7

The closer I got, the more my hunch became a certainty.

With every step toward the ruins of the facility ahead, my confidence in what it was only grew stronger.

(Still holding its shape in places or not, with weeds growing wild like this…)

It wasn’t “What’s left here?” but “Is anything left at all?”—that was the state of the base.

Given that it wasn’t far from the border, the logical assumption would be that nothing remained… but then again, our neighbors hated science.

There was a small chance that a “maybe, just maybe” could actually apply here.

And more importantly, things that couldn’t be carried away—like that tank—were still there.

There could even be items left behind simply because no one knew their value.

Since there was a military base ruin here, naturally I had to check whether there was anything usable.

Besides, this was the first man-made structure I’d found with even part of a roof still intact.

With my general position now becoming clearer, it could even serve as a relay point in the future.

Even if it was mostly debris now, it was still a former military base.

It had a roof, and probably a basement as well.

But in places like this, “that kind of thing” always tended to settle in—just as I was thinking that, I heard something.

“GUOOOOOOOOOOHH!”

This time it was a roar.

For a moment I thought it might be the green pests, but it seemed to be something else.

And then that stench I’d smelled by the riverbank wafted toward me.

Of course you’re here too, I thought, clicking my tongue.

(This must be one of those cases where they’re being led by some stronger species.)

Being near the border, there shouldn’t be any particularly powerful monsters here—this could be a perfect opponent to warm up against.

I crept toward the source of the voice, just in case.

Sure enough, I quickly spotted it.

A huge green humanoid with two horns—an ogre.

It was the first time I’d seen such a large humanoid, making it an ideal training opponent.

From behind the broken window and collapsed roof, it looked to be about three meters tall.

It was holding a club as thick as its own arm.

Perfect for a test.

(I still can’t say I’m fully used to this body yet. Let’s give it a proper workout!)

Honestly, my reaction to an “ogre with a club” was more like, “So what?”—but it was a good stepping stone.

If it had been holding a metal weapon, I might have thought twice, but a wooden club wasn’t much of a threat.

I judged it as nothing more than “test material.”

With the hunter-encounter flag seemingly broken, I checked my footing to make sure I could jump—no problem.

So, with a cry of “Here we go!”—which came out more like “Gaggagoa!”—I vaulted over the wall and landed right in front of the ogre.

The ground thudded under me, and glaring ahead, I noticed something.

There were humans here.

One was bleeding heavily, and from the corner of my eye, I couldn’t tell if they were alive or dead.

I couldn’t afford to look away now, so they’d have to wait, even if they were on the verge of death.

I hadn’t realized it before, but barging in like this… yeah, that was on me.

(I didn’t think they’d be in the middle of fighting humans… the goblins reeked too much for me to notice.)

It was a little embarrassing to have leapt in so excitedly thinking, “Perfect test subject!”

If there were humans here, they were probably hunters—so the flag wasn’t broken after all.

One was in an unknown state, but in the brief glimpse I got, the other two were still alive, fending off goblins. My gamer brain whispered that jumping in to steal kills was bad manners.

Hesitating over whether to intervene was my mistake—and overthinking it was worse.

A blow to my head—the ogre’s club. I immediately realized what it was, but hadn’t expected to take it full-on, completely unguarded.

Unfortunately for the ogre, though it made me sway a little, it caused no real damage.

“How is this body built?”

I wondered.

It probably hadn’t gone all-out, but it had meant to kill me—yet this was all it could manage.

Meaning the ogre had no chance left.

When I took that blow head-on, the goblins around us burst into laughter.

Apparently, they thought the fight was decided.

They clearly couldn’t read the situation.

Even the ogre was grinning and standing there doing nothing… I had to question its survival instincts.

Since I’d taken one hit, etiquette demanded I give one back.

A driving right straight sank cleanly into its torso.

For “just a punch,” it made an awfully wet sound, with the sensation not so much of breaking as crushing something, and the ogre went flying horizontally.

The big green brute slammed into an exposed-rebar concrete pillar about ten meters away, then slumped forward without moving.

Too much distance—bad for finishing the job.

Taking a few running steps, I leapt toward the ogre.

I’d intended to land in front of it, but apparently it had lost consciousness, because it peeled off the wall and fell forward.

I ended up landing squarely on its head.

With a wet gchuri sound, an awful sensation crawled up through my feet.

“GUOAAAAAAAHHH!”

It was meant to be a “Kyaa!” but came out much louder and uglier than intended.

Gross.

When I stepped off, it stretched in sticky strands.

R18G was plenty disturbing from sight alone.

I hastily shook it off, but immediately afterward, a jolt like an electric shock shot through my entire body.

The pain was unlike anything before, but still bearable.

Looking back for the source, I saw a goblin pointing a staff straight at me.

(That thing… used magic on me!?)

Whatever the attack was, the source was likely that staff.

I knew goblins could use tools, but where had it gotten something like that?

Not that it mattered right now.

(A goblin, of all things!)

With a roar, I leapt toward the staff-wielding goblin.

It turned to flee, but I turned it to mince with a single blow from behind, and the rest scattered like startled spiders.

Shaking the blood and flesh from my hand, I went to take the staff… but unfortunately, it was broken.

(Ah—damn. I should’ve killed it with a bit of restraint.)

I’d lost control in the heat of the moment.

I’d needed to take it down quickly after it used magic, but failing to hold back just proved I still wasn’t fully in control of this body.

Deciding there’d be another chance, I turned to the hunters whose prey I’d accidentally stolen—only to see that the human I thought was alive wasn’t moving at all.

In fact, their body was crushed beyond recognition.

Well, being surrounded and swarmed, it was no surprise they’d been beaten into something grotesque.

“I thought there was one more,” I realized—there were two.

I hadn’t missed them so much as I failed to see them because goblins had been piled on top of them.

From this height, it was harder to notice someone pinned to the ground.

A woman, stripped and pinned by goblins—that much was obvious. She was right at the “just before or just after” point, judging from the remains of her clothes.

Barely clinging fabric scraps—practically naked.

Naturally, my eyes took in every detail, so I could tell it was before things had gone too far.

(And… damn, those are big.)

Looking closer, they were a beauty and a beautiful girl.

The beauty’s skirt was hanging in tatters, and her upper body was completely bare.

Her tousled, reddish-brown semi-long hair draped over her shoulders seductively, and her chest—easily a G or even H cup—drew my gaze.

The girl was limp, apparently unconscious.

Her clothes had been torn away, underwear stripped, everything in view—but her long blonde hair obscured the important parts in an artful, manga-like way.

Worth preserving in a photograph.

Her chest was average—maybe a B or C cup.

The busty beauty glared at me, pointing the broken, bloodstained staff at me while reaching behind for the unconscious girl, inching backward.

Unable to stand, she used her free hand and feet to scoot back step by step, never taking her eyes off me. Each movement made her ample breasts jiggle.

I zoomed in—metaphorically—and watched intently until her hand finally reached the girl.

Pulling her closer, she sat her up and cradled her head—ending my breast-viewing time.

A disappointed “Gah, ha” escaped me, but I didn’t mind.

I’d seen what I needed to see while she pulled the girl over.

At any rate, I had no plans to harm them, so I turned to loot the fallen mercenaries’ belongings.

Regardless of how it happened, I’d saved them—so taking this as my reward was fair.

Turning my back on the two women, I headed for a backpack likely belonging to one of the dead, along with a sword that probably came from the man with the crushed head.

The grip was small, but it was still a valuable blade for me.

Then the busty beauty said something.

“――――! ―――――――――!”

Probably “Seizeria Kingdom language,” but I couldn’t understand a word.

Without turning around, I gave her a glance and left with the backpack in hand.

Her voice still called after me, but I didn’t know what she was saying—and didn’t care to.

Leaving two women behind was unfortunate, but I now had a more pressing concern.

I’d realized, in that blissful moment earlier, that my “partner” hadn’t reacted at all.

Despite those magnificent breasts swaying before me, my eternal companion acted as if it didn’t exist.

She was still speaking behind me—wasn’t she going on a bit long?

She was probably saying something like “Thank you for saving us!” and trying to stop me, which I could understand—two nearly naked women might do that.

(Sorry, ladies… right now, I’m not worthy to answer you.)

As a man… as a male, I’d lost something important.

In this mental state, I couldn’t be sure what I might do.

Besides, this was near the Seizeria border—if they were hunters, with the big threat gone, the two of them could make it back safely.

I left without exploring the base ruins.

I half-wondered if I should’ve escorted them to safety, but my foot, still sullied from crushing the ogre’s head, felt unbearably disgusting.

I wanted to wash it off as soon as possible—and I was eager to see what was in the backpack.

It just felt wrong to rummage through it in front of its owner’s companions.

Some might say, “If you’re talking about decency, don’t take their stuff,” but I was a monster now, so it didn’t apply.