◆Chapter 5: The Reigning King of Charges
◆Chapter 5: The Reigning King of Charges
“YOUR Highness, are you unharmed?”
“This is an emergency situation. Don’t dawdle taking care of me and confront the zombies!”
“As you command, Princess…” Sir Oden taps his fist against his chest, then turns to the others I had purified. “Men! How long do you plan to sit around?! We have returned to the living! We are free to speak and move of our own volition! That knowledge should be enough to move you to arms! Get to work immobilizing the zombies!” Sir Oden’s manifesto booms through the castle grounds, clearing the minds of the newly purified knights.
You rule, captain of the Royal Knights! I’m mentally raising my glass to him when I notice some of the knights heading toward the zombies without gear.
“P-Please wait! Be careful not to let the zombies touch you, or you will be reinfected!”
“…You have my gratitude for your warning.”
The sharp glint in Sir Oden’s eyes makes me flinch. I feel like I’m being censured even though he’s thanking me.
“You heard the lass! Don’t touch the zombies if you don’t want to drool and have foul breath again!” Sir Oden barks out another set of orders.
The knights find substitute shields and push back the zombies in groups. Leave it to royal knights to be skilled at suppressing riots. The zombies in the front courtyard are being taken down before my eyes.
“Right, this isn’t the time to be an onlooker! I have to purify them!” I jump into action and start slapping the pinned-down zombies as if we’re playing a game of Duck, Duck, Goose. “Excuse me! Please move! I’m purifying them! Yes, just slide over a little for me!”
Growing used to something is a very scary thing—I no longer have any objections to touching the putrid zombies. My biggest complaint is with that foul odor. They stink worse than an outhouse doubling as a pigpen! I’ve got the horrible feeling my right hand’s stench is worsening by the second, but I just have to grin and bear it for now. Once I’m done with this, I’ll scrub and scrub until my body is clean again.
I can finally take a breather now that the zombie moans have been eradicated from the front courtyard. I didn’t notice before since I was wholly devoted to touching every zombie in sight, but I purified way more than I thought. Glancing over the surrounding area, I can see easily more than a hundred people. Zombies are all I’ve seen since waking up in this world, so it’s super strange seeing living, breathing people.
It’s while I’m basking in the moment that I realize everyone is staring at me. It might’ve gone to my head if I had stellar looks, but I was never blessed with such a thing. My looks are only good enough to have zombies chasing after me, proved by the fact that they really did chase me.
So, why’s everyone staring so hard? I arrive at the answer as soon as I put a little thought into it. Yes, the reason lies with my right hand that’s even now putting off a horrid stench that could make grandmas swoon. This stinking thing has the power to purify zombies. Everyone here has witnessed its power for themselves, so it’s not unreasonable for them to be curious about it.
Even if they have a good reason for it, though, it’s incredibly uncomfortable to be the source of everyone’s attention. Cia runs to me while I’m fidgeting by myself. She leaps and hugs me without slowing.
“Big Sister!”
“Cia! Are you okay? Did any zombies touch you?”
“Hehehe. You’re silly, Big Sis! I would be a rotting, putrid zombie about now if they had. As you can see, your Cia is a bona fide human!” Cia spreads open her arms and informs me of her safety.
Yep, her cuteness level is as strong as ever. I happily nod along with her when Lex shows up at my side next.
“There is no greater joy for me than to see you are both safe, my ladies.”
“Looks like you’re in one piece too.”
“Yes, thanks to you, m’lady.”
He thanks me, but I only went around smacking zombies, which is nothing to boast about. Lex is the one who should be praised for putting his life and body on the line to take down the zombies. I’m about to tell him that when a towering shadow falls over us from the side. Sir Oden is here.
“Good work, Lex.”
“Captain Oden! I could have never done it alone,” Lex says, directing his gaze to me. “All of this was only possible because of this holy priestess—because of Lady Mizuha’s power.”
This guy just smoothly introduced me as the priestess. And in a loud voice at that. Thanks to him, everyone in the courtyard overheard.
“Did he just call her the holy priestess?”
“She can’t be…”
“Yeah, but she did bring us back…”
Everyone doubted the news at first, but they seemed to have been swayed by Lex’s words. Before long they start shouting “Yeah, she must be the great and holy priestess!”
I kept telling and telling him not to treat me like a bloody priestess… I’ll say it once more: STUPID LEX!
The courtyard begins buzzing with excitement to the point I’m afraid they’ll begin chanting “Priestess, Priestess!”
The celebration is cut short when even more zombies spill out of the inner castle gate.
“Geh! There are still that many left…”
At a glance, there are at least twenty. Not too many compared with the hundred plus I took on in the front courtyard, but…if this is a sign of things to come, there must still be hundreds within the castle buildings. Naturally, that means I have to go around touching lots and lots of zombies. This SUCKS!
As depression looms over me, Sir Oden steps in front of me to block the zombies. “Lady Mizuha, I hope you will lend me your power.”
“And I hope you will let me refuse with all my might… But since I won’t be able to get any sleep tonight if I don’t help, I’ll go.”
“You have my thanks… Lex, I leave Lady Mizuha to you!”
“Yes, sir!”
At Lex’s reply, Sir Oden brandishes the massive shield that’s a perfect fit for his large body. Apparently, he plans on charging through the zombies. As I mentally prepare myself to follow in his wake, Cia tugs on the back of my cardigan.
“Big Sis!”
“Don’t look so worried. I’ll be fine.” I pat her on the head, getting a reluctant nod out of her.
“…Please be safe.”
“I will. M’kay, I’m heading off, then!” I say as my parting words as I dash after Sir Oden’s broad back.
“Follow me! We’re going to regain control of the castle right now!”
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“I know you said we’ll regain the castle right now, but…I can’t believe it went that fast.” My shoulders shake with heavy breathing as I stand there in disbelief.
In short, we finished securing the castle grounds and interior. It didn’t take more than thirty minutes. That’s an incredible speed considering how many more zombies I took on compared with what was in the outer ward and how big and complex the castle layout is.
“But what do we do about them?”
I point to the wide stone corridor. Dezombified people are hunched over on both sides of the corridor, their faces twisting with pain. Their aches come not from the purification process but from the wounds Sir Oden inflicted on them. In brief, the scene of the zombies being knocked back one after another by Sir Oden’s tanklike charge was brutal. To be blunt, he went too far. The purification went smoothly thanks to Sir Oden, but I’m left with complicated feelings on the matter.
“There are none in the lands who can best Captain Oden at charging.”
“I’m surprised you guys even compete in that.”
Setting aside Lex’s dopey smile and his exposition on the “charging industry,” I’m just glad to see no one is seriously injured. They’re all just bruised and beaten up. Sir Oden may have been holding back, but only he knows the answer to that.
Speak of the devil: the Reigning King of Charges has just come around the corridor corner. He’s wiping the sweat from his brow as if to signal the job is done. The dezombified people are giving him the evil eye, but he returns the favor with a hard face. Everyone looks away from him. How heartless.
“Lady Mizuha, you have my thanks for your cooperation.” Sir Oden comes over to me and bows his head. No one as old as he is has ever bowed to me before. It’s an odd feeling.
“P-Please raise your head. I haven’t done anything much. I only hung behind you slapping people.”
“I can go on a rampage suppressing the zombies all I want, but it is a meaningless venture without the ability to purify them. We were only able to gain total control of the castle because of you, Lady Mizuha.”
He knew he was going on a rampage… I shut my mouth before I accidentally say something about it. I get the feeling he’ll think I’m a pain if I continue being humble here.
“O-Okay, I accept your thanks. You’re welcome.”
“Thank you. I will rush to your aid should you ever need me.”
“Thanks. Please do if the time comes!”
Zombies are still all over the place, making this a bad time for gathering information, but I’ll ask him if he knows a way back to my world once things settle down. Sir Oden looks like a man with a lot of experience and knowledge. I’m certain he knows something or can at least point me in the right direction.
“On another note, Lady Mizuha, I have a favor to ask of you.” Sir Oden breaches this new subject with a mysteriously serious look.
“What is it?” I ask, tilting my head.
“It has to do with the way you say my name.”
“Um, Sir Oden?”
“Would it be possible for you to call me o-DEN? This is the correct way to pronounce it.”
I was striving so hard not to pronounce his name the same way as the simmered one-pot dish I eat every winter that’s also called oden! Now every time I say his name I’m going to think of the food oden. I’m starving as it is. What kind of hellish punishment is this?
As I’m thinking about how delicious his name sounds, my stomach loudly growls. “Ugh…”
Embarrassing much? It’s even worse when there are so many people around to hear it too! My face is hot, and I bet it’s turned tomato red. I’m holding my growling stomach with both hands, squirming from the shame, when I hear Sir Oden’s loud guffaw.
“HA! HA! HA! We were running around a lot. Hunger is nothing to be ashamed of… Lex.”
“Yes, Captain. Worry not, Lady Mizuha. We have plenty of food stores.”
“Really? You do?”
It’s not my fault I jumped on the mention of food like some kind of glutton. My empty stomach is.
“Grantz Castle stockpiles a large volume of food for emergencies such as this. The food is emergency rations, so I can’t guarantee the taste.”
“We aren’t in a situation to complain about taste.”
“In that case, let’s head straight to the food stores! Foodstuffs is stored in the basement and ground floor of the tower keep!”
In unbelievably high spirits, I journey with Lex to where food supplies are stored in the basement of the tower keep.
“I-It is all rotten…”
“It figures…”
Wooden boxes are piled up to the ceiling of the candlelit, windowless basement. We pulled a few boxes over and checked their contents, all of which were coated in a sickly purple. The boxes were originally filled with hardtack, but most of it has lost its shape.
I had a hunch this would happen. The decay of the environment outside the city and the damage to the buildings were dead giveaways. Considering how things have been going, there’s no way the rations would be conveniently intact. I don’t think that would change even if their food were canned or freeze-dried.
“I humbly apologize, Lady Mizuha.”
“Meh, that’s the way it is here. Anyway, it’s not like this is your fault, Lex.”
“However, your stomach will continue growling if we don’t find some food, m’lady.”
“Please, PLEASE, don’t make this about me.”
I eat a lot for a girl, but not enough to be labeled a glutton. I can endure my hunger during an emergency like this—I can…but my stomach is growling as if to refute that thought and say I can’t. I’ll do my best in the war against hunger!
Endurance for a time is one thing, but it does us no good if we never have any food later either. As I’m racking my brain for a plan, I spot Lex’s thoughtful expression out of the corner of my eye. He’s rolling what looks like some sort of rotten legume in his hand.
“What’s up, Lex?”
“…Lady Mizuha, I have another request to ask of you.” Lex’s face suddenly presses in close to mine, causing me to bend my neck away from him.
I have no issues talking with boys, but I have little experience with men. Or to be exact, I have zero experience. I can’t help being shaken up by his proximity, and it has nothing to do with liking him or not.
“Huh? Back up and tell me.”
This is the first time I have seen him look this serious since we met. I swallow the spit that formed from nervousness. About a second after that, Lex finally makes his request known.
“Please give me your saliva, Lady Mizuha.”
“Can I punch you?”