Chapter 22: Royally selected?
Author's note: a chill chapter, nothing too crazy. Just showing how Subaru became a candidate for the throne. Originally this chapter was meant to take place mostly in the mansion but due to how lengthy this section became I decided to make it into its own chapter.
(((((((-\-\I/-/-)))))))
3 weeks before Emilia's appearance, a woman of great prestige was taking a leisurely stroll through the capital of Lugunica. One could call it leisurely, but nothing about it was aimless or for the sake of relaxation. It was what she usually does whenever she is walking towards something of importance, business.
Anastasia Hoshin. A name most recognized far and wide as the proprietor of the Hoshin trading company, an incredibly rich business with a reach farther than any other. She had been selected to become a candidate in the royal selection, a fight for the throne to become king of Lugunica which she immediately took up as a business endeavor like no other.
Followed closely by two children she took under her wing, Mimi and Tivey, they acted as her bodyguards. According to Anastasia, this would actually make her better protected due to their appearance as children, which would trick any delinquent into seeing them as easy prey.
"Mimi is so hungry..! Can we go get some food, boss? pleaaaase?" Mimi grumbled along with her stomach. Despite her eating breakfast just a bit ago, she could not go on another second without eating.
"Didn't you eat just earlier, Mimi? How can you be hungry again? You'll end up causing Anastasia-sama trouble" Tivey, a boy who was the smart one of the two, chided her. She could've eaten a bigger breakfast, but due to her whims, did not feel like doing so.
"Now, now, Tivey." Anastasia turned around. "I myself don't particularly mind. We'll be meetin the client at a dining place anyway, so it ain't like it would be a waste of time for Mimi to get somethin to eat in the meanwhile."
"Right…" Tivey relented. Anastasia was not someone who could be considered generous, her wants were above all else. Mimi's hunger being quenched was merely an upkeep cost that she would have to pay to maintain her functionality.
"Boss is the best!" Mimi wrapped her arms around Anastasia in a tight bear hug, which was reciprocated with a head pat. Anastasia was fine taking a bit of time patting Mimi's adorable head, it cost her nothing after all and was in a sense quite soothing. But something in the air changed in a mere moment.
"..!" Anastasia immediately noticed, being a person who appeared unaware but in reality always on guard. Within a split moment, fast enough that someone with untrained senses would have been completely blind to it. A presence as fast as the wind flashed past Anastasia's back. It quickly left as soon as it came, leaping onto a nearby rooftop and moving away swiftly.
Anastasia checked her pocket, first her coin pouch of course, which was still present, then her other dress pocket. Gone. the insignia that qualified her to be a candidate for the throne had vanished. She had to act now to ensure the recovery of what was stolen from her. "Mimi, Tivey, after em. That thief took my insignia and I want it back so don't let em get away, you have my permission to hurt em if need be."
She said this nonchalantly as if it didn't matter that an insignia worth the country itself wasn't stolen from her whilst her back was turned. Anastasia had belief in the ability of Mimi and Tivey ,who have never let her down once, that they would be able to retrieve it without a hitch. That, and should she need to, could also just collect information from her wide intel network and find the thief's hideout where she could buy it off them, or threaten them, whatever is more convenient. At the moment though, Anastasia wasn't too keen on spending unnecessary coin.
"Right!" The two siblings who looked exactly alike immediately sprang into action, giving relentless chase. With their light bodies that could produce a surprising amount of force, they easily jumped onto the roof and out of Anastasia's sight. Now she was left alone without guards.
"Oh well, It ain't like I have anything other than money on me anyhow. I suppose that leaves me to meet up with the client by my lonesome. Maybe I myself will reward Mimi with the food after she and Tivey come back with the insignia, call it some incentive." Anastasia wasn't one to worry about small things, so she left them to do their work.
(((((((-\-\I/-/-)))))))
Tivey and Mimi immediately spotted the figure that ran with their back to them upon reaching the roof. A small girl with blonde hair with the unmistakable speed that had been used to steal from them earlier. They took off at their fastest but due to their small stature and equally small legs they could barely keep up.
They wouldn't be able to catch up at this rate had they been by themselves, however so long as they were together, even someone with the power of the wind itself could not get away. "Mimi, I'll leave it to you!" Tivey had a plan in mind to catch the thief and set out to put it into motion, one that required the aid of his sister.
"Leave it to Mimi! Together we are unstoppable!" Both of them were on the exact same page, an effect of being born at the same time. Mimi slightly broke away from Tivey so as not to get caught, and Tivey paused his running to gather Mana.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" By putting mana into his voice, Tivey threw out a shout that reached the thief and slammed into her back. The impact lifted her off her feet and launched her roughly into the roof of the next building ahead. The magic, while deadly in close quarters, suffered the farther away a target was due to its nature as sound enhanced with mana. At most, it was only able to knock air out of the thief's lungs, but even then she was able to shake that off and continue running.
It wasn't all worthless though, the distance between her and Mimi was now less than 15 meters apart. Mimi, both energetic and quick on her feet, was able to catch up to the winded thief regardless of how fast the wind made her. In the moment that the thief was making a big jump across a wide gap between buildings, Mimi immediately butted into her, smashing the blonde girl into the pavement below. With a little acrobatic twirl in the air, Mimi made a clean landing on both her feet and unsheathed her staff.
"Give Boss lady her Insignia thingy back or else Mimi will make it hurt." Mimi, despite having the appearance of a small child, was dangerous enough not to be trifled with as well as capable of using powerful magic that was more than enough for a lowly thief.
The thief, who Mimi was able to confirm to have defiant, fiery red eyes stood up on her feet and brandished a dagger that was sheathed on the back of her waist. The thief would not go down without a fight and Mimi would not do so either.
"You are more than aware that you are outnumbered." Tivey had caught up in the time the thief and Mimi took to size themselves up, landing a distance away directly behind the thief that was facing his sister head on.
He had a fireball in his hand, ready for the next move to be made. "If you give in and hand over what does not belong to you, I can guarantee that you'll be able to walk away." Tivey was rational and avoided unnecessary fights when possible unlike Mimi, but he didn't do it because he didn't like fighting but because it would be a waste of time.
The thief, who was known as Felt only to herself, took what Tivey said into consideration, however regardless of how nice it sounded, she needed this insignia more than anything else. It was the only way to escape the place she had to call home, a way for her to not have to worry about food or where it would come from, a way to escape the bottom of the ladder.
"As if I could ever give my only ticket out of this dump away. If you want it you better wrench it from my cold, dead hands." Felt had things that she could not abandon, family. If there was the option of losing the insignia and dying, she would lose the insignia every single time. However, if she could at all look for that third option that allowed her selfish desires to be answered, she would go all in like any expert thief would.
She would defeat these two kids and make it home safely, where she will sell this glowing gem for enough money to be set for life. That was Felt's third option, the only option where she loses nothing. Putting power into her right leg, Felt ran at Mimi with lightning speed. She was the strongest of the two so she was the one that Felt needed to take down first.
"Then you leave us with no choice but to use force. El Goa!" Within an instant of Felt's move, Tivey conjured a flaming ball of fire twice the size of his head and launched it. The ball of fire flew at a high speed towards her, almost catching up to Felt by the time she reached Mimi.
'Tch, Magic. It doesn't matter, I'll be able to get out of the way after I get off one attack.'' Felt knew that by the time the spell reached her she would be able to connect at least one attack before moving swiftly out of the way. She raised her dagger up in the air to bring it down on Mimi's head and swung down.
Felt's strike was as fast as lightning, however Mimi had already reacted before she even raised her dagger. "Dona!" In an instant, a wall was erected between Felt and Mimi, the dagger that should have connected instead was deflected by the top of the quickly rising earth wall. This sudden transferal of her energy caused her to stagger back to which Mimi took no time in taking advantage of.
"Mimi will flatten you like a pancake!" The wall that was just brought up was immediately tipped forward with the threat of turning Felt into paste. She managed to regain her stance and ran to the side to evade it, however the fireball launched by Tivey made contact with the earth wall. With the energy of the spell having no way to be expelled but to the side, the shockwave of heat slammed into Felt's back, launching her off her feet.
"GHAAAAH!" The thief yelled as the skin on her back along with her scarf were scorched. She hit the ground and rolled, the momentum slamming her into a nearby wall where she would try to stand up through the pain. 'Are these bastards trying to kill me?' the thought put into perspective that they were not here to play around/
"Ehehe, Donuts and Pancakes…." Mimi's belly was growling like a wild beast now, and her mouth was visibly watering when she associated the name of her spell with food. Now she really wanted to eat, maybe Anastasia had prepared some food for her when she came back?
"Sister! This is no time to be hungry, focus!" Tivey was shocked that she had the audacity to think about food now when there was still an opponent to fight. But then again, when wasn't she causing trouble for other people.
"Mimi knows, she knows." Mimi grumbled. Even while she hungered, she wasn't going to get distracted too much. Whilst Felt was struggling to stand up from the pain of being burned, Mimi ruthlessly launched another spell at her in an arc, an orb which contained seismic waves. Felt, even while struggling to get up, forced her body to move and dodged again.
This spell had the same effect as Tivey's fireball, creating an explosive shockwave and launching felt painfully into the ground. All the pain made her struggle to get up, however she was still holding onto the insignia. she mustered all her strength to get up and sprint away, only for a foot to stomp onto her hand.
"Gh…" Felt let out a voice in pain. Looking up at the one with their foot over her hand, it was Tivey with his wand pointed at her, looking down with unfeeling eyes. Next to him was his sister, who wasn't particularly caring about how the situation would occur, the handle tip of her staff was poking at Felt's unmoving legs.
"We gave you a chance to get out unharmed and you refused. Hand over what you stole and you might still leave with some dignity." Tivey threatened her. Considering that Felt had no power in this situation, she lost on all levels. She knew that in this situation she should give it up and run with her tail tucked between her legs, but that would mean all hope stripped away from her when she had it for just a moment.
"No way in hell." She wanted something, someone to appear and get her out of this mess. But she felt that they would never arrive. She could feel the light emanating from Tivey's wand as he prepared a spell that would incapacitate her. Tivey wasn't someone who killed unnecessarily, however he was still above all a mercenary and as such, this was part of his line of work.
"That is enough!" The spell activated, Tivey could feel it from the feedback of his wand, however nothing happened other than a hand suddenly appearing between the wand and his target and blocking the spell. The hand wearing a slightly burned glove belonged to that of none other than Reinhardt Van Astrea, who noticed the brewing fight between Felt and the siblings.
"I am sure you are aware, but I cannot allow harm to befall another person regardless of the matter or intent, not unless it is an absolute necessity. If things can be talked over, then I believe everyone can reach an amicable result, even in a situation like this. Or is this not one of those situations?" The fiery haired knight of knights was quick to defuse a situation before any other action was taken, this approach of his brought many situations into a state of somewhat peacefulness.
"R-Reinhardt Van Astrea..!" Tivey could not believe his widened eyes when the sword saint himself showed up to intervene. It was not any of his business in particular and especially so considering that he was defending a thief of all people, but regardless of that fact, Tivey immediately wiped away the shock from his face and went into his business act that he has trained in performing, though his airs are in no way as good as Anastasia's.
"Ahem. Reinhardt Van Astrea-san, I am Tivey Pearlbaton, one of the vice captains of the Iron-fang, serving under the merchant Anastasia Hoshin-sama. This one with me here is-" He pointed to his sister who introduced herself in a matter that seemed on purpose in its intent to make Tivey look like he was childish too.
"Mimi is Mimi. Hello, Mister knight!" Mimi showed no regard to her brother's plan of trying to get them to appear respectable to Reinhardt so that he may be swayed onto their side, first and foremost to ensure this situation is resolved in their favor. Instead, she innocently waved at the sword saint, Reinhardt wasn't rude so he waved back.
"Yes, this one is Mimi. We were tasked by Anastasia-sama to bring back the dragon insignia, which this thief right here made off with. I have also given her a warning for her to surrender lest she get hurt, which she did not listen to. In the end, all that we want is that insignia she is holding onto. Nothing more."
It seemed that this was not some fight that was sparked over something petty, one that escalated due to neither group wanting to back off. The thief stole something that was not hers, it would be best that she return it. That is what Reinhardt surmised of the situation. "Would you be willing to hand it over peacefully?"
Hearing this, Felt was angry. He came here to save her and yet still took their side in the end, though what could she expect from a knight who served those of far higher power than her. "Fine, just tell him to let go of me." Felt tried to get those words out without her voice sounding too angry.
Reinhardt glanced at Tivey, who relented and took his foot off the hand that had the insignia. He expected her to stand up and hand it over to him, then turn around so that everyone could go on with their lives. But Tivey was once told by Anastasia before that the words of a thief don't mean much, he should have remembered those words now.
Instead of relinquishing the insignia, Felt spun on her heel and ran away into a nearby alley where she would be lost if they didn't give chase again. Tivey scolded himself for not demanding that the insignia be handed over first, the sword saint's presence made his guard drop too much.
"Why you..!" Tivey had just about lost his patience. Before he could give chase again though, Reinhardt stopped him by placing a hand in front of Tivey. "Are you in on this!?" He gave an accusatory glare at Reinhardt, for what reason would he have to stop Tivey?
"Not quite." Reinhardt answered Tivey's question in a way that confused him even more, however that confusion was swiped away when he heard what was happening in the Alley.
"You bastard, let me go! Pervert! Weirdo! Who do you think you are, huh!? Unhand me this instant!" Out from the alleyway, the thief was being carried by the scruff of her neck similarly to how one would carry a kitten. The person carrying her though made Tivey's heart drop to the pit of his stomach.
A half-elf man with hair as black as a raven, and eyes that could be called nothing other than evil. Tivey knew of the man, however never saw him in person. Subaru Ellior, the man who was said to be equal to that of court mage Roswaal L Mathers and Reinhardt, the one person the Kingdom would never turn its back on for that very reason.
"Hey, did anyone lose a child anywhere?" Subaru said this in a jesting manner towards Reinhardt, walking towards him. He wasn't handling Felt in a gentle fashion though, which was apparent by how she was being swung limply around as Subaru walked towards the group. It seems that it was only him today.
"It's nice to see that Subaru-sama is always willing to help out whenever someone is in trouble." Reinhardt placed a hand to his chest and bowed, showing that Subaru outranked him in terms of prestige. Subaru never liked that Reinhardt did this whenever they met considering he wasn't someone who considered himself of high ranking, but reinhardt was adamant on making that clear despite them being friends.
"Yeah, though I'm nowhere near as fast as you are when going towards it. You sniff this stuff out across the city and then you are there in seconds, it's absurd." Subaru was plenty fast himself, however his speed comes from him training his body for a very long time, meanwhile Reinhardt had his speed blessed unto him because of his sword saint title.
"A knight must always arrive in time when he may be of most service, after all. I noticed that Beatrice-sama is not with you. You both are quite inseparable, so I can't help but wonder where she is at the moment?" Reinhardt inquired something that wasn't too hard to answer. Naturally, due to the contract between Subaru and Beatrice, they would always be together, yet today was not the case.
"Oh, Beako? She is still back at the mansion. I just came here to buy her a gift without her knowing. Now then, on to more pressing matters…" He looked at the girl he had dangling with one arm, still trying to free herself from his grip. "What's up with this little girl running away from the scene of the crime?"
"I'm not little, bitch-face!" She tried to kick at his chin but she couldn't reach. Subaru ignored her, instead asking those who could provide an answer.
Tivey stepped forward, doing the same bowing motion as Reinhardt did to ingratiate himself to Subaru. "Subaru-sama, yes? The girl you are holding stole the dragon insignia belonging to none other than Anastasia Hoshin-sama, a candidate for the royal throne. My sister and I were tasked with retrieving it."
"The dragon insignia, huh?" Subaru heard about it, the mark given to a woman who qualified to become the next ruler of the kingdom. Politics he wasn't particularly interested in himself so long as they wouldn't make things difficult for him and other people. Usually, someone of that nature would have some sort of powerful sponsor or backer, however neither he or Roswaal have backed anyone, instead choosing to stay out of it."You mean this?"
Subaru used his magic to wrench open the clenched fist of the girl, revealing an insignia with a dragon carved onto it, a glowing red gem in the middle. Upon seeing it, Reinhardt's eyes opened wider. "Could it be..?" The sword saint whispered to himself.
Subaru went and grabbed the insignia from Felt's hand and walked towards Reinhardt who was trying to think about how to take her with him to the palace without looking strange. Felt was getting angrier by the second at still being treated like a child as Subaru opened his palm to give the insignia to Reinhardt.
"!?" Reinhardt's mouth opened wide. The gem that was supposed to glow in the hand of a woman qualified for the throne was glowing in Subaru's hand. Was it defective? A dud? It didn't make any sense, how could this be the case when the prophecy itself stated five priestesses. Unless…
Reinhardt quickly picked it up in his own hand, and it didn't glow.
"I am so sorry." Reinhardt said just loud enough for Subaru to hear him.
"Eh? For what?" Before Subaru could understand just what Reinhardt was apologizing for, the sword saint banged his forehead into the pavement hard enough to crack it, both hands to the side of his head in a bowing position.
"I humbly apologize as the sword saint for this abhorrent level of disrespect! How could I not have been able to realize it this whole time despite how many years I have been familiar with you!? It is beyond incorrigible that the sword saint Reinhardt Van Astrea was incapable of seeing that.. That Subaru-sama was a woman the whole time!"
…
…
…
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?" Everyone who was there to witness this moment collectively shrieked.
"The greatest mage in the kingdom next to the court mage himself is a woman!?" Tivey had believed the whole time that Subaru was a man but this was a twist no one could have ever expected. To think that he could have hidden his identity for over a hundred years is very impressive considering the kingdom rarely takes its eyes off him.
"Mimi could see it." Mimi was eerily calm for what is the biggest bombshell to ever hit this part of the city.
"W-n NO. NO. I don't know what caused this to come up, but I am not a woman. Reinhardt, explain yourself!" Subaru was equally confused at having himself claimed to be a woman when there was nothing to suggest that to be the case.
"I can explain clearly, however not here. Please if you could follow me to the castle, this is of great importance. And keep hold of her, she is coming with us." Reinhardt turned around with the insignia and handed it off to Tivey. "Please get this back to Anastasia-sama, I have some important business that needs attending."
"Wait! I didn't agree to this! Let me go right now or else!" Felt felt obligated to thrash about, trying to loosen Subaru's grip on her. Reinhardt didn't have the time to calm her down so he walked up, put his hand to her head and put her to sleep. The girl was now hanging loosely from her scruff, still in Subaru's hold..
"Hold on, I don't agree with this either. You haven't explained why you even thought I was a woman. Isn't the whole situation too far out of hand for you to leave things unexplained?" Subaru asked.
"Indeed. However, this situation is beyond what we thought was normal, that is why we must go immediately. The council needs to know about this. Even if you aren't actually a woman, that only makes it even more important that they know."
"Ugh, not those guys. Those unruly children have never been anything but aggressive towards me from the start, even the ones before them." Subaru disliked the council, for the mistreatment he experienced at their hands. From the assassination attempt during the demi-human war, to sending Reinhardt Van Astrea to fight him after gathering what was left of the oni clan, there was nothing good associated with the council.
"I understand your concern, in fact you have every right to dislike them. But, I believe this situation is more in your favor than you initially think." What Reinhardt just said Piqued Subaru's interest. What could he possibly gain by going before the council? Whatever it was, Subaru will find out.
"Well, I hope you're right." Subaru finally agreed, and with that, he was dragged off by Reinhardt to the palace where he was to meet with the council of wise men. He would later learn that he is an anomaly that goes against the prophecy of the throne, but would still be qualified to become the king, as per the rules of the royal selection.
AN: A little late, but the chapter is out now. My approach of slow and steady for writing chapters has been going pretty well so far, but only time will tell how well that works out.