The Villainess and I, her Zombie

|...what was the requirement to level up the second stomach...?|

Zombie asked curiously, making his way through the darkness.

|Ha ha! As if you don't know! You even mixed the exit because of it!|

The bark-like laugh responded to him as the sealed being pointed out.

|You need to kill and eat at least ten high-level opponents to rank it up into tier 2 skill beast's maw or else it stays as the tier 1 skill forever. No one else besides high-level player character counts.|

Nonetheless, she explained it anyways.

|Ten, huh, that will be rough... Unless we will go straight to the sloth territory and nab ten recruits.|

Zombie smirked and leaned down, feeling around in the darkness to find the body of the royal protector.

|We could – but let's leave that as the last resort thing – the avatar of sloth knows when their soldiers are dying, and it would be better if they didn't realize that it's because of us... his special quest is a little bit tricky, after all.|

The sealed being sounded as if she was deeply pondering Zombie's proposition but ultimately rejected it.

|Alright, how will we deal with the little problem that we've caused for ourselves by killing that guy...?|

*CHOMP*

*crunch*

*gulp*

Zombie thought while his jaws and throat shone with orange light and a large chunk of Quince's body disappeared together with a generous amount of rubble beneath it.

|You're doing it just now. With his body gone, the only thing you have to say to the queen is that Quince had run off with the content of her private treasury.|

Patience sounded as if she shrugged her shoulders dismissively.

*CHOMP*

"Huh...?"

Zombie was so shocked by that simple answer that he froze with his mouth full of the unidentifiable, awfully tasting mass, and groaned in confusion.

|Didn't you say that she is a powerful opponent before?|

*crunch*

*gulp*

The blue undead pointed out before dealing with the mass in his mouth.

|Yeah, she was – before her private treasury was cleared out. Without the wealth to fuel their skills, avatars of greed are actually the most pitiful ones of the bunch – and she is no different. There is nothing that she can do right now~|

The sealed being explained happily.

|Can't she just move the assets out of the country's treasury into her private treasury...?|

Zombie pointed out.

|Pfffft! Ha ha! As if! With the famine going around in the Wrath territory? Everyone is watching her carefully – and if you will be loud enough while announcing that Quince ran off with the valuables – all the people who know the secret behind the queen's power will start acting.|

The sealed being sounded as if she hopped around from joy.

|Are you really sure...?|

*CHOMP*

*crunch*

*gulp*

Zombie asked while taking another bite and swallowing it whole.

|...haa... Yes. She won't be even able to force her son to tell the truth – so if you ask Roan nicely and say that you will help him save Mary if he will lie to his mother – you will be all set. After all... there will be no body to notice the truth.|

The sealed being breathed out before ending up sounding as if she was smirking.

|Aww... was that a pun? It was adorable!|

|Sh-shut up, you rotten brain!|

Zombie giggled and the embarrassed being scoffed at him.

---

"You felt the rumbling too, didn't you...? Mister Carambola, what do you think is happening there...?"

The blond-haired prince looked back into the secret passage in one of the cells in the royal castle's dungeon.

"Hopefully nothing severe or we might have to get used to seeing this view every day... not you, my prince, but my master and I."

The silver-haired gentleman pointed at the bars of the cells as well as the cell next to the one they were currently leaving and made a concerned expression.

"Could both of you be quiet?! I'm trying to hear something!"

The red-haired girl scoffed at both men and moved her hair back, showing off her ear glowing with intense white light.

"..."

"..."

The group stayed silent for a moment, Carambola and roan glanced at each other before turning back towards the focusing girl.

"...did you hear something...? What is going on with those two?"

Roan couldn't help himself and asked in a worried voice, all fidgety.

"I... heard my Zombie saying goodbye... and that's all..."

Cranberry's ear stopped glowing, and she straightened her back while frowning her brows.

"Goodbye? Why would he be saying that? Wait..."

Roan flinched and covered his mouth with one hand in realization.

"Wait, wait, wait..! No way...! Since the treasury was empty... mother will not be able to use any of the greed-based skills for a while... No way... He wouldn't...!"

The blond prince gasped and looked around in disbelief.

"Who wouldn't what...?"

Cranberry frowned and tilted her head, glaring at Roan, expecting him to be assuming something about Zombie.

"Quince...! He is one of the three people capable of using the teleportation skill in the whole kingdom – well, it the six out of seven territories, that is. He was my mother's best bodyguard, but he would always say that he would run away if he wasn't bound to her...!"

But Roan looked up at the red-haired girl and took her by complete surprise by speaking about the muscular man who Zombie wanted to talk with.

"But he always sounded so laid-back while saying that! I thought for sure that he was joking, but if he was serious... now would be the best chance to abandon the kingdom...! Quince is the most efficient at teleportation out of the three that serve my mother – he will not have any trouble with finding a well-paid way of life, not to mention how much will he gain for leaking all the secrets about our kingdom that he learned through the years...!"

The more roan talked, the more agitated he became.

"Oh-ho! I see that my timing is perfect..."

"Zombie!"

Right at that moment, the blue undead looking very much brought up and even slightly burnt here and there walked out of the secret passage and smirked at the prince before Cranberry jumped at him and hugged him so hard as if she was intending to never let go of him ever again.

"Lord Zombie, what happened?"

Carambola approached him raising his hand to use the healing spell before realizing that it would have the opposite effect on Zombie because he was an undead who take damage from the holy element.

"Believe it or not, that guy went ahead and started talking about how he can finally be free, then, he slammed his fists together shouting 'bastard' and halos appeared around his forearms - and then he said that he will be going, I said goodbye, and that asshole punched the damn wall releasing the holy energy from those damned halos, and almost killed me before he teleported away!"

The blue undead complained in exasperation.

"I barely survived only because of this!"

He added, lifting up the messed-up golden shield with the ruby in the middle.

"I knew it! Ugh...! Mother is going to be so angry...!"

Roan complained burying his face in his hands.

|It's all working out a little bit too well, don't you think...?|

Zombie thought to himself, squinting his eyes at the troubled prince.

|That's because before it was all downhill, now the world is compensating you for what you've been through~|

|Pffft...! Kahahahaha! As if!|

The sealed being sounded as if she shrugged her shoulders and explained – causing the blue undead to almost lost it from the outburst of inner laughter that shook his shoulders.

|Don't just stand there – make use of this opportunity!|

The sealed being added hurriedly, sounding as if she was pouting.

"Yeah, I bet she will... do you mind...? Oh, well."

"Kyaah~!"

Zombie spoke up to the prince and tried to walk up to him, but Cranberry wasn't going to let go of him, even after he asked – so he sighed and picked her up before approaching the prince anyway, and put his hand on the blond guy's shoulder.

"Yeah, I bet she will be angry – that's why – I have a big favor to ask of you."

Despite how odd it all looked, the blue undead went ahead and said.