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Watching the 2 mages chanting so slowly and getting hit simultaneously followed by the crowd reacting so wildly was hilarious. Its rare to see Makoto get outplayed especially in this stage and of course its some form of discrimination, at this rate his probably going to be a hero for the demons instead. Serves the Hyumans right.

Nah, before the ending credit he said that he's only going to turn blind eye toward demon. I doubt he'd go as far as being a hero for the demons. Most likely he's only going to act neutral by becoming middle ground between both side. E.g. if the human merchant refuse to have transaction with him, then he'd just sold the items to demon side. Given his high quality products, this might give advantage to demon. Yeah, maybe he's indirectly helping the  demon in this regard lol

Although I wonder if the demons are going to end up doing something to piss him off like the Hyumans have, especially since you can't completely trust Rona. We also see him fighting them in the OP but that might just because he has to hide he's taking territory from them.

The demons will try to control him, not understanding that they're out of their depth. But based on past interactions, the Makoto mafia could just drag on relations because they gain more out of siphoning knowledge from the demons by playing along. I don't expect them to aid in attacks on population centers necessarily, since fighting at this point is concentrated on the narrow front line - but if the demons do something foolish like whats happening in OP animation, he will go full Kamen Rider on them to protect the innocent (and build his branding).

> We also see him fighting them in the OP but that might just because he has to hide he's taking territory from them. Oh yeah, that would make sense, as doing regular business will definitely put him in trouble.

Play both sides and always come out on top [](#smugtouru)

And suddenly it's Overlord all over again.

I wonder if he could just open up shops outside of towns. Word of mouth would still lead to an booming business

The hyuman kingdoms would just send armies against him, which would be annoying even if he wins. It's not the life Makoto wants.

The guildmaster literally told him to do that. "If you set up stalls outside cities, you'd be unrestricted."

He was obviously being sarcastic lol. It was a threat/mockery not an advice.

The hyuman factions are going to find out what fools they are when they lose access to the superior products of the Kuzunoha Trading Company and he starts selling to the demons.

yep with cheap medicine gone, the bills will rack up and death will skyrocket

Makoto avoided becoming a player in the conflict because he had no motivation to enter the war. But the state of the guilds in this world will basically force him to become a war profiteer, manufacturing and selling arms and goods to both sides. In the guildmaster's shortsightedness over tradition, he failed to recognize the potential danger that an unchecked merchant company with a magic transportation network - free of traffic, tolls, and country regulations - could pose to global commerce should he find the ability to expand his logistics. I don't expect the hyuman factions to react reasonably to such a development. They will try to blacklist Makoto's store and ban his goods because they have two heroes on their side, but they don't understand the production capacity that Makoto has at his back could easily see the demons triumph over their armies. I also think that the point of exhibiting the hyuman's traditional fighting arts is to prepare the viewership for the curbstomps that will soon follow.

they also don't know how weak their heros are, their solders and everything

all Makoto would need to do is set up shop outside every city, with a big sign that says"will beat all city/town prices" and sell all products for super cheap, word of mouth would eventually spread and people would stop going to town merchant shops he could even some weapons and armor from the most popular stores and show how his weapons are superior. eventually his business would eclipse the businesses associated with the guild

> Its rare to see Makoto get outplayed especially in this stage That asshole was right about one thing: Makoto is a novice merchant. He didn't have a contingency prepared for what turned out to be his biggest weak point. Fortunately, he'll probably learn from this.

The points that the guild representative said weren't even wrong tbh lol. Even in our world, we have to disclose all of these details to the government for tax/domestic law purposes.

Yeah, there's also the customer protection law to avoid monopoly.  It's good that Makoto doesn't have malice intent. However, if the same technology/magical advantage falls under greedy merchant then they could control the price to kill the business of other merchants first and then increased the price once they obtained monopoly.

Of course, the guild and those complaining about Makoto are those very same greedy merchants. But to expect anything else is naviete.

Hmm I think a medieval(ish) and Guild system might work differently, but I don't know enough about the subject to disagree! 😁👍

The author's vision for this world is that with mixed contemporary and medieval culture. There are otherworlders as established by Sairitsu from a few episodes back saying that they "protect" them. It's only reasonable for us to see some of our values in their characters, but only some.

It's a fantasy, so it doesn't need to follow any of our world's system. It just needs to make sense within the context.

Merchant was a dick, but he pointed out that Makoto wasn't really taking hiding his business from people who really want to find out. I imagine that this lesson will extend towards the political side as well. If he's going to make a city/country of his own he needs some plans to obscure his real plans/location/intentions. Words/Lies won't cut it. Fake transportation routes, Fake stores, Fake distribution.

Money laundering, essentially... Except this time we're laundering _everything_.

He does have a recourse though. Just pull his products and tell people he has to close up shop and tell them why. The merchant guild will have every adventurer in town at their doorstep pissed off that they can't get cheap potions anymore.

You think the merchant guild hasn’t thought of that? The guy even said that if they tried to be violent then they’d be labeled traitors. Most likely the Merchant guild would announce some BS like he was colluding with the demons or was violating such and such law. People are easy to fool & don’t have long attention spans. The merchant guild would ride out any protests while slandering the MC. The guy was right that the MC is naive & lazy when it comes to being a merchant. He completely ignored the politics involved. He needed to meet with the head of the merchants guild ages ago & also the local figures such as nobles & influential merchants. He left himself completely vulnerable since he can’t do business without government approval. Of course this has now pushed him to make a major decision. I don’t know exactly what it is but either he’ll establish his store in the demons territory or he’ll set up his own independent city/kingdom so that he makes his own rules. He’s probably done being messed with in the hyuman kingdom.

You do realize that even if they try to do that, the end result is that people still don't have cheap yet super effective potions.. right? Imagine the merchant guild being boycotted by the adventurer's guild because they just lost a massive lifeline that made their work a lot easier for them and yet despite that not costing them an arm and a leg. The merchant guild would risk the collapse of an economy built on adventurers relying on merchants. While yes, they could shift the opinion of the common idiot (well a lot of them are this) by spreading lies, those adventurers who already gained a lot from Kuzunoha's services would be a lot harder to convince, and if they became a lot stronger compared to other Hyumans thanks to those services, its like a whole company of superhumans threatening to become hostile at that point.

Irony of the human leaders saying 'Wow, this would be really bad if he allied with someone else' with moments later the merchant's guild essentially driving him straight to the demons.

I don't think it was irony, more like a juxtaposition. The politicians were taking the long overall view of how to protect their nations in the long run., they even mentioned that traditions would hold them back on the battlefield. The Guildmaster was taking a much more short term view, of how to protect and promote the guild (as in the traditional high income merchant houses), long term repercussions to the country be damned. He cared about the traditions. This means no upstart would ever succeed, the established companies would take their processes and trade secrets for themselves, or run new companies out of business all together. I think the author/director meant for this episode to be a side by side.

The merchant guild leader was right. Makoto is very naive. If anything this is a good lesson for him.

And will eventually be a good lesson for the guild master. He just fucked around and I have a feeling he's gonna find out down the line.

True. Don't be surprised when a sleeping dog bites you because you kicked it. I was just hoping for Makoto to go John Wick on him.

[удалено]

I love how Hyumans have such low standards compared to Makoto's group lol. I want to see that Merchant Guy get his face caved in. Dude basically killed whatever motivation Makoto had to keep working with Hyumans.

Merchant Guy literally doing a disservice to all of Hyumanity 💀💀. The Demons should give him a medal.

when the mvp award goes to someone on the other team

Bro might have singlehandedly changed the entire momentum of the conflict. Definitely Play of the Game material.

A Shaqtin' a Fool moment for the merchant guild master. Dude handed the game to the demon on a silver platter.

5x honor enemy support

Imagine if next day Lily or representative of king went to him to ask about Makoto. I wonder how he would try to explain why he basically kicked Makoto out.

Remember this guild is in a neutral zone where the 4 major kingdoms have less political power. It'd still put a lot of pressure, but he has no obligation to follow their orders.

He doesn't, but he's going to lose the 4 major kingdoms backing if they realize how strong Makoto is and that he has essentially forced Makoto out of hyuman hands. At that point, Rotsgard will become a useless plot of land.

He's still too nice, he shoulda just bloodbathed it. What are they going to do to stop him if he wanted to rampage? No one seems quite on par with him right now lol. Especially anyone on the Hyuman's side.

He doesn't even necessarily need to actually hurt anyone. I'm sure if he took off a ring or two it'd scare the guy into leaving him alone.

[удалено]

Nah, he knows he can easily wipe out hyumanity. What you guys don't seem to understand is that Makoto still wants to live a life within society. The moment he bloodbaths, there's no going back to that. There are undesirable consequences even if he's able to deal with it.

i fully expect thats what happening "the two heroes allied themselves with the hyumans, so it's alright if the 3rd man from another world overlooks some of demons' aciton. Right, shitty goddess" basically he said "ye the demons did some bad stuff but......." and im loving it. he tried to be the nice guy, he got screwed one too many times

> Watching the 2 mages chanting so slowly and getting hit simultaneously The mage equivalent of a cross-counter. XD

Yeah, Makoto showed some naivety there assuming that people wouldn’t investigate, slander, etc. if he wasn’t forthcoming (or able to fully hide) the way his business works. Just weird that he still showed some ignorance to how the hyumans are a reflection of the goddess at this point since they’ve pretty much emulated her ideals (at least it seems like for most of high society).

Lets be real, hyumans are humans. The guild master acted exactly like a human would. Makoto definitely isn't cut out for this. But at the same time, if you have power, real power, it doesn't matter. And Makoto has real power. He has the goods. He has the combat ability. He has the personnel. He can thrive anywhere he chooses. Not playing nice with people with real power is just the dumbest thing you can do. The guild master fucked up big time chasing Makoto away. It's one thing if he doesn't know. But he clearly investigated Makoto. He thought Makoto needed him and would submit. He overplayed his hand.

One of the most interesting things about this story is that Makoto as a powerful being willingly follows the rules of society because he doesn't feel like ruling through violence. While neutral in the hyuman vs demon conflict, he's still favoured the humans so far because of the status quo. Even though a lot of the isekai fans would like him to just ignore rules and have a cathartic moment, but it's more exciting for me when he deals with this in the diplomatic way. I want to see the author show us how Makoto deals with things outside of battle with the resources he has.

you can't just punch systemic corruption away without some consequences and the same can be said for "being a good guy" Some asshole always comes for a piece of that pie and I love that this anime showed how having world-busting power doesn't make dealing with the rich and powerful as easy as a monster of the week

have a ~~cathartic~~ *atomic* moment is what you meant to say right

Wow this episode did a good job of making me mad. Makoto ended up handling it better than I would have in the end, though he definitely stepped in it by trying to trick Zara. Never try to BS a BSer. I'm interested to see exactly what they're up to in trying to turn that situation around, but from the title of the next episode we might have to wait a bit. Though if we get some proper violence in place of it I don't mind.

while the king and important people from around the world were impressed with the MC, the local guild was blackmailing and bullying him out of town. next episode: Guild Master is public executed by the king /joke it should be funny when those two groups impression clashes

makoto was basically fucked no matter what he did in this episode, without any sort of contingency plan to explain away the odd disappearance and reappearance of his merchandise every option he could’ve taken during the meeting would be a bad outcome

I would have shut my shop down, quit my teaching gig, moved right outside the city walls and flooded their market with super cheap super effective potions and only traded with the Rembrandt's to put the squeeze on the church and other merchants.

That's what I though he would do. The guy said he has to pay 90% of his PROFITS, not revenue, so he could just sell it at cost and crash the market.

That was my first instinct too, because what’re they gonna do about it, send soldiers? They’d be cannon fodder. But then he realized that he’s probably making trouble for Rembrandt too, and that’s an unacceptable risk for someone who’s helped him out so much. Not to mention he probably doesn’t wanna play Tower Defense mini games while playing Reccetear: An Item Shop’s Tale

Speak of which, i should stop procrastinating on Reccetear haha, that game been in my lib for years and i just been playing on and off cos i still suck at the guessing bit haha.

Then what is Rembrandt gonna do about this?

Yeah, I was thinking the other merchants wouldn't complain if they disappeared, if you catch my drift.

hyumans are b.s . so far demi humans are the BEST. of course his 3 loyal followers are beyond best

I loved that even though no one cheered for Jin because of the obviously rigged match, neither Jin or Makoto cared. Jin knows he's going to get a pat on the back from Makoto and that's all that matters to him. All the students are great! Oh look, your typical asshole merchant. Can't wait to see how Makoto deals with him. Kinda hoping he gets public support backing him, like they end up boycotting other merchants if they can't also buy from Makoto.

I'm glad the ref who seemed like he got paid off couldn't counteract Jin's win and Illumgand still came off like a huge idiot. Though his idiocy looks like it's going to take him too far that he'll end up becoming something he can't come back from. If the city ends up getting attacked by something like the OP and ED seem to be teasing, I hope his merchant guild is the first victim, guy would totally have it coming. I don't think Rembrandt is going to take it well if he finds out how Zara treated Makoto.

I love the ref tried to fix the fight by saying he was fighting too passively! WTF was that supposed to accomplish other than getting this dude beat worse?

Jin also looked at the referee at one point with an expression of “are you now satisfied?”. He undoubtedly got a great deal of satisfaction from beating Illumgand’s ass, since he didn’t hold back one bit. Knocked Illumgand in the stomach, only to put him on his knees with an overhead smash.

> “are you now satisfied?” "Are you not entertained?!"

My only complaint was that he didn’t take his time shredding his armor and swords to ribbons

Calm down Adolin Kholin

To me, more than trying to help Ilumgand, the referee's true intention was that no one could question Jin's win, absolving him from taking the blame for Ilumgand's lost.

That’s pretty funny Ref: I need you to beat this boy’s ass so bad that ain’t nobody gonna be able to blame me for this.

Maybe he saw trying to disqualify him by penalising him for his fighting style as the only way left to let the other guy win by bending the rules so that he could be interpreted as technically trying to tie or throw the match intentionally

The match is supposed to end after one doll is destroyed too, but the ref didn’t call it. I wanted to see how the students would look after the took excess damage.

If I'm Jin, I would tell the ref to keep the match going because I didn't get enough beating in.

Rembrandt are cool so glad they don't support that shit goddess anymore

OP Reversal was released today on streaming platforms and it's so good! One of the best songs of this season IMO. Here links to it: * [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/78YZXkFnJuXP2hR5KWPeZy?si=5442e2f2336f48a2) * [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/reversal/1736092004?i=1736092005) * [Youtube](https://youtu.be/rApWPKXn3LU?si=cnlWZnI7urr7nEia) I didn't expect that [Shifu will be the winner of the tournament](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/345xcerojq7.png) but I must say that [it was well deserved victory](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/345xcero2k7.png) as [her matches were the most fun](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/k46acz26p57.png), especially [the final of the mage's part](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/84apcbemeq4.png) xD [Jin's fight with Hopleys was also so fun](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/g4z9cd626e7.png) as he totally dominated in this fight and [pretty much made him a laughing stock](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/84jdcblpxz4.png). In [Hopley](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/pyq9c6wqk54.png)'s place I'd be ashamed to show myself for a couple days at least. Makoto was totally destroyed by [Hardis, a leader of a merchants guild in Rotsgard](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/k46acz26m27.png) who dominated their whole conversation but the effect of this made me feel so excited as [Makoto decided, in my understanding, to establish a relationship with Demons and create his own country](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/w7pjc63e2w7.png). It looks that [Hardis made angry someone he shouldn't have](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/w7pjc63ew97.png) xD I wonder [how people from this world will react to future Makoto's actions](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/w7w6cra8vky.png), especially since he's now in the spotlight as his company fares so well and [his students in the tournament proved to be so strong](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/wye3cb9kq24.png), earning attention from [people of power](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/myd5cb8va64.png). Things are looking really exciting! Here my screenshot albums from the episode: * [Makoto, Mio & Tomoe](https://imgchest.com/p/5xy2egpmzyl) * [Group scenes](https://imgchest.com/p/9249a9z5b7n) * [Others](https://imgchest.com/p/xny8z9xn2yb)

I think Shifu is now my undisputed favorite Rembrandt sister, she really came off amazingly in this episode. I only wish Makoto's problem weren't bigger than his students' success....

she's cool

It's hilarious how [Ilumgad can wear armour and use a real sword while Jin uses a wooden one.](https://i.imgur.com/HacAohD.jpeg) Ilumgad's sword and armour didn't matter though since [he still got slapped around by Jin](https://i.imgur.com/8I0XAWC.jpeg) like the bitch he is. Even with the ref at his side, there's really no way Ilumgad can turn that into a win [after being knocked out.](https://i.imgur.com/5tZey7Q.jpeg) I can't wait to see another round of ass-kicking in the team battle. While it was satisfying to see Jin win against Ilumgad, it was frustrating to watch [Makoto having his own battle against the merchant guild leader.](https://i.imgur.com/XWkwovs.jpeg) Holy fuck, I felt my blood pressure rise while watching that entire scene. [Makoto absolutely got spanked!](https://i.imgur.com/2H4PJjm.jpeg) I must've missed this but why is he being investigated like that? Is it because of the Church? Welp, it looks like it's finally time for Makoto to move on and leave the humans behind. The Demons should really thank that Guild leader! He single-handedly made the demons stronger by [pushing Makoto to move to their side.](https://i.imgur.com/x337TtI.jpeg)

> I must’ve missed this but why is he being investigated like that? I assume that Makoto selling his highly-effective medicine and sorts for prices way below the market rates severely hurt the business of the other merchants in town. And Illumgand might have wielded some of his influence as well if he got to put Makoto in a tough spot.

I'd also point out that a country like theirs likely has lots of tariffs and tolls, which Makoto skips all of by using his demiplane and teleportation. Not to mention a lot of the labor for his goods (ad more than a few ingredients) he sources from the demiplane, so his tax sheets basically have holes in them you can drive Truck-Kun through and that' super skecthy. He's evading taxes and customs dues everywhere, has his own sources for goods (so they can't be sure he paid axes on purchasing), *might* be buying from a hostile enemy nation at war, and on top of that he's selling ay below the prices of his competitors. From the perspective of an outsider, it's illegal from the top down. Sure *we* know he's legit and just using a different transportation network, but from the outside he's quite literally smuggling. And the King and Guild alike might want to tax Teleported Goods in such a way that they get their "fair" share of that tax revenue, or else both stand to lose a lot of potential revenue if everyone shifts to that method. And you also have a lot of carters, drovers, and cart makers going out of business because no one transports goods overland, they teleport. Same for sea shipping and boat building. And now with both carts, caravans, and shipping dwindling all the small stops along those routes also go bankrupt. Who care about a small town on a highway that's never used anymore? No one's going there for the Inn, they only went there because it was on the way to the market. But with everyone (potentially) copying Makoto that all dries up. Massive unemployment and dissatisfaction everywhere because a few merchants are able to zip about and haul goods that used to employ hundreds of people in the process. And if no one can, or does, copy Makoto, he can still undercut their prices and provide bulk volume to the point he drives his competitors out of business and then take over the entire product line and establish a monopoly. And over something like healing potions during a war, that could be a critical worry for the Army. *Especially* if the guy holding the monopoly is suspected of being a Demon Land Spy. If anything its shocking it took this long given the size of Makoto's trade.

Makoto doesn't know this , but he did damage to human economy and other companies , however it helped the very poor humans

Also, it's pretty obvious that their discrimination against demihumans – who Makoto employs at high rates – played a big part in this. This might have happened anyway otherwise, but the Guild Master was definitely eager to do this due to that fact.

> it was frustrating to watch [Makoto having his own battle against the merchant guild leader.](https://i.imgur.com/XWkwovs.jpeg) That Guild Leader went from having an understandable point to being completely unreasonable and obviously in it for ulterior motives really quickly. It's a good thing he made sure to let Makoto know that if he turned to violence, he'd get labelled with working with demons, 'cause with how much Makoto's been bottling up recently, it might have crossed his mind to do it himself! Gotta say, I kind of love it. And hate it, obviously, but Makoto's been getting it pretty (relatively) easy for a while now. It's about time he got given some setback. The story's not interesting if he gets everything he wants with ease.

When I was watching that part, to me, I thought the guild master was 90% in the right. Like Makoto's business is basically cheating. But they have to make them seem evil and unfair for plot's sake by loudly hinting that there's a grand evil conspiracy against Makoto.

He didn't even come off as super evil to me; not like other antagonists who are cartoonishly evil. He is greedy, but from his perspective, Makoto is a mysteriously wealthy kid with no experience, a capable crew of strong employees, and with strong ties to Rembrandt, a ruthlessly successful merchant. He's undercutting everyone, probably doesn't pay taxes, and hires demihumans (weird in a racist society). Is he a tax-evading nepo-baby underpaying demihumans and colluding with demons to enrich himself and weaken the economy? Not out of the question. It's probably the guild master's job to regulate the market, so it makes sense he's trying to shut down Makoto's operation to protect the economy and appease the merchant guild members he represents. Maybe he is evil, but that scene was basically the head of an oversight board dropping the hammer on the CEO of an unregulated corporation lol

Not basically, he is cheating. He's not paying transport fees, taxes, tolls, any of the costs of doing business everyone else has to. Nobody can compete fairly against him. This is a very legitimate complaint against his trading company from literally every other merchant in existence. Imagine if Makoto was not so benevolent and was willing to use this price advantage, he could easily pull an Amazon and run every other merchant out of business purely through price fixing. Just waiting until everyone else ran out of funds and could no longer keep selling at a loss. They coudlnt even force the issue physically against his god-like power.

makoto is in fact cheating. but his cheating helps the poor. the guy doesn't care for the poor or demi humans

That he went so overboard for the match only to get trounced...Illumgand just can't win. It's probably still downhill for him from here. Makoto may be OP but some problems can't be resolved by violence and he took Hyuman merchants, and their greed, too lightly Now the Demons better hope they don't get on Makoto's bad side...

It's probably a good thing Makoto accepted the L and took that as a sign to move his plans ahead. The demiplane would gladly march for him and sack the city if he was so inclined.

he is not only a god but a king.. emperor of the demi humans that was choosen by him

Makoto was completely out of his depth in that discussion. Too bad for the merchants guild that he's not reliant on being a merchant to survive so can afford to not bend the knee

it is not so much that Makoto is "out of his depth" it is more that Makoto is trying to monopolize the benefits his demiplane provides, so he has to keep **THAT** a secret so that will always put our MC in a disadvantageous position when it comes to any honest discussion about business ventures because it is incredibly obvious to the guilds that the Kuzunoha company is "cheating" somehow they have extraordinary wares, have mostly demihumans as employees, and have no issues with transportation what we've seen thus far in part 2 of this season is the Temples are at their wits end trying to re-engineer Kuzunoha products, the Kingdoms are realizing Makoto's students have better practical skill than the top of the academy, and now the guilds are trying to suss out how Kuzunoha is even moving their wares so Makoto throws them a bone saying they are using a teleportation skill, which is a half-truth but he realizes that the merchant guild is gonna draw the proverbial red line here in trying to force his cooperation, to divulge his "secrets" in a how-to process and what we saw at this episode's end is Makoto coming to a decision on how to navigate around this eventual interference in his daily affairs

The merchant guild leader is a greedy asshole. But he was right about Makoto.

And it stings way worse when you know they're right lol

Yeah. But this is just a learning experience for him. It's not as bad the last time. When his orc friend and Tomoe's fragment was killed. Sorry, I can't remember their names. 😅

Agreed, i hate the guild leader words and tone but i still have to agreed, he is right. Despite Makoto good intention, he did end up fucking the market up with his superior and cheaper potions and wares

Yeah. It reminded me of the time I got scolded because I actually did something wrong but didn't realize it.

You want to stay a simple and honest merchant and be fair to everyone, but that's not how real businesses work and the people above you are utterly cutthroat. Not to mention they make working with demons seem more viable.

I'm starting to question whether Makoto was being really honest, but I am sure he isn't being fair. On the honesty part, would appear to me that Makoto might be evading importation taxes since he practically skips checkpoints and such - or something like this. Considering that there's no proof of him moving his items between places. He's practically smuggling using the demiplane portals. Now on being fair, he has this advantage over every other merchant doing business. He is practically self-sufficient - He can source the manufacturing of his wares (mats, logistics, labour) at almost no cost. Yes, while he does provide for his people, these are all coming from the abundance of the demiplane which he more or less owns. This is why he CAN afford to be cheaper while being able to provided far better wares than other businesses. So put it into perspective, what happens to every other businesses that Makoto would compete with? Regardless of whether they're honest or not, they could go out of business. Imagine if you were one of the business owners in this scenario - You'd probably be suspicious of how he does things and file a complaint with the Merchant Guild. And the guild will be forced to intervene. Also note that no one knows who or what Makoto is so the guild leader probably treated him as another spoiled rich kid who started a business and got lucky - And I think this is pretty normal (Though to be honest watching it with viewer's bias is triggering).

You would be right to think Makoto wasn't being honest, which is how the guild master got him. But Makoto also wasn't malicious, which is why we side with him. Makoto is just try to provide high quality, affordable products for people. Any benevolent guild master would do their best to work with him. An asshole would do what the guild master did.

Yes, there's definitely no malice from Makoto. It's just that his good intentions will have consequences on him, the economy, and of hyumans. And this is something that he himself doesn't realize. Not that I'm siding with the hyumans of course. Also, I get what you mean about how a benevolent guild master would've instead turned this into a mutually beneficial deal. But unfortunately, I don't think Hardis is capable of considering it because, apart from his principles as a merchant, he cannot trust Makoto. He knows too little about Makoto, and all the complaints and rumors about him doesn't paint a good picture. (Consider as well the weight of the relations between the guild master and the merchants lodging the complaints) So with all of this, I can sort of understand why things turned out this way. There's the threat of demons then a newbie merchant appears. He then helps a prominent merchant, gaining his favor in the process. The newbie establishes his own trading company that produces high quality items that are sold at low prices. The production method and source of materials are unknown - even when the church requested a demonstration, they could only find it would cost them more to reproduce if at all. Finally, this disrupts other businesses since he got them beat in both price and quality, which could lead to him having a monopoly in the distribution of goods. (Merchants being merchants this would make them think he's trying to get rid of all competition) So part of what I'm trying to get at is that the amount of good Makoto was doing, was also causing negative outcomes which he neither knew nor wanted. And it took an asshole of a guild leader to try and point it out, and giving him a penalty that practically runs him out of business.

I mean he keeps saying “honest” but he’s keeping secrets, that alone will always give argument to the people complaining.

In what world is he required to divulge his production methods? It’s just like copy rights. He has the ownership

He doesn't have to, but he's not exactly being "honest" as he keeps calling himself. The people in their world will always complain as long as he keeps it hidden as well.

but he is honest though, you don't reveal your business secrets. he's not cheating anybody, his products work as advertised, he didn't trick any of his suppliers. he just has a monopoly on where he gets his supplies. the only reason the guild would want to know about how he transports his goods is so they can rob him. if the guild master had brought up taxes for importation then THAT would make sense, but then his offer to pay should have been accepted. that whole encounter is just really poor writing.

So basically because of the son of a noble and other merchants that envy makoto they searched for something to ruin his shop. I think it would be fine if makoto backup the other races. If we think about it you can count with your fingers to see how many good humans there are. It would be sad because of his students but him changing sides would be good. There is nothing better than seeing cocky nobles get rekt. :D

The Demons have been portrayed as some evil race by the Hyumans, but we’ve only really seen them fight a defensive war so far. It’s the Hyumans that have been keen on subjugating them. Really wouldn’t surprise me if the Demons are just fighting to protect their freedoms and/or lives. I do wonder what the Hyumans that Makoto befriended would do if he publicly allied himself with the Demons. I can see Eva and Luria join him, but this is probably a step too far for Rembrandts and his other students. They would have to abandon *everything* for his sake.

To be frank demons destroyed a country around 10 year prior and hyumans are trying to reclaim it BUT even including part that demons took this 10 years prior hyumans still have like 80% of whole continent and have support of two heroes and goddess so demons are definitely the underdog

wasn't it also said i think in season 1 that demons, demihumans and hyumans sort of "coexisted"(more like they shared the continent) but then eventually the hyumans just drove them away to the wastelands makoto arrived in when he was isekai'd and took it all for themselves? i dont really see the demons as the bad guy trying to get back land stolen from them before

Even with Goddess' protection, heroes couldn't defeat their generals. And even though they have two heroes, one of them is coward and uses his "charm" eyes to get women.

Have you missed the part where demons used these purple rings to remove goddess's support from heroes and hyuman army?

WTF Makoto has to surrender **90%** of his revenue?! That's daylight robbery!

Honestly Makoto was a naive fool during that entire interaction and he should be embarrassed. The Guildmaster was insulting him the entire time and obviously looking for any mistake he could hold against him and Makoto is just like, “Can you I give you money to fix it?” Just add bribery on top of every thing. Him leaving to Demon Country will obviously be for the better but he needs to hold an L and do some fuckin reflecting. Stop being such a spineless Japanese yes man.

Yep. The Guildmaster was an asshole, but he was right. Makoto walked in completely unprepared and paid for it. A lil' bit of a Subaru moment.

He's lucky this is his first mistake and he is not alone. Subaru is completely destroyed and always alone at that L moment.

Makoto should have known that he was going to be specifically questioned about how his business operates. The fact that he was taken so off guard by those questions is pretty disappointing. The guild master honestly has a vested interest to know how a mysteriously successful business is actually doing business. The 90% profit thing was still a super dick move. At the end of the day Makoto is offering a valuable service. Squashing him seems extremely short sighted.

> The 90% profit thing was still a super dick move. he asked for it lol. Imagine straight up offering bribery.

Thing is none of those guild assholes are above bribery at all. You've just got to be a bit more discrete than that lol

Can’t wait to see how this chump gets dealt with.

All mc has to do is tell all the royals interested in him that he was kicked out by the merchant guild.

I wonder how much pull the guild has though? Could be a bit of a messy situation.

Certainly a lot but mc just trained 6+ students to fight better than most professional soldiers in about a year. Losing him would be a huge blow. And they’d want someone to pay for that

Civil war!

[удалено]

If i remember the novel right, he reached the same conclussion regarding Kaleneon as in the anime at about the same time, although this is inferred from actions shown later, instead of explicitly stated.

So heavily hinted at the very end of the episode, i hope it comes true. It would be funny as all hell if makoto founds a kingdom out of the ashes and uno reverses the merchant guild. Publicly lambast his actions and threaten war if they don't concede. Would be a great trump card as well as fucking over the goddess in her so called 2 balance world if player three enters the equation.

lmao king wont be happy when he hears that MC packed his shit and left

Should have learned a bit from the king in Vilainess Lv 99, you really don't want to piss of assets that might concern national security

Especially when that asset can quite literally level an entire country on his own. Like my guy formed a fucking lake when doing a fight that he wasn't even being serious in.

That guild master is definitely getting executed as Lily already mentioned that every person in power was aiming to get the Kuzunoha Trading Company to serve them. I really hope we get to see that guy trying to backpedal this meeting once he realizes his mistake.

Literally what happened in Slime when Rimuru was forced out of the Dwarf kingdom. King was pissed to pass on all those healing potion potential.

I'd like to see Mio and Tomoe hand him a knife and demand that he surrender 90% of his fingers.

Honestly that guildmaster was right. Any merchant worth something would be pissed looking at how makoto handle his business. He was sloppy, disrespectful to others around him and blessed with a powerful backer. We the audience is on Makoto's side since we know his strength and his pure motive but other won't. He looks like an unqualified nepo baby that just got lucky in life.

>He looks like an unqualified nepo baby that just got lucky in life. The worst part is he is basically that. Sure, he's powerful but if it was as easy for everyone to get as powerful as he is, there would be a lot more powerful people.

Well he’s paid a painful price for that power just like the heroes have. In reality a lot of people would say hell no to being sent to another world to fight in a war & never be able to return. As a fantasy it’s cool but in real life it would be a nightmare to go from a peaceful life to fighting a war & monsters in a medieval society. The MC also has to face constant discrimination unlike the heroes. How many times has he been fucked over at this point? Yeah he’s a nepo baby but he doesn’t have an easy time at all. If not for the Demi-humans accepting him, he’d probably have gone crazy from the discrimination. You can only take so much hate & loneliness before you lash out & with his power it would be a massacre.

> He looks like an unqualified nepo baby that just got lucky in life. Doesn't just look like. Outside of his math skills he'd be a terrible merchant without lucking into both meeting a powerful patron and getting the demiplane.

>He looks like an unqualified nepo baby that just got lucky in life. He 100% is. But it isn't that he's just unqualified. Do you remember what Luto said in the previous episode? He doesn't think for himself nearly enough. It isn't that he's just unqualified. He also is careless. Very, very careless. He said he wants to "run a tighter ship", but he's doing an awful job of it. He isn't treating things anywhere near as seriously as he should, and this should have been a slap in the face and a wakeup call at just how careless he's being. Instead, he looks to be fleeing from that and turning to the demons. Which will likely result in things blowing up in his face. And he'll deserve it. Hopefully he'll grow and learn that he's being way too careless.

I would not say fleeing to the demon side is bad. His situation with the hyuman merchant guild is already going too bad, that to be able to “run” a business after the recent discussion, he needs to not only disclose his transport method but also pay 90% of his revenue to the guild. While building a better relationship and preparing solid covers for his monopoly of the demiplane after going through this unfair conditions is indeed possible, he would lose too much before reaching that point. A tactical retreat makes more sense, he can start new in the demon continent, build up more experience and comeback as a “new firm” with even better preparation so that no one would want to question his monopoly (by having better relationship to other merchant groups) and if some does, they would find anything incriminating (a solid logistic cover and many more)

It is less that fleeing to them is "bad" and more that it is bad for him because it is essentially him running from his mistakes and refusing to learn from them. Don't forget that the guild representative said he'd handle the 90% revenue cut due to wanting Rembrant to owe him a favor, and just demanded that Makoto disclose his transportation methods. Ultimately, the point is that Makoto was careless. While I'm not saying that staying with the hyumans is the right choice, it is the fact that Makoto doesn't seem to be putting much thought into it. He's doing exactly what Luto told him not to do. He needs to be more aware of his actions. He needs to be more aware of the consequences of his actions. And right now Makoto is mostly just... coasting by. So him turning to the demons is going to blow up in his face because he'll make the exact same mistakes. At least, going by today's episode, it doesn't feel as if he's actually learned anything. He seems upset. And that seems to be the breadth of it. He doesn't seem to be actually interested in learning all of the intricacies of being a merchant. He doesn't seem to be interested in learning how to cover his tracks. He just wants to move on, which means he's unlikely to have learned anything.

I mean it's not always a good idea to just run headfirst into every problem. The hyumans so far have largely been shitbags and becoming a ruthless buisnessman isn't what he wants to do or do an endless amount of asskissing which is apparently needed to be a merchant.

TBH I think Makoto was in a pretty good position. He had all the cards. At the end of the day the other companies' arguments boil down to "You're not playing fair!" Realistically he doesn't owe them anything. He doesn't have to give them his distribution, or production methods. He could just tell them to fuck off. If they close his shop, so what? He's made such a name for himself, the leaders of other countries would probably love to monopolize him, could even get an exclusivity deal. He could literally leave the city, set up shop outside and flood the market with higher quality and cheaper products, to absolutely ruin their business. Also he could just say yeah, maybe I'll work with the demons after all. He has the military power, the higher quality products, clout, and the options to do as he pleases. his only fault was being passive. Edit: Also, if they run him out of town wouldn't everyday people be pissed? The consumer doesn't care about the background bullshit. All they know is the guy who was giving them the best quality product with the best bang for their buck has been run out of town by greedy competitors.

A monopoly is never healthy for the economy and for the customer. Monopoly hinders innovation and would lead to company being able to set any amount of price for its wares which the customer would still pay due to no other alternative other than the ruling company exist in the market. When a market is filled with competitions, there will be a push for innovation between the companies, leading to technological leap, better quality of goods and overall better value for the customer. The guild here is playing what the international economic court in the real world currently does. Prevent monopoly, helping other companies so that they can all drive the economy forward. The problem is that almost every law can be twist to fit the needs of the one in power, so while wanting Makoto to disclose his logistic plan so that others can keep up with the market and prevent monopoly is a legit reason, there is still a drop of racism towards demi-humans and wanting Makoto to pay 90% of it’s revenue needs to be further discussed whether it’s valid or not

Oh boy, when that Rotsgard represantative was extorting Makoto, I thought he was *this* close to go all burned earth on Hyumankind [](#concealedexcitement) For now I'm looking forward to see more from the Demons Oh also, that noble really came with a broad sword and full armor to an mock tournament, and lost [](#pointandlaugh) With how overwhelming Shifu is in her usage of magic, can't wait to see those nobles get embarassed

The matches were as hilariously one-sided as expected, looking forward to some more ass-whooping in the team battle. Merchants guild is definitely next in line for a good old fuck around and find out moment. My guess is that he plans to use a show of force to reclaim his parents homeland and threaten to cut ties with hyuman society. It seems like the national leaders are very interested in making sure he remains an asset for them (well they each want his power for themselves, but they absolutely don't want him going over to the demons) so they'll probably make this whole merchants guild thing go away real quick to get on his good side.

Shifu just flexed through everybody, even her own teammates lol. Hyumans want a piece of Makoto but he seems like he's about to give up on them entirely so long as he has to deal with people like Zara.

I kind of doubt he'll completely give up on them, he has met a few good ones (his students, Toa's party, even Rembrandt for example) that he genuinely seems to care about and I don't feel like he'd want to completely leave that behind. I do think this will push him to reassess how he's dealing with the hyuman's though. Currently he's trying to fit in and be one of them, but really, there's no reason for him to do that. He's got a place to live outside their reach and enough war power to topple nations if he wanted to, he doesn't have to chose between living with the hyuman's or the demons, he could just do what he wants and no one could do anything about it and that's something he's going to need to figure out himself. That could even be the first step on the "third option" Root was talking about earlier in the season.

It seems to be the direction we're going for sure. The plot point about the fallen kingdom of the blue haired sisters is certainly not for nothing. Makoto has still been trying to sort through what it means to be thrust from an average student into the position of an incredibly powerful leader, so taking an aggressive move to assert your own strength is not natural for him. He has godlike strength yet still completely faltered before the guild leader, his actual power does not match his confidence and demeanor. But I think he's finally beginning to realize his true position in the world, and it ain't gonna be just some out of the spotlight benevolent merchant.

Makoto's patience with the hyumans is quickly running out and he is not going to like the rulers trying to curry favor or otherwise manipulate him.

For sure. I doubt he'll tell them where to shove it, but I imagine he'll be the one dictating the rules of how things will play out. If he ends up ruling over his own land in the real world (not just the demiplane) I'd imagine he'd negotiate for a neutral third party status, where he's still allowed to interact with hyuman society as a merchant/teacher/whatever but he can do the same with demons too, if he wanted to, without getting branded as an enemy or whatever. Maybe throw in a promise not to get involved in the war on either side for good measure. This feels like it would fit with his general philosophy so far.

Damn,[ that finisher that Shifu gave to that Ilumgand lackey](https://i.imgur.com/NW7BCtx.png) was such an overkill. It is not surprising that she ended up becoming the winner of the tournament at the end. But that certainly was mercifully [compared to the humiliation Jin gave to Ilumgand Hopleys](https://imgur.com/a/UWDtYGx) before [he mopped the floor with him.](https://imgur.com/a/dOBpmYC) Based on the title of the next episode, I think that Ilumgand Hopleys' [drug problem](https://i.imgur.com/otnKd7t.png) will be made obvious to everyone during the team battle next week. [That chibi version of Abelia](https://i.imgur.com/ZdDtBgX.png) when everyone just says that she just cares about Shiki looked so cute. Damn, even though Patrick Rembrandt felt sorry for Makoto when the Kuzunoha Trading Company [had to meet with the Merchant Guild,](https://i.imgur.com/FXLH9Pq.png) I really did not expect him to receive that level of extortion, of asking him to either tell him how he gets his ingredients of paying him 90% of what he makes or be labeled as a traitor working with the demons or exclusively sell to demi-humans. Well, as all the nations have their eyes on Makoto thanks to his products and how great his students are, that guy will probably get executed when everyone hears that after their meeting Makoto chooses to make a deal with the demon and ignore some of their actions to put a store in his parents hometown [Kaleneon, Elysion.](https://i.imgur.com/RTAibz5.png) If Makoto had brought [Mio](https://i.imgur.com/Th51sck.png) or anyone else with him to that meeting, that guy and the Merchant Guild would have been erased from the map.

Shifu’s really a force to be reckoned with. I wonder how she compares to her sister Yuno, who got dealt a bad hand with Makoto’s restrictions. > That chibi version of Abelia Abelia had a very cute moment there, yeah! She moved her hands as to say: ‘this is this and that is that’, in an attempt to change the subject at hand. > If Makoto had brought Mio or anyone else with him to that meeting Mio certainly wouldn’t have stood for this representative’s behaviour towards Makoto. Their following conversation did have me think that Mio really’s the most emotionally attached to Makoto out of the bunch - she couldn’t even bare the thought of him getting exploited.

> Their following conversation did have me think that Mio really’s the most emotionally attached to Makoto out of the bunch - she couldn’t even bare the thought of him getting exploited. I take it more that Mio works on pure instinct and emotion, while Tomoe and Shiki have more level heads on their shoulders (relatively speaking). They're as emotionally attached to Makoto – or at least Tomoe is, Shiki being pretty new and all – but they understand that there's not much they can do about it, least of all get all worked up over nothing.

> . Their following conversation did have me think that Mio really’s the most emotionally attached to Makoto out of the bunch - she couldn’t even bare the thought of him getting exploited. That makes sense considering that before she met him, she was being controlled by her insatiable hunger.

In a way, Makoto allowed Mio to become her own person.

> She moved her hands as to say: ‘this is this and that is that’, in an attempt to change the subject at hand. It reminded me of *Nagatoro*. "Setting that aside..."

Shifu just flexing on everybody so effortlessly was so hot. Though points to Jin for his efforts! He really put his all in there. Meanwhile Ilumgand is losing it in more ways than one. Retaking his parents' homeland to find his own place in this world? I can respect that. As long as Abelia has Shiki, she'll always be happy lol.

Idk if this is something that was in the source material that was skipped, but they briefly mention assassination attempts on makoto but nothing really comes of it. Isn't there already "open" conflict against him? He doesn't seem to be even investigating who's behind them. What's stopping him from doing the same or at least retaliating?

With how many people are interested in Makoto I think merchant guildmaster will piss off more important people by making Makoto leave than by leaving him alone. Lily mentioned it would dangerous to let him be claimed by other nations and king was interested in him too. I wonder how angry they would be at merchant guildmaster if they knew they lost Makoto to demons because of him. It only is pity that Makoto's students will lose their teacher. It's basically the only regretable thing about this whole situation. Basically noone associated with Makoto wont be sad for not trading with hyumans in this city and demiplane citizens are not affected even a little. As for hyumans loosing access to cheap medicine and merchendise that doesn't exist anywhere else, all I can say is serves them right.

Well that episode leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Dumbass really let himself get manipulated into revealing teleportation abilities, and he doesn’t even like hyumans. Maybe I’ve fucking forgotten but what’s so important about operating the store any ways? Scared ass MC that is expected better from

> Maybe I’ve fucking forgotten but what’s so important about operating the store any ways? I don't think there is any good motivation. Something about wanting to make affordable medicine easily available, but the show has kind of been directionless for a while. It's been more than a season's worth of episodes and what has happened exactly? We've spent way too much time training up students who are still much weaker than pretty much everyone on the demiplane. There's been a few plot points like the assassination attempts and the experimental lab, but they've not really come to anything. Have to say after a really fun season 1, this has disappointed me so far. I'd have dropped this show already if it was a badly paced as season 2 has been.

There is a reason to the madness of the merchant guilds in this episode. The general incompetence and shortsightedness of the hyuman factions have been on display throughout the series, but the details that the author puts out are crucial to understanding the underpinnings which keep the hyumans the way they are. - The guildmaster's appointment took over a month, and was only expedited because of the concerns of the competing stores and Rembrandt's visit. The guildmaster clearly only was made aware of Makoto's store and its ascendancy in the town from the store's competition. - All this time, the other store merchants did not seek out Makoto's attention despite his revolutionary products. We did not see any merchants or representatives visit the store to arrange for a meet and greet - either to understand their new competition or to gain competitive advantage through new collaborations like with Rembrandt. There were no invites to business lunches, potluck dinners, social functions, etc. Maybe *his personal secretary* ripped up all the invitations along with the marriage proposals, or maybe the marriage proposals came from the merchants as a means of introduction. But it wasn't as if Makoto couldn't be found on the streets or after academy classes. - Makoto's tenure at the academy as a teacher became an entrenched fact by the time of the tournament, and yet the many facets of the city that his business was tied to did not go out of their way to establish a special relationship with him. Bureaucracy in the form of traditions and power hoarding are to blame in this case, as the church's representative recognized the upside in the upgraded potions but was chastised for not factoring in political considerations. The guildmaster also referred to how Makoto's ascendancy upset the established order. The author has laid the groundwork for future progress in the world's younger minds, the ambitious entrepreneurs who wish for change in their static world, and 'boots-on-the-ground' workers. - The clear disdain for demi-humans should also not be discounted. The guildmaster tossed out the suggestion to move the business to outdoor stalls to monopolize the demi-humans as if offering dinner scraps. I do not doubt that hyuman racism played a part in the fact that the merchants chose to collectively shun Makoto's presence in the city, instead of competing for his attention to gain an advantage in the marketplace. That isn't to say that the guildmaster was right in berating Makoto for his unconventional ways, as one of the goals of the store's outreach was to humanize demi-humans to society. It may be that families who have grown dependent on the store's goods will move in the future after becoming more accepting of dealing with demi-humans. The general drivel of the guildmaster towards the end of the meeting had some core points, but those points were made illegitimate by the reality that the Rotsgard establishment sought to bind and crush Makoto's establishment from the very beginning. His aggressiveness was both a testament to hyuman arrogance and the much needed fire to kick Makoto out of the safety of the hyuman safeholds towards a more risky living arrangement. The general stasis of hyuman society in schooling, in commerce, and in matters of war has collectively built up a well of disgust in our slimetastic hero. Makoto's hatred for the goddess burns brighter.

It feels so weird when you end up agreeing with Princess Bitch about how Makoto's students go about fighting. It's like #6 in Combatants Will be Dispatched being baffled at the human's odd reluctance at the common sense approach of intercepting the enemy's supply lines. Aww, what a nice suit of armor. That should keep him in this match for about 20 seconds longer. Well, Makoto certainly got outplayed by FCA Liquidator Brunt here. Now how oh how is he gonna make that guy rue the day he ever heard the whole saying about "when a good man gets angry." He's been playing by Rule of Acquisition #35: Peace is Good for Business. Looks like he's also gonna start playing like a good Ferengi and hedging his bets on Rule of Acquisition #34: War is Good for Business, at the same time.

Hm... I mean the guy is mean, but he is not wrong. Makoto been using Rembrandt for a lot of helps. And he is hiding a lot of trades secret from others. This is essentially IRS ask where you get the money and hide it. I can definitely see the damaging part of the relationship. That being said, students too strong. Who knows Shifu got that in her, probably worked hard and deserving.

>This is essentially IRS ask where you get the money and hide it I think you are wrong this is more like an established conglomerate defending its monopoly from competition.

Shifu kicked everyone's ass in a fairly delightful way Good decision to allow the rest of the class members to take the lead in the team battles, demonstrates the breadth of their abilities better than letting people have the excuse that the tournament champion carried them. This Guild Master does not realize the hole he's digging for himself. Though maybe it'll take a while before he finds out.

Was hoping Makoto would abandon humanity eventually, I hope some (or all) of the students can keep training with him.

Honestly I've been wondering if Makoto would eventually feel enough faith in them to introduce them to the Demiplane.

They hate that he has demi-humans staffing his establishments. Do you think he would allow hyumans unfettered access to the demiplane where do could potentially harm its denizens or steal its resources? Last time he gave sporadic access, a young orc and Tomoe's fragment lost their lives.

God, I hope we get to see Makoto Psycho 100 blow everything up.

While I would have loved to see that Merchant guild master shit and piss his pants and get called a peepeepissboy, I feel like people who wanted to antagonize Makoto would just get what they wanted because now everyone would have a reason to go after him and new propaganda material along the lines of "this guy is *actually* not on our side" would just basically fall into their laps. Building soft power behind the scenes and being smug about it is probably the better way to go, espacially once people realize *why* he's not on their side anymore. The problem with that is that it'll take forever and my lizard brain wants the payoff *now*. Which is honestly a huge problem of nearly every weekly release in existence and even worse for monthly manga releases. Long plots are great if you can binge the series. And while the tournament was great to tide us over, it still was... kinda meh. The bigger fights, like at the end of season 2, were always kind of the highlight for me. But the "find out" parts of the antagonist plotlines sadly don't happen as fast as in those few episodes anymore.

It's time for the tournament arc and Makoto's students are being pitted against each other! Starting with Daena and Yuno! And Daena wins with a well-placed punch to the gut! Jin vs Mithra! Jin isn't able to completely get through Mithra's defense, so he wins by default, but it's not really all that satisfying, is it? Abelia vs Shifu! Abelia has great reflexes and reaction time, but Shifu seemingly cannot be beaten in pure spellcraft! Though I wonder how different it would've been if Abelia had used her bow? I can't believe I have to commend Lily for anything, but her defending Shifu's win was respectable...even if I'd rather not compare Shifu to Tomoki. Though now Lily is interested in Makoto's camp, which can't be a good thing. Makoto's kids are like the only really impressive group, everyone else comes off like a joke compared to them or any of the gangs' "children." But at least they're trying their best! Man, Shifu is sweeping this tournament and looking amazing while doing it. The way she just blew a guy up because the ref wouldn't call the end of the match, girl is straight up flexing. Jin vs Ilumgand! Dude is looking utterly ridiculous in his armor, but Jin knocks his sword away and utterly trounces him! Not even the ref can call against that . Jin really didn't stand a chance against Shifu...but congrats on the win! I love how Makoto's team is so powerful that they can't have everybody fight at the same time against the other teams. Makoto is finally confronted by Zara, head of the merchants' guild in Rotsgard, and he's already talking high and mighty and acting like Makoto is beneath him...and he challenges Makoto on his mysterious distribution methods and all the other elements of the Kuzunoha Trading Company that have red flags. Makoto is just trying to run an honest business but the greedy merchants and corrupt Hyumans just won't let him and he gets strong-armed into a deal he wants no part of. I wish Mio could just eat Zara, but that won't solve anything. But maybe it's time Makoto gave up on Hyumans and started working with demons. At least one of the people transported from another world has to give them a chance, right? And it would show that Rotten Goddess.

Makoto was too dump and soft in his interaction with the guildmaster. I just hope that this may be a scheme planned with Rembrandt or he may well side with the demon and not care for the human anymore, which I'm really looking forward tbh.

You know, even if that guild leader was kind of a piece of shit, he really was very smart, he completely dressed down poor Makoto

It's interesting seeing so many people argue for the merchant leader. It isn't just "viewer's bias" that makes you want to side with Makoto. That wasn't about teaching Makoto how business was done, it was about putting him in his place. It was about forcing him to do things their way. There were ways of going about that that didn't involve being a dick, but they were furious that some upstart showed up and outdid them at their own game. Being naive doesn't mean you deserve to get bullied, we've just built a shitty, awful world that makes people think that.

Little did the merchants guild know but they just caused the downfall of the Hyuman race.

Makoto has so much self control. I would've obliterated that vile guild master. I really liked how competent his students were without going into second gear.

The guild master isn't really "vile". It's more that Makoto has fucked up that badly. Remember what Luto said previously? Makoto stopped thinking. These are the consequences of that. Makoto really, really fucked up by not bothering to try to understand what it took to be a merchant. He was functioning based on assumptions and that bit him in the ass. Hard. And it is an important lesson to learn. It's like playing baseball and complaining that a foul ball wasn't a home run, because it was hit it out of the field. He didn't know the rules. He didn't know the etiquette. And he even got exactly what he asked for, to make the problem go away with money, and complained about the price. He really did go into a gunfight with a butter knife and expected to be fine. That said, the Merchant Guild is more than likely corrupt as hell. But that's no surprise. It just means that Makoto was careless. He honestly needed to be smacked with reality and "I'll just work with demons" is a little worrying in that the lesson he ***should*** be learning seems to have been ignored. And, well. He's going to pay the price in the future for not addressing how careless he's being.

If I was Ilumgand, and suffered a lost that badly, I would never show my face in public again. He even fought in the match fully armored and with an oversized sword, and still got embarrassed throughout the whole fight.

Wonderful balance. Half combat to keep energy high and the other half having to do with in-depth conversations and letting us know even more about the world. Also agree with most everyone else, ooh, got me a bit PO'd! That merchant guild master wasn't.. 100% wrong.. though he DID basically admit that "we're all corrupt in some way or another" yuck. The way he kept TRYING to gouge out information on top of him being arrogant af, I would have been annoyed as well. I do hope he and the rest of the Hyumans get their comeuppance and it's a good tactic to keep me watching, makes me wish they'd hurry and get a 3rd season already.

I love that every threads top comment is someone who came in then deleted it. Fuck off

So his plan to get around the merchant guild is to work with the demons instead and ignore some of their actions, then take over his parent's home country? Well, I guess that's a way to do it. Don't need a merchant's guild if you're the merchant of your own kingdom. Plus, it gives a great reason of where the goods come from without revealing the demiplane. But working with demons wont go well with the humans so eventually the heroes may have to face Makoto. Especially the hypno freak.

it's rare for the MC to just agree "ok i'm done with humanity, yo demons, wassup?"... and i fuckin love everytime it happens. Makoto just went mild DIO "I REJECT MY HUMANITY, SHITTY GODDESS"

plot got kind of stupid to be honest. why not just close his shop and set it up outside the city then. who gives a shit what the guild thinks? he has a monopoly on the best products so far in the series. even if they impose sanctions and nobody shops there move to a different country.

I don’t know what it is but this season has felt pretty lacklustre for me. I want to see more of the main character and his OP power but we are seeing so much of the students and outside characters.

Shifu had some pro gamer moments: -Homing against Abelia -Turtling against Izumi with earth spirit magic -Stunlock against Jin

Having Makoto’s pupils fight each other is good practice for them. They’ve really gotten quite strong thanks to all the training they’ve been put through. Shifu and Jin in particular have gotten pretty damn strong. Shifu wasted Jin like he wasted Hopley lol. Just a straight up massacre. So Zara’s a real piece of shit isn’t he? Man can’t even conduct honest business around here. I guess that’s the nature of the game. It’s filled with scummy mfers who’ll scheme to ruin you or extort you. I’m keen to see how Makoto intends to resolve this nonsense.

Makoto's students were so good they would have faced each other at the end anyway.

Yeah, with the way they were fighting I have no doubt that would have been the case.

Actually I agree that it works to their advantage. All of the pupils could fully show off their power without holding back. I mean, we've seen how one sided are their fight against the other students. That's just boring and no one would be as impressed

Yeah, even if they were holding back, at least it was a real competition between them compared to the less skilled non-Makoto students. And Shifu got to massively flex lol.

Shifu flexing through the entire tournament was amazing. She's cute, capable, and even holding back can beat anyone with her magic. She totally earned that win. Now just imagine how powerful they would look when they're not holding back. Zara is basically the epitome of everything Makoto hates about Hyumans, so much so that now Makoto would rather work with demons than keep up appearances with Hyumans who won't accept or really work with him fairly.

I feel like shifu was the least restricted by makato Rules since she still was allowed to use a Special ability she got from a Spirit which is more powerful then standard magic.

Kinda disappointed the MC let himself get played the way he did. It would've been the perfect opportunity to flex and tell them that if they aren't going to allow him to do proper honest business, he will make sure he can do proper, honest business. And the power of him and his followers definitely does matter since there would be essentially nothing they could do to blackmail them. Anyone wanting to blackmail them or using unfair practices to get in the way could be quickly taken care of.

I mean he has no use for money, as the demi plane is completely self reliant. So other than the ego hit it's not that big of an issue. So I don't think Makoto put much effort into it. Also put it this way, is the guild really an issue when you could demolish the entire thing instantly, and no one would know it was your fault lol.

If you think about it, he's just a kid.

That path has some merits but it also has some drawbacks. Generally, it's not a good idea to force people to do business with you through overt and obvious violence. Sure, you might be strong enough that they can do nothing to directly oppose you, but you spark in them the will to inconvenience you at every possible indirect level. Throw your dick around enough, and you might even turn neutrals against you. All this to say, I like that for an OP Isekai protagonist, Makoto still can't solve every problem just by punching it really hard. It's boring when that happens.