Synopsis
As the arrival of winter brings the date of Yumiella and Patrick’s wedding ever closer, Yumiella ends up being tricked into visiting the Royal Capital in order to prepare for the big day. While accompanying Yumiella, Eleanora visits a friend from the Royal Academy and discovers that her family is on the verge of being run out of the city due to court politics. As much as Yumiella hates getting involved in these sorts of machinations—especially when they concern politics—how could she say no to her dearest friend Eleanora when she asks for help? Though Yumiella, now well past level 99, can usually use her strength to deal with most problems, it turns out that the minister of finance is pulling all the strings behind the scenes, and he’s taken Yumiella’s interference into account as part of his plans. She might not be able to brute force her way out of this one, but Yumiella’s not one to back down from a fight, especially when it’s for Eleanora’s sake! (Source: J-Novel Club)
The Hidden Boss and the Lord of Levelling!
With Yumiella and Patrick’s wedding fast approaching, the fifth volume finds the loveable hidden boss back in the royal capital as she faces down wedding fitters and noble factions.
The latest instalment in the series is a vast improvement over the previous release, largely thanks to a dialling back of the main cast’s impression of Yumiella and a keen focus on fleshing out one of the series’ underdeveloped characters, Eleanora.
Usually brought in to make even Yumiella look smart, this latest series arc shows many new sides to Eleanora’s character. This begins as she travels with Yumiella to help with her wedding dress fitting. While out and about in the royal capital, the two end up at a perfume shop, which Eleanora has a close connection to.
Much to Yumiella’s surprise, Eleanora turns out to be rather an expert when it comes to fragrances. During her time as a member of high society, she’d used her expertise to recommend and test all sorts of different perfumes, and even now that she’s fallen from grace, the shop still pays for her services, as her recommendations often sell off the shelves like hotcakes.
As the story continues, the revelations about Eleanora keep coming. These take form when the main plot comes into focus as she enlists Yumiella’s help with saving the father of her dear friend, Dorothea. For Eleanora, this thorny path filled with scheming nobles and court politics challenges her usually unserious personality, where she is forced to fight, even against her beloved, to create a scenario where everyone can be happy.
For Yumiella, this latest arc finds her rather subdued. Considering the previous volumes, however, this is a good thing.
Her foray into the world of nobility allows her to develop new, overpowered abilities beyond the scope of her fighting power. Faced with an enemy that wins through warring with words, Yumiella unwittingly develops the ultimate weapon against their battlefield of facts and logic: confusion. Yumiella’s skewed perspective of common sense is what saves the day, as the two rival factions inevitably give up on their ambitions when they lose their way through Yumiella’s barrage of nonsense.
Overall, Villainess Level 99’s latest instalment brought the series back to the heights of its opening volumes. Pairing back Yumiella’s overpowered abilities allowed other characters within the series to shine and develop themselves into more than one-note comic relief. Moreover, the cutback to the series’ physical fighting allowed the protagonist to develop new angles of attack, which would send even the heartiest of debaters running for the hills. This volume is highly enjoyable and worth recommending.
I Give Villainess Level 99: 8/10
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You can read the fifth volume of this series digitally on the J-Novel Club website.
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