No rest for Goblin Slayer in volume 3!
Well, ok, a bit of rest. With his wounds still healing from the battle with the Ogre, he ventures to his friend Cow Girl’s farm to take it easy. While he gets some time to recuperate, it doesn’t last long: goblins are coming again. However, this time, a Goblin Lord leads them, and they plan to sack and set up at Cow Girl’s village before raging battle against the adventurers. Knowing he can’t beat the horde that’s on the way, he tells Cow Girl to flee, but she says she’ll stay to the end. This leads to Goblin Slayer doing something a bit out of character, even for him.
I’m starting to think the pacing of the manga is flying by compared to the light novel. Maybe it should fly by, but this might be a bit much. For example, Goblin Slayer Volume 3 covers what I believe happened in Volume 2 of the LN. It does delve a bit into the past of Goblin Slayer himself, which includes meeting or discovering his relationship with Cow Girl and how far back it stretches. The big issue is you only get snippets of his past — like when he was a kid his mom told him, “You have to protect girls.” Then throughout this volume you see flashbacks to what the goblins did to his village. But they’re few and far between, and while there doesn’t need to be an expansive look into what has driven Goblin Slayer to slay goblins, the small teases don’t really do much.
But I did enjoy this shakeup involving Goblin Slayer’s personality. It’s still the same of course, but he does have a friend he cares about, and him doing whatever he can to help her is great. So great that he would plead point blank to adventurers at the guild to help. I don’t know if it was as engaging as the light novel version, but it was solid enough. And then that moment towards the end with Priestess was nice, especially since it did that part involving him and his helmet. I wonder if that’s a Kumo Kagyu request actually…
Anyways, for most of volume 3, the battle with the goblins is the highlight, and it sure is bloody. And dark. With the goblins introducing meat shields (using naked girls) and riding on wolves, it’d be a problem for unprepared adventurers. But, of course, this manga is about a dude who slays goblins for a living. So we’re really reading this just to see how he deals with this problem. This time though, we’re reading to see how he handles it while commanding a number of adventurers.
One comment by an adventurer says enough. “Heh, easiest money I ever made.”
The battle with the Ogre was a bit unclear in volume 2. However, the battles in this one were a lot easier to see, and, just like in the light novel, they gave thoughts to one of the Goblin Lords — his past, the girls he’s ruined, the guys he’s slain, all of that — all to show how he’s survived. I imagine there may be a bit more of this in the future where we will have antagonists like that. Now whether they’ll be as despicable as this guy is, who knows. In general, though, let’s hope Goblin Slayer keeps doing what he’s known for. But with teases of gods and them annoyed at the “one” person who won’t let them roll the dice, it’s unlikely…