Standard Disclaimer: The herein stories belong to their respective owners who currently hold the rights to make, produce, and profit off the Earth Defense Force franchise and the Goblin Slayer franchise. This is also includes all associated work. Therefore, I do not own anything to be allowed to make a profit off this story. That said, I'd probably put a lot of people out of work, namely the busy bodies who can't understand you leave it to the authors and creative teams to do all the work, in one house, rather than several.

Earth Defense Adventurer

Chapter One

Enlistment

XXXX

Adventurers' Guild

Frontier Town

Arrival Plus 16

1327 hours Synchronized Time

Unknown World

XXXX

"Here you both go," the hallow gold haired woman smiles as she hands the two new Adventurers their new ID Tags, "These are yours now."

"Dog Tags?" the one in armor mutters in some surprise, "Here I thought only an Industrial-based Military would be using these due to costs and complexity to make them."

The golden haired woman and the blonde girl with him are both taken by surprise at his words. Even more surprise is when he pulls out another pair made of simple tin bounded tight by a black lining from beneath his shirt and armor. Revealing that he knows their design function and purpose as his new Porcelain tag easily gets added to the pair made of tin.

"My my my," the woman smiles from behind her right hand, "I see you belong to an army that likes to keep better track of its soldiers."

"That it does," the man slips the trio of tags beneath his shirt and armor, "One for Graves Registration and the other to be left with me so I can be sorted to be sent back to my next of kin."

A chill goes down the blonde's back.

The goldnette's yellowish gold eyes dim at hearing that.

"I take it Adventurers are in high demand where you are?" she inquiries, knowing that if it wasn't for his patron's recommendation and help, he wouldn't be one of their Adventurers.

"We don't have any," the man responds tapping his armored chest plate, "Only us soldiers are permitted to carry out such hazardous missions. It is both an honor and a duty to protect all we hold deal and I follow in my older brother's footsteps as well, who was a well respected officer and commander during our last war several years ago."

Both females are surprised to hear an army actually takes up duties that are usually shirked unto Adventurers. It also surprises those in hearing distance with several quickly remarking about it.

"I see and I am very glad that your nation is well protected," the goldnette coughs into her hand before straightening up and smiling a genuine smile, "And welcome to both of you to the Adventurers Guild here in this town."

The blonde teen blushes before nodding, "Thank you miss!" she gushes out as she jumps a little, causing her club and shield stored on her back to clank together, "I'll do my best!"

The male comes to attention and salutes formally, "Thank you for accepting me, ma'am," he shifts to a parade stance, "I'll do my best to live up to your expectations and that of the Guild."

Giggling at the two's thanks, the goldnette fixes her blue blazer vest as she then holds out her hand to indicate the Quest Board to the side of the room behind the pair.

"That is our Quest Board," the woman states, "You can find Quest Requests there, but since you are both currently only Porcelain Ranked, you're limited according to just those Quests."

The blond Club Fighter nods up and down before turning back to the goldnette, "So what kind of jobs are good for getting noticed? I have to get noticed soon! Please tell me! PLEASE!"

Suddenly a hand is on Club Fighter's shoulder as she's gently pulled away from nearly vaulting over the counter in her excitement.

"Easy there turbo," the masked soldier states as he holds his free hand to his head, "Sheesh, rookies, right?" he hears the goldnette giggle at his actions and open semi-complaint, before straightening up and looking to the blonde teenage girl, "I know you're excited and all, but remember that the surest path to success, starts by remembering that you are merely starting."

"Awwwww! Come on! Trooper!" the girl whines, "I'm certain Ms. Guild Girl can tell us of how we can get promoted quickly!"

"Those who hurry, hurry to defeat," Trooper responds to Club Fighter's words, "We all must start somewhere. Only by succeeding as new Adventurers, will we gain the experience and trust to be noted. Only then will we be noted and no note will come to either of us, if no one knows of us, yes," he pacifies the teen, "But at the same time," he stops her from getting excited, "Trust is the lifeblood of a successful Adventurer as it is for both a Mercenary and a Soldier. None will trust us, unless we prove we have the experience to back up our claims. Only then will we gain trust enough to be noted."

"Then people will speak about us directly," the teen looks like she ate a sour lemon whole, "But how long will that take?" she continues to whine.

"Never if you plan to only fail by failing to plan ahead," he reaches out and begins tapping her simple leather armor, "You are a few steps ahead of many Adventurers with that armor you wear and the weapon and shield you have," then tapping his own armor chest piece, "But when it comes to acquiring more powerful equipment, first you need to learn how to master what you have now and gain experience, then, as you gain experience and get promoted, new equipment will open up with new quests as coin will thereafter be available."

The blonde Club Fighter considers Trooper's words. She doesn't like it. Her family needed some extra coin now, but if she died, then what they spent to help her begin her Adventurer's career would be lost. So she would have to slow down and think things out, a difficult thing for her.

"Trooper is right, Club Fighter," Guild Girl smiles at the teenager, "With time, you will receive both trust and fame. Only be succeeding, will you gain the coin needed to get better equipment and thus, make your name known."

The girl thought it over before nodding, "Okay. You both know more than me, at least."

"I'm a combat veteran Club Fighter," Trooper states with both crossed arms over his chest and that look of annoyance only a combat vet can muster when it comes to rooks, "I'd say I know a lot more than you and I know we'll both be learning even more as the days roll by."

The teen blushes as she learns that.

Giggling once more, Guild Girl bows slightly, "Once more, welcome to the Adventurers' Guild."

Just then, the doors open and Trooper's patron walks in…

XXXX

Groaning back to consciousness, Trooper finds himself looking up at Goblin Slayer's grill pattern armored face.

"I got hit," Trooper states.

"Yes," Goblin Slayer responds before moving out of his sight even as Trooper wonders what the license plates of that Ravager Gunship are, so he can sue later.

"Damn," Trooper responds.

"You okay?" Trooper snaps to at hearing Goblin Slayer's voice.

Turning to the veteran Silver Ranked Adventurer as he stabs another goblin, to make sure it stays dead, Trooper can only respond with a pained groan as he tries to reset his brain and assess his injuries.

"You took a bad hit," Goblin Slayer states as he finishes before walking over to Trooper, "Your helmet took the full force and kept you alive."

Of course it would. It was designed to be hit by meaner stuff. Still, it is is good to know it works as advertised.

Again.

"What hit me this time?" Trooper asks, feeling more than a little confused, as he recalls what had been happening before suddenly being knocked out.

"A Hobgoblin," a silver haired woman in priestess robes, but clad with pieces of battle armor and scale mail over or under those robes, responds instead, "It caught you by surprise while you were attending to this one."

Laid out between Battle Priestess and a priest of similar appearance and dress, was the young leader of the group he had chased after.

"Damn," Trooper pulls himself over, wincing at how sore he is and his legs' refusal to get under him, but he ignores it with practice ease to crawl over, "How good and bad?"

Battle Priest answers as he and his sister continues to heal Warrior as best they can, "Considerable blood loss, an otherwise fatal overdose of poisons, and he's essentially slices of meat right now that haven't been fully and properly cut."

"In short," Battle Priestess picks up, "You're a miracle worker to save his life and make our job of keeping him alive until we can get him to a proper Healing Sanctuary a lot more easier."

"Again," Heavy Mace leans nearby, keeping watch as his violet eyes scan the darkness where the tunnel branches, "They're not coming back up for the moment Goblin Slayer," the dark elf states as he sighs in annoyance, "Pity, I've been in a foul mood all day."

"You'll have a few targets soon my friend," Battle Priest states before he and his twin sister stop their healing, for now, "That's the best we can do for him," their Ruby colored tags tingle lightly against their blue and white crystals as both siblings rise up, Battle Staves at the ready, just in case.

"Can you move?" Goblin Slayer kneels down next to Trooper.

"My legs refuse to function," Trooper replies as Battle Priest kneels down and begins running a miracle over Trooper's legs, "Can you use that?"

"Yes," Battle Priest responds, "I've increased my Miracles to eight now, so I have five more after this."

"That bad for the kid?" Trooper figures between the two Twins, if they were close, that would easily be four or five miracles for Warrior.

"I used one earlier on young Wizard," Battle Priest responds, "My sister used two of her seven on Warrior and we both assessed you were merely unconscious at the time and decided to wait and see what was working and not working."

Trooper feels his legs again and that they are returning to strength. He begins moving his toes, then his ankles. In moments, his knees up to his waist function. Despite his helmet saving his life, it is easy to assess that Trooper had been nearly paralyzed and that was a frightening thought.

"Give my praise to all the Gods and Goddesses for Healing Miracles," Trooper mutters as Battle Priest finishes and Trooper is able to slowly get back to his feet, but immediately finds himself off balance and nearly stumbling if not for both Battle Priest and Goblin Slayer catching him, "Yeah, I'll stay here with Warrior and keep watch until you come back."

"They took the final member of the group," Battle Priestess informs Trooper, "The young acolyte Priestess is safe, save for an arrow to her arm, but the last, Fighter, was captured."

Trooper's words are not fit for holy ears, but neither sibling holds it against him.

"Someone will have to stay behind and watch over the rook here," Trooper knows he can go along, but he'll be holding onto someone or the walls to move.

"Here," or he can drink the Stamina Potion that Goblin Slayer is holding out to him.

"That works," Heavy Mace chuckles at Trooper's response as the displaced soldier takes the yellow liquid and drinks it down as fast as he dares, "Still tastes like old bananas though," and because of the taste as well.

With his strength returning and his legs functioning, the team of two Rubies, a Sapphire, a Bronze, and a Silver-ranked Adventurers discuss their plan of action.

In moments, it is decided that newly minted Priestess, who had been off to the side and out of the conversation would continue with Goblin Slayer, Heavy Mace, and Trooper. The twins would remain behind and begin transporting Rookie Warrior out to the wagon where an Emerald-ranked team was on guard and already caring for Initiate Wizard. This way they could split their forces more evenly and even get Acolyte Priestess some experience while providing a familiar face for Novice Fighter.

Then Trooper remembered something.

"How many women and girls were previously kidnapped from the nearby village?" the soldier scratches his chin under his face plate, "I forgot to check."

Heavy Mace turns to him, "In your defense, you made the right call to hurry."

"Ah…" the experienced Adventurers turn to the lone rookie survivor as she shyly speaks up with a soft voice, "I believe there were somewhere around five taken."

"Goblin Slayer?" Battle Priest turns to the most senior ranked of them.

"There may be fewer than that now," Goblin Slayer tilts his head to the side as he thinks it over, he had actually read the quest details and he knew the only one who hadn't, was Trooper, "But given the time in between their attack, the request, and our arrival, there might be a chance they're all still alive."

"Reports came in that this same band might have hit another village," Battle Priestess adds uneasily.

"Then write a few off," Trooper adds with a sour tone, "I'll check, as I always do, so you can put the souls to rest, granting them that small mercy."

Goblin Slayer nods, "Then it is agreed," the other experienced Adventurers nod, "Let's begin."

"So say we all," Heavy Mace nods as he walks by the corpse of the Hobgoblin that protected this nest with Trooper trailing and recovering his Short Axe before testing it on the Hobgoblin's skull and making damn sure it got the message on the other side how lucky it was that Heavy Mace crushed its windpipe.

Together, the Attack Team went in while the Healing Team removed the badly wounded Rookie Warrior.

XXXX

Minutes later, the Attack Team finds the final chamber.

At Goblin Slayer's signal, Trooper brought up his Zero-Light Night Vision Binoculars. Known as Cave Lights, the standard piece of equipment could be used anywhere, but was built in response to all the underground fighting the Earth Defense Force had to do. Helmet mounted equipment existed, but Trooper's had been wrecked before he was teleported here after a failed Ravager attempt to teleport him and many other EDF soldiers to their deaths in a most gruesome manner.

One of the newer heroes of the Second Ravager War had prevented that.

But whereas the other soldiers had been merely dropped safely, relatively speaking, back where they had been, Trooper had been too close to the weapon itself and was dumped with a load of supplies, weapons, armor, and an empty Tank into this world of fantasy.

The Tank he suspected had been called in by an Air Raider, but the Transport carrying it had been shot down. He found some bits and pieces of one. A used ejection seat told him the crew had escaped safely, he hoped. They didn't get ported here, the dried mud told him when the Transport had gone down.

The previous week before that weapon was used on him, because it rained that week and pretty heavy.

Scowling at letting his mind wander as the Cave Lights powered up, he didn't dare use full power until he found a way to recharge them, and let him see into the chamber.

His hands went up. The bioluminescent pollen he had found a while back and began collecting worked well in this darkness. All of them had just enough on the back of their gloves and hands, in Acolyte Priestess' case, to allow them to communicate unnoticed by the Goblins.

His hand signs confirmed six females, ranging in ages from 13-24. The remaining numbers of Goblins, only eight and yes, it included a Goblin Shaman as suspected and expected, and that they had prepared for them. There is also broken armor and a sword dug into the ground nearby. Bones piles indicate only two human remains thus far and the rest are animals.

Goblin Slayer had kept Acolyte Priestess near him so as to ease communications.

Thus, at his command, she chanted:

"O Mother Earth"

The goblins respond to that in a hurry, but the girl is surprising quick for someone so new.

"Abounding in Mercy

Grant your Sacred Light

To we who are lost in the Darkness"

And the dark world is made alight.

"HOLY LIGHT!"

Having secured themselves against the blinding light that now filled the cavern chamber, the three experienced Adventurers struck.

Tossing a recovered goblin spear, Goblin Slayer strikes down the Goblin Shaman who leads this band as Heavy Mace, with a roaring battle cry, crosses the distance and with deft swings, sends two goblins crashing with fatally crushing force into the chamber walls.

Trooper's axe spins forward and catches one of the goblins with the women square in the face and continues on, flipping the corpse up and over, before both hit the ground, the axe cutting completely through.

Heavy Mace reaches out and snags another goblin by its throat before lifting it up and away from the women before tossing it to the ground and bringing his foot down.

Goblin Slayer rams Rookie Warrior's longsword into another goblin's face and swings, tossing it away, where it lands the goblins' cooking pot, which still has a small fire going. The still, somehow, alive goblins screams, but the angle it landed in, prevents any attempt at escape. It will be up to Trooper later to determine how it died.

Trooper kicks the severed head of Heavy Maces into the remaining two goblins, surprising and freaking them out long enough for Heavy Mace to slam one down with his weapon and Goblin Slayer to stab the last goblin down its throat and out its small body.

In a moment, Trooper has his standard issue EDF Pistol out and scanning as he checks all corners and positions.

"Clear," he states, before pulling a lamp of his pack and igniting it as Heavy Mace ignites a couple torches and tosses them to corners.

As Acolyte Priestess comes down from the tunnel into the chamber, she watches as Trooper begins to assess and treat the six females they just rescued and Heavy Mace walks over to check the sword and armor.

Goblin Slayer approaches the fallen Goblin Shaman even as Trooper speaks up.

"Hey, save that one-"

The shaman twitches suddenly as Acolyte Priestess screams a warning.

"Look out Goblin Slayer!" the small blond teen alerts Goblin Slayer.

The Goblin Shaman launches itself up at Goblin Slayer, but he kills it the moment it does with a recovered club.

"Aww man!" Trooper whines in complaint, "I wanted to interrogate that one for more data!"

"Better that it dies," Goblin Slayer responds, "The high level ones are always tough, but that's eighteen now."

As Goblin Slayer approaches a throne of bones, human bones, Heavy Mace turns to Trooper.

"How many?" the dark elf asks as he takes out his smoking pipe and fills it before lighting it with a match.

"I'd say four right now," Novice Fighter is his current inspection, "Good news, we made it in time for her," Trooper reports before turning back to the new Adventurer who is tracking his moments, "Good, good. You're paying attention. You'll be better soon, I promise. You're safe now and with time, you'll have your strength and courage back, I promise that too."

"Four what?" Acolyte Priestess tilts her head to the side.

"Pass here," Goblin Slayer responds, kicking the throne of bones apart.

"DAMMIT GOBLIN SLAYER!" Trooper complains, "Are you trying to make my work harder?!"

Identifying the number of victims in such a short time is an acquired art and skill. It requires talent and luck as well. And it would always help if Goblin Slayer didn't make it harder.

"What's that?" Acolyte Priestess is beginning to suspect this a common occurrence as Heavy Mace keeps guard, but why?

"This," and with that single word, Goblin Slayer kicks in the hidden door that had been behind the throne of bones.

Peering inside the hidden room, Acolyte Priestess gasps at the sight of four Goblin Children.

The four are huddled together, obviously terrified. They are strangely soft looking creatures. Looking so innocent and harmless compared to the goblins that had just been slain. They had none of the viciousness of their elder counterparts and all of the innocence one would expect of children in their appearance. Hidden, terrified as they were, of the two humans standing before them.

"Don't let their looks fool you," Trooper's voice is grim as he will never get used to this part and thankful for that.

It goes against everything that he is as an EDF soldier.

It got against everything that the EDF is.

But he's been there one too many times.

The 15 year old blond teen turns to him before Heavy Mace speaks up, an out of place girl's bracelet makes itself known with a small jingle on the simple chain looped through it and around the dark elf's neck.

"These things grow incredibly fast and vicious with each passing day," the resigned sigh from the dark elf fills the chamber next, "It's better this way."

"B-better?" Acolyte Priestess suddenly realizes something as she turns to see Goblin Slayer enter the small room with the Goblin Children and the stolen items, such as jars, boxes, and even what looks to be pieces of more armor, "You can't- No! You can't just kill them!"

"We've destroyed their nest," Goblin Slayer responds calmly, "They will never forget that."

"Tch!" Trooper shakes his head in anger, dispelling the phantom screams before the real screams.

Even knowing how important it is. His data isn't all that great in finding hope. The goblins have to go.

That's what he's been able to confirm thus far.

"And the survivors of a nest learn, become smarter," raising the club high to strike, Goblin Slayer prepares to strike, "There is no reason to let them live."

"Wh-WHAT IF WERE IS A GOOD GOBLIN!" Priestess suddenly screams, tears in her eyes, as she struggles to understand what is happening before her and praying it would stop the inevitable blood shed.

Tears in one of the Goblin Children's' eyes as it looks on at its inevitable doom.

"A good goblin?" Goblin Slayer pauses, seeming tasting the concept on his tongue before continuing, "There might be if we looked hard enough."

Heavy Mace sighs as even he can feel this isn't right in a moral sense, but right in a logical sense.

"But I think," Goblin Slayer steps forward, "The only good goblins are the others that never come out of their stinking holes."

The Goblin Children scream with one holding up its hands as though to ward away Goblin Slayer's attack with a simple child's gesture.

Acolyte Priestess collapses to her knees as she watches and hears the brutal deaths of children. She vomits as she her beret falls away. To her credit, she stays up right, if hunched, as she brings her hands together in prayer. Tears flowing freely from her closed eyes.

"That's twenty-two," Goblin Slayer steps out of the hidden room, covered in blood and his weapon leaking it.

Trooper, for once, can't take it anymore.

He scrambles to the side and pulls his face plate up. The wet sound of his vomiting fills the chamber. The follow up dry heaving doesn't help much as the smell of his last meal and the old banana tasting Stimulate adds to the already foul odors of the chamber.

"You alright?" Goblin Slayer stands near his ally as Trooper continues to dry heave for a few more minutes before recovering.

"Gawds!" Trooper cleans his mouth and chin before replacing his face plate, "I cannot keep this up! I trained to stop genocide, not participate in it! How can it be like this?! HOW!?"

Knowing his colleague is just angry at this disgusting mess, Heavy Mace knows he's just reacting to the stress.

It was one thing to kill goblins.

It was another to kill Goblin Children.

But as disgusting as it sounds, there has been no way to change things. The last attempt at capturing some Goblin Children had ended with Trooper having to kill them all. That may be part of his issues right there. It was so…

Bloody and violent.

"I do not know," Goblin Slayer responds simply before placing a hand on Trooper's shoulder, "But you show your people's pride with that outburst. Never lose it."

Breathing heavily, Trooper flexes his fingers. He's wound up. Partially frightened. He needs to calm down.

With a forcible breath, Trooper gets his breathing under control. Then he relaxes, before releasing a heavy breath. With it, went all of his tension.

"I got work to do," Trooper responds as Goblin Slayer withdraws his hand, "But please! Next time, just push it out of the way, so I don't have to find every piece."

Walking past Goblin Slayer, who merely nods, Trooper goes about to collect the details of what has been going on. How many dead there are. How much destruction this nest of goblins had caused.

Just another day slaying goblins and picking up the pieces.

XXXX

Road to Frontier Town

Arrival Plus 3 years, 5 months, 2 days

87th Day of Spring Synchronized Date

1433 hours Synchronized Time

Adventure World

XXXX

The group of Emerald-ranked Adventurers, two dwarves and two rhea, guide the wagon and two horses as the exhausted band of Adventurers returns the Frontier Town.

In the wagon, both Rookie Warrior and Initiate Wizard are laid out side by side. Between them, with barely enough room to work, are both of the Ruby-ranked twins, Battle Priest and Battle Priestess. Towards the back of the wagon, Novice Fighter and Acolyte Priestess sit together, the former now clad in a simple brown cloak with the younger girl holding her close, letting her rest peacefully as they head back to town.

Across from the two girls is Heavy Mace, sound asleep with his helmet tilted to keep him safe from a surprise attack. He sleeps sitting up, the woman's bracelet in between his closed hands.

On the end of the wagon, both Trooper and Goblin Slayer sit. Their legs hang over the edge as they discuss the details of their reports to the Guild. The two men no longer at odds over what happened in the goblin nest.

It was an inevitable spill over that had been waiting to boil to the top.

Fortunately, Trooper is well trained and despite all appearances, Goblin Slayer is only emotionally and socially stunted. He can see and realize when things have gotten rough on others. He can see the whirlwind of emotions. He just pushes through it all. Knowing when to approach and when to leave well enough alone.

"From what I could gather, at least nine males dead, between the ages of 17-34 years, only one tag and its likely that missing scout we've been hearing about," Trooper goes over his findings for the report, "The others were likely a waylaid caravan, evidence suggests three females in it, one of 19 years and two others of 23 years and 38 years I figure from what I found."

"What rank was the missing scout again?" Goblin Slayer inquires suddenly.

Trooper checks his notes and pulls out the tag, "Steel-ranked. That male Rhea Scout. You know, the one that still owed Spearman money from that drinking contest three months back."

"Don't recall," Goblin Slayer.

"He asked you about a good weapon for cavern exploring a week later," Trooper supplied.

"Oh yes, him," Goblin Slayer now remembers, "He went with an axe if I'm correct."

"That he did," Trooper confirms, "Broke in battle on a quest a month and half ago and thought to get a new one."

"Is that so?" Goblin Slayer turns his head to Trooper as the man racks his brain for the details.

"Yeah," Trooper nods, "Ran into a rogue magic user. It was either his life or his weapon. You can guess which choice he made. Spearman took a team with Witch and they dealt with the troublemaker. Real piece of work that one, half-male and half-female too. I never caught the details because we had to book it to that one infestation, the one with 72 goblins in an old temple."

"I recall that one," Goblin Slayer remembers, "Heavy Mace had joined use for that one and he let out a lot of anger that day."

"It was a slaughter indeed, but current reports," Trooper steers the conversation back on track.

"Right," Goblin Slayer confirms as they speak some more before reaching a concerning element, "Are you sure?"

"Evidence points like that," Trooper nods, "The caravan is likely that missing noble and his wife and two of his daughters, but that aside, I don't think this group hit that other village, which will be odd."

"Goblins don't overlap their nests and territories," Goblin Slayer rubs at his chin beneath his helmet.

"Frightfully territorial when it strikes them," Trooper confirms, "Which is pretty much who's stronger and all the time. I'm going to put in a request for a scouting team to poke around. They would be near a merchant route and I'm certain the Merchant Guild will front the money for both the scouting party and the elimination, supposing if there is actually a nest and not some outcasts kidnapping some females in that area."

"How many were taken?" Goblin Slayer inquires.

"Hey, twins! How many from that other village got nabbed?" Trooper calls to the pair of battle healers.

"About seven when the original report came in," Battle Priest confirms.

"Well, damn," that would be a problem, "We only had to rescue five plus one and we ran a chance of 50 or more in the next couple of weeks."

"Put in that request when we return," Goblin Slayer could be told that he is frowning behind his helmet, "We need to know so we can slay them."

"Right," Trooper sighs, "What a fine kettle of fish."

"E-excuse me?" the soft voice of the young priestess reaches their ears as both men turn to her, "Ah…" she ends up stalling as both observe her, "What will happen now?" before either male could respond, "I mean to Fighter, Wizard, and Warrior and myself?" she tilts her head, her beret not tumbling off as she had fixed the band earlier to keep it on right.

Trooper shrugs as he turns back out to look behind them at a merchant's wagon following them, "Warrior will likely be at the Guild's Healing Temple for the next few weeks, but after that, it's hard to say," Trooper realizes belatedly that he's still covered in Warrior's blood too, "Gotta wash this as soon as I can," he mutters a bit too loud, before continuing, "As for Wizard, the same, though likely she'll be out sooner and good news is, that if she wants kids in the future, she can, not only did the knife miss, but I was also able to keep the poison away as well. Damn close still, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."

Battle Priest snorts with the two dwarves at Trooper's words and know that his 'grenades' have some range on them.

Battle Priestess and the two rhea only roll their eyes.

"As for Fighter, she'll likely go there as well," Trooper shrugs his shoulders, "They have a good system in place and she's salvageable as it stands?"

"W-what?!" the young priestess' eyes widen at the rather callous choice of words.

Turning his head, Trooper shrugs indifferently, not particularly caring about his words.

"They can help her there," Trooper waves to the wagon behind them and the driver waves back, "Salvage her pride, strength, and character. They can get her legs back beneath her, but after that, it's all up to her to put everything back in order."

Battle Priestess speaks up, "Trooper is a war veteran from his home and doesn't use those terms lightly," the younger female healer turns to the older battle healer, "He means well, but he's seen much both at home and since he arrived here when a corrupted teleport spell was interrupted."

The young blond's eyes are wide and her mouth forms an 'o' shape.

"It's harsh, I know," Trooper admits with a sigh, "But I got reassigned from combat when my unit had nearly been wiped out early in the war," putting his hands back behind him and accidentally brushing Fighter's leg, causing her to jerk awake, "I was transferred to assist a medical unit as a support element, but was drafted into assisting doctors to save as many lives as possible. Meatball surgery is what we call it," Trooper sighs he leans back to stare up at the clear blue sky, "When the bodies of screaming people were brought in, they looked like popular food dishes back home. Our job was to patch them up long enough for specialized doctors to treat the worst of them and the ones who weren't the worst off, we had to treat ourselves and get them pushed back to the line if we could."

"I-I…" the young teen just can't believe it.

"Ye-yup," Trooper states, "Trained for war, not healing and I ended up getting a very hands on, accelerated education in medicine," Trooper sighs aloud, "Including offers to go to prestigious academies after the war to refine and evolve my knowledge into that of a proper doctor, but my unit was reformed with nearly ninety of us being at the center and so back to war we went and happily away from deciding who lived and died in those medical units."

"You will need a place," Goblin Slayer suddenly speaks up, "Do you have room?"

The teenage girl blinks and then shakes her head.

Trooper shrugs indifferently, "My little fort I made out of a wrecked shell of a building and some foundations?" shrugging again at Goblin Slayer's nod, "Plenty really. With their situation, they can crash at my place until they recover, though remember to pick up after yourselves. It will save you some coin until you can get a nice build up of some."

"Th-thank you," the young priestess then yawns quite cutely, before settling in for a nap, Fighter going back to sleep as well.

"You are going to check them later, right?" Heavy Mace speaks up from where he woke after Fighter kicked him.

"Frag a Hect," Trooper grumbles, knowing that the female martial artist might be booted out sooner than she oughta, simply because of some dumb reason or another.

Mostly because there is only so much coin going to and only so much space at the Guild's Healing Temple.

"Whatever, I'll give them both physicals later," Trooper yawns himself and turns back to Goblin Slayer, both working out the reports as the Silver-ranked Goblin Slayer speaks about when the Sapphire-ranked Trooper had been knocked out.

Heavy Mace settles back in for his nap and the twins keep the two still unconscious pair of rookies alive until they can reach the temple and get more sophisticated treatment.

The four Emeralds keep the horses, and thus the wagon, on track for town.

XXXX

Guild Girl looks up as the door opens and in walks Goblin Slayer, Heavy Mace, Trooper, and the young new Priestess.

The four enter with heavy steps and weighted bodies. The hallow gold haired woman fears the worst until she notices only a single Steel tag get placed before her. The bad scratches on it, providing mute testimony to its owner's fate. A Sapphire tag with a crack joins it a moment later.

"Sorry Guild Girl, but can you get me a new one again?" Trooper holds vertically one hand up in front of his face as he leans down and tries to look innocent.

With a sigh, the golden eyed woman shakes her head, "You're lucky we expect this on occasion," then she smiles sweetly, "Though try not to set records."

Rising back up with a soft laugh, "Tell it to the Hobgoblin that managed to partially paralyze me with a surprise attack."

The woman flinches at hearing that. Though thankfully, it's clear that one of the healers had prevented lasting harm. That's always good news, especially for Trooper.

"Hey Guild Girl!" Spearman suddenly walks over, "Any word on him? The guy owes me some money and I'll like to collect."

"Chances are," Trooper suddenly spoke up instead, tapping the Steel Tag, "You're buying the next round."

"Damnit!" Spearman growls at the loss of yet another member of their town's Adventure Guild, "His remains?"

Trooper shakes his head before removing his finger from the tag, "Too many bones. We had to torch and bomb the place after the twins gave their prayers."

"Tch!" Spearman pushes off and heads back to the others in the bar area and to order that drink for their departed comrade.

It's the least he can do for the man.

"I hate turning these things in," Trooper had done that way too much back home.

Guild Girl smiles softly, but thankfully, it is only one tag and not five.

Though that begs the question of how he died in the first place.

"Anyways," Trooper turns to Goblin Slayer who is greeted by a happy Guild Girl causing Trooper to chuckle instead at how oblivious Goblin Slayer can be sometimes.

The eternally armored goblin killer steps forward and gives a verbal report. He also hands over several initial written reports. The detail reports will come shortly.

At the end, Guild Girl showed herself to be both relieved and sadden.

Relieved that the goblins were dead, the kidnapped girls and women rescued, and all of the rookies had survived.

But at the same time, she was sadden. At least one caravan was waylaid and all killed. One of their missing Adventurers had also been lost. Of the four rookies, one was hovering between life and death, a second was badly wounded, the third had been, briefly 'captured' by the goblins, and the fourth had sustain a wound to her left arm and been terrorized by all that happened around her.

On top of that, Trooper needed to get himself examined as well. Just to make sure he would keep use of his legs. There is no telling right now how badly hurt he had been.

Which also lead to his request for a scouting party to confirm if there were more goblins running around that area from a separate group. They would have to send a scouting team, because the Guild's reputation would otherwise suffer. People would think they didn't get all the goblins and that would be bad. They needed the people's trust after all to do anything.

"I'll make arrangements immediately to send out scouts," Guild Girl responds at the end of the reports and thinking the situation over, "Trooper, please take the new Priestess and see yourself to the Guild's Medical Ward to get yourself and her assessed."

Saluting, "At once ma'am," and Trooper turns on his heel and quick steps to collect the young girl and get her and himself examined.

"Goblin Slayer I need those detail reports as soon as possible."

"They'll be in before the evening," the eternally armored man responds at once.

"Heavy Mace, you too," Guild Girl states as she summons a runner to go and check up on the three other rookie Adventurers.

"No problem," Heavy Mace shrugs indifferently before adding, "But I'll need to leave soon. The Enclave needs to know about the upsurge of goblin activity in this area and they're recalling as many of us as possible for reasons unknown to me."

"Understood," Guild Girl sighs, "Both of the twins that were with are also leaving soon, same with the Emerald-ranked Adventurers that accompanied you as well."

"Fun time to be alive," the dark elf states before he heads off with Goblin Slayer to write those reports.

Fortunately, the ride was long enough that they had already gotten most of the work already done. Trooper was a zealot to getting the detailed reports done as soon as was possible. He wrote differently from others and said that he had been instructed to write what were called After Action Reports or AARs for short. His unit had gone from Regular Line to Elite Line and that meant they got used for 'Special Missions' and had to write more complex reports.

Otherwise, why would an Infantryman like him, know how to operate something like a an EDF Tank.

Once the two went over to finish filling out the detail reports, Guild Girl set herself about preparing a scouting mission. Her superiors would be quick to back the quest and even offer incentive. It would have to be made by their best too. So likely Ruby or Bronze. That way, they can be sure of the mission success, unless a Silver takes it and only something totally unexpected would cause the scout mission to fail.

At least all of the rookies were brought back, for better or worse.

XXXX

Adventurers' Guild Office

Front Area

Arrival Plus 3 years, 5 months, 5 days

90th Day of Spring Synchronized Date

1241 hours Synchronized Time

Adventure World

XXXX

Trooper found himself going over the reports about the recent goblin attacks. Things were as bad as they could be. Some of the new crop of rookies had the stuff to make something of themselves. So his and Goblin Slayer's workload had been cut in half by them.

For now.

Most of these rookies were not rawhides freshly joined. Some had, at minimal, six to eight quests under their belts. A few had come in, knowing the dangers and expecting to find unexpected worse things than they could ever imagine. So they had prepared with the right mindset and been careful about their limited amount of coins and even more limited amount of supplies.

Overall, Warrior's Rookie Group had been an anomaly when stood against the others.

Lucky for them, Trooper had arrived in the nick of time to buy more and save their lives.

Though, after going over the reports and details, Trooper could honestly say, that Goblin Slayer would have arrived in time to save at least one. His money on the newly minted acolyte priestess that everyone's taken to calling just Priestess. She's currently, really, their only rookie Priestess right now.

Youngest member of her four group, she's just 15 years old. Not particularly tall, Goblin Slayer stood near Trooper's height, even with helmets added in. Trooper wasn't short either, a good 6 foot 3 inches minus boots and helmet. Goblin Slayer stood somewhat under that at somewhere around 6 foot solid.

Though it was hard to tell sometimes.

The young Priestess, from what he had seen, was likely a mere 5 foot, 6 inches at best. Including her boots and beret. So she likely barely stood over 5 foot, 4 inches.

She was also not petite. She would eventually grow quite well in the bust and have an almost hourglass like figure. If not that, then a soda bottle figure.

Trooper shook his head, remembering that he shouldn't be analyzing her like that. She's still in the process of learning if she can be an adventurer or not. Perhaps he's been examining way too many victims of goblin attacks and kidnappings.

Not that Goblin Slayer or Guild Girl complain, though the latter does show concern for his mental health.

'If she quits, she'll likely be just fine,' Trooper thinks looking over at Goblin Slayer, 'Of course, the two had had a chat and if I'm guessing right, Goblin Slayer expects her to join him for his next quest.'

Trooper had decided not to go after goblins today. He needed money to finish the roof of Fort Fantasy, his small base of operations. He had the materials, but he was no carpenter. He'll need to hire someone professional.

That and he was being asked again to take on more casualties again.

'I have space for only fourteen and they want to shove nearly fifty on me!' the man mentally grouses.

Things had been picking up pretty badly. So Heavy Swordsman and Lady Knight had asked for his assistance. The quest they got had a very minute chance of goblins in it, not enough to really interest Goblin Slayer and understandable. He tended to defend small villages, something that Heavy Swordsman had always been repeatedly thankful since Goblin Slayer saved his own home village.

But the chance run in is so low, that Trooper had agreed to take the mission. The pay is excellent, the mission simply straightforward, and he'd get valuable data for building his intelligence files. All in all, a good mission to run.

Suddenly, one of the Guild's front doors open and Trooper looks over.

There she is, Priestess.

Something to be noted for Priestesses like her, and Priests as well, is the tendency to have blond hair and blue eyes to go with their white and blue robes. The fronts provided a strip of solid blue, while the rest of the outfit was pure white with either blue or yellow piping and lining. Black and brown belts and straps often finished off the appearance with black shirts and pants under the white and blue robes.

In Priestess' case, she were black shorts, thigh highs, and a shirt.

The teenage girl walks over to where Guild Girl and Goblin Slayer are discussing details.

"H-hello!" the girl begins, gaining both's attention, "Um… I bought some chainmail," here, the girl steps back just enough to pull up part of her robes to reveal the hem of a chainmail skirt, "Just like you told me," she releases her robes to let it cover the simple armor back up.

"Trooper," turning his own attention to Heavy Swordsman, "Are you ready?"

With a simple nod, Trooper pushes off his stool and stands up, "Need the coin to finish the roof and expand the medical section."

"They're pushing more wounded onto you again?" Lady Knight frowns at that.

"Yes," Trooper nods and the woman's face shows her displeasure, "I'm trying to keep them from dumping more than twenty on me, but it's an uphill battle."

"They need to expand our Healing Temple instead," Heavy Swordsman states, but chooses to ignore it for now, "How are you equipped for today?"

Patting his large pack, a buckler shield, and a two handed short-handled warhammer, Trooper is ready for the week long quest.

He even brought some more supplies just in case it goes longer than a week.

"Then let's go," and with that said, their group gathers together, holds a last minute discussion/meeting, and then heads out to the wagons that will ferry them and their supplies to where they need to go.

Trooper looks back to see Goblin Slayer and Priestess heading out on their own quest as well.

'It's an all too common tale.

A village is attacked by goblins.

Some maidens are kidnapped.

Some newbie Adventurers decide they are going to get rid of those goblins for their first quest.

But the goblins prove to be too much, and the whole party is slaughtered.

Or maybe just one makes it out and saves the girls too.

During their captivity, those girls were forced to serve the goblins' needs and in despair, they enter the Temple.

That lone surviving Adventurer slowly slips away from the world and never leaves home again.

There's nothing exceptional about this story.

It happens every day.

Or so I think.

But I'm not sure.

Do these life shattering events happen all the time?

And if they do, can I, knowing first hand, maintain my faith in the Earth Mother?

I don't know.

But that's exactly why…

...I'm going to continue as an Adventurer.

At least for a while.

Watching as others, who had gone through worse, show a strength to continue on.

That for every story of sorrow, there is one of happiness and hope.

That, there is a strength to be found in others.

Others with the courage to give their all no matter what and see it through to completion.

And I will follow them.

To learn.

To grow.

To see what lays out there, beyond my sight…

...Beyond my grasp so that I may take hold of it with both hands and see it for myself."

Diary Entry of Priestess

XXXX

A/N:

Okay, new story folks.

A crossover between the new series Goblin Slayer and the rather not well known Earth Defense Force video games, specially Earth Defense Force 4.1: Shadows of Despair.

It has been popular to rescue Priestess' first group. Or at least members of it besides Priestess. In this case, they all survived, but what will happen, will be revealed with time.

As for Earth Defense Force Trooper, he's a regular EDF Infantryman. In short, he's one of those NPC grunts that is always led by the red helmet marked EDF Officer in the field. Essentially, the guys there that get pretty much all the time.

Yeah. They're Red Shirts. Or White Armors (Star Wars reference, but same thing). They are there to be killed, though they can also survive. You'd be surprised how often I've found them alive in 4.1 now.

I know I was!

Anyways, Trooper's history is largely put up front for you all. Specifics about him, like anything else is hidden away. Like hair and eye color. Got to love how Goblin Slayer makes that easy.

Things will be happening.

And for those waiting on other stories… I've got a few being worked on right now. Unfortunately, compared to this, those require a lot more effort to be put in. My work is at a high tempo right now. At one job I have to make up for the slack of two others and we can't find replacements for them, so my boss there is stuck.

My second job is also in high demand right now.

I need to get out of the food business.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this story.

Sincerely

F-14 Tomcat Lover

'The Big Cat's around, so Bee Eaters better start running!'