@Jon-Mitchell

I have another theory. Eizo's notoriety has reached the empire. Helen's two "lightning blade" swords were payment along with a cart filled with his elite weapons reached the empire as "payment" for a troublesome area. That is why Marius was notified and the reason why Eizo was involved. The Epilogue goes on to say that the emperor knew about the rebellion but lacked forces to keep it. Rebellion forces were the ones that captured Helen. It looked like they had outside support from the kingdom side (key question is who). They are right. A dead body of a famous mercenary would lead to questions if her body was found in the kingdom side (especially if they knew her lineage). If her body was found during an Empire rebellion, then that would be a different matter.

Helen is the Margrave's illegitimate daughter. Figured since he had an unusual interest in her safety, red hair, and prowess in the battlefield. I would not be surprised if he was giving her jobs, giving her opportunities, directing her activities in the shadows, etc. I view magic as an equalizer (women and men can become powerful, but most nobles will use their bloodline as pawns [doesn't matter the gender]).

I would not be surprised that the "elder" was one of the guards that Eizo helped with their swords and noticed he was killing rebellion troops.

But here is the key thing. Eizo is leveling his skills and is getting stronger along with greater access to mystical metals!

Volume 6 (Premium Edition): 2 Bonus Short Stories Dragonscale Armor Remedial Lessons

Volume 18 (Premium Edition): 2 Bonus Short Stories Fire, Stay with Me Into Shelter

You know, I'm a big mecha fan and I love the action from the main series, but these short stories are great too.
Pony!
Fumoffu!

Very belated, but the stories this time around were much better. This time there was much more proactive action on the part of the various characters, both Jessica and Jim. If this is where we end, then we at least ended on a high note.

Update as of volume 6.

Daniel Vauxhall - Son of a whisky distiller, had memory of Jessica wiped, for better or worse.

Robert Beck - Hotel manager of haunted castle.

Jeremy Baxter - Victim of Jessica while she was being possessed by a dead murderer. The threshold of getting a date with Jessica is climbing ever higher.

Also, Jim's single again. Though the fact that he wakes people (most importantly, Jessica) up early on Sundays might see him stay that way.

@BookManiaReader said in The Ideal Sponger Life Vol. 1 Discussion!:

I am wondering why you chose the carpula language to be Spanish when Zenjirou recorded Aura? That's not exactly what was used. And since The Caprula kingdom seems to be Arabic, wouldn't using the Arab or even Latin would make more sense.

But Spanish? Why Spanish? It doesn't fit the culture at all.

Spanish was used because the raw used Spanish, albeit transliterated into katakana.

Everything should be explained in this post: https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/5900/sol-press-license-rescues

To copy over the relevant part:

We ran the previous English releases through an additional round of QA, then published these direct to ebook. This series was already completely translated, so we focused on getting the books back in stores. We may go back and create streaming parts for each volume later, but we do not have an ETA on that.

Volume 1 (Premium Edition): A Bonus short story Before They Met

@heimdal7

Hello,

This series currently has 5 volumes released in Japan, Volume 5 having been released earlier this year.

So it is currently ongoing.

@GeorgeMTO and sometimes they even think that releasing in English will take away sales from the Japanese version. Which, to be frank, could happen but not on a scale that would damage the series. Still, we’re always reminded that licensing is done on a per volume basis and all that stuff, so we can only wait patiently.

@Windsagio said in The Misfit of Demon King Academy Vol. 2 Discussion!:

What volume does the anime end at btw? Just for curiousity's sake.

When Volume 3 ends we'll be at content parity with the Anime. So beyond there will be new content.

@Lex said in Step-Exes Vol. 4 Discussion:

Anyway, since as others said there are at least 5 more volumes, hilarious developments are bound to happen.

Hah!
It's a marketing ploy.
All the future volumes are 'blank books', issued with collectable covers...

@Lily-Garden Buddy cop with belligerent romantic tension!

Volume 18 (Premium Edition): A Bonus Short Story & Full Wraparound Cover Jacket illustration The Hunter’s Pride and the Clan Member’s Thoughts

@Ojive eagerly waiting for those volumes.

Somehow I missed reading the final part until going, "Huh? What's going on?!" upon reading the first section of the next volume.

Well.
My prediction as to the solution/resolution was a tad off the mark.
More than a tad.

He did stand off the current Guardian Knight.
He didn't act as Carina's Guardian Knight as part of her 'qualification conflict' thingy.
He did act in a manner allowing the various Great Spirits involved to hammer out a non-aggression pact.
Nobody died. This time, anyway.

So.
He and Charlotte know how each of them feels about the other.
His reputation has been sent through the wash. (This is a good thing.)
There's been a peaceful [?!] resolution of the conflict between North and South. For certain values of 'peaceful', anyway.
Life should be good now.

Queue hysterical laughter, given at least three volumes to go.

I was actually a pretty big fan of the romance to start with, I thought it portrayed a marriage of convenience slowly becoming more well. I got frustrated when their relationship increasingly became one of vassal and servant. Much of the interactions we see of Zenjirou and Aura is him making reports to her. The fact that the story is going to become a harem, with focus given to the next girl (look who gets the covers) doesn't say good things about the relationship between Zenjirou and Aura. It's just going to be more Aura imposing on Zenjirou, Zenjirou accepting said imposition as necessary and Aura worrying about when her imposing on Zenjirou will reach a breaking point but not actually working on improving things for him.

Something I find pretty frustrating is that Aura is pushing Zenjirou into getting a concubine, something he does not like, but a few times when he displays a rapport with a woman she is quick to squash it. Granted the few times it's happened the lady was politically nonviable, or at least undesirable, as a concubine, but shouldn't she be encouraging him? I would love it if they were monogamous, but Aura doesn't think that is viable.