Chapter 80 - Meeting The Fiance
"System, show me the completed quests' list."
Cranberry said walking down the stairs.
A long window popped up with hundreds of quests she had completed in the past.
She skimmed through all of them and her expression turned grim.
"Graough? (Master, is something wrong?)"
Zombie, who was a few steps behind her, asked curiously since they both shared the messages.
"The quest about getting a follower... Do you remember? The level 1 quest..."
Cranberry was looking at the bottom of the list.
"Graough? (The one you completed by befriending Cinnamon's and the wolves gang's master?)"
Zombie furrowed his brows straining his memories.
"That's the one... Wait, you remember those wolves like that? Shouldn't you say Arion and the wolves gang? He was the first monster she tamed."
The red-haired girl got curious over her servant's answer.
"Graough. (Of course, I remember Arion and the rest, but I'm sure that Cinnamon became their pack leader by now.)"
Zombie waved his unusable hand dismissively and explained.
"Ha. I see. Well, you're the beast master."
Cranberry shrugged and continued the descent on the flight of stairs.
"Back to that level 1 quest..."
She returned to the main subject.
"It's gone."
"Graough? (Gone?)"
"Basically. In the form that the two of us knew it, at least. The reward is there but the quest description changed. Now it says, 'impress the prince'."
Cranberry started massaging her forehead.
"Actually, most of the quests concerning you had their description changed in some way as well. Most of them got altered only a little bit, like this one, 'reward: 5% EXP boost for your FUTURE servant'."
She pointed out.
"Graough? (Future servant?) Graough! (That makes it sound as if we weren't together back then!)"
Zombie growled furiously, deeply offended.
"It's strange, but it does match with what was written in the diary."
Cranberry nodded in agreement.
"Between the disappearance of the birthday cards that you gave me, and the change in the completed quests' descriptions, it really seems as if the system has attempted to retroactively alter our backstory..."
She clicked her tongue and her voice turned cold.
"Graough! (But you've said that the diary mentioned me!)"
Zombie pointed out in a worried voice.
"It did, but in a way suggesting that you became mine only shortly before the fight with the werewolves. Haa... this is so annoying... what else could've change...?"
Cranberry shook her head and closed her mouth just in time before the two of them entered the entrance hall where a group of people was already awaiting them.
In the center, with an entourage of maids and butlers, stood a tall handsome young blond man in splendid clothes, carrying a giant sword across his back.
"Graough! (Ah! It's the weakling from the first kill party!) Graough! (I completely forgot that he was the prince!)"
"Pffft...!"
Zombie growled in realization, causing Cranberry to almost burst into laughter in front of the guest and the servants surrounding him.
"Ah! She's already here!"
The same butler who was so rude while calling the young lady of the house, exclaimed happily while bowing to the prince.
"Your majesty, I'm so sorry for the inconvenience even after you've taken the trouble to come to visit our free-spirited young lady."
The butler was repeatedly apologizing and bowing to the prince with an almost inappropriate amount of servility.
The sight of both him and the prince caused Cranberry's mood to worsen severely.
"How long were you going to make me wait?!"
The blond prince, Roan Greed puffed up his chest proudly and asked in an arrogant voice.
The same guy who could barely hold eye contact with Cranberry when they met at the first kill party was now acting all high and mighty!
Cranberry's and Zombie's eyes widened and they looked at each other in shock.
"Tsk! What? You're not going to even welcome me? I came here after you continued begging me to, so at least show some courtesy..."
Roan even dared to clicked his tongue at Cranberry in her own home...!
"Please forgive such rudeness from our young miss, she must have become overwhelmed with emotions and doesn't know how to react!"
The butler was now bowing at the exact ninety-degree angle apologizing profusely.
There was no need for the master and servant to exchange words.
Zombie took off the long package hanging across his back and unwrapped it, revealing the baseball bat.
In complete silence, he offered the weapon to his master.
Also without uttering a single word did Cranberry took it and nodded at her servant showing her appreciation.
"You."
She glared down on the servile butler.
"Bow down to him again and you're dead."
She stated in an ice-cold voice.
"Hmph! At least you know when to... Wait... what did you just say...?"
The prince scoffed and looked to the side as if he was expecting to hear some warm or remorseful words, but flinched when he realized that what Cranberry had said was neither of those.
"So sorry! I'm so sorry, young miss must have eaten something bad for dinner, you know how clumsy she can..."
*CRUSH* *splat*
/Low-level player defeated
Master receives EXP
The butler in his absolute ignorance bent his back again.
As it tuned out, he did so for the last time, because Cranberry stayed true to her word and blew his head clean off.
"Aaaahhh!"
"Kyaah!"
The other servants all started screaming and running away when the unidentifiable piece of meat and crushed bones got smeared on the floor spraying loose teeth everywhere.
"Wh-wha-what did you...?!"
The prince yelped and tripped while backing off, ending up falling on his butt.
"Roan, right?"
Cranberry asked pointing at his face with the tip of the baseball bat.
"Y-yes...? No, wait! How c-could you just kill...?!"
The blond prince stuttered, pale as a sheet, staring at the drops of blood slowly dripping from the wooden weapon right at his white pants.
"Roan, my boy, say... you've mentioned that I was the one who invited you here... Is that correct?"
Cranberry asked conveniently ignoring the prince's question and walking over the dead body that was continuously spilling blood from the horrible wound.
"Th-that's r-right...!"
Roan nodded nervously.
"...did you confirmed your appointment with the current head of the Pride family...?"
The red-haired girl asked.
"N-no, why would I, the pri...?"
"Did you write a letter to the current head of the Pride family, asking if it's okay for you to just drop by, when you have the time, and the said letter simply hasn't arrived yet or got lost on the way...?"
Cranberry cut the prince off without as much as blinking an eye.
"...n-no... W-why would I do that in the first place?! I am the prince! And your fiancé! You literally begged me with tears in your eyes to come to visit you!"
Roan shook his head, regaining some of his confidence.
"I see, so in fact, you didn't have an appointment. Ha."
Cranberry ignored him and nodded to herself with a concerned expression.
"That's bad... that's really bad for you, Roan..."
She looked at the fallen prince with pity.
"Wh... why is that...?"
Roan asked in an uneasy voice.
"Oh? Don't you know?"
Cranberry smiled brightly.
She took the bat away from Roan's face and rested it on her shoulder, immediately staining her clothes with the leftover blood.
Her whole body began shining with multiple skills activated at once, even her weapon got condensed mana swirling around its whole length.
The red-haired girl leaned forward so that her face almost touched the prince's face.
...and then Cranberry opened her eyes revealing the deadly ice-cold glare.
"Even the current monarch has to confirm their visit with the current head of the Pride family."
Her voice matched her glare perfectly, causing Roan to shudder from dread.
"Roan, you didn't confirm shit. That means that you are an intruder. And there is only one fate awaiting the intruders on Prides' property."
Cranberry clenched her hand on the bat so hard that her knuckles turned white.
"Graough. (Weakling, you really should just run.) Graough. (As long as you get out of my master's property, she will not pursue you.)"
Zombie felt obliged to advise the prince, even though Roan couldn't understand his groans.
But luckily for himself, Roan certainly understood the aura of certain death emanating from Cranberry.
"!!!"
And so the prince tumbled on the floor and ran away as fast as he could, knocking down some unlucky servant that was just entering the mansion.
/Hidden quest complete
Reward granted
"Haa...?"
Cranberry stared at the message.
She looked at Zombie, but the blue undead shrugged his shoulders while shaking his head from side to side, completely clueless.
"I had some active quest...? Oh, right, things have changed and I haven't even checked that..."
She asked but realized the answer the next second.
"System, show active quests."
She commanded.
/Active quest:
Become a bride
Reward: +150 LUC
"Zombie, don't look at it!"
"G-graough! (Y-yes!)"
She said hurriedly and Zombie obediently covered his eyes with his left hand.
"Haa... what kind of idiocy is this...?"
Cranberry sighed while massaging her forehead.
"Then what was... System, show completed quests."
She decided to check the one she unknowingly completed.
And there it was, on the very top of the long list.
/Route A v/w hidden quest
Make the prince's heart skip a beat
Reward: +5 ATK
(completed)
"This... poses more questions than it answers..."
Cranberry blinked confused, staring at the quest's name.