By Almond and Yoshiro Ambe. Released in Japan as “Mujikaku Seijo wa Kyō mo Muishiki ni Chikara o Tare Nagasu: Imadai no Seijo wa Anede wa Naku, Imōto no Watashi Datta Mitai Desu” by Earth Star Luna. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Dawson Chen.

Every volume of this series has me being fairly ambivalent about it, so it feels very appropriate that, when I read the afterword to this 4th and final volume, my first thought was “yeah, you should have gone with your initial instinct, it would have felt far more real and in character”. But I suppose it wouldn’t be Oblivious Saint if it wasn’t hitting all the really obvious beats. And thus Flora, who is really fascinating in the first part of the book as we see her literally consume herself with desperate rage to the point and death, ends up suddenly realizing how horrible she’s been her whole life after realizing how much Carolina looks like their late mother. It’s a head-tilting swerve, and is 100% unironic and, if I’m being honest, 100% out of character. But I guess the author’s right. Ending dark would subvert the very basic story being told.

It’s time for the big Saint Competition final, and there are twenty-three candidates competing. That said, the only ones the reader has to worry about are Carolina and Flora. Carolina is told to stop holding back, and she certainly does so, wiping the floor with everyone else. Meanwhile, Flora is also doing very well, but it’s clearly killing her – literally. She ends up having to have her life saved by her sister, the ultimate humiliation. Anyway, in a plot point so obvious I’m not worried about spoiling, Carolina wins and is now the Saint of all, with full approval of the church. Hell, she even grows SIX angel wings when she goes all out to heal Flora. Now she has only two things to worry about: going back to her birthplace for a festival, and trying to actually consummate her marriage.

I had anticipated that Ed and Carolina’s lack of a sex life would end up being a plot point, and I was mostly wrong – there’s no “you aren’t really married, ha ha!” twist, and Gilbert’s obvious love for Carolina is dealt with (surprise) in a very straightforward and earnest way. That said, the best part of the book is Ed confessing his worries to Teodore – that he is so aflame with passion that he will only end up hurting his new bride with his fiery, violent lovemaking. To which Teodore, rightly, calls Ed a massive coward and says that all his worries are complete and total bullshit. Teodore’s sarcastic, biting remarks have been a high point of each book, so I was pleased to see him point out that Carolina has obviously also been wanting to have sex with him and, if Ed keeps this up, may simply think he doesn’t love her like that at all. Rest assured, by the end of the book they have done the deed, and Carolina is fine – in fact, she worries he was so gentle HE wasn’t satisfied.

In the end, this was a bit too on-the-nose for me, and I sort of wish Flora got the unhappy ending she longed for. There are better saint books.