The Mimic Becomes a Merchant King

Coin, over the next few days, spent his time exploring his home in a way he never had before. He had never realised how massive the ruins actually were, rooms upon rooms, linked with corridors that stretched on and on. Littered with bones that had been picked clean by the passage of time.

He had hoped to simply leave after forming his new human disguise, but that was far easier said than done. And he was no closer now to understanding what the ruins were than he had been as a stray monster.

But whenever he passed by a fallen statue, overgrown by moss and lichen, he did so with a newfound understanding. The ruin had once been something important. Why else would humans devote so much time to creating somewhere so vast if it hadn't held some major value to them?

And, in the back of his mind, Coin would ask himself 'why did they abandon it in the first place?' It was only now that he could really grasp how ancient his home truly was. It had predated him by the span of entire generations.

But, primarily, his focus was just on leaving. He explored about, ever in search of staircases that would lead him further upward. The downside to his new form was that he now drew the attention of the local monsters. In the past, such creatures tended to avoid each other and would only fight if there was a direct dispute over resources. Or if they crossed each other's path and were unwilling to simply go around each other.

But humans, elves, and any non-monster were seen as a fair target no matter where they were. Goblins, dire rats, cave serpents, and spiders as big as his torso. He knew how to avoid their traps, recalling how they had worked in the past, and any who attacked him directly were swiftly dispatched. A mimic was, after all, more than strong enough to fold a human in plate armour.

Spiders and rats were far from pleasant meals. But still better than goblins, who seemed all the more disgusting to Coin's newly sharpened mind.

It was as he crested the top of another staircase that a sound hit his ears, something different to the squeaking of rats and the dripping of condensation: Shouting, punctuated by clangs of steel.

Coin hastened to the source, weaving quickly between dilapidated rooms and drawing closer and closer to the escalating clamour. It did not take long for him to realise that the noise wasn't just inarticulate shouting. It was someone shouting in a human language.

"Back, damn you! Back!" A woman, Coin noted. In the past he had never stopped to dwell on the differences between men and women, but now he was able to grasp it with some detail and could readily tell the difference between a male voice and a female one. But, having dealt with more of the former over the years, that was the form he had defaulted to for his disguise.

He rounded a corner, coming to a halt at the entryway of a large chamber that once been a prayer room. An elven woman, adorned in iron plate, stood before a cart laden with weaponry. Her golden hair was swept back into a bun, fully exposing her dagger-like ears. In her gauntlet-clad hands she held a claymore nearly the same height as her whole body. Blood dripped from the edge of the blade, a bisected fallen goblin at her feet.

More goblins stood in a semicircle a few paces from her, hissing and braying, clutching their makeshift pikes and axes with sculpted stone heads. An individual goblin wasn't much of a threat. But even a skilled swordsman would have trouble fighting six at once if they rushed in unison. More than once, in his prior life, Coin had seen adventurers being brought down simply because they had no answer to a green tide swarming over them.

He stared at the elf, obscured in the darkness as he was. He had never eaten an elf before. But that one, with her porcelain and unblemished skin, likely tasted delicious.

But if those nasty green creeps stuck her with something poisonous, they'd spoil the meat!

He thought of very little as he advanced forward, heedless of the elf striking two axes away with a sweep of her claymore. And the goblins did not notice Coin in the shadows until he had stopped behind one of the creatures, gripped the top of his head, and twisted it 180 degrees around with a sickening snap.

Several of the goblins spun around, hissing and bleating and shock, regarding him with ruby eyes that glowed in the gloom. Two rushed at him, stabbing at him with spears. Coin dodged away, hissing as one sharpened tip sliced his elbow.

Mimics were, admittedly, hard to kill. Much like slimes, they had only one central node that served their brain, around which all their biomass was contorted and controlled. So long as Coin kept his core somewhere safe, he would be fine. But, still, that didn't mean it would be fun to catch a spear in the gut.

The elf, to her credit, did not let this opportunity pass her by. She dashed forth, almost faster than the naked eye could follow, and severed one goblin at the waist. The gaze of her pale ruby eyes hardened, focusing on the goblin beside his fallen friend. He hissed and swing at her with an axe, only for the blade to be smacked away by a sweep of her gauntlet. Sparks erupted from the point of impact, lighting the darkness.

Coin caught one incoming spear and held it firm. The goblin wielding it whined and tugged at the shaft, to no avail. Coin offered him a faint smile, before lashing a boot to the goblin's neck and breaking it in a single blow.

He whipped the spear in his hand around, the splintered wood smashing the second goblin in the face and breaking his nose, murky blood exploding from his nostrils. Coin would have felt a little bad about all this, but on the other hand goblins had cost him a good meal on more than one occasion. And they didn't even have the decency to taste good for all the trouble they caused.

His right hand swept toward the dazed creature, the flesh of his knuckles furrowing and sprouting a chunk of bone like one of his old fangs. It punctured his neck, gouging a chunk away. The goblin fell to the ground, gargling and clutching his ruined neck before quickly falling still.

"Hey, watch out!"

Coin turned just in time to see the last of the goblins rushing his way. He jerked his head away, the barbed head of the incoming spear slicing his flesh. Coin grit his teeth. Mimics were hard to kill, but they felt pain all the same.

The goblin pressed the attack thrusting his spear at him again. The blade nicked at his side, his flesh-clothing ripping and sending another burst of pain racing through his body. Coin narrowed his eyes, bracing his knuckle-spike. But, at that moment, the elf's claymore swung down and cleaved the goblin clean in half vertically. Murky blood gushed over the flagstones, the severed halves of the greenskin falling in opposite directions.

Coin took a step back into the darkness, his right hand behind his back. His flesh warped and rippled again, the spike vanishing as if it had never been there. And it seemed, in the chaos and darkness, the elf had not glimpsed it.

The elf came to a stop a short distance from him, panting for breath and resting the tip of her sword on the flagstones. "You alright, stranger?"

Coin stared at her with widened eyes and was suddenly faced with an emotion no mimic had ever had to contend with: Gratitude. This stranger had rushed in to help him with no incentive and nothing to gain. And, in an instant, Coin found the idea of eating her somewhat... distasteful.

He had never had a meal that helped him, or a meal that would raise a blade in his defence. With the capacity for intelligence came the capacity for empathy, and being hit with it so abruptly made Coin's jaw tighten.

"I'm fine," he stiffly replied, copying the type of casual tone he'd heard from past adventurers.

"Well, thank the spirits. Though I suppose someone has to be confident if they're wandering through here without a weapon." The elf flicked her claymore, launching an arc of blood onto the ground, before she hitched it to a clasp her back.

Now that the blonde was close enough, Coin could see she was actually taller than him by a few inches, and that would likely be the case even without her plate armour on. Were elves simply tall, or was the whizz-ard he'd modelled his proportions after just short?

"Didn't expect to meet another person down here. Thaeka's Temple doesn't draw many adventurer's these days."

Coin nodded slowly. So that was what his home was called. "In that case, what are you doing here?"

The stranger motioned to her cart, loaded with pikes, swords, and axes. "Weapon retrieval. Job postings at the Adventurers Guild were a little slim," she admitted with a tired chuckle. "And you?"

Coin considered his answer for several moments. "Just taking a walk," he eventually replied. It was the truth, after all.

She stared at him in silence for several long seconds, perhaps expecting more. When nothing else came, she coughed into her fist and made for her cart. "I'm Illyana."

"Coin," he replied.

Illyana chuckled, glancing back at him. "Interesting name."

"Isn't it just?" Coin replied, smiling. The most beautiful name he could have come up with. Well, that or 'Gold.' But Coin hit his ear better.

"Well..." Illyana gripped the handles of her cart and lifted it with seemingly little issue. "I'm about done here anyway. Need a guide back to the surface?"

Coin considered this, stroking his chin. He supposed he would feel bad if he ate this woman, and besides it would likely be a lot of trouble. She was clearly stronger than some of the rabble he'd munched on in the past, after all. And following her probably would get him to the surface quicker than groping about blindly as he had been previously.

"By all means, lead on."