Afterword
I have some space for the afterword in this volume, so I’ll use it to give a supplemental explanation of the main story.
Monster meat actually has multiple secondary effects. This was explained in “Keely’s Discovery,” a bonus episode in the ebook of How I Became King by Eating Monsters Volume 2 published on BOOK☆WALKER in Japan (I apologize; I should have added this to the main story).
One aspect of monster meat is that merely eating it isn’t enough to make one stronger. Its effects only manifest when one trains while eating it (this applies to mana as well). It’s like how consuming protein supplements is meaningless without working out. Young Mars was eating monster meat and fighting monsters, so he got stronger.
Next, when a person eats monster meat, they also adopt a monster-like sensibility. Specifically, this world’s monsters tend to obey individuals of the same species that are stronger than themselves. This behavior is passed on to humans who eat their meat. These humans perceive those who eat monster meat as members of the same species as them, and this makes it more likely for hierarchical relationships based on strength to form. This is one reason for the unusual worship of Mars by the members of the Hundred.
However, in Mars’s case, even without the meat, they respect him as their leader, and they’ve formed relationships of trust over a long period of time. So, even if someone stronger than him were to appear, the Hundred’s loyalty wouldn’t be so easily shaken. This is why, even with Cassandra there, they don’t revere her more than they do Mars. If anything, their reaction is something like, “Lord Mars sure is amazing, to be able to make such a strong woman his wife.” Incidentally, “amazing” here is being used synonymously with “insanely reckless.”
Additionally, in terms of geography, please think of the continent of Ares as a similar shape to North and South America merged together. The country equivalent to Canada is the not-yet-introduced Ronzan Empire, and the parts corresponding to the United States and Mexico are what is referred to as “the center.” The eastern center has the midsize nations like Dorssen, Vulcan, and Eyland, and the west is a disordered clutter of small countries. Finally, North and South America here aren’t divided by ocean, but by a mountainous region. There are gaps in the mountains, and this is basically where Farune and Cadonia are. To the south is a massive jungle, called the Forest of Beasts. Essentially, this is South America. Please think of the geographic aspect as just an undefined impression. I haven’t really established it in detail.
The people of Ares don’t know the true scope of the Forest of Beasts. They only think of it as a huge, scary forest, and no one suspects that it takes up around the same area as every human nation combined. The continent of Ares has more monsters than humans.
As such, whenever a super powerful monster occasionally carelessly wanders its way north, it’s labeled a “calamity-class” monster, and all humanity ends up coming together to oppose it. When this happens, Farune and Cadonia are the very first places to get hit, and it’s been truly disastrous. The same is true of monster stampedes. However, these kinds of catastrophes occur in cycles measured in centuries, so humans generally manage to live in peace. The current story takes place in the middle of a period of peaceful complacency, where people are oblivious to potential threats.
The various countries of Ares have never been unified, and while the Ronzan Empire has tried in the past, it’s generally considered an “Evil Empire,” so everyone resisted them and foiled their plans.
Master Matou played a major role in defeating calamity-class monsters and repulsing the Ronzan Empire, and he had become a sort of deterrent. It just so happens that he wasn’t the sort of person who should have been killed so carelessly.
People really are thoughtless, aren’t they?