17 1895

TRANSCRIPT:
SFX” KNOCK-KNOCK
GUARD: (pokes head in) Forgive me, you Highness, your Grace. But Bishop Macon sends word that he must meet with your Highness immediately.
MALDIK: Ah .. all right, I -
GUARD: He said it was urgent, your Highness. That you needed to consider “the Erogenian question.” I don’t know what -
YANORA: OUT!
GUARD: Yes, your Grace.
YANORA: Maldik?
MALDIK: Ahhh … No … no, it’s … I can’t.
YANORA: Maldik -
MALDIK: No! No, I’m past that, long … long past it. You don’t get it - you don’t understand. Nobody does! It’s … it’s wrong! All of it is wrong! But I can’t stop it! Nobody can!

He runs out, crying “it’s all wrong! All of it!”
17 1895

Something wrong with that boy – Page 1130

TRANSCRIPT: SFX” KNOCK-KNOCK GUARD:  (pokes head in) Forgive me, you Highness, your Grace.  But Bishop Macon sends word that he must meet with your Highness immediately. MALDIK: Ah .. all right, I - GUARD: He said it was urgent, your Highness. That you needed to consider “the Erogenian question.”  I don’t know what - YANORA: OUT! GUARD: Yes, your Grace. YANORA: Maldik?   MALDIK: Ahhh … No … no, it’s … I can’t. YANORA: Maldik - MALDIK: No!  No, I’m past that, long … long past it. You don’t get it - you don’t understand.  Nobody does! It’s … it’s wrong! All of it is wrong! But I can’t stop it! Nobody can!   He runs out, crying “it’s all wrong!  All of it!”

17 thoughts on “Something wrong with that boy – Page 1130

  1. I know all he’s done…
    but still…. I pity him. Poor Maldik.

    1. Same here, copine.

      And somehow… I want him to turn around and do the right thing at some point. (It’s beginning to look like a last-ditch, self-sacrificing attempt at redemption, but we can never know ahead with this writer.)

  2. Time-traveling Maldik?

  3. He might as well be tied to a railroad track, seeing the train a comin’, and couldn’t see a way out if a huge scissors all lit up with a fire red neon sign reading USE THIS was dangled within reach of his hands. What an utter waste.

    1. Ever hear how they train elephants to stay still when they’re tied down…with a flimsy rope?
      They chain them to something bigger than they are when they’re babies, and they never think to reevaluate. The chain held them when they were babies, so they assume the rope will hold them now.

      This is true throughout the animal kingdom. Even humans. A strong human gets a good scare in on someone when they’re small, they may never give it their all to challenge that human later when they’re not.

      Maldik has been beaten by pretty much everyone, verbally, emotionally, and at least with Zena, occasionally physically, since he was little. He only knows the power of his borrowed position.

  4. I just want to stab Macon with something both pointy and dull. Make it hurt. Because he’s the worst thug and slimeball we’ve seen in this comic; hides behind theology and pretend to be a ‘good person’, while being the exact opposite. At least the other bad guys are willing to say ‘yes, we are bad guys and will fuck you over if we get the chance’.

    1. One can certainly hope for a poetic end to Macon.

    2. I already commented once, and then left, (and deleted my cookies). But then I had an idea.
      How about spilling the inkwell on him? Accidentally, of course. Oh, the horror that would be written on his facewhen he realized how much contact poison was soaking through his shirt to coat his chest.
      And right over his heart, too.
      And maybe someone to keep him from leaving, but rather to force him to sit down and “take it easy”. For his health, of course.

    3. You should check out the anime “Rising of the Shield Hero.” The real antagonists aren’t the attacking monsters, it’s the self-righteous hypocrites that literally demonize their victims.

  5. Like I said before, the kindest thing anyone could do for Maldik is assassinate him. It’s his one sure way out of this mess, and out of his misery.

    1. I hope there will be salvation for Maldik if only by getting killed while doing a good thing.
      It’s strange because at first I wanted to see him die but now? I really pity the poor bastard.

  6. “It was at this moment Maldik knew… he fucked up.”

  7. He didn’t even notice that she was speaking to him with a kind smile. How sad.

    (Oh, and Yanora’s authority in the third panel. What a queen. A self-acknowledged failure of a mother, but what a queen.

  8. I need a refresher on what exactly this ‘Erogenean question’ is.

    1. If it’s not something akin to the “Jewish question” I’ll be quite surprised. The Kivalian clergy by and large despise the Erogenians as heathen, heretics, or even heathen heretics which makes no sense, but since when did religious intolerance make sense?

      However, I expect Yanora will soon “ring” her fellow queen to warn her about this, tho it may take place off-screen.

    2. Not entirely sure either, sibling, since it seems to be a code word between Maldik and Macon.

      There’s the always tense relations between Kivalia and Erogenia, that warrant a more or less permanent question.

      There’s the fact that right now Erogenia is moving for war and does not bother to hide it much, especially as they are supposed to be allies with Kivalia against the greater threat of the Urtts. But when your neighbour prepares for war, you have a right to be nervous.

      There’s also Maldik’s command to close the border with Erogenia for fear of a reprisal attack for Zona’s supposed death (which has yet to be disproved in Kivalia, since Yanora is still in jail): https://barbarianprincess.com/comic/honor-and-duty/page-460/ and https://barbarianprincess.com/comic/honor-and-duty/page-469/ .

      It may just be a misnomer for Maldik’s stupid alliance with Urtts.

      Actually, it might be pretty much anything, except, I think, discussing Maldik’s upcoming wedding to Anina. Still, I hope I’ve given you food for thought.

  9. That’s the problem. We all know that Maldik has made mistakes, and I can see why it would be the right thing to forgive him. But unfortunately, actions have consequences, and people can’t be absolved of those. Nobody wanted to put down Old Yeller…but simply wanting that wasn’t a cure for rabies.

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