Banished from the Hero's Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside (Light Novel)

Carnufex Dec 30, 2022

7

This review was written after reading volume 8Red is the brother of the Hero, Ruti. Hero is not a generic term: in this world, everybody has a “blessing” decided by the local god, that gives them specific abilities, but more importantly compels them to act in a certain way. And Ruti’s is the Hero: she’s overpowered, knows neither fear, nor hunger, nor sleepiness… nor even joy, and her blessing gives her a compelling need to save others, even at the cost of her own life.Red on the other hand is a support character, whose blessing aims him to kick-start the Hero while she’s a child. Very powerful from the start, but without any specific ability of his own, so that once the Hero gets her own party of overpowered individuals, he becomes somewhat of a drag… or at least that’s what one of the party members tells him to make him leave.And so Red leaves, and goes into hiding into some backwater rural town known for its lazy population, where he decides to become an apothecary. He is joined by Rizlet of Loggervia, a blond princess babe which he met in his earlier adventures, and who had to leave her country because she was becoming more popular than her brother, the legitimate heir to the throne, and feared it would end up causing a civil war.They start living together, a happy, loving, lazy life in the countryside… until obviously fate comes knocking at the door again.The story is well written, and has a good balance between wholesome sappy romance moments and action to keep the whole thing entertaining. And, no, I’m not speaking about that kind of action. :-p It also explores a lot the question of free will in a world where a literal god decides from birth what they want you to be in life.The drawings have a paint-like style that renders really well in the color illustrations, not so much in the grayscale ones.