With her village about to be invaded by monsters, Enri is sure some kind of “evil god” is watching over her, testing her as soon as she takes up the mantle of leadership. But whatever shortcomings she may think she has, she’s stand and fight for her village.
As the civilians flee to a safe-ish gathering place, Enri’s Goblin/Human/Ogre army prepares for an opposing force of other ogres, wolves, and with a combination of archery and siege tactics, they make quick work of the dumber among their foes.
Then the Giant of the East shows up and they start to wonder if they can win this thing. Funny how someone who seemed so powerless last week against Ains is such a fearsome enemy this week. It’s all relative.
As her soldiers fight, Enri ensures everyone is evacuated, but she and Nphi end up cornered by a big blue troll with an excellent sense of smell. The two play a game of cat-and-mouse with him (he’s dumb, but not as dumb as an ogre) but eventually they run out of options and Nphi volunteers to stay behind and buy time for Enri to get reinforcements.
He also picks perhaps the perfect time to finally confess by very cooly asking her to let him protect the woman he loves. Between his potions and spells, Nphi hangs in there, but he always knew one good blow is all the troll would need to kill him. Thankfully, the one good blow he is dealt doesn’t kill him, but he’s definitely in the red.
Enter Beta Lupusregina, for whom neither the Troll nor his boss the Giant are any match. She stops his blow with one hand, thus fulfilling the duty Lord Ains assigned her. Enri returns with unneeded backup, and she embraces Nphi, happy beyond words that he’s still alive. I love how their lovey-doviness is interrupted by Beta showing them a very gross flaming mass of dead troll.
Later that night (the goblins give the couple some time alone), Enri gives Nphi and answer, which is that she’s not quite sure what love is, but she does know she never wants him to leave her side, so if that’s love, she’s in love with him. That’s good enough for him.
The next morning, Enri, Nphi and Nemu are escorted to the Tomb of Nazarick by Yuri Alpha and Beta, and Nemu absolutely loses her shit with how big and clean and awesome everything is. Lord Ains, his skeletal form hidden by a mask and cloak, is perhaps the jolliest we’ve ever seen him, like a proud rich uncle. He makes a note to tell Beta that Nemu is also on the list of people he wants protected.
Among such power, splendor, and charm, Nphi feels a bit outmatched, and that admits that he never had a chance in the first place. But while Ains may be a superior man in many ways, he is inferior in the most important one: he’s not Enri’s type. Nphi is, and so they walk into the dining hall for their George R.R. Martin-esque multi-course bougie meal with hands intertwined. Glad to see these two figure it out!