AN: Thanks to JDUBZ for helping out A LOT with this chapter. His wording is on point.

Chapter 20: The Capital

The wheels of The Portable Pub turned, rolling over he bumpy terrain of the dirt road leading towards the mansion. Ken rested in the back of the carriage, still unconscious, while Oki watched over him. Driving the carriage was the blue haired battle maid, Rem. Next to her, riding in the passenger seat was the little librarian known as Beatrice. The ride to the Capital would only take at most 6 hours. They had reached the Roswaal Mansion's remains before Ken woke up again.

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Rubbing his head, Ken was confused when the carriage wasn't moving. We there already?

Noticing that Oki wasn't around, Ken wondered if he was outside. The bright sun blinded him when he opened the tarp's flap. Ken shielded his eyes until they adjusted to the brightness, blinking when they did. His shoes crunched the ground when he jumped out, looking around he saw he was in a clearing surrounded by trees, lots of trees.

Stretching, Ken looked over to see Oki, not far from the carriage, his back to him. Ken began jogging towards him, wondering where they were. Upon closer inspection of the clearing, Ken saw a dried out fountain, hedges, and dust everywhere. No….ashes.

Ken slowed down to a walk, shuffling over to a pile of ashes Ken felt something hard. Kicking aside some of the ashes, Ken found what looked like an old rag. Upon inspection, Ken found a burnt human skull under the cloth.

"Ahh!" Startled, Ken fell back onto his butt. His hand landed on what felt like a small stick Ken held it up to see what it was. Is this….a bone?

"Eh! Ah!" Quickly realizing he was in a pile of bones, Ken scrambled to get out of it, fear taking over him, "Oh fuck, fuck, fuck. Fuck me." The crunching and snapping of bones was the result of Ken trying to escape.

Finally out of the mess, Ken noticed he was covered in ashes of the dead and frantically patted himself down until a small amount was left that he couldn't remove. Looking at the bones, Ken noticed it was a pile of at least 15 burnt skeletons and almost fainted. This...this is wrong. "Is this how the cult handle their dead?" There was no doubt that these were the bodies of the fallen cultists who died to Ram.

Ken backed away from the pile and bumped into something large. Turning around, Ken saw that it was Oki. "Oh thank go-." Oki put a finger to his own lips to shush Ken then pointed ahead.

A few feet from them, on the ground, was Rem. She was on her knees, in front of her was a curved witch cultist sword, imbedded into the soil. Rem removed a purple ribbon from the sword, faded from being in the sun for so many months. Ken didn't understand the meaning of the ribbon until Rem discarded her pink ribbon and replaced it with the purple one. It must be Ram's.

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Rem didn't cry. Her sister may be gone, but she wouldn't let it be in vain. While, she wanted to fulfill her promise to her sister they made together to kill all of the witch cultists, Rem was finally coming to terms that there were simply too many. That dream was too large for her to fulfill in one lifetime. If she could barely take out three of them during her encounter with them a few days ago what chance would she have against a whole community of them? There were just too many for her to take on. But she still wanted to take down as many as she could before settling down with Subaru and living a quiet life. They took almost everything from her so she wanted to take down just as many as them.

Ken never felt the sadness of losing someone he cared about, so he couldn't relate to Rem's sadness. While Rem never wanted to see her sister die first, Ken couldn't wait for his father to die. It was an evil thought, but Ken thought his father was an evil man who cared about nothing but himself. Looking at the carriage, he realized how selfish he had become, like his father. He was so caught up in what was best for himself, that he yelled at Rem for a simple request, he called his best friend names whenever he did something wrong, and he kept pushing people away when they got too close to him. The worst part was he had no problem with that. Ken never regretted making his mistakes, made no effort to correct them, only letting them stay unaddressed. Just like his deadbeat father.

Rem pulled the sword from the ground and examined its shining metal in the sun. A small streak of blood was staining it from tip to handle. Rem got up from her knees. Grabbing the end of the blade, Rem bent the sword, with no effort, until it broke. Rem discarded the half with the tip, keeping the handled half. Grunting, Rem flung the half sword across the burnt mansion, it's broken blade embedded deeply into a tree. Ken was shocked, but Oki wasn't, he had already felt Rem's strength before.

Rem turned around to go back to the carriage. Her bloodshot eyes gave away the fact that she was close to tears. Oki walked with her back to the carriage while Ken still stared at the embedded sword in the distance.

Finally coming to his senses, Ken turned to find Oki comforting Rem as they walked around the pile of bones. Seeing this brought guilt to Ken. Why would someone like Oki be friends with someone like me? Ken felt he didn't deserve someone as kind as Oki.

Looking at his hands, Ken decided that if Oki saw something good in him, then he was damn well going to be that person. He wouldn't be like his father any longer. That ends now.

Making his way to the pile of dead cultists, Ken picked up one of the many skulls and gave it a look of hatred. Ken dropped the skull, whispering to it, "Bastard." He summoned a small spear of ice and shot it towards the ground, smashing through the upright skull and planting it to the ground.

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Their journey continued. Ken had reclaimed his spot as driver as Rem had taken her spot as passenger with Oki and Beatrice in the back, much to her displeasure.

"Me? In the back? What joke are you making, I suppose?"

In the end, Beatrice grudgingly agreed to ride in the back with Oki. Nothing was said as they made their way back to the burnt village, something no one was looking forward to. The tension around the group has thickened since the visit to the mansion, making everything uncomfortable.

Rem had fallen asleep as soon as they had left the mansion. She hoped to sleep out the rest of the ride so she wouldn't have to sit around doing nothing. Using a small blanket provided by Ken, Rem slept comfortably in her seat.

Ken stopped the carriage. Something far off in the distance, near the village border, had walked into the road and stared at the carriage. Ken wasn't sure what it was at this distance, squinting his eyes to see its features; four legs, huge body, muscular, snout, a horn. Fuck.

Ken slowly reached across to wake up Rem. Shoving her lightly, Ken woke her up.

At the same time when Rem woke up Oki called out, "Hey, Ken? What's going on?"

Not wanting to attract the beast anymore than it already was, Ken whispered back to Oki, "Quiet. There's something ahead." Thankfully, Oki got the message and didn't reply.

Rem rubbed her eyes, looking to her right, she saw a terrified Ken pointing to the front. Rem saw the beast's red eyes staring at them. Rem saw it's unmistakable dog like appearance and it's glowing horn. A Wolgarm, the same kind of Demon Beast that kidnapped the village children all those months ago. She knew that they traveled in packs, so it was likely this one wasn't alone. Surveying the area, Rem's conclusion proved to be accurate. In the trees were more Wolgarms, making their way to either sides of the carriage. It's a trap.

Rem didn't stop looking at the surrounding beasts. "Ken, we have to move..now."

Ken didn't quite understand why until he looked in the trees, that was when he noticed the other Wolgarms in the trees, making their way towards them. Their snouts dripping with saliva. Clever girl. Using yourself as a distraction while the others sneak up on us. A perfectly executed plan that would lead to their deaths if they weren't quick enough.

"Ken!" Rem called out to Ken to get going.

"Hang on!" Ken whipped the reins, commanding the dragon to sprint full speed. The taking off of the carriage signaled for all the beasts to spring out from the woods. Their barking was the only thing they heard as the beasts flashed their fangs and leaped towards the carriage. As they started to close in upfront Rem sent up a wall of ice, sending dozens of the wolf-like creatures into the air. To Ken it was the most terrifying moment of his life and his most exciting one. To be in a chase like this exhilarated him to an extent. A mad smile formed on his lips. Now this is fun.

As Ken drove, Rem shot icicle after icicle, impaling beast after beast. Soon the beasts found out that it would be best to move side to side and dodge the icicles. Rem was soon unable to hit them and instead blocked them with walls of ice. Forcing them to attack from the back.

In the carriage Oki and Beatrice were battling off the beasts that came from the back. Beatrice handled taking them out with magic, using her spells to lift them into the air and throw them, cut them with air, and push them back if they got to close.

Oki watched as the little girl effortlessly fended off the threat. The Wolgarm didn't stand a chance against her magic, always being sent back or killed when they got close. Noticing that they began to outrun the beasts, Oki called out to Ken, "Bet you're thankful now since we got rid of this heavy barrels huh, Ken?"

Ken didn't reply, but Beatrice did it for him, "Must you really make a joke at a time like this, I suppose?"

Oki crossed his arms and saw that the situation was under control. With two powerful, battle ready people on this carriage it seemed their situation wasn't all that bad, "Well, why not?"

Beatrice focused away from the back to glare at Oki. In that instant, one of the larger Wolgarm was able to leap into the carriage, sending Beatrice to fall to her back. It's body took up almost the entire carriage, weighing it down a little and allowing the other beasts to get closer.

The beast extended its jaws towards Beatrice and went for the kill. It never got halfway to its meal, for its head had been caved in. A powerful punch to the head from Oki rendered the beast helpless.

Seeing that it was still standing, Oki got in front of Beatrice and punched the beast in it's chest, sending it flying out of the carriage and into the advancing beasts. The remaining Wolgarm tried to gain speed again but fell back, knowing they wouldn't catch up.

Only one beast stood against them, the one standing in the middle of the road ahead. Crouching low, it got ready to pounce. Saliva dripping and eyes narrowing, it leaped. Rem shot an icicle at the beast, but missed. The beast soared through the air, Ken realized it was going for Rem. Seeing this, he suddenly remembered what he told himself:

My selfishness ends now.

Jumping in front of Rem, Ken shielded her with his body. Rem looked on in shock as the beast collided with Ken. The collision knocked the wind out of him, and nearly took him off the side of the carriage. Before the Wolgarm could do anymore damage, Ken put an ice crystal through its head.

After tossing the corpse off the side of the carriage, Ken returned to his original seat and wiped off any blood he might have gotten on his white shirt. Rem turned to face Ken, "Thank you." Rem saw that Ken looked shaken up, "Are you OK?"

Ken put up the best smile he could, "I'm just hoping this isn't something I should get used to."

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The carriage rolled through the Capital's borders. The city's clean look gave of an aura of welcoming comfort. The heavily occupied streets were filled with pedestrians all trying to make it from point A to point B. A beautiful river flowed through the middle of the city, giving access for people to sell fish. Shops were at almost every corner, merchants trying to sell their goods.

Ken looked at all the beautiful buildings, to him the architecture was phenomenal. The cut stone and curved edges were formed in such ways. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. Dragons and people were depicted on the sides of buildings and were so detailed Ken almost wished he had became an architect just so he could say he designed a building like any of the ones in this city. While Kararagi might have been more of a technologically advanced country, there was no doubt that Lugnica was more beautiful and stunning. Rem was still asleep, despite all the loud noises of the city surrounding her.

It took a while for Ken to realize that he had no idea where he was going, he had just been aimlessly steering the carriage in different directions to look at more stuff.

Ken pulled the carriage to the side and hopped down from his seat. Going around the side, Ken opened the tarp from the back, flooding light onto Oki and Beatrice.

Oki was sleeping in the corner of the carriage, not even even flinching when the sun blasted his eyelids. In the middle of the carriage, with her eyes closed, was Beatrice. Her face wavered but went back to its original calm self when Ken opened the tarp.

"What cha' thinkin' about , Princess?"

Beatrice replied without opening her eyes, "I am locating the current position of a spirit, I suppose. Not that you would understand."

"Well ain't we supposed to be lookin' for your friend or whatnot?"

Opening one blue eye, Beatrice looked at Ken, "Amazing, I didn't think your simple mind would be able to remember something so important, I suppose."

Ken slammed his hands down into the carriage, "The sooner we leave you the sooner we get to go home!" Ken stepped into the carriage, annoyed, "I already have half a mind to leave you right here, right now."

Beatrice opened both of her eyes, as usual she looked bored. "I have found him."

Ken crossed his arm, "Well then, I can finally drop you off so we can head home. Just tell me the directions and I'll drive us there."

In response, Beatrice held up her hand. Seeing this, Ken held his up in defense, "Don't you dare." Ken went stiff and fell back, unconscious.

Beatrice exited the carriage and woke up Rem. "Rem, Ken has fallen asleep in the back, I suppose. I need you to drive."

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The Royal Housing Area was a place recently constructed to house any and all royal candidates. After the Roswaal Mansion incident it was made to protect the candidates from any sort of harm until a King was crowned. A huge walled off area fit with multiple houses serving as temporary homes for each candidate. Arranged in a semi-circle, the houses surrounded a grassy plain dotted with small flowers. This area was usually used as a place to lay down and bask in the sun or to have a picnic. Just before the houses, but after the front gate, stood a great fountain, surrounded by another grassy area. Going through the entrance and on the right one would find an exotic garden filled with flowers that the various candidates would pick themselves and keep in their houses. Security was tight, everyone coming in was checked and treated as a suspect until proven to have nothing on them that would pose any threat to the candidates. Currently, the only candidates living in the Housing were Emilia and Felt. The other candidates saw it as a weakness, showing that they need protection, unable to fend for themselves. For Emilia, this was sadly the case. For Felt, Reinhard wasn't always going to be available. His job prevented him from attending to Felt at all times, so some extra protection would help.

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Finally reaching the housing gates, Rem stopped the dragon in front of the designated area. Even near a place as fortified as this, people still bunched up and tried to go about their business. It reminded Rem of the Business Section in Kararagi. People were doing their various activities; shopping, talking, comparing prices, making negotiations. One such man clad in white was even asking for directions.

Rem had never seen this huge place before so she consulted Beatrice, "Is this the place, Lady Beatrice?"

Beatrice looked up at the high walls that seemed to touch the sky, "Yes, Puck is in here, I suppose."

Rem hopped off the carriage and made her way around to the other side. Oki and Ken stepped out from the back to check out where they were.

Noticing that Beatrice wasn't down yet, Rem saw her trying to put her short legs on the stepping outcrop of the carriage. Scared of falling, Beatrice gave up and contemplated jumping off, at least then she would be prepared. Rem saw this and stretched her arms out towards Beatrice, a smile on her face. Beatrice's face showed no amusement for the gesture however. After looking around at the back of the carriage, Beatrice leaped into Rem's arms, who then placed her down gently.

Beatrice patted down the wrinkles in her dress. Looking up at Rem's smiling face, Beatrice blushed and crossed her arms, pursing her lips, "Never speak of it, I suppose."

Rem made a motion with her hand of zipping up her mouth.

"What is that supposed to mean, I suppose?"

Rem shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, Rem saw Subaru-kun do it once after Rem told him not to tell someone something."

"Then it must mean absolutely nothing, I suppose."

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"Halt!"

Two heavily armed guards blocked the entryway of the Housing Area. Crossing swords, they created a wall, preventing Rem and the others from passing.

Ken spoke up from the back, "Well, we tried, guys. Let's go home." He turned to leave, but Oki reached back and grabbed his collar. Ken slumped his body forward with a grim look.

The men stood in their place, asking their already practiced questions, "Name?"

Rem put a fist to her chest, "Oh, um. Rem, Lady Beatrice, Kenshi, and Oki."

"Reason of visit?"

"We wish to see Lady Emilia."

"Are you currently carrying any weapons?"

Rem looked back at the group, everyone shook their heads. Rem turned back to the guards, "No."

"Do you have any wish to harm the candidates?"

"No."

The guards looked at each other and looked back at Rem. They pulled their swords back to their sides, allowing Rem to pass. Surprised that it was that easy, Rem walked through. Beatrice followed closely behind, but was cut off by the swords of the guards.

Beatrice was surprised when the swords fell in front of her face, "Wha-?!"

The guards looked down at Beatrice, "Name?"

As Beatrice ranted on about their stupidity a man walked up to Rem from behind. Speaking when he reached her, "Not that intimidating really. However, it does get the job done." Looking over, Rem saw that the man had red hair and cunning blue eyes. He wore a Royal Guard uniform that was white and very neatly kept. Sheathed at his hip was a wicked looking sword with claw marks on it, along side it was a lesser, but still deadly looking sword, "What they lack in intimidation, they make up for usefulness. I made sure to place them as front guard because of their Divine Protection of Wind Indication. If you lied to any of their questions they wouldn't hesitate to use extreme force."

Rem didn't know how to react and instead just replied with a simple, "Okay," while nodding her head.

The man chuckled, "I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself. Imperial Knight, Reinhard van Astrea, and current Knight of candidate, Princess Felt." He held out a hand for Rem to shake.

Rem shook Reinhard's hand saying, "I'm Rem. Just Rem."

Reinhard's blue eyes glinted, "Well, Just Rem, I hope you have a wonderful visit here."

Rem giggled at his little joke.

"Flirting on the job?! Aren't you supposed to be protecting me?!" A little blonde girl in a yellow dress came up from behind Reinhard and smacked him with a folded up fan she held in her hand, her red eyes scrunched up in annoyance.

Reinhard placed a hand on the girl's head and stepped away, keeping himself out of the reach of her swings, "I present to you, Rem, candidate Felt. Cute, isn't she?" Felt cursed at him, continuing to swing.

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After more waiting and more complaining from Ken and Beatrice the group finally trickled through security. It took more time due to the pair's insistence on making everything as difficult as possible. When they finally made it through Reinhard had to explain the reason for such a 'meaningless' security force. Having to tell Ken multiple times that they had the ability to sense a lie, allowing them to detect anyone willing to commit harm to the candidates.

When they all met at the fountain Oki looked around the perimeter of the Housing Area, "So what's up with this place? Why's it so closed off?"

Reinhard sat on the edge of the fountain. Felt, who had been next to Reinhard the whole time distracted herself with kicking the grass. "This place was created to keep our candidates safe from any and all external threats. As citizens of Kararagi I would assume you would know that Lugnica is in dire need of a new king. The candidates are all wonderful examples of leadership," Reinhard glanced at the kicking Felt, "So keeping them safe is an important step in choosing our next leader." Reinhard motioned with his hand to the surrounding walls, "These wall were created around the Housing Area to do that very thing, protect. Going 200 feet up, 50 feet down, and 20 feet across, nothing goes over, under, or through."

Rem thought those were very impressive measures, but was still curious to know, "So nothing will hurt Lady Emilia?"

Reinhard smiled at Rem's caring nature, "Yes, Rem. As long as these walls are standing and I'm here, nothing will so much as scratch Emilia," Reinhard saw Felt glare at him out of the corner of his eye, "or Felt." Felt continued to kick the grass.

From the from gate, someone was creating a commotion with the security. "Are you currently carrying any weapons?"

A man answered the guard's question politely, "No, I don't carry weapons."

"Do you have any wish to harm the candidates?"

"Well, no b-."

The guards moved the tips of their swords to the man's throat. The man didn't look worried in the slightest.

Reinhard saw what was happening and excused himself, moving towards the front gates.

Reinhard looked back before continuing his march, "Stay there, Felt!"

The man held up his hands and continued to talk, "Honestly, I don't want to fight. I'm just here for the half-witch, is that so much to ask?"

One of the guards went to hit the man with the butt of his sword, but soon found his hand was gone. His hand that gripped the sword fell to the floor, severed by an unseen force. He fell to the floor as well, screaming in pain.

The other guard swung his sword through the air, intending to kill. The guard erupted into a red mist, covering the man's white outfit in blood. "Didn't I say I didn't want to fight? People just don't listen to me," the man looked over at Reinhard, who had stopped approaching when the guard exploded. "That's against my Right."

Reinhard narrowed his eyes, but showed no attempt to reach for his sword. "Who are you?"

The white haired man slowly approached Reinhard, talking as he did so, "I always say that I would rather not hurt anyone, but for some reason they never take me seriously. Is it my looks? No, that can't be it, I'm not someone people would blame for their actions. It's something that's been stuck in my head for...30 years? I honestly can't remember. Maybe it's just what the behavi-."

"Who are you!?" Reinhard interrupted the man's little speech as he placed a hand onto his sword.

The man stopped in his tracks, 25 feet from Reinhard. "Let's just skip the introductions and get to the part where you give me the half-witch. Saves time and effort."

Reinhard switched his hand placement to grab onto another sword handle that was at his waist, pulling it out slightly.

Tutting, the man put a hand to his head, "Why do they all want to fight?" Pools of shadows formed on the ground around the man. Reinhard counted 25 in total. From each shadow a witch cultist emerged, their hood shielding their identity from him.

The man put his arms out as if he were displaying himself, "If you wish go about this forcefully, allow me to introduce myself," the man bowed, continuing his introduction when he looked back into Reinhard's blue eyes. "Witch Cult Sin Archbishop 'Greed', Regulus Corneus!"

"And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain."

-Frank Sinatra