i find it low-key unbelievable that James’ hand to hand combat style is so good that king decides to go make him teach his soldiers while abandoning actual weapons furries can wield, and all of that is somehow a plot point
also how come James managed to overhear a conspiracy explicitly mentioning kidnapping several central characters yet decided its not worth alerting anyone?
James couldnt assume it was Benignus that will be kidnapped nor Harobes who was afraid of blood.
One of the downsides of a fast paced story is that the author has to leave out a lot of details that provide context. That is where your skills as a reader have to come into play. You need to start assuming things the author intended without getting it wrong. If done right, it can make for a good experience rather than a frustrating one, unless you hate mystery genre. Kur pulls it off, but once again you need to rely on some of your own wit. IDK if it is intentional or not, but things slip out after the fact (eg James wiped himself before meeting Dylus outside, they came in, and he got dressed for the new queen's coronation party. Only after the party does he mentioned he took a bath sometime between coming in and getting dressed. So Kur gives us some warnings that extra stuff is happening in the background, but we just dont have the time to experience it and take in the full context).
I believe the king was interested in martial arts rather than fisticuffs. The choke hold James uses is impossible to get out of if properly executed. A similar one is called rear naked choke hold, where the trick to it is ruining the balance of the person being choked. To them, they are too focused on their balance that they cant fight the choker. To a spectator it seems like theyre just sitting there taking it like a moron and wasting precious time. James wanted his job to be a martial arts tutor, so I guess he got what he wanted in the end. You just have to let it go and accept that the king fulfills the role as job-grantor in the narrative for James to like him a bit more. It's not perfectly logical, but it is great storytelling if youre willing to suspend some disbelief, as one usually ought to, coming into a world of talking animals XD
James martial arts aren't the best, the King never saw something like that before, since in Hyvindle they just used weapons or punches in fights and he wants for his soldiers to learn so they could prevain something like invasion that happened years ago, James didn't who they're talking about, even thinking it could be a cult thing, but he i had him thinking talking with about it to Dylus but he couldn't do to Dylus busy schedule, but maybe i didn't pharse it that well? Pls tell if there anything that is wrong and I will correct it.
