Chapter 2: Enter the Cranberry

"What the hell just happened?!"

A tall handsome bespectacled man busted out of the carriage.

"Lord Blackberry...! The horses...! I lost control over the horses...! I-I couldn't do anything...!"

The coachman was trembling.

His eyes were glued to the trail of blood left behind the carriage but he adamantly refused to look towards the wheels of the carriage itself.

"We ran over something, right? What was it, a dog? A loose pig or something? You were screaming at someone, right? Was it the owner, where are they now?"

Lord Blackberry asked in a tired voice, his hand was already going into his pocket to pull out a purse and properly paid of the loss.

"I warned him...! I shouted for that boy to get out of the way...! Bu-but he just...!"

A sudden spasm shook the coachman's body and he hid his face in his hands and started crying.

"What are you...?"

Lord Blackberry raised his brow in confusion, he already took out the purse and was weighing it in his hand.

"Then, you're saying we ran over the boy's dog, right? It's horrible, but if you really lost control over horses then I'm glad that you managed to stop the carriage even if the animal's life was lost. If the carriage was toppled something could have happened to us."

The nobleman was reassuring the coachman, but the horrified man only shook his head in denial.

"Your lordship...! It wasn't a dog we ran over...!"

He managed to squeeze out through his clenched throat.

"Then a cat? Or a pig?"

Lord Blackberry clenched his teeth, it seemed like he already knew the truth but was holding on to the slim chance that the life that was lost belonged to an animal.

"..."

The coachman shook his head in denial.

For a split second his eyes darted towards the wheels of the carriages, and the sight was enough to make the man's knees give out.

Likewise, Lord Blackberry himself slowly turned to look at the wheels.

There, tangled between the spokes and dripping with blood was the...

"Urgh...!"

The nobleman dropped the purse and the coins loudly jingled as the man covered his mouth with his hands trying to hold back the bile that was forcing its way back out of his stomach.

"Daddy...! What's taking so long?!"

A child's voice came from inside the carriage.

"Cra-Cranberry! Stop! No! Don't come out!"

/Adjusting the story event

Lord Blackberry regained control over his body and rushed towards the carriage's door to block it, but he was too slow.

A little girl with long wavy red hair, tied up in a high ponytail with a black ribbon, jumped outside and her red and black dress fluttered.

*Splat!*

And she stepped right into a red gooey mess...

"Eww... what is this...?"

She frowned and lifted her foot.

Something red and meaty was stuck to her shoe...

A crushed tomato.

"Yuck...!"

Cranberry stuck out her tongue and looked away - right at the mangled corpse of Kiwi.

"...?"

She tilted her head.

"No! Cranberry! Don't look at it!"

Lord Blackberry reached towards his daughter, but she dodged him and walked towards the corpse with spring in her steps.

"Gross!"

She groaned and pinched her nose with two fingers.

"Young lady! Get away from there, right now!"

It looked like her father was losing his cool, but even so, he didn't approach the dead body.

"Nah, I feel like I should touch it!"

Cranberry shrugged her shoulders and reached towards what was left of Kiwi's face.

"Y-you most certainly should not!"

The nobleman stomped his foot in anger and it looked like he was actually going to walk over to his daughter and pull her away.

But he was interrupted.

"My lord! The...! The young lady is...!"

The coachman grabbed onto his sleeve and was shaking his arm.

"I can see her and I will stop her from touching the corpse!"

Lord Blackberry furrowed his brow but the coachman shook his head again.

"My lord! Mana is gathering around the young lady! Your daughter is going to awaken to magic!"

The coachman gasped and that made the nobleman stop the attempts to free himself.

"What...?!"

His eyes bulged out from shock.

"Dear heavens! You're right!"

He shouted after confirming that the swirling particles of mana were indeed gathering and enveloping his daughter.

"Is it healing?! Will she awaken to healing magic and cure the boy?!"

The nobleman jumped from joy thinking about such future.

"M-my lord... there's no way she can heal the dead... if she's reacting to a dead body, it means that she will become...!"

Two men looked at each other in shock.

"Corpse puppeteer...!"

Lord Blackberry gasped.

"B-but, all living recorded corpse puppeteers are incredibly powerful, they are leading their own armies of dead soldiers!"

Lord Blackberry grabbed his head, his lips were twisting into a smile.

Such strength!

Such power!

Such wealth that awaits his beloved daughter!

"Alright, sweetie! Touch that boy and make him your first corpse puppet!"

The nobleman clenched his fists and shouted encouragingly.

"Corpse puppet...?"

Cranberry said in an absent-minded voice and her finger made contact with the exposed lifeless flesh.

/Initiating magic awakening

Type: Necromancy

The translucent mana swirling around her became murky red and started pulsating.

"Necromancy...? Corpse puppet...?"

Cranberry mumbled.

"Yes! Sweetie! You will be leading legions of dead marionettes onto a battlefield! You will be unstoppable!"

Lord Blackberry encouraged her.

"Legions...? So... I will be surrounded by things like that?!"

It sounded like the reason returned to the young lady as she started sounding extremely grossed out.

"Sweetie, calm down! It's nothing bad, really! On the contrary, it will make you very happy!"

Her father tried to calm her down but it was too late.

"Eww! Noo! I don't want to! Gross! Gross! GROSS! I don't wanna be a Necromancer! I refuse! I want to be a fire magician or at least a healer!"

Cranberry started to freak out. She pulled away and fell on her butt and started thrashing around.

/Error

/Rejection of the magic type detected

Uninstalling the rejected magic

/Error

/Story event in progress

/Error

/Changing the magic type

Type: Pyromancy

/Error

/Attempt to change the vital story element detected

/Story event in progress

/Changing the magic type

Type: Healing

/Error

/Attempt to change the vital story element detected

/Story event in progress

The murky red light was pulsating around the girl and the corpse.

/Error

/The story event cannot progress without the essential character

Re-trying to awaken the magic

Type: Necromancy

/Error

/Attempt failed

Unable to reinstall the rejected magic type

/Error

/Story event in progress

/Error

/The story event cannot continue without the essential character

Please wait

/Calculating

/Calculating...

/Thank you for waiting

/Adjusting the story event

/Original magic created

Type: Eternal Servant

"Eternal servant...?"

Cranberry stopped flailing her arms and tilted her head.

"What did she said?"

Lord Blackberry tilted his head exactly as his daughter and looked at the coachman.

/Adjusting the story event

"It must be original magic! The young lady is so amazing! She is going to awaken magic that's completely unique just to her!"

The coachman said in an awestruck voice.

"Unique?!"

Lord Blackberry gasped.

"Only for me...? Fine! I'll agree then!"

Cranberry stood up and nodded vigorously.

The magic surrounding her stopped pulsating and seemed to condense around the girl and the mangled corpse of the boy like a chrysalis.

/Awakening complete

Please select the essential character as the designated servant

"Eh?! Do I have to pick him?! But he is so gross!"

Cranberry complained and stomped her foot.

/Request denied

Story event cannot continue without the essential character

Please select the essential character as the designated servant

"Ugh...! No...!"

/Please select the essential character as the designated servant

"Jeez! Fine! I'm picking this guy over there to be my servant, but you better make him look better!

/Initiation complete

Eternal servant selected

Name: Kiwi

"Ha! As if! For that thing, Zombie would be a far better name!"

Cranberry scoffed and waved her hand dismissively.

/Request approved

Name changed successfully

Eternal servant

Name: Zombie

"Pffft...! Ahahaha! Hey! You are now Zombie?! Aren't you glad?"

The girl laughed.

"Graough...! (Of course I'm not!)"

Zombie answered angrily.

"Graough...?! (Huh?! I came back to life?!)"

The weak groan came from his chrysalis.

"How long will it take...?"

"M-my lord, I have no idea...!"

Lord Blackberry turned to the coachman but the man only took a step back and raised his hands defensively.

The nobleman didn't have much time to worry anyway.

No longer than three minutes later the red chrysalis fell off and disappeared leaving two children facing each other.

The first one was the young lady Cranberry, with her long wavy red hair and piercing green eyes, with freckles on her face and shoulders, dressed in an expensive red and black dress and red sandals.

The other one was Kiwi...

No.

The other one was Zombie.

He changed a lot and not only because he was in one piece again.

His short hair became completely black just as his eyes that lost their sharpness.

His skin became blue like an old corpse. Even his lips changed color and were now dark purple.

In contrast to the extravagantly dressed Cranberry, he was wearing a torn linen shirt and rugged trousers, on top of that, he was barefoot.

Yet the biggest change must have been how stiff he had become, he moved as if his joints weren't working properly, not to mention that he lost the ability to articulate words and could only groan.

"Graough... (I should go tell my family what happened to me...)"

Zombie groaned.

"Cranberry! We need to go to the healer to check up on you! And while we're at it we should get the appraiser to look into your magic and this puppet!"

Lord Blackberry approached his daughter excitedly.

"Graough...! (I'm not a puppet!)"

Zombie complained, but no one paid any mind to the sounds that he was making.

"Fine, let's put him in the luggage and be on our way, daddy."

Cranberry sighed and shuffled back to the carriage.

"What? No! He is your first puppet! Of course, he should travel in the carriage with us!"

Once again Lord Blackberry proved to be more excited than his daughter.

"Geez, fine! But he is sitting with you, daddy!"

Cranberry clicked her tongue but didn't try to talk back any more than that.

"Graough...?! (What about my family...?!)"

Zombie complained but was picked up by the waist by Lord Blackberry and carried inside the carriage.

"Graough...! (H-hey! You can't do this! Let go of me...!)"

He growled in a futile attempt to struggle.

"Ugh! How annoying! Just shut up for a moment!"

Cranberry scoffed at him and Zombie closed his mouth.

"Sweetie, don't be mean to him, he's already died once."

Her father asked.

Well, he was almost correct there...

"Yeah, exactly, he is already dead, why should I care about his feelings?"

The girl shrugged her shoulders and started staring out the window clearly showing that she was done talking.

/Story event complete