The giant took another loud sip of his mead, the sound grating on the student's already strained nerves, the knuckles holding the phone already white with pressure.

"Would you mind drinking, a slight bit quieter?" Subaru pronounced with a strained calm.

The giant looked away from his enormous pint, a curious glint appearing in his irises, "Eh?"

"Would you kindly be slightly quieter about the way you drink?" Subaru pronounced, keeping his voice as even as he could. No matter the amount of bravado he filled himself with, every second that got him closer to the purple eyes made his stomach churn terribly, each beat of his heart coming through painfully.

The giant, who introduced himself as Rom, shrugged and took a couple of gulps of his mead, slightly quieter but not much of a change. "What's got yer in such a coil?" He suddenly inquired, a hint of curiosity mixed into the supposed boredom he conveyed.

Subaru opened his mouth but stopped himself from telling anything close to the truth about the 'customer' that would arrive. It would be preferable to keep his deck as hidden as possible, after all, he'd have to negotiate.

"Important business, important people, a bit on the edge, you know how it is." He responded, giving the fence an uneven, nervous smile.

The interest fizzled in the giant's eyes as he gave a grunt, without affirmation or negation, and returned to his cup.

Subaru ran a hand through his hair. What the hell was he doing? Was this really worth it? If he meets her again, he'll be a thin paste all over these wooden floors, that's certain. Then that's it, any progression was pointless.

The student put both his hands on the table, as if he was about to stand up, but paused. But what if he could really outmanoeuvre her? What's he going to do after he leaves? Jump off a bridge? Throw himself under a carriage? The very thought sent shivers down his spine. No, there's no way he could voluntarily just give up. And there were no other opportunities as luxurious as this.

The student's thoughts were disturbed by a knock on the door. Something small and reflexive flicked on in his brain as his body compressed like a spring, readying himself to run.

"Oh calm down, will ye?" Rom grumbled amusedly and lumbered towards the door.

The eye-slit opened, letting a ray of red evening light cut through the dusty interior.

"For a rat?"

"Poison."

"For a white wale?"

"A harpoon."

"To the noble dragon lord, we are?"

"Shitbags!"

The student noted the password in his mind. No knowledge in this world has no use, everything can be used at some point.

The door creaked open, revealing the short outline of the thiefling, the crimson light of the sunset bathing the room.

"Sorry to keep ya waiting, Old Man! The target was a bit persi-" Felt, or however her name changed from the previous loop, if it did, stood in her tracks.

"You!" She jumped back unsheathing her blade, Subaru raising his hands in a terrified surrender. "You're the one that tried to grab me, back there!"

The student's mind raced as he tried to come up with a clever response. "W-well, you've clearly gotten something my contractor wanted, don't take it personally." He replied with a shaky voice. Violence still seemed to drop ice into his stomach.

"Hmph!" The thief sheaved her blade and entered the hideout, shutting the door behind her. "Still not a reason to start using the armoured shitbag patrols to your advantage!"

Subaru lowered his arms and gave a nervous laugh, "Well, you know how they say it, despite one is in favour of the other."

"Never heard anyone say it like that," Felt responded brashly as she sat down at the round table and took out the jewel. Natsuki's eyes trailed her putting it down in the middle of the table, the deep blood red and shining gold luring him in like a siren's song, "and don't you think of going for it, I'll cut you down faster than a Royal Knight." She added on, following Natsuki's gaze.

Rom also stood up from the counter, walking up to the table. "So I see that quite a few dogs are barking up this tree." He observed affably. "This'll be quite a deal!"

"Most certainly." Responded Subaru as he tried to hide his annoyance. "Well, while our second 'customer' didn't arrive, how about I make my offer first?"

Rom crossed his arms, measuring Subaru up. "And how much does your contractor offer for this piece of jewellery?"

Subaru shook his head, "Unfortunately, my contractor is not very endowed with liquid assets."

"Huh?" Felt stared at Subaru, unsure of what he meant with that phrasing.

"Means that he ain't got any holy coins on him," Rom clarified quickly, trying to keep the negotiation going.

"What?! Then why are we even listening to him!?" Felt responded, grabbing the insignia.

"H-however, my contractor has several assets to offer, s-so to speak, which can be turned liquid!" Subaru interjected to clarify, panic in his voice. 'This deal can't go sour.'

Felt gave him another confused look, "Bro, can you speak human already?"

"Look." Subaru grabbed his phone out of his pocket. "This little artefact here can freeze a moment in time and store it, it's simple." Subaru turned off the flash and clicked the camera's button, an audible click coming out of the flip phone.

The fence and the thief stared confusedly off of the screen of the phone back at themselves.

"H-huh?" Felt snatched the phone out of the student's hands with a skill of some of the greatest pickpockets, Subaru staring in surprise at his hand now empty.

"So you're offering a metia?!" Felt re-iterated.

"I believe that this SHOULD cost quite a bit." pronounced the Natsuki, going out on a limb. The idea of a metia was slowly starting to make sense. Anything that he offered was called a metia, so it made sense to think that maybe it was a way of calling... 'Magic items?' Subaru supposed.

"Hmmm..." Rom put a hand up to his wrinkled chin, deep in thought.

"Yeah right!" Felt pronounced sarcastically, sliding the phone across the table. "This probably won't cover the costs."

However, Rom stopped her. "Metias like this ain't very common... I'd rate it at about... well, let's say at about 20 coins."

Felt's head snapped to stare at the old giant, "Wha-? Really?"

Rom shrugged. Subaru on the other hand sat back and stretched. He wasn't sure of the currency in this world, but judging from their reaction, it was enough to give him an upper hand.

However, the triumph was short-lived. There was a very light knock on the door, nearly silent, however to the three sitting at the table it rang out louder than any thunder.

Looking over at Felt, Rom sighed and stood up and lumbered to the door. The eye-slit opened and closed, no questions asked, and the door creaked open.

Subaru mentally prepared himself as best he could, but even on the second meeting, he could not calm himself. The fear and uncertainty gave way to a ringing screaming rage, a hate so strong he felt the taste of iron in his mouth as he unconsciously bit down on his tongue.

"Oh my, oh my, how surprising." Her voice was sweet and soft as the purple-eyed monster walked into the room and sat down at the table, opposite Subaru, near-ignoring the giant standing at the door. "So I suppose this was your 'urgent matter', hm?"

Subaru's mind held back the violent mess of rage and disgust that was about to come out of his mouth and the student smiled instead, "Well, one can't be too open in their business nowadays. I suppose our second meeting is an event enough in and of itself to deserve introductions." He stood up and nodded to her, maintaining a frozen smile, "Natsuki Subaru, on-contract negotiator, pleasure making your acquaintance." He sat back down, "And you are?"

The murderer didn't get up to introduce herself, giggling delicately instead. "While I thank you for the pleasantries, you are not charming or authoritative enough to pull off such introductions, it makes you look inexperienced." Subaru felt a pang of hurt pride. "My name is Elsa Granhiert, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Can ye get on with the business already?" Interjected Felt, clearly uncomfortable with the weird formality duel happening in front of her. She pointed at Subaru, "This guy's offered an item worth 20 holy coins, outbid him and the insignia's yours." Rom also came back to the table, sitting down across from Felt, looking on at the two deal-makers.

Elsa placed down a stack of silver-looking coins. "Thankfully my contractor was ready for such an event. There are 45 coins here, it should cover the cost."

Subaru's heart sank. 45? 45 coins? How in the damn was he going to outbid that? All of his books were heavily text-based, they'd have no value mostly. Except-

The museum guide slammed down on the desk as Subaru hurriedly took it out of his bag. "Collection of some of the finest art I could find, how much would you value it?"

Rom carefully lifted the book, its size miniature compared to his palms and looked inside. "This is some VERY high-quality painting, hasn't even got any stroke lines on it." He rubbed a page slightly. "And it must be a metia, 'cause I never saw paintings that don't erase."

Subaru patiently awaited the fence's decision on the book, his foot unconsciously beginning to tap on the grimy wood floor. Felt hid her curiosity as she looked from across the table at the huge 'collection', clearly wishing to take a look. Elsa's expression didn't change at all, at best she looked bored.

"A collector would value this at... about 50, maybe 60 coins." Felt's eyes went wide. This exchange clearly had more money in it than she probably ever held in her hands, let alone seen. Elsa's expression, on the other hand, changed very little. Her upturned lips dropped ever-so-slightly, however, she maintained her usual delicate smile.

The thief looked around unsurely. "W-well..." She pronounced, clearly still thinking over how much money just changed hands right in front of her nose. "I guess... it's his." She pointed at Subaru and took out the piece of jewellery again and put it down on the table.

However, Subaru didn't seem to be concentrated on the prize he was chasing after for so long. Something in his gut felt off. Elsa was not disappointed and something ticked him off about it. Wouldn't she try to negotiate further? Wouldn't she try to outbid him? A slow shiver began creeping up his spine.

'No, she clearly doesn't think she's defeated. Which means that she's most likely going to use another means of getting it out of me...'

Subaru rubbed his side, around where his lower half disconnected from him. 'This is bad...'

He snapped out of his thoughts as Elsa opened her mouth, "While this IS quite disappointing, however, I would like to ask, why were you so interested in getting your hands on this jewel?"

Subaru sat back, and responded calmly, maintaining an air of undisturbed tranquillity. In his mind, however, Subaru carefully navigated his own web of observations. If the murderer was hired to steal the jewel, she clearly wanted it away from Satella, so the only real way he could screw up would be to say that he was going to return it. "You'd better ask my contractor, but from his demeanour, he wanted to keep the jewel to himself. You know the rich and eccentric, exotica is all that matters. If it's rare, they got to have it."

Elsa nodded and smiled. "Most certainly." With a rustle of her cloak, she stood up. "Well, I suppose this is my loss. I shall take my leave."

Subaru followed suit, grabbing the insignia on the way. "Same for me." He nodded to the thief and the fence. "I suppose I will not be seeing you around, but thanks for letting me barter early." Felt crossed her arms, shrugged and looked away. Rom seemed to be too enticed in the two items that Subaru offered to even care, the phone giving out a few clicks as the giant thumbed the controls.

The murderer and the student headed for the exit, Natsuki allowing Elsa to pass through first, as he attempted to make out any shapes or outlines of weaponry through her cloak. The door creaked, and the lights of the abandoned tavern disappeared with a creak of the door, the night welcoming the two 'contractors'.

The night didn't change since the last loop, but then again, Natsuki would probably be unable to make out the difference in the utter darkness. There were drunk shouts in the distance, dog barks on parallel-running streets. Same shit-filled streets. Subaru wondered at how easily he got used to it, all it took was dying once. He chuckled to himself at the morbidity.

After having gone in opposite directions with Elsa, he felt himself relax a bit, his steps becoming lighter and back straightening. While he was most certainly wasn't out of the woods yet, he still had a better chance at surviving now.

He thumbed the insignia and took it out to look it over. The red jewel sparkled in the night and... glowed?

Subaru rubbed his eyes, but no, it was there, the crimson pulsed slightly and seemed to flicker a little, like a candle in the wind. The light was so weak, that he didn't even notice it in the tavern or in the evening sun, but there was no mistake. Subaru turned the piece of jewel over quizzically as if expecting the answer and the user manual on the opposite side. Nothing. There was no clear explanation. When Felt touched it with her glove, it was fine, he couldn't see the difference. When Rom touched it... but he didn't, not even once...

He really wasn't sure. Maybe it glowed when anyone held it? Or was it possibly some curse that was put on the whole thing if the user didn't have royal blood in him?

The student shivered at the implications of an object which could subdivide people by class as if it was natural and pulled down his sleeve to his palm, putting the insignia on top, making sure that, just in case, there was no skin contact. The glow instantly stopped, the crimson snuffed out.

Subaru sighed. Clearly, he would need more information, MUCH more, to get used to this world, and dropped the jewel into his pocket. He then felt something fall in front of him...

His stomach exploded into a red mess and he fell to his knees, a rusty smell permeating. Close up he finally understood what dropped. His stomach's contents were lying in front of him, stringing out of a huge wound that he didn't understand how he got.

"Puhuhu..." He heard quiet steps approach him from the front, and tried to look up.

Purple eyes. He swore incoherently as he tried to gather up his guts like dirty laundry and stand up, the adrenaline and rage guarding his senses against the searing pain.

"At first, I thought that maybe I should let you go. But considering your smell, I think trusting you would be too risky." Subaru felt someone kick him in the shoulder, hard, knocking him over to the side, exposing his strewn around insides. "And look at your the colour of your guts! So expressive!" Natsuki tried to rise again, but the blood was just pouring too much, his head going light. He was losing the fight.

He could feel it again, the dark at the sides of his vision, the murky water rising to claim him. In a last-ditch attempt, be it due to the horror of dying alone or just to spite her, he looked in her face.

There was something sensual, something near-orgasmic in the way she looked at him bleed out. Some sort of vile bile came up to Subaru's lips and he vomited, tasting more iron and rust, but he maintained eye contact.

"Oh my, Oh my. Well, look at you, all stoic." The purple-eyed beast sang as she stared back, licking her lips. Subaru could now feel nausea, a great disgust, and wanted to close his eyes and let it all disappear.

As the hands caressed his heart and began pulling it down, one thought, however, fought against all his nature.

'Don't look away.' For it is weakness.

'Don't look away.' For it is fear.

'Don't look away.' For it is cowardice.

'Don't loo-

"'Twas late 95 at the old Guard arms yard
They were commissioned to break ye old star
And fought for Von Astrea there on the bar
Roll, Von Astrea, Roll"

The voices were far away and they were many, not really in tune with each other, but good enough. Subaru painfully attempted to pull apart his eyelids, but still barely had the strength. It was sunny and warm, he could feel it on his skin, a pleasant feeling he rarely knew after the Revolt.

"For when the Vollachians took up to the sea
When their army on high was the power to be
A damn royal monster crawled on Tigracy
Roll, Von Astrea, Roll, me boys
Roll, Von Astrea, Roll"

While he generally felt so light, each breath he now took tore at each nerve, his own ribs trying to murder him.

"The Witches, The Knights, each took their call
He was the basterd to out-reach 'em all
From the banks of the Augria to the hills of Giral
Roll, Von Astrea, Roll"

He finally used all his strength to open his eyes. It was a barrack, a house taken from the royals to use for the army's hospitals.

"And the damned bitch Barielle tried to cut down his time
To watch all the giants stoop down on our tides
No bitch could protect all the royals reviled
Roll, Von Astrea, Roll, me boys
Roll, Von Astrea, Roll"

He also finally understood the singing. It was one of the militarists' songs, so that meant...

"And it's one for the hot sun above
Two for the roses we love
And it's three for the fires that burn down below
Roll on Von Astrea
Roll, Von Astrea, Roll"

There was a short snicker, "Took you a while." Subaru pushed himself to look to the other side of his bed, still weak and hurt. His gaze was met by Heinkel's red hair. "Welcome back to the land of the damn living, pencil-pusher."