This week begins with a rather lengthy lecture on the magical system of this world, which isn’t anything fancy. You have your fire, earth, wind, and water, each of which is strong or weak against another, forming a cycle. Rae initially matches my mood about all this: it’s not terribly interesting, and it sidesteps the lesbian romance.
When Misha urges Rae to put in some effort, she demolishes a target and gains the attention of her classmates. Rae is worried she overdid it, but Claire can’t resists destroying a target even more thoroughly with her fire magic, then letting out another exquisite ojou laugh.
While Claire’s intention is to one-up Rae, she doesn’t get the reaction she hoped: Rae is of course overjoyed to have her earthen walls constantly torn down by Claire’s fire. Their magical back-and-forth attracts the attention of Prince Rod and Yu, who try to recruit them into the Knights.
The Knights are basically this school’s student council, and while Claire initially isn’t interested, as it would bring her closer to the princes whose routes she’d rather avoid, she changes her tune when the princes suggest she could be Claire’s knight in shining armor.
Claire then bursts Rae’s bubble by declaring she’ll be taking the exam to join the Knights as well, but it doesn’t burst Rae’s bubble at all. Rae would jump at the opportunity to either save or be saved by Claire.
That becomes more than just one of Rae’s fantasies when a colossal water slime emerges from the woods. All the students turn to flee at the teacher’s urging, but to Claire’s shock, Rae stands her ground and positions herself beside the teacher to help.
She builds a giant four-sided wall to contain the slime, enabling the teacher and all the other students to launch a multi-pronged attack. However, as Rae expects, this only unlocks a boss slime’s flag. It levels up and grabs a bunch of students with its tentacles…including Rae, who is out of magic.
Rae panics, not because she fears death, but because she doesn’t want to choose between one of the princes to save her, as is the normal progression of the otome. Thankfully, her willpower wins out, and a fourth option, Claire, appears in her “menu”. But in one of the better comedic beats of the episode, Claire can’t save her, as she’s been snatched by a tentacle too!
Claire’s crush Prince Thane ends up freeing her than calling upon her to help him defeat the slime. As they combine their fire and wind magic and exhibit some nifty acrobatics, Rae is in awe of how dashing Claire appears. This is a shining, valiant Claire the game’s programming normally wouldn’t allow.
When the slime is destroyed and everyone is safe, they all praise Claire, because Thane suddenly sidles off. Rae also slinks away, because she knows that the giant slime was only trying to protect its young, which is now all alone in the woods.
After coaxing the cute little baby slime out from behind some shrubbery, Rae forms a familiar contact with it and names it Ralaire. Meanwhile, Claire tracks down Thane so she can properly thank him. In response, Thane tells her he’s sure she could have handled it without him, then pats her on the head.
Rae accidentally interrupts what could be a crucial romantic flag by snapping a twig with her foot, but to her surprise, Claire isn’t angry. She’s relieved that Rae is ok, inspecting her to make sure she’s not injured, and telling her how worried she was. This, of course, makes Rae extremely happy. Even if Claire keeps calling her Commoner, they’ve come a long way.
After the credits, Rae gets to know her new familiar Ralaire, and realizes he’ll need training. There’s also the matter of him technically being a monster. When Misha first spots him she cries out, but upon closer inspection she’s charmed by the adorable little guy, and agrees to help Rae.
Inevitably, their mutual secret is exposed when Claire barges in to their dorm room looking for her brush. Seeing the monster, Claire screams as well. We’ll see if she’s as susceptible to cute things as Misha.
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