LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 51: The White-Haired Undead Was Nearby
===A Certain Female Holy Knight===
Although I somehow got stuck in the middle, I somehow managed to slip through the opening of the gate.
「What… kind of place is this?」
「This is the slum district. It's a place that's surrounded by a new rampart and an old rampart.」
Upon looking around, I realized that the youth was telling the truth. A crude building was lined up inside the old rampart.
People started to appear from narrow alleys and shabby gates, creating a small gathering around us.
「Welcome back Onii-chan, Onee-chan!」
「Who's the Onee-chan over there~?」
Yes, it was the gathering of children.
There was even an infant that was just learning how to walk amongst them.
「The children who got left behind gathered in this place.」
「Left behind?」
When I asked for more details, I was told that monsters had started to attack the city more frequently around a half-month ago, thus forcing the citizens to abandon their city.
The same went for the residents of the slum district.
But then, such a rush caused many children to be left behind by the adults. Those children then gathered in this slum district.
「Since we're familiar with many of them, we can't just leave them behind.」
The pair of siblings who saved me before had been training in archery and swordcraft in order to become adventurers in the future.
That was why even though both of them should be able to escape to safety by working together, they decided to stay in this city to protect the children. They sometimes left the old rampart to scavenge food outside in the dangerous city where monsters were running rampant.
「We just happen to see you fighting against those monsters during one of our outings.」
「So that was the reason, huh.」
Nevertheless, this situation was strange.
In a normal situation, the kingdom should've dispatched its army to investigate the origin of the abnormal monster appearances.
And yet, why did they leave it for more than half a month?
「The adults said that this kingdom can't move their army freely. Strange right, even though this is supposed to be our country.」
「…I see.」
I understood the implication behind the youth's remark.
By the time Raoul Kingdom became the vassal state of the empire, even their army was under the control of the empire.
And the very same imperial army was currently advancing toward their neighboring kingdom, continuing their aggression. It seemed that the Raoul Kingdom's army was mixing amongst them.
It seemed that not even a single soldier was left behind to protect their homeland.
When the citizens couldn't rely on the country and their feudal lord, the adventurers should have been playing their vital part.
But to begin with, there was no adventurer guild in the empire.
The existence of an adventurer guild, an international organization, might be a little bit inconvenient for the empire that cut through all diplomatic relations with other countries.
「But as far as I can see, the number of monsters seems to have decreased exponentially. Maybe this monster plague will end in the near future.」
「I'm more than happy if that's the case, but… it's mainly thanks to that white big bro that the number of monsters in this city decreased exponentially.」
「White big bro?」
「Yeah, he's, like, super strong, you know. He beat a troll in the blink of eyes after all!」
They told me that they encountered a troll as big as a house by accident when they were scavenging for food in the city.
Although they escaped right away since they judged that they were no match for the troll, the troll caught up easily to them.
And right when they were overwhelmed with despair, the white big bro they were talking about appeared like a dashing hero.
「As big as… a house?」
Surely, the troll was a huge monster, but even I couldn't help but be puzzled when they told me that the troll was as big as a house.
Since they were in this slum district, they might be using the size in this area as a comparison.
「See, that's the corpse of the troll.」
「??!」
When I looked where the youth pointed, I was at a loss for words upon seeing the giant corpse buried under the rubble.
When comparing it with a normal troll's height which was around three meters, this corpse's height easily surpassed twice that height.
That was only speaking about its height. Its width might be even a dozen times mine.
No matter how much I tried to deny it, that was definitely not a mere troll.
It was a superior species.
「Troll… king?」
The troll king would be a disaster-class monster.
A country should have sent its army to subjugate it.
Defeating such a creature alone was already far beyond the ability of a human.
「That white guy, are you referring to his… hair color?」
「Yeah, he has pure white hair and bright red eyes.」
No doubt about it.
The White-Haired Undead.
It seemed that guy had come to this city too.
「Do you know where is he right now?」
「He might be still in the vicinity of this city.」
「In this city?」
「It seems he beat up the monster who came into the city. That's why it's a lot of easier for us to scavenge for food these days.」
「D-Do you know his exact position right now?」
When I asked that question with a timid voice, the pair of siblings shook their heads.
「We don't know where he is right now. He seems like a shy person. He might be hiding somewhere in this city right now.」
「We want to thank him properly, but…」
It seemed they saw him every once in a while inside the city.
It seemed he had various problems on his side.
And yet, he ran away when we called out to him.
…No doubt about it.
There was only one undead with such a unique feature in the world.
But then… I wonder why he escaped after saving people?
「But I think we can finally talk to him in a while.」
「It was just as my sister had said. It felt like the distance before he escaped keep getting shorter these days.」
「I-I see.」
Right at that moment, I wanted to have a proper conversation with him, but… If things went well, this pair of siblings might be able to help me.
「Do you mind if I stay with you in this place for a while longer? Naturally, I'll help you to the best of my ability.」
◇◇◇
===A Certain Undead With Communication Disorder===
「Nevertheless… they just keep coming endlessly, huh.」
I muttered those words while overlooking the cityscape from the top of the watchtower.
A few days had passed since I arrived in this city.
Since then, all I'd been doing was eliminating the monsters who came into the city and making a simple barricade to prevent more monsters from entering the city.
This way, it should be safer for those children who were left behind in this city.
Excluding the sibling who I saved from the troll a few days ago, it seems the number of the children who were left behind was more than twenty.
The majority of them were toddlers. As the most senior members amongst them, the siblings were scavenging for food inside the city to feed the other children.
But when I looked at the scenery outside of the city, monsters were running rampant.
Even though I purged them a few times before, they came right back a while later.
Or rather, I got this feeling that their numbers had increased compared to before.
By the way, the reason why I didn't see many of them when I just arrived in the city might be because I forgot to seal my mana again.
And since I sealed my mana again as soon as I arrived in this city, they started to gather again.
「There's no end to them no matter how much I beat them. I need to find the reason for this strange monster outbreak and…」
Yes, there must be a reason for this monster outbreak.
I should be able to stop this monster outbreak as long as I found the cause and solved it.
「At a glance, the area with the most monsters is the… northeast, huh.」
I talked to myself while looking in the northeast direction.
To put it simply, the denser the population of monsters, the closer it might be to the cause of this incident.
And the very thing I saw in the northeast direction was a forest.
The monsters that overflowed from that forest might turn this region into a monster's paradise.
「Let's try to investigate the forest then. And I guess it safe to leave this city for few days since the monsters in the city have been nearly annihilated.」
And then, the moment when I was about to go to the northeast to investigate the origin of this monster outbreak…
「H~I!」
「ONII-CHA~N!」
I heard someone's voice calling me out from below the clock tower.
It was that sibling.
I kept encountering them again and again after I saved them. It seemed they wanted to thank me for saving their lives.
I was about to respond to their call since I also had some questions for them, but…
I-I swear I didn't escape from them because of the youthful little sister.
I-I mean, I shouldn't have a problem talking with a girl of her age!
Aah, I guess it was better to not approach them carelessly since they seemed to be afraid of me―
「BIG BROO! PLEASE COME DOWN!」
「WE WANT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING!」
…
The area around the clock tower was a plaza.
A normal person would need to go through the plaza, and thus by those children, but in my case, I could jump all the way to the rampart.
What should I do now…?
「…」
After various considerations, I ended up choosing to go down from the clock tower, mustering my courage to greet them back.
===
TN: These kids must be the reincarnation of Zhuge Liang