52: Chapter 52 Escape

Goblin Slayer had exchanged his reward early. This morning, he had come to the Temple of the Earth Mother Goddess and was sitting in the temple's deceptively rustic reception hall, waiting for Mia and her two companions.

"Huh? Looking at it this way, shouldn't Mia actually be considered a saint of the Temple of the Earth Mother Goddess? Since she arrived in Water City these past few days, the number of followers of the Earth Mother Goddess seems to have multiplied several times over..." The Elf Girl loved the atmosphere of the Temple of the Earth Mother Goddess; it was the scent of life and earth.

The Dwarf Taoist also liked the atmosphere here very much; for once, he didn't contradict the Elf Girl.

In the distance, Mia and Tuaner were walking gracefully toward the group, one wearing the red robe of the Blood Rose monastery, and the other dressed in traditional white nun's clothing. Tuaner's dignified image couldn't last three seconds; upon seeing the Lizardman, that foodie, she trotted over and handed him an extra-large block of cheese she had been secretly hiding around her waist. Is this the friendship of foodies? Watching the Lizardman, the Dwarf Taoist, and the Elf Girl join the eating and drinking team, Mia didn't quite know what to say.

"I've received the quest reward. This is your share." Goblin Slayer handed over a bulging money pouch.

Mia took it and handed it to the attendant from the Temple of the Earth Mother Goddess nearby. "Please pass this on to the Old Priest." The attendant took the heavy money pouch and nodded as he left.

"I'm really sorry to trouble you to make this trip," Mia said, feeling a bit embarrassed. "But we're probably wanted in Water City now, aren't we? Once we step out of the Temple of the Earth Mother Goddess, the thing waiting to greet us will likely be that uniquely shaped Sword of Scales, right?"

"Indeed. The Adventurers Guild in Water City has already issued a bounty for the three of you, but I heard that the guilds in the Royal Capital and the frontier cities have refused it," Goblin Slayer informed Mia of what he knew.

"Thank you. I suspect it's thanks to the help of the Guild Receptionist; otherwise, we three might truly have been wanted throughout the entire territory." Mia looked back at the four foodies, and at Ryan, who had just walked into the reception hall, his face bruised and swollen from being beaten by the Old Priest.

The Elf Girl asked if Mia and her group were leaving Water City together. Mia smiled and said there were still some things to finish, telling her she would come to find them in the frontier city later to continue their adventures. The Lizardman Monk and the Dwarf Taoist also came to urge Mia and her companions to be careful of the Sword Maiden, offering to help with any difficulties, but they were eventually persuaded to leave by Mia's repeated reassurances.

Finally, Mia looked earnestly at Goblin Slayer. "You've already asked her, haven't you? Is it just as I said—merely dereliction of duty, not betrayal?"

"Not entirely. Perhaps she just wants everyone else to taste her pain as well." A slightly hoarse voice came from inside Goblin Slayer's helmet.

"Is that so," Mia murmured, those three words carrying an ambiguous meaning. "Very well. We will return a few days later than you, if all goes smoothly. However, if we haven't returned to the frontier city within a month," Mia paused, then revealed a beautiful smile, "then please forget about us. After all, she is the Sword Maiden."

Goblin Slayer's fists clenched tightly, making a creaking sound. He didn't speak, but stood up, bowed, and turned to leave.

Mia also stood up, bowed her head in return, and saw them off...

The Sword Maiden held the Sword of Judgment, her platinum holy robes shimmering in the setting sun. She stood at the highest point of the temple, waiting for a report from her subordinates.

"Report! The number of followers at the Temple of the Earth Mother Goddess has tripled!" A Judgment Knight reported with head bowed.

"...They are merely fools using this opportunity to amass wealth." The Sword Maiden's voice was clear, cold, and sweet, yet it faintly suppressed a certain anger. "But Mia is different."

She raised her head, her gaze piercing through the distant buildings, as if locked onto a specific figure.

"She is a true heretic, bewitching people's hearts."

"Has the bounty notice been issued?" The Sword Maiden walked down from the high platform and approached the knight. It seemed that ever since she had met with Goblin Slayer, her entire demeanor had become sharp.

"It has been issued. It is posted everywhere. We have also notified the Adventurers Guild in Water City. But strangely, the Adventurers Guild in the Royal Capital and other cities are not buying it." The Judgment Knight kept his head down, looking at the Sword Maiden's footwear. The scent of birch branches wafted into his nostrils.

"It doesn't matter. I intend to keep them as guests in Water City indefinitely." The Sword Maiden turned her head and revealed a dignified smile to the Judgment Knight, yet her tone was filled with killing intent.

The knight didn't dare to respond; he bowed and retreated.

The night was already deep. Ryan was still holding his wine flask, sitting opposite the Old Priest on the temple steps.

"You little ones have forced me to dismiss the temple attendants overnight. Who knows if that woman might split our temple in two with a single sword strike."

"Don't say that, we three wouldn't be able to pay for that." Tuaner snatched the wine flask from Ryan and took a gulp. Her little face flushed red, and she let out a breath of alcohol.

"Go now. I will hold them off for a while. The Earth Mother Goddess will protect you." The Old Priest turned and walked toward the temple's basement.

[Dungeon Quest Updated: Return to the frontier city alive. Quest time limit: 20 days.]

Mia packed everyone's gear and said her goodbyes to the Old Priest as they brushed past each other.

The two girls and one wolf walked out of the Temple of the Earth Mother Goddess under the moonlight. The faint light of the twin moons illuminated the path Mia trod with her bare feet, and ripples of faint black roses flashed across the ground behind her.

They hadn't gone far from the temple when a loud boom occurred behind them; the dome of the Temple of the Earth Mother Goddess was sliced off by a single sword strike. A figure wearing pitch-black armor and carrying an old axe met the Sword Maiden's Sword of Scales. The sound of the heavy weapons clashing echoed throughout almost the entire city of Water City.

"Don't let the old man fight in vain. Hurry and go! Unless the Sword Maiden has gone mad, she wouldn't dare—and I doubt she has the ability—to kill him." Ryan transformed into a wolf, activated [Bloody Frenzy], his body expanding significantly. He threw the two girls onto his shoulders and began to run wildly on all fours...

No one in this world had likely read "Little Red Riding Hood"; otherwise, they would surely point at Mia, dressed in red on the back of the giant werewolf galloping through the moonlight, and shout, "Look, the Big Bad Wolf has snatched Little Red Riding Hood, uh, and another little girl..."

The sounds of the fierce battle paused momentarily. Mia decisively tore up the stack of explosive scrolls in her hand, detonating all the [Class B Sticky Explosives] that she had asked Ryan to secretly plant at various structural points of the Temple of Law when they went to bathe the other day.

...The Old Priest lay in the ruins, his face covered in blood, clutching the two small, pitch-black axes that had accompanied him for many years and had been kept hidden until now. He let out a hearty, boisterous laugh. "She is truly worthy of being the Sword Maiden. I really have gotten old."

As the Sword Maiden raised her Sword of Scales and was about to finish off the Old Priest, a bright light suddenly flashed from the direction of the Temple of Law, followed by the ground trembling, and then a series of rumbling explosions.

"Heh heh, so even you have moments where you get outsmarted." The Old Priest tore up a [Teleportation Scroll] set to the coordinates of the frontier city, and his figure instantly vanished before the Sword Maiden.

The Sword Maiden stood on the ruins of the Temple of the Earth Mother Goddess, watching from afar as the Temple of Law slowly collapsed and turned into rubble.

She stood stunned for a moment, then flames of anger erupted in her eyes, and she sped off in the direction of Mia and her companions' escape...

"...This time, I must kill you all..."