"Skwee! (Mommy, look, look!) Skwee! (My talons turned pretty!)"
The first thing that the excited Blueberry did after shaking off the initial shock was to turn towards Cranberry and show off her golden talons.
"Yes, yes, don't worry I can see it too, your talons and beak look amazing."
The red-haired girl stopped glaring at Zombie and effortlessly guessed what the blue griffin tried to communicate.
"Skwee?! (Eh, my beak too?!) Skwee?! (Really?!)"
Blueberry screeched in disbelief and tried to look at her beak - she acted like a baby chick and climbed onto her hind legs as if that would help her see it and waved her wings to keep her balance and almost flew up.
"Blueberry, calm down, we will get you a mirror or something so you can check it for yourself."
Mary got to her bickering griffin and patted her side.
"Skwee! (Ah, okay, master!)"
The winged monster obediently got down and looked expectantly at the brown-haired girl as if she was supposed to have a griffin-sized mirror on hand.
"A mirror, alright, we will figure something out."
Surprisingly enough it was Shanks who rushed into action without even being asked to.
"Skwee! (Thanks, short human!) Skwee, skwee! (Mommy, daddy, I like this human, he even smells a bit like you two!)"
Blueberry screeched happily and screeched to Cranberry and Zombie.
"She said that Shanks smells a bit like us."
And the blue undead translated it for the red-haired girl.
"Ha. It must be about that right to rule affinity or whatever, that really seems like something from the domain of the sin of pride."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Cranberry pondered on it for a while but then settled on the first possibility that came to her mind.
"...um... sorry to bother you..."
Suddenly, the white-haired Corvus - who was acting rather timidly for his looks - approached their whole group and bowed his head to everyone, even to Blueberry and Arion.
"Ha. Now I see what you meant about him being similar to a rabbit."
"Right?!"
Cranberry smirked and nodded at her blue undead, and the blue undead happily smiled back.
"I've been wondering, is there a way for us to check up on Mika? Truth to be told I've been having a bad feeling about her for a while, and I'm rather anxious about her safety... and mental health..."
Corvus nervously rubbed his forearm without even trying to make eye contact with anyone else, fully aware that the majority of their group didn't like the ashen-haired girl in particular.
"Pshh! She'll be fine! Take me as an example! She only lost just a single finger, I lost half an arm and didn't even blink. And once, that red-haired psycho over there beat me up so much I couldn't move! And honestly, that was only mildly annoying. That overconfident trash will be fine. Although..."
Zombie waved his hand dismissively pinging at the apologetic-looking Cranberry, but then he furrowed his brows and looked up.
"Wait... I'll take that back, I'm an undead who doesn't care about his body... and can't feel any pain, to begin with... and when my psycho over there messed me up I was, like, almost completely brainwashed by the system and could barely feel any emotion... hmm... you know what? Maybe you should worry about that trash after all!"
Zombie counted up on his finger and somehow managed to show up a great deal of sensitivity as well as a complete lack of sensitivity at the same time.
"..."
That, of course, had only made Corvus's anxiety grow exponentially stronger.
"She will be fine, not only is she extremely strong herself but also three companies' worth of veteran Sloth soldiers were delegated to escort her. Even if they encounter dozens of seraphims, they will be fine."
Shanks returned carrying a big shield polished so much that it could as well be a mirror and assured the white-haired man right after putting the shield up for the blue griffin to check out her reflection.
"SKWEEE! (I LOOK SO COOL!)"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Blueberry screeched and jumped up excitedly, checking out her reflection from all the different angles.
"Sorry for that, kind sir, it seems like it will take a while, I can take it from you."
"It's okay, I don't mind."
Mary apologized to Shanks and offered to you take the shield off of his hands but the rat-faced man shook his head and refused the offer with a smile.
"Emperor griffins are known for their pride - and pride includes vanity. It's completely normal that she's interested in her looks."
He laughed and glanced at Blueberry who was in the middle of raising her front left leg to check how her talons look next to her beak.
"...I'm not worried about any monster, Mika can definitely deal with that, what I am worried about is her running off and getting lost in the fog... why couldn't she be just teleported back to the Wraths territory...?"
The white-haired Corvus spoke up, reminding others about his existence.
"..."
"...!"
His words made Shanks expression darkened which in turn caused the rest of the Dandelions and even the copper-eyed Ti, to flinch.
"Corvus...! Those soldiers with the teleportation skill... fisherman 1 got killed during the 7th wave and fishermen 2 and 3 got severely injured during the 8th one! There's literally no one else capable of using that high-level skill left in the territory!"
Ti became pale and spoke in a strict voice as if she was scolding a child.
"...! I... I must have forg... umm... I'm sorry..."
At least the white-haired capture target had enough sensibility to apologize right after he outed himself for not caring about the Sloth soldiers who sacrificed themselves time and time again to protect the same girl he was now worried about.
"Rotte, it's your turn to set up the camp, right?"
Shanks turned away from him and looked at his friend.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"That's right! I'm on it!"
The plus-sized warrior nodded vigorously and began unpacking things from the bags that all the Dandelions put down just a minute before.
"It's my turn to cook!"
Lairs was just as eager to change the subject and get rid of the grim atmosphere as Rotte.
"I'll help!"
Ti easily read the situation and joined the black-haired elf.
"Miss Mary, do you mind if I'll groom miss Blueberry? I might not look like, but I have been born and raised on a quite prosperous farm!"
Uresha got rid of her sturdy helmet and heavy chestplate and picked up a thick brush from her bag.
"I use this sometimes to clean my armor, but it will do just fine to comb a griffin. Ah! Of course, I kept it clean, so you don't have to worry!"
The large woman hurriedly assured the surprised heroine.
"Ah, umm... well, of course, you can do that, Mrs Uresha, I'm sure that my Blueberry will love it."
Mary nervously rubbed the back of her head and then shrugged her shoulders giving the large woman with an even larger heart a green light.
"...Zombie...?"
"...?!"
Hearing the confusion in Cranberry's voice made Mary look her way just at the right time to see the blue undead leaning down towards her and carefully examining her face, neck, and arms - basically every part of her exposed skin.
"Your mend isn't good with little things like skin, right? That's why you are left with so many scars."
"U-umm, we'll, yes."
Zombie didn't ask, he stated the fact, but even so, Mary still confirmed it.
"Stay still, I want to check something."
*peck*
Zombie declared, and without any hesitation, he grabbed Mary's chin, gently turned her head slightly to the right, and kissed her cheek.
"!!!!!!!"
*thump*
It was hard to tell who was more flabbergasted - Mary who found herself being enveloped in a dark red smoke that seeped into her body and then got suddenly sucked out leaving her feeling refreshed, or Cranberry who literally lost all power in her legs and fell on her but right where she was standing.
"Ah, so it works. Good."
Zombie examined the result of his skill - the spotless skin of the brown-haired girl, now without even a single scar or blemish, and straightened his back, nodding to himself in satisfaction.
"W-w-wh-wh-wh-wha...?!"
Mary blushed heavily and got so bashful that she couldn't even say a single word properly.
"Hey, Arion. You must have also get wounded, right? Come over."
Zombie turned away from the stuttering girl and beckoned the large black wolf.
"R-raor...?! (B-big brother Zombie...?!)"
Arion backed off and yelped seemingly in fear, but his wildly wagging tail betrayed him.
"Oh, get over here, it's just a healing skill."
Zombie scoffed and beckoned him again.
