The heroine of The Inconvenient Life of an Arousing Priestess may have set the world record for shortest engagement: approximately five minutes. The titular priestess, whose name is later revealed to be Monica, is accused of having intimate relations with men. It’s true when she uses too much of her amazing healing and defense powers, Monica can incite lust in herself and those around her, but her fiancé, the prince of Kophe, isn’t willing to hear her pleas of innocence and tosses her aside. Not just as his marriage partner but as a priestess as well.
One of her allies from her old base, a red-headed soldier, invites her to his home country so that she may be of assistance to his brother and his wife’s fertility issues. What he neglected to mention was that the couple is the king and queen of the country, and he’s the prince.
Of course, Prince Richard purposely kept that a secret, and he has his reasons for working in a neighboring country. While some of his comments fly over Monica’s head, it’s clear to readers Richard wants Monica to become both personally and professionally accustomed to life in his kingdom.
Before I go any further, I do want to discuss something else, and perhaps it may be a slight spoiler. But despite this not being labeled as a volume 1, this is not a one-shot novel. The ending states a volume 2 is coming. I’m not sure if subsequent volumes will be numbered or if the titles will change in a Haruhi Suzumiya sort of way. But I was confused while I was reading as to how all the plot points would be resolved, or if some (namely the situation in Kophe now) would be skipped over. I think I might have enjoyed the novel a little more if I didn’t have those concerns nagging at me while I was reading, so that’s why I’m going ahead and perhaps ruin the surprise for some. Another reason is that the novel is a bit muddled initially with its lack of details, but the author does get better at explaining things later on in the novel. But throughout, the text can bit formal with some rarer vocab (hoi polloi, decolletage) causing interruptions to the flow.
Going back to the title, yes, this title is on the risqué side. As of now, there are no explicit scenes, but Monica’s lust can cause her imagination to go into overdrive and physical excitement. This can also affect those around her, but her closest protectors have their own eccentricities. Richard seems immune to Monica’s magic’s side effects, which has been a source of comfort and strength for Monica since their days back fighting side-by-side. But now in the Empire, as her feelings deepen and she learns more, that fact is a source of some frustration for her — emotionally and otherwise.
It’s not often we see female-oriented stories where the heroine is undergoing a sexual awakening. Again, this isn’t the most mature title, but it’s a rare one where the male love interest isn’t aggressively pushing toward a physical relationship. As we see in some flashbacks, her power exploding can lead to scary situations, but now with Richard and some close companions watching over her, Monica’s lust currently is more humorous and embarrassing than dangerous. But that doesn’t mean she is always safe from harm because she does head out to the battlefield at times to deal with monsters.
Monica also finds herself on other battlefields: societal and political. The fact she grew up a commoner is constantly brought up in her mind and was a bit of a drag, but in fact one of the best parts of the novel is the friendships she forms with both the king and queen. Other readers may enjoy the sadistic assistant or the Richard fanboy, but it’s not often the king and queen of a country are treated more like the protagonist’s contemporaries rather than much older, wiser rulers.
But the best way The Inconvenient Life of an Arousing Priestess somewhat twists popular fantasy tropes in light novels while adding an ecchi flair to it is with the villainess and saintess plots. Before I knew there was to be a continuation, I desperately wanted to know how Kophe would turn out now that they got rid of the most effective way to keep monsters at bay. Perhaps even moreso than seeing how spicy Monica and Richard’s relationship would turn out. But either way, the sequel can’t come fast enough — however it is titled.