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So passed another turbulent day in the capital.
Priestess and High Elf Archer appeared to have enjoyed their sightseeing very much. The girl, his old friend, had had fun shopping and dining with Guild Girl. The shop that Dwarf Shaman and Lizard Priest had taken him to served food and drinks, although he hadn’t understood very well what they were.
And as for me…
As the moments had carried him along until he was suddenly free, he found that he still didn’t know what to do with a day off. He never had.
No…
He was outside the inn, the warmth of an unfamiliar alcohol filling the inside of his helmet and shielding him from the chill of the evening breeze. The lantern lights burned orange in the town, and he heard the burble of people passing by, the encroaching chatter.
Tomorrow was the tournament.
The night before, the town became a vast party, with people singing the praises of different knights and debating who would win. Even at the inn, the enthusiastic banter continued. High Elf Archer had taken Priestess, Guild Girl, and his old friend by the hand and dragged them to the tavern on the first floor. Lizard Priest and Dwarf Shaman were probably there as well. The women would be safe with them around.
As for him, he chose not to involve himself. He wasn’t very good at living it up. Watching everyone else enjoy themselves, listening to their chatter—that, he thought, was ideal.
Nonetheless, here he was outside, watching the darkened streets of the capital.
No… It’s hardly something new, this inability to imagine.
When had it started? Long, long ago, perhaps. The idea might already have been in his mind back when he had been asked to help with the dungeoneering contest. Had the seeds been planted in the desert, then?
Whatever the case, there was only one conclusion: There is nothing besides goblin hunting.
He’d gone to the desert in the east. The icy seas of the north. He’d met the centaurs of the grassy plains. Each of those experiences had made his heart race, he knew. And yet…he hadn’t thought that was enough.
Nor did he now.
Here he was in the capital, observing the festivities. But he was not part of them. The thought caused him no anxiety, no dissatisfaction. He’d simply found that he was not part of that circle.
So when a voice asked, “Clearing your head?” he was, for a moment, unsure how to react. Who would bother speaking to a man standing by the entrance of an inn, observing the celebrations?
With some effort, he turned his helmeted head and found Guild Girl standing there. Her cheeks were slightly flushed.
“Yes, I am,” he said. It was the only answer he could think of. “I believe I am.”
“Oh, you are?”
“Yes.”
Guild Girl giggled at that, but he didn’t know why. Had he said something funny?
Then she walked up beside him and, regardless of any lack of decorum, plopped herself down by the roadside. This was not the conduct of a refined young lady. Neither the Guild nor the nobility would approve of such behavior.
Goblin Slayer looked at the night cityscape as if it might tell him what to say.
“…Your home,” he offered at length. Yes. It must be here. Goblin Slayer’s avowedly slow mind finally dredged the fact up out of his memory. “Is it all right if you don’t go to say hello?”
“My! Would you be so kind as to go with me?” Guild Girl replied, and her expression was teasing. She added, “That’s a joke,” before he could answer. “Anyway… I think it’s all right. At least, as far as I’m concerned.”
“…I see.”
“Yes. It’s not that we don’t get along, but…I think going home would only earn me a stern talking-to.”
Goblin Slayer didn’t think anything in particular about that. He simply recognized that this was how it was for her.
He had only about ten years’ experience with families. He knew no more of them than that.
Guild Girl, though, appeared somehow embarrassed. Perhaps she thought of it as an indulgence.
“Hey,” she said. “Want to take a walk?”
Goblin Slayer had no particular reason to refuse.
No…
He corrected himself: He personally had no reason.
“If you’ll have me,” he said.
“Well, that’s why I invited you.” Guild Girl puffed out her cheeks a little.
Confronted with that, Goblin Slayer could only say: “I see.”
That answer seemed to satisfy Guild Girl, who stood up, shaking out her long, slim legs. She smiled into the night and said, “Let’s go!”
The lanterns of the city, lit by students from the Academy, gave off a magical light, illuminating Guild Girl’s face in profile. Goblin Slayer suspected the same light played off the cheap armor beside her.
I’m walking along with someone.
Through an unfamiliar cityscape. A place he had never dreamed he would see. Yet now he was visiting the capital for the second time.
It was the strangest thing. His sister would have been much better suited to this place than he was. The fact that he was here felt wrong to him. Yet at the same time, he noticed…
“People aren’t looking at me so much.”
“It’s a big town,” Guild Girl said. “And there’s a festival to boot.”
To her, those reasons explained it all.
There they were, a daughter of the nobility dressed to the nines, accompanied by a slayer of goblins in grimy armor.
But no one seems to care.
He wondered if that could actually be true.
Guild Girl said nothing.
For a long moment, neither did he.
“…”
“……”
“……Yah!” she exclaimed as she flung herself against him, grabbing his arm.
“Hrm…,” he grunted. She’d caught him by surprise.
Filthy metal was pressed into the chest of her unsullied blouse. The softness and warmth didn’t reach him. Only the pressure. She felt heavier, more present, than the shield he forever had tied to his arm. But he would be more careful with her than he was with his shield.
She’ll get dirty. The thought was something close to worried.
“I’m filthy,” he said. “You’ll get dirty.”
“I don’t mind.” Clutching his armored arm, Guild Girl gazed forward, smiling triumphantly. “How long do you think I’ve known you?”
“I see…”
“I’ll bet you do!”
Argh! I can’t believe this guy!
Guild Girl might not have known him as long as his childhood friend, but it had been some years by this point. She might not know or notice everything about him, but watching him now, there were plenty of things she did understand.
He was an accomplished adventurer of the Silver rank. It was a tremendous achievement, and he was very well regarded.
And I’m not sure if he knows it.
Probably not, she figured. Not to suggest that was why she liked him so much.
I’ve chosen to be happy, all on my own. Whatever he might think of himself, I can’t do anything about it, but it doesn’t matter. I’ve fostered my own feelings over years and years. This is my life. No one else has a say in it—not even him. I’ll be happy if I choose to be. I don’t need anyone else to do anything for me to make me that way. So…sure. Why not a little love? Surely this much…
“…This much I can be allowed, right?”
“If that’s what you want…,” he began.
Goblin Slayer thought: What a boring thing to say. A silly thing. Was that all he could say to her? Had he no more substance than that? He grew more and more annoyed with himself. All the years they had grown closer, all the years she had watched out for him and helped him, and that was all he could muster for her?
“…then it’s all right.”
“It is!”
They spent a few moments observing the bustle of the capital. Walking with no particular destination, chatting about nothing in particular, window-shopping at the stalls, watching people go by, until they came back to the inn.
It was no more of a night than that. And no less.