I didn’t have many pet peeves, but being woken up very suddenly was definitely one of them. So when I heard Corby shouting my name while I was snuggled into my bed roll and blanket, I was already irritated. That paled in comparison to my fury when I saw what he was yelling about: bandits.

These assholes were ruining my sleep and were trying to kill us. As my senses snapped into focus, I counted four of them all around us. Three were closing in on Corby, and one was coming my way. I tried to get up, but I was a little too snuggled into my blanket last night, so there was a lot more wiggling than I’d have liked. The bandit coming toward me, sporting a ridiculous looking mohawk, tried to lunge and stab down at me. I rolled out of the way, but he stabbed through my blanket.

“Dick! That was my only blanket!”

Now free of my comfortable prison, I kipped up, and Mohawk noticed that I didn’t have arms. I didn’t want to think about why he was licking his lips at the realization. I tried to take advantage of his distraction and roundhouse Mohawk’s head off his shoulders, but he managed to dodge.

We kept exchanging blows, but I didn’t have my knives, so his occasional slashes were winning this war of attrition.

Need a new plan.

“Corb!” I shouted and tried to give him an eyebrow wiggle, hoping he’d catch my plan.

As Corby ducked behind a tree, I feigned a kick at Mohawk, then closed the distance to get right next to his face. I took a deep breath and let out a massive sonic attack as I screamed my lungs out, infusing as much mana as I could manage.

Mohawk fell to the ground, and blood and some other stuff started leaking out of his ears.

Well, that’s new.

I turned back towards the three guys trying to fight Corby. He had been holding them off, but it was a losing battle. Now, though, they were thoroughly disoriented. Corby re-emerged from behind the tree and got a clean shot in on the stomach of a guy with half an Afro. Half-fro collapsed, trying to hold his guts in. The other two, Mullet and Bowl Cut, tried to reorient themselves.

Was stupid hair a requirement for this gang?

I sprang forward and brought my foot down on Bowl Cut’s head, knocking him to his knees. I didn’t trust that it had finished him off, though. I took a step back, and a knife was suddenly where I had been standing.

Damn, couldn’t even see that attack.

But he was still on his knees, so I was able to land a roundhouse kick to the side of his head, smashing it into the trunk of the tree, which made a disturbing crunching sound.

I looked over to see how Corby was doing. He had managed to cut one of Mullet’s hands off. Mullet looked ready to keep going, but he looked over and saw the rest of his friends were dead. He fell to his knees and started blubbering. “Please don’t kill me I don’t wanna die mercy I’ll do any—“

I interrupted him by braining him on the same tree as Bowl Cut. Corby looked at me in complete shock. “H-he was surrendering, Nym!”

“And?” I replied coldly, walking over to Half-fro. “We just killed all his friends. We couldn’t just let him go only for them to try and come back for revenge. Do you think we could’ve brought him with us to the town? Give them our food and try to take turns watching them for a week?” I punctuated the statement by crushing Half-fro’s skull under my foot. “We don’t have the power or the resources to be merciful right now, so my priority will always be us. My priority would just be you, but someone went and made a silly death pact.”

Corby grimaced. I could tell he understood, but it went against his nature. We were barely hurt, and adventurers were supposed to be merciful and kind, not curb stomping defeated foes. “I-I get it, but I don’t know if I can…”

“I know, Corby. That’s why I did it. I don’t want you to have to lose that kind part of you.” His face contorted into some mix of regret and resignation.

I took a moment to use echoes to check for any lingering enemies, but came up empty.

“Can you take care of packing? I need to take a trip down to the river and wash my feet. I’ll heal you up once my mana recovers a bit more.” My feet were covered in blood, mud, bits of bone, and perhaps brain.

Maybe that’s what was oozing out of Mohawk.

He nodded quietly, and I went down to the riverbend. Thankfully, we weren’t camped too far away from it. I stuck my feet into the water, and tried to scrub one foot with the other.

I really just killed people. Living, thinking people. I felt their skulls crack against my foot.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

I turned around and threw up, retching as I remembered every gory detail. I didn’t regret what I had done. They were the ones who tried to kill us first. But that didn’t make this any easier. I kept scrubbing my feet against one another until they felt raw. I took them out of the water, and they still looked tinged with red. Maybe that was just my imagination. Corby didn’t say anything about it when I returned.

Corby had looted the bodies, and we went back to our usual routine, but we didn’t talk much that day. When we stopped for the night, I checked my status and threw up again when I saw the kill notifications. But at least I leveled a couple times, I guess? I didn’t have the energy to really celebrate that.

At night, I cuddled with Corby. My blanket and my bed roll were pretty torn up. And I just needed to have him next to me. It didn’t stop the nightmares, but it helped to have him there when I woke up.

He didn’t say anything when I woke up crying. He just patted my head gently with a sad smile on his face. He was kind like that.

By the time we were close enough to see the city, our moods had somewhat normalized and we were able to joke around a little again. I was still having nightmares, but I took the improvements where I could get them.

We made our way to the city gate and talked to the two guards standing there. Their armor was a lot more impressive than anything Sool and his friends had, but still not as cool as Allie’s. They looked us up and down.

“So, take it you two are from somewhere out in the boonies?” One guard asked. He looked like some kind of bird person.

Pigeonfolk?

“How did you know?” I asked.

“Well, for one, you’re not wearing a bra.” The other guard, a rhinofolk, said.

I looked at Corby, who shrugged his head. I turned back to the guards. “What’s a bra?”

“It’s a garment to help cover your…lady parts. City folk tend to be more shy about showing that kind of stuff.” The bird was clearly blushing. Then he noticed my arms. “You could always get your boyfriend to help you try one on.”

Corby looked adorably flustered, stammering trying to get out any words, but failing.

“Oh, we aren’t dating,” I said calmly. “But he does help dress me and bathe me and feed me.”

“Oh, my apologies, are you guys siblings?” The rhino asked.

“Nope. Just close friends and adventuring partners.”

“So, he’s someone not related to you, is a close friend, and regularly sees you naked and helps clean you, which you’re totally comfortable with. And you’re not dating…”

I grinned. “That about sums it up.”

We were all staring at Corby, who looked like he was ready to explode with embarrassment.

The guards looked at each other and sighed. “Never underestimate the stupidity of a Freshie,” they muttered in unison. “Alright, you two are clear to enter. Try not to start any fights or anything. There’s a cheap inn if you go two streets down and take a right.”

“Thanks! And could you point us in the direction of the Guild branch?”

They grimaced at that. “It’s in the center square. But if you run into any trouble, it would be better to talk to a guard instead.”

I nodded, and gave Corby a light tap with my foot to try to restart his fried brain. We headed into our first city.

Name: Nymia

Age: 18

Species: Rabbitfolk Lv. 22

Class 1: Bard Lv. 5

Class 2: Locked

Stats:

Bonk: 30+2

Zoom: 67

Sturdy: 18+2

Senses: 64

Brain: 27

Mana: 32

Willpower: 61+6

Free points remaining: 0

Class Skills

* Sound magic Lv. 5

* Soundproof Lv. 3

* Story Time Lv. 3

* Good at Word Stuff Lv. 4

* Find stuff Lv. 3

General Skills:

* Blades Lv 22

* Dodge! Lv 22

* Barefoot Lv 22

* Sneaky Lv 22

* Stubbornness Lv 12

Species Skills

* Rabbit’s Foot

* Enhanced Senses

* Forage

* Burrow

* Cuddles