On the second floor of the village elder’s treehouse, we sat down at a large wooden table in the middle of a massive dining room with a built-in kitchen. Ariane and Chiyome sat on either side of me, while Ponta munched a bowl of food near my feet, its large cotton tail wagging happily. Ariane smiled warmly, scratching the top of Ponta’s head.
I’d traded my armor for traditional elven robes, and I was practically smacking my nonexistent lips with excitement at the sight of the food in front of me. I noticed Chiyome staring at me with great interest. I slowly turned toward her as I took a bite of bread.
“What is it, Chiyome?”
A look of uncertainty washed across her face. “It’s nothing. I mean…it’s just that you look like an undead. It’s so peculiar to sit here watching you eat like a normal person.”
I supposed the sight of a living skeleton shoving bread into its mouth was rather peculiar.
Blue flame flickered behind my eye sockets, deep within my skull. Despite the fact that I lacked skin, muscles, and even organs, I was still able to taste things, and everything I ate and drank disappeared into my body somewhere. When I first came to this world, I unintentionally took the form of the avatar I’d been playing in the game. At the time, I wasn’t using my human character, but a special avatar with a skeleton’s body.
“Yeah, but Arc doesn’t have the death contamination on him, like the undead do. You can see that, can’t you, Chiyome?” Ariane continued patting Ponta, even as she butted in to defend me.
Chiyome sniffed lightly and tilted her head to the side.
“Mountain people can’t see the ‘death contamination,’ as you call it, but you’re right. He doesn’t have that stench the undead are known for.”
Ariane shot me a slightly incredulous look, then spoke past me, to Chiyome. “Besides, you won’t find an undead that asks for a bath to wash away the sweat from its morning exercise. How do bones even sweat, anyway?”
Chiyome looked back up at me.
I looked down at my own body in an attempt to avoid their gazes.
Come to think of it, there really was no way for my body to sweat. I realized that taking a bath after exercising was nothing more than a habit I’d developed over the years. While I tried desperately to explain to Ariane just how refreshing the ritual felt, even though I was a skeleton, Glenys approached the table and promptly handed a piece of paper to Ariane.
I’d yet to see paper anywhere in the human towns, but apparently it was common in elven villages. This particular page was large and thick, with a map drawn on it.
“This map will give you a general sense of the route through the cave to the Lord Crown. I assume you already know the way to the cave, or at least, close enough.”
Ariane nodded, looking the map over carefully.
Chiyome maintained her usual stoic look, although the ears atop her head twitched slightly as she glanced at the map.
The Lord Crown was the location of a mysterious tree, near which the Dragon Lord, the most powerful of dragons, lived. Over the generations, all manner of spirits had come to inhabit the tree, since the Dragon Lord’s magic imbued it with mystical powers. The land near the Lord Crown was known to have peculiar effects, and according to Dillan—Lalatoya’s village elder and Ariane’s father—it contained a spring that could cure any curse.
The map Ariane held in her hand marked the route to that spring. Our journey there was my payment for helping to rescue captured elves. We planned to finish our preparations today, and head out tomorrow.
I couldn’t be sure what effect the spring would have on my skeleton body, assuming it had an effect at all. But it was worth at least trying to do something about this curse, since the longer I had it, the more difficulties I’d encounter here.
Ariane studied the map with great interest, unable to contain her excitement.
“It’s been a while since I went to the caverns. I’d never have imagined they were a shortcut to the other side of a mountain range.”
“So, you’ve been in these caves before?” I asked.
Ariane nodded. “My sister brought me there on several occasions, back when I was still a soldier-in-training here in the village. We collected various rune stones to power the magical items we use here.” Her eyes narrowed slightly, as if she suddenly remembered something, her gaze drilling into me. “If you plan to continue using our bath, Arc, you should probably pick up some rune stones while we’re in the cave.”
That was her roundabout way of asking me to pay for the energy consumed when I used their bath. Baths were still a luxury here, unlike the world I came from; heating bathwater required either firewood or rune stones. If I wanted to continue enjoying that luxury, I’d better stay on Ariane’s good side. Once the curse was lifted, I’d finally be able to enjoy the feeling of warm water against my skin again, assuming everything went according to plan.
I clenched my fists in determination. “Right! I’ll pay for my baths.”
Ariane sighed loudly. “You really do love them, don’t you…?”
I ignored her comment. Back in Japan, bathing frequently was pretty common, although it was rarer here.
The human towns and inns in this world didn’t even have baths, just wet washcloths to wipe your body down. Once I saw that the elves built bathhouses, I felt a strong connection to them immediately, given my roots. I couldn’t help but wonder if the Great Canada Forest’s founding elder had been a Japanese man who was fond of Canada, or perhaps a Canadian fond of Japan.