How could I let this situation spiral so far out of control?
Few words can describe this mess beyond simple extortion. Not on her part, obviously, since I don't believe she has the cunning for it, but from my own emotions betraying me.
When she suddenly appeared and snatched that hare from my hand, it was almost cute. But then she asked for another, and another. Before I knew it, I was left with just two hares for myself.
She doesn't stop. It's as if she has no limit in that small body. It makes no sense; her body isn't even bigger than mine.
Now, all I could do was stare blankly at the ground while that goblin, whose name I don't even know, lay sprawled on a fallen tree trunk, sleeping for over an hour.
The worst part is that, even after eating two entire hares, I'm still ravenous. It's as though eating did nothing to lessen my own hunger.
Then, I realized something crucial.
She's a goblin, clearly bottomless, and I'm a goblin too. She knew we needed to eat far more than what I had to feel satisfied. Yet, she still tested my patience, devouring nearly everything I had.
This little gremlin! The urge to fling a few fire arrows at her crossed my mind more than once. But with nightfall approaching and my hunger gnawing at me, I focused on eating those last two hares. Obviously, such a small portion can't sustain my body.
This body works so differently from a human's. That goblin literally swallowed an entire hare, skin and bones, without choking. She consumed the equivalent of her entire stomach's capacity, yet her figure remained perfectly slim.
How can she just sleep so soundly next to someone she's never met before?
Anyway, I need to finish this before she wakes up. Tomorrow, I'll have to find at least seven or eight creatures of similar size, or, if I'm lucky, a wild boar.
After finally finishing and discarding the inedible remains, I decided to wake her. She clearly owes me, and I don't have a place to spend the night. Finding decent shelter in a dense forest like this won't be easy.
"Gremlin, hey!"
Noticing she wasn't stirring, I gave her a few nudges. Then, as if she were having the best sleep of her life, she slowly opened her emerald eyes, completely oblivious to the darkening violet sky.
When she glanced my way, her shoulders jumped slightly, and a clear look of fear crossed her face. But in less than a second, her expression returned to normal, and she said, still lying down and with one of her eyes still closed, "Oh, it's you. You scared me."
After taking a few deep breaths, she finally sat up. and looking at me, she said, "Wow, that was a really good meal. Thanks for that. Anyway, why were you staring at me?"
As if something clicked, her expression instantly changed, and with a loud voice she said, "Wait! So all of this was just an excuse for you to try something with me?"
With a shocked expression, she instantly hugged herself, as if I were truly trying to do something to her.
That was my limit. I fed her, and this is how she repays me? Unable to endure this any longer, I exploded and started flicking her forehead repeatedly.
"Hey! That hurts!" she said instantly with a trembling voice.
In a clearly furious tone, I said, "No, you little green gnome, you ate one third of my food and then just fell asleep without even introducing yourself. And now you're saying I'm the one with bad intentions here?"
"No, no! That's not how things work!"
After nearly losing myself to the urge to strangle her, I realized what I was doing and backed off.
She was now visibly scared of me. After taking a moment to breathe and calm down, I said, "Okay, no problem. I proactively gave you that food. It's not like you stole it, though you definitely took advantage of my goodwill and my naivete about you. Anyway, I'm Bran, and you are?"
Still shaken by my outburst, she said softly, "L… Lyx."
Lyx, then. I don't know why, but she seems like a Lyx.
So I said, "Okay, Lyx, good. I don't know if this is appropriate, but I really need a place to stay tonight. If you could show me a good spot or even let me stay at your cavern, that would be really helpful."
The moment I said it, a look of utter shock crossed her face. With wide eyes, now standing, she exclaimed, "Cavern? Oh! That's why I've never seen you before. You're a foreigner! Now it all makes sense, because, well, there are no white goblins where I live! It's so obvious now that I think about it. When I first saw you, I was trying to figure out who you were, but that's it, you're from another clan, right? It all adds up now!"
She's a bit slow.
But she continued, "I heard something about an entire sídhe house being destroyed a few weeks ago, but it was, like, not even on this continent. Wait, or was it in another kingdom? Hmm, I don't know. But you came from there, right? Or are you a criminal? Or maybe you were created by a dungeon? But that doesn't make sense, faes can't come from dungeons, or can they?"
"Actually, to be honest, I'm a hero from another world."
I said it simply because, why not? It's not wrong, since I accepted becoming a hero in this world, and I'm from another world. Not having the hero class is just a detail.
"And I'm a high goblin. Okay, you don't need to tell me where you're from. It doesn't even matter. I don't know how things work where you're from, but my house is controlled by a White Fae. There's no issue with a foreign goblin entering, it's actually encouraged if you're capable enough. Do you have a way to protect yourself?"
Did she just forget that I gave her most of my food?
"Well, not exactly. I only know a basic fire spell called Fire Arrow and some basic fire magic knowledge."
"Wait, you know magic? Then there's no problem at all! We can go there right now, and after you prove it, you can receive our seal immediately. Our house desperately needs new magicians. My father says it's extremely difficult to train them, and the humans outnumber us in magic users by a great margin, which makes no sense. We're far more beautiful than those deplorable, disproportionately tall creatures."
well.. I have nothing to lose by following her.
"Really? Then I'll accept your help. My last home was unfortunately infested with trolls. But I'm not that great at magic. I'm just a beginner, literally. I only know basic fire magic."
Then she said, "Don't worry about it. I think there aren't more than twelve magic users in the entire house, my father included. And what can I say? I love helping the poor. I'm one of those bright and blessed souls, you see? Helping is just part of me, like your arms are part of you."
Be rational, you can't hit her, you can't..
"Okay, it's almost dark, and some adventurers might be lurking around. Not that they're a problem, since we have a non-aggression pact, but once, a tall, bald adventurer tried to capture me. Humans can't really be trusted."
she continued
"Okay, follow me."
We began walking calmly through the woods, with Lyx moving as if she were in her own garden, hopping whenever she felt like it and not even watching where she placed her feet.
While this was happening, she talked about events from her life, such as when she was almost attacked by a silver wolf, or when she fell into a trap and then, the very next day, fell into the same trap again, needing someone to rescue her on both occasions.
What was more curious is that she seems much older than I thought, even though she looks similar to me, just more feminine and green.
"Hey, you're really not from this region? Your accent in High Avalorian is quite impressive. I've never seen an adventurer or foreigner speak it so perfectly, since hardly anyone uses it nowadays."
"I've got a knack for languages," I said.
"Cool! I never learned another one. Aertius languages? Gross. Dad tried teaching me decades ago, but nope. Their alphabet's all wrong."
After a few more minutes of walking and talking about some of the nonsense she had done in her lifetime, she suddenly stopped.
"Wait, stop! I just remembered I need to present you to the guards before we can enter the wall. Ugh, okay, I have a new idea. I'll go home, and you can sleep here in the forest, okay?"
"What? Are you crazy? Obviously not. You're going to present me to the guards right now. What's the problem with this?"
"It's just so boring. We'll have to talk to the head guard, and then he'll need to register you, and it'll take, like, hours!"
"Okay, that's not a problem. Let's go."
She froze, clearly trying to think of an excuse, but after about ten seconds, she started walking again.
"Okay, but you owe me!"