## Chapter 88 – Zombie Parade
ㅡKWEHHHHHHHH!
“AAAAAAAH!!”
Suddenly, the ghoul roared and leaped up, then started dashing around like a rabbit frolicking in dreamland. Watching a human-shaped thing running around on all fours like that instantly filled the air with terror.
I’m weak against scary stuff!
“It’s a Tokyo Ghoul!!!!”
“That’s a ghoul?”
“Y-yes! Miss Cloudy!”
The ghoul’s skin was a dark gray. Apart from being bald, it looked just like a person. But the details were very different. Its eyes were as black as if they were filled with sewage, with no whites, and its fangs protruded, giving it the feel of a nasty centipede.
Most of all, its tongue was long like a chameleon’s. It was waving that long tongue around, and its fingernails were tough and sharp like those of a bird of prey—it was literally a man-eating monster.
“Calm down, Barbarian! The three of us can handle it!”
“Y-yeah!”
Copson and I drew our swords at the same time.
It was a little disconcerting, but a ghoul was still made of bone and flesh. If we stabbed it with a sword, it would spit out black blood and die for sure.
Even though they were worth five talents each, if the three of us worked together, even the most skilled ghoul would surely die.
ㅡKWEHHHHHHHH!
The ghoul opened its mouth and charged at us.
“T-t-that thing is so fast!”
“Crap! It’s getting closer!”
Just as we were bracing ourselves to parry the attack, Cloudy stepped forward. She held two curved swords in her hands. She looked so gallant that I almost pissed myself.
“Haa… I want to go down quickly. Stay still. I’ll finish it.”
With that, Cloudy darted towards the charging ghoul. For a moment, she looked blurry. Even without a running start, she surpassed the ghoul’s accelerating speed.
I marveled at her amazing sprint for a second.
ㅡShwishshshshsh!
And when another second had passed, it was over.
ㅡThud!
Chunks of the ghoul’s completely mangled flesh rained down from the sky. She spun around and snatched the ghoul’s head as it soared into the air.
“Catch.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Take anything useful from the corpse.”
Dumbfounded, I took the head and immediately put it in my sack, then searched the corpse with Copson.
The ghoul had been turned into finely minced meat in a second.
“It ate well, too.”
The corpse’s abdomen was empty, as if it had undergone abdominal surgery. The visual of what looked like rice mixed with seasoned crab was absolutely horrifying, but I had to take what I could, so I suppressed my disgust and cut off the clothes.
Seeing a regular human corpse is different from seeing a corpse eaten by a monster. The latter was much more disgusting.
“What a freeloader.”
We were able to collect 12 talents and a little over 1 silver from his corpse. While Copson was picking up the mace he dropped, I also took off his shoes. It was an expensive price to pay for enduring a moment of disgust. I immediately felt better.
“Are you done? Let’s go down quickly now.”
Cloudy, who had been waiting for us for a while, urged us on. She was walking quickly and pulling my hand, as if she really wanted to go back to the city. No, why is she in such a hurry?
“Cloudy, aren’t you in too much of a hurry? We finished early anyway, so we can go down slowly. There’s no need to rush. Actually, there’s even a saying that the more urgent it is, the more you should turn back. Should we just turn back?”
When I asked jokingly, Cloudy glanced at Copson, as if checking his reaction. Then she put her mouth to my ear and whispered. The hot breath tickled my ear, making me flinch. I suppressed a groan that was about to come out.
“But I’m excited.”
“Huh?”
“Haa… I feel like I’m going to overflow. It’s hard to hold back.”
“Huh?”
That was a very shocking statement.
So shocking that the level of the statement needed to be restricted.
This was an international issue.
“No, why are you suddenly excited?”
“Because you showed me a cool side of yourself.”
“Cool side? Are you seriously getting excited watching me slice up people?”
“To be honest, yes. And don’t talk to me anymore. He might hear us.”
“What is this woman saying!”
I shouted hysterically and pushed her away.
Her passionate sexual urges were a bit excessive, but I never knew she was looking at me like that!
“Get a grip, lady!”
“D-don’t call me lady! I’m older than… th-that…”
“Older than what? I already know everything! That you’re older than me!”
“…!”
Cloudy’s face turned bright red.
Now was the perfect opportunity to find out her real age.
I thought the number of those earrings might be a clue.
“Come on, Cloudy! Reveal your age!”
“Hyaa!”
I suddenly put my hand inside her hood and grabbed both ears. Then she moaned and became defenseless.
“It doesn’t matter how old you are, hehehe!”
“Hnn! S-stop! My ears!”
Six earrings…
Could it be one every ten years? Or one every twenty years? An ominous thought crossed my mind, but I could only find out if I heard it directly from her.
“…I wish you would refrain from excessive displays of affection. My heart hurts too much. I should just die when I get old. Why don’t I have a girlfriend?”
“…”
“…”
Then Copson, who was glaring at us with his protruding chin, spoke somberly. We were speechless at his philosophical question.
“Let’s go. Since Barbarian can’t drink, I’ll have to drink alone today. Now that I think about it, all my other friends must be in Krasheim. Damn it.”
The atmosphere was filled with regret, and the place was enveloped in silence. I carefully took my hand off Cloudy’s ear. We came down the quiet mountain. It was a bleak mountain with no undead. The mountain was as gloomy as Copson’s lowered tension.
“…We’re all the way down.”
When we came down the mountain, we saw the sidewalk. Crossing the hill along the sidewalk, we saw the walls of Isbant. Around that point, I silently handed the sack to Copson. It was about time to switch.
We didn’t say much until we passed through the city gates.
“Damn it! Say something! Why is it so quiet!”
“Uh… sorry…”
“Crap!”
Anyway, we stopped by the smithy and sold three one-handed swords, an axe, and a mace for a decent profit of about 1 silver. They weren’t generous trees, but generous gangster bastards. We also sold five pairs of shoes at the store next door.
After earning a total of 2 silver, we sold the accessories and made another 1 silver.
“Now let’s settle the accounts.”
We divided the cash of a little less than 10 silver into three, and we also divided the 79 talents into three. Each person got 3 silver and 15 coppers and 26 talents.
“One mummy head and two zombie heads. And…”
“One ghoul head.”
The price for catching the undead was only 8 talents.
We took this to the church and exchanged it immediately.
“Oh, is this a ghoul? To catch this, you must be amazing.”
“Is that so?”
“It’s a pretty strong undead. I’m seeing it for the first time.”
With that, the settlement was over. The price was divided exactly into three.
Copson, who had organized the money he received, waved his hand and turned around.
“See you next time…”
“Yeah, see ya.”
His back looked very shabby. He disappeared into the city.
“Katt.”
As soon as Copson disappeared, Cloudy started clinging to me blatantly, as if she had nothing to hide. She pressed against my arm and tried to drag me away with great force. It was impossible to resist that bull-like strength.
“I won’t forgive you for teasing me about being older. Be prepared.”
“Wait a minute! It’s still broad daylight!”
“What does it matter? And you touched my ears outside.”
I was sure I would be sucked dry, so I tried to resist with all my might. But she was a powerful warrior and a monstrous woman who was a half-dark elf. I was dragged away as it was.
Just as I was about to give up and resign myself to death, I saw Elise, who had set up a small stall next to the wall. The moment I found a glimmer of hope, I shouted reflexively.
“Huh? Huh? Elise! Is that Elise!”
“…Ah, it’s Saint-nim.”
“Tch.”
Cloudy let go of me when Elise approached. I stood up and waved at Elise. I felt a strong sense of joy.
“Over here!”
“Katt, your fate won’t change even if you do that.”
“I just want to delay it.”
“The more you postpone it, the harder it gets.”
Shiver.
My body trembled.
Anyway, it seemed that Elise had set up a religious stall and was doing business. But where’s Sera? Weren’t they together?
“Are you on your way back from purifying the undead?”
“Yeah. But I couldn’t catch many today. The undead are all dried up.”
“Is that so? That’s a relief.”
I don’t know if it’s a relief that the undead are gone, or if it’s a relief that she can’t purify them, so it’s a relief that there are no undead. Well, it must be the former.
“But where’s Sera? Weren’t you two together?”
“Yesterday, I went out to play… no, I was away from my post, so she asked me to take care of it alone today. I think she went sightseeing somewhere.”
“I see.”
Well, she seemed like a decent person.
“More than that, since you happened to meet me, why don’t you take a look at our store? I was bored because I didn’t have any customers.”
“That’s good! Cloudy, let’s go see it quickly!”
“…Haa.”
I smiled and grabbed Cloudy’s hand. She entrusted her body to me as if she couldn’t help it. I was also curious about what kind of things the Order of the Radiant Cross was selling.
When I approached the stall, Elise explained.
“As you know, our Order of the Radiant Cross has only dispatched me and Sister Blaret as festival support personnel, so it’s not very large. However, His Eminence the Cardinal said that we should support those who strive to purify evil beings with good weapons, so we have brought some decent things.”
“Hoo.”
About ten weapons were on display at the small stall. From an executioner’s greatsword with a terribly ominous blade to a silver vajra and a blasphemous object presumed to be a holy hand grenade from Antioch.
They were literally like the tools of fanatics preparing for a holy war.
“Please take a look, what do you think? Ah, this execution sword is a weapon that has been handed down as being made by a blacksmith blessed by the Radiant Angel Kshnadiel in the Demon Constellation of the Heavenly Throne.”
“Wh-what?”
“However, according to the recent research results of the Ja Cheonseong Holy Heavenly Doctrine Research Association, there is a story that Kshnadiel is not an appendage of the supreme Izzermart, but a messenger of Verde, so it was taken out by order of the Cardinal. Still, it has some value, so if you are interested, you may want to purchase it.”
The price of the execution sword was a whopping 5,000 talents.
“…Can you even buy this?”
“I thought the same thing. In fact, there’s no way this would sell. I think they probably told me to take it as a promotion or for other purposes.”
I looked at the items on display.
There were many interesting items, but the prices were too high. The cheapest was a 200 talent holy dagger. I was a little tempted. Cloudy seemed to feel the same way, as her eyes lit up.
“What about this dagger?”
“Ah, it’s a sacrificial dagger. Due to the reinterpretation of the doctrine, the order and composition of the ceremony have changed, so it hasn’t been used for several years. It’s made of iron forged with divine power, so it has very good durability.”
Cloudy looked at the dagger from side to side and then put it down. Then she chatted with Elise for a while. Elise said that if she didn’t make any sales, it would be better to go out for evangelism or purification activities on a shift basis with Sera.
“Yeah, that’s right. If you’re not making any money, you have to do something. By the way, has the necromancer been caught?”
“I’ve only heard that they’re tracking him, but I haven’t heard the details, so I don’t know much about it. If he’s caught, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
“Thanks.”
Anyway, Cloudy kept signaling me to leave quickly, so I decided to stop here. I said goodbye to Elise.
“Well, I enjoyed looking at the stuff. It was fun. I’ll come again if I hit the talent jackpot.”
“Goodbye.”
I left Elise behind and came out onto the main street. Cloudy glared at me.
“I won’t resist anymore.”
I raised both hands above my head and made a gesture of non-resistance.
“…I’m already soaking wet, okay? Be prepared.”
I’m in trouble.
Her eyes were dangerous.
