The time has come to bring in new demons! With demon orientation coming up, the Guardians and the Demon King once again plan their activities so the fresh faces will understand their duties. The problem — Syalis has entered the Demon Council room. Not wanting her to actually show up to orientation (due to a big time lie), they end up having a pillow fight inside the room while still planning the schedule. Somehow, and despite a new demon walking in, they almost succeed.
Of course, they find out they failed once Syalis was sleeping on the Demon King’s open suitcase.
The first couple chapters of volume 8 of Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle once again bring forth the many travails for these demons as they try and handle Syalis. Namely, they decide to cut down her hostage budget. First of all…hostages have budgets?!? Secondly, how in the world did they allow her to buy so many expensive potions and food and just notice? But in any case, the demons attempt to help her adjust to her new circumstances; she instead teaches the Vampire that expensive can sometimes be better than frugality. She then tries to work out her new budget alone…and opens up a Princess Bun shop! So yes, we get a chapter where sleeping and entrepreneurship manage to mix.
But aside from us (and Syalis) finding out the Demon Cleric’s true name, the bulk of this volume is demon orientation. As mentioned earlier, due to Syalis being Syalis she gets counted as one of the Guardians despite being the hostage. The Demons try and scramble to hide this fact from the newbies. But despite getting away with it thanks to Bussy and careful words initially, the newbies find out anyways when Syalis sings karaoke on the bus ride. As they see how embarrassing the Guardians act around her they become convinced working for the Demon King isn’t worth it. But something unexpected occurs that…I guess you can figure it involves Syalis in a way!
Once again, the demons and Syalis continue to find a way to each bungle the hostage situation. They basically allow her to do what she wants and she has little desire to return home. So the only people who benefit from this is the readers. Yes, us. We get to laugh as the Demon Cleric is exposed for “liking” her (nobody wants to be near him anymore); we get to see her force multiple people to sleep despite not wanting to; and we even see her win over the rookies…which actually backfires in a way. Well, for now only the Demon King knows what’s truly going on there.
The manga also does attempt to actually have meaningful moments, but for this series, it’s mere background noise. Like it’s cool we get Syalis praising the Demon King or seeing the Hero facing Poseidon, but it’s much cooler to instead have loud noises drown out Syalis so the Demon King can’t hear her or Syalis show up to the Demon Council — as they’re watching the battle unfold — with hundreds of embarrassing photos from the orientation. It’s just too much seeing that and her continuous quest for good sleep.
So yes, I can only enjoy a volume that features Syalis’ many mood swings (which certainly changes when April Fools arrives), her swimming woes and her hugging a mandrake that also enjoys sleep. Wonder how that happened…anywho, Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle volume 8 was a delightful read. Maybe the Demon Cleric will clear up the misconceptions next time though.