Chapter 4: Emilia.
Author Notes:
Hello everyone! So, you may or may not like this chapter. I haven't written it yet as I'm writing this, but I know what I want it to be. Just know that I've got actual story reasons for wanting it to be like this. Also, writing this POV is so difficult! How does Tappei find so many unusual words? I've had English hammered into my head since I was born by my English major of a mother, but even I'm not as well equipped as tappei it seems. Finally, this chapter may honestly be a bit boring, considering the first half is a lot of "slice of life" so to say, though I couldn't think of a way around it without the chapter ending up only a sixth of its usual length. Just bear with me for now, I promise it'll get better and that next chapter we'll be back to normal. Now then, I do hope you enjoy this, and I guess I should start off with writing…
(Emilia POV)
"…milia-sama. Emilia-Sama, it's time to wake up." Emilia slowly and groggily opens her eyes, to find Fredrica taping her awake. Groggily sitting up from her bed, Emilia says "good morning Fredrica…" to which Fredrica responds "good morning, Emilia-Sama." With a small curtsy, she continues "I have brought you breakfast, but if you'd so prefer, I shall bring it to the dining room so you may eat with everyone else." Smiling, Emilia responds with "that's alright, Fredrica, I'll eat it here so that I can keep studying." Fredrica does another curtsy, leaves the food on Emilia's nearby desk, and goes to leave the room. Right before she leaves completely, she says "Emilia-Sama, Ram shall be returning to the mansion after her 2 week long excursion to the Crusch-Camp tomorrow. With it, she should have gotten information on how to cure Rem-Dono, as well as information on what may've happened to Roswaal-Sama."
Emilia smiles happily after hearing this news, and thanks Fredrica. After, Fredrica fully leaves the room with a final "have a good day, and please call for me if you need anything, Emilia-Sama." After Emilia nods, she goes to eat her breakfast while studying for the election. Starting with a book called 'history of the demi-human war' as well as a book titled 'leaders of the demi-human war' Emilia soon gets lost in her thoughts due to having already learned most of the information, with this just being some refresher for her. 'Hmm… these are all things I've learned before, and I've already been sitting here for a while, so I'm feeling suuuupppeerrrr bored. Should I go find beako and see what she's up to?' Emilia thinks to herself, before getting up. By this point, she's had 2 more months to focus on the Royal selection, and has progressed enough that there's not much work to do at the moment. Otto's handling most of the work anyways.
'Mm, that's right, I'll go see Beako for a bit.' Emilia walks out of her door, and makes her way down the hallway to Beatrice room, and knocks "Beako, are you in there?" Calls Emilia in her sweet voice. From beyond the door a voice responds, "I'm am here, I suppose." The door opens, showing a short, blonde, twisted twin tailed loli with deep blue eyes and purple butterfly's as her irises. Her hairs adorned with pink ribbons, and she wears a small crown on her head, along with a red cloak with a white outline, reminiscent of a kings, tied together with a purple butterfly tie. Underneath the cloak is an equally pink dress that opens down the middle, showing pink and purple stockings.
"What is it you want, I suppose?" Asks Beatrice in what sounds like minor annoyance, but with some obvious signs of like hiding underneath the tone. "I was bored and needed a recess from my work, so I came to talk for a bit, Beako." Says Emilia. Beatrice responds with "is that all? Then I shall oblige you, I supposed." Emila smiles at Beatrice acceptance, and holds out her hand to her. It's been a 'year' and 4 month's since Emilia and Beatrice made a contract, and since then, they've gotten extremely close to one another, even holding each other's hand any chance they get. As such…
Beatrice grabs Emilia's hand without thinking much about it, and both begin to walk in a comforting silence as they head to their typical place in the forest just outside the mansion, a place Garfiel built to use as a training ground and obstacle course with the help of clind. They're just about to leave through the front door when a knock rings out, prompting them to open it. Outside the door is a knight who quickly kneels and says "I greet the dragon maiden and potential ruler of lagnica, Emilia-Sama. I have come from the capital with news related to the witch cult." Beatrice and Emilia couldn't help but he surprised at this sudden visit, but quickly understanding the importance of this, let the man inside. Emilia guides him to the reception room, while Beatrice goes to grab the camp members that've currently staying in the mansion, consisting of Otto, Garfiel, Petra, Annerose, and Clind. Roswaal was excluded due to being in a poor state of mind.
While waiting for everyone else to arrive, Emilia gets the messenger seated, and asks "please wait for my camp members to appear, and then we may begin the discussion." The Knight slightly bows and says "very well, it's best as many as possible here this as well, as it's in regards to all the camps safety." Emilia's facial expression turns solemn upon hearing that, but quickly returns to normal after a moment. About a minute of silence passes, allowing Emilia to gather her thoughts, before the door opens. Otto, Petra, Fredrica, Garfiel, and Beatrice come in. Fredrica and Petra stand behind Emilia, Beatrice sits in her lap, and Garfiel leans against the wall while Otta takes his seat next to Emilia.
"Alright, it looks like we are all primed to start now." Says Emilia, starting off the conversation. "Please briefly explain your reason for coming, since the other camp members didn't hear your previous explanation." The Knight nods and responds with "Very well Emilia-Sama. To start with, this conversation will be about the witch cult, and more specifically, the Archbishop of Pride." Upon hearing this, their expressions turned to confusion "Pride? Didn't tha' bastard get 'aptured back on pristella?" Garfiel cuts in, and the Knight nods, then responds "That's correct, Knight Garfiel. The Archbishop that was previously captured has now escaped, and his current whereabouts are unknown. While we tracked him till he left Priesstella, we quickly lost him after he exited the city. His last known whereabouts however, were on a direct route to the mather's domain." At this, the whole camp gave a small startle.
This Archbishop, previous thought to be incredibly weak, not only escaped his prison, but has completely given the knights the slip, and seems to be heading in this direction. Their thoughts immediately turned to someone helping him out, perhaps another Archbishop, but that idea was quickly thrown out when the Knight next spoke. "Supposedly, the maid Ram from your camp, as well as The Blue Knight, Felix Argyle, fought against the Archbishop's themselves and lost. When asked about how he fought, they claimed that it was through use of magic and incredible skill with wielding chains. The Blue Knight believes that the archbishops authority must've had some way to hide his strength, as last time the Blue Knight checked, the archbishop's gate was broken beyond repair."
"If that was the case, why would the Archbishop allow himself to get captured like that? It didn't bring any benefit to him, and likely only caused him a lot of pain." Otto pointed out, quick to realize the inconsistency. "That… we are unsure of sir. This was simply the only theory we could reasonably come up with using the information we have" the knight gives a small bow in apology. Emilia, seemingly deep in thought, finally asks "how long ago did he escape? Since a messenger has only now arrived, it shouldn't have been long ago." The Knight nods, and says, "yes, that is correct. The Archbishop of Pride, Natsuki Subaru, escaped a week and a half ago. It has taken us this long to move due to using our manpower to search for him in the immediate area's first, and guard priestella in case of a second attack now that the Archbishop is free and seeking vengeance." Otto nods, and says "that makes sense, considering what he must've been through while there as well as their previous failure, it's only reasonable the Archbishop would try and take revenge against the city. On that same note though, considering the candidates were the ones who pushed him into that situation, we can assume he'd like revenge against us just as much."
Garfiel, cutting in, smacks his fist together and says "it don' matter if tha' cultist comes 'ere or not, I'll just beat 'em into 'esterday." With a slightly proud smirk on his face, Garfiel hits the air. Fredrica just sighs, and says "Garf, it's best you don't underestimate them. They've already beat Ram and that Blue Knight. If you have to fight them, please be careful." His grin not leaving his face, even at his sisters nagging, Garfiel says "dontcha sorry sis' I ain't 'bout to let that guy get one over on me." With another sigh and a small smile, Fredrica just sighs. Coughing slightly to get everyone back on track, Beatrice says "so, what should our first course of action be, I suppose?" Emilia, falling into contemplation, eventually comes to a conclusion "Beako, do you think you could set up a barrier around the estate if we give you some magic stones to work with?" With a smirk, Beatrice sticks her chest out and says "obviously, that won't even be a challenge for me, hmph."
With a smile, Emilia pats Beatrice head and says "that's my Beako, as usual, you're suuuupppeeerrrr-duper amazing." Beatrice smiles and says "be sure to praise Betty more later, I suppose." To which Emilia agrees. Suddenly, Otto starts the conversation once again and asks "you said earlier that the Archbishop used magic, right? What type of magic was it?" The Knight quick begins to answer, saying "the Archbishop used Y-" a sudden crash interrupts the Knight, coming from a distant room. From the sound of it, a window was broken, putting all the camp members on guard.
Thu, Thump, Thu, Thump. As they listen, they can hear the sound of boots slowly moving across the ground, as they stop in front of the door to the reception room. Garfiel and the Knight quickly move to the front of the room, while Petra goes to the center, next to the now standing Emilia and Beatrice, who are holding hands. Fredrica has moved to the back of the room and has done a partial beast transformation. The next instant, the door exploded into shards of wood as an enemy moving so fast none can physically see them enters the room. Garfiel barely raises his arms and blocks what seems to be a blade as a clanging sound rings out, but he's quickly knocked out in the next instant so fast he can't even get a punch in. Next is Fredrica as the blur seems to circle around the room in an instant. She meets the same feet as Garfiel, Knocked out cold. Next, the blur circles back to the front, as the Knights body is quickly severed from the waist, blood spurting in the air as the top half spins several times from the sheer force of it all.
Beatrice and Emilia instantly create a barrier out of Minya and Ice crystals around themselves, as the blur of speed attacks and retreats, hitting it so fast and strong it's impossible to repair completely. Deciding enough was enough, Beatrice quickly fills the room with Minya crystals, careful to avoid hitting the unconscious. This seems to work, as a crystallized arm falls to the ground, and the blur instantly disappears from the room. Quickly removing their barriers, Emilia begins to pull the others to her, only to hear footsteps at the door.
Looking up, Emilia see's a knight in the attire of the Royal guard. Lowering her guard slightly because of him, Emilia quickly asks "tell me your name and rank. I'm in a big hurry right now after the attack, so please answer me swiftly, otherwise I might have to hurt you." No answer. Just as she's about to fill the Knight with ice, Emilia feels herself pulled from behind as the blur from before had quickly reappeared, nearly hitting Emilia in the stomach. Beatrice quickly yells "El Vita!" Increasing the gravity in the area by 100 kilograms(200 pounds) and causing the blur to become just slow enough to barely be seen. The only colors they could make out being black as it still moved around ridiculously fast.
Emilia, watching as the black blur continues to circle them by bouncing around the room, stomps her feet and freezes the entire room all at once, then begins firing 30+ icicles repeatedly, making the blur have less and less room to move. However, in their focus on the black blur… Beatrice is smacked from behind with a metallic thud. Quickly turning around to check on Beatrice, Emilia is hit in the back of the head as well, followed Petra. The last thing Emilia can see before passing out is the color purple…
Authors Notes!
Hello, the chapter was a bit more fun to write than I thought it would be honestly, so I hope it'll be a good enough chapter for you all as well. While I'm aware, most of the people here hate Emilia and the camp members that abandon Subaru, I can't exactly just neglect characters because of that, especially if it's to set up something for the future. Now then, I'm sorry if Emilia is out of character, I'm currently about halfway through volume 16 of the novels, so her improvement, while I have seen it, isn't something I'm familiar enough with to just replicate. Along with that, it's ridiculously hard to find old timey phrases and words for her to use. Seriously, how do you do that tappei? I'm usually one to be great at things like this, but it seems like I've been thoroughly beat this time. I'll make sure to improve as best I can so the characters don't seem too weird. Anyways, no SubaStat's(yes I'm calling them that) this time, since they haven't changed yet. Well, they have, but Subaru himself hasn't gotten to this point in the story yet, so wait a few chaps. Now then, I hope you enjoy the Q&A section, as well as the suggestions area. If I don't see you, I apologize, I'll try and get to you next time, or edit you into here, just come shout at my PM's or something, they're open.
Q&A:
Q:ReXerofan87: by the way since subaru's gate will keep growing will he get new affinities like what reprisent him the most like yin earth water fire wind and yang(i don't know the right order) in the end or something just asking
A:Can't say much because of spoilers. Just know while you're on the right track for stuff I have planned, it's in the wrong direction
Q:Guest: Is Subaru going to try to make new contracts with quasi spirits given that Beatrice had already broken theirs? Thing is that Subaru actually has a crazy high affinity for spirits so spirit arts would naturally be something that he'd be really talented in. In fact it's so high he could make contacts with spirits of all elements without the need for special crystals. That isn't the case for Julius btw having those contacts actually does strain him and he still has a crystal for each one of them. It would be a big help to him not just to preform more spells but also as close companions. Oh, and they wouldn't actually need to drain his mana btw, that's only something that Beatrice and Puck do because they were artificially created by Echidna.
A:I do plan to have Subaru interact with spirits, in a way, but as for contracts, I'm leaving that place open for a very special story reason. Once Subaru does this important story thing, I'll think further about contracts with a spirit. If he does forge a contract with a spirit though, it'll likely be a lesser spirit, and I do have something in mind to start with.
Suggestions:
S:LiM-fan:You should add Shion to the story. She's a spin off character from the game Lost in Memories who serves as Subarus guide throughout the game. She's a green haired half-elf with a cheerful personality and a tragic past just like Subaru. Her main ability allows her to create phantoms (think Phantom Ruby from Sonic Forces) which she could potentially teach Subaru with Yin magic. Another ability she has is to look into the memories of others that she could use on Subaru to discover his past and decide to help him despite what others say. Most important thing though is that her character has a general theme of remembrance which I think makes her a fitting companion for someone who is on a journey to recover his name. You could even have her shipped with Subaru if you like. Subaru x Shion for life!
A: I think I'll have to say no to this one, just because I'm trying to avoid characters that I don't know the personality of and have no way to know without spending more time than I currently have to learn about them. That's why part of the plot is… going the way it is. I can't really say much without spoilers, but while some characters from side stories will appear, they hopefully won't have much of any dialogue, just making little cameo's or stuff when necessary.
(I'm getting these directly emailed to me, but the stupid email shortened it, so I can't see the full thing. Just know I see you! At least as best as I can lol.) S:DashingSlayer101:Wow I didn't expect to get a response, especially since my review still hasn't shown up on my end. From what I can guess from your response, you're planning on having Subaru stop time by inventing a new yin magic spell and I'd like to share my thoughts on that. If I were to imagine time stopping as a spell then it would look like what Cal Kestis could do with the force in Jedi: Fallen Order. It would require mana, and given the situation with Subaru's gate it won't be much of an issue for long. Not to mention there's the fact that he can just reapply the spell just before it initially wears off, making the time limit not much of an issue. The only real flaw this would really have though is that it would logically always have a limited range as an area of effect spell. Though if you want a true time stopping ability, as in the area of effect encompasses the entire world, then it would have to come from an authority. As far as the time stopping authority I don't think it would really be that op. Given that his heartbeat will be stopped it will put him into a weakened state, so whatever he plans to do with this power should only require minimal physical effort and would have to be done in a very short time. If you recall correctly Regulus was only capable of using his ability for 5 seconds without his wives to push the burden upon, and he only made small simple movements with...
A:Mmm, currently I'm actually still planning to go with his authority stopping time, I just wanted to take a different route with it than usual. I wanted a different consequence, a more severe one, for Subaru's time stopping, and I managed to figure one out last time due to your suggestions! As for time stop not being that op, you're right under normal circumstances, but taking into account I've made nearly everything positive about Subaru double in strength when he dies, that would include his internal organs and his ability to hold something like time stop, so I need something rather extreme, something that'd kill normal Subaru the instant he used it. Also, you're actually the reason I started these Q&A stuff lol, yours was just so good I wanted to respond and show everyone else.
Question? Suggestion? Statement? Idk:
Q/S:Aliata: honestly all I ever really want to see out of Re:forgotten type stories is consequence's stuff like Subaru giving up on his love for Emilia or his friends as the moment he desperately needed them they weren't there for him. you mentioned that this is your first time writing a story like this so I am keeping that in mind when writing this. the part in chapter 2 about Subaru feeling hope and wanting to be back with his friends "because that's just who he is" left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Subaru is a very complicated character but one very clear thing about him is his reliance on his friends his friends are what hold him together without them he will mentally fall apart. so seeing that bit in chapter 2 left me with a bad taste because that is not Subaru he can take a lot but the betrayal of his friends is something he will never get over due to how much he mentally relies on them. them turning their backs on him would absolutely destroy Subaru and would at the very least strain if not shatter most of his friendships. my advice: tone down Subaru's optimism he should in no way be anywhere near as carefree/cheerful as he is. now I'm not saying to make him miserable or angry at everything but have him be at least a bit resentful or having him outwardly be the "usual Subaru" the cheerful/carefree guy while inwardly he is pissed at his torture his friends betrayal stuff like that.
A: Mm, I understand, his cheerful self is probably pretty weird. The way I was seeing things is, Subaru's a master of lying to himself and keeping the pain locked inside when he needs to, then breaking down once he finally has a break. So far, Subaru's just been go-go-go, from being tortured, getting stronger, training himself when he can, then finally escaping, he hasn't really had that break to just… fall apart yet, and put down that cheerful demeanor. Currently, I haven't even planned a moment for it to happen, but thanks for bringing to my attention that I should tone down Subaru's optimism some! I didn't even think about it til you said it.