The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"Ssssss! (Please don't do that!) Ssssss! (That won't even work in the first place!) Sssss! (I'm literally level 1 – I am worth basically nothing!) Ssssss! (You made me use up everything that I had in me to create the royal avaritia form!) Sssss! (And since you killed me while I had the sigil, the resurrection reset me to level 1 – please spare me!) Ssss! (I don't pose any threat to you, without eating any precious minerals I can't even attack!) Sssss! (Please, please, please, oh kind and powerful lord undead, have mercy on me...!)"

The remnant of Happy went on to hiss pleadingly while bowing its sigil-free head repeatedly.

"...oh, I get it – dumb luck."

Zombie raised his head and sighed in realization.

"Pardon...?"

Cranberry furrowed her brows and looked at him in confusion.

"I know you can't understand what this one is hissing, but know this – it's an actual dumbass – but I kind of understand why – it is the physical remnants of the god of luck Happy. It doesn't need to be intelligent or cunning since it was always getting by on sheer luck alone."

"Ssssss! (Hey! I'm not dumb! You're dumb!)"

The blue undead explained which prompted the tiny golden snake to tremble from anger and hiss back at him.

"Alright, alright. You're not stupid. So let's make a deal."

Zombie snorted and smirked at the agitated snake.

"Ssss...? (A deal...?)"

The tiny monster perked up since it sounded like it would get away from the rather tragic fate of the EXP cow.

"Yeah. Just become my subject. Pledge your alliance to me as your one and only master, and I will let you go."

Zombie shrugged his shoulders dismissively, making it seem like such an oath wasn't a big deal at all.

"Sssss... (A master... that doesn't sound like you will let me go after I promise you that...)"

The golden snake squinted its eyes in suspicion as it sounded like even it wasn't foolish enough to hook on such obvious bait.

"Look at it from my perspective – I can't be sure that you won't, later on, decide that you want revenge – and if I'm your master, you would just stay away so that I won't order you around."

The blue undead made an indifferent expression and explained.

"...sss... (...now that you put it that way, it does make sense...) Ssss! (Alright, fine!)"

The snake hissed convinced.

...it was...

It was THAT dumb.

It swallowed hook, line, and the sinker – no, the whole fishing rod even!

"Ssssssssss! (From this point I pledge the allegiance to you, and acknowledge you as my one and only master!)"

It went ahead and hissed happily.

/Golden serpent of Indigence offered you their servitude

Do you accept?

Yes/No

A system message showed up in front of Zombie's eyes, turning his smirk into a full-blown evil grin.

"System, yes I accept them as my servant."

The blue undead accepted without even batting an eye.

/Choice confirmed

Choose a name for your subject

Another message popped up, just as it was with Baron.

"From now on, your name will be, Monty."

/Name selected

2nd subject registered

Golden serpent of Indigence, Monty.

Zombie declared, prompting the last message from the chain to show up.

"Alright, with that – you are free. Go."

With that out of the way, the blue undead nodded with satisfaction and put his left hand down so that Monty could slither off of it safely to the ground and gain its freedom.

"Ssss...? (R-really...?) Ssss! (Ah! Really! You actually are a kind undead!) Sssss! (Bye-bye!)"

Monty's hiss of disbelief changed into the hiss of happiness as there were no signs of the undead breaking his word and trying to stop it from leaving – the next moment, the tiny golden snake slithered away in a hurry, disappearing from the sight surprisingly easy despite its eye-catching color.

"I mean, keeping your word is important... still... You actually let it go?"

"(Master, was that wise...?)"

Both Cranberry and Baron, who stayed completely quiet as the negotiations went on, asked in confusion...

"Huh? Are you two serious?"

Zombie scoffed with a frown and put up his hand.

"Monty!"

He called out and...

*puff*

"Ssss?! (Wh-what the?!)

With a flash of white light, the tiny golden serpent appeared back on Zombie's palm.

"How was the freedom that I promised you, Monty?"

The blue undead asked with a malicious smile.

"Ss...? (Ah...?)"

Monty hissed in confusion.

"SS! (AH!) SSSSSS! (YOU... YOU TRICKED ME!)"

"Khahahaha! To my defense, you made it really easy"

Monty hissed in realization, making Zombie burst into laughter.

"SSSS! (LIAR!) SSSS! (CHEATER!) SSSSSS! (BASTARD OF A MASTER!)"

The golden snake was hissing in fury and went on to bite the still slightly burnt blue hand of its master.

...causing absolutely no damage whatsoever, since it had no fangs to begin with – because it had no use for them in its current form – in its original body, Monty was only meant to eat precious minerals that did not require using physical damage against them.

"Aww... You already actually call me master – Monty, you are so cute."

Zombie's smile softened and gently patted the snake's back with his finger – while Monty was too preoccupied trying to bite him to react.

"...you are a bad person, lying to your underlings is no good..."

"...?"

But Zombie's actions caused an unexpected reaction – he was scolded by the young Claymore, who stopped playing with Baron and approached the little blue undead from behind with a serious expression.

"Yeah, I know. But you love me anyway, right?"

"!!!!!"

Zombie scoffed and smirked before winking at the avatar of lust who blushed and hurriedly hid behind Baron's body.

"Zombie!"

Cranberry called out frowning and clenching the undead's arm.

"Sorry, sorry – I'll make sure that you are the one I tease the most, so don't get upset."

"Kyaaah!"

Her familiar apologized without any sincerity behind his words and gently poked her side, making the red-haired girl jump up with a high-pitched scream of embarrassment.

"That said. System, I want to rank up."

With only the furious golden serpent on his palm, Zombie finally gave his permission to the system and got instantly enveloped in a cocoon of white light.