Another day, another issue of Chillin' in the bag. My reactions, late as ever, in no particular order:
It would seem my boy Tacylde is doing what everybody that's seen monster monsume has given at least a little thought about doing themselves and is attempting to have relations with a large snake woman. Go get her my boy. Nyt strikes me as someone who hasn't had a lot of happiness in her life.
I much prefer how the author did the endless re-introductions this issue. Name, hyphen, the standard paragraph introducing them. Made it really easy to skip those parts if, like me, you don't need a reminder of who freaking Garyl and Flio are in the sixteenth issue of a series about Garyl and Flio. I've kind of made my peace with the endless re-introductions just being a thing you gotta deal with by now, but that made it much easier to take.
The author didn't give redundant introductions to anybody at all in the Hero Gold Hair chapter. I think that's the first time that's happened. Good boy.
Aryun Keats is a total cutie. HGH just needs the slightest push in the right direction and he'll become the best harem master in the history of light novels, lol. He's so nice and protective to his helpers, even the silly not especially useful ones like Aryun. I wonder why she's like, one of maybe three characters to get a last name.
Also I THINK they're hinting at a future in an issue or two where the powers that be finally make HGH not an internationally wanted criminal. The sword hero guy seemed impressed with his work and hinted that he was gonna put a good word in for him. I HIGHLY DOUBT the queen would particularly care at this point, all of his crimes were against her awful dad anyways. So weird he and Flio have only met the once. I don't know if they'd even remember each other after this long.
Yup, Koro and her dad are the luckiest characters in the series still, Blossom is best waifu, this is an indesputable fact, take the tomboy pill. I love how they just went ahead and named her farm after her. Blossom Acres. It fits in many ways, how lucky to be named a plant term in her line of work.
I'd just like to lodge a formal complaint that we've now had two illustrations of Rabbitz of all characters (who looks like she's, like, 16, despite what her dad says) and exactly zero of my man Dalc Horst. I think him and the fox twins are like, the only main named characters to not be seen in an illustration at this point. They didn't bring up my favorite subplot too much this time but the fact that Dalc mentions he's going on a date with Grenyl after work at the beginning is promising. I've got a lot invested in if this horseman and this weird tiny one-eyed bat creature thing get married, okay.
No progress on Garyl's subplot... Again... BUT.
WEW BUDDY Rylanasze has a prospective suitor now. That's a girl. Took a while for us to get to that point but given all the other bizarre pairings in Flio's Luv Shack that's hardly surprising. My headcanon is still that Rys was hoping that would happen because lord in heaven did she make one risque "just casually hanging out with my daughter" outfit for Swann when she visited. Looks lke it worked. And they're just, you know, platonically sleeping together in each other's arms, as ya do.
I guess we're going to see in the future what this medieval sword and sorcery fantasy world's standards on homosexual marriage is, lol. I guess it's not like it matters, what're ya gonna do, tell Flio no? The guy isn't ruling the world more out of lack of interest than lack of ability. I doubt Rys cares one iota considering her daughter marrying the third princess is just even more power for her extended pack.
As a side note I freaking love the subplot with Zofina of all characters. Neat seeing her get some spotlight again. She's going to be part of Rys' family weather she wants to or not, lol. Which she seems to be okay with after some initial confusion. It was sweet when she appriciated that they were accepting of her. I'm sure being the equivilent of the grim reaper doesnt' really net you many friends under normal circumstances.
Got to see Telbyress a good bit. She's always fun. I'm counting the days until Hok'Hokton truly tests the already stretched to the point of breaking limits of "just how different can two species be in this world and still produce offspring" when we get a Goblin/Goddess Hybrid in the future. I think he hates her less than he lets on. And good lord does he have some catching up to do with Monty, 60+ children and counting. Mrs. Monty is a hell of a woman lol.
Rys is such a fun character. Had she not married Flio she would've been this nasty power-hungry monster (which is kind of what she was when we first met her) but now that she's got a family and an enormous pack she's just a great lady and loving mom that also happens to still be a machiavellian power-hungry lunatic, but a nice one, lol.
Boy, something's gotta change with Elinasze, I don't think her current mindset is all that healthy. Like, yeah, you saved the world, but boy being a shut in that does nothing but fantasize about her own father probably isn't a great way to grow up.
You know what I love most about this series? Flio and Rys meet, fight (as you do when you first meet your future wife), fall in love, get married, and that's all within the first book, and they spend the rest of the long, long series just being a normal loving married couple. You really don't see that in light novels much. Normally you get the endless will they/won't they drama, or at worst a protagonist that goes "oh wow that's a bit much" to female affection, or weird contractual marriage drama and stuff like that, ya know? This series just plays it straight which is actually the most interesting, unusual way they coulda done it.
Flio and his uber hot wolfgirl wife are just a loving happy married couple with a normal sex life that share mutual affection for each other. Vanishingly few japanese light novels have main characters like that. I'm not saying everything has to be like that of course, but I am saying it's a nice change of pace from the normal weird relationship problems and "bizarrely cowardly in the face of women" protagonists that light novels tend to have.
Rys went from seeking power through violence to seeking power through having an enormous pack full of happy couples with children. I like that story.
In conclusion, her name is still Tia to me dangit.
