Anime Episode 21

Using Shrimp As Bait to Catch Sea Bream, but Instead Catching a Shark is the 21st episode of the "Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki" Anime adaptation.

''Roroa's arrival further complicates the situation between Amidonia and the Kingdom of Frieden. It was an outcome not even Souma had anticipated. In response, a conference between Grand Chaos Empire Empress Maria Euphoria and Souma must be convened.''

Summary
Liscia wonders what Roroa means and Roroa explains she plans to do the same thing Liscia did by marrying Souma. She knows that Liscia married Souma to give him legitimacy to govern over Elfrieden, and by married her, Souma will have the legitimacy to govern over Amidonia. Liscia explains that was the case at first, but now she genuinely supports Souma and have even developed feelings for him. Aisha and Juna also chose Souma's side by their own will. Roroa states there shouldn't be a problem then as she also likes Souma, as she had seen him many times over the gemstone broadcasts. As she mentioned the broadcasts, Roroa suggests they set times for promoting local wares for a fee, believing there will be enough merchants wanting to pay for that. Souma is surprised as he didn't expect anyone to come up with the idea of sponsoring commercials. Souma asks Roroa if she is really okay with marrying him, as he is responsible for the death of her father.

Liscia states that she organized rebellions to start about the same time, which caused Julius to flee. She can't states he didn't feel anything for her father, but understands the situation. She is also frustrated at her father and brother, as she worked hard with Colbert to generate money and eventually they were all absorbed into military expenditures, and not used for the people as she intended. She knew that her country didn't need weapons, but more food and jobs. Souma realizes that she understands the importance of family and that family isn't only those that share same blood with you. Souma asks her if she started the uprising in northwest. She denies it, stating it made all suffer, but explains that it didn't start on its own and that's its border is the Lunarian Orthodox Papal State. Hakuya then guesses that the Lunarians incited their adherents and were probably planning on sending forces under the pretense of protecting their faithful people. Liscia confirms, but Souma wonders why would they want that land. Liscia then states its not the land they want, but the people. She doesn't have anything against the religion, but dislikes the people who take advantage of it to make themselves rich, and believes that they will eventually contact Souma as they hate the Star Dragon Mountain Range and Gran Chaos Empire. Souma understands why they would hate the Star Dragon Mountain Range, as they have Mother-Dragon-worshipping faith, which is one of the two religions on the continent, however, he can't see why they hate the Empire. Juna then explains that Maria Euphoria is seen as saint and in the Lunarian faith the certification of saints is reserved only for the pope and its unthinkable to claim to be one without permission. Souma wonders why would the Lunarian contact him and Liscia again explains that he doesn't seem to know his own worth. As he is now ruling over Amidonia, if the Lunarian gave him the title of "Saintly King", the Holy Kingdom of Elfrieden will be born and it will rival the Empire. Souma realizes that the church is trying to make its authority unassailable by granting religious status to those in power, something that also happened in his world.

Roroa decides to get ban on the main topic of Souma marrying her. Souma admits to himself that he wants to marry her, as she will give him the legitimacy to rule Amidonia, thinks about people and is good with economics. Souma asks Liscia what she thinks about it and Liscia states she is fine with it Roroa is quite competent. Aisha and Juna also agree. Roroa calls Souma "darling" and states she isn't interested in the throne, however, she wants to run her own business. She understands that he can't always have the budget for everything and if he needs, she will give him the money so that she can see how the kingdom will change with her money and talent. As the people may look down on her if she is a merchant queen, Roroa intends to let Sebastian Silverdeer be the face of the business. Colbert then asks that she puts her money in the treasury, but both Roroa and Souma disagree, as with her separate budget, they can carry out their internal affairs more freely. Roroa then gets close to Souma and wonders how many children they will have. Liscia tries to pull her away and Roroa states its her turn, but Liscia reveals they have been busy and haven't done anything in bed.

Elfrienden and Amidonia become one kingdom known as Kingdom of Friedonia. Soon after, Souma and Maria get to talk over a gemstone broadcast. Maria quickly gets on the subject and states she was delighted when Jeanne Euphoria told her the results of the negotiations and she believed they had a promising ally in the east. She understands that people of Van asked him to reoccupy them, but annexing the whole Amidonia is a different subject and the declaration cannot recognize the change of borders. Souma decides to tell a long story about two gods of the East and West. The God of East said the world is equal and mankind should work the fields together and distribute the crops equally, while the God of West stated the world is free and they should work and distribute freely. The East god stated that the West god will make the rich even richer, while the poor even poorer, while the West god stated that if all receive same share no matter how hard they worked, they will loose motivation and eventually society will grow poorer. The humans who aligned with each god knew that if a war starts, they will be the first to suffer, so they decided on three rules: that they will no longer use force to change borders; each nation's people will have rights to decide what to do for themselves; get along with each other through cultural exchanges between east and west. Eventually the God of the East's power declined and war was avoided. However, after that an ethnic group staged an insurrection to gain independence from the multi-ethnic state. Unless the independence of the ethnicity is recognized, the principle of ethnic self-determination would be violated. Maria then realizes that if the independence is recognized, it will mean allowing borders to be changed with force. With that contradiction, the nations that established the rules got paralyzed by them. Maria realizes that he means Amidonia is in that situation. Souma confirms, stating that that the declaration recognizes the right to ethnic self-determination and the actions of the Amidonian's people should be recognized. Maria states they cannot recognize the borders and realize the inconsistency in the declaration. She asks Souma if that was the reason he didn't sign the declaration and he confirms, stating that such contradiction would be fatal for multi-ethnic nation like Elfrieden. Maria states that the Empire is also multi-ethnic nation, however, she can't disband the declaration now and even if it leads to a destructive future, she wants the Empire to be a beacon of hope for the people living today. Maria then decides to not object the annexation of Amidonia. Maria asks what kind of lady is Roroa and Souma isn't sure what to say, but states that this situation benefited her the most. The two then discuss the Lunarian involvement with Souma explaining he doesn't want anything to do with their authority. There are many believers in the Lunarian faith in the empire and Maria believes they may exploit one day what Souma said, but at the moment they know that humanity needs to be united to fight the demons. Thinking to himself, Souma doesn't agree as religion often grew stronger in such times as people seek salvation. Souma states that as long as the Empire stands for the idea of humanity coming together, Friedonia will walk with them and can deal with any situation. After the meeting is over, Souma gets some paperwork, but thinking to himself, he wishes that Maria is the light of hope and people will rely on her and themselves, and not on gods.

In the morning, Liscia and Aisha wake up Souma, who is in bed with Roroa. The two are disappointed he want first with her, instead of them. Souma tells them to calm down, stating they are with clothes and nothing had happened. Souma then tries to remember what happened and recalls working late with Colbert and Roroa. He wakes up Roroa, who explains that she didn't had strength to go to her room last night and decided to sleep in his bed. Aisha then carries the sleepy Roroa to her bed. Liscia complains as she is pressured to make heirs. Souma tells her to wait a little bit longer. The internal affairs are finally in place, Amidonia situation is solved and there should be some peace now. Souma finally convince himself to be a king and won't be holding back, like until now he has been choosing policies that would create as little backlash as possible.

Characters in order of Appearance
Characters in italics debuted here.
 * Kazuya Souma
 * Liscia Elfrieden
 * Aisha Udgard
 * Juna Doma
 * Hakuya Kwonmin
 * Maria Euphoria
 * Roroa Amidonia
 * Gatsby Colbert
 * Herman Neumann

Changes

 * The Scene with Souma and Maria was told at the start of Chapter 2 in the 4th Light Novel and that was bookending events that happened in the chapter.

Trivia

 * This Episode adapts Light Novel Volume 04 Chapter 2 (Flashback Part 2 & the Rest) & Chapter 3 (Part 1).
 * Also the events of this episode and the Previous episode happened one month before the Scene with Souma and Maria over the Jewel Broadcast.