Zag has a seal to retrieve, so one of Marc's allies need to die here. Lilly is spoiled for choices really, she's got the possessor of her sister's eyes, the owner of her mentor's sword, and the asshole that had her village wiped out to pick from 😎

Though she's not killing Marc here for plot reasons I'm sure.

I'm intrigued by the idea that becoming a seal to hold back the demons was just a regular thing that happened. That would imply that this has been going on far longer than I'd realized or that whatever actually happened to Ashy when she became that seal was rather different. Possibly both.

That was a wierd start.. All this talk about dreams make Ai sound exactly like the elementary school girl.
Be cynical like a proper adult, woman!

@LeavesCat The only thing better than skitter skitter is ditter ditter...

Hmm, this is getting to Duchess in the Attic tier of why am I still reading this. Time to bow out.

So on the cover we have:

Alphonse Fialka And maybe the Empress?

@Cryten said in The Dorky NPC Mercenary Knows His Place Vol. 5 Discussion!:

With the 5th cover we truly see that Miss Leopard is the favourite of the series. She has appeared on every single cover where as the next best girls have only managed 3.

Agreed.

(Though I still think he may eventually end up with a not-yet-introduced character named Brunhild -- an older female merc with a large ship that specializes in defense.)

@Paul-Nebeling I read a while ago an old post on reddit w here it was said that author admitted he never had an answer to the mysteries that appeared in the ser8es, like why the characters ended in Grimgar, he just made a setting that he thought was interesting. And I think there also isn't a planned ending, he just keeps writing and when he gets bored he resets the story.
The Parano arc was really annoying and nearly made me drop the series. It's hard to feel invested in the characters if I know they'll just die or become completely different beings and it's hard to appreciate the world building if we never get answers.

@Valanduin because if Ryo did that, the conflict would be solved. And the author loves the empire more than our own MC.

What a loony toons like chapter, I love it.

Okay, that was kind of a weird transition. So much feels glossed over, and apparently sol is “dead”?
Did the monsters have any children? Especially considering the Demon Lord and All Dragon wanted to make the moves with Sol as well.
The hero seems to have passed away, which makes some sense. She apparently had a husband who passed away before meeting sol, so I could see her helping and then passing away peacefully later.

@LeavesCat honestly, it reminds me of the restrictions on magic that's in Ideal Sponger Life. Magic there is accessible to the vast majority of people, but it requires a level of focus that's impossible in combat for most people. So it's mostly a quality of life thing, but still incredibly helpful in defensive battles (can create fortifications, easily lit fires to cook, summon water for cleaning/drinking etc) while preventing all but the most exceptional from throwing fireballs and blowing up entire detachments.

@Lex I hope that it isnt left until the end but yeah I agree that I hope they dont just tease it, I enjoy romance that actually develops and isnt just a and this happened at the end tytype of thing.

Bad business that...killing unicorns.

Called it, Lily has a maid NTR fetish.

Thanks for the translation. Now again, are we getting Volume 21 or the prequel next I wonder.

FYI, Volume 9 releases on May 10, 2026 according to Bookwalker. So there's a lot more of Leah to come -- hopefully.

@avnwilson I should've check the calendar XD

@LightningLeaf said in Let This Grieving Soul Retire Vol. 10 Discussion!:

Luke has got to be so frustrated being cramped by his statue form. He definitely wants to cut the god.

Maybe he's the cause of the shrine losing mana and being near collapse. If he's trying to break out of his statue form, that could be forcing the Effluent God to pour more mana into it to stop him. After all this is Luke we're talking about, eh?

Poor oni guy never saw the giant snow ball of death coming. You kinda had to feel sorry for him. But, the kids had fun at least.

I don't know what I enjoyed more. Cecil throttling Allen, Sophie watching calmly, or Faable smacking down those guards.

Regardless, Allen is going to be a wishbone for Cecil and Sophie at some future banquet.

Urgh... The rapid change in POV and between present and past without any context except for a line break is really annoying to me. It breaks immersion and sometimes it is abrupt and unnatural.
The story is interesting enough for now to bite through this. But don't know how much I will continue to care about the characters to keep following.