Midnight. Twin moons—one blue, one crimson—hung high in the heavens, casting a faint glow across the land.
Crackle—crack—!
Arcs of lightning as thick as a child's forearm grew denser, louder, and brighter, like a thousand trees of fire blooming in the night, stars falling like rain—beautiful beyond words.
A purple-haired woman floated in midair. Behind her, the halo of thunder flickered in and out of sight against the night sky, refracting dazzling brilliance under the illumination of lightning, as though the Thunder God had descended.
"Go."
With a casual wave of Raiden Mei's hand, boundless lightning crashed down, turning the wilderness around the pasture as bright as day.
"Gala! Gala-gala! Gala..."
The goblin wolf riders that the Goblin Lord had dispatched in advance to lie in ambush immediately erupted into piercing, ghostlike wails.
They did not even have time to flee. The lightning struck each goblin with unimaginable speed and precision. Dead or alive, as long as the corpse remained intact, every single one was baptized by thunder.
Crack—boom boom boom!
Lightning serpents tore through the air with a shrill howl, releasing lethal light and heat. The goblins that were struck were instantly charred black, their skin peeling away to reveal roasted flesh beneath.
Then, like a series of miniature bombs, these twisted minions exploded one after another, sweeping up waves of hot wind mixed with the stench of ozone.
"First fire, then that martial artist, and now lightning... These noble young ladies are freakishly strong as hell."
"Swords and magic both. I can't even tell what class they are."
"Maybe it's some kind of family inheritance. Small fries like us shouldn't overthink it."
"With that level of power, why are they messing around on the frontier? Shouldn't fighting the Demon Lord army be their real business?"
"We rushed over here all eager, and in the end we're just doing odd jobs."
"Hey, at least we broadened our horizons."
...
"Well then, our 'Strongest in the Western Frontier'—any comments?"
"Comments? My ass! This 'strongest' title doesn't mean shit!"
An adventurer with a rifle slung over his shoulder chatted idly with another clad in heavy armor. The other adventurers who had come to provide support all wore bitter smiles as they added their own remarks.
Sometimes, if you never try, you'll never realize just how useless you are.
All roads lead to Rome—but some people are born there. What can you do about that?
The adventurers had truly broadened their horizons today.
It wasn't as though they had never seen lightning-element spells before, but most required guidance, group casting, or chanting. Someone like Raiden Mei—instant casting without incantation, conjuring lightning with her bare hands, infusing it into her blade—was something they had never witnessed.
A no-chant elemental attack caster...
The female mage adjusted the pointed hat atop her head as the thought surfaced in her mind. As for that girl who had fought with her fists while wearing a look of disdain, there was no need to mention her. First she had watched Kiana burn and blast everything in sight, and now she had seen Raiden Mei casually flick a sphere of lightning from her fingertips.
Unlike those muscle-headed brutes who relied solely on physical training, the female mage—renowned even among adventurers of the western frontier as a "witch"—had far sharper insight in this regard.
She had never seen such a concise and straightforward form of elemental attack. It did not resemble rigidly structured spellcraft. Rather, it felt like the comprehension and mastery of a fundamental elemental law of the world—an authority.
After all, the miracles, spells, and techniques of this world were, to some extent, borrowed power—from the world itself, from predecessors, from gods. They required chanting and prayer.
"Hoo..."
Sitting atop a cart filled with wheat, legs crossed, the female mage took a deep drag from her long-stemmed pipe.
"What an enviable ability..."
"Good work, Mei."
"Mm, Class Monitor. There shouldn't be a single one left."
Without even manifesting her armor, Raiden Mei slowly descended onto the roof edge of the pasture warehouse, gazing toward the direction where Kiana and the others had gone in pursuit.
"Kiana and the others have probably dealt with that so-called Goblin Lord as well. Goblins really are disgusting creatures."
Across the boundless plain, the battle had already ended. Every goblin that had attacked had been thoroughly eradicated.
Dismembered goblin corpses lay everywhere. The air was thick with a pungent stench. Combined with Kiana's earlier "barbecue feast," the smell of charred flesh filled the surroundings.
Taking a breath here truly offered a uniquely "refreshing" sensation.
"Real goblins... sigh. They're completely different from the goblins Bronya knew."
Rising from beside the bonfire after finishing the distribution of food, Bronya looked at the survivors who had been rescued from the goblins' "shield wall" and spoke with a heavy expression.
Though vengeance had already been taken on their behalf, the harm inflicted upon them by the goblins could never be undone. Their eyes were devoid of life, deathly still, mechanically spooning thin porridge into their mouths.
"Sister Bronya... they're so pitiful. After the commission ends, what will happen to them?"
Gripping the edge of her tray, Seele walked to Bronya's side, her brows tightly furrowed as she asked in a low, sorrowful voice.
Just then, rustle—
"It's Goblin Slayer and the others!"
"Is that the Goblin Lord's head in her hand?"
Amid the exclamations, Bronya and Seele turned toward the sound.
"Kiana and the others are back."
"How's Kiana? You—"
Jumping down from the roof, Raiden Mei began to ask, but upon seeing the figure approaching, her voice involuntarily softened.
"...Are you alright?"
Kiana's palm was smeared with dark red and black blood. In her hand she carried a bloated, deformed goblin head. Brain matter mixed with saliva and blood dripped to the ground, leaving a nauseating trail behind her.
"Mei."
Kiana nodded in response, forcing a faint smile.
"I'm fine."
Without slowing her steps, she passed through the fence and walked to the temporary bonfire at the center of the pasture. Then she tossed the Goblin Lord's head at the feet of the pitiful women.
Under their hollow gazes, Kiana lowered her voice.
"Maybe it's already too late... but the culprit has been beheaded. I hope it eases your hearts a little..."
Before her words had fully fallen—
Smack!
"I'll kill you!"
No one knew who started it. But in a chain reaction, they came alive in an instant.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
The porcelain bowls holding porridge slipped from their hands one after another. The women sprang up violently. Completely heedless of the exposure caused by their frantic movements, like a pack of hyenas on the African savannah, they lunged viciously and bloodthirstily at the Goblin Lord's severed head.
"Die die die die die—!"
"Aaah—!"
Their expressions were crazed and twisted. They roared with torn throats. Even as their fingernails split and peeled back from the frantic tearing, fingers bleeding freely, the women had no intention of stopping.
The tearing rip of skin being pulled apart, the wet squelch of blood and brain matter ripped from the skull, the heavy sound of bone being pounded...
The scene was like something from a zombie film—corpses swarming and devouring their prey. Seele shrank back in fear, edging behind Bronya.
Even Senti, who normally acted fearless and flamboyant, forcibly suppressed her urge to show off at this moment.
"They..." The Priestess parted her lips, intending to step forward and stop them, but Goblin Slayer raised a hand to block her.
"Let them vent... This is the only thing we can do for them." Beneath the iron helmet, his face remained indistinct as he stated his view in a calm tone.
"As long as goblins exist, this is a common occurrence."
"But... they're still very weak."
"Let them vent. After going through something like that... Keep an eye on them. If they collapse from exhaustion, treat them," Kiana suddenly interjected.
With that, she turned and walked away. "Prepare hot water, towels, clothes, thin porridge... There are many people who still need to be settled."
"Clothes" was an overstatement—at best, they were simple pieces of cloth. This was not a town. A small pasture never lacked food, but even if there were spare garments, there was no way they could supply so many people.
After all, before this, the pasture's permanent residents had only been three: Goblin Slayer, his childhood friend the Cow Girl, and the farm's owner—Cow Girl's uncle.
Lowering her head, Kiana walked to the side of the warehouse.
She did not understand.
Was it really as Goblin Slayer had said? Were tragedies that destroyed a person's entire life truly so commonplace?
Even from this brief contact, Kiana had already gained a deep understanding of the fate awaiting women captured by goblins as breeding tools.
Perhaps—before being taken—dying alongside their parents or husbands in the village, slaughtered by goblins, would have been the kinder end.
After being dragged into a goblin nest, the only thing waiting for them was endless violation—again and again—by filthy creatures reeking of rot and excrement.
Aside from the rare fortune of being rescued after adventurers accepted a commission and successfully exterminated the goblins, the only escape left to these pitiful women was—suicide.
Though even then, their corpses would inevitably become food for the goblins.
But compared to eating rotten scraps handed out by goblins, living in suffocating filth, even being forced to consume freshly carved flesh from fellow humans, carrying in their wombs the seeds of what they despised, enduring wave after wave of agonizing childbirth to deliver monstrous offspring...
In the end, they either broke mentally in despair or died from malnutrition and hemorrhage after labor. Their bodies would then be gnawed apart alive by the goblin young they had borne.
Dying sooner might truly have been a blessing.
"Damn it..." Kiana rarely swore, but this time the curse slipped out.
Suddenly, a warm, damp sensation touched her forehead. She lifted her head and saw Raiden Mei standing before her, holding a basin of hot water, a gentle smile on her face.
"Kiana, wipe up. If there's a problem, we solve it together, don't we? Wasn't your wish to make the world a better place?"
"Mei..."
Allowing Mei to wipe her cheeks, Kiana's mood remained heavy.
"Am I useless? I boasted in front of Selene-sister, but at the very first hurdle... I lost control like this. I was such a mess."
"Perhaps..." Raiden Mei sighed softly. "To make the world better, to fight for its beauty... What grand and sweeping wishes. Sometimes I really wish you would worry less about matters of nations and the world."
"Her Majesty Selene may have high expectations of you. Or perhaps she never took your bold words to heart at all."
"But—mmph!"
After dipping the towel into hot water and wringing it out, Raiden Mei pressed it firmly against Kiana's face, cutting off her continued sighing.
"There are the Legion Commanders of the Astartes, Lord Sebas, and countless billions of Imperial civil officials assisting Her Majesty in governing the Empire. Why should minor figures like us worry about everything under the sun?"
"I—mmph!"
Without giving Kiana any chance to speak, Raiden Mei looked like a grandmother possessed, wiping the face of a mischievous grandchild who had rolled in the mud.
"What good does talking do? What good is overthinking and sighing? First pass the trial. Put our own homeworld in order. At most, after we succeed, you can try helping this world too."
"But Selene-sister's methods are too overbearing. Blind military expansion—"
"Sigh..." Raiden Mei lightly tapped Kiana's head with the warm towel. "Let me ask you—has the Empire been developing well lately?"
"...Yes." After a brief hesitation, Kiana answered honestly.
"Then that's enough. As long as it's good, that's what matters. Besides, didn't Her Majesty Selene restructure the Valkyrie forces precisely so we would serve more as a diplomatic force focused on persuasion and pacification?"
The Empire had more than enough legions specialized in suppression, conquest, attack, and destruction.
What it utterly lacked was a naturally friendly, peace-oriented diplomatic force.
There was no need to mention the Astartes Legions, the Empire's premier frontline forces. Did they look like they were here for friendly exchanges?
Even the Sisters of Battle—though primarily female—did not possess that temperament.
As for sending the Inquisition to handle it...
Are you serious?
And the Sisters of Silence under the Royal Guard's command went without saying.
A bunch of battle maniacs.
"That's sophistry. You're twisting the argument."
"Oh? So you know what sophistry is, Kiana." Raiden Mei spread her hands with a helpless sigh. "Back at St. Freya, I told you to read more books. You wouldn't listen. All you wanted was to eat and play."
Kiana's face flushed red as she shrank her neck sheepishly.
"Isn't human history, at its core, a history of war?"
Raiden Mei countered, gesturing toward the surviving women being settled by Durandal, Rita, and the adventurers.
"Look at them." Facing Kiana, she was rarely this serious. "And look at it."
She pointed at the Goblin Lord's skull, now stripped of skin and flesh.
"..."
"However..." Raiden Mei suddenly changed tone and smiled radiantly. "During the trial, making this world better at the same time—I think that would align with General Esdeath's philosophy."
After a long moment, the tight frown on Kiana's face finally eased. Suddenly, she threw herself into Raiden Mei's embrace, rubbing vigorously against something soft and wonderful.
"Kiana... careful, the basin is right there..."
"Hehe, I like you best, Mei."
"Honestly, what am I going to do with you? You're not a child anymore." A faint blush colored Raiden Mei's face. Though the rubbing left her slightly flustered, she maintained her elegance and cleared her throat softly.
"Move forward bravely and give it your all. That's the Kiana I know."
"Hehe. With Mei around, it's like having the strength of a hundred people! I'll definitely do it. I'll make Selene-sister watch closely."
...
A territory directly administered by the Imperial Ministry of Colonization—a certain sightseeing world.
A white-haired beauty in casual attire held a cup of milk tea, sipping through a straw as she walked to a reef not far away and sat facing the sea.
"Mm-hmm... this is nice..."