◆ Chapter 9: Where There’s a Fantasy World There’s…

 

 

 

◆ Chapter 9: Where There’s a Fantasy World There’s…

 

THE wagon has been bouncing around for a while now—it’s really throwing off my sense of balance. I can’t stand the gloomy mood a second longer, so I try to break the ice.

“There’s not much flat land in these parts, is there? Must be hard to transport goods.”

“That’s why peddlers such as myself are invaluable. We should be arriving soon,” Kodbyen says as he turns and lifts a corner of the canopy.

I’ve only seen territories belonging to Grantz since coming to this world. I wonder what Torstana looks like. I lean forward to peek outside when a zombie shoves its head through the opening!

“BWAH!”

“Eeek!”

“AGGH!”

Screaming, I roll back so hard I slam against the other side of the wagon. Kodbyen releases the canopy and falls on his butt. He scoots back as fast as he can from the snapping teeth.

“Wh-When did that get there?! H-Hey! Do something about this thing!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!”

The bodyguard was already moving before Kodbyen gave the order. He easily peels the zombie off the wagon by shoving his club in its face. I can hear the zombie hitting the ground and bouncing behind us as the wagon continues without stopping.

“Be careful. I still haven’t gotten all the coin you promised me yet,” the bodyguard says flatly to Kodbyen as he sits back in his corner.

Meanwhile, Kodbyen still seems to be in shock as he’s taking sharp, short breaths.

“You just glimpsed one of the many dangers out here. Why not stop while you still can?” I coax.

“I-I’m doing this for my family. I won’t stop over a single zombie scare!”

I thought it might work this time, but he still won’t change his mind. He probably needs a bigger scare.

◆◆◆◆◆

A while later, the coachman calls out “We’re here” and stops the wagon. After our zombie hitchhiker incident, Kodbyen and I are extra cautious when we exit the wagon.

“Holy smokes…” My cheeks twitch as soon as I’m outside. Not because I’m overwhelmed by Cladorca, a city built into a giant mountain with thick walls surrounding it. No, it’s because of the countless bluish-purple and black dots roaming the massive plain in front of the trade city.

I seriously wish my eyes were playing tricks on me, but all those dots are zombies. There are more than double what I took on at Grantz’s royal capital. At a glance, I can tell there are more than a thousand. We’re probably looking at two or three thousand. Considering there’s going to be even more inside the city walls, this plan just got that much dumber.

“Er, Kodbyen? I can only purify a maximum of five hundred people a day…and with these numbers, we won’t have the leeway to care for anyone we purify. Also, food and water are going to become a problem fast.”

“I see your point, but I’ve come this far. I will save my family at least.” Kodbyen is blinded by his goal. Trying to save just his family rather than the entire city is a better objective, but still unrealistic.

The guard who finished tying the horse and wagon to a nearby tree voices the same concerns. “Yeah, but do you see how many people there are? Is it even possible to find your family?”

“No worries, we will look with you,” Kodbyen offers.

“Does that ‘we’ include me?” I ask dryly.

“Obviously.”

Of course it does. I figured as much, but it only adds to my misery to hear it. I probably can’t escape with the guards watching me, so my only choice is to do whatever it takes to increase my odds of survival.

“All right, if we’re going to do this, let’s do it right,” I say and launch into a crash course on zombies. “As I said on the way here, be careful not to come into direct contact with the zombies, or you will be instantly infected. The infection will also spread through anything touching your body such as gloves or clothes. I recommend using a shield and weapons with a long reach. They react to sound as well, so please, don’t make any loud noises.”

“Yeah, yeah. We know,” the two bodyguards gruffly reply, a shield in their left hand and a club in their right. They don’t hesitate to walk toward the zombie-infested plains.

I hear one scoffing, “Normos couldn’t catch me with my pants down.” The other snorts.

They’re completely underestimating the situation. There’s no question that the bodyguards are quite strong because they easily knocked out the castle soldiers, but their opponent this time is a plain crawling with zombies. Not only do zombies smell worse than rotten eggs in the sun, but they are a supernatural creature beyond human understanding that’s capable of causing instant decay in anyone they touch. You shouldn’t let down your guard even with the normal ones.

Or at least that’s what I thought…

“Wow!”

The search for Kodbyen’s family has officially begun. His bodyguards keep the zombies in check like it’s a walk in the park for them. They carve a path through the horde by shoving aside zombies with their shield and knocking them back with their club. Maybe I overestimated the danger. The guards also took my tip about noise to heart and are advancing while making the bare minimum amount of sound.

“No offense, but we ain’t as weak as some wee girly,” one of the burly guards says, mocking me.

My strength is indeed paltry compared to trained bodyguards in a war-torn world. But I’ve survived for three months in a world that only had zombies when I first arrived—their disrespect irks me.

But, contrary to my growing displeasure, our trek through the plain is proceeding smoothly. The city gates are still far away, but I can make out their shape now.

“Our path inside the city is practically secure now,” Kodbyen says, relief creeping into his quiet voice.

ROOOAAAARRRR!

He spoke too soon. A deep, rumbling noise shakes the ground, causing my ears to ring and my stomach to twist in knots. The lingering, changing notes sound as if they came from some sort of giant beast. I shudder. Unable to ignore it, the bodyguards rake their eyes over the plains in search of the source.

“What made that sound…?”

“L-Look! The zombies are actin’ funny!”

Every zombie is staring at us. Even the zombies on the other side of the plain react to the sound and stagger toward us.

“What’s gotten into them?! They weren’t paying attention to us before!”

The bodyguards might’ve underestimated the zombies, but they kept their numbers in check by reducing noise to a minimum. So how did we attract every zombie here?

“What’s goin’ on?! This wasn’t part of our deal!” one of the bodyguards yells.

“I d-didn’t know this would happen…!” Kodbyen argues.

“Dammit! There’s too many! U-URGGHH!”

One of the zombies lunged onto the bodyguard’s back. He quickly dislodges it, but it’s too late. His body instantly turns bluish-purple and exudes the heinous odor of a zombie.

“Killing is our only option!” The last remaining bodyguard draws his sword.

He plans to get out of this by killing zombies. They might be rotting fleshbags right now, but they will return to being human if I purify them. In other words, killing zombies is the same as murdering sick people. I can’t let him do that. I’m about to stop him when the zombies take care of it for me.

“AGH! Let go! URK! My arm! My aaaarrrrrrmmm!”

It takes just one second for zombification to spread through the body. Sadly, another bodyguard has joined the undead. We only progressed through the horde because the bodyguards were keeping the immediate zombies at bay. Without them, there’s no searching for Kodbyen’s family, much less getting out of here alive.

“Time to run, Kodbyen!”

“Not yet! We can keep going if you purify them!”

“They’re goners! We’re gonna join them soon if we don’t get outta here!”

“F-Fine…!”

Persuading him in my firmest voice did the trick. He reluctantly agrees to leave. We both look back to see if we can return by the path we came. Unfortunately, we can’t even take the first step toward escape.

“Crud! They filled in behind us!”

Zombies have come for us from every direction. We’re completely surrounded. I survey the area but there’s no escape route left. It doesn’t matter how slow daytime zombies are if there’s no space for us to run without bumping into them.

“D-Do something! Aren’t you the Priestess?!”

“I would if I could …!”

The zombie ring tightens around us as we argue. One of the more spry zombies crouches, its hip bones creaking, and jumps over the rest. There’s no space or time left. Survival at the front of my mind, I thrust out my right hand, pushing back the zombie’s shoulder. Bright light engulfs the area as the zombie reverts.

“Wh-What happened to—aah! What’s wrong with you people?! Shit! Go away! URGHHH!”

“I’m so sorry…!”

Zombies grab and pull down the dezombified man, instantly reinfecting him. This is the worst situation to purify people. It’ll only end in eternally traumatizing them. But if I do nothing, it’ll be my life that ends!

Please…someone…Lex! Help me!

My escape sealed, I plead for rescue in my heart and, almost in answer, I hear hooves pounding the ground and a loud bray. It’s coming from the same path we took to get here.

“Lady Mizuha!”

“Lex!”

He came for me! Lex is riding Vianta, his trusty horse, through the zombie horde.

“Come and get me, zombie scum!” he shouts to draw their attention. He tries to charge through the wall of bodies, but Vianta rears up on her hind legs in protest. Lex promptly dismounts and slaps her on the side, letting her escape the way they came. Then he plows through the zombies with his shield out.

His onrush sends him hurtling through the wall, even if it doesn’t have the same strength as one of Sir Oden’s charges. He rushes to my side while sending moaning zombies flying.

“I’m sorry for being late, m’lady!”

“You aren’t late! You’re just in time!”

Lex can be too serious and embarrassing at times, but he always comes to save me when it counts. I’m too embarrassed to ever say it out loud, but I’ll proudly think it: I wouldn’t expect any less of my knight in shining armor!

“Please stay right behind me, Lady Mizuha! We’re withdrawing!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Mr. Kodbyen, I have much to say to you. But escape is our top priority. Please follow me without complaint!”

“F-Fine…”

We cut a path through the zombies with Lex as our vanguard. It’s hard to tell if we’re even making forward progress because, for every zombie that goes down, three more takes its place. The pressure is worse than ever with the loudest “BWAH! BWAH!” chorus egging us on.

ACK! A zombie grabbed Lex’s left arm. Zombie decay rapidly spreads up his arm, but I slap my hand on his back, stopping it. I’m walking within inches of Lex’s back right now. I can purify him at a moment’s notice, unlike the bodyguards who stood too far away.

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep my hand on your back!” I shout over the zombie moans.

“Thank you, m’lady! I rode ahead of the troops, so backup should be here soon!”

Did he ride ahead just to save me? I’m so happy, but regrettably, being surrounded by death doesn’t let me savor the moment. I press together my almost-smiling lips and keep pace with Lex.

“Just a little further and we’re out!”

Not long after Lex says that, I see the end of the zombie ring. I run through it right behind him. At last, I’m outside the zombie horde.

I didn’t have the leisure of worrying about someone else, but it looks like Kodbyen made it safely behind us. He trips out of the horde, just barely rolling out of reach of the zombies.

Even now an insane number of zombies are lumbering toward us. Fortunately, they’re as slow as the typical daytime zombie. They won’t catch us as long as we run. I can finally breathe easy.

ROOOAAAARRRR!

“There it is again! Last time we heard this, every zombie came after us...” I tell Lex.

“This unsettling feeling in my chest reminds me of the first time we encountered the black fog.”

Now that he mentions it—I don’t have time to finish that thought. A massive shadow lands in front of me with an earthshaking thud. The impact causes the ground to shake so hard that I lose my balance. The zombie horde falls over like dominos while moaning.

What in the world just happened? I can feel fear twisting my face as I take a second look at the shadow. Something terrifyingly huge is in front of me.

It’s probably the size of ten Boneless Hams put together. The shape is similar to a lizard. But there’s a lot about it that’s different from a lizard. Spine-tingling black horns jut off the top of its head and rows of deadly fangs peek out from its large mouth.

Each of the four feet supporting its heavy body is equipped with a set of sinisterly sharp claws. It also has a long, thick, serrated tail capable of flinging a person away as if they were a fly. The most ridiculous part of all is the wings on its back—they’re large enough to encirle its entire body and still be long enough to fly.

“Say…Lex? Is that a...normal creature in this world?”

“…No. But I know of something similar that appears in many stories and legends.”

Barring those rotten scales, this is undeniably a dragon.