Sure, that’s one punch, but where’s the second punch? And third? And fourth? Unfortunately, before we get to see Scarlet punch a bunch of slave traders and owners, we gotta first figure out the location of the auction. Which is what I thought we did last week at the end of the second episode, but apparently not. The middleman merely gets Scarlet in touch with another slave owner by the name of Zatharin, and she needs his help to actually attend the auction. Ugh, fine. Let’s drag this out a little.

You think bad guys would have a little more awareness, huh? Well, they seem to in the real world. They get away with evil all the time, and there’s often little we can do about it. Even if they get caught, it’ll be one dude sacrificed so that the rest of the cockroaches can scurry and hide. But in fiction — in our anime — the lady who just knocked out scores of nobles can go right up to a slave owner and be like, “Uh, yeah, I totally want to buy a slave! Yup, that’s me, super in character!” And Zatharin is none the wiser. He’s just sitting there, going “Naruhodo, naruhodo…” Maybe he’s never heard of Scarlet, which is even crazier to me. She’s the sole reason why the kingdom even knows about the hidden slave trade to begin with.

Scarlet gets what she wants, but it doesn’t come without a high price. She has to agree to hand over Nanaka for now. Obviously, she’ll save him afterwards, so nothing is truly lost. But it’s weird how her allies react to the realization that, hey, this girl can actually negotiate. Both Nanaka and Julius are like, “Whoa, you didn’t punch someone?! You handled it without violence? I’m so shocked.” Uh, she did that once, guys. When the straw broke the camel’s back, she went on a rampage, but she endured Kyle’s abuse for years. You guys are being ridiculous.

I guess this is the calm before the storm, so we don’t jump straight to the auction. We have to “set things up” and further a few character relations along the way. As a result, we get to watch Julius annoy Scarlet again as she tours the nearby marketplace. If he just wants to hang with her, then he should just say so. But provoking her is his schtick. The prince always has to couch his interest in Scarlet with some extra justification. He’s obviously interested in her, but he makes it sound like she’s a unique specimen to be studied. He wants to show her around the marketplace and take pride in what his kingdom has to offer, but he also has neg her a little in the process: “Did you really believe me? You’re still innocent in some ways, I see.” So of course, when they share an actual tender moment later — when he’s actually being forthright and earnest — our heroine has a hard time buying it: “Was that just another way for you to tease me?” She’s dear to him, because she’s not boring. She brings color to his humdrum royal life. But Julius has been playing games with Scarlet all this time, so it’s like the boy who cried wolf. She’s not going to believe him. How can she take his words at face value when he teases her all time. And sure, it’s fun when there’s a little back-and-forth between a couple, but Julius overdoes it and he knows he does. Plus, he goes back to pushing her buttons later in the episode.

Then we’re right back to Zatharin again, who now wants to verify that Nanaka is truly a beastkin. Kinda weird, isn’t it? Didn’t he sniff that part out about the maidboy in the first place? Yes, yes he did. Either way, the exchange officially goes down; Scarlet gives up Nanaka, and in return, Zatharin will take her to the auction. When a slave trainer, also a slave himself, suddenly shows up and tries to mishandle Nanaka, Scarlet can no longer hold back. She gives the former A-rank adventurer a good thrashing. And by good thrashing, I mean she knocks him to the moon. Again, I feel like this should set off alarms in Zatharin’s head. Uh, who is this noble girl and why can she beat up my bodyguard? But nah, he’s still none the wiser ’cause he’s a fucking idiot. The whole scene seems ridiculous, anyway. I know beastkins have incredibly high regeneration in this universe, but why would you allow your trainer to damage your goods? Why would you risk it? Again, Zatharin’s written to be stupid, but it still takes me out of the story a little.

Well, we’re all good to go, right? We can finally go knock some slave owners’ heads in? Right on cue, Leo shows up to be a wet blanket. Your sister is about to expose a black market slave auction, you coward — the same auction that you yourself are trying to expose! Let her do the right thing! Does he even hear himself? Yes, he doesn’t want her to put herself in danger. But if she doesn’t do this, then those slaves continue to suffer. C’mon, where’s your humanity? If my sister told me she might die, but she can literally stop slavery, I wouldn’t piss and moan. I’d dap her up. You do what you gotta do, girl. This is your legacy. I really hope Leo gets a punch before this series is over. I’ll be so disappointed if he doesn’t get some sense knocked into him.

Scarlet responds by delivering a grand speech. She laments the unfortunate state of the world… only to conclude that corrupt nobles are the most fun to punch. But hey, if this gets the desired result, her intentions need not be 100% pure. Plus, I’d rather have this over Leo, who continues to try and hold his sister back because he doesn’t want to “ruin our house’s reputation.” Even if we pretend for a second that their house’s reputation is somehow more important than Scarlet doing the right thing, he’s being pretty myopic about this. The more nobles she punches, the more she becomes the hero of the people. We already know this. We’ve seen how the commoners talk about her after that little incident with Kyle, Terenezza, and the nobles around them. So if she succeeds in disrupting the slave auction and thus exposing the slave trade to the public, her reputation won’t suffer at all… except with other nobles. And that’s the hidden truth that Leo’ll never admit. He’s part of the problem. He might help Julius flush out the slave trade and slave owners, but he only wants to do it in his own terms because he ultimately sides with the nobility. I might sound harsh, but I despise people like Leo. There are good guys and bad guys. Then there’s the rat scum in the middle whose only role in life is to make it harder for the good guys to take out the bad guys. And they do it in the name of bullshit ideals like propriety. Oh, you mustn’t do that. You’re right, but it’s just not appropriate! “When they go low, we go high!” That worked out real well, huh? Ugh.

Anyways, we learn that the prime minister is in cahoots with the enemy nation, and said nation might have sent one of their soldiers to make sure the slave auction goes down smoothly. Basically, Godwin is also treasonous on top of being a slave trader. Well, just more reason for him to be punched. But the bad guys won’t take their beating without a fight. They even have a bad girl on their side in the form of Terenezza. She’s out for revenge, and she has a gun to counter Scarlet’s fists. I still wonder about her. What makes her so special? Surely, she’s not just another spoiled noblewoman, right?

I’m still a little disappointed about this episode’s pacing. I wish we had gone right to the slave auction and started laying down the law. Instead, we get this little subplot where Scarlet has to offer up Nanaka in order to discover the auction’s location. And sure, this further strengthens the bond between her and the maidboy. If you want to watch this show like a reverse harem, then our heroine needs to up her relationship with all the cute boys in her life. But I don’t personally give a shit about that or the maidboy. I felt nothing when she held him in his beast form and he yelped with approval. No, don’t fuck the dog. Don’t do it. Hell, I barely care about Julius opening up to her midway through the episode. I just want to see Scarlet punch some assholes, and anything that stands in the way of that is a thumbs down from me.