'Wow! Kid wasn't kidding! He really did send all his friends here!'
Kadomon had seen a string of rather fortunate events in the past few months. He'd received a lot more traffic since people remembered Subaru's name and accomplishments. Then, for no discernible reason, Subaru gifted him a noble's salary and ran off! He had always liked the kid, but what had he done to deserve that? If he didn't know better, he might've believed it to be hush money, or something obtained through suspicious means. However, Kadomon trusted Subaru and appreciated the gesture.
But this. . .What the hell was going on here?! Was he using up a lifetime's worth of luck this month? How did he end up with two royal candidates + their camps at his shop?
To be fair, he'd already met Emilia once before. But nearly every interaction was facilitated by Subaru.
'I really need to thank him for this. I got a new house, larger customer base, and better connections because of that kid. Who knew that such amazing people really existed?'
"Sir, I apologize for the intrusion. But could we ask you a couple questions? Please don't worry, it isn't anything bad."
Emilia spoke first. She'd met the shop owner before and she didn't want to scare him by forcefully interrogating him. He'd been nice to her ever since she'd helped him find his kid. Emilia just prayed that he was telling the truth.
"Yea, sure! Just make sure to buy something when you're done! Also, maybe tell your friends about this place too!"
Kadomon beamed a smile at Emilia and Crusch. While they didn't seem like they were in the best of moods, he wasn't going to let that bring him down. Life had just been too good lately!
"Umm, well you told Otto and Garfiel that you saw Subaru around here, right?"
Kadomon looked confused. What was going on here? He'd never met that 'Otto' or 'Garfiel' guy before he first spoke to them. He just assumed that the news of Subaru's survival must not have traveled. How come Emilia didn't know about it? Wasn't he Emilia's knight?
"Uh, yeah. The last time I saw him was about a two weeks ago."
Emilia and Crusch were surprised. This guy seemed like he'd been talking to Subaru for a while. Was it possible he was unaware of what happened to him? (At least, of the story released to the public.)
As Emilia glanced at Crusch, she saw her nod her head at Kadomon's statement. The sheer shock made her nearly fall backwards.
'While I wished it was possible. While I hoped with every fiber of my being that he was alive. I never believed that something like that could be real! I-I mean, we buried him! What is going on here?!'
"Wait! Umm, are you reeeally sure it was Subaru? Do you have any doubts about it?"
Kadomon frowned for a moment. That wasn't the answer he was expecting to hear. Was Subaru hiding or something? This wasn't good! After all the things that Subaru had done for him, he couldn't betray him like this during his moment of need!
"Well. . . now that you mention it. I might have mistaken him for someone else."
Emilia's eyes turned downcast. She seemed heartbroken, but accepted the answer. Before she could begin walking away, however. . .
"Sir, please tell the truth."
Crusch made a rather shocking statement.
Emilia turned back around in astonishment. She wasn't angry at the man for lying, but she was lost in a sea of thoughts. None of them good ones.
"Huh? I am telling the truth! After thinking about it for a moment, there are a lot of people who that person reminded me of."
Crusch felt guilty for calling the man out like this. He seemed like a truthful guy. It appears that she and Emilia had made him too afraid to tell the truth. It was fitting. Subaru would probably fear them too. Perhaps he knew the truth behind Subaru's death and he was trying to protect him.
"I apologize for the rude callout. I wish I didn't have this ability, but I am able to discern when people are lying."
Kadomon's face turned fearful. He knew he'd messed up. It was a shame too. Everything was going so well! Him and his family had finally moved into a proper home. His shop had been doing better than ever before. Now he had to go and mess it all up! Lying to a noble, knight, or candidate could get you thrown into jail, or possibly worse. He had just lied to all three!
"I'm sorry about that."
Emilia quickly interjected. The last thing she wanted was to disrupt the poor shopkeeper's livelihood. It seemed he was beginning to suspect that they came here to arrest him.
"Please sir. I know how weird this may seem. B-but none of us have seen Subaru since he. . .d-disappeared. . ."
Emilia felt sick. She was lying through her teeth. He'd never disappeared; he'd been murdered. Tears began forming in her eyes, but luckily for her, Kadomon misunderstood the reason why.
Crusch, on the other hand, felt the wind of untruth emanating from Emilia. It filled her with shame. She knew that she'd been responsible for this, and now Emilia was forced to clean up her mistake. What her knight had done was wrong. She knew it. However, she didn't stop him. She'd believed the lies about Subaru and let Felix torture him. He never had a chance to defend himself.
'I had the gall to chastise this man for lying. Now I am remaining silent? I am such a hypocrite. . . !'
It ate at her.
"Ok. I'll be honest with ya. I've talked with him quite a bit. I'm sure its him."
Out of everyone, the first person to speak wasn't Emilia, but Rem.
"You've talked to Subaru-kun!? Please sir! Please tell me where he is!"
Rem could sense the tension building between Emilia and Crusch. To be honest, she was livid. She knew she wasn't innocent in matters like this. Back when Subaru arrived in the mansion, she'd nearly killed him for being a witch cultist. Every moment she'd been near him required all her self-control. If it wasn't for Emilia and the villagers, Rem honestly wasn't sure what she would've done to him.
However, she never acted on it. Rem held back and put those feelings aside when she needed to. She'd learned what a kind, caring person Subaru was. How could the others betray him like that? He was a hero! How dare they lie about him! It made her sick when she learned the truth. The love of her life, betrayed by everyone. Leaving her all alone. . .
"I'm sorry, I don't know where he is right now."
Crusch confirmed the man's statement before Rem continued her questioning.
"Do you know where he's staying? I beg you. . .please. . . ."
Rem hung her head. She'd lost all hope a long time ago. She'd become cold and curt, stuck angrily serving traitors. There was no hope of justice or forgiveness. All she had left was her sister, who had forgotten her for an entire year. The only person who remembered. . .the only one. . . . . had been erased. He suffered a worse fate than Rem. There was no hope for him.
And now these people were trying to track him down. What a farce! If Subaru really was alive, she'd drop everything to stand by his side. She wouldn't try and manipulate him like these people. All Rem wanted was to help the man who had sacrificed everything for her.
"He never told me."
Kadomon was on guard now. Luckily, Subaru hadn't told him where he was staying, so he didn't need to worry about Crusch's lie detection. But, something was wrong about this situation. Why hadn't Subaru told these people that he was alive? The tension between everyone was noticeable as well. He clearly didn't have the full picture, but he doubted that these two were being truthful with him.
"I-I. . ."
Before Emilia could continue, Kadomon cut them off.
"Listen folks. I'm clearly out of the loop on something. I'm getting the feeling that this is something I don't want to be involved in. If you'd like to purchase something, please say so. If not, please leave. Good luck with your search."
Kadomon abruptly ended the conversation. Subaru had really done a lot for him. He knew that these people were close friends of Subaru, but he wasn't going to risk any more information about him. If Subaru chose to keep it secret, Kadomon would do his best to keep it that way.
"Oi! C'mon, if ya know where th' Cap'n is, tell us!"
Garfiel couldn't keep quiet anymore. This guy really didn't want to help them find Subaru? If he knew the truth, that'd be one thing. However, this guy had no reason to kick them all out of his shop! He knew Emilia and Rem were close friends of Subaru. Why wasn't he helping them?
"Garf, shut it. The last thing we need is you making a scene in front of everyone."
Ram calmed down Garfiel. It was clear she was upset at this news too, but she understood that nothing more would come of this questioning. At this point, it would be up to the Emilia camp to track him down.
"Ooh~ is it my turn now?"
Meili looked up at Emilia.
"I guess so. . ."
She was clearly upset that it had come to this. Subaru seems to want nothing to do with them anymore. Tracking him down was looking like a dumber and dumber plan.
"Oni~san, Oni~san! Where are ~you~?"
*ACHOOO*
"Whoa, Big bro! What was that? You sick or something?"
Subaru turned to Felt with a perplexed look on his face.
"Hmmm. No. . .but supposedly this means someone is talking about me somewhere."
Felt brushed off his superstitions and pointed Subaru back to their diagram.
"Ok, so here's what we know. Reinhard has at least forty divine protections."
Subaru gawked at Felt's casual statement. Weren't divine protections supposed to be exceedingly rare? Subaru knew that Reinhard had multiple divine protections, as he teased him about it whenever he was in class. But more than forty? Felt must have been keeping a list in her head every time she heard about one. Good job Felt!
"Of course he does! Ok so what won't work against him?"
Felt stood still with her hand to her chin. After nearly five minutes of silence she began her answer.
"I know that at least: projectiles, magic, weapons of any kind, sneak attacks, pre-emptive attacks, all proceeding attacks, unknown attacks, night attacks, morning attacks, poison attacks, bioweapons/illnesses, bodies of water, lightning, weather attacks, death itself, animal attacks, curses, any debuffs, literally any element. . ."
"Wait wait! I think you brushed over something pretty crazy!"
Felt stared at him for a moment before shrugging her shoulders.
"Well you asked me what I knew."
Subaru was aggressively writing down all the resistances so he could try to formulate a strategy, but he was beginning to realize how impossible of a task this was.
"Ok, so maybe instead of slapstick, we go for something more unique?"
Felt looked up at Subaru and began thinking about ways they could trick Reinhard.
"Ah. .! Wait. Umm Bro, I forgot to mention a couple of his other powers. . ."
"What? Are you kidding me!? How can one man be so gifted!?"
Subaru took a long exhale before looking back at Felt.
"He has the Divine Protection of Wind Reading, Mind Reading, Empathy, and Mind-Changing."
"What the hell are those?!"
Subaru didn't like how these sounded. From the look of things, Reinhard may actually know about the prank already!
"He can read your emotions and thoughts, hypnotize you, and determine if you are telling the truth or not."
Subaru slumped back into his chair and began simulating scenarios where he could avoid all of Reinhard's Protections.
"Oh! I know! What about something where we don't need to be in person? That way, he can't foresee it, or know that it is coming!"
"Good luck actually hitting him. . ."
Felt was too hung up on the idea of slapstick. Subaru had thought of another brilliant idea!
"Why don't we make a dish for him? Something absolutely disgusting! Then we tell one of the maids to serve it to him and watch his reaction?"
They both leaned back in thought. This seemed plausible, maybe it might actually. . .
"Nope, sorry Bro, I don't think it'll work. He has the divine protection of evaluation, item mastery, and taste king."
Subaru wasn't amused. This was getting out of hand, why the hell did he even have those?!
"Wait, just because he can see the items/evaluate them, it doesn't mean he'll know how they'll taste. Perhaps he will just see the ingredients?"
"Nope. Divine Protection of Taste King makes it so any food he touches becomes delicious."
"ARGH! What the hell?!"
Subaru was defeated. This was truly an unbeatable opponent.
"How about we swap the sugar and salt proportions? It wouldn't affect the taste, but the texture + absorption would still make the dish gross?"
"Sorry. Divine Protection of Salt Reasoning. Wouldn't work."
Subaru was going to find a way damn it! Halibel's idea didn't sound so bad now. . . No! He wouldn't lose hope. He would get that bastard somehow!
"Maybe if we have him put on a blindfold and then. . ."
"Nope. Divine Protection of Sense Preservation."
"If we fill the room up with smoke. . ."
"Nope, Divine Protection of Mist."
"Ok, maybe we just ask him to look away from it then!"
"I don't know, if our dish is bad enough, Divine Protection of Poison Immunity might . . .!"
"Ok, shut up! I give up on the dish! Maybe there is something else we could do."
Subaru and Felt would spend the next two hours brainstorming ideas to no avail.
"Ok. So you understand the rules right? It's reeeeeally important that you don't let them attack people during the search. Have them search for sources of miasma and report back to us."
Meili was getting sick of hearing Onee-san's repeated worries. She wasn't an idiot! She was here to retrieve Oni-san and bring him home. In exchange, she'd be let out of her room and regain her freedom (should she want it). It was quite the generous deal, but something had been bothering Meili. Why did they ask her to search for him now?
Subaru had apparently been missing for months. She'd never been informed of anything that happened since she was locked up. All she knew was that Subaru had vanished. If they were really serious about this, why hold off on asking her?
"Yes Onee~san! If he's here ~I'll find him~."
Meili suppressed her urge to smile. While she was grateful for the opportunity to leave her room, she had no reason to go along with their plans. At this moment, Meili wanted nothing more than to avenge her older sister. Subaru had been responsible for their separation and she'd never forgiven him for it. Elsa had raised her and trained her. She was the only person that Meili truly cared about. It was his fault that she'd been injured so badly in the capital! It was his fault that she'd died at the mansion! And then he had the nerve to keep her locked up at the new estate? During her stay at the mansion, she was powerless to do anything about it. However, now it was a different story. She'd been tasked with hunting down Subaru with Mabeasts! There couldn't have been a more perfect set-up!
'I'll eliminate Oni~san myself. Then I'll report back that I found ~no traces~ of him.'
It wouldn't be a lie either. She'd be leaving no traces of him. Besides, as long as that Crusch lady isn't around, she'd get off scot-free!
"Please, find Subaru-kun. I need to know he's alive. . ."
Rem uttered the last part under her breath. Meili nodded and gave a thumbs up to everyone in both camps. In total, there were eight people aside from Meili. They were Crusch, Wilhelm, Emilia, Rem, Ram, Beatrice, Garfiel, and Otto. Although Beatrice had been forced to come along by Emilia. As long as she could fool them, she'd be getting her revenge with no consequences.
Wilhelm narrowed his eyes at the gesture. He noticed hints of anger beneath Meili's smile, but he neglected to inform the others. He thought he was seeing things. If he had known Meili was a former assassin, perhaps he may have taken it more seriously.
"My pets, go and ~retrieve~ Oni-san, won't you?"
Meili released dozens of Black Winged Rats. According to Emilia and the others, these beasts would be the best ones to blend in. Not only could they fly, but they didn't need to worry about panicked citizens roaming the streets. While Meili thought it would be more fun to release a pack of Guiltylowes, Emilia insisted she only use these.
"I pray for your safety, Subaru-dono."
Wilhelm looked upon the city and remembered the moment he'd shared with Subaru in Priestella. It was a tragedy that Subaru had been forgotten. He'd inspired Wilhelm to try and patch things up with Reinhard. Would he get the chance to speak with him again?
'That was really weird. Maybe I can figure out what is going on.'
Kadomon was still thinking about the conversation he'd had earlier. He might have royally messed up by telling those people that Subaru was alive. Was it ok for him to leave this alone? After everything Subaru did for him, could he really pretend that nothing happened?
He began rummaging through his stuff, looking for a particular item. Kadomon had a hunch about where he could find Subaru, but he needed to be sure. It was a long-shot, but he vaguely remembered seeing an insignia on the bag of coins that Subaru gave him. If he could find that bag, that might give him a clue as to where he was staying. At least then he'd be able to give Subaru a heads-up on the situation.
"Now, where was that. . .?"
"Honey?"
Raksha, his wife, walked in and saw him rummaging through the closet.
"Oh uh, hi dear! I'm looking for something important. Maybe you'll know where it is. . .?"
She looked perplexed. They had just moved into this new home. Apparently a good friend of Kadomon's had set him up with a huge sum of money! Was he already misplacing things? They'd only been living here for a few days. Surely there wasn't enough clutter to lose something.
"I'll try to help. What are you looking for?"
"Do you remember when I brought home that bag full of holy coins?"
Raksha looked surprised. She didn't expect him to be looking for that. They spent most of it on this luxurious new home!
"Uhh, dear, I believe we are storing the remaining funds in the. . ."
"My bad! I'm not looking for the coins. I'm looking for the bag."
She was understandably dazed by this. A bag? What importance could that possibly have? Did he expect another bag of holy coins to show up? Was it a magic item that spawned more and more coins?
"Oh! Umm. . I'm not exactly sure where it is. Last I saw it, Plum was playing around with it. Maybe she knows where it is?"
Kadomon looked annoyed by this. He hadn't given that away! Is everything he owns just a toy?
"Thanks dear. I might need to run an errand really quick. It could take a while, so would you mind looking after Plum until I get back?"
Now Raksha was really bewildered. An errand? This late at night? What did he have to do that was so important? He always made sure to wake up bright and early for work. It was already weird that he was still awake at this hour.
"Sure, but. . . do you mind telling me what this 'errand' is?"
Kadomon looked back at her.
"I'm going to pay a friend a quick visit. I just received some urgent news."
"I've got it!"
Subaru stood up and pointed his finger at the ceiling. He'd finally figured out a method to pranking Reinhard!
"Big Bro, the last ten times you've said that, you were wrong."
Felt was weary. She'd begun to realize how invincible Reinhard really was. At this point, she was going to end up sleeping in their meeting room if Subaru didn't stop talking.
"No, I'm serious this time! How about this? We have Reinhard 'taste test' a dish of ours without looking. But actually we. . ."
"Are we really back on the food thing?!"
"Hear me out! However, instead of food, we put something disgusting there!"
Felt looked at him like he was an idiot.
"Didn't you already suggest this, like 10 times?"
Subaru looked back at her and smiled.
"Yes, I know, whatever he eats becomes delicious. HOWEVER, that will work in our favor!"
Felt perked up at this. Why would his Divine Protections hurt him? That didn't make any sense.
"Think about all the things we could feed him! He would never know we fed him Mabeast dung!"
Felt realized that this plan could actually work. The idea of Reinhard eating an entire bowl of Mayo was beginning to seem plausible. If they called it a soup, then he'd never know!
"Big Bro. . . that's genius! Hurry, hurry, write this down!"
As they clamored for a pen and pencil, they heard a knock on the front door of the manor.
'Someone wants to talk at this hour? I'm just going to pretend I'm asleep."
Subaru decided to ignore it, but the visitor was persistent.
*Knock* *Knock*
"Hey, Big Bro, could you get that?"
Felt looked tired, so Subaru sighed and walked to the door. As he turned the handle, he began feeling nervous. This was a very similar scene. He remembered trying to turn that handle before being murdered. Due to it being night time, whoever was knocking seemed to have something urgent to tell them. But for all he knows. . . someone could've hired another assassin!
'Is it possible!? Did that guard do what I asked? There's a chance. . .'
Subaru felt his heartbeat quicken. He never wanted to feel that pain again. Never. If he opened this door, would he end up back in that loop?
"Hey kid! If you are here, can you please open up? It's important!"
Someone's voice passed through the door.
"Huh?"
"Hmmmmmmm~? It seems new instructions have appeared! Gahahaha! Looks like it is time to make that meat scum learn the ~true~ beauty of a queen!"
A group of hooded figures gathered around the blonde-haired girl. They disappeared as quickly as they arrived. While the Archbishop tried to ignore the disgusting loyalty they exhibited, she found herself angrier at the fact her audience had shrunk. It displeased her to know that the other Archbishops had failed so spectacularly in their efforts to attack the Watchtower and Priestella. The image it creates is one of weakness and incompetence. Such a thing was unacceptable. One's image is everything. Instead of admiration, she might receive hostility, impudence, or worst of all, pity.
"Sacks of meat~ who do nothing but aspire. They can't ~become~ they simply are. Such stagnation makes them nothing more than rotting bags of meat! Now my gospel tells me that I must ~release~ them? Su-ch a task is only possible through me! Fitting that my gospel grants me this mission! The world's love ~shall be mine~! Kahahahaha!"
Authors Note:
Hey everyone! I felt a bit energized after dropping the last chapter so I decided to write another one today. It looks like the original author is continuing the story, so everyone, please go check it out! I'll link it below and put his name. To be honest, I'm really looking forward to seeing the fic being continued! It has my favorite premise I've seen so far and the author's writing style is really good. Also, I get the joy of not knowing what is going to happen each chapter, which is awesome!
(I apologise for dropping this chapter right after u updated, I literally found out right as I finished writing this chapter. Forgive me!)
Here's the link + their user
OhBilly
s/13989877/2/Another-chance