The Villainess and I, her Zombie

Cranberry's next question caused the Dandelions to flinch and look at the Master-Servant pair with confusion.

"Graough... (O-one of the things I just know...)"

Zombie fidgeted and looked away.

"Haa... then, are you really certain that our world's system has an administrator?"

The red-haired girl crossed her arms and asked with a serious expression.

"Graough. (From all I know there's no reason why it shouldn't have.) Graough. (It's all like some MMO game, even though it should be an otome game, having at least a few administrators should be a given.)"

Zombie explained innocently staring at the floor.

"A few...?!"

Cranberry gasped taken aback.

She decided to gloss over the details that she found unimportant, like the terms MMO and otome game, and instead focused on what she considered the main problem.

"Graough? (Well, yes. For a whole world just one person wouldn't be enough, right?)"

"What power would those administrators have over the system?"

Cranberry started speaking as soon as Zombie stopped.

"Graough... (If we're talking normal administrators they are the overseers of the players.) Graough. (They can punish those who behave badly and so on.)"

"So on? Explain more!"

Cranberry got angry at the half-assed explanation.

"Graough! (But I never bothered to check the details!) Graough (I was a single-player focused gamer!)"

Zombie groaned back.

"Can those administrators interfere with the system?"

Cranberry pressed him to answer.

"Graough! (Y-yes, I guess!) Graough, graough, graough. (Since they have access to the console commands, as long as the developers put a certain command in, the administrators should be able to use it to exercise their power.)"

The blue undead stepped back and grumbled with a sulking expression.

"...!"

Cranberry looked as if she got struck by a lightning.

"Ha...! But... that means that these administrators can kill anyone they want without actually attacking them? Like with this guy...?"

She glanced back at the headless captive and gritted her teeth.

"Graough...? (Well, yes, I guess...?)"

Zombie nodded without much confidence.

"Then we're all... no, wait..."

She clenched her fists so hard that her knuckles turned white, but then she suddenly relaxed them in realization.

"If they can do anything they want then why didn't they teleported that guy out of here instead?"

She asked tilting her head in confusion.

"Graough! (Whoa, no, wait!) Graough? (Why do you think they can do whatever they want?)"

Zombie grunted taken aback.

"Ha?"

Cranberry asked with an evil glare.

"Graough. (Administrators can only do things within the domain they are given.) Graough? (Why would they be able to do things in places they don't oversee?)"

Zombie explained.

That made Cranberry fall deep in thoughts again.

She felt a sudden chill that had nothing to do with the stuffy basement air.

"Then, those administrators can do a lot but only within the area that they are given, am I right?"

"Graough. (Yes.)"

The red-haired girl asked for confirmation and Zombie nodded.

"So within their given areas, are they like gods...?"

She asked carefully.

"Graough... (I'm not sure... Certainly there should be some restrictions.)"

"Can they die?"

"Graough. (Usually, yes.)"

Zombie answered all of his master's questions to the best of his ability.

The red-haired girl closed her eyes and started massaging her forehead again.

"...I hope I'm wrong... but this makes too much sense..."

She mumbled to herself.

"Graough? (What is it about, master?)"

Zombie approached her and tugged on her clothes.

Cranberry opened her eyes and looked at her servant with a bitter expression.

"The powers that those administrators have - it all just fits too well with the legends of the progenitors of the seven main families."

She said.

"Graough? (Do you think that they were the administrators?)"

Zombie gasped.

"No. Not them. The God-level beats they all dealt with."

Cranberry shook her head and smiled weakly.

"Lady Pride subdued the fire God, Wing.

Lord Greed suborn the luck God, Happy.

Lord Lust seduced the chaos God, Love.

Lady Envy kidnapped the spirit God, Saint.

Lord Gluttony devoured the abyss God, Hell.

Lady Wrath beat to death the dragon God, War.

Lord Sloth merged with the wisdom God, Patience."

Cranberry said while counting on her fingers.

"Each of those beasts was the previous rulers of the lands that later became the Fruit Salad kingdom. Absolute rulers that decided whether someone lives or dies on a whim."

She massaged her forehead again.

"Umm... young lady, how does that match what's happening now?"

Uresha stood up and pointed out.

"Haa..."

Cranberry sighed and glanced at her.

"According to their legend, the kidnapped spirit God, Saint, was the creator of the elves... and was supposed to be immortal as long as they stayed near a holy tree in the middle of the ancient elven kingdom."

"But that kingdom...!"

"The ancient kingdom that got destroyed, and the ancient tree got burned down."

Cranberry didn't allow interruption and continued the explanation.

"The one who perpetrated that was the same lady Envy that kidnapped Saint."

The red-haired girl smirked.

"Don't you see the connection?"

She asked but met with only the confused looks.

"Haa..."

Cranberry sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Envy stole the powers of Saint, who most likely was an administrator. With the control over the elves, she forbade them from ever revealing that the people of the Envy family are kidnapping their brethren. Are you with me up until that point?"

She asked and continued without waiting for the confirmation.

"It's only a stolen power so it's not as strong as when the original owner is using it. That's why they cannot force the elves to just submit to them."

"Alright... That's somewhat believable, I guess...?"

Rotte glanced at Shanks, but the rat-faced man's expression clearly stated that he also wasn't convinced at all.

"And since the avatar of sin has some level of control over their family, if an order like 'if you talk about that you must die' was given, the family member would be forced by the system to obey, unless their MDF was high enough or they had a special skill or title that would allow them to disobey."

Cranberry continued talking in a matter-of-fact voice.

"That's messed up..."

Uresha murmured and held onto Shanks's hand.

"If the avatar of sin, well, the avatar of envy had given that order while they also were in possession of the stolen power of the administrator, that would result in me getting a message about the interferences when that guy died."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Graough! (Master, you're amazing!)"

The three Dandelions were completely unconvinced, but the blue undead jumped up from the excitement, full of awe towards his master.

"Still. That doesn't get us any closer to finding Lairs..."

Cranberry's good mood went away as fast as it came, and she rubbed her sides with an annoyed expression.

"Did you found something on him?"

"Nothing new."

Her question was answered negatively, but that was well within her expectations.

"Haa... get rid of the body but leave the barrel here. If no one is using this house anyway, it should be fine."

Cranberry shrugged her shoulders and turned away.

"Zombie, come. Let's check out the village together."

She said waving her hand at the blue undead.