Goblin Slayer, Vol. 7

by Kumo Kagyu

  High Elf Archer bit her lip for a moment, not quite able to speak, then shook her head in disagreement. “…It’s not the same.”

  Goblin Slayer gave a quiet, annoyed grunt.

  “We aren’t like the goblins. And if you say we are again, I’m gonna get mad.” She glared at him from lidded eyes.

  “I might even kick you,” she muttered, and she sounded serious.

  Goblin Slayer remembered the time, in some ruins somewhere, when she had given him a serious kick. It had been about a year before. He even felt a certain nostalgia for it.

  But how much time was that for an elf?

  “I see.” Goblin Slayer nodded. Then he heaved a deep sigh. “…You are right.”

  “You better believe I am.”

  With that, the two of them stopped talking. The idyllic gurgle of running water sounded out of place. But every once in a while, there would come the cackling of goblins from upstairs, reminding them of where they really were.

  High Elf Archer’s ears fluttered. Goblin Slayer glanced over at her, but she shook her head as if to say it was nothing.

  “I see,” Goblin Slayer breathed then lapsed once more into silence.

  “Hmm?” High Elf Archer said, tilting her head, but his helmet barely moved as he spoke just two words in response.

  “I’m sorry.”

  High Elf Archer found herself blinking.

  Did Orcbolg just…apologize?

  It was an unusual occurrence. To hide the sudden smile threatening to take over her face, she produced a studied frown and asked brusquely, “…For what?”

  “…In the end, I brought up goblins again.”

  Dummy. High Elf Archer giggled. Like the rushing water, it seemed like a sound too sweet for this place.

  “Whaaat? Is that what was bothering you?”

  There was no answer.

  They had only known each other for a year and change, but that was plenty of time in which to get to know someone.

  I hit the nail on the head.

  High Elf Archer laughed with a sound like a ringing bell then set her great bow gently on the floor beside her. She hugged her knees to her chest and then rested her head on Goblin Slayer’s shoulder.

  “You know me… I’m not a big fan of goblin slaying.”

  That simply made sense.

  Back before she’d met Orcbolg, even back when she’d been just a Porcelain, she had never gone on a goblin-hunting quest. But the number of such jobs she had undertaken had increased dramatically since she started working with him.

  She didn’t have any problem with exploring caves. And fighting monsters was all well and good. Rescuing captives, that was great, too.

  But this is just different.

  Facing goblins with Orcbolg somehow wasn’t the same as other adventures. There was no sense of accomplishment. High Elf Archer could hardly even bring herself to call them adventures.

  But still.

  “My home is at stake.”

  It was perfectly obvious, but she voiced the thought anyway.

  She felt more than saw Goblin Slayer’s helmet shift.

  High Elf Archer closed her eyes for a moment. The smell of oil and blood. It truly was a terrible stench.

  “I’d hate for my sister to get married with goblins lolling around nearby.”

  “…I see.”

  “Normally, I’d be the one doing all the complaining… Hey, I mean, not that I’m really upset or anything.”

  “No,” Goblin Slayer said, shaking his head. “It doesn’t bother me.”

  “No?” High Elf Archer cocked her head in surprise. Her ears fluttered.

  “No,” Goblin Slayer repeated shortly. “Because I don’t know how to go about having an adventure.”

  “Huh,” High Elf Archer whispered, and Goblin Slayer breathed back, “It’s true.”

  “Okay, well,” High Elf Archer started, sounding almost as if she were singing. “How about we say we’re square?” She held up a pointer finger and moved it in a circle in the air.

  “I think—” Goblin Slayer was about to answer, but then he hesitated. He never quite found the words he wanted, and finally, his answer was as dispassionate as ever. “That’s fine.”

  “Great!” High Elf Archer sprang to her feet. She gave a huge yawn, like a cat, gently stretching her lithe body. She let out a long breath then asked, “So what do we do next?”

  Goblin Slayer replied immediately, “We set a trap then head up.”

  “A trap?” Her eyes glittered, and her ears waved.

  “You’ll understand very soon.” Goblin Slayer made it sound like it would be incredibly bothersome. High Elf Archer just snorted. Fine, then.

  “But…now we’re going back up?”

  “We are dealing with goblins who have set themselves up in this building. I have a fair idea of what they must be thinking.”

  “—?”

  “The most important of them will base himself either on the highest or the lowest level.”

  “Ahh.”

  Now it made sense. High Elf Archer nodded, smiling. The worst villains liked the tallest places.

  “The only problem is that…thing.”

  “Mokele Mubenbe?” High Elf Archer sighed again. “I can’t believe you haven’t remembered its name by now.”

  “…Whoever is capable of controlling that beast is probably a spell caster.”

  “A spell caster… Hmm.”

  High Elf Archer crossed her arms, looking very High Elf Archer-ish, but she quickly abandoned contemplation. Thinking about it now wouldn’t get them any answers. They could think about it when the time came.

  Anyway, it can be a goblin shaman or a goblin whatever, I’m still just gonna shoot it.

  “Won’t we just figure it out when we get there?”

  “That won’t do,” Goblin Slayer said with a decisive shake of his head.

  High Elf Archer shook her own head, as if to say, You’re hopeless. “Yes, it will. But you’re our only front row specialist. Right now, the most important thing is for you to get some sleep, Orcbolg.”

  “…Yes.”

  “With both eyes closed.”

  “…I will try.”

  “I’ll wake you up in a bit.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Yeah, well, otherwise I won’t get to sleep.”

  “All right.”

  High Elf Archer gave him a reassuring wave of her hand then grabbed her bow in her fingers. She bounded easily from one of the sleepers to the next, to check on them, then finally sat down in a spot of her own in one corner of the room.

  Beside her was Priestess, wrapped up in her blanket. High Elf Archer gave her a gentle pat. The blanket shifted, then shook, then fell still again.

  You could pull the covers up as far as you wanted, but you couldn’t hide how you were feeling from the senses of an elf.

  §

  “Man, why couldn’t the ancients have installed an elevator?”

  Several hours later, after taking care of a few details, the party had begun climbing the staircase.

  High Elf Archer had good reason to complain. They had just come down these stairs the day before, and now they were being forced to hike up them again. The change in direction was cold comfort.

  “C-careful not to talk so loud…!”

  Someone will hear you. Priestess’s concern was equally natural, and with nowhere to run, if any goblins appeared, they would be forced to fight.

  The party hadn’t changed their formation since before breaking to rest (when—yesterday? Her sense of time was fuzzy), but still…

  “Well,” Dwarf Shaman said, “it’s a big fortress. There might be one if we look.” He was breathing heavily. It seemed his small frame made the climb most difficult of all for him. He took the jug of wine from his belt and unstoppered it, taking a few swigs and then wiping some droplets from his beard. “But after all the work I’ve just done, yours truly has no interest in scrounging around for an elevator.”
r />   “As well, it may require some key to activate. One with a blue strap, for instance.”

  “Aarrgh…!” High Elf Archer cried, flapping her ears angrily. Lizard Priest’s calm remark made three voices against her. “Orcbolg, say something!”

  “If we found one, we would use it, but we have no time to search.”

  No help there. High Elf Archer, abandoned, simply harrumphed and kept walking up the stairs.

  Each and every one of them was totally vigilant. Even Priestess, watching her staff uneasily, kept an eye on their surroundings. She kept throwing little glances behind herself—no doubt a product of her worst memories.

  They might come from behind.

  They might break through the wall when you least expected it.

  Were there any hidden doors? They hadn’t missed any, had they?

  “Oops…,” High Elf Archer said, and Priestess shivered.

  “Wh— What’s wrong?”

  “The stairs are missing.”

  “Oh…” She could see that High Elf Archer was right. Just ahead of them, the spiral of stairs was interrupted by several broken steps.

  They could conceivably jump the gap—but only if they didn’t think for a second about what would happen should they fall. They could hear water echoing up from far, far below.

  If they could catch themselves on the next stairs down, that would be one thing, but if not, the drop would surely kill them. If they were lucky, it would do so instantaneously. But if not, they might simply break their legs and have to lie there, waiting to die. Either way, it would be the end of their adventure.

  Did the goblins go around this gap somehow, or were the rash tests continuing?

  “I don’t see any guards,” Goblin Slayer murmured. “If it were still noon, I would understand, but I don’t like this.”

  “I think the bigger problem is what to do about this staircase,” High Elf Archer said, frowning. She stuck up her thumb, trying to eyeball the distance. “I could jump that gap, but I don’t think all of us could. Such as the dwarf, the dwarf, or the dwarf.”

  “Listen, you…”

  That was about as far as Dwarf Shaman’s response went, though. High Elf Archer crossed her arms and made a thoughtful sound. “Maybe we could string a rope from one side to the other,” she said. “We could take the long way around, but we don’t have time, do we?”

  “That’s perfect,” Priestess said, nodding. “I’ll get some out!” She dug through her bag, quickly producing a grappling hook. The Adventurer’s Toolkit. She was very pleased that the set, which she had bought “just in case,” was coming in handy. What was more, the greatest comfort of all to her was to know she was making herself useful to the party.

  “Do you think this will reach?” she asked.

  “Try it,” Goblin Slayer said.

  Answering “Right,” High Elf Archer grabbed the rope and took a light-footed leap. Her agility could have been matched only by a select number of padfoots or dark elves.

  She landed on the far side of the gap with a movement reminiscent of a leaping deer, muttering “Whoop” as she carefully maintained her balance. “You just need me to set this, right?”

  “Yes.” Goblin Slayer nodded and picked up the rope on his side. “So we are to tie this to our belts and jump…?”

  “If I miss the other side, I’m gonna have t’use a spell,” Dwarf Shaman said, looking into the pit with a disturbed expression. “Much as I hate to have to do it, in light of our strategic needs… What about you, Scaly?”

  “Ahh, so long as there are handholds and footholds on the walls, I shall muddle through.” Lizard Priest displayed the sharp claws on his hands and feet, twirling his fingers deliberately. “I should rather worry, master spell caster, about our lady Priestess jumping across. Perhaps it would be best if I carried her.”

  “One at a time, then,” Goblin Slayer said. “Will you be all right?”

  “Oh yes!” Priestess was the first to take the proffered rope. With a grunt, she tied it carefully and tightly around her narrow hips, then she wedged her sounding staff between the rope and the small of her back so she wouldn’t drop it.

  “O-okay, please don’t d-drop me…!”

  “Mm. You’re quite light. Here, now…”

  Lizard Priest, with Priestess clinging to his back, dug his claws into the rock wall and hefted himself bodily up.

  “Eep?!”

  “Hold tight, now. O Velociraptor, see my deeds!”

  What happened next was indeed something to behold. Working the claws of his hands and feet into the cracks among the stones, Lizard Priest began to crawl deftly across the gap.

  As impressive as he was, however, he was not quick; if there had been an archer waiting somewhere on the spiral staircase, he would have made an excellent target. Goblin Slayer and High Elf Archer both looked deep into the darkness, keeping their eyes open for just such a threat.

  When they arrived on the far side a moment later, Priestess gave Lizard Priest a respectful nod. “S-sorry for the trouble. And thank you…”

  “No need to thank me. Indeed, I believe you could do with a little extra meat on your bones.”

  “I-I’ll try…,” she said, slightly embarrassed. Lizard Priest grinned confirmation, then he took the rope from her and made the return trip. Next, he came carrying Dwarf Shaman, and after he was satisfied they had all made it across, Goblin Slayer jumped the gap. In his full armor and chain mail, he was without a doubt carrying the most weight among them, but he made it with room to spare.

  Still, when he wobbled upon landing, Priestess was quick to put a hand on his arm to steady him. “A-are you okay?”

  “Yes,” Goblin Slayer said with a nod then added a moment later, “I’m fine.”

  “Man, I wish I coulda gotten carried across,” High Elf Archer piped up.

  “Ha! Ha! Ha! Well, perhaps there will yet be another chance,” Lizard Priest chortled.

  “I’m gonna hold you to that!” High Elf Archer said, but then she suddenly stopped. “Hey, look, there it is! There’s an elevator!”

  “Hmm,” Goblin Slayer said with considerable interest as he shuffled over to inspect the device.

  It had a pair of double doors that rolled back into the walls, with what appeared to be a control panel just beside them. Just the sort of thing, he realized, that one often found in ruins like this.

  “Have the goblins been using it?” he wondered aloud.

  “Good question,” Dwarf Shaman said. “Can’t say for certain…”

  “It does appear to be in working order. But… Hmm, what’s this?” Lizard Priest, probing the control panel with a clawed finger, discovered a keypad. It contained squares with numbers in them, apparently waiting to be pressed. “So it functions not with a key, but a code.”

  “Ah!” Priestess, seeing the pad, clapped her hands and began rifling through her luggage.

  She came up with the key she had taken from the goblin at the entrance to the fort. It was a gold plate with numbers carved on it and a rope like a necklace.

  “How about this? At first, I thought maybe the keys were individually numbered, but…”

  “Yeah, goblins would never do bookkeeping like that,” High Elf Archer said with a shrug, and Goblin Slayer agreed. So there was no question now.

  “Try it.”

  “Yes, sir!” Holding the gold chip, Priestess carefully entered the three digits on the keypad.

  They felt the slightest shiver as something deep and far away groaned, then finally, there was a screech as the machine came to a stop.

  The elevator doors opened silently.

  “Looks like I had the right idea,” Priestess said, brushing a hand across her small chest with a sigh of relief.

  The inside of the elevator was a stone box, just like the outside. It wasn’t obvious whether the elevator moved magically or mechanically, but…

  “At the very least, there is nothing here so simple that the goblins can operate it,” Goblin Slayer
replied, looking around the interior and using his sword like a pole to poke and prod. “However, I have seen them use buckets in wells.”

  “That’s enough to give me the shivers.” Stop it already. High Elf Archer waved her hand. She didn’t want to imagine the possibility of the device being cut loose while they were riding on it, sending them plummeting to the bottom.

  “…Let’s go,” Priestess urged, decision in her tone, clutching her staff. This in spite of the touch of pallor in her face, an unmistakable tightness in her expression, and the slightest of trembling in her hands. “We have to…stop the goblins…”

  That was a declaration that got an immediate response from Goblin Slayer. “Yes.”

  Priestess’s expression softened ever so slightly.

  Goblin Slayer looked around at his party.

  High Elf Archer was puffing out her modest chest as if to say that of course she was ready.

  Dwarf Shaman was searching through his catalysts nonchalantly.

  Lizard Priest made a strange palms-together gesture with his hands and rolled his eyes.

  Goblin Slayer searched each face then checked his own shield, armor, helmet, and sword.

  No problems.

  Their plan was in place.

  There was only one thing to do.

  “We will kill all the goblins.”

  The adventurers all nodded at one another then climbed into the elevator.

  “I’m assuming this thing goes up,” High Elf Archer said, “but this could get ugly real fast.”

  “It could.” Goblin Slayer nodded.

  The edges of the elf’s lips turned up, and she murmured sarcastically, “Hell, it’s hell… Yeah, sure.”

  Then the doors slid soundlessly shut.

  With a quiet groan, the elevator ferried the adventurers up, up, up.

  Unsure of whether they were moving slowly or quickly, the party found itself assailed by a feeling of being pressed into the floor. They fit wherever they could in the small box, standing with equipment at the ready and nervous looks on their faces. There was no guarantee that the goblins would not launch a sneak attack right here in the elevator.

  “Hr…?” High Elf Archer suddenly started making worried little noises, “Hmm?” and “Hmm?”, and put a hand to her ear. It flicked restlessly, and an uneasy look came over her face.