@GeorgeMTO I think that's more lack of opportunity than lack of desire. He did agree to spend some exclusive time with Eri upon returning to the Academy

This volume had a mix of John being cold and icy towards his companions but also warming up to a bunch of them, particularly his regular group of Itsu mercs. I was pleasantly surprised to see him respond positively to compliments and attention from Queeres.

I was surprised to see Riol Barnekurst act as a corrupt noble, since he was part of the reject crew in Johns kid days. I am unsure how much of that was meant to be a dark reveal of character or bravado because John kept rejecting him and so he played up on John's expectations.

It has not been a very story heavy series of novels, and there seems very little left in big story threads. Just the dark mercs and people more interested as the empress as a thing then as a person.

If I recall correctly the emperor agreed to cover the costs of the new construction as compensation to the Valdia mark for forcing the marriage on them in the first place. If that's true, then Reid's dad probably won't mind an inflated construction budget request. He might even get a laugh out of it.

"Mia had zero faith in herself." I feel strange saying it, but this is one of the things I respect most about Mia: she has a surprisingly good grasp of her limitations, in a genuinely positive sense. Both what her limitations are and what they aren't.
She doesn't let herself get puffed up, she doesn't tear herself down, she simply works with what she has and gets help with what she doesn't have.

Man, that's terrible, but at least not-Ern can rest now. She probably doesn't have a soul of her own to reincarnate, but she died in acceptance and relative peace with her fate, and I think that's the best such a being could ask for.

Conversely, get rekt Lubeck.

@arghc - maybe the arrangement is only the one-way trip to the castle, not a taxi service from anywhere to anywhere? Also, Ryo doesn't have an item box to store the slabs of meat to pay the fare.

Agreed about the ice hang glider though.

Oh wow, another kidnapped High School student! Maybe this is when the story finally gets teeth?

Yes, the stakes are low and the characters/world feels flat. Try this- picture every character as if they're a muppet children's show. Goes down easier that way.

@arghc Not like her aroace ass would really be inclined to play along with the idea anyway...

SPOILERS:

Not a fan of Volume 2.

Volume 1 seemed mostly enjoyable, it'll be challenging to start Volume 3 if released (contingent upon finishing the last few parts of Volume 2 of course).

There is practically no likeable character in the bunch. Maybe Robin. Oh wait, the inn keeper where Hyse stays.

When did Hyse get the ability to see things too fast for others' eyes, and the lightning fast reflexes and speed to move as fast as the two women only he could see fighting? If he can move like that and has strength to turn on the run and fire a Gatling gun (which would weigh around 170 pounds or 75 kilos), why does he even need weapons from Earth? He could use a sword or his fists like the dueling women.

I suppose Hyse needs immediate access to every weapon in our current world's arsenal since the kid would still have zero defense to magic or even a thrown rock otherwise. Unless that manifests somewhere in the series as well. Probably will.

And while I fully support inclusivity, the author seems extremely obsessed with women who objectify other women--whether cursory or full-throttle.

Seriously, is there a single woman (excluding bit characters) who hasn't expressed interest in another woman for the way she looks (maybe Robin hasn't)? It's not even lazy fan service trope, it's more like the writer's dream at this point. Again, I'm all for inclusivity, this ain't that. Hasn't Sasha even brought up the looks or one or more other females?

I've read worse. I think I've only dropped 2 series out of the many dozens I've read on J-NC. S-Rank might make the turkey.

@Almond-Magnum said in Imperial Reincarnation Vol. 8 Discussion!:

@vilobion said in Imperial Reincarnation Vol. 8 Discussion!:

I wouldn't mind some snark to snark combat between friends who recognize that they're roughly equals

If they're equals something has gone very wrong for Carmine.

To clarify, I meant equals as in 'general intellectual capacity' not 'status' :)

Oh, I don't remember a potential harem member ever being turned down so firmly before. And the elven king is now his familiar? I hadn't expected that.

Looks like she has finally found a non-mage friend that can operate on her level and even beyond. And possibly discovered that she still has emotions since she got all warm and fuzzy from the conversation and being appreciated.

...the camels... started to sink into the sand??? That is not a thing that they do, I don't think. That's a big part of why you would ride one.

However, as it turned out, the buying company had struggled to understand the technology. Thus we'd negotiated a collaborative deal with them, allowing us to use the Smart Frames for a low price.

That's... kind of sad, honestly. Both in the the other company are apparently idiots sense, and the you should have negotiated for preferential access when you sold it sense.

I'd have to take a break from teaching for a while, but since I hadn't done that on-page since the first book, that wouldn't be too big an issue.

"She could gain a million fans and still not come close to ViviPa's top idols."
"You don't know that. She might be the next huge thing."

But she's not huge now. And it's difficult to hit his giant-yet-arbitrary profit target with small-timers.

"No one's going to agree just because I like her," I said.

Wasn't there at least one of her fans in the ReeverTech delegation already?

Gioin Temple knew of Akira's coming birth and arranged for him to marry into the temple before he was even born. Something that I believe was previously unheard of and possibly forbidden to prevent one house gaining too much power over the others in relationship to the temples.

However, I thought Lady Red also mentioned that knowledge of the godless palanquin's was mainly passed down amongst the eight houses via oral tradition. So I wonder if more than just the Ugetsu house has forgotten the tradition that formed their bond with the gods. Perhaps arranging the marriage between the house and the temple was intended to protect Akira, but according to the pact, the temple/gods could not say anymore without voiding the pact, given that House Ugetsu were the ones to essentially invalidate the pact by forgetting its origin. No one could have foreseen how arrogant the current head of the house had become.

The second half of the volume was the best this series offered so far with plenty of action and a climatic battle. Not sure how it's going to continue other than the obvious save Mia arc but I hope it will stay interesting.

Imagine that. Merus actually provided the answer. Let's see how soon Allen starts praying to a Haku.