Taking the final steps out of Londobell's rural farming circle and onto the crossing fields of the frontier wilderness, the morning sun was radiating its warmth onto the pasty skin of Goblin Slayer's face; the ten year-old standing at the edge of a hilly meadow, simply taking in the majestic of Mother Nature. Amongst the blades of grass and bushels of wildflowers growing along the meadows, there were small woodland creatures frolicking within the flora; from little horned rabbits to small birds picking at the dirt for worms, the frontier beckoned the ten year-old to explore what it had in store for him.
With Slime Girl's signature short sword sheathed within the makeshift scabbard on the side of his gifted leather-belt, Goblin Slayer felt butterflies once again swarming inside of his stomach as he his entire body shuddered with anxious excitement for what awaited him beyond the peaceful meadows, and within the wooded continents of the vast "Oakshire Forest" that he needed to cross, in order to progress on his journey to the Mythril Mountains.
'This is it… I'm actually going to do it…! I'm gonna go adventuring, but like… For real this time! Not just pretending, like… Like how I used to do,' Goblin Slayer thought proudly to himself, before suddenly feeling his endorphins lowering as he began to think more about his red-headed best friend that he hadn't seen since she left their village, before it got invaded. '… I wonder if she's doing okay. I hope she is… Wait, why wonder when I got BBB on my side?' Goblin Slayer mused to himself, as his spirits were lifted by the idea that suddenly came to him.
Using the hand with the glowing crest marked on the back of it, Goblin Slayer extended his right arm out before swaying it toward his left-side; mimicking the same movement he saw BB doing earlier, before opening up the holographic user-interface that she had programmed for him. The small chibi copy of the managerial AI popped up on the gray translucent screen before Goblin Slayer, silently waving her small hand happily at him, before opening up a GPS map in the corner of the menu that expanded two-hundred kilometers outward from their location.
"Oh, wow! That's…! T-That's actually really helpful, BBB-Sensei! Thank you very much, but… I, uh… I actually wanted to ask you something else," Goblin Slayer said, after showering his miniature AI assistant with more praise than she ever received back on the Moon-Cell; eliciting an ego-boost from her that led to her striking a flashy pose to him, as to show her user how amazing she felt.
Still being a kid to some extent, Goblin Slayer couldn't help but chuckle from how silly he thought BBB was being; which again, helped me feel better about having to think about something as worrisome as the unknown fate that had fallen upon his best friend. "Hehehe… I, uh… I was wondering if you could please help me figure out something… There's this girl, her name's "Molly Heim"; she left with her uncle to help sell his crops at the farmer's market, within the capital: Pathway. I just… I just wanted to make sure that she's doing okay, was all. Think you can help me, BBB-Sensei?"
Lowering her small arms as her proud smile faded into an uncertain neutral-expression, BBB stood there on the bottom of his menu-screen; a small loading icon appearing over her head full of purple hair, before suddenly Goblin Slayer received a pop-up notification that appeared to him in the middle of the screen. "The Moon-Cell could not find anyone by the name of "Molly Heim" within your two-hundred kilometer radius. As of now, it can only archive what's within that two-hundred kilometers parameter," Goblin Slayer read quietly to himself, while noticing from the corner of his eye that BBB's mouth was moving as well; indicating to the boy that the words within the notification were coming directly from her, and not by any automated response.
"Oh… Well, that's gotta at least mean something, right? I mean… She's not anywhere near us, so… So she and her uncle probably did make it to Pathway after all… Right?" Goblin Slayer asked optimistically, to which BBB fed into by giving him a reassuringly cocky smile as she extended her arm out toward him, to give him a confident thumbs up. "Yeah… Yeah, I think so too!" Goblin Slayer said with his smile returning to his lips, as the excitement he felt for his first journey was reignited within him. "Okay… Are we all ready for this?"
Shifting the floating rectangular-menu over to the lower-left side of Goblin Slayer's field of vision, as to allow him to have a constant visual of the GPS map she had displaying on the right-hand side of the screen, BBB made a cartoon music-player appear in her hand before plugging its white earbuds into her ear canals; giving Goblin Slayer a cocky nod, before choosing a song from the Moon-Cell's wide selection of archived music to play for the three of them.
Having no memories of ever being exposed to fine arts in general, the concept that there were songs that went beyond the confines of mere secular music and religious chants was still something that the fascinated ten year-old was getting used to. Allowing himself to move around to the beat of the catchy song BBB had picked out, Goblin Slayer unsheathed his blade as Fairy Knight appeared behind him.
"You appear to be in good spirits, Master. Good, your first adventure will be remembered by you for the rest of your days… For your sake, I hope that you'll be able to look back on this experience, and remember it fondly," Fairy Knight said in her usual stoic voice, while still smiling underneath her facial mask as her signature swords appeared over her slim forearms. "As your servant— and more sacredly, as a knight of the Round Table— I shall protect you with my very life; you have my word," the white-haired knight promised with a determined tone to her voice.
Feeling assured by not only the presence of his own guardian fairy, but by the fact that he knew how deadly she was in a fight, Goblin Slayer used his left hand to reach underneath the collar of his black turtleneck shirt. Fishing out the golden chain of the enchanted necklace he had clipped around the base of his neck, Goblin Slayer gave the religious pendant a tug to ensure that it wouldn't fall off. Satisfied with Mother Mary's gifted pendant, thinking fondly of her as he tucked it back underneath his black turtleneck collar, Goblin Slayer stretched his legs and arms before finally beginning his journey; practicing the passive "reinforcement" spell that Fairy Knight's presence allowed him to utilize, so as to increase his stamina and to give him the means to travel at a quicker pace.
Kicking up patches of grass and dirt in the wake of his moving feet, the way that the cool wind of the morning breeze blew against his face invigorated Goblin Slayer; making him feel that childish spark of ecstasy, as the endorphins within his veins flowed throughout his small body. Running through the vast hilly-terrain of the meadows, Goblin Slayer's heart immediately began racing inside of his chest the moment he noticed five red-dots appearing on the holographic map, floating along the lower edge of his vision.
Slowing down a bit, Goblin Slayer's lackadaisical attitude quickly changed into that of paranoia and anxiety; his fingers tightening around the handle of his short-sword. 'What does that say…? Five lesser slimes?! Does that mean that all lesser slimes like the one on Grace's farm AREN'T all docile?!' Goblin Slayer wondered to himself, while finding it a little upsetting that he would have to be slaying the same race of goofy-looking monsters who he first encountered as being peaceful, algae eating livestock; livestock, who would let him pet them, and even played with him while he had been helping Slime Girl yesterday.
'Okay, okay; focus…! These aren't the same kinds of slimes as the ones on the farm; they're dangerous, and see me only as food! This is it! It's me or them, and I'm not dying to something that looks like it belongs on a dessert plate!' Goblin Slayer thought to himself; bracing his resolve, as he charged toward the group of three-foot tall blobs of translucent green slimes. Already recalling his experience from when he fought the goblin army after his mana had been depleted, Goblin Slayer was fully equipped with a strategy as he sprinted down the incline of a grassy hill; his eyes locked onto his first target, as he prepares himself to leap off from the side of the hill, in order to use his sword the cut the first slime into two.
All that preparation ended up being for nothing, as the moment he got within six-meters of his enemies, Fairy Knight moved past him at light- speed, effortlessly splattering all five slimes right before his very eyes. "W-Wait, but I was going to- Oh, SHIT!" Goblin Slayer yelled out with a surprised look on his wide-eyed face, as he immediately tripped over his own feet after being distracted from Fairy Knight stealing his thunder. Falling down the remaining length of the hill-side, Goblin Slayer closed his eyes-shut as he tumbled against the meadow-floor; ruining his leather jacket completely, as he rolled straight through the gelatinous remains of the slimes.
Feeling dizzy and covered in blades of grass and green-globs of gel, Goblin Slayer had flopped over onto his back by the time his uncontrollable tumble had come to a halt. Groaning under his breath, Goblin Slayer narrowed his eyes as he raised a hand up to shield himself from the blinding light of the eight o'clock morning sun. Once he saw Fairy Knight blocking the sunlight as she loomed over him by his side, Goblin Slayer allowed for his raised arm to drop down to his side.
"I take it that your plan didn't go according to the one you had in mind… Perhaps you and I should use this opportunity to practice communicating battle plans with one another," Fairy Knight suggested, before kneeling down to help Goblin Slayer up onto his feet. From there, the two proceeded to have a discussion with one another about when it would be appropriate for Goblin Slayer to fight on his own; as the two agreed that Fairy Knight surpassed anything battle-wise that the boy would be capable of doing on his own.
Even though Goblin Slayer's pendant gave him a passive mana-regeneration buff that allowed Fairy Knight to exist in her corporal form indefinitely, most of her more powerful abilities were inaccessible to her, due to his low mana pool. Since she could only travel within a six-meter radius of him for the time being, Fairy Knight told Goblin Slayer that it would be ideal if the two of them were to find a ranged weapon for him to use; as the short-sword, in her opinion, served him no other purpose than to exist as a last-resort effort to protect himself, incase by some chance they were attacked by multiple enemies that she couldn't destroy as quickly as she had done thus far.
Although it was a little disheartening to be told that he wouldn't do a lot of the fighting himself, Goblin Slayer tried to cheer himself up by changing his outlook on the situation. Deciding to utilize BBB mostly as his way of supporting Fairy Knight and himself, Goblin Slayer didn't feel so powerless or disappointed with himself by the end of their discussion; with Fairy Knight reinforcing his importance by telling him how helpful that would be for her, since BBB seemed to only take orders from him.
Knowing that he more than likely would only get hurt if he were to be absolutely neglectful of his surroundings— seeing how his tumble down the hill was what ended up giving him his first bruise of the journey— Goblin Slayer used his limited magecraft skills to transfer his dirty jacket to BB's reality marble before continuing on his way through the remainder of the meadows; using the playlist that BBB had on to enjoy his walk through the outdoors, while Fairy Knight slaughter every dangerous monster that had made the mistake of targeting her vunerable-looking master.