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 Lugunica. She is a supporting character first introduced in Arc 3, and she plays major roles in Arc 5 and Arc 6.

A commoner turned successful entrepreneur, her motive for participating in the Royal Selection is solely to expand her business. In Arc 5, she allowed her contracted spirit, Eridna, to possess her so as to not forget her knight, Julius, after he had his name eaten by the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony. After the events of Arc 6, her spirit ended their contract, causing her to forget him, but it also allowed the two to start their relationship anew.

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 yellow star-shaped hairpin on her hair and a small teal pendant around her neck. She is described to have cute looks and an aura similar to a small animal.

When she first met Ricardo, Anastasia wore ragged clothes with her body covered in dirt. After Ricardo saved her from becoming a slave, he had cleaned her up and bought her a small pink and purple kimono with polka-dots and gave her a short haircut. In Kararagi Girl & Cat's Eye, she wore a white and blue kimono, 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. She always puts benefitting herself first, though she also likes it when people benefit when she benefits. Anastasia herself even admits that she's greedy, and it stems from the fact that she was an orphan. She speaks with a Kansai dialect. Despite her faults, she is actually sympathetic and has a strong sense of duty. She also loves food like daisukiyaki and is mentioned to love liquor.

Towards the end of Arc 5, Anastasia lost control of her body for unknown reasons. Her guardian, the Artificial Spirit Echidna, took over her body in hopes that no one would notice the change. Near the finale of Arc 6, it was revealed that Anastasia willingly secluded her soul inside her own Od by cooperating with Echidna in the fear that she would lose her memories of her knight, Julius. While Julius fought with the first-generation Sword Saint, Echidna forced Anastasia's soul out of her Od in order to allow her to witness the "rebirth" of her knight. This caused Anastasia to forget Julius' name due to the Authority of Gluttony, but it also allowed her and her knight to restart their relationship and create new memories.

History
Anastasia was an orphaned child in Kararagi who lived in the Poor Streets of Banan. Roughly 10 years before the main story, she attempted to save two fox humans from being taken into slaves. However, she nearly got taken as a slave herself, until she was saved by Ricardo. The two got to know each other, and Anastasia eventually stated that she would be the one to remove his slave collar. Ricardo later introduced her to work in a bar. Several months later, Anastasia's business talent was recognized by Chuden Agri, leading her to be taken into his trading company. Once Ricardo heard about this, he joined the Chuden Trading Company and became a mercenary. He was also offered a new collar with no control crystal to signify his identity as the Hound.

Several months later, Anastasia was kidnapped by a thief and was sold to the Razcrew company. The head of the company, Didorii, planned to sell her to the slave market north of Kararagi. In the cell, Anastasia met with Mimi Pearlbaton and Hetaro Pearlbaton. She utilized their Divine Protection of Trisection to send a message to Ricardo. The message enabled him to kill Didorii and save the captives. From then on, Anastasia took an interest in the Pearlbaton siblings and frequently visited Roshi, who adopted the trio, to ask for them.

Nine years before the main story, Ricardo was visited by an old friend of his from his time as a slave by the name of Reisel, who asked for help in stealing a Meteor inside a cart. They ambushed the fleet but were stopped by Shiroro Tonerico. While Ricardo was fighting with Shiroro, Reisel stole the target cart and abandoned his old friend. However, his plan was inadvertanty thwarted by Anastasia, who exchanged the carts. In the cart, Anastasia met an Artificial Spirit named Echidna, and the two formed a bond. Reisel came back to take the true cart, but he was defeated by Anastasia, Eridna, the Pearlbaton siblings, and Ricardo, who formed a ceasefire with Shiroro.

At one point, Anastasia ran into some issues with the Chamber of Commerce in Banan, thus Ricardo pledged he would help help fix this by going along with her and paying off her debt. When they visited the Chamber of Commerce, the leader questioned Ricardo's intentions with Anastasia, enraging her. She demanded them to leave him alone and to remove his slave collar. They replied by stating that she already had a huge debt, and adding to it would greatly damage her credit. Contrary to their belief, Anastasia pulled out a bag with enough coins to pay her debt off and free Ricardo. The situation resulted in Ricardo being freed and Anastasia's debt being paid off. Having been freed from his fetters as a slave, Ricardo pledged his allegiance to Anastasia.

Later on, Anastasia came to work for the Ryuushika Business Association. She voiced her opinion concerning a small business deal during her tenure, earning her work. Eventually, she bought the company with her amassed wealth and renamed it into the Hoshin Trading Company. Anastasia sought to expand into Lugunica's market, so she decided to have talks with the Juukulius family. During their meeting, she happened to touch a Dragon Insignia, causing it to shine brightly. This designated her as a candidate for the Royal Selection, and she set her mind on participating. As a result, Julius Juukulius decided to become her knight.

Abilities
Intelligence: Anastasia is a commercial genius who serves as chairwoman of the Hoshin Company, the most influential company in Kararagi. For many years, this position in her nation was occupied by the Ryuushika Industrial Company, but thanks to Lady Anastasia’s personal commercial genius, it was reconstituted under a new name, the Hoshin Company.

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.

Defective Gate: According to the Artificial Spirit Eridna, Anastasia's gate is unable to absorb mana from the atmosphere properly, causing her to be chronically mana deficient. Her affinity is Yang, and her deficiency is mentioned to be hereditary.

Artificial Spirit (人工精霊 Jinkou Seirei): Anastasia isn't actually 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.

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 2018 Anastasia Q&A, the author picked the name "Anastasia" because he wanted a noble name from another country.
 * Despite her surname being "Hoshin", she's not directly related to Hoshin of the Wilderness. She chose the name because she was inspired by his legacy.
 * According to the author's Anastasia birthday Q&A, Anastasia uses a fake Kansai Dialect, however, that's a spoiler.
 * The star-shaped hairpin that Anastasia wears was given as a gift from Ricardo.
 * Anastasia's embarrassing memory was when she was an orphan in the slums, Ricardo put her in the bath and cleaned her up. After that, she was put in the bath time after time by Ricardo.
 * Anastasia is the type to rapidly change her clothes to match her mood. Out of the Royal Selection candidates, Anastasia is the one that spends the most on clothing while Priscilla is the one that just spends on jewelry.
 * Anastasia likes eating odd things. For example, she likes bakudan with seafood mixed in.
 * Her favorite food is Daisukiyaki made by someone other than herself.
 * According to the author, Anastasia's first love was Ricardo.
 * Anastasia was born in poverty without a name, thus she came to name herself.
 * If Anastasia and members of her camp were trapped in a video game world, they would be in some sort of a party game, like Mario Kart.
 * Every time before an important business deal, Anastasia jiggles a pouch full of gold next to her ear in order to strengthen her resolve.
 * Anastasia has been ranked among the five weakest characters in Re:Zero.