My Room Has Become a Dungeon's Rest Area (LN) - Book 2: Extra 1 (1)

I thought he was a goblin, but he turned out to be a wonderful wise sage

「My name is Thor.」

「Sir Thor. What a nice name.」

That’s how he introduced himself, this wise sage who was keeping me safe in a mysterious room after I had become paralysed in the dungeon.

♦︎ ♦︎ ♦︎

It seemed that having a lot of time to think had its difficult aspects.

Although I was a girl, I had succeeded to the head of the noble military Eldlux family. As such, ever since I devoted my sword to serving the family of my employer, Count Kache, I had been prepared to face death.

Now that my employer’s family had been stripped of its court rank and I had turned from a knight into an adventurer, I ought to have had that same determination.

Of course, when I was on the brink of death, my thoughts turned to the children of my former employer’s old territory, whom I supported. But I think I can be forgiven for that.

However, I never thought that collapsing in a dungeon, my body unable to move, would be so terrifying.

If I’d been defeated in battle, I would have died in combat, but now that I can’t move because of the paralysis poison, I won’t be able to die in battle.

If I’m found by a monster, it’ll be a one-sided massacre.

Will my head be crushed in a single blow? Will I be slowly chopped to bits? Or will I be eaten alive?

Still, that would be all right.

What frightened me most were low-intelligence members of the demon races like goblins and orcs.

It might just have been a rumour, but goblins and orcs were said to grope women before they killed them.

The fact is, I had been hit by a poisoned blow-dart from a defeated goblin, and had become unable to move.

If the rumour was just a rumour and they didn’t have that goal, they would simply have smeared their darts with a poison that would kill me, right?

Imagining myself being found by a goblin, I shuddered.

If I were a boy, I wouldn’t have to worry about this.

「Why was I born a girl?」

From within my paralysed body, I muttered this sentiment that I had felt, thought, and considered countless times in my life up to this point.

The noble military Eldlux family, which served distinguished families, had borne no male heirs.

That’s why I had succeeded to the head of the family.

Incidentally, my younger sister, who was my only blood relative, was already married. I remembered feeling a little envious at her wedding ceremony.

Although I ought to have cast such hopes aside when I took up my sword, in this situation, it was the kind of thing I ended up thinking about.

But I’d even lost my sword.

In a darkness and a stretch of time that felt unending, my thoughts went round and round like this.

But, although the darkness was unending, the time was not.

I thought it was over when I got struck with the paralysis poison in the depths of this dungeon, but my body was starting to regain a little movement.

Fortunately, it seems there weren’t any monsters in this hidden spot after all.

Perhaps I would be able to move after about a day.

But even if I could move, in this situation – exhausted, and having lost my sword…

My chances of returning to the surface alive were slight, but if I could meet up with a decent adventuring party before I ran into a monster, there was a chance that we could get back there together.

For now I would have to lie here like this, terrified of monsters. All I could do in the first place was collapse, anyway!

Huh? I feel like something glittered just now. I can’t even move my neck, so I can’t make sure…

After I’d thought this, I sensed a light flickering repeatedly. In short, it was probably a torch shining down on me.

Oh no. There were two kinds of monsters: those who relied on their sense of sight, and those who could find the targets of their attacks through hearing and smell alone.

Goblins were the former. They needed a torch. So whatever was holding the torch was…

「Sniff, sniff…….」

The thought of myself – which, as a woman, I ought to have discarded – being violated by goblins before being killed wasn’t even a question of dignity; I was simply terrified.

Except… the light was strange, for the fire of a torch.

There were many artifacts which can provide a light source. If it was something like that, there was a small chance that it was another adventurer.

But then the person who was shining the light on me threw something from a distance.

It wasn’t big enough to deal any damage to my body. It was probably a pebble about the size of the tip of my pinkie finger.

What the heck was that for? Are they checking something? Or is it some kind of game?

A chill went through me as I imagined what sort of game it might be. If the rumours about goblins were true…

The rumour was that they would utterly violate female adventurers before they killed them.

But I couldn’t help hoping that it was only another adventurer.

After all, there were robbers who pretended to lie injured on the ground. Perhaps the adventurer was just being cautious of that.

It was only a slight chance, but I clung to it.

「U-um…… xxxxxx?」

Even that slim chance was completely gone. I had stopped understanding the words he was saying to me halfway through, but they were in monster language.

He was a goblin.

「D-don’t come here!」

「xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx」

Half-crazed, I was unable to understand his unfamiliar monster language.

「J-just don’t come near me! Please!」

I was already frantic with fear of goblins, which had been amplified inside my head in the darkness.

The goblin was still trying hard to say something to me.

I couldn’t understand the meaning of what he was saying, but at any rate I kept on telling him not to come near me.

But gradually I began to comprehend what the goblin was saying.

「But you can’t move right?」

「I can move! Of course I can move!」

「But you can’t really move right……」

I was sure that the goblin was wearing a vulgar smile as he said that.

Later, I learnt that I was completely mistaken.

「xxxxxx」

「S-stop, don’t violate me, don’t kill me!」

「I’ll clean for you! I’ll do your laundry! I’ll do anything! Please don’t kill me! Goblin-sama!」

I was sad to be pleading for my life not as a knight but as a woman.

But I had already lost control of myself by this point.

Perhaps to show off his own face, he shone the torch on his face while peeking at mine. I could only look up.

I let out a shriek, and lost consciousness.

♦︎ ♦︎ ♦︎ 「Where the heck is this place？」

I realised that I was in a place I had never seen before.

It wasn’t dark, like the place I’d been when I collapsed.

There was a strange circle on the ceiling that gave out light.

「An artifact?」

I’d never seen one before, but there were some original artifacts made by those whom we called genius alchemists.

The room itself wasn’t that big, but I’d never even imagined an artifact like this that could light every corner of a room evenly.

I tried moving my body.

It seemed that the effects of the paralysis poison hadn’t worn off yet, but I could now move my eyes freely.

Although I’d been laid on the floor, it was pretty soft and comfortable.

Elaborate dolls of a kind I’d never seen before were lined up prettily.

This really was a place where one might be able to live.

A room? I realised I’d said it myself, but this place really was worthy of being called a ‘room’.

It can’t be……Is this the goblin’s dwelling?

But I’d never heard of a goblin making artifacts or anything like that.

As I thought this, I suddenly realised that there was something resting in my lap.

I could feel a heartbeat. It was a living creature!

C-could it be… the goblin?

I broke out in a cold sweat. I still couldn’t move my neck, but somehow or other I raised it just a little and looked down at the lower half of my body.

A h-human man……In the depths of a dungeon……What could this mean?

Could he be a magician of darkness? In the dungeon, there are practitioners of a kind of magic which is forbidden by the state.

Come to think of it, the lined-up dolls were suspiciously lewd. Perhaps he used them for his magic.

But I couldn’t see any malice on the man’s face.

He might have been an adventurer, but his face was peaceful and carefree.

Or rather, he didn’t look like an adventurer.

Perhaps he was a wise sage who, loathing worldly things, had retired from the world into the depths of the dungeon.

Considering the artifacts in this room, which were of a kind I had never seen before, it was impossible he could be anything but a wonderful wise sage.

And, without a doubt, it was this person who had helped me.

No, perhaps I ought to refer to him as ‘this gentleman’.

「Oh wise sage, wise sage!」

「Mmmmmm……」

The wise sage resting in my lap reacted slightly.

It was the first time a man had used my lap as a pillow, and I felt a little awkward, but surprisingly I didn’t find it unpleasant.

Besides, I somehow understood that this gentleman had tired himself out and fallen asleep while worrying about me.

But he was dribbling slightly, which put me in a difficult position.

「Wise sage!」

「Eek!」

「Ah, have you awoken?」

「Eek! It’s not a pillow! It’s the female knight’s lap!」 Pfft. The wise sage really had tired himself out and fallen asleep. Now that I was at ease, I was overcome by the strangeness of the situation.

「S-s-s-s-sorry. I just accidentally fell asleep.」 It might be rude to say this about a wise sage who lives in the depths of a dungeon, surrounded by artifacts like these, but he was kind of adorable.

「I-it’s alright. I get it. I apologise as well, for waking you up even though you were sleeping so comfortably.」 I tried to move my upper body. Somehow, I was able to sit up.