Shit. Why do I feel like I've read a manga like this before?

Standing outside the goblin cave that we found using the map on the pamphlet, I considered whether to turn 180 degrees and head back home. I wasn't some naive idiot with grandeur dreams of invincibility or that I had been gifted some cool special power just because of the fact that I had been isekai'd. I could tell a bad idea from a good one, and it wasn't just due to the bones decorating the outside of the cave that gave me this feeling.

My original plan was to escape from Shizu by faking my own death whilst out on an adventurer job with her where I would then be able to live peacefully for the remainder of my isekai life without the overlooming threat behind my shoulders of being killed in my sleep by a psychotic yandere, but now that I was here, I was having second thoughts.

"This looks like the place, Ryuji!" Shizu said excitedly, glancing down at the map on the pamphlet I was holding and back at the cave. "Let's go in!"

What part of the ominously dark and suspiciously dangerous looking cave make you think we should go in, Shizu?

I didn't say that. Instead I said, "I don't know about this, Shizu, maybe we should go back and prepare some more or gather some more party members before we--"

"Party members? As in other girls? Are you trying to meet other girls, Ryuji?"

"I mean as in we should train a bit mor--"

"So that's the reason why you're always trying to talk to other girls behind my back, it's because I'm not good enough for you."

"That's not it...! And besides other party members could mean guys as wel--"

"Is it because my chest is too small? That knight you were talking to earlier at your house had big breasts, are those the type you like, Ryuji?"

"What?! Your breasts are fine, Shizu, listen to m--"

"I knew I should had killed her when I had the chance! That way you can't look at any other girl but me!"

"Shizu, can you relax?! Now's not the place to be having a mental breakdown!"

"Next time I see that knight again I will kill her. I will definitely--"

The ground fell from underneath us, cutting whatever Shizu was about to say short, and we rapidly descended into the earth at free-fall speed. Hitting the ground on my butt, I winced, feeling a bruise instantly forming.

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"Ow..."

"Shizu?" I glanced around the darkness, my eyes trying to navigate around the small sunlight peeping down from above where we fell. "Shizu, are you okay? Where are you?"

"I-I'm okay..." Shizu replied, "I'm over here, Ryuji."

Walking over to her to examine whether she was hurt, I breathed a sigh of relief when it seem like she wasn't hurt either, only minor bruising and cuts that will heal on their own.

"Come on, we have to get out of here," I said, helping her to get her up on her feet as I glanced around our surroundings. Crap. It looks like we fell into a trap and now we were inside the goblin cave. It was too high to climb back up from where we fell and I couldn't see where any of the dark tunnels around us led to. Not good.

"I'm sorry, Ryuji..." Shizu started sniffing, rubbing at her eyes with both hands, "This is all my fault..."

"N, nonsense...!" I said, quickly trying to cheer her up. She looked like she was about to start crying. Despite that Shizu was a psycho, I still didn't want to make her cry. Also I don't know how to deal with crying people. "It's not your fault, Shizu, so don't cry please!"

"B-but it was my fault that we fell down into this trap..."

"Hey, it could of happened to anyone, there's no need to blame yourself...!"

"Really? You mean that?"

"Of course...! Just please don't cry...!"

"You're not mad at me...?"

"No way."

Shizu patted at her wet eyes, drying them, "Okay, I believe you, Ryuji."

I breathed a sigh of relief then stared at her for a second. Damn, she really does look super cute. Her eyelashes were long and dark and they complemented her round violet eyes that seemed to sparkle in the darkness. Her lips were so pink and appeared so soft, protruding out slightly from the rest of her face in an enticing way.

For a second there she almost looked like a regular girl and not a psychotic yandere that was moments ago talking about her plans to commit murder.

"So where do we go now?" Shizu asked.

"Huh." I blinked.

"Which way do we go?" Shizu repeated, glancing between the dark tunnels around us with an anxious look.

"Oh right!" I snapped back to reality to look at the dark tunnels. I guess we should follow the path that leads more to the direction of the cave entrance we were standing outside earlier. "Let's go this way."

"Okay."

Walking down the path, it gradually grew darker and darker so I tried to cast a fire spell to help us see through the darkness.

"Fire." I murmured to myself, holding my palm forward. The air directly above my palm crackled softly and eventually a small ball of fire about the size of a tennis ball lit up into existence, hovering above my palm. At the same time I felt some of my energy slipping away from me.

"Wah, that's so amazing!" Shizu said from next to me, looking very impressed at the ball of fire. "You're incredible, Ryuji!"

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"Heh, this is nothing." I said, trying not to show the fatigue on my face. "I will show you some real magic once we encounter some goblins."

"I'm so excited!" Shizu grasped onto my arm at the side. "You're so strong, Ryuji, you can defeat any monsters!"

"Hahaha...!"

Yes, I know Shizu was just trying to make me feel good about myself. I'm not a complete idiot. But it still felt good to be complimented. I thought back to the time at the adventurers' guild when the clerk was treating me like an annoying mosquito and sighed to myself.

At that moment, the sound of something rattling against the ground broke out into the air and we both stopped in our tracks.

"Ryuji..." Shizu said, glancing into my face with an anxious look.

"It's okay, Shizu, just stay close..." I looked around, listening intently for where the noise had came from. I grabbed the handle of the sword I had on my waist. Since dad was a blacksmith, I had borrowed the equipment from him. Convenient.

We stayed still for several minutes, waiting to hear the noise again but it didn't come.

"Is it gone?" Shizu asked quietly.

"Maybe." I said, but I continued to look around. No way I'm letting my guard down.

"That was so scary..." Shizu sniffled, hugging onto my arm. "I'm so glad you're here, Ryuji."

Dammit, she was pressing her chest up against my arm which was ruining my focus. Her chest felt so soft and supple. It wasn't overtly large like the knight captain but it definitely wasn't small either. It was the perfect size, like the ones on the models in fashion magazines, and...

Hang on a second. Was she... trembling...?

It shocked me to feel her trembling against me. I didn't expect Shizu to be genuinely scared.

"Hey, it's okay..." I tried to soothe Shizu, "I'll protect you, Shizu, so you don't have to be scared."

She hugged me tighter with her face burrowed into the side of my arm. "Really...?"

"Of course...!"

"You won't run away and leave me... no matter what...?"

"I, I wouldn't even think of it..."

Hearing that, Shizu lifted up her head from my arm and smiled up at me with the most beautiful smile I had ever seen in my life.

"Thank you, Ryuji."

My heart skipped a beat, seeing that smile.

Maybe... Just maybe... Shizu wasn't so crazy after all. Have I just been treating her unfairly this entire time? Behind all her crazy antics, she was at the end of the day still a regular girl who just wanted to be loved. So she acted a bit crazy a few times. Who wouldn't after dying and being reincarnated into a different world with magic and monsters lurking around?

Suddenly I felt really bad for the way I've been treating Shizu this whole time.

"Ryuji, watch out--!"

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Pain swelled from the back of my head as I glanced at the shadowy figures in front of me. Green skin, long noses and ears, devilish yellow eyes, those were definitely goblins. What I didn't understand was what the taller figure standing behind the goblins was doing there. Steel-framed glasses and condescending eyes. It was the clerk from the adventurers' guild!

"Y-you..." I said looking at her.

"Nothing personal, kid." The clerk smiled down at me from where she stood behind the goblins. "With the current state of the economy, this is really the only way to make a living nowadays. Trick low-ranking adventurers to an isolated location where you can quietly kill them off and write it off to the local public as another adventurer dying on a job. Easy money." She glanced to my side at Shizu, "And I see you've brought a friend along to die too. How perfect."

"Leave Shizu out of this!" I shouted.

"No can do." The clerk shook her head. "She's got gear on her too that can still fetch some money, even if not much."

Shit. I glanced over at Shizu, seeing the lightly padded armour I had given her to wear. It was supposed to protect her in a worst case scenario, but now it looks like it might do just the opposite. Dammit, and I didn't give her any weapon, thinking that she wasn't going to need it.

"Look," I tried to bargain with the clerk, "We will give you what we have and we won't tell anyone if you let us live. That's a win-win for the both of us, right?"

"You take me for an idiot?" The clerk said, "Why would I trust the words of two snotty nosed brats when I can just kill the both of you and be certain that you won't tell a soul."

Dammit, seems like I can't trick her either.

"And besides, I've got a deal going with the goblins." The clerk smirked, "Fun fact for our new adventurers, goblins are creatures with very high libido, you see. They don't have much use for the money and equipment from dead adventurers, but what they really do love is the fleshy bodies of dumb adventurers like the two of you. Especially if they're attractive. Like your cute friend over there."

At that, the goblins began to snort and chortle in an unison of revolting noises.

"You god damn bitch...!" I gritted my teeth. Looks like the only way out of this is to fight. There were about a dozen goblins, but what I was really wary about was the clerk. I didn't know how strong she was so it was a complete blackbox.

The clerk laughed, "Sorry, I'm not a sadist. Even to me, that's disgusting. I'm only here for the money, but don't you worry, I'm sure the goblins won't mind having a go with you even if you're a male. They probably won't be able to tell the difference after a while anyways."

"Tch..."

Ok, I think I'm ready now.

"So without further ado--" The clerk started but I interrupted her as I moved my hand out from behind me, aiming my palm at her and the goblins.

"FIREBALL--!!" I screamed.

The entire time we were talking I had been channelling my mana secretly to cast the spell. The longer one channels a spell, the more powerful it becomes. However, normally in a fight, you wouldn't have time to channel a spell while your opponent just waits. That's why I had to distract her with pointless conversation until this moment.

Immediately, all the energy from my entire body sapped out of me to the centre of my palm where a fireball shot forth, sending my body backwards from the recoil.

The fireball roared forward towards the clerk and the goblins right where I had aimed it. It was the perfect target as well since they were all grouped together in one place.

I saw the clerk's eyes widening behind her steel-framed glasses for a second, before the fireball exploded into them, shaking the entire cave as though an earthquake had occurred.

"Shizu, get down!" I shouted, jumping over to shield her as debris of small rocks and dust fell from above us.

I coughed, exhaling the dust then glanced at where the clerk and goblins had stood, seeing a cloud of smoke where the fireball had engulfed them.

Did it work...?

As the dust settled, my heart fell down to my stomach when I saw the clerk standing there amidst a circle of dead goblins with only minor cuts and bruises.

"You..." She coughed, glaring at us venomously, "Have more mana inside you than I thought... If you had more training or knew how to control your mana better..." She chuckled, "No matter. You're finished now, I can tell. After all, I'm a mage as well."

Shit! That was all my mana that I had used up on that one spell! I was so fatigued that it was hard even staying awake.

The clerk clicked her fingers and within a moment, more goblins began to emerge from within the darkness at the ends of the tunnel from both sides of us, surrounding us and blocking our exit.

"Shizu..." I coughed, "Leave me and run..."

Instead of running, Shizu stood up from the ground wordlessly, turning to face the clerk.

"Is it your turn now, little girl?" the clerk sneered, her voice dripping with malice. "What are you planning to do? I don't even sense any mana coming from within you! Are you going to beg me on your knees to spare his life? Hah! Kill them both!"

The goblins charged forward, led by one of the larger ones with its fangs bared and its pelvis exposed and erect. It leaped into the air, heading straight for Shizu.

But in a sudden and swift movement, Shizu thrust her hand forward and ripped something out of the goblin's pelvis. Dark blood spurted everywhere as the creature let out a terrible screech that made the other goblins pause in their steps.

The goblin crashed to the ground in a bloodied mess, squealing in agony. I watched in shock as Shizu calmly approached the creature and, with a swift movement, plunged her hand into its throat, silencing its screams. As she stood up again, I was left in shock at what I had just witnessed.

In one of Shizu's hands was the kitchen knife she had been using to cook. In the other...

She dropped a bloodied organ onto the ground, and all of the goblins turned their gaze to where the torn and mangled penis of the creature lay. Then without a word, Shizu raised her feet slightly in the air and in one fell motion crushed the goblin penis under the heel of her shoes, making a horrible squishing sound that made all the goblins, including the clerk and me wince in stunned horror.

"I will tear out the sex organs of every last one of you for even thinking of violating Ryuji," Shizu said in a chilling voice.