Witch's Printing Office volume 3

There was quite a cliffhanger last time, wasn't there? An open letter from a Japanese guy isekai-ed into this world to other people from his country (or at least his own world). This volume picks up there.

The "greeting" of Mika and her fluffy employee was a nice touch. I had been waiting to see these characters again.

As it turns out, this second isekai-ed guy, Kyouhei Yamanoto, is just as clueless as Mika when it comes to the why and how of their coming to this world. While they naturally agree to work together to get home, they seem a lot more passionate about their joint business venture.

See, he's decided to open a bookstore, but it has pitiful stock. There are some funny gags from Mika reacting to all the stuff he tries to show off. Ultimately, she connects him with some of the independent artists who frequent her Magiket event. This way they can continue to sell books outside of Magiket, Yamanoto can pull in a steady supply of new books, and Mika's Protagonist Press has a regular customer outside of the Magikiet season. It is a publishing house and book store partnership with independent creators; the content just happens to be spells.

It's a fun thing. This guy is like Mika, a truly ordinary person trying to make a living in the book business; no special stereotypical isekai stuff for him either. Speaking of which, there is a parody of such in another chapter.

I really like this one, so I hope you'll forgive me for spoiling it entirely. It is such a splendid parody. It's very funny, not at all mean-spirited, and yet fulfills the same narrative role as the straight version. So, SPOILER! BEWARE OF SPOILER!

Spoiler.

 You see, the chapter starts with this arcane looking ritual being performed by hooded mages.  One of them shouts, "savior from another world", and who shows up by Mika herself! It is enough to fool a reader into thinking that this is a flashback story, showing how Mika arrived in the world that the story takes place in, and perhaps the origins of Protagonist Press. Not even close.

This is not a flashback arc. The summoner pulled her away from her office during a busy period. The "another world" part of the spell is not accurate; it did not grab some super powerful magic creature, nor did it even reach across to another world. The mages are actually embarrassed when they learn who Mika is and where she is from.

The task they hoped the result of their spell would accomplish was save their village from being consolidated with other villages, because of a declining birth rate and lack of anything special about it. Mika can't do anything about that, so she plans to take the first airship back home.

That is a week from now, so the summoner offers to put Mika up in her house as an apology for basically kidnapping her. This works out to a vacation for Mika; no overtime at her printing office, eating delicious local cuisine, soaking in hot springs, and she doesn't have to pay for any of it.

So Mika's employees are naturally wondering were she is, and they find her living it up while they're working their (in some cases, literal) tails off. This leads to them jumping on the airship that is going towards Mika's location, not to retrieve her but to sample all the goodies she has been indulging in. 

So the town is inundated with the staff of Protagonist Press, and the clients of Protagonist Press, and THEN the regulars of Protagonist Press's Magiket events. This turns the town into a tourist destination, and it gets especially busy during Magiket. Which, incidentally, spares it from being consolidated by its lord. So, without doing anything heroic, or really anything at all, and purely by accident, Mika really does become the town's savior. 

It is such a light-hearted parody that makes so much sense it becomes hilarious!

That is just one example. I could go on but I don't want to. This review is already too long. The author has a talent for making these kinds of stories, and the artist for bringing them to life. 

Speaking of the artist, the art continues to look really good. It is cute and appealing without overdoing things. It has the right balance between cute and serious. I could imagine a legitimate, serious, played-for-epic dungeons-and-dungeons style story being in this art style. Except, when the adventurers finally reached the dragon's lair and discovered its treasure, they would not find gold or jewels but mint-condition scrolls from independent creators (that or may not be magical). 

Trickster Eric Novels gives " A Witch's Printing Office volume 3" an A+

Click here for my next book review:  Spiral - Bonds of Reasoning volume 2

Click here for my previous book review:  I've been killing slimes for 300 years and maxed out my level, light novel volume 1

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.