Translator: Nox

Chapter 109

Nick followed Emmy and Hose’s gaze up the stairs. There, a woman with a lovely, cute impression and a man in a police uniform were descending together.

‘Where on earth did these people come from? Is that guy a real cop?’

The man appearing to be a police officer had a sturdy build and disciplined movements that suggested mastery of the sword. He looked like a reliable man who knew how to use his strength properly.

Whether it was because of the pair’s dazzling appearances or the composure they maintained in this chaotic situation, Nick didn’t know. In his eyes, it felt as if a halo were shining behind them—like divine warriors descending from the heavens.

However, looks could be deceiving. In a situation like this, one couldn’t easily trust someone just because they were a police officer. Hadn’t everyone initially looked at El’s attractive face and never imagined he would be such a tyrant?

‘If I don’t recognize the faces, they’re definitely intruders.’

Nick grew wary, gripping his makeshift club tightly as he asked, “Who are you people?”

“People who came to help with this mess? Let’s deal with those things first.”

The one who answered Nick’s question was the cute woman with deep pink hair. She pointed her finger at the monsters roaming the lobby.

Passing right by the wary Nick, the woman stepped down into the lobby and pulled an axe from behind her back.

……Wait, an axe?

As soon as the woman finished speaking, the policeman drew a sword from his waist. Simultaneously, the young girl brandished a dagger, and the pink-haired young man raised a rifle.

Nick faltered for a moment before raising his club to join them in a fighting stance. The pink-haired woman looked back at him and gave a cute smile.

“Mister, could you take charge of the survivors here? Leave the monsters to us.”

Nick was bewildered by the woman’s confident reply. He was flustered because this small woman spoke like the leader, even over the police officer.

Seeing Nick’s confused reaction, the pink-haired young man chuckled as if he understood.

“She’s our boss.”

Nick doubted his own eyes and ears. Surely he was pointing at the policeman? There was no way the pink-haired woman was the leader….

“Hose, provide cover from the back. While Sir Eden and I block the entrance, Emmy, protect Hose while he covers us.”

Defying Nick’s expectations, the woman began barking out orders to the others with practiced ease.

At her word, the young man called Hose immediately hopped onto the lobby’s reception desk and took his position. Then, the small girl called Emmy addressed Nick.

“Mister, please manage the people on the second floor so they don’t come down, and rescue any survivors you find.”

She spoke in a calm voice before moving with the agile grace of a small cat.

‘They definitely seem like intruders….’

He didn’t know for what purpose they had come here, but for now, they seemed to share the same goal as Nick: taking out the monsters.

Still unable to hide his bewilderment, Nick followed their instructions. He had no one else to rely on, as the guards who had been stationed at the hotel entrance had already been slaughtered by the monsters.

Among the hotel’s personnel, the guards were generally more martially capable than the scouting parties. While the scouts were drafted from everyone in the camp on a rotation, the guards were selected purely for their combat prowess. Yet, despite the carnage, not a single camp guard was in sight.

‘Surely, they haven’t all been taken down by the monsters already.’

With a grim expression, Nick cooperated with the mysterious group and began organizing the survivors.

---

Hose leaped onto the lobby counter and took his position. He quickly checked his magazine.

The carbine he had brought was a firearm primarily used by cavalry; it was better suited for providing cover fire than for front-line melee combat. Ordinarily, he would have avoided using a gun to keep noise to a minimum, but in a scene that was already a disaster, there was no helping it.

Finishing his check, he caught Eden just as he was about to follow Cherry out.

“By the way, Sir. Do you have a definitive way to resolve this situation?”

“Well, the plan from here on out lies with our Lady Cherry.”

The plan from here on out? Hose tilted his head. What kind of plan had there been before this?

But there was no time for questions. Eden immediately began swinging his sword, slicing through the bellies of the monsters that were relentlessly pouring into the hotel lobby.

Bang!

Hose fired his rifle in rapid succession, asking Eden once more, “Sir, what is that plan?”

“Lady Cherry knows the structure of this building well. I think she intends to use that. Our Candy Lady can do anything.”

Eden looked at Cherry’s back with a gaze full of pride—a look filled with deep belief and trust.

Hose hadn’t expected to see such a solid emotion in the eyes of a man who looked like he would never let anyone close.

Eden then gave Hose a light pat on the shoulder.

“Anyway, I’m counting on you for cover. Leave the entrance to us.”

Cherry was already running toward the hotel entrance some distance away. Eden quickly dispatched a nearby monster with a swing of his sword and dashed after her.

Hose raised his carbine again and shot down a monster lunging toward Eden and Cherry.

He remained perched on the counter, providing cover. Standing beside him, Emmy gripped her dagger, her body taut with tension. She asked Hose with a worried face, “There are way more monsters than I thought. I don’t have many skills… will I be of any help?”

Hose, who was aiming at a monster through his sights, let out a sigh. Emmy’s self-esteem was excessively low compared to her actual abilities.

Knowing that her usual confident attitude and rough way of speaking were to protect that low self-esteem, Hose felt a sense of pity for her.

Resting the butt of the carbine against his shoulder, Hose answered without taking his eyes off the sights.

“You know you’re the only one I have right now. I’m trusting only you. That’s why I’m leaving my back to you.”

“……Huh?”

Leaving Emmy’s flustered reaction behind, he pulled the trigger.

Bang!

A monster creeping up behind Cherry was struck in the head and collapsed.

Hiss—!

However, the one truly in danger wasn’t Cherry, but Hose.

A large cobra was sliding across the marble floor, crawling rapidly toward him.

Hiss, hiss—!

The creature flicked its tripartite tongue before baring its sharp fangs at him.

Screech—!

Hose panicked and tried to turn his gun, but the creature was much faster.

‘Damn it!’

As Hose gritted his teeth and braced for the coming pain, something leaped through the air.

Reflexively following the movement, he saw it was Emmy. She nimbly pounced onto the creature’s scales and plunged her dagger straight down through the top of its head.

Thud!

Struck in its weak point, the cobra convulsed briefly before falling limp. The momentum sent Emmy, who had been riding the creature, rolling across the floor.

Startled, Hose forgot his duty of covering Cherry and ran toward Emmy.

“Emmy!”

“I’m fine.”

Emmy stumbled to her feet. Then, using the table where Hose had been stationed as a springboard, she leaped again, driving her dagger into the head of another monster on the opposite side.

“I’m being helpful, right? To you, and to the Candy Lady!”

Emmy, who was instantly splattered with green blood, asked. Hose, shocked by the somewhat grotesque sight, could only nod his head vigorously.

“O-Of course.”

“Then you get back to what you were doing too. Our lady is in danger.”

Emmy spoke playfully, tapping Hose’s carbine, before immediately stepping aside to engage another monster. She had been shrinking away in self-doubt just a moment ago, yet she recovered her confidence in an instant. That, too, was very much like Emmy.

Feeling inwardly relieved by the sight, Hose retook his position on the counter table and looked back toward Cherry and Eden.

Cherry had now almost reached the hotel entrance, where monsters were surging in like a tide.

Squinting through his sights, Hose aimed at the monsters lunging toward Cherry’s vicinity and thought, ‘Damn it, cover fire alone isn’t going to be enough.’

There were too many monsters.

Strangely enough, even though Cherry looked like she was struggling to push forward against the monsters, she still appeared completely confident.

However, from the perspective of Hose, who didn’t know exactly what Cherry’s plan was, it just looked precarious. What on earth was Cherry thinking, walking into the middle of that many monsters?

‘At this rate, she’s going to get crushed to death before she’s even bitten.’

Hose’s eyes darted around anxiously.

---

At that same time, on the 5th floor of the Sinclair Hotel.

The guards were attacking monsters that were climbing up the balcony ladders.

The entrance appeared to be firmly blocked and impossible to breach; the only escape route was that balcony where the monsters were ascending.

Cowering behind the guards, Elliot gritted his teeth at the grim situation where there was nowhere to run.

“That damn Sinclair!”

Elliot recalled the image of Cherry holding Eden’s hand—though the two had never actually held hands, it was distorted that way in Elliot’s memory—as she leisurely abandoned him and left.

‘Is that the kind of guy she likes?’

He had been certain that Cherry liked men like him. Even back when he attended the Baron Wiffend family party as her partner, she had mentioned that she liked his face.

‘What’s so good about that pretty-looking fellow!’

Though Eden was much more robust and muscular than Elliot, such things didn’t matter to Elliot’s eyes. He bit his lip nervously.

One by one, the guards were struck down by the monsters. Some were even infected and turning into monsters themselves.

Elliot forced his trembling legs to move and hid himself under a nearby desk.

There were other people on the floors below. Surely someone would come to rescue him. So, he just had to stay hidden and hold out until then.

Of course, Elliot didn’t realize that no one in the camp had any intention of saving him. Furthermore, he was unaware that all the guards in the room were dead, leaving him as the sole survivor.

Thus, oblivious to the shadow of approaching death, he remained isolated under the desk, thinking once again about Eden, who had disappeared with Cherry earlier.

‘The Sinclair princess admitted herself that she’s Kellian’s spy. Does that mean Eden Duncan Lancaster is also Kellian’s spy?’

Four days ago, Elliot’s scouting team had been attacked near Kintne Station by individuals wearing the uniforms of the Grayden Royal Army.

The leader of those who attacked Elliot’s scouting team introduced himself as Kellian. He said he was a Royal Guard of the kingdom and was escorting Crown Prince Theodore in Westmore.

They were looking for something in Kintne. Additionally, they seemed to be searching for a missing person.

Faced with a proposal to trade the scouting team as hostages, Elliot had no choice but to risk going out to Kintne Station.

It was because the strength of the captured scouting team and the precious supplies they had painstakingly gathered while patrolling were too valuable to simply cut ties and ignore.

Elliot recalled the conversation he had with that damn Kellian back then.

“If you answer my questions well, I will return these people safely. I heard there is an herb shop in Kintne that traded in Badon. Have you ever heard of it? A shop that sells Elpinus.”

“Elpinus? What’s that? Is that a drug too? Why are you looking for Badon?”

“Ah. Never mind if you don’t know.”

He had only received suspicious questions and never heard the reasons.

Elliot knew for a fact that Badon was a drug. He didn’t know if this ‘Elpinus’ was also a type of drug.

But one thing was clear: ‘A high-ranking Crown Prince, who clearly knows something about this ruined world, is looking for it.’

That was why Elliot had raided Jeremy’s herb shop before Kellian could.

The other side was a group of professionally trained, armed soldiers. They were too much for him to handle. Therefore, Elliot had to preemptively seize those items to gain leverage over them.

But unexpectedly, Kellian had vanished without a trace after delivering that news.

‘Thinking about it now, he might have intended for me to find the Badon so he could steal it at his leisure.’

Come to think of it, Kellian had asked Elliot an even more suspicious question.

“By the way, have you happened to see Earl Roderick?”

Earl Roderick was another name for Eden Duncan Lancaster.

It was a title he held before succeeding to the Dukedom of Lancaster—a titular honor without a fief, granted to him from birth.

Of course, after he started his career as a police officer, not many people called him by that title.

“Earl Roderick? The heir to the Lancaster Duke family? Why are you looking for him?”