A Korean Office Worker Who Became a Nuisance Villainess in a Zombie Story - Chapter 38

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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“In the Prayer Room?”
“Yes, miss.”
The Head Maid bowed.
“His Grace often spends a month at a time in the Prayer Room observing a fasting vigil.”
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 a fasting vigil, we lock the Prayer Room door from the outside to ensure he doesn’t abandon his devotion in the dead of night should hunger overcome him.”
“Good heavens.”
It was practically voluntary imprisonment.
“When does Mother usually begin these prayers?”
“When she finds her weight unsatisfactory.”
“I see.”
In that case.
“Head Maid.”
“Yes?”
“If Mother calls for you today, would you and the other maids praise her, saying how remarkably thin she’s become?”
That she’s lost even more weight. That she’s absolutely slender.
The Head Maid’s expression turned bewildered at my words.
“Miss, if I may ask… she only enters the Prayer Room when dissatisfied, so why would you have us praise her…?”
“It’s just how these things work.”
End of discussion.
I waved my hand, dismissing her.
Before leaving the room, I also made sure to rescue the maid who looked ready to be scolded by the Head Maid.
“I’ll keep this girl with me for a few days, then send her to the family’s Territory.”
Since that place was where servants over thirty-five who’d been cast out gathered, 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.”
With light pouring in and no curtains to block it, the Grand Duke wouldn’t think of leaving. At least not during the day.
Thus, my handling of the fifty-percent-likely-zombie Grand Duke was complete.
‘I’ll know in a few days.’
Whether she’s truly a zombie or simply someone with a taste for blood.
* * *
We now begin the 【Yusara’s Weapon Selection】 Survival Challenge.
Please vote for your weapon of choice!
-Candidates-
1. Gun
“While not in a modern form, this world does possess firearms nonetheless.”
Pros: At least it seems like I could learn it relatively quickly.
Cons: Hitting the shoulder or stomach haphazardly won’t do any good. I’d need a headshot. And I have to consider what happens when I run out of bullets.
Most critically, the noise is far too loud.
= Massive aggro.
Overall verdict: Suicide would be easier!
2. Sword
“The most universal weapon.”
Pros: Lighter than a gun.
Can’t I just swing it around?
Cons: Even slicing carrots with a kitchen knife requires arm strength, so cutting through human bone and muscle?
What am I even thinking?
‘I don’t have the strength or nerve to slice through people.’
Overall verdict: A gun would be better after all.
3. Bow
“Baseless confidence that I’d be good at it since I’m descended from Jumong.”
Pros: I already know how to use one.
Cons: Just like with guns, once I run out of arrows, I can’t use it anymore.
‘Drawing the bowstring takes more strength than I expected.’
I spent four years in the archery club during university to cultivate composure.
‘But shooting at a stationary target is completely different from shooting at a charging zombie!’
Overall verdict: If I could aim calmly with a zombie charging right at my face, this would be the best option.
*Required: National-level mental fortitude.
“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 taking something like a magic spear like before would be the best choice after all.”
“If you overuse it and pass out, that’ll be a real burden.”
Mascarpone cut short my whining and handed me the bow she’d been holding.
“Go with this. 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 offered her encouragement.
That’s right.
I was currently shopping at the Magic Shop.
Together with the shop owner, Mascarpone.
[If you want to buy from our family’s goods, 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 had already arranged to meet with Mascarpone, I decided to handle both the appointment and adventure preparations at once.
Weapons, armor, salves….
“I’ll have everything sent to the Duke’s Residence now. I’ll let the staff know, so just wait a moment.”
“Okay.”
While Mascarpone descended to the 1st Floor, I sipped the coffee she had prepared for me.
The rich aroma of quality beans and the delicate steam rising from the cup tickled my nostrils.
Mm. A cure for sinusitis.
‘These people 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 allowed the Grand Duke into the Prayer Room.
‘Strictly speaking, I didn’t let her in—she entered of her own volition.’
I had merely offered praise, yet the Grand Duke began fasting and praying on her own, which startled the Head Maid so much that she came rushing to me.
‘How is this possible…?’
‘Well.’
When praised like that, one naturally develops the desire not to lose such favor.
To be safe, I had forbidden the maids from entering and checked on her once a day, but there was no significant change.
I was beginning to suspect that I had driven an innocent person to this.
‘I have to leave the day after tomorrow, so a resolution must come by then.’
Regardless of how voluntary it was, watching someone starve themselves like this 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, who had returned and taken the seat across from me, struck up a conversation.
I nodded in agreement.
“I didn’t expect this either.”
I never expected to possess this body in the first place.
Mascarpone let out a dry cough.
“To be honest, I thought you’d be the first among us to drop out back then.”
“Really?”
“Really. Or that you’d push me to die in your place when things got dangerous.”
Mascarpone smiled faintly, dressed in her usual military-style attire.
Her complexion was even worse than it had been at the Imperial Palace meeting.
I knew the reason why.
“It’s strange… returning like nothing happened.”
She spoke with a smile, but her expression was unnatural.
We were both thinking of the same person.
Consomme.
“She was truly a kind girl.”
The dam burst, and Mascarpone’s words poured out.
“Remember the Knight we met on the Central Staircase? When we escaped and entered the Washroom, she was worried about that Knight.”
“…Mascarpone.”
“How terrified must she have been, alone like that. I could only think about my own fear.”
“…”
“As we left that place, I stopped Consomme from picking up the 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 said to her then? I asked if she wanted her palms torn open like yours. …If I hadn’t stopped her back then.”
Mascarpone’s hand wandered erratically across her eyes, forehead, and cheeks.
Soon she exhaled words in a trembling voice.
“That day, in the Gallery… the young lady asked me if I had any magical items. I said I didn’t.”
“….”
“That was a lie.”
Mascarpone, hunched over, choked out the words.
“The Imperial Palace only bans items imbued with offensive magic. I was carrying something enchanted with defensive magic.”
“….”
“The reason I got angry at the young lady that day was because I felt guilty. I was afraid people would abandon me if they found out I’d been hiding the fact that I had magical items.”
“….”
“The mage who could cast this kind of protective magic died four years ago… what I have is the last one. I can’t make any more, so if there were another corpse when the Imperial Palace was reclaimed, I thought I’d hide it and use it only for myself. Now I wonder if she might still be alive if I’d just shared it with everyone in the end…!”
“….”
“If only I hadn’t been so greedy and had shared it with everyone at the very end, she might still be alive now…!”
Mascarpone’s words tumbled out rapidly.
It seemed she’d been dwelling on this thought the entire time.
How much her share mattered in her friend’s death. Calculating it over and over again.
I watched her face twisted with guilt and spoke.
“I already knew.”
“…What?”
“It would be stranger for a daughter of your station not to have a single protective charm.”
“….”
“Everyone else probably knew too. Except Papri.”
Consomme would have known as well.
The reason she didn’t pester you to share it was simple.
“She probably hoped that if worse came to worst, at least you would survive using it.”
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 that 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 damned soul.
“…I’ve decided to enter the laboratory with Mother.”
Mascarpone spoke after crying for a long while.
“The laboratory?”
“Yes. To research how and where the corpses came from.”
In case corpses appeared somewhere else in the same manner later, to prevent it.
“I don’t have a shred of magical talent, but I graduated from the academy. It’s better than nothing, I suppose.”
“No talent? And you’re the child of the Chief Mage?”
“Well, magic isn’t really an inborn gift so much as a matter of willpower. It’s just…”
“Just?”
“Most people never have reason to exert that much willpower in their lives.”
There’s rarely anything desperate enough to drive such effort.
Mascarpone whispered.
“Because it’s an ability manifested through human will… they say magic even works against gods.”
“Against gods?”
“In theory.”
“Hmm.”
A fierce 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 remarkable in other ways, though. Mascarpone laughed.
Mascarpone told me 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 glistened with tears again as she pulled off her bracelet.
“With this bracelet, you can retrieve whatever you need from any of our company’s locations.”
“I’m envious.”
“Then take it.”
“Huh?!”
“You’ll likely need magical assistance during your travels.”
Mascarpone added that it was a right befitting one who had saved her life.
I accepted the bracelet hesitantly (though eagerly enough).
A pale silver bracelet woven with tiny diamonds, accented here and there with sapphires.
“Is this really okay? Isn’t this the company even the Emperor must visit in person?”
“It’s my company, so it’s fine.”
“I respect you.”
“Really now. You used to call me arrogant.”
“Maybe I was just jealous.”
This wretched mouth of mine.
I struck my lips repeatedly with the hand holding the bracelet.
By then, Mascarpone had stopped crying and could smile again.
“I won’t see you for a while.”
“That’s true. Think of me every night before bed. Oh, by the way—do you sell things like this?”
“What do you need?”
“Something that makes a loud, annoying noise when you throw it.”
Something to draw attention, like when we broke through that window and fled—something I could throw far away and escape with in an emergency.
“There’s a doll I could give you.”
“Dolls are great. The best. Oh, and—do you happen to know where I can buy a neck collar?”
She gestured around her neck, then shaped her hands into a funnel to demonstrate what she meant.
‘Before I possessed this body, I watched some veterinary video online.’
If a zombie appeared, you could just slip a neck collar on it so it couldn’t bite.
That’s what they said, anyway.
“Wouldn’t the Costume Room have them?”
“Thanks. I need to go buy one right now.”
“Why do you need it?”
Right, I’m going to put it on my mom!
[[(Temporary Safe Zone) Magic Shop]
– Yusara, Mascarpone (Alive)]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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