This is about visiting a clown

12 September 423

I yawned a little as I continued to patiently wait for the carriage to arrive at my destination. The message I had sent to Roswaal about visiting his domain for a simple check up had been received and accepted without any unsavory requests from the Margrave, giving me the chance to finally see what kind of situation was really unfolding in his lands.

While the main story did a fine job describing how the guy was somewhat a benevolent ruler that didn't prey on the villagers within his rule, I really hadn't given much of a look to the ledgers of the villages within his territories. This was going to be a good way to see if the man was legitimately a good guy or not through the way he managed the tax money.

Because, despite how nice he might appear to others, any hints of misuse of the budget under his control would just fuel my suspicions of him approaching this matter rather dejectedly, as if he wanted to enjoy the fruits of his title and ignore most of the plight of the citizens working the land for him. I had to keep careful regardless of the fact I needed to speak with Subaru, approach Emilia and Ram… maybe even steal a quick conversation with Puck about protecting his 'daughter' from any attempts of manipulation.

I was tempted to also approach Beatrice, but I really didn't have much to say or offer without getting murdered, no matter my current standing in the kingdom. The blonde was a calm spirit, but one that tended to snap in ferocious frenzies with anyone that could have 'lied' about the true purpose of her last directive.

Echidna's greatest prank, and perhaps one of the most cruel one. I had the chance to speak about this with Edna. After months of keeping her entertained whenever possible by sleeping outside the castle for routine patrols around the surroundings of the castle, the girl had grown to become fairly trustworthy of me and… I was glad that she managed to recover after the last fiasco we had with Ivan.

One thing was to keep her from snapping and making some mistaken decisions, another was making sure the fragment's very emotions weren't tainted by the experience itself. I decided to bring books, to entertain her with fairy tales from back home, and I would endear her with some simple discussions about mundane topics. It might seem little, but I had to keep her busy… from thinking about bad things.

She saw my efforts, going as far as calling those 'pointless'

I allowed a sigh out as I could finally see we were getting close enough to the manor, my hands still resting on the fur ball currently staring dully at me from my lap. Majima blinked just once, noticing the little relief appearing in my face and realizing what we were finally there.

"Are you sure I can't… eat the cat?"

My eyes slowly turned to regard her, annoyance flashing quite easily out of my gaze as this wasn't the first time she asked me this. Nor the tenth.

"You are not allowed to inflict any harm to members of our host's entourage."

"What if it's just chasing? I can promise I will not hurt him. Willingly. And not too much."

"I'm going to ignore what you had just said," I flatly commented, gaining a quick whine from the irked pup. The girl's anger was easy to defeat through some belly-rubbing, the little leg thing she would do when she was satisfied by this kind of affection making me chuckle as usual and almost having me miss the rider of the chariot calling out that we were finally here.

Pulling Majima in my arms, I proceeded to disembark from the vehicle, giving a quick look around the modest garden between the external gates' entrance and the front door. My sight was, obviously, stolen away when I finally noticed the greeting party waiting for us, but I was surprised when I saw that it wasn't limited to just the two twin maids. No, I was regaled by the two Oni sisters, an uneasy-looking Subaru that was trying to bow respectfully while also stealing glances in my general directions and...

Emilia looked absolutely nervous. I was really not expecting her to muster enough courage to greet me at the gates, knowing from last time I saw her that she had a little bit of an admiration aimed right at me. It was odd to imagine that there was something that tied us… but I wasn't going to refuse the duty that is to protect the little family I had here. Even if that family was only tied to me only by a culture-based bond.

"Lady Emilia, I'm glad to see you after so long."

"Lord Bukharin," She returned with a slow nod. "I… I wish to thank you for your part in recovering my insignia. Your intervention was… noteworthy, and I will not forget your assistance."

My surprise doubled at that response, since I was quite sure I had taken all necessary steps needed to prevent the spread of my 'part' in that recovery operation. Rom and Felt had been more than happy to keep quiet about this since the moment they spoke of my involvement they would also have to bring up why they were implied on the matter. So the only person that could have spoken up about this very instance was… a certain NEET I was now regarding with a brief frown.

The young man had the decency to tense up at my stare, knowing that it wasn't something nice to do when I remember telling him to not do that. Especially about him telling someone like the owner of the object of my presence on the matter.

This will easily be a topic for our upcoming private discussion for sure.

"None of that, Lady Emilia. It's only the duty of a Servant of this Kingdom to make sure the rules are applied correctly," I replied kindly, drawing a curious look out of the half-elf. "The fact your insignia was stolen was indeed tragic, and it was only a must for me to intervene for it to be returned to you. I will be presiding the Election after all, and I have to make sure everyone has a chance to at least stand up on their legs."

Accepting her relieved look, I was about to continue when a voice quipped in about this.

"Election?"

I calmly glanced at Subaru, the Japanese youth looking incredibly confused about this very interesting topic. At this very point, he should be completely clueless about the Royal Election, what was Emilia's role in it, and why the recovery of the insignia was much more important than just returning a girl a fancy-looking accessory.

"The Royal Election is a current political event in Lugnica. Once the final candidate to our reign is found, there is going to be an election hosted by the Council of Sages to decide who will be the next King of this country."

…

"What?"

I sighed. "Perhaps if I said that it's similar to the Regency Council for Toyotomi Hideyori, minus the all in battle between the elders to take over, resulting in the Tokugawa Shogunate."

His jaws dropped at that, but he finally realized what I was intending with the Royal Election. With that issue solved and ignoring a couple of questioning looks about the terms I had just used, Ram finally decided to spearhead the entourage towards the open doors of the manor. I had to meet with Roswaal first before I had the chance of handling the situation about Subaru.

I was going to be quick with that conversation since the chances of the Margrave to employ Rem to spy on us were pretty high, and while the seals I had prepared for the occasion would turn the noises coming from the room silent to those eavesdropping from beyond the doors… well, I needed to be careful nonetheless.

Sparing just a glance towards Ram, I knew that speaking to her now could ruin the chances of keeping her as a secret ally during my single-day stay in this place. If something bad was going to be aimed at me, I needed the girl to be as friendly as she was now and provide me with info in case her boss decided to 'test' me for some obscure reason.

The rest of my attention was mostly aimed at Emilia. The girl tried to not look back at me as she was standing in front of me as we moved to where Roswaal was waiting. I really was feeling unsure how to tackle this without making it too weird or too public to the others. I kept quiet about it, masking my glances in her general direction as a product of my efforts to keep Majima under control as she really wanted to jump at the cheeky floating cat hovering above our heads.

I might not have any issues stopping the pup from making things a mess, but I would have expected for Puck to be less annoying in poking and teasing at my familiar. Part of me just wanted to let go of the irked mutt and see how quickly that smug would have evaporated in having a stronger monster than him after his ass for a quick bite.

Despite this really irritating issue, the walk around the mansion eventually ended uneventfully when we finally arrived at a small dining room, right where the Margrave was waiting for us. The lengthy table was mostly filled with documents that I could tell were all tied to the administration of taxes, workplaces and other economic-related instances within the man's domain. And yes Roswaal looked as clowny as I could have expected him to appear to be in this very circumstance.

If there is something that generally upset me were clowns. Not because I hate them or anything like that… I just hated the ones that try to make their face-paint pass as a joyful mask to wear on at work, when the truth was more sinister and generally more murderous than that. And I knew this applied to Roswaal since his mask was thicker and bigger than just that poor-excuse for a make-up.

"Lord Buukharin, it's bee-en a while. I almost feel ashaaamed that we couldn't just… greeet each other before now."

"I blame the contrasting schedule, Lord Mathers. I'm glad we finally ended up meeting each other," I faked a calm tone as I regarded the man. "I heard many good things about you.

"I'm haaappy then."

And I think I'm going to hate my existence if this is going to be the kind of 'accent' I'm going to listen a lot about for the next few hours. I've endured a lot, but this was definitely shaping to be one of those situations where I have to pay the greatest prices ever after I entered this world.

Much to my growing displeasure, Roswaal took a unique brand of amusement as we sat down to check on the papers for a couple of hours. Ram would be the only one in the room, beyond us two men and Emilia, the girl taking a seat and following up the situation for about two hours. Either boredom, or the fact that she had to feel incredibly awkward in having nothing to bring up to the table.

I managed to endure and live through that torture in disguise, being granted relief only at the thought that, despite my worst expectations, things seemed to be in check. Tax was well-managed, the villages were supported properly and… yeah, everything was fine from an early look.

I doubted that everything had been listed, but I was willing to accept this as a good beginning for a moment of cooperation. The least he was suspecting of any connection I might have with his master, further lessening the chances of him plotting against me. Maiima happily showed her fierce loyalty by instantly falling asleep by the very moment I sat down to begin studying the documents, leaving me even more lonely with that creepy anime Michael Jackson.

But for now, the paperwork I had to handle was more than enough of a plot on itself against my sanity, and I had to survive it again when Ram was 'kind' enough to bring a couple more documents at the table. She sure was a cute maid.

Excusing myself once I was done checking the proper documentation prepared by the lord of the house, I decided it was about time to address the main reason why I was here in this place. Once I was analyzing the paperwork, I proceeded to make my way to where Barusu was meant to be at the moment, right where his room was.

I managed to trace my steps back to where it was, pausing for just a moment to knock at his door. There was a brief pause, and I gave him to react to the sudden action with a well-pondered response.

"You may enter!"

His voice was loud enough to almost break through the doors, but I knew better than panicking and expecting it to be a sign of him dying for some reason. In fact, when I entered inside, I found him indeed dying by his desk, with ink dripping down his half-lifted pen. Was he trying to study how to write and read the Lugnican Language?

As I noticed this, I couldn't help but be reminded of the way I already knew how to do both thanks to the very magic used to summon me in this world. I had long rationalized that the reason why this was the case was mostly tied to the fact Subaru was 'taken away' from his original universe, while I was 'summoned' from mine.

The major reason why this is important is that an interdimensional summoning of this caliber works similarly to a familiar ritual bond, one that would require the familiar to understand and elaborate thoughts in that very language. The summoning tied me to this universe, specifically with a focus on Lugnica itself. Subaru's only anchor to this world was… not the same as mine.

I wasn't sure exactly what tied him to seamlessly into this dimension despite the fact he hadn't been summoned properly, but I was quite sure it was somehow connected to his relation with Flugel. Maybe I was stretching a little bit since it was never elaborate much what kind of line tied both individuals together in the greater scheme of things.

"O-Oh, it's… you, Lord Bukharin."

"Please, call me John, Mr. Natsuki," I replied with a nod. "Also, if it's not asking too much, would you mind if I put a couple of things to make this conversation private? I believe you have questions that need answers."

He nodded, standing up from his chair as I placed down the magical seal I had been hiding away in my right palm. There was a faint light coming from the light-violet drawing, and I knew it meant I could now speak freely regardless of the question and without wearing anyone listening to us.

"Y-yeah, I believe you have been taken into this world… from the same world as min?"

"I can assure you that the situation is a little bit more complicated than that," I replied with a sigh. "Our worlds share similarities, but I'm quite certain that we didn't come off from the same dimension.

"Oh."

"But that doesn't mean that I don't know a lot about your situation, and can offer you a chance to break this curse if you follow what I will say from time to time."

The young man gave a slow nod. "What do you mean with 'following you'?"

"I know things that can spare you a lot of trouble. Even now that you have been granted such a powerful authority in the form of Return By Death, you shouldn't rely too much on that tool you got. It's a double-edged weapon.

"You… You know that I can-"

"Loop after dying? Yes," I replied with a little hint of annoyance. "Thing is that I got killed and looped back to the moment you perished the first time around."

"I… Oh, but why?"

"Let's just say that I know who is behind this, and I can assure you that I'm working on the situation myself," I replied, carefully bringing out who had caused his RbB situation since that would have really made things awkward for me. If he couldn't keep a secret to Emilia about that blasted insignia, then I didn't trust him with info that didn't directly threaten him if those were to come out of his mouth. "Still, I would suggest for you to not abuse this System. There is a big catch to the ability that is tied to your sanity."

"How so?"

"You die, you remember what kind of death got you back to the loop's start. You can't just ignore the sensation of being mauled by a monster, or being cleaved by a vampire-like being with a kink for guts."

He flinched at the indirect comment about Elsa, his hands instinctively moving to cover his stomach as only now the young man remembered of that unpleasant first death of his. PTSD, albeit limited at the moment, was evident in his eyes and twitchy mouth.

"B-But how does this work exactly? I mean, I understand that I die and then I loop back but-"

"It's a little more than just that," I admitted tensely. "The loop you feel is more than just a loop. What happens is that your consciousness is sent back to an earlier point of your adventure- kind of like how in some games when you die in the middle of the stage, you end up resurrected to a previous section of the stage where you have to go through part of the level to return to where you die. And maybe win."

"So it's like an… RPG?"

I feel a disturbance in the NEETness.

"Fantasy-wise? Kind of. For the rest there is no turn-based fighting, most of the more powerful spells are tied to the Witches. There are some cool ones and, if you have good gates and a balance-focused, you can make for some interesting combo if you know how to play around simple ones.

"I will give it a look then."

I nodded, knowing that Barusu needed all help possible and even more than just that. The conversation didn't continue much further. I explained to him what the Archbishops were, how they operated and, in the case Betelgeuse came around and made trouble, he knew how to handle him properly thanks to magic itself. With that visit over, I proceeded to make my way out of his room and back to my temporary guest room. I had much to think about before dinnertime, and I knew I couldn't give out any suspicious activity while I was here.

I closed the door behind myself, taking a few steps towards where my destination was, Majima letting out a yawn as she happily slept in my hold as I really tried to push away the thoughts of falling asleep with what I was feeling through the bond. If the pup ever got sick, upset or even tired, I was feeling this cocktail of emotions onto my poor brain.

So, right now I was kind of craving for a power-nap to get through this visit without feeling a single ounce of genuine tiredness. And I would soon discover fate had other plans for me as I spotted a familiar individual coming from the opposite direction.

Emilia looked particularly surprised when she first saw me, and the moment she began approaching, I knew that I wasn't going to avoid a conversation with the awkward half-elf."

"Lord Bukharin."

I nodded. "Lady Emilia. I hope my visit isn't causing any trouble with your usual schedule."

The girl blinked, caught off-guard by that slight concern coming from me. "I… what?"

"My visit. I hope it isn't causing you to lose some of the important activities you would usually do if there are no guests around to disturb your busy time."

"N-No. Of course not."

I sighed, knowing that I couldn't exactly force her to answer truthfully. I could tell that my presence here and now had put her in a rather curious disposition where she couldn't exactly go through her daily actions without feeling judged by me now that I was spending the night in this manor.

"I'm glad to hear that. Still, I suppose you have your own businesses to attend. I was thinking of spending some time resting in the guest room until dinnertime," I added with a quiet hum. My pause ended as I offered a slight wave with my right hand and… then she stopped me with a loud response.

"I-I really want to change the world!" The young woman proclaimed, turning around and regarding my surprised look with a serious one. "I will not surrender against Prince Fourier. I will fight to the very end to- to prove that I'm not her. That I'm not just… a copy of that horrible person. I want to help people, but… at the same time, not be judged."

…

"Then do fight," I pointed out seriously. "If you feel this way- if you believe the words that you are telling me right now, then fight and give your best. If your mind is set on this task, if your ideals are sharp enough to hold and protect your stance on the world, then you will find things much easier than right now. Fight and prosper, Lady Emilia."

I couldn't tell her to go and win, because I knew that she was going to lose. No matter the effort, the truth was evident at this point but… Emilia really didn't see up to throw the towel just yet. At least, not without a serious fight on her. She had to fight… for more than just simple recognition. And I was surprised that she was so highly-mature considering how tense of a topic this all was.

"I… Thanks?"

I nodded. "Prego."

Her mouth opened, her mind trying to come up with a response to that Italian counter akin to 'You are welcome', with me resuming my walk back to my room. I wasn't around when Emilia realized what had just happened and… what kind of thoughts and reaction she had over the fact there was a 'possible family' from this critically-stretched familial bond we had, but there was one thing certain now.

Now Emi-tan has all reasons to stalk me around to get some proper answers about how it was possible that I knew Italian, and why I knew that she was going to have a big reaction to hearing it.