"Now that we're just about back home, what did you mean about his own curse?" Priestess had a slight frown upon her face as she looked toward the front of the wagon.

The party was now only one day away from Frontier Town, prior to this, the surviving slaves were gathered in what usable carts and wagons they could find and followed Slayer's party over the long eight-day travel out of the desert to Crossroads. The survivors were quick to offer their gratitude to Slayer and the others for freeing them and helping to stopping the sadistic Hell Games.

"What of the others who were taken away before your arrival?" A female half-elf was quite concerned for the safety of her friend who was no longer by her side.

"We've gathered all the paperwork we could find in the Mistress' tent. The moment we get back to our own town, we'll get it sent off to those who have more authority than we do." Female Knight, now returned to her human form and silver ring once again on her left middle finger, smiled. "Rest assured, we'll get your friends back and make those responsible pay."

"We are forever in your debt! You, the warrior and Slayer…you are true heroes!" Elder Yuan-Ti Brother cheered as he threw his fist up into the air.

The other freed slaves followed suit once again chanting the name Slayer over and over. The party of adventurers were indeed happy to hear praise, but a glance back concerned them. Goblin Slayer stood off by himself, away from the others, not looking at anything in particular. Wolf whined as he sat near Goblin Slayer, and purposely nuzzled his head under Goblin Slayer's hand, but no real attempt was made to pet the dire wolf. After all that was done, the journey back to Frontier Town had been rather quiet. The others would converse and discover the horrors the trio had to endure at the encampment.

"Most of the time, Goblin Slayer and I were taken out in the morning for beatings then tied to posts to bake in the sun. There were days I would have begged for a ladle of water if weren't for sheer determination." Heavy Warrior smirked as he was able to reflect on all he had gone through.

"Truly dreadful, why would such a person do something like that?" Lizard Priest shook his head trying to ponder how a human could act in such a manner.

"Mistress had been a slave there as well, abandoned by her friends she must have fallen into a state of madness." Female Knight had thankfully recovered from her week long beatings yet shuddered as she recalled the gaze of Mistress as she watched her. "She had some kind of crazed fixation on me, calling me her toy. It was…unsettling to say the least."

"I'm so sorry to hear about that, I'm glad to see that you all made it out alright." Priestess frowned as she grew sadder as she thought about what her colleagues had to endure. "What of…Goblin Slayer, what did they do to him?"

The rest of the party would look out the wagon to see Goblin Slayer calmly walking with Wolf by his side. He had not said a single word to anyone over the journey from the Hell Games to Crossroads, merely nodding his head to the freed slaves before departing. Half-Dragon Daughter had tried to talk to her big brother, but he had remained silent, only patting her head to acknowledge her.

"Orcbolg hasn't said anything for days. He was always a human of few words, but this is odd…and a little scary when I think about it. Can you tell us what happened to him?"

"He should be the one telling you this, even I didn't see all he had to endure. We only know because other slaves had seen him and told us what Mistress was doing." Heavy Warrior sighed as it felt that he now had the weight of the world on his shoulders. "What I'm about to say is going to be very upsetting? Are you sure you're ready to hear this? Even I am debating on making sure that Guild Girl or that friend of his on the farm never learn about any of this."

The rest of Goblin Slayer's party, as well as Half-Dragon Mother and Daughter, were nervous about what they might discover but nodded their heads.

"The man who sold us to Mistress had made a request that Goblin Slayer be tortured as painfully and as often as possible. It was evidently in retaliation for killing someone close to the salver."

Half-Dragon Mother and Daughter grew sadder as they thought about Goblin Slayer having to endure such pain because he had come to save them.

"As I said earlier, Goblin Slayer was forced to go through the same torture I was, but…had to endure more before many of his matches. While tied to the post, he was consistently beaten by the slavers clubs, used as a living target for sling practice and…there were times they would strip him naked, beat him within an inch of his life, then douse him with buckets of urine and pelt him with human and animal waste."

There was a look of shock and horror on everyone's face as they heard this, their gaze immediately drawn back to Goblin Slayer who remained silent. What he was put through seemed beyond belief, that could easily explain why he lashed out at Mistress the way he did, but his current attitude was something else. Many of them thought back to what was mentioned by Heavy Warrior, something about a possible curse he was forced to bear, they wanted to ask then and there but thought better of it, there had been enough revelations that day.

"Let's give Beardcutter a few days, then we'll see what he's like."

The group did just that but did not feel much better as come night time while they slept Goblin Slayer was constantly awake and always watching them. Priestess or Half-Demon Thief would awaken in the middle of the night to see Goblin Slayer staring down at them. Though nervous they would ask if something was wrong, yet he remained silent, changing his gaze to something else.

"We're only a couple days away from home. Finally we can put this whole ordeal behind us." High Elf Archer smiled but that soon turned to a frown as she looked toward Goblin Slayer. "Or at least that's what I'd like to think, but I'm really worried about Orcbolg. When was the last time he slept?"

What none of them knew of course was he was forcing himself to stay awake due to a fear that his darker side would take over if he was not able to control himself. At almost every moment he could hear the two voices pleading to him, though the voice of the Lich seemed to be growing quieter.

"Come on Slayer, just rest yourself and I'll take over for you. When those fools go to sleep, wouldn't it be so easy to slit their throats? Not to mention how much enjoyment you'd get out of seeing all that blood. Just like with that female human at the slave camp…even with a sword at your side you chose to use your hands for all the dirty work. Quite impressive."

"Beloved, you must resist. You are strong, a remedy will reveal itself. Focus on your task at hand."

This night, before they would reach Frontier Town, it was decided to finally discuss what Heavy Warrior had mentioned since there had been no change in Goblin Slayer's demeanor.

"I haven't seen it myself, but while we were held there I would hear the slavers would mention something about seeing a black mark on Goblin Slayer's body."

"A black mark?" Dwarf Shaman frowned as he thought carefully about it. "That does sound like a curse mark, but where would he have gotten one?"

"There were times during the Hell Games where his voice changed." Female Knight recalled seeing this change in Goblin Slayer during his solo fight. "I don't know how to properly explain it, but the voice…didn't sound like Goblin Slayer. I noticed it the night he was forced to protect a goblin from the slavers."

"Protect a goblin? Goblin Slayer?" Half-Demon Thief was indeed surprised to hear that part.

"A cruel game devised by Mistress. She had a blood contract form between a slave child and the goblin. Any harm that one endured the other would share in the pain."

"So in order to save the girl…" High Elf Archer's eyes were wide as she realized were this conversation was going.

"He had to protect the goblin, yes. Six slavers went about beating him and then…he killed them, most of them with his bare hands."

"He was then going to kill the goblin, but thankfully stopped himself." Female Knight frowned as she remembered the image of the young girl.

"So he saved the girl?" Priestess nervously held her staff in hopes of a happy resolution to this story.

"Mistress slit the girl's throat, killing the goblin as well."

"How barbaric! I am…sorry we took so long in finding you. Please forgive us." Lizard Priest placed his hands together and bowed his head.

"Hey come on. You don't have to…"

Before Heavy Warrior could finish they heard the sounds of approaching footsteps and everyone turned to see Goblin Slayer and Wolf carefully studying them all. There was concern that Goblin Slayer might have heard them and they were unsure of how he would react.

"Is…is everything alright Milord Goblin Slayer?"

"There are no signs of goblins, it is safe for the moment." Goblin Slayer replied in his normal dispassionate voice before turning and once again walking away from the group.

The rest of the party was indeed unnerved by what they had seen, but they would wait until they were finally back in Frontier Town to address the situation with Goblin Slayer.

xxxx

"Welcome to the guild, how may I assist you today?"

Guild Girl still had to go about her work as normal, and in fact did welcome her time working with the customers and adventurers, for it took her mind off the well being of Goblin Slayer. Cow Girl was the same, doing her best to focus on doing her chores around the farm and playing with Snow, yet every night both girls cried at the thought of losing Goblin Slayer.

It was still early in the morning when Guild Girl saw Goblin Slayer party enter the guild hall, they had been gone for quite some time, but now she saw them…three adventurers finally reenter the guild hall. Spearman and the other adventurers were just as shocked to see Heavy Warrior and Female Knight return after such a long time away.

"Goblin Slayer?"

Goblin Slayer was silent as he looked around the guild, taking note of Guild Girl and the other patrons before finally nodding his head to acknowledge them. There was a sudden cheer from the guild as many of the adventurers came to congratulate Goblin Slayer and the others on their safe return. Off to the side, the rest of Heavy Warrior's party rushed forward to hug and cry at the safe return of their party members. Heavy Warrior and Female Knight were so relieved to see their comrades they were able to easily forget the hell they were forced to endure, even if only for a short amount of time. Guild Girl, tears in her eyes rushed to thank the rest of Goblin Slayer's party and their safe return and recovery of Goblin Slayer, but the moment she went to look for him found he was gone.

"Goblin Slayer?"

Many of the others heard her and they themselves looked around but could not find any sign of him or Wolf. Goblin Slayer's party were quick to exit the guild hall and a quick look down the road showed them Goblin Slayer and Wolf walking away, already quite some distance from the guild.

"Goblin Slayer sir!"

"Orcbolg! Where are you going?"

Goblin Slayer was already too far away to properly respond as he and Wolf continued down the road, but from the direction they were heading appeared to be going to toward the farm.

"Goblin Slayer?" Guild Girl's previous smile once again melting away to form a frown as she quickly turned her attention back towards his party. "Wha…what happened to him?"

"We're still trying to figure that out ourselves but…without going into details, which I will not bring up, Beardcutter was basically put through hell."

"Tomorrow. Tomorrow, we talk with Orcbolg and settle what's wrong."

Things were not better once he returned to the farm, Cow Girl and her uncle were surprised to see him return, but he merely nodded toward them before moving towards his work shed, barely petting Snow as she ran up to him.

"Uncle…that's not him." Cow Girl was used to having him say little in their conversations, but this was the first time he had not even mentioned he was home.

"I…I don't know. Maybe he had to go through quite the ordeal while he was away. Perhaps if we give him a little bit of time."

Her uncle was truly worried when he heard this boy had been captured by slavers, especially as retaliation for help the young dragon daughter and her mother. He was also concerned by this sudden behavior, but thought maybe after he had a chance to rest and recover, he'd be back to normal, or at least what he considered normal. Later as night fell, Cow Girl came back to work shed and was surprised to find the door locked as she pulled on the handle.

"Are you in there? Dinner's ready."

"Not hungry…thank you."

Cow Girl was hurt to hear him refuse to eat, she had wanted to spend some time with him. Like the others in town, she was happy to have him back, but was saddened by his coldness. She wiped the tears from her eyes as she calmly walked back toward the house, gently petting both Wolf and Snow as they nuzzled up beside her.

"Thank you." A small smile finally crossed her face as she continued to pet the two large dire wolves. "Maybe by tomorrow, he'll be more talkative."

Goblin Slayer struggle to keep himself on his feet, having to place a hand on the nearby wall to prevent him from falling over. He managed to find a nearby stool to sit himself down upon as he struggled to remove his armor, even when stripped naked by the slavers he had not been able to get a good look at how the curse mark was spreading. In the dim candlelight, Goblin Slayer let out a heavy sigh as he clearly saw his reflection. The curse mark had spread nearly covering his entire forearm, it covered much of the left side of his chest, his neck and now he could see the mark creeping up the side of his face. From the stab wound he had received he could feel a constant pulse and with it was a wave of pain that washed over him.

"It won't be long now boy!"

Goblin Slayer turned only to have a hand tightly grip his throat and slam him up against the wall. Goblin Slayer grunted as he gripped the arm with his right hand in hope of breaking free and looked up to see the black armored figure chuckle as he tightened his grip.

"You…Slayer."

"You mean, you! Those slaves all chanted your name…Slayer! You punished those wicked humans like the filth they were. You could be this hero they all claim you to be, yet here you are constantly fighting me!"

"Won't…let you…use me…to hurt others."

"Beloved stop this now!"

Lich Queen suddenly appeared before him, tears in her eyes as she placed both hands upon his shoulders. Goblin Slayer was surprised by this, just a moment ago the other was standing there, but now it was the Lich Queen, yet he could still feel someone trying to strangle him. He slowly looked down and gasped when he realized the arm his was gripped was his own, it was his left hand that clutched at his throat. Lich Queen removed her hands and watched as Goblin Slayer released his grip of both hands and looked down at his left arm, slowly clenching and unclenching his left fist.

"Beloved, are you okay?"

"For now. I gather the cruse is trying to kill much faster than before?"

"Yes…I am so sorry for all I've put you through. The things they did to you at the Hell Games, have acted as a catalyst for your turning into a wraith."

"How long do I have?"

"Unknown Beloved. I…there may be a method to try, something I've been thinking of, but there is no guarantee that you would survive. And if you are lost, the wraith will take control."

"I will have to tell the others, but…I am so tired." Goblin Slayer found he could no longer keep his head up as he slumped to the ground.

"Please rest Beloved, this is the first time in quite a while that you managed to hear me. I will watch over you and protect you tonight." Lich Queen dropped to her knees, and gently wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her head against his.

The other, the Slayer, saw all of this and chuckled to himself as he watched Lich Queen desperately try to save this human. He decided to let her have this moment, it would only be a matter of time before he was in full control of this body and then…he would be free to slaughter all in his way.

At the same time this was happening, a nearby hamlet was unprepared for what would soon be hitting them. Two of the Faceless Men quietly went about their master's work of releasing one of the creatures and recording its behavior. From outside the village, the three-armed and three-faced creature known as the Abomination rampaged through the houses, slashing at the poor unsuspecting farmers who foolishly used their tools to try and defend themselves.

"Very interesting, as master predicted this resurrected monster is quite resilient. It's been cut and stabbed several times yet doesn't seem to register the pain, though this may mean that it can't know when to stop and retreat." One of the Faceless Men watched as the beast roared before breaking into the small house to feed upon the people inside.

"Are we to destroy it once the test has been completed?"

"No, master said assuming it had not been killed in its attack, we were to leave it to roam free. I'm curious to see what those who do manage to slay it will say or think about its appearance."

"And this is only one of the many that have been created. Truly master has succeeded in restoring life to the lifeless."

"Indeed. We must report to master and see how the testing of the other subjects has gone."

xxxx

"I'll get these sent to Water Town immediately. The Sword Maiden will know what to do with them."

The next morning came, and Guild Girl did not have the luxury of lamenting on the previous day's actions concerning Goblin Slayer. Heavy Warrior and Female Knight graciously handed over the parchments to Guild Girl and Inspector who were quick to prepared for delivery. Guild Girl would make sure that Sword Maiden knew of Goblin Slayer's recovery and also share in her concerns for his unusual behavior. She wanted to press the others for information as to what they had gone through but stopped herself as she felt she was not mentally prepared to hear about all the details.

Guild Girl looked over the new quests that had been received at the guild: goblins, trolls, demons, all the normal sort. She did linger on the quests pertaining to the goblins, with Goblin Slayer missing, the quests themselves had fallen into the hands of several rookie parties, though they were not always successful in their tasks.

"Now that he is back, will he go back to taking the goblin quests? Will he allow himself time to recover? No, I need to take a stand and insist that he rest from his ordeal."

Guild Girl heard the sound of the door jingle and immediately looked up to see Goblin Slayer enter followed by Cow Girl and both dire wolves. There was a smile on her face, but it wasn't her normal bright smile she had when seeing Goblin Slayer come in. Goblin Slayer paused to say something to Cow Girl before moving towards his normal table. Cow Girl was a bit surprised by this then proceeded to move to the front desk to speak with Guild Girl.

"Good morning, how are you today?" Guild Girl had a more cheerful smile as she spoke with her friend.

"I'm well thank you, just here to make my normal deliveries." Cow Girl too smiled as she passed the paperwork toward Guild Girl.

"Thank you as always." Guild Girl then used her quill to sign the paperwork but knew there was more to this and asked the first question. "How is he?"

"He's…here, yet not if that makes sense. If you're asking me that, it must mean that his behavior yesterday was also unusual for you too."

"Yes. Ever since the start of this year, nothing has quite felt correct, especially concerning him. If I may, what did he say to you just now?"

"That's the other odd thing, he said once we are done, he would like to speak with you and I concerning something important."

Something important, that concerned them. At first they weren't quite sure what he would say though the thought of him choosing one of them did cross their minds. Who would he pick, Cow Girl or Guild Girl? Or, would he admit to having feelings for someone else? The more they thought about it, the more they dreaded having their discussion with Goblin Slayer. With everything out of the way, the two girls proceeded to move toward the small table Goblin Slayer would normally be at, but now the rest of Goblin Slayer's party had joined him while they were talking.

"Morning, we were just asking Orcbolg if he join us for some food in the tavern. We'd love if you were able to join us too."

"Oh, um we normally would but…" Cow Girl wanted to make sure she and Guild Girl could have this conversation with Goblin Slayer without anu interruption.

"That will be fine. This conversation concerns all of you."

The voice from Goblin Slayer caught them all by surprise, his party was unsure of what conversation he meant, but now both Cow Girl and Guild Girl were more nervous if he meant to include everyone in it. The group moved from the guild entrance to one of the large tables in the tavern, passing by Spearman, Heavy Warrior and several of the familiar faces the encountered on a daily basis, all eyes fell on Goblin Slayer, who was silent as he sat towards the end of table.

"I…am not good at this." Goblin Slayer looked toward everyone and grunted knowing that what he would say would cause them all to worry. "However, this is something you need to know particularly if…things do not improve."

The tension at the table was think, whatever thoughts Cow Girl and Guild Girl had earlier were gone, and now a sense of dread washed over them.

"Over these three months, I've…"

Suddenly the doors to the tavern were violently thrown open and in came several men, some having to carry others were wrapped in bloody bandages.

"We need healers! A horde of goblins attacked the mine! We barely escaped!"

Those who could help rushed to tend to the injured, while the rest went to check on the uninjured miners.

"Beloved, let this go. You need to tell them."

"Where is this mine?"

Goblin Slayer's party looked at his with wide eyes, here he was about to say something, possibly in regards to his actions and now a goblin slaying quest has come up.

"Beardcutter, you aren't think of…"

"Even with all that's I've gone through…I can't let the goblins do as they wish." Goblin Slayer stood from the table to properly face his party and bowed slightly towards them. "I would ask, that you assist me."

"Like you have to ask us Orcbolg, of course this party is with you."

The rest of Goblin Slayer's party nodded their heads and quickly readied themselves for the sudden quest while Goblin Slayer lingered behind to speak with Cow Girl and Guild Girl.

"I'm sorry for this. I will return and then…I will share all details with you."

"You better keep your promise on that, otherwise I'll be mad if you don't come back." Cow Girl had a small smile as she pointed her finger at her friend.

"I second that remark Goblin Slayer. May you be successful on your quest."

Goblin Slayer nodded before running off to join his party, also joined by both Wolf and Snow. Though the girls had smiles on their faces, they were both deeply worried about him going back to slaying goblins after his recent capture. What they could not have foreseen was the true horror that would befall them once the bloodlust took hold.

Goblin Slayer's party reached the mine and proceeded with the extermination of the nest as they normally would, but something was different. As the battle grew longer and longer, they noticed that Goblin Slayer was gradually becoming more spontaneous in his attacks, even against a hobgoblin. Normally he would carefully scan the area, but now he seemed to be lashing out with sword and mace, slaughtering the goblins, it almost appeared that he reveled in the blood that stained his armor.

"Beloved, you must con….self….Bel….ear me?"

The Lich Queen's voice faded away once again as a sinister chuckling took over, this voice was loud and carried with it a sinister vibe.

"Good boy…slay the goblins…so much blood! Come on, rip and tear…rip and tear…RIP AND TEAR!"

"That's the last one Milord Goblin Slayer." Lizard Priest gave a quick shake of his Dragontooth Blade to remove the goblin blood. "Such a large nest, is this due to our absence in slaying the little devil while we were searching for Milord Goblin Slayer."

"It's almost as big as the nest we saw the day we rescued Wolf." Priestess looked at the goblin bodies around them, thankfully there were no captive women to worry about. "We must have gotten to this nest before they target any villages."

"Goblin Slayer? You okay?" Half-Demon Thief was slightly worried as she looked at Goblin Slayer.

The others turned their attention toward Goblin Slayer, to see his breathing heavily as he stood over the bloody corpse of the Goblin Shaman. The thumping in his head was overwhelming, the scar on his left shoulder seemed to pulsate as if it was alive.

"You did well boy…no Slayer, but don't you think there's not enough?"

"Not enough."

The voice they heard was different, it was not the normal dispassionate voice they all knew, no, this voice was dripping with malice and sounded off, almost not human. Wolf and Snow looked toward the armored man and began to growl, their bodies tensed as the scent coming off him was different, something to be cautious of.

"What with you two?" High Elf Archer looked toward the two dire wolves then back toward Goblin Slayer

"Goblin Slayer?" Priestess cautiously approached her teacher to check on him.

"Not enough…I need more blood."

"Goblin Slayer…sir?" Priestess reached out to place a hand on Goblin Slayer left shoulder.

Goblin Slayer suddenly turned and with the back of his left hand knocked Priestess down to the ground. The rest of the party looked on with wide eyes as Goblin Slayer loomed over Priestess with weapons in hand. The second Priestess hit the floor, she closed her eyes from the sudden pain, but as she opened them she was truly terrified to see the ominous figure tower over her sword in right hand and mace in his left.

"You…your blood will do." Goblin Slayer raised his mace high as he prepared to strike the petrified Priestess.

His party members screamed for him to stop, but he could not hear them, just as he prepared to strike two voices suddenly cried out.

"Beloved stop you'll kill that girl!"

"Stop this now brother!"

Goblin Slayer gasped as he dropped his weapons and stumbled backwards, placing his hands on either side of his head. The rest of the party rushed to the downed Priestess, to check on the terrified young girl, while also glaring at Goblin Slayer.

"What the hell were you think Beardcutter?"

"You were about to kill…wait…Orcbolg?"

Goblin Slayer dropped to his hands and knees, grunting as he placed his right hand upon his left shoulder. The party, Priestess included now that she had recovered, looked on with confusion as it appeared that Goblin Slayer was in pain.

"Gob…Goblin Slayer? Are you okay?" Half-Demon Thief cautiously approached her comrade.

"No…don't approach." Goblin Slayer normal voice could be heard once again. "I…don't know…if I can control it."

Goblin Slayer grunted as he slowly stood, using the wall of the cave to support his body as he slowly walked around his stunned party to exit the mine. Priestess was finally able to stand, the man who stood over her in that moment of fear was not her teacher, she looked back to the ground and went to retrieve his weapons.

"What the hell are you doing? Don't touch those, you saw him?" High Elf Archer was worried that the weapons had somehow influenced Goblin Slayer.

"No, it's not the weapons, they're not cursed remember?" Half-Demon Thief recalled that none of the weaponry from the Lich's castle had been cursed.

"You saw him, he stopped himself before he dropped his weapons, then he…he placed his hand on his left shoulder! The stab wound!" Priestess finally put it together when she saw him clutch at his shoulder.

Priestess was quick to gather his weapons and then the group calmly exited the mine to find Goblin Slayer sitting by a nearby tree still clutching at his left shoulder. The party slowly approached him, they kept their hands on their weapons though they hoped they would not have to use them.

"Goblin Slayer…are you…still you?" Priestess was cautious to see what he might do.

"For the moment, I am in control." Goblin Slayer turned his head toward Priestess. "I am sorry…are you hurt?"

"More shocked than anything else?" Priestess gave him a weak smile.

"Beardcutter, enough with the secrets, you'll put us in more danger if you do. Now, what is truly going on?"

"The stab wound…was cursed…tied to find a cure but found nothing. I don't have long until the darkness consumes me and then…I'll become a Wraith."

xxxx

Three days later, an adventurer managed to deliver the package from Guild Girl to Water Town where the acolytes of the Supreme God received it and passed on the details to Sword Maiden.

"Oh thank goodness, he's been found." Sword Maiden breathed a sigh of relief as a small smile crossed her face.

One of her acolytes smiled as she saw the smile return to Sword maiden's face. In her hands was a parcel she had received from the guild in Water Town.

"Yes my lady, we received this parchment from the Guild in Frontier Town. The silver-ranked adventurer and his colleagues have been recovered, along with a large group of freed slaves. Along with this parchment were documents recovered from the slave camp, the locations and identities of those who purchased and sold slaves."

"Be sure that is sent to the King, we must make haste if we are to save as many of those poor souls as possible."

"It shall be done my lady."

"What of the other rescued slaves, are they also at Frontier Town?"

"According to the parchment, the others recovered from the Hell Games were taken to a village where they might be able to recover from their traumatic experience. It would seem that for the sake of the magical denizens of the village, its name and location will need to be kept secret." The acolyte had a slight frown on her face as she read over that final part.

"Crossroads. It would have to be the one place that few know of, indeed it would be the ideal spot where those who have been tortured can hopefully return to some semblance of their normal lives." Sword maiden knew full well of the village and her smile grew more. "Is there anything else?"

"There does seem to be some troubling news about the adventurer known as Goblin Slayer." The young acolyte continued to frown as she looked over the last of the information.

"Trouble? He and the others have been rescued…so what trouble is there?" Sword Maiden's smile vanished as she heard the news.

"It would seem that Goblin Slayer has been acting in an odd manner since his recovery. The letter says he did kill the one in charge of the slave camp…in a rather brutal fashion. Supposedly even chuckling in delight as his exploits."

"Goblin Slayer…laughing at his exploits?" Sword Maiden was more confused by the statement than worried.

"That's all it says my lady. I'm sure he is merely recovering from the mental strain that event placed upon him."

"I'm…I'm sure you are correct. Thank you, you may go. Please make sure those documents about the slavers and slaves are sent to the king." Sword Maiden nodded toward the attendant before calmly walking toward the shrine of the Supreme God. "He's been rescued, yet why do I still feel so uneasy. Especially with the handout from the Supreme God and the final instruction…do what you must to save the world."

Sword Maiden looked toward the stature of the Supreme God in hopes that she might be given some guidance as to this uneasy feeling she had. She soon heard the sounds of footsteps approaching and turned to see the silhouettes of four shadows approaching.

"Oh it's you. Did you all decide to form a new party?" Sword Maiden's frown was then replaced with a light smile.

Before her were Hero and her party members but joining them was Noble Fencer. The four young women bowed their heads toward Sword Maiden who in turned nodded toward them.

"A pleasure to see you again Sword Maiden. We had been on our way to see you when we ran into Noble Fencer and she agreed to bring us here. It thankfully made the trip go much faster."

"While I would greatly enjoy joining the Hero's party, I can make better use of my skills as a merchant to aid adventurers. That said, I brought them here as quickly as possible because of some troubling news about Goblin Slayer."

"That's correct, we heard from your warrior priests that Goblin Slayer had been abducted." Hero's smile vanished as she thought about him being tortured.

"Yes, he and two of his colleagues had been abducted by slavers. They had been there for nearly a month, but as of recent have been rescued." Sword Maiden had a small smile on her face.

The others young women each let out a sigh of relief, for each of them there was a sense that they owed Goblin Slayer their lives for different reasons but were nonetheless happy to hear of his rescue.

"It appeared that the people who attacked him were seeking revenge and sold him off to some slave camp to participate in a blood sport."

"Damn salvers, they should be hunted down for their crimes." Female Swordmaster grew furious as she thought about these men taking in people to use for their own enjoyment.

"Thankfully, Goblin Slayer and his colleagues led a revolt to topple the slave master and were assisted by the arrival of his party members."

"I see, it would make sense for the experienced adventurers to study the situation and look for an opportunity to counter." Mage kept a neutral face as she nodded her head in approval.

"I'd expect no less from that odd man, he did come prepared to face the horde in the north even if they weren't goblins." Hero smiled as she thought about Goblin Slayer and in that moment a small blush crossed her face.

"The party was also wise in procuring the documents left behind by this Mistress of the Game. In them are the locations and names of the individuals who purchased and sold salves at this encampment, they will be sent to the king and these acolytes of evil and chaos will be dealt with very soon." Sword Maiden though had a frown was present on her face as she said this.

"I see that something is still bothering you though, is it the fate of the salves not recused before Goblin Slayer's revolt?" Noble Fencer could see the saddened expression on Sword Maiden's face.

"Ah yes, I'm usually much better at managing my visible expressions, but there is something weighing heavily on my mind, but it is not the status of the salves, they will be taken care of by the King's men."

Hero and her party could see this and for Hero, she too could not help but carry the same uneasy feeling in her chest, she figured she had a good indication as to what was bothering Sword Maiden.

"It's Goblin Slayer isn't it? I take it you received a handout from the Supreme God as well?"

Sword Maiden turned toward the young woman, at first surprised that she could discern the truth so quickly, but soon smiled as she realized there was someone else she could share her frustrations with.

"Yes. I did as well. I take it your handout carried with it the same strange message?"

"Find Goblin Slayer and…do what you must to save the world."

"Yes." Sword Maiden, despite her blindfold, narrowed her gaze as she looked toward Hero. "Goblin Slayer…I'm told his behavior of late has been troubling. I don't know if it is because of the torture they put him through, but I am worried for him and those around him."

"Then…let us head for Frontier Town." Hero smiled as she looked toward Sword Maiden. "It's been too long since we got to speak with that man, and I'm curious to see what up to. This will also allow us to see how is holding up."

"Agreed." Sword Maiden then turned her attention to Noble Fencer and smiled. "Can I trouble you to take us to Frontier Town?"

"If it's to help out the man who saved me, you don't have to ask." Noble Fencer smiled as she nodded her head toward Sword Maiden.