POV change

I am Liana Herbard

My father passed away while fighting against bandits and protecting our village, he was the one who doted on me the most and he was the one who taught me swordsmanship

Now he's gone and my brother Rowan has become ill, his conditions are getting worse and worse, while village herbalist takes care of him, she mentioned that my brother has very weak constitution and the easiest way to increase it is to get mana stones to increase his level, this way not only will he become healthier, but also stronger

Naturally mana stones are hard to get, it is done by hunting monsters, I am currently level 4 because my father was hunter and brought them once in a while, he was truly too caring and did not let me be in danger and hunt by my own

Normal animals do not possess mana stones and to encounter monsters one has to go deeper in the forest, I am hesitant, I want to bring mana stones to my brother but I can not let my fellow villagers be in danger for selfish reasons, I should go alone

Yesterday I packed some dried rations and bottle of water, hoping to hunt some low level monsters after venturing in the nearby forest, I hope I do not lose my way, I can not go in too deep, I am afraid of losing my way and getting lost

My heart was beating fast, this was my first time I would fight something, I knew swordsmanship but the only sparring partner was my father who is no more...

I am not confident at all, but I have to do it, to save Rowan

I have not met any monsters until dawn, once I encountered 3 wolves I panicked, but after appraising them I calmed down, they were level 1 and 2, nothing I could not handle

Despite having an advantage I still had hard time fending off 3 of them, they left me with some minor scratches and I killed them, I felt pity but there was nothing I could do, they are monsters, I have heard from my fellow villagers that there are also goblins in this forest, they are nothing but maggots who only know how to kill and loot, I hope I do not encounter them, I have heard of many scary stories regarding them

I spent night on a tree branch, due to being nervous I could not get a wink of sleep at night, as a result I was drowsy the second day, still, I tried to keep myself awake, I was alone in this forest after all

I heard rustling sounds and I was alarmed, I looked around but saw nothing, but my heart felt uneasy, I wanted to flee but an arrow flew to my direction and landed on my thigh, ah it was so painful, I wore a leather armor and short battle skirt, I did not want my agility to be obstructed, that's why my legs were defenseless and I suffered

Small scream escaped my mouth due to pain, wound was not bone deep but it was enough for me to lose a lot of blood

If I took out an arrow, I would lose blood so I ripped it in half

I was truly scared, but there was nobody who would help me, I will have to stay strong and run away

And then creatures came out of bushes, I knew what I was against, kobolds, and there were at least 10 of them, their delighted monstrous laughter shook my soul and I panicked, I had to flee

I tried fleeing but they were fast, arrow flew to my way and one landed on my back

I have no choice but to face them head on, I can not flee from them, they will easily catch up

They laughed and said some things but I could not understand their language

My complexion was pale and I was forcing myself to stand, despite being in so much pain that made me want to scream

3 kobolds attacked at the same time in close quarters, they used daggers, I had hard time defending and did not have chance to land a hit, at this rate I would soon exhaust my energy and die

Death? I became afraid, I did not want to die yet, I wanted to save Rowan, why is god so cruel? Am I really going to perish to these monsters

And then it happened

An arrow flew out of nowhere and pierced the strongest kobold, their leader, I thought somehow god heard my pleading and reinforcements were coming, kobolds became wary and started looking around, their leader roared in anger and probably ordered to find and kill intruders but there was not a sign of enemy

My heart felt a bit relieved, I thought that someone from my village followed me and protected me from shadows, but I was wrong, after some time two goblins rushed out of bushes and my expression turned even paler

POV change

Leader and I rushed out at the same time, I swiftly pierced the neck of nearby level 2 kobold, taking its life in process

Leader went after level 3 level 3 kobolds which were fighting a human, I did not get a chance to look at her properly, I was busy killing kobolds

Two kobolds stood in my way, trying to land a hit, I dodged one, caught another's hand and kicked with my elbow, another one was already about to attack me and I turned my attention to him, kobold was aiming at my face, I did not have time to dodge in time and my cheek was scratched, well, it was probably more than scratch as I felt pain transmit into my face, I did not have time to linger and finished him off with deadly blow in the head

Another one was out of dizzy state, similarly I slashed his neck but I heard swift wind sound from behind, I knew I could not dodge but an arrow flew, an air support from other two goblins managed to kill the enemy on spot while I was vulnerably waiting to be butchered from back, having someone to watch your back is surely nice, that was close though

Then arrow flew to my face, it was an archer kobold, I stole 3 daggers from dead kobolds and threw them like throwing knives, two landed and resulted in bloodstream, other one missed, another two arrows flew and wounded other 2 kobolds, I swiftly finished them off while they were busy roaring in pain

I stalled for time with remaining level 2 kobolds since my stamina was getting lower and lower, goblin archers finished them off before they could flee

I looked at leader's direction, he was wounded all over but he preserved, I went to help him, landing a sneaky attack on level 3 kobold, he was finished off by leader, meanwhile I grabbed another one's neck and started to choke him, other one was handled by leader

The leading kobold was paralyzed, crouching on one knee and gnashing his teeth in anger, he tried to stand but it was useless, arrows landed on him over and over, while level 2 goblins could not deal a killing blow with their arrows, it still managed to greatly reduce his agility in case poison effect disappeared

After finishing off the last kobold with my dagger I looked at the human

I was dumbfounded, she had a blonde flowing hair, her figure was just too good, her bust was bulging from her leather armor, a bit bigger would be fat and bit smaller would be flat, her chest was just the right size, her white thighs were wounded and her face was pale, after realizing her situation she tried to flee but paralysis arrow flew and she fell on the ground

We knew she would not go far in this state, goblin archers came down from trees and we collected up all the loot

She was desperately trying to crawl away from us but paralysis was already activated and she could barely move

She was tied down by rope by my fellow goblins, my heart felt pained and panicked, I knew the fate that awaited her if she was delivered in the tribe, but I could not just free her, they would attack me

- Kekeke, leader you are the best, we are rich, not to mention 12 mana stones, she will fetch at least 15, she is an exceptional beauty

- I want to do her now, but Grunter will be angry, besides once he is done with her we can also have our way with her

Goblin archers giggled evilly

POV change

I was tied down, knowing what awaited me I felt cruelty of life, why did this happen? I will never see my brother and mother again, before I knew it tears welled up in my eyes, despicable goblins seemed happy, I wanted to suicide and bit down my lips until they bled, it was painful, I stopped and had more urge to cry

Then the goblin with short dagger started yelling something at others, they seemed dissatisfied, but then level 3 goblin, which seemed to be their leader took out a red vial, I recognized it, it was a low grade health potion

The more I thought about it the more fear I felt towards them, their enemies were so many in numbers yet they dealt with them with merely four, I felt they were very dangerous, despite being a level 4 I was tied down and could not move, I could not fight them like that

I had hard time accepting my fate and my heart was about to burst, I was caught by these greedy lustful monsters, I felt hatred towards them and towards myself for being too weak

POV change

I told them that her wounds were serious and she would die on the way, I suggested to treat her wounds first, they were against it because health potion was precious and they had a single one, I told them that she was worth much more than that and we would not be losing anything, they collected some healing herbs and leader made her drink health potion, her wounds started to heal visibly, though it was slow, she would recover soon enough, good

I told them that I knew something about dealing with wounds and they agreed to let me apply the healing herbs to her wounds, I was stalling for time and started smashing healing herbs with rocks, I told them it would have much better effect If I did it this way, they seemed to believe it

While I was stalling for time the potion healed most of her wounds, I asked them and they said that poison would not deal any damage to her, it was just for paralysis and healing potion would neutralize the effect

They even praised me, if we gave Grunter her in good condition they said there was a high change he would pay more, after all he was not lacking mana stones

I started applying crushed healing herbs to her wounds, I seriously had no idea what I was doing and if it would have any effect, but I was not after that, while applying the herbs I sneakily moved my dagger and cut her ropes which bound her hands and waist while others were laughing and talking to each other

I saw her eyes widen and disbelief was plastered on her face, I put my green finger on my nose, indicating for her to not make it obvious, she still looked at me in daze, it would be a waste for her to be wasted under goblin's lustful crotch, believe it or not I wanted to accumulate good karma because I felt guilty in not only my past but current life too, I could not save the girl from morning, I did not have the capability to do so

After pretending to apply herbs to her wounds I stood up and indicated her to escape

POV change

I was shaken, I was freed just like that? Why would he do that? Does he want me to flee, no it can't be true, I should be valuable to them, so why? I looked inside his eyes, it was not of a monster, they seemed much more intelligent, I roughly understood his meaning, but I still could not understand why and how

It was impossibly unbelievable, I felt grateful, I knew that somehow he was different from others, his eyes were kind, it's weird to say that but I truly felt that, I could not thank him, all I could do was act along with him

The next thing he did left me dumbfounded, he slashed his own left hand and threw himself at archer goblins, he wailed in pain and others started to panic, I did not have time to stay, my wounds were healed, I ran with all my might, not looking back, I heard footsteps, level 3 goblin was approaching but since I was already healed I was much faster, soon I was alone

After running away to a great distance and checking the marked trees to not get lost I stopped and tears welled up in my eyes, my emotions overwhelmed me, I always thought that I was a strong girl, father taught me to be strong because world was not kind enough to tolerate weak, but I could not help it

I could not understand how could such thing happen and I could not forget his special eyes, when I returned everyone looked very worried and villagers showed a great support, I tried to smile a lot to not make them worry, but my emotions still could not calm down

When I was left alone in my room I checked mana stones in my leather armor inner pocket, I did not manage to gather enough to save Rowan, I felt sorrowful, my fingers met much more than 3 stones, I took them out and I saw that there was 6

I cried for a long time after realizing who would do that

POV change

Whew, this was close, leader returned with ashen face and cursed

- I am sorry, it's my fault, I did not notice she was hiding a dagger

I blamed myself

- It's alright, despicable humans are tricky, you are a good warrior, keep being in my team, the next time we will surely catch a human

I could only sigh to myself, it ended better than expected, I wondered why would she venture in this dangerous forest alone and thought that she needed some mana stones, in total I was responsible for 6 kobold's deaths so I recieved 3 mana stones, but since I felt that reason why she was here was mana stones, I secretly put them in her pocket, sigh, I hope I was of help

It's depressing though, I will return with nothing, but... did you watch me? Sovereign, I saved a life, I was not as bad person as you described, probably you were teasing and good or evil does not matter for someone like you, but I wanted you to see that I am not as bad person as you thought, surely nobody would shed a single tear if I died in my previous world, nobody would miss me and forget me in 2 days but here I found a human who would remember me, even if I die somebody will remember me, it's a good feeling

I have not changed, I am still a selfish bastard, but I am fine with who I am, as long as I am still alive I will control my fate, as for my success, it will depend on luck