Manga: Sword Oratoria 5

Sword Oratoria Volume 5 
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Just strength. That's what I need for my wish...

There has been a sudden shift, and suddenly the reason for Aiz's desire for strength has changed...Is it Bell? Aiz has finally reached her goal of ranking up to level 6! What new adventures await her now in the dungeon...? 

Aiz finally gets a moment with Bell and it was interesting to see her reflecting on herself and on what she can tell of Bells journey so far...until Bell ran away of course! I was curious about how they'd show her internal thoughts and I liked how it was done. 

I love the relationship between Aiz and Riveria that we're getting to see too, they're like siblings or Riveria's like a mother to her in a way. Things take an interesting turn this volume as Aiz has levelled up to level 6, and she's asked to help Bell...but ends up on a quest of her own with some of Hermes familia. 

Meanwhile Loki, Riveria and some of the others are discussing these troubling new monsters and the stones...and the tamer that knows the name of Aiz's mother. There are things for some of them to investigate and preparations to be made for the expedition the familia wants to take. Not only do we have the mystery monsters, but we also now have the mystery of Aiz's family, and I'm liking that the series is bringing in other plot threads to keep things interesting. 

The volume has a steady pace, we have Dionysus making an appearance and sticking his oar in, Bete and Lefiya going after Aiz accompanied by Filvis for some extra help and she has a heartbreaking story of her own. And of course we have Aiz investigating floor 24 with Hermes familia. There's a couple of battle scenes and some background on a couple characters, but this volume is mostly setting up for what's going to be a big showdown and there's a nice sense of foreboding throughout the volume to make you suitably tense for the next one! It also leaves us with plenty of questions!