Jasmine signaled for the Goblin standing nearest. The Goblin, trembling with fear, approached, took the parchment paper from the skeleton's hand, and then skipped and ran back, handing the parchment paper to Jasmine as if holding a piece of hot coal.
On the parchment paper, it was recorded in the script of the Winchester Kingdom; Jasmine could read and understand it, but after reading through it once, she found she didn't quite understand what on earth the skull had written.
This entire page of poetry was sculpted with flowery, cliché words, recording absolutely no practical content; after finishing it, Jasmine still didn't know the specific situation inside the Dry Wood Forest, seeing only complaints about loneliness, darkness, and the sorrowful beauty of death.
The skeleton was named Elvius; according to his self-introduction, he was a Wandering Poet, and his dream before was that the poems he wrote could spread throughout the continent.
Unfortunately, before he could achieve it, he died, and upon opening his eyes again, he had turned into an Undead creature wandering in the Dry Wood Forest.
Ordinary Undead creatures did not have memories from when they were alive, being just soulless corpses acting on instinct, but clearly, Elvius was an exception.
Even Elvius himself seemed not to understand very well why he still retained his past memories, or why he was different from those dull peers.
However, this was not important to Elvius; as long as he knew clearly that he had memories, he could continue to compose new poems.
It could rather be said that after turning into an Undead creature, Elvius conversely had an endless amount of time to ponder his works, no longer worrying about food, clothing, or money; he was very satisfied with this current state.
Although Elvius's skeletal appearance would make people who didn't understand the situation feel terrified, in reality, his personality was unexpectedly gentle; he was very easy to talk to and showed no aggressiveness whatsoever.
From the other party's mouth, Jasmine understood a few more parts about the Dry Wood Forest and the wandering Undead creatures inside.
"Oh, the Black Dragon territory, I know this place." After getting his head installed onto his neck, Elvius took the handkerchief Jasmine handed over. Since the Undead creature could not leave the range of the Dry Wood Forest, Jasmine told the Minotaur to build another bonfire used for lighting at the spot right by the edge of the forest, so she could talk more conveniently.
At this moment, Jasmine and Elvius were sitting properly by the fire chatting; in the ceramic pot next to them, the rainwater caught earlier was still boiling, bubbling up hot steam and emitting a bit of pleasant warmth in the late night.
"I didn't expect that Black Dragon adult would allow humans to act as Lords of the territory," Elvius exclaimed while using the handkerchief to wipe the mud stuck on his skull, his movements meticulous as if polishing a piece of precious porcelain.
Maybe His Excellency the Black Dragon didn't allow it at all; it's just humans presumptuously occupying this land, while that Black Dragon is sleeping in some unknown corner.
Jasmine smiled secretly in her heart but did not say it out loud.
"Do you know about that Black Dragon adult? Are there still dragons on the continent now?" Jasmine asked curiously, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.
After all, she could be considered to have signed a Life Partner contract with a dragon; she just didn't know how much that contract restricted her, and if this nominal "husband" actually existed.
If her Dragon Egg could hatch, that would be good; with a dragon here, at least Jasmine wouldn't need to worry too much about threats coming from the Royal Capital.
Although currently far away, Jasmine always felt her nominal eldest brother in the Royal Capital was secretly plotting some bad scheme, just waiting to catch her fault to punish her.
"Oh, dragons, those are truly beautiful and powerful creatures; their scales sparkle like black diamonds, their breath is as hot as volcanic lava; my poetry cannot praise even one ten-thousandth of their beauty." Mentioning dragons, the tone of Elvius contained a few parts excitement, his two bony hands waving in the air to express that magnificence.
"But I haven't seen a dragon for a very long time; you know, no creature is willing to approach the Dry Wood Forest." Speaking to this point, Elvius clutched his chest making a heartbroken expression, even though there was no heart to feel pain: "We are existences abandoned by the world.
Oh, that sentence is good; perhaps I can use it in my next poem."
"Being abandoned by the world is a very cool thing; a Wandering Poet must always get used to solitude and being forgotten." He nodded his head in self-satisfaction, seeming very pleased with his tragic fate.
Jasmine felt her head ache listening; she always had to filter the information she needed from that pile of artistic nonsense of Elvius.
Although Jasmine had been in this world for some time, she hadn't interacted with people very much; could it be that all Wandering Poets had personalities like Elvius? Both talkative and cheesy, and also prone to going off-topic.
Jasmine had heard in the Royal Capital that many nobles specially raised Wandering Poets to sing poems praising themselves, but seeing Elvius's condition, Jasmine felt she didn't dare to compliment this hobby of the nobles.
If everyone talked as much as this skull, she would surely go crazy.
Elvius fished out that tattered parchment paper, then turned around to look for his Quill Pen which had lost its feathers, but searched forever without finding it.
He rummaged in the tattered cloth bag hanging at his waist, then groped around on the ground.
"Oh, damn it, that was my only Quill Pen; surely when my head was scared into falling off just now, it fell somewhere." Elvius patted his skeletal forehead in frustration, making "pop pop" sounds, while bending down to search in the surrounding grass.
"What does it look like?" Jasmine stood up, intending to call the Minotaur to help together.
Meeting such a gentle Undead creature for the first time, Jasmine very much hoped to befriend the other party, creating a good relationship in this desolate borderland.
However, Elvius clearly couldn't wait for the finding of the Quill Pen; perhaps he felt the sentence he just thought of was too important, and if he didn't record it immediately, the inspiration would fly away.
Thus, he decisively broke off a piece of old tree bark nearby, directly using the bark instead of a pen to write on the parchment paper.