"Huh? Sniff, sniff, where is this disgusting smell suddenly coming from? Did someone just blow hot air on my head?" Ash muttered confusedly. He suddenly felt as if someone had turned on the fan in the summer heat, blasting hot air directly onto his head.

Suddenly disgust contorted Ash's face. "Eww, ugh, what the f*ck is this? Gross! Did some bird eat something rotten and then mistake me for a trash can, before emptying its stomach on my head? Ahhh, why is my luck so bad today?" He grumbled, wiping a thick, foul-smelling yellow saliva from his hair. Just as he was about to stand up and rinse himself off, he saw the head of a giant monster covering his own shadow.

Gulping down saliva nervously, Ash turned his head like a robot and saw Dolf, the male ogre. Dolf was following the footsteps of a certain child raised by a band of great-apes, wearing only a leather pelt around his crotch area - showing the tip of his "black big brother" to everyone. stood menacingly behind the bush where Ash had been hiding. Dolf growled incessantly, taking deep breaths as if restraining himself from crushing Ash underfoot.

The moment Ash locked eyes with Dolf, the unkindness in his eyes became even more murderous. If eyes could kill, Ash's soul might have already left his body. After all, no one would be happy to find someone spying around their house with clear ulterior motives, especially when the other party is your potential food.

"ROARRRR!"

Dolf opened his massive mouth wide enough to fit Ash's entire head inside, revealing rows of razor-sharp, unbrushed, and dirty yellow teeth. He let out a loud roar directly in front of Ash's face. Now if someone wanted to make Ash's dark history, they just needed to give a slight push behind Dolf's head, and Ash would lose his two lifetime precious first kiss.

After giving a wonderful face wash with his incredibly fragrant mouth air and his stinky saliva, before Ash, who was holding his breath with his eyes and mouth tightly shut, could react, Dolf grabbed his neck with his giant hand and lifted him up like a chicken. He then casually brought him to his mate, Maghda.

"Ahhh, f*ck, let me go, you damn monster! I can't breathe... And why can't you clean your mouth? I literally thought that I was going to die from your bad breath. It's so f*cking disgusting!" Ash struggled in Dolf's iron grip, kicking his legs in the air with a sliver of hope of breaking free and escaping unnoticed as most protagonists do.

Although Ash's words were quite venomous, Dolf, whose IQ wasn't particularly high in the first place, didn't care about being insulted at all. He completely ignored Ash, just like how humans ignore the last struggles of a chicken before taking its life and placing it on the dining table. Dolf gave Ash the same treatment without any discrimination.

"Dolf caught bad humi," Dolf grunted. "Humi found the house. Trouble."

Compared to Maghda, the female ogre, who not only looked like a beautiful giant female human with an extremely nice appearance but also spoke with surprising clarity, Dolf's speech was rough and guttural. Either he was too lazy to think too much about wording, spoke just enough that others understood his meaning, or he still wasn't very proficient in speaking.

"Trouble indeed," Maghda declared after a thoughtful pause. "If humis have truly discovered us, we'll be hunted... "Kill this humi first. We will patrol around the cave for some days. If we find more traces of humis, we'll have to relocate." Her eyes, however, for some reason darted curiously over Ash's struggling form, as if searching for something specific.

Ash, on the other hand, didn't care whether the bombshell milf ogre was showing interest in him or not. His face had already turned blue from lack of oxygen, his bloodshot eyes bulging as if about to burst.

Dolf simply grunted in agreement without saying anything. Thinking wasn't his forte; most decisions were left to Maghda and he just followed orders that sounded reasonable. Using his brain was too much trouble, and he didn't like it. He preferred simpler pursuits – eating, mating, and sleeping. This was also why he tolerated this "troublesome woman." Otherwise, why would he listen to her constant negativity and even provide her food when he supposedly had no use for her?

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

With a sinister grin, Dolf lifted Ash to his face and gradually increased the pressure of his grip. Soon, with minimal effort, he choked Ash to death.

Disappointed by how easily Ash had died, Dolf tossed his lifeless body onto the small pile of peddler's bones with a dismissive sneer. Disappointed by the human's lack of resistance, he lumbered back into the cave, ready for a nap. He still had to work in the evening, and as a dedicated worker who took his job extremely seriously, he rarely had the opportunity to nap at night. There wasn't much free time during the night for him to nap, so he had to catch up during the day.

Maghda looked at Ash's lifeless body with a hint of regret and disappointment. Then with a helpless sigh, she shook her head and also went inside the cave to do her own work.

...

[ GAME OVER ]

"Haaah, haaaah, haaa, haaa, haaa..."

Ash woke with a gasp, the entire experience of the last moment replaying in his mind. He felt the sensation of someone tightly squeezing his neck, making it impossible to breathe, even the feeling of someone griping his neck tightly was unbelievably real. Thankfully, the nightmarish agony lasted for three seconds before everything returned to normal, allowing him to breathe deeply.

After panting heavily for several minutes while massaging his sore neck in an attempt to quell the lingering panic, Ash managed to calm himself down. With a frustrated groan, he closed the "GAME OVER" prompt, which he had been seeing a lot recently.

"F*ck! Choking is by far more worst way to die than I expected," Ash muttered angrily. "I never want to experience it again. I literally saw my entire life flash before my eyes. F*ck, I'm blacklisting the 'Die by Choking' option. This way to die is absolutely not for humans, at least not for me. I'd rather slit my throat than experience that again." He reached for the small, tattered notebook James had given him, retrieved a quill and a well of ink, both of them found in the store room and added "Choking" to the growing list of "Forbidden Suicide Methods." The list already contained several entries, including burning himself alive, acid bath, and being slowly devoured by creatures, or various forms of incest, etc.

After taking the note, Ash put everything back into the Inventory. Looking around, he found himself standing in front of Edgar's shop, the morning sun painting the scene in warm hues. This was the moment – the starting point of his quest. After a moment's consideration, Ash decided to pause the quest and take a proper rest before continuing.

Though returning to the exact moment he saved the file restored his physical state, it didn't negate the mental and emotional toll of his experience. He'd noticed himself becoming increasingly irritable, and impatient and his mental condition was clearly not right – clear signs that neglecting the proper rest could have detrimental consequences. He is still very young and doesn't want to become mentally ill, just because of his greed.

Thus, with his mind set on some leisure, Ash headed towards the tavern. After all, returning home would only raise unwanted questions from Linda about his sudden return and need for immediate rest just an hour after waking up, etc. Ash genuinely disliked lying to Linda, so the tavern seemed like a better option. The tavern, with its owner's beautiful daughter catering to his needs, seemed like the perfect haven to rest both body and mind. Besides, his money would return when he reset the file, so why avoid the free comfort and not have some fun?

...

"Boss! Your finest sweet wine and most delicious food, please. And I require your most comfortable room, complete with bathing services," Ash declared, assuming the entitled air of a young master from a business tycoon family. He sat down at the counter, barking his demands at the bartender – the owner of the tavern – without a shred of consideration for his maybe future father-in-law's mood. In his mind, everything would reset anyway, so why bother with pleasantries?

The bartender, who had just entered the kitchen to fulfil a customer's order, was initially happy to see his business wasn't deserted so early in the morning today. However, Ash's arrogant outburst, akin to summoning a slave, quickly soured his mood and a tic-tac-toe symbol appeared on his forehead. The population of Woodworth town wasn't large, and travellers passing through this remote location were rare. While business was generally slow, it at least allowed for a peaceful atmosphere. Few dared to disrupt that peace, especially not this early in the morning to ruin others' good moods.

Taking a few deep breaths to compose himself, the bartender emerged from the kitchen, and confronted whoever dared to ruin his good mood so early in the morning. He recognized Ash's face vaguely, but couldn't pinpoint where he had seen him before. Deciding it wasn't important, he approached Ash, ready to deal with him properly.