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Chapter 29: 018. Imperial Prince is Really Toiling Away -3 (Part One)

**

The Vampire Count ripped into the corpse lying on the shield and swallowed it up. A rotting right arm got chewed rather noisily.

As he savoured the wonderful taste in his mouth, his huge body suddenly wobbled a little. Zombies were holding up the sedan chair from below, but they found it difficult to maintain smooth balance. The Vampire Count clicked its tongue and shifted its eyes back to the Ronia fortress.

– Ah, ah!! I can feel it.

The Count could sense the aura of the living.

The fresh meat it couldn’t taste for the past fifty years was waiting to be plundered just over yonder. How many people were cooped up in fearful huddles over there? A few hundreds? Thousands? Maybe even tens of thousands?

How fresh would their flesh and blood taste in its mouth?

How much stronger would the army be after all those humans were killed off and turned into the undead soldiers?

This monster had been waiting for an opportunity for the past fifty years. It started off as an egoless zombie that only moved according to its instincts, then it became a ghoul, before managing to morph into a dullahan, and then, to a zombie lord. Eventually, it became a vampire.

Long story short, it had become an existence that was able to ‘think’ and make ‘judgments’ for itself.

Just how long did the Vampire Count wait for this moment?

To think that it’d possess enough power to command an army of undead, as well as to wield an enormous level of demonic energy too!

The aristocratic classification among the vampires was based upon the level of demonic energy they possessed. Although this particular monster hadn’t been acknowledged by other vampires yet and therefore did not earn its rank normally, it still felt confident of boasting as much power as a Vampire Count did.

‘A Count? No, I’m above such a rank!’

Look at this amassed army! Even a vampire with the Marquis rank wouldn’t be able to amass an army of over twenty thousand undead!

‘That’s right, I’m no mere Count. I’m more than enough to become the Vampire Lord, no, the King!’

The Vampire Count slowly stroked the necklace that hung around its neck; a skull of a mountain goat, one that was much larger than that of a human being’s.

‘This is it, the skull of the Necromancer King, Amon!’

Here it was, the tool that transformed this creature into a Vampire Count. A normal zombie wouldn’t even be able to become a vampire after collecting demonic energy for the next 100 years or so, and yet this skull managed to do the job in only a few decades.

It helped the monster with numerous things such as; gathering demonic energy, preserving the creature’s body, and strengthening it even further. Very soon, it should be able to exceed the ranks of a Count and step onto the road towards becoming a Vampire King. And this very moment would be the first step in its path towards kingship, something it had been preparing diligently for the past few decades.

– I am the monarch, the inheritor of the God of Death, Yudai’s will!

The Vampire Count spread its arms wide open elegantly and exploded in a peal of bizarre laughter. Suddenly, light began exuding from the eye sockets of Necromancer King Amon’s skull.

Demonic energy spread out seemingly everywhere. The undead, who sensed the aura of death, raised their heads up high while issuing creaking noises.

– Oh, my dear undead!

The Vampire Count pointed its chubby and thick finger at the Ronia fortress.

– Go now and punish...

The monster smirked and roared out.

– Those that suffer the trials of life!

The moment its words came to an end, all the undead moved simultaneously.

The army screeched and howled as they marched towards Ronia.

**

(In 1st person POV)

It’s been exactly one week since I got imprisoned here.

I should’ve been released already, and yet for some reason, no one showed up to free me. What’s going on here? At the very least, Charlotte should have already come here with my breakfast in tow.

I grasped the iron bars and sneaked a glance at the outside. “Oi, is anyone out there? You should at least give me something to eat! I’m starving here!”

It was then, I heard a noisy clamour.

“Hurry! Hurry up...!”

The feudal lord, accompanied by his soldiers, was quickly approaching my location. Although he still enjoyed a somewhat rotund physique and elaborately styled beard, his complexion was as pale as one could be. The same applied to his escorts, as well.

They hurriedly ran over towards the prison as if they were being chased by something. One of the soldiers quickly tried to open the cell’s door with his trembling hands.

“Goddammit! Why isn’t it opening up??”

The frustrated soldier yelled out loudly.

He was so fraught with fear that he even momentarily forgot about the fact that the feudal lord and the Imperial Prince were nearby.

“What’s this? Did something happen?”

My question caused the feudal lord to flinch. He quickly wiped away his cold sweat and replied. “I-it’s nothing much, your highness. Ha, hahaha!”

It’s nothing much? If so, why are you sweating so profusely when it’s this cold? Also, I can see that your eyes are trembling from anxiety too.

I frowned slightly and checked the feudal lord’s name through [Mind’s Eye].

[Name: Jenald Ripang (Viscount)

Age: 43

Specialty: Offering consolation, communication skills, merciful.]

What the heck? Wasn’t he demoted to this place because he diverted taxes meant for the Imperial Court? If he did that, then what’s up with all those Buddha-like attributes?

The feudal lord, Jenald, patted the shoulder of the frustrated soldier. “C-calm down, man.”

“S-sir? Ah... Of course.”

The soldier grinned bitterly before finally managing to unlock the cell door. He probably found that the scene of his lord trying to calm him down while being more fearful than he was, rather pitiful to behold.

Meanwhile, the feudal lord forced a smile and spoke to me, “W-we came to escort you, your highness. Please, let us leave this place as soon as possible.”

While listening to those words, I exited from the cell and headed to the plaza along with them. Next to us, I could see hundreds of the fiefdom’s subjects moving somewhere under the guidance of many soldiers.

I naturally became puzzled by this sudden change in the fortress’ atmosphere.

Jenald then issued new commands to his soldiers, “Send the word out to Sir Harman that I’ve secured His Highness the Imperial Prince.”

“Yes sir!”

This soldier must’ve been the real deal and not a convict, judging from the way he strictly adhered to the protocols by saluting the feudal lord properly. After doing so, the soldier quickly rushed elsewhere.

“Your highness, shall we get going? Please allow me to escort you to a safer place.”

“...Just what is going on here?”

I scanned my vicinity once more.

Soldiers were busily moving about in the streets. Some of them were definitely evacuating the citizens, while others fully kitted out in their combat gear, were hurriedly running in the opposite direction.

“...It’s because of the Tide of Death, your highness.”

The Tide of Death?

Ah, that’s right. It’s almost the 25th, wasn’t it?

Indeed, this would be when the undead would grow even more vicious than ever before.

“I thought that it’s not an event worthy of this much hullabaloo, though? Didn’t the information say that we should be fighting against three or maybe four thousand undeads at most?”

Besides, those monsters didn’t even possess siege weapons and only relied only on their base instincts, too. As long as you stayed behind the fortress walls, it shouldn’t be all that dangerous.

That’s right, those monsters were such pushovers that even the shoddy walls and convicts without that much training could easily stop them.

Unfortunately for me, though, Viscount Jenald sighed helplessly and replied as if to put an end to my naïve thoughts. “The situation is completely different this time, your highness. Their scale is on another realm altogether.”

“...Okay, so. How many showed up, then?”

“It’s over twenty thousand.”

“In the past week?”

“...No, this is merely the number that showed up today, your highness. All of them made their moves simultaneously today.”

I became utterly speechless upon hearing this. What the hell? Wasn’t it supposed to be safe if you just remained behind the fortress walls?

“Whatever the case may be, let us leave together, your highness. Although it is unlikely, the fortress could get overrun so I must escort you to a safer location before it’s...”

“My lord!”

A knight hurriedly ran up to us and whispered something in Jenald’s ear,

“We... we’re surrounded?”

“There are about three thousand undead monsters waiting for us near the rear gates, my lord.”

“...Have they attacked yet?”

“No, but as implied, they are on standby. It’s as if they are waiting to devour anyone hoping to evacuate, my lord.”

...What the hell, so it’s really dangerous now?

“K-hmm, your highness. How about we return to my mansion? We shall...”

SWOOOSH-!!

Ka-booooom!!