"Rem, Rem, is our guest afraid of us?"
"Ram, Ram, I'm confused as well."
Subaru was dumbfounded. What had happened? What killed him? What had gone wrong?
These and multiple confused and incoherent thoughts rushed through his head.
Ash! Ash would remember! But then what did it mean? Someone or something had killed him. He started to calm down and think rationally. Someone was out to get him, and what stopped them from killing the other inhabitants of the mansion?
It seemed he only had the disadvantages of an Isekai protagonist such as those he watched back in the other world. He surprised himself? The other world? He was born there! But it just went to show how much he wanted to escape the sad and lonely fate that awaited him there.
Enough of those thoughts. He rubbed his head tiredly and looked up. Another set of problems arose. The maids were glaring at him with a look of suspicion and diffidence. He instantly felt drained of all his strength. Someone was out to get them, but they would even consider him a suspect. Damn it! He'd even got a smile from Ram the other day. Now she was looking at him like a stranger, which he admittedly was.
The door opened, and Emilia entered, escorted by Ash.
"You've finally woken up! You've slept for three days straight, I was getting worried! Come with me, I'll introduce you to the rest of the house."
Ash remained mute, staring at Subaru. As Emilia left the room he turned wordlessly and followed her. He knew.
Subaru slipped out behind her and trailed next to Ash. He shot a glance at him. Ash was already looking at him, and they locked eyes for a moment. He knew, indeed. The knight gestured to keep silent, and Subaru quickly caught on. They would discuss it later. They were brought to Roswall's table, and the discussion went as it did four days prior.
This time, however, Ash and Subaru decided to swap roles. Ash wanted this opportunity to scout out the village and identify any threats.
Ash was met by the same mug of beer, but now that he knew the trick, he passed the test.
"It's salty. Did someone spill the whole damn salter in here?"
His Undead status now was safely concealed once again.
The days went by like a blur. Rem was quite surprised by their somewhat fluid understanding of the language, given their story as foreigners. Finally, the critical day arrived.
It was by no means a large village, quite small in fact. But Ash could see why the mansion relied on its resources. He could see a wide pavemented road, and that meant rich commercial trades. A nice quiet place to make nice quiet trades. But with its anonymity, came problems as well. The place had a noticeable lack of security.
"This town is a bit exposed, isn't it?"
"It's too small to be of importance to the capital. It just isn't worth sending soldiers over. It isn't defenceless, however. A barrier has been established to keep monsters away."
"Passive defences never work. Believe me, I know."
The ruin on the High Wall was enough to convince him.
The kids in the village instantly took interest in the newcomer, flocking to him like rats to a fresh corpse.
"Hey mister, you new around here?"
"You're with the scary maid?"
"You don't look so tough!"
Ash was mystified by this sudden flood of attention. He never had anything to do with kids. He had never even seen one in his travels. Indeed, his was not a world for children. One of the children, a small girl, brought a small black dog.
He instinctively grimaced at the sight. He hated dogs with a passion. They were annoying, persistent and could not be ignored. The puppy reacted as well, baring its underdeveloped teeth. Small, but when the damn mutt lunged and bit his hand, quite painful for their size.
He very nearly snapped the pest's neck. He only restrained himself for the children. No need to ruin his public image so soon. The little beast had left a small mark on his hand. He ignored it.
"Sorry, sir, he's not usually that aggressive..."
"It's nothing. Just keep that thing away from me."
Despite his efforts, he couldn't mask the sheer contempt he felt. Damned dogs.
Upon returning to the mansion with the heaviest thing he'd carried since the Havel Knight's armour, they found Subaru to greet them with a grin.
"You, uh, need any help?"
Ash only gave a cold stare, then nodded, throwing the abnormous mass on the kid, very nearly squashing him flat. He knew it was worse for him, but the dog had put him in a bad mood. Also that grin didn't help.
The day went past like usual. That evening, instead of learning to read and write with Rem, they discussed the events that had transpired.
"You think someone's out to get you?"
"It has to be. People don't just die randomly like that."
"And you're scared that they might go after our friends over here?"
"Yeah! I mean, what stops them from just wiping out the whole mansion while everyone's asleep?"
"Well, maybe I can convince Beatrice to let you stay in the library. It's the safest place I can think of. Turns out it's actually in another plane of reality or something like that."
"Won't she just blast you out?"
"Don't worry. I'm in good relations with her."
"How do you even do that? Ugh, forget that, I have a favor to ask of you."
"You want me to protect the mansion while you hide?"
"One, ow, my pride. Two, yeah, pretty much."
"That was my plan all along, friend. Don't worry about the others, you just keep yourself alive."
"Thanks. I really appreciate it."
"Oh, I know. Believe me, I do."
Ash rose to leave, but Subaru stopped him.
"Ash, stay safe."
"Nothing can kill me, mate. Except if I don't see it coming! Hahaha!"
With a raucous laugh, Ash exited the room, leaving Subaru alone with his thoughts. Half an hour later, a fuming Beatrice entered, accompanied by a beaming Ash.
"I'll let you stay, but only one night! Only one, you hear me?"
"Thanks, Beako. I mean it."
"Whatever."
As Subaru settled in for the night, he discovered he couldn't sleep. Feelings of mostly dread chased their way around his mind. What if someone made it in the library? What if someone managed to get the drop on Ash? What if someone else was hurt?
Meanwhile, Ash was patrolling the halls, with his Lothric sword sheathed at his side. Then, Rem appeared.
"Do you know where Subaru is? He's not in his room."
"No clue, lass. Sorry, I'll keep an eye out. Why do want to know?"
"None of your business."
With a withering remark, she walked down the corridor and out of sight. Ash sighed, and resumed his patrol.
The next day, everyone reconvened at the dining table. Ash was making small talk with Ram while serving breakfast, even pulling off a chuckle from her. Rem was wordlessly laying down the silverware, while Subaru layed down the plates.
"So what happened when you met that big knight in the chamber?"
"Bit embarrassing to say out loud, lass, but I skirted around him and ran screaming like a scared cat."
"You must be joking!"
"That's my scared side for you! Still, I don't recall that all that fond-"
He cut himself off with a heavy cough, hacking into his hand. When he lowered it, blood was on it.
"Ash?"
He suddenly felt cold. Oh gods, not this again. He had only experienced this feeling a couple of times, but he knew what it was.
He dropped the tray with the food on the table with a loud bang, before stumbling back in a series of hacks and wheezes.
"Ash?!"
Ram dropped hers as well, rushing to his side with a horrified expression on her face and a look of sheer terror in her eyes.
A curse. A damn curse, even in this world.
He managed to splutter out, in between mouthfuls of blood that was now dripping from his entire body.
"A...curse...agh..."
Shivering from the excruciating amount of pain he was feeling, he unsheathed his sword.
"Su...ba..."
He weakly pointed it at him. Then, he drew one last, pained breath and looked at the sky. He grew still. Then, an enormous amount of black crystals erupted from within him, spattering copious amounts of blood on everything close to him.
Ram staggered back, and fell to her knees. Tears started to form in her eyes, if only from sheer shock from the carnage that unfolded before her. The gore had gotten on her as well, and she looked down to see her maid outfit splatted with red.
Rem was petrified, obviously quite disturbed by the macabre event. Her mouth hung open and her eyes were filled with turmoil.
Emilia had tears streamimg down her face, her eyes closed and her hands on her mouth, shaking her head from side to side.
Subaru had collapsed backwards during the ordeal and now was on the floor, staring at the hideous mess his friend had become.
The mass of crystals started creaking, then fell apart, releasing a large cloud of ash. It wafted upwards, lightly dissolving until there was nothing but a patch of blood and the sword, where Ash had been.
Subaru slowly came to understand his friend's last actions. He had pulled out his sword to leave it for him. Ash had kept his cool even in his last moments, and in that instant, Subaru vanquished any doubt about him. Death was truly nothing to him anymore, only an annoyance.
Anyone else would have panicked, but not him. And now he understood his wish. Like in a trance, Subaru stood and walked to the sword, sparing a glance at Ram, who looked up at him like a whipped puppy.
"I'm sorry."
He said softly, before picking up the sword. Until the last, a nagging thought occupied his mind. Did he really need to die? He could manage without Ash. He took a look around him, and saw the distraught expressions everyone had.
Deep down, he knew he couldn't go on. Ash was a stalwart, a safe haven. His troubles weren't over, and he needed a hand to get through them, he realized. And it didn't only apply to him. Ash had rapidly become an essential part of the household, being a reliable and trustworthy associate.
His death would have severe repercussions, and they may never go back to normality. Ash knew that too, otherwise he would never request such a great favor from him.
He picked up the sword, under everyone's terrified gaze. He rotated it until it was pointed backwards, and took a deep breath. When he was poised to deal the final blow, a final doubt crossed his mind. Was it really worth dying, feeling all that pain inflicted by his own hand? He waved it away. Yes, it was.
He plunged the blade deep in his chest, almost piercing his heart. Pain, pure, white-hot, blistering pain exploded from his chest throughout his entire body. A splurt of blood erupted from his mouth. His blood. He'd missed, and now his death would be drawn-out and painful. Scratch that.
Grabbing the hilt once again, Subaru started pulling upwards with great willpower, finally cleaving through the heart. He fell back, still clutching the sword, and died.
"So you did it, eh?"
"Never again, understood? Never. Again."
He tossed the sword in his hand at Ash, who caught it, twirled it a bit, then sheathed it.
"Sounds fair. Welcome back, kid. Now we have a larger task on hand. Say, what do you know about curses?"
