Questionable Questing
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[NSFW] - Inside an Adult Game as The Good Hunter (Bloodborne/Inside an Adult Game as a Former Hero)

Chapter 1
When they first arrived at the hall the adventurers and guild workers whispered and snickered once they found out that the Incompetent Hero's party had showed up.
When they left after collecting the bounty, the hall was silent when Cloud showed them the evidence.
They only stared. Cloud had done the dirty work and his clothes reflected it. Head to toe he was covered in blood, gore, mud, and ash. Most of it was blood. His cane wasn't. Despite the fact that it had shattered skulls and disemboweled stomachs the innocuous weapon was still as clean and pristine as it was first made.
Outside the building Neria decided to confront her childhood friend, "Cloud. Cloud what was that?"
The Hero waved her off, but the warrior-women wasn't going to stop.
"Cloud!" she growled.
Finally, after another non-committal response she said something else, "CLAUDE!"
Cloud stopped and turned to look at her.
"Answer me." Neria pleaded, "Please. What was that?"
"What was what?" he said with mild confusion.
That sent Eri over the edge, her fear of him was pushed aside by frustration.
"THAT!" Eri finally exploded, "You didn't fight them! You butchered and burned them alive! You don't do that!"
"I did." Cloud stated.
"Cloud. Doesn't."
"Claude does."
"Again with the name! As long as I've known you you've ALWAYS went by Cloud! What happened!? Why the sudden change!?"
Cloud looked up and at the moon still hanging large and bright in the night sky, "while you girls were working with the other Hero parties I was stuck recovering at a healer's hut."
Neria stiffened. He couldn't have known, he himself said he was recovering from the wounds he received last dungeon. He couldn't have possibly have seen her, Ophelia, or Eri.
"It was supposed to be easy enough..." Neria mumbled.
"It was just a team up." Eri defended, "Get your brain out of the gutter"
"Cloud-" Ophelia started.
Cloud continued, "I had time to think Iri-Neria. Too much time. Too much ... too much ..."
His voice trailed. He only kept staring up at the moon with a melancholic stare.
"Cloud! Cloud!"
The farmboy ignored his friend's shouting. It took her to grab and shake him to knock Cloud out of his daze.
The Hero of Prona gave a small smile, "Sorry about that guys. I was just lost in thought."
"I'm worried now." Neria got into his personal space, "What happened?"
"...We're friends aren't we? All of us?"
"Always." Ophelia vowed, "No matter what."
Neria steeled herself. Especially with what they had planned.
"Always." She and Eri affirmed.
He rubbed his neck, "I'm not comfortable talking about it. Yet. I'll let you know."
"Of course Hero." The Nun declared.
Their mage grumbled, "Fine."
Neria nodded. Meanwhile her gut began to twist. They couldn't put things off forever.
[hr][/hr]
Since that night they had been busy. Their travel was slow but meaningful. With every step of the way they had taken one Bandit gang contract after the other.
The reasoning given by Cloud was that most monsters were just animals. Bandits deliberately went out of their way to harm others. Getting rid of them was a net good.
It was how they did it made Neria worry.
Physically Cloud had changed little. He was already fit for his age working as a farmer. Mentally something had changed. He hesitated to swing at even Goblins and flinched whenever a blow was headed his way.
Now the Hero slaughtered grown men like cattle. Just him and his 'Threaded Cane', one moment it was a cane sword that could crush enemies with a hardened steel rod or stab with the sharpened spike on the end, the next it was a razor sharp whip that left brutal jagged cuts that reached as far as any pike and could kill half a dozen men with one swing.
Today wasn't any different. They didn't wander around to find the gang, or even used tracking magic. Cloud had a seeming sixth sense to find the cave they were hiding in ... and used his whip-form cane to tear out the throats of the two guards waiting at the cave mouth. They choked on their own blood and hit the ground unable to warn their comrades.
"There's only one entrance." Cloud explained, "they will have to get through us to escape."
He slammed down on the cane, making it a baton once again. Instead of that aptly named 'Flamesprayer' in his left hand he was using a massive brass-knuckle.
"I'll be the front. Neria second-line. Eri, Ophelia, keep Neria supported."
"What about you?"
Cloud was more assertive. Maybe too assertive.
"You will need them more than me."
He grabbed from his coat a round glass jar of murky grey liquid. They assumed it was some potion to drink, instead he tossed it far and deep into the cave.
Instantly they could hear coughing and shouting. Some sort of alchemical mist now came out of the entrance followed by a confused and debilitated group of thugs.
Poison.
Cloud never fought fair. He used every advantage possible.
The first bandit in fact he had parried with his cane, and kicked the man in the groin. While he was hunched over in pain Cloud swung the slab of metal on his left hand into the man's jaw outright turning his face into a broken tomato.
He was the first among many. Cloud was fluid. The Hero didn't parry or block unless he had to, he avoided attacks or countered them with bone-breaking punches and swings.
He kept them at bay and left whoever still standing to her. Neria fought as she usually did. Fighting with a sword and shield was normal, even empowered by Ophelia's blessings and her back covered by Eri's cantrips. Every block, every swing she had rehearsed dozens of times before.
Cloud was different. Since he had recovered he did not once use a sword, only the cane and sheer viciousness. More than one man screamed as Cloud gouged their eyes, crippled their feet, and beaten to the ground while he rained their backs with a dozen savage blows.
For the last Bandit he outright headbutted the man, then grabbing the shaft of the threaded cane and stabbed his victim not once but half a dozen times before finally impaling him, letting the thugs weight to fall on the spike end.
Once again he showered himself in blood, he shoved his newest kill to the ground and turned back to them.
"Is everyone alright?"
They weren't alright.
"We're fine Hero Cloud." Ophelia answered.
"Good. I know you girls are squeamish so I'll get the proof. You can check their stash."
A prisoner would have been the best way to prove they completed a mission, at worst hauling back a cadaver, covered up, was something Neria could stomach.
That fateful night his 'proof' for the guild was a dozen, half-burnt, severed heads contorted in pain and terror.
Neria didn't say a word and only focused on the loot. Chests and boxes of assorted jewels and coin were scattered among piles of random bits of things like books, weapons, and clothes.
Ophelia and Eri joined as they dug and sorted through a surprisingly larger haul than they expected.
They only had to ignore the wet crunching noise going on behind them.
"...I'm leaving." Eri whispered.
"He'll hear us!" Neria harshly whispered.
Eri didn't care, "I can't wait for the banquet. I have to go. Now."
"Peace Eri." Ophelia tried to calm her, "I understand Cloud is different but-"
"I thought we agreed to protect Cloud." The fighter pushed.
Eri pointed to him, drenched in blood, lopping off heads like fish in a market, "He doesn't need our protection anymore."
"Fighting bandits is different than Demons."
"Great." The mage rolled her eyes, "That means he doesn't even have to hold back at all."
Neria tried to ignore her and got back to work. They were going to leave the party, for Cloud's sake as much as theirs. Her hope that it would be on good terms.
"You found a Core."
Monster Cores. Condensed magic that permanently increased a user's abilities when consumed. Taken of course from slain monsters ... or stealing it from the people who collect them. It was just one way for an Adventurer to level, fighting, and winning, awarded experience both the physical and magical kind.
The fighter would have been delighted to find one. The quests they had before had very slim pickings. Except it was Cloud who said that.
Neria and the other girls jumped up in alarm. Did he hear them? That was the question that ran through their minds. Cloud only looked at the Core with mild interest.
He laughed sheepish, "Did I scare you guys? Sorry about that."
"W-well don't do it again!" Eri stammered, "I thought I was going to die or something!"
Still smiling he shook his head, "There's fates worse than death Eri. Anyways we should get out of here before the scavengers start showing up."
The nun of the group piped up, "Cloud! They have lived sinful lives but we can't just leave them to be feasted on!"
"It takes too much time to bury them. Besides the local jackals are known to dig up the graves anyways. Not worth the effort."
"Cremation. Eri's fire magic and your flamesprayer."
He shook his head, "Not with the woods being too dry around here. It's I went for 'Gratia'," he held up the brass knuckle, "instead of my Flamesprayer."
"Is that the only reason?"
"Yes." he said bluntly, "Men get mercy, Beasts are put down."
He said 'Beast' with a harsh hiss.
"Let's finish up here. We need to get back before the Guild Hall closes."
[hr][/hr]
As they continued toward the Imperial Capitol, word eventually spread.
Some of it exaggerated, some of it wasn't.
Slowly but surely the gossip about The Worst Hero in human history and his party was being supplanted by a much grimmer story.
Cloud The Killer, Cloud The Butcher, he acquired those monikers as he left behind corpses by the dozens. Bandits, the occasional wanted criminal, and just as they entered the heart of the Empire, Demon Cultists. He collected bloody bounties at the Guild Hall where both Adventurers and Clients could see the spectre of violent death he had become. Where they went, they brought their words.
How far it would spread only Iris would know. The sheer change in him was too abrupt and sudden.
On the last leg of their journey they arrived at the gates of the Captiol by a wagon ride.
The moment they had stepped off the driver was already ushering his horses to leave. Eri stared at the shrinking wagon when they should be looking ahead.
"Are you still thinking about it?" Neria asked.
"I am." Eri insisted, "We're already here so it doesn't matter."
The mage turned and walked ahead of the main group, disappearing into the crowded heart of human civilization.
"What's wrong with Eri?"
"She's just tired. Cloud ever since that Full Moon you've changed so much. Every enemy we've fought you've did like.. like.. a beast..."
She clammed her mouth shut, but it was too late. She expected Cloud to snap at any moment. Instead he nodded.
"If she needs time alone. I'll give it to her." He answered, "We can get a Priest to separate-"
"Your letting her go!?" Neria exclaimed.
The smile he had was the same as the one from better days, "Neria I love you three. I love you all enough to know when I should let you go."
Guilt, so much guilt welled up inside her. If he REALLY knew what was going on would still say the same thing?
He put his hand on her shoulder. Tapping it twice before he turned to look back at the moon. Why it looked large and full despite not being a month yet was a question for another time.
"Can you find a room for us in that Dancing Destrier Inn like last year?"
"Of course. Anything for you Cloud."
Anything.
"I've got business I have to do. Can you wait for me there?"
"I will."
She wouldn't. She passed that responsibility to Ophelia to find boarding and retrieving Eri. Tonight Neria was on the hunt.
The Empire sat in the center of the continent, forming the center of trade between the other four human nations. For that reason it was the largest and most developed. Northern merchants plied their wares to travelers fork the south, performers mixed the arts of the east with aesthetics of the west, and everywhere in the Capitol men and women moved like a river flowing around the earth.
It was a maze of people and buildings and it was far too easy to get lost. But Neria had a knack for finding her friend.
She waded through a sea of travelers, merchant stands, guard patrols, and the occasional adventuring party. Either she saw his black greatcoat among the crows or felt the residue power of Iris' chosen heroes left in his wake. Wherever he was going though, it led him through much of the city. Finally, he turned into an alleyway. Neria followed just right after him.
Winding left and right she found The Hero finally stopping at a dead-end ... and meeting who he was looking for.
At the dead-end was a women. She was tall, thin but beautiful like a doll. Dressed in baroque, dark colors it contrasted with her pale skin and near silvery blonde hair. If anything, she casted a haunting air around her.
Spoiler: Doll
"You have returned Good Hunter." said the women, "It has not been too long since we last met."
"For you Evetta." Cloud shook his head, "Not me. Everything is so familiar... but not everything is like I remember it. My friends, my enemies, the kingdoms..."
"You are above such things my dear Claude."
"I can't just go Eve. This place isn't gone. Not yet."
"Why did you seek strength?"
"Wasn't it obvious?"
As Neria listened she only had more questions, and concerns. Whoever Evetta was, she and Cloud knew each other very well.
"And?"
"...I don't know anymore. The other heroes, Prona, mean nothing to me now."
The women cupped his cheeks as a women would a loved one, "Whatever choice you make my Hunter. I will be with you. Always."
As they talked, Neria could see black smoke begin to billow from cracks in the ground and walls. And then to her horror something slipped out. They were eyeless, teethless creatures that looked too much like shriveled and desiccated infants.
A dozen sickly arms were reaching out to grasp her friend. Some of them with weapons. Cloud was none the wiser.
"Cloud!" she shouted. Neria bolted forward with a burst of energy and her sword already drawn and raised to cut down the nearest abomination. When she swung down it connected with flesh, just not what she was aiming at.
Too her shock Cloud had blocked her blade, he stood between her and the small monstrosities beneath their feet. The sword cut through the glove and sank into his forearm.
Shock turned to horror. She pulled her hands away in reflex as the sword fell and clattered harmlessly on the ground. She hurt him. She hurt her best friend. She hurt Cloud.
"W-what are you doing!?" Neria screamed.
"Stopping you from doing something you will regret." he said, no pain in his voice.
"You let your guard down." Evetta noted, "Claude you hadn't done so for years."
"When I'm with you is when I can." Cloud sighed, "At least the little guys are alright."
"C-Cloud what is this? What's going on?"
"These are Messengers," he explained, "A kind of magical familiar. They look different but they are harmless."
One of said Messengers held out another spherical murky grey potion. Cloud took it with a whispered 'thank you'.
Spoiler: Messengers
"A-and ..." Neria's voice trailed, "who is she?"
He answered with the absolute worst thing she could ever hear:
"My wife."
[hr][/hr]
A/N: Only a single Prologue and we're already at Page 13. Again, I'm surprised at the reception.
To make sure things don't get heated I'm going to summarize the comments I made between then and now:
This story is NOT a Self-Insert. Readers need to place themselves into Cloud's shoes. He's too nice. Canonically, he even forgives the girls before he committed soul-seppuku and chose to let someone take over his body so he/she/they could save a world that practically despised him.
In this fic Yharnam broke him ... and rebuilt him. He's half cinnamon roll, half doom slayer. Struggling to survive in an eldritch-cursed Victorian shithole for years has affected Cloud alot more than the girls he had a crush on, but never pursued, seeing other men. An eternity in Yharnam drastically dulled old pains; with new ones. If how his feeligns were placed on the Five Stages of grief his would be the fifth, Acceptance.P.S. Like Thy Good Neighbor, The Plain Doll is named after Evetta, the VA for her, Lady Maria, and who also happened to voice the Maiden-in-Black from Demon's Souls.View This ThreadUnread Watched Threads
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