Return of the Apocalypse Knight

Chapter 28: The Village Chief (2)

“I’m thinking about it.”

I didn’t have to give a definitive answer right away. I hadn’t even checked out the situation here yet.

“We were originally on our way to meet up with any remaining military or bureaucratic organizations.”

In fact, I just wanted to visit the place I lived in my past life, so I used the Demon King as an excuse to persuade my party members to move.

But I didn’t need to tell them that.

“But now that we’re here, it seems like it’s hard to find any organizations left, and I’m worried.”

Hoffman and Zahina looked at me puzzled, but thankfully didn’t say anything else.

I let them know with my eyes that I’d explain later the reason for my ambiguity was the man in front of me, a man in his late thirties with the title of chief.

From what I could tell, the natural awakeners didn’t seem to welcome us like the others.

I could think of a number of reasons, but in any case, there was no point in forcing ourselves to stay if we weren’t welcome.

It seemed better to take advantage of it, so I spoke vaguely.

“You mean the big organization that still exists…….”

The chief muttered in a low voice, and the gathered people spoke up.

“Isn’t there anything left of the military?”

“Isn’t there still something left?”

“Well, the broadcasts were cut off pretty quickly, and all the places we’ve been in contact with have been cut off.”

“Well, all the air defenses we built underground were destroyed.”

Again, I didn’t ask, but the information was just pouring in.

“Since we don’t have any contact, I guess you’ll just have to stay here.”

“That sounds good. If I hear any news later, I guess I can look into it.”

Again, others wanted us to stay.

Because it meant that people with superpowers who could deal with the undead, whether they were from another world or not, would join.

“Stop staring. I can tell when you stare like that.”

“I’m not the only one who saw it. You’re acting like you didn’t see it. I’ll tell your wife everything.”

“Everyone is looking at the pretty girl…….”

The lady’s words were the last thing I heard, and the huffing and puffing behind me stopped.

Apparently, that wasn’t the only reason to welcome us.

However, the next words of the chief were different from the others.

“I will find out what you want to know as soon as possible.”

Seeing the disgruntled looks on everyone’s faces, he continued.

“You must have had a hard time getting here, so let’s provide you with a place to rest first.”

After he finished, he whispered to the man next to him.

“Take them to an empty house. Downstairs.”

“Downstairs?”

“Because I don’t fully trust them yet.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Send them down and come right back.”

“Got it.”

The words were spoken so low that no one could hear them, but to my mana-enhanced ears, they were just right.

“I’ll show you around.”

The others looked like they wanted to talk to us more, but when they saw us, they didn’t stop us from leaving.

I obediently followed, and the rest of the party followed wordlessly.

“Mr. Joon-ho, please explain what happened again.”

As we went down the stairs, we heard the village chief’s voice from behind.

This must be the story about the dead man he was talking about earlier.

It sounded like a trial, but I turned my attention away from the sound behind me.

I didn’t know him well enough to defend him.

We were led back downstairs, to a house with an open door.

“This is a house that no one has come home from since that day. No bodies, no zombies, it’s clean. It’s empty, so you can use whatever’s inside.”

The man bragged as he showed us the house.

We followed behind him, about to enter the house,

He saw us just walking in and waved his hand impatiently.

“Oh, please take off your shoes. You have to take off your shoes inside the house.”

Apparently, I’d lived too long in a place where you don’t take your shoes off that I didn’t think twice before walking into the living room.

The party members also didn’t know they had to take off their shoes.

Anyway, Hoffman and Zahina left their shoes off at the entrance and walked inside.

I, on the other hand, entered without removing my shoes.

Because of the armor, I couldn’t remove my shoes separately, so I decided to remove my armor inside.

It was like nothing I’d seen in an apartment in a long time.

The interior of the spacious 40-square meter apartment spread out before me.

A large living room, a long hallway, and several rooms, the apartment seemed to be more luxurious than I expected.

While I took off my armor in the living room, the man showed the other two members of the party around.

“This is the bedroom, and this is the restroom and bath. You can wash your face here, but unfortunately there’s no running water right now; that’s the kitchen, but we can’t cook because there’s no electricity; and this is the storage room.”

He dragged them from room to room, showing them how to use each one.

The way he looked at Zahina with each explanation, I realized why he was so kind.

After giving us a full tour of the house, the man stood at the door and asked us with a wistful look on his face.

“I can bring the food later, I suppose? Is there anything else you need?”

We had our own food, but we didn’t need to turn down the offer.

And, I needed…….

I told him after looking around at Hoffman and Zahina.

“I need clothes.”

At my words, the man looked at Zahina and nodded.

Zahina had been wearing a military uniform up until now.

It was a military uniform that had been stripped from the undead, so it was very dirty, even if I had cleaned it with magic.

The man looked at Zahina and asked cautiously.

“So…….What size are you?”

“?”

Zahina looked puzzled at the man’s question.

Perhaps the translation hadn’t gone well.

However, the man realized from her expression that she had misunderstood.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll bring another lady with me when I bring the food.”

In fact, I was well aware of Zahina’s size.

I’d seen it all when she was restoring her body.

However, I couldn’t pretend to know, as measurements are different in this world.

Well, she wouldn’t mind if I didn’t.

After the man left, I said to the party.

“This place seems safe, so let’s get some rest today.”

“Are you sure?”

Hoffman said, and I pointed to the door.

“We just need to barricade the door.”

Even though we had descended two floors, this was the 28th floor of a concrete and rebar apartment building.

For now, we were safe as long as we could block the metal door.

The locks had been picked so the doors wouldn’t close, but we had nothing to worry about.

We had several ways to prevent the door from opening.

However, I didn’t need to barricade it right now.

Instead, I sat down in the doorway and began to clean my armor.

“There’s a bathtub,” I said, ”and I think there’s another one in there, so we can use both.”

There was no water, but we had a nature magician who could conjure water.

She did as I said and made water and filled the tub. She made a fire and warmed the water in the tub.

‘She’s a much more useful party member than I thought.’

I thought to myself as I watched Zahina take a bath.

At first glance, she was a disappointing party member due to her lack of combat power so I kept her around because I couldn’t get rid of her.

Now that her gun can hold mana, her value has skyrocketed.

Plus, she can switch between water and fire at will, making her an essential companion for traveling with.

‘If only she wasn’t an elf, I would have served her.’

This thought was reinforced when I saw Zahina come out of the bath, wrapped in a cloth.

She was stripped of her military uniform, cleaned up, and beautiful.

I’d always known that the elves were pretty and handsome, but Zahina was exceptionally beautiful.

It was no wonder that other people couldn’t take their eyes off her.

If I hadn’t been fooled by an elf before, I might have been tempted by her beauty.

“I’ve brought the water back, so you can wash up, too.”

At Zahina’s words, I dropped my armor and stood up.

I was grateful for a warm bath, elf or not.

A few hours later, we were in the living room, bowls lined up on the floor.

“This feels so good. It’s been a while since I’ve had a good night’s rest.”

Hoffman was half sprawled out on the living room couch, patting his stomach,

Zahina was sitting cross-legged, examining her clothes with a curious look on her face.

The women who brought us dinner had brought them after taking her measurements.

A skirt and leggings, a two-piece, a one-piece, and jeans.

If I hadn’t been interrupted, she would have packed a whole bunch of clothes.

And, the clothes we were wearing now were comfortable tracksuits.

I took off my armor and wore indoor clothes for the first time in a long time.

It’s been so long since I’ve worn fluffy clothes that it’s almost ticklish.

It was a relaxing evening, safe and full, and like the rest of the party, I’m languidly stretched out.

I felt like taking it easy tonight.

‘I can’t do that.’

I straightened my posture and opened my mouth.

“I think we need to talk for a minute.”

The two slumped figures looked up at me and the languid mood immediately vanished.

“I have a story to tell, and I’m sure you’re wondering what I was talking about earlier.”

They both nodded at my words.

I hadn’t told the two in front of me what I’d said earlier, that I was looking for the right organization.

I had told them to head south to avoid the demons until the gate opened.

“Actually, I said that because I wanted to test the village chief. From what I saw earlier, he didn’t seem to welcome us like other people. It seems like he’s hiding something.”

Even if he got hit once, the village chief had to welcome us.

There had to be something else going on, for the people who were supposed to be a powerful weapon to come and not welcome us.

“We’ve shaken them up with vague words, so there must be a reaction.”

With that explained, I looked at Hoffman.

“It’s time for Hoffman to step forward. Can you do it tonight? I’m asking you to go rock climbing in the dark and get the information away from the eyes of the natural awakened.”

Hoffman nodded.

“Shouldn’t be hard, I’ll leave it to you.”

Time passed, and everyone was asleep.

Hoffman began to climb up the apartment wall.