Washing themselves off at the bath house that was next door to the indoor sauna, High Elf Archer and Noble Fencer together began their shopping spree— the two of them using their own family wealth to purchase new winter accessories for the elf. Wearing durable black-colored thermals that covered her arms and legs completely, High Elf Archer was able to re-use most of her old outfit, but with added protection against the sub-zero temperatures that would greet them further up the path. Switching her inadequate cloak for a white-fur lined one that came with a hood to insulate the heat to her head, the last addition to High Elf Archer's survival gear was a green scarf that could be used as a mask to cover her mouth and nose.
Although Goblin Slayer's black-fur insulated leather armor that BB had transmuted for him out of his collected resources within his inventory did in fact keep him warm, the truth of the matter was that it was questionable at best whether or not it would be enough to keep the ten year-old warm when they reached the peak of the Mythril Mountains. Unfortunately, no one in Matterhorn sold child-sized sets of armor meat for sub-zero temperatures, so High Elf Archer proposed the idea that she and Noble Fencer would simply buy the raw materials, and have their managerial AI ally craft a custom set of armor for Goblin Slayer instead.
By the time the two had finished their shopping spree, the stars were beginning to twinkle in the late twilight-sky. Thanks to their large expenditures made at "Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna", the shopkeeper was more than willing to provide the two noble women with a private space in the back of his store to set up a fast-travel point— the idea of having what were essentially two princesses being able to come-and-go to his shop whenever and wherever made the bearded man giddy with excitement. The back of the trading post had rows-and-rows of shelves filled with back stock, and in the furthest recesses of the small warehouse High Elf Archer and Noble Fencer found a perfect spot for BB to create a green-glowing tune along the wooden floorboards— right beside a small break area that the shopkeeper had for himself.
With Noble Fencer standing behind her with the rope of the sleigh full of supplies in hand, High Elf Archer couldn't help but to feel exclusive with the way she was able to remain calm as she heard the teenager behind her let out a gasp the moment the rune on the floor began to emit swirling turquoise particles of light around its circular circumference. "I… I have no idea what sort of magic that is— it's nothing like I've ever seen before… What are they?" Noble Fencer asked with an astonished tone in her voice— sounding exactly like how High Elf Archer herself spoke, when she first asked Goblin Slayer about what a fast-travel point was.
"They're called "photon particles"— they're essentially bits of light that can transport and receive information from one point to another. Pretty much what happens is that we both step into the circle together, and then the " magical circuits" or whatever within that rune scans us. And because you've got me with you, it'll allow us and our cargo to be teleported to whatever other fast-travel point that its connected to," High Elf Archer explained with the best of her knowledge— shooting the perplexed teenager a look over her shoulder, before softly chuckling as she stared into her golden eyes.
"… N-Not to sound uneducated by any means, but… What the hell's a "magical circuit"?" Noble Fencer asked with a confused tone in her voice— her eyebrows knitted, as she did her best to make sense of the information she had been given.
Needing a moment to think about how she could properly reply to Noble Fencer's question— as she herself was still learning the concepts of magecraft that Goblin Slayer himself wasn't all too sure about it either— High Elf Archer thought back to the ten year-old, and suddenly knew what to say. "You know that glowing red-thing that Orcblog has on the back of his hand? That's called a "magic crest", and is also made up of " magical circuits". It's kind of like a… Like a magical converter that's made up of photon particles, and serves two purposes: one is to transfer mana into spells, and the other is to link him to some weird realm or something called the " Moon-Cell"… Which is another thing entirely on its own," High Elf Archer chuckled, after having done her best to give the intrigued teenager the best simple explanation she could think of.
Grasping her chin with one gloved hand as she gently tapped the side along her jawline with one finger, Noble Fencer slowly nodded back at High Elf Archer while grinning at her with interest. "Huh, I see, I see… Tell me more about this "Moon-Cell"— I'd love to hear more about wh-W-WOAH?!" Noble Fencer suddenly shouted with a surprised tone in her voice.
And as just the honey-blond haired teenager pulled her trusty rapier from its hilt, High Elf Archer had already drawn her longbow out and had six arrows pulled back along its drawstring as she hopped backwards from the fast-travel point that she hadn't been paying attention to. Fully prepared to engage in combat with whatever had prompted Noble Fencer to draw her blade, High Elf Archer was milliseconds away from rapidly firing her entire quiver full of arrows the moment she saw the six adventurers from earlier falling forward toward them.
Had it not been for the sight of Goblin Slayer standing over the adventurers who laid face-first before him, then both women would have impulsively attacked the six men and women who already looked as though they were one hit away from death. Lowering her rapier as High Elf Archer did the same with her own weapon, Noble Fencer's surprise grew into a feeling of nervous uncertainty and confusion as she took a second look at the six adventurers who were groaning and whimpering in pain several feet away from her. "W-What the hell?! Goblin Slayer, did… D-Did you do this to them?!" The honey-blond teenager asked with a disapproving look in her eye, as she carefully knelt down beside the heavily-bandaged and splitted Female Mage, who was struggling to keep her eyelids open and was just muttering incoherently under her breath.
Not proud of what he did, Goblin Slayer seemed completely understanding of Noble Fencer's reaction, and remained calm and stoic as he watched her ensure that every one of the adventures who he had beaten to a pulp were still alive and stable. "This is what it had to come down to, unfortunately. I offered to make peace with them, but they weren't exactly interested in that, so… I did the next best thing, after that shark woman there tried attacking me when I wasn't paying attention to her," Goblin Slayer explained, but was still disheartened the moment he realized that Noble Fencer was still visibly against what he had done.
Having looked into the cleaned-up mouth of the unconscious leader of the party, Noble Fencer closed the lips of the toothless man before glaring angrily at the now worried-looking boy. "Clearly they weren't a threat to you, Goblin Slayer— so why did you hurt them THISbadly?! You know that they're all going to have to retire from adventuring now, don't you?! They're NEVERgoing to recover from this— not without a LITERALmiracle on their side!" Noble Fencer exclaimed, as she got up from the floor before gesturing with her hands down toward the rest of the crippled adventurers.
Although she herself thought that Goblin Slayer might have gone too far as well, High Elf Archer decided to play devil's advocate while trying to be the voice of reason as well. "Now wait, hold on Relena. Yes, Orcblog probably didn't need to break almost every bone in their bodies, and yes you have every reason to feel upset about seeing fellow adventurers in this sorry state, but… Technically speaking, we did critically wound a couple of them ourselves, and just like how he did the first time, it looks like Orcblog properly treated their wounds," High Elf Archer pointed out, but to which Noble Fencer found to be inarguably true upon finishing her check up on the other adventurers.
Darting her eyes toward High Elf Archer, Noble Fencer's fierce temperament began to subside as her shoulders began to slowly relax. "Y-Yes, I… I see that, but… But they're one of us, Arthemis— they're adventurers, and "gold-ranked" at that! It's just…! I-It's just a shame to see them like this, and… And it's awful that things ended up this way for them," Noble Fencer said solemnly, as she took in a quiet breath before sighing softly. Looking away from High Elf Archer, she flashed the green-haired woman an appreciative smile before turning to meet Goblin Slayer's crimson gaze. "I… I'm sorry. I knew you didn't want to have to kill them, so… So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm upset not at you, but because things didn't turn out the way I was expecting them to either— call me a fool, but I was hoping that you'd be able to solve this complicated situation through words alone."
Feeling slightly better about himself, now that Noble Fencer wasn't glaring at him or accusing him of being overly aggressive, Goblin Slayer felt a weight being lifted off of his chest the moment he saw an apologetic smile forming across the teenager's pretty pink lips. "It's fine, and… And yeah… Yeah, I… I was hoping I'd be able to talk them down, but… But it wasn't meant to be, I guess," Goblin Slayer mused with a humorless chuckle escaping his lips, as he let out a breath of withheld air while taking a moment to stare at his handiwork. " Uh… For what it's worth though, they shouldn't be like this for long— give or take a year with some proper care back home, they'll be capable of working to provide for themselves and families in no time."
Nodding her head, Noble Fencer's smile grew momentarily after hearing Goblin Slayer's reassuring words. ' At least he thought about the long term consequences of his actions… Poor kid, I shouldn't have yelled at him like that— after all, at least he was able to resolve this issue without killing any of them. That's a testament to who he is, surely, ' Noble Fencer thought approvingly of Goblin Slayer, but still remained saddened as she stared back at his concerned expression. "This… This isn't your fault— I overreacted, and that's entirely on me. With that being said, there's a likely chance that they'll tell the Adventurer's Guild about what you did to them, so… So just be prepared for that," Noble Fencer advised with a heavy heart, as the look on Goblin Slayer's face after she had told him that made her feel all the more guilty for having lost her temper in the first place.
"I… I guess I'll have to cross that bridge when I get there. Maybe, uh… Maybe it won't matter if whoever's in charge of the Adventurers' Guild learns about what I did? That might give me a chance to give my side of the story… If or when that day comes," Goblin Slayer said hopefully, as he stared almost pleading at the two women. "I mean… What's done is done, and all that matters now is that these jerks aren't going to cause us any more trouble for the time being… Anyway, it's getting late, and we really do need to be heading out to rescue your party members," Goblin Slayer said— switching the subject for his sake, as well as for the sake of the two women who were worried for him, as well as themselves.
Before Noble Fencer went on to reveal to Goblin Slayer about the truth on how her "party members" weren't actually " party members" to begin with, she made sure to give the shopkeeper a heads-up about the six-adventurers who would need to be taken to the nearest monastery— so as to be placed in their infirmary. Due to the shopkeeper's value of his financial ambitions, he promised Noble Fencer and High Elf Archer that he would " take care" of their problem by making up an elaborate story of how he had stumbled upon them in the woods— telling the two women that he would take responsibility for patching their wounds up, and that he would paint the six adventurers as being too traumatized for anyone to take whatever they say too seriously.
With an ally on their side, the trio felt genuinely relieved about the complicated situation. In good spirits for the most part, and wanting to keep whatever streak they had going for them, Goblin Slayer stored everything that the two women had purchased separately and together into his inventory, and was able to give his leather armor more padding and insulation from the changes made to his outfit by BB. Once they had fast-traveled together back to their isolated tavern home within the outer edge of Aurora's Somber, the trio wasted no time in setting up their lanterns before braving the elements that awaited for them within those snow-ridden woods.
Taking the lead with Fairy Knight in the back to watch over them, Goblin Slayer made sure to fastened the black half-mask that BB had crafted for him around his lower face before opening up his holographic interface to navigate through the dark and eerie terrain— keeping an ear open for Noble Fencer, who used her own map to coordinate with him where the goblin-infested cave that her hired mercenaries were guarding was at. Holding his short-blade now that he had given Fairy Knight her Arondight back, Goblin Slayer was having BBB constantly scan the area for any unusual activity that would warrant their immediate attention, as he turned his head over his leather-padded shoulder to meet Noble Fencer's curious stare.
"Shouldn't… Shouldn't you be focusing on the path ahead? Or, uh… The lack thereof?" Noble Fencer asked half-playfully, while watching from her peripheral vision as Goblin Slayer successfully led them around several clusters of trees, all without ever having to look where he was going. Blinking with a dumbfounded expression on her face, Noble Fencer was at a loss for words at what she had just witnessed, and all that came out of her mouth was a confused and unintelligible, " Eh-wha'— Huh?!"
"Pretty cool, right? I've been getting better and better at following BB-Sensei's instructions— sometimes I don't even really have to look where I'm walking," Goblin Slayer said with a proud tone in his voice, and stared expectantly at Noble Fencer— waiting for her to give him her approval.
Furrowing her brows with a smirk forming across her lips, Noble Fencer let out a low throaty-laugh as she realized where the sudden attention-seeking behavior was coming from. ' Seeing first hand what he's capable of and how mature he can be, sometimes it's hard to believe that he's still just a kid at the end of the day… In spite of being a godsend, I wish I never had to meet him like this, ' Noble Fencer thought bittersweetly to herself, while still finding it unfortunate that he was having to do things that no child his age should be experiencing.
"Wow! That's impressive, Goblin Slayer! Seems like you've got a lot of useful talent at your fingertips… Say, what are your plans after all of this is said and done? Are you going to go back home, or go back to school?" Noble Fencer asked endearingly, while trying her best not to sound condescending— catching Goblin Slayer's child-like smile vanish, as he turned his head forward.
"That's… That's certainly a question that's been weighing on my mind as well, Relena. The truth is that I don't really think I'll have much time for school— not until at least next year, at the earliest," Goblin Slayer replied honestly, as he fiddled around through the menus on his holographic interface— scrolling through the list of songs that BBB was silently suggesting to him, as she continued to keep an eye out for trouble while BB herself was leading him from the comfort of the Moon-Cell.
Upon hearing Goblin Slayer's response, Noble Fencer instinctively frowned while trying to lean over his shoulder to see what he was doing with his fingers— confused at first to see what appeared to be him simply tapping away at the air in methodical fashion. "Oh? And why would that be? Do you have plans in order already?"
"Kind of, yeah. You see, my village was destroyed by an army of goblins who came to raid it. My sister and I got out fine, but… The same can't be said about what happened to the rest of our neighbors," Goblin Slayer said with sadness in his voice, as the traumatic event that he had been trying not to dwell too much about was still fresh in his resilient mind. "None of the men made it, and the women and children who survived, well… I think a part of them died that night as well, and they… They aren't in any position to take care of themselves. They need help, so… So what I've been thinking about lately is expanding on this property that I built in the middle of the Oakshire Forest— it's not that far from Matterhorn, and is close enough to Londobell that I can move the orphans from there as well…"
"… I already have an idea of what I could build for them. First off, I'm going to have to build more homes for them, and then I'll have to secure a reliable food source and water from the Grizzly Lake— hopefully none of which should be too difficult," Goblin Slayer explained with an ambitious mindset, before proceeding to go further into detail about how his end game for his construction plans within the Oakshire Forest was to transform its safe area into a massive amusement park where the refugees and orphans could live happily in— spending a good amount of time describing to Noble Fencer and High Elf Archer about all the inspirations he had gotten from the research and suggestions made by BBB, who helped him after he had asked her how he could make his future sanctuary the "happiest place on Earth".
Although it was beautiful to see how passionate Goblin Slayer was about giving happiness to those who have been devastated and left miserable the most, the sad reality behind the veil of good intentions he had left Noble Fencer silently distraught. ' It's… It's wrong— it's all so wrong. Children shouldn't be burdening themselves with the responsibilities that those in power are supposed to handle themselves… This shouldn't fall on you… I… I have to do something about this— I won't let this be just his problem, I'll make it mine as well… It's about time I start growing up, ' Noble Fencer thought to herself with determination igniting her righteous heart.
But before Noble Fencer could pledge her dedication toward helping Goblin Slayer's selfless cause, it was then that the boy's ramblings of a "Magic Kingdom" were interrupted by High Elf Archer— who had been emotionally touched by the boy's plans, just as much as the blond teenager had as well. "O-Orcblog, when… When the time comes, I… I would be honored if you were to allow me to help you achieve that… That dream of yours," High Elf Archer said with a shaky voice that she was trying to cover up behind a smile, as Goblin Slayer looked over his shoulder once more to meet her teary-eyed gaze. "You'll… You'll need plenty of manpower to provide protection and care to that many people, so… So if you would allow it, I… I can get my older sister to move the high elves to the Oakshire Forest— that way you won't have to do so much all by yourself, and… And you'll be able to have a life, outside of caring for those who are in need of help."
Having not expected to be offered any help from either women, especially being offered to essentially have an entire population of extremely-skilled elves to assist him, Goblin Slayer needed a moment to process what he had just heard come out of High Elf Archer's smiling mouth. "Are… Are you sure? I… I didn't say any of that to make you feel guilty— I'm sorry if I did," Goblin Slayer apologized preemptively, which only pulled at the two women's heartstrings even more.
Laughing drily as her water eyes began to leak tears down the sides of her covered cheeks, High Elf Archer shook her head at Goblin Slayer before half-playfully blurting out, "Don't be an idiot, Orcblog— of course you made me feel bad! How was I NOTsupposed to feel bad after hearing all that sappy shit come out of your mouth?!"
What followed suit was genuine, good-hearted laughter from the two of them, while all Noble Fencer could do while still following behind Goblin Slayer was to think of ways how she could help the boy with his goals, similar to how High Elf Archer was able to. And with how much ground they had to cover, the honey-blond haired teenager figured she would have at least a few hours to think her plan over, as the three of them continued to make conversation while occasionally fending themselves off from whatever unfortunate predator of the night would underestimate them.