The carriage rides over a dirt plane, as party is asleep inside.

'You know. I always did want to be an adventurer.' Owl is heard. 'That I'd become a famous hero and save everyone in the world. Be like the heroes from the old stories. From what I know, Owlfolk don't become adventurers, even when they integrate into human society. So I'd be one of the first... but that dream died when I lost everything.

Though when Slayer came back, he gave me a purpose. A reason to continue chasing my dream. I wonder, if mom and dad were still alive... What would they think of me? 

...A blind Owl, is a dead Owl... 

.

.

.

A young Cow Girl, Goblin Slayer and Owl sit on a fence. Owl's black and white hair flows in the gentle breeze as he brings his feather flaps up and down.

"I'm gonna go to the city!" Cow Girl starts. "I'm gonna go to my uncle's farm and help one of the cows give birth. I'm going all by myself, too! And once I'm done helping, I can go shopping in the city. My mom gave me some money. I wonder what I should buy. Is there anything you two want? I'll buy something for you?"

"No." Slayer immediately responds.

"Oh, I want a rabbit." Owl says as he blinks his yellow bird-like eyes. "I like rabbits."

The Cow Girl smiles, and then turns to Slayer. "There must be something. I mean--"

Slayer interrupts. "I told you, I don't want anything." He hops off the fence.

Cow Girl frowns. "Why do you have to say it like that? I just wanted to buy you something since you've never been to the city..."

"Shut up! Just go to the city or wherever!"

Cow Girl hops off the fence. "Why are you getting mad?"

"I'm not mad!" Slayer shouts.

"Yes, you are!"

A teenage girl comes over. "Now, now."

"Sis..." Slayer says.

The Owl hops off the fence and walks over to his friends.

"You shouldn't be fighting." Slayer's sister says.

"We're not fighting." Slayer defends, and he looks to Cow Girl. "Right?"

"Y-Yeah..." Cow Girl responds.

"But you two-" Owl starts, but Cow Girl puts a hand over his mouth.

"Shhhh!"

The teenager leans down to her brother. "What happened?"

"It's nothing." Slayer claims.

"Alright, then."

"Albitti!" A female voice yells from a building down the road. "Lunch time!"

Owl smiles as he hoots. "I gotta go, see you guys later!"

Owl runs away, but his head turns 180 degrees to face them as he runs.

He enters his house to see his father at the table, writing something. His feather flaps are standing up. Then he sees his mother walking to the table with several dishes in her hand.

His mother's head spins around and smiles as she sees him. "Albitti, come let's eat!"

"YAY!" Owl runs over and sits at the table with a smile.

'My parents were very loving..'

Owl looks up to his parents faces, but they're all fuzzy.

'But I can barely remember what they look like. Though, If I think hard enough...'

A present day Owl grunts as he sits up on his bed.

'I can remember they're faces...'

Dozing

Owl, without his armor on but a sword attached to his hip. steps outside in the morning sun. A gentle breeze blows through his black and white mixed hair, and ruffles the two tuff like horns on his head. The sun light shines off the white bandage around his eyes.

Owl lets out a yawn, as he walks to the side and heads for a tree by the side of the house. Owl reaches the tree and puts a hand on it. He pats the tree and sits under it, resting his back against it.

A couple birds fly by as they chirp, Owl lets out a couple small hoots as they pass. Then he reaches up to his chin and scratches a the couple fresh scars.

"Albetti!" Cow Girl shouts from a nearby window. "Breakfast is almost done!"

"Okay, I'll be right in." Owl responds and he gets up and heads for the house.

Owl enters the house and he hears Cow Girl hum as she makes food. Owl sits at the table.

"Morning, Albetti." Uncle sits next to him.

"Morning, Uncle." Owl nods.

Slayer walks in, without his armor on. "Good morning, sir."

"Morning." Uncle looks at Slayer. "Were you doing your usual patrols?"

Slayer sits at the table. "Yes, sir. There were no issues."

"I really don't think you need to worry so much."

Uncle pours a glass of milk. "I heard that the Demon Lord was defeated by the Hero. I'm sure the monsters will calm down a-"

"They won't." Slayer interrupts. "At least, goblins won't."

"O-Oh, yeah?"

"Yes." Slayer nods.

"Oh, sorry." Cow Girl walks over with breakfast. "It took a little longer than I thought it would." She sets the plates on the table. "I'll lay everything out now, so let's eat."

Owl slowly grabs a piece of bread and quietly eats it.

"After breakfast, I have to go make deliveries." Cow Girl informs.

"Owl and I will come with, too." Slayer states. "We have to stop by the guild."

"Okay! Let's go together."

.

.

Owl sets a bag in a cart alongside Slayer, who's still without his armor.

"Are you two going to the city to accept a quest?" Uncle asks as he stands a few feet behind them. 

"That, too, but we also need to get our gear repaired and pick up my other set of armor." Slayer informs.

"I see."

Owl sets another bag in the cart.

"Don't do anything rash." Uncle starts. "I don't want to see her hurt."

Owl hums in questions.

"I'll do my best." Slayer responds.

A few minutes later Owl sits in the cart as Goblin Slayer pulls it. Cow Girl hums a song as she walks alongside the cart.

Soon the three reach the town and unload the cart. Owl and Slayer are both carrying bags with their equipment inside.

"You two need to stop by the guild, right?" Cow Girl asks.

"Yup." Owl responds with a nod.

"After I'm done with my deliveries, there's something I want to buy, so let's meet up later to head home."

"Okay." Slayer responds.

Soon the two enter the guild and walk past Spearman and wait in line.

"Owl, who's that beside you?" Spearman calls out. "He's sure pasty for someone who's so ripped." He looks Goblin Slayer up and down. "I haven't seen you around before. Are you new?"

Slayer shakes his head. "No."

"So... you're just dropping in on a day off or something?"

"Something like that."

Owl's head spins a few times, his feather flaps moving up and down.

Spearman holds up a cup. "Yeah, if you actually wanted to make money as an adventurer right now, you'd go to the capital. A lot of the Demon Lord's army is still there. They're just stragglers, so they'd be easy to take care of for good pay."

"You're not going?" Owl's turns to Spearman.

"Me? You can't be serious." Spearman takes a sip from his cup. "Bullying the weak isn't my style. I only fight for myself."

"I'm sure it isn't."

"Ow, you got something to say!" A tic mark appears on Spearman's head.

Owl just shakes his head.

Spearman huffs and continues. "I've got no interest in money or peace. Besides..." He looks over to Guild Girl.

"Yes, alright." Guild Girl speaks to everyone in front of the counter. "I'll listen to all your concerns, so form a single file line, please."

Spearman smiles and turns back to Owl and Slayer. "I've got personal reasons. Basically, I have no need for catchy slogans."

"Is that how it is?" Slayer asks.

"It sure is." Spearman then notices his partner, Witch, walking over. "Well, see ya. I've got some ruins that need exploring." He stands up.

"Good luck then." Owl says to Spearman.

Spearman chuckles and pats Owl on the shoulder. "I should say that to you, but thank you. And have fun with your friend." He walks off.

Witch looks at the two. "There aren't any... quests." She walks after her partner.

"I see..." Owl responds.

.

.

.

Inside the blacksmiths shop, Owl and Slayer are putting on their other set of new armor.

"I had some extra time, so I fixed the smaller bits, too." The blacksmith informs. "How's it feel?"

Owl rubs a hand over his left arm, rubbing a hand over the feathered cape. But he then tests out the range of motion with his armor, as does Slayer.

"It's fine." Slayer informs.

"Feels like normal... mostly." Owl informs.

The blacksmith turns to the two's pretty damaged armor on the table. "And now to repair this...  For crying out loud... How'd your armor get so damaged just from fighting goblins? I won't be able to fix the feathered cape, Owl. Owlbear feathers are just to expensive and hard to come by now."

"Oh..." Owl frowns a little.

"Were you able to get me a scroll?" Slayer asks the Blacksmith.

The Blacksmith glances at Slayer. "Those things are hard to come by. Keep yer shirt on."

"Alright." Slayer walks off with Owl following.

Owl and Slayer walk down the street, but stop as they watch rookie warrior and another rookie adventurer face off against Heavy Warrior. Cleric and another rookie female adventure watch on.

Rookie warrior and the other rookie run face first into Heavy Warrior's large sword. The two fall to the ground in pain.

"Come on, what's the matter??" Heavy Warrior yells. "You won't even be able to kill goblins at that rate!"

"Damn it!" Rookie Warrior grumbles. "We're going for the opening! Go around the right!"

"You got it!" The other rookie responds.

"That sounds like a great plan, but..." The female adventurer says.

"You probably shouldn't say it out loud." Cleric informs.

The two boys attack Heavy Warrior again, but he just pushes them to the ground. "You're too naïve!"

Female Knight leans on a nearby wall. "Oh, hey Goblin Slayer. Owl." The two look over to her.

"I heard you two almost died in Water Town." Female Knight says.

"Yeah." Slayer responds.

"By the way, are you always dressed like that?"

"Yeah."

"I see..."

The boys get thrown around again.

"I didn't think that warrior was part of your group." Slayer says, mentioning Rookie Warrior.

"Ahhh... We were sparring with our little brat, and we saw him staring the whole time." Female Knight informs. "An adventurer's skill with the sword is mostly self-taught. If you learn actual swordsmanship at least once, you'll have a chance to survive. Now, then... I need to teach those girls a bit about survival, too. I'm sure that giant ball of energy is starting to lose his breath." She grabs her shield off the ground. "I guess I'll join in."

Female Knight walks over and points her sword at her partner. "Have at you!" Heavy Warrior looks up at her. "You're always bragging about how mighty you are, so I'm sure you'd consider this fair game."

"What?!" Heavy Warrior holds his hand out at her. "And you call yourself a paladin candidate?!"

"That's enough talk!"

Female Knight lunges at her partner, and Heavy Warrior blocks her blow with his large sword.

"This isn't effective training for anyone!" Heavy Warrior complains.

Female Knight winks at the two rookies on the ground.

"We're..." The second rookie starts.

"We're saved..." Rookie Warrior finishes.

Slayer watches Female Knight and Heavy Warrior spare, while Owl's feather flaps move up.

"You sure aren't holding back, are you?" Heavy Warrior asks.

Female Knight laughs and the two slayers move on.

.

.

Priestess enters the guild and nods to Guild Girl, who nods back.

"Goblins Slayer! Owl!" Priestess smiles as the two approach her. "So you're both here."

Owl nods. "Yes, our armor needed some repairs."

Priestess jogs over to them. "You should've said something."

"I didn't really need to." Slayer states, and Priestess frowns a little. "How's your shoulder doing?"

"Huh? O-Oh, it's fine now." Priestess smiles. "They cast a healing spell on me."

"I'm glad you're fine." Owl grows a smile.

Priestess nods. "Yes."

Guild Girl approaches the three. "Goblin Slayer. Owl. How'd the quest at Water Town go?"

"It's been taken care of." Slayer informs. "There weren't any problems."

"What are you talking about?!" Priestess shouts. "You and Owl almost died!"

"Yeah, not any problems." Owl states.

"What?!" Guild Girl grows worried. "A-Are you two okay now?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Slayer informs.

"Did you have your wounds properly tended to?"

"Yeah, we did."

Priestess starts to blush a little, and Guild Girl notices. "Is something wrong?"

Priestess waves a hand. "N-No. Nothing at all..."

"What did you need?" Owl asks Guild Girl. "Do you have a quest for us?"

"No, not exactly..." Guild Girl states, and she hands Slayer a letter. "An adventurer from Water Town asked me to give this letter to you two."

Slayer grabs the letter and puts it in a small pack. "Thanks."

"No problem. It's part of my job. Do you have an acquaintance in Water Town?"

"No."

"It's probably from the one who requested the job." Owl informs.

"Oh, that makes sense." Guild Girl says.

"Well, if it isn't Bread-cutter and Spirit-walker!" Dwarf shouts as he, Elf and Lizard Priest walk down the stairs from the second floor.

Elf smiles. "You should've at least come to say hi if you were here, Vorbatmai!"

"Ah, it's a relief that your armor seems to have been repaired, Sir Goblin Slayer. Sir owl." Lizard Priest says in relief. 

"Yeah." Slayer responds.

"We're about to get some food." Dwarf informs. "Want to join us you two?"

Elf looks over to Priestess." You should come too."

"S-Sure." Priestess responds.

"Oh, uh, I..." Guild Girl fumbles her words, and she looks over to her colleague, and she just waves. "I'd love to!"

"I'll pass." Slayer says.

"Yeah, we got stuff to do." Owl says.

Elf grabs onto Owl's arm. "Aw, don't be shy!"

"I'm not." Owl grows confused.

Elf leans onto Owl. "Come on! Le't go, Vorbatmai! You too, Orcblog!"

Cow Girl enters the guild. "Sorry to keep you waiting..." She notices the large group around Slayer and Owl.

"Hey." Slayer greets.

Cow Girl sweats a little. "My, you've both got a lot of friends..."

Owl nods. "Yup."

Guild Girl's colleague watches with a smile. "How amusing." 

A little while later, the party, including Guild Girl and Cow Girl, are at the restaurant part of the guild. Food is set out across the table, Owl is sitting between Guild Girl and Elf.

"Jeez, if you two were waiting for someone, you should've just told us!" Elf complains.

"You're the one who forced Spirit-walker, then forced Bread-cutter, to come." Dwarf states.

"Well, I didn't know, okay?"

"Um, is it really okay for me to join you all?" Cow Girl asks as she grabs her drink.

"It's fine." Slayer assures her.

"Please, help yourself, young lady." Lizard Priest says and he eats some meat covered in cheese. 

"Yes." Guild Girl starts. "Food always tastes better when you eat in a big group."

"Then I guess I'll dig in."

Everyone starts to eat and laugh, Owl calmly cuts up some rabbit meat and eats it. His face shows only a small smile, but his feather flaps shoot up and down rapidly.

"This is good." Owl mutters as he eats some more.

After nearly all the food is gone, Elf looks towards Guild Girl. "Hey, is the rumor that the Hero defeated the Demon Lord true?"

"Yes, it is!" Guild Girl confirms. "We've received word from the capital. Apparently the Hero became the tenth platinum-ranked adventurer in history!"

"That's splendid." Lizard Priest says. "Now we can all rest easy."

"I'm sure there's quite a celebration going on in the capital right now." Dwarf sets some fire wine on the table. "Guess we should start celebrating ourselves." He tables a large sip of fire wine from a ladle.

"Like you need an excuse to drink." Elf deadpans. "Jeez... Maybe I should've gone to the capital, too."

"It's not as big as the one in the capital, but we also have a harvest festival." Guild Girl informs.

"A harvest festival, huh?"

"Join me for a drink, Bread-cutter. Spirit-walker." Dwarf holds up a ladle.

"If it's that fire wine, no thanks." Owl says as she drinks some mead.

"No, I'm going to pass today." Slayer says.

Guild Girl holds up a bottle of wine. "Why not have a taste of this, then?"

Owl chirps in question.

Guild Girl pours Cow Girl, Slayer, Owl, and Priestess, a cup of wine.

Cow Girl takes a sip of it. "Wow, it's so good!"

"It is." Priestess agrees.

Owl takes a small sip, and his feather flaps shoot up. "Not bad at all."

"It has lemon and honey in it." Guild Girl informs. "Apparently it helps with fatigue."

Slayer looks down at the drink. "I see. Maybe I should consider carrying some with me on my adventures."

Cow Girl and Priestess chuckle.

The doors to the guild open and Heavy Warrior walks in with the four rookies and female Knight.

"Now that training's over, it's time to eat!" Heavy Warrior informs.

They all get a table nearby the party, and they also get lots of food.

Heavy Warrior puts an arm around the two male rookies. "It's all on me! Eat up!"

"Thanks for the grub!" The male rookies thank.

"Sounds like they've been training all morning." Priestess observes.

"Applying oneself to one's craft is a fine thing." Lizard Priest says.

"There have been talks recently about opening up a training hall." Guild Girl informs. "They want to hire retired adventurers. There are so many newcomers who really don't know anything."

"Yeah..." Elf agrees with the last part. "The more they know, the more likely they are to come back alive."

"It'll give them confidence, too." Dwarf points out.

Guild Girl continues. "Not to mention that even when adventurers retire, they'll continue to live until they die. So I think it's beneficial to everyone."

"I see." Slayer says.

"So you two need to be more careful, Goblin Slayer, Owl."

Cow Girl and Priestess nod. "Yes, yes."

Guild Girl smugly smiles. "Otherwise, I won't give you two any more quests." Owl hums in thought. "The next time either of you collapse, no more adventures for six months."

Owl chokes on his drink that he was sipping.

Cow Girl nods. "Yup. No adventuring allowed."

"That would be bad." Slayer states.

Owl sets his drink down and wipes his mouth. "Very bad."

"Right?" Guild Girl stares at the two slayers. "So make sure you take better care of yourselves.

.

.

.

Owl sits in the back of a nearly empty cart as Slayer pulls it. Cow Girl walks next to them as the three head back home. The setting sun shines down onto them.

"All your friends are such nice people." Cow Girl says.

"Are they?" Slayer asks.

"'Are they'? You mean they aren't?"

"They're skilled. We have a higher probability of crushing goblins if I'm in a party."

"I think they're nice." Owl states. "They're all strong and we work well together. I happen to really like Elf, she's nice... Most of the time."

It's silent for a few moments.

"Someday..." Cow Girl mutters to herself.

"What?" Slayer questions.

"Oh... It's nothing."

"I see."

"Yeah."

"I see."

.

.

.

The next morning, Owl is walking along the end of the farm. Slayer read him the letter from Sword Maiden and the letter plays through his head.

"Dear Owl and Goblin Slayer.
How are you two doing in these hard times, where the fire spirit continues its dance? Under normal circumstances, I would have sent a letter of gratitude much sooner, but I told myself that I shouldn't trouble you."

Owl runs his hands along several trees as he continues to walk.

"Please forgive me. By some miracle, ever since that night, ever since you've given me the dream catcher. The goblins have stopped plaguing my dreams, and I've been living peacefully. This is all thanks to you and your comrades. I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Owl stops at a rock wall and sits on top of it, several birds fly above him.

"The Demon Lord has been defeated by the Hero, which should lead the world toward peace. But many of the Demon Lord's army still remain, so we must't let down out guard yet."

Owl's feather flaps move up and he turns his head around, behind him is Cow Girl and Slayer. Cow Girl shouts as she holds up a basket.

Owl stand up and heads over to them, where they start to eat lunch.

"I believe that the adventurers will have to continue their fight, but I am always praying for both your safety.
Sincerely, the Sword Maiden. Sending prayers."

.

.

.

Moonlight shines down onto Owl as he continues to walk the edge of the farm. His feather flaps moving up and down separately. 

"I wonder how Elf is doing?" Owl questions, before a smile forms on his face. "She's such an interesting character."

Owl suddenly lets out a loud yawn as he uses his sharp nails to scratch his neck.

"I must say... these past few weeks have been very... interesting." Owl stops and he turns his head up to the sky. "Not a bad interesting I guess. Though... A bad feeling won't leave me."

Owl sighs and continues on, heading back towards his home.

Yet a pair of yellow eyes shine in the tree canopy above him.

.

.

.

Owl follows Slayer the next morning as he does his rounds. They then come to the edge of the forest and sigh in front of Slayer, worries him.

Small footsteps everywhere.

"Goblins..." Slayer mutters.

Owl frowns.

'I guess peace never lasts, no matter what.'

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12-12-2023

3472 words