Chapter 234: In the Hall and in the Waiting Room!
"Sorry. Did I keep you waiting long?"
An exceptionally beautiful silver-haired half-elf appeared at the entrance to the waiting room.
She raised a slender, pale hand and gently knocked on the door before apologetically waving toward one of the four people inside.
"Hmm? It's already over?"
Shiro set down the cup of tea in his hand, which had long since stopped steaming, and shook his head.
"Wasn't that meeting a little too fast?"
"I thought important meetings like this normally dragged on until sunset before they could barely finish."
"This meeting was only meant to publicly announce the beginning of the Royal Selection."
Julius, seated on the sofa opposite Shiro, explained.
"The truly important meeting will likely be held three years from now, once the Royal Selection concludes."
"When that time comes, it may indeed last the entire day, just as you imagined."
The Royal Guard divided its branches by the color of their cloaks.
Both Julius and Felix beside him wore white cloaks, marking the highest rank.
They attended meetings like this fairly often and naturally understood the kingdom's affairs better than Shiro.
As for why a waiting room that should have contained only Shiro and Reinhard now had two extra people—Shiro did not know how to explain that either.
Originally, he and Reinhard had been chatting peacefully inside.
Then, less than five minutes later, Felix cheerfully bounced through the door with an exasperated Julius following behind him.
According to Felix, the meeting was simply too boring.
Aside from explaining the conditions that would determine the winner among the Dragon Maidens three years later, there was almost nothing worth paying attention to.
And since he was very interested in Shiro, the suddenly appearing knight, he reported his departure and slipped away.
As for Crusch's safety?
"Lady Crusch is stronger than Ferri-chan anyway, so there's no need to worry about her safety, nya."
When Felix said that with a bright smile, Shiro could not help worrying about the future of Crusch's camp.
Julius, however, was different.
Someone known as the [Finest of Knights] naturally would not indulge his own whims during such a serious occasion.
If he wanted to chat, there would be plenty of time after the meeting.
Unfortunately—Julius had a friend named Felix.
Imagine everyone in a room discussing something with perfectly serious expressions.
Then an extremely deceptive-looking male friend grabs your hand and uses an adorable voice to beg you to go somewhere with him.
Most people's first reaction would probably be to tell him to shut up.
Julius had done exactly that.
But after knowing Felix for so many years, Julius understood that the fastest way to make him stop was simply to go with him.
Otherwise, if Felix kept making a scene—Forget Felix's reputation.
Julius's own reputation might be dragged down with him.
Naturally, Shiro welcomed Julius's arrival.
After all—Julius had contracted six quasi-spirits covering all six attributes.
That was rare even throughout Lugunica.
He almost certainly possessed knowledge Shiro currently needed.
And even if he did not—Simply observing spirits of different attributes would deepen Shiro's understanding of the species.
At Reinhard's request, Julius enthusiastically answered Shiro's questions.
He was especially helpful when it came to communicating with spirits that did not know how to initiate a contract and allowing the human side to take the initiative in forming one.
That gave Shiro considerable inspiration.
Normally, once spirits matured enough to possess intelligence, nearly all of them could propose contracts themselves.
But the spirit Shiro intended to contract was hardly ordinary.
Better to have too much knowledge prepared than too little.
And so—While five rival candidates held a solemn meeting in the main hall—Four knights serving four rival camps sat happily in the waiting room, drinking tea and chatting.
A rather strange scene had somehow come into existence.
"Do you still have something important to discuss?"
Emilia looked at the four of them laughing and talking.
She seemed somewhat envious, yet also reluctant to interrupt.
"I can wait here for a while."
"After all, you waited so long for me during the meeting earlier."
"No need."
Shiro shook his head.
"We already finished talking about the important things."
"Everything after that was just casual conversation."
"And it's not like we'll never see each other again."
"If something comes up, we can always talk next time."
Shiro nodded goodbye to Reinhard, Julius, and Felix one by one.
Under their waves of farewell, he followed Emilia out of the waiting room.
Her head remained lowered as they left.
"By the way, where's Roswaal?"
"Didn't he come with you?"
Walking beside Emilia through the dazzling palace corridor, Shiro curiously leaned over and looked behind her.
Roswaal, who should have been there, had disappeared after the meeting.
Remembering that contradictory man, Shiro could not shake the feeling that Roswaal had vanished somewhere to cause trouble.
"Eh?! R-Roswaal?"
Emilia, who had been walking with her head lowered as though lost in thought, jumped at Shiro's sudden question.
Her delicate body trembled, and she even took half a step backward.
Once she recovered, her cheeks reddened as she hurriedly answered—
"He said a noble invited him to visit their residence."
"He told us to return to the mansion first..."
"A noble still invited him over after what I did today?"
Shiro looked surprised.
"Which noble has that much courage?"
"Ah..."
Emilia froze.
"I think I forgot to ask..."
"Hmm?"
Shiro turned toward her suspiciously.
"Did something happen?"
"You seem kind of strange today."
Emilia could be a little airheaded about certain things, but she became unusually serious when major matters were involved.
A noble inviting Roswaal over at a time like this clearly suggested an intention to approach Emilia's camp.
Even if Emilia planned to reject their support, she should at least have asked who they were.
"No... Um... It's just..."
Under Shiro's gaze, Emilia intertwined her fingers and fidgeted for a long while.
Finally—As though gathering every ounce of courage she possessed—She suddenly bent deeply at the waist.
"I'm sorry!"
Her voice trembled.
"I said you were only acting as my knight temporarily to help me."
"But during the meeting, I made you do so many things for my sake."
"It's all because of me."
"Now those people hate you too..."
"Hmm?"
Shiro blinked.
"That's all?"
"It is not 'that's all'!"
Emilia immediately raised her voice.
"All of that was supposed to be my responsibility!"
"If anyone had to endure those hateful looks, it should've been me, right?"
"I had already made up my mind before coming here."
"But when it was finally my turn to speak, I realized all I could do was say pretty things."
"When it actually came time to act, all I did was make other people worry about me."
"So maybe I really am—"
"But it was a promise, wasn't it?"
Shiro interrupted her before she could continue tearing herself down.
"Before coming here, I promised Puck that I would temporarily act as your knight during the meeting."
"For a Spirit Arts User, promises are extremely important, right?"
"If I had refused to help when that happened..."
"Could I really claim I was keeping my promise?"
"But..."
"No buts."
Shiro cut her off again.
"If we only look at the result, this Royal Selection meeting ended pretty well for everyone."
"You successfully entered the Royal Selection."
"And I got the reward I wanted."
"So there's no reason for you to think you owe me anything."
He paused.
"If you absolutely have to do something just to make yourself feel better..."
"I'm getting tired of sandwiches and salads."
"I want something different for dinner tonight."
With that—Shiro raised one hand and lightly flicked Emilia on the forehead.
Then he turned around and continued walking.
Emilia remained standing where she was.
She covered her aching forehead with both hands and stared blankly at his retreating back.
…
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