Overlord S01E07 Review: Random Encounters

Overlord, Season 1, Episode 7: Wise King Of The Forest

We continue on the story of Momon-and-Nabe's-first-quest, with them talking more about dragons (of course there are dragons, it's an RPG!) before arriving at Carne Village... which is now guarded by an army of well-organized goblins that are apparently friends of the girl Enri, who has summoned them with the horn that Ainz gave her earlier. So, uh... hopefully the goblins that Ainz and Narberal killed last episode aren't actually buddies of them?

We also learn that Nfirea is actually truthful in that all he wants is to impress a girl, and that girl is Enri. There's your typical 'shy anime guy' crush deal going on, but Nfirea quickly pieces things together when he hears the recount of how the village was saved by a sorcerer called Ainz Ooal Gown and his attendant Albedo. Nabe had accidentally name-dropped the name Albedo in one of their 'fluff'  exchanges over dinner, and the whole red potion thing causes Nfirea to quickly put two and two together, and confronts and thanks Ainz about this, noting that he's going to be keeping their secret a secret. Interesting! And, if anything else, I guess this is going to make the audience somewhat invested in Nfirea as a character because he now has a bit more of a personality, goals, a love interest, and stuff, so when he gets attacked by Clementine and Khajit, we'll root for him.

Also hilarious: Nabe realizing that it's her fault that their cover was blown for Nfirea, causing her to get ready to commit seppuku there and there, although Ainz merely tells her to 'learn from your mistakes'.

And then comes a bit of a moral problem. The aforementioned Wise King of the Forest is a beast that protects the jungle, and the way it was brought up in the previous episode basically sets it up as the boss fight of this quest if it was a traditional RPG video game. Nfirea notes how the Wise King actually protects the forest from other beasts, however, and asks everyone to please just drive it away and don't kill it...

Something that Ainz is not okay with. He wants to fight the Wise King to prove his strength and quickly rank up in the guild to get more money and influence, which causes him to dispatch Aura to wake the Wise King up and send it his way. Aura, very interestingly, has a pair of large beasts -- a goat-wolf and a very cool looking chameleon-beetle. Aura summons the Wise King from its lair, which quickly rampages and begins attacking Ainz.

Ainz tells Nfirea to run away and save himself (belatedly realizing that he won't have a witness present if he sends all of the others away)... and while initially seen as a giant beast with runes, apparently the Wise King of the Forest is... a giant hamster speaking in a samurai dialect or something. And the utter mental breakdown that Ainz has is absolutely hilarious as the Wise King of the Forest continues to threaten them, while Ainz just gets utterly flabbergasted and disappointed that the great beast of the forest turns out to be a chubby little hamster, pouting and tapping his sword against the ground in clear disappointment. He decides to not kill the Wise King, and uses a skill he calls Aura of Despair: Level ONE to one-shot it, and then basically 'tame' the beast. And as much as Ainz is disappointed, everyone else is super-impressed and shocked (even when Ainz rides the hamster to town), that Ainz has tamed such a great beast, which I thought was a fun little comedic beat.

Of course, with Ye Olde First Quest done, the adventurers return to E-Rantel, and as Ainz and Nabe goes off to 'register' Hamsuke, the adventurers and Nfirea return to Nfirea's house... to find that Clementine is there, waiting for him. Oh no! Time for the 'main' plot, I guess!