The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"...nnnnn... (...it was scary...) ...nnnn... (...the last thing that I remember was that something weird was happening with my body, and it really, really hurt...) ...nnnnn.... (...and then I woke up in a cage, in this body, I didn't know what to do...)"

"Now, now... It's alright, already. You are with Mary and everything will be fine."

Arion was sitting in Zombie's lap and had his head nested on the blue boy's shoulder – in that position he was also yelping pitifully, reporting everything that he could recall while Zombie was patting and caressing the fur on his back and sides to make him feel at ease.

"...I still can't believe that he can understand him better than I do..."

Mary made a sour expression, staring bitterly at the undead sitting on the ground between her and Cranberry, and playing with her tamed monster.

"I wouldn't say that it's that surprising. My Zombie has the Beast Master affinity after all – it's actually very hard to find anyone who can understand any monster better than he does."

The red-haired girl raised her head and explained to the pouting future heroine.

"B-beast master ?! But that's a tier 3 skill?! He has it as an affinity?!"

Mary gasped and exclaimed way too loud for Zombie's liking.

"Do you mind not yelling it out for everyone to hear, miss Hope?"

Zombie furrowed his brows and reminded her that he does in fact speak properly and there is no need to treat him as if he wasn't there to answer the questions about himself.

"Wh-what?"

Though it looked like the girl really didn't hear him, too focused on being shocked...

"Shut the fuck up already."

...but that really didn't do anything to ease Zombie's anxiety about the possible sigil monster appearance, and he repeated himself but more clear this time before continuing to comfort the confused wolf-turned future capture target.

|I thought that you would be nicer to her, you know?|

As Mary flinched and cowered with an upset expression, Patience asked sounding as if she was tilting her head with curiosity.

|What gave you that idea...?|

Zombie asked her while glancing at the next child that was dealing with their monster without much trouble or surprise like happened with Mary and Arion – after they were done, only three more kids were waiting their turn.

Claymore Lust.

Cranberry Pride.

Roan Greed.

"The head of the Lust house, lord Claymore Lust."

"..."

The high-priest called out making everyone turn to the androgynous child fidgetting on their chair anxiously.

"Claymore."

"!!!!"

Zombie called out to them, and the child flinched and looked back at him, still showing just a little bit of fear towards the undead.

"Finish that thing fast, do not dawdle with it too much trying to show off – everyone knows that you're the avatar of lust and you don't have anything to prove to idiots. I'm counting on you."

Zombie smirked and nodded at him reassuringly.

"...okay..."

Claymore blushed and lowered his head, blushing, before they stood up and walked towards the middle of the arena where all eyes focused solely on them.

The monster was brought for them to kill was different than any previous contestants.

A giant black and green scorpion as large as a whole carriage together with horses pulling it – it was a familiar sight for the blue undead, but everyone else let out a shocked gasp.

Not only was the beast very exotic – it clearly was very lively too!

Even with magic shackles shining brightly on its many legs, tail, and pincers, it was constantly struggling and clacking its mandibles furiously.

"CLCLCLCLCLCLCLC?! (PUNY HUMANS!, WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?!)"

Once again, although Zombie should not be able to hear it, as the clacking sound that the scorpion was making wasn't that loud, to begin with, the meaning of the beast's words reached the blue undead rather easily.

|Is this bad? There's no sigil but this one sounds very much like a sigil monster.|

Zombie – who had used the opportunity to move from the floor to the free seat left by Claymore – furrowed his brows and continued patting Arion's head as the wolf preferred to stay on the ground and only putting his head on the undead's lap.

|No, there's no need to worry about this one. It's only angry like that because it's a champion that was on its way to becoming a king before people from the Lust family have caught him for Claymore.|

Patience sounded as if she shook her head and explained reassuringly.

"CLCLCLCLCLCL! (YOU DAMN FOOLS THINK THAT A HUMAN SCORPLING CAN STOP ME?! YOU ARE GIVING ME FREE FOOD!)"

The monster scorpion clacked furiously, looking around, roaring at his captors and all the adults in the audience alike.

The next moment the magic shackles faded and the beast was free, it snapped its pincers a few times and stretched its tail and...

*BOOOM*

It launched right at Claymore, without even a moment of hesitation!

"CLCLCLCLCL! (IF YOU HAVE TO BLAME SOMEONE, BLAME YOUR OWN KIND, HUMAN SCORPLING!)"

It clacked as it was charging, gaining enough speed to raise up clouds of dust as it ran.

Seeing that Claymore didn't flinch – with a focused expression they raised their hand and the next seconds, the rays of pale-blue light burst forth forming almost physical strands and flooded the monster's carapace – getting absorbed completely.

The effect was instantaneous, the monster buried its pincers into the ground stopping itself mere inches before trampling the boy.

Instead of attacking, it just waited, staring at the serious Claymore with its many eyes.

"Clclclcl...? (Human scorpling...?) Clclclclc?! (You were secretly my queen all along?!)"

The shocked clacking caused Zombie to raise his brow.

|So the bindings of lust doesn't just stir up the target to fall for the target, it actually shows the target the most attractive creature they desire, huh...|

The blue undead nodded curiously.

|That's because it is paired up with Claymore's Love-blessed body, they really are the perfect avatar of lust, no contest.|

Patience admitted easily, as the androgynous child breath out in relief and straightened their back.

"Die."

Instead of a lengthy seductive play that Claymore did during the first playthrough, their new way of ordering the monster was short, sweet, and to the point.

"CLCLCLCL! (AS YOU WISH, MY QUEEN!"

The scorpion monster clacked excitedly and its sharp as a rapier stinger broke through its carapace all the way through, going as far as digging into the ground below it.

"Clclclcl... clcl...? (D-did I do a good job... my queen...?)"

The scorpion clacked for the last time before keeling over and dying, becoming Claymore's experience points.

"..."

The androgynous child looked at it for a second, before turning right back around and going back to their seat – taken by Zombie.

"Good job over there."

Zombie smirked and winked at them – which caused Claymore to stop abruptly and look away blushing.

"I saw how you looked at Arion and me as I was playing with him – you would get the same kind of reward if we had more time."

"!!!!!!!!"

Zombie laughed, standing up freeing the seat and walking up to the blushing Claymore, and raising his hand to pat them affectionately, which caused the androgynous child to blush even more.

"Unfortunately..."

"Young lady Cranberry Pride!"

Zombie sighed just as the high-priest called out the next child.

"It's our turn finally."

The blue undead grinned and looked back at the pouting red-haired girl, and extended his hand towards her.

"Let's go."