After using the zombies to prod the body on the ground and not getting a reaction, I cautiously made my way over. The room was dimly lit by a singly torch, but with my improved vision everything was fairly clear.
She looked like a woman in her thirties with shoulder length black hair. I would of normally fumbled over myself from her beauty..... if it wasn't so tarnished from so many injuries. She was completely naked lying on her back, but I didn't feel any sense of excitement.
She was covered in bruises and lacerations all across her body. Her face in particular seemed to have been repeatedly attacked based on the bruising and swelling. I could barely see her left eye it was so swollen. There was also an injury that looked much worse than the others. Right above her left breast was heavily bruised and completely caved in. It looked like a baseball sized object had hit her with tremendous force in that spot.
I had seen a couple dead bodies up till this point, but I had never felt like this before. This sense of.... anger. Yes, it was definitely anger. I'm not sure why, I didn't know this person, but this bubbling anger rose up nonetheless. I felt my right hand shaking and had to take a deep breath to organize my thoughts.
I could make out some dried up liquid that was caked on her inner thighs and around her mouth. I had a pretty good guess at what it was and what happened to her. I thought back to the bandit corpse outside, and suddenly remembered that his pants looked like they were coming off.
Did he rape this woman? But then why is he a dried up corpse? What the hell happened here? Why is she in a closed off room with no one else inside? I took another deep breath and let out a long sigh.
"Hahhhhhhh...huh? What's that?"
I was trying to collect myself when I noticed two dark protrusions peeping out from the top of her head. Her hair was so dark I had not noticed at first.
"Forgive me."
I pushed aside her hair to reveal two small horns.....she wasn't human? Is she a humanoid monster? A demon? But she looked so human, if it wasn't for the horns I would never of thought otherwise. As I was trying to put all these pieces together I barely made out a soft voice.
"I......will......never......forgive you....."
"HOLY FUCK!"
I screamed and immediately fell backwards, retreating back several feet. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦?!? 𝘡𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦! 𝘈𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘮𝘦! My heart was pounding like a drum, I had thought she was dead the whole time.
The zombies surrounded me as I stood there waiting. After a while nothing had happened, so I cautiously approached the woman again. It didn't seem like a trap, those words must of taken all she had to say. What kind of anger must you have to use your little remaining life to tell someone you won't forgive them?
I reached the woman again and crouched down so I could get a closer look at her face.
"O-oy.....uhhhh.....a-are you alive? I-I'm not h-here t-to hurt y-you.....I'm from t-the Adventurer's G-Guild."
After waiting for what seemed like minutes, but was probably only a few seconds, I saw her uninjured eye slightly open. She was looking directly at me, but didn't say a word.
"C-can you talk?"
"....."
Maybe those last words were all she could muster? Then I could see her lips moving ever so slightly, so I strained my ears trying to listen.
"Blood."
Did she just say blood? Does she want me to get revenge for her and spill their blood, or maybe does she want me to give her some of my blood?
"D-do you want m-me to g-give you my b-blood?"
"Ye....."
She couldn't even finish the word, it looks like what little life she has left is running out quickly. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘥𝘰? 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩. 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦?
I was in a dilemma. I didn't know this woman. While I felt sorry for her situation, I had to prioritize my personal safety. If she got violent after recovering.....well I guess I have the zombies. I've defeated a Draft, so even if she is twice as strong as Snarf I should at least be able to retreat right?
Ok, so lets say I help her, do I just drop some of my blood in her mouth? I can't think of anywhere to put it. I tried to ask her for more details, but she seemed to be unable to reply anymore. If I leave her here she will definitely be dead soon.
Didn't I say I wanted to save damsels in distress? Now that there was one in front of me that I could help I was hesitating. What is there to hesitate about? Save the girl now have regrets later.....right? My life was fairly worthless before this, but now I had a chance to save a life... 𝘍𝘜𝘊𝘒 𝘐𝘛! 𝘐𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯!
I took out the dagger I got from the bandit and made a light cut on my thumb. I gingerly opened her mouth and started dribbling in my blood.
After few minutes of giving her my blood, I pulled back my hand, closed her mouth, and waited. Then I kept on waiting. 𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦? 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘳? 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥?!?
"I'm sorry..."
Those were the only words I could muster. As I was lamenting my own cowardice, I noticed there was a new light source in the room aside from the torch. I looked toward it and saw the woman's eye open again and her irises were glowing a vivid blood red.
"N-no regrets r-right?"