The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"...let me preemptively answer some of your next questions, young lady. First of all, every single member of the Sloth family is under Patience's influence and cannot share a thing about the truth of the avatar of sloth."

As soon as the hatch closed, the rat-faced man bowed his head to Cranberry and explained in a deeply apologetic voice.

"..."

She glared at him with cold fury for a few seconds.

"...haa... I can relate to being unable to oppose the head of the family, and with that thing the pressure it gives you all must be truly horrible. Continue."

The red-haired girl sighed and accepted the apology while also asking for more details.

"Patience is like a parasite. One day that being appeared before my ancestor as he was struggling to keep the titan-class monsters at bay, and proposed him a deal. Help and protection of a god-like being in exchange for bodies to host them so that they could fulfill the purpose bestowed to them by their creator. Of course, that seemed to be too good to be true.

Shanks allowed himself for a self-deprecating smile and explained in the dead silence that ensued.

"Haa... Of course."

Cranberry sighed and nodded.

"Indeed. It's as you would expect. It was too good - even though my ancestor came up with a whole mountain of security measures, it turned out that none of them matter since Patience could just overrule it all with a single decision."

Shanks nodded and continued.

"Even though they are this powerful, they seem to be blindly following whatever orders they were left with by their creator. Us Sloths have tested it and it turns out that Patience doesn't actually need a host to survive or have access to the so-called administrator's privileges - they host on members of our family solely because that's the role their creator left them...!"

The rat-faced man clenched his fists and his shoulders trembled from the held back anger that couldn't have been shown ever before to anyone outside the noble house of Sloth.

"Damned parasite!"

Cranberry cursed, clenching her fists so hard that her knuckles turned white.

"Sorry, Arion, it seemed that you came here with us for nothing."

"...?"

Zombie looked at the confused black wolf and smirked, nodding his head apologetically.

"Haa... we were going to have your dog devour the remains of the administrator so that some crazed-up Sloth-born scientist wouldn't try to bring them back to life or something... Ha! Since when was I so optimistic?! FUCKING HELL!"

*thunk*

The red-haired girl started her speech with a mocking smirk but ended it with a furious shout that carried around one-fourth of the tower's height, and smashed her black baseball bat against the wall - but with all the stats reduced to 10 and her skill blocked by the weakening seal, the hit ended up being just a pathetic tap that couldn't do any harm.

"I understand how you feel..."

Shanks let out a deep sigh as the group began descending the spiral staircase.

"Patience has been both the blessing and the curse of the Sloth family for hundreds of years."

He continued since no one was going to stop him talking - Mary, Arion, Corvus, and especially the agitated Cranberry, were all listening to him in silence.

"Sir Shanks, if I may..."

Corvus shook his head in confusion and raised his hand.

"Why didn't you even hint that the avatar of sloth is in fact the God of Wisdom, Patience?! That would have been a big deal, you know?!"

He scoffed.

"Did... Did you completely missed what I said, and what Patience themselves had said...? I was ordered not to reveal anything - ad if not for the permission I received, I would not be able to do that, ever."

"I...! Umm... hmm. yeah, sure, if you say so... Still, any tip on that would have been useful information before we came here."

Corvus furrowed his brows and shrugged his shoulders, clearly not believing Shanks's words.

"It's not about the usefulness of the information, it's about the trust between comrades."

Surprisingly enough, Mary spoke up sharing Corvus's doubts - although from a slightly different perspective.

"If we trust each other enough to reveal ourselves our secrets, then our performance during battle would be much greater!"

"...ha...?"

The brown-haired girl puffed out her chest proudly and declared, causing Cranberry to shook her head and stare at her, flabergasted.

"...haa...?"

"..."

The red-haired girl exchanged shocked looks with the rat-faced man and they both looked back at the heroine.

"Even if we disregard THE COMMAND OF THE LITERAL GOD, I don't remember you saying any of your secrets before each wave, miss Mary, and besides, I was ordered by Patience themselves - you know, the very same being of light that just completely overwhelmed us all - to not ever disclose any information."

Shanks snorted and gestured wildly with his hands.

"I'm the heroine, I'm supposed to be mysterious anyway! And don't give me that high and noble - I was ordered to not tell a thing - you could have just ignored the order or let the info slip and it would be fine!"

Mary's response was rather peculiar...

"...let the info slip...?"

"Ha? ...ignore the order... Ignore the order of the acting avatar of sin of his own family? And a super-powered one at that?!"

Both Shanks and Cranberry couldn't believe their ears, hearing such an outrageous claim.

"What...? What did I say...?"

Mary flinched and looked between the two.

"Haa... it must be so nice to not know what it means to receive an order from the avatar of sin that rules your family..."

"It makes me jealous for those of the lower birth..."

The red-haired girl and the rat-faced man sighed simultaneously and complained dispirited.

"Mary, every avatar of sin has basically complete control over anyone sharing their blood. It's not like the family members can just ignore or reject the order on a whim."

Corvus hurriedly explained to the surprised Mary.

"...eh...? But isn't that just awful then?!"

""It is.""

Cranberry and Shanks nodded and confirmed at the same time.

"I'll explain it once again. I am only able to tell you anything about Patience because they gave me direct permission. Without it, I would be physically unable to say or mention, or let slip, anything at all."

"...this really is terrible then..."

The brown-haired heroine lowered her head and rested her hand on Arion's massive back for reassurance.

"Speaking of terrible things... As a Sloth, there's one thing that Patience said that bothers me..."

Shanks grumbled furrowing his brows.

"Ha? Only one?"

Cranberry scoffed, shaking her head with a sour expression.