After the initial commotion over them being found, people flooded into the alley. Unfortunately for them, Yogiri had no intention of holding back just because they were ordinary citizens.
"If you get any closer, I'll kill you."
At his clear threat, the people came to a halt. From the alleyway back to the main street, those in front pushed back against the ones surging forward. This of course created an even greater commotion, drawing more civilians to come and surround them.
"What are you waiting for?! Get out of the way, I'll do it!"
"You idiot! If you get any closer —"
Without understanding the situation, an overzealous young man pushed through the crowd towards Yogiri. The moment he crossed Yogiri's barrier of death, he collapsed to the ground.
"I've never seen someone make good on such an awful threat before!" Tomochika responded reflexively as she watched the clearly suicidal attack happen.
"I think it would be weirder for me not to kill them when they approach clearly intending to hurt us."
"No one would believe they'd drop dead just from getting too close, though!"
Yogiri didn't feel the need to explain himself over and over. If they were foolish enough to approach without thinking things through, that was entirely on them.
You seem rather unmoved by the deaths happening in front of you right now.
"That's because you removed the seal, right?!"
I didn't say it was a bad thing. This isn't the peaceful Japan that you know. Standing around shocked every time you see someone die would be a problem.
Yogiri had always found Tomochika to be remarkably unmoved by most of the events that had taken place since they'd been transported to this world. Given she'd had the presence of mind to keep up her snarky commentary the whole time, she seemed comfortable enough.
"Why are these people coming after us?"
The locals who had flooded into the alley were now following their movements, matching Yogiri's pace. The crowd surrounded them on all sides except at the front. Arrayed in a semicircle, they kept a distance of about ten meters.
"I guess they can't just leave now that they've found us."
Either they were chomping at the bit for a fight they couldn't have, or they were entranced by their own fear. Whatever the reason, they were neither able to approach nor able to leave, resulting in them simply tracking the pair's every movement.
As they realized Tomochika and Yogiri were just calmly walking, though, the crowd gradually calmed down.
"Hey, where exactly are you supposed to take us if you capture us?" Yogiri asked.
"Uh, right down this street, there's an open square. But what do you plan on doing?" a somewhat older man answered from their right.
"Well, I'm going there. That's why I asked."
"Wha...why didn't you do that from the start, then?! None of these people had to die!""Why should I care about people who just attacked me out of nowhere?"
From Yogiri's perspective, he was being accosted by random people in a city he had just arrived in. Even if they died coming after him, Masayuki was the one who had caused the whole mess, so if they were going to complain, he felt like that's who they should have been complaining to.
"Shouldn't we just leave the city if you don't care? Oh, I guess there's the barrier and all." If he didn't care about saving the people of the city, Tomochika felt it would be smarter to leave without going to the central square.
"Barrier, huh? I won't know until I try, but I might be able to just kill it."
"I'm kind of losing sight of what the word 'kill' is supposed to mean."
"What do we accomplish by leaving the city, though? Do you want to walk to the capital?"
Indeed, there is a deep ravine between here and there. Crossing it without being on board a train would be rather challenging.
"So we need to get the trains moving again somehow." If that was the case, the fastest way would be to confront the Masayuki guy who had started all of this, Yogiri thought.
"Well...umm...I'm sorry about attacking you without thinking. But what are you planning to do?" Perhaps because he had been the first to speak up, the man from before had become somewhat of a spokesperson for the crowd.
"I want to talk to him."
"He's an attendant of the Sages, and powerful enough to do all of this. I don't think you'll be able to casually talk it out," the man said, seemingly having lost sight of his own place in all of this."I don't want to sell him short, but if that happens, I'll just get rid of him. If he won't listen to reason then he's nothing more than an obstacle."
As Yogiri said that, they reached the central square. Under normal circumstances, it seemed like a place where plenty of people could relax. But now, the crowds of ugly monsters filling the place meant there would be no respite here. Numerous rotting corpses and clattering skeletons wandered around. Gargoyles patrolled the sky while stone giants watched from down below. This must have been the Immortal Corps.
As they made their way to the center of the square, they realized the crowd around them had vanished. The civilians had apparently stayed behind at the edge of the plaza.
"Hahaha, this is really the most fantasy-like thing we've seen since coming to this world, isn't it? Not that it looks all that fun," Tomochika said, her laugh sounding forced over the slight tremble in her voice.
Before them were a number of the armored vehicles she had seen earlier. There didn't seem to be enough to carry around all of the monsters in sight, so they couldn't have transported all the monsters that way.
"Why don't we try stealing one of those cars?" Yogiri suggested. The vehicles seemed sturdy enough. If they could secure the necessary fuel, they would be able to make it to the capital without a problem.
"Can you drive?"
"I've driven go-karts before."
"Well, that doesn't inspire much confidence..."
In front of the armored cars were numerous otherworlders, although most of them were dead. Aside from being Japanese, there was no theme as to age or gender among the bodies, all of them having been thrown unceremoniously into a heap.
Only two of the otherworlders were still alive. One was a man wearing a suit, standing beside the pile of bodies, looking bored. The other sat atop the pile itself, wearing a black coat over a bare chest as he gazed around the square. It was easy enough to determine that the latter was Masayuki — the light in his eyes spoke of an intelligence that the other undead didn't share. The fact that he was willing to walk all over the corpses was enough of a testament to his character.
"What, you came all on your own? Man, how boring. You trying to sacrifice yourselves to save the town or somethin'?" Masayuki's face twisted with displeasure. One would have expected him to be happy that his targets had shown themselves, but that didn't seem to be the case.
"Why on earth would I do that?"
"Hey, come on, what kind of answer is that?! Try to sound a bit more like a hero!" Tomochika sounded flustered by his response, but Yogiri honestly didn't care one way or another about the city.
"Well, let me make sure, then. You two are Yogiri Takatou and Tomochika Dannoura, yes?"
"Yeah. Do you feel like talking?"
"Talk? Sure. I'd also like to know exactly why you came here. I can still keep my promise by doing that. If I kill you, the game just ends."Masayuki's irritation must have come from the fact that he no longer had the room to interpret his instructions as broadly as before. Some higher-up Sage must have told him to kill the two of them at any cost. If that was the case, if the two of them died, he wouldn't be able to continue doing as he pleased.
"We want to get on a train and head to the capital. Could you bring down the barrier and get the trains moving again?"
Masayuki stared at them, stupefied. "What?" It was as if he'd completely failed to process what Yogiri had said. It took him a while to collect himself, so Yogiri waited patiently. "Hey, hey, hey, hey! Obviously I'm not gonna do that! Can't you come up with something smarter to say? You should know you're not in a position to be asking for stuff right now! Use your head! What are you, stupid?! Is there a brain in there at all?!"
"I suppose we have something we can negotiate with. You've been really annoying, but how about, in exchange for your help, I let you live? Someone will have to set the barrier back up after we leave, anyway."
Masayuki went stiff again. Infuriated by Yogiri's casual attitude, his expression was the only part of him that changed. "If all you're gonna do is make me mad, then screw talking. Just hurry up and die!"
Masayuki jumped to his feet. As if it had been a signal, the undead wandering aimlessly around the square all turned towards Yogiri as one.
"Die."
But with one word from their target, the atmosphere of the square changed completely.
The wandering undead collapsed. The gargoyles overhead turned into stone statues and fell to the ground. The stone giants toppled over, crushing the other monsters beneath them.
In an instant, the entire Immortal Corps had been wiped out.