Caroline, the one with blood covering half her face, lost a power struggle against her sister, likely because her daughter was held hostage. She fled with her remaining loyal vassals and joined up with a bandit group that then raided the village that Valerie and Polidoro (our MC) was headed to.I've completely lost the plot of the world building, maybe I just haven't been paying attention, but can someone give me a breakdown and catch me up on who is who, why they are fighting, etc? Like, I thought we were just going after like, bandits that attacked a village at first, and now we're chasing some exiled princess or something? And there is a 3rd country involved, but they basically want her to die now? I just haven't been able to follow what is exactly is really going on at all.
AFAIK, no; they did not mention it at all; there were some oceanic style waves (not the ones that look like mountains) when he swings his sword, but there has been no mention of magic, nor has anyone cast any spells that I've seen.Not sure if the manga mentioned it, but he has an enchanted sword. It's not really that big of a plot point as far as I'm aware. There are various enchanted arms and armor in the world. Additionally they can be actively created by specialists
The knowledge of it being enchanted is basically a quick throwaway when he is talking to Ingrid the first time. Magic existing is also thrown away in the first chapter's first 'paragraph'. It really isn't that important at the moment, so for them to skip it until it becomes relevant isn't too big a deal. It'll happen sooner than later at least.AFAIK, no; they did not mention it at all; there were some oceanic style waves (not the ones that look like mountains) when he swings his sword, but there has been no mention of magic, nor has anyone cast any spells that I've seen.
So.... it was pretty random and weird to see water when he swings his sword!
Anyway, the setting is basically a low fantasy middle age/renaissance era Europe. I'm going to spoiler this next bit but it is all setting information with some hints at future events in broad terms.We are basically in the Holy Roman Empire, pre-Germany. Anhalt is likely based off of the Principality of Anhalt, or perhaps all of Saxony, and Willendorf is named after the village in modern day Austria where the Venus of Willendorf was found. Later we will deal with the Holy Roman Emperor(Empress), and some other states in the Empire. Considering how confusing it is to look back on the entire HRE as a nation state comprised of like a hundred smaller states, I can't blame the author.
Also upcoming is the Golden Horde and Mongolia, a character from what is essentially China, and knowledge of both Spain and England analogues. Oh, and a Poland/Russian analogue.
You are battling the Women Are Wonderful EffectThats the thing that makes this manga peak for me, they kept story accurate behaviours from medieval times and Just gender swapped with a good art, the amount of times female beauty keeps fooling me when Reading this and making me expecting a wholesome outcome is off the charts already
So is Astarte.As always, there are some viewers who forget these are village pillaging RAPISTS.
Do not get fooled by superficial cute smiles.
For all intents and purposes, there is basically no real difference between defection and asylum here, but the point I was making was that the border guard shouldn't kill her because it's just a bad political move here.She's not seeking asylum she's defecting to an enemy nation. From Willendorfs perspective Caroline is a traitor who's trying to use insider info to bribe her way in.
And that alone is not enough o prove sincerity. If Caroline is willing to betray her oath to her queen, what's to stop her from betraying Willendorf in the future.
She's not a refugee seeking to escape war, she's a military commander who led a group of "rape and pillage" bandits and soldiers, hoping to join another nation that's Gung ho about "rape and pillage".
You are a hero for this post.Eh, not really. It's just not what most readers will expect. It's realistic, but some people might find it stupid.
Second Princess Valiere is tasked with hunting down some reported bandits. If she fails she loses Faust as her advisor. On the way, it is discovered that the bandits were absorbed by regional nobility and the soldiers in her army as they flee to Villendorf. This regional noble attempted to seize the birthright from her older sister and failed (details of the failed succession will be revealed later). In an attempt to gather treasure and gifts for the neighboring kingdom, Villendorf, Caroline, the regional noble in question, raided a village owned by Queen Liesenlotte.
Queen Liesenlotte, Duchess Astarte, and First Princess Anastasia find out that Valiere, her 10-20 knights, Faust, and his 10-20 guards (I think there's 32 soldiers for Faust and Valiere in total) are now chasing down a small army of 100 soldiers and bandits. The queen sends Astarte and her knights as support, though it is not possible to arrive before Valiere and Caroline meet.
At the raided village, Sabine (seeing that Valiere [and herself] is going to lose Faust) forgoes noblesse oblige (responsibility of privileged people to act with generosity and nobility toward those less privileged) and pressures/shames the surviving villagers into forming a militia to bolster their troops and they set off to intercept Caroline.
There's some chapters characterizing Caroline. She's overly dramatic, but is well loved by the soldiers she served with that have accompanied her.
Caroline gets to the border with none of her treasure or captives, and offers insider information to the Villendorf border guards. Whether it isn't enough, or they don't wish to provoke another war, they turn Caroline down. Seeing that Faust, is waiting on Caroline, they insist she defeat him to prove that she is worth taking in. The Villendorf border guard (likely veterans from the previous war) recognize Faust as the one who slew Reckenber, the hero of their kingdom and an unparalleled superhuman herself.
It's really only 10 chapters, though. Might be worth it to reread.