By You Fuguruma and Nama. Released in Japan as “Kasei Madoushi no Isekai Seikatsu: Boukenchuu no Kasei Fugyou Uketamawarimasu!” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Hengtee Lim.

This series remains ongoing in Japan – both as a light novel series, which has 7 volumes to date, and as a webnovel, last updated 2 weeks ago – which makes it odd that the series really feels like it’s going to be ending in the next book. Most of the drama in this volume involves other people – first there’s the wrap-up of the Annelie and Dennis arc, and then there’s an arc that points out the somewhat rocky relationship between other adventurers and knights. It’s definitely building more of the world that Alec and Shiori are living in. That said, Alec and Shiori are still in a “honeymoon” stage of their relationship, with almost every moment between them being cute and romantic. The only exceptions are when Alec worries about Shiori’s past and sudden appearance in their country, or when Shiori worries that Alec is actually royalty. Both of those things need to be resolved before they can marry… and it’s being dragged out.

We pick up where we left off, with our merry band having resolved Annelie and Dennis’ love life… well, at least their feelings for each other… and now it’s time to head back. On the way they find the annoying nobles from the Empire have opened the massive door that screamed “do not open”, and now the worst of them is dead, and the other two are ill. Fortunately for them, our heroes are all nice, so they drag them back home, despite the dangers on the way back, including mythical beasts. Once home, Annelie and Dennis have Mrs. Tragic Backstory arrive to explain what ACTUALLY happened in Dennis’ past, and why their family has not spoken with the adventurer’s guild in ten years. Finally, in a side story, Alec, Shiori, Zack and Linus are called to a village with an infestation of monster bugs and find the knights and the village folks are not getting on.

This is one of those books where the reader has to be careful not to be disappointed by the story that isn’t being told. Everything about the past of Dennis’ father and what turns out to be his MALE partner reads like it’s going to say everyone lied to cover up a gay relationship. That’s not what happens here, and the explanation of Dennis’ grandfather, the actual villain of the piece, is far less interesting. I wonder if this may have been changed for the light novel – everything about the death is framed as “they were lovers”, even the final image of their dead bodies holding hands. It’s weird. As for Alec and Shiori, now that she’s more relaxed around everyone she’s letting more things slip, and Alec and the others are starting to realize that she’s probably not from “the Eastern lands” at all. Unfortunately, she and Alec are still too afraid of ruining their burgeoning love to confess their backstories to each other.

This is well-written enough, and I’ll definitely keep going, but I found this book a bit more frustrating than the previous ones, and hope the next book takes a few definitive steps forward.

By You Fuguruma and Nama. Released in Japan as “Kasei Madoushi no Isekai Seikatsu: Boukenchuu no Kasei Fugyou Uketamawarimasu!” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Hengtee Lim.

The good news is that this is definitely far less heavy than the first two books, with only occasional panic attacks and memories of past trauma. Alec and Shiori are a couple, and while they still have not talked to each other about their secret backstories, that’s mostly because they haven’t had the time. That said, we do get a brief glimpse at Japan, where Shiori’s disappearance ended up being quite a big thing. We still don’t know WHY she was isekai’d, but we do see what effect her vanishing had on her immediate family, and it’s not really that great, though shared dreams end up offering a modicum of hope. The book has made it very clear this was a one-way journey, and I’m pretty sure we won’t be coming back to Japan again, so it’s a reminder that all isekais leave someone behind, and sometimes that can be devastating.

Alec and Shiori, along with Clemens and Nadia, get a new mission. An artistic noble wants to go visit a scenic tower, which is normally not a problem… but it’s in the dead of winter, which is. Her aide found out that Shiori is a housekeeping mage, which would be ideal for the trip, so arranged things. Unfortunately, her aide then discovered Shiori is “an Eastern woman”, and due to his tragic backstory he has an innate prejudice against Eastern women. Fortunately, he’s self-aware enough to realize this is his problem, so things don’t go too badly. The journey itself goes fairly smoothly, aside from the occasional attacks from snow jellyfish and monstrous bears. But why is Annelie so determined to make this journey? And what about the other party of adventurers they stumble upon, who frankly are far too sketchy?

Given that Alec and Shiori are now a couple, and Clemens is obviously still getting over it so there’s nothing we can do with him, it’s not a surprise that we’re getting a new romance written into the series. Annelie is an “artist” sort of noble, which means she’s far more relaxed about things than the other nobles we’ve met in this series. Unfortunately, her aide Dennis is well aware of what other nobles are like, and this has led to him attempting to keep Annelie at arm’s length, despite the fact that it becomes clear very fast that he’s 100% in love with her. He’s also the one with the prejudice, by the way, so he does the bulk of the growing and changing this volume. I feel bad for the other aide, Walt, who gets very little to do beyond being “the other aide”. As for Alec and Shiori, they’re in the sugary sweet part of their relationship, which still has not moved beyond kissing. It’s almost cloying. Which, after the first two books in this series, is fine.

The arc is not done in this volume, so we’ll have to wait till next time to see if dumbass noble and his two beleaguered servants cause problems for our heroes. Signs point to yes. Till then, I am relieved that this has risen from the darkness and allowed its couple to be adorable.

By You Fuguruma and Nama. Released in Japan as “Kasei Madoushi no Isekai Seikatsu: Boukenchuu no Kasei Fugyou Uketamawarimasu!” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Hengtee Lim.

I remember thinking after finishing the first volume of Housekeeping Mage that it was a lot darker than I had really expected. But I noted in my review that the story did its level best to try to have the trauma and abuse of our heroine be in the past so that it could be a cute romantic novel. That said… there is still the past trauma and abuse, and that comes to the fore here in the second volume, where we go into more detail about Shiori’s struggles after being isekai’d to this world (we still don’t know the reason) and we go into much greater detail about her time with her previous party, who were all such good kids… AT FIRST. And, well, bad things happen to her here as well. It’s just volume 2, so I’m OK with this, and it’s quite well written. I do hope we’ve sort of turned a corner, though. It can be cathartic but also exhausting to read.

As Alec and Shiori return from visiting Rurii’s family, they are beset upon by a snow wolf. And then, later on, three snow wolves. This is very unusual, they tend not to attack humans without a reason. They then arrive at a nearby village and find the reason, which leads to a huge battle between 60-70 wolves and only a few knights and adventurers. Unfortunately, during this, Shiori is badly injured, and this triggers memories of her past adventure party, to the point where she’s almost delirious with fear that Alec will abandon her. From this we also learn about how her party self-destructed so badly, and who was the mastermind behind it. Oh yes, there’s also a torture brothel involved. That said, this *is* still a romance, and by the end of the book Alec and Shiori are essentially a couple, and resolving to reveal to each other their secret backstories.

I am slightly optimistic that the worst of this is behind us, mostly because the narrative makes it textually clear. By the end of the main story, Shiori’s old diary detailing her travails since arriving in this world up to her abandonment has been burned, and the records showing exactly who was behind everything and why have also been burned, thus literally allowing her to start over fresh. Not admittedly there’s still Alec’s past, which is also touched upon here, and we also don’t know the reason she’s even here at all. But the summary of the next volume, while it implies bad things will be happening, at least says they’ll be fresh new bad things. And the romance between Alec and Shiori really is sweet. I could have done without the brothel subplot entirely, though, to be fair, which mostly seems to be there to show off what a bad guy the bad guy was.

So yes, I’m going to be reading more. I like the leads, I like Shiori’s slime, I like the supporting cast who aren’t evil, and honestly the ones who were evil are all dead now. Let’s hopefully move on.