Employment Ice Age of the Dead - Chapter 6

Anti-Undead Medicine

(“If it wasn’t Sakata-san and I had participated instead, I probably would have been the one used as a decoy.”)

The Student Council President likely subconsciously decided to make Sakata-san the decoy simply because she wasn’t a student of Banryu High School. If so, he definitely would have made me a decoy too, since I was just a janitor and not a student.

"Um... There is no time left, so please abandon me and go."

"..."

Rather than having someone cling to me for help, being told to leave them behind is actually harder to take. Besides, this girl isn't even a student at Banryu High School. I couldn't bring myself to abandon her.

"Even if you tell me to leave you behind..."

"I'm going to turn into a zombie soon. If that happens, I'll cause trouble for my savior."

(No way I can abandon you!) "Don't worry about that."

I pulled out a magic potion stored inside my "Item Box" from where she couldn't see. Come to think of it, that King didn't confiscate the items, weapons, armor, or treasures I obtained during my journey to defeat the Demon King. He was such a good boss... a good King, that if I had been able to stay in that other world, I definitely would never have returned here.

"For now, calm down and drink this potion. You'll be fine."

"Is this... medicine?"

"I happened to get it after defeating a zombie. If you drink this, you should be fine."

"I see..."

In truth, this magic potion is called an "Anti-Undead Potion." Some of the monsters and generals led by the Demon King's army possessed the ability to turn humans into undead. People hit by these attacks would die and turn into undead in a few hours, but if they drank this Anti-Undead Potion before that happened, they could prevent the transformation.

"Since you're going to turn into an undead in a short while anyway, taking a gamble on drinking this medicine isn't a bad choice."

"...You're right! I'll drink it. If the uncle who saved me says so, I feel like it's going to work."

Sakata-san gulped down the Anti-Undead Potion I handed her in one go.

"How is it?"

"Ah! The bite mark is disappearing! Thank you so much!"

It seems the Anti-Undead Potion works on humans in this world too.

(Since I used it myself, I guess that makes sense.) "Now you won't turn into a zombie. Well then..."

The problem now is what to do with her. I can't send her back to Banryu High School at this point. Because if she goes back, the Student Council President's evil deed will be exposed to the light of day—that he abandoned Sakata-san, a student from another school, just so they could save themselves. The students of Banryu High School are all elite and full of pride, so they wouldn't want anyone to know that they escaped a horde of zombies by using a companion from another school as a decoy. If things go wrong, they might even throw Sakata-san back into the horde of zombies to prevent the secret from leaking out.

"If only there were a refugee camp somewhere..."

"Um! Please let me repay you for saving my life!"

"EH! No... You don't need to worry about repaying me—"

Having said that, I had no prior information about any refugee camps. All I knew was that surviving students and a few town survivors had fled to Banryu High School.

(Ah! That's right!)

I had forgotten one important thing: I needed to check if Shirai-san had managed to take refuge at Banryu High School. I still wasn't sure what I'd do after confirming it, but Shirai-san was the only person at Banryu High School who was kind to me. Above all, the reason the Student Council President and the others left Sakata-san in front of the zombie horde was that food was running low at Banryu High School, and they were trying to scavenge anything edible from nearby houses.

(If that girl is at the school and food runs out...)

Even if she isn't turned into a zombie, she'll starve to death before long. If she is at Banryu High School, I have to get her out of there somehow.

"Sakata-san, do you happen to know a Banryu High School student named Shirai-san? She dresses like a gyaru..."

"There was indeed a student who dressed like a gyaru despite being at Banryu High School. She stood out even among the students there, and the townspeople were wary of her because she was a Banryu student... Actually, the conflict between the Banryu High School students and the townspeople like us who fled there was getting severe. Food was running out, yet rations were prioritized for Banryu students, teachers, and their affiliates. The townspeople protested strongly against that... That's why I volunteered to go out gathering food."

And when they encountered zombies, the Student Council President tried to sacrifice Sakata-san because she wasn't a student of Banryu High School.

(In a situation like this, they shouldn't be fighting among themselves, yet they have such unnecessary pride.) "Ah!"

"Is something wrong? Um..."

"My name is Kouzou Izaku. Calling me 'uncle' is fine too."

From the perspective of a high school girl like Sakata-san, I am nothing other than an uncle. Even if she tried to be considerate and call me "big brother," I'd see right through it, so "uncle" didn't bother me at all.

"Izaku-san, is there something on your mind?"

"That's right! We need to hurry to Banryu High School right away. Because..."

In the end, the attempt to secure food by the Student Council President and his group failed. On top of that, Sakata-san didn't return. From the townspeople's perspective, it's very likely they'll think the Banryu students abandoned Sakata-san because she was an outsider.

"If that happens, the conflict between both sides will become critical."

Even without that, food is running low. The causes for conflict will only increase, never decrease. If the townspeople realize the Banryu group won't hesitate to sacrifice locals to survive, fight is inevitable.

"It's only a matter of time before a fight breaks out over the remaining food."

"Indeed, the townspeople were fed up with the Student Council President and teachers trying to control everything."

To the students and teachers, the school is their home turf, and the townspeople are merely free-loaders. Furthermore, since Banryu High School is a famous elite school, they take it for granted that they should run the place. Their subconscious tendency to look down on the locals was already obvious in how they treated me as a janitor. On top of that, they actually created a gap between students and townspeople during food distribution.

"Doing something like that in an emergency is bound to cause backlash from the townspeople. Aren't there more townspeople than students among the refugees?"

"Yes."

This might be bad. If the townspeople start fighting the students to take control of the school shelter...

"Without knowing when the zombie swarm that devastated the town might attack the school, they're likely to start internal strife. If that happens, even a fortress-like structure will easily fall."

To begin with, in this current state, the only one who can defeat zombies... is probably me. Zombies can be defeated by burning them, but they move violently until completely burned out, and they even try to put out the fire themselves. Since they are zombies, they don't feel burns; a surface burn won't stop them from moving normally. It takes a lot of fuel, effort, and time for normal people to defeat just one. Hacking them to pieces is another option, but no matter how much they are zombies, they were originally human. Few people can do that due to psychological resistance.

"Then what about the school?"

"The fact that Sakata-san's group was attacked by zombies means they've already come up to the hillside... I see!"

"Izaku-san?"

"The school is probably being attacked by far more zombies than the ones that attacked Sakata-san's group."

Because there is plenty of bait at the school. The bait called human refugees.

"Let's hurry!"

"Yes!"

There wasn't a moment to lose. With Sakata-san in the passenger seat, I slammed the gas pedal down and sped toward the school. 

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