By Dojyomaru and Fuyuyuki. Released in Japan as “Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.

Siiiiiiiigh. No, that’s not a sigh over the content of the book, it was quite good, and I enjoyed it very much. That was a sigh over the fact that it is, like a lot of this type of book, unreviewable. It’s a short story volume that serves as the final volume of a long-running series, so I’m not going to be selling it to anyone but folks who have read the other 20 books, who will buy it regardless of what I say. It’s micro-stories, so I can’t even do a nice summary of them that uses up 1/3 of my word count. But come on, they’re fine. They mostly seem to cover what happened just before or just after some of the more notable scenes in the series, and a few of them try to cover characters or relationships that weren’t delved into much before. Mostly, though, it’s one last round-up of the folks who you enjoyed reading about for nearly a decade. Machiavelli, thankfully, is absent.

The cover shows Souma with his eight wives, including the surprise final wife Juno. The wraparound story takes place about two decades or so after the final book, with Juno’s son and Aisha’s daughter going up north to go adventuring, which sadly gets immediately aborted when they run into jerks who insult their moms, meaning that beatdowns are coming… for the jerks. Luka is, much like Souma, a bit potato-ey, but like all his moms, he can kick eight kinds of ass… in fact, literally like his moms, that’s his power. Misha is an eight-year-old dark elf, meaning she’s old enough to see the world, despite the worries of her mom. And we also meet Shanti, adopted daughter of Mugal and Fumi (no, I don’t remember them either), who wants to battle now and is very pissed off Luka won’t do so. (She hasn’t gotten permission from her dad yet.) Oh yes, and Musashibo is there, and everyone knows who he is.

That takes up about 30 pages. The other 376 (!!) are the micro-stories. I have no idea if these are “bookstore exclusives” or what have you. I liked seeing more of Serina, who’s perfect for this sort of book: funny and didn’t really get a lot of screen time explaining why she fell so hard for Pancho. Likewise, there’s a series of stories showing Maria going round to visit the wives, not really getting their permission but more showing that she’s one of them now. Everyone likes each other in this. That may be its big weakness, of course. Since it covers nineteen books where we know what’s happened already, these stories are generally a bit boring. That said, who wants angst and drama at a time like this? This is heartwarming out the wazoo, the main women (it’s mostly driven by the women) are great, and it ends as it began, with Souma and Liscia riding a horse through town, only now he can ride, and she’s in front of him.

So yes, this is the final end, full stop, I’m sure there won’t be any more. Maybe. Bye, Realist Hero. You were far better than anything Eliezer Yudkowsky has come up with.