Zombie became confused because of his master's response and was going to ask her about a lot of things, but then Cranberry lowered her gaze and focused on the paper that the boy was trying to hide up until now.

And quickly snatched it!

"Hee...? What do we have here?"

"Graough...! (No! Bad master! Don't look, it's embarrassing...!)"

Zombie, completely forgetting about his own question, cried and tried to jump across the table to take back the paper, but he was stopped by Cranberry.

"Ha...! Try again after you grow a little, pipsqueak!"

The girl held him back simply by holding his head at her arm's reach.

The truth was that while Cranberry got taller, Zombie hadn't changed even a bit from when he was seven.

Though that was normal, considering that he was an undead.

"Graough...! (Master, seriously, don't look! It's not finished...!)"

Zombie was groaning in embarrassment the but Cranberry wasn't going to step.

"Whoa, it must be something incredibly shameful if you're struggling that much! Let's see..."

She giggled triumphantly and raised the paper up to read it.

"..."

Cranberry froze and Zombie stopped struggling and instead covered his head with his arms.

It was a drawing.

No, it was a hand-drawn birthday card.

It had crudely written 'Happy 10th Birthday, master!' on top and a drawing below.

The drawing was presenting a scene where two stick figures, one with red hair holding a bat and the other completely blue, were both standing on top of a giant lizard-like monster that had two large X's for eyes.

The stick figure with red hair was raising their weapon triumphantly while the blue one was cheering.

"Graough...! (It's not finished! And you know that I can't draw with my left hand...!)"

Zombie groaned in shame.

"Graough...! (Master, give it back! I'll make you a better one!)"

The boy tried to take back the card.

He pulled himself up with eyes full of conviction...!

And noticed that he is being petted on the head.

It took him a second to realize that it was his master, Cranberry, that was giving him the pats.

"I own you."

She said in a flat voice.

"There's no need for you to give me anything, you know?"

"Graough... (This and that have nothing to do with each other.)"

He responded while looking away.

"That said, you didn't really improve much from last year."

Cranberry lips twitched a little as she said that, and Zombie flinched and hung his head down.

The girl continued patting his head.

"I guess the monster looks a lot better than the one you drew a year before. At least I know that this is a monster and not a weird mountain."

"Graough... (Have mercy...! I will get better, I promise! I will make you praise my drawings!)"

She pointed out in the same voice, and Zombie grumbled in response.

"But... say. What is that weapon I'm supposed to be holding? It looks a bit different than the club, and it's not a mace either..."

Cranberry frowned a little and turned the paper around.

"...oh...?"

She raised her brow.

"Oh...!"

Her eyes widened and she let go of Zombie's head and grabbed the page with both hands.

On the other side of the birthday card was another drawing.

A close-up of the weapon that the stick figure with red hair was holding.

It was something that wasn't known in this world but was quite popular in Zombie's previous world.

A baseball bat.

Its exact dimensions were listed too, together with a few comments.

"This is..."

Cranberry started grinning as she read the comments.

-More refined shape than commonly used clubs, easier to use than a mace.-

-If an artisan would carve some intricate designs into it, making it look more like an accessory, lady Raspberry should stop complaining about the crudeness and blunt weapons being unladylike.-

-Put a bandage, tape, or a ribbon around the grip so it will be impossible to mistake from which side it should be held.-

"Ha...?"

Up until two first comments, the girl looked overjoyed.

But the last one made her eyes turn cold.

"You are mocking me...!"

She breathed out slowly, trying to hold back anger.

At first, Zombie wanted to deny, or try to turn it into a joke, or at least apologize, but then he thought that since it was a perfect occasion, he should test out whether his master could understand what he was saying, or just had a great intuition.

So he sat upright, cleared his throat to make sure his voice won't shake, and groaned.

"Graough. (Of course, I did, my clumsy master.)"

He delivered the line in the flattest voice he could and made sure that his face and eyes were as expressionless as possible.

/Proficiency level reached

Servant receives a skill

Taunt (level 1)

"...!"

But he got instantly betrayed by the message flashing in front of their eyes.

"...taunt...?"

Cranberry read it and Zombie felt as if the temperature in the study dropped a few degrees.

"I see. So that groan just now... You were provoking me..."

"Graough! (No, I didn't!)"

She nodded and ignored Zombie's desperate denial signals.

"And since the skill doesn't form just from doing something once, it does mean that up until now, whenever you groaned like that, you really were mocking me, just as I thought!"

"Graough! (No, it doesn't!)"

The girl clenched her fists so hard her knuckles turned white.

"Haa..."

But then she suddenly breathed out and relaxed.

"You know, getting a new skill, a good skill like that, is a good opportunity. We should try it out and maybe even attempt to upgrade it today during the training. High-level taunt will definitely turn out to be incredibly useful, you know?"

She said and smiled coldly.

"I bet that under your taunt's effect I will be able to raise the levels of all of my offensive skills... between this and your venom leveling up, I guess that a good training session will make for an appropriate lesson."

"GRAOUGH...! (Argh...! Why do you bring up my venom again?! Master, please, have some mercy! You suck as a teacher and you know it!)"

Zombie cried out rolling his eyes in annoyence and got on his knees just to make sure that his appeal will be properly noticed, he even bowed his head!

"...don't make such a fuss, and ease up with the snark, I do appreciate your gift after all."

Cranberry waved her birthday card and her smile became a little less threatening.

"Graough...! (Ah! Master...!)"

The boy lifted his head with eyes full of admiration.

"...so I will heal you after we're done."

"Garough...! (Oh, come on...!)"