The Hero Who Became a Monster Girl Will Never Fall to Evil

“What do you mean by ‘being a beast of burden for life’? How unpleasant.”

Vieya held the Mirage Demon in her hand and retorted,

“You’ve picked up quite a few human words these days following me around, haven’t you? Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Good thing my ass...! I want to go home! Let me go home! You evil slime!”

“You said last time that if I helped you once, you’d let me go. I did! Then you said no, I had to help you again! I did that too...”

The Mirage Demon’s voice rose in anger. “And now what? You say it’s for life! After everything I did for you, all I get is the fate of a lifelong slave?!”

“First of all, you’re just a freeloader.” Vieya said coolly. “Every time, I’m the one doing the work. You’re at best a portable power bank.”

“I don’t care! Either send me home or kill me already!”

The Mirage Demon began throwing a tantrum. “I’m not some battery pack! You can’t invalidate my contributions like that!”

“Then I’ll just kill you.” Vieya said calmly.

Keeping this Mirage Demon around did cover a few of her combat shortcomings—especially the two she lacked most right now: illusion and stamina.

The last time Flaviel left, instead of giving her magic power like before, she actually took some away.

If it weren’t for the Mirage Demon working twenty-four hours a day generating power inside her, she probably would’ve had to shrink in size, forced into energy-saving mode.

Before she had a daughter, she didn’t really care whether she looked like a loli or not.

But now that she did—well, there was a psychological barrier.

Her size could shrink, but a mother’s authority could not.

However... Vieya thought dangerously,

By now she had built up enough dignity in Jasmine’s eyes as a mother that even if she killed this Mirage Demon, it wouldn’t really matter.

At worst, she would just be more careful next time.

“Wait—!”

Seeing genuine killing intent in Vieya’s eyes, the Mirage Demon quickly backed down and said in a fawning tone,

“I’m sorry, sis. My voice was too loud just now. You summoned me this time—was there something you needed?”

“Good sense.”

Vieya walked forward under her umbrella. “I’m not sure how much the people who kidnapped my student and my pet know about me, so... I need you to disguise yourself as me, walk around, and draw their attention.”

“Disguise as you...”

The Mirage Demon thought aloud. “That doesn’t sound too hard, but if I’m pretending to be you, what will you be doing?”

“That’s not your concern.”

Vieya thought for a moment, then controlled her body to split off a smaller slime figure, about the height of an adult’s forearm.

Then she shoved the Mirage Demon’s pearl-like core into that lump of pale blue liquid.

“You’re only giving me this little body fluid?”

“Is it not enough?”

Vieya held the tiny slime figure in her hand, carving out its details with care.

“Use illusions to fill in the missing parts. This figurine can inflate itself—no one will realize you’re not me.”

“But... will this really work? If the enemy finds out I’m a fake, I’ll die a horrible death!”

“Then just don’t get found out. Do I really have to teach you that?” Vieya raised an eyebrow.

Mirage Demon: You rotten, shameless slime!

The rain fell in a hazy curtain.

The Mirage Demon, holding an umbrella, stepped hesitantly out of the alley. The patrolling knights only gave her a quick glance before hurrying on.

Everything went smoothly.

Maybe it wasn’t that hard after all...

Feeling pleased, she turned around to share her success with Vieya—only to find that Vieya had vanished.

In the heavy rain, she searched again and again but couldn’t find a trace of her.

Could it be... Vieya really left?

To test it, the Mirage Demon cursed her viciously in her heart and waited for punishment.

But—

Nothing happened.

Not for a long time.

Oh! The damn slime really did leave on business!

She was thrilled. This was the perfect chance to escape!

If she just—

But then, a voice interrupted her fantasy.

“Miss, would you like to come into our shop to get out of the rain?”

On the street, a ramen-shop owner stood in the doorway calling out to customers. The Mirage Demon in the rain became his target.

Especially since she currently wore Vieya’s harmless, slightly airheaded girl appearance.

Don’t talk to me, human! You’re ruining my train of thought!

She was about to refuse—but then the smell of ramen hit her nose, and her eyes lit up.

Her escape plan was instantly tossed out the window.

She hadn’t expected the slime figurine body Vieya made for her to feel this real—not only was the appearance perfect, but the five senses were sharper than ever!

This time, she would finally enjoy the legendary “human cuisine” the elder Mirages always bragged about!

The Mirage Demon walked into the ramen shop and ordered a bowl with a wave of her hand.

Well, since Vieya only told me to act as her and didn’t say I had to do anything else... I might as well kill some time—and eat while I’m at it.

I’ll enjoy myself here in the warmth while that slime girl runs around doing the hard work. Perfect plan!

“Boss, another bowl of the same noodles,” ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) she said, then subconsciously turned her head toward the door.

Outside, a person stood near the entrance, pretending to shelter from the rain.

She didn’t pay it any mind and quickly returned her focus to the bowl in front of her.

More noodles! Heaven!

When she got back, she’d definitely brag about this to the Mirage elders!

...

At the same time—

Vieya had switched into energy-saving mode and activated her Concealment Authority halo.

She vanished on purpose.

But she didn’t leave.

She watched the Mirage Demon enter the ramen shop—and also noticed that she wasn’t the only one watching.

More than one faction is spying on me!

“These people are hiding deep...”

Vieya frowned. She had expected a few eyes on her, but not this many.

Among them were people from the Lord Mayor’s office and several unidentified groups—even beggars and idle drifters lurking in corners had their eyes on the Mirage Demon wearing her face.

“I’m not some rare treasure. Why are all kinds of riffraff interested in me now?”

The crowd was too mixed; she couldn’t tell who the real target was.

It could even be more than one.

Should I just kill them all?

The thought flickered through her mind.

No.

She couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t alert the wrong side—or kill the wrong person.

And those from the Lord Mayor’s office were likely only there to guard and monitor her quietly.

Killing them would be going too far.

Well... she wasn’t human anymore, but still.

Vieya shook her head and gave up the idea of a massacre.

That left one option—use herself as bait and fish the predators out.

She would mimic what Helcat Red did before disappearing and see if she could draw the hidden ones into the open.

Time was running. She moved immediately.

After glancing once more at the Mirage Demon slurping noodles in the shop, she turned decisively away.

Let that Mirage Demon fend for herself.

In energy-saving mode, Vieya’s body shrank to her loli form—quite different from her usual girl form.

Still, she had to consider how to re-appear in the world’s perception without arousing suspicion.

“Just a size change isn’t enough. I’ll need to alter my hair and eye color too.”

“Hmm... gold should be nice. I like gold. So now I need one gold coin... eat it, analyze its color attribute, and let my body replicate it. Hopefully one coin’s enough...”

Crunch! Crack!

“Mmh, one doesn’t seem to be enough.”

Vieya puffed her cheeks, patiently chewing. After a while, she took out another coin, popped it into her mouth, and chewed while wincing in pain—

Afraid even a crumb might fall.

Not that it mattered; even if one did, she’d pick it up and eat it.

Like that, she ended up eating eight gold coins before finally reconstructing the golden hue she wanted.

“Eight gold coins... That could’ve bought enough oranges for Jasmine and me to eat for years...” Vieya muttered, touching her now-golden strands. “I hope you don’t disappoint me.”