Chapter 16 – The Rise of the Dead
Ignes continued, his tone steady.
"The people who fell asleep…"
"One by one… they started waking up."
He paused.
"But not all of them."
"Those who woke up…"
"They gained powers."
"Abilities beyond normal humans."
"And those who didn't wake up…"
His voice lowered slightly.
"They turned into zombies."
"Zombies are nothing but dead bodies that can move."
"They don't think."
"They don't feel."
"They just… exist."
"The world fell into chaos."
"Cities collapsed."
"Governments lost control."
"People panicked."
"But not everything was lost."
"The army, reserves, and surviving civilians…"
"They gathered together."
"They built safe zones."
"Strong and Thick walls."
"High enough to keep death outside."
"They created bases."
"Places where humanity could survive."
Ignes continued,
"My boyfriend was the youngest general."
"He led one of those bases."
"For two years…"
"I didn't kill a single zombie."
"After that…"
"I only hunted high-level zombies."
Leopold frowned.
"That doesn't make sense."
"Shouldn't you kill the weak ones first?"
"And avoid the stronger ones?"
"Why the reverse?"
Ignes replied calmly,
"As I said—zombies are just dead bodies."
"Think about what happens to a corpse after months."
"They rot."
"They decay."
"They stink."
He looked at them.
"Low-level zombies are like that."
He paused slightly.
"But high-level ones are different."
"They don't rot."
"They don't decay."
"They look… almost human."
Ignes added bluntly,
"I didn't want to throw up while fighting."
Silence.
The people in the room stared at him.
Laurence finally spoke,
"…You really like clean things."
"Even your enemies need to be clean?"
Ignes nodded slightly.
Frederick crossed his arms.
"I thought you would create a vaccine for the virus."
"Was it too difficult?"
Ignes shook his head.
"No."
"I didn't create a cure."
He looked away slightly.
"It was an apocalypse."
"We didn't have the materials needed."
"But…"
"I did find a way to stop people from turning into zombies."
A brief silence followed.
"And later…"
"As I said…"
"I killed the Zombie King."
Alistair let out a breath.
"Well… here, at least, peace has just begun."
"Let's hope it lasts."
At that moment—
The door opened.
Six young men entered.
All around twenty-one years old.
They walked in properly and greeted the four Dukes and the Emperor with formal respect.
Ignes looked at them.
Then turned to Alexander.
"Dad…"
"Who are these uncles?"
For a moment—
Silence.
Then—
The Dukes and the Emperor burst out laughing at the same time.
One of the young men sighed.
"So it's true… he lost his memory."
Another walked straight toward Ignes.
Without warning—
He picked him up and spun him around.
Ignes blinked, slightly dizzy.
"Who are you calling me 'uncle', huh?" the man said.
Ignes immediately replied,
"Sorry—Will—put me down."