Screw, pat down the sage's body; he kept on searching for important and valuable stuff. But he didn't find any items aside from the knife and clothes she used. "Is this all?" Screw grump, because he's not entertained by the loot at all.
[Are you satisfied now?] Reading the system prompt, Screw gives the system a dissatisfied look. He opened both hands and pointed at himself. "Look, Alyssa, look at me. Glance at my pretty gundam face. Did you think I'm delighted?"
[The system wants to use the neckbreaker to break your neck.]
[Firstly, you were wearing a plague mask.]
"And so what?"
[Second, stops groping the fake sage, pervert.]
"I can't help; I'm still a man."
[Third, both of us know you're ugly.]
"Shut up!"
After looting the sage remains, screw open a vial again. He poured the liquid into the dead carcass, and afterwards, Screw stood up beside the sage. "Let's do this." Screw made several hand gestures, and a line of different circles showed up one by one. The ground turned muddy, and a small hole emerged under the sage. The frame sinks until the ground absorbs the entire frame of the sage. Looking satisfied, Screw started the process, but the system prompt popped up.
[Are you amused by that?]
"With what?"
[Look how deep the ground is]
"I calculated the depth at around six feet."
[6 feet?]
[The system wants to slap you]
"Why? There's no problem in it, right?" Screw continued, "Listen here, Alyssa, six feet was just a matter of safety and also a way to stop animals from smelling the decomposing bodies."
[Stupid]
[6 feet is the norm for burial sites when you visit other towns or cities]
[6 feet is likewise the right depth if you murder someone]
"But I murdered someone."
[Shut up.]
[I'm not finished] Screw zips his lips.
[For our case, the one we are going to bury is a sage whose magic is strong.]
[Burying her in a conventional way is a big no-no.]
"So should we ignite her body?"
[Even if we burn her body, the others will still find her based on the magic she emits while she's burning.]
Screw thinks the system was right. "So, what should we do?"
[Dig the ground 12 feet or more.]
"That deep?" Screw once again made several gestures, but this time he created a much deeper ground. After countless hours of digging, the sage's body was buried 12 feet below the ground.
[The system claps]
[Good now, I'll take over the job] Screw nods.
[System: Activating the Wind Barrier]
Screw and the sage's bodies are engulfed in a sphere of wind. Then Screw steps outside the barrier that would cage the corpse and speed up the decomposition before walking a little distance away from it.
[System: Activating Putrefaction] The system starts decomposing the proteins, breaking down the tissues, and liquefying the organs.
After the rapid decomposition, the system set up another wind barrier. Screw claps his hands first, and a small amount of electrical energy flows through his palms before touching the ground.
The earth starts to enclose the body. He then started to cast "Emerged for fame and praise, and all written with the finger, the spirit of impurity, and the other side." He then snapped his finger, and the skeleton got burned by a white flame of souls.
******
The full moon emerged from its hiding place and started illuminating the edge of the fence. A group of nine members idling and waiting for further instructions. Some are chatting and laughing at jokes, and one person is quietly singing a song while leaning against the railing that separates her place of work from the rest of the world.
This one girl is sitting with her back against the wood, head turned to look up towards the moon. Her eyes at the back of her plague mask follow the movements of its phases, but her mind is lost in thoughts that are far away but just as vivid as when she's here, staring at the glowing surface right above her. There isn't anything to fear this time around. She has been doing this almost every night since they moved at the Loreborn five months ago. Nothing will happen tonight; nothing ever does.
Since the village was attacked, she's consistently on the edge and ready for blood. But she knows there is someone watching her, or rather, someone who watches over her—she can feel him—and regardless of the danger, her master will repeatedly appear from nowhere.
It doesn't take long before her mind drifts again, as if it were a broken record. She sighs as she leans more comfortably against the cool wood of the fence. She hears footsteps coming closer and stops herself from flinching.
The man who wore a black robe gives instructions. All the participants in this quest gather and start listening. They're going to a specific area; that location is still unknown and needs to be investigated.
An archer raised his arm and asked a question: "Are we the initials who'll investigate that place?" He asked the others to look at the black-robed man for an answer. The man shakes his head and says, "No, we are not."
"The first one are the private knights of Duke Hellene."
"That man, huh?" A smile emerged from the mercenaries, especially for Gillis, who's the leader of the group.
Unbeknownst to others, that man was one of the greedy swine of the Loreborn city. A fat swine is ready to fetch his mercenary with money and power. Gillis had already started a plan for how he would take that swine, known as Duke Hellene, as part of his cash flow.
Gura was still seated; she didn't join or care about the discussion. Surprisingly, no one approached her to let her know everyone was gathering. Well, it doesn't matter because she's only here to finish the job and return to her master.
Everything was ready. They all need to check their belongings and start preparing for tomorrow's journey. After that, all of them go to their tent and sleep.
*****
The morning comes, and it's been a week since they traveled. All of them wake up earlier and set up to prepare breakfast. Gura, who doesn't have a tent to sleep in, woke up.
Subsequently, she walks outside the camp premises and leaves to rush towards the deepest forest. They were confused. She's been seen running in and out, sometimes even disappearing for hours at a time.
They're scared but also curious because this behavior has never happened before; most of them are terrified by the way she moved unnoticed. Even their leader, Gillis, can't fathom it and has an inability to intervene with such an unknown variable that they all fear.
He tries to ask her about it once, but when he did, she said, "Leave me be." He knows that if she keeps on doing this kind of sneak out, the other will be restless. "Hey Gillis, what should we do about her?" A man asks, talking about the little girl named Gura.
It's been four weeks since they started to travel together and invited Gura to take the quest with them, even though she's not part of the mercenary group that Gillis assembled.
"Don't touch her; she's still able to be used." "Gillis." One of the mages of the group and the women of Gillis approached him and likewise asked the same question. Gillis understood Gura was eccentric and sometimes unconventional, but he was also aware of her capabilities, especially when she possessed a violent aura. He can still remember it by his skin, how strong her ability was, and further a warning to all the members of his mercenary.
A group of adventurers continues their journey. They didn't enter the dense jungle and only strided at the edge. The tall grass around them moves in the wind that blows through. The tall grass swayed with each footstep, and their footsteps echoed on the damp ground, creating an eerie silence.
"So how much longer?" A deep voice asked, one from the back. It belonged to a man who stood taller than everyone else. Even his two companions had to look up at him. His name is Osso; his hair was dark gray, and his skin was ashen and white with age. He wore a blue tunic over his armor and held a sword in his hand. He had a black beard and mustache.
"Almost there. The map says we're going this way," said a woman in front; her name is Christina. She had light-brown short hair cut into a half bun, and her eyes held worry about what they were doing. They continued down the trail that led into the thick forest, their feet hitting the wet forest floor with heavy thuds.
Gillis raised his arm to signal everybody to stop. "Go set up our camp," everyone followed Gillis command. He called Christina and Osso to accompany him, and both of them followed him. After several rounds of patrolling the surrounding area, the three of them entered a tent and talked about the mission and their current location.
When they finished discussing that matter, all three sat down on one side, each with a cup of soup in their hands. They sat in comfortable silence for a while before Christina spoke up. "So... what now?" she asked. Her head was turned toward the other two.
"Well, we just need to find out what happened, so first we need to discover that specific place," Gillis said. The rest of the trip was uneventful. They found no enemies or anything suspicious, but it was not easy to find the place they had to investigate.
"We must rest now. By tomorrow we were going to finish our quest," Christina stood up, "we're almost there; a little more patience and money will flow."