That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2

Episode 28

“In which the story is finally ready to get started.”

Frankly, this should have been the first episode of the season. That's not to say that the events of the previous three episodes weren't important—there were absolutely loose ends that needed to be tied up—but that they could have been told via a five-minute narrated montage and little would have been lost.

With this episode, the stakes are finally out in the open. Clayman has sent a spy into Tempest, and the Kingdom of Falmuth is planning to march to war against a yet-unaware Rimuru. Worse yet, the war will likely be branded as a holy war, forcing other nations into the fight and all but assuring genocide for the monsters of Tempest should they lose.

This whole situation does make Rimuru look like a bit of an idiot. Last episode, King Dwargo warned Rimuru that the success of his country was going to be rubbing other countries the wrong way—specifically the Kingdom of Falmuth. This episode, Rimuru's merchant friend tells him the same thing. However, Rimuru doesn't seem to pay it much mind, despite the obvious nature of what is to come.

Perhaps it's because everything has basically worked out so far when it comes to Tempest's relationships with its neighboring countries. However, what Rimuru fails to consider is why those alliances succeeded in the first place: both Tempest and its neighbors had something to gain.

The Blumund Kingdom is a small country—little more than a city-state—that has no way of winning against the new country of monsters on their border. Rimuru likewise wants to show the world that his people are peaceful, despite being monsters: so both gain safety through peace. The beast kingdom, on the other hand, gains a trading partner who can utilize their massive agricultural output to raise the standard of living in both countries. And as for Milim's domain... well, Milim just enjoys being friends with Rimuru—and knowing you can call on the strongest demon lord when in trouble is a big plus for any fledgling country.

This brings us to Tempest's first ally: the Armed Nation of Dwargon. For years now, the Jura Forest has served as a natural barrier between the dwarven kingdom and the rest of the world. The only major route in or out of Dwargon has been through the neighboring Kingdom of Falmuth, which allowed Falmuth to tax the hell out of any goods entering or exiting Dwargon. The dwarves just kind of have to take it and accept the massive markup on their imports and exports. There's not much they can do beyond going to war over it—until now, anyway.

Dwargon has in Tempest a new trading partner and new trading route connecting to the rest of the world. Better still, Tempest has no plans of one-sidedly exploiting Dwargon like Falmuth has been doing. And the icing on the cake? When Falmuth finds out about the trading deal with Tempest, who are they more likely to be angry with? Their long-time trading partner, or an upstart country of inhuman beings moving in on their turf?

Broadly speaking, the Kingdom of Falmuth is different from the other nations Rimuru has encountered in that it has nothing to gain through peace with Tempest. In fact, they stand to lose much of their prosperity from peace. So of course they are going to go to war with Tempest and wipe it out while it's still taking its first baby steps. It's the easiest and surest way to protect the status quo.

And they are no fools when it comes to statecraft. They know that Tempest has a pro-monster PR campaign going on so they will need to vilify the monsters to get public support for the war—thus their plan to claim Tempest started the war and get the church to publically denounce them. Honestly, it's a solid plan and the first credible threat to the Tempest nation since the invasion of the orc hordes.

In the end, a lot of the problems Tempest is soon to face come as a direct consequence of Rimuru's inexperience as a ruler. Instead of spending time playing around with the kids, he should have been sending emissaries to every nearby nation—explaining not only that Tempest wasn't a threat, but how its existence would benefit them through trade and technological advancements.

Now don't get me wrong, while Rimuru's failure to grasp the greater political situation is a personal flaw, that's a good thing for both the character and the story. From day one, Rimuru has been so powerful that his raw strength has been enough to cover any mistakes. Putting him in a situation where the damage is already done and making him face the consequences of his actions (however unintended) is a great way to promote character growth. He's not the leader he needs to be yet, but if he can learn from his mistakes, he might one day be.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Youm and Myulan are cute together. Far from harboring any resentment, he's eager to show off just how awesome she is to those he encounters. It's clear she isn't quite sure how to deal with this.

• Myulan is learning that it's easy to deceive those who only see the best in you. The downside is that, unless you are a heartless monster, you feel terrible for doing so.

• I like how to those residing in Tempest, the country appears to be a paradise. However, all an outsider like Myulan can see is the danger that the country could pose to the rest of the world if it wanted to stop playing nice.

• Falmuth's big problem (besides their greed) is a lack of credible intelligence. They don't really understand who they are picking a fight with. Rimuru has chosen to pursue peace for idealistic reasons—not because he lacks the military might to utterly obliterate any enemy this side of a demon lord.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Richard is an anime and video game journalist with over a decade of experience living and working in Japan. For more of his writings, check out his Twitter and blog.