A heart-warming detour in the desert to help a village and the lord's daughter. Feels like a side quest but it had a bit of all the things that make the series fun to read: bears, cute kids, bear puns, Yuna cheating through boss fights, people being surprised about the bear, everything. I'm a bit concerned about the translation, some terms and names don't follow well from the last volume. Also, the use of "they" instead of "it" (that was used for like, 11 volumes before) for Kumakyu and Kumayuru feels forced and somewhat confusing. I hope there will be better continuity in the next volumes.
There's a whimsical sense of humor in this series that you'll either love or hate. The title (in Japanese) is a really good indicator of the type of comedy you'll find. Seeing as I'm already at the 13th volume, I'm obviously the former. In this volume, Yuna heads to a desert city at the bequest of the Elfranica King. She needs to deliver a mana gem that will help save their city. Once there, she finds their situation more serious than she expected. Yuna, with the help of the Lord's daughter as well as some familiar adventurer friends, must save the city before it collapses.
I still very much enjoy Yuna, her personality, and her adventures. The one less star in this volume is primarily for Karin. I found her a little bland compared to the other little sister sidekicks Yuna has had before. I don't think she added all that much to the series and found her POV at the end a little dragging.
I do applaud the consistency with which the author writes. The quality of writing and adventures are steady and remain true to what readers expect of Yuna. But this can be a double-edged sword. Consistency can turn into Formulaic after too much time. I hope at some point the author will consider some variations this time. I wouldn't mind a little brother or older sister side character next time.
That being said, this is still one of my favorite light novel series and I hope the author will continue on writing about Yuna for a long time.