Rina noticed Zen.
'This boy's skin is very pale, but he doesn't look like a Zombie...?'
Brave herself, Rina goes forward and tells her friends to put down their weapons.
After her friends put down their weapons, only then did Rina speak.
"You... A human, or..."
Rina looked at Zen with doubt.
'I look better than a Zombie, but my skin is too pale... Huh.'
Guessing what these people were thinking, Zen began to consider what kind of action was appropriate for him to take in a situation like this.
After judging these people - in particular, their combat strength - Zen finally replied.
"I'm a Zombie... But it's a little different from the others."
The faces of these people immediately became tense. They almost attacked if Zen didn't continue his sentence.
Rina swallowed her own saliva.
She realized that a Zombie who were able to maintain their intelligence were mostly very powerful Zombie.
Maybe even this child-looking Zombie alone was able to kill them all here.
'Don't be rash, Rina. Even if we're going to fight, at least, wait until Boss comes back...'
Calming down, Rina put on a stern expression.
"Are you from this town?"
Zen smiled.
'She tried to interrogate me...'
Chuckling inside, Zen decided to answer honestly. After all, he had decided to take friendly action with these people.
He had painstakingly saved them, so it would be a pity if he killed them shortly afterwards.
"I guess... I am not from this town..."
Zen smiled faintly.
'After all, my soul possesses this body, anyway.'
Rina and the Red Trickerss' crew looked at each other.
Zen seemed to say that he wasn't the original Zombie of this town, but he said it in an unsure way.
They were speechless, but soon, Rina decided to ask the most important question.
"Do you intend to attack us?"
Zen shook his head.
"No."
Rina frowned.
She exchanged glances with the rest of the Red Trickerss' crew, then looked back at Zen from top to bottom with a doubtful expression.
"Why?"
Zen didn't immediately reply.
He stood up and squirmed lazily while feeling the changes in his body after activating Burn up.
Surprisingly, the feeling of the Zombie's sluggish body had now completely disappeared from Zen's body.
Zen was just about to answer when a loud voice sounded from outside.
Their attention was immediately diverted to a hole in the collapsed roof.
The Red Trickerss' crew, who were originally standing guard there, frantically descended from there.
They all put on faces full of fear.
"Z-Emperor Pouch... Its...!"
The man was unable to finish his sentence before loud voices were heard again from outside one after another.
The loud sound sounded like the sound of a building collapsing.
Even this mansion shook as if it had been hit by an earthquake.
Martha, who was discussing in one of the rooms of the Mansion, also noticed the commotion that occurred.
They rushed to the room where Rina, Zen, and the others had gathered.
At the same time as Martha returned to the room, the guards who were guarding above earlier shouted in panic.
"It... It's attacked! Z-Emperor Pouch..."
The faces of the entire crew immediately turned pale.
As expected. This monster didn't seem to have any intention of letting them live.
Zen's expression quickly changed when he sensed the movement of the Z-Emperor pouch with the magic energy he released around.
"Bow!"
Zen quickly ordered all of the Red Trickerss' crew to bow down.
They showed a doubtful expression. Do they have to obey the words of a Zombie?
Martha immediately dispelled their doubts by repeating Zen's words.
"Hurry, bow, everyone!"
With her keen senses as a warrior, Martha could hear the sound of the wind splitting from outside.
Something big was approaching them!
The Red Trickerss' crew obviously couldn't hear the faint sound, but they without hesitation immediately lowered their heads at their captain's orders.
Shortly after, the walls of the Mansion were shattered.
A 2-meter-sized dark tendril hit the wall and swept across the entire ceiling of the Mansion.
There was a man who was late to bow down.
Both of the man's arms fell because the shoulder upward part of his body had been missing.
Blood gushed out from the incomplete buttocks of the body, while everyone was trembling in fear.
Weak.
Helpless.
They were all completely worthless in the face of this kind of creature.
They are like ants.
With a single sweep, their existence would turn into a lump of flesh; only leaving memories.
They can see it.
How the dome of the tendrils that blocked most of the sunlight moved slowly like a swarm of hairworms.
The tendrils waved downwards. As if mocking their unimportant existence.
Only Zen's face didn't harbor any fear.
Wiping the blood splattered on his face, Zen stood up and stared directly at the tendrils that waved downwards.
"Huh?"
Zen heard a faint voice transmitted into his head.
The voice sounded very tangled. It was as if thousands of different voices were swarming and saying something different from the others at the same time.
When Zen managed to string their words together, he widened his eyes.
'This creature ask me what my relationship with them is?'
That's right.
The Z-Emperor pouch questioned the reason why Zen warned them to bow down earlier.
Without Zen's initial warning, Martha wouldn't have focused her attention out.
And without focusing her attention, even Martha would have a hard time detecting the oncoming attack.
That way, all these humans will definitely be killed.
However, this young Zombie - this Zombie who still retains his intelligence - protects them.
So, the Z-Emperor pouch asked Zen about it.
The reason Z-Emperor pouch stopped attacking after taking down the Red Trickerss' ship was also because it was confused as to why Zen saved them.
Zen looked at the pale faces of the Red Trickerss pirate group, then looked back at the waving tendrils.
"They can't die yet. I need their help for something..."
***
The members of the Red Trickerss pirate group one after another stood up.
They stared in wonder at Zen's figure who seemed to be engaged in a conversation with Z-Emperor Pouch.
Martha came to Rina and whispered in her ear.
"Who is he?"
Rina smiled doubtfully.
"I don't know, Boss. He seems to be a Zombie, but... He said he wouldn't attack us..."
Martha frowned.
"He also helped us before... What is this Zombie planning?"
Rina just shook her head; hinting that she does not know.
After hours of engaging in conversation with Z-Emperor Pouch, when the sky had turned yellow, Zen finally turned his head towards Red Trickerss.
He smiled.
"It said it would let you live as long as you leave this town within 30 days. Of course, with one condition."
"I have to come with you!"
At the same time, the tendrils of the Z-Emperor pouch that formed the dome began to slowly open.
The tendrils pulled themselves back into the ground.
Conceals their existence so well that it leaves no trace at all.
Red Trickerss was stunned.
***
Since it was born from the evolution of the Kraken pouch monster that consumed many humans infected with the Zombie plague, the Z-Emperor pouch possessed enough intelligence that made it more than just a wild monster.
Z-Emperor pouch had been watching Zen ever since he started acting strangely.
Zen's behavior reminded it of the human way of life from the fragmented memories he managed to absorb from the zombies it consumed.
That intrigued it.
What will he do? What is he trying to achieve? Why would he do such a thing?
Curiosity grew in it.
As the ruler of this dead town, Z-Emperor pouch instinctively considered all the Zombies in this town to be something it had to protect.
Such as the mother hen and her chicks.
Zen was very different from it's other 'children', so it felt attracted to him.
Seeing Zen grow day by day and seemingly somehow able to maintain his sanity for the time being, Z-Emperor pouch felt emotions that it had never experienced before.
An emotion of pride.
Keeping an eye on Zen made it feel that way.
Even it itself was confused as to why it felt that way.
But every time it saw Zen, a voice would keep popping up in Z-Emperor Pouch's mind to shout 'As expected of my son!'.