So, every time I refresh this page to see if anyone has left a new comment, I end up scrolling past those Kyou Kara Maou pictures. I swear, if I don’t get a new episode soon, I am going to go nuts.
So, here are some speculations about what happened to Konrad. (Please, if you actually know what happens, don’t tell me. I want to find out by watching the episodes. Assuming I ever get new ones.)
In any case, we know that Konrad is in Big Shimaron from episode 33. He seems to be a bodyguard of Big Shimaron’s king, actually. How did this come to pass?
Well, Big Shimaron is Konrad’s homeland, but if he went there willingly, he must have had another reason. He’s loyal to the Mazoku now. Obviously he expected that Yuuri would have been transported home safely, so he wouldn’t be thinking that he needed to escape and get back to New Makoku immediately. Therefore, perhaps he feigned death, then infiltrated the ranks of his attackers…though how he did this with a missing arm is a very good question.
Another possibility is that he allowed himself to be captured. But this begs the question of how he ended up at Big Shimaron. After all, Yuuri recognized the soldiers at Caloria–or at least, their weapons. He became enraged because he believed them to be the same as the people who’d severed Konrad’s arm. Assuming Yuuri was right (which is a big assumption; different human countries could have the same weaponry), the soldiers who attacked Yuuri and Konrad would have to have been from Small Shimaron, like that guy Adelbert was hanging out with. (Adelbert has, of course, cut his losses since the Box fiasco, and gone over to Big Shimaron.)
Of course, this assumes that Flurin recognized the soldiers as Small Shimaron soldiers correctly (and also that I understood events correctly). I believe that Flurin thought those soldiers were from Small Shimaron, the country with which she had ties, and so she had to hide what she was trying to do with Big Shimaron from them, and also act like everything was normal. It’s possible that this is not the case, but why would soldiers from Big Shimaron appear to try and save her from Big Shimaron rebels? So I think my thought process here makes sense.
(Though…it could have been an elaborate ruse. Adelbert wasn’t extraordinarily upset about having to leave Yuuri un-killed. He had other things to do. Perhaps this swift departure was planned…?)
Anyway, assuming the soldiers were from Small Shimaron, and assuming that they were from the same army that attacked Yuuri and Konrad, how would Konrad have gotten away from them and over to Big Shimaron?
Possibility: Big Shimaron soldiers intercepted the Small Shimaron soldiers, who had Konrad as prisoner. They defeated the Small Shimaron soldiers and brought Konrad “home”, where he was recognized as the son of their great swordsman, and offered a position as royal guard. Now Konrad would just be biding his time, learning what he can, and thinking about how and when to go to his true home.
Another possibility: Konrad is under some sort of mind control. (I know, I know.) This would be just the thing to do to Yuuri’s most loyal follower. I mean, it would destroy him to have Konrad take up arms against him. Konrad, the man who is in love with his very soul.
Which is why I don’t think any mind control could last very long…but you never know.
The mind control could be caused by Houjutsu, but it would have to be very powerful, and I’m not sure I’ve seen any Houseki wielders yet who are that strong. It could also be that Konrad is under the influence of Wincott poison, which would turn his body into a puppet (like what happened to Gunter). However, he said Yuuri’s name; I’m not sure puppets are able to do that. (Though maybe Konrad’s pure love for Yuuri’s soul enables him to break free of the control to an extent?)
At any rate, now that Yuuri is there, Konrad will have to act, whether he’s biding his time or under mind control or whatever. It’s just a matter of what he decides to do…
But a big question is, is that an arm? Did he get his arm back somehow? How would that have happened? Is it a fake arm, or did someone dredge the real one out of the sea?
His true arm seemed to preserve well. The fingers stayed fleshy and didn’t turn black, and the arm didn’t appear stiff when it was placed into the Box. Assuming this isn’t just because it’s gross to show dead body parts falling to pieces in animation, maybe some sort of power preserved his arm so that it could be reattached. Maybe Yuuri’s power did something to it, the power of his anguish–though he didn’t turn into the Maou when it happened, so that’s a slim possibility. Or maybe the soldiers who attacked him (Small or Big Shimaron, or wherever they were from) did something to his arm. But they left it behind in the burned-out wreckage of the church, so that’s unlikely. A third possibility is that the Mazoku did something to preserve it when they found it. And then there’s a wonky fourth possibility: that Julia did something.
(BTW: what is it about anime badasses being in star-crossed love with women named Julia?)
Assuming that is his arm, that it was preserved somehow and then reattached, how was it reattached? Does Big Shimaron have that ability? This indicates very powerful Houjutsu, which again I really haven’t seen yet. But if it isn’t his actual arm, what is it?
And finally…it’s possible that that isn’t Konrad at all. After all, Yuuri saw Konrad in the fire at Caloria. Maybe Konrad is…dead. Maybe this Konrad is some kind of puppet, another person twisted to look and act like Konrad, for the purpose of defeating the Mazoku.
:/
Edit 10:05 am: I apparently couldn’t decide how to spell “Shimaron” this morning. Also, I got Caloria’s name wrong at one point. Also, I thought of a couple other things.
Yuuri was summoned to the other world by someone else, not the Mazoku. So obviously someone has power, and it’s probably a human, since he appeared in a human country. So, whoever summoned Yuuri could also have reattached Konrad’s arm/be mind-controlling Konrad. I guess this would be a new character, because I can’t think of anyone with that kind of power.
I’m also not sure why the Great Sage (Murata Ken) was able to come to Caloria with Yuuri. Did he sense the summoning and use his own power to come, or was he sucked in because he dove into the pool after Yuuri? (Did he dive in because he sensed the summoning?) Either way, his presence indicates that more power is needed…it already helped, with the Box, but I get the feeling the worst is yet to come.