The Ancient Magus’ Bride – Season 2 Episode 9 Recap & Review

Conscience does make cowards of us all.

Episode 9 of The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 begins with Zoe visiting Alexandra’s office for his routine physical. He notices Chise is with Zoe and chats with her for a bit. He leaves to attend his appointment, and Chise discusses what it’s like to feel worried about Elias. We receive a flashback to Chise arriving home from her camping trip and Elias’s other half reattaching itself to the actual Elias. Elias tells Chise she should be more careful but says her decision to find Lucy on her own was admirable.

Chise’s confused about her fight with the creature from last week’s episode. She tells Elias she heard someone’s voice from somewhere deep inside herself. Chise visits Cartaphilus and tells him that she sensed evil from the voice inside her. Cartaphilus assumes it wanted to stop something from murdering Chise. Chise wished she could’ve handled the situation differently and pondered if she heard the dragon’s voice. Cartaphilus’s unsure but knows the voice came from within Chise. He asks Chise to leave so he can sleep.

After Chise leaves, Cartaphilus confirms that Chise heard the dragon’s voice and got a taste of his past. Now that Chise’s hurt another creature, he speculates Chise will become more used to using violence. Chise tells Elias in the present that she wanted to ask someone who knows what it’s like. Elias disappears, and Chise bumps into Seth. Seth says he’s here because someone informed him that one of his family members collapsed. Seth confirms Lucy is his sister and follows Alexandra to her office so she can explain Lucy’s condition.

Lucy starts acting up, so Chise puts a towel over her head. Their interaction causes Chise to look into Lucy’s past. In it, we see someone looking over a pile of dead and bloodied bodies and another child asking for spiders. Lucy wakes up, sees Seth, and tells him to “Get Lost.” She collapses and Seth promises to check on Lucy from now on, so Chise departs.

Chise contemplates what she saw when she made contact with Lucy. She bumps into Philomela. Philomela tells Chise she’s okay with chatting with her one-on-one. Philomela leaves after hearing Rian and Isaac coming up the steps. The two ask Chise for updates about Lucy. Meanwhile, a gentleman in a trench coat asks two people about records being stolen from the Forbidden Books Storage. Apparently, this item has fallen apart, but the two people he interrogates have no clue what happened.

Liza, the college’s headmistress, assembles the college’s staff. Her friend tells the team a book in Storage Number 5 of the Forbidden Books Storage has crumbled. They’ve confirmed the book was a fake and was swapped in the past several days. The man says it’s called The Testament of Carnamagos. Tory asks Elias if that’s the book he is interested in. The gentleman says this book can affect its reader and that a library in England holds a copy and won’t have an effect on people as the original. Elias confirms he’s read the book, and gained a few insights from it, but returned it before he could use what he learned from it.

Liza asks Elias if he could describe what he obtained from the book without it causing harm to others. Elias says it can put the living in mortal danger. He says the book lists ways to take others’ life force and magic powers. It also states how to make and destroy immortals and resurrect the dead. Elias says the book was enticing, but he doesn’t have any use for its contents. Liza thanks everyone for attending the meeting and plans to have this situation investigated internally and broadly to prevent any incidents. She says if it causes an incident, she’ll call upon them for cooperation. The man interrupts Liza and says people found special spider silk woven into the cover and other parts of the crumbled text. Someone mentions the silk could stem from the Webster family.

Liza says not to let Lucy learn of this intel and asks everyone to be careful and not to get lost in their studies. Before Elias gathers information about the Webster Family’s silk from Tory, the other teachers introduce themselves to him. Tory tells them to stop bombarding him with questions and shares the tale about the Webster tragedy with Elias. Simeon, a teacher at the College, explains the Webster family made a living making and duplicating magic books and was famous for keeping specific spiders. They used their spiders’ silk to bind and create pages for the books. Eight years ago, the entire Webster family died except for Lucy.

They have no idea who murdered the family but know all their spiders were stolen. Rumours spread about a spy being involved, but it’s not confirmed. The eldest son was expected to inherit the business but he had no magical capabilities and was exiled. Although some people know about the incident, Simeon tells Elias not to discuss it openly. Simeon and the other staff leave. Tory suggests Elias make friends and says he can be his first. Elias humorously declines Tory’s offer. Simeon walks into a hallway, and a mysterious force attacks him with The Testament of Carnamagos. Lucy awakens and looks at Seth. He sees a bag with a present inside but knows it’s not for her because he hates her. The episode closes with two masked wolves murdering Seth’s guard.

The Episode Review

The Ancient Magus Bride Season 2 Episode 9 presents viewers with a slow-burn episode this week with a few wholesome interactions between Chise and the cast. Many fans will be happy to receive more information on the Webster Tragedy. If Philomela took part in the slaughter is still up in the air, but Simeon’s conversation with Elias hints toward that being the case. Given Philomela’s personality, it’s possible Grandmother had a role in the execution and forced Philomela to participate.

Nonetheless, it’ll be interesting to receive more insight into that incident as the series progresses. This episode also addressed the strange cabinet and room cliffhangers we’ve received in prior episodes. The Testament of Carnamagos sounds like bad news, and it appears someone has it in their possession, considering what happened to Simeon in the hallway and what happened to Lucy in the forest during the camping trip. Whoever has it must have a personal vendetta against Lucy and the college’s staff.

Additionally, I’m not sure who is assaulting people with this book’s power. Hopefully, our cast receives a lead concerning who that person might be since they’re likely affiliated with the werewolf assailants shown at the episode’s conclusion. Overall, this was an intriguing and insightful episode of The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2. Many may find it boring, but others will find its plot developments engaging enough to keep them interested.