I Reincarnated Into a Healing Game… and It’s a Zombie Apocalypse?! - Chapter 72

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 72

The game system.

It was something that had always been by her side since she first set foot in this place.

Even when the world collapsed into a zombie apocalypse, it had remained unchangingly by her side.

But now it had disappeared.

“…It wasn’t mine to begin with. I thought it wouldn’t be strange if it disappeared someday.”

Nana muttered in a voice so small it was barely audible.

She had known from the beginning.

Despite all the talk about the World Tree’s choice, this power had never truly been hers.

So she believed she would accept it calmly when it eventually disappeared.

But now that it had slipped away from her fingertips, it felt like a corner of her heart had been hollowed out.

The feeling of being left alone in cold, empty space.

Nana let out a sigh.

She consciously tried to think of other things.

Come to think of it, was Isha alright?

Just before losing consciousness, his face had looked as if his world was collapsing – that image suddenly came to mind.

A corner of her chest ached sharply.

It was when Nana was about to get up from her seat.

“Oh my, you’ve come to your senses.”

An unfamiliar voice approached.

An elderly woman with a kind-looking face came toward her.

“You must be confused since you just woke up? You’re probably wondering where this is and who this grandmother you’ve never seen before might be.”

The grandmother, Rosha, recited exactly the questions Nana had been harboring inside, word for word.

“I’ll explain everything soon. But before that, could you answer my questions?”

Nana nodded without thinking.

Rosha extended her index finger and held it in front of Nana’s face.

“Now, how many do you see?”

“…One.”

“Then.”

Rosha spread three fingers and waved them.

“This?”

“Three.”

“Good.”

Rosha nodded with satisfaction.

“Your mind has properly returned. You might wonder what absurd thing this grandmother is doing, but please understand. You’ve been ill for a whole week since coming here.”

“A week?”

Nana shouted without realizing it.

“Yes. And you weren’t just lying there – you were under a very deep curse.”

Rosha spoke matter-of-factly.

“Honestly, I couldn’t guarantee I could save you.”

Nana was speechless.

She recalled Rakshan’s dark magic that she had taken in place of Ishanka.

She had expected it to be bad magic, but she never imagined it would put her in a coma for a whole week.

“That bastard Rakshan was obsessed with negative sorcery even when he was here. Still, you’re quite lucky, miss.”

“…This is considered lucky?”

Being ill for a week and having the system deactivated?

“Among those hit by that evil sorcery, no one has ever returned with their mind intact. Far from regaining consciousness, many have died.”

Rosha added matter-of-factly. Nana had no choice but to keep her mouth shut.

“Anyway, as promised, I’ll explain everything.”

Rosha slowly began her story.

How Ishanka had carried her and escaped the kingdom to come here.

The trouble they had removing the tracking spell cast on Nana.

The fact that this place was much further north than the kingdom she had lived in, a nation of minority ethnic groups called Ratnagara.

And.

“Ishanka begged me to please save you.”

Rosha continued with a somewhat heavy expression.

“It was the first time that child had shown such emotion since before he became king, when he was very young.”

Even the story that Ishanka was the king of the minority ethnic groups.

With all these words pouring out at once, Nana’s mind became tangled in complexity.

But before all of that, there was a question that slipped out first.

“…Is Isha alright now?”

At Nana’s cautious question, Rosha nodded slightly.

“He’s perfectly fine, so don’t worry.”

Nana felt relieved.

“However.”

She glanced toward the window once and smiled softly.

“That boy didn’t leave your side for even a step until you woke up.”

“Isha did?”

“Yes.”

Rosha answered indifferently.

“Sometimes he dozed off and woke up, sometimes he stared blankly out the window, but he never took his eyes off you once.”

Nana turned her gaze toward the window.

A man sleeping curled up against a wooden chair placed quietly there, covered by a thin blanket.

Something quietly settled in Nana’s heart.

“Actually, it was my first time seeing it too. Him clinging so desperately like that.”

After becoming king, the man who had lived carrying only responsibilities had knelt for another person.

Nana pressed her lips tightly together.

Warm and painful emotions spread from deep in her chest.

Rosha watched her silently, then lightly patted her back.

“So now it’s your turn to reassure this boy.”

She carefully placed her trembling fingertips on the shoulder of Ishanka, who was sleeping curled up in the chair by the window.

At that moment, Ishanka’s shoulder trembled slightly.

His breathing wavered faintly as if the tension he had barely suppressed was finally releasing.

Nana swallowed.

Ishanka didn’t open his eyes, but as if sensing her warmth, he instinctively leaned slightly toward Nana.

An instinctive movement as if afraid of losing her.

Nana gently adjusted the blanket covering his shoulders and whispered quietly.

“…It’s okay.”

It was a voice so small that no one could hear it.

But she wanted to convey it to herself, and to Ishanka who was deep in sleep.

That it was okay.

That everything was okay now.

She carefully stroked his hair.

A handful of warm emotion lingered at her fingertips.

Rosha watched the scene from afar and smiled softly.

“Well now, I can’t tell who’s protecting whom.”

She muttered as if talking to herself and quietly stepped outside the door.

As she closed the door and came out, she noticed Ateruna crouched right next to the wall.

She had been fidgeting restlessly as if ready to jump up at any moment, but when she saw Rosha, she quickly approached.

“…Grandma, is the butler really okay? His body? Does he have a fever? Is there anywhere that hurts? His memory isn’t strange or anything like that, is it?”

Rosha chuckled as she watched Ateruna following behind her and bombarding her with questions.

“Yes, yes. I told you he’s fine. This old woman treated him, so of course he’s perfectly well.”

When Rosha answered with a hearty laugh, color immediately returned to Ateruna’s face.

“But you know, Ati.”

Rosha narrowed her eyes and then stretched out her hand like lightning to catch Ateruna’s ear.

“You little brat! No matter how angry you were, how could you run away from home over something like that?!”

“Ow, ow, ow, ow! Wait, Grandma, calm down!”

Ateruna frantically waved her hands in denial, but Rosha paid no attention and unleashed her scolding.

“Do you even know how much Ishanka suffered because of you?! He didn’t sleep a wink and searched day and night, saying his one and only little sister had disappeared, you brat! He ran out not only within the country but even outside the country! During this important time when the nation has barely been established!”

“Ow, ow, ow, ow! I know, I know! I’m really sorry!”

Ateruna tried to make excuses while waving both hands, but Rosha pulled her ear even harder.

“A runaway has no right to speak!”

The hearty scolding and Ateruna’s screaming pleas echoed through the narrow corridor.

* * *

Nana decided to stay at Grandma Rosha’s house for the time being.

She insisted that she was fine now, but faced with the firm arguments of Rosha and Ishanka that they couldn’t leave a patient who had just awakened alone, she eventually had to surrender.

Of course, there was a separate decisive reason.

“Hey, that person… she’s from the kingdom, right?”

“The King brought her here personally!”

“I’m seeing a kingdom person for the first time!”

The gazes that poured toward Nana every time she passed by.

Wariness and curiosity toward the unfamiliar being clung to her like they would pierce her skin.

From the Kingdom of Helvetia.

A person the King brought personally.

To the minority ethnic groups, that fact alone made Nana a special being, for better or worse.

Ishanka worried that such excessive attention would burden Nana.

In fact, he sincerely wanted to take Nana to his own house.

However.

“So if you take her to your house? That would stand out even more, you fool.”

Faced with Grandma Rosha’s merciless criticism, Ishanka eventually closed his mouth too.

Thus, Nana came to stay at Rosha’s house.

Rosha’s house, located somewhat away from the center, was situated in a quiet and secluded place, but surprisingly, visitors never stopped coming.

“Elder, I’ve come to seek advice despite the rudeness.”

“I’m Tekun, who has been appointed as the warrior captain. I’d like to hear advice before my first mission.”

“Elder Rosha, we’re getting married soon. We’d like to receive your blessing.”

From elders with extraordinary countenances, to warriors who looked as massive as mountains just from their build, to young couples holding hands with shy faces.

Truly people of all ages and genders, regardless of class.

They all bowed their heads and earnestly shared their concerns with serious expressions.

It was a fact she learned only later, but Rosha was one of the most respected figures among the minority ethnic groups, called the Great Sage.

“Grandma, you really are an amazing person, aren’t you? No wonder everyone was being so polite.”

“Amazing, my foot. If you just live long enough, you get a title like sage. Thanks to that, only troublesome people come looking for me in droves, giving me headaches.”

“For something you call ‘just,’ you have too many visitors, don’t you?”

“That’s why I said it’s troublesome. They come for counseling and I hear all sorts of things. Sigh, never mind, just drink this.”

Rosha skillfully handed over a cup of medicinal tea.

It was the fragrant medicinal tea she had been serving daily since Nana began staying at this house.

Nana tilted her head as she accepted the teacup.

“But why do you keep giving me only this tea lately?”

“That’s tea that soothes the heart.”

Rosha looked at Nana silently before speaking.

“Your body has recovered a lot, but your heart is still carrying anxiety.”

Nana closed her mouth.

It was true.

After awakening from Rakshan’s curse, the system had disappeared, leaving behind a deactivation message. The fact that the presence that had always been by her side was gone unknowingly stimulated Nana’s anxiety.

How did this grandmother know that?

When she looked up at Rosha, she was quietly leaning back in her chair.

“Don’t be impatient.”

“….”

“Even if it takes time, it will eventually return to its place.”

Rosha didn’t seem to know about the system.

There was no guarantee that the system would return either.

Nevertheless, this old sage’s words strangely calmed Nana’s heart.

It was a comfort that felt like forgotten warmth quietly seeping in.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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