The sun has barely risen, but we’re on the move once again. Everyone is watching in curiosity as the Viperion inspects her Hero panel. The leader is clearly frustrated that, once again, a monster has become a Hero, but it still wasn’t him. If only he knew that to be a Hero doesn’t even require killing someone… Either way, I’m not as concerned about that as I am about something else… My life and mana bars are glowing with a red aura as if I’m under attack, but… there’s no one here! We’re being stalked by someone that doesn’t want us to notice them. Unfortunately, they must not know we’re Heroes that can track such things.

 

Mange taps me with his bottle of alcohol before taking a drink. “Don’ be so worried. They know ya can see yer watchin’em. They’re jus’ watchin’ us ‘til they can figure out how ta separate me from th’ rest.” I… see. I guess that makes sense. Mange is very strong, so no one would reveal themselves and put themselves at risk like that, especially if they can see Mange’s level. That makes my nerves loosen up a little, but that glow on my health and mana bars… it’s eating at me just knowing someone is watching us…

 

Continuing through the forest, Mange points to every wild beast we come across, trying to find the perfect creature for the Viperion to capture. “Why not that elk? They’re quite ferocious when they get heated!” Mange whispers to the Viperion. “Sorry, but I just don’t see myself caring for an elk.” A group of wolves pass through the trees in the distance. “Maybe a wolf, then?” Mange suggests. “I’m quite fond of the Wolfen family. I feel like it would be disgraceful to own one of their distant relatives as a pet.” Mange scratches his head. “Yer really a picky one, aren’t ya?” I walk around Mange and stand next to the Viperion, tapping her arm.

 

She turns to me as I point to a squirrel. She chuckles a little at my suggestion. “I don’t think such a small creature could assist us in any way.” “Ha ha ha ha!” Mange let’s out a laugh. “Yer missin’ th’ point, snake girly! Yer power gives yer pets power! If ya took that squirrel, it can take a pack o’ wolves if yer strong enough!” Wha-?! Is that really how the Tamer's power works?! I just suggested the squirrel because I assumed she may want a smaller pet, apart from a larger one! I had no idea they could be empowered in such a way! She looks at the squirrel for a moment. She’s not actually considering capturing it, is she?

 

“Alright! Then I’ve made up my mind!” She splits from the group, carefully approaching the squirrel. She gets fairly close to it, raising her hand, and seemingly commanding the creature to approach her. The squirrel suddenly runs towards her. It scampers up her leg and aggressively bites and scratches her, ripping bits and pieces of scales from her body in a hostile display! I reach for my sword to assist, but Mange stops me! “Jus’ keep watchin’.” He says with a calm expression. The Viperion continues to hold her hand out, attempting to ease the creature’s temperament. As quickly as all the hostility began, it suddenly ended. The squirrel silences its assault, calming down, and begins licking the Viperion’s wounds.

 

The Viperion lowers her arm as the squirrel rests on her shoulder, licking a wound that it made. “*whew!* You’re quite the feisty one, aren’t you?” She says as she scratches its chin with her finger. “Suppose I’ll name you “Ire” since you’ve got such a fiery spirit!” The group begins applauding. The Viperion quickly turns around to the sound of their clapping. She hides her face with her arm in embarrassment. As she wondered back over to the group, the other monsters began patting her back and celebrating her success at taming the creature. Eventually, the excitement dies down, and we begin walking as we were. The Viperion makes her way back to us in the group.

 

“If I’d have known everyone would be this excited over such a minor feat, I would have captured something at night.” As Mange does his standard heckling, I nervously tap the Viperion on the arm. I shiver a little as I point to the squirrel, then point to my face. She gasps. “I’m sorry! Even if I prefer to dine on small creatures, that is not why I’ve tamed one!” The Viperion opens her statistics panel and enters into a page I had not known of. It is called a General Ability Tab. She has three major abilities in here. Serpent Venom, which is her native species ability, much like my Grave Keeper ability. Her other two abilities are “Tame Creature” and “Beast Commands.”

 

“As I inspected my new abilities, I see that I can command Ire to scout the area. I felt a small creature that can easily scale trees and hide.” I’m impressed! She seems like she’s adapted well into her life as a Hero! In fact… I’m almost jealous… It’s fine. I’m still higher level. It will take her some time to catch up to me. The Viperion turns to Ire. “Could you find the one who’s watching us, please?” Ire climbs down her body and dashes into the woods in search of the person who is hunting us. I’m serious who may be after us, but even more than that, I’m curious if it’s someone we can even stop. The owl was pretty strong. Could the owner be even stronger?

 

I speed up as I try to catch up to the leader. I feel as though he should know that the people might be in danger. I approach him with a bit of caution. I know he’s aware that the Viperion has become a Hero, which is a soft topic for him. However, this isn’t the time for pettiness! I begin walking next to him, cautiously glancing towards him. His face looks calm, but I can feel in his stride that he’s not happy. I reach out to touch his arm, but he steps out of my reach. “How long has she been a Hero?” He asks with a seemingly calm demeanor. I can’t specify in words, so I merely point to the ground.

 

The leader doesn’t even want to make eye contact with me. “So, today, huh? Or more likely last night when the three of you had vanished into the woods…” I can’t explain it to him well, but I hope he comes to his own conclusion that it was for the safety of everyone. “Perhaps… this will be fine.” Confused, I quickly look back at him. The leader isn’t content with that! I know he isn’t! He slows his walking pace and calms his breathing s little more. “You must have encountered something that had threatened us. I suppose… this one is my fault for not joining you in protecting the people.” Shock… Utter shock and disbelief! The leader is unbelievably good at understanding me!

 

A small smile as he looks to me. While not a happy smile, it is one that’s swallowing his pride. His expression speaks so much louder than he could ever vocalize. “I will congratulate her on the success she has achieved. If you would, could you please bring her to me?” I… suppose this is much better than it could have been. It’s most definitely an improvement from the childish attitude he’s been showing lately. As I start to fall back into the group, I feel Mange’s hand touch my back. I look over my shoulder to see Mange and the Viperion had caught up to me. Mange walks beside me as the Viperion steps to the opposite side of the leader. “Y-you wanted t-to speak?” The Viperion says in a shaky, timid voice.

 

The leader holds a silent gaze ahead for a long moment. The sound of collective footsteps suddenly felt like heartbeat of the moment. Knowing the true nature of the leader, how will he speak? He reaches his hand out to her, gently resting it on her head. He gives her a delicate smile, caring and supportive. “You have done well. I hope you had not been hurt while attaining that power.” Her eyes widen and begin to sparkle as tears swell up in them. She quickly looks away from us to avoid our sight. “I’m fine! No need t-to worry about me!” The leader lowers his hand. “He he. That’s good. You seemed quite capable before. Now, even more so.”

 

Mange bumps my arm. “Somethin’ happen when ya had yer heart-ta-heart w’ ‘im?” He whispers to me. I just shrug my shoulders. I couldn’t possibly understand what conclusions he came up with since we last talked. “It’s alright. I’m no longer upset about your saving of that human.” He holds his hand in front of himself. “I had pondered of the circumstances to becoming a Hero and I’ve come to the conclusion that it was just not my destiny…” He looks around at us. “While I am upset at that fact, there is no denying that I’m simply not suited to be a Hero.” The leader inhales deeply, then exhales, seemingly relieving the negative emotions that he had been holding onto.

 

“While it may not be by destiny to be a Hero, that does not mean I cant guide each of you to be better Heroes!” The leader smiles. This time, a very genuine smile. “I will raise a village for us! Not a dungeon to shelter, but a town for monsters! We will reestablish monsters to become Heroes, and we will become our own civilization, as my grandfather had told me about!” As if by some glorious coincidence, a light peeks through ahead of us, shining from between the trees. We pass through the last grouping to find ourselves out of the forest! The sun is still high, and the fields are plentiful! Mountain ranges in the distance with blue skies and few clouds guiding us on our adventure!

 

“Come now! Let us continue on our quest to our new home! Zvesgard awaits us, my companions!” “Zvesgard?!” Mange quickly shouts in a panic! “No, no, no, no! We can’t be goin’ ta Zvesgard!” We all stop walking and look to Mange in confusion. “Why couldn’t we? It was a dragon village, and my home many years ago. It should still be plentiful in resources.” The leader says. “It ain’t about all that! A lot has happened since ya set off on yer own, I assure ya!” Mange seems pretty shaken on this idea. What’s wrong with this Zvesgard place?

 

“He’s right to warn you, you know?” A voice from a Distance is heard! The group quickly dashes further from the voice as the rest of us draw our weapons. For some reason, even Mange seems startled by this. We watch as a female human steps from behind a tree. Her name is Lilac, and she’s level… 62! We-we can’t win this! “Zvesgard has been claimed for the humans for over twenty years! You will have no claim to it!” There’s a ruffling from the tree above Lilac that almost appears as if the tree has come to life! The large owl creature drops quickly from the tree, landing beside Lilac!

 

The owl’s appearance is much more hostile in the daylight! The glowing eyes are now black with bright red pupils! It’s feathers are jagged and messy like sporadically scattered blades! I’d say this can’t even be the same creature from last night, but it has the name Guillotine, and the level of 45! It is undoubtedly the same bird! Focusing on it more, I see it has something dangling from its mouth. It’s… it’s Ire! The owl has it in it’s beak! The Viperion raises her bow and takes aim at the owl! “Drop Ire! now!” Lilac looks at us with a very hostile stare. She, then, glances at the owl and flicks her head. The owl drops Ire to the ground. Ire lays limp at the feet of the owl. It can’t be dead already, can it?!

 

The Viperion whistles in a quick, commanding way. Ire hops to his feet and dashes over to the Viperion, climbing her body and resting on her shoulder. “Adorable little pet for a snake monster! Shocked you aren’t simply saving it for a snack!” Lilac stands still, panning across the group with her eyes. “No interesting monsters in your group.” Her eyes lock into Mange. “Except you, Mange! Malachai has been looking for you!” What?! She actually knows Mange?! Mange keeps his guard up. “Ya think I’d be this far out ‘ere if I cared what Malachai wanted?!” Mange’s voice… he sounds shaken. I’ve never seen him like this. “Well, it’s fine! If you’re headed to Zvesgard, you’ll cross paths with him!”

 

Lilac begins walking towards us with her owl beside her. We all raise our guard! “Calm down! Don’t be makin’ any stupid moves!” Mange shouts out as he looks around to us! Why is he stopping us?! We can’t let her just wipe us out! Lilac throws a bag she had on her back at Mange. “I suppose I’ll join your group since I’m also headed to see Malachai.” Mange puts his shield away and throws the bag over one shoulder. The leader looks at Mange in confusion and frustration. “A-are you mad?! Why are you-“ Mange grabs the leader by his arm, lifting him up a little. “Look! She ain’t one ta kill all willy nilly! If ya wanna live, yer gonna leave ‘er alone!” The leader goes flush! I think he feels the weight of Mange’s words. As someone who hasn’t shown any real fear up to this point, Mange’s panic has to have a meaning!

 

He let’s go of the leader. The leader backs up as he rubs his arm. Lilac looks at the leader. “I’m not just some savage newbie that kills monsters for fun, ya know? Keep your noses clean, and we can get along for the next two days.” I’m really struggling to believe Lilac’s words… as panicked as Mange is, there must be something about her that has him on edge. I look down and see my health and mana bars are no longer glowing. I guess that’s a sign that we’re not being hunted anymore, but I have a feeling we’re still not safe.