Goblins (1)
In a pitch-black room where not a single ray of light could enter, a bluish flame bloomed to life.
The flame flowed down like liquid, touched the ground, and in an instant spread outward to form a shape.
An ominous pattern of flame, burning with the most foreboding of designs.
From within it, a pitch-black hand suddenly thrust upward.
Atop it rested a small pink lump, twitching as if it were alive.
[INSUFFICIENT.]
Leaving those words behind, the black hand vanished without a trace, and the blue flame died away.
A moment later, someone rose from the darkness.
A figure draped entirely in a black robe.
He carefully lifted the twitching pink lump of flesh from the floor.
Staring blankly at it, a cracked voice spilled from his lips.
"A sacrifice… I need a sacrifice."
A sacrifice that would please Him.
This world is filled with malice.
A world designed specifically to inflict a sense of loss upon someone — that says it all.
In this hellish world, he would be robbed of everything, fall into despair, and eventually become a broken wreck.
Of course, the person in question had no idea of this fact, not even in his dreams.
I'm talking about you, you idiot.
I clicked my tongue as I looked at Kyle, who was grinning like a fool.
Kyle and Emily walked side by side, chatting away about this and that, smiles never leaving their faces for even a moment — as if they couldn't be happier. Then, if their fingertips so much as brushed by chance, both would suddenly fall quiet, and an awkward air would settle between them.
That tingling atmosphere even drew a smile from me, who'd been lost in thought.
That's what love looks like!
Just watching them felt healing. A sweetness that those perverts who find pleasure in taking and being taken could never understand. A pure white flower blooming in the mud — pure love, all the more precious for it.
As I was savoring that atmosphere, Mela, who had been leading the way, came to a stop.
"I think we've arrived."
When I turned my gaze in the direction Mela pointed, tall buildings came into view.
Aiden — a major city located relatively far from the demon territory, with good public safety, and situated at a transportation hub that had allowed commerce to flourish.
We had arrived at the first city on the slow route.
Pretty impressive.
Is this what overseas travel feels like? Seeing the architecture that reeked of a fantasy world in real life stirred something exciting in my chest for no particular reason.
I wanted to share this feeling with someone, but unfortunately, there was no one suitable. Layla looked at me like I was a bug, and Mela wouldn't even meet my eyes. And I had no desire to insert myself between Kyle and Emily, either.
The original Hex might have done so, but now that I occupied this body, that was out of the question.
It's lonely, but it can't be helped.
For me, the purpose of this adventure was to protect those two's pure love relationship — from the countless obstacles that would try to tear their love apart.
Of course, it wasn't only obstacles.
"You understand, Mela? When those two are together…"
Though few in number, there were also those who supported their love. Namely, their fellow party members, Layla and Mela. Layla in particular actively cheered them on — being a young girl herself, she was no doubt deeply interested in romance between men and women.
But looking at them only made my heart ache. Those who supported Kyle and Emily's love were nothing more than devices meant to make the tragedy stand out all the more. The kind of devices that act as if they'll save the NTR'd heroines and the player, only to get violated alongside them and twist the knife already buried deep in the player's heart one more time.
Layla gets it especially bad.
Layla, the proud genius mage. How severe must the humiliation have been to completely break someone like her? I could still clearly picture her — that confident smile nowhere to be found, being violated with empty eyes.
Of course, since the one who inflicted that humiliation had been Hex, that part at least seemed safe now.
After arriving in the city, we moved busily. There was a lot to do — restocking supplies like food, repairing equipment, and so on. Naturally, our funds dwindled considerably. We sold the materials we'd acquired during our adventures, but it wasn't enough to cover the expenses.
If this situation kept repeating, we wouldn't be able to continue the adventure. What would solve this problem was commissions — quests.
This city has an Adventurers' Guild, right?
The quests provided by the Adventurers' Guild were diverse, so clearing just a few suitable ones would be enough to cover travel expenses. You could get better rewards even for hunting the same monsters, and there were even events that only triggered by raising your adventurer rank — so there was no reason not to.
It was when we entered the Adventurers' Guild.
"Please, isn't there anything you can do?"
I saw a shabbily dressed old man pleading desperately with the receptionist. At a glance, he was an ordinary village resident — no, someone from a neighborhood a bit poorer than that. This didn't seem to be a rare occurrence; the adventurers went about their business while watching the old man.
The receptionist replied with a troubled expression.
"I can open a commission for you, but dispatching someone is impossible. That would include additional compensation…"
At the receptionist's answer, the old man didn't know what to do. Watching this, the adventurers began to talk among themselves.
"What's going on?"
"You know, it happens sometimes. People from those outer pioneering villages come asking for dungeon clearances. But they don't have enough money, so the commission can't be accepted."
"What were they thinking, founding a village near a dungeon?"
"It's a dungeon in name only — probably just a goblin nest or something. Must have appeared recently."
Meanwhile, thinking there was no other way, the old man looked toward the adventurers. From his position, he probably couldn't believe that among so many people, not a single one would help him.
The old man dropped to his knees.
"Adventurers, please help us."
An elderly man went so far as to kneel and beg, but the adventurers' reactions were lukewarm. The kind-hearted adventurers who liked helping people had already volunteered for the front lines, protecting the pioneering lands from monster invasions. The adventurers remaining in this safe city were those who made their living from low-risk or dirty jobs, so they weren't about to step forward to help.
"Who's going to take that kind of risk for free? We're not suckers like the Hero or something."
Someone's sneer spread among the adventurers, creating an atmosphere of indifference toward the old man. It wasn't that no one found his words grating, but neither did anyone feel like stepping up. Faced with complete non-reaction, the old man trembled with misery and despair, but there was nothing he could do. He could only helplessly swallow his tears.
It was while that unpleasant air hung over the place that someone draped an arm over the shoulder of the chattering adventurer.
"What the— who the hell are… you?"
I looked at the adventurer who'd been about to get snippy and then suddenly turned extremely polite, and wore a sneering smile.
"Interesting. Who's a sucker?"
"Who else? The Hero's party…"
He checked my face and trailed off. Then, looking at my companions standing behind me, his pupils began to tremble. Our party members each had their own distinctive traits, so he seemed to have recognized our identities at a glance. In particular, he seemed well aware of the notoriety of this body's original owner, Hex.
I smiled as villainously as I could.
"Why'd you stop talking?"
While I was dealing with the adventurer, Kyle approached the village chief and helped him to his feet. From the murmuring among the adventurers, the village chief learned we were the Hero's party and wore an expression of pure gratitude, as if he'd witnessed a miracle.
"Hero! Please, help us!"
Kyle looked ready to agree on the spot, but he didn't. No — he couldn't. He knew it too. Going all the way to a distant village just to clear out some mere goblins wasn't a decision even the world-certified sucker brigade known as the Hero's party could make lightly.
Naturally, I was against it as well.
If this were an open-world game with no time limit until the clear, maybe — but this game requires completing set objectives within a limited time, so wasting time is something to avoid.
Unfortunately, we don't have time to spend on catching the likes of goblins. The experience points are negligible, and the rewards are pitifully small. Even if we chose the slow route with some spare time, that time isn't infinite. We needed to take out the key forces one by one before the Demon King fully gathered his army.
"We're suckers, sure, but we don't go around doing charity work without a plan. How about finding some other volunteers?"
When I asked the surrounding adventurers whether they'd like to take it on themselves, they broke into cold sweats and averted their eyes. Kyle and the others didn't look happy, but they didn't oppose my words either. Because I wasn't exactly wrong.
Then the old man bowed his head toward Kyle. Kyle panicked and tried to lift him up, but the old man clung to Kyle's pant leg and began pleading through tears.
"Please, I beg you. She's a child who was supposed to hold her wedding next month!"
"What?"
I was the one who reacted to those words.
The old man's explanation went like this. His granddaughter, who was to be married next month, had gone deep into the forest to pick tree fruits and been captured and dragged off by goblins.
"Hic! The young man she was to marry went after her recklessly, and now he's fighting for his life!"
My head spun. I couldn't even breathe properly. I grabbed the adventurer and said,
"So what you're saying is. A boy and a girl born in the same village, who grew up as childhood friends. Who kept that tingling atmosphere going. Who became certain their feelings were love. Who promised to marry. Then a monster kidnapped the girl. And the guy who tried to save her is on the brink of death. That's the story, right?"
"I don't think there was that much backstory…"
The adventurer said so, but it didn't reach my ears.
"Goblins…. I'll kill them…!"
Barging in at the finale of pure love. I absolutely cannot forgive that.
At my words, Kyle broke into a bright smile. It had been a difficult decision between reason and emotion, but the one most likely to oppose — me — had switched to the "let's go" side.
"Well said, Hex. Let's go defeat the goblins."
"No."
It's true that I can't forgive the goblins. But my personal wishes and the overall plan are separate matters. Mobilizing the entire party for something like this would be a serious waste of time and manpower. The rewards were already meager — no reason for all of us to pile in. Having chosen the slow route, we needed to use our time efficiently.
Therefore…
"I'm going alone."