Volume 4 of The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest concludes Matthias, Lurie, and Alma’s fight with the demons around the capital from the last volume, which means any potential demon invasion has been snuffed out for now. With things now safe, the three are rewarded handsomely by the King and are expected to continue assisting the kingdom when they can.
It doesn’t take too long though. Matthias senses a demon spy in the room and tracks its location to an abandoned village. Deciding it’s time to bring the offense to the demons, the three end up heading to said abandoned village — but will they learn that going on the attack was the wrong decision?
The answer is largely no…
As you already know, isekai tales generally don’t put its lead in a disadvantageous position. They’re always overpowered with some cheat skill or superior skills, and we already know Matthias fits that bill. All that said, the fun for The Strongest Sage so far has been him making Lurie and Alma stronger, and while they do display their skills, Matthias mostly overpowers the story this volume as they begin taking on the demons. Of real note is when, understanding the abandoned village is too far way to teleport, he enlists a dark dragon he knew from his past life, Iris, to help fly the three there. Needless to say, Iris has no choice to help out while Lurie and Alma begin questioning if Matthias is even human since he can convince the cataclysm-class creature to aid him.
So yes, the love (or for a few characters in this volume, fear) of Matthias is here. This means the series’ more notable aspects (some of the jokes and character interactions) aren’t too strong this time around. We still have some amusingly drawn scenes — the one where they spot a demon unaware that his concealment spell got broken was funny — and for the battles they continue to be slickly drawn and easy to look at. But as a narrative advancer, this volume isn’t it.
If there is a challenge that popped up, it mostly happens at the end, where there is at least one demon that is cautious around Matthias and has some power. But at the end of the day, if we’re not bringing in another character, then it’s going to be the same old, same old. Well, wouldn’t you know that in the preview for the next volume there will be an introduction of someone new? We’ll have to see if she can shake things up for next time.