Rebecca slowly drew her sword fully. “You wanna BUY our souls?”, she asked harshly. “That's not approved by the necromancer guild.”

  I swung my chain in a circular manner. “Yeah, it's-” I halted. “Wait.” The chain slowed down as I lowered my arm. “Necromancer guild?”

  Rebecca nodded. “Yeah, the necromancer guild.”

  I stared at the man, obviously wasted away by dabbling in the dark powers, then back at Rebecca, whose whole body had relaxed.

  “Why is there a necromancer guild?”

  “What with every second black-haired emotionally stunted Rolander who shows up in this world summons undead, makes undead, is an undead, something something undead. So, eventually it kinda takes away from the whole “It′s sooooo evil” thing. So once you get enough necromancers, they will make a necromancer guild.”

  “Is he not from here?”, the necromancer asked, pointing at me.

  “No, he′s not.”, Rebecca answered. The man came closer. His skeletons pulled at the ground, earth liquifying as they dragged shield- no.. not shields. boards. The skeletons dragged advertisement boards from the ground.

  One of them was advertising corpse retrieval services; another was advertising treasure transport. Making eye-to-eyesocket contact with the skeleton, it began spinning its sign like a man down on his luck in one of those movies.

  Honestly, it was mesmerizing.

  “I have a permit.”, the man said. He pulled a badge out of his coat, showing it off. Rebecca's gaze softened.

  “Oh, my condolences. Who-”

  “Wife and daughter. Gonna need around 15 more. So would you be willing to sell me your soul?”

  I stepped cautiously closer. The smell was even worse this close. I couldn't even believe how it must′ve been for Rebecca. His eyebrows shot up, his gaze flying between Rebecca and me.

  “Oh, I see.”, he finally said, eyes on my chest.

  Unlike me, Rebecca could suppress the urge to check just what he meant by that.

  “See what?”, she wanted to know.

  “Your souls.”, he said. “They′re chained together. By means of an ability of some kind. Pretty sure I couldn't use them if that's the case.”

  “That's visible?”, I asked. If there were such chains, I couldn't feel them at least.

  “I'm a necromancer boy; seeing souls is the minimum requirement. Like how your soul has splinters. The spirit does not belong in there.”

  A cold shiver went through me. Was this due to me appearing in another world like this?“

  “Not to mention that your spirit is not of this world. You′re either a Rolander or a descendant of one of them.”, the necromancer said. “Or you′re a demonic entity. But who′s heard of a demonic entity wandering around with non-demonic entities?

  Slowly but surely, the sheer number of people who knew or apparently guessed that I was a Rolander became bigger than I was comfortable with. Rebecca was one thing, the people at the guild, fine, collateral in finding out. Emily and Simon already felt too much, then the squire, who, regarding the fact that I had learned the “failed” ritual was most likely NOT permanently dead and could′ve told who knows how many people knew. Like whoever was after my life for being like this-

  “Is everything ok?”, the necromancer asked, pointing at me.

  Waving him off, Rebecca said, “He′s been like that since I married him, always deep in his thoughts. He′s not noticing that he′s staring.”

  The necromancer tilted his head, and I swore I could see a black liquid drip out of his ear.

  “Well, if you say so.”

  “A necromancer guild. Who′d come up with this insanity?”, I asked myself. I sighed and found myself leaning against Rebecca.

  “Tired?” She patted me on the shoulder. “How′s your ritual stuff going?”, she asked.

  “Could be worse.”, I said. “They′re either too situational to be very useful, or too weak to be of much use even in a useful situation.”

  She simply patted my shoulder in response. “It's not like your brother could′ve figured that youd become an adventurer.”, she said.

  Simon and Emily approached. “So it's only a necromancer.”, the merchant said before his tone changed to a more inquiring one. “What are your specialties?”

  “Mass summonings to farm XP for adventurers, price is dependent on your current level. - - - Sir, would you mind selling your soul for a good prize?”

  Simon shook his head. “My soul′s collateral at a bank in the capital.”, he said. “And my daughter is not old enough to sell hers yet.”

  “Not twenty-five yet?”, the necromancer asked.

  “Twenty-three.”, Emily replied.

  “I see, not fully developed then.”, the necromancer sighed, and the stench of his rotten gums made me consider losing my lunch over it. I felt sorry for his poor wife and daughter if- when they were returned from the dead. Then again, from all I knew, they might as well be in a similar state to him.

  Upon entering the town, named Sene, Simon booked a room for the night using his guild membership badge. “That you, Simon?”, the horse-demihuman innkeeper asked. “What happened to your ear, you money-pinching waste of space? It's shorter, no?”

  Simon shook his head. “Got taken by slavers in Ceteric, and they cut my ear again, had to recut, it was a whole thing.” Simon tossed a key towards Rebecca as he sat down to talk to the man who seemed to be at least an acquaintance. Emily′s facial expression mirrored a child whose parent had just started a conversation with an acquaintance in a supermarket, a conversation that was not going to end soon.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  As we made our way up to the room, Rebecca′s heavy bootsteps were followed by my lighter bootsteps, which were in turn followed by two pairs of clawed feet scratching against the wood of the stairs.

  “Are you two gonna stay in a room with us?”, I asked, a bit confused. Were they gonna guard us even now? Robin cheeped a few notes. Rebecca nodded.

  “Robin thinks it's unlikely Simon is gonna pay for a room for them.”

  “Well, that is a reasonable guess.”, I said. “Though I'm not quite sure how we′ll figure the sleeping situation out.” Rebecca turned around. “What do you mean? The bed should be big enough, shouldn't it? We′ve shared one bed since the night we got married.”

  “No, not like that, I just mean, we are usually two people, and now it's four, can we all fit?”

  Stopping mid-unlocking the door, Rebecca looked at me like I had grown a third arm on my forehead.. The door clicked open, followed by Rebecca pulling it open. Pointing at the bed, she said, “A bed this size can hold at least four people. How far apart do you people sleep?”

  We settled in the room, putting our things down. Watching Rebecca remove her gauntlets, I let out a relaxed grunt as I could put down the weight of my backpack. “Finally.”, I said. “A bed. Been way too long on the road.”

  A muffled groan came from the bed where Rebecca had let herself collapse face down. Her tail slowly wagged from left to right. The fur was dirty and matted. I doubted that I looked much better or smelled much better, for that fact. We had washed ourselves in a stream a few days ago to get rid of some dirt and grime, but now we stunk of river too. I missed soap. How come the dwarves had high-speed jeeps, and I hadn't found a single block of soap anywhere?

  “I miss feeling clean.”, I said.

  Rebecca sat up again, looking at me comfortingly. “That's one of the downsides of adventuring. Well, bodyguarding right now. Makes getting clean feel like pure paradise, though.”, she began chuckling. “On the day of our wedding, I was caked in mud. Like, I'm not a neat freak by any means, but it was BAD.” She closed her eyes in reminiscence. “When that maid of yours…. Elisabeth?”

  “Louise.”

  “-- right, right, Louise. She complained to the butler about me being dirty and all, didn't think I'd hear it, I guess. So I went: “Well, if it's that bad, then tell me where I can bathe.” She looked at me like she didn't think I knew what that was. I think that was the only time she was happy to give me what I asked for. Though I didn't care for the citrus soap.” A shiver went through her. “Can't stand that smell.”

  Her eyes shone when she relayed that story to me. It also showed me once more that, despite having an ability based on perception, I should be happy that my head was attached to my neck, or I wouldn't be able to find it anymore. Soap was a thing after all. So maybe dogs and cats were, too.

  “I could try brushing the dirt out.” I offered. Rebecca didn't say anything immediately before sitting up and reaching for her backpack, retrieving a small brush.

  “I'd like that.”, she said. “It's gonna be an improvement over now. I can do yours after if you want.”

  Tossing the brush towards me, she slid off the bed. Failing to catch the brush, I juggled it between my hands to not let it fall for a few moments before sitting on the bed, right behind her head which she leaned forward, giving me a good look at her thick black hair. I pushed the bristles of the brush into the hair and began pulling carefully to not hurt her. It was a fight to move the brush even a little, yet Rebecca didn't comment or complain; her head leaned back against my legs, humming a small melody.

  I pulled the brush from her hair and parted it with my fingers, trying to remove the biggest tangles before going back with the brush, fighting through small knots, dried blood, and mud stuck in it. Robin and Nico joined in on Rebecca′s hummed melody as supporting melodies, the three voices harmonising in a strangely mesmerizing manner as I worked myself through the matted hair.

  “Don't hesitate, you can pull harder, it's not a problem.”, Rebecca assured me, and I did as she requested.

  Slowly but surely, the ripping sounds of forcing the brush became less and less as her hair untangled, becoming smoother in the process. With a pleased sigh, Rebecca let herself slump down a bit. She shook her head, delighted with how her hair flew. “Been way too long since I had my hair all brushed and smooth. Thanks a lot.” With a slight yawn, she added: “That was really relaxing.””

  Her hair, despite still being dirty, felt wonderful on my fingers, and I couldn't help but play around with it. I looked at the ground around us, as well as Rebecca's lap, and all the crumbs and dirt that had fallen out. It was at least two handfuls worth of dirt.

  "Isn't long hair bad for wandering around like that?”, I asked. “Or fighting?”

  “Kinda.”, Rebecca admitted. “I just kinda…. never got down to cutting it.”

  “I'd offer to help, but I'd more likely mess it up before getting anywhere.”

  For a few moments, we were silent, just sitting together as my fingers went through her hair.

  Rebecca's ears perked up, the tips tickling against my fingers. “Has Simon mentioned anything about when we leave tomorrow?”

  “No.”, I replied. “At least not to me.”

  We sat for a bit longer like this, Rebecca's eyes closed while I trailed my fingers through her hair. “We should get to bed.”, she said. “No use guessing, we′re gotta get up tomorrow as normal." That forced me to consider the bed situation again.

  “And you′re sure the four of us fit into that bed?”

  “Sure.”, Rebecca said. She pushed herself up onto the bed, knocking me down onto the bed in the process. “Oops, sorry.”

  Robin and Nico watched us lie down. Rebecca whistled at them, and Robin responded in kind, only for Rebecca to whistle back. The twins looked at each other before getting onto the bed as well. Rebecca lay down relatively in the middle of the bed, almost squeezing me off. I'd have fallen off the bed had she not wrapped an arm around me to keep me on. Behind her, I could hear the twins chittering. “Is that all the space we have?”, I asked.

  “Looks like it.”, Rebecca said. “I don't wanna squish them by accident-” Robin tweeted in some sort of frustration, only for Nico to respond in a calming manner. As I lay there, I could feel Rebecca′s heartbeat in my back, feel her breath on my head. I didn't know when I fell asleep, but I did know that I awoke in the middle of the night, most likely having gotten used to it on all the nights of standing guard.

  My eyes fell on Robin, who stood with her back leaned at the door, standing perched with eyes closed, breathing softly. I fell asleep again shortly after.

  Neither Simon nor Emily were in any condition to travel any further. They had, to put it lightly, had too much alcohol.

  _________________________________________________________________________

  Current Status:

  Stats:

  Power: 2

  Agility: 1

  Toughness: 3

  Mental: 2

  Perception: 3

  Mana: N/A

  Effects:

  Night Vision  Lvl. 1

  Overlapping Protection  Lvl. 1

  Poisonous Blood  Lvl. 1

  Protection against Natural Poison and Venom Lvl. 1

  Skills:

  [Basic Core Technique]  Lvl. 1

  [Behind every great person, there's their spouse] Lvl. 2

  [Emperors Gaze]  Lvl. 2

  [New World Mental Block]  Lvl. N/A

  Known Ritual Spells:

  [Basic Healing Magic][Determine Value]

  [Filth to Food]

  [Ignite]

  [Liquid Equilibrium]

  [Rite of True Death]

  [Simple Transportation Magic]

  [Trigger]