POV Henry
After living such a beautiful life for so long... Although we couldn't have children, we never lacked anything. No food, no money, and especially no love. But why did she have to go?
Now in my 87s, I still see my wife every day. I regret that we couldn't have a child, but what I regret most of all were her last words:
"Henry dear, I know you plan to use that lamp after I die. But know that this is not your style. I know I've criticized you before, saying you would never use it, but listen to me: I want you to be happy. And if the genie misunderstands your wish... I don't want you to suffer. Genies can corrupt the lamp's will, and you know how many years it has been. The genie might already be corrupted."
And I, amidst tears, replied:
"We don't know if the genie is corrupted or not! Please, let me save you, please."
She answered immediately:
"Taking care of the duchy is your duty, you know that. It's not just about me. I could never give you a successor, so you must prioritize the duchy."
Crying, I nodded and watched her pass away. We were already so old, yet why couldn't I have gone first? I would never marry again or have an heir; my heart belonged only to her. But I couldn't bring myself to end my own life either. All I could do was live with these regrets until my own end. Before dying, I locked the vault of magical items—now fuller than ever. I placed all my treasures there: the room was filled with coins, relics, swords, incredibly valuable ordinary items, and, of course, many magical artifacts.
POV Lery - City Guard
A few days after the Duke's death, we were making preparations for the knights to take over the duchy's land. Why didn't that old geezer leave any heirs? Because of him, we have to deal with all this paperwork to hand the duchy over to the King. And the worst part is that many people in the city don't know how to read or write, so basically, me and a few other guards had to handle it while the others just dumped papers on us.
What a pain. Paper after paper. I sign and confirm everything in the name of my supervisor. He doesn't know how to read either, which is why me and these chumps had to do this. And to top it off, since I'm the only one with legible handwriting, I had to write the main document and sign them all. Damn this marketplace job, I knew I should have worked in the fields instead.
Before I could complain any further in my head, an idiot burst in screaming:
"Zombies!"
"Hey, moron, we have enough personnel to deal with that kind of thing. Get out of here and let us work!"
"You don't understand! It's not just 2 or 3 zombies. There are hundreds of them! We have to evacuate right now!"
But before we could do anything, we heard screams and the groans of zombies outside.
"How did they get past the barrier?! That's impossible!"
"Do you even know how many there are?!"
Before he could answer, a zombie burst through the door, then another, and more and more zombies flooded in. Some of them had familiar faces.
"Damn it, a necromancer! It can only be that!"
We defended ourselves as best as we could, but nothing worked. Before everything went dark, the last thing we saw was a dark shadow in the distance.
POV General Joss
We were on our way to return this land to the King, but when we arrived, all we found were countless zombies. We tried to defend ourselves, but there were so many of them that it didn't matter if we killed 100 or 200—there were always more. We decided to retreat.
Could the Demon King have planned this attack? No, it was probably something else. The Demon King has been sealed for millennia.