Chapter 13 – The Fate Of An Adventurer
“To our victory, to the farm, to our city, to our adventurers—”
High Elf Archer looked around at all her allies who had gathered at the Guild Hall, each with their various injuries.
“—and to the weirdo who’s always on about goblins! Cheers!”
A great shout went up from the crowd, and everyone drained their cup. This was the fifth or sixth toast, but nobody minded. They had come to the Guild Hall practically before the blood was dry from the battle, and they were giddy with victory.
And what a victory it was.
A hundred goblins destroyed. The goblins had had shamans, champions, and more on their side, and still they had been no match for the adventurers.
Of course, the adventurers had not escaped unscathed. There were dead and wounded. There are always those caught by ill luck. So the commotion here was not only in celebration of victory but in remembrance of fallen friends. Everyone who took up adventuring knew that tomorrow it could be them.
When the battle ended, Cow Girl and her uncle were caught up in the festivities as well, and the revelry quickly grew and spread.
He—as always—sat on a bench in the corner near the wall.
His left arm was bandaged to his chest, but the pain seemed to have gone. He watched the party in the reflection on the shining surface of a single gold coin.
Dwarf Shaman had produced his personal stash of fire wine and was sharing it around. More than one rookie found themselves three sheets to the wind before they’d finished an entire cup.
Next to the dwarf, a Dragontooth Warrior, under the control of Lizard Priest, performed a bizarre dance to acclaim.
Guild Girl was running around like an excited puppy. When Spearman reached out to her, Witch gave him a sharp rap with her pipe.
“Barkeep! I’m a rich woman tonight! Keep ’em coming!”
“Meat! Bring meat! Well marbled!”
“Didn’t you say you’d date me? Huh? What about going to meet my parents back home…?!”
“Yow! How many drinks have you had?”
“All riiiight! Join me in a drink—today of all days!”
“Oh, how about an antidote to protect against hangovers?”
“…One, please.”
He squinted a little.
He had cleared out the entire goblin nest, but of the army proper, he had killed only the lord.
Hence his reward: one gold coin.
He pressed the coin into the palm of Priestess, who sat next to him. Earlier, she had been smiling brightly, but as the party wore on, she rested her head on his shoulder and was now breathing shallowly in sleep.
“She must have fought really hard.”
From the other side of the young girl, she—Cow Girl—stroked Priestess’s hair. She rubbed a bit of dirt from Priestess’s cheek in a gesture that reminded him of an older sister taking care of her younger sibling. “She’s just a girl. Don’t make her overwork herself, all right?”
“Yes.” He nodded calmly. Cow Girl pinched up her lips.
“Aren’t you in a kind mood.” She paused. “Did something happen?”
“It’s nothing,” he said with a slight shake of his head.
“Just like always.”
“…Really?”
The two of them fell silent, watching the adventurers. The gathered victors drank and ate and laughed and made merry. The wounded and the unharmed alike. Those who had especially distinguished themselves and those who hadn’t. All the survivors enjoying what they had earned by this adventure.
“…Thank you,” she whispered to him.
“For what?”
“Saving us.”
“…I didn’t do anything,” he said brusquely.
Silence returned between them. It wasn’t uncomfortable. Each of them knew what the other was thinking.
“It isn’t…”
“Hmm?” She cocked her head at his subdued whisper.
“It isn’t over yet…”
“Maybe. But this is something.”
She waited for him to reply.
He thought and thought, and then said slowly, with hesitation, “I suppose…I think I want…to become an adventurer.”
“Yeah?”
To her, he sounded like he was ten years old again. But unlike when she’d been eight, this time she could answer with a smile and an encouraging nod. “I’m sure you can do it.”
“Are you?”
“Yeah, I am.”
It might not be until that far-off day when there were no more goblins, but…
“Mm…ha…aah?” At that moment, Priestess stirred. Her eyelids fluttered open. “Huh, wha—?! D-did I fall asleep…?” she asked, her face bright red. At the sight of her, she—Cow Girl—giggled.
“Ha-ha-ha. Everyone fought so hard today. We can’t blame you for wanting a little nap.”
“Oh, ahh, um…I’m s-sorry…”
“I don’t mind.”
“All right. I have to go say thanks to a few people.” With one more affectionate stroke of Priestess’s hair, Cow Girl stood up. The “Take it easy today” that she tossed out as she went elicited a nod from him and a blush and a look at the ground from Priestess.
“…Are you all right, not joining the others?”
Priestess shook her head. “I’m fine.” She paused. “I’m…enjoying myself.”
No, it’s not all right… I don’t know why, but this can’t go on…
Suddenly, Priestess clapped her hands. This was something else she had learned from Goblin Slayer: much better to act in the moment than to come up with the perfect strategy after the fact.
“Wh-what about you, Goblin Slayer, sir? Are you all right?”
“With what?”
“With…money or…anything?”
“No problems.” It was a blunt change of topic, and whether or not Goblin Slayer recognized that, he nodded. “I have compensated everyone as we agreed.”
She gave him a questioning look.
“I bought a round of drinks.”
“Ah.” Priestess unconsciously put a hand to her mouth. Her gaze had just then settled on Spearman, who was popping the cork on another bottle of fine wine. Next to him, Witch was savoring her first cup of top-class wine.
He must know, right? Surely. Probably.
“…You’re a sharp one, aren’t you?”
“The market has decided that goblin slaying does not pay much.”
“And is that okay?”
“I think so.
“Anyway,” he muttered, “the Guild is paying the actual reward.” It didn’t cost him anything.
She looked at him with half-closed eyes. He really didn’t seem bothered. Of course, Priestess wasn’t really being serious, either. It was just banter. She felt like she was floating along. Her heart leaped. Blood rushed through her body.
“Goblin Slayer, sir…”
“Yes?”
“Why didn’t you…? I mean, why not post a regular quest?”
Were those theatrics at the Guild really necessary? Wouldn’t it have been enough to post a quest normally? Those were the questions in her mind.
Goblin Slayer was silent.
“If you don’t want to answer, that’s…that’s fine…,” she added hurriedly.
The silence stretched on a moment longer.
“There was no important reason,” he said with a shake of his head. “Only…when it happened to me, no one came.”
He looked out at the crowd of well-liquored adventurers. Those who had rushed to join him, those who had risked their lives to slay goblins.
And those who hadn’t come back here, who had died.
“It was possible no one would come this time, either. There are no promises. Only luck.”
That was his only reason. He muttered: “And because, I hear, I’m a ‘weirdo.’”
Then the steel helmet was silent once more. Priestess sighed.
This guy really was hopeless.
So she said to him: “You’re wrong. If you ask for my help, I’ll help you.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
“Not just me, either. All the adventurers in this city—all of them.”
In her heart of hearts, she sighed. He really was absolutely hopeless.
“Next time, too. And the time after that. Whenever you need help, I’ll be here. We’ll be here.”
Her heart of hearts was where she found her next words as well.
“So…so luck has nothing to do with it.” She smiled then, a bashful grin that emerged like a blooming flower.
“Is that so?” he muttered, and she said, “Yes, it is,” puffing out her chest a little.
Now…now she could say it, couldn’t she?
Her heart pounded in her chest. She clenched her fists and let out a breath.
“Say, Goblin Slayer, sir…”
She must be drunk. The drink had made her do it. Yes, that would serve for an excuse.
“I know it’s a bit late, but…could I ask for a reward, too?”
“What reward?”
Please, oh please, Earth Mother, give me courage…
The courage to say the words that would tell him what she wanted.
She breathed in, out. She looked straight at him.
“Please, let me see your face. Your real face.”
He said nothing for a very long moment.
But then he sighed, almost in resignation, and put his hands on his helmet.
He released the latches and removed the helm, and after that long battle, there he was, under the lights of the hall.
Priestess laughed quietly and nodded, making no effort to hide her red cheeks.
“I think you look…even braver this way.”
“Do you?”
It was at that moment, as she nodded, that a scream pierced the air.
“Ahhhh!! Orcbolg, you took off your helmet?! No fair! I’ve never gotten a chance to see your face!” High Elf Archer’s face was bright red. She was pointing a finger at him, and her ears were trembling wildly.
“What?!”
“What did you say?!”
None of the other adventurers missed what had happened, either. After all, their acute powers of perception were a key to their survival.
Naturally, the revelers pressed in to see him, still holding their drinks, their food.
“Wha-wha-whaaa—? Amazing! What an opportunity!”
“You think? I guess so. He probably only takes that helmet off when he’s asleep or when it breaks…”
“Oh-ho! Now, that is how a warrior should look!”
“I’d expect no less from you, Beard-cutter. You’ve a good look about you.”
“Huh…? I feel like I know him from somewhere… Pfft! Good grief. I can’t stand that face.”
“Hee-hee. I knew, you must be…quite handsome, under that armor.”
“Wait, that’s Goblin Slayer’s face?!”
“Hey, bring me the books we kept on those bets!”
“…Does this mean those evil spirits are coming back tomorrow?”
“Dang, and here I’d bet everything that was a woman in that armor!”
“I thought he must be a goblin himself…”
“Heyyy, did anyone guess right? Come here and collect!”
He was jostled by adopted family, friends, and comrades in arms—people he knew and people he’d never met—all trying to get a better look at him. Next to him, Priestess, who was caught up with him in the press of bodies, was distraught. She looked at him for help.
It was loud, lively, unrestrained.
Tomorrow, things would probably go back to normal.
Nothing would have changed. Nothing at all.
Except…
“Next time, too. And the time after that. Whenever you need help, I’ll be here. We’ll be here.”
“Is that so…?”
“So…so luck has nothing to do with it.”
“I hope…that is true.”
And with those words, ever so faintly, he smiled.
Once upon a time, in the days when the stars shone far fewer in the sky than they do now…
The gods of light and order and destiny vied with the gods of darkness and chaos and chance to see who would control the world. This struggle took place not in battle, but with a roll of the dice.
Or rather, many, many rolls. Again and again and again they rolled the dice.
And there were victories and there were defeats, but there was no resolution.
At long last, the gods tired of dice. Thereupon, they created many creatures to be their playing pieces and a world in which to play. Humans and elves and dwarves and lizardmen, goblins and ogres and trolls and demons.
Betimes they adventure, they gain victory, suffer defeat, find treasure or happiness, and finally they die.
The gods, watching them, are in turn happy and sad; they laugh and they weep.
In time, the gods most unexpectedly came to enjoy the doings of their playing pieces, to truly love the world they had created. It was their devotion to this world that first showed the gods that they had hearts.
True, the dice sometimes go ill, and failures come, but such is the way of things.
Into this world, there appeared one particular adventurer.
He was an unexceptional young man. His wits did not distinguish him, nor his talents, nor his birth, nor his equipment, nor anything.
He was just a human warrior, such as you might find anywhere.
All the gods liked him, but this did not presage great things for him.
He would not save the world.
He might not even change anything.
After all, he was just another pawn, such as you might find anywhere…
But this adventurer was a little different from the others.
He was extremely careful, always thinking of plans, acting, training, letting no opportunity pass him by.
He did not let the gods roll the dice.
He did not need birth, or talent, or cheats.
Such things were as rubbish to him.
Even the gods were in his eyes irrelevant.
But one day, the gods realized something.
He would not save the world.
He might not even change anything.
After all, he was just another pawn, such as you might find anywhere.
But he would not let the gods roll the dice.
Thus, even the gods did not know what this adventurer’s fate would be.
His fight continues somewhere even now.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login