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 as well as the slaughter of her whole Party turned her into a despondent and brooding individual fixated on killing the Goblin Paladin and retrieving her rapier. She also starts to become extremely violent towards Goblins, even taking her anger out on Priestess when she prays for benediction over Goblin corpses (something she does to insure the Goblins won't return as undead). After she and Goblin Slayer's party managed to destroy the Goblins and retrieve her rapier, Noble Fencer mellows and becomes more social with her new friends, coming to terms with her mistakes and the death of her Party, even making amends with her parents and Priestess for her earlier aggression.

After coming to terms with all her mistakes and trauma, Female Merchant dedicates her life to using her new found fortune and business sense to help train rookie Adventures so that no one can suffer the same mistakes she made.

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

Goblin Slayer Volume 5
Noble Fencer, along with her party, kill a group of Goblins near the northern village before setting their sights on what appeared to be their nest in the mountains nearby. They block the exits out of the cave and camp 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, causing a great deal of friction in the Party against her. She goes to the village to replenish their resources, but was only able to get a few trifles due to have already take too much earlier.

Upon returning to the camp, she finds herself ambushed by a group of Goblins, becoming horrified upon seeing them hold the severed heads of each of her party members except Half-Elf Fighter who was captured. Attempting to draw her sword, she realizes that the snow within its scabbard had frozen into ice, which allowed the Goblins to quickly surround, assault, and rape her and Half-Elf Fighter. A Goblin Paladin brands Noble Fencer's neck with the sign of the God of Wisdom in an abandoned chapel, where Goblin Slayer's party rescue her shortly after.

At the village inn, Noble Fencer reflects on the mistakes and unfortunate circumstances that led to her torture and her party's demise, having been informed of Half-Elf Fighter's painful passing. She overhears Goblin Slayer's party discuss infiltrating the Goblin fortress in disguise and requested to accompany them, which they approve. Noble Fencer cuts off her pigtails and offered them as a reward for the time being.

Upon successfully managing to infiltrate the fortress, however, Noble Fencer is harassed by the Goblin Priest escorting them and in a rage, viciously beat him to death, ruins the party's original plan, much to High Elf Archer's anger. While watching the Goblin Paladin's ceremony, a curse activates the brand on her neck, causing her great pain. Her resulting screams alert the Goblins to their location, forcing the party to fight them off; and she blames herself for causing another ordeal with Goblins. Once Goblin Slayer assures her he would retrieve her rapier and slay the Goblins, Noble Fencer pulls herself together and joins the party in combat. Following the escape of the fortress, a prompt by Goblin Slayer has Noble Fencer use her Lightning Spell to create an avalanche that buries the pursuing Goblins who remained after the Goblin Paladin's defeat. Goblin Slayer climbs out of the snow and gives back her rapier, to which Noble Fencer wept with all her might.

She goes with the party to celebrate the New Year in the Frontier Town Guild tavern. There, she tells Priestess that she plans 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 and High Elf Archer.

Interim
True to her word, Noble Fencer made amends with her family and enters into their mercantile industry. She uses the small fortune she made to quickly amass even more funds and influence, earning herself recognition from the Royal Court. With this, she uses her funds to start a training center in the Western Frontier to train rookie Adventurers.

In this time, Noble Fencer is re-titled "Female Merchant" by the author.

Goblin Slayer Volume 6
At the Temple of Law, Sword Maiden removes much of the brand that was on Female Merchant's neck. When Goblin Slayer is mentioned during their conversation, Female Merchant states her intention of doing something on her own for the repose of her fallen party and for novice Adventurers. When Sword Maiden asked Female Merchant what she thought of Goblin Slayer, she simply responds that she owed him her life.

Goblin Slayer Volume 8
By this time, Female Merchant 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, Female Merchant 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. Female Merchant 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, Female Merchant 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 The Princess.

To aid Goblin Slayer's Party, Female Merchant brings them to the stable and gives them three fast horses she had prepared. Once the Party set off, Female Merchant asks Sword Maiden if she ever wished to go adventuring again which she replies that she no longer had the courage to do so. Female Merchant 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.

Goblin Slayer Volume 10
During the events leading up to the Summer Festivals, Female Merchant and Sword Maiden grant an audience to Heavy Warrior who brought them news of an undead horde that Goblin Slayer's Party had discovered. Realizing this was a part of a much larger situation, the two get the Hero and her Party involved.

Goblin Slayer Volume 11
During the waning days of Summer, the Royal Court had decided to take action in the Desert Kingdom and planned to end the Prime Minister who had aligned with the Forces of Chaos and restore the Desert Princess to power. Upon discovering that the Captain of the Guard, the Prime Minister's right hand man, was breeding an army of Goblins, Female Merchant volunteered to convince Goblin Slayer to go to the Desert Kingdom and deal with the growing army. The Royal Court, having already known Goblin Slayer to be a specialist in the manner had a granted her approval to deal with this as she saw fit.

Goblin Slayer Volume 12
During a Royal Meeting discussing the conclusion of the War in the Desert and the return of Desert Princess to power. Female Merchant is thanked for the role she played in helping destabilizing the Prime Minister in the Desert and his Goblin Army.

When the topic of the Forces of Chaos forming elsewhere is brought up, Female Merchant stops the King from going himself to take care of business and forms a plan with The Princess to get the Hero and her Party to handle the Undead King instead.

Goblin Slayer Volume 14
While concluding another Royal Meeting, Female Merchant and the King discuss the situation in the newly annexed Northern Lands. The King even mentions how the Viking Chieftain is technically his Uncle despite being of similar age, due to his sister having become his father's mistress years ago shocking Female Merchant. When she asks how that happened, the King reminds her how much pressure Noble families like theirs have on creating more and more healthy heirs.

With this, Female Merchant realizes she is always left alone with the King when meetings are done, making her realize the Royal Court is hoping she becomes the King's mistress or wife much to her shock.

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. She is able to cast twice a day.

Equipment

 * Aluminum Rapier: A rapier 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.