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I Will Save You – Part 07

Paula wanted to yell, “I told you so!”

Paula was a novice adventurer from a poor village deep in the mountains. About six months ago, she formed a party with her childhood friends and some youths from a neighboring village. The group’s average age was seventeen.

The two boys only knew how to swing their swords. They wanted to be heroes… Well, not exactly. But they dreamed of making bank, buying a mansion, and living their lives being served by women.

The other three girls had different ways of thinking.

Pia was the daughter of the village chief. As such, she had a strong sense of responsibility. Yet she was the type to focus on outward appearance—cutting her short so she would look like an actual adventurer and even using rougher language.

“I’ll protect you, Paula!” she would shout at every opportunity, swinging a greatsword with both hands.

When they were still back in the village, however, Pia would be like, “Paula, what’s for dinner tonight?”

Priscilla was a trueborn hunter. It wasn’t unusual for her to be gone for days out in the mountains. Because of that, she was the silent type—or more like she tended to space out a lot. Her breasts were huge, to say the least, the size of well-grown melons, which drew the gazes of men.

Paula was completely different from the other four. She was born and raised in a church. Although it was a church in the sticks, proper etiquette was drilled into her nonetheless. This influenced her overall appearance, neat and clean, including her clothes.

“Calm and collected.”

“If I get injured, Paula will heal me.”

That was how she was seen by people around her. Paula could use healing magic. Plenty of people who worked for the church for many years gained the ability, but in her case, she developed her powers early.

That was why Pia invited her to become an adventurer. Their village was facing a crisis. A financial one.

“I’m sure pops will be overjoyed if we sent lots of money to the village!” she said. But Paula knew she cried every night in her bed, muttering “I want to go home.”

We should’ve gone home! Paula screamed her mind. Who wouldn’t want to scream in the situation they were in?

“They just keep on coming! What’s going on?!”

“We’re open! The goblins will charge right into us!”

“Freakin’ goblins! How could they be so disciplined?!”

“Piece of cake, my ass! You fuckin’ idiot!”

“Gloria warned us!”

“I don’t give a damn!”

They were surrounded by a hundred goblins. A hundred was merely Paula’s guess. In reality there were a lot more of them. In other words, there were too many that she couldn’t give an exact number.

Four veteran adventurers approached them yesterday, telling them about some rare plants found deep in the forest that they could sell for a huge amount.

The two boys immediately latched onto the idea, and Pia, although sounding a little reluctant, agreed. They wanted money, and majority of the party was on board. So they ultimately decided to take the seasoned adventurers’ lucrative offer.

The veterans said it was their job to guide promising adventurers, which made Pia and the others happy. It was only Paula who saw through the obvious flattery. Priscilla’s mind was somewhere else.

It was probably only Paula who considered the possibility that the men were going to pull a fast one on them.

Before they left the guild, however, the receptionist called the veterans and told them something. A warning of some sorts. Paul wasn’t exactly sure if it worked, but the adventurers stayed away from the girls. They couldn’t take their eyes off Priscilla’s bouncing bosoms, though.

They had a meeting over dinner at a tavern and left the next day when the sun was already high in the sky because they had too much to drink. They managed to reach the forest before noon. Things were fine until then.

The veterans tried so hard to draw the attention of the girls, firing magic spells, showing off their sword skills. They were able to kill ten smaller monsters. But Priscilla’s face gradually turned grim. It was unusual for her to have any other expression than a blank one.

“Paula, this is bad.”

“What do you mean?”

“Too much noise will attract bigger monsters.”

Hearing their exchange, a veteran adventurer laughed. “There aren’t any big monsters in this forest. And if there’s one, I’ll rip it to shreds!”

He was right. There weren’t any big monsters in the forest. That’s why the veterans were able to take down monsters easily. Not to be outdone, Pia and the others struck the monsters as well.

If he says so, I guess we should be all right, Paula had thought.

But she couldn’t shake off the knot in her gut. She had always had keen intuition. A number of times Paula secretly told Pia that they should go back, but every time she did, her friend only said, “I’ll protect you.”

To cut it short, her hunch was correct. The adventurers, too, were right.

There weren’t any large monsters, only small ones. Goblins. If you found one, you found three hundred.

“Guaahh?!”

An arrow struck one of the men’s shoulder.

“A bow?! You damned goblins!”

Goblins resembled humans, but hideous, standing no more than a hundred centimeters tall. Despite their big heads, they weren’t exactly intelligent. Their skin was a tad bit yellowish.

They were an easy foe to fight head-on, but tough when they grouped up.

“If they’re using bows, that means we have a Goblin Family at our hands!”

A what? Family? Paula wondered.

“Then there’s a huge one leading them…”

“Can we kill it?”

“No way in hell! We’re having trouble just dealing with these fuckers!”

The veterans were panicking. These Goblins were bad news. They had a Boss with them, a monster that was too much to handle even for these seasoned adventurers.

The veterans turned their gaze to Paula, and she gave a start. She sensed something vicious in their eyes. Not obscenity or hostility—no. It was as if they were looking at a mere object.

“Young lady, do you know what the Goblins are after?” one asked.

“I, uhh… I don’t know.”

The veterans inched closer. Pia, who said she’d protect Paula, was out in front, fighting.

“Breeding.”

“Bree… ding?”

Paula couldn’t grasp the meaning of the word immediately.

“They’re going to grab a female human and make her give birth. In other words, they’re after you, not us.”

“Wha⁠—”

A chill ran down her spine. She turned pale from fear, and she couldn’t think straight.

The Goblins were after her. Not to take her life, but to rape her.

“You understand, right?”

“N-No…”

“If we hand you over to them, we might make it out alive. All right?”

“Nooo!”

The men grabbed her arms.

“Paula!”

Priscilla, who was busy firing arrows, rushed towards her. But the other men blocked her path.

“No, no, nooooooooo!”

“You can save everyone! That’s your duty as a Healer!”

They grabbed Paula from both sides and dragged her away. Pia seemed to have noticed the commotion, but the fourth guy tried to hide it.

The two boys were idiots. They had no idea what was going on.

“Off you go!”

Paula stumbled forward. Ten meters ahead of her was a group of drooling Goblins. They looked primitive with their rusty knives, wooden clubs, and stones. Kicked from behind, Paula tumbled three meters away.

“Ah…”

The Goblins were momentarily surprised, but they soon realized what they had been given. They ran up to her. Through Paula’s tear-filled eyes, the Goblins looked to be moving in slow motion.

We shouldn’t have come here.

But it was too late for that. They shouldn’t have left the village to become adventurers. Pia might’ve talked her into it, but she herself made the decision to go with her.

Paula grew up in a church. Unlike the other members of the party, she had plenty of opportunities to read books. Not only holy scriptures or handbooks. Only a few villagers could read, so all sorts of books were donated to the church—including romance novels.

Paula was engrossed in these romantic stories. And she made a wish—that if she left the village and went to the big city, a handsome boy with rosy cheeks would appear before her. Fated to meet, they would fall in love with each other. There were nights when she couldn’t sleep, elated from her fantasies. She even wrote a story about it, with a main character named Paulie, clearly modeled after her.

I’m such an idiot… I’m so stupid for having fantasies…

Not one book told her about a story where the girl ended up being violated by Goblins and forced to bear their children. She wished to be killed rather than suffer a terrible fate at the hands of these monsters.

She squeezed her eyes shut. The Goblins were swooping down on her.

Trembling, Paula forced her mind to think. Huh? The Goblins aren’t coming?

“Can you stand?”

“Huh?”

Confused, she opened her eyes and saw a boy standing there.

He had black hair and black eyes, wearing a cloak over his black clothing.

The boy was pulling out a dagger from the back of a Goblin’s head.

Paula had no idea where he came from. Even the Goblins were stunned.

It’s real…

There was one thing Paula knew, however.

A fateful encounter!