Budokai Tenkaichi 4… it exists and is in development. Hoy hell, I had never once thought this epic childhood series of Dragon Ball games would ever continue! Don't know about all you guys and gals, but I'm stoked as hell! Roughly 16 years since the 3rd one had come out and even now, the series still holds up. Broken game balance, sure, but that was honestly part of the fun so I really hope the developers, whomever they are, are willing and able to preserve that feeling.
But by God, I can only imagine how the game will turn out. With so many characters, both old and new to the franchise, it'll be interesting to see how the roster turns out. But as long as they can keep the gameplay as similar to the original three games while still putting some tweaks here and there, I think I'll be pretty satisfied with how the roster will ultimately turn since the gameplay had always been what really mattered to me, ha ha. Just hope they keep the what if stories too – those were always such good fun!
Now, focusing back on the real matter at hand here – this fic – I decided to take a risk… of putting in a one day timeskip.
Now a single day in and of itself may not sound like much, especially in settings like Elden Ring and Goblin Slayer where time soars by without a care but considering the cliffhanger I left Hero and her friends on, it may almost seem cruel to just leave that little plot thread alone for the time being. But such a thing has been done pretty much all the time in the LNs, with only snippets of their adventures shown every now and then while a lot of the events leading up to where they got to and what happened afterwards always being left up to readers to fill in the blanks. So it was with that particular fact in mind that I decided to do this.
That, plus I just really want to focus on the Tarnished and Ranni, heh.
Anyways, not much else I think needs to be explained on this front other than that I hope you all are still enjoying it.
So without further ado, let's get to it!
P.S. Took a little longer than expected, but I've finally started those new classes I believe I've mentioned before. Don't know how exactly yet I'll be balancing out work, my new online classes and other stuff, but in any case, it's likely that future chapters will take longer to output. Just want to let you all know!
Chapter 14
A day comes and goes with unsurprising speed to both the Tarnished and Ranni, not that the two of them paid much attention to the shifting from night to dawn then morning other than through the light peeking through the closed curtains their room offered them.
Yesterday, following their breakfast, the married couple had gone out to see what sights this town had to offer. This was primarily to find out if there was anything that could prove of use to them but also partly as a way to unwind and take some much wanted enjoyment after all the things they've been through, especially since considering the task going forward, they may not have as much time in the near future to appreciate some relatively quiet moments.
Now, after having yet had another fine breakfast, they had retreat to their room once more to plan out the smaller things that would need to be done going forward.
In Ranni's case, that meant continuing to scour through the books she had for any other useful information.
As for the Tarnished, he decided to take this time to take stock of his inventory.
The latter let out an especially pleased hum as he looked through his so-called 'chest,' glad to see everything was still there. Though the grace provided by the Greater Will was now gone along with their boons, Ranni had been able to conjure up a surprisingly good copy of a grace thanks to a combination of her magic and status as vassal of the Dark Moon. As the Dark Moon was still in an inactive and unstable position, said copy wasn't as good as the original, unable to fully heal him should he be injured meaning he'd have to do without, it still provided him access to the 'chest' that the original grace had provided him in addition to refilling his flasks and Wondrous Physick.
Just about the only downside of any true significance is that this makeshift grace wasn't something Ranni could just create as she pleases, for it had required up to several minutes to make and she'd had to mentally mark this town as a safe zone for it to work. Once they took their leave of this town, the makeshift grace will fade along with it until she can reestablish it elsewhere as needed. And until then, he'd be unable to access his chest again, which is why he was being thorough in his inspection. It was important to go through and see what he could now afford to sell off and what to keep as a precaution.
For sure, he restocked up on boluses for future sales as well as numerous other items that he believed he wouldn't be needing any time soon, also for the express purpose of procuring some additional coin for him and Ranni as needed.
As for armor and other weapons… he honestly felt no need to go the distance in rearranging what he had on hand. He'd made it a point back in the Lands Between to sell whatever weapons and equipment didn't suit him to Hewg posthaste and as a result, the number of armors and weapons in his chest was vastly outmatched by the ridiculous number of consumables and other miscellaneous trinkets in there.
As things currently stood, he'd determined his most preferred pieces of armor would do just fine for the future and so had taken the liberty of placing Blaidd's armor in the chest along with some other pieces of random equipment such as Fia's hood and Alexander's jarhead… though not before feeling a smidge of hesitation as he did so.
Though he'd only made passing use of their provided equipment as needed, he couldn't help but feel as if he was wronging his dearly departed friends and allies by leaving the physical remembrances of them to figuratively collect dust. Alas, he wasn't callous enough to simply sell off the equipment and thus placing it all in storage was the only thing he could do.
After doing so, he went through the talismans he had in storage and after pondering for a brief moment, made his selection. He normally stuck to the same four talismans but every now and then he would switch one or two out depending on the circumstances.
In this case, he decided to keep the highest-grade version of both the Erdtree's Favor and Pearldrake Talisman on him in addition to the Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman. Normally, he used one of the Arsenal Talismans or even the Great Jar one to allow him to carry much more equipment than usual on him back in the middle of his journey but had taken to switching it out regularly for talisman that bolstered his attack strength when he'd known a tough battle was approaching. In this case, after a moment of thought, he opted to go with the Ritual Shield Talisman and the instant he equipped it, he could feel its power activate, ethereal waves now steadily coming off of himself even as he remained in the same casual attire he had worn yesterday.
"Oh?" It would seem his actions had caught Ranni's attention. "Focusing on defense so heavily, I see."
The Tarnished smiled. "Given that we both would rather not find out so readily if I can still revive, I felt it best to bolster my defenses as much as possible. Not that I intend to be struck in the first place, of course, but…"
Ranni nodded. "One can never be too careful in strange lands. Though would others not see the talisman's effect at work?" She referred to the waves he now emitted.
"I don't believe so. I've worn this talisman during some conversations I've had with others back in our world, but they had not once shown the ability to see the waves," he replied. He then shrugged. "I suppose only those possessing a certain level of insight would be able to see it."
Ranni obviously being one of such an exclusive group. And the Tarnished had no doubt that the likes of Gideon would have been able to detect the Ritual Shield Talisman's presence too given the man's mastery over both incantations and magic alike.
Ah… Gideon, the All-Knowing and once leader of the Roundtable Hold. By no means had he been a particularly good man, not after the atrocities he'd been willing to commit just to try gaining access to the Haligtree, to say nothing of his poor treatment of the great warrior Nepheli. However, the Tarnished held nothing but respect and even admiration for the man in spite of these facts. If nothing else, the All-Knowing had possessed some good qualities in him, buried under all that obsession with wishing to gain more knowledge. That he, even cold as he was to Nepheli, still seemed to look out for her and had even helped the Tarnished pull one over on Selivus spoke to his true character.
And of course, the man's combat prowess was yet another thing that the Tarnished could feel only respect for as well as for his planning abilities. True, most of Gideon's plans had failed in the end, but from what the Tarnished could discern, it had primarily been due to the man having too many plans active at once rather than committing to just a few at a time.
…It would have been interesting to see how the man would have reacted to what could be gleamed from a world like this.
Shaking his head, the Tarnished ceased his current line of thought and continued to speak. "That aside, we should consider leaving either some time today or tomorrow. We may not have explored the entirety of this town, let alone whatever may be in the surrounding area, but we'd likely be best served searching elsewhere for anything that could aid us."
"Indeed," Ranni agreed. She then sighed as she closed the book she currently held. "…Now that I've read through most of what I have on hand, it would seem we'd need to procure some other texts in the hopes of carrying out our plans."
"Is there truly nothing of use?" the Tarnished asked, genuinely surprised.
"At this time, no. In the future, there is a possibility that could change, but as of now…" Ranni trailed off and simply set the book aside. She folded all four of hands together into her lap from where she sat upon the bed while the Tarnished had been leaning his frame against the wall, arms crossed now. "Now that I'm more familiar with the gods the people of these lands worship, I cannot shake the feeling now that there is something… more… out there."
She paused, clearly collecting her thoughts. "The texts speak greatly of the gods as ye would expect, but in comparison to the feats that my siblings and I have performed in the past… though I will admit to possessing a natural bias, from my perspective, these gods such as the Earth Mother and Supreme God seem hardly removed from that of demigods in our home."
"Truly?" The Tarnished quirked an eyebrow at that.
Many demigods had roamed the world, Ranni and all her siblings having simply been the most notable of the entire batch. In truth, followers of the Gloam Eyed Queen back then, that is, the Godskin Apostles who had followed her, had made all but literal meals of countless demigods and apparent gods. Just about the only one who could have truly been considered a god was queen Marika by virtue of her status as vassal for the Greater Will, while her various demigod children both by blood and by marriage being obviously incredibly powerful yet still falling short of her majesty in comparison.
The only 'true' gods out there that he and Ranni could claim to know of would be the Dark Moon and others like it, the Greater Will among them.
Ranni nodded.
The Tarnished rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Then if that really is true, would that not mean that beings akin to our gods could exist out there, watching over this world? Simply not known by any name we could be familiar with?"
"I would assume so… in fact…" Ranni's delicate facial features scrunched up in deep thought. "…During my brief time with the Hero and her friends, they'd occasionally spoken of Fate and similar concepts almost as if they were sentient. I'd thought little of it at the time but now with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps they had been telling me all along of the powers that govern this world from behind the veil."
"In which case, we are dealing with gods that go by very simple yet no less literal names," the Tarnished surmised. "That… hmm. I can't tell if that would make things simple for us or not."
"Either way it is something we can hopefully work with in the future. Nonetheless, as ye said a moment ago, my dear, it is time to cease our dawdling in this town. Much is to be done if we are to stop the gods from our world from continuing their campaigns."
The Tarnished nodded and proceeded to waste not a second longer. In just a few seconds, he equipped all of his armor and weapons from the other day. As he did this, Ranni proceeded to place all the books in her possession in a sort of dimensional space as well, her personal inventory.
"Where shall we head to?" he asked as the two of them were now ready to leave.
"Hero had mentioned the capital a few times. Given it is naturally the center of this entire kingdom, I'd imagine it would be the most likely place to find items and supplies not commonly found elsewhere," Ranni spoke. "Unless… hmm… If that shall not do, then perhaps we can try a… different source of information."
"…Ah." The Tarnished nodded after a few seconds, finally comprehending what Ranni may be hinting at:
Underground connections – a black market, in other words.
Such a concept had existed for a long stretch of time even back in the days before the Shattering and the black market had continued to survive even after things had begun to deteriorate. It hadn't been until the Lands Between had been fully ravaged by the fallout of the Shattering and the actions of the demigods and other factions that the black market had gone under just like the rest of civilization for the most part.
And the Tarnished had no doubts that this world had a black market as well, where one was likely to find things that may not be available otherwise.
Now that said…
"I'm not against such an avenue of thought," the Tarnished began. "But given the fact we could easily become beholden to members of the black market even from otherwise simple trades, can we really afford having to waste time dealing with the potential fallout?"
He could acknowledge the usefulness of black market dealings. After all, considering he'd even effectively lied to lady Tanith about committing to the values of the Volcano Manor just so that he could explore the surrounding land unimpeded in search of lord Rykard, it would have been hypocritical of him to judge being involved with the black market from a perspective of morality. After all, while hunting down other Tarnished wasn't inherently something he was against doing, it had simply been much more efficient to scour through the Volcano Manor's property rather than have to go out into the Lands Between in search of fellow Tarnished to fight just so he could be formally invited into lord Rykard's chambers.
It had been to his good fortune that lady Tanith and the other members of Volcano Manor had been so shockingly understanding when they'd learned the truth of his actions, but their perspective on things – their own unique sense of morals – had allowed them to simply accept the outcome and go on their ways elsewhere. After all, as followers of a blasphemous path, judging him for lying would've been extremely inane and petty.
In any case, the Tarnished was confident he and Ranni could fight their way out of any spot of trouble they could be thrust into from any involvement in the black market, but that would take time to do. Time that this world may not have if the gods continued to spread their influence like this.
Ranni, in her defense, merely shrugged her delicate shoulders. "Tis a suggestion, nothing more. And I imagine pinpointing a location where such folks gather around here would be needlessly time consuming to do. But should more proper means prove unhelpful whilst in the capital, I'm certain there'd also be some way to get in contact with members of the darker trade while there as well."
The Tarnished hummed, supposing Ranni had a point. However, he will admit to feeling some measure of reluctance about it.
Practicality and time efficiency aside… while he didn't consider himself the most noble of souls out there, having to get involved with the black market at all would leave a bit of poor taste even in his mouth.
Their course of action agreed upon, the duo took their leave from the room. With a quick stop by the front desk to inform them of their departure in addition to letting the staff know they could keep the coin spent for the three days and nights – it wasn't as they lacked the means to earn more coin now – the married couple vacated the premises.
Yesterday, in addition to searching for books that could aid their intelligence gathering, they'd also taken to searching for a proper map which they had succeeded in buying. Having committed all the major landmarks and cities to memory, they didn't need to consult the map to plot out a route.
Or so both initially thought until just after they had left the town.
"Wait – a moment please," the Tarnished began, a certain detail surfacing in his mind. He pulled out the map once he and Ranni were fully clear of the town. "…Mm. As I'd thought – it would seem that as we proceed towards the capital, we will pass by the water town."
"Oh?" Ranni quirked an eyebrow. "Is that not…?"
"Yes."
Ranni dwelt on the statement as did the Tarnished.
Off handed comments uttered by other people during their stroll yesterday had informed the Tarnished of someone known as Sword Maiden dwelling in the water town. Though he knew not what her status was exactly, it had been clear from what he'd overheard that Sword Maiden was evidently someone of considerable renown and authority. Spoken of in almost religious terms, he was willing to go out on a limb here and say that the woman may serve as something akin to a priestess or even a vassal to a god. Perhaps not one of the 'true' gods of this world, assuming his and Ranni's hypothesis was correct, but even so, such a status wasn't something that could be ignored.
If he was right, then there was a chance they could save a good deal of time if they instead made contact with Sword Maiden rather than journey all the way to the capital.
"Should such a detour prove unhelpful, then at least it wouldn't be far off the beaten path towards the capital," the Tarnished explained to Ranni.
Ranni frowned. Not in annoyance or distaste, but merely in thought. "I wonder if this Sword Maiden is a powerful practitioner of these… miracles that some people are able to make use of – this world's equivalent of incantations... Hmm, very well then, my dear. Let us alter our course and seek out this woman. After all, we did agree to working towards making two methods viable."
The heavens above – that is, the stars – often had strong ties to religion in one form or another. If Sword Maiden was indeed the sort of person the Tarnished believed her to be and if they could speak with her, then Ranni could hopefully use the knowledge gleamed from Sword Maiden to figure out a way to contact the Dark Moon.
And should that fail? Well, then they could just carry on their journey to the capital, which would undoubtedly be the center of all trade.
Smiling under his Crucible Axe Helm, the Tarnished put the map away and proceeded to pull out the whistle to summon torrent. "Then shall we get a move on?"
Ranni, for whatever reason, smirked. "By thy will, my consort."
Chuckling for a second, the Tarnished blew the whistle to call forth Torrent. Just as the ever faithful steed manifested beneath the Tarnished, the man grabbed hold of Ranni and took her into his arms so that she now rode directly in front of him.
With a lively 'hyup!' he tugged on Torrent's reins and the spirit steed took off at full speed.
"Blood goblins, huh?"
"Yes."
"Huh, well that's definitely new…"
"Yes."
"Come on, Orcbolg, you can use more words than that!"
In middle of the ever popular restaurant that adventurers of all kinds visited sat a rather unique bunch of people.
Goblin Slayer was there along with High Elf Archer, the two of whom were in the middle of regaling Heavy Warrior with the tale of their most recent adventure. Having returned just yesterday from said adventure, Goblin Slayer and his party had been positively tired and had retired to their respective abodes in order to rest up.
Now it was the start of a brand new day and most of them had gathered here to grab a good bite to eat. By pure coincidence, Heavy Warrior had also stopped by for a meal and so they all had chosen to share a table together.
But by no means was it only these three.
In addition to Goblin Slayer and High Elf Archer, there was also Dwarf Shaman who was currently chugging a huge mug of fire whiskey. The other two members of their party, Lizard Priest and Priestess, had not been able to come along for this meal, the former due to wishing to hunt down some more cheese since the restaurant was currently out of stock of his 'sweet nectar' while in the latter's case, the young girl had chosen to head to the clinic to see if she could be of assistance to the women they had rescued.
On Heavy Warrior's side of the table, it was simply himself, Scout Boy and Half-Elf Light Warrior. Female Knight and Druid Girl had gone out on the town to take care of other matters.
"Bah, leave him be, anvil," spoke Dwarf Shaman as he polished off his mug. "Wouldn't be Beard-cutter if he said more than a few words at a time!" He let out a guffaw, his anvil comment and boisterous attitude once again irking the sole high elf.
"That doesn't mean he should just stay that way!" High Elf Archer's retort was immediate and vicious. She then smacked Goblin Slayer's right arm. "Come on! You gotta tell 'em the whole story!"
Heavy Warrior, possibly out of sympathy for Goblin Slayer (he was no stranger to having a hot headed woman giving him grief over stupid things), decided to just wave the matter of. "Meh, I can guess what happened for the most part. Still, that's a hell of a weird thing to see. So, what exactly were these blood goblins supposed to be?"
Goblin Slayer, as was usual for him, had spoken of his most recent adventure in the most banal and concise manner possible. He was vaguely aware he'd left out a lot of details, but it wasn't until Heavy Warrior asked that he realized he'd neglected that part too.
"They're… goblins," he began lamely. "Their blood was diseased. Or cursed. Making contact with their blood burned and seemed to induce extreme blood loss in others too."
Both Scout Boy and Half Elf Light Warrior paled at that straightforward explanation, the former more so than the latter due to being a more expressive sort.
"T-That's… that's pretty scary, to be honest," mumbled Scout Boy as he drank from his cup.
"Aren't goblins supposed to be weak monsters?" Half Elf Light Warrior's comment, while somewhat insensitive and ignorant, wasn't necessarily wrong. Goblins were the weakest monsters out there by far.
But as Goblin Slayer would have no problem saying, that fact didn't make them any less dangerous.
"Goblins are numerous and cruel," spoke the silver ranked adventurer. "And will make use of whatever is convenient to them."
"What Beard-cutter is getting at, kid, is that those nasty goblins, stupid as they may be, can sometimes pull out some pretty nasty tricks," Dwarf Shaman said with a grimace. Memories from past goblin slaying quests were clearly playing out in his mind, if his expression was anything to go by. "Just when ya think you see it all with those little bastards, they do something new. And what we saw was very new…"
The table fell silent as Dwarf Shaman trailed off, contrasting heavily with the light and loud environment they were in, Padfoot Waitress off in the background flitting to various tables with their meals.
"Well, enough about our troubles!" High Elf Archer then said, getting tired of this depressing talk. As screwed up as the most recent quest had been, she was eager to move on and hear about some real adventures. "What about you guys! Where did you go off to?"
Heavy Warrior, in the middle of a bite of steak, grunted and finished swallowing. "We went off to take out a few trolls that had been giving some nearby villages a nasty time."
High Elf Archer, despite being two thousand years old and counting, let out a childish 'ooooohhhh!' in response. Her eyes practically sparkled with interest, ignoring her salad in favor of silently beckoning her fellow silver ranked adventurer to continue.
"Ain't much to tell, to be honest." Heavy Warrior could only shrug. "We got to the village that had put in the request to start with, talked with the village elder who pointed us in the right direction and we took off running. Damn trolls had set up a little camp about a kilometer or two away. Got the drop on 'em and cut them down before they could gang up on us. After that, we headed back to the village elder, told him the matter was done with, got praised and lauded and most importantly, got paid, and came on back."
Heavy Warrior then paused. "…Though…"
"…What? What is it?" asked High Elf Archer, impatient now.
Heavy Warrior huffed. "Trolls were never the biggest thinkers around, sure as hell aren't the most careful either given their size and strength… but this time around, they had seemed kind of… off. I'd almost say they were afraid of something but couldn't even begin to guess what. All I know is that it seemed like they'd been attacking those villages more out of anxiety than anything else."
As he explained that, Goblin Slayer watched as High Elf Archer's mood visibly deflated. "Ugh! Just what is going on with the world right now?! It feels like everything is being turned upside down!"
"Come to think of it, she is still feeling a little off kilter, isn't she?" asked Half Elf Light Warrior, presumably referring to Druid Girl.
"Yeah," murmured Scout Boy in response.
Goblin Slayer remained silent, opting to simply continue eating while the mood of the table continued to plummet.
However…
"…You know, it would've been nice if that one guy had come with us," Scout Boy continued to speak, the teen scratching his head as if almost embarrassed to say it aloud. "N-Not that we needed the help!" He said hastily as Heavy Warrior shot him a look. "It's just-!"
Heavy Warrior cut him off with a loud sigh. "Nah, I think I get it. All things considered, that guy seemed like he would've been interesting to really travel with."
"Who ya both talking about?" Dwarf Shaman, having somehow gotten his hands on a refill of his mug, quirked a large and shaggy eyebrow in interest.
"Some guy that traveled with us for a short while," Heavy Warrior said as he cut into his steak. "Big guy, but could move real quick despite his size and armor. Definitely a seasoned warrior, though not an adventurer."
Now that got everyone's attention.
"Huh, whoa, who?" Half Elf Light Warrior, who'd been absent on this most recent quest of theirs, looked confused. "You never told me you guys met someone new!"
"Just slipped our minds is all." Heavy Warrior was only marginally apologetic.
"…By chance, did this man have a helm that vaguely resembled an axe in some ways?" Goblin Slayer suddenly asked, though not before sharing a look with Dwarf Shaman.
Heavy Warrior blinked. "Huh, yeah, he did. So you guys met him too?"
"Yes… on our way back from the quest prior to the blood goblin one," answered Goblin Slayer.
For some reason, his words caused High Elf Archer to click her tongue harshly, enough to make even Goblin Slayer himself glance her way in subdued surprise. He'd known she hadn't really formed a good opinion of the stranger, but even so her reaction seemed a bit much.
"Ho ho, our enigmatic traveler sure doesn't waste time, doesn't he?" Dwarf Shaman, in contrast, was more amused and interested than their resident high elf in the matter. "So, he hung around you lot for a while… interesting."
"Mm. So what's his deal? He just told us he was on a special journey for the most part," asked Heavy Warrior, now ignoring his meal for the time being.
"Dunno, kept his cards close to the vest with us too," Dwarf Shaman replied. He took a swig of his mug before continuing. "But he did mention once that he was looking for someone that meant a lot to him… and that he came from a land far from here. Which I can definitely believe – that equipment of his… ain't seen anything like that before. Some components aren't much different from the metals used to forge most armor out here, but some parts were things even I can't put a finger on."
As expected of a dwarf, he knew his crafting better than anyone else, being able to tell right away some details that confirmed the stranger's story to some extent.
"Hmph, yeah, so he had on some fancy armor," High Elf Archer huffed out, arms now folded across her slender chest. "Doesn't make him any less suspicious in my eyes."
Dwarf Shaman groaned. "You still hung up on that sword of his, long ears?"
"You seriously still can't tell that something was off?! And come on, not long after he passed through, that was when that weirdness came along!" she shot back.
"…" Goblin Slayer made a noise as his two friends now proceeded to argue. High Elf Archer's strange resentment of the foreign warrior aside, she did make a point. It hadn't been long at all after that man had come along with them that the strange event that affected all the elves and other spiritually aware individuals so strongly.
Goblin Slayer wasn't suspecting the man of any wrongdoing – he could almost say outright that the stranger had had nothing directly to do with what's been going on recently – but he nonetheless had to admit that the timing was too weird to be mere coincidence.
"So he's a person of special interest, I take it?" Heavy Warrior cut off the argument between both dwarf and elf with that dryly uttered sentence. "…I guess I can sort of see why that'd be… but unless we get word that someone matching his description genuinely is up to no good or a quest is put up to take him down, is there really a point in talking about this?"
Most adventurers were good people in one form or another. Even though they all did what they did out of self-interest, for the most part, people that strived to be adventurers still had some agreed upon morals by which they conducted themselves. But that said, unless it was a genuine state of emergency, adventurers weren't inclined to look into things unless it was a quest or otherwise something that they found interesting enough to make them look into things on their own time.
Thus, Goblin Slayer didn't really take any offense to what Heavy Warrior just said that in such a tone of indifference.
And besides… the silver ranked adventurers still couldn't help but dwell on that stranger's words even now. He had earnestly praised Goblin Slayer for his slaying of goblins and had even subtly encouraged him to go out there and continue to whatever quests caught his eye but without the same fervor that the likes of High Elf Archer felt when trying to make him go on 'real' adventures.
A rather childish reason to believe the man to be innocent in any potential wrongdoing, to be sure… yet Goblin Slayer couldn't help but feel it was true.
But in any case…
"I wonder if we'll see more goblins like those ones," he suddenly muttered aloud.
High Elf Archer groaned. "Ugh, I sure hope not! Normal goblins are bad enough! We don't need to be hunting down special ones now!"
"Sure hope we don't have to hunt them down…" mumbled Half Elf Light Warrior from his spot, finishing off the final bits of his own meal.
"Yeah, same here," Scout Boy agreed.
Goblin Slayer, for his part, remained silent now and continued to eat now that it seemed like the conversation was winding down despite High Elf Archer continuing her mutterings over the matter.
…
…
The rest of the meal goes by without a hassle and they all proceed to go their separate ways afterwards. Heavy Warrior took both of his party members with him to meet up with Female Knight and Druid Girl. Meanwhile, Dwarf Shaman decided to go and see if he could get his hands on some more catalysts. High Elf Archer, whether due to her bad mood now or her own inherently flighty personality, decided to go and hit up the shops, see what was new.
And so, left on his lonesome now, Goblin Slayer was at a loss on what to do.
First thing in the early morning, he always began his patrol of the farm for any signs of goblin activity before then doing some training and taking stock of his supplies and equipment. Thus, the rest of his day was usually dedicated to miscellaneous things such as helping around the farm or crafting some new items or even doing some errands.
And there was absolutely none of that to be done now.
For the first time in quite some time, he genuinely had the rest of the day to do whatever he desired… and he didn't have the slightest clue on how best to spend that time.
"…"
In the past, during the rare times like right now, he'd always felt extremely anxious, to the point where he couldn't help but think back to his youth when he'd once fear the ground would open up beneath him and swallow him whole if he stopped moving. A part of him wondered if that same childish fear of his would resurface… but to his surprise, that once familiar feeling of fear didn't seem to creep up his spine.
A sign of change in himself? Growth? He couldn't tell the difference. But he did know that things that had once affected him so severely weren't impacting him as strongly anymore.
The time spent with his party – his friends – was a solid contributor to this new fact, he knew. But somehow, that genuine affirmation of his efforts from the stranger also played a small role in this as well.
So with that in mind…
Goblin Slayer bowed his head, collecting his thoughts.
His master, Burglar, had always beaten into him the lesson of using his head. It was something that had served him well ever since his training days had come to an end.
But this time around, the silver ranked adventurer decided to follow his heart instead.
With his new course of action swiftly decided upon, Goblin Slayer took his leave with the same bold stride as always.
Within the capital, specifically within the palace, the King practically sat with his heads in his hands as reports were strewn wildly across his desk. Though a young man, the look in his eyes and general demeanor at this moment made him look decades older, not unlike how tired and worn out his father, the previous king, had looked in his later days.
The reason for this was woefully simple.
"Why is there so much more chaos going on?!" he groaned as he finally raised his head. "This is ridiculous! How could things have come to this?!"
When in the presence of the rest of his court, he had to do his best to put on a mask and act as every bit the mature king that many expected him to be like. Only around a select few could he allow the mask to slide away a little and only when by himself could the façade fully drop.
Now was such a time and he was just one or two steps away from cursing Fate and Chance themselves for what has been going on.
Not long after he'd taken the reins from his father as king, the forces of chaos had spent a great deal of time wreaking havoc across his kingdom in one form or another, various plots both big and small threatening to destabilize entire regions. The kingdom's borders had also started to see some action on the regular, primarily from wandering spirits or magical beasts which had started to wear down even the most stalwart amongst his forces.
Needless to say, such things stressed the King out immensely and made him yearn for his younger days when he'd been an adventurer.
But in just the past several days alone, things had changed and for the worst.
Just when it seemed like things had started to look better, suddenly every single person that bore some connection to nature or the spirits had suffered what could only be described as an extreme panic attack. This event had naturally disrupted the order of the kingdom, especially here in the capital where the number of such individuals wasn't small by any means.
Whatever had happened hadn't been limited to just them either but also local wildlife and even the forces of Chaos themselves, goblins and trolls and ogres and spirits and more having also been affected by the mysterious event. Everyone and everything had been wound up something fierce and the once diminishing resistance the Non Prayer forces had been putting up had undergone an unnerving change, resurging with a vigor that he'd never seen before at all.
Combined with how unsettled his own soldiers and staff had become as a result, it had led to an almost complete turnaround in the situation and he'd had to stay up whole nights receiving reports and issuing orders to keep things relatively under control.
But surprisingly, this hadn't been what had caused his own spirit to nearly crumble. If anything, the sheer frantic pace of it all had kept him from having even a single second to spare on feeling much of anything.
It hadn't been until he'd started to receive reports, however, of actual physical changes occurring in several different locations that had the King now feeling the pressure.
Just earlier today via magical telegraph, he'd received word from the Frontier's Strongest and his adventuring partner that some strange scarlet colored pollen or spores had begun to blanket the desert area where the kingdom's furthest border ended at… and where the land itself had started to significantly change and mutate as a result of this strange phenomenon, unearthly growths and polluted air now forming there.
In other news, contact had been completely lost with villages and forts out near the marshes. He'd called upon Hero and her allies Sword Saint and Sage to go and investigate the matter under the assumption that the trio would resolve the issue and send word in short order. However, he's yet to hear back from them at all. As playful and scatter brained as the Hero could be often times due to her immature age still, she was still plenty responsible enough to send at least some message of what was going on. So the fact that no report has made its way to him was disconcerting for several reasons.
And these were simply the most notable things so far that have really changed in the past few days, with all the reports currently scattered upon his desk uttering in what could best be described as gibberish to his sleep deprived mind on other sporadic events taking place throughout the land.
All in all, the King could be said to be handling things about as well as could be expected, but that didn't make his frustration go away in the slightest.
Someone knocked on the door to his study and the King did his best to hold back a growl of genuine anger. He could already tell what was about to go down but had no choice but to brace for it.
"Enter," he called out after taking a few seconds to collect himself and look at least somewhat presentable.
A slender young woman with silvery white hair entered the room – his aid despite otherwise being dressed as a mere maid.
Almost instantly, whatever irritation the King felt melted away at the sight of her. Normally, the woman was either stoic or otherwise wore an expression of mild exasperation whenever he had his moments of childishness, a side that he showed really only to her.
However, this time around, she looked genuinely pale, her normally light skin bearing an almost sickly sweat to it now.
"…We've received two reports just now, your Majesty," she began. "Firstly, the Hero has finally made contact; she and her allies have managed to suppress the violence out there-,"
"Finally!" he muttered, his heart daring to soar for an instant – only for her next words to bring him back down again.
"-By having no choice but to kill everyone there," the Aid finished. "…It would seem that whatever had occurred had… corrupted, for lack of a better way to put it, everyone out there, humans and animals alike. No source of the oddity was found and nothing the great Sage tried seemed able to lift the affliction."
The King went stock still at that.
The Hero… had to kill subjects of the crown? Seriously, she and her allies had to slaughter everyone out there? The villagers? The soldiers stationed out there? Even the animals?
For the always plucky Hero to do that… by the gods, what had happened out there?! How could Fate and Chance have led to such an outcome?!
"T-The other report?" he stuttered out after a moment.
Somehow, the young woman managed to look even more ill as she held up another paper in her hands. They trembled. "…There have been sightings of dragons on the horizon, soaring over our borders and across the lands. No exact number was given, but the low estimate is around eight to ten."
A former adventurer who has braved many challenges, the King was well aware of the might even the average dragon, if such a thing existed, possessed. While far from unbeatable, dragons were considered among the mightiest species out there for very good reason, possessing immense brute strength and the ability to spew fire, to say nothing of their innate toughness against both physical and magical attacks.
Even young, newborn dragons can pose a dangerous threat to average civilians and even some adventurers can still fall victim to them if taken by surprise. However, it is the older, fully grown ones that are naturally the deadliest of all, experience and sheer size combining to form creatures that can bring low nearly all else.
"Fully grown?" he slowly asked. "All of them?"
His aid bowed her head. "…Judging by their estimated sizes… yes."
The intelligence of dragons varied from one to another. Some were hardly more sapient than the average animal running out there whilst other dragons were all but deified in some regions for possessing wisdom great enough to propel entire civilizations to greater heights if they had such dragons to rely upon for counsel.
Yet for all this intelligence dragons could possess, it was naturally their strength that they were most renown for, many a person having dreamed of attaining glory and riches from besting a dragon in single combat. This too was something dragons were well aware of, which often led to many having little to no fear when faced with any would-be challenger.
In other words, dragons were prideful and sometimes arrogant existences who often did as they pleased whenever they pleased. Yes, a number of them have been slain in the past but never with ease and especially never without some manner of loss on the challengers' side.
But this time around, many a dragon found themselves… spooked, for lack of a better way to put it. Off-kilter. Uneasy…
….Afraid.
Call it whatever one will, the emotions dragons out there were now experiencing were ones that had never been felt before in their long lives.
And they were proving horribly bad at managing such negative feelings.
Of the ones who'd sensed the great terrors looming out there beyond the realm of the gods the Four Cornered World knew of, roughly a dozen dragons had taken to the skies in an almost desperate search of the beings who would instill such emotions in them.
Whether through sheer foolishness or desperation, these dragons intended to seek out and kill the beings responsible for this great terror gripping their hearts, if only so that they may reassure themselves once more of their mighty existences.
And so, as the twelve dragons began to spread out across the lands, be it desert or greenlands or elsewhere, they began to roar and howl and rage, flames and other elements that some of the more unique dragons had gained over the years spewing out both above and below.
The sky warmed, the land burned and relatively small bodies of water such as ponds and lakes boiled and steadily evaporated.
Small settlements here and there took notice of the mighty beasts and screamed and cried and despaired as one or two dragons shot out great balls of fire upon their homes, eradicating all that there was in the process.
The people weren't spared in this rapidly growing path of devastation. Those lost to the flames or the claws of one dragon that took to landing and attacking personally cried out for help…
…And no one answered.
Well… damn, somehow that ended perhaps a little darker than I'd initially intended.
Then again, I suppose it is pretty fitting considering how grim Goblin Slayer can get at times, normally with the goblins (of course) though it also makes sense that the star monsters of the LN series are hardly the only vicious things out there.
Anyways, consider this chapter something of a pseudo-filler leading up to the next 'arc' so to speak, though I hesitate to call them arcs per say – not like I've any clear cut lines between one such thing and the next.
In any case, things are naturally ramping up. More characters from the Goblin Slayer LNs will start to make some appearances in one form or another. As for the Tarnished and Ranni, they'll start to show more of what they can really do against greater physical challenges and I especially aim to make the Tarnished's fight scenes more fleshed out, kind of closer to the sort of fights scenes I wrote in Slave of Light in terms of spectacle though with some occasional moments of style like what I wrote in my other fic Village of Darkness. Hope you guys will like what you will eventually see, especially since I'm kind of getting some decent fight move ideas from replaying Elden Ring again in addition to some recent gameplay trailers from upcoming games, ha ha.
Until next time, everyone. Take care!
