Vollachian Prince and Stargazer

AN: Short chapter to set things up for the main event which will be seen at a distance by Emilia. Real life takes priority over my writings as always.

Chapter Begins

Emilia smiled as she adjusted the garter belt on Annerose to hold up her white stockings. Puck had already dressed Emilia in her pink dress and now she was helping Annerose dress in a matching dress. Beatrice already had changed her dress to match as well.

"Emily, mine have not grown yet, so why do I need a bra? It just looks silly." Annerose asked.

"Because Puck says so, and a girl shouldn't be showing her nipples in public." Emilia replied as she hooked Annerose's stockings. "Besides, it also serves as a pocket most thieves won't go for."

Annerose stared at her momentarily before her view was cut off by Emilia pulling the dress down over her head and detached collar. "Emily, you seriously store stuff in your bra?"

"Yes, Puck's housing crystal, lagmite ore, some coins, and my insignia." Emilia explained.

"Why not use a purse or a pocket?" Annerose asked with patience.

"Last time I used a purse it got stolen twice. As for pockets, they don't work well with our dresses." Emilia explained.

"Emily, Clind can tailor discrete pockets for us that no…"

"Clind is not available at the moment, Subaru-sama sent him on an important mission." Emilia waved her hands.

Annerose noting her tone and nervous hand waving, placed her left hand on her hip and pointed at Emilia with her right hand. "Emily, what are you hiding?"

"Uh nothing, Subaru-sama said to tell you he sent Clind-san on a very important, super-duper, top-secret mission. So, we can't tell you." Emilia nervously waved her hands.

"Emilyyyy. Where is my steward and what mischief have you put him up to? Or Frederica for that matter who departed with the Sword Saint yesterday." Annerose pressed.

"Ughh, why must Betty be the one to intervene, I supposed? Annerose, enough, Subaru-sama has his reasons and the authority to send Clind off on a mission, in fact. Now let's go, in fact." Beatrice shut down the entire conversation, Puck already telling her the reasons for concealing the execution.

And speaking of Puck, he materialized back in comfortably on Annerose's head "Hiya, just came back from talking to Marcos, the carriage and escort is ready for our picnic with the Astrea ladies and their subordinate vassals."

Annerose narrowed her eyes as she tilted them up and developed a frown. "Puck-sama, Emily just finished brushing my hair and you are mussing it up."

"Ah, but you are my adopted granddaughter now, you don't have to call me sama. Use chan instead or a pet name." Puck giggled as he licked his paws while rolling around on her hair.

Annerose snatched Puck from her hair by the scruff of his neck, causing the spirit to yelp, "Emily spent a good amount of time fixing my hair."

"Yes Bubby, Betty's Emilia certainly did in fact." Beatrice added as she crossed her arms.

"Nii-chan, our contractor went to great lengths to get Ann-chan's hair just right." Echidna added with a stern voice.

"Puck," Emilia spoke with a stern pouty face as she loomed over the spirit cat.

Puck started panicking, waving his paws in the air, in Annerose's grip in part theatrics and part genuine terror, "Nyaaah, nyaaah, why are you all ganging up on me, nyaah."

….

Puck enjoyed a good petting session on Annerose's lap as the carriage moved to a public garden in the noble district. Echidna enjoyed head scratches from Emilia and Beatrice was reading a book from Alec Hoshin that Subaru procured her. Next to Beatrice was a young Knight by the name of Joshua Juukulius who was the same age as Subaru-sama and had been their assigned escort by Marcos.

"Child, your staring is bothersome to Betty in fact." Beatrice grumped from her book at the young knight.

"My apologies Great Spirit-sa…"

"Enough of that child, Betty and her siblings hate such mindless worship from you shallow minded mortals, in fact."

"Beako, be nice. I'm sorry for her rudeness Joshua, but Beako isn't used to people," Emilia tried soothing things over.

"Betty has met far more people than her contractor has in fact. I spent my early life fending off the perversions of Reid and Alec from Mother. Such gross individuals they were, in fact. Hmmph," Beatrice tossed her head aside, one of her drills whacking Joshua in the face, who took it stoically.

"Reid? You mean Reid Astrea?" Emilia asked with her right index finger at the corner of her mouth.

"Uggh, a gross individual like him should be kept far away from Betty's Contractor, in fact. Betty knows he won't hesitate to grope her contractor like he did mother, in fact." Beatrice replied as she shut her book.

"What?!" Annerose and Joshua spoke at the same time, while Emilia looked on in complete confusion at what groping meant.

Joshua recovered first. "Beatrice-sama, surely this is a mistake, Reid is heralded as the exemplar of knightly virtues."

Beatrice narrowed her eyes, "Reid was never a knight, was a drunkard, a mass murderer, and raped any woman who caught his fancy, in fact. He spent the entire fight against Satella being pummeled into the ground while Flugel-sama and his apprentice Shaula created the most powerful Al-Shamak ever used to trap her with Betty, Nee-chan's, and Bubby's help, while the Divine Dragons Solanica and Volcanica provided the raw power for the spell, in fact."

Emilia, Joshua, and Annerose flinched at the mention of Satella. But other than that, Emilia was just lost, Annerose was in shock, and Joshua flabbergasted.

"Wait, this doesn't align with our history books." Joshua sputtered.

"400 years of copy errors, archive fires, politically motivated historical revisionism, Flugel's deliberate erasing of history, and the Gluttonies can do a lot to hide the truth, I suppose." Beatrice answered.

"Wait what happened to Solanica?" Annerose asked.

"Betty was there when the 4 Dragon Priestesses ritually slew Solanica and extracted his heart to give to Farsale who upon imbibing it was recognized as a true king, in fact. Through means unknown, he used the power of the blood to fix the catastrophe caused by Minerva's Authority, in fact."

"Minerva caused the catastrophe?" Emilia asked in confusion.

"Minerva the Witch of Wrath killed more people than all the other witches combined and is the one who destroyed half the world, in fact. Satella destroyed one city which was evacuated beforehand and killed the fewest people out of all the witches because at that point Flugel-sama, Solanica, and Volcanica took decisive steps to stop her before she went completely out of control, in fact."

"Emilia-sama, we're here," The driver announced from the front as he pulled the window back to make his announcement.

"Ah, we're here, let us shelve this talk of the past and meet with the Astrea Ladies and their vassals." Emilia clapped her hands as she spoke to bring the history bombshells to an end.

"Yes Emilia-sama, I will open the door and help you ladies down then." Joshua complied as he opened the door of the carriage and stepped out.

Echidna jumped out first and took a guard position, then Emilia extended her right hand to Joshua who helped her down, Puck floated behind Emilia, then Annerose offered her right hand to Joshua who helped her down. Finally, Beatrice stepped out with the help of Joshua.

Across from them, Carol Fauzen greeted them, "Emilia-sama, Elsa-sama and the ladies are this way."

"Ah thank you Carol-san, please lead the way," Emilia responded as she took Annerose's and Beatrice's hands.

A short walk later and they came across Elsa who was knitting. Meili was playing with Aurea, a Medusa Demihuman, another girl named Lily who also was rescued by Subaru, Petra, Flam and Grassis, and several other girls of the Astrea household. Several teenage girls were gossiping on benches while the ladies of the Astrea vassals sat around Elsa and Louanna.

"Ok, Ann-chan and Beako why don't you go ahead and play with the girls while I greet Elsa-chan, you can take Puck with you as well." Emilia spoke with a smile.

"Nyaah! I'm a refined cat, don't… Nyaaa!" Puck's theatrical horror was cut off as Annerose pulled him along with a protesting Beatrice, prompting Emilia to giggle.

"I see the Prince has rubbed off on you, most contractors wouldn't think to have their contracted spirits play with children," Echidna observed as Beatrice was drawn into playing with dolls and Puck found himself being petted by multiple young girls.

"Yep, Subaru-sama has that effect," Emilia agreed before moving forward to greet the assembled Astreas.

Louanna rose first and approached, "Emilia-sama, we are humbled you decided to join us. Please enjoy our hospitality."

"Thank you, Louanna-san. I see Meili-chan and her sisters are adjusting well." Emilia greeted as she sat down and received tea from an attendant.

"Indeed Emilia-sama. My new daughters have settled in well."

Getting comfortable, Emilia got to the heart of the matter, "Subaru-sama is concerned with the sheer lack of education and work opportunities in the capital's slums and wants to begin a bottom-up revival to clean this city up and uplift the people in the Slums out of poverty. So, he asked me to meet with you in making the Slums here a test case in private tutoring and work relief till his Education Ministry can be formed and the first public schools built."

Several of the women present looked at each other in shock before one of them spoke. "Emilia-sama, Subaru-sama was actually serious?"

"Yes, Subaru-sama was serious. He wants the ladies of the Astrea Domain going out to the children of villages and cities who don't have tutors and teaching them reading and writing till the public schools are built. In addition, they would be giving them food as well. To ensure his will, he asked me to see to this. As the Dragon Priestess I am ordering the churches to be made available as makeshift schools with the clergy and volunteers from the nobility to educate children without access to tutors and to do so for free."

The spokeswoman Lady Eris looked perplexed, but pushed on, "Emilia-sama, Tutors are expensive for a reason and giving the masses literacy would bankrupt the country. We don't have enough supplies to even…"

"Subaru-sama has given me full authority to requisition whatever I need and the funds we confiscated from the Margrave Mathers domain when we dissolved it will provide the initial funding for chalkboards, slates, and chalks to teach children. I will even have my beloved Beatrice help in this task. If each of us takes up 20 to 30 children and have our on-hand tutors do the same, mixing our children with commoner children, we will have made a great investment in our future that will pay massive dividends in the future. A more educated population is a wealthier population which pays more in tax revenues." Emilia spoke over the objection, Subaru explaining his reasoning and instilling in her the confidence she needed to make the argument.

"Emilia-sama, how long will we be doing these tutoring sessions?" Lady Eris asked.

"Subaru-sama expects the first schools to be up and running in a year to teach 6-year-olds and up how to read and write. All tutors will then become Royal Tutors paid for directly by the crown and all children regardless of background will attend the schools together which will provide school uniforms to each child. Over time, the terms nobility and commoner will lose any meaning compared to citizenship. Nobles who support this plan can expect to be rewarded with access and privileges, those who don't will be sidelined and reduced to irrelevance." Emilia laid out Subaru's vision to the gathered ladies, amazed at how he anticipated all of this and gave her the right words to use.

Lady Eris whispered amongst her group before turning back to Emilia, "We'll do it."

Emilia clapped her hands to the side of her head and gave them a smile with her eyes closed in joy, "Thank you, Subaru-sama will be well pleased… Oh…"

Aria descended from the sky flickered as it spoke. Subaru's Fire Spirit relaying Subaru's message.

"Thank you, let Subaru-sama know that we won't wait up for him per his request," Emilia answered before turning towards the gathered ladies. "Subaru-sama will be out late with Heinkel to handle a security issue. And Elsa, Subaru-sama says you should pick green for the coat, it will stand out better on the new Theresia doll for Mieli-chan."

Elsa was taken aback, "I only just… Never mind, Subaru-sama is a Stargazer."

….

"I know you're awake," Subaru-sama whispered as he slid in bed.

Emilia pouted as she spoke in a whisper so as to not wake up Annerose between them, "Subaru~, it's unfair you use your Stargazing for such a purpose, but I forgive you."

Subaru had a sad look in his eyes, but smiled as he relaxed, "I suppose so. But no apologies. Too much is at stake. But I will save this nation and the world."

….

"Betty is 400 years old you know." Beatrice grumped from between Subaru and Emilia as they held her hands as they did a walk through the city.

"Now Beako, this is cute, we look like a mother and father walking their daughter," Subaru-sama joked.

"Aughh! Betty would rather throw up than call you father."

"Oooh! Now that is hurtful Beako." Subaru-sama whined, causing Emilia to giggle.

"Subaru-sama, by the way, there is a lot more soldiers and knights than usual. Is something about to occur that you foresee?" Emilia asked.

"Yes, and everything is in place, my plan is flawless. A lot of nightmares, but I can pull this off with no losses. This will be our last chance to enjoy a day off for a bit. The next week I will be busy evacuating the slums and market district to the palace grounds. This will be your chance to win them over with the church by providing them food and charity as I deal with a dangerous terrorist."

Emilia smiled, "I believe in you Subaru-sama."

"As long as you don't expect Betty to help with the children." Betty grumped.

"Ah Beako, I will need your aid with the small children."

"Betty's contractor has been ruined by the rude boy."