Chapter 4 – It’s Your Smile That Matters
Noontime on a festival day saw the plaza packed with people, giving the appearance of a living mosaic.
The pillar that stood in the middle of the plaza in lieu of a clock tower made a natural meeting point.
She looked somewhat plain amid the gaudily dressed men and women milling about.
She was wearing a neat but unremarkable white blouse. She had put on culottes that were made for ease of movement above all else, and plain tights. Her hair was styled the same way as usual. But she had gotten a new ribbon to hold her braid back.
Simple, personal clothes—this was all she had to wear into town on her day off.
After all…
“Ah.”
…See?
It was then he came, striding boldly through the crowd as though it were not there.
There was no mistaking him, and certainly no losing him in the sea of bodies. He had his tarnished leather armor and steel helmet. His sword and shield.
He was so utterly his usual self it was enough to make her laugh.
So she summoned up a smile just like the one she always had. Only her clothing was different today.
“Did you enjoy your morning?”
“Yes,” Goblin Slayer said dispassionately, coming to a stop in front of her and giving one of his usual nods. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“It’s all right. I just got here myself.”
A small lie on her part.
She wouldn’t mention that she had been so excited she had arrived before noon.
She coughed a little to cover her deception and continued.
“…Hee-hee. You are a little late, though, Mr. Goblin Slayer.”
“Sorry.”
“Not at all, it’s fine. After all, I…”
…like waiting.
Then Guild Girl smiled mischievously, spun, and began to lead him away.
Her braid, bright with its new ribbon, wagged like a tail.
“Well, let’s go, then!”
She knew. Even if she had dressed up, it wouldn’t have gotten his attention.
Instead, she wanted him to see the real her, not the face she showed at work every day.
Not Guild Girl. Just regular Girl. The way she normally was.
Part of the reason she had dressed plainly was to declare, This is me!
“Did you eat lunch already?”
“No.” Goblin Slayer shook his head slowly. “Not yet.”
“Okay, then…”
Vwip, vwip. She turned her head so quickly you could practically hear it.
She considered one plan after another, compared them, dismissed some, and finally chose one.
She knew stew was one of his favorite foods—the way they’d made it in his village, of course.
She couldn’t compete in that area. But she could take advantage of the festival day.
“How about we walk while we eat?” she said, smiling shyly. “I know it’s not good manners, but today is special…”
“I don’t mind.”
“I knew you wouldn’t. Okay then, let’s get something and then have a look around…”
She glanced up, taking in his face from below. The stained helmet. The same face she saw every day.
“But where, I wonder?”
“Hrm.”
“We can go to a place you like, you know?”
“Mm.”
Goblin Slayer grunted once. Guild Girl smiled at him.
Waiting didn’t bother her. Not so long as the other person was trying to respond to her, anyway.
From the five years of their acquaintance, she understood that he was thinking carefully.
Then, after a moment, Goblin Slayer nodded and answered.
“Let’s start here, then.”
“Sure!”
He set off at his bold pace, and she followed him like an excited puppy.
She might have been able to get away with holding his hand so they wouldn’t get separated.
But she knew she would never lose sight of this singular, unforgettable person.
Guild Girl was determined to enjoy escorting him for the afternoon. She trailed after him, her smile growing ever wider.
§
The two of them bought candied apples from a stall selling sweets.
It didn’t exactly pass for a full meal, but one could hardly complain about festival food.
That was what she thought, anyway, and she couldn’t imagine him being dissatisfied with any food.
Speaking of things I can’t imagine…
He ate the treat easily without removing his helmet, a feat she might not otherwise have considered possible.
“…Hee-hee.”
“What?” His helm tilted in a quizzical expression as he broke the now bare stick in two.
“Nothing,” Guild Girl said, shaking her head and not trying to hide her smile. “I was just wondering if there was any food you won’t eat.”
At her question, Goblin Slayer hmm ed and lapsed into thought.
Guild Girl watched him out of the corner of her eye as she licked her apple. Mm. Sweet.
“I suppose I would eat it if I had to,” he muttered, and she followed with a soft “Yes?”
“But I prefer to avoid fish.”
“Fish?”
“They are easy enough to get if there is a river nearby, but rivers also mean parasites, and the possibility of food poisoning.” There was a pause, and then he added, “And they stink.”
“That’s true,” she agreed with a laugh. Even smoked, dried, or salted fish had a very distinctive odor. “I understand. I’ve seen adventurers arguing about that very thing.”
“Oh?”
“Somebody bought preserved fish for provisions, and they got into a big fight over whether it smelled too terrible.”
She was exaggerating a little, but he nodded and said, “I see.”
Now, which party could it have been?
She remembered the incident, but couldn’t quite recall their faces.
Adventurers were generally rather unmoored and scoundrel-esque.
Some might seem to make a home, yet if they suddenly pulled up roots one day, no one would give it a second thought. He, or she, or they, would simply go to some pleasant new town and do fine for themselves.
It was only natural, after all.
A fresh start offered much greater relief than facing the fact that everyone else in the party died because of their own failure to do their job. Regularly encountering all those other adventurers day in and day out, how could they help thinking about it?
It doesn’t bear much thought…
That person you hadn’t seen recently—was he dead?
The one you just talked to before she left on an adventure—would you ever see her again?
Waiting was only easy when you were absolutely sure the other person would come back.
But if you weren’t…
“However, it is effective in smoking out a nest.”
He was making some serious point—he was always serious—oblivious to her thoughts.
Guild Girl knew he wasn’t joking, yet she smiled.
Ever since they had set out for the afternoon, he—or rather, they—had been like this.
Each time there was a choice of directions he would scan from right to left. When they passed a sewer grate, he would stomp down on it with a clang .
They came to the end of the main street and walked along the riverbank, where she stared up- and downstream.
The burbling of the river, the splash of jumping fish, the boats that skirted along the water—none of it seemed to catch his attention.
“Mmm, isn’t this lovely?”
Guild Girl closed her eyes as the cool autumn breeze kissed her cheeks.
Then she grabbed onto the guardrail of the bridge and leaned out as far as she could over the water.
“You’ll fall.” To her, the brusque comment was simply evidence that he was paying attention to her.
“I’m fine,” she said, spinning back around.
Hands supporting her against the guardrail, she arched her back and leaned out into space.
Her braided hair danced as the wind caught it.
“This river must run all the way to the sea.”
“That’s right,” he said. “It starts in the mountains.”
“But it’s nothing like the water town. What did you think of that place?”
“The streets were confusing,” Goblin Slayer said without emotion. “Good for defense, but troublesome when trying to go somewhere.”
“You mean we better be careful goblins don’t get into this town, either.”
“Yes.” Goblin Slayer nodded. “Exactly.”
Then…
“Oh.”
Just for a second, Guild Girl met the eyes of a sightseer on a boat passing under the bridge.
A lovely girl with beautiful golden hair and pale cheeks tinted a light red.
She was not wearing her usual gold armor. Today she was sporting a navy blue dress.
Next to her was a large man with a severe and somewhat confused expression on his face. The woman must have been Female Knight.
“…Hee-hee.”
The knight put a finger to her lips and glared at Guild Girl as if to demand this remain their secret. Guild Girl couldn’t help laughing at seeing the adventurer behave like any other girl at her young age.
Yes. Yes, of course. Our secret.
She figured everyone else was already well aware of the situation, but her lips were sealed.
It seemed to be going well for the two of them. That was the important thing. Now then, I wonder what everyone thinks of us.
“Say, Mr. Goblin Slayer.” She came away from the railing and tugged on his arm. “Where should we go next?”
“Hrm…”
With a curt throaty sound, he set off at his usual gait, Guild Girl behind him with her chest out proudly.
Here, there—he changed directions seemingly on a whim, but he walked with such confidence that she assumed he had something in mind.
She was enjoying the simple mystery of where they were going, what they would do there.
He stopped several bends in the road later, where they emerged onto a busy thoroughfare.
“Oh, this is where all the performers are, isn’t it?”
Artists of every stripe in every costume imaginable proclaimed their artistry for all to hear.
Passersby smiled, enjoyed the shows, clapped, and left a tip—or ignored the whole spectacle and moved along.
A rhea musician coaxed yowls out of a cat in her arms, even while juggling a handful of balls. An enthusiastic nonsense song came out of her mouth.
Life’s a roll of the dice
Roll them day after day
And it’s always snake eyes
Someone said luck is fair
Nothing changes til the day you die
Laugh or cry, it’s all the same
Snake eyes come up again today
Oh snake eyes snake eyes!
Show me a duodecuple tomorrow!
Guild Girl listened to the song as they walked by, then observed her companion.
“What’s your roll today, Mr. Goblin Slayer?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Not yet.”
“Hm…” Guild Girl tapped a finger thoughtfully against her lips. Uh-huh. Right.
“You went on a date with one girl in the morning, and another in the afternoon.” She pursed her lips at the slightly uncouth sound of it. “I think your luck’s pretty good, don’t you?”
“Is it?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Is it, now?”
“It sure is.”
Goblin Slayer’s throat thrummed a noncommittal hmm . It wasn’t clear if he took her point or not.
Sheesh…
Anyone else who acted this way would seem infuriatingly indecisive.
But that wasn’t the kind of person he was.
If he were some playboy adventurer, she never would have invited him out like this.
“Sheesh…”
She deliberately repeated her annoyance aloud, but in the furor of the crowd, it didn’t reach him.
Goblin Slayer, for his part, surveyed the performers’ street.
He glanced at one act where incompetent knife throwing was supposed to elicit laughter. But he lost interest immediately and moved on to the next thing.
That next thing was a man in an overcoat.
His entire body was covered in cloth, and he made broad, strange movements with his arms…
“Oh…!”
In the next instant, a tiny dragon appeared in his upturned palm.
No sooner had Guild Girl let out a sound of amazement than the dragon was enclosed in an egg. The man covered the egg with both hands, and it grew to become a dove. The bird flew out of his hands, but his fingers sparkled and the bird turned into a cloud of blue smoke.
The man pulled on the smoke as if on a rope, nimbly shifting it into a longsword. He held the weapon up with a flourish before inserting it into his open mouth.
Guild Girl was more than happy to applaud his sleight of hand.
“That’s amazing, isn’t it? I didn’t know anyone was so good at that.”
“I see,” Goblin Slayer said, his eyes never leaving the magician.
Guild Girl was a little confused, given that he hadn’t seemed remotely surprised by any of the tricks.
Well, it wasn’t exactly confusion—it caught her attention in a way, piqued her curiosity.
At work, she couldn’t have asked him too much about it.
But happily, this was a private moment between them. She seized her chance.
“Do you like shows like that?”
“Yes.” Goblin Slayer nodded and pointed to the man, whose fingers were still slightly smoky. “He distracts us with his gestures, then executes his tricks.”
“They say that’s the basics in sleight of hand.”
“Yes. And when the audience realizes the gestures are just for show, then you make those motions the key to your next trick,” Goblin Slayer said. “It’s a psychological tactic, and good training.”
Then he shook his helmet and looked at her. His tone was blunt as ever. But…
“…I was taken in.”
Gosh, this man…
Guild Girl gave a small sigh.
He was serious, stubborn, strange, and socially awkward.
She had understood all this about him as long as they had known each other.
That was to say, for five years, ever since she had come to this town as a newly minted employee at eighteen.
But Guild Girl knew him only as an adventurer.
She did not yet know what lay beneath, or behind, that persona—his genuine self.
But the same was true for him.
She had always acted the proper receptionist with him.
“Umm, so now…”
A psychological tactic. That’s what he’d said. Okay, then. I’ll show him some tactics of my own.
“…There’s somewhere I’d like to go. Is that okay?”
§
It was like the eye of a storm.
As hectic as the town was, this building alone was cloaked in silence.
The Adventurers Guild.
On such a bright, festive day, there was no one here to file a quest, nor any adventurers to take them.
Guild Girl unlocked the front door, ushering Goblin Slayer inside.
“You can make yourself comfortable. I’ll be with you in just a minute.”
“I see.”
Their voices echoed in a space normally so loud it was hard to hear.
It was impressive how lonely the building seemed with no occupants.
Goblin Slayer had been in any number of abandoned ruins, but he had never experienced this before. Of course, ruins rarely stayed quiet for very long after he showed up…
“Hmm…”
The silhouette of a bench stretched out in the dim interior, and his own shadow danced up the wall as he walked.
Caught between the silence and the shadows, he felt like a ghost.
Goblin Slayer did what he always did—he went over to check the board.
Urgent quests had all been cleared away in anticipation of the festival. The pieces of paper left over were all noncritical adventures.
Clearing rats out of the sewers. Collecting herbs. Getting rid of a Monshroom in the mountains.
Gathering antique items for a curio collector. Patrolling the roads. Confirming the bloodline of the illegitimate child of a noble house.
Exploring unexplored ruins. Escorting a merchant caravan…
“Hrm.”
Goblin Slayer skimmed everything again, just to be sure.
But, no. No goblin-slaying quests.
“…”
“Uhhh, ah, there you are. I’m ready now.”
He turned around at her call, still pursuing his train of thought.
Guild Girl was waving at him from the reception area—she seemed to be holding a key of some kind.
“Come here, over here! Okay, let’s go!”
And then she ducked behind the reception counter, leaving Goblin Slayer where he was.
With a final backward glance at the board, he readily followed her.
He had been affiliated with this Guild for five years, but he had never been in the employees’ area.
“Is this allowed?” he asked, to which Guild Girl lightly replied, “No,” as she peeked back at him.
“That’s why this is just between us. Don’t tell anyone, okay?”
She stuck out her tongue teasingly, and Goblin Slayer nodded.
“Okay.”
“Really? I’ll be unhappy if you’re lying.”
“Yes, really.”
“I believe you, then.”
She spun again, her braid bouncing in the air. Goblin Slayer trailed her deeper inside.
He heard an unfamiliar sound—Guild Girl humming. He didn’t recognize the song.
At last, still in high spirits, she stood before an old door, working the key noisily in the lock.
Beyond it was a steep, weathered spiral staircase.
“It’s up here. Let’s go!”
“I see.”
The staircase did not groan when Guild Girl stepped on it, but it did when Goblin Slayer began to climb. From the creaking of footsteps alone, one would have assumed just a single person was there.
“Oh, thank goodness!” Guild Girl said, putting a hand to her chest and straightening up. “If it had creaked under my weight, I wouldn’t have been able to stand back up from the shock!”
“Is that so?”
“Sure. Girls are pretty concerned about these things.”
“Is that so?”
Uh-huh , she nodded.
She glanced back over her shoulder and teased, “Would it have been better if I had worn a skirt, Mr. Goblin Slayer?”
He shook his head and said, “Keep your eyes ahead. You don’t want to trip and fall.”
“Aww, but you’re here to catch me.”
“Even so.”
“All right…”
She sounded quite cheerful, though he wasn’t sure what she was enjoying so much.
Soon they arrived at the pinnacle of the spiral. There they found another old door.
“Hang on a moment,” Guild Girl said, using a rusty key to unlock it. “This is where I wanted to bring you.”
“…Me?”
“Yes— Go ahead.”
She opened the door.
The moment she did so, a draft rushed out, and his vision was filled with gold.
Mountains of treasure, jewels, enough to bewilder the senses—no.
It was the world itself, reflecting the deepening light of the sun.
Mountains, rivers, hills full of daisies, forests and farms. The town, the temple, the plaza. Everything.
This was the Guild’s watchtower, and from it one could look out over everything at once in any direction.
However high, however far, it was visible from here.
Crowds bustling, musicians playing. Laughter. A song. Everything reached the tower.
If the Guild Hall was the eye of the storm, this was a place for viewing the storm itself.
Lively and joyous, a day beautiful enough to celebrate.
And Goblin Slayer stood at its very heart.
“…How is it? Surprised?”
Guild Girl stood at the railing, running her hands along it. She peeked at his helmet, but couldn’t see anything.
But—she believed—there was no one easier to understand than he.
It didn’t require much thought to understand his goal as he went around town.
“You were patrolling, weren’t you?”
Through the streets, checking the sewers, watching the rivers for any sign of goblins at all.
That was who this person was.
So surely, if he saw everything from the guard tower, he might have…
“…Relaxed a little?”
“No…” Goblin Slayer slowly shook his head at Guild Girl’s question. “I wonder, though.”
He let out a breath softly.
“Is that right?” she murmured, and leaned on the railing.
Her braid danced in the wind. She didn’t look at him.
“Even though you’ve worked so hard to slay all those goblins?”
“All the more reason.”
The light grew dim. The sun was going down, sinking into the horizon. Even the most beautiful days had to end.
“…”
“…”
In its place, twin moons rose alongside a thin purple mist. The sky was full of stars—cold, sharp pinpoints of light.
The town was daubed in black, so quiet it seemed everyone was holding their breath.
The wind nipped at the two of them in the guard tower with a mournful sound.
Autumn, after all, was the prelude to winter.
They could already see their breath fogging.
And then suddenly, she whispered.
“Look, it’s starting!”
The gold vanished, and the pair sank into shadows.
Then, a light.
§
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Finally, too many to count.
The little lanterns glittered like stars reflected in a river. Through the darkened town they shone, blinking, wavering, shining.
Finally, the warm red lights began floating into the sky like fireflies.
Like snow falling in reverse, they drifted, danced up to the heavens.
“Sky lanterns.”
“Yes. I thought they would be beautiful from here.” Guild Girl’s response to Goblin Slayer’s two words sounded rather self-satisfied. “Since I was finally going to be able to do this, I wanted to invite you along.”
“…I see.”
Goblin Slayer gazed at the town and exhaled quietly.
The golden spray of twilight was long gone, and in the orange glow of the candles the town was incomparably beautiful.
It was filled with the creations of humans.
Houses and buildings made of stone, the clothing of the people in the streets, their laughter rising up.
They lit the candles in their lanterns, the paper inflating before carrying the specks of light into the sky.
Goblin Slayer’s gaze followed their ascent from the town below up into the night air.
He knew warm air rose, and that was why the lanterns flew. That was all. No magic and no miracles involved. Eventually, the flame would go out and the lanterns would drift back to earth.
“Mr. Goblin Slayer, do you—?”
Guild Girl opened her mouth to say something, but at that moment—
Riiing.
A bell sounded, rippling through the silence of the night.
If the lanterns were stars in a stream, this was the burble of the water.
Riiing, riiing, riiing, riiing.
The sound repeated in a set rhythm, a sacred ritual to purify the area.
Guild Girl searched for the source. It came from the plaza, where a crowd of lanterns was rising into the air.
People were packed into the square, sitting around a round stage.
She spotted a familiar spear and pointy hat in the throng and giggled.
Oh, is it that time already?
Beautiful days, festival days, celebration days. These days also belonged to the gods.
They were days of thanksgiving for the harvest and a fruitful autumn, as well as supplication for safe passage through the winter.
Petitions they made, naturally, to the all-compassionate Earth Mother.
Soon, someone appeared in the square amid the bonfires to embody those hopes.
A young woman dressed all in white emerged gracefully—a shrine maiden. No…
“O gods who gather at the table of the stars…”
It was Priestess.
She was dressed very differently. Her outfit resembled some form of battle attire, yet showed a remarkable amount of skin for that.
Her shoulders and cleavage, her midriff and back, her thighs, all showed pure and pale skin.
“…by the pips of the dice of fate and chance…”
Her blush suggested she was embarrassed to be seen this way, but nonetheless she twirled her flail modeled after a sacred relic.
The Earth Mother was the goddess of abundance, the ruler of love, and even sometimes a deity of war.
And these were the vestments of her priestess.
So in truth, there was nothing to be ashamed about.
“O Earth Mother, we beseech you…”
Priestess waved the great flail with both hands, the flames reflecting in the beads of sweat on her face.
Every time the relic, originally a tool of the harvest, cut through the air, it left white trails and the ringing of a bell.
A dance of the gods, for the gods, and to the gods. A hallowed display.
“As you will, be it my will…”
Goblin Slayer remembered her muttering, I’ve been practicing.
She’d talked about her new equipment. And she had been in such a hurry to go to the workshop.
She must have been training so she could wield that flail and gone to the shop to prepare that outfit.
He finally understood his elf companion’s impish smile.
“I offer this body, tirelessly, unhesitatingly…”
Her prayer rang out through the square, past the houses, to the guard tower.
He was sure the gods could hear her where they reposed in heaven.
The hope was that their dice might roll even a bit more favorably.
Oh snake eyes snake eyes!
Show me a duodecuple tomorrow!
Where had he heard those words?
“We offer you this prayer…”
She wasn’t possessed, exactly—but she brought the pantheon closer.
Of course, if she had truly used the Call God miracle, surely her mortal soul could not have endured.
But even in imitation of the miracle, it took only a gesture, a breath, a sound, to make the grounds seem holy.
Night did not belong to people. It belonged to monsters and chaos. And goblins.
“O great, O eternal, O vast, O deep love…”
She took a great dancing step and her garments swirled, revealing her hips.
Her heightened breath fogged, and droplets of sweat flew off her.
Her eyes teared; her lips trembled. Her small chest heaved with every breath.
Yet she exuded no eroticism, only sanctity.
“And let it be thus upon your board…”
“…I have never relaxed,” Goblin Slayer whispered as he followed her form with his eyes.
“Wha…?”
The words came out of the blue. Guild Girl didn’t know whether she was more surprised or confused.
It took her a moment to realize he was answering her earlier question.
“No matter how much I do, no matter how many I kill. All I gain is a chance to win.” No matter how much his companions and friends supported him, encouraged him, and fought alongside him. “And a chance for victory is not victory.”
There was no way it could be.
The specter of defeat was ever present. He could never flee from the shadow that had created him.
Certainly not when that shadow had a concrete form and could strike at him.
“That’s why I did not make a lantern.”
To prepare. To be ready against the goblins. To fight.
To hedge against that last .01 percent when he was 99.99 percent sure he could win.
He was determined that for all this, he could not spare his attention for anything else.
He knew.
He knew that what carried the flying lanterns to the sky was just a natural phenomenon. That when the candles burned out, they would fall to the earth as nothing more than trash.
Goblin Slayer knew this.
But…
“The sky lanterns guide the souls of the dead,” he whispered with just a hint of regret. “I wonder if they were able to return safely.”
Who could he have been talking about? Or what? How did he feel right then?
Guild Girl couldn’t tell. She didn’t know.
But even so she said, “I’m sure they did,” and smiled.
At the same moment:
“May no ill upset the scales of order and chaos in heaven. May all be well.”
Priestess tossed her hair as she lifted her eyes to the sky, offering a prayer from earth to heaven.
She chanted with all her might, her pale throat glistening with effort. Someone swallowed audibly at her beauty.
Then she intoned a supplication supposedly on behalf of many believers—those who had words.
“Bless the protector of the night, bring him happiness.”
But she spoke only to one.
“I pray to the distant sky, I offer my petition…”
She let out a breath. It rippled through the silence.
“…Look.” Guild Girl was smiling at Goblin Slayer with just a touch of surprise. “The gods are appreciating…all your hard work.”
And indeed they were.
If he had not rescued Priestess in that cave, this scene would never have been. Everyone here in the town, celebrating the festival. All because he helped that girl and held off the goblin horde with her and their companions.
Was it fate or chance? That depended on the roll of the gods’ dice.
Though perhaps those on the board could not imagine it…
Guild Girl didn’t care which it was. Because whatever the cause, it had led her to him.
She didn’t know what had brought him to become an adventurer—to become Goblin Slayer.
But she knew the five years that had led up to this point, everything he had been through in that time. He was here to protect villages, people, cities—anyone.
Just look around him.
She couldn’t believe—it was ridiculous she hadn’t noticed.
Goblin Slayer was not bitter. He was not sad.
She—she was the one who could barely stand it.
Guild Girl trembled with humiliation at her own selfishness.
That night, at that moment, he’d had Priestess, and High Elf Archer, and Cow Girl, too.
And even though she’d known that, she had tried to get the jump on all of them, and she hated her shameful behavior.
She hated how she had avoided them until the festival, not knowing what she would say to them.
But—but.
She was waiting. She was here.
She was supporting him, cheering him on.
She wanted him to see.
To notice.
To understand.
Her. Other things. Everyone who wasn’t a goblin. Anyone at all.
She had nothing resembling the courage she needed to put any of this into words.
But now that she had managed to spend half a day with him, she wondered if anything had come of it.
Did he see me?
Did he see anyone?
Did he think about anything besides goblins?
“I’m sure…sure they were able to come home safely.”
There was so much light, after all. It must be true. They couldn’t have lost their way.
That faith had inspired Guild Girl’s words. As ever, she hid her innermost thoughts behind her smile.
At her reassurance, he let out a faint sound, barely a word.
“…Yes.”
In the end, that was all Goblin Slayer said, and then he nodded.
§
The end of the ritual marked conclusion of the festival and its blessed day.
The bonfires burned low as people trickled out of the square, just a few flames left to lick at the night skies.
The pair wandered back down the stairs, returning from the guard tower to the ground.
The sun was gone completely, leaving the Guild Hall dark.
Though she normally could have found her way around in these circumstances, today was not normal.
“Oop—oh! Whoops…”
“Be careful.”
Guild Girl stumbled and caught onto Goblin Slayer’s arm.
Her heart jumped at the strength in it.
She was glad it was dark. She didn’t especially want him to see her face at that moment. Though she couldn’t hide the catch in her voice.
“Oh, I-I’m sorry…”
“No,” Goblin Slayer said, shaking his head. “It wasn’t…bad.”
“Wha…?”
“I mean today.”
“Oh…”
“From morning until night… So this is what a ‘day off’ is like.”
Her heart leaped again.
She felt a bit mercenary—how could she not? But she couldn’t ignore the joy that overrode the calculating side of her nature.
“O-oh, no, th-think nothing of it. I-if you enjoyed today, that’s wonderful.”
“I see.”
All the more reason she hurried toward the door, disentangling her arm from his.
The two of them were alone in the dark together. That was where this nervousness came from.
When they got outside, she was sure the feeling would change. That she would breathe easier.
With that in mind, she took the doorknob…
“…What?”
She cocked her head when it didn’t turn.
“What’s wrong?”
Goblin Slayer approached at a perfectly normal pace despite the darkness.
“Am I remembering wrong?” she was saying, still bewildered. “No… I didn’t lock the door. But…”
It’s locked.
The words began to form, not quite on her lips, when Goblin Slayer moved.
He grabbed Guild Girl around the waist and dove to the ground.
“Whaa?!”
He knocked over a table to shield them.
She fell on her backside, and a blade buried itself in the tabletop at almost the same moment.
“O-ow! Wh-what’s going on?!”
“Stay close to the wall. Watch your back and keep quiet.”
Goblin Slayer freed his sword from its scabbard as he whispered his commands.
Staying low, he slowly crawled sideways from behind their cover, maintaining his distance.
He pulled the knife from the tabletop and saw how it glinted starkly in the night. Then he set off after their attacker.
Far be it from Goblin Slayer to let them escape.
A small shape—a small man, about half the size of a human—scuttled through the darkness.
“A goblin?”
The only answer was a jeering hiss that smelled faintly of blood.
Then the attacker leaped.
He held a knife in a reverse grip, bringing it down like a predator’s fang.
Goblin Slayer brought up his shield to defend. There was a dull sound. A spray of liquid.
“Coated in poison.”
The slimy secretion rained on his helmet. But he had his visor. It would not blind him.
The enemy broke contact and landed on the ground, taking advantage of the distance that opened up for a lightning fast second strike.
Goblin Slayer deflected the oncoming blows with his shield and swiped with his sword, hoping to catch his attacker in the abdomen.
Sparks danced, lighting up the darkness.
The attacker had a knife in his left hand as well, using it to sweep aside Goblin Slayer’s blade.
His technique was refined, the assailant evidently an experienced hand.
“You seem most unlike a goblin.”
“G-Goblin Slayer…!” cried Guild Girl.
“There is no problem.”
She heard a creaking sound—the assailant gnashing his teeth, perhaps?
Guild Girl’s eyes were adjusting to the darkness, but the battling forms were still indistinct.
The attacker wore leather armor and protection around his abdomen. The cloth around it was light black, and so was his face…
“No…a dark elf?!”
Her shout served as a signal.
The attacker swung the knife in his left hand fast enough to cut the air itself and followed up immediately with something in his right.
Dazzling sparks burst from Goblin Slayer’s shield as he blocked the small blade three times.
Darts!
The brief illumination also allowed her to see the true attack behind the feint.
“Hrr…!”
The volley forced Goblin Slayer backward in a sort of half somersault.
He tumbled into the table with a spectacular crash, sending dust up into the dark air.
“Oh, ah, G-Goblin Slayer…?”
There was no answer.
Even in silhouette, she could see the numerous darts sticking out of his armor.
It was too much.
“No…”
“Yes!” A great shout drowned out her pained whisper. It came, obviously, from the enemy, who bellowed with a spray of spittle, “I did it! I did it! Hya-ha-ha-ha! Because of him—it’s all because of him!”
He cackled horribly as he jumped up and down, clapping his hands.
He stumbled over to Goblin Slayer and gave him a kick for good measure.
“Silver-ranked, pfft! Easy prey and a bit of luck, that’s all he had!”
Another kick. A third, then a fourth.
Goblin Slayer’s head bobbed each time the crude boot connected. The visor of his grimy helmet clattered awfully as he flopped like a cheap doll.
It was unbearable to watch.
Until just minutes ago, they had been talking together, walking together.
“S-stop it…”
She could only whisper, so quietly no one could have heard.
But now something was welling up in her heart.
“I said, stop it!”
“Serves him right for keeping all the girls for himself.” The assailant spun, his glinting eye fixed on Guild Girl. She made a fist in front of her chest. “And he was on such close terms with a Guild employee, no less. Not so righteous as he pretended to be, I think!”
Should she have kept silent? No. It had to be said.
She felt regret, but also a resolve that overcame it. Of course. No one had the right to kick him like that.
The poison dribbled from the dagger with a revolting color.
Should she shout again, call someone? No… Even if she did, it would be too late.
“!”
If nothing else, she would not avert her eyes.
Her intense glare only seemed to anger the attacker more.
“Don’t think I’ll let you off easy…!”
“Is that so?”
The voice was cold as wind from the depths of a well.
“—”
“What? Gargh…!”
Guild Girl’s eyes went wide, and the assailant could only manage a muffled choke.
Goblin Slayer alone moved.
He rose like a specter, still riddled with darts. His sword—
His sword was buried in the attacker’s viscera, having neatly found a gap in the opponent’s leather armor.
He tore violently through the man’s innards, causing their former aggressor to cough and choke.
The body fell backward, twitching, losing blood and strength.
“Hmph.”
Goblin Slayer snorted, bracing his foot against the bloodied form as he pulled his sword out.
The attacker gave one last raw cough, then lay still.
“Go—” Guild Girl’s voice trembled. “Goblin Slayer…?”
“Yes?”
“Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!”
“I wear chain mail under my leather armor,” he said matter-of-factly, gently pushing away Guild Girl as she frantically tried to come close. “A simple dart can’t penetrate it.”
He grabbed the barbs and pulled them out of his armor. The tips were drenched in something—presumably the same fluid that had coated the dagger.
Goblin Slayer said disinterestedly, “He was a quick one. With my skill, I could not have beaten him.”
That meant that—to him, at least—the obvious solution had been a sneak attack. He could not win in a fair fight, so he didn’t engage in one.
But Guild Girl did not entirely sympathize with this perspective.
“I-I thought you…were dead……!”
Even as she spoke, tears beaded in her eyes and ran down her cheeks.
Once they had started, there was no stopping them. Confronted with the sobbing girl, Goblin Slayer could muster only, “Hrk…” He shook the blood off his sword to distract himself. “I’m sorry.”
“If… If you have to apologize…you shouldn’t…do it to begin with…!”
“…I won’t.”
Goblin Slayer nodded, and then with the tip of his sword he slid off the attacker’s mask.
“ Sniff … Is…? Is he a dark elf?”
“That I don’t know.”
Guild Girl raised her head, still sniffling.
Dark elves were among the peoples who had words, also known as Players. They shared the same roots as other elves, but aligned themselves with chaos.
It could not be assumed that they were all Non-Players, those unpraying beings, because from time to time, a dark elf would return to the side of order.
With just a handful of exceptions, most dark elves were evil and reveled in defying law and order.
They had pointed ears like other elves, but light black skin.
She had heard they were usually tall, like their forest dwelling cousins, but the body on the floor hadn’t grown so well.
“But this is a rhea.”
“Wha…?”
Guild Girl gasped as she took another look at the corpse.
The face was black and grimy, but she had a distant memory of it.
And why not? Why else would he cover his face when he attacked?
Goblin Slayer used the heel of his boot to wipe the corpse’s face clean.
“Oh! That’s…!” Guild Girl put a hand to her mouth. She did recognize him. “He’s the one we accused of wrongdoing in that interview…!”
The features were twisted with hatred and bitterness and desire for revenge…but it was undoubtedly Rhea Scout.
An adventurer they had interviewed for promotion. The man who had quietly hoarded rewards and treasures for himself and hid them from his party members.
The interviewers had all but exiled him— Had he come back? Or had he been in town ever since?
Goblin Slayer stared at the rhea’s face.
“I believe I remember him.”
“Yeah. You sat in on our interview with him. That’s why—”
“No.” Goblin Slayer shook his head. “When I was eating at the tavern, he was whispering with another person. I saw him watching me at the Guild Hall before that, too.”
“You mean…”
“But if he had meant to target me alone, he wouldn’t have needed such strange clothing.”
Goblin Slayer grunted.
So many possibilities, so many choices—he couldn’t seem to decide what exactly he should do.
But there was only one conclusion to pursue, one warning to heed.
“The goblins may be on the move.”
With that declaration, Goblin Slayer pounded his sword into its sheath.
“I’m going. Can you stand?”
“Oh, um…”
Guild Girl didn’t quite know where to look. She was kneeling as if her legs were weak, but she was able to move.
But if she said she couldn’t, would he stay? Would it be better if he did?
“I… I’m fine.”
She mustered everything she had to say this, then reached out and put a hand on the table.
Goblin Slayer collected the darts in the rhea’s mask, then stuffed them in his pouch. He wiped the poisoned dagger’s blade and belted it on.
After a quick check of his equipment, he inspected where the darts had hit him. He decided there was no problem.
“In that case, please take care of things here.”
Nodding, Guild Girl used the table as support to unsteadily rise to her feet.
What had happened? What was happening? She didn’t know. How could she know?
The day of celebration was over. Her day of happiness was gone.
“…I just, I mean, I don’t… I don’t understand all of this, myself…”
Well then. She would just have to go back to being the Guild receptionist, treating him like another adventurer.
“B-but whatever it is, please do your best!”
She put the biggest smile she could manage on her face, and Goblin Slayer answered with just two words:
“I will.”
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