Centaurs, minotaurs, driads, they passed by a village after a village, but this time even though just like in the arachnes village, some of the villagers were raising their hands in a greeting towards the ashen undead knight, she didn't realize turned the gesture to them, too focused on the road.
"..."
Zombie furrowed his brows in silence.
Cranberry was carefully observing the surroundings that they were passing through with great speed as if she wanted to take in all the different views...
Even though the only different part about the surroundings were different species of monsters that were intelligent but not enough to become a part of the main intelligent races of the world settling it.
The areas themselves were just like any other villages built on the deforested ground, alongside the peaceful but very shallow river that couldn't even power a mill.
"...hmm..."
Still, that were only Cranberry's observations, Zombie was focused on the ashen undead, the physical remnant of the god of chaos, Love.
And he actually noticed something that was off.
The undead elf was actually fidgeting in unease from time to time and sometimes even turned slightly to glance at the two in the back of the wagon as if checking whether they are still there.
She really did change completely after being exposed to the power of the lust-based mindbreak skill.
...the question that started to bother the blue undead was - did he use the mindbreak skill on her enough to completely restore her personality?
...as backward as it sounds...
She did mention that she thought that she will be trapped in the doll-like state forever, which obviously meant that her real personality was indeed blocked off at some point, after all...
"..."
So he went ahead and first used the overpower skill on Cranberry to get her MAT, and then, before anyone could stop him, he focused on the back of the ashen undead's head and his eyes shone blue as he used mindbreak at full power...
"...!"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})The effect was instantaneous - the undead elf long ears dropped down, downcast as if she was anxious or worried, and her fidgetting increased many times.
"...hey, say... who are you, really? Both of you...?"
In the end, the ashen undead couldn't resist any longer and looked back at the blue undead knight and the red-haired girl.
Her voice also changed, it sounded like the voice of an unsure young adult and not of an undead over one hundred years old.
"I'm just your normal everyday neighbor undead. I'm slightly stronger than the average, but honestly, I'm sure you know a few imposing beings yourself."
Zombie wanted as neither surprised nor concerned about her question or how to answer it.
To him it was obvious that he should lie, so he did.
"This living here, she is a lovely pet that I picked up on my way here."
The blue undead added, pulling gently on the leash attached to the collar around Cranberry's neck, prompting her to approach him and nest on his lap.
Once she did, he hugged her and rested his chin on her head.
"She is mine and I am very attached to her, if something will threaten her, I will crush it, no exception."
He added in a voice that was more fitting for a friendly chat over a cup of tea and not at all suitable for the words he had chosen to use.
"...I see..."
The ashen undead looked upset, the tips of her long ears slumped even lower as if she thought of something unpleasant.
"Could it be that you lost your mount because of her?"
She asked glancing at Zombie with a serious expression.
"Oh? Interesting idea, but no. If anything, she is the reason why I had one in the first place."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"...ooohhh...!"
The blue undead knight answered with a mysterious smirk, but that was enough for the ashen undead knight to come to a false conclusion that the red-haired girl was so important for him because of the supposedly dead mount.
"Can I talk to her?"
Unexpectedly, the ashen undead looked at Cranberry and asked, her tone suggested that she was treating the red-haired girl like a pet and she just asked the owner whether she could pet her or not.
"Sure. But whether she responds or not will be up to her."
Zombie shrugged his shoulders and did not change his position at all, waiting.
"Where did your master pick you up from?"
"...!"
The ashen undead asked and Cranberry had already flinched, showing that it was something that she didn't want to have brought up.
|...haaa... of course, no acting skills whatsoever...|
Zombie sighed internally, raising his head and looking down at the top of the red-haired girl's head.
"...are you from the Gluttonys territory...? No, wait, the lizardfolk told me that you came from the north, are you someone from the Sloths territory?"
The ashen undead asked, tilting her head curiously.
"E-envys territory..."
"Eh...?"
Cranberry furrowed her brows with a grumpy expression and gave an answer that shocked the ashen undead.
"Envys territory...? That's not very north though..."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})The undead elf's voice was sharp and rather upset.
"...tell me, you don't really have the aura of a commoner... are you a noble? Then, does that mean that you are from the Envy family...?"
She asked, suddenly sounding borderline hostile and the aura surrounding her became ice-cold.
"..."
Zombie raised his brow looking at Cranberry - he supported her not admitting that she was from the Pride family, just in case, but mentioning the territory of the family, whose people tried to kidnap the ashen undead which resulted in her becoming the undead in the first place, was just a straight-up out of character stupid decision...
"N...no... I was born in a different territory, and the brought to the Envy territory, once then, I was picked up by a pair of hiding elves that took me as their daughter."
...but then Cranberry shook her head and declared, proudly puffing out her chest.
"...elves you say..."
"...?"
"..."
The ashen undead furrowed her brows and muttered, causing the red-haired girl to raise her brow in confusion while the blue undead rolled his eyes.
Cranberry mentioning the elves was a good idea because it allowed her to use her real experience to not make a complete fool out of herself by straight-up laying, but she missed the part about undead hating the species they were originally - in this case, the ashen undead knight, was an undead elf, so any mention of her own race, would make her angry, especially if she didn't see them for a long time and couldn't ease up the boiling rage that every undead monster carried, by killing them.
Lots of silly mistakes... that after some consideration, might have been intentional...
"..."
Zombie tilted his head in silence and waited for the next move of either the red-haired girl in his lap or the ashen undead knight.
"You say that you were kidnapped, don't you? Do you remember which family were you from originally?"
Interestingly, the ashen undead knight seemed to have pushed aside her own aggression and inquired, squinting her eyes suspiciously.
|Ah...! I see, she wants my Cranberry to admit that she is from the Pride family...! Interesting... so she must have contacted the church and got some information on us that she wants to confirm...|
Zombie smirked in realization, squinting his eyes.
