The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter, Vol. 3 (light novel) by Yatsuki Wakatsu: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter vol. 3 by Yatsuki Wakatsu

First up, beware: this is the last volume. I didn’t know it going in and wasn’t adequately prepared emotionally for it to end. It left me slightly upset despite the ending being good. But now you know and can read it accordingly.

Volume 3 of the light novel has a subtitle Magic Research Exchange Plan and that’s what the story is about with no side plots. An envoy arrives from a distant country to study Romany’s summoning magic. Seiichirou is roped in to guide the visitors, as the whole project is his idea. It’s about sending him and Yua, the Holy Maiden, back to their own world.

Leading the visitors is the country’s third prince, Lars, who shows great interest in Seiichirou. Not romantically though; he’s impressed by his efficiency and considers recruiting him to work for his country. Despite Seiichirou’s skills, the visit is a bit chaotic, as the group includes mages who are very excitable and have no patience for anything but magic. Seiichirou is kept busy and he doesn’t have enough time for his partner, Aresh.

Aresh has anticipated this though. For the welcoming party, he arranges a suitable attire for Seiichirou, complete with a brooch that declares he and Seiichirou are engaged. He just doesn’t think to inform Seiichirou about it. Seiichirou doesn’t take it well that Aresh does such a huge thing behind his back, as if he isn’t part of the relationship. A fight ensues and the pair doesn’t speak in days.

It doesn’t help that Aresh is summoned home by his parents. Lars is trying to arrange a marriage between his youngest sister and the youngest son of Idolark family. That’s Aresh. Seiichirou learns about this from other people and it adds to his upset. When he finally has a chance to ask Aresh about it, the other man goes into another huff. And then leaves to escort the envoy back to their country.

A weaker man might despair. Seiichirou isn’t one of those. He goes after his man. Matters are cleared between the two, including the biggest cause of upset for Aresh: Seiichirou returning to his own world.

This was a good book, but it read like another middle book and it came as a surprise that it ended. After all the hardships, the series deserved a stronger ending. The great magical feat of sending Seiichirou and Yua back was solved rather fast with a time jump. It left the reader to wish that at least some of it had been made into another volume, maybe about the days leading up to the reverse summoning. There could’ve been lot of drama about it, and we could’ve finally witnessed Seiichirou and Aresh settle into a happy life together. Seiichirou opened about his feelings only in the last chapter and I would’ve loved to read more about that. Even the epilogue was more about general story than the two of them.

After the epilogue there were two extras, one from Norbert’s point of view as he reports to the king, and another from Aresh’s, which explains his point of view about the spat. In the afterword, the author admits that some storylines were left open, but didn’t promise more stories. I don’t really need those; only the bit that was missing from this one. But it was a sweet story as it was, with some spice, and I’m happy with where the men ended up.