◆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.
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