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?
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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 .
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 It was difficult to stop reading at the start of an important conversation, but I’ll wait!
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.
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.
That also caught my eye, I was under the impression that the black dragon was just a huge winged beast, but it could also be that I didn’t pay attention to the description properly in the prologue.
Potential direction of the story
I might be wrong, but seeing as the setting seems quite shoujo/shounen-ish, I would expect it to either go to one of these cliche-ish directions: 1) Monica gets a makeover and debuts in society; 2) Surprise! She is cured of her shyness.
None of these seem very fantasy-like though, but more of a comical relief… but also, the fact that this weeks just finishes on the mention of a prince, and we had a peculiar young male character introduced in the prologue, seems to be hinting somehow to a romantic plot.
I went back to check to be sure, and I think not, especially seeing the final part:「やっと見つけた……僕が、夢中になれるもの」 その声はまるで恋に落ちたかのように、熱を帯びていた - so far, it doesn’t seem like Louis has an (romantic?) obsession with Monica. Also, they are colleagues and both part of the strongest group of wizards of the country, so I assume he also knew where to find her (he is coming to her with a job? request, after all - potentially from the king, who might be their employer/boss?).
Yeah that makes sense. The reason I thought they could be the same person is that the merchant girl mentions that Louis asked around in the village to know where Monica lives, which means that he apparently didn’t precisely know where her shed is.
Adding to my earlier meme, Monica continues to be bullied for her unruly housekeeping.
story direction and thoughts on this week
My current guess or hope for how this stays interesting is that something happens which isn’t easily solved by a bunch of magic power. So maybe a political situation involving another country or a conflict with some of the other seven sorcerers. Something that involves talking to people so it deals with what the character’s weak at.
I liked the conversation with the shop girl, Monica has to pretend not to know this battle firsthand. She’s a math professor living in a shack in the mountains far from a school. Definitely. Luis is kind of an ass, I like him. They’re definitely not human, these new characters. I understood most of the chapter okay, but struggled a bit with the techno-babble about magic page. Chanting compiles magical power allowing the caster to make the impossible possible, I think I got that part. It sounds like Luis is about to explain the plot to us.
As far as I remember, the part about making the impossible possible refered to Monica learning silent spellcasting, which is something that was thought to be impossible for humans (though it comes naturally to other creatures). Speaking of which, I’m curious about Lin. She’s described as a contracted spirit (?) but what exactly does that mean in this world? Are spirits dead humans? Or elemental forces? I don’t think we got a lot of info on this, yet.
Since I read 2 chapters of the manga a few years ago I already roughly know what her assignment will be, so I’m not gonna comment on the direction of the book. But wow, the manga was missing so many details compared to the LN!
The thing I’m a bit curious about is why she needs mathematical formulas (?) and reports on so many different and seemingly completely unrelated areas like… stars, plants, magic and *checks notes* manure, population statistics, tax revenue and sold goods (?). Maybe the magic is sort of based on math, but some areas still seemed like a weird thing to be interested in as a magician. What would population magic even look like?
Maybe the twist will be that she actually is a math professor mascarding as a magician.
She literally learnt a thing thought impossible just so that she didn’t have to even consider getting over her shyness, so I’d really be surprised
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