The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"Dear system...! Cranbaby, that was AMAZING!"

The platinum-haired elven woman cheered out and ran up to a red-haired human girl, picked her up, and gave her a big kiss on the cheek.

"Olive! Olive did you see that?! Our little girl can use the origin-branch spell! She's the first one beside Gooseberry and me! She's a genius!"

The woman called out excitedly while hugging the bashful blushing girl still not used to being showered in that much affection.

"Mirabelle, calm down a bit – don't crush our Cranberry."

Olive, smiling brightly, walked to the pair and pointed out to the female elf.

"That said – it was incredible, sweetie! I'm so happy that you called us here. Origin-branch spells are the most complicated ones to master since it's impossible to learn them through merely leveling up like any other magic skill. You worked so hard, congratulations."

The centuries-old elf who looked like he was only approaching his thirties, smiled even more and patted the red-haired girl's head affectionately.

"...ha ha..."

Cranberry laughed bashfully, fidgetting in Mirabelle's arms.

The three of them were standing at the training ground that Cranberry was using so much it could be called her second home after Mirabelles home.

Though, at the moment the area wasn't in the most presentable state.

The skill that the human girl showed off to her elven parents caused the level ground to cave in massively, creating a huge, uneven crater covered by the crystal-like matter created by the soil condensing under unbelievable pressure with the addition of just a tiny bit of condensed mana in its purest form.

"Just wait until Zombie will learn about this – he will be so happy!"

Mirabelle cheered out, lifting Cranberry a little bit higher.

"That's right – even though this skill takes really long to charge up, doesn't master it clears out the last condition that he put in place for you to travel with him?"

Olive nodded, continuing to pat the girl's head.

"...he hasn't come back in two weeks in a row... he must have forgotten about me..."

Unfortunately, the mention of the blue undead caused the opposite effect that the elves expected, and the red-haired girl lowered her head and pouted, snuggling up to Mirabelle for comfort.

"Aww... Cranbaby, don't worry – he said that he will be doing something important."

"That's right, he is your familiar, right? There's no way he could ever forget you!"

Mirabelle and Olive both assured her, but the red-haired girl only frowned and burrowed her face against Mirabelle's neck.

"...husband..."

She murmured.

"Eh...?"

"Huh...?"

The elves looked at each other in surprise.

"Zombie isn't just some familiar, he is my husband. He gave me the ring."

Cranberry reached out her left hand and showed off the intricate silver ring on her ring finger, without raising her face.

"...he ranked up and grew up faster than me, that's not fair. I don't like it, when we are together it looks like he is a big brother taking care of his baby sister – I hate it..."

...well...

Mentioning Zombie clearly was the wrong choice, as Mirabelle and Olive recognized that Cranberry got herself in a type of bad mood that will last at least a few days unless the blue undead will show up – though that didn't mean that the elves would not try to cheer the red-haired girl up.

"Sweetie... You know, Zombie is helping out all the elves – you know how this village is hidden, right? Well, if everything goes well, then when he returns from the Envys mansion, all of us will be able to go on a family trip and..."

Olive started talking, letting his mind just go wild, knowing full well that the system will automatically correct him when he will try to even mention the Envy family near anyone who wasn't an elf.

"...ha...? Daddy, what does the Envy family has to do with it...?"

"!!!!!!"

That's why he momentarily forgot how to breathe when he realized that the system correction did not happen – which was further confirmed by Cranberry raising her head and furrowing her brows, looking at the old elf in confusion.

"...no way..."

Olive gasped, looking at equally shocked Mirabelle with wide-open eyes.

"Just... just like that...? No system message? No information? Nothing? May-maybe the system just recognized our Cranberry as an elf or something...? She has the daughter of the elves title, right...?"

Mirabelle hugged the confused girl a bit tighter, unable to believe it.

"That's not how it works, the order works on everyone with elven blood, it doesn't take titles under consideration..."

Olive shook his head while trying to contain his excitement.

"Mommy, daddy, what is going on? What about the Envy family?"

The odd behavior of the two elves caused the red-haired girl to stop pouting and between them while furrowing her brows.

"Cranbaby! Zombie did it...! Zombie saved the elves...!"

Mirabelle teared up and cried out suddenly moved and hissed her human daughter's forehead.

"...hold up..."

While the village elder was all emotional, the village guardian flinched in realization.

"Did it just happen, or could it be that we simply did not notice – it's like you said, Mira, there was no system message or anything... what if..."

He gasped covering his mouth with his hand.

"What if what...?"

Mirabelle tiled her head.

"...what if some of the elves escaped but need help – there were a few of the villagers amongst the kidnapped! What if they can't return because of my illusions?!"

Olive gasped.

"Well – if the Envys no longer hold any power over us, then what's the point of the illusions! Deactivate them all and even if we got raided – we will be able to finally fight back!"

Mirabelle scoffed proudly puffing out her chest.

"AHAHAHA! THAT'S RIGHT!"

Olive laughed cheerfully and clapped his hands together, releasing a sudden burst of white light.

*CREAAAAAAAK*

*RUMBLE*

Right the next second, as if it was caused by Olive deactivating all the defensive measures he had set up through the hundreds of years, the ancient trees surrounding the hidden village trembled and the earth shook as the forest itself split apart like a flesh cut by a gigantic sword, creating a clear path wide enough for ten divisions to walk by side-by-side connecting the village right to the entrance of the Great northern forest...

"WHAT, IN THE NAME OF THE FUCKING SYSTEM, IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE?!"

Olive took a step back and shouted losing his nerve completely and even cursing in front of the red-haired girl.

"Th-that's not your doing...?!"

Pale as a ghost Mirabelle asked, staring at the pathway through the forest.

"FUCK NO!"

Olive shook his head in denial.

"Gather everyone – it looks like even if Zombie dealt with whatever was the source of Envy's power, it doesn't mean that we are safe yet!"

It only took Mirabelle a couple of seconds to compose herself and start giving out commands – she wasn't a village elder just for a show after all.

"Cranbaby, go find Baron, and be ready to run away just in case."

She put down the worried red-haired girl gave her a push on the back.

"B-but mommy... I can...!"

"You are my most important treasure, Cranbaby, please, listen to me and go get Baron."

Cranberry tried to argue, but Mirabelle shook her head – looking as if she was preparing for the worst.