The Villainess and I, her Zombie

Zombie was momentarily stunned after such a bizarre exchange going on inside his head, so he didn't really pay attention to the front of the line where the guild staff member got wide-eyed at the bag of coins presented to him by a wealthy-looking merchant with a rather sinister smile.

Whatever it was about, the guild staff member nodded and hurriedly put up a 'window closed' sign up and began hurriedly working on a brand new poster...

"Huh?! Hey! Don't bullshit me!"

"What the hell is this supposed to be!"

"..."

...even though all the people who were behind the wealthy man, all got angry – that included Mia – but all their complaints fell on the deaf ears of the guild staff member who despite having very abusive words and threats hurled at him would only point at the 'window closed' sign without even raising his head.

"You smelly bastard! I don't have time for queueing up all day to sell these damn weeds!"

Mia shouted in fury, getting a bit teary-eyed despite her best efforts to stay calm.

"Miss, if you want to you can just throw it away, or leave and sell it on the market."

The guild staff member waved his hand dismissively and shooed the girl away.

"...!"

Mia flinched and gritted her teeth...

...and ended up queueing at another line.

Laura staying away from the adventurers guild didn't mean that she would stay away from the market if the former adventurer found Mia selling herbs that could lead to some unwanted questions, so that option was locked up for her.

Getting really pissed off she angrily waited for her turn, watching the hands of the clock near the counter move relentlessly informing her about the inevitable passage of time – of her free time until she had to get back to the inn before Laura would show up for a 'talk'.

She glanced at the boy sitting by the west wall and furrowed her brows, feeling a tingling sensation of regret.

If she just went ahead and registered together with him and joined his team, things could have been different... probably not by much but still.

But of course, she wanted to show off to the younger boy even more so since he was always the one effortlessly coming up with incredible feats!

"..."

Mia flinched and looked away, feeling ashamed for her own thoughts.

Effortlessly?

Where in the system's name did that come from?

She herself had witnessed the borderline insane training regime that Zombie had set for himself – she saw him breaking his body time and time again, getting injured so badly that many hardened adults would have broken down in tears; and sacrificing his sleep just to get a bit stronger, a bit better every day.

If anything, she should be admiring him, then why did she...?

"...ah... I'm just envious..."

Mia uttered to herself in realization and sighed, just as it was her turn to access the counter.

She suddenly realized that she maybe spent a little bit too much time amongst the cunning people of the Envys territory...

"...but it's his fault too, why didn't he approache me to form a team after the registration, like what, am I not good enough for him...?"

"Miss, if you have no business here, please don't hold up the line and step aside."

The guild staff member frowned and called out the girl who felt a bit too deep into her own thoughts.

"Wha...?! No-no, I'm here to complete yesterday's mission!"

Mia flinched and hurriedly threw the bag of herbs at the counter right in front of the guild staff member.

…

…...

"...?"

Once she received the measly payment for a big bag full of the herbs that she spent so much time gathering, the guild member who closed his window stood up with a brand new mission poster and walked out from behind the counter...

"!!!!"

The attention of all the latecomers – including Mia and Zombie - focused on him.

He was going straight for the eastern wall – it could mean only one thing!

An emergency mission has popped up!

Mia's heart began beating faster – was this actually her lucky day...?

The poster with an emergency mission was put up and the other adventurers instantly swarmed it.

"...?"

Although to Mia's confusion many of them backed out and turned away after just a glance.

Even so, that didn't stop her from at least giving the mission a hopeful look.

"...!"

And she almost gasped once she saw the content.

A rare goods trader needs a capable bodyguard to protect them on an errand to procure exotic merchandise for his shop.

Destination: Great northern woods

Time of departure: Tomorrow morning

Predicted time needed for completion: between 2 and 4 days

Maximum number of party members: 2

Reward: Depending on the mission results (Minimal reward – a single artifact from the merchant's shop)

Mia's eyes sparkled with amazement – this offer was simply perfect!

There was a minimal reward set, so even if the mission is a bust, as long as she gets the merchant back to safety, she will get an artifact!

There was the suspicious thing about the wording of the mission's objective but...

An artifact!

A real one straight from the actual merchant, not a used half-broken from some pawn shop!

She was meticulously saving up the money to buy herself a speed-increasing artifact but even after working as a waitress during the day and gathering the herbs at the side, she was nowhere near the required amount!

She had to make this work!

If she asked some other girl from the inn to take her shift – using one of the hooks she had on them after working together for over two years, she could easily get away with not coming to work for a few days!

As for Laura...

As nosy and nagging as she was, Laura didn't soak into the Envys territory's cunningness and stayed true to herself.

Or maybe she was just too straightforward to make any ploy work... anyway, she wouldn't mind letting Mia stay out if Mia told her that she will stay at her coworker's home for just four days to recharge or something! Laura still thought of Mia as a child so she could even paint it as a sleepover or something!

And the last part... up to two people... If she took the poster and approached Zombie with it saying that it's always better to fill the maximum amount of people required– the two of them could form a party without Mia looking as if she was wanting any help from the younger boy!

...well, everyone in the guild thought that Zombie was a banished dwarf and not a six-year-old human, but it wasn't about the opinion of others in the first place!

With most of the adventurers backing off, Mia reached her hand for the poster, with a bright, hopeful smile already forming on her face.

*rip*

"...eh...?"

But right as her fingers were about an inch away from the poster, it got snatched right out of the clipboard so fast that a part of it got torn off, causing Mia to unintentionally gasp.

"Who dares...?!"

She growled, furrowing her brows and glaring down at whatever bastard had the guts to...