Dai Katana Light Novel Volume 1

## Goblin Slayer Side Story II: Dai Katana

* Japanese
* English

**Goblin Slayer Side Story II: Dai Katana** is a light novel written by Kumo Kagyu and illustrated by lack.

## Official Synopsis

Not so very long ago, the Death began stalking the continent. The King of Time issued a proclamation: "Find the source of this Death and seal it away." The source: the Dungeon of the Dead. A fortress city that arose at the mouth of the Dungeon serves Adventurers who seek companions, challenge the Dungeon, battle, find loot... and sometimes die.

You are an Adventurer who has come to the fortress city in hopes of reaching the Dungeon's lower-most depths, but can you and your party conquer the untold evils that lurk beneath the surface?

## Chapters

1. Step 1: Red Blade of Doom
2. Step 2: Wire-Frame Proving Grounds
3. Step 3: Bushwackers and Highwaymen

## Summary

### Step 1: Red Blade of Doom

As six Adventurers struggle against a formidable opponent wielding a red blade, Myrmidon Monk alerts them to a horde of nightwalkers. A combination of Dispel and Fusion Blast is able to obliterate the horde, but the foe with the red blade is unharmed; while the captain barely manages to avoid its attack, Female Warrior is nearly decapitated and Half-Elf Scout is impaled through the abdomen. The enemy then casts a powerful spell which incapacitates all but the captain and Female Bishop, who struggles to stand up. The enemy mockingly declares their adventure's end, and moves to attack the captain with the red blade, it being the symbol of Death. Someone calls to the captain, but before he is able to answer, the red blade moves, and blood is spilled.

### Step 2: Wire-Frame Proving Grounds

Sometime earlier, Captain, Female Wizard, and Half-Elf Scout arrive at the famous tavern *Golden Knight*, having just arrived at the fortress city built at the entrance of the Dungeon of the Dead, with the intention of challenging the Dungeon as Adventurers. The first thing Captain notices as they enter the tavern is the out of place and unhappy looking Female Bishop; but he soon turns his attention to the rest of the tavern causing, Female Wizard, his second cousin who calls herself his big sister and likes to act like she is, to chide him to not stare. As they take a seat, Half-Elf Scout recommends expanding their Party with a couple more spellcasters and frontliners; given the Party has one Frontline Warrior (Captain) and two Rearguard Scout (himself) and Wizard (Female Wizard). Taking note of Female Bishop, noting her *Appraisal* skill denotes her as a skilled Cleric, leading Female Wizard to recommend asking Female Bishop to join their Party.

Just as Captain begins considering the idea, two Adventurers come up to see if Female Bishop has finished appraising the items they requested and they're rude and unhappy with the results of her work. As this happens, Captain's Padfoot Waitress explains Female Bishop's tragic past with the Goblins and her getting abandoned by her previous Party. As the pair start to give Female Bishop more trouble and belittle her for failing a Goblin hunt, Captain moves to intervene but quickly realizes he might be in over his head. Before things get uglier, Knight of Diamonds steps in and easily intimidates the bullies into leaving, chiding them for not accepting Female Bishop's obvious Appraisal for their rusty and mold equipment. As they leave, Knight of Diamonds chastises Captain for confronting an opponent too strong to handle, even though if it was for honorable reasons, trying to emphasize being "smart" over "honorable" in the business of Dungeon Delving as well as how the bullies had just lost four of their friends in the Dungeon.

As Knight of Diamonds takes his leave, Female Wizard and Half-Elf Scout join Captain at Female Bishop's table trying to scout her for their Party. She hesitates and cites her lack of experience, but with the party reminding her of their own inexperience, she finally accepts. With their party up to four members, Half-Elf Scout suggests checking out the city's Temple next. Captain looks at all the shops established to service Adventurers, bringing up wealth from the Dungeon. Female Wizard takes the opportunity to buy Female Bishop a cloth to cover her scarred eyes with claiming it makes her look "mysterious". All the while, Half-Elf Scout silently complains about why women like to shop so much, as he had hoped to get to the Temple by now.

They arrive at the Temple just as Trade Nun is kicking a couple of Adventurers for not paying her for her services. The Temple has many Adventurers praying in it, but it's primary purpose is treating the wounded and asking divine boons, for a price. Noticing that they’re new to town, Trade Nun "politely" greets the Party as Captain realizes her attitude is due to the sheer amount of non-believers and ruffians constantly coming to her Temple for assistance and expecting charity. Female Bishop diffuses the situation by offering a small donation to Trade Nun, to which she is grateful to see her fellow Cleric has made new companions and gives her a blessing.

Satisfied, Half-Elf Scout then requests that they scout for more Party members in her Temple, to which Trade Nun allows after she accepts and leaves for other duties. As they begin to scout, Half-Elf Scout makes mention of Trade Nun's *Preservation* Miracle which is used to put Adventurers whose parties can’t afford the healing fee into stasis, stabilizing them and putting them to sleep until such time they can afford to pay for a Miracle like *Resurrection*. He proposes paying to revive someone and have them join their Party to pay off the debt of the healing fee. This however, rubs Female Bishop and Female Wizard the wrong way, preferring to avoid such a method of recruitment and Captain concurs, thinking that it should be a last resort.

Further discussion is interrupted by the arrival of Female Warrior, who is dragging five body bags behind her. As a priestess attends to her, Captain recognizes that she’s an Adventurer whose party had been wiped out and Female Bishop recognizes her as someone who’d been kind enough to talk to her at the tavern. Finishing with the priestess and hearing them talk about her, Female Warrior comes over to introduce herself and congratulate Female Bishop on finding some friends. Female Warrior introduces herself by telling them an identification number and that he "Party" was only a group who hired her as extra muscle the day before. Seeing she's looking for a Party invite, Captain challenges her to a "single Strike" to gauge her strength and is not disappointed her abilities. Further talk is interrupted by Trade Nun who briefly scolds them for engaging in violence in the Temple, but nevertheless she gives them a blessing in the name of the Temple’s role of being a place of meetings as Female Warrior is accepted into the party.

Seeing that the rest of the Party is looking for another Spellcaster, Female Warrior takes the group to the Wizball stadium and introducing them to Myrmidon Monk. After questioning their intentions and goals, Myrmidon Monk agrees to join the Party much to the rest of the group's surprise. As they begin pooling their resources and supplies to begin a delve, the Party realizes Myrmidon Monk is an extremely talented cartographer, meaning his map making abilities should be very useful in navigating the Dungeon and back. As they prepare to enter the Dungeon though, their enthusiasm is toned down by a Royal Guardswoman who hands them body bags in case of death and realizing they lack an actual plan and strategy.

After some deliberation, the Party plans to hit a chamber, grab the loot, and leave; also Female Wizard is placed in charge of the back row. However, said chamber is filled with Goblins which causes Female Bishop to suffer a panic attack. Down a Party Member immediately, the Party is able to slay the group with minimal injuries and a treasure chest full of gold coins! While Half-Elf Scout believes they are set for *LIFE*, Female Warrior bursts his bubble by reminding him lodgings and everything in the Fortress City is overpriced and Female Wizard even notes she's not sure the gold coins are traded in the City, potentially making them worthless after conversion.

As they start to make their way out, the Party is attacked by a group of Slimes, which offer them no trouble; until one surprises them and jumps on Female Warrior's head. As she struggles to breath, Myrmidon Monk and Half-Elf Scout try to cut the Slime off, but worry about cutting her and loudly debate if a cut was better than drowning. Female Bishop then quickly used a minor flame spell to burn the Slime causing it retreat to it's death and allowing Captain to help Female Warrior cough up the liquid in her lungs, saving her.

Returning to town and back to the Tavern to recoup, the Party finds the Tavern to be alight with glee, and discovers the Knight of Diamonds and his Party had successfully cleared an entire floor of the Dungeon, discovered a new floor, and practically made a mint in the process. Looking back on their latest delve, Captain and the rest feel more like failures in retrospect and comparison. Things are made all the worse when Captain and Knight of Diamonds remember each other, making Captain's sting even worse.

Depressed, Captain orders cots for the ladies while he and Myrmidon Monk and Half-Elf Scout take the stables, and reserves a table for them to debrief tomorrow. As they sleep, Captain leaves to practice and reflect on his first dungeon delve and his abilities as a leader. From her room window, Female Warrior calls out to him, apologizing for her earlier screw up with the Slime. However, Captain reflects and downplays it, stating that they all took their first Adventure together and came out alive and that's what he cared about. As they bid each other a good night, Captain reaffirms his resolve and reiterates that Female Bishop's panic attack and Female Warrior's near death were not something they needed to apologize for; they were issues that teamwork and experience can and *will* over come.

### Step 3: Bushwackers and Highwaymen

Returning to the Dungeon later, the Party eventually run into more Slimes which they've notice seem to have taken a liking to going after Female Warrior. After successfully completing another delve the Party returns to the Tavern and plays a game of cards, a game that Female Wizard wins *soundly* in with her incredible luck. As they plot their next delve, the Party is warned about "scruffy men": Adventurers who have taken to killing other Adventurers for their gear and loot in the Dungeon.

Suddenly, a pair of young girl Adventurers barged in the tavern looking for help, their Party was stuck in the Dungeon trying to help others who had been attacked and wounded. Sadly their pleas go unheard but at Female Bishop and even Female Warrior's urging, Captain decides to rally his Party to go on the rescue. Rather quickly the rest of the Party becomes pretty enthusiastic about lending a helping hand and agree to help. Journeying with them, The Party discover "Scruffy Men" had been behind the attack on the Party of the Young Girls and others. After taking care of the killers, The Party are able to rescue the Young Adventurers and salvage the wounded Adventurers they were trying to help. After dragging the dead and wounded to Trade Nun for help, Captain and the rest of the Party give any rewards to the Party of young girls for their bravery and compassion. Pleased, Trade Nun prays for future good fortune for Captain as his Party.

## References

1. ↑ https://yenpress.com/9781975318239/goblin-slayer-side-story-ii-dai-katana-vol-1-light-novel/
2. ↑ Yen Press on Twitter: "@LTython This one is coming out December!"