The Rising of the Shield Hero Episode 10

In the Midst of Turmoil

This week’s episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero picks up exactly where last week’s episode left off, with Naofumi rejecting Melty’s pleas and sending her away. So, why does Naofumi do this? Would it have been that hard for him to simply listen to her before deciding if he trusts her or not?

From an outside perspective it’s easy for us to say that Naofumi should have given Melty a chance to explain herself and her situation. However, we need to remember how Naofumi feels about the royal family at this time.

They lie to and cheat him every chance they get, so why would Melty be any different? As far as he’s concerned, the fact that Melty didn’t reveal who she was from the very start was probably because she wanted to gain his trust just so that she could betray him.

But, although Naofumi doesn’t yet know what Melty’s true intentions are since he never gave her a chance, we do. While Myne and the king are working together to break down the Shield Hero, Melty and the queen are working to support him and restore his honor.

I briefly mentioned during last week’s review that the queen seems to be the one who wields the real power in Melromarc, and this week’s episode seems to confirm that to a degree.

We know the queen is powerful because Myne is afraid of her despite having the backing of the king, but at the same time the queen seems to be under house arrest far away from the capital. Could her imprisonment be due to the fact that the king fears her power and influence?

We also now know that the underground organization that threatened Myne actually works for the queen. This was shown in an earlier episode as well, but at that time we didn’t yet know who the queen was or what this organization’s relationship to her was.

Class Upgrades

Next we learn that the base level for all “players” in this world caps out at 40, and to continue increasing one’s level past that, a class upgrade is required. So, what exactly is a class upgrade and how does one acquire it?

Unlike the skill tree we see used in Shield Hero which doesn’t actually seem to have any sort of path system or logic involved, the class upgrade system might. One someone gets to level 40, they can select a specialization and continue to level up while following their chosen path.

For example, we can assume that Elhart, the blacksmith who explains the concept of class upgrades, chose smithing as his class upgrade since that’s what he specializes in. This means that theoretically Raphtalia could specialize in something like being a holy knight to counteract Naofumi’s curse series.

It’s hard to really predict exactly what each character is going to end up specializing in right now because we really have no information about the different options. Maybe Raphtalia is just going to spec into woodcutting and get that skill up to level 99 (I’ve been playing a lot of OSRS recently).

But, what we do know is that as of right now, only Raphtalia and Filo are ready to have their classes upgraded. They’ve both reached level 40, but Naofumi is still a lowly level 38 since he gains experience at a slower rate than them due to his nature as a defensive party member.

We also know that class upgrades can only be performed at a country’s dragon hourglass, which is an issue for the Shield Hero’s party. The king has issued a royal decree stating that the Shield Hero and his party cannot have their classes upgraded, which brings us to the next section.

Cartography

Naofumi and his companions may not be able to upgrade their classes in the Kingdom of Melromarc, but there are other countries with dragon hourglasses of their own. In particular, there are three viable alternatives according to the slave trader.

These countries are Zeltoble, Siltvelt, and Shieldfreeden. Unfortunately, due to the map we’re shown being labeled in an unknown language, we can’t really be sure where each of these countries are compared to Melromarc, but we’ll do our best to sort it out.

First let’s assume that Melromarc is the labeled region directly in the center of the map. Not only do I think this is Melromarc due to its central location, but also because we can see two castles or towers depicted. These probably represent both the capital and wherever the Queen is being held.

Next up we have the country of Shieldfreeden, which seems to be the next place Naofumi and his party will travel to (note the word shield in the name). From where the slave trader was pointing on the map when he mentioned it, this seems to be located in the unlabeled forest to the southeast of Melromarc.

We also know that Shieldfreeden is a demi-human country, but they’re friendly to humans so Naofumi shouldn’t have any trouble. As for how far it actually is, we’re told that it’s two weeks by boat or one month by wagon, though it will probably take less time with Filo.

As for its appearance, Shieldfreeden seems to be a more advanced country than Melromarc. While Melromarc is more of a 14th-century country architecturally, Shieldfreeden looked to have 18th-century architecture.

There’s also another demi-human country called Siltvelt, but since this one wasn’t the primary recommendation of the slave trader we can assume it’s a worse place to go than Shieldfreeden. Perhaps the demi-humans there are less friendly to humans, or maybe it’s just farther away.

While Melromarc and Shieldfreeden looked like they could be set somewhere in Europe, Siltvelt looked more like China to me. I’m no expert on Chinese architecture so I couldn’t say if the buildings pictured were distinctly Chinese, but the landscape looked just like the Huangshan mountain range.

Finally, we have the Mercenary Nation Zeltoble which looks like ancient Rome, colosseum and all. I’d imagine that this is where the slave trader’s level 75 combat slave originated from, but we may never know.

Sword and Bow

Switching back to the main episode plot, we later learn that the rumors about Itsuki, the Bow Hero, leading a rebellion in another country were actually true. And, just like how Ren’s slaying of the dragon turned out to be a curse rather than a blessing for the people he “saved,” the same is true for those in the country Itsuki “freed.”

However, neither of them realizes that what they did actually harmed those they were trying to protect until Naofumi confronts them about it. They both believed someone had stolen their rewards, but the rewards were actually pulled by the adventurers guild after Naofumi had to clean up after them.

I’ve already gone over how Naofumi cleaned up after Ren in a previous episode review, so this time I’ll just stick to how he cleaned up after Itsuki. While Itsuki did indeed overthrow a king who was seen as tyrannical in a northern country, after he left, things only got worse for the people.

The king had been heavily taxing his subjects, but this hasn’t changed under the new regime. In fact, along with heavily taxing the people, the new regime also doesn’t have any infrastructure in place to help those who were affected or displaced by the rebellion.

When Naofumi traveled to this northern region, he found that his merchant pass didn’t work and that he had to pay the toll because the country couldn’t afford to let him in for free. The people there were also starving, and so he set up an emergency kitchen to feed them.

What surprised me the most, however, are the ways in which Ren and Itsuki reacted to Naofumi’s stories of how their heroic deeds had actually backfired. Ren seems to genuinely be shocked that he caused so much devastation by doing what he thought was helpful, but Itsuki goes into denial rather than face the truth.

Itsuki is much closer to Motoyasu in how he acts, though he isn’t being actively led astray by Myne. His refusal to accept responsibility likely stems from him being the youngest of the four Heroes rather than Motoyasu’s stupidity.

I do really like Ren as a character though. He does his best to do what he thinks is right, but at the same time he accepts responsibility for his actions when they have a negative impact. To me, he represents what Naofumi could have been, had he not been betrayed at the start of the series.

The Second Wave

The next wave is arriving in less than 24 hours by the end of this week’s episode, which means there isn’t enough time for Naofumi to travel to Shieldfreeden to upgrade the classes of Raphtalia and Filo. So, to increase their power, Raphtalia and Filo are each given new weapons.

Raphtalia acquires a new sword which she claims is even sharper than her previous one, and Filo gets metal claws that attach to her talons. But, that’s not all! Along with these new weapons, Naofumi’s party also gains some new allies.

A group of the soldiers who witnessed Naofumi saving the village of Lute during the first wave have chosen to fight with him during the second wave as well. These soldiers are originally from Lute and want to fight alongside Naofumi as thanks for saving their families, friends, and home.

But, this second wave doesn’t seem like it’s going to be as easy to defeat as the first. Before the wave even spawns in monsters, we’re already given a glimpse of a new antagonist, some woman who can fly and wields fans (she’s also featured in the OP).

Is she working with Myne and the king to take down the Shield Hero? Is she an agent from another country seeking to destroy Melromarc? Or, is she perhaps one of the demon lord’s generals? I don’t think this series has a demon lord, but it’s a common fantasy trope so I won’t rule it out.

Conclusion

So, what did you think of this week’s episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero? And, who do you think this new, mysterious antagonist is? Will she stick around, or will she be defeated within the next episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.