By Ageha Sakura and Kurodeko. Released in Japan as “Imokusa Reijou desu ga Akuyaku Reisoku wo Tasuketara Kiniiraremashita” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Vasileios Mousikidis.

I had forgotten last volume, when we were dealing with Robin, the horrible villain from the start of the series, that there were of course other terrible people at the start as well. There’s Princess Mia, who has been exiled to Conveniently Close Prisoner Island. She gets a brief cameo here, though unfortunately she and Agnes don’t get to see each other again. And then there’s a family I had completely forgotten about. I’m so used to Kelly being the unflappable supermaid that she is in this series that I forgot how we were introduced to her, and it comes back to haunt her here, as her family, long used to treating her as a combination slave and object, demand she return to get married to an old guy twice her age. Even unflappable Kelly is flapping a bit here. Fortunately, Agnes is not going to take this lying down. Also fortunately, her family are so comically evil that it takes no effort to absolutely destroy them.

Kelly’s impending arranged marriage is not the only thing going on in this book. It turns out that the second prince of Myzahn has more abilities than he’d let on, and he’s gone back to his country with something extra that will make invading other countries a lot easier. Agnes’ son has magic powers that are far more active at his age them most people, and she has to stop him from constantly running away. She and Nazelbart are finally going back to the capital (sans child) to talk to the King and Queen, helped out quite a bit by the Purge finally having taken place, meaning Agnes is surrounded by people who at least don’t hate her. Unfortunately, all this pales in comparison to the second half of the book – Polypstan is being invaded, and the war is going badly thanks to a certain prince. Can Desnim help without getting too involved?

Well, of course not. For one thing, this is a light novel series with a bit of action in every book. For another, the Queen is from Polypstan, and is not going to sit back while her homeland gets wiped out. That said, if you like tense battles where you’re not sure who will come out on top… this isn’t that. It’s laughably easy once Agnes forcibly invites herself along. Actually, the bigger issue may be the number of people who find out about other secret powers. The Myzahn Prince has multiple abilities, including a copying ability. The King’s teleportation ability is also a storage ability, something he’s tried to hide to avoid being used… well, like he’s used here. And of course more people find out that Agnes’ cool power is really a SUPER cool power, which is unavoidable when you accidentally cure a lethal poison. Agnes, honey, you need to try harder not to be the next saint, y’know?

Fortunately, Agnes will have other things to worry about next time: she’s pregnant again, and I suspect the next book will deal with that child. Till then, please don’t treat your daughter like a slave just because she’s a competent girl.