Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 7

The Snake Charmer with the Crooked Smile

Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 7’s first story follows Bebin as a younger man. I always assumed Bebin was the oldest and longest-serving member of the Big Four. Apparently, that’s not the case.

I still believe he’s been a member of the Big Four longer than Domas, and possibly Dorshe. But, we now know that Apeas was one of the Big Four before Bebin. And not only that, but he was an established member of the Big Four when Bebin joined.

We also see that Bebin wasn’t exactly Big Four material at the start. Despite being appointed to the elite unit by King Bosse, he doesn’t appear to have been very strong. He had the fundamentals of combat down. But, I wouldn’t say he stood out in any particular way as the Big Four we know in the modern storyline do.

So, as any aspiring soldier does, Bebin headed to the Underworld in search of Prince Despa. That’s right, Bojji and Bebin have the same swordsmanship instructor. And, in fact, at the end of the story, we find out that it was Bebin who wrote Bojji’s letter of introduction.

That detail might have been in the main series. If it was, I didn’t remember it. From what I remember, Bojji had a letter of introduction in his bag, but we didn’t know who it came from. Either way, we know it came from Bebin now.

Anyway, it was Despa who picked out and gave (sold to) Bebin the serpentine sword he uses today. I assumed Bebin would have been the one to select this sword due to his connection with snakes. But, no. While Bojji picked out his own weapon, Despa picked the weapon he thought suited Bebin.

Prince Despa’s Power

I don’t think I realized what Prince Despa’s power actually was until now. I assumed he was just an excellent strategist and tactician with a wealth of knowledge. But, based on what we saw in this episode, he actually has a superpower like his brothers.

Again, this might be something I missed in the main series. It might even be something I missed in one of the earlier episodes in this series about Ouken. However, I don’t care. I’m seeing it now, and that’s what matters to me.

So, what is Despa’s power? Well, it appears to have a few components to it. And the first of those components are the things I already knew about him. He’s very good at figuring out a person’s strengths and weaknesses. That ties into his knowledge of strategy and tactics.

The other component of Despa’s power is his ability to convey his knowledge to others. This is the real superpower Despa has. In Episode 7, we see Despa take Bebin’s hands and transfer some of his knowledge to Bebin. After this, Bebin understands how he needs to train and what he needs to work on to get stronger.

Despa also does verbally mention what’s holding Bebin back. You know, for those of us who didn’t have his knowledge beamed into our brains. Bebin’s problem is that he’s too rigid. He has his understanding of how one should fight and he has trouble thinking outside of that box.

This is why Despa chose the serpentine sword for Bebin. Bebin previously believed a sword had to be straight. So, to help Bebin open his mind to other possibilities in combat, Despa chose a sword that wasn’t straight. The point of this sword was to change Bebin’s perspective.

The Big Four’s Banquet

After Bebin’s origin story, we got a second story in Episode 7 that focuses on the Big Four. This story takes place at the end of Season 1 when Daida is king once again. And it’s about Daida tasking the Big Four with rebuilding the wall that was destroyed in the battle.

However, the Big Four don’t typically get along very well. They each believe themself to be the strongest, most capable member of the group. So, rather than working together, they argue over who should be in charge of the project.

Seeing this problem, Daida tasks Hokuro with bringing the Big Four together. As someone who has experience working with them before, he’s the only one Daida can rely on to get the job done. And so, Hokuro hatches a plan to trick the Big Four into putting their differences aside.

First, Hokuro tricks the Big Four into showing up at the local bar together. Next, he has another man in the bar instigate a fight with the Big Four by calling them weaklings. Then, Hokuro proposes the Big Four arm wrestle this man in place of having an actual fight.

The man Hokuro hired to arm wrestle the Big Four is actually a professional arm wrestling champ. And per their deal, he’s supposed to throw the final match to let the Big Four feel like they defeated him. But, that’s not how things end up going once the Big Four themselves put money on the line.

Hokuro was paying the man 10 gold coins to throw the match. But, if he wins, the Big Four are offering 600 gold coins. So, the man decides to go for victory. Unfortunately for him, it turns out that what brings the Big Four together is a common enemy.

Conclusion

What do you think of Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 7? Do you want to get backstories for the other Big Four members now? Did you understand the true nature of Despa’s power before this episode? And which of the Big Four could you beat in arm wrestling? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 8 is available now.