The commotion at the restaurant was handled quite efficiently under Emilia's directions, so Crystal and her mother found their place back to normal within minutes, everyone else having already left for the day.
Of course, not everyone went 'home', nor was the matter 'over' for them.
When the reporters saw Justine drag in Amos Black along with his bodyguard, the media of course exploded once again.
"Amos Black 'arrested'?!"
"The main protagonist of the abusive love triangle with missing students spotted at the police station!"
"Just who is 'Officer Justine'?!"
The name of Amos Black was already on fire, with the love triangle scandal having just started. Of course, without a satisfactory official statement from the Black Tiger Corporation, the media could only 'speculate' on what was going on.
It was unfortunate that even when Emilia insisted on applying greater pressure, Samantha couldn't convince any of the media houses to air the footage of the hero's outrage in front of the station, or it would have surely had a far greater impact.
Of course, it could still be spread around privately. A task that she had already handed out to her trusty 'subordinates'.
However, the name of Officer Justine suddenly seemed to have become synonymous with a ferocious, fearless police lady who didn't care about the 'background' or 'identity' of the people she was dealing with at all, and enforced the law truly without a bias!
"From Emilia White to Amos Black, no one is safe from Officer Justine!"
Even her comedic escape from before was somehow twisted in her favor. 'She simply doesn't care to cater to anyone, not even the media!'
Of course, the hero's and Emilia's names only served to sensationalize the news, and Justine found herself becoming the shining image of law enforcement in the city overnight… just as Emilia promised.
==========
For those who knew about how things worked behind the scenes, the rapid change in how Justine was portrayed would be quite jarring.
After all, the media seemed to have been out for her blood not that long ago, and now she was already being touted as a hero. Neither of the reports were very objective, though it was not quite obvious to the general public.
Of course, if they knew about who was the one manipulating things from behind, it would all make sense. Who else could be so unreasonable as to go after Justine, but Samantha? She was simply carrying out a witch hunt against anyone who dared to go against her little sister.
But since Emilia had already informed Sam and Noelle of the matter at hand, as well as the way she would prefer them to handle things, the 'narrative' was of course changed to match her will.
This was nothing more than a little 'compensation' to Justine from Emilia, of course.
Justine, as a full time police officer had very limited use for her. But Justine as a person was different, and Emilia felt like she fit a lot of the requirements she had been looking for. And even if she ended up never needing Justine's help, it wasn't like she ended up wasting much effort.
The primary reason for her handling things this way was to not allow the hero to get away with anything, after all. If she allowed both Justine and Crystal's mother to continue as they were without any interference, she knew that Amos would be getting off with just a warning and no repercussions.
It was only natural when considering that the hero was underage, and his backing was really too strong. If not for the manipulations by the White Deer Corporation, his 'dirty laundry' would never have been exposed to the public, even if he did things that were hundreds of times outrageous than what he had done so far.
And Emilia knew that, even now, the main damage she had caused was more to hero's psyche than to his reputation.
However, the incident did awaken Emilia to the fact that even with all the precautions and care she had put into everything, the hero's side couldn't be taken lightly.
The first order of business was to let Noelle arrange a few decent bodyguards for herself. She didn't know why Mr. White insisted on only providing her protection in a way that she couldn't see it, but Emilia decided that it was better to be a little 'rude' to her father than to end up eating a loss from the hero.
And then came the matter of Dixie's three friends.
At first, Emilia had no intention of interfering with them directly. After all, they seemed more trouble than they were worth, and whatever use she could get out of them she would be able to do so through other means, anyway.
But since they were willing to be so unreasonable and fierce even in the face of the hero for her friend's sake, Emilia decided that they might be worth 'nurturing' into her private forces.
If the three girls' parents knew that their dearest jewels had barely managed to qualify as Emilia's grunts, who knew what their reaction would be?
Of course, this wouldn't bear fruit too soon, but it was something that might bring her greater rewards in the future.
==========
Although she had followed her 'instructions' and brought them along, Dixie couldn't understand what her princess was thinking at all. "Why would you want these three idiots to join us for training in the dojo? No wait, more importantly… why the heck is Justine here?"
The three groggy looking girls who had been dragged out of their beds at almost three in the morning by Dixie gazed at Emilia pitifully, as if hoping she would let them go back to sleep.
Of course, Emilia had never been a particularly merciful monarch. "The way they fought yesterday was disgraceful. How can they be the assistants of my dearest personal knight with that level of combat prowess?"
Dixie happily accepted her excuse, but the girliest of the trio, Emma, couldn't help but object. "I-I can't even fight?"
Emilia nodded. "That's even worse.. We'll fix that."
