It’s not that the story isn’t kinda enjoyable, but it’s very, very shallow writing, so I am not emotionally invested in any of the events. Ars loses his father, who returns from war, collapses, wakes up, announces that his time is near, summons everyone to give last instructions while looking fine, chats with Ars all night, then immediately dies. Just like that. We’d just seen Ars training to the point of hurting himself, but that just gets dropped as soon as he’s summoned, and it’s never addressed again. Did he improve? Who knows? I forgot he had siblings, but they show up for the funeral.
I also want to roll my eyes at the beginning where Raven says Ars isn’t ready to fight because he lacks the eyes of a warrior and shows some emotion when a guy is executed in front of him. That is completely stupid. How do you get the “eyes of a warrior” and ability to see death without flinching unless you go to fight? That’s just nonsense that the author thought sounded cool.
Licia is weirdly aggressive. Dunno how or why they all slept in the same bed. Again, author putting in nonsense because it’s funny. They meet the mercenary leader, who initially attacks Ars but somehow Rietz knocks away the knife that is poking Ars in the throat. Yeah…not gonna happen without cutting him. Then Licia scolds and threatens him and hr agrees to take the job.
There’s a bonus story at the end, about Raven originally getting ennobled. I didn’t realize a count could bestow a barony on someone, but whatever.