"I swear, who the hell does that guy think he is. . .!"
Somewhere in his head, the young man could hear indistinct shouting coming from an unknown distance. He normally would've paid attention to something like that, but currently, the raven-haired gentleman was too angry to see straight.
"That bastard was smiling as he said all those horrible things! If I see him again, I'll clock him in the face!"
The shouting was getting louder, but so too was his anger building.
He couldn't get the faces of the two Astrea men out of his mind. The shame. . . no, the fear they felt about having their family squabbles put on full display. They both didn't seem like they enjoyed perpetuating their needless conflict. It was now clear to him why Wilhelm had never attempted to bury the hatchet earlier. This stupid jerk Heinkel had been poisoning the well for years!
". . .ubaru! W-Wa-. . ."
The voices were finally beginning to pierce his thoughts. It was only now that he decided to take in his surroundings.
". . .fool, in fact!"
And he came to a startling realization.
"W-Where am I?!"
"You should've seen him. . . I swear, he took joy in it."
Subaru grumbled beneath his breath as he, Emilia, and Beatrice wandered the streets of Priestella, seemingly no goal in sight.
"Subaru, w-while I agree that this person was certainly ill-mannered. . . W-Well I suppose that doesn't really answer our question."
Subaru impulsive reaction had led to some reckless decision-making on his part. However, he still didn't really believe that they had anything to worry about. With Emilia and Beatrice glued to his side, he didn't have to fear anything happening to the two of them.
"U-U. .Huh? Oh! Sorry Emilia-tan, what was your question again?"
Emilia's grip around his free hand tightened, a sign that the half-elf was frustrated with Subaru's complete lack of attention.
"Where are we going?!"
". . .-hk"
Emilia gave him the rundown of everything he'd missed. Wilhelm and Reinhard, still frozen in shock from the targeted attack by Heinkel, didn't notice Subaru's abrupt departure. This put everyone into a panic, and they'd been forced to send people out to look for him. Luckily for Subaru, Emilia and Beatrice were the first ones to find him. In a desperate attempt to follow him before he got out of view, they had neglected to inform the others of their departure, instead focusing on pursuit.
"O-Oh no."
"You absolute idiot, I suppose! Wandering off for no reason while a lunatic roams the city? Betty's contractor has no regard for his safety, in fact!"
Subaru mentally took stock of his situation. If he was with Anastasia or Julius, they would've been able to find their way back with no issues. Probably with Otto too, considering the amount of traveling he did as a merchant. However, he was currently accompanied by the only other two people less worldly than him. Considering that Subaru came from another world, this was no easy feat.
Beatrice had barely left her library in the last 400 years, and Emilia was frozen in ice for a century. Not one speck of direction could be found in this crew!
'She's right. I've gotten lost in this stupid city three times and I've only been here one day! Who the hell designed this place to be such a labyrinth?!'
"I-I'm sorry about wandering off. We should probably ask for directions back to the Inn before we get any more lost."
Subaru, trying to mask his immature behavior, donned a mask of stoicism as the three stood still amongst the large crowd of people.
". . . . . . ."
"S-So, aren't you going to ask someone, I suppose!?"
It was obvious now that Subaru hoped for one of the other two members of his party to bite the bullet and ask for directions. Needless to say, his plan had failed!
"S-Subaru, if you don't want to, I'-. . ."
"No, no, no. It wouldn't do for a knight to make his lady awkwardly ask for directions."
Beatrice, as a result of her years as a shut-in, was still very bad at talking to strangers. She was so socially awkward that Subaru usually had to bail her out of conversations because she would freeze up or say something rude. While Subaru thought it was cute, Beatrice could never quite get used to people addressing her as a child. Even if she was one.
Emilia was out of the question, considering her appearance. Subaru didn't want Emilia to get the cold shoulder by some ignorant jerk mistaking her for a witch. Her smile had to be protected!
That left him. While he normally wasn't super uptight when talking to new people, he also knew that his days as a shut-in damaged his ability to speak to strangers.
'The only question now is, who do I ask?'
A small group of demi-humans passed them by, but they seemed deep into their conversation and Subaru didn't want to disturb them. A merchant was boarding a boat into one of Priestella's numerous waterways, but he was already too far away to approach on foot. The rest of the people he saw were clearly homeless and laying on the side of the road. There was a fair chance that they wouldn't know where their high-end Inn was located, and compassion dictates that initiating a conversation with one of them accompanies a reward. Subaru didn't have a lot of money on him at the moment.
"Ah! It's Subaru-sama!"
A familiar voice called out to Subaru an unknown distance behind him. Subaru would normally be pretty happy about lucky occurrences like this. However. . .
"Ooh~! And Beako-sama too!"
"Don't call Betty by that name, in fact!"
Beatrice gripped tightly onto Subaru's leg, an unconscious signal of jealousy. Subaru already knew why, as the voice calling out to them was, unfortunately, the one person who would be no help to them at all.
"Liliana? Glad to see you're doing fine. Can you please go find Kirit-. . ."
Liliana caught a glimpse of Subaru's sling and made a slight grimace. She had heard that something happened after they last spoke, but she was never told about it in detail. Liliana being Liliana, she quickly forgot about this serious moment, and tried to climb up onto Subaru's shoulder.
"Don't forget, Subaru-sama! You promised me a story! Let me just take a seat here. . !"
"E-Eh?! H-Hey, I've had enough lolis climb onto me the last few days, I really don't need my reputation getting any worse!"
"Why does it matter? Aren't you 'The Lolimancer'?"
". . .Ugh. . .Why must you say that name when there are so many people around. . ."
Liliana, still persisting in her efforts to climb Subaru's sling, only made the scene look even more shameful to passerby. Beatrice, no longer able to control her own anger, also tried climbing onto Subaru's shoulder.
"Emilia-tan! Save me, I think I'm going to cry. . ."
Emilia, torn between laughter and a little bit of her own jealousy, picked up both Liliana and Beatrice, setting them back down on the ground.
"Aww, that's no fun~!"
"Subaru was very embarrassed, please forgive my forcefulness."
The four of them were still utterly lost, and now they were getting weird looks from people again! It figured that the airheaded Songstress still had no understanding of her home city's layout.
"Liliana, you just spoke from the City Hall, correct? If you could simply guide us back to. . ."
"Sorry, Subaru-sama! I have a show I need to sing at! Also, I don't really remember how to get back there. . ."
Subaru resisted the urge to flick to foolish kid on the forehead, instead pondering the merits of following Liliana to the location of her next show. Wherever she was performing, there would most likely be a lot of people. Definitely more than the population of this empty street.
"Ok, we'll watch your show."
"R-Really?! You'll all come to my performance?! Ooh~! Am I allowed to sing about you?"
Subaru was flattered, but he also knew Liliana had a penchant for embellishment and hyperbole. If he gave her permission to sing about him, there was a real chance that she'd point him out as 'The Lolimancer' to an unspecified crowd of people. This girl had already once assumed that he was in a romantic relationship with Beatrice.
"Rejected! However, I will tell you an even cooler story if you can help us find our friends!"
Subaru whipped out his trademark headpat technique, and with its usage, he'd completely subjugated the hyperactive loli.
". . . ."
*Stare*
". . .Hm? Emilia-tan? Beako? What is it?"
"So this is your famous ability in action, I suppose. . ."
"Umm, Subaru. . . it's a little bit embarrassing how forward you can be sometimes. . ."
'What are they talking about?'
"Thank goodness! I never thought I'd be happy to see you!"
The show had been largely uneventful. Everyone, Subaru included, had been too enamored by Liliana's music to speak amongst themselves. People didn't even cheer, rather they simply begged for her to sing another song. It only made things more shocking when a fiery-haired lady crashed the show and began dancing along with the music.
Now that it was over, Liliana was collecting tips from the crowd and mingling with fans.
This left Priscilla, Emilia, Beatrice, and Subaru, alone.
"Petulant street-scum, must mineself remind you that you're speaking to your future boss?"
Subaru scoffed at Priscilla's inhuman confidence and felt his jubilation be replaced by the usual feelings he had around this woman.
"How infuriating, I suppose. Speaking to Betty's contractor like that is a privilege reserved for Betty."
Beatrice's words went completely over the Vollachian's head, only earning the small spirit a glare from the prideful woman.
"I believe Subaru has made it clear who he wishes to serve."
Emilia had been more than polite with this woman up to this point. However, Subaru indicated many times that he loved and wished to serve Emilia. She was starting to take Priscilla's 'aggressive offers' as some thinly veiled threat.
"Ah, the Half-witch. . .am I right to suspect you are here to speak to the artist?"
Priscilla quickly picked up on their secondary motives for accompanying the young girl. She clearly wanted to use it as leverage over them.
"Hmm. . .? Oh! Yes!"
"Emilia-tan, please don't answer to demeaning names like that."
Subaru rubbed Emilia's shoulder, attempting to comfort her, but Emilia didn't seem too offended.
"You planned to have this girl ask that mayor-scum in your place, isn't that so?"
. . .And with that, their plans had been completely seen through. Liliana would definitely be able to manipulate Kiritaka into providing them another housing crystal, most likely at a lower price. They had planned to bribe the Songstress with some expensive sweets, but now it was obvious that Priscilla was gunning to take the young girl for herself. This would make things more difficult.
'Can't say she's wrong about that nickname for Kiritaka though. . .'
As Subaru lamented the intelligence of all of Emilia's competitors for the throne, the crowd began to disperse.
"Ah! I'm back! Subaru-sama, you still owe me a story, so don't think I'll let you get away that easily~!"
'Speak of the devil! This isn't good. . . If we aren't careful, she'll spill the beans to Liliana. Let's see what she wants. . .'
"Liliana! Y-Yes, I do owe you that story! How about you and Emilia-tan head over there whil-. . ."
"A pitiful deflection. The artist shall remain by my side."
Subaru chuckled at himself for thinking that things could ever be that simple with this woman.
"H-Hey, there's no need to-. . ."
"Quite the comical act you've assumed. It's no wonder you've been able to deceive so many lesser minds with this performance. Don't fool yourself that such tricks will work on me."
Subaru wasn't prepared to be called out so directly, but this was a typical part of Priscilla's playbook. He'd lost frame and Priscilla had seized control of their conversation.
So then why was she smiling at him?
"F-Fine. What is it you want?"
"There is no need to repeat mineself. I find your loyalty amusing. . ."
Liliana tilted her head, looking to Emilia and Beatrice, who were each frowning for some reason.
"Subaru-sama? Am I interrupting something~?"
"N-No, don't worry about it! We were just talking about how great your performance was!"
Liliana, ever the prideful singer, started blushing and putting her hands over her cheeks.
"Ahw~ you're just saying that. . ! But yeah, I was realllly~ good today. . ."
She was smiling ear to ear, clearly fishing for more compliments. While normally, Subaru wouldn't indulge something like that, Priscilla was likely planning to turn her against them at some point. He was thinking of something else to say to the Songstress, but Priscilla was quicker to act.
"Quite. This girl would also make a fine addition to mine camp. How about it then?"
"E-Eh~?!"
"The scary-eyed commoner will also be joining, if that intrigues you."
Priscilla put her hand on the young girl's shoulder, smirking at the frustrated trio powerless to oppose her. It's rare she uncovers so many interesting people. Her camp was about to become even livelier.
"Liliana, before you answer her, would you do us a favor?"
Subaru elected to ignore Priscilla's obvious provocation, completely bypassing her and simply voicing his intentions directly to Liliana.
"Oh, if I can do anything for the famous Emilia and her knight, just ask~!"
Liliana was still fanboying, but Priscilla cut her off.
"Do not demean yourself on behalf of commoners Liliana. And you, half-witch. . . you dare recontract that monster?"
Emilia's stomach lurched. The shame she felt was all-consuming. It took everything she had to keep a neutral complexion.
"Oi, what would you know about Puck? You've only seen him like once!"
And then Subaru, oh Subaru. Even if he was well-intentioned, he only made these feelings cut deeper.
"Ha! Out of all the people to defend that beast! This is quite the shameful display, isn't it half-witch?"
Emilia looked to be on the verge of tears. Priscilla was right. Subaru knew everything that Puck was capable of. He'd killed him in some of the worst ways imaginable. But here Subaru was, defending her spirit simply because Emilia couldn't bring herself to condemn him herself. Subaru knew that she regarded Puck as family.
"Y-You're right."
Emilia choked out those two words. There was no defending Puck on this front. He'd kill anyone if the situation presented itself.
"E-Emilia-tan! Don't let her dissuade you! Puck is your father, your family! Who cares what she thinks about Puck? She doesn't even- . ."
"I-I'm sooo sorry Subaru! I'm so sorrryyy!"
Emilia began crying. Every word he was saying only made it worse. Subaru held such little regard for himself that he would defend his own killer if it meant protecting her fragile feelings.
"Emilia! Snap out of it! I know something happened in that carriage, but we came here for a reason. Stop letting this stuck-up noble get to you."
"Ha, such disgusting loyalty! It is of the worst type, unearned. What a waste."
Priscilla had long since dropped her smile and a familiar glare had appeared on the candidate's face.
"I don't care what you have to say."
"Maybe you should, commoner, lest you throw away your l-"
Time froze.
Only those who saw the viewing can know the truth. Speaking with anyone else is forbidden.
Priscilla remained unmoved, but her glare remained fixed onto Emilia's sorrowful visage.
Time unfroze.
"-. . .-Tch."
Subaru wasn't staring at Priscilla, so he wasn't immediately aware that something had happened. Emilia's sobs did seem to grow louder though, which put him on high alert.
Beatrice, on the other hand. . .
"Why is this child scowling at mine amazing form? There is a limit to how many impolite insults I will stand for."
"Such a thoughtless action puts all our lives at risk, I suppose!"
Beatrice had to make sure Subaru didn't hear her accusation, ultimately deciding to whisper-yell her objections to the fiery-haired matriarch in front of her. Triggering the taboo was not something they should be doing on a whim. It was most likely a defensive mechanism to keep the Witch Of Envy from killing all of them. Careless risks like that guaranteed a reset from Subaru, which helped no one.
"Count yourself lucky, little girl. My magnanimity allows mineself to grant mercy to impudent children lacking respect. Thank your cute face."
Subaru did his best to ignore the fact that even Priscilla couldn't resist Beatrice's cuteness as he kept his arm wrapped around the sobbing Emilia. She looked to be calming down, but she still had tears occasionally stream down her cheek.
"Hmm~ none of you seem to get along very well. . ."
'Thanks Captain Obvious!'
Subaru had to bite back his snarky attitude as Liliana seemed to have a penchant for misinterpreting his insults as compliments.
"I really think it's just Priscilla. . ."
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, pushing up against her rack.
"I know! I have a nice voice, right big bro~? Let me come here and cut that tension away, and unite the two in a world of charm and song! Ah~!"
Nobody seemed particularly fond of that idea, but the alternative was letting Priscilla scoop up the young girl with basically no resistance.
"Ok, do what you want."
"Oh-kay. . ? Well, shouldn't we prepare food and drinks for them? Indulging in sweet snacks will certainly create a mood that will close the distance between them, don't you think so?"
"Probably not."
". . . Indulging in sweet snacks will certainly create a mood that will close the distance between them, don't you think so?"
"You just want me to buy you some snacks, don't you?"
". . . .no."
Emilia had finally managed to compose herself, and she let out a weak chuckle at the two's over-the-top antics.
"I can't exactly leave Emilia-tan here all by herself, but there's also no way anyone will let me wander off on my own in my present condition. So. . ."
"No way I got stuck with you. . ."
"Revel in the glorious position you've been granted. There is no shame in pledging yourself to an amazing lady such as mineself."
The two of them had gradually wandered off from the other three looking for a place serving high quality delicacies. Even though they'd searched for over ten minutes, all they ended up uncovering was something called 'Gina Jelly'. The name wasn't exactly promising. . .
"You know, I don't mind you when you're like this. Usually when I'm around you, I worry about getting beheaded. . ."
Priscilla was slightly shaken by this unprompted honesty, but she hid it very well.
"As if a dog like yourself would be worth the trouble."
The answer was somewhat incongruent with everything Subaru had come to learn about this girl, so he put his guard back up. When she's unpredictable is when she's at her most dangerous.
"Yeah yeah, I know. By the way, what's with all the jokes about 'bringing me into your camp'? I doubt it's funny the tenth time you say it."
"Hm? I believe I've stated it multiple times already. I'm not joking."
This time it was Subaru's turn to be taken off guard. He'd never once actually believed that Priscilla was interested in bringing him into her camp. Subaru was merely another tool for her 'amusement' and nothing more. That was how she treated him at the start of the Royal Selection and when he'd sought her assistance against the Witch Cult. She might not remember some of it, but there's no way that his achievements were enough to sway someone like her.
"Quit it. There's no way you're being honest with me. You've never been interested in helping me. . ."
His mind flashed to the moment he'd prostrated himself in front of her. Begged her for her help.
". . .ever."
Priscilla didn't say anything as she knew it would be pointless. He was still bitter over her refusal to help him a year ago and it wasn't like her opinion had changed on the matter. All she had received was context, but that wouldn't have changed her decision. In fact, if she'd known the extent of his slothfulness, she most likely would've cut him down right there. It would've been the responsible thing to do, as he had already blown it all that loop.
*bump*
Priscilla's shoulder completely barreled into another innocent man's side.
"H-Hey! Wait, don't walk off! At least say you're sorry. . ."
Subaru grumbled and turned to the man they'd bumped.
'Come to think of it, the last time this happened. . .'
Subaru's luck had always been consistently terrible. So bad that even he had to acknowledge it to some degree. There was no way that he'd run into THAT guy again though, right?
"How rude! That b**** damn near pushed me over and just walked off?!"
A sigh of relief left Subaru's lips.
"Oi! Chin! Boy, am I glad to see you!"
"H-Huh? It's you! I thought I told ya' already, my name's Larkins!"
Subaru internally pondered what Chin was doing out here in the middle of the City with Ton and Kan, as it made the scene in front of him quite suspicious.
"Where'd she go?! I need to give that jerk a good beating!"
"And here I thought you'd finally gone straight. . ."
It was sad, it looked like there was no hope for these three to ever become true gentleman. You can take the thugs out of the streets, but you can't take the streets out of the thugs.
'Ugh, wait. I definitely just sounded like Julius. . .'
"Why're you desperate to pick a fight with me? I'm doin' work right now, so get outta' the damn way!"
"So cold. . . and here I thought we shared a bond of life and death."
He normally didn't like teasing people with their behavior from past loops, but Subaru could never help it with these three. They were some of the first people he'd met on his first day here. Weaklings, just like him. And just like him, completely screwed. Even if they'd killed him once, he still couldn't stop himself from pitying them.
"What the hell are ya' talking about?!"
"I can't believe you don't remember. . !"
Subaru's coy attitude only made Larkins even angrier.
"D-Damn it! She's gone!"
'O-Oh. . . that's not good.'
Call it convenient timing, but Priscilla's departure was most certainly a bad omen. That lady was supernaturally lucky, after all. Her absence generally wouldn't symbolize good things.
'What was it Al said. . ?'
"No, you don't get it. I have no evidence; I simply know something bad is going to happen."
Larkins had disappeared. While Subaru was reminiscing on his cryptic conversation with Al, everyone in his sight line had disappeared.
Luckily, he wasn't completely directionless, as Subaru heard the clamor of countless people grouping up behind him.
As he turned around, Subaru saw a large crowd forming and, for some reason, felt compelled to join it.
The people in the front of the crowd stopped, and Subaru took this opportunity to shove his way to the front of the crowd.
"Oh, there you are Chin!"
Larkins didn't respond. He kept his eyes on whatever it was that the rest of the crowd had become so enamored with.
"What is it you all keep staring at?"
Subaru got no response.
However, he felt some external drive, almost a force, pulling his eyes in a certain direction.
The direction of a bell tower.
"— Gosh, honestly. Please excuse me, I'm very sorry."
The genuine contrition of the figure's words washed over the crowd. It was so strong, the crowd yelled out to them, declaring they had 'nothing to apologize for'.
"I'll only be a moment of your time, thank you."
The cloaked form nodded repeatedly, almost psychotically happy at receiving the crowd's attention.
Upon closer examination, there were bandages around the person's face and skull that were being blown around by the wind. Not to mention the heavy clanking chains attached to both of their arms.
"I forgot! I haven't introduced myself! Ah~! This is embarrassing. . ."
The crowd laughed at the feminine voice's bashful demeanor.
"Right. I'm the Witch Cult's Sin Archbishop of Wrath."
And a horrifying revelation had been made.
"My name is Sirius Romanee-Conti!" (DESU)
Even through all the layers of bandages, the cultist's face displayed a deranged smile.
Author's Note:
Finally! Jesus, this fic has finally reached the end of the introduction! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I'll be honest, I didn't have much of an idea of what I wanted to do in this chapter, so it might be a bit worse than my general releases, but I think it came out ok! This fic is epic, but if there is any point where I will want to release new chapters of Another Chance (Continued) it would be now. If not, then I fear that fic won't be updated for a year! I do have some ideas for other fics, but I want to get these two to satisfying points before I start any new ones.
Was everyone in character? I'm especially interested in Priscilla cause I spent a lot of time making her dialogue fit her usual persona. I won't be doing a poll for the next chapter, but I will be informing you guys that I am moving the mansion chapter to after this one (in chronological order). That is the place where it will fit best in the fic and I believe that it will make hype for the next chapter even crazier.
Credits to the comments for giving me a title for this chapter (although I can't remember the user who sent it to me). I really appreciate it!
Finally, my discord.
I've improved it a lot, and I reward several different roles and have a pretty active group of people who post there with their prompts/drafts/ideas. I post every draft of my fics there before I post them to AO3 or FF, so if you guys want to see them early, join the link below.
/tgMtCvdasb
Please join if you are interested in keeping up with my fics! I really hope you enjoyed, because the real story starts here!