Daryun’s Demotion is Very Important, in this essay I will
highlight what role it plays in the Naryun ship.
In year 317 of the Parsian calendar, Narsus was not fired from court, he quit. Pushing for the freedom of slaves and highlighting the corruption at court, Narsus was not popular. Even the priesthood made assassination attempts on his life. So Narsus wrote a letter of resignation.
This enraged King Andragoras so much that no one was to be in contact with Narsus ever again. The mere mention of Narsus’ name will incur Andragoras’ wrath, therefore Daryun only makes references to Narsus as “an old friend” when bringing him up in conversation with Prince Arslan in Chapter 1, probably to protect Arslan from accidentally asking questions.
In Year 320, before the Battle of Atropatene against Lusitania, Daryun, at the advice of Kharlan, suggests retreating to Andragoras because he suspects a trap. The possibilities are:
Slaves are very capable of betrayal (because they are mistreated)
why challenge the Parsian cavalry to a battle on an open field?
In Chapter 2, Andragoras is the first to bring up the name of “Narsus” in the conversation, which means Andragoras’ train of thought is “slaves with a will of their own = that blasted Narsus”.
We also establish that Daryun still considers Narsus a friend, despite not being in contact with him for the past 3 years.
Depending on the version, there are whips involved, there are swords involved.
But the demotion is the same. Daryun is no longer one of the 12 Marzbān, one of the commanding generals over 10 000 horsemen each.
Later in chapter 5, Daryun recounts how the Battle of Atropatene was ultimately lost, but we don’t get the details in the manga. After all, the reader knows the series of events that lead up to the defeat.
But does Narsus know about Daryun’s lost title? And how it happened?
Arriving in Peshawar in chapter 37, Arakawa’s manga confirms that not everyone has had time to hear of Daryun’s demotion (See title image of this post). I imagine this is the latest point where Narsus would find out that Daryun has actually been demoted.
Why the information of Andragoras’ losing his temper would be beneficial to Narsus:
Confirms that Daryun still has the shared belief that slaves suffer from inequality
Confirms that Daryun assesses a military situation level-headedly and logically
Confirms that King Andragoras is still SALTY about the letter
The mental image of Daryun being handled with a whip or held at sword point restores HP
In conclusion: the demotion makes Daryun exponentially more attractive and now Narsus and Daryun are Kishward’s problem at Peshawar. Kishward’s family have been loyal to the King for generations and also the two need to keep it down.
Thank you for your attention.
