Goblin Slayer Season 2: Episode 9 Review

/ kvasir369

The woman who helped kill the Demon Lord, folks.

The ninth episode of Goblin Slayer Season 2 has aired. Sword Maiden needs to head to the Capital to attend an important meeting, but Goblins bar the path. So it’s up to Goblin Slayer to lead her escort, which will lead him to the heart of the kingdom and a new mystery.

Time for a Recap and Review.

Recap

The episode opens with a scene of Sword Maiden in her youth, fighting in the Dungeon of the Dead. She and her party back then were going against a pair of greater demons, where they showcased their capabilities. She protects the party with a barrier and then silences their spells alongside Myrmidon Monk, allowing Samurai Captain and the others to dish in damage before they use a Fusion Spell to nuke them. She then charted their map and was grateful that they hadn’t run into any Goblins.

We then cut back to the present, where Goblin Slayer is currently slaying something that is not a Goblin. Specifically, it was some kind of sea serpent that was resistant to non-steel arrows. It tries to sink their boat when Priestess uses a barrier and Lizard Priest nails it with a harpoon, driving it into the water for a moment.

Then we get a scene of how they got there. They were informed a fishery was being attacked by Sea Goblins, so they were ready to start killing them. But the so-called Sea Goblins happen to be Gillmen, and they explain the sea serpent was responsible for the attacks as they’ve been sent over there by someone else and it’s thrown the stars out of alignment. Goblin Slayer wants to leave since there are no Goblins, but the others guilt him into participating in the new quest to help clear their names.

And it proves to be the right call as, once Lizard Priest confirms it isn’t a serpent but a fish, he comes up with a plan. He has Priestess blind it and Lizard Priest launches another harpoon before having Dwarf Shaman cast Water Walk on it. Since it can’t breathe air, it starts to suffocate until High Elf Archer puts it out of its misery with an arrow. Goblin Slayer then wishes it’d be nice if Goblins also went down this easily.

Anyway, he lets Guild Girl know his displeasure though he explains the situation either way. Then they split the reward they got from the Gillmen, with everyone picking out something to take home or use. Goblin Slayer gets a Seashell to give Farm Girl, which she loves since things from the sea are rare.

We then cut to Sword Maiden, who has come to see Goblin Slayer about a Goblin Quest. She and her handmaiden/assistant are planning a trip to the Capital but Goblins have been appearing on the highway between them, so she needs him to kill them while the quest itself is considered a bodyguarding mission. There are at least twenty with matching tattoos and ride wolves, so he thinks that they are Wanderers and it’ll be over if they kill them all.

Goblin Slayer gathers the group and they head out, half-payment up front and the rest upon arrival. On the way he stops by the farm to tell Farm Girl he’ll be leaving for a while, which gets Sword Maiden slightly jealous before they continue onwards. Then when night comes they stop to rest and she tries to talk to him only for Priestess to wake up and ruin the mood.

However, Goblin Slayer and Sword Maiden pass their Perception checks and realize that something is coming. Priestess gets into her chain shirt and wakes the others while he places Sword Maiden back into the carriage to stay safe. Then wolves howl as the Goblin Riders arrive and the slaughter begins.

The Goblins all have a black hand tattooed on their backs, and the group is forced on the defensive since their usual methods would scatter the Goblins rather than kill them. So to change it up they send Lizard Priest away for a bit and get into an Anvil Formation, which High Elf Archer gets offended over due to conditioning from Dwarf Shaman calling her that as an insult. Priestess uses Protection to guard one side while Lizard Priest has his Dragontooth Warriors come in from behind and the others close in from every other angle.

When morning comes there’s a pile of dead wolves and Goblins. He asks how many captives the Goblins had taken until now and Sword Maiden mentions hearing it was a group of five or six. So he checks their innards and realizes that they are missing some eaten people, meaning that at least a few captives are being kept alive elsewhere and there are more of them guarding those people.

They make their way to the Capital, with Priestess in awe of the sights, while Goblin Slayer has the dead skin of one of the Goblins that had the tattoo of a hand on it. The line to get into the Capital is long because the King had been absent, as he had gone to personally collect the taxes in areas where there was trouble. Goblin Slayer knows that much because he is from a farming village, which surprises the others.

Then they have to sign identification to get into the Capital and some guard gives Goblin Slayer lip for looking shabby while carrying a silver tag, which causes Priestess to frown. But Sword Maiden pops her head out and says he’s legit, so they change their tune real quick. Priestess then brings up that it’s her first time in the Capital and asks if it’s Goblin Slayer’s as well. He states it is and he wishes he could have brought his sister there.

Knowing his past, Priestess can only state that he may get a similar opportunity someday.

Review

This episode felt a little bit disjointed if you don’t know what’s happening. They went from one beat to another fast, starting with a flashback of the Gold-Ranked Party that slew the Demon Lord years ago and then Goblin Slayer’s Non-Goblin quest, followed by his actual Goblin quest. Then again, when you’ve only got three more episodes to finish off the season, pumping the gas makes sense to a degree.

So, to start with, the Golden Party was Sword Maiden’s previous team whom she helped in the past. To be honest, my knowledge of them is limited because I haven’t read the Dai Katana series, but I know of them. I doubt they’ll get too deep into the specifics of what happened there, but Sword Maiden getting more time in the spotlight is always welcomed.

It was clearly after her run-in with the Goblins considering how she mentioned she was grateful they hadn’t run into any of them. And that was after they killed a pair of Greater Demons. That once again shows just how devastating her encounter with them had been, despite them being the weakest of monsters.

Yet she acts almost like a teenager with a crush on Goblin Slayer. She understands he can’t return her affection, but she feels it all the same since he is the one who has been killing the monsters she dreads the most. Not helped is the fact that she’s got stiff competition with Farm Girl, who he lives with. So she’s probably got no real chance compared to any of the other heroines if GS was able to return any of their affection.

Meanwhile, Goblin Slayer continues the running gag of not being able to remember the names of things he kills that aren’t Goblins. In this case, it was a massive Sea Serpent encounter he cheesed by using Water Walk to make it so that it couldn’t dive back into the water. And since it wasn’t amphibious, it began to suffocate until High Elf Archer put it out of its misery. Then he has the gall to say Goblins are harder, just like he did with the Ogre.

He’s a Silver Rank for a reason, even if he doesn’t have access to spells or fancy armor. Creativity is a tool, and it must be used to stay ahead of your foes. That’s why I always appreciate seeing him work even when it’s not killing Goblins.

But there were Goblins. He thought they might have been Wanderers, but in this case, they all had the same markings and the resources to tame Wolves. Not to mention they didn’t have enough meat in their bellies to indicate they killed and ate all of their victims, so it might be larger than expected and they are probably breeding new Goblins. There’s a nest out there somewhere, and he’s going to be cleaning it out soon.

We’ll find out more in the next episode.

Differences in Adaptation

This episode starts Volume 8, going all the way to the end of Chapter 3:

  • Among the monsters with the Greater Demons were Night Stalkers, which were a half-step from becoming self-aware Vampires.
  • The Demons expected them to try and Silence them but were confident that their magic would still get through. They underestimated Female Bishop and Myrmidon Monk (called Bugman Monk back then), leaving them open for the Half-Elf Scout to cut their tendons and drop them down.
  • Female Warrior killed one with a spear to the heart and Samurai Captain cut the arms off the other, which caused it to try to call for reinforcements. To deal with all of them Female Wizard, High Priestess, and Samurai Capitan combined their spells.
  • The reason that High Elf Archer bit her arrowhead off was that GS told her to draw it out with a whistling arrow. It made a shrill noise as it flew that could be heard even over the storm, meaning it was loud.
  • Priestess’ Holy Light harmed the Sea Serpent’s eyes because it was from the depths of the ocean and so it was akin to having a sun put into its face.
  • After he killed it, GS asked if that was fine for High Elf Archer since there was no fire, no water, and no explosions for an adventure. She gave it a six out of ten.
  • Dwarf Shaman then used the Tail Wind spell to move their ship back to the shore before it could sink from the damage.
  • The Gillmen are also called Innsmouth and the term is sometimes related to Deep Ones, but no one knows why. The Sea Goblin term is akin to a discriminatory term to them. To avoid conflict considering they were surrounded, Priestess helped with the negotiation since it might have led to all-out war between the villagers and the Gillmen.
  • Guild Girl didn’t mean to mislead Goblin Slayer into taking a non-Goblin quest. Sometimes different regions or races had unorthodox names for things that were difficult to understand, so instead of making an excuse for it, she tried to salvage her honor by working out the details. She was also used to GS giving vague descriptions regarding non-Goblins, so she had a monster manual ready to thumb through.
  • Priestess and the others had to replace the boat they borrowed from the villagers, which ate into their reward. But the Gillmen were generous with what they gave them.
  • Witch and Heavy Warrior pop up when they are discussing their rewards, as they are waiting for Spearman and Female Knight to pick out their quest. Priestess once again starts blushing when Witch gives her a look that makes her heart skip a beat. She wants to one day be like her, both as an Adventurer and Woman.
  • The reason Priestess wants to offer the pearls to the Earth Mother is because of her guilt over the Purify blood thing she did last volume. 
  • Uncle, the guy who runs the farm, is starting to feel his age and considers how difficult it would be for his niece to handle everything alone and is considering getting farmhands. But he decides against it since all the ones around the area were listless vagabonds who hadn’t earned his trust, as he mentioned with Wizard Boy two volumes ago. He also has never seen what Goblin Slayer looks like under his helmet, but at this point, he at least trusts him enough to help out.
  • Goblin Slayer planned on helping around the farm that day, but during his patrol, a delivery boy from the Guild came and told them they needed him urgently. He ran back into the house, saw Farm Girl changing, and told her the situation before heading out.
  • The Acolyte who helps Sword Maiden is stealthy enough that Goblin Slayer doesn’t even notice her when he enters the room. He thinks she is some kind of Monk, and Sword Maiden confirms she doubles as her bodyguard. She’s also skeptical of bringing Goblin Slayer because, while she doesn’t deny his capabilities, she thinks a Silver Rank for an escort mission is overkill.
  • Goblin Slayer took the quest without even asking about the reward, hence the discussion with all of them getting a bag of gold each in advance and then another upon arrival.
  • Another mention of Priestess feeling the same infatuation that she feels towards Witch towards Sword Maiden. When she thinks back to the Resurrection Miracle, she can feel something deep inside of her growing hot. But she doesn’t think it’s mere reverence.
  • Part of the reason Sword Maiden feels kinship with him is because just like how she had been a pure and undefiled maiden, he had been an innocent boy. She wants to talk about a lot of things with him, but can’t bring herself to do so before Priestess woke up. She does feel slight envy towards Priestess as she’s the only one of age to be smitten with a boy or admire them unconditionally like a teenage girl.
  • Priestess walking with her staff around the camp nonchalantly was meant to wake the others up, with them recognizing the meaning. That being said, Dwarf Shaman had to give High Elf Archer a slight kick to get her awake and she had to grab a nearby spider to string her bow.
  • The Goblins kept attacking because to them the Adventurers looked vulnerable, more so with one of their own running off. They went through the usual thoughts of what they would do with the women after killing the men, only then did they get ambushed.
  • They cut open both the Goblins and the Wolves to check their stomachs for bits of hands and feet, a chest, and strands of hair, all of which were half-dissolved. He then lined up the various limbs to see if they made full sets of pairs and realized the numbers didn’t add up. That, plus the fact they weren’t traveling with their cargo or captives, meant something was off.
  • Dwarf Shaman goes to buy drinks for everyone while they wait called Sapa, but it smells too much like metal for High Elf Archer to drink. It doesn’t bother the Dwarf because trace poisons from metal like lead don’t work on them. He instead shared some Posca, made from mixing water into wine that had been turned into vinegar and mixed with honey, with Sword Maiden and Goblin Slayer.
  • The King’s carriage, horses, and half-army number of men were all of the highest quality and grabbed attention. Dwarf Shaman stated that such things were a necessary expense for royalty since they had to look big as representatives. If the King dressed like a pauper and went around alone to collect taxes, no one would take him seriously.
  • The guards at the gate had equipment better than Adventurers and had to ask if the party could write (again, Middle Ages literacy is limited) but were more familiar with different races coming and going.
  • That being said, Goblin Slayer looking grimy and simply tossing his tag left them to question if he was a Dark Elf or something else. He points out he has a normal Elf in his party and shows his visor, at which point they state the High Elf Archer could be a Dark Elf wearing makeup.
  • Even Priestess gets fed up enough that she is going to speak her mind when Sword Maiden finally speaks, at which point they all but throw away the procedure and are perfectly willing to let them go inside.

Leave a comment