I freaking knew it. But Terenezza’s true identity isn’t exactly a well-kept secret, so it’s not like I deserve any kudos for being right about her. Also, I’m getting ahead of myself. We gotta start from the beginning.
The night of the slave auction has arrived, and no one is more eager than Scarlet to crash the party. You can’t really blame her either. I mean, we’re talking about slavery. It’s all fun and games when Scarlet gets to lay down the law, but the unfortunate folks being sold off have lost all hope. They truly believe the gods have forgotten them, and a life of slavery is all that’s left to look forward to. It’s pretty horrific. That’s why I have no sympathy for the likes of Leo. Yes, he’s also trying to root out the slave trading black market in this country, but he gets too distracted by things that don’t matter — things like decorum and propriety. At least Julius has all the faith in Scarlet. In fact, he thinks she’s the only person capable of bringing the evil prime minister down. You know who still doesn’t have faith in our heroine, though? Leo. He has always sucked, and he still sucks. Not once in the past four episodes have I seen him act remotely cool. Not a single time! Imagine telling your justice-seeking sister to behave at a fucking slave auction.
As Scarlet calmly crosses the room and listens in on the chatter around her, we unsurprisingly discover that all of the slave owners here are deplorable. Absolutely disgusting people. But please, Scarlet, you must behave! You must think of our reputation. Yeah, Leo needs to get punched. I’m serious, I want to see him get some sense knocked into him before this series is over. Yes, violence is not the answer, blah blah blah. But this is fiction, so fuck it, we ball. And again, Julius is down to ball. He’s literally only here to watch Scarlet fuck people up, and I’m all about that energy. If you’re not going to help, then get out of the way. Leo and the soldiers won’t storm the auction until the prince gives them a signal, and Julius wants nothing more than to let Scarlet work her magic, literally and figuratively.
But before that happens, the show treats us to even more flirting between Scarlet and Julius. The tension keeps escalating between them. What he wants from her this time around is kind of a big deal. He’s not just asking for her loyalty, because if he was, then she’s right: pledging herself to the crown is essentially pledging herself to him. But that’s not all he wants. He’s very specific: he wants Scarlet all to himself and he wants her now. He’s not willing to wait until he’s king. That’s why later in the episode, they both tease Leo about how they’ve exchanged vows. Anime characters are not always direct when they talk about matters related to love and romance. There’s a reason why Soseki’s “The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?” is even a thing. Still, just last week, Scarlet thought that Julius was just trying to get a rise out of her. Even after he kissed her on the cheek, she wasn’t quite sure how to take his obvious advances. So how does she feel about him now? One of the country’s most powerful man has his sights set on her. And yet if he bothers her enough, she could just punch him. She’s already punched one prince, so why would she hold back against a second one? But she hasn’t shown any inclination to do so. She hasn’t shown any sign that she actually dislikes Julius. He’s a pain in her ass sometimes, sure, but you don’t pledge your loyalty to someone in such a bold fashion if a small part of you don’t actually like them. If Scarlet’s feelings were purely platonic, why would she shackle herself to him just for the pleasure of punching Godwin? As long as he gets caught, then surely, the evil prime minister isn’t worth all this trouble.
After Scarlet essentially promises herself to the prince, they quickly flush out where Godwin and his cronies are hiding. Julius even lends a hand. Maybe magic can stop Scarlet’s fists, because one of the nobles tries to cast a lightning spell. Julius, however, can stop all use of magic in his vicinity by invoking the power of a ring he’s wearing. He won’t throw punches with Scarlet, but she definitely prefers it this way. After all, she pretty much warns Sigurd not to steal her fun. Julius might know how to push her buttons, but he never crosses the very clear line in the sand that would make her unhappy.
We proceed to see our girl gleefully toss the nobles around like ragdolls. She’s never been happier. Do you remember that Super Smash Bros commercial that was accompanied by “Happy Together” from The Turtles? That would be a fitting song for this scene. More importantly, Scarlet is great, because she’s just doing what the audience wants. Obviously, she hasn’t murdered anybody, but the point stands. How often do we come across so-called heroes who will finally come face-to-face with evil only to pull their punches at the last second? “I-i-if I stoop to your level, then I’m no better than you!” Bitch, please. We live in a world where the rich and powerful can seemingly get away with everything. We live in the world where we have righteous anger, but our elected officials — our unfortunately paid for and bought elected officials — keep telling us to calm down. Why, the bad guys are just temporarily deluded! They’ll come to their senses one day, and it’ll be better for all of us if we just keep reaching across the aisle. Yes, they’re spitting on us, but we have to keep trying! You might be starving, jobless, or dying because you can’t afford to even go to the doctor, b-b-but bipartisanship! And then they have the gall to turn around and wonder why voter turnout is so low. But I digress.
If Scarlet errs anywhere, it’s that she allows herself to get too preoccupied with the faceless evil. She is having so much fun thrashing them that she allows Godwin to slip way temporarily. C’mon, girl, focus! Stay on target! These aristocratic pigs deserve to get their ass beat, but you can’t let the head honcho get away! Basically, Godwin is hoping to escape to a foreign nation that won’t extradite him. Even at the very last second, Leo still tries to hold Scarlet back. She’s so gungho about punching Godwin, however, that she even prevents a dragon from beating the man. Nope, not on her watch. She deserves to punch him, not some random ass dragon. But the dragon is only here because someone from the enemy nation is here.
In enters Alflame, a prince from Vankish, who suddenly declares his love for Scarlet out of nowhere. Not only does she reject him, however, she punches the guy as well. Still, I can’t say I’m not surprised that she would have multiple “love interests.” Obviously, this guy doesn’t stand a chance in hell of getting with her, but still, anime’s always going to have its hero and/or heroines surrounded by multiple suitors. Not only that, they’re always princes or princesses. I don’t find this stuff appealing, so I would be more than happy to see them duke it out instead. But he seems like a masochist, ’cause he’s more punching bag than enemy. He keeps trying to court her no matter how many times she hits him. Learn to take a no, buddy. And there’s no “no” quite like a fist. But apparently, the enemy prince is blessed with “metallization” so he can take the punishment. So instead, she has to throw him back to his kingdom. Scarlet probably just charmed him even harder, though. This isn’t the last time we’ll see Alflame’s delusional ass.
With the interloper out of the picture, we can finally see the evil prime minster get his just deserts, right? Unfortunately, the answer is still no. How much longer are you gonna make us wait for our long-desired climax?! Well, Godwin starts spilling the beans, so of course, we have to stop and listen. Apparently, he had a hand in helping Terenezza get in touch with Prince Kyle. But more importantly, he reveals that Scarlet’s rival is actually someone who has been reincarnated from another world, i.e. ours. Damn, this show is an isekai after all. Sneaky, sneaky. Hell, it’s even one of those villainess show. But instead of seeing the story unfold from the villainess’s perspective, we get Scarlet’s. And instead of the villainess trying to dodge her fate, she wholeheartedly embraces her evil nature and gets punched instead. Well, she’s already gotten punched, but why not again?
I’m fine with this development as long as one thing doesn’t change: Scarlet. Just let her be her. Don’t add any further twists to the story. Nothing would ruin this show quicker than some 11th hour asspull about how she has also been isekai’d to this world but somehow just forgot. Still, remember how Terenezza told Godwin that her goddess had blessed her with a gun? Perhaps this story will boil down to nothing more than a feud between deities.
Stray thoughts & observations:
- Yeah, sure, I can believe that your average rank-and-file wouldn’t be able match or come close to matching Scarlet, and this is why Julius trusts our girl so much. But is there really no one else in the kingdom who can measure up to our heroine? Absolutely no one? Better start a talent search, I think. You can’t put all of your eggs in one basket. But in the meantime, at least Julius has her in his corner.
- Do people really believe they’re hiding their identities with these masks? But it’s fiction, so the masks work perfectly. Scarlet bumps into Sigurd, but doesn’t recognize him. Even after hearing his voice, she only suspects that perhaps she’s met him before. Right…
- I wonder if anything will happen to these musicians. They’re not directly responsible for the slave trading going down around them, but why are they even here? The obvious is answer is that they’re here to perform. They’ve been paid big money to do so. But why are they playing music for such obviously evil people? Do they have no conviction whatsoever? I mean, I know what the answer is, but it’s still horrific all the same. Kinda reminds me of that recent scandal involving the Riyadh Comedy Festival. If you’re poor and starving, then I can understand taking whatever you can get just to survive. But somehow, I suspect that this isn’t actually the case.
- Leo reacts positively to the possibility of Scarlet getting hitched. A big part of it is that he doesn’t want his sister to end up a spinster due to her violent tendencies. But I suspect he’s also making the classic mistake of assuming that marriage will mellow a woman out. But this is Julius, we’re talking about. He’s not interested in taming the shrew. He wants the shrew to roam freely and do whatever the hell it wants.
