This episode mostly takes place in Noble Fencer’s training school, with all the “named” rookies in the cast receiving training from some of the veterans, including Goblin Slayer. It’s kind of funny how Spearman and Female Knight subject their students to some physically intensive activities while at the same time, Goblin Slayer is somewhere else methodically explaining how to create and use a sling. His tact could stand to be better but the man is pretty good at teaching tactics, presumably thanks to the time he’s spent with Priestess.
While taking a break with the other rookies. Wizard Boy can’t help but complain about Goblin Slayer, finding him weird and disagreeing with how he fights goblins. While his peers agree with him on the former point, they don’t budge on the latter as there’s no denying that Goblin Slayer is good at what he does. Priestess then hangs out with them and the five proceed to talk about their dreams in life. When Wizard Boy scoffs and says all he wants to do is kill goblins, Priestess indirectly mentions Wizard and her dream of killing a dragon one day. That’s a risky move as who knows how Wizard Boy will react should he put two and two together but citing someone close to Wizard Boy is a very fitting counterpoint to his pragmaticism.
After training, Goblin Slayer joins Spearman and Heavy Warrior (Daisuke Hamano) for a boys’ night out. I love that Goblin Slayer asks Cow Girl (Yuka Iguchi) for permission to hang out with them. He’s not married to her but he sure acts like he is in this one moment. It’s nice of Spearman to invite Goblin Slayer. That’s a good follow-up to their little bro moment in the last episode and I’m glad to see more of two on friendlier terms now. Heavy Warrior’s inclusion in the hangout is also neat. The guy respects Goblin Slayer for saving his village from goblins and he did help in the final fight of Season 1 but this is the first time these two are actually conversing with each other.
A fun bit of banter that occurs during the boys’ night is when Spearman and Heavy Warrior ask Goblin Slayer if he’ll ever settle down with someone. About time someone in the show point out the harem Goblin Slayer has garnered. Goblin Slayer doesn’t give any hints if he has feelings for any of the ladies; all he says is that he won’t pursue a relationship until he’s done slaying goblins (and who knows if that’ll ever happen). I’m shocked that Spearman asks if Goblin Slayer will date Guild Girl. Dude has been flirting with Guild Girl since the start of the show and he’s always agitated with how much more interested she is in Goblin Slayer. Then again, he’s clearly inebriated so he’s probably feeling a bit bold here.
Boys’ night surprisingly takes a serious turn when the boys share what their respective dreams are. Spearman wants to be famous and Heavy Warrior desires to be king. As we all know, Goblin Slayer only aspires to kill them goblins though he does confide to the other guys that he once wished to be a hero or at least a more romanticized adventurer than the pest exterminator he’s resigned himself to be. It’s a great parallel to the rookies’ conversation from earlier. The difference is that the Silver ranked adventurers have accepted that they lack the time to realize their aspirations and they instead take solace that they can help the rookies realize theirs.
Near the end of the episode, it’s revealed that the training grounds as well as a surrounding village is being constructed on the remains of Goblin Slayer and Cow Girl’s home village. I doubt Noble Fencer knew about this and with how ruined the village from the goblins raiding it, it was likely open to reconstruction anyway. Still, the development comes with mixed feelings for the survivors. Cow Girl thinks they need to accept the change for what it is while Goblin Slayer admits that he can’t move on just yet. I think the only reason Goblin Slayer doesn’t look too bothered, aside from the fact that he’s covered in armor, is the fact that he’s preoccupied with adventuring and training adventurers.
We also see in this scene, Cow Girl looking upset once Goblin Slayer leaves her. Goblin Slayer has been busy enough with slaying goblins (and his fate is always an uncertainty when he’s away) but now, he has training the rookies added onto the workload. More than before, it seems that Cow Girl is feeling lonely. That coincides really well with the new training center replacing the old village. Adventuring is taking up Goblin Slayer’s life and that’s a change that Cow Girl can do nothing about aside from accepting it.
If you feel this episode is severely lacking in goblin screentime, don’t worry. The show brings them back at the very last scene. Funny how this happens right as Goblin Slayer is about to lecture the rookies on how to kill goblins. I guess this is now a practicum for them. In an earlier scene, Rhea Fighter agreed to team up with Priestess; her previous party being disbanded at the moment. I’m curious if that team up will happen during this next encounter with the goblins. Maybe Priestess will finally have her time to shine.
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