Death King Karnak

Chapter 3: Chapter 2: Something feels strange (2)

A small inn at the entrance of Darha Village.

On the first floor of the inn, which also served meals, a few merchants were having lunch.

However, not many of them were focusing solely on their meals.

This was because two rather peculiar individuals were among the customers.

"Oh! Ohhhh!"

"S-So good!"

"Argh, is this what they call 'taste'?"

"Yes, this is exactly what 'boiling' means!"

Two grown men had only ordered two loaves of barley bread and a bowl of mixed stew, yet they were looking at it with such reverence as if they were performing some kind of ritual. Every time they took a bite, they made a huge fuss.

Naturally, to the other customers, they appeared to be mentally unstable.

'What the hell is up with those guys?'

'Why are they acting like that?'

'Did they starve for three days or something?'

'If they were that hungry, they should be devouring their food, not taking one bite at a time and putting on that show!'

While the other customers whispered among themselves, the two young men's strange behavior didn't stop.

Moments later, when the innkeeper brought out two mugs of ale, they even started to shed tears.

"Ah! Young master, this!"

"Alcohol!"

"Argh! I feel like I might faint just from the smell!"

It wasn't some legendary wine. It was just regular ale brewed at the village brewery.

And even then, the best quality was already sent off to the lord, so this was the low-grade stuff that was left.

Their reaction after downing it was quite the spectacle.

"Ahhh!"

"I feel like I could risk my life for just one more sip of this..."

"You already did risk your life, young master."

After watching the two tremble after drinking just one sip of ale, the customers came to a conclusion.

'These poor fools are crazy.'

'Let's just ignore them.'

Regardless of the reactions around them, Karnak and Baros were utterly content.

It was the first food they'd tasted in decades.

Each bite brought a wave of extreme pleasure. They felt as though no greater happiness could possibly exist.

...Or so they thought!

"Here you go, your dish is ready!"

Suddenly, a dish of stir-fried chicken, giving off an unbelievable aroma, was placed at the table right next to them!

"Ha! They serve chicken here?"

"This is a high-class restaurant, isn't it?"

No matter how active the trade routes were, beef and pork were rare luxuries, something only seen during festivals; even with money, it wasn't easy to get them.

However, chicken was somewhat acceptable. You could raise them in the backyard and twist their necks regularly for a meal.

Of course, that doesn't mean chicken is cheap enough to eat whenever you want.

The fact that they could serve chicken just by paying for it meant that this village was quite prosperous and had a significant number of people passing through.

Yes, as long as you had the money...

The two men began to whisper to each other.

'If we could drink ale with that chicken dish, it would be perfect!'

'How much do you think it costs?'

It was obvious that this wasn't something you could buy with just a handful of coins.

Those customers were probably travelers of quite high status. Even their clothes didn't look ordinary.

At that moment, Karnak's eyes darted around.

'Should we just kill them all and take it?'

'Like a human being, young master. Human beings.'

To be honest, even if they abandoned their resolve to live like human beings, it was impossible.

Baros pointed that out bluntly.

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'What strength do we have now to kill all these people? We'd get beaten to death instead!'

'R-right, of course.'

These two were no longer the Death King who ruled the world or the strongest Death Knight.

With slumped shoulders, Baros opened the coin pouch to pay for the meal they had just eaten.

'Sigh, if only we had some money...'

And then.

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Baros's eyes widened in surprise.

"What's wrong?"

"Young master, something's strange."

"What is?"

Baros cautiously looked around and then slipped his hand out of the pouch.

Now, Karnak's eyes also grew as big as the full moon.

"What the...?"

Between Baros's fingers, a shiny silver coin gleamed brightly.

"Why is that in there?"

Quickly shoving the silver coin back into the pouch, Baros lowered his voice.

'It's not just one.'

Baros discreetly showed Karnak the inside of the pouch so that others couldn't see.

'There are more silver coins than copper ones.'

'That can't be right.'

In disbelief, Karnak also peeked inside the pouch.

It was true.

There were a lot of coins, but more than half of them were silver.

'Wait, you just now realized the contents of the pouch had changed? Didn't you check it even once on the way here?'

'Why would I check when I already knew what was inside?'

'As a servant, you should be checking things like that!'

'I was the second-in-command of Necropia until this morning, you know? I haven't been a servant for 100 years.'

For a moment, Karnak thought the pouch itself might have been switched, but that wasn't the case.

The family crest was clearly engraved on the inside of the pouch. The only thing that differed was its contents from what he remembered.

They kept exchanging whispers as they stared at each other.

'How much exactly did you pack for expenses back then?'

'It's been over 100 years; do you think I'd remember that?'

'I do distinctly remember that we were so poor that we had to save every bit we could.'

Memories of hardship are not easily forgotten.

'There's no way we had this much money back then.'

'We did try to save diligently, though.'

'...This isn't just a matter of saving, is it?'

No matter how much you save, coins don't magically merge into silver ones.

'What on earth is going on here?'

As Karnak stared at the silver coins filling the pouch, he felt a sudden sense of dread.

It wasn't just a matter of being happy about having money.

Something was definitely wrong.

'Did I make some kind of mistake? Did I not actually return to the past? Did the time-space magic even work properly?'

His train of thought was interrupted by Baros's next question.

"Um, young master?"

"Why?"

"Does this mean we can eat chicken now?"

The choice between the chicken in front of them and the mysterious dread was easily made.

'Forget it, let's eat first and think later!'

Karnak called out loudly, "We'd like to place an order here!"

***

They bit into the juicy chicken.

"Wahaha!"

Then they gulped down the ale.

"Hehehe!"

Eat, drink, eat, drink again.

"Hahaha!"

As they devoured the meal without a care, the two were filled with euphoria.

Once they finally finished eating, Baros, feeling as relaxed as a bear about to hibernate, murmured contentedly.

"Wow, I feel like I'm losing my mind."

"I agree. Was meat always this good? I doubt even drugs could feel this good."

"We actually tried it, remember? And it didn't really do anything."

"That's because we were both undead at the time."

In all the vast history of the continent, there's no record of an undead being getting high.

"Anyway, this is great..."

Leaning back in his chair, Karnak muttered lazily.

It's to die for.

It's fantastic.

It's a happiness that could drive you insane.

It was a pleasure worth giving up all power, authority, and glory for.

But they couldn't just indulge forever.

"Alright, let's pull ourselves together and think."

Adjusting his posture, he turned his gaze back to the coin pouch.

"How on earth did this happen?"

Baros also became serious.

"Could it be that our memories are wrong?"

"You could remember 9 coins as 10 coins. But how could you possibly mistake 10 silver coins for 10 copper coins?"

"Then could your magic have gone wrong, young master?"

"How could space-time reversal magic possibly go wrong and turn copper coins into silver coins?"

"...Maybe the fabric of space-time twisted, and it replaced our coins with silver ones?"

Karnak looked at him as if he were a complete fool.

"Do you really think that makes sense?"

Baros responded as if Karnak were even more foolish.

"That's for you to figure out, young master. What do you expect from an ignorant swordsman?"

It was such a solid point that Karnak couldn't argue and shut his mouth.

Baros spoke in a more soothing tone.

"Let's just head back to our hometown for now. It's not too late to assess the situation afterward, is it?"

"That's true."

Karnak leaned back in his chair.

The thought of returning, however, seemed overwhelming. It would take more than three days to walk back from this village of Darha to his family estate, the Jestarad Manor.

"It's going to be an exhausting journey. Ugh, when are we ever going to finish walking such a long distance...?"

At Karnak's complaint, Baros suddenly tilted his head in thought.

"Huh?"

"What now?"

"Come to think of it, we don't have to walk back, do we? This is a relay station village. Let's rent horses."

Relay station villages often rent out horses to messengers or peddlers in a hurry. While buying a horse would require visiting a proper marketplace, renting was entirely possible.

Of course, you could only use the horse from one relay station to the next, and the cost was steep, but...

"What's the problem? We have all this money!"

Karnak scoffed in disbelief and scolded him.

"Aren't you at all concerned about where this money came from?"

Baros asked back, shaking his head.

"Will your worries disappear if you don't spend the money?"

"Well, no..."

"Then let's spend it while we worry! At least your body will be comfortable, right?"

Karnak blinked in surprise.

"A comfortable body leads to a comfortable mind, and a comfortable mind helps you solve your problems better!"

He had thought Baros was just being ridiculous, but the logic actually seemed sound as he listened.

"Huh, surprisingly persuasive."

***

After finishing their splendid meal, Karnak and Baros headed toward the relay station on the west side of Darha Village.

The Darha relay station was a fairly large facility, with a two-story wooden building and a large stable attached.

As they approached, a middle-aged man spotted them and greeted them enthusiastically, likely the station manager.

"Oh, you've returned!"

The two men froze in place for a moment.

'Returned?'

'Us?'

The word "returned" implied they had been here before.

The man continued, bowing respectfully.

"We've taken good care of the horses you left in our care."

'Left horses here?'

'Us?'

Though both were dumbfounded, they managed to keep their expressions neutral.

The middle-aged man led them toward the stables. Tied up among the ten or so horses were two brown steeds, and as soon as they saw Karnak and Baros, they began to neigh excitedly.

Neigh!

Neighhh!

Smiling warmly, the man calmed the horses.

"Even these guys are happy to see their masters again."

Karnak and Baros exchanged awkward glances.

The horses really did look excited to see them. There was no doubt they had met before.

'We've never met these horses before, though.'

'They're so happy to see us, it's almost uncomfortable.'

Handing over the reins, the man continued in a friendly voice, "As you requested, I mixed quality feed with beans. Both of them are full of energy."

His attitude was kind, almost obsequious, as if he was expecting something. Baros gave Karnak a glance.

'This is that, right?'

Karnak understood immediately.

'Yep, it's that.'

'Should I go ahead?'

'Do it, we'll see how he reacts.'

With Karnak's permission, Baros adopted a more haughty demeanor and pulled out a silver coin, handing it over.

"You've worked hard. This is a small token of appreciation from our young master."

Instead of being surprised by the silver coin, the man took it as if he'd been expecting it, bowing deeply.

"Thank you, as always! I'll fetch the saddles you left with us right away!"

As they watched the middle-aged man run into the building, Karnak muttered, "As always?"

"He's saying we've tipped him like this before?"

"And with silver coins, no less."

"We did?"

They were so shocked that they were almost speechless.

It felt like the behavior of a clueless rich noble's son, who had lots of money but no idea of how the world worked.

"What on earth is going on?"

Even Baros was starting to worry at this point.

"This doesn't seem like something to be happy about."

"Sigh, I've been saying that the whole time. Are you finally getting it now?"

Karnak fell into deep thought.

Had they really returned to the past?

It seemed that way. The world mostly matched their memories.

But there were some significant inconsistencies as well.

'I need to get home. That's the top priority.'

Meanwhile, Baros was dealing with his own dilemma.

"What should I even call these horses? Hey, what are your names?"

Neigh!

Neigh-neigh!

"...Talking to horses, what was I thinking?"