There is not much to say about this episode considering that it was an almost faithful and word-by-word adaptation of the novel, even including Alice’s monologue at the end. Of course, there are some slight change near the beginning, but this change didn’t really harm the story itself.
The change involves the starting scene where Fizel and Tilnel were fighting the goblins. In the novel, that happened after they found a goblin in the tent where Renri and the girls were hiding. They killed the first goblin, admonished Renri for being a coward, then went off to fight the goblin forces. The second goblin that entered the tent a moment later was the one that Renri killed. But in the anime, these scenes were joined together and compressed.
One thing I did like about this episode was the flashback of Renri’s past. In the novel, it was only briefly mentioned. But in the anime, they actually showed it. One thing only somewhat bothered me, and that was the symbolic meaning of Renri’s weapon, Twin-Edge Wings, and the two birds they showed here. In the novel, the weapon itself came from two birds who lost a wing each. In order to survive, these two birds joined together as one and used their respective wing to continue flying together. This legend mirrored Renri’s relationship with his unnamed friend whom he accidentally killed. But in this adaptation, it was only briefly hinted.
Overall, this episode is 9/10.