のだとしても vs としても What’s the difference?


>
> そもそも七罪は、士道に霊力を封印される前に、士道や精霊たちを巻き込んで事件を起こしてしまっていたのだ。皆、そのときのことは水に流してくれてはいたのだが……1人くらい、皆に同調したように見せかけて、七罪への恨みを残している者がいてもおかしくはなかった。
>
>
> しかもそのとき七罪が化けていたのは『よしのん』……四糸乃の無二の友だちなのである。士道や他の精霊たちが学校へ行ってしまった瞬間を見計らって、仕返しをしにきた
> **のだとしても** 不思議はなかった。

Context:七罪 once did something bad to 士道 and 精霊s (四糸乃 is one of the 精霊s). Now
四糸乃came to visit 七罪 and 七罪 thought 四糸乃 might seek revenge on her when 士道 and
other 精霊 went to school.

Hi. What would be the difference between のだとしても and としても? I know としても can be
preceded by a verb directly. And I also know のだ is usually used for explaining
reasons when appearing at the end of a sentence. But I have never seen のだ used
this way as in the quote. Could you shed some light on this usage?

Thank you.




This の is a plain explanatory-の you are already familiar with. It's in a
と-marked quote, and quotes can contain ordinary sentences with は, のだ, etc.
This のだ is there because what's before it is a (possible) explanation of why
四糸乃 appeared.

> (四糸乃は、)士道や他の精霊たちが学校へ行ってしまった瞬間を見計らって、仕返しをしにきた **のだ** 。
>
> **(It's that)** she (=四糸乃) came here to get back at her (=七罪) after waiting
> for the moment when Shidou and other spirits had gone to school.

> ～ **と** しても不思議はなかった。
>
> It would be no surprise even if ～.

As always, dropping this explanatory-の would make this sentence look
unnatural. Just because English does not have explanatory-の does not mean it's
not necessary in Japanese.




This の is a plain explanatory-の you are already familiar with. It's in a
と-marked quote, and quotes can contain ordinary sentences with は, のだ, etc.
This のだ is there because what's before it is a (possible) explanation of why
四糸乃 appeared.

> (四糸乃は、)士道や他の精霊たちが学校へ行ってしまった瞬間を見計らって、仕返しをしにきた **のだ** 。
>
> **(It's that)** she (=四糸乃) came here to get back at her (=七罪) after waiting
> for the moment when Shidou and other spirits had gone to school.

> ～ **と** しても不思議はなかった。
>
> It would be no surprise even if ～.

As always, dropping this explanatory-の would make this sentence look
unnatural. Just because English does not have explanatory-の does not mean it's
not necessary in Japanese.

