@aki_iokua comments about the spoiler

spoiler

@thegrimlich The issue of Julius' culpability in assisting Gaius in violating the declaration is actually the easiest one to throw back at the others. To prevent Gaius from attempting his gambit would have likely required staging a coup to remove his father by force, almost certainly killing him in the process. In other words, the others are effectively disparaging Julius for having failed to rise up against his liege and his own father. If that's the case, the comeback to that is simple, how easily can Souma or Jean decide to raise their sword against their own loved ones just because they were doing "wrong?" What right do they have to demand that he commit patricide, regicide, and treason on their behalf?

As for satisfying the Empire, there's no point in trying. The Empire is pissed, and nothing Julius can do is going to appease them. That being the case, he might as well extract as much usage out of them as possible in the here and now. The Empire wants the declaration to stand, so Julius should have framed the entire intervention solely in a manner to paint Amidonia as having been compliant the entire time. Yes, that declaration is so meaningless that one can bend it into whatever sort of pretzel one desires to actually do that. The more widely publicized those flaws are, the weaker the symbolic value of the declaration, and the more the Empire has to commit cold, hard steel to prop it up. Seeing as frankly at this point Julius has little to lose, he should have just held the declaration hostage outright and dared the Empire to risk it becoming completely invalidated. Could that blow up in his face and see him dead? Of course. But the losses inflicted upon Amidonia at this point were functionally a deathblow anyway, even setting aside Souma's later plans. Does the Empire consider building cordial relations with the kingdom worth the effective dismantlement of the declaration?

I’m reading from one of the published E-books this time, so my reactions will be organized by chapter, rather than by prepub part.

Prologue:
Wow, throwing a stone bridge all that distance? That’s quite impressive.

Chapter 1:
That was initially a good deduction on Shabon’s part, but then she went and accidentally pushed Souma’s berserk button.

Aisha saying to “give [her] some of that, too” when Souma said he said was gonna “spoil [Roroa] rotten” that night was pretty funny.

Chapter 2:
A good deduction from Souma, as well. Or not, apparently.

Interesting that Ooyamizuchi’s name almost certainly comes from Japanese in-universe. It’s unlikely that a name would be touched by the translation magic, and the possible meanings of that name in Japanese match the meanings that name is supposed to have had in the world the main story takes place in, as well. That means it’s likely Japanese was in use at some point in the past in the world Souma was summoned to.

Chapter 3:
It’s not as if “Roger that” is a particularly unique line, Naden.

You know what? Is it just me, or does the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago look sort of like a broken-up Japan?

Chapter 4:
Well, here’s one thing Yuriga has in common with Yurika: They both have twintails.

Uhh, is there something weird about making doors out of wood in Japan, or something?

Cool to see Tomoe pinching Yuriga’s cheeks for once.

Chapter 5:
Interesting. I wonder what the Nine-Headed Dragon King is spending the taxes on other than the military.

That was interesting changeup of the usual “girl fondling another girl’s breasts” scene that you might see in Japanese media. Instead, it was Naden fondling Yuriga’s wings.

Chapter 6:
Liscia wanting Souma to hurry up and have babies with everyone else LUL

Shana looks like a Warring State Period warlord.

Seems Souma and Shana are both aiming to pull each other’s fleet in and eliminate them in a decisive battle. Also, Shana still has some unknown secret plan, which is probably what he was funneling that unaccounted for budget into. This could get quite interesting.

Chapter 7:
Souma, Naden, Aisha, Juna, and Excel having tea just before the battle and Shabon and Kishun themselves due to be unable bear the sense of relaxation was quite funny.

Something seems suspicious the way Souma and Shana are acting.

And now that distress signal, too. I almost wonder if Souma and Shana are actually secretly working together.

“The Battle of the Farce” LUL Called it!

Chapter 8:
Nice callback to the situation involving Georg in the first major arc.

Chapter 9:
Wow, that military uniform does a good job of hiding Juna’s chest.

Chapter 10:
“Mechanical Dragon -final battle-“ Hype!

That’s a cool illustration of Mechadra.

Pile drivers!

Chapter 11:
“Cooking with Kaiju” LUL

Getting more good use out of Mechadra.

Chapter 12:
Wow, I wasn’t expecting the topic of an arranged marriage involving one of Souma’s children to come up.

Woo! Called Shabon and Kishun getting engaged!

Woohoo! Juna is pregnant! Bit disappointed there was no illustration of Souma scooping Juna up into his arms, though.

Epilogue:
So, given that the world has been transited from east to west and there are no other known continents, that would presumably make it too small for it to actually be Earth, then. There’s clearly still some connection there, though. I suppose it might be possible the continent is just super big, but I don’t think that matches up with the world map we have. My current theory is now that it’s some exoplanet and/or terraformed planet.

After Story 1:
That’s a nice illustration involving Liscia.

After Story 2:
I still think Maria and Souma would be great together.

Premium Bonus Stories:

spoiler

The illustration of Lucy feeding sweets to Yurika Yuriga...
Vey nice.

@sillymel did you finish up all the catchup in time?

@bartzbb said in Realist Hero Volume 5 Discussion!:

Thanks to the anime I got the urge to read the LN again.

In Volume 3 Chapter 4, it was said that the name of the Demon Lord is Divalroi.

In Volume 5 Chapter 4, during the negotiation with the saint Souma compared her to a Diva.

Specifically this is what he said:

...I see, I realized. In a way, she is like a Diva.
In my world, there was an anthropomorphized text reading program called a Divaloid. It had gotten famous because you could use the synthesized female voice to read passages, or to sing songs, and it had caused a big boom, especially on video sharing sites. They’d added illustrations of a cute girl to it, and she’d even held live concerts as a virtual idol.

I'm thinking the Demon Lord Divalroi is actually a Divaloid. In short a VTuber.

Sounds like Hololive as well, to me.

@sillymel
Geh.

The difference in length of year between theirs and ours.
It would be a day less when compared to our leap year than compared to our non-leap year.

I'd like to say it's been a long day, but that's not it...and that wasn't intended as a humorous reference to the topic under discussion when I wrote it.

Part 1:
That’s a nice scene with Souma and Naden riding a horse together. Also, seems like Naden is oddly sensitive between her antlers when in human form.

I guess dragons and tigers not getting along is a Japanese thing? I’m not familiar with it.

Part 2:
Alright, we finally get an illustration of Mutsumi. Yeah, she is quite pretty.

Souma doesn’t mention it, another thing that makes Albert engaging Liscia to Souma different is that Albert already had foreknowledge that Souma and Liscia were compatible, since those two got together naturally in the previous reality, so really, it was just moving up the timetable.

Part 3:
Oh boy! We’ve got a bit from Tomoe’s perspective!

Yeah, I could totally see Tomoe and Ichiha getting married in the future.

Just looked up Mito Koumon, and suddenly that one random backstory Souma gave suddenly makes a whole lot more sense.

Part 4:
Now that I think about it, Tomoe’s been adopted by the former king and queen of Elfrieden, so I guess that does technically make Tomoe a princess. Huh.

“Was this some unorthodox form of wrestling?” You make it sound like they’re doing something untoward, Souma.

Those frames seem to indicate the different parts that make up each monster.

Part 5:
Isn’t it a bit early for a chapter called “Finale”?

Part 6:
For some reason, I’ve got this nagging suspicion that Yuriga (almost called her “Yurika” there, but as far as I can tell, Yuriga isn’t a chemical weapons specialist) is gonna end up becoming one of Souma’s fiancées. They don’t have particularly good chemistry, and I don’t particularly want it to happen, but I’ve got a feeling. One advantage is that it might help hold Fuuga back.

Another possibility, actually: Fuuga might potentially invade the Gran Chaos Empire and cause it to collapse, freeing up Maria.

Oh, right. Yuriga is only 13. Never mind, then (probably).

As long as Fuuga keeps his ambitions to truly unifying the Union of Eastern Nations, that should
be fine, but… I have a feeling we may have discovered our real main antagonist.

“Don’t think too much about the difference in wording there.” LUL

That’s a fun illustration of Tomoe, Ichiha, and Yuriga.

So, Fuuga’s going to be “getting busy,” huh? Why do I feel like he means that in multiple senses of the word?

“Like dolphins with a unicorn-like horn attached. So, narwhals?

Well, that’s an ominous oracle. Could “rising sun” refer to Japan, perhaps. That’s known as the “Land of the Rising Sun.”

Oh. I bet that oracle refers to Fuuga.

Mio Carmine, huh?

Part 8:
“Epilogue 1: Family” Is it time? I think it’s time.

Yep. Sure enough, Liscia’s gone into labor.

Gaaahh! Why do these types of stories always come up with some reason for the protagonist not be in the room with them when one of the heroines gives birth?! It’s so frustrating! I want to see the protagonist hold the heroine’s hand while she gives birth, and it never freaking happens! /rant

Seems we get the post-birth scene from Liscia’s perspective. Sweet! Also, I wonder who those two people from her dream were. My best guesses right now is old Liscia and Souma from the previous reality, or Souma’s grandparents, but those are still extremely tentative.

That post-birth scene was quite nice.

Alright, Souma. Liscia’s successfully given birth to a successor now, so you now have no excuse not to get busy with your other fiancées too.

In regards to the last sentence of the part, I wonder for how much longer they’re just gonna look like two parents with a child.

Part 9:
I’m glad that they gave a reference for where they mentioned that the city walls were circular, because I would not have remembered that detail, or where to look it up, otherwise.

That part about making sure to leave the summoned hero’s language behind is interesting. We also got a name for the world’s language: Continental Standard.

“I could only pray that no more unsettling events would occur here.” Well, that’s a prayer that’s not getting answered.

They’re gonna send Trill over to Friedonia, aren’t they?

Part 10:
Taru’s definitely got the the right idea. That sounds like the head on a boring machine.

Nice. They found a use for Mechadra!

“Epilogue 2: Welcome Home” Time for Liscia to return to the castle?

That illustration of Liscia and Carla each holding one of the newborn twins after returning to the castle was quite nice, and Liscia’s reason for naming the girl twin “Kazuha” was quite nice, as well.

Part 1:
Uugh. RIP that archer.

Wow. Those kukris look kinda glowy.

Part 2:
“Manami”? I’m guessing that’s written 魔波?

They need to Liscia about this, huh? That’s gonna be an awkward first meeting since she got pregnant.

Part 3:
Not related to this part, but I had a though: Perhaps that cube thing from Volume 6 is to the demons as Tiamat is to the dragons?

I’m not sure “friend” is quite the right word there, Souma.

So, all of Souma’s fiancées will serve as his all of his children’s mothers, no matter who the child is actually born to, and they’ll all raise the children together? That’s quite nice. Also, Liscia is learning how to cook, which is nice, too.

Oh man! Liscia’s actually pregnant with twins! Also, wooo! We got an illustration of pregnant Liscia.

I kinda hope Souma gets a fiancée from one of the beastman races at some point.

Alright, yes, Kagetora is definitely Georg Carmine.

Part 4: No comments.

Part 5:
Julius really cares for Tia, huh? And it seems like Tia really cares for him, too.

Part 6:
That illustration of Roroa blushing was pretty funny.

I also found the conversation about “tak[ing] the name of Amidonia away from Julius” to be quite funny, as well.

Part 7:
I wonder what Tomoe felt the lizardman was missing. Since this is a Japanese work, maybe the lizardman was missing a soul, perhaps?

“Aisha, the dark god of gluttony” LUL

Part 8:
“Cooked and Ready to Serve” evil laughter

LUL at Naden extending her head toward Souma, desiring headpats.

Of course Aisha was the only one who stayed jealous.

Part 9:
“The lizardmen began to hunt.” Muahahaha

Man, that scene where Lauren was tricked into confessing her feelings to Jirukoma was hilarious.

Part 10:
“‘Eheheh. I came.’” Phrasing!

Now, this is the second time they’ve mentioned Accela in relation to castor this volume. I thought Castor was forbidden from meeting her?

Man, that last scene from Chapter 10 was nice.

That illustration with Excel, Souma, and Naden LUL

Wait, I thought the explanation for why most magic is less powerful at sea didn’t apply to water elemental magic.

Hmmm… Nadia noticed something to the west? Reinforcements from the Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom, perhaps? That would explain why this chapter is called “The Dobicon Is Burning.”

Part 11:
I was right!

Hey, Souma. I think after the banquet is over would be a great time to do that with Aisha.

“But right now Pai was totally an otokonoko” LUL

Looking at Ichiha, who has 1 (“ichi”) in his, I just realized that Mutsumi has 6 (“mu”) in her name. Are all of the Chima siblings that way, perhaps?

Alright, there’s some obvious foreshadowing that Ichiha will be the one Souma chooses
as his retainer.

No, those names containing Japanese numbers is definitely not a coincidence. All of the Chima siblings names’ contain or are close to containing Japanese
names for the numbers 1 through 8. I bet Souma will notice that the publicly known siblings correspond to 2 through 8, and wonder where “1” is.

EDIT: And Souma still hasn’t gotten it on with Aisha yet! grumble grumble

Part 1:
Is that a hot spring I see on the cover?!

Part 2:
Winter handicrafts!

Oh man! Liscia’s pregnant!

That bit at the end of the letter 👀

Wow. That is one big hammer.

Part 3: No comments

Part 4:
So, Kuu’s a tsundere, huh?

You know what I think these Twin Snake Spears basically are? Spearchucks!

Part 5:
Souma, this is the harem genre. Letting your fiancées get drunk is just asking for trouble.

If that “certain thing” is what I think it is Souma, it’s definitely better that you refrained.

Why were you perfectly fine with all that alcohol, Souma? I think it might have something to do with that time that Excel Walter drugged you with tequer before. Forced you to build up a resistance to alcohol.

“Uwabami,” huh? I suppose that might refer to Excel Walter.

That’s a nice illustration of Juna. No illustration of Juna kissing Souma, though. grumble grumble

Part 6:
Kuu seems to have a pretty similar personality to Sylvester from Bookworm.

Oh man! It’s Juno’s adventuring part!

Part 7:
Aww, man! Juno was so close to finding out Souma was Little Musashibo! Also, it seems like it wouldn’t be a particularly big problem if she found out.

“So, was I ever actually going to meet Juno in the flesh ever again?” Almost certainly, the answer is “yes.”

Part 8:
I’m wondering if Souma’s gonna introduce the airplane for transporting cargo from the Republic of Turgis.

Oh. A hovercraft. Yeah, that makes sense.

“The monsters in the north have been becoming more active”? Oh boy.

Part 9:
“The Weather Girl”? That sounds like it refers to Naden.

That little song for the Friedonia Weather Forecast was great.

That scene of Naden waking Souma up was nice.

That was a nice bonding moment between Naden and Souma while they were flying, too.

“But even Kuu couldn’t enjoy this one.” LUL

I can’t decide if Sandria is more of a sadist or a masochist.

“Even though she didn’t know any better, San… our Sandria… was awfully rude to you.” Better be careful, Ginger. If Sandria had heard that, she’d probably be suggesting exactly how you could punish her (and implying that was something you usually do when she’s messed up, too).

Part 10:
“The Flower that Blooms in the Field and the Bird in the Cage” I hope we get to see Liscia in this chapter.

Or, actually, maybe it might be Maria that we get to see?

Wait, no. It’s Juno, isn’t it?

Oh no. Juno snuck into the castle, didn’t she?

Well, not exactly “snuck,” but pretty much.

Man, Juno and Souma have some good chemistry.

Given the last little bit of the chapter, maybe Juno won’t end up becoming one of Souma‘s wives, after all.

“The God-protected Forest’s Longest Day” Well, that sounds ominous.

It feels like Aisha is the only one of Souma’s wives that ever rides on Naden with him. Maybe he should do it with Liscia sometime.

So, they said that Aisha uncle’s daughter eventually marries Hal, and now Sur’s daughter wants to meet Hal? Yeah, I’m almost certain that Sur is Aisha’s uncle. Oh, wait. I just checked, and Aisha’s uncle was already named (Robthor), so I guess Sur isn’t her uncle, then. Never mind. Also, I think I got confused, and it was never said that Robthor’s daughter ended up marrying Hal.

Okay, so the rider contract is indeed more like an engagement, then.

And, the last page of the volume is an illustration of Roroa’s first kiss with Souma! Bit of a shame that Souma and Juna’s first kiss didn’t get an illustration, though.

So, it seems like Souma still hasn’t laid a hand on any of his other fiancées, even now that he’s gotten permission from Liscia. They didn’t mentioning him doing it with any of his other fiancées yet, at least.

@sillymel An interesting hypothesis.

@travis-butler Thanks! I was actually wondering if it was Cleopatra for no particular reason, so it’s pretty funny that I ended up being correct.

Part 1:
Oh boy. Right at the beginning, we already have a cryptic conversation.

Seems like Souma has an awfully similar stance to Rosemyne on that disclaimer.

Nice Lord of the Rings reference.

Not sure if this is actually a spoiler or not, but I’m putting it inside spoiler tags anyway:

spoiler

Part 2:
So, instead of American Idol, we’ll have Elfrieden Lorelei? LUL

Part 3:
Man, I really hope they don’t kill off Carla by having her executed. That would be really tragic. Unfortunately, I don’t have a good enough read on the author yet to be able to tell if they’re likely to do that or not.

Part 4:
If I was into shipping, I’d probably be shipping Poncho and Serina. (Which is to say, I think there’s a fair likelihood that Poncho and Serina will end up being a canon pairing.)

Part 5:
So, at this point, I’d say Liscia, Aisha, and Juna are definite future members of Souma’s harem.

Hmmm… Is this the same Sebastian from earlier? Oh, wait, duh! That’s where I recognized the name “The Silver Deer” from!

Part 6:
With the country having the word “chaos” in its name, I figured the Gran Chaos Empire would a stereotypical Evil Empire, but it seems they’re actually quite reasonable.

Part 7:
Spoiler tagged for the same reason as the previous one:

spoiler

Part 9 (no comments on part 8):
Interesting… I wonder who this Demon Lord Divalroi is, and why Souma recognizes the name. Also, Souma got another lap pillow from Liscia!

Part 10:
I think there’s a decent chance Juno might end up joining the harem.

That was quite the impactful scene at the end of this part.

spoiler

Part 11:
“EDF” LUL

Alright, so a “secondary queen” is basically a concubine, which is basically what I figured.

Alright, so I was correct about Liscia, Aisha, and Juna are indeed all future members of Souma’s harem, although only Liscia and Aisha are official fiancées at this point. Also, that’s a wonderful illustration of Juna smiling.

Well, I don’t really think that Jeanne is likely to get together with Souma at this point, since she seems more likely to get together with Hakuya now.

I assume that drawing of a “bronze racoon” is Roroa’s doing.

Oh, we finally get another segment from Liscia’s perspective.

Uhh… Is Kagetora Georg Carmine? We saw him die, didn’t we? Was that actually just a sleeping potion, then?

Well, at least Carla (and even Castor) wasn’t executed. However, I think this turn of events makes it fairly unlikely that she’ll end up joining Souma’s harem any time in the near, or even semi-near, future.

Nice! Souma’s finally slept in the same bed as Liscia and Aisha!

I have to beg to differ with Souma. I think that maid uniform looks great on Carla.

Part 1:
So, it wouldn’t surprise me at this point if Souma ends up having a dragon in his harem.

Part 3:
It’s nice to see Souma and Liscia’s relationship deepening little by little. Liscia’s displayed physical affection toward Souma a couple times (like the lap pillow and the time she gave him a goodnight kiss on the cheek), but I think this the first time he’s shown physical affection towards her other than the one time he ran his hand through her hair while she sleeping, which I’m not sure whether or not to count.

Well, that bit at the end of the part was a bit sad.

Part 4:
Well, that was a surprising reveal about Juna.

Part 5:
“Almost as if they were marrionettes” Because that’s exactly what they are, I bet! They’re probably acting like that because Souma exceeded the amount he could control fully with Living Poltergeists.

Yep, I was right.

Part 6:
I assume that bit about Sur’s daughter marrying Halbert in the future means that Halbert’s gonna end up with multiple wives, because I don’t really see Halbert not getting married to Kaede at this point. Also, am I correct in assuming that Sur is Aisha’s uncle?

Silly Hal. If she said the rest like, “If we get through this, let’s get married,” or something like that, it would be as good as dooming you guys!

Part 7:
So, a slave collar prevents suicide, but it kills the wearer if they try to take it off without their master’s permission? That sounds like a glaringly obvious loophole to the “no suicide” restriction, if you ask me. Also, ugh. I get why it’s necessary to use them here, but still, ugh.

Part 8:
Man, I hope Carla doesn’t end up being executed. I wouldn’t be surprised if Castor ends up getting executed, but I’m hoping Carla will end up managing to avoid that fate.

That was quite the reveal regarding Duke Carmine’s plans.

I really liked that bit at the end of this part.

Part 9:
That scene of Souma and Liscia sharing a blanket was nice.

“Of course, it was probably about as likely to happen as the sky falling.” Oh boy. If that isn’t foreshadowing, I don’t know what is.

Part 10:
I really hope that Carla working together with Souma to defeat Gaius will at least be enough to avoid her getting the death penalty.

Hmmm… I wouldn’t be surprised if Jeanne or Maria ended up joining Souma’s harem.

Man, this author really likes hiding stuff the protagonist knows from us, the readers, huh?

Really enjoyed that scene at the end of this part.

Reading this on catchup. (Note: Most of this post was written as I read, and not edited afterward except possibly for spelling mistakes.)

Part 1:
The girl on the cover seems to have a case of Saberface (or maybe it’s just her out fit and hairdo).

And, wow, the protagonist has already been engaged to Liscia by the very first page? Holy crap.

I found that bit where Liscia walked in on her parents feeding each other pretty funny.

Man, I’m loving this protagonist’s inner monologue.

I not exactly sure Souma is making the best first impression on Liscia, what with immediately foisting work onto her. Granted, it could be worse. It could be a lot worse.

I really like that we’re getting bits from both Souma’s and Liscia’s perspectives.

Despite that initial meeting, it seems Liscia might already be somewhat taken with Souma.

Wow, Liscia. You’re already thinking of having sex with Souma? How bold of you.

Part 2:
Interesting. It seems that the Three Dukedoms are all led by demihumans, for lack of a better term for now.

Man, that was a great speech by Souma at the beginning of this part.

Well, that was quite the outburst from Aisha.

That scene with Liscia hugging Tomoe was pretty funny.

As of the end of part 2, I’m really, really enjoying this so far.

Part 3:
Dude, what’s up with this obvious foreshadowing at the beginning of this part? Oh, wait, never mind. I think I might get it.

Wow. Souma and Liscia are already getting along super well.

I loved that chibi art of Aisha biting into an octopus!

Well, that it at the end of part 3 was kind of ominous.