23 A heart-to-heart talk with Reinhard
Once Roswaal's position as Emilia's backer was revealed, Mordred introduced himself fully to Roswaal. He also revealed his identity as the Sixth Royal Candidate. Roswaal asked who Felt that was present and her identity as a Royal Candidate was already revealed.
Following that Mordred recounted the events that happened along with Reinhard, leaving out the part in which Mordred recruited Elsa and Felt, and also not mentioning the moment in which Mordred protected Emilia from Elsa's surprise attack for now.
"I seee! Someone hired the Bowel Hunter and a thief to steal Emilia-sama's Royal Insignia and succeeded, that's a serious matter indeeeeed! And Mordred-sama was the one who helped her reclaim it before it was too laaate," Roswaal summarized in a melodic voice.
He then made a courteous bow in front of Mordred and continued, "Mordred-sama, I am incredibly grateful for your ~heeelp! It seems I owe you a looot!I'm afraid that without being able to reclaim the Royal Inside Emilia-sama's chances in the Royal Selection would be incredibly sliiim, let alone if she lost her life to the Bowel Hunteeer!"
"I'm just glad that Emilia is safe," Mordred replied with a light smile.
Roswaal's smile seemed to deepen. "Indeed, that's a relieeef. That being said, it was my failure to protect my liege. I will do my best to repay this deeeebt. If it isn't a problem, we can discuss things tomorrow in Emilia-sama's presence while I'm still in the capitaaaal."
"Then we can meet tomorrow," Mordred said.
"Great, then we will come tomorrow at noon! If things are really like you said, then I will definitely not be stingy, Mordred-samaaa! I don't want to owe any debts toward one of the Royal Candidaaaates."
"See you later, Ross-chi!" Subaru smiled.
After chatting for a while more, Roswaal soon leaped into the air with grace and flew away.
"Magic, huh…" Subaru muttered as he watched Roswaal's leaving figure.
'Well, I can't fly yet, but I can sprint through the air at a speed that breaks the sound barrier. That's pretty close, right?' Mordred also watched Roswaal fly away.
"Subaru, how exactly did you meet Lord Roswaal?" Reinhard asked the Japanese boy.
"I met Ross-chi on the way back after I was registered. We chatted for a bit and he later offered to test my Gate. He said that my talent for magic is really good. I have the shadow and light attributes," Subaru said.
"Yin and Yang attributes... That's amazing! Simply having one of the basic four attributes is good for a normal person, but having two of the special ones is incredibly rare." Reinhard smiled.
"That's what I've been told." Subaru calmly accepted Reinhard's praise.
Mordred faintly smiled. He was already aware of Subaru's talent for magic and dual attributes because he got someone to test him in the previous loops. Subaru's talent was exceptional, but it likely wasn't as incredible as he might think; with Subaru's currently nonexistent mana reserves he would be quite useless in combat for months or years to come, either way. With Yang magic Subaru can now repair broken items as a butler though…
Reinhard smiled. "At any rate, Subaru, you're a newcomer in Lugnica just like Mordred-sama. If you have nowhere to stay then I can offer you a place in the Astrea Manor as a guest for the time being."
"Thanks, Reinhard!" Subaru smiled.
Reinhard then began to converse with one of the servants that already waited for them at the side.
"Anyway, Felt-chan, will you be living here as well?" Subaru asked Felt with a friendly smile.
"Why do you care? And I don't want to be called a -chan by someone younger than me," Felt grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest with a slightly annoyed expression. She didn't like the look Subaru was sending her, and she didn't like younger boys.
"What do you mean younger? I'm seventeen! I'll be eighteen at the end of the year. Wait, how old are you?"
"Eeh? You're seventeen. You should live a life that shows more on your face then!"
"Hmm, I just look young. I was cute when I was a kid, but now it's biting me back. Anyway, how old are you, Felt? Don't tell me that you're actually 961 years old or something," Subaru said jokingly.
"What 961 years old? You really are a weirdo." Felt grumbled.
Mordred faintly smiled at the side. 'It seems like I'll need to do some plotting.'
Felt turned her eyes from Subaru to Mordred. "Who is he?"
"A strange guy I picked up on the streets," Mordred answered honestly with a light smile.
Subaru frowned. Mordred is not a good bro at all.
"You recruited him too?" Felt asked.
"No, I only recruit pretty girls," Mordred said jokingly, once again causing Felt's expression to heat up. He then suddenly moved his foot back just in time to dodge Felt's kick which she apparently aimed at his ankle. He frowned at Felt. "What was that?"
"Dunno. Felt like it," said Felt.
Subaru sighed. It was a parallel fantasy world, so there were many more other heroines waiting for him, right?
"Wait. What was that about recruiting pretty girls?" Subaru asked.
Around that time Reinhard returned and began to guide everyone toward their new lodgings while the group chatted on the way.
Subaru was naturally stunned when he found out that Mordred had already managed to gain the support of one of the other six candidates for the throne, the last missing candidate that he discovered; he also appeared incredibly jealous and disappointed that he missed all the action.
***
Once Mordred, Felt and Subaru all received their rooms, Reinhard visited Mordred's room at the latter's earlier invitation.
"Mordred-sama." Reinhard greeted as he courtly entered the room.
"Reinhard." Mordred lightly smiled and stood up from a desk. He motioned toward the bed. "You can sit down on the bed. I'd like to say to just call me Mordred and drop all the formalities, but I still need to care for my reputation."
"Yes, I understand. It also wouldn't sit well with me." Reinhard smiled as he walked deeper into the room.
Meanwhile Mordred turned his chair toward Reinhard and also sat down; he put his leg on the chair and his elbow on his knee, sitting casually. Once Reinhard was seated, he said, "Reinhard, I'm sure that you have many questions. I can answer a few of them, so just go ahead."
Reinhard straightened his posture. Having Mordred take control of the situation like this and also being so comfortable in his presence, put him slightly on edge. He sort-of felt like a kid having a serious talk with his father again. However, Mordred was clearly younger than him!
Reinhard coughed and faintly smiled. "Then if I may ask, Mordred-sama, when exactly did you come to Lugnica?"
"That would be today," Mordred said honestly.
"Today?" Disbelief was clearly visible on Reinhard's face. He coughed again. "That being said, you didn't know anything about Lugnica before you were teleported here from your continent, right?"
"Actually I did have some vague knowledge of Lugnica and your continent. I heard about this place, but I considered it nothing but fantasy before," said Mordred, letting Reinhard make his own guesses.
"I see…"
"I think I know what you're really trying to ask, Reinhard. You're asking how come that someone who just came to Lugnica has such thorough knowledge of everything that's happening and managed to accomplish what I did, right?" Mordred smiled.
A playful defeated smile appeared on Reinhard's lips. "You're right. I can't lie, accomplishing that much is very surprising for someone who came to Lugnica today, Mordred-sama."
"Yeah, I've quite outdone myself today." Mordred grinned playfully, exposing his sharp canines.
This day was quite fruitful. If apart from personally saving Emilia and indebting Roswaal, saving and manipulating Subaru, recruiting Felt, Old Man Rom and Elsa, gaining 10 Holy Coins and mastering his swordsmanship, Mordred also gained Reinhard and the Astrea family's backing on the very first day of transmigration in Lugnica, then that would just be like cheating!
Mordred then sighed. "Anyway, you're the guardian of this kingdom and my intuition tells me that I can trust you, so I guess I can tell you the truth."
Reinhard raised his eyebrows, clearly intrigued.
"One reason behind what I've done today is gathering intelligence. I went around various taverns and gathered information about Lugnica. This way I knew a lot about the current situation. I'm really good at gathering information, you see…" Mordred said, pausing for a moment. "But that's just a part of it, the main thing would be my intuition. Please keep it a secret, Reinhard, but I have a very powerful intuition. My ability could even be called predicting the future."
Once Reinhard spends enough time with Mordred, he would inevitably find that something is fishy and suspect him of the very same thing that Mordred just said, especially since Mordred planned to use his future knowledge and Return by Death well and have as many benefits as possible at any occasion. Giving a vague explanation like this to his likely future trusted retainer was nothing much in Mordred's eyes.
At that moment amazement could be seen in Reinhard's light blue eyes. As unlikely and powerful as Mordred's ability seemed to be, it was not impossible. Furthermore, Mordred was truthful and it would also explain things. Until this day there was no one who surprised him as much as Mordred.
"Of course, another matter is that I also made good use of my future sight and took some risks today. I basically knew that Emilia would die if I didn't help her, so I followed her, but recruiting both Felt and the Bowel Hunter were my own actions. Anyway, it won't be strange for me to often spin the situation in my favor in the future just like today, Reinhard." Mordred smiled.
After a long while Reinhard seemed to have accepted Mordred's explanation. "I see." After a moment he added, "And please don't worry, Mordred-sama, I won't tell anyone about your ability like you asked."
"Good. It would be best if people think that it's just luck…" Mordred said and paused for a moment. "Do you have any other questions?"
Reinhard's eyes locked on Mordred's again. Did he have questions? He had a lot, but when questioned like that the natural reaction is to struggle to come up with one. After thinking for a while, he asked the first question that came to his mind, "About what you told Felt-sama, Mordred-sama, do you really plan to help the commoners? How do you plan to go about it?"
Mordred smiled and then answered Reinhard's questions in full, telling him exactly what Reinhard wanted to hear and laying down a vague outline of his plans and things that he wanted to accomplish.
"...There will always be lower class and higher class, because people are not born equal in this world, but I want to give a chance to everyone who's willing to work hard, regardless of their background or race, to raise up and realize their potential or at least earn a decent living. As long as the King is strong, it would only strengthen the kingdom," Mordred finished.
Following Mordred's explanation, Reinhard went silent for a long time.
Meanwhile Mordred silently gazed at Reinhard who seemed to be in deep thought. Although he had a lot of plans to greatly improve the lives of the common people and he shared some of them with Reinhard, it was not because Mordred cared about them so much! In fact, inside his heart he planned to do all of it mainly for his own benefits, his authority, as well as a level of satisfaction.
As time passed Mordred also had various realizations and decided to greatly limit his help toward the masses. Among them, he realized just how small the world here was. Although Mordred talked about giving a chance to the talented commoners to become expert mages and knights, he wouldn't share power and knowledge indiscriminately and freely with everyone - they would all join the Royal Academy and serve the crown, meaning serve him!
However, despite all the selfishness and desire for control, Mordred still believed that he would be a good ruler in comparison to the other candidates, because he would actually be capable and make the kingdom prosper! And he wasn't a monster either. He disliked pointless cruelty and excessive tyranny. Mordred knew well that he definitely wasn't a saint or a perfect selfless king, but he believed that if the king can't even take care of his own needs and his own life, then he was just a tool and a fool!
'So what if someone like Emilia greatly cares about the kingdom and wants to make everyone equal when she has no abilities, character or even common sense to be a ruler at all! Not at this moment, at least... Father had both abilities and he cared about the people, but he didn't care about himself enough. Either way, others can put their moral superiority in their arsehole. I'll do whatever I want and accept the consequences,' Mordred thought in his heart.
After thinking all this, Mordred finally broke the silence. "Right, that was a long answer. Reinhard, I can answer one or two more of your questions, but then I need to go out to explore the capital and earn some money."
Reinhard looked at Mordred, being both awoken from his musings and intrigued.
"You probably find me suspicious, so ask away," Modred repeated.
"Right. Mordred-sama, I have one more question. You already decided to participate in the Royal Election. Don't you want to come back to your homeland? What about the kingdom of your father?" Reinhard asked.
Apart from it being suspicious that Mordred decided to become king on the same day he was teleported here and is already so determined, there could also be a chance that Mordred might one day want to come back to where he came from - how could such a person become the ruler of Lugnica.
Mordred let out a wry smile. After being silent for a few seconds, he said with a stern face, "The kingdom of my father hasn't existed for hundreds of years. And my father also died hundreds of years ago. There is nothing for me to come back for, Reinhard."
There's nothing for me to come back for. And my father also died hundreds of years ago…
After thinking about all this, Mordred couldn't help but have tears well up in his eyes and his expression contorted. Through light sobbing, he wiped his face, let out a sigh and slowly forced himself to calm down; it wasn't easy though as various emotions kept emerging in his heart.
"I… I'm sorry, Mordred-sama…" Reinhard appeared very troubled as he gesticulated with his hands in front of Mordred, uncertain what to do.
Mordred's expression soon calmed down and he smiled bitterly. 'How ridiculous. I don't even have memories of what happened back then…'
Mordred coughed. "Sorry you had to see this shameful display, Reinhard. Either way, there is nothing for me to come back for. It's complicated."
Mordred didn't plan any of it, and it was neither an act to play on Reinhard's emotions; he was simply overwhelmed by emotions at that moment.
"I see. I apologize for touching a sensitive topic, Mordred-sama. It was my mistake," Reinhard said humbly as he lowered his head.
"No, it's fine, don't worry about it. Whatever you're thinking though, I'm not a centuries old geezer." Mordred grinned.
Reinhard smiled. "I see."
"Do you have any more questions?" Mordred asked.
"No, I'm fine. Thank you for satisfying my curiosity, Mordred-sama. If I had any suspicions regarding you earlier, then they're all gone now." Reinhard smiled as he stood up from his seat.
Mordred also stood up. "Good. About what we talked about earlier today, I will await your decision. You can keep observing me and make your choice. As long as you don't support another candidate, that's also a win for me, right?"
Mordred smiled, but although he said that, he would be bitter as hell if for some arbitrary reason Reinhard decided to stay neutral!
Reinhard stood still upon hearing Mordred's words and looked at him for a while, his clear light-green eyes and a friendly smile. When talking with Mordred he felt as if he was in the presence of a close friend, yet he still held a great deal of respect for him; although Reinhard was aware that he was incredibly strong, he knew that he could never be like Mordred. Most importantly, Mordred's ideals and the strangeness of this entire situation…
"There's no need for that, I already made my decision," Reinhard suddenly said and then knelt on one knee. He placed his clenched fist near his heart and directed his bright crimson eyes up at Mordred. "Mordred-sama, please allow me to lend my strength to you and help you realize your plans and ideals. I'm not sure if I can live up to your expectations, but should you accept me as your knight, I swear to offer you my utmost support and help you to become the 42nd King of Lugnica!"
