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

A Corporate Slave Becomes a Villainous Nuisance in a Zombie Apocalypse
Episode 50
"Can't the three of us just go together?"
"Absolutely not."
That irritating Cyprus shook his head.
"Even if we call ourselves the princess's dog and cat, we certainly can't be raised in the same bed."
"What kind of nonsense is that...?"
"You must choose one person, no matter what."
Yes. He was right ‌‌‌about that.
It was the Empire's protocol, after all.
'So what kind of situation is this, exactly?'
I'd practiced archery, learned combat techniques, toured the Prome Territory during the ‌day.
After spending a productive day, I was changing clothes for tonight's dinner when—
'Princess?'
'Princess! I'm hungry!'
Both Praha ‌‌‌‌‌and Cyprus knocked on my door simultaneously.
To escort me to the banquet.
To become my partner.
It was clear neither had anticipated this—both looked flustered.
'They probably didn't agree to meet outside the princess's door and have her choose between them.'
But the most bewildered person here was me.
'What brings you both to my room?'
To my question, Cyprus replied:
'I came ‌‌‌to fetch you, like yesterday.'
That's ‌‌what he said.
'...'
Praha remained silent.
In that moment, I ‌‌understood.
'Praha's words about "seeing you tonight" had meant ‌‌‌‌"let's dine together"!'
'Ugh, how was I supposed to know from just that?!'
The situation had become awkward.
It would've been better if neither had come.
Two people came to fetch me, and now leaving one behind to ‌‌go with just the other—
That's not etiquette, that's bullying!
How miserable would the one left alone feel?
"Praha, shouldn't you be fetching the Baron's wife?"
"I owe no courtesy to discourteous people."
"But the princess dined with me yesterday. So shouldn't she dine with me ‌‌today as well?"
"I've never learned such protocol."
"My. You should have studied harder."
"...."
'They're fighting like cats and dogs....'
But wait.
"What are you doing here, Yujein?"
I asked Yujein, who stood behind the two men.
Hidden behind their tall frames, she was barely visible.
If she hadn't cried out "I'm here too!", I might not have noticed her at all.
Yujein, dressed in a ‌‌‌‌yellow gown that complemented her pink hair perfectly, spoke up hesitantly.
"I, I also want to attend the dinner with you!"
"Pardon?"
"I agree with the Crown Prince! The Prome Lord has no manners. I don't want to attend a dinner with someone like that!"
"...Thank you for being upset on my behalf. But we're both women. It would be a bit awkward to be partners...."
"There's no etiquette rule that says partners must be of different genders!"
That's true enough.
'Creative thinking unburdened by convention. I could learn from that.'
Never mind that tangent.
I surveyed the three people before me with an awkward expression.
'Sweet as candy, Yujein certainly is.'
When I saw Praha again that evening, he wore a crisp blue shirt beneath a deep navy overcoat. With his dark hair, his fair complexion and bright eyes stood out all the more.
I noticed he wore ‌‌a blue spinel piercing on his ear.
He seemed embarrassed by it and tried to hide it with ‌‌his hair, but his complexion was so flawless it caught the eye anyway.
'I shouldn't tease him about wearing ‌it because I said it suited him.'
Cyprus, by contrast, looked radiant as a spring day.
A green tie with a shirt and cuffs in coral, differing only in tone.
He'd matched his tie color precisely to his eye color—though it didn't seem like the sense he'd displayed at Promé Castle.
It appeared to be clothing he'd brought himself....
'Coming to exterminate zombies and bringing clothes like that.'
Impressive.
"What ‌‌about Tangerine?"
"She said ‌‌she'd finally caught a bird, so she wouldn't attend the dinner and would roast it on the castle wall instead."
"Is that acceptable?"
"It isn't, but there's no one who can stop Tangerine."
"...So everyone attending the dinner is already here."
Praha, who was to escort the Lady of Prome, and Yujein, who should have been escorted by the Lord of Prome, both stood before my door.
I wondered how the Lord and Lady of Prome, who'd been so delighted about hosting distinguished guests, would react to this situation.
'So who am I supposed to attend the dinner with?'
Why must I face such a trial....
I looked between the three ‌‌‌of them in turn.
Normally, I would have chosen Cyprus or Yujein.
Why?
'People still think I like Praha.'
I don't like the ‌‌Crown Prince anymore! ‌‌‌I can't take out a newspaper ad, and nobody would believe me anyway.
My companions probably half-doubted me when I said I didn't like ‌‌‌Praha anymore.
If I suddenly picked Praha again here, what would that make me?
"Why can't the four of us just walk together...."
Cyprus chuckled as ‌‌I pressed my forehead.
"You can only ‌‌‌choose one person, right?"
"Yes."
"Alright then."
So who did I ultimately choose?
It will be revealed in 60 ‌‌‌‌seconds.
* * *
"I really hope our Knight Order's escort won't be necessary...."
The Prome Lord, who by this point suspected whether one of the knights had ‌‌‌a child among them and was scheming to pair one of us with them as an opportunity, remained anxious.
He followed behind us until the very moment we left the castle. ‌‌‌‌
Jingle. Jingle.
The familiar ‌‌sound of his key bundle accompanied him as always.
"Even now...."
"It's fine. If it seems too difficult, I'll come down immediately."
"W-would you really ‌‌‌do that, Saint?" ‌‌
"Of course! If we find it so hard we have to come down, the pathetic ‌‌‌‌Prome Knight Order would be completely wiped out!"
Tangerine answered the Lord's words instead of Praha and Cyprus, who no longer responded.
"Pathetic, you say...!"
"Isn't it pathetic?"
'Normally you shouldn't talk so bluntly to your host, but somehow it ‌‌‌‌feels natural. Maybe because it's Tangerine doing it.'
I sent silent encouragement to Tangerine, the verbal ruffian, and turned my gaze toward the distant mountain.
'It really is tall and massive.'
Our group's judgment was that there wouldn't be any real danger.
After all.
It's called ‌the Ancient Labyrinth, but it's just a ruin that's had nothing happen for hundreds of years, right?
'As long as I manage my stamina well, I'll be fine.'
Because a hellish high-altitude climb was about to begin.
I steadied my resolve and glanced at Praha standing beside me.
"Pathetic! Pathetic!"
"Knight Tangerine, don't waste your stamina on a ‌pathetic opponent."
"Understood, Crown Prince!"
Even after that banquet that had left people bewildered, Praha and Cyprus's attitudes hadn't changed much.
It seemed they'd made some agreement between themselves, because starting the next day, they came to fetch me in turns, and I partnered with Yujein once as well.
'Still, now that we're colleagues, the treatment is definitely ‌‌different.'
They even came looking for me directly, saying they'd take care of me.
Under normal circumstances, even ‌‌if we maintained courtesy ‌between humans, there wouldn't have been such tender consideration.
Had my first-loop ‌‌‌self known this, wouldn't I have abandoned the notion of romance long ago and simply remained a good friend?
"Your Highness?"
Feeling my gaze, Praha lowered only his eyes to look at me.
"Your Highness? Is there something you need?"
"No, nothing."
A ‌‌faint sense of satisfaction bloomed within me.
* * *
After we began the earnest portion of our journey, I came to understand something profound.
Being colleagues was far better than I'd ever imagined.
"It's cold once night falls. Must be the mountain air."
Our first camp was established at a reasonable location, considerate of Yujein's fragile constitution.
Cyprus kindled the fire while Praha prepared soup. Yujein, who lay about as if gravely ill, was tended ‌‌‌to by Tangerine, who kneaded and massaged her limbs with devoted care.
"Starting tomorrow, I'll gather firewood."
"Just rest. If you encounter wild beasts while wandering about, it would be catastrophic."
"Then ‌‌‌I'll tend the fire. How should I do it?"
I trailed after Cyprus as he worked with the tinder, but eventually settled beside Praha, slicing dried meat.
As we sat in a circle eating our meal with quiet composure, my casual murmur about the cold prompted Praha to swiftly remove his outer garment and offer it to me.
"Please wear it."
"Ah, thank you."
I received the largest men's coat I'd ever seen and ‌‌‌passed it to Cyprus, who sat beside ‌‌‌me.
"...Me?"
"Yes. Aren't you cold, Your Highness?"
Your lips are turning blue.
As I pointed to his face, Cyprus's ears flushed crimson.
"I'm ‌‌‌from the Southern Region, so...."
I let his uncharacteristic excuse flow past one ear as I sipped the soup with a slurp.
"Still, I was once stationed at the ‌‌‌‌‌Northern Front...."
"Your Highness, then please wear my clothes!"
"It's fine. I have something ‌better than clothing."
A thermal regulation blanket that Mascarpone had provided.
"I'll distribute them one each. I brought several."
As I retrieved the blankets from my pack, I revealed the zombie capture collar I'd brought along.
"Like this, see!"
Cyprus laughed so wildly at my demonstration that I worried a tiger might emerge from the forest.
Yet after laughing so hard, it seemed to prove its worth. ‌‌‌
"Your Highness, would you ‌‌‌‌‌teach me as well?"
"Teach you what?"
"That strange... method from before."
As everyone dispersed to clean up after the ‌‌‌‌meal, Cyprus, who had ‌‌‌been teaching me how to kindle fire, asked me casually.
"It's not strange—it's a neck collar."
"Yes, yes."
Cyprus, who had been examining the neck collar I handed him, suddenly asked.
"It was your first time, wasn't it? When Praha asked you to escort him first."
"Ah... at the last banquet?"
"Yes."
That's right.
"Actually, it wasn't just the Crown Prince's first time. The Grand Duke also asked me for the first time."
A man I loved and a man I love.
Both of them waiting for my choice.
If I were my first-loop self, I would have fainted from the thrill of it all.
"Aha, is that so."
Cyprus's expression as he examined the neck collar was peculiar.
It seemed bitter somehow, yet also bewildered.
An expression even Cyprus himself couldn't quite pin down flickered crimson in the firelight.
"But you ‌‌‌‌refused him."
"I did."
"So you truly don't like Praha anymore?"
"Would you mind dropping your interest in my feelings?"
There are zombies ‌‌‌roaming around right now, and here he is fixating on ‌‌‌pointless things.
Even as I ‌‌‌grew irritated, ‌‌‌‌Cyprus only laughed.
Suddenly, Cyprus lifted his gaze.
His emerald eyes, lit by the firelight within, looked toward me.
"It's strange, so that's why."
"It's not strange."
"It is strange."
"Aren't you going to learn this?"
"I apologize. Please teach me quickly."
Cyprus dodged my hand reaching for the neck collar with a chuckle.
"Still, it was nice that all three of them came to see me that day—the Young Maids' attitudes changed completely after that..."
With the practiced skill of a seasoned trainer, I fastened the neck collar around Cyprus's neck and spoke with a sigh.
"Were the Young Maids treating you ‌‌poorly before?"
"That's what I mean. Now that you've learned, let's go. Don't be so serious about it."
I unfastened the neck collar from Cyprus's neck and stood up.
Cyprus, his ‌hand on his neck as if he'd just been caught off guard with a kiss, watched me turn away toward my sleeping bag.
'That guy really is something else.'
That was already days ago, and he's bringing it up now.
'And that banquet that day...'
Oh, I never did tell you who I ended up going to the banquet with.
If you want to know who I went with.
[Prome Mountain]
- Yusara, Praha, Cyprus, Yujein, Tangerine (Survivors)

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