“She wanted me to have salad as the food! No! Salad isn’t food. Salad comes with the food. Salad is a promisary note that something good is going to happen… and I should just wait right here. .” – John Pinette
Yup, and there’s lots of pride there, from the old man, and also the boy.
Now, realistically, there’s no way this kid should survive past the end of the week. The other houses are immediately going to start squabbling for power, and the best he can hope for is to become a pawn of one or more of them. More likely, they’ll just dispose of him as a possible threat for being Iwatani’s heir. And that’s just within Gastonia itself. There’s also the rebellion beating down their door, and the adventurers busy forming an unofficial pact with them, the Gnomes quietly starting a rebellion of their own, the cult still running around loose and possibly expecting their end of the deal Iwatani made with them, and HR and his crusade of course.
So realistically, this kid just signed his own death warrant.
Realistically.
I guess we’ll see if the comic gives realism another giant middle finger as it has so many times before…
Depends… If the kid’s incompetence and impatience really has been an act his plan may be more devious than simply “off the family and rule in their place.”
I mean, the soldiers are on the streets and the people are chanting the family name. As long as he’s taken steps to make sure the soldiers are loyal to him he’s got a good chance.
Or else he’s still the same whiny brat and it’s all about to come apart at the seams.
Wait… did you just call a comic about an alternative realities, programmed by a mage, unrealistic?
What did I only think when I was reading this for a newspaper..?
Didn’t you once have a conversation with a Cardassian about child rearing? I think it was about if children learn to devalue people then they can even devalue anyone including their own parents or maybe it was about interior lighting. I’m not sure it’s been awhile.
Yeah, I was disappointed to see that ):
I guess it would be odd for her to be an important character, though, considering she didn’t show up before. Still though, I was hoping for a brother-sister team. Each waiting for the other to falter…
If she realised that her psychotic little brother was going to kill everyone, playing dead and then sneaking away to find somewhere quiet to live out the ensuing chaos is probably the best possible plan…
And she never showed any real sign of a personality, beyond passively supporting her father’s goals and Gastonia’s casual racism–not a hint that ever really pointed to her breaking her family’s villainous mold, as a character.
This is… Still a really stupid plan by this kid. I mean, first of all, it`s incredibly clear he killed his entire family. And… this isn’t a monarchy thats been in place for centuries or even decades! This was a few weeks ago, tops!
He could just point a finger and say one of his family’s enemies poisoned them, and he was lucky. Honestly, who’d believe a 12 year old murdered his entire family?
You both have an excellent point there, though I think the other matter still stands. I can’t see how this child could realistically have any power when this monarchy is in it`s infancy. Best case scenerio for this kid is being a puppet, worse case he’s killed and replaced.
I think the secrecy of the council’s actions will bite them in the but with Taro’s deeds. He’ll proclaim to the public what happened and with them having been rallied behind the Iwatani name and seeing a “lone survivor child” well, people tend to flock to the miraculously surviving child in of itself.
He may intend to incite the people to exact justice against the foes who would use law to usurp his father’s (and thus his) power.
Not if he’s a really really good actor, which is a possibility. He just pretends he was poisoned too, maybe even takes a special poison designed to mirror the symptoms of what he used. Yes he knows others will attempt to manipulate him, but that knowledge and his ‘hidden nature’ is what puts him a step ahead of them 9 times out of 10.
He continues to play the role of a mere child king whose “advisors” (would-be puppeteers like miyamoto) occasionally die nobly saving his life from unknown ‘assassins’. If he can keep the act up, he could not only become a king no one questions or confronts but write the history books to ensure he looks like a god-chosen saint sovereign. Of course our heroes may have something to say on the matter…
He knew he’d created a monster. He just misjudged it’s allegiance and intelligence. There’s little to no chance this kid will gain anything from his family’s death. There are too many people with legitimate power and influence waiting in the wings.
Underage by what law, though? Monarchy is brand new in Gastonia-turned-Iwatania. Who says there’s a legal age of leadership put in place?
As for regent – those most likely to pull power via law would be those he’d blame, if he’s at all smart, and he’d plead to the people not the legal system. People love the whole “miraculous survivor of murder plot” and double so when it’s a young child of a royal family. They’d see those he blames hanged, leaving only new players or those he doesn’t consider to be threats left to contest power.
What did the father expect? The kid’s a chip off the old block. And when the block in question is made of raw sewage…well, sonny-boy became just like his dad.
No, Iwatani Sr. was a monster. Smart, cold, deadly, and most of all patient.
Iwatani Jr. seems to have all the hunger for power, and has no qualms about killing in cold blood, but he displays none of the intelligence or patience of his father.
We’ve seen him go on rampages before – like the gnome battletank thing. Taro is used to seeing his father get away is outrageous things, but apparently he never contemplated HOW he got away with them all. Taro takes it as a law of nature – Iwatani does something to gain power, Iwatani gets away with it. If that’s the way the world works, wonders Taro, why aren’t we openly exploiting that law of physics from the get go? He is completely oblivious of the power games being played, and how his father was merely perhaps the best at them.
It’s like a kid who sees a trained acrobat dance through an Indiana-Jones-style series of traps, sees how “easy” it is (having never picked up on the years of training, practice, and study that enabled that amazing feat), and then runs straight into the traps.
…Or so it seems given what we’ve seen to date. Our fine authors surely have something more satisfying in store for us than this scum-bucket brat seems to suggest.
Oh, they’re both monsters, all right. Only difference is that one was Lex Luthor and the other is the Joker. They both cause damage, only different kinds, and one is much more reckless than the other.
Doesn’t I’d be happy to see one over the other in a dark alley.
Well at least Lord Iwatani died with more dignity than Lord Lannister. And I’ll say it again unless Taro has someone backing him up at best he’ll be a figurehead king and at worst a severed head king.
On the one hand, I’m wondering if a civil war might be in the works. I doubt the other council members are going to be interested in letting Taro rule. And Taro won’t be interested in letting go of power.
On the other hand, I can also see Taro striking quickly and having the other council members killed before they get a chance to react.
I’m very curios about what is going to happen next.
Well, a civil war is *definitely* in the works. The adventurers just made an unofficial pact with at least part of the “savage race” rebellion. Meanwhile, the Gnomes are quietly plotting a rebellion of their own. At this point, the only question is how hard and far Gastonia’s fall will be.
As for Taro killing the other council members, I guess it’s possible. But he naturally has direct access to his own family’s kitchens, so poisoning them would have been relatively easy. Getting the other heads of houses killed would not be so quick and simple.
If he does attempt to kill the remaining council members, I don’t think it’s be by poison. They aren’t liable to trust him enough to dine with him. Plus, since poison has now been the cause of death of two council members, I’m betting they are going to start using poison testers.
I suspect Taro will be much more blunt. He’s got soldiers that now answer directly to his family now. He might just try to gather & execute the council members before they have a chance to react.
If he’s actually a competent despot posing as an incompetent, whiny brat, then he’s likely already done it. As many are pointing out, he can’t take power just by killing his father because there are too many other players who would object. So the logical thing to do would be to eliminate the other players first. And, when you receive word just before dinner that your forces have been victorious, finish the job before dear papa becomes suspicious.
I asked that question in the last update: How is Taro going to explain this to his government and people? That their king has not only died, not only been assassinated, but that his family was also targeted and that only his son survived?
I now realize: Taro is going to throw the blame on someone else, likely a political threat to him or at least a convenient scapegoat- like Miyamoto? Or someone who doubts his story and tries to investigate?
As readers, we have special insight into the story. But what does it appear to the common people in the story, to those who don’t know? That the strong, friend-of-the-common-man lord they want as king has been killed by a political enemy and that only the son remains.
If the truth is revealed, what’s more believable: that the young surviving son of Lord Iwatani did it, or that it was an enemy of the nation?
Honestly? Considering how plotting heavy the whole heads of Gastonia are, it wouldn’t surprise me that they’d suspect the son. He’s going to have to come up with a really good alibi.
And even if he does come up with a good alibi, the other heads of houses are immediately going to start squabbling for power anyway. They certainly aren’t going to bow to a child, let alone the heir of their most potent political rival. Realistically, the best Taro can hope for at this point is becoming a pawn or figure-head for one or more of the other families. More likely, they’ll just eliminate him to make sure the Iwatani family is out of their way for good.
I’m sure the other heads of Gastonia are going to suspect him. But with power now focused in the House of Iwatani- thus Taro’s hands- what are they going to be able to do about it?
Look, I’m sure Taro’s going to get his due in the end- however, what I’m saying now is that it’s not going to happen soon, that his downfall will come easily, without resistance or durability. Taro is going to be able to do what he wants for some time before anyone can really stop him.
You know, here we all are (including myself) thinking Taro has bitten off more than he can chew.
But what if we’re- at least slightly- wrong? What if the kid is smart enough to go some distance? Or what if what he said- “I even waited until I got the soldiers on the streets and the people chanting our family’s name!”- is right? Right enough to be protection from Jarvis, Miyamoto, the Archmage, and anyone else in Iwatania?
I’m not saying Taro is going to triumph as a villain, or that he won’t be hoist by his own petard, or that it won’t turn out he’s not as powerful as he thinks he is. What I am saying is that bringing about his downfall may be harder and bloodier than we think it will be, that he may last longer than we imagine. As a reader invested in this story, that’s frightening.
I’d more readily believe that Iwatani is not dead. Perhaps he found the food poisoned and replaced it with a paralytic to sound out his would be assassin.
The kid though? He merely bought into his father’s propaganda. There’s no happy end for him.
His track record with the pirate air ship and the gnomish tank are similar. Starts off well, gets quite far under cover of subterfuge, but when anything unexpected happens, he panics and goes mega violent. This is not a recipe for ruling a nation.
But it really does fit the character. Taro’s been taught that acting this way is something to be proud of – and what kid doesn’t want to make their parents proud?
Nothing quite like betraying the people who have been planning to give the power to you, after gaining more of it, and have put up with constant things damaging their rise to power, but still tried to give it to you.
“Right enough to be protection from Jarvis, Miyamoto, the Archmage…”
He’s in no danger from them. They’ll love having him on the throne instead of his father, while they take all the power as Regents. He’ll be the most well protected figurehead in the country. Meanwhile, the rest of the heads are going to run rings around him.
The kid is not ready to deal with master manipulators. He’s going to get played hard.
So, why exactly does dipshit think he will get to be in charge? Especially since the only reason no one’s tied him in a sack with some large rocks and an angry badger and thrown him in the river is his fathers protection.
How can you not understand? So-called “smart people” are usually the ones who make the biggest mistakes because they think just because they’re smart, everyone else is stupid.
Point. Kid better watch his food growing up, smart money says that the regents won’t allow him to grow to ruling age without succumbing to a sudden case of seventeen stab wounds in the back.
Poor Taro… he just murdered the stabilizing factors that made the other heads of household (aka: keys) tolerant of him.
(context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig_qpNfXHIU)
I’m just curious to what the long-term goals of the kid is.
He’s like a Joffrey, in the, “Doing what I can because I can” and “It isn’t mine but I feel it should be” sense.
Was this the first (and last) appearance of the sister? If so why include her, I guess the son needs a mother to exist, but the sister seems pointless.
(Except if there was a surprise arc coming, she was suspicious didn’t eat, now only plays dead and is already planing her terrible revenge)
OK, last update, lots of people were saying that maybe father Iwatani is the only one who got lethal poison, while mother and sister Iwatani just got a sleeping drug, and maybe smug shitstain Iwatani will also take the sleeping drug to erase suspicion against himself… and that was a really good theory.
It’s still a really good theory.
So why, today, are people suddenly all “Oh, he killed them all, he’s not gonna get away with that”?
I’m going to miss Iwatani, the magnificent rotten bastard, but I’m holding out hope that Misa is just fake sleeping.
I just want to point out something many seem to have overlooked.
Soon to be dead daddy said “UNGH!” LOUDLY in the last page and attempted to get out of his seat. Probably from the pain of critical organ failure and the desire to find medicine for said failure.
His wife and daughter did NOT make a sound when they quietly passed out….so, I’m going to guess they are NOT dead.
Pride cometh before the fall.
Salad cometh before the steak, too. They just went straight to the entree. Taro was punishing their lack of dietary tradition.
“She wanted me to have salad as the food! No! Salad isn’t food. Salad comes with the food. Salad is a promisary note that something good is going to happen… and I should just wait right here. .” – John Pinette
See? The whiny kid was all an act to lower his guard. Can’t you see how proud he is of his son… tears are coming out of his mouth.
Yup, and there’s lots of pride there, from the old man, and also the boy.
Now, realistically, there’s no way this kid should survive past the end of the week. The other houses are immediately going to start squabbling for power, and the best he can hope for is to become a pawn of one or more of them. More likely, they’ll just dispose of him as a possible threat for being Iwatani’s heir. And that’s just within Gastonia itself. There’s also the rebellion beating down their door, and the adventurers busy forming an unofficial pact with them, the Gnomes quietly starting a rebellion of their own, the cult still running around loose and possibly expecting their end of the deal Iwatani made with them, and HR and his crusade of course.
So realistically, this kid just signed his own death warrant.
Realistically.
I guess we’ll see if the comic gives realism another giant middle finger as it has so many times before…
Depends… If the kid’s incompetence and impatience really has been an act his plan may be more devious than simply “off the family and rule in their place.”
I mean, the soldiers are on the streets and the people are chanting the family name. As long as he’s taken steps to make sure the soldiers are loyal to him he’s got a good chance.
Or else he’s still the same whiny brat and it’s all about to come apart at the seams.
… Which part of that is especially unrealistic?
Maybe the cultists taught him necromancy? having his dad’s corpse walking around will buy him some time…
Wait… did you just call a comic about an alternative realities, programmed by a mage, unrealistic?
What did I only think when I was reading this for a newspaper..?
Didn’t you once have a conversation with a Cardassian about child rearing? I think it was about if children learn to devalue people then they can even devalue anyone including their own parents or maybe it was about interior lighting. I’m not sure it’s been awhile.
Man, that Iwatani likes to talk. Does that cadaver shut up?
I think he’s too dead set on his own goals to notice
Awww, not Misa.
Yeah, I was disappointed to see that ):
I guess it would be odd for her to be an important character, though, considering she didn’t show up before. Still though, I was hoping for a brother-sister team. Each waiting for the other to falter…
Hey, she might still come back as one of Gravy’s little helpers…
I second this.
She has shown up once before. But it was real early in the comic. Chapter 3, Pg. 5
If she realised that her psychotic little brother was going to kill everyone, playing dead and then sneaking away to find somewhere quiet to live out the ensuing chaos is probably the best possible plan…
It’d be cool if that were true.
If she had a brain, exposing him is better.
I really am skeptical that Taro thought this coup through.
She did show up in the early chapters, though we got an art shift since then.
http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-3-page-5/
Dang it, I need to ready through the whole thread before I post.
Sorry for the repeat.
And she never showed any real sign of a personality, beyond passively supporting her father’s goals and Gastonia’s casual racism–not a hint that ever really pointed to her breaking her family’s villainous mold, as a character.
He should have kept her. She could have been useful.
But then I guess family always does plot to have you murdered… so…
I find precocious children really boring. Only one I can think of that didn’t annoy me was Octavian from the tv series Rome.
I hope this becomes the second, but I will be honest I am not betting on it.
“The poison was in the steak. I added my pee to your OJ, though”
I’m starting to wonder if the impertinence was just an act, based on this sudden shift in behavior.
Possible, wouldn’t be the first time Taro mislead the readers;
http://guildedage.net/comic/chapter-4-page-9/
This is… Still a really stupid plan by this kid. I mean, first of all, it`s incredibly clear he killed his entire family. And… this isn’t a monarchy thats been in place for centuries or even decades! This was a few weeks ago, tops!
He could just point a finger and say one of his family’s enemies poisoned them, and he was lucky. Honestly, who’d believe a 12 year old murdered his entire family?
Said twelve year old is also directly responsible for the Air Pirate and Gnometown debacles, so…. everyone who matters, frankly.
You both have an excellent point there, though I think the other matter still stands. I can’t see how this child could realistically have any power when this monarchy is in it`s infancy. Best case scenerio for this kid is being a puppet, worse case he’s killed and replaced.
The oracle implies that someone else even more unlikely will end up in charge of Gastonia.
I think the secrecy of the council’s actions will bite them in the but with Taro’s deeds. He’ll proclaim to the public what happened and with them having been rallied behind the Iwatani name and seeing a “lone survivor child” well, people tend to flock to the miraculously surviving child in of itself.
He may intend to incite the people to exact justice against the foes who would use law to usurp his father’s (and thus his) power.
And everyone who matters will think “Oh of course this kid did it. But we’ll play along and we can control him easily.”
I mean, I hate to reference current events, but Justice and Power are like oil and water.
As defacto head of Iwatania, I bet he can make it stick.
Not if he’s a really really good actor, which is a possibility. He just pretends he was poisoned too, maybe even takes a special poison designed to mirror the symptoms of what he used. Yes he knows others will attempt to manipulate him, but that knowledge and his ‘hidden nature’ is what puts him a step ahead of them 9 times out of 10.
He continues to play the role of a mere child king whose “advisors” (would-be puppeteers like miyamoto) occasionally die nobly saving his life from unknown ‘assassins’. If he can keep the act up, he could not only become a king no one questions or confronts but write the history books to ensure he looks like a god-chosen saint sovereign. Of course our heroes may have something to say on the matter…
And Lord Iwatani realizes all too late that he’s created a monster…
He knew he’d created a monster. He just misjudged it’s allegiance and intelligence. There’s little to no chance this kid will gain anything from his family’s death. There are too many people with legitimate power and influence waiting in the wings.
I would say puppet king at best.
He’s under-age. When(if?) he reaches the age of majority, THEN he can officially take the throne. But until then? Someone has to be the regent.
I nominate Dean Reynolds!
Underage by what law, though? Monarchy is brand new in Gastonia-turned-Iwatania. Who says there’s a legal age of leadership put in place?
As for regent – those most likely to pull power via law would be those he’d blame, if he’s at all smart, and he’d plead to the people not the legal system. People love the whole “miraculous survivor of murder plot” and double so when it’s a young child of a royal family. They’d see those he blames hanged, leaving only new players or those he doesn’t consider to be threats left to contest power.
If things go his way.
What did the father expect? The kid’s a chip off the old block. And when the block in question is made of raw sewage…well, sonny-boy became just like his dad.
Monsters are created by other monsters.
No, Iwatani Sr. was a monster. Smart, cold, deadly, and most of all patient.
Iwatani Jr. seems to have all the hunger for power, and has no qualms about killing in cold blood, but he displays none of the intelligence or patience of his father.
We’ve seen him go on rampages before – like the gnome battletank thing. Taro is used to seeing his father get away is outrageous things, but apparently he never contemplated HOW he got away with them all. Taro takes it as a law of nature – Iwatani does something to gain power, Iwatani gets away with it. If that’s the way the world works, wonders Taro, why aren’t we openly exploiting that law of physics from the get go? He is completely oblivious of the power games being played, and how his father was merely perhaps the best at them.
It’s like a kid who sees a trained acrobat dance through an Indiana-Jones-style series of traps, sees how “easy” it is (having never picked up on the years of training, practice, and study that enabled that amazing feat), and then runs straight into the traps.
…Or so it seems given what we’ve seen to date. Our fine authors surely have something more satisfying in store for us than this scum-bucket brat seems to suggest.
Oh, they’re both monsters, all right. Only difference is that one was Lex Luthor and the other is the Joker. They both cause damage, only different kinds, and one is much more reckless than the other.
Doesn’t I’d be happy to see one over the other in a dark alley.
Who knew that by creating a monster, we created a monster.
Well at least Lord Iwatani died with more dignity than Lord Lannister. And I’ll say it again unless Taro has someone backing him up at best he’ll be a figurehead king and at worst a severed head king.
I’d put “severed head king” at the best possible case, though.
Best for us not, but not Taro. Although I don’t know if the creative team would go there. It would be a kid’s head on a spike after all.
I dunno. If I were a judge, and in possession of all the salient facts, I’d probably try Taro as an adult.
On the one hand, I’m wondering if a civil war might be in the works. I doubt the other council members are going to be interested in letting Taro rule. And Taro won’t be interested in letting go of power.
On the other hand, I can also see Taro striking quickly and having the other council members killed before they get a chance to react.
I’m very curios about what is going to happen next.
Well, a civil war is *definitely* in the works. The adventurers just made an unofficial pact with at least part of the “savage race” rebellion. Meanwhile, the Gnomes are quietly plotting a rebellion of their own. At this point, the only question is how hard and far Gastonia’s fall will be.
As for Taro killing the other council members, I guess it’s possible. But he naturally has direct access to his own family’s kitchens, so poisoning them would have been relatively easy. Getting the other heads of houses killed would not be so quick and simple.
If he does attempt to kill the remaining council members, I don’t think it’s be by poison. They aren’t liable to trust him enough to dine with him. Plus, since poison has now been the cause of death of two council members, I’m betting they are going to start using poison testers.
I suspect Taro will be much more blunt. He’s got soldiers that now answer directly to his family now. He might just try to gather & execute the council members before they have a chance to react.
If he’s an incompetent, whiny brat, yes.
If he’s actually a competent despot posing as an incompetent, whiny brat, then he’s likely already done it. As many are pointing out, he can’t take power just by killing his father because there are too many other players who would object. So the logical thing to do would be to eliminate the other players first. And, when you receive word just before dinner that your forces have been victorious, finish the job before dear papa becomes suspicious.
Of course, nobody is going to find it the least bit suspicious that That Little Shit {as he’s widely known} is sole survivor of the Borgia Buffet…
I asked that question in the last update: How is Taro going to explain this to his government and people? That their king has not only died, not only been assassinated, but that his family was also targeted and that only his son survived?
I now realize: Taro is going to throw the blame on someone else, likely a political threat to him or at least a convenient scapegoat- like Miyamoto? Or someone who doubts his story and tries to investigate?
As readers, we have special insight into the story. But what does it appear to the common people in the story, to those who don’t know? That the strong, friend-of-the-common-man lord they want as king has been killed by a political enemy and that only the son remains.
If the truth is revealed, what’s more believable: that the young surviving son of Lord Iwatani did it, or that it was an enemy of the nation?
Honestly? Considering how plotting heavy the whole heads of Gastonia are, it wouldn’t surprise me that they’d suspect the son. He’s going to have to come up with a really good alibi.
And even if he does come up with a good alibi, the other heads of houses are immediately going to start squabbling for power anyway. They certainly aren’t going to bow to a child, let alone the heir of their most potent political rival. Realistically, the best Taro can hope for at this point is becoming a pawn or figure-head for one or more of the other families. More likely, they’ll just eliminate him to make sure the Iwatani family is out of their way for good.
I’m sure the other heads of Gastonia are going to suspect him. But with power now focused in the House of Iwatani- thus Taro’s hands- what are they going to be able to do about it?
Look, I’m sure Taro’s going to get his due in the end- however, what I’m saying now is that it’s not going to happen soon, that his downfall will come easily, without resistance or durability. Taro is going to be able to do what he wants for some time before anyone can really stop him.
You know, here we all are (including myself) thinking Taro has bitten off more than he can chew.
But what if we’re- at least slightly- wrong? What if the kid is smart enough to go some distance? Or what if what he said- “I even waited until I got the soldiers on the streets and the people chanting our family’s name!”- is right? Right enough to be protection from Jarvis, Miyamoto, the Archmage, and anyone else in Iwatania?
I’m not saying Taro is going to triumph as a villain, or that he won’t be hoist by his own petard, or that it won’t turn out he’s not as powerful as he thinks he is. What I am saying is that bringing about his downfall may be harder and bloodier than we think it will be, that he may last longer than we imagine. As a reader invested in this story, that’s frightening.
I’d more readily believe that Iwatani is not dead. Perhaps he found the food poisoned and replaced it with a paralytic to sound out his would be assassin.
The kid though? He merely bought into his father’s propaganda. There’s no happy end for him.
His track record with the pirate air ship and the gnomish tank are similar. Starts off well, gets quite far under cover of subterfuge, but when anything unexpected happens, he panics and goes mega violent. This is not a recipe for ruling a nation.
You’re right. That’s a recipe for killing one.
Just because he was successful doesn’t mean he’ll be a success. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
That . . . is probably the worst thing taro could have said to him.
But it really does fit the character. Taro’s been taught that acting this way is something to be proud of – and what kid doesn’t want to make their parents proud?
Nothing quite like betraying the people who have been planning to give the power to you, after gaining more of it, and have put up with constant things damaging their rise to power, but still tried to give it to you.
What a little boot, that Taro.
How is he going to govern? Playing all others as having him under their infuence isn’t really in his persona, is it?
Taro seems like the type to request tribute, or else.
I still don’t think Misa’s dead. No drool. (Will continue to deny Misa’s death even after her “burial” scene.)
Buried alive! How cruel.
Nah mate, there’s drool on the plate, it’s just hard to see against the porcelain.
There is drool, though, it’s just that it’s in the plate, so white on white.
Bitch is dead.
I looked back at the start of this scene. She was drinking whatever the yellow poison-containing stuff is.
“Right enough to be protection from Jarvis, Miyamoto, the Archmage…”
He’s in no danger from them. They’ll love having him on the throne instead of his father, while they take all the power as Regents. He’ll be the most well protected figurehead in the country. Meanwhile, the rest of the heads are going to run rings around him.
The kid is not ready to deal with master manipulators. He’s going to get played hard.
This was supposed to be a reply to Messenger, above.
Guess it’s too early for me to be posting. Where is my caffiene? Brat better not have poisoned that, too…
“Dad? Dad? Hey are you proud of me? Why aren’t you answering? Dad, are you proud of me?”
Aww, he’s so overwhelmed with pride in me, he’s speechless!
So, why exactly does dipshit think he will get to be in charge? Especially since the only reason no one’s tied him in a sack with some large rocks and an angry badger and thrown him in the river is his fathers protection.
I like that visual.
Can we have that visual in the comic, please? :D
Poor badger.
Also, I think it might poison the river…
I don’t understand how someone so smart can be THIS stupid.
How can you not understand? So-called “smart people” are usually the ones who make the biggest mistakes because they think just because they’re smart, everyone else is stupid.
Point. Kid better watch his food growing up, smart money says that the regents won’t allow him to grow to ruling age without succumbing to a sudden case of seventeen stab wounds in the back.
“It was a horrible, tragic accident. He accidentally backed into a knife seventeen times.”
Chicago reference?
Yeah, right, that’s where I got it. (whistles innocently)
Poor Taro… he just murdered the stabilizing factors that made the other heads of household (aka: keys) tolerant of him.
(context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig_qpNfXHIU)
Oh no…who could have forseen this turn of events?
I’m just curious to what the long-term goals of the kid is.
He’s like a Joffrey, in the, “Doing what I can because I can” and “It isn’t mine but I feel it should be” sense.
Well seeing as how he just seized power through his own actions, he is maybe more akin to Ramsey.
Let’s face it, the only thing Joffrey was able to kill on his own were bound prisoners and cats.
“I was going to give it to you any…way…blerg.”
“Wait, really? Well…this is awkward. Boy, is my face red!”
…kind of want to see this twerp tossed out an airship again.
” Your fall shall herald my ascension to the SITH”…………..
Was this the first (and last) appearance of the sister? If so why include her, I guess the son needs a mother to exist, but the sister seems pointless.
(Except if there was a surprise arc coming, she was suspicious didn’t eat, now only plays dead and is already planing her terrible revenge)
OK, last update, lots of people were saying that maybe father Iwatani is the only one who got lethal poison, while mother and sister Iwatani just got a sleeping drug, and maybe smug shitstain Iwatani will also take the sleeping drug to erase suspicion against himself… and that was a really good theory.
It’s still a really good theory.
So why, today, are people suddenly all “Oh, he killed them all, he’s not gonna get away with that”?
I’m going to miss Iwatani, the magnificent rotten bastard, but I’m holding out hope that Misa is just fake sleeping.
I just want to point out something many seem to have overlooked.
Soon to be dead daddy said “UNGH!” LOUDLY in the last page and attempted to get out of his seat. Probably from the pain of critical organ failure and the desire to find medicine for said failure.
His wife and daughter did NOT make a sound when they quietly passed out….so, I’m going to guess they are NOT dead.
It’s kinda funny his father believed in loyality. Of all things.
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Suck it.
And in swoops HR to advise and Mentor…
Are you proud of me, Father?
I can’t tell.
For the first time all strip, I DON’T HEAR YOU SAYING ANYTHING!
Naïve, and stupid, but ambitious little brat. And yeah, Aazaen, I bet HR swoops in.
Okay but IS HE PROUD THO
“Where did you learn this!?!”
“From you, alright! I learned it by watching you!”
“Parents who use poison have children who use poison.”
This scene could stand in for what Trump did to the Republican Party.
Both are evil, but the incompetent evil has taken over.
The kid is even dumber than he looks. I didn’t think it possible.