Chapter 11
6. Fists Are Faster Than Law, Faster Than Magic
“Zombies? Aaaah! Young master, it’s dangerous! Stay seated here!”
“Wait! What are you doing?”
“I’m curious, so I’m going to watch!”
Zombies had appeared!
Judging by the conversation between the Crown Prince and the young master, we shouldn’t be seeing zombies near the Imperial Palace. Yet, here they were.
Perhaps the heavens were helping the young master gather cores easily.
“I should rescue the coachman first before watching.”
Fortunately, my formal maid uniform had a short skirt. I jumped out of the carriage and ran straight to the driver’s seat.
There were three zombies. The struggling horse was being devoured.
“Aaaah! Today’s my life insurance renewal date!”
I lifted the trembling man from the driver’s seat.
“Z-zombie?”
“No! Passenger!”
I jumped off the carriage, carrying the coachman. He whimpered like a frightened puppy.
Grrrr— One of the zombies, which had been tearing into the horse meat, turned its head. Its vacant eyes stared at us.
“Eek.”
“Kyaaa!”
I threw the coachman inside the carriage and slammed the door shut. Just as I was about to twist the lock, the young master’s hand shot out and stopped the door.
I almost closed the door on his hand.
“Young master! It’s dangerous!”
“You’re the one in danger!”
He was trying to get out of the carriage. The zombies were getting to their feet, one by one. They had sensed fresh prey.
“Move.”
“You’re going to fight them yourself?”
The young master’s clothing ornaments shimmered with a faint light. They were magic stones, doubling as decorations. They weren’t powerful enough to defeat three zombies.
Besides, judging by how they were tearing into the raw horse meat, the zombies were extreme carnivores. Unless the young master had dedicated himself to strength training for the past five years, it would be impossible to defeat them in hand-to-hand combat.
“Leave it to me.”
This was a good opportunity to prove my worth to my lifelong employer.
When it came to zombie extermination, there was no one better than me. I had a strong stomach and wasn’t squeamish about anything: insects, monsters, even horses defecating while running.
Zombie extermination would be too much for the young master, who, despite his magical abilities, was sensitive and obsessed with hygiene. I, Estella, was more than capable of handling dirty work.
“Estella, get out of the way. It’s my duty to collect the zombie cores.”
“I’m your official assistant, appointed by the Crown Prince.”
“Don’t talk back.”
“I’ll take care of this quickly. Trust me.”
The young master’s expression darkened. Seizing the opportunity, I slammed the carriage door shut and twisted the lock. The broken door showed no sign of opening, no matter how hard I rattled it.
Good! Young master secured! …I mean, safety secured!
“Estella! Damn it! You’re not even a golem, how are you so strong?”
“Mr. Coachman! Lend me your whip!”
Grrrr— The three zombies shuffled towards me, groaning. Their skin was blue, their flesh rotting. The stains on their bodies must have been dried blood.
They were as slow as snails. I quickly snatched the whip from the driver’s seat.
“Come at me! No, wait, I’ll come at you!”
I cracked the whip towards the zombies. The thick leather whip struck the sand hard, right next to one of them.
“You’re trying to scare them away?”
The coachman, who was watching me through the window, shouted.
I continued to crack the whip. The zombies, agitated by the sound, drooled green saliva. They swung their skeletal arms wildly.
My whip didn’t hit any of them.
“Hmm! This isn’t going as planned!”
In my imagination, a single crack of the whip would have bound all the zombies and sliced them in half…
Reality was different.
Just because I died and came back to life didn’t mean my tool proficiency suddenly increased. I felt a bit embarrassed.
“Estella, you idiot! Open the door! I can’t see the targets for my spells!”
“No way, Young Master! What if those zombies bite your delicate flesh! Don’t you see them drooling green saliva?”
The carriage window was covered by the terrified coachman.
“Of course I can’t see!”
It had to be hand-to-hand combat.
I charged at a zombie and threw a punch. This was easy. The moment my fist connected with the zombie was instantaneous, but it felt slow motion to me.
Thud— Boom! The zombie collapsed. Sticky blood splattered on the tree trunk behind it. My fist was covered in a disgusting, sticky mess.
“Ugh—disgusting! So unsanitary!”
I grimaced. Just then, another zombie, seemingly enraged, bit my arm!
“Estella!”
With my free arm, I slammed the zombie’s head from above. I kicked another zombie that was approaching from the side. When its intestines got tangled in my black Mary Jane shoes, I couldn’t help but scream again.
The carriage shook. It was the sound of the young master struggling to open the door.
Crash! With a loud cracking sound, the carriage door burst open. He had finally managed to open it.
“No, Young Master!”
The zombie I had punched in the head groaned and lunged at the young master. I grabbed the other zombie that was biting me by the neck and threw it.
Boom! The zombie flew towards the other one. They collided and tumbled away.
Whoosh! Black flames erupted from the ground, forming silver crystals before vanishing in a whirlwind. It was the young master’s magic. As soon as he cast the spell, one of his brooches crumbled to dust.
“Ugh! That expensive item! It cost a fortune! Young Master! Why did you waste magic like that!”
“You’re in no position to be saying that!”
He was angry at me. I ran to the carriage and grabbed the door. To secure him again, I mean, to protect him.
Crack— The precariously hanging door came off completely as I pulled on it.
“Gasp!”
“Estella…”
The young master sighed and snapped his fingers. Magic instantly activated, engulfing the nearby zombies in flames.
“You’re scaring the coachman. Why did you tear off the door?”
“I’m sorry. I still can’t control my strength… Should I try to put it back on?”
I tried, but it didn’t work. Meanwhile, one of the zombies, writhing in the flames, lunged at me.
“Dodge!”
“Mommy!”
Instinctively, I swung my arm. The problem was, I was still holding the carriage door.
“Kyaaaaa!”
“Aaaaah!”
The zombie and the coachman’s screams blended into a horrifying chorus.
The zombies I hit with the door were flung away. Their decaying bodies were squashed like moldy bread dough.
“Ugh, disgusting! Unsanitary!”
I thought I had a strong stomach, but this was too much. I swung the carriage door again.
“Estella! Calm down! Estella!”
The young master’s voice sounded distant. I continued swinging the door, smashing the zombie remains.
The thudding and squelching sounds were horrifying. At some point, I must have started pounding the zombies unconsciously. The coachman’s screams were faint, like background music.
As I was losing myself in the carnage, a fist-sized red sphere popped out of one of the zombie bodies.
It was the zombie core.
“Young Master! Look! I think we just need to pick those up!”
I threw the carriage door far away. Crash! The heavy wooden door scraped against the ground and shattered. It seemed too fragile.
Even after being dented twice and used to beat zombies fifty times, it shouldn’t have broken so easily.
“It seems like you’ve completely taken care of the zombies.”
“Huh?”
The young master’s words brought me back to my senses. Looking around, the zombies were gone. Only the messy remains of what were once zombies were left.
The coachman had fallen silent. He must have fainted.
“It looks like a pearl.”
Unlike its gruesome owner, the zombie core was beautiful, like a red pearl. It didn’t look like rotten flesh or a heart.
It was a large, sparkling, unique gem. We might find more if we searched the zombie remains.
“Estella.”
The young master was about to get out of the carriage. I hurried over to escort him.
“I can get out of the carriage myself.”
“But…”
I stepped aside as he got out.
Strangely, instead of heading straight for the zombies, he stood still, holding onto my hand.
Aha! He wanted me to pick them up!
Well, as a maid, it would be a disgrace to let my master walk on that unsanitary scene with his expensive shoes. I had to pick up the zombie cores and present them to him.
As I was about to approach the zombies, the young master pulled me towards him. I wasn’t bracing myself, so I stumbled into his arms.
“Oops. Sorry.”
I tried to regain my balance, but he didn’t move. He even wrapped his arm around my waist to steady me.
Was he going to… dance with me in front of the zombies?
“Young Master, you know I don’t have a dancing function, right?”
“Your hand. It’s broken.”
He was staring at my hand. He then took off his gloves and gently examined my hand with his bare hand.
He was right. My fingers were cracked and broken, like eggshells. I must have injured them when I was shaking the carriage door.
He frowned and muttered,
“I can’t fix this here…”
“We can fix it when we get back to the mansion.”
“Yes, that’s not the problem. The problem is how we’re going to get home.”
“Because of the carriage?”
I pointed at myself with my free hand, thumb up.
“Hop on!”
Instead of answering, he gestured with his chin towards the distance.
Grrrrraaaah— More zombies were approaching, more than before.