The Villainess and I, her Zombie

The odd feeling in his chest did not disappear, but at least he now knew that it wasn't anything connected with damage.

The blue undead knight strolled around the fort - moving his left hand as if it was itching, and checking up on the different members of the crew - he even visited Laura again.

The older woman tried to apologize for being sentimental once again, but the blue undead stopped her with a reassuring hug.

He then walked up to the headquarters building...

...just to see the same situation as before...

With how things were Cranberry must have been reporting everything that happened since she last saw the two...

Well, it wasn't as if the person she was now had actually encountered the elves pair like this, so maybe it wasn't so surprising.

This time he stayed by the window a little longer, and...

/Proficiency level reached

You revive a skill

Mirror image (level 1)\\\\

"Huh...?"

Zombie took a step back and frowned in confusion.

What this was about?

Was he even doing anything in particular?

How come he was given skill for just standing in place?

It was something odd enough to captivate his attention.

He turned around and walked back toward one of the buildings.

"You, Shanks, how's your knowledge about skills? I got a question."

He entered a storage building that didn't even have to undergo any major changes with the addition of a desk a chair - and found the Dandelion that he was looking for.

Since the headquarters were clearly occupied by the happy family of three, Shanks had to momentarily move the administration there.

"Ah, sir Zom... wait...! What?! You have said my actual name?!"

The rat-faced man raised his hand before he froze and then suddenly slammed his hand down on the desk, gasping in disbelief.

"Yeah, yeah, you can cry tears of joy later."

Zombie rolled his eyes, slightly annoyed at himself that he forgot about teasing the man, and shrugged his shoulders.

"I have a skill that I received in rather particular circumstances - the name suggests what it does but still I would like to make sure."

The blue undead shook his head and revealed.

"...well, it's not like I can tell you everything, but there are a few things that I do know..."

Shanks furrowed his brows and said slowly as if hesitant to hype up the blue undead knight in case he end up knowing nothing.

"Mirror image."

Zombie spoke up without any unnecessary flair and waited.

"..."

The rat-faced man stood still for a little while with his eyes closed.

"That skill allows the user to copy either the looks or the skill of the target. As far as I know, it's supposedly the tier 1 envy-based skill that is required for the future avatar of envy in order to acquire invidia."

Shanks explained before opening his eyes and looking at the blue undead.

"Did you seriously just receive that? Don't get me wrong but I was sure that monsters were unable to get any avatars-related skills..."

He added, raising his brows with surprise.

"Envy...? So what, I received the skill because I was... jealous...?"

Zombie frowned and almost shrugged the idea off, before glancing through the only window of the storehouse looking between the building where Laura's room was and the headquarters with Cranberry and her elven parents.

"...oh..."

He gasped to himself in realization.

"Interesting... thanks for the help, Shanks. Oh, and by the way, how things are going between you and Uresha."

The blue undead changed the subject and smirked mischievously at the short rat-faced man.

"...it's going..."

Shanks flinched and fidgeted awkwardly, not really knowing what to do with himself under Zombie's gaze.

"You do realize that even if she is tough and only needed a bit of healing, she still is a big fluffy girl who blushes when she sees you glancing at her?"

"..."

The blue undead said while on the way to the door.

"Whatever you are doing can wait unless it is something that my Cranberry asked you to do. In any other case, just leave it for an hour or two and go comfort her, she has a big heart and is probably feeling down because she blames herself for not protecting everyone."

Zombie added before walking out - and smirked to himself once he heard the rat-faced man scrambling to put the papers in order before he also went to the exit.

That left the blue undead knight wandering around the fort again.

He thought about going out to hunt some monsters, but there were no hostile life signatures anywhere within the range of his detection skill.

But then he remembered something...

One of the monsters that they brought with them talked about the very efficient hunting ground where monsters spawned only when there was someone nearby.

The monster who mentioned that was of course the armored centaur, Coconut, so the blue undead stopped simply wandering around and instead focused on the centaur's life signature.

"...?"

And with quite a surprise the blue undead realized that they were...

Sitting down in front of the recently restored gate to the fort...

Confused about why Coconut decided to separate from the others even though they seemed to very much enjoy the company - since from the beginning centaurs were a rather extroverted race and each member subconsciously sought to belong in a group of some sort.

With that in mind, the blue undead walked over to the wall and opened the gate for himself.

Once outside the fort, Zombie realized that his initial assumption was wrong - Coconut wasn't sitting down, they were kneeling down which must have been very uncomfortable.

But either way, Coconut was kneeling by the gate, she removed her armor so it was now possible to look at the crestfallen centaur girl who was previously hiding underneath it, and had her voice distorted by the horned helmet.

Coconut's hair and mane were deep violet, just like the color of the light that her skills produced - it was only slightly less intense than the light of Zombie's superbia.

Either way, the centaur girl kept her hair in a short ponytail, her horse lower body was that of a splendid mare with strong legs and massive hooves.

For comparison, Coconut was easily twice as big as the ashen undead knight's zombie horses.

When it came to her human side, her size was surprisingly small - and the best way to describe her was - slender.

It was honestly hard to believe that her thin arms were able to even lift the massive tower shield she was swinging around a few hours before.

"My lord...!"

Coconut gasped and bowed down with a guilty expression.

"I am so sorry...! I am unworthy of following your lead, I injured our allies and... and I have also learned that there was a woman that was like a mother to you amongst them too..."

The centaur girl fidgeted and basically laid flat on the ground in deep regret.

"You mean Laura, the one who you headbutted?"

"!!!!"

Zombie smirked and asked, seeing how Coconut's hooves dig into the ground from nervousness.

"Don't worry, she's a tough one. And she doesn't hold any hard feelings toward you. "

Since the centaur girl didn't look even remotely willing to stand up, the blue undead knight kneeled by her and started patting her head.

"You thought that you were helping right? Then don't worry - I should have stopped you earlier but I wanted to check how strong you really are. And the results are quite satisfactory."

Zombie praised the girl and changed his position into a casual sit.

"But if you feel like yous should make up for it - I would like you to take me to your secret training ground."

"You would?! Can we go together?!"

Before he even finished his sentence properly, Coconut jumped up on her hooves and cheered excitedly.

A proper name for someone like her would be - musclebrain.

"Of course."

Zombie nodded and patted her side reassuringly - which made the centaur girl blush.

"My lord... if you wish... I can carry you there... on my back..."

She offered bashfully, glancing at the blue undead with eyes full of expectation.

"Sure, why not~"

Zombie nodded and spread his arm on the centaur's horseback and jumped on without any hesitation.

"My lord...! You are so bold...!"

Coconut gasped, cowering her face with both hands and fidgeting, hoofing her front legs with excitement.

"Now then..."

Because of the lack of any saddle or scales or horns whatsoever like how it was with Baron, to make sure that he will not fall down the blue undead leaned forward and hugged the human part of the centaur girl securely - he rested his chin on her shoulder and coiled his arms around her stomach.

"Alright, I'm ready."

He declared with a mischievous smirk and rubbed Coconut's exposed stomach.

"...m-my lord...!" 

The bright red centaur girl gasped and grabbed his hands to take them away.

"...?"

And once looking down she realized that something was missing.

"My lord....? Where is your ancient wedding ring?"

Coconut asked staring at Zombie's left hand.

"Huh? What are you talking about? It's right he...?! HUH!?"

The blue undead knight shook his head dismissively and straightened his back, raising his left hand in front of his face...

...and he froze wide-eyed, completely stunned...

"...sorry Coconut, but our training session will have to wait...!"

Zombie declared in a worried voice and jumped down the cenaur girl's back and rushed straight back to the fort beelining it towards the headquarters where Cranberry was.