Chapter 11: Why the Dragon Jewel Shines

"Don't you think Sakura and Tiga are simply horrible? If I'd known it would come to this, I would... I would...!"

"You'd have looked after your own precious skin and never dreamed of saving anyone with your Sacrament, is that iiit?"

"I'd have done it anyway, even knowing! But doing it knowingly and doing it unknowingly make an enormous difference to how I'd feel about it!"

Apparently well aware of her own impulsive nature, Filore delivered this accurate piece of self-analysis at a wail, glaring teary-eyed at Sakura, who sat across from her. Sakura, the self-proclaimed surrogate big sister, knit her brows in a troubled look at Filore's words.

"Even if you put it like that, we're in just as much of a pickle as you are, you knooow. Subaru-chan, Beatrice, you two understand, don't youuu?"

"No idea why you're dragging me and Beako into this, but I kinda get that this was bound to happen one way or another."

"Never mind who's to blame. Just from watching you two go at it, I can guess that Filore was the one who set things in motion, I suppose."

With that, Subaru and Beatrice shook their heads in perfect sync, thoroughly fed up, as they gave their views on the question from Sakura, who was sitting right beside them. For the record, the facing sofas of the reception room were currently arranged with Emilia and Otto on the host side, plus Filore clinging to Emilia's arm, while the guest side held Sakura and, having moved over, Subaru and Beatrice side by side. On top of that, by the wall stood Petra, who had been there from the start, now joined by Rem, who had shown Filore in, so the reception room was livelier than ever.

"Not that the extra volume needs much explaining. It's pretty much all Filore. And anyway, why are we sitting over here? The lineup's all wrong."

"How dreadful! Emilia, did you hear that? Subaru is trying to tear us apart, you and me, your one and only friend. Could he be... an agent of the Church?"

"If anyone's an agent of the Church, it's obviously you, in fact."

Beatrice sighed at Filore, whose face was the very picture of trembling dread. Emilia, her arm still caught in Filore's embrace, smiled wryly but stroked her friend's head.

"Come on, don't look at Subaru like that, Filore. Subaru's sooo kind, and he'd never come between us. Besides, what Subaru and I have and what you and I have are two completely different things, right?"

"R-Right, of course, I'm sure you're right. ...Just out of curiosity, is one of them more important?"

"Huh? Well, that's..."

"Never mind! Don't say it! The Scripture says so too! 'The trials the Dragon bestoweth are born of love. As gold is cast into the flame and made purer thereby, so too doth the soul, passing through sufferings for love's sake, give forth a radiance befitting the Dragon's heart!'"

Head bowed and clinging to the Scripture, Filore looked less like a devout believer of the Church of the Divine Dragon than someone using its teachings to put a lid on anything inconvenient. Because she had cut Emilia off, Subaru also lost his chance to hear, from Emilia's own lips, exactly where his affection level stood, which left him feeling rather unsatisfied. That aside—

"About what you said earlier... Filore joining the Royal Selection. Does that mean she's taking Priscilla's place, after all?"

Leaving Filore to flush red and blanch pale all on her own, Emilia turned her question on Sakura across from her. At that, Sakura narrowed her droopy, perpetually sleepy-looking eyes a fraction.

"...At the very least, Priscilla's death is definitely one of the reasons, you knooow. Otherwise it would contradict what's written on the Dragon Stone."

"The Dragon Stone records five Dragon Maidens as candidates for the Royal Selection, no more... and as a matter of policy, the Church of the Divine Dragon can't act against that. Is that it?"

"Of course, please don't go thinking we saw that premise collapse and marched into the castle bold as brass, glad of the chance, okaaay? Even if losing Priscilla happened to leave a Dragon Maiden's seat empty, the Church's policy was to keep its distance."

"And yet, that's not how it turned out. The reason being..."

Otto deliberately left the conclusion unspoken, but every gaze in the room converged on Filore, the one who had set off the first swell that led to the present situation. Her throat tightened under the discomfort of all those stares, and then she clung to Emilia.

"Th-That's not it, Emilia! I never had the slightest intention of becoming your enemy! It was just a stroke of bad luck! A-A-And in the first place!"

Face white as a sheet, Filore turned her eyes, flung wide open, on Sakura.

"And besides, I must protest that the Church's habit of hiding things is highly questionable! It's all because they kept me sheltered right up to this very day! Well, I won't pretend I never thought how lovely it was to be excused from the lessons the other children had to sit through, but for that to tear Emilia and me apart... It isn't my fault!"

"There, there, no crying, Filore. I'm not angry at all, and I've never once thought of the other Royal Selection candidates as enemies."

"E-Emiliaaa...!"

Under the gentle hand stroking her hair, Filore's stormy heart was soothed. Watching the exchange, Sakura put a hand to her mouth, looking surprised, and let out a soft "My,"

"Normally this is the part where it drags on and on forever, but Emilia-chan, you're ever so good at handling Filore... Is there some kind of knack to it?"

"Setting aside cheap quips like 'every Filore in existence is neutralized by Emilia-tan's fluffy, all-embracing warmth'... so what did Filore actually come here for?"

Judging by everything so far, it clearly wasn't a declaration of war for the Royal Selection. Surely she hadn't seriously dashed across the capital just to whine and make excuses.

"You think not? Betty wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she had, I suppose."

"I agree, but then we'd never get anywhere, so..."

"Hold it right there. Do you take me for someone so thoughtless? Granted, I do often act without thinking at all, but today is different. I have a proper plan."

"A plan?"

"Yes, a plan! I don't want to take part in the Royal Selection. But I do want to use my Sacrament and fulfill my duties as the Saint. So my friend Emilia will hide me away, and I'll secretly go about saving the people of Priestella! Well!? What do you think!?"

"What is this, the evil organization's master plan from a Sunday-morning kids' show?"

It was a plan so full of holes a child could see through it. Its goal was helping people, so it didn't even qualify as a criminal scheme, but the biggest problem was that Sakura had already found her. In other words, the scheme had tripped at the starting line.

"Also, if word got out that we'd kidnapped the Saint of the Church of the Divine Dragon, that'd be pretty bad."

"Emilia's a bit like that too, but it's dangerous when someone doesn't realize they're a walking bomb, isn't it?"

"Huh? Does that mean Emilia and I make a perfect match...?"

"That is hardly the part to get bashful about, I suppose."

Where her confidence had come from was anyone's guess, but Filore's plan was summarily rejected. Besides, Subaru thought Filore was taking the situation a little too lightly. For a while now she had been steering the conversation toward withdrawing from the Royal Selection, but—

"You can't just throw away your place as a Royal Selection candidate on your own. Isn't that right?"

"Emilia-tan..."

"I study a lot every day too, you know. I think I understand the kingdom much better than I did at the start... and that includes how binding the things written on the Dragon Stone are. I had a reason for wanting to join the Royal Selection, but even if I hadn't, I don't think I could have refused."

Gazing at Filore, who was hugging her arm, Emilia let the words out in an earnest tone. That Royal Selection candidates had no right of refusal made sense. He had talked it over with Garfiel and Petra just last night: the covenant with the Dragon in the Dragon-Allied Kingdom ran strong and deep. In fact, Felt had once tried to refuse to take part in the Royal Selection. But with Old Rom, who had tried to take her away, held as the price, she'd been left with no choice but to participate. It meant there was a kind of compulsion at work: to make the Dragon Maidens recorded on the Dragon Stone take part in the Royal Selection, the kingdom would stop at nothing. The same held true for Filore. That was what Emilia was saying.

"But... but it isn't something I wished for, you know?"

"Yes, I'm sure that's true. I think if you hadn't been able to make the Insignia shine, none of this would have happened either. ...But the Dragon Jewel did shine, and you were chosen. You should understand what that means better than anyone, Filore."

"Uuu..."

At Emilia's words, which carried something almost motherly, Filore hung her head weakly. Filore was a nun of the Church of the Divine Dragon. It went without saying that, holding faith and reverence for the Dragon as she did, she would feel the binding force of the Dragon Stone's words more keenly than anyone. Her behavior up to now could even be called a childish escape from reality. And yet—

"Then... yes, then how about this? Emilia and I form a friendship alliance. Then I'll help with absolutely anything so you can become king. That way, the Royal Selection..."

"Thank you, Filore. —But that, I'd hate sooo much."

Quietly, but with a firmness nothing could shake, Emilia said it plainly. The nobility of that silver-bell voice drew a thin "hiu" from Filore's throat. Making sure she could see, Emilia reached into her breast and opened her palm, the Insignia resting in it. At once the red radiance spilling from the Dragon Jewel lit up the reception room of the noble residence.

"Like I said before, I've had a reason for wanting to join the Royal Selection right from the start."

Holding out the dazzling Dragon Jewel, Emilia spoke as if making sure Filore heard every word. Her first motivation for entering the Royal Selection had been to borrow the power of the Dragon's Blood kept in the royal castle, to save her homeland, frozen in ice. But time had passed, she had met people, she had learned things, and what she was staking on the Royal Selection was changing inside her. Even so, that first wish would never drift away and vanish. And—

"It's the same for everyone else. Crusch has hers, Anastasia has hers, Felt has hers... Priscilla had hers. They each had something they wanted to do, and so they all joined the Royal Selection. No, that's not right."

"Not right? What's not right?"

"I'm sure everyone who can make a Dragon Jewel shine really does have a reason to join the Royal Selection... something they can't make come true any other way. And if that's so, then you do too."

"I... do too...?"

As Filore blinked at her in a daze, Emilia gave her a smile both brave and lovely. Filore had proposed that, if she became a candidate, she would support her friend Emilia's wish, but Emilia couldn't quite accept that as Filore's own. A reason like that, she was saying, would not earn her a place among those taking part in the Royal Selection of the Kingdom of Lugunica.

"Please, don't say no right away just because of how overwhelmed you felt when you first heard. Think about it sooo carefully. They probably won't let you turn down the Royal Selection. But I don't want someone who's only joining because they have no choice to sit in Priscilla's chair."

—Those were strong words, a strong will, and a prayer as well.

"—"

Emilia had thrown the full weight of her feelings at her head-on, and Filore blinked. Tension mounted between the two of them, pressed together with no distance at all, and no one spoke. Subaru and everyone else were loath to intrude on the silence that had formed. —So that nothing extraneous would cloud the choice that came next.

"—Here."

The one who sent a ripple across that still surface was Emilia, who had been watching Filore from closer than anyone. Narrowing her eyes beneath their long lashes, she held out the Insignia in her hand to Filore. Filore took it by reflex. —But even if she took it without thinking, the Dragon Jewel in the Insignia does not choose its moment to shine.

"—If I, if I were to join the Royal Selection..."

In Filore's hand, as she murmured, the Dragon Jewel shone just as it had for Emilia. With that light, the same color as her own eyes, flickering between her fingers, Filore made her declaration. Faced with the Royal Selection, a destiny thrust upon her that she could not escape, what creed would she raise?

"I want to make the relationship between the kingdom and the Church new again. So that people in the castle won't hesitate to reach out a hand to the Church, and people in the Church won't hesitate to reach out to the castle, all because of some silly stubbornness."

"—"

"If I become king, I'll make it a country where nobody hesitates to help people."

It was no more than a ready-made ideal, its details still nowhere near worked out. But it was Filore's own wish: to break through the ties and frustrations she had felt growing up and living as a member of the Church of the Divine Dragon, and to make things better. And no one would laugh at a Filore who could hold that up and call her a reluctant seat-filler, hoisted onto a palanquin by the people around her and dragged into the Royal Selection against her will.

"...I knew we should've turned away that unannounced visit."

Subaru heard Otto mutter it at the conclusion Filore had reached. Dressed down without his hat and cloak, idly running his fingers through his unruly grey hair, he passed that verdict on what had just happened. Honestly, Subaru could see why he'd want to say it.

"A super-powerful rival showing up at this point, after all."

"If you ask me, this is aiding the enemy so blatantly it's laughable... and the trouble is that the one who egged it on is none other than our own leader."

"Relax. The stronger her opponent, the more Emilia-tan gets, like, you know, kinda great."

"If you're trying to cheer me up, could you say something a little better!?"

"Even Betty feels like sympathizing with Otto on that one, I suppose. But..."

Beatrice broke off there and narrowed her eyes, gazing straight ahead at Emilia and Filore as if the sight dazzled her, and Subaru felt the same way. Admittedly, if you looked only at what had happened, you'd have to call it a stupid move. He could already picture the delightful scene of Roswaal hearing the report later and crumpling to his knees. But it had been worth it. In exchange for the arrival of a ridiculously powerful rival, without a doubt—

"—I'm not going to lose to you either, Filore. Not ever."

—Emilia, the girl aiming to become king, had without a doubt shed a skin and grown.

△▼△▼△▼△

"—And so, I humbly accept the request to take part in the Royal Selection."

Filore made the declaration with one hand pressed to her chest and the other making the Insignia flash and sparkle, proudly, boldly, as though nothing in the world could give her pause.

The place was the royal castle: not the throne room they were summoned to every single time something happened, but a conference hall apparently reserved for more compact discussions. The room was about the size of a school classroom, and in it stood a round table where twenty or so people could sit face to face. Traditionally, meetings of the "Council of Sages" and the castle's civil officials were often held here.

"You know, on the day the Royal Selection began, after you got thrown out of the room, Subaru, this is the conference room everyone moved to so we could talk things over."

"Ah, so that was going on while Julius was wiping the floor with me."

"I still can't remember it... Subaru, did you have a fight with Julius? You made up properly... You did, didn't you? That's why the two of you are sooo close."

"Whether he and I are sooo close is debatable, but it was a necessary event for you and me to get sooo close, Emilia-tan."

Subaru answered Emilia's hushed explanation with a twist of his lips. In a world where Julius's Name was still erased, how did the people who'd been there remember Subaru's disgrace that day? Even as a lesson to himself, he had no desire to dig into that too deeply. Luckily, the conference room was conspicuously short of occupants today, so hardly anyone from that day was present. This was what you'd call a top-secret meeting, after all, with each faction's people kept to a bare minimum; even from Emilia's Faction, only Emilia, Subaru and his partner Beatrice had been let in. That said, one of those very few participants, the old man with the distinctive long beard who had received them, happened to be one of the very people from that day.

That old man, Miklotov McMahon of the "Council of Sages," regarded Filore, who had undergone an almost refreshing change of heart.

"Hmm. Your answer is most welcome to us, who issued the request... But might I ask once more? I did grant permission, yet why is it that Lady Emilia and Lord Natsuki have come to join us here?"

"They let me ask their advice this morning, before I came up to the castle. Emilia is my irreplaceable friend, and Subaru is her knight... By rights, I'd have liked to bring along everyone in Emilia's Faction who helped me make my declaration, but..."

"If you'd done that, though, me and the Church would've been left without a leg to stand on, wouldn't we, hmmm?"

That came from Sakura, the only one accompanying Filore on the Church's behalf, wearing a troubled look as Filore answered Miklotov's question. Filore seemed dissatisfied with the response, but a whole crowd from Emilia's Faction lined up for her big moment would have been odd, so Sakura's view was the sensible one. However, the part of Filore's words that snagged Subaru's attention apparently wasn't the part that snagged Miklotov's as he smoothed down his long beard. The wise elder narrowed his intelligent eyes, let out a "Hmm" that seemed to be a habit of his, and—

"Friends, you say. Lady Filore of the Church of the Divine Dragon, and Lady Emilia."

"...Is this one of those things? Like, Emilia-tan's a silver-haired half-elf, and Filore's a nun of the Church of the Divine Dragon, so how could they possibly... You people are still going on about that?"

"Hey, Subaru..."

Emilia reined him in as he leaned forward at the murmur. But apart from Subaru and Beatrice, none of their dependable faction companions were here. That meant Subaru had to speak up on behalf of all of them and give Miklotov a piece of his mind. As the First Knight entrusted with Emilia, he had to stand firm and fight against injustice.

"You know what Emilia's done this past year and a half, Mr. Miklotov. You know all of it, so I'd like the country's big shots to quit looking at her through tinted glasses forever. Half-elf or whatever, can't we be done with that already?"

"To say 'enough' ignores the feelings of the people a little too much. It has always been plain that you, Lady Emilia, share nothing with that Witch beyond appearance and race... and yet that alone weighs heavily. You understand, I trust."

"Nngh..."

Subaru had gone on the attack with considerable force, and Miklotov made him shrink back with a veteran's command of words. The problem here, once again, was the common sense that lay at the root of everyone in this world, something Subaru himself could never quite feel. And that was not limited to Emilia, the silver-haired half-elf.

"It follows that a nun of the Church of the Divine Dragon becoming a royal candidate will be met with great astonishment by the people. We, too, are bending custom considerably. It was a most vexing decision."

"...Yes, I believe I understand that much. But..."

"Hmm. But what, may I ask?"

"...But if that's so, why go to such lengths to bring me into the Royal Selection?"

The question Filore raised was, again, one that was bound to come up. The way Miklotov had just phrased things gave a glimpse of the situation: the castle was by no means welcoming a royal candidate from the Church of the Divine Dragon gladly or eagerly.

"I am a nun of the Church of the Divine Dragon too... I know perfectly well that the Dragon Stone's words must be strictly obeyed. But even though Priscilla Barielle... even though she has passed away, the fact remains that the Royal Selection began with five people qualified as maidens. That shouldn't count as bending the text."

"Or has the Dragon Stone's text been updated, I wonder? Are you saying it was rewritten so that when one of the five maidens is lost, a substitute maiden is found and moved up, in fact?"

"No, we have received no report that the Dragon Stone's text has changed. However, in this matter, it is less a question of our intentions and more one of public sentiment."

"Public." "Sentiment?"

Subaru and Emilia tilted their heads, puzzled by Miklotov's answer. At that, Miklotov lowered his voice slightly.

"It will become widely known in time, but I ask that this remain within this room for now. It seems rumors are in fact circulating among the common folk. That a Saint of the Church of the Divine Dragon saved Duchess Karsten."

"—!"

"The castle had imposed a gag order regarding this matter. Of course, information seeps out like raindrops however tightly one shuts it away... but it has spread in such detail that people are even saying this Saint shares the features of the lost Princess of Lugunica."

"So basically every last bit of it leaked!"

Miklotov's face clouded as if over a grievous blunder, but if that was true, the castle's control of information had failed in a truly shoddy way.

"I don't want to think it, Filore, but... you didn't get all happy about saving Crusch and go around cheerfully bragging about it, did you?"

"That would make sense, I suppose."

"Don't you go agreeing with him! And I did no such thing! I have discretion too! Well, I may have told the people close to me, because I wanted something to persuade the Church with. But as if I would go bragging about it around town!"

"Hmm. Beako?"

"I'll call it gray, as close to black as gray can get, in fact."

Subaru more or less agreed with Beatrice's harsh verdict. He felt bad for Filore, stamping her feet in frustration, but no matter how firmly she insisted she hadn't done it, the impression she had given so far left an air of "she totally did, though" that refused to go away. In any case, whoever and wherever the spread of the rumor had started from—

"Then maybe word that Filore made the Insignia glow is going around too? Is that why everyone's so upset and saying it'd be wrong not to make Filore a royal candidate?"

"It has not come to that yet. However, the news of Lady Priscilla's death is to be announced publicly before long. If Lady Filore's existence is known by then, voices calling for her to join the Royal Selection will naturally fill the streets."

"So before that happens, you get all the groundwork done ahead of time..."

If Filore's entry was a foregone conclusion anyway, moving things along early would clear the air for everyone, then. Subaru understood that kind of grown-up planning, but at the same time, the thought that Filore had never really had the right to refuse still bothered him a little. If she hadn't talked things through with Emilia beforehand, Filore would have entered with the worst possible attitude, without a shred of the resolve a royal candidate needed.

"Now, now, you mustn't make such a sour face, Subaru-chaaan. It all came together nicely one way or another, so who cares how we got heeere?"

"...And you're fine with that, Sakura? Filore was never supposed to be let out of the Church in the first place, right? Joining the Royal Selection wasn't part of the plan."

"—Whether they wish it or not, leaves can do nothing but be tossed about by the wind and the water."

"—"

Sakura's voice had dropped without warning, and Subaru was taken aback in spite of himself. That single remark carried an emptiness so keen it was almost painful—a hollow resignation, like a dying old tree with a great cavity gaping in its trunk. It almost felt as though she hadn't been speaking about Filore at all, but about her own resignation. Sakura's own.

"Well, it's just a case of whatever will be, will be, you knooow? Besides, even if she gets all fired up, she's a whole year and a half behind the other girls, so it might not even be much of a contest, hmm?"

"Sakura! Why must you always throw cold water on my enthusiasm like that?! If I'm going to do this, I'm going to win... My tenacity is positively Dragon!"

"Something I've been wondering: how does the Church of the Divine Dragon feel about Filore's whole routine of casually messing around with 'Dragon' like that?"

"Irreverent, I suppose you'd call it?"

"Irreverent?!"

It was harsher than he'd expected, and it confirmed what he'd suspected: the attitude was not encouraged. Filore really did hold to a stance about as far from the usual image of a saint as one could get. In any case, with most of his questions answered, Subaru now had a rough grasp of the purpose of this secret meeting and why the attendance was so tightly limited. Put simply, this was an informal notice ahead of the official proclamation, a chance to confirm the intentions and plans of those involved.

Just as his thoughts reached that point, though, Subaru found one more thing nagging at him. Namely—

"Hey, if Filore's becoming a royal candidate, does that mean you're going to name your own knight too? Like me and Emilia-tan, or the other candidates?"

"Ah, Subaru, I think you might have that a little wrong."

"Wrong how?"

"Well, it just so happens that all of us candidates have knights with us, but that's not a must. I mean, Anastasia and I didn't have knight contracts with you and Julius right from the start, did we?"

"I didn't, but Julius was Anastasia's knight from the very beginning."

"Oh, was he? I'd better remember that properly. For Julius's sake, too."

While Emilia made her micro-corrections for the effects of the missing Name, Subaru found her explanation convincing all the same. It was true that at first, Emilia had been accompanied by her backer Roswaal, but there had been no Subaru as her knight—or rather, he hadn't yet earned that kind of trust. So maybe a royal candidate didn't necessarily need a knight. Still...

"Still, if you're going to do it, I'd say having one gives you more prestige. What'll you do? Who's around you that might fit the bill... My Friend, maybe?"

"My Fren... You mean Tiga, right? Oh, but that might be nice. Filore seems sooo close with Tiga, too..."

"Ehhh? Tiga, my knight? There's nothing the least bit special about that!"

Emilia had pressed her hands together in front of her chest in wholehearted approval of Subaru's nominee, but the lady in question booed the idea down with unbelievable force.

"Well, of course, Tiga is capable, so I'm sure he'd manage perfectly well if he were appointed, but he nags constantly, and the moment anything happens he suspects me straight away. Wouldn't you say he lacks the reverence and loyalty a knight requires? Besides, even now, when he isn't my knight, he trails after me everywhere I go regardless, so what would be the point of naming him one? Rejected! I hereby reject it!"

"Well, it's your knight, so you can do whatever you like... Huh? Actually, how do knights normally get appointed, anyway?"

In Subaru's case, for example, Emilia had knighted him with her own hand, and he'd slid straight into his current position as her knight. But how had it gone for Reinhard, or for Julius? Taking on a knight surely wasn't limited to royal candidates, and yet Subaru had no idea how those contracts worked. Belatedly, he felt ashamed of his ignorance.

"Hmm, let me see. In most cases, it is customary for the knight to seek out a master and swear fealty in order to obtain a commission. However, where a knight of renown is concerned, it is not uncommon to promise generous stipends and favorable treatment and to entreat him to enter one's service."

"Whoa, didn't expect you to be the one explaining it, Mr. Miklotov. ...Just out of curiosity, do you employ knights of your own, Mr. Miklotov?"

"My house, too, has many who have long been in and out of it and in whom I place my trust. Speaking generally, one to whom an outstanding knight has pledged his sword does command a certain measure of respect."

"That... yeah, makes sense."

Indeed, the prestige of having made the Sword Saint or the "Finest Knight" one's First Knight must have added a good deal of luster to the names of Felt and Anastasia. A First Knight's renown was also an important barometer in the Royal Selection. —Was Subaru, as a knight, actually managing to be a source of strength for Emilia? And Crusch, who had reportedly dismissed Ferris as her First Knight: would she be thinking of taking on a new knight from here on?

"—"

He didn't want her to. Wishing it like that, almost clinging to the thought, was exactly what Ferris himself would call Subaru's arrogance, always wanting everything to go his way. The rift that had opened between the two of them couldn't have been avoided, but with time, once they'd cooled their heads, they might find a different answer. So until then, he wanted that seat left empty. Subaru was wallowing in the sentiment, arrogance and all, when it happened.

"...Lord Miklotov said so just now, didn't he? That for an outstanding knight, one ought to plead at the top of one's voice if that's what it takes to bring them to one's side."

"—? That's a whole different temperature from what Betty heard, I suppose."

"...I feel like even the nuance was different, honestly."

Filore had murmured it with her fist clenched tight, holding her feelings down. Beatrice's reaction pulled Subaru along with it, and he came back from his sentiment to reality. Whether or not she simply had remarkably convenient ears, Filore had rearranged Miklotov's words to her own liking, and her cheeks had gone faintly pink over it. Whatever it was, her feelings seemed to be running high enough to warm her face—

"Could it be, Filore, that you already have someone in mind you want as your knight?"

"—! How did you know... Is it because we're best friends?"

"Yes, maybe so. So, what kind of person are they?"

"Just so you know up front, Reinhard's already sold out."

"Naturally, Subaru is also permanently reserved by Betty and Emilia, in fact."

With the attention of the three of them, plus Sakura and Miklotov in the same room, all fixed on her, Filore gave a meaningful little "Fufufu," then, to meet everyone's gaze, flung the thick Scripture open in front of her.

"Hear me. Thus it is written in the Scripture: 'The arm of man wieldeth the sword; the will of the Dragon ruleth over life. In the footsteps of the chosen knight, even the ruts of blood become a road of silver'!"

"Um, meaning?"

"Meaning the one worthy of being my knight is someone recognized by the Dragon!"

The reading struck him as a touch self-serving, but in the end, when it came to a knight worthy of the Dragon's recognition, Subaru still couldn't think of anyone besides Reinhard. Stretch the interpretation far enough, and Emilia, who had cleared the Trial on the first level of the Pleiades Watchtower, could arguably be said to meet the condition too.

"A royal candidate becoming another royal candidate's knight would be a fun twist nobody saw coming, but Emilia-tan has me, so that plotline's scrapped."

"Emilia as my knight... Th-that certainly is a tempting notion, I'll grant you. But my hopes and expectations lie elsewhere. Honestly, stop leading me astray!"

Torn between telling her not to waver over something like that and conceding that wavering was understandable when the comparison was Emilia, Subaru said nothing to her. Paying no mind to his consideration, Filore gave a small cough.

"Are you listening? Are you ready? As I said, if I, the Saint of the Church of the Divine Dragon, am to stand as a royal candidate, then my knight must be one recognized by the Dragon. And so far as I know, there is only one person who meets that condition—"

With that title pushed to the front, only one candidate could come to mind, like it or not. Ironically, it was someone set to clash with Filore not merely over the throne, but over which of them was the true survivor of the Royal Family of Lugunica. Felt's First Knight, Sword Saint Reinhard van Astrea, it could only be—

"—Lord Heinkel Astrea."

—.
— —.
— — —.

"Huh!?"

Feeling he'd just been handed the wrong answer, Subaru made an ungainly noise in his throat. But Filore, having said her piece, wore a smug look, while Emilia and Beatrice beside him were as openly stunned as he was, their eyes gone perfectly round. An Astrea, sure, but not the Astrea he'd been expecting. The wrong Astrea.

"...Uh, Filore?"

"Wh-what's the matter? Somehow, everyone's reactions are rather strange."

"Anybody's would be. Please, could you say it one more time? Who was it that's worthy of being the knight of the Church of the Divine Dragon's Saint?"

"Really, I do wish you wouldn't make me repeat myself... Lord Heinkel Astrea."

Filore tilted her head, speaking the name that refused to become any other sound no matter how many times they heard it. From where she stood, it was Subaru and the others whose reaction made no sense. And no wonder. After all, in her mind, the man called Heinkel Astrea was—

"—a son of the Sword Saint's bloodline, who bathed in the Dragon's Blood, conquered it, and became an immortal knight. Lord Heinkel Astrea. He is the one I wish to name as my knight."

Yes: Filore, now the sixth candidate of the Royal Selection, had proudly proclaimed that the one worthy of being her First Knight, First Knight to the sixth, was none other than the "Sword Forsaker," Heinkel Astrea.