Goblin Slayer - Volume SS2.03 - Chapter 9.2

With that, everything you need to do in the fortress city is done.

You take your cargo, your sword at your hip, and go back the way you came, toward the great gate. On the way, you pass the royal guard, dressed in military uniform as usual this time. Seems she’s going to stand watch before the dungeon again.

“Doesn’t look like there’s any getting away from here for me,” she says, adding with a chuckle that she hopes it dries up before her little sister starts delving.

Will it? You wonder. You give a noncommittal laugh. Whatever else happens to that girl, you’re sure she’ll become an adventurer.

“Well, see you, my dear leader. I think you had a good party.” She pats you on the shoulder, then points out, “They’re already here.”

When you passed through that gate, you were three, but now five people wait for you.

“Sheesh. What kept you?” Female Warrior asks, crossing her arms and pouting purposefully when she sees you.

You jog up with a word of apology—now that you think about it, this is the first time you’ve seen her in traveling clothes. She looks like she could be a village girl from anywhere—but this, you think, is how she looked before it all began, although the oaken spear in her hand betrays what she truly is.

“I was just about sick of waiting for you. Real nice, going off and having a party all by yourself.”

“You tell him!” exclaims, naturally, Half-Elf Scout.

You’re surprised to realize how much his joyous tone becomes him. In fact, it’s more than that—why is it that he’s seemed in the highest of spirits ever since you defeated the dungeon?

“Heh! Because I’m a married man now!” he says.

Well!

You don’t try to hide your surprise.

“Right?” Female Bishop says, putting a hand to her cheek and smiling shyly. “I gather he was head over heels for one of the bar waitresses…”

“Ooh! That padfoot, you mean? What wonderful news!” your cousin chirps.

You say that explains it, genuinely happy for him. When you think back, you realize he was always gathering information for you, about the dungeon and otherwise. The waitress must’ve been one of his sources. You nod. This truly is a happy ending. It’s very much like your half-elf friend to see his labor bear such fruit—even when she never gave him any fruit on the house.

“So does this mean you’re retiring?” Myrmidon Monk asks, his antennae bobbing.

“Nah.” Half-Elf Scout shakes his head. “She told me to come back with a little more coin, so it looks like it’s more adventuring for me.”

“Are you sure she’s not just using you?” asks Female Warrior with a giggle and a catlike grin.

“Oof…!” groans Half-Elf Scout.

It’s chatty and lively as always with all of you. The thought that this will continue makes you feel—well, grateful, but…

“I don’t much care either way,” says Myrmidon Monk, anticipating your question before you ask it. “I’m happy to go back home and spread the teachings—or stay here and learn a little more myself.”

In that case. You pat your redoubtable companion on the shoulder and say it would be a great help to you if he would come along.

“No reason to refuse, as long as you keep things interesting.”

“Me too…,” Female Bishop says, clasping the blue ribbon at her chest. “I want to do more… Enough for all of us.”

Her duty was to become the hero who would save the world. Now that she’s done it, no fetters bind her further. Yet she wants to keep walking: And it’s surely her choice, her will.

You accept her decision, and a smile floats over her face as she says, “Good, sir!” and nods.

That being settled, the real issue is your cousin, standing innocently nearby and watching. She gives you a little grin, as if to say Your big sister would be more than happy—but does she understand the position she’s in? If this is a planeswalker, one of the most powerful magic workers in the Four-Cornered World—well, what is the world coming to?

“Say what you like, your big sister is still worried about you!”

Darn second cousin.

She giggles, playing with the short staff she carries. “Besides, I still hardly know anything about the Four-Cornered World. Gate can wait a good, long while, right?”

You don’t think Gate is as simple a subject as that, but it’s certainly a very in-character decision for your cousin. The wizards of the world who are so eager to jump outside the board—what would they think if they heard her? But it’s exactly because of who they are that they aren’t standing here, and your cousin is.

You don’t say that—although you think she gets the message just the same.

Yeesh. It’s going to be a real pain, having your second cousin around…

You make a show of muttering to yourself, but as you look around, your eyes meet Female Warrior’s, with their striking violet.

She brushes aside her hair, an elegant sweep of her hand, then looks at you and, as usual, purses her lips. “Don’t make me say it.”

You shake your head. You won’t, because you feel like saying it yourself.

‘I want you to come with me.’

Just that one sentence. Just those few words, and Female Warrior blinks, then her face breaks into a smile.

“I will!”

So six adventurers are gathered once more. You and your group amble slowly through the great gate, leaving the fortress city behind. The great vast Four-Cornered World spreads out before you. Confronted with it, you suddenly have a thought.

Was that really worthy of being called a secret technique, in the end?

You laugh and shake your head: no. The fact that you felt like it was just proves your immaturity. Many a warrior, amid the clamor of battle, has grabbed hold of a flash of insight that has pushed their skills to the next level.

In that case, what you did was no profound secret way of the sword.

It was just part of the path to get you there.

From here, you could head for the fiery mountain or the forest of doom—it doesn’t matter. Now that your adventure in the Dungeon of the Dead is over, a plenitude of new ones awaits you.

This is just the first of the thirty-three fighting fantasies.

And only one of more than sixty—and counting—livres dont vous êtes les héros.

Farewell! May your heart pound for your next adventure!

With that sincere wish, I send these words to you:

Now turn the page!