Bro, I'm not an Undead!

(A/N: Bonus Chapter)

Guilds Association building.

"We sure got a sweet deal from the Harem Guild. All that gold and the Enriching gems! Haha, we'll be set for a while."

"Why are you so excited? It was clearly all planned to shut us up."

"And we did, didn't we? That was the point. We practically earned benefits without working for them. To be honest I'm happy with this result. At we didn't have to risk anything."

"I'm fine with it too. Even if the Harem Guild hadn't intervened, we would have been stuck with white Clusters and silvers all the way. Now we get gold coins!"

"<Sigh>."

The Guild's Association was lively as things seemed to start settling within the region, except for certain parts that had experienced the flashy transcendent powers of Somanda.

It was business as usual with requests still tricking in, even though at a very slow pace.

Jac at this moment was talking to another one of the evaluators of the Association. He seemed to have had been on leave, until the chaotic Cluster situation started that is.

"I could have earned a few more gold coins just by being here," the man said as he clicked his tongue, his build which was leaner yet just as big as Jac's going over to lean by the wall as he shook his head.

Jac merely laughed at the older man's words.

"So that little brat Tulnas solved all this? You're one lucky son of a fruity bugger," the man said as he sighed, blowing the hairs that made up his greying stubble.

"Heheh. You're dying of jealousy only now when you're at the end of your bitter life? Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to find other talents when I'm gone," Jac said, offering no form of consolation.

The man shook his head and then narrowed his eyes as he seemed to recall something.

"That's right. I heard you managed to find another gem in the ocean of subpar rough. A Mage was it?"

Jac instantly wore a complicated expression.

"Kind of," he said as the young man was a topic he wasn't sure how to react to anymore when people tied him to the murderous bugger.

It truly was derailing into uncharted and unplanned territory with this particular topic.

Jac who had been smiling sheepishly as he thought up a response suddenly looked past the man he was conversing with as something caught his eye.

"Festos?" he uttered in disbelief.

"Hmm? Yes, that's the name I heard. Quite the odd name I say. I mea—"

"No that dammit!" Jac bellowed as he pushed away the man and rushed towards the door where a certain young man was just entering.

The other evaluator turned and followed.

The entrance of this familiar figure through Association building doors attracted quite the bit of attention as his figure which had grown different in stature caused some to raise their brows while hushed chatter began as others recognised him.

The new Mage had been out of the public eye for a while and as his crimes had not yet been addressed to the public, most were pleased to see him.

Yes.

It was indeed the Discount Human.

He donned his Fleeting Ghoul's Adornment which had several damaged portions and holes in it from the attacks of the carp and the Devouring Lantern Alpha Wolf.

However, this was all covered by something that was attracting the attention of the onlookers.

Something akin to robe that covered him.

It had a dark bluish black hue while seemed transparent, yet with the full ability to hide everything it covered.

A good set of words to describe it would be partially ethereal.

It lightly draped over the ground with Skullius' movement, its seemingly torn edges making it look like a poor wanderer's garment.

It gave everyone the sense that it was some kind of extremely expensive magical item, this not being a far fetched assumption when one took Skullius' supposed class into account, yet, no one sensed anything from it.

Nothing at all.

It seemed like a regular robe.

Where was this guy coming from then?

A journey of self discovery? Some kind of magical retreat?

Jac approached Skullius who looked vastly different from when he last saw him and also wondered about this getup.

He was a little perturbed when he saw the neck of the robe move a bit on its own, tightening as if it was a living thing.

The burly man decided to dispense with the friendly greetings and express his concerns but with a hushed voice that only Skullius could hear.

"You have some guts to only appear now when things were getting bad for your benefactors."

Skullius turned to the crowds that were gazing at him instead of rendering a response at first.

"Well, with how things look here, I don't think I'm too late," Skullius said without his usual vigorous tone. "Am I?"

Jac was a little confused when hearing and seeing Skullius' posture and tone of voice.

The Discount Human seemed a bit...bolder than usual in temperament.

If he were in his shoes, he would be rushing to meet up with the two people that wanted to help him.

"Thankfully you're right. Follow me. You'll want to see Silrat first," Jac said as he sighed.

A weight was taken off of his chest as well.

While he wasn't exactly the face of the deal that Silrat and Tulnas had made, he was involved.

If it were to flop, he would have to waddle in shame for all the preparations he had made.

*

Silrat was sitting anxiously at his desk, many plans and theories squirming in his mind when the door suddenly opened.

He shot his head up and body up as fortunately, his luck practically presented to him with what he desperately needed the most.

The Mage he had been waiting for appeared before his eyes along with Jac.

The man withheld his rage filled words as he went on to take six full breaths to calm himself before wearing his signature sly smile.

"I'd like to say welcome back, but our current circumstances require quite a bit of haste. Where on Aigas were you? Seeing your state right now tells me that you were well enough to return right?" Silrat sat as he sat back down with a heavy slump.

Skullius took a seat before answering, this gesture becoming a norm to him.

"Yes, that's true. But, I can tell you that whatever Tulnas told you was far from the real deal. If you had faced what I did, you'd be dead," Skullius said with a strangely excited and confident voice.

This was quite different from his previous demeanour.

Silrat wasn't opposed to this however.

"Interesting. I'll hold off on asking for further details about that. For now, we'll need to convene with Tulnas about everything else. Your charges are still set and all our livelihoods depend on it. I'd blame my greed that led to this but we are way past that point. I'll brief you on how we are going to play this," Silrat said.

Skullius nodded.

"I have an idea on how to free myself of my crimes though. If yours fails, mine probably won't," Skullius said as he wore an unsettling grin.

What he had been doing for the past days had been in preparation for this and of things to come.

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