I'm a Cool Butterfly Who Met a Hero!
Alina. What are we going to do now?
"Gwek."
"I think we'll know for sure if we hit just a few more places. Let's head out right away."
Alina sprang to her feet upon hearing my response, which hadn't carried even a hint of rushing her.
I had absolutely no intention of rushing her; I only asked because it seemed like she had found some crucial evidence yesterday.
I thought we had already achieved our goal.
Still, I'm glad we'll be reaching it soon.
I need to find that tree pretty soon myself.
The tree's mood is getting worse by the day.
It only seems to be locked up, not subjected to anything terrible, so I don't know why its mood is plummeting straight through the floor.
Usually, I can only sense a faint trace of its feelings, but now it's coming through so clearly.
Just what kind of family did this tree belong to, and what kind of tree was it?
This is why being born with a good pedigree is so important.
I guess even monsters need to be born with a silver spoon in their mouths.
My own preparations will be finished soon, too. Just one more level, and I can evolve.
Maybe it's because I've been hanging around Alina, but I've eaten countless monsters despite being inside a city.
Every single place we go, monsters just throw themselves at us.
I've had such an abundance of monsters to eat that I haven't even had to lay a finger on humans.
If things had gotten desperate, I might have had to convert humans into experience points.
Though, I can tell the monster population is starting to thin out because we've killed so many.
But I feel like I still haven't crossed my final line!
Right now, my mind is probably about a quarter human, isn't it?!
I've also learned a bit more about how experience points are calculated. I've made some decent gains myself.
One thing I noticed while hunting monsters is that even among the same species, those with intelligence grant far more experience.
Even if they were tiny, they'd easily give over ten percent.
I'm now certain that experience calculation is based on how dangerous the target is.
It's like the difference between a normal monster and one with a title.
Even if they're the same species, the two cases are on completely different levels.
But I also feel like Alina is working me way too hard. Reflect on your actions.
"Gweeeek."
"Huh? What's wrong?"
When I first tagged along, Alina used to move with extreme caution.
But she changed after seeing me wipe out every single monster that tried to ambush us.
She started baiting them more boldly, and some days she wouldn't even take a break on the main streets to catch her breath.
She also started sleeping a bit longer than usual.
I can take this as a sign that Alina—who used to be like a motherless Chihuahua, wary of everyone—finally trusts me, right?
I think sleeping longer is a good thing. You're still a kid, so you need to grow.
"Gweeeeek."
I felt bad for her because her eyes always looked so tired.
She ran around so much that she could have collapsed at any moment, barely taking any breaks.
I barely need any sleep, so make sure you keep sleeping plenty from now on.
Alina couldn't understand a word I was saying, so she just tilted her head.
Lately, she seems to realize when I'm calling her, but getting the gist of my words is still impossible for her.
Come to think of it, other monsters couldn't understand me either.
Aren't monsters supposed to understand each other just by growling?
Judging by how peaceful it is, we really must have killed a lot of them.
As we stepped onto the main street, watching eyes naturally trailed us.
However, I could tell their numbers had decreased significantly compared to my first day with Alina.
At first, there were so many gazes coming from all directions that I couldn't tell if I was walking down the street or if I had become a display monster.
It just goes to show how many of them Alina and I had taken out.
I'm a monster, but I feel like I've done way too many good deeds.
Cleaning up bad guys who gang up on a young girl is undeniably a good deed.
It's practically community service for this city.
Wouldn't someone like me be considered a wonderfully reformed monster?
When I become a fairy later, please testify that I wasn't a bad monster!
"I'm going in now. Get ready."
Yeah. Go right ahead.
Hearing her tell me to get ready, I clung tightly to Alina's shoulder.
Based on my experience so far, there was no time to reply.
Alina wouldn't wait; she would just leap right in.
Even now, before I could even answer, she dashed straight into the back alley.
Wow, how bold. What would she do if I didn't help her?
Alina didn't even try to shake off her tail, heading openly into the alley.
It was as if she was telling them, "If you want me, come and get me."
Faced with this, they had no choice but to follow.
Otherwise, they would lose Alina in the maze of back alleys.
After all, she had assassinated quite a few important-looking people over the last few days.
They were all rotten to the core, and they would definitely come in if only to protect the other rotten bastards we were planning to visit next.
Alina. They're coming. There are a lot of them this time too.
The ones watching from a distance swarmed into the alley.
From the rooftops, out of the manholes, through open windows, from the front, and from behind.
They rushed in from all directions.
Do these bad guys have any idea?
That the moment they stepped into this alley, their fates were sealed.
You're already poisoned!
I had long since filled the air with my wing powder, carefully controlling it so it wouldn't touch Alina.
I kept the concentration low so they wouldn't notice right away.
The longer they stayed, the more poisoned they would become, and the worse their condition would get.
If I killed them instantly, they'd catch on.
It was crucial that they kept pushing forward without letting their guard up.
"I'll leave my back to you."
Alina lunged toward the humans among them.
She was fully confident that as long as monsters didn't interfere, she wouldn't lose to ordinary humans who couldn't even use guns.
Over the past few days, I wasn't the only one learning about Alina.
Alina had also come to understand quite a few things about me.
That my targets were Count Zeno and the tree.
And that I never touched humans.
These guys deserve to die, but I want to delay my first human kill as long as possible. The first time is always the hardest.
A monster that hasn't killed a single person is completely different from one that has.
Once you kill one, what's to stop you from killing two, three, ten, a hundred, or a thousand?
It was my final psychological barrier.
I was a frustratingly indecisive human to begin with.
I still haven't fully accepted that I'm a monster.
But I can easily kill you guys.
I bit into the neck of a monster lunging at Alina and injected my blood.
Lacing it with acid strong enough to melt and tear its throat apart.
Even though I dispatched it in a showy manner, they ignored me and kept rushing forward, desperate to finish Alina off.
It was a good strategy—if they took down Alina, they wouldn't have to keep sacrificing themselves—but that only worked if they could get past me.
Ordinary monsters couldn't break through my defense.
Fewer than I thought. Alina, you're not hurt, right?
"I'm not hurt at all. Let's go."
She now understood what it meant when I circled around her after a battle.
It was truly a massive improvement.
There was a time when she thought it meant enemies were still around and would warily scan the area.
But aren't you going to ask if I'm hurt?
I'm sad.
Even though I'm so small that any injury would be obvious, show some concern!
"Gweeeeek!"
"Alright. I'll move fast, so you don't have to rush me."
I didn't mean it like that.
Thinking about it lately, she seems to misinterpret almost everything I say as rushing her.
I have absolutely no intention of rushing her.
Once I'm able to speak, I'll have to tell her I meant something completely different.
I wonder how surprised she'll be.
But then again, saying it out loud might be incredibly embarrassing.
Tell her with my own mouth that I was whining for her to worry about me? Am I crazy?
Let's reject that idea.
For the sake of my dignity, I'll take it to the grave.
Whining to a kid at my age...
Did I grow old for nothing?
"Check if there's anyone hiding nearby."
We arrived in front of a building, and I scouted the perimeter as Alina requested.
Taking a quick lap around, I spotted several guys lying in wait, as if expecting us.
I ate the monsters among them first, then flew back to Alina.
Tap, tap, tap...
There are this many.
I sat on Alina's shoulder and tapped her as many times as there were people hiding.
It was a primitive way of communicating, but she understood it perfectly.
Alina fell into thought after hearing the count I provided.
She had to choose between breaking straight through or taking them all out before sneaking in.
"We'll have to take a detour. There are too many. The target might run away while we're dealing with them."
Alina's choice was something else entirely.
Up until now, she had only chosen between those two options.
It meant the target inside this building was that important.
But where was this detour?
"We have to hurry. Get in quickly."
I really don't want to go in there.
I followed Alina to her detour, only to find a sewer entrance.
The stench wafting out seemed to welcome us in.
But I couldn't just not go, so I buried my face in Alina's clothes to inhale as little of the odor as possible.
I was sure they would make an excellent filter.
Alina ran through the sewers as if she already knew the way by heart, arriving at our destination in no time.
"I'll hide here. I'm counting on you."
It was my turn to move to find where Alina's target was.
As long as I avoided the security cameras, a tiny butterfly like me could search without getting caught.
Is it here?
And once again, I quickly located the target.
The problem was that there was already another guest.
"Why are you doing this?! I did exactly what the Count told me to?!"
"I am here precisely because you failed to do what the Count ordered."
"Please, spare me...!"
The guest, who looked like one of the Count's henchmen, killed the target, rummaged through the drawers, pulled out some documents, and tucked them into his coat.
Those must be the documents Alina desperately needs.
Let's wait for now.
I didn't attack recklessly.
I wasn't confident I could defeat this intruder.
In fact, my instincts were faintly screaming danger.
Thanks to that, I realized.
It's a Hero.
For the first time since becoming a monster, I had encountered a powerhouse of humanity.