Plague (6)
The situation happened suddenly and out of the blue.
A light flashed, and the next moment, with a pop, the survivor’s head disappeared.
Most people were not even aware of what had happened.
“What the heck is this…”
My head flew off, and after a few seconds, I just looked around in bewilderment.
“Apprentice saint, can you explain?”
Only Hexen Torf, the only person who grasped the whole situation, looked at Ronan and asked that question.
At Hexen’s words, everyone’s eyes focused on Ronan.
“Saint Ronan…”
Even Azalea and Iris looked like they didn’t know why the saint did such a thing.
Of course, most people were confused because they did not understand why the saint, who was rumored to be benevolent and benevolent, had committed such atrocities.
In fact, the purpose of the expedition was to eliminate the contagious disease and the cause of the situation, so the saint’s method could not be seen as completely wrong.
Manpower is limited and their purpose was not to save people.
The saint’s method was certainly a reasonable decision if the survivors’ position was not taken into account.
However, even those living in a world where disregard for life is common, most of them felt some pity.
Perhaps it was the fact that a saint known for being benevolent had done such a thing, which made him even more disappointed.
In addition, even if there is no reaction due to the shock at the moment, it is possible to find out information about the situation if treated.
The first and only survivor was of great value in its own right.
The moment when the confusion in everyone’s mind gradually turned into disappointment at the saint’s careless judgment.
The saint’s hand moved.
The tips of her outstretched fingers pointed to the pregnant woman who had collapsed with her head blown out.
“look.”
People turned their attention to the pregnant woman who had already died, as if possessed by something in the saint’s calm tone.
The body of the pregnant woman who was still dead was ghastly.
It wasn’t just the pregnant woman. The life that would have settled in her belly would also have died.
And that life…
“Uh, huh?”
The first to notice the change was the soldier next to him who was carrying the pregnant woman.
“It’s good to fall.”
The soldier next to him inadvertently backed away at the words of the saint, who was still calm.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
Another soldier who was nearby approached one such soldier and asked.
“Did I see something? The boat seemed to have just moved…”
“What kind of nonsense is that? You’re saying that rigor mortem has already arrived?”
“No, not that kind…”
The soldier, who scolded the nonsense soldier and moved his attention back to the pregnant woman, also noticed the change.
“Uh…? It’s really moving.”
The belly of the pregnant woman, who fell on a sprawl and headed for the sky, gradually began to stir violently.
Now everyone could notice the strangeness even if they weren’t right next to it.
And finally, the pregnant woman’s belly swells up like it’s about to tear.
gi profit
Kyaaagh!
With an unpleasant sound of flesh being torn, something jumped up and, with a scream, rushed at the nearest person.
Ah, the fleeting moment.
The rushing monster was pulled out of the air by some strong force, and the monster that was bouncing was also crushed by the shot of the light bullet.
A monster with a terrible appearance, which would look like this if there were babies in hell, was lying on the ground.
All eyes began on the monster and then turned to the pregnant woman from which it emerged. The monster was obviously small, but it was too big to be inside a human stomach.
The corpse of a pregnant woman, now unsure whether she was a real pregnant woman, had already decayed internal organs strewn about.
The smell of rotting corpses, so strong that I wondered why it hadn’t come out until now, began to disperse around me.
A series of terrifying and bewildering events that make you wonder if it is a scene from hell.
At that time, when everyone was speechless and speechless, Hexen’s words echoed around.
“…Did you know?”
The saint replied calmly, as before, to the question as if he were embarrassed to ask without hiding his doubts and regrets.
“Did Hexen-nim know about it too? It seems like Hexen-sama’s ability is that the monster is distorted in the air.”
“That’s my ability, but I didn’t know that. I was just prepared to be okay no matter what happened.”
“It’s a respectful attitude.”
“It’s embarrassing to hear such a thing from an apprentice saint. No one here seems to have noticed that monster. Not even me.”
After saying that, Hexen looked around for a while and bowed her head respectfully toward the saint.
“Thank you very much.”
“I didn’t do anything great to deserve that kind of appreciation.”
“No, it’s great enough. I don’t know what that demon could have done, but it would have done a lot of damage just by hiding here without anyone noticing. Also…”
Hexen’s gaze turned to the monster.
“If you hadn’t noticed, you don’t know how many more monsters that imitated these survivors would have been mixed into the expedition. In fact, you just saved the expedition.”
Instead of continuing to respond to the words, the saint turned his gaze to the corpses scattered on the floor.
It didn’t seem very exciting to receive the spittle of one of the figures who reached the pinnacle of the empire.
Instead, the saint mourned.
There were no clear words of condolence or regret expressed out of the mouth.
However, sometimes there are emotions that are conveyed more loudly because they are not spoken.
Anyone present could feel the sadness in the saint’s eyes.
Therefore, those who had disrespectful questions toward the saint turned their heads away in shame, unable to look directly at him.
It was because I knew that the rumor that the saint was benevolent and benevolent was not false from the way he felt sorry for the body that had already died a long time ago.
Those who considered the saint simply as a representative of the clergy and only as a burden to be protected also bowed their heads in shame.
As Hexen said, it gave me goosebumps just imagining how this expedition would have been ruined if it hadn’t been for the saint.
Naturally, in the minds of the soldiers, the saint was no longer the leader of the expeditionary force in disguise.
* * *
this is not
I looked at the fallen corpse with sad eyes.
I thought it was just a zombie apocalypse, but what if I mix a special class that only appears in games?
Sooner or later, there will be other zombie-inducing zombies or zombies that are two or three times bigger than most people.
I had a strong feeling that the journey of this expedition would not be as smooth as I thought, beyond figuring out why the elves would struggle.
The biggest problem with those disguised zombies is that most of them don’t feel anything wrong.
If I hadn’t had these special eyes, I wouldn’t have felt anything wrong.
The corpses of survivors for camouflage were densely infused with black magic related to concealment.
Until the black magic was broken, it was difficult to recognize that it was a corpse, and it was difficult even for priests to recognize the real monster nestled inside.
The devil worshipers I mentioned earlier do harm by digging into people’s natural emotions such as sympathy, so I vaguely understood what the agent said that it was right to burn the people involved, even if they looked like ordinary people who didn’t know anything.
Yes, if it’s hard to distinguish them one by one, you have no choice but to burn them all and see.
“From now on, it would be better to assume that there are no normal survivors. Even if we are considered survivors, we must tell everyone to attack first.”
No, I didn’t mean to come up with the same idea as the fanatics right away.
Are you a fanatic?
I stopped the knight commander who was saying that for a moment.
“wait a minute.”
“Why?”
If I suggest an ignorant methodology like that, the reward for solving it will be reduced.
In fact, there was no reason for me to put on an extreme show of popping off the head of a corpse myself to deal with the situation just now.
All you have to do is inform the commander of the knights or the princess that there is a monster inside the body of the survivor.
But I didn’t. If I solved the situation that way, I would be in the position of a useful advisor, and the merits gained from stepping out like this would be diminished.
Even if I alone noticed that there was a monster and didn’t know when the monster would be active, even if I acted first, if the purpose was to prevent the real situation, I should have attacked the abdomen rather than explode the head.
However, I purposely attacked the head to attract attention, and I stood by for a while until I realized that the monster had been discovered and jumped out.
When the head of a person presumed to be a survivor is blown off for the first time, people will be surrounded by all sorts of questions and doubts.
And there are not many emotions in the world that allow you to focus and immerse yourself in a situation as much as those emotions.
After that, the monster naturally started to act, and by dealing with it, the recognition that I was right was imprinted on the soldiers.
With this, I have a unique position within the expedition.
At least my ability to distinguish between human-like monsters is an ability that no one can replace.
And competence comes soon.
Of course, there are many abnormal groups in the world where this natural logic does not work, but at least in this field where mistakes are directly related to survival, competence cannot help but be linked to influence.
However, if I give the order to burn all presumed human figures, the influence I have secured will decrease.
More than this, my people don’t have to care about the fact that I can tell monsters apart.
“But can’t there really be survivors?”
Of course, I myself, who spit out these words, know that the chances of that happening are very slim.
“So far, we have been considering the possibility of such a survivor. But it is also true that we have no choice but to know that there is a seemingly indistinguishable monster.”
“I’m not saying that we have to look at all those unusual cases. It’s going to be a big deal if the soldiers are really dying out. I’m just asking you to give me a chance to check if I ever find someone who looks like a survivor.”
The knight commander was silent and thoughtful.
In fact, what I said is just to save face.
In a word, it means that if you judge autonomously and are like survivors, bring them in.
Will people who have a negative perception of survivors due to today’s events easily approach them?
For now, you’ll think it’s safe to kill and watch.
Most of them were likely to be killed unless they really looked like survivors.
But even in the midst of that, you will think of me at least once.
At least once, you might think that if you take them to the saint, they will be able to tell them apart.
If you are ordered to just kill, there will be many people who will kill according to the order without thinking about it.
It’s just that much of a difference. The difference that makes you think about yourself one more time before killing yourself.
However, if you make me think that if you take me to a saint every time like that, he will give you the right judgment, then that will eventually become your faith in me.
Faith soon becomes my support force.
There are more reasons to keep this expedition as alive as possible.
“I can’t force the soldiers. I’ll give permission only if I really need to check autonomously.”
I nodded happily.
That was exactly what I wanted.
On the contrary, it was not what I wanted to be forced to do, causing resentment against me to rise or having too much work to do.
“thank you!”
When I expressed sincere gratitude to the Knight Commander for giving me a proposal that suited my intentions, the Knight Commander shook his head.
“This is how I should be thanking the apprentice saint. You are really humble.”
“You’re overrated.”
“I don’t think I know for sure what kind of person the saint is today. It’s late at night. Rest in peace. It won’t be easy to bestow favors on the soldiers starting tomorrow.”
Having said that, the knight commander prepared to leave the barracks.
The princess, who had been quietly listening to the story until then, turned her head to me while preparing to leave with the knight commander.
“Ronan Saint.”
“yes?”
“I’m not going to say that the saint shouldn’t feel guilty now. It’s true that I tried to save the saint because he was such a person. But don’t be buried in guilt too much. I want you to think only of the soldiers that the saint Ronan saved.”
I couldn’t answer for a moment at the princess’s sudden words. I don’t know what to say because it’s so sudden.
“I’m not sure what Agelia-sama is talking about.”
It was so out of the blue that I expressed my true intentions instead of covering it appropriately as usual.
Seeing me like that, the princess added a short word instead of explaining her words one by one.
“Your hands are still shaking a lot.”
…
“Rest in peace.”
After those words, the princess and the knight leader left the barracks, and a silence came inside the barracks.
I blankly looked at my hand.
As the princess said, the tremors were still there.
Oh…that’s embarrassing. You mean you acted proud in front of people like this?
I washed my face dry with both hands and struggled with unbearable embarrassment.
Yes, it was actually not as easy as I thought to blow off a human’s head that looked fine.
Now that I think about it, there are many times I have attacked people who are in the form of monsters or are openly villainous, but this was the first time I attacked an ordinary human with the appearance of an ordinary human like that.
Because she had the appearance of a pregnant woman, it reminded me of the woman I saw at the church during the memorial service.
Of course, I knew that the woman had already died and became a corpse, and that she looked fine because of the black magic, and that the monster nestled in her belly was her body, but humans were still creatures that were influenced more by their appearance than I thought.
Of course, even if the same situation comes again, I will attack without hesitation, and I will even be able to do it a little easier in the future.
It’s just that it’s the first time I’ve experienced a situation like this, so I’m just sentimental for a moment.
…
From nob le mt l. com
Let’s not think about this any longer. It’s just a headache to worry about a problem that doesn’t have an answer.
How dare you put me to shame? All these demon worshipers are after it.
From nob le mt l. com
Let’s think about this and pass it on.
Speaking of which, it sounds like a line that a third-rate villain would spit on the main character’s woman at a banquet hall, then scold and tease her.
I decided to go to bed after such useless thoughts.
As the knight commander said, there was a high possibility that a march with many dangerous elements would begin tomorrow. It was better to get enough sleep to stay awake.
However, because I had so many miscellaneous thoughts, I couldn’t sleep easily today.
I can’t do it. Let’s try the classic method.
Damn Satanist one head home run… Damn Satanist two head home run… Damn Satanist three head home run… Oh, damn Cardinal Headgear as a bonus.
As anyone who has tried it knows, it didn’t work at all.
