- #1
There seems to be too many conflicting premises for the conclusion the story tries to draw. We've seen he's not s*upid, but he has no backup money in case his mercenary unit gets wiped out. We see he's stronger than most mid-rank adventurers (literally so strong he has a title), but he's got a piece of junk sword and needs a party in order to do quests. Then they get into how the low-rank adventurers are all in debt or dying... Why would anyone ever become one? It seems completely unsustainable.
Honestly, Loren doesn't even feel like the MC... He makes almost no meaningful decisions and gets swept up in the pace of other people. It's more like following the background character that the hero blackmails into joining his party. I'm not really enjoying the "Get stepped on like a doormat" attitude. I'm not asking for some revenge obsessed super killer like Summoned Slaughterer or something, but you have to have some kind of personality. Currently he's just the s*upidly strong thug (on a leash) that doesn't want to be a mercenary. Oh but being an adventurer is sooooo different.
All of this is just speculation though so let's just shove a concrete example in here to solidify the point. Chapter 30 (29 maybe) he tosses some guys into a wall on accident, realizes it was too strong, and ends up racking up more debt. Chapter 31 he immediately DOES IT AGAIN. I can't believe that a seasoned mercenary that made the escape plan in the ruins is so s*upid that he didn't learn anything. It all just feels like a blatant setup for a guard dog and his princess.
[collapse]To sum up, it feels one-dimensional. These don't feel like characters, they feel like a stereotype tossed onto a page. What charm their interactions had quickly became common, and we even see the priest acting as a walking encyclopedia multiple times in just the first two volumes. That doesn't sound like a lot, but the chapters are somewhat short so it's easy to read a 3-4 at a time.