Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home!, Vol. 8

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By You Fuguruma and Nama. Released in Japan as “Kasei Madoushi no Isekai Seikatsu: Boukenchuu no Kasei Fugyou Uketamawarimasu!” by Ichijinsha Bunko Iris NEO. Released in North America by J-Novel Heart. Translated by Hengtee Lim.

It’s been over a year since we saw the last volume of this series, so I was already struggling to recall what happened in the last book. For the author to them spring a major supporting character we had not seen since the first volume might be just a bit mean. But it ended up being a really good subplot, so I will forgive them. Honestly, this author is pretty good at mapping out the past, present and future of this world. We’ve gotten most of the past already, and we get another big chunk in the side story that ends this volume. The present, as always, is what’s taking forever, as all of the things that Alec and Shiori have to do at the end of the last book… they still need to do. And we get glimpses of the future all through this book, as we’re starting to see the “little did they know that in twenty years” narrative device used by authors who see an ending in sight.

Having finally gotten together with Alec *and* confessed about all of her past (including being from Japan), Shiori is now ready to move forward, which means teaching the other adventurers and mages in the city about her housekeeping magic. It’s harder than it seems, as most of them are either dealing with having to hold back or else simply never having had the imagination to think about such things. All these mages have is hammers, and Shiori is teaching them all the other ways to solve a problem besides nails. Unfortunately, her class is interrupted by a nearby avalanche, and they head to a nearby village to help… only to find that there’s also a magical beat on the loose… one that may have been engineered by the Empire.

So yeah, I wasn’t expecting to see Vivi again, mostly as I had completely forgotten about Vivi. Remember when those three girls abused Shiori back at the start of the series? And she used illusion magic to terrify them so badly that two fled back home and one ended up dead? Well, Vivi is one of the ones who fled back home, she’s had a heaping helping of humility, and she wants to apologize to Shiori, who graciously accepts it. (Of course she does. Were you expecting something else?) The interesting thing is that we them have Vivi attending Shiori’s housekeeping mage class, and also following to help with the avalanche. The extended focus on her POV not only allows us to see the depths of how much she actually has changed, but also demonstrates the dangers of using magic the same way every time (her left hand can now barely use magic since she always casts with her right) as well as how apologizing doesn’t always solve everything – the rest of the group are very reluctant to approve of her till after the disaster, when her actions help demonstrate what her words didn’t. I was very pleased with her entire subplot.

Will Alec and Shiori be any closer to marrying next time? Or will the building of the magic academy (oh no, not a magic academy!) take up all its time? Fortunately, we won’t have to wait another 14 months to find out – the next volume is out in the spring.

The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom, Vol. 1

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By Fuyutsuki Koki and Masami. Released in Japan as “Kanpeki Sugite Kawaige ga Nai to Konyaku Haki Sareta Seijo wa Ringoku ni Urareru” by Overlap Novels f. Released in North America by Airship. Translated by Tiffany Lim. Adapted by Shaenon K. Garrity.

This one really took me by surprise. The first, oh, forty pages or so read like Saint by Numbers, frankly. We’ve read this story before. Our heroine, who is fantastic at magic and smart and pretty but perhaps overly serious, is shunned by her fiance the prince, and exiled from the kingdom – in this case, literally sold to another kingdom for cash. When she arrives at her new homeland, she’s rather stunned to find that everyone there is treating her nicely, happy to see her, and urging her to take breaks and enjoy herself. Something that, well, she’s not particularly good at, as she grew up as the abused eldest daughter you almost always see in these sorts of books. We also hear about the youngest daughter, also a Saint, who supposedly loves her sister, but is now going to end up with the prince instead. Uh uh, I thought. Cue evil sister. Oh, how delightfully wrong I was.

For the summary of the start of the book, see above. Philia is somewhat horrified by this, but having been raised since birth to have almost no sense of self-worth, she quietly goes along with it. That said, Philia is only one of the two protagonists in this book. Back in her old country, Mia, the younger sister, is equally horrified to hear that (according to everyone else, that is) Philia chose to run off to another country, leaving Mia as the sole Saint. What’s more, after a brief period of being devastated by his fiancee leaving him that lasts about three days, the prince is now proposing to Mia instead. She suspects something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and decides to play detective to figure out what’s really going on. (Hint: treason.)

So yes, the big reveal is that Mia is not only the co-protagonist but just as likeable as her sister. Mia was raised in a family of love, separated from her older sister (we find out why later), and is relatively well-adjusted, so is definitely the one to be trying to investigate the potential multiple assassinations happening around her. Philia, meanwhile, is “dull, unfriendly, and far too serious”, according to the prince, and he’s not really far off. She was raised in a household without love, her education ranged from strict to ludicrous, and basic human decency baffles her, to the point where she’s poleaxed when people tell her not to immediately go out and save the country but take a day to rest. And honestly, for the best she didn’t, as it turns out Philia is better suited to save the entire WORLD.

This isn’t perfect – as always with this genre, the evil nobles are cartoonishly evil, and Philia’s two potential romantic interests seem to be there only because this genre always has two princes both in love with the Saint. But its main conceit is terrific (it’s getting an anime in April), and even though it seemingly wrapped everything up in the first book, I’ll read Book 2, which doubtless will focus more on those romantic loose ends.

The Dorky NPC Mercenary Knows His Place, Vol. 2

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By Toryuu and hamm. Released in Japan as “Kimo Ota Mob Yōhei wa, Mi no Hodo o Wakimaeru” by Overlap Novels. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Josh DM.

As I started to get near the end of this second novel, I began to wonder if the author is actually interested in any of the fanservice or romance in it at all. I know this might be a surprise given that the cover of this volume looks like the title of the series is “That Ass Knows Its Place”, but there’s a lot less thirst for our dorky hero this time around, with the obvious exception of Fialka, the designated tsundere and lead girl. But most of the sexy in this book is entirely down to the artwork rather than the plot and characters, John still has zero interest in anyone, and the author states in an afterword that they got into an argument with the editor about how robotic Shelly the maid should look. (The author lost, and passes it off as editorial making the right decision, but still…) In the end, if you want a harem look elsewhere. This is about space battles. 9-to-5 workaday space battles.

John (and it feels weird to use that name, given that it only appears three times in the entire book and everyone else has space names) is doing his usual thing, taking jobs once he knows that they’re not inherently dangerous, keeping his head down, avoiding nobility (with little to no success there), and being very, very good at what he does. He’s helped by a new guild receptionist who will not treat him like a creep or scum, and she’s a gorgeous young… woman? No, wait, really pretty young man. Never mind. He’s good at his job, though, which not only John but also the recently disgraced “hero” appreciate. And he’s got plenty of work, as there are more and more pirates, and more and more mercs are being hired to help take care of them.

Once again, the series’ main draw is how good it is at validating its hero’s mindset towards his life and job. Even the other characters are admitting he has a point about staying a knight and not getting involved. Partly as there are more jobs you CAN’T turn down when you get promoted, but mostly as almost every noble in this entire series seems to be some variation of “sack of shit”, and they all seem to run into John and hate him personally. It’s not clear if they recognize him from his famous past, or if they’re just like “portly guy who’s not gorgeous like everyone else in this universe, must be someone I can bully”, but it does make me wonder if the author has a bit of an agenda. Not that I mind all that much. The space battles here are pretty good, the girls who seem to revolve around him are, with one exception, nice enough, and the exception is comedy relief.

So, like the first book, this isn’t great, but it’s good, and the setting interests me. I’ll keep on trucking.