The Water Magician: Arc 1 Volume 4 [LN4]

Whoops I've fallen off on keeping up with this series a bit. It's pretty hard being a light novel fan sometimes, since I have so many series that I'm interested in. Between series where I've fallen behind, and others that are in constant hiatus (👀Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom), it's difficult to feel motivated to push new releases to the top of my priority, especially when the series is not at a climactic story beat. However, I don't intend to pressure myself into reading series I'm not feeling at the moment, since this is a hobby that I want to continue enjoying in the long run.

Anyways, at least I have more to read! This volume was super action-packed! Ryo's escort of Prince Willie ends as they finally make it to the capital of the Kingdom of Knightley, but before he even has a chance to relax, everything goes to hell in a hand basket and monsters descend upon the city. While the main characters are able to stay relatively safe, the author shows no mercy towards side characters who end up brutally getting murdered by the invasion.

Between that and another encounter later on in the book, the stakes are now increasing, as there are foes that Ryo can't simply kill and be done with. It's good to see Ryo actually have issues that he needs to deal with, since it would be a pretty monotonous story otherwise.

I was especially shocked seeing Ryo lose his arm to Leonore. I knew Ryo wasn't stronger than her, but I figured it would be more of an even fight. I was genuinely worried he was going to lose it permanently, but I should have known he would come up with a way to treat himself. I hope the author doesn't just forget about this injury, and takes it into account for Ryo's future battles.

Anyways, all kinds of new elements and characters are being introduced into the story, and I appreciate that it's not the same bog-standard isekai story beats that one would expect (though Ryo misses those and wishes it would play out for real).

Abel and Ryo continue to have a hilarious dynamic with each other, but isn't Ryo picking on Abel too much now? I get that he's comfortable around the guy, but he should be nicer to someone who's essentially bankrolling him despite Ryo being independently wealthy.