The Apothecary Diaries – 11 – Just a Little Longer

Maomao meets with Fengming and details her deductions. The “deep clean” of Ah-Duo’s pavilion was only an excuse. The reality is, Ah-Duo is leaving the Rear Palace, because after she gave birth to her son, she was no longer able to bear children afterwards. When Fengming says it’s none of Maomao’s business, Maomao says it is, because her father was the attending doctor.

As for Ah-Duo’s son, Fengming fed him honey, not knowing that it could be fatal to infants. Fengming only learned that she caused the death of Ah-Duo’s only child when Ah-Duo befriended Lishu, who herself nearly died as an infant after eating honey. Not wanting Ah-Duo to put two and two together, Fengming saw to it Lishu was kept away from her lady’s pavilion, only for her to return when the new Emperor came into power.

Maomao deduced that to protect Ah-Duo, who could not bear children, Fengming poisoned Lishu’s soup. Once Maomao delcares this and Fengming does not dispute it, there isn’t really much else to say. But then Fengming breaks down, demonstrating to Maomao that she kept Ah-Duo closer to her heart than Maomao could ever imagine keeping anyone. She knows Fengming is doomed, but still wants to do all she can, so she merges her two motives into one: protecting her lady, Ah-Duo.

Maomao doesn’t end up telling Jinshi anything; Fengming turns herself in, and Maomao simply tells him her motive was to protect Ah-Duo’s status as a concubine of the Rear Palace. The thing is, the decision for Ah-Duo to depart as concubine was made by the emperor long before Fengming’s actions came to light.

Maomao, ever the poison junkie, tastes the nectar of an azalea, and Jinshi follows her lead, until she tells him it’s (non-lethal) poison. Fengming is then executed, and one night when Maomao can’t sleep she climbs the wall to view the stars, and is soon joined by Ah-Duo, who offers to share her booze.

Ah-Duo confides in Maomao that after her son “left her”, she returned to being the emperor’s friend, not his concubine. She actually never quite felt right in the position of concubine, and was eager to pass it on to someone more suitable, only to cling to it for years. Before parting with Maomao, Ah-Duo pours out some of her booze into the moat where the servant took her life, noting just as Maomao did that it must have been cold and painful.

Later, when Maomao climbs down the wall, she is startled by Jinshi and falls, but he catches her. Rather than let her go at once, he embraces her tightly, claiming it’s too cold. Maomao notices he’s drunk and he reports that “someone” (Ah-Duo) drank him under the table and ran off. When he starts to weep, Maomao lets him continue to hug her.

The next morning, Ah-Duo departs the Rear Palace in a ceremony full of pomp. She hands the crown of the Pure Concubine to Jinshi, and Maomao realizes there’s a very good reason the two resemble one another so closely: there’s a good chance Jinshi is her son. Maomao thinks to when Ah-Duo said her son “left” her, rather than saying he died, and considers whether her infant child and the Empress Dowager’s were swapped.

That would mean that it was the Dowager’s child that Fengming accidentally poisoned with honey, while Jinshi grew up to become the chief administrator of the Inner Palace (whether he’s actually even a eunuch remains to be seen). When Lishu chases after Ah-Duo and bids her farewell, Maomao observes that Ah-Duo looks every bit the caring, loving mother.

The Rising of the Shield Hero S3 – 11 – Pride Before the Fall

Despite Rishia being his opponent in the arena, Itsuki spends most of the start ignoring her completely, shouting up at Naofumi and even firing arrows at him when he’s surrounded by kids. Itsuki believes Malty’s lies about Naofumi exploiting the child slaves, and is determined to use his newfound “justice” (i.e. the Curse Series crest Malty gave him) to defeat all evil in the world.

Itsuki soon learns he can’t ignore Rishia anymore. She’s a lot stronger and tougher than when he booted her out of his party. She no longer recognizes this version of Itsuki, and she’s just as determined to follow her own personal justice in order to get him to snap out of this funk.

Each time Rishia pushes Itsuki back with her Hengen Muso techniques, Itsuki retreats deeper and deeper into the Curse series, which bestows him more power, but power that’s tinged with the very evil he claims to be against. That power won’t work against Rishia’s strength and justice. Even when he binds her shadow and legs and drops a giant golden bull head on her, she simply smashes it to bits.

Itsuki thinks he has the upper hand when he snaps Rishia’s sword and she refuses to take Naofumi’s sword. But when Itsuki tries to fire a decisive shot at her, something nobody expects happens: the Bow itself betrays his curdled will. Instead of harming Rishia, it breaks her Slave Crest and provides her with a transluscent blade that can morph into a boomerang.

Rishia uses the morphable weapon to great effect, defeating Itsuki in the arena. He ends up falling back into his dark memories of once believing he was a hero of justice only to end up among the lowest-ranked of students. His pride, then, as now, was his undoing.

The one and only person Itsuki believes will support him no matter what is Bitch, but when he rushes to her accommodations, she and the remnants of his party are already gone. She left behind a note thanking him for all the prize money he made for her, and left a stack of debts in his name to pay off.

Itsuki is so overwhelmed by this betrayal he smashes the Cursed Series crest against the wall and then faints. When he comes to, he’s in a cabin by the sea in Luroluna Village, Rishia by his side. She takes his hand, tells him where he is, and that Naofumi will be paying off his debts, and she promises to help him as well.

Itsuki, still a little catatonic from everything he’s been through, nevertheless sheds a tear of gratitude, and allows Rishia to guide him by the hand to the garden, where they’ll begin his road to recovery from Bitch’s machinations and his own shattered pride.

Naofumi and Raphtalia look on as Rishia guides Itsuki and Eclair trains with Ren. Now all four Cardinal Heroes are in the same place, and well on the road towards working together as a single unit, just in time for the impending arrival of the Phoenix.

Goblin Slayer II – 11 – Domain of Restraint and Darkness

Goblin Slayer tends not to deviate from what’s on its tin: slaying goblins. This season has featured some enjoyable exceptions, from High Elf Archer’s sister’s wedding to the various non-goblin jobs they’ve taken on. But this week we get back to the bread-and-butter. The princess has been kidnapped, and they’ll need to slay a lot of goblins to rescue her.

Sword Maiden and Noble Fencer, two women who have seen enough goblins in their lifetimes, see the Slayer’s party off, and when they reach the wagon the princess was riding, evidence indicates she was not maimed, so they believe she’s to be a sacrifice. Once the party reaches the fortified mountainside town, they sneak around it to reach the entrance to a dark and foreboding dungeon.

While Priestess notes that this is the first official dungeon of its kind she’s been in, the basics are the same: stay vigilant, keep count of how many goblins are around (lots) and make sure you have the tools you need to defeat them. Slayer advises restraint: no spells or potions unless absolutely necessary. They need to save their best for the boss.

Lizard Priest and Dwarf Shaman are fine hacking away at the goblins beside Slayer while Elf Archer shoots them and Priestess stands by. When she apologizes for not being that much help, they remind her a priestess, particularly a back-liner, shouldn’t have to swing a weapon. Her job is merely to stay safe and ready for when things get tough.

Goblin Slayer decides to use a gate scroll he must’ve borrowed from the temple to suck a bunch of goblins in and spit them out at a predetermined destination: in his case, the sky. That proves advantageous for the Hero’s Party, who were dispatched to investigate the object from the heavens that landed in the Holy Mount.

This object turns out to be very similar to The Thing from The Thing (my favorite version being John Carpenter’s remake): whatever it encounters first, it mimics. And that happens to be the goblins Slayer sucked into the gate scroll. This makes the monster easy pickings for the Hero’s Party, who are disgusted by the eldritch abomination before them but soon realize … it’s not that bright.

We also another instance of that sweet, sweet Hero Party’s battle theme, my favorite Suehiro Kenichiro piece in the series.

While the Hero’s Party fights atop the mount, the Slayer’s party descends in an elevator, and make their preparations. Archer hears at least 10 and possibly 20 goblins shifting around, and also smells incense, which Lizard Priest notes is needed for a ritual. The incense may be poison, so Priestess suggests casting Holy Light just as they rush out of the elevator.

Dwarf casts light across the ritual chamber, allowing Slayer to quickly assess the strength and composition of the enemy, and then he and Lizard get to slayin’. The Princess’ robes are a bit torn but she otherwise seems to have avoided having unspeakable things done to her. However, it’s not merely a Goblin Shaman who has her in his clutches, it’s a Goblin Priest, who is even able to cast Protection over the sacrifice altar.

As Slayer and Lizard continue carving through goblins and their blood splatters on Priestess, she realizes that throughout the chamber are strategically placed corpses of adventurers bleeding into specialized channels, all leading to the altar. It’s definitely a bloodletting ritual, with the Priestess as the main sacrifice.

Before the Goblin Priest can accomplish whatever he set out to do, Priestess puts an end to it by casting Purify, changing all of the spilled blood into water and casusing the Goblin Priest’s Protection veil to fall. Everything is going according to plan, with Priestess saving her miracles for when they were most needed.

With all his underlings slain, the Goblin Priest holds the Priestess up as a last-ditch hostage, only for Slayer to confidently stride up to him and kick him hard in he balls, then bash his head in with a goblin’s club. The Priestess is now safe, having endured a far briefer and less horrific ordeal than either the Sword Maiden or Noble Fencer. Hopefully she isn’t emotionally scarred for life, and this can be a teachable moment for her not to go rushing into adventures on her own.