"Heal!" Priestess said aloud as she cast her miracle on another survivor who just barely clung to life.
With the help of Goblin Slayer and the mysterious pair of adventurers, they managed to transport the victims in the cave to the village, both for treatment and burial.
With her last two miracles spent, she raised the number of likely survivors from eight to ten.
It was ironic in a sense; on the same day she had pledged to The Earth Mother that she would help preserve the lives of the innocent, two such lives had been lost while another two had been saved, an equilibrium achieved, a technical success.
But technicalities were the crutch of the insufficient, and Priestess was not a technical person. The bitterness of the death of her two party members overshadowed and nullified any sense of triumph she might have had in helping the goblins' victims.
"That's a real nice gift you have, darling," An aging feminine voice said aloud.
Priestess looked to her side to see the firey woman.
Despite the flames of her hair and torch harness licking the top of the doorframe she stood under, there was not even the slightest mark of singeing. The control she had over her magic must have been masterful.
"The best I can do with mine is cauterizing wounds," Sienna said with a slightly sad smile, "Of course, it's nowhere near as soothing or clean as what you can do."
"I'm sure that isn't true!" Priestess protested, not believing that she of all people could be anywhere close to being above such a powerful adventurer.
"What? About the soothing part or the clean part?" The wizard asked with an amused look, "I can tell you right now, most won't describe having their wounds burned close as either."
"Uh... well..." Priestess froze, not knowing how to respond.
"Relax, I'm just messing with you, darling," Sienna said, chuckling all the while, "I have a feeling we'll get along just fine."
It was a strange experience for Priestess to see the woman before her be so friendly and open, just a few hours before, she'd assumed the wizard was some demon of chaos, come to drag her and her party members to damnation, but instead she was part of the reason they were even alive right now.
"I'm sorry," Priestess said apologetically, feeling guilty about her assumptions.
"Don't worry yourself over it, darling," Sienna responded, "Half of my usual company are too proud to complain about a little burning pain or scarring anyways."
"No, that's not it," Priestess corrected, "Back in the cave, I thought you were a demon, but you saved us and you're actually really friendly."
Sienna looked at the girl silently with a dumbfounded look for a second, before the full amusement of the situation hit her.
For most of her life, she'd been branded similar and worse things by people much less deserving of her patience, even friends counting Saltzpyre in their earlier years, yet here was a soft-spoken little girl apologizing for just thinking about it.
Sienna once again burst into a fit of laughter to Priestess' confusion.
"Oh, I'll tell you right now, darling, those manners are going to get you very far in life," The wizard said as she settled down.
As Sienna's laughter died down, Priestess focused on the sight beyond the window of the village chief's house that had been converted into a makeshift hospital. A couple of bodies, each covered with a cloth to preserve the deceased's dignity, were lined near a clearing, some were awaiting burial in the village, others would be transported to the guild to be identified and sent home. A certain thought bit into Priestess' conscious.
"Could I have done better?" Priestess found herself thinking aloud, before turning to Sienna, "Could I have done anything to stop what happened?"
The young girl waited with anticipation for the much more experienced adventurer's opinion. Sienna took a moment to ponder over her next words.
"Darling, what happened wasn't your fault," Sienna answered consolingly, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.
Priestess attempted to keep up appearances, to appear stronger than she was, but tears soon broke through as she collapsed into the wizard's chest with sobs.
"There, there, darling," Sienna said comfortingly as she embraced the girl, feeling Priestess' tears soak into her robes.
Carts eventually arrived at the village, coming to transport the victims, both living and dead.
"What will happen to them?" Saltzpyre asked, looking at the cart taking the surviving women.
Among them was Fighter, who, despite being well physically, had been struck down mentally. Such were many cases, Saltzpyre thought to himself, reminded of soldiers and citizens who'd return home broken after facing undead horrors.
"They will be taken to temples for further treatment and recovery," Goblin Slayer answered, "But I've heard that some choose to never leave."
"These 'temples', what god are they dedicated to?" Saltzpyre inquired, partially to find out where they were in the world and partially out of personal curiosity.
"It varies between places," Goblin Slayer began, "Though the closest one here is dedicated to The Earth Mother."
"The Earth Mother?" Saltzpyre repeated, relieved to hear a familiar deity. The Earth Mother was one of the many names of Rhya, wife of Taal and the goddess of fertility and bounty.
Said familiarity also meant that they were at least somewhere in the Old World, though where exactly was still a mystery.
Still, that temple was the biggest lead they had so far. Given the former sergeant's faith in the goddess' husband, Kruber would be likely drawn there.
"It is good to see that the faithful still stand, even if they tend to be on the softer side," Saltzpyre commented with slight condescension, though he would not overlook the cult of Rhya's diligence in combatting the heretic followers of Slaanesh, "We can only hope that those of Rhya's flock can heal the wounds on their souls."
"A Rhea's flock?" Goblin Slayer asked, confused by the phrase.
"Rhya," Saltzpyre corrected, before realizing what had been revealed to him. "Do you not know the name of your gods?"
"I haven't heard the Earth Mother being called 'Rhya' before," Goblin Slayer answered flatly.
Victor supposed it wasn't too unusual for a bounty hunter to be unfamiliar with theology, perhaps he only traveled within the local region of wherever they were.
"What is 'Arhea' ?" The witch hunter questioned, curious about the unknown term the goddess' name had been mistaken for.
"Rheas are a race of short folk," Goblin Slayer answered, thinking about his old mentor, "I don't think they're too common, I've heard they tend to live in meadows. Maybe that's why you are unfamiliar with them."
"I believe I might be more familiar than you think," Saltzpyre replied, sure that what had been described to him was a halfing; 'rhea' was likely some local term, "Do they happen to be generally carefree and predisposed thievery?"
"Some believe those notions," Goblin Slayer replied, again thinking about the rhea who trained him, who was most certainly not 'lighthearted', "I can't say they're accurate for the entire race."
Though not completely affirming, the bounty hunter's words sufficiently confirmed the witch hunter's hypothesis, giving another clue to their general location.
However, despite now knowing more about the local region, the witch hunter was still about as sure of where they were on the larger scale of the world as before, that was to say barely.
Still, there were still a few more matters Victor wished to discuss, one was related to his discovery in the cave.
"I've been meaning to ask you about a certain 'thing' I found amongst the deceased's possessions," Saltzpyre said as he pulled out the still blood-stained guild tag, noticing that the bounty hunter was wearing a similar tag that stuck out from his armor. "What is the meaning of this?"
"I'm not sure I understand your question," Goblin Slayer responded.
"I have seen numerous people, such as yourself and those children in the cave, wearing these," The witch hunter explained, "What do they signify? What is their purpose?"
"Are you not an adventurer?" Goblin Slayer asked, confused that the question was even being asked.
"Where I am from, this 'Adventurer's Guild' does not have any branches," Saltzpyre said, reading the words on the front of the tag.
"I see," Goblin Slayer began, "It may be better for one of the guild officials to explain, but those tags are used to identify adventurers."
"And you 'adventurers' are hired out for work, I presume?" Victor continued questioning, "Work involving combat and security?"
"There are other jobs, but I think that is generally the case," Goblin Slayer answered.
"And when you said 'identify', did you mean in life or in death?" Saltzpyre asked struggling to hide his frustration as presumptions continued to be confirmed.
"I have seen it used more often in the latter cases," Goblin Slayer stated.
That had confirmed everything the witch hunter needed to know. He had some idea what the tag was, soldiers and mercenaries often wore such pendants as a means to identify their remains should they perish in ways that left them otherwise unrecognizable.
Ordinarily, it would not have bothered the witch hunter, such things were merely part of the job, but the fact that children, likely with no real combat experience, were apparently being recruited by this 'Adventurer's Guild' mercenary organization and sent to clear out greenskin dens, a task suited more to trained soldiers who even then would face at least moderate risk, enraged him.
"Imprudence bordering on criminality," Saltzpyre muttered quietly, not wanting the bounty hunter to hear his words. He held no anger towards the man; from what he knew, the bounty hunter had no idea of the children being sent down into the cave and was planning to clear the den himself. In other words, he was in the same boat as they were. The true blame lay in whatever leadership was heading this 'Adventurer's Guild'; it appeared that regardless of where they were, the familiar menace of incompetence and negligence plagued this realm.
"Have the transports delayed until we sterilize the caves," Saltzpyre said commandingly, if the roads were as unkept as the surrounding wilderness that they had already borne witness to, it would be unwise to leave the transport unguarded, "My companion and I will provide them with security on their route, it appears we must head in their direction anyway."
"Sterilize?" Goblin Slayer repeated questioningly.
"Greenskins reproduce via spores," Victor explained, unsurprised at the bounty hunter's confusion, it wasn't too common knowledge in the first place, and likely much less so wherever they were in, "If we do not wish for them to return within the next generation, we must cleanse every surface of their filth."
Goblin Slayer stayed silent for a moment, it was the first time he had heard such information and he had not seen such methods of reproduction before, only knowing that the goblins were capable of reproducing with women. However, he was still relatively young, only actively fighting the creatures as an adventurer for around the last five years, while the much older man before him seemed to have been doing so for longer and clearly understood how to effectively deal with goblins considering that he knew to check for and kill even the goblin children.
"I see," Goblin Slayer replied, "I would like to observe your methods and assist if that is fine; I was unaware of that aspect about the goblins."
"It is fine," Saltzpyre responded; if even just half of his colleagues and subordinates in the order had been as receptive to and willing to learn from his word on the skaven as the bounty hunter before him was with his lecturing on greenskins, Ubersreik likely never would have fallen.
As Goblin Slayer was about to leave to inform the leading coachman of the cart transport to delay their journey, Saltzpyre needed to ask one more thing.
"A final question, master Goblin Slayer," The witch hunter called out, using the title the bounty hunter had given him when he had asked for his name, likely a quirk of the profession, "What language is this written in?"
Saltzpyre once again held the bloody adventurer tag, holding it in a way to emphasize the inscriptions.
Though slightly confused by his questioner's inquiry, Goblin Slayer answered nonetheless.
"It's written in 'Common'." The adventurer said flatly.
"And I presume we are also speaking in this 'Common'?" Victor continued.
"Yes." Goblin Slayer replied.
"I see, thank you for your time," The witch hunter said as he left to retrieve Sienna for the greenskin cave's sterilization. As he walked, he continued gazing at the inscriptions on the tag, despite never seeing such style of markings before, he was somehow capable of comprehending them as clearly as written Riekspiel, and this apparently also extended to its spoken form.
He pocketed the guild tag once again, the matter was of secondary importance for the time being. Right now, there was a cave in need of sterilization.