Letters from Anastasia and Crusch
「In Roswaal's covenant, one part of the content was to whole-heartedly and proactively assist Emilia in obtaining victory in the Royal Selection. Throughout this year, he frequently utilized his status and connections as a Margrave to win over many neutral nobles.」
「Emilia also spent her time handling government affairs while studying, occasionally receiving nobles to demonstrate her dignified status.」
「Hikigaya Hachiman signed contracts with the mercenaries he had hired before the battle against Sloth, as well as several veterans who were grateful to him for the subjugation of the White Whale, turning them completely into the private soldiers of the Emilia camp.」
「Hikigaya Hachiman did not expect them to perform tasks like fighting Sin Archbishops, but these soldiers were absolutely necessary; they symbolized the growth of the Emilia camp's volume and foundation, as well as Emilia becoming a member of the powerful ruling class and seizing power from Roswaal.」
「The duties of these soldiers were to defend the security of the territory belonging to the Emilia camp, suppress bandits, act as security, and simultaneously serve as a storefront to improve the prestige of the Emilia camp to the outside world.」
「On the other hand, if assassins like the Bowel Hunter were to come again, it wouldn't happen without anyone noticing; the soldiers could serve a patrol and sentry function.」
「...After understanding that Petelgeuse was actually Geuse, Hikigaya Hachiman transferred him from the Royal Capital prison back to the Roswaal manor. Unfortunately, despite using many methods, he could not restore his sanity to normal, so he could only keep him imprisoned.」
「The highly knowledgeable Betty, joining forces with Roswaal, proposed a step-by-step plan; if continued for three to five years, they might see Petelgeuse change back into Geuse.」
「Even though it was only a chance, seeing that there was a possibility for her foster father to recover made Emilia incredibly happy.」
「After handing Geuse's matters over to Betty, Hikigaya Hachiman searched for a way to make Rem wake up. Eventually, he heard of the Pleiades Watchtower. It was said that the Sage Shaula resided in the tower within the sand dunes and might have a way to solve the Authority of the Archbishop of Gluttony.」
「Reinhard had also attempted to find the Sage and the tower, but he failed. The Sage's arrangements prevented anyone from approaching the tower, and a large number of Mabeasts resided in the sand dunes; these were all points of difficulty.」
「Anxious, Hikigaya Hachiman had no choice but to abandon the plan to set out immediately and issued a widespread bounty: if anyone could provide the method to enter the Pleiades Watchtower, he would offer official positions and monetary rewards.」
「While waiting for the bounty to gain momentum, Hikigaya Hachiman frequently wrote letters to Crusch and Anastasia to maintain contact and nurture their relationships.」
「...It wasn't that he was obsessed with romantic thoughts regarding Crusch and Anastasia... although he couldn't say such reasons were entirely absent, it wasn't the main cause.」
「Primarily, having seen the terrifying Pandora and Regulus in the trials, Hikigaya Hachiman was truly worried that other Sin Archbishops would come to attack in the future—and Pandora's goal was the key in Emilia's hands; she would definitely come in the future, of that there was no doubt.」
「Holding this sense of crisis, even though the combat power of the Emilia camp was no longer poor, Hikigaya Hachiman still wanted to maintain good relations with other camps so that he could immediately borrow troops when a critical moment arrived.」
「He often comforted the amnesiac Crusch in his letters... this also wasn't because he wanted to develop a relationship beyond friendship with her.」
「Whenever he recalled the helplessness and bewildered confusion Crusch felt after losing her memories—which he had learned about in the final "Total Annihilation" trial—Hikigaya Hachiman found it impossible not to comfort her.」
「Because he had once lived day and night with the amnesiac Crusch, every comfort he gave was just right and struck the key points. Crusch's replies seemed very grateful, saying that she felt much more at ease.」
「A benefit brought by the intimacy between the two camps was that Garfiel went to the Karsten estate several times to spar with Wilhelm and received guidance.」
「...Except every time he returned from the Karsten estate, he brought a verbal message from Crusch, asking why Hikigaya Hachiman wouldn't come over as a guest; if he were free, Crusch would welcome him at any time.」
「This left Hikigaya Hachiman completely unable to give an answer... it was already hard enough to restrain himself just by exchanging letters. If possible, not only did he not want to meet Crusch, but he also didn't want to see the other candidates.」
「Once they met, he found it hard to imagine how he would feel... while it certainly wouldn't be as intimately close as in the Second Trial, he would definitely carry more or less special and complex feelings that would be difficult to control.」
「Hikigaya Hachiman wanted to avoid, as much as possible, doing anything that would be unfair to Rem and Emilia.」
「His attitude of avoiding meeting the other candidates was so obvious that even Emilia could see it, but the curious Emilia didn't say anything; she respected Hikigaya Hachiman's wishes.」
「Besides Crusch, on Felt's side, Hikigaya Hachiman would also occasionally send a few letters, though the frequency was relatively low. As for Priscilla's side, he basically ignored her.」
「It wasn't that he didn't want to deal with her; if he could get Priscilla to help and utilize her Great Luck, Hikigaya Hachiman believed the threat from the Witch Cult would be greatly reduced. The problem lay in his familiarity with Priscilla's personality; in the current situation, it was impossible for him to engage in a passionate shouting match with her.」
「...Among all the candidates, the one with whom his correspondence frequency was highest was not Crusch, but Anastasia.」
「Knowing that Anastasia's Hoshin Trading Company was very well-informed, she was the first person Hikigaya Hachiman thought of after the Sanctuary incident. In the matter of rounding up the mercenaries and veterans in the Royal Capital, Anastasia helped a great deal, calling it final compensation for leaving the alliance.」
「After that, in order to maintain the daily increasing expenses of the Emilia camp, Hikigaya Hachiman took Roswaal's money and started some joint business ventures with Anastasia.」
「During this period, he contributed several business plans for free... in truth, those were all the future Anastasia's own ideas.」
「Holding these business plans, he could have kept them all to himself, but since these plans were originally Anastasia's own ideas, Hikigaya Hachiman simply couldn't be that heartless.」
「He preferred to return them to their rightful owner.」
「After seeing those business plans, Anastasia also provided him with a lot of intelligence as a reward; the information regarding the Pleiades Watchtower was given by Anastasia.」
「As the bridge for the cooperation between the two sides, Otto frequently needed to travel between the Roswaal manor and the Hoshin Trading Company, and then he would repeatedly bring back a verbal message identical to Crusch's.」
「"My quitting the alliance was indeed wrong, and I'm really sorry, right? But refusing to talk to me face-to-face even once is really worrying; could it be that you aren't actually as over it as you say in your letters and are still holding a grudge?"」
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