[ Chapter 19 ]
“You can stay here.”
The group of people called survivors formed a somewhat organized community. On the 5th floor, there were abundant supplies and a restaurant, and because of the solitary cells in Building C where nobles were imprisoned, it was also good to live alone with a bed and bathroom.
My room, assigned with Rob’s guidance, was the same. It had a bed and a bathroom with a shower.
“Feeling good?”
When I entered that room, I was distracted by the thought of taking a shower right away, but then I felt a piercing gaze coming from my right side.
“Seeing the room, your expression has changed quite a bit.”
I haven’t slept alone in such a luxurious space for so long, it feels strange. Even before I was reincarnated, I couldn’t have imagined living in such a lavish setting.
“…it’s probably better than Building A.”
Rob grinned at my words.
“Well, it makes sense. So be thankful that you’ve come to Building C. If you were still in Building B, even if you managed to suppress the prisoners, you might have had to spend your time behind bars.”
He tapped my shoulder roughly and disappeared after leaving me with the words, “Take it easy.”
When I looked down the corridor, Deon and Ian were nowhere to be seen. They probably had gone to their own rooms. Did they go inside already? I wasn’t sure. I was slightly curious, but when I saw the soft mattress filled with goose feathers and the bathtub, I didn’t feel the need to continue thinking.
As I turned the slightly rusted handle of the bathtub, hot water gushed out as if it were overflowing. It felt like I saw an oasis in the desert.
Can I wash up?
I quickly wiped my blood-stained hands on my uniform. There was no instruction not to use the water, so I assumed it was okay to shower. Just to be safe, I locked the door and took off my uniform before turning on the water. As the cold air touched my bare skin, I shuddered uncontrollably.
Haah.
Without realizing it, a deep sigh of satisfaction escaped me.
As I soaked my body in the tub, I suddenly realized that if a person feels too good, their facial expression tends to become wrinkled. It felt like I was alive again. The muscles that had been stiffened by tension were gradually relaxing.
“….Aah.”
How long has it been since I felt this sense of relief?
After finishing my bath, I slid the goose feather-filled blanket between my thighs and lay down. The soft touch of the filling against my body was like touching a cloud, sending a signal to my body that it was time to fall into a deep sleep.
Of course, the job wasn’t completely finished. However, just the fact that I belonged to a normal and organized group gave me the feeling that my deteriorated mental state was slowly revived.
In that sense, I was really glad that a character like Rob Tiger was alive.
Rob was a first-class prison officer who appeared briefly as an extra before Yvonne’s final appearance in the original work. He was also Ian’s assigned prison officer, so he probably had a whistle as well, and when combined with mine, we had two out of three keys that could open the prison’s front gate.
Maybe things will be over soon.
However, there is one thing that bothers me.
At the time, why was Lemony in a panic state in the first place?
At this point, my ability to help by reading the original work was limited. The direction of the story and the events that occur will change, so the only useful information from the original will be about the characters that will appear in the future.
I searched through my uniform pockets and pulled out the diary of the prison officer.
Unfortunately, the owner of the diary was an officer from Building C, so the news about Lemony ended where I stopped reading.
“…I wonder if Lemony wrote a diary too.”
Maybe I should go up to the 7th floor of Building B again. I stifled a yawn and buried my face in the pillow.
But not now.
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At that moment, in the room next to Lemony’s.
“You can stay here.”
At that moment, an officer who appeared to be around the same age as Lemony awkwardly guided him with a hesitant voice.
Without answering, he turned his head and entered the room, locking the door without hesitation. Was that young man just over 20 years old now? Come to think of it, that woman’s age seemed to be similar to his.
Ah, I’m thinking about that woman again.
Since joining the group of survivors, Deon had been unconsciously plagued by thoughts of that woman, and it made him feel uneasy.
That’s right.
Deon had no time to think about anything other than the sudden situation with the survivors or demons. Since he met that woman again until he met the group of survivors, his mind had been filled with thoughts of her.
This was because his hypothesis had turned out to be correct.
“Deon! Snap out of it and close the door! The prisoners are coming in!”
As he remembered the moment when he reflexively closed the door at that frightened voice, an absurd and gloomy laughter burst out of him.
When the first symptoms of berserk appeared, he thought to himself, “No way, this can’t be happening.”
He wondered if his body had responded to the woman’s words without command magic.
So, he even opened the door and let the monsters attack him just to check, but when he heard her voice, his wild symptoms of berserk subsided like a calm lake.
“….It seems being locked up for 5 years has turned me into a real dog.”
He couldn’t believe it, and a hollow laugh escaped from him as he covered his mouth with his palm.
Command magic?
In the first place, such a thing never worked on him. Her voice, which he had listened to like an obsession for five years, now began to dominate his body.
Due to the overwhelming sense of shame and disgust, his internal organs twisted. He felt like he needed to hit something to relieve his frustration. That’s how he felt when he suffered from the symptoms of berserk.
At that moment.
Aah. At the clear, audible sigh from afar, his reverie was shattered. One of his eyebrows lifted slowly at the unexpected moan.
Lemony?
The basic soundproofing doesn’t work in such a luxurious room like this, he thought. He briefly wondered why, and then realized that even when he was in Building B due to his berserk symptoms, he could hear Lemony’s commands from far away. And as he felt something stiff between his thighs, he let out a low sigh.
I’d rather take a shower.
It would be better to wash away other sounds with the sound of water.
The sound of her bare feet splashing in the water could be heard from the next room. As his patience began to wear thin, he opened the bathroom door. He thought that he could cool down by splashing himself with cold water, but to his dismay, no water came out of the faucet.
The splashing sound from the next room stopped. As he imagined her sleeping peacefully, his eyes widened slightly. He wondered if it was because he couldn’t see her violet-colored irises, but he noticed that her eyelashes, damp with tears, were slightly reddish—
“Fuck.”
Deon stopped his thoughts and quickly took off his shirt and lay down on the bed. He thought that if he were to blindly search for her room, he might see her embarrassed face as she took a bath, but that would only prove that he was really just a dog in heat for her.
Lemony was poison. Even unintentionally, she was thoroughly breaking him down, even in his weakest moments.
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After that, I spent a few days living an unprecedented peaceful daily life. The routine began to form gradually as my life had been a continuous tension.
“Our primary goal is to fortify Building C. Our secondary goal is to drive out all the monsters from the 3rd floor to the 1st floor and build a brick wall pathway between Building C and Building B to rescue survivors from other buildings. You may think this is unrealistic, but we have already taken control from the 7th floor to the 4th floor where the central control room is located. We ask everyone to take this seriously.”
The group of survivors consisted of about 30 people. In the morning, they went outside to drive away the monsters and set up a large steel wall with an officer stationed at the gate. The remaining people went to the restaurant on the 5th floor to prepare breakfast.
Everyone seemed familiar with their assigned roles. Seeing everyone working together so smoothly made me feel restless and want to do something too. Even Ian and Deon seemed to be obediently following all the rules, perhaps due to the sudden emergency situation.
“You? You can take a break for a while. Get used to eating and washing up first.”
However, as a newcomer, I was excluded from everything, and I was isolated in my room as if hiding. When it was time to eat, I quietly ate and then returned to my room.
Sometimes, I would open the door and just greet the officers who were guarding the hallway.
It was a bit strange. I wasn’t sick or lacking in anything. I was even a first-class prison officer, so people wouldn’t doubt my abilities.
There must be a shortage of people here, so why aren’t they asking me to do anything?
There had to be something I could do, because there was no such thing as goodwill without a price.
No matter how structured it may be, if I don’t do something in return for the accommodation they provided, I myself will be discouraged.
On the other hand, I wondered if it was because I was a newcomer, and my doubts were finally dispelled when I saw Deon and Ian grabbing their swords.
I hastily grabbed the gun in my room and went outside.
“Hmm, what are you trying to do Lemony?”
A handsome face that I hadn’t seen in a long time smiled broadly and loaded his gun. Deon, who was next to him, was polishing his sword without acknowledging me.
“I want to participate too.”
However, all eyes were focused on me as I spoke, including Deon’s.
“What do you want to participate in?”
Rob, who was polishing a huge shield at the front, stood up from his seat. It seemed like he hadn’t even considered the fact that I would go down to the lower floor.
“I will also participate in the battle. Please let me at least guard the rear or provide support.”
As the sudden stares poured down on me, my skin tingled. Especially, I realized that the penetrating gaze that felt particularly dense was from Deon, even as I said those words.
What the hell is wrong with that guy, anyway?
Well, he never liked me from the start.
Now, I had to show off to this group, not Deon. So, I glared at Rob with the most urgent gaze possible, and he unexpectedly burst out laughing, reading my toughness from my expression.
“Looks like we got a little gold in our family. But what we’re doing now is not dealing with rational creatures.”
“Pardon me?”
Did my question seem naive? He approached me with a scary expression, raising one eyebrow sharply.
“I understand that you are a first-class prison officer, but unfortunately, this is not the time to deal with weak and untrained individuals. There could be a physical fight or a crude power struggle. Right now, your job is to eat, wash up, and rest. Of course, there will be tasks that you can do later, so please wait until then….”
“A woman? To me, she looks like a poisonous snake.”
At that moment,
A deep voice that cut off Rob’s words burst into a sneer. As soon as I realized that it was Deon, someone who had come down to the 4th floor shouted at me.
“Miss Lemony? If you don’t have anything to do, please come to the restaurant!”
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Thank you for reading!
