Chapter Text
The Stranded Barbarian
AN: And here's the next chapter of The Stranded Barbarian. I hope you enjoy!
5 Different Point of View
Conan was sprinting like a madman through the forest to get to the village as quickly as possible, with Goblin Slayer limply hanging over his left shoulder with his good arm holding him. Conan cursed his luck. First, they had to deal with a demon that suddenly appeared on a simple goblin mission and now he had to make sure Goblin Slayer didn't die.
After they killed the demon, Goblin Slayer collapsed which was no doubt from serious injuries and blood loss. The moment Conan saw his condition no time was wasted as he picked him up, slung him over his shoulder and started running out of the cave, descending down the mountain and running into the forest.
Right now, he was running as fast as he could. The village was in sight but he needed to still get to the building where they agreed to meet with the rest of the group. He hoped that he would make it in time. By Crom, he wasn't going to let this man die.
The said group was now sitting at the table in an inn where they agreed to meet with Conan and Goblin Slayer. They knew those two wouldn't take too long for this mission so they decided to spend some time in the inn and order a few drinks. Dwarf Shaman ordered a good amount of alcoholic drinks, Priest Shaman ordering some nectar of the gods, aka cheese, Priestess ordered some fruit juice and High Elf Archer ordered herself some salad.
Priestess slightly fidgeted in place. "Oh, when are those two coming back?"
Shaman took a swig of his drink. "Well, if I had to guess, I'd say they should finish right about now. I think we can expect them very soon."
"Yeah, I hope so, too," Priestess said. She knew Goblin Slayer could handle himself and Conan looked like he could as well, but that didn't mean she shouldn't feel nervous. You never know when something could go wrong.
"Bah, you worry too much. With Orcbolg, their survival is ensured. With his brain and that man's muscles, I'm pretty sure they'll be unstoppable," commented Archer as she took a bite out of her salad.
They then suddenly heard a large crash very near, startling them and everyone else in that in. They immediately looked towards the source and saw that the front door was reduced to chunks of wood and splinters.
What shocked them even more is that through that now destroyed door came Conan with Goblin Slayer slung over his shoulder. He quickly turned his gaze to Priestess making her flinch. "Girl, he needs healing! NOW!"
Sometime later, Priestess was in a rented inn room where she performed her healing arts on Goblin Slayer. While outside, Conan was sitting at one of the tables, his chainmail removed for the time being and having his hand currently being bandaged and put in a cast by Elf Archer with his cheek already patched up.
"Seriously, did you have to kick down the door?" she said as she slowly applied the bandages on the hand.
"More like obliterate it," muttered Dwarf Shaman as he took a drink from his alcohol.
"I held Goblin Slayer with one arm and the other had a broken wrist. I couldn't exactly knock, now could I?" Conan remarked as he held his hand outstretched so the elf woman can do her work. And from what they told him Goblin Slayer was going to be fine, the healing is just going to take a while. Conan was relieved when he heard that.
Dwarf Shaman laughed. "Nice to see you can find some humor in this situation."
"I have to ask you, sir Conan," said Lizard Priest as Archer wrapped a bandage sling around Conan's neck and tied it so it can hold the arm. "How exactly did it come to this?"
Before Conan could give a response someone else chimed in.
"What is going on here?" asked a short man with brown hair and a mustache as he entered through the ruined door. He was the mayor of the village and the one who sent the request to Adventurer's Guild.
Conan's eyes narrowed as he looked at the man. He quickly got up from his chair making Archer yelp at the sudden movement. He quickly approached the now nervous-looking mayor and grabbed him by the hem of his shirt with his good hand. The man then yelped as Conan picked him up from the ground and made the other three look at him in shock.
"Hey, what are you-?!"
High Elf Archer wanted to berate Conan for such action but got interrupted as Conan growled out "And when exactly were you going to mention that there was a demon with the goblins, you little wretch?!"
"W-wh-what?" the Mayor stuttered out, scared at being held up by this imposing man. "W-what demon? Sir, I-I-I don't a-anything about that!"
Dwarf Shaman then approached. "What are you talking about? What demon?"
Conan then let go of Mayor, making him fall on the ground with a grunt. He could tell the man wasn't lying when he said he didn't know anything. "We didn't encounter just goblins in that cave. A demon appeared after we killed the goblins and he is the reason why Goblin Slayer is in that state."
As if the trio couldn't be more surprised than they already were. Did they hear that right? Conan and Goblin Slayer were attacked by a demon? On a simple goblin mission?
"Wait, what about the women that were kidnapped?" asked High Elf Archer as she remembered the other part of the request, which was taking back the women goblins have taken.
"I'll explain," said Conan getting their attention. "The mission went smoothly in the beginning. We killed several goblins as we passed through the cave, but in the end, things got complicated. There were fewer goblins there from what was described. We only killed eight but found no more than that. After that, we tried to look for the women but they weren't there. We were attacked by that demon not too long after."
Dwarf Shaman then rubbed his head and groaned, but not from a headache induced by alcohol. "By the gods, this mission turned into one hell of a mess. Did absolutely nothing go right?"
Lizard Priest just narrowed his eyes and gained a thoughtful look, as if thinking over what happened while High Elf Archer gained a sad look, thinking about what those women were going through right now.
"This is certainly a big turn of events," said Lizard Priest in a serious tone. "I'll go to that cave to see the demon myself and recover your weapons. After that, I'll go back to the Guild so I can report this situation," Lizard Priest explained before casting a look towards Dwarf Shaman. "Will you come with me? I might need assistance."
"Then you'll get it, my friend," said Shaman, gaining a smile from Lizard Priest.
"Alright then," Lizard Priest then turned to High Elf Archer. "I think you should stay here. In case a similar event happens they'll need someone to protect them."
"Right," said Archer with a nod. She knew that the situation was serious, as if Goblin Slayer's condition wasn't an indicator already.
"Right then. Let's go," said Lizard Priest and went outside the inn with Dwarf Shaman in tow.
The Mayor then went in front of Conan with his hands clasped together. "I-I'm truly sorry for what happened. We had no idea this would happen. We'll make sure you're properly compensated."
Conan just sat back in his chair and groaned, tired from all those things that happened in a very short amount of time. "Just give me some ale."
"R-right," said Mayor as he turned towards the innkeeper. "Give him what he wants. On the house."
Archer sat next to Conan. "Give me some as well. I'll have what he's having," she said getting a nod from the innkeeper. "Boy, Orcblog really has bad luck on his side. This is the second time he got near death."
That particular bit of information got Conan's attention. "What do you mean?" he asked as the two of them got their drinks.
"Well, it happened not too long after we teamed up with Orcbolg. We got a mission of exterminating goblins in the capital from the Sword Maiden. After a while, we encountered a Goblin Champion who dealt a devastating attack on Orcbolg although he was able to kill the Champion in the end. Priestess had to heal him so he wouldn't die, like what she's doing right now," Archer explained as she took a drink. "Boy, this is some good stuff."
"So, Goblin Slayer was close to death before?" asked Conan.
"Yep, though the last one was probably worse," Archer said and drank, her cheeks already getting flushed.
So that's how it is, thought Conan. Goblin Slayer was yet again faced with death and may as well have died if Conan wasn't there.
Conan took a drink and looked out, seeing it was late in the afternoon, not even nighttime, but he needed to get some energy for the next day and he was getting exhausted. He was tired out after fighting that demon and he still needed to run down the mountain and through the forest to get Goblin Slayer back. Even he had his limits.
He took another drink, emptying the tankard before putting it back on the table. "Well, I'm going to rest. Do not drink too much, we still need you as a guard."
High Elf Archer just waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."
Conan then got up and walked to the upper floor where his room was located. When he got into his room he unwrapped his empty sword sheath and leaned it against the locker. His chainmail armor was put on a chair, the damages, which he didn't notice were there right after the fight, which were caused were still visible. He would need to get it repaired.
He then just sprawled himself on the bed, though still carefully because of the bandaged arm, closed his eyes and slowly drifted to sleep.
There were still many questions still lingered in his mind. What has happened today? How did the familiar demon get here? What did its arrival mean? But despite the uneasy thoughts, sleep took over Conan's mind.
At a faraway location, the tall figure in green robes sat on a stone chair in a room barely illuminated by torches. In his bandaged hand was a crystal ball, which seemed to hold some scenery within it.
Right now, the scenery showed lush green fields and trees, with many goblins walking upon it. Then the scenery changed. This time of some sort of cave with few more goblins in it and even a Goblin Champion. It then changed to another one, this time in some sort of temple-like structure, neatly put tiles and stone pillars decorated the place, some goblins walking around and, a surprising thing to many, even some humans.
"Come on, you imps!" yelled one of the humans as he held some sort of expensive-looking vase. "This temple isn't going to pillage itself!" The goblins growled at the human's behavior but complied.
The scene caused the man to grin, both out of amusement and the efficiency of the situation, behind the darkness that his hood provided, or at least as much as he could, thanks to his almost non-existent lips.
Then the orb suddenly flickered, much to the man's surprise. "What?" he uttered, as he focused on the shift of magical energies in the orb. He focused on the anomaly and the crystal orb gave him the view of the source. But all that the orb showed was black, nothing else. "What is going on? Did somebody kill him?"
The man nearly growled. He expected complications to arrive but not this soon. He was hoping that he would be able to at least make more progress before people started to suspect what was going on, which is why he sent that demon to the goblin cave near that small village, reasoning that no one important would be concerned about that place since it didn't hold any significant value.
But it appeared that fate had other plans. The demon was powerful, more powerful than a silver-ranked adventurer, so whoever killed him must be pretty high in rank, which meant that someone important was going to notice what was going on. This might cause a problem. He may have to halt his plans for now so he wasn't discovered so soon.
He stood up from his chair and walked towards another room. He needed to contact his subjects of the shift in plans. He was only at the start and he wasn't going to let his plans be ruined again.
Conan woke from his dreamless slumber and groggily opened his eyes. He tried stretching but the pain he felt in his right arm reminded his slightly sleep-clouded mind of his situation.
So he sat up and looked at the window of his room. He saw that it was already past dawn, which meant he slept for quite a while. He then looked at the place where he put his sheath and saw that his sword was once again back in it. He smiled knowing Lizard Priest was the one who brought it back like he said he would.
He got up from the bed and tied his sword back to his hip. He got out of his room and walked downstairs. From what he got, the girl should have healed Goblin Slayer before morning which meant that she should be done right now. He walked to Goblins Slayer's room and opened the door.
He was then greeted with a sight that brought a grin to his face. On the bed lay nearly naked Goblin Slayer, which without armor Conan could see his silver hair and muscular physique, with who he presumed was a completely naked Priestess.
He walked up to them as the girl slowly started waking up. Priestess then sat up, rubbing her tired eyes and holding a blanket to cover herself. She then let out a yawn and slowly after heard heavy footsteps approaching. She looked up and saw a grinning face of Conan. "You couldn't have waited at least until he recovered?"
That caused her to immediately snap out of whatever sleepy trance she was under and gained a look of shock. Looked quickly looked at herself, then at Goblins Slayer and back at Conan, her face as red as a tomato. She then let out a squeal before clutching the covers her naked form. "N-n-no, it… it isn't w-what you think! It w-was just a… r-ritual to help him r-recover!"
Conan just continued grinning. "Well, women did 'rituals' on me to help me recover as well," Conan said suggestively as Priestess' face now radiated red color.
"Hey, how are things here?" came the voice of High Elf Archer who was at the door frame with a smile on her face. "So, the healing ritual is done?" she asked with Priestess responding with a nod. "Great, now all Orcbolg has to do is wake up and we'll be set."
Conan raised an eyebrow. So it was a ritual after all? He mentally sighed, hoping that Goblin Slayer at least got the initiative and took it, but it seems that he was hoping for too much. Well, at least Goblin Slayer was alive.
A while later, Goblin Slayer woke up and got dressed along with the Priestess. As the two walked out of the room Priestess approached Conan, who was sitting at one of the tables.
"Sir Conan, may I do my healing on you?" asked Priestess as she held staff near Conan's damaged arm.
Conan looked at her, normally he would be skeptical to let any sort of magic be performed on him, but from his experiences with this girl, he knew he had nothing to worry about. "Very well. You may?"
Priestess put her hand in front of Conan. "O merciful Earth Mother," she started as her hand started glowing. "please bestow your blessing upon this man and heal his wounds." The glow intensified as Conan was enveloped in a green glow.
Conan felt a sense of calm enter him, something he doesn't feel very often. It felt like he was being embraced in a warm and loving hug. It reminded him of how his mother embraced him when he was a child. It honestly felt incredible.
He then felt some movement in his broken hand, like the bones were mending themselves back together but he felt no pain from it or any sort of discomfort. As he felt the damage on his arm disappear the glow also faded. The girl then drew back her hand and gave a small smile.
Conan then examined his hand. He tired it out by first moving the fingers and then rocking the arm back and forward a bit. No pain at all. He grinned and got his arm out of the cast. He stretched and flexed to further confirm the recovery before unwrapping the bandages around his arm. He then also touched the patch on his cheek before taking it off and feeling no scratches left by that demon.
He then looked at the girl with a genuine smile his face. "Thank you, girl. I honestly wished we had more magicians back where I'm from if recovery is this good."
"Oh, this is nothing special, sir Conan. But thank you for the compliment."
The sound of metal footsteps got their attention and they saw Goblin Slayer standing there, though he didn't have his breastplate since it was ruined by that demon. "We need to talk," he said in his usual tone thought Conan could notice a slight shift in it, showing the seriousness of Goblin Slayer's words.
Conan nodded and gestured towards the empty seat across him which Goblin Slayer took. Priestess was able to feel the tension in the air, especially since she could see the serious expressions on their faces (even though she couldn't see Goblin Slayer's due to his helmet she could tell he had one).
"The situation in that cave was very unusual," started Goblin Slayer. "Not only weren't there even half the goblins mentioned, the women they kidnapped disappeared and there was that strange creature that almost killed us. A creature that has no affiliations with goblins. But you seemed to recognize it. Can you tell me what that was or what business would it have with goblins?"
"Yes, I did recognize the creature. And as I said before, it was a demon. Or to be precise, it looked like one of the demon slaves that served a powerful sorcerer I fought years before. But I don't know much about that demon besides that."
Goblin Slayer put a hand on his armored chin in thought. "Could that wizard have something to do with the demon being there? Could he want something to do with the goblins?"
"Unlikely, considering that I killed the wizard with my own blade. Unless he found a way to come back from the dead."
"I see," said Goblin Slayer, slightly frustrated that he couldn't get a clearer answer. "Is there nothing else you can say about that demon, like what species he is and what kind of behavior they have?"
Conan shook his head. "No, I can't. Where I come from there aren't as many demons and monsters as there are here. We don't really keep chronologies as detailed as you, much less for demons. I honestly can say what the demon was doing there or what he did with those women," he explained.
Priestess stood there as they talked, intrigued with what Conan had to say. The fact that his land didn't have the same amount of monsters and other such creatures honestly sounded great to her.
"I see." Goblin Slayer then let out a silent sigh, thinking he couldn't get more answers from Conan. He was about to get up but Conan's voice stopped him.
"Wait," Conan said. "I need to ask you something."
Goblin Slayer looked at Conan for a moment, wondering what he wanted to ask, but he just shrugged and sat back. "What is it?"
"Why are you so obsessed with killing goblins?" The question was simple yet it caught both Goblin Slayer and Priestess off guard, Priestess especially. Conan was honestly just trying to sate his curiosity about the man's motivation for killing goblins.
"As I said before," Goblin Slayer said. "Goblins are monsters that need to be hunted down and killed."
Conan's gaze turned stern for a moment. "I know there is more to that. Goblins aren't the only monsters in this world that qualify under that category. I'm just wondering why goblins specifically. I assume it's for a personal reason," Conan said as he watched how Goblin Slayer would react. He couldn't see his face but the subtler twitches in Goblin Slayer's arm indicated that anger was rising within him, giving Conan a clearer picture of what was going through Goblin Slayer's head.
Before Goblin Slayer could give his response, Conan interrupted him, knowing that he would try to dodge the question. "Let me guess," Conan continued. "It has something to do with family." Conan thought the guess was logical since family would usually give someone such a drive and Conan knew he that Goblin Slayer didn't have a lover before based on their conversation from yesterday so that wasn't an option.
Goblin Slayer's hand was close to clenching but was noticeably twitching, making Priestess look at him in worry. "Why are you asking this?" Goblin Slayer wondered
"Why are you avoiding my question?" Conan countered.
After a few moments of silence, Goblin Slayer let out an audible sigh. "Alright then. The reason for this is… my sister was murdered and raped by those disgusting things."
Priestess put a hand on her mouth in shock at what she heard while Conan's expression didn't waver.
Goblin Slayer continued. "When I was little, my village was attacked by goblins. My sister tried to protect me by hiding me, but goblins got to her, violated her and raped her. I could see it all happen. From that day I swore that would kill and continue killing those monster until every single one of them is exterminated. No one else really bothers themselves with goblins, thinking they are nothing more than weak monsters and hardly a threat, and when they do they think it's just easy money. But in truth they are one the most if not the vilest things on this world, and it would be a lot better place without them."
Priestess was on the verge of tears after hearing that, but Conan's face remained neutral. But then he gained a grin, then he started chuckling for a few moments before letting out a laugh. That caught both Priestess and Goblin Slayer by surprise, not expecting to gain such a response from him.
Conan's laughter died down. "I see, so that's how it is," he said. "But let me ask you this. What if instead of goblins, humans did that to your sister?"
Priestess gained a shocked look. "S-sir Conan, y-you can't seriously be suggesting-"
"But I am," Conan interrupted her before turning his gaze back to Goblin Slayer. "So, what is your answer? If humans were instead the ones that raped and murdered your sister would you go on to hunt down the humans for the rest of your life?"
Goblin Slayer was silent for a few moments before giving a response. "All of the goblins are monsters that kill, pillage and rape."
"And humans are also the ones who are responsible for such crimes. Believe me, I've travelled to almost every part of the continent I live on and I've seen many pillage entire villages, killing men and children while raping their women. Goblins aren't the any viler than humans can be. And I highly doubt that all of them are considering you just hunt the ones who are doing the crimes."
"B-but, sir Conan-"
Priestess tried to reason with Conan but he interrupted her once again. "Girl, you told me that you are the last survivor of you group. Well, that is one thing that we have in common," Conan said making her stare at him. "I was also a part of a group once. They were good friends and I considered them my brothers in arms. That is, until we were betrayed and cut down, the only survivor being me. It wasn't monsters that killed them but other humans." Conan turned his gaze back to Goblin Slayer. "And you aren't the only one who suffered personal loss. I didn't have a sister but I did have women I loved. One committed suicide after she was kidnapped and forced to marry a man from an enemy tribe while the other was killed by the man she thought loved her, while she was pregnant with his child."
That caused Priestess to cry, all those stories finally caused her dams to burst as tears flew down her cheeks. She couldn't believe how anyone could do those things.
Goblins Slayer sat there with his fists clenched in anger. The things that happened in Conan's tale utterly disgusted him. But he still tried to wrap his head around Conan's words, still not understanding what he was trying to say. "What is the point of all of that?"
"My point is simple. You are wasting your time," Conan answered.
"What?"
"You think that killing goblins will make the world a better place. Trust me, even if you eliminate all of the goblins it won't by much. People who think that evil comes from monsters are naïve at best. You can kill all the monsters you like, you can kill all the demons and demon lords, but evil within people will still exist. As long as someone has a different opinion on something conflict will stir. Unless you plan on killing everyone with rational thought then there won't be peace. As long as people exist so will evil."
There was big silence after Conan's explanation. Conan saw the horrors monsters can unleash but he also saw what horrors humans could unleash as well. He hoped that Goblin Slayer heeded his words and realized that the only thing he did by focusing on a single group of monsters would only end in him wasting his life away.
"Sorry, but that isn't something I can just stop," Goblin Slayer explained. "Goblins still are responsible for crimes committed and humans doing similar things won't make that fact disappear."
Conan sighed, he knew that Goblin Slayer wouldn't be convinced right off the bat but he at least hoped he would be more open to reconsidering his entire life goal.
"Sir Conan," Priestess said causing Conan to look at her. "I know people can be evil, but I assure you there are many good people in the world."
"I hold no illusions to that, girl. Believe me, I don't," Conan said. "But I'm just saying that wasting your life away on a goal that won't surmount to much isn't a good thing."
"Well, looks like the three of you had quite a conversation," said the voice of High Elf Archer as she appeared from behind a pillar.
"I take it you heard everything," said Conan to which Archer nodded.
"Yeah, I've heard. And I must say you have some pessimistic worldview, Conan. You honestly make it sound worse than it is."
Conan shrugged. "I'm just telling it the way I see it."
"Well, regardless of what you think we should start preparing to go back to Adventurer's Guild. You two need to be there in person to give a report on the mission."
"Right," said Conan as he got up. "I'll pick what I have in my room and I'll be ready to go." He then walked away.
"So will I," said High Elf Archer before walking away.
Goblin Slayer and Priestess were left by themselves at the table. Priestess looked at Goblin Slayer in worry. "A-are you alright, Goblin Slayer?"
There was a brief silence. "I'm fine," he said. "You should also prepare to leave. I'll do that shortly."
"Alright then," she said in a whispering tone before going to her room, but not before casting one last glance back at Goblin Slayer, who was just sitting at the table.
Goblins Slayer was in deep thought. Was Conan right? Would he really have the same drive he had now if humans killed and raped his sister? Was he really just wasting his time by just focusing on goblins? No one ever said he was on a fool's errand and people that criticized him just said that he was stupid for going after the small fry, not that he was wasting his time.
But he shook his head, he wouldn't focus on that right now. He got up from his chair, having decided that he will speak with Conan on that topic after they did their report and walked to his room.
AN: Well, that ended on a bit grim note didn't it? There wasn't much action here, just more character development. I wanted to show the different worldviews held by Conan and Goblin Slayer and I hope they came across well. Some of you may find this a bit controversial, and I understand, but from what I got that is how Conan views the world. And I'm sure some would argue that the discussion was too one-sided but Conan has a lot more experience when it comes to such things and has experienced the world a lot more than Goblin Slayer did so, of course, he would have an upper hand in the conversation. Still, that's not the only time they'll talk about that topic.
But that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed it and see you in the next chapter!