By Tsunehiko Watanabe and Jyuu Ayakura. Released in Japan as “Risou no Himo Seikatsu” by Hero Bunko. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by MPT.
It’s been about a year and a half since the last volume of this series, which is not a long time compared to some other light novels. But honestly, the biggest plot in this volume hearkens back to the 12th book, which was two years ago. And I had to leaf back through my reviews, because it felt like it was even further back. I have always enjoyed that this series is about political finagling and not about Zenjirou getting his end away all the time. But the trouble with that is that there is a lot of stuff we have to remember. I’m having enough trouble staying current with Zenjirou meeting with the ice giants, I don’t need to crack open three volumes ago to remind me who that fighting young priest who can talk to the young was. Fortunately, if the church has their way, I may not need to have to remember the fighting young priest much longer.
We open with Zenjirou and Yngvi being taken to the far north via Santa’s sleigh, which functions very much like an airplane – which also means Zenjirou accidentally shows off his otherworldly knowledge to Freya’s brother a bit too much. The meeting itself is interesting, involving a loss of raw materials and the need to open a hole to another world to solve the issue – I could swear I’ve seen that plotline before. Then we go back to Capua, where Yngvi is searching for a second wife, and hopes to find her among Aura’s maids – all of whom are noblewomen, remember. The big plotline, though, is that Priest Yan has been captured by the church and is about to be executed. Normally you’d expect Aura to regard that as somebody else’s problem, but that priest has a very interesting trait that brings out the mad scientist in her…
Given that it took forever to come out, this is quite an enjoyable book. The Priest Yan subplot is one I don’t want to spoil but it’s great, with a terrific punchline, and shows off Aura’s cunning to its fullest effect. I also like the continuing attempt that she and Freya have of feeling out each other – Freya is always coming up short, as she herself says, but she, with Zenjirou’s help, comes up with a clever idea that can actually make her some money to have her lands turned into a proper port faster. And then there’s Zenjirou himself, who has a few screw-ups in this book, but for the most part the one issue he has to deal with is his compassion, and how it’s going to be tested given that they’re going to be going to war at some point… which is the reason Aura is letting all this happen in the first place.
All this and the idiot maids being more sensible than usual this time around (honestly, by now, they’re the veterans in the group – it’s just they never want to leave.) I’m not sure if it will be 18 more months till Book 16 (it’s not out in Japan), but I’ll definitely try to remember what happened when it does appear.
0 Comments