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A Corporate Slave Becomes a Villainous Nuisance in a Zombie Apocalypse Episode 38 "In the Prayer Room?" "Yes, Miss." The Head Maid bowed deeply. "His Grace often ‌spends entire months in the Prayer Room observing fasts and prayer." At those words, I recalled the creaking floorboards of the Second Floor and the shabby Prayer Room. "To the goddess of beauty and marriage?" "Yes." The Head Maid offered additional ‌‌‌‌information. "When His Grace undertakes his fasts, we lock the Prayer Room door from the outside to ensure he doesn't abandon his devotion in the dead of night when hunger overwhelms him." "Good heavens." ‌‌It was essentially voluntary imprisonment. "When does Mother usually begin these prayers?" "When she finds her weight unsatisfactory, Miss." "I see." Then... "Head Maid." "Yes?" "If Mother calls for me today, would you and the other maids praise her, saying 'My, how slender you've become'?" Tell her she's lost even more weight. That she's absolutely radiant. The Head ‌‌Maid's expression grew bewildered at my words. "Miss, if I may be so bold... she only enters the Prayer Room when dissatisfied with herself. Why would you offer praise...?" ‌‌‌"Such is the way of things." End of discussion. I waved my hand dismissively, signaling her to leave. Before she departed, I made certain not to forget about rescuing the maid who looked ready to be torn apart by the Head Maid. "I'll keep that girl with me for a ‌‌few days, ‌‌then send her to the family's Territory." Since that place harbored servants cast out after their thirties, the Head Maid would have no ‌‌‌‌opportunity to interfere. "Oh, and one more thing." I added as the Head Maid retreated. "Once Mother enters the Prayer Room, remove all the curtains from the Corridor." Without curtains ‌‌to block the light, the Duke won't consider leaving. At least not during the day. Thus, my judgment regarding the fifty-percent-likely-to-be-a-zombie Duke was complete. 'I'll know soon enough by observing for a few days.' ‌Whether he's truly a zombie or simply someone with a taste for blood. * * * Now commencing the 【Yusara Weapon Selection】 Survival event. Please vote for your weapon of choice! -Candidates- 1. Guns "Not in their modern form, but this world has guns nonetheless." Pros: Relatively quick to learn. Cons: A sloppy shot to the shoulder or gut won't cut it. You need headshots. And you have to account for running out of ammunition. Most critically, they're deafeningly loud. = Pulling aggro from everywhere. Overall assessment: At least suicide would be easy! 2. Swords "The most universal weapon." Pros: Lighter than guns. Just swing it around, right? Cons: My arms strain just slicing carrots with a kitchen knife. You're telling me I'm supposed to cleave through human bone and muscle? What am I, some kind of warrior? 'I don't have the strength or ‌‌‌‌the nerve to cut down a person.' Overall assessment: Guns are better after all. 3. Bows "Baseless confidence that I'll be good at it because I'm descended from Jumong." Pros: I already know how to use one. Cons: Like guns, once you run out of arrows, you're done. 'Drawing ‌‌‌‌the bowstring takes more strength than I expected.' I spent four years in the traditional archery club in university to cultivate composure. 'But shooting at a stationary target is completely different from shooting at a charging zombie!' Overall assessment: If you can stay calm and aim while a zombie charges right at you, this is the best option. *Required: The mental fortitude of a national champion. "Why ‌‌am I so incompetent?" Mascarpone, who had been helping me choose weapons, looked up at my lament. I whined to the bewildered Mascarpone. "Maybe it would've been better to just take a magical spear like I did back then." "If you overuse it and pass out, that'll be a real burden on everyone." Mascarpone cut short my whining and handed me the bow she'd been holding. "Use this one. It has a weight-reduction spell on it, so it's light." She ‌said that if I loaded it up with magical orbs we sell at the shop, it would work out somehow. Mascarpone tried to comfort me. ‌‌‌‌That's right. I was currently selecting items at the Magic Shop. Together with the shop owner, Mascarpone. [If you want to buy from our family's inventory, you have to come in person. Even if you're the Emperor.] That's what Mascarpone had said in her letter, brimming with pride. Since I'd already arranged to meet Mascarpone, I decided to handle both the appointment and my adventure preparations at once. Weapons, armor, salves.... "I'll have everything sent to the Duchy Residence right now. I'll let the manager know, so just wait a moment." "Okay." While Mascarpone headed down to the First Floor, I sipped the coffee she had prepared for me. The rich aroma of quality beans and wisps of steam tickled the tip of my nose. Mm. A cure for sinusitis. 'People in this neighborhood really don't drink iced coffee.' I muttered about their lack of taste as I took another sip. A ‌‌‌week had already passed since I let the Duke into the Prayer Room. 'Strictly speaking, I didn't let him in—he went in of his own ‌‌volition.' All I did was praise him, yet the Head Maid came running to me in shock when she saw the Duke voluntarily begin fasting and prayer. 'How...?' 'Well.' When someone receives that much ‌‌‌praise, they naturally develop the desire not ‌‌‌to lose it. To be safe, I restricted ‌‌the maids' access and checked in once a day, but there was no significant change. I was beginning to suspect I'd driven an innocent person to ruin. 'I have to leave the day after tomorrow, so this needs to be resolved by then.' Regardless of how voluntary it was, watching someone starve like that didn't sit right with me... ‌‌‌"Anyway, who can understand people? And now the Young Lady is leaving as part of the Investigation Team." Mascarpone returned and sat ‌across from me, striking up a conversation. I readily agreed. "I didn't expect this either." I didn't even expect to be transmigrated here in ‌‌the first place. Mascarpone let out ‌‌a small, dry cough. "To be honest, I thought you'd be the first among us to drop out back then." "Really?" "Yeah. Or you'd push me to die in your place when things got dangerous." Mascarpone smiled faintly, dressed in her usual military-like attire. Her complexion was even worse than it had ‌‌‌‌been ‌at the Imperial Palace meeting. I knew the reason why. "It's strange, the way we're just going back as if nothing happened..." She was smiling as she spoke, but her expression was unnatural. We were both thinking of the same person. Consomme. "She was really a kind girl." Mascarpone's words came pouring out like a dam breaking. "Remember that Knight we met on the Central Staircase? When we escaped and went into the Washroom, she was worried about him." "...Mascarpone." "How terrified must she have been, all alone? I could only think about my own fear." "..." "When we left that place, I stopped Consomme from picking up that Knight's sword, from taking a kitchen knife. I told her she didn't even know how to use it, so what was she thinking?" "...." "Do you know what I told her back then? I asked ‌‌‌‌if she wanted her palms torn like a servant girl's. ...If I had ‌only stopped her that day." Mascarpone's hand wandered erratically across her eyes, her forehead, her cheeks. Soon she expelled the words in a trembling voice. "That day, in the Gallery... she asked me if I had any magical items. I said ‌‌I didn't." "...." "That was a lie." Mascarpone hunched over and choked out a sob. "The Imperial Palace only forbids items imbued with offensive magic. I ‌‌‌was carrying something enchanted with protective magic." "...." "I was angry with her that day because I felt guilty. I was afraid people would abandon me if they found out I had magical ‌‌‌items but said nothing." "...." "The mage who could cast this kind ‌of protective spell died four years ago... what I have is the last one. I can't make more, so I hid it, thinking if there were corpses in the Palace when we returned... I wanted to keep it for myself. I hid it because I was afraid." "...." "If I hadn't been so greedy and had shared it with everyone ‌‌‌at the end, she might still be alive now...!" Mascarpone's words tumbled out rapidly. It seemed she had been dwelling on this thought all along. How much of her friend's death was her responsibility. Calculating and recalculating again and again. I watched her face twisted with guilt and spoke. "I knew." ‌‌‌"...What?" "It would be stranger for a girl from a family like yours not ‌‌to have a single item for self-defense." "...." "Everyone else probably knew too. Except Paprika." Consomme would have known as well. Yet she never pressed you to share it. "It was because she hoped you would survive using it if things came to that." Not knowing what lay ahead. The terror of death. Your own helplessness. One remaining protective charm. Your only means of survival. Could I have shared it? "It was an accident, Mascarpone. You don't need to carry this ‌‌guilt." "...." "At least, I don't resent you." Mascarpone wept. I sat ‌‌‌quietly across from her. Thinking that whoever created this ‌‌‌zombie catastrophe was truly a damnable wretch. "...I've decided to enter the Research Laboratory with Mother." After crying for a ‌‌long while, Mascarpone spoke. "The Research Laboratory?" ‌‌‌"Yes. I want to research how and where the corpse appeared." If another body turns up the same way somewhere else later, I need to understand it to prevent that. "I don't have a shred of magical talent, but I did graduate from university. That's better ‍‌‌‌than nothing." "No talent? And you're the child ‌‌of the Chief Mage?" "Well, actually, magic is less about innate talent and more about the realm of willpower. ‌‌‌‌The thing is." "The thing is?" "Most ‌people never have occasion to exert that much willpower in their ‌‌‌‌lives." There's rarely anything desperate enough to demand it. Mascarpone whispered. "Because it's an ability manifested through human will... they say magic ‌‌‌‌‌even works on gods." "On gods too?" "In theory." "Hmm." An intense willpower to oppose gods. For some reason, one person came to mind. I blinked and asked. "Is the Emperor perhaps a mage?" ‌‌"Oh! He's not." He's certainly remarkable, though. Mascarpone laughed. Mascarpone told me the story of how the Emperor had demolished a certain god's Temple ‌‌‌and built his Villa on that very spot, and I gave her ‌Consomme's slippers that I'd brought along. "Thank you." Mascarpone's eyes welled up with tears again as ‌‌‌she pulled off her bracelet. "With this bracelet, I can retrieve whatever I need from any ‌‌‌of our trading company's locations." "I'm jealous." "Then take it." "Huh?!" "You'll likely ‌‌‌need magical assistance on your travels." Mascarpone added that it was a right befitting my savior, the one who had saved her life. I accepted the bracelet, bewildered yet swift. A pale blue-silver bracelet woven with tiny diamonds, punctuated here and there with sapphires. "Is this really okay? You said it's a trading company that even the Emperor has to visit personally." "That ‌‌company is mine, so it's fine." "I respect you." "Really now. You used to call me arrogant." "Maybe I was just envious." This woman's mouth. I smacked her lips repeatedly with the hand holding the bracelet. By then, Mascarpone had stopped crying and could laugh. "I won't see you for a while." "That's true. Think of me every night before bed. Oh right, do you sell ‌things like this?" "What do you need?" "Something that makes a loud, annoying ‌‌‌noise when you throw it." Like how we broke through the window and escaped back then, it's something you can throw far away and run from in an emergency—an aggro item. "There's a doll we have." "A doll? Perfect. That's the best. Oh, and—do you happen to know where I can buy a neck collar?" Something like this that wraps around the neck. I demonstrated by shaping my hand into a funnel-like form. 'I remember watching some veterinarian's video before I possessed this body.' When a zombie appears, you just put a neck collar on it. Then it can't bite. "Don't they sell them in the costume room?" "Thanks. I need to go buy one ‌‌‌‌‌right now." "Why?" Right, I need to put one on my mom! [[(Temporary Safe Zone) Magic Shop] - Yusara, Mascarpone (Survived)] ‌

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Brought to you ‌‌‌‌by Valir Scans! To support our team and ‌enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org

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