Sorry for the late chapter guys, at least I've got it out now though. I know this is a short chapter but expect longer chapters after this since I've had my hands tied recently and haven't really been able to focus on writing.
Anyway, please enjoy!
Within the royal castle of Lugnica, the old men who had been ruling the country were in utter disbelief.
"This can't possibly be! The dragon tablet is certainly never incorrect, it has saved our country from crisis many a time, even still this is far too…"
"Bordeaux, as strange as it is, it is most definitely right. We have no time to doubt the divine dragon if we are to find this person. Though I do agree, this is far too strange. Not only has it predicted his reappearance, but it is also detailed in his description and even told us when he is to leave the watchtower. Up until now the dragon tablet only specified events and the time of their occurrence, never has it told us intricate details like this."
The two men who had been discussing the recent prophecy of the dragon tablet: Miklotov McMahon, an old-looking man with a long beard making him appear to be wise and Bordeaux Zellgef, a bald man with thick bushy eyebrows, were members of the recently appointed sage council.
Due to the death of the last living member of royalty, Fourier Lugnica, there was no one left to rule the kingdom of Lugnica, hence the creation of the sage council.
They were a group of primarily old men who managed the country and its affairs in place of the true royalty who had died out completely.
They were now in confusion, shock, and even excitement along with the other sage council members after overviewing the prophecy from the dragon tablet.
The sage of the old era, before the hated witch destroyed all, has returned to the watchtower. Black hair as dark as night and with a name not known to others: Natsuki Subaru. He shall leave four days from now. Without aid, he shall fall within the grasp of the detestable witch worshippers.
This is what the dragon tablet had told the sage council. It was clearer than usual and almost gave out a clear command. It was as if it was egging them on by telling them the witch cult could reach him first.
'I may be wrong but is the divine dragon desperate?' After reading over the prophecy multiple times Miklotov reached this conclusion.
The wise old man was hailed as being one of—if not, the most intelligent and calculative member of the sage council. Some even considered that he would be the best replacement for the deceased king, Fourier.
He had come to this conclusion based on how much information was given to them, which wasn't usual. It usually delivered prophecies in old, cryptic riddle-like sentences, so this crystal clear prophecy was strange indeed.
Plus, it was as if it was trying to give them orders, but being vague and making sure it didn't differ too much from its usual self.
There was nothing wrong with the tablet, there couldn't be since it was crafted by the mighty divine dragon Volcanica. So, that would mean this was one hundred percent the will of the divine dragon.
For whatever reason, Volcanica wanted to keep the sage out of the witch cult's grasp no matter what.
Miklotov, although the most intelligent member of the sage council, was ignorant to the reason for this, however.
"Still, right after the prophecy of the royal candidates. What is that dragon thinking." Another sage council member spoke up to voice his worries.
"No one in this world truly knows what the divine dragon is thinking, I doubt even the sage could figure that out. Well, now we have the means to ask him ourselves." Miklotov chuckled as he made that last remark.
"Still, in order to ask him, we'll have to meet him first. If we don't find him, the witch-cult will get a hold of him, who knows what will happen then." Miklotov said, restarting the conversation
"What should we do then? We have no idea where the members of the witch-cult are currently operating, all we know is that the sin archbishop of sloth is active around the capital but all of the archbishops are almost completely silent. They, no doubt, have members operating near the watchtower since that's where the witch is sealed so they will most likely meet him first no matter what we do." Bordeaux replied.
He had a point. The witch-cult operated across the entire world and they only knew the general whereabouts of one high ranking member and that was it, nothing else.
They knew that the sin archbishop of greed had attacked and completely annihilated the fortified city of Garkla in the vollachian empire but after that, he went silent as well. And even still, that was over fifteen years ago.
He had mercilessly slaughtered over a thousand soldiers and had killed the legendary hero Kurgan, who was considered the empire's strongest warrior.
That was only more of a reason to fear those freakish cultists. If only one of the archbishops could beat a warrior considered to be the strongest of the mighty Vollachian empire who held great pride in their military, the only country that stood a chance against these foes was Lugnica since they had the sword saint, the most powerful human alive.
What's worse is that they have no way to gauge the strength of the archbishops in comparison to each other. It would be an utter nightmare if greed was the weakest of the archbishops. However, many government officials of Lugnica believed sloth to be the weakest because of his recklessness and the fact that there are people currently alive after experiencing an attack from the archbishop. These people, however, were almost always in a state of insanity so useful information could not be gathered from them.
Maybe even a moderately sized division of elite knights could beat sloth if meticulously planned out and strategised. But for the other archbishops, much more effort would be required and only the strongest of the world's inhabitants would be able to face them in a one-on-one.
They predicted that most of the archbishops were much more powerful than sloth and even suspected that greed could only be defeated by the sword saint due to the utter defeat the Vollachian empire faced by his hands.
"Well, I can only think of one way that we could reach the sage first, however, if he leaves the country before that we wouldn't have another chance."
"Hmmm… I am certain you intend to send the sword saint, do you not?" Replied Bordeaux after thinking about what Mikotov had said.
"indeed… I can think of no one other than Reinhard being able to reach him in time. That monstrous man can move faster than any of our greatest ground dragon mounts, there would be no point in sending a normal group of knights anyway. If the witch cult knew he was the sage, surely they would throw everything at him, would they not."
"Most likely, they would. But even if he is the sword saint, he is but one man, can he really protect the sage against multiple enemies, some maybe even being equal to himself."
Bordeaux felt that even though the sword saint had immense power, he might not be able to hold off all of the archbishops at once. Maybe he could beat them all by himself, but could he really do that whilst defending the sage?
"Worry not, Bordeaux. If my memory serves me correctly, there should be a small detachment of around twenty royal knights that will pass through Mirula in three days. Since they are stationed at the border of the sand dunes, their skill is second only to the royal guards. No, maybe they are even equal to royal guards since I recall that in recent reports the captain of their patrol division has written of their great achievements and some are truly remarkable."
"Even still, would they be enough?" Bordeaux questioned. He creased his brow in thought but Miklotov spoke up before he could come up with a proper conclusion
"Yes, I believe so. They could leave the offence to the sword saint whilst they defend the sage with their lives. Normal cult members shouldn't be able to contend with them so as long as Reinhard deals with the archbishops all will be well. If Reinhard rendezvous with them at Mirula we could have a chance of reaching the sage before the witch cult."
"I see… this could actually work."
It seemed Bordeaux's worries had been slightly quelled. The strongest human in the world would be the one retrieving the sage.
"So, it's decided then?" Another member of the sage council spoke up after having been silently watching the discussion lost in thought like many of the other members.
"Yes, call a meeting immediately and notify Reinhard. The sooner we take action the better."
It was decided. They would send the sword saint to Mirula to rendezvous with a detachment of elite knights and hopefully reach the sage and bring him back to the capital.
'still, the sage should be incredibly powerful. Why would he need our help to quell the witch's cult' Miklotov thought to himself as he brought his hand up to stroke his excessively long beard.
'I wonder what the sage 'Natsuki Subaru' could be doing in this time of crisis.'
"Hey… Shaula is it. I'm not sure if you know this or not but none of that made any sense at all."
"Hmm? What are you talking master? Wait, did you really hit your head that hard? Master~ you're okay right, right~!" Shaula said as she came closer to Subaru, tracing his head with her eyes to see if he was still injured.
"Have you hit Your head, did you forget that you were the one that knocked me out in the first place!?"
"I said I was sorry master~! I was just so happy that I couldn't think straight, that's all!"
"You can't think straight normally…" Subaru mumbled under his breath.
"What was that master?"
"Oh, uh…. I said it can't be helped then. Yeah…" rubbing the back of his head he blurted out this obvious lie that even a toddler could discern as such.
"Oh okay master, but you're fine now right?" She didn't see through it. But she was right, his head seemed completely fine now, was it some sort of miracle.
They currently appeared to be in a room that could only be described with one word: green. Simply being in the room felt like his mind and body was constantly being healed.
"Well… yes I am, but still you should be more careful. Anyway what is this place, I feel like my body is being rejuvenated just being here."
"That's because this room is special master. It's governed by a spirit that is super-duper good at healing magic." Shaula said with a look of pride as if she was a landlord showing off their high-class apartment.
Upon hearing Shaula's words Subaru looked at her in a daze, not knowing how to respond. For a boy who had up until now lived in modern era Japan, concepts such as spirits and magic were something that could only be seen in fiction such as anime, manga and novels.
"Huh, spirits, magic? What type of fantasy setting is this? Stop pulling my leg will you, I'm not stupid you know." Subaru said laughing trying to go along with the 'joke.'
"I don't know what this 'fantisea' is but I do know that master isn't stupid in the slightest! Actually, wait, I think I remember you saying something like that… but my memory is a bit hazy."
Shaula completely ignored the part where Subaru told her to stop joking. To her, it was completely normal for spirits and magic to exist.
"You've completely skipped over the part where I said 'stop pulling my leg'! Besides, how does someone not know what fantasy means? We're in Japan, how on earth do you not know what it means, you must've at least seen a manga in the store or something like that!"
Shaula was attentively listening to Subaru, trying to pick out bits of what he had said and trying to make sense of it all.
In the past, she had heard her master mention things such as this 'Japan' place and 'manga', but to her, it made no sense at all. Even if that stuff was present in this world, Shaula was the worst person to ask about it since she had not left the watchtower in so long.
"I've heard master talk about this 'Japan' place, but I've never been there! You did say that it was in another world so it might not even be possible."
Subaru seemed to be even more confused than he was before. He was only just in Japan, he couldn't possibly be in another country. Shaula said Japan was in another world, but Subaru was sure that he was on earth, the place he had always been. He couldn't possibly have been isekaid since he hadn't died.
"Okay, where are the cameras, nice prank but I should really be heading home by now." Subaru looked around attentively searching for any recording devices that could prove this was an elaborate prank.
"Master I have no idea what a camera is but I am almost positive that I am not pranking you!"
"almost positive…" Subaru uttered under his breath, seemingly having lost all hope when it came to talking to this girl. Her head was undoubtedly an empty space full of nothing but air.
"anyway, how do you not know what a camera is? Is there really anything inside that head of yours?"
"Well, last time I checked there was something in there…"
"wait, how the hell did you check!?"
"Ahaha, just kidding master~," Shaula said teasingly
"ha~, anyway we're not getting anywhere I'll just phone my dad, it was nice meeting you lady but I need to get going…huh? No service?"
Subaru had pulled out his flip phone that he kept on him at almost all times, even though he hardly ever used it due to the incredible amount of people he talks to other than his parents: zero. When he tried to phone his father he realized that he currently had no service, therefore he was currently stuck without a way to contact his parents.
"What the hell...? Hey, does this place have any Wifi?"
"whyfye? I'm sorry master but your strange words once again pass straight over my head."
The brown-haired girl tilted her head in confusion in response to Subaru's question. Once again she was puzzled at the young boy's seemingly unique vocabulary.
Over the years, Shaula had heard her master say a multitude of strange things so this wasn't a new experience for her. However, that still didn't take away the confusion upon hearing the new words, she just learnt to accept that her master came out with these things sometimes.
Subaru began thinking to himself that this girl was completely hopeless.
'Was she one of those people who secluded themselves from society, a hikikomori…Wait I do that just with more technology.' Subaru thought to himself as if internally shaming the girl, but then realizing that he himself was no different and quickly put a stop to such thoughts.
"Well, since I have no way to contact anyone right now can I at least see outside to see where I am?"
"Sure thing master~! Just follow me I'll take you to the balcony." Shaula proclaimed with a large grin on her face.
Subaru thought he was just simply following the girl, but then this strange and unknown woman suddenly grabbed a hold of his hand.
"H-Hey, What are yo-, GAHHH!" Before Subaru had any time to protest to the girl, she suddenly shot through the door with the speed of a high calibre bullet and expertly guided Subaru through the doorway with her.
He had just made an unearthly sound as he was dragged at high speeds by his arm, but neither of the two noticed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH, WHAT THE FUCK!?" Subaru cried out, still being dragged by the surprisingly quick-footed girl he had met only moments ago. 'Quick footed' would be a massive understatement, actually, as she was pulling Subaru fast enough for it to feel as if he was experiencing a high-speed roller coaster. Any quicker and his skin might have torn off of his body.
At this point, his legs couldn't keep up so his body was just flailing in the air like a flag in the wind. There was certainly some sort of health risk to this.
Just as Subaru had just about enough of flailing around and squealing like a small prepubescent child, the high-speed journey ended as quick as it started.
Due to their sudden stop, Subaru suddenly stopped being pulled as the girl let go of his hand to turn around and face him. He had stopped thanks to the help of Shaula, but he was still in quite a predicament.
He was due for a face-first collision course with the ground.
On that day, Subaru had his first kiss. Not with any female nor male, in fact, it wasn't even a living creature. The floor was the only thing seen connected to his lips. His face had slammed into the ground causing him to incur yet another injury.
"…." Shaula stood there gazing over the crumpled form of the boy not uttering a word in fear of instigating a response from Subaru. Her face was like that of a child who realized they had broken an expensive vase.
"uggh, what the hell is wrong with you… Hey, wait, I'm surprisingly not as injured as I was before." Sitting up Subaru realized that he wasn't actually that injured. However, using Subaru's thoughts as a reference it still hurt like a bitch though.
"Ahaha, that's good master. You fine right~?" Shaula said nervously as she timidly approached Subaru.
This was getting ridiculous. If Subaru was accidentally injured by this girl one more time he would be convinced that this was some sort of running gag.
"I don't know what your definition of fine is, but it certainly doesn't align with mine! Ha~ anyway, it seems we're here, right? I might as well do what we came here for." After meeting with this girl he had sighed more times than he could count.
Many people who had been victims of Subaru's attempt at socializing often said he was an eccentric and draining person to be with. That may be true, but he was nothing compared to the girl currently standing over him.
He had also realised that he had some strange sort of compatibility with the girl. Every time the two interacted it would appear as if the two had been good friends for countless years, yet they only met a few minutes ago.
When she teased and joked with Subaru within these few minutes, Subaru would fire right back. The same could be said for the girl–'or maybe she was just too dull' Subaru thought.
Subaru decided to stop ruminating on his thoughts and to just open the large door that was now in front of him.
Subaru stood up and made his way over to the large doorway. It was only a little bigger than the one for the room he was previously in. The one he was dragged out of as if he was a dirty rag.
Anyway, observing the door before him, Subaru guided his hand to what seemed like a handle and pulled on it with a considerable amount of force.
'H-Heavy!'
'What's with this door!' Subaru thought to himself. How could a door only a small amount larger than your average everyday door you would see in an apartment be this heavy? It certainly seemed unnecessary.
Pushing with all of his might, Subaru managed to force the door open. He could see a slit form in the middle where the large double door was opening. Blinding light leaked through and illuminated the previously dim-lit hallway.
"Huh? Wasn't it just nighttime…." Subaru could finally see a full view of where he currently was. He slowed down his speech and tried to comprehend what was going on.
Full to the brim with Surprise, Subaru questioned with the loudest voice possible-
"Where the hell am I!?"
within the mansion of a margrave, a man wearing what could only be referred to as 'unique' clothing who appeared to be a jester or something of the sort was reading a book within his hand with glee and a smile that reached ear to ear.
Many would be confused as to why the man seemed to be so appeased. What one could tell, however, was that his smile was not one that radiated good intent.
The jester, who was surprisingly the margrave who owned this mansion only became more amused as he appeared to be scheming and strategising based on whatever he had read within the book.
The margrave lightly shut his makeup stained eyelids and gently shut the book that he held in his hands with tender care; it was most likely important to the man.
He opened his eyes after seemingly thinking about something for a while only to have an even bigger grin upon his face.
"To think you were the sage. You have far passed my expectations, Natsuki Subaru."
If any of the man's close acquaintances heard him at that moment, they would be shocked as he had dropped his overly strange and comedic accent that was usually carried within his voice.
The man was unnaturally serious for the first time in a while and was overflowing with malicious intent.
Ah, I wonder who will reach him first: Reinhard or the witch cult? Place your bets… or don't.
I've decided to not make Subaru die as early on in this rewrite but after maybe the third chapter shit will hit the fan quick, even if it's not specifically for Subaru. Oooooh, foreboding.
Anyway, thanks for reading this chapter and I hope you'll be back for the next one!