Maoujou de Oyasumi – 09

「姫と人質強化週間」 (Hime to Hitojichi Kyouka Shuukan)
“The Princess and Hostage Training Week”

Episode 09 of Maoujou de Oyasumi rectified last week’s issue of having one segment that doesn’t quite lead into the others by having each part of the Ep. 09 be cohesive with one another. With Hostage Training as the interconnecting thread that ties each chapter to each other, it has a more complete feeling to it.

All three of the sections in this episode carry the distinction of being about how it’s dawning on the higher-ups of the Demon Castle that Princess Syalis has been getting too much preferential treatment. Because Syalis gets the most reactions out of them while they’re all hovering over them, their first measure is to outright ignore them. But this was already futile because she keeps wandering about in their general vicinity, making it difficult to act like she isn’t there. It was funny to see Alraune lose her patience with her colleagues for still finding a way to be wrapped around her thumb, but all the cards fall into place when she ends up guilt-tripping them all to help her with a waterbed.

The next arc gives us a little development on Syalis’ end by showing us her work ethic when she’s tasked to do unpleasant paperwork for the Demon King. But when Twilight gives her the kid gloves by having her do standard homework assignments for lower grades, it doesn’t phase Syalis to start plowing through papers en-masse. As we find out, Syalis gets her work ethic from her previous responsibility of going through endless piles of paperwork from back when she was in her regular castle. But knowing that she was a workhorse before captivity makes the Demon King and his consorts feel even worse about keeping her stuck in the cycle of constantly doing paperwork.

This episode’s piece de resistance, however, is the last segment where they ultimately decide the only way she’ll act like a hostage is if she learns from the castle’s actual captives. It’s where Syalis finds out that the privilege of being royalty gives her far too much leniency in comparison to the prisoners who have no way of roaming the castle or having access to comfortable living spaces. Syalis’ shock at the differences in treatment provides some hilarity as she decides to go through with the Demon King’s demand to have her act like a prisoner by studying how skittish the real prisoners were.

But when she puts her research into practice, it’s hilarious to see how the Demon King and his colleagues crumble when they have to face Syalis pretending to be a frightened princess. The Minotaur is brought to tears when Syalis calls him a “monster” and she has to course-correct to make him feel better about the exercise just being an exercise. Twilight gets the brunt of the damage from Syalis’ acting as he is being torn asunder by her words until he is mentally gone. It’s not too heavily focused on pushing the Hero further on his journey, but it is a very funny episode that explores why exactly the Demon Castle’s residents are unable to hold the Princess accountable for her roaming or treat her like an actual prisoner.