The developments turn for the more serious as Souma takes some people to the Hiryuu, an aircraft carrier designed to allow the use of the air force at sea, which Souma intends to make Castor the captain of once he can be found to be more trustworthy. This trip also reveals the dratroopers, soldiers who jump into battle off of wyverns, similar to paratroopers.
During a break in touring the new military installations, Excel takes the chance to drug Souma when she manages to get him alone. She doesn't use this to take advantage of him, but instead to interrogate him about his fiancees. This turns into what Excel calls a "bridal course", helping to teach the future queens important things about Souma that will help keep their family together in the future.
The relative peace in the kingdom gets shaken up a bit by the arrival of the saint from the Lunarian Orthodox Papal State. She comes to Souma offering an alliance if he makes Lunarian Orthodoxy the state religion and takes the title of Holy King. Souma turns down the title but agrees to make it a state religion, alongside all other religions practiced in the Kingdom, along with choosing notoriously corrupt bishop Souji Lester as the official representative in the Kingdom.
The volume ends with Souma getting a vision of Mother Dragon and an invitation to visit the Star Dragon Mountain Range. Between that and the increasing number of nobles trying to convince Souma to marry their daughters, Hakuya practically kicks Souma out of the castle and sends him north.
Tropes
- Breather Episode: Compared to the first arc, which was a whirlwind of getting to know the world followed by war and international negotiations, this volume focuses on much smaller domestic issues.
- Character Development: Lampshaded by Souma. When watching Overman Silvan, Liscia asks him what purpose it serves, which Souma notes is an improvement over before when she would have to ask if his strange ideas served any purpose at all.
- Don't Think, Feel: Inverted by Souma in his address to the kingdom, where he tells everyone to question what they know and study the world around them.
- Loophole Abuse: Yet again, Souma finds a way to give someone what they asked for without giving them what they want. When the saint requests that Lunarian Orthodoxy be the state religion of the Kingdom, Souma accepts and allows for all religions to become state religions and puts a corrupt bishop in charge to lower the influence the church has in the Kingdom.
- New Season, New Name: In the web novel version, the title changed here to How a Realist Hero Redeveloped the Kingdom, but the print version retained the old title for continuity's sake.
- Not Distracted by the Sexy: Souma sees through why the Lunarian Orthodox Papal State sent the saint to him and is more put off by her appearance than anything else.
- Nun Too Holy: Bishop Lester cares about the prostitutes and alcohol he can get from being a bishop more than he cares about being a holy man.
- Stripperific: Carla's costume as the villain Dran is a swimsuit with a Navel-Deep Neckline, which seems highly inappropriate for a children's show.
- Sufficiently Analyzed Magic: Souma pushes for this to become the case, since magic is everywhere but no one really understands it.
- Toku: Overman Silvan is directly inspired by tokusatsu shows, helped by Moltov and Ivan Juniro's special effects magic.
- Uncanny Valley: In-universe. Souma has a weird reaction he can't place to Mary, the Lunarian Saint. He later realizes that it's because, while she's human, she has a combination of traits from Liscia, Aisha, and Roroa, meaning that she was chosen for her potential to act as a Honey Trap.
