The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"Oh? As if you are the one to talk! Watch my health! Good one! Said the boy who worked himself to death and then just continued working harder and harder."

"…"

Laura smiled and looked at the Zombie who looked away awkwardly.

"I am not scolding you – as ridiculous it might sound, I kind of expected that you pull off something so crazy in the end… You never learned how to hold back…"

She laughed and reached doubt to pat the blue undead's head – and he bowed slightly so that she had an easier time reaching it.

"…did Banana tell you about that…?"

Zombie ended up asking, slightly embarrassed from the warm, affectionate touch.

"Yes. And Mia, and Luke too. Even some of the passing folks have had some gossip about you from time to time – it seems like you were around the Envys territory a lot…"

Laura pointed out, leaning her head down to glance at Zombie's face.

"I'm sorry… I feel like such a brat for not visiting… I… I think that part of me didn't want to make you worry, but I guess it was mostly due to the fact that as an undead I feel the urge to kill humans, and I didn't want to feel like that around you…"

The blue undead admitted, lowering his head even more.

"Aww… you were always a good kid… very deep inside your heart – but that still counts~!"

Laura smiled brightly, tousling Zombie's hair, which caused the blue undead to raise his head and smile back at her.

"So you say, but I bet that you would scold me for a whole week straight if I showed up looking like this on your doorstep!"

"Pffft…!"

The blue undead declared while spreading his arms open to show himself off, which caused the woman to snort and giggle uncontrollably.

"Treu, true – I would have talked your ears off for never taking it easy as e always advised you…"

Laura nodded with a gentle smile.

"Ah! That's right! I almost forgot! How about Papaya? Did he come here with you or did he stay behind to watch the farm? You see, Nagas and arachne are incredible with making both poison and medicine – I bet that an apothecary like him would love to…"

"…!"

"…to check it out…?"

Zombie' face brightened up as he started talking about the man living together with Laura, an apothecary who always tried his best to keep up with the lively woman as well as doing his best at being the support for their little farm – but then the blue undead saw Laura flinching, and he furrowed his brows and stopped talking with a bad feeling.

"Ah. That's right… you don't know…"

"…!"

The woman looked away with an awkward, insincere smile, which made the blue undead cautious…

"Papaya died five years ago…"

"WHAT?! WHO DID IT…?!"

Laura revealed in a sad voice which cause Zombie to stand up and roar in vengeful anger.

/Proficiency level reached

You receive a skill

Ira (level 1)\

/Error\

/You already received the skill in the past\

/Calculating…\

/Changing the reward\

/You receive a skill

Vengeance (level 1)

[Passive skill – After a member of your party becomes injured, all your stats increase by 50%]\

A series of system messages had popped up for the blue undead, but he couldn't care less about them at the moment…

"No. It's not like that, sit down…"

"…?"

Laura shook her head and grabbed Zombie's hand, guiding him back on the chair by her bed, causing his confusion…

"Papaya wasn't killed by anyone… it was just a normal day, our newest kids have already left the farm and we were just cleaning up… I told him that I will move the heavy boxes myself, but you know how he was – he said that I should let him be a man of the house from time to time and rely on him more – and went to the shed anyway…"

Laura started explaining, and with each word, her shoulders shook more and more.

"…around noon, I heard a noise… I thought that he dropped something so I went to go nag him that he should have waited for me and… he was just laying there… it looked like he was stacking the boxes up and got on a ladder to put the last one and… he fell…"

"Laura…"

The woman bit her lips as she couldn't hold back the tears welling up in her eyes, and the blue undead grabbed her hand.

"…I took him and went to find a medic immediately, but… it was too late. I always told him that he should raise his level and not just focus on his job's skills… his defense was so weak… Papaya died on the spot once he hit his head against the ground…"

"…"

The blue undead didn't say anything and simply reached out and hugged the woman who never stopped carrying about him.

"I-I'm sorry. It has already been five years, I really am getting old… I'm such a fool."

Laura cried in Zombie's shoulder and he was patting her back reassuringly.

"No… of course, you are not… I'm so sorry that I didn't visit you earlier…"

The blue undead gritted his teeth while comforting the woman.

"No, no… that not's how it works, kiddo… you have your own life…"

She shook her head and tried to reassure the blue undead but ended up breaking into tears…

…the blue undead stayed with her until she fell cried herself to sleep, once she did, he tucked her in and left…

"You."

"S-sir…?!"

In front of the building, he grabbed the shoulder of the terrified girl that came together with Xavi and pointed her at the entrance.

"Your new duty is to make sure that Laura has everything that she could ever wish for. Do not leave her side unless you would absolutely have to – and if you do, make sure to get someone else to watch her."

"Ye-yes, sir!"

The horrified girl hurriedly nodded her head and entered the building fearing for her deal life.

"…haa…"

Zombie breathed out and looked towards the headquarters building that was occupied by the family gathering of Cranberry, Mirabelle, and Olive.