Lout of Count's Family Vol. 5

With this volume, I'm finally caught up with the series! However, Volume 6 comes out on December 2nd, so I won't have long to wait. 

This is the book where things are starting to move. Cale has been making preparations in the past few books for an invasion expected to come from the north, and we finally see things start to move on that front. He's made allies with the Whale and Tiger tribes, and even helped Rowoon establish an alliance with Brek, Whipper, and the Jungle. 

Although I'm not certain of all the details, I feel like we're finally starting to get answers to some of the ongoing questions that I've had. Where are all the dragons? Who were the owners of the Ancient Powers, and why did they all know each other? Why do they (the Ancient Powers) like Cale so much? Reading this book felt like seeing just the tail of the cat that I've been trying to chase down a dark alley. 

Cale also traveled to the North in this volume, and we get some worldbuilding on who these invaders are. As always, there are two sides to this story, and it's interesting to find out more about the other countries in actual detail. I wish there was a map included with this series, as it would help with keeping track of all the countries and alliances. I've been using the vague maps from the manhwa to try and visualize everything until now. 

I appreciated the further development of the side characters in this volume, like Raon and Choi Han. Up until now, Cale's party has been pretty overpowered with their intelligence-gathering, political leverage, and capital. However, we finally see an adversary that has gone beyond their physical and magical abilities. 

Cale no longer has the backup of future knowledge from reading Birth of a Hero, and he's even finding that some of the info may be wrong. I'm excited to see how he adapts to the twists and turns that come. We're in a proper war arc now!