The Villainess and I, her Zombie

What was originally supposed to be a short break for the blue undead knight's human pet, turned out to be a few hours of storytelling from the wide world to the unexpectedly warm and open lizardfolk - although the aid of the well-timed mindbreak skill to sway their affection on Zombie's side certainly did have a lot to do with that.

"Neigh...!"

"Oh...?"

The sound of a horse coming from outside made the teal-scaled lizardfolk straighten his back and turn to the inn's door.

"Could it be it's noon already...? Zombie, wait a bit - I'm going to check."

He furrowed his brows and nodded at the blue undead knight with the red-haired human girl on his lap.

Plum stood up from his seat and walked outside with a swaying step.

"Could it be the undead courier you you were talking about before?"

The blue undead turned to the other lizardfolk gathered around him in the inn.

"It should be. She's quite a scary creature if you ask me - not really someone you picture in your head when thinking about making deliveries."

The green-scaled Pear nodded, scratching the back of his head while stretching.

"Shh! Pear, don't talk so loud! What if she could hear you!"

The pink-scaled bartender put his finger to his mouth, scolding the slightly drunk patron.

"...I see..."

Zombie nodded and muttered to himself while his eyes shone with a murky red light and the world around him lighted up with the life signature of the lizardfolk, the fishes in their lake, and... nothing.

There certainly wasn't even a single life signature of an animal capable of making horse-like sounds anywhere in the hearing distance...

...therefore the only explanation for the neigh before was - an undead steed.

*poke*

"...?"

Zombie prodded Cranberry's side to get her attention before lowering his head and putting his mouth to her ear.

"The lizardfolk here are nice, but the courier is most likely au undeath knight too - quite the specimen to put in charge of making deliveries, don't you think?"

"...!"

He whispered and saw the red-haired girl's brows shoot up

She turned to him and stretched up to reach his ear.

"Undead knight? Are you sure it's not just an undead squire? It should be just an undead squire..."

Cranberry's voice was as surprised as it was quiet - which let Zombie know that in the memories of the game she inherited from Patience, the creature wasn't supposed to be an early high-rank monster at all.

"Zombie! Come out! She agreed to give you and your pet a ride!"

At that moment, Plum peeked back inside the inn and called out, waving his hand at the blue undead and the red-haired girl.

"It's just that you have to come quickly because they almost finished loading her cart and she isn't the type to wait."

"It's alright, I'm going."

The teal-scaled lizardfolk added apologetically, but Zombie waved his hand dismissively and instead of getting Cranberry down and leading her on a leash, he picked her up and carried her on his forearm.

"It was a pleasure talking with all of you - stay safe, and I wish you all happiness."

Before the blue undead left the inn, he turned around and said his farewell to the gathered lizardfolk while his eyes were straight-up glowing in bright blue light as he shamelessly used the lust-based skill on all of them.

"Same to you, Zombie!"

"Yeah, come back if you'll find the time!"

The green-scaled Pear, the red pink-scaled bartender, as well as the other villagers responded with enthusiasm that should be addressed only to the cherished loved ones and not a random traveler that they met merely a couple of hours ago.

"Khaha! Sure~"

Zombie giggled and walked out of the building right into the warm sunlight...

"...!"

Except that Cranberry on his arm instantly shivered from the sudden ice-cold breeze that hit them as they exit the inn.

Similarly, the sight that they saw wasn't something that they had expected either - even for Zombie who was already prepared to see an undead knight with their steed - a first one except for himself that he would ever meet.

It was so shocking, because, in a place where he thought to see an undead horse, he saw four zombie horses pulling a rather sinister-looking wagon.

Next to the wagon stood the undead knight in person.

The first thing that was hogging all attention was her long ashen hair and pointy ears sticking out from beneath it, next was her polished steel armor with a deep blue gem in the middle of the breastplate, and then was the ashen-skin of her strict but pretty face and pale blue eyes with dark bags underneath them.

If not for the color of her skin and a rather ghastly aura surrounding her, it would be very hard to even say that she was undead in the first place.

The ashen undead knight was carefully writing down each crate that the lizardfolk loaded on her wagon before putting her hand on the lids and - while the blue gem in her breastplate shone - she would use a skill that would encase the crate in ice and produce the burst of frigid air that Zombie and Cranberry experienced before.

The blue undead approached her still carrying the red-haired girl on his forearm.

The ashen undead knight did not pay any attention to them until the last crate was properly written down and loaded on the wagon.

Once she confirmed everything, the ashen undead nodded to herself and turned around.

"...!"

And as she faced the blue undead, her eyes widened and she froze for a few seconds.

"Hello. I've been told that you agreed to give us a lift."

Zombie smiled at her, he was seven feet tall while the female undead was around six feet and six inches, so he ended up looking down on her.

"...you...?"

The ashen undead knight asked in a raspy voice sounding as if she rarely got to use it before she looked at the teal-scaled Plum sanding by the inn and then looked back at Zombie.

"...?"

Then her eyes ended up on Cranberry sitting at Zombie's forearm with her arms wrapped around his neck to keep her balance, and she tilted her head completely dumbfounded.

"...is something the matter...?"

The blue undead knight also tilted his head to match the ashen one's gesture and asked, raising his brow.

"Sometimes the light has to use shadow for the peace of the world."

The ashen undead knight shook off the surprise and asked said after straightening her back.

"The world will bend down to my will or there will be no world."

Zombie didn't even blink, the smile disappeared from his face leaving only a deadly serious, almost disgusted expression, and he responded with no hesitation.

"?!?!?!?!?!???!?!?!?!"

That certainly wasn't a response that the ashen undead knight expected as she flinched in an almost panicked way and lowered her head with her eyes darting all over the place while she seemed to be desperately trying to decipher the words she just heard.

Still, there was nothing to decipher as what Zombie had said was simply his honest thought.

"...she's with the church..."

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

Zombie muttered to Cranberry, and the red-haired girl nodded back at him.

"Four steeds, I see. You must be quite a strong one."

The blue undead wasn't going to just leave the ashen undead knight to take forever on thinking whether he was an ally or not and asked a first random question that came to his mind, motioning at the zombie horses in front of the loaded wagon.

"...where is yours...?"

The ashen undead flinched and furrowed her brows in a realization.

"I lost it a long time ago. That's why I need a lift."

"..."

Zombie lied smoothly without even bothering to come up with a better story, but his words seemed to bother her even more than anything that he said before, as she squinted her eyes, glaring at him - clearly very deeply offended.

"...bad move...! Undead knights should be very prideful, their steeds are the sign of their status that differentiates them from the lower rank undead's! You were far too lighthearted when saying that you lost yours...!"

Cranberry instantly flinched and climbed to his ear, whispering hastily.

"It's alright."

But Zombie wasn't even half as bothered as her, and he reached out his other hand to pat the girl's back - 'accidentally' covering himself and the red-haired girl with his shield.

"Don't worry - I will either kill her or give her to In're. She doesn't have to like me."

"...ha...?"

He smirked menacingly and gave Cranberry a little wink, leaving the girl speechless.