Goblin Slayer, Vol. 6

“It’s—it’s okay now, isn’t it?” she asked hesitantly.

“It most certainly isn’t!” High Elf Archer exclaimed. “It’s absolutely not okay! I don’t know if I’ll ever open my eyes again!” Her ears were trembling violently, and she was shaking her head.

“It’s true Falling Control is good for going up or coming down,” Dwarf Shaman said. (Although it was originally intended to help when tumbling from high places or trapped in a pit.) “But, Beard-cutter, how did you get by before you met us?”

“I secured my body soundly, and then once I was underwater, I walked.”

“Rubbish!” the dwarf barked.

“In this case, there was no time.”

Dwarf Shaman’s suspicious stare didn’t seem to bother Goblin Slayer. Gravity shortly guided the party gently to the ground.

The explosion of seawater had turned the entire vicinity to mud, and the smell of salt in the air was very strange. It would be years before the salt was completely worked out of the ground and this field was good for cultivating again.

“Oh, for… I knew I should’ve brought a change of clothes,” Priestess sighed, being careful not to let her feet get caught in the muck. She rolled up the hem of her dress, which was thoroughly soaked, and squeezed it out. It left her pale legs exposed right up to her thighs, but there were a great many things that took priority over embarrassment.

“Oh, but…don’t look over here, okay?”

“I won’t.”

Goblin Slayer, of course, had never so much as glanced in her direction, and it would be lying to say that didn’t annoy her just a little.

“Of course you won’t,” she muttered, and then with a grunt, she pulled off her overclothes. There was nothing else to do—the seawater would cause her mail to rust otherwise.

“Oh, ah, g-grr…no! No! This is off-limits. Not allowed. I absolutely will not let him do this again…” High Elf Archer had practically withdrawn into herself. Priestess stole a glance at the elf. As Priestess recalled, High Elf Archer had no metal equipment.

So she should be fine, right?

Priestess hadn’t yet been granted a miracle of calming, and anyway, it wouldn’t do to rely overmuch on supernatural aid. With enough time, High Elf Archer would calm down on her own. That would be best.

With something like detachment, Priestess decided to let High Elf Archer dry out in the sun. The spring sun was out; surely it would do her some good in short order.

“All right, then…” When Priestess looked back toward Goblin Slayer, he had returned to his own work. Which, as his name implied, was killing goblins.

As the effect of Tunnel wore off, earth gradually began to fill the hole back in. The seawater would shortly run into the mouth of the cave, and the goblins would be flooded out.

Exactly what the adventurers wanted.

Goblin Slayer tightened his grip on his sword, which he had never let go even amid the violent spray. He bounded through the mud, advancing implacably.

Several goblins who had been blown out of the cave along with them were lying on the ground.

“Hmph.”

“ORGAR?!”

That was one. Without a moment’s hesitation, Goblin Slayer put his blade through its brain. The creature gave a scream and a twitch. Goblin Slayer twisted the sword, and when he was sure the goblin was still, he pulled his weapon back out.

“Oh-ho. Still alive, eh?” Lizard Priest said.

“The luck of the dice,” Goblin Slayer remarked.

It happens from time to time, he added to himself, and then he silently continued about his work.

When he found one, he stabbed it with his sword. He checked to be sure it was dead, and if it wasn’t, he waited until it was.

His blade soon became dull, so he threw it away. There was a mountain of weapons here anyway. He grabbed a club from a random goblin, and in lieu of gratitude, he smashed its skull in.

Most of the goblins were dead. But one or two were still alive. That was just the nature of probability. Goblin Slayer, however, had no intention of overlooking them.

“When she gets her wits back, wipe down her equipment and we’ll move on to the next thing.”

“You got it.” Dwarf Shaman popped the cork from a bottle of fire wine. “Gods above. This has to be about as bad a day as these goblins have ever had.”

Here, Long-Ears. He forced a bit of the alcohol down High Elf Archer’s throat, just to bring her to her senses, which she returned to with another scream. Her ears sprang up, her face went red, and she immediately set to verbally assaulting the dwarf.

Goblin Slayer completely ignored his companions’ blathering, but he muttered, “That’s not necessarily true.”