Crossover anime, starting with Hachiman Hikigaya replacing Subaru Natsuki!

"And also, the captain and Julius also put in a lot of effort!"

"Actually, I didn't do much. It was mainly thanks to Marcus of the Knights. Just the sight of that fierce-looking guy standing there was enough to make the merchants of Kararaki tremble with fear. Haha."

"The generous Rigado not only didn't embezzle the credit, but also helped others out. He explained, 'Lady Anastasia and we all originated from Kararaki, so some of the merchants who have been trading with us for many years and can't live without us, quickly fell silent after initially uttering a few curses out of desperation.'"

"The remaining merchants colluded, hiring the legendary assassin, the Blessed One, to form an alliance and fight us. However, this merchant alliance has already begun to crumble after Lady Anastasia changed the distribution of trade quotas, originally intended for most merchants, to a smaller group."

"This time, a team composed of members of the Iron Fang Mercenary Group and some members of the Knights entered Kararachi under the pretext of apprehending fugitives from the Kingdom of Lugnica who had fled there. With intelligence in hand, I, Knight Commander Marcus, Mr. Wilhelm the Sword Demon, and Julius, together defeated the Praisers, and then, using a pre-prepared pretext, executed some of the stubborn merchants."

"Finally, using Anastasia as a pawn, our merchant subordinates successfully infiltrated the allied forces, gained their trust, and, as representatives of the Kararaki merchant community, signed a contract abolishing the capture and sale of slaves."

"The abolition of slavery, proposed by Lord Hachiman Hikigaya and approved by the current Emperor Anastasia of the Kingdom of Lugnica, has been a complete success."

"Clap clap clap clap clap!" Mimi clapped enthusiastically as Li Jiaduo finished his report.

"Abolish slavery? Did I hear that right?"

Shirogane Miyuki couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "That Anastasia who promised a three-way alliance but then went back on her word, actually has this kind of kindness?"

Kei Shirogane corrected him: "So it's already been said that it's Hachiman-senpai's plan, bro."

"No, I mean, Anastasia actually agreed?"

Miyuki Shirogane is like a ghost. If we were to say that most people hate Priscilla the most among the five candidates, then Anastasia would definitely be the second most deserving.

After all, everyone knows how terrifying a businessman can be if he has no scruples.

But Anastasia's actions now are subtly overturning their impression of her.

But not only were the unrelated people confused, even Anastasia herself was somewhat bewildered at this moment.

"Do you think we should abolish the slave trade?"

She looked at Julius, then at Mimi and Ricardo, and all of them were completely bewildered.

Anastasia knew that she certainly wouldn't be so malicious as to expand the slave market, but she also wouldn't be so idle as to try to stifle the trade, because if she did, her opponents would be slave traders all over the world, as well as the nobles who bought slaves.

In terms of pressure, its implementation was no less stringent than Ferut's reduction of noble rights.

Although she would certainly have nothing to fear after becoming queen and taking control of the entire Kingdom of Lugunica, as a businesswoman, she preferred to avoid trouble.

"Although a detailed plan has been provided, hmm... if we follow this approach, it seems like it might actually solve the problem?"

Anastasia thought for a moment, blinked, and suddenly had a clue.

197. Anna's Route: The Revenge of Pampering

"Standing aside, even after Anastasia became queen, he still fulfilled his knightly duties and protected Anastasia whenever he had time. After hearing this report, Julius looked at Hachiman Hikigaya with a deep gaze."

"Initially, all slaves in Lugnica were freed under the pretext of Anastasia's ascension to the throne and a general amnesty."

"Back then, even Lady Anastasia didn't know that your goal was to drive the slave traders of Kararaki to the brink of ruin and eradicate the slave trade. It's unbelievable... Although I hate you, I have to admit that you saved countless poor people, Hachiman."

Hachiman Hikigaya gently shook his head. "This isn't my achievement; it's the work of Anastasia and Ricardo."

Then, he sighed with regret, "But that's all we can do. There's no room for us to interfere with the Holy Flacian Empire."

"Their emperor seems to have been overthrown, and now they don't allow outsiders to enter. It's pathetic; small rebellions every three days, big rebellions every five. But it's also thanks to their domestic chaos that they have no time for external conflicts that our abolition of slavery has proceeded so smoothly."

"Although it went smoothly, it was still quite a struggle." Li Jiaduo's eyes darted around, and after suppressing his confusion for a long time, he finally asked, "So... why did you think of doing something so time-consuming and laborious, something that doesn't do us any good, and might even be harmful?"

"Mimi too! Mimi wants to know!"

"Mimi, bouncing around, crawled to Anastasia's feet and hugged her leg."

"As people who knew Anastasia when she was down on her luck, even though their statuses are different now, Ricardo and Mimi still treat her with great respect and without any distance."

"You mean to say that because of this plan, the domestic nobles are becoming restless and want to support Crusch to overthrow Anastasia, right?"

"Hachiman Hikigaya saw right through Rikka's concerns and said decisively, 'Don't worry, that's impossible. Crusch is a very proud person. She's already lost fair and square; she won't be dissatisfied. Those nobles are destined to do nothing.'"

"And coincidentally, those small group of nobles who are still thinking about buying slaves clearly have some dark psychological issues. Let's take advantage of this to lure them out and get rid of them."

"Based solely on one's own speculation, without any factual evidence, this is clearly very risky. But the moment he finished speaking, Ricardo immediately believed him without a doubt."

"Such a confident tone is not used by Hachiman Hikigaya very often. However, during the years he assisted Anastasia, countless facts have already proven his amazing ability to see through people's hearts without any mistakes. The value of this confidence comes from one successful plan after another."

"As for why I did this..."

"Hachiman Hikigaya paused, then turned his head away, his face slightly flushed. "Well... for now, just assume I'm just disgusted by the plight of slaves."

"That's certainly a very important reason, after all, our prime minister is such an overly gentle person."

Anastasia, speaking with her distinctive Karalaki accent, peeked at the suddenly shy Hachiman Hikigaya with a grin and said lightly, "But there's another equally important reason, isn't there? Hmm, for example~"

"There's no such thing!"

"Yes, there is!"

""No!""

""have!""

"Hachiman Hikigaya opened his mouth, but he couldn't resist Anastasia's teasing. He coughed twice, claimed that he had busy official business to attend to, and hurriedly left. His back looked somewhat disheveled as he fled."

"Mimi blinked, indicating that she didn't quite understand."

Anastasia, who had won a resounding victory, adjusted her hat brim. Unless it was a serious, formal occasion discussing state affairs with her ministers, she usually wore the same outfit she had worn as a candidate.

"Picking up Mimi, Anastasia explained cheerfully, 'Mimi, do you remember the circumstances when we first met?'"

"Mimi remembers!" Mimi nodded adorably, "Back then, my sister Anastasia was ambushed and captured by slave traders. They were going to sell her as a slave. Mimi tried to save her, but she couldn't win and got captured too, hehe."

"At that time, Anastasia was just an ordinary person in Kararaki. She had neither accumulated primitive capital and risen to become a great merchant who roamed various countries, nor was she far from being discovered by the Knights as a candidate for Dragon Priestess."

"Recalling this incident, Mimi still felt indignant, 'It was all because the commander wasn't nearby at the time!'"

Julius, who wasn't a direct witness, paused, then remembered that he also knew about this past event. The reason he knew it was because one day, while he was standing by, protecting Lady Anastasia, he overheard her talking about it with Hachiman Hikigaya.

"Oh, it seems Julius still remembers."

Anastasia nodded. "It was that time, you know, the time I mentioned it to Hachiman, and then he started preparing his plan to eradicate slave traders worldwide."

Julius was shocked. "You mean..."

"Hachiman is avenging us!"

"The crescent moon hangs in the sky; years later, Anastasia's smile is so radiant and dazzling."

"this--"

It's the same familiar feeling, the same familiar taste.

"No matter who he cares about, Hachiman always spoils them like this."

Hayama shook his head in shock. "To resolve the global slave trade in one fell swoop is a terrifyingly grand gesture, and half of it was to avenge Anastasia... However, let alone me, I doubt even the real-life Hachiman and Anastasia themselves could have imagined that they had such a good relationship."

"I'm really curious about the origins of the Anastasia line."

Iroha Isshiki followed up, saying, "I always thought that, apart from Emilia, the only person you might follow was Crusch."

She pouted and said, "Anyway, just don't have the Priscilla route. That arrogant and domineering girl will definitely be very rude to her seniors. She's so annoying."

Her idea was unanimously approved by everyone at the karaoke bar.

Anything is fine—Priscilla definitely doesn't want it!

198. Anna's Route: The Cunning Emperor

"Huh—?!"

This is explosive! It's way too explosive!

Inside the mansion, Anastasia stared in astonishment for several seconds. When she realized the various pieces of information revealed in this short conversation about the future, she almost jumped up with joy like Mimi.

Previously, as an observer, she had been incredibly envious of Hachiman Hikigaya's kindness towards Rem and Emilia. Now that the object of her affection was herself, Anastasia was speechless, only knowing that her heart was pounding.

"Although it's not official history... it's a pity it's not official history..." she muttered wistfully. Even so, her long, beautiful legs still swayed involuntarily, and her already lovely voice sounded even sweeter than usual.

It happened in the future, but she could empathize with it.

"Huh? Huh? Huh—? Even Miss Anastasia?!"

On the main street of the capital, Emilia was in a panic. She suddenly realized a fact: her rivals in love might be many, many, many more than she had imagined!

Furthermore, we can't expect that in every possible timeline that follows, Hachiman Hikigaya will treat the other person only as a younger sister, just like in the Felt route!

Emilia, Rem, Puck, and Ram, the four of them, were on high alert, their current state of panic just like that of Yukino Yukinoshita at the very beginning.

But at this moment, there were far more people who were even more panicked and afraid than they were.

The more terrified the nobles of Lugnica were when watching the Ferut storyline, the more distorted the faces of the slave traders of Karalaki were now. They couldn't believe that they had been fighting each other to the death in Lugnica, but suddenly they were beating up Karalaki.

In a short time, the entire Kararaki was in an uproar, the slave market was in chaos, and slave traders were filled with resentment and despair.

They really wanted to strangle Anastasia and Hachiman Hikigaya, but as the old saying goes, Reinhard is invincible!

Having finished watching Felt's route, Reinhard must have already activated the powers of seeing poison and reading minds, and he's definitely on Anastasia's side, since liberating slaves is in line with his chivalrous virtues.

Faced with an invincible and adaptable master, what could the slave traders do? They were completely helpless!

"Damn it, if I find out who ambushed and kidnapped Anastasia, I'll make them wish they were dead!!" The group, gritting their teeth, had no choice but to vent their anger on another target.

"...I was forced out of office?"

Compared to the bustling Kararaki, the Holy Vora Empire, after the emperor extracted his future from the vast amount of information in the Anastasia line, looked at the group of generals below, and sneered.

Everyone was silent and motionless, their foreheads and backs covered in cold sweat.

In faraway Lugnica, Priscilla frowned, hoping for more information on this matter in the following scenes.

"During this time, Hachiman Hikigaya met the Sages' Guild, who treated him with great respect. After Hachiman Hikigaya proved with facts that he could make the kingdom prosper, all those who sincerely hoped that Lugnica would become better respected him from the bottom of their hearts."

"In fact, even disregarding personal feelings, in terms of actual status, Hachiman Hikigaya is now the de facto second-in-command of this country, second only to the emperor."

"Our prime minister is increasingly fond of going to the rooftop alone to gaze at the sky."

"Hachiman Hikigaya, who was staring blankly at the sky, turned around and saw Anastasia."

"What am I doing...?"

"Seeing these things reminds you of people, doesn't it?" Anastasia walked closer and whispered, "I know you miss your hometown and your sister, but you must be careful. If you don't have any guards with you, and you're suddenly assassinated, I'll cry myself to death without my prime minister."

"Hachiman Hikigaya moved over and created some distance between himself and others."