The Demon Saint is Missing, so I Ran to Another World

The Condition of the Ghouls (Part 2)

After my private talk with the Lord Gracchio...well, he was still unconvinced on the potential of the ghouls. Nevertheless, I was pretty excited on proving him wrong. So, we went back to where we left off in the conversation with the Lord Vitalis.

"Lord Vitalis of the Ghouls," I began. "Let me be honest. The Prince Hurion Devras does not require your help as of the moment."

"Oh? That's strange!" he quipped. "Usually, by this time, I'm one of the first lords he'd run to. He's quiet nowadays."

I fell silent when I heard those words. I just couldn't tell him what happened to the actual demon lord, the Princess Noir; recounting her story was painful for me. The good thing was, the lord of the ghouls was also in quiet meditation. So, taking opportunity of that, I changed the topic to a more pressing one...

"Milord, our allied army needs your people's help."

The Lord Vitalis—though his face decayed long ago—was taken aback, or at least, it's what it looked like to me. His jaw was hanging loose, and he froze like a statue, looking at my direction, after hearing my request for aid. And why not? He made it clear to me before that, while they could fight and hold on their own in battles, they'd rather spend their energies saving lives.

A seemingly trivial request, but for someone who's knowledgeable of strategy and tactics, such sentiments can be put to good use.

"Laddie," the lord of the ghouls recovered from his initial shock. "We'll surely answer to your request, if it's only for your sake. Although, if we can avoid the killin' and save the livin', we'd greatly appreciate it, 'ya bonnie soul."

I couldn't help but smile, "I understand your condition, Lord Vitalis. That's why, if you'll fight on our side, I'll make sure you'll fight by saving lives!"

The two lords looked at me as if I said an outrageous thing. The lord of the ghouls asked for more clarification on what I was suggesting.

"When you say you'll have us 'fight' by 'saving lives', you mean...?"

Beaming with confidence, I declared to them, "It's time for Cherflammen to have their very first medevac!"

----------

Once we gained the help of the ghouls, our lives went relatively easier than before.

"..."

Compared to the journey from Fangborough to the Blighted Lands, the travel between the land of the undead to the city of Goblinhom was much shorter. I heard it could be traversed for about one or two days, in demon standards, of course. I had no idea of how long a human could do it, and I don't intend to try.

Nevertheless, we stayed in the Blighted Lands for several days, as to take a rest, resupply, and most importantly, I gave the ghouls the trainings and lectures on 'first aid' and 'disaster response', like the ones I learned from the Red Cross seminars I attended on Earth.

"..."

Yes, I was aware that it was highly-unlikely, for the ghouls were—by appearance—looking unsanitary, and downright repulsive. However, the magic that was placed on them served like a 'bio-chemical suit', that separated the actual corpse from their environment. As such, they could prepare food fit for human consumption (especially me, who had the 'weakest' body among my group), stay around for stories (since they don't smell), and administer first-aid that required clean hands.

Well, to be honest, I also find it weird...I mean, ghouls and zombies in my world are well-known vectors of rabid viruses.

Assigning to the undead our 'medevac' role was beneficial to everyone, I surmised. See, aside from they wanted to 'save lives'—which was a big plus in my book, by the way, the ghouls were literally 'immortal'. They could take on bullets, swords, or anything else the enemy could throw at them, and they'd still go on fulfilling their mission. The only problem I saw when I was training them was their clumsy movement (these ghouls could run), which could prove fatal to the people they were rescuing.