"...just to be clear, even though you kept your word and got my Arion the titan-class monsters' corpses we required to complete the quest, and you seem to trust me for whatever reason, I never agreed on actually become your follower, alright?"

It took Mary seven full days of travel towards the misty capital of the Sloth territory to finally spoke up to Cranberry and Zombie about what was bothering her.

"And since when did I started to trust you?"

Zombie made a sour face and looked at the brown-haired girl as if she went crazy.

"Not you! Her!"

Mary scoffed and shook her head, then she pointed her finger at Cranberry.

"You told Zombie to use his skill on every human except for me! That means that you trust me, right?"

She said staring at the indifferent face of the red-haired girl.

"Oh really? For me, it seems more like I set up a trap."

Cranberry shrugged her shoulders and smirked mockingly.

"A... a trap...?"

Mary flinched and asked, lowering her hand, full of the sudden doubt.

"If any of the information leaks out to the rest of the kingdom before I or Zombie decide to reveal it ourselves, we will know exactly who is responsible for it - and who we should punish."

Cranberry smiled lightheartedly and looked into Mary's eyes.

"That is so evil! What is wrong with you?!"

Mary flinched and gasped, taken aback.

"What did you think that I would do? I am the villainess, you know?"

The red-haired girl laughed mockingly in response.

"Hmph! And I'm a heroine! Aren't you worried that I will do as the heroine does and conquer a capture target?"

The brown-haired girl puffed out her already incredibly well-defined chest and glanced rather obviously at the blue undead by Cranberry's side.

"Ha! I would like to see you try. After all, we've been through, he won't leave me just like that!"

In response Cranberry laughed and crossed her arms, giving support to the ample chest that wasn't losing to Mary in either volume or shape.

"Oh...? And what makes you so sure? If I decide to go along his rou..."

"Stockholm syndrome."

Before Mary could finish her sentence she was interrupted by the indifferent sounding undead.

"I'm... sorry...?"

The heroine shook her head and looked at him utterly confused.

"Stockholm syndrome. I won't leave her because of the Stockholm syndrome. Either because I spend too much time with her already, or because the rotten brain title actually did make my brain rot, I don't see myself ever leaving that psycho anymore."

Zombie explained with an innocent smile.

"What's a stock-holm syndrome?"

Mary blinked in confusion and looked at equally surprised Cranberry.

"I... don't know... that's the first time he has said that... But more importantly - what's a psycho? You aren't making up words just to insult me, are you, Zombie?"

The red-haired girl shook her head and then frowned and glared at the blue undead.

"If someone else will call you that, it would be an insult, but since I'm the one calling you that, it's an expression of fondness."

Zombie shrugged his shoulders with a completely straight face.

"...haa... is that so... Fine. I'll believe you. You can call me that if you like."

Cranberry nodded and faced away to hide the blush that covered her whole face...

"Pfffft...!"

...so she completely missed how Zombie turned to the side and shook heavily from the barely held back outburst of laughter before returning to a deadpan expression.

"...?"

Still, even if Cranberry didn't saw his reaction, Mary totally did and got even more confused than she was before.

"By the way, are we sure that we're not lost or something? I'm quite sure that before the magic fog became too thick to let my life signature detection work, I swear that the largest city wasn't so far away to take us that long to reach it."

Zombie complained and glared at the back of the rat-faced man's head.

"That's because you looked in a straight line and we are not traveling in a straight line."

Shanks rolled his eyes and answered.

"Why?"

Zombie frowned and inquired.

"Because the sea of fog doesn't work like that - if we won't travel exactly along the specifically marked path, we will be lost forever."

Shanks made the explanation short and concise so that there could be no further questions.

"Pretty inconvenient if you ask me, right, ex-bodyguard?"

Zombie shrugged his shoulders and scoffed, turning to the white-haired Corvus walking slightly behind him.

"I...! I don't think I'm in a position to answer that! I'm sure that sir Shanks is doing his best!"

Corvus flinched and hurriedly assured the rat-faced man leading their small group.

"Khahahaha! Sir Shanks! I will never get used to that!"

Zombie laughed and shook his head.

"You won't have to deal with it for long - as soon as we're done with the audience, I'm going to have my powers re-sealed and everything will be back to normal."

Shanks shrugged his shoulders without looking back at the blue undead.

"Oh...? Huh... is the one doing that whole re-sealing supposed to be the avatar of sloth...?"

Zombie raised his brow curiously.

"Yes. That should be obvious."

The rat-faced man nodded.

"Hmm... sucks to be you."

Zombie shrugged his shoulders and scoffed indifferently.

"...?"

Shanks glanced at him in confusion before stopping.

"Alright, it's enough for today. Let's set up a camp."

He declared putting down the giant rifle he was carrying the whole time.

"Already? Why does it seem we traveled far shorter than yesterday?"

Mary asked and jumped off of Arion's muscular back - since they completed his quest and removed the curse of starvation, the black wolf became truly massive so riding on him was now quite a comfortable experience.

"That's only what your brain is telling you. Inside the condensed sea of mist, the day and night cycle doesn't work. If we were out of the mist, you would realize that it was already dark and that we traveled for over twelve hours."

Shanks explained patiently.

"...! This fog is insane!"

Mary gasped and clenched her hands on Arion's fur.

But why was she been riding on the black wolf and not her go-to stead, the blue emperor griffin in this situation?

---

"Good job, little chick."

Cranberry got down from Blueberry's back and patted her neck affectionately.

"Skwee! (Yay! Mommy praised me!)"

The giant griffin screeched happily and nuzzled against the red-haired girl with her whole body.

"Hey. I want to try something."

Zombie approached the two of them and tapped Cranberry's side so she would move away.

"If you want to play with her, we can do it together, but okay...?"

The red-haired girl looked at him in confusion and stepped aside.

"Blueberry come here."

"Skwee...! (Okay, daddy!)

Zombie reached his hands up and the griffin trustfully lowered her head for him to grab.

"What are you doing to my griffin?"

"..."

Mary asked grumpily but Cranberry only shook her head with a confused expression while Zombie just straight up ignored her.

The blue undead gently guided the griffin's head even lower until it was roughly on his eye level.

"Skwee...? (Daddy? What it is about?)"

Blueberry asked curiously.

"Daddy will try to heal your wound, sweetie."

""Wait, what?!""

*peck*

Both Cranberry and Mary gasped in perfect unison, but that didn't stop Zombie from kissing the very top of Blueberry's beak.

"...!"

The griffin's body got momentarily enveloped by the dark red light and once that faded away, it revealed perfectly healthy Blueberry!

No - she was even better than before!

Not only did the talon she was missing got restored, but all of her talons and her beak too were now dyed in a beautiful golden color that made the griffin look even more regal than ever before.

"Skwee! (Ehehe, daddy kissed me!)"

Blueberry screeched happily and tapped her talons against the ground.

"Skwee...? (Eh, my leg doesn't hurt anymore...?)"

She screeched in surprise and looked down.

"Skwee?! (Whoa, what happened?!)"

She spread her wings from shock and let out a short shocked screech.