Uploading date: 9/26/2018 [M/D/Y]
Re: Life in a fantasy world ~ Arc 2: An Everlasting Week
Epilogue: Onto Reality
"So, since we're done with this loop… what's the next hint?" I asked the shadow-cloaked figure sitting in front of me. She put her finger on her lips, in a thinking pose, not that I can see her lips or anything. She rocked back and forth, still thinking of something then something popped in her head and she leaned forward, "Be her representative" she said, extremely clearly.
I was surprised, it's been a while since her voice has been this clear, "Hey, that was a good hint for once! Come one, give me more while you still can" Suddenly getting all giddy, she tried to say more, "Later on, ytu'2e ggyn͙̋g t̖̀o̙̿ ̫̕̚͢ą̐,͊͢ w̯͑o̯͙̚͞ņ͕̗͑́̐,͙̱̺͛̄͒F̮̼̆̌ő̰̦̠̾̎uj̛͓̟̳̰͆̐́P̟̠̂̆á͙̩̼̿̋g̯̭̺͆͂̃Ẇ̭̥͎̪͛́̎K͉̪̖̞̜̎̇̾͒͗S̢̤̬̪̋́̕͡yU̮͎͆͝D̡̚Ţ̐r͔̜̥̳͇̓̒̈́͋̈́x̞̳͐͘h /̧̛͕̯͖͊͂͝ZK̤͞ḑ̢̗̼̰̦̗͊̉̄̄͘͠͞K͙̬͛̍m̧̦͓̗̝̝͔̲̀̏̌̀̑̑̌͠zả̛̛̮̝̦͉͚͋̆̕͢͝ͅ"And she shuts her mouth, it looks like that's all she'll be saying for now.
"Ahh, and there I was hoping the next one would be easy… oh well, guess I'll just have to wait till one of the archbishops show up… So, be her representative you say? Like the whole Emilia camps representative?"
She nods approvingly, "Ugh… That means I'm gonna have to study about politics and whatnot, I don't want to do study anything about politics…" I hang my head down, rather depressed about that idea, my life has been rather carefree for the most of it. Just wandering around, going where she tells me to go, and doing the small things I'm supposed to do in said places, never have I actually done something that takes this much mental effort!
She pats me on the shoulder as if saying, 'It's going to be fine' and I take the gesture literally, "Are you saying I won't need to study anything?" She nods again, making me sigh in relief, I'm not about to study books upon books of politics.
"So then, if that's all I need to do right now, I might as well go and go and check out Beatrice for the library business. Hey, would taking the library be a good thing?" Whatever her answer is, I'll probably take the library anyway, you never what useful books could be there.
She nods, a little too much, "Really? Is the library really going to help me that much?" She shakes her head, disappointedly, seems I've missed her point.
"Then what do I… Oh, bringing Beatrice on my side is a good idea then?"
"Bing…. Go...!"
Shooting me a thumbs up, she cheered, well that's the end of today's round of charades, I have to get going, "Alright, the more I stay here, the less my chances are to face Rem later on, and we're going to need to talk trust if I'm being the representative" She nods once more, rather dejectedly and she waved me goodbye, and then I was gone.
"Yaaawn… that was a good rest..."
I open my eyes and the first thing I see was a chair to my side, a very pretty chair, I was in my room, or at least a room in the mansion, "Looks like someone carried me all the way here… and the person who was left with that is…. Right beside me" I turn around the other side and I see a slender figure leaning on the wall, asleep.
"Hey, hey now, is it really a good time to be sleeping? Shouldn't you be looking after someone?"
"Huwaaah... S-Subaru-kun?!"
She awakened and was scared for dear life, "You were there going all sleeping beauty when there's clearly someone in front of you hurt, for all you know, most of my bones could be shattered right now, have some shame Rem..." I say while shaking my head in disappointment. Jumping up from her leaning posture, Rem quickly bows to me, "Ah! I'm very sorry for attacking you!"
I sigh and get up from the bed, checking out my limbs. "So, where's everyone else?" I ask her while stretching my muscles out. "Uhm, Roswaal is at the village, making final checks to ensure the barrier stones don't get tampered with easily. Nee-sama and Emilia-sama are tending to the villagers that are injured. Beatrice-sama came here with you and told me to tend to your wounds, she then went to the library and she's been staying inside until now…"
"I see, how long have I been out cold?"
"A few hours… not too long..."
"So, let me guess, when I left, you had to go and restock supplies for the kitchen. While you were going out, you decided to check on where I was going, and as you were doing so, you came across Elsa. Seeing her as a threat, you tried to eliminate her yourself but she was too strong so you decided to summon your horn, but after that happened you completely lost it and changed your target to me since I smell really bad, am I right?"
She nodded guiltily, regretting the things she's done, "Please forgive me, Subaru-kun…" I roll up my sleeves and sit back down on my bed with my head on my hand, "Sorry this, forgive me that, aren't you missing something?" She froze and then grabbed her head, thinking really hard on what she forgot.
"Rem forgot something? What did Rem forget…"
"Who carried you back here while you were unconscious?"
"Y-You did…"
"And so what should you say to me?"
"T-Thank you, Subaru-kun…"
"Good, that's what I wanted to hear… now, for saving you, I'm going to need you to massage my back if you don't mind, it's killing the heck outta me right now" She nods and approaches me nervously, sitting behind me on the bed, and she started rubbing on my probably fractured bones, I can feel them, it hurts a lot.
"I'm really sorry, if only Rem could control it…"
"No matter how sorry you are, what's done is done, you can't really change that..."
Time passed by rather slowly, and the room stayed silent, just the two of us, it was rather awkward, and boring, "Hey Rem, why do you think of Ram so highly?" I decided to ask her, she stops for a moment, then continues. "Nee-sama is all that Rem has left, Nee-sama is Rem's number one, so is it not weird not to think of her highly?"
"That's… not quite what I meant. Let me ask you, between you and Ram, who's the superior maid"
"That would be… Rem…"
"Do you really think that way?"
"No…"
She hung her head low and stopped once more, I stretched my limbs again and dusted my clothes off, "Despite you being better than her in almost everything, you still think she should be better than you, why's that, I wonder?" I say while getting of the bed, spinning my arm around.
"The reason Nee-sama lost her horn, is because Rem wasn't strong enough to protect herself, and when she lost it, I felt happy, why did I feel like that? Why wasn't I the one cut down? Why did Ram have to suffer through all that? Why was I even born…"
"Heh, so you're feeling guilty about receiving relief from someone else's demise? Well, that sure is something to be guilty about" I grab a chair and sit down, facing the blue haired demon, I tap her head to get her attention, "Listen here Rem. Your human, so- wait, no, you're a demon… I mean, your no different from a human inside you see, even I get that feeling sometimes, even Ram, even Emilia, everyone gets that feeling, it's called being arrogant, wanting to be better off than other people, wanting others to see you better. That's a sin you know? The sin of Pride as the stories call it.
"..."
"Now, I'm not some expert therapist, nor have I ever felt what you felt on that scale, so I have no right to say anything, and I won't, dealing with these kinds of things, they should be done by yourself. But I will say this… you're so god damn annoying!" I raised my voice in the last bit, startling her suddenly.
"W-What?"
"Your like the sword saint who goes and insta-kills everything and says, 'Oh, it was nothing' only, you say 'I'm sure you could have done better' as well, do you know how annoying that gets?! Ugh, I get that your guilty and all but don't push it on us, go brood on your own, someone might actually hate you for that, you know?"
"I-It's… annoying?"
"You have no idea, do you? Geez, I don't know how Ram could have survived seeing you rambling on about how horrible you are and how great she is, it's like a stubborn child crying about how the tooth fairy is real, and here I thought you were older than me… anyway, I'll be going now. Don't think too hard about it"
"You're just going to leave Rem like this?!"
"Yes, Beatrice is waiting for me, promised I'd talk to her about something today, also have to thank her for helping me out in the forest. And Rem, when Emilia and Roswaal get back, tell them I want to have a little talk about the camp and my position in it…" So I leave her behind and walked out of the room, closing the door behind me as I left.
"Okay, guess it's finally time isn't it Beatrice?"
I walk down the hallway until a door opened up beside me, "Yo" I greeted her while raising my hand up. She greets me back with a wave and ushers me inside the library, the smell of books never get old. "Thanks for the save back in the forest, would have been a goner if you didn't show up last minute"
"It's all good, I suppose, want some tea?"
"Sure, why not"
I took a seat on the stool across her and grab a cup from her little table, sipping down some tea with her, "About the assassin, she left something I thought you might want, I suppose" I raise an eyebrow at her as she threw something at me, "What's this?" I caught it with my hands, it was sharp, another one of her kukri knives.
"Hmm, just like the other one…" It's a high-quality knife for sure, much harder than mine and it can cut really well with it's curved blade. It's also surprisingly lightweight compared to mine, "She must have a pretty big bounty for her to have these on… or maybe she's got some connections to a really good blacksmith, either way, I think I'll borrow her knives for a while…"
I spin it around my finger and laid it down by table slowly, "Finders keepers, I suppose" I chuckle at Beatrice's comment and I chugged down the last of the tea before putting the cup down, "Haah… that tea was tastier than normal… and this room seems cleaner than I last checked"
"These are necessary preparations, now your answer I suppose?" She asks me while staring into my eyes. I take a deep breath in and cross my legs onto the chair, pretending to be in deep thought, "I've thought about it really hard in the past few days, and I've made my mind up that I'd like to take the library off your hands…"
We looked at each other for a while, she then smiled, though it was a weird smile, sweet yet bitter at the same time, "Hah, this was the tensest Betty has been in years, I suppose… I'm really happy that you accepted, but a little sad at the same time…" she got up from her stool and walked over to me. She just stood there, in front of me, as if presenting herself.
"So… do I get like a key or something, or are we going to do some sort of ritual?"
"Betty has already given you the key to the library, I suppose…"
I furrow my brows in confusion, as far as I recall, she hasn't given me a key yet, "It's on the table, I suppose…" she points to the knife she had given me seconds before, the sharp, bloodied knife of a killer, that's the key, "So that's what this is all about… huh?" I pick up the knife and spun it around my hands once more, then pointed it at Beatrice.
"So… this is what you meant by being your savior?"
"That is correct, I suppose… you should have seen this coming"
"Ah… well can't really do anything about it, well then, get ready… this isn't going to end well for you, not one bit…" I raise the blade up into the air and got ready to strike down, she closed her eyes and started to shiver, she was scared, just the reaction I wanted, "Betty is ready…" And right after she said that, I…
"Roswaal-sama, Emilia-sama, Nee-sama, welcome back…"
Rem stood in front of the mansion doors to greet the three as they returned from the village, Emilia came up to Rem and asked her, "Rem, is Subaru okay? Although he just looked tired, there was blood all over him" Rem nods and replies to her superior, "Subaru-kun is fine, he's already awake and has gone to talk with Beatrice-sama, there is nothing to worry, about Emilia-sama…"
"Subaru's gone to talk with Betty? Hmm, this might be the last time I'll get to see her…" Puck murmured to himself, not letting the others hear him.
"Well~ then, Subaru-kun surely is a lively young man, isn't he? Going here and there fighting and whatnot, we're~ lucky we managed to get him into the camp… now, I wonder~ what he would ask for this time?"
"Ah, Roswaal-sama, when Subaru-kun awakened, he asked to have some of yours and Emilia-sama's time, he told Rem he wants to discuss about his 'position in the Emilia camp', he says he will meet with you shortly after he's done with Beatrice-sama, Rem isn't sure how long that will take though…"
"Betty shouldn't keep him for too long, we should go to the conference room and wait for him"
"Good idea Puck, then I'll go on ahead"
Emilia enters into the mansion with the others following behind, Puck was left on his own though, "Might as well give her a farewell…" He floated inside and around the mansion going through the hallways and peeking through the doors, that's when I suddenly walked out of the room, spinning a knife in my hand, "Ah… Subaru…"
"Oh, Puck, your back, I'm guessing Emilia-san and Roswaal is waiting for me?"
"Uh, yeah they're in the conference room down the hallway…"
From behind me, he could see flickering lights and he shuddered, I walked past him and closed the door behind me, "You coming Puck?" he shakes his head and follows behind me closely, "Yeah…" We make our way down the hallway and to the meeting room, I open the door and enter with Puck behind me.
"Hey, so how's the village doing?" I asked the two as I seated myself down on one of the couches. The two seemed glad that I was doing fine. Puck floated over to Emilia and landed on her silver hair with a sigh, "The village~ is in harmony thanks to you~ Subaru-kun…"
"I expected as much, though, the typical 'You're a hero' response is getting rather old… but typical responses aside, I don't save people for free you? Okay, well technically I do but this is an exception, you two are aware of that aren't you?" as I took my seat on one of the couches
The two glanced at each other and then back at me, "I'm~ supposing your request isn't~ going to let us off the hook so easily like last time is it…" I nod, "You should expect as much, we are greedy creatures after all…" I stare at them, with eyes that could see through the world.
"..."
The atmosphere suddenly got tense and I sigh, "Simply put, I want in on the big decision making happening over here..." Roswaal, who was sitting rather casually up until now, narrowed his eyes as he leaned forward, Emilia as well, she seemed to have taken a more rigid form now, "Hmm~ Even with how indebted we are to you and how connected you are to us, giving away~ that much authority is going to be… difficult, don't you~ think, Subaru-kun...?"
"Of course it is, you don't just give someone that much power because they don't have anything else to give, then again, if that was true, slavery wouldn't be a thing in Kararagi, but you probably know how bad of a problem that is…"
"Um, Subaru… I don't know why you want to be a head figure in my camp, but I must have you know, being the King is really important for me, I have the weight of hundreds of my kind on the line, I can't risk anything that could potentially make me drop out of the election, so…"
"Hah, running for King with that attitude? That's really funny, what's with that Roswaal, Puck?"
"While it is~ true that Emilia-sama's nature would hinder her performance in the~ election, we are finding a way to work around it…"
"And if it's Lia's wish to be King, then I have no real reason to refuse, and it's for the better of the world so yeah?"
Emilia looked at me with pleading eyes, begging me to reconsider, a girl like her running for ruler of the country, one wouldn't be far from insane if they thought that she would succeed, "Well~ as I am a man of my word, I just can't not give you what you request, but~ maybe we can reach to a compromise?"
"Compromise? Well then, my request is for everyone to recognize me as the representative of the Emilia camp, I don't care how much power you give me, but I'm to go with you all on every single meeting regarding the royal election, and when the time comes to give a speech, I'll have my share of announcements as well… how's that for a compromise then?"
Emilia and Roswaal glanced at each other, and then back at me, "Well… I guess it's okay, but, it's just that…" Emilia said, with an ever silencing tone, "What~ Emilia-sama is trying to say is~ that we've already prepared someone to be the Emilia camps representative, Subaru-kun… so there could be complications, and having two representatives is a little~ much…"
"Heh? Someone's already lined up before me? Good thing I've got a VIP pass… Okay, we'll go meet up with the guy and cancel it"
"W-What? We can't just cancel it, that's really rude, Subaru"
"Rude or not, what's happened has happened, no one would willing want to do something for the sake of doing it, the same goes for helping you Emilia-san. No person in their right mind would think to help you without expecting something back, people like those, they don't exist. This person too, he probably just wants to take advantage of you when you least expect it"
"What's~ to say you aren't the same, Subaru-kun…"
"Heh, says the clown who's doing the very same thing I'm doing. Your a Margrave Roswaal, and people of the higher nobility have to keep their image rather high. For you to willingly side with a half-elf is already enough to make the whole kingdom shun you off, so there's a deeper meaning to you helping her out"
"Roswaal?"
"Hah~ Subaru-kun really likes sniffing out the rats from the walls know doesn't he~ It is indeed as he says Emilia-sama, my helping in your uprising isn't completely out of kindness, I too expect for you to return the favor someday in the future…"
Emilia looked rather shocked at Roswaal's confession, and Puck showed a really displeased face, "Uh… I guess you're right…" Emilia says in a low voice. She then looks up to me, in a stern gaze, "I'll accept your request, Subaru… but only under one condition!" Raising a finger up, she shoots up her chair, "You have to work your hardest to help me win in the election!"
"Haah… well, I can't really promise you'll win since we've already had a bad start, but… I can promise you that you won't lose… by default anyway. But like I said, I'll be using you to further my own goals as well, you can use me as you like, and do the same…"
With the rather intimidating declaration, the room went silent once more, but Emilia stomped her foot on the ground, "Absolutely not!" With the tippy top of her voice, she rebuked my declaration of a mutual relationship, and then she herself declares, "There will be no 'using people for yourself'. I will not allow that, we will all help each other in furthering each other's goals, if we only use each other, then we'll never truly be able to see ourselves as a camp, so…" Noticing that she said all that in a rather loud voice, she quickly turns her volume down by covering her mouth, "Ohno, I accidentally shouted…"
"Mhmm… helping each other, that's not a bad idea, I'll agree to that"
"Indeed~ it would be more beneficial that way"
"H-Huh, you'll accept that?"
"Yeap, wholeheartedly"
"Really?!"
With Emilia having a big smile on her face, she cried down tears of relief, Puck's clapping can be heard in the background, "Good job Lia, you completed your first ever negotiation! I'm really proud of you" With Emilia and Puck celebrating on their own, I turn over to Roswaal who looks over to me with a nod.
Just then, the door opened and we could all see someone standing by the door, "You were all rather noisy, did something happen?"
"Was wondering when you'd crash in, it's nothing, tell Rem to get ready, from now on, we're all going to experience reality…"
A/N
Okay, so onto [Arc 3: Reality] this happens before canon Arc 3 with the whale fight, it's a short arc, mostly for setting up the beginning of the next arc, be excited for that I guess.
And also, woohoo, Volume 17 illustrations in high quality! Now we just gotta wait till December for Volume 18 and Louise!
Basscuss
Badass Subaru is badass, I mean he was able to fight Elsa and a lot of Ulgrams while protecting Petra. If Betty was there they would have destroyed them! Great chapter once again, been a while since I last heard from this story, also nerfing Subaru's Timelapse...well 15 minutes of recall is quite OP even against powerful enemies like Garfiel and Betelgeuse.
It's not quite overpowered, it's REALLY overpowered, you have to put more emphasis. Subaru can basically pack a bag full of explosives, detonate it, ran away, come back after all the chaos cleared off, and literally recall the bag back, with all the stones explosives intact, I think that's a little bit more than quite overpowered…
Speaking of Garfiel and Betelgeuse, expect more badassery when he fights the two.
MNR-AMR
For some weird reason, that opening made me think that this was a reposted chapter! I could have sworn I read it... That opening, at least twice before. Not sure though, anyways... Good job! You're approaching BBZ territory now! :)
You've read it before? Hmm… I don't know… maybe you've read… the google doc? Anyway, I sure am approaching BBZ territory, slowly, and surely, but at the same time, I'm not. I feel BBZ is a happy story with a happy ending and all the happy things… yeah, you better not expect any of that reading this story…
Whoag
Amazing chapter as usual.
Ahh, you flatter me.
Stranger
Oooh, can't wait for the next chapter. :)
Well, this chapter closes off this arc, onto the next arc!
"Betty is ready…"
With the knife in my hand ready and set, I swing down, full force into the spirits head. Even though that amount of force is a little overkill, I don't hold back when it's a strike to the head. A teardrop fell on the floor, and so did a strand of golden hair. I retract the knife and looked at its edge, "Woah, that really is a sharp knife… I just needed to touch your hair, either that or your hair is really weak, Beatrice…"
The teary-eyed spirit opened up her previously shut eyes, "W-Why… you truly are a despicable man… I suppose…" She falls to the ground weakly, but I catch her, and laid her down by a bookshelf, "Did you really think I'd kill you just like that? Even if you wanted death, you were scared of it weren't you…"
"But that's why… that's why you were supposed to end it quickly, in fact…"
The tears rolled down her eyes, tears of fear and disappointment, "If… if you're not going to do it, then j-just leave…" I crouch down in front of her, and grab her chin, facing it to me, "Hmm? You've been suffering for a few centuries, and you want to end it with death right? And since you're a spirit, your not allowed to kill yourself so you've asked me to do it, well then, I completely understand that your reasoning behind that, but… it really pisses me off…"
I stare into her eyes, "You've been suffering, and you want to end your suffering… by inducing more suffering? What kind of dumbass answer is that? Has your brain deteriorated that much through those four centuries?" She daren't look at me, I was a terrifying monster right now, and I sure was acting like one.
"If you want to die so badly… then let me show you the true meaning of death…"
Making sure she leaned onto the bookshelf as far as possible, I swung the knife over to her throat and just as it penetrated, I stopped, "Now... how does it feel? The feeling that you can die at any moment now? Or maybe, your already dead, and you're just imagining all of this? Maybe you won't be able to think anymore because you're dead?"
"S-sto…"
"Maybe you're still alive but you can't think anymore? Maybe all of the things your hearing are being made up? All of these images are just your mind tricking you? Huh, you wanted to die right? This is death, this is what you've been asking for? This is your escape! Do you like it!"
"Stop it… stop this…"
"How do people live with this? You might be asking. Why did you ever think this was a good thing? Why did I want to die? Death? Death is like hell, right? This is the hell you wanted, right!? You wanted to stop the suffering for more suffering right!? Well, here it is!"
"Please stop!"
I threw back the knife, away from her and she fell to the ground, coughing and sobbing, "Tch, seems I lost it again…" I murmur inaudibly. Beatrice was on the ground, shivering, scared, and many other emotions swirling inside her. I fell to the ground with a thump, and I smell myself, I stink even more now, I used timelapse over a hundred times in two minutes, not a healthy dose.
"..."
Beatrice just blankly stares at the ground while I sit down beside her, waiting for her to snap out of it, "H-Hey…" I heard her shriveled up voice, and I turned my gaze to her, she slowly tried to get on her knees, and faced me, "Tell me… that wasn't it right? That wasn't really what happens when you die, I suppose?" Looking at me with such a depressed and wet face, it makes me want to lie to her.
"That really is what happens when you die, take it from a guy who had personal experience with these kinda things…"
"No…" She collapsed onto my knees, grabbing it tightly with one hand, "What… what should Betty do then… either way, Betty has to suffer… tell me… what should I do!" With her small crying figure lurched onto my lap, I can't help but comfort her a little.
"If you die, you get to go through what you just went through but for eternity, if you stay here, you'll have to live the life of an undignified spirit who's failed at what she's done… what will you choose, I wonder?"
"I… don't want this… Betty just wants this to end… Mother… what does Betty do now… please tell Betty to do something… Lewes… please bring me somewhere else, like you always do… please… Bubby… please… someone… please! I don't want to be alone anymore…"
"Hey, Beatrice…" Having quite enough of this, I call out to her in a soft voice, as if I was dealing with a child, "Since your kinda lost, why not follow me around for a while?" She weakly tilts her head upwards, facing me, but her head fell down once more, "Simply living causes Betty grief…"
"Really? Then I'll make the grief go away for a little while, even if it's only for a little while, will you accept?"
"Simply the thought of living causes Betty grief…"
"Then, what if I distract you so you don't feel grief, will you accept?"
"Betty just wants to disappear, anything else is just grief…"
"If I said… that I can make you disappear… will you follow me then?"
"..."
With her deadpan eyes, she stared into mine, and she asks, "You… can do that? You'll do it for Betty…?" her voice weakened with every syllable, she probably won't be able to talk any longer if we keep on going, "I promise you it's possible… but if you want that to happen… then your going to have to follow me a little while, are you okay with that?"
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"I…"
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"I'll follow you then…"
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Basically what happened was Subaru killed Betty and revived her a split second after, causing her mind to switch between life and death.