Re:Zero - The King of Pride

Subaru and company had left the party just after lunch time. They could have stuck around a while longer and Priscilla and Anastasia appeared poised to do just that but Felt suggested leaving a little early to preserve their mystique. Subaru and Emilia were not hard to convince. Although the past few hours had flown by quickly they had also been extremely mentally taxing.

Subaru and Emilia were in their room getting changed into their normal clothes.

Roswaal had offered to put them in separate rooms tonight but they had both politely declined.

"You were amazing," Subaru said getting out of his formal attire with relief.

"What do you mean?" Emilia asked getting changed behind him.

"You were amazing," Subaru repeated. "Almost half of the people who came to talk to you were ready to drop ethnic slurs. Honestly, I wanted to intercept most of them and tell them to leave you the hell alone."

"That's sweet, Subaru but slurs are nothing I haven't heard before. I can take care of myself," Emilia replied.

"You sure can. I need to remember that more often. You won a ton of people over. I looked at a big portion of that crowd and I thought there was no way they would even listen to you but you got them to look past your race and convinced them to hear you out. That's amazing. You not only did something huge for the selection, convincing all those nobles to see you as person was a huge step forward for the rights of demi-humans across the entire kingdom. You should be proud," Subaru paused. "I know that I'm proud of you."

Emilia didn't answer.

"What do you think we should do for the rest of the day?" Subaru asked.

"Truthfully, I want to go and check on Felt. I think she might be having some… identity issues right now," Emilia replied.

Subaru sighed. "What have we done to that poor girl?"

By now Felt had switched back into her standard outfit. She was lying in a chair looking almost sick, tended to by a puzzled Reinhard.

"Ugh. I feel like I need to bathe!" Felt complained.

"Well you certainly did very well. Everyone loved you! You have the ear of the entire kingdom," Subaru said with a smile.

"Man. Now I know how the whores in the slums feel," Felt said covering her face.

"Candidly, you probably don't need a bath quite as badly as they do," Subaru replied. He leaned over to Emilia. "I think Felt needs a break," Subaru whispered to Emilia.

She nodded.

"Hey Felt, we got a few hours to kill. What do you say we go and see Rom? Maybe he can fix us something to drink to perk us up again," Subaru suggested.

"Subaru, I don't know if even you are brave enough to drink with Gramps," Felt warned him.

"I'm not brave enough," He assured her. "Luckily, I am dumb enough."

Subaru gasped for breath. His head was spinning and the only reason that he hadn't already fallen over backwards was Emilia's grip on his arm. He didn't want to risk dislodging Beatrice who perched on his shoulder.

Everyone was laughing at him except for Emilia who had thought this was a terrible idea from the beginning. She struggled to keep her lover vertical.

"Thanks, Mili," Subaru wheezed.

Emilia looked at him in frustration as she pulled him in for a hug. "Alright, you drank 'Rom's special brew.' Do you feel like your manhood is proven yet?" She whispered in resignation.

"This wasn't about proving anything," Subaru whispered back. "Our friends just deserved a laugh after all they've been through this week."

Emilia furrowed her brow.

"Well you didn't pass out," Rom rumbled. "That alone puts you one up on most people."

"You did turn some funny colors though in fact," Beatrice smirked.

"Want another?" Felt said with a wolf grin.

"Felt, I know I said that I'm dumb but there is a limit," Subaru refused.

"You're welcome down here any time, Subaru," Rom said refilling the glass. "We'll have a drinking contest."

"Directly before my funeral I assume?" Subaru murmured.

Subaru and company left Rom's once Subaru was steady enough to walk without dropping Beatrice. At least Rom had remembered to feed them. The old man was actually a pretty good cook. They left the slums just as the sun was setting.

"Anyone need to do anything while we're in town?" Subaru asked.

"Actually," Reinhard said. "I do need to return to the Astrea manor for a time."

Subaru looked at him. "Are you sure?"

Reinhard nodded. "My oath to my lord has now been formally sworn. Father can no longer interfere with me. However I do need to go tidy up a few things with the family to ensure my attention is not divided in the future."

Subaru scratched his chin. "Well, if really you need to go there I'm not going to let you go alo-"

"Excuse me!" Felt interrupted.

Everyone started and looked at Felt.

"How many times did I give you a place to sleep?" She demanded of Reinhard.

"Quite a few," Reinhard allowed.

"And now you're going back to a home full of terrible people that you can't stand and you're not even offering to put me up for the night?" Felt asked.

Reinhard looked confused. "Well… as you say it is full of terrible people that I can't stand."

"Don't worry," Felt shrugged. "I'm good at dealing with terrible people. I'm probably better at it than you."

Reinhard face slowly brightened until he was beaming.

"Knock it off with the grin, Red. Let's just go," She said rolling her eyes.

"Yes, Miss Felt," Reinhard said leading the way.

"Felt?" Subaru called.

"What?"

"Remember to leave a few survivors to tell the tale!"

Subaru, Emilia and the spirits raced back to the hotel having been caught in a surprise down pour. By the time they got inside they were drowned.

After drying off, Subaru took Beatrice aside for their customary reading before bed.

"Aren't we reading early tonight, in fact?" Beatrice asked.

"Yes we are but the truth is after I bathe I think I'm going to be ready for bed. It's been a long day and I think it's going to be an early night all around," Subaru replied settling into bed with the book and wrapping an arm around Beatrice.

"Hm," Beatrice mused. "And Betty is going to be sleeping with her Bubby tonight, I suppose."

Subaru glanced at Beatrice and put the book down. "That's right. Tonight you will," He said calmly.

Beatrice appeared to be struggling with something. "Subaru, are you-"

"You know," Subaru interrupted, "Mili and I had a conversation about sleeping arrangements today."

"When did you do that, I suppose?"

"Oh, it was while Rom was proving that he could juggle you and Felt," Subaru replied.

"That man was rude in fact! And he smelled like vinegar!" Beatrice complained.

"Anyway," Subaru chuckled, "Emilia and I decided that we're fine having you and Puck sleep with us. Most nights anyway. Emilia and I are a couple now and we need our time alone just like Subaru and Betty or Betty and Puck need their own special time. So you and Puck are going to start sleeping with us regularly and every few nights we'll ask you two to sleep together instead. Sound fair?" Subaru asked gently.

Beatrice looked at Subaru for a long moment and then crossed her arms with a faint smile. "Betty can live with it, I suppose,"

Subaru smiled and hugged Beatrice. "I'm glad. So are we going to read this? I think it's your turn."

When Emilia emerged from her bath in her robe, Subaru was already sitting on the bed in his own robe.

Emilia took out a brush and began to fight through the wild tangles in her hair.

"The rain really messed up your hair, huh?" Subaru asked.

"Yes," Emilia said wincing as she tried to pull the brush through the matted tangles. "It's really snarly. Puck usually uses magic to fix my hair so I'm not very good at this. It actually kind of hurts to brush it tonight."

"Emilia, before we go to bed, do you think I could try something?" Subaru asked hesitantly.

"What?"

"Could I… Could I brush your hair?" Subaru asked.

Emilia looked at him in confusion. "You want to brush my hair?"

Subaru nodded. "It looks like it's hurting you. I'd just… I'd like to help."

Emilia hesitated then walked over to the bed and sat down in front of Subaru. She handed him the brush.

Emilia murmured, "You might have some trouble with it tonight because of all the snarls. I mean, I know you know about that we just discussed it but it's in pretty bad shape tonight and usually Puck uses magic to-"

"I'll be very very careful," Subaru promised.

She tilted her head back and Subaru began to brush out her hair with short careful strokes. Every time he found tangle or a snarl he worked at it patiently until it was gone. Emilia barely felt anything as he untangled the snarls.

Emilia laid further back until she was resting against Subaru's chest.

"Subaru, have you ever done this before?" She asked.

"No. Why? Does it hurt?"

Emilia shook her head. "No, it feels good."

Emilia swallowed hard and closed her eyes, giving up everything but the sensation of those strong hands working in her hair.

"Do you think that's good?" Subaru murmured.

Emilia opened her eyes and realized that Subaru was brushing her hair with long free strokes, having worked all the snarls out.

Emilia nodded and Subaru put the brush down in favor of wrapping his arms around her.

The two nestled together for a moment and Emilia raised her face for a deep slow kiss.

Subaru stroked her cheek. "Emilia are you… nervous?"

Emilia smiled at him. "No. Not at all actually. Are you?"

Subaru hesitated. "Yeah. I'm like really nervous!" He chuckled.

Emilia leaned in for another kiss. "Don't worry," Emilia whispered. "I'll catch you if you stumble," She promised.

Emilia smiled mischievously and waved a hand, magically making the lights go out. She kissed Subaru gently and guided him back to the pillows. They lay next to each other sharing soft, gentle kisses and teasing one another.

Subaru kissed her along her jaw and then drifted to kissing her neck. Emilia turned her head away to give him more room. She idly reached up to open Subaru's robe and then ran her fingers down his chest.

Subaru slipped Emilia's robe off her shoulders and began to kiss lower. Emilia gently took his face in her hands and drew him to her breast, cradling him against her as Subaru kissed and nuzzled.

Emilia raised Subaru's head to look at her. "Subaru," She urged in a whisper.

"Emilia…" Subaru asked nervously. "Are you-" Emilia met his lips in a gentle kiss that silenced his words. Gently she coaxed him closer. She was actually a bit nervous now. She could feel him pressing against her skin and Subaru was as big and strong as she'd thought he'd be. She worried it might be too big but right now Emilia felt warm and relaxed.

She was ready.

She urged him on with kisses and gentle words as she felt him pressing against her, into her.

Emilia let out a gasp as he slipped inside. Subaru kissed her and held her as she caught her breath. He waited until Emilia again urged him onward. She slipped her arms around him as he slipped deeper until Subaru slid into place deep inside her body and inside her heart.

Emilia sighed, wrapping herself around him. Subaru turned his head finding her neck and beginning to gently nibble.

They clung to each other unmoving; savoring this moment anticipated for so long.

They began slowly and gently; rocking against each other, cradling and stroking one another.

Emilia moaned and whispered, soft sounds that tantalized his ears and Subaru met her lips as if to devour them.

The rest of the world fell away and then there was nothing else but the sheer bliss of the moment.

The next day, Subaru and Emilia got dressed and went to find the spirits.

Feeling entitled to a lazy morning, they asked the maids to bring them breakfast and the four spent their time lounging in bed while waiting for Reinhard and Felt to return.

Emilia was snuggling with Puck while Beatrice and Subaru took turns reading from their book.

It was Beatrice's turn to read, laying back against Subaru's chest with his arm wrapped around her. Beatrice was reading about a creature that could turn from human to mabeast when she sensed that her partner's attention had wandered. She glanced up and saw that Subaru was staring at Emilia with a huge smile. Emilia deliberately ignored Subaru's gaze and continued petting Puck but her face was bright red and she was smiling too.

Then Subaru and Emilia looked at each other for a moment and they both began to giggle.

Beatrice and Puck swapped a puzzled look.

Reinhard and Felt returned around lunch time.

"Any problems?" Subaru asked.

"Nothing we couldn't handle," Felt said with a laugh. "Heikel didn't have such a good night though."

Subaru stared at the smug-looking Felt, "…Details, Felt, details."

"Father was… rather offensive," Reinhard said, his face darkening. "He suggested that Miss Felt was a whore that I had brought home for the night."

"I feel like we're going to have to do something about that guy, sooner or later," Subaru grumbled.

"I took care of it sooner," Felt replied.

"Oh?"

"While Red was off taking care of something, Heikel tried to challenge me to a duel. He said that if I refused his challenge, Red would be publicly disgraced," Felt explained.

"I'm pretty sure that's not how it works," Subaru replied.

"It doesn't but I pretended to buy it. I had a plan. I tried to look weak and helpless; like I knew I was about to die and I had accepted the duel just to protect Red. Then I backed myself into a corner like I was just trying to die honorably without shaming Reinhard," Felt said.

"This was a plan?" Subaru asked skeptically.

"Hell, yeah! Heikel didn't think I was a threat for a moment! He didn't even bother to draw his sword! He just walked over to me so that he could strangle me with his bare hands," Felt chuckled.

"Wait, he actually fell for that?" Subaru asked.

"I'm surprised that he would underestimate you so much," Emilia said.

"Don't be! Mili, men are always willing to believe two things about a woman: one, she is weak and two, she finds him attractive."

"Ouch," Subaru observed to Reinhard.

"What happened then?" Emilia demanded, her eyes wide.

"When he got close enough, I whipped out my knife and put it to his throat. Then I told him he could either surrender and admit that a dust rat had beaten him or he could bleed out all over the floor. Anyway, Heikel tried to order his men to help him but by then Red was back and he warned them that intervening in the duel was forbidden. Eventually, Heikel had to beg for mercy and I let him go. Even the servants at the Astrea estate looked at him like he was dog shit after that!" Felt laughed.

"He is shit!" Subaru agreed, "Nothing personal, Red. It's no reflection on you."

"No, it is not," Reinhard shook his head, his eyes dangerous, "I spoke to my father before he slunk off after that duel. I informed him that if he ever threatened Miss Felt again, or anyone else under my protection, he would face my blade and it would be no duel."

"I'm sorry, buddy," Subaru sympathized. "I know that's a shit situation to be in and it couldn't have been easy to say that to your father."

"No, it wasn't. But Father chose this battle, I did not," Reinhard said simply. "My lord commanded that no one should offer threat to Miss Felt, in peril of his wrath. I simply obeyed his orders. But even had you not spoken, I would never have permitted Father to harm Miss Felt. She has proved herself to be loyal, brave, and kind. I rank her far above my father in both character and nobility."

Felt turned bright red. "Oh, be quiet," She said, trying to hide her face. Felt coughed, "So, now that the whole city is talking about the Natsuki camp, what's next on our agenda, boss?"

Subaru smirked. "I thought that we'd go and visit Lady Crusch."

"Crusch, you didn't have to snap at them, nya," Felix chided gently after they had returned to Crusch's private apartment in the Karnstein mansion, "Your secretaries were only trying to help."

Crusch pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh. I am losing control here and that is unacceptable. It is beneath the dignity of a leader to take out her frustrations on her loyal followers.

Gods, Felix and I were up almost all night talking, the poor boy. We spent the entire time trying to figure out how to recover from Subaru Natsuki's upset. He has changed the entire race by stealing my plan for the White Whale. What's worse is that despite talking strategy into the early morning hours, Felix and I accomplished nothing. Felix kept hinting that we were just talking in circles but I refused to accept that until it was nearly dawn. The truth is that the race has passed outside of my control at the moment and we are currently at a standstill.

I even began to wonder if my best choice might be to form an alliance with Priscilla and Anastasia to tear down Subaru Natsuki, who will shortly be the undisputed favorite to win the election. Working together, perhaps we could bring him down a bit. The three of us could break up the alliance and jockey for the lead once the race has evened out a little.

However, even that plan requires some kind of strategy for the three of us to execute. What could we, singularly or together, offer the people of Lagunica that would equal the killing of the White Whale? Negotiating peace with both Vollachia and Gusteko? But even if we succeeded at that pipe dream, if Subaru Natsuki slays the whale and then ends hunger and poverty in Lagunica, the game is over. Subaru will be carried to the throne by a thousand grateful peasants.

Gods, I hate this situation! My tactical instinct is telling me only one thing: the initiative has been handed to my opponent and right now all I can do is respond to his moves. My only choice at the moment is to watch and wait for an opportunity to turn the situation back to my favor.

I need either Subaru to make a mistake that I can capitalize on or I need a real disaster to occur. If the kingdom was to be in actual crisis and House Karnstein acts with its customary decisiveness to handle the matter, public opinion will swing back in my favor. Subaru's grand ideas might be impressive but a King who can not protect his people from danger is no kind of King at all.

Regardless, the reality remains that at the moment, there is little I can do but sit and wait and those are two things that I have never done well. My heart demands action. I need to find a way to shore up my support, even if in just a minor way, to avoid squandering this time on my hands.

Crusch sat down in a chair and ruminated on the situation. Felix was cleaning up the room around Crusch and putting away her freshly laundered clothes while Crusch gazed out the window and consciously tried not to scowl.

A knock came from the door.

Crusch frowned, What's going on? My servants are all instructed to avoid my private quarters except in cases of extreme emergency. I insist on having at least one area in the mansion which is under my complete control. Can no one be trusted to do as they're told today?

No, stop it, Crusch! Taking out your frustrations on the help is far beneath the dignity of your station. Just handle the situation.

"Enter," She called.

Jarvis, the chief butler, entered the room already bowing low, hoping to forestall his mistress's irritation, "A thousand pardons, Lady Karnstein, but there is someone here who wishes to speak with you."

"I ordered that my calendar be cleared for the day," She replied in a tone that was not quite a growl.

Is everyone other than Felix incompetent?! I was explicit in ordering that all my meetings and appointments be canceled today! What is going on? I've always run a tighter ship than this. I need to track down whichever secretary had failed at following basic instructions and reprimand them…

No, Crusch. That is your frustration talking. Your secretaries are all both talented and devoted to you. Mistakes will happen, even from the very best of servants, and it is the function of a leader to deal with those mistakes. So be it.

However, even with all that being the case, I have no appetite and no patience for mouthing polite formula phrases with some minor functionary or inquiring about the welfare of their relations whom I have never met.

"Please offer my personal apologies to whomever it is for the confusion but I am indisposed today and will be unable to meet with them," Crusch told the butler before turning back to her window.

"Forgive me, Lady Karnstein. I would have already done precisely that but I thought in this particular case your Grace might wish to make an exception," Jarvis replied, still bowing low.

Crusch looked at the butler in surprise. Interesting. So I did make my wishes clear. My servants knew that I did not wish to be disturbed but this unexpected guest is of such exalted rank that they risked telling me anyway.

"And with whom am I meeting?" She asked in a neutral voice.

"Lord Subaru Natsuki and Lady Emilia Natsuki wish to speak with you," Jarvis replied.

Crusch's eyes widened, What is going on? Why? Have they come here just to mock and humiliate me for last night?

No, that's unlikely. Subaru Natsuki did throughly embarrass Priscilla last night but that was just politics. He didn't stick around to rub her face in it, as Priscilla certainly would have done if their roles had been reversed. Subaru made his point and then continued on. He hadn't seemed to especially enjoy it.

Then why is he here? I may be in retreat but I'm far from being beaten. He couldn't really be so arrogant as to come here expecting my surrender could he? So what does he want?

"I will see them," Crusch told the butler. He whispered a command to a servant just outside who bustled off and then he began to close the doors.

"No, wait!" Crusch told Jarvis who hastily reopened the doors. "Don't take them to the council room. Tell them that I will see them here in my personal antechambers."

Jarvis nodded and closed the door, likely going off to try and catch up with the other servant.

Crusch steepled her fingers and stared at the wall, What are you planning, Subaru Natsuki? You must have some idea to consolidate your gains from the upset you handed me last night, but what? Perhaps this time you've grown overambitious. By stretching your hand out so far to seize victory, you risk unbalancing yourself. Any advance a tactician makes, even if done from a superior position, always risks exposing them to counter attack. I will not underestimate you a second time, Subaru Natsuki.

"Lord Subaru," Crusch said politely, "Welcome to my humble abode."

Crusch reclined in a comfortable chair in her own personal sitting room while Subaru, Emilia, and Felt sat on a nearby cough. Beatrice was on Subaru's lap. Reinhard sat in a chair nearby while Felix served tea. Crusch had changed out of her uniform and worn a simple but elegant dress, something which she rarely did.

I'm not comfortable outside my uniform but it might lead them to underestimate me and think of me as nothing more than a fainting flower of the court. This is a battlefield just like any other and I require the right tools for the challenge.

Felt is wearing low class clothes, she must be pretending to be nothing more than an ignorant commoner again for some reason. They couldn't really think that I would fall for it twice, would they? Or did she not have time to change before this meeting because she was busy doing something incognito earlier?

I also need to keep an eye on the little girl. She may look fragile but she's actually a Great Spirit, capable of destroying this entire compound without much effort. Did Subaru bring her here as a threat? No, probably not. Subaru already has Sir Reinhard here, that's threat enough.

"I appreciate you making the time to meet with us, Lady Crusch," Subaru said. "I was sorry that we didn't get a chance to speak yesterday but time got away from me. I'm also not insensitive to the considerable honor you've granted us. You don't permit many people into your private chambers."

Crusch stared at him for a moment, What is that supposed to mean? Is it some kind of slur?

I 'don't' let many people into my chambers?

Is he calling me frigid? Or is he being sarcastic and implying that I have taken a lover? Gods, why are the doings of a woman's bedchamber always fodder for public gossip?!

Crusch, stop it. It's most likely a meaningless pleasantry, at worst intended to demonstrate how much that he knows about the inner workings of your household. The fact that servants aren't permitted in these rooms isn't precisely secret but no one outside my own very well vetted household staff would know about it. For Subaru to be aware of this means that he has turned one of your most trusted servants against you: The spy. That is the most productive thing that I can be doing right now. I need to hunt down and eliminate the spy, or even better, turn them to my own use.

Perhaps that is the reason that Subaru came here. He wants to continue to lead you to overestimate him until you invest great meaning into every word he says, jumping at shadows and exhausting yourself. Clever bastard, I nearly fell into that trap of my own accord.

Well, two can play at that game. If he believes himself to be my superior then I shall encourage him to view me so. I'm glad that I took off my normal clothes and put on something softer. It was a shrewder gambit than I had guessed. Let him think that my sword is a prop and my uniform mere pageantry. An enemy who senses little threat from you is an enemy that you will catch napping.

"The honor is mine. I did not expect to be granted an audience with the front runner of the royal election so soon. I saw your interaction with Lady Priscilla yesterday. It was truly masterful game play," Crusch said.

"High praise indeed, coming from you, Lady Crusch," Subaru raised his teacup in a salute before tasting it. "Delicious," He said, putting down his cup.

Interesting, Crusch thought. My Divine Blessing assures me that he's lying. He can't stand the flavor of this tea. Most people think Bardock tea is the best strand in the region but apparently Subaru Natsuki has odd taste.

Subaru continued, "I've seen that you have quite the masterful strategic mind yourself."

"You are far too kind, Lord Subaru. All of my victories are the result of countless people, far more clever than I, working tirelessly toward the same goal. Truly, some days I feel entirely incidental to any achievement to which my name is ascribed," Crusch shrugged.

Subaru gave her a sly smile, "It would be the height of rudeness for me to call you a liar, Lady Crusch, so let me instead commend you for your exemplary humility."

Damn it, Crusch, you went too far! There is an artfulness to being humble. Overdo it and everyone can tell that it's fake. Mother was perfect at this but you take after your Father and always charge in proudly. I suspect that by the end of this little adventure, I'll wish that I had studied her example more closely.

"Well, perhaps, but it is also true that no woman stands alone. Numerous people worked on the speech I delivered at the presentation yesterday, for example," Crusch replied.

Subaru looked at her chidingly, "Forgive me, Lady Crusch, but you wrote that speech yourself."

Who is this spy?! I employ six different speech writers who all submitted proposals and they don't communicate with one another by my explicit design. How could the spy have possibly known that none of their speeches were selected and that I wrote my own? And why would Subaru just reveal that he possesses such high level access to my household and advisers over something so trivial? It sacrifices an advantage because now I'm on my guard. Does he mean to intimidate me? Is Subaru just taunting me with the depth of his intelligence network?

Still a sword cuts two ways. If he's truly this arrogant than perhaps I could drive him to boast.

"And would you please explain to me how you could possibly know that?" Crusch asked dismissively, sipping her tea.

"Your brilliant strategic mind is easily established by your bureau in the corner and that small piece of paper under that chair," Subaru said, unable to hide how pleased he was with himself.

Crusch quickly glanced at the bureau but noticed nothing unusual.

What is he babbling about? I see the piece of paper under the chair, probably a scrap from when I was taking notes for my speech. It's an annoying oversight but poor Felix is the only one allowed to clean up in here so mistakes like that will happen.

Still what is he talking about in regards to my 'strategic mind?' Does he think that I left the note out on purpose to do… what? And what does it have to do with my bureau? Is he noticing that most noblewomen eschew bureaus in favor of a vanity table? What of it?

Never mind, let him keep talking. I should try to gain as much information as I can right now and then I can piece it all together at my leisure.

"I do not understand," Crusch replied.

"The paper contains the words 'for all Lagunicans," a phrase from your speech last night. The paper also has lines crossed out and corrections. It was notes for your speech," Subaru explained.

This man is dangerously observant but he's also overreaching himself with his deductions.

"I expect my chief speech writer must have dropped it there when we last discussed the matter," Crusch said carelessly as Felix scurried off to collect the note.

"Nope," Subaru replied.

"No…?" Crusch said, unable to completely keep the edge from her voice at being flatly contradicted.

"Your speech writer has never been in this room," Subaru replied.

"That is a very bold statement to make, would you please enlighten me as to how you are so sure of that?" Crusch asked, struggling to control her temper.

Who is this spy?!

"There are hairs on your bureau," Subaru replied with a smirk.

Crusch blinked.

"Specifically cat hairs that match Master Felix's," Subaru said.

"Of course. Felix is my trusted knight. He spends a great deal of time-" Crusch shrugged.

"The cat hairs are jammed into the drawer, caught between the drawer and the bureau's body. The only way that this would be possible would be if Felix was in that drawer. One or two drawers could be coincidence but Felix's hairs are stuck in all the drawers. The only logical conclusion is that Felix was putting your clothes away," Subaru explained.

Crusch noticed Felix fidgeting out of the corner of her eye. Poor Felix, he has no idea what's going on. Actually, neither do I for that matter. Regardless he clearly thinks that his carelessness has put me in a bad situation, although he doesn't precisely understand how. I'll have to reassure him later.

"But why is your chosen knight doing such a chore? You clearly have no shortage of servants in this mansion," Subaru continued, "The obvious inference is that you don't allow many people into this room, not even a trusted maid, so Felix is the one cleaning up after you and hence my earlier expressed appreciation of being permitted inside. This reduces the number of persons who could have written that note to just you and Felix. The words on the note slant to the right. Felix holds his teacup in his left hand and he also picked up that note in his left. You, on the other hand, hold your tea cup in your right and therefore you wrote the note. The note has your speech in the process of being written but it also has a curious code: E4E5Nf3Nf6Bb5Nc6. Whatever could that mean?"

"Do you really expect me to explain classified codes to you?" Crusch murmured with a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"It's chess notation," Subaru explained, "You are such a chess fanatic that, even while you were working hard on your speech, when you needed to take a break you decided to play a game of chess in your head against yourself."

Subaru paused, "Also if you don't mind me pointing it out, I really would have gone with Bc4. Black was initially off balance and vulnerable to a sharp attack on the King's side. He might have pushed your offensive back but at the cost of valuable time to get his army moving while you took advantage of his poor position to activate all of your pieces."

Crusch just stared at Subaru, Alright. Apparently Subaru Natsuki knows intimate details of my behavior in my private quarters. It is possible that he could be making up these 'brilliant deduction' in order to throw me off balance when in fact the spy spoon fed him all of this information.

However, in order for the spy to have told him all this, it would mean that either Felix has betrayed me or that I have spawned a split personality that is determined to sabotage my own campaign. I'm not sure given the choice between the two which option is more probable.

That said, I'd take either of them over option three: What if there is no spy? What if there never was?

What if Subaru managed to deduce my plan for the whale simply from what Felt told him about our conversation? There might have been other clues that led him to the same conclusion as well but maybe there was no informant, it was all just pure deductive reasoning.

If that's true, then how can I possibly outmaneuver this man? The mind is always the sharpest weapon in your arsenal. As Father instructed, I've spent a lifetime training my mind to be as sharp as a razor. I've honed it to a perfect edge in conflict after conflict.

But what if I'm simply outmatched in this case? What if this is like when I played chess with Father as a girl and he would begin by taking the queen and both rooks off his side of the board just to make the contest fair?

If I can't outsmart Subaru then where does that leave me? Brute force? That's not a realistic option. Subaru has the Sword Saint defending him and he was able to overpower Priscilla besides. Making use of my long established network of beneficiaries and political allies might be a possible strategy but Subaru is making impressive gains among the nobility so that option also has poor prospects. Is this why he came here today? To prove to me that I'm simply outclassed?

I'm not done yet. There has to be a move to get me back into this game. I just need to find it.

"Excuse me, Lord Subaru," Crusch said in an annoyed sigh, "This has all been very entertaining but perhaps we could get down to business now."

"Of course, please excuse my digression. I was hoping that you might consider an alliance between our two factions in order to achieve a common goal," Subaru replied.

An alliance? Why? What could he possibly need help my with? Inroads with the nobility? Connections to the military? None of these seem terribly challenging for him to pursue on his own so I'm drawing a blank. Regardless, if he thinks he needs me for something it might give me leverage.

"A vague term, speak plainer," Crusch said.

"I want you to help me hunt down and kill the White Whale," Subaru replied.

Crusch's jaw dropped, This makes no sense! What could I possibly offer him that would assist him in slaying the beast? Reinhard can easily kill the whale all on his own. My army will be completely irrelevant to the hunt.

"I'm not sure that I understand, Lord Subaru," Crusch said slowly, "By alliance you mean…"

"By alliance, I mean an alliance. The Karnstein camp and the Natsuki camp will share credit for the kill," Subaru said.

This is a ridiculous offer! If anyone else suggested such a plan, I would assume that he were drunk. I'm receiving a healthy benefit to my faction: the credit for assisting in slaying the whale would put me comfortably in second place but all of this is done at no cost to me; as my army will simply stand by and watch the Sword Saint kill it! Is this some manner of bribe? Why? What does he want? Does he want to tether my camp to his own so tightly that I am later unable to break free and build my own support? That seems like a foolish strategy that has only the faintest chance of working anyway. Either Subaru is doing something profoundly stupid right now or something so ingenious that I am completely unable to figure it out!

"Lord Subaru, I don't see how this alliance benefits you," Crusch said bluntly.

"I'm attempting to form a reconciliation between our factions," Subaru replied.

Crusch stared at him, "You speak as though I were already defeated," She murmured.

"Just so," Subaru agreed pleasantly, "I will conquer this selection. I will win the throne for Emilia. My victory is fait accompli. There will obstacles and hurdles on the path and I will overcome them. That is simply how it shall be. Thus, I am less concerned with the selection itself than with my ability to form a functioning government afterward. The House of Karnstein has been a pillar of the kingdom for centuries and I require it to continue to be so. The best way for me to do that is to ensure that your faction and mine view each other as allies; hence my offer."

Crusch was momentarily struck speechless by Subaru's words and then her mind filled with flames, It's a very good thing that I'm wearing a dress right now. If I had my sword at my side it's quite likely that these words would have provoked me into doing something rash. And drawing my sword would indeed have been rash. The Sword Saint is sitting a foot away and my target disarmed Priscilla Barielle barehanded. I would die before I landed my first stroke.

Could he have been trying to provoke me with his words into doing something that reckless? Perhaps a way to kill me while claiming self-defense?

No, that's nonsense. He can clearly see that I am unarmed. Even if he did originally have such a strategy, he would have abandoned it as soon as he saw that I had no weapon. I need to stop looking for deep and nuanced meaning in the actions of this Subaru Natsuki. The answer is much simpler:

This man is insane. He is absolutely insane. Normally I would simply write off such words as he spoke to me as bluster from someone attempting to overplay his hand but my Divine Blessing didn't trigger; not once. He isn't lying, he genuinely believes himself to be invincible and that the contest is already decided in his favor. What kind of man is arrogant enough to believe that he can conquer an entire kingdom singlehandedly?

"I may not be quite prepared to accept your charity, my lord," Crusch said in a frigid tone.

"It's not charity. I'm appealing to your brilliant strategic mind," Subaru shrugged.

"How so?" Crusch grumbled.

Control your temper, Crusch. That teacup is fine china. If you squeeze it any harder, it will shatter.

"There are only two possibilities here, Lady Crusch" Subaru replied. "One is that I truly am the man that I purport myself to be. This would mean that victory shall inevitably be mine and all of your scheming and valor is vain."

Subaru let the words hang there for a moment and Crusch felt a chill run down her spine.

"Or?" She asked.

"Or I am a fool and my campaign will end the way of all foolish ventures: in fire. I will crash and burn out, leaving all of my supporters devastated, betrayed, and with nowhere to turn. Easy picking for whichever candidate has properly positioned herself to take advantage of it," Subaru mused.

Crusch's mouth went dry. He was right. If Subaru committed a serious blunder then Crusch would easily become the front runner using her own support and poaching some of his. His followers would almost certainly gravitate toward her after his failure if she had maintained a good relationship with them. But if he didn't crash out, if he didn't make that huge mistake…

Then she was defeated already.

"Regardless of which one you believe me to be, strategically speaking there is only one viable course here," Subaru said with a shrug.

My hand is forced, Crusch cursed herself.

"I would look most favorably upon such a joint venture, my lord," Crush almost growled.

Everyone was chatting in the carriage as they left Crush Karnstein's mansion.

"Boss, that was amazing!" Felt giggled, "Did you see the look on her face? You pinned her down and gave her nowhere to go but to accept. She even had to thank you for your offer!"

Subaru gave Felt a halfhearted smile.

"It is good to consider future alliances after the selection is over, but isn't this a tad premature, Subaru?" Reinhard mused, "I myself have no doubts as to your inevitable victory but already attempting to form a functioning government is thinking very far ahead."

"I agree, Subaru," Emilia worried, "Maybe this wasn't the right time to go after Lady Crusch this way…"

Subaru stared out the window for a long moment, "Well… Lady Crusch is in some ways our most dangerous opponent. She's a woman of considerable reputation and she's extremely popular among both the nobility and the military. If she takes the lead, we have a problem because she wants to end the pact with the dragon. That means that we can't negotiate with her to get the blood because she won't be able to get any more."

Subaru scratched his cheek, "Since she's so dangerous, we should keep her close… In this case, rather than give her the next few weeks to try and put her own initiatives into action, she's been forced to assist us in carrying out ours. She won't get much credit for that. We're stealing time and energy from her and she has no choice but to go along with it."

"Damn, boss! How do you do it?" Felt said in wonder, "Did you have this all planned out before you even spoke to Crusch?"

"Oh, no," Subaru laughed weakly, "I just had a vague idea when I went in and I followed the lead of chance from there."

"I think we can all trust that the odds will always be in your favor," Reinhard said proudly.

Subaru looked at him in confusion, What does he mean by that?

Beatrice was flipping through a book and Felt, Reinhard, and Emilia began to talk about the initiatives to empty the slums. This freed Subaru to think about what he really wanted to think about: how stupid he was.

Alright, well at least Felt and Reinhard bought that bullshit that I just fed them. They still think everything is going to plan. I sure wish I did.

How the fuck did I screw that meeting up so badly? Why did I do that? I went in there to offer Crusch a conciliatory hand and tell her that we might be rivals but still could be united in our goals to make the world a better place. I was also going to try and lay the groundwork to convince her to give me whatever blood the kingdom has left in exchange for bowing out of the contest if she ever does take the lead. Instead, I get swept up in Reason and Judgment's magical confidence and I spend the entire meeting showing off.

I played Sherlock Holmes in the meeting just to amuse myself. Oh and real nice job critiquing her chess move, by the way! How petty can you be? Honestly, I don't even know why I thought it was a bad move. I've played about ten games of chess in my entire life but Reason and Judgment took one look at the game and saw the mistake.

I rubbed Crusch's face in my superiority and I told her that she had no choice but to accept my offer.

Why did I do that?! She would have figured out that this was her only viable option on her own but instead I shoved it in her face. Now Crusch is furious at me and she feels humiliated by what I did. She might even feel a little bit afraid of me.

Good luck making friends with her now. She's cooperating with me because I gave her no other choice but she's going to be sorely tempted to stick a knife in my back if the opportunity ever presents itself.

How did I fuck this up so bad? It was Reason and Judgment. When I use it, I just want to give into it completely and keep using it. God, I've never done heroin but I doubt it feels much better than Reason and Judgment's magical confidence does.

What a second, are you listening to yourself? You just compared this magic to heroin! Could there be a better signal that you need to stop using it?

Well…, or at least cut down a little. Restrict its usage to… emergencies, exigent circumstances, matters of import, that kind of thing. I mean, stopping cold turkey might be challenging so it really makes more sense to… taper off.

Come on, Subaru. You keep looking for evidence that Reason and Judgment is adversely affecting you, well here it is! You completely lost control of yourself during that meeting! I mean, Reason and Judgment has a point: you are heavily favored to win the selection right now but your victory is not guaranteed the way you implied while you were under Reason and Judgment's influence.

Your own overconfidence is dangerous. It's time to back off a little. You shouldn't need to use Reason and Judgment for anything over the next few weeks.

Focus on making a new machine. You're good at machines. You shouldn't need Reason and Judgment to figure out how to do that.

"Alright, so I have a really ambitious idea that I wanted to talk to you guys about. This machine could change the world!" Subaru proclaimed to his family.

Emilia was sitting on their bed with the two spirits laying against her. Emilia was attentive but Beatrice and Puck seemed almost half asleep.

"Huh," Subaru said, "I guess I was expecting a stronger reaction than that."

"I'm listening!" Emilia assured him.

"OK, so there was a thing back home that, if we could introduce, could make everyone's life infinitely better. It's called an engine."

"What does it do?" Emilia asked.

"Well basically it turns wheels for you," Subaru answered.

"It… turns wheels?"

"Yeah, you connect an engine to a wheel and it spins it for you," Subaru explained.

Emilia looked pained, "Subaru, I'm sure that you know what you're talking about, but that doesn't sound all that impressive to me. How would that change anything?"

Subaru chuckled. "Remember all the gears in my sewing machine?"

"Of course."

Subaru shrugged. "Those gears are all wheels but instead of having a person push the pedal to turn them, the engine does it for them. And that means that you can use gears to do all kinds of jobs, even jobs that a human isn't strong enough to do. You can use moving gears to make a device that cuts down trees. You can make wagons that don't require animals to pull them. At the moment people are heavily dependent on things like windmills and waterwheels or even animals to generate power. An engine let's you generate that same power anywhere. All kinds of tools that currently depend on people or animal power could be automated. There's no limit to what you can do what a device like that!"

Emilia's mouth hung open and even the spirits looked impressed.

"How do we make that, I suppose?" Beatrice asked.

"Well, that's the tricky part. The problem is, I think that we need to invent electricity first."

Beatrice cocked her head.

Subaru shrugged, "See, I wasn't really into cars back home and I don't have anything to work with in figuring out how an internal combustion engine works. Also, since I never took chemistry I have absolutely no idea where to start in order to make gasoline. But I did a few projects with electric motors in my gears and machinery class so if we can generate electricity I think that I can make one," Subaru explained.

Beatrice sighed, "Betty understood about one word out of three in that statement, in fact."

"OK, then let's boil this down to basics. Before we can make an engine, we'll need to figure out a magical way to generate electricity. Preferably some kind of magical electric battery," Subaru said.

He saw the blank looks on their faces. "Electricity is like… lightning. It's a weak form of lightening that you can use for… lots of things. So we need to try to figure out how to make a magic device that can generate that."

The blank looks remained.

Subaru sighed. "OK, it's like this…"

"…And that's called a circuit," Subaru sighed in exhaustion. He's been explaining this for close to an hour. Emilia still looked lost but Puck, who had played with magical lightning quite a bit seemed to be grasping the basic idea. Beatrice… was writing in a book.

"Beatrice? Are you taking notes?" Subaru asked.

"Of course Betty is taking notes, in fact. You have described knowledge that is not contained within Mother's library. This is unacceptable, in fact! Betty will learn all there is to know about the 'electricity' and then add the information to Mother's library, I suppose!"

Subaru nodded, walking over to Beatrice, "Good for you. Your mother clearly believed in gathering and preserving knowledge and now you're following in her footsteps. You know, I think your mother would be very proud of you."

Beatrice looked up, her eyes getting watery and Subaru pulled her into a tight hug.

"Actually, Subaru, I think I have an idea for something that might work," Puck mused, "There are a few types of magic crystals that can be charged with Air mana. They're sometimes called 'lightning stones' because if you hit them wrong they can erupt with energy. Once I threw some lightning at some naturally occurring ones."

"Do you often throw lightning at rocks?" Subaru asked.

Puck shrugged, "I'd been looking for Lia for centuries by then and I still couldn't find her so I was kind of annoyed."

Subaru wasn't sure what to say to that, "OK, what happened?"

"Well, the stones threw their own lightning back at me. I think maybe I made a 'circuit' or something like you described and unlocked the energy," Puck explained.

"Sounds awesome. Any idea how long the stones would work or how expensive it would be to make these things?" Subaru asked.

"No idea, Subaru. Sorry. But we can experiment to find out," Puck said.

"We sure can! You're the man, Puck! Paw Knuckles!" Subaru shouted, holding out his fist toward Puck.

Puck stared at Subaru's fist in confusion.

"I want you to slap my fist with your paw, Puck," Subaru whispered.

Puck didn't seem to get it but he obligingly slapped his paw down on Subaru's fist.

"Yeah! Paw Knuckles!" Subaru cheered, "That is totally going to be our thing!"

"Subaru, does 'our thing' really have to be that stupid?" Puck asked.

Subaru ignored that, "OK, people. Let's get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow we're going shopping for crystals and supplies and then we're going to spend a fun filled day doing arts and crafts with electricity. It sounds a lot less stressful than most of the other crap that we've been doing lately! Let's change the world!"

Emilia and Puck cheered while Beatrice just looked bemused.