The Villainess and I, her Zombie

Chapter 171: Story choice

"Slo...?! Sloth family territory?!"

Mika gasped and jumped back up at her feet.

"Yeah. Was it not what you were thinking...?"

The medic asked with a soft smile.

"But...! Why are members of the Sloth family abducting children from our territory?!"

Mika asked unable to wrap her head around such revelation.

"This doesn't make sense...! Wasn't Sloth family supposed to protect the northern border of the kingdom from the invasion of some horrible beasts?!"

She clenched her fists from and her shoulders trembled.

"From the titan-class monsters, yes. That is exactly what we're doing here."

Instead of reacting with surprise, the bespectacled woman simply nodded and confirmed Mika's words.

"And what exactly doesn't make sense here?"

She added tilting her head.

"Let me tell you something. Even though we are doing our best - or rather because we are doing our best - many of us are dying in action and we are in the constant need of new recruits to replenish our ranks."

The medic explained.

"So... so you're just kidnapping children?!"

Mika asked in disbelief.

"A proper training takes a lot of time, you know? We aren't just trying to send in some cannon fodder to get devoured by monsters. And before you start complaining about taking children away from their families - we have already emptied every single orphanage in the Wraths territory, and started the second phase, picking up children most likely to die, from the impoverished areas. You do know that there's a serious famine problem in your home territory nowadays, right?"

The medic described the premise of their operation and ended it with a question.

"I-it's not that bad! Lord Wrath changed the taxation so that everyone could survive...!"

Mika, as a proud daughter of the very ruler of the Wrath territory, couldn't just stay quiet about medic's words.

"...not that bad...?"

The medic looked at the ashen-haired girl and squinted her eyes.

She then took off her glasses, started cleaning them with a cloth that she pulled out of the pocket inside of her armor, and glared at Mika.

"You are not just some poor child from that territory, are you?"

She sighed putting the glasses back on.

"...!"

Mika flinched and ended up activating her skills in preemptive self-defense.

"..."

When the medic saw the girl's body glowing red, she only made a sour expression and buried her face in her hands - which honestly threw Mika off completely.

The young girl expected that she'll get attacked or captured, but the bespectacled woman just leaned against the desk and sighed.

The woman's eyes started glowing and her face turned soured as she looked at Mika.

"So... You're a Wrath, huh? Mika Wrath, the direct descendant of the avatar of wrath?"

The medic asked.

"Y-yes..."

Mika nodded since in her situation there was really not much that she could think of doing, as it was almost certain that the woman used an appraisal skill.

"And your father hasn't told you that he and the queen have given us permission to perform this operation? It was all disclosed to them, only the civilians weren't informed because otherwise your whole territory would get abandoned in few days. You know, considering the famine and all."

The medic had rubbed in the terrible situation of the commoners living in Mika's father domain and Mika's lack of relevant information picked back the notepad and quill and started writing down the girl's stats and skills.

"How old are you?"

She asked focused on the notepad.

"Fourteen and a half years old."

Mika answered with a sour expression - she felt really bad when it turned out that some outsider knew more about her territory.

During their short travel, Mika was too busy trying to appeal to Corvus to be looking around focusing on the people outside who weren't him.

"Ah, still counting halves - eh? Nostalgic."

The words of the smirking medic brought Mika back to the present.

"Well, we don't have permission to put actual nobles from the south into our ranks so we will just have to wait until fisherman 1 will rest a bit and have you return with him. Until then you can wait here with me."

The woman just shrugged her shoulders and smiled as if there was absolutely nothing wrong with the whole situation or the things she had said.

"Really? Just like that...?!"

Mika gasped in disbelief.

"Yes."

The medic nodded with an indifferent expression.

"If your strength was higher by a thousand points or so, I would be even able to give you a tour around our facilities, but there are regulations in place that forbid any outsider who's not a recruit or whose strength isn't above 3000 to leave through that door."

She added pointing at the white door behind her.

Mika curiously leaned to the side to have a look.

"As I've said, we are only required to keep this operation a secret from the masses, you, as a daughter of the head of the Wrath family, are exempt from any consequences. That said..."

The medic furrowed her brows.

"...how come you even got into our little setup village and disguised like that to boot? Did you ran away from home or..."

Her voice grew colder as the realization came to her.

Mika flinched and looked away, lowering her head.

"Oh. Great."

The medic read all the information she needed from Mika's reaction and closed her eyes looking slightly on edge.

"So the south didn't even manage to hold up their part of the deal, huh. Typical. So? How was it? Did you got requested to help those so-called adventurers, or however you guys call your special task forces?"

The woman tilted her head and asked.

"N-no... we got involved because I wanted to help the people because the adventurer guild refused to put up a mission for the adventurers..."

Mika explained shamefully without raising her head.

She purposefully left out the part where it was her who convinced others to go with the plan, even though she kind of regretted it after donning the disguise.

"Ah, so it was the incompetence in properly dealing with the task and not a purposeful leak of information. That's a bit better. But still..."

*knock* *knock* * knock*

Three quick knocks on the door interrupted the woman.

"Enter."

She furrowed her brows, straightened her posture, and called.

"Ma'am!"

The door opened and another person in armor very similar to the one that the medic was wearing entered the white room.

"The section commander wants to see you! Fishermen's village had come in contact with a group of locals! One of them is a tamer with an emperor griffin and seven shadow fangs!"

The man reported while saluting.

"A tamer with a WHAT?!"

The medic asked dropping the quill and the notepad from sheer shock.

"That's miss Mary! Those must be my friends!"

"...?!"

"Friends...?"

Mika exclaimed, at which the medic stared at her wide-eyed and the other man blinked and repeated the girl's last word in confusion.

"...anyway. Good timing, I have something to say to the section commander too."

It only took a few seconds for medic 7 to pull herself together - she straightened her back and turned back to the messenger.

"Private, go find fisherman 1 and tell him to forget about the rest and call him on standby. We might need him and fisherman 2 to transport a few people from the south."

She declared in a serious voice.

"Ma'am! Yes, Ma'am!"

The messenger saluted her and hurriedly left the room.

"Wrath, you stay put until I'll come back. You won't be able to pass those anyway so just sit and wait."

The bespectacled woman tapped the white doorframe and made eye contact with Mika.

"A-alright... B-but what exactly is going on? What happened with my friends?"

Mika asked worriedly.

"They probably got captured, after all, you southerners have a level cap of 99 and the weakest soldier from the Fishermen's village was level 124. I'm not sure about that tamer though... A tamed emperor griffin!"

The woman gasped and trembled with excitement.

"Whatever the case, you'll soon be reunited with your friends one way or another."

She added and left, locking the door.

"Whew... what have I gotten myself into..."

Mika sighed and deactivated her skills.

She hasn't even realized that she didn't deactivate them before, and now she plopped on the bed feeling completely spent.

How come those things escalated so quickly?

She was supposed to be on a journey together with her beloved Corvus to regain her family's good name by finding the missing lady Cranberry Pride.

A random case of kidnapping turned out to be linked to some larger organization, but who in the world would expect that the very people who were behind the numerous abduction were none other than soldiers from the Sloth territory - and they had the crown blessing too!

Not to mention Mika's father!

It was all going in the direction that the young ashen-haired girl could never even imagine.

But then something even more shocking happened.

/Warning

/Unable to progress the story due to insufficient data

/Calculating...

/Exception granted

/Justice's Wrath receives a global quest story choice

Option 1: choose to leave the room

Reward:

+1005 STR, +503 DEF

The story will continue following the ultimate route

Option 2: Stay and wait for medic 7 to return

Reward:

Justice's Wrath title will get permanently erased

The story will follow route f h/w scenario

A series of messages popped up in front of Mika's eyes.