Score: B+

I will say the drama in the demiplane was actually more interesting than expected. It makes absolute sense that the various races are going to feel really downtrodden when training against their far more powerful leaders. Of course if they just train amongst their respective race it will get boring and if their leaders ignore them they’ll feel even worse. So it was an issue where morale could become problematic for the future. They aren’t intending to go to war here. But since humans have an elevated position it is entirely possible the goddess will direct them to take on the non-humans at any time. So they need to be as useful as possible. No matter how overwhelming Makoto and company are…they can’t be everywhere.

Good fight here

The best solution was having them train among themselves more. They have numerous races now involved here and there’s no reason they can’t train together. It makes sense that they want to keep their tactics secret. But they are on the same side right now. Eventually they’ll have to fight side by side. And it will be hugely limiting if Makoto and company have to make each race fight in a separate space since they don’t know how to cooperate. That’s the tricky thing about bringing together individuals under one banner. Even just looking at it from the perspective of nations allying up against a common threat.

Another surprising benefit is that they can allow various members of the races to veer off from being warriors. When working as one race it makes sense that they feel a need to get a certain number of warriors. It isn’t about suitability in that case. So some that would prefer to farm just have to pick up a weapon to ensure they have a society at all. But with the size of the demiplane they have a bit more luxury. They can focus on training up those that have a real drive and talent for battle. Those individuals can be risen to greater heights since they are fighting against rivals and can focus on themselves a bit. While the ones that just don’t want to fight as badly can find other things they enjoy. It is mostly a win/win scenario there.

He’s trying

As always Tomoe is basically running the show. Makoto doesn’t have the experience or comfort ordering people like that. So it is easier on him to let Tomoe handle that kind of role and it pays off since the whole group gets stronger from it. Of course sooner or later he’ll have to get more comfortable really leading the demiplane. But that isn’t something that necessarily has to be rushed right now. Thankfully he was able to say something when attention was directed towards him. While I don’t think it was great for Tomoe to blindside him a bit there, I agree with the idea. While Tomoe is saying a lot she is saying it under the pretense that Makoto is directing her. If he doesn’t ever say anything then people might start treating Tomoe as the real leader. Makoto may not mind that, but that isn’t what Tomoe wants.

That team went through hell

It was pretty fun watching Toa’s team getting coached by Tomoe there. It is a good idea in general. If Toa’s team can be trained up to relatively strong adventurers then it’s a win for Makoto. Instead of dealing with adventurers he can’t trust (who often end up being corrupted) he can lean on adventurers that both look up to him and that owe him. And yes he does tend to favor Toa since she does look like Hasegawa. That will always affect him to some degree. So it is a good thing in general if she’s strong enough to stay alive. Since he’d probably go into a rage mode and wipe out a city if she happened to get killed… It is no surprise that Makoto has some attachments to his old world. He was just kind of dropped into this without much choice.

The training itself was tough but it worked. Unlike Tomoe who didn’t really level up much, this group can probably level up a bit faster. Levels of course are secondary to actual tactics. Their major issue was not maximizing their strengths. That’s probably why Toa ended up hurt in that flashback and captured by scumbags. She’s a thief type character but often fights head on instead of using stealth and ambush strategies. The biggest gain was getting that clumsy alchemist to actually use his skills beyond healing. You don’t have to heal that much if you don’t constantly get hit. Even if the tactics are a bit uncomfortable (like poison and drowning) it works. When you are out to kill another creature anyways there’s no point being overly polite about it.

Trouble on the horizon?

So far so good for the main cast. There is some suspicion that Makoto has to deal with while trying to set up his business. And you can bet that there will be some sabotage going on. But it doesn’t seem too bad right now. Mio is heading into a slightly dangerous location, but that isn’t a big deal. There’s no chance those elves can even touch her. At most I think they’ll actually start recruiting the elves into the demiplane. Guess we’ll see how things play out from here. But I think things are steadily improving for Makoto and he isn’t running into many issues.