It was after dark when Millie made it back to Cragfall, and that's when all hell broke loose.

As it turns out, there was an undocumented feature of her [Skelemation] skill. She had noticed it the night before with the crow, but didn't register that it was an effect that all skeletons she reanimated would have: they glowed in the dark.

The black-and-white fire that seemed to be a [Death Mage] hallmark surrounded both the rat and the owlbear. It was faint when compared to what appeared when she cast a spell, but when darkness fell, it was very obvious they were limned in the essence of death.

And the people of Cragfall did not like it one bit.

The guards at the gate didn't give her a hard time after she'd already stood her ground with them earlier, but the townsfolk were acting like a monster was attacking the town from the moment she—or rather her mount—stepped within the walls.

Screams erupted as people noticed her on the road. More than a dozen people in as many seconds yelled something along the lines of "Guards! Monster attack! Undead! Ahhhh!"

Doors slammed, and tradespeople did what they could to cover their carts and skedaddle before she came anywhere near.

All Millie could do was reaffirm to them that she wasn't a monster, that the skeletons were just part of her class. She found herself apologizing to parents as their children took off running and crying, breaking the grip their mothers or fathers had on them.

Eventually, as she would have expected, a group of city guards showed up to prevent her from making further progress toward the Adventurer's Guild. Cragfall was a decently large town, so there were multiple ways to get everywhere, but the size of her owlbear made it so that she couldn't take a lot of the tighter side streets and alleys.

The guards were taking the people's yells of a monster attack seriously, and they'd set up a "trap" for Millie as she walked at a steady pace down the main thoroughfare.

A pair of guards rushed from between buildings on either side of the street, each of them holding a round shield ahead of them with swords in the air ready to strike. Millie had to give it to them. They were doing their jobs, and if it were a real monster attack, they'd have gotten a huge jump on it and likely would have debilitated it before much damage could be done.

Unfortunately, as Millie had tried to tell so many people, she and her companions were not monsters. And because of that, the four guards rushing at her had to make some split-second decisions.

She was neither a monster nor a criminal. And even city guards couldn't straight-out attack a citizen without being flagged as one themselves. They could manhandle and restrain someone, sure, but not directly make attacks on someone without serious consequences.

So as they rushed toward Millie and her oversized mount, the System obviously let them know that she was a law-abiding citizen and attacking her would incur the aforementioned consequences.

Millie couldn't stop herself from laughing a little as the guards slammed into each other as they tried to stop their charge before coming into contact with the skeleton.

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Ahead of her, guards lined up in a double row seemed to relax just a little as the attackers stumbled and ungracefully did what they could not to strike Millie.

"Think it's funny, do ya?" asked a guard, an officer of some kind obviously, stepping out from the first row. "Gettin' the whole town up in arms and scared there's a monster attack? What are you thinking?"

Millie shrugged. "No, that's not funny." She pointed at the four guards at her sides. "That is funny. I didn't mean to get anyone stirred up or scared. I'm just on my way to turn in my quest and head home for the night."

The officer took a few steps closer, his hand always on the sword sheathed at his side. He held his gaze just a second too long, and Millie knew he was using some class skill on her.

"Mildred Coreia, huh?"

She nodded. "That's me. Millie, actually."

"Level 2 [Death Mage]," he said, clicking his tongue. "Luc and Arla's girl."

Millie smiled proudly. "Yep!"

"Well, that explains the ruckus and people losing their damnable minds about it."

"Yeah, sorry," Millie said and meant it. She didn't want to cause a commotion, but she also didn't want to not live her life like a normal person. She didn't want to have to be like Lorey's great-great-granduncle or whoever he was.

Sighing, the guard captain waved at the men behind him, and the blockade in front of Millie dispersed. "It's been a long time since we've had a [Necromancer] in town, Millie. People ain't used to seeing giant, glowing skeletons in town at night." He paused and looked her ride up and down. "Or during the day, for that matter."

"I get that," Millie said. And she did! She just didn't know what else to do. "I just don't really have a choice, you know? It's my class, and this is just part of that."

Shaking his head and looking at the ground, the guard captain said, "I don't know what to tell you, but you can't keep this up. I already got one report about you giving my guards trouble at the gate—"

"That was entirely on them! I was just trying to turn in a quest. Like I am right now, too!"

"Regardless, I don't want this to become a problem." He nodded at the owlbear. "What do you plan on doing with this thing?"

Millie hadn't really thought about that. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, where is it going to live? I don't think this is going to fit in your house do you?"

Once again, Millie hadn't thought about that. "I guess it'll hang out in the yard?"

"Oh, your neighbors are going to love that. I do not look forward to the reports that are about to come in."

"Sorry."

"Look, Millie," the guard said, "I know your folks, been delving with them a time or two. They won't shut up about what a good kid you are. But that still doesn't mean that we can have this happen every night?"

"People will get used to it," Millie pointed out. "In a day or two, who's even going to notice?"

"Have you ever met people before, Millie? They don't get used to anything." He put his hands on his hips, sighed again, looked at the ground, and shook his head. "There's a mage shop in the Cavern called ZuZu's PETals, and they specialize in summons and familiars and that kinda magic stuff."

The Cavern was what residents of Cragfall called the part of the city that was carved into the mountain that the rest of it was pressed up against.

"You should get your ma to take you over there and see if there's anything they can do about making this thing a little more street legal."

"Mom's out of town," Millie said. "She and dad are helping out with some rare dungeon that popped up near Drustmere. I'll head over there tomorrow myself, though, and see what I can find. That's a good idea."

Shouting was getting louder behind Millie and the guard captain looked around the owlbear and saw a group of people walking up the road, shouting and angrily holding weapons of different kinds. They were apparently ready for a monster hunt. He pinched the bridge of his nose and said to Millie, "I'm gonna take care of this, and you go turn in your quest. Then get that thing off my streets, Millie Coreia. You hear me?"

"Yes, sir."

"And Zuzu's PETals in the Cavern. Tomorrow."

Millie tapped her temple with one finger and went to the Adventurer's Guild so she could finally give them this gods forsaken bag of wheat.