Well, this was quite the conundrum.

The blood rushed to my head as Synx and the other monsters stared at me, licking their lips.

"Yay! We caught one!" The big one cheered, hopping up and down. Her chest bounced and jiggled with every movement, and I turned away from her, my face getting red.

Agnes reached for her holy symbol, and as it began to glow, several of the monsters leapt at her.

"I don't think so!" One of them teased, as they pinned her to the ground. Agnes struggled against them as they swarmed her, but to no avail.

"Look at these things!" One of the them said, and I heard Agnes let out a scream.

"They're so squishy!" Another one said, "not as squishy as Big Sis though..."

"Let go of meeeeeee!" Agnes squealed, her wriggling now intensifying.

"Big Sis, get over here!" One of the them shouted.

The bigger one lumbered over, swaying a little bit, as if off balance.

"Yeeeees?" She said slowly, leaning downwards.

"Let me see these." The monster grabbed the bigger one's chest and squeezed, groping her.

The big one let out a loud moan, her eyes glazing over.

"Yeah, see, far more squishy." The others determined.

"Here, compare them." The one groping the bigger one pulled the bigger one closer to the group, and the others raised Agnes up to stand beside her. Agnes was as red as a tomato, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Let go of me..." she whimpered, pleading with the monsters as they groped her.

I reached for my belt and grabbed my sword, slowly unsheathing it.

"Big Sis's are better." The monsters confirmed, now finished with their groping session. "Far bigger and squishier than this lady's."

"I already knew she couldn't compare to us." Synx said, puffing her chest, "a human girl doesn't have the charm, nor the class we do."

"But she has bigger boobies than most of us." One of them poked Agnes's chest.

"Not me!" The bigger one said, jiggling her breasts.

"We know." One of the smaller ones replied.

"I heard screaming, are you-" the guard stepped in, and froze as several of the monsters turned to him.

"G-g-" the guard unsheathed his scimitar, his eyes widening with fear, "g-goblins!"

Synx, who had been distracted by the show the other monsters, or goblins, I suppose, now turned back to me and her eyes widened. I now had the sword in my hands, and I swung upwards, slashing through the rope and hitting the ground with a thud.

"Ow..." I muttered, rubbing my head as I slowly stood up. The goblins looked around, at me, at the guard, and then grinned, brandishing their clubs and slings.

"I-I-I need to go get backup." The guard said, turning to run in the other direction, before one of the goblins loaded the sling, and pulled it back, hitting him in the back of the head.

The guard fell over unconscious, and the goblins began hooting and hollering, before turning back to me.

The big one cracked her knuckles, picking up a far larger club than the others. It was more like a tree trunk, honestly, and she grinned at me.

"Bad boy gets hit with big stick." She said, her dopey grin somewhat sinister in the darkness.

The goblins were now focused on me, allowing Agnes time to grasp her holy symbol and utter an incantation. The holy symbol grew bright and brighter until...

There was a loud bang, and the room was suddenly filled with a blinding light, and the goblins and I covered our eyes, our ears ringing.

"I can't see!" One of the goblins cried, as I felt something grab my arm.

Agnes pulled me out of the back room, and my eyes barely had time to adjust as we ran out onto the street.

It only took a few seconds for rocks to start raining from the skies as they loaded their slings and fired.

The building began collapsing as the bigger one burst through the wall, her massive club smashing through everything in its path. The goblins scrambled out through the doorway, narrowly avoiding the falling debris as they looked over at the big one with annoyance.

"Big Sis, be careful!" Synx said, "you almost crushed us!"

"Oh... sorry..." the big one scratched her head, before turning to us. "There they are!" She charged, swinging her greatclub into the air...

Before suddenly losing her balance. She fell forward and face-planted onto the ground, groaning with pain.

The other goblins raced towards us as the big one slowly pulled herself off the ground, swaying a little bit as she stood up.

A woman in the streets screamed, and people began racing into their homes, shutting the doors behind them as the goblins made chase.

Agnes and I ran, I raised my shield to block the onslaught of rocks raining down on our heads, and Agnes grasped her pendant, muttering another incantation under her breath.

A bolt of blue energy shot at the goblins, hitting one in the stomach. It carved a hole clean through her, and she looked down in surprise before crumbling to the ground.

Guards appeared on the rooftops of buildings, aiming crossbows at the goblins, and bolts began falling from the sky.

The goblins began running towards us, but the big one stopped and turned around.

"Keelie..." she mumbled, "come on, let's go." She stared at the body on the ground, motionless, before one of the goblins grabbed her arm and began pulling her away.

A pang of guilt went through my heart as I watched the big one's confused expression as she was dragged away, but that soon faded as I realized the goblins were approaching quickly.

Three of them began firing rocks at the guards on the roofs, Synx and another one kept dragging the big one away from the fire.

Several guards were knocked down by the rocks, falling off the roofs in comedic fashion, but one of the bolts managed to hit one of the goblins in the shoulder, and she cried out in pain.

Unlike the Ghoul's black blood, the goblin's blood was a dark crimson, just like a human's...

Agnes pulled me as the goblins got closer and closer, prepping another spell under her breath.

Then Synx began whispering something to the other goblin, who then whispered it to the big one, who just nodded blankly, her expression still confused about the events that were transpiring, it would seem.

They stopped pursuing us for a moment, and Agnes and I kept running, looking over our shoulders to see if they were still following us.

The other small goblin had her hands out like she was gonna give a boost to Synx, who hopped onto her hands. The other goblin boosted her up, as Synx jumped up into the air, curling up into a ball.

The big goblin bent down, and leaped into the air, soaring higher than any human being would be capable of doing.

As Synx rose up towards the big one, the big one held her greatclub like a bat, and swung, striking Synx like a baseball.

The next thing I knew, I was on the ground.

Synx sat on top of me, looking down at me triumphantly. Agnes grasped her pendant, but the goblin paid her no mind.

I heard more guards fall to the ground, but I also heard the cries of goblins as they were hit with bolts, and I watched as their small bodies hit the ground, one by one.

Synx looked back, and I saw her expression twist into horror as the last of the three swing wielded fell to the ground, red blood slowly pooling out from under them.

I felt another stab of guilt in my heart, and this one wouldn't be ignored, as Synx paid no mind to Agnes, who was just about to send another bolt of energy through her body.

"Get down!" By this point, the big goblin and the other small one had caught up to us, and the smaller one pushed Synx to the ground just as Agnes fired the blast.

It shot clean through the other one's temples, and her corpse fell on top of me. My heart raced as I stared at all the small corpses littering the ground. It was horrid. Even the thought that they were going to kill me wasn't enough to help with this sight, cause right now, it just looks like I've watched several children die right in front of me.

The big one watched as the other small goblin died, her body falling on top of me. Synx looked up at the big one's face. "Big Sis... Mani... it's okay... it's okay..."

I saw the big one's face as well, and my heart twisted again. Tears were welling up in her eyes, and her grip on her greatclub tightened.

Then she just screamed.

I had to cover my ears as tears began to fall from the big one's eyes, as she just kept screaming, swinging her greatclub around recklessly, hitting anything and everything that was in her path.

The remaining conscious guards raced downwards, aiming their crossbows at the big one, but she just kept swinging.

Every time the club impacted the ground, cracks began to form on the street. It narrowly missed my head one time, and Agnes backed up just as she swung it at her.

And she kept screaming, like a child throwing a tantrum, as the coarse, dry dirt was moistened by her endless stream of tears, and I felt horrid. I felt like the monster, torturing these young girls... it was awful.

The guards couldn't get a good shot on her due to her frantic movements, and eventually she took both of them out in one swing, sending them quite literally flying into a nearby wall.

Synx kicked Agnes down to the ground and hopped up, grabbing the big one- Mani's arm.

Mani stopped swinging, and looked down at Synx, "Synx..."

Synx hugged her tightly, "Big Sis..."

Mani wrapped her arms around Synx, and lifted her up in the air, squeezing her tightly.

Agnes clenched her holy symbol in her hand, watching the two of them with an expression of guilt, began reciting an incantation, but her hands shook, and the spell stopped before she could finish.

I stood up, clutching my sword in my hands. As I approached, I could see my hands shaking. Was I really gonna kill these little girls? I looked around. No one was nearby, no one conscious, that is.

"Get out of here, now." I said sternly to them.

Synx and Mani looked at me, and I could see the snot and tears dripping down from Mani's face still, her eyes red and puffy.

"Go. Before more guards come." I told them, and Agnes looked at me.

"Anon..."

I turned to her, "I know, but I just... I can't. Not these ones, at least..."

She looked me over for a second, then nodded.

Synx separated from Mani, taking the big goblin's hand. "If you let us go, we'll come back." She said, her expression stone-faced. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

I looked at her, then looked at Mani. Besides the horns, and in the case of Mani, the massive breasts, they looked human. They bled like humans, they talked like humans. Just this once.

I nodded, and Synx tightened her grip on Mani's hand.

"We'll meet again... Anon..." she said, her face softening, looking back at the other goblins on the ground, and then she turned to Agnes, her face smoldering with anger, "and then, I'll make you understand what it feels like to lose someone you love."

Agnes clenched her holy symbol tighter as the two of them glared at each other.

She took Mani's hand, and pulled her away, heading for the city wall.

She boosted Mani over the wall, and hopped up after her, stealing one last glance at me before disappearing behind the wall.

"Did we just..." I murmured.

"No one can know about this," Agnes said, shaking, "we've just allowed two monsters to escape. We'll be labeled as sympathizers and executed..."

My eyes widened. That harsh of a punishment?

"But I couldn't do it." I said, my shoulders slumping. "They looked to much like us."

Agnes put a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay. I understand. That being said, straighten up. We're heroes who just destroyed a goblin gang, we can't afford to be sad."

I nodded, looking into her deep blue eyes. She leaned forward a bit, and the two of us stared at each other, before she realized how close she was to me, and blushed, backing away.

"Well, what now?" She asked.

I realized how sweaty I was, and my face was undoubtedly covered in dust. "I need a bath."

We slowly made our way through the crowds of people now swarming the area, patting us on the back, thanking us for stopping this horrid goblin incursion, and we were gifted many different types of fruits, sweets, trinkets, you name it.

Agnes and I accepted it hesitantly, but everyone was practically shoving praise down our throats, and we had to almost fight our way to the front gate.

Once we made it back, we asked around for a bath house. Apparently there was one just a few blocks up, and we began our walk over there.

"So... what did Synx steal from you?" I asked Agnes.

Her face turned beet red, "um... you shouldn't be asking a lady such things..."

I understood, and didn't ask any more.

We entered the bath house, and spoke with the woman behind the desk.

"Welcome to the Mermaid's Respite! Entry is only three copper pieces!"

Agnes opened her purse and pulled out six small copper coins, handing it to the clerk. I tried to stop her and pay for it myself, but she shook her head. The clerk smiled and accepted the money. "It's just through this way." She said, gesturing to a silk curtain behind her.

Wait a minute.

Agnes walked through it, and I walked through, with extreme caution. I expected her to turn around and blast me with some holy energy, but nothing happened.

I got a look around the main area. The curtains opened to reveal a large pool surrounded by smooth gray stone. Trees grew in the corners around it, with flowers and all sort of greenery nearby. In the center of the pool was a large stone statue of a mermaid, who was spitting out a fountain of water into the pool. Very high class.

Then I noticed there were several people already in the pool. My virgin eyes were not ready for the amount of nipple I was exposed to, as the pool was also mixed gender. What the fuck?

Agnes was beet red. "Um... please don't look..." she said, stepping away from me and behind a large fern.

Feeling a similar amount of modesty, I also hid behind some foliage, removing my armor and clothing.

Like holy shit, this stuff was straight out of an anime.

I covered my junk with my hands and waded into the water. Nobody paid much attention to me, they were busy bathing, and then I heard a loud splash behind me, and I turned to see Agnes's head floating towards me.

Neck down, she was submerged in water, and I didn't dare look below the surface as she crawled towards me, steam practically shooting out of her ears.

My face turned a similar red color as I turned away from her, cleaning myself off. You're telling me this society's not invented split bathing yet?

Agnes, now that my eyes were off of her, also stood up and began washing herself.

I heard several whistles from beside me, and I turned and glared at them.

Several old men were staring at Agnes, or at least in her direction, I can't tell.

One of them reached out towards her, and I smacked his hand down. The action of doing so turned myself towards her, and my eyes caught a glimpse at her pale, beautiful body.

And that's when I got shot with an energy blast.