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61.11% I, Human! / Chapter 11: CHAPTER 1 – PART IV

Chapter 11: CHAPTER 1 – PART IV

Continuing the search for my first quest, and something to eat, I go to sneak back around the front of the tavern. The pigperson is standing out front, arms folded on top of their pot-belly. They're looking away from me, towards the bend in the middle of town, so I duck behind the building again. Don't want to get caught next to my little indiscretion if they come investigate round here, especially after my Oscar winning performance in there. I hate that I can never go back in, the food smells so good. I decide to wander up the hillside a bit to avoid being spotted, and to see if I missed any inns tucked down a side street.

Huffing the air like a bloodhound, my empty bladder grateful and my empty stomach growling, my exploration is far from exhaustive, but I am starting to get exhausted.

Wandering about all day in the blistering sun. Running, hiding, getting my ass kicked... nothing to eat for several days on top of that. Not to mention the emotional roller coaster. At least I've kept hydrated, but what good is water when you're running on empty. I might be able to point and grunt my way through ordering something, but I've got no money to pay with. I consider trying to trade my phone for food, but it won't last long after being turned back on. There's no signal anyway. Plus... I think back to why I've got it turned off to begin with.

I heave sigh upon sigh while investigating the backroads.

The scent of cooking is starting to pop up more regularly as people must be prepping for dinner.

I end up back on the street where I met the beastgirl.

My heart pangs at her remembrance.

Why do I care about someone I just met?

Why was she so scared of me, then so willing to help?

I hope she's okay...

...

THAT'S IT!!!

Maybe I was meant to help her escape?

Not just hide in a corner and get beaten up.

I kick myself for not realising sooner.

This isn't a game. There's not going to be anything convenient like an Adventurer's Guild to just sign up at and get started. No one has big glowing icons over their heads to indicate Quest Giver. What was I thinking?!.

"There's not even a HUD!"

The last thought verbalising involuntarily, but it was obvious really. This couldn't be a game world. VR isn't that good yet. There is magic though, I mean what with all the fantasy creatures, or at least there might be, so there could still be hidden game mechanics at play too. Like a stats and abilities system or something. I haven't found an interface for anything yet, but I'd still basically be in the intro sequence at this point, right? Gotta get through this first quest, rescue the beastgirl, recruit my first companion, then I'd get access to the skill tree. Then I'd probably enter the tutorial phase/training arc. Okay, we got a working hypothesis again, let's go with that.

I spend some time working out an intial search area based off what happened while I was with the beastgirl. I'm sort of in the South East-East part of town now, and we wormed our way up the mountainside to the South-South West corner in our attempt to flee from the Orc. She was coming down hill when I met her here before, and I haven't found any businesses around this bit, so I assume she must live in the South-South East area. Wait, the beastman dragged her off back down the slope, so that would be North? Putting them in the South West? But, that was the only way out of our hiding spot, so he'd have taken her back across this way after, right? Why would he take her to her house? She was running from them too. She was scared of me at first, but then when she saw the Orc she was down right petrified. Does that mean show was kidnapped by them?!. SHE COULD BE ANYWHERE THEN!!!

I clutch my head, dizzy from the mental orienteering and questioning spiral into uncertainty.

Hang on, no... she recognised them. She knew them. She hugged that goblin. Is she their slave? No, she didn't look that shabby. But they treated her so violently.

Hmm... maybe she just works for them, like a maid or child minder for the grot or something? Then the beastman would be a bodyguard? No, more like a hired goon.

There's no way they're related. Ain't no way a goblin and a beastperson share parents. The goblin could be a baby orc, I guess, but the beastgirl looked nothing like the beastman. And who would treat their sister like that too?!.

I know some of my friends growing up had complex home lives. Like, ever changing step dads, reconstituted families, deadbeat parents, wannabe gangster older brothers, that sorta thing... it's not something you really talk about though, it's not your business, it'd be rude to. There's nothing you can do about it as a kid after all. Who even knows how it works in a fantasy world with multiple sentient species?!. Well, I mean, I'm sure they all get it. It's their world. Their social norms and all that. There's probably some hierarchy of creatures I've no idea about, hence the Orc and goblin seeming above the beastfolk...

ANYWAY!!!

Shouting at myself internally for going on yet another tangent, I pull my focus back on track.

Ok, so I gotta find her first.

Find the beastgirl, then what?

Let's go in with a plan this time.

Don't want to freeze up and act a fool like in the tavern, or get another beating.

Err...

My mind draws a blank.

It's so hard to focus, to stay on topic, to think any deeper than the most surface level thoughts. My blood sugar must be super low. I really haven't had energy crashes like this since I was a kid coming down after getting hopped up on suga-

"NO!"

Blurting out my frustration at going straight off course again. I clap my cheeks to try and wake myself up a bit. It stings a little less than last time, but I am instantly more alert.

I need to eat.

I wonder if I could kill two birds with one stone?

If I find where the beastgirl is, I can scout out the building, try to get her attention, and have her bring me some food. She seemed willing to help me before. Maybe I can act out how hungry I am and she'll pass something out to me. Then I'll be more focused, have an idea of the layout, and already be on site to work out her escape.

Got to avoid the others though.

I cannot afford to get attacked again.

Right, so, this is now a reconnaissance mission.

YOUR ORDERS - SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT THEM - ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Make contact with the target, acquire resupply, then plan exit strategy. Do not engage hostiles. Avoid enemy contact at all costs. If extraction is possible, all effort must be made to do so covertly. Do not attract aggressor attention. If escape does not appear viable during initial inspection, rendezvous with asset at alternate location, or make arrangements for secondary attempt at a more convenient point in time when further preparations have been made.

>>> PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: FOOD <<<

>>> MISSION IS A GO <<<

God, I'm glad that's over with.

A plan is a plan.

However painful it was to put together.

If I'm not exactly sure where she is most likely to be, the best I can do is estimate. She was coming down hill towards the town centre when I met her, so let's check up this way first. Simplest answer and all that.

I meander around the area as nonchalantly as possible, trying my best to not look like a peeping tom as I slow my pace here and there to glance through a window or listen for familiar voic...growls? Can't really call them voices when they aren't speaking words or anything. Familiar tones/pitches I suppose? Anyway... My thoughts wander as much as my feet between the buildings. If I were a bit younger I could have probably gotten away with pretending to be a kid, jumping up on walls, putting my face against windows, acting like I'm playing games. Might have even been able to knock on doors while sobbing to go the pity route. Not that it'd have worked beyond getting inside, I couldn't have asked to see who's there. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'd get a look at everyone if they came to see what my crying was about, then just run out again when I've confirmed things.

Kids get it way easier...

Well... I might have died in that beating if I were too little, or just starvation at this point. I wouldn't be able to help the beastgirl either. Hell, the spideress might have thought me snack sized!

I continue, my probably quite poor attempt at subtly, scouting the houses until I'm almost at the top of the hill. Although this side of town is less dilapidated than the lower end, the last few buildings are a bit dingy in comparison to the rest. Thankfully, my worries earlier about having to potentially comb through every point of a compass to find the beastgirl were just me overthinking. I hear the bellowing of the Orc before I even reach the end of the street. The snarling of the beastman and chittering of the goblin reach me as I approach the largest, and really quite a size at that, of the disrepaired dwellings.

I check around me, and slip down the side of the house, unnoticed. It's a wider gap than the one the we tried to escape down earlier, but it's still a bit of a squeeze between the two buildings. I don't dare go past the front in case there's an open window or something, but the sound of the other monsters berating the beastgirl, and her occasional muted sniffling, do seem to be coming from the side farthest away from me. Shimmying as slowly and silently as possible, I make it to the other end without being ambushed. There's nothing but some scrubland and a bit of a craggy rock-face behind the property, so I shouldn't be spotted by a neighbour, but the back of the house opens onto a small yard, with only a rickety fence around it. I duck down and start commando crawling through the undergrowth around the perimeter.

>>> ALPHA DARK ONE – RUNNING SILENT <<<

I shudder at my own cringey thoughts...

No more of that.

This is serious.

I take a long breath to steady myself and continue to creep along the side fence.

I make it to the first corner, obscured by a rather unkempt bush of some kind, and the back door of the house snaps open.

Instinctively I tense up.

The shouting from within growing ever closer.

Closer.

C L O S E R . . .

My lung begin to burn from the need to exhale, aching at their partial capacity.

I can't chance it.

Not yet.

...

A sharp bark cuts off the roaring of the orc, the gibbering of the goblin recedes, and all that remains is the beastgirl softly whimpering. The disgruntled grumbling of the other creatures gradually diminishes into the depths of the house. It doesn't seem like she fought back, so I assume the beastman called a stop to herharassment with that yap before, at least for now.

I take a few short, shallow, silent breaths to sooth my screaming lungs.

They've been browbeating her this entire time?!.

I think of how long I spent chatting with the cellar-spideress, searching the town for a Guild Hall or tavern, and she's been scolded non-stop to trying to save me... I owe her.

I have to help her.

I have to...

G u U r R r G g G g L l L l L e E e E e E ~

...get some food.

I'll owe her again before I even do anything in return.

SHIVER

God, the shade from this bush is kinda chilly.

Wait, why's it so quiet?

Panicked, I squint through the shrubbery again, but my view of the garden is blocked.

I look up.

The beastgirl is...

...is she smiling?!.


next chapter

Chapter 12: CHAPTER 1 – PART V

Why?

Why is she smiling?!.

The beastgirl, almost lying across what, on closer inspection, proves to be a type of berry bush, is positively beaming at me. Although my stomach tries to take charge and have me reach out for fruit, my hand refuses to comply. It firmly remains planted, propping me up to fully take in the source of my personal eclipse.

Her eyes are red.

The dust of dried up rivers flaking from her cheeks.

There's a pleasantness to the cool in her shade, and I am relieved that she isn't freaked out to see me. Why is that? I suppose after the initial shock she realised we had a common enemy. I awkwardly shift all my weight onto one arm and wiggle out a little wave at her with my semi-free hand.

Her mask slips.

Fresh droplets burst around me.

This is the most painful thing I've ever seen.

My stomach knots, forcing the cramping from hunger down and out of mind, only to be rapidly replaced by a chemical explosion. The reaction almost causing me to vomit. That expression of joy, relief? Through her obvious pain and suffering... I don't deserve to see it.

It's almost too beautiful for words.

I must be getting a bit delirious from hunger, but I can't look away.

Her sorrowful smile, her joyous tears. This isn't something I should find captivating, and yet...

I only notice I'm slack jawed when my tongue creaks into motion, cracks erupting on its parched surface, and I struggle to swallow to alleviate the drought. Who'd have thought that would even be possible after all the water I've had today. My mouth slowly becomes functional again from smacking my lips over and over like a drunk waking up from a stooper.

A sniffle.

A wail...

Her tears become a deluge. The mix of emotions seemingly as volatile in the beastgirl as those within myself. Hold it in. You're not allowed to cry. We may be feeling the same tumultuous, overwhelming feelings, but I have to be strong for her. I have to calm her down (so the others don't come). I have to make sure she's okay (so we can escape). I have to be strong.

Looking away from the contorted face above me, I check the house. The door is mostly closed, but still ajar. Going back down the gap I snuck up will trap us, especially if she lets slip a cry. Especially if they're used to her running away. They knew where she was with me last time. I jump to my feet, nearly cracking the my head against the beastgirl's downturned chin, skimming her loose hair on the way up. Her scent filling my senses. My eyes close and I sway backward a little. It takes a moment to recover. Maybe I'm just dizzy from moving too quickly. Yeah, totally just a rush of blood to the head. Low blood sugar and all that.

I shake it off and slowly guide her around the shrub, over the anaemic fencing, and behind the neighbour's wall. The next house over isn't as big, but it's clearly costructed to a higher caliber. More stone, less wood. Considerably sturdier and in good repair to boot. There are no doors on the back of the building, only some broad windows at about shoulder height. No garden to speak of either. We stay low, getting about half way along before stopping to take stock of the situation.

The beastgirl clings to me like I'm buoyant debris in a squall.

My chest aches, heart pounding against the tension, compounding the pain. As soon as I stop and face her, she buries herself in my top. Dirtying rather than drying her features.

Okay... we're in cover. I can't hear much over her sobbing, but I don't think anyone is coming to check on us, at least not yet. Apprehensively, I stroke the beastgirl's hair. She doesn't flinch, but there's a definite pause, a moment of uncertainty when my hand first makes contact. That animal distrust, survival instinct, whatever you want to call it. You don't see it so much in domesticated pets though, it's more like when you're watching a wild animal that needs injuries treating. The first time a human has ever gotten hold of them. The person will be cooing and petting the animal and it just stares at them like they're the strangest thing in the universe. It's only once they've been cut free or bandaged up or whatever, that's when understanding creeps into their eyes, and relief...

What am I even on about?

She's not some animal. I mean, yeah, there's obvious animal elements to her, she's a beastgirl, what do you expect! But, she's a person too. It's the person side that's hurt and needs comfort right now. Stop being such an idiot.

FOCUS!!!

I continue stoking her hair. I'm too nervous to be overly familiar, so I don't hold her to my body as well. I think I would start shaking uncontrollably like a broken washing machine or my heart would explode or something if I hugged her. I also don't just flat palm pet her like you would a cat or dog either, or scritch the topof her head for that matter, in case she takes objection to it. I'm sure she can tell I have no idea what I'm doing, but I try to be as comforting as I can, lacing my fingers between her loose curls, slowly drawing them through the strands. It's sort of wiry. Thick and heavy, but there's a softness to it. The motion releases her scent again. My head swims.

My fingertips graze the skin covering that first vertebrae at the base of her neck. The one that sticks out a bit when you bend your head forward, between the shoulders, marking the top of the back. My arm kinda spasmed, I guess, it just jerked towards me. I must have kept it too tense for too long, trying to maintain a respectful distance between us. The beastgirl jolts. There's a long pause, her breathing ceases, but, with a sigh – seemingly of relief, maybe a touch of elation – she leans into me more. Her forehead thumping against my sternum, reverberating in my ribcage.

What am I meant to do?!.

My head fills with a haze... a fog of pheromones. The unspent adrenaline from creeping around, of our shared trauma, of our reunion, unused and redirected to other base instincts.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!.

She's crying and I'm getting, what? Excited?!. The hell am doing...

I don't want to push her away. I want to make sure she's okay. I don't want to hurt her feelings or anything, to make her feel rejected, but I don't want to feel like some monster for getting excited by a beastgirl burying her face in my chest. It's just hormones. My damn lizard brain acting up. Gotta be tactful. Real gentlemanly like... none of that nice guy/m'lady stuff either. I take a deep breath and steel myself.

I stroke her hair slightly firmer than before, taking time to lean back a bit and try to get a look at her face. She looks up at me, her face red. I almost lose it right there and then.

NO!!!

Another deep breath in – I cannot break over a blush –and out. Look, she's not blushing. Her cheeks are flushed. She's red from sobbing for the past however many hours, while you chickened out and ran around town on a fool's errand. Okay? GOT IT?!. Good.

I take a step back, putting just a little distance between us, a comforting smile on my face. I don't know how authentic it looks, but I need to try and see if she's injured or anything.

The beastgirl stares at me, almost unblinkingly, never breaking eye contact. It's like she's searching for something. Trying to reach an understanding. There are a few light marks on her bare arms, defensive wounds from earlier. I step back again, seeing that she has several darker bruises on her shins, but nothing major. Her gaze catches up with my own, and she jumps back less than a step, waving her hands about to show that she's fine. She gives an odd little animalistic noise, like a chirp but not from a bird, more like that brrrt sound cats make sometimes. It has the tone of a self deprecating laugh, so I take it that I can stop worrying so much. I'm honestly relieved that body language, at least, reads similarly here.

Worked with the pigperson earlier too, pointing at the menu to usher them away and give me time to think.

Now all I have to do is communicate that I'm hungry. Do I just rub my stomach and mime eating something?

As if on cue another glug from my gut breaks the silence between us.

The beastgirl goes from looking fretful about my attentiveness, to the blankest expression imaginable, then doubles over howling with what passes for laugher. As embarrassing as it is, that sure was effective. She pulls herself together pretty quick, fresh tears in her eyes. Did she really find that so funny she cry laughed? Damn... and I thought I was being kinda smooth before. Or, y'know, as smooth as a several days unwashed, beaten up, sun baked, borderline homeless person that doesn't speak the language can be.

She rubs her vision clear, thankfully not relapsing into another fit of giggles, or finding it all so amusing she snorts, and finally notices how mucky she'd gotten from burrowing into my clothes. She lifts up her own top, wiping her face on the inside of the collar. My eyes flick to her exposed midriff. It's taut, belyinghow lean and toned she appears otherwise, making me wonder what kind of human animal hybrid she is. Her hipbones causing little curves on either side. It's also bruised on one side. I gulp involuntarily, my gaze snapping back up to meet hers as the curtain is lowered again. I try to remain unreadable. Bruising like that means internal bleeding or something, right? That really doesn't look good. I don't want to spoil the mood right now with undue concern, it could be a birthmark for all I know, it could just be surface level. My stomach really has impeccable timing, because it cramps again, accompanied by a wave of nausea.

I do my best not to double up or let it creep into my face, but I slowly and awkwardly put an arm across my waist to hold the pain in. The beastgirl notices instantly, gives me a knowing grin, her fangs almost glinting in the sun, and she darts off into her house.

I'm left standing, hunched beneath the windows behind the neighbours', like an empty milk bottle waiting for pick up. The back door clatters, a renewed swell of shouting erupts from the house, and I start to get real antsy about my plan. This was meant to be recon and resupply. I don't want her kiting the enemy over here. I can't believe I'm missing the raid for this... god damn noobie.

I sink down the wall, my legs weak but not quite buckling.

"How're the guys doing?"

They'll definitely have noticed I'm missing by this point, but it's not like they can contact my parents or anything. When I get back, I'm sure this'll be an amusing story for them, for about 5 minutes, then it'll just be a joke that'll get brought up every once in a while. It's not like they'll believe me. They'll say things like: Remember that time you thought you got isekai'd? Missed a whole event! That's why I don't go outside, could get lost in the woods like you did that one time... hicc-

I bang the back of my head against the bricks to block out the geyser attempting to burst forth. A few trickles leak out, a few strained whimpers, but I push it all down. It sticks in my throat, the bitterest pill to swallow. Loneliness, uncertainty, abject misery... It's not a matter of when I get back, it's a matter of if.

IF I GET BACK!!!

There's so much I don't know, can't do anything about yet. I need to find out if there's magic here, then I need to master it, and work out how to get home. Hopefully I'll just bump into some Arch-Wizard and they can explode my ass through dimensions, right back to Earth.

Like the beastgirl, I wipe my face with the inside of my top. I'm really gonna have to find more clothes and wash these when I get back to the house. I'm grateful there's flint and steel back there for making fires, but I need to find some soap. There was absolutely nothing else except musty spare bedding and old tea leaves. Neither of those is gonna help with cleaning.

I suppose I can make a cloak at least out of some sheets? Get my Adventurer™ outfit sorted.

Just as I regain my composure, glad for once that my brain flits through topics faster than I can keep up, accelerating my recovery, the beastgirl comes flying round the corner. She doesn't stop either, just launches over my sprawled legs, and keeps on going. I take the hint and scrabble to my feet. Roaring from the garden nipping at our heels, but thankfully no further. We skirt around the next house, down the hill, and wind our way into a small field of wild grass, heavily overgrown.

Her smirk is infectious.

Giddy with pride, almost smug, like she's pulled off the biggest heist in history, arms full of her bundled up loot. Okay... maybe she'd make a decent thief or rouge class, after all. She leads the way, pushing aside tall stalks until we're squarely in the middle of the scrubland. We set to patting down a flat area to sit in, lay out my jacket to rest on and unpack the food, then dig into our spoils. It's a veritable feast as far as a rushed picnic of leftovers goes. Some scraps of meat, broken corners of cheese, almost an entire loaf of bread, and a couple of apples.

We wolf it all down.

My stomach thanking and complaing in equal measure. Grateful for the food, but aching from having so much forced into it, so fast, after so long without.

I don't care.

I have never needed anything more in my entire life.

The beastgirl stopping every now and then to take in the sight of me messily gorging myself, hoovering up every last crumb that tries to escape onto my dirty clothes. A smile springing to her lips each time before she tears back into her own meal.

This actually feels nice.

Natural even.

I don't know what it is, but the beastgirl is easy company. Like we go way back.

I guess we've already shared a few hardships: the escapes, assaults, and now our burglary... fast friends and all that. It was the right call coming back for her.

The sun isn't quite dipping yet, but it's certainly nearing mid to late afternoon. The sky becoming a blazing red over the hilltops and treeline surrounding the valley. It's a picturesques cene.

I'm thankful to be sharing it with someone.

I feel a smile of my own creasing my cheeks, and instantly choke on a particularly dry bit of crust I'd been workingon for a while, like a cow chewing cud. Bet cows never choke though. Real smooth alright. What I wouldn't give for a drink right now though... first time I've thought that since my liquid lunch.

As I cough profusely, the beastgirl snickers, while pounding me on the back repeatedly.

Yup, this really was the right call.

QUEST COMPLETE – COMPANION UNLOCKED


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