"Remain calm" LOL?
Palle is equally guilty then, as he similarly kept his family in the dark about his disease. Guess it runs in the family.
Yes it runs in the family, the whole family sucks, and it because they suck that this Falma gets away with everything unquestioned
Half the people bringing their workings to me were desperate people on the brink of financial ruin. Their theories were, to them, their ticket to escape that fate. It was certainly NOT "a trivial matter" to them. Did it not occur to you that financial ruin often precedes biological death? Is that why in your mind their situation ranks less highly than a fictional medical situation involving dying fictional characters?
To THEM it is, but to YOU it is NOT
They are the ones desperate, they are the ones dealing with a harsh situation, they are the ones with a life on the line, they are the ones with a financial crisis, you the listener, the recipient of the wild claim, are not, is not your life nor your family's future that is at risk, in fact you sit on the polar opposite end, you are the one with the resources, the one who is in a position to change someone else's life, you are the one that can remain calm and collected, you are the one that can keep composed while being approached with a wild claim, because you are not actually desperate, the desperate ones are them, not you
That is not Palle's position, Palle is the one dying, Palle is the one with a problem, Palle is not some guy being approached with a dubious business deal
It is utterly preposterous to compare the 2 situations, let alone think of them as interchangeable
Yes, Palle is dying, but dying doesn't entitle one to be a raging asshole. And I'm saying this as one of those dying people. It remains a fact that he could have CALMLY dismissed Falma's claims without going apeshit with the magic spells, verbal abuse, and face slapping, and go straight to their father, who then could have straightened things out. But asshole that he is, that didn't happen, did it?
It doesn't entitles him to act like an asshole, but it is a perfectly understandable reaction for someone who has decided that his only loose thread in life is to die knowing that his brother will be able to handle the spot he is leaving, a brother that has been historically shown to underperform, and that is now to his eyes receding after finally showing promise
So you admit Palle is OVERcompensating? That in Palle's mind Falma is nowhere near powerful enough to handle his "lessons"/"training"/fratricide attempts? And yet he does it anyway?
Also, the "trainings" should have been another hint: remember when Palle ran out of stamina and fainted in the fields where they trained? Anyone with half a brain should have registered that as "hmm, since when did my good-for-nothing brother become strong enough to defend against my (homicidal) spells, and even have enough stamina to outlast me? Yes I'm sick, but I'm supposed to be a pRoDigY." Another HUGE hint: Palle saw with his own eyes, when he dragged Falma and their sister to church, that the HEAD PRIEST OF THE CAPITAL'S CATHEDRAL behaved incredibly polite, to the point of reverence, to his little brother. Falma's excuse was flimsy: as respected as Bruno is, Falma should not be revered like that, much less by such a religious authority. Not to mention the whole goddamn floor of the Cathedral lit up. Again, something should have registered in the mind of a supposed prodigy/genius/loving brother.
He does it anyway because in the world of nobles Falma was expected to be able to deal with that much, which yes was unfair to Falma, but that's feudal society, in fact it is precicelly that what got the original Falma to not want to reincarnate, but no one in the story, is blaming the brother or everyone else involved who facilitated the situation, because it is the norm, no one is blaming the dad, or the mom, or the tutor
The original Falma was pretty much a neglected child, forced to deal with responsabilities that he wasn't able to handle, and now that he got replaced everyone is singing his praises, happier that he is stronger, smarter, brigthier, and healtier, without caring that they are dealing with someone comepletely different
Falma being able to hide being someone else is not a Palle the character's issue, it is a fault with the author, by now way more people other than his father and the queen should be well aware that Falma is clearly a completely different person, in fact the only 3 characters (Eleonore who really just suspected him for the first chapters) who entertained the idea of the original Falma being replaced already moved on and went back to act as if nothing happened, dismissing the notion, because no one actually cared about Falma
If you want to accuse Palle of being stupid for not figuring this out, you would have to throw in pretty much every other character down on that boat, which is kind of pointless really, because sheer plot convenience demands that Falma somehow manages to keep his cover, that's just how the author wrote this, Falma somehow has to get away with having people find out that he was blessed with the medicine god, and depending of who found him, that blessing comes with just increased divine power, or with cure all magic, or with the ability to create every element, Pelle is on the first camp unaware of everything he can do thinking that all his brother got from the blessing was more mana
In fact the simple fact that he doesn't projects a shadow should be plenty evidence for anybody to know that Falma is not normal, but everyone activelly ignores such a thing
THAT'S THE POINT -- HE SHOULD BE DIGGING AROUND. He's a scientist and physician for heaven's sake. You're skeptical about your little brother -- fine. Find out. Ask around. Investigate the pharmacy. In fact, investigate ALL the pharmacies, because at this point likely a majority of them have become subsidiaries of Falma's main one. What, did all the pharmacists and physicians in the goddamn capital suddenly catch some brain disease to play along with the supposed whims of a literal child? By not doing this, Palle reveals himself to be beyond skeptical, and to just be an asshole older brother who thinks his siblings are, and forever will be, beneath him.
He is not skeptical of his brother, he doesn't suspects a thing, to his eyes the only thing that has changed is that now that he is dying his brother finally is showing promise and his only flaw is that he retains a childish character who refuses to train, and instead brings up fantastical claims unable to face a harsh reality, Palle has to deal with the contradiction of wanting a child to grow up ahead of time and act with maturity beyond his years, while everyone in the story ignores Falma acting with the levels of maturity that a child shouldn't have, plot convenience demands for Falma to somehow move around under the public perception of still being a kid
He should be skeptical of everything around his brother, and so should be everyone else, but again, plot convenience demands that Falma somehow manages to keep fooling everyone around him, it can be argued that the original Falma never managed to form any close enough bonds with anyone who would have known him well know to notice that his complete change can't be the product of getting a blessing after being struck by thunder
Finally, Palle is merely the potential successor -- he has ZERO authority yet. Even if Falma was genuinely tarnishing the family name, the proper response is to bring the matter up to the head of the family, not taking matters into his own hands. That Palle never did bring it up to the father is probably because that would also force him to disclose his condition.
EDITED: Spelling
Palle just found out this chapter that his brother may be putting the family's name at risk, and that his personal tutor and father may be humoring his whims, there was no time for him to go and bring this up to his dad, but by how the conversation was going, it seems like he was ready to trhow hands with his dad too for allowing the situation to happen, however instead of going back to the family state, he listened to Eleonore and went to hear the rest of the story
If he had done that, you all would been whining about him going to complain to his father instead of listening to Eleonore and Falma, but that didn't happen and instead we got chp 55.2
