I've Somehow Got Stronger When I Improved My Farm-Related Skills (Farming Made Me Stronger), despite its tranquil beginning, Episode 11, "The Farmer and The Reunion at The Demon King Castle," reveals a shocking character that Al never anticipated seeing again. What ought to have been a heartwarming reunion, however, turns into something entirely different as sinister secrets are revealed and Al finds himself in a tricky predicament.
Ilvia Wayne, a former orphaned thief-turned-little sister who Al still holds dear to his heart as an adult, has already been made public in Farming Made Me Stronger, revealing Al's past and relationship with her. Nevertheless, the person he meets at the Demon King's Castle is very different from his memories, despite the fact that she resembles his beloved younger sister, and this creates a major cliffhanger for the season's finale.
The Castle of the Demon King
Al runs into his friend, Reaks Bowen, the town mailman and covert agent for the intelligence agency Shadow Puppets, while they are all returning from selling produce with Fal-Ys, Helen, and Ruri. Reaks is a demon who assimilated into the nation of Meigis, living among humans while concealing his true identity from those he didn't trust. Reaks not only used to work for Lucica Wayne, Al's mother, as the former Shadow Puppets commander, but he is also a demon who had escaped from his home in Hell.
Al and Reaks observe a young girl battling a group of slave traders in the middle of the street as he describes the particularly tough weeds he found on his farm. The girl is identified by Reaks as Yuria Macbeth Fongate, the Demon King's daughter and heir to the throne, after the slave traders are beaten until they flee. Yuria, who has been assured by another demon that Al won't harm her, begs Al for his assistance in saving demonkind and explains that she was forcibly moved to Meigis after her caretaker, Volpe Dohma, warned her that it was no longer safe in the Demon King's Castle but gave her no further information.
As usual, Al is unable to ignore her plea and agrees to assist her in determining what happened, taking Yuria and running across the ocean to her homeland, Demon territory – a trip that would have taken three days by boat – only to be ambushed by Volpe Dohma, Yuria's caretaker and the castle's strongest magic user. Al fights Volpe Dohma while protecting Yuria after realizing he is being controlled, but is interrupted by his mother, Lucica Wayne, who knocks the demon magician unconscious.
Lucica joins the pair on their journey to look into what happened at the Demon King's Castle and explains that she had followed them after hearing the story from Reaks. The Demon King, Yuria's father, is left hurt and unconscious next to his throne because by the time they get there, it's too late to save the inhabitants of the castle. Only one soldier is still awake and alert enough to warn Yuria about a Lucica attack.
Taking Off the Mask
Al reveals that he has been wary of the person claiming to be his mother ever since they first met at the beach, saying that if she were Lucica Wayne, she would have encircled him in a bone-crushing hug the moment she saw him in true oyabaka style. Al then saves Yuria from Lucica's sword. Nevertheless, despite his suspicion, he had hoped she was telling the truth, demonstrating Al's goodness even in the face of peril.
What Al doesn't expect is for the imposter posing as his mother to call him by the same name his little sister used to call him when they were younger and to remove her disguise to reveal an adult Ilvia Wayne. Ilvia has used her memories of their mother to transform into Lucica in order to deceive him, but because she died before his parents moved to Lurugus and Al remained in Sils, Ilvia had no idea how much worse Lucica's aggressive love for Al had become.
The Real Reason Ilvia Survived
Ilvia's reveal in Episode 11 has viewers on the edge of their seats, but Episode 12, "The Farmer and the Renewed Resolve," creates an even bigger cliffhanger for the season's finale. Al narrowly escapes Ilvia's attack that destroys half the castle and the mountain behind it because he is so overcome by shock at seeing his sister, who had sacrificed herself for him, come back to life, and he reveals that Ilvia's power and the reason she is still alive are both due to the Evil God. Ilvia had attacked the castle and the mountain behind it.
Ilvia drops yet another bombshell when she informs Al that he too possesses powers of the Evil God that have been sealed within him, giving him no time to properly process the situation. After leveling up his farming-related skills, these abilities are what made him so powerful, elevating his initially excellent skills to the extraordinary level that Al has grown accustomed to.
Ilvia threatens Yuria's life by refusing to answer any more questions until Al agrees to join her on the Evil God's side, and Al is only able to save her thanks to an intervention from the Good God, which overwrites the sealed Evil God powers within Al and supports him with her strength instead. Al manages to save Yuria amidst the chaos, but Volpe Dohma drives Ilvia away before Al can demand any more answers.
Al is unable to fully process the information Ilvia had given him until after the battle at the Demon King's Castle. He does this by carefully recalling what transpired after he and Testa entered the mountain cave and realizing that his strength had changed as a result of the Good God having overwritten his abilities, as well as by carefully considering the events that occurred during the time he had collapsed.
Despite the fact that Al was able to save Yuria and finish her quest to aid the demons in the Demon King Castle, his reunion with his younger sister only made him wonder more about both himself and the evil being known as the Evil God. As the siblings get more involved in the conflict between the Good and Evil Gods as a result of their encounter, Al must begin a perilous and challenging journey that sets the stage for Season 2 of Farming Made Me Stronger, which promises to be even more action-packed and dramatic than the first.
