It had been two, maybe three hours since the men had brought me to their camp. At first, I had thought they were planning to help me, just like I would help any girl that got herself in a situation as desperate as mine, but that wasn’t at all their intention. Instead, it now felt as if they had abducted me instead. It was only due to the men having yet to decide what to do with me - or to me - that I was somewhat safe.

Out of the eight men, three were old geezers. It was them who despised me the most. They didn’t even try to hide it! Thinking back at the glares they had sent me back then it was probably only thanks to them trying to keep up their appearances that they didn’t spit on me as if I was human garbage. Their weird sense of superiority, however, didn’t prevent them from making a single demand to the younger men: to put me to death on the spot for defiling these ruins with my mere existence.

The four youngest men were a group of friends all between fifteen and twenty years old. In their eyes, there was no anger to be found, nor a hint of hatred. They obviously didn’t see me as an enemy that they had to get rid off but rather as the girl in distress I now was.

It was only thanks to their leader, a muscular man with short, dark-brown hair that appeared to be in his mid-thirties, that I hadn’t lost myself in one way or another back then. It was him, too, who had shielded me from the cold, using his dirty but unbelievably warm cloak.

Still, I would never be able to trust him. Not only had he declared that I was a slave that had to be brought back to its owner, but he had put a rope around my wrists too, stealing away even the slightest possibility of me escaping their greedy grasps.

Even without that, I never had a chance to run. I had been little more than a shaking mess, to begin with, unable to even answer or shout at them, but the leader of the group had also picked me up from the ground to carry me all the way back to their camp!

He didn’t put me over his shoulder like a heavy sack of rice or flower soil but instead carried me exactly how those good-for-nothing hero-type characters in anime or manga would do: in his arms. He didn’t even seem to mind my weight!

“For him to go as far as princess-carrying me...”

If I was a girl or more exactly a girl at both body and heart, maybe I would have liked being ‘saved’ like that. But neither did that man save me for real nor was I feeling even remotely flustered by his actions. He was a danger, just like all of them, and it was only a matter of time until he would change his ideas of how to best deal with me.

「I could help you, you know~」The goddess’ voice resounded in my head.「You just have to say-」

“I won’t accept your help.” I cut her off in a whispering voice, just silent enough for the others not to hear. “I don’t trust you.”

「But Rika~」

“No!”

「But I will help?! I really do!」

“Who cares?! I’m done with you!”

「Rika...」

“That’s not my name!”

「It is now~」

“...”

With a deep sigh I went back to ignoring her voice. My attention shifted back to the voices of the four young men that were sitting on the other side of the campfire a few steps away from me. I was clearly visible to them, huddled into several layers of blankets and cloaks, but that didn’t hinder them from once again talking about me as if I wasn’t even there.

“She is quite cute, don’t you think?”

“It is such a shame she is a Beastkin.”

“A shame?” A third voice chipped in. “You could take her! Just like that! She won’t even say no!”

“Don’t you think she has an owner already?”

“She ran away from him. Why else would she be here, without anything to wear?! Nobody will say a word if we keep her for ourselves!”

“Not if Endris has anything to say about it.”

“Those bastards...”

「Don’t worry, Rika! I will protect you!」

“Aren’t you on their side?”

「You meanie! I would never want to help them bully you!」

“They aren’t trying to bully me...”

「Whatever~ it will be fiine~」 She decided.

I could almost see the goddess waving her hand as she was belittling the danger she had tossed me in. Luckily, she went silent, even though it was only for a few seconds.

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「I will help you!」 She suddenly decided.

“And you think I will trust you? After all the things you did to me?!”

「Yes?」

“No.”

While I was arguing with the goddess, the young men had found a new aspect of my existence to talk about, one that made me want to puke my insides out.

“You think we can buy her?” I heard one of them ask.

“Did you find treasures somewhere, dumbass? A beastkin like that costs a fortune!”

“She is used goods anyway.”

“You think so?”

“Why else would she run away from her owner head over heels? She didn’t even take clothes with her!”

“It is obvious what he did to her,” another voice replied. “Maybe he was too rough this time?”

“Bastards...”

A wide smile grew on the fact of what seemed to be the second-youngest of the group. “I would like to be a liittle~ rough to her, too.” He said while making sure the others were listening.

“You? Are you sure you can satisfy a woman with that thing of yours?”

A series of laughter rang in my ears as the perverts got all worked up. All of them came up with their own ideas they would use if only I was their ‘pet’. It went without saying that their fantasies got more obnoxious with each time one of them spoke up.

I could barely hold back my anger right now but it was getting harder and harder by the second. When their voices slowly turned quieter again and they moved their conversation to a more serious aspect of this topic that was me, something inside of me crumbled.

“Maybe he tossed her out because she is pregnant and he doesn’t want her bastard being born into-”

I jumped up immediately. “YOU ARE THE BASTARDS! ALL OF YOU ARE!!”

Following my sudden eruption, there was a deadly silence. The young men stared at me, unable to get a single word over their lips, but their eyes soon wandered down my body that I had failed to protect in my anger.

“PERVERTS!” I screamed at them. “DO YOU ONLY THINK WITH YOUR STINKING DICKS?!”

“She understands us? So she really is-”

“Who cares!? Grab her!”

“Fuck...”

「RUN!!」

I couldn’t say if the goddess was afraid of me being hurt or happy that I would ‘play tag’ with those men. Considering her lack of common sense, she probably enjoyed the idea of four almost adult men jumping onto me. Whatever she thought about this, I could only follow her command. Staying here in this camp together with those perverts spelled nothing but danger.

Before the four of them had risen from their places on the opposite side of the campfire I had already turned on the spot. I dashed towards the jungle-like forest that had conquered large parts of the ancient ruins, covering the remains with bushes, trees, roots and stones. With all these hurdles separating us, I would hopefully be able to shake the men off - sooner or later.

“Leave me alone!” I screamed without turning around.

They didn’t even think of granting me this one wish I had. After overcoming their surprise, the men ran after me, and even though my hands were no longer shackled due to the little pity their leader had shown me, they still caught up in no time.

I hadn’t even left the light of the campfire when a black-haired youth towered in front of me. His appearance was so sudden I couldn’t slow down in time and crashed into his rock-hard body. It felt as if I had hit a wall. A way too fast, way too nasty wall.

“Oww!!”

A breathtaking pain assaulted my body. I staggered back a few steps, desperately trying to keep my balance, but before I realized I was already on my back and seeing stars.

「RIKA!」 The goddess’ voice rang in my ears. 「RIKA! SAY SOMETHING!」

“What- what was- he didn’t even ... touch me.”

I was still struggling with the aftermath of their first attack when the four men had gathered around my now even more defenseless body. Once again a debate started.

“Why did you do that!?” His friend protested. “What if her master is somebody important?!”

“I didn’t attack her! I swear! She just ran into me! She must have been hurt before! I didn’t even touch her!”

“Maybe she was hurt before?” Somebody suggested. “These ruins can be dangerous.”

“What do we do now?! We would never be able to pay for her if she really is injured!”

“We can just say she was injured before!”

“There is no way Endris would believe that.”

The four were still trying to come up with some kind of alibi when a loud shout cut them off.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HER?!”

Before they could even realize what was happening to them, a big, muscular silhouette had appeared right next to me, brutally pushing away two who were unlucky enough to block its way. Its facial features were hidden behind veils of tears, but I already knew this voice. It was their leader, the guy who had given me his cloak and carried me all the way to the camp to warm me up.

“SCRAM!” He shouted at them. “SCRAM BEFORE I FORGET MYSELF! YOU BEASTS!”

His powerful voice painfully rang in my ears, leaving behind nothing but a high-pitched noise, but it saved me nonetheless. Within mere seconds, the young men had fled back to the camp or at least out of my vision, leaving me alone with their leader. I was safe, or at least I hoped I was.

The man let himself sink to his knees, bent over me and quickly checked my wounds. His angry face soon enough changed into one of pity and anxiousness. My injuries probably were just as threatening as they felt. My vision became blurrier the more he checked on me.

“Damn...” He cursed, before reaching for a small bag that was attached to his belt.