Misunderstanding?

Why is everyone claiming the NPCs know it’s a game? Like, based on the history episode we got, all they know is that rulers are bestowed to them from a higher power, and they have the right to assassinate them if they do a poor job. Their loyalty to this ruler is because, despite being clueless in the beginning, they have immense power once educated. So, to clear it up, the grand duke doesn’t know he is real and has responsibilities… that’s why he hated the ragtag team in the beginning. Wouldn’t you be pretty upset if your king corrupted all of you (to become “dirty half-breeds”) and then disappeared like a kicked puppy when you told him you were upset? Duke thinks he ran away in game, cause he doesn’t know he has another life. He threatened to kill the friends cause it was like a jealous anger of “wow, so you ruined our lives to play house with these punks?” Duke even tried to tank their empire in MCs absence so they could get another king. I am still angry with him, there’s no reason to abuse him so much, but I definitely understand his distrust and anger. The MC can’t say “I logged out, how was I supposed to know your lives kept going.” He’d sound crazy. The only worldly explanation is that he cowardly ran away.

We and the main characters can be upset about their reactions. Hell, MC even said, “Why do our dukes act like this just because we left. Why can’t they just say they missed us.” But, that is an error. Them being transported to this reality in itself suggests these “NPCs” are real and have real people emotions. Have had real people emotions. AKA, you can’t expect them not to act like humans do. They are allowed to be unreasonable. They are “human.” We and the main characters struggle to understand that because we are still under this pretense that they are “not human.” But, realistically, if one soldier cultivated a garden for his king, imagine what the rest of them did to handle the inner turmoil in his absence. Especially after they thought they’d finally got a good king.

Like, the duke doesn’t know he left to the real world, for all he knows some guy he was already suspicious of just confessed to him after ruining his life, and then disappeared (into the forest, to another kingdom, who knows) when he didn’t hear something good back.

I definitely think the world building could be much better— I’d love to know why the celestials dislike dark celestials or half breeds so much, or just how big this world is. That said, though, each panel is like a mural in itself, I can’t imagine the amount of work necessary to further the plot and give us some world building.

Other things:

I don’t think the MC is weak. I mean, he is constantly ill because of a certain someone, but that aside, I’d argue he’s cautious. The guy has never used game mechanics irl, wouldn’t you be scared moving from 3rd person to real 1st person all of a sudden? And, he could die for real at any given moment if he fails. He subconsciously feels dependent on the others, who have always felt this sense of responsibility in the game (the NPCs). We’ve seen him pick fights with others, so we know he has guts.

Also, I think it’s valuable to have “trust and loyalty” with your kingdom. I don’t think it is “Mary sue” behavior. Like he told the fish Olympic swimmer guy, being strong and being strong to protect something is different. His NPCs buffs likely got higher thanks to his relationship with them. His army fights harder. I definitely think the soldier that would lay their life on the line for the king would beat the soldier just waiting for their lunch break.

Also, there hasn’t been forty something kings, there have been about 6. Each king can be assassinated 6 times, hence the dramatic number of assassination (forty something). The MC was assassinated 3/6 times, so he has only 3 lives remaining.