Chapter 152: Corpse Wax

"There are still a few left." He pointed south and west. "Keep at it."

The four Newcomers returned to their posts.

Another Swamp Corpse approached Richard from the south. He dispatched it with his fourth Silver Needle.

Edmund tangled with a freshly emerged Swamp Corpse for about five minutes before finally finishing it off with his twice-consecrated Silver Dagger.

Maggie and Theodore worked together to take down the two to the north.

Theodore steadied himself. When his Flintlock fired, the lead-silver bullet managed to punch straight through a Swamp Corpse's eye socket, dropping it instantly.

"Yes!" the horse-farm boy cheered.

"You get lucky once every ten shots," Maggie said, wiping her hunting knife against the grass. "The odds aren't terrible."

"...Couldn't you say something nice?"

"Highlanders don't do nice words."

The four Newcomers wrapped up their practice.

Sarah and Captain Field prepared to process their own spoils.

As she walked past, Sarah glanced at the freckled girl.

"Did your family teach you how to extract corpse wax?"

"They did." Maggie finished wiping her knife and slid it into its sheath.

"Then teach them to extract it. You process the spoils from the evil creatures you kill yourselves."

"Alright." Maggie walked over to the Swamp Corpse she had just killed.

She crouched and pulled a small Silver Needle from the back of her sheath.

"A Swamp Corpse's corpse wax is hidden beneath the sternum," the girl explained as she worked.

"It's a small lump that coagulates in the pickled flesh. It looks like yellowish-white lard, but harder."

"What is it used for?" Richard asked.

"Wax seals for binding," Maggie said. "Ordinary beeswax degrades after a year, but corpse wax from a Swamp Corpse lasts over twenty."

"And the market price?"

"Depends on the quality." Maggie pierced the area beneath the Swamp Corpse's sternum with her Silver Needle.

"A top-grade piece sells for a shilling. You can usually extract two or three from a single Swamp Corpse."

She twisted the Silver Needle inside the corpse. The tip hooked onto something, and she slowly drew it out.

It was a yellowish-white coagulated mass, irregular in shape and about the size of a thumb pad.

Maggie set it on a dry blade of grass beside her and proceeded to extract several more pieces.

Edmund spoke up.

"Maggie, do you want to extract the ones from mine?"

Maggie glanced at him.

"You aren't going to?"

Edmund hesitated.

"Our order's rules dictate that the remains of the dead cannot be harvested."

"Even if they're evil creatures?" Theodore asked.

"Yes." The young cleric nodded. "In Church doctrine, an evil creature is a distortion of the dead's soul, but the root of that soul still resides within the deceased."

"Harvesting corpse wax..." he said slowly, "is desecrating them all over again."

Maggie frowned, offering no judgment.

"Then I'll extract it. Everything I pull out is mine. Any objections?"

"Go ahead." Edmund breathed a sigh of relief.

Theodore stood to the side, his face turning pale again.

He watched Maggie push the Silver Needle into the chest of the second Swamp Corpse. The sternum broke with a soft snap.

"..." The horse-farm boy swallowed hard.

"Disgusting?" Maggie looked up at him.

"A little."

"It's a shilling a piece, you know."

"I'll do it," Theodore changed his tune instantly.

"Didn't you just say it was disgusting?" Maggie asked, amused.

"A shilling a piece," the boy gritted his teeth.

"Four pieces is four shillings. My mother cut my allowance in half this month, and I only have three shillings and sixpence to my name right now."

"I grew up watching horses get sick, die, and have difficult births at the farm." He rolled up his sleeves. "There's nothing I haven't seen."

"Then come here and give it a try." Maggie handed him the Silver Needle. "I'll teach you."

Richard crouched beside the Swamp Corpse he had killed, studying the angle of the Silver Needle.

His [Perception] allowed him to sense exactly where that "soft" mass was located beneath the corpse's sternum.

He extracted a piece perfectly on his very first attempt.

Maggie gave him a look.

"Have you done this before?"

"No." Richard didn't even look up. "I learned after watching you do it twice."

"Oh?" Maggie raised an eyebrow.

Between the seven Swamp Corpses they had killed, they only extracted twenty-two pieces of corpse wax.

Not many were of high enough quality to fetch a full shilling, so the entire haul amounted to just under two pounds.

Maggie wrapped the corpse wax in a clean piece of oilcloth.

She lifted the bundle and weighed it in her hand.

"We'll split it three ways—you, me, and Theodore."

"...You did most of the extracting." Richard didn't want to take advantage of her.

"I extracted more, but my family isn't exactly hurting for a pound."

"My brother goes on a field mission once a month and brings home twenty or thirty pounds every time."

"You two are different." She glanced at Richard. "Looking at your shoes and coat, your family isn't wealthy."

She shot another look at the horse-farm boy. "And his allowance was cut in half."

"So that's how it's going to be. The three of us, a third each."

"I'll divide it up when we get back to the inn. Whether you sell it or keep it for yourselves is up to you."

At noon, the six of them shared a makeshift meal by the edge of the swamp.

The landlady had prepared bread, bacon, boiled eggs, and a pot of hot ginger tea for them in advance, packing the food in oiled paper.

During the meal, Captain Field was the first to speak.

"Your practice run ends here. Tomorrow, Sarah and I will come out on our own. You four don't need to follow us anymore."

"Why?" The horse-farm boy quickly looked up. He had only just started earning a few shillings.

"Taking Newcomers along is too inefficient," Sarah said bluntly. "With you four dragging us down, the area we could normally clear in a day gets cut in half, at least."

Captain Field agreed.

"The amount of work Sarah and I got done this morning was more than twenty times what the four of you managed, and that's not even counting the Coal-Pickled Walkers we killed, which you couldn't handle anyway."

"We brought you out yesterday and today just to let you rookies see exactly what the world behind the veil looks like."

"For the next few days, Sarah and I will patrol on our own."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Edmund asked.

Captain Field glanced at the sky.

"From tomorrow until the ritual begins, the four of you will shadow Mrs. MacNeil."

Sarah added, "In our line of work, actual combat takes up the smallest portion of any field mission."

"The vast majority of your time will be spent on the trivial tasks nobody wants to do—preparation, coordination, gathering, registration, placating locals, conducting interviews, and reviewing data."

"Mrs. MacNeil's work over the next few days will be a complete textbook example of standard field procedure."

"You four will learn a lot more by following her than by following us."

Captain Field finally concluded, "And frankly, none of you are on the Hunter path anyway."

"Having you engage in close-quarters combat with evil creatures these past two days was only meant to build up your courage."

"Now that the goal has been met, it's only natural for precious cargo like you to stay safely behind."

"Understand?"

"...Understood." The four Newcomers nodded in unison.

Before getting into the carriage, Captain Field patted Richard on the shoulder. "Have you ever thought about switching to the Hunter path?"

"Are you joking, Captain?" Richard felt a bit bewildered.

"Half-joking." The man smiled, the scar on his face twisting in an intimidating way.

"From what I've seen, your reflexes, judgment, and ability to adapt on the fly are all far superior to a typical rookie."

The captain's tone was entirely serious. "I'd bet that if you walked the Path of Blood Ignition, you'd be a top-tier operative in three to five years."

Sarah chimed in from the side.

"I agree."

The female Hunter looked at him. "You learn fast. Someone like that won't do poorly in any field."

Richard was momentarily unsure of how to respond.

"However..." Captain Field sounded a bit regretful.

"Since you've already chosen the Scholar path, it's not like we can go steal people from Mr. Hutton."

"If there are opportunities to cooperate in the future, Sarah and I would both be very happy to take you along."

"Thank you, Captain, and thank you, Ms. Sarah."

"No need to thank us." Captain Field turned around. "Time to head back."

By the time they returned to Whitcom Village, it was already four in the afternoon.

The landlady had prepared hot water and thick blankets.

"People who've been walking in the swamp all day need to soak their feet first."

"Spending too much time in the swamp makes the dampness cling to you. Washing in salt water when you get back drives it out."

"Folk wisdom." Mr. Hutton was sitting by the fireplace. "That basin of salt water actually has a slight purifying effect."

"There's reason behind the old traditions."

A generous amount of sliced ginger and coarse salt had been added to the hot water in the large copper basin.

Once his feet sank into it, Richard could feel the dampness being forced out bit by bit.

"...So comfortable." Theodore let out a breath, sinking deep into his chair.

After soaking his feet, the horse-farm boy called out before heading back to his room.

"Whenever you pass through Yorkshire, you should come to my place for a meal."

"The mutton my mother makes is much tastier than what they have here."

"She adds rosemary, dark ale, and carrots, then slow-stews it for three hours."

"Just thinking about it makes my mouth water." Richard nodded. "I'll definitely come over when I have the time."

"It's a promise."

"Yeah."

The horse-farm boy smiled a little shyly, then turned and headed upstairs.

Maggie walked out of her room at that moment. After distributing the corpse wax to Richard, she held a tiny sachet in her hand.

"For you." She shoved the sachet into Richard's hands.

"What is this?"

"A Highlander trinket. It's filled with a blend of medicinal herbs that repels bugs when you carry it."

"..." Richard gave the sachet a squeeze.

"Don't misunderstand. My mother made it," the girl hastily explained.

"She made quite a few of them and told me to give them to people my own age on this trip. I've already given them to Theodore and the others."

"...Thanks."

"Don't mention it. It's not worth much anyway."