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Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero's Friend: Running the Kingdom Behind the Scenes Novel #5
Reincarnated Into a Game as the Hero's Friend: Running the Kingdom Behind the Scenes (Light Novel) Vol. 5
FRIENDS AT THE FRONTIER
Thanks to knowing the plot of the classic RPG his world is based on, Werner Von Zehrfeld has stood out both on the battlefield and in the office. But every accomplishment is followed with an even greater challenge. The young viscount must now make for the neglected region of Anheim to face off against the Demon Commander, Gezarius. Will he be able to hold off the demon hordes long enough for his best friend, the Hero, to arrive?
Thanks to knowing the plot of the classic RPG his world is based on, Werner Von Zehrfeld has stood out both on the battlefield and in the office. But every accomplishment is followed with an even greater challenge. The young viscount must now make for the neglected region of Anheim to face off against the Demon Commander, Gezarius. Will he be able to hold off the demon hordes long enough for his best friend, the Hero, to arrive?
- GenresLight NovelFantasy
316 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 16, 2025
11 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 10, 2025
This was another solid entry in the series, focusing on Werner's confrontation with the Demon Commander Gezarius.
Fans of the kingdom politics should enjoy this one with both strategy and tactics implemented on and off the battlefield. While delivering a similar experience to previous volumes, this one also spends a bit of time addressing Werner's role in this world and how things might be more complicated than the simple game he remembers.
I enjoyed this, and it's a rare series that keeps my interest beyond the 4th book, but I find myself itching for a bit more overall plot progression. Each volume in this series only covers what would be a single act of a more traditionally told story. That's par for the course with Light Novels, though, so I won't complain too much.
Fans of the kingdom politics should enjoy this one with both strategy and tactics implemented on and off the battlefield. While delivering a similar experience to previous volumes, this one also spends a bit of time addressing Werner's role in this world and how things might be more complicated than the simple game he remembers.
I enjoyed this, and it's a rare series that keeps my interest beyond the 4th book, but I find myself itching for a bit more overall plot progression. Each volume in this series only covers what would be a single act of a more traditionally told story. That's par for the course with Light Novels, though, so I won't complain too much.
November 28, 2025
The next demon commander is coming. They know it'll be soon. They know where he'll strike. And they know the extent of his forces. Now, the Kingdom of Wein just needs a noble with battlefield experience it can toss onto the frontlines. Werner von Zehrfeld? But of course.
REINCARNATED INTO A GAME AS THE HERO'S FRIEND v5 is a novel of two very distinct halves. The first half of the book focuses on Viscount Zerhrfeld being shunted to the southwest region of Anheim, fiefdom of Kneipp, on the border with the recently fallen land of Triot. In Anheim, on the surface, it's all about rooting out corruption, upgrading infrastructure, networking with regional baronies, building the confidence of the locals, and more. Beneath the surface, Werner's work is all about battle prep: securing food and supplies for defensive and siege combat, assembling and training new military recruits, hiring and directing assorted adventurers and mercenaries, and getting a lay of the land. In the second half of the book, the bill comes due. When Demon Commander Gezarius attacks from Triot, Werner puts his multistage plan into action. He's ready. But will he succeed?
Due to the novel's changed structure, HERO'S FRIEND v5 reads a little differently than previous installments. Because both readers and Werner (and the nobles backing Werner) are aware of the coming battle with the demon commander, the story is essentially a countdown to an epic battle. Werner doesn't have much time, but he's used to manipulating limited resources on a deadline. This novel series traditionally maneuvers its protagonist in ways that are fun and convenient, but still quite cool. In HERO'S FRIEND v5, the author pointedly plays to Werner's strengths: organizational discipline, people management, and long-term planning.
Werner is a bureaucrat. And the army of demons on his doorstep are about to regret picking a fight with a guy whose encyclopedic knowledge of battle formations, supply proportions, servant jobs, and more all inform his capacity to organize an under-equipped company of some 200 knights. The novel definitely benefits from positioning Werner as a talented kid who absolutely cannot do everything on his own. Werner leans on others to get ahead.
Anheim is somewhat hostile territory, seeing as it once belonged to a corrupt marquess. Werner pulls in assistance from nobles from the capital to help with civil and administrative work (running Anheim as an interim official), as well as martial affairs (taking out bandits, ferreting out crooked merchants). For example, Sir Behnke, assigned to Anheim from the capital, is Werner's vice deputy, and is a skilled civil representative. More interestingly is Sir Kesten, another rep from the capital and a man with apparently close ties to Duke Seyfert. Werner doesn't have time to worry about whether he's being spied on by these guys. He's got a job to do.
HERO'S FRIEND v5 treats the fight between the soldiers of Anheim and the demon army of lycanthropes, under Gezarius, the way most fantasy novels should: patient, specific, tactical narration accompanied by copious maps. Finally, a fantasy novel with accurate battlefield maps. Werner's plan to exhaust, confuse, and antagonize Gezarius is a complex, multi-phase affair. But it's also exceedingly fun and patiently narrated. Not everything goes according to plan, but it's a bloody conflict in a border territory; Werner calls up all of the cranequins, atlatls, carroballistae, and catapults he can muster, because any loss of positioning could mean total annihilation.
Readers aren't treated to much description of the fighting in the trenches of combat with weretigers, weremoles, werebuffaloes, and werewolves, because the narrative scope hedges toward Werner's broader battlefield strategy. But the book's structure makes it clear how nasty the fight is: "Being on the battlefield was one of a noble's duties, but to fight on the frontlines was something else. And their chief commander, a boy still in his teens, was right there shouting his throat raw. This was no time for fear." (page 252)
In the end, Werner does his best to survive against overwhelming external forces. Back home, problems persist for the Fürst family. The novel's afterword hints that young Hermine, despite her strong sense of justice, is being deliberately hemmed in from her chatty elder sister, Judith Malen Teutenberg. Insightful readers may recall how Tyrone, the older brother, was revealed to be a schemer of sorts, two volumes prior.
Altogether, it's a good book. Regrettably, as is increasingly common among titles from this publisher, REINCARNATED INTO A GAME AS THE HERO'S FRIEND v5 is loaded with typographical errors. This is a good book in a fun light-novel series, but quality control remains an afterthought.
REINCARNATED INTO A GAME AS THE HERO'S FRIEND v5 is a novel of two very distinct halves. The first half of the book focuses on Viscount Zerhrfeld being shunted to the southwest region of Anheim, fiefdom of Kneipp, on the border with the recently fallen land of Triot. In Anheim, on the surface, it's all about rooting out corruption, upgrading infrastructure, networking with regional baronies, building the confidence of the locals, and more. Beneath the surface, Werner's work is all about battle prep: securing food and supplies for defensive and siege combat, assembling and training new military recruits, hiring and directing assorted adventurers and mercenaries, and getting a lay of the land. In the second half of the book, the bill comes due. When Demon Commander Gezarius attacks from Triot, Werner puts his multistage plan into action. He's ready. But will he succeed?
Due to the novel's changed structure, HERO'S FRIEND v5 reads a little differently than previous installments. Because both readers and Werner (and the nobles backing Werner) are aware of the coming battle with the demon commander, the story is essentially a countdown to an epic battle. Werner doesn't have much time, but he's used to manipulating limited resources on a deadline. This novel series traditionally maneuvers its protagonist in ways that are fun and convenient, but still quite cool. In HERO'S FRIEND v5, the author pointedly plays to Werner's strengths: organizational discipline, people management, and long-term planning.
Werner is a bureaucrat. And the army of demons on his doorstep are about to regret picking a fight with a guy whose encyclopedic knowledge of battle formations, supply proportions, servant jobs, and more all inform his capacity to organize an under-equipped company of some 200 knights. The novel definitely benefits from positioning Werner as a talented kid who absolutely cannot do everything on his own. Werner leans on others to get ahead.
Anheim is somewhat hostile territory, seeing as it once belonged to a corrupt marquess. Werner pulls in assistance from nobles from the capital to help with civil and administrative work (running Anheim as an interim official), as well as martial affairs (taking out bandits, ferreting out crooked merchants). For example, Sir Behnke, assigned to Anheim from the capital, is Werner's vice deputy, and is a skilled civil representative. More interestingly is Sir Kesten, another rep from the capital and a man with apparently close ties to Duke Seyfert. Werner doesn't have time to worry about whether he's being spied on by these guys. He's got a job to do.
HERO'S FRIEND v5 treats the fight between the soldiers of Anheim and the demon army of lycanthropes, under Gezarius, the way most fantasy novels should: patient, specific, tactical narration accompanied by copious maps. Finally, a fantasy novel with accurate battlefield maps. Werner's plan to exhaust, confuse, and antagonize Gezarius is a complex, multi-phase affair. But it's also exceedingly fun and patiently narrated. Not everything goes according to plan, but it's a bloody conflict in a border territory; Werner calls up all of the cranequins, atlatls, carroballistae, and catapults he can muster, because any loss of positioning could mean total annihilation.
Readers aren't treated to much description of the fighting in the trenches of combat with weretigers, weremoles, werebuffaloes, and werewolves, because the narrative scope hedges toward Werner's broader battlefield strategy. But the book's structure makes it clear how nasty the fight is: "Being on the battlefield was one of a noble's duties, but to fight on the frontlines was something else. And their chief commander, a boy still in his teens, was right there shouting his throat raw. This was no time for fear." (page 252)
In the end, Werner does his best to survive against overwhelming external forces. Back home, problems persist for the Fürst family. The novel's afterword hints that young Hermine, despite her strong sense of justice, is being deliberately hemmed in from her chatty elder sister, Judith Malen Teutenberg. Insightful readers may recall how Tyrone, the older brother, was revealed to be a schemer of sorts, two volumes prior.
Altogether, it's a good book. Regrettably, as is increasingly common among titles from this publisher, REINCARNATED INTO A GAME AS THE HERO'S FRIEND v5 is loaded with typographical errors. This is a good book in a fun light-novel series, but quality control remains an afterthought.
December 12, 2025
Probably my most favorite volume in the series so far. I just love how Werner’s work on the tactics for the war.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews