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The Apothecary Diaries, Vol. 13

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By Natsu Hyuuga and Touko Shino. Released in Japan as “Kusuriya no Hitorigoto” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Kevin Steinbach.

It had to come sometime. The Apothecary Diaries has finally given us a short story volume. Well, sort of. This is not exactly the “we collected all the bookstore-exclusive stories and bunched them in a book” volume we see from other light novel series. The stories detail the main cast’s return to the rear palace after a year away in the West, what has happened in their absence, and what’s going to happen going forward. With one exception right at the very end, Maomao is not the POV character for any of these stories, which makes them unique. That said, Maomao certainly inhabits a lot of the narrative, and the ending of the 12th volume, which saw her finally coming to terms with what she and Jinshi have going on between them and showing it physically, turns out to be something that absolutely everyone can see written all over their faces. Which means… well, it means a lot more go stones have to be set in motion, as a Jinshi/Maomao pairing could be deadly if not handled properly.

The stories, which can sometimes stretch over multiple chapters: 1) Lahan has to deal with a hanging corpse found in Lakan’s chambers, which is made to look like a suicide but it’s soon clear isn’t; 2) Jinshi meets up with the Emperor and Empress, and is told that the rumbles over Gyokuyou’s son being the WRONG kind of future emperor have only been getting louder (it’s that red hair, you see); 3) Maamei has to deal with her sister-in-law returning from the west permanently injured, and her brother being far too attached to a duck, which is not a metaphor for former consort Lishu at all; 4) Yao and En’en still have not left Lahan’s residence, much to the irritation of everyone except Yao, who clearly has a crush on him. This ends up possibly getting solved by 5) the return of Lahan’s brother, and the demise of the best running gag in the series. 6) Maomao catches up on things at Verdigris House, including a shocking change; 7) Maomao is called to meet Ah-Duo, who has heard the rumors about her relationship with Jinshi and has a few things to say; 8) Jinshi invites Maomao to his residence so their love can finally be consummated… or at least that’s what everyone except Jinshi assumes.

The stories build up to the big climax (or rather, lack of climax) of the ending, in which Maomao is nervous but ready but Jinshi has not yet emotionally or politically prepared himself for the consequences of this relationship. It’s probably for the best they wait a bit more. Elsewhere, I was as startled as Maomao to hear that Meimei is no longer in the brothel, having been bought out by the Go champion we saw in previous books. We don’t even see her in this volume, which is bad in that she was the one Princess we got the most development for, but also good as it means Joka, the one we knew the least about, gets a spotlight, where we see she’s worrying about her future and wants to forget about her past, something which might be harder than it appears. I was relieved to see Chue has stuff to do here, and will not be written out anytime soon, mostly as she’s become my second favorite after Maomao herself. Best of all, though, is the way that the “Yao has a crush on Lahan” plotline, which every character hated and so did I, is resolved. It’s resolved so simply I’m amazed I never thought about it. And what’s more, despite the demise of the running gag I mentioned before (we now know his real name), it lives on! (he still can’t use it, because spoilers).

I assume with Vol. 14 we’ll be back to Maomao POV, and probably a lot more political backstabbing and murder. Till then, this is a great way to handle a short story collection.

From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won’t Leave Me Alone, Vol. 5

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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.

Earl and Fairy: Requiem for a Goddess

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By Mizue Tani and Asako Takaboshi. Released in Japan as “Hakushaku to Yōsei” by Shueisha Cobalt Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Alexandra Owen-Burns.

After the short story volume form last time, this book storms back with a vengeance, as if it’s determined to start actually resolving things. Are we getting near the end of Earl and Fairy? Hardly – we’re just over a quarter of the way – but we are at last allowed to actually resolve a few plot points and move forward others that have been simmering in the background since the first book. If you’ve been waiting for Raven to do more than be Edgar’s sounding board and occasionally attack random minor villains, I have some good news for you, as Raven and Ermine’s past is explored a lot more thoroughly here. The bad news is that this means that Raven spends a lot of the book as the damsel in distress, with a healthy dash of mind control as well. Now, you might think that it’s better that this happen to the relatively strong Raven rather than Lydia again. That’s the bad news. She’s damseled again, and it’s mostly her own fault.

There’s a serial killer murdering people around London Bridge, and Edgar is investigating, especially after a piece of green stone is found in the mouth of one of the victims. Meanwhile, I’m sorry to tell you, but everyone’s favorite revolving door traitor, Ermine, has run off again, after Raven confronts her about a green diopside stone that she seems determined to keep away from him, and which is tied to their past. Meanwhile, a student of Lydia’s father, Ulya, has appeared, telling her that her father is ill. Lydia accepts this and runs off to see him… and is captured, leading to her needing to be rescued, which leads to Raven being captured. Oh, and she’s abducted by Kelpie. Again. Twice. She’s really having a bad day.

This is a book with very little humor in it. Ulysses appears briefly, but we also see The Prince (or one of his body doubles), and if he’s meant to be a sort of evil Bertie (later Edward VII), it works pretty well. We get a fuller description of Raven and Ermine’s past with Edgar, which also means we hear about her being raped in front of Edgar just to upset him. As for Lydia and Edgar’s romance, things get off to a rocky start, but for once the “being an idiot about things” is tilted more towards the Lydia end of the scales, as Edgar is on good behavior here, having realized that he genuinely does have to treat Lydia differently if he wants to marry her. As for Lydia, she admits that she’s in love with Edgar, and while she won’t say this out loud to him yet, she at least agrees to marry him. Sort of. It’s a cliffhanger ending of sorts, after she’s abducted for the THIRD time in the book. Those kooky kids…

By now I hope everyone knows this is a series with a small but dedicated fanbase, and this volume hits all the right notes if you are in that fanbase.