The Villainess and I, her Zombie

All in all, Zombie and his underlings had to spend a lot more time in the kobold's shop than he initially thought.

With the effects of the mindbreak skill still lingering in the Fillia's body, the blue undead expected her to struggle frantically and put together some valid strategy within four or five days – but to his surprise and dissatisfaction, it took more than sixteen day's for Fillia's messenger to show up at the shop's doorstep.

...it shouldn't surprise anyone that the one who showed up was of course the older gentleman with steel-colored hair and mustache, with a rather grim expression – Carambola.

"If whatever you are planning will hurt young lady Fillia, I will personally kill you – no matter what sort of backing you have, brat."

The old gentleman said instead of hello and invited himself in without as much as waiting for the response from the carefully disguised undead.

"It's nice to see you too."

Despite the rather cold greeting, Zombie seemed quite cheerful.

...even a little bit too cheerful...

"Aren't you happy that I didn't kill your precious young lady? Honestly – you suck as a bodyguard – where were you that night? I could have messed her up so bad that you wouldn't even recognize her afterward..."

The blue undead leaned back and put his hand to the black veil right where his mouth was hiding underneath.

"...don't test my patience, Wrath's brat. You really are lucky that my young lady is on your side... tsk... if I knew what kind of bastard you are I would have dealt with you when I first saw you."

Carambola clicked his tongue and shook his head with disgust.

"Now, now, old-timer – you are making me blush! Enough with the pleasantries – did Fillia prepare everything? Where can I move?"

Zombie casually waved his hand at the furious old gentleman, not taking his hostility seriously at all and casually speaking about a dangerous subject without making sure that no ears are listening in.

"..."

That lack of attention to details certainly didn't help Carambola calm down, he frowned and looked around as his ears started shining.

"...?"

His brow rose up and he glanced at the ceiling, undoubtedly hearing the heartbeat of Raika staying put in her room just as the blue undead asked her to.

*WHAM*

"!!!!!!!!"

The sudden loud noise caused the old man to flinch and even staggered him momentarily, which wasn't that weird considering that his detection skill was only tier 2 so it did not mute any loud noises nearby.

"Focus, Carambola, it's not the time to be thinking about the retirement home. Fillia's plan – tell me about it."

Zombie smirked mockingly, taking his fist off of the slightly broken table that he slammed into just a second before, and nodded up at the old gentleman gritting his teeth from anger.

"It took a while but within the next two days the Envy's mansion will be left with only the minimal amount of guards while the members of the main branch will be away -including lord Rambutan."

Without even trying to mask his distaste for the poor behavior of the overconfident masked youth, Carambola sighed and said.

"Oh? And how did little Fillia make that happen?"

Zombie raised his brows, honestly surprised how good that sounded, and asked.

"None of your business."

Carambola scoffed, squinting his eyes at the disguised youth, clearly looking to pick up a fight.

|Look at him, I'm sure that Fillia ordered him to not attack me first so now he tries to provoke me into going at him first – isn't that cute?|

Zombie gently caressed the crossguard of the simple one-handed shortsword sheathed in the luxurious scabbard at his waist and smiled to himself under the black veil covering his face.

"How long will their absence last? I do not plan on settling in the mansion or anything but I certainly don't wish to be caught red-handed by the entire main family."

Zombie leaned back against the partially broken table and tilted his head, making sure to act as unperturbed as possible to work up the steel-haired man even more with no reason other than pure pettiness and the joy of teasing others fuelling his decision-making process

"Two days in carriage away from the city – even if anyone will try to get back using the help of either monsters or adventurers with a high-level movement increasing skill you should have between six and twelve hours to do whatever the hell you want - but, let me tell you this..."

Carambola gritted his teeth and pointed at Zombie's masked face with his index finger.

"You will find nothing except elves with their beauty stolen – I've been living amongst the Envy family for a long time already – I was there shortly after Fillia's grandfather became the avatar of envy – I was there when the title became Rambutan's – and I will be there when it will be passed onto Fillia herself. There is nothing there."

The old gentleman said with unyielding confidence, crossing his arm and glaring down at the shorter blue undead.

"My, my, my – so you say. Don't worry – I'm not the type to partake in empty quarrels. You are allowed to be as mistaken as you wish. Your choice. Now -is there something else that you wish to tell me, or are you perhaps interested in staying for breakfast – cute kid owning this place is a great cook."

Zombie laughed off Carambola's words and pointed at the ceiling above the man's had – where a life signature of the young Raika flinched while the movement of mana around her betrayed that she was using a skill – most likely to listen in to the conversation below.

She certainly didn't have a skill like that before, so that means she was focusing so much that the system rewarded her hard work while the blue undead and the old gentleman were in the middle of their conversation.

"...No, that is all that I came here for..."

Carambola closed his eyes and frowned, furious that he was unable to anger the masked blue undead enough to get attacked.

"Oh, and young lady Fillia and I will also be away from the mansion – so don't think that you will have any backup. Go in, and then get the hell away once you get disappointed – you better not try to steal anything from the mansion either, or I will track you down and rip off your limbs as if you were a lowly bug – which would be a fitting end for a cockroach like you."

He added before turning around and walking out of the shop without saying goodbye.

"Bye-bye – I love you too!"

Instead of getting agitated, the blue undead laughed it off and even blew a kiss at the man's door before he managed to shut the door.

"Khaha~!"

Zombie laughed and blinked a few times as the pale-blue light faded from his eyes, and he took off the hood.

"Now... the only thing is to wait for the right moment..."

The blue undead smirked and nodded to himself.

"Raika – I know you can hear me. It's okay to come down now."

He added, looking up at the little kobold's life signature that flinched and hurriedly deactivated her detection skill.