By Inumajin and Falmaro. Released in Japan as “Seijo-sama? Iie, Toorisugari no Mamono Tsukai desu! – Zettai Muteki no Seijo wa Mofumofu to Tabi wo suru” by Kadokawa Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Meteora.
As with the last volume, the main thing you notice about this book is that it’s a comedy. That said,, things are actually pretty dark when Kanata’s not on the scene. The church is evil and is taking the money for themselves. The church is also brainwashing local ogres into having their minions attack small villages. Bitter blacksmiths are tricking their rival’s daughter into paying fake debt. And yet… when Kanata IS on the page, everyone turns into the broadest comedy. The hypercompetent adventurer Melissa turns into the ultimate whiny office lady. The evil Saint causing all this is far more annoyed that Kanata doesn’t even bother to see her as an enemy. And the massive wolf-spirit imprisoned by the Church finds that he can get far more laughs if he’s a cute puffball. The key to Kanata saving the world is not her ludicrous power to do anything, or her vague kindness that mostly revolves around fluff. It’s that she’s funny.
We pick up where we left off, with Kanata and her demon lord turned pussycat companion Zaggy trying to track down more fluff for Kanata to pet. They run into a small dog puffball, who Kanata nicknames Fen-Fen, who is of course the aforementioned Wolf Spirit. He’s spent decades waiting for the Saint that he’s supposed to dedicate himself to, only to be locked up by Marianne, the girl who actually does have the Saint title but has none of the Saint morality. She’s actually being led by the goddess we saw last time, who has one piece of advice for her: if you see Kanata, run away. Sadly, Marianne does not take this advice, and now has to deal with a girl who will get more fluff By Any Means Necessary, even if it means doing endless amounts of tiny, cheap good deeds.
The joke about Kanata, of course, is that she *is* the Saint, but accidentally. She’s not particularly saving lives, helping find lost pets, or taking down the evil church that’s controlling everything because it’s the right thing to do. Indeed, you could argue that she doesn’t notice what she’s doing at all. She does it because it will get her fluff. Hell, the evil Saint, Marianne, is seemingly killed by her patron goddess, only for Kanata to resurrect her… because her hair is a 10 points on the fluffy scale. No other reason. We do occasionally see flashes of her actually comprehending what’s going on… in the side story she clearly sees the cheating going on and decides to help by having Zaggy cheat on the other side… But for the most part, she’s not good or bad. She’s fluff. And since no one in this world knows what that means, it becomes an all-purpose thing to strive for, be it strength, good deeds, whatever. Fluff is what you want it to be.
Of course, Kanata wants it to be fluff she can snuggle. She may have to wait a bit, the third volume is not out in Japan yet. Till then, this is silly but… no, it’s just silly.
