Mallory the unfortunate child born from a human among a tribe of leopard demihumans was bullied and shunned since young due to her being slightly weaker, being a bearer of bad luck and because she was an easy target. Even when she kept trying to overcome her trials and difficulties, she still ended up in a poor situation and that is when her previous life’s memories returned along with a skill which had been awakened. How will she survive in the Danmachi world? I do not claim to own Danmachi, its plot or characters but there are some changes I may make to the original story and add my own characters. Kofi Link to donate and join monthly for early chapter releases: https://ko-fi.com/dancematdan Discord Link: https://discord.gg/ehdpPFzrFF Novels under my account Bodyguard of a Villainess in an Apocalyptic Revenge Novel Tiny Terror of the Aether Era Kan-Gar-Chu! (One Piece Fanfic) Pi-Gar-Chu! (One Piece Fanfic) Bombyx: Return of the Vengeful Eldest Daughter (Ongoing) Dr who is where now? (Dragon Ball Fanfic) Apotropaic of Danmachi Holy Beast Saintess (Dropped)
It was just another day when Mallory was sitting at her little area by the gate that entered into her familia grounds.
A line of people had built up to purchase some of her products and she sat with her knees on the on the ground with her palms resting over her thighs.
She was very calm and composed as she made brief exchanges with each customer and described a little of what she could see from their aura.
Mallory offered her advice on which talisman would be most suitable when there was suddenly a commotion that took place within the line.
Mallory raised an eyebrow and turned to Swaine who was stood by her side like a loyal follower. "What is happening?"
Swaine finished assessing the problem and said. "It is just a small group. Nothing big to worry about."
A luxuriously dressed and well fed man and woman both pushed forward to the front of the line which made many around them angered.
The man and woman ignored them and the man displayed great anger as he slammed something down onto the small wooden table that served as her makeshift stall counter and as a way to separate herself from her customers. "I cannot believe I bought this trash from you! I have lost so much! I want you to pay! Pay for it all!"
Mallory tilted her head to the side and looked a little clueless but then her eyes went towards what was on the desk. "Ahem.. can you explain a little? Pay for what exactly?"
What was in front of her eyes was one of the figurines to ward off monsters but it was heavily damaged with some parts missing.
It was in a very poor state and had lost the effects that had been applied to it, there were traces of her magic that lingered on it to prove that it was one of her creations.
Mallory had no choice but to accept that it was her own sculpture and that she had to find out more about the situation before it became a problem for her business.
She put on a composed and patient appearance as she waited for the man to explain.
The man grit his teeth and the whites of his eyes were a little red from the rage he was feeling.
His hands were clenched together as if he was suppressing himself from jumping over the table to strangle her. "You said that it would ward off monsters! You lied! It did not work at all! I lost several good men and had to abandon the carriage that had many things I wished to trade in another land! The monsters! They took it all! It is all gone!"
It was clear that he was angry and grieving over the losses but also due to the loss in his business.
The monsters had attacked and he escaped back to the city but everything else was either destroyed or consumed by the monsters.
Swaine frowned and stepped forward. "How dare you cause a problem here. How can you even prove that this is all true? Look at the state of the figurine! Of course it would not work if it is like this!"
The man was mumbling to himself strangely due to the shock her had experienced then argued back. "It was fine back then.. the figurine did not do like you said it would. This is all your fault!"
Mallory took in the information and thought to herself. 'If it worked as I said then this would not have happened. Wait a second…'
Her gaze became serious as she asked. "Did you keep going forward when there were monsters detected?"
The eyes of the man widened a little and looked away for a moment. "We were just staying on the usual route. We put our trust in you… but it seems that your recent reputation has gotten to your head. Now you wish to scam us all no matter what harm we face!"
As he was trying to shift the blame onto Mallory and tried to make her pay for the damages, the crowd started to follow along or speculated on their own.
"Oh my.. the last products worked well so I never suspected that this could happen."
"This cannot be.."
Swaine glared towards them and said. "Mallory is no scammer and she would never sell something faulty!"
"How scary."
"Such a loyal guard dog."
"A thug and a scammer. Such a good pair."
"Hey you guys should not jump to conclusions."
"Yeah! Let the girl speak!"
Mallory remained seated and coughed lightly to let everyone give her enough room to speak. "All my products work the way I describe them, this is a guarantee. There are guidelines in place so people do not misuse them or do something foolish. You broke one of the guidelines right? Let me guess…"
The man started looking around nervously and yelled. "Just pay up or I will make your life difficult kid. Quit stalling and pay up already. This is all your fault!"
Seeing that he was unwilling to back down and leave quietly, Mallory revealed a wide grin as her sharp fangs were exposed and helped to give off a more threatening feeling. "You ignored my advice and approached the monsters when I told everyone about the effects of the monsters wards."
As she examined his nervous appearance, her smile grew wider and her green eyes became colder and sharper. "You must have tried to use the figurine to chase off a group of them right? When did I say that was what it was for? It is to use for protecting and warding from monster attacks sure.."
She continued without giving him a chance to speak up again. "But it is not to chase off the monsters from where they are gathered or have built some kind of community or habitat in.
Think of it like this, the monsters dislike something so they wish to stay away from it but what happens when someone appears with it and starts pushing it towards them?
I think I would want to attack you too if you came at me with something I hated at stuck it right in front of me. Just the fact alone that you ignored my warning, brought damage to something I spent a long time crafting and brought harm to others by ignoring what I said only makes me want to hit you even more."
The man was silenced and the woman that supported him looked a little confused.
The silence in the crowd turned to people showing a look of understanding as they discussed among themselves.
It was clear that Mallory had been right and that was how events played out.
The man had thought to himself. 'How did she know? We did take a shortcut and run into a pack of monsters that blocked the way but we did believe that the effects were working.
It was not until a little later that the monsters refused to move further and became more aggressive. Is what she said true? Is this my fault? I just wanted to arrive early for that deal. What can I do now?'
The monsters would be kept away by the monster wards and could prevent monsters from approaching the carriage so long as it did not get too close and attracted their attention or angered them.
It made them stay a certain distance away and made them have a strong dislike to what they picked up on.
They did not wish to be too close to it so when it got closer to them and it was within an area they would not wish to move from, they would try to destroy the source of it or those connected with it.
If he had taken another route or found a way to circle around then he would have found that it worked well as described but he was too impatient and tried to push his way through thinking the figurine was like some ultimate item that could be used to chase away monsters.
In a way, it was similar to how some animals instinctively feared and avoided fire.
They would avoid campfires and could be chased away by someone waving a stick or something around that was on fire but if they harmed the animal or got too close then the animal may have lashed out in anger or desperation.
There was a certain limit to how much the wooden figurines and tablets could do in terms of driving away monsters that were already in a certain area so it was unwise to try to force them from where they were but it was far more effective to use them to keep them away from a certain area or let them be less likely to attack a person or object that was passing by.
Mallory pushed the broken figurine to the end of the table and coldly said. "I am sorry for your loss but I am not at fault here. No refunds and I am not to blame here. Swaine."
The moment that she called, Swaine stepped forward and looked threatening towards the man. "Do not come here again."
The woman grabbed her husbands arm and pulled him back. "Stop here. If we continue them this will not be good. Come home and rest. We can think of some way to solve this."
He lowered his head in defeat and followed her further away while taking one final vengeful glare towards Mallory. 'No it is not my fault. It is this girls fault for making so many people believe in her. Her very presence is the problem.'