“SEEING it up close is pretty daunting…”
The capital of Grantz is a fortified city, surrounded entirely by tall stone walls you have to crane your neck to see the top of. This kind of structure exists in the world I come from, too, but I’ve only ever seen pictures of it. I’m totally overwhelmed by seeing the real thing in person.
“Hey, since this is a fortified city…does that mean you were at war?”
Several moats and canals encircle the city walls. We are currently lying low in one of the dried-out canals, but the mere fact they went to such lengths to prevent invasions gives me the sneaking suspicion they had something they were trying to stop from coming in.
“No. Grantz has never gone to war. These defenses are not for us to partake in war, but to keep others from dragging us into wars. The other two major countries have been fighting for many years now…” Cia sorrowfully relates, squeezing my hand.
Incidentally, the zombie stench has vanished from my right hand. I purified a handy poisonous swamp we had passed along the way and scrubbed my hands in the clean water.
“I’m glad your country isn’t at war, Cia. I wouldn’t really want to purify a country that’s war hungry…”
“Rest assured Grantz is a country that symbolizes peace.”
“And it is Grantz’s Royal Knights who protect that peace,” Lex proudly continues after Cia.
“Hear, hear.” I nod along with him. “You really are amazing, Lex.”
“Nay. This is what a knight is called to be.”
“I respect you. I do. Anyway, I’m heading back to my island. Good luck.”
“Thank you, Lady Mizuha. Please be safe— Wait! Why are you leaving?! Please come back here, Lady Mizuha!”
I had made an about-face, but Lex throws out his arms and stands in my way. Sighing, I glance over my shoulder at the stone wall.
“This isn’t right. What the heck is with those numbers? There are hundreds more than what was in that horde. And that’s just what we can see!”
An absurd number of zombies are loitering in front of the city walls. At a glance, I can tell there are more than a few hundred. If it’s like this everywhere around the outer walls, then there are thousands of zombies in the area.
“Don’t you think it’s smarter to purify the lone zombies first? We’ll be surrounded by hundreds of them before I can get much purification done, and we won’t have the time to look after the people I succeed in purifying. Not to mention we won’t have anywhere to run once we set foot inside the walls.”
The more people we bring back from zombieland, the more information we can gather and the higher my chances of finding a way home become. But it’s ridiculously stupid to plunge into a place crawling with zombies. We would be literally rushing to our doom.
“I hate to say it, but your plan is insane. Or have you put more thought into it than what you let on, Lex?”
“Going forward, I want to keep the citizens you bring back to life with your holy powers as far from danger as possible. However, there is a limit to what I can do alone.”
Why is he okay putting me in danger but not the citizens? I really want to know the answer to that one.
“You plan to purify the Royal Knights and have them assist you,” Cia says, filling in the information Lex left out.
He nods and explains from there. “The Royal Knights’ primary duty is to defend the castle, including patrolling inside the city walls, which leads me to believe they are very likely still inside.”
“I won’t argue with you on how reassuring it would be to have lots of strong fighters on our side, but—”
“Aside from my desire to borrow the help of the Royal Knights,” Lex says over my objections, “I also believe the sturdy castle is an optimum temporary shelter.”
“Those are great ideas, but it’s still too dangerous. What’s your plan if there are even more zombies beyond the castle walls?”
“The zombies are slow-footed. They can’t catch us if we run.”
“Supposing there is somewhere TO run,” I say with a sigh.
I feel like I’m doing nothing but raising objections. I try to come up with a counterplan, but I have no better ideas than to search out lone zombies and purify them in small numbers. But it’s anyone’s guess if increasing our number of allies will actually make liberating the capital of zombies any easier.
As it stands, I’m the only one capable of purifying anything. When I consider the possibility of our new allies reverting to zombies on us, I can’t say boosting our numbers is necessarily a good thing. Taking all of that into account, Lex’s plan to purify a limited number of people inside the castle and use it as both a shelter and a quarantine zone might be plausible after all.
My biggest concern is Cia and her lack of stamina. From what I can see, the distance between the city walls and the castle spire is long. When it comes down to it, will we be able to safely make it inside the castle? Can Cia run that far?
I look searchingly at Cia, and she welcomes my gaze with determination brimming in her eyes. “I will do everything in my power to make it! If I begin to slow you down…please leave me behind.”
“Leave you behind? You’ll turn into a zombie!”
“If I do…I hope you will come back and purify me later.”
She isn’t joking—she’s serious. I can’t believe I’m being so indecisive when this small child has already found her answer. I feel kind of pathetic even when I set aside the fact that Cia is doing this for her kingdom.
Why am I stuck doing something like this? It’s not my problem. Those are my strongest feelings at the moment, but constantly running away isn’t going to change anything. I exhale and shift stances.
“Fine. I won’t raise further objections.”
“…Big Sister!”
I hold up my index finger when Cia breaks into a great big smile. “But you must promise me one thing. I can’t stand the idea of leaving someone behind. I don’t care how dangerous and difficult it gets—you must fight to survive until the very end. You hear me?”
“Yes!” Cia exclaims.