69 – Brute Prince Muscle SEED

“Are you listening!?”

“Prince Brad! Don’t worry about me—just take these guys down!”

“Shut up! If you don’t wanna die, keep quiet!”

As I munched on my apple, a short, chubby guy—flat-out, someone you’d mistake for a fat goblin—snapped at us in a lisping tone.

In the gorgeous, human-only world of Fortune Engage, he was so ugly it’s rare.

His skin’s a pale orange, which barely made him human. If it were green, he’d be doomed to be hunted as a goblin.

I’ve started to notice a trend in this otome game world: the uglier you are, the more likely you’re to be hunted down.

“Drack! Give him a soft bite!”

“Urgh! Urghhh!! P-Please, hurry and take them down without worrying about me!”

As I’m thinking this, the dragon nodded at the fat goblin’s command and sinks its sharp teeth into Omoneil’s arm.

It doesn’t bite clean through, but there was a grinding sound like bones creaking. Despite what must be excruciating pain, Omoneil stifled his cries, begging me to sacrifice him and defeat the enemy.

Omoneil and the others weren’t just subordinates anymore.

They’re my precious comrades. And I’ll make sure anyone who hurts them pays with their body. I’m almost at the apple’s core, so to buy time, I try a bluff.

“Hey, ugly. If that dragon of yours bites my subordinate clean through, you know what’ll happen, right? My comrade Omoneil is under [Curse of Sacrifice]. If he dies, you and your dragon will feel a hundred times the pain he’s endured.”

“L-Liar! I’m not falling for such an obvious lie!”

“Think I’m lying? Well, believe what you want.”

Just one bite from the core, and this fat goblin’s rough handling of the hostage prompted me to throw out a threat.

“A-Anyway, drop your weapons!!”

“Huh? Do you even have eyes? I don’t even have a knife, let alone a weapon. Quit spouting nonsense, you idiot!”

I’m guessing, but this fat goblin’s got a bullied-kid vibe. Guys like him, once they get power, snap at anything they don’t like. I’d rather not provoke him, but being Brad… I end up taunting him pointlessly.

“I won’t forgive you! You called me an idiot! Even my parents never called me that!”

“Good for you. Now you know you’re an idiot.”

To be called an idiot by the idiot prince with 25 Intelligence…

My condolences.

I don’t know if the fat goblin knows I’m called the idiot prince behind my back, but he probably doesn’t. If he did, it’d be like pouring fuel on a fire.

My stalling pays off, and I’ve got a plan to save Omoneil.

“O-Oki… Save me…”

Takahashi, his arms torn off and being pitifully dragged away, calls out to the fat goblin. So, the fat goblin’s name is Ooki.

“Hahaha! Sucks to be you!! No way. You bullied me nonstop, Takahashi. This is divine punishment, you moron! I don’t wanna be associated with a loser like you!”

“Y-You!!”

As I suspected, Oki, the goblin-like guy, was a bullied kid. Spitting words of betrayal at Takahashi, the stereotypical bully, Ooki seems to be cutting ties.

I don’t know how much bullying he endured, but as an adult, I’d handle it differently—separate the issues.

I’d save Takahashi to gain his favor.

That way, I wouldn’t be called an idiot and could make an ally…

Ooki’s attention wavered, and the dragon called Drack, still holding Omoneil in its mouth, let out a massive yawn. Thanks to Takahashi’s unintentional assist, a gap opened up.

Spit!

I shoot out the apple core.

The distance between me and the dragon is about twenty meters, just within earshot. While I was thinking this, the seed hit Drack.

Given the power of my spit…

With lung capacity that lets me dive longer than a whale, the projectile I launch surpasses the speed of a railgun.

“Huh!?”

Drack, holding Omoneil, losec everything above its lower jaw—head, upper jaw, all blown away. Omoneil, noticing, looked shocked.

Omoneil tumbled out of the lifeless Drack’s collapsing body. Seeing him stand, not too badly hurt, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I tossed Omoneil toward safety. The knight guarding Megumi and the others tried to catch him… but failed, and they both collapsed.

“Tch, this is bad! We need to heal them both fast!”

“Prince Brad, you threw him too hard!”

Freesia hurriedly casts [Heal], and they’re fine…

“M-M-M-My Drack!!”

Ooki, probably a tamer, clutched his head and screamed like he was losing it over his beloved dragon’s death.

“I don’t care what happens to your dragon. But you’re gonna pay for hurting my comrade!”

I grabbed Ooki’s hair and glared. His crotch visibly darkened as he wet himself. Omoneil endured being held in a dragon’s mouth without crying or soiling himself….