Anastasia Hoshin

Anastasia Hoshin (アナスタシア・ホーシン) is the head of the Hoshin Trading Company and a candidate to become the 42nd King of Lugnica. Her knight is Julius Juukulius.

Appearance
Anastasia is a petite woman with blue green eyes and long, wavy purple hair that extends to her hips. She wears a long white dress with a fur hat and scarf along with a large purse shaped like a wallet. She also wears a star-shaped hairpin on her hair. She is described to have cute looks and an aura similar to a small animal.

In her flashback where she had first met Ricardo, Anastasia had short hair and wears a small kimono with polka-dots on the sleeves. But as she got older, she outgrew her hair and wore a long kimono with flowers on her sleeves.

Personality
Anastasia has a crafty personality, always putting herself first, even admitting herself that she was greedy, her greed stemming from the fact that she was an orphan. She speaks with a Kansai dialect. She likes it when people benefit when she benefits, though despite her faults, she is actually sympathetic and has a strong sense of duty. She also loves food like okonomiyaki and is mentioned to be a real liquor lover.

Currently Anastasia's body is being controlled by the Artificial Spirit Echidna as she is unable to leave her body for an unknown reason.

History
Anastasia was an orphan as her parents died. She used to work in a bar as a waitress until she met Ricardo. Anastasia wanted to ask him what was wrong, as she was quite busy working in the shop, but the demi-human wasn't able to quite say why he had called her over. And even though Anastasia spoke coldly to him, Ricardo had a hunch, that one day, Anastasia would be the one to remove the slave collar around his neck. As Anastasia seemed to have run into some issues with the Chamber of Commerce in the city. Ricardo pledged he would help Anastasia fix this by going along with her to the Chamber of Commerce and pay off her debt. They went up to his office, where the leader asked Ricardo what intentions he had with Anastasia, as he knew about how Ricardo had met her at the tavern. Although Ricardo tried to protest it, the leader insinuated that Ricardo was interested in Anastasia out of being a lolicon. Anastasia tells him to not get the wrong idea. The leader continued to denounce Ricardo as a lolicon in front of the entire chamber, despite Ricardo and Anastasia's protests. This enraged Anastasia, making her demand them to leave him alone. She then demanded for them to remove his collar, which denoted his status as a slave. The Chamber of Commerce replied saying that she already had a large debt of 48 silver coins, and 32 copper coins. Removing Ricardo's collar would cost far more and would greatly damage her credit. However, Anastasia recalled the man who had once offered her her first job and continued with confidence, stating that she wanted Ricardo's collar removed so that he would regain his freedom and be happier. Anastasia had saved up for this moment, she took out a bag with 200 silver coins and 100 copper coins. Enough to pay both her debt and free Ricardo. After a few minutes of discussing Anastasia's offer and negotiating to remove his collar, the Chamber of Commerce agreed. Having been freed from his fetters as a slave, Ricardo pledged his allegiance to Anastasia.

Later on, she came to work for the Ryuushika Business Association, during which she voiced her opinion concerning a small business deal, earning her work. Eventually, she bought the company with her amassed wealth and renamed it into the Hoshin Trading Company. Looking to expand into the Lugnica market, she was in the middle of talks with the Juukulius family when it was discovered that she was eligible to participate in the royal election.

Abilities
Normal Person: Anastasia has no Divine Protection and can't use magic as she has a defect with her gate.
 * Defective Gate: According to the Artificial Spirit Echidna, Anastasia's gate is unable to absorb mana from the atmosphere properly, causing her to be chronically mana deficient. Her affinity is "Light/Yang".

Skilled Businesswoman: Anastasia is extremely skilled at business, having worked her way up from nothing to being the president of a prominent trading company. Her skill is mentioned to be natural.

Artificial Spirit (人工精霊 Jinkou Seirei): Anastasia isn't contracted with the Artificial Spirit Echidna, however the two get along quite well, with Echidna showing an interest in her. The two have been together for eleven years and her existence was kept secret even to Julius and the members of the Fang of Iron until Arc 5.

Equipment: During the trip to the Pleiades Watchtower, Anastasia is shown to use a thick knife as a means to defend herself. However, as it is mentioned that the knife was part of their emergency bag and that her Artificial Spirit was possessing her, it is unknown if she normally uses any weapon at all.

Trivia

 * According to the author, Anastasia's birthday is March 10.
 * According to the author's Anastasia birthday Q&A, he picked the name "Anastasia" because he wanted a noble name from another country.
 * Anastasia's relationship with the Fang of Iron and the association with Ricardo lasted more than 10 years.
 * The star-shaped hairpin that Anastasia wears was given as a gift from Ricardo.