Return of the Apocalypse Knight

Chapter 14: Zahina, Daughter of the Divine Tree (2)

“In the ensuing explosion, I lost consciousness. When I regained consciousness, it was after the knight and soldier in front of me had arrived, so unfortunately I don’t know what happened to the others.”

Zahina responded to my question about what happened to the others.

Certainly she was as good as dead when I came here.

Maybe that’s why I didn’t feel anyone was alive when I first arrived.

In any case, she didn’t know anything about the missing hero party members either.

So we’re left with speculation.

Let’s see.

If I had to guess, I’d say that the bodies of the hero party were taken by the demon king’s minions for undead material.

The partially decomposed corpse of the elf had no use for them, so she was left here, along with the body of the hero.

It was a bizarre turn of events that the corpse actually came back to life, but at least there was a witness, and I was grateful to be in the company of a living hero party member.

With my questions answered, we ended the story.

Zahina, the elf, focused her attention on her regenerating body, while Hoffman and I kept watch over the area as her body healed.

It was about two hours later when Zahina returned to her normal form.

As she stood up in the setting sun at the end of a long day, she looked like a beautiful statue from mythology.

Long, red hair, a slender figure, and a face like a sculpture.

As I remembered from my previous life, she looked more like a tall and slender visual idol than a statue.

Add to that the fact that she was dressed in an intact North Korean army uniform instead of her shredded clothes, and she looked more like an idol or actor cosplaying as a North Korean soldier.

“The hero…….is dead, what do we do now?”

Hoffman still found it hard to accept that the hero was dead.

The North Korean cosplayer looked up at me.

“…….”

I breathed a sigh of relief at the lack of initiative on the part of the cute girl.

Unlike the braggart in our party, the woman in front of me had no intention of leading our party.

I was relieved.

It would have been a real headache if she insisted on being the leader, just like our dead party’s elf.

It was a good situation, but I still needed to make sure.

“If nothing else comes up, do you mind if I decide the course of the party until the gate reopens?”

By “decide where we go,” I meant, “Can I take the lead?”

Hoffman nodded immediately, and to my relief, so did the pretty woman.

I breathed another sigh of relief.

After crossing over to this world, I was finally free to move as I pleased.

Sure, I’d still have to explain a bit, or lie a bit, but I’d be the party leader, not a party member, and I wouldn’t have to convince the others.

At worst, I even considered going it alone.

I’m grateful to have found good people, and to not see blood.

“I haven’t seen the bodies of any of the hero party members here, but even if they were alive, I don’t think we’d be able to save them.”

I said to the two of them as I gestured to the bodies lying on the ground.

There was no way that a hero who was favored by the goddess could have died like that, and the rest of the group was still alive.

They must all be dead.

And it would be foolish to chase after the undead who had killed the hero to retrieve their bodies.

Besides, even if they were alive, there was no point in saving them if the hero was dead.

Without him, they were just members of a party that was stronger, more skilled, or more politically prominent.

It was far more important to stay alive and help open the gate than to save them.

After all, the Allies left our party here to find a living Hero and wait for the gate to reopen, but since he was dead, we’d just have to stay alive and wait for the gate to open.

Hoffman agreed with me, and so did the elf.

I continued.

“Looking at the direction from the gate to the place where the hero died, I think the undead, or the demons that killed the hero, must be heading north, or have a base to the north.”

The gate was just south of the cease-fire line, and the place where the hero was lured to his death was on North Korean soil, across the dividing line.

The undead that killed the hero wore North Korean military clothing, and the weapons they used were North Korean guns and cannons.

In other words, the Demon King had made some or all of North Korea his kingdom.

For that reason, it wasn’t half a month ago when the Demon King came to this world and was defeated by the hero and passed through the gate.

“It seems that the Demon King has taken over the land of the north, so let’s go south and wait for the gate to open.”

I set the group on a course.

It was a fairly plausible explanation for two of my companions and as long as I was the leader, it was enough.

The two nodded in agreement with my decision.

* * *

Deep in the forest, the demilitarized zone quickly grew dark.

Just as the sun was setting, the forest went dark.

We were lucky enough to find an abandoned trench before it got dark.

It looked like it was from a long ago war, but the tracks in the trench showed that it had been used not too long ago.

Of course, those traces were now covered in dust.

Hoffman and Zahina looked reluctant at the unfamiliar human structures.

However, when I, the leader, entered the trench first, they hesitantly followed me into the trench.

The trench we entered was a small bit of cement with an observation window and entrance.

It was barely big enough for the three of us to lie down, but if we could block off the observation window and the entrance, it would be a much more comfortable place to sleep than on the streets.

I pulled several cloaks out of my space expansion bag and covered the window and the gaping opening first.

Then, I spread the rest of the cloaks on the floor.

Next, I pulled out a self-luminous lantern, set it down in the center of the trench, and pulled out three bowls, three brick loaves of bread, and a pouch of gale stew.

In a flash, we had shelter and dinner.

Hoffman looked surprised at my actions, but Zahina sat on the floor with an inscrutable expression on her face, as befitting of an elf.

“Just for today. Next time, let’s prepare separately.”

I opened my mouth before Hoffman could apologize.

It had been a hectic and tiring day, and I didn’t want to argue over such trivial preparations.

After all, most of the traveling supplies were in my two space-expanding bags.

Hoffman was also carrying a backpack on his back, but it didn’t look like it was a magic backpack,

Besides, the elf woman who had lost two-thirds of her body was left with nothing.

So now I was ready to camp.

However, as I said, today was the only day that I prepared for camping alone.

Tomorrow, we would share, or take turns.

Both people agreed with my words, and for dinner we ate hard bread and sour gale stew.

As always, the bread and chowder were terrible.

In truth, the standard of food on the continent wasn’t that bad.

Moreover, I came from a knightly family, so I had been eating middle-class or better since childhood, and even when I left home, I spent more money than most, so I had a pretty good diet.

However, such decent meals have become a rarity since I entered the war against the Demon King.

The supplies coming from the rear are not of the best quality.

It was hard to commandeer live livestock, or even good food, in an undead land full of death.

In the end, I spent most of my years fighting demons eating brick bread that was harder than bricks and gale’s stew that was more monster than livestock.

My share of this crap food was no small part of the reason I was here now, no small part of the reason I wanted to find a small manor and live a leisurely life.

The food of the otherworldly noblemen, who received mana from the earth to restore their bodies, was no different from ours.

Like us, the hard bread seemed difficult to eat, and the gale stew was sour, and I frowned.

After finishing my unappetizing meal, I turned to the elf woman and asked her a question.

“Hoffman, a mountain soldier, specializes in reconnaissance, tracking, and survival, while I, a free knight, specializes in close combat with the undead. Could Miss Zahina tell me about your specialty?”

Zahina was the party member who would be traveling with us until the gate reopened.

As a leader, I needed to know her specialties and skills.

Of course, if she’s like me, she’s likely to hide her skills to some degree.

Luckily, Zahina answered right away.

“I am the eldest daughter of the divine tree. In the language of your world, I am called a nature magician.”

Nature magician…….

I don’t understand.

It was a continental term, and I could not understand it.

However, her words reminded me of the first time I saw her.

“Is it because of that ability that you recovered by gaining mana from the ground?”

“Yes. It’s one of the smaller abilities of a nature magician.”

Her words made me question her again.

“But isn’t the ability to recover something that all Children of the Divine Tree can use?”

Despite his failure to survive, the elf in our party had pretty good regeneration abilities.

Didn’t all the other elves seem to have good regeneration abilities?

“Actually, all of the children of the divine tree could be called natural healers if you’re right. It’s just that I’m a little more blessed than them, so I’m called a nature magician.”

As I listened more closely, I realized that a nature magician was a kind of shaman.

A primordial saint who draws on the power of the divine tree to animate nature and calls upon the divine tree for guidance.

The divine tree first daughter was such a thing.

“If you’re the first daughter, are you a princess or something?”

Hoffman stared at the elf woman in surprise and I couldn’t help but be surprised by his words.

She might not be a real princess, but she certainly wasn’t like the rest of us.

Of course, they wouldn’t put a commoner with the hero.

It made sense, but I couldn’t help but feel confused.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have asked.

But, now that I was here, I asked her about what a nature magician could do.

“I can use the power of the Divine Tree to alter the flow of wind and water, wood and earth, fire and water, in small ways.”

As she spoke, she caused a breeze to blow through the claustrophobic warehouse and warmth to emanate from the cold cement floor.

Instead of artifact lights, she made the ceiling glow softly.

It was magic.

No, mana moved, so that was magic, too.

Hoffman’s head dropped even lower.

“I wouldn’t expect any help from me here, though. I felt it when I was healing myself, but this world has so little of my power that I can’t use it properly.”

Sure enough, she looked very tired after showing off her minor moves.

The moves she showed now, while helpful for living, don’t seem to be of much use in attacking enemies.

I guess I can consider her a novice support mage.

With that, I leaned against the wall and glued my eyes to it.

Fortunately, the night watch was resolved with Zahina’s magic.

Zahina had imbued the atmosphere with mana, turning the air around us into a sensor.

I tested it, but nothing moving on the ground could escape her sensors.

Due to her weakness, she can only plant mana a dozen meters around her, but it’s enough to prevent surprise attacks.

Her sensors didn’t go off during the night and that was how our first night in the other world, or in my previous world, went.