Mordred let out a breath. Fortunately nothing strange happened and Reinhard chose to support him, which was a huge relief for him.
Mordred took a few steps forward and placed a hand on Reinhard's shoulder. "Good. I accept your pledge. From now on you will be my first knight, Reinhard."
"Yes."
"You can stand up," said Mordred as he retracted his hand.
Reinhard then stood up while facing Mordred. Although he ended up looking down at Mordred slightly because of his height, his eyes were gently directed downwards in respect, as Mordred was the Lord that he decided to be in service of and that he believed in. He wished to realize Mordred's ideals.
"It's great to have you on board, brother!" Mordred let a bright grin form on his face as he placed a hand on Reinhard's shoulder again, looking at him with his bright light-green eyes. Reinhard was Mordred's first knight; perhaps in the future he would create his own Knights of the Round Table?
Meanwhile, due to being treated in such a close and friendly manner by his Lord, with Mordred's face also being in such close proximity, Reinhard couldn't help but blush in embarrassment.
One had to say that Mordred was really good looking. Although his face wasn't exactly feminine, he was certainly beautiful. His slender and smooth body, and his silk-like long golden hair bound into an elegant hairstyle gave Mordred a certain powerful charm that transcended the concept of gender.
"What are you thinking about, Reinhard?" Mordred asked with a smile as he pulled back his hand.
Reinhard cleared his throat and gently smiled. "Nothing. Thank you for accepting me as your knight, Mordred-sama."
"Thank you for choosing me, Reinhard." Mordred smiled in turn.
Reinhard also gently smiled, after a while thought of something and asked, "On another note, Mordred-sama, could it be that you're interested in Emilia-sama?"
"Yes," Mordred answered without hesitation.
"Ah."
Mordred smiled. "I believe that Emilia has incredible potential. And she's also incredibly charming. But I don't think that she might be a good candidate to rule."
Reinhard's expression appeared somewhat complicated.
"I think I know what you're thinking about, Reinhard," Mordred said. "Emilia is a silver haired half-elf. I already heard about the Witch. Everyone hates half-elves and simply associating myself with Emilia would cause damage to my reputation. But I don't care about any of that. I believe that I can still win the election, and I will do it in my own way."
Mordred's ultimate goal was for Emilia and Roswaal to turn to support him in the election, but even without it happening Mordred would still not bother about such a small matter, because simply Emilia alone might be worth it.
"I see." Reinhard smiled.
"Reinhard, you're a Royal Guard and also a knight of the kingdom. Now that you became my knight, what will it look like?" Mordred then asked. Although he already knew, he had to ask for appearances sake.
"Normally I would be on duty for most of the month and would have to follow the orders of the Captain of the Royal Guard and the Council of Wise Men. But now that I'm your knight, I am free from ordinary duty and your orders take precedence, Mordred-sama," Reinhard explained.
In other words, Reinhard is not on duty anymore and can protect and serve his Lord instead. And even if the kingdom ordered Reinhard to go on a mission or to do something, Reinhard could ignore it if Mordred told him to.
"I understand. I'll give you your orders tomorrow, for now I only have a request…" Mordred then told Reinhard to call in a servant skilled in hairstyling, again. Although Mordred didn't care about something as silly as braiding his hair, his appearance was simply another tool that he could use in his path toward becoming a king, displaying his dignity during special ceremonies.
After Reinhard left, Mordred was alone in his room for a while. He let out a breath as he allowed his expression to relax. He then dropped onto his king-sized bed in a T-pose, letting his body relax as well.
He then slowly recounted the events of the day. 'Emilia, huh?'
Mordred had several grand goals in his heart, among them was his wish of finding a brilliant partner and a true love that could stand by his side and support him in his ambitions; or several partners, depending on circumstances.
Emilia was certainly very talented, but she was too innocent in mind and kind-hearted toward strangers, so Mordred had his doubts. Priscilla Barielle or Crush Karsten would be more to his liking.
Either way, Mordred still couldn't help but be infatuated with Emilia for some reason. He certainly didn't want Emilia to suffer the solitude and hate due to her race, which he completely didn't care about, and he even more didn't want to leave her in Subaru's or in someone else's hands - the thought alone made his stomach turn in envy.
***
"Emilia-sama, this is the dinner I prepared. Please call me once you're finished or if there's anything else," a pink haired maid said expressionlessly with a flat tone.
"Thank you, Ram. You can leave," Emilia said with a gentle smile.
"Then Ram will take her leave."
Once Ram exited the room, Emilia was left alone in her room. Her eyelids slightly dropped as she gazed at the closed door. Although Ram's expression remained flat throughout, how could Emilia not notice the contempt in the maid's eyes?
Even if cold indifference was Ram's usual attitude, after living in the mansion for a year already, Emilia couldn't help but feel that in Ram's eyes her existence was nothing but a bother - an unsightly thing that she was forced to tolerate. And Rem was no different; in fact, the clear disgust toward her was even more visible in the blue haired maid's eyes.
After Emilia lived six years in the Elior forest, and a year in the Mathers' Mansion, Puck was still the only person close to her. She had no friends or even anyone else that at least didn't hate her.
Roswaal might have been an exception, as he didn't seem to care about her race, but his strange and perverted behavior couldn't help but make Emilia slightly wary.
Emilia suddenly lightly sobbed as she clutched her chest. Today with Mordred was the happiest day of her life! Surely, it wasn't all just a lie, was it?
With Mordred being such a cunning schemer and smooth talker, it wasn't entirely impossible that it was all a setup today.
After already having a talk with Roswaal who questioned her about what happened today in detail, Emilia had various doubts emerge in her heart again.
Emilia felt her heart ache when she thought about it. To go to such lengths just to deceive her, Mordred wouldn't do it, would he? She really wished that Mordred was honest with her today, as it would break her heart if it was all a scheme. Is it so much to simply wish to have a friend, someone that would treat her like a normal person?
At the same time, Emilia also held strong feelings of inferiority, feeling incredibly small and pathetic in front of Mordred. As a Royal Candidate, no matter what it was, he seemed much more capable than her. His unrestrained and unbiased kindness toward her almost felt painful.
Emilia sobbed again, letting tears trace down her cheeks. Puck or anyone else was not around, so she didn't care about stifling her emotions.
After a long while, Emilia calmed down and wiped off her tears. She lightly slapped both her cheeks with her palms to regain her composure; no matter what, she had to give it her best to win the Royal Election and secure dragon blood to unfreeze her people in the Elior Forest.
She looked at the plate of food on her desk and a voice suddenly replayed in her mind: 'You half-elves eat normal food, right? Or do you eat human flesh?'
A wry smile formed on her lips. Although it was slightly dark, looking back, she understood that Mordred was only joking at the time, making fun of her, and he didn't think anything bad of the half-elves.
'We eat normal food!' Emilia thought as she stabbed a cooked potato piece with a fork.
***
Mordred heard a knock on his door and told the visitor to enter. To his surprise it was not Nadia, but Subaru who had a room in the same corridor along with Felt.
"Subaru?"
"Yo! Can I come in?" Subaru asked while coming in anyway.
Mordred smiled. "Sure."
Subaru closed the door and went inside to sit beside Mordred on the bed.
"Do you need something, Subaru?" Mordred faintly smiled.
"What I need is to find the red haired, white haired, golden haired or silver haired beauty that summoned me, but I guess it can wait. Mordred, you gotta tell me what happened today with the assassin and the princess," Subaru said; he had to stay on top of the plot.
"Ha. So that's it."
Mordred then proceeded to tell Subaru of the events of the day, leaving out the part in which he recruited Elsa and only saying that he chased her away.
Reinhard came back with Nadia soon after Subaru came, and Mordred was forced to make Nadia wait in the corridor for a while.
"...That's about it," Mordred finished.
"I see. So without a Royal Insignia Emilia would be nearly disqualified from the Royal Election, and you also protected her from a sneak attack. No wonder Ross-chi was so serious about rewarding you," said Subaru.
"That's how it is."
"Lucky!!! And you also said that Emilia is a silver haired half-elf beauty, I'm so jealous! Anyway, you have to ask for something good from Ross-chi. Ask him to make me his disciple!" Subaru said. If he was Ros-chi's disciple then not only would he learn magic from the strongest mage, but he could also have chances to meet with the half-elf princess. This plan was perfect!
Mordred frowned. Why the f*ck would he?
"Eh, Subaru, you actually seem to be serious. You have nothing to do with this. Why do you think that I would ask for something for you?" Mordred asked.
"Ah, I know, I know. It's selfish of me, but we're in this together. We were teleported to this world at the same time, so we share fate. I will repay you in the future!" Subaru said. Once he levels up, he could easily repay Mordred.
"No," Mordred said. "Your attitude is unnerving, Subaru. Please leave."
Subaru stared at Mordred and his shoulders slumped with a defeated look on his face. Judging by Mordred's firm expression, there was no point in further negotiations.
Subaru raised his hands in defeat. He grumbled, "Fine! It was my bad. You don't need to ask for it if you don't want to. It was just a proposition."
Subaru soon left the room, and Mordred invited Nadia in.
Nadia unstyled and styled Mordred's hair a few times at his request to memorize the style. Mordred then borrowed some more normal-looking clothes and left the Astrea Manor by himself when it was evening without eating.
'With Reinhard's backing, the entire Astrea family would begin to support me along with Felt soon as well, so I at least don't need to worry about being broke. For a serious money-making arc I would need to spend a good amount of time in the capital and focus my loops on it, but I can still make good use of the first day. Let's go crash the gambling dens!'
During the previous loops Mordred had already visited a number of places in the capital, searching for ways that he could abuse his looping ability. In any word there would be some sort of gambling and the world of Re:Zero was no different. Mordred discarded card games and similar though, as it was simply too likely for him to affect the sorting of cards and the outcome, and focused on others, among them - organized fights in the arena, both hand to hand brawls and armed spars.
There were also earth dragon races that will surely score him some good cash in the future.
However, today Mordred's first stop was an inn that held an eating contest. The loser would have to pay for the winner's meals, and there was also a small reward.
Mordred walked into the inn and turned his sight toward a giant man - he had a bald head, was over two meters tall, being very muscular and probably over 200 kg in weight, having a small pot belly.
"Hey fatass, do you dare to compete with me?" Mordred called out bluntly to the giant.
All eyes inside the inn turned toward Mordred. Who was this suicidal dumbass?
"Ha! Brat, you sure got a llota words! Come, sit down and fight me!" the giant called as he slammed the table with his palm.
Mordred smirked. Naive!
He went and sat across the giant. When he was asked if he had the money, he flashed a single Holy Coin and then a waitress served two huge plates full of steaming meat - two giant steaks of prime ribs.
The contest began.
Half an hour passed.
The giant was panting, his face red and sweating while his stomach looked bloated, like a pig ready for slaughter.
Mordred, however, had eaten over half of his plate, cutting the meat with a knife in a leisurely manner, and looked at the giant with pity.
An hour passed.
The giant could barely hold himself straight and was struggling to swallow the meat, as it had become a chore.
At that moment, though, Mordred had already finished his dish and started licking the wide plate from the left-over oil, as if to mock his opponent.
"No way…"
"Greedy Guts lost, impossible!"
"He lost to such a small boy. There's no way he's human, right?"
The onlookers discussed.
The giant had a shocked expression. He gritted his teeth and placed down the plate. The result was obvious.
Mordred also placed down his plate. He patted his belly, while saying, "Well, that was a good meal."
Despite eating over 20 pounds of meat, his stomach was mostly flat, as it already turned most of the eaten food into mana. Yeah, he was cheating.
"Boy, what's yer name?" the giant asked.
Mordred looked at the giant for a while and then said honestly, "Mordred Pendragon."
The reputation of King of Steaks is not really one that Mordred wanted, but it will be funny when these people later realize that he was a Royal Candidate.
Having eaten his fill for free and receiving a small reward, Mordred left the inn, leaving the people still chanting his name.
"Meat is nice, but as long as it's edible anything will do, I guess," Mordred muttered to himself as he walked toward his next destination. When it came to replenishing mana the thing that matters most should be calories and not protein, he thought.
…
Elsewhere.
"I like him," said a petite girl bound to a coffin. "Tella chose a good boyfriend."