8: A Mother’s Life
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The air is heavy. The wounded goblin is not even dead yet, but this already feels like a funeral. You’re not going to stand by!

/Fig, tell everyone to gather closer. I might have an idea./

Fig doesn’t hesitate shouts so that all the goblins can hear, “Everyone, please step closer!”

/They need to close their eyes and clear their minds. It will be easier that way for my thoughts to reach them./

“Close your eyes, and clear your minds,” Fig repeats what you’re saying to him. You notice Petunia already did as you say before Fig’s instructions.

/Everyone! You’re hearing the voice of the sword in Fig’s hands. Listen carefully. I can probably save Milty. But I do not have direct healing skills. I can only heal my wielder through attacks. Which means, I must be in Milty’s hands when I attack one of you and leech your life force to for her. And with her condition, I will require a lot. The attack could very well be fatal./

“I’ll do it!” Petunia volunteers instantly.

“Petunia, no!” Fig shouts.

“This whole mess started because of me,” Petunia says, holding her hand to her chest. “Our whole village is now at risk. Fig, you already risked your life, and intend to risk your life again to fight that monster and protect all of us. If I can try to save at least one person… At least Milty. I want to be of help too.”

“No, pick me!” A goblin steps forward with short brown hair and an old piece of cloth tied around his mouth and nose. “Milty always helped me since my childhood. If this is the way for me to repay my debt, I’ll gladly do it!”

“No, I will!” Another goblin says. “This would probably be the first meaningful thing I could do in my entire life. Please, let me be the one to save Milty!”

“No me!”

“Me!”

“I will do it!”

"I'll go get the others!"

“Everyone…” Fig says and you see his left eye water up. If all of them are willing to—

/That’s it!/ You unwittingly and excitedly shout into every goblin’s mind. /If all of you are willing to take a chance to save Milty, none of you might need to die. Make no mistake—there’s still a risk. I’ve never tried to do it this way. But if you’re willing—/

“Yes!” the goblins shout in unison.

What a tight community.

/Alright! Hurry, and place me into Milty’s hands!/

Milty coughs up blood.

“Hold on!” Petunia tries to comfort Milty while holding her hand. With another hand she gently caresses Milty’s face.

Fig kneels at Milty’s side and places you in her hands. He removes his shirt to create extra patting between Milty and your blade’s edge and then helps the barely-conscious Milty press her hands around your hilt.

/Now, obviously, she no longer has the strength to even lift the sword, forget about any attacks. I’ll need each of you to open your palm and slide it across the edge of my blade./

The goblins seem ready and determined to do as you say.

/The most important thing will be to remove the pickaxe at the right time when Milty has been healed enough to survive that, but while we still have enough to heal her up. Wait for my command on that. Now... Let's begin!/

Here goes nothing. You check your status and confirm that Life leech is active. Then you notice a message pop up.

[Warning! Compatibility below 50%]

[Weilder: Milty
Compatibility: 41%]

That’s not good. However, before you can even make up your mind about what implications this brings and whether this is important enough to cancel the whole plan, Petunia slides both palms of her hands across the edge of the blade. She winces from the pain but continues until she reaches the very tip of your weapon. She did not just open up the skin. The reckless girl almost cut her hands all the way to the bone.

“Petunia, that’s enough!” Fig screams at her and with good reason. While no doctor yourself, you can imagine how easy it must be to get an infection with wounds like those.

Still, her blood and life force were particularly delicious and you make great effort to transfer as much of it as possible to Milty through your [Life-leech].

“I’m next!” The goblin with the brown hair and mask approaches. While not as enthusiastic to cut his hands, he does do it. And just as Petunia, he doesn’t scream or moan from pain. These goblins are quite hardy.

One by one the goblins sacrifice their life essence, and you transfer it to Milty. You feel Milty returning. Her hands grow warmer. Still, the transfers are far from perfect and most of the goblin's sacrifices only end up feeding you. At this point there won't be enough to close the wound after the pickaxe is removed. There's no choice.

/Now, remove it!/ you say to the goblins. Fig, Petunia, and two others lift Milty up and pull the pickaxe out. There is no way to do this where it will not hurt like all seven hells. Milty's pain resonates through you. You feel her slipping again.

/Hurry! We need more!/ you call for the goblins. One by one they sacrifice their life essence. But you see there are only a couple more left. Milty is barely hanging in there.

"This way, hurry!" you here shouting from a distance. You see a goblin woman lead several dozen goblins your way. She gathered the other villagers. You're relieved. One by one they all help heal Milty without hesitation or complaint. Even Milty’s kid sobbing like a baby, stepped forward to offer his share to help his mother.

"The bleeding's stopped," Petunia says, seemingly barely believing her eyes.

You feel overfed. You do not need to check your status to know that your [Satiation] is maxed out. If it was possible to break through the cap, it would've happened. If you later tried to claim that you did not enjoy this operation, it would be fair to call you a liar. Perhaps you could become a weird field doctor in this world?

“Kibby?” Milty opens her eyes and looks at her son. She lets go of your hilt and places her hand on her son’s cheek.

“P-please don’t die mommy,” Kibby weeps and presses his mother’s hand with both hands to his cheek.

“I-I won’t,” Milty says with a smile. Her eyes water up.

“Promise?” Kibby asks.

“Yes, I promise.”

Thank you for reading!

If you have an idea for a different name for the sword, feel free to suggest in the comments! I will keep this poll going for longer so make sure to check back to see if some cool suggestions you might like are added. (though I'm going to be sleeping when this uploads so will add more poll options later if there are such.)

P.S. there's a chance that some of the suggestions aren't in the poll. sometimes it bugs out. will check it in the morning.

What will the sword's name be?
  • Noir Votes: 39 25.8%
  • Chunchunmaru Votes: 15 9.9%
  • Kindness Votes: 3 2.0%
  • Holy sword Votes: 1 0.7%
  • Master Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Judgement call Votes: 7 4.6%
  • Tenebria Votes: 9 6.0%
  • Nero Votes: 5 3.3%
  • Mistletoe Votes: 4 2.6%
  • Human slayer Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Lolicell Votes: 5 3.3%
  • Jeff the most insidiously kind sword of eldritch horror Votes: 36 23.8%
  • Excalibur Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Chūnibyō Votes: 7 4.6%
  • Xalor Votes: 4 2.6%
  • Absolom Votes: 2 1.3%
  • Ariel Votes: 3 2.0%
  • Joe the scary cursed sword Votes: 2 1.3%
  • Kurono Votes: 2 1.3%
  • *A different name (write in comments) Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Alucard Votes: 7 4.6%
Total voters: 151 · This poll was closed on Jun 1, 2020 03:57 AM.
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