Body and Soul (Part 4)

Tsukiko couldn’t help but feel rather useless when it came to fighting alongside Shinji. His level was so much higher than hers, that he tore through their encounters as if they were ineffective mooks. She was learning a lot though and they did enjoy the sessions that she spent healing him. She mainly ended up being used for that and utility spells but she did get to practice animating the dead a lot. In fact, Shinji didn’t merely encourage, but ordered her to do it. Once he had finished doing whatever it was that he did to the corpses that he had just slain. All she knew was that it involved his crown and whatever other floating clothing he was wearing that day. At first she was reluctant to order her skeleton into battle, but Shinji had convinced her that the undead need a guiding purpose to be happy which they would not have if they failed to protect their mistress and her boyfriend. Shinji, of course, had his own undead to control. She wished that she understood it better. She asked Shinji about it as she lay next to him on the bedroll in their tent. “I’m glad that you wish to know more about the undead.” he answered, “It is fitting of a cleric of Rat. We didn’t get round to the grand tour of my place when you first moved in as we were a little preoccupied, but one of the things I wished to show you was my book collection. It includes a lot on necromancy. I merely read them as a hobby. I’m better as a warrior than I would be as a caster, but your interest may be more professional.

They returned to the city the next morning and he showed her the books that he had referred to. She was fascinated. She had always been interested in the arcane even though she wanted to serve as Rat’s cleric. “Do you think that it would be against Rat’s wishes for me to study arcane magic?” she asked.
Shinji thought for a moment, before saying, “ Rat expects us to look out for our own nterests. That which keeps us alive and happy is better for him in the long run. You want to help your boyfriend on his adventures. Some arcane magic could be useful. It would be somewhat inconvenient to have to recruit someone else.” Tsukiko considered how many female adventurers liked to dress before saying, “Alright, I’ll start studying these right away so that I can mutlticlass next time I level.”
“Excellent,” said Shinji, “I’ll send you something to drink while you’re busy.”
“Send?” thought Tsukiko. Before long, this choice of words was explained, when one of Shinji’s undead arrived and handed her a glass. She wasn’t sure how she felt about undead being used as butlers, but of course Shinji new much more than she did.

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