[frodonk]

Originally Posted by Kinematics

Friendly territory was a coincidence (as was Reichnott just popping up out of nowhere), but may have had something to do with the past lord of the area, who treated demi-humans fairly (based on Raphtalia's recollections). Probably also related to the close proximity to Siltvelt, as treating demi-humans badly right on their border would be like taunting them and inviting an invasion.

I forgot to even mention that, that's another really convenient coincidence!

Obviously Idol (fat guy) has spies in his neighbors' territories. Given his behavior and personal army, he's unlikely to trust any of them. Thus he probably got word about the Shield Hero's party entering Reichnott's estate fairly quickly.

He was invading a fellow noble's territory, it shouldn't have been that easy!

Reichnott has at least 3 maids, as the one who was helping them hide in the kitchen was different than the two that served dinner. The two that we see in the attic are the one who helped them hide, and one of the servers.

As for why he only has a handful of maids, and not an army of soldiers, well, we don't know anything about the size or wealth of his domain, but we do see that he has a modest 3-story mansion, whereas Idol has a walled keep atop a cliff-faced hilltop, with easily defensible raised roads that lead out to the surrounding town. The difference in apparent power is massive. Just based on where they live, I would absolutely expect Idol to have a personal army (pretty much needed to make that castle make sense), whereas Reichnott's handful of maids is all that's needed if he lives there alone. If he had a family, I'd expect more servants, and maybe a guard retainer or two. However if he's as good at stealth as implied, a personal guard for him would be of minimal value.

Further, Reichnott seems to rule an area mainly populated by demi-humans. I expect that if he had a retinue of soldiers under his command, that could create a lot of agitation with nearby nobles.

If the skinny guy's arrest was too easy because he only had 3 maids with him, it was also too easy for all those demi-humans from his territory to storm the fat guy's castle, right up to his front gate!

I just realized this, it didn't even occur to me how the fat guy who had a small army wasn't able to stop a mob of peasants from running up to the front gate of his castle.

Also, Nao commented something about how the stealth skill of the skinny guy was not normal, since he crept up on them without Nao noticing, but yeah, he got captured that easily. Sure, he might've been taken by surprise, but why point out the stealth skill of that guy if he's not going to use it??

As for Melty asking for Idol to escort her back to the capital: She still has that implicit trust in nobility, and expects that, even if Idol has some issues with the king, he will still conform to certain levels of behavior and decorum. Despite what she's learned from Naofumi, she still believes that nobles will "behave properly", more or less. She doesn't want to believe that Myne is not exactly the exception.

Further, even if her own guard turned against her, Idol's soldiers are his personal army. It would be unthinkably unlikely that they would be under the same influence as those that would convince the king's soldiers to betray royalty. Or, more specifically, that can't be controlled by Myne, and thus are inherently more trustworthy. Having them escort her back to the capital is a logical decision, as they aren't likely to betray her, and will protect her from any attempts by the royal guard to attack her. Well, if Idol wasn't a horrible scumbag, anyway.

If her own older sister tried to kill her because she's with the shield hero, and even claimed that she was brainwashed and threw fireballs at her, how can she trust some other noble to safely take her to the king? They were all together with Nao when they met the skinny guy, but it's a different situation when she's all alone with the fat guy and there's nobody around to protect her, not to mention if Myne suddenly shows up and Melty's turned over to her!

The noble attacked the skinny guy's mansion because he was looking for the shield hero, and she already knew Myne planted some fake news about how Nao burned down the forest to cover their tracks and that Nao brainwashed Melty, so it isn't a stretch for her to conclude that the fat guy was in on the plot and that he might just kill her, regardless of whether he's acting under the orders of Myne or not.

Again, I thought the point of all this hiding was so they couldn't find Melty because Myne/Malty was trying to kill her, and that they don't know who to trust, then suddenly she comes out in the open, confirming their location and at the same time makes it easier for Myne to dispose of her.