NOVEL WEB Chapter 36: Left the Village
===A Certain Silver-Ranked, Middle-Aged Adventurer===
「H-Hey… y-you must be kidding me… right?」
I, who felt cold running down my spine upon hearing Pimp's remark, asked him so.
But my young comrade-in-arm's serious expression didn't change at all.
「I-If that's the true then, why in the world are the villagers acting like nothing happened?」
「Well, that's only natural since newspapers won't reach a frontier village like thi―wait a minute, maybe…」
Pimp continued on after a moment of silence.
「―All of these villagers… have already turned into undead.」
「!!!」
Now, the day had already turned into night.
Although I didn't want to admit this―night was the time when the undead were most active.
「Have already turned into undead… They might be just being manipulated, right? D-Don't say such scary things. I mean… the way they act is too natural.」
「But… such a thing might be possible for high-ranking undead, right?」
Come to think of it, I did hear the rumor that the undeads who were controlled by Jean Diego, the necromancer, could act and speak normally just like when they were still alive.
And since the one we were talking about was a great disaster-rank undead, turning every villager into his subordinate and making them act like normal might be possible for him.
Nay, since he was the so-called great disaster-rank monster, I don't think it would stop with just that.
He might have done so without being noticed by us. All the villagers had already became undead―
「Meals are ready.」
「HIIIII?!」
I untentionally let out a shriek upon hearing a voice from the direction of the door.
「Hahaha! I wish you could see your scared face just now!」
「Y-You bastard, I really hate it when you ridicule me like that!」
Pimp burst into laughter upon hearing me shrieking like a kid.
Anyhow, the matter just now was probably just his made-up story to scare me.
I felt like being cheated just now.
「Dammit.」
We left the room while continuing our banter in that way.
After that, we ate dinner that was prepared by the benevolence of the landlord.
Although it was a simple dish, common for frontier villages like this, the taste wasn't that bad.
In addition, I noticed another thing.
「Are you not eating your meal?」
「Yes. Tonight is a special day for us. That's why, please, enjoy the food without worrying about us.」
For some reason, it seemed that the inhabitants of this house—no, all of the villagers—didn't eat dinner tonight.
「Papa, I'm hungry~」
「I'm famished~」
「Please, endure it for a while longer, okay.」
Nevertheless, he rebuked the children who were complaining about their hunger.
Endure it… a while longer he said?
Did that mean they were going to eat another dish after this?
Uhm, I couldn't understand them.
「We also have liquor if you want something to drink.」
「Oh, thank you very much—Uhn? What's the matter, Pimp? You don't want to drink?」
「…」
「Hey, what's the matter? Your complexion doesn't seem too good.」
After I enjoyed a little bit of liquor, we went back to our room, a bit tipsy thanks to the liquor.
Suddenly, Pimp spoke with a slightly trembled voice.
「L… Let's escape from this place immediately!」
「H-Hey, what are you talking about?」
「Didn't you hear what they were talking about a while ago?! No matter how you think about it, they're clearly about to eat us, you know?」
「WAH?」
In short, what the village head said about waiting for a little bit was… to eat us?
Did that mean they were going to wait for us to sleep… and then launch a night attack to kill us?
「No way, please stop saying such scary things already.」
「I'm fu*cking serious right now! Feel free to stay if you want to be eaten by those undead, but I'm going to leave this village right away!」
「H-Hey…」
This guy managed to trick me before, but I knew that he was serious this time.
I sobered up at once.
「I-I understand. Let's leave this place at once. But how?」
「Since the gate of this village is shut during the night… we have no choice but to jump over the wall.」
「Okay, let's go with that.」
「Please, wait a minute… What are you going to say if they find you leaving from the front door! If we're going to leave… use the window!」
「Y-You're right.」
And then, after we left from the sole window in our room, we ran in the darkness toward the hamlet's wall―completely forgetting the fact that our opponents were undead.
「Papa! Our guests are gone!」
「Eh… seriously!」
Chills ran down our spines upon hearing that voice.
「W-What are you doing, hurry up?!」
「C-Can't be helped! I'm a rearguard, remember!」
Due to that unexpected difficulty, I grabbed Pimp's hand and pulled him on top of the wall.
Thus, we managed to escape safely from that terrifying village.
I had to report this emergency situation as soon as we made it back to the adventurer guild.
◇ ◇ ◇
===A Certain Undead With Communication Disorder===
「…」
I tilted my head upon seeing the scenery different from the usual scenery during the meal.
Normally, the village chief would eat together with his family, but for some reason, they only prepared my portion right now.
The village chief then said the following words as if guessing my confusion.
「The truth is, there's an old custom in this village. Everyone won't eat a dinner tonight except for the first prey hunted by our young villagers.」
Custom, huh.
Come to think of it, I remember that my village back when I was still alive had strange customs too.
When the men came of age, there was a so-called coming-of-age ritual—a ritual in which they made those young men jump down from the watch tower of the village.
Naturally, since there was no mattress prepared below, there were always cases in which those men made a mislanding and broke their leg.
Well, in the end, I had no chance to partake in such a ritual since I left my village before reaching adulthood.
「Naturally that's only for the villagers. That's why feel free to eat as usual.」
「…」
I nodded.
And yet… to be honest, it was really difficult for me to eat these dishes.
In the first place, undead like me had no need for food. I would be fine even if I was treated in the same way as those young men.
「Please, don't feel too reserved. In fact, we welcomed adventurers too just a while ago. Those adventurers should be enjoying their meal too around this time.」
It seemed two adventurers who accepted the villagers’ request just arrived today.
They came from a faraway place to help the villagers fight back against the kobolds.
… However, they were too late.
I wanted them to forgive me for stealing their job though. After all, this village would have been practically wiped out unless I did so.
Uhm? Was there something happening outside?
Soon enough, I heard a voice come from the entrance.
The village chief hurriedly went out and seemed to be talking to a few villagers.
「Those adventurers are gone?」
「Y-Yes… they're gone from their room… We're currently looking for them inside the village.」
「Just… what's happening here?」
「I have no idea… but they might actually the ghosts of dead adventurers.」
「… A-As if they're.」
Your voice was trembling, you know, village chief.
It seemed that even the villagers here were afraid of the undead.
Ironically, these kind people had no idea that their savior here was the actual undead.
Nevertheless… if those adventurers were truly undead, I should be the one who first realized about that fact.
But there was no way a normal, living adventurer in the flesh would suddenly vanish without any explanation.
This was interesting, indeed.
In the end, the villagers never found out the whereabouts of those adventurers, even after the morning had come.
===
One thing led to another, and it had been a few days since I came to this village.
Although I could hold simple conversations with a few people, a long and deep conversation was still impossible for me.
But then, I realized that there was no way the villagers of this frontier village knew of「a means to kill me」.
Thus, I decided to ask the villagers if I could find some city around this area.
「Then the one you're looking for is the royal capital. Naturally, since Tana Kingdom is just a small kingdom, our royal capital can't be compared to the other kingdom's capital.」
From what I heard from the villagers, apparently, I was currently in a small kingdom called Tana Kingdom.
It seemed I had already crossed over to another country before I noticed.
But of course, I had no idea whether the thing I was looking for could be found in this kingdom's royal capital.
Well, at the very least, the possibilities were far higher than in this frontier village.
… I mean, I shouldn't overstay my welcome.
Thus, I decided to leave this village.
After I conveyed my will to them, not only were the villagers disappointed by that news, they even held a banquet to send me off.
「Please, be careful of bandits or dangerous monsters along the way, but… Well, I guess someone as powerful as you doesn't have to worry about such problems.」
「You absolutely must come to play again later, uncle!」
I waved my hand toward the villagers as I departed from the village.
They had no idea about the fact that I was an undead, but this was the first time I was being treated so kindly by others.
I felt a bit lonely upon leaving the village.
I hoped the people of the royal capital of this kingdom would receive me kindly just like those villagers…