The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"Ah...! I see! Most amazing job, young Luke! Those wretched kidnappers must have been the ones to unleash a monster in the mansion in order to confuse us, your vigilance is most appreciated, young friend."

The man in a stylized armor stopped promptly and declared in a rather pompous manner as the trio entered his field of vision.

"Nonetheless... It is good to see you you were unaffected by the enemy's skill – I do not know how come they found a way to interfere with lord Durian's skill but that is something we can interrogate them about later – now, young Luke, return to the mansion and help the others deal with the beast wreaking havoc inside!"

He nodded at the confused Luke and shooed him away towards the mansion before walking in front of him and resting his left hand on the beautiful grip of the just as fancy sword at his side, facing the prince, the heroine, and the old butler glaring at the two men with contempt.

"Enemy skill? You can't be serious, sir Kabuto, turning all the lower-level slaves into brainless puppets was all done by Du..."

"Luke. You know just as well as I do that the others are a hot-headed bunch and will probably try to stop the beast on their own – but my passive danger detection skill is telling me that they will be unable to deal with it. I can understand why you might be reluctant to go leaving me behind, but I swear on my honor that I will not take the glory of the achievement of finding the resentful kidnappers of the soon-to-be wife of our master for myself – and neither I will claim that I alone rescued the young lady Mary. Be at ease - go and help the others deal with the danger there while I finish your job here."

The young healer tried to argue, but the man merely shook his head and spoke decisively in an urgent tone.

"...okay, fine. But you will owe me one!"

Luke gritted his teeth but ultimately gave up and came running back to the mansion that the man in the fancy armor emerged from just a short moment ago.

"Now then. Esteemed lady Mary, worry not – I, Persimmon Kabuto – the head of lord Durian's elite guard will proceed to save you from those dreadful kidnappers claiming to be your allies!"

The man called out, unsheathing his sword and the beautiful single-edged sword glistened in the moonlight.

"Ah... I even recognize one of the Envys... If your family is going around kidnapping brides left and right then I guess that the rumors about changing your ways were false."

Persimmon scoffed at the silver-haired Carambola and took a battle stance.

"Let go of the young lady, and I will grant you an honorable death in combat and not kill you like a scuttling rat."

He declared with a serious expression.

"Sir Kabuto! No, you are wrong – those are not...!"

"Noble lady – do not worry – I will make sure to strip down their facade and reveal them to be the heinous impostors taking the guise of allies!"

Mary tried to explain herself to the man- whom she clearly either liked or at least did not fear as much as she did Luke – but they could have been trying to communicate with a brick wall with far greater efficiency than with the armored man.

"...that thick-headed fool...!"

Mary clicked her tongue, murmuring under her breath.

"Mary, who is this guy supposed to...?"

"As he already said, sir Kabuto is the leader of the ten-people group of elite slaves who could have left Durian at any time but are truly choosing to stay with him, unlike the other slaves who they call lower level. Though, I have no idea why he is calling them Durian's guards while they are the elite slaves. Sir Kabuto is a good person, and he values his honor above his own life – but that is the biggest problem we have to deal with. He swore allegiance to Durian as his master and that honor of his keeps him from leaving even though he disagrees with most of – if not all - Durian's recent actions... I wish that we could reason with him... but, honestly, once he is set on doing something, he will not rest until he will accomplish it..."

Roan asked and Mary instantly explained the whole situation to him without waiting for him to finish his sentence.

"Ah... and he has a full armor..."

Carambola sighed, glancing at Persimmon's equipment, revealing that he did not care much as much about the man's origin as he did about their chances of either getting away or escaping him.

"Is that a problem...?"

Roan asked in confusion.

"Yes. For the mana drain skill to work, it requires me to be in direct contact with my target's body - the greatest barrier it can penetrate is some cloth but nothing as thick as a fur coat. Full-body armor such as his is completely out of the question... Though... I guess that even that ridiculous helmet of his leaves his face exposed so..."

"...ah, right..."

Carambola breathed out and revealed in a hushed voice just in time for their opponent to flinch and realize and mutter to himself, while taking out a ceramic mask and lodging it into the groove of his helmet, hiding whatever exposed skin he had.

"...let's just run..."

The silver-haired gentleman moved his head from left to right and declared but.

"Wraith's tail!"

*WHOOOOOSH*

Just as Carambola was THINKING about taking a step, Persimmon called out and a purple-colored wind blade cut through the air and slashed the ground right next to the silver-haired gentleman's foot.

"Lowly kidnapper, I will not allow you to leave this place."

Persimmon Kabuto, standing in the middle of a circle of raging purple flames declared with his sword raised up high ready for another strike, looking more like a fearsome demon than a human being.

"And for your information, Mana drain will not work on me even if you manage to touch me, you shameless kidnapper. I do not have MP, for me it is SP. I just so happened to fight and win against a monster with mana drain and can confirm that I am immune to that skill's effect."

Persimmon declared proudly, squinting his eyes behind the mask.

"...whew... isn't that just lovely..."

Carambola frowned and glared at the armored opponent, before putting down the blond prince and the brown-haired heroine.

"I'll try to buy you some..."

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

"ZOMBIE?!"

Carambola wanted to be all cool and all, but he got interrupted by the explosion that shook the mansion, followed by the confused shout of the shocked Luke.