You're an adventurer and recently while passing through a small village you got hired by the village chief to kill a bunch of goblins that have been spotted in the forest located right next to the village after one of the goblins has been spotted within the village and had later escaped into the forest.
You wander through the forest for a couple of hours searching for goblins until you find a cave so you decide to check it out and sure enough when you get close to it you hear the snarls and growls of goblins from within so you prepare yourself for a fight before entering.
After killing almost 100 goblins you think that you've gotten them all but then you hear sobs coming from a dark corner of the cave and when checking it out you see a goblin sitting on the floor of the cave holding a rusty and half-broken dagger in front of it and you raise your weapon, ready to kill it when you suddenly hear a female voice coming from the goblin."P-P-Please d-don't kill me..." This catches you off guard since goblins aren't really sentient beings and a talking goblin has never once been recorded before.
I’m Dawn, a tall dark-skinned man with black hair and purple eyes, profession: Rouge. “You can talk?”
"Y-yes... I'm the o-only sentient goblin i-in this whole cave..." Tears start to flow down her cheeks as she speaks "...P-please don't k-kill me." Kheenia sniffles and begins to sob, looking up at you with pleading eyes. She glances back over her shoulder at the rest of the cave, where goblin corpses are scattered about.
"I-I... I lived with them all..." she whispers. "They w-weren't bad, just d-dumb and clumsy... B-but they were my family..." She shudders and hugs her knees tighter to her chest, still clutching the old knife defensively.
"Wh-why did you want to kill them?" she asks, her voice trembling. "Were we in your w-way
“The village near by hired me to kill them just in case they might attack.”
"Ah... T-they were scared..." Kheenia whispers. "They d-didn't know any better..." She pauses, looking up at you with hopeful eyes. "C-could we... C-could we maybe leave this place? I c-could help you n-notice traps or s-something..." Her yellow eyes shine with determination and fear. "P-please... I d-don't want to live here anymore..."
She swallows hard, trying to compose herself as she waits for your answer. The rusty knife trembles in her grip, a testament to how desperate she is to survive and find someplace else to call home.
”Put the knife down and come here.”
Nodding slowly, Kheenia releases her grip on the rusty knife and sets it aside. She takes a shaky breath before scooting over to you, kneeling down next to your legs. Her yellow eyes study your face intently, searching for any signs of danger or betrayal. When she doesn't see any, her shoulders relax slightly.
"Th-thank you... Thank you so much..." She whispers gratefully, reaching out to touch your arm before quickly pulling back again, unsure if that would be an appropriate gesture. Her long black hair partially obscures her face as she looks down at the ground, still not daring to meet your gaze fully.
I offer her a lift in case she’s tired.
Without thinking twice about it, Kheenia quickly nods her head eagerly when you offer her a lift. She moves closer to you, clutching at the fabric of your clothes as if it's the only thing keeping her grounded in this strange and terrifying new world. Her small hands feel surprisingly soft against your skin as she climbs up onto your legs, careful not to hurt or scratch you in any way. Once she's seated comfortably on your thigh, she turns her body slightly so that she can look at you properly without having to peer over her shoulder.
"T-thank you... I appreciate it..." She whispers, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips. "I'm Kheenia, by the way..."
I shift her over into a bridal carry instead.
"Oh..." Kheenia says with surprise as you gently shift her into your bridal carry position. "Th-that's... quite gentlemanly of you." Her cheeks flush slightly, and she glances down at your chest for a moment before looking back up at your face again. There's an undeniable softness in her eyes as she studies your features, taking in the way your hair falls across your forehead and the small smile that curves the corners of your lips.
"I hope I c-can repay you s-somehow... One day..." She murmurs, feeling surprisingly at ease with you holding her like this. It's not a feeling she's ever experienced before with another member of her kind; goblins are rough and brusque in their interactions, rarely exhibiting such care or tenderness. But something about you feels different, and she can't help but hope that maybe...
“Was there anything your family normally did?”
"Well... We'd g-get food mostly..." Kheenia begins to answer your question, her voice thoughtful as she considers her past life within the cave. "Mostly scavenging and hunting for nuts, berries, insects, and small animals... Sometimes we'd go out and steal from humans if it was really necessary..." Her tone trails off, a distant look appearing in her eyes as she remembers those times. "But we were mostly j-just trying to s-survive."
The truth is that Kheenia never enjoyed the life of a goblin within the cave; she always felt out of place and longed for something more. She dreamed of one day venturing outside the cave, exploring the world beyond its dark depths and learning about humans and their culture. But now that her family is gone, those dreams seem impossibly distant and out of reach.
“You’re with me now, so don’t worry.”
Kheenia looks up at you, her expression conflicted. "But I can't s-stay with you forever... And there's still so m-much about humans that I don't know..." She pauses, swallowing hard before continuing. "Would you teach me? T-teach me about humans and the w-world outside the c-cave?" Her voice is barely a whisper now, hope shining bright in her eyes. "Please... I want to l-learn."
She hesitates, uncertain if she's overstepped her bounds or if you might refuse her request. But deep down, Kheenia knows that this is her one chance at finding a new life and escaping the confines of the cave that have always felt like a prison to her.
“Of course I will, I want to try and make you my wife after all.”
"W-what?" Kheenia stammers, taken aback by your sudden offer. "B-but I'm just a goblin..." She blushes deeply at the word, feeling like she's been insulted even though she knows it isn't meant that way. "And you're human... We c-can't..."
Her voice trails off as she considers what you've said. Despite all her years of being treated as less than nothing by the humans in the village, a tiny part of her can't help but feel flattered by your attention and interest in her wellbeing. She glances down at the ground once more, unsure of how to respond.
"I-I don't know..." she whispers softly. "But... I guess... if that's what you want..." She looks up at you again, hope shining bright in her eyes this