Hey everyone! This is my first time running a book club, so let me know if I’m missing anything!
The first thing we need to do is set a start date. The volume comes out on Thursday, so we could start this Friday. We can also start next Friday if that’s too short notice. Or, if anyone’s planning to get a physical copy, we can start even later, although I’d need guidance on when folks expect their copies to come in.
With that said, here comes my very first poll!
EDIT: Please note I messed up the time zone considerations when choosing the day of the week below. The weekly readings start in Friday my time, so I put Friday, but the intention is to continue starting them at the same time each week as before.
When should we start reading Volume 16?
Friday April 24th
Friday May 1st
Once my physical copy arrives (I’ll provide an estimate in a reply)
0voters
I plan to check the results on Thursday Friday to see if we are going to start on Friday Saturday.
Ah, I always start reading the next chapter in the book clubs I’m in on Fridays, so it didn’t occur to me to check which day the club actually started historically.
Looking at the previous volume threads, I see what happened. The start times are in Japan time, which for me in the US is the day before. E.g. Saturday in Japan being Friday in the US.
We can continue with the same time as previous threads. Should I create a new poll?
Judging from Qifrey’s surprise, it seems he doesn’t know there’s a tree inside him yet. It’ll be interesting to see how he figures that out. Maybe he temporarily becomes a tree like Custas.
Yes, seems we’re in for a longer flashback arc for Qifrey and Oru.
Is anyone else irked by how young Beldarut and Vinanna are portrayed in the flashback? Going by appearances, they seem to have aged 40 or more years in the meantime.
That one felt quite short. It’s interesting that they don’t have sylph shoes even though Coco and the gang do at a similar age. That would have really helped them escape from the 獅子山羊.
Maybe because they live in the 大講堂, where the shoes aren’t needed or practical due to the constrained space, compared to the girls who live out in the countryside where you need a means of travel to get anywhere.
It’s also interesting that Quifrey used 君 to refer to others even as a kid.
Woah, the story suddenly kicked into high gear! As I thought, Quifrey did turn into a tree, but that’s not how he discovered the tree inside him. He just got his memories back in the tower. So I was wrong on that part.
I didn’t really understand the 株分け part, mostly because even in English I don’t know what root division is I guess the gist is by repeatedly erasing and restoring his memories to make the tree grow over and over, they got more stuff to make more trees?
It’s very cruel, and also kind of a confusing choice. It seems like there would have been way less risk of discovery if the brimmed hats had used an animal instead of a human. Maybe they couldn’t have used the memory method on an animal, but hurting it and then making it comfortable seems like it could have had a similar effect. Of course, it would have been cruel to do it to an animal too.
It’s wild that Olruggio was the one to suggest having his own memory erased! I thought what Quifrey was doing to him was messed up, but it turns out he was originally in on it. Now that we know memories can be restored though, I wonder Olruggio will ever get his memories back. Or that magic cop who got all his memories of magic erased. I guess that would be forbidden magic though.
Great chapter! Now I’m invested in this volume’s story in a way I wasn’t before.
Yes, that seems to be the implied meaning. See this article about gardening.
It’s probably part of their experiments, making more potent magic ink. Remember, Iguin mixed in his own blood to increase the potency of the ink he slipped Koko via the “remote” ink vial, which caused the incident of Koko inadvertently turning a whole river to dust. So using a human as a host probably yields a tree with more powerful ink or other effects.
What I don’t understand is how it would be possible for the tree to “activate” after Quifrey regained his memories. Wouldn’t the mere knowledge of carrying it and having it sprout the moment you feel at ease set you on edge for the rest of your life? So basically, once a sapient host is aware, it wouldn’t work anymore?
Thanks for the link! That can be my Japanese reading for a night when I don’t have any book club stuff to read.
Yeah, it makes sense that Silverblood Trees made from people would yield higher quality materials. I agree with you that the ease thing doesn’t really make sense if you think about it too hard. In a previous volume, Quifrey couldn’t get close to Kustas because he would also turn into a tree. Seeing Kustas turn into a tree would put Quifrey at ease too?
Also, if you get your memories back, and remember being turned into a tree over and over, while getting your memories erased over and over, I feel like you wouldn’t really be at ease.
I guess the gist is by repeatedly erasing and restoring his memories to make the tree grow over and over, they got more stuff to make more trees?
