Week 2: サイレント・ウィッチ 🤫 🧙‍♀️

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Silent Witch :shushing_face: :woman_mage: Home Thread

Week 2

Start Date: Jan 11
Previous Part: Week 1
Next Part: (TBA)

Reading:

Week Chapter End page End % End on Page Count
Week 2 一章 1/2 ~30 10% ルイスの言葉に
モニカは目を丸くした。
~14

Discussion Rules

  • Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter(s) and any content in future chapters.
  • When asking for help, please mention the chapter and page number. Also mention what version of the book you are reading.
  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarrassing at first. All of us are here to learn.
  • To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation, it’s fun! :durtle_the_explorer:

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Proper nouns this week

Name Note
モニカ・エヴァレット 沈黙の魔女
ネロ
アニー
ミネルヴァ school
ルイス・ミラー 結界の魔術師
リィンズベルフィード (リン) 風の上位精霊

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7 Likes
lore-accurate 沈黙の魔女

Monica, the Silent Witch:

6 Likes
This week

This chapter felt a bit repetitive at times, with the recounting of the battle from the prologue by Annie. But I was hooked, because we gradually got to know more and more about the characters and the world. I stopped at the week’s end point for now, but I don’t think I’ll be able to wait until next week to read the rest of the chapter, since it looks like there’s some interesting information about the political situation of the country just ahead.

Monica was constantly described as unkempt and scrawny, so people who like their body pillows more voluptious might be disappointed. Maybe Lin, the spirit in the maid uniform would make for better merchandise.

One thing that confused me a bit was when the 翼竜 were described as dragons with 翼. Is that meant to imply that the stronger dragons don’t have wings? Are we supposed to picture something like the dragon-y looking fire creature in the second colored illustration?

4 Likes

I found this part a bit harder than the previous one, mainly because of more descriptions and therefore more vocab. Still not super difficult though.

reply

Yeah I thought it was odd, I wonder if the author wrote the prologue after this chapter was already done and didn’t come back to rework it.

The description was ruthless, I was a bit shocked by it. At one point I think she’s described as teary-eyed and quivering while the young shop girl talks to her but it’s not even acknowledged. I found it a bit over the top frankly.

Clearly it’s all about the power fantasy of having a dweeby, awkward, shut-in, push-over girl being an all powerful witch in secret. I’m still not sure where they’re going with this frankly, because she already seems to be at peak power. At first I expected the prologue to have been a flash-forward and we were meeting Monica as she sets out to face adversity and eventually become god-like but no.

4 Likes

Yeah, that’s a problem I frequently have with LNs. They describe everything in a way you have to imagine just as if you’re watching an anime, so that your brain does this…thing were it automatically filters out the wacky, over the top parts because it realizes that this is supposed to be a form of comic relief and not something to judge by the standards you’d normally apply to people behaving this way. I keep running into the situation where I’ve watched an unfinished anime and then have switch to the LN source to get the rest of the story, but can’t get into the LN, because that kind of thing is so much more awkhard in prose, especially when you’re reading a translated version and it’s not even Japanese prose.

I guess I’m getting better at the filter thing, because I didn’t even blink at Monica’s constant shivering and tearing up. The only part where I stumbled a bit as when Louis made fun of her stuttering.

4 Likes

Yeah I never read anything like this before. It certainly reads like a very literal and faithful description of an anime or maybe a videogame. I mean I can’t say that I love it but at least it’s pretty easy to read and follow… Probably good practice at my current level.

4 Likes

I only just started this week’s reading a little while ago but so far this is starting out easier than the prologue.

I will say as a person who didn’t know the word 肉球 and broke it down into its kanji parts instead of looking up what it actually meant, I was really confused as to why a “meat-ball” was being rubbed on her cheek :sweat_smile: .

8 Likes
reply to reply, spoilers

Wow, I didn’t get this feeling at all! I mean, in the prologue, the battle was described in details, but Annie gave us only a short version, and it was mainly to show us Monica’s reaction to it.

I finished with this week’s part, unsurprisingly, there is still not much happening, so I’m waiting for the next part :sweat_smile: It was difficult to stop reading at the start of an important conversation, but I’ll wait!

6 Likes
reply to reply to reply, spoilers

I’m glad you mentioned it. I was thinking the same thing; it didn’t feel repetitive at all. It was a mere mention of what was covered in the 14ish pages of the prologue. Seemed completely fine to me.

As was also mentioned above, I too assumed the prologue would end up being a flash-forward to the end of the story. I really don’t understand how the rest of the book is going to unfold given that the main character already is very powerful.

5 Likes

Just finished this week’s part…and next weeks orz.
I missed the break point and kept waiting for it to come, while wondering that it’s quite a long part this week…until I hit the header for chapter 2…
So yeah, nothing to read next week, but I’ll also have to hold back what I want to discuss for 1 more week.

Just let me say: for all those who wonder what the story is actually about since Monika is already so powerful, it’ll be made clear in the second half of chapter 1.

7 Likes