By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

It’s a good thing these books are coming out every two months rather than every three or four, as they definitely rely on a reader remembering everything that has come before. Nothing that happens in these books is ever truly forgotten, and it ranges from Rozemyne’s worrying about her autumn monster hunt (the one she accidentally failed last year) to remembering a very minor character who popped in about 7-8 books ago. To be fair, Rozemyne does not remember him either, and the books are not written in such a way that they are incomprehensible if you haven’t done your homework. It does serve to show off how important and prevalent the worldbuilding in this series is. Rozemyne still has aspects of the world she now lives in that she is unaware of, and this is fortuitous, as it can themn be explained to us without sounding too much like infodumping. This includes family politics, a rather more serious part of the series.

Given the size of each volume, it’s no surprise there’s a lot going on in this one. Rozemyne gets her summer ingredient for the “fix my broken body tour”, which involves going inside a volcano and stealing an egg – expect lots of hot springs references. The printing press is finished, and we get to see them printing their first non-picture books. Brigitte’s dress is finished, and she makes a stunning appearance at an event, showing off how good tall, muscular, busty women look in this new fashion – and getting a proposal from the earnest Damuel, though more on that in a bit. We also visit Illgner to search for new kinds of paper, and if Rozemyne’s world is the equivalent of Boston, this would be the equivalent of Portland, Maine. In her spare time, Rozemyne also invents hand pumps for wells (deliberately) and intelligent talking swords (accidentally). The biggest issue, though, is the arrival of Georgine, Sylvester’s older sister and. let’s face it, the story’s new villain.

One thing brought up here is marriages in this society, and how nobles tend to marry based on mana capacity. This is why Brigitte doesn’t see Damuel as a partner – his mana is not strong enough, though he’s working to make it more impressive, and asks her to wait a year for him to improve. It also shows off why Rozemyne, in the future, will have a limited number of partners – and sorry, Lutz fans, he ain’t gonna be one of them. Brought up in this volume are Wilfried, which I cannot see working at all given his behavior through the entire series, and Ferdinand, a suggestion proposed by Sylvester that is immediately shot down by both parties. Fortunately, Rozemyne is still about nine years old here, so we don’t have to worry about this anytime soon.

The book ends very ominously, with Georgina’s faction gleefully talking about plotting against Rozemyne – indeed, they talk about torturing her. What’s more, the next book in the series is the final one in this arc. I know the series goes on long after this, but it is worrying that Rozemyne’s life as an adopted daughter may be coming to an end soon. Till then, this remains essential reading.

By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

Last time I talked about how Rozemyne, try as she might, is not going to drag this world kicking and screaming into the 20th century anytime soon. Indeed, anyone reading this series hoping for a class war starting between the elite nobles and the clever commoners has probably already checked out by now. Rozemyne may tell Ferdinand that she will never be comfortable with killing another person – and thank God for that! – but she is still going to stay a noble and try to follow noble rules. Of course, there are other ways to subvert society, and we find that her cards and picture books are doing this far more than most people are ready for. Kids are learning fast. Very fast. Heck, even Angelica, her bodyguard who took the job because it would mean she didn’t have to study at school – ends up learning with a sufficient reward dangled in front of her. The Revolution Will Be Printed.

As you can see by the cover, much of this book takes place in winter, though fortunately Rozemyne only has one “and then I was in bed for days” incident in the book. She’s gathering ingredients for her cure, which can involve fighting a massive snow leopard monster who can create hideous blizzards, or can involve collecting nectar from a hot spring that proves to be a lot more sentient than Ferdinand was expecting. So there’s actually a fair bit of action here. We also get to see Rozemyne play politics, as she gets the noble kids to work together, teaches them without it being overt (the best kind of teaching), and starts to create the idea of lending libraries, getting one poor noble’s daughter books in return for hearing new stories that her mother had told her. Honestly, if it were not for the resolution of what happened with the Mayor last book, this would be a light and fluffy volume.

It is not a light and fluffy volume. Rozemyne is forced to not only watch the Mayor, his wife, and a few people who had shown (thank to Ferdinand’s magic) that they were disloyal be killed, but also to see how nobility in general regards commoners as little better than animals, and their lives absolutely do not matter. Much as we would like to see her fix this, Rozemyne is still about 7 years old here, and cannot bend the world to their will quite that much. The execution itself is fantastical in nature but also horrific, and much is made of the fact that those killed with be unburied and unremembered. Fortunately, we do move from this to the Hot Springs episode, which, fortunately, does not lead to a bunch of fanservice as it would in any other title. The closest we get to fanservice is Rozemyne giving Brigitte a present of a fashionable dress, and remarking on her large chest. As for the hot springs ingredient gathering, it’s honestly hilarious, especially in retrospect. Even Rosemyne and Brigitte getting eaten by a giant toad just made me think of KonoSuba (it’s OK, they get out).

There’s two more volumes to go in this arc, and I’ve really no idea where it’s going to go, other than better printing, more books, etc. But that’s fine. Even the chapters discussing springs and leverage are interesting in this series. It remains a must read.

By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

Let’s face it, Rozemyne has done a lot for the world she now lives in. From all of her printing achievements, which have the potential to change the world as everyone knows it, to even such things as shampoo, the footprint of Myne/Rozemyne is everywhere. However, there is a limit to what she can achieve. Ehrenfest is not going to slowly become modern-day Earth. What’s more, there is a disconnect between a) the way nobles think, b) the way Rozemyne thinks as a commoner who was raised into the nobility; c) the way Urano thinks as a former modern-day Japanese woman who’s been reincarnated with her memories; and d) Rozemyne’s natural eccentricity. As such, sometimes she doesn’t get how other people think, and other people assume that she is familiar with things that she absolutely is not. This becomes a big problem in this book, where Rozemyne taking some abused orphans from a local mayor turns out to have many, many repercussions.

Of course, Rozemyne has an additional problem that she has to deal with, which is that Ferdinand is not only assuming that she gets all the nuances and subtleties with which he speaks, but is also, in his own way, as eccentric as Rozemyne. He is the definition of “it would be easier if I just did everything myself”, and the fact that he can only makes life harder, especially as Rozemyne also falls into that category a lot. This leads to her having a near emotional breakdown when he tells her to solve the problem that she’s gotten herself into, implying that the entire TOWN has to die because of her actions. While Benno and the others are able to help Rozemyne flip the problem on its head (don’t think about how to kill the mayor, think about how to save everyone who is NOT the Mayor), Rosemyne and the reader are left with the harsh reality of a world that does not run on modern-day ethics and morals.

Fortunately, the rest of the book is not as serious as this. There’s a cool action scene as Rozemyne goes to the forest to get ingredients for the potion that will help her Devouring and the forest is overrun by monsters. More importantly, Wilfried once again whines about how easy Rozemyne has it, and she proposes changing roles for one day. This serves as a massive splash of cold water to the face of everyone involved with Wilfried, especially his father, who had been spoiling him without realizing that that had led to a young man who could not read, write, play any instruments, etc. There is some blistering dialogue here about how to educate young people, particularly those with short attention spans. It also shows off Sylvester as a very imperfect Archduke – he’s not a happy camper here, especially when his wife hears about this. Fortunately, Wilfried DOES have a good memory when he bothers to use it, so all is not lost.

There’s not as much of what made Bookworm tick in the early volumes – Benno and Lutz are here, but in supporting roles, and papermaking/bookmaking is also a side project compared to everything else. But it’s the expansion of Rozemyne’s world, and the fact that this world can be terrifying, that makes this arc of Bookworm the best yet.