The Sequel to the Romance Fantasy Was a Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter 44

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In the dead of night,

I lay in bed, staring up at the canopy above.

It wasn’t as luxurious as Esmela’s room, but for a mere butler, this guest accommodation was already more than I could ask for.

Surrounded by a splendor so distant from everyday life, I felt uncomfortable instead of relaxed and couldn’t easily drift off to sleep.

“Yesterday, I was so tired that I fell asleep the moment I lay down…”

I tried to break the silence around me with idle chatter.

Of course, I knew. What was truly disturbing my sleep was not the surroundings, but the creeping tension and anxiety bubbling within me at the thought of tomorrow.

“…”

Ah, whatever. Nothing special to do anyway, so in times like this…

‘Menu.’

Whoosh!

As soon as I thought of the activation phrase, a blue menu screen appeared before me.

[Story] [Status] [???] [???]

Imagining myself tapping [Story] among the familiar buttons,

[Romance in Arkesia]

[Love and Dead]

✔[Prologue. The Wedding Blessed by the Dead]

[Chapter 1. To the Royal Palace, Out of Royal Capital Erka]

[???]

[???]

…

The screen displayed the logo of what appeared to be a sequel game along with a list of chapters.

I read the title of Chapter 1, the second on that list, once again with my eyes.

…I had gone through so much to return to the mansion and arrive at the Royal Palace, and I’m still only on Chapter 1? That’s just too much, isn’t it?

Just how long did they intend the playtime to be for this game?

Moreover, seeing the checkmark next to the Prologue but not next to Chapter 1 indicates that I’m still progressing through Chapter 1…

“Ugh…”

I sighed at the endless hardships laid out before me, wondering how much longer I had to struggle like this.

Well, according to the title of Chapter 1, it seems the chapter ends with an escape from the Royal Capital.

It’s strange that the menu popped up during the prince’s wedding without warning, yet when Chapter 1 started during my escape from the mansion, the menu appeared out of nowhere in front of me…

But I suppose there’s no way I could figure it out by just thinking about it. Best to move on.

Let’s check my status again.

[Name: Lanit / Gender: Male / Age: 17 / Occupation: Personal Butler of House Herta]

[HP: 1124/1124] [MP: 300/300]

[Status: Normal]

[Buffs/Debuffs: None]

[Detailed Status]

[Strength: A] [Agility: A] [Durability: B]

[Mana Amount: C] [Mana Manipulation: B]

[Intelligence: C] [Skill: C]

[Special Skills]

[Memory Inheritance: Retains memories of past life / Cannot level up]

[Protagonist: Passive indicating that I am the protagonist of {Romance in Arkesia~Love and Dead~} / Cannot level up]

[Flame of Herta: Allowed to wield part of House Herta’s vision flame magic due to contract / Level 1]

[System Eye: Can utilize menu interface and check the statuses of others or monsters / Level 3]

“Hmm?”

At first glance, the screen looked the same as before, but upon closer inspection, I noticed that the ranks for Strength and Agility in the detailed status had increased.

“Oh wow…!”

I didn’t understand the reason, but seeing my stats rise made me feel good.

Even better, both had gone up from A- to A. In the original [Roinah], raising the protagonist’s stats to a higher rank made progressing to the next level exponentially harder.

But why did my stats just suddenly rise after a few days? I hadn’t specially trained or anything during that time.

All I’d really done was run while carrying Esmela, fight zombies, run while carrying Esmela, run across rooftops, and fight more zombies…

…I guess it makes sense now.

Anyway, that’s good. I confirmed that the System Eye also leveled up to 3.

After entering the Royal Palace and continuously facing unpleasant experiences, receiving such good news felt refreshing.

Now feeling a bit better, I thought my worries for tomorrow seemed to lessen.

I lay back down with a much lighter mind and tried to close my eyes to sleep again.

“Let’s see…”

A black tie adorned with a red spinel, paired with a stylish three-piece suit.

White gloves and black shoes. Lastly, I tucked a neatly folded red handkerchief symbolizing House Herta into my pocket as a finishing touch.

“Perfect.”

Standing in front of the full-length mirror, I assessed my outfit.

I would wear a light chainmail over it, but as the butler of House Herta, I couldn’t afford to neglect my attire.

Finally, I stored the grip for wielding the Flame of Herta in my jacket pocket and strapped a spare sword to my left waist.

“Well then, shall we go?”

Knock knock.

“Young Lady, this is Lanit.”

I knocked on Esmela’s door, waiting for a response.

Moments later,

Click.

“Esmela is still getting ready. Please wait a moment.”

It was not Esmela who opened the door, but the Head Maid Elina.

“Understood.”

The door closed again, and I was left alone, waiting in the elaborately decorated palace hallway for those two.

“…”

Now, how should I approach Esmela? I guess I should apologize to calm her down.

Hmm…

No, right now, I should probably focus on the escape.

Surviving is way more important than apologies. Yup.

After escaping the Royal Capital, I’ll find an opportunity to gather a bouquet of roses as the Head Maid recommended and properly apologize.

As I made that resolve,

Click.

The door opened again, and this time Esmela emerged from the room with Elina.

“Good morning, Young Lady.”

As I bowed my head to greet her as usual, I glanced at her and was slightly taken aback.

This time, Esmela wasn’t wearing a red dress.

Instead, she was adorned with leather pants paired with a white shirt and a brown leather vest over it.

Even her footwear was leather boots, making her outfit a classic novice hunter ensemble.

…Though her hair remained in those twin drill braids.

Taken aback by her unexpected outfit, I stared at her blankly for a moment, and then—

“Your gaze is bothering me.”

Esmela criticized me with a cold tone.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Despite our current cold war, ugh…

I waited, trying to gauge what she might say next, but instead of speaking, she stared at me as if waiting for me to say something.

“…?”

What’s up with that?

“…Don’t you have anything to say?”

Finally, unable to endure the silence, Esmela asked me first.

“Huh?”

“You must have something you need to say.”

Something I need to say…

“Though the attire is different, even that rough leather armor cannot overshadow your beauty, as radiant as a red rose.”

“What?!”

Huh, why is she flustered? Did I miss the mark?

“…Forget it!”

“Honestly, she always tries to brush things off like that. It’s one thing to fall for it a few times, but does she really think I’ll always be pleased just because I praise her? This time, just this time. Really. Hmph.”

Esmela seemed to get offended and turned her head away, muttering something before striding down the hallway.

Oops, was it a wrong answer?

I hurried to follow her, but the Head Maid was quick and walked in front of me.

“It’s not the correct answer, but it was not a bad choice.”

With an impassive face, the maid left me with her cryptic words and followed after Esmela.

I rushed to catch up with them, and we began walking swiftly toward the Southern Entrance of the Royal Palace.

It was 8 AM. About an hour remained until the operation commenced.

As we made our way to the destination, I once again assessed Esmela’s attire.

She must have properly prepared this time since she not only carried a slim 30cm long wand made for magic use but also had a short dagger holstered at her thigh.

“By the way, did you bring that wand from the mansion?”

“I borrowed it from the Royal Palace.”

A proper wand costs about six months of my salary, so I couldn’t believe they would willingly lend it out. Truly, the royal family is something else.

“Surely, you’re prepared as well, right?”

“Yes. I have even strapped on a spare sword. Once I receive the chainmail from Helinante-senpai at the gathering point, I’ll be completely prepared.”

“Hmph. As long as that’s settled.”

Fortunately, it seemed Esmela’s mood had lightened enough to converse with me like usual.

Buzz buzz.

“Ah, I see people over there.”

After a long walk through the royal palace, we finally reached the Southern Entrance where a wide-open space greeted us.

I scanned the faces of the many people gathered there one by one.

The largest group, of course, was that of the survivors.

There were so many that it was hard to guess, but it was certain that there were over five hundred.

With a variety of genders, ages, and occupations… they were a diverse group that was hard to categorize, all gathered here to escape through the treacherous streets of the Royal Capital.

In the midst of that, a few nobles—dressed in clothing inappropriate for this place—kept their distance from the crowd of survivors and clustered together among themselves.

“…There are fewer than I expected.”

However, as Esmela remarked, compared to the 150,000 population of the Royal Capital, five hundred is not a particularly large number.

Out of those 150,000, this handful had barely managed to survive.

Shoving those bitter thoughts aside, I turned my attention away from the survivors to examine the Kingdom’s Army.

The infantry busily moved among the survivors, keeping them in check.

Yet, their armor seemed of low quality, and their demeanor looked awfully disorganized—they didn’t appear to be elite soldiers.

In front of the Southern Entrance, cavalry stood in perfect formation, holding the reins of their horses.

“Young Lady!”

Helinante, who had been among the servants in the shade of a nearby tree, spotted us and ran over.

Unlike his usual butler attire, he was wearing plain everyday clothes.

“You’ve arrived, Young Lady.”

Though he had briefly stepped down from his butler role, he still bowed politely to her, following ingrained habits.

“Right. The servants are all ready, yes?”

“Yes. I clearly instructed each on the formation and roles they must fulfill during our movement. Young Lady, may I take them temporarily to provide armor for you and Lanit? Oh, how about you wear it too, Young Lady?”

“No thanks. Wearing that quality of scrap would only hinder my mana flow.”

“I’m okay with it, too.”

“Oh, is that so… then Lanit, can you come with me for a moment…”

Toot—

Helinante’s words abruptly halted with the blaring sound of a trumpet.

“The royal family is in procession! All bow your heads!”

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