The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"...you are going to go to the Envys mansion..."

The little kobold girl muttered from above a plate full of fancy sandwiches, sounding as if she was on the verge of bursting into tears.

"...?"

The blue undead sitting by her side tilted his head and lowered the sandwich that he had already taken off the plate beforehand.

He didn't say anything and just waited for whatever the kobold girl will do next.

"People from the Envy family took away my grandpa and killed him... don't go..."

Raika lowered her head and cried pitifully.

"I will not die. Look at me, I'm no longer alive in the first place."

Zombie spread his arms open and laughed with a smirk showing off his blue skin.

"Please... I don't want to be alone... Don't go..."

But the little girl shook her head and approached the blue undead after she slid down her chair.

"...please..."

She cried out, grabbing onto his sleeve while her shoulders shook from holding back the tears.

"..."

Zombie furrowed his brows, looking at her, and briefly touched the crossguard of his sword.

|She's supposed to be an enchanter, right? So, will it be okay to drop her off at the hidden village? Or is there some big secret conspiracy that requires her to be alone and pitiful to achieve the greatest potential?|

He thought, making sure that Kopia will be listening to him closely.

"...there are many pieces of information about her missing... it should be okay..."

Kopia vibrated and her muffled high-pitched voice came from the expensive scabbard at Zombie's side.

"...?"

That made Raika title her head in confusion, and shyly looked up at the blue undead.

...right in time to see him reach out his hand to start patting her head.

"You are worrying too much, kid. Your grandfather was unlucky and he was taken by force - am going to make sure that the Envy family won't be able to pull something like that ever again."

Zombie smiled softly, gently moving his hand from left to right through the short hair of the kobold girl.

"...you... will...? but the Envys are rulers of this territory... they are one of the seven main families..."

Rakia whispered, trembling from anxiety.

"Things are a bit more complicated with their family – there is another branch of their family – the ones who are actually aiding the kingdom."

Zombie explained without stopping moving his hand even for a second.

"Would you believe me that those good Envys really dislike all the Envys living in this city?"

"...!"

He asked and smiled seeing Raika's eyes becoming completely round from surprise.

"I'm going to cause a little accident that will allow the good Envy to take control of everything. They will deal with the bad Envys who took away your grandfather. So...? Will you let me go?"

The blue undead asked, lowering his head to look at Raika's face.

"..."

The little kobold girl nodded her head and released Zombie's sleeve from her grip.

"Good girl. I promise you that I will take you to a good place after I'll return."

Zombie assured her and took back his hand, to focus back on the food she prepared.

"...okay..."

Raika nodded and returned to her seat, now lowering her head because she was trying to hide her blushing face.

"Ssss...? (Master, the Envy's left the city yesterday – shouldn't we go to their mansion already?)|

Just as Zombie raised the sandwich back up to his mouth, Monty stuck out his split tongue and hissed into his ear curiously.

"It's fine, we need to give them time to arrive whenever they were going for. Two day's in a carriage is two days in a carriage – I prefer to have as much time as possible."

Zombie shrugged his shoulders and explained indifferently, stuffing the whole sandwich into his mouth and chewing on it without batting an eye despite the fact that for him it tasted like wet concrete about to settle.

/Proficiency level reached

You receive a skill

Second stomach (level 1)

"Huh...?"

Zombie blinked a few times and shook his head, half expecting the system message to be a hallucination.

"Ssss? (Master, what happened?)"

"Did I mess something up?!"

Monty hissed in confusion while Raika gasped in panic.

"No, no – nothing bad happened... Something completely opposite did though, actually..."

Zombie raised his hand to calm the trembling girl and picked another sandwich.

"Could it be...?"

He said to himself with a curious smirk and focused on the newest skill that he received.

*CHOMP*

As soon as he did that, his mouth and throat shone with faint orange light and the sandwich disappeared from his hand as soon as he merely clenched his jaws together with a dry sound.

*gulp*

"Oh-ho...!"

Zombie's smirk bloomed into a full-blown smile as soon as he swallowed the unidentified glomp that appeared in his throat on its own and...

*CHOMP*

With another dry sound, the entire plate with all the food on it disappeared from the table without a trace.

"Wh-what happened?!"

Raika gasped, staring between the blue undead and the empty spot on the table where the plate of sandwiches was just a moment ago.

*gulp*

"Oh, nothing much... just a little magic trick. Did you like it? Though – you won't get your plate back – it's all here now, sorry."

Zombie swallowed loudly, laughed leaning back in his chair, and patted his stomach.

"Who knew that hanging out with uniquely named characters could bring that sort of fortune?"

He nodded with content.

"It also looks like this skill is not bound to just organic matter~"

The blue undead hummed happily staring at the ceiling, tapping his stomach as if searching for the second one, though the name of the gluttony-based skill that he gained wasn't literal.

"That leaves the question... what is the upper limit of the things that I can eat...?"

He furrowed his brows and straightened his back...

...squinting his eyes at the confused Raika...

"...nah, not worth the risk...

"?!?!?!??"

Zombie shrugged his shoulders and began looking around searching for things suitable for experiments.

"Sssssss...? (Master, are you sure we shouldn't already go to the mansion...?)"

"Gold is right, master...!"

The golden snake hissed into his ear and its words were supported by Kopia's high-pitched voice.

"True... There should be plenty of things in there I could play around with... after all, eating something doesn't count as stealing, does it...?"

The blue undead exclaimed cheerfully and stood up, patting Raika's head as he passed her on his way to the stairs.