”Come on! Tell us what it is!” Emilia insisted.

Anastacia had returned from the guild office with a new quest for the party. She only told them the location and refused to share the rest. Gilbert thought it was a bit irresponsible but let it slide for now, since it was supposedly quick and easy. They had left as soon as Emilia and Gilbert had their gear ready, and travelled for a couple of hours on the road.

Suddenly Anastacia stopped and cleared her throat.

“Okay, everyone! I am now going to read the note!” She announced and dug the quest notice from her pocket. “A terrible cursed beast has appeared in our village. Please get rid of the goat and save us all.”

“A… goat?” Emilia repeated.

“A goat!” Anastacia stated enthusiastically.

“We have to hunt down a normal goat?” Gilbert asked. “How is this a quest? I’ve seen some stupid ones but at least they involved manual labor or something…”

“This says it’s a cursed one though!” The necromancer said. “Maybe it’s some kind of monster goat? Are weregoats a thing?”

“They are, but they’re not exactly monstrous.” Gilbert explained.

Soon enough they arrived to a small village that consisted of four houses, a barn and a mill. No one came out to greet them, which seemed suspicious. It was nowhere near late enough for everyone to stop working for the day. The fields were empty, and no one was tending the animals in the barn. Emilia tried knocking on the door of one of the houses but no one answered. Gilbert tried calling out for anyone but got no response. Anastacia tried looking for anyone by concentrating but didn’t locate anything that could be a human.

“Okay, this is weird… Can’t see any bodies either. Did they just abandon the village?” Anastacia wondered.

“Nay, there were animals in the barn, they wouldn’t leave those behind.” Gilbert pointed out. “I think the ‘goat’ got them. We’ll have to look for it. Stay together and…”

Just as he said that, a black goat walked from behind one of the houses and began eating some grass along the side of the road.

“S…Shoot it with an arrow?” Anastacia suggested.

“Good idea.” Gilbert admitted and took out the hunting bow he carried.

Gilbert was adept with a bow and the goat was an easy mark. He released an arrow and it pierced the goat’s heart, killing it almost instantly.

“It’s dead… But the people aren’t back. I don’t think we’re getting paid for this.” Anastacia said. “Guess we’re leaving then? Do we take the goat with us?”

As they were discussing what to do with the goat and the farm animals in the barn. They heard a bleat from behind them. To their surprise, there was a black goat eating some grass next to the road.

“What the…. Anna, is that thing undead?” Gilbert asked.

“Nope. It’s very much alive…” Anastacia confirmed “What now?”

They made a camp near the goat, and kept watching it eat grass and occasionally lie down for a while. Gilbert even tried shooting it again, but as soon as they looked away, the goat was back. Emilia and Gilbert also coaxed Anastacia to break its neck with necromancy, but as soon as they all looked away, even for a blink of an eye, the goat was back alive. Emilia shared some food Rosie had given for the trip and placed a coffee pot into the campfire.

“Maybe ask the simulacrum to pick it up? I’m not touching it.” Emilia suggested.

“Just call him King, I think it’s kind of rude to keep calling him a simulacrum.” Anastacia noted. “And no, he’s not going to touch it, no one is.”

“What if you take it apart?” The priestess continued looking for solutions.

“O… okay, let’s see what happens.” Anastacia reluctantly accepted.

The necromancer closed her eyes and pointed at the goat. After a couple of seconds, it exploded into small pieces of meat and bone. One such piece landed near the camp.

“I’m going to pick it up, Emilia and the simula… King, keep an eye on the carcass.” Gilbert said and got up.

He slowly walked towards the goat piece and reached for it with a stick. Relieved that nothing had happened, he picked up the piece and returned to the camp.

“It just seems like a piece of meat, nothing more, nothing less.” He stated while inspecting the piece.

“Can I blink now?” Emilia asked, trying to resist the urge to do so by closing and opening one eye at a time.

“Yeah, go ahead. I don’t think…” Gilbert started but his sentence ended abruptly when Emilia closed her eyes.

Gilbert was gone, and the goat was back.

“Gil?!” Emilia shouted and moved her hand through the space her friend had just occupied. “Anna! Open your eyes! Something happened to Gil!”

“What? Where is he?” Anastacia asked and looked around.

“He touched a piece of the goat and now he’s gone. I think we found out what happened to the people here…” Emilia said and sat back down.

They continued to stare at the goat while trying to figure out what to do.

“…it’s about touching the goat…” Gilbert said before trailing off.

The piece of meat between his fingers had disappeared and something felt off.

“What’s about touching the goat?” Emilia said and unwrapped some sandwiches Rosie had given to her for the trip. She offered some to Gilbert.

“But we just ate?” Gilbert said in confusion.

“What are you talking about?” Emilia looked at Gilbert, equally confused. “Are you finally going senile?”

The priestess placed a coffee pot into the campfire and turned to Anastacia.

“Maybe ask the simulacrum to pick it up? I’m not touching it.” she suggested.

Gilbert may have been older than the rest of the party combined, but he knew his mind was sharp as ever. Something was up and his friends weren’t aware of it. This wasn’t a mere déjà vu, he had somehow jumped back in time. The obvious cause was touching the goat, so he just needed to not touch it again.

The events continued just like before, but this time Gilbert didn’t say anything. Just as he let out a sigh of relief, he could feel something happening. Something was off again.

Emilia began to unwrap the sandwiches…

It had been two hours since Gilbert had disappeared and the trio had no solutions. They had however confirmed that whatever was going on with the goat, King’s stare didn’t count. The goat returned to its normal state as soon as Anastacia and Emilia didn’t look at it, even if the King was told to stare at it.

“Anna… We’re going to touch the goat.” Emilia stated and got up.

“What? What if we just disintegrate?” Anastacia rebutted.

“I know, but we can’t just leave Gil like this.” The priestess answered and turned to King. “Alright… King, we are going to touch the goat and will probably disappear. I want you to stay with it and not let anyone else touch it.”

The simulacrum didn’t react in any way but Emilia felt like it had understood what she said.

Anastacia backed off, Gilbert was dear to her but there had to be a better solution.

“Look… Anna, you’re my second favorite person in the entire world, but if you won’t touch the goat with me, I will hit you with it.” Emilia explained calmly. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

The necromancer considered running into the woods but that would be a cowardly thing to do. She had chosen this quest and was responsible for Gilbert’s disappearance. She nodded.

Anastacia and Emilia walked over to the goat and put their hands on it.

“Close your eyes on 3.” Emilia said and began counting. “1… 2… 3…”