Fern Village

Fraril and Raiana hurried from one house to another, heading for a place in the village. "Wait a minute," Raiana stopped Fraril, and they both crouched on the roof of the house. Raiana looked down the street and saw one ruined house; the wall was completely open, and someone, definitely a beast, had forced its way through the floor and dug out the basement. It was impossible to miss a few remains, but that wasn't what Raiana was paying attention to.

She would have liked to take a closer look, but the fact that the gas continued to hover near the ground like a ground fog prevented her from going down. "Did you notice that we ran into a few places like this on the way? Could that mean something?" she asked for the old wolf's opinion.

Fraril cocked his head. "I have two possibilities. It's looking for something. Or it has something to do with how the thing senses everything. Remember, when we were above head level, it didn't notice us. But judging by the cellars, and almost all of them had some remains, it perceives things below head level. Based on the body of the thing, it's part snake. And reptiles are quite sensitive to heat fluctuations. Maybe that's how it senses living creatures underground?"

Raiana was amazed that Fraril had come up with such a complex theory. "That sounds... reasonable. Why didn't you mention it? I think it would do our lady some good with her planning." They got moving again.

"No one asked," Fraril replied lightly, smiling a little. It made Raiana realize one thing. Fraril was someone who didn't hold things back, but until someone asked, he wouldn't contribute things on his own. She decided to keep that in mind and ask more of his opinions.

They arrived at the location of the Mimic Illusive Corpse before Fraril was interrupted from his surveillance. Both Fraril and Raiana gasped and immediately smelled something, both turning their heads towards one of the houses at the same time. It was a bit larger than the others, but it still couldn't be considered anything luxurious.

They both bounced and landed lightning-fast on the house, Raina immediately noticing that the back of the house was a hot mess. She saw broken wood, masonry, furniture, all thrown into the backyard.

What they both smelled was the stench of blood, feces, and rot. After Raiana checked the area and deemed it safe, they both jumped to the ground. And they saw the nest.

The entire back wall of the house was gone, the inside of the house had been hollowed out, and all but a few pieces of rough furniture were gone. All that was everywhere was a large number of eggs, blue feathers, and a dead hen.

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Raiana looked it over. "It's a nesting place, isn't it?" She wondered. It wasn't exactly typical behavior. Monsters usually kept their dens as far away from potential danger as possible.

"I don't get that impression," Fraril replied.

Raiana looked at him. "What do you mean? There's a house that makes a big nest. It looks like nesting to me."

"But does it look like a monster egg to you? Besides... some of it smells pretty bad already," Fraril waved significantly in front of his nose.

Raiana took a breath and agreed. Despite the stench of dead chickens, this was what a rotten egg smelled like. "So... it's collecting eggs from around here?" Raiana was confused by the monster's behavior.

Fraril rubbed his chin. "Hm. It seems. And I'm beginning to have an idea what's going on." Raiana blinked. "Huh? Really? Then what do you think?"

Fraril twitched his ears and smiled to show his canines. "I think the village brought all this on itself. We'll look around some more and come back." He waved at Raiana.

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Eliz watched the village from the window, sitting on the windowsill, her hands folded on her chest. She planned and planned in her mind until it gave her a headache. Of course, she had said what she wanted to do, and it was doable. Still, a million things could go wrong, and most importantly, it might not even work in the end.

Sure, Mimic Illusive Corpse might be part human, or used to be, so in theory, it should have worked, but it was still just a theory. If it didn't work out, they'd be pretty much screwed.

Eliz was pretty confident, but as she thought things through more and more, she began to hesitate and doubt. Also, Eliz had a slight suspicion that quests with recovery rewards would become rare from now on. The dream told her that one of the parties involved was not happy with her actions. It could just as well be that he would end up trying to get rid of her.

"But I'm not going to make that easy for you," she said, clenching her hand into a fist.

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"Excuse me?" Holm asked, standing next to her and paying attention while Alarr rested, and so did Grash, who was still trying to regain his lost strength. Eliz had stopped draining him, finally acknowledging that what she already had was enough for her plan.

"Nothing," Eliz replied.

Alobela would occasionally run off, dragging Grash with her to check on the dig. Grash was finally the only one of the villagers who had even seen a bit of him before she returned with him. The dig was going quite well, and it was estimated that it should be finished by late afternoon.

Eliz watched the air, but this time she wasn't looking at the window of the system, just imagining possible scenarios in her head and how things might wind up. She was snapped out of her silence by the arrival of Fraril and Raiana, quickly turning to them, her eyes urging them to tell her what they had found.

Raiana explained what they had found.

"A nest?" Eliz began to rub her chin. This was not something she had expected.

"Yes. But they don't seem to be monster eggs," Raiana agreed.

Eliz nodded. "Of course there aren't. If they were, it would at least sit on them for a while to keep them warm. But according to Fraril, the monster hasn't stopped for long in hours. That's no way to hatch an egg." Eliz naturally knew that. She had a project in elementary school where she tried to artificially hatch a chicken egg. She found it more interesting than making a volcano. Hatching an egg is a hell of a job.

"Mr. Fraril has a theory," Raiana said, looking at Fraril expectantly. So did everyone else.

"Really? What's your theory, Fraril?" Eliz wondered.

Fraril turned his head to Raiana for a moment before speaking. "My theory is that someone from the village stole the real Mimic Illusive Corpse eggs. That would explain the thing's strange behavior, and also the fact that it hoards eggs from the village."

Eliz was speechless for a moment and then burst out laughing. "Hahaha! Huu hahaha..." She slapped her thigh, and the others bulged their eyes at her in puzzlement. "No... it just... sounds ridiculous! So this is supposed to be an act of revenge on the monster's side? You stole my eggs, so I'm going to steal your eggs? Pfuhahaha!"

When she explained what made her laugh, the others were amused as well. Holm laughed, and Raiana held back her laughter with a snort; even Alarr's lips thinned a bit. Alobela was the only one who still had the same neutral expression on her face.

After a moment, Eliz waved her hand. "All right. It may be a ridiculous reason, but the situation is quite serious. So someone stole the real monster eggs. That means they must be hidden in the village."

Alarr got up from the bed. "Do you plan to look for them, my lady?" he asked.

Eliz had indeed considered it, but one thing hadn't changed. Time was something she did not have. Besides, even if she found the eggs and handed them over to the monster, it didn't guarantee that she would leave afterward. In fact, the real massacre would probably begin.

"No. The eggs are the only thing stopping the monster from wiping out the entire village. I don't think the monster of Rank 5 would leave peacefully," Eliz dismissed that. "It seems that even though we're on the trail of the truth about the whole incident, it doesn't change anything."

Eliz looked out the window and gazed up at the blue sky. "We should start slowly."

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In an hour, they were at the hole, which Alobela, with the help of Grash, had marked with several sticks stuck around. The illusion was too strong, so despite the fact that even Eliz had tried to climb into it, it remained unseen to them. It was a definite disadvantage, but they would have to work with what they had.

Eliz called everyone together and explained the plan in detail. It sounded rather crazy, but it could work. Alobela kept protesting for Eliz to participate, but there was no other way. Only she could paralyze the monster and buy enough time to put on the slave collar.

Eliz could only hope it would work. She had no desire to die, but she was prepared to use the Rewind she had acquired. In fact, she would rather not use it, but it was still better than dying.

It took some time to get everything ready, and then there was one last thing to do: go to their places. Eliz looked everyone over, even though they were all strong professionals, so she was sure they were worried. She was glad she hadn't brought Haidi with her. If she had been here, Eliz would probably have been twice as nervous. Better not to drag the kids into such unplanned things.

"Just relax, everyone. It's going to be hard, but I'm sure it'll work," she said encouragingly. "And if it doesn't work out after all... just run away." She waved her hand.

"But, my lady..." Alobela protested, but Eliz cut her off. "Naturally, after someone picks me up."

"Of course, if..." Alarr spoke this time, but Eliz interrupted him as well. "Raiana will handle it."

Alarr fell silent in surprise, and Eliz raised an eyebrow at him. "She's faster than you, despite the difference in your Rank," she remarked.

He frowned even more at that, but Alarr nodded in agreement. He couldn't deny it; Raiana was a Runner, after all. In some ways, just one rank difference wasn't enough. Not in the case of an Attacker and a Runner.

While Alarr acknowledged that was true, he felt somewhat out of place that Lady Elizabeth wasn't relying on his protection in this case. Suddenly, he felt a slight nudge to strengthen himself quickly.

"Very well. On your marks. Once we're deployed, Alobela will make a noise and move away with the villagers who aren't fighting. Get in position! In position!" She clapped her hands and made her way to the hole they had dug and climbed into it. There was water at the bottom of the pit, about halfway up her calves, but Eliz didn't worry about that because she was wearing high boots, and her boots were made of good leather that just wouldn't let the water through. She climbed into the shallow hole in the wall and dipped a handkerchief in the water, tying it around her nose and mouth. She was ready.

She closed her eyes and tried to calm her heart. "It'll work. It'll work. Everything will be okay," she muttered softly to herself and only opened her eyes when she heard a loud thump. Alobela made a noise that attracted the monster.

"Shit, it's gonna work, damn it!" Eliz was losing her nerve a little.

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Alobela turned away from the collapsing building and looked at the marked spot where the pit should have been.

Her expression remained unchanged, but she was concerned. As a former Royal Messenger, she'd had training where they prepared her for all sorts of scenarios. She knew that if something could go wrong, it would.

That's why she didn't leave as she was ordered but hid near the hole to go to her mistress' aid if something happened.

Being near the hole, hidden by the illusion, she could hear her mistress' voice mumbling to herself, convincing herself of the success of the event. For some reason, this put Alobela at ease. Her lady hadn't changed that much after all.