Checking this out with Reader Library while prepubs still haven’t created a gap.

Part 1:
Okay, I wasn’t expecting the reveal of the trick to the Walking skill to happen so fast. Seems someone forgot to make it only apply to walking itself, and it applies to absolutely everything done while walking, too.
Oh, boy. This Walking skill sounds like it would be perfect for me. I love hiking, and in video games, I tend to reach the cap for any step- or distance-traveled-based bonuses pretty quickly due to all of the exploration I do.
Is there some rule saying one stall can’t sell two different kinds of soup? I don’t see why the married couple can’t have their competition to see who can sell more of their preferred soup with only one stall.
Main level and skill level are the same in this? Interesting…
“He wants us to kill a guy and steal his heart? I thought incredulously.” Well, when you put it that way…
“I’d probably never see those people again.” Yeah, right. Somehow, I doubt that.
Wait a sec. Are you sure you want to eat that? Sounds like it’s Wulf as in wolf as in canid as in dog meat.
Interesting not having copper be the lowest currency denomination.
So a meat skewer is two commons? I’m gonna guesstimate that a common is about a dollar, then. (Could also be more like five or ten dollars, but that seems a bit much for the lowest currency denomination.) That makes the amount he was given initially roughly $2010. Not a huge amount, but probably enough to live on for a month or so.
Alright, I have no idea how the economy works in this. I don’t see how you can have a five-order-of-magnitude difference between the costs of a meat skewer and a set of clothes. Even if I treat a common as being ten cents, that makes the skewer 20 cents (too cheap) and the protagonist’s original set of clothes $30K (too expensive).
Oof, yeah. I didn’t take into account that he’d be paying hotel prices for his lodgings when I said that would be roughly enough for one month. Yikes.

Part 2:
That’s a cute receptionist, but she’s also fifteen. Does that mean the receptionists the other adventurers are hitting on are also fifteen-year-olds? 🚔
Yeah, we’ve definitely got grown men hitting on fifteen-year-olds here. 🚨
Love letter quest?
Yup. Love letter quest.
Moons? Plural?
Something was definitely suspicious about that set of eight assigned delivery quests in a single day….
“It was coming from a short man, almost impossibly short given how burly he was.” A dwarf?
I’m hoping the protagonists ends up becoming a spellsword or something. Just a straight up swordsman is boring.
Oh? I wonder what the “something strange” the protagonist noticed is.

Part 3:
Interesting that the thing he fed his ration bar to doesn’t show up to Detect Presence.
Seems like the Walking skill does not work on running. Dang.
The twin blade wielder may not be “especially busty,” but based on the cover, she’s not exactly small, either.
“That includes you, Argo!” LUL
I bet Sora’s gonna join Rurika and Chris’s party once he reaches Rank D.
Ooh, is this man with a shrewd gaze the guild master?
No demihumans here? Something tells me this kingdom (or at least the leadership) is racist (speciesist?) against demihumans, and that’s part of the reason for the war with the “Demon King.”
Seems like yes on the kingdom being speciesist, probably no on that being the reason for the war with the Demon King.
“I was actually a little shaken by the sudden, aggressive thoughts I’d felt rising up within me, as well as the way they had disappeared without a trace.” Okay, yeah, that is a little weird.
“Probably-creature” LUL
Something tells me there’s more than meets the eye on this goblin-hunting quest.
So we’ve got a mascot-looking spirit-thing. How long until it starts turning people into magical girls?

Part 4:
I think Sora should properly reveal his skills to the girls if he starts seriously adventuring with them.
Cute illustration!
Chris and Rurika look like sisters, and Rurika even acts like she’s Chris’s big sister. They’ve gotta be sisters, right?
“Ever since I’d learned Detect Presence, I’d felt at times like I was being watched.” Hmmm…
I bet Rurika and Chris are gonna end up getting caught up in Sora’s business regardless, and since Sora has decided not to tell them about his past, they won’t know to expect it.
So other people took care of the wulf problem while the protagonist was gone? Nice to see that this story allows characters other than the protagonist to have agency in solving problems.
“sooner or later I wouldn’t have Rurika and Chris helping me along” I wouldn’t be so sure about that….

Part 5:
The spirit doesn’t like going near the castle? Interesting…
“Rurika’s gentle instruction seemed to make me look more like a little brother than a romantic interest.” For now, at least.
Chris was looking for someone in the pleasure quarter? Huh. I wonder who it was.
“Since we looked human” Does that mean that Chris and Rurika aren’t human, then?
A crotchety old lady named Morrigan who knows magic? Huh.
Now that Chris and Rurika have told you one of their secrets, it’s only fair that you tell them one of yours, Sora.
Yeah, I don’t think Sora is gonna be able to separate himself from Chris and Rurika nearly as easily as he thinks he’s going to be able to.
I think we’re probably past when the in media res section took place at this point.
Crafting a potion produces a bottle from nowhere? That’s hilarious! (And obviously riffing on video games with crafting where that happens with no one thinking anything of it.)
So are we gonna have the typical trope where the caravan gets attacked?
I would not be surprised if Chris and Rurika realize that Sora is having skills “pop into his head” a bit too often to be plausible.

Part 6:
“Her leader”? Syphon is no more Rurika’s leader than he is yours, Sora.
Oh man, another perspective? Sweet!
A surprisingly effective healing spell? Interesting. Did the spirit boost it, perhaps?
“But I couldn’t do it. I was too afraid of being seen.” Huh. That certainly an interesting line.
Seems like Chris can see the spirit. Hmmm… It was implied earlier that Chris and Rurika aren’t actually human. Since Chris can see spirits and looks like a human or is able to disguise herself as one, I’m gonna guess maybe she’s a fairy? Or perhaps a half elf? That might be the reason for her hood.
Yep. The spirit did indeed enhance the healing spell.
“I steeled up my nerves and asked my friend to help interpret between me and the little one.” Uh, what? Who the heck is Chris’s “friend”? Another spirit, perhaps?
“I couldn’t tell Sora myself. That was the rule.” What? Why?

Part 7:
Does the protagonist really not think Chris and Rurika won’t get at least a little suspicious about all the skills he’s learning?
A magic crystal? I bet that will be quite valuable indeed.
Seems like running doesn’t count, but fastwalking does! Neat!
Yay magitech!
Cute illustration! (Though it seems like the book is pairing Chris and Sora. I would have preferred Rurika and Sora instead given how young Chris looks.)
That was an interesting ending to this part.

Part 8:
Well, then. That initial conversation was ominous. I’m guessing the “survivor” is Eris, the elf. (And the kingdom is referring to her as an “it.” Ick.)
“Operation”? Yikes. The protagonist really dodged a bullet there.
Yeah, that “Quiet Conversation” section was super ominous. There wasn’t really enough information there to form much in the way of theories, though.
Oh, yeah, let’s just make a gun. No biggie.
Spirit contract get! And Sora can touch the spirit (now named Ciel now)! Sweet!
Woo! Proper magic get!
Minimap get! I wonder if he can make it show the direction to Chris and Rurika.
Oh, boy. I didn’t realize there’d be food porn.

Part 9:
Hmmm… I wonder if the Detect Presence readings Sora got in the forest were from Number Thirteen.
That’s a pretty illustration!
“I had to wonder why they were so popular among those who practiced human supremacy” Why are you expecting people who practice speciesism to make sense, Sora?

Part 10:
I hope Sora doesn’t just buy slaves because he can or because he has trust issues (or for any other unsavory reasons someone might buy a slave). Buying Sera and/or Eris in order to free them would be another thing, though of course ending slavery entirely would be better but not exactly achievable in the short-term.
An unexplained presence? And it’s blinking red on the miniAutomap? Interesting…
Cute illustration!
I was wondering what might happen when a skill reached level 10. Now I know.
There wasn’t a demon searching for something? Hmmm… I wonder if it was searching for Sora.

Part 11:
Oh, Juno’s Syphon’s wife. I should have figured (and kind of did, but I forgot he had a wife).
I mean, Juno bonks Syphon on the head all the time. I don’t know if I called her a “score” (unless Syphon’s into that sort of thing).
Readings on the Automap that concern Sora? That’s ominous.
This sure doesn’t sound like a wulf hunt….
Ah. There’s orcs, too.
Sora used Gun! It’s super effective!
Cool illustration!

Part 12:
“Your consent is not relevant.” Heh. I figured there’d be a line like this when the kingdom tried to bring Sora in, but this is a cool way of wording it.
Uh oh. Sora got nicked. Hopefully the knife wasn’t poisoned. These stealth types tend to have poisoned weapons.
Alright, no, the knife was definitely poisoned.
Ah. Paralysis weapon. I wasn’t thinking video gamey enough.
Yikes. That Slave Mask sounds nasty!
“Was it because he was human?” Or maybe because “he” wasn’t operating of “his” own free will? That’s important, too.
Uh oh. It’s the demon.
I don’t know if making a deal with a demon is the best idea, Sora….
Huh. That binding is a lot tamer than I expected. Assuming the demon is telling the truth, of course. (And it would be quite hypocritical if he wasn’t given his earlier comments on lying humans.
That encounter with the demon was certainly… interesting. There’s definitely a lot more going on than just the Demon King being evil. It doesn’t seem like the demons are entirely good, either, though, what with the “it’s best to eliminate uncertain elements” and the speciesism towards humans. (Though to be fair, this is our first example of a demon so far. Others could be different.)
I’d seen a color illustration of Number Thirteen on Japanese Bookwalker, and she was quite obviously a girl there despite the mask and clothing, so seeing Sora initially refer to her as a “he” was quite something.
The first two paragraphs to “A Quiet Conversation 2” were really quite interesting. I’m not sure what to make of them.
“Effective radius”? Hmmm…
Oh, that was why the demon destroyed that section of the forest? That’s pretty clever, actually.
“She looked at her hands, then at the soup, then at her hands, then at the soup again.” LUL
“Hikari”? That’s a Japanese name. Interesting. I think Sora would have recognized her if she was from this batch of summonees, so maybe she’s a previous summonee? Or maybe a descendant of a previous summonee?
Hikari is ten years old? I feel like she was a bit curvy for a ten-year-old in the color illustration I mentioned earlier.
Alright, yeah, Hikari looks way more like a ten-year-old in this illustration.

Nice, vol. 8 released in Japan last week.

It’s definitely much better read in one go than to agonize week by week over the cliffhangers.
In the end, “all’s well that ends well.”

I guess at this point in the story it’s become more of a SoL for Aoi and Holmes, with plot progression happening via other characters. Though I’m still ambivalent about the whole

vibe the author is going for.

The thing is... Altina actually kinda needs Regis to marry her. Her heart's in the right place, but she'd make for a pretty crap empress without him. She needs Regis by her side to handle the logistical details of making her ideals into reality. I guess making him prime minister would also work, but with his personality it'd be best to chain him down in a position he can't escape from. Otherwise, Latrielle would be a far superior option; he can only think to maintain the status quo, but at least he'd do it well.

I do like Latrielle as a villain. He's a tyrant, but he has a logical vision of the future that he believes is best for the empire. He's not just power-hungry for the sake of it, nor are his reasons along the lines of "commoners must be suppressed because they're lower-class life forms". He believes that scaling back military conflicts would crash the economy, and it's not like he's wrong; Altina's vision of the future would take much more work to actualize. He's just stuck on a local maxima. And has a penchant for assassinating his siblings (but like, our tactician is the type to set armies on fire so it's not like he's any less underhanded).

WHERE IS THE VOLUME 4??? I NEED IT NOW

Looking forward to the next volume. In Japan, this series has 6 volumes as of April 2025.

@GeorgeMTO And....

DING! DING! DING! DING!

Do I win a prize?

Next volume should be very interesting. Between Liam's idol showing up, Daiphon clearly going on the attack to win Liam's attention, and the heatach both Lardon and Scarlet are going to get with this new wrinkle in the negotiations, the fun is just beginning.

@PeachyGreen YOU SHOULD HAVE TYPED THAT IN ALL CAPS! HEROIC FIGHTING SPIRIT!!! RARRRGHH!!!!!!!

More seriously, there's a lot of hidden gems in the library, like Strongest Gamer (Sol Press rescue) and Fake Fake Princess.

V10 has just been announced in Japan for the November lineup and

https://www.kadokawa.co.jp/product/322508000171/

So now we have another Demon Lord for Akira to face and turned out that the Lucifer he's always mistaken for might actually be his friend from Earth. Curious tosee what the answers to all the questions brought in this volume will be.

There's also a brewing revolt by the underclasses.

Speaking of undereducated queens, Marie Antoinette comes to mind...

@Phabiohost only a volume 1 guaranteed. No public word about any v2s being granted or certain criteria they'd need to meet. At least 1 author has been writing one, but it'll be up to JNC to decide which if any get one.

I would be surprised if none get them though, as that wouldn't signal great things for people interested in future contests.

@Village-Idiot yep, Allen's father just tells it like it is. Mic Drop. Then grabs a fresh roll on his way out of the Marquee's banquet. No political games :-)

I didn't understand the part about the leader of the assassins.his reincarnation is so confusing,did he get reincarnated two times ? in his first life he was Hasan I-Sabah then he died,got reincarnated in japan lived there for 25 years in an era where anime and manga existed then died again and got reincarnated in Phi and lived for 75 years. This is so confusing.. did anyone understand that part?

Not too bad as a first volume. Like others mentioned, it reminded me a bit of The eminence in shadows.

@jazzyjeoff said in Tearmoon Empire Vol. 15:

Still no Tearmoon. Really, the only reason why I subscribe to J-Novel.

You're missing some other fun stuff if you're only reading the Tearmoon prepubs. Mia does not live on horse-shaped bread alone.

@Kurzaa Oh, I knew that. I've looked at all the covers and such already. Been reading ahead on the japanese site.

@kawabata268 I have a question regarding volume 4 .
the japanese version of the volume has a bonus short story with the title (magic stone transfer) why is it not included in the english ebook not even the premium version ?

I admit I was a bit wary of reading this. Zero damage in the title seemed a red flag. Weak protagonist is not amon my favorite tags. From the author of Zero believers...well, I like that series and I'm looking forward to the conclusion, but I was worried we were getting another herbivore protagonist who'll take 10 volumes before holding hands with a girl.
My expectations were completely shattered, protagonist lost his virginity on the first volume and is actually a compete fighter given the right conditions. I'm glad I gave this a chance.

Yeah, I could've done with a longer epilogue. More details on what happens to Elza and Art as well. Are they just moving in with the other orphans? Maybe some mention of the orphans creating a formal partnership with the Adventurer's Guild to be a cheap service for breaking down low level monsters? Ah well.

The final encounter was pretty well thought out. Definitely felt like a multi-phase MMORPG encounter, where you deal with mobs, dispell dark clouds, etc. I can see where it would've been super problematic without the appropriate intel.

The bit with Ignis was interesting as well. I assume by bandits and "the corrupted land" he was referring to the dark men from Elesia and their kingdom. It'll be interesting if they turn out to be the main antagonist and not the demon kingdom. That said, Ignis still killed a lot of humans early on, and Adonis (the demon in the holy kingdom) sure caused a lot of chaos, so it's not like demons are friends either.