Any traces of light that had been emanating from the already distant sunset had vanished completely by the time Goblin Slayer's group had gotten within the vicinity of Noble Fencer's band of hired mercenaries— leaving behind a black canvas in the sky that was beautifully covered in a blanket of cosmic lights and stars, which made it all the more easier for them to spot the dancing flames of their campfire through the desolated woods. Having been passing the time for the majority of the journey— ever since they departed from their isolated tavern to finally begin the rescue mission in the first place— Goblin Slayer had been more enthralled with discussing his grandiose plans to create what essentially was his own kingdom with Noble Fencer and Half Elf Archer, and had almost forgotten all about the mercenaries until finally the group could see their tall silhouettes from around twenty meters away.
After having been attacked several times by a variety of grown men and women, upon seeing their grizzled features from the glow of the campfire— as all six of them turned their heads towards them with their weapons drawn— Goblin Slayer couldn't help but to feel wary of the armor-cladded mercenaries, who were all wearing light-metal armor that were all adorned with padded isolation on the outside. "They… They don't look particularly happy to see us, Relena… Are you certain that these men can be trusted?" Goblin Slayer asked quietly, as he continued to approach the mercenaries' camp with one hand resting the hilt of his short sword, as Fairy Knight brought up the rear to make her presence known to the six glaring men.
Immediately picking up on the negative tension that was quickly worsening by the passing second, Noble Fencer sped up her pace so that she was in front of Goblin Slayer and Fairy Knight— the mercenaries' glaring eyes turning to her, as some of them even bared their teeth towards her direction. "Hey uh… Let me do the talking, at least for now," Noble Fencer whispered back towards her companions, as she feigned a confident smile on her lips for the mercenaries to see. "G-Greetings, " Black Dogs"— I've returned with supplies, and reinforcements!" Noble Fencer announced charismatically— feeling as though she were a lamb walking into a den of hungry lions, as she lightly jogged into the center of their makeshift camp, while her three companions followed suit with their eyes narrowed at the gruff looking men in their late thirties.
The largest man of the six who had his muscular six-foot tall body covered in black plates of padded-armor looked away from Goblin Slayer, High Ed Archer and Fairy Knight, and instead darted his brown eyes over toward the five-foot tall teenager— who was standing near the campfire just a meter from where he was holding his repeating crossbow. "Bernkastel… Who are these children? Why did you bring an elf with you, and where are the munitions you've promised to provide?" The dark-skinned man asked in a deep, gravely voice, as he slowly hovered one finger over the trigger of his twenty-shot crossbow.
Noticing the Black Dogs' leader itching for a reason to use his advanced crossbow, Noble Fencer remained unsuspecting as she gestured with a finger over at Goblin Slayer. "He's the only child amongst them— both women there are older than all of us here combined. And as far as supplies go, that kid has then stored in a little pocket dimension of some kind— don't let his appearance fool you, he's a powerful magus," Noble Fencer explained, and was already thinking of something else to say upon noticing that the man before her seemed unimpressed with her vague description of the boy's feats. "Just to give you an idea of how spectacular this kid is "Heavy Arms Dog", I'll have you know that he took on an entire army of goblins pretty much by himself, and took out six gold-ranked adventurers who went rogue on him… Twice," Noble Fencer added with a smirk forming over her lips, as she raised two fingers up before practically shoving her hand in front of the doubtful looking man.
Letting out a low growl as he looked past Noble Fencer's gloved hand, Heavy Arms Dog took another glance at Goblin Slayer and eyed him up before looking back at Noble Fencer with disbelief in his brown eyes. "… And did you see these feats for yourself? Or were those all just hearsay?" The dark-skinned man asked in a condescending voice, as Noble Fencer lowered her fingers from in front of his face— a sassy expression still on her beautiful face, as she put both hands on her hips.
"For your information, I absolutely did. Well, I saw him defeat the gold-rank adventurers in person once, and saw the outcome of the second time afterwards. But after everything I've seen "Goblin Slayer" capable of, there's not a doubt in my mind that he can do whatever he sets his mind out to do," Noble Fencer said confidently, while feeling daring as she heard the other members of the Black Dogs begin muttering amongst themselves. "Besides, I didn't pay you to question the validity of my word, Heavy Arms Dog— I paid you to do a job. So enough of this pointless conversation— give me the pass down of what happened while I was gone," Noble Fencer commanded in an authoritative voice that carried with a sense of entitlement, as she frowned with an impatient look on her face at the spiteful looking older man.
Tensions between the two were thin, and all eyes focused on the two as Noble Fencer and Heavy Arms Dog silently locked eyes with one another for what felt like longer than it actually was— neither appearing to be interested in showing any signs of weakness, especially the honey-blond teenager. After a few more moments of intense silence had passed, the mercenary leader finally broke eye contact as he let out a sigh while turning away from the teenager— gesturing with a nod over to the largest of the tents that had been set up several meters away from the crackling campfire. "There is one thing that warrants your attention… Come, I'll show you;" Heavy Arms Dog said, as he waited for Noble Fencer to follow alongside him towards the flap-entrance of the small tent house.
Not moving a single foot forward, Noble Fencer straightened her back with one hand resting on the golden hilt of her rapier— staring back challengingly once again at Heavy Arms Dog, who stared back at her with a confused look on his brown eyes. "… Come on, let's check it out friends— let's see what the man has to show us. You too High Elf Archer, and Fairy Knight," Noble Fencer called out while still locking eyes with the dark-skinned man— her smug smile growing, after noticing the annoyance on his face. "They're my friends— they'll be coming with me wherever I go. That's not up for discussion."
The corner of Heavy Arms Dog's left eye twitched as his finger lowered against the metal trigger of his repeater crossbow, and after shooting the fourteen year-old a murderous glare the man needed a moment to recompose himself before once again speaking. "Even the elf? Hmmm…So be it, Bernkastel," the mercenary leader said in a flat voice, before signaling for his men to guard the ten entrance as he walked alongside Noble Fencer and her three companions. "… Ladies and children first," Heavy Arms Dog grumbled, as he held the left tent-flap open for the four others to come into the well-lit tent— peaking outside with one hand still gripped tightly around the handle of his repeater crossbow, before closing it behind as he looked over to see Noble Fencer and her friends making their way past all the unpacked bags that laid on the tarp beneath them.
With her newfound friends by her side, the four of them drew closer toward the single iron-cage that sat on the yellow tarp-covered floor. Confused as to why there appeared to be a two foot-tall paste-blue slime monster— the two black-lines above where its eyes would be furrowed at them like eyebrows, as it seemed to meet their curious gazes. Tightening her lips as she turned away from the caged monster, Noble Fencer stared at the dark-skinned mercenary before asking him, "… Is there a significance to this slime? Or was your wish to have me look at what you and your men caught while I was gone?"
Already annoyed with the honey-blond teenager, Heavy Arms Dog ignored her attempt at cracking a joke with him, and merely made his way toward her as he remained stone faced. "You were taking too long to make a simple supply run, so the boys and I decided to do some recon work into the cave— laying down traps, rigging the cave entrance to collapse with explosives, if need be," Heavy Arms Dog reported, before continuing to speak. "We just got done tying the last of our bombs around the final weak spot of the cave, when all of a sudden this thing starts trying to speak to us. It mentioned having a good-standing relationship with those strange-looking goblins we chased down earlier, so I captured it and locked it up to interrogate it… But that's not the only thing we found inside that cave."
Moving away from her friends upon seeing Heavy Arms Dog taking a step toward one of the many large backpacks that laid stuff in the corner of the tent house, Noble Fencer kept her hand resting on the hilt of her weapon as she watched him kneel down to retrieve a glowing blue crystal-shard from the nearest opened bag— catching a glimpse of even more similar glowing gems stuffed inside the backpack he had taken it from. "… What am I looking at? Is it sapphire?" Noble Fencer asked with a wary tone in her voice, as she eyed the palm-sized gem that the mercenary leader showed no signs of handing over to her.
"No Bernkastel, this isn't the kind of precious gem that you and the rest of your kind are familiar with… No, this is something else entirely— something far more valuable than sapphires, or even diamonds for that matter," Heavy Arms Dog mused with a power-hungry grin forming on his face, as he delicately brought the blue-glowing shard closer to his face— basking in its gentle light, as he tuned into the low-vibrating hum that was emanating from the gem. "What I've got here is-"
"-"Photonic Crystals": it's what the Moon-Cell is made out of. Clusters of data that are so tightly packed together, that they're able to transform light into solid matter," BB finished explaining to Goblin Slayer, as she stood behind him with one hand resting on his shoulder. "They work by enclosing light, and regulating it through nano structures. Photonic crystals can manipulate " photoconductivity" using those nano-structures, and refract the light inside them to transfer photonic particles from one place to another— it's how I'm able to project this avatar to you, and how Melusine got here in the first place."
With Goblin Slayer and Fairy Knight having been the only ones in the tent house capable of hearing BB's true explanation of what the gems were and what they did, High Elf Archer and Noble Fencer were left to go off of what Heavy Arms Dog told them. Crossing her arms over her breasts with her golden eyes still fixated on the photonic crystal that the mercenary leader seemed entranced by, Noble Fencer raised a single brow before speaking. "So… You're calling them "magic ores"? Not exactly the most creative name you could have come up with, but… Whatever. What makes this worth its weight in gold then?"
Darting his brown eyes momentarily away from the crystal shard in his hand to give Noble Fencer a dirty glare, Heavy Arms Dog once again growled under his breath with how irritated he was getting with the fourteen year-old girl. "Were you not paying attention to me, when I explicitly told you that the slime monster is the one who called them "magic ores"?" Heavy Arms Dog asked with a seething voice, which only made Noble Fencer want to be all the more sassy and disrespectful towards him.
"No, I heard that part; what I'm trying to wrap my head around is the fact that you CHOSEto go along with that name… Anyway, now that you're in a better mood than you were when we first got here, there's something I've got to tell you," Noble Fencer confessed with a bit of excitement in her voice, as she was feeling happy to see the six moody men leave her alone.
And while Noble Fencer was catching up Heavy Arms Dog about how the Adventurers' Guild had voided the reward for clearing out the Mythril Mountains' stronghold, Goblin Slayer had gotten done whispering the correct information over to High Elf Archer when all of a sudden the two of them were interrupted by a slightly raspy and childish-feminine voice asking them, "Wait guys, is this "Moon-Cell" thing a bunch of magic-ores pieced together, or is it an actual super computer that's made FROMmagic-ores…?"
Initially shocked from having heard the slime monster whisper to them in a far more coherent manner than how Slime Girl did, Goblin Slayer along with BB and Fairy Knight were more taken aback by the fact that not only was the slime monster intelligent enough to quickly piece together information from what it had overheard, but its otherworldly knowledge set off several alarms within BB's head. "What the-?!Did… Did that chunk of jell-o just… Just ask if the Moon-Cell was a super computer?! How the hell does it even know what a regular computer is?!" BB asked with a flabbergasted look on her face, before immediately tapping Goblin Slayer on the shoulder to gently push him closer to the cage. "Ashta-Kun, ask that thing how it knows what a computer is— this thing could possibly originate from the Moon-Cell!"
Giving one look over his shoulder to give BB an unsure expression, Goblin Slayer did what he was asked to upon turning his head forward to face the slime monster— being sure to keep his voice down, as to avoid being overheard by the mercenary leader who he instinctively had no trust for. "Hey… How do you know what a "computer" is…? No one should know what that is here," Goblin Slayer asked in a whispered voice.
Jiggling their gelatinous body once to acknowledge what Goblin Slayer had said to them, the slime monster then whispered back to the boy, "Yeah, that's pretty much the impression I got too since I've been here… But hey, I'm just as surprised as you are— I didn't think that kind of technology existed here…"
"It doesn't… Who are you…? You… You don't seem like you're from here," Goblin Slayer pointed out, after having quietly asked his question to the friendly slime monster.
"I'm… I'm not from here, and as far as my name goes…? Uh… I've been going by " Rimuru Tempest" for the past couple of days, so… So you could call me that then— everyone else down in that cave's has," the slime monster replied back, before further asking Goblin Slayer, "What about you…? Do you have an actual name, or like… Do you just go by a title, or something…? It kind of seems like none of the humans actually have their own names here…"
"Everyone has a name in Zemuria— it's just people who've earned titles wear them like a badge of honor, so they usually just got by that rather than their actual name," the ten year-old boy explained— almost forgetting about why he was there in the first place, due to having gotten to wrapped up in his conversation with the talkative slime monster. "My title's "Goblin Slayer", but my actual name is-"
"-Wait, YOU'REhere to SLAYthe goblins too….?! Jesus Christ, kid…!Does EVERYONEwant goblins dead for some godforsaken reason…?!" Rimuru exclaimed in a hushed whisper, as a few thick droplets of what they could assume were meant to their sweat flew off of the slime monster's translucent body. M
Opening her eyes wide with an amused chuckle escaping her lips, an intrigued look formed in BB's violet eyes as she crossed her slender arms over her massive breasts, "Oh? What do we have here? Not only does this thing know what a computer is, but they know who "Jesus Christ" is as well? Hmmm… They must have been a magus at one point, specifically one from another universe. There's no data on them that I can find within the Moon-Cell's archives, so… Whatever this thing is, they're certainly an anomaly that's worth investigating— that's for certain," BB mused, before getting more brooding as her fingers tightened over Goblin Slayer's shoulder.
Kneeling down behind him— so that her chin was inches away from touching his shoulder— BB brought her lips close to Goblin Slayer's ear, as she stared intently at Rimuru. "Ashta-Kun, I've been nothing but cooperative and supportive since I teamed up with you… Now is the time that I get to finally ask for something in return— a favor that I can't let you refuse," BB said in a serious voice— letting Goblin Slayer's confused mind adjust to the changing shift of her tone, before proceeding to further speak into his ear. "I need you to free this slime monster from its cage, and then I need you to confiscate the photonic crystals from the six mercenaries— kill them if you have to, but we cannot allow these opportunistic men to keep something as useful as the photonic crystals."
"I… I see… I'll see what I can do, BB-Sensei," Goblin Slayer whispered back to the managerial AI with furrowed brows, as her sudden command had caused the distracted ten year-old mental whiplash. Squinting his eyelids while trying to remember what he was about to say to Rimuru, Goblin Slayer took a moment to regain his composure before leaning his face in closer toward the metal bars to speak to the slime monsters. Before he could even get one word out, Goblin Slayer suddenly caused everyone's eyes to shift toward him as he stumbled backward with the insides of his nose burning.
Turning to Goblin Slayer to hold him still, High Elf Archer's concern grew the moment she saw the trail of dark-crimson liquid leaking out of both of the ten year-old's nostrils— her heart racing as panic took hold of her. "O-Orcblog! H-Hey! Hey, w-what the hell happened?! Why is your nose bleeding so bad?!" High Elf Archer asked with a desperate tone in her voice, as she immediately reached into her shorts pocket to pull out a handkerchief that she pressed up against Goblin Slayer's nose.
With Noble Fencer and Fairy Knight crowding around the two to see what had happened to Goblin Slayer, Rimuru remained still in his cage as the sound of Heavy Arms Dog cackling under his breath made their slime blood boil angrily. "Those assholes took a few magic-ores and grounded them up to powder… It's covering the cage, and whatever they did to them made it so it absorbs mana… That's why I haven't been able to get out of here," Rimuru whispered with a dark voice, as their nonexistent eyes glared vindictively towards the mercenary leader. "Try having him flush it out with some saline water— that might… H-Hey…! Hey, uh… Y-You're fading, ma'am— you're fading…!"
With the attention having been put on him mostly, it wasn't until he and the women heard Rimuru's suddenly confused and panicked voice did Goblin Slayer, Noble Fencer, and High Elf Archer notice what was happening to Fairy Knight. Just as Rimuru had said, Fairy Knight's corporeal form was breaking away into tiny fragments that were being absorbed back into Goblin Slayer's body, with the mildly concerned expression on her face being very foretelling of the fact that she wasn't in control of what was happening to her. "Oh… I guess those photonic crystals really are absorbing your mana, Master… If that pendant of yours isn't counteracting the powder's effect, then…" Fairy Knight's voice trailed off, as her physical form disappeared before she could finish saying her thought.
There was a heavy silence in the air as the trio turned around toward the mercenary leader, who had a smug look on his grizzled face. "Huh, I guess there might have been some truth behind what you said about that kid, Bernkastel— guess he really did have some magic in him," Heavy Arms Dog mused, while all five of his men came into the crowded tent house one-after-another. Outnumbering Noble Fencer and her two companions who he had felt she had been hiding behind, the Black Dogs stood imposingly over the trio— establishing an unspoken dominance over the situation, as Heavy Arms Dog made his hand flat before gesturing at Noble Fencer in a militaristic manner.
"Alright, so here's what's going to happen, Bernkastel: since my boys and I don't have reason to proceed with this voided mission, we're going to take you back to Calvard with us— I'm sure "Big Daddy" will be grateful towards us for returning his bratty-bitch with "rebellious-princess syndrome" back to his castle, where she belongs," Heavy Arms Dog said insultingly, as he gestured with a nod for two of his men to get ready. "You and the kid are going to stay here with my boys "Snoop Dog" and "Guard Dog" posted outside the tent— they'll keep you safe, and prevent any of you two from getting into trouble."
Furious from having not only been insulted, but essentially getting the position of leadership taken swept up from under her, Noble Fencer had her eyes narrowed as she began to pull her rapier from its scabbard. "Don't you DARE talk to me like-EUAK?!" Noble Fencer wretched, before immediately falling to her knees while wheezing, after Heavy Arms Dog had smacked her face with a small bag of pepper from his belt— causing her eyes to water up and her lungs to burn, which gave two of his men plenty of time to quickly subdue her before cuffing her wrists behind her back and forcing her to sit down on the ground.
Dazed from the tiny particles of mana-draining crystals that were causing him to bleed from his nose, the rush of armed mercenaries felt like a blur to Goblin Slayer as he and High Elf Archer were swarmed by five six-foot tall men. Unable to cast any spells or see clearly enough past his teary eyes to do much, it wasn't long until Goblin Slayer had his small wrists tied behind his back with rope— their weapons stripped from them and casted aside, while he watched beside Noble Fencer as High Elf Archer was shoved toward the flaps of the tent house.
With the calibrated crosshairs of five semi-automatic crossbows, High Elf Archer had her hands raised over her shoulders as Heavy Arms Dog circled around her with a spiteful glare in his eyes. "Tch…!W-What the hell do you think you're doing?! What's the meaning of thi- G-GAH?!" High Elf Archer tried demanding, but was quickly silenced and sent tumbling down on the ground the moment the mercenary leader smashed her face in with the butt of his crossbow— breaking her nose and causing her to bleed profusely, before pressing the tip of his cocked arrow against the back of her head.
"Can't STANDyour long-eared cretins! You all smell like shit, yet think you're all of legend! Here, let me remind you how the world outside of Pathway thinks of YOURkind!" Heavy Arms Dog spat out with a hateful look on his face, before quickly losing his temper and delivering a rib-breaking kick to the side of High Elf Archer's small body— causing her to collapse onto the ground, and forcing to wheeze painfully with blood trickling down the back of her throat.
Adrenaline began pumping through Goblin Slayer's small body, and rather than trying to use bravado to demand that the armed men leave High Elf Archer alone, the ten year-old instead chose to take action by using Heavy Arms Dog's show of force as an opportunity to save the minty-green haired woman instead. Knowing that time wasn't on his side, Goblin Slayer immediately tucked his knees into his chest while looping his tied-up wrists under his feet. Hearing the shifting metal of cladded boots moving closer to him, Goblin Slayer knew that he had been spotted. With no options left except to give up and leave High Elf Archer at the mercy of the elf-hating mercenaries, Goblin Slayer acted out of desperation as he quickly dove toward Rimuru's metal cage.
"OPEN FIRE!" Goblin Slayer heard over the faint sounds of High Elf Archer and Noble Fencer both attempting to scream for the six mercenaries to not hurt him, as he blindly fumbled with the cage-door. The first bolt struck him in the lower back, the second one planted itself into his shoulder— after the third one hit him in the back of the head and caused the left side of his body to go limp, Goblin Slayer stopped bothering to keep count of just how many times he was getting shot. Feeling his entire backside soaked with blood that was quickly dripping down the sides of his body and onto the yellow tarp below, it became harder-and-harder for Goblin Slayer keep his eyes open as he laid motionless on top of the toppled over metal cage— every inch of his body growing numb and cold, as his ears failed to hear the mercenaries behind him scream in agony.
'It's cold— really cold… Is this what it feels like to…? Did I even do anything, or… Or was this all for nothing?" Goblin Slayer thought to himself, as his vision began to fade— the world around him seemingly becoming devoid of sound entirely, as he stared blankly at the growing white void that was swallowing what was left him up slowly. 'I… I guess that's it then, huh? I guess… I guess my dream of helping those survivors dies with me then? Oh well— I guess this isn't so bad… I'm tired… I'm really tired. I think… I think I'm going to rest now. Just… Just for a bit…'