Manga: If It's For My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat A Demon Lord, Volume 2

Content Warning: Violence, beheading, and a tragic backstory. No, I’m not kidding.

This volume is one of the most important and yet is also one of the last ones before things start getting… Intense.

This volume starts with Dale having to go to the capital for work. You see, Dale is under contract from the Duke who controls the area that Kruez, the city we’ve been in thus far, is. However, while Kruez is important, it isn’t the capital of the area. So, Dale has to catch a dragon to the capital. What is Dale doing? Well, we’ll get back to that because it’s time for Latina’s tragic backstory! Or, at least part of it. If you remember, Latina was found wandering alone in the woods, after her guardian died, and has a horn broken off, the sign of a criminal in her culture. Latina becomes depressed while Dale is away and begins talking with Kenneth about why Dale is special to her. You see, Rag, her father, was sick and went with her when she was cast out of her home. And then he died. The corpse Latina led Dale to was that of Rag, her father’s. Why Latina was cast out isn’t said, except that was a “bad girl.” That’s why she loves Dale so much, because he was the first one to tell her that was a good girl that wasn’t family. So, Kenneth gets an idea and Latina learns how to make a Shepard’s Pie (or something like that) to make for Dale when he returns. The customers, those grumpy old bastards, are given a discount to eat her first attempts (at a discount) while she learns how to make it properly.

But what has Dale been up to, during all this cuteness? Well… He’s been summonded by the Duke to investigate rumors of the forces of the Seventh Demon Lord being in the area. Dale meets with Gregor, the son of the Duke, and proceeds to gush about Latina. The change between Dale before and after Latina is stark, to say the least. During the trip to locate the enemy forces, we see how Dale is obsessing over Latina. Before long, they locate the forces of the Seventh Demon Lord, who have a dragon with them, and we see exactly why Dale is part of this group. He uses extremely powerful magic to take out most of the demon people, before cutting off the head of the woman leading them. Yeah. Intense.

Upon his return, Dale showers Latina with gifts and has one of her meals. We also find out that Latina is seven, almost eight years old. This means that she’ll be starting primary school soon. We also see that she has remained friends with Chloe, Marcel, Anthony, and Rudy and they play together in a park. We also see that Rudy has a budding crush on Latina but, like most boys, bullies her instead of saying something. I can say that because I was once a young boy and did stuff like that. I will take no comments on that at this time.

The volume ends with us learning more about the world. You see, there are seven gods, each with a sphere of influence and an associated color. There’s also seven races, Dwarves and Elves, as well as Beastmen, merfolk, and a winged race. And there’s seven spheres of magic… Starting to see the pattern yet? Anyway, we discover that Latina has an affinity for Dark and Holy magic, while Dale is able to use Dark, Earth, and Water magic. Since the language of magic is also the language used by the Demon Race, Latina can learn a lot of magic right off the bat. But Dale doesn’t teach her everything. He does teach her some magic that can be used in self defense. After this, it’s just a few little things, like Latina using magic to make ice cream and visiting Chloe, who’s mother (a tailor) has been commissioned by Dale to make something for Latina. There’s also a discussion about how Latina picks things up very quickly. Think about that time, back in the last volume, how Latina figured out that busing the tables was something that needed to be done, could use a pen, and a host of other things. And yet, she also had some gaps in her knowledge, like how to peel potatoes and wring out a washcloth. Latina drops a very cryptic line of how she “hadn’t been decided yet” and then when asked, she says “But… Ri…” and then cuts herself off.

I could drop spoilers, having read the light novels, but I do like they’re giving us just enough of her backstory to keep us interested and still having “cute girl does cute things” stuff as well. There’s even a little bonus chapter but you’ll need to pick this up to see what happens in it.

Sadly, the fun isn’t going to last forever because in the next volume, there’s The Incident...

Rating: 5 out of 5
Suggestion: Keep reading, keep enjoying, and just hang on until things get going.