The clearly agitated Beatrice wasn't expecting the two idiots to jump behind her and wrap their arms around her at the same time.
"EHHHHH?! WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING, I SUPPOSE?!" Beatrice shrieked as Emilia and Subaru held her in their arms.
"Beako is sooo cute!" Emilia cooed teasingly while Subaru rubbed his cheek against the spirit's.
"I'm sorry I didn't notice you being left out! I promise to give you more attention, Beako!"
"GET OFF OF ME BOTH OF YOU!" The poor loli tried to free herself from the cruel pair's arms.
Emilia and Subaru giggled childishly as they both held the girl tightly.
"I see you're all having fun."
The three occupants of the carriage looked up towards the speaker, finding a smiling gray-haired boy, looking inside of the carriage from the front.
"How're things going, Otto? We there yet?" Subaru asked lightly while standing up from his seat beside Emilia and his spirit.
The merchant smiled brightly, about to answer his best friend's question.
"Oi, Cap'n! Our trip is almost ov'r! Sorry to stop yer moment with yar lady and child." A blonde young man with sharp, beastly teeth smirked mischievously, pushing away a protesting Otto.
"What did you say?! How dare you call Betty a child, I suppose?!"
"I—It's not nice to tease people, Garfiel-kun!"
Ignoring the pouting ladies beside him —and trying to hide a blush of his own- Subaru coughed into his fist and grinned at his little brother.
"Thanks a bunch, Garf!"
The blonde tiger boy nodded and gave one last smirk towards his cap'n before closing the carriage's window.
Subaru glanced at the two ladies…
"Oh come on! I didn't do anything to deserve such looks!"
~~~~~Staaaaarreeeeeeeee~~~~~~
He was met with two angry-looking pouts from one half-elf and one spirit girl that was sitting on said elf's lap.
"You're a baaad knight, Subaru!"
"What a worthless contractor you are."
The boy could do nothing but fall to his knees in shock and despair.
"No…. Please…. I can still change!" Despite his desperate pleas, Subaru was only met with two 'Hmphs' as Emilia held Beatrice in her arms and turned her head away from the perv. Beatrice did the same, looking like a child who was imitating her mother.
Subaru could only fall to his knees and look at the floor in anguish. He had lost the respect of both the girl he loved and the little loli he cherished so much.
He trembled on the carriage floor for a second, seemingly containing the pain before holding his stomach as he fell into hysteric laughter.
Emilia and Beatrice looked down at the rolling boy with deadpan faces.
"Dummy."
"Useless, I suppose."
With fond smiles, the two ladies watched him roll on the floor because of his practical joke.
After a few seconds, Subaru calmed down and stood up with a confident grin on his face.
Emilia and Beako looked up at him, the former smiling back as if his confidence and joy were contagious to her own.
"It'll be fine, Emilia-tan." Subaru softly spoke with his charming grin in place. "We will meet with Anastasia-sama and get you that spirit stone. All we have to do after that is easy."
"What if they don't have that kind of stone we need-"
"Don't talk like that!" Subaru interrupted Emilia with a stern look. The half-elf smiled slightly as she watched her favorite antic in Subaru play right when she needed it.
"Puck is waiting for us, waiting for you. Anastasia-sama is no liar. Even though I don't know how she managed to find out we needed a stone like that. But she still knows how great of a spirit Puck is. So, she has to have a stone powerful enough with her. And if she decides to overcharge us…. "
Subaru stopped talking for a moment and looked at the closed carriage window… He turned back to the confused Emilia and Beatrice with a degenerate grin.
"That's why we have Otto with us." Subaru whispered to the two with a wink placed at the end for good measure.
Suddenly, the window opened up, startling everyone in the carriage.
A smug looking Otto pointed at Subaru confidently. "I heard that!"
"No, you didn't hear anything!" Subaru denied brashly, crossing his arms and looking away from his friend.
The merchant—turned—minister smirked darkly at Subaru and laughed. "You do know how useful I am!"
"No, we just brought you here to drive the carriage and have someone to keep Garf company, that's all." Subaru nodded his head, maintaining a stern gaze.
Otto didn't even bother listening to Subaru's denial as he held his head high. "If that's what Natsuki-san expects of his dearest friend, I'm willing to try my best."
Subaru shook his head but grinned fondly at the bantering merchant infront of him.
"Thanks a lot for your help, Otto-kun." Emilia gave a sweet smile filled with gratitude towards the merchant.
Otto blushed underneath the grateful gaze of Emilia's amethyst eyes. "O-Of course, Emilia-sama! I would always do my best to help your camp."
A black-haired boy growled childishly. His eyes filled with unbounded hatred and envy at the two's interaction. His fists trembling.
"Otto… You are my enemy now."
Emilia and Beatrice giggled as Otto blew a raspberry at the scowling Subaru.
"Cap'n!"
The atmosphere suddenly changed as Subaru quickly dropped his fake scowl and ran towards the window.
"What's going on out there, Garf?!" Shouting in distress, Subaru climbed out of the window with a sharp look on his face.
Emilia quickly clutched Beatrice tightly and held on to an armrest as the carriage suddenly stopped to a halt.
"KRAAAAAAAAAAA!" The black dragon pulling the carriage dug her legs into the dirt in an attempt to make a sudden stop and growled at something outside.
"S-Subaru! What's going on?!" Emilia shouted as she held on to the chair. The cart was suddenly filled with a bright light and a voice so loud and clear that it seemed to come from within her head.
Time, Sage candidate?
Is it really that time again?
"What…. "