-Boom
Rei's consciousness blacked out for a second before returning.
"Ron!", Rei shouted as he turned back.
"He...Help...", Ron tried calling for help.
His voice was faint… so faint that it sounded like a mosquito's buzz.
Rei finally found Ron, who was under the rubble of the cave.
The goblins were one of the lowest-ranked sentient beings. Needless to say, most of them were none other than slaves of a higher-ranked monster.
Rei, Ron and many other goblins were slaves too and belonged to a particular Orc. Coincidentally, they had attacked and massacred a group of Kobolds in a cave.
While the orcs had already returned to their bases, the goblins were tasked with picking up the loot and the remaining items.
And while they were at that, the explosion occurred!
"Ron! No! You can't die!", Rei rushed towards Ron on top of whom, many small boulders had fallen.
Rei tried pushing the boulders, but it was of no use. With his little strength, the push made no difference.
He could do nothing but watch Ron suffer pitifully.
Moreover, the explosion that occurred, caused a lot of burn marks on Ron, especially burning away the skin on his body and exposing the non-existent muscles underneath.
'What do I do…?', and just as Rei was thinking, his eyes visibly started to shine.
He recalled about the healing potion which Ron had given him a minute ago!
He quickly grabbed the glass bottle and opened it's lid.
A sweet fragrance filled the place.
Ron, for a second, thought that he was in heaven, however, he was soon brought back to reality.
Ron's eyes widened as he realized what Rei was about to do.
"N…"
"N…O"
"Wai..."
Ron mustered all his strength but could only say those few useless words.
He tried to move his face away, wanting to show that he didn't want the potion, but before he could do anything, Rei quickly shoved it in his mouth.
However, when he saw Ron trying to move his face away, he paused.
"You don't want to drink this…?", Rei asked.
Ron shook his head vigorously.
The moment he saw Ron do this, tears filled Rei's eyes.
He then looked at Ron and said, "You don't want to drink this because of me?"
Ron on the other hand, who thought that Rei finally understood him, suddenly had an entirely different expression.
'What!? What the heck is he talking about?', Ron questioned himself.
"But no Ron, you are much more important to me than this damn potion. So here, you must drink this for my sake.", and he pushed the potion forward, this time, not pausing to see Ron's reaction.
'You fool!'
'You bastard!', Ron thought and wanted to shout at his loudest, but unfortunately, the bottle clogged his mouth.
However, there sure were some slight screams right after the entire bottle was emptied.
The deep wounds on Ron's body started healing at an inhuman speed as his body trembled. The entirely burnt skin was as good as new now! A relieved look appeared on Rei's face but the next moment it crumbled.
Burn marks reappeared on Ron's healed body as he stopped breathing.
"R-ron…?", Rei was visibly surprised.
Ron, who was unwell but breathing until a few seconds ago, was no more.
He was dead and it was because of Rei.
But with limited knowledge, Rei had no idea that he was the reason for Ron's death. He continuously shook his body, trying to wake him up despite knowing that it was no longer possible.
Rei quickly wiped his tears and ran out of the cave. He went to look for someone to at least retrieve the body as he had already confirmed Ron's death.
Regardless… Ron suffered a befitting end - He dug his own grave!
After Rei left, from one of the sides of the cave, a goblin who was severely injured opened his eyes and sighed in relief as he looked at Rei's running figure.
"Good thing I pretended to be dead." He said as he looked at Ron's dead body.
As the explosion occurred, many goblins who were inside got massacred!
However, he was one of the few lucky ones who survived – it was thanks to them being close to the exit.
He wanted to call for help, however, the moment he regained consciousness, he found Rei trying to give Ron the healing potion to drink.
Of course, he had to stay quiet! Or else, it would have been his turn to suffer and die.
Now he was relieved that Rei left… Also, it became the last time he ever felt anything.
Just as he thought that he was safe, he found one or two rocks falling from the roof of the cave. Seconds later, the entire cave collapsed!
"Help!", moments before death, he screamed with all his might, but alas it was too late. The roof of the cave fell to the ground, crushing him to death.
***
Rei had a weird expression on his face as he recalled the past.
He moved his hand and covered his mouth with his palms as he realized that he was the one who killed Ron.
All this time, he felt extreme guilt, but it was only now he realized that he would have been the one to die if he hadn't given the healing potion to Ron.
Even with the passage of two years, Rei never learned about the effect of potions on goblins.
'No wonder they were ready to give the potions readily, without any trouble…', Rei recalled getting healing potions easily during the loot distribution.
What otherwise would have been a fish market of debates, ended with a simple exchange – it was only now that he understood all this.
And while Rei was thinking about all this, Lucas ended up screaming at the top of his voice.
-"What the actual fuck!?" How the heck is this even possible!?"-
The voice caused Rei an immense headache.
"Can you stop screaming!?", Rei in turn raised his voice.
-"How!?"-
But Lucas didn't seem to care and continued to scream. He was somewhat unstable.
-"Why must I be stuck with you!?"-