Once feared as the kingdom's legendary assassin, Zach “the Shadow” has abandoned his bloody past and now lives a quiet life as a priest of a rural church. There, he raises orphaned children and teaches them everything he knows: discipline, wisdom, and the combat skills to build a life outside the church walls. When one of his beloved students—Emilia—returns with burdens she can't conceal, Zach knows he can no longer hide and wait. Stealth and shadow are familiar aides as he begins a secret investigation into the troubles that haunt her. But while Father Zach may be content to fade back into the shadows, Emilia has other plans for the humble priest. She won't stop until she drags him into the light—and reveals just how respected he should be!

Father, Have You Sinned? An Assassin in Priest's Robes has a story by Kennoji and art by Reita. English translation is done by Jade Willis. Published by J-Novel Club (September 11, 2026).

Lauren Orsini
Rating:

It finally happened: a light novel so offensive to me personally, that simply reading it has filled me with incandescent rage. Father, Have You Sinned? An Assassin in Priest's Robes is your typical tale of an extremely over-powered protagonist breezing through life, with the added detail that he considers himself a family man and hero to children everywhere. Meanwhile, I can only view him as the most deadbeat of absentee dads. I acknowledge it's my life experience as a primary caregiver to young children that makes me so furious with Father Zach's lackadaisical attitude toward child rearing. It's a story about children, but author Kennoji seems to have never met a child in his life. That contradiction overwhelms the story and makes it feel totally fake.

In the book's afterward, Kennoji writes that this is his 50th light novel. He's especially well known for his series, Drugstore in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist. It's passable enough for an isekai, but Kennoji is totally out of his depth in this latest series. Our hero is Father Zach, a 45-year-old former elite assassin who has opted for a slow life in the countryside as a priest managing an orphanage. It's simply that I take absolute offense to Zach's idea of parenthood. I first noticed something was off when none of the children had names. Zach refers to the orphans he supposedly dotes on as “a young boy who loved pranks” or “an older girl who liked to gossip.” He does zero of the work, stating “the older children took the initiative and looked after the younger children, which meant there was nothing for me to do.” His busty love interest, Rebecca, a former operative turned fake nun, does all of the cooking and cleaning. She pours him wine during the children's bathtime and bedtime, which anyone who has ever spent time around children (or has ever been a child) realizes are the most chaotic and hands-on part of their day. When Zach decides to skive off work for two months, the orphanage runs like clockwork without him. Because he never does anything in the first place! He gets all of the credit of being a great dad without actually dadding.

Instead, Zach wears a magic mask from his assassin days that allows him to take on any disguise. He pops up in disguise to check on his former orphan daughter Emilia, now grown up and gorgeous, and of course she has a crush on him. (After Zach plainly states that Emilia spent her childhood at the orphanage caring for the younger children, I have no clue how she could.) Zach does a lot of cool stuff in this story, like killing a band of 40 pedophiles and child slavers like a one-man army. Don't get me wrong: he does all the flashy parts of being a hero to children. But every time he talks about himself as a father first, I can't take him seriously. He does the right thing with the wrong attitude, like when he saves a teenage girl from being raped by saying “Give her back to her father.” This whole novel treats women and children as possessions and props. And though Zach is the one to deliver the bloodthirsty finishing blows, it's Deus Ex Machina Rebecca who magically uses her CIA connections to find all the baddies for Zach to kill. Imagine spending every day with kids and not knowing their names. Imagine leaving them for two months and not missing them. If I ever talk about my kids the way Father Zach does, that's how you'll know I was abducted by aliens and this is my double.