Goblin Slayer, Vol. 5 Page 3

  In the face of large enemy numbers, splitting your own force was the stupidest thing you could do, but the situation was what it was.

  “We split up. Square and perimeter.”

  “In that case, I shall head to the square with master spell caster,” Lizard Priest offered.

  “All right.” Goblin Slayer nodded.

  High Elf Archer, who had heard the conversation from her place on the rooftop, spoke without taking her eyes or ears off the village. “I guess I’ll run support for you, dwarf!”

  “Sounds good, Long-Ears!” Dwarf Shaman took a swig from his flask and wiped his mouth on his gauntlet, then he pounded Lizard Priest’s belly like a drum. “Right then, Scaly! Shall we go?”

  As he left, Lizard Priest thumped Goblin Slayer on the shoulder with one powerful hand. “I wish you success in battle, milord Goblin Slayer.”

  “……”

  Goblin Slayer said nothing but finally nodded and began to move. His stride was nonchalant, but his footsteps made no sound. He was approaching the side of the house, where Priestess was with the little girl they had saved.

  “…Is the girl all right?”

  “Yes. I think she’s a little less frightened now…” Priestess gave an optimistic smile. Across from her, the girl was curled up on the ground, fast asleep. Adventurers had come, and she had told them about her sister—perhaps she needed a break from consciousness after all that.

  “What should we do…?”

  “We have no more time to worry about her.”

  “Oh…” But before she could say anything more, a rough, gloved hand picked the girl up. Goblin Slayer deposited her in the nearby barrel. Then he pulled a blanket from his bag and laid it over her. She wasn’t exactly safe, but this was the spot her older sister had chosen. Perhaps it would help her relax.

  Where were the Earth Mother and the Supreme God that they would not answer the prayers of a little girl?

  “…This will have to do,” Goblin Slayer muttered.

  “Right,” Priestess said with a little nod. Her right hand held her sounding staff, but the left wandered through the air, until she placed it hesitatingly on Goblin Slayer’s back. “I’m sure…it’s fine.”

  “…Yes.” Goblin Slayer nodded. Then he strengthened his grip on his sword, raised his shield, and looked ahead. The village was burning, and there were goblins to slay. “Let’s go.”

  “Yes, sir!” Priestess answered without hesitation while gripping her staff with both hands. She would not object to anything he asked her to do. After all, he was the person who had saved her life.

  She was all too aware that her abilities were not yet great, that she was still woefully inexperienced. But even so—

  “Don’t worry. I’ll watch your back!”

  Thus, the battle began.

  §

  Goblin Slayer and Priestess slid like shadows along a snowy path lined with log houses. The sun, peeking intermittently through the clouds, had already begun to sink, and soon it would be twilight. The goblins’ hour. This village didn’t have much time left.

  Priestess gulped air as she ran. “I’ve never fought…in a village before…”

  “There aren’t nearly as many obstacles as in a cave. Watch the shadows and watch out for attacks from above.” Even as he spoke, Goblin Slayer lifted his sword and flung it. It flew through the air, piercing the chest of a goblin who had scrambled up onto a rooftop.

  “ORAAG?!”

  The creature screamed and tumbled to the ground. Goblin Slayer pulled a hatchet from his belt. A flick of his wrist brought it down harder than a one-handed sword. He buried it in the skull of the goblin writhing on the ground.

  “GAAROROROOOOOOORG?!”

  It gave a long, choked death knell. Goblin Slayer seemed pleased by the sound. Not bad.

  “That makes four.”

  “Since there are six in the square, that means less than ten left, doesn’t it?”

  Priestess squeezed her eyes shut, offering a prayer to the Earth Mother that the tiny demon might not lose his way on the road to the afterlife.

  All mortal beings died once and once only; in this, everyone was the same. Death was the kindest and most equal thing in this world.

  “Yes. And we don’t have much time to search.” Goblin Slayer jogged up to an intersection, then moved close to Priestess as if asking her to watch his back. To be suddenly so close to him—her heart began to race, even though she knew this was entirely platonic.

  “They’ll have noticed the scream. They’ll be coming soon. Get ready.”

  “Oh, r-right!”

  Priestess nodded, gripped her sounding staff firmly, and brought her hands together at her chest.

  Perhaps it was all the running and the nervousness that accounted for her elevated heart rate and her strangely hot face. There was no time for idle thoughts now, she told herself.

  “Watch your feet. If you slip on the snow, you’ll die. And watch out for poisoned blades.”

  “Right. Um…” Priestess looked at him questioningly. Cover. Overhead. Her feet and poisoned weapons. “So what you really mean is… Just watch out for everything, like usual.”

  “Mm,” Goblin Slayer grunted.

  She felt him nod rather than saw it, and it brought a smile to her face.

  “That’s not much in the way of guidance.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Gosh. You… You really are hopeless, aren’t you?” She giggled, but it was mostly in hopes of masking how scared she was.

  This was only one of many times when she and Goblin Slayer had fought together, just the two of them. But it was, perhaps, the first time she had been in the front with him like this.

  Their party included five people now. Goblin Slayer was their only front-line specialist, but Lizard Priest was a fighter as well. A rearguard specialist like herself had very few chances to experience the full brunt of combat. She had to admit that every once in a while, she had grown impatient being protected by everyone else, but still…

  It doesn’t matter. I have to make sure to do my job.

  And anyway, she appreciated that everyone looked out for her.

  She gripped her staff even tighter; she saw forms moving, obscured by the drifting snow.

  “Looks like they’re here…”

  “Make small movements with your weapon. All I need is a distraction. I can strike the finishing blow.”

  “Yes, sir…!”

  And then there was no more time for conversation.

  The goblins, seeing that their opponents numbered only two, and one of them a woman, assaulted the intersection from all four directions at once.

  “GAAORRR!!”

  “GROOB!!”

  “Five…!” Goblin Slayer said, striking the first goblin to attack with his hatchet as easily as if he were chopping firewood.

  “GOROB?!”

  The monster fell to the ground, the hatchet still buried in his forehead. Without slowing down, Goblin Slayer turned his shield on the creature to the left. The sharpened, polished edge doubled as a weapon, and it evoked a strangled cry from the second goblin when it split his head open.

  The second creature stumbled back. Goblin Slayer didn’t hesitate to grab the dagger the goblin had stashed in his dirty loincloth.

  “Hrr!”

  He kicked the goblin in the stomach and sent him flying, then channeled the momentum into throwing the dagger he had stolen. It flew straight to a goblin who was rushing toward them with a pike. The creature began to claw at the dagger that had suddenly sprouted from his throat, then collapsed.

  “Six.”

  He stepped on the body of the first goblin he had killed and pulled out the hatchet, then promptly planted it in the head of the unfortunate second creature, who had been struggling to get up.

  “Seven!”

  The fight was many against only two—but one of those two was Goblin Slayer. He focused on what was in front of him, leaving his otherwise vulnerable back to Priest
ess. There were no walls for the monsters to attack from; he could see in all four directions, and that was all he needed. There was no enemy easier to overpower than goblins who had left their territory.

  “Hah! Yah!”

  Priestess, sweat beading on her forehead, was making small, quick movements with her staff. They were not unlike the dance she had learned for the ritual she performed at the festival; she drew on her long hours of practice as she fought.

  She wasn’t dealing the goblins any serious blows; she was just keeping them at bay. Making sure they stayed back. Giving them something to think about. She only wanted to ensure they didn’t get too close. She might have been able to keep them back even farther if she made larger swings, but that risked one of them finding an opening, and then it would all be over.

  Besides, I’ve got Goblin Slayer behind me.

  He was watching her back, and she was watching his. She felt both relief and a sense of duty, the two mingling in a strange excitement.

  “Ah…!” Suddenly, she felt Goblin Slayer begin to move to the right. Without a moment’s hesitation, she followed him. They turned, as if in a dance, so that he was now facing where she had been.

  “Eight… Nine!”

  Goblin Slayer’s hatchet began mowing down the goblins Priestess had held off. No matter how many times she heard it, the girl could never quite get used to the sound of a heavy blade cutting through flesh and bone. Especially not when she was faced with goblins, their eyes alight with greed and hatred, crawling over the corpses of their companions to get at her.

  The bone-chilling terror of that first adventure still hadn’t left her. And it likely never would.

  “Ya—ah?!”

  There was a thock as one of the goblins caught the end of her sounding staff. A moment’s struggle soon began to tell in favor of the goblin. Even the weak monster could overpower Priestess’s thin arms. With his strength, the goblin could easily pull her off her feet, claw at her throat.

  Priestess went pale; the image of one of her former party members, a female wizard who had met a gruesome end, flashed in the back of her mind.

  “O Earth Mother, abounding in mercy, grant your sacred light to we who are lost in darkness!”

  “GORRUURUAAAA?!?!”

  But she wouldn’t let it end that way. She had gained a great deal of experience since then. The Holy Light miracle seared the goblin’s eyes without mercy. The creature fell back, clutching his face, and Priestess’s staff nearly jumped back at her.

  The miracle didn’t do any damage, but everything had its uses. Those without imagination were the first to die. That was something she had learned from Goblin Slayer.

  “Ten…!”

  And Goblin Slayer, of course, was not one to miss a goblin who had left him an opening. The hatchet seemed to trade places with her; it sliced clean through the goblin’s throat. The monster spasmed and rolled on the ground. Its neck hung at a strange angle. Another blow. The last one.

  Goblin Slayer produced this pile of corpses as naturally as breathing. Now, he turned expressionlessly to Priestess.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “N-no.”

  His question was as direct as always. Priestess quickly patted herself down to be sure. Even if she didn’t think she was injured, it was possible she had sustained a graze somewhere. With the goblins using poisoned weapons, even a small wound could be deadly.

  “I—I think I’m all right.”

  “I see.” Goblin Slayer nodded. He inspected the bloody hatchet and gave a soft cluck of his tongue. It wasn’t greasy, but the blade was beginning to dull from cutting through so much bone. He tossed it away and, for the second time, drew the little bow on his back.

  Almost as an afterthought, he said, “Holy Light. That was a good choice.”

  “Huh…?” It took her a moment to figure out what he was talking about. Is he…praising me? “Oh! Uh—um, th-thank you…?” He really is, isn’t he?

  She felt a happy warmth start in her cheeks, but before it could spread any further, she suppressed the smile that loomed. “Heh-heh.”

  Just that little chuckle escaped her. This was no time to savor the compliment. Instead, she kept her face neutral, gripped her staff almost imploringly, and offered up prayers for the dead. Goblin Slayer wouldn’t stop her from doing that.

  “Three earlier, seven here, and this one makes ten.” He had an arrow ready and was scanning the area.

  Close inspection of the mud- and blood-soaked path revealed a number of bodies on the ground. Most of them were human, but several were goblins. The villagers must have resisted. The monsters appeared to have been killed with hoes or similar farming tools. There were two—no, three more—goblin corpses.

  “The final count is thirteen, then.”

  Goblin Slayer went around kicking each of the bodies to be sure they were dead. One of the corpses dropped a dagger; he picked it up and put it in his belt. He wasn’t discriminating when it came to weapons. A single stone could kill a goblin. Even barehanded, there were ways. Still, there were times when a real weapon was the decisive factor. It was important to collect whenever the opportunity arose.

  “We said there were five or six in the square, as I recall.”

  “That would make eighteen or nineteen total, right?” Priestess had finished her prayers; she stood up, brushing the dust from her knees.

  Goblin Slayer’s expression was hidden behind his helmet, but Priestess, for her part, looked confused. “Not quite twenty…”

  “I don’t like the way they’re keeping all their hostages in one place, either. Nor do I like how the corpses of the villagers who fought back appear unmolested.”

  Priestess put a finger thoughtfully to her lips, then murmured, “It’s not very…goblin-like, is it?”

  Many things had happened in caves and ruins and other deep places that she didn’t want to recall. But whenever and wherever goblins overcame their enemies, they tended to have their sport with them right then and there. They saw such places as their nests, so to speak. Territory where they could relax. And the more someone fought back, the more violent and cruel the goblins became.

  Goblins were cunning and cowardly, mean and vicious, and above all they were loyal to their appetites. They probably didn’t even know what it meant to put off gratifying their own desires. For them to take hostages on enemy ground, and then continue looting without laying a hand on their captives…

  “Do you suppose there’s another ogre or dark elf behind this?”

  “I don’t know,” Goblin Slayer said. “It could just be goblins.”

  He spoke in a manner very characteristic of him; for some reason, Priestess found this reassuring. Goblin Slayer was a little twisted, a little strange, a mite bizarre, and certainly stubborn. She had often been in a great deal of danger during her year with him. And sometimes, she felt that she couldn’t leave him alone or that he was hopeless.

  “You might be right,” she said, and her voice was very gentle. But then…

  “Huh…?”

  Something tickled her nose, a barely detectable odor on the wind. A sweet, stimulating aroma much like alcohol.

  “He must be using Stupor,” she said.

  “So he decided to put the hostages and the goblins all to sleep.” Goblin Slayer looked around, then toward the town square, where the smell was presumably coming from. Indeed: smoke was rising from the area, too much to have been caused by anything but magic.

  “Very efficient.”

  “Ha… Ah-ha-ha-ha…” A tight smile came over Priestess’s face, and she looked away.

  Nothing more efficient than putting an entire nest to sleep. Sure…

  She thought the words but didn’t say them.

  §

  “Orcbolg, I thought you’d never get here!”

  “Did you?”

  High Elf Archer had her little chest puffed out; Goblin Slayer answered her with a hint of annoyance. When he and Priestess had arrived, the town square was
already in his party’s hands.

  All the goblins’ loot had been piled up around the hostages. The villagers themselves, dozens of them gathered in the center of the square, were still asleep, but as far as Goblin Slayer could see, no one was hurt. Having confirmed this, he nodded once.

  Next, he turned his attention to the goblin corpses.

  “Six of ’em here for you.” Dwarf Shaman had dragged the bodies to one spot and was now wiping his hands with a look of disgust. “Aagh! Gods above, but goblins do stink.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Sure they stink or sure they’re dead? The answer’s yes, in any case. All the ones my spell hit anyway. How’re you doing, Scaly?”

  “Mm.” Lizard Priest, who was still watching vigilantly on the other side of the square, nodded gravely. “I took three apart with my claws and fangs. Mistress ranger shot three with her bow. Six between us. No mistake, I believe.”

  “I see. Nineteen, then,” Goblin Slayer muttered, reaching into the mound of corpses. He was checking whether any of the dead goblins had been carrying a sword.

  He found one and extracted it, checking the blade, and when he found it was acceptable, he put it in his sheath. At last he seemed to calm down.

  “Uh, hey, Orcbolg. Where’s the girl?” High Elf Archer’s complaint from earlier seemed to be forgotten. When she said the girl, she could mean only one person.

  “I sent her to bring the child.”

  “Do you think she’ll be all right?”

  “Yes.” Goblin Slayer nodded. “I don’t think there’ll be any issues. That’s been my experience, at least.”

  He looked once more at the villagers. He located the person who looked both the oldest and the best dressed and strode over to him.

  “Are you the village chief?”

  “Er, well, yes. Who are all of you…?” He looked at Goblin Slayer, suspicion multiplying the wrinkles in an already elderly face.

  Goblin Slayer answered by showing his level tag.

  “We’re adventurers.”

  “Adventurers… And you’re Silver-ranked…”

  The village headman blinked several times, then understanding entered his eyes. “Could you be the Goblin Slayer…?”

  “Yes,” Goblin Slayer murmured, evoking a shout from the headman.