As with every day on the ranch Goblin Slayer woke up well before sunrise, in the early hours when Goblins would most likely be out scouting. He did not open his eyes immediately upon waking, instead continuing to lie still in his makeshift bed above the barn. He listened to the sounds around him, attentive for anything out of the ordinary. The animals below breathed steady in their sleep, the wind rustled the leaves of the trees outside, and there was the buzz of a few insects.
No light steps and soft creaking of floorboards of a Goblin coming to stab him in his sleep. No whispered talks in the disgusting snarls and grunts that made up the Goblin language as they made plans to raid the ranch. No panicked clucking coming from the hen house of a Goblin stealing away a chicken. No cries from the house as Goblins murdered the Rancher and stole away…
Goblin Slayer opened his eyes and flicked them towards the window that pointed towards the small house of the Rancher and his Niece. Her room was dark as it always was at this hour, the boards over it firmly shut. 'Good, she has heeded my advice.' He thought as he now scanned his space above the barn. He had warned her against leaving her window open and herself visible after he had seen her undressing while returning one night. She had sputtered and turned red when he told her and he had worried that she misunderstood or ignored his warning.
Finding no unusual shadows in the corners or the rafters he got up from his bed and dressed quickly. His armor, ever by his side, was quickly put back on and his sword tied back onto his belt. He made sure to tuck his Steel Adventurers Guild tag securely under his shirt and chest plate before putting on his helmet and picking up his shield with his left hand. Once again in his comfortable second skin and ready to begin the day Goblin Slayer descended the ladder from his room down into the barn.
The animals hardly stirred as he marched past and left the barn to stand in the open air. There wasn't a cloud in the night sky to hide the brilliant array of stars or the white and green glow of the twin moons. Daybreak wouldn't be for another couple of hours but he could still patrol and search for less obvious signs of Goblin scouts in the meantime. So for the next few hours he walked the ranch, checking every bush for fresh Goblin shit and inspecting the locks and fences for tampering. By dawn Goblin Slayer was satisfied that there had been no Goblins around during his slumber.
"Good morning!" A cheerful voice said coming up behind him as he watched the sunrise. He turned to find the Rancher's Niece standing behind him smiling. "You woke up early again."
"Yes." He answered simply.
"Do you always wake up so early or only when you stay here?" She asked as she moved to stand next to him, the wind waving her pink hair over her pretty and equally pink eyes. "I can't imagine you get up to investigate for Goblins at every inn you stay at. Especially the ones in towns!" She giggled.
"I do." Goblin Slayer answered and she stopped giggling. "Goblins will pillage villages and farms for supplies and women. Nests without leaders will do so until they have sufficient numbers and then go and destroy the nearest village or farm to their nest. They unwittingly cut off their easiest source of food, materials, and women. But those with leaders like Shamans…" He paused and watched the sun for a moment and the field dew sparkle in its light.
"Once they reach suitable numbers they ignore the villages and farms that were their early targets, at least at first. They set their sights on the nearest town and destroy it, taking everything they can carry. What they take will be worth much more than raiding a few villages and farms and eliminate the nearest source of protection the area has." The girl looked away from him and down at the ground.
"Then they will have free reign over the area, taking and destroying what they wish until everyone either leaves or is killed. And then they will die, either of starvation or in fighting." He turned to look at her and she managed to look back up at him and his eyes beneath the shadow of his helmet. "And then there will be nothing left but wind and ruins."
"…I'm sorry!" She said suddenly turning away.
"For what?" Goblin Slayer asked, confused.
"For doubting you. You know more about Goblins than anybody so I shouldn't question you about them. Or your ways of dealing with them." She explained not looking back at him. "I'm not even an Adventurer like you."
"It's alright." He said, looking back at the sunrise. "Not many people think about Goblins unless they have to. And from what I've seen most Adventurers do not take Quests to clear out Goblin nests past the Steel rank."
"Will you?" She asked finally turning to look at him again. "You're… you're Steel rank, right? You said that if you clear out just a few more nests that you'll be ranked Sapphire next, right?" Her breath left her as he turned to look at her, his eyes staring straight into her soul from beneath his helmet.
"I slay Goblins. Nothing else." Goblin Slayer said with finality.
"…Well, that's good!" She said, putting on a smile. "I'm… I'm glad someone is!" She then turned and started walking towards the farm house before he could say anything else. "Uncle should have breakfast done by now!"
"…Yes." He said to himself taking one last look at the sun before following after her.
The Adventurers Guild in the nearest city was always busy, from sunup to sundown. Adventurers from all over the frontier gathered to this central location to find work through Quests, form a party, and discuss their craft with each other. From the new Porcelain ranked, fresh faced and ready for their first adventure, to the Silver ranked, who everyone gave wide berths to make way for. There were Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, Gnomes, and occasionally a mixed half race or member of a beast race like a Lizardman.
None of this interested Goblin Slayer. As soon as he entered he joined the line to get a Quest to slay Goblins. The workers at the Guild had learned a while ago to keep Quests around Goblins behind the counter with them. Otherwise they would pile up on the Quest Board where'd they'd go ignored by most other Adventurers. This way he wouldn't have to go through the crowd to get the details and then wait in line to take the Quest.
"Hey, Goblin Boy!" A voice called out and suddenly an arm was wrapped around his shoulder. Goblin Slayer turned his head to find a Human man with chestnut hair and red eyes clad in plate armor with a spear smiling at him. Coming up behind him was a beautiful Human woman with long purple hair and gold eyes in a pointed hat and revealing dress who was also smiling. "Here for another Goblin nest Quest?"
"Ye-" Goblin Slayer tried to answer before he was cut off.
"Of course… he is." The Sorceress said for him slowly, her accent thick. "His name would be… false advertising… otherwise."
"You ever get tired of killing things that barely come up to your waist Gobby?" The Lancer asked as the line moved forward, his arm still around his shoulder.
"Shamans can grow to chest height for myself and Hobgoblins a few feet above me, let alone the difference in width." Goblin Slayer answered plainly.
"Ah, but those are pretty uncommon right?!" Lancer said back. "How many nests have even one of them?"
"One in four." Goblin Slayer answered immediately. "And the number has risen over the past year." He walked up to reception desk now that it was his turn, leaving the Lancer and Sorceress behind. "Goblin Slaying." He said simply to the receptionist.
"Um, w-what?" The receptionist said as she looked at him. "If you bring me a Quest from the board I can…" She trailed off looking at him nervously. Goblin Slayer looked her up and down and realized that she was new, having never seen her light brown hair and golden eyes before.
"He means…" The Sorceress said behind him. "The Goblin Slaying Quests… they keep behind… the counter… just for him."
"For, for him?!" The Guild Girl stammered as she began to look around her area in a panic. "But nobody told me that there'd be special Quests being held!"
"Stop." Goblin Slayer commanded and she froze in place. "Two drawers to your right, one down." He instructed and she pulled out a two pieces of paper which after quickly reading over to confirm they were Goblin Slaying Quests she handed to him.
"Yeah, you're new right?" Lancer asked as he slid up to the reception desk. "I would have noticed a girl as cute as you before!"
'Goblin spotted near a farm to the Southwest. Haven't stolen any animals or encroached on land yet. Survivor from former nest, scout, or just a nest getting started?' He thought to himself reading over the first Quest.
"Oh, um, thank you!" The Guild Girl said blushing. "I just started this morning! And it's already so busy!"
'Six Goblins kidnapped a young woman from a village to the East early this morning. No sounds of struggle, they were seen carrying away her limb body. Father pursued, following trail of her clothing and was ambushed on a trail. Escaped with no injuries.' Goblin Slayer read over the second Quest, his mind spinning over the details.
"Yeah, well only the super serious Adventurers show this ear-" The Lancer started to say before he was interrupted.
"Is this information accurate?" Goblin Slayer asked, showing the Quest details back to the Guild Girl.
"Um, I believe so." The girl answered as Lancer huffed at having been interrupted. "I didn't take down the information though…"
"Something wrong… Goblin Slayer?" The Sorceress asked, coming up to look at the Quest details. She nestled against his arm letting it rest between her breasts which turned the Guild Girl red and made the Lancer roll his eyes.
"Goblins rarely attack early in the morning which is their time to go to sleep. They somehow managed to subdue a woman with little noise and render her unconscious which is unlike them. They took off her clothes piece by piece as they carried her away instead of at their nest. And they ambushed her father on a trail, not at their nest." He listed off. "This is… very strange behavior."
"Maybe they're not Goblins but a bunch of horny Gnomes painted green." The Lancer joked.
"…I'll take this one." Goblin Slayer said handing the Quest details back to the Guild Girl. "If it is Goblins then I can still save the girl and the other won't be threatening for a few more days."
"Very good!" The Guild Girl accepted happily. "Good luck!"
"Happy hunting… Goblin Slayer." The Sorceress said as she disentangled herself from him. The Lancer huffed and turned back to the Guild Girl, eager to resume his flirting.
"Yes." He said as he turned and made for the exit, ready to hunt some Goblins.
The day was beautiful as Goblin Slayer traveled East, not a cloud in the bright blue sky and a soft breeze to keep him cool as he walked. The flowers were in bloom and birds sang as they flew overhead. Rabbits dashed through the underbrush and hopped around nibbling on the grass. It was what many would consider a perfect day.
'Something is not right about this.' Goblin Slayer thought as he surveyed the land around him. It was mostly farm fields with few hills and scattered trees and bushes. 'There's no woods thick enough to hide in so where could their nest be hidden? There are no ruins. And cave opening in the fields would be too obvious and would have been spotted long ago.'
He swung his gaze across the ground as he left the road to go down the trail that the girl's Father had reportedly followed the Goblins down. Already he could see the tracks of half a dozen Goblins, with a large boot occasionally disrupting them. The boots prints followed the Goblin tracks and went against them, showing that the Father had retreated down the same path he had followed the Goblins. Goblin Slayer followed for about ten minutes before he came across dried blood splattered on the ground and a discarded crude dagger caked in blood.
Kneeling down he picked up the dagger and inspected it. 'Old, not cared for or sharpened in a long time. Did this belong to a Goblin or the Father?' He thought as he ran his fingers over the clean side and found no build up on his glove fingertips. 'No poison. No blood trail along the path I came. So it's the Father's, he managed to cut a Goblin before retreating. Why did they let him escape?'
Standing Goblin Slayer looked around at the empty fields around the spot. 'If this was the spot of the ambush then how did the Goblins hide? There are no bushes and the grass is not tall enough.' He wondered as he left the trail and explored the area more now a little on edge. Nothing so far had been typical of a Goblin Slaying Quest. Normally he would be searching for a cave or nest in a densely back forest or by a river or inside of an old ruin. Goblins didn't like open fields where it was impossible to hide in shadows and they could be easily picked off by an archer.
There was no blood on the grass around the area so whatever wound the Father had dealt to the Goblin must not have been serious. 'Or there is a Shaman with them.' Goblin Slayer thought getting back on the trail and continuing on. 'But they rarely ever leave their nests. Stranger and stranger.' He picked up his pace, not liking this Quest at all.
He walked for another five minutes before he came across the first piece of clothing, a single sock laid in the middle of the trail. It was obviously too big for a Goblin, who occasionally wore stolen clothes although they seemed partial to hats. But it was too small for any normal man so it must have belonged to the woman. Continuing on he found more clothes over the hour he followed the Goblins trail. A hair cap, a torn brassiere, a ripped pair of underwear, and strips of cloth that he realized were formerly her night gown ripped to shreds.
That was it, these Goblins, if they were Goblins which Goblin Slayer was beginning to doubt, were purposely leaving a trail to follow. They had either torn her dress apart and then carried the strips to leave behind them or torn of a strip off every few minutes as they walked until nothing was left. Both of these actions were against typical Goblin behavior who upon seeing naked female flesh would have frenzied. They would have had their way with her until a little after she died. Or if she was giving birth to their children, which would not be possible for another day at best.
Her clothes were also clean of Goblin semen and blood. He also hadn't seen any dried semen on the trail which would show where they had stopped to rape her or even spots where they would have masturbated at the sight of her. It was common for lesser Goblins to sate themselves this way when higher ranked ones had personal females they fiercely defended.
Goblin Slayer was starting to think that this may actually be a horny group of Gnomes painted green. Green Gnomes wearing shoes that looked like Goblin feet.
He continued walking, his hand resting on his sword and sense high for anything more out of the ordinary. He didn't have to wait long.
"…elp!" A voice called in the distance. "…Help! …Anybody!" Looking around Goblin Slayer saw a large oak tree on top of a small hill in the distance to the North. From here he couldn't be sure but he thought he could see a figure moving next to the tree trunk. As if to confirm that this is where he needed to go the Goblin tracks turned off the trail and towards the hill.
It was about noon so he could see the entirety of the hill with perfect clarity as he approached. And he saw no Goblins, just a naked young woman with her arms tied around a tree trunk with rope. Goblin Slayer gripped the hilt of his sword so hard that his knuckles turned white under his gloves. Marching up the hill the woman spotted him and called out as if he couldn't already see her.
"Oh thank the Gods!" She cried as he approached her. She was on her knees with her chest pressed against the tree, arms held in place around the trunk by rope. "Oh thank you sir, please cut me free!"
"Where?" Goblin Slayer growled. She blinked and looked up at him as he stopped in front of her.
"Wh- What?" She stammered as she stared into his eyes glaring down at her.
"The Goblins!" He roared, his voice rusty at not having been brought to this volume in a long time. "Where are they?!"
"I- I," she tried to speak as he glared at her his hand clenching over the hilt of his sword, "I d- don't remember any Goblins! I just r- remember waking up to a hand putting something over my mouth and then I woke up here!" Goblin Slayer snarled and turned to walk away from her. "Wait! Where are you going?!"
He ignored her as he started to search the hill for any traces of the Goblins. The tracks had separated once they reached the tree and presumably tied the woman to the tree, spreading out in different directions. They sometimes ran over each other and it became clear that some were deliberately deeper than others. The Goblins had stomped around trying to throw off anyone trying to follow them now.
But the tracks never left the hill. 'They're still here. It's noon so they would normally be asleep… but anything goes now.' Goblin Slayer thought as he began to scan the areas where there were no tracks, looking for irregularities.
Eventually he found one not by sight, but by smell.
While walking back up the hill a breeze carried the familiar stench of Goblin shit, a unique aroma that never changed no matter what they ate. Not making any noticeable changes in his walk Goblin Slayer flicked his eyes to his left and scanned the ground. About fifteen feet away was a space of grass that seemed… out of place and did not move in the wind as well as the others blades.
'Found you, you filthy animal.' He snarled in his mind ready to get to what he had come out here for. Casually he turned left and began to walk to the spot, the smell getting stronger. When he was about three feet away he drew his sword and lunged at the spot. His sword pierced through a collection of flimsy boards with mud and grass on top and plunged into the darkness. It met the familiar resistance of flesh and bone along with the death cry of a Goblin.
Pulling his bloody sword out of the hole he saw a dead Goblin, its chest torn open and gushing blood. Its face was twisted in pain and its goat like eyes bulged out. "One." He said as he pulled his arm back to stab it again and make sure it was dead.
There was a great cry and all over the hill five Goblins burst out of the ground, carrying weapons and shrieking in their terrible language. The woman tied to the tree also shrieked, terrified at the sudden arrival of the creatures and what her fate could be at their hands.
'Five, no Shaman, no Hobs.' Goblin Slayer noted as he turned to them, shield and sword ready. He watched them move, not as fast as they'd be in a cave or in their nest and squinting their eyes in the sunlight. They were creatures unused to fighting in the open or out of the darkness.
'Two daggers, one club, one short sword, and one bow.' He counted the weapons they each carried. His eyes settled on the one with the bow, who wore a crude hood to hide its face. Unlike the others it wasn't grouping up to get ready to rush him and wasn't snarling or shrieking, but was quiet.
It just watched him from behind its hood, arrow nocked and ready in its bow.
"Nah!" The nearest Goblin with a dagger screamed as it rushed forward at him, leaping in the air to try and stab him in the neck. Goblin Slayer brought his shield up to catch the Goblin and threw him down to the ground hard. In the moment before the Goblin could scurry away or swipe at his legs Goblin Slayer brought his right foot down hard on the Goblin's neck. He was rewarded with a delicious snapping sound, a moment of twitching, and a now limb Goblin.
"Two." He said as the other Goblins snarled at him, except the one in the hood. There was a tense moment as the three Goblins finished grouping together in front of the one in the hood about a hundred feet away and waited for an opening. Goblin Slayer took a step toward them and then another, stepping over their dead brother, before two of them sprang forward.
"Gah!" The one with the club ran left while the last dagger user went right. "Rashnah!"
Seeing what they were trying a mile away Goblin Slayer made use of one of the skills he had picked up as an Adventurer. Training his eye on the Goblin with the dagger he pulled back his sword arm and threw his short sword as if it were nothing more than a throwing knife.
The blade flew through the air and impaled itself right between the Goblin's goat like eyes, almost splitting its skull in half. Blood showered out around the blade and the Goblin went cross eyed trying to look at the sword. Its momentum carried it forward for a few more steps until it fell to the ground, landing so that the pommel hit the ground and drove the sword in farther. "Three." He said as he turned in time to catch the club wielding Goblin with his shield.
He fell back as if the Goblin weighed much more than it did, letting the creature climb on to his shield to get above him. "Rah!" It cried out. Reaching back with his now empty right hand he picked up the dagger from the hands of the Goblin with the broken neck. When the Goblin climbed over the shield, with its club raised high to try and smash his helmet and a wicked grin on its face, he swung his arm. The crude dagger slipped through the Goblin's ear and into its skull with a practiced ease. The monster ceased its movement and went limp as its eyes rolled back into its head.
"Four." Goblin Slayer said as the club wielding Goblin fell to the ground, blood seeping out from the dagger embedded ear to soak the grass. He kept his eyes on the remaining two Goblins as he picked up the now free club at his feet from. The one with the bow remained silent as ever but the one with the short sword was looking between Goblin Slayer and behind himself to the hooded Goblin. He had seen this behavior before, when outside of their nests Goblins would flee when things became dire hence why he always tried to fight them at their homes. That way they would always come straight at him until either he or they were dead.
"Sha thaw rah!" Eventually it cried out and ran away from both of them down the hill, throwing away its sword to flee faster. Before Goblin Slayer could decide whether to pursue it or stay and deal with the hooded Goblin something unexpected happened.
The hooded Goblin turned towards to its fleeing brother, pulled back the arrow nocked in its bow, and fired. The arrow sailed through the air and struck the back of the Goblin's skull. The Goblin tripped and fell to the ground, unmoving. Goblin Slayer stood there, shield raised for when the Goblin turned its bow on him, staring at this odd behavior. There was moment of silence as the hooded Goblin turned back to him, silent and staring. All that could be heard was the wind rustling the grass and leaves of the tree and the sobbing of the naked young woman forgotten about by both of them.
"Five." A voice said, cracking from little use.
It took Goblin Slayer a second to realize it wasn't his.
And for the first time in a long time his blood went cold.
"…You are as tough as Father says, Kin Killer." The hooded Goblin spoke, nocking another arrow and now pointing it at him. "You have not taken more than five steps since discovering us and already four of my brothers are dead. I should have had us leave the girl altogether and just watched from a distance."
Goblin Slayer could barely hear the words coming from the Goblin. His hands trembled in an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time. Hot rage, so unlike the cold anger he felt when he saw Goblins and the warm feeling she got when they died. He hadn't felt this way since he first started hunting them, since he had seen his sister… and had sworn to…
"How dare you." Goblin Slayer growled lowly, his voice like rust. "How dare you talk like us! Poison our words with your tongue!" He raged, his mind not even beginning to wonder how such a thing could be possible.
"I had wished no conflict. My orders were to observe you, nothing more. My brothers were merely guards and under my control." He nodded to the woman tied to the tree, still quietly crying and wishing for home. "The woman is safe and unharmed as is her father, take her with you as you were supposed to. I shall go home a failure. But," the Goblin then turned the bow on the woman, "if you take one more step forward I will kill her. There has been enough of this rivalry for one day, yes?"
And with those words Goblin Slayer was gone and something else took his place. "Rivalry?" This new man whispered as his grip on the club strengthened.
The world turned red as he roared and ran toward the Goblin as fast as possible. The Goblin panicked and swung between pointing his bow at the woman or him quickly, unsure where to shoot. Settling on keeping his promise he let his arrow fly and strike the woman in the back of the head, cutting off her crying and making her go limp.
The man in Goblin Slayer's armor didn't care. He didn't care when the Goblin nocked another arrow. He didn't care when the arrow flew at him and he distantly felt a pain in his gut. There was a Goblin in front of him.
A Goblin that needed its filthy head bashed in and its smart brains smeared all over his club.
The Goblin, realizing that there was no stopping this man now, threw down his weapon and turned to flee. He scrambled and managed to get a few feet before the man in the armor brought the club down on his head with a roar. "Naww, puhhlease." The Goblin tried to beg, blood already seeping out of his ears and mouth and falling to the grass.
"Keep making noise." The man in the armor rasped as he raised the club again. "I want to know when you die." He brought the club down. He brought it down again. And again. And again.
Goblin Slayer woke up sometime around sunset.
'My stomach hurts.' He thought and looked down to see an arrow sticking out of it. 'Right.' He sat up, ignoring the pain and looked around. The hill was littered with Goblin corpses and the woman was still tied to the tree, an arrow now in the back of her head. "Hmm." He hummed as he looked over to dead body of the hooded Goblin, the hood now resting against the grass as his head had been completely bashed away. The club rested next his body, snapped in half from over use Goblin Slayer assumed.
Satisfied that he was alone he took out a small health potion from his pocket. Grabbing the shaft of the arrow he ripped it out of his stomach and downed the potion as quickly as possible. Being able to drink and eat without having to take off his helmet as one of the first tricks he learned. The blood flowing out of the now open wound slowed and then stopped within moments.
Tucking the empty bottle away he stood and went about retrieving his equipment and double checking that all the Goblins were dead. It may have been a few hours but he had to be sure. He also cut down the woman and tried his best to lay her out which was difficult with rigor mortis.
After all that had been taken care of he finally went over to the body of the hooded Goblin. Kneeling down he pulled back the hood and took most of the now dry mess that was his head with it. There was almost nothing left but rotting brain, bits of skull, and dry blood.
Almost.
Finding something small, round, and white not far the mess Goblin Slayer reached to pick it up. The object was dry after sitting in the sun outside of the body for so long but it was still identifiable.
It was an eye.
But not a yellow goat like Goblin eye.
A human eye, colored a fading pink.
I like Goblin Slayer.