Tis but a short chapter, the next one will also be, maybe even shorter. After, look forward to the Capital scene, it's to be Chapter 4!

Short Chapter: Learning Day, Conception.

Though there wasn't much time to pray, as she scrambled to pick both Subaru and Meili up.

She was injured, yes, but she ignored it, for good reason. Not because if she stopped she would be overtaken by the Ulgarm, no, but because she heals incredibly fast. She would be perfectly fine by the time she made it to the fence.

But, as she ran, she was knocked over by a gust a wind. She looked back, only to see three Ulgarm suddenly fall to the ground, hand marks either ait their necks or fist imprints on their sides, the force behind those strikes killed them before they could so much as yelp or whimper.

This was the power of the Sword Saint. Even without a sword, Reinhard is more than capable of doing this and more. And in this case, the incentive was his king, he couldn't fail. He would not fail.

So, Rem picked herself up once again, and ran with all the strength she could muster, jumping the fence and making it to a house that one of the villagers guided her to.

She didn't much remember what was happening at the moment as it was all going by so fast, Emilia and Beatrice amd Ram all showing up as well, Beatrice left right after handling the curses and the imminently dangerous wounds Subaru had, leaving herself and Emilia there to do the rest.

And, they did. Emilia exhausted herself during this, and she herself was on the brink of doing so, if she were human she would be unconscious at the moment. She was finally gaining coherence, and went outside to her sister.

"Nee sama, i'm sorry." she said. "Sorry for what? You got him out if there, and he's fine now." she looked to her, not understanding it. "I… I was the reason why he was injured in the first place. He pushed me out if the way when I didn't notice a group of them came from above me.. I can't imagine he's happy with how things turned out…"

Ram shook her head. "If what I think is true, he isn't going to blame you. He's too… Himself to. And, I would think he'll be more preoccupied with Emilia sama to bother."

Ram knows she likes him, but that really was the truth, and she knows it. Rem's cheeks tint a slight red, thinking over what she's about to say. "E-even so… I will make him know how I feel, even if I will only be rejected in the end…" "Uuhhg…"

Ram was pinching the bridge of her nose, not disappointed, but feeling like whatever she says now would be pointless in trying to stop her sister. "Just don't embarrass yourself too much, Rem." "Hehehe…"

It was well past sunrise now, Rem and Ram had slept at the mansion and were already back awake and preparing to distribute special food today, stuff for the villagers to ease their minds from yesterday. They left Emilia and Subaru down there inside that house, and Reinhard had yet to return from the woods.

Subaru slowly opened his eyes, feeling rather sore, but refreshed nonetheless. He blinked when he saw the unfamiliar ceiling, but it was a very welcome sight. 'I didn't die! Wait, what about that kid? What about Rem?' but, everything was peaceful. Those worries disappeared quickly, as he turned to see Emilia resting against a support beam, looking utterly exhausted. He did spot the ring she still had on, smiling at that.

"Made you worry a lot yesterday, huh? I think that 'no desert' thing will be expanded to a month, then…" "I don't know, you did make Lia worry, but you also made her happy. Your actions yesterday were good, even I can say that." Puck appeared from behind her, floating towards him. "Puck?" "Good morning, Subaru."

He sat on Subaru's shoulder, yawning. "But you mean that? They were good?" "Mhmm, Lia appreciates what you did. I don't think a punishment is in order, moreso… A celebration, I think."

Subaru got up and stretched, Puck sitting on him while following the movements with his arms rather lazily. "So, I did alright.. Hopefully this is the last dangerous thing I do for a while." "Hmm… yeah, I guess so as well… Even though I don't want to see this wedding through, Lia would be heartbroken…" "What?! Are you saying you'd kill me if she didn't care?" "Well…"

Subaru grabbed at the cat, but he shot up into the air, making a mocking face and waving at him with a paw. "Then… Then i'll make sure Emilia tan is the happiest person ever, to spite you!" "Aww, I can't even be sad that you're not lying about that. Seriously though, Subaru, don't let Lia down." "I promise I won't."

He reached out a paw to shake, and he took it. "Good." though, unknown to the both of them, Emilia heard all of it… and he reddening face was more than proof, yet neither noticed even on their way out. Even Subaru, who stopped briefly next to her and parted a small bit of her hair from the front of her face before leaving didn't.

"Those dummies… Subaru, what am I going to do with you?" she sat there alone by the beam, looking out at the sunny village as her fiance was dumbly entertaining the kids and making friends with the adults, and the maids handed out food as well.

She was thinking hard about this. She and Subaru know that her mentality is behind, she told him about being frozen since a young age and only recently being released. Yet, it didn't deter him for a second. He would keep at his flirting and tomancing until she understands, she knows that as well.

But, she was dreading tomorrow. She asked Reinhard to teach her about relationships the day before yesterday, and tomorrow is when that special lesson would happen. She was, honestly, embarrassed.

She cringed just thinking about it.

Subaru eventually joined the maids in handing out food, and of course taking some for himself. He was starving, after all. "So, everyone made it out fine, but where's Reinhard?" "Subaru sama, could you not ask him with that telepathy thing?" "Oh yeah! But, that's not as fun."

She sighed at his mentality. "Oh, Rem, you did great yesterday. Thanks for getting me out in one piece, I thought I was a goner." hearing that she was relieved, and very happy. Then she was nudged by Ram, who stuck out her tongue to her. 'Told you' was written all over that action. "What? Ram doing something cute? Something must be wrong, you never do cute things."

Ram quickly fixed her posture and looked normal again, speaking in monotone. "Rem, Rem, Barusu sama must be imagining things." "Sister, sister, Subaru kun is imagining things." Rem joined in, then the two laughed afterwards. "Deja vu anyone? Wait, you two! Come back here!" he was left behind, the two jokesters returning to the mansion..

Reinhard carried on through the woods, he knew that all was well back in the village and mansion now. But, his job wasn't done. He found a source for the control over the Ulgarm, an 'alpha' as you could say, and was currently following its trail. He stopped by a tree nearby a cliff edge, looking down to the valley below.

"This is where it is. I know they're congregated down there… is it supposed to be an ambush?" he already knew the answer to that. "I should get back to Subaru and Emilia sama before dark… At least before Emilia sama's request. That give me…" he looked to the sun, seeing it was nearing dusk. "Roughly an hour here, ten minutes to get back. Just before sun down."

He stood at the edge, and started falling forwards. Though, he didn't fall, rather he started running down the face of the cliff, and easily righted himself at the bottom. How his uniform was still relatively clean was beyond speculation, the only signs of it being dirty being his gloves, cuffs and shoes. Not even the ends of his pant legs were dirty.

*Grooaarrr* a loud howl erupted from the forest immediately in front of him, and three hundred individual pairs of eyes glared at him with high intensity. In his hand was a worn out sword with a red handle, where it came from was up to debate, but it was lodged into a tree when he found it earlier. It lightly shined, magic coursing through it.

"Please, hold out until this is done. I will give you a proper burial afterwards." he said to the blade, and then the forest erupted as hundreds of wolves charged out of their place right towards him. He closed his eyes, and then started swinging.

"Ugh, I suppose. If you weren't contracted to Betty, I would just blast you away right now, in fact. Here, take your newfound knowledge and check on him yourself, I suppose." Beatrice looked sleepy and angry at the same time, completely annoyed that Subaru would come to bug her today.

"Thanks Beako, now lets see where Reinhard is, eh?" "You could have just asked him that by speaking aloud, I suppose." he just waved off her words, and opened a rift. Yes, he was just taught Gate Crossing, only by bugging Beatrice endlessly until he offered her candy.

He poked his head through and saw something he would rather not have. A field filled with nothing but bodies of wolves and a single giant one that must have been the size of an elephant, maybe larger, its body was cut into three… One slice from mid shoulder crossed down over its chest, and another at the base of its neck through. Yeah, that thing was super dead.

But what was most striking was the fire charred remains of a lot of them, and the smell of burning meat and flesh. He looked for the cause and saw Roswaal floating in the air and Reinhard on the ground below, looking at him.

"Why isn't it nice to see you, Subaru sama." he gingerly said, going back to shooting flames at the rest of the bodies he was halfway through burning. "Hello, Subaru sama. Sorry to keep you waiting." Reinhard bowed, and in his hand was a sword that looked as though it was about to fall apart.

"Not going to even ask what happened, but stop. Just, take a rest man. You've been up for two days running around the woods." "I was planning on returning as soon as this was done, though Roswaal san came by near the end of this, and suggested he burn the remains. We'll be at the mansion shortly."

Subaru was not wanting to argue that. "Alright, dinner's going to be done soon anyways, so hurry back." and with a quick wave, the rift closed.

"Now my sanctum smells of burning flesh, I suppose. I am taking your room until it clears, I suppose." "Huh? Nah, i'm sleeping in my bed. If you choose to do what you did last time then be my guest, but that'll get kinda awkward when… Aah, i'm fantasizing again." "Yes, yes you are, I suppose."

It was now dinner, the usual setup with Roswaal at the head of the table, Emilia and Subaru on the left side if you looked at it from the door, and Reinhard and Beatrice in the right, so it was a little different. Rem was standing on the right and Ram the left, as well.

"Soo, Subaru sama, I heard that quite a lot happened while I was away." Roswaal started. "A lot… Yeah, a lot did happen. Gotta say, I used to like dogs. Now, i'm not really sure how to feel about them." he nodded. "Unfortunate, the amount of dogs that aren't demon beasts is quite low, many people share that opinion. Anyhow, I must thank all of you for handling the situation."

He clasped his hands together, looking to the two candidates. "I do guess now is the time for Reinhard kun to take over this conversation, he does have an announcement." He gestured over to him, and it did seem he was ready to speak. They both waited quietly for him to do so.

"Right. I will be returning to the capital in four weeks time to alert the Sage Council of your finding, Subaru sama. That would also mean that all of the candidates for the throne would have to be present before the royal guard and the nobility inside the castle. During that congregation, the Royal Selection will finally begin."

He paused, waiting for questions. "... So we have to go and meet literally everyone that holds power in the nation." he nods. "Well, what are they going to expect from us while we're there, besides being you know, not stupid." Subaru was being serious right now. This was important, so he wasn't going to mess around, even if it was a month away.

"I do believe a speech is all that they would expect, and the nobles do get impatient fairly fast, so you could say that it is fairly loose in requirements, even though it is so important." he said. "Nobles being impatient… I wonder where i've heard that before?"

"Okay Subaru. To the point.. Reinhard, can you tell him about Crusch san, Anastasia san, and... Priscilla?" "Yes." Subaru made note of how she said Priscilla, so she probably doesn't like her.

"Right. Crusch sama is a kind of strong willed character, she wants to make the dragon forget the covenant it demanded with the first king of Lugunica, that has persisted at every trading if power since then. She is the head of the Karsten family, as i've told you about them before, they're a very powerful family within this nation." he said.

"Anastasia sama is, by her own words, a very greedy person. Though, I don't see her much as a greedy person, more… She likes a challenge more than anything, is what I think. She is the owner of the Hoshin Trading Company, and has connections to almost every single merchant within Lugunica. Though, most of her power is within Kararagi, where her company is based. Her capital is endless, in a sense."

He lowered his gaze for the next one. "Priscilla sama… within the nobility and the Barielle family, she is known as the bloodstained bride. She has a large amount of land to her name, most of it gained through the unfortunate deaths of her husbands… Moving on from that, she has an unbelievably high amount of luck, it's similar to how I get divine protections simply because I want them or feel the need for something. No one is sure why it happens or how it is either, but it is how it is." he concluded.

"So they're all pretty powerful, even though I doubt the nobility like Priscilla, and Anastasia seems to be a foreigner. That leaves us two, neither of us have land or money to call our own, but we do have Roswaal and yourself backing us."

It was silent for a bit. "you have the two most powerful families backing you, and one major downside and one major upside as well." Roswaal said. "Huh? Explain?"

Roswaal closed his eyes, and looked a bit displeased. "It's unfortunate, but the downside is that Emilia sama bares a perfect image towards the Witch of Envy." he said, and Emilia seemed quite saddened by that, even her ears drooped.

"The upside, is that you're a male candidate. The only male candidate. And, you'd be married to another candidate as well." he said. It was mostly common sense, if you take into account that this world was based in the middle ages, and that all of the other candidates are female, in reality… Subaru had nothing to lose. He could marry any of them, almost without so much as a "why?" or declination from them, just for the fact that the nobility would listen to him far easier than any of the females.

Call it sexist, but a male clergy is going to listen to a male candidate far more than a female one. If he ran on his own from just the Astrea estate, he'd probably win very easily. But, he was paired with Emilia. This, this would make it about equal with the others, balancing out the negative and positive well.

"Huh.. So we're just as well off as any of the other candidates, is what you mean?" both Reinhard and Roswaal nod. "I see."

From here dinner went rather smoothly, at least until Roswaal asked what they would say at the capital. It was mostly decided that they would think of that closer to the time they have to go there, but Emilia was already determined… She wants everyone to be equal, to stop inequality and such.

It ended, and soon everyone went to sleep. Beatrice did in fact sneak into Subaru's room and sleep next to him, cutely on top of the blankets.

Everyone at least, besides Roswaal. He sat in his office looking down over his grounds as the moonlight illuminated it all, thinking…

It was the next day, directly after Emilia's request of Reinhard. It was overseen by Puck, but still, her idea of how stuff worked was way off. she knew it would be, but not by that outrageous amount.

Reinhard himself was having a hard time trying to remain serious, as his lesson was essentially tearing down everything that Puck told her prior, but at least she knew that he lied to her to protect her… At this age in her mentality, she was supposed to be taught this anyways, but now she knows the truth.

And the truth was very hard to take in. Halfway through the lesson she additionally requested to know how children are born, which Puck nearly froze the room over multiple times to prevent, it was highly amusing… For Subaru, who was also attending. Surprisingly enough, he actually learned a few things himself in it, even though he thought he knew how it all worked, at least in the modern era, what he knew was more than enough to pass sex ed in school.

He was almost inclined to cover Emilia's eyes himself as she covered her face, leaving only small slits for her to see the sketches through, but it eventually ended with him wanting to die of both embarrassment and hilarity, it was too funny to see her reaction, so funny it was almost sad.

Directly after the lesson she looked to Puck with a pouty face, making him drop to the ground obviously overwhelmed with regret, then to Subaru who only offered a light understanding smile. Her face was light crimson through and through, and would stay that way four hours on end… Just thinking about what she just learned, that she would come to do that with the one in front of her right now, it was overwhelming, and embarrassing for the most part at the moment.

Now that she knew what marriage entails, she wondered if she did want to marry Subaru. She thought about that for a long time in silence, sitting there in her chair, staring at Subaru for the longest time.

Thought, she thought a lot of things. She came to the conclusion that, out of anyone, she wouldn't mind doing that with him. But, she lacked confidence, courage, and the feelings to do that. She could say 'I love Subaru' but it would have a similar meaning to her saying 'I love Puck' as it would be more… Familiarity related, rather than attraction.

But having just learned about sex and relationships, she could not differentiate 'love' at face value. By what she learned, she could also, to some degree, differentiate the 'wants' to stay with someone, but still…

"You'll… You'll help me learn this stuff, r-right?" she asked, leaving his mind in shock. 'What did she just ask me? What did she just ask me?! Oh my god what do… I ... ' "haaaa?"

You could hear Puck literally force his head through a chair, which he literally did. Neither of them stopped looking at each other though, their eyes were locked in place with each other staring into the other's soul. Reinhard watched as Puck pulled himself out and plunged in at a new spot, he was dying right now, the poor great spirit…

Volumes of information was being transferred during that soul gazing. 'Help me understand… the kind of love you feel for me, so I can love you too.' was what she meant. She couldn't say that aloud, no… She would faint if she did, so she said it through her gaze.

"Yes. I'll help you, Emilia tan." he smiled to her, and she smiled back… Then, you could finally hear both of their hearts beating crazily. They blinked, and then passed out.

"UWAAAAAH!" puck screamed, growing a bit and tearing the chair in two, he took another one and started destroying it and breaking up the pieces and he kept yelling, leaving the sword saint just to observe.

'Well, that ended better than I expected.' he thought, a small smile on his face. He took the two fainted ones to their rooms, and set them to sleep.

That room was destroyed beyond repair that day. The door was taken off and simple sheet wood was put up to cover the damage. Inside was a small wooden monument that Reinhard made. It read "May this room rest in peace, for its valiant defense and subsequent destruction on the day that Emilia sama was taught about relationships and conception."

.

I noticed something- I never write out Roswaal's speech pattern, even though when I read it, I stretch it out in my head. Does it confuse you guys? If so, PM me or review and tell my if I should change that. also, see you in like a day or two with the next update!

.

No, I didn't forget this!

[MNR] "Well, i'm back from the dead now, guys."

[King Sub] "I was actually starting to enjoy being dead, but then you updated Knight last week, then started writing on me too. Aah, while it's kinda weird for you, ya know… Emilia shipping and all, I am starting to like it."

[Knight Sub] "Oo, you should add EoC Discussions to me as well, so, ya know, we can talk even more? Make sure you don't die again?"

[RED] "I support this. Come on man, season two and the english dub are confirmed, you can't die on me again, or i'll kill you."

[MNR] "ooh, so scared, Red. Anyways, sure. I'll add EoC-D to you, knight. Amd yeah, i'm excited for the dub and season two. Once I have a working PC again, you can count on me having totally legal copies of them both, 100%"

[Reviewr] "Totally legal, or totally stolen? Anyhow, it's good to have you back. What next? Another king chapter? What about that one with you in it?"

[Red] "I want you to kill that one, the MC aint subaru so it doesn't deserve to live"

[MNR] "No Red, it stays. It'll be my personal 'suffering' baby, just you wait and see. The suffering in it will be real, man… The suffering will be real…"

[Richard] "Since i'm you, I know what happens, but my character don't. Why you're going for that in the story is just weird. I'm going to be like Roswaal by the end of it, god damn it…"

[Reviewr] "Serious? Like Roswaal?"

[MNR] "Yep, but we already went way past what we should be allowed to say. Goodbye guys!"

[All] "Bye!"