Arrangements for a Journey of Unforeseen Return
Fourteen Hours since the Last Death (Fifty Deaths)
Had his first steps in that world been marginally different, Natsuki Subaru's destiny would have consisted of taking the burden of others for himself; he would have become the pillar that would allow his allies to fare unrestrained. However, under the guidance of a false virtue, his role would now be to force others to shoulder his own heavy burden; to feel in his own flesh the weight of the sins that weighed down his body.
Revenge had permeated the essence of his being, false humility had corrupted his spirit. Hope and naivety had been forcibly taken from him, and with it his mental stability had crumbled. Having been cornered, Subaru had no choice but to throw off the morality that fettered him; now, if something had to be done, it would be done, regardless of the means or the consequences it might entail.
The human mind is designed to adapt. Only those willing to fight for their lives can survive. Only those willing to cast away that which limits and constrains them, are destined for greatness in the cruel battlefield that was that world. At least that was how Subaru had come to view things. If only he had not died more than forty times in a single day, perhaps his mind had not fragmented to the point where concepts such as ethics and morality almost completely lost their meaning for him, perhaps his destiny had not strayed so far off its original course…
Wiping the blood and dirt that stained his face off with a handkerchief, Subaru waited for Halibel to rejoin him. His meeting with one of his "comrades" had come to an end, and with that out of the way, he was free to leave the Royal Capital. First, however, he had to make certain preparations. To begin with, they lacked a means of transportation with which to travel through the roads of that world.
How he would solve this was not too complex. Subaru rarely spent the money Anastasia paid him for his work. In his time as an employee of the Hoshin Trading Company, Subaru had managed to amass a small fortune. With what he had, he would be able to afford a dragon carriage and essentials such as food and water for several days; moreover, he was sure that with the surplus money they would be able to live well for several months.
However, money was not unlimited, and therefore Anastasia had decided that they would acquire goods along the way, and then resell them in cities where these proved difficult to acquire, and therefore their demand would be greater. Before leaving, he also wanted to talk to Ram; once he heard her perspective of what had happened in the castle, he would consider his quest for information over.
"You'd me worried back there, Su-san. I thought ya'd die because of yer stubbornness." Subaru turned to the voice that just interrupted his thoughts, as he put away the now dirty handkerchief.
"I almost died, Hal-san, won't deny it. But it all ended up working out in the end." Subaru replied, nonchalantly.
"So... That monster's now our bud?"
"Yup, I managed to convince him of my affiliation to the witch, and that was enough for him to deem me as some sort of envoy of hers." Subaru briefed, only to then add with distaste. "I don't like the idea, but his help could come in handy, so we'll just have to go along with it."
"And if he ever tries to betray ya, I'll be sure to do away with 'im." Halibel assured, twirling a kunai around one of her fingers. "I ain't sure if that'll be necessary, though." He continued, glancing down at the package Subaru had placed on his own lap. "Su-san, that new ability o' yours, the Authority of Wrath, 's quite somethin'."
"It may be, but it's still too damn inconsistent..." Subaru replied, with a tone of annoyance. "If my enemy possesses strong mental fortitude, it won't be of much use to me. Besides, it has the disadvantage that I feel the pain I want to make others feel... I'll have to learn to control it before we meet Gluttony or Lust, or I might once again be unable to be of any help in combat."
"I'm sure you'll pull it off, Su-san." Halibel comforted him, giving him a small pat on the back.
"I hope you're right, Hal-san. After all, we've some very tough shit ahead of us." And with these words, the group returned to the city.
The return trip differed from the outward journey in that the streets of the capital were no longer desolate. From people desperate to leave the city in the next carriage whose driver was willing to drive them out of there, to opportunists who had begun to loot the freshly deserted houses; the city had regained some of its life, however, it was far from the usual scenery.
As they passed near where the main market of the business district was located, Subaru had instinctively wrinkled his nose. The stench of death had intensified, despite the efforts of the guards to collect the corpses and take them to mass graves where they would later be cremated. Perhaps claiming that the city had regained some of its life had been a mistake, if anything the city was now nothing more than a living dead.
Subaru was unable to fully relax until he handed one of the mansion's guards Patrasche's reins. Followed by Halibel, Subaru was about to enter the hall of the mansion, when he bumped into Otto and Leith at the threshold of the entrance. They were at first surprised to see him, but their expressions quickly became filled with contempt and resentment.
"Hey, Natsuki, did you finish what you'd to do in the castle? Did you find what you're looking for?" Otto asked, his voice laden with sarcasm and disdain.
"Yeah, I guess sacrificing you guys was worth it." Subaru replied, forcing a smirk on his lips.
"You bastard!" Not taking Subaru's comment well at all, Leith, who had been hiding behind Otto, stepped out and threw a punch aimed at Subaru's face. The latter dodged it with no problem at all.
"I didn't see you two last night. Did the guards end up allowing you to temporarily leave the mansion?" Subaru asked, glancing towards Otto, thus deliberately ignoring Leith, whose face flushed with anger.
"We fell asleep early in the room provided for us. After you stopped us from going in search of Leith's family, there wasn't much left for us to do anymore." Said Otto, who unlike Leith, seemed to be having no trouble keeping his composure; Subaru could tell that his friend had already resigned himself to the fate Subaru had forced upon them.
"You may still think I did wrong in holding you guys like that against your will, but I can tell ya that all I did was save you two. So I'm not gonna say I regret doing it."
"My family would be alive if it weren't for-!" Leith spat angrily, but before he could finish saying what he wanted to say, he was cut off by Subaru.
"Your family was already dead, man. And you would've died too if I hadn't done what I did."
"In that case I would have rather died with them!" Shouted the craftsman, enraged.
"You would have dragged Otto with you, Leith..." Subaru stated, shaking his head. Hearing this, made Leith freeze, his eyes wide open. Subaru continued. "Do whatever you want to do. If you wanna go in search of the bodies, you are free to do so. I'll probably be gone from this dead city by tomorrow, so I highly recommend you find another associate. Goodbye, you two." And with those parting words, Subaru finally walked into the mansion...
"Don'tcha think ya were too hard on 'em, Su-san?" Halibel asked him, when they were already in one of the mansion's hallways.
"Perhaps... But there was no other way for them to understand. Fate is sometimes unalterable, Hal-san, and they simply refused to realize it." Halibel shot a sharp side-glance at Subaru after hearing him say such a thing.
"That's a bit hypocritical of ya."
"Maybe. I didn't understand it either, it's true... But I was forced to. When I told 'em that Leith's family had died, I was certain that it was irreversible. They knew of my Divine Protection, and yet they refused to listen to me. That's why I was forced to take extreme measures. But it doesn't matter anymore, they can do whatever the fuck they want with their lives, I'll no longer feel responsible for what happens to them."
"Hmm... I ain't sure if I quite follow ya, Su-san... But it's clear to me that ya experienced some damn torture yesterday." Halibel said, trying to sound sympathetic.
"... Maybe even worse than that." Subaru muttered, thus ending the conversation.
Now silent, the pair walked down the corridors of the mansion until they reached Subaru's room. That would be a short stop, Subaru would take some of his saved money and set off again in search of some merchant desperate to dispose of his wares. It was plain to see that it would be several weeks, even months, before the city could recover from the aftermath of the Witch Cult's attack.
Many of those who made a living trading in non-essential goods would find it necessary to leave the city before the financial crisis ruined them. Subaru could only guess at the number of victims reached during the attack, but given what he had come to see in the commercial district, it was clear that it numbered in the tens of thousands.
With a significant part of the city's population decimated, and the evacuation of another large part of it, there was no doubt that hard times were looming over the Royal Capital. It would be the responsibility of the nobles who did not abandon the city and the Sage Council to restore the city to its former glory; Subaru was convinced that, had she not lost her name, Anastasia would have been among the first to strive to stabilize the area's economy.
The remaining candidates had a golden chance to overtake Anastasia, and so it was vital that he find Gluttony as soon as possible. Perhaps Anastasia's campaign was not a priority at the moment, but Subaru had not yet discarded his goal of doing everything in his power to secure the throne of Lugunica for Anastasia.
"Natsuki-kun! You're back!" Subaru was pulled out of his musings by the very person he had been thinking about. "How'd the meeting go, did anythin' important happen?"
Subaru looked towards Anastasia, who was coming from the opposite side of the corridor from where Halibel and he were coming from. The wooden door to Subaru's room was the only thing separating them. Subaru gestured to the door with his eyes. "Let's talk about it in my room."
"Oh! Yes, you're right, we'd better do that." Anastasia replied, immediately understanding Subaru's intention.
Subaru then grabbed the steel knob, turned it and opened the door. After a small peek inside his room, he noticed that it seemed somewhat different from the last time he had been there. It was apparent that Anastasia had had a fair amount of time off, as she had made the most of it to tidy the room up. He motioned with his head for his boss to go in first, and following her, Halibel and Subaru did the same.
Once the room was cut off from the corridor by the wooden door, Subaru sat up in his bed and shot a look of puzzlement at Anastasia. "Where were you? I figured you wouldn't want to leave my room after everything that went down."
"I really wasn't plannin' to." She stated, as she sat down next to Subaru. "But I couldn't bear not knowing anything 'bout Tivey and Hetaro's condition..." She added, crestfallen.
"So... How did it go?" Subaru inquired, looking at her sympathetically.
"Are ya seriously asking me that when you haven't even answered me that very question?" Anastasia snapped, her words infused with a tinge of annoyance. At the girl's question, Subaru nodded calmly, causing her to sigh, defeated. "Nothin' unexpected happened. The brothers are fine, they're both awake by the time I paid them a visit. It doesn't seem that what happened has left them with serious after-effects, though both seem to remain exhausted no matter how much they rest. According to Kitzu, this may be due to the enormous strain placed on their bodies by… what happened with Mimi... Both were already told 'bout it; they're very down..."
"They're not the only ones who're down about what happened with Mimi… Though I've no doubt they're the most affected by it." Subaru remarked, almost in a whisper; a melancholic expression had taken shape on his face.
"You cared for her a lot, didn'tcha, Natsuki-kun?" Anastasia inquired, as she took a hold of Subaru's hand that was closest to her.
"I know I've no right to talk about it; out of everyone in this place, I was the one who spent the shortest time with her..." Subaru claimed, pulling his hand away from Anastasia's.
"Don't say that. Ya may not have known her as well as Ricardo, Tivey, Hetaro or I did, but that doesn't mean you weren't an important part of her life. She adored and admired ya, regarded you as an important part of her huge family that was the Fang of Iron. And I know that she was also someone important to you, and that's one of the reasons you wanna find Gluttony. So don't belittle yourself and the friendship that the two of you had, she wouldn't have liked that."
"Okay, I get it, I get it! Let's not talk about it anymore, please, it makes me feel depressed." Subaru cried out, as he struggled, in vain, to wipe away the tears he had begun to shed, without Anastasia noticing.
"Don't you think it's a little late for appearances, Su-san?" Halibel quipped teasingly, causing Subaru to shoot him an icy glare.
"Anyhow... You only went to the room where the siblings are? You didn't go around the mansion looking for someone who might recognize you?" That was nothing more than a poor attempt on Subaru's part to change the subject, after all, he knew that the chances of them finding someone capable of remembering Anastasia were nil. Just as everyone had forgotten Crusch Karsten, Anastasia had been forgotten by everyone.
"No, I just went there and came back, I didn't wander around much on the way. And, of course, no one recognized me. In fact, more than once someone came up to me to ask who I was, it was a bit awkward, to be honest..." Anastasia said, with mild distaste. "From what I'd hear, though, with my... uhm... disappearance, Finn-san regained ownership of the Hoshin Company, or maybe I should say Ryuushika Company? Anyway, it seems he got the company back, and besides, the Fang of Iron now works for 'im."
"Hmm... Right, I do recall Ricardo telling me about it." Subaru remarked, nodding.
"Coulda told me sooner, don'tcha think?" Anastasia complained, huffing.
"My bad, sorry! After everything that took place, I forgot to mention it to you!" Subaru excused himself, as he raised both hands in front of him to protect himself from the little girl's murderous gaze.
"Yes, I guess you're right..." Anastasia granted, softening her gaze; much to Subaru's peace of mind. "It didn't really make much of a difference, though, to be honest... Most of my money's with the company's treasury, there's no way we can get access to it. I hid a small part of it in my office, but I don' think it's enough."
"Don't worry about that, if we pool what we both have and invest it well along the way, it'd be enough for us not to run into any financial problems for as long as our journey may last." Subaru affirmed, sounding optimistic.
"I'm truly sorry I've nothin' ta brin' to the table, Su-san." Halibel said, chagrined.
"Don't be sorry, I know you're used to living one day at a time. I do wish you'd stop splurging on booze during the journey, though."
In response to what Subaru said, Anastasia suddenly sprang up to her feet. "I object, Natsuki-kun! Booze's as important a resource as water or food."
"Goddamnit, what am I gonna do with this pair of drunkards?" Subaru muttered as he face-palmed.
Sixteen Hours since the Last Death (Fifty Deaths)
When he came out of his room, Subaru did it on his own. They had decided that Halibel would sneak into Anastasia's office and retrieve the savings she had stashed there; after all, if Anastasia entered that room, trouble was bound to ensue. In solitude, Subaru once again navigated through those hallways he had come to know so well.
He would move about the city, in search of a medium-sized carriage that could accommodate Anastasia, Halibel and him. Who would pull the carriage? Why, Patrasche, of course. Perhaps because of her size she might not appear so, but his newly acquired earth dragon was capable of hauling quite a bit of weight; if she hadn't been able to carry him and Utada, or him and Halibel, before, it was because both demi-humans were especially large in frame, while Patrasche was not.
Yet, a carriage suitable for her would solve that problem. Once he procured the carriage, he would return to the mansion. As for who would go to buy the food and other essential supplies, Subaru had already taken it upon himself to ask one of the mansion's employees to do so; upon returning, Subaru would pay him. Since he was someone of importance there, such a request was not unreasonable.
Upon walking into the hall, much to Subaru's surprise, he found two girls he recognized immediately. One of them turned to look at him, probably because the sound of the opening door caught her attention. They both looked at each other for a few seconds, and then the girl looked away, showing perfect indifference to his presence.
"Ram-san, Emilia-sama, how are you two this morning?" Subaru's greeting was completely ignored. However, Subaru could tell that only one of the two was consciously doing so. Emilia was apparently still in a deep state of shock. Since he got no response, Subaru added. "I'm glad to see that you're doing... well." Were they really? They were alive, of course, but Ram's large dark circles under her eyes and pale skin, in addition to Emilia's deteriorated mental state, suggested otherwise.
Sighing heavily, Subaru walked over to the girls. He looked at one of the mansion's guards and asked him to fetch Patrasche. His earth dragon had been taken to the stables to be fed; the last thing he wanted was to make the same mistakes as her previous owner, he had already done that too many times in other loops. With that done, Subaru glanced back at Ram. She was not returning his gaze, yet it was evident that she was aware that Subaru was staring at her.
"You're correct, we are just wonderfully, so stop looking at me like that, it's disgusting." Ram spat, disdainfully. However, Subaru refrained from giving in to her provocations, which caused the girl to sigh in annoyance. "I don't like you, but the truth is, the least I can do is thank you."
"Huh?" Subaru voiced in confusion. That was not the reaction he was expecting. Thank him? For what? Subaru had no memory of doing anything deserving of it.
"Don't make that face, you look even dumber than you already are."
"Could you not be so aggressive? You said you're going to thank me, didn't you?"
"Ha! That still doesn't change what you are." Replied the girl with derision. "But yes, I must thank you, likewise I must thank you on behalf of Emilia-sama. The Kararagi mercenary told me, that you sent him to the castle to save us, and that you asked him to wait there until I woke up. I don't know what ulterior motives you might have for doing such a thing, but I can assure you that I won't allow you to lay a finger on Emilia-sama. Even so... Thank you."
Ram, who was sitting in one of the hall seats next to Emilia, stood up and made a small bow, all formalities that were very much in keeping with her position. Still, Subaru could not help but feel somewhat ashamed. Truth be told, Subaru had never ordered such a thing to Halibel, however Anastasia's vanishing had caused such confusion, and for the sake of convenience he would not correct the misunderstanding.
"I have no ulterior motives, I simply did it because I didn't want Ana-... I didn't want Ryuushika-sama's reputation to be tarnished by the death of his important guests, especially given that Emilia-sama's a candidate for King."
"You don't sound very convincing... I'll believe you, nonetheless. Still, don't think I'm going to let you come near us with the excuse that you saved us." Claimed the girl, using her body to shield Emilia.
"That ain't my intention, relax." Subaru insisted. Having said this, Subaru remained silent. He wished to question Ram about what happened at the mansion, however, he could not find a way to broach the subject. To his luck, pink-haired girl was the first to speak.
"I heard that the purple-haired lady came with you. I would also like to thank her on behalf of Emilia-sama."
"Huh? The purple-haired lady? You mean Anastasia?" Subaru asked, dumbfounded.
"So that's her name... Yes, I'm certain she's the same lady who stayed by Emilia-sama's side when she was attacked by the Archbishop of Gluttony. She somehow disappeared shortly before the mercenary appeared... Even so I would like to personally thank her. She, in contrast to Felt-sama, stood by Emilia-sama's side until I arrived to stop the bloody runt from doing anything to Emilia-sama."
"Runt? You mean the Archbishop of Gluttony?" Anastasia had already provided him with a description of the vile Archbishop, but admittedly her memories of what had happened had become hazy after her name was devoured. This was the reason why he still wanted to hear Ram's point of view of what transpired.
"Yes... He was an insolent, yet exceedingly powerful runt. Had it not been for something disturbing him shortly before I engaged him for the second time, it is quite possible that I would've been killed."
"Something disturbed him? You wouldn't happen to know what did it?"
"No. I have little recollection of my clash with Gluttony. And, to be honest, I'd rather not talk about that nasty creep anymore." It was evident that Ram was not comfortable talking about Gluttony and her fight with him.
"Well, if you don't wanna talk about it, I won't force you into it… About Anastasia, she's in my room. I can go get her if you wish."
"There's no need for you to go looking for her and waste her time. The deal between Roswaal-sama and the owner of the mansion hasn't expired, so we'll probably stay here until tomorrow." Said Ram, thus sparing Subaru from being forced to return to his room.
"If you don't get to see her, I'll thank her for you."
"I appreciate it..." Ram's tone of voice remained curt and cold, but Subaru could sense that her impression of him had improved, if only slightly. A calm silence fell between them, Ram, who had said what she had to say, and Subaru, who could not find a way to address the other topic he wished to discuss with her. The silence went on for several seconds, until Ram moved her lips again. "Do you require anything else from me? Ram has the heart of a pure lady, so having helped us will not be enough to make her fall for you."
"N-No, no, you're misunderstanding me." Subaru asserted, as he frantically waved his hands in front of the maid's face, who again looked askance at him. Sighing, Subaru added. "The truth is, there's something I'd like to ask you."
"If it involves Roswaal-sama, I will not answer it." Ram declared coldly.
"Don't jump to conclusions so rashly!" Subaru exclaimed, looking slightly exasperated, not only by the maid's attitude, but by his inability to directly ask what he wished to ask. "Halibel, the mercenary who saved you, told me about what happened before he found you, about how even though you're an Oni, you don't have horns-"
"Don't you consider that you are once again meddling in matters that do not concern you?" Ram questioned, cutting him off. It was obvious that hearing about her hornlessness had upset her.
"Forgive me if it's like that, but I need to ask you. I need to understand. You get it, right?" The pink-haired maid shot him a look of misunderstanding, so Subaru found himself needing to elaborate. "The candidates for the throne were attacked by the Archbishop of Gluttony, who was supposed to be dead; and now there're only three candidates. Don't you find that strange? Don't you think it's too much of a coincidence?"
"Huh? What are you on about? There have always been three..." Suddenly, Ram stopped talking. This was a sign to Subaru that the girl finally grasped what Subaru was implying.
"If you had not put your life in danger in order to protect your mistress, it's likely that both of you would've been wiped out of existence, or worse. The same if Halibel had not gotten there in time." Hearing this, Ram lowered her head slightly. He hated himself for manipulating her like that, but he needed to understand... "How did you two end up in that plight? It's well known that Emilia-sama has a contract with the Beast of the End, how come you were overpowered in such a way?"
"I see..." Ram muttered, looking up at Subaru again. As she did so, Ram caught a glimpse of a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Did you lose someone? Was your mistress one of the missing candidates?" Subaru refrained from answering, wearing a deadpan countenance. "All right, I'll tell you; and only because I don't think you're capable of using that information against us."
"Thanks." Ram was being sincere, or was just acting like a typical Tsundere, Subaru was unsure.
"But after listening to my answer, leave us alone." Subaru assented to the aggressive proposal. "... It's been like this ever since Emilia-sama killed one of the Archbishop of Sloth's dangerous underlings; fingers, he called them. Since then, Emilia-sama has lost her ability to summon the Great Spirit-sama in situations of high stress for her. According to Roswaal-sama, this is something she does unconsciously, and its origin can be none other than a deep trauma that may have been ingrained in her mind for years."
"A trauma ingrained in her mind for years, huh? Possibly something during her fight against Petelgeuse's finger caused it to resurface and compound..." Subaru mused aloud.
"If you interrupt me again I will consider this conversation over." Ram warned, scowling. Subaru apologized, and so Ram continued. "You're not wrong. For the same reason, it is that Roswaal-sama deemed that only time could heal her emotional wound. However, it has been almost a year since then and her condition remains the same. Due to what happened at the Royal Castle, it will probably take several days for the Great Spirit-sama accompanying Emilia-sama to show itself again; the same applies to her mental state, several days will be needed for the miss to recover. So for the time being, we have no choice but to trust that Ryuushika-sama will adhere to the contract he established with Roswaal-sama."
"You can rely on the Fang of Iron to take care of protecting you in the time it takes for someone to come for you. Given what happened, I'm guessing you were pretty shaken up yourself, so get some rest for now."
"Ha! I don't intend to stand idly by and do nothing like a mediocre employee such as yourself would do. If I've to give up my life to save Emilia-sama, I'll do it." Declared the maid, looking down at Subaru; this attitude wrung a sigh of defeat out of Subaru. Apparently her gratitude had not lasted long.
"Anyway... Thank you for telling me about it, at least now I've a better understanding of why things happened the way they did." The girl nodded in response to his words and returned to Emilia's side. Subaru then resumed his way to the outside of the mansion.
As he crossed the exit threshold, Subaru could not help but think about the girl's words and her facial expression. The first thing he had come to think was that Ram had given him more information than he expected. A maid with a stern personality like her would never have revealed so much information about her mistress.
However, this impression of Subaru had changed drastically. Rather, Ram had merely told him what he wanted to hear and nothing more. After all, it was obvious that she had not told him everything about what had happened with Gluttony; he could only wonder how much she had omitted to tell him about Emilia's condition. Were her memories really blurry? Was it an excuse, or had she been telling the truth? Perhaps she was not lying, after all, her forehead had indeed bled profusely during her fight against Gluttony. Though that made it necessary to ask, how had she survived?
If he remembered correctly, Halibel, in one of the many loops that took place in the castle garden, mentioned that it should be impossible for an Oni to survive without their horns. With them, this species was able to absorb mana from the environment and use it as a source of energy and powerful magic. However, Ram had pushed herself to her limit and had even lost consciousness. Was she really all right, as she wanted to make it seem?
Whether she dies or not is really no concern of mine; he thought, bringing his current train of thought to an end. He might still have questions about what happened during the fight with Gluttony and about Emilia's trauma; but regarding the former, he was certain that nothing he could discover at that point would be of any use in achieving his goal, and regarding the latter, it was really none of his business.
Perhaps it was cruel to think that way, but Subaru had already wrapped up his affairs with Ram and Emilia. He could now consider his debt paid, and was free to travel the world in search of revenge. What might happen to those he was leaving behind was no longer of importance to him.
Seventeen Hours since the Last Death (Fifty Deaths)
"This one will do." Subaru said, pleased.
After much searching in the nobility district, he had stumbled upon a carriage merchant desperate to get rid of his overstock. Just by looking at him from a distance, Subaru had figured out what had happened to him, and he had not been mistaken. This was a craftsman and merchant who sold his high quality works. Thanks to his great technique, his carriages were decorated with exquisite details.
Since his grandfather, himself a craftsman, had moved to the city decades before, the family had been selling carriages by order to the nobles of the city. However, the carriage merchant had several carriages on display that he needed to get rid of in order to leave the city. And since he was in a hurry to sell them, Subaru fetched a very good price.
"I truly appreciate it! Hardly anyone owns an earth dragon as svelte as yours and is willing to use it to pull a carriage, so I'd had a lot of trouble getting rid of-, err, selling that carriage."
"I'm the one who oughta thank you, I was really beginning to fear that I wasn't going to find anyone selling a suitable dragon carriage for Patrasche." Subaru replied, as he climbed into the driver's seat of the carriage. The merchant had been kind enough to fit Patrasche's reins and adjust them so that no problems would arise the moment her Divine Protection was deactivated.
"Are you sure you don't want me to explain how to drive it? You told me you've never done it before, isn't that right?" The man asked, looking slightly concerned.
"No need, Patrasche's so cool she knows how to do it on her own." Subaru replied, flashing a carefree smile. With that, the trader-craftsman gave up on reasoning with Subaru, thanked him again and bid him farewell.
Subaru thus concluded the purchase of the carriage, and therefore instructed Patrasche to return to the mansion. And while it is true that at first he had trouble handling the reins, Subaru quickly adapted to it; of course, much had to do with Patrasche's effortless grasp of what her new owner expected of her.
The carriage rolled through the wide streets of the nobility's district. Subaru could not deny that he was pleased with not needing to move between dark alleyways and backstreets. Quietly, the carriage rolled along without needing to hurry to reach his destination. It was in this moment of lethargy, that Subaru saw out of the corner of his eye something moving on the side of the street.
"I know you!" Suddenly, something with a feminine voice spoke to him from one of his sides, and startled, Subaru pulled hard on Patrasche's reins, causing them to almost crash into one of the many luxurious houses in the area.
"The hell?!" Subaru cried out, once he regained control of the carriage and looked over to where the voice had come from. There, on the co-driver's seat, stood an arctic fox-like creature sporting dark eyes brimming with intelligence.
"I wandered the streets of this city in search of someone, but I was simply unable to remember who I was looking for... It's as if... as if they had vanished. So I could do nothing but wander and wander aimlessly. But you I do remember, yes. You're the boy who saved me in Priestella, aren't you?"
"Huh?" What was that creature talking about? Subaru had no memory of saving anything similar.
"Furthermore, it would seem that your affinity for the spiritual arts is outstanding." Continued the creature, ignoring Subaru's obvious confusion. "Yes, you must be that person, I can feel it. It cannot be otherwise, you shall be my companion; I'll watch your exploits closely." Then, the creature jumped towards Subaru and wrapped around his neck.
"Hey, what in the world are you doin'?! Get off me!" Subaru screamed, grabbing the creature's hairy body and yanking it off his neck. To his surprise, the creature gave in relatively easily. Submissively, the creature landed in his hands, its body now flattened as if it were a scarf.
"Have I perhaps made a mistake? Aren't you the one I was searching for?" Asked the creature, abashed.
"Don't decide those things for yourself! Give me a moment to think!" Subaru exclaimed, then plunged into thought. The very sight of that creature made his brain itch; now that he looked at it more closely, he was convinced that he had indeed seen it before. The truth was that he had a considerable hard time remembering it, and when he did, it was as if he had had an epiphany. "You're Anastasia's scarf!"
"Anastasia? Is that the person for whom I've been looking?"
"Probably." Subaru nodded confidently. "Hmm... So you're the scarf she always walked around with... No wonder it seemed to me that something was missing from her lately..." Subaru muttered, not taking his eyes off the creature.
By this time, he no longer had his hands on Patrasche's reins, however, his dragon did not need his guidance to return to the Hoshin Mansion; after all, they were retracing the same path they took to get to the carriage merchant.
"Are you certain you're not the person I'm looking for? I can sense something special in you, a kind of unusual affinity, even though our magics are not entirely compatible. I'm convinced that if we form a contract, we shall be capable of incredible things."
"Whoa, hold on a second! You're a spirit?"
"An artificial spirit, is what I am."
Subaru did not feel that the creature was lying to him. However, that only further complicated matters. Anastasia never mentioned having a spirit, in fact, he recalled not a time when the girl had cast magic, not even in dire straits. Did that spirit really have any relation with her? Subaru was not sure, and therefore, the best he could do was to take it to Anastasia.
"Okay, stay with me for now, I'll find a way to work this out... Do you've a name I can call you by?"
"I never intended to do otherwise." Declared the spirit. "And yes, my name is Echidna." And saying this, Echidna wrapped back around Subaru's neck to thus disappear.
"What're you doing?" Subaru asked, bewildered.
"My true form cannot be seen, so I'm hiding; disguising myself as a scarf."
"Hide in another way, I don't wanna be seen with a damn white fox scarf, how embarrassing! I'm going to look ridiculous!" In the end, Echidna ended up pretending to be a white fur glove, decorated with a fox's face on its surface; certainly Subaru could not wait to sort this all out with Anastasia.
And in case anyone was wondering, there's Echidna, or as Subaru likes to call her, Scarfdona. For those who don't know who she is, even though she was already mentioned in the fic several times, well, she's Anastasia's artificial spirit; of course, she'll appear until what would be a third season of the anime.
Should I count that as a spoiler? Hmm... I guess so, but it's no secret to anyone that I borrow heavily from the arcs that haven't been animated yet, as well as from the alternative stories written by Tappei himself. Anyway, aside from the odd reference and a few characters, I don't really plan on copy-pasting any of the story events from the post-anime arcs per se, so you can rest assured in that regard.
Now then, the journey is about to begin, and with it this arc will enter its second stage (it consists of three). We'll put aside all the reinvention stuff, the city and the death loops, to focus on Subaru as archbishop. Though this doesn't mean that Subaru's going to stop dying, course not, simply that I'll no longer focus an arc on a single loop as was the case in the first 3 arcs, especially the third one.
Lastly, I'd like to answer a review of the last chapter... Hmm... Concerning my sleep, let's see, I get the sleep I need, my sleep schedule is awful, but that doesn't mean I don't sleep well. Anyway, I'm sure that has nothing to do with the overall quality of the chapters, if there's anything that might be broken or garbled, it's probably because the previous chapter, and in general several of the first chapters of this arc, were written when I was in the middle of the writer's block.
I always proofread the chapters before publishing them, and I didn't really notice the problems pointed out, though that may be due to the same problem I mentioned above... All in all, if such problems were so evident, the first thing would be to apologize to all of you for that, the second thing would be to thank you for bringing it to my attention, and the third thing would be to say that as soon as I've the time, I'll re-proofread the chapters to make sure I fix any problems in the writing. Once again, thank you for your review.
On a side note... (Hey, Prophellwinter! I'm glad to know that you read my fic too! I'm also open to talk whenever you like.)
Ok, that's all I'd to say... Or well, just a reminder that if you've any questions about the fic, don't understand something or just wanna give me some feedback, you can always leave me a review; this space is meant to answer them. As always, thanks for your support, till next week.