The Villainess and I, her Zombie

The ragtag group of humans and monsters entered a silent city sleeping within the mist.

"Interesting. That guard was way too eager to let you in before even asking you to identify yourself."

Cranberry, proudly walking right by her blue undead while holding hands, looked at Shanks and smirked.

"Did that weapon give you out, or was your face that well known that everyone can recognize you?"

She asked curiously, glancing at the massive sniper rifle that the rat-faced man was carrying on his shoulder.

"If I told you that those kinds of weapons are common, it would be a lie."

Shanks shrugged and affectionately tapped the gun.

"You see, this girl here isn't like the guns used by the soldiers. This beauty can work only when paired with a direct descendant of the Sloth family, someone who can use a charge cannon. Then it stabilizes it and enhances it into something absolutely devastating. The weapons that you've seen the common soldiers use are just vastly inferior copies that work only because the avatar of sloth is constantly using a certain skill that bends the rules of the system a bit... think of it as them holding a small hatch open. But again - this girl is completely different."

Shanks started going on and on about his weapon even though the original question was about something else entirely.

"Haa..."

Cranberry expression soured and she looked away disinterested.

"Hey, Marshmallow, you're his wife, aren't you? Isn't it annoying to have him gush over another girl?"

Zombie turned back and asked the large woman enjoying the calm atmosphere of the city drowned in fog.

"Eh? But that's not really a girl though, right? And why would I dislike something that makes Shanks so happy?"

Uresha flinched, surprised that the blue undead decided to talk to her while he used to ignore the Dandelions as a whole whenever he had the chance.

"...that is a very nice take. Hey, can you tell me how are you able to keep up that behavior? Do you, like, have a routine or something that makes you not flip out and start kicking his shins to pay attention to only you and not anything else? Or not to start wreaking havoc to get his attention?"

He asked the tall woman with such innocence that no one would be able to doubt his pure intentions...

...unless that someone has been an unwilling witness to yesterday's scene between the master and the servant...

...

Of which everyone in the small group was such witnesses.

"U...umm... uuummm... AH! s-sorry, that's just how I am...!"

Uresha had a hard time, and things got even worse once she spotted that Cranberry is staring daggers at her.

"...I can be nice too, you know...?"

Cranberry stopped silently threatening Uresha and spoke grumpily to Zombie.

"...?"

The blue undead tilted his head and stared at her in utter confusion.

"Yeah, I know. But that doesn't help me with my problem at all!"

"!!!!!!!!"

Zombie sighed and shook his head making everyone else flinch from shock.

Wasn't Cranberry's possessiveness the whole point of him starting the conversation?!

"Spending three months in the wild with just the two of us must have done some bad things to me because I get really pissed off when you just... when you just start talking to some random trash living all of a sudden! I am right here, you know?!"

The blue undead explained, trembling from the bottled-up anger, and shook his free hand, pointing at the flabbergasted Shanks.

"No offense, Shiv, for a living you four are all surprisingly bearable."

Zombie hurriedly added, looking between all Dandelions, making an expression as if he was giving them the greatest of all compliments.

"..."

Cranberry blushed and closed the gap between her and the blue undead and cuddled up to his arm, resting her head on his shoulder.

"What. What did I do?"

Zombie raised his brow in utter carelessness.

"Arion. I need you to memorize Zombie's words."

Mary leaned down and whispered into the black wolf's ear.

"R-raor...? (Wh-why should I...?!)"

The wolf flinched and yelped, suddenly abashed.

"After we'll be done with your quest line, you definitely need to use that kind of line at least once!"

Mary declared with sparkling eyes.

"..."

Shanks flinched and looked back at the tall woman more than a few steps behind.

After a moment of hesitation, he walked up to Uresha, and slowly offering her his hand.

"...here, you said you would like to act more like lovers in public, right...?"

He muttered looking away to hide his embarrassment.

"I-I did, but you said that you don't like holding hands because with our height difference we look like a parent and a child and not a married couple..."

Uresha fidgeted and stopped herself from instantly grabbing Shanks's hand even though it was very obvious how much she wanted to.

"What kind of husband I would be if I only cared about myself and wouldn't entertain my lovely wife in such a small thing?"

The rat-faced man straightened his back and grabbed the hand of his hesitant wife.

"...thank you, my dear."

Uresha fidgeted and blushed cutely while returning the grip of the much shorter man.

"...this is a perfect fucking opportunity to confess something."

Lairs straightened her back and looked at very awkwardly fidgetting Ti.

"I am not a jealous type nor do I find the overly jealous types attractive - fuck that. Fuck... I'm sorry if that makes things awkward between us!"

The black-haired elf bowed her head to the copper-eyed bodyguard.

"...!"

Ti flinched and stared wide-eyed at her.

"...oh thank the system... Neither am I! And I thought I wasn't keeping up with the mood...!"

The copper-eyed woman breathed out in relief and bowed back to the elf.

"Hey! Lai-lai! Ti! You're staying behind!"

Rotte called the two women who didn't even realize when the rest of their group started moving again.

"...! Ah fuck! Let's go, Shan-shan said that with the fucking mist like that we can get fucking lost even in the city!"

"Yes!"

Lairs gasped, grabbed Ti's arm, and hurried after the rest.

"So, anyway. Why exactly was that guard so eager to let you in? Was it really that special gun of yours?"

Cranberry returned to her original question and asked Shanks without pulling away from Zombie.

"Oh, right, that."

Shanks nodded, looking back at the red-haired girl while walking together with Uresha.

"It's because most of my unsealed skill passively give various buffs to everyone possessing the Acedia skill. The soldiers don't have to know the faces of the Sloth family members - as long as they'll receive a system message about being strengthened."

The rat-faced man explained.

"But also, yes, my rifle was most likely the deciding factor after all. That guy experience the buffs and after that, he recognized that this girl wasn't a mass-produced model - that's why he was so eager in greeting me while letting us in."

He confirmed.

"Ha! Isn't that convenient! By the way, why does the city looks so desolate? Aren't there any citizens?"

Cranberry nodded in approval, and looked around the empty foggy streets, and asked another question.

"It's because the avatar of sloth fell into slumber. With the mist so thick it's not wise to wander the streets. Don't worry, the people here are well prepared for such a situation, they don't need to leave their houses until the new avatar is selected."

Shanks assured her.

"Ha ha! I wasn't worried about them."

Cranberry smirked maliciously, carefully studying their surroundings, and she marveled at how easy it will be to escape the city once the need for that arises.