In the First Village (3)

As the inverse of abilities you could buy with points, you could also take on penalties to earn them. Ordinary penalties were things like slower stamina recovery or making your character ugly. The adult-only ones included being forced to keep a certain percentage of your skin exposed at all times.

There was a truly staggering variety of abilities and penalties on offer, and among them, NTR Constitution was a particularly nasty piece of work.

I remembered it as a peculiar penalty — a drawback that, for anyone with an NTR kink, could just as easily pass for an attractive ability. For a player who could pick and choose their penalties, it was just one odd option among many. But when it was stuck on an NPC who simply inherited their abilities and penalties at birth...

Uh.

I could already see the suffering in his future, clear as day. Maybe developing an NTR fetish would actually be better for him at this point?

The one silver lining was that it didn't make the person he liked actually fall for someone else — it just meant they'd get hit on a lot. If he caught on early, he could shut the advances down. And if they truly loved each other, they wouldn't fold over some cheap pickup lines.

Hang in there, Luon!

Anyway, whether it came down to his ability or his raw stats, he'd proven he had enough skill to look after himself, just like he'd claimed. So Luon's request to tag along on the subjugation quest wasn't complete nonsense after all.

I was the only E-rank here, so I was the only one who could accept a subjugation request in the first place. I could just refuse and that would be that. But Luon's parents had given me a room and free meals for the past three days. With him asking this earnestly, it was hard to turn him down cold.

I could have said something like, Your parents treated me well because I saved you — and now you want to follow me into danger? But with skill like his, a few goblins wouldn't be a problem unless I dumped him in the middle of a whole pack.

"Whew. All right. If he lasted that long, I'll admit he's not going to be in danger against goblins. If Soira says it's okay, he can go."

"Really? Yes! Soira, take ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the subjugation request with me!"

And just like that, we were back at square one. No — with Kiven no longer objecting, things had actually gotten worse.

"Hmm... Fine. But Kiven, you're coming too."

"Me? Why me?"

"Even if you've got the skill to hold your own, one hit to the back of the head and you're going down just the same. I'll be fighting up front, so someone needs to watch Luon's back, don't you think? And once you become a city guard, you'll have to deal with miscellaneous monsters like this anyway. Think of it as getting some experience in advance."

"Huh. When you put it that way, maybe I should try it now, while Soira can still look out for us?"

"Look out for you? Who's looking out for anyone? You two watch each other's backs."

"Aww, come on, don't be like that."

"You wanna get hit? What's with the cute act?"

He'd been pulling this ever since we'd gotten a little closer over the past three days, and the combination of that act with his massive frame was just the worst. Even more infuriating, he seemed to actually enjoy it when I reacted with disgust.

"Me too! Then I want to go too!"

That was when Sophie jumped in.

What's with her now?

"What? You want to last five minutes against Kiven too?"

"That's not it, but I know how to fight too."

Fight? Sophie?

I shot Luon and Kiven a look that asked if she was serious, and to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my surprise, they both nodded.

"If you know how to fight, then what was that when we first met? You were hiding behind Luon."

"Well, about that..."

The explanation that followed went like this. Sophie's father was a hunter. Sophie didn't do a hunter's work herself, but she'd learned how to shoot a bow by following him around. When we'd first met, she said she hadn't thought there'd be any danger, so she hadn't brought her bow.

Even so — it was a forest where goblins showed up. How did that make any sense? Or maybe she'd let her guard down precisely because it was a familiar forest?

Anyway. Since she'd learned from her hunter father, she figured she could contribute in a fight in her own way.

"Is that true? Let me say this up front — I can't guarantee I'll protect you. You all have to protect yourselves."

"We can! Kiven's coming too, right?"

"Well. Between the two of us, we should be able to look after one Sophie."

Sophie, the one actually being protected, pouted a little and muttered that she didn't need protecting — but this was important. If Sophie died, I couldn't just load a save and bring her back. I didn't have a save right now, so I'd have to start over from the very beginning.

When I said it seriously, Sophie got serious too, insisting she wanted to help the two of them and that she was coming. If she was going to put it like that, I didn't have much choice.

In the end, it was Luon, plus Kiven, plus Sophie. I was heading out on a subjugation request with three deadweights in tow.

I'd settle for them being rocks I could at least throw and hit something with.

"A goblin subjugation request, I take it? Yes, that's a standing request. Once you accept it and hunt goblins, the kills will be recorded on your adventurer card. We'll pay you for every set number you take down, so please get as many as you can. The atmosphere in that forest has been pretty bad lately. Thinning out the goblins a bit should ease some of the worry."

Thank god I didn't have to bother collecting proof-of-kill parts. Those things were a pain to harvest, and they'd just eat up bag space if I had to carry them around.

"You're taking Luon and the other two with you? There's no procedural issue, but... will you be all right?"

"Well, they say they're confident enough. I owe Luon's parents in more ways than one, and they look like they can at least take care of themselves."

"Please do be careful out there. There are cases of people going after goblins and running into orcs instead — and dying."

The adventurer guild receptionist processed the paperwork while still worrying about us. What a kind person.

Luon and the others were waiting outside the guild. Luon and Kiven each had a sword at their hip, and Sophie had a bow slung across her back. Kiven was even wearing some light armor.

"You ready? I'll say it again — I can't guarantee I'll protect you in a real fight. This is literally a matter of life and death, so think it through. Turning back even now would be the smart move."

"I'm ready."

"I'm not ready. Can I go back?"

"Kiven, you have to protect Luon and Sophie, so you're coming. It's your own fault you couldn't knock Luon out on the spot."

Luon, overflowing with motivation. Kiven, grumbling. And Sophie, looking a little nervous. After one last check of our consumables — herbs, potions, and the like — we left the village.

"Hey Soira, where are we going right now?"

"The place we first met."

"Why there?"

"You said goblins showed up before without you even seeing them coming, right? That means there's a tunnel nearby that a goblin nest is using as an entrance. I'm not spending days combing through the forest for a single subjugation request. We're hitting that nest and wrapping this up in one go."

"A nest? Wait, isn't a nest kind of dangerous? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠There are stronger goblins in nests."

"Exactly. That's why I said it's dangerous. It's not too late — turn back now."

That seemed to poke something in him, because Luon lit up with determination.

"No — Soira's right. Let's hit the nest and finish this in a day. While Soira's fighting, we just have to protect ourselves, right?"

"Uh... yeah. That's right."

Did he take that as me calling him a coward? That wasn't what I meant...

We talked as we walked, and before long we arrived at the place where I'd first met Luon.

"This is where we first ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠met Soira. So the path we came from was..."

"It's this way. Follow me."

When Luon fumbled and couldn't find the path, Sophie took the lead and guided us. Leave it to a hunter's daughter to know how to find her way. Sophie's guidance was spot-on, and it wasn't long before we found a large hole leading down into the earth.

"There was a hole like this here...? I had no idea."

"There are a lot of trees and undergrowth around here. It's not a place you'd have any reason to look, so of course you never noticed. Building an entrance in a spot like this... there's a pretty smart one among them, huh?"

Still, they hadn't gone so far as to weave grass and branches over the entrance to hide it. "Smart" by goblin standards, at best.

"I'll take point going in. Kiven, Sophie, then Luon, in that order. Luon, don't forget to keep checking behind us."

Knowing the terrain is a massive advantage. Even when you're playing an FPS, the difference between knowing which parts of the map connect and where you can attack from, versus not knowing at all, is like night and day. Needless to say, that goes double for a virtual reality this close to the real thing.

And the tunnel we were about to enter wasn't just terrain the enemy knew well — it was terrain they'd built themselves. Hadn't someone said the only ways goblins could beat humans were numbers or ambushes? The smarter ones among them knew that too, so they went for ambushes whenever they got the chance.

"Soira! Behind us! Suddenly—!"

Luon, who'd been checking behind us just as I'd told him, spotted the goblins that had actually appeared and shouted. He was so startled he couldn't even string a sentence together.

I kept my eyes forward, checking behind us with just a glance. Five of them. One was holding a blade; the rest had nothing better than clubs. Luon had a talent for swordsmanship, so he'd probably be fine — but better safe than sorry.

"Kiven, go help him. I'll watch the front by myself."

"You sure? Even alone?"

"I was planning to do this alone from the start. Hurry up. Luon's going to get hit."

"Right, you were. I'll be right back."

I confirmed that Kiven had turned around to go help Luon on my orders. Sophie loosed an arrow and punched through one goblin before it could close in, but after that they were too close — she couldn't shoot for fear of hitting Luon.

But that was enough. Five would have been a struggle, but Luon could hold his own against four. While he held them off, Kiven arrived, and the fight was over in an instant.

Kiven fought surprisingly well, I had to admit. His swordsmanship was pretty mediocre, but the raw strength of a well-trained body was a weapon all by itself. He attacked at a speed goblins couldn't even react to — and even if they did manage to block, he cleaved right through weapon and all. What chance did they have?

I waited a moment after the fighting ended, giving Luon and Sophie time to settle their racing hearts, and then we set off again.