The Villainess and I, her Zombie

*clang* *clang*

"Hmmm... annoying..."

Zombie, surrounded by complete darkness, clapped his hands together – but instead of producing, well, a clapping sound – and instead produced the noise that could only be described as metal clashing against metal.

That certainly wasn't how he remembered them.

"Zombie...! Zombie!"

"Oh...?"

Then, at first shy then much more cheerful and happy – a very familiar voice called out to him and the next thing he felt was someone's warm and alive body pressing itself against his cold dead flesh.

And since he did not feel immediately repulsed by the contact, there could be only one answer for the question about that soft someone's identity.

"Cranberry? Why does it feel like I'm not wearing any shirt? And what's with this..."

*clang* *clang*

"...kinky stuff...? Seriously, if I will take this stuff off and I'm in some BDSM basement – I'm going to be pissed."

He asked made more metal noises with his hands, and added, furrowing his brows though he was unsure whether it was being seen by the girl...

...who felt bigger than before...

"...!"

Which should honestly not be that surprising he was well aware that over eight years had passed already, and he stayed in the same form of the undead squire that he had then while everyone else continue to grow up.

"What's bidiesem...?"

"!!!"

Zombie flinched hearing the voice that should belong to the blond prince, so moved around to face the right direction.

"You! Your mother better not have been messing with my body while I was out of it, you hear me? Consent is the very bare minimum of the proper session and I did not give it at any point."

The blue undead declared, pointing his handcuffed hand – hopefully – right at the prince's face.

"Lord Zombie, please, don't move – I'll remove the shackles for you."

"...huh...?"

When another voice – of someone who should most definitely not be there in a situation that Zombie would consider normal – joined in, the blue undead took a step back, making the girl hugging him stagger and cling to him even harder than before.

"Carambola...? What are you doing here?! Ah! Wait I get it!"

Zombie tilted his head in confusion and asked – but then he froze and nodded in realization.

"Ah! Of course! Fillia must be helping you – she was Fig all along, right? Ha! She must have really taken a liking to you, Cranberry, if she even lent you her personal bodyguard!"

He continued nodding with satisfaction, thinking that everything he had done must have at least help in achieving that outcome.

|...oh... right... I did not tell you how the night of the hungry wolves was completed...|

|...excuse me...?|

The being sealed inside of the blue undead gasped in realization and sounded as if she turned from him, escaping making the eye-contact.

"..."

And the extremely heavy silence that befell whatever area they all were in, was enough of the indicator that things weren't really as positive as the blue undead had hoped for.

"...fine, get that stuff off of me and then you will tell me everything."

Zombie scoffed and reach out his hands – but he did not do that in the direction he heard Crambola's voice coming from before.

"Kopia, you're with Cranberry, right? Just free me already."

*SHING*

*CLANG*

His words didn't even stop echoing in the empty room when a couple of crimson threads emerged out of the sword-shaped pendant on Cranberry's neck and their tips all changed in tiny blades that swung at Zombie's shackles al lat the same time, making Zombie smirk as all the scrap metal fell off his body and made some noise against the floor.

"...hardly any difference, huh..."

The blue undead pointed out at the lack of the light source – but his voice got muffled almost instantly by Cranberry, as the red-haired girl stuffed his face into her ample chest – using the now quite large height difference to its full extent.

"You idiot...! You said that you will be back soon and you get yourself taken hostage for eight years...!"

The girl, who now looked at least three to five years older than the blue undead cried out, locking Zombie in a tight embrace.

"..."

For a second, it seemed like the blue undead will reach out and return the embrace, but he only ended up extending his hand to the side and...

"Monty."

He called ut and with a flash of white light, a golden snake appeared right on his open palm.

"Master! You're back!"

The little golden snake cheered out while only going with the sound – without actually seeing in the darkness.

"Good to see you too, Monty – now, I bet you've eaten well this past few years – did you level up your creation skill?"

Zombie asked – not acknowledging Cranberry's affection but not trying to step away either.

"I did! I can make really good weapons now – I make snacks for Kopia all the time!"

The golden snake revealed without even an ounce of hesitation – though a more accurate word in this context would be boast,

"Nice, I see – but I don't need a weapon since I've got Kopia already. Instead, make me a shield – the best you can – you can use the most fitting stones and skills."

"O-okay..."

The blue undead seemed to already know that Monty was able to add both magic stones and even skills of the item he had eaten to the new item that he would create with his unique skill.

"...Zombie..."

Cranberry lowered her head and groaned at the top of the undead's head, furrowing her brows and pouting at the lack of attention.

She should be more cautious considering the time and place but honestly after seeing her familiar after so long was severely messing up with her decision-making process.

"Where are we now?

Zombie asked towards the life signature of the blond prince.

"The secret private treasury of the avatar of greed. A place where none of you should be - especially not you, prince Roan."

"Wha...?! Who...?!"

But the voice that answered the blue undead - and made Roan jump and gasp in shock - belonged to someone else.

Someone with a much stronger life signature than everyone else in the room.

"Oh. So that guy isn't an ally that was staying guarding the escape route...?"

Zombie sighed and gently pulled away from the sulking Cranberry that certainly did not want to let go of him.

"Whether I am your ally or not, depends on your next action. My name is Quince and I'm here to escort you to the queen... and I bet there will be a lot of things in need of a good explanation."

The new person spoke, using a skill to create a levitating orb of light that illuminated the emptied treasury and all the people inside.

|Ha. That's him. The prince's father. Let's just go with him for a bit.|

The sealed being sounded as if she tilted her head and smirked.