Characters of Expecting to Fall into Ruin, I Aim to Become a Blacksmith.
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Main Cast
Kururi Helan
Kururi Helan
Our protagonist, who reincarnated into the world of a game he played, and just wants to be able to live without financial struggles by becoming a blacksmith who can provide for his destined wife.- Adaptation Personality Change: The manga makes him noticeably more perverted than the books, most notably, the Running Gag of him trying and failing to peep on Iris.
- All-Loving Hero: Mostly. Basically, if his (relatively mild reaction) Berserk Button isn’t pressed, he’ll forgive pretty much anything if the perpetrator is willing to work hard.
- Barrier Warrior: Learns to be this from Old Man Moran eventually.
- Benevolent Boss: One of Kururi’s defining traits is how well he treats his inferiors and subordinates.
- Benevolent Mage Ruler: Of his feudal territory, the Helan lands.
- Berserk Button:
- The radish Plant People he summons with magic press it often, and their shrill voices and behavior drive him mad.
- Disrespecting Eliza. Though again, there’s only so far he’s willing to go against flesh and blood humans.
- Chick Magnet: When he’s trying to help Prince Arc feel better about his Love Hurts problems with Iris by bringing him to girls in his territory to have them fawn over the prince, the girls get rosy cheeked and all ask the shake the hand of… Kururi instead. He notes in his Inner Monologue all the rationalizations of why they would choose him over the prince, which may or may not be an example of Oblivious to Love.
- Cult of Personality: One of these gradually strengthens in the Helan domain, as a man of the people among some class warfare and an industrial revolution mostly spurred on by him and his friends. More specifically his Asskicking Leads to Leadership takeover of the Penal Colony he was thrown into, develops very much into a cult, who he later turns into his private army.
- Dragon Tamer: Subverted. Despite being given an egg of a dragon so that it’ll be bonded to him, he’s one half of the Pushover Parents of his “pet” sapient dragon Poobie, who’s a Spoiled Brat. Not exactly tame, but at least he’s non-violent.
- The Dreaded: A combination of his martial deeds and Gossip Evolution results in him being this outside of his feudal lands, where he’s beloved. He eventually plays up this persona to intimidate some nobles, but that got reported in newspapers across the country…
- Energy Absorption: As described by a magic gem shop owner, his type of magic is a rare kind that lets him absorb other’s energy. This explains how he was overcharged when Iris accidentally hit him with one of her magic spells.
- The Engineer: He’ll fix things, and make them better than they ever were. He is a strong believer in iteration, and usually sees his superior creations as inferior because of what they could have been.
- Famed In-Story: Kururi is widely known in his father’s domain as the only one who can get things done, and that’s pretty early on. Over the course of events, he becomes famed internationally, leading to assassins being sent against him from far and wide. Some pirates leaders even told their crews to give a share of their booty to him if they see him, seemingly unprompted.
- Identical Grandson: To the Founder of the Kingdom (well, founder of his family’s domain).
- Incendiary Exponent: After Iris hits him with one of her flame spells while adventuring, he is on fire but can’t put it out. His clothes seem to be fine and he’s not hurt. He basically just needed to calm himself down to make it go away.
- Instant Expert: Tends to be this, although if you asked him, he would always say his creation was an insufficient Flawed Prototype.
- Manic Pixie Dream Guy: He's basically this for Eliza. She describes him as quite weird, but that it's a good thing.
- Messiah Archetype: Kururi checks off most of the boxes:
- The Chosen One: The Prophecy from three hundred years ago says he’s chosen to restore the cursed land of the Helan territory. He completes a series of magical rituals and succeeds, only to survive his prophesized “death” with only Identity Amnesia and a three year long coma.
- True Companions: Rhasa, Lotson, Iris, Vein, Curroshi, and a great many more. But…
- Betrayal: The blacksmith Zeni Geba, and one of the nobles he signed an agreement both betray him out of envy.
- Persecution: Nobles in general come to hate him for siding so much with commoners and espousing meritocracy. But specifically, this would be the Dartanel family framing him for creating Cursed Weapon swords, getting him thrown in jail and tarnishing his reputation.
- Passion Play parallels: Sacrificing himself to restore the cursed land of Helan, after being betrayed and becoming a fallen noble. He managed to survive but disappeared for years, thought dead.
- Back from the Dead: Figurative version, he was comatose from his Heroic Sacrifice and thought dead. Though you could say his full resurrection was fully restoring his lost memories.
- Second Coming: Essentially, he is the second coming of his ancestor, the Founder of the Kingdom for the Helan territory, being an Identical Grandson to him and finishing the work he started.
- The Redeemer: Very forgiving, and believes strongly in redemption through hard work, earning him a long list of defeated foes as his allies.
- Pushover Parents: Since his pet dragon Poobie is sentient, he’s essentially Kururi’s adopted child. Kururi just hands Poobie wallets of money and lets him do whatever he wants: Drinking, partying, and bathing. Resulting in a Spoiled Brat dragon.
- Ultimate Blacksmith: After three years of blacksmith practice, Kururi is one of these, getting praise from his Tsundere educator. He was widely considered one of the top ten blacksmiths in the Kingdom of Kudan, but that was before he got into the business of making Living Weapon swords, which are officially designated ‘’god tier’’ and sell for amounts that even nobles can’t sneeze at.
Iris Palala
Iris Palala
A commoner attending the academy, who happens to be the protagonist of the dating sim Kururi transmigrated into. She’s a young genius with a strong competitive streak and hates being given things she hasn’t earned for herself.-
Alternative Character Interpretation: What is her level of interest in Kururi really? Was she at one point aiming for a Reverse Harem of Lotson and Kururi, or was that just part of her being The Gadfly? - Badass Bookworm: Top grades at the academy, but also an amazing (and enthusiastic) fighter.
- Beware the Nice Ones: She seems to be a nice, average girl, if a little spirited. And then she gets into battle…
- Bully Magnet: Apparently she is one from the nobles but just takes it in stride. She’s too determined to let something as simple as that get in her way. Besides, she has monsters she can take out her frustrations on like a maniac.
- Damsel out of Distress: When a group of nobles try to take her away from the Masquerade Ball to have their way with her, she stays quiet to avoid causing a scene, but planned on beating them up once away from the party; Kururi’s intervention caused her to just beat them all up there.
- Friendly Rivalry: With Eliza, both over test scores, and to an extent, over Kururi’s attention.
- The Gadfly: Her teasing of Kururi shows shades of this. Flirting with him to make him fall while getting out of a carriage is one example.
- I Am Not Pretty: Kururi is dumbfounded by Iris saying no-one has ever called her beautiful before.
- I Was Just Joking: Excuses some of her teasing/flirtations with Kururi as this.
- Just Friends: Kururi friend-zones her hard, which her competitive pride (or latent interest) makes her criticize him for in what might or might not have been a joke.
- Love Hurts: Her ill-fated love for Lotson after finding out he has a wife. She actually bonds with Prince Arc over this a bit, since they were both going through it at once.
- Magic Knight: Iris is proficient with both sword and magic.
- Ms. Exposition: When adventuring near the capitol, she excitedly spouts off everything she knows about the monsters in the area and how to fight them.
- Penny Among Diamonds: The only commoner attending Gensou Academy.
- Percussive Therapy: She gets through her Unrequited Love frustrations by bloodily taking it out on the hides of monsters.
- Plucky Girl: Her archetype. Her insistence on not receiving expensive gifts and earning everything for herself is the cause of a lot of arguments and one of the main reasons she’s repulsed by Prince Arc.
- Ship Sinking: TWICE:
- Kururi saying he can't see her as someone to romance, which makes her tease him about not seeing her as a woman.
- Finding out Lotson has a wife puts the nail in the coffin for her ill-fated Unrequited Love.
- Stealth Mentor: She’s been one to Eliza, who’s learned a lot from her, especially survivalist tips.
- Thrill Seeker: Especially shows this when adventuring. Kururi suspects it may extend to being a Blood Knight.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: She’s the tomboy to Eliza’s girly girl.
- Unrequited Love: For Lotson.
- Uptown Girl: She was supposed to be this for the Prince Arc route of the game originally, but she doesn’t seem to be able to stand him. After they bond over the Commonality Connection of both having broken hearts, they eventually marry. Although, they hardly seem much closer.
- Willfully Weak: She tries to refuse being gifted swords by Kururi because she wants to have earned them herself. He eventually manages to talk her into it and she’s really excited by the results.
- Worthy Opponent: Eliza considers Iris this, earning her respect during their rivalry.
Eliza Deauville
Eliza Deauville
The villainous daughter of the game Kururi transmigrated into, and his destined wife. She grew up a haughty, sheltered and pampered noble, but runs into the harsh realities of the world all at once in the academy. She was supposed to be bullying the games protagonist, Iris.- The Ace: Prides herself on being the best of the best, which stokes her rivalry with Iris. She eventually finds something she’s not so good at: Making pottery, which she takes up as a hobby to improve on it.
- Always Someone Better: Feels this way somewhat about Iris. Beating her in test scores makes Eliza really happy.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Kururi being one of the few people open and frank with her in the Academy, instead of seeing her for her high status and the associated expectations put on her, is a significant factor in their romance. This also seems to be the basis for her respecting Iris.
- Break the Haughty: Her early interactions with Kururi and Iris.
- Bunnies for Cuteness: Her outfit at the Masquerade Ball.
- Caged Bird Metaphor: Invoked Trope when she’s talking to a cat about her problems and lack of friends. That cat happens to be Kururi practicing his Voluntary Shapeshifting. Oops.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Her early arcs with Kururi involve her defrosting. At some points, this development regresses, such as during her Amnesiac Dissonance turning her back into a Royal Brat to an extent; her amnesia treatment restored her childhood memories but not her ones with Kururi, basically, up until trauma restores her memories in full.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Eli, Kururi's pet name for her that eventually grows on her.
- Fallen Princess: Her ending in the game was her being reduced to farming after her father's fall to ruin. When this happens in the story, she's reduced to The Runaway, living like a hermit, and then a store manager, but ultimately rises to probably more authority than she ever originally had, but with the journey providing her personal growth and a sense of freedom.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: The most feminine of all the major women in the cast, and a Supreme Chef.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Can seem like this, but she essentially demands that others show her (and Kururi) a certain amount of respect. Failing to do that will cause her to respond in either a Yamato Nadeshiko way, or straight up hit people, depending on the circumstances.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: At first. She was clearly supposed to be an Alpha Bitch of some kind in the game story, bullying Iris, but she gets sidetracked on Kururi. Which ironically enough, leads to Iris protecting Kururi from a magical attack by Eliza in class.
- Pinocchio Nose: Kururi takes note, that when she closes her eyes and smiles, that’s the tell that she’s hiding her real emotions, like concern or pride relating to him.
- Pushover Parents: Insomuch as her and Kururi are Pookie’s parents (he is a sentient dragon), both of them go too easy on him, causing him to be a Spoiled Brat.
- Royal Brat: In her past before entering the academy she was this in particular, which is shown later. It seems the turning point from her being this was the struggle over her follower who she dismissed for not having high enough grades.
- Sheltered Aristocrat: She knows she’s one of these, and Kururi and Iris both help her break out of this mold in their own ways.
- Slave to PR: With her status as the prime minister’s daughter, she’s held up to ridiculous standards by others and herself, which is a big part in her early haughty behavior; it's also why she struggles with expressing her love for potatoes openly.
- Spirited Young Lady: She’s almost a Proper Lady, but she’s embarrassed for her love of potatoes and tends to hit people.
- Supreme Chef: The most distressing thing that can happen to Kururi is being cut off from her cooking for any reason. Their ‘pet’ dragon Poobie shares the same sentiment.
- Talk to the Fist: She has a mildly alarming tendency towards this.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: She’s the girly girl to Iris’ tomboy.
- Trademark Favorite Food: To her embarrassment, potatoes, which is a Running Gag. She pretends it’s chiffon cake instead.
- Tsundere: Is torn between being this and Yamato Nadeshiko. It seems her insulting the game version of Kururi might have been part of this.
- Woman Scorned: Eliza warns Kururi about putting her in that position, such as with the letter she sends about a murderer in the capital. This is what causes him to go Screw This, I'm Outta Here at the Masquerade Ball, since he said he’s been going from woman to woman to her before realizing her identity. He even has a nightmare about her punching him.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: She struggles between being this and tsundere. If not for her tendency to hit people that never really vanishes, she’d be a pretty good fit in the later chapters.
Vaine Lotte
Vaine Lotte
The son of the kingdom’s Knight Commander, a socially inept giant who is obsessed with wilderness living and physical training.- The Big Guy: A literal giant whose face can’t be seen through doorways because its too high.
- Dragon Trainer: Can give Training from Hell to dragons too, as he does to Kururi’s dragon Poobie. Apparently he’s been training them since going to Amirale.
- Hands-On Approach: His training with Curroshi, not realizing she’s a woman.
- Jumped at the Call: Jumping out of their carriage to become Curroshi’s bodyguard, while Kururi just went back to the academy.
- Like Father, Like Son: When Kururi meets his father, the commander of the Kingdom’s Royal Guard, he’s pretty much exactly the same as his son.
- No Social Skills: Doesn’t seem to have many facial expressions, fails to understand social cues, and seems vaguely autistic.
- Prefers Raw Meat: He has (possibly) superstitious beliefs about this making him stronger, and gives Kururi the prized liver of a freshly slaughtered sheep.
Curosshi Amirale
Curosshi Amirale
An obviously actually crossdressing student that wants Kururi to teach “him” to be a strong fighter, but spends most of her time arguing and exercising with Vaine instead.- Adaptation Expansion: The Manga diverges from the novels to develop her and her homeland a lot more.
- Lady and Knight: Her and Vaine eventually settle into this, as he becomes her chief bodyguard.
- Tall Tale: What Curosshi tells Kururi’s new child apprentice Riot about their time together in the academy are these. Things like him being able to hug anyone whenever he wanted.
- Tomboy Princess: Insomuch as she is interested in becoming a great warrior. Once she returns home, she always seems to be wearing dresses at least.
- Training from Hell: At the hands Vaine. Literally at his hands, he keeps touching her inappropriate places to touch a lady as part of it.
- Sent Into Hiding: Why she’s in the Kudan kingdom, to avoid assassination.
- She Is All Grown Up: Kururi notes that she got noticeably more curvy over the years. He’d know, considering how she greeted him by jumping into his arms.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: For security reasons, attends Kudan’s academy as a man. Her arguments with Vaine over where he can and can’t touch her make it obvious, but somehow she ends up fooling him and Kururi all the same.
- King Incognito: The heir to the neighboring Amirale Kingdom, sent to Kudan to keep her out of danger.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: She has good reason to hide her sex and identity.
Prince Rhasa Kudan
Rhasa Kudan
The second prince of the Kingdom of Kudan, who quickly becomes Kururi’s best friend after being gifted a sword and invited to his home. He’s generally sweet, kind, and adoring of Kururi, calling him big brother.- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Often on the receiving end of these, being The Cutie.
- The Cutie: How his friends see him, although he’s as badass as the rest of them.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Kururi to the extent his position allows. He even proclaims to love Kururi.
- Humble Hero: Especially by royalty standards.
- It Was a Gift: Rhasa really cherishes the swords Kururi gives him.
- Like Father, Like Son: His casual and easygoing personality resembles his father more than Arcs does.
- Nice Guy: Which contrasts a bit with his brother Arc.
- Only Sane Man: Seems to be this for his brother Arc at points, since Arcs thick skull just doesn’t seem to get things.
- Shipper on Deck: Shipped Kururi with Iris at least until being told they’re Just Friends by him.
- Spare to the Throne: Of the Kingdom of Kudan. It seems him not being the heir, led to him being neglected by their surroundings, making him appreciate Kururi’s attention.
- Sword Beam: Excalibur, one of the later swords Kururi gives to him, which is a Living Weapon, can cast these, and he makes use of it.
- Rebel Prince: To an extent, things like running away from his guards with Kururi to have fun.
Prince Arc Kudan
Arc Kudan
The First Prince of Kudan and heir to the throne, also one of the capture targets in the game Kururi transmigrated into. He’s pompous and doesn’t understand people very well, especially not Iris, with whom he’s in love.- Abhorrent Admirer: From Iris’ perspective for a good period of time at least.
- The Ace: One of the top students in all fields of Gensou Academy.
- Aesop Amnesia: Kururi seems to have taught him to better understand Iris… but he still doesn’t quite get it and offers her a literal royal bedroom for her stay in the capital.
- Always Someone Better: Seems to see Kururi like this somewhat. Most importantly, is Kururi’s luck with the ladies.
- Commonality Connection: The most intimate he’s shown being with Iris is when they bond over both having broken hearts at the same time.
- Entitled to Have You: He seems to feel this way about Iris. Spending time with Kururi helps him understand her a little more… or at least seems to.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: We never see anyone really getting along with him. At least for Kururi, he only puts up with him because he’s the future king.
- Gift-Giving Gaffe: It’s a Running Gag that he always gives really bad gifts.
- Love Hurts: Over Iris’ rejection. Kururi tries to comfort him to keep him from committing suicide within his territory, but the help is half-hearted, considering his dislike of Arc.
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Since Kururi knows openly going against him would be lèse-majesté, their exchanges often involve this.
- Prince Charmless: The most abrasive member of the cast, Kururi often laments being forced to deal with him.
- Royal Brat: A relatively mild example, this is part of why Kururi can’t stand him.
- Stalker with a Crush: Not only has he spent a lot of time stalking Iris, but he ropes Kururi into doing it with him, with Kururi going along because of his position and adamantly insisting on monetary compensation.
Rail Rain
Rail Rain
Another one of the capture targets in the game, he’s Prince Arc’s assistant who’s aiming to become a doctor. He is quite knowledgeable as an information broker, if you can overlook all of his sexual harassment of Kururi.- Bodyguard Babes: Gets stuck with these when working as a travelling doctor.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Kururi recognizes him as this, and Rail seems to know just when to stop teasing and switch to giving him information to keep him from getting too angry.
- Chick Magnet: Since he’s a handsome doctor, he gets stuck being this, which as far as he’s concerned gets him more trouble than its worth.
- Farm Boy: His secret origin that Kururi knows from having played the game.
- Guile Hero: Him strategically planting and giving people information makes him the indirect cause of a number of events.
- Incompatible Orientation: Kururi doesn’t like guys. That doesn’t stop Rail from groping his bottom.
- Knowledge Broker: Due to his role as the prince’s assistant, he has an information network and works as one of these. He mostly gives the info to Kururi and his friends for free, though.
- The Medic: His profession, besides his information gathering. He is genuinely passionate about it.
- Mr. Exposition: Being involved in the kingdom’s spy network and all, he educates the other characters on the state of the world. Sometimes just to watch arguments unfold between them for his own amusement, it seems.
- Mr. Fanservice: For female readers who are into boys love.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: After finding Kururi and Eliza alive and well after being tasked with searching for them for three years, he decides to leave it up to them whether they come back into the world or not because they seem happy. This ends up biting him in the ass, despite his good intentions.
- Single-Target Sexuality: For Kururi. When he gets a group of self-appointed Bodyguard Babes due to his popularity, he doesn’t seem interested in the slightest.
- Straight Man: He ends up serving as this after he settles down with the teasing in later volumes.
- The Tease: Really enjoys making Kururi flustered with his constant sexual harassment. It’s a majority of his dialogue up until he gets more serious.
Other Allies
Lotson
Lotson
A kind and brilliant commoner who’s Kururi’s right hand man in the Helan territory.- The Clan: He involves a lot of his family in his work, and it gets results. Being a Hypercompetent Sidekick might be In the Blood.
- Guile Hero: Connections and management skill are his super powers.
- Happily Married: To Iris’ complete and utter shock (she faints), having fallen in love with him.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: Is basically what makes the Helan territory run. At one point while depressed, it looks like Toral Helan just handed it over to him to run.
- Not So Above It All: To Kururi’s surprise, Lotson doesn’t seem bothered or worried in the slightest by him cramming Alegraden Fonteyne’s head into a jar, besides wanting to avoid stains that could anger Eliza. He then brings up searching for hot springs and hands Kururi a shovel. So much for being the normal one.
- Only Sane Man: To an extent, with everyone around him being so eccentric, he’s there to root everyone back in reality.
- Phrase Catcher: Kururi praising his supreme competence.
- Think Nothing of It: His response to Kururi’s praise. A bit like Iris, he’s reluctant to receive rewards.
- Undying Loyalty: To him, serving Kururi is an end worth pursuing no matter how much more money he could make in the capital.
Toto Gapp
Toto Gapp
An introverted nerd who loves nothing more than running biology experiments alone in the grounds greenhouses, who strikes a number of arrangements with Kururi.- The Hermit: Very introverted, seeming to only open up to Kururi, and later his two stand-ins at the Gapp corporation.
- Honest Corporate Executive: Of the Gapp corporation after the Time Skip.
- Impoverished Patrician: How he starts out, as the son of a poor baron.
- Non-Idle Rich: After he spends years building on Kururi’s investments to become a mogul, he gets his hands dirty in the labs just as much as before.
- Playing with Syringes: His experiments on his Royal Brat dorm neighbor, making him pass out, and vomit, by drugging his tea. It’s implied that those experiments never really stopped until the end of their time at the academy.
- Rags to Riches: From the son of a poor baron, to a mogul. And it all started with an anti-aging herb.
- Rich Genius: As a Self-Made Man after the Time Skip.
- Science Hero: He toes the line between this and being a Mad Scientist. Undoubtedly, Kururi was a positive influence on him as far as that distinction is concerned.
- Self-Made Man: Over the three year Time Skip. While the help from Kururi started him off, he certainly didn’t receive any help during that time, and launched one of the biggest companies in the kingdom. This is a stark contrast to the nobles who simply inherited their wealth.
- Stink Bomb: Due to the scented cloak he wears when he doesn’t want to be bothered, he’s often a walking-talking one of these.
- The Team Benefactor: Post Time Skip.
- Teen Genius: In Gonsou academy, running experiments in the herb department’s greenhouses, which he basically runs.
- The Wonka: As CEO of the Gapp corporation, he has shades of this.
- Young Entrepreneur: Making backseat business deals even before meeting Kururi.
The Radish Familiars
Radishes
”U-I!”
The spirit helpers summoned by one of Kururi’s repeatedly used magic spells. They typically resemble a limbed radish with an old man’s face stuck on it, and chant the same word over and over again in a shrill voice, while mostly following his commands.- Beneath the Earth: Their homeland. They have ambitions of becoming the dominant species down there.
- The Chew Toy: Kururi tends to take his frustrations out on them. Probably the main exception to him being an All-Loving Hero.
- Cute, but Cacophonic: Kururi can’t stand their shrill language. He thinks they’re ugly, but Iris thinks they’re cute, much to his irritation.
- Demonic Possession: Essentially do this to plant life, making for a seemingly benign example.
- Dirty Old Man: With their old man looking faces, Kururi compares them to this. When they help Iris with a farm plot, they take turns faking falling over in pain to get hugged by her, to Kururi’s jealousy. A great radish massacre ensues after she leaves for the day.
- Made a Slave: They eventually insist on enslaved humans as payment for their services. Kururi negotiates for the prisoners to have specific terms and length of service and to be treated decently. Considering Kururi’s philosophy of redemption through work, their goals align, and they become his prison keepers. Human physical strength is apparently of great aid to their homeland.
- Mind Hive: Kururi is eventually told that they all share a consciousness to a degree. They expect repayment for his past abuses in the form of human labor.
- Nature Spirit: What they seem to be. There are apparently other spirits that their underground kingdom competes with.
- One-Word Vocabulary: This is what their language sounds like it consists of. Somehow despite that, Kururi eventually learns to understand what they’re saying.
- Plant People: The form that they take, possessing plants and giving them functioning limbs, essentially.
- Summon Magic: Basically summoned to possess plant life when Kururi chants a specific spell.
- When Trees Attack: Kururi was trying to make Treants, with his summoning, but failed and got these instead. He eventually succeeds in summoning one to possess a tree, though.
Neko-Sensei
Neko-Sensei
The teacher assigned to teach magic lessons. She’s a sapient, human-sized housecat, and acts the part.- Adaptation Expansion: Gets developed more in the divergent manga adaptation, at least compared to her early novel appearances.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: When often appearing as a human, although she does it more for the benefits of men being desperate to please her.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: This really interferes with her ability to actually teach.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite all of her quirks and lack of professionalism, she is a truly talented magician.
- Deconstructed Trope: Instead of the typically mostly positive aspects of a Cat Girl, Neko-sensei is what it’d look like if a woman had all the negative traits of a cat.
- Functional Addict: Of various drugs, often supplied by Toto.
- Harmful to Minors: She really has no business being around children with her unrestrained behavior, which Kururi laments. She actually pays one of her students to grow her recreational drugs.
- Head-Turning Beauty: When she uses her human form, it literally attracts crowds of horny men.
- The Hedonist: Sleeping, fish, and drugs are what she lives for.
- Long-Lived: While not specified how long, it was long enough for her to call a certain old man young.
- Master-Apprentice Chain: With old man Moran, Kururi’s Mentor.
- Ms. Fanservice: In the manga adaptation. It’s really only one or two scenes that might qualify her for this in the novels.
- Mundane Utility: Pretty much uses her shapeshifting for this to Show Some Leg to make her life a little easier and not have to pay for things.
- Refuge in Audacity: All the bad behaviors that she casually admits to, in front of children she’s supposed to be teaching, no less.
- The Tease: With Kururi when in her human form. Her expanded role in the manga adaptation gives her more scenes of this as Fanservice.
- Verbal Tic: Ending every sentence with Nyan (Meow). As shown when Kururi takes her form, it’s apparently involuntary.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Her special magical talent, which she teaches Kururi (and attempts to teach Arc).
Poobie the Dragon
Poobie
The pet dragon gifted to Kururi, who’s bonded to him from when he was an egg. Not that Poobie really seems to care about that bond, he’s too busy partying…- Commonality Connection: Their mutual love for Eliza is the one thing he and Kururi can agree on.
- Fluffy the Terrible: A (supposedly) fearsome dragon with a cutesy name. Vaine is of the opinion that he’s potentially one of the two strongest dragons he’s ever seen, but Poobie hardly acts like it.
- The Hedonist: Kururi regrets neglecting to teach him better values in his formative months. At least he seems to pay for things… with Kururi’s money.
- Idle Rich: Basically how he spends his time not being ridden, since he’s spoiled by Kururi and Eliza (more so by Eliza). It results in a chubby dragon.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Vaine’s Training from Hell regimen serves as this for his spoiled hedonism.
- Life of the Party: A literal and figurative party-animal.
- Momma's Boy: Positive example, regarding Eliza.
- Relative Button: Anything happening to Eliza, essentially his surrogate mother, makes him become deathly serious. Probably because she spoils him more and gives him her amazing cooking. Poobie claims that if Kururi and her break up he’ll stay with her, despite the supposed imprinting process dragon eggs have for the person who carried them.
- Spoiled Brat: Petulant and selfish. Kururi just hands him wallets of money.
- Telepathy: How dragons are supposed to communicate with their bonded rider. It seems he can do it with Eliza as well. But it means some of Kururi’s less positive thoughts are also overheard by him.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: People from the Helan territory have gotten used to his drinking and partying across the lands, and he’s somewhat popular. He’s a dragon!
Eyan Deauville
Eyan Deauville
Eliza’s father, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Kudan.- The Atoner: After everything that he did that brought about and exacerbated the ruination of his family, he tries to reform under the guidance of Moran, working for the Helan government.
- Corrupt Bureaucrat: His corrupt back end dealings are extensive and noted by Kururi to be the reason for Eliza’s fall to ruin in the game. The Dartanels expose him, and his family split up, his wife going back to her home country, and Eliza making a run for Helan but collapsing from mushroom poisoning and being picked up.
- Doting Parent: With how Eliza repeatedly tells Kururi about how he’d be willing to do him in for her. His first appearance has him essentially saying that he values her more than the King.
- Hypocrite: Despite him saying Eliza’s a higher authority than the king to him, Eyan still tries to sell her off in an Arranged Marriage with someone other than Kururi to save himself. At least he blesses her marriage to Kururi later.
Toral Helan
Toral Helan
Kururi’s father, who wants nothing more than a relaxed, peaceful life in the countryside, who is incompetent as a feudal lord, but loves and dotes on his son.- The Alleged Boss: Of the Helan territory. He leaves everything that he possibly can to Kururi and/or Lotson. He eventually gives up on even pretending to govern it after its development advances far enough.
- Doting Parent: The role he seemed to play with the original Kururi, trying to keep him safe and happy. With the transmigrated Kururi, he’s sure to bring new sources of stress at every turn, but he still ultimately loves him enough to be depressed from worry about him.
- Fee Fi Faux Pas: He admits to wanting Prince Rhasa, the Spare to the Throne, to be the next king instead of Arc, the Crown Prince. Saying such is tantamount to committing treason. He’s definitely not cut out for the business of a Standard Royal Court.
- He Cleans Up Nicely: After losing weight due to depression, he becomes handsome, just like his son had.
- Hidden Depths: Actually a master painter, hired as the kingdom’s court painter after he gives up on Helan. As well, his willingness to stand up for his son.
- Lazy Bum: Had been governing his territory in benign neglect until Kururi’s developments made it too chaotic for him to handle. He uses the seeming excuse of his stomach hurting to escape whenever put into a stressful situation.
- Life Saving Misfortune: When Kururi and Eliza have a lottery to determine who will ride Kururi’s first official passenger train ride, Kururi reads his application to watch the results of his sons hard work and throws it in the trash. Considering what happens next, Toral would no doubt be grateful not to have been involved.
- Lovable Coward: He’s not portrayed as a bad person per se, just in over his head. Kururi is proud of his positive reaction to Eliza when he expected him to run clutching his stomach, and he stood up for his son when his old friend came threatening.
- Relative Button: However briefly, he Grew a Spine when his bullying classmate and current ruler of a neighboring territory threatens his son, having said noble Talk to the Fist.
- So Proud of You: For Kururi making his first passenger train, in his application to ride, which Kururi throws out. Generally, this is an Inverted Trope more than not, as Kururi is by far the more competent and responsible of the two and is glad to see his father do things for himself.
Old Man Moran
Moran
Kururi’s mentor who spends his time tending to and studying in the library of the Helan Estate, teaching Kururi magic.- The Atoner: For his past neglect of his First Love, Harp Helan.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: In his youth, being jealous of anyone who gets close to Harp. He’s mellowed out a lot since.
- Healing Hands: Wrote a medical manual that led to the creation of a new application of healing magic.
- The Lost Lenore: Harp Helan, whose death marked a major turning point in his life, making him give up his ambitions and become The Atoner.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Tragically, to his First Love Harp Helan.
- Secret-Keeper: About the true history of the Helan territory.
- Shipper on Deck: When first brought to meet Eliza by Kururi, he casually suggests he marry her, to her shock.
- Signature Laugh: He has one that he repeatedly uses.
- The Quest: He and his friend Petal have spent much of their lives on one of these to complete Harp Helan’s life’s work.
Petal
Petal
An old friend of old man Moran, and a researcher.- Childhood Friends: With Harp, and Moran, after a rocky introduction to Moran.
- Good Samaritan: Rescuing Eliza from her malnourishment and poisoned mushroom induced state.
- The Hermit: How he’s been living since the story Moran tells of their past ended. He seemed relatively well off like that.
- Verbal Tic: He basically ends every sentence with “Nari”. Which is equivalent to saying “or something” or “and stuff”.
King Kudan
King Kudan
A strange and kindly old man who Kururi plays in the bath with, who happens to be the king.- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: As good and competent as could be expected of a medieval king. But who likes playing around like a child.
- The Good King: Reasonable and level-headed as a ruler.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: His son Arc is pretty much his total opposite.
- Manchild: Based on the things he considers fun.
- Odd Friendship: With Kururi.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Trusting Kururi and doing what’s best for his people in the long term.
- Serious Business: Going through the trouble of building a secret compartment in his bath house specifically to make it easier to slide along its floor, and then describing it almost like a sport.
- Shipper on Deck: For Iris and Arc, pretty much exactly how Kururi predicted.
Antagonists
Fregen Dartanel
Fregen Dartanel
First appears attempting to kidnap Iris, and then fumes at Kururi for intervening, starting a feud between houses that lasts quite a while.- Birds of a Feather: The belligerent chickens on the farm he’s sent to get along with him because they share his temperament.
- Defeat Means Menial Labor: Cleaning chicken coops. But it’s supposed to help him become more humble and reform. Besides, Kururi tried to have him become a soldier first, but he wasn’t any good at it.
- Droit du Seigneur: Tries to force himself on Iris at the Masquerade Ball with his flunkies, but she’s a Damsel out of Distress experienced adventurer, and kicks their asses. Since Kururi was there condemning him, Fregen pretends it was he who beat him up.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Can’t get respect from anyone, as a Running Gag.
- Forgotten First Meeting: Kururi insists that he doesn’t remember him at all.
- I Was Beaten by a Girl: Insists it was Kururi who beat him up because admitting it was Iris would be too embarrassing.
- Royal Brat: A classic example. Kururi sends him to a farm to reform him.
- Unknown Rival: To Kururi. He keeps on forgetting his name and their first meeting.
Alegraden Fonteyne
Alegraden Fonteyne
The fabulously wealthy competitor to the Gapp corporation who comes to Kururi’s land rudely demanding a monopoly on medical supplies so he can jack up the prices, and receives an appropriate reply.- An Offer You Can't Refuse: His “offer” to Kururi under threat of military force.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: It was refusing to touch Eliza’s potatoes that was his final nail in the coffin.
- Conspicuous Consumption: Covers his carriage and body in precious gems. And that’s before mentioning his eating habits.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: In contrast to his competitor Gapp’s Honest Corporate Executive Toto.
- Fat Bastard: Who needs carried out of his carriage by servants.
- Jabba Table Manners: How he eats his meat dishes.
- Merchant Prince: He seems to be the descendant of one, with none of their talent and all of their money, who can only grow his profits by setting up monopoly arrangements.
- Picky Eater: Only eats meat.
- Verbal Tic: Ending his sentences with "foo". Which Kururi mocks him for.
- Villainous Glutton: His archetype.
The Spunky Diamonds
The Spunky Diamonds
A group of four sibling assassins sent by Brau Dartanel to kill Kururi. The name wasn’t of their choosing.- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After being captured. The sister even flirts with Kururi.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Given a plot of land and serving as Kururi’s special forces ever since.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Given to them to mock them, but they stuck with it.
- Hired Guns: Essentially, ninjas for hire. Until Kururi dominates them.
- McNinja: They seem quite ninja-esque in their methods.
- Sibling Team: Three brothers and a sister.
- Status Buff: One of them cast a buff that healed their wounds and turned them monstrous.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Had been hired quite a lot by the Dartanel household around the capitol. They proceed to spend years robbing them after Kururi recruits them.
Salman
Salman
The secessionist leader in Amirale Kingdom’s civil war, and partially responsible for Curroshi being sent into hiding in Kudan.- Adaptation Expansion: The manga adaptation develops him a lot more than the dozen or so paragraphs of reference he has gotten in the novels, involving Kururi staying in Amirale and both learning about him and negotiating with him.
- Evil Counterpart: In some ways, he is this for Kururi, very much highlighted in the manga adaptation’s original material (where how he governs his territory is similar to how Kururi governs his).
- Punny Name: His name sounds like Salmon, and the Amirale Kingdom is known for its fish.
- Merchant Prince: Seems to be a talented one of these, what with his innovative technologies and being able to hold off the royal family.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Sending one of his Magitek cannons to the Dartanel family and getting it intercepted by Kururi’s agents, ends up giving Kururi a huge boost in technological power. Sending assassins against Kururi also helps expose his plots together with the Dartanels.
Other
Prince Love
Prince Love
The obnoxious visiting neigboring fifth prince who barges into Kururi’s estate demanding a deal to boost his chances of succeeding the throne.- The Chew Toy: Suffers for our amusement.
- Here We Go Again!: Begins and ends a chapter being knocked unconscious and spewing out drool.
- Malicious Misnaming: As "Prince Lamb" or "Prince Ram" by Kururi.
- Politeness Judo: Kururi chides himself for falling for this in negotiations with him after having been essentially forgiven, then prompted to give more.
- Rail Enthusiast: What prompted him to come to Kururi, and after taking a ride in one, demanding one for himself.
