Drole was a really interesting story to translate for multiple reasons. For one, Drole is our resident in-game masochist. He likes pain and being hurt, but he doesn’t like hurting others. This is a really extreme personality trait that most of the other characters shy away from. I, for one, really like this about him, and I like how it’s portrayed in the story. And before I get much further into this, I have absolutely nothing against masochism/sadism and am very kink-positive as long as both parties are consenting. I found it interesting that the Sun Route and Moon Route stories are so very different in how Drole is depicted in the end. Of course this isn’t the first time a character sees a major shift throughout the course of the two routes, but I always find it kind of refreshing to see two completely different endings with the characters. I would even go so far as to say the Sun Route shows more character development for Drole, whereas the Moon Route shows more character development for the protagonist. Either way, both routes were very satisfying in my opinion.
I also want to remind everyone reading that Drole is canonically 16. The age of adulthood is 18 in Japan, so he still qualifies under Circo’s rule of ‘no adults’, but our protagonist is above the age of 18 based on this story wherein they refer to her as an adult. This is also clear in that the protagonist uses the –kun suffix when addressing Drole, indicating he is younger than her.
As for translation notes, there are a few couple things I wanted to point out in relation to interpretation in this story, particularly in referencing the circus. The story uses 団員 (danin) which just translates to ‘group member’ to refer to the people in the circus. However proper terminology in referring to a circus group is to use the term ‘troupe’, which is what I’ve done. I’ve done the same thing when they refer to Nero as the 団長 (danchou). This just means ‘leader’ in Japanese, but again in a circus this would be some variation of the term ‘ringmaster’, which is the translation I’ve used. This is a situation that comes up a lot in translation where, if you go with the general translation, it isn’t wrong but the English sounds more complete and intentional when situation-specific terms like ‘troupe’ and ‘ringmaster’ are used. I also had to do some research on the topic of 綱渡り (tsunawatari), which is Drole’s act. This can be translated as ‘tightrope’ or ‘high-wire’ but the two acts are actually different. A tightrope is a rope strung tightly between two points where performers go across, but a high-wire is specifically a tightrope in a highly elevated position. So you could do a tightrope act one foot off the ground, but a high-wire act always has to be up high. From what I could tell, there’s no set rule on when a tightrope becomes a high-wire, but given how much emphasis Drole puts on wanting to fall from great heights, I think it’s a safe assumption that he’s performing on a high-wire rather than a tightrope. Also this isn’t in the translation, but this would make Drole a funambulist. There’s your random bit of circus knowledge for the day!