Ominous Omen

One Month and Twenty-two days since the Last Death (Nine Deaths)

That morning, when Subaru woke up, the sun had resolved not to be seen. A dense fog had descended on the whole capital, accompanied by a copious drizzle, thus preventing the passage of a large part of the light rays. With his face whitened, Subaru had gotten out of his bed in Anastasia's mansion, to then bend over himself and vomit all the contents of his stomach.

A strong sour smell reached his nose, causing him to suffer another severe retching. The floor was now covered in a yellowish liquid; what little he had eaten at Leith's house. The nausea he felt was so strong that when he tried to step back from his vomit, he stumbled and fell on his buttocks.

Grunting, Subaru had crawled back to his bed. He sat down on it and began to do breathing exercises to ease the unpleasant sensation. Just like the pale sky, his skin had a whitish tone; huge dark circles under his eyes were the only stain on the white canvas that was his skin. After some minutes, Subaru felt that the nausea had subsided, so he went to the bathroom in his room, took a cloth and returned to clean the vomit...

A couple of hours had passed since then, and Subaru still hadn't left his room; not even for breakfast. The truth is that he did not know what time it was, it could well be eight in the morning, or ten at night; although of course, in that world time was not measured that way. With two bloodshot eyes, he looked at the sheet of paper in his hands. On it could be seen a sketch of what appeared to be a fan; or something similar in appearance.

After several minutes of careful observation, Subaru grunted, then folded the paper into a ball and threw it into a corner of his room. There, in that corner, was a small cylindrical garbage container; a trash can of some sort. It was full to the brim, and multiple balls of paper surrounded it. The recently discarded sketch fell to the floor, getting lost in the pile of paper balls.

Sighing, Subaru leaned over the back of his wooden chair and clutched his head. His stomach was hurting badly, probably because he hadn't eaten anything since he drank the tea Leith had offered him. And it definitely didn't help that he had barely managed to sleep a couple of hours after returning to his room.

Subaru would have been happy to excuse himself on the grounds that this was due to the abrupt change in environment. But the truth is that by that time he had gotten used to his new semi-nomadic lifestyle. Little sleep was also something she had grown accustomed to. Nightmares were ever more constant, so even closing his eyes was enough to make him anxious. Even so, that unpleasant morning he felt worse than any other in a long time; and he had already identified the cause of it.

"Goddamn it, I keep feeling like something catastrophic is about to happen…" He muttered grimly, as he got out of his chair and walked away from the desk.

The ominous sensation capable of curdling his blood, which had been coursing through his body during the night of the previous day, had yet to abate. On the contrary, it had gotten worse. He felt nervous, anxious, terrified, as if his instincts, sharpened by exposure to death, were telling him that it was drawing near again.

It had barely been a month and a half since the cycle of death in Kyo, and Subaru was in no condition to cope with something like that again. And it is not as if he would be otherwise; getting completely used to dying was not something he thought possible, after all. However, his mental state was farther away than ever from being stable. To be exposed to something like dying again could eventually break him completely, and he himself was not sure what would happen then.

Once standing again, Subaru dragged his gaze across the room, to finally place it in his arms. These were covered by white bandages, on which were visible multiple stains of dried blood. The mental state in which he was, for his luck, had a little advantage, and this was that he was considerably numb to physical pain.

Because of this, Subaru had been able to continue with his daily routine, made up almost entirely of working on his designs, without any major problems. Still, as expected, the presence of the splinters had been detrimental to the integrity of his arms; which were in a constant state of infection and, therefore, swelling. If it weren't for the fact that he had them treated with healing magic on a weekly basis, chances are he would have lost both arms by now.

Another benefit of healing magic… At least I won't lose my arms because of my own stupidity, he thought, as he grazed the bandages with his fingers. Now that it had been a while since the day he decided to leave the splinters under his skin and flesh, and he had been able to reconsider his actions, Subaru could accept that he had been carried away by the heat of the moment... However, there was no going back. Just as he had told the healer; he was learning how to cope with it.

With a heavy sigh, Subaru opened the door to his room and ventured into the corridors of Anastasia Hoshin's secondary mansion. He had originally planned to return to Leith's house, they were partners after all, and that would have greatly accelerated the arrangements they had to make together. But after the attack on Kyo, doing so was impossible.

And not only because Anastasia practically ordered him to stay in her mansion, but also because he did not want to further compromise his colleagues by exposing them to his prolonged presence. Someone was after him, the unknown client who had hired the assassins who attacked him in Priestella and who, allegedly, had been able to influence in some way the impostor Zarestia to attack him; and since she died in their confrontation, asking her about it would be impossible.

Anyone associated with him could be exposing themselves to the danger of having a target placed on their back, or perhaps worse, to the danger of being involved in another assassination attempt on his person. Therefore, staying with Anastasia, one of the most well-secured people in that world, was his best option; considering both his and others' safety.

Now every time he left the mansion he was escorted, though not always by one of the triplets. Inside the mansion he was protected as well, and there was always a Fang of Iron mercenary in the room next to his. Although this constant surveillance had been detrimental to his sanity, and it was not uncommon for him to have nervous breakdowns simply because he had to go to the dining room.

Between that and the ominous feeling that something terrible was about to unfold, Subaru had completely lost his appetite. However, his stomach had not been spared its need for food, so he had finally been forced to go and get something to eat. Dragging his feet, Subaru approached the dining room, with the same mercenary who had been assigned the shift in the next room following him closely.

There were not too many members of the Fang of Iron in the vicinity; or at least not the flow of them that you would see during a normal day. Of course, there was a good reason for this. Since Anastasia had sent many of her hired mercenaries along with the forces gathered by Crusch Karsten, only a few members had stayed behind to protect both the mansion and its owner; and incidentally, him.

For the same reason, the guy who was following him was the very one who had accompanied him to his meeting with Leith. Perhaps this is why he seemed to be respecting his personal space a bit more. Had he noticed his bad mood and preferred to give him his space? It was possible, but Subaru didn't intend to inquire.

Once his body crossed the threshold into the dining room, Subaru was finally able to relax a bit. As protocol indicated, the mercenary stayed by the door, so Subaru was finally able to free himself from the annoying escort. If only Mimi was there... He pondered gloomily. Only when the little demi-human girl or Tivey were his escorts, did Subaru feel completely comfortable.

But she was accompanying Ricardo and Julius, and Tivey was acting as Anastasia's personal escort, so neither was available to accompany him In Tivey's case, he had, of course, stayed on to protect Anastasia, but also to assist her with various matters relating to the company accounts. As the smartest of the triplets, Tivey was the one who used to help Anastasia with the most important and confidential paperwork when it was too much for her to handle by herself.

So he would have to settle for his present escort; he concluded with distaste. Subaru finally sat down at the table, which was soon filled with different kinds of dishes; some more extravagant than other. Among these there were some that were nostalgic, which made sense, taking into account that he himself had explained to the chef how to prepare them. Considering what lay before him, it was obvious that he had skipped both breakfast and lunch, since none of the dishes fit what would be eaten for breakfast in that mansion.

Without mentioning anything about it, Subaru brought one of the plates closer to himself; it was a typical dish in Kararagi: ramen. Subaru allowed the nostalgic aroma emanating from it to permeate his nose, suppressing a melancholy sob in the meantime. In silence, Subaru began to eat. A couple of minutes had passed in which only the sound of noodles being slurped reverberated in the room, when Subaru heard the sound of a chair being pulled. At this, Subaru instinctively raised his gaze, thus encountering two beautiful eyes of a bluish-green hue.

"I'm glad to see ya finally got out of your room, Natsuki-kun. The truth's that when I didn't see ya at lunch, I started to worry a little. Don't ya think ya're bein' a little ungrateful to your hostess?" With gestures of false resentment, Anastasia complained to him about being absent from two of the three meals of the day.

"I guess you're right; sorry… It's just that… that…" Subaru looked down and tried to excuse himself, but nothing came to mind. Anastasia was already aware of much of what was tormenting him, but that didn't mean she fully understood how deeply he was afflicted by it all. And while Subaru would have liked to talk more about it, his inability to find the right words to express himself, and his aversion to continuing to show his many weaknesses, prevented him from doing so.

"Ya don't have to force yourself to tell me, Natsuki-kun. I was just kiddin'. Everyone deals with their problems at their own pace, so I don't want ya to feel pressured. When ya feel ready to resume your normal routine, I'll be happy to share meals with ya." With an extremely reassuring smile, Anastasia prevented him from talking further.

Despite his condition, Subaru had never stopped working on his designs. In fact, the events that had taken place had only led him to become obsessed with devoting all his time to working on them. Therefore, it was not uncommon for him and Anastasia to see each other often to talk about these and the direction of the Reinvention Project. Of course, after several months both had come to open up to each other.

Subaru could not say that he knew Anastasia Hoshin particularly well; he was not intimate with her after all. But he knew her well enough to consider her a friend. Spending time with her, although most of the time it would be invested entirely in talking business, was one of the few activities in which he found delight.

After all, Anastasia was an intelligent woman, who knew a lot about business and knew everything about the field in which she operated Due to her, he had managed to decide which designs to focus on and which not; if he were not sure if an idea of his world would fit in that one, he would go to her and she would tell him what kind of items would sell well and which not. Now he had almost a hundred finished designs, and she had a great influence on what artifacts would come out of these.

Subaru shook his head, realizing that he had indulged in his musings, and looked at Anastasia again. The girl was wearing a white dress with details in purple, and her hair was combed into a large braid, which fell on her back as if it were a lilac waterfall. "I've been feeling nervous, that's all." Subaru said, convinced that the best thing to do was to explain the reason for his absence.

"Hmm? Nervous? Does it have somethin' to do with the Reinvention Project? Or with…? No, if talkin' 'bout it makes ya feel worse, ya don't have to tell me anythin'." Anastasia waved her hand, as if to imply that he could drop the matter; but it wasn't what Subaru wanted, he needed to get it out of his system, or it was possible that it would continue to haunt him indefinitely.

"No, it's nothing to do with the Reinvention Project. It's true that its imminence makes me a little nervous, though… No, what worries me is…" Subaru fell silent. The two of them looked at each other for a moment, in complete silence, while he sought the words he wanted to convey. She, similar to her knight, kept her countenance always calm, without showing any intention to hurry him. "Anastasia..." He said after a while.

"Hmm? Is somethin' the matter?" The girl tilted her head slightly, while looking at him with an expression that was objectively adorable.

"Have you received any reports about what happened during the hunt of the White Whale? Maybe a courier from Crusch-san has already arrived... I would just like to check that everything turned out well." Finally managing to get through, albeit partially, what he wanted to say, Subaru waited expectantly for the girl to respond. She looked at him in silence for a moment, before daring to speak. However, the tone of her voice immediately put Subaru on alert.

"No, unfortunately they're too far away. We'll have to wait at least two days for the news to reach us... Still, Natsuki-kun... What do ya mean?"

"What do I… mean?" He asked back, a chill running up his spine.

"Yeah… What do ya mean by Crusch-san? I don't remember anyone under that name bein' part of the hunting party..." And with those words, Subaru understood that his instinct, very much like Halibel's, had not failed.

"… What?"

"Old Man Wil… Where…? W-Where a-are w-we? What… what hap… pen… ed?" Wilhelm, with a slightly downcast countenance, watched attentively the feminine looking boy, watched attentively the feminine looking boy, who had a disturbed blank stare. Wilhelm scanned his delicate body for wounds, but found nothing; it was just as the Fang of Iron healer had stated.

Sighing, Wilhelm sheathed his last sword and sat down next to the demi-human boy. "We are on a grassland located between the Hyclara Plateaus and Flanders City. Although I suppose that is not what you want to hear." The old man glanced at the boy sidelong, hoping for some kind of answer; he didn't get it. Felix kept looking straight ahead, as if in his mind Wilhelm had never moved from there. He sighed again, even more heavily than before.

"It seems that the fog impacted him much more than the others... He's the only one who hasn't recovered yet." The diagnosis came from the Fang of Iron's chief healer, a foxy-looking demihuman.

"When the whale released the… Mist of Mental Contamination, Felix was unaffected by it. I do not think his condition has anything to do with that mist." The aging warrior corrected him, shaking his head slightly.

"Maybe the effect was delayed, and that's why it affected him in such a way?" Since the healer had formulated his hypothesis as a question, it was clear that he himself was not sure about it.

"No, I do not believe that is the case either. The truth is that neither he nor I were affected by the fog in the first place. And while I do not feel as… lost as he does; I do feel like… something is missing. Something here." Having trouble conveying what he was feeling, Wilhelm spoke slowly, only to finally point his index finger at his head.

"Hmm… The White Whale's most terrible attack was supposed to be the erasure of people from existence itself with gigantic torrents of contaminated mana, wasn't it? Possibly..." But before continuing, the healer stopped his speech; saying what he was about to say could be considered insensitive, or at least that is how he reasoned. Wilhelm, noticing this, shook his head.

"I share the same view. We know that several people from each platoon died because of the mist, since they simply disappeared into thin air. It is possible that one person close to Felix and me is among those numbers. Just the thought of it makes me want to burn in anger, but now that the mabeast is dead, it is as if I have nowhere to direct my wrath…" Displaying a strange candidness, Wilhelm spoke of what he felt as he clenched the handle of his sword tightly in one hand. After a few moments of silence, Wilhelm stood up and bowed in the direction of the healer. "Excuse this old man and his ravings, I presume you must be very busy now that Felix could not take care of the wounded."

"N-No need to apologize, Wilhelm-sama. All of this, this whole situation, has greatly affected us all. We're picking up the pieces too, but feel free to come to us if you need to." And with one more bow from Wilhelm, the healer bade farewell and walked away slightly embarrassed.

After trying to communicate with Felix for a while longer, to no avail, Wilhelm bid farewell to the Blue Knight and walked around the plain, now the grave of the White Whale. He spoke with several of the veteran warriors who had joined him on the hunt and gave condolences to those who had lost close friends. After almost a full round, Wilhelm came across the handcrafted tent where Julius, Ricardo and Mimi were staying...

Following his blade's taking of the whale's life, and its copies had vanished into thin air just as they had hoped, Wilhelm began to search for the allies who had allowed him to take the revenge that had been pending for fourteen years. He found Julius relatively quickly. He was on the ground, unconscious, and his earth dragon was protecting him. Shortly after, Ricardo appeared, carrying an also unconscious Mimi.

Apparently they had survived the fall of the whale because its hard skin served to absorb and dissipate the force of the impact, but even so they had not come out completely unscathed. However, most of the damage they had received had been caused by the use of the powerful technique that brought the real whale down.

The girl had only come out alive due to the fact that her Divine Protection allowed her to share her vital energy, her Od, with her brothers. And Ricardo, despite having a much better trained body to withstand the recoil damage of the sonic attack, had ended up with a broken jaw and much of his snout lacerated.

Once the four found themselves together again, they went in search of the rest of the survivors, whom they found all in one place thanks to the work of Ricardo's subordinates. Finding them had turned out to be a simple task, thanks to the metias that had been distributed among the group of mercenaries; they, while the last battle was taking place, had located the survivors and set up a medical outpost composed of various cloth tents. Among the survivors was Felix, something that had brought peace to Wilhelm; although the feeling did not last long.

The last time Wilhelm had seen the best healer in the kingdom, the boy had completely lost his composure. And apparently his condition had only worsened, since he now seemed to be totally deranged, completely out of it, almost literally absent-minded... Julius, Mimi and Richard were taken to be treated by the few healers who survived the battle and Wilhelm stayed with Felix...

Now that they were reunited, the state of the three, as expected, had not changed much. Julius was still unconscious, as was Mimi, and Ricardo now had a kind of muzzle on his snout; something Wilhelm intuited would serve to immobilize his jaw so that he would not hurt himself further. The old man approached them silently, expecting to receive only silence in response to their arrival, yet his expectations were betrayed by Ricardo's voice.

"Weh're leahvhing, nohw." He said with his voice being muffled by the muzzle. "Ih'll leahve wih t-heh resh oph theh Jang oph Iroh. Weh'll tahe theh mosh wouhndeh wih hus. Ahnd- Argh!" Ricardo still seemed to have information to pass on to him, but his jaw injury was simply making it all impossible.

"Captain! I told ya it was best not to speak, ya might hurt yourself more than ya already are!" Noticing what their leader was doing, one of the Fang of Iron healers approached them both, and then readjusted the muzzle, which had apparently been moved by Ricardo's insistence on speaking despite recommendations to the contrary. "What the captain's tryin' to say is that we're already leavin' here, we plan to use half of the carriages we brought to take those who are most injured. As agreed, we'll make a short stop in Flanders so that they can better treat their wounds and injuries there. What do ya intend to do, Wilhelm-sama?"

With "you", Wilhelm assumed that the healer was referring to him and the warriors who were under his and Felix's command for the duration of the hunt. " We need to freeze the whale's carcass to delay its decay, and to take a portion of it to prove to the kingdom that we really did end its reign of terror. So you go first, we will do it once we take care of it. It is possible that by the evening we can reconvene."

"Ohey!" Shouted Ricardo, again disarranging his muzzle and provoking another overreaction from the healer. Wilhelm, once the situation calmed down again, looked at Ricardo and made a single request.

"I just ask that you take Felix away please. Maybe getting out of here as soon as possible will help speed up his recovery." Ricardo nodded energetically and then both groups, mercenaries and warriors, not counting those whose health was still near the threshold of death, parted ways again.

Three hours passed since the departure of the Fang of Iron and those most injured, so that the group under the command of Wilhelm Van Astrea could follow suit. With the disfigured head of the whale located at the back of the convoy, and the rest of its body completely frozen through the use of magic, the warriors began their journey back to the capital of Lugunica; although prior to that they had to meet with the mercenaries in the City of Flanders, which was a couple of hours away from the plain where the battle had taken place.

The convoy advanced silently along the road that connected its first destination with the Hyclara Plateaus; it was completely desolate. Probably the merchants who had been blocked from passing had spread the word, and this had frightened off all those who intended to cross the road.

For the same reason, when the driver of the carriage leading the convoy shouted "There's someone standing in the middle of the road! How should I proceed?", Wilhelm knew that something was not right; that the battle was not yet over, just changed opponents. Without hesitation, he drew his sword and shouted to his men to stop. His voice did not sound especially loud, but still it was enough for all the drivers to obey in unison.

Wilhelm jumped out of the carriage he was in, the second in the formation, and serenely strode forward to the front of the convoy. Once the front carriage was out of his field of vision, Wilhelm could see him. He was a man in white... And that was it, visually he had no other feature that could stand out besides that. The man in white looked like a completely normal person, if anything from the upper-middle class of society. Still, the white man's white... was not a pure white, he was certain of that. Whoever was in front of him, was not entirely human.