Chapter 11: I Am My Tower's Keeper

As wind blew past him, Natsuki Subaru felt weightless.

He was falling.

Once more, he ducked his body and rolled as soon as it hit the ground, negating most if not all of the impact's effects. Immediately afterwards, he got back on his feet, and repeated his mad dash toward the central pillar, where Volcanica stood as its guardian.

Before the dragon could smack the foolish teenager off the tower and send him plummeting toward certain death, various white stingers struck his head and – while barely wounding him – directed his attention elsewhere.

Not far from where the boy had fallen, near one of the room's five pillars, stood the tower's keeper surrounded by white circles in the air, each with a thin needle protruding from them.

The pillar's protector was distracted.

Now, Subaru drove all his strength into a jump toward the pillar. When he collided with it, he dug his hands and feet into it and began to climb as fast as his human body would allow him. Whenever the dragon turned to attack again, the Hell's Snipes forced him to shift focus.

As Subaru neared the top, a potent shockwave made him lose his grip, and he found himself in a free fall once more. This time, however, he used gravity to his advantage. By kicking the central pillar, he threw himself toward Volcanica and ended up on top of the dragon's back.

Obviously, the dragon took offense to having an uninvited pest on its back, and began to thrash erratically, both to throw the boy off and to avoid Shaula's incessant attacks. Subaru, however, remained glued to his opponent, and took advantage of one of Volcanica's movements that threw him upward to hug the pillar and resume climbing it.

It seemed as if this only enraged the dragon even more, as, this time, it decided to breathe fire on the pillar and roast him alive.

Should have expected that from a dragon.

Preferring to take his chances with gravity instead, he let go and fell on Volcanica's back again. This time, however, he steadily made his way to the dragon's head and, from there called out to his ally.

"Shaula! We need a new plan, tsu!"

Upon hearing this, Shaula ceased her attacks, and Subaru (or, rather, Louis) used this moment to hop off Volcanica's back and run toward the room's entrance, an action the keeper soon repeated.

Here, on the stairs that led to the room, they were mostly protected from the enraged trial-tester's rampage. From this small safe haven, the two looked at the destruction they caused: the entire room was scorched, and one of the pillars near the dragon had cracked in half.

"Ma~ster, what do you need me to do?"

Subaru pointed to the broken pillar on the edge of the room, and then to the floor it was holding up. "We need you to destroy the other pillar, tsu. Afterwards, target the floor above Volcanica and bring it down."

"That will barely scratch him, master!"

"It's not necessary to kill him, tsu."

Subaru took off toward the central pillar again.

For anyone observing the battle, it would seem as though the Archbishop was teleporting around the room. In reality, this was not teleportation but, rather, a technique inherited from his brothers.

A technique acquired from "The Leaper" Dorkell.

Just as expected, Volcanica focused its attention on the fool who decided that running in a straight line toward a dragon fifteen times his size was a good idea. As any good, braindead dragon would do, it opened its mouth and displayed the flames within, more as a taunt than as a warning.

With its attention centered on the boy, Volcanica did not notice the white stinger hit one of the pillars behind it. It heard the pillar break, however, and decided to move out of the way before the floor above it came down, which it did seconds after.

In order to avoid the floor's debris, Volcanica took flight.

The floor's collapse thundered around the entire room, and Shaula was pretty sure she heard Reid tell them to stop interrupting his sleep. What really concerned her, though, was that the Archbishop was missing.

Her search for him lasted only a few seconds as she saw Volcanica behave oddly and, on its back, a black-haired boy holding on for dear life.

Subaru, not in control of his body, could only watch things unfold with horror and excitement. Not only was he riding a dragon, something every fantasy protagonist needs to do at least once, but he was about a kilometer above ground level, so the slightest slip that Louis made would have sent them both tumbling into a horrible death.

It seemed as if Volcanica only had one tactic to deal with the imbecile that clung to him, and that involved a massive amount of erratic maneuvering along with some gravity.

During one of the dragon's thrashings, Subaru (Louis) took advantage of the momentum to put into effect his plan's greatest and riskiest move.

With the Leaper's technique, he pushed himself from the dragon. Combining both the momentum with Dorkell's famous move granted him the speed and force necessary to close the gap between Volcanica and the topmost floor that he needed to reach.

And reach it he did, even if it was too close for comfort and cost him a cracked rib or two.

Having impacted the floor's edge, Subaru climbed up onto the floor and marveled at seeing the Pleiades Watchtower's final room.

He was actually marveled at how much of a waste it was.

Said room, an open area with the pillars from the floor below protruding into it, only contained a black monolith that shared some similarity to the one from the first trial. What really separated the two were the handprints on this monolith.

Six handprints total.

In an instant, he was beside the monolith. He placed his hands on each handprint, looking for the correct one to end the trial.

One of them fit him perfectly.

Before he could process that fact, Volcanica landed on the edge of the room, clearly intent on ending the trial one way or another.

"Hey, lizard! Come get us, tsu!"

Before Volcanica could strike, Subaru threw one of his twin daggers at a certain spot underneath its jaw. The dagger, as expected, bounced off harmlessly, but it struck true. It hit a reverse scale in the dragon's body, which, like the legends told, triggered a change in it.

Volcanica immediately looked back down on him, but, unlike before, its eyes held something more than the dull color from before.

Something like recognition.

"Flugel," it spoke. "Why hast thee returned?"

Seeing how this was a situation better suited for Subaru to deal with, Louis decided to leave his body.

"Flugel, has something happened? Are thee safe?"

Flugel.

Flugel.

Flugel.

"Listen to me, you oversized iguana, because I'll say this once: I. AM. NOT. FLUGEL. I might smell like shit, and I may even look like him, somehow, but I am not that bastard."

"Thou seem troubled. Is something troubling thee, Flugel?"

"I told you to not call me that! I beat the trial! I'm the keeper now! I order you to stop calling me by that monster's name!"

Volcanica seemed to be taken aback by his outburst. "But thee are Flugel. Has thine mind failed thee?"

"God! Shut up! I can't listen to you call me by that name! Flugel is a sociopathic fraud! One who abandoned his apprentice for centuries! Call me by that name and I swear, swear, that my first order to you will be to kill yourself!"

Finally, the dragon shut its mouth (snout?).

"Good. Now, I want to leave this tower, so I will put you in charge of protecting it. Make sure whoever enters isn't bad. Also, take care of Reid. Just don't wake him up, feed him three times a day, and make sure to change his kimono once in a while. He also gets fussy if he has no one to fight, so entertain him. Now, help me get back down."

It obliged by allowing Subaru to climb it and get off down at the previous floor, where he was greeted by an overenthusiastic Shaula.

"Ma~ster! That was great! And it was to show that lizard who's boss, yep!"

He could only smile at the antics he'd grown to enjoy. "It's done. As of right now, you're no longer the tower's keeper. Now c'mon, there's a lot to do and more to see apart from this wasteland."

She nodded, with the usual grin on her face. "Go, master. I'll catch up with you soon, yep! Just let me take a…look around, for old times' sake!"

Just like she said, Subaru made his way downstairs and left her in the final floor, with Volcanica. While descending the various floors, he had to admit that the place was well-built, and could even be considered majestic.

But even paradise is a prison when one cannot leave.

Before he knew it, he was back in the ground floor, looking at the massive door that served as the tower's main entrance. With a single touch, it opened, and the desert lay in front of him.

Now came the question of how to return.

Luckily, Subaru had an idea. More accurately, he had Louis.

"Hey, Louis," he said out loud. "Want to help me out here? I need you to get one of our brothers to send some cultists this way. Lye might be occupied, so try getting Roy to do it. Tell them we'll meet these cultists halfway."

Although there was no response, something told him she'd heard his plea.

"Hey, hey, master! I'm back, yep! Did you miss me already!?"

"I might have, heh."

"Then I'll just have to take that as a yes!"

"Take it as you will, Shaula. Now, there's something I want to try. If it works, a mabeast or two will come this way for us. Please don't kill them."

"If that's what master wants!"

Louis had shared this trick with him back in the Hall of Memories, but he had been unable to try it out until now. With one hand outstretched, Subaru concentrated and attempted to visualize the Witch's scent around him. When he did so, he visualized it amplifying, and calling forth all mabeasts in the vicinity.

Not long after, he felt something breathe down on him. When he opened his eyes, in front of him was a creature the size of a truck, with the lower body of a horse, the upper body of a man, and a vertical mouth in its torso. As if recognizing him, it bowed to the best of its ability and emitted a cry similar to that of a baby's, if said baby was a hellish being with voice like static.

"Woah," he heard Shaula utter. "Master, you called a Horse King! That's so cool, yep! Teach me how! Teach me how! I pledge myself to your teachings!"

"Sorry, Shaula, but this is a very specific ability to get. Only a select few can control mabeasts like that."

"Awwww, master, you're no fun! You're mean! I'm going to put a scorpion in your pocket!"

Both chuckled. Subaru made his way to the bowed Horse King and hopped on its back. As he offered Shaula a hand, however, he was reminded of her true strength as she hopped up on her own and grabbed him from behind with enough force to crush his every bone.

"Ah! Ah ah ah! You're killing me! Shaula, my spine!"

"Oops," was her response as she let him go and wrapped her arms around his neck instead.

"Shaula…can't breathe…Shaula…dying…"

She pouted and settled for just holding his cloak.

With both of its riders aboard, the Horse King stood to full height and turned away from the Pleiades Watchtower.

Now, with the Divine Dragon as the tower's guardian, both keepers left behind the place they so loathed.

"You have to be kidding me."

"Wha…? What's th-, oh, I see…"

The voices of Olsed and Linneke, respectively, were loud enough to be heard by only each other. This skill was one they mastered after weeks of training in front of the throne room's doors. Its purpose was simple: they would use his voice to criticize nobles within earshot and avoid being disciplined.

Now, as they returned from their shopping trip, Linneke with her new glaive and Olsed with a book about the greatest mages to have lived, the two guards came across a certain…eccentric individual.

One with a blue dress and cat ears.

All Olsed could do was hide his face in embarrassment. "For hell's sake, he's the last person I want to run into right now…"

"Huh? Why? That's just that healer, right? 'Blue,' the famous?"

"Indeed, it is. He also happens to be the person that I may or may not have insulted the most when I resigned…"

"You…you…you insulted the greatest healer…in the kingdom? I…I can't with you…"

"No, no, I didn't insult him, I – and this is not a confession – may have…called Crusch Karsten a…couple of unflattering names…"

"I'm going over there to bring him here and turn you into a mana bomb."

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait! I did not confess my guilt!"

"He can be the judge of that."

Olsed covered his face with his palms. "Lin, you'll be the death of me!"

"That's the plan!"

"No! I don't want to die! Lin, hear me out, please! If I die, I can't just go back in time and revive you know!"

"Fine," she sighed.

"Alright, thanks. See, during the fight with the Great Hare, Crusch Karsten came over to assist us. Thanks to her efforts, we managed to drive back the little monsters and safeguarded the estate."

"And you insulted her because she's better than you?"

"No! I said I MAY have! And, to be fair, my concerns are…rooted in reality. What would have happened if Crusch Karsten died in that fight?"

"Ols, this better be a rhetorical question."

"It is. Without her, the family would have fallen, and those lands would be in anarchy at the moment."

"So you quit because she 'could have' died?"

"Linneke, you're my best and only friend in this cruel world, but if you interrupt me again, I may have to guard that door all by my lonesome till my time comes."

"Alright, alright, go on, your majesty."

"Thank you, my liege. Now, as I was saying, you can imagine she caused quite a stir among the soldiers. Here's the future duchess, fighting alongside her men to defeat an ancient evil. My problem was, she rushed into battle senselessly. I'll give her something: she won. But if she had lost, she would have doomed the entire estate to chaos until someone else took over."

"That's why you left?"

"Lin…"

"Got it."

"Yes, I left because she was rash. That wasn't the first time, either. If I served under someone that rash, that naïve, that glory-obsessed, I would have died long ago. The friends I left behind in that territory talk of how much they miss old Meckart. A shame that man is gone."

"May I talk now, o' great one?"

"You may, my faithful disciple."

"Did you purposefully leave out the part where you insulted a duchess?"

"I will not confirm or deny such claims."

"Have it your way, Ols."

"You know, if my man Acubens was here, he'd be on my side."

"Oh, sure he'd be. Why don't I buy you two a bottle and a room?"

"Every day I debate whether I should have died to the Hare so I would not have had to meet you."

"You can't change the past, I'm afraid."

"I will find a way to do so and prevent your parents' marriage."

"Tell me when you do so. I want the best view of your latest screwup."

And so, for the duration of their walk, the two bickered back and forth.

For days, Natsuki Subaru and Shaula traversed the Augria Sand Dunes with little to no supplies. Had their journey taken one or two more days, all that the Cult would have found would be their corpses.

Luckily, Louis's message was passed accordingly.

On the third day of their travel, a carriage came to their aid. The members of said carriage were all agents of the renowned Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti, Archbishop of Sloth. They provided the food and water the duo desperately needed and informed them of their arrival thanks to Roy's message being conveyed.

"Mmmmm, master, this tastes so~ good!"

"Shaula…that's an appa…"

"Well, it's great, yep! I'm gonna buy a thousand of these!"

"With who's money?"

She pleaded with him by giving a forlorn expression. "Plea~se…?"

"Fine! Fine, but you're lucky you make such convincing puppy eyes."

"Yes! Score one for the great Shaula!"

One of the cultists in the carriage with them gave a slight laugh. "From the way ya two ar' actin', I woulda thought ya were eitha siblings or a couple."

"It's neither, and please don't give her ideas…"

"It's the latter! The latter, yep!"

The cultist, a pale-skinned man with brown hair and eyes, was apparently one of the Archbishop's trusted "Fingers," who acted as field commanders for those under Petelgeuse's command. He seemed quite pleased with the reaction he drew from the unlikely pair.

"Say, Jens, right? Do you have any updates on our friends?"

"Ah happen to, sir," was the Finger's reply. "Although it may be, ah, unsatisfactory."

"Speak."

"Th' Archbishop of Gluttony, Roy Alphard, is headed t' Gusteko."

"Roy? That's odd. Maybe Capella ordered him to…"

Subaru noticed the chewing sounds to his right had stopped and, before he could turn, felt Shaula's muscle-tearing hug catch him. "Ma~ster! Is there any more food!?"

"Keep eating it and we'll starve! Seriously, the real glutton here is you!"

"Now, now, it's unflattering to say such things!"

"Shaula! My arm! You're gonna leave me armless! And stop eating all our food! What are you, a mabeast!?"

"Yep!"

"What!? For real!?"

"Yep! Master helped create me! Well, master Flugel, that is…"

He was just in awe. "How can you be a mabeast?"

"Because…I am?"

"No, I mean, how can you…be so human…?"

"Oh! Master Flugel and mother made me that way! Isn't that just great!? So~ convenient!"

"Convenient for what, exactly?"

Shaula could only blush and look at the carriage's floor.

Seeing the interactions between the two, Jens laughed again, much at Subaru's expense. "Changin' the subject; I think we oughta arrive at th' manor soon enough. If yer lady friend don't leave us starvin', we should make it with enough ta spare."

"Hear that, Shaula? No more eating entire baskets of food in seconds. You'll make the kind man with the funny accent sad."

"Like mister Archbishop says. Imma be sad if I die of hunger, ya know?"

"Got it, yep! No more eating for me!"

"Ah, Shaula, I didn't mea-"

"Nope! Master is cruel and I am unloved!"

Subaru sighed, knowing full well he would never win this discussion, while Shaula practically beamed with an "I got you" expression.

Conversing with both Shaula and Jens made him genuinely enjoy the carriage ride.

It was boring at times, sure, but at least he had those two for company, plus the silent cultist driver at the front.

Although, no matter how much he focused on their antics, he could not shake the feeling of dread that enveloped his heart and soul.

The Mathers manor.

He would finally be going back.

It was time, then, for Archbishop Natsuki Subaru to make his grand debut.

AN: We know nothing of Volcanica's trial so I just winged it. If Tappei wants to smite me, let him.

Say it with me now: SMT!