Goblin Slayer, Vol. 8 by Kumo Kagyu and Noboru Kannatuki

Author:Kumo Kagyu and Noboru Kannatuki [Kumo Kagyu and Noboru Kannatuki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yen On
Published: 2019-09-25T00:00:00+00:00

It was dawn when the girl had appeared before him; he had been loading cargo onto his cart.

“Um, excuuuse me…,” she had called in a sweet, nasal voice.

He turned to see what she needed, and there she was: A priestess of the Earth Mother in ill-fitting vestments with a sounding staff in her hand. Her eyes were bloodshot—whether because she had just woken up or because she hadn’t slept at all, he couldn’t tell—and she blinked at him as he stared at her. He could see bits of straw stuck in the hair that peeked out from under her cap. It brought a smile to the merchant’s face.

A novice adventurer, maybe?

“Yes? What can I do for you, my little adventurer?”

“I’d like to get just out of town. Could I ask you for a ride?” Then she mentioned the name of a younger female cousin of the merchant. A fine young woman who served in the palace. If she was a friend of his cousin’s, very well then. The merchant nodded.

“Okay. But I’m going to the North. You don’t think you’ll be a little cold?”

“I’ll be all right, thank you. North is just the direction I wanted to go.”

The girl laughed out loud and helped herself to a seat among the cargo. She was energetic, but her movements seemed somehow ambivalent, in a way that made him worry for her.

She squeezed in between some bags then appeared to remember something. “Oh, this is to thank you.”

She offered the merchant a small ruby. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head. Counterfeit currency was rife these days; there were many who shaved down the edges of their coins to “economize.” Gemstones were certainly more trustworthy, but…

Is she really a novice?

That was the moment he had his first doubt.

It certainly didn’t seem like a form of payment one would expect from a disciple of the Earth Mother, all of whom vowed to be moderate, frugal, and poor.

But he could stand there wondering all day, or he could get going. The merchant finished loading his cargo then set his wagon rumbling off along the wheel ruts.

Needles of dawn pierced the milky mists of early morning, but the capital never slept.

There were some tavern dwellers who had been out drinking until first light, stumbling along the street, and a slave carrying a water bucket at a quick pace.

Servants, awake before their masters, were opening windows, letting in the morning air. Cookfires accounted for some of the smoke rising from the many houses. But offerings to this god and that explained others.

They passed a shop just getting ready to open for the day, and soon they had arrived at the north gate.

Outside town were a number of fields for competition and combat, and banners had been put up indicating what the day’s events would be. A line of people stood looking at them, possibly waiting to be permitted past the guardhouse. There was quite a crowd; it must have been gathering since well before the hour at which the gate would be opened.

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