- #1
Basically MC starts as a nobody but uses his wits to rise in power. He doesn’t fit the role of the OP hero but instead the cunning strategist. Kind of like a Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu or Lu Su, from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.There is an interesting dynamic between three main characters. MC shows flashes of keen intelligence but possesses neither physical prowess or political/economic backing, warrior girl has physical prowess and has backing as a lord but is initially completely naive (/witless), megalomaniac queen is also keenly intelligent but also is, well, a ruthless sadistic megalomaniac (literally seeks apotheosis). Every character needs the other’s help in order to achieve their goals/survive. In the latest couple of chapters you get to see not only how skilled the MC is but at the same time his deceitfulness and ruthlessness. Spoiler
his actions include leading on an elvish heroine who is in love with him and instigating an elvish massacre between two warring factions to accomplish his own goals — the elvish heroine becomes heartbroken and is forced into killing her brother for the good of the elves
[collapse].The MC’s “opponents” are all nicely fleshed out, providing sympathetic backstories and motivations, and have their own appropriately clever schemes in motion.Nothing is sugarcoated—-there are no perfect schemes where its “good” vs “evil” and good wins bad loses the end. Instead, there are quite a lot of negative consequences in choices MC has to make and they are all reflected in the world. Relationships are broken, people are cruelly injured or killed/massacred.There are romance elements, they’re there to drive the MCs actions, and add some of that romance fan service which helps to balance some of the darker aspects. Because this stuff gets dark, and not edgy bs dark (“the world betrayed me so I’m now the antihero getting my revenge on everybody”) but MC convinces heroine she has to cause her own death to save her ideals dark.
