Chapter 716: The Captives (1)

After the conversation with that prince ended.

For now, we said we needed time to think and came outside the building.

“Th, think...... good. But. Time, much give, cannot.”

Had it been assigned to guide us completely?

That goblin zombie spoke toward us.

“Fa, fast decision. Necessary.”

“Well. That’s a problem for us to think over ourselves, so let’s move past that. More importantly.”

“More impor, tant?”

“Let us confirm the hostages first.”

In the end, the reason we had come here was those hostages.

For now, I could feel presences from afar, but.

I had to confirm with my own eyes whether they were in normal condition.

“Re, reasonable...... re, quest.”

At my words.

The goblin surprisingly nodded obediently and said,

“We. Keep...... promise. Hostages...... real. Fo, follow...... me.”

It turned around, as if it intended to obediently guide us to where the hostages were.

But then, at that moment.

“......Be, before that.”

“Mm?”

It turned back.

Then it looked at us with a strange gaze and said,

“Tro, troops.”

“......Ah.”

The goblin’s rotting face twitched strangely.

How should I put it?

Its eyes were full of distrust.

“We. Keep...... promise. But, you...... hid. Troops.”

“.......”

“Ho, hostages. Show...... you. But. Tro...... troops. Leave. City.......”

It could show us the hostages.

But it was telling us not to walk around the city with troops we had not mentioned when we first came.

At those words, I scratched my head and muttered,

“Ariella.”

In response to my words.

A woman emerged from the shadows.

“Master...... but.”

“If a problem comes up, you can rush over then.”

“.......”

If we had not been discovered, I had been thinking of overturning this place with those forces.

But they had already been found out.

Their use as a secret weapon had completely disappeared.

For now, we had come here for the “conversation and trade” those things had requested.

Looking only at the immediate situation, it was true that I had deceived them.

So it was probably right to yield here for now.

Besides.

“There’s something I need you to look into.”

“......!”

At those words.

Ariella’s eyes widened.

'We did manage to get past those zombies and come this far inside, but.'

Unfortunately.

Among the beings likely to be stationed here, the zombies were not the only ones we needed to be wary of.

I had already been wondering how to investigate that side.

'That part will have to be divided up.'

I would leave that part to Ariella and her retainers.

And I would handle the matter here.

Ariella’s enormous force would be useful for gathering information across this vast land.

“......Please be careful.”

Perhaps she understood what I meant.

She nodded.

“The being beyond that mist. Even I could not properly grasp that person’s power.”

“Hmm.”

“No matter how capable that person may be of hiding their own presence, to hide from me while conversely grasping my existence...... that is impossible with any ordinary power. And.”

Ariella’s gaze turned toward our surroundings.

“It does not seem the bugs staying in this city end with only two beings, the prince and the chancellor.”

“Well, I suppose not.”

Even just the number I could sense was considerable.

That prince.

And this chancellor...... this goblin guiding us aside, there were at least several hundred more.

'The prince might be a being of a higher rank than Ariella.'

They might not be on that level.

But I could feel zombies that had undergone a considerable degree of evolution holding their breath in the shadows of the buildings.

Fortunately.

'They want [conversation and trade].'

In that case.

It would be safer for us to match that than to move with violence that would be no different from a gamble.

***

-We shall withdraw.

-O master of our master. Please, take care of yourself.......

Slide......

And so.

The vampires poured out from the shadows and withdrew outside the city.

“......Th, that much. Power...... before the pri, nce...... you brought.”

“Ahem.”

“E, even if...... the prince’s permission. Was given...... ah, aaah.”

The goblin’s face turned pale after seeing the true nature of those troops.

I did not know whether it was right to say a corpse’s face had turned pale, but anyway.

'This guy. It really does seem quite loyal to that prince.'

I had not expected to see this kind of relationship among those zombies.

No, to be honest.

I wondered if they really were zombies in the first place.

Even I, the one calling them zombies, felt a sense of dissonance.

'A prince and a chancellor, huh.'

The zombies of this city.

It was certain they were an organization that had formed some kind of system we had not anticipated.

“Hoo...... Pa, past matters. Blaming, no meaning....... Fo, follow. Me.”

It watched the departing vampires with a complicated expression.

Then it soon turned around again and walked somewhere.

And so.

Together with Howard, I began following it toward the place where the hostages were.

“......Senior.”

“Mm?”

But then.

Howard, who had put a slight distance between himself and the goblin, spoke to me in a voice so quiet even an awakened would barely hear it.

“What do you think about what that being beyond the mist said earlier?”

“......Ah. That?”

I had mainly been the one talking.

But that place had been meant as a negotiation with chefs from the start.

Naturally, Howard, one of the two chefs, had also been present.

What these zombies wanted.

It was something we could never have predicted.

'Death that they cannot even resist. Starvation caused by being unable to take in sufficient energy.'

That.

Was the ending decided for those things.

And.

Regarding that ending of theirs.

“Make us a dish we can eat, huh.”

“Did you expect there would be a request like this, Senior?”

“No way. I was surprised too.”

The right to struggle.

What these things wanted was nothing other than that.

I slowly turned my head and looked south.

Somewhere far away, there would be the wall we had passed through.

The countless zombies lurking near that wall.

They too were beings enduring by parasitizing their hosts.

'So the lifespan of all those countless zombies is at most around two years too?'

When I first heard the information that zombies “evolved.”

I had increased my vigilance, thinking the threat might become even greater than I had expected.

But if that “prince’s” words were true.

'Does that mean they self-destruct over time?'

The method of dealing with those things.......

Might be absurdly simple, far more than expected.

Two years was how it was said.

But many among those zombies had probably already settled into their hosts’ bodies more than a year ago.

If just a little more time passed, they were beings that would die naturally on their own.

“I understand why those things asked for a recipe. But if that is the case.”

And.

Howard, who had learned that fact just as I had, frowned as he said,

“Honestly, I question whether we have any reason to accept that request.”

“Hmm.”

Well.

From those things’ perspective, their own lifespans were on the line.

That rat that died just now.......

I did not know exactly how much difference there was between the lifespan of the thing called the “king” and the prince beyond that mist.

'But that difference surely isn’t very long.'

If the being beyond the mist was the very next generation born from that king.

Then no matter how long parasitism took, it probably had not taken more than a few months.

That thing’s lifespan.......

No, the time remaining until it starved to death, would be only a few months to either side at most.

“You and I, Senior, only came here because we were threatened with the lives of others in this place, didn’t we?”

“That’s true.”

But.

That was those things’ problem.

“It is not as if I remember becoming friends with those things.”

Rather.

The story just now was quite a large piece of good news for us.

“We can block those zombies with the wall, but there’s no guarantee other regions are the same.”

“That’s true. We were already worrying about the zombies in other regions.”

“But...... isn’t this saying that they might die naturally? Then maybe it’s more beneficial for us to just buy as much time as possible until then.”

Well.

For now, the issue of the hostages remained, so we were going to confirm the hostages like this first, but.

“......It’s not as if we can do something that extends those zombies’ lifespans because of the hostages, is it?”

Unless the number of hostages was in the tens of millions.

In the end, saving those hostages would become something that threatened far more of humanity.

“No matter how I think about it, the best move is not to take this job. Can’t we do something about the hostages with the troops you brought, Senior?”

“Well, what you’re saying is right.”

Certainly, just as Howard said.

If we thought about it that way, there was no reason to accept those things’ proposal.

But, at the same time.

At the same time, there was a thought that came to mind.

“The will to live, huh.”

A destruction decided by someone else.

The will to resist that destruction.

That was...... how should I put it?

It belonged to the same line as what I had been chasing all this time.

“......Senior. Don’t tell me.”

The guy opened his mouth as he looked at me.

“Please, let’s not think anything strange. Hm?”

“Why are you rushing so much? I haven’t even decided to accept yet, have I?”

“I’m saying this because I feel like we should decide to refuse immediately.”

“We haven’t even negotiated the details yet, have we? Let’s talk about that part later.”

“Later......!”

“For now.”

As I walked while speaking with Howard, whose face had turned bewildered.

Before we knew it.

“Confirming those hostages comes first.”

We had arrived in front of a building.

***

What we arrived at was a fairly wide and enormous building.

The goblin approached the door and said as it opened it,

“We. Do not lie. Hu, mans. Many. As said...... all. Than two chefs, far, far. More.”

Creeeak.

The enormous door opened.

And then.

What was revealed inside was, just as that thing had said.

“Ughhh.......”

Lying collapsed on the floor and rolling around.

A considerable number of humans.

'Around a hundred?'

As I counted the number of people visible beyond the door.

Soon.

“......Huh?”

The humans inside.

They too seemed to discover us, and their eyes widened as they said,

“Th, them.”

“Those bastards came again.”

They looked at us with faces full of shock.

As I watched them, I noticed one strange point.

'......There are no restraints?'

They were lying on the floor with emaciated bodies.

But.

There was no kind of restraint attached to their bodies.

I had expected they would be gathered somewhere like this.

But I had expected their appearance to be more like, how should I put it, being tied up in solitary cells or chains.

Yet they were merely lying there because their bodies had no strength, scattered freely inside the building.

'Is it because they can catch them even if they try to run......?'

But even so.

Considering the trouble of catching them if they did run away, it would be better to suppress their movements as much as possible.

I found it a little strange that the people called hostages had been released so freely like that, but.

There was no point thinking about that right now.

“......Hello.”

I approached them as they spoke with a strange accent I had only ever heard on TV.

Then.

“Ge, get lost.”

They.

Looked at us with eyes full of hostility and shouted,

“You parasite bastard......!”

And.

After hearing that, I had no choice but to tilt my head.

'Parasite?'

Because.

“Wh, who are you taking this time!”

“Please...... just leave us alone.......”

Despite the fact that Howard and I should look like fairly normal humans.

They seemed to regard us as zombies.