Chapter 25

Throughout her life, Melbiana was kept away from any potential danger to her life, being protected like a flower in the greenhouse by her family.

This didn't mean that she was unconditionally loved by all her relatives or anything wonderful like that, as such a privilege was held by her father's pride and joy in the form of an older brother, but Melbiana had the very important role of one day marrying a man who would help with her family's business, such as reducing taxes and connecting with nobles.

To this end, her mother hired all sorts of tutors to mold her into a lady of class. They forced her to learn etiquette, how to walk gracefully, how to embroider, and even how to cook for the sake of a hypothetical rich and influential husband, transforming her into an extremely attractive woman with an almost aristocratic bearing.

She was specially educated in many specific topics where a woman can use her natural charm to seduce a man, in the hopes of winning the heart of a noble foolish enough to fall in love with her and give her everything she wanted.

Something like the story of Duke Astaroth who fell madly in love with an illegitimate daughter and made her a duchess, without the inconvenience of her relatives being unable to take advantage of a powerful personal connection… In other words, she was just a convenient tool to further her father's business and perhaps, one day, become a nobleman himself with connections rather than merits.

Anyway, the point here is that Melbiana steered clear of such unpleasant things as overt malice toward her throughout her life due to the sole apparent purpose of her existence. As such, seeing the gentleman she was having a conversation with earlier get stabbed so cruelly...

Her intelligent yet naive mind froze in shock, staring wide-eyed at the scene before her, her body trembling.

Knight Antonio's face was completely and intensely twisted by the pain that overwhelmed his mind.

“A-arman!? So you were a traitor?! I’ll kill you, bastard! {Storm of…!“

—As if I'd let you do that, you fool in shining armor!

After being literally stabbed in the back by his subordinate, Antonio attempted to twist his body to use his One Force against the former guard Armán with gritted teeth and anger burning like flames in his eyes.

However, his opponent, who was also on horseback, with a slight evil smile on his ugly face, took the opportunity to push him to the ground after taunting, stopping his activation.

"Ah!!"

Suddenly, a bandit with a particularly striking physique among his companions leaped from his horse and swiftly slashed Antonio across the neck with his sword before he could rise to retaliate. Blood spurted out, and the ground around the fallen knight turned red as his head spun, his eyes wide open.

In him you could see the incrudelity of having died in that way.

“Hey, guys, please gracefully escort the beautiful Ojou-sama out of the carriage so we can get to know each other better.”

The burliest bandit gave instructions to the others while showing his ugly yellow teeth. He had square features that were complemented by his long, straggly gray hair, with a filthy beard covering his jaw.

The powerful member of the bandits carried a single-edged sword with a muscular arm that looked as thick as an ordinary man's leg... This man could very well be the leader of these bandits, Melbiana thought in a daze.

Following his order, the other bandits dismounted their horses and rushed toward the carriage. The carriage door burst open, and the bewildered and frightened Melbiana was dragged out by men with vulgar smiles.

“What!? Nooooo!!! Let me go, you brutes!!!”

Although Melbiana struggled desperately, twisting her body, two of the men held her down with their arms. Her handmaiden, Ramna, fared no better, as she was also grabbed and dragged without any difficulty despite her stubborn resistance, which failed even with arcane arts.

“Hey! Be careful when you take off their clothes! We can sell them all for a good price at the market!”

The bandit leader yelled at the two carrying Melbiana with a smile as he imagined the extra money he would make by selling everything, possibly even them. The mere thought of being raped by these wicked men and eventually sold into slavery afterward made Melbiana and Ranma cry in despair as they tried to escape their clutches.

“Boss, since we killed all these guys, can we try some of these beauties…?”

One of the bandits who had taken the clothes asked the leader while licking his lips, his disgusting reproductive organ erect as he lustfully looked at Melbiana.

“Huh? Are you okay, asshole? I'll be the first to take this bitch's virginity! You can have your turn when I'm done!”

“W-wait a minute, sir! I was the informant, so I should be the first to take Melbiana’s virginity!”

Former bodyguard Armán protested loudly and anxiously to the bandit leader, causing the rest to frown at him.

The bandit leader glared at him with a malicious look and suddenly drove his sword through Arman's throat at lightning speed, severing his head before he could react.

"¿¡Kyaaaa!?"

Ranma let out a weak scream as the sword blew the traitor's head through the air in an almost comical scene, blood dripping from his neck. Armán's body fell back like a puppet with its strings cut on the ground, while the other bandits looked on with unpleasant smiles on their faces.

“I’m sorry to report this so late. I don’t mess around with fools!”

As the chief said this, he kicked the man's head, which was already dead, and the skull split with a dull noise as it struck a tree, proving that the force employed was not negligible.

"Hellooo!!!"

Melbiana let out a brief cry of fear at the horrible cruelty of those bandits. A yellow stain spread across her underwear, and a small puddle appeared beneath it.

“Look at that… the little girl peed herself in fear, how cute!”

Hearing what the bandit holding Melbiana said while screaming, the men around began to laugh vulgarly.

“Bah… what a waste, you know we can’t sell dirty underwear, throw it away already.”

At the boss's words, the stained underwear was quickly removed. Poor Melbiana's damp blue bush was exposed to the men's obscene eyes. Their lust grew ever more intense, as if the sight of her wet private part tempted them to lose themselves completely and become total animals with her.

Something that seemed inevitable to happen.

“¡¡ ...

Desperate to escape the men's gaze, Melbiana kicked out with her feet in an attempt to escape. However, the chief had one of the bandits hold her legs while he removed his pants and exposed his filthy body to the air in front of her.

W-Why wasn't I taught the arcane arts so I could defend myself?! Why do I have to go through this after being raised as the perfect wife?!

Melbiana resented her family and blamed them for the terrible fate awaiting her at the hands of that scum. If only she were stronger, if she had been raised to defend herself instead of pleasing a man who only wants a trophy wife, perhaps she would have put up a fight.

I should have run away if I was going to end up getting raped anyway…

She felt like her world was ending and she was losing hope of escaping it. In the end, far from fulfilling the stupid purpose for which she was raised, her first time would be to be kidnapped by a bastard, then sold to a brothel or something similar for a few coins.

“Stop! You know what's going to happen to you if you do something like that!”

Ramna shouted condemnation at the men with fear, anger and resentment in her beautiful eyes, causing them to mock her.

—Before worrying about others, shouldn't you worry about yourself first, Maid-chan?

When one of the men holding her said this, he carelessly and forcefully ripped off her simple maid outfit. The pretty bra that held her generous breasts was also torn off, and one of her breasts was exposed to the world.

Ramna quickly covered him, but was then abruptly thrown to the ground.

"I'll make you feel as good as our leader will make that Ojou-sama feel, bitch! Be happy because I'll take you to the abyss of pleasure with my good friend, Pene-kun, haha..."

When the man laughed, a wave of stale air hit him in the face. Then he started to pull down his pants.

One of the men grabbed both of the maid's arms, while another grabbed one of her legs. While hanging over her, the boss prepared to pound Melbiana's privates in one fell swoop.

At that moment a large shadow appeared behind the bandits.

It was an event that occurred in an instant. A towering monster was standing behind the bandit chief on top of Melbiana, whose identity was revealed to the girl.

“O-orc…”

“Huh?”

The blue-haired girl's whisper was faint, but no one needed to hear it to know something was wrong. When the leader turned around amidst the bewilderment and fear of his subordinates, the sight of a monstrosity with a twisted, pig-like face left him deeply shaken.

He was an anomalous entity, plastically naked except for a cloth loincloth covering his rock-hard private parts. His belly was prominent, but he had naturally strong muscles that were hard to miss.

A mouth full of uneven black teeth was slowly revealed as he licked his lips, his two-meter height emitting an overwhelming presence. An aura of evil emanated from him and seemed to increase with each breath, while lust was evident in his night-black eyes over Melbiana.

One of the countless children of the King of the Eternal Abyss, a demon… an Orc, whose mere existence made the atmosphere stifling.

Before the leader could shout "A demon!", the orc smiled brightly at him as, at a speed impossible for the average eye to follow, he smashed the leader's head off, making him the third headless corpse in the area.

A bloodstain fell on the forehead of a speechless Melbian, unable to react to the sudden change in situation… No, was it really like that?

“Females… Mine!”

The demon's halting words, which seemed to echo unpleasantly in her mind, told her that her situation hadn't changed at all. Melbiana despaired, and so did her maid. As for the bandits...

"Ah...Ahhhh!!"

“Run!”

—What's a demon doing here?! You useless duke!

"Careful!"

Leaving the women behind, the remaining bandits attempted to flee in shared horror as they turned away, only to discover that the orc in front of them wasn't the only one. At least 10 orc demons appeared behind them and began a merry killing spree with the 8 bandits as if it brought them intoxicating happiness.

Flying arms, crushed heads, ripped stomachs, and internal organs spilling out… the hellish scene created by the orcs was far more terrifying than anything the bandits themselves could have created, and it was painted with their own corpses and spilled blood.

The most horrible thing was that some orcs immediately took the bodies of both the bandits and the guards and began to feed on them.

The orc in front of them, seemingly larger than all of them, looked at them with desire.

"Ah... ahhh..."

"Light..."

Melbiana knew what awaited her and Ramna. This orc, who was obviously an alpha among his own kind, would rape them in the same way those bandits hoped to, injecting them with his unholy seed and forcing them to bear more demons like them until they died.

A fate possibly worse than human slavery. But she didn't know that.

The light in her eyes began to fade, losing all will to fight the inevitable. She didn't even have the strength to curse the gods for putting her in this ridiculous situation. No one would miss her, no one would cry anymore, only a father who would complain about losing a useful asset before moving on with his life.

Tears flowed non-stop as the Orc reached out his large hands towards her when suddenly...

The flash of a flaming sword blinded them.

And in the next second, the orc's arm fell to the ground.

“…Huh?”

Melbiana muttered in bewilderment at what had happened, before the orc screamed cruelly and looked at his severed arm, clearly cauterized with something hot. Before he and the rest could react properly, a man covered in a black cloak appeared behind the alpha orc, cleaving him in half with his sword ignited with powerful flames.

The two halves of the mighty Orc who died in an overly anticlimactic manner after his terrifying appearance fell to the ground, raising a light layer of dust as the previously desperate girl stared with her round eyes into the red eyes of her supposed savior, glowing faintly from the light of his magic sword.

She was momentarily captivated by those beautiful, penetrating, cold eyes, the only thing she noticed about him in that brief eye contact, apart from his blond bangs.

The man soon landed on the ground with his hood covering his face before running off at a speed impossible for an ordinary human, and Melbiana subconsciously turned around after hearing the screams of the other orcs being slaughtered with terrifying lethality and efficiency.

Then, when all the orcs were dead in less than three seconds, a disconcerting feat, he turned slightly while his back was turned, asking them in an almost emotionless voice that sent shivers down her spine.

“Are you two okay?”

"Ah..."

Neither Melbiana nor Ramna knew how to respond as they stared stupidly at the boy, noticing the quiet 'merchant caravan' with guards dressed similarly to him approaching.

“I’m sorry… I think I got that question wrong.”

The man—no, the boy, judging by his barely visible facial features—looked away when he realized his mistake. Certainly, asking if someone is okay after experiencing a massacre and two attempted rapes is crazy, but Melbiana didn't feel so bad about it, so she hurriedly denied it.

—Ah… no! We’re fine! Right, Ramna?

"Uh? Oh...Yeah!"

Prompted by a nervous Melbian who instinctively covered her privacy, Ramna nodded quickly while her eyes were watery.

"That's good"

The boy turned completely in her direction as he said that, and Melbiana was able to get a good look at him this time. Her heart skipped a beat for some reason when she saw those beautiful red eyes he had under his black hood again, while he wore a slight smile on his handsome face.

She didn't notice that her cheeks were red.

“Hmmm…there’s an interesting smell.”

“…!?“

Melbiana's face, which had been flushed, turned completely red with embarrassment upon hearing him say that while she sniffed the air incomprehensibly...

♦♦♦♦

In Heroes & Dragons, according to the story before the actual game started, young Melbiana Rubiernity was supposed to fall into the hands of demons after her carriage was attacked by bandits, and was then saved by a wandering knight of the Duchy who had a day off before losing her chastity and her will to live altogether.

From that point on, where she was almost raped by two monsters in a single day and lost her beloved servant, her best friend, Melbiana decided to become stronger, with the goal of reaching a level where no one could force her to do anything and kill everything that tried to subdue her, where she could be truly free...

But due to Ekaterina's presence in this timeline or rather, her good health, the Dranalian Duchy started a lavish birthday party to celebrate not only her birth but also her recovery, causing almost all of the knights to be there after making sure to cleanse every demon they could detect for this special day... and that included the knight who saved Melbiana in the original story.

So there would be no knight to save Melbiana's life this time and this could have ended in her death... or worse.

Fortunately for her, what would have otherwise turned out to be extremely tragic for her, ended with her salvation also due to Ekaterina herself, as the prince of this country, who was secretly visiting the Duchy, took the same path as Melbiana with her group, saving her and her maid along the way, who originally died defenseless at the hands of a demon who was too aggressive in the act of sex.

It was almost as if the world was pulling strings to ensure that a character like her wouldn't die, regardless of the outcome... something that no doubt had to do with the freedom the original game gave players like Satogo Kazuto.

Either way, it was a fact that Ekaterina currently had no way of knowing that the original heroine of this world and the most powerful hidden boss within the Empire met in such a way, irreversibly changing the fabric of the world by their influence.