The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"A... a what...?"

Lairs gasped and took a step back, staring at the purple-haired elf, blinking her eyes repeatedly.

"..."

Gooseberry was looking at her with the same kind of expression as she was, before looking between the black-haired elf and the brown-haired half-elf.

"...both of you look like her... but... who are you then...?"

The old keeper of the archives of the elven village asked, staring at Mason in confusion.

"...?"

Cranberry and Zombie glanced at each other in confusion - after the blue undead managed to free the elves all the years back, they released prisoners should most definitely spread the news about the elven woman who was collaborating with the Envy family...

...and even if not then Rambutan officially announcing Salak as his wife and proclaiming Mason to be the next head of the Envy family in order to save himself from consequences, should do the trick for them...

And yet there they were, standing by the disgruntled purple-haired elf who seemed unable to recognize the brown-haired half-elf in front of him despite all that.

"Uncle, you don't really check up on the information from the outside world, do you...?"

Cranberry was the first to figure out the reason, and asked, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Why would I do that? As long as they leave our village the fuck alone, I will do the same for them - there is no reason for me actively looking into their fucking business."

Gooseberry scoffed confirming the red-haired girl's suspicion and shrugged his shoulders.

"He is a kid that Salak had after abandoning Lairs - currently we are on a quest to dispel the curse and he is necessary for that."

Zombie stepped up and declared with a smile, walking over to the brown-haired half-elf and patting his shoulder while smiling reassuringly at the purple-haired elf.

"...there is a way to dispel the ancient blood curse...? Oh, that's what you want to search up in the archives..."

Gooseberry raised his brow and made a bitter expression.

"Yeah, we do - is there a problem?"

The blue undead knight nodded and tilted his head, looking at the concerned elf.

"...fuck... no, I would not call it a problem..."

Gooseberry shook his head and let out a tired sigh.

"It is just that you will not find anything in the archive..."

"!!!"

He spoke with an awkward expression and leaned back, massaging his nape and causing Lairs to get pale as a sheet.

"...eh...? The fuck...? What do you mean there's nothing in the archives? Cranberry said that there will be...!"

The black-haired elven woman gasped in disbelief, sounding angry at the purple-haired elven man - funnily enough, she wasn't angry at Cranberry for giving her hope but instead she was most definitely angry at Gooseberry for implying that the red-haired girl was wrong.

"Do you know how much time we wasted coming here?! That bullshit curse of mine can start working at any moment and my friends will be the first to suffer from it!"

Lairs clenched her fists and glared at the purple-haired elven librarian.

"That's not what I fucking mean... though, I do understand where this is coming from so I will not get angry at your blatant fucking impertinence, my bratty niece."

Gooseberry groaned, rolling his eyes, and breathed out glaring at the mage.

"Lai-lai, uncle called it an ancient blood curse, it probably means that he does know something about it - if I have to guess then someone from your family was doing research about the curse and removed the books about it from the archives."

Cranberry stepped between the angry Lairs and the annoyed Gooseberry and calmly voiced her opinion, giving the black-haired elf a stern look.

"Not just fucking any member of her family - my wife, so your aunt, cheeky brat, spent almost every waking moment prior to her death looking for a way to get rid of the curse without killing you."

Gooseberry scoffed turning around.

"...she died before solving that mystery, and honestly I didn't think about continuing her research because I was sure that Salak has killed you after losing everyone close to her - but, I never got rid of the research itself and left the books out of the archives..."

The old elf who looked as if he was barely in his mid-twenties added before waving his hand at the rest to follow him.

"Wait...! Hold, the fuck, on! Are you telling me that my mother was from this village?!"

Lairs froze in place, staring in disbelief at the back of the purple-haired elf.

"No."

"...eh...?"

The short answer made her start moving again as it wasn't the one she expected to hear.

"Is that so surprising? I met my wife in one of the elven settlements near the Gluttonys territory, and she moved here with me - she wanted her family to move here too since it was a far safer place for our kind than anywhere else in the world, but they refused. While she was alive, we often traveled there to visit since she couldn't really abandon the rest - though that was until the moment that your curse started acting up, and they all died."

"...!"

Gooseberry explained with a shrug and started walking making everyone else who wanted to hear him continue the story move together with him.

"You see, the curse you are bearing isn't just some skill-based effect – you can forget about cleansing it with an overpowered healing skill."

The purple-haired elf spoke while glancing back at the blue undead knight.

"Yeah – we know – that was the first thing that we've tried while on our way here."

Zombie shrugged and waved his hand dismissively.

"It does show up as a status effect when a healer is checking me up, though..."

Lairs muttered in a dispirited voice.

"If it didn't, you wouldn't even know that you were cursed until it was too late for your loved ones."

Gooseberry shrugged his shoulders and smirked although only with his mouth as his eyes retained a rather sad expression...

"I'll show you my wife's research – she gathered every piece of information about the curse – if there is a method to dispel that curse then it will be there."

He declared while leading the group through the village while every single villager was happily greeting Cranberry and Zombie before flinching and stopping in place staring both at the black-haired lairs and the half-elf Mason – it seemed that everyone else aside from the purple-haired keeper of the archives was well aware of the green-eyed boy's identity as the head of the heated Envy family that in recent years tried to act as if they never did any wrong to the elves even after kidnapping and imprisoning them for years in order to steal their beauty.

"Here we are."

After a couple of minutes of walking their group arrived at Gooseberry's home that was right by the library building, but instead of going to the front doors, the old elf led them to the back to the small but surprisingly cute looking outbuilding shaped like a colorful fungus growing out of the main construction.

"Ha! I always thought that it was a storage room or something!"

Cranberry gasped, raising her brows and turning towards the purple-haired elf.

"Well, I kept it closed because of the topic of the research..."

Gooseberry shrugged his shoulders, not looking at the group, too busy opening the door that must have been sealed with both the physical and magical locks.

"There we go..."

He straightened his back and nodded once the door opened smoothly and soundlessly on the hinges.

"I hope you will find something – I'll go look for Cranbie and tell him about your arrival."

The old elf added, making way for the youngsters before straight up leaving.

"Fuck me... well, then. Let's check it out!"

Lairs breathed out and entered first, closely followed by Mason.

Cranberry was also going to join them but suddenly Zombie grabbed her shoulder and pulled her towards himself.

"...Gooseberry is hiding something, his life signature shows that he barely holding himself back from exploding..."

The blue undead declared looking after the purple-haired elf with his murky-red-glowing eyes.

"Haa... I know... Uncle never holds back on the curses unless he is trying to hide something. I don't have any memories that covered any fighting with the elves residing here, but we can't just rely on those – no matter what happens remember that we need both Lairs and Mason alive – If things go to shit, concentrate on protecting them first."

The red-haired girl breathed out and declared with a serious expression.