DISCLAIMER

The following is a fan-based

FICTION

Re:Zero and other products related to the this series are all owned by Tappei Nagatsuki.

Please support the official release.

Chapter 24: Invitations n' Breads

P.S. I now have a discord server! Discord .gg/ceBMM2Zz6c
Also Pxtreon: P a treon . com (slash) socialistbukharin

Crusch Karsten was having a rather interesting day.

While one that didn't work as a close confidant to her wouldn't be able to tell, the Duchess had reasons to be quite invested in a specific news that just reached her camp. And said news also prompted a fairly expected request by one of her guards and loyal advisors, Wilhelm van Astrea. It would be a lie to say that this news was even insignificant to others as the importance held to it was quite... big when it comes to the royal election.

The Hakugei had been a problem for Lugnica for decades now, if not centuries. The issue had sparked incredible controversy when the previous Sword Saint was killed by the Unique Mabeast and, the assassination of such a monster had always been an important goal for Wilehlm to personally take part to. Was he disappointed someone took that from him? Not truly. The importance within that objective was, by the end of the day, the killing of the flying whale. And to Crusch, it was how it was killed.

A look into the report quickly bestowed this potential achievement to 'Lady Emilia'. It would be wrong to assume the Duchess of Karsten didn't see the potential held by the half-elf, even more with the peculiar advisor she had at her disposal. The beast was downed near a settlement in her domain and, to make this even easier to attribute to the silver-haired rival to the throne, the girl and his close entourage had been checking the border town near to where the beast was seen decimated.

No one could fully confirm that the assassination was committed by someone from Emilia's camp, but that didn't stop Wilhelm from making a fairly simple request which Crusch had already contemplated going through out of satisfying her own curiosity.

"I will send a request to visit Lord Roswaal's manor. It may be accepted, or it may not. I hope you understand that."

The butler-knight nodded calmly, his experience on this sort of system giving him the peace of mind to accept any disappointing outcome from this sort of deal. It was enough for him, and it allowed Crusch to be left alone with Ferris once more. The cat-boy had, after all, his own thoughts on the matter, and these were particularly refreshing to hear.

"I don't think it was that boy, Subaru. But he could have hired someone to do that."

"Perhaps," Crusch admitted. "I doubt it was even Lady Emilia. Her magic is tied to ice and no manifestation of that were reported on the whale's corpse.

"Plus, it wouldn't have pierced the beast's thick skin," Felix added, humming to himself and then smiling. "Still, who would have thought that Lady Emilia would have still gone through that proclamation~."

The purring was not undeserved as the report came with an announcement that was written down from a speech delivered by the half-elf. While the beast's subjugation had many eyes aimed at her, Emilia had taken the opportunity to make a quick gain in her popularity among those in her own fief.

She didn't focus on the whale's killing, but rather to the ensuing wave of Mabeasts that tried to attack the city around the time the monster was being destroyed, with Hanumas holding against the unusually big horde of monsters trying to destroy it. At the end of that successful defense, Emilia praised the defenders and assigned medals. The concept of medal-assigning was mostly a duty reserved to a monarch, but nothing truly forbade people from going through the process. It was just that no one saw a point in it... up until this point.

Crusch had never dealt with a situation where she had to reward her retinue to this extent, but the result of Emilia's own action were not missed to her: the people loved to be given praise when due. And while a medal wasn't going to meant much when it comes to the line of duty, it was a reminder that their leader saw their dedication and gave them something to immortalize their deeds.

It was not a statue, but it was enough to sell the notion of 'ruler sees and rewards their subjects'. It was the 'care' that mattered, not the value of the gift after all.

"Do you think we should really approach the situation nyow~?" Felix spoke once more, with Crusch nodding at his question. "But wouldn't that get us at odds with others?"

"No," Crusch admitted. "It is clear that most of the candidates have loosened their interest over this competition. Lady Emilia managed to do something not many politicians can achieve- and that is assembling a friendly and polite front which mellowed the rest of the challengers."

"And you think this will be beneficial to us? To be subjected to that too?"

"...I will refrain from giving a determined answer," The Duchess admitted quietly, giving her lifelong friend a genuine tired look. "I don't need to explain how being too blunt or too intense in either way would just be damaging."

"We will thread the middle path then," The hazel-haired demihuman remarked, and Crusch nodded in agreement.

After all, it has dawned on her how difficult this competition was going to be because of this formidable opponents.

Subaru was not happy.

The plan that he ordained to exterminate Pandora had failed miserably, the White Whale having been strong enough to devastate a majority of the forest in the clash with the small witch, but failing to reward him with the lifeless corpse of the faux child. As much as he was against murdering someone with that appearance, what happened in recent loops had made him reluctant to show any mercy to this specific individual.

Pandora was a threat to not just him, but others. That mindset and those powers- he should have known that using the whale to backstab Pandora would have yielded a negative result. Yet, at the same time, he couldn't help but realize that something was missing from that complete failure: and it was Pandora's retaliation.

It's been hours now, close to a day even, since the news that the whale had been slain by something in the forest reached Hanumas. And this was after what had been a tedious siege by smaller mabeasts. People had been rightfully confused by what may have sparked this sort of assault, with Subaru expecting this to be Pandora's way to precede something much worse.

But time came and went, minutes became hours, and there was no sign of Pandora around. Rather, the scouts reported the scope of damage inflicted to the nearby forest as the Hakugei's butchered body was spotted and secured by a small detachment sent to secure it. The royal capital was alerted, with a group of magicians and researchers sent to study the matter and secure the corrupt beast to be relocated to a safer location.

The news hit Hanumas big time as it was only through the Hakugei's death that Subaru learned a few details about the flying whale he didn't know about: specifically how big of an issue it represented for merchants' routes and detachment of large armies around the area. The monster had been terrorizing half of the kingdom for more than a few centuries.

Even while Volcanica was around to defend the kingdom's from grand threats, the beast's reign of terror had decimated so many campaigns against it that it would be a major understatement to define its destruction as nothing short of a boon for the local areas. Trade could resume at maximum capacity after close to a thousand years of the trade nodes being stressed by this factor.

In a way, this change was going to yield them even greater economic results and this was... good. But not the kind of good that he wanted out of this whole situation. So, he took the great celebration as a sugarcube to swallow to prevent the vitriolic taste of failure in defeating Pandora, knowing this would be a short-lived peace. Still, that didn't stop him from spending some time with Emilia and... blowing off some steam through a simple walk around the city.

"Do you think the bakery is still open? I thought people had raided it a bit," The half-elf inquired, standing beside him as the two strolled the quieter streets of Hanumas in the afternoon.

"It should be. If it isn't then we can look for other bakeries around. I think I saw at least two while exploring."

The girl smiled at the news, leaning a bit on him as they behaved in a couple-like fashion. It may sound like that, but Emilia was being quite tame in that regard. It was also cold, so she took the chance to be this close to him to draw some of his warmth to her. Still, it was around this visit that something drew his attention. He was initially relieved that the shop was open, and thus didn't give much attention to the other occupants inside the small bakery.

He was busy staring around at the sweet goods to notice that a child had walked up and caught Emilia's attention by softly tugging at her left wrist, the opposite side to where he was. The half-elf had noticed, her eyes had widened together with a delighted smile and... soon she ordered something for the child herself.

Subaru didn't even bother to stare much at the girl, deciding to not deal with that sort of things for a couple of days. He will have to keep his guard up around Rem since he 'rejected' her and the blue-haired maid may have taken some indirect offense to that but... then, as the food was served and they took a moment to sit down, Subaru noticed the little girl's appearance.

The child worse a pretty pink dress with a white apron and ribbon around her neck, tiny brown shoes and... a pretty pink ribbon tying her dark-brown hair in a ponytail. What really got him was something he noticed instantly as he stared at her eat and speak with Emilia. Her eyes were... like his. And that felt ominous, even more as she heard say something that shock him to the core.

"Oh? My name is Dora, Neechan! I am looking for someone. His name is Natsuki Subaru... I think he is my papa."

Uh?

Emilia's murderous gaze was enough to further drive in what he just heard.

Who is this child and why did she say she 'thought' she was his daughter?!

AN

Pandora goofed hard. And Crusch is cometh-ing!