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Hazel barely managed to restrain herself from throwing the crimson-haired beauty to the ground, and came to a halt right in front of her, fidgeting nervously. "I-I'm here, princess!"
Emilia just gave her a smile and placed her palm on top of her wavy dark locks, and closed her eyes in concentration.
—Attempting to bind new follower!
-Energy Reserve: 33.06% → 32.81%
—Ding!
-Follower binding failed!
—Target's soul gradation does not meet the minimum requirement.
-Energy Reserve: 32.81% → 33.06%
A few seconds later, she opened them again, humming thoughtfully. "There's some reaction, but I'm not sure… you don't mind if I continue trying, right?"
Of course, Hazel did mind! She wanted to be the one picked by the princess, but it was impossible to refute the beauty's words.
"I-I don't mind at all! As long as it helps you, it's my honor, princess!"
Even if she were to be asked if she 'didn't mind being drawn and quartered', her reaction would probably be the same.
Emilia giggled, seemingly amused at her adorable response. Then, under the shocked gaze of all the other knights, their princess actually leaned forward to gently peck the sun-kissed girl's lips.
She kissed her on the lips!
Emilia might have been generous to them before, but never had she ever actually bestowed that kind of direct physical honor on any of them, excluding those who were already quite close to her.
The disbelieving and envious gazes of the rest of the knights didn't seem to have any effect on Hazel's ecstatic mood, however. But she still obediently went back to her place next to Adele, who was darkly glaring at the 'excited' holy knights fidgeting in the corner of the crowd.
Was their conviction really so weak?! It was okay for the others to look hopeful and envious, but not them!
Of course, Emilia didn't manipulate the petal at all, and it continued randomly falling on various knights.
Each one, she rewarded with a kiss. After all, these were the most adorable of her subjects, so wasn't it just right for her to coddle them a little more before she left?
Maybe only a few would be able to follow her.
But as the 'binding' got rejected without fail, Emilia couldn't help but be disappointed. 'Looks like Cynthia was right… only Crystal's soul was of a higher gradation in that world, which was why she got picked by the world will.'
Justine, Koko, Michelle, Sam, Noelle, Dixie... it didn't work on any of them.
She'd already kissed over forty of her knights, and Emilia couldn't help but sigh. 'Luckily, Cynthia is still in the hut, or she would definitely have been disappointed.'
Of course, she was assuming that Cynthia would only be aware of her interactions with the system, but there was always a chance that the raven-haired girl was secretly observing her, though she hoped that wasn't the case.
As if it was fate, the next petal happened to land on Crystal, who nervously stepped in front of her with a smile. "Ehehe… guess I'll try my luck, too?"
Emilia could obviously tell that the blonde girl had some idea of what was going on, but she didn't expose her thoughts, and only gave her a kiss on the cheek before following the standard process.
—Attempting to bind a new follower!
-Energy Reserve: 33.06% → 32.81%
—Ding!
—Target's soul gradation meets the minimum requirement.
-Follower binding success!
Crystal suddenly felt a wave of pure energy seemingly flow down from the top of her head, slowly seeping into her heart and soul. 'I-I can feel it! T-There's… a connection with Emilia?!'
Although it was very faint, she could vaguely tell where exactly Emilia was. Even if she ignored the palm on top of her head and closed her eyes, it was as if she had acquired a new sense exclusively for that purpose.
Unbeknownst to Crystal, a wave of crimson light had enveloped her body from the moment she felt that stream of energy flow into her, making all the knights exclaim excitedly.
"Did it finally work?!"
"Whew…"
Although they were disappointed at not being the ones who were picked, it was more of a relief that Emilia at least found what she was looking for.
With forty failed attempts already, they'd already been worried that their princess would be disappointed at being left empty-handed.
As for Emilia herself, even though she'd already expected that this was how things would go based on Cynthia's words, she still couldn't help but sigh. "It's good that it worked, at least."
—New follower 'Crystal Miller' acquired successfully!
-Calculating follower's ability cost.
—Ding!
-Grade 1 Ability detected, the cost is estimated to be 0.00% per use.
-Cost per summoning - 0.00%
'Well, that's good.' Emilia nodded to herself after seeing the system prompts. 'Cynthia's being quite thorough, huh? Did she get infected by my sincerity earlier?'
The crimson-haired girl couldn't help but chuckle at the thought, but while she was amused, it also strengthened her conviction to do better so as not to disappoint her partner again.
Meanwhile, Crystal blushed as she listened to everyone's exaggerated and teasing congratulations under Emilia's kiss.
But although she was happy, she was also a little worried.
Of course, what worried her was not the fact that she'd been 'favored' by Emilia's skill, but that the 'effects' she'd observed on the knights ever since they left their world were getting worse.
Although she managed to keep it from showing on her face, Crystal's thoughts were already running wild inside her head. 'I-It's like… there was something that intensified their emotions back then, but now that we're here… it's fading away.'
The knights still seemed to love and care for Emilia the same way, but the blonde girl wasn't sure how their attitude would change in the long term.
She'd initially been worried that Emilia would be sad if they slowly stopped caring about her, but after having observed their feelings directly when confronted by the crimson-haired girl, Crystal realized that she was wrong.
With the 'intensity' of their emotions fading away, the change that the knights seemed to experience did not make them distance themselves from Emilia, but actually… brought them closer.
After all, they revered her so much before that it was almost as if they didn't even consider themselves to be of the same species, but now… they'd obviously become much more daring.
Crystal… wasn't sure if that was a good thing, but since these were still her own speculations, she could only keep her thoughts to herself, at least until they'd all settled down.
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Obviously, Crystal didn't share her conjectures with Emilia and the others, either.
After all the knights had happily left to work on the rest of the living arrangements after receiving either a hug or a kiss on the cheek from Emilia as 'complimentary gifts', she somberly explained the finer details of her 'follower summoning' skill to her girlfriends.
Noelle hummed thoughtfully. "I see… so the moment you leave, Crystal will fall into a 'coma', and we'll have to take care of her body?"
Emilia nodded. "To be precise, her soul will be residing within my body, not her own. So in a way, it will be just an empty shell, and you all will have to make sure to protect and keep her nourished until we're back."
Of course, ten hours may not seem like long, but the crimson-haired girl couldn't be sure of the exact effects this kind of separation might have on her girlfriend's body, so she had to carefully remind them just in case.
Even Cynthia's words were only based on theory, after all, and there could be many external factors that made things different in reality.
Noelle thought about it for a while before nodding. "It shouldn't be an issue to protect her from any external threats from ten hours, I think. The most dangerous animal we spotted in the forest was only some type of boar, and we already have food and shelter arranged."
Dixie also agreed. "Taking care of that boar shouldn't be hard, even if we were to run out of arrows."
Their four sharp tusks were definitely a threat, but since they seemed to only prefer charging in straight lines, they were quite easy to avoid.
In fact, not to mention the freakishly strong dark-haired girl, most of the knights who followed Emilia were more than capable of handling one of the boars by themselves.
Sam poked Crystal's cheek idly, making the girl pout. "I'll take care of keeping her fed and watered, then."
Despite herself, the blonde girl couldn't help but protest. "I-I don't need to be watered like some sort of plant!"
The taller girl chuckled. "Aren't vegetables considered plants?"
Emilia giggled, and it took the others a few moments to recognize Sam's 'joke', but she was soon rewarded with a thwack to the back of her head from Noelle.
"How tactless can you be?"
Of course, Sam only stuck out her tongue shamelessly.
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After assuring everyone that she would only be leaving for less than half a day, Emilia once again returned to the hut.
Much to her relief, Cynthia didn't blame her for taking so long, and only gave her a curious smile. "So, did Crystal agree to become your follower?"
Emilia sighed. "Yes."
It was not a conversation she was keen on having, but thankfully, she managed to handle it cleverly, and everyone had been quite understanding.
The raven-haired girl nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Although you can only call for her help for ten hours in the next world, her ability should still be quite useful at crucial moments, especially since you're going with the… second option."
Obviously, the ability had become stronger with her promotion to 'Void Disciple', but it wasn't without consequences.
Apparently, this world was tied to her as its core, and the stronger Emilia became… the faster the time here would flow whenever she 'went out', so to speak.
The crimson-haired girl pursed her lips in thought. "It's just… I'm not sure how I feel about her being in a coma while I'm not here."
Normally, Cynthia would have rolled her eyes at her unnecessary concern, but this time, she was surprisingly considerate. "There are plenty of other mo—cough— p-people here to take care of her body, and this is just how it must be for her consciousness to remain connected to you throughout the mission. It cannot possibly flit between the two planes willy-nilly, can it?"
Of course, even being able to disconnect the body from its soul required one to be a being of a higher gradation, which was why among all her knights, only Crystal qualified for the follower position as she was now.
Although she was still a bit worried about any side effects of separating Crystal's body and soul, Emilia knew that now wasn't the time to be so meek, so she quickly steeled her heart and nodded. "I understand. When are we leaving?"
She just hoped that even if something went wrong, she would be able to fix it using her blood.
Cynthia stared at her for a while, as if making sure she was really okay with leaving right away, then smiled. "How about right now?"
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