by Kumo Kagyu
He wearily chewed on a wine-soaked nut, earning Witch’s giggle.
Goblin Slayer came over to the table and took in the scene.
“What is it?”
Dwarf Shaman and Lizard Priest shared a glance and shrugged.
They weren’t sure whether or not they found it comforting that Goblin Slayer was exactly the same immediately after an adventure as he was at any other time.
“You know perfectly well what!” High Elf Archer, however, did not seem pleased. She smacked the table repeatedly and glared up at the steel helmet. “When you get back from an adventure, you ought to at least say hello!”
“Is that so?”
“It is!”
High Elf Archer snorted. Guild Girl smiled at her, then slid aside. She gestured Goblin Slayer to sit down, which he obligingly did. She turned her smile to him and said, “Welcome back, Mr. Goblin Slayer. How did it go?”
“I will make my report,” he said, then cocked his head. “Is your shift not over?”
“Oh, come on,” Guild Girl said, pursing her lips with a touch of annoyance. “I’m always the first to hear about your adventures. Why not tell me?”
“Hm.” Goblin Slayer folded his arms and thought. Then he declared, “There were goblins.”
“Wow, who could have guessed?” Spearman growled. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as if to say, This guy doesn’t get it. “What our dear Guild Girl is asking is, does what you did stack up against what we did?”
Goblin Slayer lapsed into thought again.
“We slaughtered fifteen of them.”
Spearman knew better than to expect some detailed anecdote about Goblin Slayer’s adventure, but even he hung his head in disappointment.
“Come on, Goblin Slayer. Throw us a bone, here!”
Witch squinted absentmindedly and put her glass to her lips.
“Perhaps, there’s no bone, to throw…”
“When Beard-cutter’s been about, I suppose there wouldn’t be.”
“We do speak of milord Goblin Slayer. He has his quirks.”
“They had equipment.”
Dwarf Shaman and Lizard Priest nodded knowingly at each other, but Goblin Slayer shook his head.
“The kidnapped women were all safe.”
“Really?” Guild Girl blinked. “That’s wonderful, but…quite unusual.”
She had been working here for five years, and she rarely heard of such a thing.
Though she lacked actual experience adventuring, she had heard more about it than anyone else. Certainly more to do with goblins. Sometimes the information came before the women were kidnapped, sometimes immediately after. Sometimes two weeks after.
“Were they being kept for food…? Or did someone in command want them as hostages?”
“No.” He shook his head. “They were injured, and terrified.”
“This was in a mine, wasn’t it?”
“Targeting a mine was strange enough.”
“Meaning they weren’t after food. Hmm…”
Guild Girl demonstrated how she was among the few who could follow Goblin Slayer’s conversation. She tapped a finger against her lips as she digested the bits of information he shared.
She hardly even noticed Spearman exclaiming, “Maybe I should just study up on goblins, then!”
In cases involving goblins, the creatures would abduct young women eight or nine times out of ten. But this was largely to use them as sexual slaves, playthings to vent their anger.
The same way most people found goblins repugnant, goblins couldn’t abide humans.
Guild Girl knew many examples of brutality that, as a fellow woman, made her wish she had neither heard nor read about them.
One might have expected her to be thrilled at hearing news of the rescue.
“…Hmm. So we really don’t know enough to say anything yet…”
Something seemed to bother Guild Girl. She tilted her head, trying to grasp what it was.
Maybe it was the same for Goblin Slayer. He said dispassionately:
“That’s my preliminary report. I’ll file a more detailed one later. Have a look at it.”
“Sure. Of course, my shift is over for today, so it’ll be first thing tomorrow morning…”
“That’s fine.”
“Not by me, it isn’t!” High Elf Archer broke in.
Laid out on the table, she glared up at Goblin Slayer, struggling to make her heated glare appropriately threatening.
“…Who cares about your dumb report? You should greet your friends and companions first! …I know goblins are more important to you, though,” she muttered.
The armored man slowly shook his head.
“You already know I’m here. There’s no need.”
“It doesn’t matter. You should do it anyway.”
“Is that how it is?”
“…Everyone was worried about you.”
This provoked a murmured “…Were they?” from Goblin Slayer. “I will change.”
“That’s good.” High Elf Archer’s face melted into a mellow smile, finally content.
Her ears flicked with her bettered mood.
She swore that by the time they reached 2,000 years old an elf was considered an adult, but she certainly didn’t act it. Frankly, she might be something of an embarrassment to her high elf ancestors.
At least, that’s what Dwarf Shaman was thinking when Guild Girl moved quietly.
She leaned nonchalantly and put her hand on Goblin Slayer’s knee.
The motion was strikingly natural, and she appeared completely serious.
“By the way, Mr. Goblin Slayer.”
“What?”
“The, um, the harvest festival is the day after next.”
“Yes.”
Guild Girl breathed in and out with a soft sigh. She put her hand to her chest, as if trying to physically restrain her pounding heart.
“Do you…have any plans?”
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Even the adventurers chattering and drinking nearby stopped to listen, never mind the people at their table.
She felt her nerves tighten the way they did upon entering a dungeon.
Witch used Silence to prevent Spearman from exclaiming, “I’m free!”
High Elf Archer’s eyes were open, but her inebriation allowed her to offer only a sluggish, incoherent murmur.
And at the center of that indescribable mood, Goblin Slayer spoke.
“…Goblins.”
“Ah, I mean…any non-goblin plans?”
“……Hm.”
With that single sound, Goblin Slayer lowered his head as if lost in thought.
Or perhaps at a loss for words. Either would have been an unusual sight.
As everyone around them waited with bated breath, only Guild Girl still had a smile on her face.
After a moment, Goblin Slayer said, “…No, I suppose not.”
“You know, I’m taking off the whole afternoon that day.”
She seemed to be waiting for some kind of response.
It’s now or never!
It was festival season, and she had been planning for this moment. He had just finished a goblin-slaying quest, and the reward for her unstinting hard work allowed her to take time off when it really mattered.
There was also the wine. Borrowing strength from the alcohol, she figured this would be her best chance.
“I… I thought m-maybe you’d like to go…see the festival with me.”
“…”
“I—I mean, the festival…it might not be completely safe, right…?”
One of her fingers drew meaningless shapes in her palm. Guild Girl watched the steel helmet.
That same cheap thing he always wore hid the face behind it.
The only way she could reach him was to keep talking, though her voice was increasingly strained thanks to her racing heart.
To Guild Girl, every second he was silent felt like—a minute? No, an hour.
<
br /> “…All right.”
Goblin Slayer nodded.
His voice might have been dispassionate, almost mechanical, but there was no mistaking what he said.
“You are always a great help to me.”
“Ah, right—I— Thank you,” she said with a bow, flinging her braid into the air.
Whoops. Do you say “thank you” in this situation?
She was a bit concerned, but it was a small thing, completely overwhelmed by the joy spreading quickly through her heart.
“Ah—oh, right! Mr. Goblin Slayer, would you like something to eat?”
“No, I’m fine.” With a firm shake of his head, Goblin Slayer rose from the bench. As always, he checked his armor, weapons, shield, and gloves with a practiced eye, then nodded.
“Once I make my report, I’ll go back for the day.”
“O-oh, I… I see.” Guild Girl felt a strange mix of emotions, disappointed but also pleased with this very characteristic answer.
“In that case, um…”
“The day of the harvest festival, at noon, in the square. Will that do?”
“Yes!”
“All right, then.”
Goblin Slayer nodded, then surveyed everyone at the table.
“What will all of you do?”
Guild Girl managed to keep her head out of her hands, but her face clearly betrayed her sentiments. She should have seen this coming.
Lizard Priest and Dwarf Shaman felt the same way. They merely shrugged and decided to do what they could to help.
“It is my intention to spend that day enjoying a meal with Master Spell Caster.”
“Ah, yes! I’ve always wanted to drink Scaly under the table once. This will be a good chance.”
Dwarf Shaman pounded himself on the belly, then rubbed High Elf Archer’s back.
“Come with us, Long-Ears. No matter what they say, elves and dwarves belong together!”
“Bwah?” A noise of disagreement left her mouth. It was the sort of formless sound a child made to protest getting out of bed.
“Ah, come now—I’ll treat you to a cup of wine!”
“…Okay.”
“I see.” Goblin Slayer accepted their answer with his usual coolness, then made to leave.
Spearman opened his mouth as if to say something, but Witch interrupted. “The two of us have a date.”
“I’ll be going, then.”
Not so much as a word of farewell. As always.
He headed for the front desk and flagged down the nearest employee to make his report, then went outside.
His bold stride contained no hint of hesitation, as always.
He was a somewhat strange adventurer.
The group watched him go, unable to say anything.
“Gracious me,” Lizard Priest said, letting out an admiring breath. “A most impressive strike.”
“Heh… Ah-ha-ha… I’m just glad it went well.” Guild Girl blushed shyly and played with her braid.
“Indeed.” Witch smiled, giving ashen-faced Spearman a little pat. “You, tried hard, too.”
Dwarf Shaman let out an exasperated breath. “Anvil-chest here could learn a thing or two from you.”
“Aw, shut yer yap.” High Elf Archer turned, slowly and cumbersomely, to glare at the dwarf. “I just want to go on an adventure together. That moron won’t even come with me!”
“Yes, lass, you’ve failed quite miserably.”
“Wa…Waaaah!”
“Ah, come now. Here, have a drink.”
He poured a copious amount of wine into her cup. She spared him a quick glare before putting the cup to her mouth with a little nod.
Guild Girl, watching all this, knitted her brow apologetically.
“Um, I… I’m sorry…”
“Pfft. Like I care. I told you, I don’t think of him that way.” High Elf Archer took dainty sips of her drink, watching Guild Girl. “Hey,” she said.
“Yes?”
“That was a good line: ‘Any non-goblin plans?’ Can I use it?”
§
When Goblin Slayer left the Guild, a sweet aroma enveloped him.
Now what could this scent be…?
Even as he was wondering, a gust of cool breeze carried the smell away.
As the sun set, the day’s warmth receded as though it had never been.
The night approached. He stared up at a cold sky dotted with stars.
The twin moons, full with the promise of a rich harvest, gleamed with a light that was somehow metallic, inorganic.
“Hm.”
It was autumn already.
But it meant very little to him.
After the harvest, goblin raids on villages would probably increase.
There was a style of fighting appropriate for spring—as well as one for summer, for winter, and, yes, for autumn.
He scanned the silent streets.
The banners and streamers hanging in anticipation of the festival, along with the wooden towers, cast a complex network of shadows on the ground. Goblin Slayer weaved between them as he walked.
These were streets he knew well, but each time he passed a shadow, he reflexively made a fist.
Perhaps there was nothing skulking in the darkness. But goblins could appear at any time and any place.
Not all preparations were helpful, but one could never be too prepared.
This was one of Goblin Slayer’s most cherished principles.
“Oh, there you are!”
Thus he could take the unexpected, but familiar, voice in stride.
The bright, friendly greeting didn’t quite match the night—though perhaps he needed the light.
“Oh,” Goblin Slayer said. “You came to meet me?”
It was, of course, Cow Girl.
“Heh-heh!” With a smile on her face and a bounce in her chest, she pattered quickly toward him. “I wish I could say I did. I just happened to be in town. Work, you know.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, it is.” She nodded firmly. The grimy helmet followed her intently.
“A delivery?”
“Uh-uh.” Cow Girl shook her head. “Talking to a client. Uncle told me to handle it so I would learn about the business side of things.”
“Is that so?” he said again, nodding.
The sun was absent and the town dark, leaving the two alone in the blackness. The street outside the town gate was even more lonely and dark.
“…Shall we go home?”
“Yeah, let’s.”
They set off, falling into step beside each other.
They followed their own shadows stretching out along the flagstones and silently headed home.
Not in a hurry, but not taking their time.
The lack of conversation didn’t bother them. Sometimes it was quite nice.
“Ah…”
With a whoosh, the cool wind blew again and brought that pleasant fragrance with it.
Goblin Slayer couldn’t quite seem to remember what it reminded him of.
A single flower petal danced through the air, accompanying the breeze and smell.
Goblin Slayer looked up. He saw a tree blanketed in golden flowers.
“Oh, it’s fragrant olive.” Cow Girl followed his gaze upward and used her hand to shield her eyes from the brightness of the leaves. “It’s blooming already. I guess this is the season.”
It had been a flower’s aroma.
“So it is,” murmured Goblin Slayer, now that he knew where the odor was coming from.
It was strange how the frame of pale yellow flowers made even the cold moons seem warm.
As he started walking away, he suddenly felt a soft sensation surround his left hand.
Cow Girl had clasped his gloved hand in hers.
She was blushing just enough to be visible, her eyes averted ever so slightly.
“I mean… It could be dangerous, to walk while you’re looking up like that. It’s… It’s dark.”
“…”
“I’m sorry. Did I…?”
She glanced at his face, trying to decide how to take his silence.
After a moment Goblin Slayer, his expression hidden by his helmet, slowly shook his head.
“No.”
“Hee-hee.”
And Cow Girl set off, pulling Goblin Slayer behind her.
He could feel her warmth through his armor. Holding on to that sensation, he trailed behind her.
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.
“By the way…”
“What?”
“Do you know what the fragrant olive symbolizes in flower language?”
“Flower language?” Goblin Slayer repeated, as if he’d never heard the expression before. “No, I don’t.”
“Well, I think you should find out, then.”
She sounded very much like a child trying to emulate an adult.
Cow Girl chuckled and smiled knowingly, wagging her index finger slightly.
“To me, I think it suits you.”
“…I’ll keep it in mind.”
Goblin Slayer nodded, and Cow Girl responded in kind with a “Mm” of affirmation.
Should I bring it up?
Cow Girl had managed to break the ice.
Despite his helmet, he wasn’t that hard to read. Still, he could be surprisingly stubborn, so she would have to use her head.
“…The festival’s coming up—it’s already the day after tomorrow.”
“Yes, it is.” He nodded assiduously. “I was invited to it, myself.”
“Gwah?!” A strange cry escaped her.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, I—uh, I mean— Who invited you? And what did you say?”
“The receptionist from the Guild. I believe you know her.”
Cow Girl nodded.
Guild Girl. Stylish, capable, and thoughtful. A mature young woman.
“I had no reason to turn her down. I asked everyone else if they wanted to come along, but it seems they all have plans.”
Cow Girl suddenly stopped walking.
“…What’s wrong?”
“Ah… Ahh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
With her free hand she played with her hair to distract him.
Gah. She beat me to it…
Whether or not he understood what she was thinking, Goblin Slayer repeated dispassionately, “What?”
“…Aww, it’s nothing.” Cow Girl shook her head slowly.
It’s… It’s not that big a deal. Is it?
So she hadn’t gotten what she wanted.