Goblin Slayer - Volume 10 - Chapter 3.1

Interlude – Of How Everyone Does Their Own Thing

The burbling of the brook was tremendously comforting in this gloomy world. It was hard to resist the temptation to take a little nap, although there certainly wasn’t time on this task. The temptation was all the stronger because this was her own turf, the sun-speckled courtyard deep in the Temple of the Supreme God. It wasn’t as if working from dawn till dusk would actually make one more capable. And her attendants were always nagging at her to get more rest. 

Surely the world wouldn’t end if she took an hour or two of sleep… 

Hmph. That’s just a convenient excuse, and I know it. 

Sword Maiden gently pulled the sword-and-scales over to her where she had been basking in the warmth of the afternoon sunlight. She heard footsteps coming down the corridor. Familiar footsteps—but something strange accompanied them in the distance. A rattling of armor. The sound was one of disharmony. Confusion. A mix of races and genders. 

“Tell me, have some adventurers come…?” 

“Ah, y-yes, ma’am…” 

Without looking up, Sword Maiden could tell Female Merchant had frozen with a start at the entrance to the garden. Normally Sword Maiden made an effort to “look” at people, but she was feeling rather lazy at present. 

“They say they wish to meet with you, Lady Archbishop. I’ve asked them to wait for the moment…” 

“Hmm.” There was a hush as she rose, bracing herself against the sword-and-scales, provoking a reverberant jangle from the latter. “And how, may I ask, was the capital?” 

“The same as always, I suppose.” Female Merchant (Sword Maiden perceived) smiled with a touch of bitterness. “His Majesty exercises himself over matters of governance, but still there’s no end to the plotting of the noble houses and the powerful merchants, or the scheming of the evil sects…” 

“Which is simply to say the world never lacks for seeds of adventure.” 

“…Yes, ma’am.” 

Sword Maiden chuckled; in contrast, Female Merchant looked somberly at the ground. 

I understand that’s a good thing, but just the same , Sword Maiden thought. 

Female Merchant had endured awful experiences, seen too much, and yet even still, she had not lost her fastidiousness. Sword Maiden saw all that as very much a joyous thing, but no doubt it often pained Female Merchant herself. Sword Maiden should know—she was the same. She had delved the deepest dungeon, and between that and the many adventures afterward, she had seen much… 

“This town is just the same way,” she whispered, as if instructing a wavering disciple. 

She took a step toward Female Merchant, closing the space between them and reaching out a hand to touch her cheek, hearing the trembling “Oh” that came in response. The skin was like silk beneath her fingers. Sword Maiden smiled at the gentle heat it radiated. “There are always those who run, hiding from the sun, through the shadows. It’s simply the way of the world…and we must recognize it.” 

She stroked the cheek gently and felt Female Merchant jump. It was so sweet, Sword Maiden’s eyes squinted in amusement beneath her bandage. She was more and more sure that she must have looked this way to those around her when they had braved that dungeon. 

“First, I want you to acknowledge that they exist. That’s different from giving up. And then, on that basis…” 

Speak up. 

“We don’t judge the evil in the world but call attention to it. That is justice. 

“Law is based in justice, but it is not the same thing as justice, nor is judgment. Confuse these things, and one shall tumble into simple self-righteousness.” 

Female Merchant stiffened. “Yes…ma’am,” she replied weakly. 

“Hee-hee. Very good.” 

Sword Maiden backed away, and there was another “Oh.” 

There, now that that was dealt with… 

“Summon those adventurers, please. Shall we hear what they have to say?” 

“Oh, y-yes, ma’am…!” Female Merchant withdrew into the hallway of the temple in something of a tizzy. 

“Now, then,” Sword Maiden said as she listened to her go and straightened her own posture. 

She herself had mistaken the true way not long ago at all. And it was not her own strength that had brought her back to the right path. Now it was incumbent on her to help someone else, however slight her aid may be, whenever it was within her power. She had felt that way ever since she had first committed herself to the adventurer’s path. Now that she examined it afresh, the feeling seemed cold and hard, like a glass bead. 

But, for all that, I think it’s something to be respected. 

“Now, my guests… Hee-hee, one has a very heavy sword. An honorable lady knight. A half-elf, a young man…” The other was a child—or perhaps a barefoot rhea? 

All these thoughts passed through Sword Maiden’s mind as she turned firmly to the duty at hand. 

§ 

“Ah, there you are!” 

Even the din and bustle of the water town didn’t dampen the perception of an experienced adventurer. 

There was a girl sitting on a bench, wearing a green outfit and holding an iron spear in her hand. Yes, they had an arranged meeting, but only the king or the most important nobles had anything so grand (or so precise) as a mechanical watch. He had asked his party member Witch to send her familiar with a message that simply indicated a meeting at this place sometime in the afternoon. 

“Yo, been a while. Glad to see you looking well.” 

“Yeah, I guess!” The girl bounced up off the bench and grinned brightly. “It’s been rough, though. I’ve been busy like you wouldn’t believe.” 

“Aw, yeah? Hey, I see you’ve got a new weapon—trying to imitate yours truly?” Spearman tugged his chin in the direction of her new spear. 

He still remembered the spectacular sword she had carried when they’d first met in that carriage. But an impressive weapon wouldn’t contribute as much to your survival as one that suited your body type. The girl, who had been a rank amateur at the time, was now clearly an accomplished adventurer. The slim frame under the green outerwear was clad in chain mail to keep her safe. 

“Not even!” she said, answering teasing with teasing. “Everybody picked it together. Stuff that would make us like the heroes from the legend.” 

“Huh.” Spearman grinned. “Sounds good to me. So everything’s going great.” 

The girl chuckled proudly and puffed out her modest chest; Spearman smiled back with just a hint of sadness. Everybody probably meant her, that wizard, and the warrior. They’d made a good choice, he thought. 

The spear had to be one of the most common weapons in human history, second perhaps only to the club. Even the Six Heroes who had delved the Dungeon of the Dead ten years and more ago had a spear user among them… 

“I thought that hero was supposed to be beautiful, though,” Spearman said with a smirk, recalling the rumors he had heard of that particular adventurer. “Think you need to be a little taller and maybe a little more womanly before the bards start singing about you.” 

“Aw, now you’ve gone and done it.” The girl smiled even wider and leaned forward. “Just you watch, they’ll be singing about me for a hundred years!” 

“Ha, I can’t wait, kiddo. They can sing me the whole saga.” 

It was an easy conversation, just a couple of adventurers on a day off. Spearman went ahead and bought the girl some kind of frozen treat—“ice crème”—and she threw up her hands joyfully. 

Once they were seated back on the bench, she was quick to start digging in with her spoon. Before long, though, she murmured, “So hey. What are you up to today? We’ve been talking a lot but always about rumors and stuff.” 

You needed to see me right away about something? 

Spearman scratched his head with a measure of embarrassment. “Well, uh, I don’t know if it qualifies as an emergency or anything, but…I just heard something that seemed a little fishy.” 

“Fishy?” 

“Where I live, the Temple of the Earth Mother makes this wine every year to offer to the gods around the time of the harvest festival.” He scratched again, more embarrassed still, as the girl gave him a blank look. “But it’s turning into this weird thing this year… I’m just, you know, wondering—you know about anything else happening that might be connected to it?” 

“……………Huh.” 

Spearman didn’t notice the way the girl narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. The world was full of the seeds of adventure, no matter who you were.