanced alchemy book?” I asked her.

“I think so. Though I would say this is beyond advanced. If I'm right that is. There isn't any indication of what each of these spells does. No intro, nothing. It's like this is a companion book to something else and the reader is supposed to follow along with both books.”

“I got that feeling too like I was missing part of the book. By the way, did you notice the smell vanilla and cherry? What is that?”

“You sometimes get the vanilla smell with brown inks. I think the cherry smell is actually almond. Almond oil is used as a thinner in a lot of colored inks. The colored inks tend to clot up quicker so thinning them out with a little bit of oil is common. The smell doesn't usually linger long though so it's interesting that it's stayed so strong in a book that looks so old.

“I also think that this book might even be older than the cover indicates. I think this book was rebound at some point. It was done well so there are hardly any indications, but some of the pages look like they had to be re-punched for stitching. They are a little offset from the rest.”

“How old is this library? Could this book have been here a while?”

“The old library got caught in a fire that was caused by a sinkhole about twenty years ago. This building used to be the old Merchant's Guild, but with increased tourism, they needed to expand so they sold this building to the town and the town leased the building for the library. A few years ago the library was able to buy the building outright.

“When that happened a few patrons donated their personal collections to us to show support. I suspect this book might be from one of those private collections. We should have records somewhere of what books were donated. I'll have to show this to Mary and see if she thinks it would be worth digging through a bunch of old boxes to figure out what this book is.”

“Depending on how many boxes you have, it might be easier to go through all the books that were above where I found this one and match them to the catalog.”

“That might be easier, but sometimes the books get shifted around on the shelves. We get new books in an entire bottom rows can end up at the top of the next shelf, or we get rid of some outdated and damaged books and two rows might free up in a section meaning another shift of some books to new shelves. It's hard to tell how long this book was lost, so several book shifts may have happened. I would have to look at the books on the bottom and top of the two adjacent shelves as well. Still, it really might be easier than going through old records.”

We both admired the drawing in the book as she continued to turn the pages. Until something happened to cast the entire room into shadow. A few seconds ago the room had been filled with sunlight, but looking out the window you could see dark storm clouds rolling in. I had thought the storms wouldn't come until later in the night. I could faintly make out the sound of thunder in the distance.

Illia lit one of the mage lamps she had taken from the window sill. I hadn't really noticed them there before, but there was at least one in every window. It was just one of those mundane things that you don't think about or notice until you need them.

“Do you think Crue will still want to go out in this?” I asked.

“I don't think it's a matter of want. As a Surveyor, he has to go out in all weather. In all likelihood, he'll make you do the same. You did buy some rain gear when you went shopping with him didn't you?”

“Um,” did we get rain gear? We got stuff to camp outside in the rain, but did I get anything to keep the rain off me? Taking my hesitation as a negative, she closed the book and started to collect the tea things.

“If you hurry you might be able to make it to Durmond's before the rain really starts coming down. I recommend the spider silk gear that's been oil treated for rain. Other fabrics will get torn and caught in the branches. Spider silk has a higher durability, plus you get the added bonus of its protective properties. Hurry up now it's starting to sprinkle.”

Taking her advice, and sort of wondering why Crue didn't have me get one in the first place, I hurried over to Durmond's. The rain was just lightly coming down, but in the distance, I could see some dark clouds, lightning, and I heard the thunder. Some street stall vendors were rushing to pack up their carts. While most of them had roofs I bet they weren't proof against the storm that was coming.

The wind really started to pick up as soon as I got to the storefront. The gust blew in and caused the displays on the ladies first floor to flutter a bit. One of the ladies clerks looked in my direction. She didn't have any customers so she was busy tidying up, but she stopped what she was doing to comment, “It looks like this storm is rolling in faster than I thought. I better go close the shutters before the wind really picks up.”

She hustled past me and outside. In a few seconds, I could see that shutters were being closed along the storefront windows. The room was getting darker as she closed each one, but I already knew my way to the staircase to the upstairs men's.

The upstairs windows had already been shuttered and lamps were lit along the walls. I didn't see any salespeople and after a quick walk around I couldn't find what I was looking for either. So I made my way back down the stairs and found the sales girl touching the lamps on the wall lighting each one.

“Excuse me, I'm looking for Spider Silk rain gear. I didn't see anyone upstairs.”

“Oh, Mr. Parker must be in the back room looking after Mr. Durmond. His bones act up in rain and we don't get many customers in storms like this. Well, except for people looking for rain gear.” She laughed a bit then led me upstairs.

“We have four styles of rain gear in Spider Silk. Are you an adventurer?”

“Yes,” I confirmed.

“Then you should stick to these three styles.” She led me to a back corner with boxes. She took down three boxes. I was surprised at how compact the gear was. Spider silk was thin, but the pants and shirts weren't as thin and translucent as the rain gear. The oil treatment the silk went through to become waterproof left that material thinner and more like silk than spandex. Each gear was folded up to the size of a person's palm. Very compact and perfect for traveling.

“This one is to be worn under the armor, but over the clothes and is used by mostly by those who use heavy armor.” She pulled out what looked like a Spider Silk catsuit in brown.

“I wear light armor,” she was not selling me on a translucent catsuit.

“What weapons do you use. We have different styles to maximize the ease of getting to your weapons when wearing these.” She unfolded a short fisherman's style poncho with a hood. Then a long knee length traditional looking cape with arm holes along each side and a Chinese looking high neck.

“Sword, knife, bow,” I answered her question.

“This one then.” She held out the longer traditional looking one. “It has the armholes but also break away clasps so that you can get rid of the gear in case of an emergency.” She demonstrated how the clasp worked. Locking one moment then with some pressure unlocking.

“That works, does it come in black?” The boxes in front of her only looked like different shades of brown.

“This style is the same in men's and women's. I think we have one in black, but I'm not certain. I know we have green, purple, dark blue, light blue, red, and pink downstairs. I will have to go through the boxes in the storeroom.” She led me back downstairs, taking a dark brown cape with her just in case I didn't like any of the colors in the woman's section. She took down several boxes and showed me the colors she had on the floor, then she went to the back to see if she had any in black. She came back with four more boxes.

The style in the ladies was the same, except that they had embroidery. Every single one had small embellishments added to them. She was going through the boxes pulling out the ones that didn't have flowers and bows on them. I was talking myself into getting the brown one when I spotted one near the bottom of the fourth box.

There was a dark gray one with black and silver embroidered Celtic looking knots around the hem. I picked it up and tried it on. The neck fit a bit loose, but with the hood, I didn't think any rain would be dripping down my collar.

“This one comes with a detachable fur lining. It's a fall and winter style. Not all of them have the fur, that's why it fits a bit looser. It's a bit more expensive than the spring and summer ones, but you can pick out which kind of fur you would like from our stock. They are customizable that's what makes the winter selection more fun. I think we have some black Ring Rabbit fur in. Would you like to see it?”

She went to the back and brought out a large box with mounds of colored fur in it. I even spotted a pink one. Digging through the stacked piles, she pulled out a fluffy black cape lining. She showed me how the lining attached with small hidden buttons and how to fit the fur around the collar and hood so they laid smooth and didn't irritate.

Once the fur was attached I tried it on again. The collar wasn't loose anymore and fit more like a turtleneck. It would take some getting used to, but I figured preparing for winter was probably a good idea. A fur-lined rain cape was a good start. I could wear it over my jacket too, so that was nice. Even with the fur the breakaway clasp still worked fine.

I was screaming a bit internally as I paid the nice girl 6 silver and 25 coppers. I kept telling myself that there was a lot more Spider Silk material here. Plus there was the fur lining and embroidery work. It was going to cost for that sort of craftsmanship and quality. I still had some Green Apes I could sell so I still had enough to pay the rent for next week if I didn't manage to make any more money in the next few days. If I was careful I wouldn't be homeless. Hopefully, all my pricey purchases were behind me and I could begin to save money.

The rain was really starting to come down, the sky had gone darker. Small little rivers began to flow down the road. Hopefully, we weren't in a flood prone area. I decided to wear my new rain gear out, minus the fur.

Tentatively, I stepped out and tested the weatherproofing of the cape. Rain beaded off it like it was a plastic poncho. However, it wasn't as uncomfortably muggy as plastic. The Spider Silk breathed and didn't trap in the hot humidity caused by body heat and the rain. It wasn't as heavy as a coat made of rubber and flannel either. Feeling like taking my new cape out for a test drive I took my time walking back in the rain.

Name- Eri Veritas

HP 2500/2500

MP 64/64

Level- 11

Age- 18

Race/Species- (Human) Unknown

Gender- (Male) Unknown

Occupation- Surveyor of Adventurers Guild

Exp- 3360

Physical Power- 220

Stamina- 280

Defense- 348

Agility- 492

Intelligence- 101

Magic Power- 8

Metal Rain Lv 1

Healing Hands Lv 1

Paralysis Resistance Lv 3

Mind Magic Resistance Lv 1

Skills

Staff Fighting Lv 2

Basic Sword Lv 2

Skull Bashing Lv 2

Martial Arts Lv 2

Stance Lv 1

Smooth Movement Lv 1

Spear Lv 1

Stalking Lv 1

Jumping Lv 1

Running Lv 2

Cooking Lv 1

Pain Tolerance Lv 3

Deception Lv 2

Poker Face Lv 1

Etiquette Lv 3

Dismantling Lv 1

Appraisal Lv 1

Leather Work Lv 1

Metal Work Lv 1

Rock Throwing

Dancing

Singing

Harvesting

Empathy

Telekinesis

Small Talk

Discretion

Party Tricks

Restraint

Alcohol Tolerance

Monster Biology

Entomology

Zoology

Botany

Special Skills

Abyss Walker

Racial Ability-

Hidden Among the Masses- 20

Stealth- 95

Party- 10

Items Equip

Inventory Bracelet

Succuba Star

Gold- 0g 1s 28c (128c)

Blessing 1- All Map Exploration

Blessing 2- Exp Points Required by Level Up / Current Level

Blessing 3-Exp Increase X Current Level

Blessing 4- Item- Gamer Glasses

Titles- Emissary of Amoris

Devotee of Amoris

Oracle of Amoris

Prince of Dreams

Grateful Petitioner

Lover of Leaves

Enemy of Apes