By Kosaka Hanane and Kurogiri. Released in Japan as “Heimin Shushhun no Shōkan, Munō na Kizoku Jōkan o Jūrin Shite Nariagaru” by Fujimi Fantasia Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Jennifer Ward.

Yes, it’s time for another episode of “Sean reads a title way outside of his wheelhouse”. Much to my surprise, there isn’t a specific event here that necessitates our protagonist spending the rest of the series getting revenge. Instead, it’s merely the crushing weight of disappointment and betrayal from his previous life that has led him to regard this one with disdain. But make no mistake about it, this book is basically “you know your boss who lords his status over you? Or those rich kids at high school who mock you when you can’t afford the nice things? Wouldn’t it be great if you could destroy them forever?” Hazen is especially good at doing this, and is frankly a villain in all but name. Fortunately, he’s surrounded by one or two interesting characters, but I have to say, much of this reads like a teenager’s spite diary.

After graduating third in his class at the military academy… but getting his diploma last because he’s a filthy commoner… Hazen briefly talks to his two (2) friends, verbally destroys an arrogant noble who drops by to mock him and then heads off to his new assignment, a frontier post where commoners have been assigned for some time now and “mysteriously disappear”. Hazen is not like those other commoners. He’s different. He arrives, is assigned to the worst unit on the frontier, and proceeds to take command by cutting off the heads of two of the worst sergeants in charge, forcing everyone to actually be physically fit, and generally treating the soldiers like human beings… provided they’re not nobles. He also manages to make peace with the local native tribe, and then prepares to invade the fortress that no one has ever been able to invade. He does all this with 100% no emotion whatsoever. It’s all logic. His twisted logic, but hey.

First off, as always I warn readers, there’s slavery in this. In fact, there’s slavery used as comedy – the schmuck of a noble that Hazen spends the entire book destroying is told the only thing he’s good for is being a slave, and that he’s probably not even good enough to be a high-grade slave. Hazen’s shtick is that he’s utterly blunt about everything, but assumes people will be OK with that since he’s just telling the truth. It also helps that he’s almost all-powerful at magic and combat, too. Fortunately, the book has a few upsides. At one point he finds an orphan girl whose sole purpose is to be a tsukkomi and yell at Hazen, and she does it very well. I also liked his bodyguard, the massive woman on the cover, who he realizes will be ground up by the military machine, so he makes her his bodyguard so that he can use her but not grind her up. (In case you’re wondering, the third girl on the cover appears in the book for about 3 pages, despite multiple color pictures and a bio. This is odd, as there is a plot-relevant woman who could be on the cover but she doesn’t even get any art at all. Possibly as she’s one of the native tribe and not a green-eyed blonde.)

If you .like series where the hero always acts with “cold logic”, with the exception of one or two moments where he goes “you know what? That makes me mad” like Droopy, this should be like catnip for you. I’m not sure I plan to read any more, though. Hazen is just not fun.