Walking My Second Path in Life, Vol. 2

By Otaku de Neet and Kurodeko. Released in Japan as “Watashi wa Futatsume no Jinsei wo Aruku!” by Earth Star Entertainment. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Shirley Yeung.

Towards the end of the second volume of this series, there’s a scene where Fie, our heroine, realizes that she’s sort of been coasting along from day to day as a squire without giving much thought to her future or what her goals are. I’m not entirely sure that the author meant it to apply to the series as a whole as well, but it’s a somewhat apt comparison. This second volume of Second Path feels at times like a short story anthology based around the main story, and is content to meander along as such. We still have never met Fie’s sister, and while Fie reveals who she really is to someone else in this book, it doesn’t really change much for her on the larger scale. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a fun series to read, and I enjoy the antics of Fie/Heath. I just get the sense that the author had a great idea for a series but has absolutely no endgame in mind.

There are two major events in this second volume, the larger of which is a competition between Fie’s dorm and the students of the Eastern dorm, their biggest rivals. There are a few characters introduced who seem to be something of a stock type – the arrogant jerk who belittles everyone, the stoic analytic guy, etc. This does serve to give us a bit more character development for a few of Fie’s fellow knights – in fact, Fie’s own battle is the odd anticlimax to the whole thing, mostly as she can’t win through normal means, so resorts to “the letter of the law, not the spirit” to achieve a sort of Pyrrhic victory. It’s thoroughly in character, but reminds you that whether she’s a princess or a knight, Fie is a giant brat.

The other major part of this book is inserting a romance into it. There’s the king, of course, who flits in and out of the book disguised as the Knight Commander, and who will no doubt become an issue once he and Fie realize who the other one is. But sensibly, the author writes the romance using the most developed character besides Fie; Queen, the socially awkward young man who went from “pet” to “friend” over the course of time. Queen’s always had something of a crush on Fie, and in this second book that expands greatly to full-blown attraction. This leads to the funniest scene in the book, which I really don’t want to spoil but is both hilarious and painfully embarrassing, especially if you’re a guy. That said, Fie is not entirely sure if she feels that way about Queen, and after taking advice that dating will be good “life experience” for her, she and Queen hooking up seems a bit less impactful than it could be.

Walking My Second Path in Life feels like walking along a long, meandering path with great scenery. You enjoy the view. Then you look up after 45 minutes and realize you have no idea where the heck you are. Fortunately, we’ve caught up with Japan now, so we’ll let the author try to figure it out while Fie flits along from day to day.