Author: Kaburagi Haruka
Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations
Chapter 51: Trauma
Average undead known as zombies jumped out in front of us. There were about ten of them.
Since the corpses move just as they were, they look like they did when they were alive. And though there’s a common belief that their movements are slow and dull, in reality their body’s limiter is cut-off. Their movements are extremely fast and strong.
However, since their intelligence drops dramatically, those movements are profoundly simple, and they easily fall for traps. As long as it’s not a surprise attack, adventurers can fend them off rather easily.
As long as they don’t catch us off guard, like now.
“Shit! Rimuru, Amy, get back!”
Kevin takes command right away. He’s become an expert at drawing enemies to his shield with large axe in hand.
His figure as he pulls foes toward him with axe and shield is that of a true warrior.
“Yig!”
“‘kaaay~, let’s get rid of anything not tasty~!”
I join in with Agni Blaze, and start mowing down what enemies I can.
With Kevin nearby, I keep the flames locked away and split the enemies in half that way–or tried to.
A half-smashed face. It was the merchant who exchanged me, and abused me.
Then there was the adventurer-looking men who served as escorts, the adult slave who set the table, and then… It was all people I’d seen.
All of them are damaged in places, and missing bits.
Seeing them causes my knees to shake. Unable to keep myself upright, I drop to the ground.
I’m well aware that falling to your knees in the middle of a battlefield is practically suicide.
Even so, I can’t bare my fangs against them. It’s trauma deeply carved into my psyche.
I lose all strength below my waist, and can no longer stand up.
Even worse, my stomach churns violently, and I start vomiting again.
“Eir?!”
“E… Spirits of ice, become a shield and protect them–Ice Wall!“
Master screeches and shouts, while Amy holds herself back and chants a spell instead.
In front of my immobile self, a gigantic wall of ice rises up. Obstructed by the wall, the zombies can’t get to me.
“Yig, bring Eir over here!”
“Sure thing~”
In response to master’s scream, Yig nonchalantly replies, grabs my by the collar and tosses me backward.
I would complain about the downright careless treatment, but I’m in no condition to do so right now.
After that, the enemies were further separated by Amy’s ice walls. With the enemies unable to move freely, I could only watch as Yig and Kevin trampled the enemies.
~*~
A bit of vomit later, things calm back down.
In front Yig and Kevin had finished mauling the zombies, and were now cleaning their weapons.
Despite being undead, zombies have flesh and blood. Leaving the weapons as they are could cause damage.
Though Gram–the magic sword Yig is using–doesn’t seem to really need it. She’s probably imitating Kevin because she thinks it’s fun.
“The hell happened to you, dammit.”
“… Sorry.”
Having suddenly abandoned the front line, Kevin spoke foully at me.
No, just this once I’m completely in the wrong. Everyone has a duty to fulfill in communicating and cooperating.
I was completely useless this time. Actually, I was a liability.
Kevin being mad is only natural.
“These are the slave merchants who bought Eir. It makes sense that she would freeze up.”
“Huh… Kinda some poetic justice then.”
“Feel bad for these kids, but serves the rest of ’em right.”
With Master’s mediation, Kevin easily buries the hatchet.
Amy didn’t seem to have any good feelings toward the guys who enslaved me either.
“But this solves one mystery. The ‘large number of dead souls’ needed for the bone wolves to appear were over here.”
“After procuring a bunch of slaves and no longer being able to take to main road, they forced their way along a mountain road when suddenly the rotted suspension bridge gave out… Sound about right?”
“Yeah, probably. The problem is bone wolves hardly ever generate from just that. I think the thirty meter silhouette Cohen saw is the more likely culprit.”
After inspecting the slave merchant’s carriages, there were about thirty bodies, zombified included.
It’s hard to say the exact number since some of them turned into parts for the bone wolves, but it seems like there’s more behind this.
“In any case, let’s head back up and get our bearings. With Eir in poor condition, our battle strength is less than half.”
“Yeah, sounds good.”
“Master Rimuru, I’m fine.”
“Don’t lie, your knees are still shaking. I forbid you from lying like that.”
I tried standing back up, but my legs are shaking like a newborn baby deer.
Desperately clinging to Master’s arm, I finally manage to stand up. Meanwhile, Master is gently supporting me.
“Yig, sorry, but could you carry her back up. We’ll use the rope to climb out, so stay up there and guard her.”
“Suuure thing, boss.”
“Amy, just for good measure, use fall control on Kevin and me too. Though I’m sure the magic consumption is hefty.”
“It’s fine. We’ll be taking a break once we’re back up anyway, right?”
“Yeah, I’m thinking we give ourselves about three hours.”
“If we wait that long, the sun will go down. I’m fine, really, so–“
We arrived here past noon. Our investigation below is already taking more than an hour.
Three more hours on top of that would put us around five in the evening. It’s still only the beginning of spring, when the sun still sets early. The sun should almost be setting by then.
“Enough of that. You should really stop forcing yourself so much Eir.”
“I’m really…”
Not, am I? Fundamentally I’ll say I can’t do what I can’t do.
Although that time Master was being reckless is an exception. And when Yig attacked I guess.
“You’re unwell right now in a sense, and as the attending physician my word is law. Got it?”
“Hmph.”
I puffed up my cheeks at him, but it’s true I’m not much help in a fight right now.
In the end I obediently let Yig carry me.
~*~
After regrouping at the top of the cliff, and heading a little ways from the edge for safety, we set up camp.
If the source of the mystery figure is there, then if we camp there we could get attacked while resting.
There’s danger lurking in the forest as well, but we can deal with it much better than a mystery ‘something’.
Besides, Amy has enemy search magic, so we’re unlikely to get surprise attacked.
“Nyufu, ufufufufu~“
“Amy, it’s hot. And that’s creepy.”
“Oh no you don’t. We don’t want you getting cold. And this isn’t creepy, it’s an expression of love.”
While I’m lying down, Amy is sleeping next to me. In fact, she’s using me as a body pillow.
On the surface she’s saying it’s because I need to keep warm, but that’s definitely not why she’s doing it.
“Eir, see, your arm and leg are nice and chilly, but your cheeks and stomach are squishy and feel nice.”
“Unuu~”
“How do I put it? It’s like all sorts of textures to enjoy. Your hair is silky, your wings are smooth…”
“Gununuu~”
I have a habit of regularly taking baths, and together with Yig who loves baths we maintain very cleanly lifestyle.
It’s a very different sense of cleanliness from the customs around here, where they sweat in a sauna, scrub off any grime, and take a dip in cold water.
Thanks to that, my hair is silky, cheeks squishy, and scales and claws are chilly and stiff.
On top of that the membrane of my wings feels velvety smooth, and if my horn gets touched, it twitches.
She seems to be enjoying all these feelings.
“Hey, my stomach isn’t squishy. It’s tight.”
“That’s not true, your pudgy belly is lovely.”
“Get awaaaay!“
How rude. Lately I’ve been getting some definition. Just a little.
“Right, that. Eir and Yig both have young figures with hardly any abs, but their muscle strength is way above the average person’s. Their muscle tissue’s organization is probably very different from normal.”
“Master Rimuru, when did you ever touch my stomach?”
“You always cling to me when we’re sleeping.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“That’s ’cause you’re asleep.”
Makes sense, I wouldn’t remember while I’m asleep, and when we sleep together in this cold season I might end up clinging to him.
Besides, Master freezes up when I hug him, which is super cute. It’s like I’m sleeping with a stuffed animal.
Incidentally, Yig must have something reptilian left to her, because although she looks squishy and warm, she’s actually very cold to the touch.
So she’s not allowed in the bed.
“No fair, Boss~. I wanna have Chief as a body pillow too.”
“When it gets to summer, she’ll probably grab on to you even if you don’t want her to, I think?”
“Then I’ll wait. Come on, summer~”
“That’s great you lot. Now please heal me.”
While we were amusing ourselves with small talk, Kevin was bandaging his wounds up.
As he’s the tank role, taking the enemy’s attacks, his injury rate is extremely high. In that zombie fight, his shoulder got wounded.
“Ah, sorry. Come to think of it, you did get injured. You didn’t make it apparent at all.”
“Well yeah, I can’t let a little something like this affect me as a front liner”
“However, zombies have poison and plenty of bacteria. In addition to the healing I’ll detoxify you too, just in case. In one case, there’s even a legend that if you’re injured by a zombie, then you also become a zombie–“
“Don’t jinx me, dammit!”
Master’s eyes light up eccentrically at times like this. It’s probably… the eyes he would use to look at a test subject.
He dexterously undoes the bandages, washes the wound with water after inspecting it, and heals it to close the injury.
After checking that the wound closed properly, he detoxifies it to deal with any infections.
And then, with his chain of treatment finished, he mumbled to himself frankly.
“Even after being powered up from drinking dragon blood, injuries don’t heal any faster.”
“Of course not.”
“Come to think of it, Eir’s injuries didn’t heal well. I guess Yig’s blood isn’t all that great.”
“Hey, that’s a little harsh don’t ya think, Boss?!”
In response to Master’s thoughtless remark, in rare fashion, Yig stood up to protest.
Blood that makes your muscles nearly three times stronger than the average person “isn’t all that great”, is quite the statement.
Master’s common sense has mostly flown the coop at this point.
“Despite appearances, I’m a fafnir! With ordinary dragon blood you’d be lucky to get a ten percent boost! Mine triples your strength!”
“No, you’re right, my bad. Something possessed me for a moment is all.”
“Besides, omnipotent healing or that kind of thing don’t exist. Even if you have gifts for immortality or invincibility, there’s plenty of people in history who were defeated anyway! The best option is to not get injured in the first place. This is Kevin’s fault!”
“Wait, I’m getting blamed now?!”
And so we spent three hours like that. It wasn’t exactly a quiet rest, but it was emotionally calming I think.
I’m not a slave anymore. I have a proper place here, at Master’s side.
I have friends I can joke around with.
Yeah, friends.
Born and raised in the mountains, I didn’t hang around with any children my age.
Talking about silly things, being a little reckless, and sometimes getting scolded together… These sort of things are really fun.
“Master Rimuru, I’m fine now. Really this time.”
I smile and tell Master I’m well.
Yes, as I am now, I’ll be fine. The slave merchants are dead now, but… even if they were to appear again, I’d be able to fight them this time.
And so, to protect that village that’s so similar to my hometown, we need to unravel this mystery.