They say corn is a crop best grown warm; it is very warm in the north.

Maou’s agricultural revolution continues as she meets with the Alliance of merchants to introduce them to corn and encourages them to push into the jungles of the north to establish a corn belt. She knows her audience, so she spins the proposition to highlight the economic and political gain of the Alliance investing capital to establish towns to grow corn. This benefits Maou and her effort by providing a plentiful source of food as well as establishing political connections that will encourage supply lines to stay open even after the war ends.

Their meeting was not without tension, as both sides fortified themselves with soldiers in waiting. This almost lead to clashing between the two sides as a result of Maou suggesting that the war end without the humans’ victory. Thankfully, the situation was diffused and the meeting ended on a high note. Well, except for one thing.

This guy didn’t get the shipping manifest that says that Maou belongs to Yuush, but at least it might be amusing to see Maou repeatedly reject this guy’s advances for the rest of the show. At least Ms. Knight has the common courtesy to try and hide her crush on Yuusha.

Aside from Maou’s dealings with the Alliance, the anime also shows the progress being made throughout the land. The convent is spreading education, and new technologies such as windmills are being implemented. However, the unrest with the war is also progressing. Old Man Butler’s master voices his frustration with being told to send troops to die for the Central nations, which is a sentiment shared by many of the troop-supplying Southern Nations. It’s a race against time for Maou to end the war beneficially for both sides before the relations between the human nations fall apart.

As for Yuusha, he keeps sending word of his various exploits in the demon world as he defeats various lords and looks for his companion. Little does Maou know, however, that he comes back all the time and just doesn’t want to face her. It’s brought up again that Yuusha is troubled by the fact that the only thing he knows how to do is to fight, thus being ultimately useless to Maou’s nonviolent plans. This time, however, he expands on it and talks to Head Maid about how he wants to avoid hurting her.

Death is an occupational hazard for a warrior like him and knowing how taken Maou is with Yuusha already, he is reluctant to have her grow more attached for fear of breaking her heart with his death. It hasn’t been mentioned if demons and humans have comparable lifespans, so it might also be that Maou is doomed to outlive Yuusha anyway. Nevertheless, Head Maid urges him to suck it up, no doubt because this is her OTP, but also because avoiding Maou like this hurts the both of them. The next episode preview suggests a reunion, but in the mean time, this is the best Maou can do:

 The episode wraps up with talk that the nation Maou and company are in will be going to war with the demons in the winter. See, Robotics;Notes? It’s possible to cover multiple fronts in each episode and still have a cohesive and interesting narrative. Maoyuu does also suffer from its characters being relatively flat (except Maou. Get it?), but at least the show is obviously going places.