By Yukiya Murasaki and himesuz. Released in Japan as “Haken no Kouki Altina” by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of these books are devoted to scenes of battle, with clever tactics and lots of cool action. It’s well-written, but it does leave very little for me to talk about. I am reminded of reviewing those titles like K-On! or Sunshine Sketch, which rely on cute girls doing cute things. Here we have soldiers doing soldier things. Or, in the case of this particular book, sailors doing sailor things. The enemy is simply better at everything right now, and so Regis is sent to try to stop their supply line. This involves trying to outwit their naval force, something Regis is once again able to do with the help of some books he read once. That gimmick, I fear, will only take him so far. That said, there are more important things going on here that will affect future books: first, Regis won the battle but lost the war, and second, battle commander Latrielle has a war injury that is far more serious than anyone thinks.

The scene with Latrielle and his aide meeting up with Altina and Regis is a very interesting one. Regis notices Latrielle is acting oddly, and is puzzled, but doesn’t really get to the bottom of what’s wrong, and neither does the reader until it’s revealed to us afterward. In the meantime, Regis finally gets listened to by actual powerful people. He also gets a promotion that comes with a title, meaning he can add ‘du’ to his name – not that he plans on doing this. His attempts at remaining a quiet little adviser who reads books seem to be growing less likely every day. Altina also sticks by his side throughout the book, which is handy as he gets to explain everything to her muscle brains. (Her loathing of reading is palpable here.) We also meet a version of what the two of them would be if they were commoners, as Regis hires a boat run by the perky Narissa and her aggrieved childhood friend Phip. Altina is nice enough to forgive Narissa being rude to a princess, but is also immature enough to be jealous of her and Regis getting close.

As for the naval battle itself, we don’t see much of it from the other side except from the perspective of one ship captain, Morins, who would prefer to spend most of his time in bed with his adjutant, Laurelin. He’s clearly meant to be an antagonist who will crop up again someday, so it’s rather annoying that he’s such a sexist asshole. On the bright side, that means I’m quite pleased to see how he gets routed by Regis, who comes up with such clever strategies as “ram the ship with a rowboat full of explosives”. His seasickness means we’re unlikely to see him putting his brain to use for the Navy all that often, but it’s still impressive. Now if only he could take some pride in his achievements. Or even notice that both Altina and Clarisse are clearly in love with him.

The rather imperfect victory at the end of this volume means, I suspect, that the next book in the series will be a bit more serious. Till then, though, this is another fun example of a military potboiler, with a likeable lead couple (even if they aren’t one yet).

By Yukiya Murasaki and himesuz. Released in Japan as “Haken no Kouki Altina” by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

We start things off in this volume with the the battle Altina and Regis came to at the start of the fourth book. They win, but it isn’t pretty, and there are a lot of casualties, which briefly devastates Regis, who until now has been fairly lucky in his plans having minimal fatal consequences. They also lose Eric, who gets an arrow to the shoulder and has to be left behind. But they are able to muster a force and set out to help fight against Brittania, whose main force are the villains we met last time – Oswald, the eccentric tactician, and Margaret, the bored and changeable queen, who are likely meant to be a dark counterpart to our hero and heroine. Regis and Altina both must deal with the other companies of soldiers looking down on and belittling them. Can they survive what turns out to be a fierce battle? And, most importantly, can Regis survive meeting up with his sister?

Meeting up with Vanessa is probably the highlight of this book for readers who aren’t here for the combat. She’s a lot of fun, and I love her husband (he’s a blacksmith who is tasked with fixing Altina’s massive sword, which she broke in the initial battle of this book, and he’s also a sword nerd who will no doubt make it 800 times better). That said, I was intrigued by the serious core of her story, as she reveals just how Regis got his superhuman lack of self-confidence. It’s rather sad, and fits very well with a twelve-year-old girl who’s trying to be the adult in the family but is still emotionally growing and does not take kindly to having a younger sibling who’s brilliant. It also shows that words matter, and things that you teach kids can leave lingering scars even after you no longer mean them.

As for the battle itself, it’s a classic case of “we are arrogant and will listen to our arrogant tactician’, which sadly leads to piles on piles of dead soldiers and a tactician who has his mind broken by events. Luckily, Regis is there to ave the day, though I think he’s going to need to learn how to think about battles that are not related to a fantasy book he happened to read a while back. And the battle is won at great cost, while the war is still going. I expect this war will continue into the 6th book. One interesting feature was showing us a brief look at a common soldier, charging into the enemy. He’s a farmer and sets off several death flags, including mentioning wanting to see his wife and kids back home. Imagine my surprise when he shows up at the end to be the one soldier who was not beaten down by the battle and who wants their fight to actually mean something. I wonder if we’ll see more of him.

It may be a bit – Book 6 has not yet debuted on J-NC’s site – but I will definitely be sticking around for the next book in this series, an underrated military history where the only fantasy element is that it’s set in “not-France”.

By Yukiya Murasaki and himesuz. Released in Japan as “Haken no Kouki Altina” by Famitsu Bunko. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Roy Nukia.

This book starts off with Altina and company, who are recovering from running away from the palace only to find themselves attacked by the country whose fort they overtook in the second volume. What’s more, war has just been declared between their nation and Britannia. So they’re in a pinch – can they defend what they took and ALSO send troops to defend the country? Well, we might find out next time, because this book isn’t about Altina, but her older brother Bastian, who has essentially been exiled to Britannia for being too much of a handful, and is busy going to school as a disguised noble. Unfortunately, the OTHER disguised noble at his school, Eliza, is suddenly in the middle of a nasty power struggle between those who want war and those who want peace. We know how it turns out (war is at the start of the book, after all), but getting there is entertaining and feels like a different series by the same author.

Altina sometimes had tendencies of “idiot hero” in the first three books, but could also strategize and listen to more tactical advice. Bastian, on the other hand, is absolutely the very definition of idiot hero to a ridiculous degree. He’s writing a book, you see (despite some spelling mistakes), a book of derring-do and adventure and really cool battle scenes. He is, in other words, under a severe “middle school syndrome” spell, which is even more annoying given he’s in the equivalent of high school. He’s also from a different country, though, and so has to deal with petty bullying from other guys who are asking why he’s always writing in that book, then taking the book and keeping it from him. Never let it be said the author doesn’t know his tropes. Of course, once Eliza vanishes and then needs rescuing, it turns out Bastian is really an insanely overpowered guy who can run as fast as a horse and has a magical dagger. Frankly, his own life makes the better story.

Eliza is the preferred heir that the dying queen wants, but she’s a pacifist, and the people seemingly want war – or so we’re told. Fortunately, there’s another princess who can be Queen that is more amenable to war, provided that it’s not dull. Margaret is the polar opposite of the relatively innocent, staid Eliza – she’s the seductive vamp type. The power mostly resides in her aide, Oswald, who does want war – infinite war, forever. He’s that sort of guy. The two of them actually make quite a good double act, and I hope we see them both again. Admittedly, it does also mean that this book doesn’t have a very happy ending – Eliza and Bastian are on the run, her country is at war, and the one thing she had that could prove she was the rightful heir is lost in their escape. It’s a downer all around. But hey, at least they’re not dead. The author is not quite that mean.

Despite ending on a down note, this is a fun, breezy read, and another strong entry in the series. Next time I expect we’ll get back to Altina.