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When they heard him say that, Tatsumi and Calcedonia both looked completely dumbfounded.

.

“H-hey, Barse… w-what did you just say…?”

That was all Tatsumi could manage to say. Glancing sideways at Calcedonia beside him, he saw she was still staring at Barse with a dazed expression.

That’s how shocking what Barse had just announced was.

“So basically, I’ve been thinking it might be about time I got married, too.”

He hadn’t misheard.

Sure enough, he had said the exact same thing just a moment ago.

The setting was, as usual, the temple courtyard. Tatsumi and the others were having lunch there as usual when they were left speechless by Barse’s sudden marriage announcement.

“Uh, um… I didn’t know… you had a… girlfriend…?”

Depending on how you interpreted it, it was a very rude question, but right now, Tatsumi didn’t have the mental bandwidth to worry about such things.

And Barse himself, showing no sign of being offended, casually continued speaking.

“Huh? Didn’t I mention it? She and I are childhood friends. When I left my hometown, she came to the capital with me. I somehow managed to get hired at the temple as a junior priest, and she’s working as a waitress at a restaurant here in the capital.”

There was no hint of bragging in Barse’s words. He was simply stating the facts matter-of-factly.

However, even without bragging, there was a sense of joy. Just by listening to him, Tatsumi could tell how much he cherished that childhood friend.

“Like you, I’ve become a senior priest and have officially become a soldier priest as well. I’ve been thinking it might be time for me to start a family.”

“That brings me to a favor I’d like to ask,” Barse continued, looking at Calcedonia.

“If possible, could I ask Lady Calcedonia to serve as a witness at our wedding ceremony?”
“M-me…?”
“Yes. I fully realize it’s a bit of a stretch to ask the ‘Holy Maiden’ of the Temple of Savaiv to serve as a witness at the wedding ceremony of someone like me—a mere priest. But she… my childhood friend is a huge devotee of Lady Calcedonia. Just the other day, she was overjoyed, saying, ‘The Holy Maiden happened to come into the shop, and I got to see her up close!’ It’s been her dream for a long time to ask the ‘Holy Maiden’ to be a witness at our wedding ceremony.”

Barse stood up abruptly and bowed his head vigorously.

“I’m begging you!! Please make her… Nana’u’s dream come true!!”

Caledonia instinctively glanced at Tatsumi beside her. Tatsumi, too, was looking at Caledonia.

The two smiled at each other and nodded.

“I understand. If you’ll have me, I’ll serve as your witness.”
“R-Really!?”
“Yes, of course. So… please let me meet this Nana’u, your sweet heart, at least once, okay?”

At that moment, Tatsumi saw it clearly.

A sparkle of curiosity shone in Calcedonia’s ruby-red eyes.

After all, she was a woman of a certain age. It seemed she was interested in other people’s love lives.

.

When Tatsumi and Chalcedonia heard about the woman he had feelings for, they both looked troubled.

.

“……Heh?”

The words, which sounded rather foolish, slipped out of Tatsumi’s mouth before he could stop them.

That’s how unexpected Barse’s words were.

“My childhood friend… Nana’u is… actually, w-well… a goblin.”

Barse said this with a hint of embarrassment. But Tatsumi couldn’t help but be preoccupied with something else.

A goblin.

There was no mistake. Barse had definitely said that.

Tatsumi knew what a goblin was, too.

They’re the quintessential villains who appear in virtually every fantasy novel or game. What’s more, they’re usually treated as mere cannon fodder in the early stages of the story.

While their skin color varies—green, gray, or brown—they’re almost always depicted as demonic creatures with bulging, wide eyes and the height of a child, ugly in appearance and with disproportionately large heads. They have a servile personality—sucking up to the strong and bullying the weak.

They’re the “King of Smallfries”—swarming out in droves only to be mowed down one after another.

That was the image of goblins in Tatsumi’s mind.

And yet, Barse had definitely said that such a goblin was the one he loved.

“Uh, um…”

What on earth should he say? Tatsumi agonized over it. He was completely at a loss.

Well, maybe he should just say, “To Each and Their Own.” Or would it be better to come right out and say, “Quite the Unique Taste You’re Dipping Into”?

Tatsumi, still torn, turned to look at Calcedonia beside him with a pleading gaze.

She, too, was looking back at him with a troubled expression.

“U-um… Barse? Is that Nana’u person really… a goblin…?”
“Yes, that’s right. There’s a goblin settlement near my hometown village. Our village has had various ties with them for a long time. So, we got to know each other when I was young without even realizing it, and that’s how things have been ever since.”

Barse must have noticed the troubled look on Calcedonia’s face.

He sat back down on a chair in the temple courtyard and offered a smile that seemed meant to cover up his unease.

“Well, I’m well aware that people don’t generally look favorably upon marriages between different races. Even so, I want to be with her… with Nana’u.”
“I see… I understand. If the two of you love each other, you will surely receive the protection and blessing of Lord Savaiv.”

Clutching the Holy Crest, Calcedonia murmured a prayer to the god Savaiv under her breath.

Later, Tatsumi learned from Calcedonia that interracial marriages were apparently not very welcome in this country. That was apparently the reason she had looked so troubled.

When races differ, it leads to a wide variety of problems, such as significantly different lifespans, vastly different lifestyles, and the inability to have children.

Especially among royalty and the nobility, interracial marriage is completely taboo; while they might keep demi-human mistresses or concubines, it’s virtually unheard of for one to become a legitimate wife.

Even so, among the common people, there were extremely rare cases of interracial marriages.

Naturally, such unions are often not understood by those around them, but since they choose to be together knowing this, it must be because they have such strong feelings for one another.

“I see. Well then, I’ll root for you and Nana’u-san too, Barse.”

Tatsumi said this, as if to convince himself.

Even so, Tatsumi secretly bestowed the title of “Hero” in his heart upon Barse, who was planning to marry a goblin, of all people.

.

When they arrived at the location, Tatsumi and Calcedonia both looked completely dumbfounded.

.

Without delay, Barse said he would introduce Tatsumi and Calcedonia to a female goblin named Nana’u.

Tatsumi, intrigued by the very existence of goblins, and Calcedonia, whose curiosity was piqued by the prospect of meeting Barse’s beloved, were led by Barse as they walked through the royal capital.

Then, when Barse led them to a certain tavern, Tatsumi and Calcedonia looked up at the tavern’s sign with expressions of surprise.

“Um… is this really the restaurant where that Nana’u works…?”

Looking up at the sign, Tatsumi asked Barse.

“Yeah, that’s right. Didn’t I tell you?”

The sign Tatsumi and Calcedonia were looking up at clearly read Elf’s Restful Pavilion.

Following Barse, who slipped through the door with a practiced air, Tatsumi and Calcedonia also entered the establishment.

The interior of the Elf’s Restful Pavilion had become a familiar sight to them lately. Though they’d never ventured up to the lodging facilities on the second and third floors, Tatsumi and Calcedonia had been dropping by the tavern on the first floor quite often recently.

Eru, who was at the counter in the back of the shop, noticed Tatsumi and the others and broke into a smile.

“Welcome, Tatsumi-san, Calcie-san-san. I see Barse-san is with you today, too.”

It seemed Eru knew that Barse was a familiar face to Tatsumi and the others. Perhaps she’d heard it from a goblin named Nana’u who works here.

As he thought about that, a sudden question crossed Tatsumi’s mind.

He’d visited the Pavilion countless times, but he’d never once seen a goblin there.

Perhaps because the owner, Eru, is an elf, there are a few non-human employees at this establishment. But even so, he had never seen a goblin there.

Just as Tatsumi was inwardly puzzling over this, a cheerful voice rang out from a corner of the tavern.

“Aaaah, Barse!! Y-you really brought the ‘Holy Maiden’ here!?”
“Hey, Nana’u! I told you, didn’t I? Lady Calcedonia is my friend’s wife.”

A petite figure bounded energetically into Barse’s arms, and he caught her securely.

Tatsumi watched the scene with a dumbfounded expression. Next to him, Calcedonia was smiling happily.

She was probably happy because Barse had introduced her to his beloved as “a friend’s wife.”

She casually brushed her hair back from her ears several times, flaunting the earrings—the symbol of her engagement to Tatsumi—to everyone around her.

But Tatsumi had no time to notice such behavior; he stared intently at the person in Barse’s arms.

She was about as tall as Barse’s chest. She had tanned skin and slightly wavy silver hair cut straight across her shoulders.

Her large, round eyes were a mysterious golden color. And two small horns peeked out from her forehead.

In human terms, she looked about 13 or 14 years old. To Tatsumi, she looked like a middle school student.

But it was obvious even through her waitress uniform that she had the figure of an adult woman.¹

Unlike Calcedonia or Eru, this girl gave the impression of a lively, beautiful young girl.

Indeed, he had seen her in this shop many times before. And based on her appearance, he could guess that she was some kind of demi-human.

But he never in a million years would have imagined that her race as a demi-human was *that* classic, quintessential fantasy creature.

“S-so that’s a goblin in this world…?”

Tatsumi muttered, still in a daze. Seeing him like that, Eru spoke up, nodding repeatedly.

“I totally understand how you feel right now, Tatsumi-san. I was absolutely shocked the first time I saw a goblin in this world, too. Especially since the goblins in my home world were exactly like the goblins people in Japan imagine.”

According to Eru, Nana’u is already a fully-fledged adult goblin.

In this world, male goblins generally look like Nana’u, though some have horns on their foreheads and others don’t. Even when they do have horns, they might have one or two—apparently, there’s quite a bit of variation from individual to individual.

“Speaking of goblins, they’re famous for being a race of exceptionally good-looking individuals, both male and female. I’ve heard that because of their appearance, they’re sometimes mistreated as slaves in certain countries.”

Caledonia’s voice sounded a little sad. Indeed, if they retain the appearance of young boys and girls even as adults and are all so handsome and beautiful, they would surely be the object of desire for those with particular tastes.

Even Tatsumi could easily imagine that goblins would be considered “high-class commodities” as slaves.

There are slaves in the Kingdom of Largofili as well, but the slaves in this country became slaves as punishment for crimes they committed, or because they couldn’t repay debts or were so desperate for food that they sold their bodies; none of them were forcibly abducted and turned into slaves.

That said, it’s not as if there aren’t slave traders dealing in illegal slaves in the underworld, and one cannot say for certain that slave traffickers from other countries aren’t operating in the shadows.

Right before his eyes, a goblin girl named Nana’u was playfully frolicking with Barse.

Tatsumi found himself hoping that such a tragic fate would never befall her, and that she would go on to build a happy home with Barse.