Chapter 47
*Table Manners Are Essential*
“We won’t know until we check.”
The young master said in a firm voice. We decided to investigate the empty guardhouse. Unfortunately, I was missing an arm, so I couldn’t bring my perfect, powerful, smooth, and sturdy vacuum cleaner.
“I want to find something that can be used as a weapon! I think I can swing a sword or a spear.”
I led the young master into the guardhouse. It was filled with dust and clutter. There was even a half-eaten bag of bread on the desk. The paper bag was tattered, with gnaw marks.
Weapons, including spears, were hanging on one wall, but most of them were rusty. I let go of the young master’s hand and approached the weapons. I touched the tip of a blade. It was dull and chipped.
In a fight, it would be more like combing a zombie’s tattered body than slicing it. Still, it was better than nothing. I couldn’t tell if the presence I had sensed in the village was human or zombie. It was better to have a large, rusty comb than empty hands.
Examining the jagged blade, I warned the young master,
“I’m taking this. Please stay away from me. I want to attack zombies, not give you tetanus with a rusty blade.”
He nodded and began his own investigation of the guardhouse, starting with the documents I had ignored, as expected of a nobleman.
He gathered the scattered papers into a neat pile. The old paper looked like it could crumble at any moment.
“This village has been abandoned for longer than I thought. The most recent record is from ten years ago.”
“Ten years ago…”
I trailed off. It coincided with the death of his father, the previous Count Lehman. The coincidence unsettled me. Worried that he might be thinking about his father’s death, I tried to sound cheerful.
“That’s a long time ago! If the village has been empty since then, it must be full of zombies. Let’s quickly collect some zombie hearts, make them into red jewels, and give them to the raven. Then you can fix my arm. Wait, was it Castor who was supposed to give the red jewels to the raven?”
The young master raised his hand, signaling me to be quiet. His brow furrowed, and his already pale face seemed to grow even paler as he read through the papers.
“Is there something strange written in the documents?”
“Yes. There’s something strange.”
He scattered the papers on the desk and then rearranged them in order. They were the diary entries of a guard stationed at the guardhouse. It seemed to have served as a report, as it was stamped with the village lord’s seal.
The diary began ten years ago, with the arrival of strangers.
[Three travelers arrived. A couple visiting relatives and a man who introduced himself as a doctor. The couple was confirmed to be relatives of a village resident. The doctor insisted on meeting the lord. Since his identity was unclear, we directed him to the lodging closest to the guardhouse. His belongings were inspected, and we found some medicine and gold coins. Judging by his accent, he is presumed to be a nobleman or a nobleman’s servant.]
It looked like an ordinary report to me, but the young master seemed to think differently. He pulled a few documents closer to me.
“Look at this. It seems like some suspicious things happened in this village.”
[The lord appointed the doctor as a special advisor to the village. He was indeed a skilled doctor. The lord’s mother, who had been suffering from old age, is now up and about.]
[There was an incident of vandalism in the cemetery. The villagers are uneasy. The investigation is slow. Fortunately, the doctor is calming the villagers.]
[The lord’s mother is behaving strangely. Suddenly biting her caregivers, screaming, and so on… The lord, believing it to be a side effect of the treatment, sent the doctor to the prison attached to the guardhouse. The guards will be rotated daily.]
[The lord’s mother suddenly recovered. She even looks younger than before. The overjoyed lord ordered the doctor’s release. But the doctor escaped.]
[A search party was sent to the doctor’s workshop.]
That was the last entry.
The report was certainly suspicious. I picked up the spear and headed outside. Hunting zombies seemed more productive than reading old papers.
“I’ll go look for zombies. Three hearts should be enough, right? I’m going to the cemetery, so wait here.”
“…”
Lost in thought, as if moved by the old diary, the young master simply nodded. Such a bookworm. I thought he only liked old magic books, but it seemed like he liked any old paper. I would have to find all the old books in the earldom for him when we returned.
“Now, which way is the cemetery?”
Since the village was abandoned, there was no one to ask for directions. Even a small village would have a place to bury its dead. Or maybe I would find some animal zombies. No, wait, I didn’t want to extract the hearts of animals, even if they were zombies…
I imagined a zombie puppy. Its heart would be too small to be used as a jewel, and I didn’t want to take it out. It would probably be a cute zombie. Even in a zombie world, cute animal zombies should be protected. Just like I had saved Zomrat, the zombie rat, from the young master’s foot. I wondered what Zomrat was doing now. It would be a disaster if Head Butler Godora, who hated rats, found him.
“Should I just go straight, like the young master does?”
I couldn’t sense the presence I had felt earlier. I decided to walk straight until I heard something moving. I would find something, whether it was a cemetery or a lost zombie.
Since my arm was still bothering me, I couldn’t hold the spear properly. I dragged it along as I walked deeper into the village.
“Hello! Is anyone there? Any zombies? Any zombified animals?”
I shouted as I walked through the village, but there was no response. It seemed truly abandoned. The unkempt houses were overgrown with weeds. I saw a few stray dogs and cats, but they didn’t look like zombies. The animals, as if seeing humans for the first time in a while, would stare at me with wide eyes before running away.
“I’m not going to catch anything other than zombies…”
Would there be a cemetery further ahead? Cemeteries were usually located on the outskirts of villages.
A chilly wind blew through the abandoned houses. I walked slowly, careful not to miss anything, when I heard an unexpected voice. It wasn’t the young master’s. It sounded like a middle-aged woman.
“Hee hee hee hee…”
“Who would be laughing so creepily in this deserted village? Do zombies even laugh…?”
Normally, I would have run back home in fear, but I was strong now. I strode towards the source of the laughter. I turned a corner on a small hill and arrived in front of a house with a small yard.
The source of the voice was a woman sitting in the middle of the yard, laughing hysterically. Behind her was a large, beautiful mansion.
“Excuse me! I have a few questions! First, have you seen any zombies around here? Or are you about to become one? Second, why are you sitting in the yard of such a beautiful mansion, laughing so creepily?”
I approached her. Her clothes looked like rags, but I could tell it was once a beautiful, elegant dress. It was torn and dirty, but the delicate embroidery and the sheen of the fabric couldn’t be hidden.
“Hellooo…”
As I got closer, I realized she wasn’t just laughing strangely. She was also muttering something.
“I’m an angel. An angel. Hee hee hee hee. A beautiful angel…”
“Ah…”
I hesitated. She was the only person I had seen so far. The lady, seemingly quite proud of her appearance, didn’t even look at me. Just as I was about to grab her and ask for directions…
“Estella.”
“Eek!”
Someone called my name and grabbed my shoulder.
“What! Who is it! Don’t scare me! In front of this creepy laughing lady!”
I instinctively pushed the person away and swung the spear. I intended to knock the person unconscious and then calmly assess the situation. When I opened my eyes, I saw the young master, blocking the spear with his arm.
“Y-Young Master?”
“Could you put the spear down?”
“Gasp!”
It was the young master! Well, who else here would know my name? Startled, I quickly dropped the spear. I hadn’t held back, intending to knock him out…
“Are you hurt, Young Master?”
I cautiously took his arm and tried to pull up his sleeve. Or rather, I tried to.
“It’s not coming off. It’s too thick. It is getting colder these days… Would you mind taking off your coat? And then rolling up your sleeve…”
He pushed me aside and poked my forehead with his index finger.
“What kind of maid attacks her master?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were here.”
“Anyway… that’s impressive. Or rather, terrifying. I expected this, but…”
His gaze was fixed on the giggling lady. They had never met before, yet he seemed to know her.
“Do you know who she is?”
“I have a hunch. Or rather, it’s obvious.”
He suddenly pulled me close, his arm around my waist.
“Is your arm okay, Young Master? It’s not broken like mine, is it? Humans can’t detach and reattach their limbs.”
“Estella, look closely.”
Ignoring my words, he pointed at the lady with his chin.
“That’s the true form of a zombie.”