The Villainess and I, her Zombie

Chapter 238: Step by step

"..."

Zombie pouted and looked away all grumpy but didn't pursue the matter.

"Anyway... haa... this will be a mess one way or another. Zombie, please, make sure that none of them will talk about us... no. Wait. Make sure that none of them will be able to leak anything about what we did here - it will be more interesting if the south doesn't know our capabilities just yet."

The red-haired girl decided after considering things for a while.

"So kill them all? With pleasure!"

That made the blue undead perk up and activate his skills even before he turned towards all the people gathered there.

"Zombie, no!"

Cranberry shook her head.

"ZOMBIE, YES!"

The blue undead grinned excitedly and raised his hand, aiming at the panicking Sloth soldiers.

"Haa... alright. Then, if you kill them, who is going to lead us to the avatar of sloth?"

Cranberry massaged her forehead and asked.

"..."

Zombie didn't lower his hand but his expression soured.

"You told me that you can't detect life essences through that concentrated fog..."

She pointed towards the tall walls of the sea of mist and frowned.

"...so? Was that a lie?"

Now she sounded like she was sulking.

"...fine..."

Zombie scoffed and stopped aiming at the remains of the army.

"You are all forbidden from ever mentioning, communicating in any way - verbal or nonverbal - and even hinting at what you've seen the two of us do in this territory. When asked about it, just say we merely taking shelter here, hiding from the threats."

Instead, he glared at every single Sloth soldier as well as at Mika and Corvus and ordered them in a voice that brought to mind the aura of the system message.

"That was actually a well-thought-out command, good job."

Cranberry has complimented the blue undead sounding slightly surprised.

"That...! That was a right to rule skill, wasn't it?!"

But then Shanks had butted in and asked, staring at Zombie.

"That's what you did to the soldiers before too, right??How did you get it? Receiving it should be impossible without borrowing the power of Patience!"

The rat-faced man approached the blue undead frantically.

"Shiv, what are you talking about? Right to rule? But I'm using king's rule though?"

Blinked in confusion and tilted his head.

"...!"

Shanks flinch and froze two steps before reaching the blue undead.

"But thank you for outing yourself as someone who knows more than he should... care to explain, mister I know about the workings of the skill granting by the system?"

Cranberry straightened her back and glared coldly at the rat-faced man.

"..."

Shanks closed his eyes as if he was trying to calm down.

"...young lady, first of all - I want to make clear that I was banished and exiled and never expected to return."

He opened his eyes and explained.

"...? would it kill you to speak clearly?"

Zombie frowned, glaring at the rat-faced man.

"...haa... great, just great. Zombie, use the same command on him... Actually, use it on everyone except for our Blueberry, Mary, and Arion."

"You are all forbidden from ever mentioning, communicating in any way - verbal or nonverbal - and even hinting at what you've seen the two of us do in this territory. When asked about it, just say we merely taking shelter here, hiding from the threats."

Cranberry sighed and nodded at her blue undead, and he complied immediately.

"Alright. But why did I do that?"

Only then Zombie turned to the red-haired girl and asked.

"Because our sneaky-inclined friend has just told us that he is a faithful member of the Sloth family."

"He is?!"

Cranberry explained in a flat tone.

"I was disowned."

Shanks corrected them and instantly turned back to Zombie.

"What the hell are you?! Just now I received system messages that my magic defense is too low and I don't have the authority to oppose your skill! How is that possible?! My MDF is in five digits realm and I have titles and affinities that should prevent anything like that ever happening!"

The rat-faced man raised his hands clawing at the air.

"Well, that just means your stats, titles, and affinities aren't all that great."

"...!"

Zombie just shrugged his shoulders and made Shanks's jaw drop with his casual comment.

"...just to be sure... Shanks, what did you see us two doing here?"

Cranberry muttered to herself and then asked the rat-faced man.

"What did I see? We found you by accident while you were taking shelter from the monsters... - holy shit that skill of yours is something else!"

Shanks declared in a single breath ending with an impressed nod towards the blue undead.

"Ha! Though, Shanks, I must say - you being an active Sloth means that you will be able to get us the audience with the slumbering avatar, right? So we don't have to make a Sloth soldier lead us to the avatar of sloth... Isn't that's perfect?"

Cranberry smirked and glanced at him.

"You are too caring for those weak living, what other use do they have now that there are no titan-class monsters left?"

Zombie scowled and waved his left-hand dismissively.

"What...? Wait, what did you say...?!"

*smack*

Shanks looked as if he was just struck by thunder and he ran up to Zombie, trying to grab onto the armor the undead was wearing but got his hands smacked aside.

"Don't try to touch me with your filthy living hands."

Zombie scoffed, glaring at the confused rat-faced man who ended up flat on the ground.

"The things you said to the young lady! Were you serious?! How could you be sure about it?!"

Shanks got up to all fours and stared intently at the blue undead.

"How could I know? Because she is too caring! The fact that she doesn't want me to kill any of them is proof enough!"

Zombie snorted and waved his left hand to demonstrate all of the Sloth soldiers that he wasn't allowed to decimate.

"Not about that! The titan-class monsters! They are gone?! How do you know that?!"

Shanks shook his head dismissively and asked feverishly.

"Because once we killed the last few just now Cranberry and I both unlocked an achievement called Exterminator of the species [titan-class]...? What, should I draw you a picture of all the empty, lifeless landscapes from the mountain ranges back there? No, wait, paintings don't work like photographs in this case... never mind that."

Zombie shrugged his shoulders and confused himself with his own choice of words.

"That...! If that's true then it changes everything...! If you wish, I can take you two to the capital as whenever you like!"

Shanks got up suddenly all rearing to go.

"Alright, isn't that perfect?"

Cranberry smiled, nodded benevolently, and then glanced past Zombie and squinted her eyes.

"You know what? We should grab the lucky prodigy and take him with us. We will need an excuse to go see the avatar of wrath anyway, so we'll just go to the Wrath territory straight after dealing with the avatar of sloth."

She decided and pointed at Corvus with her chin.

"Of course, the other one should be sent back to her home straight away."

The red-haired girl added not sparing Mika even a single glance.

"Yeah, sure, a lucky charm sounds like a good thing to have."

*WHOOOOSH*

Zombie agreed with her and she instantly waved his right hand around and turned it into a whip that cut through the air.

"Lucky charm...?"

Cranberry tilted her head and asked.

"Yeah, like a rabbit's foot. What? Are you telling me this guy doesn't look like a rabbit to you?"

"OH, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"

Zombie shrugged his shoulders and asked the moment that the red and black whip coiled around Corvus and the white-haired man himself had shouted in shock.