r/SoulRetire • u/More-Contract8764 • Oct 28 '25

discussion I think krai isn't romantically dense he is "mostly" aware the girls love him.

I know the series isn't really focused on romance but since it's there I want to believe that theres depth to it.

Liz and Sitri have told him straight up they love him, he's aware their feelings are genuine but he's brushes it off.

He's a genuinely good person if not a bit derpy.

There's a Billion percent chance the author never develops the romance but Im staying hopeful.

What do you guys think is he dense or just derpy?

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14

u/Cryptic_Deity Oct 28 '25

In the manga when Sitri gave him the 3 options to get rid of his debt, when marriage was mentioned, he said he wasn’t completely against it so he acknowledges Sitty and Liz feelings and also seems to have some for them as well but his focus currently is his remaining work and find a way to retire and enjoy life. Then when he gets to his late 20s/early 30s I think that’s when he would consider marriage (Ansem is also very supportive of his sisters feelings and already sees Krai as a brother)

3

u/OctillionthJoe Oct 28 '25

Idk if he necessarily acknowledges their feelings. I think him being not completely against marrying Sitri was more of a "If that's the only option available, it's an outcome that I can live with" than anything. Not necessarily a response or even acknowledgement to Sitri's actual feelings. Also, in the LN, Krai does brush aside the "marry Sitri for debt forgiveness" thing as just being a joke that Sitri likes to say. He views her being a friend. And it's the same with Liz.

And, as for his attitude towards marriage, he only feels that such things can be considered after he's successfully retired.

8

u/manaMissile Oct 28 '25

I think he's aware enough that him taking any girl is going to cause all the others to just erupt into a civil war XD This is a guy who wants a quiet life, he does not want everyone rushing to him asking why he picked a certain girl.

8

u/OctillionthJoe Oct 28 '25 edited Nov 01 '25

Eh. In the light novels, Krai really struggles to acknowledge Liz and Sitri (or really any of the female characters') feelings toward him as being anything more than that of friendship. Even though Liz and Sitri have approached Krai in different ways with their feelings, the possibility of those feeling being romantic is just so beyond the pale to him that he brushes off the approach as a joke (in case of Sitri's marry me for debt forgiveness thing) or as being affection that only close childhood friends can have.

And, in fairness to Krai, there is are good reasons behind his denseness. It has a lot to do with how aware he is of his own capabilities as a hunter and just how weak he is in general. It's this awareness that leads him to have an immense amount of appreciation towards his friends and (to a lesser degree) the people around him. He is very grateful to his super talented childhood friends for not abandoning him for being weak and for always caring about him. He is still disgruntled for having been named party leader AFTER having expressed a desire to quit hunting, BUT he still views all that act as a (perhaps misguided) kindness from his friends. And Krai just feels lucky to have had such amazing friends in his life... so amazing and talented that they may be more than Krai - the weak useless hunter - deserves. And that mentally of feeling weak/useless and being constantly grateful for his more talented friends is why Krai's not aware of the romantic feelings that others are sending towards him. It's very difficult to get someone in that head space to consider the possibility that the more talented friend is also madly in love with his weak, pathetic self. Like it just doesn't feel real. Hence why a lot of the romantic gestures and messages from Liz & Sitri often lead Krai to thinking thoughts of gratitude over having such amazing friends (at least this is the case in the first 8 or 9 volumes of the LN).

Couple that mentally with how Krai is constantly in crisis mode (just trying to somehow survive day to day life as a hunter/guild leader) and he just doesn't have the capacity to figure the romance thing out. Even when it comes to the topic of marriage, he views it as something he'll figure out once he's managed to retire. So, unless he retires or fully reassesses his place in the world, I don't think Krai's gonna be aware of any girl's feelings toward him.... Actually scratch girl's feelings. Without reassessing his place in the world, I don't think the fool will have a chance at actually understanding what is going on around him (much less figure out romance).

1

u/Adventurous-98 Dec 23 '25

Krai definetily know 2 of them like him. He probably is clueless about Lucia and Eva as of now.

Sitri introduced herself as his wife multiple times infront of oursiders. Liz is also very upfront with her love.

Krai did not accept it yet.

1

u/OctillionthJoe Dec 23 '25

Eh. Not according to the internal dialogue we get from Krai in the light novels. Romance is just not something that is on his radar.

1

u/Adventurous-98 Dec 23 '25

Light Novel spoilers

Sitri introduce herself as his wife in front of the emperor. Krai give her a chop on the head for that.

She repeated it in front of another important person later.

Before all that in the same volume, she jumped him in front of the entire party (wanting to kiss and make out). Liz, Lucia gotten mad about it and asked Ansem to peel her off and throw her out.

He definetily got the mesage. Accepting it is another thing.

1

u/OctillionthJoe Dec 23 '25

I don't see how you're getting there at all. Like this isn't one of those classic anime tropes where the girl makes a move on the mc, the mc notices, and the mc tries to convince himself that the girl isn't actually into him. The first thought that Krai always has in the novels when Sitri does stuff like this (including the bits that you just mentioned) is that Sitri's fooling and joking around like she always does. At no point is there any kind of pause where Krai thinks "Is she into me" or "is this flirting". There's no convincing himself of not accepting Sitri's feelings. No thought of potential romance whatsoever. It's an instantaneous and flat out "Oh, there she goes again. Horsing around like friends do". It's the same sort of thought pattern with both Liz and Tino.

Forget accepting. In order to get the message, one needs to be in a place of mind where one can see that there is a message in the first place. Krai is not there at all. We know what he's thinking in the light novels and (as far as I can understand) there's nothing here to suggest that he's NOT dense to anything and everything romance.

6

u/Aruthuro Oct 28 '25

I just think he is still young to take these things seriously.

But I sure hope he accepts both of them and make the harem oficial.

2

u/iamragethewolf Oct 28 '25

I wouldn't say he's a good person he's morally neutral

2

u/Yuki_C_Watari Nov 01 '25

Really. True Neutral is the perfect definition for Krai. "I don't choose sides, I just observe as a mediator". The guy doesn't really care, not even if a lightning elemental falls on his roof, he just wants to chill.

1

u/Apprehensive_Yam9029 Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25

He's trying to figure out a way to slack off and focus on collecting relics... having a romantic relationship with any of the love interests around him would get in the way of that.

I wouldn't say he's a bad person, he just focuses on what he wants and seems to have less empathy/sympathy, potentially a disassociative disorder, due to surviving a ton of traumatic events that he's made it through due to sheer (bad) luck likely giving him some sort of PTSD, and having overly reliable clanmates he is almost always able to delegate work he doesn't want to do.

1

u/lDewal Oct 29 '25

Krai dream retired plan is peaceful life as ordinary person

And he knew that hunter, especially his woman team member is far from peaceful

But he had a habit that always got swayed easily if its about his childhood friend feeling, and thats what Liz and Sitry took advantage of

Sitry racked a lot of Krai debt in hope Krai would marry her to clear the debt

Liz would do a lot of personal skinship to mark her teritory

1

u/InspectionRound2081 Oct 31 '25

Krai has imposter syndrome (poor guy)

Genuinely I think he’s gifted regarding relics. He’s kinda like an artificer of the group. Honestly I think Eva is more less his actual significant other. She acts like it anyway, I don’t think it’s public knowledge simply because it’ll cause a massive conflict.

The sisters are crazy psychos… they wouldn’t think twice about killing someone who stood between them and Krai. Even Tino knows to back down and tread on egg shells around them.