Light Novel Volume 12

'''Goblin Slayer! Volume 12' is the twelfth light novel of the Goblin Slayer'' series.

Official Synopsis

 * There's rarely a dull moment in the Four-Cornered World: Harefolk Hunter's party is moving up the ranks and making a name for themselves on the frontier; Priestess, Female Knight, Witch, and High Elf Archer get mixed up in a fortress siege battle; Goblin Slayer receives an invitation from Spearman and Heavy Warrior; and the people in the water town are up to their usual tricks. These are just a few of the ten stories you'll read in this latest installment of Goblin Slayer!

Chapters

 * Prologue: Starting a Campaign
 * Chapter 1: Of When Your Right in the Middle of an Adventure and a Wyvern Shows Up
 * Chapter 2: Of How Girls Want to Go on Adventures Too
 * Interlude: Of a Gift From a Younger Sister
 * Chapter 3: Hit And Run
 * Chapter 4: Of Wintertime Preparation
 * Interlude: Of a Council with the King and His Advisors
 * Chapter 5: Of What Problem There Could Possibly Be with a Human Fighter
 * Chapter 6: Li'l Hero vs. the Undead King
 * Epilogue: Of Starting a Goblin-Hunting Scenario

Prologue
In the Sacred Realm, the "Great" Deities Life, Death, and Illusion celebrate their success at creating a brand new campaign for the Adventurers of the Four-Cornered World. Truth and Abundance come over to investigate what the trio of Order aligned Old Gods are up to, but Life and Death help shield the "table" as Illusion explains she and the other two that she started this campaign to be a tale of heroism and she was in charge of it; hoping it would start with one adventure and cascade into several grand adventures.

With this revelation, the other Great Gods wanted to be apart of it, much to Life & Death's pleasure and concern. Illusion however, quickly brought order to the moment and picked the other Great Gods allowed to join her, Life, and Death and they then began to prepare their new campaign.

Chapter 1
Somewhere in the Mountainous region of the Kingdom, the Rookie Party of Club Fighter, Supreme God's Cleric, and Harefolk Hunter complete another Goblin Slaying quest; it was harder than expected, but the trio is able to succeed with their slow and safe style taught to them by Goblin Slayer and other veterans. The three begin to believe their lucks are finally turning for the better now that they're a team of three when they see how in sync they were. But as they begin, the trek back to the village that hired them, a rogue Wyvern appears and gives chase to the trio causing them to jump into a tight ravine and the river below to try and get away.

In a cave, Club Fighter awakens and finds he's been stripped of his soaked clothes and accidentally sees Harefolk Hunter naked due to her carelessness. As Cleric explains their clothes and equipment are drying, it becomes clear that the Wyvern is still outside the cave waiting for them, all their potions broke in the river, and to top it off, there's no other exit to the cave they're hiding in. During their low point, Cleric begins to doubt her abilities as she only has one Miracle and openly admits jealousy that Club Fighter was "staring" at Harefolk Hunter earlier. Club Fighter, however, reassures her how much she means to him and Harefolk Hunter agrees lifting the three's spirit as they begin to make a plan.

As the Wyvern waits for the trio to come out, Club Fighter comes charging out with their collapsed tent, soaked in Harefolk Hunter's poison and broken glass and throws the tent at the Wyvern's face as Harefolk Hunter shoots an arrow in its mouth, and Cleric uses Holy Smite to ground the beast. The broken glass latches onto the Wyvern's face causing it great, not lethal, pain but enough to cause the Trio to get away to safety. As they run to safety, the three realize they are one step close to becoming "Dragon Slayers" and laugh their near disaster away to safety looking forward to further adventures.

Chapter 2
Back in the Frontier Town, Priestess arrives at the Guild only to hear that Heavy Warrior dragged Spearman and Goblin Slayer off on an adventure, leaving her, Witch, and Female Knight all on their own. Female Knight also reveals that Dwarf Shaman and Lizard Priest also took the rest of her party of Half-Elf Light Warrior, Scout Boy, and Druid Girl on an adventure as well leaving her behind. Taking offense to being left out, Female Knight decides to organize a "Girls Only" adventure for herself, Witch, High Elf Archer, and the newly promoted Sapphire-Ranked Priestess and picks a castle defense quest.

At a fortress besieged by demons, High Elf Archer, Female Knight, and Witch give aid to the soldiers with their skills while Priestess runs in the background helping and healing where she can. As night approaches, a Peryton appears that Female Knight cannot slice through, laughing at her inability, the Peryton boldly declares it will return at noon tomorrow to finish them and simply vanishes. During the night, the trio of women think about what they can do about the seemingly invincible Peryton and Female Knight shows off her knowledge of castle defense from her rumored "Fallen Royalty" upbringing. The story and talk gives Priestess an idea, and she fills the two veteran women of her plan for the Peryton.

The next day, the Peryton returns as promised and is confronted by the lone Priestess. As the Peryton prepares to devour Priestess, she asks it a riddle out of the blue. Confused yet amused, the Peryton solves her riddle but then asks one of her as well, beginning a long battle of riddles between the two. As the day goes on, Priestess also plays coy and starts to intentionally annoy the Peryton until it finally loses its cool. Priestess is able to discover the real riddle that the Peryton is a shadow, and she uses her Holy Light Miracle far above the Peryton with High Elf Archer, Female Knight, and Witch's help to eradicate the Peryton, winning the siege in favor of the defenders.

Interlude
Dwarf Shaman, Lizard Priest, Half-Elf Light Warrior, Scout Boy, and Druid Girl visit the Fortress of the Eastern Boarder. While there, Druid Girl goes to enjoy the many Eastern Cuisine food stalls with Scout Boy while he politely makes fun of her race's massive appetite. Dwarf Shaman, Lizard Priest, and Half-Elf Light Warrior visit the fortress commander Female General who gives them a scroll that was once from her sister, the Arc Mage, which they proclaim is the "Seed of a Bigger Adventures"

The three more experienced adventurers then explained they took the two rookies to help them create connections with important individuals like Female General so that they can "seed their own adventures someday". Both Scout Boy and Druid Girl doubt their abilities as their promotion freezes may or may not be still in effect, and Druid Girl doubts many will take her seriously as a small Rhea. However, the pair's spirits begin to lift as they look towards their futures.

Chapter 3
In his apartment in Water Town, The Spy leaves and meets up with his team, Changeling, Driver, and Knowledge Cleric from the Rogues Guild at a tavern. They meet up with a Familiar Mage who works for their Fixer and gives them an assassination job for a local small time drug dealer: A Half-Elf woman who has been stealing opium from her suppliers to sell on the side.

During the night, the team begins their recon of the situation; Changeling using her Astral Projection to spy on the target, and with her return, Spy and Changeling prepare to perform the hit, only to find the target already recently killed with a knife to the chest. Spy turns around a realizes there is already a female City Guardswoman in the doorway and uses his Overdrive to escape with Changeling to the coach, and the team escapes to the sewers. In the sewers, the team wonder what exactly happened, reasoning things went out of control ''way' too fast. Knowledge Cleric is able to deduce that the Guardswoman was the killer and probably the group within the City Guard, if not all of them, are the ones selling the drugs in Water Town as she returned to the Knowledge Temple and looks through census records.

Later that night, the Guardswoman returns to the scene of the crime and searches the room for something under the rug; however, she realizes someone had already gotten to what she was looking for. Spy reveals himself and shows not only had he already found it, a box containing evidence of the Guardswoman being her supplier and such, but he had taken the murder weapon which was a City Guard dagger, incriminating her. Beaten, the Guardswoman pleads with Spy to see her reason, that she was a Human Supremacist and wanted to cause chaos to push The King out of power by further destabilizing the cities to help secure the Kingdom for Humanity. Spy, however, admits he doesn't care about such things and his own preference for Elven women, refuses to agree with her view; so he finishes the deed.

With the onset of dawn, Spy throws the body into the sewers and a representative of their Fixer, the Silver-Haired Maid, approaches them and collects the evidence of the Water Town's City Guard's drug running and thanks Spy for his services. Spy and Changeling begin to unravel the convoluted plot from last night: A half-Elf bastard child of a Noble house had used her connections with her half sister, the Guardswoman, to run drugs for money, the half-sister finally had enough of her stealing the drugs from their operation and took her out, all the while, whoever the Silver-Haired Maid worked for (The King) wanted the evidence to prove the Water Town City Guards were selling the drugs they were taking off the street. With all this, the two admit how crazy their lives have become from their original motivations in becoming Rogues.

As they walk off, Changeling whispers to Spy she'd like to see a Wizball game with him, and he promises to buy her peanuts and crackers when he does.

Chapter 4
Back at Cow Girl's farm, Winter has come, and Cow Girl awakens and begins her morning routine making breakfast with her Canary. As her uncle walks in, Cow Girl realizes his sweater is getting old and worn, and she notices her's in getting small in length and in the chest, much to her embarrassment. With this, she decides to make some sweaters for them and Goblin Slayer with the onset of Winter. As she begins, however, she realizes she doesn't know Goblin Slayer's size due to him constantly wearing armor, so she decides to go the the Guild and ask the Smith for Goblin Slayer's size.

At the Guild, Cow Girl meets Padfoot Waitress who reveals that due to the recent war in the Eastern Border, the Smith and Apprentice Boy are too busy to help her at the moment; but she agrees to help if she teaches her how to knit a sweater. As the two have their small talk during knitting, Padfoot Waitress asking Cow Girl if "her man" is off slaying Goblins again, the state of the Guild, and other manners. Eventually, Guild Girl and Inspector arrive for their break and explain to the pair that the Eastern Border War should be ending in good favor, as a "Young Knight" had rescued the Desert Princess of the Desert Kingdom, and he restored her and the Desert Kingdom to the Forces of Order. This would likely end things in the Kingdom's favor as they admitted they heard rumors, The Kingdom had worked to restore Desert Princess to power.

Padfoot Waitress brings them some snacks, and Rhea Chef treats the quartet of ladies to some imported Hot Cocoa from the Southern Regions, much to their joy. As the girls imagine what the Southern Lands are like; from the inhabitants like the Lizardmen and the exotic produce like Tomatoes, Maze, and Potatoes, the girls see snow has begun to fall bringing Winter to the Frontier.

Interlude
In the Capital, The King beings his briefings with the Red-Haired Cardinal about the closing of the War to the East where the Desert Princess' return to power has quelled the battle. However, with one victory comes another defeat, as the King laments that the Forces of Chaos have begun to reform elsewhere forcing him to redirect his forces yet again. Though Red-Haired Cardinal understands the annoyance, he reassures the King that the Kingdom needs to refocus some of their attention to another issues as the Silver-Haired Maid enters the room and hands the King a Gate Scroll a "woman from the frontier procured" for them (Female General that Lizard Priest and Dwarf Shaman procured).

The King decides to prepare some Adventurers for an important quest but mentions he would like to go deal with this himself, but Female Merchant convinces him an another plan. With this, she has The Princess bring the Hero in who enters in her usual bombastic manner, to the chastisement of Sword Saint and Sage, ready to handle whatever he needs.

The King slumps back on his throne, a little annoyed that he can't go battle himself.

Chapter 5
In the middle of a recently destroyed and abandoned city, Wizard Boy and Rhea Fighter trek through the destroyed sewer with much discomfort. At a certain point, Wizard Boy tries to perform a signal with his glowing staff, only for their to be no response to his numerous attempts much to Rhea Fighter's amusement. Her amusement is broken; however, when three individual rise out of the sewage water besides them, Goblin Slayer, Heavy Warrior, and Spearman using Breath Rings to travel under the sewage much to Spearman's complaints. Heavy Warrior thanks the two rookies for their help and sends them on their way. As the three veterans prepare a plan to rescue hostages a Chaos cult is planning to sacrifice, the veterans bid the rookies a job well done and send them off to safety as they continue on into the sewers.

As they began their search, the group is ambushed by a spider creature holding a man hostage, and the three are able to dispatch it. As Goblin Slayer begins to save the hostage, he exploded into a mess of Slimes all over Spearman, much to the delight of Heavy Warrior. As they continued to the next room, Spearman joked about what the two wished to get their "women", Cow Girl and Female Knight, for the coming Yule season, but both Goblin Slayer and Heavy Warrior dodge the question by the time they get to the next area; not before they were able to jab Spearman about his own problems ignoring Witch over his fruitless obsession with Guild Girl. In the chamber, the trio find a beautiful Dark Elf woman tied to crucifix who they are able to rescue. As she comes to, she warns them that there are no other hostages and that a monster was trying to sacrifice her for a ritual in the glory of Chaos. She makes it clear to the trio that, unlike other Dark Elves, she was through with the Forces of Chaos and magically disappeared into the shadows as she wished them luck with the monster ahead.

In the next room, the trio of veterans are confronted by a Big Eye Monster (BEM) similar to the one Goblin Slayer and his party confronted in the sewers of Water Town two years ago. This one however, is far more intelligent than the one he faced and summons a Chaos Marine to aid it in battle. The three are able to kill the Chaos Marine and use its body as a press to squash the BEM. Victorious, the group descend on the loot and are all in all put off when they realized they are disappointed with gold, silver, an enchanted sword, and a strange skin-bound magic tome as "all this treasure and nothing we need". Remembering back when such loot would send him over the moon with joy, at this point of Heavy Warrior's career though, such things were either already numerous or useless to him. Goblin Slayer changes Heavy Warrior's perspective with a "Does it really matter" comment; reminding Heavy Warrior of his actual goals of Knighthood/Kingship and went back with some loot and a story to tell.

Chapter 6
Deep within the Mountains, in an old Wyvern nest, Hero's Party uses the Gate Scroll from Arc Mage to infiltrate a den that has been taken over by a powerful necromancer calling himself the "Undead King" who has been building a vast Undead Army to "Flip the Board" of the Four-Cornered World. Confronting him, the trio of women call the necromancer out as he feels he's done nothing wrong with his insane plan, believing he will be able to cut the Gods off from the Four-Cornered World and the world can start fresh in Undeath. Sage insults his plan as foolish given how Arc Mage already ascended to the plan of the Gods without causing such destruction and battle had begun.

As the trio of women battle ferociously, The Undead King puts up a grand fight keeping the party on their toes nearly braking them. Hero is put on the ropes, Sword Saint puts up a great fight, and Sage is pulling out all her spells to assist her friends, but the Undead King keeps prevailing over the trio. Just as hope seems lost, with Hero's body near run ragged, Sword Saint uses a simple non-magic sword to break Undead King's armor giving Sage the time to release the Battle Refresh spell on Hero to heal her body to deliver the final blow on the Undead King, ending his threat to the world

Epilogue
Waking up late, Goblin Slayer prepares to go to the Guild but takes notice of Cow Girl's new sweater and the one she made him, and he promises to wear it when he returns, much to her satisfaction. At the Guild, Goblin Slayer takes note that Club Fighter's Party, no longer rookies, seem to be debating if they only ever had to fight monsters and decide to try their hands at some other types of quests. In the Blacksmith shop, Goblin Slayer makes a few orders and sees Padfoot Waitress giving Apprentice Smith the sweater she made for him...in her sizes making it a very loose in chest for him. As he leaves, Blacksmith advises he should start trying out some enchanted weapons now befitting his rank; he also let's it slip he just sold a rapier to a newbie Elf Scout who had too much smelly make up on her face who Goblin Slayer realized was the Dark Elf woman he had rescued earlier.

Traveling throughout the Guild, Goblin Slayer catches Heavy Warrior gifting Female Knight an expensive bottle of wine, but she calls him out for such a gift but refuses to relinquish it, much to the rest of their Party's exasperation and amusement. Spearman laughs at Heavy Warrior's predicament and reminds Goblin Slayer the two of them need to do better for their ladies, so the rookies have role models to look up to. With that, Witch struts in with a massive smile on her face as Spearman takes her out for another date-venture, making Goblin Slayer wonder what gift he gave her to cause such a positive reaction.

Finally arriving at his table where his Party were waiting, the Party begin to tell the stories of their recent adventures, talking about visiting their old friend the Female General or how Priestess and High Elf Archer helped protect a fortress. Goblin Slayer recounts his adventure with Heavy Warrior and Spearman, much to High Elf Archer's jealousy as she chides him for going off on a real adventure without her again and for being such a lousy story teller. With this, Goblin Slayer goes to Guild Girl to get a new Goblin Slaying Quest. As he does, Guild Girl states she has plans for the Winter Season and hopes she can rely on Goblin Slayer to help, to which he agrees and prepares to move out.

Trivia

 * Much like Light Novel Volume 4, the events of this Light novel are not going to be covered in the mainline manga, but in a spin off manga, Goblin Slayer: Day in the Life
 * Chapter 4 makes numerous references to Volume 11, expanding on Desert Princess's liberation, revealing Cow Girl has made the Red Dragon Scale that Goblin Slayer gave her into a necklace, and mentioning that the Farm now has a Camel.
 * A small plot point of the Volume makes multiple references to Arc Mage, a great deal of her equipment, gate scrolls, breath rings, and even her sister are mentioned.
 * Goblin Slayer asks Wizard Boy if he thinks he's any closer to slaying a dragon when the rookie tries to follow them into danger; when he admits he's not, Goblin Slayer states neither can he. These are references to Volume 6 when Wizard Boy was introduced and revealed his dream was to slay a dragon as well as a reference to Volume 11 when Goblin Slayer's party battled a Red Dragon in the Desert Kingdom and couldn't slay it due to their fatigue.
 * The Dark Elven woman that Goblin Slayer, Heavy Warrior, and Spearman rescues eventually joins Axe Warrior, Half-Elf Warlock, and Human Monk's party as "Elf Scout"