Dancing with Goblins (13)

When I opened my eyes, some part of me hoped I'd be back in my room in Seoul.

Of course, nothing of the sort had happened. Above me was the same familiar wooden ceiling.

The place reeked of medicine. Patients groaned from the beds, women in white hurried back and forth, and somewhere a pot of some unidentifiable liquid bubbled and boiled. This was the clinic in Baikal.

I'd killed the Goblin Lord, but plenty of goblins had still been left, and I'd been worried. Fortunately, it seemed they'd managed to win somehow and haul me back alive. Heh. I'd said I wouldn't mind dying right there on the spot, but that wasn't the same as actually wanting to die. I'd made it back too, so everything had worked out.

"Oh my!!!"

The moment she saw me sitting up, the woman on staff—a face I'd seen often enough on my visits—jumped.

"Mr. GOAT!! You're awake!!"

"Yes, Miss Kanya. How many days have I been lying here?"

"You slept three days straight. I was starting to think you might never wake up."

I'd figured I'd slept a long time, but three whole days? Was it tied to that heat that had filled my body? Even if it wasn't, I'd burned through an absurd amount of strength, so it wasn't all that strange. After you wreck yourself like that, sleeping it off is basically the law. Still, maybe because I'd sweated the fever out like a turn in a sauna, my body felt light enough to float away.

"Are you feeling all right? You should be. The bishop came in person and cast Heal on you."

Maybe it really was the bishop's doing. Even so, I'd earned that much. Of course I ought to receive it.

"Can I be discharged?"

"Of course. So long as nothing's wrong with you."

"Yep. Thanks for looking after me."

I was heading out of the clinic in high spirits when Miss Kanya suddenly called after me.

"Mr. GOAT."

"Yes?"

And then she bowed her head.

"Thank you for fighting for Baikal. Everyone here feels we've been shown a great kindness."

It was the first time I'd been thanked like that, and somehow it embarrassed me. I took her thanks and fled the clinic in a fluster.

The clinic and the guild both sat on the square, so the walk didn't take long. The people out there, though, seemed to be whispering the moment they saw me. Had my face already gotten around? A celebrity's life was exhausting. I hereby repent the past version of me who privately figured celebrities had it made—easy living, easy money.

"…That person…"

"…They say if it hadn't been for him, everyone would've died…"

"A hero, plain and simple…"

"Such incredible power…"

"The lord is putting up a statue…"

From what I could catch, it was nothing but praise. I hadn't drawn this kind of attention even on parents' observation day back in elementary school. I couldn't help the way my shoulders squared themselves. To show a hero's dignity—to set an example—I made for the guild with a proud, measured stride. It might have been my imagination, but I could have sworn I heard applause behind me.

When I arrived, I threw the door open with all the majesty I could muster.

BANG—

Familiar faces. Sonya the guild receptionist, to start with. Merhen, Babar, Alex, Raccoon, Eline, and the rest—the adventurers who had crossed the line between life and death beside me.

"Mr. GOAT!!!"

Oh, crap. Kick the door and Sonya was going to have words. I'd gotten so drunk on the praise I'd forgotten. They'd been saying that door was on its last day as it was, and now, thanks to my kick, it even had a crack in it.

"Welcome!! Please don't mind the broken door. It was old anyway. It was about time we replaced it."

"Who are you."

"Oh, please. Would I really scold the hero who saved Baikal over a mere door?"

Sonya covered her mouth and laughed, a soft little ho-ho that didn't suit her at all. Exaggerate just a bit, and honey was practically dripping from her eyes. Even the adventurers who, right up until we'd left on the subjugation, had watched me with nothing but suspicion—their eyes were full of goodwill now. Look at me. I'd actually made it.

The others scrambled to greet me before Sonya was even done. An endless stream of handshake requests!

"Boss, you feel like a drink, you just holler. I'll buy."

That was Patrasche, opening with a free round.

"Um… do you happen to have a moment?"

And that was Miss Sylvia, sliding in for a date, only to be hauled off by Alex.

Seeing the adventurers who had survived, my chest swelled. I'd had a real hand in the fact that they were still standing here, hadn't I? I returned their greetings and headed for the table where Raccoon and Eline sat.

Raccoon welcomed me with both arms wide.

"Well, look who it is!!! The Goblin—!! Lord—!! Slayer!!! If it isn't GOAT!!!!"

We'd barely crawled back from the edge of death, and his mouth was the same as ever. That bastard could drown and only his lips would still be floating.

"The Lord, though. That was me."

Eline said it from beside him. Even so, it didn't feel like a real complaint—more like a joke, if anything. A joke from a cool-beauty fairy. Kind of cute, honestly.

I'd gotten friendly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with the others, but these two were still the ones I felt closest to, so I put that warmth into the greeting.

"Yeah. You two been all right?"

"It was great with you gone. I had Eline all to myself. Why don't you just disappear?"

"Fuck off."

Correction. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠don't need this bastard Raccoon.

We were enjoying ourselves when Sonya called me over.

"Mr. GOAT. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The branch master is asking for you. You know where to go, don't you?"

"That place on the second floor again?"

"Of course."

He was probably calling me about the reward. My heart pounded at the thought of what I might get. Raccoon and Eline, though, didn't so much as twitch.

"You two aren't coming?"

Sonya cut in.

"It's a private audience today."

A private audience with the branch master! I felt like I'd become someone important.

Knock, knock—

"Enter."

The branch master sat where he always did, at the head ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the room.

"Is the body holding up?"

"Yes. The bishop's skill is something else."

At that, he laughed, loud and hearty. Apparently the bishop had stepped forward to treat me without anyone even asking—the proper courtesy, or so he put it, owed to the hero who had protected Baikal. For all his high station, he seemed a remarkably unpretentious man.

"Before we speak of the reward, I would first thank you."

The branch master offered his thanks with real courtesy. The more I looked at him, the more he struck me as a fine man who understood what was right.

"Now, as for that reward."

Axel said he had agonized over what to give me. Promotion to Silver Plate, money, free treatment—those were obvious. Set against what I'd accomplished, though, they had felt like they didn't quite fit.

"So what I wish to give you is this. Whether it will please you, I cannot say."

"What is it?"

What he handed me was a ticket that looked expensive. Some curly, looping script was written across it, and I couldn't make out a single word. Not the common tongue of the continent, then?

"What is this??"

"A ticket with which you may purchase a weapon forged by the dwarves."

Hearing that, I nearly blacked out.

A dwarf-forged weapon!! The ultimate goal of every adventurer!! Endgame gear!!

"KYAAAAAH—HOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I couldn't hold the joy in. Axel seemed satisfied with the reaction. He nodded and smiled.

"I am glad it pleases you."

Pleases me? If it didn't please you, you'd beat the man until he was dead, then hit him once more to make sure he died liking it. That is what a dwarf-forged weapon is.

Adventurers come with the gear-addict trait built in, and the thing they dream of most is a dwarf-forged weapon. The performance goes without saying, and the design is beautiful on top of it. Their weapons are what set a man's heart racing.

"As you are no doubt aware, a dwarf-forged weapon is not something one may buy merely by having coin. Only the one who holds this ticket may purchase it. In a manner of speaking, this is a license."

The branch master said he himself had retired from adventuring and had no need of it, so he was giving it to me. I'd joked before about hunting down a secondhand dwarf-forged weapon, but where would you even find one used? What kind of reseller swings a dwarf-forged weapon and then sells it? You'd be lucky to keep one as a family heirloom. None of that mattered now. I'd earned the right to become the owner of a dwarf-forged weapon.

Who am I? The owner of a dwarf-forged weapon.

"Thank you!!!!"

I poured all my gratitude into a bow so deep I nearly folded in half.

"I am pleased it suits you. While you slept, I had the Silver Plate prepared."

With that, he handed me a luminous Silver Plate.

"Is this real silver?"

"Silver-plated."

How I'd scraped and crawled this past year just to get my hands on that shining thing. The thought alone filmed my eyes with tears. How low had I grovelled just to survive those goblin bastards. If this were a game, I'd have unlocked a skill called Grovel and mastered it with room to spare. I'd come through all that hardship, and at last I too was a proper elite of the guild.

"Granting a Silver Plate to a man of your ability is only proper. A mana user still walking about with a Bronze Plate would be a joke, would it not?"

"Mana?"

"You did not know? I am told you awakened in that last battle."

Mana!!

One shock after another!!!!

That mana—the power superhumans used when they parted seas and overturned mountains! He was saying I had awakened it! Maybe that was why my body felt so unnaturally light. The fierce heat that had poured out of me when I sang might have been mana too. It was even more astonishing than the dwarf-forged weapon, and it refused to feel real.

"Now that you have awakened mana, if you hone your strength well, you may yet become a Gold Plate adventurer."

According to the branch master, not every mana-awakened became a Gold Plate. Every Gold Plate adventurer, though, was mana-awakened. And what was a Gold Plate adventurer? The face of the guild. Its very finest. A rank that came with benefits so outrageous a mere Silver Plate couldn't even be compared.

"Then you as well, Branch Master…? And Eline…?"

Axel answered with a nod.

Good lord. I could become a power on Eline's level. Of course, right now I was far weaker. But if I worked hard, I could stand on the same footing. The red carpet unrolling ahead of me made my head spin.

While I flailed about, soaked in rapture, he smoothly held out an envelope.

"And this is a letter of recommendation."

And then he went on, explaining just what the letter was meant to recommend me for.