Chapter 6. Ruler Class Card

Orion faintly raised his eyebrows after seeing Reinhard's attitude toward him, then said, "... My name is Orion."

"Orion…" Reinhard muttered. After arriving in front of Orion, he stared at him, then said, "There is a small chance I'm right, but can you please give me your hand?"

"My hand?" Orion asked.

Subaru also raised his eyebrows at the strange request.

"I only need you to hold something for a moment." After speaking, Reinhard pulled out a small triangular badge with a red gem in the middle from one of his pockets.

'This?... Is this not just like the insignia?' Orion raised his eyebrows in surprise.

The thing he saw reminded him of the Royal Insignia that Felt stole from Emilia.

Reinhard continued, "Can you please place it on your hand for a moment?"

Orion faced a small wry smile as he looked back at Reinhard, because despite the knight's words being very polite, his tone was rather forceful.

Not planning to make any problems, he simply stretched out his hand.

Reinhard then gently placed the triangular badge on top of Orion's palm.

And in the next moment, the little gem in the middle of the insignia began to emit a small yet clearly visible beaming red light.

Reinhard's eyes widened in shock at this sight.

Behind him, Emilia said in a surprised voice, "This… How is this possible?"

Meanwhile Subaru tilted his head to the side, puzzled. 'What is this about?' 

"As I thought," Reinhard said in a serious tone. He gently picked up the insignia with his fingers, looked at Orion and said, "Orion-sama, I will need you to come with me."

"..." Orion was silent.

The Insignia that seemed to be the one to select Royal Candidates for the throne shone in his palm.

Was it because of Mordred's Dragon or Royal blood? Or was it because of the Holy Grail?

These were his most likely guesses.

However, was he a fated male candidate in this world or is he a fake? After all, to his knowledge, the Five Royal Candidates should be women in the original Re Zero World.

'Is it an alternate universe? Was I summoned with some kind of purpose to this world?' Orion thought, feeling a bit floored by the development.

"Hey, what is this about?" Subaru asked.

As if also being equally confused, Emilia spoke up, "Reinhard-san, what does it mean? Weren't the Five Royal Candidates all supposed to be girls?"

Reinhard faintly smiled as he looked at Emilia. "To be honest, Emilia-sama, I am also surprised. However, there is no absolute rule saying that the Royal Candidates have to be female."

"There isn't?"

"Emilia-sama, the prophecy of the Dragon Tablet said this: five Royal Candidates will be found across the kingdom and the winning candidate will become a Dragon Maiden who will renew the contract with the Divine Dragon. But it was never strictly said that the candidates will all be female, isn't that right?"

"But… A Dragon Maiden… Has to be a girl, no?" Emilia said.

Reinhard slowly shook his head and thoughtfully explained , "To my knowledge, the first and only Dragon Maiden four hundred years ago happened to be a female, but the fact is that we just don't know if only females can become a 'Dragon Maiden'. In the end, the Dragon Jewel had chosen Orion-sama, so there is no need to doubt the legitimacy of his candidacy."

"Hmmm… I understand," Emilia said, then appraised Orion with a curious gaze.

"Hey, Orion, are you sure you're a man?" Puck spoke up at this moment.

Orion frowned at the little when he heard this. "How do you think I should prove it to you?!"

Puck chuckled. "Haha! Okay, nevermind, I don't want to see the proof!"

Orion showed an awkward expression.

There was a moment of silence.

Soon enough, Emilia's complexion heated up as she finally realized what 'proof' the two were talking about.

Cough, cough.

At this moment, Subaru coughed twice and spoke up, "Sorry, but I feel a bit left out of the conversation. What are you people talking about? What's that Royal Election stuff? And what's a Dragon Maiden?"

At this, everyone looked toward Subaru.

Being silent for a moment, Reinhard said, "By the way, are you two tourists? You wear quite unique clothing."

"Well…" Subaru started, but then stopped as he glanced at Orion with a nervous expression.

Since they were illegal immigrants, they already knew that immigrants are not welcome in the kingdom at this time.

Reinhard noted Subaru's expression and looked at Orion.

Feeling Reinhard's intense gaze, Orion replied honestly, "Yes, we are tourists. We arrived in Lugnica just today."

"I see. However, Orion-sama, you should be aware of the state that Lugnica is in, I believe," Reinhard said.

"Well, we do know roughly… But can you explain in more detail?" Orion replied.

Reinhard looked around the area, taking note of the three thugs, the two foreigners, Emilia and the floating cat, then finally said, "As you wish, Orion-sama. Then allow me to explain."

At this, Subaru listened in.

Reinhard said, "As you probably already know, about a year ago the Royal Family of Lugnica fell victim to a mysterious disease that caused all of its members to face demise."

"Ah, yes, we totally knew that!" Subaru spoke up, waving his hand with an awkward smile.

Reinhard ignored it and continued, "Following that, the prophetic Dragon Tablet told of five candidats, referred as dragon priestesses*, who were to be found across the kingdom. Their candidacy would be confirmed through the use of the Dragon Jewels, gemstones contained within insignias which would gleam in the hands of a potential Dragon Maiden."

"I see. So… Orionza is a Dragon Maiden?... Ha. Hahaahaha!" Subaru said and bursted into laughter as he looked at Orion.

Orion forced an awkward smile.

"Hahaha! A Dragon Maiden! This is too funny!" Subaru laughed hard. Then when he saw Orion's awkward expression, he laughed even harder. "Hahahha! I can't! A Dragon Maiden!!!"

Subaru was laughing his ass off.

However, no one else among the other people present laughed.

The three thugs gathered together and remained completely silent to not arouse anyone's attention or anger.

What the hell did they get involved in? They tried to rob a freaking Royal Candidate with strange powers! And they even bumped into a Spirit Arts user and the Sword Saint!!!

All of them wanted to make themselves as little as possible or straight out disappear from that place, but they did not want to annoy anyone by trying to sneak away.

Meanwhile Emilia's face was serious as she was observing Orion, her future rival.

Reinhard was also very serious, since finding the last Royal Candidate was not a laughing matter at all, no matter the circumstances.

On the other hand, Puck was not included among these 'people'. He also laughed and enjoyed himself at Orion's expense as he landed on top of Subaru's shoulder and started cracking jokes together with him.

As all of this was happening, Orion wanted to laugh it off, but he couldn't because he just received a very serious notification.

[You received a bonus mission!]

[Bonus mission: The King (special)]

[Goal: Become the next king of Lugnica.]

[Current objective: Become an official Royal Candidate.]

[Reward: Ruler Class Card (random), Ruler Class Unlock. King Status.]

[Bonus reward: Undecided (calculated depending on your reputation, performance, achievements and the subjects' opinion of you).]

'Ruler Class Card? And a bonus reward?' Orion's expression was solemn as he completely ignored the two jackasses making fun of him.

This bonus mission was serious business! Completely on another level than the mission that asked him to defeat the three robbers.

In proportion to that, the reward also seemed sweet.

'A Ruler Class unlock? It means I would be able to merge with an additional Heroic Spirit apart from the Seven Main Classes if I complete it, huh?'

Seeing Orion's serious face, Reinhard cleared his throat.

And at this moment, as if affected by a spell, Subaru and Puck suddenly stopped laughing, and everyone looked at Reinhard.

Reinhard felt satisfied with that. His <Divine Protection of Getting Everyone's Attention> proved to be quite handy at this time!

As the laughter quietened down, Reinhard took a step closer to Orion, placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "Orion-sama, I will need you to come with me now to confirm the situation."

"..." Orion was silent and did not immediately reply.

"Since you're new to the capital, you're welcome to stay in the Astrea manor as well for the time being, Orion-sama," Reinhard continued. He then noted Subaru, who seemed to be quite close to Orion by the look of it, and added, "Your companion is welcome as well."

Orion was silent for a moment, then said, "I understand. But I already promised Miss Emilia here to help her with something, so I'll have to do that first."

Reinhard raised his eyebrows and followed Orion's gaze to look at Emilia.

Emilia waved her hand at this. "No, it's alright! You already helped me a lot, Orion-san. Thank you. I now know where I can find the thief."

"The thief?" Reinhard asked curiously, no one in particular.

Orion slightly smiled at Emilia and said, "It isn't a problem. I already promised I'll help you, so let's just go together."

"There's no need. Really!" said Emilia. She then looked down at the dwarf person. "You'll lead me there, right?"

As Emilia looked down at the dwarf robber, the man fearfully replied, "Y-yes! I'll show you the place!"

"Alright." Emilia slowly nodded, before clasping her hands and politely bowing before Orion. "Thank you again for your help, Orion-san. And… Um…"

Emilia cut her words as he looked at Subaru.

At this, Subaru struck out a pose and shot out his finger to the sky. "My name is Natsuki Subaru! A clueless guy in this mysterious world!"

"Um, thank you too, Subaru," Emilia finished, also making a small bow. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Reinhard, and everyone. I need to hurry and leave."

She then sent a glance at the dwarf thug, who sprung out of his spot to seemingly begin leading the way to the loot house.

As Emilia took a few steps, with Puck returning into her hair, Orion spoke up after her, "Wait. We'll come with you."

Emilia wrinkled her eyebrows as she looked back at him. "I already said there's no need. I can find the thief by myself now."

"I know you can, but just bring us with you," Orion said.

He remained persistent.

Since if Emilie really went by herself to the loot house, she would simply die!

And he would fail in his quest, making all of his efforts so far pointless.

Emilia's frown deepened as she appeared straight-out annoyed. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "I don't really get it. I told you there's nothing in it for you. In fact, I'm now your rival, so you shouldn't be helping me. Most importantly, I don't need your help. I can handle things myself now. So why do you want to come with me so much? Is it because you made a promise? If that's the case, then you don't need to worry about it. You already have a place to stay thanks to Reinhard, so I can't help you. We are now even. No, actually, you went out of your way to help me, so I owe you a favor! But I'm in a hurry now, so I can't repay you. I'll do it later. Sorry, but I really need to go now."

"..." Orion was silent after hearing this for a moment. From an outsider's perspective he would indeed seem quite too persistent and pushy.

However, she did talk a lot…

At this moment, Subaru spoke up, "Well… Isn't it obvious? Why we want to help you?"

Everyone looked at him, including Emilia, somewhat curious what that 'obvious reason' was.

"It's because…" Subaru made a dramatic pause, then said, "-you're super pretty!"

"..." Emilia was silent. Before an awkward and slightly embarrassed expression appeared on her face. She then slowly looked at Orion, her pale complexion colored pink as she seemed to begin thinking of something.

And, in turn, Orion also felt awkward and embarrassed as he looked back at Emilia staring at him.

It was weird because it was Subaru who had spoken up, but Subaru was just smiling in bliss, somehow causing Orion to feel embarrassed instead.

Meanwhile Subaru thought, feeling a bit weird, 'It's me who complimented her, so why is she not looking at me?'

Orion cleared his throat and said, "Emilia… Let's just say this. I have a strong intuition. If you go alone, you might be in danger."

"Huh?" Emilia raised her eyebrows as he was awakened from her previous state, pushing away the useless thoughts.

"In fact, you might even die," Orion added, trying to make the situation seem serious.

Emilia was silent.

"Emilia-sama, Orion-sama, what is this about?" Reinhard asked.

Once again, Emilia was silent.

"Ah, there was a thief that stole something precious from Emilia," Subaru said.

And then he immediately placed his hands on his mouth as he realized his mistake. 'Damn, I forgot that she didn't want it to be revealed to Reinhard! Loud mouth leads to trouble, damn it!'

"Stole something? What was stolen from you, Emilia-sama?" Reinhard asked.

Emilia hesitated for a few moments as she stayed silent, then eventually let out a helpless sigh and said, "It's my insignia that was stolen."

Reinhard remained expressionless for a brief moment, before his eyes widened. "Your insignia? Do you mean the Royal Insignia?"

Emilia let out a sigh once again and nodded her head in defeat, saying, "Yes. It was my Royal Insignia."

'A Royal Insignia? It sounds like a big deal. It seemed that she did not want it to be revealed, but still did not lie. Is she the truthful type that cannot lie?' Subaru thought.

In turn, Reinhard showed a stern expression. "If your Royal Insignia was stolen, then it's a serious matter, Emilia-sama. Since Orion-sama is involved, allow me to help you as well."

Hearing this, Emilia sighed for upteempth time.

If it was revealed to the public that she had her proof of candidacy stolen, then her reputation as a Royal Candidate would sink to the very bottom and her chances of winning the election would be little. At least, that's what Roswaal had warned her about.

But now both Reinhard and another Royal Candidate, Orion, knew about it, along with four other random people!

Now that she thought about it, why did she tell the truth?!

'Stupid, stupid Emilia!' Emilia bashed herself inwardly, wanting to hit her head with her palm, but holding back due to her desire to maintain her demeanor.

Unaware of Emilia's internal struggles, Reinhard said, "Emilia-sama, if what you said is true, then there is no time to waste. Let us go and retrieve your insignia."

Meanwhile Orion's eyes secretly glinted. Good. His candidacy was an unexpected event, but everything else was happening exactly according to plan.

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///(AN: To my knowledge, in Japanese 'Dragon Priestess' does not have a defined gender. Dragon 'Priest' and Dragon 'Priestess' use the very same word and it does not imply gender, unlike in English. For Dragon Maiden, 'Maiden' obviously has a feminine connotations, but the Dragon Jewel choosing Orion is an undeniable fact and logically takes precedence, making it appear in Reinhard's eyes that he's the last and fifth Royal Candidate that Reinhard has been search for so long; there is no hard rule saying that he cannot become a 'Dragon Maiden' as man, even if it feels weird, I feel. Well, I feel it's pretty amusing how there's no need for forced AU changes here.)///