[manifla]

I have been busy for a while and can finally take a bit of time to reread and write down some summaries!

Before any of that, I’d like to say that I’m going to shorten them up considerably from here on out. I know that anyone who can’t read the novels in Japanese (or Chinese or Korean) must wait on Yenpress or other regional localizers for pretty long periods of time, perhaps unfair amounts of time.

But at the same time, I look back and figured that too much detail isn’t a good thing for anyone about to read the books for the first time. It does take away from the experience!
I’m not gonna go back and edit my posts but no more super long summaries from here on out. Volume 15 is out next week about Mirabell and Sallinger's unseen history, and I’ve honestly no idea how many more volumes we have left before the finale.
A brief summary of 14 will take a bit of time, can't do it right now.

Let’s start off with Secret File #3. The one with Elletear on the cover. It's another compilation of silly and funny tales among our cast members in their day to day lives.
But the most important one is how Mr #1 and Elletear met years ago and set so so so much in motion.
An uplifting and twisted tale of how two outcasts found each other.

Spoiler for Genesis:

So who is Johaim Leo Armadel, traitor and knight extraordinaire anyways?
Well, who he used to be is someone who lived in a slum in the Nebulis Sovereignty. An Astral Mage who had no Astral ability to use. Someone who thought about thinking about dreams, wondering if anyone really could reach out and ignite some passion in him. Of course, he had an image of himself as an adult, a childish fantasy he could hold on to as a kid. But as an adult, that’s long done and dusted away, given up and he doesn’t even remember what it feels like to have that kind of unabashed excitement.
Not that there’s any time to do so when the struggle to survive is endless, the tension in his heart never goes away and life means eking out a meagre and borderline meaningless existence. And that’s no big surprise, poverty knows no borders. It’s a common story if Crossweil and Eve have anything to say about it.
It’s not like he has nobody at all to know, but there certainly is nobody to trust.

His first sight of Elletear is her singing in a public square, dressed as usual despite the biting winter, beautiful as always acting cheerful and joyful but that’s no comfort to Joheim. It’s just one more reminder of a world of plenty, a paradise that’s left him by the wayside. Even if her lips are blue, even if she must be shivering, even if she’s by herself, even if she’s being quietly badmouthed by a petty thief that Joheim knows, the rumors about her weakness are everywhere.
But Joheim thinks a little bit about it, and forms a guess that things are so bad within the Royal Palace that Elletear prefers the bitter winter over staying in there. A person can only take so much mockery even in comfort before they make compromises. Not that it makes him sympathetic, even if he’s not loved by Astral Spirits he’s still got nothing to his name at all.
But if money and status are the only criteria that matter in his world….well, licking Elletear’s shoes to become her guard wouldn’t be the worst thing he’s ever had to do.

Spoiler for Training Day:

It goes horribly. As it turns out, the Astral Corps have some pretty brutal standards even before magic comes into play. Guts and determination won’t stop blows to the head in a duel between applicants.
But guts and determination are good enough to keep Joheim reapplying and reapplying. But what is it that drives him so badly to excel?
Eventually, his self imposed training and continued attempts (and injuries) have a unexpected fruit over time. He can’t use Astral abilities, he’s no great tactician, all he has is a “stupid tenacity” – but not having magic can leave him with a certain awareness of when people will use theirs, so long as he continues to train his senses and body.
And that fuels the savage joy in his heart that awoke after attempt #1. It’s easy to forget about the original plan about Elletear. After a lifetime of being trampled into the ground and looked down upon, he finally, after great pain and humiliation, has a way to give it back to the class of people who would give him shit.
But of course it doesn’t get him into the Astral Corps. Even after he comes out as the top applicant and defeats Astral Corps instructors, he’s got no Astral ability to use. No ability? No entry. No appeals.
And Joheim begins to lose it. Carrying on with his previous life is no longer something bearable
He pretends to leave the facility, but hides, and gets ready for one last act of violent resistance against “Paradise.”
Night falls, and he starts attacking guards. It’s easy enough at that point to neutralize them without raising an alarm – but he doesn’t feel any better about it. His rage is futile. But fate has other ideas.
Because Elletear is also in that facility, keeping away from everyone.
She’s had a bad time, and is just alone in her thoughts. And despite the fact that they never spoke before, she remembers when Joheim saw her at a distance. She doesn’t forget that kind of a cold look. It’s a awkward meeting, but she doesn’t give his location up to the guards searching for the criminal who attacked their comrades.
Because in the face of his frustration and anger, she loses her façade of impeccable manners. She can vulgarly laugh at the absurdity of his situation. She can admit that she hates the Sovereignty, the Empire, her own lonely situation, the discrimination, all of the nonsense. She wants to destroy it all!
And finally, Joheim has found the dream that he never knew he wanted. Something larger than just himself, someone he can believe in.

Spoiler for Genesis:

Elletear has Joheim train more and more. He goes with her on a trip to Kelvina, sees the madness of the Nightmare procedure to become a Witch, ultimately shows his undying loyalty by burning off his astral tattoo with Kelvina’s medicine. Also, and in accordance with his own guess, turns out to be a way to bypass the Astral Detectors within the Empire. No more stray emissions because of the Rejection Reaction scar, unless he used a Astral ability. Elletear calls him an idiot but is glad at heart because he’ll be in the Empire with her.
But his act has drawn the attention of the Eight Apostles.
Months pass, more secrets are learned, Joheim enters the Saint Disciples as a foreigner from “somewhere” under the backing of the Apostles despite suspicions. His Disciple authority to go literally anywhere leads him back to Elsa’s Coffin where Vichyssoise is visiting and Elletear was not having a good time.
Joheim almost goes postal, but Elletear wakes up long enough to tell him to keep faith. And get hugged in a touching scene.
And unforeseen consequences arise

Spoiler for Skipping a lot:

Kelvina is a mad scientist. We know how that goes.
To her, a catalyst has the role of accelerating the rate in which substance A + substance B becomes substance C. These are measurable and quantifiable variables.
And yet, somehow Joheim has become Elletear’s catalyst. What she is becoming, the process begins to accelerate from that moment on.
And time and other encounters go on. Joheim does admit in his heart for one brief moment that he loves Elletear – but business remains business, his duty remains as it is.
The story ends with that one moment when Elletear finally loses all remnants of her humanity. She loses it all – her body, her organs, everything.
All that remains of Elletear is her mind – and a mass of smoke that can change appearance, shape and form freely. Joheim hugs her and it’s like he’s hugging a body of water, but that’s fine. His feelings remain the exact same. And Joheim and Elletear are not doing this to live their lives out together, free from all concerns, although Elletear admits that could have been quite nice and satisfying.
But choices were made in blood long ago. For the two of them, the war awaits.