With the Adventurers' Guild's patrons volunteering their services to defend the farm Goblin Slayer lived at, Frontier Town's guards doing frak all after being informed of the approaching menace closing in on their homes like I've come to expect from most PDFs, the Rogues' Guild willing to aid me so far as to protect their own assets spread across the settlement, and Frontier Town Governor at least informed of the danger that would be encroaching on his territory there was little else I could do to help prepare for the approaching goblin assault. The only thing I could do was join the other adventurers I talked into sacrificing their time, possibly even their lives if the worst came to pass, and offer whatever insights I could impart with the defenses' leadership to help a few more of us see another day if we were successful.
Overall, it could have been far worse for us. It could have been much, much better if there wasn't an army of goblins marching towards us, but these were not the worst odds of survival I've ever faced in my long and illustrious career. Even given what happened later that night, it still didn't come anywhere close to some of the more dire events I detailed in the private memoirs I've left for Amberley should I happen to perish before she does.
I froze in place for a moment, wondering for the first time in a long while what she was doing after news of the disaster that struck the transport which left me stranded on this planet reached her. I hope she took the news well, or at the very least better than I was at the moment as I pressed towards what might prove to be certain death come nightfall.
I took my time marching over to the farm, using my leisurely stroll to see what preparations the town guards outside of the settlement's walls were making and if the populace had any inkling of what danger they were in. Unsurprisingly, news of the threat lurking just out of sight didn't affect the travelers and merchants of Frontier Town in the slightest as they conducted business as usual. I was once again unsurprised to see the latest batch of guards didn't seem to be doing anything to prepare for being besieged by an army of goblins outside of doubling the size and number of their patrols, much to my immediate disgust.
It was clear to me that if we failed to purge the goblin menace at the farm then the citizenry of Frontier Town would be slaughtered wholesale. Unless there were a few high ranking wizards, mages, witches, or whatever the people of this planet called their psykers, capable of taking initiative to fortify the town's ancient wooden town gates with magics longer than Priestess could with her own miracles, then our success at the farm would determine whether or not Frontier Town would live or die. My stomach threatened to recoil at the thought of how, rather than working with the Emperor's finest and whatever dregs the PDF could scrape together, I was instead going to be trusting my life to a bunch of glorified mercenaries and glory seekers.
At least it was better than working alongside a penal legion. I would rather face down a Khornate Berserker with only a bayonet and phial of holy water again than worry about being shot in the back by my own supposed allies instead of repeatedly in the face by our enemies. I still don't know how I managed to flee that fiasco without anyone noticing where I went until the massacre ended.
Unlike that particular misadventure, abandoning this battle was out of the question. Not only would I be unable to escape scrutiny once it became public knowledge that I fled from a bunch of goblins with my tail between my legs, but the consequences that would arise as being one of the leading individuals to organize this defense in the first place. I don't know whether or not there was a local equivalent of the commissariat within the Adventurers' Guild, although if what Jurgen informed me of the higher ranks' promotion process was anywhere close to accurate, then career suicide could be the least of my worries if I fled now.
And that was of course ignoring what the Rogues' Guild would do if they found me afterwards. Knowing those kinds of cutthroats, they would not take kindly to being left to die by the person who hired their services and respond in kind.
With a heart full of fear and regretting the events that led to me putting myself in yet another disaster the likes of which I intended to escape through my retirement, I marched down the long road to the farm in solemn contemplation of where my life went wrong to end up in my current predicament. No matter how hard I tried to avoid trouble, I always ended up running into it head first and if I ever tried to avoid it or let someone else deal with a looming threat, then they were bound to frak it up and leave me an even bigger mess to clean up afterwards. Throne on Terra, if I survived tonight I was going to need a vacation and one of those casks I ordered to be brought up to the Adventurers' Guild in time for the victory celebration all to myself.
I still couldn't wrap my head around how the Adventurers' Guild was already making plans to enjoy their triumph over the greenskin army before we even knew what numbers we were facing. I don't know where they got their confidence from, but I wish I knew so I could take some of it for myself. Of course, there was no better time to spend every throne in your wallet and take out a few loans on the side if you were sure you weren't going to live long enough to deal with the consequences. Maybe the Guild Staff were onto something after all.
It didn't take long for me to reach the farm even when I was trudging along at a half hearted pace. My spirits lifted a little at the sight of the dozens of adventurers who had already arrived, especially those precious few who were preparing defensive measures to combat the goblins we expected to face. Unlike the guards of Frontier Town, some of the adventurers present were constructing rudimentary arrays of spears perfect for intercepting or outright impaling any mounted cavalry the goblins might field against us, or constructing wooden arrows in bulk for our archers to have plenty of ammunition to thin the hordes of goblins before the rest of us engaged in what was sure to be a fierce melee. I saw a lot more sitting around on their arses than I would have preferred, but hopefully I could have a few words with whoever was leading the defense in order to change that.
A few glances were spared for me upon my arrival and, after offering a few hollow platitudes and other idle words of encouragement, the gathered adventurers went back to whatever they had been busying themselves with beforehand. The vast majority had been waiting for something to happen, likely bored out of their minds hoping the goblins would attack sooner rather than later, and I was pleased to see a number of them find something to busy themselves with after noticing me. Perhaps it was out of some desire to not be seen slacking by the person who demanded their services, or maybe it was out of simple competitiveness to prove they were better than the simple minded soldier I acted like when goading them into assisting Goblin Slayer and I. Regardless of which, I appreciated their efforts all the same and made sure to let them know as I walked up to what I presumed to be the farmhouse that housed Goblin Slayer's family in all but name. It was the most likely command center for this operation to see what more I could do to give myself the greatest chance of survival given how I doubted anyone would feel like doing much of anything cramped alongside all of the livestock in the barn or inside the cramped looking shack beside it.
After conversing with Cow Girl from time to time whenever she stopped by the Adventurer's Guild with Goblin Slayer in tow, I knew that she and her uncle weren't really his family by blood, but I'd be shocked to learn that the stubborn oaf didn't secretly have any plans to change that in the future. A man could only be so oblivious, or at least I sincerely hoped so given how often I followed his lead when exploring goblin nests. The girl clearly enjoyed his company and from what she told me, the idiot showed her a softer side that not even Priestess, Jurgen, or myself knew of outside of one half-drunken rambling in the middle of the night.
With this thought in mind, yet another reason why I couldn't afford to let the farm fall under my watch, I knocked on the door to announce my presence and waited for someone to open it up and greet me. Manners and respect were different than what I was used to within the greater Imperium, and although I didn't know if this world had such a custom about letting strangers into their home unannounced during a crisis, given how overly polite everyone had been so far, I didn't want to risk causing any friction by barging into someone's home without an invitation first.
I couldn't help but to recall how Goblin Slayer never talked about Cow Girl's uncle except from vaguely acknowledging his existence when forced to and felt as if it would be better for everyone involved if I didn't do anything to anger someone that not even that fool felt like bad mouthing from behind their back. The boy thought nothing of a pair of Ogres yet needed to be interrogated with the Nine Actions employed by the Inquisition before he discussed the man he rented a bed from? Either the old man was a force of nature to be reckoned with capable of scaring my goblin obsessed squadmate or one of the few people capable of getting a word through Goblin Slayer's thick skull every so often, a feat even I found difficult to achieve. I couldn't decide which one was worse to deal with.
"Gods damn it, who is it now?" A gruff, tired sounding man grumbled from the other side of the door as a series of locks opened up. "I swear if this is about the smell of my cows again then I am going to-"
As the door finally swung open, I was greeted with the sight of the spitting image of a peasant farmer in the middle of an angry rant whose fury quickly turned to sheepishness upon seeing me. For a moment I felt pity for the old man as he looked more shocked to see me at his doorstep than most Guardsmen would after announcing I was conducting a surprise inspection.
"Oh… you must be Commissar. So the boy wasn't lying about you." He quickly recovered in an attempt to look unperturbed by my unexpected appearance, yet unable to way he tensed as he looked me up and down before his eyes settled on my chainsword, still hanging by my hip with the teeth of its blade fully exposed.
"My reputation precedes me yet again." I laughed, genuinely enjoying the look of baffled amazement spattered on the old man's face. "I'm sorry, but I don't quite know your name yet. Goblin Slayer has always spoken highly of you whenever I managed to steer the conversation towards family, but he never once told me what I should call you if we ever met."
"Farmer." He said, shaking his head and apparently finding his spirit to talk soon afterwards, "You can call me Farmer… sir."
"An old Farmer and his niece, Cow Girl. If only you had a Frakking Idiot to complete the set." I jokingly lamented, "Then again, with as many 'moments' as Goblin Slayer has I suppose you already have that position filled."
"Eh… excuse me, sir?" Farmer nervously asked.
"Oh, it's nothing you need to worry about, and stop with that 'sir' nonsense. You're not a soldier and I'm not your superior. Besides, this is your home I'm intruding upon and even then I'm too far from mine for any titles or noble prestige that has been bestowed upon me against my will to mean anything." I told him in an attempt to get him to speak more freely.
"I've never been fond of all that troublesome politicking, so please just call me Commissar Cain if you have to use a title to address me. And don't worry about sounding too informal speaking to someone you just met, any friend of Goblin Slayer is a friend of mine." I laughed, immediately noticing the way Farmer's stiff posture loosened up afterwards.
"Well, if you insist, Commissar Cain. Always a pleasure to have another soldier as a guest." He said as he gestured for me to come in, "Even if you decided to become an adventurer."
I couldn't help but to take note of that last little remark Farmer muttered under his breath or the venom that seeped through it with every word. The old man apparently had something against adventurers, and with him apparently being a former soldier from the sound of it, one which must have been reasonably successful and highly ranked to end up with a farm of the size we were tasked with defending, I suddenly understood why Goblin Slayer might not have the greatest relation with the man. Still, if the old soldier was willing to give his niece's friend a roof to put over his head, especially one as unique as my groxheaded companion, then that act alone showed how far his stern exterior went.
Farmer's house was a small, quaint little building that was barely tall enough to allow me to stand up comfortably at my full height inside without hitting my head on the crude chandelier hanging inside. Sparsely furnished yet equipped with all the pleasantries one would need to make a life on an agriworld comfortable, or at the very least tolerable from a hive worlder like myself, the house almost looked like a scene one would expect to find in a painting hanging from a planetary governor's wall with how picturesque it was. There was the glaring issue of the handful of adventurers gathered around a table in the kitchen to detract from the simple beauty of my immediate surroundings, but given the circumstances that brought us to the farm, their presence was very much a welcome sight. I could only assume the seven adventurers gathered in Farmer's home would be acting as the de facto leaders of this impromptu defense of the farm given how no one else of easily identifiable authority was present.
Much to my complete lack of surprise, it was the highest ranking adventurers stationed within Frontier Town who had been delegated this tasking job, if they hadn't decided to take the duty upon themselves first. It wasn't a bad decision given the dire circumstances we were in, but I would have at least tried to search for individuals with an experienced leader or a military background as, although not to discredit the wealth of knowledge and experience my adventuring colleagues possessed, I doubted whatever familiarity they had with acting in their own parties would equate well to leading the army they were trying to organize.
"Sorry I'm late." I called out to them to announce my arrival, "There were a few things I needed to attend to in order to ensure Frontier Town would be guarded during our absence."
"Oh, there you are, Commissar. Pretty boy over here was starting to think you ditched us." Heavy Warrior greeted me as he pointed a thumb over towards Spearman.
"Hey, I did no such thing!" He retorted to an assortment of laughter from the other six silver ranked adventurers gathered around him.
A quick survey of the room left me feeling a little better about the variety of backgrounds our command structure was composed of for this battle, but only just. In addition to Spearman and Heavy Knight who were unsurprisingly accompanied by their own partners, Witch and Female Knight respectively, my own new adventuring partners Dwarf Shaman, High Elf Archer, and Lizard Priest were also present. Goblin Slayer's presence was glaringly lacking, however.
"I see we're missing our resident goblin expert." I mused out loud, "Should I assume he's busy elsewhere at the moment?"
"Aye, you've got that right, Commissar. The lad said he needed to track down the goblin's nest while it was still daylight out." The squat informed me.
"Yeah, and he left us to do all of his dirty work back here for him." High Elf Archer complained.
I found it intriguing that Goblin Slayer wasn't present to coordinate the defense of his own home, but neither shocking nor unexpected as I soon explained to the others, "He must be planning to launch a counter attack on the Goblin Lord's base of operations while the bulk of his forces are busy with us."
"A keen… observation, Commissar Cain." Witch said, apparently having come to the same conclusion as I had.
"Huh, I guess that makes sense." Female Knight thoughtfully mused aloud, "No better time to clean house when nobody is home."
"An effective strategy." Lizard Priest nodded in agreement, "Although it is not nearly as honorable as facing the entire horde in battle, there is also valor to be earned in victory nonetheless."
"Well, far be it to tell me something you already figured out in my absence." I said as I tried to get a feel for our current situation, "Now, would someone be so kind as to inform me what wisdom Goblin Slayer imparted with you before frakking off on his own and what preparations are being made to intercept the goblin horde when the Lord finally decides to make his move?"
"Sure thing, Commissar." Heavy Warrior said, pointing to a map with a few freshly painted markings laid out on the table the others were circled around, "Goblin Slayer gave us a brief rundown of what kind of goblins and strategies we are likely to see and how to deal with them. He didn't explain anything in detail-"
"Nothing new there." The xenos archer grumbled, mirroring my own sentiments on the matter.
"True, but he did seem to have confidence that you would be able to fill in any gaps with whatever he didn't have time to tell us before running off into the forest with Priestess." Heavy Warrior continued as he stared at me.
"He brought Priestess with him?" I asked incredulously, quietly glossing over the other thing he mentioned in the hopes I had misheard him.
"Beard Cutter sure did, but only after the lass insisted on joining him." Dwarf Shaman confirmed reluctantly, "Better to have someone to watch his back instead of letting him go in alone."
"Not that it stopped him before joining a party with any of us." I snidely remarked.
"He probably doesn't want to take any risks he doesn't need to since these little monsters are coming after his home." Spearman said, before taking a look at Cow Girl watching our discussions for a nearby chair and teasingly adding, "And his girlfriend."
"That's enough gossip, you lot." Farmer interrupted after the idle remark about his niece whose cheeks had turned almost as vibrant a shade of red as her hair after hearing the boastful idiot's offhand remark, "Don't you adventurers have something more important to be doing?"
"He's right." I said, quickly trying to get us back on topic, "What about these strategies you mentioned, Heavy Warrior?"
"It was mostly different kinds of weapons, spells, and other preparations we need to have ready according to what kinds of goblins show up and when." The giant swordsman informed me, "Spear lines to halt any goblins riding wargs, instructions to cast stupor and silence whenever they bring out their 'meatshields', whatever those are…"
"Believe me, you'll know them when you see them." I said, unable to hold back a shudder thinking about my last encounter with that disgusting strategy I had only seen fielded once by a large nest of goblins who had grown bored with their captives while searching for new playthings to torture.
"Vile bastards." High Elf Archer growled under her breath, just loud enough for me to barely hear.
Apparently she had encountered goblins employing this tactic before joining up with Goblin Slayer, as I knew for a fact she and the rest of her silver ranked partners didn't see any on the quests we went on together.
"I assume he also stressed why it is important we retrieve the meatshields first before we let our archers and other spellcasters start thinning out the Goblin Lord's forces?" I questioned since I didn't see anyone else looking distressed at the idea of enacting a rescue operation in the middle of a siege.
"They're hostages, aren't they?" Heavy Warrior asked with a sigh, taking my lingering dismay as all the answer he needed, "He never told us exactly what they were or why we should bother taking them away from the goblins, but if this Lord is as smart as goblins are cruel like Goblin Slayer claims it to be, then there can only be one answer."
The others paled at this revelation, both Female Knight and Lizard Priest offering whatever prayers they hadn't already used on bartering for our own safety to ask their gods to spare some thought for those unfortunate women we were obligated to rescue. Sure, we weren't exactly required to do anything about them and I am personally sure most of them wouldn't care about how their release from captivity was delivered, whether it was through a daring rescue or a well aimed arrow to take the pain away once and for all. If the goblins thought it was better to use their captives for psychological warfare than increasing the number of their ranks, then that spoke wonders of what those women had already suffered at those deplorable xenos' hands if the monsters couldn't think of anything better to use them for.
Still, we were adventurers, and saving damsels in distress was expected of us. Even if that wasn't the case, I wouldn't give the xenos scum the satisfaction of spilling innocent blood if I could help it.
The large variety of specialized goblin types I was only now being informed of proved that my efforts to recruit additional aid outside of the Adventurers' Guild had been all too necessary. If this Lord was half as smart as it was overly prepared for an assault against a mere farmhouse, then there was no way it would be sending out an entire army along with his captives just to secure a single foothold in preparation to assault Frontier Town at a later date. This abomination intended to use the farm to spearhead his assault on the nearby settlement, and like any ambitious Chaos tainted warlord, turn a former bastion of humanity into its new seat of power. Given the lack of guards I encountered on my way to the farm, it was a frighteningly sound plan. I could only imagine how long the Lord had been planning this assault to come to the conclusion that this was the best way to penetrate Frontier Town's lackluster defenses if it truly did plan out this entire assault and hadn't gotten lucky or a little help somewhere along the line.
"Rescuing any captives will complicate matters, but it shouldn't be anything we can't handle." I said placatingly, trying to put on an air of confidence more in an attempt to fool myself than anyone else in the room, "Judging by the spells Goblin Slayer intends of us to use, he most likely wants us to draw the goblin's shield line close so we can incapacitate them and retrieve any victims they intend to use against us. Did he say there was anything else he wanted us to do to ensure our rescue attempts are successful?"
Every adventurer in the room stared at me with a look of trepidation before Spearman, bold fool that he was, provided the unfortunate answer I should have expected, "No, he didn't really tell us what to do aside from listening to whatever plans you came up with?"
"He WHAT!?" I snapped, unable to accept what I was hearing.
That damned idiot didn't just frak off to leave us all to deal with an army of goblins on our own, but left ME to take care of everything in his place!? If we survived tonight's events, I was going to have my revenge for saddling me with this responsibility without asking me first. Maybe I should see about taking him on a trip to the nearby mountains? He doesn't seem to be fond of them, and I'm sure Jurgen would like to enjoy some snowy weather that bears a passing resemblance to a heatwave on Valhalla.
"What the boy here is trying to say is that Beard Cutter was in a hurry to track down the Lord's nest and couldn't give us much more than give us the basics of what to do until you arrived." Dwarf Shaman interjected coolly, acting as a surprisingly competent mediator given how often he usually argued with High Elf Archer, "He didn't really explain why, but to me it sounds like he has a lot of trust in you to get the job done."
"Probably because of that whole 'Hero of The Imperium' thing." High Elf Archer suggested dryly.
My heart sank as the heroic reputation I had been cultivating in the months since my arrival on this world was thrown back into my face at this very moment. Fame was a double edged sword, and yet again I had to deal with the price I paid to live a life of relative luxury compared to other new members of the Adventurers' Guild by being thrown into the thick of it without a choice. Sure, there was no one I would rather have organizing the defense of the farm amongst the present company, but I found little solace in how the role had been expected of me rather than something I volunteered for myself.
At least I didn't need to wrestle control from someone completely incompetent at leading over a hundred adventurers into battle. Fighting, imprisoning, or executing my predecessor who was more likely to get us all killed than slay a single goblin would not have done our forces' morale any favors.
"We were all in agreement with Goblin Slayer's choice though." Heavy Warrior tried to assure me, gleefully oblivious to how he had achieved the opposite effect, "Most of us remember you talking about serving in a military before becoming an adventurer, and although I have some experience working as a mercenary myself, I wasn't doing anything other than trying to keep myself alive back then whereas you were leading entire armies."
"It was only a single regiment, and it was only as an advisor and mentor to the real heroes I served with." I tried to deflect before reconsidering what effect denying such accomplishments would have on their confidence in my abilities, "But as the one with the most experience amongst a fighting force of this size, I can see why you all think I am the best to serve as our commander in Goblin Slayer's absence."
"Now that I know I'm unofficially leading this defense, let me take a moment to make sure I have the entire picture of what it is I am working with before attempting to improve our defenses in case I missed anything. We have spears being prepared for goblin riders and their mounts, spell casters are prepared to cast a combination of spells to incapacitate any goblins using hostages to discourage pelting them from a distance along with what I hope is enough runners to rescue these captives in one trip, and spare arrows are being prepared for our archers in advance to make sure they do not run out and cause us to be overwhelmed by whatever numbers the goblins bring to bear against us. Is this about right?"
"Yes, it is." Female Knight confirmed.
"But m'lord Commissar, how did you know about the arrows?" Lizard Priest asked, "We did not mention them yet."
"I saw a few adventurers making them on my way here." I explained, adding, "And far too many empty hands doing frak all for my liking when there is still time to prepare."
"Heavy Warrior." I addressed him as I prepared to give the larger man the orders I wanted him to carry out, "Take at least a quarter of the adventurers we currently have, none of our archers, clerics, and spellcasters if possible, and have them help you assemble an line of spears connected together that are large and heavy enough so that multiple people will need to carry them. I don't know how many riders we will be dealing with or the size of their mounts, but we will likely need to build our defenses against them as large as possible to make sure they don't crumple underneath the weight of whatever the goblins throw at us. When making them, make sure they are all connected and reinforced near wherever you intend to grip them and in the middle of them for extra support."
"Spearman, seeing as how spears are your specialty I want you and High Elf Archer to go out and start looking for places we can hide both these spears and the adventurers we eventually intend to wield them out in the fields. Once you're finished, Spearman, go ahead and inspect Heavy Warrior's work to see if any changes need to be made in their assembly to prevent any of them from breaking under the weight of the goblin riders." I then instructed as Heavy Warrior departed to fulfill his assigned task, "Farmer, you can go along with them if you want to try to prevent your crops from suffering any damage, although I can assure you that anything we do will be insignificant to the mess an army of goblins will cause."
"I think I'll stay here if you don't mind me." The old man huffed after giving the matter a thought.
He clearly intended to make me think he took a moment to consider my proposal and consideration for his livelihood, but the way his eyes quickly darted to Cow Girl as he answered gave away his true intentions for staying put. He really must not have trusted any of us. Then again, maybe it was less about trust and more about protecting what little family he had left. I can't recall seeing a wedding band anywhere on his hands now that I think about it.
"Very well. High Elf Archer, I want you to personally make sure that whichever spots the two of you pick for others to hide in, you cannot see them until you are almost stepping on the tips of our spears. I don't know how much better your eyesight is compared to a human's, but I'd feel a lot better if it was you giving our hiding spaces an approval before we use them against the goblins. I doubt we need to be that thorough against the goblins, but I do not want to take any chances with the first line of defense against any cavalry units the goblins possess."
"Yeah, yeah. We'll make sure we get the job done." Spearman whined, obviously not expecting to be given such a mundane job and making his annoyance obvious unlike the xenos he would be working with.
"I understand. Is there anything else you want us to do while we're out there?" High Elf Archer asked.
"Yes, actually there is." I hummed as a stroke of inspiration hit me, "If there is any foliage from the trees around the edge of the fields you think is concealing enough and light enough to use as camouflage, take it and place it in piles around the areas you intend to use to hide yourselves. That will help make it harder for the goblins to spot you and give any archers the Lord has in his army less cover to hide behind if they can fire from that far. I shouldn't have to tell you this, but make sure the archers' cover is close enough for them to offer support for our spear lines."
"Alright Commissar Cain, we're on it." She cheerily said as she rushed out of the farmhouse with Spearman muttering complaints underneath his breath as he followed behind.
"Witch and Dwarf Shaman, I want the two of you to gather up all of our spell casters and start deciding which roles they will be best suited for. Prioritize anyone who can cast stupor and silence for our rescue operation where they can join the others afterwards, who I want either stationed alongside our archers to rain down spells along with their arrows, reinforce the strength of our archer's attacks, or to throw up defenses across the battlefield as needed if the goblins bring archers and spell casters of their own." I told them. "If any of your potential recruits know any healing spells or don't know any offensive spells, leave them for Lizard Priest."
I turned to look at the scaled abhuman and tried to decide what role would best suit him before deciding how best to have a two and a half meter tall mass of muscle and armored scales serve my plans, "Scaly, I want you to gather up any spellcasters capable of using healing magic or offensive buffs and start creating stations where they can tend to our wounded in safety once we start taking casualties. Hopefully we won't need any of the healing spells or buffs they can provide our forces, but if we do need them, then I want them to be ready to move quickly to where they are needed most."
"Aye, Commissar Cain." The abhuman hissed as his tail thumped against the wood floor in acknowledgement.
"And where does that leave you and me?" Female Knight asked the obvious question as every adventurer I had not assigned a job to left to complete their work before the goblins arrived.
"We're going to assemble the adventurers who are not currently busy making arrows or being recruited by others into two groups led by either you and me. I want you to focus on gathering the fastest runners we have and informing them of our plan to deal with the goblin's meatshields. I will accompany all of you in the work of liberating whatever captives the goblins bring so our archers can have free reign to pick them off at their leisure. It is important that they know what they are doing so they can be prepared in advance, both physically and mentally." I told her, dreading when that inevitable moment finally came, "Until then, I will be assigning everyone who isn't currently working on something else to fortify our defenses around the main farm area to prevent any goblins wily enough to slip past our forces from getting close enough to create any problems for our archers and spell casters before we can deal with them. I'll also be keeping an eye open for any of the other help I've requested through the Adventurers' Guild and other channels while staying near the farm, as well as issuing further orders to anyone who finishes their tasks in advance."
"That sounds fine to me." Female Knight shrugged, "It's a good thing we have you with us. I don't think Heavy Warrior or any of the others would be able to organize something like this and have it turn out to be a success."
I doubted I could do it too, but I could hardly voice my own worries with so many lives depending on me. So I did what I could, cursing Goblin Slayer underneath my breath for giving me the unenviable job of managing the construction of defenses for his home as I hurriedly did everything in my power to make sure we were prepared for when the goblins arrived.
By the time dusk had finally started to pull the sun down below the horizon, there was no word from Frontier Town Governor or any troops he intended to send to support us. Jurgen had informed me that the message was received upon finishing his supply runs between the farm and frontier town, but nothing more than that. Whether the fat frakhead had no intentions of joining us as we fought and died on his behalf or was on his way with an indeterminate ETA was anyone's guess, so I presumed we would be without his assistance in this battle. With all the defenses and plans in place for the forces we could feasibly prepare for, all we could do was wait for the goblins to finally arrive.
Had I known what I do know about what would be marching across those fields toward us, I would have ordered Jurgen to abandon the adventurers and drive us to the capitol to recruit a proper fighting force to fend off the attackers we would face that night. Unfortunately, we were all blissfully unaware of the horrors lurking beyond the line of trees before our eyes until it was too late.
Special thanks to Doc43Souls for beta reading this chapter!
Author's Corner:
The stage is finally set. The adventurers have already taken their spots and await the arrival of the greentide as it finally surges forward to meet them.
And for those of you who thought the last couple of chapters were slow, don't worry. Things will actually happen in the next one.
Comments:
cirithewitcheress: Nice chapter again. Surprised to see the Fox Rogue Guild guy was the reasonable sort. Yeah sure he hes in it only for the money but recognized this shit was life or death and the money could just be settled once they finished surviving
I don't think Fox's assistance is really that unbelievable when you look at it from a purely financial perspective. Frontier Town is the largest settlement in the entire Frontier of Goblin Slayer's world according to canon. Imagine the thousands or millions of gold that would be lost every year if Frontier Town fell and you'll likely see why Fox didn't even bother to take the pittance Cain offered when pledging his assistance, if the rogue cared solely about profit.
"Austin": Wow….Ciaphas is not taking any chances in regards to the Goblins…
Considering how often shit hits the fan whenever he's around, is it any surprise? Besides, he still believes goblins to be related to Orks in some capacity and Chaos worshippers too, two enemies you simply cannot afford to take any chances with.
zerkil: nice
Indeed.
As always, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all again in the future.