kscans

Chapter 19 - The Ghost Town and the Unseen Dead

"All undead who were seen by humans, raise your hands."

"""Shwip shwip shwip."""

Having completely forgotten I’d left the town gates wide open, I was now polling my undead to see if any of them had been spotted during the day. Several of them raised their hands. They explained that when the sun rose, they had hidden in the dark corners of houses. However, some travelers, finding it strange that there was no one in town, had started looking around and had the misfortune of discovering their hiding spots.

What was worse, the undead had instinctively tried to attack the humans when they got close, but the humans had fled back into the sunlight, and the undead were unable to pursue.

"Oh man, the humans totally know we’re here."

Dammit. If I’d just ordered them to close the gates after taking the town, people might have just found it suspicious that the gates weren’t opening in the morning, which would have been easier to explain away.

"""Dejected."""

A wave of guilt washed over me from the undead. Well, it was unavoidable, so it can’t be helped. To be honest, it was my fault for forgetting to order them to close the gates before I went to sleep.

"But this is bad. The travelers who escaped will definitely report this, and a subjugation force will be sent from another town."

Best case scenario, they’ll send a small reconnaissance team at first to confirm the information. But if we wipe them out, a full-scale subjugation force will be next.

"And they’ll definitely come during the day. If they attack when we can’t fight back, our forces will be decimated! Worse, if they don’t care about collateral damage and just attack the buildings, we’ll have no way to protect ourselves from the sun and we’ll burn to death!"

Ahhhh! At this rate, we’re going to be taken out without a fight, even after we went to all the trouble of conquering this town!

"Ugh, unlike the Great Cursed Sea, there’s no vast, confusing forest here, and no monsters to act as a natural defense. How can humans live in a place with nothing?!"

"Um, my lady, isn’t it precisely because there’s nothing here that we can live in safety?"

Oh, right. That makes sense for humans. My monster sensibilities are already starting to take over.

"Anyway, at this rate, we could be attacked in our sleep!"

Being staked through the heart while I’m snoozing in my coffin would be the most pathetic way to go!

"Hmm, isn’t there a good strategy we can use...?"

If only there was a huge underground facility, like a dungeon. This is a fantasy world, so I hear there are game-like dungeons all over the place. Ah, maybe I should have made a place like that my territory.

"Um, my lady."

Adolnel timidly raised her hand.

"What is it, Adolnel?"

"Well... perhaps we don’t need to be so fixated on the town itself?"

"...Eh?"

What did she mean by that?

◆ The Adventurer Reinforcement Party ◆

"We’re finally here."

We had been forcibly summoned by the Adventurer’s Guild in the middle of the night, and we were stunned by what the guildmaster told us. Fenesia Town had apparently been attacked by a horde of countless undead. We were sent out that very night. Fortunately, other adventurers were dispatched with us, so we didn’t have to worry about attacks from bandits or monsters.

Then, on the afternoon of the second day, we saw a carriage speeding towards us from the direction we were heading.

"Didn’t they say Fenesia Town was attacked by undead?"

We signaled for the carriage to stop to get some information. The merchant driving it suspected we were daytime bandits, but when we explained we were adventurers operating under the guild’s orders, he finally relaxed and agreed to talk. When we asked about Fenesia Town, his answer was shocking.

"That town is bad news! It’s a nest of undead!"

"Is that true?!"

"Yeah. The town entrance was wide open, with no gatekeepers in sight. I thought it was strange, but I went in anyway, and there wasn’t a single soul around. And there were bloodstains everywhere. It was creepy as hell. Whether they were attacked by bandits or monsters, the fact that there were no bodies was unnatural."

He was right. If money-grubbing bandits had attacked the town, it was unlikely they’d go to the trouble of hiding the bodies. And if it were monsters, they would have eaten their prey on the spot.

"It was so creepy I decided not to stay at an inn and just leave town. But then I heard a thud. I thought someone might be there, so I went into a nearby house. I figured if someone lived there, I could just apologize. But in the back of the house, in the dark, a blood-soaked family was just standing there, staring blankly. It was so freaky I screamed."

Yeah, I can’t blame him for screaming after seeing something like that.

"Then the whole family turned to look at me at once and started coming towards me, groaning. I knew they weren’t normal, so I bolted. Good thing I did, too. When I ran outside, they stopped in the darkness of the house and didn’t chase me any further. That’s when I realized they were undead. I was scared witless."

"That must have been rough."

Ordinary people rarely encounter undead in their daily lives. Only adventurers like us are used to that sort of thing.

In any case, it was helpful to get some information before we arrived. One of the other parties traveling with our reinforcement unit decided to head back to report that the information about the undead was true, while the rest of us continued on to the town.

◆

"Alright, let’s search for survivors while it’s still daytime."

""""Yeah!!""""

The dangerous undead are inactive during the day. So, after spending the night at a distance from the town, we began our search as soon as the sun rose.

"Hey! Is anyone here?!"

We called out, searching for survivors. Even if undead were lurking, they wouldn’t come out during the day, so it was safe to shout. But no matter how much we yelled and walked through the town, there was no sign of any survivors.

"There really are no bodies. There are signs of a struggle everywhere, so there’s no doubt a battle took place."

The town was in a terrible state, with bloodstains everywhere. Yet, there were no bodies to be found. It was an eerie scene, as if every person in this town had been devoured. After finding nothing, we decided to return to the town entrance to exchange information with the other parties.

"Hey, any luck on your end?"

"Nothing. No one."

"Same here. We went to the lord’s mansion, but there were no guards at the gate. We called out from outside the mansion, but got no reply. We figured it was too dangerous to go inside, so we left it at that."

"Good call. We still don’t know what happened here."

If undead were lurking anywhere, the largest and most fortified building in town—the lord’s mansion—would be the most dangerous place.

"We checked the church, but it was a disaster."

"Was the fighting that intense?"

The church specializes in dealing with undead. The residents might have fled there, with the priests using holy magic to desperately fight them off.

"Intense doesn’t even begin to describe it. It was a complete pile of rubble."

"A pile of rubble?! What do you mean? The town was attacked by undead, right?"

The church was a pile of rubble?! The attackers were undead, right? I could understand if a pack of giant ogres had attacked, but zombies and ghouls shouldn’t have that kind of strength.

"Don’t ask us. We don’t know either. All we know is that the church in this town has been completely demolished. There were no survivors. Though, there might be some survivors buried under the rubble."

"Demolished... what in the world happened in this town?"

This made no sense. Were there other monsters besides undead involved?

"We have a report, too. We surveyed the area around the town and found countless beast tracks. An insane number of them."

The party that had surveyed the town’s surroundings brought back even more confusing information. First, a demolished church, and now countless beast tracks? Why would a town attacked by undead have something like that?!

"The tracks probably belong to a Thousand Wolf. We found them inside the town, too."

"A Thousand Wolf?!"

We were stunned to hear the name of the creature responsible for the tracks. A Thousand Wolf is a dangerous monster that literally forms packs of a thousand. A village attacked by them would be wiped out in a matter of hours. Even adventurers would need to form a large-scale subjugation force with dozens of parties to stand a chance. The only silver lining is that they rarely leave their territory, but they came all the way to a human settlement?!

"Did they attack the town?"

This was getting more and more confusing. What the hell was going on?

"We just don’t have enough information. This afternoon, let’s search the buildings. There’s a high chance that undead are lurking inside. Everyone, be careful."

"Got it."

"We’ll meet back at the gate before sunset. Understood?"

And so, we went back to our investigation, searching for survivors and any useful information we could find.

But the results were disastrous. There was nothing. Not only were there no survivors or useful information, but...

"What the hell? There weren’t any undead anywhere."

That’s right. There was nothing. Not even the undead the merchant had told us about. This town was empty, completely deserted.

"What on earth happened here?"

The more we investigated, the more questions we had. What were we supposed to do? It would have been simpler if a horde of monsters had been waiting for us.

We were at our wit’s end with the lack of information, but we decided it would be dangerous to stay after dark and started to head back to our camp outside the town. That’s when it happened.

"Hey, something’s coming!"

From the direction of Carolmana Town, where we had come from, a large group of riders on horseback was approaching.

"Is that... the lord’s knight order?!"

You’ve got to be kidding me. They’re just showing up now? We were all exasperated by their timing, as if they had waited for our investigation to be over before making their appearance. We were just about to head back to our camp to rest, and now we had to deal with this.

"You commoners over there! We are the Carolmana Knight Order! Who are you?!"

Who are we? They must have been told that the Adventurer’s Guild had sent a relief party.

"We are adventurers sent by the Adventurer’s Guild to rescue the people of Fenesia Town."

"Ah, so you are the adventurers. Good work. Report the situation."

Report the situation? We’re not your subordinates. Still, it wouldn’t be wise to get into a conflict with the knight order. We decided to just report what we knew. It’s not like we had much to report anyway.

"We investigated the town and found no survivors. We also found no sign of the undead that were said to have attacked the town."

"What? No sign of the undead? Are you certain?"

"Yes. Not even a single zombie."

The knight let out a smug chuckle.

"I see! Fearing our arrival, the undead must have fled! Hahahaha!"

As if! Zombies and ghouls aren’t smart enough for that! If they did flee, it means there’s something powerful enough to command them. Something with the power to annihilate a town overnight.

"Well then, if there’s nothing here, we’ll secure the town immediately!"

Huh? What is this guy talking about?!

"It’s dangerous! It will be dark soon. It’s the time when undead become active!"

"What are you talking about? You just said there are no undead here, didn’t you? Then there is nothing to fear!"

But what if there is?! This town was attacked even with its gates closed!

But the knight order ignored our warnings and entered the town. That’s when we heard it. The sound of a horse neighing in the distance. It wasn't one of the knight order’s horses. It was coming from a different direction.

"Is that from the other side of town?"

And then they appeared. A large group of armored riders on horseback.

"Is that another knight order?"

But their armor was different. A different knight order?

"We are the knight order of Lexalun Town! Who are you?! We have come to protect this town in response to a request for aid! Leave at once!"

"Lexalun?!"

What in the world? The knight order that had just appeared was from Lexalun Town, which was on the other side of Fenesia.

"Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. This is going to be a disaster..."

Because the lord of Lexalun Town was famously at odds with the lord of Carolmana Town, where we were based.