How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom - Episode 4 Review - Souma and Poncho Introduce New Food to Elfrieden

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

The episode starts off with another narration by Souma doing some world building. Monsters in this new isekai world of his don’t fit the same definition as in the world he came from, which is like our real life world. In this new world, the demons that invaded from the demon realm are considered monsters. Monsters are usually beasts that aren’t capable of human-level comprehension.

Anyways, we finally learn what Tomoe whispered to Souma that had him shook in last week’s ep. She was able to communicate with a demon, which no one thought was possible of doing.

Immediately, Souma holds a secret meeting with Tomoe, his advisor Marx, Liscia, and Ludwin, leader of the royal guard. Tomoe retells her story to them - the demon was a short dog-looking creature, probably a scout for the demon army. It let Tomoe go, saying he didn’t want the demons to kill someone with the same scent as him - Tomoe is a Mystic Wolf beast person.

From this intel, Souma and the others understand that there may be a way to negotiate with the demons and get back the land from them. But Souma knows it’s a delicate situation - if anyone else from the mankind nations learns of this, one of those human nations might want to ally with the demons in order to defeat an enemy human nation and gain power. This is just a possibility, though. What’s certain is they have to protect Tomoe. So she has to have a legitimate reason to live in the castle where she’s safe.

First it’s suggested that Tomoe be lined up to become Souma’s wife, but she’s only ten! So that one was rejected. Then they come up with the idea to have her adopted by Liscia’s parents, the previous royal couple. They agree to this plan, and Tomoe’s family even gets to move into the castle, too!

Some time passes. Tomoe settles in the castle and gets a cute outfit. Poncho returns from his journey filling the hero sack with tons of food from all over.

Souma sets up a gemstone broadcast with a food tasting show to educate the people of Elfrieden about new food they can eat. This is to help them through the food shortage while farming works to increase their food supply. Juna and Poncho host while Tomoe, Aisha, and Liscia are the taste testers.

The food is conveniently very Japanese, and the testers enjoy the food a lot, making it look appealing during the broadcast. For example, they eat takoyaki and bugs covered in soy sauce and miso flavoring. Poncho reveals the next food item, and all three testers are shocked by it. But that’s the end of the ep. We have to wait until next week just to find out what food was so surprising! What a very slice-of-life cliffhanger.

Image source: Amazon