Junketsu no Maria - Episode 4
Maria adjusts to Ezekiel's presence. The mercenaries and witches are not adjusting as well to Maria's intervention in local battles.
Heh.
Witches never really died out. They just became lawyers. If Ezekiel doesn't see the magic, then she can't say that Maria did it. Loophole!
The mercenaries are starting to plunder villages, with Maria scaring them away. This is different than stopping a battle from happening, but it is a consequence of not collecting ransom from captured soldiers. I'm not sure why the local lords are tolerating this if the mercenaries are supposed to be working for them.
Ezekiel asked why Maria didn't save the deserted village that died out from the plague. The flashbacks show that Martha's village accepted her medicine while that particular village did not. The lone survivor kept watch over their Memento Mori, their death memorial.
This show is still mashing up everything that happened during the Hundred Years War into Maria's story. Like the introduction of gunpowder and "handgonnes."
This is an obvious comparison between Maria's magic and regular people's technological advances. If everything in the world come from God, why are the witches disfavored instead of this new weapon?
Viv the British Witch got tired of losing money and paid a visit to the hole in her pocket.
Hellooo British Witch! Interesting that she flies a broom while French witches fly pitchforks.
Needless to say, Viv is surprised that Maria is still a virgin and that she's not making money on stopping the battles.
They don't really see eye to eye.
This was mentioned in the first episode, but we were reminded of it here - the British witches like to handle the sex bribing themselves while the French witches usually let their succubus familiars do that work. Do the French have more STD's or what else could be the reason behind this difference?
Do witches age slowly or is the timeline around Maria's forest just really compressed? Little girl Maria just seemed to pop out of the forest watched over by Cernunnos.
Nice joke by Viv saying that Maria is going to be visited by Gabriel next to put a baby in her belly.
Priapus is still lacking and now Viv is pissed off about it.
Hmm.
We're being shown the ramifications of a powerful external force deforming the local economy. That's if you count soldiering and witching as part of feudal society. This war had been going on so long that rules, customs and etiquette had been established around warfare, along with market prices for the captured warriors and the counted dead. Maria had upset this normal course of business so much, the mercenaries had begun pillaging villages with the tacit approval of the nobility. That shows you where the serfs always landed on the hierarchy in the feudal system.
Ezekiel is learning how messy the incarnate world really is. There is always a struggle between idealism and survival. We saw this between the two villages affected by the Plague. The idealistic may have received their rewards in Heaven, but all that was left in this imperfect world was a memorial to their deaths. Which path was more holy? Which path accomplished more good? That is not for those of the World to judge, although some have stronger opinions than others.
All the factions and their issues with Maria have been pretty well established. The new development is what Bernard has decided to do. If his job is strictly preparing souls to go to Heaven, he might not be as forgiving of Maria's methods as he had been before. Although, you never know the depth of compassion in a holy man, or when God chooses to manifest a moment of Grace. I certainly don't know, but I'm curious to see what happens next.
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