OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

As the other Knight-Sorcerers focus on defeating the Spectral Nemesis, Ocoho races to save a plummeting Seth, whose left arm can’t use Fantasia because of his battle with Torque. His right works just fine, so he uses that to stop his fall. From the ground, they can see that the attacks from the knights are going right through the Nemesis and straight into a nearby wheat field, damaging their livelihood. Seth tries protecting it, but when Ocoho stops him, he questions whether or not her orders matter more than the lives of those around her. Just destroying the Nemesis isn’t the only important thing at stake here. Ocoho agrees and decides to make a barrier with Seth’s help, but doesn’t count on Seth having a wellspring of Fantasia to gather from. This also disrupts the knights’ attack, but they still manage to finish the thing off with Mordred and Sagramore.

Brangoire chews into Ocoho for disobeying orders and breaking formation, saying she should stick the role she is given. But support arrives with a call from Queen Bodica, supposedly the ruler of Caislean Merlin. She stands tall like a giant, but proves to be a very wise and magnanimous person, praising Ocoho for her quick thinking and noble intentions. She then questions the farmers, who tell her of a Dulahan (headless horseman) cursing their lands along with the Spectral Nemeses. But the battle is won, so all’s good for now!

…except Seth spots Grimm nearby, posing as a scarecrow. The reason for this, as well as his other disguises, is that people don’t typically seek out what doesn’t immediately benefit or harm them. But right now, he needs Seth’s help securing something called a Memory Stone belonging to a sorcerer named Megosia in a place called the Amnatheque. Seth is hesitant, but Grimm only needs it for a short time. But heists are not Seth’s strong suit, so he suggests reconnecting with Doc and Melie, which Seth is understandably hesitant about.

Later that night, the Dulahan makes a frightful appearance amongst the fields.

OUR TAKE

Alright, we’re really digging into the good character work I’ve really come to love this show for! Right off the bat, we’re given more to see about how Seth’s naïve but heartfelt viewpoints will impact the structure of the Knight-Sorcerers, or at least Ocoho. Their group is very focused on the goal of protecting people and defeating the Nemesis, but at the cost of individualism (something they seem to deride Artemis for) in order to keep everyone coordinated as one force. That’s not necessarily an incorrect method, but it has its blind spots, as seen when we learned about the farmers losing their crops because of the attacks. So, we now have to opposing views with similar goals. They both want to fight monsters and save innocents, but their respective methods have their pros and cons. Already we look to be in store for a strong ideological debate over the course of this arc.

Meeting Boudica also fills in some things we would need to know while also raising some further questions. We hear about respecting Merlin’s teachings, though it’s said in the way some religion would point to a holy text, which could very well be used to interpret something it does not necessarily mean. On top of that, while Boudica does seem to have a sterling reputation, something tells me that her public air is not the whole picture of her character. Just a hunch, of course. We’re still learning more about this neck of the woods but so far we’re getting quite the pretty picture in terms of story and character potential.

Also, Seth now has his next assignment, which is to get a Memory Stone for Grimm, something likely pertaining to Grimm’s mysterious past that we must not know about just yet but continue to receive many massive hints about. This also requires Seth finally owning up to ditching Melie and Doc, which I am all for. Partly because it really puts their friendship to a real test and also that we might learn more about MELIE’S mysterious past which we’ve at least hinted at. Not to mention we still haven’t really gone into what the deal with these Spectral Nemeses are AND we now have a friggin headless horseman to deal with. But luckily things aren’t so crowded that we don’t have something to latch onto. We have a lot of story waiting in the wings, but for now we get ready for a heist.

Score 8/10