Yo! author-sama here, so I've been a bit busy lately and haven't been able to write as frequently as before, so it's going a bit slow
I hope this chapter makes up for the delays tho, it's got what could be called an 'especial character' you'll certainly love, I hope you enjoy it, bye!
"Good morning everyooooone~" said comically a clownish man as he entered the dining room "I hope you're all having a nice breakfaaaast~."
"Tch, we were" a petite maid clicked her tongue at the sight of her lord being so cheerful, she still held a deep grudge against him for the troubles he caused in the sanctuary.
"Hmm, Petra-chan..." a blonde, tall maid muttered as she glared softly at her apprentice, warning her about being mean to the lord they were serving, even if said lord doesn't care about their attitude.
"It's alright, Frederiiiiiica~" allowed the theatrical court mage of the manor "No harm done at aaaaaall~" before winking an eye to Petra, making the latter even grumpier by it.
"Uncle Rosswal, I would certainly appreciate it if you ceased trying to poke fun at your staff while in my household" argued Annerose. "While I will always appreciate an interesting talk while eating, seeing it be ruined by your comments and disputes upsets my appetite, reason why I suggest we may eat and then converse freely"
"In other words, eat now and talk later. Explanation" explained the butler of the house as he sat with impeccable form and manners. Eating with the maids and butlers of the house had become common after Subaru suggested it as a way for everyone to sit and chat together, they were lucky that the servitude was reduced.
Rosswal grinned a bit before saying "Soooo~, I take it as if none of you are iiiiiiiinterested~ on how Subaru-kun, Emilia-sama and the rest aaaaare~?"
"You have new info about Subaru-oniichan?!" Exclamed Petra before covering her mouth quickly, Fearing her senior may criticize her again.
"It's ok, Petra-chan, I'm also curious about how it went." Said Frederica calmly.
"So, Ross-boy, we're all now expecting your big news." said the small pink haired loli-baba that was quiet until now. "Just get it out and say how are Su-boy and the rest."
"Sooooo~, in view of your curioooosity~ towards the matter, I'm glad to announce that the group headed to the Sage's Tower iiiiiiis~" said the clown overdramatically before pausing a few seconds. "Still in the tower."
"Ugh."
"Seriously?"
"This is not time for jokes, uncle."
"Overhyped."
"If that's all the info you found that's really disappointing, Ross-boy."
"Now, before you start throwiiiiiiing~ tomatoes at me, that in itself is quite the valuable piece of informaaaaation." Rosswal explained calmly. "What did you all knew about the group yesteeeeeerday~?"
"That they were still in the Pleiades watchtower, so?" Answered the young maid as she didn't have more contact with them after left to find the sage Shaula
"Not precisely, Petra-chan" argued her senior maid and mentor. "We didn't know if they made it there."
"Precisely, all the information we were certain pertained that Emily and her companions travelled towards the Auguria Sand Dunes, with their sights focused upon reaching the Pleiades Watchtower of the Sage Shaula." Explained the young heiress of the Milord household
"As all our last information was that they were in the desert we were unsure as to whether Su-boy and the others reached the Tower."
Continued the present Lewes as she saw where this was heading to "Which means that the fact that Ross-boy knows about their current presence on the Sage's tower certifies that..."
"Certifies that the group achieved their goal of entering the tower and contacting the sage. Conclusion." Finished Clind as he gazed at Roswaal while still eating, how did he manage to eat and talk at the same time and not commit a mistake? No one present tried to even ask. "Would that be correct, Rosswaal-sama? Interrogation."
"Youre all riiiiiight~" Exclaimed happily the margrave before extending his arms. "Until now, something's been preventing me from locaaaaating their exact whereabouts, yet reeeeecently~ that fog has been clearing up and todaaaaaay~ I can confirm that Emilia-sama, Beatrice, Ram and Meili are insiiiiide~ the tower."
"Wait, how did you know that?" Asked curiously the younger maid, "there's no way to track people from across the country, right?" Petra was half certain of this as she had some training about magic recently, she didn't even hear about an spell like that
Rosswaal just smiled and took off a weird metal disc, it was painted white with black lines across the middle, it had some black kind of stick on the middle that moved towards the side. "See this needle? It points towards the owner of the hair, it's a tracking metia, I have one for eeeeeeveryone~ in this camp." (N:imagine a pocket watch or a compass)
"So we can safely deduce that as the interference is gone their arrival is imminent? Seeking confirmation."
"That's right, Clind-kun" answered the clown happily.
"That's good, Garf-boy should also be arriving around these days if Otto's letters are true..." Muttered the small grandma as she thought back to who she considered her grandchild, Otto had written to them that their business was over and they would soon head home with them.
And while everyone was either grimacing about the serious violation of privacy that the metias consisted of, or celebrating the coming of their companions, Frederica scratched her chin wondering about something.
"Rosswaal-sama, forgive my rudeness but if your statement is that everyone has their own tracking device then..." She glanced quickly to her side to see her apprentice's face, yet she shook off the unease of her head, she also deserved to know. "Then what about Subaru-sama? I don't think you listed him with the others."
Everyone then stared intensely at Roswaal, it was excusable to not have the whereabouts of Anastasia and Julius as they were not part of their camp, yet Subaru was a vital member and companion for them, so it was impossible for Rosswal to not have a 'Subaru Detector' somewhere.
"Thaaaats~ the curious part, because Suuuuubaru-kun isn't with the others in the tower" Explained Rosswal as he took off another device that pointed in a different direction. "He is surprisingly somewhere in Vollachia."
The last statement made everyone in the room freeze from shock, they knew that Subaru wasn't the luckiest man alive, yet getting to the salvage land of Vollachia from the Sage's tower? It was a disaster waiting to happen.
"Now, now, now, I know what you're all thinking, but Subaru-kun is alive and well." he said as he rested the metias on the table. "If his life happened to be cut short this would also show it, so he hasn't died yet, I can promise that."
Petra shook off the sweat on her forehead, wondering how the nasty-eyed boy was doing in the next country, then she thought back about the great spirit that always accompanied him, if she was still in the tower then they weren't together anymore, the realization pained the little girl's chest. "I'll make sure to play lots and lots with Beatrice-sama once she comes back." She sweared to herself as her resolve towards helping her friends grew stronger in her heart.
At the same time, in another place
"I'm tired..." [And I'm bored...]
Beatrice sat at the table with the rest of her companions on the tower, it's been three days since Subaru was taken by the shadow to Vollachia and the group was facing a new problem...
While Emilia had won the last trial and conquered the tower, there was but one issue that didn't allow them to leave yet [just one? I had to face off against five!] and that was…
"By Hoshin, I wish'd that damn'd dragon wu'ld just drop some blood and let us go!" Said tired Anastasia as she remembered the last obstacle between them and freedom.
It was true, while the dragon wasn't able to talk, speak or even think for a while it sure did know how to fight, and everytime they tried to take a bit of blood from him he started fighting back against them, not really hurting anyone but it was still incredibly troublesome. [What do you expect? He's doing it in self-defense].
So the return to the manor was postponed until they could extract some blood drops from Volcanica for the people affected by the Archbishops of lust and gluttony like Crusch and the others on Priestella.
"How is onee-san going?" Asked the blue haired girl, [my] murderer. "Is it just like yesterday?"
"I'm afraid yes, lady Meili" answered the [snobby and glorified] knight as he ate slowly, he, Ram and Emilia were busy fighting during all day, and while it was certainly tiring Volcanica never attacked back so they weren't hurt, so they had infinite tries against Volcanica. [If they keep trying it must work someday, right?] Emilia in particular spent almost all day fighting him.
Meili and Anastasia weren't fighting so they thought of ways to trick the dragon or explore around the tower. Beatrice was also in support as she couldn't receive mana from her faraway contractor.
"I'm done." Said the great spirit after finishing her plate, then she stood up and [hey! It's bad manners to leave without washing your plate] she stopped right on her steps, then turned around to grab her plate and carried them off to wash, they had limited tableware, after all.
On her way out she meet a pink Oni carrying some water.
"Beatrice-sama, how are you feeling?"
"Hmph, Betty is fine, even though my hopeless contractor is so far away, I suppose."
Ram gave a sharp breath before shaking her head. "That pathetic Barusu couldn't bring Rem back to safety before being kidnapped to Vollachian, how shameful" [Nee-sama is as harsh as usual, although Rem is also now acting like her... Wait, do I have two abusive Nee-samas now? What did I do to deserve this kind of treatment] *Snap, snap* "Beatrice-sama, you there?"
"Huh?" Asked Beatrice as she shakes off her dizziness.
"Beatrice-sama, I was asking you if I could wash your tableware for you, it seems you're more tired than I thought" asked Ram clearly concerned.
"Thanks, but Betty will wash her own dishes. I suppose. It's just good manners to wash one's own mess. In fact." [That's my Beako, cute and diligent!] Answered Beatrice as she suddenly blushed a bit.
Ram frowned her brow, thinking that it might be mana insufficiency, she knew how it felt and how shameful it was, so she chose to not pursue the matter anymore, after an elegant bow she offered her bucket of water and helped Beatrice wash the plates she used.
After finishing they both went their separate ways, Ram towards their improvised dining hall and Beatrice towards her room... but
"Oh? Beako-chan, how are you?" Asked Emilia[-tan!] towards the great spirit, still looking a bit messy from her recent attempt at taking Volcanica's blood. [She looks a bit messy, but she's still lovely. EMT!]
"I'm doing fine, Emilia-ta-, thanks for asking." Replied Beako as she almost bit her tongue.
"Oh, Beako, do you want me to carry you to your room?" [You better surrender now, Beako, Emilia-tan is, besides crazy cute, crazy strong and crazy determined]
"Humph, it's ok, I suppose." Conceded quickly the small girl as she lifted her arms to let herself be carried, Emilia expected a bit more of resistance from the prideful great spirit yet she wouldn't doubt of doing a favor so simple. [I wish I had my cellphone to take a picture of my angel carrying my daughter in her eyes.]
"It's here, girl." Beatrice said after arriving at a door down the hallway. "Just let me walk by myself now, leave, in fact." [Wait, I still want to have Emilia-tan princess carry me!] "Altho-"
"Alright, you're off" said Emilia[-tan] before dropping Beatrice unceremoniously on the floor in front of her room [OOF, that hurts] "Oh, sorry Beako-chan, are you ok?"
"I'm fine I suppose. just a bit dizzy, in fact" said the girl on the floor as she shook her head. "You may leave now Emilia-tan..."
"Beako, just now you..." Muttered Emilia as she noticed what the blonde drill haired girl just said. "No, it doesn't matter." then shook it off as just a mistake point "I'll see you later at lunch"
After Emilia left Beatrice on the ground and walked off, the latter extended her arm towards the door and disabled an [house alarm] small spell placed on it, then opened the door.
[OOOOFF, we're finally here, now it's time to cuddle with Beako!] As Beatrice blushed profusely she walked besides the bed she was using, there stood a chest that once carried Subaru's clothes. [It hurted seeing all my outfits being thrown away, but if it's for my Beako then I don't mind.] After opening the chest she glanced at it's content... [I'll never get used to them, you know...]
Subaru's [my] books of the dead... Beatrice then softly brushed her hand against their covers, caressing them one by one... during her time with them she started to learn many things about the books and how they worked...
The first thing she addressed was. "Subaru." She said to [me] no one in particular. "What book is next?"
[I think we passed the one were Emilia-tan saved me from the shadow, I didn't like the whole murder and paranoia part but that scene with Emilia-tan was a 10/10, EMT!... Which means that next is the third one on the left]
Beatrice grabbed the book that the voice in her head [I] told her, since the tenth book she started hearing it talk to her. She recognized the voice as [mine] Subaru's... She knew better than anyone that the real Subaru was in Vollachian [Somewhere in the forest, hopefully not in Todd's camp anymore...] So she understood that it was just a fake illusion made by her mind and the books [Hey, I'm very real... at least I feel like I am...] Yet she still listened to it and liked to talk with him, even if it was just a lie she created to keep her sanity... [Beako...]...
Beatrice shook off her head and took off the next book, unluckily the voice didn't remember well the "books" that she hasn't read [It's like watching an anime backwards, I know how it ends but not how it begins] so Beatrice was still reading all the books she could to know more about Subaru's pain [complete my memories].
After sitting and resting the book on her lap she closed her eyes and muttered the same sentence she always said before reading a book.
"Subaru, lend Betty a bit of your strength, I suppose" [Always, you don't even need to ask] then she opened the book and read it...
They... [Wakey, wakey Sleepy head! Dream time is over]
"How long was I out this time, in fact?"
[Around two hour, same as the last one]
"Good, I suppose." That was another change since the voice came, it [Hey, I'm not an 'it'.] managed to help her wake up more easily and organize the memories from the book without confusing herself with 'them' [I just do what I can, I did manage to live all of those books before... although I also died but that's besides the point].
That made it easier for her to read the books one by one, she still felt some of the influence from them whenever she thought about someone finding out the books, each time she remembered the content of the book or when talking about [me] Subaru
Now, each book felt shorter than the one before it, especially if the "chapter" only lasted a day, longer chapters were harder to digest... She was getting used to it... [It reminds me of some bad memories...] She knew what the voice was talking about, after all she lived those same memories a while ago...
"[Killing becomes a habit...] I suppose."
If killing became a habit then that must mean that before killing was a habit it wasn't something natural, which meant that whoever had adopted the habit of killing started killing not out of habit but of need or duty, being pushed into it. [My first murder experience wasn't comfortable, it wasn't even me who did it...]
Then [a parallelism] some similarities could be drawn between dying and killing, as both took out a life and both experiences started as something you "don't want to repeat" she remembered the book she just read [Yeah, that book was pretty shameful for me... my fear of dying got all of us killed after all].
Yet while for both Subaru and her dying started out as an horrible torture it had slowly became a tool for them to use... For Subaru it meant [If I had my memories at the time I might have been able to do more...] Yet he sacrificed himself more than fifteen times while still trying to beat the [five obstacles] enemies he faced...
Beatrice understood this as she was going through the same change in her mind, the books weren't a danger or something to fear anymore, but just a means to an end... Saving [everyone] Subaru... so, in conclusion:
"Dying becomes a habit, in fact"
She wouldn't stop reading, so she would get used to it as much as she could, thankfully the voice made it easier to read books and each time it took less to wake up [I would work faster if you weren't such a sleepyhead, Beako. Also, you look the cutest while snoring so I can't help it.]
"Shut it, I suppose" shouted Beatrice while blushing red.
The downside was that for each book she read the voice became more [complete] 'lively', while before it was easy to just ignore it [Hey!] nowadays she found herself agreeing more and more to whatever it said. [It's good that you see things from my point of view, Beako] although it was good tha- no, it wasn't!
After shaking her head a bit Beatrice hoped that her mind would at least resist the last books, she was getting close to the midpoint after all... [So, should we keep going?]...
Beatrice grabbed the next book from her storage and muttered her usual [you know what, it almost seems like a prayer all the time you do that... What do you think?] Prayer to Subaru... "Subaru, lend Betty a bit of your strength, I suppose" [Ok!] And she opened the book.
Author-sama here again, I really enjoyed writing this chapter mainly because of Subaru, it's fun having him interrupt in the middle of text to say some [EMT] jokes and stuff.
Did you all like Petra-chan's apparition on this chapter? She's so cute wanting to play with Beatrice [I wonder what they'll play together] let's hope nothing bad or traumatizing, right? [Yeah!]
Also, yeah, Beako is pretty much knee deep in madness, will she save Subaru someday or will Subaru have to save her from herself? [Of course I'll save her, I promise!] to be honest you're not very trustworthy with promises... anyway, stay tuned for next chapter! [same bat time, same bat channel] Author-sama [And Subaru] Out!