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.

Slyphy is such a nice girl. While it might have been cliched how dense Rudeus was for not noticing that Fitz was Slyphy, there are decent reasons why he did not realize it and I think their relationship is better with Rudeus being kept in the dark for a whole year. I think its fair that Rudeus never realized that Fitz was Slyphiette because of their different supposed genders, hair colours, the fact that he never saw Fitz’s face and also that he hadn’t seen Slyphy for almost a decade.

Being Rudeus is suffering. The volume starts off with him beginning his solo journey with Eris having run off on her journey of self-improvement. While I do emphasize with Eris, having lost her entire family and almost losing Rudeus, wanting to improve herself was a good idea, especially given that shes a kid with a lot of potential. But leaving the unaware Rudeus with nothing but a note is pain. Rudeus is really strong to have made a move forwards after being left alone in the world, all the more so because of his previous memories.