Aftermath

Mordred's blood started gently sizzling and sinking as it made contact with the wound on Emilia's stomach. As it fell, it did not splash around or overflow, but, as if it had a mind of its own, seemed to enter the wound itself; perhaps because of Mordred's intention.

Mordred was losing blood rapidly, but the wound on Emilia's body also regenerated at great speed. Following that, as time passed the girl's face was also gradually regaining color as Mordred's blood seemed to seep into her body and enter her veins.

Reinhard at one point arrived next to Mordred, his eyes flashed as he observed Emilia and Mordred pouring his blood on her body, "It indeed is Emilia-sama. Mordred, what are you doing? How is she?"

"She must have been slashed by the Bowel Hunter and lost a lot of blood. I have the blood of a dragon in my veins, so it can help her recover," Mordred said, concentrating back on watching Emilia's face. Judging by the result, the effect was indeed what he hoped for.

If Mordred was looking at Reinhard at this moment then he would see his face flash with surprise again. Seeming to accept the answer without doubting, Reinhard said, "I see."

Reinhard squatted next to Mordred and continued observing Emilia. After a while he let out a breath of relief, "I'm relieved. Although we let the Bowel Hunter escape, we managed to save Emilia-sama. It was worth it."

"Yeah, she looks to be fine now, just unconscious…" Mordred hummed, saying absentmindedly. He then looked at Reinhard and pointed with his chin at Subaru, saying, "Reinhard, can you check that boy over there?"

"Alright." Reinhard said and then checked Subaru's body, soon saying solemnly, "He's dead. His belly was slashed open and he bled out to death."

'Dead? So Subaru really is dead and he doesn't have Return by Death…' Mordred subconsciously thought, somewhat surprised, but relieved in his heart at the same time; he thought that perhaps Subaru was also still alive despite seeming dead just like Emilia.

'Emilia is still alive, but Subaru seems to be dead for good… Is it because I'm the one that the Witch loves? But why? Why would she love me? Why not Subaru? Why is this world different? And why wasn't Emilia killed?' Mordred thought rapidly, having many doubts

Mordred simply couldn't imagine for what reason the Witch of Envy/Satella would summon him as a Semi-Heroic Spirit and then give him Return by Death, while not giving it to Subaru who was also here and who seemed to be so precious to her in the anime. But, was any of this even done by Satella?

Reinhard hummed and asked. "Mordred, may I ask why are you here anyway?"

After a moment's lag, Mordred glanced absentmindedly at Subaru and said, "This person's name is Subaru. We met briefly. He's the one that I was supposed to meet in the late evening."

Technically, it wasn't wrong; Mordred earlier told Reinhard that he wanted to meet with someone when he left the Astrea Manor.

"I see…" Reinhard said without doubting, his sight then returned to Emilia.

When it seemed that Emilia was fully healed, Mordred decided to stop transferring his blood, as he felt quite weak. He then looked at the shallow cut on his wrist that still remained and, as if by his command, his blood stopped flowing out and the small wound started mending; the cut made by Elsa on his upper arm had also healed by this time.

'That's the effect of my bloodline of a dragon, huh? It's basically like a healing potion,' Mordred thought to himself. However, the amount that he needed to consume to heal Emilia seemed to be large, while at the same time he now felt very weak and somewhat hungry.

Seeing nothing wrong with Emilia, Mordred stood up, leaving Emilia lying unconscious on the floor for the time being, looking down at the sleeping silver-haired girl. At that moment he suddenly staggered on his feet, feeling light-headed, and bent down to support himself with his hands on his knees.

"Mordred?" Reinhard called out as he moved in to support him.

"It's nothing. I'm just a little low on blood." Mordred shook his head, looking at Reinhard. "I should be fine soon."

"I see." Reinhard said, still choosing to support Mordred for a while with his arm.

"Emm, excuse me." A girl's voice was heard at this moment.

Looking over Reinhard and Mordred saw a short and slim teenage girl with blonde hair enter the building.

Mordred, naturally, could guess who that was. Apparently Felt was also alive.

"Who are you?" Reinhard asked.

"I…" Felt started, but then she appeared stunned as she looked at the two handsome boys standing next to each other and supporting one another. 'So good looking! And not only one, but there's two of them!'

After being stunned for a long while, Felt ignored Reinhard's question and took a few steps inside. Looking deeper into the building she saw something and her eyes opened wide as she murmured, "Old man Rom really is dead…"

"Old man!" Felt's eyes flashed with tears as she ran up to the corpse of the giant man. She squatted down in front of Old man Rom and grabbed his giant finger with his small hand, beginning to cry and lament.

Reinhard's expression turned pitying. For the time being he ignored the girl and allowed her to grieve by herself. Turning to Mordred, he said, "Anyway, Mordred. You should sit down, I have to send a message to call in some guards here. I'll be back in a moment."

"Sure. You got the insignia back?" Mordred asked.

"Yes, I have it right here." Reinhard showed a triangular object to Mordred, before leaving the building.

When Reinhard went out of the building, Mordred lightly squatted down and continued watching over the sleeping Emilia for a while. 'She's Emilia. I don't quite like her. But. She really looks like an angel…'

Mordred's sighed moved to Subaru's body, complicated emotions flickering across his face. Sighing, he thought, 'Anyway, Subaru really is dead, while the world continues. It seems like I was totally wrong in my assumption that I was summoned here by Satella only to protect him. Then could my other assumptions be incorrect as well? Was Subaru even summoned by Satella? Then what about me? How did I get here and why did the Witch choose me over Subaru?'

"Where do you think you're going?" Mordred suddenly asked coldly, looking at Felt.

Felt, who was about to sneak out from the building, jumped at the sudden question. Looking at Mordred who was slowly walking toward her, she said, "Why do you care? I just gotta go. This has nothing to do with me!"

"Really?" Mordred asked as he stood up and took a step toward her, raising his eyebrows. "So you're not the one who stole Emilia's insignia?"

Felt's face flashed with panic as she took a step back. She was ready to use her Divine Protection of Wind and make a run for it, but Mordred suddenly kicked off from the ground, shattering the wooden floor beneath him into pieces, and shot at her like a bullet, grasping her arm with his hand in the next moment while she was still hesitating.

A smirk appeared on Mordred's face. 'I have no technique in my swordsmanship, but the sheer power and speed of a Heroic Spirit is just monstrous, especially if I use mana…'

"Hey, let me go! You're hurting me! Let me go!" Felt kept yelling out while struggling to free herself. However, Mordred's grip was firm like iron.

"Felt, it's okay. You only need you to tell me how everything went," Mordred said, looking at Felt with a reassuring expression. He asked, "Who ordered you to steal Emilia's insignia?"

Felt appeared surprised that Mordred knew her name for a moment, but she knew that it wasn't very strange - she was an infamous theif after all with her own small reputation; Mordred knowing her name only meant bad news! She looked behind Mordred, seeing Emilia lying on the ground, she looked back and said stubbornly, "What insignia? I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Felt, I promise that I'll make sure you won't end up in prison. Just tell me what you know," Mordred said patiently. Truthfully, he already knew everything, but he still had to put up an act; he might even discover something new.

Felt staggered for a while, looking into Mordred's green eyes, before she finally said, "It's that woman you fought. That woman ordered me to steal it, I guess. But she didn't pay! She killed Old Man Rom and then tried to kill me, but I managed to escape."

Squinting his eyes, Mordred secretly thought, 'Felt managed to escape from Elsa? It's more like Elsa let her escape!'

Another thing was Emilia not being killed - Elsa could have easily killed Emilia, but apparently her order was not to kill her, but to gravely injure her and leave her like this as if to let him heal her!

Mordred knew well the truth that in the original story Elsa was actually hired for all of this by Roswaal who followed his gospel's instructions in order to make Subaru a tool that would help him in freeing his beloved Teacher - his aim was to make Subaru attached to Emilia and to bring him into his mansion.

Just as Mordred was pondering over the situation he saw that Reinhard had returned.

Reinhard glanced at the pouting Felt briefly, who was still held by Mordred, and then turned to Mordred, asking, "Mordred-sama, who is this girl? How is she related to this case?"

"She's the one who stole the insignia from Emilia," Mordred said honestly.

"Hey! Oniii-san, you promised to let me go! Damn you, liar!" Felt wriggled and kicked, but Mordred remained unmoved, only smiling at her gently.

Reinhard frowned, his expression solemn. "That's a grave crime indeed. Especially since people got killed and Emilia-sama also nearly died."

Felt's expression turned ghastly. She was done.

"Reinhard, she was only hired to steal the insignia and probably didn't even know what it was. She's doing her best to survive in her situation, please let her go," Mordred then said, looking at Reinhard.

Reinhard was surprised, while Felt stared at Reinhard with hope shining in her crimson eyes.

Mordred continued, "By the way. Is she some kind of missing royalty or something?"

"Royalty? What 'ya on about?" Felt asked puzzledly.

"Well, you're a little flat, but I think you would look well in a dress," Mordred added, smiling.

Felt's expression turned awkward and embarrassed, as she snorted indignantly. "Who are you calling flat, Onii-san?! I'm still growing, okay? And where are you looking anyway, pervert Onii-san?! Hmph."

While the two bantared Reinhard frowned, but a while later his expression flashed with surprise, before returning to normal. He said solemnly, "Thank you, Mordred. I would have missed it if not for you."

"Told you I have great instincts." Mordred grinned, looking at Reinhard. He totally didn't know that Felt was royalty purely because he watched the anime.

Reinhard squatted in front of Felt and quickly asked, "What is your name?"

"Huh? Felt-o…" Felt answered with a flat tone.

"And your family name? How old are you?" Reinhard questioned.

"I don't have anything fancy like a family name. And I'm about fifteen… I guess. I don't know my birthday," Felt answered.

"I see," Reinhard said and turned silent for a moment.

"Hey, you will let me go, right? Onii-san?" Felt asked Reinhard.

But Reinhard instead took out something from his pocket and showed it to Felt; it was the Royal Insignia.

"Felt, please show me your palm, " Reinhard said firmly.

Felt looked at the Royal Insignia and Reinhard for a long while, before she finally helplessly presented her palm, wearing a confused look.

Reinhard then placed the insignia on Felt's spread-out hand. Not a moment later, the insignia lit up with a red light, and Reinhard's eyes as well.

"Huh? What's the point of doing it? You'll let me go, right?" Felt asked, looking at Rainhard.

Reinhard's expression turned serious. He took the insignia and said, "Seeing how it's my day off, I could overlook your act of stealing the insignia, but I really cannot overlook the grave crime that has happened here."

Felt looked at Reinhard in anger, but Reinhard then raised his hand and caused her to faint.

After putting Felt down, Reinhard looked at Mordred and said, "I'm afraid that I cannot fulfill your request, Mordred. I won't punish her for stealing the insignia, but this girl indeed seems to be missing royalty. I need to bring her with me."

"Sure, you're welcome," Mordred said lightly. After a while, he added, "Seeing how the insignia lit up on her hand, she's one of the Royal Candidates for the throne, right?"

"So you know some things about the Royal Selection." Reinhard faintly smiled, looking deeply at Mordred. "That's true. This girl indeed seems to be one of the six Royal Candidates. I cannot thank you enough for helping me find her, Mordred."

Mordred blinked his eyes a few times. 'Six Royal Candidates?'

"Morded, can you hold it for a moment?" Reinhard stretched out his hand, handing Mordred the insignia.

Mordred received the insignia expressionlessly. As Mordred Pendragon he had royal blood and the blood of a dragon, so naturally there was a chance that the Royal Insignia might light up when he held it and he wanted to test himself just for kicks.

Except that originally Mordred thought that he would be an extra candidate if the Insignia acknowledged him, an anomaly that would only mess up the plot going forward and someone who is not fully eligible to compete for the throne, but Reinhard's words couldn't help but make him anxious and curious.

Reinhard was also curious and stared at the insignia intensely. However, his eyes dimmed when he saw that the insignia didn't react when Mordred held it.

Mordred hummed as he looked down at the insignia. With a crimson flash he replaced his casual clothes with his full plate armor along with his helmet, and then he called out to release the helmet.

A while later, as the helmet was fully gone and Mordred only had his body armor on, the small gem in the middle of the triangular insignia lit up with a red light.

"This!" Reinhard voiced out in surprise at the sudden change. A second later he looked at Mordred and focused his senses, his eyes widening again in realization.

Mordred hummed. He raised his eyebrows, looking at Reinhard, pursing his lips, he said, "Well, that complicates things."