The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 30: Twenty-nine

The walk towards the front gate were shorter than Jannah expected, but she is not complaining. She walked towards the dead man and stared down at him, eyeing his pool of blood.

"Do you want to bury him?" Duke Eulicies stepped to her side and stared at the body.

"If it’s not too much to ask for." Jannah turned to him and forced a smile, "He helped us out by writing down what happened in his log book— well, I don’t even know if he was the blacksmith, but considering that he has the key. I’m assuming that he was the blacksmith of the town."

"So you want to bury him as a thank you?" Duke Eulicies blinked owlishly as he look back at the body, "Must be nice.."

Jannah raised an eyebrow at that. What did he mean by that? Does he want to get bitten by the zombies, get killed by her little sister, and get buried?

"You’re sick." She blurted out the words without much thought, "But to answer your question, yes, I want to bury him, pay my respect, and thank him."

"Alright.." Duke Eulicies trailed off and stepped away from her. He doesn’t know what she meant by what she said and why she called him sick, but she want to bury the man in front of them.

"Dante, Loren, Kean!" The knights he called have perked up and turned their head to look at him, "Come here! The Countess asked us to bury this man!"

Who is he to refuse a request from her?

He will never refuse a sincere request from Jannah, no matter what— he may try to, but his body and mouth have a mind of their own. Before he could think of what to say to her, he is already doing something he normally wouldn’t do.

Just like what happened in the watchtower.

The burial of the blacksmith took a while. Jannah had told them to bury him near the back gates and have placed a handmade tombstone for him.

She paid her respect, pray to whoever is listening to her prayers to guide his soul and let him rest in peace.

After that, she had told the Duke that they will depart for Rye as soon as possible.

Which made the second in command of the Duke’s knights to gather his fellow knights to the back gates where the Duke and the Countess are waiting.

"Is this everyone?" Jannah looked around, burning the knights’ faces in to her brain just in case something happens, "Good, it seems like everyone took my suggestion seriously. Those thick coats will help you fend off those zombies because their teeth wouldn’t sink into the wool that easily."

One of the knights raised his hand which caught her attention and she nodded her head to let him know that he can speak, "How about our face, hands, and neck, my lady? Our comrades— well, friends.. Got bitten in their hands, legs, and face after all.."

By the end of his inquiry, his voice got quieter as the look on his face got darker.

Jannah pursed her lips, thinking how rough it must be for them to see their friends get eaten and bitten as they run for their lives.

"Those are the areas we need to look out for, so be on high alert." Jannah warned them before she pointed a finger in Eulicies’s right leg which made him step back, "If you feel someone grab your foot, don’t hesitate to kick them because you some of them likes to bite legs instead of our neck and face."

Her warning made them shudder and touch the parts of their body she mentioned.

Then, she placed a finger in her lips like how a person would hush someone if they were too loud, "Keep your voices low. Don’t scream, it will attract not only those things, but the animals as well, and we can’t have that."

"Yes, Countess Rafelon!"

"I just said to not scream!" Jannah hissed, glaring at them when they started to cheer.

All of them immediately shut their mouth, they were just happy that someone with such knowledge are leading them with their lordship, is that so bad?

"Keep your voices low." Duke Eulicies reminded them again, "Don’t let the Countess down with a behavior similar to a wild and senseless animal."

Rude. The knights thought simultaneously with a deadpan expression.

"Enough chit-chat." The sound of the wooden plank scraping against another wood had caught their attention, "We need to move, the time is ticking as we speak."

Almost immediately, the knights were on her side, snatched the plank, and dragged the wooden plank to the side themselves. Jannah could only blink as she let what just happened sink into her brain.

"Leave the heavy lifting to my men." The Duke stepped to her side and watched them open the gates, "They wouldn’t let any girl lift a hand in their presence."

"I’m a knight, too." Jannah rebutted, not liking the feeling she got at what she heard.

"I’m not saying that you’re incapable of doing so." He chuckled nervously and looked aside, "What I’m saying is, my gentlemen wouldn’t want any beautiful lady to lift something like that on her own."

Jannah could tell that the Duke felt embarrassed about something when she glanced at him.

He has his head then to the side, but the tip of his ears are as red as tomatoes so she only let out a hum and nodded her head, not saying anything.

She walked away from him and approached the knight looking out of the gates for any threat.

"How’s the perimeter?"

"It’s all good, Countess." The knight smiled at her and lowered his head, "Thank you for saving us back there, I would never forget about it."

"Save it." Jannah waved him off and looked out of the gates, "Your life will be yours to save from here on out so don’t thank me yet."

"Yes, my lady." The knight smiled once more, clearly not listening to her.

She can feel a small smile creeping into her lips at how honest and open the knight is being with her. He felt like a little brother more than anything.

He might get along with Jeriel. Jannah thought as she turn away from him.

"Countess Rafelon." A knight called out to her which made her look at the person who approached her.

He was carrying two quivers filled arrows, the tip of the projectile shone under the moonlight and caught her eyes. She eyed the weapon with mild curiosity before she looked up to the knight, raising an eyebrow.

"I saw how good of a shooter you are, my lady." The knight praised her skill with a bashful smile, "I saw these laying around when I was looking to wear and thought of you."

He handed her the quivers and she reluctantly accepted it, not wanting to think of something different about what he said.

He didn’t confess, right? Jannah stared at the arrows and looked at him.

Something caught her eyes the moment she looked up at him— the Duke was standing behind him with a scary smile on his face. Seeing him there made the hair in her arms stood up, goosebumps rising all over her body.

"Haha.. Thank you for the arrows." Jannah forced a laugh before she pushed him away gently which made him bump into the Duke, "Unfortunately, I don’t like bows, but I appreciate the thought."

The crestfallen on the knight’s face was easy to spot as soon as she said those words, but the Duke, on the other hand, looked pleased and satisfied.

"You heard her, Diazo." Duke Eulicies leaned on the knight’s shoulder, "She doesn’t like bows."

"Yes, my lord." The knight mumbled and looked down.

Jannah ignored the weird exchange between the knights and slipped the quivers on her right hip with one on her back. The sword on her left hip was left untouched with a dagger vertically attached to its sheath.

She don’t know how the journey to Rye will turn out so she told everyone to get weapons from the blacksmith shop. They equipped themselves with blades and pumped themselves up, ready to set out of the town.

"Alright, is everyone ready? Good, let’s go—"

Jannah stopped herself from speaking when something popped up in front of her eyes.

[Initializing...]

The text is sitting in the middle of a transparent red square, the borders of the square are framed with black leaves— making the thing in front of her pleasing for the eyes.

[System scanning player’s status...]

She couldn’t take her eyes away from the square thing in front of her, it looked too good and satisfying, something that she is sure she won’t be able to feel anymore due to the outbreak.

However, once she paid attention to the message in front of her, her face scrunched up in annoyance.

Player? She felt upset for some reason and glared at the transparent thing in front of her.

She was too focused on staring at the thing since she was unfamiliar with it that she failed to notice the hand waving in front of her face.

She noticed it a little too late. The Duke have already picked her up and sat her down on the stairs by the watch tower with the knights fanning her, thinking that she might feeling light because of everything that happened.

"The hell are you all doing?" Was the first thing she blurted out when she managed to look past the thing in her face.