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Chapter 11: Observing introductionsNotes:

Option "A" from last chapter´s poll has won again! Well my question was also really stupid so I should have expected that outcome.

Enjoy a lot of different requested POV´s in the next few chapters after this one.

Also over 2000 Hits!!!!!! Wow! I am stunned. When I started writing 11 days ago I would have never imagined that we would get there so soon. Much love <3

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 11

One of them was wearing a stylized military dress and carried herself with the dignity of a commanding officer. This was probably Crusch Karsten who was known for her military prowess and many victories on the field. Not that she could hold a candle to Tanya´s career of course.

At the side and as far from the other candidates as possible stood the silver-haired girl who Tanya had already met in the alleyway. Her distant behaviour was odd, but she seemed very timid in shy in general so maybe she had a sociophobia? If so then she would make for a terrible ruler.

The last two girls were harder to identify. One of them had to be Priscilla and the other was Anastasia. Just who was who was pretty difficult to say. If Tanya had to guess then the girl in the red dress was Priscilla purely from how pompous and expensive it looked.

She made sure to commit all their faces and body proportions to memory in order to accurately create illusions of them later. Impersonating her competitors could come in handy.

After a small commotion involving the ladies respective knights the council of wise men finally entered and took their seats on the podium.

"Now that all five dragon maidens are present the royal selection can commence."

"Excuse me, but I believe somebody is missing? I can only count four here." exclaimed Anastasia.

"The fifth candidate has asked not to be revealed just yet. Do not worry, she is apparently watching."

That caused some murmurs in the crowd and many were turning around as if they would suddenly spot the mysterious woman who hid herself in plain view.

Getting the attention of the spectators back, one elder (that Tanya identified as Lord Miklotov from her reports) spoke again:

"Do you all know why you are here?"

"Yes, Lord Miklotov." said Crusch and Tanya mentally patted herself on the back for guessing correctly.

"To participate in a drinking party that will strengthen our bonds and deepen our understanding of each other."

"No, that is not correct."

Of course not! Was Crush blind? There were no tables in sight that could be used for such an occasion. Also, why would the nobles be there if that was the case? Would they all just stand aside and watch them drink?

The elders continued to prattle on and on about different customs until they recited the exact text of the prophecy that had started this whole ridiculous royal selection business in the first place. Tanya had to suppress an internal rant about the uselessness of prophecies; especially if politics were in involved.

"From the five capable of becoming the nation´s new leader, choose one to enter into a covenant with the dragon." he said.

Wait. Why hadn't Reinhard told her about this? That was crucial information! She did not want to be pressured into another relationship with a pseudo-deity. One was already enough, thank you very much.

The process through which the future queen would be chosen was explained shortly thereafter. Apparently in two years time the people of Lugnica would vote on who they wanted to ascend the throne. Until then each camp had to impress the populace with victories or reforms that they managed to achieve.

It was a flawed, but principally good system. At least it was democratic and required the candidates to actually do something for the commoners instead of purely appeasing the nobles. Two years were also a good time to collect experience as the head of a command structure.

Unimportant chatter with little actual information slowed down the ceremony again and Tanya began to grow stiff from standing motionless for so long. It was like at a parade in the military academy... Ah, the memories.

Anastasia, true to her impression as a highly intelligent woman brought up the indeed pressing argument that their time was limited and they should get this over with. To do this she proposed that everybody gave a speech on why they believed to be worthy of the position. A reasonable idea that quickly found approval from everybody involved.

Crusch´s goal of bringing independence from the dragon to Lugnica seemed admirable if not a bit idealistic. Tanya agreed that humans had to work for themselves lest they become weak and useless, but to sever the connection to a being that could literally prevent famines and wide-spread plagues seemed stupid.

Sometimes compromises had to be made for the greater good or else thousands would die unnecessary deaths. And dead workers were the worst kind of worker. They provided no goods or services and were unable to pay taxes. Where would all the money come from if many more citizens were either dead or conscripted to the army?

It had been a painful lesson when she had to beat it into the ignorant politicians in the empire that even though the war had been won, concessions had to be made to the defeated countries to keep the peace. This dragon was providing Lugnica with enough power to make it the mightiest country on the continent and demanded basically nothing in return. That was a deal that could not be as easily squandered as Crusch wanted. Her plans were illogical.

Anastasia Hoshin was up next and she defied Tanya´s every expectation by being so blunt in nearly physically hurt. "I am really greedy" was not a good enough motivation to admit out loud and most of the nobles in the crowd seemed to agree.

While she admired the girl´s focused mindset and pragmatic outlook on life it was short sighted. Anastasia even admitted that she didn't know if Lugnica would be enough to satisfy her greed. Would she be willing to wage a war for global domination? Tanya had experienced and memorized the horrors that came from a total, all-encompassing war and she would not sit back and watch this maniac create another one.

Such an outcome had to be avoided at all costs, even if that meant that she had to personally eliminate the girl. A damn shame, because otherwise she could very much see the appeal of her candidacy.

Anastasia´s skills as a merchant and businesswoman were undeniable and she properly understood the intricacies of a flourishing economy. Under her rule Lugnica would prosper. For a short while. Before she drowned the country in war debts.

Following her concerning declaration came Priscilla Barrielle´s turn. Her speech was not so much a logical explanation of her goals as queen and more so a half bored, half arrogant rant about how she was the only option and would undoubtedly win against whatever the other candidates did. How such an egotistical human being could survive through anything other than pure wealth was beyond her.

It made Tanya indescribably angry to see how this girl got everything handed to her despite her awful personality while she had struggle and fight for every scrap of luxury. Why had she been forced to constantly make use of all her wits and risk her health every day just to survive when Priscilla got gifted such a nice life for nothing in return? It was not fair!

Then her knight stepped in and explained that her claims were not simple boasting, but instead the truth. Apparently Priscilla had been born with abnormally high luck that made anything happen she wished for. As examples he named the numerous provinces under her rule that had all prospered from it.

Tanya detested those that achieved their standing in society through luck or family connections. Those individuals were unfit to rule or manage anything, because they lacked determination, experience and cleverness. What would happen if Priscilla´s luck ran out? The country would undoubtedly fall into ruin, because this woman had no idea how solve a problem through anything other than luck! No, Priscilla was not a good option for the throne.

The last one to speak was the silver-haired girl who introduced herself as Emilia. Just Emilia. No family name was either a sign of tremendous secrecy or of her low birth. Her vision of a united and egalitarian Lugnica where the same rights applied to everybody regardless of blood, race or gender sounded very appealing, but was sadly cut short by numerous interruptions from the crowd.

Many nobles seemed upset with her presence or wanted to outright deny her the right to speak, because she was a "filthy half-devil", whatever that meant. Priscilla reacted especially unprofessional by describing her birth as a crime. Why would they do that?

Then somebody likened her to a "witch" and Tanya understood. She remembered heaving read about a "Witch of Envy" who allegedly destroyed half the world some four hundred years ago. Initially she had ignored the story as an obvious fairy tale, but many historical events could be traced back to this incident which lent it credence. The appearance of this mythical being had been described as a silver-haired half-elf with purple eyes which matched Emilia's description perfectly. Well, Tanya was unsure about the half-elf part, but she had also no clue what differentiated an elf from a human.

Nonetheless was this discrimination stupid. If this ludicrous prophecy was even worth half a Mark then Emilia was as worthy of the throne as the other candidates. The dragon had chosen them specifically because he saw potential in them and Emilia obviously had done something to earn his approval.

Just because she looked like someone from ages ago did not mean that she was that person! Honestly, how could people be this stupid? This innocent looking girl had so far displayed the most humility and generosity out of all the candidates. From what Tanya had seen she was the only one of the four that would not lead the country to ruin in a few years.

Even this commotion was settled when Emilia´s sponsor Margrave Roswaal stepped in and the conversation shifted from "Get this witch out of here!" to "Where is the fifth candidate?".

First impressions were always the most important in a job interview and this was nothing less. Now was her time to shine.

Tanya took a deep breath and deactivated her illusion.

Notes:

Urgent Community question: Is Wilhelm present at the royal selecton or not?