Lone had initially wanted to heal the elves first - or at least attempt to - but after a closer inspection of their wounds, he saw that it would be impossible to even think about doing so until he and Soph had thoroughly cleaned their bodies.
The two worked together, but even then, completely cleaning the seven elves had taken them upwards of four hours. The levels of filth on their bodies was utterly sickening. It was a wonder how they hadn't died from a nasty infection thus far or perhaps a disease.
Six of the seven women were now sound asleep while Lone sat in front of the seventh. Like the others, her entire body was covered in cuts and bruises. She had a particularly bad black eye that didn't open fully which was going to be Lone's first target.
He closed his eyes as he gently touched her face and imagined a flawless eye with no swelling or damage at all.
Item does exist on Altros.
The host has no understanding of the item. 1,500 base MP cost. 6,000 additional MP has been consumed to compensate for the lack of the host's knowledge.
7,500 MP has been consumed to recreate the item: [High Elf [Unknown]'s right eye and surrounding muscle and skin tissue].
Lone was able to endure having almost every last drop of his mana points being drained out of him well enough that he didn't gain any skill levels in Mental Pain Resistance. A big smile was strewn across his face. The healing had created several unpleasant and grotesque sounds much like with his Basic Regeneration skill, but he didn't care about that. "It'll take a few weeks, but I can definitely heal these girls."
He didn't get ahead of himself. Of course, his mind was filled with the possibility of repairing Soph's eyes, but that was far more complex than it sounded.
From her own explanations, her Immortality restored her to her perfect state which meant that her body felt that being blind was part of her perfect body. Lone would essentially have to remodel her body to account for when her Immortality returned, and he wasn't entirely sure if he was able to do that. This was a positive sign though.
He just sighed lightly and helped the unresponsive elf back to the living room which had been turned into a makeshift bedroom for the seven women.
After locking all of the doors to prevent the women from leaving the fort and getting recaptured somehow, Lone found himself lying down in his underwear on his and Soph's bed. "... I wonder what rank the Goblin King is?" he asked himself as he stared at the ceiling.
The door to the room clicked open and then shut before the sound of soft pitter-pattering filled Lone's ears. A few seconds later and a cold body was snuggling up to him as it coiled itself around his tails and laid down on top of him.
Reaching over with his arm, Lone grabbed the covers and pulled them over himself and the small girl that had decided to curl up on top of him like a cat. After doing that, he wrapped his arms around Soph's petite back and began to play with her long hair as he kept silently thinking.
Minutes passed before Soph finally worked up the courage to ask, "Will they be okay?"
"Physically?" Lone responded. "Sure. I might even be able to erase the pregnancies. Worst-case scenario, I create some pills that force a miscarriage. Gruesome, but it might be better than letting the fuckers be born then killing them. Mentally? Not so sure."
"... I'm scared," Soph's grip on his tails tightened and she buried her face deeper into his fluffiness.
Lone stopped messing around with her long and slightly damp hair for a moment before he started to lightly pet her head. "Of?"
"Of becoming like them... What... What if the gobs get me? I-I don't want to end up like them... You can't see it, but I can," Sophie claimed with a tremble in her high-pitched voice.
Lone raised an eyebrow. "See what?"
"Those girls... They don't move, but they're full of emotions." Sophie shuddered. "I feel it in their mana. Normally, I can't tell that kind of stuff, you know? I just get the general shape of something and how dense its mana is... but those girls... All I can feel from their mana is a deep fear and a longing for release."
Lone closed his eyes. "That's... good."
"That's good?" Sophie asked in surprise.
"Mmm, it is," Lone smiled. "It means there's still hope for them. If they can feel fear, then they can still feel hope."
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He pulled himself up and hugged Soph tightly. "Also, don't be stupid."
"Eh?" She was befuddled as she sat there on his lap.
"Don't be stupid, Stupid," he repeated himself. Lone then moved her fringe out of the way and kissed her forehead before he held her cheeks and gazed into her eyes. "Like I'd ever let you become like them."
Despite being blind, Soph stared right back into Lone's big blue eyes. "I will always protect you. Both of you. When I'm not enough, The Summoning Room will keep you two safe. There's nothing to be scared of, okay?"
"Ah..." Subconsciously, she leaned forward and gave her lips to the man she loved. In her mind, her other personality was grumbling as she watched her meeker self enjoy the sweet taste of Lone's mouth. 'Seriously... How can he say stuff like that with a straight face? ... We wonder if we'd have kissed him too if he'd said that directly to us...?'
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"Rain... Rain... Rain!" The Goblin King screamed at the top of his lungs as he threw his precious treasures around madly like a child throwing a tantrum.
"Tracks... washed away! Planned... All planned!" He yelled and shouted until his throat felt coarse.
His three remaining Hobgoblin generals all cowered in fear at the foot of his throne. Rage clouded the massive monster's mind. "Find them! The females! We need the females!"
His gaze landed on the only two remaining Goblin Mages. They were rare in the first place since there was only a one in twenty chance for a Goblin Mage to be born from a goblin and a magic-based species like an elf, but even they - which he prided himself so much on - had been slaughtered like cattle and reduced from the once-grand number of nine to a mere two.
Luckily, the most common type of Goblin Mage was a fire mage, which was exactly what he needed right now. Madness filled the Goblin King's mind. "Go! Burn down the forest! Flush out the thieves! Find the females!"
The two Goblin Mages made several unintelligible noises before they scampered out of the dungeon temple.
Pointing one of his humongous fingers at the three Hobgoblins, he ordered them, "Go! Protect the magics! Bring all of the weaklings! We must find the females!"
As soon as he was alone in his throne room, the Goblin King slumped down onto his chair and he picked up a small jet-black orb before he stroked it and enjoyed the humming sounds it made. "I must protect you... I know... The females come second to you... I know..."
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Lone was smiling from ear to ear as he looked out of a window and saw the rain heavily pouring all over the place.
Back in Scotland, it rained all of the time, but only like this maybe once or twice a year, sometimes more if it was a bad year, but in the eight months that he and Soph had been on this island, it hadn't rained once. The climate was mild and it was usually somewhat windy, but there hadn't been so much as a single drop of rain since they came here.
"Soph, how high is your luck stat? I'm curious," Lone asked as he glanced at the girl who was still happily wearing her pyjamas with a sleepy look on her face.
"Hmm?" She wiped her eyes and yawned lightly. "Just over sixty-thousand. Why?"
"I see..." Lone nodded his head in a sagely manner. "That explains a lot... No wonder a small and innocent girl like you could evade the Templars for so long as well as be so lucky as to not get violated... And this rain..."
He stood up and picked Soph up before he spun her around a few times and laughed heartily.
The girl who was mere moments away from dozing off again suddenly got flustered and waved her arms around. Lone sat her down and kissed her on the cheek. "You're my beautiful little lucky charm now."
"Eh... Um... Ah... Thanks?" Soph was both very happy and very confused.
"This means the cart tracks are gone. Rain this heavy? No doubt it's muddled up the markings in the sand and the dirt," Lone explained. "Sure, an expert tracker might still be able to see the residue of the cart tracks, but gobs? Fat chance."
"Ah..." Soph finally understood why Lone was so pleased now. "So... Is the plan any different since we don't need to worry about the gobs so much now?"
Lone nodded. "Yeah. Let's rest here for a few weeks. I'd like to heal the elves completely. Maybe get one of them to a point that they can talk again. I'd like to know where the Goblin King is and if he has any more... hostages."
"Mmm," Soph agreed. She liked rational Lone far more than she did angry and scary Lone.
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A month passed in a flash. All of the pregnant elves successfully had miscarriages. Usually, that would not be something to celebrate, but considering the circumstances, Lone was happy that he didn't have to murder babies. Even if they were goblins, it would have sat ill with him. At least it felt less... personal when they were unborn.
As each day ticked by, Lone got more and more skilled at healing the women, so it became cheaper and cheaper.
They still refused to talk to him to this day. Perhaps because he was a man? Regardless, Soph had managed to learn from their mumblings that the Goblin King lived in a very old temple that had become a dungeon on the western side of the centre of the island.
The elves didn't elaborate on what a dungeon was, but Lone had a few guesses.
He and Soph were both happy to learn that they were the only victims and that there weren't any more elven sex slaves. This did imply that the rest had died, but surely that was a better fate than being forced to endure such torture for years on end, no?
The only other thing of note was that Lone's Bone Armour skill had increased to Advanced-level eight. It was free to invoke once every thirty minutes, so he simply had Sophie smash it apart within that time frame.
It wasn't exceedingly efficient, but he had to save his mana points for the healing of the elves, so it was better than nothing.
Sophie's Sword Mastery skill had also levelled up and reached Beginner-level five. Terrible in comparison to Lone's development, but it was hardly fair considering his Growth Accelerator.
In regards to Lone and Soph's romance, despite four weeks having passed, their relationship hadn't advanced at all beyond kissing and endless cuddling. The two of them were far too awkward to progress it. This drove Sophie nuts and she was seriously contemplating forcefully taking control of her and Soph's body to thrust herself upon Lone once again.
"We're here," Lone said as he stopped pulling the wagon momentarily and waited just outside of the Illusionary Dome that covered the elven settlement.
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A/N: Here's some art of the destroyed elf village. In the original version, Lone had a wooden spear, Sophie had brown hair and they lived in this village, so please don't mind those inconsistencies and just appreciate this lovely art that's been acting as the banner of this story for a long time. xD
(Right click the image to view it in a separate tab. It's pretty big and detailed)
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/413465558088941568/534505154754641941/Lone_and_Sophie_in_the_Beginning_Elven_Village_Final.jpg]