Light Novel Volume 8

'''Goblin Slayer! Volume 8''' is the eighth novel of the Goblin Slayer series.

Official Synopsis
He does not let anyone roll the dice.

''Sword Maiden requests Goblin Slayer and his party to escort her to the royal capital as rumor has it that packs of wolf-mounted goblins inhabit the route there. However, there are whispers of an ill omen within the capital; then, whether by fate or by chance, the party arrives at a massive, eerie abyss known as the Dungeon of the Dead...''
 * - Yen Press

Chapters

 * Chapter 1: The Prime of Youth, Now Ashes
 * Chapter 2: Beard-Cutter Goes to the Southern Sea
 * Chapter 3: The Slayer of Goblins Goes to the Capital
 * Interlude: Of the Hoyden Who Wanted to Go on an Adventure
 * Chapter 4: City Adventure
 * Interlude: Of How There Is No Use Crying over Spilled Milk
 * Chapter 5: Master Scene: Behind-the-Scenes Actors
 * Interlude: Of Wondering Whose Master Scene It Had Been
 * Chapter 6: The Princess’s Ordeal
 * Chapter 7: The Pulse of Demonbirth
 * Interlude: Of How Cosmic Horror Is Not the Enemy of Swords and Sorcery
 * Chapter 8: The Heart of the Maelstrom
 * Chapter 9: Goblin Hand, Sign of Destruction
 * Interlude: Of How It’s Better Than Dragon Slaying, Probably
 * Chapter 10: O My Prayers, Have You Reached Heaven?

Chapter 1
A young Sword Maiden and her party battle two greater demons in a dungeon whom are attacking the party with powerful ice magic. Sword Maiden casts protection to shield the party, but it will only hold out against the attacks for so long. She, along with her mentor, Bugman Monk, turn the tide of the battle with a Silence miracle so powerful that it even renders the demons unable to cast magic. Without their magic, they become easy pickings for the party's warriors and wizard. Coming out victorious, they refer to and update their map, with Sword Maiden breathing a sigh of relief that it wasn't goblins they met.

Chapter 2
In the middle of a raging storm, Goblin Slayer's party battle a large sea serpent aligned with Chaos. After Dwarf Shaman casts a Water Walk spell on the sea serpent, it suffocates and is unable to retreat back into the water. With the monster's entire body exposed, High Elf Archer finishes it off by firing an arrow through its eye.

Upon returning to the Adventurer's Guild, Goblin Slayer expresses disappointment at how the "sea goblins" the quest referred to were not actually goblins. The party split the reward from the gillmen, consisting of pearls, corals, a tortoiseshell, several shells and a white helix. After arriving at the farmhouse, Goblin Slayer, who had taken a shell, gave it to Cow Girl as a gift. They expected a normal day to follow that night, but that would not be the case.

Chapter 3
During a routine patrol around the farm, Goblin Slayer came across a young employee of the guild who requested his presence. Sword Maiden, who was waiting at the guild, informs him of tattooed goblin riders appearing on a highway near the Capital. This prompts Goblin Slayer's party and Sword Maiden take a carriage toward the Capital. When the group camped for the night, Sword Maiden experiences a flashback of her ordeal with goblins, but is consoled by Goblin Slayer. When the two sense the presence of goblins, Priestess wakes up the rest of the party and the adventurers kill all of the goblins before dawn. When Goblin Slayer and Lizard Priest cut open the goblins, they are perplexed by how their stomachs were full despite the fact that they were a wandering tribe travelling without provisions.

After several days, the group lines up outside the gates of the capital. A group of royal knights have them present identification and proceed to interrogate them, but immediately let them through upon noticing Sword Maiden. Once the paperwork was finished, the group enters the bustling capital.

Interlude
Inside her room, a girl expresses frustration over how her brother is able to travel while she is forced to stay inside and not become an adventurer like he was. Her servant tries to tell her bad things came with adventuring, but the girl remains convinced that she deserved to go outside and see things for herself instead of having people decide things for her. When her brother returns home, she gives him a warm greeting so that he will never suspect she will sneak out.

Chapter 4
As the group toured the capital, they arrive at a temple of the Supreme God and are offered hospitality. Priestess asks Goblin Slayer for permission to go somewhere, and he allows her to go under the supervision of High Elf Archer. With the party split into groups of three and two, the men end up at The Golden Knight tavern, a bustling restaurant filled with adventurers. Goblin Slayer notes how they have not been focused on goblin slaying lately, and admits their adventure at sea and bodyguard duty were fun, much to Lizard Priest's and Dwarf Shaman's surprise. However, he adds that the shadow of goblins was close by on both occasions, and figures such adventures weren't his duty as Goblin Slayer. In response, Dwarf Shaman tells him about how nobody has found a perfect way to smith a sword, and that it was fine to live without knowing how. Lizard Priest tells Goblin Slayer that even beasts of the field cannot live exactly the way they want, and the same goes for people; to worry and to feel lost were perfectly reasonable. Remembering the time Burglar kicked him into an icy lake, Goblin Slayer recalls that if he hadn't kicked to stay afloat, he wouldn't have been here now. With that, Goblin Slayer admits that the two of them are right. In a graveyard, Priestess kneels in front of Wizard's tombstone and apologizes for taking so long. She tells that she'll keep hunting goblins even with the skittish behavior she was scolded for, and that she met her younger brother. When High Elf Archer asks if all her former party members are gone, Priestess reveals that one of them was alive, but adds that she does not have enough courage to go see her. To lighten the mood, High Elf Archer takes her to a public bathing facility, and the two bathe together. When High Elf Archer goes for a short break, a girl who looked similar to Priestess comes up to her; after learning that Priestess was an adventurer, the girl inquires into her class, rank and equipment. Before the girl leaves, Priestess advises her to prepare if she was going to become and adventurer, which the girl takes into consideration. When High Elf Archer and Priestess go to get changed, the latter discovers that her equipment, vestments and chainmail were missing. After reporting to a nearby employee, they learn that someone had stolen Priestess' possessions. The loss of her mail, the first thing Goblin Slayer praised her for, makes Priestess break into tears.

When the group learns of the theft, Sword Maiden suggests Goblin Slayer to comfort Priestess, before handing him a book about the Dark Gods and their symbols. He declines, and elaborates by stating all things become lost, like the knife his father promised to give him when he grew up. Before leaving, Sword Maiden promises to bring up the theft in her council with The King. Goblin Slayer found no entry in the book that featured the symbol on the piece of goblin skin. He figures that the thief was like a goblin, and concludes that one must be prepared at all times.

Interlude
The princess realizes how important the chain mail was to Priestess, and begins to feel guilt for stealing what belonged to her. She goes to sleep in the stables of The Golden Knight, but the thought of Priestess' crying face haunted her mind through the night.

Chapter 5
During The King's council, two events are brought up: an ill star fell unexpectedly on the board and flaming rock from the heavens had fallen at the holy mount, the tallest and most dangerous mountain in the kingdom. A Gold-ranked padfoot informs the King that he sensed something at the foot of the mountain, and the group unanimously agrees to send Hero to deal with it. When Sword Maiden arrives, she tells the King of the theft of her friend's chain mail before changing the subject to destroying the goblins; the King promises to look into both matters and asks for the status of the adventurer training centers. Handing him a report, a female merchant informs that such facilities are nearing completion, but as expected, people are having difficulty accepting the notion of embarking on a course of study after becoming an adventurer. She suggests that they provide meals to the training adventurers, which would be funded by having the training centers deal with rats and roaches from the sewers, which the King approves. Suddenly, an attendant to the King's younger sister bursts into the chamber and tells him that his sister was kidnapped.

Earlier at dawn, the princess paid a merchant, the older cousin of one of her servants a gemstone to take her North. They arrived at the north gate, and when a soldier asked for identification, they were granted entry when the princess presented her rank tag hung around her neck and stated she was investigating the disturbance at the holy mount. Not long after, they are attacked by a horde of goblin riders and are forced to abandon their cargo and flee. However, the princess loses her footing trying to get from the wagon onto the merchant's horse, and is quickly surrounded by the goblin riders. The merchant would come to regret letting the girl on his cart upon arriving at the capital, as his cousin was waiting at the gate in shock. As The King's political reputation would be soiled if the army was alerted of a goblin kidnapping, the council agrees to have a trustworthy adventurer deal with the matter. Based on the location where the merchant was attacked, Sword Maiden tells the council that the goblin nest was located inside the Dungeon of the Dead. Since she was one of the six adventurers who braved the dungeon, the council began pushing her to deal with the goblins, completely oblivious to her feelings. Just then, the female merchant (who was Noble Fencer) arrives with Goblin Slayer and his party, who have agreed to go.

Interlude
Hero and her party arrived to meet the King shortly after the council ended. The King informs them of the stone of fire that fell from the sky onto the holy mountain, and Hero correctly guesses they've been assigned to investigate it. As Hero's party discuss the details of the quest with two advisers, the King reminisces his earlier days as an adventurer. He shrugs off the thought after acknowledging he was the king, and hopes Goblin Slayer's party will take care of his sister.

Chapter 6
Since the party was dealing with goblin riders, the adventurers decide to take horses Noble Fencer prepared, with Dwarf Shaman planning to use a spell to make up for speed. High Elf Archer asks Priestess if she was okay with rescuing the princess; though she felt slight resentment toward the princess for taking her chain mail, Priestess recognizes that she didn't deserve anything the goblins might do to her.

Once the party arrived at the stable, Sword Maiden handed Goblin Slayer several sheets of paper mapping what she remembered about the dungeon down to the fourth level. She explains that the fourth level is the heart of the dungeon, a whirlpool of magical energy and miasma, and they would not return if they went below that level. Sword Maiden then gives them a rope called the Blue Ribbon, which would allow them to give deeper into the dungeon. When the adventurers leave on their horses, Noble Fencer asks Sword Maiden if she ever wished to go adventuring again. Sword Maiden replies that she no longer had the courage to face terrible things, and that she was a weak woman. In response, Noble Fencer admits that facing fears wasn't always necessary, but other times doing so was her only option. Before the two went back to the castle, Sword Maiden wished to herself that all the goblins would disappear.

On their way to the dungeon, the party finds the remains of a wagon, scraps of Priestess' clothing along with her sounding staff on the road. Based from the observation that there weren't any corpses, the adventurers conclude that goblins took her to be sacrificed. A group of goblin riders ambush them, but the adventurers manage to fend them off. With the horses fatigued from Tail Wind, the party is forced to continue the chase on foot.