The Sequel to the Romance Fantasy Was a Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter 28

“…And so we lured the zombies and managed to escape the mansion, heading toward the royal palace. That’s when we bumped into the old man.”

“…”

Starting from the events at the prince’s wedding, the origin of the (made-up by me) name ‘zombie’ that’s been passed down in our town, our return to the mansion, the head of the family’s message, the royal capital rescue operation, unexpected ambushes, and our escape…

While walking through the underground sewer, I recounted everything that had happened to Zeck over the last few days.

I tried to summarize as much as I could, but it took us more than 30 minutes of walking in the sewer before I finished my story about all the incidents that had happened in just those few days.

After I finished, Zeck kept starting to speak, then stopping again.

“Um, well, you certainly went through a lot.”

He finally managed to get that one line out.

“What do you mean by that?”

After going through all the effort to come up with something to say just to give me some cliché consolation, I couldn’t help but smile wryly.

“No, I mean it. I was trying to praise you as much as I could.”

He scratched his chin, looking a bit awkward.

“Anyway, I really didn’t expect the state of the royal capital to be so serious. I should’ve known that it wouldn’t take long after the incident for the noble’s mansions to turn into the monsters’ lairs. So, you guys were running for your lives in the middle of the night with that… horde of zombies on your tail.”

“Exactly. Well, at least it led me to meet you and move through the underground sewer safely.”

“I’m grateful to you all, especially the Saintess. If I hadn’t met you and received treatment for my leg, I wouldn’t have made it through the zombie-infested streets back to the palace.”

Hmm… I think it’s time for me to ask a question.

“Then let me ask you something.”

“Huh? Sure.”

“How did you injure your leg? And what were you doing out on the street in the middle of the night?”

“Ah… that.”

He frowned slightly, as if this topic wasn’t very pleasant.

“Well, it won’t be as interesting as your story. Going back to the day of the prince’s wedding… once the incident hit, quite a few hunters who had come to watch the wedding scampered back to the Hunter Guild headquarters to escape from the zombies. After that, we just kept taking in incoming hunters and performed a siege at the guild. We dealt with the occasional zombies that came our way. There were three A-rank hunters, including me, and quite a few capable hunters that you probably know joined us at the headquarters, so our numbers were more than enough.”

His tone was oddly somber, giving a hint of the story’s grim conclusion despite the content.

“But as time went on, it became clear that things weren’t going to normalize, and even the hottest-shot hunters were starting to get anxious. It was common for them to get into petty arguments. On top of that, factions started forming over whether to stay and siege at the guild or to break through the barrier surrounding the royal capital and try to escape.”

“Weren’t there any leaders among the guild master or staff to guide them…?”

“Yeah. The guild master, vice master, and all the staff that were stationed at the headquarters didn’t show their faces. They either got bitten by zombies or… well, anyway, while tensions kept rising among the troops holed up at the headquarters, something finally went down.”

“What kind of thing…?”

I found myself tense as I awaited his next words, feeling his tone grow increasingly serious.

“It happened the day before yesterday. Even though we were in an anxious state, we were still holding off pretty well against the zombies. Then someone knocked on the barricaded front door of the headquarters, asking to be let in. It was a woman’s voice, and she claimed to be an archer affiliated with the guild. But someone recognized her voice and insisted she was a friend of theirs and urged us to let her in.”

“Ah…”

I felt like I could already guess the end of this story, having not even heard it yet.

“Right, the hunters started arguing whether or not to let her in. Then the one who raised their voice first took matters into their own hands and let her in. That sparked all the built-up tensions into an uncontrollable explosion… and the argument spiraled into a violent conflict among hunters.”

He let out a long sigh.

“And while everyone was busy trying to kill each other, that woman had transformed into a zombie, and since the hunters were too preoccupied fighting, they didn’t know how to respond and ended up getting bitten. Then she started biting others…”

“And you?”

“Me? I was the one who firmly opposed letting her in. Seeing them fight, I prepared to make my escape. Thankfully, that allowed me to avoid becoming a zombie, but I got hit by a stray sword on my right leg.”

Zeck let out a hearty laugh, as if proud of himself despite the chaos.

“Anyway, I barely managed to escape from the headquarters… but with my leg hurt, surrounded by nothing but walking corpses, I gave up entirely and decided to hunker down in some building’s second floor, waiting mindlessly for the end of my life. However, the night after I left the headquarters, I suddenly heard a ruckus from far down the street. When I checked with my night vision skill to see what was happening… I saw a clergy member and a young noble lady being chased by a horde of zombies, desperately running towards me. Honestly, the first time I saw it, I thought I was hallucinating from the blood loss.”

He chuckled briefly before continuing.

“Anyway, I hobbled out with my injured leg, mustered all my strength, and managed to dodge the zombies to get into the underground sewers and call out to you, guys.”

When he finished, he turned to me.

“Well, that’s the end of my story. What do you think?”

“Uh… you’ve been through a lot too, huh?”

“Heh. Look at you, that’s all you can say? Come on, we’ve arrived.”

He stopped in front of the ladder leading up to an exit against the wall.

“Climbing up here will take us about 400 meters away from the royal palace. Miss, is it true that once we’re near the palace, they’ll open the door for us from inside?”

“Yes, we have a prior agreement on that.”

Esmela replied curtly.

“That’s good! I want to tag along with the ducal lady and enjoy some privileges. Alright, let’s go.”

“Uh, hold on…”

I called out to the old man trying to climb the ladder.

“Huh? What’s up?”

“Miss, I didn’t realize it until now, but you must’ve been cold in that outfit…”

I quickly approached Esmela to check on her condition.

“Oh gosh, now that you mention it, you must be a bit chilly in that outfit.”

As Arit noted, Esmela was wearing only a thin nightgown dress with her shoulders exposed.

That outfit was insufficient for the chilly autumn weather, but it seemed she didn’t want to show it due to her pride.

“It’s fine. I can manage this much.”

Despite her words, her pose of hugging her elbows and the slight shivering made it clear she was indeed cold.

“At least put this on.”

I hastily took off my jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

“…Hmph. You’re so slow.”

Esmela turned her head away with a huff.

“My apologies. We’re almost at the palace, so just bear with it for a bit longer…”

I bowed my head in apology to her and walked back to the old man.

“Let’s get going.”

“Oh, you little rascal. Now you’re not satisfied being just the personal butler and aiming to become the duke’s son-in-law too, huh?”

“…”

“…Alright, alright. Let me check the situation outside.”

He climbed the ladder, carefully moving the manhole cover aside to create a little gap.

He peeked his head out to survey the area.

“Oh boy… this isn’t going to be easy.”

The first thing he said as he quickly descended the ladder.

“What’s it like?”

“The streets are completely packed with them. It’s nothing like the entrance we came through in the sewers.”

“Are we going to bump into zombies right after we get out of the manhole?”

“Huh? No, actually. There aren’t that many zombies near the manhole.”

“Are there low buildings about two stories around?”

“Oh, there’s one just behind us. But why are you asking?”

I grinned.

“Then I don’t think we need to worry. Arit, can I ask you for that again?”

“Ha~ Feels good to breathe again!”

Zeck stretched out his arms wide as he shouted.

“Keep it down. The zombies below could hear us and come flocking.”

“So what? They can’t climb up here.”

We were currently atop the roof of a four-story building.

As planned, we would use Arit’s buff to leap onto the roof and head towards the royal capital.

“Looking down like this, I’m reminded once again of the seriousness of the situation in the royal capital.”

In contrast to the old man, Arit wore a serious expression seeing the streets filled with zombies.

“Ah, God Juten…”

“Save the prayers for later, Arit. Right now, we just need to think about getting to the palace.”

Esmela seemed harsh, but from my experience watching her (and having played [Roinah] close to 200 times), when she acted coldly for no reason, it usually meant she was trying to hide her nervousness.

“Let’s all start moving again before the buff wears off.”

I looked around for a suitable building to jump to.

We were in a residential area that had developed around the royal palace.

Unlike the northwestern area where the House of Herta was located, this place was in the heart of the city where the allotted land for each house was limited, so there were no massive mansions or large gardens.

However, since this area housed quite a few upper-class residents, most of the houses were luxurious, freshly painted white exteriors allowing for hints of their owners’ efforts to maintain their appearances.

Beyond those neat houses, the royal palace was now visible not far away.

With a tower standing at least ten stories high compared to modern buildings, the royal palace was impressively built around a central tower, forming a small city within the royal capital, filled with splendid palaces and government buildings handling the kingdom’s affairs, showcasing its majesty.

Surrounding this smaller palace was a high wall that blocked off access from outside, along with an excavated moat.

It could truly be described as a fortress built to protect the royal family.

“Hmm… how about we jump over to that mansion with the red roof?”

“Aren’t there any suitable buildings to leap over nearby? The roof looks narrow…”

“Then what about that pointed-roof house to the right?”

Zeck, Arit, and I were seeking the best route toward the magnificent royal palace.

…But strangely, Esmela was quiet. By now, she should’ve added something to the conversation.

“Miss?”

When I turned back to her, she was completely focused in the opposite direction of the palace.

“Miss…? What are you looking at?”

I walked up next to her to see how she was doing.

Esmela was squinting her eyes, trying hard to see something in the distance.

“…Over there.”

“What?”

I looked where Esmela was pointing.

“…Huh?”

In the distance, on the opposite side of the palace, the seemingly ordinary street of the royal capital…

In the middle of that street, faint smoke was rising.

“…Crimson flames? No way!”

It wasn’t just smoke rising. The Flame of Herta was also fiercely surging onto the streets.

“Lanit, we need to head over there! Now!”