Hello! I have emerged from the caverns to give you this. Longest thing I've wrote. Got tired around the second half so it may be less detailed.
There will be no Return by Death in this story, Subaru needs a break from all of that suffering.
Not that he won't suffer, of course.
I may also invent several spells and 3 new authorities so yes this will diverge from canon in several ways.
...
Subaru Natsuki walked out of the convenience store and into the cold air of the outside. It was the middle of the night but after a brief argument with his mother he decided to take a walk.
His vision became blurry and his head suddenly became really really dizzy. He blinked and suddenly everything became really damn bright.
In front of him, several carriages drove by and people of several races walked across the street.
"HAVE I BEEN SUMMONED TO A FANTASY WORLD!?"
Subaru was perplexed. He had wondered around the city, not knowing a thing about what he was doing or what he was supposed to do. He'd visited bars, nearly been ran over and fallen into a river and he hasn't even been given his first quest yet.
"Hand over whatever you have and we won't kill you." Came a voice from the end of the alley.
Subaru looked up, hope filling his eyes. Finally ! Something !
His smile fell upon noticing that these guys were serious. He stood up and glanced around the alley. There were three thugs, the one on the left was really short and looked like he was both 7 and 50 years old. The middle one was taller and slim, he hunched his back giving his body an almost curled position. The one on the right was big and tough, a scar on his right eye made gave him 10 more intimidation points in Subaru's mind.
"We're not fucking around! Hand us your stuff or we'll kill you!" One of them spat, he equipped two knives and took a rather weird stance. Suggesting that this thug has never actually taken any knife-fight training.
"Get out of my way! Coming through!"
Subaru looked at the end of the alley again, to see a blonde girl. She was almost inhumanely skinny and she seemed to be running really fast for a normal person.
Finally. Is this the girl who summoned me?
However, as he noticed she ran past him and then vaulted over a wall, he realised that no. She hadn't.
"Would that happen to make you suddenly no longer want to mug me and leave me alone?" He asked out of desperation.
"No, it rained on our parade and made it worst." The big one replied.
Subaru gulped. A pit had began forming at the bottom of his stomach. In all Isekai Anime, the protagonist is always given supernatural abilites!
"Take this you lumps of EXP!"
His attack did not go well.
It went so not well that he was now on the floow being kicked in the stomach repeatedly. He could feel a rib or two cracking. Ouch.
In his mind he pleaded. Screamed. Begged. Please. If anyone can hear my thoughts. Help me. Please.
It was when the kicking stopped that he opened one eye, confused. Pain was shooting in all parts of his body but through his half blurred vision he made out the three thugs looking around themselves in fear.
It was then that Subaru realised that a really large amount of bright orbs had rapidly began multiplying and floating around the air. He was about to panic over it before he was distracted.
"Your attack ends here thieves. Give back what you stole an-... What in the hell?"
Her voice was soft, and it reminded Subaru of when he had a spoon of honey to soothe his sore throat. He looked up at her, her silver hair and amethyste eyes took his breathe away.
Beautiful.. Stunning. She's like if the entirety of heaven took its form in one body.
This 'girl' looked very confused however. Or was it surprise? Shock? He couldn't tell. His vision was too blurry.
God I wish I wasn't in this much pain right now.
A second after thinking that he instantly felt relieved. He looked at his body and it was pratically glowing. The orbs in the air were now swarming him. Are they... Healing me?
His thoughts were interruped again by some flying cat, well, flying in front of him. The bright orbs instantly dissipated and the cat took over their task of healing Subaru.
The girl let out a gasp.
The thugs had fear written all over their face. One, they had started beating up a, what they now realised to be, a spirit arts user. Two, it was a very powerful one because holy hell that is a lot of spirits. And three, a random girl has appeared at the end of the alley with icicles just floating in the air.
'Yeah, no. Screw this.' They all thought collectively and ran for their lives.
The girl didn't even have time to stop them as they ran past her, she still seemed to be a tad shellshocked. "Puck?" She called out. The sound of iceicles hitting the floor and shattering echoed through the alleyway.
That cat – Puck, Subaru noted – blinked a few times before looking as if he came to make an important epiphany. He stopped healing Subaru, who had already been fully healed one hundred times over, and turned to the girl with confusion apparent on his visage.
"I... What." The cat spoke.
Subaru gasped. "You can talk?!" He yelled. He also then winced. Nice one Subaru, way to make a good first impression on the girl that probably summoned you here.
Subaru then brought himself to his feet and approached the silver haired girl. She took a step back in return. He took another step forward, and she took another step back.
"It's okay Lia, I sense no malicious intent from him." 'Puck' spoke up.
"So not only can you fly, you can talk and read minds too?" Subaru was beginning to wonder what kind of world he has ended up in.
"Hi! I'm Puck. I'm not entirely sure why I was healing you but I feel like I can trust you. For now." He added that last part while narrowing his eyes at him.
"I see. My name is Natsuki Subaru! And I am a hopelessly broke!" He said maybe a bit too loud seeming as it made the girl flinch. I really went overboard on that didn't I?
The girl and Puck stared at him with their mouths slightly ajar, and with a look that is either confusion from his intro or from how stupid he must be. Or that is what Subaru guessed anyway.
"Lia, it would be rather impolite to not introduce yourself." Puck stated, turning to Emilia and apparently ignoring whatever Subaru was saying.
"Ah, sorry. My name is.. Satella. Just Satella." She said whilst biting her lip. She looked away and closed her eyes, as if she was about to be yelled at by her father or something.
Puck sighed.
"Satella... That's a nice name. Beautiful name for a beautiful woman I guess." Subaru smiled.
Satella looked at him in shock. Her mouth hung open and she blinked.
"Natsu-."
"Call me Subaru."
"Subaru. You're either an idiot or not from around here, aren't you?" Puck asked, his voice rather monotonous.
"I feel like I'm both, but for now let's just say I'm really far from home right now." Subaru replied while scratching his chin in thought. "Where even are we?"
"You're in the capital." Satella replied. Her voice was like a sweet melody to his ears and soothed his worries and concerns.
"How much do you know about the Dragon Kingdom of Lagunica?" Puck asked him.
"Well, I know that it's called the 'Dragon Kingdom of Lagunica' now. Thanks for that." Subaru grinned and gave him a thumbs up.
Satella and Puck stared at eachother with their eyebrows raised. "He's not even lying and I don't know if that is better or worst." Subaru heard Puck mutter.
"Where are you from, Subaru?" Satella asked him.
Following the usual pattern... "I'm from an island nation far east." Subaru shrugged.
"Lagunica is the most eastern nation on the map." Satella raised her eyebrow.
"Seriously?!" Subaru exlaimed. Come on that is absolutely ridiculous.
"The fact that you haven't lied a single time about anything you've said kinda worries me Subaru." Puck rubbed his temples with his han-... with his paws.
"Moving on from that. Can someone tell me what on God's Green Earth just happened?" Subaru asked with a grin.
"God's Green Earth?" Satella echoed.
"Well, you got mugged and summoned a bunch of spirits. What else do you need to know?" Puck shrugged.
"Spirits?"
"You don't know what a spirit is?" Puck and Satella said in unison.
"I literally just said I'm far from home." Subaru sighed.
"Well. Basically first off : A spirit is a being of mana which live pretty much anywhere. They are semi sentient, however after a certain amount of time they evolve. It starts off as a Lesser Spirit, then they can evolve into Quasi Spirits, then just a Spirit, and then after they can become Great Spirits, like me.
Also, if a human's gate is malfunctioning or they have no affinities, they can use spirits to act as a gate for spells."
"Gate?"
"It's something everyone has, but they can get exhausted or damaged. And a damaged gate can kill someone."
"I see."
"Now there are two kinds of magic casters. You have the normal magic casters, who use their own mana and force it through their gate. And there are Spirit Arts users, who can speak to spirits and use them to draw mana through the air around them to cast spells."
"I see, so I can use the spirit arts?" Subaru questioned.
"Yes, you may even be able to make a contract with a spirit or two." Satella nodded.
"And how do I do that?"
"Well, it's not easy. Most of the time you must befriend the spirit or gain their trust before you can contract with them but judging from how high your affinity is it should be fairly easy." Puck explained.
"So I have a high affinity?"
Satella and Puck glanced at eachother before nodding. "Subaru, I've never seen someone be able to summon that many spirits. Let alone in a city."
So spirits must be more sparse in cities and high populated areas. Maybe they're antisocial? One thing we can relate on.
"I see, so how do I summon these spirits? Do I have to catcall them or something?"
"Catcall?" Satella echoed once more.
"Nevermind. But how do I summon them?"
"It's kind of like thinking out loud I guess."
Subaru scratched his chin before being caught off guard by Satella's sudden gasp. "What?" He looked up.
"My insignia! I have to go, it was nice meeting you but I must find my insignia!" Satella ran off at a surprising speed. Puck sighed and turned to Subaru.
"I wish you good luck Subaru. May we meet again." He nodded before flying off.
"But I was going to..." Subaru trailed off. "Damnit." He kicked the wall before yelping and grasping his toes. Bad choice bad choice
So what do I do now? Puck explained to me that I have a high affinity for spirits, and that I can use them to draw mana from the air as opposed to using my own. That would be beneficial to me I guess because for now being Level 1 means I should have fairly low mana.
Maybe I'm meant to follow them? Puck did say that we should meet again. Alright! He said something like me calling to them in my thoughts will reach them. Maybe if I.
Yo! Spirits. Can you lend me a hand?
He opened his eyes and dozens of bright orbs of red, green, white and blue appeared before him. He grinned and pumped his fist in the air.
Alright! Ok so, I'm looking for this girl. She has silver hair, she's about this tall and she's also really pretty. She ran off so she should be running around the city right now. Could you all help m-
Before he could even finish his question, the spirits all raced off into the sky and in different directions before turning invisible once more.
"That was... SO COOL!"
...
After a few minutes Subaru had decided it was best for him to explore the city once more, the spirits would probably do a better job of finding him than the other way around.
He was now on a pretty busy street. It looked like a market district, with stands filled with fruit, vegetables, meats, fish and enough cheese to put the French to shame lining the long road.
After a certain cake stand caught his eye, he bumped into someone in front of him.
"Oh I'm. So sorry." Subaru said while backing away. He took his eyes off the Chocolate Cream Paradise cake and turned his vision to the front of him.
In front of him stood the most handsome man Subaru has ever seen. If Subaru wasn't absolutely sure about his sexuality he definitely would have severely questioned his orientation.
The man had red hair, standing maybe a foot taller than Subaru. He had a clean shaven face and colourful blue eyes. His white knight uniform complimented his looks and the awesome looking sword at his side makes him look, well, awesome.
"It's okay, Mister?" The red head spoke.
"Subaru. Call me Subaru."
"Mister Subaru, it's my fault. I wasn't looking." He bowed.
"No please, it was clearly my fault. I was looking at that cake stand over there." Subaru grinned and winked.
The red head chuckled. "My name is Reinhard. Pleased to make your aquaitance."
"Nice to meet you Reinhard." Subaru stuck his hand out in front of him. Reinhard looked it and hesitated before shaking it. "So are you a knight or something?"
"I.. Uh. Yes I am a knight." Reinhard looked confused. It suddenly hit Subaru that he might be talking to a celebrity or something.
"Oh! I'm sorry if I'm meant to know who you are! I'm not really from around here so I don't know much. Or anything for that matter." Subaru rubbed the back of hid head after imperceivably turning a shade of red.
Reinhard paused before chuckling again. "I see, where are you from?" He asked.
"Not anywhere you've heard of." Subaru frowned.
Reinhard raised a brow before looking back down at what was in his hand. A necklance.
"Well it was nice to m-" Reinhard was cut off by dozens of spirits circling around Subaru, who grinned in return.
"Ah, you're back. Did you find her?" Subaru said aloud. "In the slums? Alright. Thank you!"
Reinhard was speechless. For someone to be able to communicate with the spirits verbally was unheard of, and for him to summon so many was a feat in of itself.
"Subaru. Are you a Spirit Arts user?" Reinhard asked.
"Well, I was told that quite recently. It turns out I have quite a high affinity. Welp! I have to go. It was lovely meeting you Reinhard. See ya!" Subaru saluted with a smile and walked away.
Reinhard blinked a few times, before speaking quietly to himself. "In the slums? Who is he looking for?... That was quite some impressive spirit arts usage. I'll find him once I've delivered this necklace."
...
Subaru was on his way to the slums, when he spotted a child crying on the side of the street. Maybe she's lost? Ahh Subaru you need to go find Satella. He continued to walk down the street before stopping once more. God damnit Subaru you can't even stay on the main quest can you? Sheesh.
He turned and started walking to the child in question, and knelt down before her. It was then that he had no idea what to say. The spirits!
Hey Spirits! Could one of you be a total bro and play with this child for a second?
A spirit appeared out of nowhere and started hovering around the child. It then started circling her to get her attention. It worked like a charm and she stopped crying and reached to touch it. It then circled around her hand and arm. She started smiling and then eventually giggled.
"Hey there, are you lost?" Subaru asked, now that she had cheered up. The child nodded. She had green hair and turquoise eyes. Hey that kinda looks like that apple- no, appa stand guy.
Hey spirit guys. Can you help me search for her parents?
Several spirits appeared and dispersed into several directions. Judging by how fast they found Satella, they should find her parents fairly quick since there should be two of them.
Only five minutes after Subaru had taken her hand and started walking down the streets, a couple spirits appeared again and circled around him. They beckoned him to follow.
"God you spirits are brilliant. Now that's what I call efficiency." He followed them for ten minutes and found himself in front of the appa stand.
"Is this your child, sir?"
"Plum! Why are you with him?" The appa stand owner glared at Subaru and quickly walked around the stand, grabbing him by the collar.
"Daddy! I was lost and I got scared! But onii-chan found me!" The girl, Plum, exclaimed before Subaru was buried six feet under.
Oh thank god. I thought I was going to die. Wait, onii-chan?
"I see, thank you then I guess. My name's Kadomon by the way." Kadomon dropped him and picked Plum up, holding her.
"Oh Plum! There you are!" A feminine voice called out. The three of them turned to it to reveal a tall purple haired woman. Subaru guessed she was the mother.
"Mommy!" Plum called out.
"I was lost and so scared! But onii-chan found me! He can talk to spirits!" Plum's smile was so warm it could probably thaw the entirety of Antartica. Adorable.
The mother turned to Subaru. "Thank you so much for what you have done! I can't imagine a world without my little Plum." She had thrown her arms around Kadomon and her child.
"Uhh. Don't mention it." Subaru scratched the back of his head. Jeez, she's acting as if I just saved her from bandits or something. "Anyway, I have to leave."
"No wait! Please. We're in your debt, let us do something!" The mother exlaimed.
Subaru sighed and scratched his chin, thinking. "Could you tell me something."
"Anything."
"I'm looking for someone. Blonde hair, red eyes I think, she's quite short and very slim. Oh she's also really damn fast."
"Snitches get stitches." Kadomon grunted. Only to get slapped on the arm by his wife, making him sigh. "But I guess you did save my kid. You're probably looking for Felt, she's a thief and she lives up in Rom's Loothouse in the slums. You'll find it pretty easily."
Subaru thanked them and left. The spirits leading the way to the slums.
...
About an hour later, he finally arrived at the loothouse. The sun was beginning to set and a sense of fatigue had embedded itself into Subaru's muscles. He took a deep breathe and stepped towards the door, knocking on it.
"For a rat?"
"I'm looking for someone. Silver hair? Amethyste eyes?" Silence ensued for a couple seconds.
The door opened to show a rather massive old man. He must've been at least 6 foot taller than Subaru and probably scored at least 500 points on Subaru's intimidation level counter. After glancing further into the loothouse, he noticed Satella sitting at the table in the middle of the room.
Subaru pushed past the giant and got in. "Hey, you kinda ran off without letting me thank you."
"Subaru? How did you find me?" Satella asked, she had stood up and faced him.
"I asked the spirits, they kinda led me to the slums. And I helped out this appa stand guy and he told me about this loothouse. You said you lost your insignia so I assumed it was that blonde girl who stole it and I found my way here." He explained.
Satella nodded and sat back down again. "Wait, thank me for what?"
"Well, Puck healed me, and you both gave me quite a lot of useful information and..." Subaru trailed off. I doubt she is the one who summoned me here but still, I feel like I should stick around her.
"I hate to interrupt your moment, but can I ask what the both of you are doing in my shop?" 'Rom', as Subaru had deduced to be, asked them.
"I'm here to retrieve something that was stolen from me." Satella stated.
"I'm here to help her I guess." Subaru nodded.
Rom looked like he was about to say something but a knock on the door stopped him from doing so. The giant walked over to the door and opened it, without asking for a password. A blonde haired, very slim, red eyed girl walked into the loothouse and instantly made her way to the bar. "Get me a drink." Was all she said.
Satella and Subaru looked at eachother in confusion, then back at the blonde thief.
"Felt, manners." Rom grumbled as he had already started pulling a glass from the cupboard. She only responded with a hum as she rubbed her face with her hands.
Subaru looked around awkardly before clearing his throat. "So, uh, Felt is it?" He rubbed his neck.
Felt didn't really react, for the first three seconds that is. After those few seconds, she turned around and jumped to her feet and pulled her knife out. "Who are you and what are you doing here!?" She yelled.
Satella was about to step forward but Subaru stopped her. "Let me handle this." He whispered. She nodded and stood back.
Hey spirits, I know I'm probaby annoying you by bothering you so much. But could you do me just one last favour please? I just need you to show yourselves.
By the time he finished his sentence several dozens of spirits appeared in the room. Felt and Rom both took a step back and got into a defensive stance.
Right, now time for a Charisma check.
"Now, I suggest you put down your weapon and listen to us. I really don't want to clean your blood from the floorboards." Subaru paused to see if they would move. They didn't. "Very well, I am here to retrieve an item you stole from us. I'd gladly appreciate it if you gave it back."
Felt looked at Rom who nodded in response. She sighed and took a stone out of her pocket. It had some form of gem encased in the middle. "Here, take it. 20 gold coins sounded good but it isn't worth dying for." She sighed once more and handed it to Subaru, who then gave it to Satella, who then pocketed it.
"The original owner is here, that's very unprofessional of you." A deeper female voice came from behind him. He turned around fast to see a fairly tall woman. Scary looking, dark haired, a crease in her clothing indicating that she had a knife or two hidden in it.
Subaru glanced around the room, noticing the spirits had disappeared. The first charisma check worked. Maybe a second one will work ?
The moment he opened his mouth however, she took out a knife and darted towards him. But a voice had told him to dodge before she even moved.
What the hell? That must have been the equivalent of rolling a natural 1! And what was that voice? Was it the spirits telling me to-
Jump to the left.
The voice interrupted him again, and he listened to it just in time for him to dodge the woman's attack.
Step half a metre back.
He stepped backwards, evading the attacker's knife which had aimed to slice his belly.
Jump.
She tried to sweep him off his feet with a swift kick but he jumped over it. She then followed it up with a high kick with her other foot as the momentum carried through her but-
Duck.
-he ducked just a second before she kicked. Realising this boy in front of her may be a better fighter than he looks, she escaped to the other side of the room, eyeing them all carefully.
From her attacks and her strategy, she must be a trained assassin. The bit I don't get is why she keeps aiming for my stomach.
He would've continued to think about it but Satella didn't hesitate. She rapidly shot icicles towards the assassin at high speeds. But no matter how fast or where she aimed, the assassin always somehow dodged. And if she didn't dodge, she blocked or shattered the projectiles with her knife.
Rom had gotten a club from behind the bar and swung a few times at her, backing her into a corner. She tried to strike him but Satella kept deterring her by shooting her.
"Subaru, I'm running out of mana, you may need to take over." Satella said, she was running out of breathe and sweat beaded on her forehead.
"Where's Puck? Can't you summon him?"
"He can't come out after dark." She gritted her teeth, trying to focus on the attacker.
Of course he can't. Wait isn't she a spirit arts user? Or maybe Puck just uses her mana and is the one casting the spells. Oh I don't know. Right, Puck told me that Spirit Arts users use the spirits to drain mana through the air and can use contracted spirits as gates. To cast a spell I need to push mana through my gate. Do I need to chant?
I don't know any spells. What do I do? Satella is occupied with the assassin, along with Rom. Felt won't know anything, or at least I don't think she would. Come on Subaru, think. Maybe I can converse with the spirits?
Hey! Spirits! As you can see, a bit of a tough situation! I'd love it if you could lend me a hand and save our skin. Hey, does any one of you know some spells and how the hell I cast them?
Fire... Goa... Visualise...
The reponse was fast, Subaru must admit that, but the fact that dozens of spirits spoke at once and they all were equally as vague made it hard for him to understand. Making use of Satella and Rom's distraction, he quickly tried to decipher it.
Okay so Fire, must mean its the element of Fire. A fire based spell. Goa? Must be the incantation seeming as I've never heard it before. Unless it's like a really common word here and it means like "hello" or something.. Ah I don't know.
Visualise? Are they telling me to visualise the spell? Maybe that's how I cast it.
Okay so a fire based spell that I have to visualise and chant Goa once I've done? Alright, let's do this.
The spirits appeared in the air. Before he could even think of asking them to lease him the mana he felt an overwhelming sensation in his body. It felt brilliant.
That must be the mana.
Subaru tried his best to visualise fire coming out of his fingertip, eventually deciding for it to be a flamethrower-esque attack spell. He took a deep breathe and chanted.
"GOA!"
The moment he said that, an indescribable pain shot through his body. It felt like every cell in his body was being torn apart. A massive flame erupted from his fingertip and set the assassin alight. But it also set the whole loothouse on fire.
He would have thought about it being a problem if he didn't pass out and fall to the floor.
The moment he hit the ground, a red haired knight kicked the door down.
And that was the last thing Subaru saw before falling into the realms of sleepy times.