Prologue: Fated Meeting of Three Lost Souls

For a normal 4th grader Natsuki Subaru hated school excessively. While school itself wasn't the problem he hated when his classmates parents compared him to his father. He was not as good at talking to people like his father, or funny or... in general, he was worse than his father in all areas. Still, his father was trying to comfort him by saying that he would be better than him in the future. To cheer up Subaru , his father started teaching him astrology and astronomy, and he even went so far as to buy an expensive atlas so he could at least spend some time reading something other than mangas. With this unhealthy thoughts for a ten year old in mind Subaru walked towards schools exit.

[Kenichi: Hurry Subaru, if we get late I'll get scolded by Naoko again for picking you up late from school]

[Subaru: Worrying a lady … What kind of men makes their waifu sad, you're disappointing me dad]

Kenichi barely managed to stop his chuckles so he could answer his son.

[Kenichi: I don't know what a "waifu" is but I would never make your mother feel sad.]

Snapping his fingers, he pointed at his son with a smile that could capture anyone's hearth

[Kenichi: A Natsuki would never break a maidens hearth ]

Subaru just stared at his father with admiring eyes. "I wish I was like him" he continued his thoughts.

His father slightly nodded his head towards the signaling him to get in the car. While they were driving on the road, his father suddenly pulled the car over near a convenience store.

[Kenichi: I'm gonna buy some eggs and sea salt so we could finally start Natsuki tradition of making your first personal mayo]

Hearing the word of mayonnaise, there was a slight drool at the edge of Subaru's mouth. Staring is sons rather adorable look Kenichi left the car and walked towards the convenience store. While waiting for his father he started humming the song of his favorite anime.

[La La La … La La La Zingen zingen kleine vlinders]

While looking to his father, he noticed his father managed to strike up a conversation with the clerk as well, making him feel weird while looking at his father. He sighed and closed his eyes and continued to hum the song.

[La La La … La La La Zingen zingen kleine vlinders La La]

[MILK-iro no Yoake]

Subaru suddenly felt a weird sensation around him , like he was sitting at the ground and not at the seat of the car, he immediately opened his eyes and met with a scene that shocked him.

Heinkel was sober, he hated being sobe , almost as much as he hated himself or monster spawn that he had to call son. This was the thoughts within Heinkel Astrea while he was walking at the streets of Flanders. He was feeling uncomfortable because of his uniform; but he liked to wear his uniform since it made people think twice before messing with him, the deputy commander of the royal guards. He looked around the street to find his usual merchant from Gusteko. Northerners had the strongest drinks, which was something he desperately needed. Just as he was walking towards the merchant he heard disturbing noises from the back alley.

[?: GET AWA.. hmhhhh … HEEELPH! ... mhhhhh ]

Heinkel quickly dashed towards the location while unsheathing his sword. When he entered the back ally the sight before him angered him even more then he already was. There were several demi-human children forced to get in to boxes so they could be smuggled. Then there was an old man holding a weirdly dressed child's mouth while forcing it to ground.

[Heinkel; In the name of the holy dragon, lay down your weapons and surrender!]

The man shared a quick look among each other. They outnumbered the knight three to one but none of them wanted to risk facing a knight, especially a royal guard. Suddenly oldest of the three threw the child he was holding and three of them started to dash towards the back streets in hopes of losing the knight. Heinkel neither had the patince or the care to run behind them, he quickly sheathed his sword while approaching the child crying on the ground.

[Heinkel: Hey brat, are you okay]

Heinkel was never the best with kids but after kid started to cry he slowly crouched near the kid to calm him down.

[Heinkel: There there it's over now, are you hurt ?]

Kid slowly started to calm down and managed to look around with teary eyes and slowly looking at the man beside him.

Subaru was having the weirdest day of his life. First, he was somehow in a weird alleyway with bad guys his father warned him about. Which two of the said guys were as shocked as he is while the oldest one immediately grabbed him. Then he was saved by a knight cosplayer and right now he was crying beside him.

[?: There there it's over now, are you hurt?]

[Subaru: Who ar … e … you mister?]

The beside him started to smile like he was waiting for Subaru to ask for his name

[Heinkel: I'm Heinkel Astrea, Deputy Commander of the Royal Guard]

Subaru looked at the guy dumbfounded. When he was about to ask for his real name he started to notice his surroundings. Everything looked foreign to him. He had no idea where he was.

[Heinkel: Did you swallow your tongue kid. I know meeting a high ranked royal guard must be impressive but you are too quiet]

[Subaru: Where are we, Mister Heinkel?]

Hearing the kids question the knight's smile turned into a frown.

[Heinkel: How did you get here kid? You look groomed, surely you are a noble's son.]

[Subaru: My father is Natsuki Kenichi, everybody knows him and I don't know where I am … please help.]

Now the knight beside him started to look more confused, after a brief pause the knight spoke ;

[Heinkel: You still seem to be in shock … Follow me to my carriage and we will talk about this in my manor brat.]

[Subaru: Subaru]

[Heinkel: Excuse me?]

[Subaru: My name, it's Subaru]

[Heinkel: Whatever it is just follow me]

Subaru followed the guy since he seemed to be good-natured. He saved him from the bad guys after all and he didn't know where he was. While going towards the carriage Subaru looked around to understand where he was but it only managed to confuse him further. After arriving at the carriage Subaru immediately took notice of what was supposed to pull the carriage. Two golden scaled creatures looked like small dinosaurs.

[Subaru: So coool …]

[Heinkel: What's up with you kid, never seen a ground dragon before? ]

[Subaru: What's a ground dragon ?]

The Knight started to look even more puzzled than before. He quickly talked with some guys that were similarly dressed to him. He boarded the carriage while calling for Subaru.

[Heinkel: Come in boy I can't spend my whole day on you ]

Subaru was still feeling scared didn't want to annoy the Heinkel guy so choose to listen to him and hop into the carriage.

Heinkel stared at the kid sleeping beside him. Just judging by his mannerisms it was clear that he wasn't from here. His clothes were unlike anything he had seen before. While the names he gave to him sounded foreign it was a bit similar to kararagian dialect. He also seemed surprised when he saw a ground dragon. With all this in mind, he concluded his thoughts with a sly smirk. The kid was the son of a Kararagian noble or a wealthy merchant and if he could keep the kid safe and find his parents it definitely would've to lead to a handsome reward. Even though Heinkel didn't need the money, if it was heard that he managed to save a noble's son from smugglers, it would benefit his reputation. Even today the kid proved himself useful. Thanks to his shout he managed to "stop" criminals from smuggling demi-human slaves. Heinkel decided to stop by the local knight garrison after leaving the boy at the mansion.

[Heinkel: Hey kid … Subaru wake up. ]

Subaru rubbed his nasty-looking eyes to sober up from his sleepy state. He looked back at Heinkel who was looking at him with a rather gentle look.

[Subaru: Are we home ?]

A sad smile formed on Heinkel's face.

[Heinkel: We are at Astrea Mansion .You will have to stay here with me for now. Sadly I don't know where your parents are but don't worry about it. I will find and deliver you to them. ]

Subaru got teary-eyed with the prospect of never seeing his parents again but he managed to hold his tears back. He remembered what his father used to say. Men don't cry. He watched while Heinkel gets off the carriage and calling some maids and a boy named Reinhard.

[Heinkel: Reinhard the kid is your responsibility while I visit the garrison. Any questions? ]

[Reinhard: No father.]

Subaru slowly got off the carriage and stared at the boy in front of him. He was a little taller and a little older than him, but what caught the Subaru's most was none of these things. The person in front of him was someone loved by the world. He didn't know what that meant but he was sure of it.

[Reinhard: Please follow me, esteemed guest. I will show you to one of our best guest rooms. ]

[Subaru: Okay, stop doing that. ]

Reinhard looked up from his regular greeting pose to his father's guest.

[Subaru: My name is Subaru, S-U-B-A-R-U … got it, what is yours ?]

Reinhard cursed himself while looking at his guest. He couldn't even greet someone properly and he was supposed to be the sword saint. His grandfather was right, he was a failure.

[Reinhard: My name is Reinhard , Subaru ]

[Subaru: That sounds cool. Not cool as my name but still cool. Since we both have cool names, we could be friends]

Subaru snapped his hands then pointed his index finger towards Reinhard with an innocent-looking smile on his face. He thought that if he acted like he was allowing Reinhard to be his friend he would be more inclined to accept

Heinkel couldn't even stop smirking right now. This noble's son seemed to be an "easy-going " type of person. If brat also ended up getting along with his son. It could even help him to establish a permanent relationship with the kid's family. With these thoughts in mind, he slowly got into his carriage. Before closing the door he turned his attention to Reinhard to give him the last order.

[Heinkel: Be careful around the kid and make sure he doesn't get hurt. Understood? ]

[Reinhard: Yes, father ]

Heinkel got surprised by the sound of Reinhard's voice. It sounded rather cheerful. He closed the door of the carriage without bothering to think about it and knocked on the front wall of the carriage, signaling the driver.

After the two kids watched the carriage leave the mansion grounds. Reinhard decided to start a conversation.

[Reinhard: What do you want to do next Subaru ?]

[Subaru: I'm hungry so … wanna eat something together Rein ?]

A smile slowly formed on Reinhard's face. He could read others' thoughts to some extent, because of that he knew Subaru had no ill intent. Although he finds it strange that Subaru wants a monster to be his friend, he was happy with Subaru's decision.

[Reinhard: Then follow me friend, the maids probably already prepared the meal. ]

Subaru followed Reinhard with a small smile on his own. Maybe he could enjoy his time here since he wasn't alone. Reinhard called him a friend after all.

I decided to check my previous chapters to fix some grammatical mistakes

I know it's not perfect and needs a rewrite

Which I am planning to do when I have some extra free time

...

If it's your first time reading my fic

I just want to tell that the storytelling and the grammar improve in the next chapters.

...

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this slightly corrected version