The Villainess and I, her Zombie

The inside of the mushroom-shaped outbuilding was much bigger than its outline would suggest, and – at least at the first glance – it looked like a proper research office.

Stacks upon stacks of handwritten papers were piling on the shelves on one side while the shelves by the opposite walls were barely able to handle the weight of the ancient-looking books.

According to Gooseberry, the place wasn't used by anyone but that was really hard to believe considering that it was impossible to find even a speck of dust even in the furthest corner.

"..."

"..."

Cranberry and Zombie exchanged grim glances and nodded at each other while the first thing that Lairs did was to go towards the shelves with the notes, grab a random stack, and start reading through it.

Mason on the other hand went towards the books and grabbed the oldest-looking one which had a staggering amount of bookmarks stuck every few pages, and opened it up.

"...Gooseberry said that he left everything how it was when his wife passed away, right...?"

The blue undead knight stepped behind the red-haired girl and leaned down, muttering into her ear.

"...yeah..."

Cranberry nodded, looking around the room with a grim expression.

"...then does that mean that she cleaned up her desk and neatly put away her research... I mean, she could be just a clean-freak but..."

Zombie scoffed pointing out the unusual perfectly spotless state of the interior that looked more like a display in a museum than a place when someone used to research a deadly curse that was killing off their family members one by one.

"Haa... this place looks just like the library – and the library looks perfect only because uncle is watching over it all the time... It could be that he took over the perfectionist attitude that his wife had, but it's far more plausible that he lied to us and was here many times."

Cranberry furrowed her brows making a sour expression – checking out for dust on the underside of the smallest bookshelf tucked in the corner right behind the door here almost no one would ever be bothered to swipe and found it spotless...

"...still, that doesn't mean that uncle actually read through anything – he could be just cleaning this place because it reminds him of his wife, and that's all..."

She added while checking up on the books and handwritten journals that were tucked away almost dismissively on the shelf that she checked for dust...

"Yeah... sure..."

Zombie scoffed, rolling his eyes while Cranberry opened the newest-looking journal out of the bunch and started reading through it.

"..."

The blue undead kept his life signature detection skill active and was standing still, crossing his arms by the red-haired girl's side.

"Hey, Mason, does your book has anything fucking useful?"

Lairs called out to her half-brother while flipping the page of the notes she first grabbed.

Her expression was clearly showing that she didn't find anything helpful.

"...just a few mentions of the curse itself, nothing about the method of dispelling it..."

The brown-haired half-elf breathed out looking to the side with an awkward expression.

"Oh? It says something about the origin of this fucking shit?"

The black-haired elf raised her head and looked over to the green-eyed young man.

"..."

...who closed his mouth and fidgeted awkwardly...

"Mason...?"

Lairs furrowed her brows and turned to the silent half-elf in confusion.

"Well... it does... but..."

The green-eyed capture target flinched and started looking to the sides – anywhere but not directly at his half-sister.

"Oh, come the fuck on, just tell what you found, don't fuck around because tiptoeing around the subject is honestly way more fucking annoying than hearing the bad news!"

Lairs frowned and complained crossing her arms while still holding on to the stack of documents written by the aunt she did not remember.

"...alright..."

Mason ended up giving in and pointed out the line in the book he was holding.

"...the ancient blood curse is a personification of the anger of the god of spirits, Saint – amongst all the known curses and hexes, this one is the only one with no known cure. To stop its devastating effects that can wipe out entire nations' worth of lives is to kill the curse bearer – as long as the black-haired elf walks the earth, their curse will continue taking the lives of the creatures in their vicinity..."

"...alright, fuck. Stop. Get another book, please."

The green-eyed half-elf was about to continue reading out loud but Lairs raised her hand and called out as her complexion turned slightly green.

"No. Mason, read the rest."

"...!"

Cranberry shook her head and declared in a domineering tone, making both Mason and Lairs flinch.

"I think that it would be better to check more books first..."

Mason cowered and murmured awkwardly while trying to put his book away and exchange it for another while motioning at Cranberry to act more conscious about the black-haired elf.

"No, kid. Read the rest."

"..."

But after the blue undead knight backed the red-haired girl, the poor green-eyed young man had little to no choice in the matter anymore – he looked apologetically at the miserable airs and opened his mouth.

"...first to go would be the creatures with the emotional connection to the curse bearer – their loved ones would die one by one struck down by the god's punishment, their bodies will dry out and their hair would turn black before falling off and turning into dust. Then the curse would reach for the ones related to the curse bearer through their bloodline, killing them one by one until none is left. Only then will the curse extend to the living beings around the curse bearer – whoever the cursed one will touch, talk to, or even look at, they will perish without fail..."

Mason read out loud, gulping down his saliva with a fearful expression.

"...fucking hell, just top! Check the next book!"

Lairs could bear it and threw the notes in her hand to the ground and reached out for another stack.

"...Lai-lai..."

The green-eyed half-elf made a miserable expression and hurriedly put away the old book, taking up a different one as fast as he could so that this time no one could stop him.

"...they totally think that you did that to be mean to Lairs..."

Zombie frowned and whispered to Cranberry's ear.

"...haa... yeah I know..."

The red-haired girl breathed out and nodded with a bitter expression while glancing down at the journal in her hands.

"Ah! This one talks about dispelling the curse!"

"!!!"

Suddenly, Mason called out in excitement, while pointing at the sentence in the book that he just opened.

"Where?!"

Lairs gasped, throwing the papers behind her without any consideration for the mess she was creating and rushed towards him.

"...ah...! No – wait...!"

But just as suddenly as he called out in joy, Mason's expression darkened and he stepped back, trying to stop Lairs from looking at the text.

"Mason, stop fucking around! You said that there's something there about dispelling this fucking curse! Show it to me!"

The black-haired elf demanded, reaching out for the book, but the green-haired young man nimbly dodged her.

"For fuck's sake!"

Lairs cursed out loud but since she was magic oriented, her physical prowess wasn't nearly as good as her half-brother's.

"Haa... Mason – show her."

"!!!!"

Cranberry breathed out and ordered in a serious voice – making both the black-haired elf and the half-elf flinch.

"N-no... There must be a mistake here... maybe another book will..."

Mason shook his head and pressed the book to his chest, doing his best to hide the text.

"No, there will not be."

Cranberry shook her head, lowering her gaze to the floor.

"What the fuck are both of you talking about?!"

Lairs called out in anger, looking between the two people keeping her out of the loop.

"...the only way to dispel the ancient blood curse is to kill the curse bearer..."

Cranberry shrugged her shoulders and turned the journal she found around so that The other two could see what was written in there.

~There is no other way... to protect Cranberry, to protect my dearest son I there is no other way – I kept searching and searching for a different solution but there is none. I can already feel the effects of the curse on my body – I will be the next one to go – but I cannot allow my innocent baby to perish after me... I'm sorry. I am so sorry. There is no other way. My niece must be killed or else our son will die next... Gooseberry, if you read this and I have perished before the Salak's child is dead... please... protect our son... kill the black-haired elf before it's too late.~

"!!!!!"

Lairs's face turned from slightly green to straight-up blue as her eyes reached the last words.

"B-but that means...!"

She muttered in terror...

"Gooseberry finished preparing the field – he evacuated at least half of the village away from this place... and is coming back here."

...but then she got interrupted by the blue undead knight looking at the door with his eyes glowing with a murky red light.

"Haa... at least he gave us enough time to realize that there is no other way..."

Cranberry breathed out, massaging her forehead with a bitter expression.

And to make everything worse...

/Secret quest progression

Research the method of dispelling the curse [completed]\\

...a system message showed up for everyone participating in the quest....