He does go through a redemption arc, this is just literally the very beginning, when he still thinks he can do no wrong. He ends up in the other human kingdom where the second princess milf (former sword saint, forgot her name but it's something like Freya) is from, gets rejected by the princess his age and her father (he realizes in the end of the meeting that he isn't worthy as a man to marry the princess, nevermind the fact that the only reason he was going to was because he use to be the brave), and ends up in some back alley apartment building with a disabled slave girl he buys out of pity.
It is from here, where he starts to care for her as a guardian, the he slowly starts to change. Later, the princess that rejected him comes across him one day, and seeing that he is now much more humble and dropped most of his most obvious bad stuff, while still working on the rest, that she gives him a second chance and renounce her claim as the princess, putting Zect on the spot to really live up to his change and take responsibility.
