Zombie vs. Plant (3)
I watched Yakacham sprint off and suddenly found myself alone on the cliffside.
Must be nice. Getting a confession from a cute girl and everything.
“Th-this isn’t what it looks like…”
Whatever. Let’s head back. Tomorrow’s gonna be brutal.
“Got it…”
I coaxed the sulking Momo into a better mood and turned my steps back toward the village hall.
…Is it because of her?
The reason you chose to help the druids.
“Huh?”
You told Lev you’d help them.
I had answered Lev’s question earlier by saying I would help the druids. But that decision hadn’t come after hearing Yakacham’s story. I’d simply spotted her running past while I was taking a short walk after answering Lev.
Hmph. Sure. You were all cozy with that girl yesterday too.
“That was…!”
Sigh… I know. I know you didn’t actually decide for that reason. You were still agonizing over it until the very end.
“Exactly! Honestly, the majority of my heart was still leaning toward just going back!”
Of course I couldn’t say Yakacham hadn’t influenced me at all, but the real reason I’d chosen to help the village was something else entirely.
Then… why did you make that choice? You’re still weak, and you’ve barely been in this world. Lev’s wounds have worsened, and this kind of large-scale battle is way too early for you.
“I… I just wanted to.”
Huh?
“I just… felt like I had to…”
The truth was, even I didn’t fully understand what I was feeling. The story Yakacham had told me about how this village came to be, and the rules created because of it, hadn’t even crossed my mind.
“It’s like… an instinct? Some kind of impulse just hit me…”
…It’s fine. I think I get it.
“Thanks…”
Luckily Momo seemed to understand what I meant. We headed back to the village hall together.
“Lev, I’m ba—”
“Ugh…”
Lev was already fast asleep. I found a spot for myself and settled in.
“Is he okay? He’s sweating…”
His injuries must have been worse than they looked. Even in his sleep, Lev kept breaking out in cold sweats.
“Come on, you don’t have to hide it anymore…”
Maybe it was habit, but even after revealing her identity, Lev still slept in her robe.
“Hmm… there’s nothing I can really do…”
I wasn’t a doctor, so there was nothing I could do but go to sleep.
“Uwaaaaah…”
It was early morning. Maybe because the bed was different, I woke up unusually early for once.
“Ugh…”
“Lev?”
Lev, who was always up before me, was still lying there groaning in pain.
“Lev! Wake up, it’s morning.”
“Ugh… is it…?”
“Are you alright? Does it hurt a lot?”
“I can move…”
“Don’t push yourself too hard.”
While we were tidying up the space a bit, the village chief soon walked in.
“Did you sleep well, ya?”
“Ah, Chief…”
“We need to get ready quickly, ya. The zombies will be swarming soon, ya.”
“This early in the morning?”
“That’s right, ya…”
Huh? Isn’t it common knowledge that zombies only appear at night?
“Don’t zombies usually only come out at night?”
“Huh…? What are you talking about, ya? Why would zombies only appear at night, ya?”
“…This other world is complicated.”
Damn it. The things I know and the things that are completely different are all mixed together, so it’s hard to do anything.
“But why have the zombies been increasing?”
“I don’t know, ya… Hmm… Now that I think about it, a sentry once said he saw a suspicious outsider in a black robe, ya.”
“Suspicious… black… robe…?”
No way…
Probably exactly what you’re thinking.
“Crazy…”
Why the hell is a dark mage here…? Weren’t they trying to get into the city…?
“They looked like they were being chased by something… But surely that couldn’t be the reason, ya!”
“…”
“Anyway, get ready and come out quickly, ya!”
The chief said there was a lot to prepare and left. I turned to look at Lev.
“Lev… you don’t think…”
“Yeah. It seems the Empire’s people from back then are chasing that dark mage.”
“Then the dark mages…”
“Would have fled into this forest and sensed the dark energy here.”
“Dark energy…”
“It’s the scar left behind when the first hero and his final enemy clashed. That’s the cause. The druid who was once his comrade stayed behind to purify the dark energy in this forest.”
Wait, if that’s the case…
“Is this… because of us?”
“No. The cause is the dark mages. It seems they did something reckless with the dark energy in this forest.”
“Still… if it weren’t for us, that dark mage wouldn’t have had any reason to enter this forest.”
“We can’t know that. We don’t know what their goal is.”
Lev’s words were logical, but I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling.
“If the dark mages were targeting this forest from the beginning and came to the city for that reason, then the druids’ disaster was bound to happen anyway.”
Lev must have noticed how I was feeling and reassured me that it wasn’t our fault.
“Let’s get ready for now. The zombies will be coming soon.”
“…Alright.”
“I’ll head out and try to find a sword. You rest.”
Since I needed a sword to use Sword Arts, I left the village hall and started searching for one.
“A sword, ya…? We don’t use those here, ya.”
“A sword for a druid… What nonsense, ya.”
“A blacksmith, ya? What’s that, ya?”
But there wasn’t a single sword to be found in this druid village.
“What now…? Without Sword Arts, I don’t have any way to fight…”
You have Emergency Dodge Maneuver.
“That’s an evasion skill! I still need some way to attack!”
Huh…? Why?
“What do you mean why…? Obviously I need to take down the zombies.”
Think back. How did we take down those skeletons underground without using Sword Arts?
“……Oh.”
A way to help the druids without relying on Sword Arts suddenly flashed through my mind.
“Are you all ready, ya?”
A short while later, Lev and I headed to where the druids had gathered.
“Yes. We’ll stop the zombies here…?”
“No, ya. This spot is too close to the village. We need to go farther, ya.”
“Ah, right…”
If we fought right in front of the village, every time we stopped the zombies the village would take damage.
“Then let’s set out, ya.”
The chief was saying something to the gathered druids. I looked around at them.
Quite a few were injured, but most of them seemed used to this kind of thing. Their eyes were cold and sharp, radiating tension. The ratio of men to women was about even. The male druids wore robes made of grass and vines with various animal pelts layered on top. The female druids mostly carried large wooden staves.
‘Their roles are different…?’
Since neither Lev nor Momo knew how druids fought, I could only watch.
“Huff… huff… You haven’t left yet, ya…”
At that moment, Yakacham came running from far away.
“Yakacham, ya! Didn’t I tell you not to come here, ya!”
The moment the chief spotted her, he rushed over and started scolding her.
“But ya! Aren’t we short on adults right now, ya! I can fight too, ya!”
“No you can’t, ya! You are the one who will succeed me, ya! If something happens to you too…”
Hmm… It seemed there was a deep story between them. But Yakacham is the next chief? That was news to me…
See? She’s probably clinging to you because she doesn’t want to be chief.
“Well… that could be part of it…”
I somehow managed to calm Momo, who always got prickly whenever she saw Yakacham.
“Hero, ya!”
“Yakacham…”
“You have to, you absolutely have to come back safely, ya!”
Yakacham said that and then threw her arms around me tightly.
“Y-Yakacham! Suddenly doing this…”
“It doesn’t matter, ya!”
“No… I mean…”
When Yakacham hugged me, the people around us started whispering with intrigued looks. And I could feel the chief’s sharpest glare boring into me.
‘Yakacham… are you trying to get me shot with a shotgun…?’
After what felt like hundreds of millions of years, Yakacham finally loosened her grip.
“Hero, ya… I’ll be waiting, ya…”
With those words, she ran back toward the village.
“Hero, ya.”
“Uhh… you see…”
As expected, the chief approached me.
“…Let’s go for now, ya. We don’t have much time, ya.”
“Yes, understood…”
“EVERYONE!!!!! We’re moving out, ya!!!!!”
“Waaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!”
And so, together with the druids, we set off toward the place where the zombies were appearing.
“Hero, ya.”
While we were moving, the chief came up beside me.
“Yes, Chief…”
“…What do you think of Yakacham, ya?”
“…!”
But the words that came out of the chief’s mouth were completely unexpected.
“…She’s a good kid. The first time we met, she dropped her guard the moment she saw Lev’s wound and tried to help us.”
“Sigh… She really is too soft, ya…”
“That’s not what I… Isn’t there a saying? That kindness is also a kind of strength…”
“…You’re right, ya. Her mother was exactly the same, ya.”
The chief looked up at the sky as he spoke.
“Yakacham’s mother…”
“She was my wife, ya.”
“…Yakacham told me…”
“That’s right, ya. She has already returned to nature’s embrace, ya.”
Hmm… Was there a connection between Yakacham’s mother dying and her saying she wanted to leave the village?
“It was a disease, ya. A contagious one.”
“A contagious disease…”
In this poor rural… no, practically wilderness village, if someone caught an infectious disease…
“Of course we had no choice but to send her away from the village, ya. She understood that too. But…”
“How old was Yakacham at the time?”
“She was very young, ya. Not old enough to understand her mother leaving the village…”
“…”
I couldn’t find the words. It must have been heartbreaking and unavoidable, but…
“After that, Yakacham has hated me, ya… She says I stopped her from going to her mother, that I drove my own wife away and never once went to find her. A heartless man…”
“But… there was no other choice… By now Yakacham should understand it was the only thing you could do…”
“Even so… understanding with your head and understanding with your heart are two different things…”
The chief paused for a moment before continuing.
“Hero, ya. When this is all over, could you take Yakacham with you?”
“…! Are you… really serious…?”
“I am, ya. It would be better for her to live in a wider world than this village, ya.”
“I…”
Just as I was about to answer, a druid at the front shouted.
“Chief, ya! We’ve almost arrived, ya!”
“Understood, ya! Everyone prepare, ya!”
We seemed to have finally reached the place where the zombies appeared. As proof, broken trees and torn-up ground were visible all around.
“Chief… I…”
“We’ll talk about that after this is over, ya.”
The chief nodded once and went to the other druids.
“Sigh… Will this be okay…?”
“Well, it should be.”
Lev and I were left standing around while the druids busily prepared. Even though we’d come as reinforcements, we’d never fought alongside them before, so we had no choice but to wait until the battle began.
“By the way, I couldn’t find a sword after all.”
“Ah, that’s fine. This big brother has a plan!”
When I spoke confidently, Lev looked at me with doubtful eyes.
“Right… You must have something in mind…”
“Of course! You just stay here and throw some punches, okay!”
Because of her injury and her short reach, Lev was assigned to handle any zombies that slipped past the front line.
“They’re coming, ya!!!!!”
A rough cry rang out. Then came the low groans.
Uwooooooo—
One by one, zombies with corpse-colored skin began rising from the ground.
“First line, ya! Everyone advance, ya!!!”
At the chief’s command, the male druids wearing animal pelts over their robes stepped forward.
“Let’s go, ya!!!! Transform, ya!!!!!”
In time with the chief’s shout, the druids who had stepped forward cried out after him.
“Transform, ya!!!!!”
Each of them moved in different poses, as if they had designated forms. The animal pelts they wore began to grow larger until they completely enveloped their bodies. Then the druids transformed into the beasts whose pelts they had been wearing.
“Holy crap… Is that normal…?”
I have no idea… What the hell is that…
“Second line, ya!!!!! Prepare, ya!!!!!”
When the chief shouted again, the female druids behind them stretched out their staves and began muttering something.
Uwooooooooo—
The number of zombies kept increasing. They looked ready to charge at any moment.
“Alright, time for me to step up…?”
I took a few deep breaths in my mind, picked up several rocks scattered on the ground, and held them.
“Here I gooooooo!!!!!!”
I dashed past the transformed druids and charged straight into the middle of the zombie horde.
Uwooooo—
The zombies spotted me and immediately rushed toward me.
“Hero, ya!!!”
“Don’t worry about me! Just fight like you normally would!!!”
Uwooooooo—
A zombie’s hand reached out to grab me, but…
Vwoong—
My body moved on its own, naturally slipping through the gaps between the zombies.
“This is…”
The druids seemed shocked that I was dodging every single zombie attack. They couldn’t take their eyes off me.
“Chief! Now! While the hero is drawing their aggro, attack!”
Luckily, Lev, who had stayed behind, noticed what I was thinking and urged the chief on.
“But ya… if we attack, the hero will also…”
“The hero will be fine! He’ll dodge any attack! Hurry up and attack!!!”
“Ah, understood, ya! Everyone, attack, ya!!!”
The moment the chief finished speaking, the green energy orbs the female druids had prepared flew toward me and the zombies.
Vwoong—
But the orbs only struck the zombies.
“Nice!”
I kept weaving through the zombies, throwing rocks at any that tried to head toward the druids.
“If we keep this up, we’ll be fine!”
…Isn’t that a flag?
“…Ah.”