The Villainess and I, her Zombie

Olive stopped by the cliff, which Zombie instantly recognized as the very same fake cliff that hosted the Sloth-made artillery cannon in the first playthrough.

*Whooosh*

Olive's stop was instantaneous and didn't cause any damage to the scenery, and surprisingly enough, neither did Zombie's – instead a strong wind pressure cushioned the boy's body as he twisted his body into a kick but didn't actually make any physical contact with either the ground or the fake cliff.

"Huh... That's a fucking neat way to use an offensive skill as a utility one..."

The old elf raised his brows and muttered, nodding with a discreet approval.

"...ye-yeah... mana, refill... again... please..."

Zombie agreed with him, wheezing heavily, focusing on just staying up on his feet after getting completely exhausted by the few hours of constant running.

As it turned out, even though Olive told the boy that they were halfway before, he had obscured the truth since even though the first part of the travel took them just about an hour, the rest lasted at least three.

|He said that it will be just a friend of his, but didn't he actually lead us to the hidden village outright? I get it that he doesn't trust me yet, but seriously...|

The boy complained internally, while the old elf put his glowing hand above his head, using the mana replenishing skill that the boy needed more than just a few times on the way there.

|This guy... Whew, Olive was definitely using his illusions to make it impossible for you to memorize the actual route. He's very cautious, remember not to do anything stupid or it will become extremely difficult to stay alive.|

Patience pointed out sounding more than just slightly anxious and straight-up worried sick.

|Yeah, I remember. Olive and that librarian guy are definitely way above my current level, same with the village elder. Can't say the same about the villagers, but it's not like I will have much chance of survival if they bunch up on me, right?|

Zombie sighed internally.

|Exactly, so don't try to start anything, and if by any chance someone will want to start a fight with you, ignore them.|

Patience instructed him in a stern voice.

|Can't really promise you that.|

Zombie smirked as he felt refreshed since Olive didn't help him regenerate his mana but also healed him while he was at it.

"Thanks."

|He doesn't trust me and tries to be mean but he certainly doesn't want to come off as mean. A bit odd, but amazingly useful in our situation.|

The boy nodded to the old elf and then hummed curiously in his mind.

||It sure is.|

Patience agreed just in time for Olive to move aside from the boy and knocked at the exposed root growing out from the exposed cliff.

"It's me, I brought a guest with me. It's been quite a fucking journey, so could you just call for Mirabelle really fucking quick?"

"!!!!"

As soon as the hidden latch moved just a bit to allow an elf stationed inside to peek at Olive, the old elf winked at him and motioned with his eyes to not question anything.

|Hmm... Mirabelle... wasn't she the village elder or something? She blew my head off and unintentionally helped partially unlock the seal of the eternal...|

Zombie kept an indifferent expression on the outside but was rather bitter on the inside.

|Why do you sound so annoyed...? It happened in the first playthrough this shouldn't affect anything now.|

Patience turned out to be the voice of reason and sounded as if she tilted her head in confusion.

|There are only three people who actually managed to physically hurt me back then... The first one was my Cranberry herself, the second one was Luke who managed to completely evaporate my physical body although surprisingly that didn't activate the seal, which still confuses me, and the final one was Mirabelle, the elder of the hidden elven village.|

Zombie scoffed and coldly counted down.

|Cranberry is someone I want to protect. Luke is an important character and I need him alive. But as for Mirabelle...|

|You also need her alive, just in case. Who knows when the elves will come in handy? Give it a rest, please.|

The boy slowly drifting into a dark place, but Patience was having none of it.

|Of course it wouldn't be right away... but maybe a little accident along the way...|

Zombie smirked maliciously, taking advantage of the elf – and probably other elves in the fake cliff too – being focused on Olive.

|Zombie. Please. Do it for me. No accidents. Just leave her alone, you don't have to kill anyone to prove your superiority to them, you know? Let's get you so strong that everyone will have to bow down to you instead. How about that?|

Patience asked, sounding genuinely worried.

|Haaa.... slow and steady wins the race, huh... Fine. I can't promise you how I will act after turning into an undead, but for now, I promise that I'm withholding the revenge against Mirabelle just as I did with Cranberry and Luke.|

The boy let out a deep internal sigh and agreed.

|Eh...? There was a time that you wanted to take revenge upon your villainess? Why haven't I read it in your memories then?!|

Patience piqued on the tiny detail in Zombie's wording and gasped, but it wasn't the time to continue the discussion.

"The el- el... fuck... Um... elegant miss was notified and will arrive shortly."

The elven sentinel stuttered and stopped for a moment trying to think of a way to not use the world elder since Olive was glaring at him with a very strict expression, but eventually managed to salvage the situation.

"...elegant...? Huh, that's fucking news to me."

Still, the hidden elf's words were enough to change Olive's expression from the strict right into a light smile.

|Wait for a second... There was something about Olive and Mirabelle, wasn't there? Something about their relationship...|

Zombie furrowed his brows trying to remember a part of the memory he previously decided was unnecessary and let it drift into the abyss of his rotten brain-bounded mind during the first playthrough.

|Let's focus on the matter at hand, shall we? Do you remember what is the bare minimum of stuff we have to negotiate from the elves? It's really not the time to be getting interested in their private affairs – if the negotiations will fail, we will need to go straight to plan B and we will definitely be tight on time to complete it.|

Patience's exclamation blew away Zombie's idle thoughts and brought him back to the things that really mattered.

"Just so you know, don't try anything fucking stupid or I will get rid of you fucking instantly."

Olive glanced down at the boy and scoffed.

"I'm not deceiving you so why would I?"

Zombie shrugged his shoulders and asked back.