Chapter 56: On the way back

Cranberry was leaning on Zombie's shoulder and dozing off while the carriage was jumping on the uneven pavement.

As she was falling asleep her hand was subconsciously wandering in search of Zombie's right hand, so the servant offered it to her with a gentle smile.

"Mmm..."

Feeling the familiar coolness Cranberry made a funny sound and relaxed completely.

The blue undead, careful to note wake his master up, moved slightly so that his master could take a bit more comfortable position, and nodded with satisfaction.

At least for a few more days, Cranberry will be able to enjoy freedom away from her mother.

"..."

Zombie clenched his teeth glaring out the window at the innocent horizon.

A night before, right before going to bed, Cranberry let her inner thought slip and she confessed that she was worried about her mother's reaction.

Even though the local branch of the adventurers guild bought their made-up story without even a sliver of doubt, the same outcome will be impossible with lady Raspberry.

In Zombie's opinion that woman wasn't acting like a head of the family, but rather as a selfish dictator that used everyone else as she wanted, and if anything went against her wishes she would punish the nearest person whether they were involved or not.

Though that was more of a fact than an opinion...

So even if Cranberry would be proven innocent, she would still get to be punished by her mother.

Maybe it was his title's influence, but Zombie felt that killing lady Raspberry would be an absolutely reasonable outcome.

...but Cranberry was strongly against that.

No matter how harshly her mother treated her, or how much she tried to control every aspect of her life, Cranberry loved her mother and wanted to win her approval.

It might had something to do with the enormous amount of pride that Cranberry had, but still, Zombie caught himself wondering what's so good about a parent like that.

In his old world, a dangerous thought like that would never even appear in his mind, but now as both the undead and the eternal servant - so a monster - he couldn't find any remorse stopping him from ending the lives of others.

An undead monster, even if it was a human before, usually had a hatred for all living creatures after all.

In Zombie's case, the only lives that he usually directed that hate towards, were those of who tried to take him away from his master.

"Nnn...!"

Cranberry moaned in her sleep and Zombie hurriedly checked what was wrong.

Thankfully it was only a strand of her red hair tickling her nose, so he carefully brushed it aside so she could rest without interruption.

Zombie observed his master for a while with great interest.

Truth to be told, he already forgot how it felt to be asleep.

Even when he was straining his memory and trying to remember details about his past life, every time he reminiscent about sleep, it seemed very odd to him.

Cranberry fidgeted and clenched his right hand tightly.

That made Zombie smile.

The first time that Cranberry slept with Zombie's right hand was when she was eight and had a high fever.

Zombie was by her side, unable to help her in any other way, so he just undid the stitches and used his otherwise useless hand as a cooling pad.

And it seemed like from that point Cranberry took a liking to the comforting coldness of Zombie's undead body, using him as a replacement for the ac whenever she was feeling too hot.

Each time she did that, Zombie felt happy.

Considering how strong and studious Cranberry was, she rarely needed help, but Zombie wanted to be of use.

"Graough... (Now that I think of it, I kind of act similar towards her as she acts towards her mother...)"

The blue undead sighed looking at the blue sky outside the window.

"...no, not similar at all... I actually care about you..."

"Graough?! (M-master?!)"

Cranberry's sleep-talking made Zombie flinch and gasp in shock.

But Cranberry didn't say anything else and she also didn't wake up.

With her cheek squished against Zombie's shoulder, she continued sleeping peacefully, unaware of how much she surprised her servant.

"Graough...? (Weird, does she understand my groans or not...?)"

Zombie groaned confused looking at the carriage's roof.

After few moments he gave up on figuring her out and instead focused on the bag with books that Cranberry took with her on the journey.

Of course, he got permission to read whatever he wanted beforehand from the girl herself.

He opened the bag and started checking out the content.

The book titled 'A good wife' made him frown, but he still checked the few first pages.

It was really something else... Content of that book would have definitely caused the author to be canceled online by the masses.

The blue undead closed the book with a bitter expression, wishing he could just throw it away.

But, good or not, it was his master's property, so no matter what was written inside, he would never destroy it.

So he put it away and grabbed another one.

'Art of seduction', another title that raised Zombie's brow.

But that one turned out to be a proper guidebook for acquiring many different charm-type skills.

It even had words of encouragement for the players to bear with the urge to punch their targets in the face while trying to appeal to them in the right way.

"Graough...! (Ooh! That explains a lot...!)"

Zombie's eyes widened when he realized that was the reason for Cranberry's odd behavior toward Durian.

"Graough... (Still... even if I'm undead, it wouldn't kill you to at least try it on me first...) Graough? (Training with you is one of my privileges, you know?)"

He said poking his master's squishy cheek.

"...nnn...!"

Cranberry frowned and fidgeted in her sleep.

/Master's skill upgrade 

Charm (level 9)

"..."

Zombie saw the message pop up and quickly looked away.

"Graough... (Though it is weird that it levels up without her activating it...) Graough...? (Could it be a passive skill...?)"

He wondered.

Then he suddenly frowned.

"Graough...! (Wait...!) Graough...? (Why does she even need a charm skill for...?)"

Zombie tilted his head even more confused than before.

"Graough... (I wish she would trust me enough to let me in on her plans...)"

He sighed putting away the guidebook and taking out another book.

'Elven folklore'.

This one seemed even more detached from Cranberry's usual taste than the other two books.

She normally preferred hard books delving deep into history or the properties of the system and how to use it for her own gain.

Folk tales usually didn't interest her at all.

Suddenly Cranberry slid down from his shoulder and ended up with her head on Zombie's lap.

The blue undead smiled and put away the book without even checking the contents.

"Graough. (Master, it's your fault that I'm not that smart.)"

He complained and leaned back onto the cushioned seat.

"Graough. (Instead of reading I'm watching you all the time.) Graough... (Seriously, you don't have the right to complain that I ended up as a dumbass...)"

He groaned and started observing his master's peaceful face with a peaceful expression.