Accidentally Formed a Reverse Harem in the Apocalypse Chapter 10 - Facing Reality

Chapter 10 Facing Reality

 

I didn’t even know why Zero had given me such a job trait. Using holy power might have made it unavoidable, but surely there had been another option?

As if he were looking straight through me, Zero spoke bluntly.

「There wasn’t.」

‘Hey!’

「To finish a story that’s been twisted at the end, a new savior has to appear.」

Zero’s eyes gleamed. It had been a long time since he looked like an actual employee of the Possessor Management Bureau.

‘So what you’re saying is… the most fitting role for that savior is a saintess?’

Of all things?

Seeing my horrified expression, Zero snickered.

「This world still loves heroic myths. If a saintess appears from an unexpected place, defeats the zombies, and brings peace to the empire, the people would naturally unite and regain hope.」

Then the story ends, Zero whispered like a devil.

‘…Even if it’s a happy ending that strays from the original?’

Zero simply shrugged at my question.

「To complete an ending that breaks out of the frame, this much is necessary. The energy produced by a human who wins hope through despair will fill the missing causality.」

Fancy words, but in the end, it meant he wanted me to patch up a broken story.

By turning the original villainess, Elizabeth Keaton, into a saintess.

If the real Elizabeth Keaton had heard this, she would have jumped on the chance.

It would mean pushing aside Sienna, the original protagonist, and taking the main role for herself.

But for me—standing in the middle of this absurd mess—it was just exhausting.

Wow. I thought I was done pretending to be a wicked villainess. Now they wanted me to fight zombies as a saintess?

This wasn’t some blockbuster movie.

‘So if I do that, you get to clock out, and I get to go home?’

That was the only thing that mattered to me. Home—my dear, longed-for home.

Even with my unenthusiastic reaction, Zero lifted his fluffy head proudly.

「Exactly, exactly. A big plan aiming for a two-birds-one-stone result.」

He still only looked like a cute hamster. What dignity?

‘Sure, sure.’

「What is with that disrespectful tone!」

‘What, am I supposed to be happy about this? It’s so ridiculous, seriously.’

「Grrr!」

While Zero and I bickered inside my head, Michael was—I’d like to say whining like a puppy that desperately needed to go outside… but in reality, he was clutching his golden hair like a sorrowful, perfectly carved statue.

“Was it truly… a d-dream? But the flash of light was so vivid… And yet the idea that she is a saintess—honestly, I’d sooner believe some random flea is a saintess…”

「He’s insulting you.」

‘I know that already.’

Even if he disliked me, how could he compare me to a flea?

I strode over and kicked Michael’s shin.

“Ugh!”

“Aaaagh!”

For reference, that terrible scream afterward was me—because the moment I kicked him, I realized Michael trained his body every single day without fail and his calves were basically stone.

I grabbed my throbbing foot and groaned, while Michael glared at me with frighteningly bright blue eyes.

“My lady, what kind of disrespectful behavior is this?”

‘Oh, look at him.’

“Disrespect? Sir Michael, you’ve been belittling me with your tone from the beginning, and you have a lot to say?”

“What do you—”

Before he could finish, the butler, the head maid, and even the chef gathered around him, glaring daggers.

“This is not merely the young lady! She is now the Duke of Keaton.”

“Show proper respect to the new Duke, Sir Michael.”

Their words stunned Michael.

“…The Duke of Keaton has passed away?”

That, at least, I could answer directly.

“Yes. His Highness the Crown Prince, after turning into a zombie, tore out his throat.”

Right before my eyes.

“…Ah.”

A moment of silence followed. Even I felt the weight of what I’d said about the Duke’s death.

‘If the Duke hadn’t acted so stupidly…’

He might still be alive.

In this chaos caused by the zombies, he had been one of the few high-ranking figures capable of leading the people.

But he died so senselessly, and the loss of such a valuable card before the game even really began just left a bitter taste in my mouth.

In the gloomy silence, Michael offered a quiet condolence.

“…May he rest in peace. May the god Ardel guide him to heaven.”

“Yes, thank y— wait, that’s not the point! Apologize. To our new Duke!”

Maybe Zero’s possessor buff was too strong. The servants looked ready to shoot laser beams from their eyes at Michael.

Pushed back by their strange pressure, Michael hesitated before finally apologizing to me.

“…I apologize. New Duke of Keaton.”

“It’s fine if you’re sorry.”

Once the noisy argument settled, the members of the household went to their rooms to rest.

Even with unknown zombies wandering outside, once the sun set and night arrived, fatigue hit people all the same.

And now that the Duke’s estate finally had a superior they could trust, everyone eagerly headed to bed early.

Except Michael.

“What should we do, Duke? We may have guest rooms to spare, but he’s someone who chased you all the way here. Should we lock him up in the barn?”

After receiving Michael’s apology, I had gone into what was now my room—the duke’s office—to catch my breath, when the butler came in and began ranting passionately at me.

After hearing how I had brought holy water from the temple for us, he seemed so impressed he was practically worshipping me as a hero.

“Hey, Patrick. I think you’re forgetting that this blond pretty boy is the kingdom’s strongest holy knight, and you’re talking way too freely.”

“Your Grace, didn’t you say the pope was worse than a rotting maggot? Then the holy knight beneath him would be a rotting worm—mmph!”

Michael, who had been standing outside the office the whole time, shot a chilling blue glare through the crack of the door—scarier than any ghost. I immediately clamped my hand over the butler’s mouth.

“Mmph!”

“…Butler, you may leave now.”

“Y-yes!”

Patrick bolted like his tail was on fire, and once he was gone, Michael opened the office door fully and fixed his gaze on me.

I expected him to complain, but instead he made a completely unexpected request.

“…Given the circumstances, I would like to ask permission to stay at the Keaton estate for just one night.”

‘So it’s difficult for him to return right now, huh.’

Even for a holy knight renowned for his exceptional skill, traveling alone back to the temple through a capital crawling with zombies would be nearly impossible.

Running into the streets alone in this situation would be nothing short of suicide.

“So that means you plan to return to the temple tomorrow?”

“I must. These… zombies you mentioned will harm innocent imperial citizens. I must cooperate with my fellow priests at the temple to eliminate them.”

A very virtuous, upright answer—just like a holy knight who had lived a clean, principled life.

But Michael was also a fool who understood one thing but not another.

“In that case, you shouldn’t go back.”

“…Why not?”

“No one at the temple is going to rush out to save the citizens with you.”

“…What do you mean?”

Michael’s expression froze at my reply.

“His Holiness the Pope—no, forget it, I’ll just call him the pope—well, you saw what he was like. The temple won’t take the side of the weak.”

“…”

At the mention of the pope, Michael fell silent.

‘When the head is rotten, it’s impossible for someone as pure as Michael not to know.’

Michael had been at the temple long enough to know exactly how dirty the pope’s heart was.

He clenched his eyes shut, unable to even call my words blasphemous. That was answer enough.

To that speechless holy knight, I delivered another direct hit.

“Even if you make it back to the temple safely, it won’t do you any good. You said you wanted to find your fellow priests, right? They’re probably long gone. The pope likely dragged them all off with him. To save himself.”

“…That can’t be. My fellow holy knights would never agree to a selfish decision like that.”

Even with his sharp understanding of the situation, Michael seemed to cling to one last hope—his comrades.

“There must have been disagreements in the temple, so they wouldn’t have moved anywhere far yet. If I return now, I should be able to find my fellow knights…”

“Hey, Sir Michael.”

Unable to stand it anymore, I cut him off.

“…What is it?”

“Doesn’t it strike you as strange? The strongest holy knight in the empire didn’t return to the temple all night, and yet no one came looking for you.”

“…!”

Michael’s face drained of color.

“I told the pope, right? That holy water was effective at driving zombies away.”

Upon hearing this, the pope had immediately assumed that holy power could kill zombies, and seemed quite pleased.

‘When in truth, holy water only paralyzes them a little.’

So long as that fact remained unknown, priests and holy knights with holy power were effectively the empire’s strongest assets right now.

Meaning Michael, the most powerful holy knight, was a resource the temple could not afford to lose in a zombie-infested world.

“Then why didn’t anyone come looking for you? With your strength, your survival would be nearly guaranteed.”

The answer was simple.

“The temple abandoned you, Michael.”

Michael—the upright, righteous commander of the holy knights.

When he vanished after being caught by me and swept away by teleportation magic, the pope must have rejoiced.

‘How thrilled he must have been. The one man capable of preventing the pope’s schemes—gone.’

If anyone opposed the idea of fleeing, the pope could simply ask:

Then why does Sir Michael not return?

If he were alive, surely he would have returned to the temple, would he not?

If not, then he must be dead. And if even the mighty Sir Michael has fallen, what could we hope to do?

‘He probably said something ridiculous like: “We must save ourselves first if we are to secure the empire’s future…”’

And the temple’s priests and holy knights would have faltered.

Whether Michael lived or died, the pope’s words alone would be terrifying enough.

It wasn’t hard to lower one’s conscience when staring death—and fear—in the face.

“That’s not true. No—it can’t be true!”

To the holy knight who desperately rejected reality, I whispered mercilessly:

“Admit it. Face the truth. You’ve been left behind.”

“…”

“You’ve been abandoned here at the duke’s estate—together with me, the person you despise most.”

Right in the middle of the capital overrun with zombies.