I really like the premise of the story, but I didn't find this engaging at all. The translation is perfectly fine, but the writing is just not up to snuff imo.

Overall, I think it's dull. The protagonist is not interesting, half the time, the dialogue is wooden and unnatural; you fall asleep at the amount of info one character says to another; people don't talk like that. Supporting characters barely get any character development, so for example when the author is trying to do a celebration party event at an... more>> inn (chapter 51), it all falls flat because you don't know any of these characters and can't feel any camaraderie.

Take what another review mentioned - the invention of canning - it is barely researched (by the author) and just thrown in the story. Later down the line, this happens a lot. Protagonist mentions some new technology, people are impressed, immediately produce it and put it to use. Usually happens within the same short chapter. My problem with it is not historical accuracy, but it just becomes another event in passing; not worth remembering; dull.

Another problem I have with it is the depiction of war and strategy. It's just boring. Author frequently throws out troop numbers like a computer: 0f 10000 troops, 8000 go here. Enemy has 20000 troops, blah blah blah. I'm not good enough to explain what's lacking, but I've definitely read much better depictions where you are given clear imagery of the scenes and flow of battle, and feel the tension as characters go through it. None of that here.

I tried reading this because it's highly rated on Narou and apparently even won some prize; no idea why. But I tried until 70 chapters and still can't feel the writer's skills improving. <<less

While I admit his character isn't the most brave or calm in the beginning, I have to go against Nightbringer's review. (This review was made in response to that one tbh)

Their review originally made me reluctant to read this novel, and I'm glad I decided to finally read it. While the main character does stutter and isn't as calm as a lot of other MCs the critique is quite harsh.

As someone who actually quite fond of this type of MC that doesn't just go and change things willy nilly,... more>> Nightbringer's review is quite biased to their own taste and should be taken with a grain of salt. Especially since it's only a review of the character a few chapters in. We all have our own views on how a story should go.

Also random cut in but adults like him exist???

I literally only made this review so people can actually enter and read for themselves. The MC is a character in the story but he is more someone who went to the past a proceeds to have a ripple effect on future happenings rather than someone who is trying to obtain a position of power or make a name for himself.

He has no mistakes to atone for, no past position of extraordinary influence. If anything the 10th division leader he meets is more inline with a typical reincarnator MC but that's what makes this story special.

He's just someone who watched his kingdom and friends all die, and grew to old age without them. Before that he was just a battle nerd court official. Why would he suddenly obtain the confidence enough to make large moves and speak calmly to his superiors? So while, Nightbringer has some points his view of the story is really biased. Like really lol. This story delivers exactly like how the description on this page reads. He's supposed to grow as the story goes on and he's pretty smart.

My only real gripe is that the story seems simpler than I thought it would be, but I like it.

Edit: while I still like this story, I wish the author hadn't had him start bringing techniques from the future and kept it to was strategies and planning tbh <<less

Another supposed "adult" regressed to his youth. Not even an adult but an old man of about 60 years inside. Can't stutter out a whole sentence when asked a question. Can't calm down in a situation that he should've experienced multiple times since he is a supposed "survivor" of 40 years in exile after his country was destroyed. If I could I would ask all the authors to never ever attemt to portray an adult with life experience if they are incapable of doing so. I wanted to give it... more>> a chance but in those chapters I read he did not make a single decision by himself. Then he is not a protagonist. He did not show any form of resistance towards the "flow" of the "story". That's not how humans work. So yeah I can't really recommend this as a novel and I am not even going to rate the translation since it's only one chapter so far. You have been warned the "protagonist" is not even a character much less a driving force behind the story. <<less

Edit: I've decided to make a more detailed review of the story

Hello, I'm Nisarah, the translator of this novel. Like its synopsis said, this story tells us about Roa, a 60 years old man who lost everything after his homeland got destroyed in a war 40 years ago, then for some reason he regressed to 40 years ago, about 2 years before his homeland got destroyed.

As a character, Roa is pretty realistic. He was rather gentle person. He has a fast knowledge of wars because of his hobby of reading and collecting war records from various eras, and an extremely good memory. But we have to remember that Roa himself was just a normal court official and his position as a court official is also not that high. Roa's daily job was to handle some documents, so for him, meeting with the kingdom's hero, the king, and other high-ranking people is pretty nerve-wracking, especially since one wrong word Roa might get killed. I mean, imagine you're just some average person and the president suddenly asked you a question and the secret service will kill you if you didn't give the president a satisfactory answer, won't you also get nervous?

I also like how Roa, despite having the memory of future, also have to struggle. This novel portray how knowing the future and changing it is just 2 completely different matter, especially in war. For example

Roa also didn't just became a skilled strategist in one night. The author did a great job of portraying Roa's inexperience. The author also didn't shy away from portraying the consequence of Roa's inexperience such as

There is also no s*upid cannon fodder that just served as Roa's foil so people will praise him. All decisions, good or bad, made by the kingdom and the generals in the future that Roa knows have a proper and sound reason.

We can also see Roa's interaction with other characters outside of wartime, and his own and the other characters' development.

Roa is also a smart and clever person, capable of making his own decision. He has his own reason to join the 10th Division, he's clever enough to He can also devise his own strategy and use it to win the war. I'm pretty sure even without his memory of the future, Roa will be able to make a name for himself as a strategist with his ability.

The author's way of writing was also simple and easy to understand, which is part of the reason I decided to tl this novel. In short, If you like novel with war and strategy and a good character and relationship development, I highly recommend this novel.

I hate proclaimed Asian military otaku who try to write books. They are absolutely awful at doing research.

TL;DR: author is full of crap and I wouldn't trust this MC to invent a wet fart out of a pile of baked beans.

Let's talk about the crap food preservation techniques this idiot writer thinks is so special. Canning. First: what damn era are we in? Thin metal cans were not common until the later stages of the 19th century, when the invention of the pasteurization technique was introduced. What the author is... more>> ACTUALLY describing is Potting, a preservation technique present throughout many civilizations for millennial. The problem is that he's doing this with hot water. Does anyone want to guess what happens if you put raw food in hot water? It cooks. SHOCK! You know what happens afterwards? It goes bad.

Potting requires SALT as a preservative. A lot of salt, or butter. Or vinegar. You might actually say that the process isn't canning... it's pickling. Another VERY COMMON PROCESS since, I don't know, classical Rome.

Jesus, I hate authors who go into minute detail on sh*t that is blatantly wrong and wildly anachronistic at every step of the way. Stick to writing beta MCs and Harems because the minute you try to describe historical food preservation techniques you are so far off base that anyone attempting these methods should have a right to sue you. <<less

A really good find and refreshing story, I can't believe I left it waiting in my reading list for this long. The MC is regressing in time to two years before his country is destroyed, he's a battle nerd who enjoys reading about battles and strategies used in them, a paradox perhaps to his quite, kind and slightly introverted self. And while you won't find cheats or overpowered abilities being bestowed upon him, MC is a naturally intelligent and a perceptive person, factors that helped him get scouted by a... more>> renowned general once he predicted the enemy move while blabbing to his friends. Moreover, while he knows the future and take actions to prevent it from happening again, his enemies are showcasing highly adaptable course of action, meaning that his futuristic knowledge is becoming more and more useless, pushing him into a completely new path which requires completely new approaches. And perhaps what really draws me in, is that his path is not that of sweet successes. He win battles and loses others, it gives the story a realistic feeling we normally find missing in most fantasy novels. Highly recommend. <<less