"I don't know this ceiling..." A boy with spiky black hair muttered to himself as he finally woke up.
This boy's name was Natsuki Subaru and he had been transported to this new world only yesterday. The last thing he could recall was being in the loot house beside a beautiful girl with silver hair he'd been trying to help and a red haired super knight named Reinhard. After taking a second to recollect that, he felt a wave of accomplishment as he remembered that the silvered haired girl finally revealed her name to him.
Emilia.
That was such a cute and beautiful name for a goddess such as her after all! Subaru took a few more moments to remember what else happened and frantically patted his stomach, eagerly searching for any kind of cut. To his surprise, there wasn't anything there. He remembered that his stomach cut open thanks to the bowel hunter and that painful sensation made him lose consciousness. He was very satisfied to know that he didn't end up dying. He would've lost his mind if he had to redo all that again.
It was at this time Subaru finally observed his surroundings beyond the new ceiling. He had awoken in a fancy looking bed inside an equally fancy room. This room wasn't anything too grand but it did give off an 'I'm in a rich person's room' vibe.
Subaru got himself off the bed and approached a window in the room. Outside, he saw a large spacious garden. Beyond the garden, he saw the familiar buildings that were around the market which told him that he was still in the city.
"So I'm still in the city..." Subaru muttered to himself as he put together his next course of action. "I guess this is the part where I go find the npc!"
After shouting out his plans to no one but himself, he rushed to the door of the room. After trying to exit, he nearly rammed into a familiar red haired knight.
"W-Woah!" Subaru cried out as he fell back, nearly hitting the doorframe. He looked up to the tall man to realize it was none other than Reinhard, the very man who destroyed the loot house. "Reinhard?! What are you doing here?!"
Reinhard, who effortlessly dodged Subaru's charge, smiled at his confused friend. "Oh? I was just checking to see how you were doing."
Subaru blinked a few times before getting back on his feet. "That's not what I meant! I mean what are you doing in this place?"
"Ah, my apologies, you're in my home right now. Come on, friend. I made food for you and milady." Reinhard bluntly answered before starting to walk off.
As much as Subaru wanted to explore, he still had so many questions for the overpowered knight. "H-Hey! Wait up!" Subaru shouted out as he rushed over to Reinhard's side.
As the two went on their way, they approached a door that was being banged against from the other side and the door itself was visibly shaking to the rhythm of the banging.
"I said open up, dammit!" A familiar feminine voice screeched out from the other side of the door. Reinhard calmly opened the door to be met with a flying kick. However, the abnormal man caught the kick with ease, causing the perpetrator to lose their balance and fall on the floor.
Subaru instantly recognized this person to be Felt, the girl from the loot house. Felt, who was currently sitting on the ground, stared daggers at Reinhard. "Don't block my kick, you bastard! What the hell is going on?!" Hissed the golden haired girl.
"What's with the aggression, Miss Felt? Is the room not to your liking?" Reinhard asked with genuine confusion as he knelt down to help Felt up.
Felt on the other hand pushed his hand away. "I can get up myself!" The girl growled before getting herself back on her feet. Without any warning, Felt swung her fist to the knight which the latter caught with ease like he did with her kick. "I said don't block it, you bastard!"
Reinhard smiled nervously as he scratched his head with his other hand. "I'm sorry, Miss Felt. I'm just acting on instinct."
"Oh yeah? Is it your instinct to go around abducting people too?!" Before Felt could argue any further, she noticed Subaru beside Reinhard with a troubled and confused look on their face. "Wait, it's you! You have something to do with this, don't you!" Felt pointed to Subaru accusingly.
"Wait! You got the wrong idea! I just woke up a few minutes ago. I don't know what's going on either." Subaru desperately explained, holding his hands in front of his face as he braced himself for any kicks from the girl's wrath. Luckily for him, it never came.
"So you're a victim too, huh?" Felt returned her hate filled gaze back to Reinhard after listening to Subaru's case. "Don't just stand there! Tell us what the hell you think you're doing kidnapping us here!"
"There's nothing to be concerned about. I assure you that I'll explain everything shortly." Reinhard stepped to the side, gesturing Felt to follow. "I have breakfast prepared if you both are hungry."
Felt clicked her tongue before reluctantly following behind. She was admittedly pretty hungry right now. "Fine. But I swear, I'll kick your ass if it's something stupid!"
Subaru walked beside Felt while Reinhard led the way. He glanced over to Felt who was currently crossing their arms with a pouty expression on their face. Subaru couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of this.
"Hey! What's so funny?" Felt snapped. Her dagger filled glare aimed at Subaru.
Subaru kept smiling before answering Felt. "Sorry, I'm just relieved to know that I'm not the only one confused over what's happening."
The short girl looked confused for a moment before sharing her own smile. "Yeah, I guess we're in the same boat right now." Without any warning, she swung her leg around, roundhouse kicking Subaru's side.
The attack caught Subaru off guard as she clenched the side Felt kicked in pain. "Yeouch!!! What was that for?!"
Felt placed her hands over her hips as she chuckled to herself. "Good to see that hole in your stomach isn't bothering you anymore."
"Well kicking it won't help it!" Subaru yelled out. Other than the pain from the kick, his stomach wasn't hurting at all. Whatever Reinhard did, it sure worked wonders. "So Felt, are you feeling alright?"
"What the hell do you think?! I woke up in a locked room for crying out loud!"
Subaru frantically waved his hands in front of him, trying to calm the short tempered girl before he could take another kick in the gut. "Th-That's not what I mean. I meant were you injured or anything? I don't really remember anything after my stomach tried to run away." He laughed while scratching the back of his head.
Felt calmed down a bit and giggled at Subaru's remark. "Yeah, I guess you didn't. You didn't miss much though, after I returned that insignia, mister knight was babbling nonsense then he put me to sleep with magic or something."
She was right, that didn't sound like a lot at all. Guess he had to ask Reinhard for the full story then.
"Hey, thanks for your help though." Felt added before Subaru could get too lost in thought.
"Huh? I didn't do much of anything though."
"Bullshit! I'd be a goner if you didn't get my back!" Felt argued.
"I'm not exactly sure what went on at the loot house but I have to agree with Miss Felt. Everyone there survived and the only casualty has already been healed and can take a kick in the gut now." Reinhard added with a genuine friendly smile on his face.
Based on how that was worded, Subaru instantly knew that he was considered to be the casualty. "Don't joke about that! I really could've died, you know!"
"Oh, my apologies. I was trying to compliment how valliant you were."
Eventually, the three made it to a dining room where Reinhard happily served them breakfast. Felt stared at the food suspiciously for a moment as if she never saw a plate of food in her life. Soon enough, she scooped some of the food in her hand, ignoring the silverware, and ate it that way.
"Woah! This is pretty good!" Felt proclaimed before starting to shovel the food in her mouth with both hands. The sight made the two boys look at the seemingly starving girl nervously.
"U-Um, Miss Felt. I believe it would be more ladylike for you to use the silverware to eat." Reinhard explained, trying his best to hide his surprise over the situation.
"I can eat however I want! Besides, you shouldn't have the right to tell me how to eat, kidnapper!" Felt snapped back. However, she instantly went back to devouring the food.
Reinhard was caught off guard by this and was too embarrassed to say anything else. Both Subaru and Reinhard started to eat their own respective meals.
"So, can you tell us what exactly happened after the loot house incident?" Subaru piped up, still eager to understand what kind of predicament he's in.
"Yes, Miss Emilia closed your wound after you blacked out. I took it upon myself to bring you here to ensure you were fully healed."
"Oh... So Emilia isn't here then?" Subaru asked dejectedly.
"That's correct. She did want to take you with her but I reasoned it would make more sense if I took you in instead since I was closer. I feared that you might've died of internal bleeding if you weren't given immediate professional care."
As much as Subaru lamented the missed opportunity of being nursed back to health by the cutest girl in the world, he did understand the reason behind it. After all, he managed to make it this far, a future where no one dies and that in itself was good for him.
Reinhard took notice of Subaru staring off to space before he reassured him. "There's nothing to worry about. Emilia said that she'd come by to check up how you were doing."
Subaru let out a sigh of relief upon hearing that. However, a certain annoyed golden haired girl piped up amongst the boy's chat. "Don't pretend that I'm not here! Nothing that you said tells me why I have to be here!"
Reinhard took on a more serious look before getting out of his seat. The gesture caught the two kidnapped victims off guard and flinched. "Before I give you an explanation, I just want to reconfirm something."
Reinhard walked to Felt and extended his hand to her. In the knight's hand was an insignia that looked exactly like the one Emilia had.
"Wait, you have one too?!" Felt asked in shock. If she knew that there were more of these, she wouldn't have bothered trying to take it from Emilia.
"Miss Felt, I need you to hold this." Reinhard asked firmly. Felt complied and took the insignia as instructed. Once in her hand, the red gem on the insignia started to glow which made Felt look confused.
"Wait, wasn't that gem always supposed to glow?" Felt didn't actually have time to look over the insignia or understand its meaning when she initially stole it from Emilia so all of this was still pretty unknown to her.
Reinhard simply nodded before getting back to his seat, leaving the insignia with Felt. "There's no mistaking it. The dragon gem has recognized you as a priestess."
Both Subaru and Felt blinked a few times in utter confusion. "So what exactly does it mean to be a priestess?" Subaru asked.
"Right, you're a foreigner. In Luginica during times without any heirs to the throne, we look upon the divine dragon to choose its next ruler. As the prophecy goes, the divine dragon will recognize five priestesses to be worthy of taking the throne. Afterwards, it is up to the people to decide which one of the candidates is best fit to be their next ruler. This process is called the royal selection."
Subaru took a moment to take in all of this before jumping out of his seat. "Hold on a second, you're telling me this little girl is a princess?!" Subaru yelled out as he pointed to Felt.
"Just wait a minute! This is all news to me! There's no way I'm some princess!" Felt added.
"In this case, it doesn't matter if you're a princess or not. The divine dragon has recognized you as a priestess and there's no going back from that." Reinhard explained, revealing that there's nothing that can be said about this situation.
"Well I never asked to be the ruler of this stupid country!" Felt screeched, having enough of this.
Reinhard had a visible confused look on his face. "So you don't want to participate in the royal selection?"
"Hell no!" Felt snapped back instantly. "I get to choose what I want to do with my life! Not some red stone!"
Reinhard started to scratch his chin. "I didn't see that coming... Well, I suppose you can always withdraw from the selection."
"So I can decline? Why the hell am I here then?! You're just wasting my time now!" Felt ran towards Reinhard to smack him across his face but the knight effortlessly caught her hand before her attack could land.
"Don't worry, Miss Felt. I assure you that you are still needed here." Reinhard calmly explained as Felt pulled her hand away from the knight's grasp.
"Will you stop keeping me in the dark already? Tell me what I need to do in order to get out of this stupid mess!" Felt crossed her arms, eagerly awaiting for a solid explanation.
"After the Royal Selection is announced, you should be able to announce your resignation."
"That's it, right? No other weird crap you're keeping from me?"
Reinhard nodded. "As far as I'm aware, that should be it."
Felt let out a heavy sigh as she went back to her chair, slumping herself down into it. "Fine, when is this going to happen anyways?"
Reinhard rubbed his chin as he pondered the question. "I'm afraid I can't answer that. With everything that's going on, it could take awhile. I'd say a month if we're lucky."
"Hold up, you're saying I'm stuck here for a month?!" Felt leaned back up from her chair, looking annoyed yet again.
Reinhard nodded. "If everything goes smoothly, yes."
Not wanting to press on about this any further, Felt let out a defeated sigh. "Fine, but you better make sure things go smoothly or else I'll kick your ass to the other side of the city!"
The knight only laughed lightly at this threat. "Well, I'll make sure to work extra hard, Miss Felt."
There was a moment of silence at the table. The three shared glances at one another for a little bit. Feeling awkward about this silence, Subaru piped up. "So what about me? Am I free to leave?"
"Well, I would like to make sure your wounds are fully healed. But I don't see any problems with-"
Before Reinhard could say any more, Felt interrupted. "Like hell you are! We got in this together so you can bet your ass that we're getting out of this together!"
Subaru was a bit surprised by the outburst but he couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah, I guess I shouldn't leave so soon. Felt will surely feel lonely without me." Subaru teased.
"Don't get the wrong idea! It's just gonna piss me off if you're free to go while I'm stuck here for a whole month!"
Subaru walked over to Felt and placed his hand over her head, lightly ruffling her hair. "Well it turns out I have nowhere to go. So I wouldn't mind at all staying- YEEEOOOOOCH!!!" Subaru screamed out as the golden haired girl bit down on his fingers.
"You don't learn, do you! I said I'd bite you if you touched me like that!" Felt nearly growled as Subaru rubbed his hand, blowing on it as if hoping that would make the pain go away.
"Subaru? Do you need your hand healed too?" Reinhard asked with genuine concern.
"No, I'm fine! I think a muzzle would probably be better though."
"Hey! I swear I'll kick your ass if you pretend I'm some kind of dog!" Felt barked.
Subaru, not wanting things to go down that route, relented and waved his hands in front of him. "Alright, alright. You win. I was just trying to be friendly."
With a loud hmph, Felt crossed her arms and looked away. "There are tons of other things you could do to be friendly, dumbass."
"Oh yeah? Well what do you have in mind then?" Subaru countered.
"Well I dunno, I've been doing things on my own to really know what other people do for fun." Felt shrugged.
Right as Subaru deadpanned, Reinhard started, "Well, if you don't mind me making a suggestion, I think two friends would partake in activities such as sparring or walking in the shopping district."
"Hey, not a bad idea, Reinhard! I kinda suck at fighting so how about we all hit the market?" Subaru suggested with enthusiasm.
"That doesn't sound bad but would mister knight let us out?" Felt nearly scowled.
"Well, if it is the three of us together, I don't see why not. I did plan to visit an old friend to ask a favor. Besides, I never said you couldn't go outside." Reinhard added.
"So I am allowed to leave?!" Felt asked.
Reinhard shook his head. "It's a bit more complicated than that. Until the royal selection situation is all done, I have to keep you in my custody."
Felt growled and tried to roundhouse kick the red haired knight. However, like every other attempt, he caught it with ease. "I told you to not treat me like some kind of dog!"
Reinhard tilted his head with confusion. "I'm sorry, Miss Felt. But I don't quite remember ever implying that you were one."
"Don't play dumb! You're saying I need to stay with you all the time!"
"That's correct. However, I still don't see where you being a dog is brought up." Reinhard explained.
"I bet she's still upset about the muzzle joke. Really, you shouldn't let jokes like that get to- GAAAAH!!!" Subaru went on before limping to the side as Felt gave him a roundhouse kick.
"Canit! If I hear the word muzzle out of you one more time, I'll shove a muzzle in your mouth!" Felt hissed.
"Alright, I'm sorry. I won't do it again. H-How about we go out now." Subaru desperately suggested.
Reinhard nodded as he got up. "Yes, I think a nice walk would do us all good."
Felt stretched her arms out. "Yeah, that does sound kinda nice right about now."
And with everything decided, the three went off to go on their little outing.
