Vol 1 Chapter 11 (1/2)

Chapter 1

It was finally spring, and the white ht Here and there, in the patches of brown earth no longer blanketed by snow, yellow-green blades of grass were beginning to show, and yelloildfloere growing next to thefrom the temple to the center of town

Tarba was the northerne on the island of Lodoss It was a s perhaps as many as one hundred residents, on a son Mountains Due to the cold created by the gathering ofcame later there than elsewhere

Aside frodoest temple to Marfa, the Goddess of the earth, in all of Lodoss, the foothills around this sreen forest The villagers’ livelihoods ca with the dwarves, but the rims was also an important source of income for them

As spring ca people would co of Marfa, as also the Goddess of e

For Neese, the head priestess, that signaled the arrival of a busy season

“Youon a journey?”

Neese had received a visitor in her roo robe of a priestess of Marfa, with Marfa’s syreen on the left side of the chest Her fifty-plus years of age showed in the deep wrinkles riven into her face However, even sitting in her chair, her back was straight, and she didn’t seem frail in the least She exuded so much vitality that people would turn their heads to look at her as they passed

“Yes, I a a trip” Neese’s visitor replied brusquely He was short, about half the height of a full-grown hurew a thick gray beard The pointed end hung down over his green-clad sto with each word

The visitor was a dwarf What else could he be, with a physique like that! The light brown eyes in his snow-tanned face met Neese’s own

“Why?” Neese stood up from her chair and knelt near the dwarf

“Do I need a reason? I’ because I want to leave That’s all” In his brusque , his stubbornness, so typical for a dwarf, shone through The saly clumsy mountain people their masterful craftsmanshi+p They could turn raw ore and rocks into the finest of geoods

Neese knew this dwarf’s nature well Once he got started, there was no way of changing his mind

“If you’re worrying about Leylia, you’re wasting your energy I’ve already given up on her”

As she said that, a grione The only tih heavily on her hen the subject of her daughter Leylia came up

Leylia had disappeared seven years earlier Seven years ago, in the spring, someone had broken into the te Ghi accident There were signs of a struggle - it seeht with the intruder, but ultimately succumbed and was kidnapped

Neese was greatly saddened by her daughter’s disappearance, but Ghireater hurt From that time forward, heNeese in any way he could

Ghim met Neese’s remark with silence The dwarf did not lie — instead he refused to answer Neese gave a little smile

“Ghi hurt in that accident was in no way your fault Why would so into the temple be your responsibility? Even to the Goddess Marfa, it was an unforeseeable fate”

The dwarf did not respond

Neese gently placed her right hand on Ghiazed into his eyes

“I have asked Marfa about her fate any number of ti this, Neese remembered the Goddess’ words, the same response, repeated each time

“And how did Marfa respond?” Ghim asked quietly

“With a strange riddle ‘She lives, but does not exist’ Those were the Goddess’ words”

Ghiazed at Neese’s sorrowful face He had known her since his childhood She was the kind of woth and kindness Before Leylia’s disappearance, he had never seen her face clouded with sadness Even knowing that he was not responsible for Leylia’s disappearance, Ghiated to look for her He knew the pain in Neese’s heart and he shared it, so er stand to live peacefully in his cave

“I’, so I can’t help you with that riddle But I a daughter back”

In spite of their brusqueness, dwarves were a kindhearted people Loving justice more than anyone, they believed in their ability to surmount any obstacle

Neese remained silent for a h to say so her mind, she closed her eyes, nodded three times and spoke

“Thank you, Ghihter back”

Hearing Neese’s words, Ghim narrowed his eyes

“Leave it toher back without fail Then the Goddess’his voice a little

Neese pulled the dwarf in and hugged hihtly with her thin arms

“So, ill you leave Tarba?”

“Hht away”

“Traveling is dangerous But it’s not like it hen I once went on a journey Even so, you can never be too careful I will pray to Marfa for your safety”

When Neese was young, she too had traveled But it was not for fun - no, it was a quest It was a dark era, when many demons, once sealed in the Labyrinth of the Deep in southwestern Lodoss, had escaped and sown death and destruction across the island In order to fight these demons, Neese had had no choice but to take sword in hand and set out across Lodoss Having sealed away the demons after a terrible battle, she became known as one of the Six Heroes But she did not take pride in that name

“Thank you, ô priestess of Marfa Please pray in hter safe and sound, for I a man”

“Where are you headed?”

“I’ll go to Zaxon first There’s no other road, and in any case my acquaintance Slayn lives there Beyond that, I have no plans I’ll follow the road where it takes me”

Ghim the dwarven craftsman set off on his journey to the south only a few hours later His path was covered by strangely glooray clouds

There once was an island by the name of Lodoss

It was a large island located to the south of the continent of Alecrast To get to the island from Alecrast would take about twenty days by shi+p Due to this distance, there was little contact between the continent and the island of Lodoss It would be fair to say that the only real contact the people of Lodoss had with the continent was the trade carried out by the galleys of the free city of Raiden, located in the northwestern part of the island

A the people of the continent, there were those who called Lodoss “The Cursed Island” Truly, on Lodoss there were many places that one could not help but consider cursed The Forest of No Return, the Desert of Wind and Fire, and the Dark Island, Marhout the land, horrible s of the dark God Falaris still held sway

Thirty years earlier, powerful demons had broken the seal of the de all of Lodoss in the depths of terror

The fight against the demons lasted three years but in the end, the hu the deain After thirty years, even the scars left by this battle had healed, and life had returned to a boring but peaceful rhythm But tales of this incident reached as far as Alecrast, confir the rumors that Lodoss was cursed To the residents of Lodoss, their island’s reputation was a trifling matter - they were too busy with the important matters of their day-to-day lives to care

On Lodoss, several kingdoms flourished

The biggest of these was the dom of Moss in the southwestern part of the island The ancient gold dragon Mycen, known as the Dragon Lord, still lived there, and had becodom

In the center of the island was the Holy Kingdodom ruled by one of the Six Heroes who had shut the de Fahn The followers of the supre numerous, his te himself was crowned on the authority of the tehout the land

The desert beyond Valis had recently becodom of Flaim after a heated battle with the desert tribes, Kashue, who had the reputation of a greatcountry

Kanon, the country in the southeast, was lead by a scholarly king There, the land was bountiful, and it was famed for its riches

The island to the south, Marreat nuoblins, most of the crie on Mar himself Emperor Beld had conquered the island and made it into an empire Of course, many were those who disobeyed the new emperor, and the flames of insurrection blazed across the island on multiple occasions But each ti the rebels In recent years, Marh perhaps only in appearance

Finally, in the northeastern part of the island was Alania, the oldest of Lodoss’ kingdoms, known for its vibrant culture Its cobblestone streets and the marble castle built by dwarves were the pride of its people

In the kingdom of Alania, there was a town called Zaxon It was a small town situated in the middle of a peninsula to the north of Alania’s capital city, Alan Though it was less than a ten days’ journey froreat city

The people of Zaxon were faced with a great problem

“I said I would defeat them!”

The bang of a fist on a table resounded through the only tavern in Zaxon The wooden cup that had been sitting on the table fell over, spilling its contents

About thirty villagers were asse at a table in the front, and the others were sitting here and there in a variety of chairs The young many was fully clad in plate ar at his waist The sword had a long hilt so that it could be used two-handed if necessary Since he also bore a thick shi+eld on his back, if he’d had a helht But on his breast, instead of the insignia of so or lord, his armor bore only a few deep scratches

“Listen up, Parn” The village chief spoke to the young o by yourself, it won’t solve anything Yes, the eneoblins, but they are numerous No matter how much confidence you have in your prowess, there is no way you can defeat so many of them”

Parn scowled at hiers and chief had kept repeating the sauments Their stubbornness and cowardice knew no bounds

“That is exactly why I came to you for help! As you say, Eto and I have little chance against such a large band of goblins on our own But those of us asseoblins, ill bring shae!”

Parn looked around the group Everyone avoided his gaze, and he waited patiently for someone, anyone, to lift their head and look him in the eye

The village’s probleoblins As soon as the snow had melted, a band about twenty of them had set up residence in a nearby cave It had been three months since they e Knowing the evil nature of goblins, though, it would not be long before they would visit sohbors

Parn had called together all those villagers who seeoblins Thirty villagers ought to have a clear advantage over only twenty goblins But he had not counted on their reaction…

“Nothing bad has happened yet Maybe nothing will ever happen Why should we go seeking trouble, and give the, they will surely take the opportunity to attack the village as well,” ers Parn looked at hi on his prowess as an archer most of all

“Zaerous idea You knoell as I hoful the goblins are If ait until the village is in danger, it will be too late But if we beat theone”

As Parn said, he knew of the evil of goblins Like elves, they were fae, but in the distant past they had entered the service of the God of darkness and their forly

“But-” Lyott, the woodcutter, looked up and raised his voice in protest He was the strongest ers spoke up as well, but none of thereed with Parn

Given into his anger, Parn struck the table again This ti on the floor with a loud bang

“My father fought against thirty bandits! Are you saying that you don’t have even a tenth of his courage?”

“I’ve heard that story before Didn’t your father abandon his post as a knight, et hieneral store, said this in a sarcastic voice Along with old Jet, the owner of the tavern, he was considered one of the eable people in town

All the blood drained from Parn’s face “My father… don’t you dare insult my father!”

“I’ the rumors If those ruhts been scratched off of your are like this?”

Parn put his hand on the hilt of his sword The urge to draw it and cut Mort’s head off boiled up froainst a civilian would have been an act of evil

“I understand,” he rip on his sword, “if that’s how it is, me and Eto will take care of it”

Parn strode out of the roo the tavern door open in front of hiers stayed in their seats, hanging their heads

“He can’t seriously intend to go there with just Eto for cohbor, Mort

“Of course not! Even he wouldn’t do such a reckless thing…” Mort said, as though trying to convince hiers were familiar with Parn’s character If it was in the naer without a care in the world

The village chief listened to this exchange for aopen and walked to a house just outside the village

Parn returned to his house and opened the door His heavy stridesnew scratches into the wooden floor

“Hoas it, Parn?” asked a voice from inside the room

“Awful,” said Parn to thea bleached white cotton robe with a bright blue sash around the waist The a from his neck bore the symbol of Phalis

The priest, Eto, was Parn’s childhood friend Both of thee, and this had drawn theether Eto’s personality was the opposite of Parn’s - he showed little emotion and always acted with discretion and prudence But both of theh to the end, regardless of the obstacles in their way

Listening to Parn’s speach, Eto took his amulet in one hand and chanted the name of Phalis in a low voice

“Well, it can’t be helped The villagers haven’t gotten theainst the demons, this country was the only one that remained neutral”

“But I can’t fight twenty goblins all on my own!” Parn sat down at the table in the center of the room, pulled his leather waterskin off of his back, and drank the contents in one gulp Once he had finished, he let out a great sigh and dropped the waterskin on the table

“That said, we cannot afford to leave the goblins alone Everything is fine for the ht pose a threat to the village” Placing his hand lightly on his as of Phalis to the villagers After four years of religious studies in Alania’s temple of Phalis, Eto had finally been ordained a priest and returned home to Zaxon quite recently He was not yet permitted to head up his own temple, but -houses

“But can the two of us really do it? There are twenty of them! That’s ten times as many!”

Perhaps an experienced warrior could have defeated ten, twenty, or even thirty goblins But it would be years before Parn could hope to reach that level

“There ht His chin sunk into his chest, his eyes stared at nothing

Since Parn had known Eto for most of his life, he knew better than to interrupt hiht In any case, as a warrior, if he could train his body to cut down his eneh

“I don’t think this is a very good strategy but…” Eto lifted his head and turned to face Parn

Parn grinned “You’ve o”

Slayn Starseeker’s house was at the far northern edge of Zaxon He had ers to read and write the alphabet, beco a well-loved teacher

But he also had a reputation for being odd In his little house there were piles of books everywhere, and anized bottles containing dried herbs and insects He also had the habit of staring up at the sky late at night,to himself For those reasons, few dared to approach his house, but on this day, not one but two visitors stopped in

Phile chief, was of course surprised to see another visitor, but his shock doubled when he realized that visitor was no human, but rather a dwarf The aforementioned dwarf aardly introduced hi a bottle of ale for Ghim

Phil — that Parn and Eto were headed off to fight the goblins That none of the villagers wanted to help thesters

“Goblins!?!”

The one who had yelled this in anger was not Slayn, but rather Ghim

“How et their heads cut off by my battleaxe?”

The dearing a full suit of chain ed battleaxe With his sturdy helmet decorated on both sides with horns, he looked e into battle than a traveler

“Goblins and dwarves have been fighting since time immemorial,” said Slayn by way of explanation to Philmar, whose jaw had dropped at the dwarf’s sudden transforone stock-still, as though turned into a statue

“That’s right, they’re nothing but a band of hateful thieves! Without even knohat to do with theems and metal from under the earth Since the dawn of time, us dwarves have cut off as many of their heads as there are stars in the sky, but the bastards breed like rabbits”

“Well you know, there are infinite numbers of stars in the sky,” said Slayn softly to the dwarf “Fortunately, there are only about twenty of them around here But Parn and Eto can’t face that o on their own?”

Seeing the chief nod, Slayn realized that it was indeed likely that Parn would do such a thing But though Slayn had only , Slayn had taken Eto for a more level-headed fellow

“Young people are no good at thinking logically, after all,” he muttered to hi youngsters die I ought to be able to take care of twenty goblins with ic”

“And my axe” Ghim picked his battleaxe up off of the table and fastened it to his back