Volume 1, Chapter 19 – The Purification Request

“Now then, Fiene-sama. Let us purify the wicked Zombies troubling the villagers.”

Chris-san is weirdly fired up.

We have come to a place called Percy Village, introduced to us by the Pope.

It’s a small farming village about five days from the royal capital by carriage.

Apparently, Zombies have been appearing for several months now and causing trouble, so a request was sent to the Temple to have them purified.

It seems they were in a bind because nobody available could handle Zombie purification, so the request got passed on to us.

By the way, the Temple is offering 20 gold coins upon success, and they’ll even cover the round-trip carriage fare and our lodging while we’re here.

Excellent. It’s been a while since we’ve had a job with proper compensation, and what’s even better is not having to pay for that ridiculously expensive hotel room.

“Chris-san, how come Zombies are fine with you when you can’t handle Ghosts?”

Chris-san answers with a confident look, though I have no idea what she’s so proud of.

“Zombies are visible. The smell is awful, but they’re easy to cut down.”

I see. So apparently the deciding factor is whether you can actually see them or not.

“Oh my, could you be the Saint and the Holy Knight?”

Rеαԁ οn ΚatRеαԁіոɡСаfе

Suddenly, an old man who appears to be a villager calls out to us.

“Um, I’m just a Healer, but Christina-san here is a Holy Knight.”

“Fiene-sama may be a Healer right now, but she is destined to become a Saint in the future!”

Tch, stop adding such unnecessary explanations.

“Ohhh, Fiene-sama and Christina-sama. The rumored Saint and Holy Knight. Why ever have you come to such a humble village? Could it be…?”

“Yes. We have come to purify the Zombies said to be tormenting this village! Fiene-sama possesses such holy power that she can easily purify even the strongest Vampire. Upon hearing that you were suffering because of Zombies, we simply couldn’t sit still and had to come. Now that Fiene-sama is here, you can rest assured. Your village will be saved.”

“Ohhh, is that so?!”

Ahh, here we go again. Chris-san’s raising the hurdle even higher.

Honestly, I’m starting to feel like Chris-san’s misunderstandings have ascended into outright delusion.

“It’s alright. Fiene-sama will save you. Once the Zombies are dealt with, she should also be able to tend to any injured.”

“Wh-What?! Oh, what?! How gracious, how gracious…”

Heeey, Chris-saaaan? Since when are you making promises on my behalf?

Rеaⅾ оո ΚаtRеаdіոɡCαfе

“Ah. But as you can see, our village is poor, and we cannot offer sufficient thanks…”

“No need to worry! Fiene-sama would never demand outrageous rewards from the poor. She always says that as long as it’s just a small token within your means, that’s more than enough.”

Um, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t proceed with the conversation without me…

Well, it’s true I wouldn’t tell them to go into debt to pay me, but still.

“Ohhh, how truly…”

Wow, he’s starting to cry?

“Oh, O God!”

Ah, the “Boon” pose. The people at the Temple had their fingertips stretched perfectly straight, though.

Still, they’ve got a long way to go.

“We thank you for your guidance.”

As expected, the jumping prostration also lacks sharpness.

That’s a 4.0, eliminated in the preliminaries.

Read οn КatRеaⅾіոgСаfе

I’ve gotten used to it enough that I can calmly score the artistic merit of these bizarre prayer poses now.

Oh, I forgot.

“May God’s will be done.”

I say with a gentle smile.

I’m not a priestess, just a Healer, but apparently this is fine since we’re officially here as representatives of the Temple.

By the way, I don’t really know the meaning of this exchange.

And so, we were invited to the village chief’s house to hear the details.

◇ ◇ ◇

We arrived at the village chief’s house, where he lives alone.

Apparently, he lost his wife first, then his son and daughter-in-law as well, and his beloved granddaughter also passed away last year, so he now lives alone.

Even so, he hasn’t given up and has been working hard to support the village, and then this whole Zombie mess happened.

Talk about adding insult to injury. How sad.

Reαԁ οո KаtRеаⅾіոɡСαfe

“I see. The Zombies first started appearing four months ago, and their numbers gradually increased until there are around ten of them now.”

The village chief nods at my words.

“Yes. It seems the Zombies are emerging from the cemetery.”

“Is that so? Has there been anything like villagers turning into Zombies after being bitten, or villagers suddenly turning into Zombies while still alive?”

“Wh-What?! There are such terrifying Zombies?!”

“No, it’s just a confirmation. Please don’t worry.”

Apparently, this world doesn’t do the whole biohazard-style Zombie thing.

“I-I see. Well, you see. The Zombies, of course, only appear at night, so we protect ourselves by locking our doors and staying inside before sunset. But our livestock can’t do that, and the animals tied up outside are being eaten little by little.”

Ahh, I see. So this is the whole “Zombies crave the flesh of the living” type of setting.

“Understood. Then, let’s attempt the purification tonight.”

“Thank you so much. Saint-sama.”

No, I’m not a Saint. I’m a Vampire.