User blog comment:GreenMoriyama/Izo, the Blizzard Prince/@comment-4091261-20160617041243

A first-person point of view in a minor character is potentially the most awe inspiring form of storytelling. However, this particular point of view must be executed properly or else it becomes lackluster. A first-person point of view in a minor character is the traditional form of storytelling to people about an event someone experienced.

The largest issue with this perspective is how easy it is to get detached from the main character. Ironically, this method requires the minor character to be even more influenced by the main character than standard first-person point of view. The reason being is that if the minor character isn't directly influenced by the actions of the main character, the grandeur of the main character's actions is unclear. This is prevalent in the merchant's story as the merchant is extremely detached from Izo. Thus the fact that Izo kind of decimated 50 armed bandits doesn't feel as epic as it sounds. An example of good usage of this style of view can be found in Gintama.

Diagoro's observation journal is one instance of this first-person point of view in a minor character being put into place. It follows the observations of Diagoro on a hobo named Hasegawa--nickname MADAO as an acronym translated to Totally Hopelessly Old Guy. Hasegawa is the main character who is a total bum down on his life, and Diagoro is just a random kid who needed to write an Observation Journal for a class presentation. However, despite being a totally random minor character, Diagoro completely devotes himself to Hasegawa. This causes the actions of Hasegawa to have a tremendous emotional effect as the story follows Diagoro's observations of Hasegawa. While Izo maintains a static personality during the ordeal, causing the merchant to be directly affected by Izo's rescue grants tremendous weight to Izo's actions. This greatly enhances the sense of mystery and awe that I believe you are aiming for with this small story, and it simply makes more sense due to how the title implies the merchant is going to be rescued.