Chapter 4

Finally a new chapter, from now on these chapters will get shorter in order to favor a more frequent update! Enjoy!

Special thanks to my beta Tertius711

Having returned to Mathers Residence, Emilia and Mairon were celebrating the start of the Royal Selection. The half-elf had never thought that she would be celebrating this event as she had feared the beginning of her trials and tribulations but since Mairon had joined she felt an overwhelming amount of hope, she didn't feel like she was the Royal Candidate with the least chances of winning, she felt optimistic.

As for now, everyone was gathered at the dining table with various delicacies offered by Roswaal. Mairon was sitting at the head of the table opposite Roswaal and busy twirling his glass of wine as if he was waiting for something.

The Dark Lord was enjoying the fraction of free time he had celebrating after a job well done. The Nazgul had exposed how little nobles cared for the people and he had thrown the bait for both the Karsten Matriarch and the Witch Cult.

During their intelligence gathering mission in the capital, the Nazgul had told him that the Duchess was amassing weapons, supplies, and soldiers, which had initially led him to think that she was about to set up a coup, but after looking inside Felix's mind, her true objectives became clear.

Since Felix's visit to his residence, Mairon had kept scanning the lands to find out where the Hakugei was. He knew that by being able to locate it he would catch the attention of the Karsten Duchess and by announcing Emilia's intention of slaying the beast, she be forced to contact and quite possibly ally with them especially if she wanted to acquire knowledge on the whale's whereabouts. At first, he was having a hard time finding it, he had to extend his sight all across Lugnica and even then he was still unable to see it but he briefly caught glimpses of it at the very edge of the world where no one would be able to reach it.

Engaging it in such location would be greatly disadvantageous even with their newly acquired winged dragons but fortunately, that was not going to be needed. Since the day the date of the Selection was announced, the beast has begun to make its way in from the edge of the world. Judging by its steadfast progress, Mairon had guessed that it was moving towards the Mathers Domain.

This move suggested to the Dark Lord that either the beast had some sort of sentience due to it reacting to the Royal Selection or it wascontrolled by someone else just like Meili controlled the Mabeasts. In the books he read in the Forbidden Library, the whale was created with the objective of helping with starvation due to its sheer amount of flesh but, under some sort of pretence of fairness, its creator had ended up making it too powerful to be killed.

Mairon was simply baffled by the childish solution to starvation that the Hakugei's creator, the Witch of Gluttony Daphne, had developed. Even if the beast was killed without being completely destroyed, the process of cleaning, cutting and distributing the meat would take so long that the entire body would start rotting before it could be completed, making it effectively a waste of time and resources. Even when taking into consideration that maybe the body could be kept from rotting through magic, the flesh provided by the corpse would not satisfy the population considering how many people would need to be supported.

But now he was losing himself in pointless thoughts caused by his perfectionism and hate of waste. What mattered most was that the book also mentioned the fact that the whale could be controlled by the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony so he had to take into consideration that in the upcoming battle, they would have to face the Witch's Cult forces.

Of course, he was prepared for that. He had no doubt that the Witch Cult was on the move, it was one of the main reasons he had left the Witch-king at Orod Gûr with clear and precise instructions before leaving for the capital. By now, his right hand would have started the preparations for the army to reach the area Sauron had marked as the place where they would engage the Whale, the Flugel Tree.

The region around the Flugel Tree was an open plain, giving his spirit knights the freedom to move in every direction as needed. The Winged Cavalry also would have plenty of room to work with. Lastly, the Flugel Tree tree itself was a perfect location for his elite archers to engage the Hakugei from a distance and from a sufficient height to hit the beast accurately.

And if anyone dared attack the Mathers Domain while he was away, the Witch-king would be the first thing that those unfortunate souls will meet. If he were anyone else, Mairon might almost feel pity for them, but in truth, he could only feel delight at the thought of chaotic and barbaric cultists getting their deserved punishment.

The only problem was the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, they were an unknown factor. The books he had read were quite vague on their capabilities, speaking only of devouring names and memories. He guessed that meant that they were capable of erasing the memories of someone which could be quite bothersome.

He didn't fear for his well-being of course. Such a trick would never work on him but Emilia was a whole other matter. The ring he made her should be able to protect her considering it was linked to the One but he will lend her more of his power just to be certain. He would not allow hindrances to his plan, nor to the young woman he had taken such efforts to cultivate and train.

"Mairon, are you alright?" Emilia asked suddenly, seeing her mentor deep in thought.

He smiled, his thoughts dispelled. "Yes my lady, I was thinking about what's to come is all."

"But ooooof courseeee, you diiiiid promiseeee a loooot of thinggggs," Roswaal said before putting on a faked expression of sadness. "It is a shaaaame I can't heeeelp youuuuu, I have dutiiiiiies to attend tooooo."

Emilia was looking a little concerned, eyeing Mairon who simply chuckled. "The battle against the White Whale is going to be the first step in attaining credibility and influence for our camp…but before that we are going to make some connections," he explained looking at Emilia. "I took the liberty to send a letter to Reinhard, tomorrow we will be meeting at his residence."

Emilia nodded with a determined expression.

"But for now, let us celebrate!" he said, raising his glass a little before taking a sip from it.

The dinner continued smoothly and with high spirits. Roswaal soon left the residence to attend to what he claimed were his duties whilethe others went to sleep. Mairon however spent the whole night organizing the activities for the next day and giving directives to his Nazgul.

The night passed quickly as he buried himself in work, and when morning came, Mairon prepared to head out with Emilia. If everything went according to plan he should be able to make considerable progress in regard of Selection. At the moment, he was waiting for Emilia to be ready to leave when he noticed Rem approaching him with a pair of letters in her hands.

"Lord Mairon," she called, handing him the letters, "these arrived just now."

Mairon gave her a nod in reply as he gently grabbed the pieces of paper. He recognized the crests on them immediately although he was surprised by one of them. The first letter was from Duchess Karsten and as he expected, she had taken his bait and was asking for a meeting at her residence in the afternoon. The second however came from Anastasia Hoshin, who wanted to meet them for lunch at a certain restaurant.

Now that was interesting. Considering what she said at the Selection, he guessed that she was interested in Rìs Mindon's future trade routes but he was going to keep his guard up.

Emilia finally came out of her room wearing her armour and eyed the letters in Mairon's hands.

"Seems like the Karsten Duchess and Miss Hoshin both want to meet us," he said before Emilia could ask. "After visiting Reinhard we'll meet with them."

Emilia slowly nodded although it was clear that she was a littlenervous since she didn't expect to meet most of her rivals on the same day.

Unlike when they went to the Royal Castle, there were escorted byonly a pair of Silver Knights since there was no need to give sucha display of strength as the whole platoon that had accompanied them to the castle. They travelled towards the van Astrea mansion only to be surprised when they saw Reinhard waiting at the gates.

"Welcome!" The sword saint said, bowing his head graciously a little to Emilia and Mairon.

Emilia smiled while returning the bow as she, and everyone elsedismounted from their armour steeds. "Good morning Reinhard. I hope you are well."

He smiled, "Thank you for your concern Lady Emilia. Worry not, I am perfectly well." He then raised his head, "I hope the same is true for all of you. Lady Felt is eager to meet up with you. You can leave your steeds here, my servants will take them to the stables."

With that, the Sword Saint turned around and led them inside hismansion. Mairon observed the residence and found that it met most of his expectations for the house of a noble family…but he could tell that something was out of place…probably the shouts he could hear across the walls.

"Please don't pay much attention to the commotion, Lady Felt has been…in high spirits since yesterday," Reinhard said forcing a smile.

Mairon and Emilia nodded in understanding as Reinhard led them inside the living room where Felt was waiting. The girl seemed to be enraged with one of the van Astrea guards who simply tried their best to ignore her. The girl's fiery eyes immediately shifted to them and she immediately marched towards Mairon in particular.

"Look what you put me into!" she screeched, pointing her finger at him. "Now I am forced to participate into this circus!"

Mairon remained calm and appeared to be puzzled,"I fail to see how I did that?"

"You caught Old Man Rom!" she shouted angrily.

Mairon sighed ,"Indeed but I did not do it out of malice, Rom was about to try rescuing you, was he not?"

Felt seemed to relent a bit as she nodded.

"If I hadn't intervened, he could have got himself killed if had he chosen to assault the guards to get you. The entire throne room was filled with trained and armed knights, just one of them could have hurt or even killed him in the chaos. I did what was necessary to prevent a much more terrible result."

Felt bit her lip but didn't reply immediately, knowing that his argument was more than valid. She clung to her dress angrily, "I didn't want to get involved with this! I'm only doing it for the old man...but who am I kidding? Those pompous bastards hate my guts and will never let me anywhere close to the throne..."

Reinhard seemed to be saddened by the girl's words and so was Emilia.

But Mairon was calm as always, he moved towards the couch and gestured for everyone to sit with him. His silence puzzled the Sword Saint and the young girl as they sat down.

"Tell me," he asked calmly, "aside from destroying the nobility, what would you do if you became Queen?"

Felt shrugged "I don't know. I just want to make them pay for how they treat those below them."

He slowly nodded, "Yesterday, after Emilia's speech, you said we had your vote, why?"

Felt pouted a bit. "Well...she is the only one who brought up improving things for the people and not some dumb noble stuff...although for all I know that could have all been talk...," she mumbled.

"It wasn't," Emilia said with a firm expression. "I strive to bring equality to everyone, not only when it comes to bridging the gap between races but also an equal opportunity for nobles and commoners alike to succeed."

"Well…if you are serious about this then I hope you win…," Felt muttered.

"The road to the crown is quite…rocky, to say the least," Emilia said with a bittersweet smile. "My appearance is still a cause ofmany problems despite my goals."

Felt sighed as she nodded, "Yeah…I can see why, the people are not easy to convince especially when it comes to the Witch."

Now it was Mairon's time to shine as he smiled. "This is why we wanted to talk to you," he started, "We want you to join us."

Felt blinked a few times in shock, "Eh?"

"You are not a noble, you grew up in the slums, you are a member of the populace and you saw Emilia for who she is. Having a person with your beginnings supporting Emilia and standing with her will increase the trust of the people in her. Soon we'll attack the White Whale and with you with us, we could manage to bring more people to our fold and improve their living conditions immensely."

Felt was still incredibly confused. "Wait wait wait!" she said shaking her head. "You want to ally with me? I mean I am literally the most hated candidate!"

"Hated by the nobility," Mairon said before gesturing to the nearby window, "but the word on the streets is different. The leaked recordings have made it clear that the people don't want another noble who only cares for their personal view of the worldon the throne. You told everyone what the common people wanted to tell all the nobles in that castle while Emilia focused her goals on improving their lives. If we ally, we could have a strong foothold on the Selection."

Felt groaned, "AAAAAAh! I hate all this stuff! I'm no politician!"

"Well…you could leave the politics to me," Emilia suggestedcalmly.

"And you would take care of convincing the people to join us, you could also guarantee them that our promises are not just words…You could be like the representative of the people's will, making sure that they get what was promised to them," Mairon added.

Felt hummed tapping her foot on the ground "I guess…but what if I get elected instead of you?"

Mairon looked at Emilia, wanting to see how would she react, ready to enforce his will on her with the ring if need be. He could not allow her to jeopardize this alliance.

"If you keep fighting for the people's equality…I don't have anything against it," Emilia replied. "I do have…another reason for wanting to become queen but it's personal. I hope that even if you become queen instead of me, you would help me with it."

Mairon was actually surprised by her willingness to show Felt a possible weak spot. Of course, he knew what she was talking about, the unfreezing of the Elior Forest using the Dragon's Blood. She had confessed it to him during one of their lessons but he hadn't thought much of it.

Felt narrowed her eyes, "Another reason?"

"North of here…there is the Elior Forest, it is full of elves but they were all turned into ice statues, winning the election would give me the possibility to save them," she explained almost hesitantly.

Felt seemed taken aback by the reply. Looking inside her mind, Mairon saw how she had expected Emilia to say something regarding gaining something for herself but she was surprised to hear that Emilia's ulterior motives were still mostly selfless.

"Alright alright! If we are doing this, I have a few conditions!"Felt said huffing and crossing her arms.

Emilia nodded and gestured for her to continue.

"You spoke about a new city Mindon something whatever. I want you to bring the people of the slums there."

"The city's construction has just begun, they could help, they would be paid and given a safe place to stay." Mairon said bringing his hand to his chin. "But as we said, people don't trust us yet and we have to fight the White Whale. You could start convincing them to go to Rìs Mindon, they know you and hopefully will listen to you."

"What's the other request?" Emilia asked tilting her head.

Felt got up and angrily grabbed her dress. "I don't want to wear this! Give me something cool like yours!" she said pointing at Emilia's armour.

Emilia chuckled a bit and looked at Mairon, "You think you can manage that?"

Mairon nodded, "But of course. I can make something that fits your taste better." He then looked at Reinhard, "While also being elegant and appropriate for social gatherings."

Reinhard bowed sighing in relief, "That would save me a lot of chasing around the house, thank you very much."

Felt raised an eyebrow as she looked at her knight, "You are not against this alliance?"

Reinhard blinked a few times "Why should I? My duty is to beyour knight. I will support any decision you take."

Felt cringed at his reply, "Last condition, I want a place for myselfin your city, if I keep staying here I'll go insane."

Emilia felt bad for the knight but didn't speak, not wanting to cause a fight, "We'll see what we can do."

"So do I have to sign something or do we shake hands and call it a day?" The former thief asked annoyed.

A Silver Knight approached Mairon carrying a medium-sized jewel case. Mairon opened it and took out a few objects, a contract and a pair of rings. He moved his hand over the contract and a new section appeared that stated Felt's conditions.

"This document will cement our alliance; it says that from now on we will be working together sharing knowledge, resources and assets for our common goal, the betterment of the common people's life. Of course, this includes a pact of non-aggression and of mutual defence."

"Defence?" Felt asked raising an eyebrow.

"The Witch Cult is going to be targeting us along with the nobles that don't want to see any of you sitting on the throne. In this clause, each side swears to protect the other in the case of aggression toward them. As an example, if you were to be attacked while Reinhard was busy somewhere else, I would intervene to protect you and vice versa."

Felt nodded in understanding, "Sounds good I guess."

"I added the conditions you expressed just now in the contract so that there is no room for vagueness or loopholes," Mairon continued before gesturing to the place where Emilia and Felt would have to put their signature and handing both a pair of quills."Sign here and we'll be done. You can read the contract yourself if you want."

"May I read it?" suddenly a rough voice said coming from the entrance of the room.

The group looked in the direction of the voice and saw the Old Man Rom standing next to the doors.

Mairon smiled, "I'm glad to see you in good health, I hope you don't hold grudges against me, I didn't do what I did out of malice. If you do, you have my sincerest apologies."

Rom waved his hand at him, "I would have been caught regardless of your actions…it's water under the bridge." He then looked at the contract on the table, "So can I see that?"

Mairon gestured to the contract, "Please do, you're Felt's guardian, after all, it's only fair for you to make sure Felt is not putting herself in a dangerous position…again," he added the last part with a grin.

Rom let out a chuckle, "Yeah, wouldn't want to deal with a mess like the last one!"

Felt reddened a bit as she puffed her cheeks, "Hey! It happened one time!"

Rom grabbed the contract and began reading it in a low tone of voice and nodding when reading some of the sections, "So what could you do to further guarantee Felt's safety?"

"If needed I can assign a company of Silver Knights for her protection," Mairon specified before he grabbed the rings that were with the contract. "And with these, both Reinhard and Felt will be able to contact us and vice versa at any given moment, no matter the distance."

Rom nodded. "Aside from the overly fancy wording, it looks good to me," he said handing the contract back to Felt.

"Let's get this over with," the girl muttered as she signed the contract before looking at the rings in Mairon's hands before taking the one that caught her fancy, a ruby set in a gold band, and putting it on.

Reinhard walked to Mairon taking off one of his gloves and grabbing the remaining ring which had a sapphire set in a gold band. He observed it for a few seconds as it began to shrink to fit his finger perfectly, he then put it on along with his glove.

"These rings are proof of our alliance, do not hesitate to use them when the time comes," Mairon said smiling.

"We'll keep that in mind Lord Mairon," Reinhard said bowing his head to me

"Call me Mairon, from now on, we are equal, brothers in arms and friends," he said offering a handshake to the Sword Saint.

Reinhard was a little surprised but smiled and firmly grasped Mairon's hand, "Then call me Reinhard."

Mairon nodded as Felt rolled her eyes, "Look at them, already allbuddy-buddy."

Emilia chuckled as she also extended her hand to Felt, "Let's make things better for everyone!"

Felt smirked as she closed Emilia's hand into a fist and fist-bumped her.

"We're about to have lunch, why don't you join us?" Reinhard proposed smiling.

"I wish we could but Anastasia Hoshin asked us to meet for lunch at a restaurant," Emilia replied with a mortified expression.

"That girl from Kararagi? Are you planning to ally with her too?" Felt asked crossing her arms.

Emilia shook her head "I do not know the reason but I doubt she is interested in an alliance or at least not like ours. We'll let you know once we see what she has to say and after visiting Lady Crusch."

"Lady Crusch too?" Reinhard asked with a surprised expression.

"She didn't expect us to launch an attack on the White Whale, especially considering that she has been gathering men and weapons to attack it herself," Mairon explained calmly. "You must have noticed the increase in the prices of metal and carriages."

Reinhard nodded, "Indeed, so it was her preparing for an expedition against the Whale…that would explain my grandfather's attitude towards her."

Mairon faked ignorance, "Your grandfather?"

"You would probably know him as Wilhelm Trias…he keeps our family name hidden due to…"

Mairon raised his hand slightly. "There is no need to explain it if it's personal," he assured him with a gentle smile before looking at Emilia. "We should go. I would prefer to be at the restaurant before Anastasia."

Emilia nodded. "We can continue talking tonight through the rings, goodbye," she said bowing her head a bit before heading out with Mairon.

Mairon was quite pleased, having already achieved half of what he planned for the day. Now the Sword Saint was with him and so was another Royal Candidate, meaning that he now had a wide range of options for accessing the kingdom's assets. Although he was impressed by Emilia's actions.

The half-elf had understood that Felt was someone who is quite defensive when it came to nobles if not outright hostile to them, which fortunately this wasn't the case since Emilia saved her life. At first, he thought that Emilia revealing her personal goal was a risky move but then he understood that the humbleness and altruism of her words was something that Felt could relate to and support. The Dark Lord knew that the Emilia he first met wouldn't have done anything close to that due to her lack of confidence, lack of role models and general, and general deficiency in understanding social relationships.

He was pleased to see that his teachings were already shaping her personality for the betterment of them both.

He was quite surprised by Reinhard's mental state. Despite having looked only briefly in the man's mind to avoid arousing suspicion, he was able to see how scarred his family left him for something he had no choice in. That is why he had been so surprised and also pleased when Mairon had said what he had about being brothers in arms, Reinhard had been ostracized because of his status and power to the point that a law was put in place to keep him from leaving the capital.

Mairon couldn't even begin to express how stupid and unnecessary that was. He understood that Reinhard's capabilities needed to be kept in check but limiting him to the capital was an immense waste of his power. If the Sage Council had unleashed him, the Witch Cult could have been destroyed years ago. Oh well, their foolishness would be to Mairon's gain.

"I'm glad we managed to come to an agreement with Felt," Emilia said smiling as she climbed onto her elk.

Mairon nodded as he got on his horse, "Indeed, despite her upbringing and rough personality, she cares for the small folk just like you do. And she was smart enough to understand that together you can actually improve everyone's lives."

Emilia nodded as she began to ride towards the location where Anastasia asked them to meet. As Mairon requested, they had arrived earlier than the meeting time. He inspected the area knowing that if Anastasia had asked them to meet her there, the place would be filled with her subordinates. A quick check in the minds of the people around him allowed him to pinpoint Anastasia's men.

'We are being watched,' he told Emilia through the connection between their rings.

Emilia tensed up a little but remained calm, "What do we do?"

"I will take care of it."

Mairon entered the minds of their observers before clouding their sight. To them, he and his companions simply stood there waitingbut in reality, he was casting an invisibility spell on some of the knights before ordering them to stand near the observers and wait for orders.

"I took the necessary precautions, let's enter," he said in her mind, again using the rings, as he got off his steed.

The two along with their escort entered the restaurant and were immediately directed to the table that Anastasia had booked. As expected their observers also followed them, pretending to sit at other empty tables or at the bar.

It didn't take long for Anastasia to arrive which suggested to Mairon that she had been nearby waiting for a message from hermen. She was accompanied by what looked like a cat demi-human child, which thanks to the Nazgul's work he already knew one of Anastasia's captains despite their youthful appearance.

"Oh my, it seems that we both had the same idea of coming here earlier than asked," she said smiling as she sat down. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."

"Don't worry, we were going to be nearby anyway," Emilia replied nodding.

Anastasia nodded. "I'll try not to take too much of your time. After all, you must be busy preparing for your assault on the White Whale."

Both Emilia and Mairon nodded waiting for her to continue.

"With the beast taken out of the picture, business will start booming, its fog has for a long time caused us to take long routes to avoid getting in its path," she explained a little excitedly. "This along with a new city being built is indeed a good time for merchants like me to create new trading routes."

As expected from a businesswoman like Anastasia.

Mairon knew why she had asked them to meet. She wanted a slice of Rìs Mindon's future trading routes If not the entire monopoly. He looked at Emilia and saw how she steeled her eyes, she had probably come to the same conclusion.

"What do you intend to sell?" Anastasia asked smiling. "At the election you spoke of 'advanced farming and animal breeding' so I imagine you are going to export those." She then looked at the Silver Knights "Perhaps you're going to sell some of them? I am curious, you are going to need a lot of money after buying so much equipment for the fight against the White Whale."

Emilia remained stoic, unlike her meeting with Felt, Emilia was not letting her guard down. Anastasia wasn't like Felt who she considered a friend, she was a rival.

"Our expenses are not your concern," she said with a calm voice."Our intentions are to allow our citizens a lifestyle that normally would be reserved for the bourgeoisie this means being able to provide food, a warm place to stay and a job. The people of Rìs Mindon will have all of that and more but I am not going to improve the lives of only those who choose to come to my city but also for the people of the capital and the other cities."

"So I was right, you want to export goods like food, perhaps clothing and similar while importing materials to build your infrastructure," Anastasia said smiling. "I can do both!"

Now it was Mairon's turn to talk, "As we speak we are hollowing the mountains of the Mathers Domain, using the materials we mine from there to build and forge what we need," he explained indirectly answering her question. "We used the minerals, gems and materials of the mountains, we are not the ones who caused the prices of iron to spike nor the ones who have bought most of the carriages nor we are indebted to anyone as our workforce isn't interested in being paid…and even if they did, the mountains don't lack in gold." He then leaned back on his seat "Now you may stop pretending to not know who is behind the increase in prices of iron."

Anastasia's expression remained calm although the observers got up and Mimi stared at him.

"I see you prepared this place for the occasion…so did I," he said as he moved his hand dispelling the illusion and allowing hisNazgul and the Silver Knights to be seen standing right next to Anastasia's men "Now that all the cards are on the table, shall we begin for real this time?"

A smirk crossed Anastasia's face as she looked at Emilia, "My my, you sure got yourself a formidable knight. I'm almost jealous."

Emilia simply nodded and looked at Mairon also giving him a nod.

"Our forges work day and night, the mountains are full of minerals and gems that we are extracting, we can produce anything faster than anyone else. You are looking for iron, which we have plenty of, and the new trading routes that lead to our city. And we're willing to let you have a slice of it."

Anastasia remained unflinching, "My trading company is the biggest in the nation, I am sure you can do better than that."

"We could but we'll not let big companies take away the possibility for small merchants to make something for themselves," Emilia replied shaking her head.

"If you want to partake in our trade you'll have to share the market with the other merchants without sabotaging them," Mairon explain crossing his hands. "20% of the city's trade would be fair."

"Did you miss my speech? I am a greedy person, 20% is not enough." Anastasia said giggling. "60%? After all, I am very influential."

Mairon chuckled, "No can do."

"50%? We split everything into equal parts." she proposed

"We provide the minerals, the city and a new market. If you want an equal portion of the market, you have to offer something in return," the Dark Lord smirked bringing his hand to his chin.

"I have a feeling you already know what you want," Anastasia said sweetly.

"We want a foothold in Kararagi," he replied as a waiter brought some refreshments.

She smiled, "As long as you don't hurt my own trading…I have nothing against it."

Perfect.

Entering the Kararagi market would allow them to get even more influence. Anastasia accepted because she wants to see her competitors being dealt with while Mairon wants to increase Rìs Mindon;s economic grasp by trading rare goods brought byKararagi's traders. Does it mean helping Anastasia? Yes, but it also meant growing in their own power.

"Then we have a deal," Mairon said calmly.

"It would seem like it," she said nodding. "You'll receive the contract in the next few days with my signature on it."

Mairon had chosen to not have a contract already prepared for a few reasons but the most important one was to see through her actions and words. Letting her make the contract will allow him to have a more intimate peek into the inner workings of her mindset and thought process without the risk of entering her mind. If she tried anything suspicious in the contract's section, he would have an idea of what she is aiming for.

Emilia and Mairon got up and began to move towards the exit.

"Ah, I almost forgot," Anastasia said smiling "Good Luck with the White Whale."

Emilia gave her a nod and left with Mairon and their followers. The group got back on their mounts and rode away.

Emilia sighed in relief as they rode, "That was nerve-wracking…Sorry for making you take over; I am still struggling with economics…"

Mairon smirked, "It's my duty to aid you and thankfully I am more than familiar with people like Anastasia."

She was about to say something before realizing something "We've skipped lunch…"

The group returned to the residence and after filling their stomachs and resting for a bit, they went to meet with Duchess Karsten. After the previous encounters, Emilia seemed calmer than earlier in the morning. Perhaps it was because while still one of her rivals, Lady Crusch was an honourable person and quite straightforward. Or perhaps it was because the half-elf was slowly adapting to facing her opponents.

The half-elf didn't realize it but she was also unconsciously tapping into her ring's power and drawing on its influence for aid. After all, she has been under Mairon's guidance for a relatively short time and yet she was already far more confident and assertive. Her knight's teachings have reached deep into her being and have improved her self-esteem and confidence by themselves, but whenever she looked at Mairon's gift, she could feel a warm sensation washing over her making her feel safe and like things will all be fine in the end.

Mairon had kept his eye on the half-elf, delighted in knowing how she was relying more and more on her ring, chaining herself more to him each time she does. Despite all of this, he wanted to have her grow as a person, dominating her being entirely was simply his backup plan. Making her independent enough to rule but still emotionally tied and reliant on him suited his plans for ascendance much more.

But for now, he had to focus on Crusch Karsten. Fortunately, he had chosen to look inside Felix Argyle's mind when he came to announce the date of the Selection, this way he was able to find out a vital piece of information. The Duchess had a Divine Protection that allowed her to detect lies, something truly troublesome. If he had acted purely off the Nazgul's information, he would have guessed that the Duchess was incredibly skilled in reading through someone's character which would have been nothing for a master deceiver like Mairon. Now however he needed to focus on circumventing Crusch's magical divine protection in a foolproof way, he would not be trusting just his own natural skills for this. Too much was at stake.

"My lady," Mairon called to his protege as they approached the gate of the Karsten estate.

"Yes?" she asked frowning a bit.

"I am sorry but I have to ask you to let me do most of the talking again," he said as they stopped in front of the gates, "There are rumours about the Duchess's divine protection that I don't fully understand and I would rather face it before you have to."

Emilia remained silent for a few moments as Crusch's knights opened the gates before she answered. "Very well, do what you must. I trust you."

He nodded as the group left their steeds and were guided by the servants to the living room where the Duchess was waiting.

"Welcome into my home," she said in her usual imperious tone. "{lease take a seat."

"Nyello!" Felix greeted them excitedly.

"It's an honour to be here," Emilia replied as she sat down in front of Crusch, "I hope you are doing well Duchess?"

"Indeed I am, thank you for asking, I hope the same for you," the Duchess replied as she then looked at Mairon. "This is the first time, we have met each other, isn't it? Or at least the first time we speak directly, that is."

It begins.

"Indeed, although you probably saw me at the Selection," he said smiling

"How could I not? An iron-clad towering knight is not something that goes unnoticed…although it's quite surprising that you are not a giant out of the armour too," she said crossing her arms.

"I recall your knight being quite surprised too, it's a fair reaction," he chuckled. "Now, as much as I like to partake in exchanges of pleasantries, I think we both agree that it would be better for us to get to the point of today's meeting."

She steeled herself and nodded, "Indeed, I would like to know how you are going to find the White Whale."

"I am looking at it as we speak," Mairon replied calmly.

There was a reaction from the person who had not spoken until now, Reinhard's grandfather, Wilhelm. He had moved next to Mairon with an angered expression.

"Please, can you refrain from mocking us?" he said stonily.

"I wouldn't dare. I am telling the truth. I was given the gift of far-sight and with it I am able to see far beyond a normal person's sight, using my mind and magic and not my eyes."

"Wilhelm, stand down," she ordered as the butler moved away "Your gift seems to be quite useful. Do you know where it's headed?"

"Indeed and we have taken the necessary precautions. In a few days, it will meet our army and be slain once and for all."

Crusch remained impassive as she stared at him right in the eyes probably trying to see if he was bluffing or not.

"Were you aware of the fact that we also have been preparing for a battle against the Hakugei?" she finally asked.

"Nothing of sorts was ever reported to me, if it was we would have avoided doing that public statement at the Selection," he replied calmly. "To be honest, I've been hearing about someone who singlehandedly took most of the iron of the city along with the carriages, I even thought that a coup was about to take place. But thanks to your question, it is now clear that it was your doing since you had to prepare to take on the beast."

It was the time for the truth. Technically, he spoke the truth, no one had reported Crusch's intentions to him since he had found out about them while looking into Felix's mind.

Crush sighed, "I suppose I should take this unfortunate coincidence as a sign that working in the shadows is not my forte."

Mairon looked at Emilia and nodded.

"Why did you decide to take on the Whale?" the half-elf asked

"That beast has taken far too many loved ones from the people of this kingdom and it spreads fear in the hearts of everyone. Whenever there is a foggy day, people cower in fear wondering if the Whale is upon them. I want to end all of this."

Emilia nodded in understanding before asking, "Why don't you join us?"

Crusch blinked a few times, "I beg your pardon?"

"The White Whale is everyone's problem, and you have already bought all the equipment needed to hunt it down. We too have prepared for the battle but having more people wouldn't hurt anyone," Emilia explained to her.

"But like this, you will not be able to take full credit for the deed," Crusch remarked.

Emilia smiled gently, "You have at heart the people's interests and so do I. I rather have us work together for a greater chance at slaying this monster once and for all than be divided and potentially fail because of a petty reason like sharing merit. The good of Lugnica comes before all."

Crusch remained silent throwing some looks at her followers before extending her hand toward Emilia.

"While there are some things that I am surely missing, your words were honest. Despite being the least favoured Royal Candidate, you're puting the people's interests above taking all the glory for you and I can only respect that."

Emilia firmly shook her head, "A good monarch should have herpeople's best interests in mind not only her own."

"Now, my fair ladies," Mairon said serenely, "I think it is time for us to plan how to kill a whale…"