KonoSuba 3 – 06 – The Man in the Mask

When Kazuma and Iris switch bodies again, it leads to Kazuma being banished from the palace, which is when Chris meets up to discuss Divine Treasures. Kazuma tells her about the body-swapping necklace, and learns that it can be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands, as one can kill the person you’ve swapped bodies with and keep switching bodies to gain immortality.

This leads to Chris and Kazuma dressing up in cool clothes and go on a palace heist to steal Iris’ necklace. They gain access easily enough, but when Kazuma starts grinding on Chris under the pretense of maintaining the lowest profile possible, she raises her voice and they’re discovered by guards, leading to a chase through the palace.

The duo eventually ends up cornered by Claire and Rain, which is when Kazuma decides to finally “get serious.” With his Devil Army General-defeating powers, he’s able to easily dodge Claire’s charge and overwhelm her with magic that seems to deliver a pleasurable kind of pain.

When Kyouya shows up, he proudly proclaims the Steal ability won’t work on him anymore, so Kazuma uses Freeze instead to seal his sword in its scabbard and get him to lose his footing. Kazuma then gorges him with water, such that he and Chris can slip away when Claire and Rain are busy helping him.

Ultimately, Darkness, Megumin, and Aqua are the last line of defense between the masked thieves and Princess Iris (who even brandishes her own adorable sword, unafraid of combat). Alas, Megumin is completely smitten with the thieves’ style, and she and Darkness are quickly bound by Kazuma.

Even drunk, Aqua is able to lift the binding spell and rally Darkness, well aware that Megumin is no longer useful. But Kazuma and Chris are still able to slip past them and cast Steal on Iris’ necklace at the same time as they leap through a stained glass window and into the water below.

Darkness soon tracks the thieves down, and even when she learns it’s Kazuma and Chris, she doesn’t hold back on the face-crunching. That said, when Kazuma tells Darkness and Chris he only managed to Steal Iris’ ring, Darkness gets serious and grabs his arm.

That ring is only meant to leave Iris’ hand when it’s being given to her betrothed. She impresses on him the importance of protecting the ring at all costs, whatever trials come in the future. Trying to give the ring back could get him killed to protect the secret of how it was stolen.

At their farewell ceremony, everyone seems to adopt an opinion of the noble thieves similar to Megumin, only less intense: they are seen as impressive and admirable because they stole the ring to protect the princess. Kazuma gets the sense Iris actually knows he, her Big Brother, stole the ring, and that’s exactly the case, though he never confirms it.

As we saw in their flashbacks together, Iris has grown quite fond of Kazuma, as he alone doesn’t put on airs or dote upon him (though during their goodbyes she nearly gets in a brawl with Megumin for calling him Big Brother too much).

When Darkness tells Iris that Kazuma will defeat the Devil King and Iris’ face lights up with excitement, Kazuma just can’t quite move himself to contradict Darkness. She hopes he’ll return someday so they can continue their chess games and, perhaps, once he’s defeated the Devil King, so he can ask for her hand?