The following contains spoilers for The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 2, Episode 8, "The Devil Begins Farming," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Maou, Ashiya and Urushihara have returned from Chiba to their Tokyo apartment now that renovations have been completed. Unfortunately for Maou and his two roommates, they are all still out of a job, which Urushihara unashamedly points out. Chiho has also returned home to her parents and shares the soaked rice crackers she bought in Chiba with her father. Shortly after, Chiho’s uncle Manji calls to request some additional help at his farm in Nagano.
Knowing Maou and his friends need a new job, Chiho relays her uncle's job offer to them. After accepting the job as additional farmhands in Nagano, Chiho's mother Riho drives Maou and his friends to her brother-in-law's house. Unfortunately, the car ride makes Urushihara sick, which causes Maou to accidentally let slip that akuma (demons) also get sick. This admission confuses Riho, and Chiho quickly "course-corrects" Maou's statement by telling her mother he meant "kuma" (bears), which Nagano has its fair share of.
With the mention of bears, Riho admits that Nagano's black bears have been coming down the mountains for food, which shifts the conversation to the prefecture's wildlife. This causes Ashiya to recall Chiho's grandmother being attacked by a wild boar on the farm at one point, though Riho confirms she wasn't severely injured. Despite the old woman being okay, however, the boar attack still caused many farmhands to quit, resulting in a shortage of workers for the summer harvest. Since Chiho's family owns all the farmland in the region, her extended family welcomes the help of Maou and his friends.
When they arrive at Manji's home, Maou, Ashiya and Urushihara introduce themselves to his wife Yumiko, and later meet the man himself, along with Chiho's cousin Kazuma and his family. When Maou and his friends notice Kazuma and his wife Hinako have a baby son, they suddenly remember Chiho's experience babysitting him, and express their gratitude towards her cousin for teaching her how to be a good babysitter. This naturally confuses Kazuma. Shortly after, Chiho's grandmother Ei joins them at the dinner table and confirms to the group she wasn't injured during her encounter with the wild boar.
Later in the day, Hinako drives Maou and his friends to the fields they'll be working in, and explains to them they'll be doing simple tasks like harvesting and weeding. During the ride, Urushihara discovers he doesn't experience motion sickness when he sits in the back of a pickup truck, which pleases him. Ashiya, however, expresses concern about being pulled over by police for riding in the back of a truck completely unsecured. Hinako reassures him they won't be encountering any police in the area since they own the land.
After their first day on the field, Ashiya and Urushihara are beyond exhausted from their fieldwork and lack the energy to do anything else. Chiho shortly enters their room to inform them Kazuma has invited them to the local hot spring at a brand-new hotel, which they happily attend. When they arrive at the hotel, however, Maou and his group run into Alas Ramus, along with Suzuno and Emi. The moment Alas Ramus starts calling Emi and Maou "papa" and "mama," Kazuma and his wife immediately have questions.
To save both of their skins, Suzuno reveals to the couple that she is Maou's neighbor, and concocts a story about how he left his foster daughter in her care while he and his friends worked in Nagano. Since Emi is Suzuno's friend who often comes to visit, Alas Ramus had grown attached to her due to her close resemblance to her real mother. Since Alas Ramus was missing her foster father, Emi and Suzuno decided to stay in the hotel in Nagano near Maou's workplace so she could see him.
Suzuno's story is validated by Emi, though Hinako tells Maou he should've just brought the child with him instead of making her suffer. She also voices concern about the girl's real parents not being present in her life, which she thinks needs to be addressed. Emi then interrupts the conversation by asking Hinako and Kazuma to hire both herself and Suzuno to help with the farm work since she has farming experience. Emi later apologizes to Suzuno for roping her into her scheme, though Suzuno doesn't complain since she's fine with manual labor.
In the evening, Chiho invites Maou to walk with her in order to explain the real reason Emi asked her cousin to hire her. Per Suzuno, Emi doesn't trust Maou with farm work, which causes the latter to remember her family used to be farmers. Maou also remembers destroying Emi's original home life, and his working on a farm reopens old wounds for her. After being reminded that Maou and Emi are mortal enemies, Chiho once again expresses her desire for both of them to get along as she cherishes both of their friendships. As Chiho and Maou make their way back to the hotel, a demonic bear spots them in the woods.
Early next morning, Emi wakes Maou and his friends to start the day's work, which surprises all three men. After Emi explains that waking up at four o'clock in the morning is normal for summer harvesting, they meet at the dining table for breakfast. Maou is surprised to see Suzuno in the kitchen, though she doesn't answer his question about why she's helping out with the cooking. Before there's further discussion on the matter, Kazuma brings the group to the fields to begin the day's work of harvesting eggplants and cucumbers.
Maou and Emi are assigned to one greenhouse to harvest eggplants together, while Suzuno is assigned to another greenhouse with Hinako. Ashiya is assigned to work with Manji in a third greenhouse, while Kazuma opts to work with Urushihara. Chiho, however, stays in the house to babysit her infant cousin. While working with Maou, Emi explains one of the reasons farm work starts early in the summer is to preserve the freshness of summer vegetables. Emi also uses this opportunity to share her feelings about the day Maou destroyed her hometown and doesn't want his regrets as she doesn't intend to forgive him.
After going on a two-hour break, Maou and Ashiya decide to ask Ei for more tasks. The latter requests they take baby Hitoshi for a walk to see his mother Hinako, as he had been crying for most of the day. Maou and Ashiya accompany Chiho on the walk while carrying Alas Ramus and Hitoshi on their respective shoulders. Urushihara stays behind to surf the internet, not feeling determined to do more work.
After they meet with Hinako and Emi, Chiho communicates to the two women that Suzuno had returned to the kitchen to prepare dinner. While conversing, Hinako spots a black bear in the grass and asks her group to quietly leave the premises before the bear notices them. Maou is able to ask Alas Ramus to stay quiet, but Hinako struggles to get her son to do the same. Unable to restrain him, Hitoshi starts crying loudly, which gets the bear's attention and threatens to attack them.
Based on the popular light novel series by Satoshi Wagahara, new episodes of The Devil is a Part-Timer! stream every Thursday on Crunchyroll.