Noble Fencer

Noble Fencer (令嬢剣士, Reijō kenshi), currently referred to as Female Merchant (女商人), is a young woman who fled from her noble family to become an adventurer and make a name of her own.

Appearance
Noble Fencer has honey-colored hair and wears fancy clothing that reflects her noble status. Her hair was originally tied into two pigtails, but she cut them off after surviving her ordeal with goblins. The back of her neck is branded with the sign of the God of Wisdom, which was partially removed by Sword Maiden after the goblin paladin was defeated.

As a merchant and royal advisor, Noble Fencer wears a starched, proper outfit. Her hair grew out a bit in the interim, but she now maintains it at a length just past her jaw and halfway down her neck.

Personality
During her earlier time as an adventurer, Noble Fencer was confident yet ambitious, as she looked down upon goblins and thought that she and her party would become Platinum-ranked with ease.

However, her traumatizing ordeal with goblins turned her into a despondent and brooding individual fixated on killing the goblin paladin and retrieving her sword. After she and Goblin Slayer's party managed to do both, Noble Fencer mellows and becomes more social with her new friends.

Background
Noble Fencer became an adventurer to become an independent woman who did not rely on the aid of her family. She had imagined that she would rise to Gold and even Platinum within a short period of time.

Goblin Slayer Volume 5
Noble Fencer, along with her party, killed a group of goblins near the northern village before setting their sights on what appeared to be their nest in the mountains nearby. They blocked the exits out of the cave and camped near the entrance, intending on ambushing the goblins once they were out of resources. However, weeks passed with little activity and the party was already running out of supplies. She went to the village to replenish their resources, but was only able to get a few trifles. Upon returning to the camp, she found herself ambushed by a group of goblins, becoming horrified upon seeing them hold the severed heads of each of her party members. Attempting to draw her sword, she realized that the snow within its scabbard had frozen into ice, which allowed the goblins to quickly surround and assault her. A goblin paladin branded Noble Fencer's neck with the sign of the God of Wisdom in an abandoned chapel, where Goblin Slayer's party rescued her shortly after. At the village inn, Noble Fencer reflected on the mistakes and unfortunate circumstances that led to her torture and her party's demise. She overheard Goblin Slayer's party discuss infiltrating the goblin fortress in disguise and requested to accompany them, which they approved. Noble Fencer cut off her pigtails and offered them as a reward for the time being.

Upon successfully managing to infiltrate the fortress, however, Noble Fencer was harassed by the goblin priest escorting them and in a rage, viciously beat him to death. This ruined the party's original plan, much to High Elf Archer's anger. While watching the goblin paladin's ceremony, a curse activated the brand on her neck, causing her great pain. Her resulting screams alerted the goblins to their location, forcing the party to fight them off. Noble Fencer cried, blaming herself for causing another ordeal with goblins. Once Goblin Slayer assured her he would retrieve her sword and slay the goblins, Noble Fencer pulled herself together and joined the party in combat. Following the escape of the fortress, a prompt by Goblin Slayer has Noble Fencer use her lightning miracle to create an avalanche to bury the pursuing goblins who remained after the goblin paladin's defeat. Goblin Slayer climbed out of the snow and gave back her sword, to which Noble Fencer wept with all her might. She later went with the party to celebrate in the tavern, where she told Priestess that she planned to talk things over with her parents and make graves for her previous party members. She then promised to write plenty of letters to Priestess.

Goblin Slayer Volume 6
At the Temple of Law, Sword Maiden removed much of the brand that was on Noble Fencer's neck. When Goblin Slayer was mentioned during their conversation, Noble Fencer stated her intention of doing something on her own for the repose of her fallen party and for novice adventurers. When Sword Maiden asked Noble Fencer what she thought of Goblin Slayer, she simply responded that she owed him her life.

Goblin Slayer Volume 8
By this time, Noble Fencer is now a merchant and an advisor to The King regarding management of adventurer affairs. When the topic of adventurer training centers is brought up during The King's council, Noble Fencer informs him that they were nearing completion, but the people have had difficulty accepting the notion that one had to embark a course of study upon becoming an adventurer. Noble Fencer proposes that they offer the incentive of food, funded by having the training centers deal with giant rats and roaches in the sewers using tax money that is normally used to reward adventurers for such tasks anyway, which the King approves. Having noted the appearance of Sword Maiden, the mention of a priestess who had her mail stolen and other details mentioned during the council, Noble Fencer realizes it was Goblin Slayer's party that escorted Sword Maiden to the capital. She leaves the discussion and comes back with the party just before Sword Maiden is pressured to go rescue the recently kidnapped princess.

To aid the adventurers, Noble Fencer brings them to the stable and gives them three fast horses she's had prepared. Once the adventurers set off, Noble Fencer asks Sword Maiden if she ever wished to go adventuring again. After Sword Maiden replies that she no longer had the courage to do so, Noble Fencer responds that sometimes it was acceptable not to overcome one's fears, but admits that other times, it was all she could do to simply face them.

Spells

 * Lightning 《稲妻 (ライトニング) Raitoningu》: Learned as part of a family tradition, Noble Fencer is able to cast bolts of lightning.

Equipment

 * Aluminum rapier: A silver sword forged from a red gem with a lightning-hammer and her family heirloom.
 * Aluminum dagger: A dagger meant to aid in defense, forged the same way as her rapier. When the goblin paladin stole her rapier, she uses this weapon in its place.