Once the alpha male was destroyed a deep silence fell over the entire village. The other cave trolls were clearly in shock but before I could make a move they slowly backed away before disappearing into the darkness of the forest.

Damn, I feel like I missed my chance to pull out a cool one-liner. Hmm, what would have been a good one? 'I just rocked his world'

...

I'm definitely going to need to work on that.

Despite the fact that all of the cave trolls were now gone there still was an uncomfortable silence floating through the air. Shouldn't people be cheering? Singing my praises and parading me around in the streets? Oi, I just saved your lives and you all stare with wide eyes and mouths agape!

"I-It's an undead!"

"It's going to kill us all!"

"It must be an Elder Lich!"

Oh, riiight. I almost forgot about my outward appearance. This body of mine may prove to be an obstacle in the way of living out a power fantasy. Hard to be the overpowered hero when everyone is afraid of you.

Though the villagers were clearly terrified of an undead who killed an Alpha Cave Troll (called it) Marie was luckily able to slowly but surely talk them all down. It took what I assume were a few hours to convince the Village Head that I wasn't an undead come to feast on the flesh of infants. Everyone else is still staying very far away from me but at least I was allowed to enter the village.

"Sorry about all that..."

"It's fine. I understand their feelings quite well."

I mean, considering I was once human, I could certainly empathize. I definitely feel that if the role were reversed I would've acted the same way.

"But you saved the village! It doesn't seem right to treat a hero coldly just because of the way they look."

Marie felt differently than I as she pushed back her glasses with a frustrated look. I could only laugh because it was not that long ago when she attempted to kill me with [Holy Light] because of the way I looked. Well, not that that matters now.

After a brief walk we arrived at Marie's house where she lived with her father and brother though her brother was out of the village. Apparently he was working at a dojo in the Capital City of Erd. Wait, dojo like in my world or? Based on her description they were the exact same except Martial Arts in this world involved actual mysticism.

She also informed me that a search party would be sent out to retrieve the bodies once the sun rose. She didn't like the idea of them being left out there but knew it'd be safer than going out now.

"Will your father be okay with me staying here?"

Considering the uneasy eyes of the villagers watching my every move I could only assume her father would be petrified to have an undead spend the night. To my question Marie gave an embarrassed smile and shook her head.

"My father is Alchemist and is interested in knowing everything about the world. He always has his nose in a book. We're a lot alike in that regard. I think he'll be more fascinated with you rather than terrified."

I almost didn't believe her until we stepped inside the house. Within seconds I was being bombarded with questions while a tall lanky man with blonde hair and glasses similar to Marie began peering at every inch of my naked skeletal body. He even poked a finger through my rib cage which gave me a weird feeling. Marie, however, quickly put it to an end as she screamed for him to stop with a red face. She was quite cute like this.

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Marie's father pushed his glasses with a cough and attempted to straighten himself up in a dignified manner.

"My apologies. It's just... I've never seen nor heard of an undead such as yourself. My name is Henry Hart. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"It's quite alright," I let out a laugh and then reached forward to give him a handshake, "My name is Szandor. It's a pleasure to meet you as well."

Once Marie felt that things had calmed down she reluctantly went off to bed. Considering everything that's happened today I couldn't blame her. She'd be through hell and back so it's something to see her girlishly embarrassed of her father.

Unfortunately for me I didn't feel tired at all. I guess it makes sense for an undead to not have a need for sleep so the best I could do was wait around. Or so I thought but Henry was more than eager to stay up with me. Most likely to learn more about me. Which was fine with me, it'd be less boring. And I could potentially learn some things of my own.

"So, you just awoke in a cave with no memory from before?"

I decided to tell Henry of my "origins." Well, I lied but I was worried the whole other world story may end up complicating things. For all I know this world may be fearful of that sort of thing. They may even hunt us down as "otherworlders." I'm pretty sure I read a web novel like that once. Though the likelihood of there being others like me was highly unlikely.

"To think a freshly born undead would be so self aware, and even be able to communicate. Even Elder Lichs can't manage that. To be fair, most undead are destroyed in their infancy so not much is really known about the full potential of an undead."

Henry seemed deep in thought for a moment before widening his eyes in an epiphany. "Could it be...?! You may be what they call an Abnormality of the World... A Child of Gaia."

Eh? An abnormality? Am I being insulted right now?

"What do you mean?"

"They're terms used to describe individuals who are exceptional. Beings who surpass the limitations of their own race. I've heard rumors and tales that these Abnormalities of the World exist outside the kingdom's borders but the only two confirmed cases were the Old Heroes of the Erdmont Kingdom. Two individuals from over two hundred years ago who staved off a massive Beastmen invasion from the north. All on their own."

"A massive invasion? Like an army?"

"Yes, an army too mighty for our kingdom to face."

To think two people could take on an entire army alone. I found it hard to believe but I also believed that this man wouldn't lie to me. And I'm supposed to be like them? I feel like I have a ways to go before taking on an entire army.

"Of course, there is much of this world we humans don't know. Afterall only a scant few individuals have traveled beyond the borders of this kingdom and lived to tell the tale."

"Why is that?"

"Humans, unlike the other races, are far too weak. We are surrounded on all sides by enemies. The Beastmen to the north. The Elves to the east. The Orcs to the south. And a sea filled with beasts and sea serpents to the west."

So this is one of those fantasy worlds. A world where humans are closer to the bottom of the food chain. But weak? Weren't humans capable of using magic? Wouldn't that help even the odds?

As if reading my mind Henry continued on, "Weak in the sense that our capacity to use mana, the very nature of the World itself, is far too low compared to the other races. Most humans would need several decades to properly learn Sorcerous Arts while the Beastmen learn it by the time they reach adulthood."

"I see... So how is it that I'm able to pick up Martial Arts so quickly? I assume my skeleton is that of a human."

"Because you're no longer human. Undead are corpses simply possessed by mana which would mean you're as close to nature as one can be."

"How can mana possess a corpse?"

Marie had mentioned something similar earlier and I still didn't understand the concept of it.

"Mana is, like I said, the nature of the World itself. It's the air. It's the sky. It's the ocean. It's the living breath of the World. Sometimes that breath can breathe life, creating undead such as yourself or those cave trolls from before. How or why this happens is still a mystery."

Ah, so that explains why the cave trolls seemed more like walking piles of rock rather than living beings. I think everything was slowly making more sense to me. With that Henry could no longer handle the yawns escaping his mouth and reluctantly went off to bed. Just like Marie before.

Without company I decided to sit outside watching the sky until the starry visage faded into an ocean of blooming red and orange.