The Villainess and I, her Zombie

Chapter 53: Charm skill

Calculating...

"Graough?! (Master?!) Graough! (Master!)"

Before the dust even settled, Zombie was already searching through the debris.

He didn\'t need oxygen so no amount of inhaled pollution could prevent him from growling loudly, calling for his master.

"I\'m... I\'m here...!"

A muffled voice responded to him and the sound of unsure footsteps on the unstable debris followed.

"Zombie? Can you hear me? Come here, I can\'t see anything!"

Cranberry, still sounding muffled called out and Zombie rushed towards her voice forgetting to even respond.

Unable to see anything in the falling dust, he used the skill allowing him to detect life essence, and found someone wandering around blindly, so he approached without hesitation.

Cranberry was covering her face with the fabric of her dress with one hand and trying to feel her way around with the other.

She was hearing the fast-approaching footsteps but since Zombie never answered her she couldn\'t be sure it was him, so she activated her skills preparing to attack when suddenly she touched something pleasantly cold and hard with her palm.

"Graough. (Master, I\'m here.)"

Zombie groaned with a shaking voice.

"Haa...? It\'s you? Aren\'t you a bit too big?"

Confused Cranberry asked, moving her hand up along the cold bumpy surface.

"Gra-graough...! (Master! I was so worried!)"

Suddenly Zombie cried and leaned down embracing his master.

"Z-zombie...?! What are you...?!"

Cranberry panicked when she suddenly got hugged by a much larger person than she expected.

She was tall for her age, but now she found herself feeling rather small.

"...graough... (...master...) Graough... (Please, don\'t ask me to leave you ever again...)"

Zombie sobbed golding Cranberry close.

"..."

Cranberry herself didn\'t respond smushed against Zombie\'s bare torso.

The dust started settling and she was finally able to see properly.

"...!"

Her eyes widened seeing the wall of blue, she subconsciously put her hand back on Zombie\'s stomach.

"...whoa..."

She murmured before she could regain her composure.

"S-so... That\'s how you look now, huh?"

She cleared her throat and looked up at Zombie\'s face.

"Graough... (I guess...)"

Zombie nodded and let go of the girl reluctantly.

Funnily enough, Cranberry didn\'t remove her hand from his stomach.

"Haa... We\'ve caused a bit of a mess, haven\'t we?"

Cranberry sighed looking at the debris.

The scenery changed completely within less than an hour from their arrival.

"Haa... should we just ran away from the kingdom...?"

Cranberry tilted her head and made a concerned expression.

"G-graough... (M-master...)"

Zombie groaned.

"Ha ha! I know, I know. I\'m joking. But we need to come up with some actual plan, I guess.."

Cranberry laughed and tapped Zombie\'s stomach.

"Graough... (No, it\'s not about that...) Graough... (I feel kinda...)"

Zombie shook his head and slouched.

/Dragon Madness wears off

/Warning

/The backlash of the skill will cause the multiple organs failure

"Zombie?!"

Cranberry shouted staring at the message.

"Graough... (Master... I think that I overdid it a bit this time...) Graough... (I can\'t really move anymore...)"

The blue undead groaned sadly and closed his eyes.

"N-no! You can\'t!"

Cranberry panicked and wrapped her arms around Zombie\'s waist.

"I forbid you to leave me! This is an order! You are my property, you must listen to me!"

She cried rubbing her head into his chest.

"...graough... (...master... I\'m sorry...)"

Zombie whispered and stopped moving...

/Warning

/Servant became severely damaged

Servant have insufficient mana to heal

Permission to use Master\'s mana required

A system message popped up in front of their eyes.

"..."

"..."

Master and servant froze in place.

The silence weighed heavily between them.

Cranberry backed off awkwardly and looked away, red from embarrassment.

"Ha ha... r-right... w-well... system, heal him..."

She was covering her face with one hand doing her best not to lock eyes with Zombie, who was just as embarrassed as she was.

/Permission received

Healing in progress...

/Healing complete

"Haa..."

Cranberry breathed out and straightened her back, although still a bit red, she looked like she got over her slightly shameful act.

"Still, it\'s kind of annoying, you know?"

She massaged her hands, numb from the attack that leveled the whole mansion and gardens.

She sounded disappointed.

"Can you believe that I did everything that was written in that book and still hadn\'t received the charm skill?! And I almost died from shame! That guy clearly had no taste!"

Cranberry frowned and crossed her arms.

She rubbed her cheek, smudging dirt and blood all over her face, and shook her head.

"Because just look at me! I\'m cute, aren\'t I?"

She faced Zombie and spread her arms wide.

"Graough! (You\'re the cutest!)"

Zombie sat down and cheered.

"...!"

Cranberry flinched and turned away, hiding her face.

"I take that back. I still must be in a role or something...!"

She fidgeted trying to excuse herself somehow.

/Proficiency level reached

Master receives a skill

Charm (level 1)

"Ha...?!"

Cranberry flinched and gasped in absolute bewilderment.

"Wha...? Who...?"

She blinked confused, looking around.

/Master\'s skill upgrade

Charm (level 2)

"?!?!"

Cranberry took a step back took a defensive stance.

"Zombie! Something weird is going...!"

She warned her servant but stopped talking as soon as she glanced at him.

The blue undead was looking at her with sparkling eyes.

"...no way..."

She whispered.

After a moment of hesitation, she struck a semi-feminine pose, and winked at him, pouting her lips making a kissy face.

"!!!"

/Master\'s skill upgrade

Charm (level 3)

Zombie bashfully lowered his head making Cranberry go wide-eyed.

"B-but you\'re undead! And you have the rotten brain title!"

Cranberry tilted her head, utterly confused.

"How can you be charmed? No, wait I\'m not using it, am I...? How can a skill level up without even being used?"

It truly was an unprecedented occurrence.

"Could it be that because of the form adjustment you went through? Did something weird happen? Did it changed your rotten brain title?"

Cranberry crossed her arms and fell deep into thoughts.

"Graough... (I... don\'t know...)"

Zombie apologized.

"Graough? (Master, can I go look for my hand?)"

He added, waving his stump.

"Haa... so even after you\'ve grown so much, your hand still hadn\'t reconnected..."

The red-haired girl sighed and approached her sitting servant.

She reached towards his head and run her fingers through his long black hair.

"I like how you look now~"

/Master\'s skill upgrade

Charm (level 4)

/Master\'s skill upgrade

Charm (level 5)

Before she could even finish, not one, but two messages popped up back to back, rendering her speechless.

She withdrew her hand and, with a completely red face, she started looking around the debris.

"W-we should find your arm. Come one, get up."

She beckoned him and kicked a large pile of stones that revealed the bodies of the two remaining maids that were in the dining room during the fight.

"Ha. Not here I guess."

Cranberry shrugged and moved to another suspicious-looking mound.

Zombie hurriedly stood up and joined the search.

After around an hour, something happened.

They didn\'t found Zombie\'s hand but instead, they\'ve spotted someone who could help.

Someone who they honestly didn\'t expect.

"WHAT IN THE FUCKING FLYING FUCK HAS FUCKING HAPPENED HERE, FOR FUCKS SAKE?!"

Lairs, sticking half of her body out of the carriage\'s window shouted in disbelief, after witnessing the destruction.

The Dandelions heard the explosion and after noticing the mushroom cloud, they turned the carriage around to check it out.

"Ha ha! Well, isn\'t that convenient?"

Cranberry straightened her back, put one hand on her hip, and laughed cheerfully.

/Master\'s skill upgrade

Charm (level 6)

"W-would you stop that already?!"

Cranberry blushed and covered her chest with both arms.

/Master\'s skill upgrade

Charm (level 7)