Welp, missed my self-imposed deadline by a day, shame on me. We are now arriving at Arc 2, and the slow realization that I may have bitten more than I could chew. Oh well, sink or swim has worked all my life (literally too), so I hope I can keep a decent quality. A cover image has been added, made by rednephoenix_a312, who can be found on instagram, he also has made a full body sketch of the armor, but it only can be found in the AO3 version, should be at the end of the 3rd
Let's proceed with the story.
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"Huh?" A confused voice reverberated across the empty dark loot house.
Looking at his body he realized something was missing, "Vega? Where are you?"
"Wait, I died again, shouldn't I be at the appa sta-Hrk!" Subaru went to take a step forward, glancing at the ground while doing so, he immediately saw staring back the unblinking eyes of Emilia, with a brutal slash on her stomach, in a panic he looked around him, realizing he was surrounded by the corpses of everyone, Reinhard, Felt, Rom.
"No, no no no no" The man repeated in denial, "This isn't happening!, I was supposed to arrive earlier!"
"You failed Natsuki Subaru" Said the recognizable female voice of Elsa, "And your friends paid the price" She said maniacally, locating the position of the voice, Subaru could only see the eyes of a predator and the glint of her knife, "Now, show me your guts!" She yelled while pouncing at his paralyzed form.
Subaru instantly jolted awake, breathing deeply, blinking a few times he noticed what happened, "Just a nightmare" He thought with relief.
"You okay? Your heartbeat just spiked up" Vega was awoken from his slumber at the sudden movement of Subaru.
"Nightmare" Subaru answered automatically, occupied observing the royal room he was in, "We survived?" He was confused, he was pretty sure that wound was lethal.
"We were very lucky that Lady Emilia was an adept healer" He informed the man who spent all the time unconscious.
"Healing magic must be amazi…...Vega what the hell is this!?" He went to check on where he got injured, expecting to see a big scar, he absentmindedly noticed it was spotless but his attention was in another more urgent matter, mainly the brilliant metallic crystal the size of a fist in his chest where his heart would be, and the bright glowing veins close to it.
He couldn't see him, but he had the feeling that Vega suddenly turned bashful, after some moments he answered, "My apologies Creator, whoever linked us together, modified your body in the process. It's permanent, if it were to be extracted both of us would die"
Taking a minute to contemplate his body, Subaru commented his opinion of those changes, "Well, I would have liked some input before having changes in my body. Can't say I dislike it though, it looks cool" Finishing with that statement he felt relief from Vega, for what he didn't know, is not like he could throw him out if he wanted, which he didn't.
Finally getting up, he questioned, "Whose house is this? Reinhard's or Emilia's?" He really hoped it was the latter, and he would admit it aloud with no shame.
"Emilia's. Reinhard wanted you to go with him at his place, and later to the guard post, but Emilia insisted on bringing you with her" Vega helpful as always filled him in the details.
Making a victory pose at his luck, and ignoring Vega muttering about shame, he went to the door to explore the place before a sudden thought interrupted him, "Vega?, Where is my stuff?"
Sensing movement below him, he looked down, and saw the armor materializing from his chest, covering up the robes he woke up wearing, and a moment later the texture of the robes changed to the smooth feeling he got used to the previous day. He noticed that the cut that Elsa had made was still there.
"The weapons and the bag are in Emilia's possession" He informed.
Looking at the chest armor Subaru could only whistle softly, "Cool, so I don't have to deal with taking it off. Is the hole going to be a problem?"
"I can fix the armor slowly, but it is not optimal" He explained.
"Well, time to investigate then. Just one last thing….where does the robe go?" The man asked as he opened the door.
The armor started retracting into his chest, into the crystal, the robe appearing as the armor disappeared. Taking some moments to think, Vega answered at the best of his capacity, "…..I really have no idea"
Shrugging off the question for another day, Subaru started walking for a minute in the hallway in awe, deducing this was a mansion, walking some more he realized something was wrong, "There is no way that the hallway is this long" Even if this was the biggest mansion ever, it made no sense for a hallway to be this long anywhere.
"Looping hallway?" Vega dropped a possibility.
"Looping hallway" Subaru was thinking the same, taking a look at all the doors, he tried to notice differences between them.
Sensing an unfamiliar feeling looking at one of them, he walked to it, but the feeling disappeared before he could open the door, which ended up being the room he was sleeping before.
He felt the interrogatory gaze of Vega, but he ignored it, keeping his walk until he was close to another door with the same feeling, Subaru dashed to the door and opened it harshly.
"What a bothersome pair, I suppose" A curly-haired loli said, staring at him resentfully in the middle of a weirdly shaped library.
"First NPC found!" Yelled the man excitedly, that comment would have exasperated Vega, but he was analyzing the supposed little girl, she was more than it looked at first glance.
"What is a little kid doing here all alone? And what's with the serious face, you will ruin your adorable face if you don't smile!" Said the fool to the irked girl, completely missing the mood of the situation like always.
"Sir, I believe you shouldn't antagonize her" Vega nervously recommended.
"Well, at least one of you has some sense, I suppose" Said the girl while getting up from her seat.
Finally realizing that she could hear Vega, Subaru tensed up, if he remembered Puck correctly, it was not normal to hear him, deciding to start a conversation instead of staying staring awkwardly he asked, "So, this is the typical library in a mansion I assume?"
"It's Betty's room, in fact" The loli said while walking to him.
"Huh? A kid shouldn't be locked all day with books, you should play with kids of your age outside, enjoy your youth!" He knew he was rambling and making a fool of himself, but he was too nervous to act calm.
"Betty has had enough, In fact. I am going to teach you a lesson for being rude, I suppose" The small girl kept taking quick steps at him.
"I suggest a tactical retreat!" Half-Shouted, Half-Whispered the armored spirit, he felt something dangerous in the girl, and he didn't want for both of them to stick around and find out what.
"Don't you dare move, in fact" She quickly snapped causing the entire atmosphere of the room to shift, sending a shiver up the duo spines, freezing Subaru in place.
All sense of smell left him, his skin turned into the color of ash, and all his hearing was a distant all-encompassing high-pitched ringing, he could only feel and see. The little girl smiled sadistically the moment she arrived right in front of him, placing her right hand at his chest, she smugly looked into his eyes and asked, "Do you have something to say, I wonder?"
"Is it gonna hurt?" Subaru blurted out in a childish way.
Betty looked surprised that even in this circumstances he managed to be light-hearted and simply replied, "Is up to you if it hurts or not, I suppose"
"Oh crap" In some way Vega was deciding if he had to be impressed or exasperated at the skills his Creator had shown to always get in the worst trouble possible.
A type of chill ran up Subaru's spine and suddenly his entire being erupted into fiery pain, similar to the phantom pain he felt when he came back from the dead, it was like his entire body was on fire.
After a few moments the pain lessened, not to the point he could do more than writhe in pain, but better than before, he realized a split-second later why, when he saw his armor extended and heard that Vega had joined him in screaming in pain.
Both of them didn't notice it, but Betty's face had turned into pure surprise at the mana she started absorbing when that spirit came to protect the man, she never absorbed mana from a living being of this quality in her existence, felt like straight from a mana crystal.
After some time the pain ceased, and Subaru dropped to his knees, with tears running down his face, his entire body feeling like he had run a marathon, completely exhausted, he noticed that Vega had fallen silent before him, and the armor was nowhere to be found.
"At least one of you didn't pass out, I suppose. Just as I was told you are quite sturdy, in fact" The girl said looking down at him and poking at his head.
"What the hell did you do to us you drill loli?" Said the man breathlessly glaring at her.
"I simply took the mana from your bodies, I suppose. Curious reaction from the other one, in fact. Will need to investigate more, I suppose" Betty said while still poking him and throwing him off-balance, "Still, it confirms both of you aren't hostile, I suppose. Taking the mana from you is a suitable payment from all the hard work Betty had to do, in fact"
Falling to the ground head-first, he shifted his neck to keep the small girl in his view. Observing how she was enjoying his suffering he accused her, "You are not human are you?"
Not managing to hear her answer Subaru fell unconscious for the second time.
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Recovering his consciousness, Natsuki noticed he was back on the bed like he didn't leave it at all, as he was slowly getting his bearings an unfamiliar voice started speaking.
"Sister, he is awake" A blue blob spoke to a pink blob.
"He is awake, Rem" The pink blob answered back to the blue one.
Subaru blinked quickly, clearing out his vision, the blobs changing into the form of two identical girls, except for the fact one had blue eyes and hair and the other pink ones.
"It is Seven Solartime now, Dear Guest" Said the blue haired one.
"Is almost Seven Solartime, Dear Guest" The pink haired one said the instant the other finished.
The man thought about the timelines and calculated quickly how much time he spent asleep, "So I slept through the entire day, huh? Not surprising considering I once slept for more than two days straight" Subaru said mostly to himself but was heard by the sisters.
"Did you hear that Sister? Truly the words of a lazy man" Said the blue haired one placing a hand on her mouth like she had heard something scandalous.
"I heard that Rem. Words spoken from a good for nothing man" Replied the pink haired one mimicking her sister's pose.
"I've had enough of you ladies talking bad about me!" Said the irked man while getting up from the bed in a jump, slightly bouncing on the mattress.
The sudden movement caught them both by surprise, jolting away from the bed they reunited in the middle of the room and looked cautiously at the guest while holding each other's hands.
Subaru took some time to check them out, confirming that indeed they were near identical twins, he could have taken some time to check more differences but he was more focused on a single detail about them that took priority.
"Are those….Maid outfits? This world is awesome!" Said Subaru with way too much enthusiasm in his voice.
"Oh no! Rem is currently being shamefully disgraced in our Dear Guest head, Sister!" Said loudly Rem.
"Oh no! I'm being debased in the head of our Dear Guest, Rem!" The sister mimicked Rem's tone.
Holding his arms out and wiggling his fingers in the air, Subaru said with a lecherous grin, "Don't underestimate my imagination ladies, You're BOTH prey in my fantasies!"
At his actions and words both girls quickly separated and pointed at each other.
"Please Dear Guest spare Rem, and defile my Sister!" Said the blue haired maid with no hesitation.
"Please Dear Guest, leave Ram alone and defile Rem instead!" The pink haired one yelled with no shame.
"What sisters you both are! Selling each other out at the drop of a hat, while making me look like a villain!" He was having too much fun teasing them both.
At those words, the sisters held hands again and ran away from him.
Just when he was going to jump and chase them a familiar voice interrupted him, "Good grief! I can't leave you alone for a minute!"Vega woke up groggily after yesterday's events, and he couldn't be more exasperated at the events unfolding while he was offline.
"He he, sorry Vega got carried away" The man said with a small laugh.
"Sister Sister, our Dear Guest is speaking to himself" Rem said in a low tone to her twin
"You are right Rem, our Dear Guest must have hit his head too hard" Answered Ram
Before he could retort a soft knock came from the door, immediately after, it opened showing Emilia without the robes he got used to seeing her wear.
"Couldn't you be less scandalous? To think I was worried about you after what Beatrice did to you, it looks like my concern was wasted" She said while shaking her head at the scene of the twins cowering in the corner, and Subaru standing in the bed with his arms stretched out.
Subaru could only smile sheepishly at her words, while the sisters advanced at her, moving behind her, they stated while looking at Subaru.
"Lady Emilia, our Guest has disgraced Sister" Rem accused.
"Lady Emilia, our Guest held me captive and debased Rem in front of me" Ram blankly stated.
"Stop teasing him, you two, I believe Si-. Subaru is not the type of man who would do such things" Emilia stated with confidence.
"Very debatable miss" Vega absentmindedly stated aloud.
"Are you on their side or mine!?" Subaru thought with indignation but quickly forgot about it when he realized a pretty girl just called him with those terms.
"I got it Lady Emilia, Rem will reflect on her actions" Rem told excusing herself.
"I got it Lady Emilia, my Sister will reflect on her actions" Ram excused her sister.
"Wait, did she just…" Before he could follow his train of thought Emilia started talking to him.
"And you shouldn't overexert yourself, your injury was severe" She chastised.
"You should be at peak performance by tomorrow or so" The artificial spirit informed after taking a look at his body status, Subaru's blood was a bit low, but that was an easy fix.
Hearing his diagnosis, Subaru waved off Emilia's concerns, "Is fine, I only feel like I slept too much" Taking a pause, he bent forward taking a formal bow and told her with a smile, "Thank you for saving me, had Emilia-tan not been around, we would not have gotten out of there"
At his words she shook her head, "I should be the one thanking you, Sir Subaru. Sir Reinhard told me you tried to stop me from being in danger in the first place, and later risked yourself saving me. Healing you was the correct thing to do" She told him with a serious look showing her gratitude at his actions.
"Then we are even" He blurted out, "We don't owe anything to each other, so let's be friends, sister!" Subaru said with a smile and a thumbs up.
Emilia was surprised at his words, after a moment she smiled and flatly told him, "I don't think I need a weird little brother like you"
"Critical Hit!" Subaru's eye twitched at that jab.
"That's kinda harsh Emilia" Subaru said with a grimace. Remembering something he asked, "Don't want to be rude, but could I get my things back?
"Lord Roswaal locked it into his office, you shall recover it when he comes back from his travel" Ram informed him.
"Lord Roswaal?"
"Lord is the owner of the mansion Dear Guest" Rem helpfully answered.
"I don't like this, I would be a lot more comfortable knowing you could defend yourself" Vega remarked.
"Relax, we are safe, no need to be worried" Subaru thought to Vega.
Suddenly Emilia remembered something and went to the door, "I have to go talk with some spirits as part of my contracts. If you want, you can accompany me"
With a smile he accepted, just as he was going to follow her, he noticed his clothing, turning to the maids he asked, "At least can I have the clothes back?"
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Wearing his plain black shirt, and jeans, Subaru followed Emilia into the gardens, the maids excused themselves saying they still had work to do and left.
The moment he left the main door, both were awestruck at the size of the outer part of the mansion.
"The amount of work needed to maintain this place must be huge" The spirit observed.
Walking to the shade, Subaru started his warm-up exercises to get rid of the stiffness of an entire day in bed.
"What are you doing?" Emilia looked curiously at his actions.
"You don't warm-up before exercising? If one doesn't prepare the body you could get hurt" The man said confused at the half-elf.
"Never seen someone do that. But it's true that you can get injured if you do something strenuous suddenly" She observed that what he was doing made sense.
"Let me teach you then!" He said enthusiastically, taking a posture he exclaimed, "Radio Calisthenics Exercise Two!"
Emilia panicked at the sudden unpredictable movements of Subaru and cried out, "Wait, wait, what should I do!"
"Just follow my movements!" They both keep on doing the exercises for a while, not noticing the curious glances from Beatrice and the maids from different windows.
"-And hold up your hands and yell, victory!" Finished Subaru completely carefree
"Vi-victory!" She exclaimed with sweat on her forehead, "Truly these exercises were effective, I can feel the mana circulating in my body"
"She is right, our mana is flowing more efficiently, curious" The spirit was surprised at the results.
Taking some breaths, Emilia suddenly turned serious, "Are you really alright?"
Bewildered at her change of attitude, the man answered with a shaky smile, "Yes? I already told you by tomorrow I will be completely healed"
"No, I mean….that" She said while pointing at his chest, around his heart area.
Still not realizing what she was talking about, Subaru looked at where she was pointing and finally understood what she meant, "Ah….that. Is fine really, it's where my spirit lives"
Emilia did a head tilt to the side in confusion, "Never heard of a spirit crystal that needed to be implanted in a body"
The crystal in Emilia's neck started glowing a bright green, and from it Puck materialized exclaiming with a yawn, "Good morning! I was hearing you two and decided to drop in"
The floating cat did a few loops and levitated towards Subaru, "Show me" He said with interest.
Subaru lifted his shirt nervously, there was a pretty girl present after all. The moment the crystal became visible, Puck eyes went wide.
"This would require an extremely skilled doctor and magician to do" He expressed while examining the crystal.
"Would appreciate not to be treated as an anomaly, thank you" Vega finally interjected.
"Oh, so it was you who warned Subaru of the danger, I can't thank you both enough for that" Puck separated from the crystal, after a brief moment noticing the slight hostility Vega showed.
"There is no need! Just glad to help" Subaru said honestly, he was happy everyone got out of that mess alive.
"Let me insist, If there is something you wish, I can grant it within reason" Puck told the man.
"Hmm? It would really help us if yo-" The artificial spirit was interrupted before he could finish his wish.
"Let me touch that fur you have whenever I want" Subaru blurted out without thinking.
"What" Vega commented non-emotionally.
Both the cat spirit and the half-elf were completely dumbfounded at the young man's wish.
Emilia recovered first and conveyed her thoughts, "Eh? Wouldn't it be better if you think with your spirit a little more before deciding? Even though he looks weak and small, Puck is really powerful"
Puck nodded at her words, "Despite my appearance, I'm a pretty powerful spirit, you can be greedy I don't mind"
"Sir, it would be convenient to -" The artificial spirit went ignored again.
Somehow Subaru in his tunnel vision managed to ignore Vega again and continued firm on his wish, "I am a first class fur appreciator, being capable to pet this otherworldly fluff is worth more than the biggest of treasures, it's cleansing for the soul"
Saying that he started petting Puck all around his body without any hint of shame.
"Even though I can read his mind vaguely, I didn't think he would dare to speak it aloud" The Great Spirit said while being handled like the best stuffed toy in the world.
"It's so tiring trying to understand you, Subaru" Emilia said, shaking her head, "If you excuse me, I will speak with the spirits, try not to disturb me please" She finished distancing herself from them.
"Creator" A cold mechanical voice softly, almost too softly, talked to him.
Subaru instantly went nervous, "Ye-Yes?" He realized at the same time that he may have messed up somewhere along the line.
"After this, we are going to have a really long talk about priorities" A dull thud reverberated in Subaru's mind, it sounded awfully similar to someone facepalming.
He could only gulp in response, it wasn't his fault he was easily overexcited, well maybe just a little.
After some moments, Emilia broke the silence of the field with a gasp, immediately after the entire zone surrounding her filled with specks of light of different colors, some of them stayed with the half-elf, all of them blue ones, but the rest proceeded to try and reach Subaru.
Puck stared in amazement, distancing himself from them, he saw how it was Subaru and Vega the main focus of attention from the spirits.
The moment the majority of them reached Subaru, he was assaulted by some unrecognizable chatter, almost giving him a headache, but he had like a feeling they were chanting, "Give, give, give"
"Cease!" The artificial spirit yelled, silencing the chatter, with the spirits calming down a little he proceeded, "Now, you! The only blue one who came, explain!" Taking charge of the situation, he demanded explanations for their infernal babble.
The young man couldn't really understand the way of speaking, but had a rough translation of the message. They were attracted by his high affinity, but were overly excited by the type of mana they possessed.
"Absolutely not! That is reserved for the reserves of energy" Vega denied them harshly
"Come on Vega, can't we spare just a little? Is not like your recharge is slow, we will be fine" Subaru pleaded with puppy eyes.
"…Ugh, fine, just touch them with your palm, I will do the rest" He relented but not before finishing with a demand, "But I want some answers to my questions in exchange"
"Fair enough" Thought Subaru, just as he went to give them some of it they started chanting again, "Contract, Contract, Contract"
In his ignorance, Subaru fired back without thinking, "I refuse!, legally binding stuff should be read before by my family lawyer, and my reception sucks here so I can't call him, so you agree to Vega's conditions or there is no deal" He mostly said that as an apology after slightly annoying his spirit, but it was only fair too.
The entire swarm of spirits went silent for an uncomfortable amount of time, before one of them got close and made something that he understood as a nod.
After that more of them followed the first one example and waited patiently for their turn, Subaru extended his palm and slowly the armor started expanding, just the bare minimum for the gauntlet to appear, following the route of extension he observed that Puck and Emilia were giving him a completely amazed look.
Ignoring Vega asking the spirits, something about details about the mansion and the world, he would ask him at a later date, Subaru simply stated to the amazed pair a simple, "What?"
"Puck, did Subaru just made a deal with a spirit completely disregarding contracts?" The half-elf asked in disbelief.
"Yes, yes they did" Answered in the same tone of voice of pure disbelief.
"Oi! I'm right here, is rude to speak to someone like he isn't there you know"
The pair slowly got close, Puck was the first to talk, "Subaru, you know what you have just done?"
"I simply asked them for something in return of giving them something, a simple deal" He thought it wasn't so weird, but their gazes told him that he may have done something wrong here, "The looks I am getting are telling me that wasn't supposed to happen I guess?"
Emilia blankly told him, "You sure are a mysterious man Subaru"
Just as he was going to retort, they saw the maids walking towards them, just as Vega finished his questioning and retracted back into the crystal.
Arriving at them both maids gave a formal bow and said in perfect synchrony, "Lord Roswaal, owner of the mansion, has returned. Please come to the mansion Dear Guest"
Having nothing better to do, he followed the maids while asking, "So, what kind of person is he?"
The maids, Emilia and Puck answered blankly at the same time, """"You will know once you meet him""""
"The spirits told me he is….very eccentric putting it in nice words" Vega was as helpful as always.
Following the maids both of them missed Puck whispering to Emilia, "He is trustworthy, there is no malicious intent in what he does, but…. I don't trust his spirit"
Emilia was relieved that Subaru was truly friendly, but was curious at the last part, "Why?"
Taking a cold hard look at the back of Subaru, both in grudging understanding, and wariness, "His spirit wouldn't hesitate in killing all of us if it helped Subaru"
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Arriving at the dining room, Subaru instantly locked eyes with the drill loli, "You! This is the grown up table, I will help you find the children's menu!" He instantly exclaimed pointing at her.
"Here we go again…" Vega just prepared for the worst.
With a twitch of irritation she retaliated, "You must be messed up in the head to dare to speak to Betty like that, I suppose"
The exchange was interrupted when the maids arrived with carts filled with food.
"Sorry for interrupting, allow me to serve the dishes" Said Rem formally
"Allow me to ready the tea and the service" Her sister followed.
Subaru was amazed at the foods presented, all of them at five star restaurant quality, "So this is how nobility eats" He exclaimed, almost drooling.
Going to take a seat, Vega interrupted him, "You really should think of taking another seat"
"What? Why?" He questioned, confused, until he observed the difference in quality on the seat, and remembered that usually the end seat was reserved for the owner, "Thanks for the save" He said while taking a seat next to Betty to annoy her further.
"Anytime"
"At least one of the dumbasses has the bare minimum of table manners" The loli said hearing it all.
"You are very lively aren't you!" An unfamiliar voice talked behind him.
Turning back he saw a dark-blue haired tall slender man, with different colors in each eye, yellow and blue, all that contrasting against his pale skin, making him look sick.
"…I'll never understand nobility and bringing jesters for everything" He wondered to Betty.
"Betty doesn't understand you too" She answered with a, you are an idiot, tone.
"Sir, you should know th-"
"Oh, it's rare to see Beatrice having dinner here" The weird man ignored Subaru's comment.
"Betty is just waiting for her big brother, that's all" She said in a dismissive tone.
Emilia and Puck arrived at the room a few moments later, causing Beatrice to go from Tsun to Dere in a flash.
Both Emilia and Subaru stayed a few moments enjoying the view of Puck and Betty playing like little kids.
The half-elf sat across from him, so he asked what was on his mind, "When will Roswaal arrive?" Completely oblivious.
"Creator, he is right be-" The spirit was getting real tired of being the only one getting interrupted.
"Last time I saw you, you were near-death and now you are being this lively, that is something worth rejoicing for" The clown face appeared too close for comfort, almost holding him.
"What the heck is this clown doing!" Yelled Subaru shivering after falling off his seat.
"Subaru this man is…" Emilia went to explain but the clown beat her.
"Roswaal L. Mathers, owner of the mansion" The clown said while smiling amused.
Some beats of absolute silence passed, broken by Subaru's words, "…I would like to formally apologize"
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"Thanks for the food, I can't believe nobility can eat this food every day" Said Subaru, satisfied with the food.
"Rem's cooking is really something else" Roswaal indicated who cooked the meal.
"I am in charge of the cooking in the mansion" Rem said while doing a cute fox sign with her hand.
"Oh, so different skills for each twin? So your sister is good at cleaning but not at cooking?" Subaru deduced while mimicking the sign.
"That really makes no sense, why would tha-" The spirit interjected.
"Yes, Sister is good at housework" Rem confirmed.
Vega shut up at her words. He had to give the win at Subaru this time.
Feeling smug for being correct he pushed, "Then that would mean you are bad at cleaning Rem-rin?" He made the nickname on the spot.
"No, Rem excels at all duties related to housework, even better than Sister" The blue haired maid finished honestly, Ram quietly flinching on the side.
It was Vega's turn to feel smug, he hoped it would teach his Creator not to make assumptions on people.
"Then there is no purpose to the elder sister!" He cried out without any tact.
"Actually, they both are amazing at their work. They handle almost all duties in the mansion. For their race is almost trivial too" Emilia interjected defending them.
"Their race?"
"Wait! Only two maids for the entire mansion!?" He was surprised at the statement, "Are you two alright!? Won't that cause them to overwork themselves to death? Are you incapable of contracting more staff?" He asked worriedly.
Roswaal swiftly changed the topic back to him, "You truly are a mysterious man Subaru. Having come to my residence and this kingdom without any knowledge of the current situation. While making it through the examination process of the kingdom for entry?"
"You could say I am some kind of illegal immigrant" He blurted out without a care.
Another dull thud reverberated in his mind.
"Don't say such things, you know what would happen if we reported this to the authorities? You could be carted off to jail the next day, and turned into mincemeat there!" Emilia exclaimed with indignation.
"Who uses mincemeat these days?" Subaru was not precisely worried about that.
"Getting back on track" The lord of the mansion interrupted, "Do you have even the slightest knowledge of what's going on in this country?"
"I am as clueless as a toddler" He fired back instantly.
"The country is under martial law, especially strict with coming in and out of the country" Emilia explained why she was so worried about him being illegally there.
"That sounds like something bad has happened" He reasoned.
"We lack a king" Roswaal explained the main problems with a simple phrase, seeing the non-reaction of everyone present, he assumed it was common knowledge.
Roswaal proceeded to explain the gist of the political situation, the death of all successors of the throne by a suspicious disease and how an emergency council was formed to deal with the country.
"Then, with no royal bloodline, I assume you guys are searching for a substitute in a way everyone agrees with?" He worked out the point of the explanation.
Emilia looked surprised at how quickly he processed the information.
"So the country is unstable, relations between other countries are stagnating, and you are on self-isolation. And I, a foreigner with no registered past, appears out of nowhere and gains relations with a noble family… I'm totally suspicious!" -What he and Vega couldn't deduce was Emilia's role here.
"Furthermore, you came in contact with Lady Emilia, associating yourself with an important figure in the process. If we were more hasty in our decisions, the best course of action for you would be to…" -Roswaal finished with a chopping motion to the neck.
Vega quite disliked the threat on the clown words, but focused in a detail, "Lady?"
Noticing that too, he gulped, ignoring the threat and asked, "Then why does such an important figure refer to Emilia-tan as Lady Emilia?"
"Isn't it obvious?" He said with a smug smile, "It's only proper to use the correct title to someone of higher position than me"
Both finished connecting the dots, Subaru quickly turned to Emilia, "Wait, that would mean you…"
"Yes, I am currently the 42nd in line for the throne, Lord Roswaal is my patron" She clarified while placing her badge on the table, "This is a qualification that one must show for candidacy for the throne" Showing the importance of it.
"And then you lost it" Subaru said blankly.
"Is it scandalous to say I lost it! It was stolen!" Emilia yelled back.
"As you may have concluded, a king who is incapable of holding on to a small badge wouldn't be trusted" Roswaal filled another detail.
"That explains why you evaded Reinhard's help, looks like you were very lucky that I appeared" Subaru commented in retrospective.
Emilia dropped her head in shame.
Roswaal got up from his seat, and finally reached the point he intended, "So, you saved our camp from an early disqualification, so we owe you. Wish whatever your heart desires and we will try our best to grant it"
Being sensible for once, he thought what could he get and spoke directly to Vega, "Whatever we want hmm"
"Indeed, the choices are endless" Too many possible things to ask for, with the other wishes they had a narrow field, but with Roswaal it was clear that they had a lot of freeway.
The entire room was silent, everyone carefully looking at Subaru making his choice, making him nervous at their stares.
After some moments he couldn't tolerate the silence anymore Subaru and said, "Employ me on this mansion!" He expected for Vega to chastise him again but he was surprised at his answer.
"Hmm, sensible, we are on good terms with Miss Emilia and we get a place to stay, but what role do you want?"
Roswaal questioned him the same thing, "And what position would you choose to help with?"
The young man quickly answered, "Reinhard offered me a position on the guard post, something about being a Spirit Knight, I have noticed that the mansion requires helping hands, but my housework is poor, but I can help them while serve as a guard in case something happens"
Everyone noticed how Roswaal was completely caught by surprise at his choice, which was weird, he looked like he expected him to take another job, "…And what are your qualifications for that claim? The security of this place is important to me after all" He tried to recover from his surprise.
"I have an affinity to spirits, and one lives with me, Vega, is showtime" He was waiting for the moment to show-off the armor.
"Copy" He won't deny that he enjoyed the faces of everyone present at the summoning of the armor.
Now that he had time to observe too, Subaru took notice of the details in the craftsmanship, the armor was clean, ignoring the small slash on the stomach, It wasn't hugely ornamental but that was to be expected considering he modeled it after the basic version, his favourite part was clearly the helmet, he absentmindedly thought if he could somehow later upgrade it, but that wasn't important right now.
Looking one for one for their reactions, Emilia and Puck were excited to see it again, but were not surprised having seen it before. Betty had a curious gaze. The maids looked ready for a fight, but calmed down after some moments. The main interest was Roswaal's reaction, looking completely flabbergasted at him.
"Now thinking about it, I would like my weapons back too" Said the armored man with a slight mechanical sub-tone because of the helmet.
In their total attention to the owner of the mansion, both of them missed how the blue-haired maid hardened her gaze after taking a sniff in the air.
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Future note to self, never again do a 9 hour writing spree trying to arrive at a self-imposed deadline, (and failing miserably in the process). I'm pretty sure the final parts have suffered because of it.
Well, won't take more of your time, see you all next chapter.