I'm all up for mc acting mature!
but gotta note that he's still more of 34 of age, (or was it 36? Anyway, he's kinda stuck with age that he died with), cause in my head, those 7 years that he was out of picture he wasn't maturing/progressing/developing as person
Yes , this 7 years after his death is negligible.
it's been 5 years since mc died, not 7 (and like you said in the replies, mc was dead fr for those 5 years so he didn't age). also, ml was 18 when he met mc, but they then were partners for an unsaid amount of time, so we actually don't know either of their ages exactly, but likely, ml's in his late 20s rn, and the mc's in his late 30s (with an 11 year age gap due to ml aging while mc didn't)
So in this chapter we finally get a gist of their age . 7 years ago mc completed his 20 years of duty which he started at 14 then his age 7 ago was 34 , currently which will be 34+7=41 . Whereas ml was 18 , 7 years ago so now he's 18+7= 25 . They've a 16 year of age gape . Wow quite a big one . I hope they continue to show mc as a mature man , how some in there 40 is suppose to be .