By Fujino Omori and NIRITSU. Released in Japan as “Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka?: Familia Chronicle: Episode Lyu” by Softbank Creative. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

So technically this is the second volume, the first having come out seven years ago. It was the one with Lyu and Syr in the casino, if you forgot. And it’s also the bit that the author cut out of the 18th volume, because that would have made it 700 pages. But in reality, this feels like Astrea Record, Vol. 4. We even get extra scenes with Adi, to remind us that she’s still tragically dead but oh so very, very shiny And of course the rest of the Astra Familia that Lyu was with five years ago? Also still dead. Fortunately, Astrea is not dead, and it turns that she has new Familia in a remote smithing town. And so it’s time for Lyu to run very fast, so that she can break down, get forgiven, level up and get stronger, and then run back to help Bel. Of course, it turns out to not be as simple as that.

Lyu groveling for forgiveness, which comes relatively easily, takes about the first 10 pages of this book. the rest is harder. When Astrea levels her up, she levels to 5, and anyone who read Book 18 of the main series knows that there’s something fishy going on here. Then Lyu tries to train with her new level, and discovers there’s a big difference and she needs to practice. Fortunately, she has three adorable Level 1 juniors to beat up… erm, play tag with, as well as a forest spirit who is really looking for an excuse to go all out… possibly a mistake given this is Lyu. Unfortunately for Lyu, the current captain of Astrea Familia, a Level 2 smith named Cecille, hates her guts. Despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that Astrea has entrusted her with something very important in regards to Lyu.

This is a book about Lyu, so it’s not a surprise that the plot is as straightforward as hell. Lyu is not quite completely healed, and also needs to go from Level 4 to Level 6 in about 5 days, something which no one has EVER done before, so strategy is called for. Fortunately, most of the strategy is “keep hitting things till you get it right”. As for Cecille, she’s not hard to figure out either, mostly as she’s very similar to Lyu, something Lyu knows as she very awkwardly tries to take on a mentor role. It turns out that trying to create the perfect weapon for someone you’ve only heard stories about that drive you crazy with envy can be very hard! It’s only when Lyu opens up and shhares her own tragedy that Cecille manager to find her own inspiration. That said, “straightforward” does not mean bad. This series has never really been known for narrative curveballs anyway.

Good stuff, and if you want to know what happens next, go read 18 again. I think next for us is the Sword Oratoria SS volume.