LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 48: Regressed to Infancy
===A Certain Undead With Communication Disorder===
「Ooh, welcome, dear traveler. Here is the village at the western border of Tana Kingdom, Yanema.」
「…Western border?」
「You'll arrive in the wastelands if you keep going west from here. That wasteland is located between the western border of this kingdom and the Raoul Kingdom.」
I spent an entire day trying to escape from those two dragons.
I arrived in a deserted village called Yanema.
Though the villagers were really surprised at first upon seeing a mysterious white-haired youth come out of nowhere, since they rarely got any visitors, they gave me a warm welcome.
Since there were only a few old people in this village, it made it slightly easier for me to hold a conversation with them.
「Is that Raoul Kingdom… big?」
「Nope, it's a small kingdom around the size of Tana Kingdom. There used to be an exchange between this kingdom and Raoul Kingdom in the past. At that time, this village was prospering, but… Unfortunately, Raoul Kingdom has become a vassal state of the Kranzle Empire. Thanks to that, the relationship between the two kingdoms has been nonexistent, leaving this village in the state you see now.」
It seemed that the Kranzle Empire was the biggest country on the western continent.
The problem was that it used armed invasion to expand its territory, swallowing the countries around it. Thus, it created a tense relationship with its neighbors.
「We’ve always trembled in fear, wondering when they would invade. If we at least had a splendid king like Romana…」
The ruler of this kingdom didn't seem to be a reliable person.
It seemed that all he did was eat and sleep, entrusting all the jobs to his excellent subordinates. And yet, he had needlessly high pride.
Even though I only heard about his description, it was enough to convince me of one fact… that the king was useless.
That aside, I was curious about the Kranzle Empire.
I heard that it had the most advanced magecraft technologies amongst the western countries.
That country could have a way to kill me.
So, I should go to Raoul Kingdom first, and from there, I'd head to the Kranzle Empire.
◇◇◇
===A Certain Female Holy Knight===
Two days had passed since the white-haired undead left the royal capital along with his familiars, the two dragon emperors.
Maybe because he really had left the royal capital, there was no witness of his appearance around the royal capital.
Though the citizens of the royal capital were still plagued by fear, the condition improved day by day.
Though we failed to subjugate the No Life King, we still received plenty of gratitude from Beit-dono since we managed to drive out the walking disaster from the royal capital.
From a small kingdom like Tana’s perspective, having a great disaster leaving their kingdom was a great achievement.
Moreover, the number of casualties was zero, Z-E-R-O.
Though several priests received great mental damage, they were more or less unharmed.
On a side note, his majesty seemed to be trying to escape from the royal capital when we were confronting the two dragon emperors.
I was even more surprised upon hearing that the very same person returned to the royal capital by himself and hid in his bedroom, unwilling to leave.
His absence was no big deal due to his competent prime minister, Beit-dono.
And then― Neesan had yet to wake up ever since that incident.
「Uuuh… revived again… No way, dragon emperor… uuuh…」
「Neesan…」
She kept talking in her sleep. She was probably having a nightmare.
「Ten times… twenty times… one hundred times… uuuh… still revived… dragon emperor… ten dragon emperors… twenty dragon emperors… one hundred dragon emperors… Why do they keep growing in numbers….」
…Yup, that was a scary dream for sure.
「Worry not… Neesan. The undead and dragon emperors have left this place. There's only me, your little sister here.」
「Uuuh…」
Maybe because she felt safe after I reassured her, she let out a short groan.
「Now, be at ease Neesan… you already did your best. That's why please take a rest for the time being.」
I gently patted Neesan's head.
Thereupon, her pained expression gradually lessened.
Maybe because she really calmed down right now, the nonsensical sleep-talking from before had stopped, now replaced with a calm breathing sound.
While relieved by that change, I wiped Neesan's sweat with a wet towel.
At that moment… Neesan's eyelids opened slowly.
「Neesan…! Are you awake?」
I bent forward in a hurry, confirming Neesan's condition.
Neesan was looking at me with a strangely curious look in her eyes.
When I thought about that, tears began to pour from her eyes like a waterfall.
Maybe this was the first time I saw my sister crying.
Maybe because we were separated for almost ten years, by the time I became aware of my surroundings, she had already become the strong sister that I knew to this day.
But it was understandable knowing the current situation.
No matter how powerful Neesan had become, in the end, she was still a normal woman.
I mean, even I still cr―
「FUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I SAW A SCAWRY DREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM?!」
~?!
I was really confused since my sister was suddenly bawling like a little girl.
Moreover, she did so while hugging me tightly.
「N… Neesan?」
「It's scawyyy… uguugu…」
「W-Wait a minute, Neesan… o-ouch… t-too strong…」
「NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! DON'T LEAVE ME ALONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!」
Since she hugged me with her full strength, I ended up trying to peel her apart from me.
Her embrace became stronger by the second to the point that I had difficulty breathing.
Even this, Neesan, this was the first time, but…?
No way, did she just… regress to being an infant?!
It seemed that Neesan regressed to being an infant due to the overwhelming fear she experienced before.
Even if I tried to ask the doctor, they might tell me that she was healthy. The problem came from her mind.
「C-Can you calm down for now?」
「Uhm…」
Uhm…
The normal Neesan wouldn't reply in that way while nodding her head.
…With mucus dripping from her nose.
Well, at least she calmed down for now.
I heaved a sigh when she released me from a deadly embrace.
But then, what should I do about this situation…?
Since the doctor said that her problem was related to her mental state, they had no idea when she’d be healed.
But they told me that it would be better to let her live in our birthplace to give her peace of mind and accelerate her recovery.
This place was a foreign country.
It seemed I had to send her back to our homeland for her own sake.
Anyhow, Neesan couldn't fight the white-haired undead anymore.
After all, she already proved herself that purifying that white-haired undead with a divine sword was… pretty much impossible.
After that, I called my vice-captain, Porm.
「Is something the matter, Captain Limule?」
「I have an important duty for you. Please lead the special holy knight squad back to our homeland―the Holy Country Melt Ram—along with Knight Commander Celestia.」
Porm was dumbfounded upon hearing my order.
She knew that starting from now, I would take independent action.
「Why… captain?」
「I will go after that guy by myself.」
I had yet to give up chasing after that guy.
Naturally, I wouldn't act rashly since I knew that it was pretty much impossible to purify him.
「B-But, if that's the case, can you at least take the holy knights with you?」
「No, it's better if I go by myself.」
According to Beit-dono's information, that guy had already crossed the national border.
「He might've already arrived at Raoul Kingdom by now.」
「Raoul Kingdom… so that means, the empire's…」
「Yeah. Raoul—the vassal state of the empire—banned us, the holy knights, from entering their country.」
The empire banned any foreign religion from entering their territory, and Melt religion was placed at the top of their list.
Therefore, entering with a large number of people was pretty much impossible for us since it was harder to hide our identities.
「Captain… are you sure about this?」
「Don't worry. I won't make a blunder such as exposing my identity. In addition, I'll leave Nee-… the commander in your care.」
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TN : What Zion will do next with his bane, AKA woman, was chasing after him?