The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"He still hasn't woken up...?"

"...?"

An unfamiliar voice coming from the other room brought Zombie back from the depths of unconsciousness.

"No, and Cranberry was here earlier to check on him too, by the way, you old fuck. What, have you changed your stance about all humans? You not threatening our allies would be fucking nice for once."

At first, Zombie jolted up from his bed at the mere mention of the most familiar name, but he almost instantly realized that since the one saying it was undoubtedly Mirabelle, the Cranberry she talked about must have been the powder-pink-haired elven boy, Cranbie.

"Master...!"

But such movement caused someone else to jump up and throw themselves at him.

"Kopia?! Shhh! Not so loud! I want to hear what it is about."

Zombie hugged the crimson-haired humanoid sword and put his index finger to her mouth to stop her from making so much ruckus.

"The kid you have let in the village... he is just the exception that confirms the rule. Nothing more, don't get your fucking hopes up. Though, you two are already dealing with humans behind my back, aren't you?"

The unknown elf scoffed and mocked the others with a generous amount of accusation mixed in his voice.

"Behind your back? Gooseberry, you're a fucking archive keeper, what does a glorified librarian have to do with how the village is managed? You were the one who didn't want to take any other responsibility besides protecting the fucking books. You can fuck right off with your bullshit now!"

"..."

Mirabelle wasn't taking any of it, and the lack of response from Gooseberry made it clear that she had hit the bullseye.

"Alright, stop fucking arguing now, Gooseberry, what did you come here for exactly?"

Olive's voice joined the conversation, cutting short the possibly oncoming torrent of insults.

*tap*

A sound of a small box being placed on a table got picked up even by Zombie in another room than the three elves were talking.

"Apricot and Tangerine asked me to deliver those. They said that after witnessing what your human can do at such a young age, they can part with their artifacts in clear conscience since you didn't joke around before... Fuck, he really is just six?"

Gooseberry explained and added a little sigh of disbelief at the end.

"He is. There really is hope for us after all... eh...?"

Mirabelle confirmed but ended u gasping in realization.

"What is it?"

Olive asked in concern.

"I was just stopped by the system to say something, Zombie is awake."

She responded calmly and the sound of the footsteps let the boy know that he would be having visitors in mere seconds.

"Kopia, did you show yourself like this to the elves?"

Zombie asked the wide-eyed blushing girl in his arms.

"Nnn-nn!"

And once she shook her head from right to left he hurriedly laid back in bed with her and covered them both with the blanket.

|So the Envy's command of not mentioning them in a negative light can be used like that too... That's pretty useful I guess.|

Zombie quickly glanced at how their disguise looked to make sure that it seemed as if he had just awakened, alone, and thought to himself while cautiously turning towards the door.

|If you say so. Don't say anything stupid, and let's get out of the village as soon as they will give you the artifact.|

Patience didn't share the boy's enthusiasm and was even leaning into grumpiness, but that was probably because she was locked back in Zombie's body and couldn't bounce around as the orb of light as she did in the sin of origin nucleus.

|What's the hurry? I actually wanted to set up a little backup plan just in case...|

Zombie furrowed his brows and asked back.

|And what about Laura? We need you to get back as soon as possible before she will start looking for you!|

Patience explained impatiently.

|Hold up! Why do you sound as if I was unconscious for a long time? How much time passed since we downed the ant?|

The boy flinched in distress the moment and felt Kopia forgetting underneath the sheath as if she had the answer for that.

|How should I know? I was connected with your mind the whole time - not your body - I have no idea what day it is or anything like that!|

Patience scoffed, sounding as if she turned her back on him.

|...? Huh... oh... it better be nothing.|

It took Zombie a second to realize that even though Patience was answering his question, she was throwing shade at the humanoid blade that was beside him, with her hair coiled around his right hand - and most likely listening to the exchange going on inside his head.

"Oh, he really is awake."

The first one to open the door to the room that Zombie was resting in, was Olive.

He smiled at the pale boy before calling back to the others.

"Oho! Look who decided to wake up after a whole week! Slept well?"

Mirabelle snuck her way past the old elf and nodded at the boy with a bright smile.

|WEEK?! LIKE, A WHOLE WEEK?!|

If Patience's voice worked like the normal sound was, Zombie's eardrums would get blown off by the volume.

"A whole week?!"

"...?"

And Zombie shared her shock at the moment, jumping out of the bed without thinking, revealing the hiding Kopia for everyone to see...

"Since a transforming sword must be some kind of legendary artifact and I can understand that you don't want to part with it even during sleep, I believe it would be best for you to sheath it first."

...which turned out to not be a big deal at all since she had turned back into a sword as soon as she felt Zombie getting up.

"Forget about that! Has it really been a week?"

The boy waved his hand dismissively and asked in a panic.

"Whoa, hey there, little bugger, relax... fucking... Yes, it has been a week, whatever skills you've used during that fight it fucked you up almost as good as you did to that ant!"

Mirabelle's eyes widened and she raised her hands to calm down the agitated boy.

"I've been making sure that the man from the offshoot of the Envy family that you arrive at the forest with is living through an illusion where you and he both chase down the pesky elven straggler - if it needs to be, he can be going at it for several weeks, so just make sure to rest well."

Olive added, waving his hand dismissively.

"I'm not worried about Jackfruit! I thought this whole thing won't take more than four days! Laura will make me contemplate my behavior till I'm an adult if she'll learn what I've been up to! I need to go back as soon as possible!"

Zombie shook his head and exclaimed, gritting his teeth in annoyance.