◆Chapter 3: Apparently, Small Zombies Exist Too
◆Chapter 3: Apparently, Small Zombies Exist Too
CARRYING my socks and loafers in both hands, I wade through the lake. I could tell just by looking, but the lake is ridiculously large. Pushing forward endlessly hasn’t brought the opposite shore into view yet.
Water that comes up to only your knees slows and weighs you down the more you walk in it. I’m athletic, but even my legs are starting to feel like lead. Fortunately, no matter how much I slow down, Lex’s back in front of me doesn’t move farther away. He seems to be matching his pace to mine. I’m of the opinion he’s a nice and serious person, though I have no intention of changing my first impression of him being a weirdo.
After about twenty minutes of walking, we finally arrive at the opposite shore. I flop on the ground like I’m falling over.
“I can’t go any farther! My legs feel like logs!”
“Shall we tarry a moment?”
“Please…”
I gaze up at the sky while stretching out my legs. The series of surprises I’ve experienced since waking up stopped me from thinking about it before, but how do I get back home? To my world? Even an optimist can see that this is a dangerous world in every sense of the word. I want to go home right now and live in comfort. The problem is that I don’t have the faintest idea of how to make that happen.
I doubt I’ll get the answer I want from Lex, but I’ll try asking…
“Hey, what would you think if I told you I came from another world?”
“That it only affirms you are our holy priestess.”
And that’s why I didn’t want to ask him!
To my great misfortune, he’s entirely useless when it comes to this topic.
“How long will it take to get to the castle from here?”
“We will arrive in no time if we take that path up ahead. It shouldn’t take more than half a day.”
The path Lex spoke of is located on the raised ground beyond the lake. It’s not a walkway paved with concrete or stones, but a dirt trail created by many feet traversing it over time.
Anyway, how in the world is half a day arriving in no time?! I think we have drastically different standards for judging distance, but maybe that’s just the way it is in a place where you can’t travel by car or train. I’m starting to think I should be glad our journey will end in half a day.
“It figures it’d be rotting here too,” I comment, glancing around.
Purifying the lake removed the horrid stench from when I first woke up. But a purplish fog is hovering over the mainland, making the air stagnant and foul. The bark is peeling off from the tree trunks near the path. Naturally, there aren’t any leaves on the dead trees, and many of them have snapped in half.
“The Dark Djinn’s curse was cast on the entire world. However, we no longer have anything to fear—for we have Lady Mizuha’s spit on our side!”
“For crying out loud, stop bringing up my spit!”
If he continues treating me like a real priestess, I fear rumors will spread behind my back that I’m the Holy Priestess of Spit! That’s the one thing I never want to happen. EVER!
My feet had dried as we bickered, so I put my socks and shoes back on. I want to rest longer, but I fear relaxing here too long will make me too lazy to walk later. I shove to my feet and dust off my skirt.
“Okay, I’ve rested enough. Let’s keep up the pace until the castle!”
◆◆◆◆◆
“SO, I’ve been wondering… Why are we even heading for the castle anyway?” I ask Lex not long after we started walking down the path. I didn’t question it earlier because I had been desperate to get off that desert island, but now that I’ve given it some thought, I’m full of doubts.
“Because it is where many people will be gathered, of course.”
“What? Didn’t you say people aren’t around?”
“Yes, I did. You can expect it to be crawling with zombies,” Lex answers without hesitation. “It is very likely some are wandering around outside the capital as I was, so there is no guarantee everyone is still inside the city gates as they were before death… But I am positive scores of zombies are within.”
“Stop! Stop right there! Is your brain intact?! You must be insane, wanting to go where there are tons of zombies on purpose!”
“I want to purify a great number all at once with your holy powers, Lady Mizuha. Doing so will bring the castle back to its former splendor—”
“Sorry, I’m leaving.” I spin around on my heel. I thought I would be safe following Lex, but it looks like it’s the complete opposite of that! This is practically walking toward certain death!
“P-Please wait!” Lex runs around in front of me and blocks my path. I understand his desperation to regain his castle as a royal knight, but he’s putting the cart ahead of the horse.
“Listen, I’m not against purifying what I can purify. We can’t get much accomplished with just the two of us after all. But charging right into the most dangerous place first? Frankly, it’s a stupid plan.”
“We won’t be in danger, for Lady Mizuha is the—”
“Don’t finish that sentence if you are going to call me the holy priestess again.” My guess is right. Lex falls silent. Exasperation is left in the wake of the anger bubbling up inside me. “I’ll admit I might have powers belonging to a priestess, but I’m a normal person on the inside no matter what others want to think. I don’t want to strut into a place that’s teeming with danger…”
Besides, I’ve turned only one zombie back into a living person. There’s no guarantee the power will work twice. Say it does work—there’s a limit to how many zombies I can take on at once. If they surround me, I’m as good as dead. When it comes down to it, I’m just a high school girl. I’m not confident I can see it through to the end.
“Please accept my humble apologies for pushing the plan ahead without trying to understand how you feel, Lady Mizuha… However, with that knowledge, please allow me to ask it of you once more.” Lex places his hand over his heart and implores me with dead-serious eyes. “I will protect you no matter what. Won’t you please lend me your holy powers, Lady Mizuha?”
“…Lex.”
No man has ever sworn to protect me before. My heart skips a beat against my wishes. But my heart-throbbing moment is replaced by sheer shock a second later. A short zombie child lurches out of a tree’s shadow beside the path. It teeters slowly toward me moaning “Bwah.”
“Geh! Another zombie!”
“Please stand back, m’lady! I shall handle th—” Lex leaps in front of me and locks hands with the zombie, stopping it from coming closer. He moved according to his oath to protect me at all costs.
He’s so brave and sincere! Seconds after he deeply impresses me, Lex’s skin turns bluish purple!
“Bwah!”
“Hey! You just got reinfected!”
I can’t believe Lex just turned back into a zombie! This completely ruins how cool he was when he jumped out to protect me! Though this isn’t the time to be griping!
I retreat backward at the same time the two zombies shuffle closer to me. Luckily, these zombies are slow. I can probably escape if I run away, but…this is a world full of nothing but zombies, zombies, and more zombies. There’s no guarantee I won’t run into more zombies wherever I go.
Not much time has passed since I met Lex, but he’s someone I’ve developed a partial connection with in this world. I don’t want to abandon him here. I hate to have my right hand smelling worse than manure baking in the sun for days again, but I just have to suck it up.
Zombie Lex’s knees suddenly start clattering together, and he breaks into an awkward run. Startled by his unexpected new move, I slap him across the cheek as hard as I can.
“BWAH!” Zombie Lex cries out as he flies backward from my hit and rolls several times on the ground.
Did I use too much strength? While I’m reflecting on my actions, the zombie child charges me. In the time it’s taking me to figure out how hard I should touch the zombies, the zombie child is closing the distance between us.
“Shoo!” I cry out, thrusting my right hand in front of me. Miraculously, that gesture turns into an open-handed slap across the zombie child’s face. It falls over backward and writhes around on the ground.
I’m slapping zombies, so it doesn’t matter too much, but if I think of them as humans, I’m being pretty cruel. Both zombies start glowing as I’m feeling a little guilty. It looks like the purification power activated without issue.
Obviously, one of the zombies turns back into Lex. His pure-silver armor has regained its glimmering polish. The zombie child transforms into a little girl. A sigh of awe escapes me when I see her. She’s prettier than a flower and unlike any other girl I have seen before.
She looks like she’s in the last grade of elementary school. Golden hair a brighter shade than Lex’s cascades down her long aqua gown detailed with gold embroidery and white lace. Judging by appearances alone, she has that daughter-of-a-rich-family feel to her.
“Y-You saved me, Lady Mizuha.” Hand pressed to his head, Lex stumbles to his feet.
“What happened to your promise to protect me no matter what?”
“I have no excuse…”
Regardless of what happened, it’s still a fact that he tried to protect me with dauntless courage. I don’t blame him as much as I make it sound like I do.
“Good grief,” I mutter just as I hear a cute little sigh beside me.
The girl slowly sits up and asks “Wh-Where am I?” as she restlessly looks around.
“What great fortune the Goddess has bestowed upon us…” Lex utters in a trembling voice.
Maybe it’s because I saw his pupils dilate, but for a second, I got this image of him as a creeper who preys on little girls, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. The girl smiles brighter than the sun as soon as she recognizes Lex.
“Lex…? Are you not Sir Lex?!”
“Yes, it is I, your servant Lex. Thank the heavens you are all right, Your Highness.” Lex goes down on one knee and bows his head.
Given that he called her “Your Highness,” the girl’s status must be higher than just the daughter of a rich family. Whatever the case, I’m the odd woman out here because I don’t know anything.
“Hey, Lex? Do you know this girl?”
“I do, m’lady,” Lex affirms, turning to face me. He pauses to add an air of importance before introducing her to me. “This young lady is Grantz Kingdom’s Princess Cia Greenfield.”
The possibility that she was a princess crossed my mind when Lex called her “Your Highness,” but it turns out she really is one. I know it’s presumptuous of me to say this after finding out, but she definitely gives off that sacred-and-inviolable vibe.
The princess speaks up while I’m too stunned to. “You are the honorable maiden who turned me back, yes?”
“Ah, uh, um… You have the right idea, Princess Highness.”
I’m dealing with a princess. Being overly conscious of that fact made me so nervous I word-vomited.
The princess drops her gaze to the ground and lowers her head to me as I’m internally agonizing over my stupid, embarrassing mistake. “How can I ever thank you enough? Truly, thank you. Thank you so very much…”
“D-Don’t mention it. I only touched you with my right hand—” I pause as I feel the blood drain from my face.
Lex told me before that he has a vague memory of what happened while he was a zombie. That means there’s a painfully high chance the princess remembers my Iron Claw slap to her face. What the heck did I do to royalty?! My left cheek twitches as I stare at my right hand.
“Um, please don’t let what happened during the purification process bother you. I am nothing but grateful for what you did! I absolutely won’t blame you for it!” the princess frantically declares as she balls her hands into fists.
She’s so grown-up for her age. She’s just like the pure and virtuous princesses in picture books.
While I’m moved by her maturity, the princess rubs her forehead and nose as she quietly mutters, “Y-You certainly pack quite the punch, though…”
“Ah! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
She does remember! And vividly at that!
“My ‘purification’ was painfully intense as well… I believe the strength you put behind it increased significantly since the first time.”
“I’m not apologizing to you, Lex.” I glare daggers at him and he guiltily looks away.
The princess glances from me to Lex and says, “You seem like good friends.”
“Not in particular,” I flatly declare.
“L-Lady Mizuha!” Lex turns a pair of imploring eyes on me.
It’s not like I’ve said anything bad. I mean—
“We only just met several hours ago…”
“You did? I was completely under the impression you had spent far more time together.”
It’s true that I no longer hold back around Lex. Mostly because he has a few screws loose. He’s undeniably a serious and good guy, too, though.
“Lex, can you introduce us?”
“Yes, Your Highness!” Lex introduces me per the princess’s orders. “There is nothing to hide here, for the Goddess has sent this fair maiden to save our world as the holy—”
“Okay, stop right there.”
“Is something the matter, Lady Mizuha?”
“Yes! Don’t give me that look like you’ve done nothing wrong. You were about to say a word that starts with pr, weren’t you?”
“Yes, m’lady. Next would be ie, then st, finally followed by—” Lex says, giving hints in order, to which the princess cheerfully raises her right hand.
“I know the answer! Does that not spell priestess?!”
“Correct!”
“Hey! How did this turn into a spelling bee?! And she even got the right answer!”
The princess is all for Lex’s games. My head is killing me. I get the feeling I’m going to be introduced as the holy priestess to every person I purify as long as I’m traveling with Lex. Maybe I should just let him stay as a zombie forever? Of course, that’s just a joke. It’s only a joke…
“Lex likes to call me that, but I’m not someone so important as a priestess.”
“I understand, Lady Mizuha. We shall leave it at that.”
She seems to have accepted my opinion because she caught on to how I’m feeling. It makes me wonder if she really understands… You know what, I don’t think she does. She’s smiling away like she’s in on a secret. This has gotta be one of those times when someone thinks they just have to play along! I have to set it straight right now!
I open my mouth to say something, when violent winds carrying a black fog hit me smack in the face. Surprise wins out at first because of how abruptly it happens, but then revulsion almost suffocates me once I realize how bizarre that fog is. The lukewarm wind feels like someone’s hands running over my skin. I shudder as all the hair on my body stands up. Disgusting. Creepy.
The wind blows by in a matter of seconds. The thick fog rushes past us at lightning speed. The sickening sensation I felt a second ago is gone.
“Wh-What was that?!” I shout, and I hear a thud right behind me. I look toward the sound and find the princess has fallen on her bottom. “A-Are you all right?!”
“Lady Mizuha… Yes, I am all right. Thank you.”
She must’ve been affected by the black fog. It made me feel nauseated, too, but not bad enough to knock me to the ground. But that’s me. Princess Cia is still a child. She may be mature for her age, but it makes sense she couldn’t endure the overwhelming fear brought with the wind.
“Please be quiet.” Lex touches his index finger to his lips as he grimly locks his eyes on what’s ahead of us.
“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”
“Can’t you hear it?”
I incline my head to the side. I don’t hear anything that sounds out of the ordinary. Following Lex’s lead, I look ahead while straining my ears, and I pick up on a faint noise. It sounds like the commotion out on a school field. The sound grows louder with the passage of time.
“…What is that sound?”
“Ladies, hurry and hide over there!” Lex points to the trees beside the road. Seeing how panicked he is tells me this is no ordinary situation. I step forward to move where he pointed but then stop when I see the princess still sitting on the ground.
“Princess!”
The situation being what it is, I think she’ll forgive me being a little rough with her. With that in mind, I tug on the princess’s hand and head for cover behind the trees. Per Lex’s advice, I hide with my back pressed against the largest tree in the vicinity. Lex hides elsewhere because the princess and I take up a lot of space together.
Not long after we hide, the noises I’d been hearing sound closer than ever. It’s the rumbling, pounding sound of lots of feet chaotically stomping and dragging across the ground to the chorus of “Bwah bwah.” That proves it—zombies are here. In droves.
I took shelter without knowing why, but now I want to know what in the zombie apocalypse is going on now. Maybe this is a case of curiosity overcoming fear. I carefully peek around the big tree trunk for a look at the road.
Zombies are walking this way as I suspected. But the number is leaps and bounds beyond what I expected. There aren’t just ten or twenty. Fifty? …No, it looks closer to a hundred. It’s the end of the line for us if that horde finds us. I have to touch them to purify them, and I don’t have that many hands!
I suddenly feel my right hand shaking. I’m in a hellish situation, so it’s not wrong for me to be scared. Or so I tell myself, until I realize the shaking is coming from the princess, not me. She had peeked out at the road as well. The shock had been too much for her; her face is paler than a sheet, and she’s shaking harder than the vibrations in the ground.
“Don’t worry. I’m here with you.” My subconscious awareness of being older has me instinctively embrace the princess from behind with both arms. I drop all formalities and hug her close. I’m worried I’ve angered her, but that concern seems unnecessary. The princess leans into me as if reassured by my actions.
I wonder if this is what it would’ve been like if I had had a sister. Now’s not the time for such delusions, but I can’t help myself. The princess’s petite frame fits perfectly in my arms. She’s comforting to hug. Plus, in spite of having been a stinky zombie until not too long ago, she smells sweet like vanilla. Is this princess power?
Thus, the zombie horde begins to pass by us while I’m enjoying my hug with the princess. I was worried sick about what would happen when they got closer, but we can survive without incident if they keep going on their merry way like this. All thanks to Lex for quickly noticing them coming.
Giving him silent thanks, I glance at Lex. Just then, the tree he’s hiding behind creaks. It must have been rotten on the inside as well. The tree makes more cracking sounds and snaps in half.
It falls on the ground with a loud KA-BAM! The zombie horde swivels toward him as one and all cry out “BWAH!” as if it’s a call to battle. Or maybe a dinner bell in this case?
Lex turns toward me with a tense face. “I-I deeply apologize…!”
“STUPID LEX!”
It’s because of Lex that the zombie horde hadn’t noticed us up until now. I’m grateful for that—I am—but it doesn’t mean much if they find us in the end anyway!
The fallen tree has drawn the zombies’ attention to us already. They single-mindedly lurch our way like a bloodhound on the trail. They move at only a brisk walk, but the sheer number of them is what makes it plenty intimidating.
“Run away first, ladies!”
“What about you, Lex?!”
“I will follow right behind you after I slow them down!”
“Sl-Slow them down?! Did you forget you got reinfected doing that earlier?!”
“Please fret not. There are a plethora of ways to get by now that I know not to touch them.” Lex draws a real long sword from the sheath at his waist, and something sharp gleams in his eyes.
“H-Hey! D-Don’t tell me you’re going to cut them with that?!”
Right now, they’re deadly zombies, but there’s a chance they can return to human if I purify them. We shouldn’t kill them if we can avoid it. Lex should know that more than anyone. I sure hope his brains didn’t fry some more after being reinfected!
My fears are proved wrong when Lex runs toward not the zombies but the gigantic tree growing beside the road. He drops his knees and swings his sword sideways in a flash of steel. He slices right through the trunk close to the ground, separating the top half from the bottom. Groaning, the giant tree falls across the road.
“Wow…”
I don’t care how good you are with the sword—it shouldn’t be possible to slice through a tree trunk bigger than the human waist. At least, it’s not possible in the world I come from. This is surreal in every sense of the word.
“Lex is the best swordsman in all of Grantz,” the princess explains as I stand there dumbfounded.
“He’s that amazing of a person…?”
“He does lack in a few areas because he is so serious, which is the one blot on his character.”
“That blot on his character utterly offsets the good.”
I can’t stop from replaying in my mind the scene of Lex courageously taking on the zombie only to be stupidly reinfected. It’s going to be pretty difficult to erase this image without something making a bigger impression on me. While it didn’t do the trick, his splitting the massive tree in half was pretty awesome.
While the princess and I are chatting, Lex is going around knocking the trees down onto the road. Thanks to his efforts, the zombie horde’s forward progress has been drastically slowed, though they haven’t completely stopped in their tracks. Some of the horde are walking the long way around the downed trees, while others are sluggishly climbing over them, all the while steadily closing in on us.
“Right, this isn’t the time to be casually watching… Can you run, Princess?”
“Y-Yes!” The princess nods, her expression frantic.
I take her hand and break into a run in the opposite direction of the zombies.
◆◆◆◆◆
HALFWAY through our escape I keep the motion going by kicking off the ground every few steps even though we had slowed to a walking speed. I don’t know the exact distance we’ve gone, but I’m positive we’ve made it a ways. We’re currently on top of a small hill. The heavy fog makes it hard to see much, but I can faintly make out an open field ahead of us.
All of a sudden, the right hand I’m holding tugs back. I stop my brisk walk and look over my shoulder to where the princess has sunk to the ground, exhausted. Her shoulders are moving up and down with her heavy breathing.
“A-Are you okay?”
“…I’m sorry. I will stand now.”
So she says, but her stamina has reached its limit. Her face is haggard, and I can tell just by looking that she’s sweating a lot. Continuing to run in her state could be the real threat to her life. I release her hand and crouch down in front of her.
“Sorry. I made you run at my pace… I think we’ve put a good distance between us and the horde, so why don’t we take a short break?”
“But—”
“Running away now is meaningless if you can’t run when you absolutely have to.”
“…Very well. Thank you.”
“No problem!” I smile at the princess, who sincerely listens to my advice. I love good kids who know when to listen.
I’m cheerfully enjoying the moment until it suddenly dawns on me who it is I’m talking to. Ice-cold sweat trickles down my back.
“I-I-I’m s-s-so s-sincerely s-s-sorry, Princess! I suddenly dropped all formalities with you…”
The desire to protect the princess when I saw her shaking in fear of the zombies took priority over everything else. I think that’s what drove out the thought that I need to show her respect. I’m pretty sure that’s what did it. It can’t be for any other reason.
As I’m desperately trying to make excuses for myself, the princess’s eyebrows droop slightly into a sad smile.
“I would be most happy if you continued to treat me as you had before.”
“B-But you are a princess…”
“In our situation, the status of princess means close to nothing. Won’t you please do me this favor…?”
It’s hard to argue that kingdoms mean anything when the entire world’s population has turned into zombies. That said, the power to bring a person back from being a zombie exists in this world. What will happen if all the people revert to normal and the kingdoms are restored? I’m worried the patriotic citizens—or more like the princess’s fans—will beat me to death later for my transgressions. Then again, it’s pretty pointless to worry about what’s going to happen in the future of a world already stuck in a zombie apocalypse.
“…If that’s what you want, Princess.”
“Thank you…! Also, won’t you please call me Cia?”
I no longer have any reason to refuse. However, there is something I want to ask of her as well, so I decide to use this as a bargaining chip.
“Okay, I will if you listen to my request as well. Can you stop calling me Lady Mizuha? It creeps me out and makes me feel weird.”
“Then may I address you as my esteemed older sister?”
“What? That’s a little much…” My face twitches.
She reminded me of the manga one of my childhood female friends lent me. It was one about an all-girls school where malicious bullying is prevalent and the female main character is saved and encouraged by the “esteemed older sister” she shares her dorm room with. By the end of the story, the two girls are joined together physically and emotionally.
I have nothing against that kind of relationship, but to be blunt, I have zero interest in it. It’s not like that’s where this is leading, but the mere knowledge of that story makes me reluctant to be called anyone’s older sister.
“We aren’t really sisters. Okay?”
“I felt greatly comforted when you embraced me behind the tree, Lady Mizuha... It was then that I wondered, if I had had an older sister, would she have been as kind to me as you are.”
The princess presses both of her hands to her heart as if storing away a precious feeling. From the look of it, she isn’t seeking a yuri manga relationship with me.
“Are you…against it?” she appeals, striking the final blow with watery, upturned eyes. It’s a killer move coupled with her adorable looks and big green eyes. Since I no longer have a fraction of an objection to the name, I receive a direct hit to the heart. To think my heart would skip a beat with a girl!
“I-I guess I can let it pass… Do what you want, Cia.”
“…! Thank you so much, Big Sis!” The princess— Cia smiles brighter than the sun.
That doesn’t sound half bad. I’ve always wanted a cute younger sister, so this is turning out to be win-win for us both.
“I feel reenergized after speaking with you, Big Sis. I think I can push myself to go farther now.”
“Since we’re already here, why don’t we rest until Lex shows up? Okay?”
“But—”
“What’s this? You won’t listen to your big sister?” I say teasingly.
Cia giggles. “All right. Cia will listen to her big sister.”
“That’s my girl.” I pat her on the head with my left hand, which doesn’t reek of zombie.
“Ehehe,” she happily laughs.
She’s cuter than a small forest animal. I made the right choice allowing her to call me her big sister. It’s great having a younger sister.
But I’m concerned by how damp Cia’s hair feels. She must be sweating more than I initially thought. Several locks of hair are stuck to her forehead. She notices it, too, and brings her left hand up to her forehead to brush back the hair.
“Why does it smell so bad…?” She sniffs her hand with her tiny nose. It suddenly dawns on me—Cia’s left hand had been holding my right hand the entire time we ran. In other words—
“Ah, that’s the zombie stench—”
“Aaahhh…” Cia unsteadily shakes her head and falls over backward.
What just happened? She fainted! Not wanting to leave her like that, I sit on the ground and place her head on my lap.
“LADY MIZUHA! PRINCESS!” a voice shouts from the road we took to get here.
“Lex!”
He’s running our way on steady legs while waving his hand. He’s not moaning “Bwah bwah,” and his skin is the right color. At a glance, he looks safe and healthy.
Lex arrives in front of us and takes a deep breath. His training seems to have paid off because he barely looks tired.
“P-Princess?! What in the Goddess’s name happened?!” Lex panics when he sees Cia. I don’t want to tell him she fainted because of the stench coming from my hand. Besides, it’s not like it’s my smell. I’m not in the wrong here. The zombies are at fault.
“Sh-She’s so tired from all the running, she seems to have fallen asleep.”
“Her Highness does not exercise much… She must have pushed herself too far.”
“Yes, that’s it. So let’s give her time to rest, okay?”
“I can agree to that. Fortunately, I was able to completely throw the zombies off our trail,” Lex tells me while looking behind us. Then he lets out a regretful sigh. “In any case, I can’t believe they noticed us just as they were about to pass by.”
“I was ticked off in the moment, but after thinking about it, I realized it was likely to happen because of how far gone the trees are.”
“No, it is wholly my blunder. Knights must always be on full alert for whatever may come their way.”
He’s strict with himself. I keep thinking Lex would be the perfect superman if not for the few screws he has loose. When I think about how easy it is to speak with him without formality, it makes me glad he’s the way he is.
“On the other hand,” Lex says, returning his gaze to the open field before us. I follow his gaze to find the fog has lifted somewhat. A massive structure I couldn’t see before stands in the distance. “The capital is in view because we hurried here.”