Rest and move on

Fern Village

After Eliz had threatened the villagers with her new beast, everyone calmed down. Or rather, the villagers submitted, and no one dared to protest anymore.

Fraril turned away and coughed a little as he hid his laughter. Alobela had regained her frozen look that suggested her mind had wandered off to somewhere better, Raiana looked embarrassed, and Holm amused. Alarr was looking up at the sky, and who knew if he had found anything there. The only one openly laughing was Grash, who had stopped dripping black blood but still looked severely wounded.

After the situation calmed down, the first thing to do was celebrate. Naturally, people wanted to celebrate after going through a bad experience, so after the argument ended to lift everyone's spirits, Emina declared that there would be a big celebration at the inn. Gabril immediately began to assist her with the organization.

Eliz, who felt they had done enough, sent Mimic to the outskirts of the village to rest and wait for her, and her group went to the inn. They too needed rest after all the work; maybe she should feel bad after threatening the village, but she didn't.

In another three hours, a great celebration broke out at the inn.

Eliz and her group sat at a table filled with food and drink, but they were a bit isolated. The villagers had always been angry, so they ignored each other, which suited Eliz just fine. She watched as smiles spread across people's faces, laughter filling the air, and some drinking to celebrate life. Voices, singing, and music carried everywhere, and Eliz felt strangely comfortable.

Soon, Emina and Gabril came to find her and again tried to negotiate a reward. Eliz was insistent for a while, but after a while, she relented, and they finally agreed on 15% of the herbs from their harvest for two years.

Eliz really didn't want to ask for that much originally. She was prepared to go as low as 5%, but the villagers' behavior made her angry, so she wasn't going to spare them. On the other hand, she knew that 50% was a disproportionate amount and could greatly damage the village. Throwing the village into poverty wasn't her intention, so she feigned unwillingness, but in the end, she lowered it to a reasonable amount that was still substantial for Eliz but no longer overwhelming for the village.

Emina and Gabril were quite reasonable, so she gave them even a three-month reprieve, since Fern's village needed to be repaired. Eliz considered herself quite benevolent.

Emina and Gabril eventually went to prepare a contract to formalize everything. Eliz wouldn't have it any other way because she certainly wouldn't trust any "promise". She wanted to have everything nicely written out and confirmed that would stand up in court.

They all got cleaned up, Grash's wounds were patched up, and then they rested, ate, and drank.

Gradually, the more sociable ones also went to talk to the villagers who were already in the mood, so eventually, they started talking to her group of outcasts as well. Eliz ended up at the table with only the unsocial pieces of rocks like Alarr, Fraril, and Alobela.

Thankfully, Grash healed fairly quickly, so while he wasn't completely fine after a couple of hours, he was fine enough to go flirt with the local girls. Holm stayed close to Raiana as her appearance attracted enough attention, so he made sure no one was mean to her. Raiana was a social soul, but because of her race, she kept to herself.

Eliz hoped that Raiana would eventually stop being concerned about her race and stop worrying about other people's opinions. After all, a person didn't need dozens of people in their life to be happy, just the right few who wouldn't care that she had a bit of demon blood.

Eliz closed her eyes and took a sip of wine. She was glad they were past this crisis and could continue on their journey tomorrow morning. She considered what she was going to do with Mimic. Should she travel with such a large beast? There was probably nothing else she could do. Luckily, Mimic could fly and could also use illusion, so it should be fine.

Eliz was also waiting to see when her reward would arrive. However, the system was silent, and Eliz was getting really curious. What was going to happen?

Eventually, Eliz stopped thinking about anything and felt the muscles in her back and neck relax. She had no idea how stiff she was until she allowed herself to relax. There were too many things going on, too many things to arrange, to organize, to get, and when Eliz thought about the fact that she'd basically only been in this world for a month, she felt a little depressed. It seemed like a much longer time to her.

It was getting dark outside, and the noise seemed to be increasing. People were talking like there was no tomorrow, and Eliz thought it was only right. Drown out the past problems and start the new day with a nice hangover.

"I'm going to get some air," Eliz announced and made her way outside with her drink. The others watched after her.

Alobela watched the receding figure of her young lady. Then her calm green eyes moved forward, and she blinked. A strange window appeared before her eyes, invisible to all.

Name: Alobela Leparun

Role: Lady Elibateth's Head Maid

Position: NPC number 45

Cycle number: 16578

Number of available revivals: Unavailable

Number of failures: 16576

Achievements: Royal Messenger, Loyal Maid

Bonus: Endless Jump

Alobela didn't know what it was, but it seemed like some strange file on her person. It appeared the moment she decided to continue following Lady Elizabeth, and it appeared as Alobela wanted it to. She knew it had something to do with her mistress, but despite her rather good intelligence, Alobela couldn't figure out the reason or use of the thing.

She would have to wait and watch more.

*****

Eliz leaned against the outside railing and looked out onto the street where people were also celebrating. There were tables and a live band playing a fast song that people were dancing to. She was kind of hoping for a moment of peace, but it was better than inside.

She looked up at the sky where the moon had already appeared in the laughing sky, even though it wasn't completely dark yet. Eliz looked forward to being at the Blue Rose Estate and being able to get some rest. After all, that was her first and foremost goal: to build a safe sanctuary. But things had gotten quite complicated from what she thought. It seemed she will have to acquire considerable protection for her future fortress.

She had to think long and hard about it and realized the best thing she could do was to ask the World Tree Shannon. Originally, she had wanted to ask about how to get out of here or what this strange system was, also about the God of Light and the God of Darkness or the secret behind the story of Everybody Loves Selene. But from the sound of the answer to her first question about the System, she suspected Shannon couldn't answer it.

That narrowed the possibilities, and Eliz had only two questions. So she had to refocus her thoughts. Eventually, she began to think differently. She wanted to ask about where and how she could get protection for her territory that would withstand even Divine power. And Eliz believed there would be something like that. This was a damn cliché novel, so cliché ultimate items had to be here too, even if Eliz didn't know about them.

"Feeling well, my dear?" Eliz was snapped out of her thoughts by the arrival of Fraril, who was leaning next to her, from the way he was standing he already was, and she didn't notice him until he spoke.

"Hm. Yes. Just thinking." Eliz looked at him as she replied.

"You should relax a little, Lady Elizabeth. You handled it well, no need to worry about everything." Fraril smiled a little as he gave Eliz words of encouragement.

Eliz chuckled, finding it amusing to receive comfort from someone like Fraril, who was one of the leaders of the underworld. It was funny, and it kind of broke the character that Fraril had been showing up until now.

"You don't have to worry. I'll sign the contract for you. You want the rights to the monster trapping method I came up with, right? No problem. A reasonable amount will settle it, and I also want one trapped monster out of ten. For every ten, you have to give me one." Eliz smiled.

Fraril laughed briefly. "Yes. I didn't expect you to go easy on me, Lady Elizabeth."

Eliz shrugged. "After what we've been through, I think it's only fitting that you call me Eliz. And yes. I'm not even soft on my allies when it comes to deals."

Fraril nodded. "All right. This deal sounds fair. We'll write it up later. Now, though, tell me, why are you so eager to move forward? I've been watching you for a while, and it almost seems like you're being chased by all the devils of hell. You're always giving off a sense of urgency. I know you're worried about war, but if we can get the World Tree situation under control, there won't be a war."

Eliz pursed her lips and sighed. "It's hard to explain." Eliz said, but she wasn't going to talk about the System or the fact that this was all a fictional world. Explain to the people who live and die here that they aren't real and neither is this world. It's just not possible. Eliz chose to treat this world and the people as real, but that didn't change the fact that it was a fictional story.

"It's a feeling. I'm constantly haunted by the feeling of danger and the need to move forward. And also..." She paused. "I don't think curing the World Tree will solve things with the war. I suspect it will happen anyway. Sooner or later."

Eliz was almost certain it would happen. After all, this was one of the big events of the story that was important to reinforce the Male Lead. Things will probably change after Shannon is cured, but the foundation will probably stay the same.

Fraril was silent for a moment. "I see. But there's no need for you to take care of everything yourself, right? You have family and allies who can do a lot, too."

Eliz laughed and winked at Fraril. "That's why I work so much, Fraril. Work now, slack off later. Why do you think I've gained you as an ally? I'm going to put some things on your shoulders later."

Fraril laughed too. "And is it good to tell me? I feel very unsafe right now."

"Haha. You're already an involved party. Pity for you."

"How unfortunate."

They were both silent for a moment, Eliz looking at the dancers again, and Fraril listening to the music. Fraril suddenly put his hand on Eliz's shoulder and moved a little closer to her. "Rest a little more. Too much stress is bad for you, Eliz." He said before patting her shoulder and walking away.

Eliz looked back at him before looking ahead of her again. "Rest, huh? I wonder when I'll actually be able to rest. Maybe in the grave, hmm? Haha." She let out a long sigh after her words and began massaging the back of her neck with her hand.

Alarr, who had waited for Fraril to come in, stepped forward and heard Lady Elizabeth's last words. He stopped and stood awkwardly in place for a moment. Was this not a rather dark way of thinking for a young woman?

He looked at the lonely figure of Lady Elizabeth and pondered for a moment before turning and going back inside. He decided it would be better to leave his benefactor to her thoughts for now.

*****

Eliz and the others gradually went to sleep, even though the party was still going on. The next morning, they began to prepare to leave. Eliz had gotten her contract for the herbs and felt content. She felt that this whole incident was very beneficial to her.

The leaders of the two parties had come to say their goodbyes, as well as a few villagers who had managed their morning hangovers. Eliz didn't enjoy the long goodbyes, so they only said a few words to each other before she waved to them, and they started on their way out of the village. Her monster was waiting for her on the outskirts of Fern Village, but there was someone else besides Mimic waiting for her as well.

Sil, along with seven other people, stood resolutely in the path of their carriage. Holm had to stop, and Eliz stepped out to face the cat group with a weary sigh.

"What do you want?" Eliz put her hand on her hip and sent Sil a look of annoyed contempt.

Sil Ga had a firm look and stepped forward, followed by her little gang. "Boss! Let me follow you! You have my deepest respect!" She suddenly exclaimed and bowed deeply. "Boss! Let us follow you!" The rest of the gang exclaimed, bowing perhaps even more.

Eliz blinked. "Hah?!" What is this nonsense again!?