Another fantastically cute episode this week!
The episode begins with Noela and Reiji scavenging in the forest for ingredients. Noela gets into a fight with a squirrel, who turns out to be sick. Reiji nurses it back to health and leaves the squirrel someplace safe so it can return home once it’s recovered. Little does Reiji know that this is a special squirrel!
Said rodent shows its appreciation the next day by bringing some rokushou nuts to the pharmacy. Noela unfortunately eats most of them because they’re very delicious. Mina wants to cook with the remaining nuts but there’s no food in the pharmacy to use with them, so Reiji takes Noela shopping.
While out in the marketplace they learn that a very rich man named Fernando is trying to buy out all the local restaurants because he’s opened his own food establishment and wants everyone to eat only at his restaurant. So Fernando has shown his ugly face at The Bunny Tavern and is trying to convince owner to accept a buyout. Naturally, the tavern’s owner (Rena’s father) refuses, but it’s only a short fix. Fernando will no doubt try to find other ways to shut them down.
When Rena’s father sees the rokushou nuts Noela has brought, he tells them a story of a legendary sauce that an expert chef once made with those nuts. However the chef died upon overeating his own sauce, so its recipe has never been replicated. Complicating the issue is that the rokushou nut is very rare. So where could our squirrel friend have found those nuts?
Reiji and Noela return to the forest to try to find the squirrel’s nut source but fail. They leave a sample of an energy potion for the squirrel, who leaves them a HUGE pile of rokushou nuts at the pharmacy some time later as another thank you.
So now Reiji can make a version of the legendary rokushou sauce to give to The Bunny Tavern! And that’s exactly what he does.
It was really satisfying watch Fernando get put in his place by Reiji, who outright refuses to give the rude jerkface the recipe or any servings of the sauce for money. As long as The Bunny Tavern has Reiji’s rokushou sauce under its culinary belt, it will remain a true contender against Fernando’s restaurant. Time will tell if they are able to stay in business.
The second story… hooboy, did it take a big left turn off the beaten path in a way I wasn’t expecting. We uhh, finally get a mention of something that’s not all cute and fluffy. For you see, Feris comes to visit Reiji and explains that she wants to become pregnant with Zeral’s baby! I… was definitely not expecting that request. xD
However the young couple haven’t been intimate much lately, and Feris’ thoughts about a mistress or Zeral’s unexplained lack of interest are making her extremely anxious at night, and we all know that when Feris gets anxious, knives might be involved soon. ^^;
A quick note here: if I were to focus less on the fantasy in this series and more about the ethics, one could argue that by drugging Feris without her consent via the landenflower tea Reiji made for her, Reiji’s committing a huge ethical and medical violation. Also, if Feris wants to drug Zeral with an aphrodisiac without his knowledge, that’d be a shady thing for Reiji to participate in as well.
So Reiji goes to see Zeral on the Alonzo family farm to investigate the situation a bit more. But the visit itself presents a confidentiality issue; he can’t out Feris’ request without risking upset feelings and violated trust from Feris. Reiji tries to get information from Zeral in a roundabout way but fails.
In the end, Reiji does end up making a medicine for Feris called “Emotional Drive” (ED, haha). I gueeessss it’s an aphrodisiac? I mean, Reiji can’t get too heavyhanded if he’s giving something to Feris to give to Zeral without the poor guy knowing about it.
It seems that Reiji didn’t properly explain to the others what the medicine was though because poor Mina accidentally drinks a bottle without knowing what it is, and then the episode suddenly gets…. Very fanservicey. >_>;
Thankfully Reiji is able to reverse the effects of his emotion potion by giving her some of the same antidote he gave the squirrel. Or he would, if Mina would just LET GO OF HIM FOR 3 SECONDS.
As if the situation wasn’t bad enough, Anabel arrives at the pharmacy only for Noela to give her a new medicine to try. Ohhhh yes, you guessed it. Turn that fanservice dial up even higher. -__- (Gotta love reverse harems eh?)
The next day, Zeral arrives and Reiji gives him a bottle of Emotional Drive to take with him. Reiji however does NOT expect Zeral to drink it on the spot, which leads to Zeral taking a turn in hitting on an already flustered and somewhat exhausted Reiji. Our poor pharmacist just can’t get a break it seems. That being said, I’d feel sorrier for Reiji if he hadn’t spent the episode committing ethical and moral violations everywhereeeee~
I haven’t mentioned it yet but at the end of every episode is a quick scene involving some sort of young male demon king who has an addiction to Reiji’s energy potions. Maybe his appearance is being saved for near the end of the season?
Next week’s customer is the cute blonde elf girl I’ve been waiting for, so I’m really looking forward to her episode.