"A Time Spell? Do you mean as a way to enhance one's perception of time?" Lizard Priest rubbed his chin with his good hand.
"A spell to send one through time…to the past or possibly the future." Priestess then thought about what had happened in that village and how it had changed so much.
"So you're saying that you're not from this time?" High Elf Archer paused as she listened to these two young girls.
"Not exactly. The time we come from is the same as here, but somehow…everything has changed in some form or another."
"Can you tell us if the Demon Lord has been defeated by the Hero?" Priestess thought she might be able to discern just how much had changed if she knew about the status of the Demon Lord.
"Hero? There hasn't been a Hero since the group that took down the Demon Lord some ten years ago?" High Elf Archer shook her head. "But it's not just the resurrected Demon Lord to worry about."
"To the north, there are reports of the Lich Queen and her horde moving to swallow up the area. All around there are rumors of other minions of chaos who are doing what they can spread their master's influence. A village of Padfoots being overrun by demons, sightings of an ancient Dark God…said to have a hundred hands, as well as multiple sightings of goblins roaming the lands unchecked. Worst of those are two troublesome rumors…the appearance of a Goblin Paladin also to the north and an army of goblins led by a human to the west."
"Goblin army…the Beast Master." Priestess closed her eyes and sighed as she clutched her sounding staff. "If…if the Goblin Paladin is still alive…that means that Noble Fencer was never saved and is most likely gone. Now the Beast Master is still among the living, everything I hear continues to bother me."
"I remember Priestess and the others mentioned Beast Master to me, not sure about this Goblin Paladin though." Half-Demon Thief thought on this, and like Priestess, did not like the direction any of this was going. "How the hell is there so much chaos running unchecked around the land?"
"I don't know, many associate it to the will of the gods who enjoy watching the mortal race suffer." High Elf Archer frowned as she narrowed her good eye on the tow young girls. "Or perhaps…it's due to the meddling of two foolish young women."
Both Priestess and Half-Demon Thief were shocked when they heard this, they had not expected High Elf Archer to be so venomous toward them.
"You have no right to place all the blame solely on us." Half-Demon Thief snapped as she placed both hands on the table before her and leaned over toward the elf.
"All…all we did was save one village." Priestess was on the verge of crying, not used to being blamed for something by the elf.
"And look at all the good that has come from your actions."
"Lady Ranger that is quite enough!"
The three girls turned toward the voice to find Lizard Priest approaching the trio by the table a stern look about his face.
"The hell it is, because of them, everything has fallen apart! That…that fat dwarf would still be with us."
"And we should blame them for doing their job given their situation? Should they have abandoned that village and let those poor people die?"
High Elf Archer growled as she looked back at Lizard Priest, seeing all the damage he had accumulated and thought about her own injuries, then looked back at the two young women and her frown softened when she saw them, really saw them. Two young adventurers who had done what they had thought was right.
"No…I suppose not." High Elf Archer sighed as she breathed out her frustrations. "You hadn't planned on rewriting history. This village you saved…what made it so special that it would change so much?"
"If I am correct, it was the village of our party's leader, Goblin Slayer."
"So in your time, Goblin Slayer is not female but a young male." Lizard Priest commented as he tilted his head to the side.
"What makes your Goblin Slayer more special than the Goblin Slayer we have now? Does he become the Hero destined to save the world?" High Elf Archer wondered what kind of Hero he could be with a title like that.
"No, he is not the destined Hero. He is one who primarily focuses on hunting goblins. In five years' time he has risen to the rank of silver just hunting goblins. But it is his actions that save the Hero when she was a young girl and inspires her to become an adventurer." Priestess then really thought about what she had just said. "Does…that mean he was always destined to suffer while others rejoiced? How…how could the gods above will something like that to happen?"
"This Goblin Slayer sounds like quite the interesting human. I would have liked to meet someone so unusual." High Elf Archer closed her eyes and smiled trying to picture what this adventurer looked like.
"You've actually met him already. He was that man at the front with his daughter."
"What! That guy is Goblin Slayer? That happy father down there?" High Elf Archer was stunned by this revelation.
"My word, I would never have guessed such a thing if given a hundred years to think about it." Lizard Priest too was shocked to learn this.
"He…doesn't smile that much. So it's odd to see him like that…especially with a child." Priestess weakly smiled as she thought about Goblin Slayer.
"So what now…so much has changed from what we know. Much evil still exists here and many comrades are gone. Are we forced to stay in this time?" Half-Demon Thief was not sure what to make of all these developments.
"That is indeed something to ponder." Lizard Priest brought his good hand to his chin as contemplated this notion. "Perhaps…there is some way of undoing all of this then."
"If…if the human we saw still exists in this world, he might be able to recast that spell." Half-Demon Thief thought out loud at what could be done to fix this situation.
"Then that should be our top priority, find this human and have him fix this." High Elf Archer smiled as she nodded her head in approval.
All three failed to notice Priestess panicked expression on her face, she listened to them and her eyes grew wider and wider with talk of going back and undoing their actions.
"What…what are you talking about?"
The three turned toward her and saw her expression, like before she looked panicked and ready to cry.
"We have to think about how to get back to our own time, assuming it's even possible."
"You're talking about going back and making him suffer. You yourself stopped me this morning from talking to him and now you want to go and undo this spell."
"Yes, it was not our place to bother that happy family."
"But even now we're going to do just that, we're going to take away his happiness for our own sakes! How…how can you all be so selfish?"
"Now just a minute…"
"No, I'll hear no more of this." Priestess quickly stood and rushed toward the door before the others could stop her.
"What…what was all that about?" High Elf Archer was confused by the young girl's actions.
"She's been traveling with our Goblin Slayer for two years now, you all have." Half-Demon Thief sighed as she though about what she was wanting the change, the image of Goblin Slayer and his family came into mind. "He saved her on her first adventure, which would explain why she is dead in this time. Our Goblin Slayer may be a silent, brooding individual, but he has saved so many us time and time again. Seeing him finally happy now and thinking about taking that away from him, may be too much for her."
"True…we're asking him to shoulder all the despair so that we don't have to."
"But it's for the good of the world, to bring back those we lost and…it is rather selfish to ask that he give up his happiness." High Elf Archer thought about what she was saying and sighed as she began to rethink her proposal.
"I'm going to go and talk with her. Perhaps, we can find some solution that will allow us to undo all the changes and let him keep his family. After all he's been through, he does deserve some happiness…even if I'm not the one to bring him that."
Half-Demon Thief exited the meeting room and proceeded to her own shared room with Priestess to see if she was in there, but upon opening the door found it to be empty. Half-Demon Thief frowned as she exited the room and went back down towards the tavern to look for her friend, but could not find her down below, instead she found the female Goblin Slayer nearby one of the tables.
"Maybe she might have seen Priestess." Half-Demon Thief made her way down the armored adventurer. "Goblin Slayer."
The armored warrior slowly turned her head toward the Thief and spoke, its voice dispassionate.
"What is it?"
"I'm sorry to bother you, but you haven't seen my comrade, have you?"
"You mean that priestess? I saw her exit the guild a few minutes ago."
"Thanks." Half-Demon Thief exited the guild and looked around the area but saw no immediate sign of her friend then growled in frustration when she realized where Priestess must have gone. "That damn fool."
Half-Demon Thief took off, determined to catch up with her friend, as she traveled down the road that would take her to the farm…to him.
xxxx
The god of Chaos growled as he examined the board and watched the two pieces looking to move toward an inactive piece, one that had been changed after the massive roll some time ago. The board finally fit what he felt was appropriate, the forces of evil and chaos were running wild across the land, the free races were scrambling to set up some kind of defense, and now two young individuals were going to go about an undo all he had worked for.
"This will not do. If by some chance they are able to achieve they're goal…no, they won't!" He looked about the board, looking for one of his followers that might be able to help and finally found one. "There, the Demon Priest, you shall take your followers and destroy that altar, serve you master well."
Chaos chuckled to himself, pleased with this quick decisions, then looked up from the board to find Truth and Illusion approaching, hopefully they had not heard him.
"Ah Truth, Illusion, have you come to admire my handywork?"
"I only come to see what the mortals are doing and to decide on when I should roll the dice." Illusion ignored Chaos the best she could as she took her seat by the table and looked over the board.
"For me…I am biding my time, choosing when and whom I should speak with."
"Ever the mysterious one, but I know you well enough, you always wanted that odd piece off the board and now it has been done."
"It is true that he is inactive…at the moment, but it is still unknown, even to me when he will move back into position."
Chaos frowned as he looked over Truth, he assumed that he knew the god well enough, but in this brief exchange, began to question just how well he knew him. Only time would tell how this game would end, and he would make sure that he would be the winner.
xxxx
Priestess grunted as she made her way down the long stretch of road, she would soon be approaching the farm, where the last shred of what she had known was still around. She was still upset over what had been discussed back at the guild, but found herself starting to calm down the closer she got to the farm.
"Hey!"
Priestess paused and turned to see the hooded figure running to catch up to her, one look at this figure told her it was Half-Demon Thief. Part of her wanted to keep on walking, she was still mad, but the more mature part of her told her to stay and wait for her friend. Half-Demon Thief finally caught up with Priestess and placed a firm hand on her shoulder.
"I finally found you. You know, that was a damn stupid thing to do, running off like that."
"Then, are you here to stop me?"
Half-Demon Thief looked toward the young girl, not much younger than her, and smiled as she shook her head.
"Come on, let's go see him and the others."
"Wait…I…I don't understand."
"You want to see him, don't you? Well I'm not going to stop you this time, and I want to see him and Wolf again."
Priestess still shocked smiled and nodded her head as she and Half-Demon Thief started up once again toward the farm. They walked in silence for a while until Priestess finally decided to break the silence.
"It's rather selfish of me to not want to help the others isn't it?"
"In a way yes…but it's also selfish of me to want us to go back and change things, when he has finally found a source of happiness."
"Must we change everything? I know much has changed in this time, friends lost, the minions of chaos roaming unchecked…I am dead. Yet, it still makes me smile to see him happy."
"I haven't known him as long as you or the others, but I do know that what we are seeing here is so much different from what we're used to experiencing. I too am happy and surprised to see him with a family and delighted to know that Wolf is still by his side."
"You…you don't suppose he'll remember us do you?"
"I doubt it, if it's anything like the others who have no memory of us, he might very well be the same." Half-Demon Thief then took note of from on Priestess face and smiled as she continued. "But you never know, let's go see."
The two girls continued on until the farm finally started to come into view, there near the field the two young women could see Cow Girl tending to the few cows while off in the field was the former Goblin Slayer; near the house was their young daughter happily petting the massive dire wolf. Wolf's ears twitched as it heard the sounds of approaching footsteps and looked around to see two approaching young women. Wolf instinctively stood and moved in front of the little girl and slowly growled alerting the others both outside the house and inside. Both girls stopped as they neared the house and slightly bowed their heads towards the approaching Cow Girl and Goblin Slayer.
"Good afternoon." Priestess smiled as she saw the two of them, though internally was nervous at meeting Goblin Slayer again.
"Can we help you?" Goblin Slayer, or rather Farmer, was curious at the sight of these two adventurers on their farm.
"We were told that this location had been attacked by goblins some time ago, and we wanted to see if their was anything that might give us some information on what the goblins might have been thinking." Half-Demon Thief did her best to come up with an excuse for them being there.
"It's true this place had been attacked some time ago, my uncle was unfortunately lost in that battle." Cow Girl slightly frowned at the thought of her deceased uncle.
"That's quite unusual, wondering about the thinking of goblins, I thought only that odd adventurer at the guild was the only one." Farmer replied as he shook his head.
"Oh right, that young girl always wearing that filthy armor…uh…Goblin Slayer wasn't it?" Cow Girl replied.
"That's the one, are you two comrades of her's?"
"Not exactly, we're from a different guild, but also have an interest in the "going on's" of the goblins." Half-Demon Thief smiled.
"The leader…the former leader of our party was also fixated with goblins." Priestess frowned as she looked toward the ground.
"Was he lost in battle?"
"In a way he was."
"I'm sorry for your loss. You know, as I look at the two of you, there's something very familiar about you both." Farmer pondered as he studied the two girls.
"They look familiar, is there something you want to admit to?" Cow Girl looked over her husband suspiciously, though it was all in good fun.
"Come now, you know you're the only one for me." Farmer nervously smiled then looked back at the two adventurers. "It's just I can't help but feel I've met them both before."
"Maybe during your time as an adventurer?" Cow Girl now looked over the two girls wondering if there was anything she needed to be cautious of.
"They look very similar to the two who saved our village more than ten years ago." A new voice could be heard, this one feminine, as the elegant woman exited the house to join the others. "Now that I look at them, I'd say they look exactly like those two young ladies we met."
Everyone could see an attractive middle-aged woman approach them, her hair slightly longer than it had been before, but still braided as it sat upon her right shoulder. Priestess and Half-Demon Thief were indeed surprised to see this woman, one they had never expected to meet as their Goblin Slayer had mentioned her passing quite some time ago.
"That's it then, they look just like those adventurers, but they couldn't be the same ones, as you said it was more than ten years ago." Farmer smiled then looked back toward the adventurers. "Forgive my rudeness, here we've been talking and I haven't introduced anyone. You've met my wife, that is my sister, and down here is my little one, and I believe you all saw Wolf the other day too?"
"A pleasure to meet all of you." Priestess smiled as she bowed her head.
"Very nice to meet you." Half-Demon Thief nodded toward everyone.
"I just finished getting lunch ready for everyone, why don't you join us?" Elder Sister then looked over toward both Farmer and Cow Girl. "If that's okay with both of you of course?"
"As if you had to ask, of course their welcome to join us." Cow Girl smiled at the thought of speaking with the young adventurers.
"It's fine with me, I'd be honored to have you both join us." Farmer smiled at both the girls as well.
"Uh…well…"
Before the girls could answer Wolf moved past Farmer and Cow Girl slowly approaching the two women. Both girls wanted to greet the large dire wolf but had to remember that this was not the same comrade they had known. Wolf moved around the girls cautiously smelling them then paused when it saw the small girl running toward the adventurers. The young daughter happily ran toward the two young women and looked up at them smiling brightly.
"Hello."
"Hello." Both young women were delighted to meet this young girl.
"Come on, time to eat." The young daughter took hold of Priestess' hand and pulled her toward the house.
Half-Demon Thief smiled as she saw Priestess being dragged away by the young girl then felt something lean up against her. She looked down to see Wolf staring back at her and noticed his tail wagging, with a smile on her face she reached down to pet the massive wolf atop its head before joining the others in the house. Inside the house, the group sat at the table happily eating and conversing while Wolf ate from his bowl off in the corner.
"I meant to ask, that is a dire wolf yes?" Priestess knew full well about Wolf, but wanted to know how he had come into contact with Wolf if he wasn't an adventurer.
"That he is."
"How'd you end up with a wolf for a pet?"
"Funny you should say that, Wolf is his name too."
"I still think you should have come up with something more creative than that." Cow Girl teased.
"Anyway, several years ago, my wife and I met him in the field when he was a young pup, after an afternoon of playing he ran back to the woods. We thought we had seen the last of him, but to my surprise he came back and I convinced my sister to let us keep him."
"I'm still unsure how you managed to convince me of that." Elder Sister smiled as she looked over at Wolf happily eating.
"I asked nicely." Framer happily ate his stew then looked back to the young women. "So what brings you both to the town?"
"We had come to find an old comrade of ours but found that he was no longer around." Priestess frowned as she thought back how much of what had known was different.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Cow Girl replied when she had saw the sad expression on the young girl's face.
"Thank you, it was indeed troublesome to have found that he was gone, but we'll make sure to do right by him." Half-Demon Thief replied.
"It must be interesting to be an adventurer?" This time it was Elder Sister who spoke.
"Oh we can always go back and ask him about what it was like to be an adventurer." Cow Girl smiled as she looked toward her husband.
"Hey come on now, that was a long time ago."
"You used to be an adventurer?" Priestess was immediately intrigued by this, perhaps there was still some of Goblin Slayer inside.
"Many years ago, I didn't even last a full year before I decided to come back home."
"What happened?" Half-Demon Thief was also curious to hear what caused him to effectively retire.
"At fifteen, I decided to become an adventurer…I was inspired by those two who saved my village from the goblins. I ended up pairing with a young warrior, within our party were a dwarf warrior, a monk and a half-elf ranger. We had done pretty well for ourselves until we faced the rock eater…half-elf ranger was lost and dwarf warrior lost his arm in the battle but we managed to escape." Farmer sighed as he thought back to the sight of his fallen comrades. "Monk soon left to help dwarf warrior back home, our leader had fallen into a drunken depression, I tried to get him to come back on adventures, but he refused. I joined a large party to go and slay the beast, we were successful though the battle had been costly, after that battle I had been promoted to obsidian, but then resigned from the guild."
"Why did you resign?" Half-Demon Thief was curious, they had defeated the beast and yet he had returned home instead.
"I thought back to how devastating it must have been for our ranger's family to hear about the loss of their daughter and then realized that I could not do that to my sister." Farmer smiled as he looked over at his sister. "She gave up so much to help me, so I could do the same to help her. I returned home, got married a couple years later and now…well you know the rest."
Farmer could not help but smile as he took in the sight of his beautiful wife and lovely daughter; Priestess and Half-Demon Thief too smiled when they saw him so happy with his family.
"Do ever miss being an adventurer?" Half-Demon Thief asked the question with genuine interest.
"From time to time, but I'm happy here with my family."
"He won't admit it, but every now and then I see him go out to the shed by the barn to get his weapons and practice his swordsmanship."
"Hey now, why'd you have to go and say that." Farmer growled as he looked over at his wife who was smiling.
"It's rather cute, like watching a young boy play pretend."
"I am not playing pretend!" Farmer growled once again before continuing with his meal.
The others laughed and conversed as they continued their meal, but soon it came time for both Priestess and Half-Demon Thief to take their leave. The two young women said their goodbye's before exiting the house and making the long trek back to the guild.
"Just a moment." The two turned toward the voice to see Elder Sister approaching them.
"Can we help you?" Priestess smiled as she looked toward the older sister.
"He may not remember you because it was so long ago, but I do."
"What…what are you…"
"You're the same young women who came to our village are you not?"
"We are." Priestess sighed as she confessed to the accusation.
"I don't know what magic brought you here, but I do want to thank you again for all that you've done and it is because of that that I must regrettably ask that you both never come back here."
"Wait a moment, what do you mean?" Half-Demon Thief was confused by this weird statement.
"You saw them back there yes? He has a family now, my brother is happy and that is all I've ever wanted. I'm not exactly sure what your business here was, but the best thing you can do is to leave them in peace. Please."
The two young girls were silent for a moment, but in that silence could hear the little girl laughing as her parents played with her.
"Rest assured, we will not be back to bother them. We only wish for him to be happy." Half-Demon Thief weakly smiled as she nodded her head toward the older sister.
"Yes, we will be on our way, thank you."
The two young women nodded toward Goblin Slayer's older sister before walking back on the road toward the guild. The older sister lingered behind for a few more moments as she watched the young women before turning around herself to go back inside. The walk back to town was rather quiet as the two pondered what they would do and what the older sister had asked them.
"If…if we are able to change things, everything will change back to the way it was." Priestess replied as they continued their trek.
"Yes. His village will be lost, and so will his sister, but those who are lost now will be back."
"Do…do we really have to change everything?"
"I don't know…we're not even sure if there is a way for us to undo all of this. The only thing we can do is talk with the others and try to find that wizard who cast that spell, but where to start?"
"I can think of only one person who might be able to help us."
"Who?"
"The Sword Maiden."
Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, school started up two weeks ago and I've been busy getting my kids back into the swing of things and advising my student's anime club. I'm grateful for the comments on the last couple chapters and like all of you, have been wondering about this arc. This arc is going to be much darker than my previous ones and as many of you can guess will indeed have a bittersweet ending. Originally I had planned on the four characters, Priestess, Half-Demon Thief, Rookie Warrior and Apprentice Cleric going on the quest as they had, but instead of the time travel concept would find that the kidnappings were by cultists to sacrifice to a vampire, but thought "an arc with zombies, a future arc with a werewolf…if I introduce a vampire will I be leaning too heavily on other monsters?"
Guys I need an honest opinion, should I continue with this time travel arc or go with the vampire stuff instead? I have no problem retconning the last couple chapters, and tweaking the final part of Chapter 31, but I am determined to finish this arc if you prefer (I'm not going to leave a job unfinished). Thanks again for all the support and feedback.