Chapter 7: Three years later
It was one of the rare occasions that the mansion's hallways were empty.
The maids and butlers were busy with cleaning after the meal so no one passed by the young lady Cranberry walking leisurely with a slight smile.
Throughout the whole day, she was wearing horse riding clothes and was quite pleased with how they felt. So pleased, in fact, that she even didn't change into a dress during the meal with her parents.
No one even scolded her for it!
The opposite, actually!
Her mother praised her for being interested in an outdoor activity!
One that didn't involve violently swinging a stick around...
...Anyway, it was nice to hear warm words from her mother once in a while...
Well, Cranberry did ride on a pony in the morning, but she hadn't even gained a skill or anything, so she hadn't particularly cared about it.
The young girl carried on and checked inside every room she passed.
"I wonder where did Zombie go...?"
She wondered and continued the search.
The longer she searched the clouded her expression became.
But, surprisingly enough, it wasn't because she was getting angry at her servant.
After a while, when she finally found him, sitting by the table in the study room and writing something, there was no trace of being happy about her mother's praise left on her face.
"Haa..."
Cranberry entered the study and sighed loudly announcing her presence.
"Gaough...! (AH! Master! Wh-what brings you here?!)"
The blue boy flinched and hastily covered the paper he was scribbling on with his arms.
He was holding a crayon in his left hand even though he was originally a right-handed person.
The thing was, right now his right arm was stitched together with red string, and he couldn't use his fingers at all - they were completely stiff, frozen in one position.
His erratic movement betrayed that he was doing something suspicious earlier, but it didn't bother his master at all.
Cranberry sighed again and sat on the chair opposite to Zombie.
"Ugh... my tenth birthday is coming soon..."
She complained and started massaging her forehead with an annoyed expression.
"Graough... (Y-yes, it is...)"
The boy twitched and tightened his arm around the paper so that the girl wouldn't notice what was on it.
"That means that this year is the year where I'll get my first kill during the party at the capital...!"
She groaned and leaned heavily on the backrest and started staring at the ceiling.
"Graough...? (A-aren't you happy about it? We will be allowed to level up an all...)"
Zombie growled questioningly and tilted his head.
"..."
Cranberry kept staring at the ceiling deep in thoughts.
"Haa..."
Then she sighed, leaned forward, and hid her face in her hands.
"What will I do about my weapon...? If I'll go there and show up holding a wooden sword by the blade, I'll end up as a laughing stock and mother will get furious."
The young lady complained and shook her head.
"Graough?! (HUH?! So you knew that you were holding it the wrong way this whole time?!"
The shocked Zombie shook his head in disbelief.
Cranberry's body got stiff all of a sudden, and she slowly raised her head just so that she could glare coldly at her servant.
"That tone... Are you making fun of me...?"
"G-graough! Graough...! (N-no...! I would never dare to!)"
Zombie waved his arms and shook his head trying his best to show that he didn't mean anything bad.
"Hmph!"
She scoffed at him and slumped back down.
"I tried to convince my parents to let me use a mace or a club, but mother said that those weapons are not fit for the lady. Even daddy agreed with that."
Cranberry started talking about all the things that bothered her.
"They don't believe when I told them that all my skills are based on blunt weapons, and when I asked them to let me show them, daddy said he's too busy and mother said she doesn't feel well and has to rest...!"
The girl put down her hands and Zombie could see her emotionless face.
"When I told them to call the appraiser, mother just shrugged me off saying that the two of us will be appraised during the party at the capital."
The girl sitting in front of the blue boy didn't seem like a ten-year-old child at all.
There's no way that her talk could be described as a temper tantrum, she was too calm and collected, every complaint she delivered with only a hint of annoyance.
"In the worst-case scenario, during the party at the capital, I will have to borrow your loose hand and use it as a baton."
Cranberry smirked and rested her chin on her hand.
"Graough... (Well... why not...? It barely stays in place because it's sewn on anyway.)
Zombie sighed and waved his useless hand around.
"Ha ha!"
And he got completely taken by surprise when Cranberry laughed.
He has never seen her laugh before.
Just two short bursts filled with genuine happiness.
Zombie hadn't even thought that Cranberry could sound like that.
"Ekhm... forget about that. Mother always says that my laughter sounds disgusting, so I usually hold back."
The girl raised her hand and looked away.
"Graough. (Your mother has a bad taste then.)"
Zombie shrugged his shoulder.
/Proficiency level reached
Servant's skill upgrade
Corpse venom (level 2)
"...?!"
"Graough?! (What the hell?!)"
They looked at each other.
"You get the same message, right?! Nothing about gaining experience or leveling up?!"
Cranberry stood up, pale as a sheet, and asked.
"Graough...! (No! Nothing! Just the upgrade of my corpse venom!"
"After three years?! How come that your venom is still poisoning that rabbit?! It should have either killed it already or stop working!"
"Graough! (I know! I don't understand it either!) Graough... (Anyway, since that rabbit is still alive, it had to get the poison resistance.) Graough... (And that means that it shouldn't die from the poison alone.) Graough! (So calm down. It took three years for my venom to level up once, there is no way that the rabbit will die before the party!) Graough! (Both of us will definitely still be level one until then!)"
Zombie kept growling and growling, and Cranberry looked as if she calmed down.
"True. You have a point."
She agreed and sighed heavily.
"Gra...ough...? (Wait... Could it be...? Do you understand what I'm...)"
"...!"
Cranberry shut her mouth tight and started looking around the room, dodging making the eye-contact.