Goblin Slayer - Volume 16 - Chapter 4.4

Interlude - Your Eyes Only

Adventurers. What a load of trash, thought the man as he worked his way back down the fighters’ corridor of the coliseum. Behind him, the stadium rang with cheers.

Somewhere in the melee, his servant had gone, his horse had vanished; he couldn’t even get his armor off. His battered shoulder felt unresponsive and hot; agony ran through it with every breath. His left arm still hung limply.

It was plain to see that this was someone who had been defeated and defeated utterly. And yet…

What is the king thinking, allowing lawless ruffians like those to run free?

The man’s thoughts were not those of someone who was gracious in defeat; they were filled with contempt and hatred.

Perhaps we should not be surprised.

Contests that focused on martial strength alone were the height of barbarity. Discrimination against the weak in its purest form! The man trembled to think what would happen if such savages were set loose in every land.

Other countries were more enlightened than his own, more civilized. This nation couldn’t be left in its backward ways. From what he heard, there were no adventurers on the plains to the east, nor in the country of deserts, nor in the frozen lands to the north. His own home should establish such a progressive system. Everything he did was to that end.

And yet…!

And yet they had put on this tournament, an orgy of dissipation and debauchery. Moreover, the king’s younger sister, whom he had thought might be the cornerstone of a brighter future, had proven obstinate in her benighted ignorance.

And the way she had wielded a weapon—an actual weapon!—against the forces of Chaos; well, what could be further removed from peace? Such behavior would never lead to a better, stronger world.

I must continue. I must let the poor and the ignorant know of my mission.

The common people were thoughtless and easily deceived. It was so very difficult to convince them of truth and justice. Behind its facade, the world roiled with conspiracies and plots, and it was incumbent upon him to share what he knew, to make right the people’s understanding.

First and foremost—at the very least—that king had to be deposed…

“Hrm…?”

Only then did the man register that something was strange.

It’s silent.

There was no one else in the passageway; he was all alone. Standing there all by himself.

That shouldn’t have been possible. There were always people here, soldiers, during the tournament. Notwithstanding the monster attack—in fact, that should have meant more soldiers.

Why had the monsters poured out from a magical rift anyway? They could have used this passage to get in. And yet it seemed—

“You don’t look like a man who’s ready to accept defeat. Am I right?”

“…?!”

Only when that voice spoke did he realize someone was there. A knight who sidled out in front of him to block his way. Beside him, an attendant with silver hair followed like a shadow.

The beaten man stopped moving, and for a second, his voice grew tight. It didn’t stop him from snapping, “Who the hell are you? Only authorized personnel are allowed in here!” He felt disgust well up at the way this interloper had brought along a young woman as well. “If you’re any kind of a knight, you should know better than to bring an innocent young woman to a battlefield. Have some shame!”

“Hey, now. If you’re helping to run this show, you ought to at least have a sense of who’s involved.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means I am authorized personnel.” The knight appeared to smile. “A competitor, in fact.”

Oblivious to the silver-haired lady’s murderous look, the man studied this new knight—and then he remembered. Several of the knights participating in the tournament had chosen, each for reasons of their own, not to compete under their real names. Yes, and this knight had been one of them, standing alongside some young women bearing the sigil of the Trade God.

Ah yes, behold his shimmering accoutrements! Even in the darkness of the passageway, the knight’s armor and shield and helmet, his gauntlet, and the sword at his hip all shone with a piercing light.

The healing blessing, the light that disperses evil, the charm of unfreezing, the primal flame, the tempestuous wind: The knight before him bristled with imposing magical items, and his name was…

“The Knight of Diamonds…!”

He was a legend in his own way, spoken of among the common people. A quiet legend, almost a fairy tale. The story had spread quickly among the townsfolk these last years—but it was only a fantasy.

The story told of a “knight of the streets,” who hid his face and dealt justice to evildoers in the dark.

Surely it was only a story. But that Knight of Diamonds stood now before this man.

Stupidest name I’ve ever heard…

Diamonds, his ass! It was the sort of thing a child with an overactive imagination would come up with. Besides, if he really thought he was going to cut down every crooked merchant, every corrupt noble, every adherent of some dark and evil sect—what would that make him but a mass murderer?

The fact that the king allowed such a monster to run free was the utmost proof of his incompetence!

“You appoint yourself to pass judgment, and you call it justice,” the man said. “In my view, you’re nothing but a common killer.”

The Knight of Diamonds met the man’s attack with an approving grin. “You condemn me? That’s your right, but you should have raised your objection before you approved my participation in this tournament. However, the problem we’re here to deal with today is you.”

“What?”

Did the knight mean to cut him down, then? The man’s pallor shifted—not from fear but from mockery. Would that not be the final evidence that this Knight of Diamonds was nothing but a criminal? That he knew no shame for anything he did?

The man opened his mouth to tell the Knight of Diamonds exactly what he thought of his behavior—but he was shut up before he could speak even a single syllable.

“I sent to the water town with details of how you’ve acted and begged the archbishop for her judgment,” the knight said. “It seems you’ve caused a great deal of trouble. Inconvenienced many people. She did not sound pleased.”

In his hands, the Knight of Diamonds held a letter. The man had no idea of what it had been through to reach this place—how many people had died, how many adventures had been had bringing it here. Perhaps there was no point in wondering what spies had been involved in its transport; they had done their duty, and that was all.

No matter how many times his face might change, no matter how many times he might die—he was a man who loved the same wine, used the same weapons, and made the impossible possible. That great doer of deeds had never once failed in a mission—and the fruit of his labors was here now.

But such plotting, such doings in the dark were far removed from the man who stood here. Only evil people, only those steeped in darkness, would dirty their hands with such things.

“I was informed that you’ve acted entirely alone, without advice from or reference to either the wishes of your temple or the teachings of your religion,” the knight said.

“You would believe that woman’s ravings? The poor girl was broken when she was attacked by goblins!” How dare he? How dare the Knight of Diamonds try to hide behind a woman? He was the bottom of the barrel, this man. Not even worthy of being called a knight. The man’s tongue was quick and sharp. “She’s only a puppet of that rabble at the Temple of Law. She can’t make her own decisions, and that’s to their benefit!”

“You seem to enjoy finding fault with the failings of others.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about!” the man nearly shouted. Only then did he register the pounding of blood in his ears. He leaned forward, heedless of the pain in his left shoulder, and shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. “I’m only saying that we cannot let ourselves be trapped by retrograde ideas in which heroism consists only of achievement in battle—”

“You are, of course, right that the teachings of every deity must be constantly reexamined and renewed—but it is not your place to decide them alone.”

Anyway, one heard that the justice of the Supreme God did not lie in the expiation of evil. It was in the ceaseless questioning of what was good and evil.

“Tell me… Tell me one thing,” the man said. If, in spite of this truth, they were doing justice by expunging evil… “What god, what deity, gave you this revelation?”

There was a sound, a gentle rustling, and a breeze blew from somewhere unknown through the suffocating corridor. It brought with it a piercing chill, weaving between the knight and the lady and then the man before continuing to wherever it was going. In its wake, it left only a faint, bitter taste of ash in the air.

“Who—?”

Who the hell does this “knight” think he is?!

The man didn’t even realize that his right hand was reaching for the sword at his hip; his eyes glazed with hatred. The Knight of Diamonds—his ass! This was the man who had received the golden spur? He was an outlaw!

That armor he was wearing—he’d probably stripped it off a corpse on some battlefield somewhere.

“You have no right to complain about what I do! Who died and made you king?!”

“Who indeed?” The knight—the Knight of Diamonds—appeared to laugh. “Funny. I was wondering the same thing about you.”

“…What…?”

“Each time you speak, the words you wield are like a blade fashioned for that particular occasion. They lack any consistency.”

Sigh. The lady-in-waiting shook her head at this, appearing exasperated. She looked at the man with eyes as cold as ice and whispered that he should just play along.

The expression, the body language—the man remembered them. In his mind, the pieces fell into place with an audible click. “I know you! You’re the king’s dog—his little pet!”

She was the king’s attendant. This was all the proof he needed that the king and the Knight of Diamonds were colluding with each other. A genuine smile came over the man’s face. This was absurd! Perfect! More than enough to drag the king off his throne. The man would never get another chance like this.

His hand tightened on his scabbard, but he couldn’t draw yet. He was going to cut down his opponent, and he needed the right excuse.

Luckily for him, he had it. For the knight had mocked him. And if I revile someone, hate them—does that not show that they are evil?

“You may try to humiliate me, but it will do you no good! I will let the world know of your misdeeds, and you will face judgment!” he hollered—but there was no answer.

Instead, the Knight of Diamonds raised the visor of his helmet ever so slightly and said, “Are you so quick to forget my face?”

“?!?!”

A moment later, the man lunged at the Knight of Diamonds. He gibbered incomprehensibly, clutching his sword in his hand, taking a great swing.

He wasn’t even aware that the sword he struck with was already broken in half. His eyes blazed; he bared his teeth; he reveled in the joy of destroying an opponent. It was not the face of a human being.

It was no longer a man who threw himself at the Knight of Diamonds—but a beast who had heard the whispering of the External God.

“Keerraahhhhh!” he cried.

“I want you to know, I’m not here because you opposed me at every turn,” the knight said abruptly. “It’s because you dragged my little sister into this.”

This crazed beast was no match for the Knight of Diamonds. His vorpal blade decapitated the creature effortlessly, a single fatal stroke. The man’s vision filled with the void spinning around him once, and then he bounced along the ground once, twice—and then everything went dark.

Even without its life force, the body continued to writhe on the ground; the silver-haired lady-in-waiting promptly dispatched it with her dagger. The likes of this thing deserved no more honorable death.

Once, then twice, her blade plunged into his heart. Then she got to her feet.

“…So?” There wasn’t a speck of blood on her outfit; she remained the picture of a pure, faithful servant. “What will we tell them? That after he was injured in the tournament, things went downhill from there?”

“No… That would cast a pall over the girl’s victory.”

“What do we say, then?”

“What, you don’t know?” The knight shook the blood off his blade and returned it to its scabbard with a fittingly royal motion. He looked exactly as he had when he’d faced the No-Life King here in the capital—although, in fact, much time had passed. “He had a stomach ailment of some kind, let’s say, and with the conclusion of his participation in this tournament, he intends to keep to strict bed rest, his emoluments to be granted to his family.”

“Sure. That’s what we’ll go with.”

If it wasn’t going to be an issue for the silver-haired attendant, she had scant further interest in it. It would be a problem for the red-haired cardinal, but she could safely ignore it.

Besides…

The man had bound himself to an evil sect, tried to disrupt the tournament—indeed, tried to perpetrate terror in the royal capital. And his method had been to attempt to curse the girl—not even because she was a member of the royal family! For the likes of him, this young woman had little compassion indeed.

Guess our hands are tied, though.

There was nothing more tiresome than politics—it had so many rules. That was what made it politics. If they just went around killing everyone they didn’t like because they didn’t like them…

We’d be no better than him.

“…I’m starting to think adventuring might have been easier,” she muttered.

She felt the weight of the Knight of Diamonds’s rough gauntlet on her head; he mussed her hair. It wouldn’t help—he couldn’t distract her that way.

She pouted even more fiercely than usual and said, “I’ll deal with this guy. You get some distance.” But all the same, she placed her hand over his and didn’t push him away. “Just try not to be too serious. Please.”

“How’s that?”

“The demons who poured from that portal…” The young woman looked around the passageway; the touch of evil had departed from the corpse, and now the place was no more remarkable than any other hallway. “You struck them all down in one fell swoop, and you’re still not satisfied?”

“Oh, how many times am I going to get a chance like this?” The knight was always this way. He chuckled calmly, looking the way he did when he wanted to go into a dragon’s den. “Anyway, my opponent is just a girl dressed in green wielding an iron spear—well loved by the Trade God.”

“You’re not going to fight a hero with an enchanted blade?”

“Don’t be silly.” The knight appeared unbothered by the young woman’s barb. This was what made him so much work!

“Gods above…”

The young woman smiled in spite of herself. The knight ran his fingers through her hair, and then he set off. The commotion in the coliseum was over, and the tournament would soon begin again—it needed to. If they let this cause them to shrink back and give up their plans, it would be exactly what the enemy wanted.

They could not give in to the god of death and ashes, who wished to burn everything to the ground. They could not bend to evil. That cult would take any excuse to light a flame, but that was all it was—an excuse because they wanted to burn.

A truly fair world—would that not be a world that everyone can enjoy? In which all people share laughter?

As he prepared to leave, the knight knelt down and, just once, spared a look at the man’s lifeless corpse.

May the soul of this sorry man be judged fairly, as he wished.

And with that, the Knight of Diamonds walked away.