This was a tough volume to get through.

The death flags kept me on the edge of my seat as events unfolded, just waiting for something to go wrong, and when they finally did, knowing they were coming didn’t do anything to lessen the blow. Paul’s death was really painful for a lot of reasons. To me, the worst part was how important he was to Norn. Just thinking about how she would react knowing that he didn’t make it back safely broke my heart a little. Then of course there’s also knowing that the Greyrat family’s goal of reuniting the entire family would never come true. Even if Paul wasn’t exactly a father figure to Rudy, he was still a close friend. Knowing the faith he had in Rudy and that Paul still saw Rudy as his child despite Rudy being more mature than him on multiple occasions and sacrificing his chance to reunite with the rest of his family must have been quite the guilt trip for Rudy. And then after all was said and done, Zenith wasn’t quite herself making their sacrifices almost feel like they were in vain. The only good thing about it was that she didn’t have to experience the same guilt and sadness of having her husband sacrifice himself on a mission to save her.

I liked how this incident made Rudeus think of his previous family and his reactions when his original parents passed away. While it might have been late, at least he got a chance to reflect on his past actions and reaffirm his decision to make the most of the chance he was given. Its really inspiring that Rudues' new life isn’t something he was just given, but something he actively protects. His life in this new world is by no means easy, if anything living as an adventurer is much tougher than life in our modern world like Nanahoshi says. On top of the long arduous journeys, we are shown how its a dangerous profession where people can die unceremoniously at any time, leaving the survivors almost indifferent to the deaths of their party members. In spite of the difficulties, Rudeus manages to overcome his depression, on multiple occasions, aided by those around him.

Roxy’s being the support for Rudy to get out of his current bout of depression sets up a pattern for Roxy being the one who helps Rudy overcome the trauma from his past life. While Slyphy might have helped Rudy out of the depression from his love life in this world, Roxy helped Rudy out of his fear of the outside and now from the guilt he felt with regards to his selfish reaction toward the deaths of his original parents. As much as he doesn’t want to be reminded of his failures in his past life, I feel that those closest to him deserve to know, and that he would be better able to face his past life if he shared it, which he does in a way to Roxy.

On a side note, I think Roxy’s interest in Rudy makes sense but is a little forced. Sure, it was mentioned many volumes ago that her fantasy was to be saved from a Labyrinth, and it does make sense for her to fall in love with her savior, but other than that I feel that their relationship wasn’t developed as much as Slyphy’s. I really like that Roxy is staying around though, because she’s has been an important character with regards to helping Rudy sort out his past, even if Slyphy could serve that role now. I appreciate that Rudy addresses her as his teacher even though he’s much more proficient in magic than him because she is someone worthy of that respect to him. Even if its often played off as a joke and makes Roxy feel like he’s making fun of her. To me its a good reminder that we don’t need to be saints or geniuses to change someone’s life and that people can be worth respecting even if they have their flaws. I really like Rudeus' humility despite it being clear to him that he possesses power even beyond geniuses.

On top of all the pain of the losses and tragedies related to the dungeon, Rudeus' infidelity was also very painful to watch. Even if Slyphy was okay with it, he did make a promise. On top of that, he also states that he would hate it if their roles were reversed.

Lastly, Rudeus' responsibilities as a brother to his young sisters, husband to his two wives and father to his new child make the series quite interesting to watch. In the most recent episode of him delving into danger to close a chapter of his life, we got to experience the dilemma he faced in his duties to his family and as the head of his new family.