Balsa arrives just as Shuga asks Chagum to return with him. Balsa refuses to let Chagum leave, saying that her promise to the second empress was to take care of him for life. There are concerns that she cannot reveal that makes it dangerous of Chagum to return, so she will not allow it. Chagum hesitates a little when Shuga reveals that the crown prince has passed away, but Balsa insists and manages to pull Chagum away after knocking Shuga out with a blow to the chest.

Meanwhile, Tohya had arrived at the water mill. By coincidence, he sneaks into the water mill without the hunters realizing. The hunters end up revealing themselves to Tohya when they go near the water mill to check things out, not realizing Tohya is still around.

Meanwhile Balsa understands that pursuit will come soon,  and ask Tanda to bring Chagum to the village they are visiting first. Balsa will return to the water mill to check things out and settle some stuff (including the map) Chagum is upset about being unable to go back to the palace since his brother had died, but Balsa can only say that she’ll tell him the reason later.

By now, one of the hunters had reported back to headquarters, and the chief sends them all to watch the water mill. Meanwhile, Jin gets the tasks of informing Shuga, since he is obviously too emotional. Jin succeeds in meeting Shuga, who tells them he had met Chagum and Balsa. Left with no choice, Jin leaves in pursuit in their direction on his own.

At the water mill, Tohya understands that hiding it out is not an option. To save Balsa and Chagum, Tohya sets fire to the map and the whole water mill, to serve as a warning to Balsa not to return. This he succeeds.

From afar, Balsa can only apologize without being able to approach, seeing Tohya’s agony of having led the hunters to Balsa.

 

Thoughts

Lots of very good build up. The plot is progressing very well. I still find it slow though. Not sure if it’s just a sign of my eagerness to know more of the story. I’m guessing Jin catches up with Balsa and Chagum first, and gets a 1 on 1 confrontation?

Shuga sets off to find edvidence that Chagum is alive from the valley where he supposed to have died, unknown that Saggum has passed away. Meanwhile the emperor is unable to hold a funeral for Saggum, so soon after Chagum’s, unknown that Chagum is still alive either.

The hunters soon caught up with Shuga, even as he starts to climb down the valley, having brought one of Shuga’s accomplice invisibles with them. After confirming Shuga’s conviction that Chaggum is alive, the leader goes into the valley, only to find the clothing of Balsa and Chaggum, with their body replaced with straws.

Shuga reports back to the Holy Patriach that Chaggum is alive. He also reveals that the history of the New Yogo was a fabricated one. However, the first emperor had left behind the secret archives for the star diviners to understand the significance of the egg of the water spirit.

All this time, they were unaware that the emperor was listening behind the veil. Finally the Holy Patriarch sees the light. and implores the emperor to grant Shuga full authority to search for Chagum. Shuga only asks for one thing, which is the assistance of the emperor’s hunters.

We see how Tohya and Saya has set up a shop running errands already, with Tanda popping by with an order for them, given by Balsa.

Unknown to them though, Shuga and the hunters are watching Tohya already. In 5 days time, they managed to hunt down Tohya, and in another 3 days, managed to have one of the hunters become a good customer of Tohya. Using another hunter with photographic memory, they even manage to get hold of a list of Tohya’s customers.

The hunters split up as they go about their tasks. Some go to search out Tohya’s list of customers, while others follow Tohya himself. They have orders to take down Balsa, but to leave Chagum unharm. In fact, Sagum is to be alerted, so that he can escort Chagum back

Meanwhile, Balsa had brought Chaggum to her stash of money. They end up passing through the town, with Balsa asking Chagum to try and buy the heikimoons that he like. They end up splitting up as they browse the street hawkers, even as Shuga seems to approach the same town. Will they meet?

Thoughts

The methods of the hunters are frighteningly effective. Such a pity that they seem to have a misunderstanding of Balsa’s purpose, and vice versa. But i guess action wise, it would mean that they’ll have a confrontation soon!.

Quite surprise that the Holy Patriarch would admit his mistake so easily. Good to know that he is the the Holy Patriarch for nothing.

Soon Saggum will undergo the ritual to become an adult, after which he would be able to carry a sword in court. In celebration of the occasion, the king offers him a sword as a gift.

Meanwhile, Torogai finally reveals that a egg hunter would probably end up killing Chagum. Still, nothing will probably happen to Chagum until nearer the time when the egg would hatch. Final decision to visit one of the villages to see if they can learn anything more from the legend stories.

Shuga meanwhile has managed to learn more about the water spirit and the egg though. The drought sign does not indicate whether Chagum is alive. However, a cloud that offers blessings to the egg would tell if Chagum is indeed alive.

However, Shuga is still trapped though, in the vault. The servants of Holy Patriarch end up risking their lives and jobs to obtain the key to the vault, with one of them losing the his job position which he had held for the past ten years. All because of their dedication to Chagum.

Saggum indicates his maturity, by talking about how a gift depends on the attitude of both the giver and the reciever.

Shuga spots the cloud formations that indicate that Chagum is alive, but finds Saggum in a melancholic mood when he rushes to tell him. Saggum talks about how tired he feels, and how compared to Chagum, he lacks the charisma needed to lead and dedicate. Hearing this, Shuga decides to delay telling Saggum about Chagum until he has concrete proof.

Shuga sets off to where the cloud formations were gathering, but not before being spotted by one of the assassins from previous.

Meanwhile, Chagum seems to be adapting well to life outside the palace, and talks about his dreams of becoming a teacher next time. Balsa is left with the dilemma of whether to tell him about the egg eater and Chagum possibly dying.

The episode ends with Saggum showing signs of tiredness, and choosing to release to freedom the bird that he keeps. But it’s all just signs that point towards him passing away just before the episode ends.

Thoughts

The plot is building up very nicely, and I thought the passing away of Saggum was prepared for and presented very nicely. But I definitely can’t wait for the action to focus back on Chagum, and possibly chasing action. It has been a long time.

Seems as though Shuga would hold the key to everything. He has access to most knowledge at the moment.

Torogai goes to Musubime, and communicating with the water people, learns more about the egg in Chagum. The legend of the first Yogo emperor killing a water fiend is false. In fact, the water spirit is one who brings blessings. Chagum however, might have death ahead of him, as there seems to be a Rarunga (egg eater) that will come after him.

At the same time, Shuga seems to have come to realized that the legend of the first emperor is fals as well.

Balsa is seen reflecting on whether she killed Karbo. She still thinks she killed him, but the teacher previously had said she didn’t. Looks like the new spear is really magical.

Suddenly though, she finds Torogai trying to crawl out of a tar pit.

 Shuga is seen entering the Holy Patriarch’s tower. Seems like the guards are helping him, after Shuga had revealed that Chagum is probably still alive. Shuga basically wants to keep examining and translating the ancient texts.

Torogai recounts the story of her escape, and how she ended up in the tar pit. After hearing from the water people, she had tried to translate and note down what she learnt, when she gets attacked by the fire people.

Running away, she first encounters land entirely covered with bat dung. Much to torogai’s amazement too. Anyway, she falls through the dung, landing in a river which washes her away. But still, the fire people manages to keep up with her.

 At a fork, she hears a voice telling her the way out. But she ends up meeting a giant translucent worm. She ends up being eaten anyway, though she offers up her pet as sacrifice Lucky for her though, she ends up being passed out as shit, without being digested. Hence the appearance in the tar pit.

The episode ends with Shuga being trapped after the Holy Patriarch returns home early, and ends up keeping the key to the archives.

Thoughts

The good parts about this episode (and series as a whole), is that the producers always remember the small touches to the story, instead of just chugging on ahead with the plot. (you know, like torogai’s pet)

But some parts of this episode just zoomed by too quickly, just a feeling. But lots of the plot is spilling out now, just wondering what’s the actual story with the first emperor.

The first person passing through the gate next dawn is a teacher and her servant. Her horse suddenly goes wild, and can only be controlled when Balsa comes to help. Balsa ends up following them, without quite telling them why. Reaching a rest stop, all 3 of them end up seeing a well full of rotting fishes, just when they wanted to refill their water.

Resting for the night, the servant is very afraid of Balsa, but not the teacher. As conversation goes, Balsa introduces herself as a simple bodyguard. The teacher ends up telling a story of a warrior. The warrior had wanted to become like a tiger, always seeking out stronger opponents to fight, until finally, he really did become one.

In the end, Balsa opts to wait outside the shed, filling the servant with joy. The teacher indicates that this was not her intention, but she told the story because she felt so much killing intent from Balsa. Outside, Karbo and his mercenary continue to harass Balsa by shooting stones, not letting her rest.

The next day, the servant is disappointed that Balsa hasn’t left. Jumping onto the teacher’s horse, they start riding away. Suddenly stones start dropping from the hill, causing both teacher and servant to fall off the horse. Pissed, Balsa shouts for Karbo to show himself.

Balsa starts to fight Karbo, telling the teacher to run. But they end up meeting the mercenary. Surprisingly, the servant succeeds in knocking the guy out by charging him. The teacher refuses to run though, fearing that Balsa would turn into an animal.

Balsa is getting desperate and pissed, and explains to Karbo that she didn’t kill him because he was insignificant. A battle of rage thus starts.

The teacher ends up seeing Balsa strike Karbo down. Balsa is full of animal rage, and does not stop when the teacher tries to prevent her from leaving. When balsa is gone however, Karbo is seen rising back up, though his mind is gone already. The teacher immediately tells her servant to call Balsa back, for she should not leave thinking that she has broken her vow not to kill people.

Thoughts

The fight was incredible as usual. Thought Karbo turned out to be pretty weak. Just yet another vengeful weakling. Seeing a totally different side of Balsa was really scary though, with nobody to rein her in.

Chagum chops firewood, every bit the village boy now. Spotting a bunch of cheerful villagers, Balsa explains that the Summer Solstice Festival is getting nearer, and that the torches they are carrying are for it. Chagum recalls having celebrating the Spring Solstice in the palace, but reflects that the farmers are probably too busy during the spring. (such a insightful prince)

 Chagum’s friends soon arrive to ask him to go and practice rucha, which is a form of martial arts. At the festival site, the friends soon start covering their eyes in front of the statues of the warriors who helped the emperor defeat the water fiend, saying that  you would go blind. Chagum corrects them that the myth applies only to looking at royalty, and even then, it’s not true. Chagum is put in quite a spot when asked whether he has looked at royalty before though.

 They are interrupted and challenged by a boy from Rota. Chagum’s big friend accepts the fight, but soon loses very easily. He ends up hurling insults at the country, and as well as the royalty.

Chagum is of course upset at this, and asks him to take back his words. Chagum ends up challenging him to a fight, which shall take place at the festival itself.

Back home, Chagum asks Balsa about the boy, who practises porak. Balsa says to fight him will be tough, as porak was developed from the war zones, while Rucha is just simple playing between farmers. However, if the challenge is just to get the person out of the ring, then Chagum still has a chance. However, Balsa says that Chagum cannot go to the festival, as someone might spot them and recognize them in the crowd.

Chagum further asks Balsa about it the next day. Balsa doesn’t really answer. Instead, she tells Chagum about the water mill, and about inertia, and asks Chagum to think about it.

On the night of the festival, Balsa leaves Chagum alone to chop more wood. Chopping wood inspires CHagum with regards to inertia, and he runs off to the festival, and just in time to challenge the boy.

Chagum wins the fight by first taunting the boy. This causes the boy to rush forward towards chagum, and with a simple push, chagum pushes him out of the ring because of inertia. However, the boy refuses to accept the loss. Until the father comes along and scolds him, but still the boy does not follow up on his promise to take back what he said about the emperor.

At this point, Balsa steps out from the shadows, and challenges the father. Of course, Balsa wins, even though the father is much bigger in size, and had won the festival tournament. Recognizing his lost, he tells his son to follow up on his promise.

Walking home, Balsa scolds him gently about how going to the festival could possibly cause someone to spot him. But Balsa also admits that she’s the one who ended up catching more attention. Chagum insists that it is his fault as he first broke the agreement about not going to the festival. But in the end, Balsa says she is very happy that Chagum is so willing to fight for what he believes in.

Ending sees a snake sneaking up on a frog. Foreboding doom.

Thoughts

Each episode still continues to amaze me. I quite like Balsa’s gentle style as a parent, guiding Chagum. Of course I believe there are various hints that indicates that no matter what happens, Chagum totally has all the qualities of being an emperor.

Tohya is seen throwing 3 gold coins into the river, mumbling about loneliness.

At the same time, it appears that Saya had collapsed. Apparently, it had happened straight after she drank some flower wine. Tanda had arrived at her side, while Balsa goes forth to look for Tohya. She doesn’t find him at his new rented house, but finds him near his old house instead.

It seems that what happened was that somebody had asked for Saya to be his bride. The matchmaker had provided 3 golden coin as the betrothal gift. Only when Tohya mentioned that he had hesistated, and only agreed when Saya said she had agreed, did everybody realise that the match maker had tricked everyone.

In the end, it seemed that Saya’s soul had left her body. Only solution is for Tanda’s soul to leave his body, and to call Saya back.

Balsa was hesitant, as torogai had told him not to perform the spell previously. In the end though, things went well, and Saya is revived, especially after she hears that Tohya came back for her.

One problem though, Tanda doesn’t know how to return to his body. But somehow though, Tanda and Balsa are on the same wavelength. Both end up talking about 2 years back, where they had argued and Tanda had scolded her about killing people, and Balsa had stormed out.

Tanda ends up leaving the hut and arriving in Nayugu outside. Stunned, he goes back inside. He happens to see a moth who manages to fly out to Nayugu after touching the flower mind, and connects that it must be the solution. Except, he can’t get his body to drink it.

It was then, he realise he can connect with the egg in Chagum as well. Touching it, he finally manages to pass the message to Chagum, who informs Balsa. Balsa feeds Tanda’s body with the wine, finally managing to wake him up.

The end of the episode sees Tanda musing about how surprising it was that Saya did like Tohya. Barsa admits she didn’t know, but now looking back, she is not surprised. Chagum hints that its the same for Balsa and Tanda, causing them to blush.

Thoughts

Some parts as well as the pacing seemed weird to me this time round. However, the focus on the relationship between Tohya and Saya was very sweet. At the same time, it was a good opportunity to reveal more of the history between Tanda and Balsa. We are also beginning to see more of Tanda’s powers now.

Having seen a glimpse of Nayugu, I wonder what’s in store.