Chapter 94
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 82
Chapter Title: Uninvited Guests
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*Splat—*
A disgusting green liquid splattered onto my cheek. Ugh.
Just then, a dark shadow fell over me.
“You need to watch your back.”
Ethan’s voice came from behind me. When I turned my head, Ethan, who was now standing in front of me, swung his sword.
*Sliice—!*
The torso of the giant monster that had been right in front of my nose was ripped wide open. Then, as the monster collapsed, Ethan cleanly sliced off its head with his sword.
Ethan sighed and straightened his posture. He flicked his sword lightly, and the thick green liquid splattered onto the floor.
“Perfect teamwork, as always.”
I gave a thumbs-up to Ethan as he turned toward me. He let out a dry laugh and ruffled my hair.
“See, Miss Cherry? Don’t you think we would have done well if we’d partnered up?”
*Why is this man suddenly so hung up on being partners? The world has ended, anyway.* I shook my head.
“This is just out of necessity. I prefer living like a wastrel, spending money left and right.”
“We should probably get rid of these outside.”
Ethan said, looking at the two monster corpses as if he hadn’t heard me.
“How about we move them to the disposal site and burn them?”
That was the cleanest option. Ethan nodded in agreement. The corpses were enormous, but moving them was more of a hassle than a real difficulty for me.
I knelt on one knee in front of a monster’s corpse and asked Ethan.
“I think it’d be better to dismember the torso before we move it. It has to fit through the opening of the disposal unit.”
Ethan sat down beside me with a very serious expression and replied.
“Putting it like that, Miss Cherry, you sound like a terrifying psychopathic murderer right now.”
“Don’t try to back out. You’re my accomplice, Sir Ethan.”
“Making a police officer your accomplice? You’ve got guts.”
Ethan shot back my nonsense without missing a beat. I gave him a look that said I was done with him.
Harrison often told me I had a weird personality, but Ethan was no different. We got along perfectly. So much so that I was starting to feel disappointed he’d be leaving for the capital soon.
He calmly drew his sword, then gestured to my axe and asked.
“Do you want to do the dismembering, Miss Cherry, or should I?”
“You do it. It’s gross.”
“That’s not something the person who smashed this thing’s head in should be saying. Honestly…”
Sir Ethan looked at me and shook his head. Muttering “Honestly…” and clicking his tongue at me seemed to have become a habit of his.
Ethan dismembered the monsters’ corpses in a flash with his sword. While he did, I looked out the police station window.
The sun had completely set. The sky was turning a shade of violet.
Just then, a strange sight caught my eye. It wasn’t a monster.
*Is that… people?*
I hurriedly tapped Ethan on the back.
“Butchering isn’t that easy, Miss Cherry. Be patient.”
Ethan replied with a laugh. He must have thought I was rushing him.
“No, that’s not it. There’s someone outside. No, I see ‘people’.”
“What?”
Ethan stopped what he was doing and turned his head.
*Bang—! Rat-a-tat-tat—!*
Just then, armed men outside the window were engaged in a shootout. *What the hell? A shootout?*
I moved right up to the police station window. Ethan followed behind me and peered outside.
It looked like a fight had broken out between a group on our side of the police station and another group across from them.
“Sir Ethan, aren’t firearms illegal in Grayden?”
“They are.”
“Are there people in Brunel who would illegally own firearms? That many?”
“…There shouldn’t be.”
“So they’re outsiders.”
Just then, I caught a glimpse of people tied together with a rope, being moved somewhere down the alley.
*What is that?*
It looked like a line of prisoners being marched away.
Just then, Ethan stood up. He pulled the revolver from the holster on his thigh, checked the cylinder, and walked toward the back door, saying to me.
“First, I’ll check if the door is locked in case they try to get in here…”
*Click—*
And before Ethan could finish his sentence, the police station door opened.
It was a heavily armed man wearing a mask. He wore a khaki jacket, pants, and even a tie. The military cap on his head bore an ornate crest depicting the Lubelt Mountains—the symbol of the Grayden royal family.
The man before us was a soldier of the Kingdom of Grayden.
The moment the soldier and Ethan saw each other, they raised their guns and aimed. Things were getting very complicated.
*Harrison is going to be worried.*
The people at Happy House probably had no idea we were in this situation.
“Who are you?”
the soldier asked Ethan. Ethan answered without flinching.
“I was about to ask you the same thing.”
The soldier’s gaze shifted to the dismembered monster corpses. He scowled.
“What the fuck is that?”
The soldier’s eyes moved to Ethan and me. He looked back and forth between the corpses and us, his gaze filled with contempt. *That look… this is bad.*
“Psychopaths.”
Seeing those corpses, I suppose that was an inevitable conclusion. I scratched my cheek.
“Psychopaths is a bit harsh. Can’t you see my uniform? I’m a righteous police officer, you know.”
Ethan even managed a faint, relaxed smile. The soldier narrowed his eyes, looking Ethan up and down. Then he glanced at me, and his eyes widened.
“Cherry Sinclair?”
The soldier recognized me before Ethan. Ethan grumbled.
“I’m a little hurt. He recognized you first, Miss Cherry.”
“What can I say? I’m a superstar. If you don’t like it, you should try getting famous too, Sir.”
I shrugged at Ethan. Of course, even though I said that, Ethan was already quite famous. It was just that I was a more memorable, sensational kind of star.
“With the world ending, it seems my chance at fame is gone. Looks like I’ll die with my dreams unfulfilled. Console me, won’t you, Miss Cherry?”
“How tragic. I’ll make sure your epitaph reads, ‘Here lies Sir Ethan, who wanted to be famous.’”
I exchanged nonsensical banter with Ethan while carefully observing the soldier.
Unlike Ethan, who held a revolver, the soldier was armed with an assault rifle. Still, the reason I could be so relaxed was because I trusted Ethan.
Just then, the soldier, who had been listening to our conversation, looked back and forth between us in surprise.
“Cherry Sinclair and the blond police officer in Brunel… Are you Sir Ethan?”
“What’s this? Did you hear that, Miss Cherry? It seems we’re known as a set now.”
Ethan said to me, looking dumbfounded. Of course, he never lowered his revolver from its aim at the soldier.
It was probably because of the news articles published right before the apocalypse.
The soldier looked even more tense than before. His demeanor softened. He continued speaking gently, as if trying to persuade Ethan.
“Sir Ethan, please lower your weapon. I am not an enemy.”
“What kind of bullshit is that? Put your own gun down before you say something like that.”
“I cannot do that, for safety’s sake. But please, believe me. I came down to Brunel with my unit to find you, sir.”
*The Grayden Royal Army came down to Brunel to find Ethan…?*
Was this in the original story? The plot had already gone off the rails from the very beginning, so trying to recall the original was pointless, but I racked my brain anyway.
*Ah, right. I remember now.*
This never happened in the original story because Ethan never left the capital, Benton. But I do recall it being mentioned that Crown Prince Theodore tried to keep Ethan by his side. Not only did he trust Ethan immensely, but as I’ve said before, Ethan was a man with such exceptional survival skills that I wanted him on my side.
If Theodore trusted Ethan that much, it wouldn’t be strange for him to try and find Ethan no matter what.
Just then, Ethan asked the soldier with a tilt of his head.
“Say, are you really with the Royal Army? That rifle you’re holding isn’t the type issued by the army.”
*Huh?*
At Ethan’s words, I looked at the rifle aimed at us. But it wasn’t like I could tell if it was an army-issue rifle or a custom one just by looking.
Unexpectedly, however, the soldier’s face crumpled as if he’d been caught off guard. *What, so it’s true?*
If that’s the case, then Crown Prince Theodore isn’t the one looking for Ethan. Who on earth would impersonate the Royal Army just to find him?
“Damn it. My apologies, sir. I was under ‘his’ orders to bring you back, even if it meant kidnapping you.”
*Wait, wait, what…? Kidnap Ethan?*
*Could it be that someone else knows Ethan has the antibody to the virus…?*
Just then, the soldier suddenly fired at the filing cabinet next to Ethan. He was probably trying to create a distraction.
But by the time the soldier charged at him, Ethan had already kicked off the desk, launched himself into the air, and landed behind the soldier.
*Click.* The sound of Ethan pressing the muzzle of his revolver against the back of the soldier’s head and cocking the hammer was sharp and clear.
*Whoa. That was insane.*
I gave him a silent round of applause.
“Who is ‘he’?”
Ethan asked quietly, his sarcastic tone emphasizing the word “he.”