AN: Mistakes were made, all this time I mentioned the Earth spirits as brown in appearance when they are yellow in canon, from now on they will be mentioned correctly.
On another note, this technically is part one of a bigger chapter, that I had to split in two. I didn't want to delay too much the update and this is already the biggest chapter I have ever done, 10K WORDS, so it's not a chore to read through. The next part is already 6k words before I had to break it apart so expect next chapter to be sooner than expected.
By the way we have breached the 100 follows mark, I really have no words to express how happy it makes me. Many thanks to all of you.
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"And...VICTORY!" A spiky haired young man yelled at the top of his lungs in the middle of the mansion's open field.
"Well, everyone should be awake by now whether they like it or not" Sweatdropped the mechanical voice in his head.
"...Oops" Faintly exclaimed Subaru, hoping he really didn't wake anyone up with that. He had been so hyped up for finally being a magic caster himself that he barely slept a wink, and jumped to finally make progress the moment the sun showed it's first glimpse through the window.
Mentally shaking his head at his antics, the spirit asked, "What's next in our morning list?"
"We didn't have a chance to contract the spirits yesterday, the little things were really useful last...time" His eyes glazed into a faraway look at the memory of their fate last time around.
"...Sir?" Came the concerned voice from Vega, Subaru's sudden stop worrying him greatly.
Going back to reality, Subaru tried to shrug it off, "Now thinking about it, I suppose it is too early to disturb them don't you think? Let's do another thing, and we come back la-"
Finally understanding the stream of emotions that he was receiving from his end, Vega interrupted him, "Sir!" Having silenced him, he continued in a softer tone of voice, "It wasn't your fault"
His answer began with an uneasy laugh, "Heh, what wasn't my fault? C'mon Vega, we have no time to lose"
The spirit had none of that, "They chose by their own accord to stay behind, and I suppose now you have a chance for that not to happen again"
Subaru sunk in thought at the last bit, "I...yes, he is right, I can stop this from happening. No one needs to die, I can fix this"
With him finally calmed down, Vega continued speaking, "We will need them, and they shall be adequately compensated"
Been convinced, he called out from his Od for the third time, quickly finding himself surrounded by minor spirits, the specks of light once again lighting the area with their presence, this time he was ready for the mental backlash he suffered every time.
He was going to start stating his conditions when one of the yellow spirits caught his eye, in some way it felt familiar, "Wait, is it..."
Curious about his unfinished question, Vega took a long look at the spirit that had delayed the procedure, finally understanding why, he spoke with affirmation, "Yes, it is the same one that fixed our repeater"
"It was his day too..." He murmured aloud in remembrance of his last loop demise, in his deep focus, he recognized other three familiar spirits present in the crowd. Deciding what to do he spoke aloud "Hey, you four..."
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"Just once please!" Subaru begged aloud.
"For the third time, no!" Vega's exasperated reply came through.
Unrelentless the otherworldly man kept on, "Oh, come on, it's just one jump. Where's the harm?"
The mechanical voice answered in bafflement, "Do you want a repeat of yesterday, but in an open space!?"
He waved his hand off, "It was only a tiny mistake, it could have happened to anyone"
The spirit rebutted his remark, "Your, tiny mistake, got us thrown out of a second floor window! Isn't that plenty of reason not to?!"
"Well, is it not my fault that Beako couldn't forgive a simple miscalculation, she could have explained herself better" He kept defending himself with a shrug.
"She said and I quote. 'Don't make sudden moves, in fact' He said mimicking her tone, "And then you proceeded to do just that" The spirit helpfully refreshed the last day's events in detail.
The young man scratched the side of his head in awkwardness, "I am pretty sure she already has forgotten about it, no big deal" Coughing on his fist to recollect himself he went back to his original point, "Anyways, just a simple casting, only once and that's it. Pleaseeeeee"
"...If only your stubbornness was not wasted in such things, fine, one time but if you break anything I am not healing it" Capitulated the tired spirit.
Subaru jumped in celebration at his victory, stretching a bit in preparation, he placed himself into a jumping-ready stance.
"I am so going to regret allowing this" The spirit murmured to himself, turning his attention to the other four presences he informed "Prepare yourselves to catch him, if it...when it goes wrong" He corrected himself mid-speech.
Four specks of light, each of different colors, manifested themselves upon Subaru's back, doing a little affirmation jump and placing themselves near him.
"There is my gate, now as Beako taught me" Focusing inwardly he began slowly pulling the necessary mana from his gate.
Sharing the same gate, Vega monitorized his usage in search of mistakes, "A bit more...There that should be perfect...Now, perhaps a bit too much!"
Subaru ignored his advice, "Eeeeh, it will be fine! It's less than what we used with the loli to make ourselves weightless"
Exasperated, his spirit reminded him of a single detail he had missed, "That was with her mana! Not with ours!"
"MURAK!" The foolish man chanted his spell, manifesting vibrant purple waves covering his entire body, having not heard his spirit he readied himself and took a leap.
In his almost weightless state, what was supposed to be a vertical jump, turned out to be a really high backflip. Subaru was sent flying backwards too fast to process, and slammed against a window of the mansion. On the second floor while upside down.
With the air knocked out of his lungs from the violent impact, Subaru could only exhale a prolonged soft groan of pain.
"...In general I prefer not being petty with you Creator, but I believe a, told you so, is deserved here" Snarked Vega being proved right.
With his eyes closed, he filled his lungs with air and just muttered, "Oh go to hel-"
"Ehem" A delicate voice interrupted his next choice of words in their tracks.
Opening his eyes, the first thing in his vision was a upside-down blue haired maid with her hand raised with a cleaning cloth, her only visible eye staring judgemental downwards to his visor.
Releasing an awkward chuckle and retracting his helmet, he commented with a grin, "Hey Rem-rin! Lovely weather we have today right? The sun's up and shining, nice and early just like me-"
"Rem would prefer if you didn't damage Roswaal's property, Sir Subaru" She took notice of a few cracks on the window frame that weren't there last time she checked.
"Sorry, I gave too much in that jump, though these frames are really sturdyyyyyyyyyy!" He was finishing his sentence when a strong gust of wind ripped him off the window and after he gained some distance from it, slammed him against the ground.
He spent a moment splattered against the ground when his inner voice spoke up, "...I believe this to be a safe enough place to decast the spell, Sir"
Subaru did just that, afterwards he rolled over to his back and only spat a mouthful of what he hoped was dirt in response. Knowing his luck so far it was probably fertilizer but ignorance is bliss so he assumed it was what was convenient to him.
"Now if the barbarian has finished with his circus spectacle, make the effort of not delaying our tasks with your presence Barusu" Ram's voice came from his side, making him turn to her by instinct.
"There is no circus without a clown, and I haven't seen Ros-chi today" He thought, but wisely keeping his mouth shut.
Seeing her lowering her hand made Subaru suspect what happened, "You didn't have to be so rough Nee-sama"
"Ram exercises as much force as is necessary, a characteristic it seems you don't share...And don't talk to me with such familiarity" She answered with no change in her perpetual impassive look.
Having no comeback ready, Subaru just let his head drop softly in the ground, while thinking, "Well, hopefully the rest of the day will be smoother"
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"GOOD DAY BEAKO!" Greeted Subaru, his uniform being a bit wrinkled and sweaty after having spent a good amount of effort searching for her door.
"Begone, in fact!"She deadpanned in response with no hesitation, rapidly extending her hand in his direction.
Sensing the immediate danger he was in, Subaru hit the deck as fast as he could, while Vega expanded his suit as fast as he could to absorb the impact and prepare him for what could come next. Whatever the spirit had thrown at him, flew harmlessly over him, dispersing on the wall.
Still on the ground, he raised his gaze to stare at the irritated loli one, "Oi! Little girls should not have access to such dangerous spells! Only grown-ups have enough responsibility to have them"
"If your job was to anger her further, congratulations are to be given" Snarked a spirit who really didn't want to be there at the moment.
The other spirit present also didn't want them to be there, "The audacity of coming here after wrecking Betty's room yesterday, you should be punished, in fact!"
Shifting from being dropped to ground to a dogeza pose, Subaru said, "I already said sorry! How was I supposed to expect that I was going to transform this room into an improvised pinball machine with just a simple hop!"
"I spent all night fixing every bump in the armor..." Lamented the artificial spirit in a low voice, not like he needed sleep, but it was still work.
"And I had to go to sleep covered in scrapes and bruises" Thought Subaru to himself.
The centenary spirit was not convinced, "A half hearted sorry is not enough, I suppose. Betty had to waste several hours fixing the wreckage left behind by your wake, I suppose"
Seeing an opportunity for teasing, Subaru couldn't resist, "Oh come on Beeeako it wasn't that bad, was it? Hah, you might consider it to be a healthy workout for a fellow shut in like yourself"
Looking away in exasperation she spoke, "Hmmph, speaking with someone like you gets nowhere. I suppose that since your pathetic vocal apology isn't enough, you'll have to repay me in kind should you truly seek to make amends, in fact"
With a sigh he offered his idea, "Fine, I think I can manage for Emilia to part with Puck another day"
The child spirit only managed to splutter in response, "N-Nothing of the sorts, Betty wouldn't dare to trouble Bubby so much. He has his own responsibilities to attend to, in fact. no matter how trivial." She hesitantly denies. Recomposing herself, she asks for the focus of her curiosity since their arrival, "Your...guns, Betty wishes to study them"
Vega's answer was absolute, "Absolutely not! They are one of a kind, with no replacements!"
Subaru cringed a bit at her request too, without them, he would be defenseless much to his displeasure, and there was a good chance he would need them on the fourth day.
Beatrice scoffed in response, "Betty does not need to damage your equipment to study it, access to their internals for a day or so will suffice"
Alleviated by that fact, he questioned her to satisfy his curiosity, "Why would a little girl like you want to know how they work anyways?"
The spirit pouted at his first remark and said, "Betty is no little girl. And to your question, as a keeper of knowledge it is my duty to categorize and safeguard knowledge forgotten to the world, in fact. Your weapons are unheard of, So it's Betty's duty to add their existence to the forbidden library, I suppose"
It made sense to Subaru, sending his thoughts to Vega he wondered, "Hmmm, we could lend her only the repeater, we still have not fixed it"
"...Yes, we could, but if she delays it, it could become a huge problem down the line" They could scrap without it, but the firepower that the repeater brought would be preferable to the handgun.
Turning back around to the awaiting spirit he gave her answer, "I can give you the broken one, only needs to patch up the outside"
The librarian pondered quietly for a while, and finally nodded in agreement, "If the vital pieces are in working order, it will suffice, I suppose"
Walking to the exit of the library he asked, "Can you leave me at the door of my room? It will take just a moment"
The little girl didn't even bother answering him and just did a wave motion with her hand, which he assumed as a confirmation.
Crossing the door he found himself on the corridor of the lodging of the staff, quickly saluting with a, "Yo" To the surprised blue haired maid at the end of the corridor, he walked and opened the door to his room, picked up the two halves and left, he got a bit confused when he observed that she was still routed on the spot, her lone visible eye staring with her eyebrow raised. Thinking nothing of it, he opened the door that he came through and walked into the library once again.
"Weird, why did she stare at us like that?" He was doubtful she was still annoyed by the events of the morning.
Vega left several moments for him to comprehend what transpired, seeing no luck he threw him a bone, "...Remember me in adding awareness to the daily training. Mentalize from which door you came from"
Confused he mused to himself, "I crossed the door, took a right to my room, and came back to...oh" He finally reached at the realization, "Oops, hope she didn't got the wrong idea"
Staring in front of him, he contemplated the utter boredom of the librarian at him, half reluctantly he completed his part of the deal, showing her the broken parts.
"So...Can I learn another spell?" Subaru asked greedily like a kid in a sweet store, he couldn't wait to find the limit to his new-found skills.
Beatrice paused for a bit in her preparations, and stared at the man, "No, while Betty doesn't mind educating ignorants of the Yin arts, it would be better if you learned to use Murak without trashing the place, I suppose"
"Wait! Then what do I gain from this transaction!?" He answered back in indignation.
The girl stared smugly at the man, "Betty's magnificent presence is not enough for you? Such a greedy man, in fact. Speaking accurately the terms of the exchange were access to Betty's room, you could read one of the many books of the library, maybe that will do the small miracle of educating you, I suppose"
Subaru was going to react indignant at her words, but was interrupted by the voice in his head, "Wait, just think of it, we'd have access to all sorts of magic research, historical events. We still lack vital contexts of this world, this can be our opportunity to fix it.
Lifting his hand to his chin, Subaru mused with that bit of information, "Reading some lore of the world wouldn't hurt" He ignored the groan of frustration from his personal spirit, and showed a thumbs up to the librarian, "Deal"
Her eyes dulled for a moment, but before he could comment on it she spoke up, "Then allow me to inspect your weapon as agreed and I will leave you to your inquiries" As she said this she reached out with her small hand.
Subaru handed her the damaged pieces with care, and then walked to one of the shelves, "Now. Which one to start with?" He murmured while strolling through the titles, Vega translating them to his aid, but at this point he could take rough guesses before he chimed in.
Browsing the titles for a while, he was stopped by his companion, "Wait, that one"
Pulling the book from the shelf, he murmured the bits he managed to translate, "Something about...Curses?"
"Lady Emilia said something about them...last time" He kept the last bit to himself, not wanting to remind him of the past events.
He looked at the book sceptically, "I am not interested in cursing anybody, why would I want to know this?"
"You may not want to do it, but we could be attacked by it one day. Better to know how it works so we can stop it right? We may have to go to the forest and if we get attacked by those mabeasts we may need to know what to do"
The young man was still hesitant about learning about them but he felt a hint of worry from his link, and to be fair, the less ways he could potentially die, the better.
Searching for a comfortable spot to read, he wandered through the library, until he ended up sitting on the library stairs, behind the owner of the place.
Both of them quietly passed the time translating the text and commenting bits and odds of the information present, "...So it always requires physical contact?"
"Looks like it, at least that fact greatly reduces its potential danger to us" Being mainly ranged fighters, the chances of an unsuspecting touch slipping through was small.
As time went on, they didn't notice the librarian spirit become increasingly agitated until she demanded aloud, "Could you please go back to your crystal, in fact"
Confused at being directly addressed for once, Vega answered, "Why? The deal was for both of us"
Turning around, the spirit spoke while holding up her nose, "While it's more manageable in short doses, having that stench by duplicate reaches Betty's tolerance, I suppose"
Smelling himself, something he got used to doing all his time in the mansion which was kind of a weird thing to get used to, he answered, "Okay I can kinda understand that, I guess I did work up quite a sweat searching for your door. Maybe later I can see if I can throw bits and pieces of Vega in the washing machine"
"I would prefer not trying to tear me apart, while I doubt it will hurt me, it would be highly unpleasant" Commented his spirit with a slight edge on his voice.
"Not that stench, you brute..." She went for her sarcastic reply when she observed his clearly confused expression, "...You really don't know?"
Tired of people assuming he knew stuff, Subaru fired back, "We don't know what? We aren't exactly from here. I guess you can say that our knowledge is otherworldly" He finished with a wink and a smile
"We have been told we smell some type of stench, but nobody bothered to explain to us its significance, only got attacked for it" A technically true answer from their perspective.
Stopping her analysis of the weapon, she raised from her seat and walked to them, "You both possess the witch stench, Betty thought you'd know of it, in fact"
"Witch...Stench?" He parroted back, something slowly clicking on his mind.
Beatrice nodded, "You carry with you the presence of the Witch, a being who brought untold destruction to the world 400 years ago, it was known as the Great Calamity, in fact"
Walking to a nearby shelf she pulled out one book and opened it, "The destruction it brought and the passage of time has made the Forbidden Library the best source of information from that age, I suppose" Her face turned sorrowful, from something she read on it, or from a memory, he didn't know, "But even Betty doesn't know the details of what happened. It's told that the Witch of Envy tried to destroy the world for unknown reasons. A group of heroes saved the world from it's destruction, but they didn't manage to kill her, so they sealed her in a tower east of Lugunica, in fact"
Confused at that last bit, he asked for clarification, "If she is sealed, how come we have that smell?"
Not minding the interruption, she explained, "She may be sealed, but her presence is still running amok in the world. The Witch Cult is a group of followers of her. Their goals are unknown but they bring destruction wherever they go" She closed the book and placed it on its place once again, "They are recognized by a combination of specific ornaments, the possession of a Gospel...and the Witch stench they carry with them"
Extending his hands, he defended himself, "Wait wait! I am no terrorist! I haven't hurt anyone...Except that assassin, but the one who blew up the place was Reinhard, not me!"
Beatrice scoffed at him, "Betty knows that, if you weren't, Betty would have smited you on the spot, in fact"
"How do you know?" Questioned the artificial spirit, they never spoke about it, how could she be so sure.
With a smug look, she answered, "Betty has her ways, you are no threat to the mansion...but there are others who may sense the smell and may believe otherwise, in fact"
Subaru stopped and finally understood an event from the last loop, "That's why Rem called us cultists!"
Vega went to confirm that possible clue, "Can the blue haired maid sense it too?" Making an excuse of why he assumed correctly he went for a technically correct answer, "She was taking some sniffs at the air nearby us"
Beatrice nodded, "Yes, she can. As a warning to a fellow spirit, be careful near her. Is not my story to tell, but she may be a bit...overzealous, I suppose"
"That is an understatement" Vega murmured in a way only Subaru could hear.
Subaru in the middle of that mental realization noticed the hour it was, trying to shift focus to think about the implications of that fact, Subaru commented aloud, "It's almost dinner time, want to come with us?
The spirit had already gone back to her place and was doing some magic stuff on his weapon, "Betty has no interest in social customs at the moment, your guns won't categorize themselves. So, Sho sho, in fact" She said absentmindedly with an increasingly frown of concentration.
Subaru walked to the exit while complaining, "I'm going, I'm going"The moment he was about to close the door he commented aloud, "You shouldn't frown so much Beakoooo, you will get wrinkles when you get older" And then slammed the door close with a mischievous smile.
He closed his eyes while keeping his smile, awaiting for an outburst that never came, "Uh? She heard me right?"
"Please Sir, don't antagonize our only source of information. Though to your question, maybe she moved the door to another place and we can't hear it from here"
He went to open the door again, but stopped himself, "Yeah, I am not falling for that" And turned around and went to the kitchen.
In his haste to tease her, they both missed the increasingly wider eyes of the librarian who was analyzing the crystals.
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"Jeez Subaru, first I hear in the morning is that you thrashed Beatrice's room" The half-elf reproached Subaru, "And now I hear from Ram that you were seen walking into Rem's bedroom without her permission"
The pink haired maid manifested on the side of the royal candidate, "Yes Lady Emilia, this pathetic excuse of a man has soiled the privacy of my dear sister"
Her twin was not far behind appearing on the other side, "Yes Lady Emilia, our guard was seen leaving Rem's room with a basket of her undergarments"
The silver-haired girl brought her hand to her mouth in a scandalized gesture, changing her focus of vision between Subaru and the maids, "I had the impression you were a good boy, Subaru but now I wonder if you need to be disciplined, because stealing is unacceptable. Don't you know that you can just ask nicely and people will be more than happy to help?"
The poor man was too busy to defend himself immediately having choked on his food the moment Rem stated his supposed crimes, and it only got worse for him with every word uttered by Emilia's blissful innocence.
"Wrong pipe, give it a little more push...There" Guided Vega, helpful as always.
"Emilia!" He squawked the moment he received a breath full of air in his lungs, "It is all a misunderstanding!"
She tilted her head while only leaving a finger on her mouth, "Uh? How so?"
Ram jumped in before he could articulate himself, "Don't hear him Lady Emilia, this scoundrel will only gush falsehoods"
"Calumnies! Well, the part of Beatrice is true, but it lacks context! I lost control of the spell we were learning and maybe did a tiny bit of damage" He murmured the last part with a small hand gesture creating a small space between his thumb and his index, "And I never entered Rem's room! It was the door thingy of Beako who left me at her entrance, I never took a step into her bedroom!"
During all this the lord of the mansion just quietly ate with an amused expression on his face, since Subaru arrived all meals were a lot more entertaining for the jester.
Emilia visibly relaxed at his words, "Is that so? What a relief, for a moment i thought I had to punish you to teach you manners"
At the thought of a pretty girl ``punishing him´´, Subaru's mind took an instant fall into the gutter, and failed to suppress a specific type of giggle.
The maids huddled together with their backs turned so that this wild animal wouldn't be able to feast on the image of their bodies.
"Sister Sister, our guard is being perverted again"
"Rem Rem, Barusu can't contain his beastly urges"
"Try to keep your thoughts out of the mental link Sir" Reminded Vega, some of his thoughts were just...not for the spirit to see that's for sure.
Hitting the table making enough noise to gain back the attention, Subaru spoke, "Listen here, this just means that I am a perfectly healthy teenage boy, not a twisted creep! Besides, I haven't done anything and plus her words can be interpreted in so many ways!"
While Emilia looked around trying to understand what the last bit meant, Ram intervened, "Interpretation is in the ears and mind of the beholder. They're filthy just like you"
"Ohohoh, surely dinner is lively today" Interrupted Roswaal, having finished his meal, he stood up, "Before everyone leaves I would like to inform that I am going to have to leave after tomorrow"
Not biting his tongue in time, joked Subaru, "What happened Ros-chi? Did a nearby circus employee call in sick so they need a replacement substitute for the main star?" The moment he finished the entire room was sunk into shocked silence.
"Is this the moment when we perish again?" Asked aloud Vega in a state of shock at what Subaru just said to the most powerful magician of the kingdom.
The lord of the mansion gasped and placed his hand on his mouth in disbelief, the twin maids adopted an hostile look on their eyes directed at the newcomer while Emilia stared side to side not knowing what happened to the friendly atmosphere that vanished in a blink.
And just before the situation could escalate further into a boiling point, Roswaal started laughing, "My myyyy Subaru how did you gueeess correctlyyyy? I didn't eveeeen hint to iiit. Are you perhaps plaaaaning to attend yourseeelf?"
Sinking in his chair with a grin he continued, "No, I didn't pass the cut. When they announced that you joined, everyone left the competition was too fierce.
The jester looking lord kept his hand on his mouth to contain a small laugh, "... your character never ceases to amaze me, Subaru-kun"
The pink haired maid took a look at the floor and table set up, her knuckles white, barely restraining her rage at his poor choice of words. For a moment she wondered about finishing him right there, but she was still under orders not to bring harm to him...and the blood would take forever to be cleaned off the white tablecloth, "... Ram must excuse herself" She interrupted and walked away.
Feeling her sister's wrath flow into her and observing her hurrying to the door, Rem bowed and informed all present, "Rem will be joining Sister"
"Surely this will help our case later. I can just feel their trust and favor for us rising with each sentence you say in their presence" Said Vega with a facepalm.
"Oops" Was the only thing Subaru could utter in response, he could have handled that better in hindsight.
Roswaal stared at the retreating maids with an amused expression, "They have always been very protective of me Subaru. You may be in need to do some appeasement to the staff Subaru should you wish to get along and befriend them one day"
"I really don't know what happened, but you need to apologize to them, Subaru. They hold my sponsor in very high regard, and even if you feel like you don't need to, this is the adult way" Mentioned Emilia, still half-lost in what happened.
Realizing it would be for the best, Subaru got up from his chair and followed them outside the room, Hearing whispering between the two around the corner, but they stopped as he got closer.
Turning the corner he found both maids sneering at him, Ram being the first to speak, "What are you doing here Barusu? Have you come to keep being an insolent pest?"
"I...I wanted to apologize to both of you" Seeing her going for a reply he continued cutting her off, "I was just poking fun with Ros-chi, there was no ill-will, just playful banter"
Not feeling satisfied, the maid keep her hostile tone, "Your excuses won't change the fact that-"
"Is the truth! Is how I usually go, I don't mean any insult I was just teasing around, even Ros-chi was playing along" He explained.
Ram took a long stare at Subaru's eyes, and eventually nodded, taking a look at her twin, she began walking past him, the moment she passed by his side, she made a simple correction of him, "It's Lord Roswaal, Barusu. Don't you forget it"
Rem was conflicted through the entire exchange, expending all her efforts in restraining herself from doing something that would cause problems to Lord Roswaal, finally reaching a boiling point she opened her mouth to say something when a loud noise accompanied by a door nearby slamming open interrupted her.
From the door came a visibly disheveled Beatrice who walked straight to Subaru, grabbed his sleeve, and turned around, dragging him to the door which showed the inside of the library.
Being dragged around by the surprisingly strong loli, Subaru complained, "Hey hey! What gives Beako!?"
"You and Betty need to have a discussion this instant, in fact!" Her tone hurried, not even sparing a glance back.
The door slammed shut, leaving the two maids staring in bafflement, with Rem narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
Finally releasing his sleeve, the centenary spirit walked hurriedly to where she was studying just an hour ago.
Cleaning his wrinkled sleeve, Subaru asked, "What is it? Don't tell me you broke the crystal Beako. They are expensive to replace and I don't know how large your allowance is"
She ignored the verbal jab at her apparent age, "Nothing of the sorts, I suppose" She picked up the two pieces and went back to him to return the pieces. He saw her bearing the most serious expression so far yet, with a hint of sadness. The moment he picked them up she caught his wrists in a death-grip, "How did you acquire this?"
Utterly confused at her behaviour, he was going to go for the answer he already had pre-planned with Vega, that he bought it from a traveling merchant, but he paused, "I know you are not even going to ask me, and for once I agree" Commented Vega, seeing the same thing as Subaru, right now was not the time for subterfuge.
The utter desperation in her voice, he knew he couldn't lie to her there. Even with Reinhard's warning of keeping the people who knew at a minimum, "I don't know. A mon...week ago I was buying food back on my home, and in a blink I was on the middle of Lugunica's main street, with those guns now being real, and with Vega in my head"
Beatrice stared at his eyes in search of deception for a long while, and released his hands, "That's it?" Her tone sounded indecipherable.
"I am sorry Beako, but we don't know more. Why do you ask...?" He went to ask, but she spoke over him.
"Please leave, in fact. Betty needs to think, I suppose" The girl curtly said, finishing their exchange.
He went to take a step to her to insist further, but hesitated. Turning around he opened the door, and just before he left he said in a tone of voice loud enough to hear, "I wish I knew more Beako, sorry" And closed the door leaving the lonely spirit behind.
Walking to her pile of books, she picked up one specific black covered one, and opened it, showing it's blank interior, sitting on her chair, she closed the book and hugged it tightly, a lone tear falling off her cheek, "...Mother"
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"DAY THREE! NATSUKI SUBARU HAS GOOD VIBES ABOUT TODAY!" The young man yelled again, at the end of his daily callisthenics work-out. Swiping the sweat out of his brow he asked, "What do we have for today"
With a humming sound of thought his companion answered shortly after, "For the third day? Not much, though I worry that we still don't know who the assassin is"
Having finished his stretching he walked away from the farthest gazebo from the mansion, not wanting to disturb the inhabitants like last day, he said back "We know they are not from the mansion, and they are not afraid to target the village"
"...And how does that help us narrow it down?" He asked, with curiosity.
With a finger snap, Subaru answered his question, "Easy, we just repeat it like last time..."
"...You know that doesn't sound so good?" The spirit interrupted, his curiosity vanished and replaced by exasperation
"At least hear me out!" Feeling that we wasn't going to get a comeback he continued, "We only repeat the first part, we go out and camp on the hill again, but when night falls, we go to the village"
Vega didn't quite like the idea, "Risky, we are assuming everything will go as last time. But I see why doing it, and what do we do when we finally find the culprit?"
"...I haven't thought that far yet" A few beats of silence passed between the two of them, stretching into uncomfortable territory.
Which was disturbed by a groan of frustration, "...Of course you haven't"
"Hey, plans break at the first trouble it meets...or something like that, it's better to be flexible" Subaru spoke with a concentrated face, he was sure he messed up the quote at some point.
"Would prefer if we-" He was beginning to comment, when four impatient spirits materialized in front of him.
"Mana! Mana! Mana!" They chanted in demand.
"Okay, okay!" He relented with a laugh, while he extended his palm to feed them the mana he observed, "I am no expert in spirits, but I am sure you guys are going to get fat with how much you take. Don't sue me if you guys get spirit diabetes."
"Actually, 'becoming fat' and increasing in size is very beneficial for spirits. It is how they grow and mature, usually taking years if not decades. If they can evolve with just a bit of ours, you can see why'd they be so… insistent on this shortcut" Vega explained, surprising Subaru in the process.
"Wait, they actually get benefits from that? I thought it was just tasty to them, like me and being offered a tar of mayo" Doing a shrug he continued feeding them, "Better for them" After finishing their feeding, he wondered, "How much we have left in the tank?"
In response the spirit checked their gate, "Around half, in a few minutes we should be okay again if I force it, why you ask?"
Subaru only answered with a daredevil smile, which sent shivers down Vega's non-existent spine, "Who fancies jump practice!"
If he had a face, Vega's would have turned pale, "Please, reconsider"
"I wasn't asking. We're jumping anyways'" Answered Subaru with a daredevil smile.
"At least do it with a ceili-"And before he could finish his suggestion he was found swarmed by the spirits which insisted on doing it right then.
Taking advantage of their numerical superiority, he insisted, "See? Even they want to do it"
Accepting defeat, the machine spirit stated, "Fine, but when he goes out of control, again! This time catch him, no staring around like last time"
Subaru clicked his tongue in joking annoyance, "Not an ounce of trust in me? I feel betrayed! I think I finally got it down" He willed the armor to expand from Vega's crystal, seeing the metal start covering his arms when his vision went dark for a moment, before the helmet finished manifesting, his HUD now active showing his replenishing mana reserves by now at sixty percent.
"No offense, Sir, but I don't have the fullest of confidence in your cognitive abilities" He stated with a formal tone.
Subaru hesitated for a second, "...Did you just call me dumb?" Silence was his answer, shrugging it off he started pulling the required mana for the spell.
He felt a nod of satisfaction from their link, "...Not bad. You might not end up being a crater on the ground after all"
With a frow of concentration, he murmured, "Thanks for the vote of confidence"
Shifting his legs, contrary to last time, his intention being a forward leap instead of just a jump, he saw the spirits place themselves around him and readying for any emergency. Feeling ready he chanted, "MURAK!"
Feeling the drain in his very being, and how he now had to do virtually no effort to stay standing he hurried and took a leap, of probably a lot of faith. In a blink he was already in the air, at least four metres above the ground, he busted a wide grin at finally managing to use it effectively.
"We should prepare for the fall, like right now!" At his hurried warning, Subaru noticed the single detail, that the ground was closing in, fast.
Having no time to brace himself, he shifted his body around to end the fall into a roll, absentmindedly he observed both his earth spirit rushing ahead, and his wind one placing itself in front of him and sending gusts of winds in his direction.
His ribs screamed in pain the moment his body made contact with the ground, he rolled a few times on the ground until he was brought to a stop after impacting something soft.
"...Surprisingly it went better than expected, I give you that, Sir" He commented, his voice honestly surprised, his only answer being a groan of pain from the crashed man, "You should roll off, we are crushing earth"
Moving to his side, a mote of yellow light unburied himself from the ground and levitated unsteadily for a second until it brushed off the confusion. Subaru extended his hand and petted the spirit, "Thank you guys"
He laid to rest for a few moments, and after letting his racing heart calm down, he jumped back on his feet again. Staring at the mound of earth the spirit made to stop his fall he said looking at the yellow mote of light, "I suppose you can't fix this right?"
The spirit looked at him, at the mound and then back to him, weird how he knew that without seeing their eyes, doing the spirit equivalent of a shrug, it flew back to the damaged garden and used his magic to fix it the best he could.
The plain terrain of dirt that was left on its wake contrasting against the beautiful green surrounding it, spoke of how successful that was. Groaning to himself he murmured, "Nee-sama is going to kill me"
"I don't believe she would be so harsh, but you are still a dunderhead Subaru" Came Emilia's voice behind him.
Turning around in surprise he managed to get out, "G-Good morning Emilia-tan...you didn't see any of that? Right?"
The girl smiled awkwardly and nodded, "Maybe a tiny bit of it. You should be more careful, I thought you had injured yourself"
Subaru dramatically placed his hands on his heart, "Seeing a young maiden worry about me, makes my heart race"
She panicked at his words, "Huh? Were you truly hurt Subaru? I have some healing spirits!"
"No, no, is a way of saying that it makes me happy" He explained, assuming that some manners of speaking didn't quite translate between worlds.
"Ah, so that's how it is." Emilia let out a sigh of relief "I just said to be careful and you make a joke about having a heart attack"
Subaru giggled at that, having some peaceful silence between the both of them Subaru remembered what she usually did in the morning, "Oh, did I disturb your daily spirit commune?
Emilia responded with a guilty smile, "No worries, but I reeeally should get back to it now. They don't get angry with me but I can tell they don't like it when their time gets interrupted'' She went to leave for her duties, but hesitated, "You are such a problem child Subaru, you have turned the mansion upside down since you arrived"
He scratched the side of his head, "Yeah, sorry about that" He hoped he really wasn't too much of a bother.
"You don't need to apologize for it, actually I think it's better this way. The mansion felt empty before you arrived. With your presence it feels a lot more lively" She turned around and went to her place of commune, leaving a blushing but pensive Subaru staring back.
In all their exchange, no one noticed the presence of a blond haired spirit on one of the mansion windows, staring analytically in Subaru's direction...Nor the cold stare of Rem on another.
###
###
With lunch time arriving, and having no other thing to do Subaru decided to lend his help to the maids, "Hey do you need help with that?"
The blue haired maid who was chopping food didn't even bother to look back, "Your assistance is not needed Sir Subaru, go to the dinner table and await there"
Subaru stood for a few moments nonplussed, "This...This didn't happen last time"
"She is more guarded than last time, proceed with caution" He warned on edge.
"Hey, I have experience on it, you already know. I really won't get in the way" She ignored him. Frustrated, he went to touch her shoulder to get her attention when at the last moment she slammed the knife down in the cutter, leaving a hole in there, after that she only moved her head to the side showing her only visible eye.
The stare that she sent to him would have frozen hell over, leaving him to take a step back in remembrance of the last time she looked at him that way. He shook his head to clear off the thoughts and he lifted his hands in surrender while backtracking, "Okayyy, I see you are not in the mood, sorry, I will be going"
He barely managed to hear out a soft mumble that wasn't supposed to be heard by the time he reached the door, "Please, do so soon"
Quietly leaving the place he mentally spoke to his companion, "There must be a way to make her trust us, we can't stay here with her acting on edge"
"While I don't agree with staying, I agree, but at this point is going to have to wait after we deal with the assassin, maybe that will help us with our smell case"
Staring at the kitchen with a saddened expression he wondered, "I guess, you are right, still I wish I could do more around here"
### ###
"Today is the big day" Subaru mumbled to himself after turning off the wake up alarm from his phone.
He felt a nod in his mind, "Yes, yes it is. I still have not changed my stance on the deal"
"I know, a deal is a deal...And you are totally going down" He finished with a cocky grin.
The artificial spirit didn't bother answering him, their fate would be determined by his actions alone and both of them knew of it. Deciding to be productive instead he asked, "Do we have everything ready?"
"Suit at peak integrity, mana conduits are flowing correctly, spirits will be paid an extra after we survive, If we survive. Your skill with Murak while not really proficient, is now usable, repeater has been fixed at best of our capabilities and the handgun is on pristine condition...We are as ready as we can ever be"
Walking to his table, he observed the two tools that would work as his main way of defense, for the moment he ignored one of them and grabbed his repeater, feeling with his hand its smooth surface, feeling satisfied he threw the sling over his body. He had to adjust it several times during the night, this time around Rem didn't take as much effort on making it a good fit, hopefully he could fix their relationship later.
Finally getting it right, he stared at the last piece of equipment as he had done for the last days every morning. Sometimes he wanted to throw it away, blame it all on it and clean his hands out of the guilt. But he couldn't deny it was in the end his mistake that caused that single terrible moment.
Taking a deep breath he grabbed it and placed it on his thigh holster, "Tonight everyone lives, we are getting the perfect run"
###
###
"What do you want, Barusu?" Came Ram's voice filled with suspicion.
Having already mentally prepared himself he got closer with a smile and a wave, "Hey Nee-sama, I heard that you two were going to the village and I wanted to tag along to familiarize myself with the neighborhood and get to know the people who live in m'lords domain"
The maid gave her sister a glance, staring back at him, she commented, "Finally, it seems that you have come to learn some respect for your employer. Come along, you're performing as our cargo mule."
Rem snapped her head in Ram's direction at the last part, she went to say something but stopped herself. She took a deep breath and wordlessly left the mansion, her sister following shortly after.
Feeling nervous every time they had any encounter with the maid, Vega observed the obvious, "She really doesn't want our presence looks like"
"What made you hate our smell so much, Rem?" Wondered Subaru, trying to comprehend what would bring so much hate from her.
Sighing to himself, he followed them outside, the entire journey to the village being filled by an awkward silence. At some point in the trek, the maids slowed their walking and ended up behind him, turning him paranoid.
Fearing looking back, he kept walking at the same pace, sweat dripping from his brow, "Why are they acting like this...they can't mistrust me that much, right?"
From the other end of his mental link, he could feel Vega tensing up for any eventuality, "Proceed with caution"
With the nervousness reaching his peak, Subaru uncomfortably looked back, "Hey, is kinda lonely here, no need to stay so far back, I don't bite"
Not letting her sister answer, Ram assumed the position as the speaker, "In case of any attack it is more practical for you to be in front to take the brunt of the attack to leave us time to leave unharmed"
"Wait! Am I a sacrificial lamb? I thought my role was mule?! Ram you lieeeed to meee" He exaggerated melodramatically.
"Ram didn't lie, you are fit enough to fulfill both jobs at the same time, consider this a promotion" She answered with smugness radiating from her.
With an arched eyebrow Subaru doubted her claim, "You know, promotions usually come with a benefit of sorts and I don't really see where mine is"
Her smugness turned into disgust, "Selfish pig, your benefit is the feeling of a work well done, shame that you may never get to experience it"
"Oi, that's just hurtful you know? Also sounds like some corporate thing a shitty boss would say as an excuse for paying his employees in dirt" He complained.
Her expression kept being on a sneer, "You are only paid your worth. Our generous lord is already too nice to bestow upon you his dirt"
Their verbal sparring would have gone for longer had they not just arrived at the Arlam village entrance.
"Do whatever Barusu, if you're not present when we return we will leave without you" With that being said, both maids walked inside the village leaving him standing alone.
"I think you're forgetting that I'm supposed to carry the stuff!" He yelled at their twin retreating backs.
Waiting until they were not in sight, he sighed in relief, "Well, crisis averted, not bad at all Natsuki Subaru"
His counterpart was not so convinced, "At least for now and we have another crisis to take care of, how are we going to find clues?"
Cracking his knuckles he boasted, "Leave it to me. Crises are my speciality"
###
###
"Hey, give it back! That's not for kids!" Subaru yelled at the little kid who had just swiped off his handgun the moment he got distracted.
The kid only stuck his tongue out in response while running circles around him, the rest of the horde laughing and hindering his movements.
"You should be more careful with that thing, good thing it requires a specific mana pattern to use it"
"I know!" He yelled in his mind while finally snapping the weapon out of the little beast's hands.
The kid pouted after being robbed of his fun, "Oi mister, you are no fun!"
"Listen here you little s-" Whatever was going to be said was interrupted by a soft tug on his sleeve, turning around he saw an orange haired kid which he recognized as Petra looking at him curiously.
Keeping a respectful tone she asked, "Excuse me Sir, are you from the mansion?"
With a smug smirk, Subaru did a pose aiming with his thumb at himself, "That's it, I am the new guard in town, Natsuki Subaru"
Most of the kids stared in wonder, until one of them scoffed at him, "You don't look so tough"
Wanting to teach the kid a lesson he requested his constant companion, "Vega?" Leaving the question obvious.
Annoyance was dripping from him, "Weren't we supposed to keep a low profile?"
"A bit late for that" He thought, after he accidentally got the attention of all nearby children, "And the children were attacked last time, what better place to search for suspects than nearby them?"
The kid, bored at the weird man's silence, went to continue joking at him, "What? Are you going to stare at me to bore...dom?" He trailed off at seeing the guard physically transforming under their very own eyes, with his elegant blazer being substituted by plates of an unknown metal, and his nasty eyed being replaced by a cold double lined helmet.
All the kids took a step back, staring at the radically different man. Silence dominated the place until the same kid who was teasing him suddenly whistled, "So COOL!"
Before he could blink, he got swarmed by an entire legion of excited and curious kids, faintly he had a sense of deja vu, like a similar event had happened, but before he could think more of it he felt a hit on his thigh, followed by a whine of pain.
Turning around he saw Lucas with tears in his eyes and softly caressing his wrist, while the rest of the kids slowly separated from him while looking at him like he had messed up and was going to get chastised, dropping to his knee he asked, "What happened?"
The kid flushed in embarrassment, "I...I wanted to make sure it was real" Hearing his motive, Subaru sighed and gently chopped his head immediately after, causing the kid to whimper again and shut his eyes.
"He probably feels like he has hit a wall" Informed Vega to him, knowing how tough his outer body was relative to most.
"You brat, you never learned to respect your elders?" Saying that, he made the helmet disappear showing his nasty eyed stare behind them, "That was pretty dumb. Lucky for you! Natsuki Subaru has the solution"
He gained the attention of the entire group at his words, tightly clenching his hands against one another he replicated a classical party trick he learned for fun. Doing some movements to distract them, he pulled it off and opened his palm, which revealed a blue flying light under them.
The water spirit obeying his commands flew to the hand of the kid and started working his specialty. All the kids staring in wonder at the bruised wrist going from a purplish-red to tan back again in front of their eyes.
Its work done, the spirit returned back to Subaru. The kid spinned his wrist a few times to make sure it was okay and returned him a grin, "Thank you Mister Natsuki"
"Were those spirits?" Asked one of the kids, his face staring in wonder at the light.
"Yes, I have five of them, I suppose there is no harm in showing them all" Not like he was taking the opportunity to show off. Not at all.
From him, four glowing balls of light manifested at different sides, each of them hovering over to different groups of children, Subaru answering their respective affinities.
"Hey! You said you had five, where is the last one?" Demanded one of the brats.
Subaru grinned in response, taking his hand to his chin he murmured aloud for everyone to hear, "I wonder where he is? Maybe he is just shy"
Seeing the expression of the guard, they understood he was joking around, some of them stared around searching for a hidden one, while others just waited for him to explain.
After leaving the kids to wonder for a while, Subaru went to reveal it when a voice came from his side, "Is it your armor Sir?" Petra asked hesitantly.
"Ding ding ding! We have a winner!" He joked, before they could reply he realized he was supposed to be one of a kind, "Hold on, how did you know that was him?"
"There are some old stories I like to read. In them Great Spirits appeared in all shapes and forms" She mentioned.
He laughed and petted the top of her head, "So smart! He is called Vega but he's a bit shy so he doesn't talk a lot"
"More like can't, but sure go with that"
"What are the smaller ones called?" One of them questioned him.
He went to answer but hesitated, "They are...Huh, I haven't quite named them yet"
"That's sad, they're like your puppies, you gotta name them!"
"You are right" He said with a sad smile, "I should have done that first thing. They deserve at least that much"
###
###
"But Sister he-"
"I know Rem, Ram sees it too, but Lord Roswaal orders have made it clear. He is to be treated as another employer" Ram cut her off, her tone crystal clear.
The look on Rem's face was conflicted, life was simpler before he arrived, hiding his disagreement she carried on, "Rem will carry with the consequences. Rem will not allow for it to happen again"
Knowing her for all her life, Ram knew she didn't manage to get through to Rem, but before she could expand further a cacophony of yells from the entrance called out their attention. Glancing at each other they hurried at the source of the outburst, to find...
"VICTORY!" Screamed Subaru into the heavens, his face visible, but his uniform nowhere to be seen, only the armor he carried inside himself.
"VIKTAWEE!" The rest of the villagers, kids, adults, even some elderly ones, all of them behind him repeating his words and movements as best as they could. After finishing their set, all of them started patting each other's backs and overall congratulating themselves for sticking to the end.
Subaru was high-fiving one of the townsfolk when he noticed the twins stare, Walking over to them with a spring in his step, his face fresh as new and with a giant grin adorning it, "You finished getting everything we needed?" To an attentive spectator, they would have noticed how he avoided looking at one particular twin.
His answer was a cold stare, while Rem turned her back and walked off to the entrance, not wanting to be near him, "What type of circus attraction is this Barusu?"
He consciously had to make an effort not to mention Roswaal in any point in his answer, "Now, I wouldn't call it an attraction. I got bored and decided to pass the time with the kids, and then the rest of the village kinda joined in on the fun"
"Truly the type of activity only someone as childish as you could make up" The maid fired with bite.
He went for a retort but some of the children who were nearby decided to join in the fun, "That's mean Ram-chi"
"Yeah, Ram-chi's no fun." Said another one of them.
The girl in question stared at Subaru's with an eyebrow raised, "I assume this is also your work?"
He scratched the back of his head, "I wanted for you to be more approachable by them, I think that it would be kinda lonely keeping everyone at arm's length,"
"You certainly like to speak disrespectfully, I don't mind, but keep my sister out of this" She said, not sure how her sister would react.
"Rem-rin?" Asked one of them.
"Rem-rin" Affirmed the other one.
"Rem-rinrin" Sang another, not wanting to be left out.
Under the ever present cold stare of the maid, Subaru scratched the side of his chin in nervousness, "Oops. Maybe a bit too late for that"
She sighed and walked close to him, dropping her entire purchases on him, "Come, we still have to make dinner" And then walked off to where Rem had gone.
At that bit of information, Subaru grinned at the kids, "Sorry kids" He said with a face which clearly said he was not sorry at all, "It's been fun and all but work calls, so get lost, guys" He immediately took out his tongue in mocking.
The kids whined in displeasure but accepted he had to go, with no more words exchanged, he separated from them and followed Ram.
They both spotted Rem at the same time, who was surrounded by a group of kids and if he heard them correctly wanted her to play with them.
"Rem is sorry but she must take her leave" The blue haired maid said with increasing agitation.
Before she could disengage from the group, a shy dark-blue haired girl with something in her arms walked in front of her and exposed to her what it was, revealing some type of dog puppy.
Seeing what the girl wanted her to do, she obliged for once and went to pet it to pacify them.
"Hey Rem don-" Before he could manage to warn her the dog snapped at her hand, leaving a nasty mark on her palm.
"Hey, he never did that!"
"Rem-rin made him mad!"
"Oi you brats! Have that dog on a short leash, until he is trained"
"But he has never bit anyone until now" Informed the girl who looked like she was the one taking care of the puppy.
"That's what they all say, let me check" He went to pet the fluff...The dog...definitely the dog. Before he could manage to pet it, the puppy opened his mouth and just as it was going to close on his fingers the girl held it tightly and pulled it out of range.
"AHA! I saw that!" He exclaimed at being proven right, he went to chastise her, "As I said train him, wild dogs are dangerous. What if he has rabies?...There is rabies here?"
At the confused stares of all present he assumed not, "Okay no rabies, still consider it advice. I wanted a puppy as a kid too, but I quickly learned how much responsibility it's involved in them"
The girl properly chastised, nodded and walked away with her head down.
"That was mean Subaru" Complained several of them at the same time.
He ignored them and walked to Rem, "It didn't bite too deep right? My water spirit can heal y-"
The girl in question rudely brushed him off and turned her back to him, "Your concerns are not needed" and walked away in the mansion's direction.
"Rem-rin is cold"
"Rem-rin is rude"
Subaru was almost sure he was going to develop a nervous tick if the kids acting like this would become a regular occurance.