Chương 78: Necromancer

Nerez let out a sigh and stood in front of the camera-shaped magic item. After all, the worst that could happen was the same thing that had happened with Ily: the level ninety-nine reading would appear again. That would actually be convenient, since it would convince the receptionist that the item itself was faulty.

"Very well, please hold still for a moment," the receptionist instructed, placing her finger once again on the crystal behind the magic item. It did not take long for a multicolored glow to begin washing over him completely.!! But the moment the scan ended, the magic item began to tremble, letting out a strange sound that alarmed both the receptionist and the curious adventurers who had been watching ever since Ily's plate had come out.

When it finally stopped, the newly created plate shot out of the old-fashioned camera (magic item), and the receptionist picked it up from the floor with trembling hands.

"This is... level incalculable?!" she exclaimed when she saw what it said.

"level incalculable?" Nerez and Ily asked in unison.

"It has these symbols instead of numbers," the receptionist explained, showing them the plate, which did indeed have strange-looking figures instead of numbers.

"After all, it seems the machine really is malfunctioning..." Nerez and Ily exchanged a glance while the rest of the adventurers lost interest and returned to their own business.

"No problem," Nerez replied.

"In any case, I wasn't planning to go by my level. I have some confidence in my abilities..."

"That kind of confidence is the leading cause of death among young adventurers," the receptionist chided him.

"But I am sorry, we will have to leave your levels undefined for the time being. These magic items are very valuable, and this branch only has one. We will have to request a replacement from headquarters."

"Don't worry, miss!" Ily reassured her.

"For now, we will start with simple quests. As long as we earn enough for one room at an inn for the two of us, that will be enough...! Ah! Nerez! Not my little ears again! Sorry, sorry!" Once Nerez had grown tired of punishing Ily, he received his provisional plate from the slightly flushed receptionist. Then, after saying their farewells, the two left the counter and headed for the quest boards.

"Nerez, which quests should we take first?" Ily asked, looking over the postings.

"Do you think they have any for hunting dragons? I need some spare materials for my arrows."

"What happened to starting with simple quests?" The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"It is simple, is it not? All it takes is your will, and the dragon will fall into eternal sleep."

"When you put it like that, it sounds a little like animal cruelty..."

"Or would you rather go gather herbs? That would be enough for us to share a room at the inn." Ily gave him a mischievous smile and leaned closer to whisper in his ear again.

"I really meant it back then, Lord Nereziel."

"Now I'm starting to think gathering herbs would end up being more dangerous than hunting a dragon." Nerez and Ily had only been looking over the quests for a few moments when they heard footsteps approaching from behind. When they turned around, they found three young adventurers looking at them somewhat nervously. Ily immediately approached them with a smile.

"Are we in your way? But there are plenty of other boards to choose from... Or perhaps you need something from us?" Eventually, the young man standing in front of the other two, apparently their leader, cleared his throat.

"Ahem, excuse us. It's just that after seeing you up close, we started wondering whether you really were novice adventurers like us..."

"As far as being adventurers goes, we are indeed novices. In fact, we are in the middle of choosing our first quest right now," Nerez explained.

"In any case, don't worry, feel free to talk to us."

"I see!" the young man replied, sounding a little more enthusiastic.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Edran. I am the leader and attacker of my party, and my class is swordsman." The young man gave a small bow before continuing.

"This is Bastor, our tank," Edran said, gesturing to his burly companion before doing the same with the girl in the group.

"And this is Yvene, our healer."

"As you might have heard from the commotion a moment ago, my name is Ilyra," the smiling visiare said, pointing at herself.

"And this is my lord. You may call him Lord Nerez. And while you're at it, you can pray to him at night."

"Lord Nerez?"

"My lord?"

"Pray to him at night?" The three young adventurers looked at one another in confusion.

"Ah! My little ears again! I need to buy myself a hat!"

"What you need to do is keep your mouth shut. Good thing I came here without Cerys finding out. With the two of you around, I wouldn't be able to walk down the street in peace," Nerez grumbled with a sigh before turning to the adventurers.

"Don't mind her. Ily likes making those kinds of unfunny jokes nobody understands."

"No, of course, it was funny. It's just that we're a little slow," Edran tried to cover for her, like the natural-born leader he was.

"You don't have to force yourself..." Nerez replied.

"So, what is it? Do you need us for something?" Edran's expression turned serious, and he exchanged glances with his two party members. The three nodded in unison.

"As you may know, there is no level requirement for accepting quests. That is because a person's status alone cannot determine every factor involved in their ability to complete a given quest," Edran began to explain.

"However, some quests do require a party to have a minimum number of members."

"And why is that?" Nerez asked.

"So at least one person can make it back and call for help in case of an emergency," Ily answered with a know-it-all smile.

"Exactly," Edran agreed.

"And like I said, statuses do not account for everything, but it is clear that the more members a party has, the safer it is to take part in a quest. That is why there are party-size requirements instead of level requirements."

"I see where you're going with this," Nerez said, crossing his arms.

"In short, you do not have enough members for the quest you want."

"It requires at least five party members," Edran confirmed with a nod.

"But that's not the only issue."

"It's not just that?"

"We didn't mean to listen in, but we heard that Nerez was a necromancer," Edran replied. His eyes were shining, and so were Bastor's and Yvene's.

"The best necromancer, but what does that have to do with anything?" Ily asked, tilting her head.

"It's the ideal class for our quest!" the young adventurer exclaimed.

"We want to go to the tomb of the man regarded as the most powerful necromancer in the entire history of Phatar!"