ARC III: The Call of the Five Sinners

Anniversary of Broken Promises

Five Months since the Last Death (Nine Deaths)

The veil of dawn gradually began to brighten the shadow-girded world. With the appearance of the first rays of the morning sun, the songs of the birds and the bustle of the markets began to be heard. From a group of humble houses located near the central market of Lugunica, a group of men emerged; merchants. The sleepy merchants got on a carriage and left for the outskirts of the capital.

Just like those early risers, there were many individuals who were beginning their workday. However, that group of merchants had something in particular. Inside the carriage they were riding were two large wooden chests; both were padlocked. And in the middle of the chests a logo composed of two letters could be seen; H. C. The initials of the Hoshin Company.

"Oi, drive carefully!" Suddenly one of the merchants yelled, addressing the driver.

"It's not my fault. Taro's blessing was rescinded when I stopped to pick you up; if it hadn't been for that, we wouldn't even have felt that bump in the road." With a frown, the driver defended himself as he looked into his carriage, where the merchants were stacked together.

"That's no excuse. If your earth dragon's blessing was disabled then take the opportunity to demonstrate why you are such a highly regarded driver in Lugunica." The merchant who had yelled at him then retorted, dismissing the driver's defense.

The driver made a noise with his tongue, but refrained from further arguing. The truth is that, in part, the merchant was right. Like all earth dragons, his had the Divine Protection of Wind Evasion, whose function is essentially to prevent its user from being affected by the impact of the wind. But its effect goes beyond, far beyond; whatever is in contact with the earth dragon, like a person or even a carriage, also will share the effects of the blessing.

Thanks to this Divine Protection, the earth dragons became the most important beast of burden in the whole continent. Since the wind is unable to affect the dragon and whatever it is carrying, this impedes to experience any kind of buffeting or shaking; to the point that it even prevents a carriage from shaking when crossing over bumps or uneven roads.

But this divine protection has the disadvantage that, if the animal stops after its activation, it will be deactivated, and a cooling time will be necessary. By stopping to allow the boarding of the merchants and their cargo, the blessing had been rescinded. An experienced driver would have been aware of this and would have paid twice as much attention to the road as usual while driving.

The carriage driver sighed heavily. The last month had been especially laborious for him. And while he was grateful that he had had the necessary amount of work to ensure that neither he nor his family suffered from hunger, the truth was that he was already reaching his limit and was worn out. If it were not for that, he would never have made an amateur mistake like the one he had made.

Aware that he had made a mistake and wanting to lighten the heavy atmosphere that had fallen upon them after what had happened, the driver looked at the merchants sideways and opened up a conversation. "And what are you carrying there? Something highly valuable?" The men reluctantly turned to look at him, but refrained from responding. Noticing this, the driver lowered his head in apology before continuing with a verbal apology. "I apologize if my clumsiness jeopardized the integrity of the cargo."

Then, one of the merchants waved his hand idly, as if to indicate not to place any importance on the matter. "We already checked, nothing happened." He asserted, pointing to the chests. "And the fact is that the cargo is indeed valuable… and fragile. It's lighters. I don't know if you've heard of them."

"I have! I didn't even notice the acronym until now." The driver remarked, looking at the two letters on top of the chests. However, this earned him another complaint from the same merchant who had previously yelled at him.

"Could you focus on the road?"

"I'm sorry!" Nervously, the driver tightly held the reins of his dragon and looked back to the front. "It so happens that I've had quite a few jobs in the last month related to these new products from Hoshin Company. Who would've imagined that a foreign company would acquire such importance in the capital...?"

"Well, the original creators of the artifacts are from Lugunica." Pointed out another of the merchants.

"But isn't the mind behind it supposed to be a foreigner?" Another of them wondered.

"Supposedly… The identity of the one who devised all the artifacts is truly a mystery. I've heard that he is the reincarnation of that legendary merchant of Kararagi."

"The reincarnation of Hoshin of the Wilderness…? I'd heard that he comes from another world."

"I also heard that he is the reincarnation of Hoshin, which is why he joined that company. I even heard that he is together with Anastasia Hoshin and wants to take over Lugunica."

"Those are just stupid conspiracy theories. And this thing about him coming from another world was a lie invented by the very creator of the artifacts to cover his tracks; the truth is that nobody knows where he's from, and it's clear that he wants it to stay that way." Stated the assertive merchant in complete confidence, standing up as he spoke.

"Right! Roberto, you'd already done business with the original creators before they joined the Hoshin Company, right?"

"Yes, Otto Suwen did business with me at the time. It didn't end very well, though."

"Your carriage?" Asked the merchant next to him.

"Yeah, that moron Suwen dropped one of the lighters when we were putting them on my carriage; back then they're still in the testing stage and weren't very resistant to impacts... As a result, the fire-stone exploded, and I was left without a carriage. It took me five months to be able to buy a new one. So I refuse to put those things onto one of my carriages again. If they didn't make good money, I probably wouldn't even be doing business with these people's products."

"I didn't know that's how you lost your previous carriage. Didn't you tell me it was stolen because someone wanted to steal the lighters?"

"Suwen paid me not to talk about it. He didn't want me to give his strange artifacts a bad name. And so... business is business. Though I guess it doesn't matter now that I do it, after all they're already quite successful in all of Lugunica." The assertive merchant shrugged and then stopped speaking.

"Umm... do you think something like that could happen to my carriage? I've been transporting those products since the Hoshin Company opened here in Lugunica, and I didn't know they could have that kind of malfunction."

"Nah! I don't think so. There were only three people working on the project at that time. Now they've a huge company endorsing them, so there shouldn't be a problem. Otherwise, I'd never have agreed to be on the same carriage as those things." The driver sighed, finally relaxing his body, which had become rather stiff when he heard what had happened to the merchant. "Still, you mustn't lose sight of the darn road! Stop talking and drive!"

And just as the dawn began to give way to the sun in all its splendor, the inhabitants of Lugunica began to swarm around the stalls. The flow of people was increasing, as was the flow of words and negotiations. The Reinvention Project had started operations a little over a month ago, and its popularity was on a steep rise.

Obviously there existed individuals who were reluctant to use the artifacts devised by Subaru Natsuki because they believed them to be dangerous, but most people had already given in to the temptation to acquire one of them. Demand was high and stocks were low, so it was not uncommon to see strangers arguing over the last of the artifacts in a store or stall.

At first, morbidity and curiosity had been the main inspiration for people to go to the stores or street vendors and buy one. But now more and more people were doing it for the comfort it gave them in their daily routines. The masses yearned for the futuristic technology that came from Subaru's mind, there was absolutely no mistake about that.

Ignorant of the early-morning commotion that was rising in the commercial area of the capital of Lugunica, two young men collided wooden sword with wooden sword. The first, a young man with an elegant and tidy appearance, swung his sword with refinement and nimbleness, eluding the brusque attacks of the second. This young man, unlike the first, was covered in dirt and blood, especially in his arms, and did not seem to possess the slightest talent in handling the sword.

Even so, the second young man seemed to have a certain degree of expertise in using it, since his attacks, though poorly executed, were indeed well aimed. The first youth jumped backwards, easily dodging the thrust intended for his stomach. The second, frustrated at having failed his attack, increased the speed with which he was moving; in vain, since his sword did not even come close to making contact with the first young man.

"I'm tired of this, Shamak!" The young man's cry reverberated throughout the courtyard where they both stood, as a sphere of total darkness appeared behind them. Then, the black sphere emitted a kind of dark aura and everything around it was swallowed up by the shadows. "Great, now's my chance!" The young man then plunged into the shadows, thrusting his sword forward.

"I don't think so." But before the tip of his wooden weapon could make contact with anything, Subaru felt movement within the shadows; something was closing in on him, and fast.

"Crap!" The young man tried to swerve his slash, but it was too late. Before he could even move, something struck him hard on the neck, sending him crashing to the ground. "Arghhh!" The young man exclaimed, spewing out all the air he had stored in his lungs. "Way... too... over... kill..." The young man claimed, amidst panting, struggling to get his breath back.

"Sorry, I guess I got carried away." Then the first youth emerged from the shadows with his hand outstretched. The second youth, dejected, took the hand before him. With a pull, the first lifted the second, then patted him on the shoulder amicably. "But I must admit you have improved, Subaru. The first time you practiced with me, you couldn't dodge a single one of my strikes. Today you dodged almost half of them."

"Almost half... Why do you speak as if it were a good thing? If it were real life, I'd be dead by now." Disdainfully, Subaru pushed the hand of the elegant young man away as he responded negatively to his compliment.

"Yet this is not real life, but a practice. And the point of practice is that you improve yourself; if you have nothing to improve, then all this would be useless." The young man argued, staring at Subaru.

"That only applies if there's room for improvement. And I'm completely incompetent in every sense. You talk about me dodging almost half of your strikes, but you forget that I couldn't hit you even once. We've been training together for over two months, and I've hardly improved at all." Brooding, Subaru, with his eyes downcast, sat down on the grass field on which he had been practicing fencing; the courtyard of Anastasia Hoshin's mansion.

"What are you talking about, Subaru? Why can't you stop looking at everything so negatively? You are already capable of using Shamak without problems, I would even say that you do it perfectly. There are few people with an affinity for the magical element of Yin, and even fewer who are able to effectively use its spells. Now, you are one of those people. You should be proud of that, not disappointed that you didn't succeed in striking a Knight of the Royal Guard."

Subaru, listless, raised his gaze to then meet the knight's. "Julius… That magic wasn't mine." Subaru argued, shaking his head from side to side. "It was Kuro's."

Julius did not reply immediately. For a while, he stared at Subaru in complete silence. When he finally broke his silence, he recited six names. "Ia, Kua, Aro, Ik, In, Nes." At Julius's call, six spheres of light appeared around him. With a steadfast mettle like a steel beam, Julius approached Subaru slightly, aiming to get his message across as clearly as possible. "Spirit Arts, unlike magic, may not make use of the Od of their user; and instead their spirit uses the mana from the environment. But that doesn't mean the user isn't contributing. Only with the assistance of the person with whom they have formed a contract, can a lesser spirit unfold its full potential. Thus, a proper user of the Spirit Arts needs to work hard in order to form a strong bond with his or her spirit; and you know it. Clearly you have strived to develop a strong bond with Kuro; so, if not for yourself, at least respect what that bond implies for him. Please do not sully the efforts and honor of us Spirit Arts Users."

"Don't you think you took it too personally?" Subaru asked, looking away from the knight and landing his gaze on one of his swollen arms. I'll have to talk to the doctor soon, or I might get gangrene again; he thought, scratching the reddened skin over the bandage that wrapped it.

"No, I don't think so. And Subaru, you should take your role as a Spirit Arts User more seriously, or that stagnation you complain about so much, will become a stark reality before you know it." Julius then waved his hand, and the six spheres of light disappeared.

"It's easy for you to say, Julius. You've an enormous talent, unlike me. That's why you're also known as the Spirit Knight."

"Are you implying that I haven't had to make any effort to get where I am?" Julius asked, frowning slightly.

"Of course not!" Subaru exclaimed, standing up abruptly. "Aren't you paying attention to me?! I'm talking about potential, Julius! No matter how hard I try, I'll never be one iota closer to being like you! I was born useless, worthless, and so will I die... Given what I've accomplished after these months of training, I might barely escape a potential attacker for a couple of minutes; that's all. I'll never be able to face death and spit in its face!"

"May I know what you would achieve with it? Because I'm sure the answer is nothing." Faced with the silence of Subaru, Julius brought his hands to his face to massage his temples. "Listen, Subaru, I don't know what your disturbing obsession with death is, and the truth is that many things you say I'm simply incapable of fathoming. So I will not waste my time lecturing you on something that I am unable to empathize with with you. However, I'll tell you this: sometimes running away is enough."

"Say what?" Subaru queried Julius, finally deigning to look at him again.

"Yes, what you heard. You don't have to keep trying to be the hero, Subaru. I'm going to be straight with you; you're right, you don't have a talent for fighting." Subaru grimaced at such a statement, but did not dare to contradict it. "But that's fine." Then, the grimace on the black-haired man's face turned into a gesture of misunderstanding. "Do I really have to spell it out for you? Subaru, your fighting ability is mediocre, poor; but your talent for designing innovative devices and your ability to get out of situations where you are utterly out of your depth are not."

"Only because of my Divine Protection..." Subaru retorted, clutching his arms lightly.

"And isn't your Divine Protection a part of you?" The knight asked rhetorically. "Thanks to that blessing you have, you saved many lives." At such a statement, Subaru wrinkled his face in disgust. "I know you think it isn't like that, but you are wrong. Thanks to your blessing, Anastasia-sama is still alive. With your talent, you have influenced the lives of thousands of people; you have started to change the world, Subaru."

"What the hell do ya mean?"

"Have you not been paying attention lately during Hoshin Company meetings?"

"I haven't been attending lately…" Subaru replied, embarrassed. And it's not that I was doing it just for the sake of it. Anastasia used to hold the meetings in the middle of the morning, and since he initiated his training sessions with Julius, his routine had been greatly altered once again…

That day, more than two months ago, Subaru accompanied Julius to the courtyard of the mansion. Both of them, making use of the wooden swords that Julius and members of the Iron Fang used for training, began a brief practice match; one in which Subaru got totally wrecked. Julius, according to his word, did not hold back, thus demonstrating that even in his weakened state he was still far above Subaru.

However, this humiliating beating was not enough to break Subaru's spirit; quite the contrary. From then on, the two trained for one hour, every day during the early morning hours, only except for those days when Julius was not at the mansion or otherwise available. In which case, Subaru would go over every teaching of the knight by himself.

It was after a couple of weeks of starting this new routine, during his return to Kararagi, that the same sorceress who saved him from dying devoured by mabeasts along with a healer and a tiger-shaped warrior, confirmed his greatest fear. Not only did he lack a magical aptitude, but he also possessed an affinity for the Yin element; a type of magic focused only on weakening effects, aka debuffs.

Thus, on the eve of the anniversary of his arrival in that world, Subaru saw his last hope of compensating for his physical weakness utterly crushed. However, Julius offered him an alternative. The knight spoke to him about the other kind of user of magic, the user of the Spirit Arts; the one who is able to use magic through pacts or contracts with spirits. After a quick test using his own spirits as a testing tool, Julius determined that he possessed a high degree of compatibility with them.

Therefore, Julius committed himself to find a spirit compatible with his magical affinity, and after a week, when they were in the middle of moving part of the Hoshin Company to Lugunica, the knight honored his word; something that would have been surprising, if it were not that the Divine Protection of the knight basically turned him into a spirit magnet. Subaru renamed his Lesser Spirit as Kuro and began taking his training more seriously.

After forming his contract with Kuro, Subaru went through a short period of emotional bonanza. A year had passed since he had turned away from the promise he had made to Emilia, but he finally felt that he could take that step towards overcoming his weaknesses that he had longed for. Still, the days passed, and then the weeks, and he was still unable to conjure up a single spell. Julius assumed that it was due to the bond he and Kuro shared, so Subaru then put even more effort into his training, always keeping in mind the ephemeral presence of his Lesser Spirit.

By the end of two months, he was finally able to use Shamak, the most basic Yin spell. And Subaru felt empty... Not what he had expected. Subaru knew what Shamak did, Julius had explained to him, yet... All he could do was create a cloak of darkness to conceal his escapes. Although that is what he had originally aimed at, that is true...

As long as I can extend the length of my life by a few seconds... With this in mind, he had asked Julius to allow him to accompany him during his training. But now, now that he had spent two months training every day, he felt that he wanted more, that he deserved more. And that was when his enthusiasm and determination completely waned.

The training and his long sessions sketching artifacts eventually took their toll on him. Exhaustion finally got the better of him, and even though he didn't want to plunge into the frightening world of his dreams, he began to find it impossible to stay awake. After months without sleep, his body forced him to take long naps, which led to him waking up normally until after noon. Attending meetings concerning the Reinvention Project ceased to be a possibility for him...

"Well, it may be no different than what you heard the last time you attended a meeting, but the Reinvention Project is a huge success. And not only that... I know you don't get out of the mansion much, so you might be surprised to learn that your artifacts have been changing people's lives. Little by little, the lifestyle in Lugunica is starting to shift, and this is mainly due to you."

"For the better?" Subaru, expressionless, stared at Julius and asked that question. The knight looked at him somewhat puzzled, causing Subaru to rephrase his query. "Is Lugunica's lifestyle changing for the better?" Subaru did not want to be responsible for ruining thousands of lives, which is why he had been reluctant to create his version of a firearm. So Subaru wanted to hear confirmation that he had not made a mistake along the way and contributed to the creation of an "atrocity".

"In many respects, yes." The knight replied. Subaru seemed willing to request him to elaborate on this, but before he could do so they were interrupted.

"Julius-sama! Julius-sama! Milady has summoned you!" One of the mansion's butlers appeared in the courtyard with a message from Anastasia. The man looked at Julius as he conveyed what he had been told, and then he noticed Subaru's presence. "Oh! Perfect! You were here too, Subaru-sama. You must come too."

"A meeting, you say?" Subaru questioned, bewildered. Not that she had failed to understand the meaning of Anastasia's words, he merely wanted to make sure that his broken mind was not making him hear things.

"Exactly, Natsuki-kun!" Replied the lilac-haired girl, palms clasped together. "It's been almost a year since the Royal Selection kicked off. Almost a year has passed since the last time the four candidates met together in the same room. So I thought: Why not use an excuse so that we can all gather together? And that's how I decided to summon them here, the capital, under the pretext of addressin' the issue concernin' the fifth candidate. After all, just as the anniversary of the inauguration of the Royal Selection's 'bout to be celebrated, so is the period of the great search for the fifth candidate. From the beginnin' it was an anomaly that four candidates were accepted, but I find it extremely curious that the Sage Council hasn't mentioned anythin' to us about it after all this time…"

"Hmm… You are absolutely correct, Anastasia-sama. The Royal Guard has not been told about the matter either; or at least Captain Marcos has not informed us about it." The girl's knight nodded, speaking in favor of her concerns.

"It's as ya say Julius. The truth's that I can't complain about my connections both here in the kingdom and in the whole Kararagi. And yet, I haven't gotten any information related to the fifth candidate; it's as if the event was planned from the beginnin' with only four candidates. Unheard of, considerin' that the Dragon Tablet explicitly stated that five women would be the candidates for the throne of Lugunica; no more, no less. So I'd like to hear my rivals' opinion on this. Also, hopefully, our unexpected meetin' puts some pressure on the Sage Council and forces them to disclose whatever they're hidin' from us."

"Interesting way to approach the issue, Anastasia. Nothing less could be expected of you." With a small smile, Subaru looked at the merchant with a slight gleam in his eye.

"Ya're so sweet, Natsuki-kun." She replied, gently waving her hand covered with a thin purple cloth glove. "However, I'm sure that in my haste to find a way to meet before the anniversary date, I left somethin' out. That's why I wanted ya to come, too, Natsuki-kun. Though ya constantly insist that ya're worthless, I know that ya're actually quite resourceful and extremely competent, especially when it comes to thinkin' outside the box. So I'd like yer opinion on the matter. Do ya think I'm ignorin' somethin' of importance?"

The girl's praise, as usual, was ineffective on Subaru, who insisted on refusing to accept that he possessed any value. However, Anastasia's words did in fact have a strong impact on Subaru, however, the effect was the opposite of what she wanted. What Anastasia Hoshin said had touched sensitive fibers, leaving behind enormous wounds in the heart and soul of the young man she held dear.

On the one hand, there was the aforementioned anniversary of the start of the Royal Selection. This date would bring with it the beginning of his journey towards the longed-for happy ending that so eluded him. A road that, despite the time that had passed, had barely begun to be traveled. In fact, it was possible to say that, on more than one occasion, instead of going forward, he went backwards.

Despite all he had accomplished regarding the Reinvention Project, it was impossible for him not to feel that he had stalled throughout the year. He felt more incomplete, miserable and empty than ever. He needed a way to be fully prepared for when the "Client" attacked again, but all he had accomplished was to improve his mediocre ability to escape danger only marginally.

And that was not all that tormented him. There was also what happened with the fall of Crusch Karsten's faction. If he had not been so selfish, he could have helped the woman and her subordinates, but in the end he had disregarded her existence, as had all those who had forgotten her. To know that he could have done something, but had decided not to, weighed heavily on the conscience of Subaru.

That Anastasia decided to investigate the absence of the fifth candidate only served to make Subaru's emotional burden heavier; after all, Crusch would not be coming back. Instead, it was Emilia who would do so. A couple of months after the anniversary of his arrival in that world, Subaru would reunite with her; or at least she would if Anastasia ended up holding the reunion in her mansion.

The same applied to Felt. He would be reunited with the first two people he turned his back on in that world, and he didn't think he was in any condition to endure it. Mentally, Subaru was exhausted, and all that only worsened his mood. For the same reason, Subaru had no choice but to dodge the issue. Shaking his head, Subaru denied having come up with anything that could serve Anastasia.

"I-I'm sorry, Anastasia. Honestly, I can't think of anything." He knew, he knew why there were only four candidates for the Royal Selection, he knew because he was the only one who remembered the missing candidate, but he was too much of a coward to reveal it. Anastasia, still satisfied with his answer, intertwined the fingers of her hands.

"In that case, I'm sure I didn't overlook anythin'. Thanks, Natsuki-kun!" With a fake smile, Subaru said goodbye to Anastasia and went back into his room to fall on his bed of nightmares. Dates were piling up, and Subaru still couldn't find the answers and solutions he craved for, leaving him alone with an anniversary of broken promises.