The Sequel to the Romance Fantasy Was a Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter 113

“What… what are you asking?”

In response to the Lord’s question, Esmela gestured with her hands.

“Ouch, hot!”

His hand, which had been frozen by Robertze’s Ice Magic, melted away almost instantly with the intense heat.

“Arit.”

Arit hesitated for a moment before saying,

“Light, bind the enemy!”

Reluctantly, the power of light bound the Lord’s entire body with ropes.

“Ugh…!”

As he began to lose his balance and topple over, Lanit timely caught him and seated him on a chair that had been prepared in advance.

Now the Lord was sitting tied to the chair, while Esmela looked down at him with an overwhelming, authoritarian attitude, akin to interrogating a criminal.

“Hey, that person.”

Esmela pointed behind her with a nod.

There sat Iiergo with the unconscious Elina leaning against the wall.

“Is that Elina?”

The moment the Lord uttered the Head Maid’s name, flames flickered in Esmela’s eyes.

“You know her name?”

“No, wait!”

Sensing Esmela’s unease, the Lord hastily pleaded,

“I don’t know anything about her! She suddenly appeared in the castle a few months ago!”

“…Tell me everything. How did you meet her, and under what circumstances did you hire her as a bodyguard? Leave nothing out!”

“Uh, well, it’s really nothing much! I just saw her wandering around the castle like a beggar all day, so I had the City Guard catch her for questioning. Turns out she couldn’t remember anything but her own name. So while they were at a loss as to what to do with her, I happened to visit the City Guard and met her myself.”

“And then?”

“I learned from the reports that she was in a state of complete memory loss. Plus, she kept mumbling nonsensical things like she was out of her mind. You know, ‘I must save her’ or ‘Young Lady’…”

Esmela bit her lip hard.

“Anyway, I thought she was just a crazy woman and planned to have her dismissed… but upon closer inspection, though her clothes were worn and dirty, they were actually quite luxurious… I got curious and talked to her a bit more, and surprisingly, we could have a normal conversation.”

“So you hired her?”

“Yeah. As you know, ever since the Zombie Incident, we’ve been short on manpower. We needed someone to work in the mansion, and here comes a suitable candidate. Except for her memory loss, she was practically the perfect maid. I don’t know what her circumstances are, but she has all the necessary etiquette for working in a noble’s mansion, is skilled in combat, and although the details of the magic she uses are a mystery, she has magical talent as well. And she’s not bad-looking… Oh.”

Lanit wished he hadn’t thought that last part.

Seeing Esmela’s furious expression, Lanit could already guess his fate.

“No, wait! H-Hey, calm down. That’s just how it is! I haven’t done anything yet!”

“Yet?”

“Uh, right.”

“…Now it’s too late.”

Esmela raised her right hand high and clenched her fist—

Whack!

She ruthlessly slammed it into the Lord’s mouth.

“Oh my, that’s a clean coup.”

Iiergo quickly covered Dion’s mouth.

“…Well, somehow we barely got the supplies.”

Lanit said self-deprecatingly.

He had a large bag filled with various hardtacks, jerky, and dried fruits strapped to his back.

Esmela knocked the Lord out, ruining his Plan A of negotiating for the necessary supplies.

Reluctantly, Lanit had no choice but to shift to Plan B, where he would hold the Lord hostage and extract the supplies as a trade.

Anyway, after many ups and downs, the group achieved their goal and quickly left the castle, setting their direction southwest.

“I’m a prince, why am I acting like a porter… Ah. I’m not a prince anymore…”

Robertze sighed, resembling Lanit as he carried his own large bag, only to suddenly realize his situation and fall silent.

“Listen, Robertze. That royal order was merely a result of Yuria using Dark Magic to manipulate His Majesty, so once we reclaim the palace and His Majesty regains his senses, it should resolve itself.”

Only Iiergo comforted the fallen prince.

“Esmela, it’s about time I or Lanit should take over the hauling duty…”

Arit suggested to Esmela with concern.

“No, I’m fine.”

But Esmela, despite her breathing becoming slightly ragged, declined.

Since leaving the mansion, she stubbornly carried the unconscious Elina on her own.

“But Arit, Elina doesn’t have any issues with her body, right? Hasn’t she been unconscious for too long? Dion, did you miscalculate your strength when you hit her?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Esmela. There’s no way I could make that mistake.”

“Everyone, hold on a moment.”

Then, Lanit, who was at the front, called everyone to a halt.

“What is it?”

“I see an old shack that seems to be abandoned over there. Let’s rest there and check on the Head Maid’s condition.”

The two scanned Elina, who was lying in a corner of the room.

“How is it?”

In response to Esmela’s worried question, Arit tilted her head.

“There are no visible external injuries. Also, I don’t feel any traces of the commonly known curse on Elina’s body.”

“That can’t be. Then why did she lose her memory?”

“There’s definitely something the black witch has done to Elina, but beyond that, I can’t imagine…”

The two could only ponder without finding an answer.

“Then, I’ll check it out.”

At that moment, an unexpected person intervened in the conversation.

“Oh, Robertze.”

“…What wind blew you in here?”

Unlike Arit, who was genuinely surprised, Esmela’s gaze was filled with suspicion.

“Oh come on, I hope you’ll drop the animosity towards me by now. It’s not like I came all the way here to plot something.”

Robertze sighed heavily.

“Your knowledge of magic is heavily biased toward elemental magic, isn’t it? Meanwhile, I have some knowledge about curses and mental interference magic. I’ll just take a brief look.”

Only then did Esmela step aside and give Robertze space.

“Okay, let’s see…”

Robertze raised both hands and placed them on Elina’s temples.

He closed his eyes, and

Hummm-

A soft glow of mana began to emanate from his hands.

Surprisingly, his diagnosis took a long time.

Holding that position, it took nearly 10 minutes to 20 minutes before the blue light spilling from Robertze’s hands diminished, and he finally let out a low sigh.

“Well?”

“Certainly, as Arit said, I don’t detect any traces on her body’s other magic circuits. But here…”

Robertze pointed to Elina’s head.

“In the mana circuit leading to her head, I can faintly sense a foreign energy.”

“Foreign energy?”

“It’s an unknown entity I’ve never experienced before. Mana… I can’t even identify it. But one thing is certain: it’s definitely acting on Elina.”

“Then we’ve confirmed it. I don’t know how it works, but it’s clear the black witch has used Dark Magic to somehow manipulate Elina’s memories.”

Esmela declared confidently.

“And the solution is simple. Arit, cast the Blessing of the Sun on Elina.”

“The Blessing?”

“Yes. With your blessing, which is a natural counter to the black witch’s Dark Magic, it should remove whatever has penetrated Elina’s mind.”

“Um… I’m not sure, but I’ll give it a try.”

Following Esmela’s instructions, Arit began her prayer.

A golden light radiated from Arit, enveloping Elina, before dissipating into nothingness.

“How is it?”

“Don’t rush me.”

As Robertze examined her, Esmela could hardly contain her impatience, repeatedly pestering him.

“…The alien energy has certainly disappeared now.”

“Thank goodness!”

Esmela let out a sigh of relief.

“Now, all that’s left is for her to wake up, right?”

However, the next day came and the day after that, yet Elina still did not open her eyes.

The group was crossing a wide field.

Even when Esmela was on the verge of collapsing, adamantly insisting that she would carry Elina herself, Lanit had to convince her before he finally ended up carrying her.

Elina’s arms dangled uselessly, swaying limply with Lanit’s movements.

“Why isn’t she waking up…?”

Esmela repeated the question she had uttered dozens of times over the past two days.

But the others had no appropriate answers either, so that question drifted into the air without being answered.

“At least aside from not waking up, Elina doesn’t seem to have any other abnormalities in her body. Let’s find a solution after we reach the territory of House Terelude, Esmela.”

However, Arit’s suggestion could not be fulfilled.

Three more days passed, and what they found in the mansion where Lopez was staying was a scene of fierce battle.