A/N: Been a while since I last updated, but chapter 7 is finally completed to be read. Slight spoilers concerning Felix in the EX stories at the end, but I haven't read it yet besides wiki browsing, so I'm building off from it.
Everything felt like a blur for Rem. She could not fully comprehend her actions, but someone shoved a child into her, causing a return to her senses.
Confused and alerted, Rem scanned the area, which assured her that she fought mabeasts while berserk, so someone snapped her out of it.
Suddenly, Rem heard painful screams near her. When she looked in the direction of the noise, she saw a pack of mabeasts attacking Subaru, biting and chewing on his skin as he struggled to get them off from him.
There were too many mabeasts that it became difficult for Rem to see the damages they caused on Subaru. She had to help before it became too late.
In a desperate attempt, Rem attacked one of the mabeasts next to Subaru while carrying the child in the other hand, but before she made much progress with the others, Subaru fell off the cliff, taking multiple mabeasts down with him.
"Subaru!"
Rem screamed out towards Subaru in horror as she took down more mabeasts that switched targets to her.
"No! No! No! This can't be happening! Rem was supposed to stay behind to ensure Subaru's safety with the child."
A simple recovery mission went wrong. Due to Subaru being gone, Rem felt the guilt's burden of being useless amplified even more.
As more mabeasts arrived to attack Rem, she took off running with the child. Unlike Subaru, she had the speed to get away quicker.
During Rem's escape, she faced nasty thoughts concerning the events that unfolded.
"Rem couldn't do anything. Rem let Subaru die despite holding off the mabeasts. If Ram had her horn, she would have handled them all easily without any casualties. Rem can't do anything correctly."
"Rem didn't do her job. Rem was supposed to help guide Subaru as a butler. Rem wasn't supposed to lead him to his death. What would sister think of this? Rem is a big failure."
"Rem suspected Subaru for invalid reasons. Now Subaru is dead because of Rem's failings. Rem can't be the horn sister left to protect anyone."
Rem checked the status of the child as she ran while being careful around her surroundings. Unlike the other children, she lacked the conditions of her peers despite her unconscious state, as if this child never came under the curse. Regardless, Subaru entrusted her by keeping this child safe, so she will not let Subaru's sacrifice be in vain.
Soon enough, Rem arrived at the village and handed over the last child to one of the villagers.
"How're the other children?"
"All of them are resting and making a recovery. We are so grateful for your help. Without you, we could have never found them."
The children's curse was in the process of eating away their life force, but Subaru and Rem were lucky enough to find them before their life became extinguished.
"Rem can't take all of the credit. Sub-."
Rem stopped herself due to reminding herself of what happened to Subaru. She felt unsure if she wanted to explain what happened to Subaru as the other individual who helped in the search. Instead, she decided to handle the incident herself without worrying the villagers.
"Can you get someone to head to the mansion and explain what transpired here? Sister can take over overseeing this situation."
"I can do that. Also, what happened to that butler with you? He seemed very intent on finding the children when he arrived. After seeing him interact with the kids, he must be worried about the whereabouts of the children."
Rem became silent for a moment. She did not feel prepared to share the whole truth about Subaru until she could find his body and confirm the state of his being. In a shaken voice, she hesitantly replied to the villager.
"Subaru stayed behind in the forest to help us escape from the mabeasts. Rem will go rescue Subaru now."
Rem quickly left the villager and entered the forest after spouting her lie.
Rem did not want to worry the villager any further as there is a chance Subaru survived. A chance she knew is a lie she believed. Subaru fell off a high cliff and lacked signs of resistance that could allow him to survive a fall.
Despite the slim chances of survival from falling off a cliff, Rem intended to find the remains of Subaru's body and give him a proper burial. It is the best she can do to reprimand her shortcomings.
On her way to the cliff's base, numerous mabeasts sprung into action against Rem as she effortlessly takes them down one by one.
"Rem will not allow any of you to ruin any more lives!"
Rem charged in, taking down many mabeasts that stood against her path. No matter how many mabeasts she had to face, she would kill them all.
For the horn Rem has to replace and honor Subaru's sacrifice, she must eradicate all the mabeasts.
The witch, the witch's cult, and the witch's spawns ruined the lives of everyone around Rem. She will see the end of them no matter how broken she becomes as the hatred for all witch-related associations boils deep inside of her, causing a reignition of her transformation for the slaughter of mabeasts.
In an empty void, dark mist surrounds a barely conscious Subaru.
"Where am I? Am I truly dead?"
Through the mist, Subaru at most could see an outline of a person.
Subaru tried reaching out to the person but failed to get closer.
"Who… are… you?"
Talking felt like a massive struggle for Subaru as he pronounced his words slowly. His current state of being felt surreal yet an out-of-body experience as he shifted between conscious and unconscious.
The shadowy person raised both hands towards Subaru, and a voice similar to Emilia whispered.
"In due time, we will meet."
An all too familiar voice yet so unfamiliar simultaneously lulled Subaru to become unconscious, forgetting everything he just experienced.
Subaru woke up feeling extremely tense all over as if he hit the ground hard. This kind of aftershock pain felt extremely uncomfortable, causing his limbs to spasm a little. His mind took a minute to readjust to the current healthy body he resided in, which immediately stopped all forms of the aftershock.
"I'm not even sure I can get used to this cycle of instant pain and the shift to an intact body."
Subaru stood up and examined the carnage all around him, causing him to throw up on the spot. Strewn across the ground were numerous corpses of mabeasts flattened by varying degrees unnatural for viewing.
"Is this what jumping off looks like? Looking at this makes me sick to the core. I can't even imagine seeing my own body."
Just when Subaru was about to wipe his mouth, he noticed streaks of dried blood around his hand and arm.
Surprised, Subaru checked his body and the ground around him to find an array of dried blood all around.
"Is this all mine, or is it the mabeasts? The uniform is ruined beyond repair, causing the lack of cuts and scratches over me to be peculiar. I can't dread this for long. I need to find a way back to the village."
Subaru walked out from the field of corpses as he carefully trekked around the bodies while trying not to throw up for a second time. At this point, any shred of innocence he had clearly left him by now.
Once Subaru left the death field, he took a look around. On his left, all of it is the base of the cliff. On the other side, away from the direction of the village, is all forest.
Subaru had no choice but to follow the cliff's base until he found the spot where he can walk up a hill that connects to this cliff.
On his journey, Subaru reflected on the events that transpired recently.
"I hope Rem and the kid are safe. Explaining to Rem how I survived might be tricky. I can't talk about my ability, and I'm not even sure why I can't in the first place if people witness me die and come back unscathed."
Subaru continued walking along the path as the cliff slowly transformed into a hill.
"I have to find the person who gave me this curse. I'm here for a reason, and nothing of significance signaling my appearance occurred yet. Where is that person? Who summoned me?"
Eventually, the base of the cliff Subaru followed finally turned into a hill to turn to the village.
"Finally! Now here are the hard parts: evading mabeasts and finding the right path back. Here goes nothing."
As Subaru found his way through the forest, he questioned his actual chances of survival. He can not outrun a mabeast, and due to being similar to a dog, their strength of smell might be strong enough to invalidate any forms of hiding. In other words, he is dead meat if he comes across one.
Regardless of how he can revive after being killed, Subaru has not become numb to the pain that comes along with it. The experience of the mabeasts chewing on himself left a strong impression as an unfortunate experience, so he wished that he did not have to go through it again.
After some walking, the absence of mabeasts made Subaru extremely anxious about when and where they will come from to attack him. He had gone past near the area where he jumped off, and there are no signs of mabeasts anywhere.
"Do mabeasts sleep? Where are they? This is like a horror game but with real killers!"
By taking precautions around his surroundings, Subaru slowly walked through the forest, avoiding any twigs or branches that could make a loud noise if stepped on.
Suddenly, Subaru heard the crackling sounds of chains and numerous loud thuds. Among the sounds, he heard a burst of maniacal laughter belonging to a voice similar to Rem. He never heard her laugh before, but the laughter does not sound like it should belong to her.
Subaru claimed himself down with regulated breathing to check out what is happening before he gains any forms of regret.
Subaru headed towards the constant noise, and a clearing appeared before him.
In the clearing, Subaru witnessed an extremely bloody Rem in her horn form surrounded by a massive array of mabeasts corpses and a huge pack surrounding her.
Continuing forward to get Rem would be suicidal, but Subaru predicted that Rem would not last long if she kept fighting that many. She eventually would meet her stopping point, preventing her from becoming victorious. Strength in numbers people is a frightening concept to be on the receiving end.
To make matters worse, Subaru felt cautious of Rem's capabilities with her form due to her extreme aggressive behavior in her combat style, especially when she held no regard for anyone's life. She might not be able to tell the difference between friend or foe, causing some fear for his life.
There is also a possibility of body-slamming Rem into being back to normal will not work again. Due to his previous attempt of shoving a person towards her, Subaru felt a bit confident in performing a similar act to regain Rem's senses.
The handling of the mabeasts has no solutions that Subaru can muster up. He can't fight nor run from them. He has no options.
As Rem fought hard against the mabeasts, Subaru noticed the puppy nearby, presumably giving orders to the other mabeasts. This could be his chance to get rid of the leader and hopefully force the other mabeasts to scatter.
Subaru looked around him to find a fallen branch with a suitable enough pointy end. Eventually, he found one that met his requirements despite being half pointy.
With the branch in hand, Subaru snuck around to where the puppy stood.
Subaru has one shot in making this work, or else it is game over for this life.
Subaru rushed out from the forest into the clearing, which caused the puppy to turn around quickly.
The puppy barked once before Subaru stabbed its back with the stick.
The stick went into the puppy's flesh, but before Subaru could pull back the stick, the puppy started glowing and tremendously grew in size.
Subaru fell backward, frightened to death. A quick assassination turned the puppy into an actual final boss. Something he can not fight, especially with no weapons.
Out of tools and out of options, Subaru had nothing else planned.
Frustrated with the constant shortcomings, Subaru cursed himself for being so useless.
"Damn it! Why don't I have anything else besides respawning from de-."
With that small phrase, a feeling Subaru once forgot since that night in the wagon reappeared again. A squeeze to his heart by a mysterious hand of this power, reminding him of the rules of his ability.
After a quick heartache, Subaru returned to his senses and noticed every mabeasts, and Rem stared at him before both simultaneously charged at him.
"Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!"
Terrified at the sudden turn of events, Subaru ran as fast as he could. Behind him, he could hear the sounds of the morning star hitting more targets and occasionally zooming near him.
"What just happened? Why is everyone, including Rem, chasing me?"
"Did the restriction of his ability attract them? It must be. All of the mabeasts suddenly went after me."
Subaru kept running faster as he heard footsteps behind him, especially heavy footsteps belonging to the now giant puppy.
Subaru exited the forest to see a similar cliff.
"Another dead end! Now what? Jump off and die to escape a different kind of death?"
Subaru skidded to a stop near the end of the cliff.
"Wait a second. If I'm the bait and mabeasts can die from falling, I can lure them off the cliff!"
Being smart or stupidly brave, Subaru stood on the edge of the cliff as the mabeasts poured onto the cliffside.
With one deep breath, Subaru yelled out his restricted phrase.
"I can respawn by de-."
Another moment of Subaru's heart being squeezed occurred, but Subaru managed to shake off the heartache afterward.
In an instant, all of the mabeasts that followed Subaru charged at full sprint.
Moments before the mabeasts started their lunges, Subaru enacted phase two of his plan.
"Here goes nothing."
"SHAMAC!"
By reaching a point of desperation, Subaru managed to pull off a large black mist, but he felt extremely weak.
Fortunately, being in the ground is part three of the plan, but Subaru did not plan to thud hard due to mana exhaustion. Currently, the only problem Subaru has is dodging the mabeasts that lunged at him too slow.
The initial wave of mabeasts that went after Subaru ran off the cliff, plunging to the deaths.
The second group stopped near Subaru, but many fell off due to a lack of spatial awareness.
The rear group that included the mabeast boss resided in the mist, but they stood their ground.
Eventually, the dark mist dissipates, revealing an angry group of mabeasts.
Subaru could barely stand, and his insides felt extremely weak. He did not have the stamina to do much else against the remaining mabeasts.
Instead of all of the mabeasts recklessly charging at Subaru, the boss mabeasts barked at the others prompting them to return to the forest, presumably to deal with Rem, who still fought as the sounds of chains echoed nearby.
The boss mabeasts approached Subaru carefully as it growled. Granted how many of its underlings died from the cliff, it must be wary of the terrain. Any wrong move will lead to a similar death.
Despite being weak, Subaru fully stood up against the new threat. He can not perform any extraneous actions against the boss, so he had nothing in store to deal with it.
"How do I get an intelligent dog to jump off a cliff?"
Subaru eyed a rock near him, so he grabbed it and threw it at the dog in hopes to anger it.
"Hey, you dumb mutt! Come and get me! Too scared of this cliff?"
Subaru picked up more rocks and flung them at the mabeast boss. All of the stones harmlessly bounced off from the mabeast, but they made the mabeast angry as the growls grew stronger.
As if the mabeast had enough of Subaru's tomfoolery, it marched forward towards Subaru, but careful enough to not go too fast.
Subaru stared at the mabeast in freight. Apparently, he did not have part B of his plan.
"Now what? That dog can easily bite forward while safe from falling. I can't even use magic right now!"
"Screw it. Time to run!"
Despite his best effort, Subaru tried to run off to his right, but he could not get far before the mabeast boss came up right behind him.
With all of his options exhausted, Subaru decided to reuse old ploys as a desperate attempt.
"I can respawn by de-! Ack!"
The sudden heartache made Subaru tumbled onto the ground as the angry mabeast boss leaned forward to bite Subaru.
"Don't die on me, mana gate! Shamac!"
Subaru tried to direct his magic into the mabeast's mouth without having any idea if it can cause an effect.
Due to Subaru's strained gate and the lack of mana, this version of the shamac failed like his first attempt back in the mansion, but he managed to direct it towards a direction instead of a self-explosion.
Much of the most entered the mabeast's mouth, causing great confusion as it quickly stopped and shut its mouth, possibly in fear of what that mist could do.
Exhausted and an extremely strained gate, Subaru collapsed on the ground, regardless of his safety.
From the forest, an all too familiar sounding scream exploded loudly.
"Mabeast. Mabeast! MABEAST! DIE MABEAST! MABEAST!"
Rem came out of the forest extremely drenched in blood and sweat. That morning star of hers is drenched in red as well by all of the mabeasts it hit.
From Subaru's point of view, Rem is almost not recognizable. He does not want to admit it, but Rem is really terrifying.
Rem repeatedly swung her morning star against the mabeast boss, inflicting damages all over its body.
The mabeast had no choice but to defend itself from Rem's attacks. However, it howled out loudly again, possibly signaling more of its underlings.
The battle between the two became very heated, but Rem is clearly losing steadily. Every swipe the mabeast takes on Rem shoves her hard into nearby trees or on the ground. Not the damages from the previous fighting took a toll on her ability to fight at one hundred percent, but she started to limp, restricting her movements, even more, allowing the mabeast boss to land blows.
Subaru could not do anything else but watch as more mabeasts arrived from the forest.
Eventually, the fight would turn from a one versus one into a gang of mabeasts versus Rem.
With extreme motivation, Subaru ignored the straining of his body to get up and run towards the mabeast boss to climb it.
Subaru's whole body flared in pain as he made movements that he should not have. He felt his muscles tearing from extreme overuse and his senses turning numb.
Climbing up the mabeast boss proved quickly to be very difficult due to the constant shaking from the mabeast as it dodged attacks and tried to get rid of Subaru. To make matters worse, Subaru lost all feeling in his limbs as he reached the top.
"I'm not done with you yet!"
Subaru held on for his dear life. He will make this mabeast jump off the cliff even if it means using unconventional tactics.
Subaru's first act might be disgusting for Subaru to do, but he is willing to kick out one of mabeast's eyes as he did not have a weapon on him.
The mabeast howled out in pain as it shook its head violently.
Subaru shifted towards his other eye and kicked it.
The awfully mush sound of eyes crushed will definitely haunt Subaru in his dreams as it made him want to throw up in disgust.
As the mabeast spun around in circles trying to throw off Subaru, Subaru slid down to the mabeast's nose.
"I can respawn by de-!"
Due to Subaru's body exploding in pain, the heartache became amplified, causing Subaru to lose balance as the mabeast boss charged forward off the cliff. Luckily Subaru fell off on time, hitting the ground hard.
Subaru could not afford to rest his body as he had one more job to do. He has to snap Rem back to normal.
He forced himself one last time to stand, but an end of the morning star struck him in the chest, almost flinging him off the cliff.
The morning star dug deep into Subaru's body, but he held on tight on the chains, regardless of all the extra pain he experienced.
Rem pulled her morning star back to her, but Subaru flew across with it right into her.
As Subaru's last-ditch effort, he head-butted Rem before passing out cold from the lack of adrenaline, the extreme pain, the rapid blood loss, and the possible concussion he gave himself.
Rem immediately regained her senses to witness a horror almost worse than her village massacre.
Rem felt exhausted and hurt while covered in dirt and blood, but she noticed she had someone in her arms again. The person's smell is recognizable, but the scent held a heavier strength to it.
However, upon closer inspection, this Subaru had her morning star connected to his chest as blood rapidly leaked from his bruised and battered body.
Rem looked around her surroundings to witness a massacre of mabeasts and looked back at Subaru.
"Did Rem do all of this? What did Rem do to Subaru? Subaru can't be dead! Rem didn't mean to do all of this!"
Rem quickly detached the morning star from Subaru and tore off a section of her torn, blood-stained maid outfit to bandage Subaru's open wound.
Rem checked Subaru's pulse and felt relieved as his body showed signs of life.
If Rem had any mana rescues left from the gate, she used it all up to heal Subaru to a stable condition as she neglected her own body.
Once all of Rem's mana became drained, she placed Subaru on her back and carried him to the village.
"Rem is deeply sorry for committing atrocities against Subaru while Rem had no control over her actions. Subaru tried his best to save Rem, and Rem must return the favor."
The walk back to the village felt dreadful for Rem as she lamented about the possible actions she may have committed.
Ram, with her horn, would have handled this incident with ease without any casualties. Rem could not even help without injuring one of her allies. A failure Rem has become and what she always was as Rem took that resolve to heart after this debacle.
Subaru blinked his eyes a few times as he grudgingly woke up from his slumber.
Most of Subaru's body felt stiff and sore, but it did not prevent him from sitting up.
Subaru rubbed his eyes and looked around to find himself to be in his bedroom at the mansion. Surprisingly, on his right, he found Rem sitting on a stool while sleeping on his bedside.
Subaru stared at the blue-haired maid with mixed emotions.
Subaru witnessed and suffered from Rem's horned form that went berserk on everyone, making him cautious of her like she is a timed fused, but looking at her calm and cute sleeping face, Subaru could not help but feel at ease with her.
Even though Subaru would love to stare at Rem's sleeping face a while longer, he decided against it as he needed to know what happened after being knocked out.
Subaru carefully shook Rem's shoulder to wake her up.
"Rem, wake up. Your junior butler is alive and well to work under you again."
As Subaru removed his hand from Rem's shoulder, Rem started to wake up.
Rem rubbed her eyes and looked up towards Subaru as her eyes turned wide.
"Subaru! You're awake!"
Suddenly, Rem lunged forward and gave Subaru a crushing hug as she became teary-eyed.
"Rem is sorry for what happened! It's Rem's fault that Subaru had to go through so much pain!"
"Don't start blaming yourself. I knew the risks and went through them willingly. Now please stop crushing me."
If Subaru did not feel fully awake, the hug surely woke him up.
"Sorry about that, Subaru. Rem became too emotional."
"So, how long I was out, and what happened during that time?"
"It's been a week since Subaru fell unconscious."
"Huh, only a week. Wait. A WEEK?"
"Subaru's condition was in critical condition due to numerous conditions: strained mana gate, blood loss, over-exhaustion of the body, and being bruised all over. Rem tried her best to heal Subaru, but Rem did not have enough mana to stabilize Subaru's condition at the start."
"No worries, Rem. I'm grateful for the help. I went past the limits of my body, so those are the consequences I have to face. Also, what happened after?"
"Well, after Rem brought Subaru back to the village, the villagers were shocked to see us in our current conditions, so they offered to tend our wounds and let us rest in one of their houses. Sister also tended to our wounds while scolding Subaru for letting Rem get hurt, but sister understood the situation and informed Roswaal of the situation when sister returned to the mansion. Roswaal hunted down the remaining mabeasts and fixed the barrier. Then, the morning passed, but Subaru hadn't woken up yet, so Rem had to carry Subaru back to the mansion where Rem took care of Subaru for the past week."
"Again, I thank you, Rem, for taking care of me while I was unconscious."
Rem looked down as if she did not want to make eye contact.
"Subaru shouldn't have to thank Rem. All of this is Rem's fault. If Rem managed to distract the mabeasts, Subaru did not have to fall off a cliff. If Rem controlled her powers correctly, Subaru would not have become hurt. If Rem correctly did her job, no one would have suffered. If sister came with Subaru instead of Rem, everything would be fine. Subaru would have never become unconscious for a week if Rem did not mess up. Everything is Rem's fault. Sister would have done a better job. Rem is a failure."
Subaru stared at Rem after her speech about failure. Although some events did not go their way, Rem is not at fault for what happened. He roped Rem into finding the children. At most, he should be the one blamed, not Rem herself.
Besides, everyone made it out okay. Subaru's ability worked in his favor to save lives, so the survivor's guilt from the first night in this world became less of a burden.
To change Rem's mind, Subaru prepared himself to perform a sacred act of goodwill, a head pat.
Subaru gave Rem a head pat which made her look up at Subaru.
"Subaru?"
Subaru removed his hand and smiled at Rem.
"Don't be so hard on yourself. Most of it is my fault anyway. Suddenly taking you on a quest to find the children, knocking you out from your form to prevent the mabeasts from attacking your blindspot, rolling off a cliff, becoming mabeast bait, and deciding to take a beating to make you back to normal happened because I wanted to keep everyone safe. Allow me to be selfish for everyone to have a chance at life. You did what you thought best to help me forward my goals, and your actions are what you should be proud of."
"But, if sister-"
"Rem, I know that you look up to your sister, but she can't do everything as you can. Even if she did a better job, you still pulled through and ensured everyone survived. No one can replace Rem, and not even Ram can replace you. Plus, you're the better maid at handling chores, your cooking is terrific, and you have a bigger chest. You have qualities over her that are irreplaceable, so don't follow your sister's shadow. You have your own. Rem is Rem. Understood?"
Subaru gave a thumbs up and smiled at Rem, hoping her mental stance would change slightly.
Rem wiped away the tears forming in her eyes and gave a heartwarming smile that melted Subaru's heart away as he saw it.
"Rem is Rem. Understood."
Subaru could not help but wanted to protect that smile. He had already failed once after the beautiful sight Emilia had granted him, so he felt determined to prevent another tragedy from happening again.
Before Subaru get off his bed, Rem spoke up.
"Subaru, Rem wondered how did Subaru survive the fall from the cliff?"
This is the question Subaru hoped he never gets asked since coming up with excuses will not work up to a certain point.
"Those mabeasts make very good cushions."
"Rem never expects Subaru to be very cunning. Let's head to the kitchen. Subaru hasn't eaten a meal in a week."
Subaru's stomach growls as a result of hearing that.
"Can't wait for that! I'm even down to happily devour Ram's steamed potatoes."
Rem giggled softly.
"Sister would take pleasure from that."
Subaru and Rem went off to the kitchen and returned to their duties together with Ram.
In an office, Roswaal closed his tome of wisdom and carefully stored it away.
"Subaru has done well, but he needs a push to become a better pawn. For a scapegoat to be successfully used, the scapegoat itself must be resilient and strong to bear the burden."
Roswaal opened a cabinet to take out notes titled Crush camp. He scanned over the paperwork until he reached the section, detailing a certain cat demi-human.
"Felix Argyle, the knight of Crusch Karsten. How joyous the tomb has become by generously granting me more pawns."
Roswaal looked at the last name of Felix in his notes.
"Those rumors must be true about House Argyle. Necromancy."
A/N: An end of this arc has finally came to a close. It has been a bumpy ride by altering Subaru's story concerning his ability as many has pointed out some plotholes and inconsistencies I have yet to address and stayed unknown for the time being, but the critiques from the comments helped a lot in guiding this story as an anime-only who pretty much spoiled himself of major plot points while missing out of the details.
Thank you for everyone who followed through this far in the story and tolerated my developing story writing. Soon enough, the story will lead to what I initially envision. A story about death.
Some shoutouts and answers from chapters 5 and 6. :
alankordel958 - Thanks for reminding me about Ram and Beatrice. Ram coming with Emilia really slipped my mind when I made this fic despite previously knowing about it. Also notice the "I wonder" and "in fact" from Beatrice, so I'll incorporate them more often in her dialouge.
SentinalSlice - Close but not quite on the mechanic I planned out for respawning by death. Should be fully explained by a certain chapter by a certain know it all.
snoweil - I did base Subaru's ability off from Reinhard, so I planned some special interactions between the two later down the road.
guest - That's a valid criticism about the mabeast's curse killing the children and Subaru at the same time, so the only reasoning I have without majorly writing myself into a corner is that the children were bitten late at night when they snuck off into the forest, so the curse activated later. I don't know the details behind the curse, so it's been written as a timed curse instead of a flat out all activation.
guest - No planned OCs currently that plays a major role in the royal selection. Although, the royal selection will take a different route due to certain circumstances.