Beat by beat from last time, it’s pretty clear that this is the start of Meriela’ & Friends’ arc, as well as a sort of soft recap on all the central character relationships that we left behind at the capital. A potential rivalry (which I look forward to seeing) between Riede and Meriela is implied, and some loose ends are tied up on their end from the last arc. Contrary to what I thought on my chapter 40 review, the pacing doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon; a new character is introduced despite my prediction that we’d be spending more time between Lectival and Meriela before moving on with the plot. We still are, but it’s moving along a lot faster.
So first, Meriela gets her well deserved, lengthy appearance after she was (for all intents and purposes) abandoned by Lectival following her loss against Gloria. Her character is obviously in a state of turmoil – yet because Lect isn’t very good at interactions between his close friends (and rather unjustifyingly blunt), Meriela doesn’t get the character arc that she deserves. A main focal point around her this time seemed to be that she’s insecure about her place alongside Lectival, an anxiety including both the typical harem aspects of the story and her aforementioned defeat. I think this was a challenge where we could’ve seen her go through real change, but Lectival plays off his phony leader-like persona (mentioned in my last review) and Meriela seems eased by that. Some back and forth fighting, and getting Meriela to do something that lets her realize her importance herself would’ve been better for her after her long lack of showtime, but regardless, this kind of character arc is probably being saved to be used elsewhere down the line. After all, the last few pages reveal that she still hasn’t gotten over her guilt, after legitimately appearing otherwise earlier on. With internal dialogue and everything. What.
Next, Lectival goes through town observing the economy/prosperity of his capital. At this point, Shirasawa has managed to sell the world to we, the readers. So, I would’ve liked to see a more in-depth exploration into the various aspects of being a king. Taxes, regional politics, underhanded officials, the knights, perhaps even getting to know some of the common citizens. Maoyuu did this fantastically like no other, and with this story placing greater emphasis on Lectival’s control over a kingdom, it would raise the world building up to 9 if that was done. At the rate the story’s going, each arc will continue to raise the action set-pieces until conflicts no longer have any impact to them. I’d like to see the story stay tight, possibly bring in a strong, crafty villain who keeps conflicts limited but intense. Gloria dropped out of the picture too soon in my opinion, and was too much of an antihero with vague objectives.
Overall, this was a rather satisfying chapter, it gives Meriela her much needed screen time, introduces Riede into the “harem,” and officially begins the next arc. I look forward to the next chapter, hopefully this is the buildup to a strong antagonist. What do you think?
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