The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"Let me have a look."

After – unwillingly – getting away from her blue undead knight, the red-haired girl reached out her hand for the stack of reports.

"Here."

The rat-faced man handed it to her with a smile.

"Oh, just so you know, those are written in..."

"The language of the lizardfolk, I can see it. The one writing it had problems with grammar, but nothin that would make it impossible to read."

Shanks snickered, fully expecting the red-haired girl to be in a slump with the foreign language of the lesser race that wasn't officially recognized as intelligent as elves, humans, dwarves, or kobolds – but got disappointed greatly when Cranberry simple shrugged her shoulders and commented offhandedly while reading through the repot with incredible speed.

"Fun fact, did you know that the lizardfolk actually derived their written language from old elvish? The officially approved sources explain it as them settling in the ruins of the old elven kingdom after it was destroyed by lady Envy hundreds of years ago, but I happen to be a daughter of elves old enough to actually remember those times and the truth is that it's because both the ancient elves and the dragonewts helped each other greatly and the elves helped them develop a proper written language.|

Cranberry explained with a bright expression while being almost finished with the stack of papers. "Even though lizardfolk are degraded dragonewts, the older communities managed to hold on to the knowledge of the ancient times."

She added before nodding to herself and reaching out her hand, returning the reports to the stunned Shanks.

"Wait... your parents are elves...? But weren't you from the Pride family, young miss...?"

The rat-faced man asked dumbfounded while taking back the papers.

"..."

The red-haired girl raised her brow and started staring at him in silence.

"Come one, Shiv! I would understand if Rotte asked such a question, but you?"

"...ah...!"

Zombie sighed and shook his head at the stunned rat-faced man who flinched and gasped at his words, realizing his silliness.

"Anyway, more importantly... Since the reports were written in the lizardfolk's language, are you telling me that spawner was a lizardfolk? Holy crap, what the hell did the system's church people do to it?"

The blue undead knight frowned and glanced back at the pile of ash from the pyre they burnt all the corpses that they didn't really have anything to do with – of course, the smoke has been taken care of by Lairs and Cranberry's wind spells so that it wouldn't alarm the possible enemy ahead.

"I am curious about that myself, but – whether your friend was a lizardfolk or not, may not be as important as you think. Those reports were made for someone and judging by the mistakes, it seems that the monster who wrote them learned to write just to be able to create those reports. It makes sense to assume that it is the official written language of the monster city – since what I took from those reports, their ruler is not going to stop on just a city, and wants to create an entire country – and one that would be officially recognized too, even by humans and the rest of the intelligent races."

The red-haired girl turned around and started walking back and forth, thinking out loud while doing so.

"..."

Zombie and Shanks exchanged surprised glances.

"The monsters are using those villages they took away from humans to actually set up a trade route with Fruit Salad. They apparently send out envoys to both Lust and Gluttony family, but the messengers never returned – If you ask me that was a waste of time, they should just go straight to Greeds. After all our royal family would be actually willing to listen to anyone as long as there was a possibility of making a good business."

Cranberry smirked and glanced at the two staring at her like very confused sheep.

"Gluttonys' can transform into a monster and are really wild – no discussion – but they are also responsible for maintaining the safety of the kingdom's borders – if they see a group of monsters approaching, waiting and listening what they have to say would be the last thing on their minds – I bet that the envoys got devoured before any negotiations could begin."

he red-haired girl explained, waving her hand dismissively.

"What about Lusts...? Aren't they the descendants of the god of chaos, Love? They do have some monster blood flowing in their veins."

Zombie raised his brows and pointed out.

"Lusts... You think they are alright only because you never met anyone besides Claymore, Don't worry – we will have to go and do some business in their territory and you will understand what I mean."

"I know what you mean, young miss."

The red-haired girl waved her hand dismissively, and even Shanks nodded his head in support.

"Anyway. On our way to your former village, we will have to go through at least three more outposts guarded by troops with similar strengths to those here."

Cranberry turned to the rat-faced man and declared.

"But there will be other settlements too, many set up for the production, not hostility."

She added.

"Well, yes – I already told you that we won't have to slaughter everything in our path,"

The rat-faced man confirmed.

"Good. Say, did Lairs manage to contact miss Xavi?"

Cranberry nodded and immediately asked.

"Yes... Knowing that Banana was just a nickname and offering her a somewhat safe place away from the queen's reach sure did help with the negotiations – she promised to arrive and take over the outpost with a few of her trusted people within a week."

"Good."

The rat-faced man reported, and the red-haired girl smirked with satisfaction.

"The sooner we will get her here the better."

She breathed out and it looked like some weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

"Should we wait for her? If the outpost will get taken over by some other monsters, seeing the hostiles might lead Xavi to believe that we have set her up."

Shanks clasped his hands together and tilted his head with an awkward expression, waiting for the pair's reaction.

"You have the correct idea – but there's no reason for all of us to stay – we will split up here for the time being."

The red-haired girl smirked and grabbed and leaned on the blue undead knight's arm.

"Shanks, the Dandelions will keep the fort and help our friends settle here while my husband and I will go on a little bit of a honeymoon, though it will be a shorter one than I wished for – since Xavi said that it will take them a week to get here, let's just say that Zombie and I will go check up on the few next villages to gauge out whether they really are so peaceful as they are supposed to."

She decided without even batting an eye.

"How does that sound?"

Cranberry asked with a bright smile.

Shanks furrowed his brows deep in thoughts for a while.

"Alright. Just don't actually take over our village with just the two of you, alright? It's our home and we want to help at least a little bit."

In the end, he nodded and agreed with a certain rather silly condition.

"No problem~ I give you word that we will wait with that just for you five."

Cranberry snickered and promised.

"Oh, and before we go... I will have to ask you to either find or make me a certain something."

"Hmm...?"

The red-haired girl hesitated before speaking to Shanks while looking straight at the intrigued Zombie, who tilted his head and looked back at her furrowing his brows with suspicion.

"What is it, young miss...?"

The rat-faced man asked curiously.

Cranberry eyed out the blue undead's neck for a little it before suddenly smiling.

"A collar and a leash, of course, ~!"

She revealed with a giggle.