Chapter 74
A Banquet for the Spirits of the Departed — Part 2
Editors: Joker, Speedphoenix
"Keep the formation intact!" Gamdia Roston roared an order to his subordinates as he kept his eye on the situation . "Don"t let a single one of the undead slip by!!"
"Sir! Yes sir!" The men that served under him reciprocated with equally vigorous shouts of their own . Each voice contained such a strong force of will that, combined, they almost came off as indomitable .
The soldiers-c.u.m-guards were gathered in front of the governor"s manor and positioned such that their ranks came together to form a phalanx . Every last man and boy bore a greats.h.i.+eld with which they weathered the relentless undead a.s.sault . They remained almost entirely on the defensive, but their actions weren"t in vain . Their allies, the town"s mages and adventurers, worked to suppress the undead by rendering them incapable of any further movement as the guards continued to hold the line .
Adventurers and guards often failed to see eye to eye . The former group was a lot rougher around the edges, and thus, they were often apprehended and remonstrated by the city"s soldiers . Yet, they stood united and fought as one . Together, those with power worked to protect the evacuees that lacked it . Because they knew . They knew that there was little point to the strength that they worked so hard to obtain should they not use it to protect the city they called home . And thus, they endeavoured to eliminate the undead threat .
In command of the united forces was none other than Gamdia himself . Gamdia was a new face; he had only recently come to Alfyro . Many possessed far more knowledge of the city and its problems, but it was he that was appointed captain of the city"s guards . Many of his newfound subordinates began to doubt the city"s management, which had always been known for its love of meritocracy . However, he soon won them over by proving that he was not only honest and straightforward, but also skilled enough to justify his rank . His instructions were precise and the man himself was more than just a force to be reckoned with . In fact, he found himself acknowledged by not only the guards, but the rest of Alfyro"s citizens as well .
While Gamdia drew a lot of attention, he wasn"t the only notable fighter than had joined the fray . The city"s governor, Raylow Lurubia, had done exactly the same . His subordinates had desperately pleaded for him to retreat, but Raylow had ignored them and joined the ranks of the adventurers and soldiers fighting off the zombie h.o.a.rd . He too was a part of the task force defending the shelter to which the citizens evacuated: his manor .
"Master Gamdia, how are we faring?" Raylow turned towards the commander as he felled yet another zombie .
"The undead offensive is gradually growing weaker . We should soon regain full control of the area . "
"Great . We should head towards the center of the city as the evacuation comes to a close . It looks to be in trouble . "
"…Are you sure you wish to join us?"
"Of course . I"m no stranger to the battlefield . I may no longer be much more than an ancient sack of bones, but even so, I can still wield a blade if my citizens" lives are on the line," said Raylow . "Besides…"
"Besides?"
"The whole scenario has me seething in anger, and I"ve a need to vent it . "
Raylow"s remark caused Gamdia to grin . But as he had duties to attend to, the captain had no more time to converse . He bowed to excuse himself and immediately got back to issuing orders .
Likewise, the governor returned to aiding in the evacuation as he worked his mind and considered the scenario at hand . While the undead often sought out and attacked the living, they didn"t tend to sp.a.w.n in large numbers in areas that humans inhabited . The amount of positive life force in the aforementioned areas was far too strong for them to naturally rise en ma.s.se . It was far more likely than not that the scenario at hand was artificial, that it had arisen from some sort of sinister plot or conspiracy .
And it was probably one thought up by an individual affiliated with the kingdom .
One key piece of information that Raylow had withheld from the young hero that had visited his manor was that Alfyro was a city that was well detested by its peers . Many of the n.o.bles with longer lines labeled Raylow, who"d earned his n.o.bility through his performance on the battlefield, as an upstart . They were quick to criticize him and often ostracized him from their circles .
The city"s success only made matters worse . Alfyro lay far from the capital, so far that many thought of it as a hicktown in the borderlands . All sorts of creatures nested near its boundaries, many of which were extremely powerful . The constant, looming threat led to a natural increase in the quality of Alfyro"s combatants . Both its adventurers and soldiers grew more powerful than those that resided in other lands . Dispatching these high quality troops in times of need had brought Raylow countless achievements, achievements that left his peers green with envy . Yet, this was only another layer in the cake .
The icing was the incident . The expedition . Unlike many of the other n.o.bles, Raylow had been opposed to it from the start . Those that disagreed with him had sent their troops to the Wicked Forest, only to have every last bit of their investment completely obliterated while Alfyro"s forces remained perfectly intact .
Whoever organised the attack had all the potential motives in the world .
Of course, the other n.o.bles weren"t the only threats . The demon lord was present as well, but the governor highly doubted that the undead had risen due to his actions . He wasn"t the type to bother conspiring in such a roundabout manner . Raylow imagined that, if the demon lord were to strike, then he would employ nothing but sheer violence . All he needed to do to burn Alfyro to the ground, should he desire it, was to go on a rampage .
Moreover, the incidents that plagued the city had began prior to the demon lord"s arrival . While he had no proof, Raylow was almost certain that the many mysterious cases were somehow connected to the undead a.s.sault .
"…Fine . " Alfyro"s lord muttered under his breath . "I too am a n.o.ble, albeit one of little importance . If you wish to challenge me, then I will not refuse . "
After confirming his resolve, Raylow took a deep breath and began to speak .
"Listen up, men! This is only one of the many crises that this city of ours has faced . " Raylow spoke in a loud voice that stemmed from deep within his core . It was heard not only by the soldiers and adventurers engaged in battle, but also the evacuees in the midst of seeking refuge . "We"ve been plagued with infamous bandits and attacked by armies of monsters! Yet, Alfyro has never once fallen! We have always succeeded in driving off those that wish to destroy us . And today is no different! Alfyro, our city, our home, shall not fall! Let us ready our arms, raise our voices, and purge our homes of the dead!"
Morale rose . Alfyro"s warriors cheered the moment the governor"s speech came to an end . Together, their voices formed a thunderous roar so loud that it shook the earth beneath them .
Seeing the way his city"s bravest reacted caused a slight but undeniably proud smile to form on Raylow"s face .
***
"Wow… This is looking preeeeetty bad . " I frowned as I looked down on the city from the sky above it .
It had pretty much descended into a state of utter chaos . Zombies like the one that Lefi and I had run into were appearing all over the town and attacking any humans unfortunate enough to cross their paths .
So many things were ablaze that the scene was almost as bright as it would be in the day .
The city was in the midst of a veritable zombie outbreak . Back on Earth, I had quite the liking for zombie movies . But the only reason I had been able to enjoy them was because they were works of fiction . Stories . False realities . Seeing the real thing didn"t invoke the excitement or interest that movies endeavoured to inspire in their viewers . Rather, the only emotion I felt was pure revulsion . Ew . That guy"s got his guts hanging out . That"s super gross . Please, stop .
Of course, it went without saying that the humans resisted . They didn"t just sit around and let themselves get wiped off the map . Armed groups that I a.s.sumed to be parties of adventurers fought back against the undead plague . My birds eye view led me to realize that the combatants were in fact quite numerous .
More importantly, they seemed to know what to do . Their actions were planned and methodical . They disabled them by cutting off their limbs before making them drink some sort of liquid . The strange fluid caused the undead to spasm as it entered them before eventually rendering them still . Yeah, I figured adventurers would probably be good at stuff like this .
Given the speed at which the undead were being exterminated, it seemed that the situation would soon resolve itself . And that was exactly what left me so confused . I don"t get it . Why would the wire-puller do something like this? What"s their goal?
According to Lefi, the disaster at hand was man-made, something caused by a necromancer . In other words, someone had intentionally attacked the city . But the way they did it could only be described as half a.s.sed .
The zombies seemed more like a distraction than anything . As an avid consumer of real time strategy games, I felt as if the current scenario was somewhat familiar . It"s almost like he"s setting up for a second wave, like he only sent this first wave to paralyze the chain of command so he could expose an opening and use it to take control of the city . But that can"t be right . This would be the perfect time for him to send in his second wave . But it"s not coming . I can"t see anything nearby, even from all the way up here .
Though he had caused the city to descend into a state of anarchy, the man responsible for this incident simply wasn"t following up . Does that mean that this is all just so he can buy time? But what for? What kind of crazy bulls.h.i.+t would need this large a distraction?
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn"t get a clear picture of the whole story . I knew that I would be able to end the incident with ease if I managed to find the son of a b.i.t.c.h responsible for it, but he wasn"t showing up on my map . I couldn"t detect him with my Enemy Search skill either . Wait a second . Why the h.e.l.l am I being so narrow minded?
I had a.s.sumed that the person responsible would be within the city . After all, it was only human nature to be curious about the results of one"s actions . However, further thought and observation led me to realize that the man wasn"t giving the zombies direct orders; he hadn"t a.s.sumed full manual control . Moreover, the fact that he didn"t plan on following up his initial attack with a second wave meant that he didn"t have to be lurking within the city"s bounds—he didn"t have to open any gates while someone wasn"t watching . Given the lack of constraints, it made much more sense for the perpetrator to be somewhere outside the city, somewhere he could overlook the chaos while staying out of danger .
Realizing that, I directed my gaze outside the city"s walls and began to scan for him . There"s the little snake!
My eyesight, which was top tier given the fact that my body was a demon lord"s, allowed me to spot the man not too far outside the city . He was situated atop a random nearby hill . To any other onlooker, the hill would"ve seemed like exactly that . The man was using a skill or spell similar to Stealth .
However, I was different . My Magic Eye allowed me to spot a human-shaped form with mana flowing through it; I could see right through his petty little trick with minimal effort .
I was by no means obligated to help the city or its residents .
But I was p.i.s.sed .
The b.a.s.t.a.r.d had ruined my vacation . He"d taken the time that I was supposed to enjoy with Lefi and totally f.u.c.ked it up . And there was no way I was letting him get away without a little "reimburs.e.m.e.nt . "
My reasons were nothing short of selfish, but that was just what it meant to be a demon lord . You brought this upon yourself you son of a b.i.t.c.h . You really should"ve waited until I was gone before you put your r.e.t.a.r.ded little conspiracy into action .
I poised myself to launch off in his direction and crush him, but happened to catch sight of a familiar face right as I did .
“Is that…Nell? What the h.e.l.l is she doing…?”
The hero was, for some odd reason, letting herself get swarmed by a countless number of zombies . She could"ve easily shaken them off and made her escape, but she wasn"t . Instead, she was holding her position and attempting to fight them off .
Evidently, retreating wasn"t the first thing on her agenda . It looks like she"s… protecting the church? Only after checking the map did I understand the purpose behind her actions .
Well… you know what? I might as well go help her . I had already located the a.s.shole responsible, and there wasn"t any real need for me to deal with him immediately . I could spare a few minutes and hunt him down after . I don"t exactly want to see her die . And having her owe me one sounds like a pretty solid idea, so might as well .
***
Translator"s note: Chapters 1-32 (and 33 to wherever AH left off, those those have been done for a while) have now been translated by yours truly . If you read the asian hobbyist version, I highly recommend that you re-read . There were enough errors to completely distort just about everything important . They flat deleted lines that they couldn"t get google translate to pa.r.s.e properly, the whole thing was dry, and they made this series look like a joke . But that"s all fixed now . I hope . Note that if you"re on an aggregator site, then they might not have updated their stuff, but that"s not really any of my business .
Editor"s note (Joker): Hey, guys! Joker here . Looks like our Demon Lord buddy has found the f.u.c.knut who messed up his date with Lefi . Boy, I wouldn"t want to be him at all . Sadly, he decided to go help the hero rather than take his sweet revenge . And knowing these kinds of tropes, I bet that"ll allow the guy to get away . *sigh* I"d put money on it, but I don"t have any money to put . Only one of these today, so let"s get to the questions . Remember, this question was asked on Chapter 32 .
Aurelious H asks: What"s your favorite novel? and also one that you would recommend the most
At the moment, I"d have to say my favorite novel is Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody . It"s got everything I like: Cute catgirl, OP protag who won"t let anything harm his kids, heartwarming scenes, and even some decent action shots every now and then . I"m caught up on both the officially translated LN, manga, and WN . As for one I would recommend the most, it would probably be Overlord . It"s just too good of a story .
Remember, that was from chapter 32 . If you have a question you"d like me to answer, put it in the comments below with the hashtag #AskJoker and I"ll answer it next time . See y"all in the next chapter!