"Hero" is a dirty word

Fern Village

Mimic Illusive Corpse had roared again; the peacock's scream was loud in itself, but from the mouth of a monster like Mimic, it was something that would make the eardrums of weaker people burst.

Grash staggered in place for a moment before pulling his broken body aside. He was in no condition to engage in further combat but stayed close enough to possibly wield dark mana. Grash was only responsible for two things: controlling the dark mana and putting on the collar. While near-death events excited him, he could still tell the difference between possible death and certain death.

Fortunately, the monster was oblivious to him and focused on the annoying insect in front of him. It lifted its skull again in front of the real head, but the moment the mimic opened its mouth, a shower of mana swallows appeared and tried to force their way down its throat. Mimic closed his mouth and shook his head, turning towards Raiana. Quickly moving her body towards it, Raiana flashed her mana and hurriedly began to escape the monster.

Alarr and Holm appeared behind her. Holm readied her mana fists, and Alarr's sword blazed heavily with energy. Mimic didn't stop and rushed at them like a savage bulldozer, but that didn't deter the two, and they struck the monster's body at the same time.

BOOM!

There was a loud thud, and both men were pushed back a little, the ground breaking under the pressure and forming a crater around them. The combined forces of the two warriors had an effect and deflected the monster to the side.

Behind Mimic Illusive Corpse, Fraril appeared, moving with such lightning speed that his form blurred a bit. He leaped into the air, and while still in flight, his body began to transform. His hair grew, his body inflated and quickly distorted, his face stretched into a snout, and before he landed on the monster's back, Fraril completely transformed into a grey wolf over two meters in size. His fur was a thick grey that waved slightly at the ends, his claws were black and sharp, his teeth strong and deadly. In his wolf form, his eyes were yellow, but a little faded, and upon prolonged observation, they could be seen to be unfocused. It seemed that even his animal form was not spared from damaged eyesight.

Fraril's claws plucked a few feathers, but he focused on the peacock's tail. He opened his jaws wide, which took on a blue tinge, and bit down fiercely on the tail.

Crunch!

"Hhoooo!" Mimic shrieked as Fraril leaped away from the monster again, clutching the monster's two severed tail feathers in his jaws. There was even some skin and flesh left on the roots of the feathers.

The monster's body suddenly expanded, or so it seemed, before two wings suddenly rose from the sides of its body. Until now, Mimic Illusive Corpse had them attached to his body, blending in with the feathers and not visible. But now, he suddenly spread them wide and waved them violently.

A strong gust of wind hit Fraril, deflecting him. Instead of landing smoothly on the ground, he fell on his side, and the wind dragged him a few more meters along the ground.

Alarr and Holm were also knocked backward by the wind. Despite their constitution and strength, they couldn't withstand the gale the monster caused.

The sound of howling wind and the cracking of wood carried through the area as the surrounding houses began to tilt sideways under the wind's onslaught.

Alobela quickly covered Eliz with her body, bathed in the light of blue mana to protect her mistress. Eliz had to duck her head as the wind stung her eyes, which quickly began to water.

"Damn, does that bastard have wings?!" Eliz was unpleasantly surprised. Could it fly? If so, their bad situation had turned even worse!

Eliz opened her eyes just a small crack before turning her head to look at Alobela, who was hugging Eliz with one arm and shielding her own vision from the gust of wind with the other.

"We have to do this! You have to get me to take Alobela so I can paralyze it!" she called out.

Alobela didn't answer, but Eliz noticed the way her lips tightened into a thin line of rejection. "I'll do what I want anyway! If you don't want anything to happen to me, you'll only do it by helping me. Alobela... I'm grateful for your protection, care, and your fondness. But if you back down when you need to do what needs to be done for fear of getting hurt..." Eliz paused.

Alobela may not have been a warrior, but she was a Royal Messenger, not a mere servant. If she were, Eliz would never have thought to ask her to do such a thing. Eliz believed that Alobela was more than capable of handling it. That was why she hesitated for a moment, because Eliz knew what she would say next would be very harsh.

"Then I don't need you. Go back home where it's safe and live a long and blissful life. I intend to live or die doing what I need to do."

Eliz felt Alobela stiffen. But she chose to ignore it, said what she needed to. If Alobela didn't want to be here and felt no real obligation to Eliz, then Eliz had technically fired her now. So Alobela was free to make her own decision.

Mimic stopped flapping her wings, and the gust of wind immediately stopped. She spread her wings wide. Eliz looked at the monster and suspected that the monster was about to take off. If that happened, finishing the plan would be impossible. She had to act now.

She grabbed Alobela and pushed her away from her forcefully and ran. Eliz was painfully aware that she was too slow. She turned her head and looked in the direction of Alarr, Holm, and Raiana, who were quickly pulling themselves together and already running towards the monster as well.

Eliz was about to call out to Raiana when a system window appeared in front of her, startling her into stumbling.

Unique Follower obtained!

Description: You have gained a unique follower: Alobela Leparun

Your actions changed the fate of a unique character in the story and earned her loyalty.Reward: Your natural speed increased by 10%

Eliz felt herself suddenly speed up and almost fell again with the change but managed to compensate. It wasn't that big of a change, but Eliz was still pleased. When she was stronger, this bonus to her speed would be much more noticeable, and it was also the reason she knew that Alobela had decided to stay.

So, when she suddenly felt strange hands on her, she wasn't surprised. "My lady, let me help," Eliz heard Alobela's calm voice before she took Eliz into her arms. She was carried like a princess this time, and though Alobela was burdened by her weight, they were still much faster.

"Good," Eliz replied, looking back at the others again. "Keep it busy!" she called out before speaking to Alobel. "Try to get us to the blind spot. Once we're close enough, throw me at the monster."

"Throw you?" Alobela was a little surprised; probably the maids that had bad masters would envy Alobela being able to toss her employer around.

"Yes. I'll give it a shock and hop away. I don't want to get another electric shock from myself; it will be up to you to catch me again." Eliz looked serious as she explained, looking at the monster. It might sound strange, but it was the only thing she could think of that she thought had any chance of success.

"Then I'll throw you," Alobela replied in neutral agreement.

They all obeyed Eliz's order, except for Grash, who was licking his wounds, and attacked the Mimic Illusive Corpse, which was about to take off. Such a large monster probably needed to prepare for flight; otherwise, it would have been in the air long ago.

The group of Sil and Gabrila weren't lazy on their side either, doing their best to harass the monster with their sudden attacks. They always struck before running off to attack Mimic from a different angle. It seemed almost pointless, but at least they felt like they were contributing something. However, the sudden snort carried them quite far, and it took a while before they managed to pick themselves up again. So they joined the attack of their grey comrades.

They saw the lady being carried by her maid and thought she was injured, so the maid carried her to safety. Therefore, the following event shocked them quite a bit.

Alarr was using all his mana to damage the monster, and with the effort, his skin took on a red tinge. He tensed the muscles on his arm until he felt the fabric of his clothes under his armor crack and sent two quick powerful sword strikes at the monster, which sent two sickles of mana forward that ran through the ground like a hot knife through butter and landed on the monster's body, which shuddered and moved backward. The wounds weren't deep, but blood began to flow out.

Holm formed two large fists from his mana, and they began to continuously pound on Mimic from the other side until the monster's body slowly moved backward. Raiana sent another volley of swallows into the wound created by Alarr. Fraril struck the monster from the same side as Holm and landed with all four feet on the body, which it scratched and muzzled, ripping out more feathers before bouncing away.

At first glance, they might have appeared to have the upper hand, but it was only an impression. The monster had a slow reaction time, but despite the many attacks, no major injuries were received, and they would still be a long way from killing it with this method. Probably from the monster's perspective, they weren't annoying flies anymore but rather annoying mosquitoes.

The Mimic Illusive Corpse suddenly spat out small balls of energy in their direction, forcing them to retreat, and yet they did so. Where the orbs landed, the ground exploded, leaving a deep crater in its wake. If they had been hit, they would have been badly injured. Alarr and the others were not deterred and continued to attack.

Alarr gritted his teeth, mentally wondering why he was doing this. Attacking a 5 Rank monster was simply absurd. He could clearly see that the monster hadn't been seriously injured by their best efforts. What possessed him to listen to this crazy woman? Didn't he condemn himself and the others to a miserable death?

At least that's what he was telling himself in his head. But his instincts simply told him that things might work out. That's why he agreed. After the original plan failed, he thought they should back off, but Elizabeth wanted to go ahead with the plan and he listened to her. Just like that. He was beginning to wonder if he'd been tricked and that the supposedly beneficial contract for them hadn't been a sham after all.

He caught a glimpse of Alobela holding Eliz, watched as she leapt into the air behind the monster, grabbed Eliz by her clothes in a swift motion, and then threw Eliz violently at Mimic.

Plop!

Alarr opened his mouth in mild astonishment as he saw Lady Elizabeth land on the monster's back with her arms and legs outstretched, and from the sound of the slap, it sounded like it probably might have hurt.

Elizabeth, however, gripped the monster's feathers tightly and lifted her head. The skin on her face had turned a little pink, but her expression was determined, and she didn't care about the awkwardness of the whole thing.

"Shock!" She gritted her teeth, and when the electric blasts came from her hands, she crumpled her legs, let go with her hands, and bounced backward, where Alobela was already waiting to catch her again.

Mimic Illusive Corpse screamed, and his body began to squirm with shock.

Eliz smiled triumphantly. "Fraril! A contract!" She called out. Fraril immediately transformed back, his clothes completely undamaged from the transformation, and rushed towards the monster.

All attacks were stopped and waited with bated breath. This was the culmination of their plan. All or nothing. If this didn't work, there would be nothing to do but flee, and Eliz would have to wait for rescue by her family's soldiers.

Fraril ran up to the monster, which stiffened after a moment of writhing, climbed onto Mimic's body, and grabbed the hand that held the monster's skull. He used his knife to gouge a shallow wound on the thumb from which he squeezed a few drops of blood before tracing it onto a piece of paper. The contract flickered faintly with light, confirming the hardening of the contract.

Fraril didn't stay put and hurried over to Eliz, who had been set down by Alobela nearby. "The contract is legitimate. But whether it actually works will only be shown by trying it out. This is an unconventional and untried way of using a slave contract. Hehe. If you can confirm its functionality, I'd like to buy the rights to use it from you," Fraril smiled as he said that and handed Eliz the contract.

Eliz took the contract and frowned as her face hurt a little, her breasts and thighs burning from landing flat on Mimic. "We'll talk about this later," she replied and looked at Mimic. Everyone quickly gathered around her, knowing that if they failed here, their fight would end, and they would run.

The Mimic Illusive Corpse soon began to stir and heave, angrily spreading its wings and screaming. Eliz swallowed her nervousness and prayed it would work. She slid forward and pointed a finger at the monster.

"Shut up and sit down!" she shouted.

The monster actually shut up and turned its head in her direction. The feathers on its body bristled a little and moved in her direction. Eliza's heart dropped in disappointment. Wasn't it working?

"I command you, SIT DOWN!" she tried again and felt the others begin to move behind her. Alobela was already reaching for Eliz when...

Mimic stopped, then slowly sat down on the ground. It began to turn the fake bird's head to the side in confusion.

Eliz noticed that the monster's real head was shaking as if it was trying to shake something off. She smiled. It didn't seem to be perfect, but it worked for the most part. When Eliz thought about it like that, it was understandable. The monster was only part human, so the slave contract wasn't 100% effective.

"Fraril. Sell me one more Rank 5 level contract," Eliz extended her hand to Fraril. The latter pulled one out from his spatial ring without any problem. "Sure. When we talk about a new way to capture demi-human monsters, I'll rip it off the money I offer you," he replied calmly.

Eliz sighed. "Yes, yes. We'll talk about it later," she repeated, taking the new contract and collar from him. "I order you to stay sitting and don't move," Eliz pointed her finger at Mimic and said in as authoritative a voice as she could manage.

Eliz stepped forward, but Alarr stopped her and said he would do it. Eliz didn't protest and handed him both items. Mimic remained in place, but both of its heads were shaking, and it looked uncomfortable and confused.

Alarr snapped a new collar over the previous one and re-clamped his finger around the monster, who gave Alarr a quick look. The treaty glowed faintly again, and Alarr quickly backed away as the monster seemed to be planning to attack him.

"Halt! Don't move!" Eliz ordered again, and Mimic froze. "Lie down!"

The monster slowly lay down. Eliz ventured closer and held out her hand. She was going to try something. "Give me the skull."

The mimic stirred, but then froze again, its arms beginning to reach out and shake strongly. Very reluctantly, he let go of the bird's skull, and Eliz almost dropped her hand. The skull was terribly heavy! She quickly grabbed it with both hands and staggered a little under its weight. What the hell kind of skull was that, that it was so heavy?

"Hoooo..." Mimic made a pitiful sound.

Eliz looked at the monster and was amazed when she saw Mimic's expression. Its terrifying face was twisted with absolute sadness, and even tears were flowing from its eyes. His fingers trembled, and he moved them idly as if trying to grasp something that wasn't there.

She began to feel a little bad about it. Eliz felt like she had just abused an animal. "Okay, okay. You can have it back," she said; she had already tried what she wanted anyway. She wanted to see if he would be able to listen to her. The fact that he handed her the skull showed that he was actually listening to her.

Mimic immediately took the heavy skull back and calmed down.

Eliz was confident now, so she confidently turned her back on the monster and looked at the others. She gave them a thumbs up. "Well done! Good job, everyone!"

Eliz's smile quickly disappeared as a new window appeared before her eyes.

Quest Update!

Quest failure!Two days survival failed! Killing Mimic Illusive Corpse failed!

Description: Bonus Shock has been degraded: It can now only be used once every 12 hours.

Removed 1x Revive.

Eliz's face twisted in anger. That bastard!

But when the window disappeared, a new one appeared.

Quest Update!

Innovative approach to the quest!Taming Mimic Illusive Corpse!

Description: An unexpected result of a given task. Your reward is being counted.

Eliz waited, but nothing happened, even after the system window disappeared. How long are they gonna consider it? Is it possible there's some kind of dispute on the other side over this? Nah. That wasn't her problem.

Eliz decided to just move on and wait for the system to give her a result. But the reduction of her Shock Bonus was painful, and even more so, they took away her hard-earned Revival! So that meant she only had one Revive and one Rewind left.

Eliz suspected that the System was punishing her for not playing by its rules. Fortunately, she still had one more Revival. If she didn't have it, she'd get really nervous. She sighed and turned to Mimic. Time to put things right.

She didn't see the others collapsing with fatigue. Luckily, no one was seriously injured except for Grash.

*****

"Hey, you! Be good and break the illusion!" she ordered.

It was as if the village had been rejuvenated. Of course, what was destroyed remained destroyed. But the otherwise desolate appearance of the village disappeared, as if by magic everything was restored, color and life returned. Even the villagers appeared.

In addition to the battle group, the remaining villagers began to gather, as everything returned to its original appearance. The villagers celebrated, laughed, cried with joy and sorrow for those who had not survived the whole event.

Almost an hour passed before they calmed down a bit, which the others used to get some rest. Eliz, meanwhile, had been testing the strength of Mimic's control, but even though she could see the occasional reluctance, the monster eventually obeyed. So she was fairly confident that she could control it without any problems.

"Heroes!" Eliz heard a call behind her, causing her to flinch and turn around.

The villagers began to crowd around them with puzzled faces and started calling them names. Emina, Sil, and Gabril were in the lead, and they all looked excited.

"Heroes! Heaven itself must have sent you! You saved us all from that monster..." Emina paused and glanced at Mimic who sat in the background, his size and the events that had happened made an intimidating impression on everyone.

"We are very grateful to you. I don't even want to think about how many more people could die before help arrives," Emina continued.

Eliz glared at the swelling crowd, the rest of her supine group either looked embarrassed or not affected at all. As for Eliz herself, she didn't like being called a Hero. But she was already considering how to take advantage of it.

Fern village was known for its very high-quality herbs, wasn't it?

Eliz smiled a little. "Oh. No problem. No problem. That's what any good citizen should do, right?" She said.

Emina and Gabril nodded their heads in agreement, Sil the only one rolling her eyes. "You're right, but the truth is, not everyone would really help," Gabril uttered, knowing that if that were true, he would start to think he was back in some sort of illusion.

Eliz smiled again. "Right. So, good thing I'm not a good citizen. I'm sure you won't mind rewarding us. After all, we risked life and limb for your village and complete strangers. I'd say 50% of your herb crop for two years would be just right."

The villagers fell silent upon hearing this. Emina's smile faded. "Erm... honored heroes. That's a bit... a bit much, don't you think?" She was the first to say when she regained her composure. She hadn't expected this lady to demand a reward, and certainly not one this big!

Eliz sighed significantly. "Ah? Really? Do you feel that your lives and village are not worth that much? Very well, so as not to be called unreasonable, 40% should be enough."

Gabril frowned a little. "Ehm. Heroes... Of course our lives and village are worth a lot, but harvesting herbs is what keeps everyone alive and brings prosperity. If we give up so much, it will be hard to maintain the standard of living we have worked so hard for. Wouldn't you like a financial reward instead?"

Eliz frowned, then shook her head. "In some ways, consumable items are better than money. No. I want your herbs. All right, all right. What about the 30%? Does that sound good to you?"

The villagers started muttering among themselves.

"Are they... really heroes? They may have saved us, but this..."

"30% of our crops?! Isn't that woman too greedy?"

"They're not heroes, they're thieves! How can they ask us for such an amount?"

"Thieves? Wait, don't say that..."

"Then what are they? This is definitely not the behavior of heroes!"

Eliz listened to that and raised her eyebrows. "Oh? So this is how it is, huh?" She said rather loudly, silencing everyone.

"Now that your skin is saved, you find it hard to give a reward to those who did the hardest and most dangerous part? What were you thinking? That you would praise us, give us a feast, and happily go our separate ways?" Eliz was still smiling, though not cheerfully.

"Excellent. Well done! Now I know what impression to take away from this village. A bunch of ungrateful sons of bitches! Fine! So I want 50% of each of your crops for two years!"

Gabril and Emina looked unhappy, Sil looked quite stunned this time, and the rest of the villagers started shouting in displeasure.

"What did you say? Who do you think you are!"

"They're not heroes, they're thieves! Thieves I say!"

Gabril and Emina turned around and tried to calm the angry villagers down. This could get out of hand quickly.

Eliz turned away. "Mimic!" She called, and the monster moved slowly towards them. When the monster got closer, they all fell silent again. Eliz climbed on top of Mimic and stood on his arm, which he bent for her, looking displeased, but Eliz didn't care. Instead, she looked down at the villagers, who had stopped shouting and hunkered down in alarm.

"That's right. I'm not a Hero. To me, Hero is a dirty word! So shut up and give us our reward, or I swear I have a monster and I'm not afraid to use it!" Eliz threatened ruthlessly.