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.

This series continues to be pleasant. It has a nice cast, and after the drama of the last book, I was expecting a more lackadaisical one. That said, I’m starting to feel like Agnes does through most of this volume. I wish that the book would stop coddling me and actually go places. It’s been very clear for a while now that the author’s idea for the way the series goes began and ended with the first book. This is quite common with light novels, where the publisher says “It sold, write more”, and the author says “more what?”. I was wondering if the series might end with Agnes giving birth to her child, but no, that’s the beginning of this book, and it ends up going so smoothly and easily even Agnes is surprised. Worst of all, the author is aware that there is a certain lack of conflict in this volume, and brings back the series’ worst villain, Robin. Who is still the worst.

Six volumes in and we’re no closer to figuring out why the cover art always has a little chibi-Agnes floating around. I had wondered if it might be their future child, but no, Agnes gives birth to a healthy baby boy, named Solis. What’s more, not only does he have rare soil magic, but he’s seemingly been able to use it from inside the womb, as it turns out that was the reason behind Agnes’ magic soil powers in the last volume. That’s not to say she doesn’t do a lot of Cool Magic Tricks here, including essentially putting up a dome to protect the entire estate from a nasty storm. Unfortunately, Robin has escaped from his light novel stereotypes prison, and is helped out by an apathetic, aggrieved man from another country. They’re supposed to flee to that country, but Robin can’t help going to Sutrena to try to make Nazel’s life miserable.

To get the bad stuff out of the way, I hate Robin. I know that’s deliberate, but I hate how he’s written too. It’s interesting that one of the funnier things in the book was how Agnes got Robin to stop being obsessed with her – she put her old pancake makeup from Lady Bumpkin days back on. But yeah, Robin is stupid, arrogant, and terrible, and him being put back in prison also means we get a lot more “hah, it’s funny because prisons have lots of gay rape!” bits. On the bright side, I quite liked the aggreived foreign aide, who seems to realize that he’s on a mission where everyone will abandon him when it goes wrong, and when it does, he’s absolutely right. Fortunately, he’s in this series, so it turns out his magic is far more amazing than he expected. Also, because he’s in this series, Agnes wins him over with the sheer power of niceness, though he doesn’t fall for her.

So yeah, I’m basically reading this series on inertia, but I still want to read more, unlike her other JNC series I dropped recently. And we may get another child soon, if Nazel’s behavior at the end of this volume means anything. For fans of series with chibi-versions of the protagonist floating in the air for no reason.

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’ve talked before about artifact titles, when you have a series with a title that was accurate for the first volume but proves increasingly wrong as the series goes on. Lady Bumpkin and Her Lord Villain is proving to be one of these, and not just because she’s now Madam Bumpkin. This series started with Agnes dressed in 80-year-old fashion and pancake makeup getting thrown to the wolves for the lulz by the “heroine”. Now, four books after that first one, Agnes is making everyone who meets her fall in love with her, much to the jealous annoyance of her husband, she’s able to use her powers to help the crops, throw yams that can take out an enemy, and still find time to research the legendary saint. Which she absolutely is not. Why, they have totally different names for their very similar sounding powers! There’s no way Agnes would be a saint! (cough)

Agnes is about four months pregnant, and is having to deal with everyone around her treating her like an invalid. Fortunately, her brother Paul will be graduating soon from school, so she and Nazel get to visit Polypstan… where they also plan to research some information about the saint, just in case. Unfortunately, Polypstan has been having trouble growing crops as well, so they are very interested in the sunchoke potatoes that Sutrena has been working on, which are able to grow without the help of Agnes and Nazel’s magic. Unfortunately, there are a few hiccups. Both a duke and the prince of Polypstan seem to have fallen for Agnes, and this is a nation that allows polyamorous relationships… even if all the parties don’t approve. More dangerously, Paul’s graduation test is interrupted by a swarm of what amount to very giant locusts who can punch people, and they’re possibly the ones responsible for the crop failure.

There’s a lot of cute stuff here, which is good given that I think that’s why most folks read this series. It’s nice to see Agnes meet several women and get along with all of them, even going so far as to make potato chips with the duchess. Nazel may spend most of the book being jealous, and trying to have Agnes sit and take it easy constantly, but it always feels fun rather than forced, and her flustered reaction whenever he gets too loving is adorable. That said, there are ominous rumblings for future books. Robin may escape soon, which is not great news for everyone who didn’t like his “mind control my way to power” ways. Moreover, I think it’s pretty clear Agnes *is* the saint, and they’re not going to be able to keep that secret forever, no matter how much they want to ignore it. Nazel needs to figure out a way to make it so Agnes cannot be taken away from him for the good of all mankind.

That said, escaped jerkass will likely come first. This is cute and fun, if not lights out.

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.

In the first three volumes we saw how Agnes, as well as many, many other noble girls, were abused by their families physically, mentally and emotionally, causing them to either be broken shells or else turn towards evil. I had wondered if this was the norm for the nobility in this series. Well, in this new volume we meet a whole passel of noble girls who don’t appear to have suffered any of this. Unfortunately, they’re all either examples of the sort of vacillating, both sides have a point person who only wants to end up on the winning side, or they’re the sneering catty bitches sort who always tend to be in these sort of books, usually shoving the heroine to the ground and doing that laugh with the hand covering the mouth. I really want a nice girl with a loving family who ends up being fine. Just one?

Having settled in as Sutrena’s top lady, Agnes feels she now has to try to go back and achieve what she could not do in the first place: become a high society noble in the capital. She knows that negotiating tea parties and gossiping is how a true lady wields her power, and the fact that she hates that sort of thing is neither here nor there. Fortunately, the Queen sends her an invite to a tea party she’s having to try to make nice with the noblewomen. Unfortunately, the whole thing shows off that the Queen has very little support – in fact, it may just be Agnes. As if that weren’t bad enough, a reporter publishes an article saying Agnes is cheating on Nazel with his brother, someone keeps trying to kidnap Ralph, Princess Mia’s child who is now living as the son of a count, and Agnes finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy. Again.

I have to say, sometimes these books set in the standard “nobility and commoners” universe make me uncomfortable. The reporter who libels Agnes is a commoner with a tragic backstory, which involves abuse and abandonment. She is also a thoroughly unpleasant person, and by the end of the book she is thrown in prison, with more serious punishment implied. Meanwhile, there are also several nobles in this who are also thoroughly unpleasant people whose actions lead to terrible things, and they are… either sent to a convent or exiled. Indeed, the fate of the villain of the book is to end up on the same island as Princess Mia, and he regards it as something of a happy ending. No one really notices this double standard, mostly as the entire cast, almost, consists of nobles or those who work closely with nobles. Sigh. Anyway, aside from that, Agnes sure gets put into peril a lot in this book, possibly to disguise the fact that her magic can now do almost anything.

The end of the book comes with something that’s not too much of a surprise given how often Nazel takes his new bride up to bed. Maybe we can finally justify that chibi on the covers. Recommended for those who don’t think too hard about class struggle in villainess books.