Learning that your All of the Other Reindeer-ing tribe is looking for you can be too much to handle.
- In the Webnovel, Filo taking the news of Abel's incoming wedding ceremony:Filo: “Hmph, you’re so impatient! I can see you happily rushing to get ready, as usual! It’s like when you’re focused on one thing, it’s all you can think about! Geez, why don’t you take a moment to think about the feelings of those around you who are forced to go to great pains to fit your schedule!”
Filo:“And besides….besides…it’s lonely to be told so suddenly… It’s not like you think of your sister that way, Shibi said……”
She sobbed and wiped the tears with her sleeve.
Filo: “….Abel, congratulations on your marriage.”
Filo said, laughing awkwardly.
Then she covered her face with her hands and ran quickly out of the room.
- Abel's almost giving up on escaping when his plan went in smoke:My big decision is buried, I’m will be forced to exercise without eating or drinking, and will be saved by my sister who I betrayed.
By the time I reach the village, I will be physically and mentally exhausted.
I will be at the mercy of the wind. I know this very it’s me we’re talking about.
After that, the ceremony will be held as if nothing had happened.
I groaned and lay down on the ground.
I couldn’t help but hug him as I saw Ortem Truck spitting smoke from his mouth.
I was so pathetic that I even started to cry.
Checkmate. I was completely checkmated.
- Abel and Mea's first morning in an inn together, in the Webnovel. The latter was putting the Genki Girl image yesterday while buying what Abel looked at in interest and not taking a "no" for an answer. Comes the morning after Abel finished making the World Tree Ortem:I went back to my room, holding the Ortem in my arms.
Abel: “Mea, Mea! Look at this! The World Tree’s Ortem is complete!”
Mea: “Oh, you’re back. I knew you were out there.” Mea says, relieved.
Abel: “N-, no, I just woke up a bit earlier in the morning.”
Mea: “Well, Mea was really surprised. When I woke up this morning, I couldn’t find the World Tree branch and the knife that Abel treasured. I thought you thought you couldn’t pay your debts and ran off into the night…”
Abel (narrating): I don’t remember falling to that level of brute.
- The night before said morning, Mea jumps on to her bed, Abel observes:
Abel (Narrating): Mea dives right behind me where I sat. She lay down on the bed as it was. It was a smooth movement.
Abel: “Is bed really that rare for you?”
Mea: “Yes, that’s right! It was always Mea who sleep on the floor with just a cloth!”
Abel (Narrating): I can’t help but frown. She says it easily, but that’s pretty nasty.
- Pictured Here: When Shame tells Abel and Mea that people from their respective tribes are in the city they first were in, and might be searching for them. Abel loses his composure and start blabbering Giselle's name in the webnovel, but Mea goes through a Freak Out:Mea: “You-, you’re lying, right? No way, wh-, why would you lie to Mea like that? Because…… Mea is just stoneless…… there’s no way in hell that It’s worth it for them go through all that trouble to find and kill it.”
Mea: “Ughh, ughhhu, oeehhhh……”
Abel (Narrating): Mea wobbled back a few steps, crouched down, and held her mouth. She spat out vomit from her mouth, probably due to excessive stress. As it was, she leaned her head back limply and fell to the spot.- Later, she's awake, but still shaken up and trembling. She got... issues:
Mea: “Why…… no way…… why, why do you……why do you want Mea…… Mea…is not worth even it……”
- Baron Lark's Interrupted Suicide. While initially played as Suicide as Comedy, it becomes less comedic and more tragic upon learning that he's actually a Reasonable Authority Figure and a Father to His Men, who's well-liked by his private army, even loved, as well as having his relatives living with him in his Big Fancy House.
- Becomes even saddening considering that who talked him out of his suicide and his Love Interest, is actually a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing responsible for his misery.
- “A Certain Story of the Doom Tribe's Past” is a 5-Parts big Break the Cutie for Mea, explaining a LOT of her behavior throughout the story. Her mother disowned her as a newborn, refused to even hold her, casually talked to her husband while snickering about killing the baby, and had her kicked out of the house. Her relatives she was living with apparently had her sleep on the floor every night, was ignored by her cousins and never made any friends. She only had her father and Dafne for visitors. All of that was because of losing the magic crystal on her forehead, making her a pariah in her tribe.
- “The story of the red stone was not passed down among the children, but the fact that she was stoneless was enough to be teased. The adults’ dismissive attitude was passed on to the children, and they treated her as if she was a boil in the home of her relatives”.
- Part 3 goes on a cheerful note with Dafne visiting a 7-years old Mea and trying to cheer her up, and taking her to a walk in the forest to play. Then Mea wanders off.. to her parents' house and peeks through a window. Here's what she saw:
Melzef, Nelea and Darrell were sitting at the table together.
Darrel: “I’ve got the spearmanship from my father and sorcery from my mother. Hehe …… To be honest, I’m a little bored when I’m hunting with my childhood friends.”
Darrell was talking enthusiastically about this and that, while Nelea was making happy comments. Melzef was silent, but he seemed to be enjoying himself.
Dafne: “Uhhhh …… M-Mea-sama, well ……”
Mea turned around silently and walked home with heavy steps.- Just when things somewhat gotten better, with Mea being allowed to be stay for a while in the house on occasions, Nelea shouts at Mea that she wished she never gave birth to her and has her returned to her relatives house, in response to a rumor. Mea never asked to visit the house again after that.
- Then there is the ending chapter, with a dose of The Reveal and No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. Poor, poor Nelea.
- Melzef, after Abel defeats him and prevents him from killing Mea, gets subjected to a vicious "The Reason You Suck" Speech courtesy of Abel. After a certain point, he finally cracks:Abel: “Why are you so desperate to kill your own daughter! You’re really the worst!”
Melzef did not respond. He is still looking for an opportunity to attack me. His every move makes me angry.
Abel: “My father is a pushy, bossy man who doesn’t listen to me if I try to go against his customs and push things too far. But when I was attacked by a magic beast, he risked his life to protect me! You, who risked his life to kill his own daughter, you’re no longer a father, or anything! You’re just a piece of sh*t!”
Melzef stops moving. But he doesn’t seem to be talking back to my cursing.
Abel: “Dafne, you know! He went to a lot of trouble to play the villain so that you wouldn’t have to deal with Mea! Besides, he’s been troubled for a long time! He could have stopped chasing Mea as soon as you told him to stop! Isn’t that right?”
Melzef: “You, you, what do you know!”
Melzef shouted.
I was unexpectedly overwhelmed. There were large tears flowing from his expressionless eyes like a Noh mask.
Melzef: “You think Dafne and the others are good guys? I know they are! I wanted to tell them to stop, too! Isn’t that obvious! Mea, Mea is my daughter, you know! She’s a memento that my beloved wife risked her life to save! You’re only a dozen years old, what do you know about what I feel!”
Abel: “T-Then tell him to stop ……!”
Melzef: “Yes, of course! If I tell them to stop, or even if I don’t tell them to stop, they’ll stop as soon as I show any sign of it! Even though they know that the red stone was a tool to turn all of us Doom tribe into Julem’s slaughtering puppets! If I tell them, they will indeed stop! There’s no way I could tell them!”
I fall silent.
I had thought that Melzef was more like a cold, evil demon.
- Abel's biggest Darkest Hour. Shame was The Mole working for Count Julem all this time, and has kidnapped Mea while he was busy fighting her father. He confronted Count Julem and tried to capture him to find her wherabouts.. only to end up fighting a dangerous battle against him and Gillemeim, who turned out to be Jaime the peddler who helped him and Mea in the beginning. He manages to capture Gillemeim while Count Julem ran away, only for him to turn out to be a clone, who dissolve quickly and die, leaving Abel without a clue to where they took Mea. All of that happened because he wanted to escape with Mea, because he feared Count Julem. He breaks himself out of it, but he came close to giving up.Abel (narrating): My body relaxed, and I fell to my knees.
…… Now, with Mea taken, I have completely lost all clues to tracking down Count Julem.
It’s not funny because this is the result of running away from Kudor and Peter because they cannot be trusted.
It was the worst thing that could have happened.
Abel: “Mea ……”- To even hammer the point that Abel is alone in this, he can't casually return to the Fage territory because Peter might catch him, and if he tried summoning Kudor she might kill him first then kill Mea before Count Julem might use her in their Evil Scheme.
- In the epilogue:
- Abel's narrates what happened after his triumphant return to the Marren village, with Mea in tow. Apparently, the whole village beaten him upnote , his father was very angry with him, and his actions (breaking the rules, running away from his marriage to his sister, bringing a stranger and publicly announcing his intentions of marrying her, etc.) were all frowned upon by the community... for being a bad influence!! He even thought of leaving the village again with Mea, because he felt she was unhappy there. They're eventually accepted into the village with help from Giselle, Filo and the Chieftain, but it took the tribe about a month to accept them. To think that scorn and rejection was what both Abel and Mea first receive from the former's community after saving the world from Silfheim. Talk about a close brush with Sudden Downer Ending.
- Melzef snuck into the Marren village to attend his daughter's wedding, only to slip away when Abel calls for him in secret. He was so ashamed of what he almost did, he couldn't bear to show his face to her. Until later...
Melzef: “I don’t know if I can be a father now”.
