With the crisis in Hataka Village behind them, Ivy and her friends set out for new adventures. Along the way, they creep through the caves where the forest monsters dwell, only to find the monsters who attacked her before are now friendly! Not only that, she’s entrusted with a forest monster baby. Bewildered at this turn of events, Ivy arrives in an unusual village full of tension between the church and the villagers. Deciding it’s best to move on quickly, Ivy’s party visits the dump to stock up for their journey…only to encounter a troubled young lady who has escaped the church. But just what exactly is she escaping from, and can Ivy help her?
By volume 10 you should know what to expect, a traveling story about a young girl traveling to the capital with her found family while getting caught up in various troubles in the villages her journey has taken her. Calling out how weird it is, doesn't make it less so, not as much her getting involved, she cares and has the friends to deal with it, but that there still is any village standing in the kingdom. Than again, world building is not the story's strong point even if it is an intriguing setting and one can hope the author at some point explains to some extent how it actually all works.
Regardless, I enjoy reading about Ivy, her found family and the plots enough to ignore the flaws and this volume is no exception. I will note that the author's comment in the after word about this supposedly being a cosy traveling story and avoiding too dark an origin story for one of the new characters in this series is a bit silly. Not that this doesn't feel as such, but it has always contained very dark elements and this volume doesn't make it more so in that regards. So, solid addition to the series and looking forward to the next volume.
I've been wanting this arc to get to us, and finally it is here! As someone who's been reading the web novel off syosetu, I been dying to finally see art of the new character that appears in this volume. I just love Toron, though I been reading the name as Tron for so long.
This volume lets us catch up a bit with some of the characters of the past, and how they reacted to Ivy's faaxes. The story is still relaxing and a nice read. Time to wait for the next volume!