-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Payback
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Damn it! Cover him!!!”
Swoosh!
The darkness that instantly enveloped me obscured my vision.
Densi, Rubin's companion, had completely covered my face with a blanket.
“He can’t move anyway! I tied those ropes so tight! Just hold him down and suffocate him!”
My reaction was a step too late. Just as she said, my arms and legs were tightly bound.
Creeeeak!
I felt the fierce grip of two hands around my neck.
“Guh, ugh!”
The combined force of her grip and body weight was quite a burden.
I was helplessly being choked by her.
Densi’s voice filtered through the dark blanket.
“Haa… Why couldn’t you just stay asleep and let us have our way? Why make things difficult by resisting?”
“Khh, guh-huh.”
“Just think of it as terribly bad luck and pass out quietly. Then you can at least live as a slave with all your limbs intact!”
Creeeeeeak!
The pressure on my neck intensified.
This wasn’t the strength of a typical woman. It was comparable to, or even surpassed, that of an adult man trained in physical exercise.
When I first met Densi, she was carrying a bow. Archers generally possess exceptional physical strength to draw the substantial tension of a bowstring.
And now she was choking me with all her might.
For a normal person, this would have been an effective method to induce immediate unconsciousness, but…
“This, is, it?”
“…What?”
Ridiculous.
Did she really think this much strength would knock me out?
Pop.
“…Wait. What’s going on?”
Rubin’s bewildered voice reached my ears. It seemed she had figured out what I was about to do.
“Y-you, what are you?! How are you breaking magic ropes with sheer strength—!”
“Guh-huh, guh-hek.”
“Densi! What are you doing?! Aren’t you choking him properly?! Why isn’t this bastard passing out yet?!”
“I *am* putting pressure on him! But this guy is resisting! W-what kind of man has a neck this tough…!”
“Kh-heh-hek. Kh-heh-heh-hek.”
Even with my neck constricted, I snickered like a goblin.
My entire body tingled.
How should I describe it? My body felt distinctly different from before.
It wasn’t just a matter of feeling in good condition.
It felt like I was breaking through the limits of the human body, beginning to evolve on a fundamental level.
I didn’t know why I was feeling this sensation now, but for the moment, I wanted to revel in this inexplicable feeling of omnipotence.
Snap, pop!
With every surge of strength, the ropes binding my body snapped one by one.
My forearms and thighs felt like they were about to burst. A good sign.
Yes. Let’s just imagine my body exploding entirely.
More, more! With the image of the power within my body exploding!
“Uwaaaaaaaah!”
CRACKLE!
I ripped through the ropes binding my wrists and ankles with sheer force, regaining my freedom.
“W-what the… *Hick!*”
With my suddenly freed hands, I tore off the blanket obstructing my vision, revealing Densi, who had been choking me with all her might.
Her small chest and soft belly came into view. Where should I hit her to make it count?
“W-wait—”
Thwack!
“Guh.”
A short cry.
A concise but heavy punch landed deep in her solar plexus, between her chest and abdomen, instantly collapsing Densi’s body.
“D-Densi… in one hit…?”
I turned my head towards the source of the trembling voice.
Rubin came into view, holding sleeping poison in one hand and a dagger in the other.
She probably intended to give me more sleeping poison to keep me unconscious once Densi had knocked me out.
Clink!
Rubin silently set down the sleeping poison and adjusted her grip on the dagger. No further conversation was needed. In that brief action, our fates were sealed.
Whoosh!
Rubin charged forward instantly. She was fast and agile. Far more so than a mere goblin!
‘But…’
Whizz!
I barely dodged the swung dagger. It was a close call, just barely clipping my bangs.
“I can see all your attacks, bitch.”
“Wha—!”
Rubin let out a bewildered gasp.
I had lunged to her side to evade.
My attack range was secured.
And she, having just swung her dagger, had no means of defense left.
My target was her left external oblique, where her defense was completely open.
“Brace yourself.”
THWACK!
“Guh-hek—!”
My fist sank deep into her abdomen, as if it would punch right through her.
CRUNCH!
The impact caused Rubin’s stomach to instantly concave, sending her flying at high speed to crash into the goblin wall.
The goblin wall crumbled, burying her as if she were being interred alive.
“Haha, ha…”
I let out a sigh and looked around.
“Krrrk, krrrk…!”
The goblins, with their grotesque faces, cried out in confusion as they examined the collapsed goblin wall.
“What are you looking at? Is this a show?”
My axe. Where’s my axe.
Chop! Chop!
After retrieving my axe, I slaughtered two of the gawking goblins and neatly “decorated” them in a corner of the goblin wall.
“Hoo. *Inhale*, hoo…”
My heart was hot, beating far too rapidly. It felt like a hundred beats per second. The heat and excitement of the battle refused to subside.
It took me longer to regain my composure and catch my breath than it did to kill the goblins.
***
I had one question.
Why did they suddenly try to sell me as a slave?
Especially after they had approached me first and offered kindness.
I used the ropes Rubin had used to bind me to tie Densi tightly, then began my interrogation.
“W-when I first saw you, I was just horny… N-no… I wanted to h-help…”
“Tell me the truth. Unless you want to follow your friend who just left.”
“M-my body!! At first, your body was the objective! H-honestly, any woman with a uterus and ovaries would think the same thing, wouldn’t they?! How can you resist a man who walks around with his stomach exposed and his upper body bare like some pervert! This was practically attempted consensual sex— Guh-hek—!”
I drove my fist into Densi’s solar plexus for being *too* honest.
At the same time, her remark made my head spin.
With a face that was moderately above average, Densi was, aesthetically speaking, a rather striking woman.
Yet the level of remarks spewing from her mouth was extraordinary.
It was to the point where I wondered if what I just heard was even Korean.
“Ugh, cough, cough!”
Putting aside the unanswerable questions for now, I questioned Densi again, who was clutching her solar plexus and coughing.
“So, what you’re saying is… you helped me… to… screw me?”
“Y-yes, yes!”
“What’s there to be proud of, nodding your head like that?”
Thwack!
“Ugh…! S-sorry…!”
Indeed, some people only learn when they’re hit. Densi’s tone shifted to polite language.
Anyway, something felt off. As a man, I wasn’t exactly high in demand.
— “Big Brother. You didn’t actually go to work dressed like that, did you? I mean, a sleeveless shirt…! People will stare at your muscles! From now on, only wear clothes like that at home.”
My kind-hearted younger sister had said that to me once, but unfortunately, after that day, other women strangely showed no interest in me whatsoever.
‘I even thought I’d become invisible for a while.’
Instead, only men would ask me about my workout routine.
And when I told them I built my body through manual labor alone, everyone inexplicably looked like they were experiencing relative deprivation.
“Let’s put aside your reason for helping me initially. Why did you put sleeping poison in the soup midway through?”
“Originally, I helped you just to get a taste and be done with it… but then I saw your face and thought, ‘T-this guy will definitely sell for a high price!’ A male slave with a good body is just expensive, but a male slave with a good face *and* a good body is ridiculously, unbelievably expensive. …Being turned on was just a bonus. But R-Rubin, that sex-crazed bitch, I didn’t expect her to put the sleeping poison in so quickly…”
So, to summarize.
First, she helped me with my body as her objective.
Then, after seeing me without my helmet, she got turned on a second time and immediately planned to rape me? And as a bonus, she thought she could sell me for a high price as a slave?
What kind of idea is this, like a monkey steeped in lust?
‘Is this even possible? What kind of woman would…’
— “I… I wish you’d… wear some clothes…”
— “You just got more explicit…”
— “Man-lover.”
— “Looks tasty.”
The words of the Armored Knight and the Beastkin party I had passed by suddenly came to mind.
When it was the Armored Knight, I thought I’d misheard her due to fatigue, and I assumed the Beastkin were cannibals licking their lips.
But hearing the nuance of this woman’s words now, it wasn’t like that at all.
‘Those were their *actual* reactions?’
They really did think I was explicit, thought I was a man-lover, and thought I looked tasty!
— “You. Always wear your helmet. Always.”
At the same time, the Armored Knight’s advice also came to mind. Now, I vaguely understood why she had offered such advice.
The reactions of everyone I had met so far, and decisively, the attempted rape by the Rubin and Densi duo, solidified my course of action.
‘From now on, I should avoid taking off my helmet as much as possible.’
I felt it necessary to refrain from removing my helmet in front of people, especially women.
If I did remove it, it would only be in front of someone trustworthy, someone who wouldn’t try to rape me without hesitation.
‘Because I’d rather not go through an experience like this again.’
Being in danger of being raped against my will, especially like this time, was extremely unpleasant.
I decide the fate of my virginity.
That means I’ll follow my dick’s compass. There was a certain romance to being a virgin.
‘Are the women here simply honest about their sexual desires? Or are the values of men and women different from Earth’s…?’
This was certainly an issue to investigate further, but it wasn’t crucial information for escaping the Labyrinth right now. I’d put off worrying about it until later.
Rather, what was important right now was…
“I’m sorry. Please, f-forgive me now… I’ve told you everything truthfully…”
Densi, kneeling, clasped her hands together and pleaded with a desperate expression.
Her eyes occasionally darted towards Rubin, who was neatly “decorated” next to the goblin corpses.
Each time, immense fear welled up on Densi’s face.
“W-we misjudged you. P-please, forgive us…!”
“Why are you suddenly bawling and begging for forgiveness? You’re making me look like the bad guy.”
Who were the ones who betrayed me first? Now they’re crying like victims.
How absurd.
“You were the ones who tried to turn me into a slave and sell me, against my will, weren’t you? You didn’t care if my life went to hell; all that mattered was the money in your pockets and satisfying your lust for a night, right? You selfish bastards. Why should I forgive you?”
“P-please, just spare me…! If you spare me, I’ll do anything! I, I have connections with the outlaws of the west. I’m just a low-ranking member, but… I-I can still be useful somehow.”
Outlaws of the west or whatever, I had no idea what she was talking about.
But one thing was for sure.
“Anything?”
This woman had said “anything” with her own mouth.
“Y-yes, yes! Anything! I’ll do anything! So please, just spare me—”
“So, you’re saying it’s fine if *you* become a slave?”
“…Huh?”
I tied the magic rope around Densi’s—no, *Densi’s*—neck and spoke.
“Why are you startled? Just think of it as terribly bad luck and accept it quietly. Then you can at least live as a slave without dying… though I can’t guarantee all your limbs will be intact. After all, those were your own words.”
As I continued speaking, Densi’s complexion paled and hardened.
I didn’t know how useful she would be, but…
“Don’t you agree, Densi?”
I happened to be in need of a useful tool.
-------------------- Wanna support me personally, or suggest a series i should pick? you can do all of this and more at my ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/vinez --------------------