Ore no Shibou Flag ga Todomaru Tokoro o Shiranai - Ch. 91 - What I Wanted to Entrust

[RioAl]

Kinda stupid now right? That harold still insist to follow the original plot.

 

[Shinigamisama]

Uh... who is she again?
Time to back read.
Seriously though, I just want this charade to end and Harold marry Erika and boom happy ending.

 

[schols]

What chapter was Harold labelled a traitor/stopped being a holy knight?

It’s been such a long time I can’t recall. All i remember is he faked their deaths

 

[BlackSword]

He's living in that world already. I don't believe in such saintly benevolence and austerity. It's easy to talk when reading a manga or playing a game, but if you actually lived that life, it would be anything but easy.

What you believe in is yours to wrestle with. At no point has he said it's been easy and as we have seen, it has been nothing but struggles for him. Being unable to do it yourself does not mean it cannot be done.

He went off the rails immediately by saving Colette's mom and then the his own and Sumeragi's domain. He talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk. Never has. He's just consoling himself desperately by pretending to follow the game plot.

Yet the most of the world believes the Amellars are dead and their existence in Bloesche was humble enough that the scenario deviated only mildly. That's the point. He's doing just enough that he still retains foresight of events and they proceed similar enough that he can meddle a little.

It does make some sense to infiltrate Justus's operation, but not if it gets him killed. Justus is a genius, so unlike in the game plot where Harold was a willing, greedy tool easy to control, this Harold didn't join Justus willingly. He either started to work for Justus or got executed. It doesn't take a genius to not trust such a servant. So, even in Justus's service, he's not following the game plot because Justus would obviously not treat him the same.

Justus doesn't trust anyone, but he doesn't need to. He thinks he can control Harold, hence his ploy with Leafa. Harold has fulfilled every dirty job Justus has given him, so the scenario remains intact. Kazuki doesn't want his strategy guide annulled because he dreads deviations beyond his control, like the Battle of Beltis Forest.

 

[mysteana]

Thanks for the TL

Things are certainly getting interesting as the obliteration of Colette's motivation to jumping on Liner's hero's journey is going to be the first major deviation to the OG storyline that Harold can't patch up without completely throwing everything into the wind.

I don't see Colette as being weak willed or indecisive in this. She's being reasonable in opposing Liner's protagonist stupidity/hot headedness. Two unknown people have kicked the crap out of his parents, whom he doesn't compare to. And he's going to run off after them with virtually zero information on the fumes of rumours and heresay. Colette has more than just Liner now. She still has her mother, and she holds Harold in high esteem to the point where she'll defend his reputation despite trying to pretend not to have anything to do with him. So yes, having more than just her attachment to Liner and not having a revenge motive against Harold who stole Liner's precious thing does mean she may just nope out of Liner's stupid idea.

Now, Liner's motivations are still fully intact as Harold's interventions have done nothing to change them. He still dreams of grandeur, and the theft of Dymlos I mean the SD1 I mean the treasure sword to give an excuse to go out on an adventure to reclaim the keepsake of his parent's legacy as adventurers hasn't changed. Yeah he got his ass kicked years earlier when he ran into Harold that that juniors fighting tournament, but no harm, no foul then since that time it was Mr Lord, not Harold.
Whether or not Liner is going to succeed in following his original trajectory already being a party member down, and some of the prospective future party members already falling/have fallen into Harold's orbit is going to be interesting to see.

 

[DirtEater21]

Thank you for the translation

 

[HDMI1]

What chapter was Harold labelled a traitor/stopped being a holy knight?

It’s been such a long time I can’t recall. All i remember is he faked their deaths

Chapter 56

It was right after he prevented the captain of the order he was in from being tricked into joining Justus the main villain. Justus framed him for the act instead to get Harold under his control.

 

[Arkuses]

So without the loss of her mother she wasn't strong willed enough to join Liner

And that's probably also why he wasn't as strong as Harold expected

 

[Kaarme]

Justus doesn't trust anyone, but he doesn't need to. He thinks he can control Harold, hence his ploy with Leafa. Harold has fulfilled every dirty job Justus has given him, so the scenario remains intact. Kazuki doesn't want his strategy guide annulled because he dreads deviations beyond his control, like the Battle of Beltis Forest.

Nothing remains intact. Justus already accelerated his plans years ago. Liner's party was supposed to fix the Sumeragi domain's miasma corruption, but Harold allowed the Sumeragi to deal with it a long time ago. From that point on Justus didn't anymore act like he did in the game because the world was different. That acceleration ought to be still going on, yet Liner, not to mention Colette, are actually falling behind their corresponding game specs. Harold himself is worlds above what the original Harold was, but he'd really love not to change things personally, fearing he won't understand anything anymore.

We don't really know how differently Justus employs this Harold compared to the game one. Harold was a villain in the game, so he'd only appear in certain scenes and events, to oppose Liner & Co. Maybe this new Harold actually learns more from Justus because he's not an idiot like the original one. Difficult to say, but Justus definitely would trust a smart servant less than a stupid one.

 

[BlackSword]

Nothing remains intact. Justus already accelerated his plans years ago. Liner's party was supposed to fix the Sumeragi domain's miasma corruption, but Harold allowed the Sumeragi to deal with it a long time ago. From that point on Justus didn't anymore act like he did in the game because the world was different. That acceleration ought to be still going on, yet Liner, not to mention Colette, are actually falling behind their corresponding game specs. Harold himself is worlds above what the original Harold was, but he'd really love not to change things personally, fearing he won't understand anything anymore.

Justus accelerated  part of his plans, the acquisition of "raw materials" from the Stellar Starchant tribe. Despite that, due to how few he got because of Harold's interference, he had to slow down and make sure each experiment counted due to his limited supply. He only produced two "acceptable" combat units just before the game started, so he barely broke even. Also, Harold gave Sumeragi antibiotics, but not an actual final solution. He treated symptoms of the problem, not the core issue itself. As for Liner, his strength seems greater, since his attack on the male revealed his face, which was not something Harold ordered. Collette, I got nothing on her, she was always a scaredy-cat to some extent.

We don't really know how differently Justus employs this Harold compared to the game one. Harold was a villain in the game, so he'd only appear in certain scenes and events, to oppose Liner & Co. Maybe this new Harold actually learns more from Justus because he's not an idiot like the original one. Difficult to say, but Justus definitely would trust a smart servant less than a stupid one.

Harold explicitly said Justus has him running around setting up the artifacts of the Earth Erosion Project, without explaining what the things do. It's what his mission was on that mountain. Harold also said that in game, their relationship was more like the one Harrison has with Justus, an unwitting pawn. Here, it's more like an unwilling rook. At the very least, Justus respects Harold more this time around.

 

[Kaarme]

Justus accelerated  part of his plans, the acquisition of "raw materials" from the Stellar Starchant tribe. Despite that, due to how few he got because of Harold's interference, he had to slow down and make sure each experiment counted due to his limited supply. He only produced two "acceptable" combat units just before the game started, so he barely broke even. Also, Harold gave Sumeragi antibiotics, but not an actual final solution. He treated symptoms of the problem, not the core issue itself. As for Liner, his strength seems greater, since his attack on the male revealed his face, which was not something Harold ordered. Collette, I got nothing on her, she was always a scaredy-cat to some extent.

Harold was also of the opinion the eerie clouds, in chapters 36-38, were a sign of Justus accerating his plans. That also seems plausible because we are talking about the chivalric order of the royal capital, which has pretty good connections. If new monsters had been appearing, they would know. It's their very business to know such things. So, it was Justus hastening his plans, which explains why even Cody had never heard of such things before. So, Justus has been doing various things earlier than in the game, which makes perfect sense. At the end of the day, the schedule of a game is scripted, to respond to the player's actions. No such thing in a living world. Justus won't mysteriously wait for a year if he's ready to do something immediately.

Well, at least some things still happen following the original schedule, more or less. Justus probably needed the same amount of time to corrupt the kingdom as he needed in the game. He also probably can't accelerate all the things, lest those not under his control, like various nobles living out there and what's left of the chivalric order, would start to notice too many strange things are happening continuously, all over the place.

 

[Miserys_End]

Looks like Harold's interventions have finally started causing the scenario to break down. This time it looks like it was saved by El pushing the girl accompany Liner anyway by using Harold's involvement as bait, if not for that the hero's party would probably have died in the womb. It's a good thing El read between the lines and realized whatever Harold was plotting would probably be based around the Kid having some extra help from the girl.

But yeah, in the next few chapters Harolds probably going to see firsthand that his mercy fucked him really badly in this case and is likely going to try and correct it as best he can, probably by finding a way to make himself hated by the protags to get them more motivated and to better steer the plot. Unlike with Erica he doesn't have the strong attachments that makes him not want to be hated by them despite needing to be for the plot.

@Kaarme @BlackSword

There is also the supernatural effect the Narrative holds over Harold, Kazuki, and overarching events. He is still unable to speak in his own words, some events are gated while others are unavoidable no matter how hard he tried to subvert them even to the point if loosing complete control of body as it reenacts scenes from the game.

So I think it's a bit unfair to say Harold / Kazuki completely cocked up the story out of ignorance and incompetence. He tried to alter the path the story took, got slapped down hard by the same supernatural force that enforces Harold's speech patterns and verbal ticks, and is now trying to work within the system to make sure he and the game's protagonists survive.

 

[Kaarme]

There is also the supernatural effect the Narrative holds over Harold, Kazuki, and overarching events. He is still unable to speak in his own words, some events are gated while others are unavoidable no matter how hard he tried to subvert them even to the point if loosing complete control of body as it reenacts scenes from the game.

So I think it's a bit unfair to say Harold / Kazuki completely cocked up the story out of ignorance and incompetence. He tried to alter the path the story took, got slapped down hard by the same supernatural force that enforces Harold's speech patterns and verbal ticks, and is now trying to work within the system to make sure he and the game's protagonists survive.

Aside from the rude speech, if that was really the case, Colette's mom would be dead. Cody's squad of underlings would be dead. Well, Harold himself would soon be dead. I don't think there's any such force in particular. It's just that all the same people and organisations are in that world that were in the game, and they are trying to do the same things, so the same stuff keeps happening. Harold's speech impediment could be viewed to be the last vestiges of the original Harold lingering in the body.

 

[BlackSword]

@miseryI started reading the WN, and right in the first few chapters, Kazuki talks about adhering to the scenario as much as he can, so he has, at most, tried to reduce tragedy even as he follows the main story.

 

[Miserys_End]

Aside from the rude speech, if that was really the case, Colette's mom would be dead. Cody's squad of underlings would be dead. Well, Harold himself would soon be dead. I don't think there's any such force in particular. It's just that all the same people and organisations are in that world that were in the game, and they are trying to do the same things, so the same stuff keeps happening. Harold's speech impediment could be viewed to be the last vestiges of the original Harold lingering in the body.

O . o;
Sure he has made some relitively minor changes to the story, but they have always come at a cost, and still resulted in him being frogmarched by the Narrative to comply with key story events. Also did you miss the scene in prison when he lost all control of his body and reenacted the cut scene with Justice from the game? His speech are another constant. It isn't just a rude filter, it outright censors some topics while changing the meaning of others. Kazuki has somewhat learned what he can and can't say thrue the filter, but it is an ever present reminder that he could be locked into a game cut scene at any the whims of the Narrative.

 

[Kaarme]

O . o;
Sure he has made some relitively minor changes to the story, but they have always come at a cost, and still resulted in him being frogmarched by the Narrative to comply with key story events. Also did you miss the scene in prison when he lost all control of his body and reenacted the cut scene with Justice from the game? His speech are another constant. It isn't just a rude filter, it outright censors some topics while changing the meaning of others. Kazuki has somewhat learned what he can and can't say thrue the filter, but it is an ever present reminder that he could be locked into a game cut scene at any the whims of the Narrative.

So, we are reading this manga knowing the main character will die well before the story ends?

 

[Miserys_End]

So, we are reading this manga knowing the main character will die well before the story ends?

Guess we could be, but i doubt it. Major reason being that Haroldhas saved quite a few people already that should have died. So even though the Narrative insists that major story beats must be hit, there is enough wiggle room to make some minor changes. Like not letting the swords Justice provided drive him insane or steal large quantities of his lifeforce.

 

[Kaarme]

Guess we could be, but i doubt it. Major reason being that Haroldhas saved quite a few people already that should have died. So even though the Narrative insists that major story beats must be hit, there is enough wiggle room to make some minor changes. Like not letting the swords Justice provided drive him insane or steal large quantities of his lifeforce.

Justice. One of the worst typos you could have pulled off. Justus is the total opposite of justice. He even used the country's corrupt justice system to drive Harold into a corner, to frame him as a traitor, leaving Harold no choice but to choose between execution and serving Justus.

 

[squirrellysama]

I hope not. He needs to find a better way than to try to sacrifice himself even more. It's already annoying he's trying to save this foreign world, that has given him nothing, at the expense of his own happiness and life. I also don't believe forcing Colette to hate him will do much good to anybody. I'm not saying he couldn't fight with Liner+Colette, to show them they aren't strong enough yet. But it would be better to keep it "academic", not make himself their arch-enemy. But beyond that, it would be better to steer their attention to the corruption in the world, and that way slowly to Justus himself. He can't make Justus their enemy immediately, Justus would just kill them, but it needs to happen eventually.

What's the point of this whole story if Harold tries to play his own role exactly as in the game? He would just die before the world is even saved. Besides, if Liner and Colette (somehow) started to hate Harold, how could they cooperate with Erica, who knows everything (more or less) and loves Harold?

Just because he tries to be hated doesn't mean that's how it will end up, it'd probably end up similar to Erica with an initial negative reaction before something esle comes to light that flips it 180. As for why he's doing this, well he's pretty sure he's going to die soon anyway due to the cursed sword so I don't think he'd really care if he's hated more if it means he can save the world. And why he'd think making the two hate him would put them at odds with Erica, I think he's still under the impression Erica doesn't know of him saving Colette and that she doesn't actually like him but is following him out of some sense of obligation thanks to his helping their family and the whole engagement.

 

[Miserys_End]

Justice. One of the worst typos you could have pulled off. Justus is the total opposite of justice. He even used the country's corrupt justice system to drive Harold into a corner, to frame him as a traitor, leaving Harold no choice but to choose between execution and serving Justus.

Huh, didn't notice the autocarrot "fixing" that... looks like it hit the previous post as well.