Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden, Vol. 10

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By Umikaze Minamino and Katana Canata. Released in Japan as “Kyōran Reijō Nia Liston: Byōjaku Reijō ni Tenseishita Kami-goroshi no Bujin no Kareinaru Musō Roku” by HJ Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by okaykei.

If you have been following A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even: The Anime, and felt that she was perhaps going a bit TOO far and getting a bit TOO evil, may I recommend the latest volume of Nia Liston? In which Nia gets very angry, and gets her revenge. But it’s the sort of revenge that may actually make everything better, and, while she confesses this is a surprise to her, no bad guys actually die who are not giant insects. Ah yes, that reminds me: if you like to see tiny ojou-samas fighting ants with the power of fists and kicks, also good news! Nia is here to kick ass and kick more ass, and she’s not remotely out of asses to kick. She does have a soft spot for her cute l’il orphans, of course, as well as the Fourth Princess, who she, um, literally buys. OK, that’s a bit too much like Livid Lady. But it’s OK, it’s not as a slave, it’s as her next disciple.

Having had her mansion destroyed by Mech Knights, Nia returns there to find that officials are busy erasing the evidence that there was any wrongdoing done there, and shortly thereafter they send Nia a bill for all the repairs. To the neighborhood. This is, by the way, while Shylrane has been desperately trying to get Nia on their good side, as she needs her to defeat the insects that are barely being held back by the country, which turns out to be on the verge of doom much more than folks know. Needless to say, Nia is unhappy with the bill. She decides to work off her stress by beating up the head of the mafia underworld, taking the contents of his safe, and then going on a bug-hunting party, where she wipes out the first level of the bugs – the only level, so far, the nation had been able to fight. This, of course, means the more dangerous bugs are no longer held back. And then she’s arrested and thrown in prison. Really, we’re very lucky this ISN’T Livid Lady…

I’ve always found the “Nia beats people up” part of this series to be the least interesting, and I always like it when the author throws in curveballs. Of which the biggest has to be Akashi’s obsession with inventing the car. This may seem baffling, given this is a book filled with sky islands, pirate airships, and flying cars, but the idea of cars on the ground – and, in particular, the prototypes crashing into walls – is not only hilarious and fun, but a terrific Magivision idea. Which, in case you forgot, is why Nia is here at all. I am also very amused with the Lynokis subplot. I’ve never had time for her stupid lolicon persona, which is present and incorrect here as always. But now Nia not only has a royal princess who’s studious and respectful towards Nia’s teachings, but also a young prodigy orphan girl who’s blazing through leaning about chi in record time. Seeing Nia get tired of her maid/bodyguard who doesn’t really want to get stronger is magical. As in it’s basically “let’s torture her”.

We’re still in the middle of this arc, but I am hoping that the next book has a bit less people being awful and a bit more filming reality TV. Oh yes, the anime is out soon!

From Corporate Drone to Mincemaster! One Order of Dragon Coming Right Up!, Vol. 1

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By Minato Minato and Tsukito. Released in Japan as “Makikomarete Shoukan Sareta Genkai OL, Guild Shozoku no [Mamono Kaitai Jou] toshite Funtouchuu ~Dragon desu ka? Mochiron Sabakemasu!~” by Mag Garden Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by piyo.

I mean, it’s FINE, I guess. I enjoyed reading it. I’ll read more. The main characters are all likeable enough. But god, I do not think I have ever come across a light novel with as little originality as this one, a LN that feels like someone completed a Mad Libs for Isekai and wrote the book based on the results. There’s an office lady so ground down from overwork that the only surprise is that it’s a normal summoning and not “dead from work”. There’s her opposite number, a saint who seemingly ticks all the “evil” boxes from the moment she opens her mouth. We get an awkward dorky guy who clearly likes her, and a cool but distant guy who clearly likes her, and one of these is very clearly far ahead of the other. Sorry, dorky guy. There’s an adorable pet monster. And there’s Sachi herself, OP as hell and plucky as all git out.

Sachi Hasumi is 21 years old. Her parents are dead. She dreamed of inheriting her grandfather’s restaurant, but he told her to go to college and work a nice job. Then it turned out the restaurant was about to go under. Then he died. Now she’s working for a black company, pulling triple all-nighters for no extra pay. No boyfriend, no friends. Then, as she walks home one night, she is summoned to another world! Or rather,.. the girl next to her is. The other girl is the Saint. Sachi is a “mincemaster”. She’s essentially left forgotten by the side of the magic circle. Oh, and of course, one way trip, no returning home. Then she meets the vice-chairman of the adventurer’s guild, who thinks her mincemaster talent is just what they need, given they’re drowning in monsters adventurers have brought back.

Now that I’ve gotten the bad out of the way, this is perfectly fine, it’s just the most unoriginal thing ever. Things I enjoyed: Sachi’s growing realization that she now has a job where people appreciate her work, she has normal hours and days off, and she’s paid well. There’s no doubt this is partly written as an OL fantasy of getting out of your hellish job, and it works just fine there. I also did appreciate, even if I wish we’d seen it at the start, the brief side story showing the saint, months later, on the road, desperately trying to level up her miserable saint powers, and discovering most of her arrogant bravado came from sheer relief at being away from her Education Parents who say she will be a doctor or she will be disowned. I expect she will still be a bitch when she sees how well Sachi is doing, but at least she has a REASON to be one. Oh yes, and Sachi’s receptionist friend Ann is great fun, especially when she mocks the fact that Sachi is 100% oblivious to the two hotties hitting on her.

This does have a Volume 2, so we will get more. I expect it will remain a coloring book that does not step outside the lines, but it is… pleasant.

Assassin Empress Bellreuge

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By Aoi Miyamae and Hatori Kyouka. Released in Japan as “Ansatsu Jotei Bellreuge ~Shiitagerareshi Koujo wa Ai o Ete Nariagaru~” by Mag Garden Novels. Released in North America by Cross Infinite World. Translated by Alex Castor.

I think for the sake of my sanity I’m going to treat this book the way that I treated Once Upon a Witch’s Death, which also was licensed by Yen as a one-shot and then had future volumes roll out much later in Japan. CIW notably has not called this Volume 1, implying it’s complete in one book. The webnovel is very clearly complete, but this book stops just before the climactic battle and has a bunch of side stories instead. The author says in the afterword they were surprised this got a LN pickup at all. So, let’s put it this way: if this does have a second volume to wrap things up, then I definitely recommend it, as I found it a lot of fun, especially its heroine. If this is all that we get, I suspect it will just be frustrating. And if it turns out the book is actually complete and my digital copy is missing a chapter or two, please let me know.

Let’s also get a content warning out of the way: this book is filled with blood and gore, most of it caused by the heroine killing people. They’re all trying to kill her, to be clear, she’s not evil. Bellreuge is the 2nd princess of an empire, an illegitimate child, and has spent literally her entire life dodging assassination attempts and learning from her mother how to fight back. Her older sister was briefly sweet and loving to her, but when the Queen died big sis turned 100% evil. To avoid constant assassins every day, Bellreuge became her sister’s handmaiden, essentially working as a slave and being abused left and right. Now, finally, her sister is going to be married. Except… the margrave’s son, a man with a bloody reputation, proposes to Bellreuge instead!

That synopsis covers about the first 2 pages of this book. The rest involves Bellreuge being forced to escape constant walls of people trying to kill her and going to the margravate, which turns out to be a country of hotheads who love to fight, and her new fiance is merely the worst of them. Bellreuge herself is so emotionally beaten down by years of abuse and constant death threats that, while she’s perfectly capable of acting like a royal princess if she needs to, she also tends to go to “stiletto in the brain” as the “when all you have is a hammer” answer. She and Asturm, her fiance, are awkward around each other for about half the book as they simply haven’t communicated at all, and the scene where they turn an archery contest into a “yes, I think I could fall in love with you” is the best in the book. Unfortunately, much as Bellreuge wants to simply avoid anything to do with her situation, everyone else in the world knows she has to fight her sister and become Empress. They gather armies and prepare to do battle…

And then we get short stories from the POV of her maid/bodyguard, Asturm himself, and his little sister to round things off. The end! Highly recommended if there’s a 2nd volume eventually, mildly recommended if this is all we get.