My Glasses Will Be Able to Conquer the Whole World, I Suppose

247 – Zombie Legion Extermination Operation 2

“—Meow? What are you doing?”

While Trawllul was doing a final check of the routes to and from the forest, she noticed Lisse here, where she shouldn’t be, and called out to her.

Chace aside, Lisse’s post is not here.

This is behind a rock, near the forest infested with zombies.

On the other side of the rock, zombies could already be seen, so they were quite close.

“Well, just a little…”

Considering Chace’s honor, pride, and face, Lisse hesitated in her words. She was being considerate since Eil hadn’t told anyone either. —Well, Eil just didn’t say anything because it was a hassle.

While hesitating in her words, she suddenly thought.

Come to think of it, Trawllul was also not fond of zombies.

“Are you okay with zombies, Ulul? You seemed quite uncomfortable yesterday.”

“I’ve gotten used to it!”

—The experiments, investigations, and preparations conducted in the forest yesterday were mainly handled by Trawllul.

She had no choice but to operate in an environment where zombies were practically right next door.

She got used to it, whether she liked it or not.

For the sake of the experiment, she had thrown her strongest right hook at a zombie whose cheek flesh had worn away, exposing its bones and teeth, and kicked a zombie with its insides hanging out in the side. These were actions she could not forget, even if she wanted to.

If you don’t look closely, you can’t hit properly.

No matter how much resistance she felt, she had no choice but to look.

At this point, nothing mattered anymore—she had to turn her mindset around that much just to cope.

—“I’ve kicked a zombie’s head off before.”

I had gotten used to it enough to harbor ambitions of boasting about it to my childhood friend from my hometown one day. I had forcibly gotten used to it.

“After all that trouble, I really, really want to see the results of our investigation put to good use!”

For Trawllul, that summed up the challenge this time.

No matter how much she complained, she wouldn’t be forgiven. She observed things she didn’t want to see and hit or kicked things she didn’t want to touch, filling her chest with the stench of decay.

If she were told now, “That was all a waste,” she was confident she wouldn’t remain sane.

She would probably beat up Eil, who had mainly given the orders.

“It’s because we struggled, huh… right?”

Chace muttered and opened the lid of the bottle he was gripping tightly.

“There’s no time to stand around. I’ve worked hard just to get this far. I can’t even think about backing down.”

—Just before Chace became an assassin apprentice, he had been carrying luggage for a group of top-class adventurers.

It was what you would call the groundwork.

At that time, he had been treated like a convenient servant.

He had been quite unfortunate, worrying that he might end without ever seeing the light of day.

He was picked up by those famous adventurers because of his excellent potential.

However, even after a year, his treatment hadn’t changed at all. He remained just a servant.

But now he understood.

After standing on his own and becoming an assassin apprentice, he realized there were too many things he lacked.

And looking back at the past, he learned the hard way.

He probably hadn’t even been able to manage being a servant properly.

That’s why nothing had changed even after a year.

The reason no one entrusted anything to him wasn’t just his abilities; it was because he hadn’t prepared his mindset.

The reason no one changed how they treated him was that he only did what he was told.

In short, his thoughts and attitude had been too complacent.

Instead of rotting away because he couldn’t do what he wanted, he should have absorbed everything he could learn, perfectly handled his assigned tasks, and worked hard to become competent quickly.

It was only after becoming an assassin apprentice that he finally understood.

The reason Chace, who had only wanted to grow stronger, wasn’t particularly trained was—

—Because the adventurers who had helped him thought he would die as soon as he got stronger.

Being an adventurer is a harsh job.

Sometimes, being strong alone isn’t enough to survive.

—So they chose to teach him various things to avoid death first.

Being an adventurer isn’t just about fighting.

There are times when one can get hurt or even lose their life without ever fighting.

As he interacted with various comrades alongside him, Chace came to think this way.

He didn’t know if it was entirely correct, but he accepted it.

And now.

The version of himself who hadn’t been entrusted with anything back then was now given a role that only he could fulfill.

This responsibility isn’t something to be easily relinquished, nor should it be.

“—Lisse, you can go now. It’s as scheduled.”

With that, Chace poured holy water over his head.

“Yikes, that stinks!”

“Meow!? What’s that, zombie juice!? Juice squeezed from zombies!?”

“Shut up! And what the heck is zombie juice!? …Well, I guess it does smell bad…”

Chace felt annoyed by the reactions of the women stepping back from the bizarre stench, yet he shared the same sentiment.

It was strangely foul.

It smelled like some pungent medicinal herb had been boiled down and concentrated.

“Oh, I might have smelled this before. This is the holy water made by Caron. …It’s definitely thinner than it was back then, but it hasn’t completely gone away…”

Lisse’s expression soured.

Along with the smell, memories of being forced to smell it by Eil suddenly resurfaced, bringing her some discomfort.

“Does this actually work?”

“The smell seems effective, yeah.”

The odor indeed seemed potent.

Since it was similar to the scent of medicinal herbs she knew well, it felt like it could be effective, though it was extremely pungent.

“So, how about it? Are you okay? Maybe you should get a bit closer and try it out?”

“No problem. You hurry up and go.”

Lisse looked worried, but the operation was about to begin.

She couldn’t stay here forever.

“…Got it. I’ll leave this to you.”

“Yeah. You make sure to handle things after this.”

Still looking anxious, Lisse took off running.

“Alright, I guess I’ll head out too. Oh, and I made sure to mark the route properly!”

“Yeah. See you later.”

Trawllul also ran off, leaving Chace alone in this spot.

“…”

Although the unpleasant sweat wouldn’t stop, Chace steeled himself and dashed out.

His destination was deep within the forest.

“…Ugh, this feels really gross…”

He couldn’t tell if the holy water was working, but Chace had made up his mind and plunged into the woods, reaching his designated position.

His starting point was atop a random tree branch.

Below him, there were more than a hundred zombies, clustered together as if they were spread out on the ground.

Groaning “Ahh” and “Whoaa”, they stretched out their hands, yearning for something…

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

The zombies’ target was a small leather pouch dangling from the branch.

From that pouch, rhythmic sounds akin to a drumbeat echoed out.

“…I see.”

—Now he understood what they meant when they explained the operation and said, “We’ll gather the zombies.”

It was some kind of magic… or rather, since it wasn’t explicitly stated, it must have been someone’s gift, and they prepared something that makes noise.

By hanging it from the branch, the zombies would be drawn to it.

It was a trap of sorts.

According to Trawllul’s investigation, zombies were said to respond to sound.

Natural sounds, too—like the rustling of trees and grass in the wind, which would also trigger their movement.

This was also the reason many zombies remained in the forest.

Moreover, their sense of sight was still active.

If anything, their sight was superior to their sense of sound.

It seemed there were individual differences among them; it appeared that when the invisible Trawllul approached quietly, some zombies would react. This suggested that some might not detect heat but rather pick up on the presence of living creatures in a more vague way.

Since zombies do not engage in battles with one another, it was possible they were sensing something beyond just heat or presence.

Additionally, there was the reaction when an attack was made while in an invisible state.

There was no notable response.

If they were capable of standing, they would rise; if not, they would crawl in some direction.

This indicated that they had no awareness of having been attacked.

In fact, they likely had no consciousness at all. They were merely reacting on instinct.

Lastly, if the head and torso were separated, the body would indeed stop functioning…

But the head would still move. Truly, they were the undead.

By now, Eil and Trawllul should also be stationed above the gathered zombies, just like Chace.

All that remained was to wait for the signal to start.