...
Spending the rest of my time talking with Rem, I waited patiently for Ryuzu to return with Beatrice. And as the time neared noon, they had finally arrived.
"What do you need?" Beatrice said with an annoyed expression as she noticed me sitting down with Rem. "I was having a relatively peaceful walk until 'she' arrived and asked me to speak with you."
I then turned towards Ryuzu with a thankful smile. "Thank you very much for fetching her Ryuzu, she wouldn't have made it in time for lunch if not for you."
The Ryuzu clone then looked at me for a good second in confusion before noticing my eyes look over towards the kitchen. Understanding what I wanted her to do, she walked calmly towards the kitchen.
"That's it?" Beatrice said as she looked at me with an annoyed expression. "I don't have to eat food you know. I AM a spirit after all."
Hearing this obvious fact made me sigh as I proceeded to get off the couch and walk towards Emilia's room. But I made sure to turn my head towards Beatrice and give her a calm reply.
"I need you to eat with us so I can tell you something.
"Then tell me r-."
"And before you even ask, I can't tell you about it right now as I would rather tell everyone at the same time."
"Tsk." Beatrice sounded in annoyance from me guessing her question. "If it's important enough for you to ruin my morning, I'll give you am ear I suppose."
"Thank you Beatrice."
Opening the door, I leaned my head into Emilia's room and noticed that she was currently asleep. Closing the door, I walked over to her beside before reaching my hand out towards her.
I then grabbed her shoulder and made sure to shake her awake as gently as I possibly could. Once done with that, I calmly took a step back.
"It's time to wake up Emilia."
Groaning, she groggily pulled herself into a sitting position before looking around the room. And once her gaze locked onto me, she started to rub her eyes in tiredness before yawning.
"Ghood mohnin Subhuru."
"It's not morning Emilia." I said with a strict tone before sighing helplessly. "It's currently time for lunch and here you are still sleeping."
"Oh." She sounded out with no energy as she was tired before slowly getting out of bed. "It's already that time of day?"
"Yes Emilia... it is....."
....
Sitting at the table, I scanned over all of the people currently sitting down. Rem was of course next to me on my left while Beatrice was on my right.
Looking at Beatrice I let out a sly grin which earned me a glare from her. "Are you perhaps thinking something negative?"
Chuckling, I just shook my head before looking across the table and noticed Emilia slipping in and out of consciousness as she tried to stay awake. "Emilia?" I called out calmly.
"Y-Yes!" She suddenly yelled as jumped up fully awake before looking between the three of us in confusion.
Seeing her reaction, I just let out a chuckle as I looked over towards Rem and smiled as I noticed her happily talking to her sister. Ram luckily for me seemed to be slightly less unbearable today.
But I guess I should have expected this as she had just gone ahead and burned Roswaal's gospel. She is probably right now conflicted about Roswaal's mental state and the potential threat it holds towards her sister.
But then again, Roswaal wouldn't even get a chance to harm Rem. I'm sure he is currently to focused on maintaining this snow and leading the great rabbit towards himself.
Now I will be totally honest, I have no doubt that Roswaal would kill me in an instant if he really wanted to. He has had about two days worth of time to recover his mana. And for someone like myself who only takes 3 hours at maximum to refill my gate.
I doubt he running low on magic currently. But as he is probably still physically injured, I would have a roughly 20% chance of killing him. That is.... if it's a sneak attack....
Looking at the corner of the table, I noticed Garfiel frowning unconsciously as he zoned out to pass the time. He of course did send me a couple glances every now and then telling me that he is obviously vigilant of me.
But interestingly enough, he seemed to look at Emilia with a longer and more complicated gaze. He probably wants to ask her if the first trail is really possible to clear, and if so, also ask if he could also have a chance of passing. But as everyone is currently gathered together for something 'important', he can't ask to privately talk with her.
"It's done." The Ryuzu clone said as she calmly poked her head out of the kitchen and looked towards the oni twins. "Can you girls please help me spread out the food?"
.....
"Seriously? Ram actually messed up that badly?" I said in shock as Rem told me a story about her sister.
"Yes she certainly did." Rem said with a giggle before letting a sly smirk towards Ram. "That little kid's comeback managed to not only make her silent, I even remember catching her mumbling complaints about it a few days after."
"It wasn't my fault that he got me so good." Ram grumbled before suddenly stabbing into her steak with rage stemming from her embarrassment. "And he wasn't even a kid! HE WAS A MIDGET!"
After that, everyone at the table went silent including Rem. Noticing everyone's sudden silence, Ram looked around in silent confusion.
"What? Something on my face."
"Pfft." Garfiel suddenly let out before holding it back in before slamming his hand in the table softly. "Hahaha! A midget! A MIDGET!"
"The demon princess herself got beaten by a Midget!" I yelled in disbelief before also joining in on the laugh.
And as Emilia also joined into our laughter, Rem was the only one to quietly look towards her sister in pity. Ram noticing this let out a small smile towards her sister.
"At least you're on my side."
"Sister...." Rem started off as her face started to twitch uncontrollably. "I didn't know a-about t-the...."
"MIDGET!" She yelled out as her breath hitched and also joined in on the laughter causing Ram to let out a sigh before looking down at her plate in utter silence.
After that joke died down, we all went back to enjoying our lunch. We of course did speak on some other subjects, but nothing of theirs really caught my interest.
Finishing what was on my plate, I proceeded to wipe my hands and mouth using a napkins before silently waiting for everyone else to finish. And once Garfiel had finally finished, I calmly slapped the surface of the table catching everyone's attention.
"Ok now is a good time I suppose." I said calmly as I started to look around the table. "Everyone should know that have something to say right? So I'd appreciate it if you stay silent and listen to me for a second."
"..."
Noticing the silence, I nodded happily before looking towards Emilia. "I'm afraid I can't allow you to do the trials today or tomorrow for that matter."
Emilia hearing this opened her eyes in shock before going to ask why. Garfiel also had a reaction and was looking at me with confusion.
"Hold on now." I said as I raised my hand to silence Emilia. "Let me explain why."
"Explain what?" Garfiel said said with a frown. "That y'want t'take them instead?"
Frowning towards Garfiel, I sent a message through my eyes before shaking my head with a solemn expression. "No Garfiel, I'm not going to take the trails. I don't even think I can take them in the first place."
"But I'm afraid Emilia can't do the trials for the time being as we have a bigger issue at hand....." I said calmly before staring out the window with a frown. "A rabbit problem."
"What does rabbits have t'do with anything?" Garfiel said calmly as he stared at me in confusion along with Emilia. "The trials don't hold any rabbits."
"The Great Rabbit." I said in a grave tone as I stared him directly in the eyes. "The Great Rabbit is coming to Sanctuary."
"....."
Feeling the overbearing silence of the room as everyone stared at me, I let out a sigh.
"Don't believe me?"
"Of course not!" Garfiel said in an exasperated manner. "Why would that bloody demon come here! To Sanctuary of all places!"
I then just pointed towards the window near me with a grim expression. Outside of the window in the snow covered ground, I noticed Garfiel and the others in the room squinting their eyes to get a better look at what I was points.
"Well...."
And as I started to talk, Garfiel's eyes widened and took a step back as thousands of eyes opened simultaneously.
"It's here."
"cheep!"
...