One of my complaints in the first volume of I Became the Secretary of a Hero! was the lack of battles. The story is heavily inspired by classic RPG systems (classes, HP), but it didn’t get to show off this much.
Well, volume 2 goes in a different direction: most of the novel is set at some ruins. That means — you guessed it — fighting! But unlike before, the encounters here are not pushovers.
The book opens with a quick synopsis of the previous, which is great because it’s been two years since we’ve read about how sisters Aki and Nako ended up in another world as Right-hands of the Hero and Dark Lord respectively. Then the story continues with Nako at the inn with Hero Elias’s mage friends while he, Aki, and a couple of new acquaintances head out together on a dungeon crawl Quest. The Hero’s Party ends up separated, so volume 2 jumps between all the groups as they deal with various traps, take on enemies, and discuss what’s going on.
It’s the latter portion I was mixed on. On the bright side, readers get more insight into how this world operates, and the romance isn’t playing the will-they-or-won’t-they game. But sometimes characters just chat for quite a while even though they’re in trouble. Jokes, heart-to-hearts, inner monologues, making strategies…they’ll talk about anything and everything, even though the only words coming out of characters’ mouths should be cursing and quick warnings. It’s not uncommon in media to have a conversation as things go downhill, but it happens again and again here — often about how wonderful or important Aki and/or Elias are to others. Even in the last battle, the enemy just waits as if Aki and the others called time out.
On the other end of the spectrum, volume 2 introduces my new favorite character. With a chapter title like “Who am I? Shadow Tribe Badass, Y’all!”, you know this guy is going to be a trip. Leo’s personality is a bit similar, but Sutcliff is more fun. I can’t wait to see more of him in the future so he can continue to be sassy and yet honorable in his own way. The author’s twist on the evil villain (Dark Lord) also continues to be handled well even though Kerdes is limited to one scene.
As I mentioned earlier, the fights are not simple for the Hero or his associates. Yes, there’s a fair amount of jib-jab (see above), but the combination of friends being separated and the enemy they’re fighting means readers are treated to some good action scenes. The characters face both monsters and human/humanoids, and they need to rely on both physical and magical attacks. Aki’s new weapon is introduced like she’s in cheat mode, but I’m glad the author didn’t suddenly turn her into the team’s amazing ace or anything.
In fact, many characters get power-ups in the story. Some seem like a deus ex machina, but considering we know that the whole Hero-Dark Lord conflict is a setup (and we learn more about how the conflict started), it makes sense that there are powers are passed down in case of an emergency or for revenge. Keeping most of the novel set in some ruins might make you think it loses some of its “save the world”-ness and instead allows the characters to get side-tracked, but it all connects strongly to the heroes’ main goal.
I noticed at least one minor editing error, but what really bothered me was, strangely enough, for most words beginning with a lowercase “g”, the lower circle part would slightly be cut off in the front. Most other g’s were fine. The book is still readable with no other issues, and perhaps it’s been updated/corrected, but it was a bit of a distraction.
I Became the Secretary of a Hero! volume 2 is an improvement over its opening volume. The novel’s “game logic” blends well with Yamazaki’s own twists on a defeat-the-villain story, and we finally get the fight scenes to prove it. Just maybe next time, everyone can save all the discussions until after they’re all safe.