Ch 17

  As the world slowly came back into focus for Matt, he found himself being carried in a decidedly awkward manner. At first, he feared that the hobgoblins had captured him; then, a glimpse of Zara’s vivid red hair floating by on a gentle breeze confirmed he was not in their grasp. It was already too late to stop his struggle—he had begun to thrash, slipping free from Zara and Eleanor’s hold, tumbling onto his hands and knees. Voices swirled around him, though none made sense as he fought to steady his breathing and calm his racing heart. In that chaotic moment, he noticed that everyone was present except for Maria, and a small weight lifted from his chest as the true concern in each voice became clear. He raised a hand to quiet them before asking, “How long was I out?”

  “Maybe ten minutes,” replied Yumiko, relief mingling with her worry. “I thought you were dead when I saw all that blood.”

  “Yeah, care to explain how your thigh stopped bleeding on its own?” Zara added with a hint of accusation. “And the timing of us all waking up from being drugged by the goblins seems off to me. Why did we all regain consciousness before—”

  “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” interjected Matt forcefully. “As for my wound closing by itself, my path granted me a minor skill for regeneration. Now, let’s focus on getting back to the camp and, if possible, retrieving your weapons.”

  “Wait, you mean we can get self-healing skills?” Eleanor asked, her voice filled with quiet wonder as Matt struggled to rise.

  “Not impossible, but I wouldn’t put all my hopes in it,” Matt replied, just as a wave of dizziness hit him. “Look, I’m far from fully healed, and we need to reach somewhere safe before we stop to chat.”

  “Can’t you talk and walk at the same time?” Eleanor pressed. “It will—”

  “Use your eyes,” Emily snapped with a huff. “It looks like he can barely stand. Besides, we should all be grateful that we’re no longer in the goblins’ clutches.”

  At that, a collective nod and a few grateful glances turned toward Matt as they began retracing their path toward the riverbed. Along the way, several of the women engaged in light, offhand conversation—an unmistakable attempt to avoid facing the near-tragic events that had unfolded. As they talked, Matt found himself weighing what he should explain and whether he should just act as clueless as the rest about the incident. Clearly, there were things he knew that could be used to his advantage if leveraged correctly. However, that wasn’t what he wanted, he still longed to become a footnote in their lives, to be forgotten as he faded to the background as they become self-sufficient.

  Matt's thoughts lingered on these concerns until they reached the spot where they had left Maria. There they were met with a distressing scene: four goblins encircled Maria, who was hog-tied and sobbing hysterically in a fit of rage. Eleanor and the swordswoman, whose name Matt didn't know, were the first to react. Yet, instead of engaging in battle, the goblins raised their clubs threateningly towards Maria, halting the pair in their tracks as one of the goblins began to cackle menacingly. It was evident that this goblin believed they had gained the upper hand, as he spoke in a mocking tone a few moments later.

  "Good, now if you don't want her hurt, you kill the male and come forward—"

  "Now why would we do that, or anything you want?" Zara retorted with a derisive sneer. "Right now, all you have is a useless hostage, and I wouldn't trade her life for any of ours. Let's just leave or let them harm her, but we really can't hesitate to refuse trading one of us for her."

  "Bitch, you don't care about anyone!" Maria screamed. "How long until she sacrifices each one of you for her own survival?"

  "There has to be something we can do," Emily murmured, casting hopeful glances at Matt as if she expected him to devise a solution.

  An uneasy silence settled over the group, with several women exchanging tense glances while the goblins appeared momentarily unsure of their next move. For Matt, this situation epitomized why he despised dealing with others. If it were just him, he wouldn't have to worry about saving anyone, nor would he have to rely on the hope of rescue. He could simply accept that if his own efforts weren't sufficient, then it wasn't meant to be. Yet, peace was elusive, as Maria shattered the silence once more with a piercing shriek when the goblin who had spoken earlier began tugging at her jeans, laughing cruelly.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  This led to the women shouting at him while the other goblins cackled, gleefully raising their clubs high as they cheered on their leader. Matt supposed this was the moment when a hero was meant to devise some brilliant strategy to save the day, but that wasn’t him. Even though he had mostly recovered from the blood loss he had suffered, he was still weak from the previous fight and didn’t have any weapons beyond the knife that had been returned to him after he regained consciousness. Nevertheless, he couldn’t just sit there and watch what was about to happen, as he found himself moving without realizing it.

  The three goblins with the clubs appeared confused to see him spring into action; they hesitated and failed to even shout out before he was already halfway to them. Yet, they still had more than enough time to bring their clubs down on Maria’s head if they hadn’t looked to their leader first. “Sheep,” was the word that came to Matt’s mind as he slid and rammed into Maria’s body, pushing her into the three goblins and toppling the leader. Next, Matt managed to grab the leader’s neck, just as he had with so many other goblins before, and swung him overhead with all his might, slamming him into the ground.

  That was all Matt had to do, as by then Eleanor, Yumiko, Zara, and the last nameless woman had sprung into action. It went without saying that the remaining three goblins died rather quickly, and Matt just stood there looking at Maria like one might regard a drug addict who claims everything is someone else’s fault. He knew she was toxic and, given how things were, she was likely to get them all killed if allowed to remain as she was. Yet, he hadn’t found any acceptable way to deal with her. When the notification chimed, awarding him a full 9 experience points from the fight, he was just about to walk away when she started to yell.

  "What the hell was that for?! You could have killed me! What are you—"

  "Shut the fuck up!" spat Matt, venom dripping from his tone. "I don’t care if you die; I just don’t feel like witnessing rape. Now if you don’t want to end up tied up for the next monster to come along and enjoy a feast, you’d better learn some self-preservation."

  At that, Maria seemed to short-circuit, her mouth opening and closing several times like a fish gasping for air. Meanwhile, each of the other women reacted differently to his words, their expressions hinting at things they wanted to say yet couldn’t quite articulate. Zara, however, managed a wry smile as she spoke.

  "I think we all need to make a few decisions before we proceed. First, Maria here has long lost any right to act on her own. She sat here and got captured instead of trying to rescue the rest of you. The fact that she’s still alive is more than she deserves, and I’m not willing to risk our lives keeping her around."

  "That’s a bit far, don’t you think?" argued Eleanor. "Everyone has moments when they want to quit—"

  "Not out here, they don’t," interjected Yumiko, a harshness in her tone that made Eleanor flinch. "Out here, people reach a point where they choose to give up and die, and Maria did just that when Matt said he was going to save the rest of you. She outright declared herself useless and even delayed us a bit."

  "I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m not exactly built for chasing down anyone!" shouted Maria defensively. "Just because all of you are in better fighting shape doesn’t mean I’m worth any less than—"

  "Out here, it does," interrupted Matt bluntly. "That’s just the hard reality we’re living in, and nothing will change that unless you fix the issue. I don’t plan on sticking around long-term, but if the six of you were a chain, I’d see you as the weakest link by far. So either find a way to be useful or shut up and do what you’re told if you want to survive."

  "You really think we’re just going to let you leave?" retorted Zara, crossing her arms. "Sorry about that, but I don’t care if I have to track you down like I’m a hunter and you’re my prey. I’m not about to lose you as part of my group if we’re truly forced to stick together."

  "Same," agreed Yumiko, with a curt nod. "Even if you’re irritating at times, you did show up for us when it seemed like the most foolish choice."

  "It’s not even an option anymore," Matt continued, his tone growing even sterner. "Once I hit level 9, I suspect the voice that spoke to all of us at the start of this mess will have other plans for me."

  "What?" retorted Zara sharply, with the other women echoing her confusion as they exchanged puzzled glances.

  Matt sighed, realizing that speaking up wouldn't be easy, but he felt compelled to be honest about the reality of the situation. Allowing them to believe they could depend on him now would only complicate matters when he was inevitably taken away. However, it wasn't the right moment to delve into specifics, so he simply shook his head and replied, "For now, just know I made a deal to help save all of you, but I don’t want to discuss it until we feel safer and have searched our old campsite."

  His words seemed to settle the group, and after a brief pause, Eleanor spoke up. "Alright, let's untie Maria and get moving. We can sort everything out once we've had a moment to calm down. Maria, I don’t want to hear any complaints from you. As the others have pointed out, you’re lucky to be alive, even if it's not the most ideal situation for you."

  Maria winced, retorting, "I think he broke my ribs with that slide, so I’m not sure if I can—"

  "You’ll live," Zara interjected. "That's all you should focus on for now. Though, I suppose I should thank you for not tagging along. If you had, Yumiko and I might not have made it to level 2."

  Matt couldn't help but smile at this, finding a small piece of solace in Zara's words. Meanwhile, Maria groaned in pain as her bonds were cut, and she was helped to her feet. With that, Matt returned to contemplating exactly what to say, as they continued at a now slower pace toward their former campsite.