Goblin Slayer Volume 1 - Kumo Kagyu

He was jostled by adopted family, friends, and comrades in arms
—people he knew and people he’d never met—all trying to get a
better look at him. Next to him, Priestess, who was caught up with
him in the press of bodies, was distraught. She looked at him for
help.

It was loud, lively, unrestrained.

Tomorrow, things would probably go back to normal.

Nothing would have changed. Nothing at all.

Except…

“Next time, too. And the time after that. Whenever you need help,
I’ll b e here. We’ll b e here.”

“Is that so…?”

“So…so luck has nothing to do with it.”

“I hope…that is true.”

And with those words, ever so faintly, he smiled.

Once upon a time, in the days when the stars shone far fewer in
the sky than they do now…

The gods of light and order and destiny vied with the gods of
darkness and chaos and chance to see who would control the
world. This struggle took place not in battle, but with a roll of the
dice.

Or rather, many, many rolls. Again and again and again they rolled
the dice.

And there were victories and there were defeats, but there was no
res olution.

At long last, the gods tired of dice. Thereupon, they created many
creatures to be their playing pieces and a world in which to play.
Humans and elves and dwarves and lizardmen, goblins and
ogres and trolls and demons.

Betimes they adventure, they gain victory, suffer defeat, find
treasure or happiness, and finally they die.

The gods, watching them, are in turn happy and sad; they laugh
and they weep.

In time, the gods most unexpectedly came to enjoy the doings of
their playing pieces, to truly love the world they had created. It was
their devotion to this world that first showed the gods that they had
hearts .

True, the dice sometimes go ill, and failures come, but such is the
way of things.

Into this world, there appeared one particular adventurer.

He was an unexceptional young man. His wits did not distinguish
him, nor his talents, nor his birth, nor his equipment, nor anything.

He was just a human warrior, such as you might find anywhere.

All the gods liked him, but this did not presage great things for
him.

He would not save the world.

He might not even change anything.

After all, he was just another pawn, such as you might find
anywhere…

But this adventurer was a little different from the others.

He was extremely careful, always thinking of plans, acting,
training, letting no opportunity pass him by.

He did not let the gods roll the dice.

He did not need birth, or talent, or cheats.

Such things were as rubbish to him.

Even the gods were in his eyes irrelevant.

But one day, the gods realized something.

He would not save the world.

He might not even change anything.

After all, he was just another pawn, such as you might find
anywhere.

But he would not let the gods roll the dice.

Thus, even the gods did not know what this adventurer’s fate
would be.

His fight continues somewhere even now.

AFTERWORD

Hi, everyone. Kumo Kagyu here.

This book is hardly perfect, but I put everything I had into it. If you
enjoyed reading it, I will be thrilled.

I want to start out with something very important:

The adventurer depicted in this book has had a great deal of
training. Please don’t try this at home (without the permission of

your Game Master).

The “weirdo” known as Goblin Slayer came out of a simple
question: What would a fantasy world be like if it were home to an
adventurer who only hunted goblins? From that question came a
seed, and I kept writing from that seed until I had a whole work on
my hands, and now that work has turned into a novel…

Over the two years it has taken for this book to see publication, my
life has been full of people who could only be here by fate or
perhaps extremely good luck:

All those who were interested in the seeds planted by that first
ques tion.

All those who encouraged me to turn those ideas into a novel.

All those who reviewed the novel.

Without every one of you, I would not be where I am now. Thank
you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

I could never have dreamed this book would be picked up for a
manga version before it was even published. If life is like a box of
chocolates, I certainly never knew I was going to get this.

Speaking of incredible things:

There is a type of game referred to as tabletop role-playing games
(RPGs) or “pen and paper RPGs,”

because you play them with a pen, paper, and dice. I have played
tabletop RPGs for more than ten years now and will continue to
play them for the foreseeable future—and here I’ve gotten to write
a novel about them. My debut novel, no less. If I were to go back in
time and tell my younger self this was how things would go, he
would never believe me.

To the many Player Characters who have lived and died,

adventured and retired: I couldn’t have done this without
everything I learned from you. You have my profound gratitude.

I haven’t had a chance to write acknowledgments until now, and
there are more people to thank than I can even count…

First, to all the readers of the online version of this book. You were
there for me when it all started.

To all the friends involved in creating this book, thank you for your
encouragement and your critiques.

Your efforts helped make this book what it is.

To everyone who has gamed with me over the last decade, thank
you. Let’s go zombie killing again sometime.

To Noboru Kannatuki, my wonderfully talented illustrator: All the
characters are adorable. Yippee!

To Kousuke Kurose, who is responsible for the manga version of
the book: Thank you so much for taking on this project.

To the editor who gave me so much guidance and to the entire
editorial staff at GA Bunko.

To everyone I never even met who worked to publish and promote
this book, thank you.

To Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone, Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson,
Ukyou Kodachi, and Kiyomune Miwa.

Sorcery! , Dungeons & Dragons, and Chaos Flare changed my
life.

And finally, to everyone reading this book. Thank you so much. I
hope to meet you someday—I can’t wait.

Till next time!

Kumo Kagyu

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Document Outline

Ins ert
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1: The Fate of Some Adventurers
Interlude: The Gods
Chapter 2: Cow Girl’s Day
Chapter 3: Guild Girl’s Reflections
Chapter 4: The Mountain Fortress Burns
Interlude: Guild Girl
Chapter 5: Unexpected Visitors
Interlude: The Heavy Warrior
Chapter 6: Traveling Companions
Chapter 7: Goblin Slayer
Chapter 8: Goblin Slaying
Chapter 9: The Strong Ones
Interlude: The Hero
Chapter 10: Dozing
Chapter 11: AParty of Adventurers
Chapter 12: Over the Goblins’ Hill
Chapter 13: The Fate of an Adventurer
Afterword
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