English Dub Review: Ascendance of a Bookworm “Delia and Dirk”

Overview

The newly found orphan baby that Main has named “Dirk” suddenly develops a high fever. Delia, who adored Dirk, and started to see him like her own family, was worried sick. Main sees his symptoms and realizes that he may have the Devouring. After talking to Ferdinand, they decide to raise him without letting others know that he has the Devouring. Meanwhile, Main continues her colored-ink experiments with Heidi as she helped out with taking care of Dirk at the cathedral…

Our Take

It’s easy to assume that the orphaned baby they named Dirk has contracted chicken pox, but in this case, it’s clear what Dirk has contracted instead that can’t be shared. It seems like Dirk has the Devouring too. You can see how much Delia cares about Dirk in this episode which makes her a bit more likable than before and gives Delia some actual character development because Dirk is just like Main: a Devouring child. This easily alarms Main to notify Lutz and Ferdinand, and Dirk much like Main, is required to get a contract to drain their mana. It’s the only way possible if Dirk is to survive with his overabundance of mana. Things like goat’s milk and tau fruits are just temporary solutions to keep Dirk well and alive.

As for the previous episode’s subplot on the “ink-making process”, it seems to be going along smoothly…except when it’s not with making sure that intended colors stay within different materials used. Of course, Gil and Lutz will not let Main have dipped on it (such as the fixing/binding agent), Saying only results matter, Main rejected the proposal to investigate the cause of changing color, again. Apparently, she lacks the desire to further research it, but that could easily be because of other things going on.

Overall, this season is still inching along and leaves us asking if we are going to see the adoption happen somewhere down the line. Also, now the baby has to survive years with the Devouring until Main gets adopted, which seems quite cruel. Although she wants to stay with her family, she’s simply delaying the inevitable. It’s not like her life will change that much once she is adopted. She’ll still be a priestess staying at the church. The only big immediate difference is that she will be safer, her family will be safer, and she can save the baby. Doesn’t seem like there are any big negatives…