Chapter 3
How long had we been running? Eventually, the sun set, and darkness fell around us.
When we couldn't go any farther, we finally stopped and caught our breath.
"Phew... We should be safe now, right?"
"So, what do we do now?"
The moonlight was bright enough to make out shapes, but only just.
We had no way to light up our surroundings, which left us in a bind.
"Why don't we start a fire, at least?"
"What if the monsters see the light and come after us?"
"Good point."
I'd heard that wild animals ran away from fires, but I had no idea how monsters would react.
Grrrrowl.
Maybe my stomach was angry that I hadn't eaten since waking up, because it was clamoring for food.
And maybe it was because I was wearing short sleeves and shorts, but the cold night air was making me freeze.
I was cold, hungry, and miserable.
"Why did we have to end up like this?!"
"Let's just make a fire. We'll freeze to death before the monsters get us."
Chris and I went around collecting dry branches.
I arranged them into a decent-looking campfire while Chris rubbed two sticks together, working hard to start a flame.
We struggled for thirty minutes, rubbing the sticks together to make a fire. Every time a tiny flame appeared, it went out again, over and over.
"What are you doing? Watch and learn from your big brother."
I found a flat piece of wood and split it slightly. Then I crumbled some dead leaves, placed them between the split pieces, and rubbed the top with a twig.
After rubbing for a while, a tiny flame caught on the leaves.
Carefully, so it wouldn't go out, I placed the burning leaves atop the kindling beneath the campfire I'd made earlier.
"Wow, you're a real wilderness explorer. You even know how to make a fire."
Chris's praise lifted my spirits a little, and the corners of my mouth turned up.
"Turns out that stuff I saw on YouTube came in handy."
"Let's go find some more wood to use as firewood."
After gathering more firewood together, we built up the campfire, and the cold finally eased a little.
I was still hungry, but I didn't want to wander around in the dark, so I sat quietly by the fire.
I was getting sleepy, but after seeing those goblins earlier, I was too scared to fall asleep easily.
Seeing how sleepy I was, Chris volunteered to keep watch, but I was too anxious to sleep, so I told Chris to go to sleep first.
Chris said Chris was anxious too and wondered if sleep would come, but soon dozed off.
I let out a quiet laugh and took a look at Chris sleeping.
"So much for being anxious. Phew..."
How had things ended up like this? I still couldn't believe it.
Why?
I raised my hand and looked at my palm.
In the flickering firelight, I could see blood on my palm, and there was goblin blood on my clothes too.
When had that gotten there?
The sight of the blood brought back the moment I'd killed the goblin earlier that day.
The dagger embedded in the goblin's head, and the sensation I'd felt through its handle...
I knew that if I hadn't killed it, I would have died, but since the only thing I'd ever killed on purpose was a mosquito, the shock of taking a life was more than enough.
I'd thought it would be fine because I'd killed monsters that were just made up of data, but I guess it wasn't.
But if the same moment came again, I'd still kill it without hesitation.
I didn't want to be an idiot who let sentimentality get the better of me and got killed.
I got up and went over to the river to wash my hands.
After washing them, I felt grimy all over for some reason.
"Hmm..."
I turned around and saw Chris sleeping deeply, Chris's chest rising and falling at a steady rhythm.
I hesitated for a moment, knowing a monster might attack, but then I took off my clothes and waded into the river.
I was cold and scared, but I wanted even more to wash the blood off my body.
After I finished washing, I realized I had no towel to dry myself with, so I simply waited by the fire until I was dry.
When I looked down, the first thing I noticed was my large breasts.
I'd seen them earlier, too, but strangely, even though this was my first time seeing a woman's body, I didn't feel much of anything.
Would I have to live as a woman like this from now on?
Ugh, there was no point worrying about something I couldn't answer, so I brought up my status window instead.
Katrina (Elf) Female Lv. 3
Class: None
Stats
Strength[20]
Agility[25]
Magic[7]
Stamina[21]
Bonus Points: 20
Skills
[ Alien Language Expert max ]
Titles
None
Possessions ??
??????
My level had gone up twice, to 3.
And I had 20 bonus stat points now?
In the game we'd played, the max level was 101, and you got 300 bonus stat points.
There was no way to reset them, and even a difference of just 30 points made an overwhelming difference, so you had to distribute your stats carefully.
If you put points in the wrong place by mistake, you'd end up with a character who was no good at anything, so you had to be careful.
But ten per level?
"That's insane."
I'd once seen a video posted on YouTube.
A player with over 300 points in Strength slammed a huge greatsword into the ground, and the earth shattered with a boom like a grenade going off.
With over 300 points in a stat, you could gain strength comparable to an ogre's without even using mana.
But I had 1,000 bonus stat points alone? No, was it 1,030?
"Ooh... Huh? I'm all dry now."
While I was thinking about all that, my body had dried completely.
I stood up and got dressed.
Just as I finished dressing and was about to sit down, I noticed Chris's face was bright red.
I wasn't sure if it was from the firelight or because Chris was sick, so I put my palm against Chris's forehead.
Chris's forehead was hot to the touch.
"Huh? I think you have a fever."
Was Chris sick? What should I do?
While I was wondering what to do, Chris suddenly sat up.
"Ah... No! I'm fine."
"You're awake? Are you sick? And you haven't even slept that long."
"Am I? I don't feel that tired. I'll keep watch this time, so you go to sleep."
"What is it? Why are you so flustered?"
Chris's strangely flustered behavior seemed suspicious, but once I realized we could level up at a cheat-like pace, some of the tension left me, and sleepiness began to wash over me.
"Then I won't argue."
I gathered some dry leaves to use as a cushion and slowly drifted off to sleep.
"Mmm... Five more minutes..."
I twisted away from the sensation of someone grabbing my arm and shaking me.
Just as I was about to fall asleep again, the hand shook me once more, and I opened my eyes.
Blink, blink.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Uh... Huh? I think so."
Yaaawn...
I must've slept better than I thought. Other than my head feeling a little foggy, my body felt refreshed.
I stretched and looked at Chris. Chris had dark circles under their eyes and looked exhausted.
"You look awful. Tired?"
"Uh... a little."
"Want to get some sleep now?"
"No, let's keep moving while it's light. We don't know what might happen."
"Hmm... Okay, if you say so."
We got up, stamped out the embers with our feet, and walked along the river.
We spent the whole day walking again.
We hadn't eaten anything, and our stomachs were growling loudly. Just as we were wondering what to do, since we had no food and didn't know how to catch fish, we saw five people walking toward us from across the river.
Chris was the only person I was close to, but right then, I was glad to see other people.
I was just about to raise my hand and shout for help when Chris stopped me.
"What's wrong?"
"I was too flustered earlier and said we should find somewhere with people, but when I think about it, we're elves right now, aren't we?"
Come to think of it, we'd chosen the elf race for our characters.
"That's right."
"In novels, there's always that cliché where humans find elves and enslave them. We should hide, just in case."
With that, Chris immediately led me behind a large tree.
Soon, the people walked toward where we were.
As they drew closer, I started hearing them talking among themselves.
"Deck definitely found an elf around here, I'm telling you."
"That guy lies all the time. And even if he did catch one, what are we supposed to do with an elf? If we're caught selling elves into slavery, it's the death penalty. The death penalty."
"You don't remember Deck moving to Kellain, that wealthy town? And don't worry about selling them. I've got a safe way to do it."
Hearing that conversation, which made it clear we'd have been in serious trouble if Chris hadn't stopped me, gave me chills.
"Quit slacking off and sniff around. Who knows? Maybe those elf bastards smell like peaches."
Peach scent?
Sniff, sniff.
I grabbed Chris's arm beside me and sniffed it. Sure enough, there was a faint peach scent.
Oh, so that peach scent I'd noticed earlier was coming from my own body.
Chris lifted an arm and smelled it, then recoiled in horror and pulled it away.
"Ugh, I guess we'll be scraping by hunting goblins and the like for a while."
We were on the opposite side of the tree from the people, who were grumbling as they came closer. We slowly circled around the tree, keeping it between us and them.
Fortunately, they hadn't noticed us. I heard their footsteps slowly moving away.
Phew...
I let out a sigh of relief.
Had the tension in my gut eased now that I felt relieved?
Grrrrowl.
My stomach made another angry noise to complain that it was hungry.
"Who's making such a loud fuss about being hungry? Is that you, Jake?"
Please don't let them find us... This isn't some scene from a comic.
"It wasn't me. And I think that came from behind us, not our side."
Shit!
"Run!"
Chris grabbed my hand and started running.
"Huh? That's an elf!"
"There are two of them, too!"
"There really are elves here?"
"You idiots, quit yapping and grab them!"
We ran for our lives, staring straight ahead.
Just imagining what they'd do to us if they caught us made my legs tense up.
"Why are they so fast? That's it, Diel, put an arrow in each of their legs!"
I glanced behind me and saw one of them aiming a bow at us.
Whoosh!
I heard an arrow whistle through the air.
I felt it graze my thigh, followed by a searing pain.
Whoosh!
Hearing another arrow coming, I pulled a dagger from my inventory and threw it at the incoming arrow.
Clang!
Throwing the dagger slowed me down a little, but they weren't close enough to catch us yet, so I ran with every last bit of strength I had.
Fortunately, the archer had stopped to shoot, and the distance between us widened. No more arrows came our way.
Huff, huff... How long had we been running? I was completely winded, and sweat poured off me.
I glanced back. The people chasing us looked tired too, but unlike us, who were slowing down more and more, they were still coming after us at the same speed as before.
We hadn't eaten anything since yesterday and had done nothing but walk and run, so it was no wonder we were running out of stamina.
We were going to get caught anyway. It seemed better to fight with what little stamina we had left.
Chris seemed to think the same thing. Chris looked at me and drew a knife from their inventory.
"Bring it on, you sons of bitches!"
I shouted angrily, turned around, and pulled out my bow.
The momentum from running sent me sliding backward as I fired.
They hadn't expected us to suddenly pull weapons out of thin air, so they were slow to react. The arrow struck the left eye of the man who'd shot at us earlier.
Splash.
"You pointy-eared bitch!"
The man fell into the river, dead before he could even scream. The one who looked like their leader gritted his teeth and glared at me.
"I'll sell you to some noble with a revolting taste in women, and make sure you live a life where death would be a mercy!"
One of them was down, but there were still four.
I remembered their conversation, where they'd casually bragged about taking on quests to hunt goblins that traveled in groups.
We couldn't win this easily... could we?
"Fuck!"