07. His Butler, Merrymaking

His Butler, Merrymaking (その執事、遊興, Sono Shitsuji, Yūkō) is the seventh episode of season one of the Kuroshitsuji anime. The episode is inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles.
==Summary==
The entire Phantomhive household is going to a resort which the servants are ecstatic about. However, Ciel Phantomhive comments to Sebastian Michaelis that he only brought them along so they would not destroy his manor while he was out.
The entrance to the "resort" includes skulls on the ground and metal dog collars hanging from bare trees.
In a brief flashback, Ciel explains bear baiting to Sebastian, who comments that such a sport is just like humans. Ciel goes on to say that it was banned, but the dogs that were used for the baiting were not. For this reason, the loophole of dog fighting was discovered. A village called Houndsworth still practices the sport. Queen Victoria has asked Ciel to put a stop to this, which is why they claim to be going there under the pretext that she is looking for a new place to build a resort.
In the present, Finnian stops to help a woman with her baby, but accidentally throws the carriage. However, it is shown that there is no baby inside, just an animal skull on top of a blanket, much to the servants' horror. The woman comments that he had been eaten by "that," and says the small, white-haired dogs are good dogs, while the black-haired dog is bad. Ciel adds that the population of the village has decreased by one-third in the last ten years, due to a high rate of murdered or missing people.
Inside the town, Sebastian comments on how peaceful things are, and upon Ciel's prompting, admits that he hates dogs. They arrive at the Barrymore Castle, where they are greeted by a maid, Angela Blanc. The servants, and Finnian in particular, seem enamored by her beauty.
Inside, Henry Barrymore beats her with a whip for not allowing him to welcome them. This disgusts Ciel, and he has Sebastian stop him. They sit down to tea, and Henry explains that he cannot sell his manor because of a curse that affects outsiders who try to come into the town. Ciel finds this interesting and says he will stay until he sees this first hand.
The servants then gather and fawn over Angela, who humbly denies being "so grand." She is then called away by her master and is seen sitting in a chair, while he kneels on the ground, rubbing her legs and calling her his angel. Mey-Rin accidentally witnesses this.
Angela then approaches Ciel and Sebastian, asking that they withdraw from the village. They hear a howl, and she states that the demon hound has come. They look outside and see shiny, blue-green footprints where the dog had been running. She tells them that the Demon Hound will punish those who disobey their masters, and they find that a villager who was seen earlier has been killed by him. Apparently, he broke the rules by keeping a sixth dog secretly.
Henry reveals that the village's rules were created by him, and any who break the rules are punished by his dog.
The following morning, the servants are sad about the previous day's happenings, but Sebastian cheers them up by taking them to the beach. Ciel issues an unheard command, and Sebastian takes off, saying he would like to get it done with as quickly as possible.
Villagers then stream by, crying that they have caught James' sixth dog, and they go to punish it, in a dog fight. Finnian watches on, appalled, remembering when he was tied up and given forced injections. Distressed, he grabs a thick post and swings it at the dogs, ordering them to stop.
However, the villagers turn on them, saying they interfered with the "righteous punishment" and they call them "bad dogs." They then tie them up, and Angela requests that Henry forgive them. Henry agrees to let them go, as long as Queen Victoria never interferes again. Ciel, however, mocks him, and angry, Henry has dogs set on him. However, before they can attack, Sebastian stops them.
Sebastian subdues them from further attacking, and Ciel reveals that there is no demon hound The shadows were created by a simple projection, and Henry poured phosphorous powder on an ordinary dog to create the shine. Inside James' dog's mouth is a piece of Henry's clothing, proving that he was the attacker, not some demon hound.
Angry at his trickery, the villagers carry him off. After the servants were untied, Finnian shows that he is deeply upset by the dog's death, because he worked so hard to protect his master. Ciel decides the case is closed, and that they will leave the following morning.
Henry is shown inside a cell, begging to be let out, lest the devil dog come to kill him. Mey-Rin finds his cell empty, with blood splatter, and part of the wall torn out. Henry's corpse is then seen up at the ring where he had earlier attacked James' dog, Ciel, and the Phantomhive servants.
==Characters in Order of Appearance==
*Sebastian Michaelis
*Ciel Phantomhive
*Tanaka
*Mey-Rin
*Finnian
*Baldroy
*James
*Angela Blanc
*Henry Barrymore
*Pluto
==Navigation==
Category:Episodes
Category:Kuroshitsuji