Kyoukoku no Recuerdo - Vol. 2 Ch. 18

[MangaDex]

 

[Varler]

It's easy to see who the real monsters are, huh?

 

[Fortis99]

@Varler: yeah, women are monster, right ? /s
The lesson here is if you want a lover, turn a dude into girl and woo him (female).

 

[Georg-Prime]

@Varler: yep, the nobles and the extrem religious are indeed pretty screwed up, or at least most of them. The arrogance and disrespect of the first ones toward normal people, and the uncritical thinking and ignorance of the later, are really dangerous 😟 and those of them both 'classes' who take advantage of their position for personal vendetta are clearly the worst...

 

[Hextri]

I see now how he got accused

 

[recht]

That girl should have died instead

 

[reu]

Holy shit I was spoiled but I hadn't realized his complete lack of foresight. Consorting with demons, defiling royalty AND talking shit to said royalty? As someone who grew in a theocratic monarchy, being told that nobles are blessed or even semi-divine beings?
We all knew that Arsenio wasn't the brightest bulb in the box but either Arsenio was supposed to be more "innocent" than I thought or the mangaka got a bad case of writer's block (or he really, really dislikes females and was hellbent on shoving this in)

 

[Georg-Prime]

@reu: Arsenio has always been like this, he lives honestly, acts and says what he thinks to people no matter who they are, like it's literally why Sauro fell in love with him wanted to be his friend, and why Rico liked and helped him, as well as why Sara wants to possess him. Nothing weird with him getting pissed at someone who's aweful, it's indeed a probelm that it is about someone who has a lot of power, but it's quite IC for him to not stay calm in that situation, and to not realize that people are even worse than they seem.

dislikes females was hellbent on shoving this in

(putting this behind a spoiler tag as I mention characters from the main story, for those who haven't read that yet)

Spoiler

Betty and Vivian are female and are great? Arsenio's mom is good, as well as Sauro's assistant, other female characters appeared without them being terrible people, so idk where you got that impression that Mochi only writes female characters in a negative manner if that's what you mean, it's not the case?

 

[TakeiDaloui]

Arsenio rejected her so she, to protect her reputation, got him arrested and likely set to be killed...
Yeah, I'm seeing why Rico knew she'd never get him to like her. She obviously was liking him but she couldn't understand him. If she had she would know he wouldn't spread around the rumours she thought he would, and would understand why he was sad at that moment.

 

[Georg-Prime]

I just would like to point out real quick that Mariela isn't even the worse character with the worse motivations, you guys you just wait haha.

 

[LazyDays]

Uh oh.
UH OH.
ARSENIO!!!!!

 

[Mitsu13]

Oh no

 

[iskaeil]

@reu Tbf he is in shock. Rico was his only friend other than Sauro that listened to his dreams. In his mind he's deeply mourning the loss, while Mariela heard Rico was a monster and despite how she used to dote on Rico more than anyone else, and now she comes in saying "well thank goodness he's dead," it'd be hard not to snap in that situation.

On the consorting with demons part, the timeframe where he's bothered by the salamander seems long enough that he goes a little numb from it, which is why he starts resorting to just "well, looks like if I ignore it long enough the power of my determination makes it go away!" Helps that Rico helped save him from that witch too.

 

[reu]

@Georg-Prime there's a difference between honesty and telling someone to fuck off, especially when you're already under suspicion of a capital crime and that someone has the power to be judge jury and executioner. She didn't even need to exist, trying to protect Rico from a knight and then mourning him openly in the knight's quarters would have gotten him to the stake, especially if they somehow found out Rico's connection with the Zombie Witch.

As for the girls, they fall mainly into two groups. They're either various degrees of petty, capricious or even cruel - The Princess, the Scorpion girl, Arsenio's crush, the girls Sauro "dated" and the Witch - or they're background - The mc's families, the assistant and The Macguffin of the series(Vivian).
But then again there's Betty and she's undoubtedly the best, so I'm probably way off the mark and it's probably just writer's block.

@iskaeil The demon he was consorting with was Rico, take the princess completely of the manga and he'd still be in deep shit for openly grieving for a demon that suddenly appeared in the knight's quarters. He even tried to protect him from the knight captain.
And again demons(any being that doesn't need a medium to use magic) are greatly feared inthe theocracy which, by the actions of a single witch that brought the capital to it's knees on a whim, we can see it's post-judice not just baseless hatred(though there's also plenty of that).

 

[iskaeil]

@reu Sorry, I think you misunderstood. I mean that since Rico has helped him in the past, he felt comfortable with him. As a human being with no powers getting pursued by another demon, where--and he wasn't sure Rico was a demon for sure until this last chapter--a helpful cat seemingly from God, of course he would get attached. It's survival. None of the so-called blessed people by the theocracy (the priest, Sauro, the patrolling, knights, ANYONE) could see that demon. He of course is going to get attached to Rico, who COULD see it and protect him, and was probably a big factor in maintaining his mental health during the time the salamander is approaching him.

The amount of time that Rico is actually revealed to be a demon is VERY short in comparison. Probably like 5-10 minutes total he saw Rico as a demon, compared to the month? Or more? Where Rico was his savior. It doesn't compute. That's why he's in shock and says and does stupid incriminating shit. Yeah he could've played this smarter, but the one fellow who could see a demon and ACTUALLY protect him turning out to be another demon in the last like 5 minutes, of course he's gonna do stupid shit to a knight captain saving him. He still sees Rico as his savior, not a demon.

If your best friend is in a fire, and it turns out they were the arsonist that caused the fire and caused the deaths of other people, would you not be in shock for hours afterward too? What about all those stories of serial killers or rapists being people surprisingly close to you, aren't there many times that people who were close to them say "oh I just can't believe it!!" Arsenio's reaction is not completely unfathomable as a concept.

 

[reu]

@iskaeil Yup 'twas this that foiled me "bothered by the salamander seems long enough that he goes a little numb from it", I misread it
I thought that you had misunderstood me but it turns out that the illiterate was me all along.
I agree with your post 100%, though I still think that it would have worked better without the princess and her petty capriciousness.

 

[reu]

@iskaeil I meant that him being burned because he was caught grieving Rico would have much more impact than being burned because he told royalty to shove it. Especially since even as a monster he's a faithfull as ever.

 

[iskaeil]

@reu I agree. I kinda predicted Rico would die, but I definitely thought he would have more impact. Like, his dying words are somewhere he could go for help. Or I dunno, Arsenio tries says some shady words about the knights that some snitch catches.
I guess the idea that Arsenio is such a small-time commoner that he's not really on anyone's radar at that point until the princess says...smth about him. Sauro will be like oh nooo well Arsenio is Definitely Not A Witch so the church should let him go soon aha and then it turns out surprise he gets demon powers.

What a waste of Rico's death. That cat was the MVP.

 

[BeenSwotted]

@iskaeil @reu I don't think that Mochi is lazy enough of a writer to have Arsenio be arrested because he told Martina to screw off. I think that that will end up being one of a few reasons

 

[Kuroww]

BASED. Cats before bros, bros before hoes, and hoes before nothing.