The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"Ah! The Pride's girl?! She will attend after all?!"

"I've heard that she suffered from the same sickness that befell her mother but it must have been a lie..."

The people in the audience were whispering to each other, sharing the bits and pieces of knowledge they each had on the girl that no one has seen nor hear about since three years prior.

"Big shoes to fill – are you worried?"

Zombie smirked and asked glancing back at the red-haired girls standing right by him in the middle of the arena.

"Ha...? Worried about what? The honor of the Prides? Pffft....!"

Cranberry furrowed her brows, shook her head, and snorted, all in response to her familiar's words.

"I only wish that mom and that could have been here to watch me – but that's not going to hold me back."

She frowned, making a bitter face as she took off the package from her back revealing a jet-black baseball bat with the pretty blue ribbon wrapped tightly around one end as if to show where the weapon should be grabbed, and swinging it once for practice before resting it on one arm, and smirking back at the blue undead.

"Good, that's what I want to hear. Let's not make too much of a show – something short and sweet just like little Claymore would be preferable."

Zombie nodded, satisfied with that response, and unsheathed Kopia – who flashed with white light and turned from a shortsword right into a dragon-wing-shaped scimitar.

|Sorry for ignoring you until now, but, you've heard me – we're going flashy and fast, let's not give our beast the opportunity to change into a sigil monster.|

"..."

The blue undead thought, looking at his sentient weapon and he felt Kopia vibrating reassuringly in his hand without actually making a sound just in case someone in the audience has been using any sort of detection or hearing enhancing skill.

Funnily enough, both of them were prepared before their monster was even brought out.

"What is going on...?"

"Could it be that they don't have anything prepared...?"

"Are Prides trying to prove something with only sending their child and her undead? Necromancy is indeed great magic to have, but the first kill party is about killing their first mon..."

*THUMP*

Although there were more than just a few voices trying to guess why nothing was happening, they all went quiet once the loud vibration shook the whole arena.

*THUMP* *THUMP*

*THUMP*

Then another one, and another – each one louder than the previous one.

*THUMP*

"GRUOOOOOOOUWAAAAAAAGH! (GIVE ME THE BASTARDS WHO DARED TO AMBUSH ME WHEN I WAS SLEEPING!)

Finally, the source of the vibration showed up – it was a ten feet tall grayish-skinned humanoid monster with dark green hair, massive arms that looked like they could tear a human in half, and two tusks growing out of its strong lower jaw – escorted by six members of the system faith of which every single one looked ready to piss themselves.

"A TROLL?! AND A CHAMPION TROLL AT THAT?! WHO IN THE RIGHT MIND WOULD MAKE CHILDREN FACE IT! THAT THING CAN REGENERATE FASTER THAN A FULL PARTY OF MID-LEVEL ADVENTURERS CAN DAMAGE IT!"

One elderly gentleman watching from the audience rose up and shouted with a terrified expression.

"FORGET ABOUT WEAKENING IT FOR A CHILD TO TAKE CARE OF – THAT THING IS ALREADY BACK AT FULL HEALTH!"

The old man's companions tried to calm him down, but the gentleman did not let himself be silenced and continued shouting – funnily enough, Zombie recognized his voice...

|That's the guy who called out to my Cranberry to marry his grandson during the first kill party of the first playthrough.|

The little undead frowned bitterly – that old man was actually on his list of people to deal with, but with how much he was hyping up the fight, even Zombie had to reconsider his decision and take his name off the said list.

|He's quite a nice hype-man.|

Patience agreed with a triumphant voice.

|See? It was worth taking that detour and grabbing the moss troll – they look just like champion mountain trolls but are the weakest of all troll subspecies!|

She added with a mischievous laugh.

|Sure, if you say so... as long as it will be easier to take care of than that one I killed while still alive, we should be fine – if not, I'll have to call Baron, and that would be another mess to take care of later....|

Zombie scoffed and shrugged it off with a tired sigh.

"...ummm..."

The people escorting the swamp troll looked rather worried and didn't seem too keen on releasing the beast from the magic shackles that contained it.

|Don't even compare this guy to the rock troll you killed before – if we're comparing strengths, this one is just an oversized orc with slightly better healing ability! Perfect for showing off, not so much for the experience points though.|

Patience sounded as if she was waving her hand dismissively as she explained the situation.

"Hey! How long will you be standing there?! Release that guy, or do you want us to kill it while still shackled up?!"

|Oh-ho!|

Cranberry stomped her foot and shouted at the hesitant people, pointing her baseball bat at the large moss troll, making even Patience let out a happy gasp.

"Grouwaagh... (Kid... I will eat you whole, just like in the stories that you parents used to scare you into obedience...)"

The moss troll still in the shackles, straightened its back and grunted looking down on the red-haired girl and her familiar.

"Haa...! Seriously! We want to be done with it! Go away and let us fight!"

Since there was no reaction initially, Cranberry shook her head and shouted angrily as her baseball bat lighted up with white light.

"..."

Yet still, none of the people escorting the monster dared to listen to her and have the blood of the Pride family member on their hands.

"Listen to her. Let's see what the Pride family has to offer."

"!!!!"

Another voice joined in, supporting the red-haired girl with a condescending might.

"..."

Zombie frowned and stiffened – he didn't have to look towards the audience to know who said that.

"Your highness, you can't just...!"

"That's my final word on the matter."

The old gentleman tried to argue the decision but was shot down instantly.

"A-as you wish, your highness!"

The six people all bowed to the Roan's mother, the queen of the Fruit Salad, and all moved back deactivating their magic shackles.

"Grouwaagh! (You clearly do not value your lives!) Grouwaagh! (Weapon summon!)"

The moss troll let out a burst of ugly laughter and put forth his arm – that shone with a murky brown light before a whole tree trunk appeared in front of him.

"Grouwaagh. (I'll turn you into a paste with this.)"

Moss troll grabbed the tree trunk like a mace and swung it once before taking a threatening stance, showing o-

*SHIING*

*thump*

Tired of its grunts, Zombie flicked his wrist making Kopia disappear from his grip, and in the next moment, the troll's whole arm got cut off and fell to the ground together with its weapon.

"GRO-GROOOUUUWAAAAAAAAGH! (UU-UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!)"

"!!!!!"

The beast roared in pain holding on to the clean-cut wound from which fresh brownish blood was gushing out like a fountain and it stumbled back struck by a sudden fear as the audience let out simultaneous gaps of utter shock and disbelief.

"Do you have any idea who you are grunting at, you bastard?"

Zombie, with Kopia back in his hand, shook off the brownish blood from her blade and tilted his head glaring at the moss troll with disgust.