"Otherwise, that bastard's getting off way too easy!"
Felt ground the words between her teeth.
"This stays between the people in this room." Gojo eyed her simmering expression. "Word gets out, and you can kiss Roswaal's money goodbye."
"Relax. I'm not like this idiot, blabbing to anyone who'll listen. People who can't keep their mouths shut in the Slums don't last long."
Subaru, freshly invoked as a cautionary example for the second time, slumped lower and said nothing.
"If you're that worried about Emilia, stick to what we talked about." Gojo stood and stretched. "Once our business wraps up, go help her. And when you pull it off, come find us in Kararagi."
He paused.
"But don't guilt-trip us into joining in. I've got no grand ambitions. A quiet, easy life sounds perfect to me." Back in his old world, exorcising Cursed Spirits had meant constant missions, always running from one place to the next. If this world could offer something calmer, he wasn't about to turn it down.
"Don't underestimate me!" The mention of Emilia brought Subaru roaring back to life, thumping his chest. "A man rescues his own princess!"
"Good." Gojo shooed them toward the door. "Now get out, all of you. I need sleep."
Once they'd filed out, he muttered to the empty room, "Honestly. When did my bedroom become a lounge?"
He flopped onto the mattress, pulled the covers up, killed the light, and was gone.
Morning came.
Everyone gathered in the dining hall one last time. Today was the day they left. Their stay at the mansion hadn't been long, but the thought of departure still carried a quiet weight.
"Who knows when I'll get to taste Rem's homemade desserts again." Gojo cut into a honey-drizzled pancake, his voice tinged with genuine regret.
"Rem will also be traveling to the Royal Capital with Lord Roswaal," she said, watching his theatrics with a level gaze.
"You're going too?" He looked at Roswaal.
"Every candidate's supporters are expected to attend." Roswaal ate with effortless grace at the head of the table. "It won't be just me. The knights backing each candidate will be present as well."
"Felt." Gojo nudged her with an elbow. "Where's your knight?"
"Are you stupid? I don't have a knight. Thieves and petty criminals, sure, I could round up a whole crowd of those." She shot him a flat look, then turned to Roswaal. "So what do I do about that? Does not having a knight or supporters mean I can't participate?"
"Not at all, Lady Felt. Please don't misunderstand." Roswaal set down his fork. "Your candidacy was decreed by the Divine Dragon himself. In a kingdom founded on that covenant, no one can deny your qualification. Even if the royal family still reigned, they could not override the Dragon's will. As for supporters and knights, they aren't mandatory. However, lacking them entirely could prove... awkward for your prospects going forward."
That made sense. Supporters and knights were, in effect, a public display of political capital. Especially at an event where, according to Roswaal, every noble and official in the Capital would be watching. First impressions mattered.
Felt's brow creased. She turned to Gojo, irritation bleeding into something closer to worry. "Then what do we do?"
Bad foundations now meant harder cons later. A problem for both of them.
Gojo hadn't anticipated this wrinkle. For a pair whose long-term strategy hinged on extracting wealth from the system, it was unwelcome news.
"Lady Felt needn't look so far afield." Roswaal smiled, gaze drifting between the two of them. "Isn't Gojo the perfect supporter you could ask for? One might even call him your knight."
"Oh?" Gojo pulled his sunglasses down and peered over the rims. "You're serious? I'm not a noble. I don't hold a title or an office. I'm not sitting on a fortune, either. A supporter like that would get laughed out of the room."
"You sell yourself far too short. What you did in the Royal Capital is the talk of the entire kingdom. If a warrior of that caliber doesn't qualify, then the word has lost all meaning."
Gojo gave Roswaal an odd look, then glanced at Felt.
"Your country really is something. Just winging it, huh?"
"Can't be helped." Roswaal's tone carried a breezy self-deprecation. "A nation that relies on a dragon for everything tends to rot."
"Guess you're coming with me, then." Felt looked at Gojo.
"Is there an appearance fee?"
"It's your honor!"
"You two really do get along wonderfully." Roswaal watched the exchange with visible amusement. "If only we could cultivate the same rapport with Lady Emilia."
"Out of the question." Puck zipped out from behind Emilia, hovering in front of Roswaal with tiny fists raised in warning. "Lia only likes me."
Subaru, meanwhile, sat in silence, lost in whatever was churning behind his eyes.
After breakfast, they set out.
The arrangement mirrored the trip to the mansion. Rem took the reins of the Dragon Carriage, while Emilia and the others rode in the cabin behind her. This time, though, the return journey came with extra passengers. Betty and Meili's addition had the cabin bursting at the seams.
Gojo solved the problem by dragging Subaru outside to sit up front with Rem, riding shotgun and taking in the open-air view.
As for Roswaal, he needed no accommodations. The man could fly, so he simply did.
Subaru didn't mind losing the cabin seat. What stung was losing his chance to talk to Emilia.
"Gojo, you can teleport, right?" He twisted around, the laughter drifting from the cabin behind them only sharpening his misery. "Why aren't we just teleporting straight there? Wouldn't that be faster?"
"What am I, a pack animal? You think I'm an Earth Dragon or some kind of shuttle service?"
"I just meant the carriage is kind of slow..."
"What you mean is you can't stand not talking to Emilia, and every minute feels like an hour."
Gojo read him like an open book.
"It's not that bad..." Subaru trailed off, then scooted closer and dropped his voice. "Hey, do you think I'd be allowed into the assembly?"
"Sure."
"Seriously?! But wouldn't they keep out people who don't have any connection to..."
"What do you mean, no connection? Just go as one of Felt's supporters."
Gojo spread his hands as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Felt would murder me."
Subaru glanced back at the carriage, pictured Felt's face, and shuddered. The memory of a knife pointed at his throat was still painfully fresh.
"As long as you don't pull anything stupid, she probably won't actually kill you." Gojo leaned back. "Besides, the people running things have never seen me. You could go in my place and nobody would know the difference."
He could see straight through Subaru's motivation. The boy wanted to be there for Emilia. After hearing how much resistance she'd face, he'd been stewing in worry.
Subaru thought it over, then shook his head. "No. The assembly is too important for Felt. I won't create problems for her."
A beat of quiet.
"Just... tell me everything that happens when you get back, okay?"
"Fine by me."
The Dragon Carriage swayed and creaked along the road they'd traveled before, retracing its path toward the Capital. They stopped only to let the Earth Dragon drink and rest; otherwise, the wheels never paused.
During one of those brief halts, Subaru seized his chance. He slipped into the cabin and swapped places with Betty, finally earning his conversation with Emilia.
"The way that boy looks at Emilia reminds me of someone." Betty settled onto the driver's bench without complaint. If anything, watching Subaru's giddy expression through the cabin wall had stirred something thoughtful in her.
"Must've made an impression." Gojo had known Betty for a while now, and she'd never voluntarily brought up anyone from her past.
"I suppose." She drew her knees up. "He was my mother's apprentice. The ancestor of the current Roswaal. Roswaal A. Mathers."
At the mention of Roswaal's name, Rem's grip on the reins tightened a fraction. Her ears perked.
"The Mathers family really phones in their naming conventions, don't they? Every generation just swaps out the middle initial?"
"Noble naming traditions permit it," Rem said, breaking her silence. "There's nothing irregular about the practice."
"Back then, the first Roswaal looked at my mother the same way Subaru looks at Emilia." Betty's gaze went distant. "Only more complicated."
"Fell for his teacher, huh?" Gojo pillowed his head on folded arms, leaning against the cabin wall. "Some things are universal, I guess. Did your mother return his feelings?"
Betty's lip curled. "My mother was kind. But she was still a Witch. What she pursued had long since moved beyond anything an ordinary human could understand. Love, romance... pointless distractions she had no use for."
"Doesn't sound great for Subaru's prospects."
"Emilia's different." Betty shook her head. "That girl is so guileless she might as well be a child. Nothing like my mother. Honestly, without Puck watching over her, someone probably would have tricked her into who-knows-what by now."
"Let's hope so."
By evening, the Dragon Carriage had completed its long trek and rolled to a stop beneath the Flugel Tree. Just like the last time, merchants had already gathered in its shade, their camps dotting the clearing.
They pulled in, built a fire, fed and watered the Earth Dragon, and sat around the flames.
"Not much has changed over the years, it seems." Betty scanned the surrounding travelers.
"The Capital might be different." Gojo shrugged. His knowledge of this world's history came from books he'd barely skimmed. Betty, who'd lived through the centuries firsthand, had a far deeper perspective. Compared to everyone else, though, it was Betty who seemed most fascinated by the outside world. She'd been shut away for so long that even ordinary sights held a certain freshness.
That night, rather than returning to the cramped carriage, she stayed by the fire with Gojo, the two of them leaning against the massive trunk until sleep pulled them under.
Dawn broke. The carriage set off for the final stretch.
Half a day's travel stood between them and the Royal Capital. The closer they drew, the more restless Felt became.
"You think Reinhard passed along the message? When we asked him to tell Old Man Rom where we'd gone?" She fidgeted in her seat. "What if he didn't get it? What if Rom's been out there worrying this whole time, not knowing where I am?"
The nearer they got, the faster her mouth ran. This was her first time away from the Capital for so long, and an unfamiliar knot of nerves had settled in her chest. Especially since she'd somehow become a Royal Candidate in the interim.
"Reinhard's not the type to drop the ball," Gojo said.
"If Reinhard gave his word, he followed through." Emilia spoke up from the cabin. "That much is certain."
"You know Reinhard well?" Subaru's head swiveled immediately.
"Not well. We've met a few times." Emilia considered her words. "But his name carries across the entire kingdom. He's the heir of the Sword Saint lineage and the current Sword Saint himself. People call him the knight among knights. He holds himself to the strictest standards of chivalry, and his strength is... extraordinary."
She paused, sifting through what she knew.
"He's so powerful that other nations have formal agreements with Lugunica. Barring exceptional circumstances, Reinhard is forbidden from leaving the country."
Subaru stared. He turned to Gojo.
"Is that for real? Reinhard's that strong?"
In Subaru's memory, Reinhard was a handsome, composed knight. Beyond that, he hadn't formed much of an impression. What Emilia was describing stretched the imagination. Strong enough that foreign nations feared him, strong enough that his mere existence had reshaped international policy.