Getting his head out of the gutter, David’s mind raced as he tried to figure a way out of this mess. He didn’t dare do anything as his life was in her hands quite literally and any sudden movements and she could crush David with ease.
Instead David tried to negotiate before she bit his head off, well he tried too but what came out was,
“Please don’t eat me. I taste horrible and-and umm…”
Before David could think of something else, the ogress spoke up with a deep husky voice,
“Magic human taste good I’ve heard, better than even sheep.”
‘Dammit she knows about the arm’
He was going to use the [Eldritch arm] and surprise her but thought better of it and tried to gather his thoughts.
Her speech while not as good as a typical human’s was good and David gained some confidence back seeing that she could possibly be reasoned with,
“Y-you like sheep? I can get you a lot of she-sheep. Everyday even… if you let me go, I’ll bring you p-plenty of sheep.”
He stammered out in fear and prayed to whatever entity existed in this universe to make the ogress agree and to his delight he saw the ogress actually pause to think for a moment. Her crushing grip loosened just barely and David took as to chance to speak up.
“If you e-eat me now, I can’t give you sheep every day.”
The ogress paused for a few seconds before tightening her grip on him,
“Humans lie, they lie very good. I not believe you…”
David panicked and was going to risk a move with the [Eldritch arm] but the ogress continued speaking,
“But if you make oath to Blinan, I will let you go. Make oath to Blinan now.”
Blinan was an ancient deity that governed truths and promised and was considered by many to be a holy judge. Any oath made in his name if broken leads to the death of the oath breaker. This was something David learned from a conversation with a wise old grandma in the village.
Deciding it wouldn’t be too much of a hassle for him and his life was more important David quickly made an oath,
“In the name of Blinan, I swear to bring one sheep to…”
“Nakula.”
“… Nakula everyday as long as she doesn’t harm me in any way.”
Nakula the ogress grunted at the last part but didn’t say anything and put David down on the ground.
“I hear Sektal coming, you bring sheep back here, I will make Sektal go away.”
David nodded and then bolted out of there, running back to the village. When the village’s wooden walls were in sight he dropped down and panted. The ogress’s grip hurt and his entire body felt bruised and everything ached.
He promised himself that he would improve his physique after this mission. Being a better human wasn’t going to cut it if situations like these keep popping up, he needed to go past the human limits if he didn’t want to snap into two pieces.
David went to the inn and had a meal before heading off to find some sheep for Nakula. Alice showed some concern over his battered appearance but David waved of her worries and took advantage of her concern to give her a hug.
Checking over her shoulders and not seeing anyone, David wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and embraced Alice to her surprise. Her bosom mashed against his chest, the soft heavenly feeling filling him with warmth.
Slowly but steadily his hands dropped down from her waist to her heart shaped ass but as soon Alice felt his touch she broke the hug and pushed him away,
“Ah..Um… Well hope you enjoyed the meal, see you later David.”
Alice was flustered and her face red as she fled from his sights, David looked at his fingers and rubbed them only to raise his head and find Alice staring at him, she blushed even harder and ran inside the kitchens.
David smiled to himself and made his way to the old farmer he met when he first arrived, he was sure the old man had some sheep.
The old man was sitting in the same spot as if he had never moved, David spoke to him and managed to get a sheep.
Leading the sheep with a rope he made his way back to the spot where he was caught and saw Nakula standing there impatiently, when she spotted David bringing the sheep her eyes lit up and she stomped towards him,
“You bring mutton as promised. I happy. You can go now.”
Not being held in a death grip allowed for David to take in the sight of she ogre more clearly, Nakula was tall, strong and….
‘Beautiful.’
Unlike her male counterpart she didn’t look a horrendous beast out for blood but could have instead passed off as a barbarian. Now that David thought about it, even her intelligence seemed higher than the male ogre Sektal.
David wondered whether it was a species thing or if Sektal was “special”. Seeing that she was focussed on the sheep, David decided to make some small talk,
“So where did the other ogre? Sektal was it?”
Moving her eyes from the sheep to David, Nakula said,
“He back at cave. No worry he won’t come and he won’t get sheep too.”
David could care less about whose belly the sheep was going to end in but was glad that Sektal wasn’t nearby, he went on to ask her relationship with Sektal.
He was disappointed to hear that bloody Sektal was her “mate” but didn’t care about it for long. Such a simple issue wouldn’t stop David. When it comes to humans, David has no choice but to play by the rules but ogres on the other hand,
‘Enjoy your remaining days Sektal, I’m going to rip you apart.’
Deciding he heard enough, David excused himself and headed towards the goblin infested forests. This time he had a plentiful bounty as he had bigger sack to store all the ears.
While hunting he heard a bit of commotion at a distance. Making his way there, David hid himself behind a tree and spotted a group of goblins fighting an injured man.
He wasn’t going to play hero and rescue the man, instead David just observed the fight. The man was wearing a cloak but David could see it was tattered and bloodied. He was barely fighting of the goblins with a sword.
The goblins themselves were armoured and had proper weapons unlike the goblins David typically hunted.
Just as the man looked like he was going to fall, a roar of flames burst around him incinerating all the goblins.
‘What the f***? Is he wizard?’
It didn’t matter though as David decided he had seen enough,
“Stupid green bitches, you thought you could get me? The ring gives me powers you imbeciles cannot comprehend. The goblin king desires for power he will never understand, chasing me all the way from….AAAAAAAAAAhhhuggggggggghh.”
The man looked down to find a monstrous arm piercing his chest with his still beating hart in his hands. His vision faded as he watched the arm crush his heart.
David walked up to the man’s body. Looking at the corpse David didn’t feel fear or disgust, instead it was a stilling numbness. David didn’t want to admit it but he also felt a tiny sliver of excitement and it shamed him, but he shook himself from his thoughts.
He took a look at the arm floating in front of him, so much power in that tiny little arm. It was foolish to think there would be no drawbacks. The eldritch in his old world were a type of fantasy entities that defied the natural order and corrupted everything around them, while the [Eldritch arm] was no powerful eldritch being, it still subtly influenced his psyche.
David knew where this would end though, he knew enough from pop culture and fiction that he would slowly get nightmares and transform into a raging psychopath.
Still he wasn’t worried though, David found courage in the fact that there would be something in the [Nightmare shop] would help avoid a dreary future. He just had to finish this mission as soon as possible to be safe.
What David didn’t know was that his crossover strengthened his soul thus preventing him from being in a much worse state. A lesser man would already be having those nightmares.
There was a small part of David that was grateful to the arm though, for the numbness. It helped keep fighting and David didn’t want to imagine how horrible he would feel without its influence.
He looted the corpse and found the “ring” the man was talking about, a plain wooden ring with peculiar carvings,
‘Doesn’t look special, but I guess that in itself is special.’
David searched the man but found nothing else of value except his sword which seemed to be of higher quality then his current weapon. He may never use it but David decided he would keep this blade and sell the other to the blacksmith.
Looking back at the ring, David didn’t feel anything special but after some thought decided to wear the ring.
“Wow…”
