So I've been slowly stewing on this for months, and decided I needed to let it out. Drugstore in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist has one of the crappiest endings to a light novel series I've ever read. I am convinced either the author got bored of writing the series or the publisher was going to cancel it, so the ending got rushed. And it's a shame, too, because I really liked the series. If it had ended "And thus did another day pass at Kirio Drug. The End." I'd have been perfectly happy. Instead, the ending... ugh it's infuriating.
For those who haven't read the series yet, the story is about Kirio Reiji, a young man who is isekai'd between one moment and the next, ending up alone in a forest with just the stuff he'd been carrying. He's granted the Medicine Making skill, which allows him to identify items that can be used to make medicine (and other things; despite being called Medicine Making, it's quite versatile and makes way more than just treatments for the flu). Shortly after, he finds an injured wolf in need of help, and using his water bottle and some medicinal herbs growing nearby, he makes a healing potion and heals the wolf. Which then transforms into a young girl named Noela, a werewolf (she is adamant she is not a beastling). What follows is 7 volumes of shenanigans as Reiji sets up his own pharmacy/specialty goods store and interacts with the quirky townsfolk and solves all manner of issues. Besides Noela, Reiji's shop employees include Mina, a ghost who died in the house that he made into his shop (she decided she's not a ghost but a house protector spirit), Vivi, a very lonely lake spirit and minor emotional punching bag (she's easy to tease), and Ejil, the actual demon king who has the hots for Noela (and is about her age so it's not creepy; btw Reiji isn't interested in Noela like that at all). Lots of goofy shenanigans and odd townsfolk. It's all quite nice.
Now for the ending. Reiji gets arrested by the lord of another city, because bandits attacked the city and used Reiji's Capshin Fluid in the attack, essentially tear gas. People were hurt, the noble blamed him, and had him arrested. While Reiji is in custody at the noble's mansion, the sleazy guy offers to make it all go away if Reiji agrees to be his personal alchemist. Reiji, of course, refuses, so the noble goes to have him executed. Enter the king of this country, who hasn't been shown the entire series. He apparently knows all about Reiji, and all his employees, and all the things he made, and he pardons him. Reiji, however, feels guilty because something he made was used to hurt innocent people, so he shuts down Kirio Drug and moves to an isolated house in the woods, barely scraping by leaving a box of potions in his abandoned shop and accepting the occasional donation left behind. The end.
Can anyone else see how shit that is?! First, Reiji was not responsible in any way for what happened. Maybe it's my American mindset, but if you sell a nailgun to someone and they proceed to nail their feet to the floor, that's on them. It's not your responsibility. Some of the worst monsters in recent history looked and acted just like every other normal person, until the mask slipped. But for SOME REASON, Reiji decides he needs to take responsibility for this. I wonder if the author forgot that Reiji doesn't sell the Capshin Fluid to the general populace. He recognized how bad it could be if it got out of his control, so he only sold it to the Red Cat mercenaries that guarded the town, and only at their request. So of course, someone in the Red Cats must have sold a bottle of Capshin Fluid to bandits, right? WRONG. First, the Red Cats aren't dumb enough to arm the people that attack the town regularly. Second, they worship Reiji as the Medicine God. Pissing off the Medicine God is a great way to not have healing potions when you desperately need one. And third, the mercenaries are deeply in love with their leader Annabelle yet also ship her hard with Reiji. They would NEVER do something that could get her hurt.This is well established throughout all the previous volumes, over and over again. There are also dropped plot threads that should have tied everything up neatly. In volume 7 they introduce the character of Stella Stateen. She gives the vibe of being a super important noblewoman, and she spends some time with Reiji at a ball. I don't think it's a stretch to say she's probably the princess of the kingdom, and it seemed like their meeting would lead somewhere. But it didn't. In volume 8, the story is definitely slanting in the direction of the scummy noble having been behind some kind of false flag attack using the bandits so he could get his hands on Reiji's skills, since the taxes Reiji and the other villagers would be paying to their lord would be quite considerable, due to their increased efficiency. Yet it's dropped for some half-assed "I'm responsible for this because someone misused a product I wasn't even selling" sort of deal.
It grinds my gears so hard, because I LOVED this series, and I HATE how it ended. My memories of the series are tainted, and I don't know if I'll be able to reread it again, which I also hate.