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

Aydin City.

After entering through the city gate, Vieya and the others immediately followed the dried pufferfish in Tiya’s hands, now blazing with green light, continuing their search for Xubing’s trail.

Lengyan Mantra — Trace-Seeking.

This was an extremely high-threshold tracking art, passed down from the lineage of the High Priests of the Western Continent. Only successive Grand High Priests were ever allowed to study it.

During the pursuit, Vieya made no effort to conceal her own aura. As a result, the moment they entered the city, dozens of gazes fell upon their group.

Vieya raised an eyebrow and noticed that most of those gazes were focused on Aislin, the pure-blood elf. Some were drawn instead to the Phoenix that looked like it might burst into flames at any moment, while others fell on Tiya at the front, who was controlling the glowing green pufferfish to lead the way.

Vieya herself, looking like a half-grown child, was directly ignored. It seemed that on the Western Continent, there were fewer lolicon types than in the Southern lands—down there, you could toss a stone on the street and hit a lolicon.

But then another thought struck her. Among these gazes, there had to be informants from “Ghost.” Otherwise, Xubing wouldn’t have run to this city at the first opportunity.

Informants... Did he really think that by running here, he could be saved?

Ridiculous.

Soon, Vieya noticed something else that felt off.

Among all these looks, there was scrutiny, curiosity, malice, and even naked appetite... but not a trace of fear.

What, none of them are afraid of us? On the contrary, they look eager to try something—are they itching for a fight?

The slime thought.

“Eh? The pufferfish trace-seeking spell broke... but the last signal it gave points to a tile shop,” Tiya frowned and warned the slime.

Vieya thought for a moment, then looked up at the street ahead.

At a glance, the city looked peaceful enough, though many shops were rather deserted. Some people were pointing toward the towering city walls outside, discussing the fire tornado that had suddenly appeared and vanished in the sky earlier.

Now and then, fragments of conversation mentioned a group of knights who had gone out to investigate, followed by helpless sighs. For them, compared to believing that a powerful human expert had descended from the sky, they were more willing to believe that some terrifying magical beast had appeared—something capable of causing such dreadful commotion on the open grasslands.

Clearly, the people inside the city had no idea about the grassland First Prince mobilizing troops to pressure the Elven Forest.

“Lead the way. To the tile shop the signal pointed to,” Vieya ordered Tiya, just as she always did.

Hearing that tone, Tiya clicked her tongue softly and let out a long, resigned sigh.

Having been trained from childhood to memorize and recite the behavioral codes of the Grassland Grand High Priests, she had grown into a rigid, by-the-book personality at a young age. Only when she shouted out those skill names that sounded like madness to others did she feel a flicker of joy.

Come to think of it, she had always felt that her Hero Captain shared her particular brand of eccentricity—what a shame she was such a dull, hotheaded type...

“What are you spacing out about?! Focus on leading the way!” Vieya snapped.

It was all back. All of it.

That tone, that demeanor, that disdainful scolding look and voice... If this wasn’t her Hero Captain returned from the dead, she wouldn’t believe it.

It was a good thing—but Tiya felt so wronged she couldn’t even find the words.

...

Outside the tile shop, a wooden sign reading Closed had been put up the moment Xubing went inside.

Several attendants dressed as shop hands leaned behind the door, listening to the sounds from the street outside. A few pretty female dealers guarded the empty card tables, idly fiddling with the decks in front of them.

“Hey, do you think that commotion outside the city just now is why Dice Lord Xuanyang came to ask our boss for help?” A lazy attendant with wheat-colored skin leaned against the door, yawning, his eyes roaming freely over the female dealers.

Another attendant, tall and thin, squatted by the door with his hands on his knees. He shot him a sidelong glance. “How do you know Dice Lord Xuanyang came to ask for help?”

“If it wasn’t for help, do you think those Dice Lords would bother talking to us?” the lazy attendant snickered. “Besides, Dice Lord Xuanyang even dressed himself up as an old granny. Heh—you’ve no idea how broad-backed and burly he really is.”

“Careful. You’ll get slapped to death if he hears you,” one of the dealers warned kindly.

“No way!” The lazy attendant straightened up at once. “Even beating a dog, you look at the owner first. And haven’t you noticed? Dice Lord Xuanyang came alone.”

“So what if he came alone?”

“Coming alone means all those consumables he used to keep around him have been used up!” The lazy attendant was just about to continue when his expression suddenly stiffened.

A terrifying old granny leaning on a cane had appeared at the entrance to the basement, staring at him with a shadowy gaze.

It was Dice Lord Xuanyang!

The lazy attendant jolted, guilt flooding his face as he lowered his head, not daring to meet that gaze. The other tall, thin attendant swallowed nervously and hurriedly edged away from his big-mouthed colleague.

“Brother, don’t go!”

“Anyone who loves gossiping behind backs isn’t my brother,” the tall attendant whispered, not even turning his head as he moved to the other side and stood with the dealers.

Left alone to bear the pressure, the lazy attendant hurriedly began to apologize.

Xubing, however, had no intention of letting him off. Step by step, he walked up to the attendant.

“What I meant wasn’t—”

Pshhk!

Before the words could finish, the cane lashed into his chest, sending him flying. When he hit the ground, he vomited blood nonstop—more air going in than coming out.

Only after that did Xubing chuckle and say, “Low-ranking members who think they’re clever like you— even if I beat you all to death, your master wouldn’t say a word.”

As the words fell, the other attendants and dealers went silent as tombs, not daring to breathe.

Kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.

Satisfied, Xubing smiled and prepared to wait until Huangliang in the underground palace woke up, then ask her for a few people to use. Suddenly, he snapped his head toward the door. The smile vanished, his eyes filled with alarm.

At the same time, although the others had no idea why Dice Lord Xuanyang suddenly looked like this, they all realized something the moment the air grew scorching hot!

“Open up! Inspectorate! We’ve received a report that you’re harboring an illegally wanted criminal here!”

Bang!

The door was kicked open.

Blinding sunlight poured into the tile hall. At a glance, Xubing saw Vieya standing among [N O V E L I G H T] the official personnel, smiling brightly.

“That’s him! He matches the wanted notice exactly!” Vieya pointed at Xubing.

The knights drew their swords one after another, surrounding the entire tile hall while pushing back passing pedestrians.

“Inspectorate investigation! Uninvolved civilians, stand back!”

“Wait, I’m not—”

Xubing tried to argue, but suddenly realized that his disguise had vanished without him knowing how, directly exposing his true face to the public eye.

At once, he glared furiously at Vieya. This had to be her doing—no doubt about it! As the Sword Master, she clearly held every advantage, yet she still reported him and called in reinforcements?!

Despicable! Despicable! Despicable!

No sense of justice at all!

“Cunning alliance dogs, stupid tribal pigs!”

Watching the fully armed city paladins charge toward him, Xubing finally snapped and cursed. The next second, he twisted sharply and bolted deeper into the tile hall, shouting at the top of his lungs,

“Huangliang, stop sleeping—save me! Any price, anything at all!”