[Frontier]

Man, the queen doesn't mess around. First thing she does after getting back is save the Shield Hero, apologize for what he went through, and go through every effort to make up for what her family did to him. Even if means exposing her daughter and husband as criminals and treating them as such .

Myne getting stuck with a slave seal and shocked for every lie she's ever told was so satisfying. Even at expense to herself the woman just could not stop telling lies, revealing just how terrible a human being she is, and with a fitting jolt of pain to go along with it .

So why does Aultcray hate the Shield Hero so much? Even the queen didn't seem to know, or at least didn't feel like she had the right to tell Naofumi, but even to the bitter end he was declaring his hatred of the Shield Hero. What is up there? At least I'll give the former king this much, while he's just as bad as Malty at least he's genuine in his motivations .

It shows you how far Naofumi has come that the basest revenge he probably dreamed about by the end of episode 1 just isn't what he really wants anymore. On-top of having to watch the queen who was going so far to help him and Melty have to watch their family executed in front of him. Better a living revenge as befits these two criminals and labels them for what they really are. Plus he was able to make a show of it .

I kind of feel bad for the queen now that she has to say she's married to "Trash," accurate as that is, but at least he's alive .

Actually, what does happen to those two now? Are they even still allowed in the castle? Are they reduced to living like commoners? Are Mirelia and Aultcray still even married ?

It would take a very cold and heartless individual to be able to execute one's own family, even for the sake of justice, so I'm not surprised that someone who seemed as compassionate as the queen was willing to debase and threaten herself to save her family. Thankfully things still worked out in the end .

So, uh...are the Heroes going to apologize to Naofumi for convicting him along with the rest in the first episode? Motoyasu going to apologize for how badly he treated Naofumi or for believing Myne? No? Okay then .

We finally see the true Rise of the Shield Hero as his public image is restored and the people come to realize just how much of a hero Naofumi truly is, with Naofumi resolving to do the right thing of continuing to fight the Waves and work with Melromarc and the other Heroes instead of going it on his own while only caring for his companions. He's truly become a hero in his own right .

This felt like such a "final" episode that it'll be interesting to see what they do for the last few episodes. "Four Heroes Council" makes it seem like the Heroes will be convening together to figure out what to do about the Waves moving forward, maybe delineating where the Heroes will as far as the other countries where they were supposed to go.

Originally Posted by Kanon

The explanation for the Queen's absence was about what expected, and it really didn't hold up. What exactly was she doing to quell the other nations' anger? How was whatever she was doing more effective than just rushing back to Melromarc as quickly as possible to punish the King and dispatch the heroes to the nations that were supposed to get them? From my perspective, she spent months sitting on her ass because the plot required it. And once the author had decided Naofumi had suffered enough and it was time for him to get even with his enemies, she was allowed to appear to magically set everything right.

Well, considering other nations didn't retaliate against Melromarc immediately after they were screwed out of their Heroes, I'd say she did a pretty good job .

Stripping her and Trash of their status and renaming is fine and all, but my understanding is that they aren't even going to be imprisoned? If they didn't want to kill them, having them rot away in a cell seemed like the next logical solution. Naofumi is just asking for further trouble here. Humiliating them like that is just going to make want to get revenge even more.

I think the idea is that now they'll have to live with their status, privilege, and even their names stripped away from them, which would be more effective if they now have to live in a society that knows what they did and has to call them the most demeaning names possible.

I don't really see Malty coming after Naofumi again. Maybe trying, but without her wealth and status she's hardly a threat.