Book 6- Before the Commonwealth Ch. 2.
They ran again, for the past six months the goblins had been running away from them, and not in the same direction as the retreating demon king army.
They ran so fast and so far that even Goblin Slayer had lost their tracks.
"Something smells rotten."
"It's the fish sauce. It's some kind of super fermented recipe that stinks to high heaven, but it doesn't spoil for months." High King said from next to Goblin Slayer as the duo partook in the wine at Forest Princess's wedding.
"Not that, the goblins behavior is different than what it was before. Tracks that disappear suddenly and without a trace. They must have adapted again." Goblin Slayer replied to High King as they shared drinks.
"I guessed as much. Well, we'll discover their new form and kill them all the same. The same thing with the Demon King, eventually he'll make a mistake and we'll strike, that's what happens to their kind." High King replied and gestured for Goblin Slayer to follow him to his table.
As they did so Goblin Slayer received nods from various lords, princess and powerful merchants as he passed them. Eventually he was lead to the highest table, where the bride and groom, the bride's sister Elf Archer and High King's family sat.
Goblin Slayer took a seat, with High King on his right and to his left he saw that a blonde woman, sat and next to the woman a blonde man was seated that looked just like her.
"I don't think I've ever seen such a tunic on someone who wasn't working in the fields." Golden Haired Queen said and smiled with a sadistic glen in her eyes, her brother Knight Champion.
Goblin Slayer was uncertain on how to respond to that.
He was instructed by his friends on how to act, but he was not certain on how to reply to that. So when in doubt, MANNERS !
"A pleasure to meet you both." Goblin Slayer replied, from the corner of his eyes he saw a smile forming on High King's face.
"You should get out more cousin. The world is a wondrous place." High King said to her.
"The finest in all the realm gather in my city! The best bards, painters, sculptors and the cream of the noblest houses!" Golden Queen said with a snap in her voice.
"And yet I have not heard a single song praising that. Must be bad luck on my part, all the bards sing about…well about the ones that are fist to fight to defend these lands. Peculiar isn't it?" High King said and Goblin Slayer saw how Golden Queen's face contorted in rage. A hand on her shoulder from Knight Champion that stopped her.
"What's he doing at this table!?" A voice from behind Goblin Slayer was heard.
He turned and saw that it was a younger blonde man with his face contorted in rage staring at Goblin Slayer.
"Since he's a King, that's where he's supposed to be seated." High King said, a tint of anger in his voice.
"King? He's nothing more than a cutthroat! He shouldn't be here, he should be in the mud stabbing goblins!" Golden Prince said in outrage. He had developed a great deal of hatred towards Slayer Keep, since that was all the bards sang praise now, and he was forced to listen. Him! One of the highest nobles in the land and he had no song about him, but that joke of Slayer Keep had dozens.
As for Goblin Slayer. After hearing Golden's Prince's suggestion, Goblin Slayer decided that he rather liked the young man.
Which he found the rather odd reaction all around him as the music suddenly stopped and many of his Slayers and close allies from the Dwarf and Elvish Kingdoms where looking at Golden Prince with a glare.
"Boy, that is my Marshall you just insulted! The man I appointed to lead my armies, the man who I made a king, are you questioning your overlords decision!?" High King said, which did made Golden Prince take a step back from the force of High King's voice.
"N-No! Uncle, of course not! But this…this one is a mercenary!"
"Aye he is, the best one around. And guess what, a noble must have good relationship with mercenaries, cause they are the ones that win wars!" High King said and immediately Goblin Slayer got up.
He remembered his lessons well and approached Golden Prince.
"And honor to meet you your excellency." Goblin Slayer said and extended his hand in friendship. The whole room held its breath as they watched this act of reconciliation being offered.
Golden Prince glared at the hand, then moved past Goblin Slayer and sat down in Goblin Slayer's seat. Much to the outrage of the gathered wedding guests.
A moment later a page came and lead him to a new seat which was being placed next to the bride and groom.
As he was lead there, Goblin Slayer was intercepted by a few King and Queens, that he knew had not the best of opinion and he knew where enemies of Slayer Keep.
Those same enemies all shook his hand and patted his shoulders on the way to the table.
"That boy just made himself a hundred enemies and just gave you a hundred allies." Forest Princess said to him after he was sat down.
"Did I do something wrong?" Goblin Slayer asked.
"It's not your fault Orcbolg." Elf Archer said to him.
"Then what's the problem?"
"That." Shining Helm said and gestured to Golden Prince, Golden Haired Queen and Knight Champion.
"A toast to High King. May he have many, MANY, years of reign." Forest Princess said and they all drank to that. Even Goblin Slayer, who was confused as to why.
He thought that Golden Haired Prince was all right, after all he did say that Goblin Slayer should be out killing goblins instead of here, so what was the problem?
"I still don't understand the world and its people." Goblin Slayer said.
"Tell me about it. For years now all I heard from the peasants was complains about the giant rats in the sewers, now all I hear are complaints from the local Adventurer Guild that there's no work anymore since the rats are gone." Forrest Princess said as a matter of fact.
At that Goblin Slayer and Elf Archer stopped eating, looked at Forrest Princess with shock in their eyes, looked at each other. Nodded and Goblin Slayer got up and started making his way to his captains.
He started with Warrior, who was laughing, but after being whispered something in his ear, a grave look was on his face as he too got up and started whispering something in the ears of the captains of Slayer Keep. Who followed in suit and within a few minutes almost a third of the guests got up from the table and made their way to the exit.
"What's going?" Forest Princess asked.
"We are mobilizing Slayer Keep to go down in the sewers." High Elf Archer replied.
"Why?"
"Cause the reason you don't have any giant rats is that they've been exterminated. And there's only one thing in this world that goes underground and can do that without being spotted. Goblins….lots and lots of them." High Elf Archer replied to her sister.
"Oh my. Honey…"
"Yes dear. Captain, gather the banners." Shinning Helm replied.
"What are you doing?"
"Accompanying your friends on their quest little sister. I can't have our guests face danger without standing shoulder to shoulder with them." Forrest Princess said and moved to take of her wedding dress and gear up.
In that moment High Elf Archer had a newfound respect for her sister. Despite their 'strained' relationship, perhaps….perhaps they could find common ground.
"Besides, I can't leave it all in your hands. With you in charge who knows what happens." Forests Princess added right before leaving to join the elven forces.
Then again 'pigs could not fly yet', even in a fantasy world, so it was clear that High Elf Archer's older sister was still her older sister.
High Elf Archer gave out a breath of disappointment and raised herself of the table to join the rest.
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"It's intentional! It's an attack on our house! Having the entire guest hall be emptied after my son bested him in a show of strength! That man must pay for his slight against us!" Golden Haired Queen ranted and paced after the hall was now empty.
Her son Golden Haired Prince was in agreement with her, while her brother Knight Champion gave out a breath of exasperation, downed a cup of wine, grabbed his sword and moved to join the force for battle.
He'd rather deal with death on battlefield than his sister when she was in her moods.
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"204….205… 206, and all of them sentries and patrols. I've never dealt with such a nest of this proportion." Goblin Slayer said as he lead the vanguard over the bodies of the latest patrol that they cut down.
"And here I thought you were the expert when it comes to goblins." Knight Champion said with a smug smirk on his face. This made Warrior fume in anger and he was ready to fight Knight Champion for the slight.
"Wait until after the battle ladie. Keep it until after the fight!" Dwarf Shaman said, restraining Warrior from issuing a challenge.
"I will, but when this is over I'll smash his smug face black and blue. Him, his sister, that brat. That whole family deserves a good kick in the teeth." Warrior whispered back.
"There's a line for that. Believe me there's a line for people that want to punch his lights out." Noble Fencer whispered to her husband.
"You're welcome to try. I could use a few extra laughs after this." Knight Champion said from his position a few meters away from them, surprising the trio and looking over his shoulder at them, giving another smug smirk.
"You friends seem to not like me."
"No, they don't."
"Yet I sense no hostility from you. Why is that King Ceramicus, why is that?"
"You joined me in killing goblins. Because of that I consider you a the best there is." Goblin Slayer replied catching Knight Champion off guard. He could sense no falsehood or brownnosing in Goblin Slayer's words, and that took him aback.
Knight Champion had never truly been praised honestly his entire life. It was always bootlickers, lickpsits or false words. This…this….this was.
"I see…I…..thank you." Knight Champion said, not knowing how to honestly express himself, a lifetime of intrigue will do that to a man.
From behind them Knight Captain smiled at that. He always enjoyed seeing his liege turn enemies into friends.
Just then Sky Queen returned with her patrol group.
"We've found the entrance to the next, it's….it's… come and see." Sky Queen said and showed them the way.
After about half an hour of trudging through sewers, long forgotten dungeons, and the ruins beneath the ground, they found a great deep underground canyon, where from the crest of it they spied a thing that made their blood run cold.
"A city. A goblin city…one that runs beneath our city." Forest Princess said in disbelief.
"No, worse than that."
From their vantage point they could see cattle pens that where filled with giant rats. Rats that where taken away by hobgoblins to be slaughtered for meat. There tens of thousands, if not over a hundred thousand goblins there. They were building walls and trenches, mining stones, cutting wood, weaving cloth.
"This is a fortress, they are preparing to strike. This is where the goblin contingent from the demon army withdrew to. They must be waiting for us to leave now, so they can attack this kingdom while the Slayers are too far away to help." Goblin Slayer replied as he withdrew from the crest and gathered a war council around them.
"We must strike now, Lizard Priest, send a Dog Tooth messenger to the surface, tell them to bring down the special wagon train and prepare to test our latest prototype." Goblin Slayer replied and moved to withdraw the vanguard and have their main force on the surface be ready for battle.
"You brought a weapon of mass destruction specifically for my wedding?" Forrest Princess deadpanned.
"No, I carry such things with me all the time." Goblin Slayer replied as a matter of fact, surprising Forest Princess.
"How do you resist the urge to hit him?" Forrest Princess asked High Elf Archer.
"I don't." Archer replied as she ordered the other members of Slayer Keep to prepare the timer on the barrels that they brought, these barrels where phase one of the latest Goblin killing machine of Slayer Keep.
The timer was a covered candle that was made to burn at a certain speed, when it burned low enough it would light a fuse that would burn a rope, that would open the barrels.
At exactly 2:40 o clock in the morning the barrels that had been placed around the Goblin Fortress in the earth where opened, and from these enchanted barrels that could hold hundreds of tons of goods came forth a flood of snakes that made the goblin scramble for the surface.
The scramble was to sudden that many forgot their weapons and armor and just ran for the exists.
But when they reached them they found that it the entrances where surrounded by the Slayer War Wagons, who shot, burned and smashed the goblins as they came up from the sever heads, cave entrances, and once hidden, now revealed holes in the ground.
The Slayer Army had learned Goblin Slayer's lessons well and now there was no place to stop this genocide.
"You unleashed a plague of snakes on my kingdom, how very biblical of you." Forrest Princess deadpanned.
"And how do you intend to deal with the plague of poisonous snakes once the plague of goblins are dealt with?" Shining Helm asked.
"Not poisonous. These are milk snakes, they look poisonous, but they have no venom." Goblin Slayer replied as they watched the city wide genocide of the goblins.
"Oh, well then they should not be a problem. The local wildlife will deal with them then." Forrest Princess said cheerfully as they continued to oversee the slaughter.
"It would seem that perhaps we will not have to deploy our prototype yet."
"Try not to sound to disappointed brother." Wizard said towards Wizard Boy, her younger brother.
"Forgive me, but I was hoping to get field data from testing the prototype." Wizard boy replied.
BAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNN
"What was that?" Priestess asked as they heard an unclean sound coming from beneath the ground.
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"It sounds like a gong." Lizard Priest said.
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"No…..worse…." Dwarf Shaman said with his ear to the ground.
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"Looks like y'all get to test yer invention after all ladie."
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"What makes you say that?" Wizard Boy asked Dwarf Shaman.
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"Cause that sound you are all hearing, that's no gong. Send words for the citizens to withdraw to the citadel, we'll be joining them soon enough." Dwarf Shaman replied as a visible sheen of sweat was now forming on his brown. They had never seen him so worried before.
BAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNN
"Why? What's happening?" Priestess asked in concern.
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"What's happening is that what you are hearing is…something I hoped you would never hear."
BAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNN.
"The goblins are going back into the earth!" Warrior said, running up to the command post and he gave his report. "The…they are fighting something….something, something that's coming up."
BAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNN
"Somethings. And those things….the damned gobos dug to deeply, they must have hit one of their nests….and now, now they must have caught wind of the blood from the battle."
BAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNN
"What's coming? What is that gong summoning?" Goblin Slayer asked.
BAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNN
"That is no gong. I heard it once before in my life." Dwarf Shaman said and raised his tunic to show them the huge gaping scar that was slashed all across his chest and abdomen, a scar in the shape
"Only once." Dwarf Shaman said as the sound of goblins fighting something in the dark stopped, the Slayers, Elven armies and house guards of the wedding guests all now starred into the silent pitch black darkness of that abyss.
Then they saw beady red eyes.
"Kill-killl man things!"
And then the Vermintide struck!
"They are not goblins, they are nothing. Leave not a single one escape!" Goblin Slayer ordered, his voice carried by the wind, propped by that the Slayers gathered they courage and held fast against them.
Goblin Slayer's mad creed of seeing goblins as the supreme enemy had rubbed off on them.
And they knew no fear, and for the first time in the lives as the Skaven emerged and saw the eyes of their foes, it gave them pause. For they have never seen such a lack of fear in that gaze.
Thus the battle started.
"Hold until we can evacuate the civilians to the castle." High King ordered and Goblin Slayer nodded.
"Wizard, Wizard Boy."
"YES!"
"YES!"
They both answered the Slayer King's call.
"Prepare our prototype. Prepare Fat Man for detonation."
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