Rudy documents for us the routine he’s settled into at Ranoa Magic Academy. It seems his favorite parts of the otherwise monotonous days are those he spends with Silent Fitz, with whom he has undeniable chemistry and whom he feels “gets” him. That becomes even more evident when Fitz tells him she also lost someone in the teleportation disaster, but like him, “he” now knows that person (i.e. Rudy) is alive.
Whether it’s because she’s protecting her identity to maintain her position with the princess or because she genuinely wants Rudy to find out for himself, or is happy just with things the way they are, Sylphie remains mum on her true identity to Rudy. Meanwhile, Rudy notes his heart starts beating faster whenever Fitz smiles or laughs, even though he’s convinced he “doesn’t swing that way”.
The main thrust of the episode is that Prince Zanoba desperately wants Rudy to teach him how to create figures. In an unfortunate scene where he he’s naked and rubbing up against a statue, it’s petty apparent he wants to create figures so he can have sex with them. Alas, Rudy said he would teach him, and so he tries to do so.
But Zanoba proves hopeless, both at forging figures the magical way and by carving clay with a knife. When he mentions his problem to Fitz, he suggests they find a particularly dexterous slave who can magically carve them for the prince. Fitz also manages to get Rudy to invite him, which makes him very happy.
Going to the market to browse for and buy slaves is as natural in this world as buying a carton of eggs in our world. Mind you, there’s still plenty of slavery in our world going on, even in “developed” or “first world” countries, but there’s no stigma where Rudy is.
One could say they come across the very kind of slave who is perfectly suited for being taught how to make figures with magic: a young dwarf girl. Dwarves are great with their hands, and the earlier you teach someone magic, the more mana they end up with when they’re grown (this happened with both Rudy and Sylphie when he taught her).
The thing is, Rudy isn’t sure this girl wants to be bought. He isn’t even sure she wants to live. He recognizes the eyes of his past self in hers; someone for whom despair seems to have taken over. He quietly asks her if she wants to die, and even considers putting her out of her misery. It’s a dark, complex scene, but at the end of the day Rudy sees this girl as a person, not simply an object of property.
When the girl manages to utter that she doesn’t want to die, that’s enough for Rudy. Wanting to live can come later. They buy her, and immediately set to work feeding and training her. And while the end reason for acquiring her—so Zanoba can have more figures to do weird things with—if that means this girl, whom they name Juliette, gets to live a lest wretched life, then that’s certainly a positive.
I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get any more time with Rudy’s other classmates, and I truly wonder how long Fitz’s true identity will remain unknown to Rudy, I still enjoyed her and Rudy getting along famously like I knew they would in this quieter kind of Mushoku Tensei episode.
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