Chapter 21 - It Was Ticklish

Chapter 21 : It Was Ticklish

===A Certain Female Holy Knight===

I, the Holy Knight Limule, was currently experiencing the greatest shock of my life.

The white-haired undead helped these young men escape the burning mansion?

Then, I recalled a certain report.

―Moreover, that undead just left without even harming anyone in the city.

The white-haired undead that appeared in the Coastal had never fought back, even after he was attacked by the adventurers in Coastal.

On the contrary, he saved the city by defeating the Tarrasque Lord that was heading toward the city.

Was that what put him under the category of harmless undead?

「No, an undead is an undead, no matter what. As a Holy Knight who serves God, I mustn’t overlook an existence that goes against natural law.」

The existence of one that opposed God’s natural law had another name: undead.

I must destroy them, no matter what.

Otherwise, they would become a threat for humanity.

「He might still be hiding somewhere in this city. We were planning to head to Coastal by tomorrow, but let’s cancel that plan and focus on searching the city.」

I headed back to the inn after making such a decision.

◇　◇　◇

===A Certain Undead With Communication Disorder===

「As expected, I shouldn’t use fire magic indoors…」

As I gazed at the ashy remains of the mansion, I couldn’t help but reflect on my carelessness from last night.

Although I didn’t care about annihilating that giant undead, I ended up involving those innocent young men with my fire magic.

I punched a big hole in the wall of the mansion to secure the escape route for those young men, carried them down from the second floor, and somehow managed to save them all.

Fortunately, they were not scared of me since I was basically their savior.

Well, that must be a normal reaction seeing that they had been captured and imprisoned by that guy, who was far more terrifying than me. In a psychological sense, their minds were broken.

The night had come to an end.

The entrance of the mansion had been shut tight. Sooner or later, the investigation team would arrive.

I mixed in with the curious onlookers to see the situation for a while, then turned around to leave the site.

I just came to confirm the situation. It wasn’t like I had some sort of errand in this place.

「… That guy over there, stop right there.」

Someone suddenly called out from behind.

Although the tone of the voice was quite low, it couldn’t hide the characteristic of a woman’s high pitch.

「Turn around slowly, and take off your hat.」

I turned around obediently.

The one who ordered me to turn around was a young lady covered in beautiful armor.

She must have been around 17 to 18 years old.

She readied a cool-looking ornamental spear, and her long, chestnut-colored hair fluttered around.

I took off my hat obediently.

And then, the young lady gasped for breath.

「~??!」

Right after that, several more people moved quickly to surround me.

Every single one of them wore similar gear to the young lady. They were probably her comrades.

「My name is Limule, a member of Saint Melt Religion’s most-prided Holy Knight Order, Albert’s Holy Knight Order. You’re an undead, right?」

「…」

I nodded in silence.

I couldn’t bring myself to speak properly when I was being watched by so many people.

「As a Holy Knight who serves God, we cannot forgive the existence of undeads, which go against our faith. That’s why we will purify you!」

OOH, seriously!

Although I had never heard of this Saint Melt-thingy, I guess it was some sort of religion.

And since their religion detested the existence of undeads, their Holy Knights were equipped with purification tools.

In that case, they might be able to send me to an eternal sleep.

I spread my arms wide, showing no intention to resist.

And yet, that Holy Knight girl named Limule was irritated for some reason.

「How… dare… you… LOOK DOWN ON US!」

Eh? Did I accidentally step on a landmine?

While I was still bewildered by the girl’s anger, the Holy Knight girl ordered the other Holy Knights.

「ALL UNITS, PREPARE YOUR SPEARS!」

「「「「HAH!」」」」

Every single one of them then readied their spear, pointing the tips toward me.

The tips of their spear were shining with a brilliant light.

「SIMULTANEOUS PURIFICATION, START!」

In the next moment, a blinding light fired from the tips of their spears, dyeing my vision in white.

What a terrifying purification light.

If it was this light, then it might be able to put me into an eternal rest.

「… Eh?」

The blinding light slowly receded.

Before I realized it, I was still standing there, completely unscathed.

When I tried to confirm it again, I found out that my body was really unhurt. Not a single scratch, knick, or bruise. Nope, zilch, nada.

The heck, I felt more lively than before.

Hey, this should be… something that was slightly revolting.

That attack from before was effective, but it wasn’t powerful enough.

「I-Impossible… He’s… unscathed?」

The female Holy Knight’s eyes opened wide in shock.

The same went for the other Holy Knights.

That was just how confident they were in their so-called Holy Spear’s power.

「GUH… Don’t get flustered by this! We still have that! Believe in the power of the Holy Spear that was developed by our faith!」

It seemed they still had a trump card.

But since I literally didn’t feel anything from their previous attack, I really had no expectations for their trump card.

Contrary to my disappointment, those Holy Knights made a face as if they were prepared to die.

「TO ALL UNITS, ARE YOU PREPARED TO SACRIFICE YOUR LIFE TO GOD?!」

「「「「HAH!」」」」

「SPLENDID! FORTUNATELY, THIS GUY DOESN’T EVEN MOVE FROM HIS SPOT SINCE HE’S LOOKING DOWN ON US! LET’S SHOW HIM THE POWER OF OUR FAITH!」

「「「OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!」」」

… What an amazing yell.

Could it be, was I underestimating them?

I trembled in anticipation; my facial muscles loosened as I waited for their attack.

「GASP! FINE, LET ME TO SEE WHETHER YOU CAN STILL SMILE LIKE THAT AFTER THIS ATTACK! ALL UNITS―ATTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!」

The female Holy Knight charged forward as the vanguard, leading her comrades.

Their shining spears surrounded me from all directions, piercing my body one after another.

T-This is―

IT WAS TICKLING ME?!

They had surpassed my expectations.

I ended up laughing aloud since it felt like my entire body was being tickled by those spears.

「HAHA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!」

When the light receded, I saw a bewildered expression on the faces of the Holy Knights who had surrounded me from all directions.

「U-Unscathed…」

「On the contrary, he’s… laughing?」

「M-MONSTER!」

One by one, every single Holy Knight dropped their spears.

The female Holy Knight was also making an extremely pathetic face. She had completely lost her fighting spirit.

Eh, uhh…. Somehow… I felt sorry for her.

Even though they were so fired up when using their trump card, I ended up laughing at them… My bad, it wasn’t out of ill will.

Somehow, even I ended up depressed since I felt sorry for them.

No… That was not the reason.

I wasn’t depressed.

I should convey my feelings to them.

However, talking to this many people was… too much for someone with zero communication skills like me.

THAT WAS IT!

Suddenly, it felt like I received a divine oracle.

Trying to talk to all of them was impossible.

In short, all I needed was to choose one of them and tell that person.

A one-on-one conversation would have more benefit for me.

Thinking so, I looked at the man that stood diagonally right in front of me.

He seemed like the best choice for conversation.

Yup, choosing a partner that looked approachable was important after all.

「… Uhm.」

「HIIII!」

But, that man retreated when I was about to approach him.

W-WHY THE HECK DID YOU RUN FROM ME?! C’MON, SHOW ME YOUR GUTS!

Oh well, that man was out!

In the next moment, the female Holy Knight suddenly raised her voice.

「R-RETREAT! EVERYONE, RETREAT FROM THIS PLACE NOW!」

「「「―Y-YES!」」」

Maybe because they finally came to their senses, everyone dispersed at once.

「C-CAPTAIN?!」

「I’LL HOLD HIM BACK! YOU LOT RETREAT AT ONCE!」

Even though some of them stopped upon hearing the female Holy Knight’s scream, they soon shook their heads as if to cast away their hesitation and left her behind.

Now, only the female Holy Knight and I remained in this place.

I thought she would retreat along with her comrades, but… Thank goodness she didn’t.

It was finally time for a long-awaited one-on-one conversation, but that was also doomed to fail.

I mean―

On top of having zero communications skill, I… had never talked to a girl before!