Chapter 185: Evil (2)

Bezos, defended by Fiore, barely allowed the Empire’s invasion.

Although sporadic skirmishes took place, the Empire failed to break through the defensive line.

Briol’s border remained firm.

It seemed the imperial invasion was being contained. However, something extraordinary was happening in an unforeseen place.

“Hmm…”

Jermain, seated before a patient, tilted his head.

“What symptoms did you say you had?”

“I’m very thirsty… and constantly hungry…”

“I usually treat physical injuries. For something like this, you should see another priest or a doctor.”

“I already went everywhere, but no one knows the cause. If you could expose me to healing light, pray for me… I think that would be enough. Surely God will take care of me.”

“I see you’re devout.”

“Of course.”

Jermain raised his hand toward the patient. On his chest was the badge identifying him as a member of the Allied Army Comrades Association.

“Oh, that badge… you were in the Allied Army?”

“That’s right. I was a battlefield priest.”

“Heavens. The Allied Army? A true hero.”

“No, not at all. I just fought alongside the heroes.”

“That phrase… sounds familiar. Did you ever see the third prince?”

“See him? I saw him every day.”

“Wow… I’m jealous.”

Jermain examined the patient’s face. His skin was darkened and he looked emaciated.

Something was clearly wrong.

Healing magic could offer slight help with illness, but not the miraculous effects it had on wounds.

Still, Jermain used his holy technique.

“How do you feel?”

“I feel good…”

“God is watching over you.”

“Yes… I believe so…”

While applying the holy technique, Jermain prayed sincerely for him. He had never seen someone with such a haggard face survive for long.

If he was going to die, at least may his soul find peace.

“Ggh…”

The treatment ended.

The man stood, thanked Jermain, and staggered out.

“Tsk, tsk…”

As Jermain clicked his tongue, his assistant spoke.

“There’ve been a lot like that lately.”

“A lot?”

“Yes.”

“That man was completely gone.”

“I know. Many are coming in with totally blackened faces. I don’t know what’s going on. Maybe they all have liver damage or something?”

“What a shame.”

“Shall I call the next one?”

“Do it.”

The assistant peeked his head out of the clinic and called out.

“Next brother, please come in!”

But he suddenly froze.

“Huh?”

“What is it?”

Jermain looked at him.

The assistant shuddered, slammed the door shut, and turned to him with a ghostly pale face.

“P-priest… th-that…”

“What is it?”

“Call the knight! The temple knight!”

“What’s going on?”

“Call the knight! Right now!”

The assistant was screaming like he’d lost his mind.

“What is it? Is someone causing trouble?”

“D-don’t go out!”

“What’s happening?”

Jermain stood and opened the door to look outside.

“What…?”

The scene was unreal.

The patient he had just treated was biting another patient’s neck in the waiting line.

The victim convulsed weakly. Blood dripped between the attacker’s teeth.

Jermain shouted.

“C-knight!”

But the attacker didn’t stop, ripping flesh with his teeth. Blood gushed nonstop.

His face, previously darkened, now showed color.

With his mouth drenched in blood, he tossed the victim aside and stared directly at Jermain.

He no longer looked human. Jermain slammed the door shut and bolted it.

“W-what was that? What’s wrong with him?”

“No idea!”

Even Jermain was terrified. It looked like an undead creature out of a legend.

More precisely—

“A zombie?”

It was identical.

Jermain recalled what he knew of zombies. Mindless beings, hungry for human flesh and blood.

Anyone bitten by one would also turn into a zombie.

“Zombie… that’s absurd. They only exist in stories.”

“B-but you saw it! Does that make sense?”

“M-maybe the patient was just insane?”

“No. Something’s going on.”

With something like this, someone should’ve screamed, or a temple knight should’ve shown up.

But all was silent. That could only mean one thing—there was a bigger problem.

Jermain clenched his fists.

“Wait for me here.”

“P-priest?”

“I’m going to take a look.”

“A-after seeing that…?”

“I’ll be fine.”

He shook his head.

“I can protect myself.”

He was a veteran of the Allied Army. He wouldn’t cower now.

Even if not a fighter, he had once clumsily handled weapons to defend himself.

Jermain took a sword forgotten in a corner of the clinic. It belonged to a patient who had left it and not returned.

“Lucky there’s a weapon here.”

“Will you be okay?”

“No choice even if I’m not.”

Jermain cautiously opened the door and peeked outside.

“…”

There was no one. Bloodstains were on the ground, but both the zombie and victim had vanished.

“What…?”

Suddenly, something fell in front of him.

Blood.

Jermain instinctively looked up and raised his sword.

“Aaaaah!”

The zombie, fangs bared, dropped onto him. The blade went through its mouth.

“Graaaargh!”

The zombie was impaled by the sword, convulsed, and then went limp. Jermain let go of the sword and the corpse, collapsing to the floor, panting.

“D-dammit! What is this…?”

He ran a hand through his hair, trying to calm his racing heart.

“Why is this happening all of a sudden…?”

But it wasn’t over.

In the distance, down the hallway, several staggering figures appeared. Though unclear, it was obvious they weren’t normal.

“Hey… hey…”

Jermain backed away and looked behind him.

The assistant was still paralyzed, ghostly pale. He was in shock.

Jermain cursed under his breath and yanked the sword from the zombie’s mouth.

“Wake up!”

“W-what’s happening… what the hell…?”

“Hey, idiot!”

Jermain shouted and slapped the assistant.

The assistant looked at him with blank eyes.

“If you want to live, follow me.”

“Y-yes…”

“Stay totally alert, got it?”

“Y-yes, yes.”

“Trust me.”

Though Jermain said that, inwardly he clicked his tongue. It was ironic that he, who had only followed knights in the Allied Army, now had to lead someone like a seasoned swordsman.

But there was no other choice; someone had to do it.

Jermain escaped the temple with the assistant. Zombies occasionally appeared, but he cut them down with his sword. Their physical abilities weren’t much different from regular humans.

“Priest!”

Outside, a temple knight ran toward him.

“You’re safe!”

“Oh, you… what was your name…?”

“I’m Charlotte.”

“Ah, Sir Charlotte. What’s happening here?”

“I don’t know either.”

She looked around and said,

“It was time for the shift change, but no one came, so I came and found this place in chaos.”

“Is it the same elsewhere?”

“Everything is a mess.”

“It can’t be…”

“We have to escape. Follow me.”

“Where to?”

“The best would be to go to the lord’s castle.”

“You’re right. That’s best.”

Lian Flandre, the lord of Française, was a great knight and an exemplary ruler. He also led a powerful order of knights.

“Let’s go.”

Jermain followed Charlotte along with the assistant. Sometimes, survivors reached out, begging for help, but were soon devoured by zombies or turned into one themselves.

It was a true hell.

“How can this be happening…?”

“Dear heavens…”

Everywhere, corpses with exposed bones and viscera staggered as they walked.

It was like a scene from a novel.

Battles against orcs on the plains had also been horrible, but this felt even more surreal.

“I-it’s just here, right?”

“I’d like to think so…”

Charlotte shook her head.

“It doesn’t seem like it.”

“Why?”

“If it were only here, the army would’ve come to deal with it. The fact that there’s no news means chaos has spread everywhere.”

“No way…”

“Over there!”

Charlotte shouted.

“Horses!”

In the stable next to an inn, some frightened horses nervously shifted from side to side.

The latch was strong, so the zombies hadn’t been able to get in. Charlotte broke the lock with her sword, entered, and led the horses out.

She left only three and let the others run free.

“Let’s go!”

The freed horses scattered. The wandering zombies began chasing them, panting. Thanks to that, the nearby zombies disappeared.

“Let’s move.”

“Yes.”

Jermain and the assistant mounted and galloped after Charlotte. The streets they passed looked no different from those they had already seen.

Suddenly, an imposing building came into view. It was the Française Academy.

“Wait a moment!”

Jermain shouted without thinking. Charlotte turned around.

“What is it?”

“Just… let me check that for a second.”

Charlotte’s eyes landed on the Française Academy.

“Why?”

“Just stop a moment! We don’t have time, but this’ll be quick!”

Jermain pulled the reins and halted his horse in front of the academy’s main entrance.

Still mounted, Charlotte looked impatient.

“We don’t have time and you…”

“It’s here.”

“What?”

“I’m telling you, it’s here.”

Jermain stared at the campus, his gaze distant. As a priest trained in sacred techniques, he could feel an evil energy lurking within.

“Something is going on inside.”

“I don’t see anything strange.”

“But I can feel it.”

Charlotte dismounted. Some zombies could be seen staggering around the campus, but nothing else stood out.

“Fine. We’ll report to the lord.”

Just then, someone appeared from inside the campus.

“H-hey. Hey…”

It was a man with disheveled hair, speaking as quietly as possible so as not to attract the zombies.

“Please… help me.”

He approached with short steps, glancing nervously around, and stopped in front of them, panting.

“I-I’m safe… You’re knights, right?”

“Who are you?”

“I work here as a researcher. I was working all night and fell asleep. When I woke up, everything was like this.”

Unfortunately, his movements attracted the zombies’ attention.

The ones wandering the Française Academy campus began closing in.

“Damn.”

Though slow, the way those corpses approached—dragging their feet or crawling—exerted a heavy pressure.

“We must flee.”

Just as Jermain turned his body—

“Aaaaah!”

The assistant screamed.

Without anyone noticing, a zombie had bitten into his calf. He tried to kick it away with the other leg but fell to the ground.

His horse panicked and bolted.

“Damn it!”

Charlotte cursed and swung her sword. The zombie biting the assistant was beheaded instantly.

“Are you alright?”

“Y-yes…”

The assistant was desperately rubbing at the wound on his leg.

“T-this… I’ll be okay, right? Even though I was bitten…?”

No one responded. Legends about the living dead were always the same.

If you were bitten, you turned into one of them. It was easy to deduce how the zombies filling the streets had spread.

The assistant pleaded.

“Priest… please, heal me. If you use your sacred technique… everything will be fine. So please, do it now…”

Jermain nodded and used his sacred technique. But the wound did not heal.

On the contrary, it was as if something invisible continued to devour it from within.

The wound worsened, and the bleeding intensified.

“Aaah… aaaaaah…!”

“T-then…”

Jermain tried to say something.

“We’ll ride together and…”

But before he could finish, Charlotte swung her sword. The assistant lost his head and collapsed atop the zombie’s corpse.

“No…”

“It was too late.”

Charlotte sheathed her sword with a calm expression.

“If a zombie bites you, you become a zombie. I saw it on the way here.”

Jermain didn’t argue. He had already learned that lesson in the Allied Army—you can’t save everyone.

“I understand.”

Upon accepting it immediately, a spark of respect appeared in Charlotte’s eyes.

She saw the badge of the Allied Army Comrades Association on Jermain’s robe and nodded.

“You’re from the Allied Army.”

“Yes.”

“Perfect.”

Charlotte mounted her horse.

“Quickly, to the lord’s castle.”