Julius did not know what just happened. He was fine one moment, then Joshua spoke a name. Searing white pain and intense headache invaded his mind at that moment, making him clutch his head and collapse instantly on the ground.
His brother had called out to him in a worry and rushed to his side. But he couldn't respond.
He wanted to die. It hurts. It hurts too much, far too much. It's so far the most painful thing he has ever felt. Through his link he could feel his buds experiencing almost the same pain as his.
He could not even scream from the pain. Almost crying from joy as he felt himself slipping out of consciousness. Fainting a second that lasted an eternity after.
As he drifted into unconsciousness. He found himself in an unknown room. The room was almost entirely empty except for two figures that stood infront of two doors at opposite ends of the room. Both of the figures were holding out a hand for him.
One figure was shorter than the other and had purple hair similar to Julius with a star shaped hairpin, and a scarf adorning the neck of the figure. Anything other than that was disorted. When he looked at the figure a voice suddenly called out a name. As he listened intently for the voice, he realized it was his own voice saying "A...ia...sa..ma.." in a sleepy tone. Yet neither his mouth nor his tongue had moved to utter those words. It did not make any sense for him.
He turned his gaze on the other figure. Focusing on it he saw that it had silver hair with a white flower adorning its hair, and purple eyes like jewels. Like the other figure this one was distorted though not as much as the shorter one of the two.
They each stood behind a door with symbols drawn on it. Behind the short figure was a door that was made of iron and had the symbol of a wolf fang on it, alongside some writings in a language he did not understand. The door felt familiar to him.
Meanwhile the taller figure stood infront of a door that was made out of fresh wood. Some parts of the door were covered in snow or ice flakes. A symbol of a flower was drawn on it, with one half of the flower being a transparent white while the other half ink black.
He almost instinctively went for the short figure and the door behind it. But he felt an irresistible pull towards the tall figure. A pull that no matter how much he tried couldn't get out from, he felt being tugged towards the tall figure's direction. His body moved by itself, reaching closer and closer to the tall figure. As if he was a puppet with invisible strings. Until at last he stood an inch from it. There was a strange sense of eeriness coming from this. It felt like this wasn't what it was supposed to be. Something felt very wrong about this to him. His hand reached out without him willing it and grasped the tall figure's hand.
He felt a gaze falling on him from the distance once his hand joined the tall figure's. Though it was peering through him rather than at him.
Then the wooden door opened and a second later both figures disappeared alongside the other door. Seeing as he had no other alternatives he decided to go through the wooden door.
Stepping through, he suddenly felt like his brain was being fried. Screaming intensely from the pain as images flashed through his head in a rapid succession. Nearly 3 years worth of memories assaulted him all in an instant, making him again fall asleep in his dream.
Waking up. The first thing he saw was that he was in the capital walking around and doing a patrol. He sensed he was off-duty but doing a patrol none the less.
"Stop! Thief!" A distorted voice yelled out from the distance. Alerting Julius.
'Thief? Better investigate.'
Walking off in the direction of the voice. He called out Nes to better guide him towards where that voice came from.
Nes guided him to an alley where he saw a girl with silver hair being surrounded by 3 thugs, a short one, a skinny one with his tongue pierced and finally a large muscular one. He could not hear their conversation so he decided to get closer. He could tell from their gestures that she was accusing them of something, and they looked angry. The skinny thug drew a knife and Julius thought he needed to interfere before any harm befalls anyone.
"Halt." Julius spoke with authority. Making all 4 stare at him. He noticed that the girl appeared to be a half-elf, with silver hair and purple eyes like jewels. Noting the unfortunate resemblance she shared with the Witch of Envy, however, he would never judge anyone based on appearance alone.
"I urge you to explain yourselves. What has happened here?"
"Shit it's a knight, what do we do?" The big one whispered nervously whispering to the other two. Julius clearly heard it and narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"S-S-Sir we were just mindin' our business you see, when this cursed half-devil showed up and accused us of stealin' somethin' from her. We didn' anythin' of the sort, but she insisted" The short one replied stammering and almost wanting to flee.
"That is because I saw the thief run in this direction and I saw you three loitering here. So just return what you graciously stole and I'll let this slide. Now please. It's important to me. I'll give up on the other stuff I carry, but I can't let you have that." The girl's distorted voice spoke in a kind yet stern tone. Making Julius almost at disbelief over the tone this girl used towards her supposed-thieves.
"Hear that? This bitch keeps thinking we stole something of her." The skinny one with the knife still in his hand spoke to Julius.
Suddenly a small cat appeared from the hair of the girl, surprising everyone. It stared menacingly at the trio, nearly making them run away in fear.
"You should watch your tone when speaking about my daughter, cretin. Or I will freeze the hand that is carrying that small silly object."
The fact that it spoke greatly amazed Julius and greatly scared the trio even more. Recognizing the cat to be a great spirit due to his divine protection. "A great spirit?! I am truly honored to be in your presence. Great spirit-sama." Bowing down to the great spirit.
"Huh? See Lia, this is how you should treat me sometimes." The spirit cat replied with a smug smirk. Receiving a glare and a sigh from her.
"Puck! Don't make them panic-stricken too much, I still need them to give me back the insignia or its current lodging." The girl spoke in a kind stern tone again, but with archaic terms. Her voice's distortion was fading away slightly the more she spoke.
"And you. Give back what you stole. I can't hold Puck down forever so you should act like good boys."
Julius getting tired of not getting results, decided to ask them directly.
"If I may. You three, did you or did you not steal from this girl? Be aware that you are in the presence of a royal knight, therefor I would think twice about lying were I you."
"N-N-No! We didn't steal nothin' from her I swear!" The small one answered. Whimpering and nervous. The other two nodded.
"The half-de- ack!" Puck appeared infront of him menacingly as he did not want him to continue speaking about his beloved daughter like that.
"I mean it is like what we said" The skinny man finished off his friend's words. Julius still kept a narrowed eye on them before turning to speak to the girl.
"Miss do you have any evidence to suggest otherwise? Unfortunately I did not find anything within their statement that could incriminate them."
She looked sad and dejected at accusing the wrong people. "N-no.."
"That's r-right! See! You heard her. Now do as you knights do and arrest her or somethin'." The small one immediately picked up on what the half-elf girl had said.
"I have no reason to arrest her or even reprimand her. As far as I can tell she has done nothing wrong but be distressed about something that was stolen from her." Julius replied not liking where this is going.
"B-b-but she's a half-elf! Yes! L-Look at her hair and her eyes."
Making her look even more dejected. "It's just an unfortunate resem-"
Though that comment angered Puck, he started to grow bigger and bigger in size to frighten them. Julius was alarmed by this.
"Shit you made the spirit angry you idiot! I'm outta here!" the skinny one of the trio shouted before taking off in a sprint. Leading the other two to follow him aswell. Julius looked amazed at this scene.
"Pffft hahaha did you see that Lia? Did you see their faces?" Puck said to Emilia in an attempt to cheer her up.
She still looked dejected at what happened and spoke in a sad tone. "Yeah.. But now what do we do? I'm supposed to meet with Ram soon, how will I face Roswaal if I show up without it?"
Hearing that name made Julius come out of his amazement at seeing Puck growing in size.
"Forgive me Miss, I did not mean to overhear but you said Roswaal? As in Margrave Roswaal L Mathers?" Curious at the random mention of the best mage of the kingdom.
"Yes. He is my spons- I mean I'm a guest at his house" The half-elf girl replied, she clearly hid more than she let on.
"I see. f I may Miss. I do not believe we are introduced yet. I am Julius Juuklius of the Knights of the Royal Guard of Lugunica." Giving a short bow as he introduced himself
"I'm... Sa- Emilia. Just Emilia, I have no family name." She almost wanted to say something else but quickly caught herself as she was in the presence of a knight. He could finally hear her voice without any hint of distortions. Her voice sounded rather unique to Julius, almost like that of a bell.
The spirit suddenly flew towards Julius, coming very close to Julius's face as if trying to probe his mind. "And I am Puck! Nice to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine Miss Emilia. Great spirit Puck. If I may. Could you please explain what you were doing in this alley? If I understood correctly, you said you had something stolen from you?"
Following the introductions. She had told him why she was here, apparently she has had a very important trinket stolen from hear. Julius being a knight who always upheld his honor and virtues decided to escort the girl, despite her protests. Marching onwards to the slums. The one place Julius could think of where thieves would reside.
Along the way while escorting her, they came across a small child who was lost. Before Julius could say or do anything, the half-elf decided to calm the girl and help her reunite with her parents. Making him ponder her actions. She seemed like a very kind and pure person, almost as if an angel without wings. They also bonded on the fact they shared a kinship for the spirit arts, which made Julius think better of her.
Reaching the slums, they came across a famous place there known as 'Loot House' which was ran by a demi-human giant named Old Man Rom and his adopted granddaughter Felt. Emilia immediately recognized her as the thief that stole her trinket. Making Julius try to negotiate a price with the thief. He was tempted to arrest her, but he doubted Emilia would want that.
As they were close to reaching a deal an unknown woman suddenly entered the establishment.
As it turned out, this strange woman has been the one who orchestrated the theft. She revealed herself to be the infamous assassin known as 'Elsa Granhiert' or the 'Bowel Hunter'. Which led to Julius immediately assume a battle stance and get into a fight with the bowel-hunter herself. Unfortunately because of the small space he couldn't use his swordsmanship to it's full potential, and his spirits and their magic were nullified by her cloak. Attempting to stall her to give time for Emilia, Felt and Rom to escape.
just as he and Elsa were getting into a serious fight his vision became distorted and he could not see the remainder of the fight.
The distortion faded shortly after and revealed his friend Reinhard there, with no sign of Elsa. Then Reinhard and Julius began conversing, apparently Julius has dealt with Elsa before Reinhard arrived. Though that opinion did not last as Elsa suddenly appeared and made a last ditch attack on Emilia.
Moving by instinct, Julius stepped in to take the hit meant for her. Elsa seeing as how she failed the attack, as well as the sword saint himself being there, immediately retreated afterwards. Julius lay there bleeding on the floor, surrounded by Reinhard's deeply frowning face at his slothfulness and Emilia's tearful face as she tried to heal him.
The memories seemed to distort from there on. Before starting again a second later.
The next one was of him waking up in not in his mansion, but in the mansion of the kingdom's best magician. Roswaal L Mathers. Where he was introduced to the twin Oni maids Ram and Rem, aswell as the great spirit of yin Beatrice. Which greatly shocked him as he has met two great spirits in the span of a very short time period.
A conversation over breakfast revealed that Emilia was one of the 5 candidates for the throne, surprising Julius to a great extent. The conversation soon led to the margrave personally thanking him and offering any reward he could want for helping her. Though he could have asked for any kind of reward after his heroic deed. His only request was to become the knight of Emilia and support her in her candidacy. Which led to him moving permanently into the Margrave's residence in order to watch over his new lady and help with her training for the selection.
The next memory had to do with a mabeast invasion on the nearby village of Arlam, where the children had been kidnapped. Julius with the help of the blue-haired maid went over to rescue the children. He managed to slay a great number of them as well as personally managing to kill the pack leader ending the threat and thereby cementing his image to the village as a hero. His friendship with Rem had developed after that whole incident.
Another one where he met one of his cherished friends Felix Argyle, the best healer of the kingdom. As well as his friend's Reinhard's grandfather and hero of the Demi-human War. Wilhelm van Astraea. They came over to invite him and his lady into the Duchess Crusch Karsten's residence, to stay there while in the capital. Due to recent summons from the Sage council, as well as continuing negotiations between Emilia and the Duchess.
Arriving a day later alongside his lady, Margrave Roswaal and Rem. His lady had to send over a letter via the metia that existed in the garrisons and Julius being Julius, courteously asked to deliver it for her personally. She didn't accept the request, but asked him to escort here there. As they were on the way to the garrison, they inadvertently ran into Baroness Priscilla Barielle, one of the 5 candidates to the throne. in the same alley where he had first met Emilia. Although this time it was a difference circumstance. She was being threatend and mugged by the same 3 thugs from before. This time he arrested them, though the Baroness's attitude towards him and his lady made him question his knightly virtues for once.
Another memory was during the royal selection event itself. Where he was present for the introductions of the candidates. He met his friends again there, aswell as a mysterious man with one hand, who wears a helmet and a strange boy with black hair and evil looking eyes. As the candidates were being introduced, one of them had a very distorted frame. Nothing was visible aside from her purple hair with star shaped hairpins and a scarf adorning her neck. She seemed extremely familiar to him for some reason, he felt his cheeks were wet when he saw her.
She went by the name of ... Hoshin, but was nicknamed as the merchant princess.
When it was time for her introduction, she stepped up to speak yet couldn't get a word in. She was jeered at not only because she was not of noble origin. But also because she had many demi-humans working for her her either in her companies or in the mercenary group called Iron Fang. She was also jeered because she was a native of Kararagi and not from Lugunica. She seemed to handle the hatred she received well, though Julius could not hear her voice.
Suddenly one of her followers, the boy with black hair and mean eyes. Claimed himself as her knight. He didn't take kindly to the treatment she was shown and started berating the entire Sage's council, as well as the knights of the kingdom. His comments were taken badly by Julius as well as the other knights. Julius noticed that most of the knights looked at him menacingly, so he made a mental note to protect him by teaching him a painful reminder.
That is until it was his lady's turn to speak and instead she received even worse treatment. Hatred filled everyone's eyes, words that either mocked or threatened her for her appearance. Making him grit his teeth and fists, managing to understand the frustration of that strange boy. Julius stayed silent, saying nothing to uphold the image of both himself and his lady. Though when he was called to be introduced as her knight, he gave them all a righteous speech:
"I must say I am deeply ashamed to be a part of this room. To see these looks not just from the Sages and the nobles but even from my fellow knights. Are we not supposed to bring out hope, justice and stability for this kingdom? For both nobles and commoners. Humans and Demi-humans? That is what the lady I honorably serve intends to bring. Yet when I look at the faces of everyone in this room, I can only see that they look at her appearance, not her character. Rather than being praised and lauded for her ideals. She receives only hatred, fear and mockery for her appearance. I urge everyone here to look past her appearance. Look past your hatred and fear and treat my lady with the respect she righteously deserves. Or deny her and ensure that whenever I wear this outfit whom I treat as a sign of pride and honor, to be nothing more than a fake symbol of those same signs. That said. I, Julius Juuklius hereby declare myself as the Knight of Emilia-sama."
He spoke with conviction and elegance befitting a man of his stature, making sure everyone knows why Julius earned the moniker "Finest of Knights". And making Emilia be both proud and feel very happy to have him.
After the speech he gave, the introductions continued and to his great surprise, the thief Felt was the 5th candidate. His friend Reinhard had apparently discovered that when Julius was unconscious. Then he saw one of the knights lead Subaru Natsuki to a dueling ground. Julius interfered at the last second though and rescued him from being beaten badly or worse. Through that string of events an unlikely friendship was formed between the two, with highly unique interactions.
Then another memory invaded him. Of when Julius, Joshua and Rem played politics to secure an Alliance with Duchess Crusch Karsten, lady of his friend Felix. As well as his new friend Subaru's lady, the merchant princess. All in order to stop an impending witch cult attack on the Margrave's domain. Which involved the White Whale aswell. His brother and the blue maid Rem contributed greatly in the negotiations. Rem even accompanied them to the fight, though sadly she ended up having her memory and name eaten and being stuck in a coma for a long time. Alongside Duchess Crusch who had her memory eaten. Devastating his friend Felix, and making their relationship hinder slightly before they managed to make amends with one another.
Another memory where in a moment of weakness brought on by his rush of victory over the immense odds. He in an unknightly behavior confessed his love to his lady. Although she did tell him she doesn't know what love truly means. He still supported her and said he would wait for an answer.
The next event was distorted but it still played out regardless.
He saw himself supporting his lady in Sanctuary after she started regaining lost memories, after her adoptive father and spirit broke his contract for some unknown purpose. Then learning of a plot about an attack on the Margrave's manor led by Elsa Granhiert and a small child that could control Mabeasts. Which Julius managed to upstage in a timely arrival.
Managing to slay the bowel hunter once and for all, with the help of a demi-human from Sanctuary named Garfiel who was coincidentally the brother of Frederica, a maid at the Margrave's mansion. And a merchant named Otto who contributed greatly in the evacuation efforts on Arlam. Julius also captured the child who was the little sister of Elsa. Though that victory came at the cost of burning the Margrave's mansion. He and his buds had managed to convince the great spirit Beatrice to evacuate in time, teleporting them all to Sanctuary where they ended up defeating the great hare.
A year has passed in an instant through Julius's mind. He was now in Priestella. His lady and their camp were meeting up with other camps in Priestella, with each camp being there for something that they wanted. Soon after arriving, the witch's cult did a massive invasion on the city led by the sin archbishops of Wrath, Greed, Lust and Gluttony simultaneously. Though Greed for some reason kidnapped his friend Subaru. Subaru who had been crossdressing as Natsumi earlier for an event when Regulus kidnapped him to make him his "wife". Though the invasion didn't last long as the Alliance of 5 camps ensured everyone's safety.
The 5 camps ended up repelling the invasion. With Julius personally managing to defeat Greed with the help of Reinhard aswell as a still crossdressing Subaru. Though not without tragedies befalling the camps. Duchess Crusch was heavily wounded by Lust's transformative blood. His brother Joshua alongside two of a triplets unfortunately encountered Gluttony. His brother had both his name and memory eaten and ended up in a coma. Where as from the two one had his name eaten, while the other his memory. And finally Wilhelm and his friend Reinhard having had to deal with the former sword saint being controlled by the cult.
After that there was another flash of memory in Julius's head. Some of his lady's camp alongside the merchant princess camp were heading towards the Pleiades Watchtower, to restore the names and memories of Gluttony's victims, for Julius it was specifically his brother and Rem.
Travelling through the desert was made easy by the little sister of Elsa. Meili. As they finally reached the Pleiades Watchtower, they met the sage Shaula who had flung herself at Subaru, tackling him all the while crying about him being her missing "master" or something. Which made Julius tease him. There they challenged the trials of the tower, one trial though seemed specifically made for Julius. Julius had to fight his childhood hero and idol. Reid Astraea the first generation sword saint and ancestor of Reinhard. Though he was highly disappointed by his shameless behavior, crude language and lack of any decent virtues. Eventually they come to respect one another, after Julius managed to defeat him with immense difficulty, breaking his family's sword in the process. But then he was mysteriously teleported to somewhere alone.
Heavy distortions happened for the next few minutes. Before resuming again.
Playing in his head now, were the insane events of finding himself randomly teleported to what he could guess was Vollachia through unknown means. All alone, with no allies, or a sense of direction. He went off on his own to search for shelter until he could pinpoint where he was. As he was scavenging for food in a jungle nearby, he met up with the Vollachian emperor Vincent, now known by the alias "Abel". Apparently he was no longer the emperor, as he was overthrown, and he was in the jungle to recruit a tribe called the Shudrak to his cause. Julius decided that the fastest way to return home would be if he helped the overthrown sovereign Vincent reclaim his empire.
Managing to secure allies with the Shudrak tribe, befriending the eccentric siblings the merchant Flop and his sister Medium along the way. Soon after the war begun in earnest. He managed to conquer a city with minimal losses, but it also included the surprise appearance of Baroness Priscilla Barielle and her camp to join the fight. Then more and more allies started flocking their way. Though it could have been the Baroness's luck in play. Eventually meeting up with several of the divine generals again. including the man who was on par with Reinhard, though Julius and him became fast friends and sparring partners. But not all of the divine generals were allies. Winning against them however greatly improved morale and reputation, which in turn swayed more and more of Vollachia to Vincent's cause.
The fighting in Vollachia had taken a longer time than he would've liked. Almost an entire year has passed until the war was finally over with a victory for them. Saying goodbyes. Vincent gave him a reward before seeing him off. But Julius couldn't see as his vision was distorted there before resuming soon after.
He was now finally enroute to Lugunica to meet up with his lady.
Taking the long way to return home so as to avoid raising suspicions, that one of the most respected knights of Lugunica was seen returning from Vollachia after disappearing for an entire year. As that could spark controversy and lead the kingdom to investigate him. Not to mention the potential of bringing harm to his lady's reputation.
Yet it seemed that he had nothing to worry about. As whilst travelling the long route. The news had reached him from merchants and travellers about the state of Lugunica, he had missed an entire year due to being stuck in Vollachia and few months due to travelling. Which meant the royal selection was either over or very, very close to being over.
From his side. His actions in Vollachia had reached Lugunica and had contributed to his lady's reputation which was a relief for Julius, but it still meant he had to continue on the long path he took. As backtracking and taking the short route would only take him longer. His camp was in generally a good shape, which again was also a huge relief for Julius. He couldn't say the same for other camps however. Apparently there were tragedies that befell his friends and their ladies from what he had been told.
Baroness Priscilla Barielle and her camp had gone missing after Vollachia, no one knew where they disappeared off to. Even Julius was curious as it meant he was one of the last people to see her.
His friend Felix wasn't faring well. His lady, the Duchess Crusch Karsten, was crippled after Priestella and has been in a bad state ever since. Julius felt truly awful for her, as she was a good noblewoman with good qualities before tragedy struck her twice. If he hadn't met his lady he would have definitely followed her.
His other friend Reinhard was having a harder time. His father was on the verge of disowning him after the events of Priestella, where Reinhard had to unfortunately face off against his own grandmother, the former generation's sword saint. Which made both his father and his grandfather despise him even more than before. Before he could salvage whatever relationship he had with his father, Heinkel suddenly disappeared alongside the Priscilla camp. To make matters worse, Reinhard's lady, the thief Felt whom Julius had met on the same day he met Emilia. Had been devastated at the loss of someone important to her. Julius felt bad for both of them, especially his friend and fellow knight.
However Julius's vision began to distort heavily when it came to his friend Subaru and his lady. He couldn't quite understand what had happened to him. He only caught that his friend Subaru had suffered a great tragedy, which made Julius promise to himself that he would help his friend get over his sadness.
The distortion finally ended when Julius saw himself back at the capital and at the doors to his mansion, where he was greeted by his brother who had forgotten him, his cold maid and his kind butler.
Then Julius opened his eyes.
Author's note.
Good day everyone! This is another Julius side of things as he replaces a certain protagonist. The pieces of the board are almost into play.
Anyways! I hope you enjoyed reading it.
I'm grateful for all the reviews and any criticisms!
To answer some of the reviews and questions I've got:
To Marshall0-56: Which answers do you mean? Although I admit that I might be answering either cryptically or too little, mostly because it's easy to divulge too much. As it is my first fic and I'm still very inexperienced about all this haha. So I apologize if an answer gave the wrong idea. However Subaru having to suffer just proves that it's a Re:zero story. Though I'm not sure what gave the implication that Subaru will be a background character.
To CommanderCost: Thank you! And outgoing as in more sociable? Or more questioning things?
To BigSmokeYeet: Haha good ending or not there will always be "A Lone Star" crack fics. It's a never ending stream bro. Though most of them are highly enjoyable to be fair:)
To Im The Person: I really like all those theories tbh.. It makes me hopeful for the future of this story. As for the headaches. I might reveal that in a note if I don't become too clear on it that is haha. And thank you! I agree, those who say "NTR" don't understand that Subaru and Emilia have only kissed once and maybe gone out on few dates. I understand that it's because they are the main love interests, and nobody likes it when a main love interests suddenly loves another (Well you should also know this judging by your story haha). But eh that's what fanfiction exists for:P Also yes I did, I left a review even haha. Can't wait to see Emilia show up again!
Without nothing more to say. Thank you for reading. See you on the next chapter!
