9 The very first heroine design

In stories, the protagonist will meet their destined allies by helping them in their hardest moment in life. It can be by saving a damsel in distress, or even a loyal friend who wishes to travel with him. What about me? Well, I'm, not a protagonist... I've got punched as a sign of my first meeting with my future ally at the very least I'm still alive

"I'm so sorry!" The mysterious maiden suddenly lowers her head bowing and asks for his forgiveness

"My reflexes got the better of me, I didn't think that a person would be able to get this far. I thought that they were finished torturing me and would rail me to their heart's content. I know I'm making an excuse, please forgive me!!"

The blonde-haired girl's body lowered further where she kneeled and begged for his understanding of the matter."Oh, you don't have to worry about it missy. People make mistakes. It's just that your blunders almost killed an innocent man–"

"I'm truly sorry!!!"

The swing of her fist would've led to his untimely demise if not for his quick movements. He shifted his body to the flow of the punch resulting in its impact diminished when he was struck. Christoper survived for another day but even this was enough of a punishment the moment he thought of slavery

[System: The deity known as 'The forgotten sage' is laughing at his avatar's situation]

'Her speed was a lot faster than mine if I didn't take a step backward to lessen the force of her fist I would've died. It's not a good idea to get on the bad side of someone stronger than myself but damn karma hits fast. What's more, I'm kind of interested in her identity, I never wrote a powerful side character in the starter city,'

"It's fine, I would've done the same thing if I were in your position. Can you explain what happened to you? I'm just a new player. I found this place when I was hunting some monsters for experience," He waited for her to reply only to feel the cold air seeping through his veins and he sighed in response

'I knew this isn't gonna be easy… who knows she must have seen through my plans. Well, I guess it's time to drop this scheme of mine. The risk is too high so I'll only be taking more L's than W's,'

"Seeing that you're fine and you can defend yourselves I won't bother you anymore, goodbye,"

He couldn't help but feel so irritated and without any reason for him to help. He thought about ditching this beautiful brute of a maiden. Although she's beautiful Christoper prioritizes his life over earning a one-night stand

'Let's not get involved with anyone that could alter the plot of my story, no matter how I look at it, she can handle herself… she can even kill me barehanded if I let my guard down. Let's not waste any more of my time, what's the worst thing that she can do– Ow!!! Sweet Mary Joseph that fucking hearts like ass!!! What the fuck she's gripping my fucking hands it hurts so much!!!!!'

"Please wait," She grabbed ahold of his hand where he struggled and felt her strong grip that was enough to break his bones

'What the hell is with this gorilla-like grip...? It's too painful is she a girl? No way she can't be a girl, she might be transgender, acting like a girl!!? That theory isn't far off I remember there's a way for one to change their gender,'

"I-I'm sorry, I'm not good at controlling my strength... I'm so sorry. Please don't go, I need your help,"

Her grip tightened after she said those words, although it hurt, her behavior wasn't that of a murderer. She wasn't running her mouth to trick nor to entice him to follow his every request like a trained killer. He could see that in her eyes, body movement, and stuttering voice that she was scared, what's more, she felt kind of familiar

[System: The deity known as [The forgotten sage] is dying from laughter as he continues to watch his avatars suffering]

'Just once... If only I could smack that deity, my condition going to be a lot better. She doesn't look like she's joking around, let's ask for her name. If she's not even mentioned in my novel then I'll simply help her once, after that she's on her own. Now that I think about it she reminds me of someone, no way! I must be exaggerating there's no way... The chances are so low that it couldn't possibly be her,'

"Okay, Okay I'll help you just get your hands off of my hands it's hurting me!!!"

…

1 minute later

"Well, that was a great start. What's your name? It's awkward if I just address you as Girly or Female along the way right?" Morris waited for her answer after he handed her a portion of his rations that she ate with no hesitation

[First, she asked for help, now she takes your food? What next she's going to kill you and take your equipment?]

"You're active? I thought you'd only watch me when I'm fighting for my life. What are the sudden changes in your hobby?" He waited for an answer only to be left alone by his deity yet again

"Thanks for the food that fills up my stomach…"

He was flabbergasted when she swallowed a dozen pieces of bread in quick succession. "Care to tell your name?"

Although he wasn't signifying his stress, just the slightest change in his tone was enough for the girl to understand. "I'm Esther Landers, an insider. That title means I'm a player that's born in this world. My parents are players who survived the last trial where they settled down and became NPC's,"

Shocked by her introduction, he found himself frozen and his eyes widened and he began to remember. This name was etched into his mind something he couldn't easily forget, no matter how much he tried. The one who stands before him was none other than the first heroine design which he initially wrote but dropped

'Esther Landers? No way, It's my first heroine design, Esther Landers!!! In my Novel she was dead waiting for help, she doesn't have anything to do with the plot. She dies before she even gets introduced… I remember writing her case when the Mc found the pendant that recorded her voice in the piles of corpses,'

"Hello, can you hear me?" Esther called for him whilst he was still spacing out after he made a very shocking discovery

[Hey, what are you doing?]

'The recordings lasted about a week every day she tells that her torture was getting more and more intense as days passed. And on the last day she only said one thing "No one is coming to help me, it seems they got tired of torturing me. I'm finally, gonna get raped and eaten after" Looking back at this I kinda did her dirty, killed her before she even made her debut,'

"Hello, I'm done with my introduction what about you!!?" Esther yelled caught his attention and made him snap back to his senses after spacing out for a while

"Huh? Oh right, what a beautiful name you have, I'm Christopher Morris. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance Ms. Landers. While we're on the subject can you wear this, your uh current clothing is rather revealing," He gave her a pair of clothes and averted his gaze after he got a good look at her defenseless body

"Are you sure about this Christopher? My clothes are still good," Esther replied to his request he took another look at her body which was covered by a worn-out cloth

"Just use it! The purpose of clothing is to be worn not to be held. And call me Morris. My name is pretty long so call me by my surname," He closed the door after he gave her the pair of clothes and waited for her exit

'The hell's wrong with me? I'm getting all jumpy because of her. This is insane, I'll get arrested. I'm not even joking!'

"I'm done," She knocked on the wooden door that was opened to him, and to his surprise, he saw an edgy blonde-haired girl

She closed the door behind her back and walked closer to Morris after she fixed her hair and wiped her face. "How do I look?"

Her actions resulted in a bright aura form with charisma and elegance that was the same as the heroine of his story. "Um, can you say anything?"

Clothes aside her beautiful Green eyes were close enough to make him blush with her beauty alone. "Wow, you look… stunning,"

'Just wearing that casual set of clothes makes her emit a shining aura like a heroine, I guess I did a pretty good job. So this is the first heroine design. I remember Jin choking me when I suggested turning her into the heroine. His only comment was that she's pretty naive, arrogant, and irresponsible the worst combination for a heroine to have,'

'Aside from that she's boyish so she's easy to get along with plus I designed her to be naive so she could be taught by the Mc. But due to her talents and actions, he said she'd outshine the Mc making her a wall so he didn't agree with my plan. Still, I'm quite taken aback by how beautiful she's portrayed. What's more, she's built with all the right curves. Man tomboys are truly a blessing from heaven– Ahem where was I going with this again?'

"Thanks for the compliment before but I was asking if it doesn't look weird?"

"It's better than walking with see-through clothes. Let's go we're wasting a lot of time the sun is about to set," He was stopped when Esther's arm stopped him from reaching the door

"Morris, did you hear that?" She threw a rock at a corner that ricocheted to another spot soon after a goblin appeared to be struck by her stone and fell to the ground

'Shit the resets are finished!! I can't go all out Esther's here. It's going to be a problem if she finds out... Wait what the hell is happening?'

Before he knew it Esther was already duking it out with the goblins, with no weapons nor equipment only her bare hands

She strangles one goblin to another ripping off their jaws barehanded and pulling apart their limbs with ease. One by one he stands frozen and sees the sight of a massacre in front of his eyes. As soon as the battle took a long time to conclude, he slowly noticed Esther's weaknesses. While she was great at the start as soon as the battle was dragged out, her punches and kicks got weaker

She was about to get surrounded by the goblins, but they were repelled by a swing of Morris's daggers. He gave her a sword after he killed the ones that were near their location

'Being able to strangle a goblin without any sweat I'm guessing her Atk stat is at 30 plus she's pretty strong,'

''Why didn't you help me earlier?" Esther wiped off her sweat after most of her stamina was used to fend off the Goblins approaching her location

"You were enjoying it so much that I didn't want to ruin your fun," Morris said as he reached for her hand to help her stand

"You sure you won't regret this? Even if they're weak, their strong point comes when they're in a group," She Unsheathes the sword and reveals a busted blade with its edges blunt from its countless use

"Someone is expecting a lot from me," He replied while his deity responded

[Indeed, you have vanquished a hundred of these pests. A simple number won't be a problem right?]

'I'll help her but that doesn't mean I'll use magic. I won't let her know of my identity, my lives at stake here if she spread something that would arouse the mercenary and the guild's attention. Luckily, I've been practicing how to use the sacrificial daggers without activating the effect,'

He holds his daggers high up in the air, which he Invoked Haste. He used it to trick her into thinking that he was chanting the skill of an assassin. His movements started to get faster, and he ran toward the goblins whilst changing his stance

"I'm getting the hang of this," He swung and changed his footwork in the same style he did when he activated the skill of his daggers

'Maybe if I do this I can get that skill without using the activation requirements of the dagger,' He tried to imitate the technique without the use of its requirement to eat away his blood

Esther was fooled by his tricks and made her play along with his orchestrated play of a newbie assassin player. He made it look like he had some faults and his back was covered by Esther. They sliced every goblin that respawned in the camp before they made their way back to the city

"Fuck me! I'm getting too old for this my back is killing me,"

"What do you mean, you're getting old? Aren't you closer to my age?"

"Thanks for the flattery but I'm too old for that I'm turning 30 this year," Once he said those words he noticed her facial expression that said otherwise to his statement

'Did I grow a lot younger than before? Come to think of it, I haven't shaved– Huh…? Why isn't it there?' He reached for his chin to feel his facial hair but it wasn't present and it made him think about the changes within his body

"Wait, don't tell me that I–"

"Morris please answer truthfully did you hit your head or something? You're not making any sense right now~" She looked concerned about his well-being and made a worrisome expression

"Wait don't tell me, Esther just stay there for a bit I need to see it for myself," He rushed down to the nearest river to see his reflection when the light was still bright to make a reflection

"By the lords, I'm young!!!" He saw that his face was no, not just his face but this whole body reverted to his teens

Apart from that, it was a little different due to his stats started to physically affect his body, and he checked his chest. "Holy– These are abs? I never had one before… it feels hard,"

'There's no way, how can that even be true? What the hell I'm young! Wait let's think about this carefully. When did you even write this character before? Was it back in my twenties no... Oh god, it's that time when I was still in high school!! I gotta say my physique, and my face is better than the one I had when I was on earth,'

...

The grassy plains near the forest

"Ma'am, all of the evidence of his presence here has been snuffed shall we move?"

The grassy plains Morris once fought against the Goblin King are drenched in freshly spilled blood. A group of people led by a mysterious person and the only information that's known was her gender. Assassins more or less envoys of countless guilds were slaughtered at first sight and at the center their leader says

"Yes, our time here is done, let's hope that our messiah survives. He'll surely bring forth a change. No, he certainly will!" Their presence vanished once the clock their leader held closely in her palms