Almark, really is a cozy fantasy. Instead of having countless fighting, it takes it's time with it's setting, characters, and premise and this is exactly why one would find it so good. Every dialogue, emotion is masterfully laid out within a volume, the story does not try to go from A to B just for the sake of getting from A to B, the author is like "If we get there in 10 volumes, we'll get there in 10 volumes", so in short this is a slowburn but every volume offer you plenty so you won't get bored. How it usually go with these typeof stories is that the main character is Overpowered from the get go, but not in Almark, altough he is seen to posess powers no other magician seen, he can't use it from the get go, what he can do instead is to be unbeatable in sword fights as he received mercenary training prior to attending the academy. It's kind of sad how we live in times when this minor obvious detail is the breath of fresh air when it comes to fantasy mangas, but it is the truth that if you had enough of the usual Overpowered MC, then Almark will hit close to home and make you want to experience this journey.

I am confident that this series will get an anime adaptation within this decade just because of how good and detailed everything is about it. Each volume reads like an actual chapter from a novel, so Volume 1 is like a prologue to something much-much bigger, while volume 2 on the other hand is where the story actually starts.

I couldn't recommend Almark enough.