Accidentally Formed a Reverse Harem in the Apocalypse Chapter 31 - Secret Passage

As soon as I stepped into the secret passage the Keaton ducal family made, a new alert window popped up.

Ding.

[A new sub-quest has arrived.]

[Sub-quest – Securing Food]

[Please fill the emptying food storage of the ducal estate! (feat. Ruth Chricerne)]

[Reward: Ancient Relic – Jar Blessed by Anais]

[Description: A magic jar that doubles any food placed inside. It can be used five times a day. Thanks to the blessing of the first pope Anais, it seems to have changed from an ordinary jar into a cornucopia.]

The alerts didn’t stop at one. Two more appeared.

Ding. Ding.

[Sub-quest – Gather the Party Members!]

[Every time you gather someone who can join the ‘Zombie Defeat’ party, you will receive small rewards.]

[Current progress: Elizabeth Keaton (1/1), Michael Easter (1/1), Ruth Chricerne (1/1), Benedict Faerman (0/1), ??? (0/1)]

[In progress: Benedict Faerman (0/1)]

[Reward: 1 long-distance teleportation magic scroll for large groups]

[A bonus quest has been granted!]

[Special Order – Rescue the Imprisoned Party Member Candidate!]

[Rescue Benedict Faerman, who is locked in the basement of Count Rootry’s estate, and punish the culprit, Nadia Rootry.]

[Reward 1: Completion of Sub-quest – Gather the Party Members! (4/5).]

[Reward 2: Earn +100 trust and affection from both the Damon ducal family and the Celeste marquis family.]

‘Oho, these rewards are pretty sweet.’

Because the number of quests I had to handle increased, the rewards had become plentiful, too.

The attractive reward list caught my eye.

‘A cornucopia jar that increases the food I have, a teleportation magic scroll perfect for evacuation, and even mending relationships with hostile survivors.’

This was a total jackpot.

If I only completed the given quests, the rewards would be so good that I wouldn’t have to worry about anything for a while.

I had been worried when the rewards started being clearly listed unlike before, but that worry turned out to be pointless—they were all great.

Inside, I secretly gave Zero a thumbs-up.

‘Zero, you’re awesome. The best.’

「Hem hem. Now you finally understand the greatness of your helper?」

‘Of course. You’re the only angel-like handler who thinks about me this much.’

When I flattered him, the little hamster puffed up his tiny shoulders, pleased.

「This was hard to get approved by the higher-ups. They felt the seriousness of an error that even the system window couldn’t detect, so they promised exceptional support.」

‘Hooo.’

So they had thought this would be something easily solved until now, huh.

That part didn’t sit well with me.

‘Yeah, they probably assumed they could find the culprit right away through the system search window. Now that they couldn’t, they finally realized their feet were on fire and decided to increase support.’

Someone is suffering and doing all the hard work because of an error that caused unwanted possession, and those gods sitting way up above are just watching……

I suddenly felt like grabbing a spear.

‘If this were a constellation-type world, I could’ve at least made a contract with a god and gotten some benefits.’

Unfortunately, the gods working upstairs seemed to have absolutely no interest in coming down to the human world to do any work.

‘Sigh.’

「……Why? You don’t like it?」

When I, who had been grinning at the great reward list, became gloomy, Zero watched me nervously.

‘No. I was just wondering if there’s a way to directly make a contract with a god like in constellation-type stories.’

At my grumbling, the hamster on my shoulder fell silent for a moment.

「……I-I’m also a constellation, you know.」

“…Huh?”

Walking through the dark secret passage with a magic lamp in hand, I was so shocked that I missed my step.

‘What did you say?’

Wow. I almost hit the back of my head on the floor.

While holding my startled heart and taking deep breaths, Michael and Ruth reached their hands out to me.

“Are you all right?”

“The path isn’t slippery, so did you trip over a stone, Your Grace? If it’s dangerous, you can hold my hand.”

“Uh…… no, I’m fine.”

I stared blankly at the hands they offered, then got up by myself, brushing dirt off my clothes.

‘When did they get so friendly?’

When I first met them, these people were practically dying to eat me alive.

Being taken care of was nice, but it made me feel strangely uneasy.

After losing my parents and learning that the relatives who seemed so kind were actually after my inheritance…

Ever since that day, a habit formed in me, shouting:

Don’t trust them.

Have you already forgotten how they treated you like a bug when you were acting as the real Elizabeth, the villain?

If you open your heart just because they’re being a little nice now, you’ll regret it later.

You’re going back eventually, so don’t give your heart away for nothing.

“……I’m really fine.”

Because the voice inside me kept saying things that felt painfully true, I deliberately put more distance between myself and Michael and Ruth.

“Your face looks pale, Your Grace.”

“Did you not sleep well?”

The worried looks on Michael and Ruth’s faces made my chest tighten slightly.

‘What the…… Stop being all warm to me.’

You’re just making my heart restless for no reason.

“I slept well, and I’m perfectly fine. I just lost strength in my legs for a moment because I let my guard down, so don’t worry about it. Unlike you two, I’m only carrying this light magic lamp.”

“But…….”

When Michael hesitated, I purposely snapped at him.

“Ugh, come on! It’s because I’m tense from the zombies, so just pretend you didn’t see anything.”

“What? That’s all? You said this secret passage is safe from zombie threats.”

“That’s separate from feeling safe. We’re heading straight into a war zone—of course it won’t feel good.”

“Well, that’s true.”

At my reasonable excuse, Michael and Ruth nodded.

‘Barely dodged that.’

No matter what, I didn’t want to show those two any weakness.

「So stubborn. Who was it that said useless pride leaves you with nothing?」

Zero grumbled in an annoyed voice.

Keeping a poker face as I walked briskly, I asked Zero,

‘What was that earlier, Zero? When you said you’re a constellation. Was that real?’

「……It’s real. At least, if you base it on the constellation-fantasy novels you’ve read.」

‘Wow.’

If he counted as a constellation, then that meant Zero was basically a god too, right?

‘……Wait. Then why aren’t you omnipotent?’

For someone claiming to be a god, Zero’s abilities were painfully limited. Even giving me rewards required sending approval requests to the higher-ups, which sounded nothing like what a god would do.

When I shot him a doubtful look, Zero protested.

「I am a god! By the standards of the era you lived in, I’m just in my internship period, that’s all…… but I’m still a trainee god. As an employee of the Possession Management Bureau, I’m being evaluated to see if I’m fit to be a proper god.」

‘Ahh, so it’s like an exam?’

「Yeah. Even though I keep singing “off work, off work,” I’m actually working as a trainee god and being tested to see if I can move to the next stage.」

I hadn’t known that. That Zero had circumstances of his own.

I thought he just happily crunched chocolate chip cookies all day without a care in the world.

‘That’s… surprisingly unexpected.’

「Hmph! So you should respect me more!」

‘How does that conclusion make sense? No.’

「Grrr…!」

The hamster god, wearing a silk top hat and holding a toothpick-sized cane, threw a tantrum, but I ignored him.

Thanks to Zero acting like his usual self, the unsettled feeling in my heart finally calmed, like still water.

Michael, Ruth, and I walked quietly for a while through the endlessly winding secret passage.

Because this tunnel wasn’t too far below the surface, we occasionally heard the gloomy groans of zombies.

“Guuurrr……”

“Uuuuuu……”

“Graaahhhk……”

Hearing the sounds of mindless, walking chunks of meat roaming the streets wasn’t pleasant.

‘Creepy……’

Fortunately—or maybe unfortunately—most people in the capital were already dead or infected, so we didn’t hear zombies actively attacking humans.

If we had to hear zombies ripping into people in real time, I might have given up on food or anything else.

Even Michael, a holy knight, and Ruth, a mage, were bothered by the noise outside.

“I want to go out and blow their heads off right now.”

“For the first time, I agree with the holy knight. One wide-area attack spell and they’d all be roasted.”

Their conversation was brutal. I was glad these two were on my side.

「Well, at least you don’t have to worry about being bitten by zombies anytime soon. Your bodyguards’ specs are insane.」

‘Mm.’

Still, no amount of strength can win against being swarmed—if zombies came in numbers, it wouldn’t matter.

As I imagined something depressing, I tried to lighten the mood by making a suggestion.

“Sir Michael, Mr. Ruth. Since the atmosphere is kind of gloomy, can we chat while we walk?”

This secret passage had strong soundproofing magic, so we didn’t need to worry about zombies hearing us and following.

Walking endlessly through an ant-nest-like tunnel was boring, so I made the suggestion—and the two accepted immediately.

“Not bad.”

“As long as it’s not the zombies outside making those gross gurgling sounds, I’m in.”

They seemed pretty on edge because of the zombies too.

“Since I suggested it, should I talk first?”

“Go ahead.”

“I know finding food is important, but like I told Mr. Ruth earlier, I also want to meet survivors.”

To complete the sub-quests, meeting survivors from the Damian ducal family, the Celeste marquis family, and the Rootry count family was inevitable.

So I carefully set the stage.

So that Michael and Ruth wouldn’t panic if we met survivors, but would instead focus on rescuing them.

“If there are survivors, they’ll help us reclaim the capital if we join forces.”

‘And it’ll stop the number of zombies from increasing even more.’

The fact that almost everyone in the capital was already dead or turned made it hopeless, but at the very least, we had to stop the zombie count from rising further.

For now, zombies hadn’t climbed over the city’s walls, so when I checked the map earlier, all the red dots were still inside the capital.

“Noble households probably protected their mansions with magic barriers. If we rescue them, we might gain capable allies.”

As I delivered my point—that we should rescue them and bring them to our side—Ruth spoke.

“Oh? There’s light up ahead?”

He was right.

After walking for a long while, we finally saw the exit to District Duo-2