What went wrong? Where did he go wrong?
Amidst the pitch-black darkness that swallowed up the young boy's body, only those thoughts passed through his head. However, those thoughts were overwhelmed by a set of whispers being repeated in his mind repeatedly. A whisper only meant for Natsuki Subaru, and no one else.
"I love you. I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you. love you I love you I love you I love you I love you. I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you. I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you."
He felt his sense, vision, smell, taste, and his very existence fade away into the shadows and become concepts. Consumed by endlessly powerful and vast emotions, his very existence was being overwritten.
"Why would I love you? I hate you."
Pure animosity came from the depths of his soul as he fiercely rejected the love of the envious monster.
And yet the words of love that were continuously uttered did not pay any mind to Subaru's rejection. Indeed, they came pouring in more intense than ever before coating the world in them as Subaru Natsuki was engulfed by the darkness.
"I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you. I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you."
Among those words of love declared just for him, and only for him, not a single one reached his soul. If those words of love were true, why did she put him through those 10 seconds of hell? Why did she swallow the city when everything had finally worked out? Why did she teleport him to this damned country? Why did she swallow the tower in her shadows? WHY?!WHY?!WHY?
Yet the desperate questions that the child desperately sought answers to were unanswered by the witch and drowned in her testimony of love.
"I don't want to die"
"Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me.Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me. Love me–"
Those proclamations of love sickened him to his core. Love was something beautiful and exciting, it was something that made a person feel a profound happiness in experiencing it. To give his love to the jealous witch who devoured the future and happy ending he's worked so hard to obtain was something he would never do. Even if it was something his older self would have disagreed with.
"Shut up! Who would wanna love a witch like you?!" Subaru roared from the depths of his soul as he vehemently denied the sickening so called love of the Witch of Envy spouted constantly. "What did I do to earn your love?! Just leave me alone! Let me leave!"
Those foul words eventually ceased as complete silence permeated through the pitch black voids of the shadows.
"I…"
A faint whisper emanated from the witch's body cloaked in darkness as she pulled her body away from the boy who was drowned in her shadows. The smooth voice cracking due to immense emotions radiating from the shadows.
"I'm sorry. It wasn't supposed to happen, I didn't want to do this. None of it was supposed to happen. I'm so sorry. I still love you, it doesn't matter if you hate me or scream at me." Satella's body cloaked in darkness emanated an unusual sadness from her? One that was unfamiliar to Subaru who knew the witch before. Even without being able to fully see her face, it was clear in her voice the agony she was feeling from the depths of her heart. "I will always love you even if the concept of eternity cease to be, all because you saved me and showed me this wide, beautiful world." Tears of anguish fell from her eyes as she spoke. Her voice cracked, and her eyes looked as if they were remembering a beautiful nostalgic memory. "I'm sorry."
Her genuine confession rang in his ears, it wasn't the same as the obsessive love from the Witch of Envy who only desired his love and wanted it only for herself, not caring about his opinion. But a genuine love that seemed to concern him, one that would cry for him and be happy for him no matter what he did. One that would always support him no matter who he chose to be, whether that be a Sin Archbishop, a mass murderer or someone who wanted to destroy the world.
"I promise I'll fix it."A bright purple light emerged from the witch's hand as she finished saying those five simple words. She was casting something. Magic? Authority? Technique? Subaru wasn't able to tell but all he could sense was the sheer power that came out of that hand, one that threatened the balance of the world, truly living up to the title of someone who destroyed half the world
"NO. He's mine. Mine." Another voice called out to him admist the shadow garden. "Only love me and me, no one else, because I love you and only you. I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. So no one can stop me because you're mine and belong to me.."
Envy once again announced her selfish and envious love. The violet light from the witch's hand twisted and morphed into something incomprehensible.
"Wait, you can't do this!" The other voice of the witch shouted in despair as she began to fight for control against her twisted personality who sought to keep him here eternally.
The raging violet light constantly started warping, clashing for control from both sides as they desperately sought to control it.
Until the power could not be controlled anymore, space began to twist and bend in the shadow garden, showing the sheer amount of energy being released. Soon, even reality itself couldn't handle the power, the fabrics of reality started to tear and the violet light exploded in the shadow garden consuming Subaru entirely.
""No!"" The two sides of the witch screamed in unison as Subaru felt like he was being pulled somewhere.
Subaru could not care any less that his body felt like it was being pulled apart as space and time broke apart to form rifts, pulling him through the shattered fragments of reality.
The strands of Subaru's consciousness gradually started to fade in the abyss of the shadow garden. Was he finally going to die again? If so, where would he loop back to? Could he even save anyone even with his gift?
As those final thoughts passed by, his consciousness faded slowly, falling deeper into the dark abyss.
—-
A complete void surrounded Subaru. Not a single speck of light permeated through the darkness. His disoriented mind felt drowsy as it tried to make sense of the situation it was unable to comprehend. Subaru's mind started to recoup as he could feel his senses started to come back to him.
Where am I?
What happened to him?
What was Satella going to do?
Those were all the questions he could ask himself as he could feel the coldness that surrounded him and the frigid temperature that seeped into his bones, like he was being taken over by the chill which was the only thing that he could fe—
Wait, this is too cold!
Subaru's eyes opened right away, water was all that surrounded his vision far and wide.
He instinctively brought up his hands, placing them over his nose and mouth at once.
His body was thrust deeper into the sea, the weight of his clothes hanging onto him like an anchor as the water hauled him down further into the abyss.
His chest ached as his heart beat against his breast, begging for air with every rapt burning. Every part of his lungs felt as if they were being scorched directly by a flamethrower. The feeling of his lungs being on fire reminded him of another situation that was seared into his mind.
Thrashing against his chest frantically and vehemently was his heart allowing him to get oxygen, pumping adrenaline around his whole body, heightening his senses and getting his body ready.
He didn't know how it happened or how he got here, but the gears in his brain already started to turn, as they knew it was a race for time.
Out of the corner of his eyes a pale white light shone through the blue haze. He knew that if he didn't reach the light he would have to go through 'Death' once more, and that was a feeling he never wanted to go through again.
Pushing both of his arms forward one by one he propelled his body up using everything he had in him to survive. His muscles were screaming out for him, begging to stop overworking himself. The water was dragging him down even further like they were chains which wanted to grab him and keep his body there forever. His body roared at him that it was futile, that he would have to die here and just restart again. But he refused to die here without even damn trying! Using every bit of his will power he pushed his body further once more.
He could feel it, it was close, it was only a few more meters to go. The hope of surviving reignited in Subaru's chest. The spark was set off and traveled through all of his body in one go as he desperately pushed himself forwards.
Just a bit more!
His hand reached out to the light beyond the water swiftly, but whether it was the cruelty of God or the punishment of Natsuki Subaru, it didn't matter.
His body had forsaken him as his lung's need for air overwhelmed his rational desire to keep his mouth shut and to avoid breathing in the water. He could feel his stomach first fill up with water, eventually moving on to his lungs too. Subaru's body reacted violently to the inrushing water, trying to cough it out, only for it to displace the remaining air in his lungs. Hopelessly, he flailed his arms about, wanting to just push forward even a bit more. He was so close…
The depths of the sea consumed him as his eyes grew dimmer; he didn't know if it was just a trick from his deprived oxygen brain, but he could see a shadowy hand reaching out towards him from the light
In his final act of desperation, a desire to live once again reignited, and he made an attempt to reach the arm.
I don't want to die.
His hands seeking for hope fell down slowly with his body, sinking further into the sea. It was a futile dream he would have to once again resort to using 'Return by Death'.
Again he tried to move his hand but not even a single twitch, flinch, or any kind of movement was there. He could feel himself losing all control of his body, and as he tried to move it once again, this was his punishment beyond he extent.
Sinking to the bottom, the frigid cold embraced him. The further down he sunk the more he could feel the coldness began to consume him, attempting to put him in an eternal sleep. He could feel his consciousness fading away with his heart slowing down the future he got, he was finally going to die…
Warm, without even being aware he could feel his hand intertwine with the warmth of another hand as they grabbed closer and embraced him as they tried to bring him up. The warmth of their body engulfed his, comforting him, and felt as if it was protecting him from the chilliness of the water. A small smile settled on his face as he felt at ease knowing his death wouldn't be dying again while freezing all alone.
Subaru could feel his body being firmly held by his arms. His body was hauled up and put on their back. He could hear annoying grunts of sound came from the mysterious saviour as he was being engulfed by water . They should realise that it was simply futile and save themselves.
Whether it was Subaru's experiences of dying all the time or just his natural instinct, did not matter. He could feel he was going to die.
His strands of consciousness slowly faded away as be could feel himself dying soon whilst being heaved down forcefully by the seas who wanted to keep his dead body there forever. It was too late for him. At least in the next loop he would be able to react faster than he did previously. His death wasn't useless.
"Hold on!" The voice called, barely reaching. "I promise you're gonna be okay so just hold on for a bit longer!"
Wait what?
Was someone trying to save him even in this hapless situation? Why would someone want to save the life of Natsuki Subaru …?
"Do not forget that when you die, it makes people sad—"
"—Love yourself more."
The look of anguish etched on Satella's face flashed by his mind. That's right, didn't he say he would try to do it. Why was he going back on his words now?
He shouldn't be despairing now! It wasn't over yet until he's dead. Every life is a precious life to him he must value.
He didn't know why he was being saved or maybe he did know but didn't want to admit it. But whatever the reason was it caused an unknown emotion to possess him right now as he listened to their voice. He knew he had never met this person but they were fighting for a stranger they've just met. How could he just give up now if they didn't give up on him yet!
Subaru forced his eyes to open, he could see a hazy figure above him attempting to help him. They looked over towards him and smiled in relief? He really couldn't tell.
"Just a bit longer, I promise!
They placed both of their hands onto his chest, forcefully pressing both of them against him at once. Subaru involuntarily gagged as he could feel the water coming towards his mouth and quickly spat all of it.
Subaru gradually turned his head towards the figure who saved him. His eyes were burning from the water and couldn't make out the full figure of them, the only thing he could see was her vivid crimson hair that shined like blood.
"Than—"
"It's okay, you should be trying to rest now. Don't worry, I'll look after you so get some rest. You did a good job."
Subaru wanted to say more but his drowsy brain engulfed him in fatigue. He would be sure to thank his saviour once he rested properly.
"I've heard it said that' cha and the folks of this city are awfully tough, but… Are ya tougher than the folks of my village were?" The old man gleefully smiled in his vision once again. He already lost count of how many times he's seen the vicious old man ending him over and again.
Before he knew it he could feel the pain and shock of having an eyeball bursting and the other popping out made him collapse on the spot, clutching his face. He could never get used to this even after going through it numerous times. A light body jumped on him; he'd already known this would happen
He could feel his world view shaking forcefully. He was going to die again. The pain was so much that he could feel himself hallucinating voices.
"Wake u… Hey!"
Constantly, he could feel himself being pushed by something. Wait, where was he before this again? He was…
"Hey, wake up!"
The voice fully reached his ears, forcing him to awake from his dreadful nightmare.
Subaru thrusted his body up, taking a deep breath. That's right, he didn't die to Olbart, he's not in the Red Lapis Castle. It was just a nightmare.
Instead, he could feel he was surrounded by something gritty and coarse which he was submerged in. It was sand? It spread through his clothes like bugs crawling underneath the smallest gaps in his skin. The damp sand clunged to his clothes, spreading the moisture and scattered chilliness through his body.
Opening his eyes, he was met with the Sun's intense glow. Immediately having his eyes burned, he turned his head quickly and began to regain his vision more clearly. He looked around to find himself in a beach, void of any life, with only sand covering the land. As he began to get up, he heard something from behind, and as he turned his head he was greeted by a mysterious figure covered in a white cloack whom he couldn't make out.
"Are you okay?" She asked, taking her white hood off slowly, revealing her concerned eyes that looked at him.
Elegant, those were the first words that came to his mind as he saw her.
Crimson hair that was tied up neatly in a ponytail with some portions of her hair over her ear, emerald eyes that looked as if they stared deep into his soul as if they could see through everything he was hiding. A white shaped robe covered her entire body with a white sleeveless top underneath. She wore simple black trousers that had a belt strap, containing many vials that contained many different liquids inside which looked like potions from a fantasy game, and a sheath made of leather that carried a small knife.
But that wasn't the thing that attracted Subaru, his eyes drew towards her ears. Pointy ears that were unique and reminded him of someone. Those were the ears of a half-elf, no, those ears looked very distinctive compared to the half-elf he knew. She was a full-elf.
Snapping him out of his stupor, Subaru's throat convulsed as he spat out an unsettling amount of water that made all the sand underneath him soaked with it. The tingling feeling in his throat from the salty water felt fiery, drying his throat.
"Are you okay?!" She exclaimed, running to his side faster than he thought her body could. She quickly kneeled down to his side, putting a hand on his back.
"I'm fin—"
He attempted to answer but once again his throat gagged, causing him to release water all over again. His lungs felt as if they were carrying something heavy inside. His water-filled lungs made it difficult for him to breath at all. Attempting to atain any air he breathed in any oxygen he could, filling up his lungs desperately.
"Hey, stay with me! Just take one small breath, another and keep carrying on. You can start taking bigger breaths after…" She carried on explaining naturally, giving out instructions for him to follow as Subaru listened to her voice not missing any one of her steps and completing them all faithfully.
Seeing his conditions were naturally improving she removed her hand off from his back and stood up.
Calming down again, Subaru looked towards his mysterious saviour. There were many things he wanted to ask her like where he was or who is she? But the most important thing he had to say to her would be…
"You do know staring at someone for too long is rude. I know you're shocked by how beautiful I am but it's rude to not even give your name." She put her hand on her chest, giving a smile of confidence. Her eyes stared at Subaru as if she was expecting him to say something back.
Her words snapped him out of his stupor once again. Hearing them reminded him of how he got here.
"Thanks for saving me. I really thought I would have died back there, you're a life saviour." He stood up flicking the dirt off his clothes, he glanced towards her while smiling. "My name is Natsuki Subaru, but shouldn't you also be telling me your name, oh mysterious saviour."
"My name is Elaina Aschente. Nice to meet you, Subaru. Although I hate to make it seem like I'm interrogating you, I'm the type of person to get straight to the point. How did you even end up there?" She enquired as her eyebrows raised in confusion.
That's right, how did I even get here?
Trying his hardest to remember the last thing, Olbart was gonna change him from a kid back into an adult…
Wait!
Subaru eyes scanned his body at near speed, he was wearing the same clothes he wore when the old vicious man turned him into a child. But that wasn't the important thing…
"I've reverted?" Subaru exclaimed in shock, he touched his face making sure it wasn't just a hallucination his brain made. So the old man did in fact turn him back to his older self.
"You've reverted? Were you perhaps attacked by magic?" She put her hand on her chin as she tilted her head to the side.
"Yeah, well, something like that. To be honest, I actually don't know where I am and how I ended up drowning. I just woke up there and found myself sinking," he explained, well, he did have an idea of how he got here but he wasn't one hundred percent sure.
Satella could have possibly teleported him again and the chances of it were very high but he couldn't understand why she would teleport him once more.
"You're not lying but I get the feeling you're not fully being honest either." she said, narrowing her eyes. Her eyes looked as if she was staring directly into his soul.
Subaru flinched. Just how sharp was this girl's instinct? She's never met him before yet she could already deduct that kind of information from him.
She simply let out a sigh and shrugged her shoulders after staring at him for what felt like an eternity.
"You don't have to tell me about anything. I am a random stranger who you've just met by coincidence so I'll just let it go. Aside from that, right now we are in a forest near Melan, the closest city to Orario! You're kinda lucky I was passing by here."
Subaru couldn't help but gaze at Elaina weirdly, (well, she didn't look that much older than him). She really had her own pace, didn't she? And moved however she wanted without anyone's care.
"Haven't you been staring at a stranger you've just met a bit too much? Especially my ears? Have you never seen an elf before?" Elaina asked while placing her hands on her hip.
"Sorry, I wasn't trying to be rude or anything, it's just I've never met a full-elf before and I've never heard of a place called Melan or Orario." Subaru shrugged as he casually replied back.
"Did you live in an isolated village cut off from the world?" She looked at him with bafflement, her face looked as if she was looking at someone who lived under a rock for all of his life and has only decided to come out from underneath it.
"I lived on an island in the far east of the world," Subaru explained, using his excuses that he came up with several times.
"Oh, so you're from the far east? I mean you do have the Far Eastern look so I already assumed that but you also have very scary eyes that you don't see on Far Eastearn people!" Elaina proclaimed like she found the secrets to the universe and gained enlightenment.
Subaru's body froze as he heard Elaina words. Did she perhaps know about Japan? But she called it Far Eastern. Does that mean there could possibly be a minor kingdom that had a culture similar to Japan?
"But even then, how have you not heard of Orario?! It's the heart of the world! Adventurers come there to achieve any of their wishes by Dungeon diving which holds many secrets! and so many trades happen in Orario! Even a kid knows where Orario is." She pointed at her head. "Are you sure your brain didn't cause you to lose a few memories or give you some kind of trouble."
Hearing her explanation caused a small grimace on his face, as a new possibility formed in his head, one that seemed very plausible.. He didn't want to think it was possible… but denying reality would just cause him further pain…
"I'm definitely sure I've never heard of a place like that, but, Elaina, do you perhaps know a place called Lugunica?" Fear swelled up in Subaru, waiting to hear her answer.
"Lugunica? I've never heard of a place like that. Is that the name of the place you were born in?" She enquired, not understanding the significance of her answer to Subaru.
No…
His mind refused to accept it, everything he worked hard for was gone. Emilia, Rem, Beatrice, they were all gone now. No, not like that.
His breathing skyrocketed as his pupil dilated in complete hollowness. His chest heaved heavily in shock.
He refused to allow it to end here after everything he fought for. There had to be a way to get back there…
Wait, there could be something…
"Elaina, didn't you say adventurers dungeon dive to achieve their wishes?" Subaru asked, no, he demanded to know the answer to the only thread of hope that maybe possible for him to grasp.
Elaina's shoulders froze stiff as she saw the desperation in his eyes as he asked his questions. Turning her head stiffly away from him, she once again answered.
"Yeah, all types of people from around the world come to the dungeon. It's a place filled with mysteries and it is said that you can achieve any wish you have there," she answered cautiously with a small frown on her face.
Glancing at him with gouging eyes, her face turned into confusion. As she saw a man who looked like he had been given a treasure by God, and had the brightest smile on his face.
"Why are we still staying in this forest? Let's get a move on! I'm cold and I want to get in new clothes!" Subaru exclaimed with renewed vigour.
"O-Oh, yeah, we should go back but what do you plan to do now? I don't think it's best to wander around if you really did lose some of your knowledge or memory."
"Isn't that obvious? I'm gonna go to Orario. Maybe a way to get it back is there," Subaru answered confidently.
"That's a good idea. You can stay with us for some time if you want before you headout, but let's think about that later. We should be heading back soon, or my familia will get worried if I stay out for too long. You were knocked out for quite a bit," Elaina told him as she brought out a pocket watch from her trousers, looking at the time. "Let's get a move on then."
Subaru nodded to her request, following her. They walked through the beach into a forest that was next to the beach, quite a weird place for a forest to be but Subaru did not question the workings of a fantasy world. The forest was full of natural life, one that Subaru would have never found in his old world.
Absorbing the beautiful scenery as he continued to walk alleviated some of the tension on his shoulders, he had been teleported unexpectedly to a new world. No one could really blame him for being cautious. After all, his first day in his previous world wasn't exactly the best…
This world maybe won't be so bad compared to the last one.
"Shit, I jinxed it."
"Shhhh," Elaina whispered to him while putting a finger on her lips.
She crouched down behind a bush and waved for him to crouch down as well.
"Seems like there are some kobolds in this forest. I'm gonna quickly take them out," she quietly explained with her eyes never leaving the monsters. "So, just sit down here for a bit."
Subaru followed Elaina's sight, finding the group of Kobolds she was talking about. He was surprised to find it was a simple dog-headed monster with two legs that allowed it to stand up and a tail. It looked so much like those he'd seen in fantasy games that he was quite surprised by how similar they were. They definitely looked weaker than the wolgarms he's fought before and his instincts told him so.
"Do you want me to help you? Just staying here and doing nothing doesn't feel right while you've been helping me with everything."
"Can you fight?" She asked with her eyebrows raised in curiosity.
"Yep, I was trained by someone before," Subaru nostalgically said, remembering the face of Clind.
"I see. Here, catch," she whispered, taking a knife with a sheath out of her boot and throwing it to him.
"You're over prepared aren't you?"
"It's either be over prepared and ready for anything than let your arrogance cloud you and regret it later," she answered coldly with her eyes growing colder. Her words seemed to contain some kind of spite in them.
Subaru's shoulders stiffened as he watched her. A grimace came over his face and a feeling of guilt grasped him, realising that her reaction was because of his words.
"Anyway, let's stop the chatter and start the elimination. Easiest way to eliminate them is just to go for their neck or their chest, on the right side of their heart. Once you hear me say go attack in one go," she commanded, readying her blade.
Subaru unsheathed his blade. He firmly gripped the blade in his hand, getting ready for the order to attack.
"Go!"
Subaru leaped out of the bush, dashing toward the kobold that was a distance from the rest and stabbed it in the head before it could even react. Quickly pulling the knife dyed in blood out, he scanned the rest of the group.
There were eight of them originally, and Elaina had already killed two and he had killed one. Only five more of them were left.
Taking advantage of the monsters confusion, Subaru charged at two of them. The knife slit the throat of the kobold's neck like butter. Pivoting around to face the one to his right he quickly stabbed the chest of the kobold. It painfully grunted before it slowly reduced to ashes..
"Eh?" His body froze in shock as his eyes widened in confusion, his mouth slightly gaped at the scene in front of him.
"What's wrong with you, Subaru?" Appearing beside him like a phantom she looked at him in confusion.
"Don't just do that!" Subaru shouted in fright, jumping back.
Relaxing his guard after the unexpected jumpscare.
"Well, I was just wondering why the corpse disappeared? That's not normal is it?"
Well, he thought it wasn't normal but he wasn't sure of the difference between normal and abnormal in a Supernatural world.
"Oh, yeah, it's gonna be difficult for you with losing all your knowledge. Well, I'll give you the short version: monsters have a magical stone somewhere in their body; it's a crystal with magical power. It's basically their hearts and destroying the one in them reduces them to ashes or if you take it out from their body. They are valuable so it's common to take them out after killing monsters and sell them to the Guild," she explained like a teacher lecturing a student thoroughly. "Damn, it feels like I'm a clueless child at least we know you have a falna now."
Absorbing her words very carefully, Subaru couldn't deny he was basically like a child or even worse than a child in terms of knowledge of this world.
"I'm not sure what a falna is but I'm sure I don't have one," Subaru replied to her complaint. He definitely knew if he would have received some other powers other than the authorities.
"Eh? Really?" She enquired, looking like someone had lied to her. "I don't think you're lying but you might have forgotten if you got one. Is it ok if you take your clothes off and show me your back?"
"Wait?! Just a minute, why do I have to show you my back?!" Subaru shouted in shock at such a ridiculous question out of nowhere. He raised his hand to stop her from continuing it.
"It's to check if you have a falna. There is often a tattoo of some kind on people who have a falna."
Showing his body to a stranger wasn't exactly something Natsuki Subaru wanted to do. Plus his body was a story itself… but she was just trying to help him and she did save him.
"I'm definitely sure I don't have anything like that," he hesitantly replied. "But your my saviour so I guess I do owe you for that. I'm not taking off my shirt though you can just roll up the back of it."
She nodded her head, agreeing to his demand. Walking towards his back she lifted the back of his shirt up.
He could see her eyes widened in disturbance and a flash of regret passed by them. A small frown emerged from the side of her face as she touched them, her hand tracing it.
The scars on his body. They weren't just ordinary scars, they were scars big enough to take his life.
Subaru's body stiffened from her touch and he could feel her withdrawing her hands as fast as possible. He could see a trace of regret flash by her eyes.
Letting his shirt go down she took a step back. Scratching her ears, she looked to the side to avoid his face. She let a sigh out before finally speaking.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have forced you to show me it if you didn't want to," she regretfully said.
"It's not that big of a deal. I know you were just trying to help me so thanks," he replied, attempting to comfort her, rubbing his neck and smiling. "But shouldn't we get going? You did say you have to get back to your familia."
"Y-Yeah.." she awkwardly replied, looking towards the multiple corpses on the floor. "We need to get the magic stones from this corpse though. All kobold magic stones are on the right side of their chest."
Subaru nodded his head, then started to dissect the corpse and collect the magic stones from the corpse.
Subaru's nose scrunched up in disgust at the pungent smell of blood and a grimace came across his face. It was his first time dissecting a corpse and the feelings of it was definitely an unpleasant one. Unlike him, Elaina was skillfully dissecting each corpse and taking out their magic stones at a much faster pace than Subaru.
Finishing off his last dissection, a sigh of relief was let out. It was a disturbing sight he wasn't used to but he would have to get used to it if he planned to go to the dungeon and find a way back home. Handing over the magic stones she explained to him that only adventurers could sell magic stones to the guild so there's no point in him holding onto it.
"We've finally finished, no point wasting any more time here. Let's go," she ordered while putting the magic stones in a pouch she got from her pockets.
They carried on their journey, silently this time, but it wasn't an awkward silence or strange silence. It was a comforting silence, one acquainted with the beauty of nature. Finally leaving the forest, a huge road was in front of Subaru's eyes.
His eyes followed the road to find where it led to. In the distance, he could see a gigantic city that was around the size of the capital of Luginica. It was quite big for a era with carriages but compared to the cities on Earth they weren't that big.
"That's it?" She sounded disappointed as she asked him while giving a look of dissatisfaction.
"Were you expecting something more?"
"Come on! Melen is one of the biggest cities in the world! Plus you lost your memory so I thought you would have a bigger reaction." A small pout formed on her face.
"I mean, it was surprising," Subaru hesitantly commented while rubbing his neck, attempting to cheer her up. "But I don't think it tops finding a beautiful elf who just saved you.."
Elaina just stared at him looking like he said something weird. He tilted his head to the side, wondering if he did something. Subaru's face went blank as he realised what he said.
"Wait, I wasn't trying to hit on you or anything like that!" He explained while waving his hands frantically.
Elaina put one of her hands on her face and broke out into laughter, clutching her stomach while laughing madly as if she just heard a funny joke. She took short deep breaths, trying to regain her composure, and stood up straight.
Subaru stopped dead in his tracks, his eyebrows raised in confusion.
"Subaru, you're a really good guy. Don't let anyone change that fact."
Not even bothering to explain, she carried on walking. Her words caused Subaru to halt in tracks as he replayed her words in his head.
How would you know? You've only known me for a day.
"Hey, you're gonna be left behind at this rate. Also, we're gonna hitch a ride from that carriage." She pointed towards the one behind him.
Snapping himself out of his thoughts, Subaru nodded his head, catching up to her. The carriage stopped in front of them, seeing Elaina wave her hands. A man looking in his forties had a long brown beard and looked quite short as a dwarf. He wasn't close enough to hear what they were talking about but he could see Elaina hand him a couple of coins and the driver nodded his head.
"So, are you two adventurers?"
"Yes." "No."
Both of their replies came simultaneously, confusing the merchant, or at least that's what Subaru thought the man was with all the supplies he was carrying in the carriage.
"Are you two partners?"
"No," Elaina instantly replied.
He made attempts to start small talk but Elaina again quickly rejected them with single word answers. The rest of the trip went on in complete awkward silence.
He took a small glance towards Elaina, finding a cold-stoned expression on her face, one that he's never seen before even when she spoke coldly to him. Subaru wasn't sure if she just had DID or if she hated a certain group of particular people. Gazing at her face once more, he looked toward her ears. Maybe there is something to do with elves in this world as well?
"We've made it."
Waking up Subaru from his daze, he looked around to find they were already at the entrance of the city.
Climbing down from the carriage, he gazed at the entrance of the city and saw that there was a long black gate with two guards on the side.
"Thank you for the ride." Subaru said, turning to the merchant.
"You're welcome!"
Elaina wordlessly departed from the carriage, and Subaru followed her towards the gate. She spoke to both of the guards, showing a certain piece of paper that was inside one of her pockets. The guards nodded their heads and opened up the gates of the city.
Passing through the gates, Subaru followed Elaina. HIs eyes wandered around, looking at every bit of the city, absorbing the experience like a child who was just shown something new for the first time.
Subaru could tell this city was a centre of trade, as all types of people could be seen selling items, as well as loads of merchants sprawling around while carrying goods. Numerous shops were lined up next to each other, having different kinds of employees helping around. Demi humans, humans, elves and many more races could be seen helping out.
"It's an amazing sight, is it not?" Elaina merrily exclaimed while looking at Subaru's face.
"Yeah, it really is."
It reminded him of…
"Oh, we've finally made it here."
Subaru looked up to find a massive building in front of him that had six banners on the left and right side of the building. It had various sections that could be seen from the outside and multiple people wearing armour, knives, and different types of clothing could be seen coming in and out of it.
It didn't take long for Subaru to realise it was the guild.
Entering the building, he could see numerous counters with adventurers being lined up too and people working behind it. They walked over to one of the empty lines and stood around waiting for a short while.
Walking over to the desk, she put the pouch of magic stones down on the table. The staff picked up each of the magic stones, evaluating all of them one by one very thoroughly. After analysing the last piece of magic stone, he nodded his head as if he was satisfied with his work and grabbed all of them.
"That was 2700 vals. Here you go." Handing over the money in a pouch, he gave a professional smile.
"Thank you."
Grabbing the pouch, they both walked out of there. Elaina grabbed some of the coins and placed it in his hand.
"Wait, it's fine if you keep it, you were the one who saved me and took out most of the monsters." Attempting to hand back the money, she simply just turned her back towards him.
"Won't you need it for your travels tomorrow if your heading towards Orario?"
"That's true but… yeah, your right, thanks." He reluctantly said.
"Anyway, you can stay at my familia's house. I would feel bad if I just left you all alone now." She carried on walking while humming to herself.
Once again, he couldn't understand the girl in front of him, trying to do so over and over again just left him more confused.
"Hey, why are you being so nice to me?" Subaru asked, he came to a halt and stared at her back.
It was an answer he needed. She looked back towards him and spoke.
"Do I need a reason to be kind to someone who's good? You know, it's quite funny, it's often said if you treat people in your life good and do good things then good things will happen to you, and if you do bad things then bad things will happen to you. That's a lie. Good people are the ones who get taken advantage of most by the world while the people who commit horrendous actions are prospering in this world. I hate that. Why do people who are kind have to suffer? Why do people who do horrible things live happily with no one punishing them for their actions? I can't do much about it, I'm too small to change the way the world works. But if I can, I want to help the good people who are silently suffering in silence. I can't save the world or anything like that, but if I can help the people out there who are suffering even just a little bit, then I think that's a good thing because each one of their lives have value."
She took a long breath once she finished speaking.
"I'm sorry, I ranted too much, but I just hate it. I'm helping you because I believe you're a good person. You might be wondering how I know that but I have a really good judgment of character, and I can tell you've suffered a lot. We're just strangers, so you don't have to tell me anything, but if I can help a good person then I'm happy with that," she finished explaining.
Subaru's body and mind froze. Someone saw through him in such a short amount of time.
"I.. I can't explain it to you.. No, it's impossible too. But I'm not a good person as well." He looked away from her eyes which looked at him with kindness.
Rejecting that much kindness from a person who's just helping him out, he truly was…
"That's fine! Don't get me wrong, I'm not helping you because I expect anything, but without a doubt, I think you're a good person so I'll continue to believe. I'm helping you just because my wish is to help good people. It's quite a selfish wish."
"It's not… I think it's really amazing."
"I see, thank you," she whispered to herself, turning around as she slowly started to walk
The trip back to the house was silent. It wasn't one of awareness after their talk, no, Subaru actually enjoined the silence. The answer she gave him was one that was unexpected to him. Maybe it was because he wasn't used to getting kindness from someone right away or having to earn that kindness back, but it was nice to know some people are just genuinely kind. Like Medium, Flopp and Elaina.
Stopping in front of a massive building, Elaina walked towards the building and stopped in front of it to knock on the door.
Opening the door slightly, someone peeped out from the side: It was a little girl with blue hair in twin tails. Her eyes were light gold and dark blue, matched like a pair.
"Big sis!" She shouted, opening the door fully and jumped into Elaina's arms.
Elaina skillfully caught her like this was the norm for her everyday. She rubbed her face against her while having a beautiful smile on her face.
"I'm back, how have you been, Lilly?"
"Good," her muffled voice said, having her face in Elaina's chest while cuddling made it hard to hear her.
Peeking out of Elaina shoulders, she glanced at Subaru wearily.
"Don't worry, he's not a bad person, he's a good person." She rubbed her hair, Lilly's face relaxed hearing Elaina words.
Letting Lilly down onto the floor, Subaru walked toward her and crouched.
"I'm Natsuki Subaru. What's your name?"
"You just heard Big Sis say it, so what was the point of asking?"
Subaru winces at the harsh denial of the girl.
"Come on, don't be rude. He's gonna be staying over just for today."
"Fine, nice to meet you. My name is Lilly Aschente, I hope we get along." She formally greeted while lifting the edge of her dress and giving a small bow.
Subaru was stunned from the formal greeting of the girl, she seemed even younger than Petra.
"See, it wasn't that hard. Let's go in now."
They all walked inside the building.
The first thing he saw caused him to raise his eyebrows. No one would expect to see so many people, not even in a giant-sized building.
Twelve people were inside the house, and including Lilly and Elaina, there are fourteen people living here.
"Your back, Elaina!" A boy with blue hair who looked around fourteen years old shouted.
Lots of them greeted Elaina in one go. What was even more shocking to him was the fact Elaina took care of everyone here with only one other person helping her out who wasn't here right now.
"It's amazing that you take care of this many people."
"It's the role of the Big Sis, ya know? Anyway, it will be night soon, you can take the spare room that's next to Leo's room."
"Thanks."
Subaru played with some of the children for a bit, he was known to be good with children but even he could get tired so he retired for the night.
Opening the door to the room, all that was in it was a bed with a desk next to it that had a lamp. It was a barren room although Subaru wouldn't complain since he was staying here for free.
Collapsing on the bed, he looked out of the window to gaze at the stars that glowed in the darkness of the night. They were beautiful compared to Japan; the sky wasn't filled with pollution.
But he couldn't recognise a single one. Even in Lugunica, he managed to name some of the stars after living there, but the sky of this world was completely different to both worlds.
I really am in another world…
That night may have been the hardest for Natsuki Subaru or maybe it would just be one of his countless nights in a world filled with gods, monsters, and adventurers as a star beyond the world.