I repaired the the cloak, that the adventurer had shot off my back, over night. Early in the mornig I went to the Adventurers’ Guild with Cystie. First and foremost, we needed money. Money was necessary for everything in the world. That was no different in this parallel world. Even just to live, you needed money. To buy books, you needed money. To buy a home, safety, you needed money. That was why Cystie and I had come to the Adventurers’ Guild early in the morning. To look for a good quest that would earn us some money. Quests were posted to the bulletin board every morning, so adventurers would gather early to see if they could find a good one. Of course, some were living a life of freedom and showed up in the middle of the day or in the evening. I envied that kind of freedom. “I mean, it's my first time coming to the guild in the morning, but... everyone seems pretty lively this early.” Cystie and I had arrived in front of the guild's door, but the inside was already bustling with activity. Several adventurers were raising their voices in excitement. What was going on this morning? It was as if all the adventurers were holding a late-night party. “Are they pulling an all-nighter?” I asked. “Of course not. They’d be kicked out of the guild by midnight. Otherwise, there’d be adventurers sleeping here,” Cystie replied, looking up at me with an exasperated expression. I was surprised to hear that there were such brazen people. “I mean, I always imagined adventurers as the kind of people to drink and party all night.” At least, that’s what I’d seen in games and anime. Adventurers would earn money by completing quests, and in the evening, they’d party hard. That sounds nice. It was a shame that I hadn’t been able to do anything like that since I’d gotten this new body. “... And that is exactly how they are,” Cystie said. “So I was right?” “It's more likely that someone found a good quest between the ones posted in the morning.” “You’re probably right. Let’s find a good quest, too.” I wanted to buy a greatsword as soon as possible, and I wanted a house, too. “All right. Shall we hunt down some Aegyl Buffalo today?” Cystie asked. “Sure, but you'll have to be the one running around while wearing that cloak.” “I'm sorry. Let's do a different quest.” As we entered the guild while joking around, ““What?!”” Cystie and I exclaimed in unison. There were adventurers chatting cheerfully in the morning, which wasn't unusual. Their appearances though, were very strange. More than half of the adventurers in the guild were wearing red cloaks. “Let’s do it! Did you hear about the new recruits from yesterday? Apparently, if you wear this red cloak, Aegyl Buffalo will follow you around. I’ll act as bait and draw them to us, and then you can stab the ones that get close from the side with your spear!” one said. Another said, “If we gather a large group of them, we can unleash magic on them all at once! Just don't use any forbidden spells that might hit our own party members, okay?” Some were proposing the same strategy as me. “I'll lure them to this spot, and then we can drop them into a big pit...”

There were many different strategies being discussed. “...So everyone’s going after the Aegyl Buffalo?” I asked. “...Looks like it.” It seemed that after hearing about how we’d taken down more than twenty of the beasts at once yesterday, everyone was trying to make a quick buck using the same method. Judging from the presence of the group of onlookers from yesterday, it was probably them who had spread the word. Apperently everyone was gathering to prepare for an early morning hunt. “Hey, that guy over there is a fiend.” “Shh! Be quiet. If we get on his bad side, he might stab us in the back while we’re out on a quest.” “That's scary...” I couldn’t help but be curious about this 'fiend' I heard whispers about. It couldn’t be Cystie standing right next to me, could it? I felt as if the curious gazes being directed at us yesterday now turned into fearful ones. “…It's a strange sight, isn't it?” Cystie said. However, the person in question didn't seem to notice the strange atmosphere at all as they surveyed the interior of the guild. It was very surreal to see adventurers wearing red cloaks sitting at tables or talking in pairs. It was as if I'd wandered into an American superhero cosplay convention. The feeling that they were wearing red cloaks that didn't suit them at all was indescribable. “Well, in any case, if this many adventurers try to take down the Aegyl Buffalo using yesterday’s method, it’s going to get crowded.” “You're right. I'm scared it might get dangerous with everyone bumping into each other,” Cystie replied. I was more worried about Cystie’s magic accidentally hitting one of the other adventurers, but I didn’t say anything. As more and more adventurers wearing red cloaks filed out of the guild, the crowd thinned. Cystie and I were looking at the quest board. “There sure are a lot of quests here,” I said. There were extermination quests, gathering quests, mining quests, escort quests, cleaning the roof of a house quests, carrying luggage quests, etc. etc. posted on the board. “Of course there are. This is the royal capital, where many people gather, right? Naturally, there are a lot of adventurers here, and a lot of quests are posted.” As Cystie explained things to me while we looked at the board, I suddenly noticed a poster that caught my eye. “...Extermination of Skeletons in the Weeping Plains?” When I grabbed the poster with a picture of a real-life skeleton drawn on it, Cystie frowned and let out an unpleasant sound. “What? Extermination of Skeletons? Do you want to take that quest? The Weeping Plains are far from here, and there’s a lot of fog. It’s a dangerous place full of undead. We can’t handle it on our own.” What?! Full of undead?! If I went there, would I be able to meet some undead, too? I wonder if there are any other Dullahans like me. “No, I don’t want to take it. I’m just interested because I don’t know much about undead monsters. What types of monsters are there?” “Glad to hear that. Monster types you ask... There are Skeletons, Skeleton Archers, Skeleton Warriors...” “Sorry, you don't have to go into detail about all the different sub-types!” I’m sure there are dozens of different kinds of skeletons alone. That would take too long. “Sure. So there are Skeletons, Zombies, Soul Eaters, Skeleton Dragons, Liches, Wraiths, and so on. Basically, there are a lot of them. Other than that, there are different types of warriors, insects, variations, and enhanced types.” Cystie rattled off the answer while I nodded in understanding.

“And there are Skeleton Knights and Skeleton Generals among those enhanced versions, right?” “Yes, that’s right. So you do know some stuff after all, eh?” Cystie sounded a little impressed. Well, those were pretty standard monsters in games. If that was the case, then there would probably be an undead king as an evolution of those monsters, too. This world seemed to have a lot of typical game monsters. So a monster like that wouldn't be too surprising. However, there was one important thing I still didn’t know. “All right, and are there Dullahans too?” Even if we didn't go to the Weeping Plains, it wouldn't hurt to use this chance to learn more about Dullahans. It was information I needed to know. Knowing my own power was important. “Dullahans? Dangerous monsters like that don't show up very often. If one showed up, they'd issue an emergency extermination quest right away.” “Huh!?” That description sounded way more dangerous than I expected, and I let out a surprised cry. “What’s wrong?” "Uh, It's just... You mean Dullahans are that dangerous?” “Of course they are. They’re one of the most vicious undead, and they hate the living. They ride headless horses and attack with great swords, and on top of that, their defense is stupidly high. Obviously they’re dangerous.” “O-oh, wow, they really are dangerous monsters...” They were seen as way more dangerous monsters than I had imagined. My words trailed off while I was lost in though. When I imagined myself riding on Shien and attacking people, I realized how dangerous that could be. Thinking back to my previous battles, it would be no surprise if a Dullahan could shrug off ordinary magic and attacks easily, while swinging around his greatsword. So if I let it slip that I am a Dullahan, they would issue an emergency extermination quest for me. “Well, we can leave that kind of dangerous undead to the Saintess. Anyway, let's get back to today’s quest. Which one should we do?” Cystie snatched the poster out of my hand and handed it back. This Saintess again, huh? So i guess she is strong enough to win against a Dullahan. Scary. Well, putting the Dullahan topic aside for the moment, I focused on the four quests Cystie had listed: goblins, army ants, ogres, and blue bears. The other quests were too far from the capital, so we'd have to pass on those for now. First, we would defeat monsters around the capital and gradually improve our strength. Other quests either had monsters that were too strong or required to have more experience. Hmm, goblins aren't that rewarding. They're common around here, so we should be able to defeat them on our way. Army ants, huh? Are they similar to normal ants? I have a feeling they're going to surround us and beat us up. Ogres sound tough, so that's a no. ...How about a blue bear? I'd fought Prince Bears in the Demon Forest before. I can probably defeat this one easily. I already knew how to fight bears. All I had to do was grab it by the head and snap its neck. With Prince Bears, the ice pillar on their back had been a hindrance. Plus they could shoot them out too, making it harder to fight them. But judging from the illustration, this one didn't seem to have an ice pillar growing out of it. This should be a piece of cake! “How about hunting a blue bear?”