The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"Tell me, it seems that this boy had been working as an adventurer for quite some time already... why showing up only now?"

"!!!!"

But Banana clearly knew how to deal with the danger without actually jumping in and duking it out in a fight she knew that she would lose, and made Laura become pale and take a step back with just a few words.

"Grape...?"

The tall woman folded her arms and glanced questioningly at the kobold.

"I-it must be because the last mission that mister Zombie accepted was guarding a merchant on a fetch quest to the Great northern forest. It was supposed to take up to four days but it has already been nine."

The kobold hurriedly rushed to the leather-bound book and read out the specifications of a mission after moving a few pages back.

"Ah... so that's how it is... it would be a shame to lose a promising newbie like him, say, Laura. Instead of venting out your anger why don't you put up a rescue mission? The Great northern forest is known for its complexity and how easy is to get lost in there for weeks."

Banana spoke calmly, and that's exactly why her words annoyed Laura so much...

"...maybe that's what I should do..."

...because the most annoying part about it was that the tall woman was right about sending out the search party.

*creak*

The tiny sound of the main door opening has escaped basically everyone inside the guild since they were too focused on watching and commenting on the situation playing out between the former highest-level adventurer of their guild and their guild-master.

"...?"

But it wasn't silent enough to escape the attention of the said guild master.

Banana took her eyes off of the dispirited reddish-brown-haired woman and glanced at the new arrival.

"...!"

And her eyes widened once she laid her eyes upon him.

Someone very short, wearing a world down barrel-like armor that must have been a bad fit, with a crossguard of a simple one-handed shortsword sticking out of the expensive sheath at his waist, with short brown hair unable to properly hide the forehead covered in various scars, some of which were going all the way across his soft and childish face...

"...?"

The newly arrived person raised his head in confusion - the confrontation between Banana and Laura caused everyone in the guild to move towards the walls leaving the middle clear just in case someone would get sent flying, so even with his unimpressive height the new person could clearly see both women - which made him tilt his head in confusion.

"...?"

"!!!"

Banana's and his eyes met and the woman instantly understood how come anyone could mistake this boy for a dwarf.

His eyes.

Those weren't the eyes of a child.

"...fine. I want you to put up a mission. I need a rescue party to go search through the Great northern forest to find the boy."

Laura gave in and closed her eyes, not wanting to see the triumphant smile on Banana's face - even though if she did, she would have instantly noticed that something was off.

"!!!!"

But after hearing her voice and looking at her reddish-brown hair, realizing her identity, the boy flinched and turned around instantly and opened the door to leave without any hesitation.

*bump*

"Ugh...! Watch it you perv...?! Ah! Mister Zombie!"

But that only ended up with him bumping his face against the stomach of the thin, big-eyed woman whom he recognized instantly, and who wasn't supposed to be there by any means.

"Sh-shut it!"

"Mpfh...?!"

The young boy panicked and climbed on his tiptoes to block her mouth with both hands, but it was too late already, and she wasn't even alone there in the first place...

"In're? Huh?! Whoa there! Mister Zombie, what's the matter?"

The thin woman was being followed by the man who was looking as if he was getting a bit plumper recently... as well as the eight-foot-tall kindhearted looking woman, a short rat-faced man, and a tall woman hiding her face under a very deep hood.

"Ghuuah...! Mister Zombie! It's inappropriate to do something like that in public!"

In're, freed from Zombie's hands, gasped for air and complained, with a slight blush covering her face, as she hid behind Rotte.

"...oh for...! What the hell are you five doing here?! Weren't you supposed to not return here after you got screwed over?!"

The boy groaned trying to bypass the young Dandelions, but after all five of them stood in the door such thing was easier said than done...

"Oh! You know... the mission we were forced to complete was really awful but with you backing us up, the money for selling the monster parts was more than enough to make up for that failure... so, you know... since there aren't many well-paid jobs available around our usual place, we were hoping to join up with you and go hunt down some monsters... apparently, the place called the Great northern forest has a lot of rare monsters which parts sell for a hefty price!"

Rotte fidgeted awkwardly and explained in a hopeful voice.

"...wha... BECAUSE I HELPED YOU LAST TIME?! Umfh!"

Zombie gasped in disbelief, realizing all but too late that he raised his voice way too much - he tried to stop himself by blocking his own mouth with his hands, but...

"...Zombie...?"

"...fuck..."

Laura called out in shock and the boy sighed under his breath making a bitter face before he turned around, to face his temporary guardian...

Laura turned her back on the guild master and was staring at the boy in disbelief.

"...umm... it took longer than I expected... sorry...?"

Zombie awkwardly raised his left hand in which he was holding a piece of paper with Jackfruit's handwriting and seal, confirming the mission completion.

"You irresponsible boy!"

Laura cried out and ran up to him.

"Is everything alright? Are you hurt? No strange people took advantage of you?"

"!!!"

Zombie was prepared for being carried out outside by his ear or something like that but instead, Laura kneeled by him and grabbed his face with both hands with a horribly worried expression.

"...N-no, of course not. They all think that I'm a banished dwarf so they didn't try anything at all... or at least that's how it was until now..."

Zombie responded as best he could even with squished cheeks.

"We're going home this instant. I was worried sick about you, you know, you silly boy!"

Laura didn't pick up on how bothered Zombie was that she had outed him as an actual child and instead picked him up and hugged him despite all the armor he had on him.

"We're going home. I swear I'm going to scold you for this irresponsible behavior so much your ears are going to fall off!"

Laura complained while patting Zombie's head.

"Excuse us."

She glared at the Dandelions.

"Umm... ma'am...? Why are you acting like that towards mister dwarf...?"

Uresha, who was lowering her head already to peek through the door, lowered it even more and asked in confusion.

"Dwarf?! Stop with this already! Zombie is just a six-year-old human boy! He might be way stronger than average, but how anyone with a pinch of common sense could get tricked by that story is beyond me! Now, excuse me!"

Laura scoffed and pushed past the young adventurers who jumped away in confusion and watched as she walks off, with even greater confusion.

"...what can I do...?"

Zombie shrugged his shoulders and waved to the Dandelions with an apologetic expression.