The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"...let's talk more about suggestion skill..."

While traveling inside the carriage Zombie looked at the sleeping Cranberry leaning against his shoulder and spoke softly.

"Hmm~? Sure. What do you want to know about it...?"

The red-haired girl opened her eyes showing that she was only pretending to be taking a nap and asked.

"It plants suggestion into the target's mind and isn't even properly detected by appraisers and healers but it has the power to alter the target's personality to a ridiculous degree – doesn't that sound too overpowered? Why that piece of filth ever bothered gathering any allies during the first playthrough if she had it at her disposal?"

The blue undead knight asked in a serious voice, furrowing his brows.

"...haa..."

Seeing him like that Cranberry smirked and breathed out.

"Oh, she did – she definitely did, just not on you – do you remember how Cranberry from the first playthrough was really down in the dumps – Caramel used suggestion skill to tell her that she is worthless and should kill herself."

She revealed with a lighthearted shrug right into the indifferent face of the blue undead.

"Oh...? It didn't even make you flinch?"

The red-haired girl raised her brows and tilted her head curiously at the lack of reaction from her husband.

"Nope, sorry – it is literally impossible for me to despise that pile of human waste even more than I already do – but if this will make you feel better I will allow you to land a single hit on her before I obliterate her... that said – do you want me to tell you how will I murder her after we will deal with Eternal?"

Zombie scoffed without changing his expression and even smiled a little bit by the end – excited by the prospect of sharing the extremely detailed plan he had in mind.

"Pfffft...! Ha ha! Ha ha! Ha ha! You rotten brain!"

Hearing him, Cranberry burst into a burst of ugly laughter that resembled the barking of a dog and even had to wipe a tear that showed up in the corner of her eye because she was laughing too much.

"Thanks."

The red-haired girl intertwined her fingers with the blue undead's fingers and looked at their matching ancient wedding rings and smiled.

"And back to the skill explanation – suggestion can fail if the planted command completely outrageous for the target – for example – you love seeing me being jealous so deep within you don't mind fooling with other women – I am different and that kind of suggestion wouldn't work on me – that what happened to the first Cranberry too, she got really depressed but never actually tried to kill herself despite Caramel's wishes."

Cranberry revealed playing with Zombie's fingers.

"No comment."

The blue undead knight smirked, using his right to remain silent on the matter – which of course revealed his real answer.

"As you already know, there are skills that have a limited number of usage – Fillia's unique magic steal was a one-time skill – from what we know Mary from the first playthrough received a Wish skill – which is a special-tier one-time use spell. And the suggestion isn't much different – in-game – during the second playthrough especially – the player could use a hint only five times – and that's how many times Caramel can use it too in the current playthrough. I think she didn't actually realize that she had unlimited use of it during the first playthrough because she chose to go with her dream giver ability instead... but that honestly worked in our favor."

The red-haired girl added in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Of course, since she used one of her chances on you, she's left with four – although considering how much you've traumatized her, I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to use all of them on you."

She smirked glancing at her blue undead knight.

"Aww! You are just saying that because you want to make me feel better~!"

Zombie giggled, grinning his teeth like a villain as if nothing could make him happier than making Caramel suffer as much as possible.

"But still – haa - I am certain that she used that skill at least once to get herself a position in the church of the system's faith... And honestly, that's way better decision than getting Radiance on her side..."

Cranberry breathed out and nodded to herself.

"Radiance...?"

Zombie raised his brow and looked at her in confusion.

"The angel-class king monster – the kid that locked us in system walls."

"Ooohhh, that little trash... It died like a coward so I didn't bother to memorize their name."

The red-haired girl explained and only then the blue undead knight nod in realization.

"Haa... Zombie – do not underestimate the problem – Caramel in the church's ranks is one of the most dangerous things that can happen to us – and we had a taste of that with Rambutan and Salak casually making their way into our fort."

"Elaborate on that, please."

The girl sighed, shaking her head and the undead motioned at her to continue.

"Except for the Pride and Greed family, the church of the system's faith is connected to the remaining main noble families – haa... - honestly – putting aside the fact that Mason's secret quest could be triggered the fastest, I think that Caramel has sent us a message by using the Envy's as her pawns."

"..."

Cranberry declared furrowing her brows.

"In normal circumstances, no matter how much Rambutan would hate us, he would never try to do something as ridiculous as showing up on his own, and he definitely wouldn't risk bringing Salak with him... I am seventy percent sure that Caramel is actually trying to make us complete the secret quests as soon as possible..."

She frowned and rested her head back on Zombie's shoulder.

"...but that would mean that she also aims for Eternal's destruction though...?"

The blue undead knight pointed out with a bitter expression as if he hated the mere thought of his own plans aligning with the plans of his most hated person.

"...no... even after completing all secret quests and rid of Eternal's Invictus title, that thing still remains the lunatic level super secret endgame final boss(+) and should be the strongest creature in this world... if anything, Caramel, with the aid of the church of the system's faith no doubt, ended up figuring out a way to gain control over it... Who knows? Maybe suggestion will work on it too?"

Cranberry breathed out, shaking her head.

"Then, what was it about a message that this repugnant filth had sent us...?"

Zombie groaned and rested his head against Cranberry's head.

"If she can make use of Envys' she can make other families act at the same time – it is possible for two or more special quests to be active simultaneously... and the problematic part of that is that even though it would be possible to complete, we – and I mean you and I – could end up losing all our allies and be at the major disadvantage in the fight against Eternal."

The red-haired girl complained with a bitter expression.

"So what you're saying is she wants to assure that we will do all the dirty job for her to just perish in the final battle so she would be able to step in and snatch all the benefits with minimum effort..."

Zombie growled, sounding absolutely done with the completely unfair situation.

"Haa... exactly..."

Cranberry nodded cuddling up to his arm.

"I am definitely killing her the moment that her final quest triggers – I even cut up the time I want to torture her in half!"

"...pffft...! What sacrifice...!"

Zombie declared causing Cranberry to snort with mockery.

"...what the fuck are you two talking about...?"

Asked the black-haired Lairs from the opposite seat inside the carriage.

"Ha! I see that miss down-in-the-dumps has finally decided to return to the outside world. Great – we're almost at the capital of the Envys territory."

Cranberry smiled cheerfully and turned to the anxious elven mage.

"...seriously, what the fuck was that about games and shit...? And why the fuck did you refer to yourself as if there were fucking multiple versions of you - seriously, what the fuck...?"

Lairs mumbled, slouching and rubbing her arms awkwardly.

"Hey - relax - it must feels weird to travel without your friends for the first time ever, but you don't have to worry about every single detail. We didn't leave rebuilding the village in their hands just so you could be pissed at us, and... Since you were listening... you should at least realize how deep shit we are in if we not deal with your curse as soon as possible. So you know - don't be a complete bitch to your half-brother when the time comes, alright?"

The red-haired girl ignored her questions and instead started instructing her in a confident manner.

"I...!"

Still, the black-haired elf seemed like she wanted to argue with her...

"...unless you want the other Dandelions to start dropping like flies... Your mother was serious when she said that your friends will be the first ones to die because of your curse - the curse affects the people and creatures closest to you - and I don't mean the distance."

"...!"

But Cranberry's explanation followed by a lengthy sigh shut the elven woman up immediately.