Soul Howl's trail has gone cold, so Mira heads back to Alcait Academy with the few clues she managed to find. With some help from her friend Solomon, they decipher that the answers she seeks are hidden below the Kingdom of Alcait. The Fool's Wunderkammer is a labyrinth full of one-of-a-kind research and dangerous curiosities. Can Mira find what she's looking for there...and make it out alive?
This is another fun story staring Mira, the superlative summoner. I really like how this author continues to use the "overpowered protagonist" trope to an actual purpose in the narrative, instead of some power-fantasy for the reader. In this volume, it is to promote her magical discipline.
It had been mentioned in the earlier volumes, but now it comes to the fore. See, the bulk of this volume takes place in a magic school, where summoners are seen as a joke. One line in particular states that if a prospective student shows affinity for /only/ summoning/evocation magic, then they should give up on magic entirely; that's how far the summoning arts have fallen in Danbulf's absence. Well, we know better, and now Mira can show off what summoning is truly capable of. It's not just for her either. The story takes time to show how much this means to the student summoners; how inspiring it is to see the potential of their craft. This is spectacle with a /purpose/.
And Mira's not done yet. She witnesses what 30 years of "real life" development has done to magical studies now that they are not bound to game mechanics, even very flexible ones. Then she takes it and applies it herself, which can then be taught to the students. After reading this book, I have developed a head canon that, in the future of this world, summoners will STILL be few in number, because they will be considered "elite mages" who have to be personally tutored by master summoners, because it is REALLY difficult to become a good summoner.
The dungeon at the end is also fun, but not in the usual way dungeon-adventures in literature are fun. It's kind of a meta-joke about tabletop roleplaying games like D&D and Pathfinder.
Mira returns to the capital to report her findings. While waiting on the next step of her quest to find the Wise Men, she explores the kingdom and starts the program to revitalize the Summoner as a magic class. It was an entertaining slice-of-life story, some character and world development, and setup for several potential future arcs and mysteries. Not an overly special isekai with OP protagonist, but different and enjoyable enough as it is even though it does include some tropes that personally do not really enjoy (e.g. the running cag of maids wanting to dress up Mira and other cute girls), they did not dominate. So, looking forward to the next volume and maybe some reveal on the several mysteries we have been presented with.