The Shaman can't become a Hero
Act 1: Shiramine Academy Class 2-7
New Series "The Shaman can't become a Hero" Arc 1 Conclusion and Q&A
The first arc of my new series is finally done. Those who are reading, thank you very much. Those who have yet to, please do, it's only just started.
Since the first arc is done, I think I'll talk about a lot.
Now then, if you've read the first arc, you should have a rough understanding of what this story is about. Now, for the protagonist. Momokawa Kotarou posesses this vague power of a 'Shaman', and traverses the dungeon with lots of pain and suffering. But never giving up, he moves forward... filling the main criteria of a protagonist. As for the readers, I'd be glad if you could watch over Kotarou's growth, and cheer him on as he's working hard.
Well, as an author, I feel that Kotarou shines the brightest when he's suffering in a crisis though.
I'd already mentioned the direction this work is going towards in my last activity report. There's a lot of class transfer stories, but they mostly seem to have a protag with a cheat power... I didn't want to do that. I want to make it a dark and gritty story with a 'battle royale' feel.[1]
Kurono from 'Kuro no Maou' had more of a Power Ranger like modified super human, strong from the start kind of feel I guess. Meanwhile, other than his shaman powers, Kotarou is still an ordinary human. He can't rely on his powers.
Because the protag is so weak, I hope to draw out a different enjoyment and battles than what you get in 'Kuro no Maou'. Kurono's life could be described as a heroic epic, but Kotarou right now has only just put his feet on the ground, in a Survival + Battle Royale thing and just staying alive takes his everything. Through Kotarou, what I hope to do is express a realistic kind of fear and anxiety.
Well, from the comments I've received, there's been many questions, so I'll try to answer them within the acceptable range. That, and I'll be revealing some minor spoilers.
Q. Isn't the girls' seat numbers strange? There’s a gap.
A. In my highschool, the girls started at No.31. Eh, is it different nowadays!?
Currently, this has been the most asked question. From the end of the boys to the start of the girls, there's a gap in seat numbers. That's not a mistake, I did it intentionally. Taking my own highschool as a reference, I went and confirmed if that was the case at present, and after that, started the girls off from No.31. It's most likely my school that does seat numbers differently.
Q. Relight-kun, what is even?[2]
A. It's fine, no problem... I hope.
His first name is, of course, inspired from the protagonist of the famous 'Death Note'. It's written with the kanji for moon(月) and pronounced Light, but will that get into any copyright problems? I personally think that changing the whole name, and just somewhat borrowing the pronunciation should be still in the safezone. Of course, Hayama Relight-kun doesn't hold a death note or see Shinigami, and isn't aiming to be God of the new world either. If anything, this name would give the impact and impression of those alleged DQNs.
Just, if there's any problems, I'll change the name. Retcon it like it never happened.
Q. Can you not beat Higuchi with 'Pain Return' and 'Red Fever'?
A. Not possible.
At this time, it'd be over with a straight punch in the gut by Higuchi. With the weakling Kotarou, that one punch will make him spill the contents of his stomach, and he'll collapse. Higuchi'll get damaged back too, but he can somehow handle it. 'Red Fever' also has only a slight fever effect, and he'd only be able to afford one hit with that after getting close.
So something like using 'Pain Return's' reflected damage, in addition to 'Red Fever's' stacking damage to win with a long term battle... that kind of RPG-like strategy won’t work.
Even if Higuchi was a normal kid, this result wouldn't change, and even if Kotarou could time-leap back and do it over and over again, he'd never win.[3]
In the story, it's obvious that Higuchi's already got his vocation, so it's even more hopeless.
Unfortunately, 'Pain Return' won't become a cheat power. As Higuchi's already noticed, there are work arounds and weaknesses. It's an annoying power to fight if you don't know about it, but not something you can't counter. Being able to bear one of your own punches, may not seem like much, but with a weak boy like Kotarou, it's more than enough of a tactic.
'Red Fever' is even more out there. I'm sure everyone's experienced the slight fever before. Indeed, there's a headache, and you feel lethargic, it's hard... But, you wouldn't just skip school or work because of just that. In the end, you only have to put in a bit more effort to go about your daily life. Even more so in a deadly battle, you wouldn't care about some fever at all, and work hard to not die.
Q. Is stacking 'Red Fever' useful?
A. No.
In the Armor Bear fight, Kotarou did keep recasting 'Red Fever', but that was only because, he had nothing else he could do. It was a series of actions made under great fear and tension. There's absolutely no effect of stacking recasts to increase the fever.
If I had to say, it'd be with instant fever recovery powers. If the opponent has that kind of power, he could recast and maintain a fever state.
Only, it went just as Kotarou expected, and the Armor Bear was defeated too, this 'induce a slight fever' effect doesn't forcefully bring body heat to slight fever level, but has the addition-only effect of raising normal body temperature to slight fever.
Meaning, you can just, Oh, my friend has a strong fever so I'll just make a slight fever! do that kind of recovery effect... It really is that useless.
Q. Why so many Archery clubbers?
A. There's some who joined chasing after Souma Sakura, so it seems like a lot. There're also the normal archery enthusiast members in there, so as a result, class 2-7s distribution of Archery club members are somewhat high.
Q. The Armor Bear also appeared in Kuro no Maou right?
A. In Arc 25, 'False Days', when Sariel was in Lily's hut alone, the monster that came attacking and got a beat down was, in fact, the Armor Bear.
I'd written the script for 'The Shaman can't become a Hero' first, so technically, 'Kuro no Maou' got it from there. It's strength would be the same in both works. The Armor Bear was beat by a single shot from an amputated Sariel, but it's a pretty tough monster. It'd be a rank 3 monster in the 'Kuro no Maou' verse, a fatal opponent for a newbie party, and pretty tough for a solo veteran adventurer too. It doesn't have any magic or breath attacks, it's just as it looks, a large body with lots of strength. Possessing an armor-like shell which has magic blocking effects, it's a straight forward power oriented monster.
Q. The MC having a girly face is a bit...
A. Sorry, it's a matter of taste.
For me, Kotarou, with his personality and internal monologues, having a normal not-very-noticable boy's face, is a no-go. He has a (somewhat) trap-ish face, and I'm aiming for a protagonist's charm in a different direction from that of Kurono's.[4]
Indeed, with a trap protag, you'd want to pamper him a lot. Well, I mean, that's fine right? They're always cute, and good boys too. They've been depicted as such quite a bit, and you could even call it the correct, classic, proper way to do it.
But, I think that, as he's not some pretty girl, but biologically, undeniably male, the trap protag should need to suffer more, and face bad situations. That cute face and strong heart, it was good to have them beaten up at least once in the story! If you want to just pamper and treat him like a princess, it'd be easier to just make it a girl.
I believe that a legitimate trap protagonist needs to have an appearance rivalling a pretty girl, as well as a man's heart that faces adversity. It is however, a personal opinion, and I wont say it has to be like that always.
That should be all for now.
The first arc had some cruel happenstances, but next comes the dungeon capture from the very bottom, please look forward to it.
[1]Last activity report, I’ll get to it eventually...
[2]Oops, in light of this answer, I'll change Rewrite to Relight. Which would be once. In the attendance record. My bad.
[3]Re: Zero jab? anyway, re: zero is pretty awesome. Arc 4 translations are going well too~
[4]Coz Kurono's manly af.