Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton Chapter 1379

Chapter 1379: Chapter 940: Have You Become a Daytime Guardian? Chapter 1379: Chapter 940: Have You Become a Daytime Guardian? Everyone looked at each other in confusion.

“Nagi? Did he go out? And Graystick? Graystick can't show her face, she's now a Green Elf Priestess, so who's in charge? Lise, you're in charge now, you're the person responsible.” Negris looked around and finally realized that Lise was the only one who could show her face.

“I got a promotion? Oh my, why didn't you say so earlier? I've already come back to find someone. Now you tell me I'm the person in charge, will they get angry? Next time I'll take charge, you guys go ahead and take responsibility this time.” Lise said happily.

Negris replied irritably, “Nice try, but you're no longer in charge, promotion canceled.”

After speaking, he turned his head to look at the Monarch, who was barely acceptable to receive guests here, as it would certainly not be appropriate to have Ange, the Mechanical Construct, greet them.

The Monarch took a deep 'breath,' and whoosh, the pervasive Death Energy around him instantly vanished without a trace. Still, he said, “Is the other party a Death Summoner? Even though he can't sense my Death Energy, he also can't sense my vitality, which is the biggest problem. If he sees through it, can I chop him down?”

Negris said with frustration, “How should I know? You are the king; it's your decision.”

Ange stepped forward, rubbed his fingers together and sprinkled sawdust on the Monarch's body. In no time, a layer of fungus grew on the leather armor, ensuring there was no lack of vitality.

The Monarch moved around and found that it didn't hinder him, so he strode towards the entrance of the cemetery, saying as he walked, “Alright, I'll meet him. If there's a problem, I'll chop him down.”

A few minutes earlier.

Scavenger Al looked at the completely transformed Chaotic Burial Mound with disbelief, stepping on the clean gravel ground, and exclaimed in shock, “Is this really Death Valley? It feels like a garden.”

His companions were also flabbergasted, and the accompanying Undead Summoner Shah Grumman frowned and said, “Did you guys take us on the wrong path? There's no trace of the scent of death here.”

Al said bitterly with a smile, “Lord Summoner, we have no idea either. I've been doing burials for the deceased since I was fifteen, and it's been over twenty years now. I could walk the path blindfolded and not be mistaken, but we're also puzzled. We were here just last week, and today it has changed like this. However, this place is definitely a cemetery.”

“Why are you so sure?” Shah asked.

“Look, it's written there. I recognize the words 'cemetery' among them; I don't recognize the rest.” Al had been a scavenger for over twenty years, dealing with street refuse and toilets, and had frequent contact with graveyards, able to barely recognize the word 'cemetery.'
It amounted to half of the words he knew; the other half was his name.

A scavenger is one who cleans the streets. These days, sweeping the streets is a tough job, having to deal with not just human and animal excrement, rotten fish and shrimp, and drunken vomit but also corpses that die on the streets; those frozen at night are easier, but if they are pulled out from the sewers or rivers…

Only those who are very poor and lowly would undertake the profession of scavenger, yet compared to street sweeping, burials were the most profitable chore, thus people often fought over it.

After all, even the dead sometimes had some belongings; even a threadbare, tattered jacket could be worth a few coins, and if one stumbled upon unexpected treasure like gold teeth or rings, that was striking it rich.

At the very least, unclaimed bodies were in demand, for example, Shah was one of their regular clients.

Only this time, for some reason, the conditions Shah needed for the corpses were very strict; they only could come to Chaotic Burial Mound to search.

Shah had even offered them a reward of two silver coins each, promising three more to each if they found suitable bodies, so Al was quite diligent.

Unexpectedly, within a week, the Chaotic Burial Mound had changed drastically, not only devoid of the previous gloom and terror, wet and dim, but now with paved stone paths, clean and neat, the air fresh, like stepping into a garden.

Upon their arrival, a boy about eleven or twelve years old, dressed in a 'Resting' vest, came up to greet them, saying, “Hello, are you here for a burial?”

Al was stunned and nodded subconsciously.

The boy said, “My name is Sergi, the apprentice night watchman of Resting Cemetery. Please bring the deceased up to the stone platform.”

While speaking, he led everyone to a stone platform covered with a grass mat.

Al and the other scavengers were a bit bewildered. What was going on? Didn't they just haul the bodies over before and bury them in any random corner?

Although the situation was unclear, Al still followed the instructions and picked up the skeleton onto the platform.

Sergi took out a wooden tag, a string of seals in his right hand, and asked, “What was the name of the deceased?”

Al replied, “We don't know; we fished it out of the river.”

Holding a seal, Sergi stamped it down, “Any family members? Any religious beliefs? Is a passage ritual necessary?”

Al's responses were all 'no.' Sergi then clanked a few more seals onto the tag, and Shah couldn't help but lean over to look, seeing that the wooden tag now bore six 'cross' marks.

After stamping, Sergi tied the wooden tag to a intact part of the skeleton, then rolled up the remains with a straw mat and chanted softly, “You have ceased to breathe, but you are not yet deceased. Soul Flame replaces life, leading to the path of afterlife; may your soul rest in peace forever.”

Shah was stupefied by what he heard.

Sergi stood up and rang a bell. At the crisp sound, four Mechanical Constructs came over, lifted the straw mat wrapped corpse, and slowly, step by step, marched solemnly towards the deeper part of the cemetery.

Shah couldn't hold back any longer, grabbing Sergi to ask, “Guard Sergi… young Sergi, what was that chant just now? Who wrote it?”

“It's the Song of Rest, composed by the nightwatchman of the cemetery. Did I offend the deceased in any way?” Sergi replied.

Shah said curiously, “We don't know the corpse… the deceased, but what would you do if it did cause offense?”

He meant to say he didn't know the body, but Sergi kept referring to them as the deceased, making Shah feel a bit embarrassed. From this term of address, he could feel a sort of respect for the dead.

Sergi scratched his head, “I did ask, if there's a faith, your rituals could be adopted, if not, then I will see them off on their last journey, is that okay?”

“Absolutely, most certainly,” Shah hurriedly replied, “So that's what those earlier questions were about. Then why did you use the seals?”

Sergi said a bit sheepishly, “I can't read.”

“Oh, but if you can't read, yet you ask for the deceased's name, how would you register it if they had a name?” Shah asked curiously.

“Stamp it with a number; if there are family members, give them a tag with the same number. Then the family can get someone to write the tombstone, and we'll bury them in front of the same numbered grave,” Sergi explained.

Shah nodded approvingly, “So that's the procedure; very formal. Do you have someone here who writes tombstones?”

“Yes,” Sergi glanced over and said, “She's not here right now–went to feed the baby. But you guys don't need a tombstone, so no need to call her.”

Shah nodded and continued, “How did you become a nightwatchman apprentice? How old are you? Aren't you afraid of seeing dead bodies?”

Sergi scratched his head, speaking in a low embarrassed voice, “I'm an orphan adopted by Sister Lise. Sister Lise was recruited by the nightwatchmen, and she shamelessly brought us along for a meal; they say it's an apprenticeship, but actually, it's giving us a job to sustain ourselves. As for the bodies, as long as they don't start moving, I'm not afraid.”

To build their courage, the Monarch once summoned skeletons to dance atop the graves and even had them dance along, so they were already immune.

Shah thought he was joking, but actually admired the arrangement of the nightwatchmen, saying, “The nightwatchman is a good person. I'd like to visit this nightwatchman.”

Sergi couldn't make the decision, but it just so happened that Lise had come back from feeding the baby, so Sergi quickly handed the matter over to her.

“Visit the nightwatchman? The nightwatchman has gone out, he'll return at night to guard; that's why he's called a nightwatchman. Guarding during the day would make him a day watchman, right?”

Shah had an embarrassed moment, “That's not what nightwatchman means, never mind, who's in charge here? I wish to see the person responsible; I, Undead Summoner Shah Grumman, seek an audience with the person in charge of Resting Cemetery.”

Shah's formal announcement startled Lise, who hurried off to report. Moments later, the Monarch, clad in leather armor and masked, arrived with a Mechanical Construct and a Mechanical Bird.

Chapter end

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