Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll Do Anything to Become a Librarian!: Royal Academy Stories – First Year

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By Miya Kazuki and You Shiina. Released in Japan as “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by quof.

While we have gotten short stories at the end of each volume of Bookworm from the perspectives of the people in the cast who are not Myne/Rozemyne, it’s nice to have an entire volume that does not feature her at the center – in fact, a lot of these stories revolve around her absence. Instead we get a sense of what the Academy is supposed to be like for people who are not Rozemyne, and how she really is just tearing through everything like a bull in a china shop. There is political wrangling about tea parties, political wrangling about sports, and literal assault as a romantic overture. One thing I will note: everyone who said “I still hate Wilfried” as we went into the 4th arc should read this, as you really do feel bad for him. That said, anyone who hated Traugott will find only things that make you hate him more. I can’t believe he was once engaged to Best Girl.

Many of these stories are from Hannelore’s POV, and indeed the collection itself came about as the author wanted to find a place for the web-only Hannelore stories that didn’t fit into the main books. I can sum most of them up as “Being Hannelore Is Suffering” and leave it at that. There’s also a long story from the POV of Rauffen, the ditter-obsessed housemaster of Dunkenfelger, and how he proves to be much more on the ball than I had anticipated. And we get a wonderful story with Angelica, showing how even if she wants to serve Rozemyne for the rest of her life, she still has to realize what that actually means (though she also proves more emotionally adept than I had anticipated at handling the temple servants). And there’s Hartmut, as we see the short story that had been referenced before in the 7th book of Arc 4 (this volume came out in Japan before that one), and it’s a lot of fun.

I’d argue this is pretty essential reading even if it’s just short stories without Rozemyne in them. The discussion of ditter and what it was originally meant to do, as well as the changed made to it, forecast an ominous fate for the knights if there is, say, a civil war. The most ominous short story is the one with Ortwin and his sister Adolphine, who had been expecting a relatively easy and happy engagement, but thanks to Rozemyne’s intervention and the power of True Love, is going to get one that’s far less easy and far less happy. The words “I’m screwed” do not pass her lips, but they drench the text, and I think this is also going to play out in future volumes of the main series. And we also learn that even if she may only be 11 years old and look like she’s 7, Rozemyne is still a hot item, which helps explain why she got a rushed engagement. Powerful people want her in their duchy.

As with most short story collections of large series these days, this came out awkwardly after the books that refer to it. I assume that’s the usual rights issues and contract stuff. Still better than Re: Zero, which relies on “no, we’re not doing these volumes, just read the wiki to figure out who this is”. Thankfully, we have it now, and it’s a great read for Bookworm fans.

Housekeeping Mage from Another World: Making Your Adventures Feel Like Home!, Vol. 2

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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.

I remember thinking after finishing the first volume of Housekeeping Mage that it was a lot darker than I had really expected. But I noted in my review that the story did its level best to try to have the trauma and abuse of our heroine be in the past so that it could be a cute romantic novel. That said… there is still the past trauma and abuse, and that comes to the fore here in the second volume, where we go into more detail about Shiori’s struggles after being isekai’d to this world (we still don’t know the reason) and we go into much greater detail about her time with her previous party, who were all such good kids… AT FIRST. And, well, bad things happen to her here as well. It’s just volume 2, so I’m OK with this, and it’s quite well written. I do hope we’ve sort of turned a corner, though. It can be cathartic but also exhausting to read.

As Alec and Shiori return from visiting Rurii’s family, they are beset upon by a snow wolf. And then, later on, three snow wolves. This is very unusual, they tend not to attack humans without a reason. They then arrive at a nearby village and find the reason, which leads to a huge battle between 60-70 wolves and only a few knights and adventurers. Unfortunately, during this, Shiori is badly injured, and this triggers memories of her past adventure party, to the point where she’s almost delirious with fear that Alec will abandon her. From this we also learn about how her party self-destructed so badly, and who was the mastermind behind it. Oh yes, there’s also a torture brothel involved. That said, this *is* still a romance, and by the end of the book Alec and Shiori are essentially a couple, and resolving to reveal to each other their secret backstories.

I am slightly optimistic that the worst of this is behind us, mostly because the narrative makes it textually clear. By the end of the main story, Shiori’s old diary detailing her travails since arriving in this world up to her abandonment has been burned, and the records showing exactly who was behind everything and why have also been burned, thus literally allowing her to start over fresh. Not admittedly there’s still Alec’s past, which is also touched upon here, and we also don’t know the reason she’s even here at all. But the summary of the next volume, while it implies bad things will be happening, at least says they’ll be fresh new bad things. And the romance between Alec and Shiori really is sweet. I could have done without the brothel subplot entirely, though, to be fair, which mostly seems to be there to show off what a bad guy the bad guy was.

So yes, I’m going to be reading more. I like the leads, I like Shiori’s slime, I like the supporting cast who aren’t evil, and honestly the ones who were evil are all dead now. Let’s hopefully move on.

My Quiet Blacksmith Life in Another World, Vol. 3

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By Tamamaru and Kinta. Released in Japan as “Kajiya de Hajimeru Isekai Slow Life” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Linda Liu.

Still enjoying this series, don’t get me wrong, but it’s time I face up to the face that I am skimming a large chunk of it every time simply because I really don’t care one jot about the Blacksmith Life part of this book. There is just so much detail about how to make swords correctly, knives correctly, and katanas correctly, including hilts and scabbards and the like. And of course we also get to hear Eizo talk a lot about how he’s using his cheats too, so these are essentially IKEA blueprints that contain the S. Harris punchline “then a miracle occurs” halfway through the process. It is a BIG chunk of every book, and I think the series would benefit from less of it, even if it means sacrificing a bit of the slow life pacing. Which gets a bit of a kick in the pants in this volume anyway, as halfway through Eizo is called out to help with a monster subjugation that turns nasty.

In the first half of this volume, we essentially get the same thing as the second half of Book 2, only with the elf replaced with a demon. Nilda recently suffered a crushing defeat battling against a mere human, and the mere human had a very familiar sword. Now Nilda wants a sword of her own to challenge her, so basically stakes out Eizo’s hometown till she runs into him. What follows is a lot of slow life sword building and all the girls admiring Eizo’s muscular blacksmith body. After this, Marius asks that Eizo go monster exterminating with them, so that he can repair the swords and armor when they’re broken in battle. This battle ends up being more personal than he expected, as he runs into the elf Lidy, who just left his shop with her own magic sword. She’s here to help them take out the main monster boss… and avenge her brother.

I gloss over it a bit in these reviews, but this is still very much that genre of “a harem series without any actual sex or even kissing” that is so popular in Japan. Nilda clearly likes Eizo. By the end of the book, Livy has gone back to his shop and moved in with everyone. We meet a young woman, Frederica, who is in charge of logistics and can best be summed up as “small insecure accountant” but also clearly is in love with Eizo by the end of the book. Hell, it’s implied that the Queen of the Demons has taken a liking to him as well, and the flashforwards we occasionally see very pointedly say he has a wife but never say who it is. This book is written for folks who love seeing a man surrounded by a dozen women but who will be making precisely zero moves. I know this upsets some light novel fans.

Still, it is what it is. It’s slow life, adding girls one by one, and smithing. So much smithing.