Chapter 10: Chapter 9: Wares of Asphodel

"I'm grateful. If it wasn't for ____. Everything would have been worse, _______ deserves to be a called a hero" The woman had told Keru who was sitting with his sight staring into nothingness

"..." Keru was lifeless, he looked like a child who was left behind.

The woman balls up her fists. She could not bear to see the child, who she did not even know, like this. Perhaps she was projecting her own feelings onto him, however she decided to let out her own true feelings when talking to him.

"We all blame ourselves for things that deep down we know were out of our control. The guilt I keep, the anger I stoke, the helplessness I feel; I know that I will live my whole life without them dying completely. However, I refuse to live my life knowing I did nothing. How about you boy? " She sternly says, raw emotion is leaking from every word she utters.

"... What do you think I should do?" After some time, Keru finally responds by asking a question not bothering to look at her.

"We were too late for the living, let's not be too late for the dead. Continue your life in the academy, however I will call on you from time to time for training, I'll ensure that you can have the strength to help achieve our goal." The woman answers the question with a command.

"And what's that?" Keru finally looks up.

The woman firmly looks at Keru and says one word with utter conviction.

"Retribution"

**

"Hey Kid, wake up" A voice calls to wake Keru. He at once recognizes its owner.

Keru opens his eyes and sees the walls of the lofty carriage he had fallen asleep; he notices that the voice is coming from the guildmaster sitting in front of him.

"Huh, yeah Ma'am?" He groggily replies, trying his best to imitate a respectful and alert tone.

(Dammit, all my life, I could barely remember a dream. Now every dream is as real as if it had just happened yesterday. Never knew bloodlines could be so annoying. If I knew this would happen... I still would have accepted but I would have complained more)

Keru was self-aware enough to know that his bloodline was strangely powerful. The ability to put the living to sleep was insanely powerful despite the backlash effect, and that was only one of the benefits of his blood. Adding to it the ability to induce dreams and nightmares, and the increased affinity for magic that causes mental and physical fatigue, his bloodline could be the envy of even those in royal families.

Halting his thoughts, he focuses on waking himself up and then faces the woman who was waiting for him to shake off his drowsiness.

"We're stopping for a bit before we get to the Capital. I was going to go peruse their inventory, how about you?" She finally asks, after seeing he had all his faculties in order.

"Oh, that sounds great, thanks Ma'am"

(Seeing as my old mask went to see its maker, I need a replacement.)

Keru desperately did not want to run into anyone who could have any chance of identifying him from the Capital. Unfortunately, this desire likely raised flag.

When they got off the carriage, Keru noticed that it was dusk and that the one hundred or, so members of the caravan had already set-up camp with a large gray communal tent covering a sizable portion of the camp. The tent was large enough to provide shelter for all hundred members if they needed to rest in the shade.

In the center, there were potted shrubs of gray jasmine which filled the camp with its sweet fragrance. As they were walking, Keru noticed that some members of the caravan were keeping tufts of the flower on their person. He had heard rumors that the flower had a unique property that hid the unique unnatural rotting smell that distinguished the presence of the living dead, it seemed to be proven true here.

As they walked around the pavilion, many of the masked caravan members looked at him curiously. The only member of the living in their caravan was the guildmaster, so they were interested in the new arrival. For his part, Keru found the apparel of the citizens of asphodel interesting, all of them wore masks yet each had their own personal twist on its design it. There were even a decent number that were shaped to expose powdered gray skin or sculpted bone. To Keru, it seemed that the kingdom of Asphodel's sense of fashion had developed around the masks that they wore.

(I guess I'm in luck, this seems like the best place to purchase a new mask)

After some more walking, they arrive in front of an undead fully covered by a white robe and a dark gold mask that covered the upper half of his face. His polished thin elven skeletal jawline was exposed, with his teeth being a mix of the original bone and gold-plated versions. He is sitting in a cross-legged position while holding a pipe filled with the smoke of night dust.

"Huh, I wonder if night dust works like that" Keru internally ponders the physiology of the undead body and how it interacts with narcotics such as night dust.

"Hello Lady Kamila, is this the guest you spoke of?" The skeleton begins as it turns to both Kamila and Keru with interest.

"Of course, Lord Astus, this is Keru, one our latest elite adventurers." Kamila replies back. She turns her head slightly to Keru, signaling for him to introduce himself.

"Good day Lord Astus, this one's name is Keru as Lady Kamila has mentioned. Pleased to meet you, I hope this one can be of service to you in the future." Keru introduces himself in a polite manner as if talking to a high lord.

The skeleton is amused by the two living and lets out a chuckle.

"Thank you for giving me face, however let us not stand on ceremony here. This is not the court of Asphodel or Efrend, I prefer to be more of a merchant rather than an envoy. So, if it would be fair with everyone, let us drop the honorifics." Astus continues after the chuckle, its golden teeth glinting.

"Of course, Astus." Kamila nods, her graying hair tied up in bun moving up in the air with purpose.

"Yes Sir" Keru drops the noble title but still keeps the honorific due to habit when talking to those older than him.

Kamila raises an eyebrow while Astus is amused and chuckles quietly.

"I would prefer for us to speak on equal terms entirely, but I see how uncomfortable it makes you feel young man so I shall respect it. Now, what may this merchant do for you?" Astus finally speaks, giving his blessing to Keru for how he is speaking. 

"We would like to see your inventory if that is alright Astus" Kamila replies.

You are reading story Somnus’s Descent at novel35.com

"Ah perfect timing, since we have yet to arrive at the Pav, you will have first pick over hour exclusive supply. Though, I have to say, if you wish to see our most exclusive goods you may only peruse one at a time." Astus speaks with the joy of a merchant meeting his first customer for the day.

"That sounds agreeable, we have no issues" The guildmaster agrees for herself and Keru without hesitation.

"Wonderful, please follow me." Astus stands up and four nearby undead approach and stand behind the gray merchant.

The group begins walking through the camp before arriving at an empty clearing. This puzzles both Kamila and Keru.

"I'm not a merchant, but this doesn't look like a shop." Keru thinks in confusion as he tilts his head at the clearing.

"Alright this place is suitable, let us begin. This will take a few minutes, so please bear with it." Astus speaks, signaling the four undead behind to come forward.

The four undead along with Astus begin to chant and channel a spell. The mana they are expending manifest visually as a cold gray swirling mist. The arcane language they speak is esoteric with only a few magi or sorcerers in Efrend being likely to understand. To Keru, the unfamiliar words sound ominous, but most things related to the kingdom of the dead are.

After some time, the gray misty mana converges on the center of the clearing. It twists and turns before slowly forming an opaque dome. The dome, after whirling around for a few seconds, suddenly disappears revealing a large gray tent with a single entrance which could fit around 30 people comfortably. Keru and Kamila widen their eyes at the magic of the gray merchants which did not even seem to require a bloodline. 

"If it is alright with you guild master, perhaps it would be better for the young lad to enter first since we have other business to discuss later. Our conversation may take a long time and I would rather not have him wait for long." Astus turns to Kamila and requests.

"I have no qualms Astus. Go ahead kid, I doubt it's every day you get the opportunity to buy goods from Asphodel."

"Yeah, I had a feeling that was the case" Keru remarks internally as he nods and begins to walk forward following the four undead inside.

"You know, I've never actually tried my bloodline ability on the undead before... Probably not a good idea to try here though." Continuing to ponder on the mechanics of his bloodline and its interaction with the dead, Keru enters inside the tent.

Once inside, Keru sees an orderly shop space with bookshelves containing arcane tomes, mannequins with garments, busts with jewelry, and even some potions neatly arranged in a pile.

Astus turns to Keru and speaks.

"Now then young man, is there anything the dead can do for the living?"

Keru is about to ask about replacing his mask, however he thinks for a moment.

"Is there a way to raise the dead?" Keru asks.

Astus sighs at the question.

"... None that I can provide unfortunately, the etiology of our status as the living dead is only possible due to a blessing that came from the Warden of the dead, Immortus's negotiations with the other gods. In return for our unnatural condition, it is extremely hard for our numbers to grow. Additionally, only those sworn to Immortus may be raised from the dead by her highness Abyssa."

"I see I had a feeling that it wasn't so simple." Keru replies, expecting Astus's answer.

"I apologize young one, just because the dead can live does not mean that life has become cheap." Astus tries to console him.

"It is alright, I was only curios anyway. May I ask if you have any mask I could buy? One that is feasible in combat and can hide my identity. " Keru shakes off the complicated emotions he was feeling and asks for what he was originally looking for. 

"Hmm... that on the other hand is something that can be arranged. Is there anything else you would like as well." Astus smiles with a skeletal toothy grin.

"Do you have tomes on shadow and fatigue magic Sir?" Keru inquires. 

"For those two topics, we do in fact possess literature on them. We have many books on the field of shadows, though the latter topic is more uncommon since most can only exert enough influence to treat insomnia. Are you perhaps gifted in the domain of fatigue?"

"I do alright Sir, how much will that cost if ever?" Keru asks.

"Hmm, you had already given us three corpses and two soon-to-be corpses which are good raw materials. So how about in exchange for the mask and the tomes, you give me a wine bottle of your blood?"

"Huh?" Keru looks confused. 

Astus smiles, realizing that Kamila had not explained how the Gray Caravan dealt with business when it came to higher quality items

"For the most part, Asphodel does not need the precious metals of the living. When it comes to our rare and best items, we prefer to trade in raw materials such as flesh, blood, and bones. I have heard through the grapevine that the adventurer's guild in Efrend has a new adventurer that owns a powerful and unique bloodline. I was already planning to search for you when I reached the Capital. Now that you are in front of me, I can tell that the blood of a powerful bloodline that I do not recognize running is through your veins. I am sure that the courts of blood that reside in Asphodel would pay a premium to drink even a sip of your blood."

Keru tenses up, worrying that he is about to become a blood farm for vampires. 

Astus seeing Keru's tension looks amused.

"Relax young one, I do not deal in kidnapping. I offer an honest trade in the name of Immortus."

Keru thinks for a moment then looks into the golden masked merchant's eyes.

"Deal".

You can find story with these keywords: Somnus’s Descent, Read Somnus’s Descent, Somnus’s Descent novel, Somnus’s Descent book, Somnus’s Descent story, Somnus’s Descent full, Somnus’s Descent Latest Chapter