“Urgh... That meant nothing to you, huh? Well, yeah. Of course it wouldn’t. Oh! I know!”
Manato had a brilliant idea. Words weren’t working, and gestures like bowing his head weren’t really getting the meaning across either. In that case, why not try reenacting the events of yesterday?
Manato got on his back, and mimed having his head grabbed. Or rather, he actually grabbed his head with both of his hands.
“Ahhhhhhhh!” he screamed, grimacing.
“And then...”
Manato pointed at the goblin. Then he pointed at the thing that was on top of him. Okay, there wasn’t anything on top of him, but he pointed as if there were.
“That guy. The slave soldier. You came in, and you were like ‘grar’!”
It was a little difficult, but Manato tried to use gestures to communicate the idea of a goblin grappling with the thing that was on top of him.
“This is the slave soldier, and you attacked it from behind, right? And then you went ‘chomp’!”
Manato put his upper teeth and lower teeth together, trying to mimic a bite. He immediately followed that up by slapping his own neck.
“That guy’s neck. You sank your teeth into it. Chomp. Isn’t that right?”
“Ahh.” The goblin was nodding. It looked like he’d figured it out. Manato jumped to his feet, then lowered his head again.
“Thanks! You really, truly saved me!” He put his hands together and bowed even more deeply. “Thank you so much! Yeah!”
Manato gave a thumbs-up with his right hand and winked. The goblin did the same, albeit somewhat hesitantly.
“Ohhh, you got it! Woo-hoo! I’m so glad! Huh...?”
At some point, Haru, Yori, and Riyo had come over. They were all sitting on the ground.
“What’re you all doing?” Manato asked.
“Uhhh, spectating?” Yori replied, waving to the goblin.
The goblin hesitantly waved back. Yori grinned.
“It seems you’ve managed to make him less wary of us,” Haru said, looking around. “And he’s apparently alone again today.”
Manato turned back toward the goblin. He got the sense that he could probably communicate with their new friend using gestures now.
“Umm, you, alone? Just you? Any others? Comrades. You have any? Comrades. Are you getting any of this? Goblins, other than you. Comrades. You have any? How about it?”
The goblin gave a big, slow shake of his head. Then he pointed northwest, toward the Ark, and slapped his chest twice.
“Ohhh. You came here from Damuro by yourself? I get it. Hrmm. Did you get split up, maybe? Was that it? It must’ve been tough. With the, what was it? The saint? Right? Tadaemon? Was that its name?”
“Taidael,” Haru corrected him. “Back when he was human, Tada-san... Its name was Tada.”
“Oh, is that right? It was calling your name, Haru. Like, ‘Haruhiroooo.’ Even after being transformed like that, it still recognizes you?”
“They apparently retain their memories and sapience. But even so, they are different people. Or different things, I should say.”
“They understand what we say, but they can’t be reasoned with?” Yori asked.
Haru shook his head. “No, they can’t. Though, if I said I’d convert and devote myself to Lumiaris, that might change things.”
That jogged something in Manato’s memory. “Oh yeah, one of them said that to me. Like, devote yourself to the light, or something like that. I didn’t want to, though, so I refused. And then they told me to die instead. I wonder what would’ve happened if I’d said yes.”
“I’ve never seen what happens myself. If someone asks for conversion, they must either have some way of implanting a hexagrammic light core into their new convert, or one simply manifests. But anyway, once you’ve got a light core in your brain, you can’t abandon your faith in Lumiaris of your own free will.”
“Everyone turns out like that, huh? Yikes. I wouldn’t want that to happen to me. I’m glad I refused... Oh!”
Manato realized that he’d been neglecting the goblin. He hurriedly turned, and their eyes met.
“Sorry, sorry. We got off topic there. Um, so, where were we? You’re all alone, and you have nowhere to go? Were you born in the farm? That isn’t really a place you can go back to, though. That saint, Tadael... No, Taidael wrecked the place. There’s no point in returning there now. And, hold on, you’re naked. You sure you don’t need to wear clothes? You get what I mean? Like...what I’m wearing. Well, you’ve probably always been naked, so maybe it’s fine.”
“Let me go find something appropriate for him,” Haru said, rising to his feet. He took off his cloak and gave it to Manato. “Even something like this should make a difference.”
“I can give this to him?”
“I don’t mind. I have several others like it. I mean, I’ve been making them myself.”
“Wow. Then he’s gonna have matching outfits with you!”
Haru headed back to the Ark for a little while. Manato spread out the cloak, and approached the goblin slowly.
“I’m gonna put this on you, okay? It might be a bit too big, but hopefully it won’t drag on the ground. Or maybe it will...”
The goblin seemed a bit tense. When Manato draped the cloak over his back, he tensed up momentarily, but then he turned and looked at Manato.
“Like this,” Manato said, miming bringing the cloak together in front of him. The goblin immediately imitated Manato.
“Yeah, that’s it. Isn’t it warm? Well, it’s not like it’s that cold out right now. But how is it?”
The goblin pulled on the cloak, then let it go slack. Haru’s cloak had a hood, so the goblin tried putting it on, then pulling it back. It was indeed long enough to drag on the ground even when the goblin stood up. It was clearly too big for him, but he didn’t try to take it off.
Yori chuckled.
“He’s surprisingly fond of it, huh?”