Chapter 311: I was Picked Up by a Crazy Human

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{???}

I opened my eyes faintly.

…Where am I?

It’s cold…and dark. I can’t move my arms and legs. No, wait. Not only can’t I move my limbs, but the same also applies to all of my body.

…Ah, right. Now I remember. I collapsed while crossing the desert. So, maybe I got buried alive? Or maybe I’m already dead?

――Well, even if I’m not dead yet, I’ll die very soon if I’m buried anyway.

…So that’s the end of the line, huh…?

Just when I thought so, I heard a voice.

『Ah, it looks like he woke up. I thought he might croak, but it appears like he’s sturdier in clinging to life than I expected』

＊

Once I opened the healing pod, the guy, who we picked up in the desert, stared my way with surprise written all over his face.

Seeing how his outward appearance resembles that of Smith, maybe he’s a demonkin? Night-sky-like hair, red eyes, and on top of that, beautiful features.

“Hmm, I see, I see. How do you feel?”

As I asked him, the demonkin absentmindedly surveyed his surroundings.

“…Where am I?”

So he’s not going to answer my question, huh?

“Well, it can’t be helped if you don’t feel all that great. It might take some time for you to become healthy again, and you could still die, too. However, please tell me if you need to puke. I’d hate you to sully the pod.”

“……”

As I carefreely went on my conversation, the male demonkin seemed to also think, 「So she’s not going to answer my question, huh?」

“…I won’t puke. I can’t move my body either way, though.”

He finally answered my question properly.

I nodded and explained, “You must still feel sluggish because you haven’t recovered completely from the dehydration yet. Sooner or later, once the water has spread throughout your body, you’ll become able to move again. ――Ah! Tell me if you need to urinate or bigger! It’d be terrible if you did it just like that in the pod! I’ll wash you together with the pod in such a case!”

“……”

He partly closed his eyes.

“Got it. I’ll tell you in advance. So, where am I?”

“Inside a magic healing tool that’s installed inside the multi-legged, camping battle car I built.”

The man blinked his eyes in sheer surprise. I went on, updating him on his current situation.

“You were extremely lucky for us to discover you just as you were lying out in the desert, about to die. I wanted to observe whether your corpse would turn into an undead, but unfortunately you were still alive, so I reluctantly picked you up and treated you. I wanted to test whether you’d turn into an undead after throwing you out, if you had died from the treatment not showing any effect, but unfortunately you regained consciousness and that’s where we are now.”

Once the demonkin listened to my story, he stared at me with his mouth open. And then he hissed at me with a grim expression, “…I didn’t want to thank you, but now it actually feels good to not thank you.”

“Sure! This healing “capsule” is something I made for the sake of curing my partner when he suffered a heavy injury or caught a strong illness, but that guy’s way too tough! He doesn’t fall sick easily, and he doesn’t even get injured in the first place. But, just as I thought that I might need to test it out during the real deal, we fortunately ran across you, so no need to thank me!”

Once I answered energetically, Sword slapped his forehead and looked up to the ceiling behind me. The demonkin closed his eyes while frowning with rage dyeing his face, apparently having given up on me.

“In that case, I feel relieved. It looks like things will wrap up without me even having to say, 『You’ll regret having saved me』.”

He’s dropping quite the corny lines for a while now, isn’t he? Would it be better to answer him in kind?

“If you want to act cool, feel free to say so. I’ll answer in a likewise cool manner, saying, 『Hah, it’s not like I saved you or anything. I just picked up something that belongs to me』, you know?”

Hearing my response, the demonkin fell silent while looking sullen.

＊

{???}

I was picked up by a crazy human. Just what is that guy?

He’s talking some insane nonsense. Moreover, he’s not wary of me at all as he probably hasn’t noticed that I’m a demonkin.

…Oh well, whatever. Rather, this is convenient for me. It’s completely unexpected, but it looks like I’ll be able to carry out my mission thanks to him.

I don’t know how far I’ve crossed the desert and where I am right now, but if I don’t manage to leave the desert and reach a human town…

I’ve got no clue what happened to my luggage either, but I have to get it back.

――I’ll disguise myself as a human with the magic transformation device and infiltrate a human town. In the worst case, I can also use magic to disguise myself, but in such a case I must keep the spell up all the time in places with humans. It’ll make infiltration difficult.

…My comrades have very likely died. The only one who was left behind while advancing was me. I wanted to believe that they were still following me, but I didn’t hear any answers when talking to them, nor did I hear any footsteps.

I was too scared to look back, so I kept walking on.

And then I collapsed, too.

These people probably found me by chance and patched me back up…

“…Hey, was there anyone else around the area where I collapsed?”

I opened my eyes again and asked the humans. Both looked at each other.

“I didn’t see anyone. How about you, Sword?”

The tall human looked at me with an expression full of pity and shook his head.

“…Me neither. I suspected you might have some companions with you, so I checked the vicinity, but…sorry, I didn’t find ‘nyone else. Some time ago, a strong dry wind has been goin’, so the area has changed. …I doubt we’ll find your friends ‘nymore since they’ll be buried by now. To be honest, it’s already a miracle that we discovered you alone.”

I closed my eyes once more.

“…I see…”

No helping it. We made up our resolve before crossing the desert. And it’s a miracle that I’ve been saved.

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