By Shigeru Sagazaki and Tetsuhiro Nabeshima. Released in Japan as “Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru: Tada no Inaka no Kenjutsu Shihan Datta noni, Taisei Shita Deshitachi ga Ore o Hōttekurenai Ken” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

Last time I wrote a review of this, the anime was just starting, and as I write this one, the anime has just ended. Most people agree that it was stolid, unremarkable, did not really do anything wrong but was nothing to write home about except the fight scenes were very well done. Folks also agree that the Japanese voice of Beryl really nailed the part, that sort of world-weary “I am forty years old, sigh” quality that he has a lot of the time. I thought the voice was excellent, and it also helps as I read this seventh volume in the series, where Beryl’s soul-searching monologues are at an all-time high. And while it’s just a coincidence, the fact that folks who finished the anime and decided to buy this new book get a volume that is almost a direct sequel to the end of the anime is very nice.

Beryl has been asked to help provide security for the wedding of Princess Salacia to Prince Glenn of Sphenedyardvania, a wedding that, of course, takes place in that country, which also recently resurrected the dead, including Mewi’s sister, and is in the middle of a holy war. So, extra protection is recommended. After stopping off in Flumvelk to rest and so that Beryl can get seduced (spoiler: he does not get seduced), they arrive there to find everything seemingly going well… until the wedding is invaded by undead, and the city outside is invaded by horrible chimera. Fortunately, Beryl and Allucia have help, including a mysterious masked woman, as well as… the enemies from the last book?

As always, it can be very hard to take Beryl’s aw shucks attitude in large doses, and there’s an extra helping of that in this book. I am hoping that it’s because he’s actually trying to figure out how to live going forward beyond “be best at sword”. He loves being a dad, and I think would be happy for Mewi to have a mother, he has no real concept of what a wife would be like. This is most obvious in the scenes with Shueste, who does everything short of lying naked on his bed and saying “take me now, big boy”. He clearly GETS it, but the idea of another woman liking him, be it student, noble, or anyone, makes him deeply uncomfortable. Which is a decent ongoing dilemma for a harem series to have, but dragging it out too long loses readers, who won’t always be happy with 100 pages of cool fights. I’m honestly rooting for Shueste, but I suspect first girl Allucia still has the advantage right now. We’ll see how shopping for swords goes next time.

If you enjoyed the anime, you know what you’re getting with Beryl. So as long as you’re not the sort who asks if there is snu-snu, this should make you perfectly happy.

By Shigeru Sagazaki and Tetsuhiro Nabeshima. Released in Japan as “Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru: Tada no Inaka no Kenjutsu Shihan Datta noni, Taisei Shita Deshitachi ga Ore o Hōttekurenai Ken” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

This is getting an anime pretty soon (in two days, in fact), so it’s interesting to see this volume coming out right before it, as it’s essentially starting a new arc for the series. The last volume brought to a close a lot of Beryl’s issues with his dad, and he’s now come to the conclusion that hey, maybe he *is* pretty strong after all. That said, baby steps. He still struggles with his self-deprecation coming to him automatically through this book. And in regards to his quest for a wife, he’s going to have to get past the “no one could possibly find an old geezer like me attractive” stage to get anywhere. He also straight up says that he’s not going to have any of his former students as bridal candidates, which is essentially EVERYONE to date. So it’s unsurprising that we get a new girl introduced here to offer an alternative.

After dropping by the magical academy to see how the sword magic classes are going, Beryl is called into Allucia’s office. They have to go to the estate of Margrave Flumvelk, who is holding a gathering to celebrate Beryl’s accomplishments to date. Beryl is understandably his usual self about this, but he also knows he can’t refuse a request for a noble, so he, Allucia, and a bunch of knights spend a couple weeks traveling out there. When he arrives, he finds that the margrave is one of his old students, and Allucia’s classmate. He also has a younger sister, Shueste, who he wants to have at Beryl’s side in order to fend off nobility who have designs on Beryl, is gorgeous and clever, and pairs really nicely with Beryl… much to the annoyance of Allucia.

This book is OK, but I have some issues. All the action and drama is backloaded into the last 4th, making it feel like the author had a different ending and was told to change it. We’re introduced to two knights to guard Beryl and Allucia, and one is almost killed, but they both have zero personality between the two of them. They cried out for a side story. More to the point, they do address the elephant in the room here, which is Beryl marrying someone. Warren, the margrave, admits to Allucia that he’d be happy with Beryl marrying his sister… but would also be fine with Beryl marrying Allucia. The key is that Beryl is getting older, and they want someone to carry on the line. I’m not fond of “my awesome sword abilities are genetic” stories, even though, in a world with magic like this, it may be entirely possible. Then again, merely getting Beryl to have sexual desires may be too big a hurdle.

So now we have a whole new subplot with new villains to dig into. The next book promises to finally bring back the adventurer who was one of the harem in Book 1 and then vanished. We’ll see if the anime can bump it up a bit as well.

By Shigeru Sagazaki and Tetsuhiro Nabeshima. Released in Japan as “Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru: Tada no Inaka no Kenjutsu Shihan Datta noni, Taisei Shita Deshitachi ga Ore o Hōttekurenai Ken” by SQEX Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Hikoki.

It’s always difficult to figure out how far you can take your self-effacing hero, and how long you can drag things out before readers start to get annoyed. J-Novel Club seems to specialize in these sorts of guys, actually, and Beryl is the newest of them. Veight from Der Werwolf may claim that he’s just a simple vice-commander, but by the end of the series he’s so OP that he can’t even pass the torch to his daughter properly, the narrative weight is too big. Allen from Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter certainly has the most actual reasons for his attitude, but he also has the most number of people aggressively trying to change it. Our hero here is not nearly as advanced as those two, content with taking out the occasional ludicrously dangerous monster and stopping the odd conspiracy to overthrow the government. But he’s still just a drab, boring old man. Anyone could do what he does… right?

Beryl gets a letter from home. His parents are asking him to come home for a few weeks, as it’s time for the annual “let’s go into the mountains and cull the dangerous fantasy boars that inhabit it so they don’t overrun the village”. They also want him to take Mewi, so they can meet their new daughter. Beryl isn’t sure Mewi would want to go to a backwater village with a boring old man like him, but she seems to accept immediately. Funny, that. Also coming along are second-in-command of the knights Henblitz, who states that he wants to see the sort of place that can easily cull dangerous beasts every year without asking for help. And somehow Beryl’s old student Yotsuba invites herself along, as when she was at the dojo she never did this, having run off to join the knights before she had the opportunity. That said, the lingering question is… will his parents harass him again about getting married?

The answer to that is no, mostly. They don’t confront Beryl directly, but instead buttonhole Henblitz, asking him if there are any women in Beryl’s orbit. Possibly missing the really obvious reaction Yotsuba had when asked if she’s Beryl’s new wife. And also missing that Henblitz is also a clueless guy married to his job. The fight against the saberboars is pretty much what you’d expect – there’s a really big one that Beryl has to defeat, and he does so. We’re not here for that (though we do get to see more of Yotsuba’s ludicrous strength again, which is really, really ludicrous – she also provides the only fanservice in the book when she dives in a river and her clothes get sheer for the illustration). But we’re here for what happens at the very end of the book – Beryl fights his dad, and wins, and his dad forces him to admit that he’s now stronger than him. I could have some words with dad about his bringing up Beryl leading to this, but I am hoping that Beryl can now move forward and perhaps accept the fact that he’s hot stuff. And perhaps notice the hot girls throwing themselves at him.

So this was a pretty good volume in a decent series… hrm? Oh, I’m being told that Yotsuba’s name is actually Curuni? And not Yotsuba. Not sure why I keep making that mistake. Anyway, next time we’re back in the city, and judging by the cover, back to Girl #1 getting the focus.