Well, hello again, I apologize for the late chapter, had a rough month which sapped all my inspiration, and several cases of writer block.
Thanks to some constructive criticism of one reviewer I changed a small detail on the way I write the dialogue, tell me in the comments if that helps with the flow of reading.
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"This is the servants quarters, pick whatever room is available Barusu" Instructed the pink-haired maid to Subaru.
"Don't turn my name into a curse word, Ram-chi" He replied in an irritated tone of voice.
"Please choose quickly as we have a very busy schedule" She continued completely ignoring his words.
Seeing no real difference between doors, Subaru chose the closest to the exit for convenience. Of all things, he didn't really expect for the door to open into the library, even more with Beatrice in her bed playing with Puck like a child with a stuffed toy.
"You really are the best Bubby! Your fur is heave-" Mid-sentence she realized the armored man at the door.
A moment of awkward silence passed between Subaru and the spirits before Subaru finally spoke, "…Don't worry, I can keep a secret, his fur would make anyo-"
Instantly reacting Beatrice extended her arm and sent Subaru flying out of the library, crashing on the side of the hallway with Ram looking at him in surprise.
"...And another dent to repair" Sighed Vega in resignation.
Quickly standing up, the man ran to the door and opened it, "What was that for you damn loli!" He yelled with indignation to an empty dull room.
"We can never find Lady Beatrice when she hides her presence, for Barusu to be able to find her twice…." The pink haired maid wondered aloud.
Subaru carefully examined the rest of the doors, at a glance all were the same but one of them called to him in some way, rushing to it, he opened it forcefully, showing the library once more, "Right here!"
Beatrice yelled in surprise while Puck congratulated Subaru, "That's impressive, Subaru"Turning to look at him, Beatrice spoke to him with pure displeasure in her voice, "The right door again!?""I'm a flag crusher who makes game masters cry, so don't feel too bad about it" He boasted in a pleased tone.
"What is this nonsense you are spewing, in fact?""So, who are you? Ros-cchi little sister?" He questioned the drill-loli changing topics.
"I'd rather die than be his sister, I suppose" She said while pouting.
"Betty is the librarian of Roswaal forbidden library" The cat spirit answered Subaru's question.
"Lord Roswaal is the greatest magic user in the kingdom, in his lifetime he has assembled the biggest magical knowledge collection known. Lady Beatrice was contracted to safeguard them" Informed the pink haired maid.
"Now that your curiosity is satisfied, go away in fact" Beatrice said rudely while closing the door in his face.
"Rem will deliver your belongings later this day, for now follow me" Ram communicated just before walking out of the quarters.
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"Why do I even need to have a uniform? As weird as it looks, it's really comfortable inside the armor" Subaru commented with confusion wearing his bland clothes, his armor nowhere to be seen.
"Lord Roswaal has decreed it, if you were walking around looking ready for conflict, it could bring out a negative look to Emilia's candidacy" Explained the blue haired maid while taking his measurements.
"How s-? Hee-hee" Subaru wanted a clarification but the girl's hands roamed across some sensitive parts.
"It would seem as if we are paranoid Barusu, and please refrain from making any weird noises in the presence of my sister" Ram snarked at the poor man.
"At least I can be quickly summoned up, but even then you have a few moments where you are still defenseless" Vega wasn't particularly thrilled about that decision, but he had to deal with it the best he could.
Taking a look at all the clothes on the drawers Subaru commented on a detail he had noticed, "Huh? Do you girls keep your outfits in your room? These clothes look like they belong to Emilia-tan or Ros-cchi"
"We change in our rooms, Sister and Rem do not possess any clothes apart from our uniforms" Answered Rem after finishing taking his measurements.
"You only have your uniform?" Said Subaru with confusion, "Beautiful maidens should dress up beautifully to share their beauty to the world"
The blue haired maid paused for a fraction, and then kept on with her job, "Maybe Sister, but Rem doubts anyone would be pleased to see me dressed up"
Subaru took a quick glance at Ram to see her reaction, while her stance was as usual, he noticed the way her eyes took a sorrowful look for a moment, "I don't really believe that, at the very least I would be"
Even with his almost null social skills, he could see by her sister's reaction that the girl had an issue with herself.
The maid kept writing down his measurements, after a few moments she coldly answered, "And what good would that bring?"
"Don't you know that beautiful girls cause men to give their best effort in hopes to impress them" Subaru tried bullshitting a believable excuse.
The maid finally turned around and a cold stare greeted him, trying another approach he continued, "And even if you both are almost identical twins, with your choice of clothes you could express your uniqueness"
From the corner of his eye he saw the pink-haired maid flinch slightly at his last comment, seeing the cold eyes of Rem turn almost dead made him realize he messed up with that last one.
"Why would Rem need to differentiate herself from her sister?" She finished her work and went to the door, "Your assistance is not needed" With those final words she left the room, closing the door behind her.
Ram stared at him with an unreadable expression for a moment, "Come Barusu, I still need to show you the mansion" She told him and proceeded out of the dressers.
"Did I mess up that badly?" He mentally commented wanting a second opinion.
"You had no way to know she would react that badly" Vega reassured his creator.
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"With this, the tour is completed" Informed Ram at the young man, "By now your belongings should be in your room, you have the afternoon to familiarize yourself with the exteriors. Dinner will start preparation by sunset" She told him while leaving to finish her daily tasks.
"Emilia-tan is studying, the maids are working, Betty is going to yeet me on sight...Why the hell did I pick this job!? What am I supposed to do!?" Subaru mentally panicked, finally sinking that he definitely didn't have the qualifications for this.
"...Expected as much. Let's check if they didn't damage anything of ours?" The spirit helpfully suggested.
Nodding at his suggestion he managed to navigate the massive mansion, arriving at his room eventually, the moment he opened the door he saw his belongings neatly placed on the desk.
Now that he had time to take a look, he noted that it was very austere in nature, only having a modest bed, a chair and a desk. He didn't particularly mind, having a room with as much luxury as the one he woke from would feel kinda weird to him.
Closing the door, he approached his desk and sat on the chair. Instantly he put aside the bag of groceries, he would later wonder what to do with it. Picking up his phone, he checked the battery, when he saw it was almost full, he was glad he had an older model. It was slower than other options, but the battery would last longer.
Turning it off, he packed it away with the groceries, now with the matter he had been evading since he laid his eyes on the table. His repeater which was divided in two parts.
"Please tell me you have a way to fix this" Implored mentally Subaru at his spirit.
"…Sadly no" Feeling his dampening emotions, he gave a hint of hope, "Maybe there is some kind of magic that could help us?""…You are probably right" His spirits rose a bit after that comment, losing one of his tools so early would be just insulting.
Storing the pieces in the table drawer, he proceeded to grab the last item he came with in this world.
Inspecting the device, it was obvious that as his armor, his handgun was transformed from a pretty crappy homemade replica to a perfect copy of how it should have looked. It was designed for function over form, as observable by it's almost boxy design, the iron sights were basic and unobtrusive, he was not going to take long-range shots anytime soon, so it served just fine.
By using it the last day, he could confirm that it performed like the games, which had high impact but a high energy cost.
Testing the grip again, this time more relaxed than the last time, he noticed something weird with it, "Huh? It feels different, not as comfortable" placing the handgun into the table Vega instantly spotted the problem.
"It's been manipulated" Sensing the surprise and wariness of Subaru he explained, "Someone has dismantled it and assembled it again, I need confirmation if it's still functional"Subaru thought about who would have done it, but there was only one real culprit, "Ros-cchi did it?" He guessed.
"Most probably, as the maid told you, Lord Roswaal is the greatest mage in this kingdom, probably the entire world, our equipment must be unheard in this world" The artificial spirit was a bit wary of the clown, the way he reacted when Subaru offered to be a guard was too abnormal.
Following Vega's instructions, Subaru proceeded to disassemble the entire device, a lot easier than he expected but it was understandable for maintenance, when he finished he realized one thing about it, "This is it? Only two crystals?" He stared at a small colourless crystal which was in close contact with a bigger bright white one.
"If the spirits were correct, those two crystals are worth more than a trimester of your salary" The spirit paused for a moment observing Subaru freeze at his words for a moment and in a panic almost drop the crystal to the cold hard floor, waiting for him to calm down a little he proceeded, "The smallest one is called a Pyroxene crystal, it's job is to regulate the bigger one, controlling the density and flow of mana. The bigger one is a modified Yang lagmite I believe, and produces the bolt itself""I honestly thought these guns would be a lot more complicated" The young man was confused about the simplicity, he deduced that the exterior of the shell was only for comfort and protection of the crystals.
"It is, the magical algorithms of the Pyroxene are very complex for a reason you are not going to like" Vega was conscious that he was beating around the bush, but he knew that his creator was not going to take the next part well.
"Hmm? How so?""...Your natural mana capacity is frankly terrible, on a scale of zero to ten, you are barely scratching the one" The spirit decided that ripping off the proverbial band-aid was better in the long run.
Subaru blinked several times at that, "Wait, you mean….? No giant fireballs? No summoning tornadoes?" He felt like he had just been teased of an adventure, wasn't he supposed to be the hero of the story?
"Indeed…You got the short end of the stick there, luckily for you I can absorb mana from the atmosphere, so while our capacity is low, our regaining rate is at breakneck speeds compared to other casters" He tried to at least give some good news.
Remembering his fight against Elsa, Subaru had a doubt, "If my capacity is so low, why could I keep firing at the assassin for so long?"
"That's the complexity I spoke about, the algorithms are extremely efficient, there is no real wasted mana in the process, whoever wrote them was very good in it" He finished his explanation.
They both proceed to assemble the handgun back together, taking a good amount of time adjusting the grip until it felt perfect again. With the job done, he took a look at the window, seeing the sun which was…setting, "Crap I promised them I would help with the dinner!"
Leaving in a hurry he left the handgun on the table, and made a mental note to comment to Rem if she could improvise a holster for it.
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Arriving at the kitchen at full speed, Subaru crashed against the door, slamming it open in the process, while yelling, "I'm not late!I'm definitely not late!"
He was greeted by the almost permanent glare of Ram and the surprised face of Rem, which he almost collided into. After he apologized profusely, the blue haired maid ordered him to help her sister.
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...
"Ouch!" The man yelled in pain after he cut his finger trying to peel off a `potatoe´, this world terminology still confused him.
"You seem to not be capable of learning from your mistakes, Barusu" The pink haired maid commented sardonically.
Subaru took offense of that, "This is the first time I've dealt with utensils which are not chopsticks, cut me some slack"
"Sir, try mimicking the maid, move the potatoe, not your hand" Vega sighed in exasperation at his clumsiness.
Taking the advice, Subaru observed for a few moments Ram's hand movements and tried replicating them with moderate success.
After some moments Ram noticed how he managed to progress for once and commented aloud, "Looks like the barbarian can learn"
Before he could retort, Rem interrupted speaking aloud without looking at them, "Are both of you finishing soon?"
Changing his attention to the other twin, he witnessed the grace of movement on the blue haired maid, flowing through the kitchen with elegance that only experience could bring.
As opposed to both of them, who were performing simple menial tasks in a corner.
After a few moments, the girl finished with her urgent tasks, and turned around looking at them, the moment she laid her eyes on her sister she happily expressed, "As expected, the sight of Sister peeling vegetables is worthy of a painting"
"Your favoritism is too obvious! Please judge my work too!" He yelled showing off his latest work.
She stared for a moment with a judgmental look, while the table had multiple badly peeled potatoes, and splashes of blood, the latest one was adequately peeled, after some deliberation she spoke, "It is presentable, but not even close to the art of my sister"
"Your words just fill me with determination" He said while picking an unpeeled one, and peeling it as fast as he could.
"Don't feel too bad Barusu, steamed potatoes are my specialty" Ram said with a wink and a smile.
"How can you say that with a straight face!?" He snapped his vision at Ram, losing his focus for a moment in the process, causing the knife to slip off from the potatoe going straight at his hand.
A dull sound of metal against metal reverberated across the kitchen, looking straight at his now gauntleted hand, Subaru spoke aloud, "Thanks for the save Vega"
"Please, pay attention Sir, I do not enjoy seeing you injure yourself" The spirit realized with each passing moment that his creator was a huge danger to himself with his recklessness.
"Yes, I learned my lesson….Why are you girls staring at me? You are going to make me blush" The moment he raised his head, he observed both maids staring at him, Ram looking at his hand in surprise, while Rem looked straight at him while doing some weird motion with her nose.
Just as Rem was going to retort, her sister beat her to the punch, "She is staring at your pathetic looks. In specific, your head Barusu"
He tilted his head at her words, "For a moment I was worried I smelled bad, what's the problem with my head? The haircut is a lot better than I used to have"
"Given that you will be in front when visitors arrive, it deserves a failing grade, at the very least. Right Rem?"
"Yes, I suppose it seems a bit lacking" She said after recovering from whatever happened to her.
"Is it really that bad?" The man said while trying to look at his reflection on the knife.
Ram stared for a moment and told her sister, "Rem, could you fix Barusu haircut"
"Sister?" Rem asked with confusion in her voice.
"You were watching Subaru because of his hair, right?" Ram questioned her, with a strange look on her face.
After some moments, she nodded and said at Subaru, "...Yes, a little tiny bit of styling would make it more presentable"
Seeing that he was defeated, he agreed to let her do it on a later date, just as he was going to continue his work, a sound from Vega called out his attention, "What is it?""...They are hiding something if you haven't noticed""How so?""Those pauses, and the way the looked at each other, your haircut was just an excuse, for what, I don't know"Honestly Subaru thought it was twin theatrics, but he agreed that in hindsight, it was a little suspicious. Being incapable of doing anything at the moment, he kept helping in the rest of their tasks.
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Finishing all the tasks he could help with for the day, Subaru retreated to his room, seeing some sleeping clothes neatly placed in the bed, he quickly changed into them, and laid on the bed recapping the day's events, "With Beako security alarms I don't have much work to do. I am going to feel like I am slacking off like back home""I would agree with you had you not accepted the stipulation that you would help them with some mansion chores occasionally, and the free time is helpful to familiarize yourself with your equipment" Vega believed it was the right choice, while he was not happy with the fact that in case of danger they would be in the first line, he supposed that his Creator would do it anyways without a contract.
Just as Subaru was going to answer back they were interrupted by a soft knock on the door.
"It's Rem, are you decent?" Her muffled voice came through the door.
"Yes? Yes, nothing indecent here, come in!" He answered her with surprise in his words, with no idea why she would be here so late
"...That only makes it more suspicious, but pardon Rem" She commented after a moment of silence, opening the door in the process.
The moment she was visible, the motive of her late arrival was obvious, with his uniform in one hand, and holding a holster in another.
"You finished the work already? From scratch?" he commented with incredulity.
"Only thing Rem had to work from zero is your holster. If it were one of Master Roswaal outfits Rem would have taken more care of the work, but this will do" She said while giving him her work.
Taking the uniform and quickly dressing it, Subaru realized it was a perfect fit. Testing quickly different configurations he decided to leave it open for comfort.
"She may say it was rushed, but the job is impeccable" The spirit commented, impressed with her speed.
"This is perfect, thank you. I don't feel anything wrong with it" He said while stretching out checking the sutures, "Do I look good in it?"
"Your looks are certainly peculiar" She told him thoughtlessly
"Even I can tell that didn't sound like a compliment" He expressed with fake hurt in his voice.
Picking up the holster, he attached it to his leg, it fit comfortably on his thigh, grabbing his handgun he holstered it, noticing it was a perfect fit too, "First try?"
"Rem has never seen a weapon such as this, but with the details you mentioned it was an easy guess on how it should work" She said with no pride in her voice. Seeing that her work was done, Rem did a small bow and went to leave the room, but as she reached the door she stopped herself and turned around saying, "About what happened at noon…."
"Noon? Oh, you mean the talk about my hair? You really wanna fix it?"
"No, Rem wanted to apologize, you saved Lady Emilia's life, and have taken a vow to risk your life if something were to happen, it was a very rude thing to comment" She apologized.
"Nonsense, treat me like another co-worker, really don't worry about it" After he said that, he saw how she kept the same apologetic look, thinking quickly he added, "Let's make a deal, if you agree, I'll forget what you said"
With a resigned look she nodded, "A deal? Rem understands"
"I'll forgive you if you fix my haircut" He told her with a smile and a thumbs up.
The only answer he got was the girl staring at him in surprise.
A few moments passed, uncomfortable with the silence Subaru said aloud, "I thought this will act as a peace offering, not just you standing there shocked at me"
"Rem has heard from Sister how you keep taking perverted looks at her and Emilia, Rem was resigned for less decent implications"
"Slander and lies!" He cried out immediately.
"How can it be slander if it's tr-" Before the spirit could finish he was mentally shushed by his Creator.
"Rem accepts" Rem's voice brought back his attention to her, observing her doing a formal bow.
The delicate and formal way of her bow made Subaru smile, glancing at the magical crystal clock, he spent a few moments translating the colors to his time frame, realizing how late it was he told her, "I suppose not today, is late already"
"True, Rem would like to do it as soon as possible, but unfortunately Rem will be busy for several evenings" She informed him, "If you excuse, Rem will retire for the night. Will you need assistance to be awake early?"
"I'm good with only a clock, I can deal with it with my phone" He grabbed his phone to show her realizing she wouldn't know what he meant.
"Fine, it shall do us no good to have a guard which sleeps until the afternoon after all" She teased him.
"Who do you take me for!?" He fired back wondering where that came from.
She crossed the door and told him with an almost imperceptible smile while closing it, "Rem imagines as someone who could sleep for two days"
It took him a moment to realize she was just joking with him, laughing a little noticing he had been had, he went to sleep after placing an alarm early in the morning.
###Morning After###
"Again" The robotic voice barked in his ear.
"Come on! We have been here for fifteen minutes!" Subaru complained aloud, if someone had been observing they would have seen Subaru fully suited up drawing and holstering his gun non-stop in weird poses.
"Last time you almost died when you failed to draw it, had it not been by Lady Emilia intervention…Do this for me please" His voice acquired a tired tone at his last plea.
He was going to protest, but the shift in tone made him eat his words. He would be lying to himself if he didn't acknowledge that he too froze in terror when he failed to grasp the handgun that momenta feeling he didn't want to have again.
At least he wasn't getting bored, but he really wanted to shoot some targets now that he was more calm, he wondered if the mansion had something he could use.
"You are still placing your finger on the trigger" The spirit added relentlessly as always.
"Give me a break!" He yelled aloud, loosening his stance.
"Subaru?" Came Emilia's worried voice from behind him.
Jumping in surprise at her unexpected arrival, he pulled the trigger by reflex. Shooting himself on the foot in the process. Instantly Subaru dropped the handgun to the ground and began jumping up and down in pain holding his slightly burned foot while making noises of pain, while Emilia tried to calm him down.
"…You are so lucky I expected this and cut off most of the mana in your arm" There was a worried sub-tone in his voice, but it was mostly covered up in pure disappointment.
"H-Hold on, Subaru I need you to stay still" Emilia tried her best to calm Subaru
...
"Thank you Emilia-tan" Said Subaru while on the ground, retracting his armor leaving the injury in open air.
"You should be more careful Subaru, magical arts is no joking matter" She admonished finishing healing him.
Subaru could only answer that with a pained grin, seeing that she had finished the healing, he got up, "So, why are you here so early Emilia-tan?"
"Fulfilling my daily obligations with my spirits like yesterday…Don't change topic! Even the most novice of magic casters learn quickly how not to hurt themselves you dunderhead" She commented that last part with confusion.
Her words hit him directly in the heart, she was right, but still, "Who says dunderhead anymore?" He couldn't help the reflex to say it, but answered her afterwards, "Let's say that using mana is something new to me" at her curious look, he expanded, "Err, From where I come from there are no mages"
With that realization Emilia told him, "You could have said so before Subaru, Puck and I could have taught you the basics"
Face palming he murmured, "I didn't think that" dropping his hand, he asked, "Could you help me?"
Doing an apologetic smile Emilia explained, "Sorry, but now I am a bit busy with my studies"
"No big deal, it can wait" after he told her that, both of them stayed in silence for a minute until Emilia broke it.
"Subaru? I do not wish to be rude but…Could you give me some space? Last day I had a hard time speaking with my spirits"
"Sure, should I just walk over ther-" He was pointing to a nearby place but Emilia interrupted him.
"You grab the attention of all nearby spirits, it would be better if you came back to the mansion, sorry" She had a polite smile at the end of it.
"You are not sorry at all!" He exclaimed, but still listened to her, not wanting to be a bother.
Finally arriving at the mansion, he looked back, taking a moment to enjoy the view of Emilia surrounded by dozens of blue lights, he could have stayed enthralled for some time had not an impact on his chest shifted his attention from Emilia to the pink-haired maid which now filled his vision, taking a look down he noticed she just handed him harshly a broom.
"We need your assistance with the daily tasks Barusu" She told him while taking a sharp turn and going inside the mansion.
Blinking a few times, he made a soft smile and did a salute, "Yes ma'am"
###Several days after###
"How is our neeeeeew guard handling his new job?" Whispered the lord of the mansion to the maid in his lap.
"He is no good at all" She answered after enjoying the caresses for a moment.
The man stared at her for a moment and released a soft laugh, "Is he that hopeless?"
"Barusu takes his work as a game, slacks as his duties, and when he helps us in our daily chores he can't be left alone because of his incompetence" She harshly exposed her verdict.
Roswaal took a long look at her and said, "It is quite raaare to see such a face on you. Is he truly that useless?"
"Worthless to the bone. It is not that he is clumsy or an imbecile, he simply does not know, his movements are of someone who have never done any work on their entire life, he handles his `handgun´ awkwardly and he only has the bare minimum of culture, and his sudden stops now and then makes me believe is his spirit that's feeding him with the knowledge and he truly is ignorant" She finished her observations while sinking in his arms.
"So strict" He commented while holding back a laugh and giving her hair a stroke, "Do you think he is involved?" He questioned without context, but the maid knew what he meant.
"I really doubt it" She said without a second thought.
The magician hummed for a moment in thought, "Why?"
"He stands too much, even without wearing his strange spirit armor, he is really noticeable always hogging all the attention with his antics"
"I must agree with that reasoning, therefore he must truly have been a benevolent bystander" The master of the mansion added while turning his gaze to the window, staring at the figure of Subaru and Emilia chatting on the field.
"Though" Ram suddenly said making him shift his attention, "I fear what my sister will do"
Roswaal only hummed an affirmation noise in response.
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This was a slow chapter, and shorter than usual (sorry for that) dialogue is painful to make I tell you and I honestly hope I didn't mess up with canon with the explanations.
Well, See ya.