Goblin Slayer - Volume 8 - Chapter 4.1

Interlude – Of How There Is No Use Crying Over Spilled Milk

That worked like a charm. 

The girl, now wearing vestments of the Earth Mother—gosh, the chest feels tight—giggled to herself in the darkness of night. Then a cap and sounding staff, with cheap mail under the vestments. That was all it took to make her look every bit a cleric. 

When she spotted someone coming the other way, carrying a lantern, she put on a smile and puffed out her generous chest. The passerby first looked surprised then bowed his head in thanks as he went by. The girl smiled again. 

She could definitely get used to this. 

She saw that what people respected was the priest’s outfit, not the priest. It confirmed to her that she had been right to distract her brother and make off with the uniform of one of his soldiers. 

When she looked like a soldier—even a dirty, disheveled one—nobody paid her any mind. Granted, she had tromped through the sewers in it and had to live with the smell of sweat. 

And that dip in the baths was so refreshing—this is perfect. 

“…This really is tight, though,” she muttered, tugging at the outfit’s collar. 

The vestments themselves weren’t the only problem; the mail didn’t make it any easier to breathe. 

Why would that girl even bother wearing something so cheap…? she found herself wondering. Adventuring must really be tough. 

“……I’ve done a bad thing, I guess.” 

When she looked closely, she could see the mail had been repaired and restored in places. That other girl must have been using it for a long time. She’d grabbed it up so quickly she hadn’t had time to look earlier, but now she realized what an important piece of equipment it must have been. 

This girl knew from experience how much it hurt to lose something she had used and loved for a long time. Yes, she had always intended to return the clothes at some point—but now the smile on her face had turned to sorrow. 

It wasn’t—it wasn’t that she had wanted to cause trouble for a girl who looked so much like her. 

There were plenty of excuses she could make. It had been for adventuring, for the sake of the world, for the sake of humanity, for her own sake. She had wanted to see what adventurers were like with her own eyes, understand it, then tell her brother and surpass his abilities. 

But the fact that she had stolen what belonged to that other girl—that one fact was immovable. 

“…When this is all over, I’ll have to return these and give her a proper apology.” 

The girl nodded firmly to herself. One more reason why she had to pull this off. 

And she had left plenty in trade, too—enough to cover her apology, and the possibility that she might fail. 

Naturally, she didn’t have the slightest sense or expectation that she might fail (everything in the world was decided by the roll of the dice, after all), but if nothing else, the other girl could at least afford to get herself something that was way better than this. 

“Okay… Argh, the gate must be closed by now.” 

The girl looked around, goggling at everything. It all looked so familiar, but she had only ever seen it through a window. And now she was there among all of it. 

The thought made her strangely giddy, and her footsteps grew lighter. 

She headed for the shop where she had always heard one went if one wished to become an adventurer. 

The Golden Knight. 

The name was legendary, among the oldest establishments in the capital, famous all over the city as the tavern of adventurers. She could hardly contain the buzzing of her heart from finding herself in a place even older than the organization known as the Guild. 

She pushed the door open with a creak and went in, to discover the establishment still lively despite the late hour. She stiffened as the gazes of people who—she could tell at a glance—were of no account settled on her. 

It only lasted an instant, though. A rookie adventurer come to the Knight was in no way unusual. She relaxed as the eyes left her. Then she straightened up and started forward with her best imitation of fearlessness. 

A young man staring down at a table in the corner suddenly looked up, but she quietly ignored his uninvited gaze. 

“Ahem, do you have any rooms for the night?” She thought she heard her voice scrape. 

“Hrm?” The owner eyed her from behind the counter. He looked her up and down then gave a quiet sigh. “The royal suite, the regular suite, economy room, cot, or…” 

“The stables!” She was surprised at how loud her voice suddenly was. Attention turned to her again, and the girl looked at the ground. 

“…Around back. Hope you get some sleep.” 

“Th-thank you very much.” She nodded in acknowledgment then left the tavern. Her face felt so hot. 

Adventurers slept in the stables. That was what they did. So why shouldn’t she? She loved adventurers. 

Best of all, the stables were free. If she went scattering gemstones all over the capital, it would be too easy for her brother to find her. 

“If I can avoid him, just for tonight…” 

Then there would be a chance. She could get outside the gates. She could do it. She could do it—she thought. 

The girl went around back, glancing about as she undressed in the shadows. 

She pulled off the overly tight vestments and mail and threw them aside then buried herself in a bale of hay with the sounding staff and her bag of jewels. 

The stables stank something awful, and the straw scratched her all over; there was no chance she would find any sleep. 

Then again, that might have been because of the priestess’s crying face, which she had never actually seen, but which haunted her mind’s eye the whole night through.