Clockwise from right: Cain, Telestia, Silk, and Tijuana.
The Aristocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure: Serving Gods Who Go Too Far is a Japanese light novel series written by Yashu. The series originated on the Shousetsuka ni Narou website in October 2016, before being published in print with illustrations by Mo by Hifumi Shobō beginning in June 2017 under their Saga Forest imprint. A manga adaptation, illustrated by Nini, began serialization on Mag Garden's Mag Comi manga website in March 2018. An anime television series adaptation by EMT Squared and Magic Bus aired from April to June 2023.
A Japanese teen is killed while defending two girls from a mugger. Seven gods from a fantasy world reward him by reincarnating him as Cain von Silford, the son of a noble, with his memories of his past life. The gods also grant him many abilities that allow him to easily defeat opponents and solve problems. As he grows up to be an adventurer and struggles to deal with the affections of several girls, he is unaware that the gods summoned him because a great evil will awaken around his 16th birthday.
The work provides examples of the following tropes:
- Accidental Marriage: All three of Cain's fiancées are cases of this.
- Telestia and Silk, the princess of the kingdom and the daughter of a high-ranking noble respectively, become engaged because he relented and allowed them to link arms; in his eyes, it seemed innocent enough, but what he didn't know was that it was effectively broadcasting that they were marrying him in the eyes of nobility, so he was left with no choice but to take them on as his actual fiancées. Of course, they were so smitten with him that they were more than happy with the arrangement.
- Tifana had made a vow that she, being the strongest knight in the kingdom, would only marry a man who was capable of defeating her; something Cain didn't find out until after doing just that. And, because she's the daughter of a high-ranking noble who is the king of the territory he oversees in all but name, he effectively can't say no to her.
- Alien Non-Interference Clause: Deities aren't allowed to interfere with the internal affairs of the world they helped created. Only give blessings and hope for the best.
- Creative Sterility: Without Aaron, deities are unable to create anything new to entertain their immortal or amoral time in the heavens.
- Fantasy Pantheon: 7, formerly 8, gods and goddess. Each have responsibility over a specific area. Can cross over with The Dividual since they are rarely seen as individual entitles. Rather all 7 are always seen at the table together.
- Freudian Slip: At one point, Cain is asked what he is. He responds that he is a "high school student", but backtracks a moment to correct himself to saying he is 5 Year Old Boy.
- Hate Sink: Marquis Corgino and his son Habit are Upper-Class Twit Fat Bastards who love to throw their weight around and cause no end of grief for people of lower rank, especially Cain.
- Klingons Love Shakespeare: Deities love entertainment stuff that comes from earth, and ask Cain to (re-)invent it in the new world so they can get it in the heavenly plane.
- New Life in Another World Bonus: Cain gets blessings from all 7 gods, to max out his growth potential. Despite all the trouble this causes Cain, the head god says that he is going to need all that power in a decade to help save everyone.
- Past-Life Memories: Cain has them, returning to him at the age of 5.
- Polyamory: It's not uncommon for noblemen to have multiple wives. Cain was born from his father's second wife, and has two older half-brothers. Cain himself is set to marry several women.
- Power Incontinence: Pretty much 90% the trouble Cain faces is due to how insanely powerful he is, being that he has a perfect 10 in all seven of the Gods' protections in a world where it's exceedingly rare for a person to have more than two or three protections, and the highest known number in recorded history is around 5. Because of how insanely powerful he is, he is thus constantly performing feats that no mere human, let alone a 5-12 year old child, should be capable of, even when he's actively trying to hold back (which is basically all the time).
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The King. Or at least he tries to be as every time Cain overdoes something it leaves him shocked and accurately aware of how powerful Cain actually is. Still, he's quick to realize the importance of keeping in good standing with Cain rather than risk him being swayed over to another kingdom.
- Rescue Romance: Telestia and Silk fall for Cain after he saves them from a group of orcs.
- Reincarnate in Another World: Cain was killed in Japan, then reincarnated in another world.
- Royal Favorite: Cain quickly endears himself to the King after he's engaged to the princess. There's also a pragmatic reason with King recognizing Cain's immense talent and wanting to keep him loyal to the kingdom.
- Running Gag: Cain has a running gag throughout the series of attempting to do the right thing, but it hilariously backfiring on him for one reason or another.
- Cain dies due to being stabbed by a mugger. But, as one of the goddesses reveals, the mugger would have defeated himself by tripping over his own feet and then being dogpiled on by bystanders. Making it a Senseless Sacrifice.
- Cain understands that if people knew about his stats and blessings, there would be plenty of people who consider him a threat. So, he does things to hide his power or disguise his stats. The problem is, he doesn't lower it enough, and what he does show would still be astronomically high for a full-grown adult with years of experience under his belt, let alone a 5-year-old who just got magic. This later ends up playing a part in forcing him to reveal that he was reincarnated in Episode 6.
- Cain's attempts to gather materials to make bags end up sending streams of fire into the air from the Forest of Monsters, which a guard mistakes as a monster preparing for a raid. The guard informs Cain's father, the domain lord, and therefore the one who leads the charge into battle to defend the domain. When the cavalry arrives to fight the monsters, all they find is a crater left behind from Cain's magical attacks on monsters and a handkerchief with the emblem of Cain's family on it, making it pretty easy for his father to figure out who was out there and what he was doing. In the stinger for the episode, you see him lecturing Cain over his recklessness and foolishness.
- Cain attempts to make 2 bags for his departing tutors and makes them Bigger on the Inside as one would expect a bag to do if it was bought at the store. The problem is, a storage bag would, at most, hold the equivalent of 2 carriages, not including the carriages themselves; whereas his bags could hold a mansion, including the materials the mansion is made of. This means that he just handed his tutors items that are national-class, if not above.
- Cain's attempt to rescue people from a monster army, ends up exposing his power to the royal family since one of the people he rescues is the princess. This has some ripple effects on him:
- The king is so impressed with the feat, he gives Cain a title, a mansion, and 10 platinum coins, presumably the highest currency of the kingdom. This is both as a thanks for rescuing his daughter, but also to help keep him in the kingdom and capital, where he could be of use to the entire nation.
- The princess and the daughter of the Duke become smitten with Cain and insistently ask to be with him at all times. Cain, not used to being the object of affection for girls, along with trying to be polite to someone of a higher noble rank, tries to politely resist, but eventually gives in and ends up linking arms and sharing beds with them. While everything pretty much stays innocent, the appearance of these acts makes people think they are all in a relationship, so the King and the Duke ask for Cain to take their respective daughter's hand in marriage.
- Satanic Archetype: Aaron was formerly the God of Amusement who corrupts and manipulates kingdoms into elaborate death games. He was also the one responsible for the deaths of Cain's parents from his previous life prior to being sealed away.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Cain is reincarnated in another world as compensation from the seven gods due to the fact that the assailant with the knife was going to be caught regardless if he intervened.
- Shout-Out: Cain brushes off one of Corgino's demands with "I cannot acquiesce to your request"
- Wham Episode: Episode 6. Cain is forced to reveal that he is not only a reincarnator, but also reveal his stats and blessings to not just his father but also the Duke and the King. Knowing how insanely powerful and earnest Cain is; they decide to keep this a secret.
- Spotting the Thread: When he learns about the history of the Kingdom of Esfort, Cain notices the first king's name sounds Japanese, suspecting he's not the first transplant to this world.
