“Zombies…! The zombies have appeared!”
“Huh? How could zombies be there…”
As Dawi wondered how the zombies had crossed the mountain range,
the knight answered.
“The west! They appeared from the west. It seems they came along the coast!”
“Damn…! I see!”
Dawi immediately mounted Malmali.
“Get on behind me for now! How far have they gotten in? What about the other knights?”
“I don’t know the exact numbers! But definitely over a hundred! For now, the knights are evacuating the residents to the castle!”
The knight leaped and sat behind Dawi.
“Giddyup!”
Dawi immediately spurred Malmali forward and asked.
“How long has it been since they appeared?”
“Sir Hans saw them stampeding along the western coast and immediately sent me to you, Dawi!”
He was referring to Sir Hans, the senior knight.
“You ran here without rest?!”
“Yes! I ran while circulating my mana to the limit!”
At a fast gallop, it took Malmali about three hours to reach Snowhill.
Since the knight had run while using mana, it must have taken about that long.
“Giddyup! Malmali! Faster!”
Clop! Clop!
Even carrying two adults, Malmali began to shoot forward like an arrow.
Swhoooosh—!
The air split to both sides from Malmali’s all-out sprint.
Clack!
Dawi snapped open the barrel, removed the single slug and single buckshot that had been loaded, and reloaded with two buckshot rounds.
Clack!
Because buckshot was more effective against zombies.
Clop! Clop!
Without rest, Malmali galloped at full speed down the long brick road.
Malmali, who had gained transcendental physical abilities upon coming to this otherworld. The horse’s entire body was drenched in sweat. But thanks to that, they were able to cross the mountain range in just two hours.
“Graaaaaah!”
“Run!!”
From afar, the territory was already breached by zombies up to the residential areas, and the people were fleeing to the castle.
“Giddyup!”
Clop! Clop!
Dawi, who had descended the mountain in an instant, immediately started firing his shotgun.
Boom! Boom! Clack!
“Thank you!”
The knight who had ridden behind Dawi leaped off Malmali’s back and began dispatching the zombies.
“Giddyup!”
Clop! Clop!
Dawi kept his vision wide, searching for the most imperiled residents first.
.
.
.
“Graaaaaah!”
A zombie dashed toward a fallen child.
“Waaaaaaah!”
The child sat stock-still in place, crying.
“Noooo!”
As the child’s parents screamed,
Boom!
The thunderous sound that rang out saved the child.
Thud!
The zombie collapsed to the ground, and Dawi stretched his arm out wide to grab the child and pull him up.
“Go to your mother! Hurry!!”
“Waaaaah! Mamaaa!!”
“Thank you!!”
Leaving the parents’ gratitude behind, Dawi continued on.
Clop! Clop!
.
.
.
“Graaaaah!”
“Graaaaaah!”
Zombies packed the road leading to the castle.
The residents were unable to reach the castle because of the zombies.
“Malmali! Break through!!”
“Hiiiiiiiii!”
After letting out a loud neigh, Malmali began to charge bravely into the zombies.
Clop! Clop!
Clack!
Having reloaded, Dawi immediately fired at the zombies ahead.
Boom! Boom! Clack! Boom! Boom!
By the time he had fired four shots, Malmali collided with the horde.
Crunch! Crackle! Crunch!
Dawi didn’t sit idle either; he flipped his shotgun around and smashed the buttstock into a zombie’s head.
Thud! Whack!
“Malmali! Break through!!”
“Hiiiiiiiii!!”
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch-snap!
Once Dawi finally broke through the zombies, the knights slipped in through the gap.
“Kill them all! Clear the path!!”
“Run to the castle quickly!!”
Once he confirmed the path was open, Dawi turned Malmali again.
“Let’s go! Giddyup!”
Clop! Clop!
Once more, Malmali galloped toward Snowhill.
.
.
.
“G-grandpa!!”
“Hurry and go!”
An old man was holding a shovel, struggling to hold back a zombie.
“Hurry!! Quickly!!”
The old man held a single shovel horizontally, blocking two zombies.
With strength impossible for his age, the old man was protecting his grandson.
Perhaps it was a flame burning fiercely at the final moment of his life.
“Hnnngh!”
The moment the grandson finally wiped his tears and turned away,
Thump—
His strength gave out, and the old man collapsed on the spot. Zombies lunged over him.
“Graaaaaah!!”
“Graaaaah!!”
The moment the old man’s brightly burning life was about to be extinguished,
two thunderclaps struck down, reigniting the flame of life.
Boom! Boom!
Thud! Thud!
Two zombies riddled with holes in their heads collapsed on the spot.
“Your grandson is running over there! Hurry and go with him! Quickly!!”
“Oh my! Oh my! Thank you! Thank you!”
The old man summoned his strength and ran again.
After confirming the grandfather and grandson reunited safely, Dawi turned the horse’s head.
“Giddyup!”
.
.
.
“Damn it! Damn it!”
He shouldn’t have stuck his nose where it didn’t belong.
He had believed that survival was coexistence.
So he had tried to help humans for the sake of coexistence.
Young Dwarves who had come here voluntarily to help with the humans’ irrigation construction—that is, the waterway project.
They held hammers and pickaxes and were holding back the zombies.
“Get lost! I said get lost!”
“Aaah! Damn it!”
“We shouldn’t have come here…!”
“Symbiosis, my ass. Living alone was the right answer after all.
The world is selfish. Life is selfish.”
If they had been in the rocky mountain region, they could have easily held out using the rugged terrain as a weapon.
Zombies wouldn’t have even made it there in the first place.
And now, because they came here to help humans for no good reason, they were going to die like dogs.
“Hic! Damn it! Hic!”
The young Dwarves wiped away tears and swung their hammers and pickaxes.
“Graaaaaaah!!”
The zombies surrounded the Dwarves, lunging to bite them whenever they saw an opening.
“Damn it!! What symbiosis! What survival!! That damned Thunder Wizard..!!”
Boom! Boom!
At the thunderous sound, the Dwarf trailed off, stopping mid-sentence.
“No way…!”
Boom! Boom!
Thud! Thud!
With each thunderclap, a zombie fell.
Boom! Boom!
Thud! Thwack!
Boom! Boom!
As the zombies surrounding the Dwarves fell, their vision gradually cleared.
And the man who had said, “Survival is coexistence,” came into view.
An elongated steel staff.
Boom! Boom!
Each time the staff belched lightning alongside thunder, zombies collapsed.
“Th-thunder…!”
A wizard of thunder, riding a massive horse and wielding a steel staff.
“Hiiiiiiii!”
Backlit by the sun, the horse reared up and whinnied loudly.
The Thunder Wizard turned his horse’s head and gave the Dwarves a thumbs-up, as if to praise their courage.
Clop! Clop!
The Dwarves stared blankly as the wizard disappeared into the sunlight.
Then they snapped to their senses and shouted.
“Su… survival is coexistence! Let’s save the humans!”
“Yeah! Let’s go!!”
“Let’s go!!”
.
.
.
Clack!
With his right thumb, he undoes the hinge locking the barrel, then flicks his wrist to open it.
Swoosh!
Two buckshot shells summoned to his left hand are immediately inserted into the barrel.
Clack!
With a snap of his right wrist, he closes the barrel, reloading.
Once loaded, a misfire was impossible.
The two surest shots of any firearm.
The classic of classics—the shotgun. Two rounds fired in succession from the double-barrel shotgun.
Boom! Boom!
The widely scattering buckshot pellets embedded themselves in the zombies’ heads.
Thud!
Thud!
Two zombies collapsed in an instant.
Clack!
Another reload completed in an instant.
Dawi, who had been frantically clearing out zombies, heard someone calling him.
“Dawi!! Dawi!!”
“Whoa! Whoa!”
Dawi halted the galloping Malmali and looked around.
The butler was running over, gasping for breath.
“Butler? Why aren’t you at the castle…!”
“T-the baroness is not at the castle!”
“What? Then where is she…”
“My lord! That is, saying she would give the Young Master practical training in estate affairs, she went with him to the waterway construction site!”
“There are more than one or two places where the waterway construction is underway…! Which waterway?!”
“T-that, I don’t really…!”
“Damn it! Understood! I’ll find her! Giddyup!”
Clop! Clop!
***
“U… Mother.”
“Hush. You must be quiet, Baron. Please stay calm.”
“B-but…”
“Hush! Son. You are the baron now. If you hold, the people hold.”
“I… I am still too young to be a baron…”
“Baron. You are already the baron. Age does not matter. And you will come of age next year. You must steel your heart.”
In the empire, it was traditionally believed that one came of age upon turning fifteen.
“Mother…”
The mother and son were hiding in a nearby house.
“Graaaaaah…”
“Graaaaaah!”
“Aaah! Save me!!”
The son trembled as he listened to the screams coming from outside.
The mother also hid her own trembling hands from her son.
When the zombie virus first spread through the territory,
the wife lost her husband, and the son lost his father.
The baron, who could not be called a good lord, was a good man as a family member.
The moment he realized he was infected, he took his own life so he wouldn’t bite his family.
Now, the mother, the son, and the territory all seemed to endure that nightmare and recover.
But today, once again.
“Graaaaaah!”
The nightmare was repeating.
‘Please…! Please…!’
Please let them be safe. Please don’t let me lose my family again.
The baroness prayed desperately.
Boooooom—
At the faint thunderclap, the baroness opened her tightly shut eyes.
‘This sound…!’
Booom—
The thunderclap grew closer.
Boom-boom-!
The repeating thunder.
The bell of salvation approaching the mother and son holding their breath.
Boom! Boom!
“Baron!! Baroness!! If you’re there, answer me!!”
The voice of salvation was heard from not far away.
But the mother and son could not respond to that voice.
They feared the zombies roaming outside.
Boom! Bang!
“If you’re there, shout!!”
They were afraid that if they shouted, the zombies would find them first.
Bang!!
“Right now!! I’m going to save you, so shout!!”
Clasp!
The baroness clenched her trembling hands together and shouted.
“We’re here!! We’re over here!!”
“Graaaaaaah!!”
“Graaaaah!!”
Hearing the sound of prey, the zombies began to charge.
Bang! Bang-bang-bang!
“Graaaaah!!”
The zombies pounded on the locked wooden door as if to break it down.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
No, they really started to break it.
Crunch!
“M-mooom!”
“He’ll come. He’ll come… Please. Please. Please…”
Crack!
The wooden door broke, and,
“Graaaaaaah!!”
as the zombies pushed in through the narrow door,
“Found them.”
Bang! Bang!
Bullets fired from behind the zombies’ heads pierced through the clustered zombies’ heads in rapid succession.
Pop-pop-pop-pop!
Zombies losing consciousness and collapsing at once.
Crunch!
Leather boots stepping over them and entering.
The gazes of the baron and baroness slowly moved upward.
Leather pants, leather jacket. And… a cowboy hat.
Standing there was the only cowboy in this otherworld, who ran a ranch and carried a classic shotgun.
The shotgun’s long barrel glinted, reflecting the sunlight.
“Phew! I told you I’d find you, didn’t I? Let’s go!”
“Wo… wow…”
That day, the boy who was called the baron came to admire him.