Lee Shin-Woo had never expected the vineyard to be intact. No matter how prosperous the Underground Empire had been, living vegetation was unlikely to survive years of neglect. Storing alcohol and sustaining its aging process was one thing; keeping plants alive was a different story altogether.

"There’s no way the vineyard would still be thriving,” Lee Shin-Woo muttered. “That’s what I thought…"

"It's still growing though, isn't it...?"

That's right. The vast, seemingly boundless field was filled with thriving, vigorously growing vines with large, full grapes hanging down from each strand. Lee Shin-Woo didn’t know much about plant life, but he knew this wasn’t normal.

"Look, Shin-Woo. The field goes on and on, but there isn't a single dead vine."

"Does this mean the Underground Empire possesses the greatest magic on the planet… Huh?"

While marveling at the vineyard, Lee Shin-Woo discovered an unusual trace. It wasn’t magic like the ripening room, but the traces indicated that the field had been turned not long ago.

Moreover, the nearby grapevines seemed to have been trimmed of unnecessary branches, and there were signs of grapes being harvested.

"..."

"Shin-Woo?"

"It couldn't have been an undead."

Of course, he couldn’t completely rule out the possibility of an undead somehow getting into the dungeon; after all, he had killed a hero who turned into an undead after entering a dungeon.

If that was the case, however, there should be death energy left in the area, but he didn’t sense anything in the vicinity. That left him with only one explanation: there was a living being managing this field.

Yeah, now that I think about it, there was a bulkhead protecting this field from the undead insects.

Even though the insects had become undead, they retained the tendency to instinctively seek out fruit and moved accordingly. They had been concentrated in the underground passage, and the fact that they couldn't enter the orchard meant that someone was protecting it.

"Golems, stealth mode."

[Concealing magic and standing by below ground level.]

The three Golems instantaneously burrowed into the ground, out of sight in the blink of an eye; Jin blinked in surprise and only broke out of his reverie when Lee Shin-Woo called out for him.

"Jin."

"Why are you calling me so seriously?"

"You can cover yourself up with that magic armor, right?"

"Magic armor... Ah, you mean Steel Heart? Yeah, probably."

"Use it now. Use it so that you don't look like an undead."

"Why do you want me to... Never mind, I got it."

Jin knew there was no way Lee Shin-Woo's intuition was wrong and wordlessly covered his body with steel, making it so that no one would be able to tell he was a skeleton from the outside. Once he was satisfied with the way Jin looked, Lee Shin-Woo activated the Joker's innate skill, Disguise.

[You are now disguised as someone you are thoroughly familiar with.]

He had originally planned to train this skill after parting ways with Kratia, but the situation dictated that he used it now.

He had been thinking about the skill ever since he acquired it. Although he had established a rapport with Kratia and Ye Jin-Jin despite being an undead, it wouldn’t be easy for him to do the same from now on. He decided that he would play the part of a human with Disguise.

"H-How did you...!?" Jin gasped in shock.

Lee Shin-Woo examined himself and calmly said, "It only changes my appearance. Calm down."

His skeletal arms were now covered in skin. He had assumed the appearance of a human being. It was his first time using the skill, so even he was a bit surprised by how perfect the facade was.

"How are you so calm right now…?" Jin grumbled.

"Here."

"..."

Lee Shin-Woo placed his human-looking hand atop Jin's head, who was agitated and ready to scream. At that moment, Jin calmed down. Although it looked like a human hand… It was lifelessly cold.

"Are you the exact same on the inside...?"

"Yeah,” Lee Shin-Woo said ruefully. “I could always mimic the temperature of a human body with fire, but at the end of the day, it's still a disguise."

"I see..." Jin sounded almost dreary, and his body drooped. Lee Shin-Woo could sympathize. He must have seen the hope of turning back into a human in Lee Shin-Woo’s Disguise.

As he thought, he should've told Jin about the skill before using it; Lee Shin-Woo regretted his carelessness a little.

Especially because the skill is still flawed. I'd originally wanted to disguise myself as an extremely ordinary human being...

Disguise came with some bothersome conditions. He could only assume the appearance of someone he was thoroughly familiar with and remembered well, which limited his options to skeletons of a handful of varieties, a Golem, or his human self from his time back on Earth; amongst them, the only one that looked like a hero was his human appearance.

"But when you were still on Earth, was your face... Shin-Woo, they're coming."

"Yeah."

Lee Shin-Woo didn’t know when the person managing this field would arrive, so he had disguised himself beforehand just in case. With his five senses growing significantly keener along with his agility, Jin was able to confirm the approaching presence of a living being. At that moment, Lee Shin-Woo stopped thinking about anything else and started to act as if he were just a normal human hero.

"...You there, stay where you are."

The voice reached him by the wind once he had readied himself thanks to Jin’s warning. It dawned on him that the owner of the voice had used high-level wind magic. They could actually be far away, but the technique allowed them to speak as if they were close by.

Calm down. They haven't figured out who we are yet. I'm glad we put on the disguise on time... Sorry, but you have to start acting like a horse from now on.

Lee Shin-Woo used Assimilation to communicate with Jin without words, telling him to calm down both physically and mentally; then the voice continued speaking. It was a pleasant, clear voice of a young woman.

"Who are you? Mm, are you human? A hero?"

"It's nice to meet you, Senior. My name is Lee Shin-Woo."

"Ah, Lee Shin-Woo!"

As soon as Lee Shin-Woo disclosed his name, the woman sounded noticeably more relaxed. Lee Shin-Woo suddenly realized that it was a voice he'd often heard in the chatroom—it was Erian Ruparte. He had thought it would be someone other than a hero who was managing the field, but this made things easy. One less unnecessary variable for him to worry about.

It was a relief that Lee Shin-Woo had learned Disguise earlier and managed to use it before it was too late. He'd like to avoid shouting 'Stop, friendly fire!' like he had with Kratia from now on.

"It's nice to meet you, Senior... Ruparte?"

Relieved, Lee Shin-Woo turned to greet her as calmly as possible. That was what he intended to do anyway, but he ended up stuttering when he saw her.

"You're as handsome as Jin-Jin said! ...Ah, is it your first time seeing an elf?"

"Um, yes. There weren't any elves in my world..." Lee Shin-Woo muttered weakly as she lowered the bow and arrow she had aimed at him. She had a sweet smile on her face. The clothes she wore were simple in colors, but the simplicity seemed to accentuate her beauty.

She was dozens of kilometers away from them, but Lee Shin-Woo could see her well, and he couldn’t hide his astonishment when he noticed her pointy ears. She was an elf, a species he'd only read about in comics before!

"I'll go to you," she said.

"...I understand."

Although Lee Shin-Woo looked like a human, he felt fundamentally different; moreover, she looked like a heavenly beauty that no human should approach.

If Lee Shin-Woo were a normal man, he would've been surprised by her beauty and either faint or fall head over heels for her. However, his heart was calm like a pond undisturbed by even a gust of wind. On the contrary, Jin was completely captivated.

She's really pretty...

You really are a man, Jin... Hey, wait. I didn't make fun of you this time. Hey!

Jin shook his back up and down for no reason but to jostle Lee Shin-Woo, and he protested without heat. Erian Ruparte suddenly approached them by leaping from side to side. In the stories, elves were always known for their nimbleness, and it turned out to be true in the real world.

Her ability to sprint was on par with Jin’s, and she seemed to have good stamina as well. In no time, she was right in front of them.

"Heh. You've come so far, Mr. Lee Shin-Woo. You must have hailed from a world with magic. How peculiar for your world to not have elves, though. It's nice to meet you. My name is Erian Ruparte."

"As I've said, my name is Lee Shin-Woo. This is a horse I was lucky enough to acquire."

"He...hehe."

Jin was trying his best to stay calm, but his performance left much to be desired. Fortunately, Erian Ruparte didn't notice Jin’s weird reaction.

"It's a miracle that you found a living horse in a dungeon, but you also trained it? Aha, you must've been a knight, Lee Shin-Woo! Am I right?"

"It's quite embarrassing, but yes, I was a knight in my world."

Lee Shin-Woo lied smoothly, wondering if he should learn more about how to act like a knight in the future. Well, that wasn’t important right now.

"You’ve been managing the field, Senior?"

"Of course. It'd be difficult to create a field so teeming with life, but not for an elf."

A peculiar trait of elves was their pridefulness; Lee Shin-Woo decided to keep that in mind.

"Take as much as you want,” Erian Ruparte nodded and said with a friendly smile. “I'm planning on leaving soon."

"Ah... Thank you."

"I knew you were in a level 2 danger zone, but I didn't think we'd meet like this. Jin-Jin is always talking about you, so it feels like I already know you. I had a lot I wanted to tell you when we met, Lee Shin-Woo."

"Of course… I'd like to hear what Ye Jin-Jin had been saying about me as well, Senior."

"You can call me Erian."

Lee Shin-Woo harvested the grapes with Erian's help, and they started to talk about various matters. She planned to leave and join up with Lloyd H.K., and Lee Shin-Woo told her about how he got here—a lie rather than the true story, of course—and about other relevant matters.

Lee Shin-Woo omitted roughly 80% of his achievements until now and told her the remaining 20%, but even that was enough to put Erian in a state of unceasing admiration. Her eyes shone when he told her how he had defeated a few elites a level higher than him.

"Your bravery is impressive! I already heard about it from Jin-Jin, but I didn't think you'd be that good! Aren't you afraid of death!?"

"I am, but that fear makes me want to challenge myself even more. If I don’t muster my courage now, I have a feeling that I’ll one day face a foe I cannot rival..."

"...Splendid. I'll remember that."

From the very beginning, Erian's perception of Lee Shin-Woo was pretty much the highest it could be. He could deduce the reason; whenever he said something, she always responded while mentioning Ye Jin-Jin.

"Have you contacted Jin-Jin?"

"Jin-Jin would be happy if she knew that."

"Jin-Jin is always..."

Before long, Lee Shin-Woo realized that Erian had completely mistaken his relationship with Ye Jin-Jin. And she probably had a good reason to think this way. After all, there's no smoke without a fire.

He rubbed his aching head and replied as calmly as possible, "I had a private chat with her before, but..."

"I see. Thank you very much. She's kind, but the one who motivated that once weak girl to work hard is you, Lee Shin-Woo."

"Ha, haha..."

Lee Shin-Woo’s inventory was soon completely full, and he acted as though he was putting the rest of grapes into his own inventory while he was actually putting them in Jin's inventory. It was possible because he was using Assimilation to its maximum potential!

He couldn't reveal that he was a skeleton; he had no choice but to accept her offer no matter how pointless it was. At this moment, Kratia was the only one among them doing something important.

"Hoo. It’s a shame to leave this field, but it's a relief that you're here."

"Thank you again," Lee Shin-Woo said.

"I'm the one who should be thanking you. I grew the fruit to be eaten."

Once the vineyard was completely cleared, Lee Shin-Woo figured out that while Erian was tending to the vineyard, she was completely unaware of the existence of the winery. As expected, she had only taken the route leading to the vineyard.

Furthermore, he found out that Erian seemed to like Lloyd but hated the Prince. That wasn't really important information, though.

"To be honest, I wanted to entrust this orchard to you the moment I saw you, but..."

"Ah, Senior. That's..."

That would be a pain in the ass. Kratia might want it, but Lee Shin-Woo didn't need grapes! However, just when Lee Shin-Woo was thinking about how he should refuse her offer, Erian said something that caused him to prick his nonexistent ears up.

"Unfortunately, that's impossible. I wanted to tell you this from the very beginning... A large force of undead is coming this way. We have to get out of here before they reach us."