Isekai Office Worker: The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter

Episode 11

Was Siegvold the last person in Romany not to know that Seiichiro is Aresh's boyfriend/personal property? It feels like it, although Sigma was also clearly surprised. Of course, Sigma's a child and only knows Seiichiro from the market, so he gets a pass. But the fact that, as Siegvold reveals later on, someone directly targeted Seiichiro with the unusual prayer sequence while Aresh was out of town speaks volumes. Not that Aresh has been all that subtle about his feelings for the otherworlder, but this is one of the relatively few times we've seen that factor into someone's plans. Before, people were just beating Seiichiro up willy-nilly; now they're taking the time to ensure that his knight in shining armor can't ride to the rescue.

Joke's on them, of course, because Aresh's spidey senses were very much tingling. (Or he's obsessed with his boyfriend and didn't want to be away from him longer than he had to. Either way.) And wow, did he get there right in time, because if he wasn't there, Siegvold was absolutely willing to step in. Apart from the whole unnecessary romantic triangle piece of it, it's interesting because it shows just how drastically the villain underestimated how well-liked Seiichiro is. Some people resent him, of course, but he's really done more good than harm for the kingdom. Their books are balanced, their kidnapping of innocent teen girls is about to end, and their miasma problem is nearly sorted. He's really been a net good and arguably more useful than Yua in the long run.

That is, of course, precisely what some people object to. Seiichiro has upended the way things have been done for decades, if not centuries, and there are always people who are resistant to change. The church is understandably one of them, if not the top of the list: holy maidens are their purview and undoubtedly a source of their power. If they stop summoning them and a more technological solution to the miasma is found, the church stands to wield a whole lot less influence in the kingdom. Siegvold, who appears to be a churchman out of actual piety, is the exception rather than the rule.

But you can't stop progress, no matter how much you might want to, and Seiichiro's reforms are already underway. Sigma and Ist represent the new generational shift on that front, and their team-up to create a magic measuring device (which looks awfully like a thermometer) is the first step. It's doubtless going to continue to make people unhappy, but Sigma's role in its creation is probably even more important than the device itself. He's a lower-class kid who's caught the attention of two palace officials and stands to have both the Magic Department and the Accounting Department fighting over him. And if it works for him, then who's to say it won't work for other kids?

Really, though, the most important piece of this episode is Seiichiro and Aresh's relationship. It's so delightfully mutual now – they can call each other out on little things, yearn to be closer in ways they culturally understand, and are just so damn cute. Even more striking, though, is the way Valtom acknowledges their relationship. When he comes to Seiichiro's hospital bed, it's not just for a nice visit. It's to say that he knows how much the otherworlder means to Aresh and to beg him to take better care of himself – because it's not just about him now, it's about both of them. Seiichiro is family now, and hearing that from Valtom makes me think that maybe he'll begin to truly understand it.

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