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「ソーレナの孫娘」 (Sourena no magomusume)
“Sorena’s Granddaughter”
I swear I like Zero more and more as the weeks wear on. We may have not received the inevitable Zero-mercenary reunion this episode—no worries, it’s still coming—but that little moment of happiness was easily made up for by the reveals. And what reveals they were: Albus’ true origins, the importance of our wolfman, and the mercenary’s search for an excuse to return to Zero. Ok, the last reveal may be obvious, but it’s still heartwarming to see.
As fully expected a while back, Albus is indeed Sorena’s granddaughter. This twist I feel was apparent enough given all the previous hints, but it is to Zero’s credit that the reveal remained largely ambiguous up to our wolf Holdem’s backstory. The blonde baby hair here was more than enough to give it away, but it was particularly ironic that Albus was actually discovered through the sense of smell. Pretty funny witches can be smelled out in contradiction to Zero’s earlier claim, albeit only like any other person. Plus we have an explanation for why Holdem wanted Zero so badly in the first place and chased after the mercenary. While our wolfman may have redeemed himself with his guardianship and rescue, I do not think it entirely makes up for his previous actions yet. The guy still enslaved concubines for the hell of it (apparently) and walked the earth as though he was its sole master. Yeah the noble background and lackadaisical womanizing explains the attitude, but for a man sworn to protect someone you would think he would exercise some restraint, especially after Albus ran off. Protector or not, Holdem has some work ahead of him, but we should see it soon given he looks set to join the party.
Story-wise also saw some intriguing developments, particularly concerning the Sorcerers of Zero. While it’s currently a wolf’s hearsay, Him causing Sorena’s death does make some sense when you consider the guy also raided a cave for Zero’s grimoire. Thirteen is his own barrel of fun, but it’s increasingly looking like the Sorcerers’ leader is the key enemy of this story. Although seemingly simple, we don’t entirely know what is meant here by giving magic to the masses, or how Him’s method differs from that of Sorena. Is it just spreading previously forbidden knowledge, or inculcating a new political order? Is the objective eliminating the barriers between man and witch, or forging new ones? Thirteen evidently believes the worst considering his actions, and it’s not unlikely he envisions Albus as a counterweight to Him’s ambitions. Alive or dead, Albus remains the blood of Sorena, and thus a useful pawn to divide and conquer the witches. It would certainly explain why Thirteen wants Albus and friends captured alive after all, besides the risk to Zero it’s always better having a tool that can do the convincing for you.
With Zero still under Thirteen’s tender loving care and the mercenary and Albus reunited though, I’m guessing we are looking towards a renewed and slightly different search for the grimoire. The mercenary wants the book as his atonement to Zero, while Albus and Holdem will probably desire getting it out of Him’s hands to keep Sorena’s dream alive. All paths are quickly leading to our magical Prometheus, although it’s likely Thirteen will have to be dealt with before we see who this guy really is. With assassins inbound and some Albus-related catharsis to experience, Zero’s next episode definitely won’t be disappointing.
Preview
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The anime’s currently covering Chp 5 of Vol 1 of the LN.
At this rate the anime will most likely only cover Vol 1 of its books, similar to Rokka no Yuusha.
you are just a bundle of trivia arent ya; im always somewhat informed whenever i read your comments
Thank you, I aim to inform!
So with that all confirmed now… doesn’t Albus have the Grimoire, or at least know where it is? IIRC the takeaway from the ravaged town was that Sorena’s granddaughter took it, so unless I forgot a step…?
Pretty sure Albus was just going along with that theory, even if she knew it was wrong. The assumption that the granddaughter has the grimoire relied on the fact that her body wasn’t found in the base, so she must have taken it before she fled. The only way for Albus to contradict that theory would be to reveal her own identity, which she didn’t want to do. Since the base was presumably attacked while Albus was out, she wouldn’t have had the opportunity to take the grimoire.
Albus doesn’t have the grimoire, or else it would have been shown by now (i.e. snatched by Thirteen). She could have hidden it somewhere of course, but all indication is Albus was not involved in the cave attack. As SK mentions Albus likely went along with the theory because it kept her true identity hidden.
Is the sub translation wrong or is it not logical: Thirteen sends the assassins to get the gang, but no one is to be killed? What’s the point of sending assasins??
it’s a translation error; he said more along the line of sending someone who is capable of handling the situation
slight addendum: after looking into it more closely, thirteen said “shikaku”, which is a synonym for assassin in japanese; so yea..he did assassins after them. Well, it makes sense in this context because thirteen wants to keep the situation on the DL but he needs skilled personnel to handle the job; hence his request for the assassins. Yea assassins are meant to kill people but that’s specifically why he’s giving the order for them not to be killed. Thirteen wants to handle the situation discretely while having the necessary clientele to handle the job.
Assassins can do more than killing too. They are effectively special forces, designed to operate quickly and discretely. Thirteen likely considers Zero a pet project, so preventing any deaths is critical for both reclaiming Albus–and the public witch burning–and keeping Zero alive (i.e. by keeping the mercenary alive). If Zero wasn’t so important he probably would have let the knights continue the chase.
ITS A TRAP! everyone, DUCK!
https://randomc.net/image/Zero%20kara%20Hajimeru%20Mahou%20no%20Sho/Zero%20kara%20Hajimeru%20Mahou%20no%20Sho%20-%2008%20-%20Large%20Preview%2002.jpg
Yes it is!
But as it is a female disguised as a male, the correct term would be “reverse trap”.
Perhaps she has transform herself into a Boy to hide herself…
The afterwords of LN Vol 1’s been translated.
The author says he’s a fan of nonhuman characters, and after seeing these character types get sidelined as supporting cast he decided to be a maverick and make the MC a beastman.
He said it was a writing gamble, and were it not for his editor’s persistence Mercenary’s beastman status would have gotten revised.
He picked a “swords and magic” setting because they “love such tried and true stories. Add in just a dash of romance as a cherry on top, and I couldn’t be any happier.” He also feels there’s a closeness in the Mercenary-Zero relationship – “they converse without end” when together.
He ends by saying “I would be overjoyed if I was able to share even a bit of the happiness that I felt writing this book with you, the reader.”
https://zeromahouthetranslation.wordpress.com/volume-1/afterword/
Starting to like the wolfman. Getting him to babysit was probably the only way of preventing him from reverting to his former self. Nurture versus nature, I don’t see his upbringing doing anything positive for his personality. He really is like a dog.
Did he try to buy Zero because he got a whiff of Albus’ scent?
Yeah it’s heavily hinted the reason for trying to buy Zero was the scent of Albus. He probably figured Zero could tell him where to find the girl, and wanted her personally so he could keep the granddaughter’s existence secret.
Wolfman is still a rapist and a slaver.
Not really sure that he can ever be “redeemed” after that, and am suuuuuuper creeped out by anyone who thinks otherwise.
Did I mishear… i watched half asleep… but I thought Sorena said that Albus wasn’t actually her blood relation.
Not that its really that important either way..