The Villainess and I, her Zombie

*click*

The sound of the massive metal door unlocking resounded thorough the dreary basement set up as the prison for the captured elves – who all were staying in their cells with depressed expressions on their disfigured faces with no traces of original beauty – the only remaining part of their looks that made would allow a bystander recognize them as elves were the long knife-shaped ears.

Those ears were the only parts that the Envy's didn't want to copy since that would make their crimes that much more obvious.

"..."

The captive elves all glared towards the door with hatred.

After all, there could be only one reason for anyone to come down there.

Envys elf hunters must have managed to capture another one of their brethren.

Who was it now?

Was it someone they knew?

A member of their family?

Their loved one?

Or maybe some unfortunate free spirit who made the mistake of passing through the Envys territory thinking that they could easily run away – and suffered the consequences after being cornered?

The seconds extended into eternity as no one actually wanted to know the identity of the new victim of the accursed Envys, and dreaded the moment the door will open...

...yet the time doesn't stop merely because someone dreads something...

The massive metal door creaked open and.

"Beautifully done, go and enjoy their treasures now."

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

To the accompaniment of the absolute shock of all the elves, a masked person stepped inside and spoke towards his extended hand – or at least that's how it looked like since whatever creature was sitting atop of his palm, it was too small to be noticed from the perspective of the sitting elves.

"Master, that old guy told us to not steal..."

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

To even greater shock and surprise another voice called out, but this one sounded as if it came out of the luxurious scabbard at the stranger's waist!

"No, no, no. Kopia, think about it – we've been technically invited here by Fillia, right?"

The masked stranger shook his head and responded, playfully rapping the crossguard of the sword sheathed in the expensive-looking scabbard.

"Right, we did..."

The voice muffled from by the scabbard responded hesitantly.

"Exactly. Monty eats precious minerals, which means that the precious minerals are his food – and eating food in a place you were invited to doesn't count as stealing."

There was so much wrong going on about that response that even some of the elves wanted to correct this twisted logic – but were far too shocked and confused to do so.

"Ah! I see now! You are right, master! Have a nice meal, Monty!"

The high-pitched voice gasped happily and called out completely convinced by the outrageous arguments of the masked individual, and the next moment something dropped from the disguised stranger's pal and flashed gold in the scarce light of torches, before disappearing without a trace.

"Now then."

The stranger nodded to himself and looked around.

"!!!!!!!"

Many of the elves flinched and hid, some of them lowered themselves to the ground in anticipation of the pressure from the system forcing them to stay quiet or lie and say whatever Envy's ordered them to say in a situation like that.

"I do not care about any one of you – just remember one thing."

And they all flinched once they heard the dismissive voice of the man that was facing the wall next to the opened black door clearly searching for something.

"...I remember this being open, there must be something... ah, there it is!"

He mumbled to himself while carefully touching the wall feeling the slight draft coming through the stones composing the wall – with that he ended up grabbing the single ring with a burning torch.

After taking out the torch he grabbed the ring and turned it in a clockwise motion and...

*click*

*hshaa*

After the ring was turned, something inside the stones clicked and a piece of the wall opened seamlessly with only the smallest sound of flowing air showing a staircase spiraling down into complete darkness.

"!!!!!!!"

How could that be?!

The captured elves couldn't believe their eyes, that simply could not be happening!

Who was this masked outsider?!

Was he one of the Envy people?!

He clearly mentioned the name of the daughter of the current avatar of envy, so he must have been at least affiliated with them in some way – but then why was he going down the basement...?!

There was only one thing there, and no one with good intentions towards the Envy family would have tried to go there even if they knew what was hidden away in the darkness.

"...Ah, right."

The stranger twitched remembering that he was saying something to the elves before he got preoccupied with opening the secret passage.

"Remember one thing – after you will be able to get out of here – do not try to hurt the traitor. I know you hate her and all, but count it as my reward for saving your butts and faces, or whatever other parts got stolen. Is that clear?"

The person called out in a threatening voice but only an echo of his own words responded to him since the elves were way too flabbergasted to respond in any recognizable way.

"Just so we are clear – I'm not just saying that I will slap your wrist if you hurt Salak – do something to her, the half-elf kid, Fillia, or Rambutan – and I will fuck you up so much that you will regret being freed."

The masked outsider declared, and there was no trace of hesitation or mercy in his cold voice.

But does that really matter?

The elves did not respond, knowing that if they even try the system will force them down since the stranger already said so many keywords that even a breath of relief from any of the present elves would trigger a response.

But they all raised up from their knees and walked to the front of their cells, none of the iron bars doors had locks, the elves were kept inside by the command of the first Envy that never lost its power because of the creature hidden at the bottom of the staircase.

All the disfigured elves grabbed the iron bars and pressed their faces against them, looking at the masked stranger with eyes filled with hope.

"I will take this reaction as confirmation of the terms I gave you just now."

Their savior nodded with satisfaction and took a step into the hidden passage.

"Oh, and if you want Envy to face the repercussions for what they've been doing to your kind for all those centuries – go straight to the Greeds territory. Either the palace or any of the chapels of the church of the system's faith, and say that Zombie had sent you about his mission. The queen wants to snip their growing power in the bud after all."

He added and casually walked down the dark staircase, not bothering about the torch left behind.