Beta: Jeannette
"You're the zombie emperor."
Before anyone else could say anything, Jun shrugged and shook his head. "I'm pretty sure he's Eli Rygg. He was our neighbor when we were 6, remember?"
"... What?"
"Isn't that right, Azel?"
"Yes."
Unfortunately the female protagonist refused to relent. "He's the zombie emperor, I'm sure of it. That hair color, that eye color, his name..."
"What proof do you have?" Jun asked, unamused.
"Because I'm a transmigrator and I read the story..."
"Can you prove you're a transmigrator?"
"I..."
"Can't, can you?"
Eli leaned over to give Jun's cheek a soft kiss and said for all to hear: "But baby, I am the zombie emperor."
"..."
Everyone in the room stopped breathing.
|System, can I quit now?|
|Sorry, dearest Host, quitting is never an option.|
|What about if I were to kill myself?|
|... H-Host, did you forget that losing the mission would result in a loss of self? You'd be facing infinite lifetimes as a cannon fodder, never to escape!|
|...|
"Baby?" Eli waved a hand in front of Jun's face. To be honest, he was pretty worried about him, since this wasn't the first time he'd seen him zone out.
Jun snapped back to reality with a grumpy face directed at Dahlye. "... So what?"
"Huh?"
"So what if he's the zombie emperor?" Jun asked, then turned his eyes toward Eli's innocent smiling face. "Have you eaten anyone?"
"No, never." He gave Jun a sleazy smile and a wink. "But I wouldn't mind eating you."
"..." Jun coughed. "You see? He's... Harmless."
"He's got to be lying." Charles Erwin pulled out his hand gun and aimed it at Eli. If only he knew the zombie emperor couldn't be killed.
"Don't bother, Charles. The zombie emperor can't be killed."
Finally, Dahlye said something useful. Jun rolled his eyes at her and her harem, then pulled Eli away.
"Let's go."
"Stop!" Charles pointed his gun at Jun, making Azel snap out of his reverie and move to shield him. "If you leave here, forget about staying at Silver Base."
"Yeah, whatever."
Jun was tired of the female protagonist and her harem. He had only stayed at Silver Base to monitor her, and now that things between them were half resolved and he was sure she wouldn't come after him, leaving base wasn't that much of an issue.
Azel hesitated for a moment but followed them anyway. Back at their home base, Jun packed a few articles of clothes, his crossbow and dagger. He didn't have much, since most of what he needed was still being kept at his storage units.
"I really want a milk tea right now." Jun complained. Unfortunately, he had run out of his temporary stock at base.
"It's ok, baby. We can pick up some on the way."
"Where are we going?" Jun wondered.
"We can go anywhere." Eli smiled indulgently.
With his cheek resting on his palm, Jun tilted his head. "It has to be close enough to my storage units."
"Haha, of course."
"You trust him?" Azel asked, his face full of wariness and warning.
"I trust him to not eat me, at the least." Jun stated. "And you saw him killing the zombies..."
"Well, I don't trust him, so I'll be coming with you."
Eli rolled his eyes at Azel. Why not just admit he wanted to come along? His true intentions were so obvious. "How about we look for a penthouse, baby? Regular zombies can't climb stairs and variant zombies could care less."
"Ok."
Where he'd be staying wasn't important if Eli the ultimate shield was there. All he had to do now was stay alive for another two months. His mission would be completed and he could kiss this nonsensical world goodbye.
Just as they finished packing, the doorbell rang. "What now?" Jun muttered with his eyes turned up at the ceiling.
Eli opened the door with an evil smile, ready to deal with whoever it was. A woman stood at the door with a sparkling smile and several men surrounding her. She saw Jun standing further inside and waved happily.
"Little Jun!" It was Oriana, who had come to warn Jun about Dahlye, except she was a few hours too late. When she heard about what happened she could only nod in understanding. "That explains a lot..."
Since Oriana was kind enough to try and help him, Jun wanted to return the gesture. "You should be careful too. She behaved that way because she believed I should have died for her. Hasn't she also been acting strange around you?"
"Oh my gosh, you're so right, little Jun!" With her finger on her chin in a thoughtful way, Oriana looked pretty cute. If Jun were a straight man, he might have been sucked into her harem but fortunately he wasn't. "I wonder what it is about me that she believes wronged her?"
"Who knows." Jun shrugged. "In any case, you should probably avoid her."
"It's a shame though," Oriana mumbled. "I really did like her..."
"Yeah, she was your best friend."
"All the time I spent chasing her is now wasted."
"Wait, what?" Not just Jun, but everyone else including Oriana's harem members were caught off guard.
"I'm much better than all of those men around her!"
"Oriana dear..."
Oriana saw the sad faces of her men and quickly comforted them with reassuring and hearty pats on the shoulders and backs. "Oh, don't worry. It's all in the past now! I'll never like her again, and I'll only have you guys from now on."
The men looked relieved and smiled fondly at Oriana while Jun went offline.
|I can't with this development.|
|Me too, Host! Me too!| System 00 also went offline.
In the meantime, Eli was waving his hand in front of Jun's face. This time's zoning out seemed to be extreme. Was this something he had to get used to?
Azel had also taken notice of these spacing out moments. "Jun? Babe?"
"Baby?"
"Maybe we should get him some milk tea?" Azel suggested.
"Oh, you actually said something useful."
When he heard the words "milk tea," Jun returned to reality. By that point, Oriana had already given him her goodbyes. Even in his absent mindedness, he had managed to wave, thankfully.
They—Jun, Eli and Azel—left right after. Before visiting Jun's storage units, they had to secure a place first, which wasn't all that difficult. At Eli's insistence, they ended up choosing a one bedroom penthouse that was only 30 minutes away from the storage unit lot, located in the north of S City. After they cleaned up the place a little, they went to visit a storage unit to pick up some necessities, mainly some tea leaves, creamer and sugar.
This was the first time Azel had seen Jun's stash and he was a bit overwhelmed. While other people concerned themselves with food and daily necessities or weapons, Jun was focused on milk tea. Seeing the bemused expression on Azel's face, Jun was defensive.
"I really can't live without milk tea."
With a chuckle, Azel rubbed Jun's fluffy hair, full of indulgence. "Of course, babe."
The following two months were the most relaxing days Jun had had since entering this world. He hardly went out and just stayed at home in the penthouse, drinking milk tea and reading books Eli or Azel would pick up from the storage unit or from some random bookstore.
Even with preparing food, it was Azel who did all the cooking. Jun was a decent cook, as in he could fry an egg, but Eli was absolutely, irrevocably hopeless. Everything he tried to cook always somehow turned into charcoal, and if that didn't happen then something would catch fire, usually his hair or clothes. Lucky for him, his zombie emperor status made his hair as indestructible as the rest of his body.
For the most part, the trio spent their time playing board games, card games and video games they found. The hotel the penthouse was located in had a backup generator, so they could sometimes watch movies, but they had to limit that as the solar panels they'd collected wasn't much. As for water, it was still usable since it wouldn't become contaminated for another half year.
Whenever they had the opportunity, Azel and Eli would take advantage of Jun, be it a kiss here or a kiss there, sometimes with tongue, or a grope here and a grope there. At night they'd hold him tightly in their arms as if their lives depended on him. Surprisingly, other than the occasional rub of their hardons on his thighs or backside, they never did anything beyond those things, not even a handjob.
Though they may be perverts, both were respectful to some extent. Should Jun praise them for their self control?
|Nah, they're still irredeemable perverts.|
|Host...|
|They're kind of cute, I guess.|
|A-Are you finally experiencing romantic feelings, dearest Host!?|
|No way. I just think they're a little cute, nothing more. Why are you so excited, System?|
|Uh...| System 00 went offline, yet again.
Soon it would be the day of judgment, his 19th birthday. Storyline wise, it would also be around the time for another zombie tide to hit Silver Base. From what the trio observed, Silver Base had been made aware of the incoming zombie tide by the female protagonist and had been preparing for it for over a week now. They decided they would only help if the situation called for it.
The day before Jun's 19th birthday, Azel and Eli asked him what he wanted and how he wanted to celebrate the event.
"Unlimited milk tea for life. Milk tea party." Jun answered blandly.
"Baby, I'm starting to think you love milk tea more than me." Eli whined, his arms around Jun in a death grip.
"When did I ever love you?"
"Heh." Azel smirked at Eli, his eyes haughty.
"It's not like he loves you either." Eli deadpanned.
"Pfft..." Jun laughed, causing a smile to appear on both Azel and Eli's faces. He didn't love them, but they were still very endearing. When had anyone showered him with such sincere affection quite like them?
The happy mood was interrupted by a loud disturbance from outside the penthouse. The sound was that of many things moving together toward a certain direction.
"Babe, come here and look." Azel pointed to the cityscape below the penthouse. Jun stepped over and took a look to see tens of thousands of zombies all marching in a southeastern direction.
"They're heading towards Silver Base." Next to Jun stood Eli with an aloof expression, like none of that had anything to do with him. Zombie emperor? More like a shiny anti-zombie beacon. Jun shook his head and watched the zombies filter past the hotel like ants.
By the end of today, he would turn 19 and complete his mission. Then he could leave this world. Or should he stay? Jun gave Azel and Eli a thoughtful look, bringing smiles to their faces.
—
A/N: The end is near...
[HTSCF can also be found on Scribble Hub or my website www.morinorin.com. If you want to support my sanity, please consider my ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/morinorin.]