Chapter 479: Durian's mansion (3) - the arrival
"Interesting - I didn't think that others will encounter sigil monsters... still, I kind of should expect it - anyways all well that ends well, right?"
The blue undead finished waving towards the group of adventuring that escorted them all the way to the Durian's mansion and turned towards the red-haired girl, the blond-haired youth, and the silver-haired older gentleman with a smile.
"What ends well? Why didn't you ask them to cooperate with freeing Mary from that brute?!"
The blond prince, Roan, scoffed and shook his head with a bitter expression.
"Mainly because they do not have the invitation for the wedding and without it, the only option would be the frontal attack on the mansion, and with how your uncle's position has been raising the past few years, even you would not be able to just shrug it off - not to mention either of us or and especially not fr your poor Maple?"
The blue undead glanced at him and sighed, rolling his eyes explaining the issue that was already discussed countless times during the way there.
"Ugh...!"
Roan gritted his teeth and took a step back as if Zombie's words physically pushed him back.
"The wedding is in three days! And since it's already evening, that as well might be two! If we seriously want to free her, then the frontal attack is necessary either way!"
The blond prince gulped down his saliva and decided on a counter-attack and honestly, the point that he was making wasn't half bad at all.
"Oh, I'm sorry - I didn't know that you need full eight hours of beauty sleep even when the girl you like is in danger. Tsk! Living, I swear!"
But even that was mercilessly cut down by the overbearing undead who clicked his tongue and offered his hand to the red-haired girl already eyeing it out for a while.
"We will stick to the original plan and search through the mansion under the cover of the night and find as much evidence against Durian as we can - anything that would link him to any illegal activity - including illegally importing exotic monsters for experimentation and forcefully enslaving the unwilling adventurers and civilians alike. If we're lucky, there might be a lead or two suggestings that he has a connection to the criminal underworld of the kingdom."
Zombie declared in a voice that left nothing up for discussion and glanced at Cranberry, expecting her input but the red-haired girl seemed far too busy nuzzling to him so hard as if she was trying to mark the blue undead as her own property...
...which might have been because on their way to the Durian's mansion, In're made at several attempts a day at convincing the blue undead to leave Cranberry and join her instead.
Of course, none of those were successful, but the red-haired girl seemed to misunderstand Zombie's silence as him actually considering the offer of the overly-excited priestess's.
"...Zombie, you don't think I am annoying or anything, do you...?"
Even though they should be more worried about the success of their plan, Cranberry couldn't help herself and lowered her head to whisper a question right into the blue undead's ear.
|Yeah, what she said! You do not consider actually leaving Cranberry, right? Harem is not an option either!|
To make matters more interesting, the sealed being joined in and seconded the red-haired girl's question - waiting for Zombie's answer instead of just reading his mind - and being far more overbearing than the current Cranberry.
"Who knows? I might turn out to be quite the rotten-hearted playboy... What would you do if I went down the road that Raika mentioned a few years back...? Hmmm? First wife?"
"...!"
|!!!!!!!!!!!!!!|
The evil smirk that he served the red-haired girl had and effect of a battering ram on both her and the sealed being inside of him.
"Ah, our arrival as finally spotted."
The blue undead noticed a pair of butlers and a maid rushing towards them from the mansion, so he patted the stunned girl's hand and started leading her towards them as the silver-haired gentleman and the blond prince were glancing at each other with confusion.
"Your highness! Young lady Pride! That's such an honor to see you here, but if I may ask...!"
The timid-looking maid bowed down so deep that it honestly looked like she was going to headbutt her own knees, and asked in an exasperated voice.
"We..."
"Lady Pride and the prince are friends of the soon-to-be bride - we know that it's a bit early to arrive for the ceremony, but I'm sure that your master will understand the excitement of the younglings."
The silver-haired Carambola stepped in, interrupting the frowning prince's words, and helped the surprised maid pull herself up while explaining in a jovial tone.
"The invitations mentioned that the rooms will be provided for the guests - would it be okay for my master and his majesty to use theirs a bit earlier? Mrs. Cranberry wishes to help her dear friend to prepare for such a special day and I'm sure that your master already knows about the knack for organization that his highness has - as for me and lord Zombie, we would be more than happy to help you in any way's we can with any and all preparations that need to be finished."
With Carambola's confidence supported by the wast experience allowed him to overwhelm the maid and two butlers to such a degree that they actually found his words perfectly reasonable.
"I'm sure that both our master and the young lady will be glad to share their happiness with the esteemed guests. Please, come with me."
The maid blushed while nodding her head towards the silver-haired gentleman and hurriedly turned around to lead them all as the two butlers offered to help them with their luggage - that they had to take with them just to not seem too suspicious.
"Thanks, Grape."
"Ah, you're welcome..."
Zombie nodded at the shorter out of the two butlers who took the baggage right next to him, causing the man to bow down to him out of reflex, before following the maid to the mansion.
"...huh...?"
The shorter butler furrowed his brows and stared at the back of the blue undead in confusion.
"Hey, Grape, I didn't know you would know a familiar of the heir of one of the main families! So the rumors that you want to leave the Durian's service was real? You're working really fast!"
The other butler nudged Grape's hand and nodded at him with respect.
"N-no... I mean, I do want to leave since a healer like me will never be able to beat a natural prodigy like Luke - but... I have never met that undead before... How did he know my name...?"
The butler frowned and tilted his head.
Zombie's group led by the timid maid was about to enter the mansion itself.
Right before they walked through the front door, the blue undead puled on Craberry's hand, making her lean down and...
"I was just joking..."
"...my stupid idiot..."
He whispered to her ear and finished his sentence just in his mind...
"Eh? Ah! You bully!"
The red-haired girl by his side turn completely red and slapped his shoulder from embarrassment.
"Khahaha!"
Zombie giggled because of the reaction that his words caused - but not the one shown by the crimson-haired girl.
|ROTTENT BRAIN! I HATE YOU! I THOUGHT THAT MY HEART WOULD SHATTER INTO PIECES! I HATE YOU! YOU ARE AWFUL! ROTTEN BRAIN! STUPID ROTTEN BRAIN!|
The sealed being in his head completely lost her cool and was flooding Zombie's mind with furious shouts - but that more than any other rather obvious hints confirmed the thing that he suspected since Patience returned after her first disappearance...
With the sealed being screaming herself to the brink of tears and the red-haired girl looking away pouting but clinging to his arm harder than before, Zombie stepped over the threshold of the Durian's mansion and...
/Act 1: The hero arrives to save the day
A system message showed up for every single player character registered in the system and informed them about the true beginning of the global event...