Chapter Text
“Not sure what to say; honestly, that was unexpected. To see them get so attached to you, princess.”
“Another sudden change in location?” Tivey frowned, scratching one of his ears cutely. “This is getting hard to keep track of.”
“Mimi doesn’t get it! Always switching around! What does anything have to do with anything?” Mimi continued, also fidgeting restlessly.
“Yeah, yeah…” Ricardo patted both of their heads.
The voice was carefree, but a little muffled and thus hard to hear.
The voice being overlapped with the rasping sound of metals brushing against each other, and it being muffled, were from the same cause – the head of the voice’s owner was completely covered by a pitch-black steel helmet, and he had a habit of playing with it’s joints as he spoke.
He was a person with a terribly unusual outfit; you might even call it outlandish.
Rem and Ram once again sharpened their gazes. Outlandish and eccentric were what they would use to describe Al prior. However, with this new viewing and the retreading of old suspicions from a previous loop, they knew now that something was lurking beneath that black helmet of his. Something potentially dangerous, even if he claimed otherwise.
His head was covered with a black steel helmet, just as was mentioned earlier, but he was protected by it’s strong defense only from his neck upwards. His well-toned body was covered in rough clothing like that of a bandit, and his feet were, oddly enough, wearing boots woven from leather. A shabby cloth hung from his shoulders and covered his neck, and a rough, wide-bladed sword peeked out from behind his back, hanging horizontally.
In every sense it was a collection of weird features, but there was one spot that stood out more than all the rest.
…The helmeted man’s left arm was missing below the shoulder.
Sensing Rem’s consternation with her synesthesia, Ram leaned over to Rem’s ear, tapping her shoulder to get her attention. Surprised, Rem turned to her with a questioning look.
“Nee-sama?”
Ram peered around and, in a low voice, whispered. “Ram never mentioned this to you, sissy, but I’ve met this Al before once in the capital on the day Barusu came into contact with Emilia-sama.”
With her eyes widened, Rem quickly donned a serious, worried expression. “What happened? He didn’t do anything to you, did he?”
Ram shook her head. “No. It seemed like he was looking for someone, probably Barielle-sama, and he just asked me for directions.” A concerned look then crossed her face.
“And?” Rem noticed her look.
“It’s just …. When we parted ways, he referred to me by my name.” Ram paused. “To my knowledge, we have never crossed paths or even laid eyes on each other.”
At that, Rem donned a grave look. “Did he seem …. Hostile like in one of Subaru-kun’s ….. Previous loops?”
“No. If anything, he seemed quite friendly, talking to me in an overly familiar fashion.”
“An overly familiar fashion….” Rem repeated, a feeling of distress flashed through the recesses of her mind, but she could not put a finger on why that phrase bothered her so. “What do you think we should do?”
“For now, nothing. Ram has already informed Roswaal-sama, and we agreed that we should simply remain observant and vigilant. So far, that man has done nothing to indicate he wishes to harm us, his behavior in a previous loop notwithstanding.”
Rem’s face soured at the mention of Roswaal’s name, but she let it go for now. “Understood, nee-sama. Rem will keep her guard up.”
The man, who had a particular loss to go along with his outlandish outfit, projected an abnormal presence simply standing there. Even more so standing next to the red woman – Priscilla Barielle.
“And what do you mean by unexpected? Behold my beauty, which exceeds human understanding. Like baby birds long to be fed, It’s entirely natural that the commoners should worship me, Al.”
“How arrogant, in fact, to believe that one should be worshiped for something as superficial as their looks.” Beatrice raised an eyebrow.
Felix couldn’t help but agree. After all, everyone worshiped (or should at least) Crusch not only because she was beautiful but also because she was smart, competent, and a great leader!
“Well, not that I don’t blame anyone for doin’ so! Hahahaha!” Ricardo let out a loud chuckle as Tivey shook his head in second-hand embarrassment, already feeling the heat of Anastasia’s gaze without having to see it.
“Ain’t like there aren’t plenty o’ horndogs out there to prove her right…” Felt dryly noted.
“It was just something I’d imagined on my own, but still. Here I always thought you were the type who wouldn’t do anything to put more fish in the pond, princess.”
“Then there would be no reason for me to welcome you. Do you not agree?”
“Now that you say it, that’s true. I guess I was mixed up.”
“Now just what kinda fish are we speakin’ bout ….” Anastasia slyly asked, not really expecting any answer, much less a serious one.
Not betraying her expectations, neither Al nor Priscilla took the bait. Well, the snub didn't matter to Anastasia anyway. There would be plenty more opportunities to fish for information.
“I hope we won’t be spending much more time listening to this pointless banter …” Otto murmured. It was clear that Al was possibly hiding some big secret that the Warden wanted revealed, judging by the viewings. They just had to slog through this first to get to it!
Accepting Priscilla’s words without complaint, the helmeted man – Al – scratched the top of his helmet with his thick right arm. He looked around at his surroundings as though curious, but his expression and mood could not be seen.
Roswaal took note of Al’s onscreen self’s scanning behavior. ‘Just what is it you do not see? Or are you searching for something?’
For her part, Priscilla had no reaction to her attendant’s attitude. As she continued pressing forward at a steady pace, the people around her spoke up as they noticed her.
“Ah, it’s Priscilla-sama!” “It’s the dear concubine princess!” “Long live the Sun Princess!”
As one of them noticed her, many others reacted to their raised voice and came rushing out of their houses. The villagers, all with cheerful faces, unanimously honored and praised Priscilla.
“Well ‘hats one ‘ell of a turn aroun’!” Garfiel exclaimed, surprised at the 180 change in attitude of the villagers towards Priscilla.
Frederica agreed with an elegant nod. “Yes little brother, it is very reassuring to see how their health and happiness has drastically improved.” Not that she really thought otherwise, but it seemed like all the Royal Candidates certainly weren’t all talk and had some special quality about them.
“To revitalize a stricken land is no easy feat indeed.” Wilhelm broke silence, knowing all too well how difficult it was to rebuild a dilapidated domain, especially one suffering the effects of war.
“Mhmm. Very good. You should exert yourselves unfailingly, commoners. As long as you continue to bow before my glory and follow me, I would not be so cruel as to deprive you of my compassion. Be sure not to neglect that in the future.”
Priscilla’s words weren’t said to anyone in particular, so much as to everyone there cheering for her.
“Annoys me to admit, but she can definitely back that crap up.” Felt gave a rare seal of approval towards Priscilla who ignored everyone’s praise.
To begin with, it was never needed in the first place. A goddess like herself simply does as she pleases with good fortune being bound to fall upon her and those around her.
It certainly wasn’t a loud voice, but her voice had the power to penetrate and reach everywhere. At the arrogance of those powerful words, Al couldn’t help but cringe, but,
Without warning, Priscilla suddenly struck Al on his helmet with her fan.
“Ow! Princess, what was that for!”
“Even my tolerance for your disrespect has its limits should you believe yourself foolish enough to pass judgment on mineself!”
“Understood!” “If it’s for Priscilla-sama!” “Long live the Sun Princess!”
not only did the villagers not take it poorly, they readily accepted her prideful speech.
Al could only shake his head at the discrepancy between his impression of his lady’s character, and the attitude of the locals.
Al shook his head along with his onscreen self, trying to get rid of the stars within his vision.
“Wow….. they really like and trust Priscilla-san now!” Emilia smiled, for some reason proud of Priscilla’s success as if it were her own.
Crusch furrowed her eyebrows with a strained half-smile. “While I agree Barielle-sama deserves respect for such an accomplishment, their attitudes seem more akin to blind reverence….”
Felix could only frown internally. Was she implying that she did not approve of such faith? He had devoted his everything to Crusch and truly believed that she could do no wrong. He thought back to how Priscilla had raked him across the coals during the Arc 3 viewings, degrading him as inferior to even Subaru, calling his existence meaningless without Crusch. Was he somehow wrong in his feelings and how best to display them? To him, a devoted knight was someone who supported their liege no matter what, giving constant reassurance and confidence that their actions were right. But he thought back to Subaru who almost completely went against that. Subaru would debate, even argue with Emilia over the best course of action. If he felt she was in the wrong, he would be the first to tell her, demanding she change for the better. Even most deplorable of all, Subaru would often disappear, go behind Emilia’s back, even outright disobey her for what he thought was best for them all. Of course, none of those behaviors could be called righteous, which Subaru himself had experienced the harsh, lethal consequences of, but surely there was a fine line?
‘Just how….. Can I be better knight to Crusch-sama?’ Felix gritted his teeth in thought. Even Priscilla and Al’s relationship as master and vassal, while strange and somewhat overbearing, seemed to hold a large degree of underlying mutual trust.
It was only a few days ago that the helmeted man, Al, had been recognized as Priscilla’s knight. Suddenly finding herself needing to choose a knight, Priscilla held a gladiatorial contest to meet that need while prioritizing her own preferences.
“Still can’ believe we didn’ get ta any of it..” Garfiel muttered to himself.
The approach of searching for a knight for a baroness, without regard for one’s origins, led to a great number signing up, and it became a truly successful contest. There, Al was judged worthy in Priscilla’s eyes, and was the man who gained the position of knight.
‘.....Not a knight….’ Al thought to himself, slightly clenching his armrest in annoyance at his portrayal on screen.
Their relationship was still too new, and the bonds too thin, to call them lord and attendant. During the time he’d been allowed to stay at her side, Al had been observing her carefully, but she was still a mystery to him.
Julius immediately became a bit suspicious once more. “His observations appear to go beyond just merely getting to know Barielle-sama.” He shot a interrogative look at Al.
“Hey man, it was a new place. Can you really blame an old man like me for being a bit skittish?” Al replied offhandedly, though not without a slightly cold undertone.
“Al-san is … not lying.” Reinhard noted, also unsure what to think of him.
‘But that’s likely not the entire truth either ….’ Crusch was not stupid enough to place 100% stock on her Divine Blessing when gauging others.
Though she appeared thoughtful, she would immediately put her impulses into action. One might think that she was approachable for the locals, but then one would suddenly see an expression on her face cruel enough to freeze your blood. Even her limbs that seemed so full of femininity had a viciousness that had taken him off guard, stolen his sword, and came within a hair’s breadth of sending his head flying.
Reminded once again of that spectacle, many in the audience grimaced. Tivey and Mimi just gave a pitiful side-eye at Al, thanking their good fortune for having such a tolerant boss.
Petra frowned, not understanding why anyone would want to serve such a capricious and cruel lady as Priscilla. Even Emilia, still somewhat feeling awkward over Al declaring himself Subaru’s greatest ally, gave him a small look of sympathy.
As a result, even after spending several days together, his current impression was that he knew nothing about his liege.
“Look here, Al. Why are you just standing there? The commoners are terribly curious about you. Who is that very rare sort of a man standing next to a beautiful maiden like myself, they wonder.”
“That’s somethin’ we all want to know now …” Anastasia muttered to Julius who gave a small nod.
“So why don’t you explain it to them, princess?”
“Watch how you speak, Al. Even I do not know how many more times I can overlook your boorish behavior because it’s amusing. You should take care not to displease me needlessly.”
“Just what is so amusing about that ~nya?” Felix asked to noone in particular, unsure how to take the seemingly flip-flop casual interactions between the two. Unlike any of the other Candidate-Knight pairings as far as he knew, Priscilla and Al’s relationship seemed to swing like a pendulum between casual banter and subservient posturing.
Just when his opinion of her had been improving a little, this happens. The good mood that had been showing on her face until a second ago had changed in the briefest of moments into the eyes of one looking at trash.
Frederica quickly prepared to cover Petra’s eyes in case another sudden bout of homicidal violence occurred on screen.
“Ah, sorry, that was my fault. Now that you mention it, what kind of attendant passes off the trouble of introductions onto their master? Sorry, sorry, forgive me chonmage.”
“Very well. I forgive you. However, I’ll have you tell me later what you mean by chonmage.”
“Chonmage? What’s that?” Mimi suddenly cutely asked.
Priscilla simply sniffed while Al just shrugged, neither seeing much of a point of answering.
The Emilia camp’s eyes expectantly turned towards Beatrice who looked around smugly, basking in all the attention.
“V-very well, I suppose, so stop staring! A chonmage is …. Some sort of weird hairstyle worn by “samurai” during ancient times in Subaru’s homeland, in fact.”
“Samurai? Wha’s ‘that?” Garfiel quickly cut in.
“It is … equivalent to a Knight, I suppose.” Beatrice continued in a didactic manner. “It is quite rare now, in fact.”
Reinhard’s eyes and interest ignited at the mention of knights of a different world. “Does that mean Subaru’s world also has knights and knight orders?”
“Do they also practice chivalry and adhere to knightly honor?” Julius excitedly piled on, ready to record such information for all posterity.
Beatrice's mood slightly dimmed at those questions. “Knights of Subaru’s world were much the same as knights in this world, even in terms of corruption and hypocrisy, I suppose. However, they are long gone, considered a relic of the past. Despite knowing of their flaws, many people look back to those times with nostalgia for a more romanticized, idyllic past, in fact.”
“Tch… Guess knights are the same wherever you go, huh.” Felt was unimpressed, disdainfully sighing, though not without a hint of disappointment.
Also disappointed, the knights of the room, barring Al, could only sadly gaze down, lamenting that the state of knights used to be similar even in another world and, not only that, was now apparently nonexistent.
“If I may ask, Beatrice-sama, who do the people and countries rely on to protect themselves?” Wilhelm respectfully asked curious about such foreign military forces.
“Subaru’s world simply relies upon common soldiers, recruited from all walks of life without distinction, in fact.” Beatrice replied.
Crusch’s interest also suddenly spiked. This was yet another indicator that it WAS possible for a nation to stand on its own, its people united and strong, rather than relying on a Divine Dragon for all their protection.
Julius’s disappointment seemed to clear up as a hopeful thought occurred to him. “Does that mean even common soldiers are extensively trained in the art of combat as well as taught to uphold the chivalric code?” After all, just how glorious would it be if all the people of a land strived to maintain such high ideals?
This hope was immediately crushed by Beatrice’s next words as she spoke in a grave voice. “That is not the case, unfortunately. I have already stated how warfare in Subaru’s world is ruthless. To his people, to protect is synonymous to killing the enemy, I suppose. Soldiers are trained not in combat but in methods to kill as efficiently and as many as possible, regardless of morales, methods, or collateral damage, in fact.”
“H-how can killing so many be considered a way of protecting the people you care about?” Emilia stammered, horrified at such a terrible twist in logic.
“I agree …. This can hardly even be considered war … This is just bloodshed for the sake of bloodshed.” Reinhard frowned, perturbed at this brutal revelation.
Surprising everyone, Al suddenly chuckled darkly. “Well it’s pretty simple. If you’re the only one left, there isn’t anybody that can hurt you is there? That sounds pretty safe to me.”
Many in the audience blanched at such disgusting logic. This was just as vile as Daphne’s rationale that hunger could be solved by eliminating the hungry!
“Al-dono …. Do you also subscribe to such beliefs?” Crusch hesitatingly threw out, preparing her Divine Protection. Depending on how he answered, it might be indicative of his potential as a threat.
“Me? No, no … I just understand the logic is all.” Crusch made no comment as the wind of untruth never blew from Al. Again, a thought flashed through her. Just who was this man? In all the past viewings, he came off as mostly frivolous but also exhibited some concern for his fellow other-worlder. Now? It was becoming clearer that there was an incredibly dark side to the one-armed man. Was there even a human being under his helmet?
“Hmph … To ruthlessly and utterly destroy your enemy. Such a concept is hardly so foreign to you lot!” Priscilla interjected in a frustrated tone, angry at the hypocrisy that seemed to be unfolding. “What does it matter how your enemy is destroyed if you have already resolved yourself to do so? Though mineself shall admit, to wish death on lowly, unarmed commoners in the name of destroying one’s enemies is quite the mean-spirited thing to do.”
“Mean-spirit’d ain’t even cutting close to it … tch” Garfiel spat out, disgusted at such thinking.
“Ram had already surmised as such, but to think the Barusu’s world is filled with rabid dogs. It honestly impresses me at how our luck brought us only a lustful one…” In her own signature way, she expressed her heartfelt gratitude towards Subaru’s seemingly rare, kind-hearted nature.
Felix suddenly remembered the worlds of Wilhelm in the failed loop against Sloth. “Ferri-chan … is beginning to fear that such a state might occur in our world….”
Julius’s eyes widened at such an outlandish statement. “How so Felix? While I acknowledge that the knights are not perfect, it is still within our obligations to uphold the chivalric code!”
Reinhard nodded in agreement while Felt just boredly prepared herself for another one of Julius’s lectures on knightly standards and ideals.
“.... And yet …. Chivalry can be seen to be long since dead …..” All eyes turned to Wilhelm who had been silent as a statue until now.
Also remembering those same words spoken in that failed loop, Reinhard cautiously asked. “....What do you mean by that, honored grandfather?”
Wilhelm slightly sighed. “I apologize. It was the mere unfocused delusions of an old man. For now, I believe it would be more productive to continue watching.”
“The more I hear about mister’s world, the worse it seems to get…” Tivey muttered as he, along with the audience, turned to watch again.
The unexpected phrase seemed to have succeeded, allowing Al to narrowly escape the signs of Priscilla’s displeasure. Holding a hand to his chest in relief after having confirmed that, Al explained his position to the locals – regaling them with the story of how he came to serve Priscilla, full of humor and the occasional exaggeration.
As the audience watched Al’s onscreen self rambled on, discomfort began to set in many of them at the stark contrast between his usually good-natured, casual disposition and the rarer flashes of an almost insidious demeanor.
４
“Priscilla-sama is a wonderful person. To me, she’s the goddess that saved me, oh yes, indeed.”
That was the response to Al’s question from the boy who had nervously brewed tea, clearly not familiar with doing so. His peculiar wording might have been an attempt to curry favor.
The location was the Barielle manor’s lounge. Casually seated on a very comfortable sofa, Al was enjoying his break time to the fullest.
“Once again, the scene has changed.” Tivey noted smartly.
Suddenly, Mimi’s staff swept through the air to his head, knocking out some of that good sense. “Sheesh! How many times are you gonna say that! It’s obvious you just want to look smart!”
Tivey clutched his head, glaring at her. “That wasn’t my intention! I was just making a note to myself to better keep track of what we’re watching!”
“Yes, yes, Tivey, we understand yer quite intelligent, so both of ya settle down now.” Anastasia chuckled as Tivey started blushing at his mistress’s teasing.
“You’re really fond of the princess, so I thought you might say something like that, Schult-chan.”
Suppressing a chuckle at the boy’s response, Al lifted the offered cup of tea. Then, slightly lifting his head, he deftly brought the drink to the gap that formed under his helmet.
Never removing his helm, and never showing his real face was Al’s consistent behavior. Being one-armed on top of not removing his helmet meant that his eating habits were rather impolite. Since it was impossible to lift his helmet with one hand while eating, he necessarily ate in much the same way as he drank the tea.
“Damn … that’s actually kinda impressive.” Felt commented dryly, having seen plenty of amputees in the slums herself struggle with basic activities.
Reinhard once again switched to lecture mode. “I do agree, but Felt-sama, please take care not to mimic such etiquette, especially since you possess no disab-” He was suddenly caught cut off by Felt’s attempt to stick her shoe in his mouth, which he easily blocked.
“Do my manners… does my impoliteness bother you?”
Noticing the boy standing still and looking at him, Al asked that in a low voice while putting down his cup. Schult held his breath slightly at the question.
He was a thin boy. His skin was white, and his peach-colored hair was distinctive. His crimson eyes were not very assertive, and he gave such a delicate impression that some who looked at him mistook him for a girl. He was perhaps twelve or thirteen years old, but his body didn’t look developed enough for that; he appeared only around ten years of age.
Petra suddenly noticed Frederica’s breath hitch slightly and glanced at her. Immediately, she was alarmed at the almost predatory look in her eyes and slightly dopey smile. Undoubtedly the thought cross through her mind was -
“He’s s~o~ cute!” Emilia gushed at the sight of the boy while subconsciously extending her hands to knead Beatrice’s cheeks.
“ST-STHOP IT, I SHUPPOSE!” Beatrice batted her arms away like an angry cat while growling in an impossibly cute manner.
“Rem agrees! He just makes you want to pick him up and hug him!” While Rem thought he was cute, Subaru was still number one in her heart! There was no way Schult could overshadow the child version of Subaru, right?
“I’ll admit he’s a cute kid but somehow….” Anastasia trailed off, having absentmindedly pulled Mimi and Tivey to her lap, ruffling their heads.
“He gives off an almost immoral feeling ….” Crusch continued, warily glancing at Priscilla who just sniffed. She couldn’t really think off the top of her head why Priscilla would take in such a young boy, but whatever it was it probably wasn’t to have a competent servant, right?
The boy who could easily be called a child was wearing a servant’s outfit in black, and imitating a butler. Some people would likely find his appearance more pitiful than amusing. In truth, Al found it somewhat painful to look at Schult trying to stretch beyond his limits.
The suspicion only deepened in Crusch’s mind. It DEFINITELY wasn’t to have a competent servant. Could it have been for a ….. Less respectable purpose?
“I haven’t got any education. Please overlook my lack of knowledge about proper manners. You get it, right?”
Folding his legs rudely on top of the chair, Al deliberately demonstrated his rough behavior. At that, Schult shook his head side to side while watching him.
“Even without any formal education or etiquette training, surely you must recognize the crudeness of such an action….” Julius sighed, worried once again that knights like Subaru and Al(?), given how high profile their ladies were, might begin to muddy the idyllic image of knights.
Al just shrugged. He didn’t really care about the opinions of anybody other than Priscilla anyway, so as long as she was fine with it, he was too.
“I, too, am uneducated, the same as Al-sama, oh yes, indeed. So, I don’t feel that I’m sufficiently refined to complain about Al-sama’s behavior.”
“Hmph. Even Barusu’s behavior, while like that of a dog’s, was not so bad.” Ram snorted.
“Honesty is a virtue, and being straightforward is the privilege of children. I think you’re starting to get the look down, but what you’ve got inside isn’t there yet. How long has it been since you came here, Schult-senpai?”
“Since I was rescued by Priscilla-sama, it’s been just three months, oh yes, indeed.”
Schult didn’t even respond to the irony of being called senpai. Perhaps it was cruel to expect an orphan who grew up in a farming village to understand.
This boy butler Schult was an orphan that Priscilla brought back from a farm village in the domain.
When Priscilla brought the thin, starved boy back with her, saying things like “If you polish him, he’ll shine,” it seems that the mansion’s master Leip was seriously furious, but apparently Priscilla paid him no mind.
Felt visibly shuddered. “Ugghhh. I dunno why, but that sounded really gross. Also, randomly pickin’ up an orphan without their say for who knows what nefarious reason. Remind ya of anyone Rein?” She shot an evil glare at her knight who dipped his head shamefully while many of the audience chuckled.
“Hah! Ain’t noone better than Cap’n at picking up lil’ girls!” Garf proudly boasted as if that was a skill to be proud of
Julius and Felix visibly cringed while Ram outright gagged.
Just like that, Schult, protected by the good fortune of having caught Priscilla’s eye, was guaranteed food, clothing, and shelter, and the boy was remade into a butler.
“Oh! Priscilla, you did something so kind! I’m surprised!” While she absolutely did not mean it offensively, Emilia’s lack of tact and social ineptitude caused nearly everyone’s faces to cringe.
“It’s hard to say if catching the princess’ eye is good luck or bad luck, though.”
‘Ah sh*t’ Al thought as in the corner of his eye, he saw Priscilla’s fan whistling towards his stomach.
“UGHRK!” Al choked as doubled over out of his seat, struggling not to barf.
“To fall under and be noticed by my gaze. A clown such as you should do well to remember it is a great deed!” Priscilla snarled at Al’s revealed verbal treachery.
“Speaking of the lolimancer …..” Ricardo muttered thoughtfully, then nudged Al who was settling back into his seat, rubbing his stomach painfully.
“Ughhhh …. Yeah?” Al turned his attention to the wolfman.
Ricardo scratched his snout awkwardly. “I gotta ask …. Ya got any idea why yer Princess picked Schult-chan up?”
Al remained silent, having never really given that question much thought. “Ain’t got a clue. Princess does what princess wants. Why you interested?”
Ricardo coughed. “Nothin’ … just a dumb idea. I’ll let ya know once I’m sure.”
At that, Al immediately got a bad feeling before getting a hint of what Ricardo might have been implying. ‘Ah …. It might show that side of Princess…..’
“I’m very grateful to Priscilla-sama for being kind enough to rescue me, oh yes, indeed. If I’d continued to stay in the village, I’d have been dead and buried by now, after all.”
“That reminds me of Meili whenever she talks about depressing things….” Petra frowned at how Schult seemed to talk about his own death so easily.
“That’s a cute picture, yep. Things like that make me feel more and more like I don’t know what the princess is thinking, and make me wonder just what kinda person she is.”
Her attitude seemed like one that would never be charitable, and yet she saved an orphan. On the other hand, she didn’t extend her hand to everyone, and he had no idea what reason she had to take him in.
“As a merchant, I’m fine with rising or falling prices as long as they aren’t volatile …. I couldn’t imagine working under Barielle-sama.” Otto murmured at her sheer absurdness.
Was Priscilla actually the goddess that the locals and Schult believed her to be? Or was she a cruel witch that occasionally sent chills down Al’s spine?
“Witch. A witch, indeed……”
Speaking aloud the word he’d thought of himself, he couldn’t help but smile at the cliche.
The word ‘witch’ that was known as a taboo in this world. Al himself knew all too well how much of a menace was referred to by that word.
The entire audience’s eyes widened and heads began to fiercely turn towards Al.
“ALRIGHT, now THAT is really suspicious!” Felt yelled out. “The hell ya mean by that?!?!”
“That definitely didn’t sound like a casual or careless remark.” Tivey sprung up on Ricardo’s lap, less with indignation at Al seemingly knowing a witch and more with anticipation of another opportunity to glean secrets of the world. Ricardo himself shot a toothy frown at the buddy he had been joking with during all the past viewings.
Rem and Ram narrowed their eyes suspiciously at Al. Something had always been off about the man, but for him to also be connected to witches? There was no way that was a coincidence!
Emilia and Beatrice pensively stared at Al, unsure what to think. It wasn’t as if their thoughts were entirely negative. The viewings before had shown that the witches weren’t necessarily evil incarnate, though most of the others didn’t share their opinion. It definitely wasn’t really a good thing to be associated with one.
Emilia herself wondered just which witch or witches was he referring to? How did he know them? What was their relationship?
Beatrice however, was panicking about something far larger in scale. If her Subaru, an other-worlder that was intrinsically linked with a witch, was a sage-candidate ….. Then wasn’t it possible that Al was too? And if he was …… the chances of him possessing an Authority was not zero. If the ensuing interrogation led to this topic ….. Things could get really nasty.
Then, her eyes widened until they looked like orbs. The only beings ever referred to as witches as far as she knew was Sphinx and the Witches of Sin. Sphinx died nearly 40 years ago, making it incredibly unlikely that Al, seemingly also around 40, could have ever met her.
‘It can’t be, in fact …..’ That left only the Witches of Sin. However, they all died long ago ….. But their souls remained with ….. Echidna, the Witch of Greed …. And it was only through her, or at least the tomb version of her that he could meet them.
For now, Beatrice kept silent, waiting until an opportunity showed for her to begin pulling at a few threads of the conversation, or snipping them off if required.
Across the theater, a certain maniacal clown could barely keep himself from visibly showing his distraughtness. Roswaal, coming to more or less the same conclusions as Beatrice, trembled internally at the implications.
‘To know all too well ….. Just who are you, Al-kun? If you knew Teacher ……’ He decided. If the others didn’t drive a thorough interrogation, he would. Roswaal now HAD to know. If Al was possibly acquainted with Echidna, then chances weren’t non-zero that he too possessed something ….. Special to serve as a knight of such an unconventional candidate. If so, he could be a potentially helpful co-conspirator, especially when Subaru had him by the balls!
‘I need to calm down …. This is quite the leap in logic based on just a suspicious statement by Al-kun …. But is anything a coincidence, especially in this world as presented by the Warden?’ Roswaal prepared himself, smiling like that of a predatory bird.
“Al-dono. Surely you don’t expect us to simply gloss over such a statement, especially with our ongoing suspicions, do you?” Julius gazed sternly at Al, hand resting over where the pommel of his sword would be.
However, it was clear that Al wasn’t going to talk. Not without some coercion at least….
Reinhard turned towards and bowed to Priscilla. “Priscilla-sama … We understand that Al-dono is a member of your camp and is entitled to his secrets. However, the rest of us are …. Justifiably concerned, I believe, regarding his affiliations.”
“Come on, it ain’t like we can just let this slide!” Anastasia pressed, fiercely stroking her scarf, more concerned now given that the secrets she so wanted about another camp now had the possibility of being something much darker…
Priscilla only narrowed her eyes at this. Internally, she was curious as well regarding Al’s implied connections to a witch. However, in principle, she shouldn’t allow the likes of commoners to toy with her playthings as please!
Al remained silent, staring straight ahead at the screen, his mind racing through a million possibilities if he was indeed forced to answer.
“If I may …. “ Attentions turned to Wilhelm who bowed. “Priscilla-sama, I think we can all agree after all these viewings, the world is far more complicated than we initially understood. I would like to give Al-dono the benefit of doubt, but many of us are understandably concerned by the implications of what the Warden is showing. To that end, I humbly implore you to allow us to allay the worries of this old man.” Wilhelm kept his head lowered, waiting for Priscilla’s reply to his clever framing of his request to interrogate Al.
“T-that’s right! I’m sure there’s a good explanation! Al-san did say he means us no harm!” Emilia optimistically added, clasping her hands together.
Priscilla stayed silent, contemplating for a few moments. “Hmph. I shall play along with your cajolery, old fool. I suppose the ramblings of my clown shall provide mineself with entertainment once more.” At those words, Priscilla unfolded her fan and pointed it at Al. “Al. You may speak.”
Al just cursed every god he knew internally. How would he go about this? For now, he decided it would be best to let the audience lead, as they knew far less about the secrets of the world than him; their likely questions could therefore easily be deflected. “Tch …. I won’t promise to give satisfying answers to everything ….. But what do you want to know?”
Felix flattened his ears, glancing anxiously at Al and Crusch. Crusch met his eyes and nodded, mentally picking up the need for her Divine Protection and opened her mouth.
“Are you affiliated with the Witch’s cult?!?” Before Crusch could get a word out, Rem shot her question out with a suspicious glare in her eyes.
“Hey! Wait a momen--” Felix raised his voice before Crusch raised her hand slightly shaking her head that it was alright. To be honest, this was likely going to be her first question as well.
An easy first question for him to answer. Al replied without hesitation. “I have never been and never will be affiliated with the Witch cult in any way. That includes any sort of cooperating or consorting with those degenerates.”
“What a stupidly obvious question.” Priscilla snorted, digging Al’s grave a bit deeper despite him having just filled it back up ever so slightly.
However, many of the audience slightly relaxed. At least he wasn’t one of THOSE degenerates.
“Yeah, yeah, but that doesn’t mean anything when we got this clown over here!” Felt thumbed over to Roswaal who only smiled as the blonde princess began to further the conversation towards his desired direction. “You ain’t in the Cult, sure, but you DO know a witch right? And don’t give some sh*t about all of us technically knowing a witch now from these viewings!”
Well damn. No way out of it now. The only question left was which witch to refer to? And to what extent of the relationship should he disclose? “.....Yes…… I do know a witch” Al sullenly replied, hoping this would misdirect everyone from the fact he personally knew multiple.
Luckily for Al, Roswaal pounced on this. “How c~u~rious. Now if you don’t mind … who is this witch you are acquainted w~i~th?” He grinned in anticipation.
Beatrice, too, gave Al the side-eye, eager to learn whether someone else still present in the world had a personal relationship with her mother.
Somewhat relieved internally, Al thought. ‘....Ain’t the worst witch to have them know I have a connection with…’
“Echidna was the greediest girl I knew, but yeah, it’s her.” Al sighed resigned.
“Y-you knew mother, in fact? Is it true?” Beatrice alternated her wide pupils between Al and Crusch.
Crusch nodded. “He speaks no lies.”
“Where did you meet her? Was it also at the Sanctuary?” Emilia bursted out. As far as she knew, Echidna died 400 years ago! The only way Al could have met her was in her tomb!
“If he was, none of the ol’ hags ever mention’d him.” Garfiel grumbled, not sure what to think of the possibility of Al having visited the Sanctuary before.
“Garf is right. From what we’ve seen in the viewings, human visitors were incredibly rare. Even if you were to have snuck in, it’s unlikely you would have gotten past the Eyes of the Sanctuary. Yet, it’s weird that none of the Ryuzu administrators would mention this to Garf!” Otto threw his hat into the ring, giving Al a piercing gaze.
“Sorry, but I’m not answering that. Besides, where I met her really shouldn’t matter to any of you.” Al flatly parried that question with a short refusal which, surprisingly, held no lies.
Sensing that this line of questioning was going nowhere, Reinhard took the stage. “I see. Then what exactly is your relationship with the Witch of Greed?”
Tivey held onto his seat in anticipation. Now THAT was an interesting question! Just from the snippets of the viewings so far, it seemed like Al knew FAR more than he let on. If he got this knowledge from the Witch of Greed who seemed easy enough to begin dialogue with, then even he had an opportunity to engage with her! The things he could learn! The secrets he could uncover! All things considered, it didn’t seem like such a bad thing to have some sort of relationship with her! After all, she said herself that powerful and important people from all around the world once sought her out! At the very least, she seemed quite harmless compared to the other witches. One just needed to keep their wits about and guard up around her.
“She was … I guess you could say she was my Teacher, or something like that anyway….” With a trailing voice, Al braced himself for the coming reactions.
Roswaal’s mouth almost dropped. Al was essentially another apprentice of Echidna like he was?!? When? Al almost certainly had to have come after him, right? Inwardly, Roswaal began to feel what he disgustingly recognized as envy. Sure, Echidna had counseled countless people and assisted them with many problems. However, to his knowledge, she had NEVER taken an apprentice except for him! He was special in that regard just as Beatrice could claim she was her one and only daughter! But to now learn that Echidna, even if possibly in an incomplete and altered form, took an apprentice after him! His hands clenched into his armrest, leaving indents.
Ram glanced worriedly over to her beloved, easily understanding just what plagued his mind. Funnily enough, pangs of envy ripped through her heart as well, once again confirming all too well the depth of Roswaals feelings towards Echidna to feel such a way about her second apprentice. Brushing those feelings aside, she clasped one of her hands over his.
“Roswaal-sama. Please.” She urged him in a whisper to control his emotions.
“Ah …. Yes Ram, you’re right…”
“Ya gotta be kiddin’ me! Another Witch’s apprentice! Just like tha’ clown!” Felt raged from her seat as Reinhard tried to pull her down from standing on it.
Al shuffled his feet. “To be honest, I feel kinda disgusted being put in the same bucket as him … I haven’t done anything even a quarter as bad as he has!” Protesting, he gestured with disdain at Roswaal.
Felt, however, didn’t relent. “So what, you tryna revive that greedy bitch as well?”
At that, both Beatrice’s and Roswaal’s eyes lit up in interest. Was it possible that Echidna had groomed multiple people to attempt her resurrection? If so, a like-minded collaborator would prove INCREDIBLY useful for Roswaal’s plans. Beatrice was more conflicted. While she had implicitly agreed to help Roswaal in reviving Mother as long as it didn’t conflict with Subaru’s and the rest of the camp’s wellbeing, she absolutely had her reservations conspiring with such a shady man!
“No! No, definitely not! Look, I get why you’re all worried, but I swear, I don’t have anything to do with her anymore! We haven’t crossed paths in years!” Al immediately blurted out, inwardly disgusted at the very notion.
“Truth.” Reinhard tersely fulfilled his duty as a human lie detector as the audience glanced over to him for verification.
“In that case …. How do you feel about Mother, I suppose?” Noting how Al seemed to have not-so-straightforward feelings towards Echidna, Beatrice was curious. Was Al closer to the likes of Roswaal, someone enamored and obsessed with her? Or was he closer to Subaru, also a victim of her machinations?
To Al, this question was difficult for him to answer, even if he wanted to tell the whole truth. Furthermore, to answer with liking or disliking Echidna both came with its downsides. If he went the safe route and told everyone he disliked her, he could likely calm many of the others down. However, judging by the stink-eye Roswaal was giving him, he REALLY didn’t want to make an enemy of him. But to answer with the other option ……. Was definitely a no-go.
“It’s complicated. I can’t really say whether I like or dislike her. One thing’s for sure though. I really don’t want to cross paths with her again if I can help it.”
A bit of a non-answer, but it seemed to serve its purpose of allaying the audience’s fears of him consorting with a Witch while also not making an enemy of an insane clown.
“And what exactly did you mean by “knowing all too well” about what a menace witches can be?” Crusch pivoted the conversation to a new direction.
“Don’t want to go into details. But it’s definitely one of the main reasons why I don’t want to cross paths with Echidna again. Or any other witch for that matter.” Al replied evasively.
“But Al-dono! If you have information that may assist us in warding off or defeating such menaces, surely you understand how it would benefit us all!” Indignant at the possibility that Al could be intentionally leaving them all ignorant to potential disasters, Julius could not help but shoot him an accusatory growl.
“Yeah man. We’ve all got our own bad experiences, but ya can’t be leavin’ us in the dark like that buddy.” Ricardo agreed in a disappointed voice.
Yet, Al just shrugged so casually that one could almost forget he was at the center of a half-baked trial.
“Look. I think I’ve explained what I meant in the viewing adequately enough for you all. I told you I knew Echidna, wanted nothing to do with her because of what she can do, and that I’m no threat to you guys. It isn’t like there’s some sorta magic spell to ward off a witch from messing with you! Besides, where do you all get off on trying to pry everything out of me, picking my mind like I’m some sort of lab rat? She’s a witch! As if I haven’t had enough dealing with that incomprehensible monster, so get off my back!.” With a frustrated tone, it was obvious that Al was running low on patience.
Al then took on a softer, more subservient tone. “Princess, I get that this might be entertaining for you, but can we please move on with the viewings? I’m sure we all want to get out of this place sooner or later.”
“...... I suppose you’ve danced well enough for now, clown. I shall graciously grant you a break before the next time you take the stage.” Priscilla turned towards the screen. “Continue.”
“Al-sama, you……”
“Hm?”
As Al was lost in thought, Schult unexpectedly called to him with an unsettled look in his eyes.
The gesture of holding the silver serving tray to his chest was terribly feminine and out of place.
“He looks only a bit younger than you when you started working as a maid, Petra-chan!” Frederican whispered good-naturedly at Petra, ruffling her head while smiling at the cute scene.
Petra half-giggled and half-pouted. “I wasn’t that small Frederica-neesama!”
“It’s correct that you have become Priscilla-sama’s knight, yes, indeed? You protect her. I can trust that you are her ally, can’t I?”
As Schult questioned him seeking reassurance, Al closed his eyes inside his helmet.
As a way of calming the fear in his heart, the boy was looking for powerful words from Al. However,
“When you ask like that, whether I’m her ally or I’m plotting something, of course I’m going to cheerfully reply “Yeah, leave it to me. I’m the princess’ amazing, strongest knight!”. As a question, it’s not really appropriate, ya see. Sorry, please try again.”
“Oh? Seems like yer knight ain’t as enamored with ya as ya thought!” Anastasia, wanting to poke fun at the crimson-princess after yet-again ending an opportunity to fish out Al’s secrets, snidely remarked.
Priscilla just grunted, not exactly denying her words. “This dog simply needed a bit more training than most before accepting mineself’s grace.”
He could tell that Schult had been hurt by his response.
“He seems like such a good boy that r~ea~lly cares about Priscilla-san….” Emilia’s heart melted at the sight of the saddened boy.
Despite that, looking at that expression didn’t cause any regret to stir in Al’s heart.
In betraying the pure look directed at him by the boy, Al didn’t hesitate for a moment. For the sake of his goal, he discards everything else. In a sense, certain sacrifices were necessary for achieving his wish.
Repeating the same mistake again and again, as he had in the past, that alone absolutely could not be allowed, after all.
If anybody could understand that type of thinking, it would have been Roswaal who was literally a 400-year old embodiment of that philosophy.
‘It seems, unlike with Subaru-kun, I share more common ground with Al-kun….’ Roswaal closed one eye, peered an orange pupil at Al. He still knew next to nothing about him, but Al, a fellow apprentice of Echidna (despite the envy that threatened to consume him just from acknowledging it), did not seem to be either a man of pure moral upstanding or a naive fool. Things were looking up when it came to finding potential co-conspirators! All that remained was whether he actually possessed any skills worth mentioning… This was quite the tough bar to clear considering how difficult it would be to top Subaru’s ability to literally overwrite fate itself.
Then, there was the issue of how to actually lure Al to his cause. What does he want? What are his goals? Just how loyal is he to Priscilla? All kinds of considerations flashed through the clown’s mind.
“…What is this? I was wondering where you’d gotten to, and you are holding a gloomy tea party in a place like this?”
In the lounge that had fallen into silence, a beautiful voice that looked down on them from the sky intruded suddenly.
Violently opening the door without knocking, the lady of the mansion pushed inside while swinging the sleeves of her elegant dress. Folding her arms as though trying to lift her abundant chest, she closed one eye, and spoke.
“Schult. Your only role as an attache is to be there when I wish it. Missing that opportunity in a place like this is inexcusable. Spending time with an eccentric like Al is even worse. For someone like you whose only merit is cuteness, if his messiness were to infect you as well, it would simply be too much.”
“Ahh ….. So she really did take in that lil’ fella for that reason…” Smirking, Ricardo then turned to Tivey.
“Ya better make sure to watch out fer ladies like her Tivey, or you’ll be snarled in no time!”
“Wha-What is that supposed to mean!!!” Tivey yelped slightly alarmed, not quite understanding what he was implying.
Anastasia’s eyes widened with realization, and she quickly pulled him into her lap, petting his head.
“Y-yes milady?” Confused at this sudden attention, Tivey timidly asked.
“Nothin’ nothin’. Just felt like it is all….” Anastasia slightly grimaced. ‘As if havin’ ta watch out fer the lolimancer ain’t enough…. We might have ourselves a shotamancer as well!’
Snorting, Priscilla couldn’t even deign to comment. As if any shota could even come close to as cute as Schult!
“Saying that’s his only merit; you speak way more directly than I do, princess.”
“Well if Ram-san can be a maid, that’s as good of a reason as any ~nyan!” Felix snidely commented to the glares of both Rem and Ram.
“It is a fact, and when I state it it becomes an even stronger truth. What other value does Schult have at this time? Even then, compared to the other worthless commoners, he is at least a little better. It will be necessary to take away even that merit if he continues to betray my expectations, of course.”
Looking over the pair that had been conversing in the lounge, Priscilla sniffed dismissively and derided them. Al couldn’t help but give a prideful wry smile, but Schult’s face went pale.
“A treacherous sponsor. An incompetent waitstaff. And a suspicious other-worlder … Now that I think about it, isn’t this too similar to how our camp started?” Otto asked incredulously, astonished at such a coincidence.
“Don’t forget an eccentric royal candidate, in fact.” Beatrice snorted unimpressed. “And don’t describe Betty’s Subaru as suspicious, I suppose!”
“Yeah, Otto! Subaru is a good boy and - Hey! I’m not eccentric!” Emilia nodded earnestly before stopping midway, whipping her head towards Beatrice and pinching her cheeks.
“MURGHHGH, LERT GO!” Many in the audience simply chuckled at the quick back-and-forth.
Priscilla just rolled her eyes. “Do not presume to compare me to that half-wit, merchant scum. Whereas I established dominance over the commoners with haste, her incompetence cost the lives and sanity of that dog.” Striking that low blow, the mood in the theater immediately dipped as Emilia began to look down at the carpet in guilt.
However, she quickly caught herself, and turned back up towards Priscilla with determination in her eyes. “.... It is as you say, Priscilla-san. However, I have grown since then …. I won’t make the same mistakes again.”
Priscilla just grunted, the best sign of approval one could wring from her at that point.
“I… I’ll work harder, oh yes, indeed! So… so please… don’t abandon me…”
“Do not cry and cling to me, it is unbecoming. I can adore even your crying face, but relying on that pity from the start is the height of folly. I do not need a common person as my attache. Continue to show me your value.”
After Priscilla cut off his trembling speech, Schult hurriedly wiped his eyes with his sleeve. His eyes were slightly reddened, but Priscilla nodded at him as he earnestly raised his head.
“What an earnest young lad…” Wilhelm smiled slightly at how quickly Schult recomposed himself.
Many in the audience shared thoughts; it was almost as if they were watching a male version of Petra (though somewhat more timid).
“That will do. If they lack the backbone to change the way they stand, then the likes of you are no better than corpses. Corpses can become fertilizer if they return to the earth, but if they stay atop the earth while being no different from the dead, nothing good comes of it. I will not have you wasting my air. Take every breath as though it were your last.”
“Bit harsh, but she ain’t wrong … Slums got plenty of the livin’ dead.” Felt muttered with disdain as she thought of how many slum dwellers would hypocritically tell others to “live strong.”
Nodding along, many of the audience could only think back to Subaru, thankful he had decided to not abuse Return By Death, struggling and fighting until the very end in each loop.
“That’s a bit much… If Schult puts that much effort into breathing, he’ll die of stress, y’know?”
Gently reproving Schult as he started breathing with a determined look, Al shrugged his shoulders at Priscilla.
“Princess, you’re dealing with a kid. I think it’d be alright to have a bit more care and compassion.”
“The uncertainty of the world rains down on everyone, adult or child, man or woman. Do hunger and starvation differentiate between the great and small? Does the curse of the plague discriminate based on social standing? All who live are equals. It is not as though we are held in a cage of iron bars, and thus trying to gain peace by letting another determine how you live is simply negligence.”
‘A cage of iron bars.’ Crusch just glared. The Covenant with Volchanica, while useful in its own right, was precisely an example of “gaining peace by letting another determine how you live.” Because of it, Lugunica had grown weak and dependent, unable to solve its own problems. Priscilla was also right in another asset: the uncertainty of the world spares no one. Volchanica’s support could never be a 100% guarantee. If it were to end, whether by her hands or by divine providence, just how would the people carry on?
“Princess?”
As Priscilla spoke those stern words, irritation bubbled to the surface of her beautiful face. Al couldn’t help but take it that the irritation was related to the latter part of what she had just said.
Felt just shot a nasty look at Reinhard. “Yeah I’d be pissed too. Like being forced to enter a royal selection I wanted no part in to begin with!”
“My apologies, Felt-sam-” Reinhard caught Felt’s fist towards his face.
“Quit apologizin’! Ain’t helping nobody now!”
“Mineself’s irritation had nothing to do with your perceived shared experiences, gutter-rat.” Priscilla spitefully replied, though with less heat than expected.
Before he could figure out the source of it, though, Priscilla’s expression changed.
“All that live are equal. …Of course, that does not include myself.”
“Princess……”
As she grinned, Priscilla concluded by saying that with the world’s coldest smile.
It was the mantra Al had heard her repeat countless times since he began serving as her knight.
“…This world is designed to operate in the way that works best for me.”
“That didn’t seem to be quite genuine this time….” Otto murmured a bit too loudly.
Crusch internally agreed, also noticing a slight breeze of untruth at Priscilla’s last rebuke. Did she also happen to have been forced into circ*mstances she didn’t want to be in?
That was the basis of Priscilla’s confidence, and the words which most defined her existence.
Words that it would be only natural to laugh at, but somehow they had a magic that couldn’t be laughed off.
“Come now, Schult. It is exactly as I just said. Everything in this world is for my convenience……If so, what would be most convenient for me, as I am thirsty?”
“Ah… yes. I’ll pour some tea right away, oh yes, indeed!”
“Imbecile. The contents of that teapot have already cooled. And if you are trying to tell me to drink Al’s leftover tea, it goes beyond rudeness into rebellion. I’ll have your head removed.”
“Yeesh …. Glad I don’ work there … Least I ain’t have to worry ‘bout my lady beheading me if I screw up!” Ricardo chuckled.
Anastasia turned towards him with a sickly sweet smile. “Course not! I’d just turn ya into a debt slave fer the rest of yer life! So ya best be behaved!”
“Yes ma’m…” His ears just drooped like a beat dog (wolf?).
Petra too was glad for the relatively lenient workplace environment of the Roswaal mansion. Sure, she had to serve a scheming clown that might at any moment incinerate them all, but, generally speaking, the worse she had to deal with was Frederica’s scolding and Ram’s laziness.
“Please, anything but that! I’ll go brew more right away, oh yes, indeed!”
Cradling the pot in his arms, Schult fled from the lounge.
While listening to the small footsteps fade into the distance, Al smirked at Priscilla and shrugged,
“Princess, you really are mean.”
“A butler who can calmly do the job is fine, but having one who rushes about flustered like a child is amusing as well. If they were looking for a proper waiter, who would go to the trouble of picking up an orphan? I will allow Schult the honor of relieving my boredom now and then.”
“He’s got it rough, too…… Just by having the princess’ attention.”
“And what is rough about it? He can speak with me, and is even able to serve me regularly. This much good fortune is an honor that the men of the world would cry tears of blood for, and want so badly they could taste it. There could not be another child as fortunate as that.”
“Mimi and her brothers are much more fortunate.” Mimi, bored out of her mind, said languidly.
“If anything, I feel sorry for that boy….” Tivey trailed off.
While justifying treating Schult roughly, Priscilla was implying that she sought the same degree of gratitude from Al as well.
Al responded to that greedy look with a noncommittal “Yeah, yeah.”.
“Such a rude man. It seems that you have forgotten that you nearly lost your head at my whim. ……Well, fine. So now, Al.”
“What is it, princess?”
“…How is your plotting coming along?”
At that chilly voice, Al held his breath and looked at Priscilla.
“This is just getting worse and worse for you, isn’t it dog-boy?” Ram jeered at him as the screen yet again revealed Al’s highly suspicious nature.
There was no mistake that she had chased off Schult, and waited until no one else was around to bring up the topic. To have a bomb dropped in the middle of a casual conversation like that was a surprise like being hit by an actual nearby blast.
“Just what is goin’ on? We know that Leip guys plottin’ somethin’ nasty. Now tha’ bucket-head is too? And the stuck-up lady knows ‘bout both of ‘em? This ain’t making any sense!” His brain overheating at so many levels of intrigue, Garfiel couldn’t help but sound his frustrations.
“Priscilla-san seems to have had it hard finding people she could trust at first too…” Sympathetic as ever, Emilia realized how lucky she was that at least Subaru was always on her side since they first met.
“Whatever it is, I am sure it will be revealed in due time. Let us continue watching.” Wilhelm solemnly replied, also beginning to like Al less and less.
Giving him one more suspicious look, the knights and candidates (aside from Priscilla) return to face the screen.
If he hadn’t been simulating a flow of events like that ahead of time, he’d probably have been caught off-guard.
‘That is …. A curious choice of words ….’ Roswaal narrowed his eyes as he mused internally. Could it really be? For now, he needed to keep watching.
“It’s not really anything so grand as plotting. For now it’s just purely getting a good look at things. So you’d noticed that I was quietly sniffing around, then?”
“My eyes and ears and all of myself are not only more beautiful than the ordinary people, they are more capable as well. Not only that, but this is my domain and my garden. If I wish to listen for the footsteps of a mouse or the wingbeats of a bug, they will reach me.”
“So she ain’t totally oblivious to everyone schemin’ against her….” Anastasia murmured to Crusch.
“It would seem so, but to what end?” Just what was the crimson lady’s goal? Was it just something she found amusing and so allowed? Crusch didn’t know.
“If you go treating everything like it’s yours, your husband Grandpa Leip will cry.”
“If I make an old man like that cry, or wither away, it matters little. I don’t care in the least.”
It was a relationship where one didn’t expect the couple to love each other dearly, but for it to be this harsh was regrettable. However, now was not the time to be worried about the future of the local dysfunctional couple.
Emilia just frowned, reminded again at the existence of something as sad as a loveless marriage.
“If yer upset with me crawling around, then what’ll ya do? Am I gonna get beaten with a whip, then?”
There was no reason for the punishment to be that light, but being thought of as rebellious was problematic, too. In the worst case, he would have to consider the option of using his trump card against Priscilla, but…
“I cyan’t believe you’d let someone like that into your household!” Felix exclaimed, unable to believe how seemingly careless Priscilla was acting.
“This certainly goes beyond just an issue of social standing.” Julius elegantly shook his head and asked Priscilla. “Priscilla-sama, as a Royal Knight who, while in primary service to Anstasia-sama, is still obligated to pay heed to other candidates, I must ask. Is it not concerning, allowing a man of such suspicious and possibly sinister background in your close proximity?
“If ya did at least some sorta backgroun’ check, that’ll be one thin’, but this is just…” Backing up her knight, Anastasia shook her head in disbelief.
Annoyed, Priscilla crossed her legs and spoke haughtily. “Are all you commoners hard of hearing or daft in the head? It goes beyond disrespect, demanding a goddess to repeat herself. The world is made for mine convenience. As such, all petty schemes and plots are useless before mineself.”
The audience had heard this phrase or some variation of it nearly a million times by now. They certainly weren’t getting anywhere trying to make sense of that logic. Rather than remain dumbfounded, it was more productive to continue watching for more answers.
“Upset? I’m not going to throw a tantrum over you simply wandering around the house. Really, at the point that I invited a brigand like yourself inside, this sort of trifle was expected.”
Anastasia couldn’t help but somewhat agree. No stranger to the rather crude behavior of mercenaries, she was more so surprised at how tolerant Priscilla seemed!
However, that wariness was shown to be off the mark by Priscilla’s unexpected reply.
“……Yer… really ok with that?”
“For a man to sniff, and desperately follow my lingering scent is the natural way of things. I’m not so inconsiderate as to blame a man for following his nature and being swayed by my charm. Also…”
Reinhard frowned at that. “Suspicions of Al-dono’s loyalties to Priscilla-sama aside …. I’m also concerned as to what he meant by his “trump-card”.” Pulling that small detail with perfect recollection, he looked at Al with a questioning gaze, though not really expecting much of an answer.
He certainly wasn’t the only curious one. Beatrice too, while reclining in the reliably warm seat that was her contractor, gave a suspicious side eye. This trump card ….. Could it really be?
Roswaal’s clownish grin grew. ‘An Authority perhaps?’
Ram wasn’t blind to his sudden change in demeanor. She hid a conflicted expression from her face. Clearly, her beloved had been growing more and more interested in Al. She wasn’t stupid. The only reason for this was if he considered cooperation with Al possible, someone who might potentially share in the same …..”qualities” as Barusu.
‘This is …. Not good. Barusu is a hopeless masoch*st who will wag his tail for us all no matter what hardships fall upon him… But this Al is far from so … noble. If Roswaal-sama were to conspire with him…..’ Ram gripped her skirt in consternation.
Al, however, just shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry buddy. But you can’t really be expecting me to share my skills and stuff to a rival camp, right? Stuffs like a trade secret and all.” It was a casual reply with no faulty logic, but Al was anything but relaxed internally. ‘With my luck and the direction this is all heading …. It looks like you’ll all see it for yourselves anyway….. sh*t…’
Priscilla was entirely unimpressed. “To call such a cheap trick a trump card. How excessively arrogant.” Muttering to herself, she resolved to smack Al around a bit once the viewing was over for thinking he even had a chance to defeat her.
As Al stood bewildered, Priscilla glanced sidelong at him with enough seductiveness to leave him senseless.
“People in uncertain positions like yours can’t survive without trying to find a safe harbor. If I were to blame you for looking to the left and right to be certain of things, it would be as foolish as telling a bird not to fly.”
“……”
“Eh, it ain’t pretty to admit, but that’s kinda par-for-the-course.” Ricardo remarked understandingly while Mimi and Tivey nodded along. “For us mercenary folk, our lives are ridin’ on a contract and we ain’t ever guaranteed a new one.”
Tivey pushed his monocle up the bridge of his nose. “With no status or position, a mercenary’s livelihood is really volatile.”
“And that’s why our lady is the best! She gives us permanent jobs and lets us eat whatever we want!” Mimi jumped up and declared proudly.
Julius simply smiled, slightly shaking his head at the antics of the 3, though he certainly agreed regarding the greatness of his liege’s greatness.
Said liege sighed slightly exasperated. “Alright Alright, settle down you three. Yer embarrassin’ me…”
“A mercenary swordsman who I have known only a few days. To believe that he has already given me his loyalty with all his heart… to believe that would be the foolishness of a dreamer. It would be a tremendous show of unreason.”
“So you do realize his potential liabilities…” Crusch noted neutrally. “I suppose we’ll see them cleared up in these viewings.”
As Priscilla ended her annoyed speech, Al softly let go of the wariness that had been controlling his body.
At the very least, there were no lies in what she had just said. Since she’d thought about it enough to come to that conclusion.
“…..Here I was so sure you’d say ‘Comparing myself with others is disrespectful. All the lot of you need to do is look at me and have your vision stolen away by my glory.’”
“None fear turning the eyes of others away from themselves more than those with no belief in themselves. I have every confidence that I am the greatest in the world. Hence, that sort of anxiety has no hold on me.”
Many in the audience just rolled their eyes.
“Sheesh … just how many times are we gonna hear her say that….” Felt grumbled.
Pulling a folding fan from her cleavage, and opening it with a snap, she continued “Also”,
“There is no doubt that I am the most beautiful gem in the world, but that one is superior is only understood properly when there are other jewels to be compared to. In order to grasp how wonderful I am, it’s necessary to compare me to the ordinary masses. Your walking about, too, in the end is nothing other than a roundabout compliment that confirms my greatness. What do you think, is that not a masterpiece?”
“……Yeah, that’s a masterpiece.”
Laughs could be heard across the theater with even the knights themselves suppressing chuckles. Taking in someone with such a shoddy appearance because having them by your side made you look all the more glamorous? Most would be purely offended at the idea if it wasn’t so absurd!
“It appears Al-dono too does not have very high standards to strive for as a vassal…” Wilhelm commented, slightly smirking, recalling how Subaru was all too eager to be a dog if it was Emilia’s.
Priscilla was just smiling smugly while Al sighed, no stranger to her abuse. Well, he didn’t mind it anyway. If anything, he quite enjoyed it as it brought a bit of spice into his colorless, droll life!
Despite concealing her mouth with the opened fan, Priscilla couldn’t completely conceal her smile. As she spoke of her own unbridled arrogance, Al paused a moment, and agreed.
Priscilla didn’t point out that faint hesitation. She understood that it would be meaningless to do so.
And Al was shaken, to the extent that he didn’t grasp Priscilla’s understanding.
It was a shock. One that made him feel as though he had been struck in the head.
The girl standing before his eyes, barely of age herself, looked like something other than what she had before.
What on earth did she resemble…?
“It appears that, like Barusu, his perverted masoch*stic side has been awoken.” Ram snorted at Al being demeaned onscreen.
“Priscilla-sama! My apologies for taking so long, oh yes, indeed! I’ve brewed more tea!”
“Too slow!!”
Before he could find the answer he was thinking deeply about, Schult opened the door and came flying into the room.
Priscilla’s angry voice greeted him, and Schult fearfully set out the tea with unsteady hands. Priscilla sat down on the empty sofa next to him, brazenly crossed her white legs and waited.
And while gazing at his terribly unguarded mistress and the red-faced boy butler, Al sank again into deep thought.
Again, many chuckled with looks of sympathy towards the poor pink-haired boy. Petra herself giggled while also thanking her lucky stars that her lady was such a kind-hearted woman. Now if only she could somehow drive her actual master to his death and have Emilia take over instead…..
５
Al grimaced in an unseen scowl at the smell wafting through his helmet.
This was the second time he had come into the study, and it evoked the same emotions as before.
“We’ve chang’d places ‘gain.” Garfiel scowled at the sudden shift in scene.
The bad air of a room with insufficient ventilation, and the unique smell of antique books. He thought that he’d become used to the combination, but when the smell of cologne used by someone trying to hide their body odor was mingled with the incompletely-hidden smell of the master of that room, it was another story.
As a result, the study had an air that people hesitated to enter without need.
“And it certainly doesn’t look like the most welcoming of places.” Otto continued that thought.
“Ewwww! It probably smells really bad!” Blanching at the description of the room, Mimi covered her nose, almost smelling the study from the screen.
“You’re late.”
With his enthusiasm already whittled away by the foul smell that greeted him, Al was further disheartened by that joyless voice. He’d been reluctant to move his feet this direction from the start, and now his motivation had fallen below zero. If the one he was meeting was one that would forgive rudeness, he’d have long ago escaped through the door behind him.
Leaning towards Wilhelm, Crusch whispered. “It seems Al-dono, despite not being entirely loyal to Barrielle, does not particularly like the Baron as well. Wilhelm-dono, are you acquainted with him? If so, what are your thoughts?”
However, the person before his eyes was not so lenient as to forgive such an action as humorous.
Wilhelm, silent for a moment, spoke quietly. “I only briefly served under him during the Demihuman war. Suffice to say, to call him unpleasant would be an understatement. Though, it is difficult to say for sure whether that is the main cause of Al-dono’s dislike.”
Crusch nodded at the answer. Whatever the case, it seemed like the screen would eventually reveal Leip’s downfall and death.
“You’re late.”
The repeated rebuke, entirely unchanged from earlier. The hoarse voice conveyed contempt and insult, and sought an commensurate response from the disheartened Al.
Not content simply with blaming him, it would not be satisfied without crushing his will. Such a heartless man.
“Truly a despicable human being, I suppose…” Beatrice muttered while Emilia frowned in agreement.
“You’re l…”
“I’m terribly sorry. What with the mansion being so vast, when I’m summoned suddenly, I end up checking here and there all over the place. Were you saying something just now?”
Deliberately speaking over top of the third rebuke, he was rewarded with an ‘tsk’ full of undisguised ill humor.
“From the way everyone’s looking at him with distaste, I can’t believe that he didn’t order you executed right then and there…” Shrinking back at the dangerous game Al was playing on screen, Otto could only be reminded of Subaru’s seemingly lack of disregard for stepping on people’s shoes.
Al just chuckled darkly. “Trust me. He wouldn’t do that. He’s the type to dish out punishment personally.”
“Indeed he is…..” Wilhelm surprisingly confirmed in a gravelly voice while sternly glaring.
Somewhat more relaxed after that reaction, Al once again looked squarely at the master of the study.
He was an old man seated at an ebony desk, with the room’s bookshelves to his left and right. He’d been told his age was close to seventy, but his energetic body held the youth of someone in their fifties. His expression, and his ambition-filled eyes, lent themselves to that impression, and his unbowed back and honed build also made him look like quite an individual.
In opposition to that appearance, however, his harsh, self-centered, arrogant personality was a fatal flaw.
“I don’ know … sounds like a certain candidate we all know, don’t it?” Felt mockingly crowed.
Anastasia too couldn’t help but voice her distaste. “Well at least she’s got some charm and flair to it …. This Leip fella’s just all sorts of nasty.”
The old man’s name was Leip Barielle. The lord of the Barielle Barony, and master of the Barielle manor who had taken the Red Woman, Priscilla, as a wife. In formal terms, as the companion of the one that Al had offered his sword to, this was someone that he should respect.
In truth, Al didn’t think of him as the least bit worthy of that respect.
While it would take alot for Frederica to admit that about her lord and master, even she couldn’t suppress a nod.
“There are … certainly others that Al-dono could have sworn his sword to.” Reinhard reproached in a diplomatic manner.
“It seems you are accompanying ‘that woman’, wandering about the domain daily.”
“When you say ‘that’…?”
“…tsk. ‘That woman’ means ‘that woman’. My wife, Priscilla, of course!”
“Indeed. Oh, I just wanted to be sure. My mother taught me that when they stop calling each other by name, it’s proof that the love of a couple is growing cold.”
“Now ‘hats one sh*tty marriage!” Garfiel laughed.
Emilia grimaced. “I don’t think it’s that funny…..” She had gotten used to Subaru endearingly calling her with his signature “Emilia-tan” and couldn’t imagine otherwise. It hurt to even consider the possibility where he might one day grow so cold towards her to refer to her as just “that woman.” Hearing that from him would honestly be more hurtful than the typical “half-devil” or “half-witch” jeers she would receive from strangers.
As Liep grew irate, Al gave an appropriate answer, while sticking out his tongue on the inside.
“I hear you’re a gladiator, but do you have any memory of your parents?”
At that, many of the audience’s eyes softened. Through all the heavy viewings and surprising revelations regarding Al, it was easy to forget that he too was ripped from his world and thrown into likely an even worse predicament than Subaru was.
“Al-san, do you miss your parents?” With neither a hint of ill-will nor tact, Emilia gave him a look of sadness and pity.
Al fidgeted with his helmet a bit, thinking about how to answer. “It’s been a long time…. Can’t say I have many memories from back then….”
Tivey and Mimi glanced at him with empathy. As orphans, they too knew all too well the feelings of not knowing or remembering one’s parents.
“Hey, it’s not like all of the gladiators in Vollachia are thrown into the arena right after they’re born. There’s actually a lot more thrown in there that got into debt after growing up, or who were criminals. Well, the end result is that you end up getting cut apart by someone your age who fought their way up from the bottom.”
“What a barbaric practice…..” Frederica could only imagine the plight of demihumans in Lugunica if such a practice was allowed there as well.
Julius brushed his hair aside, giving his elegant condemnation. “Even if they are criminals, this can hardly be called justice, forcing them to butcher each for savage entertainment.”
“Hmmf. It seems like just the sort of scenery the savages in the empire would like. I can just imagine their poor taste.”
It was a rare occurrence, but Al found himself agreeing with the prejudice that Leip spat out.
“Guess even a broken time crystal’s right once a day. Sheesh.” Ricardo grumbled.
His days as a gladiator were something that, honestly, he didn’t like to recall.
Fighting with his life on the line in the battles held seemingly every day, competing for glory or testing his strength didn’t agree with Al’s nature. Having barely escaped with his life, he was now able to spend his days like this, in relaxation.
“If it was like that, I guess I cyan’t really blame him for just looking for a place to settle down ~nyan…” After years of participating in death matches for sport, never knowing if today was your last? Felix could at least understand Al skulking about trying to confirm his environment.
“It certainly is reassuring to know Al-dono is not the bloodthirsty, glory-hunting type.” Crusch nodded. Sure, his loyalty might be a bit lacking, but if he was willing to put in the effort to remain by Priscilla’s side, all that remained was for Priscilla to reciprocate, thereby truly earning his loyalty. At least this, Crusch could agree with. Knowing a witch aside, perhaps Al was not so suspicious or insidious as the viewings seemed to depict him so far?
“Well, enough about you for now. It’s about Priscilla. What do you think about how ‘that woman’ is wandering about the domain every day, doing as she pleases?”
‘Doing as she pleases?’ Rem met this statement with internal disapproval. Even if Leip and Priscilla were married for reasons of politics or convenience, Priscilla was still the Baroness. Why would she be restricted within her domain? She wasn’t some sort of maid staff assigned to a certain area! Hell, even maid staff like her could go as they wished within reason once all their work was done!
“She’s quite an inquisitive one, is what I think. She’s a little different from the image… ah, the way I thought someone connected to a lord would spend their time, yes. She does seem to get a great reception from the locals, though.”
“Great reception. Heh. That’s a bit undersellin’ it. Bossy one’s kinda cool I guess.” Garfiel begrudgingly spoke. He didn’t necessarily like Priscilla, especially given the way he treated Subaru and Emilia (and everyone else for that matter), but even he had to admit her arrogance came with an irresistible charisma of its own.
Emilia’s feelings were a bit more complex, however. Someone worshiping Emilia like the locals did to Priscilla? The idea was mortifying! She already had her hands full with Subaru always going on embarrassing tangents on how great she was!
“A great reception, is it? Hmmf, they’re simply curious about her. It just happened that ‘that woman’s whim and sudden idea brought bounty to a field. Just with that, the peasants are treating ‘that woman’ like the god-dragon. I understand it well enough, but there are limits to that sort of nonsense!”
‘Whim and sudden idea…’ It was still a mystery exactly how Priscilla vitalized her lands. From the viewings, it seemed as if all she did was direct people with absolute confidence that it would turn out for the best. Was this something akin to the intuition of the Lion King that certain members of the Royal Family once held? It was a constant insecurity Crusch dealt with, who had nothing but her own experiences and education to rely on.
As he slammed his fist into the desk, Leip was grinding his teeth in anger.
It was likely her popularity with the locals that had set off his mood. Al, who was accompanying Priscilla day after day and traveling around the domain, could imagine that much. Setting aside the matter of Priscilla, Leip’s reputation in the various villages was poor; to the extent it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it rock-bottom.
‘That can hardly be surprising….’ Thought Julius, though he refrained from voicing it out loud.
‘He couldn’t have called me here to listen to him whine, could he?’, thought Al in disbelief.
“Believe me, Al-san ….. I know how you feel….” Otto unhappily groaned as he found in himself a kindred spirit. After all, it seemed like everytime someone in his camp had a problem, they would come to him first to complain about it.
Al shrugged unhappily. “Just part of the job.”
“Not that I’m trying to stand up for the princess, but the incident with the field might not have been a spur-of-the-moment thing. No matter which village we head to, the princess always produces the same result. Everywhere, no matter the condition of the soil. Well, I agree it’s hard to believe she has that kind of discernment.”
“But that does bring up a good question.” Tivey suddenly mused, his curiosity lighting up once again. “What could possibly do something like this? Clearly it isn’t the case that she can somehow tell the difference in rich soil since it works wherever she goes!”
“I’m interested as well, but it doesn’ seem like either of them are gonna spill the beans.” Anastasia eyed Priscilla and Al greedily.
“Don’t look at me. I’ve got no clue how Princess does what Princess does.” Al held up his one arm in a sign of surrender. Priscilla just boredly checked her nails.
Julius turned towards the smartest member of the room. “Beatrice-sama. Are you aware of any techniques that can revitalize the land like so?”
“Yes, we are quite interested. If anybody knows, it would only be a Great Spirit of Knowledge.” Crusch smiled sneakily, playing on Beatrice’s pride as a learned individual.
“Mrghhhh….” At Crusch’s cajoling, Beatrice’s inner intellectual was begging to be released. However, she wasn’t stupid enough to not realize when she was being flattered. But… but…. If she gave her sagacious wisdom, that would make her look good. And ….. Since she was Subaru’s contract spirit, wouldn’t that make him look great as well? And the world needed to know his greatness! Yes, yes, obviously this justified playing along of course. It was all for her contractor!
Clearing her throat, Beatrice took on the air of a teacher. ‘Ahem. Pay close attention children, for Betty won’t repeat herself. There are many ways to replenish and bolster the productivity of farmland, I suppose. Using earth magic, one can revitalize the soil, though the mana cost is high and the effect only temporary, in fact. One can also gather many Earth Spirits and they will continuously enhance the earth. However, spirits are prone to wandering and are difficult to capture in larger numbers to begin with, I suppose.”
“Wow, that’s amazing Beako! You can use magic and spirits to do something like that?” Emilia, thoroughly impressed with Beatrice’s vast knowledge of their applications, was quite happy learning this tidbit. After all, she was more of an intuitive magic user and most of her uses involved skewering enemies with icicles are creating a new ice age.
Reinhard was a bit jealous. For all his abilities and skills, magic and spirit arts were not part of them. With a unique gate that sucked in all the atmosphere around him but unable to expel it, he couldn’t cast even the simplest spell. Furthermore, the singular extent to which he could use spirits was having them autonomously heal his wounds. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him.
“Are there any non-magical ways, Beatrice-sama?”
Beatrice huffed. Yet another chance to show off the greatness of her contractor. “Betty’s Subaru has mentioned a few ways to do so, in fact!”
Now THAT had the audience’s attention. Roswaal and Otto were moderately interested as any ideas that could improve the domain were welcome. Emilia too, after pinching Subaru’s cheeks for yet ANOTHER instance of other-worldly knowledge shared with Beatrice but not her, happily waited with anticipation to hear how knowledgeable her cool knight was!
Rem perked up, eager to hear anything regarding Subaru while Ram just rolled her eyes. “To think Barusu’s repertoire of random skills and knowledge would include something possibly useful.”
Anastasia’s eyes shone with stars! This was the FIRST time that she might learn something ACTUALLY USEFUL derived from Subaru’s other-worldly origins. “Julius, make sure you record everything down!” She hissed fiercely.
Julius, befitting the title of “Finest Knight” was already scrambling over pen and paper, looking as if he was about to engrave Beatrice’s next words to his very soul.
Puffing up her chest, Beatrice’s need to be the sole proprietor of Subaru’s knowledge was completely overshadowed by her need to boast to the world. “Subaru mentioned the technique of planting “cover crops” instead of just leaving the field fallow, I suppose.”
Tivey was bouncing his leg like an engine piston. “And what are these “cover crops”?”
“Cover crops are crops that, while not edible, improve soil fertility just by virtue of being grown, in fact. When harvested, they can be turned into compost with some even able to be used as livestock feed, I suppose. Betty’s contract mentioned that clover and certain types of grasses can be used, in fact.”
Sounds of furious scribbling could be heard as Julius ripped through paper faster than Ohman making L takes in Discord.
Even Priscilla was intrigued. Perhaps Al had more value than as just a clown given that he came from the same world as well?
“What else, Beatrice-san? What else?” Petra begged her to continue. Knowledge such as this was not only interesting but could even improve the prosperity of her village. Plus, it would give her an excuse to interact with Subaru more when helping him implement such techniques!
“Hmph! Betty’s contractor also said that crops need soil with “nitrogen” and that one can do so by laying things such as wood ash and powdered bone and dried blood, I suppose!”
“B-bone and b-blood?” Felix’s expression turned into a horrified one. What was just a conversation of agricultural techniques just turned terrifyingly grotesque!
Emilia asked timidly, not sure if she would like the answer. “N-not human bones and blood, right? That would be r~ea~lly cruel….” Petra nodded furiously in agreement.
Beatrice stammered indignantly. “O-of course not, in fact! Animal bones and blood is perfectly adequate, I suppose!”
Internally relieved, Crusch nodded approvingly. “This is quite informative. To think that such remains could be so useful. Wilhelm-dono, we must immediately alert the people of the Karsten domain, particularly those involved in animal butchery.”
“It will be done, Crusch-sama.” Wilhelm replied solemnly.
“Though, human bones and blood CAN be used too.” Al, utterly shattering the mood and earning quite a few glares, suddenly felt the need to bring up.
“And what’re we supposed to do with that tidbit!?!?” Felt shouted in outrage.
Al slumped back into his seat. “Just thought you wanted to know….”
“Thank you, Beatrice-sama, for your wisdom and Al for ….. Clarifying.” Reinhard bowed. “You have done a great service to the Kingdom.”
“Hmph! It is Subaru that deserves all the glory, in fact!” Beatrice crossed her arms, pouting proudly.
“Of course. We will all certainly keep that in mind for the rest of the viewing.” Julius amended. “Now let us get back to watching.”
‘Well it was worth a try….’ Al thought. His last attempt at stalling the conversation with an absurd comment fell through. He certainly wasn’t going to be presented in the best light in the next few minutes…..Priscilla aside, Al could only hope the others would be a bit more understanding.
“It’s foolishness to think it’s discernment. What ‘that woman’ brings is something more repulsive. If not for that, why do you think she’s rumored to be ‘The Bloody Bride’?”
Al had shrugged his shoulders, but when he heard the alias that Leip mentioned, he stopped moving.
At that reaction, Leip showed the ugly smile of one who has finally gained what he sought.
“The Bloody Bride” was a derogatory name that followed Priscilla, who now went by the Barielle family name.
“Damn! ‘hat’s a badass name!” The Emilia camp, with the exception of Emilia, just cringed at Garfiel’s out-of-pocket shout.
“Garf!” Frederica bowed towards Priscilla. “I apologize for my brother’s outburst, Priscilla-sama. He is still young and lacks tact and etiquette, an issue I assure you we are rectifying.”
The crimson-lady was completely unfazed. “It concerns me not what mental issues plague that flea-bitten commoner.” Well, it was the closest thing to lenience that Frederica was going to get from her, so she accepted it with grace.
Priscilla was a maiden of not yet twenty years of age, but though she was now Leip’s wife, it wasn’t her first marriage. It was her eighth.
Also, of the seven in the past, every one of those marriages had failed. The cause was the death of her companion – in other words, Priscilla had piled up the experience of being separated from seven husbands by death.
“THE EIGHTH! DAMN, THAT’S A BLACK WIDOW RIGHT THERE!!!” Ricardo erupted in laughter, slapping his knees.
A vein in Priscilla’s forehead bulged as she stood up with her hand in the air, ready to summon her Yang Sword to no avail. “You dare, you dog!” She looked around, spotted a can of soda that was sitting in the cupholder of Al’s armrest, grabbed it, and hurled it with the speed of an all-star baseball pitcher at Ricardo’s head.
“Princess, I was drinking that!” Al’s helmet crashed into the carpet as Priscilla struck it with her fan for complaining.
With a harumph, her eyes blazed for a moment, before she sat back down again, slowly returning to a calm (though clearly pissed) demeanor.
“Really? Ya just couldn’ keep yer mouth shut could ya?” Anastasia hissed at the wet-dog that was Ricardo while Julius shook his head in disapproval.
Her companions’ deaths, in war, from illness, or by accident, were not from a single cause, and while Priscilla had been suspected of involvement in all their deaths, nothing had come of those suspicions as she made her way to where she was today.
As a result, her existence was famous, amongst those who knew of her, as the “Bloody Bride” who brings ill fortune. The reason that men continued to seek for her despite this, was that Priscilla was beautiful enough to make them forget the rumors of bad luck. That, too, was ironic.
“Truly, perverts like Barusu are led into places by their peppirs that most wouldn’t go with a sword saint…” Ram snickered, causing Roswaal to also break into a smirk.
However, Al didn’t think that Leip fit into that pattern.
One reason was that he was an old man who’s lust had long since dried up, but more than anything was that Leip was not crazed and blinded by Priscilla’s charm. That was clear from the way he avoided her, and his bearing just now.
“Huh. So he ain’t just a horny bastard?” Garfiel raised an eyebrow.
“Garf!” Otto slapped him on the back of the head.
In other words, the old man had some other goal in marrying Priscilla.
And that reason was…
“If she wasn’t a candidate for the upcoming Royal Selection, who would take in a trickster-woman like that? She thinks she can get away with anything just because she’s got a nice face. That event where she made you her knight was more of the same, wasn’t it.”
“Well, not that we should be surprised, I guess… I can already guess what for too.” Anastasia snorted with disdain. It was already becoming clear what Leip’s goal was.
“Such primitive ambitions are as clear as day even to the blind.” Priscilla replied listlessly.
“……I must say, you’re speaking quite bluntly. Don’t you worry that I might pass this on to the princess, and sour your relations?”
Not only speaking crudely, Leip revealed his crude motives without hesitation.
“How very sl~o~ppy, I must s~a~y….. Manipulating a Royal Candidate in such an incompetent w~a~y!” No stranger to such an act, Roswaal just had to voice his condescension for a fellow schemer. Professionals have standards, after all!
The entire Emilia camp glared at Roswaal with even Ram shooting him a reproachful glance. “Ya ain’t any better ya damn snake! Tryna twist the Princess and sh*t! Mighta succeeded if the Cap’n hadn’t beatcha at yer own game!” Garfiel snarled.
Roswaal held up both hands smiling in surrender. “Ind~ee~d he did! Truly a worthy knight of Emilia-sama, wouldn’t you agr~ee?”
Garfiel opened his mouth to retort before Emilia raised a hand stopping him. “Tch…” He clicked his tongue, looking away.
“Roswaal….” Emilia gave him an icy but calm glare. “All of us have seen Subaru’s accomplishments and are immensely grateful, especially me… But what is your reason for this provocation? Can you please explain it to me?” She glanced at Crusch who nodded, readying her Divine Protection.
By now, the audience could tell that Roswaal rarely interjected unless he wanted to push the conversation in a certain direction. So what was the clown up to now? “Indeed, the rest of us are quite curious as well.” Crusch added.
Al immediately got a bad feeling. Whatever Roswaal was trying to get at, intuition told him it was NOT to his benefit at all….
Roswaal grinned at Al who slightly shuddered. This was the perfect opportunity to set the stage, sparking even more interest in the audience towards Al. If Roswaal could just get everybody to hold onto their suspicions and continue to pressure him for his secrets …… It would certainly help in sowing discord among the audience who had already united against Roswaal, answer many of Roswaal’s questions regarding the man, and further isolate his camp from the rest, thereby streamlining a potential alliance and acquiring a co-conspirator that may possess unique …. skills.
“I merely wished to point out, judging by how we are all here today, Leip’s plans seem to have failed, likely due to our esteemed Al-kun…. Quite the feat for a mere mercenary, don’t you think? Perhaps they might have had a conflict of interests of s~or~t!”
Crusch frowned slightly in confusion. “That …. Much is obvious.”
Having not been notified of any lie, Emilia pursed her lips. “I see. Thank you for your answer.”
As everybody turned back to watching, a certain merchant-princess’s gaze lingered for a moment longer.
‘I hate the feelin’ of playin’ into the clown’s hands, but he has a point…. How and why did this Leip fella fail?” Anastasia stroked her scarf in contemplation. Well, whatever it was, the screen would show it all.
The Royal Selection – the great event that was rocking the Kingdom of Lugnica. In place of the royal family that had been wiped out by illness, the dragon that would choose the new king had brought about the trial that would open the way to the future. Leip was the man entrusted with the care of the prophecy plates where the future of the kingdom was written, so he held information about the Royal Selection even before the royal family was sick.
Reinhard’s eyes widened, surprise overtaking even his Divine Protection that regulated his emotions! “The Baron KNEW about the fate of the Royal Family and the Royal Selection even before they had begun to fall sick!”
“Priscilla-sama, is this true?” Julius whipped his head to Priscilla and Al, face full of shock. If what they were watching was true, that meant a noble of the kingdom really withheld knowledge of the Royal Family’s death!
Priscilla simply fanned herself and replied curtly. “Evidently so, commoner.” She wasn’t worried about what the rest of the audience might say: it would all wash off her like water. However, it would still be annoying, having to endure their constant prattling.
“B-but, why didn’t he warn them! If they had known …. If Ferri-chan had known …. I would have more time to resyearch a cure …. Wyould have more time to save them!” Felix stuttered with tears of anger. Was it really due to the greed of one man, the husband of a rival Royal Candidate no less, that cost his dear friend, Fourier’s life?!?
A similar expression of betrayal and indignation hung on Reinhard’s face. “I don’t wish to overstep my bounds …. But Priscilla-sama ….” A realization dawned on him as he put his Divine Protection of Perfect Recollection to work. “This viewing implies that you were aware of Leip’s plotting…”
The atmosphere suddenly turned stiff as many members of the audience began to understand what he was implying…
“Were you also aware of the Royal Family’s imminent downfall? If so, for how long?” Julius and Felix glared at Priscilla with anger, almost reluctant to hear the answer as Reinhard posed his question.
Both Roswaal and Anastasia had wide smiles with the former not even bothering to hide it. It seemed like quite the scandal for a rival camp was being unveiled! Hell, to call it a scandal was putting it lightly ….. Treason might have been a better word. For Anastasia, not one but TWO rival camps were facing serious allegations while for Roswaal, his mind raced, thinking of opportunities to leverage this to mitigate his own precarious standing.
But Priscilla was completely unflappable. “Since the beginning, it was obvious what that old dog was plotting, especially given his vulgar habit of constantly barking about his primitive schemes to his supposed staff.” She haughtily snorted. Truly, she thought him foolish and arrogant, so fatally lacking in cunning that could never match his ambition.
“S-since the beginning?!?!?” Julius exclaimed, horrified. That meant there may have been at least a month before the Royal Family even began to fall sick!
“I-isn’t that ….” Otto murmured.
“Isn’t that TRYEASON?!?!?” Felix mirrored, full on crying demonically at Priscilla. Eyes widened as that implication was finally voiced out loud.
“T-that is….” Reinhard found himself unsure. The Royal Family’s demise was known far in advance by a Royal Candidate. Could you even accuse the latter of treason against the former? Especially after the former had already died and all?
Roswaal’s smile widened. “M~y~, m~y~, it seems the Royal Knights will be quite busy, trying to arrest both me and Priscilla-sam~a~!” Sensing an opportunity to poison the well and muddy the situation even further, he took it. After the viewings ended and they returned, the chaos of so many revelations would likely render the chances of multilateral action against him and his camp close to 0.
“Oi! Shu-” Garfiel, not quite caring about the unfolding situation, simply hated Roswaal on principle. Whatever he had to say probably wasn’t worth hearing anyway. However, Otto, understanding what Roswaal was trying to do, clasped a hand over his mouth and shook his head to get him to calm down. Otto gritted his teeth. It felt really slimy taking Roswaal’s side. Ram, for her part, locked eyes with Emilia and Rem, holding her index finger to her lips in a shushing gesture. Don’t get involved.
The knights glared at Roswaal. What the hell were they supposed to do now? Not one but two instances of treason against royalty to pursue? From two separate camps? Things got infinitely more complex!
“Barielle-sama ….. Will you not explain yourself? How are we supposed to take this act of treason?” Wilhelm stared at Priscilla, though it was obvious he was attempting to hide his glare. As the former captain of the Royal Guards, he absolutely could not just let this slide.
Everybody just waited with bated breaths. Just what would she do? What would THEY do after her response? Could they even do anything? Out of all the things Priscilla could have done, explain, apologize, ignore, she did none of them.
“Heh heh heh…..” What was she doing? Hyperventilating? The audiences’ breath was slightly hitched. Recognition of that sound slowly crept into their minds. Could …. Could she really be ……
“Heh heh aha aHa HA” They couldn’t believe it! She was!
“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Laughing! She was laughing!
Al just slid down his seat, groaning internally. “Princess …. Please …….” Things were NOT looking good! If Priscilla continued to antagonize the audience like this, especially in light of her supposed treachery, Al ran the very real chance of being on the run. He did NOT like his odds.
“Oh shut your mouth, Aldebaran, you spineless clown.” Priscilla rebuked him, and then turned towards the crowd.
“Treason? Treason you say? Treason for not deigning to warn a lot of fools for whom the heavens themselves have decided to smite?” Priscilla grinned nastily as the knights and everybody else were aghast at this utter lack of disrespect and remorse.
“Tha- It’s not that simple! The Dragon Tablet gave prior warni-” Julius was suddenly cut off.
Priscilla chuckled. “Prior warning? From a tablet that tells the future akin to the gospels of those witch cultist scum? And you would ask mineself to place stock on such a dubious object? Utter foolishness! It does not take a great sage to imagine all the fates that may fall upon those fools! Or would you also call it treason were I to not warn them of when they may stub their toe next! Perhaps it is also treason that you Royal Knights did not actively seek out knowledge of such a possible future?” She licked her lips. “Or best yet, would the most terrible treason not be that committed by the Royal Family, abandoning all responsibility for their own destinies, leaving the Kingdom to ruin!?!?”
The Royal Knights of the audience could only stare in disgust at such a twist in logic. They simply glanced at each other, unsure if they were all hearing the same thing. And yet, within all those twists and mental gymnastics…..
“Tch…. the red bitch has got a point.” Felt, silent until now, clicked her tongue more in annoyance at the whole debacle than anything. Reinhard widened his eyes, astounded that his liege would take Priscilla’s side. He was even slightly hurt.
Meanwhile, Crusch had a conflicted look on her face the entire time. “Felt-sama… Barielle had access to a national treasure that foretold the Royal Family’s death and did nothing. Does she not hold some measure of responsibility for their demise?” Yet, even those words seemed more directed at herself than anything else while also lacking conviction.
Felt just shrugged. “Yeah, she’s a c*nt for not saying anything, but so what? What’s the difference between that and, say for example, Big Bro choosing instead to leave Big Sis to die to that gut-loving bitch after his first loop? How about when he asked ya all for help against Sloth in that one loop? Big Sis is a Royal Candidate after all. Ya gonna call that treason as well?”
Oh how ironic it was that the last surviving member of the Royal Family would hold such a perspective.
Emilia deeply grimaced at the thought of her beloved Subaru abandoning her to die. He almost did too, thought not that she held it against him. He had to pull off a herculean effort to save her while she was completely unaware of the threat. If anything, it only made her confident in his love for her as she squeezed his hand for comfort.
“..... I kinda get it….” Ricardo mused seriously, though not in an unsympathetic voice to everybody. “In the end, the only one responsible fer yer life is you… ain’t no one else.”
Julius glanced at him with a painful look of betrayal as well. It was here that another instance of the difference of mindset between knights and mercenaries made itself known. The worst part was that even he knew that the wolf-man wasn’t entirely incorrect.
Crusch just looked away bitterly. The knights too felt their shock and their indignation wearing off, especially resenting the fact that logic of those words was slowly seeping in.
Anastasia had a slight smile. She honestly didn’t care all too much about the Royal Family. While they seemed like nice people, gossip that reached Kararagi also indicated that they weren’t very competent either. Rather, what she was most interested in was the muted expression of frustration on Crusch’s face.
“Well, sharin’ their feelin’s of shock aside, you don’t seem too surprised, Crusch-san?” Anastasia cautiously probed.
Felix turned to Crusch, immediately not liking the implication of those words. Overall, it was shaping up to be a pretty rough session for the Royal Knights, knowing that their lieges weren’t as empathetic to their emotional turmoil as they would like.
“Crusch-sama?” Felix tearfully mewed. That look almost broke Crusch’s heart. She decided that she at least owed him an explanation regarding what she knew.
Crusch just clenched her fists, glaring at Priscilla with a conflicted look. “On the day of King Randohal’s death….”
Crusch slightly looked down. ‘And the day Fourier-sama died…’
She noticed some movement to her side. It was Wilhelm with a slight frown on his face, giving her a silent nod of reassurance.
She recomposed herself. “Leip-dono suddenly brought forth information of the new inscription on the Dragon Table concerning the Royal Selection …. As well as the dragon insignias to identify the candidates.”
“That sounds a bit ……” Emilia trailed off, not sure what to think of this revelation. After all, at the time, she was still living as a hermit in a frozen forest unaware of anything beyond it.
“Too convenient…..” Otto finished bringing a hand to his face. ‘Well …. At least it won’t be just our camp potentially facing charges of treason….’ He thought sardonically. If anything, these crimes could be considered even more grave than anything Roswaal had done in the eyes of the nobility. Not that he would admit such a cynical thought out loud though.
“Forgive me for my discourtesy, Crusch-sama, but did no one really question the timing of Leip-dono’s sudden revelation?” Reinhard pressed on. He couldn’t believe it. Did the nobility really just accept something so convenient from such a morally bankrupt man? He too harbored regrets and possibly even slivers of hatred. Like Felix, if he had more time … just more time ….. Surely he could have eventually broken through and reached the Sage!
“The Sage Council and the nobility at the time …. Were more concerned about the state of the pact with the Divine Dragon now that the Royal Family had passed on….” Crusch’s face took on an expression of pure disdain and hatred as she remembered the day where they all treated the Royal Family’s passing, particularly that of Fourier, as simply a footnote. “I had just discovered my own candidacy then and did not have time to pursue this line of investigation…. Though it is not as if I didn’t have any thoughts on the matter …. I simply did not expect Leip to be in possession of this knowledge this long in advance.”
Felix just faced Crusch with tears in his eyes. What truly pained her was seeing the hints of betrayal in his pupils. She could have at least told him about her suspicions.
“.....However, this does not excuse the fact that I, as the head of House Karsten, the most trusted allies of the Royal Family, should have investigated further. For that, I sincerely apologize … especially to all the Royal Knights charged with their safety.” Crusch lowered her head to Julius and Reinhard who simply accepted in silence with pained expressions.
“Ferris… I am sorry to you as well, for not voicing my doubts. Forgive me…”
Felix sniffed, slightly shaking his head. “I-it’s alright…. It wasn’t your fault …. There wasn’t anything you cyould have done anyway to save Prince Fourier…..” His ears drooped, heart wrecked by what could have been a missed opportunity to save his friend.
“Wilhelm-dono. As you are the former head of the Royal Guards, I too must offer you my apologies.” Crusch continued.
Wilhelm frowned, though not due to any negative feelings towards Crusch. “Please, you have nothing to apologize to me for. You too were kept in ignorance by Leip until it was far too late. And forgive me for what this old man is about to say….” He hesitated waiting for her permission. Crusch indicated for him to continue.
Wilhelm continued gracefully. “Prince Fourier would not wish to see you wallow in regret like this. So please hold your head up high, Crusch-sama, and continue to carry on his legacy. We can only be thankful that the truth has been revealed today.”
Crusch’s eyes widened a bit, but she then smiled bitterly. “Thank you, Wilhelm-dono.”
“Pfft. Figured those stuck-up bastards would worry ‘bout their own skin first, but whatever. My question’s why they’d even entrust that Dragon Tablet thingie to that scumbag anyway!” Felt suddenly brought up a good question.
“The girl brings up a good point. Doesn’ sound too smart ta me to not keep it at the Royal Castle.” Anastasia agreed. Just who in their right mind would entrust a literal national relic to a random noble, let alone one as unpleasant as Leip?
“Obviously, that bag-of-bones had ingratiated himself to the Royal Family, no doubt looking for opportunities to satisfy his lust for power.” Priscilla answered derisively.
“....Ever since his failures during the Demihuman war, after being stripped of his title and demoted to Baron, Leip’s ambitions have only grown.” Wilhelm suddenly brought up.
“However, the Royal Family has always strived to see the best in people.” He shook his head in half-disapproval and half-fondness. He could never forget how King Gionis had graciously tolerated Wilhelm literally sneaking into his room to free Theresia of her onerous role as the sword saint.
Tivey finished his thoughts. “It is likely that they bestowed upon him the honor of maintaining the Dragon Tablet in return.”
Crusch just nodded in anger as she gripped her armests. Loathe as she may be to admit, even Crusch thought that such a move was incredibly short-sighted.
“And now, you commoners know the truth that any pig with eyes could discern on their own.” Priscilla interjected, her annoyance finally boiling over at the pointless discussion.
“If you truly regret what befell the Royal Family as well as not seeing through the machinations of that rat, then what remains for you all is to shut your mouths and bear witness to a goddess's divine judgment!” In her own way, she lambasted the audience for being unable to get over the past and urged them all to just continue watching to see Leip get his just desserts.
‘.....It wasn’t really your judgment…..nor was it divine….’ Al just thought in amusem*nt before taking on a grim expression beneath his helmet once again. Things would get hectic if it showed THAT about how Al handled Leip…..
The Audience once again resumed watching.
And striking quickly, taking Priscilla (who was eligible to be a royal candidate) as his wife, he intended to grasp power over the entire country by placing her on the throne.
“A tale as old as time …..” Otto neutrally noted.
Tivey nodded. “It’s nowhere near as intriguing as the Margrave’s plans- OW!” Mimi struck his head with her staff as the Emilia camp (barring Roswaal) glared at him.
“The clown’s plan wasn’t in-tree-ging! It was evil and bad!” Mimi shouted indignantly before smiling at Garfiel who gave a toothy grin in return.
It was an obvious plot, and a conclusion that anyone who knew Leip could come to. But, to hear the man himself speak so openly of it. Did he not imagine the possibility that Al, in a show of loyalty, might draw his sword for Priscilla here?
Many in the audience raised their eyebrows at that consideration. Emilia glanced at Al. For some reason, he reminded her of Subaru. Furthermore, given how ….. Unique but sincere his relationship with Priscilla was, surely he too would immediately oppose Leip in favor of Priscilla?
Looking at Al as he sat shocked, Leip let an ugly smile twist his mouth.
“What a distasteful man, I suppose…” Beatrice muttered at the nasty look.
“You wouldn’t do anything so foolish, I hope? Nothing befits a mercenary more than ruthlessly seeking his own benefit. You who were raised as a gladiator would never throw your life away for a cheap emotion like indignation.”
Ricardo gnashed his teeth. “Tch…. he ain’t all that wrong…. But comin’ from him…..” Mercenaries, while quite utilitarian, weren’t just heartless monsters!
“……You understand that quite well.”
Moving the hand that had been touching his sword hilt, he feigned non-hostility.
“Al-san ……..” Emilia just stared at Al with a disappointed, motherly expression. Even he began to feel a bit bad at his onscreen words, even if he had, in the end, sided with Priscilla.
Rem, gently rubbing Subaru’s arm, just glanced at Al with a disapproving look. “So Subaru-kun truly is an amazing person from your world … not bowing to such pressure…. Rem thinks you should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Perhaps if you fellow dogs mingled more together, Barusu’s doggish loyalty might rub off on you as well.” Ram huffed with disdain, giving Al the stink-eye.
“I get it man …. Tough out there for us mercs, but come on… That ain’t cool…” Ricardo voiced his begrudging concerns.
Julius just sighed. “Even knowing that Al-dono chose Priscilla-sama in the end, this is still not the best showing.” Reinhard and Felix nodded in agreement.
“Indeed. However, I believe it best that we continue watching instead of speculating, if only to ascertain Al-dono’s loyalties.” Calm as always, Wilhelm reminded them all that whatever happened, it would be shown.
“However, in that case, what is it you wish? Frankly sir, I think what you’re doing is impressive, but I don’t think there’s anything I can do to help with it.”
“Sneaky bullsh*t is al’ts” Garfiel muttered. There wasn’t a single thing impressive about Leip’s plot except with how much it reminded him of that damn clown, Roswaal.
“Oh, that’s not true. Originally, someone working for me was supposed to be in your position. In truth, at that assembly of crude individuals, all of the top four except you were under my control.”
Priscilla snorted in contempt. “How arrogant and foolish of you, to only prepare 4 greedy pigs against mineself.”
“Oh my, a fixed race.”
“I’ve seen it happen with other contract bids.” Ricardo absentmindedly commented.
“And that, too, came to nothing due to that woman’s whim. I need to keep ‘that woman’ surrounded with people who see things my way. I’m sure you understand why.”
If Priscilla’s impulsiveness couldn’t be accounted for, then at the least, in order to correct her course, she needed to be surrounded with those who could be predicted. It was the natural way of things. In that case,
“Not the most creative strategy, but expected.” It wasn’t all too complex, but Anastasia understood that sometimes, the simplest techniques of control were the best, whether they be applied to business negotiations or outright treason.
Petra leaned in to whisper to Frederica. “Seems like that nasty old man bit off more than he could chew!” The two just giggled quietly.
“What about the servant, Schult? That kid is another one that the princess collected, isn’t he?”
“I’ve already given that brat the same talk I’m giving you. Luxury that one could never have as an orphan; the promise of that bought him to my side without a second thought. In the end, ‘that woman’ can’t read people any better than that.”
“Hmmm.”
WHAAACK!!!
People turned in shock as Priscilla beat Al to the floor with her fan.
“What was that for Princess ………”
Surprisingly, Priscilla didn’t look away from the screen at all and just calmly replied. “Merely disciplining a dog who would dare bark insults about its owner behind her back.”
“I didn’t even agree with him there……” Al moaned as he slowly picked himself up from the floor.
He recalled Schult speaking proudly of working for Priscilla. Having said that, he didn’t think much of it. Putting oneself first was the instinct of living things. If loyalty was a result of being treated well, then it was natural that one’s feelings would lean more towards one that treated oneself better. Al was no exception to that.
“Al-dono, do you have no sham-” Julius began to start with one of his signature lectures on chivalry and honor.
Al groaned once again as he cut him off. “Ughh - I don’t want to hear it. We all got selfish reasons for serving our princesses, don’t we? So can it.”
Julius just narrowed his eyes but relented as Anastasia just patted him gently on the shoulder.
“Truly, he could learn a thing or two from Barusu.” Ram murmured.
“I understand what it is you want of me, sir. With that, I’d be pleased if we could talk about how I’ll be treated and how I am to act in the future.”
“…Hehe. That’s right, that’ll do fine. Not to worry, I won’t make you regret it. Of course, the same goes for Priscilla. For the sake of my own wishes as well, that woman needs to remain healthy. ‘That woman’, the brat, and you too, all the lot of you need to do is receive happiness under my leadership, after all!”
“Eugh. This is reminding me more and more about that arc with the Clown and the Sanctuary, tryna rope Big Bro into his schemes.” Felt shivered in place.
As Al accepted his suggestion, Leip let out a good-humored, throaty laugh.
At that loud laughter, Al whispered “Sorry, princess” to the mistress he had decided to betray.
Nearly everybody just scowled at Al with contempt.
Emilia, noticing this somewhat unfair treatment, jumped in. “Wait, everybody! I’m sure he has a good explanation…. Or a plan! Maybe Al-san was playing a trick on him! I mean, Al-san and Priscilla-san get along so well together now! We might be too perfunctory in judging him!”
The audience just shook their heads as the half-elf’s hopeful optimism in seeing the best of people, though she did have a point regarding Al and Priscilla’s current relationship ….. If you could even call it “getting along”.
“Who even says perfunctory these days, I suppose.” Beatrice rolled her eyes before getting her hair violently ruffled by Emilia in protest.
…Even at that emotional moment, the phantom of Priscilla in the back of his mind was grinning victoriously.
That grin mirrored that of Priscilla sitting in the theater; it was clear to all that whatever was going to happen, it would vindicate her position that the world did indeed turn in her favor.
6
A knight calling himself Gilian Endymion visited the Barielle domain.
“Looks like we gotta new face ‘round here.” Anastasia tilted her head towards Crusch. “Ya know who he is?”
Crusch, having memorized nearly all the nobles across the land as well as their heirs, furrowed her eyebrows. “If I recall correctly, House Endymion is a relatively minor household in the Kingdom’s central lands. Though, I do not recall a Gillian. Perhaps a distant relative or younger son?”
A handsome man, with a fearless countenance and a dignified look. His shining blond hair sparkled in the sun, and although he was slender, the gorgeousness of his well-toned body was different from Al’s rough form. His well-tailored knight uniform brought out the young man’s charm, and even an untrained eye could tell that the treasured sword hanging from his waist was not the work of an amateur.
“He certainly looks the part of a knight.” Julius, knowing nothing of the man, could at least compliment his dignified appearance.
From top to bottom, a true and superior knight – that was the impression given by the young man called Gilian.
Unimpressed, Felt just crossed her arms. “Yea, but bet he’s a real asshat under that glitz and glimmer.” She’d seen plenty of those types during her escapades in the noble district. Pompous knights with their fancy cloaks patrolling the safest areas of the city, pretending as if they were actually accomplishing anything.
“And you would be right, gutter-rat. Yet another dog blinded by greed and ambition that outpace even his bluster.” Priscilla conceded with a disdainful huff.
“He’s the third son of the Endymion household. As his two older brothers are assisting his father with administering their domain, he, who has a talent for the sword, left on a journey to gather martial fame as a knight. Today, I have imposed on him to spend the time with us.”
Saying this, standing beside the handsome young man and introducing him, was Liep Barielle himself.
“Yep. Just ‘nother one of that rotten bastard’s stooges.” Garfiel nodded distastefully.
“I suppose he thought that Al-san wasn’t enough.” Tivey smartly gave his perspective, agreeing with him.
And obviously, the old man would not be introducing the guest to Al or Schult. Directly in front of Leip, gazing unconcernedly at Gilian, was the Baroness, Priscilla.
“But why would he introduce Gilian-san to her? I understand he wants to play more tricks on her, but doesn’t Priscilla-san already have a knight?” It was a rare moment when Emilia, whose disposition did not allow for telling lies or plotting and scheming, gave careful consideration for the intricacies of a cunning plan.
Crusch just hummed in agreement. “If I had to guess, Leip-dono simply doesn’t know when to give up.”
“Indeed…..” Having known him far longer than the rest, Wilhelm wholeheartedly agreed.
“I understand what you have said about the commoner, but I do not understand your intention in introducing that sort of man to me. I am sure you haven’t lost your senses to the point where, as would be appropriate for one like yourself with few years remaining, you intend to give me another man.”
Anastasia couldn’t help but mutter a bit derisively. “What’d that be, her ninth? Gal’s collectin’ husbands like a merchant collectin’ coins.”
Crusch stifled a chuckle at that unexpected utterance.
“Pffft!” Julius barely held his laugh in, but he had to! No way could he shed his veneer of elegance over such a crude joke, even if it was made by his lady! Absolutely not!
“Don’t be foolish. Who would let go of a beautiful wife like you? Think of today as being about his hope, and just a little bit of my thoughtfulness.”
“To be thoughtful, that’s so unlike you.”
“Word probably isn’t even in his dictionary….” To be honest, Al could hardly believe he even once considered betraying Priscilla for Leip.
From the way Priscilla sniffed, it was clear she had no intention of believing Leip’s request. Although Leip maintained his composure on the outside, one could almost see that he was biting his lip on the inside.
“I doubt even the Princess would fall for ‘hat.” Garfiel whispered to Otto who couldn’t help but laugh quietly in agreement. Unfortunately, speaking quietly was never a forte of the boisterous tiger-boy.
“Hey! That was r~ea~lly rude!” Emilia pouted, glaring indignantly at Garfiel who at least had the shame to look down in remorse.
“Ah… sorry Princess….”
However, before Leip exploded, Gilian slowly came forward.
“My humble apologies for this sudden visit, and for rudely imposing on you.”
It was an elegant gesture, and the kind of low, smooth voice that made women swoon. Gilian knelt before Priscilla.
“However, ever since I heard the rumors of Priscilla-sama at the Barielle domain, I have been looking forward to the day that I could meet you. Truly, I feel that you are the incarnation of beauty from above.”
The children of the theater visibly cringed at such an ostentatious display.
“Eugh, I suppose…” Beatrice flinched.
“Somehow, even Barusu’s primitive attempts at flirting feel less slimy…” With her own trademark insults, Ram agreed with the Great Spirit.
“Oho. You do know how to speak properly, then. My beauty is indeed not of this world. And despite that, the contradiction of having come down to this world – truly, I am a sinful woman.”
Many in the audience just rolled their eyes. Yes, it was obvious Priscilla was truly beautiful, but to outright state so herself……. Some things were just left better said by others!
As Gilian continued to string together flowery words, Priscilla, in high spirits, glanced towards Al. Standing behind her and fulfilling the duty of an attendant, he shrugged his shoulders instead of giving a wry smile.
“Very well. I will allow you to touch my skin, and offer a knight’s respect. Understand well that this is happiness beyond your expectations.”
“Yes. My humble gratitude.”
Speaking harshly, Priscilla lightly extended her hand. Gilian took the white fingers as though handling a fragile thing, and performed a knight’s greeting by kissing the back of her hand.
“Haha, well at least it looks like Al-san here took ‘nother knight kissing his lady’s hand much better than our boy hero here!” Ricardo chuckled as he recalled the sheer pettiness that Subaru displayed when Julius did something similar with Emilia.
Julius just gave a pained smile, not forgetting how that was the beginning of a rift between him and the knight he wanted to call a friend.
Emilia just shook her head in disappointment, tugging a bit at Subaru’s hair. “Geez you dunderhead ….. Always getting worked up over the smallest things!”
“.....Eh, I wouldn’t say that. Can’t say I was too happy about it myself.” Al shrugged his only arm.
“Umm … Al-sama, is kissing someone’s hand considered rude in your world?” Petra asked as he noticed that both other-worlds didn’t seem to like such an act. In fact, now that she thought about it, she never saw Subaru do it even with Emilia even after he became her actual knight!
Indulging in the little maid’s curiosity, Al thought for a moment. “Well, it’s not that it’s considered rude. Rather, kisses in general, wherever they may be, are kinda considered really intimate, something usually only between lovers.”
At that, Emilia blushed deeply, realizing just how much courage it took for Subaru to kiss her in that tomb considering what kisses mean in his culture. Well, if there was one silver lining, she didn’t have to worry about Subaru practicing that little bit of knightly etiquette to anyone but her!
Otto just groaned. “So when Julius-san kissed Emilia-samas hand back then……”
“Seems like Natsuki-kun really took it the wrong way, hehehe…” Anastasia giggled at Julius who simply massaged his forehead.
“Though, not that it excuses Natsuki-san’s overreaction and petty behavior…..” Otto stared pointedly at Garfiel, worried that he may take it as an example of acceptable conduct.
Suddenly interested in how Al took a similar situation which may also give insight as to his actual relationship with Priscilla, Crusch tossed a casual question. “And why were you unhappy about it, Al-dono? Were you also perhaps jealous?”
Al just stared at her incredulously beneath his helmet. “Jealous? Of course I was jealous! He got to lick the mega-sexy-cute Princess’s dainty hand first before even I could! It should’ve been me, not him!”
The audience visibly recoiled in disgust at such a gross answer. Subaru may have had a slightly perverted streak, but this man….. Was just on another level!
“Filthy”
“Disgusting, I suppose.”
“Like those creeps in the slum”
“What a nyasty man…..”
“Natsuki-kun has his charms, but you….”
“He’s not even lying….”
“Sissy, Rem feels violated just facing him…”
“Why are you all looking at me like I’m some sort of criminal!?!? Besides, that Gilian guy’s much worse! Just watch!” Al earnestly protested his innocence as everyone else just slowly turned back to the screen and away from the possible sex offender.
And if that had been the end of it, it would have been like nothing more than a scene from a fairy tale.
“And so, old man. The man you brought has passed my first inspection, but what are you looking for after this? You said something about thoughtfulness.”
“It’s a simple thing. Day by day, I’m busy with official work, and cannot accompany you as you travel about the domain. To have you going here and there alone has always bothered me.”
“Though that is a valid concern to have for a lady, knowing this man….” Reinhard trailed off.
“He probably just wants a tail to keep an eye on h~e~r.” Roswaal finished. “How simplist~i~c…” If he had to be honest, Roswaal was almost angry that Leip didn’t succeed in controlling Priscilla; he would have made for a far easier adversary, given how straightforward his schemes were. They were child’s play to a 400-year old megalomaniac clown. Instead, he now had to deal with a literally unstable bomb in the form of a Royal Candidate during this battle for the throne!
“It is a wonder how this pig got as far as he did in his miserable life.” Priscilla snorted in contempt.
“Although he’s little more than a jester, Al is there, and if I brought you along you would simply be in the way. I have no intention of babysitting you. There was really no need for this.”
In response to Leip choosing his words carefully, Priscilla refused to show him any mercy.
A vein stood out on Leip’s forehead, long since abandoned by his hair. But, despite that, the old man managed to keep a smile on his face.
“Don’t say that. It’s just that today, I wanted to give you a nice-looking young man for what I make you endure day by day. He’s a gentleman to the ladies as well. I’m sure you’ll find him interesting.”
“He ain’t fooling noone with that smile… not when it looks like his heads ‘bout to burst.” The wolf-man mercenary grinned nastily.
“Ah! Mimi gets it!” The kitten-girl’s few brain cells managed to fire up simultaneously, forming a surprisingly intelligent realization. “The red-lady said some things are pretty because other things are ugly! Mr. Helmet looks weird and ugly, so having him next to him makes her look pretty!” Mimi crossed her arms, pointed her nose up in the air, and proudly gave a smug smile for her brilliant insight into why Priscilla rejected Gilian.
“Grk…. an unbelieve amount of damage done without a shred of evil intent….” Al was sobbing inside as he half-mockingly clutched his chest. Not that anything she said was really incorrect, but hearing that still hurt!
“You may be hoping too much of me, but I’ll do my best to live up to it. Priscilla-sama, if it’s acceptable to you, please allow me the honor.”
In place of Leip, who was nearing the limits of his self-control, Gilian himself took up the request.
Leip was one thing, but in Gilian’s case, there was nothing unnatural about his sincere attitude. Thinking deeply, Priscilla tilted her head from side to side, and glanced at Al.
“Well, why not. Rather than always looking at a clunky iron helmet, it might not be bad to spend the time looking at the face of a man who is not hard on the eyes. Consideration is a virtue, indeed.”
Al was suddenly met with stares of sympathy.
“I … uh…. Think yer helmets cool man.” Garfiel scratched his cheek with a strained smile.
“Looks are not everything, I suppose. My contractor is a prime example, in fact.” Even Beatrice gave her, albeit backhanded, assurances.
“It’s okay Al-san… everyone has their weird parts!” Emilia’s lack of tact slammed into Al like a wall.
“……Yes, do that. Sir Gilian, please take care of my wife.”
“Yes! Even if it costs my life.”
It was a slightly overdone, theatrical way to say it, but Priscilla enjoyed it all the more for that.
Gilian had brought his personal ground dragon – an outstanding, famed steed with a blue hide. The excellent ground dragon, which most likely had a pedigree, further pleased Priscilla’s eye for beauty.
“Patrasche’s a much better girl!” Petra quietly pumped her fist in competitiveness.
“Yes, yes, we know Petra-chan.” Frederica scolded her ward gently.
Guiding his ground dragon expertly, and straddling the dragon together with Priscilla at her insistence, Gilian flashed his white teeth and gallantly rode away from the front of the mansion.
“They’ve finally left. Damn her for making me go through that song and dance. She’s a detestable woman.”
“Real quick to let that mask slide, eh.” Despicable plotting aside, Anastasia couldn’t help but point out how careless Leip was in revealing his true emotions and motives. The logical, cunning side of her couldn’t help but give Roswaal some credit for always concealing everything behind a ridiculous clown facade.
“Perhaps it is not so surprising that Barielle managed to upturn his conspiracy and wrest control over the domain.” Crusch admitted in assent.
And, watching the pair leave, Leip spat that while letting his shoulders relax. Al let out a small laugh at the speed of the change, and then he looked towards the direction that Priscilla had disappeared to.
“Gilian Endymion, huh. So he’s another of your pawns, then?”
“Of course. However, the amount of effort I’ve put into that one is different than the others. Deliberately depending on the distant Endymion household, I’ve spent a long time preparing him. Compared to the fighting tournament where they don’t ask where you’re from as long as you have skill, the labor I’ve put into hiding my connection with him is quite different.”
“Well, not that we were really surprised.” Crusch continued. “But to go to such lengths to involve a far-off house in what amounts to treason….”
Felt jeered nonchalantly. “Surprised? Anyone coulda seen he was just a crony a mile away, even if that snake tried ta hide it!”
“You always go all-out in your plotting. On that point, I honestly admire you, sir.”
‘As if one could call that going all-out….’ Internally exasperated, Roswaal’s cynical perspective evaluated Leip’s conspiracy as sub-par, barely at the amateur level. There was hardly ANY containerization of information. It was as if he thought as long as the subject of the conspiracy, Priscilla, was kept in the dark, all was well and he was free to speak and act as he pleased to anyone else! Again, Roswaal couldn’t help but question. How the hell did such an idiotic man get close enough to the Royal Family to get ahold of the Dragon Tablet?!?
“Hmf. With the way you’re involved in this, you’re no different. …Follow me. We’ll speak about the reason I introduced Gilian and ‘that woman’, and our plan for what will come.”
Pointing with his chin, Leip returned towards the mansion, swaying the sleeves of his robe.
While following him, Al suddenly stopped and turned back towards the direction where Priscilla had disappeared.
Of course, she was nowhere to be seen.
“Finally, we’re gettin’ into the juicy bits of what that nasty fellas cookin’!” Anastasia rubbed her hands greedily. More camp secrets and skeletons in the closet? Well Anastasia was never one to look a gift dragon in the mouth! Even lemons had their uses after all!
“While it may be irrelevant given Leip-dono’s death, it would still be prudent to have an accurate record of his crimes.” Preparing more pencil and paper, Julius took on the aura of an underpaid, overworked courtroom scribe.
Crusch sat upright in her seat with rapt attention, ready to take in exactly what Leip had planned that might have cost the Royal Family, Fourier, everything.
7
Discussion of intrigue was always done in the study.
Al just sighed mutedly, looking down in unhappy resignation. It seemed like the screen was going to show his confrontation with Leip after all…
If one were to guess, perhaps it was something that Leip was fixated on.
Breathing through his mouth due to the foul smell he wasn’t used to, Al idly thought about that.
“He probably has that old man smell!” Tivey and Mimi snickered quietly at her joke.
“Even in my office, the walls may have ears; this study alone is safe. It’s the room that our Barielle family has prepared for holding secret discussions in for generations, after all.”
“Nyot that he’s any less obvious outside though….” Felix sneered, hatred welling up in his glare at the man.
The change in his expression should have been hidden by his helmet, but Leip shrewdly picked up on Al’s thoughts and responded to them. Having come here, the old man’s mind had been sharpened.
Roswaal slightly smirked. ‘Not sharp enough, I’m afr~ai~d….’ It wasn’t everyday that you found out that a rival Royal Candidate also had a treacherous sponsor with nearly the exact same general plan as you: turning her into an easily controlled doll while you pulled all the strings from behind! What he was most interested in was HOW Leip planned to do it. Clearly, it didn’t seem like Leip had an insanely infatuated young man to bind Priscilla to, nor was she herself that weak-willed. Furthermore, what would Al’s role be in all of this? The same Al who the viewing implied had independent foreknowledge of the Royal Selection AND knew Echidna?
This was in no small part due to the fact that the starting date of the Royal Selection, the stage where his wishes would play out, was fast approaching.
“Over at the capital, things are probably getting fairly serious now, I’d guess.”
“By this point, the royal castle is in an uproar. They must have long since known perfectly well that the king and his bloodline couldn’t be saved. Ignoring the problem, and continuing to put off worrying about the continued existence of the kingdom has resulted in this. That incompetent lot; they understand nothing!”
Felix growled in loathing, gripping his skirt so hard his knuckles turned white. “It’s as if he doesn’t think it was worth even trying to cure them ~nyan!” While it amounted to very little, at least the rest of the nobles had the good grace to appear concerned for their health!
“Though, as soon as they died, they forgot it like yesterday’s breakfast…” Crusch gnashed her teeth, angry at both Leip for writing off the Royal Family so quickly and the nobles who so quickly pivoted to their petty fears and insecurity.
“Truly a despicable man. Hiding his ambitions with a thin veneer of concern for the Kingdom.” Wilhelm could lament that in the time he resigned from his service to the Kingdom to avenge his wife, the state of the nobles and Royal Family had deteriorated so greatly.
The rest of the knights nodded, glaring at the screen. Reinhard, in particular, was the most upset. However, he gave a sidelong glance to his lady, Felt. The last surviving member of the Royal Family, even if she herself denied it. Oh how blessed he was for his sins to not only be unpunished, but for him to also be given a chance of redemption. He would make her Queen and restore the Royal Family. As soon as he had laid eyes on her, he had sworn this to himself!
Felt just tried to punch Reinhard unsuccessfully without even looking at him. “Stop giving me that creepy look, Rein.”
Getting worked up as he spoke, veins began to stand out on Leip’s forehead. Leip, who was nearly indignant enough to burst a blood vessel, had revealed the prophecy about this matter just a few days ago.
Talk of the death of the king had spread through the town, and the higher nobles were beginning preparations for the Royal Selection. In truth, all of their initial movements were more than a step or two behind Leip.
‘And quite a few steps behind m~e~’ Roswaal just had to indulge a petty need to gloat internally. Noone outfoxed a 400 year old archmage! He was 10 parallel dimensions ahead of everyone else! At least he was until a certain black haired boy literally threw himself into the cogs of his machinations….. Roswaal just slightly scowled at the sleeping Subaru.
Ram, understanding this slight shift in his emotions, just softly shook her head in disapproval. Though, in a way, even this somewhat petty behavior from her beloved cheered her up; it was proof that Roswaal was still a human being with human emotions.
“Making pawns of those you used to hate; haven’t you come to enjoy that?”
“I used to think that I would. Instead, looking back at how I was treated by those incompetents, I’ve simply become more displeased. The Sage Council, indeed. Why, it’s nothing more than a club for doddering old men chosen for nothing more than the standing of their house and their age. The head incompetent Miklotov, the insufferable idiot Bordeaux, I’d like nothing more than to toss them out and let mabeasts feast on their entrails.”
“That asshat ain’t wrong on that point at least.” Felt boredly jeered. Whether it was the Royal Family or the Sage Council ruling the kingdom, to most, it was just more of the same ol’ same ol’.
Reinhard breathed in exasperation. “Felt-sama…”
“To be honest, I find it impressive that the Sage Council was able to even just keep all the pieces of the Kingdom together…..” Otto had a different view. As both a commoner and a merchant well traveled and educated, he was more than familiar with all the problems eating away at the Kingdom. He honestly thought that the Sage Council didn’t do the worst job considering the hand they were dealt with.
“Hmph. Those half-dead skeletons were merely prolonging the slow death of a sickly animal. Only through a goddess’s grace will salvation be ordained!” Priscilla was not so easily inspired.
“The Kingdom needs more than just life support and a shiny beacon. It needs an ‘xternal stimulus to jostle its lifeblood!” Anastasia gave her two cents.
“Tch. It’s too rotten to the core to fix. Easier ta just tear it all down and start over!” Felt countered with her revolutionary ideals.
“Rather it is that the Kingdom’s people have forgotten how to stand on their own! Only then can the people begin to solve its issues!” In a stern voice, Crusch reminded them all of the complacency she felt was the root cause.
“Whatever issues the Kingdom may have currently or in the future, it would be r~ea~lly tough to tackle them all on if everyone can’t put down their differences and cooperate!” Even Emilia was swept up in this sudden fervor to espouse their philosophies on ruling!
All of the princesses’ respective camp members just stared at their lieges with approval with the younger ones having starry eyes.
‘She will definitely lead us to a brighter tomorrow!’ Was the prevailing sentiment throughout the theater.
“My, you are angry.”
Even if he’d turned the conversation that way himself, it was rather boring to listen to someone else’s inner hatred.
“It’s more talking….. Boooooring……” Mimi mindlessly dangled her legs over her seat quietly humming to herself.
While giving a noncommittal reply, Al looked toward Schult, who was cowering in a corner of the room. The boy didn’t appear to know the reason he was here, his face was pale, and he had been keeping his head low.
“Poor kid. Don’t envy tha boy, gettin’ caught up in all o’this.” Ricardo remarked with sympathy.
Frederica, reminded of Petra who was a similar age, began to pet her head gently, not wanting to imagine the same look of fear and despondency on her precious apprentice. Sensing this sentiment, Petra just snuggled more deeply into a hug with Frederica.
“That’s enough for now about the dunces in the capital. It’s a waste of time. More importantly, at last it’s time for the long-awaited Royal Selection. I need to talk to you about that.”
“You’ve already made the announcement that the princess is a candidate, haven’t you?”
“Obviously. Firstly, it’s necessary to let them know that what was written on the dragon stone is true. To prove that a candidate can cause an emblem of Lugnica to shine, you see. Originally, I’d hoped to have Priscilla take on the role of making it shine, and declaring her to be the first participant in the Royal Selection, but……”
Leip stopped speaking for a moment, with a bitter expression.
“At the place they announced the prophecy, one of the upper-class nobles made the emblem shine. My single miscalculation was that there was a candidate already there.”
“Nya! That’s right! Even with your nyasty scheming, you can’t outshine Crusch-sama!” Felix spat in both righteous pride and mocking disdain.
Crusch just slightly blushed while waving Felix down. This must be how Emilia always feels with Subaru constantly hyping her up!
“Heh. That’s quite a lucky guy. So who was it?”
“duch*ess Karsten… Crusch Karsten. A mere woman, shamelessly carrying the position her father ceded to her. A savage madwoman with the sword, famous as well for being an eccentric followed by a bizarre retainer. What was the emblem thinking, choosing her? …..Of course, the moment Priscilla has been chosen, there’s no point worrying about that.”
Immediately, Felix and Crusch’s smiles turned into scowls as they sharpened glares at the screen.
The other candidates follow suit, NOT taking kindly as to what Leip was insinuating about their ability as women to rule the Kingdom.
“His disgusting words speak more to his envy towards the truly competent than to those he demeans.” Ram huffed. One of the things she disliked about Subaru, and men in general, was their tendency to show off while running around like a chicken with its head cut-off, insistent that women leave everything to them, somehow implying that they weren’t capable. Of course, Leip was on another level with his misogyny!
“How dare that byastard say such things about Crusch-sama! There’s more honor in a single hair of hers than there is in your entire rotting body!” Growling, Felix gnashed his teeth.
Crusch, for her part, just stayed silent. While indignant at Leip’s tirade, it wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard before. As the only child and heir to the Karsten domain, she had dealt with detractors ever since her father, Meckart Karsten, named her as heir. Even after repelling the Great Rabbit itself, her vassals often questioned her ability to lead based purely on the grounds that she was a woman. So bad and prevailing was this that she had taken to wearing formal military uniforms to always exude the aura of a leader. While other heirs and lords would enjoy some baseline level of respect, she had to earn, to FIGHT for every scrap of it that she currently had.
‘Like the wind at my back, you and your words too will fall behind me….’ Crusch thought vindictively.
Wilhelm clenched tightly until his armrests. “I lament the fact that Leip-dono is no longer in this world, for I would immediately force him to retract his words.” The sword-demon grumbled with cold anger.
In response to a heartfelt sigh, Al couldn’t help but agree and give a wry smile.
Candidates for the Royal Selection were able to make the gemstone of an emblem, handed down in the Kingdom of Lugnica, sparkle. Finding the five who fulfill that condition, and having them compete for the throne, was the content of the Royal Selection.
It was just that much about the selection criteria for those candidates was still unclear. At the moment, things they had in common, their bloodline, even their blessings didn’t seem to explain it.
“That is a curious thing.” Tivey noted inquisitively. “What is it that exactly determines one’s candidacy?”
The audience just looked at each other in wonder before settling on three people. Roswaal and Beatrice, both 400-year old entities, might have had some insight as to the machinations of Volcanica. And Al, who seemed to, somehow, independently know of the imminent Royal Selection if his suspicious nature the viewings seemed to indicate was anything to go by.
The Knights in particular, eyed Al somewhat dubious.
“Al-dono. Did Echidna happen to tell you anything regarding this matter?” Reinhard asked diplomatically, without an accusing undertone.
“......Sorry, I’m not gonna be much help to you guys…” An obvious deflection, but oh well. If Al wouldn’t say anything, maybe the other two might?
“Beatrice?” A bell-like voice rang curiously. “Do you happen to know?” Emilia herself was quite intrigued. Just what was it that made her, a silver-haired half-elf, a literal doppelganger of Satella, worthy of being a Royal Candidate? She didn’t think herself particularly smart nor possessing of any notable skills (other than a ginormous mana pool), so why her? As painful as it was to admit, she recognized that so far, Subaru was the one carrying her candidacy to relevancy.
Felt too wanted to know. In particular, she wanted to know exactly what her mistake or flaw was that she got roped into such a ridiculous, exhausting affair to begin with.
Anastasia and Crusch, while somewhat inquisitive, didn’t care THAT much. They were mainly happy that they had an opportunity to fulfill their personal goals.
As for Priscilla, the reason was obvious. It was only expected that a goddess such as herself was deserving of ruling the Kingdom! It was quite literally a Mandate of Heaven!
Beatrice, however, just shrugged. “Betty has no idea, I suppose. Mother never went into detail about her relationship with Volanica, in fact. As far as Betty knows, Mother simply enjoyed pestering and bullying Volcanica whenever she was bored, I suppose.”
“She - she what now?” Felt muttered, not sure if she heard the Great Spirit correctly.
“THAT is to s~a~y” Roswaal immediately interrupted, not liking that possible tangent of the conversation. It was up to him to defend his Teacher from any embarrassing revelations! Many in the audience already had quite the negative view of her, to begin with. No reason to pour more fuel into the fire! “Noone is quite sure what the Divine Dragon is th~in~king.”
Peoples’ attention turned with annoyance to the clown, though they were interested in what he had to say.
“Perh~a~ps the Divine Dragon simply has a preference for young, beautiful wom~e~n!”
The female half of the audience just gagged at that possibility. There was no way that the Divine Dragon was something akin to a senile old pervert, right?
“Regardless, it is clear that there is no way to know for sure. I suggest we continue with the viewings as that may shed more light on the matter.” Wilhelm offered, not seeing anything productive that could be had from continuing the discussion on whether Volcanica liked young girls or not.
“By the way, sir, how’d you find out the princess is a candidate?”
“……I have no obligation to tell you about that. I may have spoken a little too much, but don’t go poking your nose into things. All you need to do is follow my instructions.”
“Before you fools begin yammering nonsensically again, mineself will grace you all with an answer. It was never revealed how that bag-of-bones knew. Likely, he simply gazed upon mineself and was immediately enraptured.” Preemptively cutting off another fruitless conversation, Priscilla boredly deigned to answer the question forming on many of the audiences’ lips.
“……As you say.”
As Leip moved to cut off the conversation, Al meekly stood down.
When Al showed that he would quietly do as he was told, Leip let out a long breath through his nose. Then the old man clicked his tongue at Schult, in the corner of the room.
“How long do you intend to do that? I’ve gone to the trouble of making time to speak to you. If you have time to sit there cowering, show me that you intend to contribute at least a little.”
‘How dare this dog encroach on what is mine….’ Priscilla narrowed her eyes in anger. Nobody ordered Schult around like a tyrant except for her! He would and should know the grace of serving only her!
“Y, yes… My apologies……”
Leip sat behind the ebony desk in the back of the room, and Schult stood directly ahead of him. Seeing that some books taken from the shelves were piled up on the floor, Al plopped himself down on top of them.
“I don’t intend to needlessly drag out this discussion. Let’s get to the point. …It’s about Gilian; I intend to have him act as Priscilla’s knight.”
Julius glowered at the mention of Gilian. “I am beginning to understand why many outside the nobility view knights with such wariness. This man, Gilian, spits upon the ideals of a knight, choosing to conspire against the lady he ostensibly serves.” He could berate Subaru all he wanted for his lacking etiquette, but Julius knew with certainty that he would always hold true to the spirit of a knight, dedicating his life to Emilia. But this man? Born and raised while steeped in the tradition of knighthood, he somehow managed to ignore all of that!
“Well when I’m Queen, you’re gonna see a lot more of the likes of him when I sic Rein, you, and Big Bro on all those fancy-pants knights to clean house!” Felt chuckled darkly, already envisioning how she would shake them all down in a great purge of corruption.
Reinhard and Julius wanted to feel at least somewhat offended at her implying that their Knight Orders were largely dysfunctional and rotten, but they could not hide their pleasure at Felt tacitly admitting that the two of them, in her eyes at least, exemplified the ideals of chivalry and honor.
Unfortunately, Felix just burned with insecurities and shame. ‘Am I ….. Nyot an upstanding knight?’ The fact that Felt excluded his name was not lost on him; he wasn’t even sure if that was intentional or not.
“Wait, wait, hold on a minute there. If you do that, what happens to me?”
Raising his hand at Leip’s statement, Al inquired that while calling for a pause.
“It’s because that I’m treated as the princess’ knight that I’m being allowed to stay at the mansion.”
“Heh. I won’t blame ya. Getting stiffed by yer employer’s the worst!” Ricardo laughed sympathetically.
“I just got hired by the Princess too! Almost couldn’t believe that I was gonna be homeless again right after!” Al grumbled without humor as he scratched the back of his neck. To him, time was ticking as the viewing advanced, slowly peeling away layers of Al until he had no secrets left to bare…
“Don’t be concerned. I won’t be stooping to having you thrown out. I don’t let go of valuable pawns, and it would be troublesome to have you silenced, as well. It won’t be as the knight, but I’ll make up some position for you at the mansion. There’s no need to worry about it.”
“I’m not that worried about that point, but what meaning is there in going that far to replace her knight? Of course, it’s probably important that he’s one of your pawns, sir.”
“That's true ….. What extra purpose would having him as a knight hold?” Tivey muttered as his analytical mind went to work. Unlike most of the others who absolutely despised Leip, to Tivey, born and raised in the streets, Leip was just another typical cruel, conniving member of the aristocracy. What he WAS interested in was picking up on more ….. Underhanded tricks, tips, and techniques. Not that he would be so morally bankrupt to employ them, of course, but it never hurts to file that information away for future reference!
“That’s a simple matter. The people love picturing a master and servant with a knightly knight as the servant. Since things have turned out such that someone who is not of the royal family will be taking the throne, the support of the citizens will not be unconditional as it has been up to this point. The simple, foolish citizens need an easy-to-understand image they can get worked up about.”
At Leip’s fervent words, Al raised his eyebrows in unusual interest.
“Ahh…. that makes sense.” Anastasia murmured, glancing at Emilia with a slight hint of pity. In terms of image, Emilia had it the worst, given her likeness and all. Though, it wasn’t all fun and games for her as well; she knew full well how much of the public viewed her as a Kararagi spy.
She gently squeezed Julius' hand who gave her a questioning side eye. Anastasia just gave one of her signature vixen smiles. Truly, she was blessed to have the handsome finest of knights by her side to bolster her image.
Crusch too just leaned over to ruffle Felix’s head a bit. Both were well aware that a major part of why Felix wore women’s clothing was so he could stand by her side and enhance Crusch’s aura as a “manly” leader and politician. For that, she was truly grateful and he was only happy that he could do something for her.
In other words, it was a public relations strategy. Preparing an eye-catching knight and princess, he altered their ease of acceptance from the moment they were first seen. Since the candidates would be contesting between themselves in the Royal Selection, it would turn into something with an influence that could not be ignored. It might be called excessive attention to detail by some, but…
“Pub-lick ree-lay-shuns? What’s ‘hat?” Mimi held an index finger to her chin, her few brain cells overheating at the unfamiliar word.
“It means how everyone views you.” Tivey explained, sighing, already used to his older sister’s deficiencies in the intelligence department. Oh well, at least this was an opportunity to teach her a new phrase.
“Truly, Ram sympathizes with Emilia-sama. To have an ill-mannered dog like Barusu at her side. It is no wonder how hard he must work to make up for his damage to her reputation.” Weaving an underhanded compliment with coarse insults perfectly, Ram condemned Subaru’s lacking behavior with finesse.
“Sissy! That’s not true! Subaru-kun works hard because he’s doing his best to help Emilia-sama! And Emilia-sama is doing her best to become Queen! They are great together!” Though that last part made Rem pout as she said it, she spared no expense to sign her hero’s praises!
“That’s right Ram! Subaru’s just … just r~ea~lly unique! That’s right! It helps make him stand out more!” Emilia blustered, trying to find the right words to describe him.
“Betty can’t tell if you are trying to praise or insult him, in fact….”
“I honestly respect your willingness to doing anything that will even slightly improve your chance to win.”
Roswaal nodded in agreement with that sentiment, slightly smiling. He was beginning to like this Al guy more and more; he might just understand and get along with him!
“I’m not sure I like the way you put that, but whatever. As the people’s image of a knight, there should be no complaints with Gilian. Priscilla, too, if we’re only talking about her looks, is easy to recognize as one that draws the eye to a rather disgusting extent. My advance preparations are rock solid.”
“Ah, there’s just one little problem.”
It would be raining on the parade of an old man as he was gloating, but Al held some doubts about the strategy he was so proud of. While being subjected to a displeased glare, Al fiddled with the fittings of his helm.
“Will the princess go back on her own decision, then? At an event she opened herself, I was chosen as her knight at her own direction. I’m not sure she’d change her mind on that.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Al. I chose you as my personal jester. To presume my intentions for your station borders disrespect.” Al flinched as Priscilla immediately castigated him for his onscreen self’s flub in wording.
“Sorry …. You’re absolutely right Princess……”
The rest of the candidates glanced at Al with hints of ruth. Sure the man was suspicious as hell, but the vast majority of the time, he just looked like a sad, beaten puppy being dragged around by a crimson demon.
“What, is that all? Don’t worry over such little things.”
Dismissing Al’s concern with a sniff, Leip continued while tapping on the desk with his finger.
“Knowing Leip ….. He likely has a countermeasure planned ....” Wilhelm mused gravely.
“Indeed….” Crusch concurred.
Whatever it was, it probably wasn’t pleasant.
“A knight who’s easy on the eyes, and an eccentric man in a steel helmet. There’s no question about which one a woman would pick. Or are you confident that women would prefer you over Gilian?”
“Yeah, I guess not. In a flirting contest, I’d lose every time. Not just that, even in a swordfight, I might not be able to beat him.”
“Damn bro…. You ain’t even gonna try to salvage some manly pride?” Ricardo smiled wolfishly at how fast Al conceded to his uselessness.
“I don’t have what I don’t have….” Grumbled Al but thought unhappily. ‘But sh*t…. It looks like you’re all about to see what I do have…..’
“Then there you have it.”
Nodding in satisfaction at Al’s pathetic answer, Leip leaned back, making the chair creak.
With that, he more or less understood the old man’s plans. Indeed, he felt it was all something he could nod and agree with. It was just that…
“Ah, umm……”
Unlike Al, who could see the rationality of it, there was Schult, who had been keeping quiet, but now timidly raised his hand.
“He looks so scared….” Petra mumbled, not happy that such a nice looking boy had to deal with someone like Leip.
“Yes, but I’m sure everything will turn out alright….” Frederica comforted her.
“What. Do you intend to cast aspersions on my thoughts as well?”
“No, not at all! I, uh, well… well, about Priscilla-sama……”
While cowering beneath Leip’s harsh glare, Schult gulped and continued.
“You won’t do anything cruel to Priscilla-sama, indeed? In order to make Priscilla-sama the queen, sir…. In order to do that, you’ve thought of many things, yes?”
“What an honorable young child. To demonstrate such concern for another in the face of such malice.” In no small part impressed, Wilhelm gave glowing praise to the bravery exhibited by such a weak, young boy.
“What a kind-hearted boy! He’s s~o~ much like Petra!” Emilia cooed while Petra blushed and Frederica smiled proudly at the indirect praise of her ward.
“Hmmmm! He looks weak, but Mimi would still like to play with him!”
“Well ain’t he just a cute and courageous thin’!” Anastasia giggled at the display.
“Though, I am concerned as to how the Baron will react….” Crusch warned, slightly dampening the mood.
“Silence you commoners. It is only obvious that one chosen by mineself would shine with such mettle!” Priscilla haughtily exclaimed, though she too gave a genuine smile at Schult’s concern for her.
“……Is that all. Don’t bother me with your nonsense. I’ve stated my goal countless times. Since Priscilla is necessary for it, why would I harm her?”
Leip tsk’ed at Schult’s childish worry, and spat back that reply.
“Tch. Feels like we’ve heard somethin’ sim’lar from the clown plenty o’ times and look how ‘hat turn’d out…” Garfiel spat with familiar contempt.
“Preparing the path for that woman to arrive at the throne is my role. Indeed, even if she were to decline the Royal Selection, I would force her to participate. Think of yourselves as having the same duty.”
“Well, with the princess’ personality, there’s no way she’d turn down the Royal Selection.”
She’d never back down from a fight, and indeed, never hesitated to boast that everything in this world belonged to her. If a country would become legitimately hers, she’d do it as though there were no other choice.
Without knowing it, as he imagined Priscilla’s mad dash for the throne, Al smiled.
“I suppose I should praise you, Al, for the small accomplishment of recognizing that I would not tolerate usurpers and pretenders to what rightfully belongs to mineself. ” Half-jokingly, Priscilla crossed one leg over the other while sipping from a wine glass.
“Ah…. thanks Princess…..”
“Is that so, indeed. Th… That’s good, oh yes, indeed…”
Schult, too, held a hand to his chest in relief at Leip’s reply. Even though he’d switched sides for Leip for the payment, he still hadn’t forgotten his gratitude to Priscilla for taking him in. Priscilla would take the throne, and he would be rewarded. To him, it was the best possible outcome.
“Though I shall punish Schult for this small treachery. He will massage mineself’s feet.”
“Oh… please punish me too, Princess?”
Many members of the audience just cringed or gagged at that absurd back and forth.
However, the relief the two of them felt
“She’s a difficult girl to control, but once I use a curse to turn her into a puppet, she’ll do as I wish. With a doll on the throne, the country has all but fallen into my hands.”
was shattered by Leip’s next words, as he explained the final step of his plan.
“Yep. Just like the goddamn clown. Ain’t even funny how ‘his sh*t rhymes!” Garfiel shot the nastiest look he could feasibly make at Roswaal.
Roswaal just held his hands up in mock protest. “M~y~, don’t you think you’re being a bit unf~ai~r? I never resorted to such crude and coercive measures against Emilia-sam~a~!”
“Not that you wouldn’t if it would help you get what you want!” Rem snarled back while Ram was in turmoil, unsure if she should support her master and refute the others despite being steeped in guilt.
“There is no mistaking this for anything BUT treason!” Julius was aghast at such a vile action.
“Well, not that we can do anythin’ ‘bout Leip now, but it is concernin’ how two Royal Candidates ended up with snakes as sponsors.” Anastasia absolutely abhorred Leip’s plot. This was akin to making a slave out of her, and she had VERY strong feelings about the practice of slavery, having nearly become one herself!
“Sheesh. Makes me feel almost lucky. Unlike Big Sis or that bimbo, most I had to deal with was this jerk kidnapping me!” Felt elbowed Reinhard, also disgusted.
Crusch gaze pierced Leip on screen. “The very Kingdom is at stake, and he would go so far to make a mockery of the Royal Selection!” She looked at Priscilla and Al. “I can only be thankful for whoever and however his schemes were dismantled, for the good of Lugunica!”
Priscilla just rolled her eyes. “Fool. Do not take the liberty of twisting mine actions. I simply did as I pleased; to ascribe your own delusions to my intentions goes beyond arrogance!”
“…Huh?”
Unable to breathe, Schult let out a hoarse voice.
The old man let a vicious smile twist his face, and shrugged at Schult’s reaction.
“What, could you not hear me? That girl’s troublesome willfulness is in the way. I was able to overlook it before the start of the Royal Selection, but now that the importance of every single action is increasing, I can’t let it be. Once her debut at the royal castle is finished, I’ll take away her will and make her my puppet.”
“Leip-dono had passed away before the beginning of the Royal Selection, so his plan failed relatively early.” Reinhard noted smartly.
“……Is that really something you can do so easily?”
“I’m sure it’s beyond imagining for the two of you. In this world, there are many demands for unimaginable dark deeds. I long ago made connections with a handy fellow who acts as an intermediary for a ‘shaman’.”
Rather than being the stuff of dreams, Leip’s plot was a realistic one. Through cursing her by a shaman, he’d take away Priscilla’s will. This, too, was likely realistically possible.
“A shaman….” Beatrice raised an eyebrow. She was a bit uncaring to Priscilla’s fate, but the mention of a shaman did remind her of how Subaru had asked her for such esoteric knowledge.
“Priscilla-sama. Al-dono. Were you two ever able to identify this shaman or the intermediary?” Reinhard questioned urgently. “If not, we must immediately mount a search and seizure for them!”
Many in the cast nodded, unwilling to let such a dangerous evildoer remain on the loose, especially one that could potentially pose a threat to a Royal Candidate.
“And just what would be the point of committing to such a droll thing, searching for but a specific fly among a dungheap?” To Priscilla, this indeed was an incredibly boring endeavor that would ultimately prove fruitless. It was honestly incredibly unimaginative to her, Leip’s supposed “master plan” to bring her to heel. If he was going to reach beyond his means, at the very least he could have come up with something truly unique!
“Priscilla-sama! Surely you cannot mean to say that we simply let this pass without consequences!” Julius was confused and outraged! He had conflicting feelings regarding Priscilla’s lack of sympathy towards the Royal Family and her seeming negligence in possibly saving them, but it was madness that she would be so inattentive towards abetting agents of her possible demise! What if those very same agents were employed against the other candidates?
“Tch. How narrow-minded must you commoners be to fixate upon a single rock among the ruins of the land.” Priscilla just snorted and did not elaborate any further than that.
Just what the hell did she mean by that? That explanation made no sense whatsoever, and many of the knights and audience just looked at each other bewildered.
‘This is wasting too much time before we get to the good p~ar~ts…’ Roswaal was annoyed at these constant pauses over trivial matters.
“I believe what Barielle-sama means to s~a~y…….” Glares focused on the clown. “Is that this intermediary and shaman are likely affiliated with m~a~ny of the assassin guilds in Gusteko and Kararag~i~. F~ur~thermore, they are in no way unique as many nobles of Lugunica employ such s~er~vices. It would be stepping on t~oo~ many important toes over a fr~ui~tless search for one of many potential c~ul~prits.”
“Ugh. Of course ya’d know all ‘bout foreign assassin guilds, ya goddamn snake…” Garfiel sneered in contempt.
Otto just cradled his head face down into his hands. Implying he was intimately familiar with illegal, shady international organizations? Sure, why not? Just pile that on top of Roswaal’s many already revealed crimes.
“As if I need another reason to destroy all those c*nts…” Felt muttered at the apparent fact that nobles engaged in literal cloak-and-dagger politics all the time. Glancing down disappointedly, Reinhard could only lament at how systemic all these conspiratorial elements seemed to be… Just what good was his strength as the Sword Saint if it could not root out such evil?
Anastasia shrugged. “Well, that’s how it is. If ya wanna catch ‘em, ya gotta take down be willin’ to go ‘gainst all them nobles and guilds.” She too was no stranger to how cut-throat, both metaphorically and literally, things were with how those guilds operated and their business ties with the aristocracy around the world.
Julius just felt a hint of hopelessness. He knew that the knight order and the nobility weren’t perfect. It was, after all, part of why he chose to serve Anastasia as he believed she would help rectify the many problems of the country. However, to think its underbelly was so vast and dark…
Many members of the Emilia camp gulped. They did say they would try to go after “mama” and the rest of the assassins from Elsa’s guild, but only now were they getting a hint of how daunting such a task was…
“Like Anastasia-sama s~ai~d, there’s n~o~thing we can do about it now, so we should keep w~a~tching…..” Roswaal succinctly summarized.
“Tha…that’s not what you said, oh no, indeed!”
Unlike Al, who was able to calmly accept the facts, Schult’s voice cracked as he spoke out.
“Sir, you’d do nothing to Priscilla-sama, that’s what you said, indeed!”
“Poor child… He must feel so alone, being the only one to care about Priscilla….” Frederica’s heart went out to the timid boy who, despite believing himself to be surrounded by cold, uncaring people, still found the strength to voice out his concern for his lady.
“What an innocent, naive boy possessing nothing of note but his cuteness. Though that is exactly to mineself’s liking.” Priscilla cooly noted, though not without an air of affection.
“I never said I wouldn’t do anything. I said I wouldn’t harm her. If that woman isn’t uninjured, she can’t hope to take the throne. Hence, I’ll do nothing to take away her health. What’s the problem?”
“If Priscilla-sama stops being Priscilla-sama…… then what point……”
As Schult spoke in a trembling voice, Leip leveled a displeased glare at him. The cruel color that began to show in his eyes was proof that he was beginning to weigh the usefulness of the boy in front of him against his displeasure.
Recognizing the look in Leip’s face all too familiarly, Wilhelm just gravely warned the audience. “This will not end well.”
“I-I’m sure it’ll be alright! Al-sama is there! He won’t let anything happen to him, right!” Petra struggled to remain optimistic, glancing at the helmeted man with hopeful eyes.
Al said nothing. SOMETHING was going to happen, that was for sure, but he’d rather everyone think he was a cold-hearted man who let Schult get hurt than know what exactly he did to get him out safely….
“Quit trying to look innocent, boy. You’ve already been drawn in by the reward, and betrayed that woman. You’re no longer in a position to be concerned about her welfare. Or is that it? Have you fallen for her charms? To be overcome by the seduction of a whor*, completely shameful for a boy…… Well, then.”
Leering disgustingly, Leip stood and leaned over the desk, bringing his face close to Schult’s.
“If you want to have your way with her, I’ll allow it after she’s taken the throne. I don’t know what you see in that clump of flab, but you’re drooling over her, aren’t you?”
“What vulgarity!” Wilhelm growled, cracking the armrests of his seat.
“A filthy man, through and through!” Crusch balled her fists, wishing she could carve Leip up. Not just as a Royal Candidate, but also as a fellow woman, she could not tolerate such disgrace.
“sh*thead’s worse than a slum-dwelling pimp!” Felt growled. Even Reinhard momentarily allowed this breach of ladylike grace at such a disgusting insinuation.
Rem just shot a glare towards Roswaal. While he never put it in such disgusting terms, what he had tried to turn Emilia into as a way to bind her to Subaru wasn’t all that removed from what Leip was offering. ‘Subaru-kun … you truly are a kind, just hero.’ She was all the more proud that Subaru had refused, wanting to instead encourage Emilia’s growth and have her discover her own feelings in a genuine manner.
This realization was not lost on Emilia as well. While the exact connotation was lost on her, she understood full well the parallels with Roswaal’s implicit offer to Subaru. Leaning her head on his shoulder, she gave his hand a few squeezes of love while glaring hatefully at the screen.
“…”
Unsurpassed disrespect of women and humiliation of Priscilla.
Schult’s face went bright red at that statement, and his delicate arms reached for Leip.
However, Leip avoided him with ease, and instead struck him in the chest with a short tube that was on top of the desk. With a cry of pain, Schult tumbled on the floor of the study.
CRAAACK!
An audible shattering sound of wood was heard as Priscilla, barely concealing her rage, completely splintered her armrests.
“Tha pipsqueak’s got guts.” Garfiel nodded with a hateful glare, grinding his teeth
“His warrior spirit at such a young age deserves the utmost respect!” Wilhelm exclaimed with authority. To face down an opponent leagues beyond your strength for the sake of the people you care for? In his view, there was no more commendable act!
Julius slightly bowed his head in respect and elegantly growled. “Even as a child, he exemplifies the ideals of a knight!”
“He’s a r~ea~lly brave boy!” Worried at the injuries Schult had sustained, Emilia sat upright at her seat, not liking what might happen next.
“I agree with ya’ll, but it doesn’ look good for him.” Anastasia doused everyone with the reality of the situation. “Tha boy’s made his position clear, and the Baron ain’t going ta let that go.”
Breathes hitched as everyone continued watching with suspense.
“To raise your hand against me, the master of the mansion; this is the problem with all the ill-mannered wild dogs these days.”
Leip, who had just mercilessly struck a child, looked down at Schultz as he writhed on the floor.
Leip’s movement just now had a sharpness unexpected from someone nearing seventy. A long-held, unfulfilled ambition was capable of filling a body with vitality to this extent.
“Now you will burn to death. Your innards will char, and you’ll blow smoke from every hole in your body. I’ll accept the sight of your miserable condition as recompense for your disgrace.”
“Oh no! He’s going to kill him!” Petra cried out as Frederica pulled her in close, ready to shield her from what was likely to be a very grotesque death.
Everyone suddenly shifted to the edge of their seats. Even Priscilla too momentarily paused fanning herself, narrowing her eyes in interest in what was to come.
“Ay, bro! You're not just gonna stand there right!” Ricardo shouted at Al as he too pulled the twins in towards him who both shook with anxiety.
Al said nothing.
That silence only agitated Julius further. “Al-dono! Surely you will not just allow such harm to fall on that boy without any action on your part!”
Pointing the tip of the short tube in his hand at Schult, Leip put the punishment into action with the look of one crushing an insect.
Anastasia began stroking her fox scarf ever more roughly. She always had a soft spot or children, so to watch one go out like this…… She glanced at Al. No matter how revolutionary his otherworldly ideas might be, she would never associate or cooperate with him if he would just standby and do nothing.
Rem and Ram glared at Al while Roswaal only smiled mysteriously at him. Was he really so cold-hearted to allow the brutal death of a child without so much as blinking?
“C’mon dude!” Garfiel growled in anger and desperation.
Emilia pleaded with a scream. “Al-san! You’ll do something right!”
The intensifying mana made the air in the study shimmer, the manifested destruction overtook the young body, the being known as Schult changed to dust in the inferno…,
Crusch, Felix, and Wilhelm steeled themselves, unwilling to shy away from this cruelty, ready to witness this last stand of bravery by such a fine young boy.
“Petra, look away!” Frederica shielded Petra’s eyes and ears.
“……What’s the meaning of this?”
“The ball suddenly came my way, so yeah.”
The moment before Schult would have been burnt to ashes, Al’s sword was unleashed, aiming for the short tube. Instantly dodging the sword swinging up from below, Leip’s face twisted in annoyance.
Sighs of relief reverberated throughout the theater.
“Yes! You did it, Al-sama!” Petra jumped in joy, bursting out of Frederica’s arms who only gave a small smile, happy that nobody would get their guts blown out.
“Hmpm. It was a great deed. You have my praises, Al.” Priscilla genuinely smiled, pleased that she was indeed correct, taking Al under her wing and having the world turn in her favor once again, protecting Schult.
Rem and Ram’s glares softened, happy that at least this suspicious man wasn’t a complete monster.
Roswaal just sniffed uninterestedly. It was a bit disappointing that Al didn’t turn out to be as cold-hearted and logical as he had hoped. Oh well, can’t win them all.
Emilia sighed in relief and beamed at Al. Her gut feeling was right after all; Al really was similar to Subaru somehow. “Al-san, you did a r~ea~lly good thing!”
Al only grumbled. “Yeah….. I really did it now…..”
“What reason is there for you to protect that child? All you need to do is watch quietly. You understood that was the position you agreed to, did you not!?”
“GAHAHAHAHA! Ain’t everyone a stone-cold bastard like you!” Ricardo guffawed as he slapped Al on the back repeatedly, grinning toothily.
“Dude stop! It hurts!”
Julius elegantly smiled with approval at Al. “I am truly proud that a fellow knight of a Royal Candidate is an honorable man.”
“If you get that angry, you really are going to bust a vein, sir. Yeah, actually, I’m not sure either why I did that, though……”
“Hmm?” A metaphorical question mark rose above Anastasia’s head. It was all nice and well that Al saved the boy, but what was this about not knowing why he did it? After all, working with a schizo also didn’t seem too promising either….
In the face of Leip’s rage, Al joked as he spoke his honest thoughts.
“Mister Helmet …. Doesn’t know why he did it?” Tivey thought that whether he did or didn’t, the answer would be obvious. Either he didn’t want Schult to die or he felt sticking with Leip was a better deal. The former was an emotional argument while the latter was logical, but both were valid, straightforward reasons. What was there to wonder about?
“You’re so dumb!” Mimi happily chattered, eager to bring her smarty-pants brother down a few notches. “Obviously, he did it because he wanted to!”
“Yeah, it’s cus he’s a good guy! Ain’t need a fancy reason ta do the right thin’!” Garfiel smirked with confidence, giving Al a thumbs up.
Even he didn’t understand why he’d moved to protect Schult. Thinking about it rationally, it would have been best to use what Leip was saying to his own advantage.
Wilhelm just shook his head, slightly amused at Al’s trivial consternation. “Whatever the reason is, Al-dono, you should stand proud of your choice.” Whatever the deal was with Al, he was beginning to like him more and more.
“To protect the innocent while at the cost of potentially your life and livelihood. You have my respects.” Reinhard agreed, giving him a friendly smile. Just like Subaru, could Al too become one of his friends? He certainly liked that idea!
Despite that, Al had now protected Schult after his objection to Leip, and had turned the old man hostile.
Why, what for, he didn’t know.
Felix’s happy expression turned slightly frightened and his ear’s flattened. “Thyough they’re nyot out of the woods yet!”
“Yeah. If the Baron wasn’t angry then, he’s goin’ to be mighty furious now!” Worriedly, Anastasia brought everyone down to the reality of the all but guaranteed conflict with Leip.
Crusch receded from the edge of her seat and rested her chin on her fist. “There is no way he will not try to dispose of them here and now, as they’ve made their allegiances clear.” She then smirked as she could tell; things with Leip were going to be settled here and now, and she couldn’t wait to see!
“Al-sama, you……”
From behind Al, who was playing the fool, Schult looked towards him as he groaned.
“Schult-chan, if it hurts, it’s alright to cry, ya know? I’ll keep it a secret.”
“Oh, how Rem just wants to pick him up and hold him tight…” Rem mumbled over just how sinfully cute Schult was, especially when he was giving such hurt, puppy-dog eyes!
Frederica too was almost drooling over the prospect. Petra could only look half-frightened and half-worried about the possible need To Catch A Predator if Frederica ever got her near Schult.
“Al-sama… you like Priscilla-sama too, right……?”
“……”
Ignoring Al’s teasing, Schult spoke as though he’d had to wring the words out of himself.
And the moment he heard those words, a shock passed through Al’s entire body.
Letting out a long, long sigh, Al understood.
“Ah, man, I’m so dumb. ……How did I miss something so simple?”
With that realization, he was able to explain all of his confusion up to now.
“Truly a fool.” Priscilla just snorted, amused at her clown’s stupidity as the audience gave warm smiles, honestly happy that she had found one of her first loyal retainers.
“You’ve realized your judgment was clouded? If so, move out of……”
“I get it. I finally get it. I was being stupid. I shoulda seen it right away.”
Tilting his head to the side, Al shrugged while keeping his one-handed grip on his sword.
“So this is when Al-san finally realizes he cares about Priscilla!” Emilia happily declared, interested as always in relationships between other men and women, though she may have not been consciously aware of that.
“Ram thinks he may have just realized how foolishly incompetent the Baron was and instead chose to throw his lot in with Priscilla-sama.” Ram gave her own, less flattering opinion on Al’s motives.
Anastasia just shrugged, though not joylessly. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong with always lookin’ for a better deal, though the Baron ain’t a high bar ta clear!”
“The viewing indicates that Al-dono clearly isn’t so utilitarian for that to be the main reason. It is likely in no small part due to him being inspired by Priscilla’s fiery will.” Crusch argued against the latter two, espousing her own theory for acquiring loyal retainers.
Felix chimed in. “Crusch-sama is right! Who would want to follow someone with nyo regard for human life!”
“We also mustn't forget the competence Priscilla has shown in revitalizing her lands.” Julius added.
Reinhard nodded and began to summarize. “It is clear that Al-dono, despite his mysterious background, possesses human morales and values. Whatever his reasons for choosing Priscilla-sama, I am sure they are honora-”
“There’s no way I could happily plot together with an old geezer who can’t see how sexy and cute the princess is!”
“A lustful, filthy dog just like Barusu.”
“Absolutely disgusting, in fact.”
“That sounded r~ea~lly gross, Al-san…..”
“Yeah, what an actual creep.”
“Ferri nyeeds to wash himself….”
“Petra-chan, this is what you call an enemy of all women… be sure to steer clear of them.”
“Al-kun, there’s a thin’ as too much honesty, ya know….”
“I bet he’s not even lying….”
“Again! Why are you all looking at me like I’m some sort of criminal!?!? I didn’t say anything wrong, did I?!?” Al’s protests fell on deaf ears as everyone else once again condemned him. This great injustice to his reputation even momentarily made him forget just what was going to happen next. He wasn’t a sex offender! He wasn’t!
“…You…fool!!”
“Oh sh*t! Thin’s ‘re gettin’ serious now!” Garfiel shouted as he tugged on Otto’s shoulders who also watched in rapt attention.
Immediately after his curse, Leip pulled out one of the desk drawers with his left hand and threw it at Al. Hacking that apart with his sword as it approached, Al kicked the books at his feet towards Leip and shouted.
“Schult! Get outta the room right now! I’ll handle the rest!”
“....Etiquette aside…. Good work on ensuring the safety of non-combatants.” Julius, still reeling a bit from Al’s disgusting declaration, couldn’t help but praise his actions here.
“Ahh…… gh, understood, indeed!”
Grimacing in pain, Schult ran with great effort to the door, and left the room without looking back. That was a good choice. However, Leip mocked that choice.
“How completely foolish the pair of you are! Why do you think I only called the two of you to the study? All the other servants in the mansion are my supporters. There’s no question what will happen to the boy now that he’s left the room!”
“Damn it! So they’re surrounded like rats in a cage!” Felt snarled with anxiety. Even if Al defeated Leip, how was he going to get out of this one?
“Oh no! That means Schult isn’t safe at all!” Petra yelped in realization.
Crusch gravely nodded. “This does explain why he was so loose-lipped and obvious in his interactions. The entire mansion is conspiring against a Royal Candidate!”
Emilia unhappily frowned in agreement. In terms of finding trustworthy personnel, Priscilla had it even harder than she did!
“Very prudent of ya. But, ya never know, right? If I were to take you hostage……”
“A bit underhanded, but there aren’t many other options…..” Reinhard noted with a hint of disapproval, though he understood perfectly well that it would be justified in this case.
“Surely you don’t think you can restrain me so easily, youngling. In my younger days, I was nothing to scoff at on the battlefield. My war record is no less than that of Bordeaux himself!”
The fighting spirit emanating from Leip as he roared was proof that this wasn’t a bluff.
“This will not be an easy fight…..” Wilhelm prepared himself for the coming fight. Despite his cruelty, Leip WAS a competent military man. He simply had the misfortune of going up against a tactical and strategic genius. Leip himself was no slouch when it came to direct combat, being a skilled fire magic user.
The short tube the old man held was a ‘metia’. Its effect was most likely raising the power of the user’s magic – a simple effect, but because of that, there was no countermeasure.
“Whew… that must cost a pretty penny!” Ricardo whistled anxiously. Just how was Al going to win this one?
Comparing that to his own fighting strength, Al quickly judged that he was at a disadvantage. In other words,
“The conditions are met. …No need to hesitate in playing my trump card.”
Al just very audibly groaned. This was it. He knew his luck was too awful for the viewing NOT to show the absurdity his trump card enacted! What was he going to do against the inevitable questions? His mind immediately raced for countermeasures and ways to mislead the audience. A tough task considering the presence of Reinhard and Crusch.
Everyone just looked over to Al, instantly curious at both his “trump card” and his obvious aversion to having it be revealed.
Chief among them were Roswaal and Beatrice. Roswaal’s smile stretched so wide that one could see skin without makeup.
“And just what might this trump card b~e~?” Roswaal crowed, almost gloating at Al.
Beatrice just stared at Al, her butterfly pupils wavering with both curiosity and extreme concern. She wasn’t stupid. She knew what Roswaal was hinting at.
‘Could it be…… an Authority?’ That thought terrified Beatrice. ‘No….. Nothing definitive yet, I suppose.’
“Maybe we’re gonna see some sick sword skills?” Garfiel was literally bouncing up on his seat with anticipation. Al was sitting all healthy, so he knew he would win, but how?
Otto shrugged. “Maybe? In any case, calm down so we can keep watching!”
Wilhelm sat forward a bit in his seat with Crusch, remembering what he had said about Al’s supposed “sword skills” previously, followed suit.
‘Was it truly skill?’ The Sword Demon, having reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship, needed to know!
“You idiot……”
“I won’t deny that. It’s nothing personal. Your luck was bad. ……Nah,”
Al slumped into his seat like a slug.
Halting his words there, Al continued with the echo of a cynical smile in his voice.
“…Your stars were bad.”
“Now, what is that suppos’d ta mean?” Anastasia murmured at the unfamiliar expression.
“Tha-that sound’d so badass!” Garfiel boomed, eyes glittering as if they were reflecting the heavens themselves.
“……!”
Right after he finished speaking, Leip threw away all pretenses and raised the short tube, unleashing his magic.
Conveyed from Leip’s palm, the mana passing through the tube gained overwhelming power. The strength of the magic emerging from the end of the ‘metia’ had swollen to over five times its normal level.
The audience’s eyes widened at just how powerful the metia made a simple Goa spell.
“He’s using that indyoors! Is he insane?” Felix cried out horrified at Leip being reckless enough to cast a spell potentially capable of blowing away the entire study.
Everybody else just continued to be captivated by the screen. Unfortunately, many held the misconception that because Al had survived and, apparently, so did Leip at that point in time in the viewing; none of the adults were ready to shield the eyes of the children…
That magic landed a direct hit on the torso of the iron helmet that had been speaking nonsense, bending his body backwards and exploding in the center of it. The shelves were covered with the awful stench of a human body being burned by the intense heat, and the flesh, blood, and organs that had been blown apart.
“AHHHHHHHHH!” Petra shrieked at the sudden explosion of gore in the scene while Frederica, shocked, dragged her too late into her bosom. Cursing her slip in vigilance, she continuously stroked the little maid’s head.
“EWWWWWWWWWW!” Mimi bleaghed while Tivey just quickly looked away. While they were mercenaries and no stranger to the aftermath of bloodshed, it still isn't everyday that you saw a corpse blown into giblets!
Ricardo quickly pulled the two onto his lap, donning a fanged frown. “Tha hell?” He glanced over to Al in the theater who very much did not have his guts blown out.
“H-holy sh*t!” Felt cursed, throwing off Reinhard’s arm that attempted to bring her to his chest. She’d seen people bite the dust quite a few ways in the slums, but never like that!
The bodiless helmet and sword clattered to the floor, and Leip looked over the terrible scene with an air of boredom.
Emilia just stared confusedly, her hand lightly squeezing Subaru’s out of misplaced anxiety. “J-just like that? Al-san died? That can’t be right? He’s here with us, so he must have defeated the Baron?”
Garfiel just gaped in shock and bewilderment. “How the ‘ell did he win then? Yo, Brotto! You got any idea what's happenin’? The screen playin’ tricks or somethin’?”
Otto just pushed the tiger-boy off of him, before declaring to both him and the audience. “I’m not entirely sure, but we should just keep watching for now to get answers.” However, while he stated his uncertainty, a radical idea popped into his mind…… another other-worlder that the screen showed dying…… but was clearly still alive.
“What sort of trump card was that? What nonsense. Honestly, all of it, nonsense.”
“Indeed….” Wilhelm muttered in a sobered tone. How could a swordsman who, allegedly, won many matches as a gladiator, came out over quite a few of his competitors to be Priscilla’s knight, and dodged an exquisite strike from Priscilla herself NOT be able to strike down or at least evade a simple, albeit overcharged, Goa spell?
Cutting across the blood-soaked study, Leip began to leave the room. There was only a tiny chance, but if the boy that ran away managed to meet up with Priscilla, it would mean trouble. He needed to find him right away, and finish him.
Shocked as the rest of them, Anastasia’s mind, however, quickly switched over to a more rational stance. “But we know that he didn’ succeed, right Priscilla-san?”
Priscilla sat and remained momentarily quiet. “Obviously, he did not.” She irritably replied as the others continued to stare her down for an answer. Otherwise, they would have just kept interrupting her clown’s performance! While crude and haphazard, she just KNEW it would be amusing!
Crusch locked eyes with Anastasia, and both of them nodded. By now, they understood that the screen showed no lies, but if that was the case……
Thinking that, he extended his hand towards the study’s door knob.
“…Your stars were bad.”
“Who?!?!?” Felix cried, taken by surprise at a newcomer!
Reinhard’s eyes widened, remembering those exact words that kicked off the clownfest. “This is….”
“……!?”
Leip was speechless for a moment, then looked behind him.
When he did, he saw a man standing there with his back to Leip. He was a one-armed man wearing a steel helmet, and gripping a sword in his hand…
Priscilla sniffed somewhat derisively. “Truly a disgusting ability that runs on failure…” What bothered her the most was its usage against the pitiful likes of Leip!
Roswaal’s smile could not be wider if you had taken a chainsaw to his cheeks. ‘I MUST keep an eye on you now, Al-kun…..’ He made a mental note to himself to absolutely keep Al on his radar. He didn’t know exactly what Al’s background was. He didn’t know what his motives truly were. He didn’t know what exactly was going on with his sudden resurrection on screen. However, Roswaal DID know that Al was steeped in witch lore AND possessed some sort of skill; a sort of “special something” that seemed to defy death, no, perhaps even fate itself….. Al may be in possession of an Authority….
“But we saw him die?!?!?” Julius, forgetting himself for a moment, declared it almost as if it was a law of the universe.
“Perhaps it must be some sort of trick? An illusion spell, perhaps?” Ram recalled her very own employment of such a spell against Subaru.
Roswaal decided to nudge people’s guesses towards his own conclusions. “As the court m~a~ge, I did not see any signs of magic being c~a~sted!” He cast a knowing look at Al who did his best to ignore it, instead opting to sweat buckets..
“Or could be a clone. My amazin’ self’s heard of ‘ssassins in Kararagi able ta make clones of ‘hemselves to fight an’ sh*t.” To Garfiel, that seemed the most likely explanation, able to account for Al’s supposed catlike reflexes despite his seeming lack of skill in an upfront battle. “Bucket head could be one o‘em shinobis?”
“Tohoho!” Ricardo turned to Al, especially impressed given that one of his friends was the strongest shinobi in the world! “You really a shinobi? Or been through shinobi trainin’? I thought yer from Vollachia, though?”
Immediately capitalizing on this chance to mislead the rest, Al kept his tone level and neutrally replied. “There are shinobi villages in Vollachia too, you know. One of Vollachia’s Divine General’s a shinobi. Old Man Olbart.” There were zero lies spoken there.
“Huh? Where’d……”
“Go~a!!”
With no interest in listening to the fool’s voice, Leip cast his magic through the short tube and burned him to death once more.
This time, the adults in the room were far quicker to quickly cover the eyes of the children. Frederica, already pre-emptively holding Petra, quickly covered her eyes as she yelped in sudden surprise. Ricardo opted to do the same for the twins.
The unleashed flames scorched the man, and the speechless steel helmet once again shattered.
“Having fought to the death with shinobi mys~el~f…..” Wilhem shot a cold glare at Roswaal, knowing EXACTLY who he was referring to during Stride’s assault. “A shinobi skilled enough to create cl~o~nes of himself wouldn’t fall to a mere Goa spell not just once but tw~i~ce….” Roswaal finished in a lackadaisical tone, attempting to cut off yet another theory.
Wilhelm noticed Crusch leaning in to whisper. “I might be mistaken…. But just before the second time Leip killed Al-dono….. Or his clone….. It almost seemed as if Al-dono was…… confused? Unsure?”
Slightly tilting his head downwards in agreement, he only stoically concluded. “I do not think you were, Crusch-sama. I also find it hard to believe Al-dono could not react in time to Leip’s second attack…”
The floor of the study was once more stained with disaster, and Leip backed away, unable to grasp the meaning of the situation.
Reinhard’s eyes narrowed as he noticed another small detail that seemed to slip by the others’ attention. While Leip’s Goa blast was relatively contained to just blasting apart Al, there were inevitably still scorch marks at the ground beneath him as well as smaller chunks of gore scattered throughout the study. However, when Al suddenly resurrected, those residues disappeared before the study was once again painted with the bloody aftermath……
“Wha… what was that? What just happened……”
Felt stared at the screen with a disconcerted look. “That’s what we’re all wondering….” People don’t just get back up when having their guts undergo explosive combustion! People die when they are killed!
‘Well, except for Big Bro, I guess….’ The crimson-eyed princess had no idea what was going on.
Beatrice became increasingly settled. There were VERY few abilities in the world that she knew that could reproduce what was being shown on screen. Chief among them, being an Authority. But for an Authority to resurrect oneself from death? She would have considered that preposterous had it not been for her very own contractor. Yet, the likelihood of not one but two Authorities having such similar effects was also absurd! Furthermore, regardless of the Authority itself, Al possessing one made him either a Witch Cultist, Warlock, or (and she dreaded the last one as depending on where the incoming interrogation would go, it would implicate Subaru with something terrible) …… a Sage Candidate…. Frankly speaking, Beatrice did not care too much if Al had an Authority or not. She knew that he likely knew her Mother and was likely involved with many mysteries. She also knew, however, that Al did not seem keen on talking about it even when under duress. As far as Beatrice was concerned, it didn’t matter to her, especially since they had confirmed Al wasn’t a witch cultist nor did he mean anyone any harm, particularly her Subaru.
‘But his potential to be a Sage Candidate remains, I suppose….’ There was only one thing Beatrice had to do. Steer the conversation AWAY from Al’s possible Authority and what that may mean regarding his status as a Sage Candidate.
Realizing that he was shaking, Leip took a deep breath. His forehead was covered with cold sweat. While roughly wiping it away with his sleeve, the old man looked up and tried to make sense of it.
At the sight of the nervous wreck, Priscilla could only gaze at Leip half in pity and disgust. “For your resolve to be shaken after two attempts….. How disappointingly pathetic.” She muttered, fanning herself.
“…Your stars were bad.”
Once again, the man’s voice was heard.
“This is the third time we heard those words…. Why does Al-san keep saying them?” Emilia, her hands clasped together in front of her chest in anxiety while also befuddled like the rest, got hung up on a surprisingly small detail.
That innocent, seemingly unimportant query got the gears in Roswaal’s head turning…
８
“A change in scene? Again?” Tivey shouted, indignant at what seemed to be ANOTHER cop-out by the screen from showing the most important details.
“…Your stars were bad.”
“No…. this seems more like a skip forward in time…” Otto gave his astute correction. “Though, I’m unsure why the viewing skipped to this point.”
“Mimi doesn’t understand! “Your stars were bad.” What does that mean?” The kitten-girl’s head wobbled in confoundment.
“It’s ….. Possibly inane drivel that the likes of Garf and Barusu spew to show off?” Ram gave her own merciless opinion.
“Hey!” One-liners were absolutely essential when facing off against an enemy! She just wouldn’t understand since she wasn’t a warrior like Garfiel!
“.... Warrior etiquette aside, why does he keep repeating this?” Julius asked to noone in particular.
Roswaal’s eyes widened in possible understanding and thought to himself in excitement. ‘He may not be……. It may be a time loop of some s~or~ts……’
Could it really be that Al had a looping ability like Subaru??? It would explain why, on screen, he seemingly kept dying and returning as well as how Al, a regular human as far as Roswaal could tell, managed to survive so long in the world! There were still some inconsistencies that had to be sorted out such as Leip seemingly remembering the loops, but if this was true, this was HUGE! He HAD to either get him on his side or eliminate him as he knew all too well just how dangerous having a looper as an enemy was!
He heard it. That voice struck his ears again.
“Huh? Where’d you go?”
Crusch attempted to decipher this statement, her face tense with deliberation. “Why does he seem confused as well?”
Before his eyes, the man who had lost sight of his enemy looked left and right. Then the man turned about, and when he noticed the man seated behind him, he quickly readied his sword again. However,
“Not that ya mention it…. Don’t seem like any clone I know….” Ricardo rumbled in a low voice, picking at his teeth absent mindedly.
“Oh, hey. You’ve run out of steam. From the way it looks… I’m the aggressor now. Ah, I see. You’re pretty unlucky, too.”
“The aggressor? But it’s the Baron that’s attacking Al-san?” Emilia cutely chimed, eyebrows furrowed.
“And why would he call the Baron unlucky?” Rem continued, eyes narrowed, noting Al’s weird remarks on screen.
Speaking as though with sympathy, the man squatted in front of the disheartened old man.
The drooling old man didn’t so much as look up at the man’s face.
“Tha hell happened to him? He doesn’ even have a scratch, and he’s sittin’ like a veg’table!” Garfiel growled, utterly bewildered by Leip’s apparent sudden onset retardation.
“This makes no sense! The Baron keeps killing Mister Helmet, and now, he just stops?” Tivey too voiced his confusion.
Priscilla’s eyes narrowed as a sudden idea of what happened to Leip formulated in her mind. “So it is like that. A slothful and boring way to go about it, clown.” She muttered to Al, half in disgust and half in pity.
Al just sighed. “Sorry for disappointing you, Princess….”
“You were so energetic until just a second ago, but you’ve started looking your age all of a sudden. I don’t know how many times we’ve done this, but ya haven’t given up after a few dozen, have ya? Well, there’s no way to know, o’course.”
That was it. That immediately confirmed what Roswaal had suspected. ‘After a few dozen….. ’ It went without saying that he understood a few dozen what .
Roswaal gently clasped his hand over Ram’s and leaned in to whisper. “Ram. It appears we may require both preparations to entr~ea~t Al-kun …….. And countermeasures against h~i~m.”
Ram turned sharply to face Roswaal. “Do you believe he is a threat, Roswaal-sama?”
He just shook his head slowly. “I’m not s~ur~e. All I will say is that Al-kun may have more in common with Subaru-kun than just his orig~i~ns.”
Ram’s eyes reflected confusion at first before widening in understanding as she put two and two together. However, she quickly repressed that expression, donning once again a cold, neutral gaze. “I understand, Roswaal-sama.”
“…ll me.”
“Huh?”
The voice was like a whisper, and the helmeted man tilted his head.
So that the man would hear it, the old man shakily raised his head.
“Please… kill me.”
“He wants to die? Why? Nothing’s hyappened to him!” Felix shouted in outrage! The Baron didn’t sustain any wounds and not only just decided to give up on killing Al, but also wanted to die as well? What was this? Felix’s disgust at suicidal tendencies aside, did someone of such mental strength really dare to plot against the Royal Family and a Royal Candidate?
“This is concerning…” Crusch murmured to Wilhelm, recalling what Roswaal had said. “Is this truly not some sort of illusion spell meant to drive someone mad?”
“I am unsure, Crusch-sama. But if the viewings do not give us answers, we may need to inquire for them ourselves ....”
As though it might be his only salvation, the old man earnestly sought it.
At that appeal, the man’s shoulders dropped as though he had recalled something unfortunate.
“That’s too bad. Just because someone can’t grasp sexy cuteness, people can’t come to understand each other, after all.”
Emilia looked at Al with a reproachful gaze. “He doesn’t seem to be hostile anymore….. Are you really going to kill him over …… a lack of understanding, as you said?” To the half-elf princess, as nasty as Leip was, whatever Al had done to him, the danger was clearly over. Surely, there wasn’t a need to kill him, even if he himself wanted it?
Standing, the helmeted man lightly shouldered his sword, aiming for the old man’s neck.
“Come here Petra.” Petra’s body went on autopilot as she burrowed into Frederica’s chest.
Then, the blade swung in a deadly arc, and the old man’s head sprayed blood as it flew through the air.
At last, the old man’s nightmare…
“…Your stars were bad.”
did not end.
The viewing paused as if to give the audience time to process what they watched…… and begin interrogations. Al only braced himself for the coming onslaught, going over his premade answers and PreyTMing that only softball questions would be thrown his way, questions that could easily be deflected with a misleading answer.
“Wha- what the hell was that?” Felt, horrified at such a nonsensical scene, raged in an outburst. “That bastard kills bucket-head over there, and he doesn’t die. Bucket-head kills that bastard, and HE doesn’t die! We just keep hearing him say those stupid words every time! What the hell is going on!”
Roswaal smiled mysteriously at Al while Ram only threw him a suspicious glare. Beatrice, too, shot him a suspicious but also fearful look.
“But how?” Tivey’s voice suddenly clamored. “How does Mr. Helmet keep resurrecting?!?” He directed his question at Al.
Al said nothing and sat like a statue.
Julius, while staring at Al with reservation, elegantly chimed in. “As Ram stated previously …. Could it perhaps be an illusion spell? We have already seen in a previous viewing how such a spell can mislead a victim into thinking they are being killed ….. Or killing.”
Heads began to nod with Al injecting some misdirecting truths of his own. “Not gonna share all my skills, but I am capable of magi-.”
“AND as I also s~ai~d, as the court mage, I can assure you there were no signs of any magic being cast on Al-kun’s p~ar~t!” Al was cut off by Roswaal. The clown shot him a nasty smirk and Al just cursed under his breath.
Reinhard noted this tacit jousting over control of the conversation between the two and frowned. “Al-dono …. Was this an illusion spell that Leip-kyo found himself a victim of?”
Al remained quiet. Any attempt at a misdirect here would be WAY too obvious.
“They say silence can speak volumes, ya’know…” Anastasia sarcastically quipped at him. “Though, aren’ you interest’d as well, Priscilla-san?” She redirected focus towards the Baroness who hadn’t said a word.
Priscilla only rolled her eyes in ennui. “How irritating it is, for you to assume I would accompany you in your trivial games. It is far more entertaining for mineself to watch a dog squirm rather than regale you with such tedious conclusions.” She went back to sipping wine, staring off into space.
“So you already know, and you don’t mind us speculating.” Crusch succinctly translated in slight dissatisfaction.
“Think whatever you want, commoner.”
“Though, Al-kun here seems quite tight-lipped himself.” Anastasia cheerfully noted. Just being able to start a line of questioning, with two lie detectors in tow, was already quite useful even if the interrogated was quite uncooperative!
“Well, since it ain’t an ‘llusion spell, I’ll also go right out and say. Hate ta ‘gree with the clown, but it didn’ look like shinobi clones as well.” Anastasia continued, preparing to stomp out another possibility.
Ricardo grimaced his fang-filled snout. “Yeah. I’ve seen and gone up agains’ a few myself. They all look a bit differen’ when ya kill’em, but I ain’t ever seen a clone die like that!”
“But if it isn’t an illusion spell or a clone, then doesn’t that mean Al-san really was dying!” Not seeing any alternative, Emilia began to pity the one-armed warrior, her heart truly going out to him. After all, that meant his plight was incredibly similar to Subaru’s!
Ram shot Al a look mixed with pity and wariness. “Is this true? Are you able to …… return by death similarly like Barusu?”
Al fidgeted nervously. It REALLY didn’t seem he could squeeze his way out of disclosing that little detail. “It’s a far cry to call it the same ability as Bro ….. But, yeah, I guess I don’t stay dead that easily…. Though there’re quite a few abilities that can do something like this. I bet Mr. Sword Saint here knows what I’m talking about.” Answering truthly while also tossing misleading bait, Al nodded at Reinhard.
Reinhard furrowed his eyebrows in surprise. How did Al know about that? Was Al just assuming he had it due to how incredibly overpowered he was compared to mere mortals? After all, the fact that Reinhard had a gazillion Divine Protections wasn’t exactly a secret.
“It’s hard to believe there are many abilities that can resurrect one from the dead though….” Rem remarked skeptically with many in the audience nodding in agreement.
Beatrice quickly understood the misdirect Al was attempting and was all too happy to jump on it, hoping that it would lead the discussion away from Authorities and Sage Candidacy in general.
“That is not quite true, maid. There are certain Divine Protections that grant the same effect as we’ve seen on screen, in fact.”
“Huuh? The hell kinda broken power is that?” Felt exclaimed incredulously. “Rein, you got any idea what she’s talking about?”
Everyone turned towards Reinhard curiously. If anyone had such a power, of course it would be the Sword Saint!
“I do possess the Divine Protection of the Phoenix.” Reinhard began neutrally. “Its effect allows me to resurrect upon death, healing me of any wounds. However, I’ve never had to use it before.” The audiences’ eyes widened at such a ridiculous ability.
“Tha hell?!?” Garfiel sputtered. Not only was this guy unkillable, even if he WAS killed, he’d just come right back?!?
“Sheeesh….. Ya sure yer human…..” Anastasia felt the need to mutter, though not quietly enough.
Reinhard gave a strained smile. “It does pain me to hear such a sentiment, Anastasia-sama.” He was too used to being treated as a monster, and unlike with Subaru, most didn’t call him one with a friendly or joking attitude.
“Alright, alright, Rein’s a superhuman idiot, we get it.” Felt rolled her eyes at all the glazing. “Let’s get back on topic. We were talking about bucket-head and his supposed Divine Protection of the Phoenix or whatever.”
“Though, isn’t it considered rude to ask about someone’s Divine Protections……” Al trailed off, hoping they would just leave it at that.
But a certain clown wasn’t going to let up on Al that easily. “That’s if it even ~I~S a Divine Protection, isn’t that r~igh~t, Reinhard-kun?” Roswaal droned on, nudging everyone towards the actual truth.
Reinhard glanced at the Margrave. It was obvious at this point that the clown had a good idea of what was going on, but for what reason was he fanning the flames, trying to smoke Al out for? “As Mathers-kyo implies…… I do not believe this ability to be the Divine Protection of the Phoenix.”
“And why is that?” Crusch asked curiously. She had not detected any lies from Al, but she wasn’t stupid. She could tell that Al was talking around her Divine Protection, giving non-committal answers, and generally responding in an evasive, misleading manner.
“I noticed that everytime Al-dono …… resurrected….. The ….. Aftermath of his demise would also disappear.” Reinhard carefully worded his answer, scrutinizing Al. He was beginning to understand exactly what Roswaal was implying about the source of Al’s ability….. It was no Divine Protection; you could say it was the opposite of Divine.
“Aftermath? What do’ya mean?” Mimi scratched the back of her ear.
“He means the blood splatters and scorched ground.” Tivey answered sagaciously, also thinking back to the scene and realizing that discrepancy.
“Ah!” Anastasia's eyes suddenly lit up in realization. “And I’m guessin’ that wouldn’ happen if it was a Divine Protection?”
“That detail also rules out Al-dono possessing extreme regenerative abilities akin to the Bowel Hunter.” Julius supplemented, clamping down on another potential theory.
Interestingly, it was Emilia who first began to voice out what everyone’s mind was slowly converging towards. “T-then…. Isn’t it possible that Al-san is similar…….” She left those last words unspoken, switching glances between Subaru and Al, her face contorted in motherly sympathy.
Those glances were all it took for everyone to finally begin putting two and two together.
“Oh for heaven’s sake. I cannot stand this farce any longer!” Priscilla abruptly sneered with a scornful gaze at Roswaal. “Stop meandering about you clown, and simply ask your trivial question before mineself strikes you down for wasting time!” The crimson-princess had had enough of Roswaal’s roundabout questioning via third-parties, exacerbating an already boring mystery with an all-too-obvious answer if one only stopped to think more deeply. It was clear that the Margrave, with his mind already made up, wouldn’t be misguided by Al’s attempts at deception. If so, there was no entertainment to be had from watching him writhe in desperation for a way out as the outcome was all but certain!
Roswaal smiled deeply and turned to Al who shivered. “Then at your behest, Priscilla-sama…”
Everyone looked at the two with keen interest, hungry for answers.
“Do you possess an Authority, Al-kun?”
‘Ah sh*t.’ Al cursed mentally. It was a straight question. Too straight. To be honest, Al was somewhat surprised Roswaal hadn’t just asked him outright earlier as it seemed he had long come to this conclusion.
Al breathed in deeply and composed himself. “Yeah…. I do.” He calmly let out.
“Could you be…” Wilhelm spoke up for the first time in a while. “Could you be Pride?” The old man shot a glare at Al full of steel.
“That is right!” Julius suddenly recalled the words of Petelgeuse. “Sloth repeatedly asked if Subaru was Pride and stated that the seat of the Archbishop of Pride had been empty for some time!”
Everyone, especially the Emilia camp (save Roswaal), immediately tensed up, casting glares at Al.
“Tell me it ain’t so, dude!” Ricardo growled at Al. The two had been getting along since they had been stuck in the theater. Only to find out that he may have been buddying up with a Sin Archbishop?
“What! I already say that I’ve got nothing to do with the Witch Cult!” Al waved his only arm in protest, completely sincere. “I’m telling you all! I’ve got nothing against any of you and aren’t planning anything against anyone!”
“Everyone please relax. Al-dono is not lying.” Reinhard tried to reassure the crowd with Crusch giving a “he’s right” in corroboration. Hostilities noticeably simmered down.
“That’s right! Al-san hasn’t done anything bad yet! So far, he’s only saved Schult-chan, decided to stop a villain, and save Priscilla-san!” Emilia quickly declared her hopeful, optimistic views. “It’s no good to stay all angry and suspicious like this or we’ll all get tuckered out in no time for no reason!”
“Ain’t nobody says “tuckered out” anymore…” Garfiel couldn’t help but mutter.
Emilia’s elven ears caught that and she shot a tiny glare of disapproval at the tiger boy who looked away in guilt.
“Though this all does mean that Al-san……. Can also Return By Death or something similar.” Otto cut to the heart of the matter. “To be honest, I can’t believe there’s another person who has to go through that hell…”
“To hold an authority is not in itself bad, I suppose. It would be pointless to continue pressing the man over this, in fact.” Eager to move on from this topic, Beatrice asserted Al’s relative innocence.
Ricardo shrugged and boomed lackadaisically. “Stuffs over my pay grade, but s’long as he ain’t part of the Witch Cult or tryna pull some sh*t on us, he’s cool with me!”
“For you fools to be so rattled by a clown of a man. And you consider yourselves knights and nobles of mettle?” Priscilla, in her own way, jeered at everyone’s paranoia over Al who only gave her hidden but grateful smile under his helmet.
As if reminded by those empathetic words, people’s eyes softened as they realized that Al too may have gone through similar trials and tribulations as Subaru. Perhaps they should also at least give him the benefit of doubt?
Al breathed heavily and spoke in a clear, solemn tone. “Look. I get it. I’m a suspicious guy that knows a bit too much and is acquainted with a witch to boot. I even got an Authority similar to Bro’s. However, I’ve got my own secrets to keep, so I hope you can understand that. But I promise you this…. I really don’t mean any of you harm nor do I have anything to do with any nefarious groups like the Witch Cult!” He especially emphasized the last part as he understood that what everyone was most worried about was his potential as a threat.
Crusch pursed her lips and looked at Reinhard who only nodded. “..... You speak no lies, Al-dono, so for now, we will respect your privacy. In any case, it would probably be more productive for us all to continue the viewings anyway as the theater’s constraints are still enforced.”
Everyone returned to watching the screen but the implication of the duch*ess’s words were not lost on anyone. If the viewing revealed any unambiguous evil committed by Al, then he would only be safe until the theater released them all to their world….
9
Leip’s hair was in complete disarray, and his eyes were sunken, as Al brought him out of the study.
“So you didn’t kill him?” Emilia blurted out in extreme surprise though with a hint of approval towards his apparent mercy .
Al waved off the question in a standoffish manner.“I may be from there, but I’m not like those freaks in Vollachia. I hate fighting and killing. Much rather turn tail and run if I can. He just forced my hand was all.”
“Though, a better question would be how that fella’s still alive, what with we seein’ Al-kun chop his head off?” Anastasia pointed out a key detail that didn’t line up with everyone’s memories.
“Hk” Otto’s eyes widened a bit as he let out an audible hitch in voice.
Ram turned her attention to him, acknowledging that the merchant boy, begrudgingly realizing that he was among the smartest in the camp, had likely come to some realization. “What is it, merchant? Speak.”
As eyes turned towards him, Otto chose his words carefully. “If Al-san can ….. Return By Death similarly to Natsuki-san, and we saw him decapitate the Baron …… Then the only way the Baron is still alive is because Al…….”
“Kyilled himself?!?” Felix hoarsely exclaimed, horrified at the prospect. “But why would he dyo that? Leip had already surryendered! You’re saying Al-kyun killed him and then …. Killed himself to bring the Baron back?”
Al kept quiet as the audience just stared at him with mixtures of shock, pity, and ….. Fear. Fear towards something not quite human. While everyone was no stranger to Subaru committing suicide, he had ALWAYS done it during moments of desperation to SAVE the people he cared about. But Al? For what possible reason would Al do such a thing? It made no sense! If he intended to kill Leip for his treachery, then so be it. If he instead wanted to just subjugate the Baron, then that was fine as well, but then there would be a need to do what the viewing seemed to imply!
Speaking deliriously and drooling, the old man had entirely lost his mind.
Crusch’s eyes narrowed as they pierced the screen with growing anxiety. “What is also concerning is how the Baron, without any discernible reason, was reduced to this state.”
The duch*ess brought up another compelling point for everyone to mull over.
“Still, even I feel kinda bad about this, what’s up with that?”
As he dragged the old man’s heavy body along, Al was mildly repulsed at what he’d done.
‘What he’d done?’ Roswaal thought carefully, then the blood drained from his face. It was basically established that Al looped via his own death, yet …… was he the only one?
“Only “mildly repulsed” at kyilling himself for nyo reason?” Felix snarled in rage. There was literally NO justification for Al’s supposed suicides in his view.
Rendering him powerless without killing him, and while it could be said that, taking the long view, rendering him powerless truly was the best option, exactly how did this differ from Leip’s own plot, in terms of cruelty?
“What’s so cruel about it? Mister Helmet just made him tired while he was going to make the red lady a doll?” Mimi wondered aloud.
“Well, the sense of guilt is different between a crappy old guy and a young beauty. When you look at it that way, it feels better.”
Many of the girls involuntarily shivered, less at the words themselves, but at the clear lechery underlying them.
While quickly imagining up something to justify himself, Al carried on towards the mansion’s entry hall. With no one to depend on, Schult could only flee to the outside of the mansion, but,
“…Al-sama!”
At the entry hall, as Al approached the great staircase that connected the first and second floors, a voice called to him from below. Looking, he saw many of the mansion’s servants, and Schult standing before the door. In addition, beside him was…
“Oh! He’s not harmed!” Petra, attempting to bring up what she sensed was an anxious mood, declared in an upbeat voice.
Frederica slightly smiled, patting her head. “Yes, it is quite the fortuitous thing, Petra-chan.”
“It seems you have been causing quite a ruckus while I was away.”
Having returned with her knight in tow, Priscilla arrogantly stated that with her hand on her hip. Looking up at Al on the upper floor, she sniffed and pouted.
“Come now, Al. How long do you intend to be looking down at me, is that not rude? Come down right now, and explain exactly what happened while I was away.”
“Yeah, wouldn’t we all like to know….” Felt muttered in impatience, unsure what to say at all these revelations of Al also returning by death like her Big Bro.
“Ah, gotcha. I’d come down if I could.”
“Your reply seems to convey no intention to move at all.”
As Al joked around at the top of the great stairway, Priscilla winked at him and forgave his insolence. However, an infuriated man interrupted that exchange between master and follower.
“Please wait, Priscilla-sama! That helmeted man, does it not appear that he has done something to Leip-sama?”
Felt raised an eyebrow unimpressed. “Ah right, there’s still this turd to deal with. He gonna turn brain-dead as well?”
Priscilla only snorted. “There is but one recourse to treat snakes within the household, should they not even deign to be amusing.”
“Hmm? Ooh. Now that I take a closer look, it is that old bag of bones that Al is dragging around. What is this, then? Did the old man there finally despair over his own idiocy, and hang himself?
Priscilla’s response to what Gilian had pointed out was indiscreet. Gilian was aghast, but Al smiled wryly at her attitude while lifting up Leip.
“Nah, he ain’t dead. Well, his body isn’t dead. But somehow his spirit just suddenly died.”
“His spirit …. Just died? He seemed r~ea~lly biting earlier though?” Emilia tilted her head in bewilderment, unsure what to make of such a vague explanation.
Roswaal could only grimace, now fully understand just how deadly Al’s Authority could be. “He must mean his will to f~i~ght……” Things were MUCH more complicated now. If he made one wrong move trying to either bring Al to his side or subjugate him ……. Roswaal could very much end up like Leip.
‘Surely my enduring of 400 years for my dream will prove stronger than Al-kun’s resolve…” But deep inside, the old mage was unsure, perhaps scared as he knew NOTHING of the depths of Al’s insanity.
“His spirit…. Oh … oh dear Od……” Tivey stammered out. If he looked at it from a different angle and assumed what Al did WAS necessary to render him powerless and matched that up with a few other curious details he noticed……
Ricardo ruffled Tivey’s head in concern. “What is it, kid? You got an idea or somethin’?”
Tivey hesitatingly nodded and turned to Reinhard. “Mister Sword Saint…. I’d just like to confirm my memories, but……”
Reinhard furrowed his brows at Tivey’s clear distress. “Yes?” He found it a bit sad that he was addressed by his formal title rather than his name, but that wasn’t important right now.
“Didn’t the Baron seem as if ….. He too wasn’t sure what was going on between Mister Helmet’s …. Deaths?” Tivey finished timidly.
“..... Yes, if I recall correctly, ” Some members rolled their eyes at his need to appear modest. Of course he recalled correctly. He had a literal Divine Protection for that! “Leip-kyo did seem to-” Reinhard cut off as he connected the dots.
“So yer sayin’ he remembered through the …. Loops as well.” Anastasia finished the sentence, shuddering at the implications.
“What does that mean? Why would that be … a bad thing?” Rem interjected, less interested in Al’s plight and moreso in his Authority. Could it be that there might be a way for her to remember Subaru’s loops as well? If so, she could truly stand above and beyond the rest as support for her hero!
“It means,” Beatrice began gravely. “That the Baron’s mental state is the result of him remembering each and every time he both killed and was killed by the helmeted knight, I suppose.”
Julius stared in shock and horror at Al. “T-then ….. The death of the spirit …. That means …. Al-dono’s trump card is ……. “
“Trapping his opponent in a never ending loop of them killing each other in a contest to see who’s mind breaks first.” Wilhelm uttered in disbelief, breaking his stony expression.
“T-that is madness!” Crusch shouted.
“Quite literally…” Anastasia agreed, clenching her scarf, trying NOT to imagine her and any of her subordinates being subjected to such torture.
The audience could hardly believe it! This went beyond good or evil! To willingly die countless times, experience each death, and suffer through all that despair, all to slowly whittle away at an opponent’s sanity? Someone like that wasn’t human! They just weren’t human! They were-
“A monster…..” Felt’s utterance echoed throughout the theater.
“A monster beyond human comprehension….” Quoting her contractor’s words towards her Mother, Beatrice clung to him, staring at Al fearfully.
Al could only chuckle internally as the entire audience gawked at him, some with their mouths comically open. It wasn’t like he was going to correct them on how HIS memories worked as the aggressor, but he still felt kind of bad, having everyone question his humanity.
“Weaklings like me do what they gotta do to survive. I told you all, it's a big part of why I don’t like fighting or making enemies. A peaceful life’s all I want. So please don’t look at me like I’m an enemy or something. I’m way more scared of you all than you are of me!” Al raised his open hand in a surrender position, trying to reassure everyone.
Reinhard swallowed somewhat nervously. “Please don’t misunderstand Al-dono. You’ve made it clear to us that you are no threat. It is just…… a lot to think about regarding your…. Experiences.”
“T-that’s right! We’re just sad tha-” Emilia began flustered but was cut off.
“I’mma stop you right there. I don’t want or need any of your pity. I’ve got my own life to live and people to care about as do you. For better or worse, I’ve made peace with it. All I ask is that you take good care of my Bro over there, so he doesn’t end up all broken and twisted like me.” Al spoke the last sentence as an earnest plea, which ameliorated peoples’ expressions of fear and sympathy. Could a heartless monster truly make such a heartfelt request?
Garfiel blinked as if he was snapping out of something. “O-of course! Don’t need’tcha to tell us twice!” He gave Al a thumbs up with a toothy grin. The other Emilia camp members all nodded their head furiously, pledging within their hearts NOT to let Subaru end up like someone like Al.
“Are you all done slaving your hearts away for a clown? If so, you are quite fortuitous as mineself’s patience is on the verge of giving out!” Priscilla gave her own haughty cue that it was time to move on and return to watching.
As everyone turned back to the screen, Anastasia just gave one final look of pity before whispering to Crusch. “Seems like Barielle already knew ‘bout this and doesn’ care. Makes me feel kinda bad for that poor fella.”
“Perhaps. However, Al-dono seems content serving her, and it is not our place to get between their relationship as servant and master.” Crusch too gave a conflicted look as she replied.
“Sudden death, is it? Well, he is that age, after all. It is something that happens to old trees.”
“You can’t mean to allow him to pass it off with that kind of explanation!”
Priscilla was trying to look like she would accept it, but Gilian protested fiercely. He stepped in front of Priscilla, drew the knight’s sword at his side, and pointed it towards Al on the upper floor.
“sh*t. Don’ tell me yer gonna deal with ‘hat bastard the same way?” Ricardo questioned pointedly at Al, giving him a disapproving look filled with sympathy.
Al shook his head. “Nah. I’m not in the business of trying to start a vegetable garden.”
Beatrice and Priscilla stifled an inappropriate snicker at the otherworldly reference while others just looked confused at the unfamiliar term.
“You are a fellow with a truly suspicious appearance, but having heard that you were Priscilla-sama’s retainer, I have overlooked it until now. However, it seems now that you were a villain that should not have been overlooked. You’ve treated Leip-sama barbarously.”
“Like I said, he ain’t dead.”
“Honestly, he might be better off so….” Otto murmured, still reeling at such an insane ability.
“Nevertheless! I will not allow you to direct your poisoned fangs against Priscilla-sama. From now on, I will take on the role of protecting Priscilla-sama!”
Priscilla rolled her eyes while continuing to fan herself.
The vociferous Gilian was a knight of justice, and he looked the part. On the other hand, due to his own looks and the half-dead Leip, Al looked like an outright villain.
The hall was full of servants holding their breath and observing the situation. Having said that, likely the only one that was truly concerned for Al was Schult. The other servants were all Leip’s supporters, so even if he did manage to make it past Gilian, the outlook after that was fairly grim.
The conditions for his trump card were not met, either. ‘Well now, how will this turn out’, worried Al.
“Oh? There are c~o~nditions, are there, Al-kun?” Roswaal jeered curiously.
“No. I’m not saying anything else about my Authority.” Al instantly shut down the once-again rising interest in Al’s secrets.
“There are no Authorities that do not have their drawbacks, in fact.” Beatrice elaborated.
At that, the audience felt a great modicum of relief. While disgusting, Al’s ability WASN’T all-powerful. They didn’t know what its drawbacks were (aside from the apparent insanity of the user), but at least it wasn’t something he could do at a moment's notice.
“It would seem you have grasped your disadvantage. Then stand your ground as I cut you down. I don’t know what sort of vile plan you had, but I will protect Priscilla-sama’s safety from this point on. May her days be full of unchanging serenity, and the path she follows blessed!”
Gilian, all fired up, began to step forward, intending to charge at Al with his sword without further delay.
“If he can’t use his ‘bility, does ‘hat mean wer gonna see an actual sword fight?” Garfiel gave an excited outburst.
Al immediately poured cold water on the blond boy’s spirits. “Sorry to disappoint ya kid. Was outta my hands.”
But, just before he could take that first explosive step,
“Unchanging days of serenity, is it? …How dull.”
Priscilla spoke in a terribly bored voice.
And with the “Crimson Sword” she drew from behind her, she struck down Gilian with a single swing.
“That sword!” Like Julius, Reinhard and Felixs’ eyes all widened in astonishment as many turned towards them, surprised by their outburst. The three knights exchange rapid glances at each other, as if to confirm that they were all seeing the same thing. They could never forget the grand luster of that sword when they witnessed Vincent Vollachia unsheathe from the sky. A sword that shone with such blinding radiance that it seemed to cut through all other colors of the world: The Yang Sword Vollachia.
“Wha…!?”
Crying out in shock at the unexpected cut, Gilian fell down on the steps with a serious wound on his back. Rolling his body face-up with her foot, Priscilla brought the point of her sword to the nose of the panting handsome man.
“Well, that’s certainly one way ta handle thin’s.” Anastasia frowned at the sudden strike from behind. “Can’t say it ain’t warrant’d, him bein’ a traitor and tryna kill Al-kun and all.”
“With that sword, it won’t end with just that wound, Anastasia-sama.” Julius shook her head, finally realizing what Gilian’s fate would be.
“Here I was wondering what kind of sweet talk you would use to sway me, but you prove to be a boring man not only along the way but when in the spotlight as well. On top of that, you will give me unchanging days of serenity, you say? Here we see the epitome of a commoner’s thinking.”
“What do…you…”
“What value does the same thing as yesterday hold? An unchanging thing is simply tiresome. Always show me something new. If you are unable to do that, then at the very least, become a corpse, rot away, become dung, and disappear from my view. Fool.”
Al just thanked his lucky stars that Priscilla found him interesting enough to not cast him away. Yet, he also shuddered at the idea that he might one day bore her as well. ‘Guess this is a good reminder to brush up my clown act….’
To the man who was fond of himself, Priscilla mercilessly sent a shower of cruel words.
What the red woman in front of his eyes was saying, surely Gilian understood less than half of. And before that changed, his chance to reach understanding was forever taken away.
“Wha……”
Gilian’s body, lying fallen on the stairs, suddenly sprouted flames. For the handsome man called Gilian Endymion, the burning heat of the flames spreading from his wound would allow no escape from their fiery embrace.
With his throat seared, Gilian was unable to even scream as he burned.
As the audience flinched backwards in shock at the sudden eruption of flames, Reinhard only sighed. “That is to be expected….”
Emilia only looked down, eyes drooping while she wore a slightly sad frown. She understood that Gilian was a willing accomplice to Leip’s heinous plan to turn Priscilla into a mindless doll and that he was even willing to go so far as to kill Al once Leip was defeated. Furthermore, it was well within Priscilla’s right to deal with him as she did. However, the death of any human being (one she didn’t outright hate anyway), especially by excruciating flames, was hard to watch for the kind-hearted half-elf. Emilia was reminded all too well of the torture Subaru experienced during his one suspicious loop in the mansion. She only hoped that Gillian’s suffering ended relatively quickly.
“Princess, maybe it’d be better to put out the fire before the mansion catches on fire?”
“Idiot. It is a flame born of my yang-sword. Obviously, it will ignite only that which I have chosen.”
Her logic was incomprehensible, but Gilian’s flames did not spread to the rug on the steps. Having confirmed that it somehow seemed to be true, Al was amazed by Priscilla’s unconventionality, despite himself.
Incidentally, sometime during that, the crimson sword she had been holding had once again disappeared from view.
Peeping out of Frederica’s bust now that the burning heap once known as Gilian had smoldered over, Petra voiced with timid curiosity. “The Yang Sword?”
“Yeah, Rein, you, Mr. Elegant, and cat-ears over there seemed to think that sword of hers was a big deal?” Felt punched Reinhard’s shoulder to get him to answer.
‘Here we go again……..’ Fiddling with the joints of his helmet nervously, Al prepared himself, unsure of just how Priscilla would react to everyone digging into her background.
However, Priscilla simply continued staring off into space, almost as if bored. Yet, he could tell, having been around her for so long, that a hint of unease shadowed across her eyes.
Reinhard glanced curiously at Priscilla before turning to answer his liege. “Yes, Felt-sama. The Yang Sword is one of the 10 enchanted swords, swords possessing incredible power. My own Dragon Sword is one of them.”
“The 10 enchanted swords! T-that’s so BADASS! Brotto! I gotta get my hands on one of ‘em!” Garfiel shook Otto excitedly who, dazed, just said “Yes … yes….”
“Huh? So it’s just a real powerful sword? What did’ya get all your panties up in a wad for then?” Felt crudely replied, not all too impressed. So what if a noble had a fancy gizmo?
“That’s right. Ya three seemed a’bit too surprised and shaken at just a mighty weapon.” Anastasia added skeptically to Julius.
Julius, ever the historian, began to recant. “Ah, apologies Anastasia-sama. I should clarify. What surprised me and my colleagues wasn’t so much the Yang Sword itself.”
Priscilla’s eyes flashed dangerously as she clacked her fan shut and glared at Julius.
Uncomfortable, Julius still continued. “Rather, it was that Priscilla-sama possessed the Yang Sword.”
“And why would that be surprising?” Tivey’s eyes gleamed, eager to learn something new about such a powerful artifact.
“Just as the Dragon Sword is passed down through the lineage of the Sword Saint…… The Yang Sword can only be wielded …. By the Vollachian Imperial Family.” Julius finished, all too aware of Priscilla burning a hole through him with her gaze.
‘Ahhh…. Princess might blow…..’ Al straightened himself in case Priscilla decided to take her anger out on him or someone else.
Crusch scrutinized Priscilla with her sharp amber eyes. “So you are Vollachian Royalty?” She didn’t know exactly how to react to that revelation.
Priscilla slightly shook in anger, nearly exploding when she caught Roswaal’s gaze who was giving her the widest of sneers. People began to tense up, sensing her imminent explosion.
Then…
Then…..
Suddenly, Priscilla relaxed, opened her fan once again and boredley addressed the audience. “Think what you want, commoners. It matters not. That naive Princess of Vollachia met her foolish demise long ago. Just how distasteful must one be to speak ill of the dead?” The audience just blinked at the irony of that statement.
She had decided to just let it wash over her like rain on rocks. So what if other people learned about that foolish girl, Prisca Benedict? That girl had long embarked on her journey to the great beyond and had nothing to do with Priscilla Barielle anymore. Let the commoners squabble and fuss over nothing as commoners do.
“W-why would the Dragon recognize someone from Vollachian Royalty to replace the Lugunican Royal Family?” Felix sputtered out the question that many found floating up to the surface of their minds.
At that, Julius took slight offense given that his own lady was not Lugunican in origin. She wasn’t even technically nobility. “Forgive what may be my misunderstanding, Felix, but are you implying that a foreigner recognized by Volchanica himself is not worthy of standing as a Royal Candidate of our homeland, the Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica?”
Anastasia quietly giggled into her scarf at Julius sticking up for her and rubbed his shoulder in gratitude.
Felix quickly realized his mistake and apologized. “S-sorry, Ferri-chan didn’t mean to offend. I was just surprised, is all.”
“You have my apologies as well, Julius-dono, Priscilla-sama. This … revelation also elicited an inappropriate reaction from me. I did not mean to call into question anyone’s candidacy.” Crusch gave a light, elegant bow towards the two. The former just smiled gratefully while the second didn’t even bother to look at Crusch.
“But wasn’t there some bloodthirsty rule where all the children of the previous Emperor have to kill each other with the survivor being the next Emperor?” Otto tactically shifted gears in the conversation, hoping to dig a bit more deeply into a rival camp’s secrets.
Anastasia’s eyes widened and winked at Otto, giving him her approval at his fishing. “That’s true! How exactly do’ya explain that? I don’t see ya as the type to tuck tail and run from a fight.” She slyly remarked while Julius just massaged his eyebrows, exasperated at his lady’s provocation.
Interestingly, Priscilla didn't just ignore her and bit. “You must truly wish for your head to be separated from your shoulders to ascribe such a disgraceful action to mineself!”
Julius narrowed his eyes at the death threat but stayed quiet, out of consideration for both Anastasia’s probing and Priscilla’s privacy being violated.
“If I must say, that foolish girl, before meeting her untimely end, was deceived by the brother she foolishly trusted into retiring from the stage.” Those last words were spat out more harshly than intended. Yet, they also contained a strange tone of wistfulness and regret.
“Wha?” Garfiel stared in confusion. “Wha does that mean?”
“It m~ea~ns.” Garfiel threw a hateful glare at Roswaal just because. “That his excellency, Vincent Vollachia, rather than kill his y~oun~ger sister, opted to spare and exile her to the K~ing~dom.”
Priscilla tossed Roswaal a scornful glance and only sniffed in disdain.
“Wow! That means your brother r~ea~lly loves you! That’s s~o~ sweet!” Emilia gushed out, smiling like an angel at such a display of affection. In a brutal, cutthroat competition for the throne in the hellhole that was Vollachia, for the Emperor to go against the grain and save his little sister? That made Emilia almost want to girlishly squeal!
“Shut your prattling, half-wit. There is nothing so respectable about a siscon brother, clinging so disgustingly to his younger sister.”
“Hehe- WAH!!!”
BAAAAM!
Al couldn’t suppress a chuckle at how Priscilla called Vincent before he quickly paid the price and suddenly crashed into brick as Priscilla hit him so hard he flew in cartwheels towards a theater wall.
“Damn… he flew pretty far for a brick.” Felt finished laughing at that comical scene before turning back. “Yeah, yeah I get it. She’s some fancy pants princess from Vollachia. So what? Ain’t like that changes anything.” She sat back down, clearly no longer interested in the topic.
“Seems like the gutter rat has the most sense out of all of you.”
A vein bulged in Felt’s forehead. “What did’ya say you bimbo bit-”
Reinhard clamped his hand over Felt’s mouth, struggling to hold back the feral candidate. “Thank you for clarifying, Priscilla-sama. I believe my lady is right. While interesting, this hardly changes the status quo. I recommend we return to watching.”
Felt stopped trying to lunge at Priscilla and started stomping on his feet before huffing in resignation.
“Well, it’d be pretty dumb to be surprised by the princess’ magic tricks after all this. More importantly, what are you gonna do about all this, including the burning guy?”
“No matter how many times one smells it, the odor of a burning person is displeasing. You lot, clean it up at once.”
At Priscilla’s instruction, the servants moved without hesitation, rapidly cleaning up Gilian’s entirely charred remains. Observing this, Al came to a conclusion. That was…
“Haha, they all really fell in line once that bastard was taken out, huh!” Ricardo’s fangs gleamed as he gave a wide sneer at how quickly the servants changed their tune.
“Well, princess, you saw through the old guy’s plans long ago, then?”
“From the beginning, he made no secret of his intention to use me and seize power in the nation. Given that, it was trivial to imagine how he would proceed. Before one feels annoyance at the insect buzzing around one’s ear, it is only natural to take away the insect’s wings and legs.”
At those words, Emilia felt a pang of inadequacy. She herself had not an inkling that Roswaal was only ever using her. Not until her precious knight, Subaru, had uncovered his insidious intentions. That inadequacy only magnified as she once again recalled just what that had cost Subaru in terms of pain and suffering. ‘Never again will I let my naivety rule over me….. I promise you, Subaru!’
“You’re too much. He was out of his league.”
He couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of the old man’s long-held ambition being treated as the antics of a clown and dancing in the palm of her hand.
It goes without saying that she held the hearts of the people, and even in the mansion, there were none who were truly his allies. His sole ally that hadn’t been seized by Priscilla had now been burnt to a crisp.
When you think of it that way, perhaps he was happier losing his sanity while still holding his ambitions.
“To be honest, I would rather die than remain living in such a state.” Crusch muttered to Anastasia who also nodded in agreement.
Felix, having caught that utterance, glanced reproachfully at them which neither noticed. That statement hit a little too close to home with Fourier having made Felix promise something similar on his deathbed.
“By the way, if you had your revenge planned out in that much detail, why didn’t you say anything to us? We put on a weird little act because of that.”
“You have no talent for that sort of thing, I can tell at a glance. Schult is the same. You both get visibly flustered every time you look at me. You have no idea how hard it is not to laugh.”
“Princess is super, sexy, cute after all.” Literally nobody understood why Al just had to make such an inappropriate, unnecessary comment with many of the female audience recoiling in disgust.
“Ah, um…P, Priscilla-sama……”
As Al and Priscilla carried on their friendly chat, with Leip tossed onto the steps, Schult arrived below them. When Priscilla folded her arms to emphasize her chest, Schult faltered, uncertain where to direct his gaze.
Perhaps he intended to apologize for having once joined a side that intended to betray Priscilla. However, to do that, failing to choose the right words could lead to calling down her wrath.
If it goes poorly, I’ll have to back him up, is what Al was thinking while feeling a bit concerned, but…
“I’m glad you’re unharmed, oh yes, indeed. …I…I was worried……”
“Mhmm.”
Looking at Schult, whose face was messy with tears, Al was amazed by his own foolishness.
How much nonsensical common sense had he tried to force on the heart of a child barely ten years old, and then gauge the situation based on that?
Hadn’t he just seen a pitiful old man decide what this and that was without trying to actually see it for itself, and suffer a lonely fall without anyone to come to his aid?
“Schult, you are just so adorable. Very well, I give you permission to get my dress dirty.”
“Oop.”
Priscilla pulled the sobbing Schult into her embrace, then, with a pleased expression, wiped his face clean with her dress. Then, with the dizzy young man still sandwiched between her breasts, she turned towards Al.
“Sheesh. Ain’t this a bit too tellin’ of Priscilla-san’s tastes?” Anastasia giggled, pulling Tivey towards her and stroking his head.
“Shotamancer’s gonna shotamance!” Ricardo grinned, revealing all his fangs as he ogled at Priscilla’s breasts on screen.
“Garf! Close your mouth and turn away, you perverted dog!” Ram leaned over and forced his head down into his lap.
“Gurghk! I wasn’ starin’!”
“Sorry, Petra-chan, this also isn’t something you need to see…” Frederica murmured, smothering Petra in her own breasts.
“Well, isn’t that an enviable position.”
“This man……” Rem crinkled her eyes, hugging one of Subaru’s arms so tightly, burying it within her chest.
“It is an obvious thing to say, but you were wise to choose me. My compliments.”
“If it’s a choice between an old guy and a sexy-cute girl, you chose the girl. Anyone would do that. I do that, too.”
“Your forthrightness does not displease me. Well now……”
“”Forthrightness”.... What an interesting way to refer to sexual harassment ~nyan…” Felix muttered, making Crusch blush and Anastasia snicker. Even Wilhelm gave a slight upturn of his lips.
“Ehh, can’t blame the guy!” Ricardo chuckled heartily.
Priscilla looked down at Leip, who lay blank-eyed on the ground, and snorted softly.
“How very, hmm, pitiful it is that my husband of convenience has lost his ability to rule his domain. In this state, the future of the Barielle domain is endangered. Since it has come to this, it seems unavoidable that I take on all authority as the representative of the household. Is it not so?”
“And so, this is how the Barielle domain came under Priscilla-sama’s control.” Julius remarked studiously.
“A bit unconventional to say the least, but with how its people were suffering before…” Otto added mutedly before thinking. ‘It seems Emilia-sama still has a ways to go before being a truly competent ruler.’
By the slightly strained look on Emilia’s face, Otto could tell she was thinking similarly.
“Carrying on the will of your beloved husband, and doing your best in the unfamiliar role of steward, like a good wife. The blind actions of a beautiful girl; it’s a scenario that invites tears, ain’t it? I think I might cry.”
“How very droll of you.”
“You too, princess.”
The well-matched master and servant laughed together, and looked satisfied that, for the moment, the affairs of the house were in order.
“Bear witness, half-wit. For this is how you bring your household to heel. Feast your eyes well, lest your dog suffer in your stead once again.” Priscilla suddenly haughtily directed at Emilia in a half-mocking and half-instructional tone.
The half-elf princess only nodded her head, eyes firm with resolve. Something which Priscilla noted to her approval.
And that left Schult, still caught wide-eyed between Priscilla’s breasts. Taking the boy’s head with both hands, Priscilla mussed up his hair, and spoke.
“Well now, whatever is the matter, Schult? You should laugh. I, your favorite person, am in a good mood. You do understand what an attendant should do in that case, yes?”
“Y..yes. I understand, oh yes, indeed!”
At Priscilla’s directive, he straightened his back, dutifully got his breathing under control, and laughed loudly.
Forcing his face to smile with his hands on his cheeks, and using a voice so loud that it was cracking.
“Hahahahaha, oh yes, indeed!”
Wilhelm gave a small respectful smile. ‘Celebrate with all your heart, child. You stood firm for your lady and liege. Carry on with that spirit, lad, and you will assuredly go far.’
“That will do. With that finished, you do know what I will wish for next, yes?”
For me to go brew fresh tea, oh yes, indeed!”
“Mhmm!”
“He really is an earnest boy.” Frederica whispered to Petra while patting her back. Already in her mind, she could imagine the two getting along together. Petra could use more friends and colleagues closer to her age after all. Petra just nodded, cheerfully smiling.
Drawing a fan from her cleavage and opening it with a snap, Priscilla descended the stairs. Al followed her, and Schult walked with them, still laughing.
“I’m terribly pleased. This will do. After all…”
Listening to the voice of the laughing girl, Al realized why he had chosen her.
It was nothing, really. A simple matter. Nothing more than that he had, once again, been captured by this girl’s charms.
“…This world is designed to operate in the way that works best for me.”
The screen grew dark, signifying the ending of this particular viewing session.
“That’s that then. We got ta see another dirty sponsor, the origins of a Vollachian Princess, and ANOTHER time looper.” Anastasia let out a long, exhausted sigh, slumping into her seat and rubbing her forehead at all the information they had been exposed to. She was anxious. Al’s potential with his otherworldly knowledge was something she keenly wished to tap into. However, unlike with Subaru, she had no concrete assurances that Al wouldn’t use his looping ability for nefarious purposes - he certainly didn’t seem as naive and sentimental as Subaru. Was advanced knowledge worth such a risk of being manipulated by Al or worse, being rendered brain-dead like Leip? She didn’t know. Not yet at least.
“Tr~u~ly a fruitful session!” Roswaal droned on. In fact, the clown was quite satisfied. To him, the most important thing was the existence of a second looper - a second insurance policy that could help him achieve his goals. Even if he couldn’t turn Al to his cause, just the fact that Roswaal was aware of him and some of his ….. Admittedly horrifying abilities meant that he could prepare countermeasures. ‘Subaru-kun and Al-kun….. Who will come out on top?’ He was morbidly curious as to how their looping abilities would affect the other.
“Poor Al-san…..” Emilia lamented. For her, the most striking fact was that there was another person suffering the same horrors of what her beloved dunderhead was suffering. She knew that Al didn’t want her pity, but that was a really difficult thing to ask of the empathetic half-elf. ‘The only thing I can do …. Is learn from Al-san’s experiences to be better. Both for my and Subaru’s sake.’
For Crusch, the most important revelation was also that Al was a time looper that looped via death. While details such as Leip’s scheming and Priscilla’s origins were quite interesting, they were all in the past. Crusch, steeled as ever, knew that while Al SEEMED relatively harmless, his potential to cause havoc with his Authority always existed. She met eyes with her two knights and they all nodded, understanding her thoughts. Countermeasures and contingency plans would need to be drawn up. As a military leader, this was Crusch’s forte.
“So are the viewings over or what?” Felt shouted to the ceiling, attempting to get the Warden’s attention. The blonde-princess felt pity for Al, but, frankly speaking, didn’t think much about anything else she saw. To her, it was just the usual scheming and lying by a bunch of vicious nobles. That was about as common as the grains of sand. She just wanted to get outta the theater as soon as possible, now that the viewings didn’t seem particularly relevant to her or Subaru.
Unfortunately for you all, no. Curing Gluttony’s effects is no easy feat, even for an entity as I. Rest assured though, I keep my promises. For now, once again, go and eat, sleep, and rest. There is still more yet to watch.
