This page contains unmarked spoilers for the light novels that cover three story arcs. You Have Been Warned!
Kou 1 Desu ga Isekai de Joushu Hajimemashita (translating as "I'm a first year highschooler, but now I'm a castle lord") is a series of Light Novels written by written by Hiroyuki Kagami and illustrated by Goban, which began publication by Hobby Japan in 2013.
The story centers on Hiroto Kiyokawa and Soichirou Soda, a pair of high school boys who ends up getting summoned by an ancient map and are forced to exterminate a vampire haunting a castle, only to be turned on by the owner. Things is getting worse for there when said castle lord passes away suddenly, and this is where the boys' adventure in another world begins.
In the first saga (Volumes 1-4), as mentioned from the summary, Hiroto and Soichiro's misadventures begin with them being forced to exterminate the vampires by a castle lord that haunted his castle, only to be imprisoned by Sentelio the steward due to castle lord's health deteriorating health after Hiroto spared Valkyria the vampire out of conscience. For better or worse, said castle lord is dead via Holy Spirit's curse but thanks to Hiroto's quick thinking and insight, Solum's curse is lifted and he is hailed as a hero and becomes it's castle lord afterwards. This saga marks Hiroto's journey for greatness as he not only befriending with some allies such as Valkyria, Mimia, Sorceire as well as the likes of Alvy and Callbera , but also facing rivals such as Feuillet and Excelis in an upcoming election for the vacant governor seat too.
The second saga (Volumes 5-8,10) opens some times after Hiroto is elected as the new governor of Salabria. The neighboring province of Orsia is under attack by the Red-Winged Vampires led by Gezerkia who take over the towns as their revenge against humans for destroying their former habitat, only to be halted by Hiroto who manage to stop her attack without even mobilizing his army. However, despite his heroic deeds in saving both Salabria and Orsia from Gezerkia's attack, Hiroto is underappreciated by Emperia and he is forced to vacate his position under the royal decree, courtesy to Panopticus the Prime Minister and his schemes. It is only until Phyllis's invasion attempt onto Salabria that Emperia is forced to reinstate Hiroto's position and his subsequent victory over Phyllis Army with the aid from the vampires' aid prompts further elevate his position even more, for better or worse. While this saga chronicling Hiroto's rise as a Margrave due to his rivalry with Phyllis after, it also telling featuring North Phyllis Remnants attempt to retake their former homelands from King Eash's regime, as well as meeting Hiroto along the way.
The third saga (Volumes 11-15) depicts Hiroto and his allies trying to solve Noblesia's infamous mummy rape case where Bourgault the governor tries to protect one of his twins sons from law, with one of whom was a rapist. Not only Hiroto is confronting antagonism from affluent aristocrats such as Belffergo and Rasmus who are siding with Bourgault, he is also getting involved in a 50-year old conflict between Hybride and Magia where Urseus, the newly crowned king of the latter, trys to defeat Hybride by scheming up an invasion attempt onto it's neighboring kingdom. When Hiroto able to foils his the invasion attempt onto Hybride, Urseus resorts to not only seek Disgurd for help due to her past misgivings towards Gezerkia, he also conspires with his former teacher's, Cognidas and Dialogs, who happen to be senators of Regulus Republic-the only country that is run by an Elven Senate-to host a Four Kingdom Summit to humiliate Hybride. At the same time, Freyas, the princess of Phyllis who happens to be Eash's niece, trying to defeat Hybride in order to restore Phyllis's prestige.
The fourth saga (Volumes 16-current) begins some time after Volume 15, and depicts an intense rivalry between between Agnika and Gassel of the West that involves both Hybride and Phyllis-starting with a dispute over a damaging port, and Hiroto and his allies need to go there in order to ensure that conflict doesn't reach Salabria. Not long afterwards, Hybride is experiencing a succession dispute between Leonidas and Hydran for the vacant crown after King Moldius's passing, which the former wins courtesy to Hiroto and his allies' aid. Hydran, unwilling to accept defeat, resorts to go along with Belffergo's schemes. The following aftermath of the downfall of both Hydran and Belffergo, Hiroto is going to Gassel as an envoy on Hybride behalf but not only he has to deal with Queen Ismir of Gassel for her sharp mind, along with her husband King Pashan for his wariness towards Hybride, but also a dilemma from Agnika over a new aluminite mines that is discovered at that kingdom whereas Hybride's own has been destroyed by a flood, which putting Hybride in a rather peculiar position as proposals from either Queen Astorika and Countess Gudrun, the latter of whom loathes Hiroto so much that she wants to kill him, could endanger Hybride's future.
Trivia page is a W.I.P.
General Tropes:
- All-Loving Hero: Hiroto treats everyone, be they human, mummy, vampire, etc, equally; something that is unheard of in this world. Because of this, he gets a lot of allies from each group.
- Arc Villain: Several in each arc.
- Sentelio in Volume 1 due to the steward's belittlement about both Hiroto and Soichiro, as well as his antagonism use any scheme to humiliate his young rival.
- Feuillet and Torlan in Volume 3-4 due to the latter's defeat to Hiroto, which forces the former to use any scheme to humiliate his yong rival.
- Gezerkia in Volume 5 for terrorizing Olsina and panning to invade Salabria next.
- Panopticus in Volume 6 for trying to ruin Hiroto's career via defamation in spite the latter's contribution stopping Gezerkia's aforementioned terror, only to be interrupted by Phyllis.
- Speaking of Phyllis, the kingdom is this throughout Volume 6-8 due to it's rivalry against Hybride, but mostly focusing on eliminating Hiroto due to his connections with the vampires that resulted the Phyllis Army's gruesome defeat during its' invasion attempt onto Salabria.
- Felkina and Joachim are this in Volume 10 where the both of them are so displeased by a truce between Hybride and Phyllis that they going to retake North Phyllis by themselves, even with their obvious disadvantages against the latter in terms of military power.
- Bourgault from Volume 11 for sabotaging Hiroto's invastigation about a case in regards of a mummy—who happens to be Mimia's friend—who was raped by an aristocrat who happens to be one of the governor's son, and he is willing to protect his sons from law. In Volume 12, Bourgault holds his vendetta against Hiroto for his son's demise and he seeks help from other aristocrats like Belffergo and Rasmus to get rid of him.
- Urseus from Volume 13 to Volume 15 because he views both Hiroto and the Vampires are "threats" to Magia, especially after hearing Phyllis's defeat at Terminus River.
- Hydran in Light Novel's Volume 17-19 due to his feud against both Hiroto and Leonidas in his quest to becoming king after the death of his cousin Moldias.
- Agnika in Volume 20 where a discovery of new aluminite mine at the kingdom causes both Queen Astorika and Countess Gudrun, latter of whom loathes Hiroto so much that she wanted to kill him, to exploit it as a bargaining chip with Hybride to reconsider the military agreement.
- Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Summoned individuals are called Dilfrant, which apparently was the name of the first such person.
- Interestingly, Hiroto is commonly addressed as Margrave by aristocrats and nobilities, be it from Hybride or it's neighboring kingdoms.
- The Chosen Many: Summoned people are not unheard of in this world and the god who guards this world has tasks for the hero to accomplish. Once the tasks are complete, the god will permit the person to be returned home. That said, not all summoned persons live up to the tasks asked of them.
- Cute Monster Girl: From vampires, to mummies, to elves, this story has them. Skeletons, not so much.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Hiroto is looked down by aristocrats and nobels, be it from Hybride or other kingdoms (including the Regulus Republic where it's the Elven Senate that rule the country), as they often deems him a nobody simply because he is new to the current world both he and Soichiro lived, even though they are Dilfrant whose impact to the world is nothing to sneeze at. Subverted with some peers, allies and even rivals who acknowledge his caliber, specifically his insightfulness that make him a linchpin to Hybride's diplomatic relations with surrounding neighboring kingdoms.
- Fantastic Racism: The Other Species are often belittled by humans due to their mere appearances alone despite some, if not most of them are not that different than human, which put them is a rather tight spot in the society. Vampires, in particular, suffer the worst kind of discrimination and prejudice due to their infamy in sucking their victims' bloods. As the series goes on, however, the relationships between humans and other species improves, courtesy to Hiroto.
- As such, the vampires makes this even by seeing humans are monsters because of the said discrimination and prejudice against them. Hence, this is the reason why Gezerkia and her tribe attacks Orsia in Volume 5, or Disgurd's own jerkish attitude towards humans is so great that even Urseus has to kowtow to her just to be safe from her wrath. Fortunately, the vampires are getting out of this thanks to their interaction with Hiroto.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Aristocrats and nobilities in Hybride are becomes this when Hiroto is given more grandiose rewards in every accomplishments since Light Novel's Volume 7.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: When Feuillet the Lord of Secondaria sets up a kidnapping of Lord Neka's daughter, and has a lord from another land be blighted for angering the Holy Spirit, Hiroto asks the vampire lord Zeldes for aide to find the kidnappers, the vampire lord brings dozens of his people.
- Moral Myopia: Some characters, especially the antagonist and his cronies who antagonizes Hiroto, have tendencies in this.
- Twisting the Words: Most of the antagonists in this series are tends to do this in order to persuade people. For example, Hydran tries to frame both Hiroto and Leonidas as bad guys by telling both Lisvaon and Ordicus about the twisted account about the new king's compensation request.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Valkyria's little sister, Culaya, is able to send grown men flying during a hostage situation.
- World of Buxom: The only female character to "rank" lower than C is Culaya, who is simply not old enough.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: After Hiroto and Soichirou complete the task they were summoned to do, they find out that they still cannot be sent back to their world as it will take at least 5 years before they can do so. That said, if one is willing to stay and let the other depart, then the one who remains will be here for at least 10 years.
