The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"Miss Blueberry, see those lights on the horizon to the southeast? That's the place."

Shanks leaned forward and tapped the griffin's neck while pointing in the right direction with his other hand.

"Skwee."

Blueberry screeched in approval and adjusted her flight.

From their point of view, the sun was just setting but for the people down below it would be already hard to walk through the streets without the city lanterns being lit, and the rows of said lanterns served as a fine guideline.

After a few more minutes of intense flight, the massive blue emperor griffin has landed at a proper distance that should assure the city guards that it wasn't just some stray monster attacking their city but rather a tamed one bringing travelers.

"It was scary at first, but flying sure is fun!"

Ti spoke up energetically after getting down.

"I'm happy you liked it... fuck..."

Lairs didn't jump down, she basically fell down, sliding off of the griffin's back, green in the face and with no strength whatsoever.

"...if we were meant to fly, the system would give us wings..."

Rotte wasn't any better than the black-haired elf and fell on his butt as soon as his feet have touched the ground.

"We should have some stamina potions left... wait a bit you two, there should be a lantern somewhere..."

Uresha, completely unaffected by the lengthy flight hurriedly got to the ground and began rummaging through their bags in the dark.

"Pffft...! Dear system, is that how the three of us usually look after a night of drinking?"

Shanks laughed out loud and jumped down energetically - he, the copper-eyed bodyguard, and the blue emperor griffin had no trouble with seeing in the darkness.

"Thank you very much miss Blueberry, the flight was amazing. I'll definitely tell your parents how great your skill mastery has become."

He turned around and started patting the blue griffin's neck with a bright smile.

"Skwee!"

Blueberry puffed out her chest and screeched, visibly proud and very content with the praise and compliments she received.

"Still..."

The rat-faced man's expression soured as he looked toward the city where the main residence of the Wrath family was.

He didn't stop patting the emperor griffin but he was clearly in distress.

"What is it Shan-shan... ugh... fuck..."

Lairs asked and tried to lift her head too fast which caused her to fight off a wave of nausea.

"Well, for the starters, young lady Pride have told us to met in this city... but where exactly?"

Shanks sighed and voiced his problem with the situation.

"In front of the city? If so, then which gate? Inside of the city walls? Then where exactly? One of the city squares? One of the landmarks? Some specific inn?"

His voice was getting more and more annoyed as he talked.

"And what about the timing? Miss Blueberry flew us here with such an amazing speed, I would have never predicted how short it would take, but weren't she, Zombie, Mary, Arion, and Corvus to boot supposed to go by foot? How much time will we have to spend here before they arrive? She mentioned that she needs Corvus to help them get inside the Wrath's mansion without causing a scene, but she never elaborated on that! She clearly was unhinged by what happened inside and outside the tower of sloth - did that changed her plans? Are we even still needed?"

The rat-faced man stopped patting the emperor griffin and instead started pacing back and forth making a concerned face.

Since Patience's permission to talk about them extended only to the ones who were inside the tower of sloth and no one else - the rat-faced man couldn't really explain to his dear companions what he meant, but they still understood at least a part of his worries.

"Well... fuck..."

Lairs frowned and nodded.

"The two of them spent three months without any contact with anyone else than themselves and our young lady was never that good with communicating when it comes to her plans... And we've seen her be a little off, trying to bring down that tower and all.. So, you know... Ah, thanks."

Rotte shrugged his shoulders and gratefully took the small green potion offered by Uresha who came back with the light lantern in her hand.

"Uhh... damn it, both of you are right...! I should have tried asking about more details...!"

The rat-faced man gritted his teeth and put his fist to his forehead in a gesture of defeat.

*growl*

"...!"

The sudden sound caused everyone to flinch and look around for its source, which thankfully turned out to be...

Uresha's stomach.

"...maybe we'll think about our next move over the dinner in a cozy inn...?"

The large woman blushed only a little as she covered her stomach with her arm and asked in a slightly embarrassed voice.

"Fuck yeah, I'm starving!"

"Same!"

"Y-yes, me too."

Lairs and Rotte instantly supported the request and even Ti joined in as well.

"You're all right. Instead of worrying, we should take it easy for now."

That allowed Shanks to stop thinking about the things that were impossible to change by that point and even smiled.

With that newfound resolution, the whole group including Blueberry walked over to the northern city gate.

"Alright, I'm not sure how the guards will react at the sight of miss Blueberry, a tamed griffin is already something unthinkable, but let's just say I'll use a bit of persuasion to make them accept it - and by all means, no one needs to know that she's an emperor griffin, we don't want to cause panic, even a weak tamed griffin is something to write a book about after all... "

Shanks warned the rest as they were getting closer to one of the gates.

...that the guards were already closing...

"Tsk, let's go a bit faster...!"

Shanks clicked his tongue and waved at his friends.

"Sorry! Sir guardsman! Could you wait a bit with the gate?!"

He then took the lantern from his wife and put it up so it would illuminate his face and called.

"...! Who's there?!"

Four men by the gate raised up their weapons and turned towards the voice.

"Sorry for troubling you! We are just a group of adventurers that had some troubles on the trail! Oh, we have a tamed griffin with us too, but don't worry, she's a very gentle girl!"

Shanks hurriedly explained making sure that to make it sound like not a big deal while adding just a bit of the pressure from his right to rule - but only just a bit in case the guards had some sort of defense artifacts on them. If they did, such action would be undoubtedly read as hostile.

"G-griffin you say...?!"

All of the guards flinched at the words and looked at each other, while one of them, the oldest looking one, called out in shock.

"Umm... is there a problem...? Don't worry, as I've said, she's tamed and very gentle! We are supposed to meet with her tamer and a couple more friends!"

The rat-faced man furrowed his brows at the guards' reaction - he didn't want to cause a scene.

"N-no...! Not at all! Please, come closer to the light...!"

The old guard shook his head and beckoned the group.

"Blueberry... if those guys will try something - knock them out, or just push them away from us, just don't kill them, alright?"

Shanks tapped the griffin's neck and whispered to her when she leaned her head towards him.

"Skwee?"

Blueberry screeched confused.

"Something's off... there should be only two guards, but there are four... and the gate looks like it's been freshly repaired. I don't like it - but let's not get ourselves in trouble by recklessly killing anyone, alright?"

"Skwee."

The rat-faced man explained his concern and the blue griffin shrugged her wings but ended up nodding and screeching in agreement.

With that their group entered the circle of light cast by the lanterns above the half-closed gate.