The Villainess and I, her Zombie

The starless night befell the capital of the Envy territory and most of the city population went to sleep - with the exception of the entrainment district and their clients, of course.

But still, there were people still up who weren't either the entertainers or wanted to be entertained by others...

"...fuck... are we seriously going to do it your way...? That is a ridiculous idea!"

Lairs muttered under her breath before she hurriedly pulled her hood over her face the moment that some random passerby walked by them.

"What else are you expect us to do? Walk up to the main gate and ask for the audience with Mason? He was a figurehead leader of the Envys before so it was already unlikely for others to meet him but now he actually became the avatar thanks to yours truly, and that unlikely changed to no way - impossible, really, really fast."

Zombie scoffed, shrugging his shoulders dismissively while making sure that his cloak is covering him properly.

"I am pretty sure that back in the fucking carriage one of you had mentioned that you fucking knew him!"

The black-haired elf didn't give up the subject and complained with accusation.

"Haa... Lairs, seriously, if you wanted a cheerful family reunion, then in our current circumstances you are the one who made a fool out of yourself."

Cranberry complained while being the only person to not be bothered by her cloak whatsoever.

The three of them had snuck into the city under the cover of the night, and thanks to the cloudy sky it was shockingly easy to pass by the city guards without much care effort.

Of course, it might have been that the corrupted guards weren't paying enough attention, to begin with, but since Cranberry and Lairs were the ones responsible for the thick clouds, that gathered over the city they were going to stick to pricing that version instead.

"Oh, and just a reminder - let's not mention Mason that we are responsible for suddenly advancing his social status, alright? He might be a naive guy as of now but even a kindhearted kid wouldn't be willing to help people who murdered the shit out of his parents."

Cranberry raised her head in realization and turned back to the blue undead knight and the black-haired elven mage to remind them.

"...if we're going to keep it a fucking secret from him then why are we going for the fucking stealthy approach from the start? Wouldn't it be more convincing if we asked in front of fucking witnesses and then act surprised when they give us the fucking information that he became an avatar of Envy and his schedule is stacked? If we did just fucking that and act fucking shocked as fuck, then even if we showed up in the middle of the night like we intend to do anyway, Mason would not end up suspicious about us?"

Lairs declared crossing her arms and pointing out.

"Or, alternatively..."

Cranberry shrugged her shoulders and looked expectantly at her blue undead knight.

"I will be right back."

Zombie grinned and effortlessly jumped over the wall before the black-haired elf could do or say anything else.

"...Lairs came up with a smarter idea than me... the world went mad... Who else is going to do that next? Rotte?"

The blue undead landed on the other side and scoffed to himself in disbelief before walking towards the mansion.

With his life signature detection, he had no problem walking past any and all guards and started climbing the mansion right to the window of Mason's room.

"...?"

He peeked inside curiously and saw the adult Mason - the tall handsome youngster with unbelievably green eyes and curly brown hair, sitting at the desk reading through the stack of papers.

This situation was very similar to the time when Zombie was breaking inside the Envy's mansion to talk with Fig only to realize that it was actually Fillia...

Back then the blue undead managed to get in thanks to young Manson letting him in - of course mostly because Zombie used the tier 1 lust-based skill on the child.

"I wonder if he still remembers that..."

Zombie smirked and since he had tier 2 of the lust-based skill at his disposal now, he decided to play around just a little bit.

*tap* *tap* *tap*

...and lightly knocked at the window's glass to get the attention of the capture the other capture target.

"...?"

While peeking inside the blue undead knight saw Mason furrowing his brows in confusion and slowly looking straight at him from over the documents

"Yo!"

Zombie grinned at him and saluted with one hand in a friendly greeting.

"..."

...just for Mason to look straight back down at his papers...!

"Whoa... must be something important."

Zombie nodded to himself slightly disappointed over the absolute lack of reaction on Mason's part - but it was probably partially caused by Zombie himself.

In the end, all those years ago he did warn the young Mason to never open his window to anyone, and it seemed that the advice stuck with the capture target good.

And so the blue undead knight was about to use the mindbreak skill but then...

*shhhh*

"...hmm...?"

Zombie noticed the movement on the inside of Mason's room and glanced back inside expecting the young man to run away - but instead what he saw there were the papers that fell out of Mason's hands as the green-eyed youngster dropped them while staring wide-eyed right at the blue undead.

"Pffft...! As, so it was a double take! That seriously happens?"

Zombie snickered and waved his hand in a friendly matter for the second time.

"!!!!!!"

Seeing that Mason immediately reached out for the window and opened it at full width.

"You are the undead that my older sister always talked about!"

"Huh... yeah, I guess that's correct...?"

Mason called out, grabbing the hand of the honestly confused undead - and pulled him inside without even a second of hesitation...!

"My sister was the only person who treated me like a part of her family even without all that circus that my fool of a father pulled off to try and erase the sins of our ancestors! I always wanted to thank you! My big sister Fillia told me that if you ever showed up looking for help I should do everything in my power to aid you! Mister Zombie, how can I help you?! You cannot even imagine how happy I am to finally see met you!"

The waterfall of words that left Mason's mouth washed over the blue undead leaving him speechless.

Huh... so... good karma is a thing, I guess...?

Zombie thought to himself as the teary eyes Mason was shaking his hand as if he met his greatest idol.

...but then the passive machine mind skill kicked in and the awkwardness disappeared as if it was never there.

"Hey there kid - it's good to see you healthy - I returned to the outside world only a while ago and ended up learning about Filla, and decided to check up on you."

The blue undead put his other hand - the one not held by the emotional Mason - and put it on the young man's shoulder.

"...mister Zombie...!"

Mason flinched and... the tears he was holding back actually run down his face.

"Please, don't blame yourself - miss Mary and prince Roan both sent me letters explaining what happened... you were sealed off by the queen herself, there really was nothing that you could do!"

The green-eyed young man declared, wiping his eyes in embarrassment and smiling through tears.