Episode 1 – Growing Up

Grace SIDE

I finished my daily self-pleasuring session with a good feeling and was heading home.

Even the ugliest people in this world had faces that were at least average in my old world. And most of the people who were well-off were gorgeous.

I found it strange, so I asked my father about it. He said that all living things emit something called emotional energy whenever they express their feelings, and this energy draws in magic power, which strengthens people’s bodies.

He also said that if you fail to express your emotions and just bottle them up inside, that energy can’t be released and accumulates inside. When it exceeds a certain limit and you die, beings called Nightmares appear.

Therefore, it’s most important not to keep your emotions bottled up, but to release and resolve them as they come. He warned me to be careful and then finished talking.

Emotional energy, huh? So, the reason I’m physically stronger than other kids my age isn’t just because I’m a different race?

Well, thanks to that, I have more material to work with, hehehe.

Who should I use as material next time… Hmm, the wife of the dwarf blacksmith, Fabien, is so devoted to her husband. But she’s not satisfied with the dwarf’s short little dick and is frustrated. Then, a young adventurer with a very prominent, thick cock visits the shop, and she gets excited and can’t resist offering him a special service, hehehe.

Nice, nice, I’ll never run out of material!

After coming to this world, I became noticeably more cheerful compared to my gloomy personality in my previous life. I often smiled slyly or innocently. Each time, my actions felt foreign, but I didn’t care, thinking, ‘Well, if it feels good, it doesn’t matter.’

As I was lost in my fantasies, smiling and heading home, I heard the sound of something being hit near my ear.

I tilted my head and looked inside the windmill where the sound was coming from. I saw Kaon, the village chief’s son, who was the same age as me but boasted a large build, hitting a blonde, pretty girl who looked human.

The girl didn’t even dare to resist; she was just taking the hits as they came.

At first, I tried to ignore it, but I changed my mind when I saw the girl’s eyes.

Empty eyes, as if she couldn’t find meaning in life… For a moment, I was reminded of my past self.

……… Is this the kind of sight Grandpa saw when he approached me?

“Please stop?”

I went straight into the windmill and spoke politely.

“Huh? Who the hell is talking to me?! Hup….!”

The guy, who was focused on hitting the pretty girl with his back to the door, turned around when I opened the door and spoke. He tried to glare at me with a fierce expression, but when he saw my face, he looked startled and trembled.

“It’s unpleasant to watch. Stop it and leave.”

I said to Kaon with a blank face.

“I don’t know who the hell you are, but is that how you ask someone for a favor? Keueuaaa!”

The village chief’s son swaggered towards me and tried to grab my chest roughly, but I grabbed his wrist, twisted it, threw him to the ground, and twisted his arm as if I was going to break it. He struggled to get away from me, but stopped, sweating profusely, feeling like his arm was really about to break.

“I’ll warn you one last time. If you maintain that arrogant attitude just because you’re the village chief’s son, you won’t live out your days. Because I’ll make sure of it. This is the last time. Stop it and leave.”

He had never lost in a fight before, so his face turned pale, and he frowned, barely managing to nod.

When I released him, he looked back and forth between me and the pretty girl lying on the floor, grumbled, and then went outside.

I watched him leave with a cold expression, then glanced at the pretty girl, who was staring blankly at me with a battered face. I used my healing ability, then held out my hand and said,

“Are you okay?”

The girl blushed, nodded, and took my hand to get up.

“That’s good. If that guy bothers you again, tell me. I’ll help you.”

I smiled at the girl, and she lowered her head shyly and then nodded slightly.

I chuckled at her cute appearance. Feeling like I had done a good deed, I left the windmill and went down to the village.

The dusty child no longer had empty eyes. The girl’s eyes, which had a faint light from the windmill, were staring intently at the back of the girl who seemed to be in a good mood.

* * *

Today, an uninvited guest came to me as I was leisurely looking at the village from the hill.

“Grace~~~”

From down below, a blonde pretty boy, who was more beautiful than a girl in some ways, was approaching me with a bright smile on his still-chubby face.

It was that kid I had saved the other day, thinking he was a girl.

‘Sigh… It’s not like this is the first or second time. There’s a limit to how kind I can be.’

I ignored Ian.

Ian came up the hill, breathing heavily, and said with a bright smile.

“Huff… Huff… Grace! Don’t play alone, let’s play together!”

I admired the beautifully unfolding village and thought.

‘Doesn’t that little bastard have any pride? Annoying….’

Ian, a blonde kid who was hard to distinguish from a girl at first glance, had been bothering me all day since that day, as if he had fallen in love at first sight.

Adding up my past life, it was too much to play with a kid, so I was kind to him while trying to avoid him, worried that my words might hurt him.

Then, Ian seemed to have developed a sense of competitiveness, and he started appearing wherever I went and clinging to me.

I didn’t tell anyone where I was going, but I was creeped out by how Ian managed to find me like a ghost.

Ian sat down without my permission and started chattering. I frowned slightly, but I couldn’t bring myself to get angry at a kid, so I just got up and started walking down the hill.

Ian hurriedly got up when he saw me walking down the hill and stuck close to my side again, chattering like a baby bird wanting food. I hated being bothered to death, so I felt a bit of annoyance rising up, but I spoke kindly with a gentle expression.

“Shut up and get lost, kid.”

Ian stopped talking and froze, shocked by Grace’s words, who had always been kind to him.

My ears, which loved silence, cheered at finally being freed from that chatter. I lightly walked down the hill with a slightly guilty and slightly pleased expression at Ian’s frozen figure.

Ian stood behind the girl as she walked down the hill, his face flushed red.

* * *

After escaping from Ian, I happily lay naked in my special self-pleasuring spot in the forest and was about to fall asleep in the warm sunlight that made my body feel languid.

“…..ce…. Gra…ce… wa…ke… up”

I frowned and forced my eyes open, feeling someone shaking me and shouting.

A pretty-faced shota was looking down at me, his face flushed red.

“Ah……”

“Ah. Grace, are you okay, ouch!”

“Kyaaaaaaa!!”

As soon as I felt the wind brushing against my nipples, I instinctively punched Ian in the face hard and covered my body.

Then, I ran towards my dress and quickly put it on.

Embarrassing…. Damn it, I screamed like a girl without realizing it, ugh….

I felt the cool breeze cooling my flushed face and looked at Ian.

“Ah….. Ugh!”

Ian was bleeding from his nose and had collapsed, unconscious.

“Ian! Are you okay? Ugh, this is a bit…. Ugh…”

I felt sorry for Ian, who was bleeding profusely from his nose and had lost consciousness, so I tore off the hem of my dress, crumpled it up, and put it to his nose.

Then, I looked around. The forest, which had been shining with the fresh green color of nature and looking at me kindly until just now, had suddenly transformed into a forest with the decadent purple light of glowing mushrooms.

The forest during the day was a beautiful place where the songs of birds echoed, but the forest at night had turned into an ominous place where the cries of all kinds of beasts could be faintly heard.

My parents from my past life come to mind. The light from the purple neon sign of the bar coming through the open window, the approaching fist, the blood, my parents who didn’t look back no matter how much I called…..

Unpleasantness began to rise as I looked back on my past memories in an unfamiliar place. I calmed my mind as much as possible and checked Ian’s condition.

‘Phew… That’s a relief, it doesn’t seem too bad. The bleeding stopped quickly, and it seems like it’s been a while since the kid came into the forest to find me?’

I sighed in relief at his seemingly not-too-serious condition and looked at him with complicated feelings.

Rustle, rustle

At that moment, I heard the sound of bushes being disturbed very close by.

My alertness soared, and I quickly picked him up and moved as secretly and quickly as possible in the opposite direction of the sound, going into the bushes.

I carefully pulled out the dagger I had received as a birthday present and stared intently at the source of the sound with cold eyes.

The rustling sound started to get louder. I lowered my posture further and waited. I could confirm that five goblins were coming out, disturbing the bushes on the other side.

Sniff! Sniff! Sniff!

The guys, who were raising their large hooked noses high or bringing them to the ground to smell, were composed of four guys armed with spears and one guy with a blowgun.

And the fact that they were all naked showed that they were uncivilized wild goblins.

‘……. Wild goblins? The forest near the village is supposed to be periodically cleared by the city?’

I couldn’t help but be flustered. The city periodically searches the nearby forests and destroys all the wild monster villages that are found. Moreover, I know that the most recent patrol was only two days ago.

One of two things. They were lucky enough to be somewhere else, or they came over from the Spine of the Serpent Mountains…. If they came from the Spine of the Serpent….

In any case, five wild goblins are a very difficult opponent for me right now. Many people think they are weak opponents because of their small size, which is less than 140cm, but this is a very wrong idea.

Those people have clearly never met civilized goblins. The moment you meet a goblin assassin, you will have to pay for the damage caused by your misguided perspective with your death.

Above all, the fact that they have a territory large enough to form a kingdom in the Spine of the Serpent Mountains, which is like hell, can be seen as an indicator of their potential.

But even if they are wild goblins and not civilized goblins, their cunning does not change. No. Rather, it becomes even more dangerous. It is clear that they are guys who have maintained their wildness as it is.

The goblins, who had been starving for days, were drooling and getting closer, following the smell with bloodshot eyes…. I hesitated. There is definitely a way to survive. It is to throw the kid as bait and run away.

But……. I didn’t want to do that. For some reason, I thought that the moment I crossed this line, I would be no different from the guy who killed Grandpa in my past life.

I gently put him down on the ground. And I carefully picked up the stones scattered around without making any noise.

The first time is important. I have to eliminate the guy with the blowgun in the first attack. If I don’t…….. Don’t think about failure from the start. That’s why I’m no different from my past life.

I’m different now. I believe I’m different. That’s what I decided. Yes. I’m going to change and become happy, damn it. I put strength into my hand, and a cracking sound came out.

I moved carefully. At this moment, I was so glad that I was short. I gently raised my arm. The target is the guy with the pipe. I aim. The muscles in my arm, which I’ve put a lot of strength into, are twitching. And…… I threw it.

Swish!!

The guys were startled and turned in the direction I was in when they heard the sound of the wind cutting through the air next to them. But it was too late. Perhaps because they were delirious with hunger, the stone, which they would have avoided if they had been normal, crushed the head of the guy with the pipe.

“Kiyaaaaaaaa!!!!!”

The four goblins screamed as if tearing and ran towards me. I pick up the stones I had piled up in advance again. I aim at the guy running in the front. I throw it. But as if not to be hit twice, he dodged it lightly and ran towards me.

I raised my dagger and quickly dug into the guy who had charged in front of me, trusting in my healing ability. The guy stabs his spear at me as if not allowing me any distance. I frowned because of the tip of the spear that moved as I moved.

Thwack!

With that sound, the spear pierces my shoulder. Pain stimulates my brain. For a moment, I almost dropped my dagger with a gasp! The guy who stabbed the spear smiles. I didn’t like that look, so I grit my teeth and cut the spear shaft, which was made of carved wood, with my sharp dagger with a body that couldn’t properly exert strength.

But he doesn’t regret it at all and bravely rushes at me with his bare hands to fill his belly with my blood and flesh. The other goblins also seem impatient at the sight of the goblin rushing at me and throw their spears and rush at me.

Maybe they think I’m incapacitated. I was about to use my healing ability as I looked at the guy who had knocked me over and was running at me with his mouth wide open, drooling, to tear off my chest, when a stone flew and hit his head.

The goblins and I were surprised for a moment and looked. Ian was backing away with a terrified face, but he looked at me and picked up the stone again with eyes that seemed to be full of will and threw it.

“Kieeeeek!!”

The guy who was hit in the head fell off me and tried to run at Ian. I didn’t have a hobby of watching kids being torn apart, so I quickly used my healing ability.

It was like a miracle of God. The pain disappears. The spear is pulled out and falls. The wound is filled. All the wounds disappear. I grabbed the guy’s arm and said,

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I quickly swung my dagger and smashed his eyes, stabbing into his brain and stirring it around. That was the end. It didn’t take as much strength as I imagined to extinguish a life.

I looked at the goblin next to me. He looked surprised, not understanding why I looked fine with a sudden blue light.

I smiled and swung it like a whip. His neck was cut off, and he grabbed his neck and fell down. The remaining two ran at me, revealing their wildness. The nails of the guy who had no weapon were sharp, but they couldn’t be compared to the sharpness of the dagger.

But one guy came right up to me, but I was going to get injured once and heal before dealing with him, but I had no choice but to change my mind because of the stone that was flying accurately at him.

I gently stabbed the dagger into the eyes of the guy who was staggering from the sudden stone. The goblin screams in agony. I pull it out. I stab it in again. The lump of meat falls down.

Before I knew it, I was covered in blood, standing among the corpses of the goblins.