NO COMPLAINING ALLOWED

Subaru and Ram proceeded side by side towards the village in somewhat tense silence. Subaru spoke up hesitantly.

"So… um… Ram… how do you plan on making me stronger. Even if I trained for years, I just don't see ever being able to hold my own in a fight against someone like Elsa. Where I come from, it is physically impossible for people to move that fast."

Ram, expecting this question, didn't bother looking towards him and kept walking as she responded.

"I will require you to respect three rules."

Subaru was surprised, as he hadn't expected her to add rules to the deal.

"First rule:" she said, raising one finger to the air. He gulped.

"You no longer have the right to complain. No matter the subject or the situation, complaining won't get you anywhere. It is a complete waste of time, and I don't want my time wasted."

"But…"

As he started to protest, Ram turned her head slightly, aiming a piercing crimson gaze up at him in warning. Subaru immediately apologized.

"Sorry, sorry, won't happen again."

"Tsk- useless."

Not hiding her disappointment, Ram shook her head slightly as she returned her attention to her front. Raising a second finger, she continued speaking.

"Second rule: my orders are absolute. No matter what I ask of you, I will comply. I would have listed this as my first rule, and just ordered you to stop complaining, but your whining was so deeply ingrained into your pathetic nature that I was forced to include such redundancy. Clearly, I was right to do so."

Seeing Ram again glance back at him, Subaru straightened up. Even the ridiculous weight of the backpack was no match for Ram's savagery. He momentarily wondered if Ram had just filled the bag with rocks just to mess with him, before Ram's lingering and continually narrowing gaze caused him to realize she expected a response.

"Understood, Nee-sama."

Seeing that, Ram again nodded and turned her head back towards the path ahead.

'He is learning fast, good.

"Finally- Third Rule: Use your brain in every situation. You don't seem to use it enough. Don't waste my time with dumb questions, and try to think for yourself. Of course, if you truly don't understand something, kindly ask for clarification before your idiocy gets you killed."

'Show me what you can do, Subaru.'

"Got it, Nee-sama. Is that all?"

After asking the question, a few seconds of silence followed as Ram suddenly stopped walking.

"Uh… Nee-sama?"

Without looking at him, Ram responded heatedly.

"How much of a moron are you? I not only said that there were three rules to start with, I also specifically noted that the third rule was the final one. And you ask me if there is anything else? As punishment, I will add a fourth rule. I don't want to hear the word 'Nee-sama' coming from your disgusting mouth. You will address me as Ram-sama. Not only am I your superior, I am not your sister. The only person who has the right to call me that is Rem

'Dammit, I can't even say no.'

"Understood, Ram-sama."

Hearing that, Ram was unable to fully suppress her smugness from her expression.

"Good. If you respect those conditions, I guarantee you I will grant you the power to protect those you treasure."

The two of them reached the village, just as dawn broke out over the Mather's Domain. The children's' corpses were now covered by a large white tarp- the sun's rays would never again be greeted by their smiles.

Subaru and Ram wore saddened expressions, but inside Subaru's mind he was strengthening his resolve.

'I have to become stronger, so things like this never happen again.'

When they reached the middle of the village, a tall, muscular young man accompanied by the village chief approached them. Their grief was tangible, but nonetheless they maintained their composure- their eyes glinted with the faintest of hopes.

"Ram-sama here are the items you requested."

Saying that, the village chief gestured to the young man next to him, who proceeded to hand a simple, unadorned iron long sword to Subaru and a bag of supplies to Ram.

"Thank you," Subaru and Ram responded in unison.

After a few seconds of silence, the two workers of the mansion began turning to leave to the forest but were stopped by the village chief, who called out to them in a hesitant voice.

"Ram-sama… I have a request. You already told me you were going to the forest to kill the monster who did that… to… the children." His voice cracked. "But there is still one child lost in the forest"

Saying that, the chief prostrated himself on the ground, and began to beg in a tremoring voice.

"Please save her. She is the last child of this village… If we came to lose her too, I don't know what I would do."

The butler and the maid turned around with shocked expressions.

'There is still a child…? Oh, I remember- the blue-haired one who was caring for the puppy. If she is still alive, we have to…' thinking that, Subaru glanced over at Ram but quickly damped his own hopes. 'I can't ask her this. Not after all I said.'

Ram glanced at Subaru, meeting his eyes for a moment, before turning away and sighing.

'I guess I have no choice.'

"I can search for her after I am finished, but remember that my priority is to kill the monster. I value the lives of myself and my assistant over the child's. Her survival at this point is unlikely, and I will not put myself and my assistant in undue danger over the recovery of what is most likely a corpse"

Subaru watched as the face of the young man standing by the chief contorted in rage.

'How can she think of herself before everyone after what happened to the children?! It is the duty of the lord and his retainers to protect us, and they not only failed to do so, but have the gall to speak to us like that?'

He tried to advance towards Ram but was stopped by the chief's hand as the old man climbed to his feet.

"Thank you Ram-sama. We will forever be grateful- forgive this man. He is still impacted by the events."

"What do you mean?! Can't you see-"

In the middle of his sentence, he was stopped by the severe look of the chief. The young man stepped back, but continued glaring at Ram and Subaru.

"If that is all, we will be leaving." Ram responded curtly, and gave a small curtsy, before the two mansion employees proceeded into the forest.

The moment the two were out of earshot, the young man turned to the chief and growled a question at him.

"Chief why did you let her get away with saying that!? Does that child's life not matter to you?"

The chief glanced at his interlocutor and responded evenly.

"So you really don't understand?"

"What is there to understand!? They just don't care about us or what happens to us!"

"No… that's where you are wrong. Did you not see it in their eyes?"

"What do you mean?"

"The determination they had. Their eyes, especially the girl's- she has someone important to save. She is willing to lay down her life in pursuit of doing so, and even still she decided to spare some time to help us."

Hearing the calm explanation, the young man's heart calmed. He realized his mistake, but questions remained.

"I didn't see anyone go to the forest. Who could they save? And what exactly is the monster she was talking about, aren't there just witch beasts?"

While speaking, he recalled their foray into the forest to save the children. They had only found their corpses and were chased back to the village by witch beasts. It was a miracle no one else had been injured.

The village chief's face darkened more than it already was.

"I asked her about it, but she didn't want to go further into details… I think that something darker is hiding in this forest. Pray that they handle it, as otherwise we may have many more corpses to bury and mourn in the coming days."

Subaru carried the backpack and bags as he walked behind Ram in single file.

'Should I ask her why she referred to the Shaman as a monster? No. She told me I should use my head… It's probably not to scare the villagers and bring more rumors about Emilia, so she doesn't get linked to the attack… Yeah, it's probably that. But why did she get food if we already have the bag? What's inside? I swear, it feels like it's packed with rocks.

Ram looked back at Subaru and was surprised to find a look she had never seen on him before- he was thinking seriously.

'Good, let's see if he can keep that up.'

They reached the border of the forest proper- marked by blue crystals. Subaru looked at them and his face distorted a little in confusion.

'Why does he look like he has never seen a mana charged crystal before? These things are all over the place. Maybe I had a bit too much hope, he just began using his brain after all. I can't expect him to guess everything if he is just that clueless.'

"The entire forest is an ulgarm breeding ground. Those are magic crystals, barrier stones, that Emilia-sama and Roswaal-sama affixed around the border of the village to stop witch beasts from attacking. This crystal here has lost its power…"

Finishing Ram's sentence, Subaru spoke bitterly.

"Allowing the shaman to break into the village."

She nodded.

"Probably. So, about the plan. Earlier when you were crying pathetically, I was detecting the witch beasts in the forest and among them was definitely the Shaman- I found what looked like the puppy Rem described to me. The problem is that there are far too many to confront directly and survive."

She closed her eyes and sighed in resignation.

"We can't win against them by force. However, we only need to kill the Shaman that cursed Rem, since that is the one that is draining her mana. You see this map here?"

She brought out the hunting map given to her by the village chief. It likely wasn't the most accurate, but it would have to do.

"Wait, where did you get that from? You didn't get it out of the bag, and you don't have any pockets large enough to carry something like that…"

"What? That is what you are going to focus on? Such a question is dangerously close to a violation of Rule 3. Shut up, and listen. The beasts are dispersed all throughout this area."

She directed his attention to a circular area about a kilometer deep in the forest.

"In the middle is what I believe to be the Shaman, accompanied by approximately a dozen witch beasts- likely a den or camp of some kind. They are backed up against this ravine face here, so if we place down a semicircle of barrier stones, we can cut off their reinforcements from the front. Since the ulgarms shouldn't be able to make a jump over the ravine, we should only have to deal with the Shaman and his guardians."

'Wait, she thought of this plan in such a short time? Ram is really impressive. I still have a long way to go before I can think like that.'

"Right, so if I understood correctly, the hard part will be staying hidden while we place them."

"Exactly."

"And for the crystals, we are taking the ones on the trees!" Subaru said, energetically.

Ram sighed.

"They are in the bag you are carrying, idiot. Removing the barrier stones from around the village when there are hundreds of hungry witch beasts in the forest would be tantamount to murder."

'Wait, the bag was actually filled with rocks?!'

'And I who thought he was finally getting smarter…'

"Let's go, Subaru."

About half an hour later, the two had begun to execute Ram's plan. Subaru was placing a crystal on a tree while carefully looking around, trying to avoid catching a beast's attention.

'Twelve down, eight to go-'

His thoughts were interrupted by the alarming sensation of stepping on a tree branch. Before he could take pressure off his foot, a loud 'crack' echoed through the forest as the brittle wood snapped under his weight.

The dogs in the area all turned their heads and began converging on Subaru's position.

'Goddamn it, I am such a dumbass! Can't even watch where I walk?! They definitely heard that, what should I do- think, think, think!'

thank you for reading the chapter

"some guy" (its his name) helped me correct the grammar mistakes, thank you for the help.

anyway, I am waiting for your reviews (I read all of them it helps me improve ) thanks.