Disclaimer: I own nothing but plot and giggles.

======00======


Empty Fort.

Capital of Elchea— In front of the King city's public square.

It was a spectacular view after emerging out of the castle's balcony, with a large public square broader

Currently, the squre was being buried by countless number of people. Tens of thousands of humans were gathered here. Even the road that extended out of the public square was filled with people.

Just to listen to a speech from their new king.

Some expressed out the disappointment towards the foolish king of the previous generation.

Some expressed out happiness as an array of hope for the escape from the abyss of despair had appeared.

Some expressed curiosity for the little girl who came out of nowhere and defeated all her competitors.

With the whole of Imanity's attention focusing on the balcony of the castle—

A small figure came out from the castle, followed by several others.

A little girl. She wore luxurious dress in white and purple motif. Red eyes and white long hair. A short and small stature. Skin as white as snow. The crown on her head clearly highlighted that she was the new queen.

This was Illyasviel von Einzbern, the new queen of Elchea.

Behind her, standing like honor guards, were gallant figures.

A short woman with blonde hair in silver and blue armor. Saber.

A tall man with tanned skin and silver hair, wearing black armor and red shroud. Archer.

A man in tight blue body suit. Lancer.

A purple-haired woman wearing blindfold and black tight outfit. Rider.

A woman wearing night-blue robe and cowl. Caster.

A huge black-skinned giant with bare chest. Berserker.

Behind them, coming out and standing at the side were two maids in white outfit. Sella and Leysritt. With them, Stephanie Dora also came out and stood at the balcony.

People were surprised to see the unusual company the queen had. In front of the momentarily stunned audience, the little girl – Illya, began speaking.

"My people!" She began. "We are in danger. Not only from without, but also from within." Her voice was heard through the voice amplifier.

There was a fuss when she said that. The new queen continued, "There are traitors in our midst. Those who sell information to other races. Bad, evil person who betray their own family."

The commotion grew larger.

"They are the reason our country is poor. They are the one at fault why we always lose our games. They are..." Illya continued blaming the so-called traitor for all of Elchea's problem for three minutes. At the end, the crowd was ready to kill several people.

"I am very sad about this." Illya said in sombre tone. "But there is a way to redeem these people. And at the same time, to prevent the same thing from happening again."

The crowd went quiet, curious about what Illya would say.

"We will play Rock Paper Scissors, I and all of you here. I will play Rock, and you all will deliberately lose by playing Scissors. If I lose, nothing will happen. If I win, all of you will unconditionally obey the King or Queen of Elchea."

Illya waited a moment before continuing. "Then I will issued an order that said 'do not betray Elchea'. This way, nobody can betray the country. Noone can become a spy. Do you agree?"

The cheer from below indicated that the people agreed. Of course, they were somewhat emotionally provoked by Illya's speech before. So noone think on the long term consequences.

"And you should look around at your surrounding. Make sure everyone take the pledge and play the game. If you see someone not taking part, then he must be the traitor."

And that made sure everyone would play the game.

Illya raised her hand and said "Aschente!"

"Aschente!" The people of Elchea also said.

"Jan-ken-pon" Illya said and played Rock. The sea of people below played Scissors.

"Ah... now that's taken care... let's move on to the next business." Illya said. "Dearest citizens of Elchea. Fellow human being here." Her hands rested on the balcony.

"Our human kind...being constrained by the 『Ten oaths』, forcing us to have continuous failures due to the predicament of not having war, and what remains now is this last city, this last country— and why is this happening?"

The crowd went silent, hearing the abrupt question.

—Because of the missteps from the previous king— because we are unable to use magic.

All their hearts contained different answers,as they wait for Illya's next word.

"Was it because the previous king failed? Or was it because we are ranked 16th? Or was it because we are unable to wield magic? Or was it because we are the most inferior race? Does this equates to us feebly walking to the path of destruction!?— sorry, but all of them are true." Illya said casually.

Everyone got startled when the new queen nonchalantly admitted that fact.

Without any energy in her voice, Illya lazily listed Imanity's fault.

"We are unlike the elves who can use a variety of magic, nor do we possess strong physical ability like orcs, and we don't have longevity like the HeavenlyWinged— Imanity sucks! There is no other way to say it!"

Of course this was a fact that everybody understand. But she didn't have to say it to their face like that!

"We are [weak]! Imanity is the weakest beings on this planet! The human species can't use magic, even perceiving it is impossible" Illya said with a little more energy.

The people got into despair as their new queen stated her view.

Illya continued, "And so, what's the point of fighting? We will always lose in the end. It's better if we just surrender. That's the fate of the weak." She said it in bored tone.

The crowd were now gaping, speechless.

"We will surrender." Illya said to her people in matter-of-fact tone. "We will entrust our fate to a stronger race. The one who will take care of us. There will be no need for territory game anymore."

The crowd of people exploded in protest. They were angry at their new ruler who apparently would surrender without fighting.

"In the name of the queen, I order you to stop protesting." Illya said.

The crowd instantly went silent. The effect of the previous game, they couldn't disobey the queen. The smarter ones immediately realized, this was the queen's plan from the beginning. But it's too late now, they couldn't disobey her anymore.

"So, I know you guys are watching, spy from other race. I, Illyasviel von Einzbern, invite you to challenge us. If you win, you will get all of Elchea. All of its territory, all of its inhabitants, its resources. I will accept your challenge. The first one who came will get all!"

Illya surveyed the sea of people again. "Now, it's not nice if all of you gave up on life and made this country worse."

The people stared at her in disbelief. Of course they would be in despair and gave up. After all, what's the point of anything anymore? Their own queen had given up on the country. Why should they care anymore? What's the point of living or working hard?

"That won't do." Illya said. "There is no country who wants a broken province. You should keep this country attractive for other country to pluck."

People wanted to protest again, but they couldn't. The queen, who talked about traitor before, apparently was the real traitor. She was just fattening Elchea for other country to take.

"I, Illyasviel von Einzbern, I declare that I am the 255th generation, the Queen of Elchea. Thus I pronounce my order to all citizens:

One, you shall not betray Elchea.

Two, you shall do your best to contribute to Elchea's welfare.

Three, you shall not fall into despair and continue with your daily life. Dismissed."

There was no cheer. There was no exclamation of joy. There was no protest. All was silent. People began to disperse and continue with their lives, waiting for the inevitable fate.

Illya turned around and went back to the castle.

=====break=====


"What was that!" Steph said in flat, defeated tone. If she raised her tone, it could be construed as 'protest', and she couldn't do that.

She was directing her question to Saber, who was following Illya. The blonde woman seemed to be calm, despite what Illya said before.

"If she said that, other countries would attack us. And-and! She basically said that she would handed Elchea in silver platter for the first country that attack us. Why... why did she..." Steph said in defeated tone.

Saber looked at her in the eyes and said, "Which country?"

"Eh?" Steph said, confused by the question.

Saber asked again, "which country will attack us? I will tell you, no country will attack."

"Eh?" Steph got more confused. "But they will race here to be the first one to get Elchea, right?"

Saber laughed hearing that. All the Servants who followed behind them made some amused noise, snickering and chuckling.

"You should learn to suspect people." Saber said. "That girl, Kurami? She was backed by the elves. They provide support for her to win this country. They must think the same thing for us, that we are backed by some country. The whole world will think that some country's spy is administrating Elchea."

"But... that's only speculation..." Steph uncertainly said.

"True. But they will take the speech before as confirmation. Illya had defeated the elves representative, so they will think somebody is backing her. And combined with the crazy speech of [Surrender], they will think that the whole things is a trap."

"Wha...!" Steph was speechless.

Lancer also said to Steph, "The prize is too tempting. A country that promise to immediately surrender to the first challenger? There must be a catch. It must be a trap. So they will suspect each other, and monitoring each others."

Archer also gave his view. "Noone can do anything. Remember, the challenged party will determine the game. They will be afraid of having disadvantage where Elchea decided what game they will play. Noone will take the first move."

Caster also spoke, "and we will have time to do preparation. Stabilize the country, fixing the economy, things like that, while other countries watching each other."

Rider grimly spoke, "However... sooner or later one will come."

"Yes." Saber said. "They can't discount the possibility that Elchea is truly surrendering. It is bad if some other country got there first, so one will inevitably fall to the trap."

Steph had silently listening all this time and she was glowing with hope. It was all a ploy to trick the enemy! The new queen was not a turncoat! "Illya-sama!" Steph turned to Illya who had arrived at the throne room and sat at the throne. "Forgive me for doubting you! I don't know that you are a genius!"

However, Illya's expression was bitter. She looked like she had eaten a very bad fruit.

"Illya-sama?" Steph tentatively asked.

"Noone... will attack?" Illya said in low voice. Her expression looked lost.

Saber said in certainty. "No. No country will attack immediately. They will think that it is a trap."

"But...but..." Illya looked like she wanted to cry. "It was really a trap... I planned to let them have arm-wrestling match with Berserker... And defeat one country in one go..."

Saber looked at her apologetically. "Unfortunately, noone will fall to that obvious trap. Cheer up. At least it worked out. You managed to buy time for us."

Illya weakly nodded. "I... I don't think I am suited to rule a country. Saber... please?" She looked at her pleadingly.

"Of course. Don't worry Illya, I am quite experienced for the job." Saber smiled at Illya. She turned to Steph and said, "From now on, I will handle the governmental affairs. Report them to me."