'I can't believe that earlier today I was just a parasite that leeched on his parent's good will and now I am soaring through the skies of a fantasy land with an angel on my arms'
'That's right… my parent's… I- I didn't say goodbye to mom did I? I didn't deserve them, I'm such a fai-'
"So, Subaru…" Puck began interrupting Subaru's thoughts which he was actually grateful for "What is that green thing?"
"Oh, you mean Yoshi?"
"Is that it's name? I have never seen a creature like that in my life" Puck is a four hundred year old spirit, he likes to think he's got a pretty good grasp on the creatures from this world so not recognizing that creature is surprising.
"I wouldn't expect you to, he's a creature from mine and Cappy's world" stated Subaru as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "You know Subaru" Emilia spoke up now "you keep talking about 'my world this our world that' what do you mean by that?"
"Simple, I'm not from this world, which is why I was surprised when I saw demi humans and magic going around here like common things, where I come from, we don't have any of that, It's just humans, no magic nor demi humans"
"Wait, Subaru are you two from beyond the great waterfall!?" Emilia asked surprised
"Great waterfall?" Cappy asks finally joining the conversation
Puck answers in a tone similar to that of a history teacher "At the four corners of the world, the land cuts off and there exist a torrent of water that washes everything away, it's known as the great waterfall, there are people who claim to come from beyond there, but it's generally maniacs, con-artists or children that can easily be disproved. But I can tell you are not lying Subaru no wonder you can't read"
"Did you say the land just… cuts off? What is the world flat?" Cappy looked at Puck with a bit of ridicule.
"Of course, it's flat, is it different in yours?" answered Puck flatly (hehe, pun)
"Eh? But that shouldn't be able to-" Cappy got interrupted by Subaru "Cappy Cappy Cappy, buddy listen, it's a fantasy magic world, don't try to question things here with logic, just nod your head and give it up" Subaru really did not want to have a discussion about how the logic from his original world was completely thrown out the window here.
"I can't really imagine a world without magic, but only one race... Must be peaceful world" A world without magic seemed impossible from Emilia's perspective, people used it everywhere to survive, a world without it would be missing a piece. Even so, a world with just one race would certainly be peaceful, that would mean no racism nor fighting within each other, a world Emilia wanted to create.
Subaru grimaced slightly while Cappy just chuckled.
"Now that I think about it, Cappy were you just waiting for me to pop-up or…?" Subaru didn't question it before since he was still excited about the prospects of a new world, but thinking about it now Cappy's existence here is weird to say the least.
"I'm gonna be honest I have no clue, last thing I remember is darkness and a figure I can't quite make out, then I just popped into existence on top of your head and knew my reason for being there, which now that I think about it is pretty odd" Cappy responded honesty, he tried to remember the figure, but his memory is too foggy. "Yup, I can't remember anything at all"
"Hey Subaru, we're here" Emilia interrupted the conversation. Subaru let out a small "oh".
They finally arrived at the slums after 30 minutes of non-stop flight. Subaru started descending making sure it was at a speed where he wouldn't accidently drop Emilia to her death. Landing on the ground Subaru caressed his rear, after flapping his tail around for 30 minutes his ass really started to hurt.
"That was reaaally fun, but now that we are here, how are we going to find the culprit?" Emilia asked as she touched the crystal on her neck. Puck quickly made his way out of his crystal.
"Actually, I have an idea for that, let's just walk for a bit" Cappy said, his tone of voice emulated what a shit eating grin would sound like.
They started walking around until they found a poor unsuspecting civilian. Cappy made his way to the poor man. The civilian was a man wearing some old and dirty clothes, he had the body of a human, but everything else was very dog like with his face and arms being covered in fur.
As Cappy arrived the man looked alarmed and held his breath. "Have you seen a blonde-haired child with red eyes around here?" Cappy asked simply, the man went into thought for a second and then immediately wore an expression of realization, yet he stayed quiet.
"Oi, I'm talking to you" said Cappy in an annoyed voice. The man seemed mortified and murmured out an "I can't tell you".
Cappy expected this development however and made an angry expression "You can't tell me or won't tell me? If you don't tell me where she is in the next ten seconds, I'll haunt you and your family for generations" he said as he started counting down.
"Ten"
"Her name is Felt, and she is probably in the loot house with old man Rom or robbing someone!" The man was shitting bricks.
"And where is this loot house?" Cappy had a commanding tone.
"The loot house is just up north it is the biggest building around here you can't miss it!" The man screamed as he started running away terrified.
"Jeez, he cracked rather quickly, what a pushover" thought Cappy as he made his way back to Subaru and Emilia.
"Um, Cappy? What did you do to him?" asked Emilia unsettled at what she watched.
"We just talked Emilia, nothing to worry about right Subaru?" Cappy looked at Subaru expectantly.
"That was kinda fucked up dude" Subaru felt bad, he didn't like having to terrify the poor guy.
"But it got us the info we needed right?" Cappy then placed himself on top of Subaru's head.
"I mean, yeah I guess but still…"
Emilia narrowed her eyes in skepticism. Subaru didn't know how to feel, like, sure they got their information but like this? It rubbed him the wrong way. Puck did not give his input as he didn't really care as long as they got the insignia back before he had to sleep.
"Anyways" Cappy quickly changed the topic "Apparently the girl is named Felt and is in a loot house up north, it's the biggest building here supposedly"
"Well then, let's get going" Puck said, even if the Sun was still out, he wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible just in case.
Walking around the slums was not the greatest, Subaru saw both children and adults looking at them with either fear or contempt, the buildings looked like they were about to fall apart, and the place smelled horrible. Subaru and Emilia had a small grimace on their faces. Cappy didn't really care, the smell didn't affect him either, mostly because he doesn't have a nose.
After a while they finally arrived in front of the loot house. Subaru was about to knock the door when he stops "Actually, we are probably going to have to bargain for it aren't we?"
Subaru started thinking he could sell something in his bag, maybe his chips were good enough for an insignia? No, it's jewelry, in that case maybe his phone would be enough.
"Bargain for it? Why should I bargain for something that is mine? The thief should just give it back if we ask" Emilia had a straight face, she wasn't joking. Subaru shed a mental tear at her naivety.
"Sorry to say Emilia, but if someone steals something and brings it to a loot house, they probably want some money, looking around this place makes me think they don't really have a choice" Cappy said in a tone that made it sound as if he was talking to a child.
"Not to worry though! We can sell my phone, it's probably enough for a piece of jewelry"
"But isn't that important to you? I don't want you to start selling your possessions just to help me…" Emilia was unsupportive of the idea.
"Hey hey it's fine, it's not very useful here anyways" Subaru said as he started knocking on the door. "Oi, is there anyone there?! We're here to buy!" Subaru started knocking faster.
"For the rats?" An old and grumpy voice responded
"…What? Open the door!"
"Answer the password!" The voice on the other side yelled agitated.
"If you don't open up, I'll break a window!" Yelled Subaru
"Break the window and I'll break your spine!" Heavy footsteps could be heard approaching the door. Puck quickly disappeared into Emilia's crystal.
"If you do that, I'll break two windows" A loud groan could be heard from the other side of the door.
An excessively big and bald man opened the door, he had dark skin and a muscular body with various battle scars decorating it. He looked at Subaru's tail for a bit and inspected Emilia before giving a tired sigh and moving out of the way letting them pass. "If you kids want to buy something, just come in"
Looking around the place was dirty, old swords and armor could be seen decorating some of the walls. The man sat behind a bar counter telling Subaru and Emilia to sit in the old wooden bar stools in front of him. Subaru removed his plastic bag with the sleeping Yoshi from his neck and carefully put it on the ground under his stool.
"So, what do you kids want to buy?" The man said from behind the counter as he pulled out a drink.
"My friend here got an insignia stolen and she wants it back, we were told we could find it here, does it ring any bells?" Subaru said as he pointed at Emilia. She looked surprised at something, but Subaru didn't question it.
"Insignia? I don't have anything like that, though Felt did say she had some new merchandise to bring today, so she might have what you're looking for, she shouldn't take too long to arrive" The old man started pouring himself a cup of booze and offered some to Subaru and Emilia.
"I don't drink, also isn't it a bit too early to be drinking old man? You're gonna die young"
The man started laughing "The name is Rom kid, and if you haven't started drinking you haven't started living, you're both old enough right? Try it" He said as he poured some drinks for Emilia and Subaru. Emilia looked apprehensive, but Subaru didn't want to look like a coward, so he downed it all in one go.
It burned his throat a bit and it tasted weird, but it wasn't bad. Rom looked impressed while Emilia looked terribly worried.
"Subaru! You shouldn't do that! Children shouldn't drink!"
"How old do you think I am!? I'll have you know that I'm turning eighteen this year, there can't be that big of an age gap between us"
"Don't try guessing, it won't get you anywhere"
"What, are you over one hundred or something?" Emilia looked at him with an impressed expression "Wait for real!?" 'My heroine is a fucking grandma!' His thoughts were interrupted by a knock from the door.
"Old man Rom let me in!" A squeaky voice called from outside. Rom got up, walked up to the door and opened it revealing the small blonde girl called Felt.
"I took a bit longer to arrive because I had to bribe some guys to stop the girl I ro-… What the hell are they doing here!?" Felt finally noticed Emilia and Subaru.
"Calm down, just give me back my insignia and I'll forgive you" Emilia had an expression of pity, she understood why Felt had to steal, but she still needed her insignia.
"Sorry lady, but I already have a client so unless you have a better deal than them you won't be getting it back" Felt had an annoyed expression.
"But-" Emilia got stopped when Subaru put a hand on her shoulder "It's fine we can bargain, we get you do this for a living". Felt looked at Subaru with a thoughtful expression until she perked up.
"Wait, you're that dude that was getting mugged in the alley, aren't you?" Felt smirked at Subaru.
"Yup, thanks for helping by the way" Subaru rolled his eyes.
"Sorry man, I was in a hurry, though I don't remember you having such a big tail" Felt looked at Subaru's tail while trying to recall it in her memories.
"Oh, I gained it on the way here" Felt and Rom looked at Subaru like he was stupid "Anyways" He said changing the conversation "Can we bargain then?"
"I mean, sure, if you have enough money. I'll have you know the client offered 20 holy coins, so it's not going to be cheap" Felt was smirking, if she could get a bit more than that she and old man Rom could finally get out of the slums.
"…That's a lie" Emilia said narrowing her eyes. Felt's right eye twitched "How would you know!?"
"I just know" Emilia said firmly.
"Alright, let's calm down here, we don't even have mone-"
"Then why the hell are we talking?!" Felt was getting agitated. Rom patted her shoulder.
"We might not have money, but we do have this" Subaru pulled out his flip-phone. Felt and Rom looked at it with interest.
"This little device can take a moment in time and store it as a picture, like so" Subaru took a picture of Rom and Felt… with the flash still on.
"Are you trying to kill me kid?!" Old man Rom was pissed.
"Ow-! What the hell!" Felt kicked Subaru hard on the leg. Subaru's tail disappeared and so did Cappy's racoon ears.
"Ouch! Why can you kick so hard!" Subaru notices his missing tail. "Jesus a two week cooldown? These things aren't forgiving at all…" Subaru looked sad, I mean the power to fly wherever is pretty convenient.
"Wait what happened there!?" Both Felt and Rom were looking at Subaru confused.
"Don't worry about it, what is important is this" he said as he showed them the picture he took with his phone. Everyone in the room was surprised by the detail of the picture.
"Oh, that's actually pretty impressive kid" Rom grabbed the phone and started inspecting it closely. "Yeah, it's cool, but how much would it fetch?" Felt was looking expectedly at Rom.
"Something like this could easily fetch 20 holy coins, no, actually if you went to a noble collector it could go for something over that" Felt was giddy this could be her and Rom's way out!
"So, do we have a deal?" Subaru was smirking, he didn't know how much a holy coin was, but looking at Emilia's, Rom's and Felt's face he could tell it was a good amount. In reality, Emilia gazed at him worriedly.
"Don't get too excited, we still have to wait for the client who ordered it, I have standards you know? Hell, they might even have a better deal!" Felt was excited at the prospect of the last part.
"Subaru, that is a lot of money! I don't feel comfortable with you selling something so expensive for my sake!"
"As I said Emilia, it's not like I'll use it here anyways so if we can get your insignia back and they get some extra cash then what's the problem?" Emilia stopped arguing but did not look convinced.
It was still early in the day and Felt's client was going to arrive a little later than noon, so they had some time to spare. In the meantime, they started talking and having fun while Subaru and Rom were drinking increasingly more shots. Subaru's vision was getting blurry and he couldn't really think straight nor hold himself up properly resulting in him dropping sloppily on the table.
"Hey, how did you two get here before me? I don't mean to brag but I'm pretty quick y'know?" Felt had a divine protection that made her extremely fast, so for these two who were very much behind her to get here before her was, for lack of a better word, odd.
"Oh~ tail go fwoop fwoop and we *hic* arrive" Subaru was piss drunk; his brain turned off after the second shot. Cappy thought this was hilarious and was barely able to contain his laughter without being noticed.
"What he's trying to say is that we flew here" Emilia was disappointed in Subaru, was he an alcoholic? They were supposed to be here for her insignia not to get drunk.
"You guys can fly!?" Felt was baffled, even in a magical land flying was extremely rare.
"Well, Subaru can, he just carried me here" Felt looked back at the drunk slob named Subaru Natsuki.
"Hehe *hiccup* hat gives me tail I grab angel and cat and go fwoooom~" Subaru started imitating an airplane, but he couldn't even keep his hand straight. Emilia blushed when he said angel, even if she knew it was a joke.
"Oi, grandpa *hiccup* give me more" demanded the newly born alcoholic. Rom just cackled and started pouring another shot, entertainment was rare here.
"Absolutely not mister! You've had enough drinks for today!" Exclaimed Emilia as he stopped Subaru before he had another shot.
"C'moooon MOM *hiccup* one more~" As the drunk Subaru looked at Emilia with the expression of a child begging for a new toy.
"No! Subaru, did you forget what we came here to do?"
"Buy some mayo!?" Exclaimed the drunk Subaru with childlike excitement.
"What even is- Doesn't matter! Subaru, we came for my insignia not to get drunk"
"Insignia? Am I *hiccup* a boy scout now?" Felt started laughing while Rom chuckled, Emilia just looked like a disappointed mother.
Subaru's face suddenly scrunched up and he put his right hand to his mouth.
"Wai- *gag*" Subaru fell to the floor, he quickly grabbed his hat and… vomited inside of it.
"WHAT THE FU-"
Needless to say, Cappy was absolutely livid, I mean, imagine if your friend vomited on your mouth, fucking disgusting.
Subaru sobered out somewhat and immediately apologized profusely, not like that was going to help him. Subaru and Cappy had to go outside to find some river to clean Cappy. Subaru never felt so embarrassed in his entire life, this rivaled his high-school introduction and it's his first fucking day here!
After Cappy beat the shit out of him, well as close of a beating that a being with the strength of a hat can get, they made their way back to the loot house. The sun started to set by the time they arrived.
"You fucking asshole! It's our first fucking day and you already vomited on me you absolute little shit!" Cappy didn't stop screaming at Subaru even after they sat back down.
"Look I'm extremely sorry! I didn't mean to!" Subaru didn't really remember the events that led up to his 'accident', but how many shots did he have to get that drunk?
"'I didn't mean to!' I DIDN'T MEAN TO?! IF I HAD HANDS, I WOULD HAVE ALREADY BROKEN YOUR NECK!"
"Alright we get it already whiny hat just shut it, let me enjoy my drinks damn it" Rom thought It was funny at first, but Cappy just wouldn't stop screaming.
"HUH!?"
"C-Cappy just calm down alright? I'm sure that Subaru didn't mean to" Emilia was frankly scared of Cappy, even if he was just a hat.
"I KNOW HE DIDN'T MEAN TO, THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT BETTE- *sigh* you know what? Fuck it, I'll forgive you just this once, but next time you pull this shit I'm putting cyanide on your drink" Cappy glared daggers at Subaru. Subaru could only nod hastily.
"So… your hat talks huh?" Felt asked changing the conversation.
"Y-yeah, he does"
"Subaru, why the hell do you still have a flip-phone?" Cappy's tone still had some slight anger.
"What do you mean?"
"Subaru that shit is ancient, aren't you from the modern era? Why don't you have a normal smartphone?" Actual confusion found it's way onto Cappy's words.
"Don't backhand my phone, it's a gift from my dad, I wouldn't just toss it out for a new one unless it broke, it's emotional y'know?"
"Pretty sure your dad just wanted to get rid of his junk"
"No! he wouldn't do th- Oh wait, he would… It doesn't matter alright!"
Seeing as this conversation wasn't going anywhere Subaru sighed and decided it was a good time to try out some different power-ups to distract himself.
Looking around his selection, he ended up picking the double cherry. An orange cloud of smoke appeared from his right and as soon as it evaporated a second Subaru was standing there.
This was pretty surreal for Subaru, the other him mirrored all his movements; it was really unsettling but cool at the same time. Emilia and Felt were impressed while Rom thought he already got so drunk that he started seeing double.
'2 hours until I can use that again huh.'
"What else can you do!?" Felt asked excited.
"Let's see… oh!" His eyes stumble across the Super crown, he's interested in how he'd look like as an actual woman instead of just crossdressing so he chooses it.
Subaru's tracksuit disappears and in it's place a black poofy dress with big orange dots on the edges that reached a bit higher than Subaru's ankles. Subaru's short and spiky hair grew and stylized itself into a ponytail and Cappy transformed into a small golden crown.
Felt laughed at him like there was no tomorrow, but both her and Emilia were surprised at how beautiful Subaru looked as a woman. Rom decided it was enough drinks for the day.
"Oi don't laugh!" Subaru screamed with his face flushed, this was way more embarrassing than he thought it would be.
"You really should have been born a woman, truly a wasted opportunity" Cappy didn't lose his chance to make fun of Subaru, he deserved it.
"That's not a very nice thing to say! Even if it is true" Emilia commented.
"At least deny it! Ugh, you guys are pretty mean. Anyways, this should allow me to jump twice and float for a bit, so I want to try it"
"Watch him faceplant on the ground" Felt looked at him with a smirk.
Subaru ignored Felt's comment and jumped, his clone did the same, he then decided he wanted to jump again and so both Subaru's did, launching some small little orange stars that disappeared quickly. The Subaru's grazed the roof of the building and began falling with a slow descent thanks to the dress. The Subaru's touched the ground rather elegantly and looked at Felt with a smug smile.
"You were saying?" Felt just grumbled while Subaru sat back down on his chair.
Emilia giggled a bit and asked "So, your client should arrive soon, right?"
"Supposedly yeah, they should come in any second now"
And just as she finished speaking a knock could be heard at the door. Felt hurriedly ran to it and opened it revealing a black-haired woman around as tall as Subaru. She was wearing a rather revealing outfit with a black cape wrapped around her and a smile on her face as she scanned the loot house, finally landing eyes on Emilia.
Her smile quickly turned into a crooked and frightening one. She moved her hands to her back and grabbed something, a small purple glint could be seen on her hand. 'A knife'
"Felt dodge!" Screamed Subaru, which she quickly did, barely avoiding the woman's strike.
"Hey! What the hell?! I thought you came here to buy!" Felt exclaimed terrified.
"That was my original intention but seeing the owner of the item here made me change plans" The woman looked at them viciously. She held out a black curved knife, it looked as though it was designed like waves.
Rom grabbed a rather big club and got into fighting position while Emilia summoned some icicles and pointed them at the woman, Puck popped up and started assisting her. Felt pulled out a knife and Subaru needed to change into something more suited to fighting. 'I could choose the fire flower, but I don't want to burn down the building, at the same time I don't want to waste a super star since I don't know how strong she is… Ice flower it is then'
Subaru's tracksuit returned with the black being light blue, the white being red and the orange staying the same. Cappy's only change were the black stripes turning light blue.
"Oh my! There seems to be a lot of fighters here, even two spirits! I wonder what color your guts will be!" The woman's crooked smile got wider as she launched herself at Emilia which she intercepted with her ice projectiles. Backing up the woman masterfully dodged them and crushed the ones she couldn't dodge with her knife.
"You won't be able to get near my daughter scum" Puck said with hatred in his voice
Subaru seeing his opportunity started launching a barrage of ice balls, the shots were scattered since Subaru and his double couldn't aim well. The woman easily evaded Subaru's shots and Emilia's icicles easily.
A stray ice ball approached the woman, as soon as she tried to cut it with her knife her whole body got covered in a block of ice.
Rom saw his opportunity and tried to crush the ice block with his club, but as soon as he swung down the ice shattered, and the woman disappeared.
"Did I get her?" Questioned Rom with hope.
"Don't set that flag Old man!" That was too easy, there is no way.
They were looking around, but they couldn't find her. Then, they heard a poof sound. Looking to his right the Subaru clone disappeared into orange smoke and a knife got stuck on the wall behind him.
Looking at the culprit the woman stood on top of the counter with a sadistic smile, her body was perfectly fine aside from a few scratches with the one difference being her missing cape, but in the heat of the moment nobody had the time to notice. She jumped from the counter and quickly ran at Subaru while avoiding Emilia's and Puck's attack.
Subaru tried launching some poorly aimed ice balls, but she avoided them easily. When she got to reaching distance, Subaru tried to punch her face, but she moved her head to the right and elbowed Subaru's face. He held his face in pain as his tracksuit turned back to it's original color, yet even that didn't last long as a burning pain started in his stomach. Looking down he could see the woman stabbing his abdomen with her knife. 'It hurts'
She seemed about to slice it open, but she quickly moved away as a barrage of icicles came her way. Subaru fell to his knees while clutching his wound 'It hurts'
"Subaru!" Both Emilia's and Cappy's voice screamed in stereo. Cappy got off from Subaru's head and was searching for a way to help him, but he quickly understood he had no way to do so 'Dammit! He won't die right? It's our first day so he can't die right? I can't be that bad at my job… right?' Cappy continued berating himself.
"I guess I really underestimated you girl" Puck glared at her as he started preparing more Icicles.
"Ah~ To be acknowledged by a spirit as a simple 'girl', but still, how disappointing I thought he'd be better than that, surely the color of your guts will be wonderful!' Rom tried to hit her, but she disappeared before he could even swing his club. The last thing he saw was the purple glint of her knife before it stabbed the surface of the back of his head and knocked him unconscious.
"What a bad girl~ If you wanted to die first you could have said so~" The woman turned her head towards Felt, having just thrown her knife to stop the assassin from killing Rom, she was pretty much defenseless. While backflipping and evading the icicle attack from Puck and Emilia, the woman made her way closer to Felt.
"Don't touch her!" Screamed Emilia as she launched even more icicles from her palm
'Shit, this woman is way too strong! I'm bleeding out here! It really hurts…' Subaru understood that he needed to get rid of this woman as quick as possible lest he wants everyone to die.
'Alright, here we go, Super star!' … Nothing happened
'…'
'Eh? Why is it on cooldown?! I haven't used it yet!' He tried picking a random power-up.
'Why are all of them on cooldown!? Does it have to do with me getting stabbed? If so, WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T CAPPY TELL ME!?'
He needed to wait 2 minutes until he could use any power-up. 'Calm down Subaru, at the very least give Felt a way to escape'
"Cappy… possess the woman!" Subaru felt like his mind was shutting down
"Subaru don't speak!" Cappy couldn't just let his partner get killed on his first day.
The assassin weaved her way through the continuous icicle attacks heading her way while quickly approaching the cowering Felt in a menacing way.
"Just do it!" Screamed Subaru with urgency. Cappy was hesitant but understood the command and quickly made his way to the woman and put himself on her head while she was distracted.
Subaru's vision went dark for some fleeting moments and then light came through once again when he opened his eyes to see himself in front of Felt. In the corner of his eyes, he could see icicles coming his way, he instinctively and masterfully backflipped away.
'Woah what's with the agility? I guess it's because I'm using this woman's body' His thoughts were interrupted when more icicles came his way, avoiding the icicles (s)he could and smashing the ones (s)he couldn't with his knife
"Wait! It's me Subaru!" (S)He said as held his hands up.
"Subaru?" Emilia asked in both confusion and recognition.
"Yes! Oh… god" Subaru felt like he was about to vomit, he was extremely tired and started wobbling.
"I can't hold for much longer Subaru!" Screamed Cappy in desperation, holding this person for much longer could worsen Subaru's wound and mind.
"Felt get the hell out of here!" Looking at the cowering blond-haired child he yelled at her in urgency, he felt like his organs were contracting inside of him.
"I'm not leaving you two to die!" Felt cried out.
"You won't…just go try to find someone who can help us!" While that would be helpful, Subaru doubted they could find someone strong enough in the slums and he himself didn't know how long he would last thanks to his wound and exhaustion, so he at least wanted one of them to survive.
Felt was apprehensive but quickly bolted out the door while Subaru felt his consciousness slip. Appearing in front of the assassin and quickly falling unconscious on the floor were Subaru's bleeding body and Cappy both unmoving.
Emilia and Puck were the only ones left standing. Thanks to Cappy's possession the woman got disoriented for a second. Unfortunately for her that second was enough for Puck to concentrate his mana and launch a gigantic icicle that covered almost half of the loot house.
A spray of blood hits the walls, floor, roof and Emilia's dress as the woman's head falls to a corner of the loot house, behind an unused stool.
"Okay *huff* that got her, are you alright Lia?"
Emilia quickly nodded her head as she hastily made her way to Subaru's bleeding body.
"That last attack took a lot out of me, it seems like you have Subaru's situation under control so I'm going to sleep, if anything else happens don't hesitate to call me" Puck's relief was evident in his voice. He yawned and disappeared into Emilia's crystal.
Emilia carefully removed the knife in Subaru's gut and started using her magic to heal him, when suddenly the roof of the loot house crashed. An explosion of wood and dust started which made Emilia cough a bit.
Once the dust clouds subsided a red-haired man appeared from the clouds of dust and approached Emilia.
"Are you alright miss Emilia?" The smooth voice of the man resonated throughout the building.
"Reinhard? I'm fine but Subaru needs to be healed immediately!" He glanced down at Subaru's unconscious and blood-soaked body. Emilia once again started her magic.
"Forgive me for not arriving sooner and stopping this from happening" The red haired knight bowed with a small frown.
"Um… may I ask how you found us and why you came from the roof?" While Reinhard is a royal knight and a trustworthy one at that, entering a building by crashing through the roof is pretty questionable.
Reinhard chuckled sheepishly "Well, if I'm being completely honest, I started trailing you two when I spotted you in the sky. I would have arrived sooner, but I found a lost child and got distracted finding her parents, I would have taken even longer to find you if it weren't for that young girl over there" He pointed at the door where the nervous figure of Felt stood.
"As for the roof…" he continued "I thought the element of surprise would be helpful, but it would appear you handled it on your own"
Emilia sighed in relief as she finished Subaru's treatment and checking if his wounds were completely sealed, after confirming so she made her way over to Rom's unconscious and slightly bloody body. Felt immediately ran up to her.
"Will he be alright?" She asked in a low voice with tears in her eyes.
"He'll be fine, thankfully the wound isn't deep so I even I can heal him completely" Emilia reassured her, while she wasn't anything special when it came to healing magic, but she wasn't bad at it either.
"Ow, god I feel like I just got hit by a truck or I guess carriage would be more appropriate" Subaru's consciousness returned, and he sloppily started to stand up.
"Subaru! You shouldn't be moving around too much!"
"It'll be fine, I'm just a bit dizzy" Subaru started walking toward Emilia wobbling from side to side until he got over to her and sat down to her right.
"Subaru, was it? You should listen to miss Emilia; from what I saw you lost a large quantity of blood" Reinhard spoke up and Subaru turned to look at him then back at Emilia.
"I get knocked out and I catch you with another man, you are breaking my heart, Emilia!" Subaru exclaimed in fake sorrow earning a few chuckles for Reinhard and Felt.
"I don't understand you Subaru" Emilia can't really get a grasp on Subaru's personality, but strangely enough she enjoys his oddities.
"So did you beat the crazy woman?" Even though Subaru knew the answer was probably yes, since they were all just standing around, he wanted to make sure.
"Yes, well it was mostly Puck, but yes we did" Emilia responded with a warm reassuring smile. Subaru's face flushed slightly, and he turned to Reinhard in his embarrassment
"Oh, you already seem to know me, but I'll introduce myself anyway…" Subaru didn't have the energy to stand up, so he just pointed his finger at the sky and smiled.
"My name is Natsuki Subaru! I'm an other worldly traveler with a hat partner, a dino pet and a severe case of poverty, nice to meet you!" Subaru extended his hand to Reinhard with a smile.
"Reinhard van Astrea, royal knight of Lugnica and current sword saint, nice to meet you too Subaru" Reinhard shook Subaru's hand returning his smile.
"You know… I'm not just a hat right? You can call… me by my name" Cappy woke up and made his way to Subaru, he flew slowly and at a low altitude, it was clear from his voice that he was exhausted. Subaru grabbed him and placed him on top of his head
"Are you alright dude?" Subaru asked with slight concern.
"Not really, you are my energy source, if you get knocked out I will too… you were already bleeding way too much… couple that with using my possession ability and that basically exhausted all your energy" Cappy explained exhaustedly.
"Oh, you didn't tell me that" Commented Subaru off-handedly.
"Also, what the hell is up with your luck!? It's been one fucking day… and you almost got ran over, mugged and killed by an assassin, is this normal for you!?" Screamed Cappy in the strongest voice he could muster at the moment. He closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep.
"I sure hope it isn't, two near death experiences are enough for me thank you" Subaru rubbed the back of his neck with a slight grin.
"Subaru, what did 'Cappy' mean with his 'possession ability'?" Reinhard asked with curiosity.
"Exactly as it sounds Rein, if Cappy places himself on top of someone's head I can possess them for a bit, I used it with the crazy lady to give Felt a chance to escape"
'That ability could be dangerous under the wrong hands; however I can tell through my divine protections that he has no ill will' Though another thought entered his mind
"Wait, Rein?" Asked the knight in confusion.
"It's a nickname I thought of to establish our friendship you know? I think it sounds nice, oh but if you don't like it, I can sto-" Subaru was interrupted by one of the warmest smiles he's ever seen a man show on their face. For a second there Subaru thought he was looking at a deity.
"I- I like it, thank you Subaru" Reinhard words were laced with incredible gratitude.
"Y- You don't have to get all emoti-" Once again Subaru was rudely interrupted, but unlike last time it wasn't because of words but by the movement of an incredibly fast black blur heading straight for Emilia.
"Emilia-sama!" Reinhard screamed when he noticed he wouldn't be able to block the attack in time. Subaru instinctively pushed Emilia out of the way and screamed "Super star!" at the top of his lungs. Subaru's entire body got colored in flashing rainbow as the iconic jingle started playing through the loot house, though at the time no one thought of mentioning it.
He saw the assassins quickly approaching face as he cocked back his fist, closed his eyes and punched as hard as he could.
…He felt nothing. Did he miss?
No, he did not. Opening his eyes Subaru could see his rainbow-colored hand entering the woman's stomach and exiting from her back. He honestly felt like he punched the air, Subaru retracted his arm and watched how the area the punch connected with was colored in rainbow and quickly spread through her body like some kind of disease.
Pain. This was the only thing Elsa Granhiert could feel, well that wouldn't be exactly accurate, it's just that, It's been so long since she felt this emotion that she couldn't recognize it for a moment. It was fear, pure unadulterated fear, her body wasn't healing. It wasn't. Why? But she could not think as the pain was just too immense, it felt as if she was burning yet freezing at the same time, like if you dropped some acid on top of someone's internal organs, worse of all though, it was spreading. She watched as what was previously a hole the size of a fist increased to the size of her entire stomach, it was spreading to her legs and chest. Fear and Pain were the only things she could feel, and the only way to let those emotions out? Screaming. A pure pain filled visceral scream escaped from her mouth. She couldn't hear herself scream as her agony was already too much for her brain to handle, but she knew the force she put behind it. Eventually she stopped screaming for the rainbow had spread to her neck, her vocal cords had melted and so she could no longer make noise. Finally, it spread to her face, she felt it melt off in the same way her entire body did, but she was surprisingly happy, it meant that the end wasn't too far. Her thoughts ended when the rainbow finally melted through her skull and started rotting away her brain finally bringing an end to her life.
Nothing was left of the woman, her entire being was erased by Subaru. Her screams of agony filled his mind, sure, he didn't believe she deserved mercy, but that? That type of death? Of torture?
He would have continued debating in his mind whether he was in the right or not, but in a few seconds the jingle stopped and so did the flowing color of rainbow on his body, immediately he felt an unbearable exhaustion that threw him face first onto the floor. He couldn't move anything, every time he tried to he was met with unbearable pain. The type of pain you would feel from an overweight guy doing straight exercise for hours for the first time in years.
"Subaru!" Called the trio of Emilia, Felt and Reinhard. Both Felt and Reinhard kneeled to his sides and Emilia was about to do the same, but she hesitated slightly. The screams of the assassin filled her mind and the slight fear that it could happen to her did appear on her mind before she swiftly deleted that thought, trusting that Subaru would not hurt her.
"Are you alright!?" Emilia asked with newfound resolve as well as concern as she tried to use her healing magic on Subaru, only to notice it wasn't helping him at all.
"I… can't move, everything hurts" Groaned out the now downed Subaru.
"Ow, shit… it's because you used your power-ups too much while already tired, you pushed yourself… way too far and far too quickly" Cappy woke up once again and was also on the ground, he couldn't float anymore. Subaru couldn't even turn to look at him.
"You could have told me about these things you know?
"Well… Excuse me for not knowing we were going to fight a trained assassin on my first day of the job… I was originally going to ease you into it, but it seems you had other plans"
"Even with your exhaustion you complain like a pro huh?" Cappy just groaned and fell asleep.
"Subaru you don't have a home, right? The least I can do is take you with me to the mansion"
Subaru blushed but nobody noticed since his face was planted on the ground "I'd appreciate that"
Emilia picked up Subaru's collapsed body and effortlessly carried him bridal style.
"How can you pick me up so easily?!"
"You are pretty light so it's no problem"
"Emilia, you're killing me here, my pride as a man is snapping in two!" He yelled embarrassed as all hell.
"I don't know what you are talking about, how else am I supposed to take you with me?"
"… fair point, it still wounds me though" A small pout and a blush appeared on Subaru's face.
"I'm sorry I stole your insignia" Felt spoke up with a small smile and moved over to Emilia as she rummaged her pockets "Here, try taking better care of it, also try to recover big bro"
"Will do" Subaru smiled back at her.
She handed Emilia's insignia back, the red jewel inside the triangular emblem was shining brightly, just as she finished that action Reinhard grabbed her wrist with a strong grip and an astonished face.
"Ow ow, hey what's the big idea?" Complained the now slightly hurting Felt.
"What is your name, age and birthday?" Reinhard asked in a commanding tone.
"It's Felt, I'm 15 I think, and I don't know my birthday, now let me go!" Felt tried pulling away from Reinhard to no avail.
"You are going to be coming with me"
"Wait, Reinhard if it's because of stealing my insignia you can let her go!"
"While that is certainly no small crime, what I'm witnessing here is of extreme importance"
"Get over yourself! Who the hell do you thin-" Felt was not able to finish her sentence when Reinhard put his hand over her face and drained all her mana to knock her out.
"That wasn't very knightly" Commented the concerned half-elf.
"Do not worry I'll take good care of her" The knight turned to Subaru.
"Subaru you defeated Elsa Granhiert, an assassin even most knights would fall victim to, for that I thank you, I will notify my superiors about your victory over the bowel hunter. Unfortunately, I have to take my leave, please keep yourselves safe alright?" Reinhard picked up Felt's unconscious body and put her in a bridal carry just like Subaru as he waved and left the building.
'Did he just say her name was the bowel hunter?! Was she trying to cut my stomach open!? Oh god that is unsettling. Also…'
"Did I just witness a child kidnapping?" Subaru asked with a pale face.
"Don't worry she'll be safe with Reinhard"
"Sure, but he still kidna-" Subaru was interrupted by the voice of a woman
"Emilia-sama!" A pink haired girl with soft features and a maid uniform on ran up to Emilia while scanning the room. "Ram!"
"Are you alright Emilia-sama? I lost you in the capital and had to look for you in a panic, I only found you because of the frankly disturbing screams coming from here" The maid now identified as Ram asked with concealed concern.
"I'm extremely sorry for disappearing away from you! I'm fine!"
"Emilia-sama who is that man, excuse me, boy on your arms?" Ram glared at Subaru with a smirk.
'Nice, she hasn't even heard my name yet and she's already making fun of me'
"Oh, this is Subaru, he helped me find my stolen insignia and saved me from the bowel hunter" Explained Emilia with admiration.
Ram widened her eyes "The bowel hunter?"
"I'll explain it to you on the way back, can you get us a carriage? Subaru will be staying with us"
"As you wish Miss Emilia" Ram bowed and left the building
"Are you alright Subaru?"
"Well, other than the fact that I feel as if my body got crushed under a house and I can barely stay conscious, yeah" Joked Subaru.
"That's not fine at all! I'll grab Cappy and your 'Yauwshee', you can go to sleep" Subaru would have teased Emilia because of her pronunciation, but he really didn't have the energy.
"A-alright, wait were even is my Yoshi?" Subaru tried to move his neck but found himself unable to. Now that he thought about it, his Yoshi didn't even make a noise during the entire confrontation, he didn't get killed, did he?
Emilia looked around for a bit and found the Yoshi sleeping inside of Subaru's plastic bag under the counter.
"How is he still asleep after all that noise?" asked Emilia both in surprise and confusion.
"To be fair, Cappy and I kinda made him run around the capital trying to find us and we haven't fed him a thing, it probably used up all it's energy"
"You should take better care of it" Scolded Emilia
"I will I will!" Subaru tried to joke around but he was starting to nod off.
"Shh Shh, go to sleep now" In a tone not at all different from a mother's Emilia soothed Subaru to sleep gently.
"Ah, sleeping on the arms of an angel… truly a parallel world fantasy" With that Subaru finally succumbed to his exhaustion and fell asleep, the last thing he saw was Emilia's bright red face.
"Subaru you dunderhead"
Wow that took way longer than expected. So, what is the reason I took over a month to publish a new chapter? A combination of work, procrastination and me being trash at writing. I think the work and me being a lazy ass can explain themselves, as for me being bad at writing, It isn't a big surprise seeing as it is my first time.
Though I also didn't want to publish a half assed chapter, so I rewrote it quite a bit. While I know it isn't perfect I did my best hehe.
Anyways, please leave a review to give me some pointers to improve or to praise me for being a good boy. Have a good day!