I couldn't help but ride my momentum from the first book and I ended up finishing this volume in one sitting while having my morning coffee.
This was a pretty good continuation of the story and our MC, going by the name Sharon to hide her identity as a former noble from the neighboring kingdom, has started building the foundations of her own adventuring party. At the same time, she gets pulled into a situation involving a power struggle within the church.
There wasn't anything wrong with this volume per se, though the new member of Sharon's party is a Catgirl who pronounces a lot of words by adding purr or meow to them. This might get annoying to some people. My biggest grief, as usual, is how short the volume was since this felt a bit more like it was setting the stage for a later payoff rather than giving us a more complete arc.
I like how the characters gain and use game items, such as the various ingredients for making potions, without detouring the plot into an endless quest to gather 20 bear asses for the local tannery.
I'm curious to see what sort of overarching plot takes shape in this series since things have been smaller steps so far. I have a feeling the issue with the church will play a role in the grander conflict even after the more immediate challenges are sorted out.