By Mizuho Itsuki and fuumi. Released in Japan as “Shinmai Renkinjutsushi no Tenpo Keiei” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Sean McCann.
This book manages to have the plot that I thought we were going to have in the last book. Actually, this book sort of wraps up all the intertangled plots from the other four, and also tells us that some things that we thought were unrelated, such as the visit from Nord last time, were actually a clever scheme. That said, most importantly, Sarasa and Iris are now married. They go into this a lot in this book, to the point where I’ve stopped finding it baffling and finally get it. There is gay marriage in this world. It’s pretty rare. But Sarasa is, frankly, such a great catch that everyone is fine with Iris marrying her, including her family. Sarasa isn’t romantically interested in Iris (I get the feeling Iris is OK with it being romantic, but she doesn’t push), but this marriage allows her to basically stay with her new “family” forever. And she also gains the cutest little sisters in the world. Who like her more than their actual sister.
Sarasa’s shop has two surprise visitors, one more so than the other. The bigger surprise is Prince Ferrick, who makes everyone nervous as they’re all sensibly concerned with accidentally saying something wrong in front of royalty. He turns out to have a huge bald spot, and wants a hair restorer that will require going into the mountains during winter to get ingredients. Following this visit, Baronet Kahku shows up, and if you’ve ever read any light novel with evil nobles, you know exactly what he’s like. He tries to bully Sarasa, which does not work at all. But it does worry her enough that she takes Lorea with her when they all go hunting for ingredients. Unfortunately, the Baron is not finished trying to get his way, and may even resort to… murder. That said, Sarasa has taken out giant monsters and kicked hellflame grizzlies, so we shouldn’t worry too much.
Not to be a broken record, but the best part of these books for me is the dissonance between Sarasa’s somewhat laid-back, deadpan narrative voice and everything else about her. She tries to insist that she’s just a cute teenage alchemist just starting out, but everything she’s ever done belies this. Indeed, this was true even before the series started. Maris, an alchemist we briefly saw a while ago, is in this book, mostly as a kind of comic relief, but she’s also there to remind us how different Sarasa is from EVERYONE else. Maris calls her a “walking exception”, and it’s a fantastic name. There’s also the dissonance between Sarasa trying to pretend that she’s a cool, uncaring alchemist who only cares about making money and the fact that whenever anything happens when her loved ones can see it, she turns pretty soft. (Bandits will remember, of course, what she’s like when she’s on her own). Sarasa gaining a family is not only the best thing to happen to Iris, but to Sarasa as well. And Kate. And Lorea. Yay for an asexual, aromantic lesbian polycule!
The next volume suggests she’s heading back into the capital, so we may see her master again. That said, I’m sure she won’t stay away long. This is a weird but fun series.
