My savior pulled forth a thin bottle filled with an ominous looking, red liquid. I immediately made the connection between this and the health-potions in the games I used to play, but now that I saw one for the first time, it didn't at all look like a good idea to drink it. Rather than herbs being mixed together, this looked like chemical waste instead!
Instead of at least explaining to me what he was planning to do, or soothe me with some fake promises, he just chose to ignore my skeptical stares. Accompanied by a somewhat loud pop, he pulled out the cork that had sealed the thin bottle, before sitting down next to me.
With utmost care in each of his movements, he lifted up my head, just enough for him to be able to pour the liquid into my mouth. There was no way for me to defend against his attack.
I had barely tasted the first drops of the liquid when I felt something change deep inside of my body. The potion tasted like vomit, no, even worse than that! I couldn't even describe its flavors without using foul language.
Naturally, I tried to fight back using all my strength, hoping that he would stop pouring this mixture of filth and poison right into my mouth, but my body was far too weak to resist him. It was only when the potion finally began working and a fiery heat accompanied by a what felt like waves of tiny lightning bolts assaulted my body, that I could finally push away the bottle - or at least I had thought so.
The hand of the man was inhumanly strong, it didn't even allow for me to move it enough for as much as a fingers breadth. If I didn't know it was still him, I could have thought I was fighting with a metal statue instead! And while I was fighting with all of my strength, he just stared at me stupefied.
"How can you be so weak?"
"I'm not weak!" I protested. "It is you who is too strong! Are you even human?! What is your body made of?!"
His voice turned sad. "So you really understand me..."
"So what?!"
"There is only two kinds of beastkin that speak Aurenti." He took a deep breath before continuing. "That makes you either a slave... or a spy."
"I'm not a slave!"
"You are." He decided within a split-second. "You can't fight with that weakened body of yours. And we found you here, in the midst of nowhere, with nothing to protect you..."
"I can explain!"
He didn't even let me try to come up with an excuse. "What did you do to anger your master so much that he tossed you away like this?"
"I HAVE NO MASTER! I NEVER HAD ONE!" I felt tears gathering in my eyes. "Why don't you believe me?!"
"So tell me the truth, then."
"I- I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"I don't remember..."
"You lost your memory?"
"Ye- yes..."
He looked at me in disbelief, before letting out a long sigh.
"If that is your story, then so be it..." He averted his gaze. "Don't worry, I will find you somebody who takes better care of you."
"..."
Without losing another word, the man turned around and walked towards the campfire I had fled from only minutes ago. He grabbed his cloak and the blankets and tossed them towards me, before crawling into one of the three rather frail looking, big tents. He didn't even ensured himself that I really was ok.
«Did I hurt his feelings or something?»
「You lied to him!」
«Of course I did. I can't just tell him some random goddess transported me into this world without given a flying fuck about what would happen to me!»
「When did that happen?! I totally care about you, Rika!」
«So much that I want to give up...»
Now that he had fled into his tent, I found myself left behind all alone. The perverts were nowhere to be seen and the trio of grandpas, too, had returned into the ruins to do whatever they had come here for. It was the perfect moment to escape and yet I felt unable to.
«Where would I even be able to go? I don't even have anything to wear.»
「I can give you something! A beautiful dress! And underwear!」
«Why should I even trust you?»
「I will give you a quest! You like those, don't you, Rika?!」
«A quest...»
She didn't wait for me to say yes to her silly idea. Before I realized it, I already saw a far too familiar screen forming in front of me. It was green, like all the others before, and white letters were born onto it one by one. I couldn't help but gulp.
⊱————- Extra ————-⊰
???: Quest-Chain accepted: Praise the almighty fox goddess.
Rika: How about no?
???: Let's make the rewards a 'hero' title, 3 chests filled with gold and a harem.
Rika: Nobody needs a hero title!
???: Okay~! Let's do it without the hero-stuff! It is overused anyway.
Rika: Overused? This isn't some kind of fairytale!
???: The gold is fine?
Rika: How much can three chests of gold buy me?
???: How am I supposed to know?
Rika: You are a goddess!
???: I can just imagine chocolate and it will appear right in front of me! Why would I need gold?!
Rika: You can do that?!
???: Of course I can! I can even dream of ice cream and it will stand right next to my bed when I wake up! Still cold! And in twelve different flavors!
Rika: ... please say sorry to the men that build your temple.