Goblin Slayer - Volume 9 - Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – Finally, To Daily Life

“Well, it sounds like it was just positively awful…” Guild Girl might not have experienced it herself, but her words warmed the heart with their mixture of gratitude and concern. 

“Yes.” Priestess, having finally finished her report, nodded, unable to say anything further. Near to hand was a cup of black tea Guild Girl had thoughtfully steeped for her. She took a sip or two of the warming liquid, then said “Yes” again, softly. “It was hard enough on us… But Goblin Slayer… An ogre? Who could have imagined?” 

“I think Orcbolg is gonna be fine,” High Elf Archer said from beside her. She’d been helping with the report; now she slapped a hand on the desk in frustration. “But this girl here! She’s been downright… downright poisoned!” 

“Poisoned…?” No, that’s not quite… Flustered, Priestess glanced left and right for help. 

“Well, one does imbibe the influence of one’s predecessors.” This came from a jovial Lizard Priest. His tail swung across the floor and his eyes rolled happily in his head. “Be the path good or bad, to move forward is inherently worthy of respect.” He made a strange palms-together gesture, meanwhile looking at the huge piece of metalcraft that hung on the wall in the Guild’s waiting room. It was both a trophy of an adventure and the proof that a new chapter had been added to this Guild’s storied history. 

Spearman and Witch, among others, were studying it intently, with the party of Heavy Warrior right behind them. Female Knight reached out to try to pick it up, but Heavy Warrior stopped her; she stared at him, pouting. 

“I’ll have t’bring along a nice shield or something to go with it.” Dwarf Shaman watched the admirers with amusement, took a sip from his wine jug, and licked the drops out of his beard with satisfaction. “Giants, a vampire, and to top it off, an ogre. Even by our standards, that’s quite a rogues’ gallery.” 

“It certainly is…” Guild Girl nodded, checking over their adventure sheets and reports. To think, it hadn’t been that long ago that they had rescued a noble girl from a dungeon. What a series of amazing adventures. This time, it seemed they had worked with adventurers sent from the capital, too… 

“So who turned out to be behind all that, anyway?” High Elf Archer asked, kicking her shapely legs. 

An excellent question, to be sure. The mystery person who delayed the onset of spring and counted both an ice witch and an ogre among their subordinates. 

“Right,” Guild Girl said, tapping the papers neatly together and deciding she could say this much. “We assume some vestige of the Demon Lord’s army was planning something, but…” 

It seems the honored hero destroyed them. 

“Awful indeed,” Lizard Priest said easily. Unlike Guild Girl, there was neither gratitude nor concern in his voice. In his view, so long as he could build his legend and buy cheese with his rewards, there was not much more to say. “Speaking of this revered hero, it seems she has been quite busy coming and going. If I may say so.” 

“Yes—someone with strength like hers has a lot to do, a lot of things they have to do,” Guild Girl said. 

“Silvers do take some babysitting,” Lizard Priest said almost to himself. Dwarf Shaman bit back a laugh, while High Elf Archer let out an annoyed huff. She puffed out her cheeks—for all its childishness, the gesture had an elegance befitting a High Elf—and said, “So, where’s Orcbolg?” 

“According to him…he thinks every once in a while he ought to go home early. Although I think he usually does anyway,” Guild Girl concluded, half-disappointed and half-resigned. 

“Huh!” High Elf Archer said with an intrigued flick of her ears. “I get it.” (If so, she might have been the only one.) “You can even count on Orcbolg…sometimes.” 

“Well, if it’s a question of who had it the hardest this time out, I’d have t’nominate that girl from the farm.” 

“Indeed, even so. I wish her quiet days, that these events might not adversely influence her work.” 

“You mean the cheese, ” High Elf Archer said in exasperation, eliciting a lighthearted roll of the eyes from Lizard Priest. 

Somebody let out a laugh, which spread to the entire company until the whole Guild echoed with gentle merriment. 

“U-um, I really—I don’t think poisoned is a fair word…,” Priestess continued to object, but she was drowned out by the chorus of chuckles. She puffed out her cheeks in wrath and glared at everyone, but no one seemed to pay her any mind. When she looked away, sullen, though, there were Rookie Warrior and Apprentice Cleric, along with Harefolk Hunter. The young warrior was excitedly sharing tales of their adventure, accompanied by occasional lecturing and interjections from his companions. She didn’t know how many “experience points” those three had, but she was sure the warrior and the cleric, at least, could no longer be called rookies. 

And her—what about her? 

Priestess want to believe that she was moving forward. If she asked her former companions…what would they tell her? 

She closed her eyes tight and gave her head a good shake. With the most elegant of movements, High Elf Archer peered into her face. “What’s up? Hey, are you really upset? Sorry about that. I meant it as a compliment, sorta.” 

Priestess let out a breath of relief, looking into the elf’s eyes. “No. Well…” This time she was sure. “Maybe I was a little upset.” 

She smiled pointedly, earning an exaggerated “Whaaa?” from her much-older friend. 

Realizing how funny this was, how delightful, how much of a blessing, Priestess began to laugh. 

§ 

The sky is blue everywhere, but from the window of the farm, it was a blue she recognized. Cow Girl looked at the spreading sky outside, resting her chin on her hands and letting out a melancholy sigh. 

I know why Uncle is worried, but still. 

After she got back, it had been a whole series of events that were harrying, unsettling, and also somehow reassuring. When she got to town, she had been taken in, scolded by her uncle, fussed over by the receptionist; she had waited for him, gone to meet him. 

And then it had all been over. 

The produce had gone bad, unfortunately, but she heard that at least her uncle’s arrangements had been in time. The dark plots that had been taking root in that area had, it was said, been undone by some amazing adventurer. 

Now everything was back to the way it had been. He headed off to adventures with his companions, while she lived on the farm. If there was a problem to speak of, it was that her uncle rarely saw fit to let her out of the house anymore. 

He could at least let me make some deliveries one of these days. 

She was going to go soft—the last thing she wanted was to get fat—and it was so hard for her uncle to handle all the work by himself. Of course, thinking of how her uncle must feel bothered her. She didn’t want to worry him unnecessarily. But for some strange reason, despite Cow Girl’s confusion and hesitation, one thing she never felt was fear or terror. 

After everything that’s happened to me, surely you’d expect me to…? 

Then again, maybe she knew the reason. Cow Girl smiled gently, laughed to herself where nobody could see. The only one who heard her was the canary twittering in its cage. Cow Girl poked her fingers through the bars and heaved herself up from the windowsill. 

Well, moping around won’t get me anywhere! 

“Better start with the laundry!” she said brightly, to encourage herself, and then she promptly set about the housework. She went from room to room pulling sheets off beds, then tossed them in the washbasin in the yard. All she needed was some water and ash, and she’d be ready to go. 

“Oooh,” she muttered, shivering at the chilly well water as she trod the laundry with her bare feet. The sheets squished under her toes; she pulled out the stopper and drained the water, then repeated the process. Finally, she hung the sheets out on a rope in the yard under the blue sky, giving the edges each a good, hard tug, and she was done. 

“Phew!” she exclaimed with a bounce of her generous chest. She wiped the sweat from her forehead. 

“Hrmph, I thought I smelled milk—I’ll bet there’s plenty in those.” 

“?!” 

The hoarse voice took her completely by surprise; she whipped around toward it. She only thought she had felt a west wind. A dry breeze from the direction of the setting sun. But just when she expected the gust to pass by, she saw a small, black shadow like a stain on the land. The shadow turned into a figure, a fearfully old man who looked like he had seen as many years as any rock or tree. 

An old rhea. Cow Girl blinked and said, “Er, can I help you?” 

“Y’damn well can’t.” The rhea worked his jaws for a moment and then spat noisily. “Roundabouts this place—he’s here, ain’t he?” 

“?” 

“The adventurer, the weird one.” The rhea laughed spitefully, showing crooked teeth. “The idiot, the fool, the talentless wonder whose only redeeming feature is that he takes everything so damn seriously.” 

Cow Girl pursed her lips, not best pleased. She knew whom the rhea was referring to, but she wanted to object that he had it all wrong. 

“Yes, an adventurer lives here, but no one as strange as you’re describing.” The words came out more sharply, more aggressively than she’d intended. The old man’s surprised “Huh!” made her realize. It wasn’t the best of starts. She knew it was childish, and opened her mouth to apologize, but— 

“So, tell me. The two of you, er, gettin’ on well? Eh?” 

Even Cow Girl could pick up on the meaning behind the dismissive tone. She felt a flush of embarrassment spread across her cheeks. “You’re mistaken,” she corrected him pointedly. 

“By the by, an old magician said something once.” 

The rhea’s sudden change of topic caught Cow Girl off guard. “A-an old…magician?” It made her think of the rhea in front of her. He was wrinkled and elderly. 

But the rhea, maybe picking up on this train of thought, snorted in displeasure. “He said the little things count more than big adventures. And a dwarf said something else,” the rhea went on, and Cow Girl found herself leaning closer. His voice was by no means beautiful, but it was strangely compelling. “He said deep inside yeh, there’s a beauty y’don’t even know about.” A hand like a claw reached out, and Cow Girl unconsciously took a step back, afraid he was about to grab her chest. The old man grinned like a shark with very uneven teeth—a big, wide, wild expression. “Fare thee well, then, sweet little village girl. Glad I stopped by!” 

And then the wind blew again. 

“Eep!” Cow Girl exclaimed, squeezing her eyes shut in surprise. When she opened them, the shadow was gone, as if it had never been there. As if it had been put away in her pocket. 

“…Wha-what was that about…?” Cow Girl took a deep breath and let it out again, trying to calm her pounding heart. It crossed her mind to ask him about it, but strangely, she found the idea didn’t quite feel right. After all, the whole thing had hardly lasted a moment. A shadow had come, blown in by the wind, then been blown away again. There were so many things in this world that one young human girl might not even imagine. This might have been one of them. 

And there were a great many more important things, as far as she was concerned. “…Oh yeah, I’ve gotta make dinner!” 

She would make his favorite, stew with plenty of milk. She checked to see how the sheets were drying, then headed back to the house at a gentle jog. She placed the ingredients in a pot, brought it to a hearty boil, and started stirring. At length, a sweet aroma began to drift out the window with the breeze. 

She saw a dark figure making its way down the road that led from town, the red-black sunset at its back. It was the silhouette of the most ridiculous, most pathetic, but coolest adventurer in the entire world. 

She began to hum when she spotted him through the window, flashing him a smile as he came through the door. “Welcome home!” 

The world hadn’t ended yesterday. It had gone on today, and would, she was sure, continue tomorrow. 

There was nothing else so precious as that.