By Masekinokatasa and Kaito Shinobu. Released in Japan as “Tenseishitara Koutei deshita: Umarenagara no Koutei wa Konosaki Ikinokoreru ka?” by TO Books. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Gwendolyn Warner.
The author indicates, in the afterword, that they are already not a fan of harem series, and now that Carmine has a wife and two concubines they do not plan to add any more to the pile. This is a great shame, because in the same afterword the author talks about how much they love writing strong female characters, and we get another one here who is absolutely magnificent. Last time we introduced fantasy Mei Hatsume, this time we get a successful version of Leeroy Jenkins. She’s a Count, she was raised as a boy (though thinks of herself as a girl), she is fantastic at battle but kinda dumb about everything else, and she thinks Carmine is the best thing since sliced bread. She’s ready to fight and die for him. Which is good, as everyone keeps trying to attack his Empire. Carmine will need Leeroy-chan, as well as Mei Hatsume, even though he finds it really hard to deal with both.
The volume divides neatly into two parts. The first half is all politics and strategy, as Carmine has the weddings for his other two brides while also feeling out all the envoys and representatives from other countries who came to them and seeing what they’re after. He does this even during his wedding night, much to the displeasure of a pouting but underage Nadine, who has to fall asleep on the bed. He meets a foreign prince, who seems difficult to deal with, a creepy mind-controlling noble, who seems VERY difficult to deal with, and also has to deal with the “I’m just a moe blob” merchant we met a few books ago, who is most definitely NOT a moe blob. In the second half of the book, Carmine takes his army out on the road again, to defend the Empire from invaders, and, like a lot of this series, everything goes really well until it doesn’t.
I was a little more interested in the battles this time around, possibly because of the presence of Leeroy – OK, I can’t keep calling her that. Because of the presence of Alumel de Severe, aka Count Ethiac. The chapter describes her as a meathead knight, which is true, but this is not to say she ONLY does “hit with sword”. When Carmine breaks down exactly what’s happening on the battlefield, she’s very quick to pick up on what he means. In fact, a bit more than what he means – she ascribes several things to him that aren’t actually his idea, but he lets it slide as she’s hard to deal with. (I’m sure he won’t regret that horribly later.) As a result, I was able to keep up myself, as I am also not one for endless Axis and Allies scheming back and forth. I also loved the reappearance of Valenriehl, and how in particular not only can Carmine not stand her to the point where he debates just killing her, but everyone else’s reaction is “I can’t believe you’re trying to work with that thing.” The author not only writes strong female characters, but they’re all fun. I actually do want Alumel as a concubine! (Not so much the mad scientist.)
Sadly, due to a nasty cliffhanger – again – all may be lost – again. There’s 11 volumes in Japan, though, so probably not.
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