Chapter 6 : The Octopus Monster  Misunderstanding

Iris adjusted her glasses and narrowed her eyes.

She hadn’t seen wrong.

The bald man who owned the antique shop was being dragged away by a thug.

The nearby citizens hurried past Iris, running away.

If she wanted to save her own life, she too should blend in with the crowd and get away quickly.

She needed to run…

‘Still, thanks to that man, I awakened my powers… It would weigh too heavily on my conscience to just ignore him.’

After a moment of hesitation, Iris decided to secretly follow the thug.

She had just awakened as a hero and decided to live a special life, but if she ignored the one who helped her awaken, she’d be no better than a villain.

It was an ugly sight, but she could wield a whip now, so she’d manage somehow.

Carefully, she followed the thug into a back alley.

‘He looks manageable at a glance, but if he turns out stronger than expected… I’ll run. I can’t afford to die like a fool.’

Still transformed, Iris continued tailing them.

The thug, being as weak as she had guessed, didn’t notice her presence at all.

He wasn’t armed, suggesting he might not be a villain but just a lackey doing odd jobs.

The thug occasionally barked at the antique shop owner while dragging him along, but he didn’t seem intent on killing him.

Hiding behind walls and pillars here and there, Iris steadily closed the distance between them.

She was surprisingly good at tailing; she managed to get quite close without being noticed.

‘I can’t just keep following forever…’

The problem was where the thug was taking the antique shop owner.

If he was bringing him to a boss-level villain, she needed to ambush now.

‘First, I should investigate him a bit… see what I’m dealing with.’

It was a skill she gained upon becoming a hero, and it should work on people too, not just objects.

If it came to it, she could just whip him when he turned around.

As soon as Iris made up her mind, multiple golden chains slithered silently out from under her skirt and crept toward the thug’s back.

Their movement suited the skill’s name perfectly.

‘Huh? He didn’t notice? I didn’t expect that.’

The skill turned out to be more useful than she thought.

Even with the fine chains clinging to his back, the thug didn’t notice at all.

Apparently, if she scouted from behind, she wouldn’t be detected.

The thug paused, catching his breath.

Dragging the plump antique dealer seemed to be a struggle.

At that moment, the scouting result popped up before Iris’s eyes.

[Scouting Result]

Pathetic Thug LV.3

[Skills Possessed]

Dragging LV.3

Intimidation LV.1

Punching LV.3

Tripping LV.2

[Status]

Exhausted/Angry/Irritated

‘Oh, nice. Unlike objects, I can see their level and skills too.’

Judging from his level and skills, the thug didn’t seem too tough.

None of his skills looked particularly troublesome, and he was exhausted too.

After checking his status, Iris tried to retract the scouting chains.

But just then, a strange message popped up.

You can now grope the target for a more detailed scan.

You must truly desire to grope.

‘Nooo! Don’t do it!’

As soon as she read the message, Iris shouted inwardly not to proceed.

So this was where the perverted ability of the chastity belt had gone — it transformed into this.

Even though it was chains and not hands, the thought of chains creeping out from between her legs and groping the thug’s back made her feel extreme disgust.

In response to her strong rejection, the chains drooped lifelessly on the thug’s chubby back.

At that moment, the thug turned around.

Not because he noticed something strange — but out of unease from doing something bad, wanting to make sure there were no witnesses.

Unfortunately, he caught sight of the floating chains slithering in midair.

The thug screamed and fell backward on his butt.

“M-m-monster octopus!”

“Ah…”

The antique dealer clamped his mouth with his hand, eyes wide in shock upon recognizing Iris.

Thanks to the thug’s misunderstanding, it seemed they could resolve the situation without bloodshed.

After a brief hesitation, Iris used the skill again.

Chains burst once more from under her skirt.

They writhed in the air like tentacles, crawling toward the thug — a horrifying sight for anyone to witness.

“D-don’t come any closer!”

The thug stumbled backward, then shrieked at the top of his lungs.

The closer he looked, the more terrifying it was.

The “octopus monster” was actually a mechanical human.

How else could chains come alive and slither out from under a skirt?

The thug panicked as the chains — no, the tentacles — slithered toward him.

It felt like the bizarre chains would burrow into his body or drain his blood.

“What the hell — it’s not a monster, but — ah, no, don’t, don’t! Hic, I-I don’t know anymore! Go away! Move!”

Flailing to avoid the chains, the thug finally shoved the antique dealer roughly and bolted down a side alley.

Having accidentally won the encounter without fighting, Iris quickly retracted the chains that had crawled out from under her skirt.

Right then, a message appeared before her.

Chastity Belt Girl, you’ve achieved your first accomplishment after awakening as a hero.

[Achievement: Save a Townsman]

You have fulfilled a hero’s basic duty.

You’ve gained a bit of fame.

Saving many people will increase your fame even more.

‘Oh? So there’s a fame system too.’

She wondered what benefits fame would bring.

Iris recalled a comic panel where a famous hero enjoyed champagne at a party filled with prominent figures.

But the hero’s joy was short-lived, as villains attacked after hearing the hero was at the party.

That hero eventually defeated the villains, but could Iris, in her current state, defeat villains if they attacked?

She wasn’t confident.

‘Getting famous while still weak isn’t a good idea… I need to get stronger first if I want to handle fame properly.’

As she pondered cautiously, another welcome message appeared before her eyes.

You have used Scouting.

Scouting LV.1 → LV.2.

You can now scout targets more quickly.

‘Oh, so the more I use the skill, the higher its proficiency and level?’

Proudly, Iris glanced down.

Though the way she had to use it was a bit grotesque, thanks to Scouting, she saved the antique dealer without fighting.

Plus, as the level increased, the scouting would become quicker.

At high levels, she could finish scouting in a flash and avoid showing that grotesque appearance to anyone.

‘Phew, if not for the ugly looks, it’s a really great skill. I better level it up fast.’

As soon as Iris closed the message window, the antique shop owner, who had been sitting stunned, hurriedly got up and approached her.

“Thank you, Miss Iris. Normally, I wouldn’t have been caught like that, but I hurt my hand recently.”

“Oh no, I see. That could’ve been really bad.”

Iris belatedly noticed the bandage wrapped around his hand.

Come to think of it, as a long-time citizen of Gyodam City, the shopkeeper should have been much tougher than her.

Being handicapped explained why he had been dragged off.

“Thank you for saving me. If I’d been taken away like that, who knows what would’ve happened…”

“…Yes, really. It’s a relief.”

As the antique dealer repeatedly expressed his thanks, Iris’s expression turned awkward.

She remembered how she initially tried to ignore him and run away.

It had been so easy to save him — but what if she hadn’t noticed him being dragged off?

What if she had just walked past, pretending not to see?

The thought made her blood run cold.

The bald shopkeeper wiped the sweat from his exposed scalp with a handkerchief, glancing around nervously before speaking cautiously.

“But, uh… just now… what was that?”

“Huh? Oh, that’s…”

He hadn’t said it explicitly, but both Iris and the shopkeeper knew what he meant.

He was asking about the grotesque tentacle chains that shot out from under her skirt.

Iris shut her eyes tightly and replied.

“It’s a hero skill.”

“A-a skill? I see… It’s… amazing.”

Amazing how?

The skill?

Or how grotesque it looked?

Iris wanted to ask but bit her tongue, knowing the answer would only hurt her feelings.