By Isle Osaki and kodamazon. Released in Japan as “Kougekiryoku Zero kara Hajimeru Kenseitan: Osananajimi no Oujo ni Suterare Mahou Gakuen ni Nyuugakushitara, Maou to Keiyakusuru Koto ni Natta ” by Overlap Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Stephanie Liu.

When you are a country that prides itself on being the best of the best, and you see a different country doing something amazing that no one has ever done before, it is only natural that you want to replicate that success. If they can do it, we can do it too! Unfortunately for everyone else in this series, there is only one Eugene, and he’s the main character who drives all the amazing stuff. As such, this book is neatly divided into halves, both of which are essentially “can we borrow your Eugene?”, but go in very different ways. As for Eugene, it’s all the same to him. For all that he gives off the impression of mild, boring light novel guy (who gets laid a lot more than most LN guys), what he really wants is a good fight, and his girlfriends are realizing that stopping him is much harder than you’d expect.

So yes, the first half of the book takes us to Sara’s home country, full of saints and religious fundamentalists. They’re there to take out their country’s own gothic horror, the Shadowbird Raum. Unfortunately, Erinyes reveals that the bird has a bit of a curse – once slain, the one who killed it dies… along with everyone they ever knew personally. As such, they’re going to PRETEND to set out to kill it, but not really do it. Unfortunately, they run into a disciple of the Demon Queen with other ideas. Then they travel to the Blue Sea Union, which is trying to kill off its killer mermaids, but they’re proving a lot stronger and more lethal than expected. Fortunately, something comes along and does it for them! Unfortunately, they then have to fight the something, who is worse. Much worse.

I made the plot sound dramatic, but rest assured, this *is* still Zero Damage Sword Saint, so there’s a lot of harem antics as well. I will smack the me who wrote a review of the last book, where I said that Airi was clearly too childish right now to get it on with Eugene. Spoiler, it only took one more book. Erinyes, Sara, and Sumire also get some in this book, though as always we get a fade-out before any actual sexy things happen. And there’s other potential girlfriends as well, though I’m not sure if Lily’s boring-as-hell-tsundere character is really needed here, even if the author does like her. Heck, Claude also has his own harem going – in addition to his two rivals/girlfriends (I did enjoy Claude noting that, for all Sara and Sumire are always fighting, they’re clearly best friends, unlike his girls), and a not-yet-fallen angel, he’s also engaged to a Princess, and my guess is she gets preference. Basically, everyone’s getting some in this series.

Speaking of princesses, there’s a surprise transfer student at the end of this volume. Well, not that much of a surprise. In any case, if you like harem fighting books, this remains a very good example.