Characters for Fun Territory Defense By The Optimistic Lord. Spoilers may be unmarked.
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Seat Village
Van Nei Fertio
Father, I would like to learn of the local politics and world setting.
The Protagonist. He was originally an unnamed 30-year-old salaryman whose only "reward" from whatever company hired him was just to dump more work and responsibility on him until he apparently died in his sleep. He reincarnates into the 2-year-old fourth child and fourth son of the Marquis Fertio family. His father was quite impressed with the boy being a prodigy, mastering the sword and scholarly ways for the next six years, until he turned 8, at which point a magical appraisal revealed he had the "useless" magical talent [Production Magic]. He would have been executed on the spot except that his oldest brother, the heir, suggested he be sent to a backwater village as a local governor. The Marquis, seeing this as a usefull Uriah Gambit, agreed, giving Van a chance, ordering the boy to leave quietly without fanfare. The head butler Espada decided to "retire" and follow along, Van's personal maid Till won lots to go with him from the household staff, and Dee, the top knight, openly disobeyed orders to have Van leave town in a glorious parade and then stayed with him all the way to the village. Of course, his personal slave Cassim happily went along.- Ambiguously Bi: Though puberty hasn't hit him yet, he likes being surrounded by women, especially the Fertio family maids, calling them "cute" and he openly blushes with pleasure in response to Cassim's Homoerotic Subtext.
- Arranged Marriage: Several.
- The daughter of a merfolk chieftan follows the battle against a swarm of Armored Dragons, the same ones who drove them out of their native lands and from which they were hiding. She confirms that Van's village defeated the beasts and proclaims herself his fiancé by tribal law. Her father, the chief, makes it official, despite Van saying "no," and Van has to set up a lake for the tribe to live in. In gratitude, they offer a dowry of some "rare stones" that happen to be pure orihalcum.
- Upon hearing of Van's village turned fortress, the neighboring count gets nervous, fearing armed invasion, and sends his own "useless" daughter to be Van's bride. When Van praises her "despicable" [Puppetry Magic] talent, she's ecstatic and happily moves in.
- Assassin Outclassin': He twice is set upon by soldiers engaged in high treason by trying to break into his sleeping quarters as he is marching with King Dino's army as part of the counter-attack against Jienretta. The would be assassins manage to flee the first time in the middle of the night. The second time, they were foolish enough to attack Van's sleeping chamber, set up in an underground maze right beneath the king's own bed, in a secluded basement under the fancy building Van set up for King Dino. Van wakes up the next morning after the failed attack to find that Panerma's knights had captured them all. King Dino was quite displeased.
- Baths Are Fun: He so enamored with bathing that it's almost a fetish. Whenever he's tasked with setting up a base, he will prioritize setting up bathing facilities given the opportunity. Soldiers and nobles alike appreciate it and Seat Village residents, regardless of rank or profession, consider his village Paradise on Earth as a result.
- Bathtub Bonding: Justified. After facing several attempts on his life while marching with the Scudetta army, he is quite wary of going into the shared bath with the king's army, since he's nine years old at that point in time, so he asks to bathe with Panamera, the only one present he can trust. For her part, Panamera finds the whole thing rather amusing and agrees, ribbing him mercilessly.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He is a total people pleaser, but he's also a terrifyingly competent strategist and tactician, who repeatedly puts forward winning strategies without allied casualties, even when greatly outnumbered and disadvantaged. Then there's the fact that he can whip out fortresses and superior equipment at an incredible pace. Even King Dino is rightly scared of offending him and keeps things as friendly as possible.
- Blatant Lies: When he's asked by his two elder brothers Yard and Sesto why he's not heading to the front lines on the most recent push into Jienretta, rather than list his already impressive list of accomplishments, Van goes "I have to stay and protect my underdeveloped city or it might fall." Both Yard and Sesto look at the impressive fortress walls and mounted ballista and go "yeah, right", at which point Van strokes their ego by stating that his city is nowhere near as impressive as the cities he heard they're in charge of. They both laugh and puff themselves off and then start grumbling out of earshot because they can't admit that they both brought their respective cities to the brink of ruin by mismanagement.
- Declining Promotion: When the king, realizing the potential of his talent, offers him a cabinet post, Van declines, because he loves his back-water village and the people therein, and they love him in return.
- Do Well, But Not Perfect: A non-videogame example, and deconstructed. He tries to walk the tightrope of not offending his proud Marquis father by being a prodigy while avoiding being a target of envy and being seen as a threat by his two middle brothers. When he came back appraised with the talent [Production Magic], the two middle brothers, both talented [Fire Mage]s openly scorned him, and he was gratefull that his eldest brother suggested he be sent to a backwater village in the latter's control.
- He tries it again with the run-down border village, trying to grow prosperous enough to be comfortable while still remaining Beneath Notice. When he has to fight a swarm of 40 Armored Dragons, this plan flies out the window as winning the fight is such a huge accomplishment that there's no way to hide it.
- Easy Logistics: Downplayed. Sure, he has no Grid Inventory to help him carry supplies around, but the fact that he can build fortresses almost literally in the blink of an eye from whatever materials happen to be nearby has been a constant game-changer in the war with Jienretta. And that's not taking into account the quality of the weapons, armor, and ammunition he always builds in his spare time.
- Food as Bribe: A recurring theme is that he offers good food to win over the favor of others.
- He wins over the maids in the Fertio mansion with sweets.
- He is on-screen using cookies and other treats to bribe Cassim into going to Dee's sword-training in his place when he feels like playing hooky.
- He gets the very nervous and shy Apkulla (merfolk) girl who stumbles onto the moat to his village to talk to him by offering her fresh fruits and the meat of the armored dragons his village recently hunted. This one backfires because the fact that it's meat of armored dragons causes her to bring her entire village to speak with him, and he winds up being forced into an arranged marriage with her.
- He wins over Panamera and her knights by welcoming them with a barbeque.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: His [Production Magician] talent is itself not useful on the battlefield, but the tools and weapons he makes are excellent force multipliers. By building some ballista early on, he and his village of farmers are able to fend off a swarm of 40 Armored Dragons, without a single allied casualty.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: In the battle of Scudetto, he and his troops faced off against a Jiernetta army, with complete areal superiority and the capability of areal bombardment, outnumbered at least 100 to 1, and still managed to take out most, if not all, of the wyvern corps, decimated the enemy army, rescued the fleeing civilians and wounded survivors of the Scudetto forces, and took the pressure off his father's troops with a very effective tactical retreat, putting the pursuing enemy through a meat grinder, without a single casualty, and still considers that a loss.
- Imagination-Based Superpower: What makes his [Production Magician] talent so powerful is that it's fueled by his imagination. Considering he brings with him the advanced tech of modern Earth, he can do things most people can't, but it does have downsides. He once held in hand some raw orihalcum as a result of his merfolk fiancé's tribe offering it up as a dowry. He imagined making a sword out of it because the king, who was visiting, was gobsmacked with the gift and was trying to puzzle out how to get a diplomatic message to the dwarves. Van winds up with an incredibly ornate sword in hand without really thinking about it, shocking the king.
- Just a Kid: Many people, friend and foe alike, completely underestimate him because he's an 8-year-old boy, and think word of his accomplishments is a sick joke... until they see him in action and are either jaw agape, turn pale with horror, or both.
- Killer Rabbit: He's an adorable little boy, but he's also a talented swordsman who can beat most adults in a straight up fight and has [Production Magic] so powerful, it's a total game-changer, allowing him to defeat monsters way above his weight class with ridiculous ease.
- Missing Mom: His mother died when he was very young, presumably of illness. His father remembers her fondly and is grateful the woman gave him four promising sons.
- Necessary Drawback: He can only be in one place at a time, and there is a limit to how much he can work on at once. Materials that are especially resistant to magic can also drain even his legendary mana reserves.
- Nice to the Waiter: The reason all the maids in the Fertio mansion adore him is that he doted on them with sweets and other treats and helped them with the chores, like cleaning and laundry.
- Prince Charming: Although he comes from a Duke house, not royalty, he is well loved by prince and pauper alike because he's a total sweetheart who treats everyone with respect until he's given a reason not to.
- Reluctant Warrior: He hates warfare and tried to decline being sent to the front lines dealing with an invading army, but the situation was too dire for the king to grant this request. He is instead ordered to head there after having a month to prepare his provisions and properly armed and armored carriages, especially the spanking new ballista MK III Van was working on. Van arrives at the city, expected to last a siege at least three times that long only to find it already conquered, and all he could do was hold off the enemy to allow the civilians to escape.
- Serious Business: He's normally a guy who wouldn't harm a flea unless he has no choice, but he will go to war if he has to for a good bath and good food, even asking King Dino Scuderia for a line of territory to the Jenrietta coast as part of the war effort, if he can get the exotic spices he needs to make curry. The king, who had been racking his brains to find an appropriate reward, laughs in glee at learning Van's needs are so simple and ordinary.
- Slave Liberation: Of the "buy them and free them" variety, out of Enlightened Self-Interest. When the war with Jienretta begins to really heat up and he finds his village needing more people, not only does he use his merchant connections to hold recruitment drives, he also buys up debt and criminal slaves guilty of minor offenses to staff his village and army, and he offers freedom to the especially talented in exchange for fealty and aid in territory development. The slaves in question see this as paradise. He doesn't recruit war-slaves, at the advice of the merchants, due to the very real risk of betrayal.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: When the operation to retake Scudetto fortress is underway and he's sent ballista, catapult, and trebuchet, he plans to give the main weapons to the soldiers for free, but sell the ammo at what he believes to be exorbitant prices, even developing a nice psychotic smirk. When he's informed that the prices he posited are an incredible bargain instead, since he never considered labor costs, and he's praised for his (non-existent) benevolence, he just laughs weakly, too ashamed to raise the prices.
- Technology Marches On: In universe. After having to face a dragon, Van realizes his ballista could use an upgrade, especially anti-air. So he develops an experimental javelin launcher. When a hostile foreign power decides to invade, expecting a weak, undeveloped village, the army and wyvern air-corp learn, to their horror, how it feels to have a flak cannon rain debris down on them.
- Uncle Penny Bags: He has developed his village and its adventurers too well, so when King Dino makes Seat Village the launch point for the kingdom's counter-attack, rather than Scudetto fortress, all van has to do is provide shelter for the top brass. He's got so much meat from the dungeon monsters and wild beasts attacking his village on the daily in storage, that he can feed the 50,000 + man army with the left-overs that would have otherwise spoiled. To make this trope even more appropriate, the meat would be considered a delicacy elsewhere as it comes from (supposedly rare) and powerful monsters.
- Unique Protagonist Asset: Most [Production Magician]s would be utter failures, as they could only make goods inferior to others using non-magical means, and not very often at that. Van not only has access to modern tech, like pressure treated lumber, and nanofibers, which makes the wooden blocks he uses as material harder than steel and the steel he works with harder than mithril, but he has near infinite mana, allowing him to make houses in minutes and convert the earth walls Espada makes into genuine walls in seconds. Thus allowing him to change the village he was given from a run-down backwater village to a viable fortress in less than a week.
- Universally Beloved Leader: Everyone who knows and works for Van loves him.
- The entire Fertio house staff held a lottery to see who would go with him to the new village. Till won and gives him a lot of Ship Tease.
- Cassim swore Undying Loyalty after being rescued from slavery or worse by being purchased at full marked value from his own Abusive Dad and raised as a bodyguard.
- The townspeople of Fertio territory's capital city held a parade as he was heading off, sad to see him go.
- The adventurers hired to be his bodyguards on route to the village not only escorted him to the village, and helped repel a bandit attack at the village, over half of them stuck around, just because they like him, despite being a noble.
- The villagers are so grateful he rescued them from the bandit attack, they serve him unconditionally, and were willing to lay down their lives when the Armored Dragons attacked. After the dragons were defeated, and their dilapidated homes were repaired, they have no qualms going to the battlefield, and even spared the attacking bandits that surrendered, though Van promised said bandits would still be held accountable under the law.
- Utility Party Member: Downplayed. He can handle a sword better than many adults, but his primary contribution with [Production Magic] is to build the tools and weapons the actual fighters use, such as the ballista his fortress city sport on the battlements.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Which is lampshaded on a repeated basis. Many characters comment on how savvy and responsible he is despite being at the tender age of 8. He does occasionally slip and show a childish side as well, which just serves to make everybody like him.
- Young and in Charge: At 8, he is in charge of developing a frontier village turned fortress.
Till
Van's personal maid.
- Actually Pretty Funny: When Van captures Freightliner, another Jienretta prince, and goes "seriously, it's not like I'm collecting princes," Till tries, and fails, to hold back her laughter.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: She's very fond of Van because he treats her like an equal despite he being the son of a noble and she being a maid in his service. When Van was 2, she was fond of trolling him by playing "keep away" with his wooden sword. The rest of the maids held her to task for Lesé Majesté and demanded she be punished. Van "punished" her by flicking his forehead with his index finger (manga) or a couple of swats to her bum with said wooden sword (web novel). Considering she could and would have been legally killed if it were anyone else, she's insanely grateful and loyal, and wouldn't mind being one of his bed-partners when he comes of age.
- Cleavage Window: Her maid outfit is very conservative, hiding most of the skin on her body below the neck, except for her cleavage. Nobody seems to notice.
- The Jailbait Wait: Although she's of too low a station to even consider asking for Van's hand in marriage, there's a lot of ship-tease, but he's a prepubescent, so she's willing to wait until he's of age to be one of his love interests.
- Like Brother and Sister: Which Van lampshades in chapter 5, where he explicitly calls her a Cool Big Sis and doesn't want her to die to bandits.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: When Van's middle brothers show up in Seat Village and scorn his accomplishments as "just dumb luck" at stumbling onto a literal gold-mine, Till forgets her station and lays into both of them that the village's prosperity is the result of talent and hard work, and in fact, Van was dealt a very crappy hand. Before the two clods can take Till to task, along comes Viscount Panamera and King Dino, who take Van's side.
- Satellite Character: Sadly, she doesn't get any characterization aside from the fact that she follows Van around.
Dee
The (former) top knight in the Fertio House. When Van is basically exiled to a no-name backwater village to be forgotten, he openly disobeys orders to not only organize a parade in Van's honor, but abandons his post to escort Van to the village and then stays with Van.
- Blatant Lies: He tells Van during the parade, on route to the backwater village, and once he decides to stay at the village that he "forgot" or "never received" orders from Jalpa Fertio outright forbidding him to have anything to do with Van. He's not fooling anybody.
- Innocently Insensitive: He's a real freak of nature in terms of strength, stamina, and sword-skill, but he never quite realizes just how above everyone else he is, and has to frequently have it pointed out to him when the people who are trying to keep up start dropping like flies.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Both figuratively and literally. Yes, he's a knight who wears well-polished platemail, but he also embodies the virtues to which knights aspire.
- Master Swordsman: He is famous as the most talented of the swordsmen in the Fertio territory.
- Mentor Archetype: He trains both Van and Cassim in the way of the sword, personally.
Espada
The top butler in the Fertio house. Formerly a front-line general, he retired from the front lines to be the Fertio family's butler and became Van's personal tutor. When Van was sent to the back-water village, he retired from being a butler to "relax in a quaint village."
- Battle Butler: He is very skilled in both being a butler and being a war-mage.
- Cultured Badass: He is a powerful earth-mage and is impeccable with elegance and proper etiquette.
- Dishing Out Dirt: He has the [Earth Magician] talent and is very skilled with it as a four-star mage.
- The Good Chancellor: Although Van is a powerful fighter in his own right, despite being 8, and has knowledge of modern tech to make superior weapons, defenses, and homes, chances are good Van would still fail if Espada wasn't around to advise him.
- Hidden Badass: Even Jalpa, despite being his superior and a powerful martial talent with many accomplishments, did not dare to talk back to him when he made his mind up on a course of action and began with the lectures.
- High-Class Glass: He wears a monocle to highlight his elegance and discipline.
- Loophole Abuse: He's able to use his advanced years as an excuse to resign from his butler duties and follow Van to the village where he was assigned.
- Retired Badass: Twice retired. He retired from the front lines to become a butler and mentor, and then retired from being a butler to follow Van to his new village.
- Stern Teacher: When he appointed himself to be Van's tutor, he never let the boy slack off and put him to very high standards.
Cassim
A young boy Van witnesses being dragged along by a leash to the Marie store by his own father. The man was trying to sell this boy using "debt slavery" and beating the poor kid every time he wouldn't go for a price he considered fitting. Van buys the kid at the price of 5 large silver coins, intending to free him, but with Cassim having nowhere to go, and not being allowed to be brought home unless he's a personal slave, Van takes him to the Marie company to formalize the slave contract.
- Amazon Chaser: In addition to liking Panamera because she's considerably older, he really appreciates how well-toned, fit, and powerful she is.
- Ambiguously Brown: His ethnicity is unknown but his skin tone is considerably darker than his own father's.
- Angst Coma: When he's first introduced in the story, he's sporting a thousand-yard stare and is completely unresponsive to whatever abuse his father heaped upon him. When he's purchased by Van, offered a helping hand off the ground and has several high-class servant outfits purchased on his behalf, he lights up like a candle.
- Happiness in Slavery: He's proud of being Van's slave as not only is he a beloved servant, but serving as Van's body-guard is a huge step up from the life he lived under his Abusive Dad.
- Homoerotic Subtext: When he swears loyalty to Van on route to the village, later called Seat Village, his profession sounds like a Love Confession. Van is rightly embarrassed but ecstatic.
- Likes Older Women: His ideal woman is Panamera, who is over twice his age (her 30 to his 12).
- Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: His magical talent is [Steal] but he's no thief and has never stolen anything.
- Spell My Name With An S: His name changes greatly between chapters. He's been called "Cassim," "Kassim," "Kashim," "Cashim," "Kathim," "Kamshin," and son.
- Undying Loyalty: He is so devoted to Van that he'd offer up his life, happily, if need be.
Lada Priora
Your marriage, I accept it!
An Abgallu (Mermaid) girl who investigates Van's newly constructed lake and makes contact with him when he offers her fruits and meat from the Armored Dragons that the village defeated less than a week prior. After learning Van's responsible for defeating those lizards who have caused many deaths among her people, she swims back and informs her tribe. In return, her father, the chief, hands over her hand in marriage, and refuses to hear Van say "no."- Arranged Marriage: Her father promises Van her hand in marriage in exchange for defeating the Armored Dragons and granting the tribe safe harbor in his artificially made lake. Van was just being neighborly and defeated the lizards in self-defense, but the chief insists, no matter how much Van refuses.
- Cheerful Child: She's a very sweet and happy child.
- Children Are Innocent: She's a sweet girl without a trace of malice.
- The Not-Love Interest: She's betrothed to Van, but doesn't care. She greets him by calling him "Mr. Husband" and then just swims away before he can respond.
Viscount Panamera Karrera Kein
Ohh! If only you were a bit older, I wouldn't mind marrying you myself, Van Ein Fertio!
A knight serving under the Ferdinand House. She earned her noble title by merit, directly from the king. She is assigned as the bodyguard to the Ferdinand's "useless" daughter as the little girl is shipped off to Van's village for an Arranged Marriage. After Van has passed a few tests of character, and the little girl shows herself to be happy in the village, she approves of the pending marriage. She plays an integral part in defending the village turned fortress from a dragon attack and getting the king's attention on the village when she goes and makes the unbelievable report.- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: She loves to give Arut headpats, doing it instinctively. Arut appreciates it because the best she could hope for from her own parents was apathy, and the headpats show her that Panamera cares.
- Brutal Honesty: When she's in preliminary talks with Van, she minces no words about how she's scouting the village, and him, to try and learn Van's true intent regarding Ferdinand house interests.
- Entertainingly Wrong: When she's sent to Van's village, Arut in tow, she and her employer, Count Ferdinand, presumed Van was sent to the backwater village as a prelude to armed invasion, and the fact that the run-down village with only a large wooden fence as a defense was turned into an impressive fortress in under a month means that Van has, at a minimum, a 5000 man army somehow going undetected, which makes them both very, very nervous. Van goes on to demonstrate that she's wrong by having her watch as he erects a pre-planned fortress wall in moments and then reveals that he was effectively banished by his father for the "crime" of daring to have a magic other than the [Four Elements] and his butler Espada is "retired" and Dee, the knight, is actually AWOL.
- Expy: She's apparently modeled after Esdeath from Akame ga Kill!. A master swordsman who is also a master of ice magic? Check. Is romantically interested in a guy much younger than herself? Check. Genuinely treasures her charge and subordinates? Check. She even dresses like Esdeath. The only thing missing is that she's not a sadistic social darwinist and torture technician. At least not on screen.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: A lock of hair hides half her face. It's purely a fashion choice as what's underneath has been shown when she's in motion, looking upwards, or wind blows the hair off her face, and her face lacks any deformity aside from a small scar on her chin, ironically on the side that her hair doesn't cover.
- An Ice Person: She wields ice-based magic.
- Lady of War: Beautiful, elegant, deadly.
- Magic Knight: She's talented in sword play and ice-based magic.
- Master Swordsman: She can rival Dee in pure swordsmanship.
- Mrs. Robinson: She's 30+ and she's interested romantically in a prepubescent child, though even in this medieval setting, that's still a no-no. Though she did say she will wait 5 years before she will make a move on him.
- Parental Substitute: Since Arut's own parents couldn't be bothered to treat the little girl as more than a trophy on a good day, Arut sees her as a mother figure for treating her kindly, but strictly, and giving her plenty of head-pats.
- Playing with Fire: When ice-magic won't cut it, she can also use fire-based magic.
Arut Ann Ferdinand
Wait.. so he's like me?!
The youngest daughter of the Ferdinand house and considered either "useless" (Manga) or "unfilial" (novel) for awakening the maligned [Puppetry Magic] talent commonly associated with assassins, spies, and the wyvern knights of a hostile foreign power known to use said magic on enslaved wyverns and other monsters in warfare, all hardly fitting for an "esteemed" aristocrat. She is very nervous about her pending marriage to one Van Nei Fertio since her parents treated her like crap and she was rightly afraid they were trying to get rid of her while keeping their own hands clean, the only comfort she had was being escorted by Panamera. She grows to love Van and the village when she learns the boy is very much like her and everyone in the village cheers on her display of the puppetry magic her parents maligned, especially after it's instrumental in taking down a dragon.- Abusive Parents: Her mother slaps her in the face for daring to work hard at mastering her gods' given talent and trying to earn her praise. Her father locks her up in her room as an embarrassment, on an especially good day.
- Ambiguously Bi: She always blushes like crazy and has steam come out the top of her head whenever the pending marriage to Van comes up in conversation, as she can't help but think that sex with van is going to be an integral part of being married. When she walks in on Panamera changing and sees the latter in her underwear, she blushes just as hard. It's hard to tell if she likes girls too or if Panamera is just that sexy.
- Battle Couple: Amazingly. She joins Van on the battlefield with her puppets while Van's army provides ranged attacks with ballista, catapults, and experimental trebuchet, and Van himself watches her back with his impressive swordsmanship. Her [Puppetry Magic] is a game-changer.
- Birds of a Feather: She bonds with Van because the two are very, very similar in circumstances and talent.
- Delicate and Sickly: She's always had a very weak constitution, making her unable to laugh, play, sing, or dance, but she can use her [Puppetry Magic] to have dolls, regardless of size, make very elegant and delicate movements in her stead.
- Gilded Cage: In her parent's house, she was surrounded by luxury, but she could not enjoy it, since she was treated like an eyesore, locked up in her room. In Van's backwater village, she's ecstatic mingling with the commoners without those trappings of luxury, because she's treated with kindness and gratitude.
- Green-Eyed Monster: She viewed Van with envy and resentment for apparently being doted on by his family for his talent, until she learned the truth, that he was maligned and outcast by the family head "as a disappointment" due to bias against his particular magic talent, just like her.
- Hard Work Hardly Works: Played with. She worked day and night to master her special talent and the result was getting slapped in the face and insulted by her mother. She uses the fruit of her labors to help fight a dragon in her new home and put on a show during the celebration, to a cheering crowd.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Her parents had always treated her with derision for being sickly, and it only escalated when she awakened her [Puppetry Magic] talent, with her mother slapping her in the face for daring to actually work hard at getting proficient in it. This magic allows her to control a mitrhil golem strong enough to both rescue Panamera and hold a dragon in place a few precious seconds until Van's ballista regiment can kill the thing by riddling it with holes.
- Loophole Abuse: When her family's territory comes under attack by the Jienretta army, Van offered to go and help, not only because he wants Arut happy, but because the army would come knocking on his door next. Arut refuses the aid because it would put King Dino in a bad place, either deny Van his just reward, or take even more territory from the Ferdinand House to give to Van. But, since Arut and Van aren't married yet, there would be no issue with a member of the Ferdinand family defending her home town, so she goes with an elite group of Seat Village adventurers, who have no fealty to any lord, on paper. After the adventurers take down the wyverns using ballista on an armored carriage, Arut takes on the counter-attacking army of 10,000 infantry and cavalry with her puppets, completely destroying them with minimal ballista support.
- Loved by All: Not only is she greatly admired in Van's territory, but even her parent's territory adores her, singing her praises when she met with the local governor before driving out the Jienretta armies. The adventurers escorting her were already on the fence about their beliefs regarding nobles when they served under Van, and were convinced to reconsider their opinions greatly when they see her at work protecting territory that would have never been hers, even though her own parents disowned her, being willing to go to the front lines herself!
- Marionette Master: She fights by controlling the puppets Van builds for her and their presence is decisive. With pure mithril puppets being too magic resistant for her, Van builds some of compressed lumber with mithril armor for her. She is so proficient that when she accompanies Van to the battlefield, her puppets get the majority of kills.
- Official Couple: As far as Van's concerned, she's already his wife, they just haven't had the ceremony yet, and he has no hesitation admitting it, leaving her both ecstatic and embarrassed.
- One-Woman Army: Using the puppets Van provides for her, she repeatedly goes up against and defeats armies of Jiernetta, all by herself.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: If there's anything her parents did right, it's shipping her off to be betrothed to Van, as he genuinely dotes on her and makes her happy and she reciprocates. With both of them having so much in common, the union is bound to be long and fruitful.
- Sickening Sweethearts: Van loves to dote on her because he finds her cute and truly understands just how versatile her talent is. She dotes on him right back because she appreciates being appreciated.
- The Unfavorite: The rest of her siblings apparently had no complaints growing up and are all married by the time she's introduced, as a 10-year-old child locked up in her room for the "failure" of things beyond her control.
- "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Growing up, all she ever wanted was her parent's time, attention, and praise, working hard at mastering her [Puppetry Magic] to give her parents a show. She was slapped in the face as a result and locked up in her room, treated like an eyesore, until the family needed some way to curry favor with the new lord of a village on the border with their territory, and she was shipped off to a marriage she didn't ask for. She gets the approval she always wanted from the village and her prospective husband, leaving her ecstatic.
- When She Smiles: In Van's village, everyone loves her smile, and Van himself will go to extraordinary lengths to see it.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: She's almost as good a strategist as Van, and he was trained in reading, writing, math, governance, and warfare since age 2. When Van, Til, and Arut are at a round table conference regarding the war with Jienretta, and Jalpa's mysterious absence from the front lines, sending Yard and Sesto in his place, Arut posits the fact that Jienretta might, just might, be pressuring the supposedly neutral country of Shelba to allow troops to march through and attack the Fertio territory. Murica, when the border fortress he's running comes under attack, comes to the same conclusion in a meeting with King Dino.
Fertio Territory
Murica Elago Fertio
Father, why not send Van to a village in my territory that really needs a Lord. Even if it's just a pretext, it will allow our knights to go and inspect the area.
The oldest of the Fertio siblings. He steps in and stops Van from being executed for the "failure" of getting the [Production Magic] talent instead of the [Fire mage] talent their father was expecting.- Blow You Away: He inherited his grandfather's "inferior" [Wind Magic] talent, to his father's disgust, but he's a talented administrator, so he gets to be the heir.
- Cain and Abel: He's one of the two Abels to the second and third brothers being Cains.
- Lesser of Two Evils: He is able to get his father to stand down and disarm by proposing a Uriah Gambit in lieu of an execution. Van is grateful for the opportunity to run a village rather than face execution, enslavement, permanent disfigurement by having his tongue cut out, or all of the above.
- So Proud of You: He's always been in awe of Van's unprecedented talent, but when the king takes Jalpa to task for looking down on and ignoring Van's achievements, Murica loses all composure, laughing and crying in joy and pride of his youngest brother.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: He and Arut, despite having very different upbringings, and being several days by horse apart, come to the same conclusion regarding Jienretta's long-term strategy of a two-pronged attack.
- Tears of Joy: When he learns from the king that the rumors of being a dragon-slayer are true, he breaks down weeping and laughing.
Jalpa Pul Alti Fertio
The father of Van and his three brothers.
- Abusive Dad: Sure, he sings words of praise to his children when they're useful, and was very supportive of Van for 6 years, due Van to being a prodigy who quickly picked up the way of the sword from Dee, the top knight, and was a master scholar under Espada's tutoring, almost simultaneously, despite starting at the age of 2, but his normal interactions with his sons is apathy and the instant Van got the magic talent [Production Magic] through means beyond his control, he drew his sword and tried to strike down an 8-year-old child "to erase the shame of his house" only stopping because Murica suggested Van be sent on a Uriah Gambit instead as a sweet Pretext for War.
- He's also emotionally and verbally abusive to Murica, giving the poor guy a serious inferiority complex by yelling at him for being "slow" and "incompetent" whenever things go wrong.
- Ambition Is Evil: He is a kinslayer. He killed at least one of his brothers to gain his noble title. The circumstances have yet to be revealed, but the narrative states he doesn't want his own sons to do the same to each other.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Starting the story as a Marquis, becoming a Duke over the 6 years of Van's life, and a man who would strike down his children without a second thought the instant they're of no use to him.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: As he's headed to Scudetto, and getting all the reports of Van's achievements, he thinks back to the day he basically exiled his son and wonders just why the entire household staff petitioned to go with the boy, unable to comprehend the concept of "soft power," only seeing Van as an embarrassment for his "disappointing" [Production Magic] talent, accustomed to getting his way purely by obvious and flashy martial might.
- Head-in-the-Sand Management: The reason he never realizes just how exceptional Van is is that he can' be bothered. The only time he interacts with his family as a whole is sitting at the dinner table and going "what did you do today?" When word of Van's achievements reaches him, he goes "preposterous" and completely ignores it, because it flies in the face of his preconceived notions and never bothers to investigate, until the king himself takes him to task and he's forced to face the truth.
- Hypocrite: He arrives at Scudetto after the fortress city has fallen, too late to do anything but attempt to rescue the defending soldiers and civilians fleeing areal bombardment. When Murica shows up shortly afterward, too late to contribute, thanks to Van's troops drawing all the enemy's aggro, he takes out all his frustrations on Murica, calling him "slow" and "incompetent" for being delayed in gathering troops from the distant parts of his territory, a task Jalpa himself gave him!
- Averted in one respect. Jalpa resents Dee for abandoning his post and going off to join Van's village. Yet, he never goes after Van for it because it's common in the kingdom of Scuderia for nobles to poach knights from each other with better job conditions, and Jalpa has done it himself. He grudgingly admits that Dee has traded up when he sees how prosperous Seat village is with his own eyes.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: His act of unmitigated cruelty in basically exiling Van in lieu of execution, for something outside the boy's control, puts Van at the place where his talent is of optimal strategic and tactical deployment in the war against the neighboring Jienretta Empire that has repeatedly launched attacks against the Scudetto fortress, and are hell-bent on taking down the kingdom where Van lives.
- On route to the Jienretta border, he begins having concerns that King Dino would reward Van's accomplishments by taking more of the Fertio territory and giving it to Van. So he conspires with a couple of subordinate aristocrats to sabotage the shelters Van provided the army and slander Van by calling them defective to begin with. This prompts King Dino to send a fast horse with a summons for Van to investigate. Not only is the matter of the "defective" shelters is soon forgotten, seeing as Van paved the roads on the way, but Van is tasked with building a fortress to counter the Jienretta's border fortress, and does so right in the face of the enemy army, and succeeds despite coming under heavy fire.
- Parental Hypocrisy: When he's sending Yard and Sesto to Seat Village, where the Scuderia armies are gathering for the final push into Jienretta, he tells them what to expect and about Van's accomplishments. When his two favored sons react to the news the same way he did, he lectures them with "don't be stupid."
- Stupid Evil: Despite the fact that his youngest son Van is well-known and well-loved by the people of his territory and is a Badass Bookworm, he shooed out the priest doing the appraisal and immediately went for his sword to strike the boy down when the kid came back with an appraisal that was something other than the [Fire Magician] or any elemental magic he was expecting.
- Ungrateful Bastard: He responds to being rescued from certain annihilation via areal bombardment, because Van's troops drew aggro with very effective hit and run tactics, not with gratitude but with humiliation that the Jiernetta Empire finds someone else a bigger threat than himself.
- Would Hurt a Child: Considering he was planning to strike down his youngest son as a "disappointment" until Murica suggested sending the kid on a Uriah Gambit instead, oh yes he would.
- You Are Too Late: To his credit, the fall of Scudetto, the fortress city he was sent to protect, happened before he arrived, and he adapted to the Jiernetta's areal bombardment with aplomb, rescuing the civilians and injured with minimal casualties.
Yard Gai Fertio and Sesto Ele Fertio
The second and third born sons of Jalpa respectively.
- Cain and Abel: The two Cains of the family.
- The Dividual: They travel around as a matched set.
- Driven by Envy: They have always hated Van for being a prodigy that could challenge their self-perceived superiority, but Van's Do Well, But Not Perfect stance had him just low enough in their eyes that they didn't see him as a threat, or chances are good they would have killed him. They didn't hesitate to gloat when they learned of his "unfortunate" [Production Magic] talent and seeing him sent off to a backwater village to be forgotten.
- Fatal Flaw: Arrogance, Sloth, and Entitlement. Since their father favors them for their ability to wield fire magic, they are very haughty and with said magic at their disposal, they are also lazy and entitled. They are never seen training with the sword or practicing to use their talents in the most efficient manner. To compound it all, they are extremely disliked by the commoners they love to stare down their noses at and expect the best life has to offer for the least amount of effort from their part.
- Miles Gloriosus: They love to brag about their self-perceived superiority, but the reality does not match their boasts. When Van is commanded by the king to head to a border city being attacked by a hostile foreign power, Van, following the time-table the king gave him, finds the city already conquered, and all he can do is help the civilians evacuate. Despite these two brothers already being there and being helped by their father.
- Money Dumb: During the year that Van was turning what would later be known far and wide as Seat Village from a broken-down and about to be annihilated backwater village into a thriving metropolis and trade hub, both of these "talented" sons were each given one of the most prosperous cities in the Fertio demesne to administer, so they could have hands-on experience with administration before taking the title of Family Head when Jalpa inevitably retires or breathes his last. Both of them wound up driving their respective cities to debt so massive, it wouldn't be a surprise if they collapsed as a result of a stiff wind. Because they just can't resist the urge to impulse spend. Jalpa, for his part, is not amused.
- Never My Fault: After seeing Seat village and then Murica village border fortress, both brothers curl their fists in a jealous rage, but Sesto openly convinces himself that Van's success was all just a matter of luck and if he had got [Production Magic] instead, he would have done much better than Van possibly could. He conveniently forgets that the day Van's talent was revealed as such, their father Jalpa went for his sword, he openly mocked Van's "disappointing" talent, and how he was given one of the most prosperous cities in Fertio territory to rule and single-handed ran it into the ground. It's likely that if either of these two brothers had gotten such a "useless" magic, only death would have awaited them.
- Playing with Fire: They are both favored by their father for inheriting his {Fire Magic] talent.
Maire Company
Rosalie
Since it's your first visit, Van-sama, we'll waive the transaction fee for your new slave.
The company representative for Maire company that Van meets in Fertio territory's city when he was "playing outside" at 6.- The Bus Came Back: She meets Van once when he was six, buying Cassim and the clothes the boy will need. She returns to the story again after Van's been at his village for a little over a month and Panamera is taking the dragon corpse to the royal capital to try and auction off, after showing the accomplishment of dragon-slaying to the king.
- Honest Corporate Executive: Unlike the other merchant companies/guilds Van meets while trying to develop his village, she doesn't try to screw him over or monopolize his goods with embargoes of dubious legality. She and her company treat him fairly. This nets her a killing when Van is looking for someone to auction off the corpse of a legit dragon.
Adventurers
Ortho Sheet
This kid's a noble?
The leader of the adventurer party that was hired by Murica to escort Van to his new village. He is so impressed with Van's kindness, even temperament, and leadership that he not only helps fight off bandits outside his contract but decides to stick around once the escort mission is over.- Call It Karma: Choosing to stick around with Van instead of going separate ways once they've arrived at the village has paid him and his party huge dividends. Not only do they get first dibs on the top-of-the-line equipment Van makes, but they get their names in the history books for finding a long-forgotten dungeon, being associated with legit dragon-slayers, prosper greatly from adventuring near Van's village, and get the glory of being legendary heroes themselves.
- Harbinger of Impending Doom: As he and his party are out hunting one day, they spot a dragon heading towards the village. They run back and inform Van and Panamera. Their warning serves to change the fight from a massacre in the dragon's favor to a hard but winnable fight.
- Rugged Scar: Several. He has one on his face, one on his arm, and who knows how many hidden under his clothes.
- Snobs Vs Slobs: He starts the story among the "slobs" who hate the nobles for being nothing more than self-righteous and self-serving wind-bags, but after meeting Van does a 180 and decides maybe not all nobles are bad.
Puriel
The lone mage and female of the party.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: She volunteered to help fight bandits outside the party contract just because Van was attentive enough to learn the party members' names, when all the other nobles the party has dealt with were all pretentious bags of hot air that couldn't be bothered.
- I Owe You My Life: When Van and co., including her adventurer party, were fighting off the bandits attacking the village, a particularly dangerous one broke off from the siege and headed directly for her, when she was in cool-down between magic attacks. Helpless, she could only wait for death until Van and Cassim rose to the challenge and struck down the axe-wielding savage, despite being less than a quarter of the guy's size. She swears fealty to Van as a result.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: She's highly intelligent as the party mage and wears glasses.
- The Smurfette Principle: She's the only woman in the party.
Merchants:
Lango and Bell
A pair of brothers who trade among the remote border villages. They were expecting a loss due to having their wagon damaged on the road. They are offered an exclusive town shop by Van in exchange for advertising the village's goods, namely weapons and armor. They agree and make a killing selling all the materials from the armored dragons, save for the meat which has a shelf-life too short to market effectively, instead giving it away, for free, to neighboring villages at Van's request.
- Call It Karma: They stick with Van over their native merchant's guild when the guild tries some dirty tricks with the intent to monopolize Van's goods. They gain royal favor when they're sent with Rosalie to auction off a dragon and wind up signing up with the Maire company which treats them much, much better and doesn't tax them quite as much.
- Honest Corporate Executive: The reason they are trusted among the remote villages is that they're honest and hard-working. This mindset yields them enormous profit when they sign on with Van and make a town store in his village turned fortress.
- Intrepid Merchant: They trade among back-water villages where the security is quite lacking.
- Sibling Team: They are a pair of brothers that work together as traders and merchants.
Other parts of Scuderia Kingdom
King Dion Apet Scuderia
The king of Scuderia, who pays a visit to Van's Seat Village, personally, upon learning of the kid's exploits in dragon-slaying from one Viscount Panamera.
- Blow You Away: He is talented in wind magic.
- Enlightened Self-Interest: He treats Van Nei Fertio as a dear friend because the kid is a pivotal part of the kingdom's logistics, and without him, the royal capital may well have already fallen to Jiernetta. The fact that Van always awes him with new and interesting things, and has a fine eye for art doesn't hurt.
- Friendly Address Privileges: He allows Van to call him by name when they're alone, which is something no other noble to date has the ability to do.
- The Good King: He rules fairly and wisely, and when he hears of a back-water village that can somehow take down dragons, he investigates, personally.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He heeds Van's request to stay away from the front lines as much as possible, because what's more useful, a single 8-year-old swinging his sword, or an 8-year-old who can whip out fortresses on command? And can build weapons to rival Jienretta's tech on a whim?
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: When it's Scuderia's turn to retaliate to multiple Jienretta attacks, he leads the armies himself.
Jienretta Empire:
Unimog Jienretta
Eighth prince of the empire. He had the task of capturing what became Seat Village to secure a supply line for the assault on fortress city Scudetto. When he sees that a sub-village for adventurers has been built and Seat Village is now a functional fortress, he treats his grossly outdated intel as gospel and denies what his own eyes are telling him, presuming he's dealing with a Paper Tiger, and the outer walls are nothing more than a facade. He learns the hard way that the fortress and its defenses are real when his vaulted wyverns are shot out of the sky with shrapnel, and his army is torn to shreds by said shrapnel landing on them. Then he has to suffer the indignity of being captured by an 8-year-old boy to be handed over to the king of Scuderia, personally.
- Bad Boss: On the way to Seat Village, he beat up his troops every single time they dared to bring forward questions, reservations, or reported information and observations that didn't match the intel he had in hand and consdired infallible. And he's honestly gobsmacked that the troops don't like him, telling himself that it's just petty jealousy of his self-perceived "genius."
- Entertainingly Wrong: His assessment that Seat Village being a fortress is a trick, like a movie set, makes sense, as it normally takes years and thousands of men to build the proper infrastructure. An assesment Van has repeatedly had to contend with. Unfortunately, it would have been wiser to presume the intel was wrong and the fortress is real rather than treating the intel as gospel and denying what his own eyes are telling him...
- Flat-Earth Atheist: He lives in a world with swords and magic, but when his scouts tell him there's a fortress where a back-water village is supposed to be, he yells at the scouts that they're being mislead by a facade, and even as he's seeing said fortress with his own eyes, believes that he can cow the locals with a simple Intimidation Demonstration as he's just dealing with a clever Paper Tiger. It gets his wyverns and their riders killed, and his infantry literally torn to shreds, his own survival being a matter of sheer luck.
- Glory Hound: He is sent on behalf of his country to what is supposed to be a back-water town to ensure a steady supply route to the invasion of Scudetto. He thinks such a task is beneath him and he deserves the glory of leading the charge on the fortress. This leads him to make many, many careless mistakes and abuse his men when they send reports that contradict his outdated intel and his preconceived notions.
- Hollywood Tactics: When he comes upon the adventurer sub-village under construction, he marches his army around the sub-village to then focus his forces upon Seat Village. Even Van notes that had the sub-village been operational and occupied, Unimog would have left himself vulnerable to a classic pincer maneuver.
- Humiliation Conga: His famed wyverns are shot down, the shrapnel then impales his soldiers, the survivors, like himself, utterly perplexed as to "what kind of magic" was used on them, and he gets his loss mocked by an 8-year-old who is acting like he's playing with a brand new toy, and lastly, when he tries to attack, gets utterly stomped by Panamera, Espada, and King Scuderia all ganging up on him, stun-locking him and locking him up in ice.
- Intimidation Demonstration: Attempted and averted. He orders his wyvern riders to swoop in low and scare Van's soldiers on the battlements, trying to cow them to surrender. Van responds by hitting the wyverns with his experimental dedicated ballista, loaded with a special bolt that holds a barrel of shuriken, designed to act as flak. The wyvern is shot down, crashing into the fortified wall, and the shuriken then rain down on Unimog's army, that had laughed at being challenged by Van.
- Lethally Stupid: He thinks he's a brilliant general and talented "true commander" who can make competent snap decisions on a war campaign. The reality is that because he fervently clung to preconceived notions, delusions of his own grandeur, and outdated intel, while utterly refusing to believe anything his men told him, or even his own eyes, when this conflicts with what he thinks is going on, he got his wyverns killed, and led his men to an easily avoidable crushing defeat, and his own humiliating capture.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: When Van accuses him and his men of coming from Jienretta, he blows his cover of going to every possible effort in hiding their identity, seeing as he and his men were travelling without any banner, insignia, and dressed in armor without any affiliation, by responding "how did you know we're from Jienretta?" rather than "what makes you think we're from Jienretta?" Van responds by pointing out how he and his men came directly from a Jienretta border town, thus making him suspicious and mocks Unimog's lack of intelligence by highlighting that Unimog himself confirmed those suspicions. Unimog goes dizzy in rage for having his so called "brilliance" mocked.
- Playing with Fire: When cornered, he tries to use a flame-based spell, but he gets cut off by Panamera, Espada, and King Scuderia all ganging up on him with magic prepared in advance.
- Sibling Rivalry: He is arrogant and proud to the extreme, constantly trying to one-up his brothers in terms of accomplishments. His brothers respond in kind.
- Surrounded by Idiots: The only way he can understand why his men keep questioning his orders when he ignores reality and charges a fortress where a back-water village is supposed to be is that somebody saddled him with soldiers with tapioca for brains and they can't possibly recognize a facade when they see it. It's only when he's being carried off by King Dion Apet Scuderia for interrogation that he finally realizes that they maybe, just maybe, had a point.
Vashize Jienretta
The third prince and leader of the expedition responsible for the fall of Scudetto.
- Awesome, but Impractical: During the battle to retake Scudetto by the Scuderia kingdom, he unleashes a captured and enslaved Earth dragon, one of the biggest and toughest beasts known to man. To field such a beast, the capture and subduing alone cost a large number of the empire's new explosive weapon to weaken the beast, specially designed chains to contain it, and a large number of [Puppetry Magician] talent wielders to subdue its mind. This translates to an insane amount of time, effort, money, and manpower lost. Although Vashize wields the beast arguably in the best possible way, it still ultimately does him no good.
- Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: By his own narration, he's "been licking bitter pillows" because the second knight's division he runs keeps attacking Scudetto and gets rebuffed, so when he gets his hands on new explosives tech, a dragon, and several wings of wyverns, he's ecstatic at the thought that he can personally level the Scuderia Royal Capital to the ground for his self-inflicted humiliations.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He unleashes a captured and subdued dragon on Scuderia kingdom forces, especially Van's ballista and catapult brigades, and even has a subordinate use the "black ball" explosives to reduce the Scuderia kingdom's chances further. Unfortunately, the dragon takes mortal blows to its eyes, throat, and belly. What's worse, when the dragon falls over, it winds up landing with its Breath Weapon pointed right back at the Jienretta army fielding it, forcing a rout of its nominal allies.
Freightliner Jienretta
Another prince of Jienretta, serving under Vashize.
- Category Traitor: His brothers all look at him with contempt because he's not a Drunk On Power Glory Hound who thinks he's infallible and can actually think of the consequences to his actions.
- Ignored Expert: He's got far more battle experience than his brother, Vashize, but he's ignored and just subjected to I Don't Pay You to Think.
- Lovable Coward: Well, he tries to be lovable, but when Van's got him as a POW, he constantly whines about how he's going to be tortured and killed and hates pain, no matter how Van tells him he is not a torturer and has no such intention. Van is rather annoyed by it and threatens to rub horseradish in his mouth and nose if he doesn't cool it.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: When the knights under his command come to him with concerns, even on the battlefield, he stops and listens to them, explaining his reasoning and doesn't slap them around when they disagree with him.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Vashize's dragon went down, he ordered his men to break rank and flee, knowing that the fiery breath weapon would wreck the fortress they were trying to hold and barbeque the army if they tried to stay and fight.
- Turncoat: When he's captured by Van, he willingly, and happily, gives up all the information he has on Jienretta's troops, tech, motives, and goals, defecting to Seat Village to retire.
Ferdinand Territory
Count Ferdinand
Arut's father.
- Abusive Dad: Considering that the best Arut ever got from him was apathy, he can't be seen as anything but abusive.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: After Arut saves their territory from an invading Jienretta army, he shows that he's not ungrateful and comes to Seat Village for a meeting with Arut and Van, to show his appreciation, explain the Realpolitik that forced him to treat his daughter like a pariah, and ask forgiveness. Van understands where he's coming from but still considers his actions completely unforgivable.
- Parental Neglect: "Too busy" to notice Arut most of the time, he pawned her off on nannies and tutors and did his best to forget she exists.
- Spared, but Not Forgiven: Van considers the way he and his wife treated Arut as entirely unforgivable, and while Arut herself doesn't hold a grudge, they will never see each other as family.
Countess Ferdinand
Arut's mother.
- Abusive Mom: Considering that her response to seeing Arut show off her [Puppetry Magic] talent is slapping the poor girl in the face, she can't be seen as anything else.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: When the Jienretta armies are pounding on her home's door, she openly prepares for suicide, and tries to pressure her youngest (official) daughter to do the same, rather than let themselves by captured by Jienretta's soldiers and put through unspeakable things, "as a noble's duty." Fortunately, Arut and her elite band of adventurers arrived, completely destroying the invading army.
- Parental Abandonment: When she saw that Arut had a talent unbefitting an "esteemed noble" family, she locked the poor girl in a room and did her best to convince herself that Arut no longer exists.
- Self-Inflicted Hell: Even after being rescued from certain death, or worse, at the hands of the Jienretta army by Arut, she can't bring herself to acknowledge the girl's her daughter, or even go to ask forgiveness, and thus stews in guilt at her actions, keeping her feelings to herself.
- Spared, but Not Forgiven: Arut rescues her from Jienretta and that's it for her filial piety. Once that's done, she turn around to go back to Seat Village, calling Van's house "home."
- That Thing Is Not My Child!: The moment Arut, having studied and practiced for the better part of a year, showed off her dolls dancing for her mom, only wanting attention and affection, the countess not only slapped the girl, but locked her in a room and completely disowned her child, refusing to recognize her as her daughter.
