Money in most of these series isn't something you can take seriously. The values tend to ascend astronomically as the story progresses.

@karasutengu said in Pens Down, Swords Up Vol. 3 Discussion:

So he's obviously going to turn down escorting a beautiful young noble lady in order to visit an onsen, right? How very Japanese (lol).

I'm not sure how much of an onsen visit we're going to get here. The text seems to suggest that the area's been abandoned after all the monsters showed up, so he has to go in kill everything, and then we'll get onsen, but all the facilities will probably be in ruins.

Ah, guess that means no chance of robo Katsuya... or if this were a comedy, Katsuya being the sub-AI on Akira's future suit.

@Travis-Butler said in The Bladesmith's Enchanted Weapons Vol. 2 Discussion:

No, that would be more than trivial.
If you’re saying less than trivial, you’re saying it doesn’t even rise to the level of being trivial. So utterly insignificant.

I found some discussion about it here: Relation between "trivial", "more than trivial", and "less than trivial". Basically, "less than trivial" is ambiguous because there is an omitted quality adjective:

The day after, the katana was sold, having a less [quality omitted] than trivial impact on the course of it’s new wielder’s future.

If the omitted quality is "trivial" i.e. "less trivial than trivial" then the meaning is actually "somewhat nontrivial".

But if the omitted adjective is say "meaningful" or "complex" then the meaning is actually "even more trivial than trivial".

In a previous life when I was doing math, the phrase had the first meaning. But opinions could differ. Maybe this belongs in the corrections thread?

@dragon3010
He thinks they don't have a choice, what with the monsters.

@LightningLeaf I'm not into little girls so I'd be ok with that...but yeah, not happening. The best I can hope is a timeskip near the end so she'll be and adult.

@ilno-0 said in Nia Liston Vol. 8 Discussion:

Maybe after being saved by the goat Anzel he learned to take a leap of faith into the storm that is Magivision

OMG if Neal has idolized Anzel as a role model, that's extremely funny. "Anzel is so cool!" says Neal. "Seriously? Why?" Says Nia.

@karasutengu Because the chili sauce was too spicy? Or because it ran through your G.I. like Forest Gump?

Just thinking about poison food, and about how much common food is sort of toxic for humans. Deep-fried food gives me acid reflux, and dairy makes me produce excess phlegm. Some greasy foods or spicy foods might give me the runs, upset stomach, etc. No one calls that poison.

Then there are foods like puffer fish, or adding a drop of snake venom, that is literally underdosed poison. Certain foods like Rhubarb leaves or Potato eyes can be poison if prepared poorly. But when a chef puts those items on the menu, I trust they believe they can prepare them safely so they won't get sued.

I feel the same way about the monster food restaurant, with provided antidote. If it kills me, the chef would be screwed. I trust they took the steps to prevent that.

@eggnog I will second this. The oldest surviving mechanical clock Is the Salisbury Clock, from 1386 AD. It still works! The earliest known mechanical clocks were from somewhere between 1270 AD and 1300 AD, from northern Italy. Water clocks and sundials date back to 1200 BC. in Egypt. This story's vaguely Peter-to-Catherine society should have mechanical, pendulum-based clocks for hundreds of years. Plenty of time to get used to structuring your day around the tolling of bells.

What is more interesting is when people started thinking of time specifically, instead of broadly. This change coincides with the rise of industrialization in the 17th century. Before, people were paid by the amount they could produce and sell. The shift to capitalist production made it so people sold their labor by the hour, instead of by the value produced. This led to clock time being important for tracking labor hours. People began tracking their days by how much time they needed to work, to get to work, when work began and ended, etc. This created the need for specific time keeping (hourly) beyond general (morning, evening).

But the Industrial Revolution happened in England and America sooner than in Russia. This story's vaguely Russian setting would favor a more general interpretation of time, instead of a specific and structured interpretation. The Academy, still embroiled in the feudal system of production, probably still schedules itself around morning/noon/evening instead of 9:00/12:00/5:00 O'clock.

@sillymel One thing I forgot to mention from this volume’s color illustrations (seen on Japanese Bookwalker):

@Kurzaa said in Frontier Lord Vol. 10 Discussion!:

@Paul-Nebeling However, going from blood red to blue is BS imo. People living their lives are white, people who only care about themselves are red, and the extremely rare individual like Dias with no ill-intention towards anyone are blue. Even if the count's actions stopped being for his sole benefit, he still intended to hitch his wagon to Dias and get some eventual benefit. Pale, pale blue at best.

I agree. I'm just going to pretend that 'sparkling' is a synonym for bright, I.e. pale.

@Devastator001 I think it's plenty scummy that he's killing his old human allies.

It all followed very well trodden formulas but I really enjoyed it. Great stuff.

@shyevsa - You mean like a side story that details what happened to Nao the night after he ate the questionable mushrooms that Yuki gave him? Nao woke up with no memory of what transpired so that's why it didn't make it into the main story, but Yuki knows.

Oh yes, Yuki knows...

@Geezer-Weasalopes
Hah, I thought that line was Capitan chiming in, but it is probably Rentt.

@cathfach : congratulations and thank you for an enjoyable read. I intended to “stream” this as the pre-pubs came out, but somehow life got in the way and I ended up binge reading the entire volume last night (and pre ordered it- I believe in voting with my $$)
I like how you played with the tropes, lampshade hanging, lampooning, and putting twists on the cliches. Maids, cat-girls, harems, wacky professor wizard, etc. yet no “will they won’t they” (Thomas has a significant other and will not cheat…but is tempted). You discuss the moral dilemma of slavery, (making light of which is my pet peeve) of “just following orders” and of the hero not always being on the side of ‘the good guys’. All in all a very enjoyable read!

The bit with the two Paithons had me rolling. Liam has no clue what current Paithon is doing or why. You can hear former Paithon rolling her eyes. Her line though. "Even if I explained it to you, you wouldn't get it." said it all. Good luck, Daiphon. You are going to need a map, a detailed guide, and probably a club to get what you want from Liam.

Still, Paithon being Paithon. Wakes up from a death spell, goes on a rampage, flirts (ineffectively) with Liam, then blissfully takes a nap.

I want to kidnap her and lock her up somewhere. But whenever he honestly told her that, Agnes got embarrassed and tried to run away.

Yeah, well running is the correct response to someone saying something like that.

@heimdal7 said in Lady Bumpkin and her Lord Villain Vol. 5 Discussion!:

Watch it be the baby is actually the saint and it is its powers that have been being used somehow. Wouldn't be the first time that kind of thing was done in a story.

That was my thought. It seems more likely than Agnes being the saint at least.

I really wish we could just be done with robin. his story should just be finished and gone.

Seriously. At least Mia became interesting after her exile. Robin has only managed to somehow become less interesting as time goes on.