The Goblin Nest
Deep within a lightless cave, a girl lay collapsed in a pitch-black void where not a single ray of light could reach.
Tear tracks, split lips, wounds scattered across her body, and the milky fluid seeping from between her legs told the whole story of what had been done to her.
"Nngh… ah…!"
The girl stirred with a weak moan and forced herself upright. There was not a single uninjured place left on her body. Yet even that pain seemed to have dulled, and she turned her head, staring blankly around her. Tears spilled from her eyes.
"Hic…!"
She had thought she was living the happiest days of her life. They had been simple, ordinary days — and she had wished for nothing more than that they continue. But misfortune had seized her and hurled her into the mud in an instant.
Goblins had appeared without warning. They had seized her and dragged her here. She had struggled — thrashing the way a bird fights not to have its wings broken. That resistance had been answered with horrific violence.
The only reason she had not been killed was the goblins' racial instinct for survival: never kill the sole breeding tool if it can be avoided.
And so the first she had meant to give to the one she loved had been stolen from her, and she had been subjected to a humiliation that could never be washed clean. No matter how she wept and screamed, the goblins' rape went on. Her tears dried, her throat gave out, she lost consciousness — and when she woke, it began again. Over and over.
Even the will to go home was growing faint. Who would welcome her back in a body this ruined? The thought that even her lover might cast her aside sent tears streaming down without end.
Thud. Thud.
Even though she believed she had already lost everything, the sound of approaching footsteps made her shrink into herself. The trembling did not stop until a goblin climbed onto her body.
She had endured this countless times. She had thought she had resigned herself. So what was she still afraid of? What?
After a brief, desperate reckoning, the girl faced the truth she had been trying so hard not to see.
It's already been so long.
Days had passed since she was dragged here. By now, she could be carrying it — the offspring of those repulsive monsters. The sheer physical revulsion of that thought was strong enough to drown out even the fear of violence.
She thrashed with everything she had left, shoving the goblin away. The creature seemed startled that a half-dead female would still resist — but only for a moment.
"Keheh!"
The goblin's eyes narrowed into slits. It snatched up the club it had leaned against the wall and let out a delighted little laugh. A thrashing catch always stirred the appetite more than limp meat.
Sadism boiling over, the goblin raised the club high —
BOOM.
A sound that shook the entire cave rang out. Girl and goblin both froze mid-motion and turned toward the noise.
A moment later:
BOOM.
Thud.
The impacts came closer in succession, and other sounds began to mix in with them. Neither the girl nor the goblin had ever heard anything like it — yet both understood. Whatever was coming was something beyond ordinary comprehension.
THUD.
One final crash, right nearby — then silence. But they knew. Beyond that darkness, something was there.
"Kraak! Kyaak!"
The goblin shrieked and swung its weapon in a frantic frenzy, as if that might keep the threat from reaching it — as if it could drive the thing away.
A hand shot out of the dark and seized the goblin by the head. The creature was lifted clean off the ground —
CRUNCH.
— and died as if it had never been alive at all. The goblin that had filled her nights with nightmares went limp with its skull crushed, then was flung aside like garbage.
The girl collapsed where she sat, her legs giving out beneath her. Watching the creature she had just risked her life resisting die like an insect filled her with a liberation so sharp it was almost worse than the terror that came with it.
Fwoosh.
Flame bloomed, peeling the darkness back — and the figure of her savior emerged into the light.
I arrived at the village and felt a wave of relief that I'd gotten the direction right. Without Mela as a guide, I'd been quietly worried about getting lost.
The villagers eyed me warily the moment I appeared.
Fair enough.
The people of a frontier settlement were the ones who'd fled their hometowns because they couldn't scrape together a living. Plenty of them were criminals or the destitute, and they had a sharp nose for anyone who reeked of the underworld. Hex's whole look practically screamed that particular brand of street-born menace, so their caution was only natural.
I was still turning over how to talk them around and get this done fast when one of the villagers spoke up, his expression half-hopeful, half-uncertain.
"Y-you wouldn't happen to be an adventurer come to deal with the goblins, would you?"
An old man who looked like the village chief. An outsider showing up in the middle of a crisis like this — he must have figured that was the most likely explanation. The rest of the villagers, though, were far less optimistic.
That guy? An adventurer? Looks more like a pimp to me.
Don't make eye contact. He'll pick a fight.
I can hear you, you bastards.
I fixed them with a hard stare and every last one of them looked away. In the gap, the chief addressed me again.
"Where is the old gentleman who hired you?"
"The old man was too slow, so I left him behind."
Time was short, so I'd run the whole way at full speed on my own. It was risky for an elderly man to make the trip alone, but I'd stuck a couple of decent adventurers on him — he'd arrive safe in a few days.
"More importantly, let's get this done. I hear someone's badly hurt. Show me."
The chief led me to a young man whose condition was nothing short of catastrophic. His head had been clubbed, he'd been stomped on, and his whole body was covered in the marks of a savage beating. Even in that state, he must have refused to let the goblins get away.
He wasn't going to die on the spot — but with the crude care available in a village this small, all they could do was keep the wounds from festering.
"Tch."
I pulled a small vial from inside my coat. The chief's eyes went round the instant he recognized it.
"Is that a potion?"
"Yeah."
"W-we don't have any money."
"I know."
Even a low-grade potion like this cost far more than any handful of herbs. Low-ranked adventurers carried one bottle at most — a spare life, basically. For a frontier village, it was the stuff of dreams.
Still just a low-grade potion, though.
To a hero's party, it was nothing more than standard-issue supply stock, something you packed extras of without a second thought. I tipped the vial to the young man's lips without hesitation. Once I'd confirmed every last drop had gone down, I turned away.
"Where's the goblin nest?"
It was time for the real work.
The nest wasn't far from the village. The young man and the other residents had somehow managed to track the trail and find it. At the entrance, a goblin was lounging around. I swallowed hard.
It's trash-tier trash, no question… but still.
I had never been in a proper fight. I'd hunted monsters with the others, sure — but my job had been blocking the escape route while Kyle and Layla dropped everything in a single hit. I'd never actually had to scrap myself.
The worry was real. But I still had to go in.
Rustle.
The moment I stepped out of the brush, the goblin spotted me, screeched something, and bolted straight into the cave. Calling its buddies — and maybe planning to use their captive female as a shield.
Hah!
So with no idea how to hold back and no time to brace myself, I charged and hit the thing with everything I had.
CRAAACK.
An enormous boom — and the goblin's head exploded. The sheer carnage of it froze me solid. Looking at the shredded flesh and splattered fluids, I felt something deeply strange. Common sense was screaming that I should be retching. My body, meanwhile, was completely fine. Cognitive dissonance at its finest.
Once I'd steadied myself, I looked back and forth between my fist and the goblin's corpse and muttered,
"What the hell is this?"
One punch and it ends up like that? Golden Sun is ridiculously strong. I guess this is the kind of power you need if you're going to steal a hero's lover.
"Kyaak! Kak!"
While I was still standing there soaking in the moment, fresh goblins appeared — drawn by the noise. They took one look at me and their headless comrade, raised their weapons, and charged.
"Damn it!"
The last fight had proven they weren't much, but the nerves still hit. There were a lot of them. Every swing of my fist dropped another goblin, but they wouldn't fall back — and even I couldn't dodge every attack from a dozen-odd of the things.
A club came whipping toward my head. I was certain I couldn't avoid it. The old saying about group fights flashed through my mind: once you start defending, you get pushed onto the back foot. So I steeled myself for a brawl and took the hit head-on.
Thwack.
All that worry for nothing. The goblin's strike landed with about as much force as a fingernail flick. As the club-beating continued, a thought settled in.
So this is what zero damage looks like in the game.
Even if thousands of goblins swarmed me and beat me senseless, not a single hair would be harmed. The absurdity of a world with levels. Once that clicked, the last shred of tension evaporated. I stopped caring about the hits and started slaughtering them in earnest.
CRUNCH.
Put a little too much into it again — the goblin I punched slammed into the wall, skull caving in. What kind of bones shatter like eggshells?
BAM.
This time I genuinely held back. The goblin still died on the spot with a sound like a firework going off. And then I understood why.
When the level gap is twenty or more, everything is a one-hit kill. A system designed to keep low-level zones from becoming a slog during travel — classic RPG convenience. Once I knew that, there was nothing left to hesitate over.
I killed every goblin in sight and pushed deeper. And at last, I found what I'd come for.
A girl — stripped bare, wounded, exhausted — who still hadn't let go of the will to resist. I knew exactly where that strength came from.
Love.
This was the power of pure love. Holding onto the thread of hope even in the worst circumstances, thinking of the person you love. If she'd been one of those perverts, she'd already be moaning about how good the goblin's cock felt. That was why the sight of her filled me with pride — and, at the same time, a rising fury.
"Kraak! Kyaak!"
The goblin was thrashing around, swinging its club in a frenzy. The thought of pure-love couples suffering because of filthy creatures like this was more than I could stand. Rage boiled over. I reached out, seized the goblin by the head, and applied the barest bit of pressure. Instant death.
I tossed the corpse aside and pulled out a torch.
Fwoosh.
Light drove back the dark and fell across the ruined girl. She stared up at me, still trembling with fear.
"I came to save you."
As the village drew closer, the girl's steps grew slower. By the time the outlines of the houses came into view, she had stopped completely.
"…"
It wasn't exhaustion. Looking at her standing there with her head bowed and her mouth shut tight, I clicked my tongue. I had no idea how to comfort someone in a moment like this. My mouth, however, started moving on its own.
"What? Scared?"
She didn't answer, but I already knew. Of course she was terrified. A girl on the verge of marriage, coming home defiled by monsters — the stares of the villagers, her lover's reaction… anyone would be afraid.
I spoke without softening it.
"The guy who promised to marry you. He got himself badly hurt searching for the goblin nest just to save you. He knew it could cost him his life, and he did it anyway. You really think a man like that is going to throw you away?"
Still no answer. Honestly, I couldn't be sure either. People's hearts don't always do what you expect. You can tell yourself you should keep loving someone the same as before, and still feel the affection cool.
"You've got no choice but to trust him. Trust that the person you loved has that much heart in him."
And if he doesn't — well. Nothing to be done about it then.
I kept talking, trying to settle her.
"If that bastard does abandon you, I'll punch him for you."
I could only hope I wouldn't have to break out the pure-love injection punch. At least I'd slaughtered every last goblin responsible — that took a little of the edge off the rage.
Whatever part of what I'd said actually helped, the girl seemed to find a scrap of strength and started walking again.
Contrary to her fears, the villagers welcomed her. And the most important person of all — the young man who'd promised her marriage — pulled her into his arms with tears streaming down his face. Only then did the girl finally let go of everything she'd been holding back, and broke down sobbing.
"…Tch. Worrying for nothing."
Their love had been strong enough to weather a trial like this. Which meant my work here was done. I turned on my heel with a satisfied smile.
That was when the chief caught my arm.
"Wait — please, wait a moment! We have no idea how to repay this kindness… It's not much, but please accept this as our thanks."
While I'd been in the goblin nest, the villagers must have scraped together what they could. The chief held out a coin purse. The sum wasn't large, but it was clearly more than they could comfortably spare.
I stared at it for a beat, then snorted.
"Hah. Keep your pocket change. If you want to hand out money, give it to the adventurers who bring the old man here. Those guys volunteered for free."
"Th-then how are we supposed to repay you?"
I opened my mouth to answer, then shut it again.
How the hell am I supposed to say something embarrassing like "I've already been repaid" with a straight face?
Instead of answering, I waved them off and kept walking. Behind me, the villagers' thanks followed. So did the tear-choked cries of the girl and the young man.
Not bad at all.
But that was enough sentiment. I'd wasted time on a personal detour. Now I needed to get back to my companions as fast as possible.
And then —
Affinity Level with Layla has increased
0 LV→1 LV
Out of nowhere, an Affinity Level went up.
"…What the hell is this?"
Why did that just go up?