Chapter 5: Progress
In a forest far from Bannan city, one could hear the sounds of battle.
"El Huma!" over a dozen ice spears formed on top of Subaru. One by one, the projectiles launched towards his enemy's location with the purpose of skewering them.
They dodged each one of them as if it was child's play. It might as well have been with how off Subaru's aim was.
"Damn it, I can't get them to hit." With the spell ending Subaru, who was being boosted by Lucy's enhancements, took a few steps back to observe the area and get a better view of his surroundings
"Behind you!!" A quick warning from Gaia allowed Subaru to respond accordingly to the incoming projectile.
"Dona!"
An earth wall appeared at the side of his figure, stopping the blunted kunai from reaching him.
"So you managed to block that? It seems you're already improving" His enemy hiding in the trees mocked, trying to make him lose his temper.
He succeeded.
"Shut up! " Turning in the direction he heard that voice. He prepared a spell to attack. "Eat this! Jiwald!!" from his fingers multiple rays of heat flew through the air and impacted the top of a tree. Subaru cursed as the spot had already been vacated and once again tried to spot his opponent.
He had learned that Kazu had an ability for reading the wind around her. In a way, she could feel the presence of people or objects because of the surrounding winds.
As of now, it was a relatively weak ability since it could only feel large objects such as people. Despite that, it was still enough to be able to tell when someone was moving nearby.
Subaru heard leaves rustling to his left, a sign that someone was moving in there. Confirming with Kazu, he waited while looking in the distrubance's direction. Seconds passed as he continued to observe and attempted to predict his target's movements so he could strike. Waiting a bit more and once he was sure where they would land next. He attacked.
"El FULA!" A blade of wind, traveling at maximum velocity, cut through the air as it made its way towards its target.
Having underestimated Subaru, the man soon found himself surprised at the incoming wind blade. Knowing he could not physically counter, he did something Subaru did not foresee.
He jumped over it. And was headed towards his direction.
["Ruby! Prepare El Goa!!"] Calling to his companion using their mental link he prepared to cast his own spell to follow her attack.
Concentrating on the massive amount of mana inside of him. He let it flow through his gate. Imagining the spell in his mind and preparing the canto, he signaled Ruby to attack.
"El Goa!" A fireball bigger than a normal goa was fired by Ruby towards the assailant.
His opponent who was still mid-air noticed the incoming fireball. They grabbed a kunai and threw it faster than the eye could see. The kunai easily tore through the fire as if it was paper and snuffed it out midair.
"SHAMAK!" Subaru unleashed a large cloud of smoke to block his opponent's vision. He knew his skill with the spell was far too low for it to have any effect but that was fine. He wasn't affected by it and was still able to see him clearly; which gave him an advantage.
Rendering his sight useless would be a great disadvantage for most opponents. Unfortunately, this was not a normal opponent. For him, this was only an annoyance. Instead of his eyes, he used his nose to track his opponent inside the black cloud of smoke and pulled out a dulled kunai to attack with.
"What?!" Subaru, noticing they were almost in range, chanted a 'Dona' spell with the purpose of putting something in between them. Unfortunately, it was useless as they instantly jumped over it without even slowing down a bit.
Slightly panicking, Subaru called out to his yin spirit for help, "Luna, slow him down as much as you can!"
Doing as she was told, Luna cast 'El Vita' to try and slow them down.
It was to no avail.
Even when their weight increased by a hundred kilograms they seemed to continue moving at the same speed. It was almost as if no spell was cast in the first place.
Subaru, using both of his daggers, attempted to block the incoming blow by putting them up in an X pose.
It was useless.
The moment the weapons connected Subaru lost the clash. Losing the grip on the daggers, they fell to the ground and left Subaru unarmed.
With a kunai to his throat, he was forced to give up.
Conceding defeat he fell to the floor in exhaustion. "Tsk, I surrender, you're way too good Hal-san". It wasn't just physical exhaustion he was tired from but mental as well. He had to be aware of his surroundings all the time after all making him be on guard the entire time. This was the main purpose of this training after all.
"No need to be so bitter about losing Su-san. You've got a lot better in just one week, you know. At least you hesitate less now."
"Uh don't remind me of that. I'm not all that strong; unlike you "Strongest in Kararagi" Subaru answered back in a sarcastic tone.
That's right, Subaru had learned of Halibel's title by reading some of the most recent books on the history of Kararagi. To say he had been shocked would be an understatement. He'd stared at the text for a good ten minutes before he stood up and went to Halibel's residence. Unfortunately for him, Halibel had been on a mission at the time. Subaru had waited until he showed up and the rest is history.
"You don't need to say it like that, Su-san. I was just complimenting your improvements, that's all." Halibel said, trying to defend himself.
The event that Halibel was talking about had happened in their first 'training session' as Subaru would call it.
He had improved since then.
It had been around a week since Subaru started training with Haliibel and he could say with certainty that it wasn't easy. In fact, it was very hard especially with everything they were focusing on.
He was currently learning to fight with daggers. It would take less time to learn how to use them instead of something else like a sword, which gave him more time to practice magic.
Of course, he wasn't as good with his left as his right but with Lucy's enhancements, he was able to use it at a more acceptable level.
Knowing that he would get better in time as long as he put in the effort, he decided this would be a good weapon to use. He was being trained by someone of Halibel's caliber after all.
He bought a pair with the money he'd gotten a week earlier; they were cheap and definitely not up to quality, but he could get some better ones later. His final and main reason for learning how to fight with daggers was that Halibel used kunai's, which were not so different to the point he would be incapable of helping him, unlike the sword.
He was also training his gate. It turns out Subaru has an affinity for yin magic and a huge amount of mana.
Although not shown explicitly, this had made Luna very happy and his other spirits a bit jealous.
Halibel had told him he possessed the largest amount of mana he had ever seen. He would've been proud of this; if it wasn't for the fact that it'd be difficult for Subaru to learn how to control that much mana. That was the reason why he couldn't use shamak as more than a cloud of smoke at the moment; not to mention he just learnt the spell.
In addition to all that, he was getting better at coordinating with his spirits. They were working on faster reaction time and trying to coordinate with as little communication as possible.
Subaru's goal was to be able to communicate with his Spirits without even talking. He knew that would require a great deal of trust and knowing each other but he was confident they could eventually achieve this. He trusted his spirits after all.
This was very important because hesitation would get him killed in a fight. That meant communication between him and his spirits was one of, if not, the most important thing he had to focus on.
This was good progress for one week overall, but for Subaru it wasn't enough. He wanted to get stronger, faster, and quickly. He knew it would take time and effort for this to happen. Even so, he wished he could do something to quicken up the pace.
"So, what is it?" Halibel asked so suddenly Subaru was left speechless for a moment.
"W-what are you talking about?" He was confused at the sudden question but had a feeling he knew what he was going to ask.
"Something has been stressing you out the whole week. I noticed but had not said anything. What is it?" Halibel was extremely good at reading emotions and intentions. Someone as inexperienced as Subaru could never fool him.
Subaru knew what he was talking about.
It had happened the first-day Halibel had begun to train him. It was the same day the accident where he froze up happened.
(one week ago)
Subaru was laying on the ground clutching his stomach. Courtesy of Halibel who had thrown a blunted kunai at Subaru's direction, and although he could have blocked he didn't. He hesitated on what action to take and it resulted in him getting hit by the kunai.
"-Ahg, that hurts! Aqua, help me out with this."
Aqua started healing Subaru to alleviate the pain. Luckily it was only pain that Subaru was feeling, not an actual injury.
Well, he might get a bruise, but he should be fine. [At least I hope I am.]
"Are you feeling well Su-san?" Halibel, a bit worried, asked.
"What does it look like?" Subaru responded back in a sarcastic tone.
"Yeah, but you should have been able to dodge that. At least I think you should have... ah I know you hesitate, right?"
Subaru knew he was right. When Halibel had thrown the kunai he wasn't sure if he should've raised an earth wall or tried to dodge.
"I just wasn't sure what to do." He felt frustrated at this fact. He should have been able to act faster; his enemies wouldn't wait after all.
"It's your first day at training, you know. You're bound to make mistakes. We're done for today anyways, you should head back and rest up."
Subaru was not going to complain; he felt completely exhausted at the moment. A break was something he could use.
Standing up and thanking Aqua for the healing, he began to walk home, but then paused. Instead, Subaru remembered something he wanted to ask Halibel.
[Right I should ask him about my Return by Death.] Subaru decided this would be a good time to ask about that. He wanted to find out what it could be and where it came from.
But he also wanted someone to know of his death. Of the pain he felt.
He would like to talk to someone about it.
"Wait, before I leave I want to tell you something" Subaru turned to face Halibel who was looking at him with a curious gaze. He felt a bit nervous but wanted to get it over with as fast as possible.
"What is it?" Halibel found himself curious about what Subaru wanted to talk about. He would have expected him to walk to his home immediately; after all, it was clear that Subaru was exhausted at the moment.
Subaru decided to get straight to the point. It would be easier that way. "It's about something I call Return by Dea-"
That was all Subaru could say before the world stopped. Everything around him became dark; he could not see the forest they were just in. It's almost as if he was teleported somewhere else but was still in the same place simultaneously.
[What is going on? Why can't I move?!?] Subaru was panicking. He tried to move his body but realized none of his limbs were responding to his commands. He tried to scream for help but no sounds would come out. He tried to breathe but no oxygen would enter his body. Yet even so, he wasn't drowning. No, it was almost as if he was just existing.
No more than a second later, a hand made of shadows approached the frozen boy. He watched it advance while he just stood there frozen; unable to act or defend himself.
He felt the hand enter his chest. It sent chills down his body and what followed was an inexplicable pain. He felt as if his heart was going to explode from the way it was being grabbed. It was almost as if he was being warned by whatever was causing this.
A few more seconds passed and the world returned to normal. And as the world became clearer, so did the functions and control of his body.
"-AGH" Subaru fell to his knees and clutched his chest. He could still feel the cold sensation and ghost pain: a reminder of its presence.
"Woah! Are you okay?!" Halibel saw Subaru suddenly fall to his knees. One second Subaru was going to tell him something and the next he was clutching his chest and a shocked expression on his face.
"N-no I'm fine. I changed my mind. I will g-go ahead and leave now." He started walking away. In the direction of his apartment. His spirits followed him with worry.
He couldn't tell anyone.
This was the conclusion Subaru came to. Whoever gave him this power had prohibited him from talking about it. If he tried speaking about it he would feel that same pain again. It was a punishment.
[What a disgusting power.] These were Subaru's true feelings. A power that can let him come back from death but not let him talk about it. He could not share his experiences. Even if it did save him back then in the forest, the forest where he'd been summoned.
The power of whoever brought him to that forest. That forest where he'd been killed.
"Never again" hewhispered, filled with determination. [I will never use that power again. I will get strong with Halibel's help and the help of my spirits. This way I will never have to use that power again.]
So he declared.
A greed for strength. Strength he desires, to protect himself and the people he loved.
Halibel just stood there as he watched Subaru leave. He knew something was wrong with him. It was easy to tell because of the teen's posture and the air surrounding him. He wanted to go check on him, but his gut told him to let him go.
He decided to listen to it and hoped not to regret it.
[Back to the present]
"As I said, I'm fine. I can handle it myself." Subaru still felt bitter when thinking about RBD. The fact that he could not talk about his experiences frustrated him a lot. But what frustrated him more was the fact that he had no idea why he was summoned to this world.
Still, he wasn't lying when he said he could handle it. He was starting to ignore the power; it was better if he just forgot about it. He never planned on using it after all.
Halibel saw that Subaru was being honest. Well at least about the 'I can handle it myself' part; so he let it go.
"Well, we're done today, take the weekend off. It would be a shame if you over-exerted yourself."
"Yeah, yeah I will" Subaru was not planning on following through with that. He was planning on practicing magic. He wanted to be able to cast Ul and Al-level spells as fast as possible. Maybe then he could start creating some original spells.
"I can see you're lying, you know."
"Give me a break, I was only planning to do magic."
"Don't you already do magic every evening? Just take a break for the weekend."
"I can't. Besides, the more the better right? I'm not doing anything physical." Subaru looked at Halibel with a 'that's obvious look' while Halibel just sighed at Subaru's logic.
"Alright fine, just don't stay up too late," Halibel said jokingly as he started walking away.
"Hey, I'm not a kid you know!!!" Subaru yelled back indignantly. Sadly, his words did not reach Halibel, who just disappeared out of his sight.
He could have sworn he heard him laughing as he left.
Subaru did not feel like getting up on the floor yet, so he decided to call his spirits out instead.
"Thanks for the help, girls, you all did great! Well at least as great as we can do with our opponent being Halibel"
"Yes, we did good, Baru!!" Aqua cheered.
"Calm down Aqua; yes, we did great." Gaia in her ever-composed tone spoke.
Well we did better than last time. I think it's worth a celebration." Ruby told Gaia while Luna just seemed to agree with her statement.
[It seems they are getting along.] It had been only a week, but It wasn't only Subaru who was strengthening the bond between his spirits and himself. No, his Spirits themselves were also starting to get along with each other. [It seems Ruby has already opened up with the rest. Now I only need Luna to open up more.]
"We can do that later for now helping the lazy one up." Lucy said, not missing the chance to bully Subaru.
"I love you too" If Lucy had a physical body Subaru was sure she would have turned into a blushing mess. "Well, I guess we need to go but I don't want to move from here."
What could he say? The floor was comfortable.
Suddenly he felt his body lose weight. Well, it was more like he lost his gravity. [It must be Luna's murak spell] Deciding it was meant as a warning Subaru thought it might be a good idea to stand up now. "Alright fine I'll move now can you tur-. Before the boy could complete his sentence he felt an intense gust of wind hit him from behind. Courtesy of Kazu.
Having no gravity, Subaru's body offered no resistance at being sent barrelling towards a nearby tree.
A "thunk" sound was heard on impact.
[Damn.. that one hurt. Of course I had to hit my head.] "Ugh, fine, I'll get up! No need for that." Subaru groaned as he tried to alleviate the pain. Being sent flying like a human torpedo was not fun. He could attest to that.
Subaru could have sworn he heard them giggling.
He felt a bit offended at that but also glad. Glad for the fact that their relationship and trust were growing. But offended because he was practically sent flying to a tree!!!
[Well, I should probably move now. Before they pull another prank on me.] He would rather avoid that for now. But even so...
He would get his revenge.
Signaling Luna to end the spell he felt gravity return to his body. Regaining his mobility Subaru decided he should go home. [Training won't train itself right?... Alright that was a bad joke not doing that one again]
"Alright let's go then." With his Spirits following him from behind he began his run.
"-And don't even get me started on that one manga I saw. It was terrible, let me tell you that."
His spirits listened intently. Determine to get to know their contractor better. But also genuinely interested.
This was their usual routine. Every day Subaru would share stories of his hometown with them while they walked home.
Subaru had confided in them that he came from another world. He decided it was better to not keep any secrets between them if they were going to be contracted. Of course, he told them not to tell anyone about it. Who would believe that anyway? And if they did he might get abducted or something. He was probably being paranoid but better safe than sorry.
He'd even told them to keep it from Halibel. Subaru wanted to be the one who would decide whether to tell him or not.
Although they didn't understand much of what he told them, his six contracted spirits always seemed fascinated by the stories he told. And Since they seemed to like them, Subaru figured there was no harm in continuing to share them.
It also helped him feel less lonely in this world. After all, they were currently the only ones he could confine in.
Although they were normally very attentive, today they seemed especially hooked on every detail he was currently telling them. More than they usually were at least.
"So, can you repeat that?" Luna asked Subaru in an innocent tone.
Subaru, finding himself slightly surprised at Luna being the one asking, decided to repeat himself. Usually, she didn't talk much during these conversations, just listened or said a word or two. That meant that this had really interested her.
Little did Subaru know that she was not the only one interested. All of his contracted spirits were paying close attention.
"Ah... Sure! Anyways like I said; I believe imoutos should be protected at all costs! They are so cute after all. I honestly wouldn't have minded having one." This was true. Subaru would have honestly been okay with having a little sister. He heard they were usually annoying but maybe they would've also been cute. Hope is the last thing that dies after all. But alas he was an only child. Plus he's not on earth anymore so that's an impossible endeavor.
His thoughts going in a depressing direction, Subaru decided it was best he stopped thinking about that and focused on the present.
"Anyways there is this other thing I wanted to tell you about..." Subaru realized they weren't paying attention to him anymore. His spirits seemed to be in deep thought. The way they were following him almost looked like autopilot. [Huh? But we were just talking a second ago.] He was confused. Were they ignoring him? [ I guess I'll ask about it later. For now, I'd rather not interrupt them.] Subaru, oblivious to their thoughts, continued his journey home albeit a bit confused.
When they arrived he asked them about that moment. From the way, they avoided the question he could tell that they were all trying to hide something from him.
Subaru, not bothering them anymore, decided he should start on his magic training. He called in other spirits to help him and his own with the training.
During practice, he decided he would get his answer. Even if he had to pester them all day.
And so he began his mission and he would make sure to be succesfu-
He did not receive an answer that day.
One month had passed since Subaru arrived at kararagi and things were going well. Currently, he found himself in a desolate forest.
His spirits had evolved to 'Spirit form" now and were on track to becoming great spirits. Subaru wasn't shocked anymore, he had come to accept it. The fact that he was from another world also helped influence this. Instead, he found himself proud of their achievements.
Unlike Subaru, Halibel wasn't the same.
Usually, it would have taken half a decade for a spirit to evolve this fast. However, Subaru's companions had evolved in about two weeks. He was positive this was a first and that no one else had achieved anything close to that.
Well back to the present, Subaru found himself practicing his last Ul level spell that he had yet to master.
Ever since he started one month ago he's practiced almost every day. Coupled with multiple spirits companions helping him with the visualization and this was the result of his training.
Along with Ruby, he visualized the needed amount of mana flowing through his gate. He then visualized the spell's form on his mind, and finally.
"Ul Goa!" Several flaming bullets were sent barreling towards a group of trees. They traveled towards it without losing speed at high velocity and soon the tree erupted into flames on impact.
"That's not good! Aqua, help me put it out!" Subaru frantically screamed as he watched the fire start to spread out. Aqua abided by Subaru's wishes and helped put the fire down before it caused any further damage. [Alright, forest fire avoided] Subaru was proud of himself.
"You should be more careful when using fire Subaru. This is the fifth time you've almost burned down the woods this month." Gaia reprimanded Subaru's recklessness. "You too Ruby," she continued.
[I'm being lectured by a child. Of course I am, what did I expect?] Subaru ignored the fact that the reason they were in the forest right now was because he almost destroyed his apartment one time during a particularly vigorous training session. He may or may not have almost burned down Halibel's as well.
"Yes, yes I might have almost burned the forest by accident, but we finally cast the final Ul level spell we needed! Not counting Yin. Guess we're in the same boat huh Luna." Subaru tried to be careful when speaking, but he could still feel Luna's sadness at being unable to cast Ul-level spells apart from vita.
Subaru did not blame her of course. Yin and yang magic was rare and so not many were able to use them. They got lucky with some yang spirits being around to help Lucy learn that magic but not so much with Luna. None of the forest yin spirits knew any advanced yin magic.
Subaru tried explaining this to her but he could tell she felt as if it was her fault one way or another. He wasn't exactly sure how to deal with it. All he could hope was that maybe in the future they could learn to cast said magic. Either that or he would have to speak with her about it.
"Well in other news I can control my magic now... Well to some extent." Subaru started proudly but trailing off at the end. He turned his gaze to a very interesting tree.
Apart from his physical training and magic training with his Spirits, Subaru had been training his gate. It wasn't that he did not trust his spirits but more than that he just wanted to be able to do something on his own without having to over-rely on them.
Plus with all the mana he possessed. It would be a waste to not use it.
He, after weeks of training, (Using shamak consecutively) had finally been able to control the mana flow when casting a spell. Well, at least the shamak spell. Anyhow, for now, he would just focus on learning the already created spells with his spirits as well as his own gate. Maybe if he advanced far enough, he could create his own.
"I should probably go buy some new daggers," Subaru announced out loud to his companions.
The daggers he had been using were finally breaking down. It seems that even with Lucy's restoration magic, they had finally reached their limit. Her magic just wasn't strong enough to get them fully restored.
"I just fixed them a few days ago," Lucy spoke out to Subaru who turned to look at her. It seems she wasn't aware all she did was prevent them from breaking at the time. Not fixed them completely. "Did you already break them? Can't you take care of anything properly?"
"It's not my fault I grabbed the first one I saw... ok maybe it was my fault but give me a break. Those were the first actual weapons I've ever bought." This time he should probably take his time to look for quality instead of grabbing the first ones he saw.
[Well, I should throw these into the trash then.] There were no trash cans around as far as he could see. And he did not feel like looking for one. [...Nah, that sounds boring. I have a better Idea.] Why throw them out like a normal person when you have magic. [I should pat myself on the back for this one.]
"-Hey Kazu, Ruby help me destroy these.-" Throwing the dulled blades into the air and sending a message through their mental link, Subaru shared his intentions.
Multiple blades of wind cut the daggers to pieces. A ball of fire turned them to ash seconds later. All this in less than five seconds.
[That was fast.] They seemed to have no trouble in teamwork. Subaru was glad that was the case. He did not want a fight to start in the middle of battle. "Right, that's an A for teamwork!" Subaru exclaimed with unneeded excitement.
"That was fun, can we do another?!!" Kazu excitedly asked Subaru who was interrupted before he could even respond.
"Kazu no. No need to cut anything else." Gaia replied to Kazu. Who just accepted the answer with a shy "fine."
"Well anyways, with that out of the way, I think we should head back now." He started walking in the direction of the city.
Subaru was confident he had learned the streets well enough for him to not get lost on the way to the weapon store.
Well, at least he hoped he was capable of that much.
"My weapons aren't buying themselves after all. Although I wished they did." Aqua and Luna laughed at his joke. So he took it as a success.
[Right I'm sure I can afford to buy them or at least hope so. Still, I should look for a way to get money. I'm not sure how much they could cost and I will start to run out in a few months after all. Well I'll leave that for later for now let's prioritize not getting lost.]
"I thought you said you knew the way?" Aqua innocently commented to a frustrated boy.
"I thought I did. Why do all these streets need to look familiar!!" He had never been good with directions. Add to that this being a completely different world from his own and this is the result.
"(sigh) maybe I should ask for help." Although he had yet to perfect his writing skills he could speak the language just fine. It made him wonder why? Did they simply speak the same language or did whoever took him here give him the ability to understand the locals?
Questions for later he decided.
"Well, I guess I have no choice now," he turned and walked up to a merchant to ask for directions. Of course, he made sure to buy fruit from them first. He noticed that people usually did not give information unless they got something in return. Especially merchants.
After getting his fruits and making sure the merchants pointed him the way, Subaru departed. Talking with his spirits and eating the apple, a few minutes passed quickly as he made his way to the store. At that time he noticed there weren't many people around; not as many as there usually were.
[Well, it is pretty late I guess. Either that or people are working at this hour. Or maybe this is some special day I do not know of!] He decided that there was nothing he could do if that was the case. He just hoped it wasn't the type of event where all the stores closed down.
It would be annoying to have come all this way for nothing.
As he got closer to his destination he could hear loud sounds coming from the store. Maybe it was just him?
"Can you guys hear that?"
"Yes," Kazu answered his question while the rest just agreed with her. It seems he wasn't imagining things then.
"Hmm what could it be? Angry customers? Or could it be a robbery? In this world where you can shoot fire from your hands, I wouldn't be surprised. This is a weapon shop after all." He was honestly surprised he had yet to witness a robbery in his time in Kararagi. In a world where you can use magic, he would have expected crime to be more common.
[Then again people can also defend themself with magic. Well not everyone...] The average person actually doesn't use magic. You can imagine Subaru's surprise when he first heard this. He would have expected everyone to be able to use magic. Guess It was just another of his 'other world fantasies' being shattered.
Well, they had already been shattered enough.
Hoping he wasn't walking into a robbery at this time, he continued towards the door and took the handle in his hand. Turning it open he looked inside.
His hopes were shattered.
There, standing just a few meters in front of him was the store owner being held at knifepoint.
He could tell that however, the assailant was not well off. They were dressed in torn brown clothes that signified they were probably some thug.
It seems Otherworld or not, there would always be the rich and the poor.
"Hurry up and take all those goods," The thug shouted to his companion.
Subaru hadn't realized there was a second person in the store. It seems he needed to up his training if he missed something like that. He turned towards the direction the first robber was looking. He was then finally able to observe the second thug.
They were dressed similarly to their partner, In torn white clothes. [probably working together then.] Actually, now that he looked closer the first thug was also dressed in white. It seems the brown he saw was actually mud. He even felt a bit bad for the guy.
Just as he finished thinking that was the exact moment when he was noticed by the second thug. He stopped what they were doing to look at him. A look of confusion was painted all over his face.
"Did you forget to lock the bloody door!?!" They yelled towards their companion who just looked at them in exasperation.
"I didn't think anyone would enter. It's yer fault for being so fuckin' slow." They answered in a mocking tone towards their partner who just angrily glared at them.
The second thug was furious with his partner but decided to change targets to Subaru instead. Pulling a knife out he pointed it his way.
"Listen, I ain't in the mood to be nice! If you get the hell outta 'ere this instant, I'll let ya go all nice and easy. If you don't, then I'll rearrange that pretty face o' yours." They moved their knife up and down as they said that. [If they are trying to look threatening they certainly failed.] Subaru mocked them in his head.
He remained calm. Halibel had drilled into him that he should always stay calm and collected. He should study his opponent and try to get as much information as possible. He should always look for a weak spot instead of rushing into battle.
He was glad Halibel had taught him that. His young self from one month ago would have probably either become a nervous wreck or just rush without thinking. Neither would've helped him out at the moment.
He observed them. He was no expert at it but he could probably gain some basic details. From what he could see they were clearly low class. They probably wouldn't be doing this if that wasn't the case. That meant they probably lacked knowledge of magic or only knew some basic spells.
He should be careful either way. even basic magic could be fatal after all.
He signaled Gaia to be prepared and ready to cast a spell at any moment. He did the same with Lucy. He wasn't going to take any chances.
He could assume the first thug used knives as a main weapon. He was holding one in his hand after all.
He wasn't sure about the second thug, but as far as he knew there were no guns in this world. Well, at least he hoped not. [Right great job on destroying your weapons earlier Subaru. You're a genius!] Of course, he would stumble upon a robbery the day he had no weapons.
Just his luck.
"Well? What's it gonna be kid? This is your last chance."
[Right I should probably do something. I can't just leave the store owner to their luck. Let's see... I got it!]
"Aqua!" Hearing her name being called Aqua heard Subaru's intentions through their mental link. Hearing what he wanted her to do she followed through with his request.
"El Huma!" Over a dozen ice projectiles formed In front of Subaru. Ready to be fired at any moment.
"A Spirit User?!" The first thug exclaimed with fear mixed in his tone after seeing the floating blue orb.
The second thug seemingly had a change of heart and now found himself looking at Subaru with a bit of fear in his eyes. They stepped back, never taking their eyes off him until they got to the counter with their other companion.
[Judging by how they're reacting I can assume they don't know magic. I don't think they're smart enough to trick me to this extent. At least I don't think so] reaching this conclusion in his head. Subaru felt much more confident with his chances.
Taking a step forward and raising his voice he spoke while looking directly in their eyes ."What do you know, judging by how things are going we all know how this is going to end. I suggest you surrender" He spoke with confidence but felt a bit of nervousness at the situation. This was a first for him after all.
"Like hell we will!" The knife thug grabbed the shopkeeper tighter and closed the distance between his knife and the shopkeeper's neck. Blood began dribbling down his neck. "If you don't want this bastard's blood on your hands, you'll stop with the magic right now!"
"This is bad." Subaru had been so focused on how to stop the robbers he completely forgot about the shopkeeper. Mentally kicking himself, he thought about what he could do. He wasn't sure if they were serious or not but he wasn't about to take any chances.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
[Dammit is there any way for me to incapacitate them from all the way here?] Subaru could hear them both screaming loudly at him to stop his magic. He wasn't going to. They knew that the moment they had no hostage he was clear to attack.
Of course, Subaru wasn't going to allow anyone to die here today.
"Right, Lucy boosts me with your magic when I tell you to, and at the same time, I want Luna to cast El-shamak on them. Don't worry about trying to avoid the shopkeeper, just make sure you hit both of the criminals." This plan was already risky enough. No need to make it harder.
"After that, prepare to cast earth magic Gaia. Something I can use to capture them. Also, cancel the magic Aqua. That should put them more at ease and let their guard down." Subaru was hoping they wouldn't be able to react fast enough to his attack.
This was the best plan he could come up with in a few seconds. They could get impatient so he had no more time to make a better one. All he could do was hope it works.
[Right here goes nothing.] He could see one of them was preparing to walk towards him. Was it to attack him? threaten him? Or just beg for him to put his magic down?
He would never know as he had already begun to move.
"Now!" The next instant Subaru felt the effects of Lucy's magic take form. And in that same moment, he saw Luna cast her magic, as well as Aqua canceling her spell.
He watched as they wore a confused but relieved expression at the sight of the Icicles disappearing. That was all he could see before they were covered in a sea of smoke.
"El-shamak!" Luna cast her magic and the following moment both of the thugs and the shop owner fall to the ground unable to control their bodies.
This would only last for a few seconds but it was more than enough time for Subaru to follow up with his plan.
He dashed the few meters that separated him and the store owner in a second. Reaching him, he took their arm and pulled him away from the duo. He then signaled Gaia to bind them with earth magic.
Following that two tendrils of earth, erupted from the ground and bound both of the ruffians to the ground. They were now stuck to the floor unable to move.
Regaining mobility, they both attempted to move but found it impossible to do so
"Let us go!" They screamed with unconcealed fury aimed at the boy.
"Yeah no. I'm not doing that." He went through all that trouble to capture them. Did they really think he would let them off that easily?
"T-thank you" The shopkeeper thanked Subaru after finally regaining control of his body. If it wasn't for him he would have probably gotten robbed after all.
"It was no problem... alright maybe it was a bit of a problem but it's fine now." He waited for several seconds before asking "Can you go get the guards or something? I'd rather not spend my whole day here."
He looked at his spirits and also thanked them for their help. They simply said it was no problem. Of course, that brought a smile to Subaru's face and made him grateful they were with him.
Half an hour later the robbers were tied up properly and escorted out by a pair of shinobi. They left as quickly as they came, only stopping to hand Subaru their bounty poster.
Yes, It turns out those two had a bounty request on them. It was nothing big. Judging by the reward money, they were probably more of an annoyance if anything. They attacked when stores were usually isolated. This way there was no one to help the victim. It was just bad luck that Subaru had needed to go at that exact moment and caught them in the act.
"Bounty hunting huh..." Subaru muttered under his breath. The reward money he could cash in was nothing exceptional by any means. But from what he could tell, It was about three weeks' worth of money. For the level of skill, those two possessed that was really good pay in his books.
[Maybe I should do this for a living.] He would get stronger as time passed. He knew that. So maybe this was worth considering as a career path. [Hunting criminals as a career path... I would have never considered doing that back in my old life. What am I now, a superhero?"] He asked himself sarcastically with a smile on his face.
"Well, I guess I should go cash in this money now. But first! We buy. That's what we came here for after all." Turning back towards the damaged store, the floor splintered into pieces, he took a look at it and thought.
[I hope I don't have to pay for the damages.]
Thank you "AnticMaster"for helping beta this chapter.
First of all I wanted to thank you guys for all the support this story has received. Over one hundred followers and almost eighty favorites. Thank you for your support even with the slow updates. It means a lot to me.
So in this chapter I tried to show the relationship between Subaru and his spirits. It was also a set up chapter for Subaru's future position in Kararagi as you might have noticed.
Next chapter we arrive to what you have all been waiting for ( well sort of)
Well anyways once again thank you for your support and don't forget to leave a review and any criticism you might have.
See you next time.