The Prince Who Absorbs Abilities With a ‘Click’

Chapter 18: Adding Zombie Apocalypse to the Dungeon Management Genre

A deep sigh escaped me as I left the Prince’s Palace.

I was heading toward the main palace where my father, the Emperor, and my older brother, the Crown Prince, were.

‘Is this already the fourth time?’

This was my fourth visit to the main palace in less than a month.

The first visit was when my older brother, Raiel, told me to go to the city of Kverndel as its lord next year.

The second visit was when I went to ask the Crown Prince about the death of the seventh prince, Jade.

The third visit was when I attended Jade’s funeral.

And today was the fourth visit.

The purpose of this visit was a meeting.

‘I never expected there would be such an urgent summons.’

Raiel had urgently called for a political meeting.

It was a meeting to discuss the state affairs of the Empire.

Of course, this time, it was being held under the Crown Prince’s guidance, so it was smaller in scale.

Still, it was a bothersome task.

‘I just want to lie down.’

Because of that, I was heading straight to the meeting without even exchanging greetings with the newly assigned maidservants.

And as I glanced at Lynette, who was following closely behind, I had a fleeting thought.

‘I really should start looking for a bodyguard soon.’

With the new maidservants joining, the palace had gained more people to work.

But the problem was with the bodyguards.

Right now, I didn’t feel the need for one, thanks to the protection of the royal family.

Even though I was leaving the Prince’s Palace now, this was still the heart of the Exion Empire.

Naturally, there was no risk of anyone harming me from the outside, but things would change starting next year when I leave the royal family.

If I go to another city, I will no longer be under the royal family’s protection.

Of course, being a prince, there will be support, but I can’t expect the same level of ironclad security as I have now.

‘But still, there’s no one suitable to pick.’

As I thought about the bodyguards, I couldn’t help but think of my mother.

Naturally, the woman who gave birth to me in this world is not the Empress.

If I had to describe her, she was just a maid who caught the Emperor’s eye and spent one night with him.

In the process, I was born and my mother’s status was elevated, but that was all.

‘Her family was said to be incredibly poor.’

Looking at the bigger picture, below the Empress, there are two sons and one daughter.

One of the two sons is Crown Prince Raiel, and the others, like me, were princes and princesses born from concubines.

They may be viewed as simply other concubines’ children, but the most significant difference is in the power of their maternal families.

The others still receive considerable support from their maternal families.

Naturally, personal bodyguards are often provided with the help of their families.

But I’m different.

I’ve heard that my maternal family is so poor they might as well be considered fallen nobles.

Support?

Naturally, there’s none, and I’ve never received any.

The bodyguards of a prince are different from others.

The personal guards for the others are, after all, people from their families.

Since they’ve been loyal to their families for a long time, they can trust them to guard them.

But me?

I don’t have anything like that. Naturally, I have to find a bodyguard myself, but how can I trust a complete stranger?

Still, I didn’t resent my mother or her family.

If I hadn’t remembered my past life, I might have been upset, but my body may be young, but my mind is mature.

‘Yeah, I’m an adult by now.’

While thinking this, a sudden thought crossed my mind.

“Oh, Lynette.”

When I called Lynette’s name, she immediately responded.

“Yes, Your Highness!”

“By the way, do you know who’s attending today’s meeting?”

It’s a gathering of those who lead the country to discuss major policies and issues.

Naturally, since it’s an important meeting, representatives from the Empire’s various ministries were supposed to attend.

However, in the case of an urgent meeting like this one, it’s different.

Since this wasn’t a regular meeting, only the necessary departments had been summoned.

From this, I could roughly deduce what the meeting would be about.

Lynette paused for a moment before speaking.

“Now that you mention it, the Commander of the Royal Knights was supposed to attend. Other than that… there was no one else.”

“…Only the Knights?”

Hmm. If only the Knights were summoned, could it be something that requires force?

But it’s not a war.

If it were a war, everyone would have been called.

‘I don’t know.’

There was no way to figure it out. I had no choice but to attend the meeting to understand what was going on.

“You came quickly, Kain.”

When I arrived at the meeting room, Raiel, my older brother, greeted me first.

He was seated in the seat right below the Emperor.

The Emperor’s seat was empty, and the Commander of the Royal Knights was seated next to my brother.

‘Ah, if I had known this, I should’ve come later.’

All the other seats were empty.

I rushed here fearing I’d be late, but it turns out I was the first to arrive.

But what could I do?

I had already arrived, and I couldn’t just turn back.

I bowed my head towards Raiel.

“I greet Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”

This was a formal setting.

It would’ve been fine if it were just the two of us, but now, the Commander of the Royal Knights was also present.

So, I greeted as respectfully as possible.

“You don’t need to be so formal. I called you here because I wanted to speak with you comfortably, so let’s begin the meeting.”

“Eh? But no one else has arrived…”

What is he talking about?

How can the meeting start when no one else is here?

Seeing my bewildered expression, Raiel smiled.

“Actually, for this meeting, I only called the Commander and you.”

“……?”

Why?

I still didn’t understand.

‘What do the Knights have to do with me?’

I had no idea.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure it out.

In the end, my brain, which was high on dopamine, refused to think any further.

“Kain, you know well that Jade’s body was absent from the funeral, don’t you?”

Of course, I knew.

We hadn’t even been able to retrieve his body from the dungeon, after all.

That’s why, even without a body, we held the funeral using Jade’s trimmed nails before he set out for the dungeon raid.

“Even though he’s dead, he’s still of royal blood, and my brother. Naturally, retrieving his body was the proper thing to do.”

Well, if that’s the case, why didn’t he call the Royal Knights earlier?

But Raiel didn’t do that.

‘Of course.’

Even though Raiel spoke fondly of Jade, deep down, he was probably thrilled.

Why? Because Jade had died without him having to lift a finger.

Still, I nodded.

“Your Highness is right. Of course, the body should be retrieved.”

Although internally, I was thinking, ‘It’s fine if we don’t retrieve the body,’ I knew better than to say that here.

Satisfied with my response, Raiel laughed even more.

“I’m glad to hear you think that way.”

Ah, something feels off.

Raiel continued.

“So, I’m giving you an order. Go to the dungeon, defeat it, and retrieve Jade’s body.”

???

“What? Me? Why?”

“This matter happened near Kverndel, right? It’s a good opportunity for you, who will be the lord of the city next year.”

“So, you want a sixteen-year-old like me to enter the dungeon?”

“Yes, at sixteen, you’re old enough. It’s a royal body we’re recovering, so it would be ridiculous to just send knights. Instead, I’ll assign you royal knights.”

When the Crown Prince spoke, the Commander of the Royal Knights, who was sitting next to him, added a comment.

“You don’t need to worry, Your Highness. The Royal Knights are strong. If Lord Jade had been with the knights, there wouldn’t have been any accidents.”

That’s obvious.

As the Commander said, the Royal Knights could easily handle most dungeons.

‘But why do I have this strange feeling?’

Something felt off.

If we were going to retrieve the body, shouldn’t we have done it before the funeral?

I couldn’t understand.

Kain left and the smile that had adorned Prince Raiel’s face turned cold.

“Leopold.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

“You are loyal to me, aren’t you?”

“Of course! I will dedicate my life to serving you, Your Highness!”

Leopold, the commander of the Imperial Knights, who stood at the pinnacle of Exion Empire’s guardians, bowed his head.

Hearing his reply, Raiel lowered his voice.

“It seems the lich living in the dungeon where Jade died is quite skilled. Very skilled, in fact. All the adventurers we sent have gone missing.”

The Crown Prince had used the adventurers as bait to assess the dungeon’s strength.

The result? All of them disappeared.

Which meant they had perished in the dungeon.

Upon hearing the news, Raiel concluded:

The lich in that dungeon is stronger than expected.

Initially, the dungeon had been part of a plan to suppress or eliminate Kain.

But now, the dungeon appeared to pose a potential threat to the empire itself if left unchecked.

Thus, Raiel decided to accelerate his plans.

Kain needed to be removed quickly.

Of course, eliminating Kain alone would draw suspicion.

“By the way, I heard there are some worthless burdens in the knights’ ranks. Is that true?”

No matter how elite the knights might be, wherever people gather, there are always a few duds.

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Leopold’s answer satisfied Raiel.

“Good. Then we should deal with those kinds of people swiftly.”

However, dismissing them outright for being incompetent would demoralize the Imperial Knights.

Raiel had a clever idea.

“Assign them to Kain. Their last moments will be in that dungeon with him.”

If Kain dies, the dungeon will lose its value. Raiel planned to clear it out immediately afterward.

Alternatively, he could use the same method to deal with other siblings if necessary.

“A lich’s dungeon, huh…”

Raiel chuckled softly.

“I wonder what treasures might be hidden there.”

He licked his lips.

I had returned, drowning in despair.

“This doesn’t make any sense.”

Suddenly, I was ordered to conquer a dungeon. In just one month, no less.

“How is this even logical?”

The situation was completely absurd.

This lack of coherence was absolutely baffling.

What’s more, there was no reason for me to go personally.

“Ha.”

Sending the knights alone would have sufficed, but Crown Prince Raiel was deliberately escalating the matter.

What was his excuse? Sending me to recover the body of a royal family member?

I knew very well that he just wanted to get rid of me.

“This really makes me want to stage a coup.”

If I had the power, I would’ve overthrown the system already.

The lack of that power, though…That was the issue.

“Sigh. I guess I’ll just play some games.”

I needed an outlet for my frustration.

I pulled out my smartphone and turned it on.

First, I checked the notifications on the top bar.

[Kang Ha-yoon offers a ‘Rusty Sword.’]
[Kang Ha-yoon offers a ‘Cream Bun.’]

“She’s consistent, at least.”

In the game Survivor Simulator: Last Days on Earth, Kang Ha-yoon regularly offered me items.

Although most of the offerings, apart from the gun and occasional bullets, were useless, her dedication was admirable.

“I’d like to reward her more, but my mood’s really off today.”

Indeed, what I needed now wasn’t the apocalyptic wasteland of her world.

[The contracted magical girl, ‘Seo Ji-won,’ is in psychological distress.]

Nor was it the magical-girl-themed game.

What I wanted was this.

“Dungeon Master.”

A game set in the dungeon-management genre.

[The dungeon master, ‘Skeleton Gunner,’ offers the sacrifice ‘Laurent’s corpse.’]
[A random ability from the deceased ‘Laurent’ will be absorbed.]
[Acquired the trait: ‘Basic Aura (D).’]
[The dungeon master, ‘Skeleton Gunner,’ offers the sacrifice ‘Amy’s corpse.’]
[A random ability from the deceased ‘Amy’ will be absorbed.]
[Acquired the trait: ‘Mana Detection (C).’]

The notifications showed that Skeleton Gunner, my loyal servant, had offered sacrifices to me.

“You’re adorable.”

I had no idea how to use these traits, but that didn’t matter.

“What kind of chaos should I cause today?”

I decided to manage the dungeon…but not in the usual way.

“Why just defend the dungeon? I could go on the offensive.”

It was just a game, after all.

Isn’t it unfair that only adventurers get to invade?

I planned to take my dungeon’s forces outside and attack first.

Moreover, the game world was identical to the one I lived in.

In the game, at least, I could wreak havoc in the Exion Empire.

“Let’s check on that zombie head.”

Kang Ha-yoon had once offered me a zombie’s head.

I placed it in the dungeon, and it had infected some of the intruders.

Was it because it came from an apocalyptic world?

The infected intruders turned into zombies and joined my dungeon’s ranks.

“The apocalypse is such a blessing.”

I decided to blend the dungeon-management genre with a zombie apocalypse.