The Prince Who Absorbs Abilities With a ‘Click’

Chapter 21: This City is Now Mine

The lesson at the prince’s palace was in full swing.

The person teaching me was Viscount Lux.

He was a retainer serving Duke Crest, one of the four pillars of the empire.

What does that mean?

‘He’s practically one of the Crown Prince’s men.’

This is because the maternal grandfather of Crown Prince Raiel is Duke Crest.

‘But why did he suddenly come to teach my lesson?’

Many individuals are responsible for the prince’s education.

Until now, Viscount Lux had never taught me, not even once.

I couldn’t figure out why he was handling today’s lesson.

It didn’t seem particularly important anyway, so I just sat and listened.

The lesson content was nothing more than instructions on how to behave as a prince in the future.

“Your Highness, what is a ruler?”

The viscount’s cold gaze was directed at me.

‘His expression is seriously scary.’

I heard that Viscount Lux was originally a knight.

It was said that he caught the Duke’s eye and received his current title.

Perhaps because of his background as a knight, he had a rough atmosphere rather than the aristocratic elegance typical of nobles.

The viscount maintained a moment of silence and then let out a long sigh.

“Sigh, Your Highness. I hear your attitude hasn’t been great in other lessons either.”

“……”

Did he investigate me?

Of course, I couldn’t deny it.

It’s because games are just too much fun.

Even now, my head was filled with thoughts of quickly finishing the lesson so I could play games.

Recently, a new game has been released: Village-Building Tycoon.

It was the kind of game where I played the role of a god deciding the direction of the village’s development.

But to call it a village was an exaggeration.

‘The only facility there is a house….’

Moreover, because the village level was still at 1, the list of facilities I could construct was non-existent.

To make matters worse, the game’s time was set to match reality, making progress painfully slow.

And the location? If you asked whether it was good, absolutely not.

True to the northern region’s reputation, the land was barren and frozen. Farming was out of the question, and the cold climate made living conditions far from ideal.

‘No wonder people try to avoid the northern region.’

One thing was clear—the difficulty increased with each new game.

Even if the village was sustainable for now, it was obvious that life would soon collapse over time.

Thankfully, the in-game purchases I made to build houses caused the villagers’ faith to skyrocket.

In the end, the villagers were living on this barren land, sustained solely by their belief in me as their god.

If you just listened to the description, it sounded dull and hard.

So why was I playing this game?

It was all about collecting points.

‘Who would’ve thought I could earn points through prayers?’

The villagers prayed every morning and evening.

And those times were when I collected my points.

Beyond points, I saw potential in this game.

Village Building Tycoon shared a universe with the Dungeon Master game.

In other words, wouldn’t I eventually be able to create an army combining monsters and humans under my command?

That’s why, even though it was difficult, I was meticulously managing the village.

“…Your Highness?”

I must have been lost in thought.

Seeing that I wasn’t responding, the viscount continued.

“Your Highness, next year, you will become the lord of the city of Kverndel. A lord is also a kind of leader. Moreover, when Crown Prince Raiel ascends to the throne, won’t you have to assist him in some way?”

Viscount Lux’s voice was gentle, but his words carried sharp undertones.

That statement was essentially a roundabout way of saying I was useless as an emperor and should at least manage the city well to fulfill my purpose.

Ordinarily, I would have been furious at such a remark.

‘Well, it’s true, so I’m not really mad.’

The old, sensitive me had vanished under the influence of dopamine.

Now, only a calm and benevolent version of me remained.

“Since the flow has been interrupted, we’ll conclude today’s lesson here.”

Oh, an angel?

It seemed not all of the Crown Prince’s people were terrible.

Seeing kind individuals like Viscount Lux made me realize that you should judge people only after meeting them personally.

As he ended the lesson, the viscount left one last remark.

“Your Highness, a ruler is like a sword. A sword cannot be soft or merciful. A sword exists solely to strike down the opponent.”

His voice grew sharper.

“The most foolish act is to wield a sword but grant mercy out of some shallow sense of pity.”

At the same time, Viscount Lux’s gaze shifted.

“I hope Your Highness does not make the mistake of displaying such weakness. Kill when you can.”

Leaving behind such chilling words, the viscount departed.

“……”

I couldn’t take my eyes off him until he disappeared completely.

At last, when he was entirely gone—

“Sweet.”

I immediately took out my smartphone.

“The zombies should’ve arrived by now, right?”

I launched the Dungeon Master game.

The zombies I started with—just two—had grown into a horde of hundreds.

On their way to Balderheim City, they infected everyone they encountered.

Perhaps because of that, even among the zombies, their armaments varied.

Some wore shabby leather armor, while others donned silver-plated armor.

“A spectacle, a real spectacle.”

Watching the horde of zombies running on my screen gave me goosebumps.

This is what a zombie apocalypse should look like.

Finally, the zombie horde was approaching Balderheim City.

The city walls appeared on my smartphone screen.

As expected of a city governed by a duke, soldiers were stationed atop the walls to defend it.

I was curious.

Could the zombies from my Earth apocalypse penetrate a city ruled by a duke?

“All right, let’s see.”

Tapping the screen, I gave the command, and the zombies began to charge.

“Big brother, this city is mine now.”

Meanwhile, after finishing the lesson, Viscount Lux left the 8th Prince’s palace.

“Tch, he was even more unimpressive than I expected.”

Prince Kain’s attitude during the lesson was utterly abysmal.

There was no sign of focus or effort.

“It works in my favor, though.”

A smile crept onto Lux’s face.

The reason he was tasked with teaching Kain was due to an order from Crown Prince Raiel.

The prince’s recent behavior was strange, so Lux had been told to observe him. But what did he find after personally conducting the lesson?

Kain was utterly incompetent.

His participation as a prince was dismal, and his concentration was poor.

If there was something strange about him, it was indeed his behavior.

But that was all.

In fact, such strange behavior was beneficial.

‘If he self-destructs, it saves me the trouble.’

For a prince to behave like that it was certain that his reputation within the imperial family would plummet.

And that was precisely what Lux wanted. He had refrained from directly criticizing Kain’s behavior and instead ended the lesson because—

His loyalty did not lie with the empire or the emperor.

Viscount Lux’s allegiance was solely to Duke Crest, the one he currently served.

Not much time remained.

‘Soon, the era of the Crest family will dawn!’

The Crest family, the maternal family of the current empress—

When the emperor dies and Crown Prince Raiel ascends the throne, the Crest family will control the Exion Empire.

Until then, Lux’s task was to monitor the other princes’ every move.

If necessary, elimination was also on the table.

‘I don’t need to waste my time on Kain.’

Having concluded this, he was about to leave when—

“Viscount! Viscount Lux!”

From a distance, a servant ran toward him with a panicked expression.

“What’s with the commotion?”

“Well, it’s just that…!”

The servant took a deep breath before speaking.

“Just now, a message came from His Grace, the Duke!”

“From His Grace, the Duke?”

Viscount Lux tilted his head in puzzlement.

His Grace, Duke Crest, had sent a message? What could have happened?

“Alright, tell me quickly.”

The viscount waited for the servant’s next words.

“T-The city of Balderheim has just been invaded by monsters!”

Shocking news had arrived.

Before Viscount Lux received this information a horde of death, reeking of blood, stared blankly at the landscape of Balderheim.

“Grrrr…”

“Grrr, grrr!!”

At the forefront, two zombies with rotting, dangling flesh were holding a mimic that resembled a treasure chest.

Inside the mimic was the origin of all this calamity—the “Zombie Head.”

When one of the zombies opened the mimic’s lid, the Zombie Head let out a shrill scream.

“Kyahhh—!”

Thud—

The mimic’s lid closed again, and the shriek ceased.

The zombies stood motionless, awaiting their next command.

They waited.

Finally, the long-awaited command was issued.

Their prey was none other than the city right before their eyes.

“Grrrk!”

Hundreds of zombies began rushing toward the city walls in unison.

Their grotesque forms, with decayed flesh swinging as they ran, were beyond horrifying.

The guards patrolling the wall spotted them belatedly.

“What… what is that?”

The captain of the Balderheim city guard, who was also patrolling the walls, noticed the group.

What first caught his eye was the silver armor gleaming in the sunlight.

“Are they paladins?”

An adjutant beside him offered his opinion.

Certainly, that kind of silver armor was unique to the paladins.

A few days earlier, the church’s paladins had left the city.

“Hmm, have they returned?”

But were there so many of them?

And something was off. Their movements were unnaturally strange.

“Take a closer look.”

At the captain’s order, the adjutant pulled out a telescope and examined them. The sight he saw was…

“C-Captain!”

The adjutant’s face turned pale, his lips quivering as he barely managed to speak.

“They’re not paladins! Those things are…zombies!”

“…!”

The captain’s face contorted in shock.

Zombies? And in such a massive group? There were at least hundreds of them.

He had never seen such a large number of zombies before.

“Sound the alarm! Ring it now! Gather all off-duty soldiers!”

Urgent bells tolled from the watchtower.

“Lock the gates tight and prepare the fire arrows! They’re just zombies!”

The captain tried to steady his trembling voice.

If there was a silver lining, it was that zombies were known as one of the weakest monsters.

No matter how many there were, zombies were still just zombies.

If the gates were secured and they focused on defense, they should be able to fend them off.

“Don’t be afraid! They cannot climb the walls!”

But the captain’s relief was short-lived.

“Grrk!”

The zombies at the base of the wall began displaying an unbelievable sight.

They started climbing by stepping on each other’s corpses.

“Eek! L-Look over there!”

“They’re climbing! The zombies are climbing!! Save us!”

The soldiers screamed at the zombies’ unexpected behavior.

They were so terrified that they couldn’t even think to draw their bows.

One by one, step by step, the zombies formed a tower.

New zombies climbed over the fallen, and others followed.

At last, the zombie tower’s height matched the wall.

The first zombie appeared at the top of the tower.

Clad in blood-stained silver armor, the zombie was once a paladin named Kato.

But now, there was no trace of the paladin—only a cursed, undead form remained.

“Grrrk!”

The creature twisted its decayed mouth into a sinister grin, glaring at the soldiers before it. Then, it leaped onto the wall.

“Swing your swords! Everyone, swing your…!”

Before the captain could finish his order, the wall turned into a sea of blood.

“Save me! Someone, save…!”

“Run for your lives!”

Soldiers fell to the ground, bleeding profusely.

But it didn’t end there. The fallen soldiers’ corpses began twitching and rising again.

Their eyes no longer reflected any trace of humanity.

“…”

The captain, witnessing this horrifying sight, trembled with terror.

‘Are those…zombies?’

This can’t be happening!

The zombies he knew weren’t like this.

The walls had already been overrun by zombies. Staying here any longer was futile; there was no way to turn the tide.

‘I need to escape immediately.’

He knew there would be consequences. But survival was the priority.

As long as he lived, he could figure out what to do later.

‘Yes, I’ll go to His Grace, the Duke!’

Escaping outside the city was an option, but who knew what other threats might lurk there?

Heading to His Grace seemed like the safest choice.

The captain turned his gaze toward the city center.

That place should still have His Grace’s elite guards.

As he prepared to run—

“…?”

Two zombies were carrying something—a box.

His eyes fixated on the zombies and the object they carried.

“A treasure chest?”

It looked like a luxurious chest that anyone would assume contained something precious.

Judging by how carefully the zombies were handling it, it seemed even more valuable.

Ordinarily, he might have questioned why zombies were carrying such a chest, but his mind was already clouded with a different thought.

‘Yes, that’s it! If I offer this to His Grace…’

If he presented the treasure as a bribe, it might lessen the blame for the breach of the walls.

After all, money often eased tensions.

Moreover, the chest’s appearance alone suggested it contained great riches.

Surely, it would soothe the Duke’s anger.

Amid the chaos of screaming subordinates and the horrific scene around him, the captain couldn’t let this opportunity slip away.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he dashed forward and grabbed the chest.

“Got it! Now to take this to His Grace…!”

Panting heavily, he sprinted toward the city center.