Yeah, actually reading the book and seeing certain moments in their actual context cleared up most of the major criticisms I saw lobbied about. A big one of them being why Loki Familia didn't/couldn't join, where the text clearly shows that it's all the Guild's fault, protecting Freya Familia because they're scared to lose them.

I liked the moment where Royman was basically like "Just let her have Bell, no big deal", because it's another perspective on what Hermes has also been doing. They are very squarely focused on the "bigger picture", but it leads to question "at what cost", by treating them like tools or chess pieces rather than as actual people, which also ties into the theme of Freya's story wanting to be treated as a "person".

And yeah the Ais thing made perfect sense, Freya is doing it just to spite her in her jealously (which on re-read recently I noticed alot of scenes where she vocally voiced said jealously), and Ais' own devotion to her duty and her sword above all else would ensure she wouldn't break her vow. Like that Ottar even mentioned technically they couldn't stop her if she wanted to, so whatever guilt she felt over breaking it would be entirely her own doing, which is in character.

Yeah the Ais thing was completely blown out of proportion and the way Ottar worded it in English made complete sense. I think people have to get it out of their heads that Ais owes Bell when he has literally done nothing for her. Avenging Alberts death and taking back her mother being a priority over everything else for Ais is definitely in character for her. I will admit, its easier to understand all of this if you have read SO and had that prior knowledge, like the example that you used from SO with her picking up the sword.

@InversePrime

It doesn't clear up anything. We always knew it was the Guild pressuring LF to stay out, the problem was LF's absolute cowardice in bending to their whims (to say nothing of the Guild's own problems).

It doesn't solve the outrageously light punishments dealt to Freya or her subordinates afterwards.

Volume 18 is just as much a trainwreck now as it was when it first released a year ago (it's already been a year, Good Lord). This was the pivotal moment in the series, and Oomori chose the wrong fork. The verdict remains the same.

@KamaSeesAll Again, we knew that from the original fan translations. The people that think Ais somehow owes Bell something will continue to say so, because the problem for them has always been much more fundamental for them-- they don't like Ais in general. Whether because they don't like Kuudere-type heroines, they prefer someone else like Haruhime or Ryu, they don't like Loki Familia and extend that to Ais, or something else, they hate Ais and then try to justify their prejudice.

@ThatRabidPotato Nope, the story straight up states that if Loki Familia directly participated in the game, Hestia Familia would forfeit and Freya would automatically win. It wasn't being cowardly when the Guild was setting up a rigged game. And considering they were given the Dungeon information as "incentive" to not interfere any further, they still proceeded to help anyway (Finn assisting Lili, Tiona and Tione training Bell, Bete and Loki convincing the Hostess of Fertility employees, etc.)

Still not remotely convincing-- Finn could've and should've pushed harder to make the Guild back down. He backed down because of Riveria.