5
The road to the castle has become a hellscape.
Seeing the knights scattered here and there, Grimm lets out a cry of despair.
“Oh my…! If he’s exhibiting this much power in a temporary body…”
To beat this many knights so easily—yes, I can see how remarkable that is.
“Grimm, this is starting to feel a bit hopeless. He seems a lot stronger than when I beat him. Right now, he’s a doll. I don’t know how I’m supposed to land a killing blow, and any hope that he’s weak because he’s a doll is… Well, just look…”
Just as I’m considering retreat, one of the fallen knights raises his head.
“Th-that’s not what happened…”
…?
“It was the mutant Tiger Man who disabled us… Lady Snow said the enemy commander was a cat-shaped stuffed animal and that the priority was to finish it off. She sent knights in pursuit of it… The knights who didn’t know Tiger Man mistook him for the enemy and attacked him, so he retaliated…”
“Where’s the one who issued that order?”
The knight points to the castle, then, as if running out of strength, collapses.
Just then…
…Alice speaks in a voice loud enough to echo through the city.
“All Combat Agents and knights in the city, report to the castle immediately. Attack the cat-shaped stuffed animal on sight. It’s a cat, not a tiger. Repeat, all Combat Agents and knights report to the castle!”
It seems she used a special voice amplifier; the windows in the city shake, and everyone turns toward the voice.
“…Hey, most of the problems that happened during this Undead Festival were either your fault or the faults of people you knew, Commander…”
“All right, let’s head to the castle. This is all because of Snow. She ignored Alice’s orders and let her hunger for glory blind her. Got it?”
“All right. This is all Snow’s fault. All the problems with this Undead Festival are Snow’s fault.”
It’s reassuring to see Grimm thinking about her own self-preservation.
As for me—
“…It’s Mariel! Bloody Mary is hunting zombies!”
“Good work, Mariel! You’re the true champ!”
I can hear some people yelling in the distance, although what they’re saying is strange. I dash forward while carrying Grimm on my back.
“Commander, there are zombies over there, too. I’ll return them to their senses; can you head there for a moment?”
“Leave it to me! …Say, Grimm, we’re kind of impressive today, aren’t we? Almost like heroes saving the city!”
I had always dreamed of being a hero.
I walked the path of evil thanks to a combination of no talent for heroism and those employers, but I’m a bit excited at the opportunity to feel like I’m fulfilling my childhood dream.
Grimm looks at me with a happy little smile. “There’s times where you’re like a purehearted little kid. I don’t dislike that about you, Commander.”
“That might be nice to hear, if you weren’t piggybacking on me with your butt hanging out…”
“B-butt! It’s still covered, right?! My skirt’s not completely hiked… Oh, oh, hang on a moment! We’re almost at the castle; let me fix my skirt hem!”
Grimm and I head toward the castle, stopping to bring the zombies back to their senses and convince them to return to the earth.
I’m carrying Grimm on my back, and maybe it’s because I’m wearing power armor, but I’m not getting as much out of the experience as I’d prefer.
Then there’s the whole comparison between Snow and Grimm…
“Hmm… Personality aside, I think I’d rather carry Snow on my back than Grimm…”
“Hey, just what part of me are you comparing to Snow?! Let me point out that mine are average. Actually, maybe even bigger than average. And I don’t hold back with a man I love. You know, it’s a pretty common thing, right? You start to worry after you get intimate at the start of a relationship because you wonder if he’s just after your body…that sort of thing. Well, I’d never worry about anything so trivial!”
Seems I’ve touched some sort of nerve, and Grimm starts babbling again.
“The fact that you start defending yourself against things I haven’t even said is part of what makes you so annoying.”
“?!”
Carrying a shocked Grimm on my back, I head to the next group of zombies.
Despite looking like she has something she wants to say, Grimm does her task effectively.
…Sure, she’s a pervert who shows off her butt while getting carried around, but every time she returns a zombie to the earth, she’s got the look of a proper bishop.
“You know, if you always had that whole priestly-aura thing going on, I’m pretty sure you’d have been married ages ago.”
“Wh-what do you mean, Commander? Don’t say things like that. They catch me off guard. You really ought to stop toying with my emotions.”
Evidently, one of the costs of her long spinster life is that she’s no longer able to handle compliments.
Grimm gently holds the zombie’s hand to reassure it as she returns it to the earth, giving no sign she’s bothered by the zombie ichor getting on her hand.
Even though the combination of bare feet and clothes dirty from running makes her look like a homeless woman…
“If you just keep your mouth shut, I bet you’ll be married within a few years.”
“I’m not going to live my life that way! I’ll find a nice husband who’ll accept me even if I am a follower of Zenarith. And even if I stay single, I have someone who’ll take me ten years from now, so it’s not a big deal.”
Oh great, she’s taking that promise seriously!
You know, that’s the sort of thing that drives men away. I really want to lecture her about that for an hour or so.
Still…
“It’s getting worse the closer we get to the castle.”
“Yes… S-say, Commander, being an elite demon, Gadalkand’s stronger than expected. If worse comes to worst, will you protect me? It’s possible his powers as a necromancer are greater than mine.”
There’s battered dolls scattered all around us, all people who died protecting this kingdom.
And now, even when visiting after death, they’ve sacrificed themselves again in their kingdom’s time of need.
They must have thrown themselves in front of Gadalkand as he headed to the castle, holding him off as they were battered.
Grimm stops to embrace each of the dolls, whispering something to them before setting them back down.
“Seriously, if only you’d show this side of you more often…”
“…? Hmm? What is it?”
Men are pretty weak toward women who have different sides to them, but if I told her that, I feel like she’d spent every waking moment cleansing the undead.
It’s attractive because she shows her hidden side every once in a while, but I can just see her overplaying the whole “holy woman” thing.
“Never mind. Anyway, we’re almost at the castle. Are you ready? There aren’t many zombies or dolls left; we’re almost to the main target.”
“I know. I’ll use my secret weapon if things get desperate.”
Grimm then takes something from her breast pocket.
It’s a necklace for a child, the very item she tried to use in our earlier battle. She must have started carrying it in her breast pocket after she started worrying people would think she was too old for it.
“Cursing people extracts a cost. Of course, the more important the object, the better. This is a gift I was given as a child by my childhood sweetheart.”
…I have a bad feeling about this.
“If it’s that precious, put it away. Once Alice gets here, we’ll manage somehow.”
In fact, please keep it as your most precious memento for years to come.
Otherwise, it’ll seem like you’re okay letting it go because you recently got a necklace that can take its place…
“No, it’s all right. I have the new necklace you gave me, Commander. Childhood memories should stay memories. I can’t be tied down by the past forever; it’s time for me to move forward!”
“Hey, you do remember what I said, right? I said I’ll take you if you’re still single ten years from now. If you find someone good in the meantime, go get ’em, okay?”
“I wonder how you are these days. When we were five, you said you’d marry me when we grew up, yet you so easily fell to the wiles of a big-breasted woman the moment we hit puberty. Are you happy now…?”
“Hey, can you stop it with the whole I’ve found someone new, so I’ll live my life moving past you sort of vibe?”
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