The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"...I want to take all those books with us..."

Cranberry looked longingly at the rows of bookshelves in a large building undoubtedly made with special skill by making the trees grow in a coordinated manner to form walls and ceiling.

It was an impressive library that could even be compared to the one back at the Pride's mansion, and honestly, hundreds of books that she has never seen before were making Cranberry a bit weak in the knees.

"Haa... It feels like a waste to just leave them here, right Zo...?"

She sighed and over her shoulder to smile with disappointment at her servant, but the blue undead wasn't there.

She didn't even notice him walking away.

"Zombie? Zombie! Where did you...?!"

"AGHAIGH...!"

An inhuman screech pierced the air causing Cranberry to instantly shift into a battle stance.

The red-haired girl backed inside the building and grabbed the nearby chair and prepared to use it as a medium for her skills while carefully watching her surroundings.

*THUMP*

A sudden vibration shook the whole building, causing Cranberry to frown and activate her skills.

/Low-level Draconid defeated

/Master and Servant receive EXP

/Servant receive a title

Draconid slayer

/Master receive a title

Draconid slayer

But right then, a system message popped up in front of her eyes.

"Low-level draconid...?"

She tilted her head in confusion and slowly went outside.

After few seconds she heard an approaching noise.

She looked in its direction and saw her eternal servant pushing four carts tied together like a train.

...and a large scaly beast with a crushed frog-like face was on top of the last one, dead, with its limbs hanging loosely off the cart's sides.

"...explain...?"

Cranberry put down the chair and massaged her forehead.

"Well... when I was dealing with all the living here, I've noticed they had those monsters in the stables and all..."

Zombie fidgeted and started the explanation in a roundabout way.

"So just now I went to set them free since it looked like they would die otherwise."

He was dodging Cranberry's eyes and playing a fool.

"Setting them free..."

Cranberry raised her brow looking at the dead monster on that her undead brought back with him.

"It was its own fault! It attacked me first!"

Zombie furrowed his brows and sulked.

"And I was only taking the carts so that we could transport all the books!"

He complained.

"Ha."

At least Cranberry got the answer she was looking for.

Truth to be told, taking all the books with them had never occurred to her, she was going to just skim through some of them out of curiosity.

In the back of her mind, she still had Olive's words when the old elf told them about the end of the world, but by that point she was convinced it was just an empty talk the old elf came up with on the spot, to lure them into a trap.

But still, checking it in the elven books wouldn't be a bad idea, just in case...

It had nothing to do with the red-haired girl wanting to put into practice her old elvish language skills.

Nothing!

Not even a bit!

She also had a bit of aversion for taking someone else's books without permission, since she herself hated when others did that to her, but in this case...

"Are there any elves left alive?"

Cranberry asked, trying to look as casually as possible.

"No. I've definitely dealt with them all."

Zombie shook his head and pointed at his eyes that glowed red for a split second.

"I see, I see..."

Cranberry nodded to herself and glanced at the pile of corpses at the center of the village.

"Say... according to our quest, we are supposed to find the missing elves, right?"

She asked with an indifferent shrug.

"Yes."

The blue undead confirmed while already carrying the books from the library and loading them on the carts in neat stacks.

"And the elves are very fond of their families, right?"

"Seems like it."

Zombie agreed with Cranberry's statement while making sure that the books won't fall off during transport.

"And those elves were most likely the relatives of the elves who we are supposed to find to complete the optional quest? And would definitely reward us for..."

"Master. I'm done with packing the books, I'll get the valuables next and we'll be ready to go. Let's talk more when we'll be on the way back to the Dandelions."

Zombie pulled the four cart train, of which the three carts were already full, towards the center of the village.

"Ha ha!"

Cranberry laughed and nodded to herself.

There was no need for overthinking anything.

"Go do that. I'll check that special tree of theirs. There might be a piece of branch that I could use."

She shrugged and smirked, turning away and waving at her Servant.

About an hour later the four cart train pulled by the blue undead departed from the hidden village accompanied by the cheers and applause of no one.

In the dead silence, only a few forest critters dared to nervously stick their noses out of their burrows.

Cranberry was comfortably sprawled on top of the second wagon that Zombie filled with books in such a way that they formed a seat just for the red-haired girl.

She was turning pages of a large red book and reading through it with great attention.

"Is it something good?"

Zombie asked curiously looking back at his master.

"It's a story about an artifact, a ring that could make its wearer go invisible. I wonder if it's a real story or just some legend?"

Cranberry glanced at the pile of valuables on the cart in front of her.

"Do you think that any of those could turn out to be an artifact like that?"

She asked with a cheeky smile.

"I don't know, maybe."

Zombie missed the clear irony in his master's voice and answered with a serious face.

"Haa..."

Cranberry rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Anyway. I guess sneaking inside the Envys' residence won't be that easy, we should prepare."

She complained using her finger to bookmark a page and leaned back in her seat.

"Sneaking in? Weren't we going to search for Lairs and the rest of the missing elves?"

Zombie asked in confusion.

"Ha? But we will! Think about it, if they are using their skills to steal the beauty of the elves for themselves, they need to keep them somewhere safe and secure. Remember, we were told that Lairs was kidnapped for the exact same reason too."

Cranberry giggled and waved her finger.

"You see, that steal skill of theirs works only on living beings, so Envys simply have to keep the elves alive. "

Cranberry opened the book again and dived back into the lecture.

"The conclusion is simple - either they are hiring some insanely trustworthy people to guard the abducted elves in some secluded location, or they are keeping them somewhere where they can constantly have an eye on them."

"Like, in their main house?"

"Like, in their main house."

Zombie asked and got a decisive answer.