Chapter 6: Intertwined
The young Priestess was waiting in the bar of the Frontier Adventurer Guild, alone, she waited for her companions, who were all summoned to the Meeting Room upstairs to discuss the Guild's discovery.
She sighed, feeling a bit bored. She wished to have someone to talk to right now but most of the adventurers she knew were on a quest.
Then suddenly, as if the Earth Mother responded to her wish, a familiar, sweet voice called out to her.
"Hello. There. Where are. Your. Companions?" Witch asked as she approached the young blonde.
"Oh hi. They are all at the Meeting room with Guild Girl, to ask questions to Doom Slayer. Since they represent their clans."
"Even. Him?"
"You mean Goblin Slayer? Yes."
"Why? Knowing him. He wouldn't. Care. About. It." Witch asked.
"Well it's more like they forced him to be part of the meeting as the leader of the party."
"Ah. That makes. Sense…" the older woman smiled, "So. How is. The other. Slayer?"
"Oh. Well… He is pretty similar to our Goblin Slayer. Except a bit more talkative… and more brutal."
"Is. That. So?"
"Yes… When we get into battle, he stops talking completely and more than once he tried to leave us behind to do all the fighting himself." She sighed, "Very much like Goblin Slayer."
The purple-haired woman chuckled at that.
"He. Is. An interesting. Fellow. Isn't he?" she smiled.
"I guess, anyone can tell he's been through a lot and he seems… happy? To have some rest. But he is in a hurry to go back and slay demons… You know? I wouldn't be surprised if he was Goblin Slayer's brother. They are so much alike!" she giggled.
"Also… It seems that he caught Goblin Slayer's interest too."
"Now. That's. Rare."
"But he's more interested in his brutal fighting and weapons. I mean… I remember what Doom Slayer did to that Manticore… So… brutal…"
"He… Defeated. A Manticore?" Witch said, surprised.
"Yes, alone. I just hope that if Goblin Slayer learns something from him, it won't be just his extremely violent ways of fighting."
"I. Understand. My. Partner. Is still. Bitter. About. His loss. At the. Mock. Battle. And. So are. Those two." She winked as she pointed at the two known silver ranked adventurers who were having a drinking contest for no reason besides fun.
The two women laughed.
"...Do you. Know. What. They. Are talking. About?" Witch asked as she looked up the stairs.
"I think it's about the old adventurer tags Doom Slayer brought from Hell. They said it was important..."
"First of all, thank you all for accepting to come."
Guild Girl thanked the four Silver Ranked adventurers and the Doom Slayer who were sitting at the other side of the desk with only the lizardman standing up.
"It's about the tags, right? Did you find something about them?" High Elf Archer asked.
"Yes…" Guild Girl nodded and put the four tags on the table, in front of the adventurers, "We managed to discover that they were at least five hundred years old."
"Wait. Doesn't that mean-?" Dwarf Shaman eyes widened.
"That's correct. They are from that time which should be impossible."
"What are you... talking about?" the two slayers asked at the same time.
Everyone looked at Goblin Slayer like they couldn't believe their ears.
"For Doomy it's normal that he doesn't know, but you, Beard-cutter? How can you not know about one of the Great War against the Gods of Evil?" Dwarf Shaman asked in shock.
"I should?"
"Ugh… Obviously, even kids learn about this. But whatever… I shouldn't be that surprised." the elf sighed.
"I'll explain it to you." Guild Girl nodded with a smile as she could see that Doom Slayer was a bit interested.
She then explained about the big ordeal that was the awakening of the Unnamed God of Evil who appeared out of nowhere with an army of vile non-praying creatures and took control of the ones already present on the map. The threat was so important that absolutely every single adventurer were called to fight against the God and its army with the Fate of the World at stake.
The war might not have lasted very long, only a few months, almost a year. But the damage done was enormous and the Prayers lost a neighboring kingdom with many adventurers who died or disappeared, leaving nothing behind to remember them.
But that was where it was strange.
It wasn't the fact that Doom Slayer found tags of missing adventurers, it wasn't so rare to find adventurers tags, old or recent. There was even a rewards for them.
No, what was strange was where he found them: in Hell.
More precisely, somewhat of a 'different Hell' from this world, so another world.
Plus, he wasn't lying about it.
And yet, there was no records of another world being dragged or connected during that time. Or ever for that matter.
"Is there any way for any person to get transported in Hell with their full equipment?" Guild Girl asked the Green Slayer.
"Hmm… only… by being blessed… By an angel… upon death…" Doom Slayer answered.
But he then added that it was pretty unlikely, as the corpses weren't far from the portal he got thrown into to get in their world.
"Do you guys think that more adventurers from that time ended up there?" High Elf Archer asked.
"That's for you to answer, you were around at that time. We could question some elves." The dwarf said.
"Well I was still too young five hundreds year ago-"
Everyone in this room decided to not comment on how 1500 years could be considered 'young'...
"-And I remember that there was very few elves adventurers who survived. Am I right?"
"Oh. Uh… I think that we'll have to recheck the list to be sure." Guild Girl said with a paste-on smile.
"It doesn't… Change the facts… Adventurers... were in Hell… Through a portal… Dating from that... war of yours…" Doom Slayer cut them.
That was correct, it didn't answer nor find a solution to this mystery.
"But that would mean that a portal to Hell was open. And adventurers got in or demons got out of it… Surely something as big as this would have been kept in records or history." Lizard Priest noted.
"But there's nothing as such in any History testimony or-"
"We're turning in circle when the answer is obvious." Goblin Slayer suddenly said, for the first time since the start of the meeting, summoning everyone's attention.
"And… What is so obvious, Beard-cutter?"
"That something, or someone erased the presence and the implication of Hell in our History and memories." Goblin Slayer explained.
"But… Who could be powerful enough to do such a thing?" High Elf Archer asked, but her eyes showed that she already knew the answer to her question.
"A God." the armored adventurer said without tact.
Silence fell on the room, the answer was obvious, and it had some sense… But to suddenly doubt the Gods, as Prayers, it was borderline sacrilege. No one knew what to respond, and awkwardness reigned the room like a king until Doom Slayer's dethroned it with simply a loud cough in under his helmet.
"Anyways… I don't think… That matters… We now know… That the portal dates… from that war…" He paused to think.
He then added that it does make sense since he did notice that the portal in Hell looked ancient: there was no cybernetic gadgetthat kept it together, just rocks and runes.
"But I digress… Do you know… The battlefields locations… Of this war…? I think… It's a good… start to look… for the Portal…" Doom Slayer asked everyone in the room.
"I can search for that, but there might be many. So it might take some days." Guild Girl answered his question.
He responded with a nod and by standing up. Seems there was nothing else to talk about. The others members of his party followed suit but Guild Girl asked them, except Goblin Slayer, to stay in the room as they must talk about what to report to the other clans. The ancient tags turned out to be a pretty important case, after all.
"Alright then, I'll be going! Be safe, okay?"
Cow Girl said to her childhood friend, Goblin Slayer, whom just nodded as an answer and turned around to join Priestess and Doom Slayer, who were waiting at a table at the tavern, also waiting for the rest of the group. The young farmer smiled and waved at the blonde girl before turning around in turn and head out of the building.
"Is everything okay?" Priestess asked.
"Yes. She finished her work here. So she's heading back to the farm."
"Oh. Alright."
They then remained silent, waiting patiently for the Quest board to be free from the hungry adventurers who were looking for a quest that would either bring them fame, reputation or good money.
"Hm… Mister Slayer?"
"Hm?"
"Hm…?"
Both Slayers turned towards the young adventurer who immediately blushed in embarrassment of her mistake.
"A-Ah, I meant Goblin Slayer, sorry." she pointed at the said slayer with an apologetic look in her eyes, "Why did I say that?" she whispered.
Doom Slayer nodded and decided to look at his 3D map.
"What is it?"
"Oh, I- Uh- I just wanted to tell you that the Receptionist had some quests for you. She told me earlier before you two came down. She said they were a bit too hard for beginners."
"I see. I'll go take a look." Goblin Slayer stood up then paused, "Ah. Right."
He then turned his head to the other slayer and said.
"I found some rabbits footprints during my morning patrol near the farm. There's a chance that they'll come today an- and he's gone."
Doom Slayer exited that door in the blink of an eye, literally.
"Ah! There they are!" Cow Girl exclaimed to the man in green armor behind her.
Doom Slayer helped her pulling the wagon back to the farm as quickly as possible so he won't miss his chance to meet the bunnies when they arrived. Once at the farm and the wagon parked, she led him towards the fence bordering the field and the forest. Her Uncle was also with them to keep an eye to the weird man.
He already had some trouble trusting completely Goblin Slayer, even after five years of living together. And now, there's a new 'one' that comes out of nowhere and looks much more dangerous, no way in Hell he's leaving him alone with his niece.
Doom Slayer slowly approached the young farmer to take a look on the little critters.
Cow Girl was crouching, giving some vegetables to the three small rabbits at her feet.
Each one was different than the other: mostly by the color of their fur. One had a dark grey fur with its belly and snout in white. Another had light brown fur with light grey spots and finally the last one had blue fur, with white spots on the side of its face and paws. Doom Slayer was surprised to see a blue bunny, but remembered that he was in a Magical Fantastical World so maybe it was normal. He also noticed that those kind of fur pattern usually goes on cats or dogs, but whatever… Plus he found it cute.
He slowly approached the little group and crouched to be closer to them. When the critters saw him, they almost started to run but for some reason, they didn't. This surprised Cow Girl, she also noticed that they were all staring at the marine, she followed their line of sight to see that he just took off his helmet.
Doom Slayer slowly put the helmet on the ground upside down, grabbed some of the food from Cow Girl's hands and put them at the bottom of the head gear. He then waited. The young farmer looked at the bunnies who were slowly approaching, sniffing the big green helmet. The blue one suddenly jumped inside, slowly followed by the others, then they started eating.
Once they finished eating, their head popped out of the helmet to sniff for more food. Doom Slayer saw that as an opportunity to slowly approach his hand towards their heads. The light brown one sniffed it then let Doom Slayer pet its head.
"Wow. It's the first time I see them so calm. They usually only come to eat, a few pets then leave quickly." Cow Girl said, impressed, "You seem used to this. Do you have a pet rabbit?"
"Had… Yes… I used a… technique similar… for Daisy… The first time… we met…" he answered.
"Oh I see… Hey, he told me before, when I asked about you, that you hunt demons, is that right?" Cow Girl asked.
"I do… But right now… I'm searching them… and the Portal to Hell…" Doom Slayer answered.
"I see… Do you have a clue about that?" she asked, reaching for a bunny to take in her arms and pet.
The Doom Slayer nodded in response but he then added that the world was too vast to look for demons and the portal, also he was having second thoughts about only chasing goblins.
True, demons tend to search for weaklings who would trade their souls for anything but big demons, like Barons of Hell or Cacodemons would go for a better, bigger and stronger prey.
Ugh! This was going to take so long! He had no idea where to start looking or where to go…
"Hmm… Why don't you become an adventurer?" Cow Girl suddenly suggested.
"Uh…?"
"It was kind of the same for him, you know? He told me he became an adventurer so he could find where nests were thanks to the quests at the Adventurer Guild." she explained, "You could become one too and look for any Quests regarding demons or creatures never seen before!"
"That… That's actually… a great idea…!" Doom Slayer exclaimed, somehow it didn't scare the bunnies inside his helmet who were still being petted and stayed calm.
"I'm glad I helped." she smiled.
"Hm… Now… Talking about… Goblin Slayer… How long… have you two... been together?"
"Oh. Us? Well, we've known each other since we were kids. And he started living here for the last five years. I guess we became 'together' one year after that?" she smiled brightly, almost jokingly.
The Uncle behind them frowned so hard that it might stay like that for a year.
"I see… And… Does he know that?" Now it was Doom Slayer's turn to smirk.
"Nope."
At hearing that, Doom Slayer chuckled.
"And it better stay that way…" he heard the Uncle grumble behind them.
If they looked back, they would have seen him making a face as if he just bit into a fresh lemon. And Doom Slayer would have probably bursted out laughing for the first time in centuries.
"Alright. I have to say, I'm a bit surprised but I'm sure you'll be extremely helpful for our Kingdom once you become an adventurer!" Guild Girl smiled, "Especially if those demons are roaming around. Here you go! You can fill out this adventurer sheet!" she smiled grew wider as she handed him the piece of paper and a writing feather.
Uh. Just like in a R-
Wait a minute…
Uh Oh.
"I-Is there something wrong Mr. Doom Slayer?"
He shook his head… then nodded instead. His eyes were glued at the paper.
"Oh… Can you… You don't know how to read or write our alphabet?" Guild Girl asked in a worried tone.
...He shook his head.
He could understand and 'speak' the language but not read it.
Well shit.
He was pretty much illiterate in this world.
Baka's notes: And there you go! Yeah, it's shorter than all the other chapters. You see it's one of those stories where I have the first part and last part completely planned... but the middle... eh. A bit less. But I hope you'll still enjoy the story until the end!
I noticed some people saying that I nerfed Doom Slayer a lot in the previous chapter, and I agree. I did nerf him... a bit too much even. When I reread it, I can see it more clearly. I just wanted for the other to have a role too in the battle. Well, don't worry because it won't happen again.
DoomGuy won't be nerfed again in future battles.
Next chapter will be an interlude: 'Of the Gods' Biggest Mistake'
But before that, the next chapter of Normality in Lobotomy!
See you soon