Author's Note

I'm so happy to be finally getting into the flow of writing this story again, I've missed it so much. I've spent most of yesterday scrolling through every review left on the story so far and am trying to take into account people's suggestions and considerations for the story going forward. Furthermore I really love the ideas for Priestess's name so far, but I'm not 100% on a name just yet.

I've felt that some more character development is in order before any more story arcs or progression will occur, and I really want to flesh out the girls a lot more then they are, instead of having them be one note characters as I feel some of them are. They are all different with different personalities and character traits that differentiate them from each other, and I want to show that before diving into the main story to come.

I'm so happy that everyone loved Roxy as Cow-Girl's name. Honestly I was worried people would be upset about me naming her, but I couldn't just keep calling her that forever in this type of story. I feel the name just fits her perfectly, and after watching another anime which had a girl named Roxy, I wanted to name Cow-Girl that as well. A cookie to whoever guesses the anime in question.

With that said, please enjoy a moment with everyone's favorite girl.

Uploaded

02/01/2025

LEGEND BELOW

"Are there goblins in here?" = Normal speech.

Chapter 28

Goblin Slayer and his Priestess girl

Rated-M

M rating for mature themes, nudity, romance, violence, blood, adult themes, and of course, sex.

Music of the day

Skyrim Ost - Whiterun Streets

"Welcome to the Drunken Huntsman! Take a seat, anywhere you like! I'll get a mug going for you." They'd taken probably two steps into the tavern before a voice called out to them, cool and friendly. Goblin Slayer found his gaze drawn to the bar counter, finding a dark blue skinned elf man standing behind it with a laidback smile, feet up on the table.

The golden armored man hummed in acknowledgment, eyes scanning the entirety of the open room, the faces of the patrons, the number of exits, the-

"Come on, let's get a seat." Cut from his intense bout of scanning, Goblin Slayer allowed himself to be pulled along by the small little hand belonging to his Priestess, the small blonde girl happily pulling him along. He didn't fight her, instead following her to a table with two seats by the front door. A small wooden window allowed the fresh if cool air inside, livening up the rather musky tavern.

He sat down with a thunk, heavy armor making the chair groan underneath his weight. The Dwarven metal was appreciated for its strength and durability, but the added weight was impossible to ignore in a battle.

Or during downtime.

The man looked upwards as a young Nord girl came by, setting down two mugs of mead on the table, one for the each of them. "What'll you have?" She asked curiously, eyeing the dim glowing red orbs looming behind the man's visor.

"Meat pie." Goblin Slayer murmured softly, casting his gaze over to Priestess.

Her face flushed. "M-Meat pie too." She cleared her throat, heat rising to her cheeks as the Nord girl gave her a knowing look that made her squirm in her seat. She cleared her throat as the other woman's left, instead casting her eyes onto the rather silent man sitting across from her. She felt her heart clench at the oppressive silence, the air of doom and gloom that hung around him most if not all of the time.

It wasn't hard to miss the looks people gave him when they thought he wasn't paying attention, when they thought he couldn't see them.

Few if any at all held some sort of dislike for the quiet armored man, and she'd never met someone who had spoken ill of him aloud, but…

No, those looks weren't ones of dislike but…

Pity.

It was hard for her to be around it, the oppressive atmosphere that seemed to follow him whenever he went, no matter what he did. He was a man who had lost people very important to him, those precious few taken away from him looming over his head forever.

He, whether he knew it or not, projected himself as this careless heartless person who didn't seem to care about the world around him and blocked out anyone who tried to get close. This wall he'd placed around himself seemed so thick at first, the man originally appearing to be nothing more than a heartless killer…

But he was no murderer, no mindless killer, nor was he heartless.

His heart was simply too big that when it was shattered…

He never recovered.

Even now, many years after the tragedy, the shadows of loss loomed over his head like specters from the past unable to let go. Those ghosts didn't ever seem to want to leave him alone, and left to his own devices she feared where he would find himself one day.

Serana had told her the stories of his adventures before he found her, the days where he would venture out to kill goblins for days on end without rest only to eventually find himself on the verge of death. He would rest and recover, then begin the cycle anew, again and again.

He was fated to die in battle if left unchecked, that much she knew. That's why she felt happy when he was with the other girls, because it was the only time that aura of sadness around him lifted…

If only for a short while.

The look in his eyes as Serana took Roxy armor shopping…

The small up-tilt of his lips when Aela got upset on his behalf…

The way he'd placed his free hand on his hip in silence…

They were all little things, tiny motions or shifts in his mood that would have gone over anyone else's head if they even noticed at all. But she saw them.

That's why she felt compelled to help him, because…

B-Because…

Because she couldn't stand to see him look so sad.

Even now, as they patiently waited for their food to arrive, she knew he was lost deeply in thought once again. There was a habit she'd noticed him do when thinking of certain things in particular, the images of his past tickling the fringes of her senses.

A woman-

No.

A girl, with long silver hair and gentle red eyes.

She was standing in a room with others…

Both older people-

Mother and father.

Family.

Then?

Red…

Red.

Red!

Blood everywhere-

Screaming-

Crying-

Fire-

Pleading!

Pain-

Suffering…

Then…

Nothing.

They were gone now…

Nothing but green remained-

Stained with the blood of his family-

His sister.

She gasped, reeling as she pulled herself out of his aura and back to the present. Her head pounded from the influx of memories and bitterness, the hate and rage bubbling at the edges of her senses, the unholy fury threatening to consume him whole…

And the sadness that covered it all.

That was the man sitting across from her, pretending that he was fine when she knew very well he was not.

She was a priestess trained from the highest priests in Skyrim, even though she was young. It was a gift from the gods she'd been given, the ability to see into the heart of those around her if she so chose to. They could block her out if they wanted to, and for Goblin Slayer she found it difficult to see clearly.

But another side effect of her blessing was its effect on her own heart.

She wasn't even aware of the tears streaming down her cheeks until she felt his heated red gaze on her, those baleful red eyes staring right through her, as if he was fully aware of what she'd done.

Yet the look in his eyes was not anger, but…

Worry?

He was…?

H-He was worried for her? Worried about her?

Even with these horrible thoughts swirling around his mind at all times, these bloody memories and stabbing visions taunting him like nightmares, he still found himself worrying about someone else instead.

She bit her lips, trying to hold back her tears. "Are you… ok?" He muttered quietly, reaching over to grasp her much smaller hand with his own, eliciting a soft gasp from the girl. She looked up to meet his gaze with her own tear stained one, wondering not for the first time how he was still sane with all those horrible, horrible feelings floating around in his head.

Maybe that's why he could find himself worrying about someone else, someone like her.

Because he wasn't sane anymore, yet continued to live in spite of that fact. Broken beyond all repair, but not lost to his pain.

Not yet.

It only made her want to do something about it even more. She wanted to do something to bring out that smile, to make him look at her the same way he looked at Serana or Roxy or Aela…

She just wanted to make him happy, because…

Because he deserved it damnit.

She wanted to make him happy with her two hands, gods help her. She knew she wasn't much of a fighter, and was a scaredy cat, and hated fighting…

But that didn't stop her from chasing after him when he went out to battle, even when she knew there was a very real possibility that she was going to get hurt.

Why?

Because she wanted to make sure that when he got hurt that she could heal him, keeping him on his feet so he could continue to chase after his dream, even if that dream was a rather bloody one.

She smiled, smiled through her tears as they began to dry up. He didn't say anything more, yet the long red eyed gaze that lingered on her spoke volumes of what he was thinking in that moment.

"I'm fine, silly." She sniffed, willing her tears away as she grabbed his larger hand with her smaller fingers, holding him in place as if afraid he was going to try and leave. "I have you with me." She added with a little look, not missing the way his eyes widened imperceptibly. She felt that aura of darkness around him retreating, if but only for the moment they were together, his eyes on her own.

He didn't say anything in response, either unsure what to speak, or incapable of voicing his mind as he was often known to be.

But she didn't need him to say anything.

She could feel how he felt, that glimpse into his heart open to her if but only for a few short moments.

Her cheeks heated considerably at the word that slipped through his heart, unspoken yet deafening in her mind's eye, a word that described how he felt about her in one single word.

Precious…

She was…?

S-She was precious to him.

She squeaked suddenly when she found his hands resting atop her head, gently patting her gentle blue eyes. Her mouth opened to speak but she couldn't quite voice how it felt to have him do what he did. Either way the moment was broken up a few moments later when the Nord woman came back round with one big steaming meat pie, setting it down between them.

"There you go. Enjoy." She winked, smiling at the small blonde. Priestess smiled at her, accepting the food graciously.

The little blond clasped her hands together nervously, smiling bashfully up at the man sitting across from her. Then, with the power of a newfound courage that danced beneath her chest, she moved her chair to sit near him. He didn't even seem to notice what she was doing until he felt her warm bright presence beside him, her little body snuggling up to his rather cold armored form.

His armor clinked as he shifted to glance down curiously at her, eyes widening slightly as her nervous grin. "H-Here, I'll feed you. You don't even have to do anything." She smiled a crooked meek little look, holding a spoof full of steaming meat up to his helmet.

He sat in silence for a long moment, almost long enough to extinguish her little flame of courage. But then he finally acted, reaching up to unclasp his chin strap to lift his helmet up giving her access to his mouth. She had to withhold the little squeal of delight as she fed him, watching his expressions like a hawk.

His eyes softened ever so slightly as he ate, the rather delicious food dancing across his tongue like some sort of magic spell. The aroma filled his helmet with a new smell, one warm and kind, and he couldn't shake the image of her sparkling blue eyes from the back of his mind.

She giggled, heat rising to her cheeks either from the mead or something else. He raised an eyebrow curiously, wondering if he had said or done something humorous so as to insight her laughter. Swallowing the food he spoke his thoughts. "What?" He murmured softly, absentmindedly noticing how the glow of her cheeks brought out the vibrance of her eyes as she smiled happily up at him with an aura so bright that it blotted out the hatred in his heart.

And…

He felt like he could actually breathe for the first time in his life.

"I love you, Goblin Slayer..." The words slipped past her lips without her knowledge, too absorbed in the delight she gained from sitting so close to him, the joy she felt as she felt his dark heart soften with every spoonful she fed him.

His eyes widened slightly behind his visor, before a genuine yet delicately small smile quirked the corners of his lips. "I know." He breathed lowly, finding himself surprised by his own actions as his arm unconsciously came up to wrap around the smaller girl, pulling her snuggly into his side with a strange sense of possessiveness he'd not previously been aware of.

If only for a small moment of time, he happily shared the table with the girl, the rest of the world forgotten. And there wasn't anywhere else he wanted to be in that moment…

No one else in the tavern would dare speak up to break their moment together, inspired by the girl's courage to help the man she was so fond of.

It was even enough to bring a tear to a Nord warrior's eye.

Chapter

28

End