The air smelled of smoke and blood.
Goblin Slayer walked the streets of the burning city, the dirt and cobblestone slick with blood and bodies. His armor and drawn sword were clean of blood and he desperately stalked between the flaming buildings to fix that. But no matter where he went he found only bodies, in the alleyways, the parks, and hanging outside of the windows and doors of every business.
All he found were the bodies of men, every woman seemingly taken.
The Adventurers Guild was burned to the ground, only a blackened husk with some charred skeletons inside. As Goblin Slayer kneeled down to pick up the skull of what he was sure was Lancer, judging by the burned armor he found the bones in, a cruel laugh came from behind him. Turning to face it he found a Goblin standing in the street, covered in blood and clutching the severed head of child. With demented glee the Goblin tossed the child's head at Goblin Slayer and ran when he blocked the severed body part and gave chase.
No matter how hard he ran Goblin Slayer could not catch the blood soaked Goblin as it danced through the streets. He would laugh as Goblin Slayer got close enough to swing his sword only to jump farther than any Goblin should have been able to. The Goblin would jeer as Goblin Slayer picked up anything he could to throw at the Goblin to try and trip him up. Soon the Goblin got farther and farther away until he was gone, disappeared down an alleyway.
Bursting onto the street that the Goblin had vanished on Goblin Slayer found a pit erupting in the middle of the road. With no thought of his safety he plunged into the dark pit, somehow managing to navigate the dark tunnels without any light. His foot falls and ragged breathing echoed through the cavern as he descended lower and lower into the Earth, the air becoming heavier and fouler. Soon he neared the entrance to a chamber filled with dancing lights and terribly familiar sounds.
Goblin Slayer had found where all of the city's women had been taken.
The chamber he had barreled into was vast, large enough to hold the hundreds of frantic Goblins and the women that they were raping around massive bonfires. Goblin Slayer could hardly see the women from behind the crowds of Goblins that had encircled each of them, either waiting their turn or masturbating at the sight of them being violated. The cheers of the Goblins were raised with every cry from the women, shouting their joy at the plunder that the city above had offered them. Roaring with rage Goblin Slayer rushed to the nearest crowd of Goblins before a sound stopped him.
It was the cries and screams of a woman, clear above all the others.
It was a begging and pleading that he knew so very well although he had only heard it once years ago.
It was the sounds his sister had made the day that the Goblins had come to their village.
His blood turning to ice Goblin Slayer turned slowly to the source of the sound and saw another group of Goblins, cheering and guffawing at the rape that they watched. But through the cracks of the crowd he could see a face, once kind now broken.
Bright pink eyes stared back at him, bloodshot and wet with tears.
"Alex…" His sister's voice whispered clearly to him. "…Why?"
Before he could answer a hand fell onto his shoulder and turned him around. Through his shirt, his armor now gone somewhere he couldn't imagine, it felt cold and heavy. Towering above him was a Dark Figure not illuminated by the bonfires wearing a ragged red cloak and tarnished crown on its head, its pointed ears lined with jeweled earrings. He made to raise his sword and shield but found his hands empty. Not only empty, they were small and delicate. When the Goblins began to leave their gatherings and surround them Goblin Slayer realized that they now stood eye to eye with him.
He was a child again, as small and weak as the day he first encountered Goblins.
"Ahhh," the Dark Figure breathed, its words and breathe coloring the air a sickly green color, "my namesake and savior. I finally found you." A withered green hand with bony fingers attached to an impossibly long arm emerged out of the Dark Figure. Goblin Slayer was rooted to the spot as the hand got closer and closer, widening as it readied to close around him. "Such a fine world, so much for-"
"Hey," the Elf Bard said as he shook Goblin Slayer's shoulder, "wake up. It's morning." He opened his eyes to find the blonde Wood Elf looking down at him and holding a collection of fruits and berries in his arms. "I got breakfast," the Elf said as he moved away to sit across from Goblin Slayer, "I didn't see any sign of the Goblins so we should be free to get out of here."
"Hmm." Goblin Slayer hummed as he sat up, his back aching from the hard cave floor. Gazing behind the Elf Bard as he set the foraged food down to the mouth of the cave he could see the glow of the sunrise begin to illuminate the tree tops. "We'll need to move quickly. I don't know how these Goblins have been… raised but traditionally their nights are our days."
"We'll get to that." The Elf Bard said as he grabbed an apple that Goblin Slayer was reaching for. "But first," he continued taking a bite out of the red fruit, "why don't you tell me what the fuck is going on? Because last time I checked," he leaned forward and swallowed, "Goblins don't fucking talk or camp out in the middle of forests with fucking tents or take fucking prisoners that aren't women they can rape!"
"Actually Goblins sometimes have trouble telling the difference between Elven Men and Women." Goblin Slayer revealed casually. "Upon discovering that an Elf is in fact male they will typically leave them to the smaller and weaker members of the nest to rape while the others enjoy the women."
"That's…" The Elf Bard started to say before stopping and looking down at his apple. "…not what I needed to hear right now." With a sigh he ran a hand through his dirty long blonde hair. "So this… shit show… how'd it start?"
"It was… three days ago." Goblin Slayer remembered, reaching for and taking a collection of blue berries. "I took a quest to clear out a Goblin nest that had recently raided a village and captured a young woman." He popped a blue berry into his mouth and began to chew. "I noticed… oddities very quickly, everything seemed so unlike typical Goblin behavior." He swallowed and popped another blue berry. "I eventually found the woman, alone and unharmed tied to a tree on a hill, and discovered a small group of Goblins hiding in covered holes." He swallowed and popped another. "That is when I first encountered one of these talking Goblins."
"What'd it say?" The Elf Bard asked, now half done with his apple.
"It… congratulated me on my skill." Goblin Slayer answered, closing his eyes and sneering internally. "It said that it was to observe me, maybe to follow me and find out where I lived." His blood chilled for a moment as he imagined these Goblins going to the farm and finding the Rancher's Niece.
'Be calm, they have no way of knowing about her if they bothered to find and follow me home. Not with that talking Goblin dead.' This thought and the mental image of the original talking Goblin's death, its head crushed and brains splattered, soothed him greatly.
"So these Goblins kidnapped a girl just to find you?" The Elf Bard asked. "How'd they know you'd show up? Why do they even give a shit about you?"
"I take Quests to hunt Goblins every day, sometimes two or three if they're close enough to each other." Goblin Slayer explained, moving onto his own apple. "If they did something to get the Guild involved then either I or someone else would have come to them. The talking Goblin never said that they got me on their first attempt." He paused to take a loud bite out of his apple. "I'll have to ask at the Guild to see if anyone else had a similarly strange Goblin Quest."
"…So that's why all we found was that de-, that talking Goblin Shaman?" The Elf Bard asked quietly, thinking about his dead Party members. "All of this was a trap for you? Would they have left my Party go if you didn't show up?"
"Most likely." Goblin Slayer answered plainly. "What happened to your Party? I presume they are all dead?" Silence was his answer. "…Unfortunate, I'm sorry."
"…No, no." The Elf Bard said shaking his head. "There's no way any of us could have seen this coming. We were just expecting a regular Goblin nest, not… this."
"Actually it was possible that your Party would have still all died, and you as well, if this had been even a small nest." Goblin Slayer said bluntly as he finished his apple.
"What?!" The Elf Bard shouted as he jumped to his feet angrily. "How the hell can you think that?"
"Almost every week a Party of new Adventurers takes a Quest to clear out a Goblin nest and does not come back." Goblin Slayer answered as he picked up another apple. "Sometimes the next Party finishes the Quest… sometimes it takes the one after that." The anger left the Elf Bard's face as realization began to dawn. "A Fighter with a longsword, not meant for fighting in caves, and a large shield, a Ranger with a longbow and no way to shoot in the dark, a Gnome Wizard with only a few spells, and an Elven Bard." Goblin Slayer looked up at the Elf Bard and tried to be as sympathetic as he could. "I'm sorry, but this was going to end in blood regardless."
"I… I…" The Elf Bard tried to speak as Goblin Slayer went back to eating. He stared at the blood covered Human for a moment before settling back down on the cave floor. "…Why are these Goblins after you? Where did they come from?"
"…I saved the woman who gave birth to their Father." Goblin Slayer answered honestly before taking a bite. "It was a year ago apparently, she was a heathen and her family spurned the Church's offer to take her in and deal with the Goblin child. The Child would be special, the first of these talking Goblins. And," he took another bite, "it wants to meet me so it sends its children."
"…By the First Trees." The Elf Bard swore. "What are you going to do?"
"I am going to find and kill this Goblin." Goblin Slayer answered immediately. "It and all of its children, they will be hunted down and killed to the last infant."
"You, you kill the babies?!" The Elf Bard asked shocked. "But, but they're harmless!"
"Not forever." Goblin Slayer answered as he finished his apple and stood. "Goblins reach maturity three to four days after being born. And then they become as dangerous as the rest of their species." He moved to gather up his pack, sword, and shield. He also made a note to buy some new socks and boots soon, his feet were dirty from running most of the night.
"Do you think you can? I mean, kill them all?" The Elf Bard asked as he followed him, picking up his dagger and lute. "There must be a lot for them to send, like, sixty Goblins after you."
"If the Shaman was telling the truth then there are hundreds of them." Goblin Slayer answered and the Elf Bard nearly dropped his lute in shock.
"H-hundreds?! How?!" The largest horde of Goblins that the Elf Bard had ever heard of had been only 130 in some old story his village Story Tree had told him.
"Magic." Goblin Slayer revealed, remembering what the Goblin Shaman had told him. "I have… suspicions that I hope to confirm soon."
"How are you going to stop these Goblins?!" The Elf Bard asked perplexed as Goblin Slayer moved to the mouth of the cave. "The numbers alone…"
"Yes," Goblin Slayer said as he came to the mouth of the cave and looked at the early morning sky, "if I don't die trying it will probably take me the rest of my life. But that's fine… I planned to die fighting Goblins ever since I was a child."
"You don't even know where they are!" The Elf Bard shouted. "How are you going to find them?!"
"I'll manage." Goblin Slayer answered. "Although I pray that I find them before they begin raiding." He closed his eyes for a moment and saw the burned city, the corpses, and raped women from his dreams. "I know how Goblins work. At a hundred strong they will go from town to town destroying everything. With the numbers these Goblins have and led by intelligent ones… I have no idea what kind of hell they will bring."
There was a long moment of silence between the two Adventurers before the Elf Bard sighed and pulled out a pack that sounded heavy with coins. "Here." He said as he handed it over to Goblin Slayer. "I found it with the Goblin's things while I was rescuing you. They're Dwarf coins," he explained as Goblin Slayer pulled one out to look at it, "but not any kind I've ever seen. Take it to a collector and maybe they could tell you where they came from. Might lead you to your Goblins."
"Thank you." Goblin Slayer said as he put the pack away. "For this and rescuing me. If you had not come along I would be most likely on my way to their home but in an incredibly bad position."
"Yeah, well." The Elf Bard said as he smiled and looked at the trees surrounding the mouth of the cave. "It was the right thing to do, couldn't leave anyone in the hands of Goblins. You'd have probably done the same thing."
"No." Goblin Slayer answered immediately and the Elf Bard turned to look at him shocked. "I would have lit the tree line around the camp on fire with the exception of a single small opening that the Goblins would have rushed to escape through. This area I would have littered with traps and have faced as many of the Goblins I could, doing my best to kill a few and duck back into the trees." He explained, ignoring the growing frown on the Elf Bard's face. "Between the fire causing panic, the traps catching stragglers, and my hit and run tactics I could probably have killed all of them. The two special Goblins leading them would have been the biggest challenge however, especially the Shaman." He mused, having never seen a Shaman use a Paralysis spell before. "If you had not been raped and murdered or died from the smoke then I would have probably found you while scavenging the camp."
"…You like this with everybody you adventure with?" The Elf Bard asked after a moment of silence.
"I hunt Goblins alone mostly." Goblin Slayer answered.
"Yeah I can believe that." The Elf Bard said as he began to walk toward the tree line. "Let's get going, you got a crusade to go on and I feel like I got a drink waiting for me."
The walk back to the Adventurer's Guild only took a few hours and despite getting raised eyebrows at the city gates for being covered in blood, and barefoot in Goblin Slayer's case, they made it back as the Guild opened.
"Does the bar start serving drinks this early?" The Elf Bard asked as he looked down at his blood covered red suit. "I'm going to go get a drink, or three, and then go get this cleaned."
"I don't know." Goblin Slayer answered as he walked toward the reception desks, his dirty feet leaving footprints on the newly cleaned wood floor. "Excuse me," he said to the Guild Girl as she blanched at his bloody clothes, "I have an unusual request."
"Umm." The Guild Girl said as she looked at his blood soaked clothes, her face a little white at the sight. "What, what is it? We just opened so…"
"I need to look at the records of all the Quests I've taken while registered as an Adventurer here." Goblin Slayer explained as he took off his steel Adventurer's Tag and handed it over. "If the files are not under my name then they may be under Goblin Slayer."
"Oh! You're Mr. Goblin Slayer?" The Guild Girl said surprised. "I didn't recognize you without the armor. What about that Party of Porcelain Adventurers? Did any of them survive?" She asked worried, remembering how he had so coldly said yesterday before setting off that they were most likely dead.
"They were all alive when I arrived." He said and she sighed in relief. "But only he lives." Goblin Slayer continued, pointing to the Elf Bard who stood at the bar.
"What happened?!" The Guild Girl asked shocked. "You said that they were alive when you got there!"
"This Quest has become… complicated." Goblin Slayer admitted. "The Goblins still live so it may be best to mark this Quest as failed. But about my records…"
"I'll… ask my boss." The Guild Girl said as she left her desk and went into the back offices. Goblin Slayer was left waiting at the reception desk as the morning Adventurers began to trickle in, either eager to get a new Quest or reporting in for one completed the day before. Most of them gave him a wide berth, eying this strange barefoot man covered in blood not knowing that he was in fact Goblin Slayer.
Almost no one save the Cow Girl, her Uncle, and now the Elf Bard, the Goblin Shaman, and the Guild Girl knew what he looked like under the armor.
So it was very unusual for three of them to be under one roof.
"…Alex?" A quiet familiar voice asked behind him and Goblin Slayer's blood went cold as he turned around to find the Cow Girl standing there. She looked at him with a mix of worry and confusion. "Where's your armor? And your boots?"
"…They were taken from me." Goblin Slayer answered honestly.
"You were robbed?!" She exclaimed as she moved to stand with him and inspected his bloody clothing. "Are you alright?! Is that where you've been the last few days?"
"I'm fine." Goblin Slayer assured in his stoic way. "But no, they were taken only yesterday. I've been dealing with a… complicated Quest."
"But don't you only take Goblin Quests?" The Cow Girl asked confused. "Did you… did you meet a kind of Goblin you've never seen before?" The twitch of Goblin Slayer's face was all the answer she needed as the Guild Girl returned from the back offices.
"Excuse me." She said, getting his attention. "They said that you can look over your old Quests by I have to be there to watch you."
"That is fine." He said moving to follow her.
"Alex!" The Cow Girl exclaimed to get his attention back to her. "What happened on your Quest? Why are your clothes covered in blood? Is it yours?"
"It is not." He answered plainly. "I'll explain everything when I get back to the farm in a couple hours. I have some business to take care of before I return." He did not face her when he said this because it was a lie and he did not trust his bare face.
"Oh I can wait, it'll be safer traveling back with you anyway!" She argued as the Guild Girl began to fidget in place, wanting to get back to work.
"No… I don't think it will be." Goblin Slayer said quietly. He turned around to face and with the sternest face he could muster said. "Go home."
"What? Why?" She asked confused. "Alexander what's going on? What… what kind of Goblin did you meet?" She asked going for what had gotten the biggest reaction from him.
"Please." Goblin Slayer begged, his voice low. "I'll tell you when it's over. The Farm should be safe. But you and your Uncle will have to keep an eye out for Goblins while I'm gone."
"While you're gone?! Where are you going?!" She begged to know, now on the verge of tears and holding her hands to her chest. "Alexander, you're starting to scare me!"
"Umm, excuse me?" The Guild Girl interjected. "But I need to get back to work, there are other Adventurers that need help."
"I'm sorry." Goblin Slayer said to the Guild Girl and then turned back to the Cow Girl and moved in close to her. "…Emma." He said using her name for the first time in a long time. Her eyes widened and he could see how bright and pink they were even while she was crying.
They were just like his sister's eyes.
They were just like the talking Goblins eyes.
"Until this is over… it may not be safe to be around me." He said softly. "I don't know where this…" He stopped short of saying Quest. "Where this… Adventure will take me or how long. But I can't abandon it." She was full on crying now, her eyes red and nose starting to run. "If I… don't come back then you'll need to for-"
He was cut off when she crashed into him and hugged him, digging her head into his bloody shirt. He stiffened and looked down at her, unsure of how to react. "Don't… don't talk like that." She cried. "You'll come back. Promise me that. Promise you'll come back."
"I can't," he said honestly, "there are possibly hundreds of Goblins an-"
"Please!" She sobbed. "If you promise… I'll let you go. If you don't then, then, I'll follow you!" It was a ridiculous image, she was used to hard living and work yes but that was all calm and domestic. She had never held a weapon before or even seen wounds inflicted by them. He doubted she even knew what equipment or provisions to bring on even short trips.
"…I promise." Goblin Slayer swore.
"Say it like you mean it," she cried, looking up at him, "I know when you lie. You hesitate or freeze up."
"I promise." The man in the blood soaked clothes swore.
This was finally enough and she let him go, wiping her eyes free of tears. "Bring, bring me something back alright? From wherever you're going?" She tried to smile but it was obviously strained. "This is your first real adventure right? You should have something to remember it with."
"I'll try." Goblin Slayer said and she turned and walked out of the Guild, Adventurers watching her go and trying to pretend that they weren't watching their conversation. He turned back to the Guild Girl who was sniffling a little herself at the scene. "I'm sorry for the hold up. I'm ready to go into the archives now."
With no other words she led him to the back offices and into the large archive room where records of every living Adventurers previous Quests were stored.
Stonewall.
The last Quest he had taken as a Porcelain rank that he had lost his Adventurers Tag on, a note on the report confirmed it, was from a village called Stonewall. It was a day's walk to the North, the direction he and the Elf Bard had just come from.
Which meant that he would be heading right back into the path of the Goblin Shaman and the remains of its horde.
"That was quite a show you put on." The Elf Bard said when Goblin Slayer emerged from the back offices, leaning against a wall with a drink in hand. He had lost his bloody suit and was dressed in a simple white shirt and brown pants. "Was that your girl?"
"No," Goblin Slayer answered walking passed the Elf who followed, "she is a friend. I stay at her Uncle's Farm with them."
"She sure didn't sound like a friend." The Elf Bard remarked taking a drink. "So you're heading out already? Not even going to resupply or get the coins looked at?"
"I have plenty of supplies and provisions, I'll buy the rest on the road." He neared the door and turned to face the Elf. "I'll have the coins looked at in one of the city's I'll probably stop in."
"Where you headed anyway?" The Elf Bard asked quizzically. "I mean the coins are the only clue to their nest. …If one of the Goblins wasn't just a collector now that I think about it." He mused.
"I'm going to Stonewall." Goblin Slayer revealed. "It's where the mother of this Father Goblin is from. It's where all this started."
"Are you hoping to pick up some kind of trail?" The Elf Bard asked setting his drink down on a nearby windowsill.
"Possibly." Goblin Slayer answered. "But… I'm hoping to find the mother. The Hobgoblin never said that she was dead and if she is then I want to know how."
"…Huh." The Elf Bard said after a pause. "Well, good luck to you." He extended his right hand and Goblin Slayer looked at it for a moment before he put his own out to shake it. "If you come back alive from this madness then be sure to come tell me the story alright? It'll probably be something worth writing a song about!" With a smile and a clap on his back the Elf Bard picked up his drink and downed it as he walked back to the bar.
Goblin Slayer watched him walk for a moment before he turned and left the Adventurer's Guild and then leaving the city to begin his journey.
After making a brief stop to buy some new socks and a pair of boots of course.
By the time that night rolled around the Elf Bard had had a lot of drinks.
And while the Adventurer's Guild provided food and drink they did not rent out rooms. So the Elf Bard found himself stumbling back to the inn in the dead of the night, singing softly to himself and he swayed back and forth.
"Oh the cool breeze stirs naught the… the… forest shadows." He hummed as he nearly tripped over a loose stone. "They shift and weave only for… for… the sight of the Dryad's breasts." It was not a particularly cultured song in the common tongue of Man but in Elvish it was quite beautiful.
Unbeknownst to him however a group of shadows followed behind, getting closer and closer as he sang and stumbled down the empty streets. By the time he noticed they were already upon him. He reeled around as a voice screamed and somehow managed to dodge a club aimed for his head.
Before him was a group of 5 angry and poorly dressed male Gnomes and a single male Halfling who stood behind them.
A Halfling with furious pink eyes.
Even drunk as he was the Elf Bard recognized those eyes from yesterday, when they had changed from normal yellow Goblin eyes. Before the Goblin Shaman with them killed his entire Party.
"Grab him you idiots!" The "Halfling" ordered to the collection of Gnomes in front of him and they rushed forward with very ungnome like cries.
The Elf Bard threw his hand out and somehow managed to slur his words together to form an eleven command. There was a crack of thunder that shook the windows around them and two of the "Gnomes" went flying. They crashed to the ground and their bodies morphed and shifted until they once again bore their true Goblin forms.
"Damn it!" The "Halfling" swore as he drew a dagger. "Want something done right…"
The Elf Bard had drawn his dagger now and was batting the still disguised Goblins away, inching back as smoothly as he could manage. The Shaman walked passed the Goblins and straight toward the Elf Bard with no sign of fighting stance or style at all.
The Elf Bard slashed out with his dagger when the Shaman got close enough only for it to dodge out of the way of his clumsy swing. Before he could swing his dagger again the Shaman kicked his left shin and easily brought him to his knees. The Shaman dropped his dagger and grabbed the Elf Bard's head with both hands.
He then pulled his head as far back as he could and slammed it into the Elf Bard's face, breaking his nose with a loud crunch.
"Something my little brother taught me." The Shaman said, his Halfling form maintaining shape as the Elf Bard moaned in dulled pain. "Before you and Kin Killer cleaved his skull open with a fucking axe!" The Goblins quickly tied his hands and feet together before lifting him up. "You're going to pay for that. Slowly if I have my way. But not until, you're going to take me to Kin Killer." He picked up his dagger and pressed it against the Elf Bard's face.
"First thing's first though," he leaned in and hissed, "where are my fucking coins?"