"Hold it, stop!!"
"I dun wanna~! Hahah, pumpkin pants~!"
"I-I'LL KILL YOUU!!"
Luck ran away, while Cecile chased after him like a demon.
Cecile tried her best to catch up to him, but the dining hall was already filled with other soldiers, and Luck easily snuck under the tables.
The soldiers did not seem bothered, already used to that happening.
"...I'm so sorry, King Arbus."
Luck's tutor watched with his eyes glassed over, his hand slightly stretched out towards the young prince.
He had probably completely given up on the future of dark elves.
(Luck is really energetic today as well.)
That was all Allen thought watching the wild chase.
Around half a year had passed since Luck started living in this base, and his true personality had finally surfaced.
Though it was more like he simply interacted with others however he pleased, without reservations.
He looked like an 8 year old elementary schooler, and was quite the mischievous child.
He would always go flipping Cecile's skirt, groping her rear, and playing all sorts of pranks in the base.
He had tried to attack others as well, but he only tried Kurena once. She instantly said "You shouldn't do that!", caught him in an instant, and hung him from a tree branch with a rope.
Allen had never known that Kurena cared for things like that.
Luck had also tried to grope Sophie, which left her full of silent indignation, and she almost declared war on dark elves.
Allen somehow managed to calm her down, since having war break out would ruin his plans, and things were resolved peacefully.
Merle was physically the same size as Luck, so somehow that made him not consider her a target.
Shea had her animalistic instincts, so it was impossible to sneak up on her.
Though she also had a rather lenient personality, so she usually just ignored Luck's pranks.
Allen felt slightly thankful to Luck for revealing those sides of his friends, and continued watching as the wild chase finally neared its end.
"Hey, let go! Cecile!!"
"Why would I do that?! Just come here and eat already!!"
Luck's clothes and hair were covered in dust when Cecile finally caught him in her arms and carried him back to the table.
She had managed to capture Luck, but he still seemed ready to take off at any moment, his legs dangling wildly in the air.
When Luck escaped, Fabre jumped out of his arms and began eating lunch without a worry in the world.
Luck sat next to the Spirit King Fabre, that looked like a black weasel, while Cecile sat next to Allen while huffing and puffing.
"I guess the king has a pretty busy life as well, I can understand that."
"I appreciate your understanding." The dark elf tutoring Luck had been talking with Allen about something, and now he was leaving to take a rest.
"I swear… Also Allen, why aren't you saying anything!"
"Well, he's still a child."
As the leader of the army, Cecile wanted Allen to be more strict with Luck as well.
But Allen still had the idea that children would be children from his past life, so he did not really mind his mischievous pranks.
He looked at Luck, who was drinking soup carelessly making it drip from his mouth. Allen was starting to understand why King Arbus had sent Luck to his army.
Having lost the war with the elves, the dark elves had fled Rosenheim and secluded themselves in the south of another continent.
King Arbus had been ruling over the dark elves as king for a long time.
During his reign, he had been trying to repair the relationship with the elves, while trying to increase the dark elf population, which had decreased greatly due to the war.
He had spared no effort for his people, but that left him with too little time to raise his child.
It was rare for children to be born into a high dark elf family, and Luck was the only son he got after trying for a long time..
Luck's rotten personality was driving him insane, and at the height of his worries, Sophie arrived at their village, Rosenheim's princess touted as the future queen.
With just a handful of allies, and strange creatures called summons, she had completely cleared the desert from Pagan Worshippers.
King Arbus had been present when Allen's party destroyed a Demon General together with the city of Luqoack with a single blow.
Not to mention that her companion Rosen had become a Spirit God, and she was traveling together with the boy Rosen prophesied would save the world.
He might have thought that the dark elves' future was being crushed just like Luqoack.
He could not see a satisfying future for dark elves anymore.
But that did not mean all hope was lost.
For some reason the dark elves' venerated Spirit King Fabre had grown attached to Luck.
King Arbus was convinced that had to mean something, so he decided to send Luck to travel with Allen.
"The food's great today too!"
'Luck, don't eat so fast, you might choke.'
"I know, thanks."
Luck ate with a broad smile, stuffing his cheeks with as much food as he could, but the Spirit King Fabre told him to slow down.
Luck thanked Fabre and gently patted the weasel's head.
Fabre did not mind being touched by Luck's hands marred in food, simply grooming herself afterwards and cleaning all of it.
That was another common sight during lunch.
"..."
Even though it happened on a daily basis, Sophie could not stand seeing Luck like that any longer.
"Sophie, I'm sure you had a phase like that growing up too?
Allen spoke to her, noticing her dissatisfaction.
"Th-there was not! I've always been like this!"
Sophie claimed she never had a mischievous phase.
Allen turned to look at Formar, who had always been with her, to confirm or deny that.
Formar seemed to notice Allen's gaze, but he refused to look back or acknowledge it, like he always did in such situations.
Maybe it was best to not prod into Sophie's childhood.
(Hmhmm, somehow this reminds of famous actors in my past life, and how their children always seem to get major roles at an early age. I think some were even 5 or 3 years old. I guess they also expect the children of royalty to perform like that as well here.)
Allen recalled the childrens of celebrities receiving a lot of attention and people having high expectations of them.
While he was still a snot-nosed brat playing in sand pits, child actors his age were performing in front of large audiences.
In this world, he had managed to meet Sophie, Shea, Luck, and other various princes and princesses.
The royal families had their own worries, and there was never a guarantee that a prince would be a wise ruler automatically.
Sometimes there would be a cruel and tyrannical ruler, or other times they were simply average.
But making one's country prosperous was the main condition for anyone who inherited a throne.
Each country had their own rules as to how new rulers would be chosen.
For instance, elves and dark elves allowed the children of elders to be candidates to inherit the throne as well, and not just the children of their current ruler.
(He's still not back?)
Today it would be decided whether Shea would be the next Beast King.
The current Beast King was going to announce that during the afternoon.
Allen had decided to pass on celebrating Thomas' Talent Change just so he could hear the news.
"Oh? Did I get here on time?"
"Yes, Kiel. It seems it's taking some time."
Kiel and a drunk Merle entered the dining hall.
Allen told him that there was still no news on who the next Beast King would be.
Allen had given everyone the day off, so they could gather in the base's dining hall.
Kiel had gone to the church like always, putting his healing magic to good use.
Then he went to pick up Merle from a nearby bar, where she had been drinking since early in the morning, and came to the base's dining hall.
"Dogora, don't eat just meat. Have some bread and vegetables too."
"Hm? Ah, sure. Huh, wait, what?"
Dogora held two pieces of meat in his hands, which made Allen think he was trying to practice dual-wielding even while eating. But then Shea came and told him to eat other stuff too.
She then began placing bread, vegetables, and fruits in front of Dogora.
Dogora looked confused at that, though it was nothing new.
Such interactions had started ever since the Five Continents' Alliance meeting.
(I guess it's because Dogora saved Shea.)
Shea and the Beast King had confronted each other in a duel during the meeting, and Dogora had butted in to fight in Shea's place until he was beaten to a pulp.
Shea watched that fight, tightly clenching her chest.
Dogora had simply been mad at the Beast King for beating up one of his friends like that, he had never desired or expected any gratitude from Shea.
When everything was over, he simply said "I'm glad you're okay" and acted like it was all in the past, never mentioning it again.
After that, Dogora went back to his usual self, but Shea changed.
It was said that beastmen experienced emotions far more strongly than humans.
So her gratitude for Dogora was also immense.
"Hey, what's going on? Are they back at it again?"
Merle stumbled and tottered to a seat, while Kiel went to fill up a plate with a mountain of food before sitting with them.
Kiel looked at Allen, wondering if Shea was being attentive of Dogora's lunch again.
Allen simply glanced at him, motioning to just observe silently.
Shea's care of Dogora extended outside lunch time.
She had already conquered 5 Rank A Dungeons and had started going through the S Rank Dungeon.
She joined the rest of Allen's party, and would also help defeat Gordino and hunt Iron Golems.
Obviously enough, she chose to hunt Iron Golems in the same group as Dogora.
Shea claimed she just wanted to get stronger so she could move through the rest of the dungeon faster.
Allen let her do as she pleased.
Allen wanted to make sure that everyone in high positions in his army could progress through the dungeon quickly.
Luck joined a group of 48 people, who were heavily supported by Allen so they could clear the dungeon faster.
The generals and captains had equipment valued at more than ten thousand gold coins, so their high stats also allowed them to move faster.
That was how Shea and Luck met all the requirements to enter the S Rank Dungeon since last month.
Shea had also undergone a Talent Change, going from Fighter Saint to Fighter King.
Some time after her, Luck also went from Black Mage to Black Sorcerer.
Luck's debuffs did not work on the golems in the last floor of the S Rank Dungeon.
Golems were rather resistant to magic debuffs, and Luck's Intelligence was not high enough.
Luck was essentially only accompanying them on the last floor to passively obtain Skill Experience.
"Dogora, you should eat more bread if you plan on training again later."
"Hm? I should?"
Dogora was starting to look bothered, his eyes asking "are you my mom or what?", so Allen decided to jump in to the rescue.
"Meat can turn into muscles and blood, but bread gives you energy to move."
All types of food served a purpose, and a balanced diet was important.
Though Dogora was still growing, so maybe a meat diet was not the worst either.
Hearing that bread would give him energy to move during his afternoon training, he began munching on various pieces of toasted bread.
(Hm, Shea doesn't look happy.)
Shea looked displeased by Allen.
Somehow she did not like the fact that Dogora refused to eat bread when she offered it, but gladly ate it when Allen told him.
Allen felt like Shea still had to learn how to word things properly for Dogora to understand and act on them.
"It's taking so long..."
Cecile once again mentioned how long it was taking to decide the next Beast King.
She looked at the clock magic device on the wall, it was already past the scheduled time..
(I wonder if Zew won, so Lud is trying to argue with the decision...)
Allen thought that maybe it was taking so long because he could not accept the decision, and he would always support Shea who he had raised into a fine warrior, and watched her form her own army.
BAM!!
Allen kept glancing over at the dining hall's door, until it was slammed open.
Lud stood there, his face red with rage.
(Oh? He's finally here. Wait, what's wrong with him?)
Everyone in the dining hall turned to look at Lud, hearing the loud noise.
But he ignored everyone, looking for Shea in the room before speaking loudly.
"Bek…Prince Bek has staged a coup!!"
"...Wha-?! Are you certain?!!"
Shea stood up, trying to process what she had just heard.
There was a new calamity afflicting Albahar.
