Accidentally Formed a Reverse Harem in the Apocalypse Chapter 67 - Grow, Stamina and Strength

Whenever I failed to endure the high-intensity training and vented my surging rage, a mysterious manhunt broke out across the ducal estate.

“Get back here! You damn rat bastard!”

「Uuuaah, save me, trainee constellation! The saintess is trying to kill me! Help me!」

Whenever I lost my temper and chased Zero with murderous intent, Michael, Aston, Benedict, and Ruth would all mobilize at once and drag me back to the training grounds.

Surrounded by people with excellent stats, I flailed like a freshly caught fish at a seafood market. It was a meaningless struggle, but if I didn’t at least do that much, I felt like I’d explode.

“Let go! Let go, I said!”

As I screamed and shouted “Zero, you XXX,” Michael spoke to me.

“Please calm yourself, Your Grace. Isn’t it about time you accepted reality? If you wish to fight zombies, you must build stamina.”

“As if I don’t know that!”

I just wanted to escape this insane training intensity!

Faced with a hellish training schedule that made me want to flee, I threw dignity out the window and wailed like a pig being slaughtered.

“This is too hard… Why do I have to do this…?”

“Isn’t it obvious? We’re comrades who’ll be fighting together.”

Aston said this while casually running thirty laps around the training grounds with dozens of sandbags strapped to his body, his shirt pulled off without a care.

His abs looked as if a master sculptor had stayed up all night carving them with devotion—six deep valleys etched across his torso.

Even Aston’s back muscles were murderous. I felt like getting hit by them would send me flying.

‘What a monster…’

Even Aston’s broad, beautiful chest didn’t register as admirable. It was just annoying. If only I had even half of half of those muscles.

“You’re perfectly good with firing mana-bullet guns. Why do I have to go this far? I told you last time—just let me handle rear support….”

Among the things I gathered while visiting the Damon Ducal House, the Celeste Marquessate, and the Rutri County were mana bullets.

None of them were as obscenely wealthy as House Keaton, so the ammunition wasn’t endless, but there was still a decent amount, so I took it gladly.

Sherry, Cloud, Jacqueline, and Nadia all readily gave permission when they saw me use the mana-bullet gun.

Thanks to that, I could safely hunt zombies from within a barrier as long as I shot well, without worrying about running out of bullets—but the party members were desperate to grind me down with physical training instead.

Hearing my complaints, Aston wiped away his sweat and spoke.

“I know it’s hard, Duke. Until the zombie outbreak, you lived the life of an ordinary noble lady. It’s only natural that training feels brutal.”

“…And you know that, yet you drag me here every single time?! Aaaah!”

Dragging sandbags behind me, trembling like a newborn fawn, I finally collapsed.

“……”

I never imagined there’d come a day when I’d learn what dirt tastes like. Damn it.

“Are you all right?”

Aston held out a hand to help me up as I lay there pathetically. I took it without thinking—then froze at the sudden strength of his grip.

Especially since the force pulled me straight into his arms.

“……!”

“Duke Keaton, you’re far too light. You eat quality meals every day—why are you so thin?”

“Ee—eeeek!”

A seagull’s scream upon meeting its natural predator burst from my mouth.

‘S-skin! Bare skin touching!’

Coming from a strictly Confucian country where physical contact between men and women was a big deal, this was way too stimulating—no, more than that, it was overwhelming!

Wow. So this is what people mean when they say abs are like a washboard. His chest wasn’t even flesh—it was practically stone—wait, stop. Bad thoughts. No bad thoughts.

“G-get away from me!”

My face blazing red, I pounded madly on Aston’s broad chest.

“Duke, wait—”

“Kyeeek!”

Thud.

I face-planted into the sand again, this time even more disgracefully. I wanted to crawl into a mouse hole….

With my face caked in sand, my mood was utterly ruined.

Seeing me look like a bread-crumbed fried shrimp, Zero had crawled over at some point and started snickering.

「H-hahaha! You look hilarious right now!」

“…I’m going to kill you. Seriously.”

That laugh was irritating enough to make me swear I’d twist him into a pretzel once training was over.

“Zero-nim, that’s enough. We can’t let the Duke lose any more motivation.”

Aston, who had taken on the role of instructor alongside Michael, scolded Zero—clearly to prevent me from whining and trying to escape again.

「Tch… fine. But make our kid super tough. Strong enough not to get pushed back even in close combat with zombies!」

‘Am I your child now?’

The guy who’d been calling me “hey, hey” suddenly using “our kid” made my skin crawl. When did we get that close?

Even if I couldn’t outright say I was a transmigrator, that kind of overly familiar nickname was still mortifying.

Michael, who faithfully served Zero as an actually existing god, responded confidently every time he heard such instructions.

“Of course. I’ve personally trained over twenty holy knights. Once this training is complete, Duke Keaton will have no issues physically.”

The way Michael looked down at me sprawled on the ground was terrifying. That was the exact expression of a personal trainer saying, ‘Just one more rep, okay?’

Save me. A holy knight is trying to kill me.

‘Why is it not enough that I ran into zombies in a romance fantasy—why do I also have to go through military-grade training?!’

“I can’t do it. I won’t. Just step on me and move on.”

When I lay there panting, Benedict paused mid-archery and muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.

“…Even a newborn fairy from El-Seca can do that…. Guess you’re really weak.”

“……”

Damn it. You couldn’t even run better than me when escaping through the secret passage. Knowing it was a provocation made it worse—and yet I still got up out of sheer spite.

“Damn it… If I have to, I’ll do it! I’ll build that stupid stamina!”

Crying openly, I strapped the sandbags back on and trudged around the training grounds like a crawling grub, while Ruth cheered from afar.

“Your Grace! Your Grace! Figh! Ting!”

‘You’re annoying too, you bastard.’

Because you’re a mage, you don’t have to exercise, huh? Because I’m powerless, I get ground into dust, huh?

“So unfair! This is so unfair!”

I ground my teeth and circled the training grounds, sweat pouring down.

I’d make damn sure to take this grudge out on the zombies.

“Gnnngh…!”

As I struggled with all my might, Zero approached me.

「You’re working hard. So I prepared something just for you.」

I had a bad feeling.

“Don’t you dare….”

「Nope~」

“Aaagh, you #%##$#$#!”

Ignoring my string of curses, Zero grinned.

Ding.

The long-silent status window chimed again.

[Sub Quest – Let’s Smack a Zombie! 1]

[Increase your stamina and go zombie hunting with your party members!]

[Designate one area and reclaim it.]

[Reward: Skill ‘Grow, Stamina · Strength’]

[Sub Quest – Let’s Smack a Zombie! 2]

[1) Spread word throughout the Empire that the capital, Agatha, is in danger!]

[2) Bring brave reinforcements willing to fight zombies to the capital!]

[Condition: Cooperation with allies is required for this quest.]

[Reward: Out-of-print book ‘Everything About Curses’]

[Sub Quest – In Search of the Unknown Mastermind]

[Reinvestigate the annihilation of the Warray family of Linstead.]

[Meet the sorcerer from the land of witchcraft, Quina.]

[Reward: One single-use defensive barrier that blocks any attack once]

「I put together a nice, packed quest list so you wouldn’t get bored.」

“…….”

I’m going to kill him. Definitely.

Once I clear the quests, I’m turning Zero into a flat pancake.

 

 

****

 

 

 

“Uuugh… uuuugh….”

After finishing the brutal training, Elizabeth—now resembling half-dried squid—staggered back to her room.

“Thank you for your hard work today.”

“Good work… oof, my joints….”

As Elizabeth disappeared, crawling away while suffering from severe muscle pain, four men gathered in the training grounds to hold a meeting.

Though they weren’t particularly close, they recognized each other as a team and attended these meetings without fail.

Zero had dubbed this gathering “The Men Who Defeat Zombies,” shortened to “Zom-Men.”

Elizabeth knew nothing of this secret meeting.

The de facto leader was Aston, the Whitewood Grand Duke, a man seasoned by countless trials.

He hadn’t volunteered for the role, but before anyone noticed, Aston had become the commander.

“Let’s begin the meeting.”

The opening line was familiar by now.

They stayed behind in the training grounds, a bonfire lit as they spoke.

“Sir Michael, how are the zombies outside moving?”

At Aston’s question, Michael replied in an even tone.

“Since rescuing the survivors left at House Damon, the Celeste Marquessate, and Rutri County, things have been strangely quiet. Fortunately, it’s bought us time to train Duke Keaton.”

“I see. Then, Ruth Critchern—have you been consistently requesting support from the Mage Tower?”

“Of course, Your Highness. I’ve repeatedly explained the danger of zombies and earnestly requested combat-type mages, but… it seems the Mage Tower now treats me as a nuisance. Even the Tower Master has begun refusing my calls.”

“To think everyone is so busy safeguarding only themselves—what a disgrace.”

Aston growled as he tore into a strip of jerky.

“Benedict Fairman, fairy-blooded one. You’re in charge of maintaining the barrier, correct? Have you noticed any zombies targeting House Keaton recently?”

Aston was oddly gentle toward Benedict, the youngest of the Zom-Men.

He handed him roasted sweet potatoes and boiled eggs while asking after the barrier’s condition.

Benedict accepted them without hesitation, chewing carefully and washing them down with juice.

“Maybe because there are zombie corpses around the barrier, but no zombies come near here. Even if they appear in the distance, they sense danger when they see the bodies and turn back.”

“So they can at least distinguish natural predators, like beasts.”

Aston recalled the zombie he’d seen before escaping through the secret passage—the one that used tools.

“Have you noticed any signs of them cooperating, or trying to use tools?”

“Nothing like that. When there’s no prey, they move slowly. They’re disgusting, but not actively threatening.”

“I see….”

‘Is it really a coincidence that intelligent zombies appeared?’

That thought unsettled Aston.

The timing was too convenient to dismiss as chance.

Moreover, they initially behaved like ordinary zombies before suddenly changing—suspicious, to say the least.

“If only we could identify the sorcerer controlling the zombies.”

“If that were possible, we should’ve discovered it back when I first came to House Keaton and dissected the zombie corpse.”

Ruth slumped back into a chair, eyes heavy with fatigue.

An all-rounder mage capable of using every discipline, Ruth had been burning himself out daily ever since sending the other mages stationed at the ducal estate back to the Mage Tower—draining his mana to the limit, then recovering, over and over again.