By Mizuho Itsuki and fuumi. Released in Japan as “Shinmai Renkinjutsushi no Tenpo Keiei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.
It has to be said, either you are reading this series because you cannot get enough of Sarasa, or you dropped the series in disgust after this volume because of what Sarasa does in it. There’s not really a happy medium here, you’re not going to find anyone who mildly likes Sarasa but has some issues. The issues are the reason to read this. She is, on the surface, a brilliant young alchemist whose odd sense of modesty manages to somewhat hide the fact that she’s a huge powerhouse who (to the shock of everyone in the cast) is apprenticed to the most famous alchemist in the country. In the first volume, we saw her overpoweredness, and also her ruthlessness with money. Here we also see her merchant side. We still don’t get that anime flashback, but we know her parents are dead, and were merchants. This is why, towards the end, when she is accosted by bandits, she beats the shit out of them. And then, when they beg for their lives, she murders them all. And takes their stuff. This is your heroine, please get used to it.
After spending the first part of this book fixing up her shop after the damage from the hellflame grizzlies, she decides to add a few necessities to the house, such a a magic stove, a fridge/freezer, etc. To Sarasa, these are sensible items. To everyone else, they’re mind-boggling luxury, and the inn owner they know is absolutely willing to pay through the nose for a magic stove if it means she and her husband don’t have to constantly get new wood all the time. Sarasa is also after frostbite bat fangs, which she can essentially use to make portable fans for hats. This involves going to a very smelly cave and killing a lot of bats, some hilarious but dangerous consequences. Unfortunately, Sarasa looks like she stepped out of the pages of a Kirara manga. Which means a rival merchant is in town, and is treating her like a sucker. But it’s fine. Sarasa’s not the type to crush someone. Oh, wait, he’s actually a louse who’s blackmailing others. OK, yeah, destroy his ass.
Lest people think that this title is filled with nothing but Sarasa being ruthless, rest assured the bulk of it is still cute girls doing cute things. Lorea firmly sets herself up as not only Sarasa’s shop assistant but also her conscience, and we get a crash course in why shop assistants tend to stick with alchemists forever (along with a smidge of no homo, which I will blithely ignore for the moment, the one potential marriage partner we meet in this book spends his entire page count getting emasculated b y his childhood friend). Kate is cool, Iris is goofy, and the two of them are absolutely not from a suspicious background that they’re not talking about right now, nope. There’s also a lot of talk of how alchemy works, how business pricing works, and how the two combine. It’s pretty nerdy, actually, but very readable.
If a cute 15-year-old girl killing ten bandits because they tried to rob her and they may prey on others bothers you, this is not the series for you. On the other hand, I know it’s fiction, and frankly, I find Sarasa too delightfully weird (in a good way) to worry too much.