CAUTION: REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. What it says on the tin. Time for a longer rant. I liked the introduction of this webtoon with all the preliminary set up for the future adventure arc of the story but Im a little mad about this webtoon because I feel like I was tricked in the first chapter so it left a very bad taste in my mouth afterwards. It focuses so much of the panels in the later part of the first chapter on the red haired mage only to have him killed at the end of it. And as the readers we got to listen to his thoughts and see mostly his side of the battle as if he were going to be one of the main protagonists but nope gotcha The sidekick of the princess is very likely going to be the blue haired dude who killed him instead and we know nothing about him except that hes super strong without any other background besides that hes avenging his friends and he barely speaks in this chapter. It feels like we got traded an interesting character for a less interesting one... My feelings are so mixed about this. Its like the author purposely tried to mislead the readers with the very first chapter which is usually the chapter you want to make a good first impression on so that people want to continue reading. Its violating the basic principles of establishing a solid foundation for a story. Seriously it spends so much time analyzing the mage and he even has a deeper backstory and some random girl who wants to save him but it was all for a cheap shot at the readers to twist up their expectations. He was set up to be the underdog in the gladiator death match fighting against the uncontested champion and who doesnt love an underdog? Everyone thought he was going to lose including the princess but she still wanted to watch the entire match to see if hed prove her wrong. And he didnt. It went exactly as she predicted and I guess that means that the author would rather subvert the tropes to prove that the princess is ohsosmart for guessing correctly the outcome from the beginning. I dont know about other people but Id rather see the underdog win and the princess lose her bet because its nice to see someone eat humble pie for once especially if theyre despicable people who use the results of a death match to find their subordinates. So in a sense no one wins and thats perfectly fine with me. I think trying to subvert common tropes such as the underdog like the way it was executed here isnt a good move for a first chapter of a story. As a writer you should also want to make the readers trust you with what youre presenting them with and instead youve basically lied to them in the very beginning about who will be important to make a shocking turn of events for the sake of novelty. Thats my personal opinion but maybe some other people like being hoodwinked like this because its so cool and different I just feel its dishonest and a waste of panels if youre just trying to shock for shocks sake like that. It would have been more acceptable to do this later on once the readers are more familiar with the characters but as the first chapter it shakes up the establishment of the story way too much like putting people on a trick surface and watching them fall through as soon as their feet touches the ground. It makes me doubt what the author is presenting as a whole if we cant even trust what is happening as we think is happening because the initial presentation is actually a big lie. Anyway the art is also not to my preference either. Its too bold with solid color palettes and looks extremely European in style which I guess is what the author is going for but Im not a fan of this style myself. Its alright but there are definitely changes in the quality of art from panel to panel so there is a consistency issue as well. But Im just a very nitpicky person so maybe it wont bother other people. Hopefully the author doesnt pull any more cheap tricks like this again soon or Ill be very unhappy. Otherwise the overall idea and set up for a questtype adventure is promising but I think the explanation of Aire was a little clunky and they could have spent more time establishing the more important characters like the princess and her family better instead of wasting it on this unwelcome twist with the future protagonist switcheroo. I dont know who any of the princesss family members are besides the fact that theyre all horrible people and I dont know any of their names either. Maybe its not important in the overall story but then again I feel completely detached from the princess as a character because of this lack of focus on building her as a protagonist in the establishing first chapter. ...Okay after reading the second chapter my rating of this webtoon has gone down even further because the female lead is not likeable and abusive to almost everyone. She doesnt come off as a strong female protagonist whom I would like to read about because she is cold and uses people like pawns. Maybe it will be expanded on later to explain why she is like that but Im not quite warming up to her at the moment. It doesnt help that no one in the actual story likes her at all. Theyre all either hoping she gets sold off in her political marriage or pretending to be polite to her face and then cursing at her when shes gone. The boring male protagonist we got landed up with is the basic common male character you find in everyday adventure genre media a kindhearted boy who was forced to fight hard for survival wants to have a better life and is fighting in the memory of a loved one blah blah etc. I really preferred the other guy in the first chapter before he was killed off he seemed like he wouldnt be so complacent and obedient towards the haughty princess which would be a far more interesting dynamic to watch. In fact the introduction of that mage character was so much more compelling than the generic character we actually end up getting. Im still very salty about it. Miniupdate: The webtoon is slowly getting better with each chapter as it focuses on the pair trying to safely exit the city to start their quest but getting blocked at every turn. Its pretty exciting and heartpounding to read. I thought it rather strange that the princess is so weak at fighting because the impression she gave before was that shes a capable fighter but perhaps shes just overconfident in her own abilities. Its still a bit too early for me to get a good feel for this webtoon but it does have some good moments after that disaster of the first chapter. The art is improving with each new chapter and the bold colors no longer distract me. I will give a rough breakdown but it will be highly subject to change as I dont feel weve gotten into the meat of it yet. Overall Breakdown: Characters: 4/10 Story: 4/10 Art: 6/10 Lore/Worldbuilding: 4/10 Enjoyment: 6/10