“──Aren’t you cold?”
I voiced a genuine concern that had bubbled up inside me while draping my lab coat over Shes. Exposing so much skin on her shoulders and abdomen couldn’t be healthy.
“Oh… Thank you for the garment… Huh? Cold…?”
“Well, you’ve been revived, but I was wondering to what extent your senses have recovered.”
The jubilation and frenzy of the Elden reclamation battle had passed, and the Demon Nation Army was steadily building fortifications.
As for me, I had already restored the Zombie Soldier and was on my way back to Kirose, looking for the Zombie Thief when… my curiosity was itching.
“This theory of Dark Heal is my own creation, but this is the first time I’ve put it into practice. I want to observe the first test subject closely. How are you feeling? Any discomfort or issues with your body?”
I couldn’t suppress my curiosity long enough to wait until we returned.
How could I? I never thought something that seemed ethically and morally impossible could actually be achieved.
“Uh… well… I feel fine. But,”
Shes awkwardly pulled the edges of the lab coat together to cover herself.
“What concerns me is… what exactly am I now? Am I no longer human?”
She tilted her head, looking at me questioningly.
Well, that’s understandable.
Anyone would be shocked and confused about their own existence after being revived from death.
“Let me see.”
I held out my palm and placed it gently on her neck.
“Ki-Kiwi-sama…?”
Startled, Shes flinched, but I stopped her.
I needed her to stay still—any movement would displace the carotid artery.
“…Hmm, there’s definitely a pulse. And your body temperature is normal.”
During the recent battle against the hero, I had confirmed that Shes bled when injured. Her blood’s color and consistency were completely normal, meaning—
“Shes, you don’t belong to the undead. Your heart is beating.”
“Wh-What?! I’m no longer a zombie!”
“Correct. So you are human… though, having once died and become a zombie, your phase has shifted from good to evil. Even revived, that hasn’t changed.”
The closest classification would be a “witch,” but even that isn’t entirely accurate.
Witches, who once existed in the Kingdom, were aligned with evil and channeled magic. Shes, on the other hand, still carried divine power in her body.
If that’s the case—
“A ‘new species,’ then. From now on, I shall call those revived from zombies ‘Human-Demons.'”
When we return, I must update the paper I once scrawled in the Kingdom, adding these experimental findings and solidifying the name “Human-Demons.” This is thrilling!
“‘Human-Demons,’ huh? That term does seem to fit my current state…”
Shes nodded in agreement, but then—
──Grrr.
A low rumble emanated from Shes’s stomach.
“!!! No, um, this is…!”
She turned away from me abruptly, glancing back only with her face.
“It’s not what it seems! I’m not hungry or anything, I just—”
“Oh! You’re hungry, are you?!”
This is incredible.
A former corpse feeling hunger?!
“This means that your brain functions required to sustain life have been fully restored and are now operational!”
“Eh? Wh-What?”
“Come now, Shes! Let me examine you further!”
Driven by excitement, I tugged at her lab coat. I needed her to remove it.
“Kiwi-sama!?”
“Your stomach acid! Your peristalsis! Please, let me touch your abdomen for a moment!”
“Please stop, Kiwi-sama! Everyone is watching! Let’s do this back at the clinic!”
As Shes resisted, I suddenly felt the presence of someone behind me.
“…Oh?”
Turning around, I found a zombie thief—wrapped in bandages and cloaked in a black hooded mantle—standing there.
“Welcome back. How far did you chase after Lieutenant Colonel Schwizen?”
Reluctantly letting go of Shes’s coat, I examined the zombie thief. As expected, Schwizen was nowhere to be seen. Understandable, given I hadn’t ordered his capture. Still, it was a bit disappointing.
Noticing burn-like marks on the thief’s body caused by divine arts, I deduced—
“I see. You were driven off by a powerful priest. They must’ve been quite formidable.”
[……]
The thief remained silent.
I cast Dark Heal on them and placed a hand on their shoulder.
“Regardless, you did well. Thanks to your efforts, we avoided an ambush by priests inside the detention center. Well done.”
[……]
Without a word, the thief stepped behind me, resuming their position as my guard. Though the fighting was over, it seemed this was their “default” state.
“By the way, Shes.”
“Y-Yes?!”
Still clutching the coat tightly, Shes had distanced herself from me, clearly wary.
“It’s unrelated, but I’d like to ask: Were you, the Zombie Soldier, and the Zombie Thief comrades during your lives?”
“…No.”
Shes quietly shook her head.
“When I fell to that man, those two were already in their current forms.”
“I see.”
“…Kiwi-sama, may I ask you something as well?”
Shes lowered her voice.
“The one who turned me into a zombie—what has become of him?”
“Do you mean Germ? He’s currently under the Demon Lord’s supervision. His ability to create zombies from magic is being put to use.”
“Being… used? That monster?”
Shes frowned with distaste.
“You should be careful. He is a cunning and powerful creature.”
