Twelve Days of Fantasy and Ash (Christmas Special Part 10)
After hearing about the new hunting grounds, you better be prepared for an exciting episode today. The party goes to the Cyrene mine to fight some kobolds. They are a bit tougher than the goblins and they are more used to fighting underground, so it's a new and challenging experience for the team. They test out their new skills, including Ranta's, which is meant to confuse the enemy. He doesn't realize that confused kobolds attack recklessly, so he bravely runs away as one starts freaking out at him. His skill probably would have been better against the goblins that were strategizing.
Ranta and Haruhiro run into a silent disagreement over whether there is a moral distinction between carefully and violently removing the spoils of the fight from the kobolds. This is an interesting character moment for Haruhiro as he realizes that there is no reason to debate that kind of thing, but he is the sort of person to do so anyway. Next up, Mary gives a basic explanation of how kobolds operate. While it's nothing important, it does make the party a little uneasy, especially when they walk right past sleeping kobolds. Ranta wants to go kill them, and when asked not to, explains his philosophy from the start of the show, stating that dark knights are opposed to morals.
After their hunt for the day is over, Haruhiro pulls Ranta aside. The dynamic between the two becomes the focus of the episode. Ranta feels that he has some amount of contribution he needs to put toward the team and anything beyond that such as formalities and pleasantries are unneeded, while Haruhiro wants them to get along better. I have been in Ranta's position many times, and it feels like everyone is pressuring you to do something completely unnecessary and bothersome. A character like Ranta is extremely unlikable, while not being unrealistic. I behaved a lot like him when I was younger, so I should know. The biggest difference between us is that Ranta sees little value in having friends when he can look at his goals objectively. This lack of caring for his teammates is the biggest reason he is the most disliked. I feel this part of the narrative is am analysis of Ranta's characteristics, but I think I missed the point when I last watched this, so let's experience it together.
The next day, they go off to the mine again. Ranta and Haruhiro start fighting the same kobold and Ranta stabs it completely through, almost hitting Haruhiro in the process. Then Ranta jokes about getting more power if he accidentally killed Haruhiro, making him seem even more heartless than before. Despite being so reckless, they all manage to make it through the easy parts of the mine, and work toward the lower levels. Ranta accidentally trips a trap on the fourth floor, so Mary tells them to move down to the fifth to get to safety. At that moment, the monster that killed Mary's friends shows up, scaring her. The episode ends with the monster gauging their position, and Mary having a panic attack.
