Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 3

Hiling’s Old Friend

Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 3 focused on some side characters. The first story of the episode was about Queen Hiling. And the second story of the episode was about Prince Daida. Of the two, I liked the first story more.

Hiling is my favorite character in Ranking of Kings, so it’s no surprise that I liked the story about her. In this story, we got to see how Hiling put together her dream team for retaking the Kingdom of Bosse. Or, at least, we got to see the start of this process.

Before Hiling was Queen Hiling, she was a traveling monastic. And it’s very possible that this is how she learned her healing magic. If a monastic was going to use any kind of magic, it would probably be healing magic. But, unfortunately, we never saw when she learned her magic.

It was during her time as a traveling monastic that Hiling met Ann. Ann was one of the soldiers tasked with guarding Hiling. And now that Hiling needs soldiers to help her rescue Daida, she’s once again calling on Ann.

It’s unknown if Ann had some sort of allegiance to a country back when she and Hiling met. But, at the time of this story, that doesn’t appear to be the case. She’s living in and protecting a rural village with a male soldier — who may be her husband. And the reason they’re there is to protect the village from bandits.

Ann and the male soldier can’t just leave the village to help Hiling. They need to take care of the bandits first. So, Hiling and Dorshe decide to team up with Ann to take out the bandits. And, unsurprisingly, Hiling is the star of the raid.

Death Promise

The only type of magic we know Hiling can use is healing magic. But, at the end of the fight against the bandits, she uses another spell called Death Promise. As she explains it, if the person she casts the spell on goes against her wishes (such as by being violent), they’ll die.

Of course, Hiling was bluffing when she cast this spell. Death Promise isn’t real and Hiling didn’t actually cast it. But, she used this bluff to scare the bandits into turning over a new leaf. Now, instead of terrorizing the village, they work to support it.

The thing is, though, that Death Promise could be a real spell. We don’t know much about magic in the world of Ranking of Kings. But, we do know that there’s a wide variety of magic out there. So, there’s no reason Death Promise couldn’t be real.

What other types of magic do we know of? Obviously, we know there’s healing magic. But, Desha also uses some kind of lightning magic. The Demon has some kind of magic it uses. Miranjo lives inside a magic mirror for the majority of the series. And Ouken is immortal for some reason.

According to Hiling, there’s not much you need in order to use healing magic. As long as you have a strong desire to heal someone, you can use it. We see this later in the episode with Daida. But, what’s interesting is that this means all magic could work similarly.

If someone actually had a strong will to use Death Promise, could they? I don’t think Hiling could ever actually use a spell like that. Considering she can use healing magic even on her enemies, I have a hard time seeing her want to kill someone.

Daida and Magic

The second story of the episode sticks with the healing magic theme. But, this time, it’s about Daida learning to use it. At the start of the story, we see Hiling teaching Daida how to use healing magic while Bojji does his own thing.

I wonder if Bojji ever expressed any interest in learning, as well. And, I wonder if he’s even capable of using magic. When Hiling uses magic, we see that it leaves her physically exhausted. That may imply that magic is something Bojji wouldn’t be able to use. His body might be too weak.

Anyway, Daida doesn’t have much luck with magic at first. But, later on in the story, we see that he does have a knack for it. All he needed was to be healing something he cares about — like his brother Bojji.

Bojji injures his leg after being pushed off a cliff by Daida (it was an accident). And this is the perfect opportunity for Daida to prove he has what it takes to use healing magic. He climbs (also falls) down the cliff and manages to reach Bojji. And when he does, he puts his magic to the test.

At first, Daida can only manage to use a small amount of healing magic. But, when he puts his mind to it, Daida manages to do some pretty significant healing. The green glow from his magic was visible to the people searching for him and Bojji from far away.

I’m not sure if the amount of light that comes off when performing healing is an indication of its strength. But, that’s what I would assume based on everything we’ve seen. And if that’s the case, Daida might have even greater magical potential than Hiling. He is Bosse’s son.

Conclusion

What do you think about Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 3? Are you glad we got to see Ann’s backstory? Do you think the Death Promise spell could actually be real? And does Daida have more magical potential than Hiling? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 4 is available now.