Chapter 32- Why Don't You Stay Here?
The arrow flew like a bolt of lightning before it hit Sigrid right in his crotch. Instantly, a loud shriek rumbled inside the house as the man fell down to the ground, tossing and turning maniacally as if he lost his mind.
His trousers quickly were coated with blood as his eyes rolled back in their sockets and he lost consciousness. Foam leaked out of his mouth and covered his face.
"S-Sigrid!" The woman, named Selina, looked at her unconscious husband with a horrified expression as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"Good idea, Asher." Rain gave Asher a thumbs up with a casual expression as if she did nothing wrong.
"H-Hahaha… I never expected you will actually do it."
"Why?"
"... Not very much, forget what I said."
'Sigh, she ended any possible chances this man could have kids and she didn't even bother to pretend as if she cared.' Asher shook his head as if he felt a tinge of pity for the bastard.
"Hahahahaha! You are ruthless just like your father, Rain!" Rizou was the only one to laugh out loudly.
"So, uh, what should we do with her?" Asher asked as he pointed his sword at Selina.
"Let her go. Without Sigrid, that woman is only a whore who sells her body for money."
"I see… Well, you heard him. Go ahead." Pushing away the sword, Asher allowed for the woman to move.
"Y-You bastard! Rizou! I will never forget this humiliation! I will definitely make you regret this! You hear me?!" Clenching her teeth, Selina carried her husband out of the house. Since he was quite skinny, it didn't prove to be a hard task albeit an unpleasant one.
"Sigh, what an annoying bunch." Asher murmured and turned around to his Zombie follower.
"Thank you for the help, Bob." He said as he tapped the Zombie's left arm lightly.
"... Woah! What the fuck is that?!" Rizou suddenly screamed.
"Huh?"
"Where did it appear from?! I didn't see it!"
'She has been here the whole time, though.' Rain and Asher thought at the same time with dead expressions.
"That's his ability, father. He can turn any Zombie he kills into a follower that does whatever he asks from it."
"Woah! Really?! I've never heard of such a power. You are really bizarre, brat!"
"Thank… you?"
"Hai hai, stop this nonsense and get back to your bed so that we can clean this mess you created." Looking around her, Rain could only see beheaded corpses and blood everywhere.
'This is going to take a while to clean.' She thought to herself.
"U-Ugh, I'm going to throw up." Asher, on the other hand, paled at the sight and turned around, holding his stomach.
He still didn't get accustomed to seeing corpses yet. The smell was even more dreadful part.
"I-Is it ok if Bob helped you instead of me? I-I can't handle corpses yet."
"Hm? That's fine."
"I will be… outside." He said before walking away.
When Asher was finally out, Rizou's smile vanished as he looked at Rain with a serious expression.
"Is he to be trusted?"
"... He doesn't seem to be a bad person. But, he's hiding some things."
"We all do. I saw it too. There is a weird darkness within his eyes. I never mistake that look. He harbors hatred. A deep, bottomless hatred for something or someone." Rizou said as he squinted his eyes as his mind remembered a few distant memories of people that shared that same look Asher had.
"Hatred, huh?"
"Sigh, well, the fact that he helped me is enough for me to be grateful. Don't forget to properly thank him."
"I know. Now, come on. I need to start working on the cure before you bite the dust."
"Hahaha! That's horrible of you to say, my dear daughter."
***
"System stats," Asher murmured as he sat down on the grass, enjoying the breeze of the sunny day.
[Name: Asher Frostbloom
Race: Human
Class: Zombiemancer
Skills: Zombiemancer (Level 2)/ Swordsmanship (level 4)
Level: 4
Stats: Strength: 8 (+3)/ Agility: 6 (+1)/ Stamina: 5/ Mana: 15/ Health: 4 (+2)
Free status points: 4]
Since Asher didn't kill anyone in the brawl that happened inside the house, he didn't get any notifications about that. However, his stats did look decent.
"I have way too few skills. I wonder how I can get more skills. Hmm, maybe it's just like drop items and monsters could drop skills too. Where could I try that theory, though?" As his thoughts reached that point, Asher's eyes widened as he realized something. "I need to meet the doctor!"
Pulling out the piece of paper handed to him by Rack, Asher looked at the name of the person he needed to meet.
"Doctor Hugo…" At that time, someone murmured behind him making Asher flinch.
Looking back, Rain had snuck behind him secretly.
"Ehem, yeah, this is the doctor I need to meet. Do you know where he lives?"
"Hmm, he is dead."
"Oh, so you don't know. I expected th-... excuse me?"
"He is dead."
"..."
Asher blinked a few times as if he couldn't register what she said. Then…
"Huh?! He is dead?! When?! How?!"
"He died two years ago. Heart attack."
"Two years?!"
'What the fuck did that Rack think?! He didn't even know a man is dead for two years?!' The boy didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this revelation.
"Sigh, what am I going to do now… The only reason I came here is to meet that man. What a waste of time!" Punching the ground, Asher stood up and dusted off his clothes.
"... What are you going to do?"
"I honestly have no idea. But, I think I will just return to the Forbidden Lands to train and then head to a particular place a few months from now."
Asher's goal is still to get stronger and discover who the people that killed his sister are. So, his best place to search for such people is none other than the place where the story begins.
'Mors Royal High. The high school where all the shitfest will happen.'
"The Forbidden Lands is not a place where someone could live. It's too dangerous."
"I know. But, that's where I lived for a year."
"A year?"
"Yeah. I don't have anyone I can go to so I will just live there. It's the only familiar place that I have in this whole world." Asher's voice turned slightly sad even though he tried to keep it casual.
Whether he liked it or not, he had no place to go, no home, no family, and not even relatives that he could rely on. In a sense, this situation was very similar to how it was in his previous life. Albeit that in his previous life, his family and relatives were alive and kicking.
"... Why don't you stay here then?"