Uploading date: 1/22/2019 [M/D/Y]

Re: Life in a fantasy world ~ Arc 4: Beginning of the End

Chapter 4: My king candidate

The two of us stood there, dumbstruck, "We just got locked out… god, damn it…" Apparently, we had no authorization to enter the palace, I was supposed to stay by her side at all times since I didn't have any political stand here, and since Julius is not here, I can't rely on him to squeeze me in either, what am I to do.

"Perhaps… Yes, it's entirely possible, with Beatrice's help, I'm sure I c-"

"Don't expect assistance from Betty if you're going to try an infiltrate, I suppose"

"Oh come on, Emilia-san needs my help, she's going to die in there, you know?"

"You just have little faith in the girl, I suppose, that's your own problem, and not Betty's, I suppose" I may not have too much faith in her but it's completely different if she's the one who asked me to be there! It's not a problem of me having little faith in her, it's her having too much faith in me, a promise is a promise you know! I can't just break that!

"If my partner won't help me, then I'm just going to have to go at it alone…"

"Wait, why do you have such a serious tone, I suppose? You're not actually doing it right?!"

"Oh, I'm serious alright, I'm getting in there no matter what…"

"At least say that in a low voice so that the guards won't hear you, I suppose!"

True, but still, even if I had to break a few laws, I will make my way in, I'm sure Roswaal will just break me out of it like it was nothing, he just feels like that sort of guy, like a last minute hero, he gave that impression last time anyway. The guards stood firmly, as if eyeing me meaningfully manner, they aren't going to let me go no matter how much I sway them it seems.

Beatrice tugged on my sleeve, with eyes that were telling me to give up and just go home, how dare she underestimate my resolve, "Huh?" I hear large footsteps behind me, no it'd be better to just say I heard a carriage approaching, a rather, heavy one by the sounds of it, I turn around and my eyes perked up.

Crouching down, I look over to Beatrice and tell her, "I'm counting on you, partner…" Replying to me lackadaisically, she looked to where the carriage was coming from, "Huh…? What are you counting on, I suppose?" the carriage was lined with gold, I don't think pure gold would be very practical, so it's probably something that looks like it, it was overly decorated with ribbons and such, one befitting of the person riding this very carriage.

"With something this flashy, it'd be weird if it wasn't her…"

The carriage stopped by the gate, and the Knights opened it immediately, I'm kind of annoyed since this kind of discrimination is fair, well, it's not really discrimination, but explaining it like that, puts me in a better position, "My, my, look who we have here" Peeking out of the window, appeared the woman who we've just met minutes ago.

"Priscilla…"

Waving the driver to a halt, she peers down on me, it may look like she's belittling me, and it's because she actually is, darn her. I nudge Beatrice and she looked back at me confused, "What do you think I'm expecting you to do?" I blatantly tell her, and she turned away with a sour look.

"Excuse me, lady from before… would you mind it if Betty and Subaru were to come inside the palace with you, I suppose?"

"My, the little one has excellent manners for her age, unlike a certain someone…" She gave me a glance before turning back to Beatrice, hey, I have feelings too you know, I'm not just some other person, maybe 'some other person I know' would be a bit better don't you think? "Though I can't say I'd enjoy bringing the anomaly, I just can't turn a blind eye to a child in need"

Now I'm being classed as an anomaly? Who's the one without manners here?! "Al, make room, we'll be bringing these two with us!" With the door opening, we feel a cold breeze coming from inside, does that thing have a cooler or something!?

We step inside the 'golden laced' carriage, a feeling of unnecessary gleam was there, this was the exact definition of being spoilt, just how rich is this woman, "Yo Al, been a while, hope you don't mind if we crash for a bit" we took the seats that were opposite to the Priscilla's, a man sat with us, much older than me, both his arms crossed, and his head covered with a stylish metal helmet, the kind you would find in Volachia.

"I think that's something you should be saying to the princess, Kyodai"

"Well I've got Beatrice with me so I'm sure she won't mind"

"Although she is your only reason for being here, don't forget that I hold the authority for whether you can stay or not, I would watch my words if I were you, commoner" Crossing her legs, she narrowed her eyes on me, she's a scary woman, no one can disagree on that, "And what business may a commoner have in the royal palace? Here to file a complaint or beg for pocket change?"

"Your jabs really do hurt… but no, we're here on official business, I went out of my way to get something fancy, of course it's a big deal" Actually, fancy clothes were the only clothes I could find in the mansion, so I had no choice, but I'm not going to say that "It's really important, but I doubt you'd really care about it"

"That is indeed correct, how preceptive you are… but I am quite interested in what the little one is doing with you, perhaps you are escorting her to some sort of arranged marriage perhaps"

"I would appreciate it if you keep your aristocratic ways to yourself"

"Indeed, the thought of it sickens, Betty, I suppose…"

Priscilla gave us a weird look, for a person who's gone through quite a lot of those, it's not surprising, "We're here to meet up with someone, and once we're done with that, we'll be on our way, nothing more, nothing less… okay, maybe there could be more, but that depends on the situation" She gave an unamused look, what did she think we were here for?

"I should have expected such, nothing interesting ever happens in a commoners life doesn't it, I don't know how one lives that way"

"Well, we manage somehow…"

After a bit, we enter into the royal palace's gates, fortunately, I've already been given a tour of the palace's insides so I won't be getting lost any time soon, "Hmm, speaking of commoners, how's Schult doing?" I say while looking through the large and open hallway, this place is much larger now that I'm looking at it properly.

"The boy is doing fine, I've left him behind, he has no business here and it wouldn't be nice to responsible to bring a boy his age into a place with a serious atmosphere" Schult, he was a small kid with pink hair, red eyes, orphan, not the most fortunate before she met Priscilla, and speaking of which, he was kind of the reason Priscilla, Aldebaran, and I got acquainted.

I was led by Satella to the border of Lugnica, the reason for doing so, was so I can meet Aldebaran, he was a person who was very... 'knowledgeable' about the witch cult, I got to know the names of many of the current Sin Archbishops because of him, of course, I was a little skeptical at first, you can't exactly trust someone who has miasma over him.

Well, either way, we got along after a rather heated event in the area, people were endangered, houses were destroyed, the typical stuff that I'd have to go through, and in came Schult, just some random kid, dying in the whole ordeal, though I didn't exactly want to, I kinda had to loop once because of him, so he better take good care of that life of his.

"Hmm… a rather strange person has appeared, I haven't seen her here before…" Priscilla halts and opens up her fan, covering her mouth. Following her line of sight and catch sight of a glimmering sign, "Ah..." there she is, looks like I've found her, well, didn't exactly find her, but it's just as good, "Subaru, I was wondering where you were, it's about to start!"

Getting a running start, she approaches us and I walk forward, "Yeah, sorry about that Emilia-san, the guards kept me waiting in gate, but I managed to slip in one way or another, also I've brought along Beatrice" Patting the head of the little spirit beside me, Emilia reaches over to see us. Priscilla raises a brow, seems she's a little more interested in what I'm doing here.

"Ah, let me introduce you, this is Priscilla Barielle, she's some big shot in the nobility, might be good to acquaint yourself with her"

Looking towards Priscilla, Emilia nods. She brings her hand out for a handshake, but before being able to say even a single word, she waves her fan at her, "How rude of you to assume that someone as high as me would like to be acquainted with someone like you" Emilia immediately brings her hands back in shock, a sad look in her eyes, she takes a deep breath.

"I understand your disgust towards my race... but please mind your tone, this is the royal palace after all…"

Heh, it seems Emilia has a misunderstanding on Priscilla, this is going to be interesting, "Oh my, you poor fool, to think that you'd have to suffer like that, perhaps I should have sugar-coated my words, even if only a little…" Well that sounded really rude, but that's expected of the high and mighty Priscilla, "Maybe you should have sugar-coated your words, Priscilla, besides, you're talking to the future king you know?"

"Oh my…"

"Let me introduce you, this here is Emilia, a candidate to the throne, a half-elf with silver hair, and a woman who's gonna change the world, she's the king I've chosen to revere"

"Oh dear… to think that you could be even more foolish than you are now…" Priscilla said with a smirk, weird, she would probably suspect us for lying first, I wonder why she's acting different, "I'll have to ask you to drop right off of the royal selection right this moment" Flashing a red colored glowing stone at us, she mockingly proclaimed, something just horrible has happened.

"I see… so you're my rival in this royal election…"

"I may be your rival, but under no circumstances, will you never be mine, no one stands a chance when I'm in the table, everything else is meaningless, this whole competition is just an event to entertain me while I wait for the crown to be passed over to my hand, I'll tell you one more time, it'd be best for you to just drop out before it even starts, take it as a word of advice from someone clearly on a higher standing than you…"

"Don't think Emilia-san will back down because of that puny litt-"

"Subaru, I'd like to say it if you'd please…"

"Of course… Emilia-sama…"

Backing down, I let Emilia take the lead and she looks straight towards Priscilla, that's like grabbing a rhino by the horns, Emilia is braver than you'd expect, "Priscilla Barielle, nothing you do will make me turn away from this, I'm here not because I'm capable, nor because I'm meant to take the throne, I'm simply here because I have something I have to do, if your going to stand in my way… let's just say, I'm not going down without a fight"

"Fufu… then, entertain me as much as you can, besides, you have a useful pawn at your disposal…" She takes a glance towards me and smiles, waving her fan once more, she turns around and starts walking away, a rather abrupt exit, Al followed behind her and waved towards us, I wave back as a quick goodbye, I really o feel bad for him, dealing with someone as haughty as her, must be tough.

"Well, that went better than I expected…"

"Subaru, how'd I do?"

Emilia, who's calm composure returned quite quickly, asked, as if wanting to be complimented, she handled that well, though a compliment won't be a fitting response "Hmm, you did well, nice and firm, and you sounded cool too, that'll do fine for the gathering. Though I'd go a little bit more hard with that, instead of proclaiming yourself as an obstacle, you should have just said you can beat her, she might have tried to fight back then, but if you can keep it up, she'd have to start being wary of you"

"But, won't she try to do something bad if we provoke her too much?"

"No, she's not the kind to play dirty, sure she might poke at your nerves, but she's too noble for those kinds of things, kind of like… 'Why should I bother dealing with someone who's all talk' and if she ever resorts to violence, well, all we need is a kid or two at the scene and she'll snap out of it, I think having Beatrice here helped with the current situation a bit too…"

As we were discussing this, we heard a bell chime in the distance, perhaps this was to call us over, Emilia then confirms this by walking towards the sound, we follow her closely behind. Now that I know all but one of the five candidates, surprises shouldn't be too likely, still, preparing for the worst is something I've gotten the habit of doing.

We went to the direction Priscilla went, and took turns that she had probably taken, until we reach a rather large door, larger than the other large doors, that makes it a pretty large door, doesn't it? There was also someone waiting for us in front of it, "Ah~ Emilia-sama, Subaru-kun, I'm glad that you~ could make it, and a surprise visit from Beatrice… this seems like a grand day~"

"Well it's about to go downhill from here, we're going to have to try our best not to fall behind now…"

"Mhmm, I'll try my best not to drag us all down, promise!"

With enthusiastic faces, we enter the room that was to decide our destiny…

.

"What gives? This isn't how I'd imagine it at all…"

There was chit chat, small talk, trivial conversations, whatever you want to describe it as, the room was filled with it all, but none of it was about us, "Are people over here actually trying to be decent human beings… this must be a bad omen of some sorts…" There's no mistaking it, people aren't just going to willingly avert their gazes from Emilia under normal circumstances, this world isn't kind enough to let that happen.

"Roswaal, what sort of magic did you use? Did you brainwash them all? Perhaps you bribed them all before we came here?!"

"You're being a little too loud Subaru-kun~ the problem lies within Emilia's clothing, you see…"

Hmm? Clothing, indeed, Emilia did wear something before coming inside the room, a white cloak, magic-infused I expect, "Something along the lines of 'hides your face from people who you don't want to be seen by' or so Roswaal said" So Roswaal was the mastermind behind this, a perfect plan indeed, so people just haven't noticed her.

"Haah, that's a relief, I thought people had gone crazy…"

"Just how little faith do you have in humanity, I suppose? Can't you think of them a little more highly?"

"Big words from someone who's literally rejected the existence of everyone who's tried to help her out"

"I don't want another word out your mouth, I suppose!"

With our bickering being ignored by most of everyone around us, we waited for something significant to happen. We say Crusch talking to a few people, but she seemed busy so we didn't want to bother her just yet, but I did see a flicker of red go by, could it be? "Hmm…" Looking around the countless array of people, I first thought it'd be Priscilla, but such a brilliant red couldn't be hers, it was someone else, I know it.

I start walking around, leaving the three behind me to themselves, in search of that red flare, but I suddenly bumped into someone, "Oh, if it isn't Subaru…" Looking to my side, I met the one I had been searching for, "To think I'd see the sword saint twice in a month, must be some sort of miracle huh?" With a grin on his face, we shook hands.

"It's a surprise seeing you here… but since you showed up, I expect that you've joined with Emilia, the woman from before, yes?"

"You got that right, speaking of the past… where's Felt? She owes me an apology, she in the changing room or something?"

"Hmm, well… she'll be here sooner or later"

"Of course, this is because of her after all…"

"You're quite perceptive, Subaru"

"I get told that a lot…"

It doesn't take much to figure that out, Felt is part of this mess as well, being taken away by someone as important as him, she's gotta have some significance, besides, Reinhard only reacted after she'd shown that she had taken the insignia, "Nyaa~ so nyou two already met?" And in comes another one, little miss crossdresser, only, he's not a girl this time!

"Huh, didn't know you'd be on of the big shot knights, Ferris"

"Did I surprise nyou?"

"Nah, not really… just didn't expect you to be a knight of all things…"

Felix stood beside us, wearing what most of the people in the room were, knight uniforms, a good chunk of the rooms were filled with knights, the others would be classified as nobles and the remaining being the servants or guards of said nobles, I feel kinda misplaced being in this room.

"Ferri-chan is a knight indeed, Subaru-kyun, and Crusch-sama is going to win this election, no doubt about it, Ferri-chan will make sure of it"

"Your getting a little high and mighty there, Ferris, who's to say that Emilia-san might win? I'll be sure to make her win"

"Says the person who was stuck in the front gates a few moments ago, nyaa~"

"You saw me yet you didn't care to help at all!? What kind of knight are you?"

"Nyaa~ it went well in the end, didn't it?"

Don't just say it ended well, the number of times I've heard that is enough to make my ears bleed. Just then, the door opened up, not super dramatically but it was enough to attract a few eyes to the scene, me, Ferris and the sword saint turned our eyes as well. "Seems he's arrived…" Reinhard says as gazes upon them.

I see Julius coming in, a woman and a few cloaked figures around her, so that's the last one, "Wait a minute… isn't she Anastasia Hoshin…" An uprising merchant, someone who's risen from poverty, she's pretty popular in Kararagi, even I know her, to think that she's running for the election as well.

"Subaru, I'm glad you were able to get in. I'm really sorry for leaving you behind, an urgent matter arose and I had to take care of it"

Julius approached the three of us with a sorry look, "Ah well, I managed to get in one way or another, so it went well in the end…" Wait, I just used that phrase didn't I? Damn you Ferris, now I sound hypocritical, "Still, it was a little careless of me not to tell you myself… I apologize sincerely…"

"Heh, alright…"

We heard someone clapping in the distance, probably to grab our attention, and so we turned to where the throne should be, some old geezer was standing at the top, several others were seated behind him, the Sage council, a bunch of people gathered for when the country is in time of need, said to be thought of by the original sage Flugel, bet the dude just didn't want to mess in with politics himself so he just had people do it.

"Ahem, it seems everyone is present… then, without further ado, let us start this gathering!"

Took a while, "Guess the four of us are up, huh?" "It seems so, nyaa~" With that, the four of us split off to our designated camps, I head over to Emilia, Ferris heads over to Crusch Karsten, Julius to the purple haired woman, Anastasia Hoshin, I'm really worried about her, the most likely to play dirty, is what comes to mind when I see her.

"Hey Reinhard, before we go up there, just wanted to let you know, Rom is waiting in the bar, he's conveniently tied himself up so you can pick him up for Felt"

"I see… then, I guess I'll bring him over to Felt once this is all done…"

"Candidates please step up with along with all your followers onto the stage… We'd like for the audience to keep their silence..." One by one, they all went up, Priscilla first, Crusch next, then Anastasia, and finally, it was us, but before we went up though, I crouched down and whispered to Beatrice, "Stay down here for now…" "As you wish, I suppose…"

Leaving Beatrice behind, me, Roswaal, and Emilia went up the stage, facing towards the crowd of white, the other candidates lining up alongside us. It was at this time that Emilia decided to take off her hood, revealing to the crowd her silvery hair and elven ears, and the crowd immediately loses their cool.

"That's the sound I wanna hear…"

The people of this world won't stand for this, to let someone that resembles the one that doomed their country that much to rule the country, no one in their right mind would let that happen, this is just the reaction I'd expected, and it's the one I'd be most comfortable with. I do recall the geezers asking for silence? I turn to him and it seems he's completely ignoring the crowd, how unfortunate, it seems even the sage council is biased about this.

"Excuse me!"

I shout out with the loudest voice I can muster, it shook the whole palace, everyone's attention was centered on me, "You were all asked for silence were you not? Please act as you should and stay silent, something important is happening you know…?" They were all suddenly silent after, none of them decided to trash talk, none of them decide to make small talk either, guess they aren't gutsy enough to make the move.

Either way, I managed to grab all the attention, it seems people are even more wary of us than before, something that'll be useful to us, we need to be the center of attention, "Ahem… I'm sure you are aware of why we've gathered you here today?" The old geezers asked the candidates that were on stage, it didn't seem like they cared much.

"Look yall, just cut to the chase, I'm a busy girl ya know?"

"Indeed, time is not something we all have in excess…"

The other two, Emilia and Priscilla, agreed by simply nodding their heads, the man then walked forward to the crowd, "We have gathered you all here to make an announcement… The fifth royal candidate has been found!" His voice was rather weak but we were all able to hear it clearly for some strange reason, was he just that good at speaking?

"Reinhard-dono…"

"She'll be here any mome-"

And the door suddenly opens, cutting Reinhard's sentence off. Everyone's heads turned over to the door as they watched a young girl enter into the fray. Blonde hair, an intricate yellow dress, black outlines, and red highlights, those were most definitely high-quality clothes, no doubt about it, if you met her for the first time, you'd instantly think she'd be someone related to royalty, but that isn't merely the case.

"Felt-sama…"

The girl, Felt, the one I met on that night, yes, the one that disrespected me as a person and stepped on my shoulder so she can get away with theft, she's wearing an expensive dress and is being escorted by two, by the looks of it, maids, why am I not the one in shiny gold? Don't I deserve something more than this?! What has she done that I haven't?

"Reinhard… you bastard! Dragging me around like that, and then just leavin me out there to wait! Just what kinda person are you!"

"I'm happy that you are as energetic as always, Felt-sama, but please do mind your voice, this is a rather important gathering, though you may be the center of attention, getting infamous would be unfortunate for your future…"

Glaring up at Reinhard she looks around the room, finally laying her eyes on us, "What's this supposed to be? Some sort of reunion?" She walks past us begrudgingly over to her designated area, which was to our left, it seems she was the last one to do whatever we had to do, and it didn't seem she was happy about it.

"Felt-sama is a girl originating from the slums, she has no family name, no blood-relatives, and I've chosen to revere to her as my king-"

"Blasphemy!"

And it begins… One of the men from the sage council burst up from his seat in utmost rage, I can see it in his eyes, things are going to escalate from here, "To think that the Astrea house would bring a brat from the slums! And what are you thinking Margrave! To not only bring a half-elf, but to sponsor her in the royal election as well! What are you all thinking!"

"Are you saying that we, the royal guards, have made a mistake in our decisions? Bordeaux-dono?" Marcos, the big hunky captain of the royal guards, stepped up on stage, eyeing the old geezers with rather large eyebrows, "It would seem so seeing that you not only brought a rat from the slums but also a devil from who knows where!"

"I'd rather you not call Felt-sama with such a heinous name…"

"To think that there was someone like you in the sage's council…"

I mutter out, enough for him to hear, "What did you say?!" I turn head around and stared at him, my hands in my pockets, "I heard that these five were according to the dragon's covenant. If you're protesting against their candidacy, then surely, you're protesting against the dragon himself?" He shuddered, I've backed him into a corner.

"If you're not convinced, we can just show you that these five are indeed worthy to fight for the throne right here, right now… Emilia-sama…"

I threw the insignia towards Emilia, and she catches it, showing it to the crowd, "The red jewel in the middle glows to whoever is worthy… this makes me eligible to join, in fact, doesn't this mean I'm required to participate in order for the royal election to start? Since there must be five candidates?"

"If yer askin me, I'd rather not let her join in…"

Someone from across the stage voiced out, it's her, "Besides, there was that incident Farielle wasn't there?" And the bait has been tugged on, we have the one we're looking for, and I have a nice way to deal with her too. After she voiced out her opinion, everyone in the room seemed confused, of course, we haven't reported what had happened in Farielle, not just yet.

"Anastasia-sama, what may you be referring to?"

One of the sage men asked, she looked a little surprised, as if she expected them to know, "You're talking about that thing that happened in Farielle when Emilia-sama was visiting a few weeks ago, yes?" I asked directly to her, she merely side glanced at me, not wanting to look me in the eye, instead, looking towards the sage men.

"Indeed, would it not be suspicious for an attack to happen in such a flourishing city? Perhaps, it was staged so she could claim credit just before the election starts?"

"What?! What's the meaning of this!"

Just as expected, she's already been planning from the start, luckily we were prepared for this, "Could you please repeat yourself a second time? I didn't think I heard that properly…" Emilia stepped in, crossing her arms as she faced the merchant in white, narrowing her eyes down, "You said that I was going to claim credit for it?"

"Yep, that's what I said, indeed…"

"Hey, that's a little funny don't you think…" I barged in, she raised her eyebrows towards me as I frowned my mouth, "I don't recall Emilia ever doing anything there… She did nothing more than a sitting duck would..." "That is true, I was rather far away from the crime scene, I couldn't possibly have taken any credit, it was Subaru and Roswaal who resolved the situation after all…" A firm standpoint, making her look bad in the right way, actually, it isn't making her look bad, it just isn't making her look good, which is overall, a better deal.

"So yer sayin you didn't even move a finger when people were in trouble?"

"Let me answer by asking you a question, what good is a king if they're dead?"

Emilia dropped the bomb, something I taught her, and it seems it paid off, Anastasia looks defeated but she didn't show it on her face, "I see, that does make sense…" It seems she was done, she could no longer lead the attack here, so she's going to back down, but we're not done yet, "Don't you think a false accusation is a dirty move to play in something as important as this?" I speak up before she had a chance to go down.

"What are ya tryin to say, now?"

"If you won't understand it then I'll have to put it in simpler terms… I'm accusing you of planning out that whole ordeal!"

Ofcourse, that was all some random statement I made in the spur of the moment, I know who the real one was behind this, besides, it's like Reinhard said to Felt, being infamous is unfortunate. I hear a sword unsheathing I was faced off against a man in white, purple hair flowing with the indoor, "I'm sorry but I'll have you take back you're earlier accusation…"

Julius stood between us, he was going to defend her through and through, just like the knight he is, "Julius, this is-" "I'm sorry, but I shall not allow any disgrace befall on Anastasia-sama, even if it means clashing right here right now, I will not back down…" He raises his blade higher into the air, pointing it at me, seems the nice-guy I met a few hours ago is no longer.

Tension rises in the room, and I tap my foot on the floor, "Hatred only arises to more hatred, that's the way the world works, if you think everyone's kind enough to not exact revenge, then you're highly mistaken about how the world works Julius… She started by accusing us, so it'd be natural for us to retort, you have no right to disagree, no?"

"Then I'll have to prove it myself, even if it means taking you on…"

And so… the situation escalated, what Julius said was basically a declaration for a spar, the winner gets to prove the other wrong, and so, I accepted, and we left the room.

.

"..."

"..."

We were on our way to a practicing arena, while Julius had a stern look on his face, I was whistling away, not having a care in the world, "Aren't you taking this a little too lightly?" He asked me in a serious tone, the Julius from before is completely gone it seems, "Maybe… but this I knew this was going to happen one way or another, in fact, I was expecting this to happen…"

"Rather mighty of you to think that you could win against me… or do you plan on losing?"

"Nope, besides, I just made that accusation on the spot, I knew she didn't really do it, heh"

"Then why even bother accusing her of such a deed!"

"I told you didn't I? I expected this exact situation to arise… in other words, I've come here to spar with you, Julius. It might have been fitting to ask you personally, but this was too good opportunity not to miss, standing up in stage got me bored so I wanted to do something exciting…"

"Do you have no consideration for Emilia-sama?"

"I do, I also have a lot of faith in the girl, she'll be fine without me…"

We head over to the battlefield, an enclosed arena, one that resembled a sort of mini-coliseum, "You know Julius, you have way to much hope for the people, I was sure you'd keep your cool there, even if Anastasia did plan out an assassination, people would instantly turn over to Emilia for falsely accusing her, that's just how the world works you know?"

"Even if the majority would think that way, there would still be the minority that would disregard the fact that Emilia-sama is a half-elf and make a justified conclusion, to those, I must defend Anastasia-sama from, even if it's one person, I won't allow it…"

"Look at you, mister knight, heh…"

We were both handed swords, wooden ones, seems using actual swords would get a bit heated, or so they thought, I'm sure it'd end in a second then, but using wooden swords makes this much easier for me, "Listen Julius, wanna make a bet?" Swinging his sword to his side, he glances towards me, "A bet?"

"If you win, you ask me anything you want, you want me to do something? I'll do it"

"And in the case that you lose?"

"You can ask me anything you want, you want me to do something? I'll do it"

"Wait, but isn't that…"

"Exactly… but if we draw, then the deal is in my favor. Whatever the result of this battle is, I can alter it and it will be sent over to the throne room, the moment our match is over, you're not forbidden to say anything about the actual results of the battle, but that message must be sent to the throne room before you try to correct any misunderstandings… is that good with you?"

I raise my hands up to see if we have a deal, he stares at it intently, thinking about it all, "So you understand that you won't be able to beat me, and so you've put your bets on the fact that you could possibly end this in a draw by extending out our duration of the battle?" A put a grin on my face while giving him my open hand once more.

"I wonder where you got that idea from…"

"Fine then, it's a deal…"

The perfect opponent, at first, it may look like I'm at a major disadvantage, since he can win by losing straight off, surrendering from a battle is a thing, but, a knight would never do such an absurd thing, so he'll try his best to win anyway, losing is not an option for him, but then, the same goes for me, winning is not an option, if I win, he gets to ask me anything, or have me do anything that can benefit him in some way, I can't allow that.

"So then, let the battle begin…!"

"I understand you all fear me for my uncanny resemblance to the witch of envy, but I must say it is rather rude of you to assume that I'm evil like her, in fact, I'm sick of it, would you like it if everyone you knew decided to scoff at you just because you looked like someone else? Do you think it's an enjoyable thing? Or do you all not have the heart to care about another's suffering?"

"Nonsense! Why should we listen to a ha-"

"My daughter is talking… so I'd like for you to shut up, please!"

A man from the crowd tried to cut Emilia's sentence off but Puck, who had materialized and shown his presence a few minutes after Subaru had left, snapped at him, he quivered back into the crowd, hiding amongst the many faces, Emilia was given back the attention, "If I have to prove myself to you all, then I will do so! I'll destroy the witch cult, I'll do it all within the three-year span of the royal election, I won't leave a single one of them, and if I fail to do so, then, you may take my head, you can end me then and there!"

A strong and proud declaration by Emilia, she was completely serious, though those weren't exactly her ideals, they were going to help her achieve her goal, she just knows it somehow, "Onee-san is serious about this isn't she…" Felt commented from the sidelines, Reinhard nodded in agreement, "But, I'm sure Felt-sama can be even more serious than her…"

"Yeah right, you goddamn forced me into this thing!"

"Please Felt-sama, lower your voice…"

"Darn you…"

"Next we have, Felt, a girl from the slums, and her knight, Reinhard van Astrea"

With the spotlight being given to the two, they step up, ready to give the audience their speech, "I don't really care about this country you know? But you know what I do hate?! All you guys! Nobles, Knights! All you guys looking down on us! I'll make sure you pay! I'll rebuild this country the way I like it! I'll tear down this palace, I'll tear down your houses, then I'll build it back all how I want it to be! Just you wait!"

"Reinhard-dono… your king is rather feisty…"

"I hope you will all soon understand her vision as I do..."

And with that, the meeting had come to an end with Felt's quick and abrupt declaration of war with the country's noblemen, but of course, someone barged into the door to drag the tension out, "Anastasia-sama, Emilia-sama…" A man, a servant of the palace it seems, "I've come to speak of the results between Julius-dono and Subaru-dono…"

A/N

Yep, Al's got two hands here, cause his origin story is different from that of the original story… Also, was supposed to include Julius and Subaru's fight here, but this chapter was already running late, and I'm currently sick… if I postpone it any longer, we'd have to wait till February or something… so be excited for it I guess?

SisyphusWorker

Lolicon and siscon? Dang, I have a feeling this Kararagian author got transported from contemporary Japan, I suppose!

Also, got that reference when Subaru listed down the don'ts for Betty hahaha.

Hummu, indeed, Kararagi is basically just a replica of Japan at this point... Also, you found the hidden reference that even I wasn't aware I made huh? :3

(I seriously have no idea what it is, and i'm curious to know, so please do tell me what I accidentally referred to...)