Leader of Goblin Debauchery: I Can Infinitely Evolve my Artifacts

thump thump

'Wh-what—?'

As Keith dragged her along, Thalrexia felt her heart race at a speed that flushed her face crimson as she remembered what he had just said a moment ago.

Her eyes moved toward his back as he led her through the marketplace, firmly grabbing her hand to ensure she wouldn't get lost in the crowd.

Considering it was the marketplace, the density was decreasing as he slowly guided her toward the town's exit.

Her mind kept replaying his words as he declared in front of everyone that she was his wife, which was clearly surprising given how her mother had always told her that declaring someone as a partner in public was the utmost courage to prove one's love.

Such partners are very hard to find and must be accepted.

'N-no, I-I don't even know him?!'

Thalrexia tried to calm her mind as she thought about how she wasn't even aware of his name, let alone anything else about him.

But the issue was how she was going to reject him, as he had literally saved her.

"Thalrexia, I hope you know that we are being followed."

Keith had sensed that man's ego and was already aware that it was possible for him to follow his trail.

He wanted to deal with the man, but at the same time, it was important to tell Thalrexia beforehand, as she seemed invested in her thoughts and not paying attention to her surroundings.

"Huh? Y-yes."

Thalrexia replied, brought out of her thoughts as she realized they were being followed.

However, not much happened until they left the town, as she could only see things ten minutes ahead—the time it would take for them to leave this town.

So, what happened after those 10 minutes was still not known to her, as within those 10 minutes she only heard him repeating the same words he had just told her: that they were being followed, prompting her to nod.

"Is there a forest nearby?"

Keith, aware that they were currently in Voejuck town and inside the Shardholm Dominion, inquired about the terrain surrounding the edge of the town.

Given that Thalrexia had informed him that every other race had their own slave towns, they had to be at a particular distance, and it was important to know what existed in the area between these slave towns.

"Y-yes, but there are Void beasts in there." Thalrexia replied.

Due to their traveling for two more minutes, she was able to see two minutes into the future and saw a forest with people nearby discussing the monsters in the forest.

This allowed her to relay the information to Keith.

"Void beasts, you say?" Keith recalled her words, remembering that the artifacts he inspected were particularly reinforced by a void flux, which consisted of energy cores derived from the monsters, as per information provided to him by eros flux.

It seemed that this was how artifacts, particularly the weaker ones, were enforced in this world—by using monster's energy cores called void flux.

Though it was really threatening to enter a forest with monsters whose existence he wasn't aware of, he found it much easier to deal with monsters than the humans who had taken to following him soon enough.

Being a battle veteran who had killed several humans, he was aware of the differences between a mindless creature and humans.

He thought that dealing with monsters would be much easier than dealing with humans, as their movements were predictable and followed a pattern.

Additionally, he could have easily stayed in the town and remained safe. However, the issue was that he wanted to leave that comfort zone, as there was no guarantee of what might happen in the future. Being there would only make him less responsive to certain changes, and he also wanted to kill the mayor's son.

'....'

Keith looked back towards Thalrexia, whose eyes met his, clearly confused as she tilted her head while tagging along with him.

He then focused his eyes forward and remembered the words from the son of the mayor, and somehow those words had sparked a hint of annoyance in him for some reason.

It was as if his ego was saying that that bastard shouldn't have treated her eyes as some object.

"I-is something the matter?" Thalrexia asked, feeling slightly confused as her eyes met his, seemingly not understanding the meaning behind his gaze, at which he halted before turning towards her.

"You are slow."

'!'

With those words, Keith pulled her hand, her body stumbling forward as she landed in his arms when he lifted her in a princess carry.

"Ehh?"

Thalrexia was still unable to process that now she was in his embrace, as she lied there with her eyes looking towards his, trying to make sense of why he lifted her when she could just walk on her own and why he called her weak.

Isn't she strong?

"Hold tight," Keith instructed her, giving her a firm look, causing her hand to instinctively move toward his neck as she embraced him while he swiftly sprinted toward the dense forest, already outside the town borders, sprinting while carrying her.

----

"We should take a left; there is a beast in that direction."

Thalrexia appeared to become a compass for him while directing him away from where he shouldn't go, clearly understanding that he was just trying to protect them, so she did her part, naturally noticing how his speed had increased compared to the town.

While she was in his arms, she noticed the firmness of his chest and abdomen muscles rubbing against her own body while he sprinted, and it was also evident that he was very healthy and....handsome too.

But it didn't matter much considering they first needed to survive this place and afterward, she needed to reach her hometown and tell her mother about how one of the elders was behind her abduction.

'!?!'

"Take right! There's a trap!"

It appeared that due to Thalrexia being engaged in her own thoughts, she delayed while relaying the thoughts of the upcoming future.

That delay cost Keith, who was sprinting at a very fast speed, to abruptly halt, due to her weight in front of him and given that the land beneath was slightly damp due to rain, his feet slipped visibly.

'!'

'Shit!'

In that moment of all processed outcomes, he hoped to protect himself as his eyes saw the ground, which was more akin to sticks and leaves, now broken revealing sharp wooden sticks embedded in the ground, forming a big hole enough to make both of them fall in.

It was in those moments, which lasted mere milliseconds, that his mind considered only one way to ensure survival: throwing Thalrexia away with body tension as he maneuvered.

His sole understanding of the situation was that, due to his body build, he would be able to survive it.

With the help of Thalrexia, he believed he could come out of it, prompting him to take such a rash decision since he felt he was of no help in this situation, leading him to throw her up.