The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"Termas...! We need to go!"

Kopia gritted her teeth with a screeching sound and grabbed Zombie's right arm again, trying to pull him away.

"..."

But the blue undead was just standing there, glaring at the old gentleman, smiling creepily – which thankfully wasn't noticeable because of the hood and the veil covering his face.

"...I see, so your name is Termas... I don't really recall someone with such a name – are you someone from the younger generation?"

Carambola twitched, and asked, furrowing his brows, clearly trying to recognize or at least guess the possible identity of the disguised blue undead.

All in all, it looked like he was convinced that he must know him – or at least should know him, since he was recognized and called out by name.

"Hey... If you are here that means that Fillia is in the city too, right?"

But instead of the expected reaction, Zombie merely tilted his head and asked in a rather disturbing manner.

It wasn't a voice of a sane person, but rather of the mindless undead consumed by the hatred towards the living – or a very specific living, in this case at least.

"..."

Of course, that did not sit well with the steel-haired man.

His expression darkened and he glared down at the disguised blue undead.

"No, she is out of town. Miss Fillia is doing whatever she pleases, she doesn't always stay under my care, she is more than capable enough to do so."

The man denied smoothly without as much as blinking an eye, no hesitation at all, and shook his head.

"...huh..."

Zombie furrowed his brows and scoffed.

Usually, he could tell when others were lying with relative ease which was partially thanks to his liar title, but with Carambola...

...it was... difficult to say for sure...

"You're awfully emotional, your aggression is far too obvious – are you a hidden child of Mango that I'm not aware of... Or maybe just a student...? I heard that he picked up a kid, but I expected you to be younger..."

The old gentleman said curiously, taking a step forward.

"Nah... he got sick... severely... he wouldn't be able to properly teach anyone. Though... I should not be talking about that with you in those circumstances."

Zombie responded with a casual shrug, somehow still thinking clearly enough to put two and two together and figure out who  Carambola was talking about, yet not clear enough to back off and get away from the spot to resume the stealthy approach.

"...I've heard about it... so it was actually that severe. A shame."

Carambola made a bitter expression but soon enough he was back into the professional mode.

"What is your business with our young lady?"

He added taking another step.

"Has she done something against the Wraths family that would make you seek revenge even while you're escorting someone from the Gluttony family? Or has she done something to you, personally?"

Another step followed another question.

"You heard him, Termas! We have nothing to do here now! Let's go!"

Interestingly, Kopia showed a surprising adaptability and instead of flinching or acting surprised that she was singled out as someone from the Gluttony family, she used it to get Zombie to return to his senses and back away.

"Oh, it is personal, don't worry, the pack of Wraths will not storm your precious mansion in the middle of the night like a bunch of lowly hired thugs. Though, that merely means that your little Fillia got herself in a lot of shit that she will be forced to eat sooner rather than later. If you don't want to get dragged down with her I would leave the Envy family if I were in your place."

Zombie scoffed mockingly, not backing off at all despite knowing about Carambola's tier 3 mana drain skill.

"I don't think  that I need to listen to this advice of yours, young Wrath."

The old gentleman frowned and shook his head – stopping in place a bit concerned.

If the youngster knew him, he should be aware of that skill... could it be that he had a countermeasure in place...?"

"Did they stop teaching about minding the time and place for displaying the full extent of one's anger or are you perhaps a recipient of..."

"Ira – the system was kind enough to bestow it upon me a while ago."

He asked with a smile, but his smile faded the moment that Zombie finished the sentence for him.

The blue undead was of course referencing the time that the system tried to give him ira, but the wrath-based skill got absorbed and nourished superbia instead.

"So you are from the Wrath family..."

The old gentleman sighed and grabbed the bag with groceries that he was holding on to a lot tighter with no intention of putting it away – which suggested that he wasn't really about to attack the boy as he finally became fully convinced about the youth's background since his last question was the final test.

As much as he wanted to squash the little over-confident bugger in front of him – it certainly would bring out a negative outcome.

The thing that the masked undead have said...

Carambola was now sure about two things – the youth in front of him was certainly from the Wrath family...

...and he was fully aware of what the current avatar of envy was plotting in secret against the Pride family – the words he used – the pack of Wraths storming the mansion...

It was obvious – for the old gentleman at least – that the disguised youth was referencing the Envys plan to use Gluttony family members to get rid of the Pride family.

He CLEARLY said PACK – what else could he be referencing besides the werewolves...?

The truth was obviously different, it was literally exactly like the blue undead had said it – with the exception of him being involved with the Wrath family in any way, of course – but how was Carambola supposed to figure that out?

Zombie was casually dropping the hints about information he had no right to know if he wasn't involved in everything.

Yet, despite all that info threatening the whole Envy family, only one thought was causing Carambola to start retreating – the young lady he was protecting was in danger.

Of course, the old gentleman would warn her father, Rambutan, but at the moment Fillia's safety was all that Carambola could think of.

Why?

Because he himself had lied – Fillia wasn't out of the city at all – she was in the Envys mansion, resting after a mission – completely unaware about the danger that was looming so near...

"For the sake of my connection with the Wrath family – I'll give you a piece of advice just like you did to me."

Carambola spoke up after staying silent for a good minute or three.

"If I were in your place, I would have left without trying to cause any more mess with the Envys or me."

He scoffed and turned around, leaving the disguised undead and the crimson-haired girl holding onto his arm.

"Termas...?"

Kopia tilted her head and asked feeling that the blue undead is no longer trying to leash out against the present living.

"Hmph. Don't worry, I'm alright now."

Luckily enough – his reaction calmed Zombie down enough so he didn't try to attack the old gentleman at all.