By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

With one exception, which I’ll get to further down the page, this was a pretty good final volume to the series. It wraps up all the things you were expecting, and all the things you realize you’d never thought of but probably should have. Red and Rit are cute, Red gets to do some cool things, Ruti and Tisse are cute, Ruti gets to do some cool things, and Mister Crawly Wawly is the best. OK, I kind of wanted Ruti and Tisse to become a real couple rather than just “I can see it if I really want to”, but at least there aren’t any last minute love interests. A lot of this book is about parents and their children, so it makes sense that it ends that way, with Red and Rit having a son, who is on the cover, and in the book. For about 3 pages at the end.

Summertime, and the living is easy. If a bit dull. Peace means there’s not as much medicine being sold, and Red and Rit experiment with potion making. Then they hear Yaralandra is leaving to go exploring (and, given her lifespan, won’t be back for about a decade), and Tisse is returning to her guild to finally give her report on the job she took in Book 1. So they decide now is the time to take their long-awaited honeymoon. They go and visit Red and Ruti’s parents, which is a bit awkward but far more loving than I was expecting. They then go and visit Rit’s father, so that she can renounce her claim to the throne, which leads to a lot more political wrangling than she would have liked. Finally, they return home and delight in the news that she is pregnant. All is well… unless the author decides to throw in some last minute drama.

No spoilers guessing what I didn’t like. The entire ending with Rit slowly dying and Red having to find the right medicine reeked of “I want to end this with a bang”. The author has struggled with the slow life part of their slow life series since the start, and still can’t hack it. On the bright side, I’ve made no secret about my favorite characters in the series, and they’re both great here. Mister Crawly Wawly remains, to the end, one of the best non-speaking monster characters in any light novel, and I hope the restaurant goes well. Tisse may be described occasionally as being emotionless due to her training, but there are several moments here where she’s overcome with happiness, and the artist clearly loves to draw her grinning. I hope she finally confesses now that Ruti has gotten over her brother.

This was one of the first “banished from the hero’s party” books to come out here, and it’s still one of the better ones. I enjoyed it very much, despite its struggles with its genre.

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

I admit I had sort of hoped that this volume would be entirely devoted to Red and Rit’s wedding, given the cover. And there are a few bits with everyone being really happy for them, getting the wedding dress made, etc. And yes, it does end with the wedding. But sadly this has always been a slow life series where the slow life struggles against the rest of the universe trying to drag everyone back into its troubles, and so the bulk of this book is trying to resolve the demons and God. That said, how it’s resolved ends up being pretty slow life in the end, as it’s just Red using… not his blessing, because that’s the whole point, but winning by being clever and strong. I am hoping, though, that this is the last we see of both sides of the conflict, and that the honeymoon volume (the final one) really is slow life.

A letter arrives from Yarandrala saying that she’s coming back to Zoltan. As such, Red and Rit realize that the time has finally come to set a date for their wedding. They’re try to keep the news quiet… which lasts about three seconds till everyone they know is screaming “they’re finally getting married?!?”. Unfortunately, there’s a nasty cold going around… or is it just a cold? Investigating, Red finds a mysterious plant near where the tomb they raided was. He also finds the demon lord and his aide, who Red and Rit have a long history with. We’re told that they’re trying to be heroes now, and certainly they’re saving villages and giving good advice about the sickness… but can they be trusted? And will Demis simply give up and let Ruti live her own life?

Demis has never been anyone’s favorite, and I think that applies to the readers as well as to the cast of the series. Here they possess a long-forgotten minor villain, Eremite, in order to make their point. Unfortunately for Demis, as with a lot of gods in fantasy series like this, they’ve long since lost the “I must help humanity because it’s the right thing to do” part of their godhood and are left with the “why does everyone not simply do exactly what I want them to?”. It feels thematically appropriate, if a bit pat (the fight goes ludicrously well) that Red is the one to defeat both Demis and Taraxon. On the bright side, this means the wedding happens (relatively) smoothly, without needing to worry about anyone’s blessing suddenly turning them evil. Best of all, Ruti allows Red and Rit to get married with not one single incestuous remark! Let’s hope it’s an excellent sign of maturity. Maybe she won’t even go on the honeymoon with them.

The next volume is the last, and honestly, this series has gone on a bit too long. But not to the point where I’m annoyed reading it. This was good.

By Zappon and Yasumo. Released in Japan as “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasaretanode, Henkyou de Slow Life Surukoto ni Shimashita” by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Dale DeLucia.

There’s a very startling beginning to this book, which is the very, very perfunctory final battle against the forces of the demon lord. Now, yes, I am aware that there’s actually a plot involving Ruti and her blessing that will be going into Vol. 14, which involves the demon lord, but in terms of the plot of this particular book, it’s all about the end of the war and what comes after. This means that our main cast in Zoltan are ready to settle in and find something they’re going to do for the rest of their lives, but it also means that those who have spent years on the front lines – those who are still alive – are coming home, and many of them are dealing with PTSD at the very least. That’s right, this is the Banished from the Hero’s Party version of The Best Years of Our Lives, and Ruti, for one, is not really sure how to cope with it.

It’s fall festival time in Zoltan! Rit suggests trying to push some of their medications by putting them in nice-looking wooden canisters, so she and Red have their booth all set. Ruti admits that her farm of medicinal herbs is going into the red, so she, Tisse, and Mister Crawly Wawly are going to have a food booth to show everyone how they can be used without needing the Cooking Skill. And Habotan, who is still doing her level best to be a ninja fangirl, is going to sell shuriken and other ninja tools that look really cool. The festival runs into the aforementioned end of the war, though. One man comes back to tell his aunt that her son will not be coming home to her. A young woman was given the fantasy equivalent of morphine on the front, and has developed an addiction. And, of yes, there are still demon lord plans. Which I’m sure won’t impact Red and Rit’s wedding at ALL.

This is very much a book of two halves. Though we hear about the end of the war at the start, the first half is concerned with the series’ usual slow, relaxed pace. Mister Crawly Wawly now has a suit of armor he can control so he can be an adventurer (He has a card with a name. The name is AAAA.), and he and Red investigate forest fires with a mysterious cause. Ruti and Red then go to investigate a very loud mad scientist whose entire plot feels that it was written to pad out an already short book. The latter parts of the book, though, are much better, showing us soldiers that are still dealing with flashbacks, or drug addition, or depression that ends up leading to sexual assault. And while Red has some good answers, Ruti finds she doesn’t feel confident in hers. After all, she left the battlefield… something that comes out at the end of this book as well.

The next book will have the wedding (Yen says it’s the finale – is 15 an “after story” that’s not part of the main license?), so we’re almost done. Still, this book did a mostly good job of emphasizing the “war is hell” part of the series as well as the “relaxed happy life” part.