Chapter 59: The Royal Selection Assembles, Five-Court Joint Trial (Patreon)

Julius Juukulius.

He had come close to breaking down, to becoming something other than the Finest Knight he was meant to be. Now, at Anastasia's command, he had finally cast aside all those dark things for good. Only at this moment did he realize how foolish he had been, and how lost.

In fact, if Subaru Natsuki hadn't been there to show him, to hold up a mirror and wipe away the darkness in his own heart, he might well have clung to his willfulness and defied her orders for the sake of Lady Anastasia's victory in the Royal Selection.

How far he had fallen!

"I suspected as much the moment I saw Cru-Cru, but I never thought it'd actually be true. Anna... no, I guess I should call you Anastasia now?"

Subaru turned to look as well, shook his head with a wry smile, and wore the expression of a man whose guess had just been confirmed.

Well, well. Cru-Cru was Crusch, Anna was Anastasia, and then there were Emilia and Priscilla Barielle.

So in just these two days, apart from the last candidate, whose identity he still didn't know, he had befriended all four Royal Selection candidates of the Kingdom of Lugunica. What a strange stroke of fate, truly.

Of course, Anastasia was the most special of them all. She wasn't just a candidate. She also knew about his, Subaru Natsuki's, ambition to become king.

"Since I only wish you well, couldn't you forgive this li'l ol' me for her teeny-tiny deception? Hmph hmph. Otherwise, I'll tell Mimi all about what you did to me, and have her teach a lesson to the naughty boy who overstepped with me, you know~."

Anastasia, wrapped in her fox scarf, her soft, curled purple hair swaying with every movement, was already unbearably cute. And she knew exactly how adorable she was. She deliberately struck a super-cute pose, palms pressed together, looking pitiful, her little face faintly flushed.

She had meant to bring up the time she'd been scolded, but the thought instantly, involuntarily called up [Spanking Anastasia's butt]. From there her memory slid on to the moment Subaru had held her to keep her from being hit, and the touch of their bodies.

She'd meant to tease Subaru, but now she was the one stammering and flustered. She half turned her little face away, whimpering, utterly embarrassed.

"Mm... Anyway, Anna's a part of Anastasia too, right? Natsuki can call me whatever he likes, and I'll take it. That doesn't count as lying, does it?"

"Lady Anastasia?!"

Julius stared, dumbfounded. What was going on?

When, without his knowing, had Lady Anastasia met someone as beautiful as Subaru Natsuki, and grown so familiar with him?

Lady Anastasia was petite and charming by nature, but around anyone outside her merchant company she almost never showed a cute side. Instead she was shrewd and tight-fisted, every inch the commanding presence.

That was why, after he had sworn fealty to her, his younger brother Joshua had been frightened at his first meeting with Lady Anastasia and had cowered before her.

So why was she so, so dainty and gentle with someone Julius didn't even know? Was this still the Lady Anastasia he knew?

At Julius's cry, Anastasia straightened her expression at once and huffed in displeasure. "Julius, I'm amazed you'd stand guard beside that sort of thing."

"My deepest apologies!"

Julius bowed his head immediately. He knew that Lady Anastasia loathed people like Cavendish III. It was precisely because of her nature and character that he had sworn to be her knight.

As for today's affair, he hadn't yet helped Cavendish III carry out any actual deed. But merely failing to refuse Cavendish III's summons at the outset had already cost Lady Anastasia face.

Still, Julius was worried. "But the Council of Wise Men's order..."

"The Council of Wise Men is the Council of Wise Men. I'm me!"

Anastasia cut off his worry, puffing out her cheeks as she stroked her fox scarf. "You're a knight of the Knights' Order, true, but before that, you're my personal knight. When you're unsure about something, you should tell me. I'm the one who holds the power, so it's my duty to make the call."

"Don't act on your own just because you think you know what's best for me. If I'd known from the start, I'd have pulled you away from that thing right away. Never mind whatever profit there is. I didn't become a candidate to wallow in the mud with that sort of creature!"

Even as Anastasia instructed and scolded Julius, she felt sincerely relieved.

Luckily, after she left yesterday, she'd had people stationed near the slum to report anything unusual. She'd arrived in time, before Julius and Subaru could come to blows.

She thought Julius would probably win, but that was exactly the problem. Or rather, no outcome would have been good.

Julius was her knight. Though he hadn't served her long, she had placed him in the same circle as Ricardo and Mimi: her own people. It was best if none of them got hurt.

And Subaru... mm, that part's a little embarrassing, so let's skip it, shall we?

By rights, Subaru's declaration that he'd be king made him a potential enemy and rival, so watching him be humiliated would have worked in her favor.

But theory was theory, and reality was reality.

Even setting aside every sentiment, Natsuki was her [Partner + Accomplice], wasn't he? If he spilled, before he died, that she had badmouthed the other three candidates, that would be bad. So of course she had a duty to stand on his side.

As for the argument that it would be more advantageous to Anastasia if Natsuki died along with his magic tool Meteor and was disposed of without a trace, she didn't need anyone to tell her that, and she had no wish to hear it either!

"Well, how about that..."

Subaru was moved. He forced back tears of gratitude and smiled, unburdened.

He hadn't misjudged after all. He hadn't been wrong about them.

Hidden identity or not, fake name or not, Cru-Cru or Crusch, Anna or Anastasia, it made no difference. They were the same people.

All of them girls worth befriending, kind to the core.

He knew it. Compared to him, a nobody, Crusch and Anastasia stood to gain ten thousand times more just by siding with Cavendish III.

After all, though he could now count himself a skilled fighter, he still couldn't beat Julius.

He could sense that in a pure swordsmanship duel he had nothing to fear from Julius. But Julius surely had some other trump card hidden away, one beyond anything he could currently handle, and it gave him an immense sense of threat.

From Crusch's and Anastasia's standpoint, siding with Cavendish III carried no danger and no chance of failure.

Enormous profit with not a shred of risk, and even so, both of them still stood by him.

What had he done to deserve such luck...

"Seriously, even your fake names are so pretty I don't know whether to call you Anna or Anastasia. Next time pick a name that's a little less cute, damn it!"

Subaru muttered, grumbling and complaining at Anastasia with feigned ferocity. It drew a faint smile from her. She shook her little head from side to side, one hand covering her cheek, looking sugar-sweet.

Crusch watched the two of them in confusion, words rising to her lips and dying there.

She had gathered that how Anastasia and Lord Natsuki met was much the same as her own case. So why, why did Lord Natsuki speak more to Anastasia than to her, and seem closer to her, too?

Why was that? It wasn't right.

Compared to the calculating, mercantile Anastasia, shouldn't she be the one better at opening her heart to people and making them want to be close?

"—Ah, ahhh, aaaaaaah, no, don't, nooooo, please, please, Sword Demon, Finest Knight, come back, come here, I have the Council of Wise Men's order, I have the Council of Wise Men's order!"

A howl that echoed to the heavens.

He had lost his savior, Sword Demon Wilhelm van Astrea, and then the Finest Knight Julius he had counted on. Now Cavendish III had no shield before him at all. At last he understood that, and he was terrified out of his mind.

With the status and wealth of a ducal house, finding a mercenary, or a team working together, able to defeat or even kill Subaru Natsuki as he was now would be no problem, as long as he was willing to spend.

After all, even Halibel the Praiser, one of the strongest in the four great nations, worked as a mercenary. And even if they couldn't hire him, there was no shortage of other powerhouses lurking in the underworld.

The famed Bowel Hunter, for one. Even the Bowel Hunter had once met a powerful foe on a job and lost an arm, which proved there were other strong fighters out there.

For a sufficiently wealthy ducal house, searching the whole world, the pool of strong candidates wasn't small.

But that was exactly the problem.

Those powerhouses only took one-off assassination contracts. They wouldn't serve as a ducal house's round-the-clock guard dogs. So the ducal house couldn't summon such a fighter right away. It needed time to search and to hire.

But right now, Cavendish III was here, and that lowborn rabble Subaru Natsuki was here too!

What he lacked most was time. He needed guards. He needed someone to cover his escape!

"Wait, wait a moment, you commoner... no, Subaru Natsuki! We can settle this, we can make peace! What do you want? Money, women, a title? I can give you any of it! I won't go back on my word, I'll swear an oath! Please!"

Watching Subaru draw closer and closer, Cavendish III truly lost his composure. For the first time since birth, the threat of death was this near.

"Don't... if you kill me, you gain nothing! You two, you two know that too, don't you? Hurry up and tell him!"

In his desperation he roared at Crusch and Anastasia. Crusch frowned, because what he said wasn't wrong.

"Lord Natsuki..."

Crusch had wanted to dissuade him from the very beginning, and now she could hold back no longer.

"His crimes are exposed now. With Anastasia and me vouching, even his own family can't protect him. He'll be locked in prison and punished. If you strike, the Council of Wise Men and House Cavendish will surely target you, and may even have you assassinated. I hope you'll pay more heed to your own safety."

Cavendish III didn't matter. She only wanted to spare Subaru from harm.

Subaru shot back, "Then let me ask you, Cru-Cru. Will the Kingdom's law sentence him to death?"

"...No. At most, life imprisonment." Crusch closed her eyes and answered, her voice weak.

A ducal house's privileges, plus the privileges of his grandfather on the Council of Wise Men. Put together, he probably wouldn't serve even ten years.

She understood Subaru's resolve and determination.

Then so be it.

At worst, once it was over, she would bring Subaru to her family estate in the Royal Capital and have him live with her. However rampant the assassins of the Council of Wise Men and House Cavendish might be, they wouldn't dare strike inside the manor of a Royal Selection candidate who was also the current head of a ducal house. That would be a provocation to the death.

Anastasia was a foreigner and not a noble, so the Council of Wise Men and House Cavendish might well move against her. Subaru wouldn't be safe with her. He could only come to Crusch's side.

Crusch was prepared.

"No, please, I get it, I know I was wrong, ahh, someone, anyone, somebody save me, I'll give him every benefit! Yes, Sword Saint, Sword Saint! Sword Saint Reinhard, save me, Sword Saint, gah—

Splurt!

Snot streamed from Cavendish III's nose as Subaru approached. He had dropped to his knees, kowtowing and apologizing in front of everyone, his tongue pouring out begging noises more revolting than a cockroach's or a slug's. In an instant, that tongue was severed.

What severed it was nothing special. Just an ordinary pebble from the roadside.

"I wondered why the Royal Capital was so irritating today. So there are lowly things out here babbling and braying? This country is truly beginning to displease me, letting me lay eyes on something so filthy and base it doesn't even qualify to be a clown, doesn't even qualify to amuse me."

An ordinary stone has no power to cut a tongue. But a stone picked up from the roadside by Priscilla Barielle in displeasure did.

Arriving belatedly behind everyone alongside Emilia, her fan snapping open and shut, Priscilla Barielle looked down on the scene. The moment she appeared, she ignored Cavendish III's rank and attacked from range. She sneered, then added one last line:

"You simply foul my eyes. Even looking at a slug would be better than this!"