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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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A Corporate Slave Becomes a Villainous Nuisance in a Zombie Apocalypse
Episode 72
"...."
"...."
"...This place is far too filthy and squalid."
"...Yes."
"...There are wounded in the adjacent room. Since their ears are intact, they'll hear everything."
I don't want to make you a spectacle.
"...Yes."
"...Moreover, the circumstances are unfavorable."
"...Yes."
"...I am not a beast, but an educated man." ‌‌
"...."
"So.... I will." ‌‌‌
I will endure this.
Praha clenched his teeth and whispered.
Endure what?
But if I asked, ‌‌I had a premonition it would become irreversible.
Praha's sunset-hued eyes, still fixed upon ‌‌‌‌my lips, burned with intensity—a blazing luminescence as if the sun itself were aflame before its descent.
Gazing into those eyes made my chest tighten unbearably, yet I couldn't avert my gaze.
"...."
"...." ‌‌
"My lady."
"...Yes."
"Could you speak of something else? Anything to divert attention. Anything at all?"
"...."
"Please."
I couldn't think of anything.
Praha exhaled a long breath, and his body heat was so overwhelming.
I hastily grasped ‌‌at any topic swirling through my mind.
Something cold.
Something practical.
"I'm personally overjoyed that Your Highness is here... ‌‌but is this truly acceptable? You are the Crown Prince. You shouldn't be doing this for me alone. I know we've discussed this before, but I keep worrying...."
The moment I spoke, ‌‌‌‌I realized it was the worst possible topic.
Yet Praha replied lightly.
"Even if I were to lose my position over this matter, I would harbor no regrets."
"Pardon?"
"Is a man without power so unappealing? Then ‌‌‌‌let us reconsider."
"I value appearance and wealth more than power... no, that's not what I meant. Are you serious? Your Highness has always prioritized duty."
"Indeed. If I were cast out from the position of Crown Prince, I could simply serve as a ‌‌‌‌lapdog in my lady's mansion."
What are you talking about?
"That ‌‌would be difficult. I'm planning to raise a small dog so I can grab it and run when things get urgent."
"I'll compress it as much as possible."
"What do you mean compress it...!"
I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity.
My sudden breath tickled Praha's cheek, and only then did I ‌‌realize that Praha had made that joke to ease my tension.
'...That was a joke, right?'
It would be troublesome if he actually showed up later claiming our house had a dog.
I'd like to let him stay too, but our house is in ruins.... There's no space for him.
"You're really a strange person, I'll give you that...."
I straightened my posture while glancing at Praha.
Watching me, Praha asked quietly.
"Aren't you afraid of being trapped?"
"I am afraid."
But it's much better than when I was trapped alone at first.
Praha said he'd acted recklessly and irrationally, but I felt reassured that he came to my side even a second sooner.
A person whose mere presence gives me the comfort that somehow everything will work out.
"Still, I didn't jump in completely unprepared."
"I never thought you would. What did you ‌‌‌do?"
"I sent a cipher to Cyprus. He'll likely notice the situation immediately. He probably already knows by now. Since he's not foolish, he'll suspect the Baron first, and for now we're at a numerical disadvantage...." ‌
He'll hide my absence and pretend to leave, then come back.
"So we...."
"We just need to hold out here. Or escape."
"They said they'd sell me ‌‌‌as a slave in Sodom."
"I heard."
Praha's expression darkened.
"That won't happen, but if it does, I'll save you. Even if I have to turn all of Sodom into a sea of fire."
"If that situation comes, I ‌‌‌‌absolutely must not look back and just run away...."
I'd turn into a pillar of salt.
I shook my head firmly.
After that, we made trivial small talk.
"I remember holding back the Crown Prince's ankle when he mentioned emigration, so I have no face to show now."
"It's fine. The Crown Prince will make it a good place to live."
"What if I can't drink cream coffee?"
"I've already forgotten the fact that I even wanted to drink cream coffee...."
Meanwhile, Praha continued tapping the walls and pulling at the iron bars to gauge their strength.
I carefully unfolded the blood-stained handkerchief that the Lord of Prome had thrown in and covered the tongue rolling on the floor.
From the next room, intermittent groaning sounds began to be heard.
The Unlucky Adventurer could no longer speak.
"Hey, Your Highness."
I broached the subject carefully.
"About my ability..."
"Yes."
"What if, the next time someone comes down to the Underground, I use my ability to help us escape?"
My ability.
A hypnotic power that could influence someone for roughly 50 seconds.
Fifty seconds should be enough to make them throw their weapons ‌and keys into this cell, ‌‌‌right? Then we could use those to escape.
I'd clearly stated before that I couldn't use that ability, yet I'd just casually changed my story—but Praha didn't call me out on it.
He tilted his head thoughtfully before responding.
"It's worth attempting, but... escape would still be difficult. The Lord of Prome is the only ‌‌one who would have the key to this door." ‌‌
"I see."
"Fortunately, I..."
That's when it happened.
Bang!
"Feeding time!"
The door leading upstairs burst open, and a short man stormed in.
Startled, I quickly threw a sack over Praha's head to hide him.
Praha obediently lowered his head without resistance, as if he'd already known someone was coming and wasn't surprised at all.
"Your face can't be seen. If they realize they've kidnapped the Crown Prince, there's no telling what ‌reckless thing they might do."
"Understood."
With only his eyes exposed, Praha pushed me behind him.
Clang, clang.
"Damn, this is heavy!"
The Thug Guard dragging something like a food cart down the Staircase muttered curses to himself.
"You mutes doing alright?"
He ‌‌shook the iron bars menacingly, then raised his voice as if making sure ‌‌we'd hear.
"Feeding's late today. Some crazy bastards ‌‌have been wandering around Prome Mountain."
Filthy clothes, bruised faces, drooling—they didn't even run away when ‌‌we looked at them.
"Where the hell did those things come from?"
It was exhausting catching and killing them all!
"Even after ‌‌‌‌taking arrows, ‌‌they wouldn't flee! I had to behead every last one of them. That's why it took so long. Did you mutes wait for your big brother?"
I had no idea what percentage of the imprisoned were women, ‌‌but there were definitely men here too—so why "big brother"?
"Oh, you probably didn't even notice I was late? No clocks in here!"
Guffawing, the Thug Guard began distributing food, setting plates down with ‌‌‌a clang, starting from the cells nearest the Staircase.
To watch him (or more precisely, to count how many cells there were), ‌‌‌I craned my neck forward, but Praha pushed me back behind him.
Clang, clang, clang.
"Oops, spilled some?"
The Thug ‌Guard, grinning with apparent delight, arrived at the cell where Praha and I were held.
Or rather, he returned after finishing his distribution all the way to the innermost ‌‌‌‌cell.
"Say, I heard there's a precious lady in here..."
He smirks unpleasantly as if he's heard something about me, leaning his face forward, but then he catches sight of Praha—a massive figure with a sack pulled over his head—and flinches.
"What the hell is this freak? Where's the woman...?"
The Thug Guard's muttering is cut short by Praha.
"A mere errand boy for meals has ‌‌quite the mouth on him."
"What, what?"
"If you've brought food, set it down and get ‌‌out."
"Huh...?"
The Thug Guard's mouth falls open.
As if this ‌‌‌‌is his first time a slave-to-be has talked back, he stands there bewildered before his breathing becomes ragged.
The Thug Guard pulls a knife from his back pocket.
At a glance, it's a crude pocket knife that's clearly never been ‌‌used ‌‌‌in actual combat.
"Say that again! I'll carve a new line into this table with every word you speak!"
At that, Praha rises from his seat.
As he stands, he effortlessly ‌‌‌tears the sack from his head and flings it away.
As Praha's massive frame rises up from the floor like a pillar, ‌‌the Thug Guard instinctively ‌‌‌takes a step back.
The height difference between them is... nearly a full head.
With his eyes cast downward, Praha sweeps his gaze over the small, stocky Thug Guard and speaks.
"With you being that short, can your hand even reach ‌‌my table?"
"What did you just say?"
"If you have time to come here and run your mouth, why not do some height-stretching exercises instead?"
"What did you just call me, ‌‌‌‌you slave bastard?!"
"You heard me. Or did your eardrums get damaged?"
"You little—!"
The dwarf Thug Guard's face flushes crimson as he kicks at Praha through the iron bars. ‌‌
Clang!
But in his mistake, he kicks the iron bars instead and yelps, grabbing his own foot and rolling on the ground.
In ‌‌‌the commotion, one of our soup bowls tips over, which Praha observes with indifferent peripheral vision.
"You certainly live a hard life."
"What the hell—"
"If you're angry, open the door and come in."
The door is this way, Praha indicates with a slight nod of his head.
Cheeky.
An expression composed of a word that seems to have no connection to Praha's entire life appears on his handsome face.
"Why, are you scared?"
"..."
"If you're ‌‌‌‌scared, go upstairs and bring your allies. No matter how many allies you bring, the result will be the same."
Praha bends his waist to meet the Thug Guard's eye level and smirks.
The Thug Guard looks furious, but when Praha reaches through the iron bars to snatch the knife, he startles and stumbles backward.
"Damn it..."
It was an unmistakable victory for Praha.
The Thug Guard let out a shriek, crying out several times before slamming ‌‌‌the door shut and leaving the prison.
He ‌‌seemed to have completely forgotten about mentioning me just moments before.
In the now-silent cell, Praha folded the ‌‌‌‌‌cloth sack he'd ‌‌‌been holding, carefully setting it down while watching my reaction.
"My apologies. I thought the shadows would obscure my face from their view."
"...No, it's fine."
'If Praha hadn't stepped forward to draw their attention first, that Thug Guard would've kept hounding me.'
"...Thank you. For protecting me just now."
"Are you truly grateful?"
"Yes...? Yes."
"Then let me be the young lady's little puppy...."
"Stop it!"
How ‌‌‌did he get so fixated on this puppy nonsense!
"Just eat your food!"
I stretched my arm to pull the remaining soup bowl toward me—miraculously, it hadn't tipped over in all the commotion.
The wooden bowl, chipped and missing teeth in places, contained what looked like pale chicken porridge. There were no visible chunks of meat.
'They said it was chicken soup, so I assumed it was chicken, but ‌‌what is this....'
Yet grease still floated on the surface, evidence that meat had been boiled in it. There was even a small bone with a bit of flesh clinging to it.
The ‌‌‌stench of the musty prison mixed with the aroma of food, and from the other cells that had been silent as tombs until now came the rustling sounds of people stirring.
But how am I supposed ‌‌to eat this?
Drink it straight from the bowl?
Uncertain, I offered the soup to ‌‌‌Praha first.
"Would you like to have some first?"
But suddenly, Praha's expression darkened.
Staring intently at the soup bowl in my hands, he spoke.
"You must not eat this."
"Why not?"
"This is not chicken."
"Then what is it?"
[Prome Mountain: Underground Prison, Floor ‌‌‌‌?]
- Yusara, Praha (Alive)

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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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