Chapter 34 - I Saved a Child

Chapter 34 : I Saved a Child

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

「… Phew, finally shook her off.」

I heaved a sigh of relief after I managed to somehow get away from that blonde babe.

Before I even realized it, I was already right at the entrance of the forest.

It seemed I had been running non-stop for quite a while.

「OOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!」

「WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!」

At that moment, I heard a scream that was accompanied by a bestial roar.

「Is that a human… being attacked by a beast?」

Their place wasn’t that far from my position.

I stamped on the ground and ran toward the direction of the voice.

I saw the owners of those voices in just a few seconds.

「G-GET AWAY FROM ME!」

「OOON!」

「Hiiiiiiiiii!」

It was the scene of a boy around 10 years old—with a wooden stick in his hands—against a kobold, a bipedal, dog-like monster.

Although kobolds were normally as big as adult men, they were weak. Adventurers could easily deal with them.

But that wasn’t the case for a small child like him.

Although the boy was desperately swinging around his wooden stick to keep the kobold at bay, the kobold just looked at the boy without showing any sign of being agitated.

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the boy became the kobold’s prey.

I leaped out from behind the tree and landed a dropkick straight on the kobold’s head.

「GIIIIIIIN?!」

The kobold was blown really far away, smashing into the trunk of a huge tree.

Even though I held back quite a lot of my power, it seemed I still lacked training.

But well, this result was far better than accidentally smashed the kobold’s head to pieces with my kick.

「—Eh?」

The boy opened his eyes, looking at me with an extremely surprised look on his face.

「A… k, ay?」

Welp, what a blunder, even though I meant to ask “Are you okay?”

Hey, hey, what was with this tension, me? The other party was just a boy, you know…

Despite realizing how miserable I was, to the point of unable to communicate with a boy, I decided to reflect on this matter at a later date.

Right now, I should focus on establishing proper communication with the boy.

Although I stumbled right on the first sentence, it was far better compared to when I was talking to a young woman.

On the contrary, if I failed to establish communication even with a boy like him… then my communication ability was truly beyond help.

「Are you, o- kay?」

Yes, I barely cleared the first hurdle.

Although my attempt met various failures up until this point, in the current situation, I clearly saved his life.

That was why I was sure that the boy would regard me as an existence that was harmless to humans and animals.

My chest felt like it was thumping wildly as I waited for the boy’s reaction.

「Pe…」

… Pe?

「P-PERVEEEEEEEEEEEERT!」

The boy shouted while pointing his finger toward my abdomen.

Honestly, I was taken aback.

FU*CK! I COMPLETELY FORGOT THE FACT THAT I WAS BUCK NAKED RIGHT NOW!

In the first place, I lost my sense of touch after I became an undead.

For that very reason, I had no idea whether the air was hot or cold.

That was why the fact that I was buck naked had long since left my mind after I ran away from my familiar, also known as that blonde babe.

After all… I EVEN FORGOT TO SECURE AN ANIMAL PELT ALONG THE WAY!

WHAT A BLUNDER!

I-LOOK-COMPLETELY-LIKE-A-PERVERT.

What other explanation was there when a naked man suddeny leaped out from behind the tree.

So, that boy would raise his vigilance against me―

「AHAHAHA! Why are you walking around naked in the forest, Pervert Uncle? Could it be that you’ve never heard of clothes?」

… Uhm?

But contrary to my expectation, the boy was laughing at me instead.

It seemed to be extremely funny for him since he was laughing until he held his stomach.

… I guess I’d overlook the fact that he called me uncle.

「A~h, interesting. By the way, Uncle, what’s your name? I’m Ray.」

「Zi… on.」

「Eh? Zion? So it’s Uncle Zion, huh.」

The boy, Ray, called my name with an innocent look on his face.

YEAH, finally I met someone who wasn’t scared of me!

Even though the other party was just a young, innocent boy, it was a big leap for me.

「But still, you sure have a rare hair color, don’tcha? Ah, I see now… That must be the reason why you hide in the forest. You must be bullied due to your hair color, right?」

Ray looked at me with a serious look on his face.

Although his guess was completely wr-… Wait, he was spot on if you interpreted it another way.

「Want to come to our village? It’s a desolate place with nothing interesting though.」

「A-… Are you sure?」

「Of course! You’re my benefactor, after all! Ah, you might cause a commotion if you enter the village in your current state. Please wait a minute for me in this place!」

Thus, Ray ran off somewhere.

He returned a while later with clothes in his hands.

「There you go, this clothing should be good enough for you! It was my father’s clothes though!」

It seemed he ran back to his home to get clothes for me, and then returned to this place.

What a kindhearted boy.

After I thanked the boy with my usual broken speech, I borrowed the clothes from the boy.

「How’s the size? Ah, it fits, after all.」

Great, now I wouldn’t be mistaken for a pervert anymore.

But seriously, could I really visit the village where Ray lived?

Ray was still a child.

That might be the main reason why he didn’t get scared of me, but the same couldn’t be said for the adults in his village.

「Let’s get going. My village is over there!」

He pulled my hand, pulling me out of the forest.

We arrived in a hamlet after we walked for a while.

Despite its size, the hamlet was properly surrounded by a wall.

Well that wall was probably necessary to protect the village since it was close to the forest.

But I could easily notice that the wall was tattered all over the place. It was on the verge of crumbling away.

「This is my village! See, there’s nothing in it at all!」

There were around thirty buildings in this hamlet.

I felt bad for saying it, but all of those buildings were tattered too.

「Hey, Ray! How dare you try to leave the village again. I’ve told you that it’s dangerous outside the village!」

「Uwaa, it’s my dad!」

The one who ran toward us while yelling was apparently Ray’s father.

「I mean, the village is boring and too narrow!」

「Still, it’s far better than dying! We just saw some kobold near the village just now! What do you think would happen to you if you were suddenly attacked by that kobold?!」

「No problem, that kobold is already dead, after all!」

「You beat a kobold with wooden stick?!」

… Nah, it was the opposite. He was the one who almost got himself killed by a kobold.

It seemed Ray was a naughty boy who often disobeyed his father’s warning.

「Uhm, who’s that? The clothes he’s wearing are mine, right? Don’t tell me, a… thief?」

「He’s not, Dad! Rather… he’s the one who saved my life.」

Suddenly, Ray’s speech turned evasive.

Maybe because the other party was Ray’s father, he noticed something from son’s evasive speech just now.

「You naughty kid, so you really were attacked by a kobold!」

「H-HIIIIII. S-Sorry, Dad!」

Ray apologized after he received a hand chop from his father.

… For some reason, this scene made me recall the memories of my childhood.

I remembered when I was scolded by my father for leaving the village on my own.

Upon recalling those memories,

「Uhm, sorry for the misunderstanding, it turned out you’re my son’s benefactor.」

「Do, n’t… wor, ry.」

… I was really surprised when the boy’s father suddenly talked to me.

「The truth is, we recently discovered a kobold settlement close to our village. We’ve sent a commission to the adventurers guild, but the chances of them sending adventurers to a frontier village like ours are slim.」

Ray’s father explained the situation to me.

He was still vigilant about me, but he wasn’t scared since I saved his son.

Maybe due to the ruckus caused by the pair of father and son, the other villagers started to gather around us.

They were also surprised upon seeing my rare white hair and red eyes.

「Anyhow, I’m glad that you’re safe and sound.」

「You were troubled by Ray, huh.」

「No, no, no, it’s normal for a kid to do that.」

「Nevertheless, you’ve got some unusual hair and eyes there, lad.」

T-This… could it be the best chance to communicate properly?

After all, this was literally the first time I saw people who weren’t scared of me or attacking me out of nowhere.

Yes, I guess I had to do my best to use this previous chance.

Just when I mustered my courage.

「A-ATTENTION! THE VILLAGE’S WALL HAS…! THE VILLAGE’S WALL HAS COLLAPSED!」

「「「W-WHAT?!」」」

Everyone shouted in unison. They were clearly extremely surprised upon hearing this news.

「WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!」

「KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

Suddenly, I heard the howl of a beast, accompanied by the screams of the villagers.

「I-It’s an elder kobold! That superior kobold species is bringing its pack to attack our village! They’ve already destroyed the village’s wall! 」

「Dammit all, I guess we have no choice but to fight back! Ray, you go and hide inside the house!」

Ray’s father ran toward the direction of the scream as he told his son to hide in the house.

It was supposed to be an extremely precious chance, and yet…

Nay, this could lead to another chance, right?

I mean, the villagers would feel even more grateful and trust me if I defeated the kobold’s pack for them.

「I-I’ll fight too!」

I caught Ray’s arm as he was about to follow his father.

「U-Uncle? What are you doing, release me now! I’ll fight to protect this village too!」

「…」

「Eh? Are you telling me to leave it to you?」

I nodded to Ray and stomped on the ground, heading toward the battlefield and leaving Ray behind me.

「S-So fast?!」

I leaped over the houses, heading straight toward the direction of the belligerent howl.

And then, it took only a moment for me to see the battle scene between the villagers and the kobold’s pack.