By Mizuho Itsuki and fuumi. Released in Japan as “Shinmai Renkinjutsushi no Tenpo Keiei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

So, a brief word of warning: if you were not fond of Sarasa’s cavalier and lethal attitude towards bandits in earlier books of this series, you’ll want to give this book a wide berth. Thanks to events in the last book, banditry is now prolific in her area, and when it comes to affect those close to her, she is going to be a little pissed off. There’s less actual brutal death than usual, but there’s a lot of violent beatings, and the two wannabe rapists get a somewhat apropos punishment that I will not go into here. She’s a holy terror. That said, for those of you who enjoy “Sarasa is amazingly overpowered at everything she does and also an asexual lesbian”, there’s plenty of that here as well. (OK, Sarasa pushes back when described as homosexual in the book, but she’s clearly now fine with not only Iris as her wife, but Kate as her “mistress”. Sorry, Lorea, you’ve been familyzoned.) There’s a lot of Sarasa being a lot.

Sarasa is headed off to the capital to pay her taxes. While there, she reconnects with her master Ophelia and Ophelia’s… partner, Maria (Sarasa is not sure if they’re married, but does give a toast to their eternal love), and also runs into her underclassman at alchemist school, Misty. Misty is there to become Sarasa’s new apprentice, and will not take no for an answer. What’s more, Sarasa also meets up with the workers at her parents’ old business, which is still going strong, and they want to help her in any way they can. So she heads back home with a new cast member and a new company to work with. Maybe two companies, as Misty is the heir to the Hudson’s Bay Company… erm, a shipping firm… though she’d really rather not be. Oh yes, and the prince appoints Sarasa as a knight and gives her rule over her small domain around the village and city. Provided she stop the bandit problem.

The last third of this book is so filled with revenge that it tends to distract from the goofy first two-thirds. Misty is a great addition to the cast, as she’s able to keep up with Sarasa’s alchemical miracles while also having common sense, and is not as pathetic as Maris is. (She also does not appear to have any designs on Sarasa romance-wise… if anything, she’s a rival to Lorea as the little sister figure.) The running gag of Sarasa not understanding how famous she is, not understanding how powerful she is, or just underreacting to everything in the book is always going to be funny. And I will admit, I don’t mind Sarasa getting really, really mad and going after bandits with bad intentions in mind. They killed her parents, after all. This is not like other LNs where our newly isekai’d hero is just like “oh, bad guy, stab”. She has motive!

There’s a cliffhanger into the next book, which the author put in in order to advertise the anime that was coming out. So we’ll see you next time to see how Sarasa punches out plague.