The Villainess doesn’t care about the main plot

Dragon's Teeth Mountains

Eliz looked at the serious Draikini, who literally exuded a sense of menace. Finally, she shrugged and approached him. "Well, let's not ruin a good relationship, shall we?"

Draikini relaxed a little at her words, but he didn't stop frowning. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Eliz pressed her finger hard against his lips until they quirked strangely. "No, no. There's no need to say anything. I'm sure you were sorry for your inappropriate behavior too! It's all right. It's okay!"

Draikini looked at her with question marks in his eyes; that was not what he was going to say. Why was she putting words in his mouth?

Eliz pulled her hand away and shook her head. "I'm sure it would have been very uncomfortable for both sides if we had suddenly started actually fighting. Besides, we're all such friendly people! To start being hostile would be a great shame. Especially now that you've built up such a nice bond with my boys!"

The elf raised his hand and began to scratch his head. He didn't understand what the woman was babbling about! Why did she have such a sudden change in personality? He tried to say something again but ended up with his finger on his lips again, annoyance already showing in his eyes. What was going on?

"Ah! I know what you're trying to say! A newly charged friendship should be strengthened! Of course, we will accept your invitation to stay here. After all, it's too late for us to return. Ah, it's so thoughtful of you to worry about us!"

He looked up at the sky and saw that indeed, the sun had already advanced, but he had no thoughts of leaving them here. He bulged his eyes in confusion and moved away from her touch. "Look..." He began.

"So it's decided! Thank you! I'll tell everyone right away." Eliz clapped her hands excitedly and turned to the others. "Everyone!" She called out.

Draikini blinked and held out his hand. "W-Wait..."

Eliz didn't listen to him. "Drakini said he'd leave us here! Isn't that nice of him?"

They all looked in their direction, and Draikini flinched under their gaze.

"Oh really? Thank you, Draikini." Raiana smiled and thanked him.

"So we won't have to drag ourselves back? Cool!" Grash exclaimed.

"That's very considerate of you, Mr. Draikini." Fraril nodded his head in appreciation.

"Thanks," Alarr added his thanks as well.

"If it's not a problem for you, I would make use of your kitchen and prepare some food. Mister Elf, do you have a problem with the meat?" Alobela stood up to go prepare the food.

"If you have some more work to do, I can help you with that. I'd like to go over some of the moves you've made with you." Holm smiled.

Draikini looked from one to the other in panic. "Ah... ah..." He didn't know what to say, but as everyone thanked him, he felt cornered. Finally, he sighed. "Ah... no... you're welcome."

Eliz watched him out of the corner of her eye, suppressing her mouth from curling into a devilish grin.

---

Draikini suddenly had guests he hadn't counted on and had to figure out how to accommodate them all. So he hesitantly and a bit confusedly went into the house, pursued by Alobala, who had indeed used the kitchen once before, but that was just to make tea; for anything else, she asked his permission.

Eliz watched him move away and stopped smiling cheerfully. She sighed. That was a close call. She noticed Fraril approaching her, so she went to meet him. "What was that all about?" Fraril asked curiously.

Eliz shrugged her shoulders. "Just a little improvisation. When I mentioned the World Tree, things started to smack of real violence. In the end, I decided to back off a bit and forced an invitation to stay." Eliz rubbed her chin and nodded in satisfaction.

"Everyone had a great reaction. It's hard to say no when so many people are thanking him." But then she sighed.

"How about bringing up the issue of the World Tree then?" Fraril wondered about her plan.

"Draikini is not stupid. I'm sure he knows I intend to return to it. In the meantime, though, the boys need to rest and recover a bit in case things eventually get serious. I'll prepare the others for that possibility, but hopefully, it won't happen." Eliz glanced towards the sausage-like animal. "And maybe I'll create an ace up my sleeve." She added. She didn't intend to hurt the cutie, but she could pretend she did. Of course, then she had one more bomb to drop.

But the fewer people knew about what she knew about the elf's secret, the better.

After talking to Fraril, Eliz made her way over to the group of Alarr, Grash, and Holm, who were talking together and hadn't even started getting dressed yet. As she got closer, she realized that they were all not only sweaty but also bruised, and the bruises on their bodies were starting to discolor quickly.

Eliz reached into her ring space and pulled out a pouch of ointment that was good for bruises. "Hey," she said, and when the three turned to look at her, she tossed the pouch to Grash, who clumsily grabbed it. Eliz had a momentary thought of throwing it hideously so that it would hit him in the face, but decided to be nice. In the end, even Grash actually made efforts in the fight.

"You guys did well. Good job. That match was really exciting," she complimented them. Holm scratched behind her ear in embarrassment. "But in the end, we lost."

Eliz shook her head. "It wasn't your fault. Draikini is no ordinary elf. He has a specially grown body, so he's on Rank 2 without using mana."

Grash, who was just starting to rub one blood-red bruise, sputtered. "What!? That's cheating! That wasn't a fair fight!" He got all pissy.

Eliz looked at him critically. "You're the one talking about fairness?"

Grash snorted and looked away. "I tend to be the one who doesn't play fair. Being on the other side doesn't feel good."

Eliz rolled her eyes. How was she supposed to answer him on that one?

"Hmm... I suspected there was something fishy," Holm muttered.

"Still, you lasted a very long time with your martial arts and even gave him a hard time. You have much to be proud of," Eliz reminded, looking at Alarr. "And so are you."

"Hey!" Grash said in a hurt voice. Eliz looked at him briefly, remembering the way he was quickly thrown out of the fight. "Well... you did... something." Eliz wasn't someone who gave empty compliments, but to her amazement, Grash looked pleased at her words. All right. Let's leave it at that.

Alarr took the ointment pouch from Grash and scooped the brownish substance onto his fingers before walking over to Holm and beginning to rub the bruise on his back where he couldn't reach it.

"What's going to happen now? What's with the invitation for us to stay?" He asked. Naturally, Eliz didn't think he noticed, but he had been watching everything closely as she spoke after the fight with the elf, noting that there was a moment of tension in their conversation. Originally, he was about to go to intervene when the atmosphere changed completely in an instant, so he let it go.

"He denies knowing where Sh... World Tree and acted rather coldly," Eliz replied while watching them apply ointment to their wounds. Her fingers itched a little; she wouldn't mind helping them with it, but she forbade herself. Someone might feel like groping them. Which she certainly would do.

"So I forced the invitation on him. I'll process it a bit first before asking again," Eliz shrugged.

"Do you think it will turn out differently on the second try, my lady?" Holm asked, grinning a little as Alarr tended to him.

"Perhaps. I don't know. I'll give it a try, but in case things don't go well, you'll have to prepare to beat him up," Eliz sighed, hoping it wouldn't come to that.

"In that case, one of us will always be with you, Lady Elizabeth," Alarr said seriously. If things went violent, there had to be someone there to protect Elizabeth.

Eliz was the first to protest, wanting to bring up one of the secrets she had, but then she saw Alarr's serious look, and so she fell silent again. She probably wouldn't convince him. "Fine," she agreed.

---

A little time passed, and Draikini stood at the window that faced the courtyard. He was already clean and dressed, though only a linen shirt had been added, and he held his pet in his hands, which he was petting.

He watched the people who had come today and frowned. Playing with them a little was one thing, but he was used to his solitude, and the fact that he was going to have visitors for an extended period of time made him uncomfortable. Especially when he knew they were looking for the World Tree.

"I'll have to deal with them somehow. Better in a good way; it's true we had a good time. It wouldn't be right for me to hurt them, would it? Broccoli?" He addressed his animal companion.

"Yuuu..." Broccoli cooed.

Draikini nodded. "Hm. I know you like him."

"Yuuu..." Broccoli replied again.

"Oh yeah. You've always been into women." He patted Broccoli and looked through the screen at Lady Elizabeth, who was currently sitting alone by the campfire they had started while the others were doing other things.

"Do you think I should put it off and draw a straight fat line? That lady's pretty sneaky..."

"Yuu..." Broccoli replied, and Draikini looked at him. "You dirty brat." He let go of him, and Broccoli landed smoothly on all fours before taking a wobbly step out.

A moment later, Draikini saw Broccoli approach the lady, and she took him in her arms and began to cuddle him. Draikini shook his head. "Better to get it over with as soon as possible," he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair before turning and heading out as well.

---

Eliz sat by the fire, contemplating ways to deal with the bodybuilder. She couldn't even consider taking the small animal hostage anymore when it disappeared somewhere.

She stared blankly into space, waiting for inspiration to strike, but something else enlightened her. She straightened as the system window flashed before her eyes. "Finally," she muttered and began to read. It had been ages since the window had appeared.

Eliz just stared. What were those rewards? I mean, they were good, but they were completely different from what she was originally meant to receive. Another Overturn was good since she'd already lost one Revive. Star Ranger made sense considering she had tamed such a powerful monster, with help, and it even fit the fighting style she wanted to learn quite well, but Tyrant? Hm... well, I guess that's because she was terrorizing the villagers?

Does the system suspect her of conquering territory afterward? What's going on? She didn't intend to go conquering anyone.

And her visitor numbers have dropped noticeably. It made her a little nervous because she still didn't know what it meant. She was supposedly going to become a Citizen, but she had no idea what that meant.

Eliz decided to look at her Status after a long time. But after the first look, she opened her mouth and swore. "What the hell is this?"

Eliz hadn't looked at her Status for a while, and it was obviously a mistake because she hadn't expected some of the changes at all! She had a lot of places marked in green, and Eliz wondered for a moment when it had happened. She realized that it was probably after she had drained so much Dark Mana at the Festival of Light.

She had been so busy, but even though she had a lot of plus points, she hadn't noticed. Her power was still too small to make any difference. That would be fine.

However, what struck her the most was the change in her Role! When did she change from a Minor Villain to a Threat?! And the threat of what? Or who?

What the hell was going on?