Full Description:

A 90's AU inspired by Stardew Valley. Ren Ashta (Goblin Slayer) moves into the rural town of Crescent Bay to inherit his sister's house, ten years after he had first received her letter through the mail. Twenty-eight years old and looking to begin again after leaving his murky past behind in the city, Ren begins navigating through the same difficulties one would normally face when moving into a new town; adopting the local customs as his own, and finding his place within the friendly and diverse community of humans, elves, and monsters alike.

However, just beyond the horizon of the shores resides a mystery buried deep beneath the waves of bay; an ancient mystery that'll require the services of the last remaining branch of the Adventurers' Guild to investigate, as a long forgotten relic of the old world emerges to unravel the past.

(Multiple ships centered around Goblin Slayer/Ren Ashta, with a mixture of slice of life moments and action)

'Dear Ren…'

'It's been a while since I've written a letter, so forgive me in advance if anything seems off in it. First of all, I wanted to thank you again for coming to see me in the hospital; I understand that you and I haven't had the closest relationship since mom and dad passed away, not like how we used to be when we were just kids.'

'When you stood by my bedside as we caught up with one another's lives, I couldn't help but to notice something off about you. You had a tired look in your eye; one that wasn't reflective of jet lag, but a deep seeded exhaustion that I've seen countless times with my patients.'

'As I lay here in this hospital bed, I wonder to myself what could be the cause of your tiredness? Has the everyday ramble of city-life taken its toll on you throughout the years? Could it be that you're lonely living on your own, with no one to come home to? Or perhaps you've become despondent within the walls of that corporate office you spent so much time venting to me about?'

'I believe the root cause of your visible misery is the culmination of burdens brought on by modern life; I speak from experience, dear brother, as I myself know what it's like to see your life passed by you. Living in a monotonous society where you're just another face amongst a crowd of apathetic strangers… It's soul crushing, isn't it?'

'The final chapter of my life is coming to its end, and even though the ten years I've lived as a resident of Crescent Bay might not seem like long to most, the relationships and memories I've made in this wonderful community have given me several lifetimes worth of fulfillment— I wouldn't give them up for anything.'

'Which is why I write this letter to you, my beloved brother.'

'I've already made all of the arrangements with the town's lawyer. Her name is Naomi Yoshimura. She might seem rather abrasive at first, but deep down she's a wonderful woman, and an ever better friend to have. I leave to you my two-story home, and all two-hundred square acres of my land— the grounds are fertile, and the woods around my property will provide you lumbar for the cold winters. When you're ready to accept my gift, it shall be waiting for you.'

'I will be by your side my dear brother, even if you can't see me— from here to eternity, we will always be family.'

'Forever your loving sister.'

'Vivine Ashta.'

Standing on the large wooden-deck front porch of his newly inherited home, Ren Ashta gazed outward toward the finely cut-grass and open plots of soil that looked primed and ready to be cultivated into a bountiful orchard. Crossing his arms on top of the beautiful polished white-painted rails that surrounded his sister's front porch, the young man felt the cold autumn wind blowing against his face; the gray storm clouds above reflecting his own inner thoughts, that he felt were his and, his alone to bear— luckily for the well-dressed lawyer who had escorted him onto what had once been his older sister's property, the porch was covered by part of the second-story above them, so she didn't have to worry much about the possibility of getting rained on.

Standing tall in her black business attire, Naomi stood behind the younger brother of her beloved and deceased friend— her blue eyes eyeing him from head-to-toe, as she cast her silent judgment on him with a visible frown across her lips. "It's beautiful, isn't it? What you see before you is not just an example of marvelous landscaping, but rather it's all a testament to Vivi, and how well she was— and still is— loved in our community," the lawyer declared with a deep-feminine voice that carried with it a sense of authority, and remained stone-faced with her short dark-blue hair covering the entire right-side of her face.

Sensing some hostility within Naomi's voice, Ren feigned ignorance to the tall and well-built woman as he leaned up off of the guard rail to turn around and face her with a friendly soft-smile across his pale face. "I can see that, Ms. Yoshimura… Oh, and if you wouldn't mind sharing the number to whatever landscaping company you used to maintain the yard, I would greatly appreciate it, " Ren said, while doing his best to reassure the protective woman that his sister's land was indeed in caring hands.

Unfortunately for the young man, the woman who he was in the presence of didn't take too kindly to his assumption. "L… Landscaping company?! Do you honestly think that I would just let ANYONE step foot on Vivi's property?!" Naomi demanded with an outraged look in her fiery eyes, as she took a defiant step toward the seemingly unphased young man. "First of all, there's no "landscaping" company here in Crescent Bay! This isn't the city; we take care of our own yards, and if someone's unable to do it themselves then we all lend a helping hand to them! That's what being a good neighbor is all about; but you wouldn't know anything about being selfless, now would you?!"

'… And there it is: years of pent up resentment at its finest. And to think for a moment there, I was beginning to think she'd actually never get around to saying all of that,' Ren thought cynically to himself, as he resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the last words Naomi had spat at him. "Look, I didn't mean anything bad by that, I just thought the work done here looked really professional, so I… Kind of just assumed that it was all done by professionals; that was all," Ren said in a patient voice, raising both hands out in front of his chest to further show that he didn't want any trouble with the hot-tempered lawyer.

Not ready to relent from venting, Naomi silently glared daggers at Ren while crossing her arms over her chest; her eyelids still narrowed, as she did her best to quell the storm raging in her mind enough to string together her words. "Ten years… For ten years the townsfolk and I have been coming back here everyday; all of us have working hard to keep this place as immaculate as it looked the day that your sister moved into our community. Hell, even the children around town who never even met your sister have done more for her than you EVER did," Naomi scolded with spite in every word she spoke, as she leaned forward with her heart racing as she pointed an accusatory finger out toward the enigmatically calm young man.

"It should have been you… Where were you then, Ren? Living it up in the big city, getting drunk and partying every night— not giving two craps about honoring your own sister, because you just couldn't BARE the idea of uprooting your life for her?! For someone who thought of you on her literal deathbed?!" Naomi shouted with her upper lip quivering in righteous fury; her breathing labored. It wasn't until she felt the first of many hot tears beginning to streak down her cheeks did she realize just how worked up she had gotten.

Noticing the self-conscious and even worried look in Naomi's watery eyes as she physically had to pull herself away from his direction, Ren continued to display a remarkable amount of patience and control over his emotions as he momentarily darted his eyes away from hers; staring down at well-kept wooden planks that made up the foundation of what was once his older sister's gorgeous porch. "… I was eighteen when I got that letter, Ms. Yoshimura— I didn't know who I was yet, or what I wanted with from life… But you know, you're right: it should have been me."

Taken aback at what she had just heard, it took the settled-down lawyer a few moments to realize why he had just said that to her. "I…! I-I didn't mean it like that, Ren— God, no— what I meant by that was that you should have been the one taking care of this place after her death in the first place, not us!" Naomi stammered out with an even more embarrassed expression taking over her reddened face. "Please Ren, I am upset with you, but I don't hate you… And besides, I wouldn't imply something as cruel as that to you; not to anyone, for that matter," Naomi huffed out with an exasperated look on her frowning face.

Pursing his lips tight for but a brief moment, Ren puckered them into his mouth before making a soft smacking noise; his thin eyebrows knitted together, as he expressed a thoughtful look in his softly narrowed eyes. "… I know, Ms. Yoshimura; I never pegged you as being heartless enough to say something like that… But I mean, still… It really should have been me," Ren said with a joyless smile spreading across his once stoic face; letting out a throaty chuckle, the woman before him furrowed her brows at him. "But hey, none of this is about me, and I'm certain that you didn't come out all this way to hear me complain. So… If there's no landscaper number to be passed around here, then I think uh… Then I-I think I'd like to be alone now… Please."

Concerned with how troubled the young man seemed, Naomi stood there in silence while wondering whether or not it would be safe to leave him alone by himself. Taking in a deep breath and slowly exhaling as she locked eyes with Ren, Naomi finally broke their eye-contact as she reached into the breast pocket of her black blazer to pull out a black-ink pen. Looking back up at Ren as she loudly clicked the end of her favorite writing instrument, Naomi remained straight-faced as she extended her left hand out. "Give me your hand, Ashta."

Although he had been preparing to be cursed at and even assaulted by the lawyer ever since he stepped foot into her office, at no place or time Ren anticipated that she would make such a sudden and odd request. Lifting his head up from the direction of the floor, the young man's eyebrows raised upward as he gave the woman an inquisitive look. "… What?"

"I said give me your hand. Did you not hear me the first time, or something?" Naomi asked with a sarcastic smirk spreading across her curled lips; marking the first time she ever actually smiled at Ren, since she had first met with him face-to-face. "Come on, kid; I'm not asking you, I'm telling you," she added, as she fanned her fingers back-and-forth to gesture at him to hurry up.

'Kid…? Did she really just call me 'kid'?' Ren thought bemusingly to himself, before finally giving into the temptation of rolling his eyes at her; her infectious and rare smile causing him to grin, as he gave in by plopping his left hand into hers.

Watching while softly shaking his head at her, Ren stood there and felt ridiculous as felt her ink-tipped pen pressing down against the back of his hand. Expecting for her to jout down her landline number for him to call her if "he was in a bad place", Ren began to second guess his assumptions after noticing just how long she was taking with writing on his skin. "What is that, are you adding your extension number?" Ren asked sarcastically with his stoic voice, while beginning to grow slightly anxious upon catching a glimpse of just how much black-ink she had left on him.

"Nope. I'm putting your address down for you to write down a paper napkin or something; you should probably get familiar with memorizing it, considering you're going to be around for a while," Naomi said with some sass in her voice, as she clicked her pen closed before finally letting Ren have his hand back; letting out a quiet chortle, as she look at the way he raised his hand to inspect the entirety of what she wrote on it. "Now come on, kid, we can throw you a pity party down at Guido's tavern; I even think he's still got a pack of balloons and some left-over helium from when Evan had his tenth birthday party there!" Naomi said half-sarcastically with her smile growing; using her connivingness and manipulation tactics from law school to catch Ren off guard.

Feeling the tall woman's arm draping around the back of his shoulders to hook him in close to her, Ren's mind was boggled as he felt his legs moving underneath his weight on seemingly their own terms. "I… I just said I wanted to be left alone, Ms. Yoshimura," Ren said under his breath, while still being walked down the steps of his sister's front porch with Naomi still walking alongside him.

"And I thought you wanted the phone numbers of all the people who you thought did such a 'professional' job at keeping the weeds off your sister's lawn; you really oughta start making up your mind, kid," Naomi shot back sassily, while using her control over the situation to walk Ren down the cobblestone path that led from the bottom step of Vivine's porch, and ended where the road began, over where her black SUV was still parked. "Besides, if you're going be able to afford your utilities here, you're going to have to do some networking of your own, Ren; there's plenty of work to do in Crescent Bay, and I think it's about time you pay everyone back for what they've done for you and your sister, and feeling for yourself isn't the way to do it! Don't you think, kid?"

Upon realizing the lengths that his sister's best friend was willing to go for him, despite still harboring a lot of resentment towards him, the sensation Ren felt inside of his chest as Naomi unlocked the passenger door for him was eye-opening enough to cause him to physically recoil. 'Hard to believe that the same woman who told me how much of a piece of shut I am is doing a far more remarkable job at helping me get through my crap, than any licensed therapist I've spoken to has… Maybe I should write Dr. Klein a strongly-worded letter, and recommend him trying to be brutally honest with his future patients, instead of just coddling them like they're all just a bunch of basket-cases,' Ren thought sarcastically to himself, while finding himself feeling something deep within him that he hadn't felt since he had last seen his older sister: the feeling of being shown genuine compassion.

Character reference:

Ren Ashta = Goblin Slayer.

Vivine Ashta = His older sister.

Naomi Yoshimura = The Examiner, from the Year-One manga. (Edit: Used to be Kiyoko).