The following contains spoilers for Episode 2 of Overlord IV, "Re-Estize Kingdom" now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Overlord IV continues with Albedo heading off to the Kingdom of Re-Estize as an official diplomat of the Sorcerer Kingdom. The second episode begins with a focus on the royals of Re-Estize, particularly Princess Renner, who aims to create an orphanage to house children orphaned in the war between Re-Estize and the Baharuth Empire, but she also seems to have ulterior motives.
This episode of Overlord IV follows in the footsteps of the first, with significant meetings and political ploys being the name of the game; however, there is only a brief appearance of Ains in the very beginning of the episode.
Your Enemies, Closer
The royal family is in a period of transition, with the throne up for grabs and the various heirs vying for control. Albedo attends a ball at the royal palace, where she is intercepted by one Phillip Dayton L'Eyre Montserrat, heir to the Montserrat Barony, a noble desperate to gain status for himself. Initially in attendance because of his father's desire to have other noble families recognize him as the Montserrat heir, Phillip's lust for Albedo, combined with a thirst for power enable him to concoct a plan that involves courting her. He interrupts her introduction at the royal family's ball in a bold attempt to gain attention and also etch himself into Albedo's memory.
Phillip holds a ball using the space of a noblewoman named Hilma Cygnaeus, someone who reportedly believes in his potential and sees great things in his future. Albedo is invited to this ball, and Phillip escorts her through the noble to the main ballroom, where various nobles are in attendance. Phillip makes his desire to court Albedo known to Hilma, which seems to greatly disturb her. Later, Hilma is seen walking and talking to Albdeo in a dark hallway before disappearing behind doors for a meeting that is off-screened, showing that whatever Phillip has planned is nowhere near the level of tactical mastery that Albedo is orchestrating, literally behind the scenes.
Good PR
This view from the perspective of the other actors in the story sets up Albedo's arrival as representative of the Sorcerer Kingdom on diplomatic mission. While the intentions of Ains are clear to the audience, those who have experienced the terror of his power are naturally wary of contact with him or his servants. He is an enemy they fear, and at their current might, they cannot beat him. Despite being human in the real world, Ains's separation from his humanity since the beginning of the series continues to materialize in the ways that he performs and understands interactions with humans as he is now.
Despite his elder brother being killed by the Sorcerer Kingdom during the war, Phillip wants to establish a relationship with the entity in order to exploit the Montserrat family domain's positioning between the Sorcerer Kingdom and the royal capital. He aims to gain the Sorcerer Kingdom's favor in case they invade the kingdom, and understands that this would be beneficial to the ruler of the Sorcerer Kingdom because it would vastly improve their image, something which Ains desperately seeks to remedy.
Image is perhaps a strange main theme of this episode of Overlord IV, particularly because it is image that Ains wants to change in order to improve the Sorcerer Kingdom's relationships with humans and other races, but also because he wants to appear benign. Regardless of his efforts, Ains' power makes him a threat, and that is an aspect of his image that cannot be changed.
Literally Behind the Scenes
After the ball, and the subsequent meeting, the episode credits are shown, and then a scene afterward has Princess Renner and Albedo conversing in a moonlit room. Albedo tells the princess that Ains is satisfied with her hard work and offers her a reward, they continue to talk about business: the preparations for the upcoming invasion.
The conversation confirms Phillip Montserrat's hunch of an upcoming invasion, and desire to warm up to the Sorcerer Kingdom while Albedo is in the region. While not particularly exciting, the second episode of Overlord IV continues to lay the groundwork for a particular configuration regarding the series' political powers.