Ikta and the others are now Imperial Knights, and they’ve joined the other officers at the High-Level Officer’s School. Princess Chamille is taking part too, something that’s impressive for a twelve year old regardless of whether or not they’re royalty. Ikta is not impressed with all of the studying he’s required to do, but as he casually demonstrates during an elementary tactics class, he’s definitely not stupid. He’s easily able to recall information even when he appears to be otherwise occupied, and he continues to showcase his different ways of thinking which threaten to get him in trouble.
Ikta is also the target of some bullying by some of the upperclassmen, but it doesn’t phase him. He’s harassed with a centipede, and Ikta doesn’t even flinch as he 
smashes the bug’s venomous head off and eats the still-moving body. Gross! x__x
The next day, Torway and Matthew bump into Torway’s older brother Sarihaslag Remeon, his other brother Sushuraf Remeon, and some of their peers. Torway’s brother Sarihaslag is, to put it bluntly, a sadistic asshole. He bullies Torway in front of Matthew and when it looks like the situation is going to end badly for Torway, Ikta interrupts from up in a tree.
Ikta however quickly ends up on the ground being kicked by Sarihaslag, and Torway and Matthew are frozen with fear. Ikta continues to bait Sarihaslag and after blinding the older guys with his light sprite Kus, Yatori shows up and readily hands the graduated soldiers their asses. She’s about to beat up Torway’s brothers when they back off, and they’re about to leave when suddenly Princess Chamille and some guards show up. Yatori makes an excuse for Torway’s brothers, taking the high road, and Sarihaslag and Sushuraf finally sulk away.
Three months later, Ikta and the other high-ranking officers are given their own platoon of soldiers to command. Yatori and the others are all very honored to accept the responsibility of having their own troops, but Ikta is of course not happy. He is even more unhappy when his second-in-command reveals herself to be the daughter of a woman he slept with two years ago. Who was married. Ikta whines about this turn of events to the rest of his friends, but Yatori tells them not to have sympathy for Ikta because it was his own fault for being careless.
However as a consequence of his entire platoon knowing about his sexual history with Suya Mitcalif’s mother, they don’t respect him and are instead taking orders from Suya. Sarihaslag notices this and plans to take advantage of the situation to humiliate Ikta.
It’s not long after when Matthew announces that there is going to be a mock battle, what is essentially a paintball fight out in the wild. It will be a three vs three battle: Matthew, Ikta and Torway’s platoons vs Yatori, Sarihaslag and Sushura’s troops. Matthew’s freaking out, but Ikta and Yatori are both not worried. Ikta actually goes on to make a deal with Suya: if he can prove himself worthy of commanding a team of soldiers, then Suya will concede the platoon’s leadership to him.
The next day, it’s pouring rain as all the troops slog through the muddy terrain to reach their checkpoint. Until Ikta throws Suya a curveball and turns their initial 
destination into a supply depot; once they drop off some things, Ikta pushes them on to their final goal. Everyone’s exhausted but they make it before sundown. Ikta reveals that the big battle will not take place at the location their superiors suggested, but rather across a nearby river.
On day two of the fake battle exercise, events play out like Ikta planned. Yatori has anticipated this change, so it’s only Sarihaslag and Sushuraf who are left looking like idiots when Ikta and the other troops don’t show up as the brothers have expected. I suspect Ikta and his troops will have a free-for-all in shooting the brothers’ troops as they approach the river from the other side.
My thoughts: I continue to find Ikta really refreshing as a main character. He essentially says and does whatever he wants, and fuck what everyone else (aside from Yatori) has to say about it. He has nicknames for people he doesn’t like or tolerate well (Sarihaslag is “sadistic hottie” for example), and he’s quite open about the fact that he likes women and has been sexually active in the past. More importantly he’s not being shamed for being sexually active, aside from the awkwardness surrounding having the daughter of one of his past partners in his military troop. But that’s to be expected and it’s not really shaming when Yatori points out that the situation is really mostly his own fault.
I haven’t read the light novels so I don’t know how old our main cast is, but I’d guess Ikta and the others are at least 17-18?
The animation and music continue to be fantastic, no complaints there. Also the little chalkboard scene with Princess Chamille was adorable because she has such a crush on him, but I personally think it’s pretty clear there’s something going on between Ikta and Yatori.
Looking forward to next week’s episode!
Yes, finally, a MC that not only isn’t afraid of women, but even when it bites him in the back, completely open and unashamed. He reminds me of Akatsuki from Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero, another rare example of a guy who has that self-confidence that we so rarely see in anime/manga heroes.
Right?? 😀
I haven’t seen that series, but maybe I’ll take a look if I can find it.
love how on the outside Ikta can look weak and vulnerable while on the inside he is easily three steps ahead of everyone. these are my favorite kind of main characters. i am looking forward to watching this every week.
Me as well! It’s fun to watch someone with his intelligence mess around with others.