Lillan had taken care of the front. Now, four statues of zombie lay there, each impaled with a spear of ice. Their mouth stretched wide in snarls or was it terror? It was pretty difficult to make out.
Did they even feel fear? Kazuki wondered.
Probably not, they are dead anyway.
He made his way to her, stopping just a short step. "Good work." She nodded absentminded, her eyes still fixed on the frozen corpses.
She seems to be absorbed in them. Studying the undead like they were some kind of grotesque sculpture from the age of Babylon.
He tilted his head. "What are you doing anyway?"
Her voice was low but firm. "Studying them. Trying to figure out whether they're natural zombies..." She hesitated then continued. "Or is it work of necromancy."
He raised an eyebrow. "You could tell that by just looking at it?"
She looked at him as if offended. "I'm a tier four ice mage, you know." Voice dry and proud. "Although I might have forgotten to bring my badge. I still can feel the mana around them, with a careful eye making out mana signature isn't impossible. "
Needless to say, Kazuki didn't understand a thing about badges, ranks, eyes or mana signatures. Even then, he nodded his head, pretending that he understood everything. A skill he had mastered in his office, especially during budget meetings and presentations.
"Yep, totally makes sense to get mana signature, in all contracts signatures are important." Crossing his arms like a seasoned expert.
She didn't spare him a glance, absorbed in her own thing. For few minutes, this went on—as Kazuki got bored of cutting the zombie in pieces. She stood up, furrowing her brows. "I can't sense any signature."
Kazuki, dusting of patches of black blood drops, also stood. "Thats good, No?"
"Yeah, most of the time, but here I don't have specific artifacts for doing more in-depth research. So, the chances are 50/50, it could be either one of them."
"Then you meant to tell me, we waited here all this time, just to get back to square one?"
Lillan sighed, tired. "You know Kazuki, your ignorance is going to be death of me one day. Before things were uncertain, then when we did investigation, it was 50/50."
He furrowed his brows. "Aren't they the same thing?"
A half-dead, groan escaped her mouth. "Never mind, the thing to note is that, if its natural cause we might find something like a graveyard or some other catalyst. But if it's necromancer..." Her face, darkened. "Then be ready for a brutal fight."
They moved ahead, turning toward the better-intact hut, a crooked structure of wood and thatch, with creepy vines scaling the walls. The door creaked but didn't bulge as Lillan pushed. She tried harder the creaking hinges screamed and then they gave up entirely. She was thrown inside, stumbling forward with entire wooden door still in her hands, the hut shuddered like an old man jolting form a nap.
Kazuki chuckled. "That's one way to knock."
Lillan stood up, brushing dirt and stray stands of straw from her robes, then threw the wooden door to the side, she coughed intentionally to hide her embarrassment. "Well, anyway we are in."
Inside, it was the same old, same as the others, dust floating lazily with rays of sunlight peeking through the cracks, illuminating the particles. Shelves, wooden stool, a low table lay to the ground, broken their wooden ends sharply jutting out.
Kazuki let out a low whistle. "That's new."
Lillan followed his gaze, at the far end of the room, partially hidden under the cobwebs stood a door. It was reinforced with steel plating to edges, with horizontally and diagonally bands. A vault door, practically.
That meant something important was inside it.
There gazes meet.
"Do you think, there is gold stored in there?" Kazuki asked his eyes hopeful.
"I think water and food would be much more useful." She replied. "If there is gold, you can eat it. I will take the food and water."
They both stepped toward the door, brushing cobwebs with flick of their sleeves. Standing Infront inspecting it, they lamented, "We sure aren't pushing this out of the way."
To which she raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"
He had barely finished his dramatic sigh when a thunderous CRACK echoed through the hut.
A sharp gust of frost swept by him. A massive blue spear shot forward form Lillan's outstretched hand. The projectile slammed into the reinforced door with bone-jarring force, as if its soul had been teared. Shattering the upper half into jagged chunks of splintered wood and bent steel. Shard flew like shrapnel, embedding into the walls and floor.
The entire hut groaned under the pressure. One of the supporting beams—already aged with chunks of it missing—snapped free from its moorings and came crashing down with whump narrowly missing Kazuki's head by generous inch and half.
He yelled ducking instinctively. "Have you finally lost it? Killing us both inside the deathtrap?"
She looked completely unfazed.
No—wait.
As he squinted to her through the settling dust, he noticed. A faint trembling of her shoulder. The slight twitch of her mouth.
She was holding back a laugh.
"You think that's funny?" he barked, brushing off dust from his hair. Fuming. "We could have died. Squashed to death like a sandwich."
Her lips parted slightly, dam finally breaking. A snort escaped, followed by stifled giggle. She covered her mouth. "Sorry, sorry. It's just I couldn't control myself. Seeing you struggle Its just gives me some greater joy. Its like my heart is about to burst, from it."
Kazuki sighed, brushing debris from his cloak, as she giggled into her sleeve, visibly enjoying his suffering.
He stared at her hard. A soft chuckle she was trying and failing to stifle. A subtle spark of joy in her violet eyes.
He thought bitterly.
To all the people who think sadistic yanderes are peak waifu material—may your souls rest in suffering.
Seriously. Where were the warning labels? The disclaimers? The fine print that said "Warning: May cause trauma, spontaneous frostbite, or sudden building collapses"?
She smiled sweetly at him, as if she hadn't just almost murdered him with a flying roof beam.
"You alright?" She asked innocence in her eyes.
"Peachy" He muttered, absolutely not right.