Goblin Slayer, Vol. 7
Page 24
It had been a goblin, of course. One of the little devils. She knew full well what would have happened to her if the creature hadn’t been defeated.
She had taken life indirectly before. Why should she regret killing now?
But that… It wasn’t right…
Thus, why the Earth Mother had become angry and had rebuked Priestess.
“…Okay.” Priestess bit her lip so hard she drew blood, but she clutched her sounding staff and knelt.
Even if I’m no longer worthy of love…
Even then, she dearly hoped her prayer for the happiness of her friends who were here, the happiness of her friend’s sister, and that sister’s spouse, would nonetheless be heard. A selfish wish it was, she knew. But nonetheless…
She closed her eyes and began to pray. “O Earth Mother, abounding in mercy, by your revered hand may all their paths bear good fruit…”
Then she let out a soft “Oh” of surprise. Her soul, connected to the gods in heaven, felt a vast, warm hand upon it, comforting it.
The sensation only lasted for instant, not even as long as when she prayed for a miracle, but she hadn’t imagined it. For a second, Priestess looked startled and confused, but her face soon split into a smile.
“My prayer reached the goddess…”
“Great! So Sis is all covered.”
“She sure is,” Priestess replied, then she rubbed her eyes with her sleeve.
“Okay then, let’s go!”
“Huh? Ah— Wha…?!” Priestess found High Elf Archer had a grip on her sleeve once more, but this time she was dragging her off somewhere. “Wh-what’s the matter?”
“You’ll know it when you see it… Oh, there they are. Hey, you two, c’mon over here!”
Apologizing and bowing her head quickly as she stepped around and over food, Priestess followed behind High Elf Archer.
Priestess didn’t know how she had done it amid the crowd and cacophony of the banquet, but she had managed to find Guild Girl and Cow Girl, both dressed to the nines. Each was wearing one of the light dresses the elves had prepared, and (perhaps thanks to the wine) they seemed to be in high spirits.
They were wearing almost the same dress as High Elf Archer, but it only served to highlight how much more well-endowed they were than she. That brought a moment of annoyance to the archer’s face, but she was soon smiling again. Give it a century or so, and she would be just like her older sister—probably. She hoped.
“Gosh, this is all making me pretty nervous. I’ve never been to a party like this before…” Cow Girl scratched her cheek, feeling shy.
“Just fake it till you make it,” Guild Girl calmly advised her. She tipped her cup toward the other woman as if to say there was nothing to be ashamed of with those proportions.
“Well, look who’s a social butterfly,” High Elf Archer said, impressed, receiving a pointed laugh from Guild Girl in return.
“I learned manners at home,” she said. “And public servants have to deal with functions like this sometimes, too.”
“Huh,” High Elf Archer said then took Cow Girl’s and Guild Girl’s hands. “Well, whatever. Let’s head up to the front, girls!”
Then she practically dragged them, farther and farther forward, toward the dais. The three women behind her struggled to keep up and remain halfway dignified.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Cow Girl asked.
“It’s something the men don’t have anything to do w… Well, maybe a little something. Anyway, just wait and see.”
Cow Girl glanced around and found that all the elf women were similarly making their way to the front of the room. She had no idea how old any of them were, of course, but they all looked just about High Elf Archer’s age.
“Ahh,” Guild Girl said, the pieces falling into place. “A parting gift from the bride?”
“Oh, I know that tradition,” Priestess said as she struggled to straighten out her clothing, even as she was pulled along. “They say the person who catches it will be the next to get married… I think. I’ve helped with the occasional ceremony.”
“There are some customs everyone shares,” High Elf Archer said with a knowing look and twitched her ears. “If we have a chance to get it, why not take it?”
“Wow…,” Cow Girl breathed.
Marriage…
The idea seemed so far removed from her and yet not really that far at all.
Cow Girl looked up at the joyful bride on the dais, squinting as if the woman emitted a blinding light.
All around Cow Girl, excited elf girls waited eagerly.
Then, finally, she looked over to the far wall, where a man in slightly odd armor was standing.
A little giggle escaped her, and she noticed her heart was pounding for some reason. Her eyes met Guild Girl’s, and the other woman was wearing the same expression.
Cow Girl shrugged. Better do things the fair way.
There, just in front of her, she could see the priestess, who was interested but unable to take that step. Cow Girl reached out and touched Priestess’s back. When the girl looked back at her, surprised, Cow Girl gave a friendly wave.
“Times like this, you just have to go for it,” she said.
“Oh, uh, r-right!”
The flower-crowned princess of the forest—no, by now, she was queen, a woman who had become a wife—rose to her feet.
“Love is destiny, and our destiny is death,” she said melodically, and then, holding her husband’s hand, she pulled the colorful crown of flowers from her head. She hugged it to her generous bosom and recited, “So let the next love and romance be unto these maidens who shall die!”
With that prayer, she tossed the crown into the air, and the night wind carried it.
The crown was the bond between love and romance. The bequest of a jubilant bride.
It made a perfect arc through the air, coming down among the young women…
There was a great cheer.
§
Three days and three nights of celebration later, the adventurers returned to the frontier town.
Although quite a bit of time had passed since then, High Elf Archer had still received no letter.
That had to mean the elves were still celebrating to this day……
AFTERWORD
Hullo, Kumo Kagyu here!
Volume 7 of Goblin Slayer features a story in which goblins show up in the elf forest, so they get slain.
Anyway, we’re at Volume 7—Volume 7! It’s got terror, battle, revenge, hope, counterattack, and finally, homecoming and realization.
Things end on a bit of a fairy-tale-like note in this book, and maybe I should’ve done the same with the previous one.
Anyway, I put my all into writing it, so I hope you enjoyed the story regardless.
Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time in dungeons and with dragons, with big angel battles, running through shadows and generally being Getting-Better-at-Shooting-Arrows Man.
And each time, I think to myself, tabletop RPGs really are the best.
And Goblin Slayer is going to be a TRPG itself! Go me. Whatever else happens for the rest of my life, I’ll always be able to hold my head high and tell people, “My work got turned into a TRPG!”
I hope to become one of those old people who, when they see youngsters in search of tabletop gaming, grin like a shark and proffer a rulebook.
With Goblin Slayer, I pretty much just took things that were interesting to me and stuffed them all in there. I wrote it for some hypothetical person somewhere in the world who liked the same things I did.
It turns out there was a whole crowd of those people, and that makes me absolutely overjoyed. Thanks to all their support, the series is going to get an anime. That’s incredible!
A manga, a drama CD, a side story, a side story manga, a TRPG, and another manga. And on top of all that, an anime. Seriously, when am I going to wake up?
I assume Goblin Slayer will become an anime about slaying goblins. It’s going to be great! Probably!
My gratitude goes out to more people than I could possibly include in this space.
Kannatuki, thank you for another volume of wonderful illustrations!
Kurose, every month I find myself squealing over your awesome manga adaptation.
To all my readers, including all those who have supported me since my days as a web novelist, thank you so much for your encouragement.
To the site admins, I really appreciate you having me. Thank you very much.
To all my gaming buddies and creative friends, thanks as always…!
And to the editorial staff and everyone else involved in making this book happen, thank you very, very much!
Happily, I plan for Volume 8 to be about a trip to the royal capital. Goblins that need slaying are going to appear in the deepest labyrinth.
I’ll continue to give everything I have to writing, so I hope you’ll keep reading.
Thank you for buying this ebook, published by Yen On.
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