The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy this is not +++ Massive point deduction for trying to hitch a ride on its glory +++ Ejecting intruder to outer space +++ The End

I'd put off reading this because I was a bit tired of high-school romances and I thought it was about a loner getting dragged into socialising. So since it was on catch-up, I decided to read it. It still took me 3 weeks to get in the mood to read it and now I am glad that I did. It is a sweet romcom but it's not a popular character dragging the loner character into a new life. Instead, the loner just does his own thing which can include other popular characters. Sometimes. When he feels like it.

It reminded me of my school days. I was the loner child but there were a few classmates that I interacted with on a daily basis and not just because they sat next to me. It was fun to talk about mutual interests with other people and not just read all the time. It was even better when I joined a club where it was people either reading together or talking about the latest chapter of Bleach or Naruto which were popular in those days.

So I might have to put this on my 'to buy' list. I'm interested in the bonus stories as well.

So let me guess, sierra going home and the elves choose her to become a sacrifice then soma who is transported to near the elves forest save sierra and bring the witch back with him because she can teach him how to use magic

@xdrfiredogx thank you for giving Lucia a chance 💖

This story is really charming. Love how it deals with both entirely practical realities of the human world and the strange lives of the fey without either of those feeling out of place.

I like the romance side of things more than I expected to. Edgar is the dangerous seductive type and the story handles it wonderfully. It's not that his moves don't work on Lydia; they do, she's just seen him do it so many times to so many people she doesn't see any genuine interest behind his words, and on his side, he's too wounded from his past life to be able to speak his feelings openly and honestly, without hiding behind the polished veneer of his trained persona. It's easy to feel for Edgar while finding Lydia's reactions completely reasonable. It is my hope that the romance will be resolved when he realizes it's not games and seduction but honestly opening his heart that is the way Lydia accepting him.

Also a cool revelation of this volume, that while Edgar is a scoundrel and impostor, he takes his duty to the people of the earldom very seriously, which I'd say does a lot to rehabilitate him as a male lead. After all that's not something even real nobles always manage. (But being the scoundrel he is, he still manages to do a lot to, uh, unrehabilitate himself again.)

Love how alien the fairies often are. "He isn't the same man your queen met, he just inherited the title." "They cannot be too different, given they share the same name." Perfectly reasonable fey logic, right there. (-:
I'm also fond of the way certain people can almost see the faeries but not quite, like the way Edgar & Co sometimes assure themselves that of course Nico doesn't talk to them, he's a cat - althought they are also aware that he often asks to be served tea...

@Eminent
I do not think Appraisal can see the description of the skill from the selection menu because they are not real objects. I think it works only on "physical" items, as explained by Azusa. So first you get the orb/item, then you can see the description.

It's the first payday for the girls who work as maids, and the book opens with a proper culture shock moment for me - apparently what you're supposed to do with that first paycheck is to take part of it and get your employer a gift to properly express your gratitude towards them. And it's not just symbolic either since we spend a big part of the first chapter on picking that gift, since it can't be too simple or cheap because that would reflect badly on you and your employer both. On the other hand, the ladies already have everything money could buy... Again, thank gods for the sort of employment where you express your gratitude towards your employer by continuing to come to work...
(The actual gift Misaki settles on is pretty awesome though!)

That's far from the strangest thing in the volume, since in the very next chapter, we get a sudden genre shift I definitely didn't expect, when right in the middle of a ghost scare episode, there's an actual supernatural occurence, and not the kind where something strange happens and goes away never to reappear, either. I did not expect to be getting this kind of surprise in the middle of a third volume, that's for sure.

One pretty big negative, at least for me, is that there's still no real plot for Misaki. She's there to watch plot happen, sometimes even advance other people's plots, but that's about it. And what plot is there isn't often anything special. Like, I get that "a new lady arrives" or "two salons get into conflict" is an expected development here; but the plot for a full third of this volume was "a new lady will arrive and some salons might argue over where she should join", not even reaching a conclusion, and, well, this is not exactly prime cliffhanger material...

I feel the series is getting better on the relationships. Not that there isn't anything weird going on, but at least for Misaki and Himeko, their interactions feel much more like genuine closeness and affection independent of their status than they used to before. There's plenty of little touching moments between the two, in private or public.

On the other hand, the sex pest sisters are as bad as ever and nobody cares, and then there's the teacher who'd lift a student's skirt to check her underwear (wtf wtf wtf). Nothing like a bit of sexual harassment to spoil the mood.

Overall, something of a mixed bag, but amusing enough.

@endoftheline said in Now I'm a Demon Lord! Vol. 6 Discussion:

@Geezer-Weasalopes said in Now I'm a Demon Lord! Vol. 6 Discussion:

@Shaun__ said in Now I'm a Demon Lord! Vol. 6 Discussion:

Just how angry is the little princess going to be about the upcoming announcement? Will she challenge the hero to a fair duel, or use daggers in the dark?

Or sus out that Yuki has a soft heart as well as a soft head and Nell isn't the only one he's attached to this way...so there's that option.

Fortunately she'll have a playmate in Zaien who could reveal all the deets.

En pouting at being upstaged by the (yuki-enhanced) hero's sword was adorable :)

This was pretty cute. Reading the afterword, I not sure we get a volume 3. Most times where that's in work, we get some indication rather then the author's last line here. I'm fine either way though.

Volume 1 (Premium Edition): Veteran Hero and Novice Middle-Aged Adventurer

Volume 24 (Premium Edition): A Bonus Short Story The War God's Anguish

Still curious about Mia's real identity...

@Geezer-Weasalopes I don't think that's the kind of contract anybody would be offering to the Misakis of that world, though.

And yeah, I know feudalism can get very complicated compared to how people usually imagine it was. But when people start waving around the kind of you're hired/you're fired employment contracts common in the modern world, feudalism just isn't where my mind goes. (:

@SalmonJones What it comes down to, I think, is that the harem comedy is a type of romantic comedy for writers who are far more confident in their comedy than their romance. So they just sprinkle some ship tease on top of the comedy, rather than actually trying to include it in the plot.

@igounfazed

Hello,

Thank you for the information. I have moved it over to the V7 discussion only because I felt it was more appropriate there.

Thank you for taking the time to explain the situation from your point of view.

On one hand, yay for people healing and overcoming trauma together. On the other, it's been a bit too classic romance for my tastes, including betting a woman on an outcome of a duel without her agreement, having jealousy as a thing that leads to realization of love, and the girl having to be saved from distress by the boy's violence.

@Lex said in Haibara's Teenage New Game+ Vol. 4 Discussion!:

@Pieta the previous volumes definitely had some more harem vibes, with two girls actively going for Haibara and a third hinted to be interested in him too. It wouldn't be the first series I read that felt as an harem in the beginning but then turned out to be a simple romance (putting aside the fact that we'll probably get another love triangle between Haibara, Hoshimiya and Miori).

True, but it was never a simple harem - it was always harem with consequences, and that makes for a very different reading, to me at least.

Volume 3 (Premium Edition): A Bonus short story Taboo Peach Wine

I don't know how much material there is still to adapt from the WN, but the way the misunderstandings regarding the confessions were solved makes me feel like someone told the author there might not be another volume.

@Korppi Yep that's the one I was talking about. Don't know about that one with 2 volumes.

Sheesh guess the poor guy has multiple stories he couldn't finish :(