The Saint's unique magic dwells within Sei, though she lacks full control and doesn't know why. She finds distraction in a sanctuary for rare herbs, where she can indulge her real passions. But the truth always catches up with Sei in the end, and this time, it will come through the words of a former Saint herself.
Again, I'm reading this for the story, not for the writing. I'm enjoying it for its mary-sueness, the plot, and the way Sei experiences joy in her stories. This is something I found myself gravitating to in the Flying Witch stories, as well--there's a joyful characteristic in the storytelling that I find compelling, especially when the current state of the "real world" is so tense and frequently joyless.
The romance did take a bit of a back burner in this volume, and I felt the lack of that, but there's a lot going on in the overall storyline so it makes sense that some things will have to recede every so often.
Anyhow, onward! Started Volume 4 the next morning.
This volume takes place a year after the beginning of the series. Sei is still working on becoming comfortable with her status as the Saint (and in fact still thinks that no one is really sure that she's the Saint, because she's a bit dense in that respect), but she's finally ready to start traveling to problem areas with the palace knights. The first place she and the Third Order knights are being sent is Klausner's Domain, which is sometimes referred to as the alchemist's holy land due to its focus on herb production and potion making. The problem: although Sei used Holy Magic in the previous book to dispel the Miasma in the woods near the palace, she still has no idea how she did it. There's no guarantee that she'll be able to help Klausner's Domain.
I can't really say that this series is good - the text is occasionally repetitive, the world-building is poorly thought out, and the author pays too much attention to individual events and not enough attention to developing the characters. Still, it makes for enjoyable and low-stress reading. Nothing really bad ever happens, and the characters are generally focused on supporting Sei (or Aira, when she was on-page more). It's nice.
Unfortunately, the world-building and character issues were a fairly big problem in this volume. I'm guessing that's why a good chunk of content was cut out when it was adapted for the anime.
The whole "people in this world don't season their food" detail came back with a vengeance. There were long sections devoted to the food at Klausner's Domain. They'd adopted the palace's new craze for cooking with herbs, so the food was more enjoyable than Sei expected, but for some reason the cooks weren't creative enough to do more than stick to a couple types of foods. Sei is apparently the only person in possession of any sort of cooking creativity, and so there was a long scene in which she taught people how to make pasta. Never mind that people in another country in this world eat noodles - although cooks in this kingdom had heard of them, they'd never tried to make them before.
The more Tachibana brings up the cooking thing, the more chances I have to poke holes in it. I hate it, because it's such a glaringly awful problem in an otherwise okay series. This particular book got me to thinking about the past Saints. Most of them were born in that world, but at least one, probably more, were summoned by the same ritual that brought Aira and Sei there. Even if no one born in this world had any cooking creativity, surely one of the past summoned Saints would have done the same thing as Sei and introduced a few recipes. Why did none of those recipes stick around? Yes, texts by and about the past Saints were destroyed, but things like recipes and cooking and seasoning techniques would find other ways to survive.
There was technically some progress in Sei and Albert's romance, but it continues to be underwhelming. In all or most of the author afterwords, Tachibana has lamented the slow pace of the romance, blaming it on Sei's lack of romantic experience or the need to fit in other events. However, at this point I'm going to argue that the romance is progressing so slowly because Tachibana has barely spent any time fleshing Albert and Sei out, so their relationship simply isn't interesting enough to write about. Sei has gone from being a workaholic in our world to being a workaholic in her new world - the only difference seems to be that she actually enjoys this work.
And Sei at least has something like a personal life - I could list multiple people she enjoys talking to and spending time with. Albert, on the other hand, is a mystery. He's been friends with Johan since they were kids, and he works at least as much as Sei does. He has a reputation for being cold, not that we ever see that on-page. Other than that, I know nothing about him. Does he have hobbies or goals? Does he ever spend time with Erhart, his brother? What does he do when he isn't working or training?
Despite my complaints, like I said, I'm still enjoying this series. I plan to read the next volume once it's available.
Extras:
Three full-color illustrations (textless cover art, the back cover illustration used as a character profile section, and Leonhardt's introduction), a two-page "story thus far" summary, black and white illustrations throughout, and an afterword by the author.
I went into this one expecting pretty dire things. I mean let's face it, the title is truly, truly awful just for starters. I also pretty much had enough of game lit in the 80s and YA isn't exactly my favourite genre either, so in all honesty this had absolutely nothing going for it on the surface (the reason I was reading it was because it worked for a challenge!).
Maybe it was my low expectations, but it wasn't awful. Possibly had I gone in expecting something brilliant I'd have ended up with 1 or 2 stars, but going in expecting the worst, I was pleasantly surprised. So 3 stars it is.
Wherein Sei discovers what it is that fuels the Saint's power, and she gets the opportunity to learn from a previous Saint's learnings (does that make sense?!).
The progression between Sei and Albert were at a bit of a standstill, but having said that, at least she's developing an understanding for her preferences. :D
I read The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent Volume 3 earlier this year, but I didn’t say much about it at the time—mostly because I wasn’t even sure I wanted to keep going with the series. Now that I’ve picked up some interest in Volume 4, I figured it’s time to share my thoughts. And honestly? Volume 3 might be the weakest entry in a series that already isn’t known for strong plotting—and a lot of that comes down to how little it actually matters in the grand scheme of things. This volume feels like a side story. Which would be fine, really, if it gave us more meaningful character moments or put Sei in new, interesting situations that let her grow. But that’s just not what happens. The dialogue meanders, nothing leads anywhere, and while events technically unfold, they’re so uneventful that—no joke—the highlight of the entire book is Sei cooking pasta. And I honestly think that was supposed to be the big moment, considering how much time is spent on her asking to use the kitchen, cooking, and everyone being blown away by how amazing pasta tastes. Which… brings its own narrative issues, but we’ll get there.
To give the book some credit, changing the setting to the Klausner Domain had potential. It’s isolated, which could have offered a fresh angle on Sei as a character—especially since it’s tied to the late apothecary master from previous volumes. It could’ve been a great opportunity to show Sei outside her usual environment, doing something new. But unfortunately, that never really happens. She barely does any new research, doesn’t grow much as a person, and the worldbuilding is basically non-existent. The only “new” piece of information we get is the confirmation that Sei’s magic is powered by love and Albert is the emotional trigger—which we learn through a diary. But even that isn’t surprising, since it was already heavily implied in Volume 2. It’s nice to have confirmation, sure, but we didn’t need a whole new setting just for that—especially when the diary could’ve been anywhere.
The bigger problem is that this new setting doesn’t add anything. It disconnects the story from everything that came before without building anything new in its place. The result is a volume that feels self-contained in the worst way: like filler. And that feeling is reinforced by the fact that basically nothing progresses. One thing I really appreciated in the first two volumes was how Sei gradually found her place—learning alchemy, taking on new roles, meeting people, getting caught up in bigger questions about her identity as the Saint. Now, that mystery’s solved, everyone knows she’s the Saint, which you’d think would spark some kind of internal reckoning. But instead, she just… keeps doing what she was doing, without any real reflection on how her role has changed. Her development is all external—other people treat her differently, but she doesn’t process or respond to that shift in any meaningful way. It makes her feel strangely passive, especially compared to the version of Sei who actively carved out her path in the earlier books. The one proactive choice she does make—joining the expedition to Klausner—is framed as her wanting to learn from the apothecary’s legacy. But even that feels thin, because the story doesn’t give her much to actually learn. And maybe that’s part of a bigger issue: Tachibana clearly wants this to be a romance series at heart, but the romance here is barely present. Sei does start realizing she has feelings for Albert, and we’re told her Saint magic activates when she thinks of him—but Albert himself barely shows up. Without shared scenes or moments, there’s no emotional weight, and nothing new develops. The book gets caught up in a bunch of smaller episodes that don’t deepen the world, the characters, or the romance—so I’m left wondering what it was even trying to do.
It kind of feels like Tachibana had a few plot points she wanted to get across, but no clear story to frame them with. Ironically, in the afterword, she blames Sei herself for not being good at romance. Which is… odd, considering it was the author’s decision to put her in a remote location with no access to Albert and barely anything else to do. Sei is a great character—smart, curious, emotionally grounded—but this volume gives her almost nothing to do, she just floats through it. And the side characters don’t help. They were never the series’ strong suit, but here they’re particularly forgettable. Previous volumes at least gave Yuri and Aira something to do. In this one, none of the established characters make much of an impact, and the new ones are incredibly flat. Corinna could have been a mentor figure, someone who gives Sei a different perspective as another woman in a male-dominated world—but she’s barely a presence. Leonhardt exists mostly to flex. And Klausner himself, despite being the lord of the domain, doesn’t do much to advance the plot or challenge Sei in any way. There’s a subplot about an herb shortage, but it never really goes anywhere.
To be fair, one thing I will say is that Tachibana tones down the repetitive exposition a bit here. There’s less information dumping than before, which is nice. But when the information we do get feels so narratively irrelevant, it’s not exactly a win. And look—I’m not against slice-of-life. I actually like quiet, character-focused stories. But those moments still need to be something: sweet, funny, reflective, emotionally rich, at least a little engaging. When the most emotionally charged scene in the book is Sei putting on an apron and making noodles, something’s off.
So yeah, I really hope Volume 4 turns this around. More than anything, I want to see Sei take charge again—like she did at the start—and for her love for Albert to be something that empowers her, not something that flattens her into a supporting character in her own story. There’s potential here, Sei is worth following. But this volume made it hard to remember why.
Sei zeigt ihr wahres Können und gelangt somit auf den Bildschirm des Königspalasts. Sie soll einer Bewertung unterzogen werden, in der man ihre Fähigkeit beurteilen soll. Leider lässt sich das Verfahren nicht wie gewohnt an ihr anwenden. Wenig später wird sie in den Palast gerufen. Sie denkt schon, dass ihre Bewertung hier offengelegt wird, doch sie wird gebeten einen Wunsch zu äußern. Dies soll eine Entschädigung dafür sein, dass sie ausversehen in die Welt gezogen wurde und man sich nicht gescheit um sie gekümmert hat. Eigentlich will sie nichts, doch sie weiß, dass sie keine Ruhe lassen würden. Daher äußert sie den Wunsch einen vollständigen Zugang zur Palastbibliothek zu erhalten. Zudem wünscht sie sich an Vorlesungen teilzunehmen.
Das Cover ist ein Traum. Ich liebe die bunten Farben und die Szene. Die Zeichnungen sind wieder wunderschön. Mein besonderes Highlight sind die ersten paar Seiten, die bunt sind. So erhält man einen guten Einblick in die schillernde bunte Welt Slantania.
Sei ist eine unscheinbare junge Frau, die ihr Leben der Arbeit gewidmet hat und darüber hinaus wenig in ihrem Leben gemacht hat. Sie wirkt einsam und in sich gekehrt. Sie ist ein kleines graues Mäuschen, welches im Laufe der Geschichte ihr Leben in die Hand nimmt. Sei ist sympathisch und eine willensstarke Person. Sie hat ihr Schicksal akzeptiert und gliedert sich in die Gemeinschaft ein. Sie findet am Institut ihre Berufung und kann ihre Magiefähigkeit mit großen Schritten erweitern und vertiefen.
Die Geschichte ist wieder richtig gut. Ich liebe Sei. Sie ist bescheiden, hilfsbereit und möchte eigentlich nicht im Mittelpunkt stehen. Mein besonderes Highlight ist die Szene, in der sie am Palast hübsch gemacht wird und danach Hawke auf sie wartet. Die Beiden sind einfach nur zuckersüß. Ich bin gespannt wie es mit den Beiden weitergeht und ob sie sich endlich näher kommen. Vor allem kommt immer mehr raus, dass sie die Heilige Maid sein muss. Auch wenn es Sei nicht so ganz in den Kram passt.
Sei still isn't happy about being the Saint, but she's also not stupid. Other domains have been suffering just as much as the royal capital used to, and now that she's cleared out a miasma swamp, it's time to branch out. And what better place than a domain described as an alchemist's paradise, full of rare herbs and new knowledge?
This continues to be a rather laid-back story, though now that Sei's in a new place she can once again conveniently forget to tell people she's the Saint. That it continues to backfire on her in unexpected ways is funny.
In this case, with a mercenary leader named Leo. The relationship between the mercenaries and the knights is a complicated one---they compete as much as cooperate. Sei, of course, is more concerned that nobody is getting injured, and her generally cheerful demeanor plus hard work is more than enough to win them over.
She's also finally facing what it is that makes her Saint powers function. This isn't a huge mystery to the astute reader, who likely picked it up a while back, but it does take Sei a while to realize the obvious.
Overall this is still a good story. This volume is the first half of this particular arc, but it ends at a natural stopping place. I rate this book Recommended.
We make it through about another 2 volumes of the manga in this light novel, leaving us around volume 7 at the end of it. We also get the answer as to why Sei is running her experiments in flowerpots and not the herb beds or fields like she did with her garden back at the Institute. Wondered about that in the manga, but it wasn't clear, though it makes sense. Slightly surprising Corinna went along with it though as it seems to be their hidden goal to get the fields re-blessed if Sei is capable of doing it and they can get her to agree to help them. Not that she isn't already doing a lot as it is with the brewery, healing everyone, cooking, and now these new experiments, plus she's still planning on going into the forest with the Knights once they determine they are ready for the expedition. Poor Johan though, only realizing after-the-fact exactly what he'll be missing out on.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Sei is the Saint, but can she learn to call up her powers when needed?
I almost enjoyed this volume better than the first volume. It took place in another kingdom with the only familiar character being Commander Hawke. If you were hoping for romance, there is a smattering of it, though you’ll likely be disappointed. However, if you are here to read Sei access forbidden records, solve an ancient mystery, and learn to master her powers, then you’re in for a treat. Food played another major role in this volume, and the way Sei handled the mercenaries before hurrying off to save Commander Hawke was perfectly written for her character.
Not as entertaining as the previous two novels (it was slow in the middle), but this is still a great fluffy and breezy series to read. Sei is such a cute and charming character that I feel like I could read ten books of her just doing research and living her adorable life. I like how little bits of the world are explored in each book (rather than a huge info dump) so readers can slowly explore the world along with Sei.
I really like this series, but I'm a bit disappointed by this volume. I don't feel like anything really happens here, other than possibly setting up a love triangle, but the new guy doesn't have a shot, so I hope that's not what's happening. Hopefully the story will move a little faster in the next volume?
I really enjoyed reading this. As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m coming into the novel series having already seen the anime and read the manga series, so at this point of the story we’re in familiar ground. It’s still very fun though. I’m also very excited because we’re only one book away from completely new content!!!! I’m so excited. I love this series a lot.
There was less of the repetitive writing in this volume but still no progress in Sei and Albert’s relationship. The lack of romance makes the story all about Sei’s work and that isn’t interesting enough for me to keep reading this series. However, since I’ve already bought book 4 I’m gonna continue reading! If that volume is also all about Sei’s work then I’m done with this series.
As I said before the story just gets better and draws one into the setting and individuals who abound. Like many great tales the world becomes fuller as you read the adventure.
I don’t want to spoil anything but romantic progress is made in this book. It’s scenes like that that causes me to grin like an idiot while reading. Curse my light novel addition but I love these characters.
I just can’t believe all those details that were missing in the anime. I know understand why the palace kept quiet about past saints achievements and powers. I love how Sei is still being her without changing her.
As Sei continues to learn more about her powers she now realizes that she is The Saint. People around her really have not changed but accepted that fact. She goes to a different part of the Kingdom and finds out a former Saint left a diary and the biggest clue to her powers.
She finally learned how to control her magic, which I was happy to see. I am glad to see that she still has a thing for Albert. Hopefully she stays with Albert.
I love the world building and character development in this series! It's also great to see a wholesome fantasy approach. Cannot wait until the next book comes out in English!