Foreground: Sylphyel. Background: Kousuke Shibata.
Survival in Another World with My Mistress! (ご主人様とゆく異世界サバイバル! Goshujinsama to Yuku Isekai Survival!) is a Low Fantasy Isekai Web Serial Novel by Ryuto, started in 2018.Crafting survival game nut Kousuke Shibata wakes up one fine morning deep in an ancient forest. While trying to figure out what the heck happened, he discovers the ability to open a crafting menu in his head, and decides to make the most of it by creating basic gear and weapons. After killing a giant lizard for food with a spear, he wakes up the next morning with a buxom and very suspicious dark elf in his face.
The elf's name is Sylphyel Danal Merinard, and it takes some doing for Kousuke to convince her he isn't from the neighboring human-supremacist Holy Kingdom, which destroyed her homeland of Merinard two decades ago. To gain the use of his crafting skills and Hyperspace Arsenal, and to protect him from the other stateless denizens of the Black Forest, Sylphy makes him her slave. Kousuke sets about making himself indispensable to the villagers as they take the opportunity presented by his ability to introduce Earth technology or variations thereof to retake their kingdom.
Like Ryuto's previous series Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship!, Survival in Another World with My Mistress! is largely inspired by the author's own gaming, in this case mainly Minecraft (and to a lesser extent, 7 Days to Die). The series was adapted into a Light Novel by Micro Machine Inc that entered publication in May 2019, and was translated to English by Seven Seas Entertainment beginning in March 2022. A manga adaptation drawn by Sasayuki entered serialization in Comic Ride in March 2020 and has been published in English under Seven Seas' Ghost Ship imprint since May 2022.
Tropes:
- Anime Catholicism: The Church of Adol takes many cues from the Catholic Church, even making a sign of the cross when swearing by their God, Adol. One difference is that polyamory isn't forbidden, as Adol took numerous wives, and their nuns are encouraged to "be fruitful and multiply".
- Artistic License – Physics: Played for Laughs. Much humor is made of the fact that Kousuke's abilities violate conservation of mass and sundry other physical laws (such as his ability to create an infinite water source, or heal limbs mangled years ago by applying a cotton splint, or leave blocks floating in the air just by removing everything beneath them), which frequently confuses Ira into near-catatonia just by watching him. The others—including Kousuke himself!—mostly decide not to think too hard about him having Skill Scores and Perks (and a list of achievements) in what is otherwise very much not an RPG Mechanics 'Verse.
- Badass Adorable: Kousuke's Battle Harem are sweet and loving towards him, and are also battle-hardened veterans of the war against humans.
- Better than a Bare Bulb: The series constantly throws out goofy ideas and then promptly has other characters lampshade how they make no sense whatsoever, mostly related to Kousuke's abilities.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Gizma, native to the Great Omitt Badlands between the Black Forest and occupied Merinard, resemble truck-sized man-eating grasshoppers. The first major battle of the series consists of the villagers and Kousuke defending their home from a swarm of Gizmas.
- Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Harpies lay unfertilized eggs like birds, but gestate fertilized eggs internally like mammals and some fish and reptiles. Kousuke about goes cross-eyed trying to figure that one out. Also, they don't have a problem eating their own unfertilized eggs.
- Butt-Monkey: Sykes, the literal monkey demi-human gets jumped every night by all the female scientists. Kousuke learns to sympathize after his own harem starts growing and wearing him down.
- Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Animals and produce have slightly different names such as "labbit" (rabbit), "lizaf" (lizard), "tomel" (tomato), "oneel" (onion) and "cabbaj" (cabbage). Fruits & vegetables are still identified by their Earth names in Kousuke's crafting menu.
- Centipede's Dilemma: Inverted Trope—Kousuke is able to run and aim more effectively, and even Double Jump when thinking of his movements as keyboard inputs.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Sylphy wants to have Kousuke to herself and doesn't like hearing about other women when they're alone together. Due to circumstances, she allows him have a harem as long as they get her permission and acknowledge her as the Top Wife.
- Corrupt Church: The Church of Adolism, who justifies using non-humans as their Slave Race, especially for sexual and breeding purposes. Their leaders also indulge in luxuries. Averted by the more modest Nostalgist faction of the Church, which does not endorse racism and believes the contemporary scriptures of Adolism may have been tampered with. To secure an alliance with them, Kousuke has to find and deliver the original scriptures to them.
- Crusading Widow: Some demi-humans, such as Danan and Sir Leonard have lost their entire families in the war, making them all the more vengeful and distrusting towards humans. But they warm to Kousuke after he makes weapons for them and helps to improve everyone's quality of life.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Sylphy is a decent person but is sensitive about being referred to as a "dark elf". Elves are normally lighter-skinned, but due to being closer to the spirit world than other races, if they fully give in to bloodlust in battle, their bodies transform into killing machines and are permanently darkened afterwards, so there's a stigma in their culture about it.
- Death from Above: Harpies are sometimes nicknamed "turd birds" because of their habit in previous wars of dumping buckets of sewage from the camp latrines over the enemy army. Kousuke upgrades them to fragmentation bombs, turning them into One-Birdwoman Armies that can devastate whole enemy ground formations in single sorties while flying higher than any archer or mage can shoot back.
- Easy Construction: Thanks to Kousuke's abilities, a bulwark that should have taken months to complete with a dedicated workforce is finished within a day just by himself.
- Easy Logistics: Kousuke can easily transport lots of goods in his Hammerspace, as well as mine a lot of said goods easily thanks to his bonuses.
- Fallen Princess: Sylphyel is part of the royal family of the Kingdom of Merinard, but she's forced to hide out in the Black Forest with other refugees due her home being conquered.
- Fantastic Racism: The Holy Kingdom believes in a radical interpretation of their religion wherein humans are the master race; other species are second-class citizens if they're lucky. As a consequence, the denizens of the village don't have a good opinion of humans, especially the ones young enough not to remember the Kingdom of Merinard, which was pretty multicultural before its conquest.
- Forever War: The Holy Kingdom has been engaged in a stalemated war with the Empire for some time.
- Genius Bruiser: Melty, who officially serves as an "intelligence officer" and Sylphy's caretaker. She's also powerful physically and magically.
- Giving Radio to the Romans: Once his crafting skills and equipment grind far enough, Kousuke is able to introduce various modern-ish technologies to the denizens of the black forest, including crossbows, bolt-action rifles, black powder artillery, and, yes, a magic-powered variation on radio, giving them a tremendous strategic advantage over the Holy Kingdom. Though as the series goes on, it becomes less about him actually making things and more about introducing an idea and letting other craftsmen adapt it, since he can't be everywhere at once and they don't want to be too dependent on him that everything collapses if he is incapacitated in some way.
- Gratuitous English: Kousuke at times. In the English version, he uses Gratuitous Spanish.
- Healing Hands:
- Kousuke name-drops this when he gains the ability to use splints to heal most injuries short of a missing limb.
- Sylphy can heal others using light spirits like she did when she first met Kousuke.
- Hero's Slave Harem: Turned completely on its head courtesy of the first girl in Kousuke's harem technically being his owner. He also pretty quickly becomes Sylphy's slave in name only: They have consensual sex their first night living together and she refers to herself as his wife afterwards. Kousuke was Made a Slave by Sylphyel partly for his own protection: the village she lives in has a nasty history with the neighboring human-supremacist kingdom and the other villagers try to kill him on sight as a consequence. Due to a gender imbalance in this setting (harpies are a One-Gender Race and several of the other species have few men left due to a recent war), he starts developing a harem of free women later with Sylphy's consent.
- Hotter and Sexier: The manga has more explicit nudity, lots of Male Gaze and averts the Sexy Discretion Shot.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: The antagonists are the human-supremacist Holy Kingdom, who conquered the lands of non-humans and enslaved, displaced, and/or murdered various non-humans.
- I Ate WHAT?!: Attempting to court Kousuke, the harpy flock that lives in the village makes him a breakfast that includes eggs they themselves had laid that morning. Kousuke is initially grossed out and it takes a few minutes for them to explain to him it's not cannibalism as far as they're concerned: fertilized harpy eggs are gestated internally.
- Immortal Procreation Clause: Demi-humans have longer lifespans than humans, and are difficult to impregnate. Kousuke and his sexually-active harem have yet to bear any children.
- La Résistance: The Liberation Army under Sylphyel with the goal of taking back Merinard.
- Likes Older Women: Most of Kousuke's Love Interests are older than him.
- Mithril: Weapons made of mithril have Absurd Cutting Power and are prized as national treasures due to the rarity of mithril ores. Iron can be made stronger than steel if alloyed with even a trace of mithril. One mithril sword takes hours for Kousuke to make while more standard weapons usually take minutes.
- Named Weapons: Kousuke's first mithril weapon is a scimitar for Sylphy and he calls it "Pale Moon". He later creates a mithril spear for Zamil, which she names "Shooting Star".
- Naughty Nuns: The Church of Adol divinely mandates that their nuns have lots of sex.
- New Life in Another World Bonus:
- Kousuke's new Minecraft-like abilities allow him to singlehandedly manipulate the environment and construct more efficiently than an army. And as long as he has the right materials in his Hyperspace Arsenal, he can also produce powerful weaponry, healing items and food.
- An understated one is also understanding languages. This becomes useful later on when Kousuke is the only person who can talk to dragons. However, this does not extend to goblins or magic chants.
- Old Master: The lizardwoman Madame Zamil and the beastman Sir Leonard "the Twin-Fanged", who act as combat instructors for Merinard's warriors and are later assigned to be Kousuke's bodyguards. They're also skilled enough to dodge and deflect bullets.
- One-Gender Race: Harpies are all female, and have to mate with males of other races to produce more of them. Harpies also typically share the same man, as a consequence it's apparently common for entire generations of harpies to be half-sisters. Also for some reason they gestate their young internally but lay unfertilized eggs with shells; Kousuke about goes cross-eyed trying to figure out that bit of Bizarre Alien Biology.
- One-Man Army:
- Anyone who can singlehandedly kill gizma in close combat is considered this.
- Sylphy became known as "The Witch of the Black Forest" after she single-handedly wiped out over 2000 troops in battle 3 years before the story began.
- One Spirit archer is considered equal to at least ten normal archers, though they're mostly sidelined after Kousuke mass-produces crossbows which have a lower learning curve.
- Kousuke indirectly becomes one, being a one-man supply chain for the Liberation Army, and in one battle he wipes out thousands at once with a time-delayed bomb. He later besieges entire fortresses himself by creating and controlling Golems.
- Our Nudity Is Different: The harpies don't mind bathing naked in front of Kousuke, but they do get embarrassed when he picks up their feathers and calls them pretty.
- Quality over Quantity: The Holy Kingdom can muster thousands of troops with an occasional squad of mages per battle. The Liberation Army as a whole doesn't reach a thousand, but has the advantage of modern long-range weapons, more powerful mages, and Kousuke providing Easy Logistics.
- Resistant to Magic: Because Kousuke has no mana, things that specifically target mana or magical signatures — like his Slave Collar — are completely ineffective.
- RPG Mechanics 'Verse: Played for Laughs. It's literally only an RPG Mechanics 'verse for Kousuke: for everyone else, it's a normal fantasy world, and they're all quite baffled by the fact he has Skill Scores and Perks and an achievement list.
- Serendipitous Survival: Sylphy is the Sole Survivor of the royal family of Merinard, courtesy of the fact that, per family tradition, she was studying with the elves of the Black Forest when the invasion began; the rest of her family gave themselves up to the conquerors in exchange for their people's survival, but the Holy Kingdom promptly betrayed their deal.
- In Volume 3, it is revealed that the royal family is alive, albeit magically frozen after the king sacrificed his life to cast the spell. Their frozen bodies are being guarded by the slime girls Lime, Poiso and Bess.
- Shout-Out: Kousuke makes lots of pop culture references when narrating. Often lampshaded with a Suspiciously Specific Denial. His skill menu also gets in on the fun, describing his popularity with women as "Nice boat".Kousuke: (after crafting a mithril short sword) Maybe I'll call it Sting. What, too obvious?
- Slave Collar: Exploited. The slave collars in The 'Verse work by reading the wearer's magical signature to detect them acting against their registered master, and then choking them when they do. Kousuke is able to take his on and off at will, because as a human from Earth, he has no magic at all (his gamey powers are apparently something completely different). He and Sylphy are able to use this to prove conclusively to the villagers and refugees that he has no connection to the Holy Kingdom.
- Slave Liberation: Demi-humans in the Holy Kingdom are enslaved and forced to work in the mines. The first move the Liberation Army takes against the Kingdom is breaking the slaves out of the mines.
- Spoiler Cover: The cover and character illustrations of Light Novel Volume 3 show Melty without her horns. She cut them off so she can blend in with humans and go after Kousuke when he gets kidnapped by the Holy Kingdom.
- Steel Ear Drums: Averted—Since many of the demi-humans also have Super-Hearing, they have to use healing potions to keep from going deaf when shooting rifles and machine-guns. They're also instructed to cover their ears when cannons and bombs go off.
- Three Faces of Eve: Kousuke's three most prominent love interests—Sylphy is officially his Wife, has the best homemaking skills and provides most of his emotional support. Ira is the inquisitive Child and is the smallest in stature. Melty is the sexually-aggressive teasing Seductress. Though at night, they're all the Seductress.
- Token Human: Kousuke of course, is the only human in the main cast, and is initially distrusted by the other demi-humans.
- World of Buxom: Many demi-human women, especially Sylphy, Melty and Shemel are quite stacked. The main exceptions are the harpies and Ira.
- Wrong Context Magic: Kousuke's abilities not only defy basic laws of physics, but the world's magic system. He also has no mana, something that they consider impossible because there aren't any living creatures that shouldn't have at least a little mana.
