Jesus christ the absolute state of literacy in this place.
a) This isn't another subplot, it's literally another step to resolving the whole "ancient empire" deal. (Well obviously it's also to make Sierra more sympathetic because she's a waifu but nobody said you can't advance two objectives with one writing)
b) It's not a flashback, Reina and Sierra are sharing a body so obviously Sierra is getting a first person view of Reina's memories.
It's telling the same story arc from two ends and it'll eventually meet in the middle.
Presumably learning about how the empire ended is important because it'll teach them how to reactivate the old tech and whatnot.
The thing with the statue is more ambiguous but my guesses are either Sierra's testing him or she wants to end the torture of this eternally sleeping empire.
e: btw the empress has good taste in fashion. those are some really nice outfits. Reina looks really good.
Viewing memories of a character’s past is a flashback. You’re so ready to be pedantic that you’re demonstrating your own lack of literacy.
You also failed to grasp the definition of a subplot. You can Matryoska doll your way down a subplot’s path. What you fail to understand is that people are complaining about the current ARC and its boring subplots. The ancient empire is the ”story arc”. A story arc can definitely consist of several subplots which can all be part of a greater narrative.
I will safely say that everyone complaining understands all the details about technology learning, etc. Many comments alluded to this knowledge or stated it as part of the gripe. What people don’t like is this entire arc is fucking boring!
There is no reason to give much of a damn about the robot girls. They’re painfully boring and caused too many problems. Nothing of interest has happened to the MC or his supporters in a LONG time. The only glue sticking to the current arc, is Reina being kidnapped/body snatched. No one, not even the characters, really gives a damn about anything else.
Thats not to mention how adding advanced technology is going to totally destroy the vibe of the story. Highly advanced, mechanical technology in a medieval magic setting is jarring. Either the MC will benefit totally and should be able to dominate his father’s kingdom, or something lame will happen and most of the ancient tech will be lost or out of the MC’s hands. We know, to keep the story going, that the latter is going to happen. So we also know this entire arc will turn out to be a complete waste of time.
Most of the time, pedantry is a waste of time. Pedantry also causes you to be blind to insightful perspective and causes you to miss the main points completely. Here’s the bottom line. People are complaining because this story arc clashes with the previous content and it will undoubtedly end up being a massive waste of time.