The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"Here! Let's go here now, Termas!"

Kopia pulled on Zombie's arm, dragging him through the crowd of people that certainly weren't happy about being pushed aside by the fancy-dressed girl.

Of course, it would be a different case if she was someone from the Envy family '“ but her looks weren't nearly as good as the stunning elf-like faces of the ruling family of the territory...

"Oww...! Hey watch ou...!"

Still, the lack of cooperation did not matter for the crimson-haired girl in the slightest, as she simply rammed her way through the crowd without any consideration whatsoever.

"You watch out, trash."

"...never mind..."

And when coupled with Zombie's threatening aura and the bright white light of a tier 2 skill, there were none who tried to take things beyond just a few scornful looks and an angry comment.

With that, Zombie and Kopia were off to another blacksmith shop to look for good swords '“ preferably with abilities or made from rare materials '“ and went through the door making the bell above it ring, notifying the clerk that they have clients.

"What can I help you with, miss and mister?"

The clerk, a cheerful-looking kobold girl that looked way too young to be allowed to work in a shop with such dangerous merchandise, asked with a bright smile and got on top of a chair she was sitting in just to be able to peek out from above the counter.

"Swords! Show me your best swords!"

Kopia, who saw nothing odd about a child working in a weapon shop, approached the young kobold with an even higher output of energy and slammed her hands on the counter with a big bright smile.

"Ah! You know your stuff, big sis! My grandpa makes the best swords in the entire Envy territory!"

The kobold child jumped up with excitement and jump off of her chair and walked from behind the counter and approached the display of various weapons on one of the walls.

"You might be interested in this beauty!"

She pointed at the massive two-handed sword with a beautiful ruby blade and gold and silver crossguard.

"This one is our biggest...!"

"Trash."

The kobold child was talking with exasperation, but she got interrupted by Kopia's ruthless comment spoke in a voice far colder than ice.

"E-eh...? Big sis, sorry, I must have misheard you..."

The little kobold girl flinched and backed off a step and smiled awkwardly at the crimson-haired girl.

"When I said I want to see your swords, I meant weapons."

Kopia frowned, actually angry, and touched the stunningly beautiful weapon's blade with her finger,...

"Ah! D-don't...!"

The kobold girl reached her hands, trying to stop her, but Kopia ended up sliding her finger all the way through the whole length of the sword...

...and then showed off her intact finger...

"..."

Zombie raised his brow and looked at his humanoid sword '“ since she literally had no blood that the sword could draw, doing a show like that would be a perfect start of starting the talk about the price drop...

...but the thing was, Kopia wasn't cunning enough to do try something like that right of the bat...

...not to mention that they didn't even hear the price of the weapon, to begin with...

So the disguised blue undead merely stood and watched Kopia from the sidelines.

"It looks pretty, but that's it. See? No chink. I think that gold would like this, but I want a weapon. This is a decoration and it has no skills that would make it useful."

She spoke sounding incredibly disgusted.

...which in turn made the blue undead curious.

He stealthily took off Monty from his ear and moved it towards the blade, making it look like he was checking it out just as Kopia did.

Then, before the shocked kobold child could say anything in response, he took back his hand and put Monty back on his ear.

"Sssss. (This is trash.) Ssssssssss. (There's not a speck of precious materials in this, it's all stained glass and some cheap paint on wood.) Sssss...? (Master, you will not make me eat this garbage, will you...?)"

The golden snake hissed quietly so that only Zombie could hear him and actually sounded really worried at the end, making Zombie roll his eyes.

"B-but this is my grandpa's...!"

The little kobold girl's chin started shaking '“ but if she thought that it would work against those clients, well... she could not be farther from the truth.

"I don't care. Weapons. Show me real swords, not some display pieces."

Kopia shook her head with disgust and clapped her hands to hasten the child '“ showing not just a vocabulary but a gesture that she was certainly not taught by anyone, at least as far as Zombie could remember.

"M-maybe this one...?"

The kobold child pointed at an emerald sword right below the ruby one.

"..."

Kopia didn't even glance at it and instead waved her hand '“ glowing with white light - vertically from the floor up to the ceiling.

*SHING*

"KYAAAAAAH!"

She used a sword skill and cut through not only the ruby and emerald sword, but all the swords on display as well as cutting into the wall behind it '“ which made the little kobold girl cry out in fear and fall back on her butt.

The broken swords all shattered and turned into worthless scrap they actually were from the beginning.

"You are really pissing me off. I. Want. Weapons."

Kopia took a step forward and leaned down towards the child and raised her glowing hand above her head.

"Th-there's no more swords...! The Envy family took them all!"

The kobold girl cried out pitifully, raising her arms above her head in an attempt to protect herself from the possible attack.

"They took your weapons so you decided to try and sell trash to tourists or something?"

Zombie spoke up, tilting his head in disbelief.

"And what else can I do?! The good raw materials are expensive!"

The kobold girl scoffed at him despite shaking from fear because apparently, she thought of him as the less threatening of the two.

"Pffft...! And? If your grandfather can't make at least a somewhat decent weapon out of the cheap materials, he sure isn't a good blacksmith. Pathetic."

"SHUT UP! DON'T BADMOUTH MY GRANDPA!"

The little girl certainly could use a big voice when she wanted.

"YOU WOULDN'T BE TALKING LIKE THAT IF YOU SAW MY GRANDPA'S SWORDS! THEY ARE THE BEST! BUT THE ENVYS TOOK THEM ALL!"

She roared furiously, staring at the disguised undead with pure hatred.

"..."

Kopia frowned and straightened her back.

Then she approached Zombie and pulled on his cloak.

"...what is it...?"

Zombie asked and lowered his head since it looked like his humanoid sword was going to whisper to him.

"...master, I kind of want to check those swords she is talking about..."

Kopia indeed whispered, with sparkling eyes no less too.

For whatever reason it looked like something in the kobold child's behavior had sparked her interest.

"...we are going to the Envys mansion anyway... could we look for those grandpa's swords..."

She asked, fidgetting cutely, and looking all innocent.

"W-why aren't you saying anything back...?"

The kobold child that was suddenly left alone asked in confusion, lowering her hands '“ but ended up being ignored.

"...as long as it won't endanger our stealthy approach..."

"Yaay!"

Zombie breathed out in defeat and agreed, making the crimson-haired girl jump up in joy.

*ring*

Then the sound of the bell announced the next customer...

...or rather customers...

"Oh? What do we have here?"

A group of extremely beautiful people entered the shop, all with bright smiles so blinding with the perfection that it was hard for an average human to look at them and not fall in love.

...but the thing was, hardly anyone besides their group was human in that shop...

"..."

Kopia barely glanced at them and looked back at her master...

"!!!!!!"

...and froze in shock...

The threatening aura unleashed by the disguised blue undead was literally pushing back even the humanoid sword.

But despite that, Zombie wasn't mad.

He seemed...

"I recognize you... Lime Envy...!"

...extremely happy as he recognized the life signature of someone who was one hundred percent an unimportant, throw-away character, that he remembered from the first playthrough...

"Huh...?"

Lime Envy - the very same man who got captured during the first playthrough by Cranberry and Zombie right after the group of Envys attacked the carriage they were in to kidnap the black-haired elven mage, Lairs, and then got tortured with death's ichor and later killed off by the head of the Envy family using the stolen powers of the administrator '“ looked at the disguised undead with confusion.

"The girl isn't the Prides girl, she's way too old, and the bodyguard seems to know Lime..."

Someone from the beautiful group whispered.

"Lime, why don't you introduce us to your acquaintance?"

Someone else asked, trying to make it seem as if they all didn't just barge into the shop after receiving a tip about a suspicious pair from which the girl had red hair and instantly assumed it was both Cranberry and Zombie that their family was searching for.

"...umm... well..."

Lime furrowed his brows, trying to remember who Zombie was based on his voice alone, though that was a pointless task since the two of them did not meet at all in the current playthrough.

"Oh, I wouldn't call us acquaintances..."

Zombie smiled underneath his hood and the black veil covering his face.

"...Termas..."

Despite being scarred, Kopia went ahead and grabbed onto Zombie's arm to stop him, and called out with a cautious voice.

"...more like..."

Zombie took another step, dragging the fancily dressed humanoid sword with him despite all her efforts to stop him.

"Enemies."

The blue undead laughed, and his body lit up with the pure white glow of the activated skills.