Girl Meets Boy (3)
Save for the one still pounding on the man as if working off a grudge, the rest crept toward the woman with ugly, leering grins.
"S-stay away... Get back!"
She stumbled backward, hurling whatever her hands could find, but the goblins paid her missiles no mind and closed the distance at their leisure. They could have rushed her at any moment. That they chose to take their time told me they were savoring the way she trembled.
What a nasty hobby.
The goblins had filthy scraps of cloth covering their groins, though the things standing at attention beneath didn't leave much to the imagination. At last one of them seized her, cackling as it tried to tear her clothes—and failed.
Kieek!
A goblin's strength was barely a notch above a human child's. It strained and yanked this way and that, but that was never going to rip fabric. The woman's face had gone deathly pale the moment those hands touched her, but once she realized the goblin couldn't tear her clothes, a flicker of relief crossed her features.
She really shouldn't relax just yet.
"Hahh... W-wha—?! Kyaaah!"
The sigh of relief died in her throat as she screamed at what had been shoved in front of her face. It was the cock of the goblin gripping her by the hair. So they couldn't strip her—but any hole on a woman's body would do, apparently.
She clenched every muscle she had and tried to hold out, but even if she could resist the pull on her hair, she couldn't stop the goblin's hips from closing in. Then the goblin's cockhead brushed her lips. She kept her teeth locked tight, refusing to yield, and the thing rubbed against them as if demanding she open up.
Yikes. As a fellow woman, I hoped she'd at least had some romantic experience before this. Even so, having your first kiss be a goblin's dick is a bit much. If it were me... well, this is a game, so I might actually get off on it.
That was when our eyes met—hers, as she twisted her head desperately trying to dodge the cock. Those tear-filled eyes.
I'd been thinking of watching a little longer, but maybe it was time to step in. Game or not, ignoring a look that desperate would leave a bad taste in my mouth. If I'd just saved her the moment I found them, none of this would have been an issue. But I was curious, you know?
Everything I'd played up to now had been practically rated for minors. I wanted to see how this world changed once it became an eroge. Now that I knew monsters went feral at the sight of a woman, I had a pretty good picture.
I'd seen enough. Time to help.
I rose from the undergrowth and burst out of cover.
Kiek!
I kicked the goblin still beating the man as I ran past, then drove my dagger into the one clinging to the woman without breaking stride. Shunk—the goblin, so absorbed in its cock that it never even screamed, died on the spot. I'd wanted to take the other two with the same motion, but unfortunately my short dagger couldn't reach that far.
The two remaining goblins, now aware of me, scrambled to pick up the weapons they'd dropped. Not that it amounted to much—just slightly thicker tree branches. Seen from the front, their makeshift loincloths had been shoved aside, and those grotesque things jutted out in full view.
If I lost here, those things would take my character's first time. To goblins, of all things—the monsters that always rank near the top of any "weakest monster" list. Getting wrecked like that does have a certain appeal. Unfortunately, goblins really are pushovers. There was no way I'd lose.
If they had some humiliation-specialized item—the kind I added to the setting myself without even knowing every type—maybe. But there's no way a mere goblin would have something like that. And more than anything, this was my first encounter since starting the game. Even the shittiest games let you breeze through the opening fight.
Whoosh! Whump!
I slipped the club of the first goblin that charged me with almost no effort. I didn't even need a technique. Their arms are so short that taking a single step back puts you well out of range. Goblins are so weak that even with a blade, they'd struggle against an unarmed man. To beat a human, they need to swarm you with numbers or ambush you from behind. Charging an armed human two-on-one? I don't need to spell out how that ends.
Slash!
I carved my dagger through the huge opening their missed swing left behind. That alone dropped one of them. Beyond its falling body, the man who'd been on the ground was getting to his feet, picking up a club, and turning on the goblin that had been beating him. He was covered in injuries from the pounding he'd taken, but he could handle one of them.
Thud!
With that thought, I used my long legs to kick the last goblin.
Ah. Mistake. If I'd still been playing my hero character, a kick alone would have one-shot most monsters. I'd briefly forgotten I'd switched characters. Well. All it meant was I'd have to move twice instead of once. No real harm done, so I'd call it fine.
Krak! Krakyak!
But the goblin I'd sent tumbling across the dirt turned its back and started to flee. It had finally registered the difference in power. Still, if I didn't finish that one here, it wouldn't be a clean wrap-up. I was about to chase it down and cut it down for a satisfying finish when the fleeing goblin suddenly started acting strange.
Kyaak?!
It let out a bizarre cry, then spun around and charged straight at me. What? I had no idea what was going on, but at least this made things easier. I cut down the charging goblin, then looked in the direction it had originally been fleeing. What had it seen that made it turn around and run back?
Before long, figures began to emerge one by one from between the trees.
"Luon! Sophie! You okay? I brought people!"
The man in front had golden hair and tanned skin. Judging by what he was saying, he at least wasn't an enemy, so I didn't need to stay on guard.
"Hah... hahh... Kiven! Thank god. You're all right."
"You think I'd be all right after leaving you two behind? I ran myself half to death getting there and back."
The man who'd finally beaten down his goblin and was still gasping for breath traded jokes like that with the newcomer. So the one who'd just arrived was Kiven, and the first man I'd met was Luon. While the two of them talked, the people who'd come with Kiven started approaching one by one.
"Luon, you idiot! I told you to stay out of the forest for a while!"
A middle-aged man among them smacked Luon across the back as he shouted.
"Ow! Hold on, Dad! There's a reason for all this—"
"Reason, my ass! You're lucky it was goblins. If it'd been any other monster, we'd be picking up corpses right now!"
"Ow! Ow! That hurts! I'm already hurt!"
"Good! You should hurt! You need to feel some pain!"
After thoroughly working Luon over, the man eventually turned to me—I'd been standing off to the side watching the whole thing—and addressed me with unexpected care.
"Ah, hello there. I'm that fool's father, you see. Would you happen to be the one who saved my boy?"
More polite than I expected. No reason to hide anything, so I answered honestly.
"Yes. I attacked the goblins that had him and that young woman surrounded and got them out."
The woman the goblins had been all over. Sophie, most likely. Luckily it had ended at a cock bumping her lips, but without me she would have been raped then and there. Mentioning Sophie made the middle-aged man frown slightly, as if he'd just remembered something he'd forgotten, and he shot Luon another glare. He ignored the way Luon wilted under that look and continued.
"Thank you truly for saving my boy. But, ah, we're not quite sure how we ought to repay you..."
Hearing that, I finally understood why he'd been so formal. He was worried I'd demand some expensive reward for saving Luon and Sophie. But I didn't even have decent equipment, and they had the numbers—he could have just been shameless about it. That he was asking so carefully meant he really was a decent person. And I like decent people. Kindness deserves kindness in return.
"Oh, please. I wasn't expecting any reward. They were just goblins. If word got out I took payment for killing a handful of goblins, I'd be a laughingstock."
The moment I waved it off, the middle-aged man's face visibly brightened. What on earth had he thought I was going to demand?
"Haha. That's very generous of you. Well then, we'll just be—"
They'd come to rescue Luon and Sophie, so they had no reason to linger. Watching the man turn to leave, something suddenly occurred to me.
Plot convenience.
Come to think of it, I'd figured meeting Luon and Sophie in the first place was a product of convenient plotting. Was running into these people now another convenient development? Once the game progressed further, all kinds of factors would tangle together and I wouldn't run into clichés this blatant. But right after starting? I could probably trust it.
It was like the opening of a mobile game. Every game has a different story, world, and mechanics, but they all teach you the controls in the tutorial and then make you pull the gacha.
"Wait a moment. I have something to ask."
"Yes? Is there something you need? I don't know if we can help, but please, go ahead."
"It's not like that."
Why is he so hung up on repayment? Is he a merchant? The type who can't stand being in someone's debt?
"I don't know the way. If you're heading back to the village, mind if I tag along?"
"Ah! Of course. We all ran out here in the middle of work, so we'll be heading straight back. Just follow us."
With that, the middle-aged man gathered everyone and told them they were heading home. Once they started moving, all I had to do was follow and the village would appear. And after that?
I hoped there'd be an Adventurer's Guild.
I'd decided to play as an adventurer this run. Compared to other professions, adventurers could go wherever they pleased and stick their noses into trouble the moment it cropped up.
I was following them with that in mind when a young man and woman approached me. Their names were... Luon and Sophie, right? The ones I'd saved.
"Sorry this is late. I'm Luon. Thank you for saving us."
"Please call me Sophie. If you hadn't helped, I don't even want to think about what else would have happened to me... I'm truly grateful."
I hadn't gotten a proper look earlier with the goblins in the way, but Sophie had a surprisingly cute face. Short brown hair cut around her neck framed a sweet, gentle expression. Even through a woman's eyes she scored well—she was probably quite popular with the men. Even if I hadn't saved them, the villagers had been right on the doorstep, so maybe nothing would have happened anyway. But that wasn't the point.
"It's fine. More than that, I'm just curious—how did you end up in that situation? Getting surrounded by goblins isn't exactly a common occurrence."
The moment I asked, Luon launched into an explanation as if he'd been waiting for someone to ask. He sounded genuinely aggrieved.
"No, listen. So what happened was..."
Having heard the story all the way to the point where they met me and got help, my impression was this:
Yeah. He had every right to feel wronged.
Luon said he was an F-rank adventurer. F-rank is the lowest rank there is—little more than a glorified errand service. You don't explore dungeons or hunt monsters. You gather herbs to supply the general store, or you clean the sewers. That kind of grade.
He normally helped out around the house, but for one reason or another he needed money, so whenever work was slow he'd go herb-picking in the forest to scrape together some pocket change. Worried it might be dangerous, he'd called along Kiven, a friend who was training to become a city soldier. And once the two childhood friends were heading into the forest, Sophie had tagged along as well.
Then goblins had suddenly appeared. Nine of them. At the forest's edge, even when goblins showed up, it was normally one or two wandering around. Nine appearing at once was, as far as Luon knew, completely unprecedented.
That alone would have been manageable. Even with one of them being a woman, they had three people, and Kiven knew his way around a weapon. They hadn't brought proper arms, but even if they couldn't beat all nine, they had more than enough strength to escape.
Then Sophie had suddenly tripped and sprained her ankle, and she couldn't run. Sophie had torn through this forest countless times since childhood, playing with the two of them. She wouldn't fall just from being a little startled. You could only call it rotten luck. Even so, with Sophie unable to run, abandoning her was never an option. So they'd sent Kiven—the fastest of the three—back to the village to fetch help. If even one or two more people showed up, they could protect Sophie and drive the goblins off. As long as he brought reinforcements quickly, it was a viable plan.
Luon had fought nine goblins while protecting Sophie, and somehow managed to take down three before taking a wound that broke his arm and collapsing—which was when he'd met me.
Unprecedented numbers, and a sprained ankle at the worst possible moment, all at once. Was this all arranged so they'd run into me?
I was still sitting with that strange feeling of having caused them trouble I never intended when we finally left the forest behind and arrived at the village.