"They are the candidates."
"The ultimate victor will become the new King, and at the same time, the covenant will be renewed."
"The method for identifying a candidate is through a royal heirloom—an Insignia embedded with a Dragon Gem. When a true candidate holds it, the gem will glow with a red light."
"After a year of searching, four candidates have appeared one after another through various means, but there hasn't been a single clue regarding the final one."
"That is essentially the current situation."
Old Man Rom finished speaking and took a sip of tea.
Hearing this, however, Gojo Satoru fell into deep thought.
Insignia?
Red light?
These two keywords swirled in his mind. If he remembered correctly, back in the alleyway...
When Felt returned the Insignia to Emilia, he had clearly seen the Dragon Gem at the center of the Insignia lit up, radiating a crimson glow!
Thinking of it that way... if there was no such thing as a counterfeit, then Felt, who was sitting right next to him...
Gojo fell silent for a moment. He reached out and pinched Felt's small face, scrutinizing her seriously.
"What are you doing?!"
Felt slapped his hand away, looking like she was ready for a fight.
"A Dragon Maiden, huh? Tsk, what a nonsensical way of putting it."
"Is there anything special about the other candidates?"
"Special?" Old Man Rom thought for a moment. "I'm not sure what you mean by 'special' specifically, but as for that girl Emilia..."
"She is a silver-haired half-elf, just like the Witch of Envy, Satella, who devoured half the world long ago. Among the four candidates, she is, arguably, the most disliked."
"A witch?"
Hearing that the girl who had captured his heart was associated with some "witch," Subaru Natsuki looked toward Gojo in confusion.
"Just think of it as a Demon Lord that needs to be defeated," Gojo explained. "Who knows, it might even develop into a tragic romance between a Hero and a Demon Lord."
Gojo patted Subaru on the shoulder, suggesting a possibility that made the lovestruck youth feel quite uncomfortable.
"The remaining three are: the head of the Karsten House of the Lugnica Kingdom; the chairwoman of a major trading company from Kararagi; and a wealthy widow who has been married eight times, all of whose husbands are dead."
"A witch, a noble, a merchant, and a widow."
'And a thief.'
Gojo added the last part silently in his mind. No matter how you looked at it, this was a bizarre lineup. Excluding the noble, the other words didn't exactly scream "monarch." To truly pick a King from this group felt like asking for the impossible.
Gojo looked at Felt and imagined her jumping up in the palace to curse out the ministers. The scene was quite amusing.
"These competitors are certainly unusual."
Old Man Rom didn't catch the hidden meaning in Gojo's tone, assuming he was simply thinking from Emilia's perspective.
"That half-elf isn't actually that bad. Behind her stands the Court Mage, who is also the kingdom's strongest magic user, Margrave Roswaal. It's only because of her heritage that people are so wary."
Another piece of unknown intel. However, at the mention of the word "strongest," a flash of genuine interest flickered deep within Gojo's eyes.
"Alright."
"There's no need to worry so much. Actually, there is a way to settle this problem."
"What way?"
The three of them looked at Gojo simultaneously. Gojo let out a yawn, stretching lazily.
"That's a problem for tomorrow. Tonight, let's just get some proper rest. Instead of worrying about things so far in the future, we should think about how to handle tomorrow's breakfast."
"After all, there's no way the bounty will be issued that quickly. Bureaucracy exists everywhere, you know."
Gojo spoke as he walked to the door and opened it.
"I'm heading off to sleep. You guys should turn in early too. Maybe we can even score a free breakfast here tomorrow."
Gojo waved his hand and departed alone.
"Excuse me, could you please arrange a room for me to rest?"
Gojo's voice echoed from the hallway.
"Tch, he runs off right in the middle of a sentence." Felt kicked the table and stood up. "I'm going to bed too."
Thinking back on the day's events, Felt felt physically and mentally exhausted. All she wanted now was a good night's sleep.
"Let's go as well." Old Man Rom nodded to Subaru, and the two departed.
After a quick wash-up, Gojo Satoru arrived at his temporarily assigned room. It wasn't large—essentially a single dormitory room for knights on duty.
Lying on the clean bed, Gojo ran through everything he had experienced and learned since arriving in this world.
"The Royal Selection, huh?"
Gojo stared at the unfamiliar ceiling, muttering to himself. The depth in his eyes hid untold thoughts.
Setting that matter aside for the moment, Gojo turned his attention to the Popularity Point Shop. The anime broadcast didn't simply end once the two episodes were over. As long as he wished, he could re-watch them multiple times, much like watching a show on a website. Furthermore, the bullet comments would refresh accordingly, allowing him to check the real-time opinions of other viewers.
Popularity Points were still slowly rising as more people watched, though the rate was slower than during the initial premiere. However, he believed that as long as the future plot remained engaging, more people would follow the show.
But that was for later. Gojo mainly wanted to see what was inside this "Popularity Point Shop." After all, the description during the introduction had sounded quite impressive—the ability to exchange for anything from his original world or any world he had experienced.
The activation of the shop caused a virtual panel to appear before Gojo's eyes. It looked somewhat like a shop in an online game, but without any gaudy decorations—it was exceptionally minimalist.
The entire shop was divided into four tiers, corresponding to different levels of spending:
Tier 1: Items valued between 10,000 – 50,000Tier 2: Popularity Points. 50,000 – 200,000
Tier 3: Popularity Points.:200,000 – 500,000 Popularity Points.
Tier 4:500,000 – 1,000,000 Popularity Points.
Currently, his points were just over 10,000, so he naturally couldn't afford the high-end goods. Gojo took a brief look. Within the first tier, he saw quite a few Cursed Tools from his own world.