I wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but when your girlfriend is cowering behind you in fear while some man is directing bloodlust at her, there's only one thing you can do.
Without a second thought, I entered Bloodlust Mode and began reaching for my dagger, before...
"Lord Valse Darrte! King Aurich requests your presence, the meeting with the delegates from the Rustlands is about to begin!" Called out a guard loudly, snapping me back to my normal state.
"Y-yes, I shall be there in a minute. Excuse me," He nodded at me, before hurrying away.
...what the hell had that been about?
"Hey, what's wrong? Talk to me, Persia," I turned to her as he left, grabbing her shoulders.
"I-it's...I...wait, l-let's talk about this somewhere else," She replied, shaking slightly.
She was really shaken up.
"Hey, we were planning on checking out the shopping district, are you two coming?" Invited Vi, coming over to us.
"Uh, maybe later! You guys go on ahead, we'll catch up later!"
"Oh, alright then. Later!"
"Hey, let's head back to my room, alright?" I asked Persia gently.
"Yeah...okay," She nodded, taking a deep breath.
We headed back to the guest wing and then made our way to my room. As we entered and I shut the door, she sat down on the bed, letting out a huge sigh.
"What happened back there? Did you know that guy?" I asked softly, sitting next to her and wrapping an arm around her.
She was quiet for a while, before nodding.
"He was...one of the slave traders that I escaped from, but...I thought I killed them all. Why is he still alive? That person...can't still be alive," She replied shakily, exhaling sharply.
So that's what it was...no wonder she was so disoriented.
"It's okay, just calm down...everything's fine," I said in a soothing tone, stroking her back as he breathing started to get panicked.
She buried her head in my chest and hugged me tightly.
"I-I don't know why I feel so afraid...he shouldn't be able to scare me anymore, I mean I'm so much stronger than I was five years ago...so why do I feel so terrified, Kuro? I feel like something's wrong with m-!"
"There's nothing wrong with you. Nothing at all. I promise, I won't let him anywhere near you."
"He...he was the one who was in charge of the slave trading ring I was captured in, and...he was the one who tortured me the most. When I saw him, all those memories came flooding back...the whips I'd get struck with everyday, the shackles cutting away at my wrists and ankles, the blunt blades he'd carve into my back with...it's all I can think of right now...I feel like I'm losing my mind-!"
I wrapped my arms around her and embraced her tightly, as tears began running down her face and her shoulders shook in fear.
"It's okay...just let it all out. You're safe here, and I'll make sure it stays that way..."
I'll kill him. I'll fucking kill him. I'll kill him slowly and painfully, I'll show him pure agony...
"I-I'm okay now...," She sniffled, about half an hour later.
Her eyes were red and puffy, but the anxiety in her expression had eased a lot. Good, looks like she was feeling better after letting it all out.
"Let me know if you start to feel uneasy again, okay?"
"Yeah, okay...thanks a lot, I don't know what I'd do without y-."
"Th-there's really no need to thank me...I a-am your boyfriend after all, it's only natural!"
"Alright, if you say so," She said with a slight smile, resting her head on my shoulder, "Hey...don't do anything stupid, like try to kill that guy...I know that's probably what you're thinking, but he seemed to be an important advisor to the king, and it'll probably cause all sorts of unnecessary problems for you, so...just ignore him or something, okay?"
Easier said than done.
"...fine, I'll try not to do anything...so long as I'm unprovoked," I relented, before adding the last bit.
"Aw, don't make that face...besides, now that I've calmed down, I don't really care if he's dead or alive, I already got my revenge when I escaped."
"Yeah, well...a few scratches on his face doesn't feel in the least bit adequate after what he put you through," I growled.
"Uh, about that...his face wasn't the only think I messed up that day...I also tried to cut open his stomach, but when he moved, I sorta...maybe...kinda ended up slashing off his dick instead. I thought that would be enough to kill him, but I guess not. The annoying part is that that's about the last thing I clearly remember before my mind went red and I lost control...the rest of it is such a blur."
...
"Wait, you did what? Huh, I would have assumed him dead after that too. I suppose living without a dick could be worse than death. Hmm...okay, I think I should be able to control and prevent myself from killing him on sight after all, though I can't promise anything. Still, he'll almost definitely be out for revenge, I'll need to stay alert in case he tries something," I mused.
"Hey, don't worry about it too much...I can take care of myself, you know," She reminded me.
True. Besides, I should probably look to take her mind off of this now.
"Yeah, that's true enough. So, anyway...what do you want to do for the rest of the day, we can either check out the shopping and food districts, or we can stay in here all day, it's your call."
I was hoping she'd pick going out, a bit of distraction could do some good for her, but I decided to ask her in the form of a choice in order to avoid putting any pressure on her. Maybe I'm being too cautious, but I'm not taking any risks.
"Mm...let's go out. I want to see what kind of stuff they have here. Also...it'll be my first date with you, so there's that," She declared, standing up.
"Hey, that makes me wonder...what actually constitutes a date? I mean, we've hung out alone together plenty of times before, even if we don't count our sparring sessions, we had lunch together a few-."
"Ugh, don't be a wet blanket! Fine, how about this, it's our first date as a couple! Let's go!"
"Uh, sure...I'm right behind yo-."
"No not behind, you have to be next to me!"
"Now you're walking a fine line between cute and annoying...for now, it's still closer to cute, though."
"I'll bite you."
We found our way out of the castle, and then headed for the shopping district.
Like I mentioned before, nearly half the country is occupied by the slums, where about two-thirds, maybe more, of the population live. With the royal castle in the middle, the other half of the country was split into five districts.
First was the Food District, which was filled with restaurants, food carts, cafés and the like. Second was the Shopping District, where stores of all varieties sold their wares. Then the third district, which was in the middle and was known as the Lockdown District, was sealed off, as it contained the Zombie Forbidden Zone.
The fourth district was a Residency District, where the nobles reside. The middle-class citizens tended to live in the Food and Shopping Districts, most of the restaurants and stores doubled as residences for their owners.
And the fifth district was known as the Pleasure District, filled with smoking cafés and bars, while also, as you might have guessed, acting as a red-light district.
My first impression was that this country was a lot easier to navigate than the Rustlands was. Not every location looked the same, for one thing.
We headed for the Shopping District and explored the vast selection of stores in it. The clothing stores made it apparent how much more extravagant the sense of fashion was among the citizens here compared to back home.
Huh, guess at some point I had started calling the Rustlands my home.
They had a lot of jewelry and gem stores around, which wasn't surprising. I'd spotted a lot of valuable looking gemstones in the caves during the last couple of days of our journey here, I planned to nab a few on the way back.
"You don't seem that interested in this stuff," I remarked to Persia, noticing that she barely spared a glance at any of the jewelry stores we walked past.
"Not really...I just don't like overly sparkly things, especially not something that stands out against my black outfits," She shrugged.
I suppose gold or silver would be pretty glaring and noticeable against a black background.
"Let's check out the weapon and equipment stores here, we might find some cool items!" She suggested, spotting one ahead of us.
I smiled...she seemed to be having fun, I was glad.
"Hey, wait up, Cat Girl!"
Something caught my eye in one the jewelry stores as she ran excitedly ahead.
I soon caught up with her, she was already inside the store, checking out a glove with metal spikes on the knuckles.
"Excuse me, sir...do you have something similar with Black Steel or any other kind of dark metal?" She asked the store owner, who shook his head in reply.
"Those look like a good fit for your fighting style," I commented, as she put them back.
"Yeah, I know, but...I want it in black. Ever since I switched my claws from regular steel to Black Steel, I just want to maintain the fully black look...is that stupid?"
"I mean, kinda...but I totally get what you mean, I doubt I'd be happy using regular metal weapons after getting used to the Black Steel blades you got me," I replied, going through a selection of throwing knives.
Ooh, these ones kinda looked like kunai knives, just a bit smaller.
We spent quite a while in that store, only leaving after we had each blown through sizeable chunks of our spending money. I ended up buying a bunch of the kunais, along with a few different poisons and toxins.
They weren't lethal like the one I usually used, and the effects ranged from paralysis to tranquilization to confusion. The last one was really useful, it effectively messes up the commands your brain transmits to the rest of your body temporarily, trying to move an arm might end up moving a leg instead, or something like that.
I had also gotten a small crossbow-like thingy that fired needles instead of arrows, it was about the size of a smartphone, latched onto my forearm and could fire three needles at a time. Persia had gotten a few pairs of fighting gloves that she planned to modify with Black Steel once we got back to the Rustlands.
"Wait, I just realized something," Said Persia suddenly.
"Hm, what is it?"
"Shouldn't I, um...be on your arm? You know...since this is a date and all."
"S-sure...that'd be nice," I replied, my face heating up a bit as she latched onto my arm and rested her head on my shoulder.
We explored the Shopping District a bit more, before deciding to head to the Food District as we began to feel hungry. It was late afternoon, almost evening by then, time had gone by really quickly.
We entered the Food District, greeted by an absolute tidal wave of mouthwatering scents.
"This is kinda overwhelming...I don't know what to go for, or even where to start," Remarked Persia, licking her lips as we explored the area.
There were restaurants as far as the eye could see, of every variety imaginable, the smells drifting around the air were heavenly, and so heavy that it was almost stifling. There were also a bunch of food carts and stalls scattered all around the place.
"Hey, instead of picking a single restaurant, wanna hit up a bunch of those stalls?" I suggested, as I noticed a stall selling grilled squid.
I'd forgotten that there was a beach pretty close to Goldway, and that seafood was a relatively large part of their culture. Also, picking a single thing to eat was way too tough with this many options.
"Sure, that sounds good, I really want to try stuff from a bunch a different places!"
"Sweet! So, have you tried grilled squid before?" I inquired, leading her to the stall.
"No...but it smells good," She gulped, as her mouth began watering.
I bought a couple of them, handing one of them to her.
"I'm not the biggest fan of seafood, particularly when it comes to fish, but I love squid and octopus, as well as shelled seafood like crab, prawns and lobster. It's been a while since I've had any seafood, and this is definitely the right way to break that dry spell," I sighed contentedly, as I bit into the piping-hot, freshly grilled squid.
"Mmm, that's delicious! What should we get next?" She inquired excitedly, as she chomped down on her squid.
I felt a soothing warm feeling envelop me as I stared at her giddy, carefree expression. It felt really pleasant.
"How about that, looks like different kinds of meat barbecued on a stick," I pointed out, a slight smile appearing on my face as she excitedly dragged me along by my arm.
We went on to try food from about eight or nine stalls, and pretty much everything we tried was absolutely heavenly, I was pretty stuffed by the end of it.
"I...think...I can do one more," Grunted Persia, rubbing her bloated stomach.
"You sure? Because it looks like you're about to pop," I remarked, lightly poking the middle of her tummy.
"H-hey, don't do that, I'll puke all over you! I am pretty full, but...I kinda feel like eating something sweet before heading back," She admitted sheepishly.
"Alright, fine. Let's see...oh, there's something sweet," I nodded towards a stall selling crepes.
"That looks pretty good...okay, let's go for it!"
We both got chocolate crepes and ate them while walking back to the castle. I was so stuffed...I can't even remember the last time I'd overeaten this much.
We were at the edge of the Food District, meaning we were pretty close to the Forbidden Zone. It had been completely walled off, they must have built an additional enclosure around the barrier holding in the Zombies. I was getting an ominous feeling from inside those walls.
It felt so unnatural...
As we neared the castle grounds, I spotted a few of the others.
"Hey, you guys! Are you heading back too?" Vi greeted us, before raising an eyebrow with a grin as she looked at us.
Huh, what's that look fo- oh, right...Persia was on my arm.
"Yeah, we're on our way back," I replied, trying to act natural.
If I let my embarrassment show, I'll probably get teased, which would be annoying. From behind her, Ekai and Fuo came walking up.
"It feels quite intriguing to see how another nation operates, it is so different to what we are used to," Remarked Ekai, holding a bunch of meat skewers.
"Tch...the Rustlands definitely pales in comparison to this place, I've lived there all my life but still get lost sometimes...here, I didn't get lost even once today," Said Fuo with a grimace, eating a snowcone.
Wow...she was definitely a 'glass is half-empty' kinda person, huh. And coming from me, someone who makes an effort to avoid optimism, that was saying a lot.
As we all continued heading back, Vi approached Persia and I curiously.
"So...you two seem close, well, closer than usual," She remarked, staring at our latched arms.
"We're on a date!" Replied Persia with a giddy smile and no hesitation.
"Woah, for real? So then, you two are....since when?" She inquired in surprise.
"Two nights ago. It's really not a big deal or anything," I shrugged, acting nonchalant.
I have to admit...showing off my relationship felt kinda good.
As we exited the Food District, the path ahead of us led to the castle, while off to the left, was the entrance to the Forbidden Zone. It was a large metal gate, sealed shut and locked with massive chains and bolts, with two guards standing outside.
It looked pretty intimidating.
"You know, I am kinda curious to see what actual Zombies look like, but I'm also definitely fine with never finding out," I remarked, as we headed down the path leading to the castle.
"Personally, Zombies don't sound as bad as Vampires or Dragons or Demons, those Forbidden Zones are definitely to be avoided. But I feel like Zombies could be subdued pretty easily if you outnumber them," Replied Vi, with a shrug.
"Nah, I don't think they should be underestimated. Sure, they're unintelligent and uncoordinated, but they attack in a large swarm that will keep growing faster and faster if they begin to spread. A thousand regular stray cats could do more damage than a couple of lions or tigers, for example," I argued, backed up by my wealth of knowledge regarding Zombie-related trivia thanks to my old life.
Yes, I had a phase where I was really into apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic content, leave me alone.
"I am inclined to agree, if eliminating them was that simple, they would not be sealed away in a Forbidden Zone," Added Ekai.
"Hypothetical scenarios are stupid," Was Fuo's input.
"I wouldn't want to face Zombies...I mean, if they so much as scratch you, you'll turn into one too, right? I'd rather fight a stronger monster than a monster that gives me no margin for error," Said Persia, after thinking about it for a bit.
"Yeah, you do need a bit of margin for error, your accuracy does tend to slip sometimes...the first time I saw you, you crashed into a wall-," I began with a grin.
"Stop bringing that up! I was really nervous that day, okay?" She interrupted, grumbling.
We reached the castle, and headed for the guest rooms after the guard let us in, after which we split up and headed into our own rooms. Though five minutes later, Persia came into my room with all of her stuff.
"You don't mind if I stay in your room with you for the rest of our stay here, right?" She inquired with a seductive smile.
"I most certainly don't."
She put away her things and then stretched a bit.
"I'm going to take a shower, I need one after walking around all day," She said, heading for the bathroom.
"Sure...I'll head out for a bit, I want to check out the castle library a bit. I won't be gone for long, though. I should be back soon," I replied, getting up.
"Aww...aren't you going to join me?"
"...I-."
"Hehe, just kidding!"
I sighed and turned towards the door with a small laugh.
"...be back soon, Persia."
"Okay, see you in a bit, Kuro!"
I left the room and headed for the library, getting directions from the guards posted throughout the castle. I was curious about the Zombies, a lot of the information about them back home was pretty vague.
They were supposedly not considered to be proper monsters, but I don't know why that's the case.
Since the Forbidden Zone is literally inside this country, they're bound to have more information on it. I soon found myself at the entrance to the library, I entered it and looked around.
It was huge, a wide room with rows upon rows of bookshelves. Thankfully, each row was labeled with the kind of books they held, to make finding what you were looking for a lot easier. It still took some searching, but I eventually found information on the Zombies in...a restricted section of the library, with a guard posted in front it.
Well...that's that, I guess.
As I turned around to head back, my eyes widened in surprise as the king entered my field of vision.
"Ah, it is you. Are you interested in some form of our literature?" He inquired.
"Oh, er...your highness. Uh, sort of...I was just curious about the Forbidden Zone here...unlike the other Forbidden Zone monsters that are well-documented, detailed information regarding Zombies are hard to come by. So...I got curious, but it turned out to be off-limits, so...yeah," I replied, a bit awkwardly.
Come on, man...just leave me alone already, I have no idea how I'm supposed to talk to literal royalty.
"Ah, I see. Actually...I believe that information need no longer be restricted. The previous king, my father, kept it from the public, doing so to protect himself...as well as the Magic Research Group, the organization that I recently cut ties with."
He walked over to the restricted part of the library and pulled the book regarding Zombies out of the bookshelf, before handing it to me.
"I plan to make this information available to the public soon, not just in Goldway, but among the other nations as well. The secret behind this particular Forbidden Zone...well, you will see when you read it. You may share the information among your group as you see fit," He informed me, before leaving.
He was...way too straightforward for a leader, I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but people who lay out their cards on the table instead of keeping them up their sleeve tend to be easily deceived. I was genuinely surprised that there weren't coup-de-tats every other day, there's no way all the changes he's made have been met with zero resistance.
I opened the book and began reading through it. It's contents were more than a little surprising. I finally got why Zombies weren't considered to be regular monsters.
It's because they were human.
Let me explain.
Zombies didn't exist till about a hundred years ago. Goldway's king at the time was working closely with the Magic Research Group. Now, back then, the Magic Research Group had a large-scale human experimentation project they wanted to undertake, but had nowhere to do it nor enough test subjects. Meanwhile, Goldway's slums were overpopulated and were only increasing.
The solution was obvious.
Goldway offered about a tenth of their land to be used as a large experimental facility, and would also 'donate' a heavy proportion of their slum residents as...raw materials for the project.
They had been trying to make an army of mindless soldiers that would only heed their commands, like remote-controlled drones, soldiers that would expand their own army by infecting other humans.
While they accomplished the mindless part, controlling these soulless humans proved to be impossible.
Mind control didn't work since all their minds had already been destroyed. And they were too far gone to be restored. Thus, the experiment was considered a failure, and the Zombified test subjects were to be disposed of.
However, before that could happen, a few of them broke free, attacking and infecting all the researchers. Adventurers and soldiers tried to eliminate them, but only ended up adding to their ranks.
Before they could infect the whole country, a barrier expert sealed them inside a powerful barrier. After that, he came up with an even more powerful barrier, and activated it around the one already there. They waited for the Zombies to rot or die off, but...they didn't.
The condition of their bodies strangely remained the same, showing no signs of deterioration or decay. And so, the barriers sealing them were in turn sealed by building thick walls and a ceiling around them. That should have been the end of it.
However, about five years ago, the Magic Research Group re-expressed their interest in the Zombie project, after which they tore down one of the walls and replaced it with the metal gate we saw today, so that they could go in and out as they pleased. They simply observed the behavior of the Zombies from behind the barrier, however...it was still a huge red flag, tampering with a Forbidden Zone.
That's why, as soon as the previous king died, the current king wasted no time in cutting ties with the organization, and firmly sealing up those gates.
Zombies could turn you into one of them with either a bite or a scratch with their nails, meaning regardless of how slow they were, if you get swarmed and get even a tiny scratch breaks the skin, it's over for you.
I shut the book with a heavy sigh.
A world filled with magic had seriously managed to artificially create one of the deadliest sci-fi monsters of my old world?
As I left the library and headed back to my room, I wondered if my Healing Factor would make me immune to Zombies. I already knew that physical injuries weren't the only things it healed, it sobers me up if I don't restrict it when I drink or smoke weed, and I also recovered faster from that sleeping gas than the others did when we were kidnapped. But then, it didn't work against that Pain Amplifier liquid.
Like I said before, I'm completely fine with never finding out what Zombies are actually like. In fact...I'd prefer if I never did.
I soon got back to my room and entered it, Persia sitting up on the bed as I shut the door once inside.
"Thought you wouldn't be gone for long," She greeted, patting the spot next to her for me to sit down.
"Sorry, I got kinda absorbed while reading about the Zombies," I apologized, sitting next to her.
"You seem really interested in them, huh. Any particular reason why?" She asked curiously.
"Oh, that's easy...Zombies were one of the most popular monsters in fictional horror stories in my old world. They didn't actually exist, but there were a ton of different movies, shows and video g-," I cut off as a confused look appeared on her face, "Oh, uh...those are different forms of entertainment and storytelling, it's kinda hard to explain since they don't exist in this world."
I went on to explain everything I'd learnt about the Zombies here, as she listened wide-eyed. After I finished, she began asking me about how the fictional Zombies of my old world compared to the ones here. She seemed genuinely interested in the subject.
"Wow, your old world sounds like so much fun! I guess it'd be a little weird without magic, but the benefits totally outweigh the drawbacks! The entertainment sounds like a blast, the transportation sounds too good to be true, and...!"
I began stroking her head as she excitedly went on.
"It's kinda funny. In my old world, people would talk about how great it would be to live in a fantasy world with magic and powers, but I guess the grass is always greener on the other side, huh? I definitely miss the modern luxuries of my old world, though...this world certainly has its perks too."
Mainly, her.
"Based on what you've told me, your old world sounds like a much better place to live in. But I'll take your word for it, considering that you are speaking from experience, after all."
As our conversation ended, I grabbed a quick shower and got ready to go to sleep. I heard a slight noise in my pocket as I put away my outfit, and remembered that I had something in there.
I took it out and walked over to Persia.
"S-so, uh...here, this is for you," I stuttered, giving it to her.
It was a necklace, consisting of a black chain and a pentagonal black gemstone. I had spotted it right before we went into that weapon store earlier today, and decided to get it for her.
"Wow...it's beautiful, are you sure I can have it-?"
"Well, yeah...I got it specifically for you, and besides...it's not like I can wear it," I replied with a shrug.
"In that case...could you put it on me?" She requested, moving her hair aside from her neck.
"Sure, but right now? We're going to sleep-."
"Yeah, just for a bit! I'll take it off before I sleep," She interrupted, looking up at me expectantly.
I...can't resist a look like that. I put the chain around her neck and clipped the two ends together, gently stroking her neck with my thumbs as I drew back my hands.
"H-hey, that tickled! So, how does it look on me?" She asked with a happy smile, before heading into the bathroom to get a look in the mirror,
"Hey, I think this looks great, I love the shade of black of the chain, and the crystal is so pretty, it's not too sparkly but not too dull either, I kinda don't want to take this off now!"
I grinned, as she checked herself out in the mirror. She looked so cute...
Once the excitement died down, she came back to the bed and we talked for a bit, before going to sleep soon after that.
The next morning, I woke up earlier than I expected, not long after dawn.
She was still fast asleep, and in the end hadn't taken off the necklace, it was still around her neck. I poked her cheeks gently, but she didn't simply groaned and buried her face in the pillow.
She wasn't waking up, so I decided to head to the Food District and get some breakfast that I could bring back to the room. I ended up getting some meat sandwiches, pancakes and more grilled squid.
On the way back, I spotted Valse Darrte, the scarred man who tortured Persia. I felt a feral hostility building inside me, but bit down on my lip and forced myself to swallow the rage, and kept walking.
Wait, what was he was even doing, he just seemed to be standing around aimlessly. I glanced back, and saw that he was holding something.
A complex looking tool...wait, I recognized that tool, I forgot what it's called, but it was used to determine the coordinates of your location.
Why would you need location coordinates in a world like this? For teleportation Spell Scrolls.
Though, it did seem like an odd place to set a teleportation point, so...maybe there was another function in this world that used location coordinates?
Whatever, I should get going, I won't be able to suppress my animosity much longer. I'll just look up what else uses location coordinates in this world later.
In hindsight...I really shouldn't have ignored what I saw.
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Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism! Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.