Ayanokouji was not surprised. Emilia was discriminated against and misunderstood by others because of her lineage and appearance, and compared to the other candidates for the throne, she had to gain support from the other nobles. Moreover, Roswaal himself was truly an eccentric. It didn't take much thought to realize that many people in the kingdom would be prejudiced against her.
Furthermore, he also suspected that Roswaal had no intention of helping Emilia at all. From beginning to end, he was merely fishing in troubled waters.
These nobles must also be shrewd politicians, knowing that in political struggles, they had to side with those with the highest chance of winning.
Currently, Crusch had the highest odds of winning, though the other two candidates had their own advantages. Emilia was undoubtedly the weakest among them. Generally, anyone with some thinking ability would not choose Emilia.
The reason Ayanokouji chose Emilia was because she was very easy to control. Besides, he had no choice at that time.
If he could have contacted the other throne candidates at that time, the current situation might be very different.
But now that he had chosen to use Emilia as his chess piece, Ayanokouji would naturally choose to polish her up before looking for another more suitable option.
"Did you and Roswaal go alone previously?" Ayanokouji asked.
"Rem or Ram would sometimes accompany us and help manage our residence in the royal capital." Emilia answered.
"In that case, since Roswaal isn't here, I'll be his substitute this time."
"Yes!" Emilia nodded enthusiastically, "So, you and I will be together?"
"No." Ayanokouji shook his head, "Now that Beatrice and I have signed a contract, Beatrice must come with me."
The reason Beatrice was allowed to come with him was because of the contract. With her help, unexpected situations could be prevented.
But if they wanted to go to the royal capital, he needed to take more than just Beatrice.
"Felt and Rom should come along too." Ayanokouji continued.
"Are they coming too?" Emilia was a little confused.
Although Felt and Rom could provide good combat effectiveness for their camp, politically, they should not play any role.
"Yes, they are very important." Ayanokouji continued.
"What do you mean?"
"We can take this opportunity to go to the Royal Capital to increase support for Emilia." Ayanokouji said.
"According to your previous description, you, Roswaal, and the others have tried your best to gain the support of the nobles." Ayanokouji said slowly, "But you have neglected one thing. In this kingdom, the largest number of people are not nobles but commoners. Sometimes, support from ordinary people is needed, and Emilia, your political idea is to eliminate discrimination and class imbalance."
Using the support of vulnerable groups to maintain public opinion was one of the common methods used by politicians.
"I see." Emilia nodded in realization.
"Also, please give me a list of the nobles you have met before. Roswaal should have their information, please show it to me as well."
"Alright! I'll give you the list and information later, Ayanokouji. Then I'll pack my things and prepare to depart tomorrow!"
"Yeah."
After leaving Emilia's room, Ayanokouji headed straight to the Forbidden Library.
As soon as the door opened, Beatrice was making tea and humming a little tune at the same time.
"Ayanokouji is here!"
When Beatrice saw him coming, a joyful smile immediately appeared on her face, and her attitude was almost completely different from before.
"Good morning, Betty." Ayanokouji greeted.
Although Beatrice had rewritten the contract and was no longer bound to the Forbidden Library, she had no choice but to stay there to gather magical power and try not to absorb it from her.
"Come and taste the tea I just made!"
Ayanokouji slowly walked to the table and gently blew on the liquid in the teacup, the white mist slowly spreading in the air, and the warm liquid slowly flowed into his mouth. Initially, it tasted a bit bitter, but soon it turned into a refreshing sweetness.
"Nice brew." He nodded.
"Of course, who do you think Betty is?" Beatrice raised her head, still looking proud as ever, but the smile on her face still showed her inner feelings.
"Betty, we're going on a long journey tomorrow!" Ayanokouji said.
"A long journey? Where to?" Beatrice asked curiously.
"We're going to the royal capital." Ayanokouji said, "Do you want to come along?"
"Betty has never been to the Royal Capital..." Beatrice pouted slightly. She had lived here since she was created and had never been anywhere else.
"Consider it a trip, Betty, you need to get out and about too."
"A trip!" Beatrice's eyes sparkled, "Alright, Betty wants to travel! Betty will go!"
"Okay, we'll leave tomorrow."
"Alright, let me get ready now. How many days are we going for! Do I need to prepare anything? What clothes should I bring..."
Beatrice was like a child going on a trip for the first time, excited and nervous.
❀❀❀
"You will return to the royal capital again."
Horikita looked at the scene on the screen.
"I don't know what the other throne candidates are like, but the one named Crusch seems very strong. She has a prominent position and a lot of power, and she has two strong people under her command."
"Ayanokouji-kun, if it were really you, would you choose to join another camp?"
Honami smiled and looked at Ayanokouji beside her and asked.
"If it were you, would you choose to betray Emilia?"
"This is not betrayal, because from beginning to end, in the heart of the 'me' in the video, he has no loyalty to Emilia at all and only considers her a tool for him to gain a foothold in that world." Ayanokouji said calmly.
Although he knew that the person in the video was his real self, he still hid his inner thoughts as if the person was someone unrelated to him.
"However, personally, I think it doesn't matter what the person in the video chooses, because he must prioritize his own situation."
He didn't understand why Honami asked such a question. Wasn't it natural to discard an inconvenient tool and replace it with a more convenient one?
However, at this moment, Ayanokouji also noticed that the person in the video seemed a little different.
What exactly was different?
❰❱ SKY SCREEN ❰❱
At night, Ayanokouji was in his room, going through the information Roswaal had left behind.
"Master."
Behind him, a ghostly and dark figure slowly appeared, Elsa.
"First, sneak into the royal capital and be responsible for investigating these people."
Ayanokouji handed several stacks of information to her while speaking.
"Shall I tear their intestines?"
"No need for that at the moment. Keep them alive." Ayanokouji said slowly, "You need to investigate all their actions, especially things that cannot be seen by others."
Based on the information left by Roswaal, he assessed which nobles were the most suitable targets for lobbying – not because they could accept Emilia, but because they were likely to have something to be controlled.
If not, create a point he could use himself.
"How did you store my phone?" Ayanokouji asked.
"Is it a magic weapon?" A meaningful smile appeared on Elsa's face, "It was a gift from Master. Of course, I kept it very well, and as Master said, it would be stored when not in use. When the time comes, it will be adjusted to closed mode. It's my first time seeing a magic weapon like this."
Previously, Ayanokouji had given his phone to Elsa and asked her to take photos of the Witch Cult's actions as evidence. Now, he wanted her to use the phone to gather information about the nobles.
If he could obtain incriminating information, he could use these photos as evidence to hold those people's secrets.
As long as they were caught, no matter how strong their character was, they were just pawns that could be controlled at will.
If that didn't work, he could use Elsa's hands to threaten those nobles, kidnapping, killing... As long as he could use these methods, Ayanokouji wouldn't hesitate.
However, now he was also facing the problem of limited phone battery. Even though he asked Elsa to turn it off when not in use, sooner or later, the phone would run out of power, and in this world, he had no electricity.
This made Ayanokouji think that maybe with his knowledge, he could find a way to charge the phone in this era.
Or, maybe he could bring some technology and knowledge from his original world to this world.
Soap, glass, firearms... Ayanokouji, proficient in almost all knowledge, could naturally create these items if conditions permitted.
Perhaps, he could use this method to expand Emilia's faction's power.
❀❀❀
"He can actually use methods like murder and kidnapping... This person is really not compatible with me."
Crusch looked at Ayanokouji in the image and shook her head resolutely.
"I will never let someone like that join my camp!"
Crusch was an honest person, and she hated the various methods used by Ayanokouji.
"But Crusch, Ayanokouji made some very reasonable points, nya." Felix said with a smile.
"What is that?"
Crusch's face was full of doubt.
"Ayanokouji said that winning the hearts of the common people is more important than gaining the support of the nobles."
"Indeed."
Crusch nodded thoughtfully, savoring the statement deeply, and then suddenly remembered something, raising her head.
"By the way, have you ever heard of a magical device like a cellphone? It seems very convenient, and what kind of electricity was he talking about?"
"Sorry, we don't know either..."
Not just Felix, but Wilhelm beside him also shook his head.
"This shouldn't be something from our world. If you want to make it, I'm afraid it will be a bit troublesome."
"Then there's nothing we can do."
❀❀❀
In a school cafe in another world, other students were chatting a lot.
"He's not kidding, right?"
"Ayanokouji, can he create so many things?"
"Soap and the like might still be doable, but can he make guns? This is too much! Does this person really look like a high school student?"
Everyone lowered their voices to discuss, but their eyes couldn't help but glance at Ayanokouji sitting in the corner.
Ayanokouji himself could definitely feel the curious and incredulous gazes of the others, but at this point, even if he explained it himself, it would be futile.
"Ayanokouji... Can you still make firearms?"
Horikita's eyes widened with disbelief written all over her face, while Honami wasn't much better.
"I said, that person isn't me."
Facing the girls' doubts, Ayanokouji just slightly shook his head.
"I'm just an ordinary high school student. How could I know these things?"