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I Became A Zombie Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Omen

「Feels like it’s been awhile since I last took a walk alone.」

Kinu returned to the dungeon with Shinku, so I was walking alone for the first time in a while.

It’s been less than a month since I met Kinu, but it has become normal for me to have her next to me.

「I guess I’ll go check out some accessories as planned.」

There’s a reason why I came to check out the accessories.

Considering that Kinu and Shinku will be in the city often as adventurers, I really want accessories that can hide their status.

Since you cannot find such items on the market very often, it’s likely to be expensive. But the purpose of my visit is to see how much it costs and whether it’s even sold in the first place.

So first, I went into a store specializing in accessories, but there weren’t any accessories that could conceal your Status from the Appraisal skill.

Accessories, by nature, are usually expensive, and the items in this store were at least 2 gold coins.

In the worst case, I will use the dungeon points to create the items. But if possible, I would like to prioritize the use of the points to remodel the dungeon.

I recalled that the armor shop had quite a few accessories, so I went to the armor shop just to give it a try. And to my surprise, for some reason, they were selling the accessories I was looking for.

「It’s here… furthermore, it’s cheap.」

There was one ring and two necklaces. I don’t know why, but even with all three together, it still cost only one gold coin.

Appraising it with my skill showed that it was in very good condition. The items’ rarity was green, but that doesn’t matter at all.

Since the money I had on hand sufficed, I bought all three items and left the store.

「How lucky. Next stop, the Adventurer’s Guild.」

I decided to register for a party when the others are around, and searched for quests that could be accepted by a C-rank instead. And I found a quest that caught my attention.

It was an exploration and investigation quest in Morphia Forest, which is located west of Recuria.

Usually, most of the quests for C-rank and above are subjugation quests, but this time it’s exploration and investigation…

I picked up the quest form and talked to the female staff member at the reception for the details.

「I’m thinking of accepting this quest. Is it okay to simply investigate and report back?」

「Well, this quest is commissioned by the Adventurer’s Guild. There have been reports that Morphia’s ecosystem has changed recently, and so we are investigating that.」

「I see… Please tell me how it changed specifically.」

「Normally, C-rank Red Tigers and D-rank Kobolds inhabit Morphia’s forest… But recently, we have received reports from a large number of adventurers that monsters from the “Red Valley” further to the west are roaming around in the forest.」

「Red Valley… Do you mean Big Scorpions and Griffons?」

「You know your monsters very well! We have received reports that B-rank monsters from the valley have entered the forest. So this time, we’re requesting for an investigation, not subjugation.」

「I understand now. Would it be a problem if I subjugate them, though?」

「Of course, if possible, we would like to request for subjugation, but it is quite difficult for C ranks to subjugate… Ah, could it be that you are Aun-san?」

「Hmm? That’s right…」

「Oh, so it is true! There is a rumor going around in the guild that you are extremely strong! But please don’t overdo it.」

「No worries, thank you.」

After that, I handed over the quest form and the guild card.

「Okay, the order has been completed. Be careful!」

Since the order was completed, I decided to head to Morphia Forest immediately.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

After walking for about 3 hours, Morphia forest came into view. From the outside it looked like any normal forest.

However, when I entered the forest and walked a little, two female adventurers came running towards me.

They seem to be running away from something.

「Are you okay? What happened?」

「Huh!? Run! Big Scorpion!」

「Kya–!!」

Time for some action already? …I could hear the sound of trees being knocked down from deep in the forest.

「You guys escape first. Thunderclap.」

As I activated the skill, black current surged out around me.

A tree in front of me was knocked down, revealing a scorpion about 1.5m tall.

At that moment, I took out the Red Ogre’s Iron Club from my magic bag and sprinted forward..

Just before colliding with the Big Scorpion, I swung the iron club with both hands toward the side of the Big Scorpion’s head.

As expected of a monster that excelled in defensive power, its exoskeleton has caved in, but it can’t be defeated with just that.

However, the Big Scorpion, which was sent flying to the side, was turned upside down and struggled to get up on its own.

While being careful of the poisonous spines on its tail, I kept slamming the Iron Club into the mouth of the immobilized Big Scorpion until it died.

「That took longer than I thought. Huh? You guys are still here?」

「Feeeeee! You defeated a B-rank monster alone…」

「I thought we were going to die. Thank you for saving us.」

「Well, I’m here on a quest, so it’s alright. But it seems that the ecosystem in this forest is changing, after all.」

「We’re here to investigate too, but we didn’t know that things had changed so much…」

「When we met Shinku-chan, things were still normal. That was about a week ago, I think?」

「Hmm? Shinku?」

「Yes! She is this insanely beautiful girl!」

「Haha… I suppose. For the time being, this forest looks dangerous. You two should go back to Recuria and report to the guild. I’ll investigate a little more and then return.」

「Okay. Um… what’s your name?」

「Aun. Be careful on your way back.」

「Aun-san, thank you! Take care!」

…Alright, let’s go deeper into the forest.

After that, I ran around the forest for about an hour, but I didn’t see many monsters that were supposed to live there. I defeated 2 Griffons, 3 Big Scorpions, and 3 Red Grizzlies, and stored them in my magic bag.

It seems that the ecosystem really is collapsing.

It’s been more than 10 years since I became an adventurer, and nothing like this has ever happened.

I returned to Recuria while thinking that something might be happening in the Red Valley.