Re:Zero Saving Life In Another World From Zero

by Jude Warble

We can never predict the future, but with one's actions, the future can be controlled, and a new universe is created. When 2 twin siblings, drowning in despair, and an entity, shot by betrayal, are teleported to another world, their actions and unpredictability will decide the future of All Creation. Main pairings Subaru x Emilia. Shadow x Rem. Other pairings will appear later.

7. The Calm Before The Upcoming Storm

Hello. This is your pal, Jude Warble.

And with that out of the way, please enjoy this fanfic, and as always, stay breezy!

---

1 week later. Margrave Mathers Mansion

"...I can't take it...I'm at my limit..."

As everyone within the residence of the Mathers Mansion, with the exception of the four maids of the mansion, were sitting for breakfast, Subaru was placing his elbows on the table, while gripping his head with his hands.

It has been a week ever since the battle to rescue Irlam Village, and lots had happened.

First, after the battle, Felt, Reinhard and Natsumi departed to the Astrea Mansion, but Reinhard kept connections with Shadow to know more about Demons. The Sword Saint even surprised the Ultimate Lifeform by his request to learn Demon Magic, to which Shadow obliged, and was pretty amazed by Reinhard's fast learning process, as within three days, Reinhard was able to learn the Tier 4 six elemental Demon Magic spells, whereas it took Subaru an entire week to master Tier 2 spells, along with support spells.

Second, the villagers of Irlam Village were transported to a place called The Sanctuary. Subaru and Shadow visited the place, only to meet its residents: Ryuzu, an grandma kid Elf, and Garfiel Tinsel, the self-appointed guardian of The Sanctuary.

Shadow later knew from Subaru that Garfiel was the one that forced him to reset after his first day in the mansion, and Subaru was able to know that it was him after hearing his weird speech pattern, and how he always called himself amazing.

It was at that day that Subaru realized that Garfiel hates his guts, and he made it clear when he cornered him and nearly twisted his arm broken after Garfiel yelled at him about how he stinks of the Witch's scent. And if it wasn't for Shadow, Subaru would've most likely force himself to use Last Second Resort to escape the mad Demi-Human, who he later found out to be Frederica's younger half brother.

And with the help of Otto, Subaru was able to deliver rations to the villagers in the Sanctuary on a daily basis, and Reinhard helped them by covering the fact that Roswaal had a village in his domain, where that would've made lots of unexplained and meaningless trouble from the Sage Council.

Third, Subaru showed Petelgeuse, or Geuse as he called himself, to Shadow, where Shadow soon realized that he had a Rune Stone ingested inside of him, which made Shadow suspect Exeller, as he didn't give any Rune Stone to anyone other than Meili, and aside of him, no Highest, no matter how strong they are, could never give a Rune Stone normally, since Rune Stones are basically the 'hearts' of Highests, and pulling them out would mean their demise. So that would've meant that Exeller must have taken a Rune Stone of a dead Highest, presumably from one of his deceased 'friends' that he killed back in his old days.

Shadow was currently doing therapy on Geuse's mentality so that he could know what happened, and possibly recruit him to their cause, since he's already became even stronger.

Finally, but unknown to anyone, Shadow did a small visit to a parallel world, but that's something for some other time...

And now, we return to the present.

"What's wrong, Subaru?! Did something happen to you back then from those creatures that we didn't know about?!" Emilia asked in worry upon seeing Subaru's pained expression.

"This looks like a withdrawal from a hiiiiighly addictive narcooooootic" Roswaal mused, before calmly taking a sip from his tea.

"...A narcotic...You could say it's something like that" Subaru said in a ragged breath.

"...Why do I get the feeling that it's something stupid?" Shadow coldly asked, before taking a sip of his tea.

"I second that thought, in fact" Beatrice muttered.

"Drug consumption is low even for you, Barusu! Rem! Move away! I can't kill him like that!" Ram exclaimed as Rem held her from trying to assassinate Subaru with her bare hands.

"...No mayo" Subaru muttered, causing Shadow to groan loudly, before facepalmming his own face.

"Huh?" Otto asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"THERE IS NO MAYONNAISE!" Subaru suddenly yelled, causing everyone to blink in silence, except for Shadow, who sighed in frustration at this.

"Eh...What...?" Emilia asked in confusion.

"What's this...Mayonnaise...?" Frederica asked as well.

"...Some type of a culinary side dressing that is used on food like meat and chicken to give it some flavour. It's used a lot in Subaru's hometown" Shadow explained in a calm tone.

"So...Subaru is just throwing a tantrum because he doesn't have his favorite ingredient?" Emilia asked while crossing her hands together, slightly disappointed at Subaru for worrying all of them.

"No! You don't understand! What it means to be a hardcore Mayo lover!" Subaru exclaimed in a rather dramatic way.

"Oh! Master! Me me me! Shaula wants to help Master in his quest! Yup~!" Shaula exclaimed while waving her arm happily in the air.

"What?! So you do understand me, Shaula?!" Subaru asked, with a comical teary expression as he look at Shaula, who buffed her chest proudly with her fists resting on her hips.

"Yes! I will help Master with whatever I can! Yup~!" Shaula said.

"...Please tell me that you were able to cook anything in your life aside from burnt Mabeasts" Shadow muttered, causing Subaru to gasp in realization, with a comical shocked expression on his face.

"Shit! I forgot! Shaula can't cook at all! If anything, she might place the entire mansion on fire!" Subaru thought, having remembered the time where Shaula entered the kitchen at night to look for something to eat, only to place the entire kitchen on fire. Fortunately, Frederica was nearby and there were no crucial damages done.

She still had lots to learn about being a maid, but Subaru was thanking the three maids of the mansion for their hard work with her...Well, if you exclude Ram as she basically did nothing aside from being arrogant, holding her nose high, giving orders to the other maids as if she was their boss and cooking only steamed potatoes.

"I see that it's unnecessary, Subaru-san. You're being childish" Rem said while tilting her head in a cold tone.

"You just had to stomp on my heart even further!" Subaru yelled.

"Natsuki-san, with all due respect, but you're being pathetic now" Otto said, putting in his two cents.

"I don't wanna hear that from you! Shut up or else I'll send to Garfiel to use you as a chewing toy again!" Subaru yelled at the green clad merchant.

"Ugh...Will you stop whining like a bitch?" Shadow muttered, with Rem nodding furiously beside him.

"Yes! Shadow-kun is right! You're being pitiful, and Shadow-kun's Rem wholeheartedly agrees!" Rem exclaimed in an oddly cheerful manner after Shadow spoke.

"Stop your ass-kisser attitude! Also, I ain't whining! I literally helped in saving the village! Don't I deserve to have some respect?!" Subaru yelled.

"...Ugh! Fine! I'll help you in making the Mayonnaise!" Shadow groaned in annoyance.

"R-Really?!" Subaru asked with comical teary eyes.

"If that's what it takes to shut you up" Shadow said.

"But...Terios-san, can you cook?" Otto asked.

"Yes. I took a Masters Degree from a college in my former homeland" Shadow answered.

"College?" Otto asked in confusion.

"...Basically something like a school, but bigger and with a higher level of education" Shadow answered.

"Shadow-kun! Shadow-kun! Please let Rem assist you!" Rem exclaimed with sparkling eyes and a huge wide smile.

"Uh...Sure. Feel free to join us" Shadow said, before turning his cold glare to Otto, causing the young merchant to flinch.

"... You're coming with us too, Merchant Boy" He said coldly.

"Eh?! Why me?!" Otto asked in comical shock.

"Because you're a merchant. And I just had the idea of marketing something like Mayonnaise around this stupid country, and you are our ticket" Shadow answered.

"Why do I feel like you're treating me as a slave?!" Otto asked.

"Maybe because you are" Ram pitched in.

"Why is everyone bullying me here?!" Otto yelled comically.

"Hah!" Ram released a mocking laugh.

"Anyways, leaving the whiny merchant aside-" Rem started to talk to Shadow.

"You just had to crush me even further!" Otto comically yelled, but Rem didn't seem to care as she continued talking.

"-Let Shadow-kun's Rem help you, Shadow-kun. And after we succeed in our task, I wouldn't mind if you praised me!" Rem exclaimed like a happy child, with everyone present in the room swearing that they saw long brown puppy ears and a long brown puppy tail pop at Rem's head and rear respectively.

"...Uh...Sure. Whatever. Where's the kitchen?" Shadow asked as he stood up from his seat after finishing the last sip of his tea. Normally, he doesn't need to eat, sleep or even eat, but he simply embarks in those small things because he likes them, especially tasting different flavours.

---

A few minutes later. Kitchen of Margrave Mathers Mansion

"Alright. Pay attention, everyone!"

"Yes, Chef!"

"Yes, Shadow-kun! Shadow-kun's Rem is giving you her full attention!"

"I hate my life..."

"Why am I even here...?"

Shadow called out for everyone. Subaru simply saluted in an exaggerated way with Shaula squeezing onto his arm, Rem confirmed her attention happily, Ram huffed out her frustration, and Otto simply wondered why Shadow dragged him into this.

"Here are the ingredients that we need: First, we need eggs. Any avian creature would do the trick" Shadow said.

"Hey! Isn't the first ingredient supposed to be love?!" Subaru called out.

"...You can just throw that away into the garbage can" Ram huffed out.

"The second ingredient is oil for the stabilization of the texture" Shadow continued.

"This mansion uses the finest quality of oil. So I think that's done. Next" Subaru added.

"Third, we need salt as a flavor addition" Shadow said.

"Salte, you mean. Got it" Otto said.

"Then, next comes pepper for additional flavor as well" Shadow said.

"Peppa. Here" Ram corrected.

"Next comes creamy cheese for both color and also a unique flavor" Shadow said.

"Chees. Okay!" Rem exclaimed.

"Finally, we need small amounts of lemon juice for the sourness" Shadow said.

"Okay. Done. Now let's do this" Subaru said with a grin, looking at Shadow with excitement, to which the Zero-Class Highest simply blinked at him coldly.

"Now then...Do it yourselves" He said.

...

...

...

"HUH?!" Both Subaru and Otto yelled in shock.

"Honestly, do you think that I'll give you the way to make it so easily? You have to discover it yourself. Don't worry, though. I shall supervise you" Shadow said.

"That's even worse!" Subaru yelled shivering slightly.

"Alright, Shadow-kun! Shadow-kun's Rem shall do her best! So...If I fail...*sniff*...Please don't...Leave...*sniff*...me...!" Rem said before sniffing as tears came out of her eyes.

"What the?! Did I just touch a heartstring?!" Shadow asked in shock.

"Alright. Let's get to it" Subaru said before taking a bowl, then he started dumping all the ingredients in it. The others then did the same while Shadow was crossing his arms while looking at them.

"Okay. Time to pour my heart and soul into this! I must defy fate this time as well...And make Mayonnaise. I won't give up!" Subaru thought as he began to stir up the ingredients.

---

A few minutes later

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Why can't I make it?! Why?! The method is right! So why isn't it working?! Is Fate so stubborn to the point that it defies my will to introduce Mayonnaise into this world?!" Subaru thought as he curled himself into a ball and pulled on his hair with both hands.

"... You're obviously not taking your own advice" Shadow muttered, having already read Subaru's mind.

"I see now. It's not about adding all the ingredients all at once, but adding them one by one" Otto noted while pouring the oil slowly and steering the mixture at the same time.

"Indeed. The idea is to pour the oil slowly so that the mixture doesn't seperate quickly" Ram said while doing the same as Otto.

"Master! Look! I'm doing it too! Yup~!" Shaula exclaimed while copying both Ram and Otto. However she had already tried so many times to the point that she made a mess of herself, with egg shells and oil completely covering her form. Nevertheless, Shaula seemed so happy that she was able to do the same as those who were around her.

"Wow! Good job, Shaula! Now you're getting the hang of it! Good girl!" Subaru exclaimed, causing Shaula's smile to widen even more.

"Oh. I get it. The taste is adjusted, but the texture doesn't feel on target. The idea is to have a whipping cream-like texture for the Mayonnaise to be properly done" Rem said while looking at her bowl.

"Yes. Indeed. You're getting the hang of it. It just requires diligence to acheive this result" Shadow said, which suddenly made Rem flash a gloomy smile while staring at the ground.

"Ah...Impatience and diligence...Both suit me very well, it would seem..." She muttered, causing Shadow to gasp.

"Wow! Amazing! You're the best, Rem! You totally figured it out! That's wonderful! Good girl!" Shadow exclaimed with a somewhat forced smile, which in turn caused Rem's expression to brighten instantly.

"R-Really?" She said in a chirping voice before staring at her bowl with a slight blush and a small smile.

"So easy...She seeks self-worth, but lacks self-confidence..." Shadow thought.

"Hey, Nee-sama! Otto! How is your mixture looks more like Mayo than mine?!" Subaru asked in comical shock.

"This is the difference between those who can cook and those who can't" Ram said.

"I've only seen you steam potatoes!" Subaru exclaimed.

"I've been a merchant for more than six years, so something like this is pretty easy to learn for me" Otto said.

"Just because you're a merchant doesn't mean that you know how to cook!" Subaru yelled.

"It's fine. If it was Shadow-kun, more eggs would've been saved. If it was Rem, I'd feel sorry for all the eggs that we used, but it's fine" Rem said with a sweet smile.

"The old roundabout insult returns!" Subaru said with comical tears streaming down his eyes.

"Hey. Raspberry. I agreed on this Mayonnaise thing for the sake of giving Rem more confidence. How can she get confident if you finish before she does?" Shadow whispered in an annoyed tone to Ram.

"I won't. I've hit my Mana limit" Ram replied before placing her bowl on the kitchen table, having used her Wind Magic to steer the mixture in her bowl. She then made her way to the kitchen exit.

"Well, I'm done here. Humor Barusu and Shads until noontime" Ram said as she departed for the day.

"Raspberry is so stingy! Yup~!" Shaula commented.

"I second that, Shaula-san" Otto said.

"Alright then. What now? We added everything, except for lemon juice. How much should we add?" Subaru asked.

"How about we try with varied quantities of lemon juice to identify the accurate amount?" Otto suggested.

"Good idea, Otto! Let's do that!" Subaru exclaimed.

And with that, Subaru, Rem, Shaula and Otto tested the quantity of lemon juice required for the accurate sour taste of the Mayonnaise. Subaru added a big amount, Otto added medium, Rem added a few squeezes of a lemon, while Shaula added all the lemon storage in the mansion.

And obviously, things went south for them.

Subaru and Otto hurled their breakfast, where Subaru almost coughed out his heart when Shaula forced him to taste her extremely sour mixture, leaving Rem as the sole survivor of this culinary catastrophe.

"Rem...We leave...Everything to you..." Subaru gasped while lying on the ground.

"You're...The only one...Who can do it...Rem-san..." Otto gasped while lying next to Subaru.

And with that, both of them comically fell face first on the ground.

"NOOOOOO! MASTER!" Shaula yelled while hugging the limp body of the white haired boy, shaking it comically while having comical tears streaming down her cheeks.

"...Pathetic idiots" Shadow scoffed, before turning to Rem, who noticed Shadow's gaze at her, which caused her to take a deep breath, determined to impress the man that she love.

She then gulped down with a determined look on her face, before using her finger to scope a small amount of her Mayonnaise. She then placed it into her mouth to taste it, and a few seconds later, her eyes opened up wide, before she flashed a victory smile towards Shadow.

"I hereby declare this taste to the world to be known as Mayonnaise" She simply said, causing Shadow to flash a toothy grin, and for Subaru and Otto to wake up and stare at her in delight, with Shaula blinking in confusion.

"YEAH!" Both Subaru and Otto yelled.

---

The next day. Breakfast Time

It was the taste test day, and Subaru decided to invite Felt, Reinhard and Natsumi for testing the flavour of their invention.

Well...Rem's invention, that is, and there was no dish better than Ram's steamed potatoes.

"Wow! Subaru, that's great! To think that you were able to make Mayonnaise exist in the world! And it tastes great!" Natsumi exclaimed while eating from it.

"Amazing, Subaru! I never tasted something like that!" Reinhard exclaimed in delight.

"That's wonderful, Big Bro! That's the first time I tasted something so delicious!" Felt said gulping down each steamed potato, but not before soaking each one of them in Mayonnaise.

"S-So good! I don't think I can stop!" Emilia exclaimed in awe at the taste.

"Can I truly believe it, I wonder? It looks rather suspicious, In fact" Beatrice said in disgust while staring at the creamy texture of the Mayonnaise.

"Don't say that, Betty! You can't fool me!" Puck exclaimed before shoving a Mayonnaise-laced steamed potato into Beatrice's mouth. At first she was surprised, but then when the flavor struck on her taste buds, she started cutely munching on the steamed potato and relented to the taste.

"Well, if Puckie insists..." She muttered while munching cutely at the steamed potato.

"This is quite a fine taaaaste" Roswaal added his two cents with a smile.

"Indeed. It's really delicious" Otto said.

"Yes! It's a hit!" Subaru exclaimed happily.

"...You did great, Rem. Well done" Shadow said before patting the blue haired Oni maid, causing her to have a rosy blush on her face.

"Rem did great?! Really?!" Rem asked with a beaming smile.

"Yes. And to be honest, I was against it, but I didn't mind lowering the tension a little bit around the mansion. So it's thanks to Rem that everyone is happy and relaxed. So great job, Rem" Shadow answered while patting Rem's head gently, causing her blush to increase until her face became redder than Reinhard's hair.

"Shadow-kun's Rem did great! Rem is so happy that Rem's Shadow-kun is happy! Rem will do anything to make Shadow-kun even more happy" Rem exclaimed in delight, causing a gentle smile to appear on Shadow's face.

It was then when a light bulb appeared above Shadow's head, before his gentle smile became evil in a comical way.

"Actually Rem, there is something that you can do to make me even more happier" Shadow said, before inching closer to Rem's face and started whispering in her ears. After a minute, Rem's mouth morphed into an 'O' shape.

"Understood! Please leave it to Rem!" Rem exclaimed while puffing her chest with a determined look on her face.

"...Yeah. I shall leave it to you" Shadow said before sitting on his chair and started eating a Mayonnaise-laced steamed potato.

---

Margrave Mathers Mansion. Nighttime

After everyone departed for the night, all who was left active was Subaru, who was ready to take a bath before sleeping for the day.

"Aah...I feel blissful. Not only did I manage to take down those freaky monsters and save everyone, but I also got to eat Mayo in this world. The world is sparkling~" Subaru said happily, before he jumped into the large bath, sinking directly into the rather slimy and creamy texture of the water...

...Wait...Slimy? Creamy?

"WH-WH-WHAT IS THIS?! THIS SENSATION?! THIS SITUATION?!" Subaru screamed as he jumped out from the bath tub and started rolling in a comical manner on the floor of the bathing room.

"MY BODY'S INCREDIBLY SLIMY! INCREDIBLY SMOOTH! BAD! BAD! NOT RAD! I COULD DIE FROM THIS!" Subaru literally screamed as he kept on rolling on the floor, before his body gave into the fatigue, causing him to pant as he laid on the ground on his back.

"I was so stupid for letting my guard down! I totally forgot that Od Laguna was so stubborn! Just when I think that I'm in the clear, everything crumbles down with a bad end and I never see it coming!" Subaru thought while panting. Then as he was breathing heavily, some of the 'slimy water' entered his mouth, causing Subaru to halt in his panting. He then extended his mouth to the side of his face to taste this 'sticky water', and it didn't take him a second to realize now.

This was Mayonnaise, and he figured out who did this judging from the delicious taste.

"Rem! You're there, aren't you?! Come here!" Subaru yelled, before the doors of the bathing room opened instantly, revealing that it was Rem who opened it, with Shadow having a small mischievous smirk on his face as he leaned on the side of the door while crossing his arms together.

"Yes! Subaru-san! How do you like it?! Soaking in a Mayonnaise bath. Rem worked so hard to fulfill your request. Shadow-kun told me that it was your wish!" Rem exclaimed happily, before Shadow extended his hand and patted Rem's head from behind, causing puppy ears and tail to appear at Rem's body out of thin air, and her tail was wagging happily.

Subaru just sat up, wiped the Mayonnaise around his face, flashed a smile to Rem and yelled only four words.

"ARE YOU AN IDIOT?!"

And that...Was how Mayonnaise was introduced to the other world.

---

One Month Later. Nighttime

"Aah...This is great"

What's better than a well-earned, nice, warm bath that calms your aching bones and fatigued muscles after a hard day of work? And that is what Emilia was doing after hard days of studying for the Royal Selection that is coming two months from now.

Soaking her pristine, delicate body inside the warm bathtub water was the thing that made her forget the overloading stress that her studies burdened her with.

"Ah...I may have gained a little weight. Puck is going to chew on me later" She said while looking at the skin of her arms. She then counted something on her fingers.

"I promised Puck after my bath, I'll stretch, do my nails, groom my hair and...Umm..." Emilia then started to grumble at the multiple requests from her contracted Spirit, which caused her to sink down the bathtub.

"Studying day after day is wearing me out...Shadow and Otto even volunteered to help me, but it's still reeeeeaaaally stressful...No. This isn't the time to back down. I have to work hard!" Emilia exclaimed before taking some water in her hands and splashing her face with it. Just then, she felt footsteps approaching her, only to find Rem, Ram, Frederica and Shaula all naked, with the towels in their hands being the only thing that was covering their private areas.

"It's rare of you to bathe in this hour. Should we come back later, Emilia-sama?" Ram asked the Half-Elf.

"No. It's alright. I wouldn't say anything so unkind" Emilia said with a calm smile, causing the four females to take a side bench where they started to scrub their bodies, with Frederica helping Shaula with said activity due to the humanoid Mabeast not being knowledgeable about it.

"Nee-sama. What would you have done had it been Subaru-san and Shadow-kun here?" Rem asked her sister.

"That would not do" Ram immediately answered.

"Rem would never accept if Subaru-san gazed at Nee-sama with indecency...But if it's Shadow-kun gazing at Shadow-kun's Rem, I would not mind at all...Hehe..." Rem said, giggling at the last part.

"Shaula wouldn't mind if Master kept staring at my naked body! Yup~!" Shaula exclaimed happily as Frederica was scrubbing her back with soap.

"Shaula, this is also indecent, and the same goes for you too, Rem" Frederica said with a sweatdrop.

"What about Otto-san?" Rem asked.

"Hah. He's too much of a coward to even think about something like this" Ram exclaimed, scoffing at the thought of Otto being a perv.

"Well, I don't think that they will do anything like that" Frederica added her two cents.

"Even so, if they ever tried to do that, I'll simply gouge their eyes out. Ram's fingers will be the last thing they would ever see" Ram said.

"Don't say such scary things. Subaru, Shadow and Otto are good boys" Emilia said, before she saw the four girls aside of her enter the bathtub, where each of them gave a sigh of relaxation upon having the warm water making contact with their fatigued skin. However, Emilia's amazed look was directed at Ram only.

"Wow. You get like that when you're in the bath too" Emilia said to Ram with a smile.

"Ram is not a doll after all. I'm lovely as one, though" Ram said.

"Rem thinks that Nee-sama is splendid when she's firm all the time. But she's adorable when she let's her guard down in the tub" Rem said with a smile.

"I really think that it doesn't matter to you as long as she's splendid..." Frederica said with a nervous chuckle.

"Aah...I feel like I'm on cloud nine...It's like a Jacuzzi. Yup~!" Shaula exclaimed sighing in relief.

"What's a Jacuzzi? Is it something from Subaru's world?" Emilia asked in confusion.

"Hah. Probably something pathetic as he is" Ram scoffed.

"By the way, It may come off as weird, but can everyone say their opinions about our new newcomers?" Frederica asked, causing Emilia, Rem and Ram to look at her for a few seconds, before they spoke.

"Hmm. Well, for starters, Subaru is...Umm...How should I put it? At times, he's calm, but funny and weird, and at other times, he breaks down to a horrified fit. As if something happened reeeeeaaaally terrible happened to him. But then he recovers quickly and afterwards, he seems to become stronger and braver" Emilia said.

"Barusu is an extremely weird person. To the point that the idea of him handling the laundry sometimes when he volunteers to do so irritates Ram, but to be honest, he's so interesting. He seems to know what he's doing, and when push comes to shove, he's a man that acts in the right time, so he should be honored that Ram is giving redeeming qualities to garbage like him" Ram said, insulting Subaru at the end.

"Rem thinks the same as Nee-sama. Subaru-san may not be Rem's Shadow-kun, but he isn't a coward. He's weird, but when he becomes serious, it's as if he transforms to a completely different person" Rem said.

"That's Master to you all! The super duper strong person ever! Yup~!" Shaula exclaimed with a cheerful smile.

"Speaking of Shadow, I think that he's extremely hard to read, right?" Emilia asked.

"Indded, Emilia-sama. Shads is indeed mysterious and enigmatic to a huge level, but still, he holds actions that gives him the right to be trustworthy. But if Ram has to say, Shads is extremely strong as well. I also saw how he gave out that evil smile whenever he spared and trained with Sir Reinhard whenever he comes to visit" Ram said.

"Shadow-kun holds his unique personality, which is so great if you would ask Rem. Rem sees that Rem's Shadow-kun's secretive attitude makes him so cool and cute" Rem said with a smile and a slight blush.

"What does him being secretive have anything of him being cute...?" Frederica asked with a nervous chuckle and a sweatdrop.

"What do you think about Barusu and Shads, Frederica?" Ram asked the Demi-Human, causing said person to opt a thinking pose, placing two fingers underneath her chin while being seated on the bottom of the bathtub.

"Well, they're so unique in their own different ways. Each have their advantages and disadvantages, but they seem to cover their disadvantages with their actions, but if I have to say, they both have one thing in common..." Frederica trailed in her speech.

"Which is?" Emilia asked in confusion.

"Their eyes. The look on their eyes. It as they faced Death several times over and even experienced it. When push comes to shove, they know how to solve the situation, no matter how dire it is" Frederica said.

"Ram has to agree on that sadly" Ram said.

"You're saying it as if it's unfortunate for them to be smart and strong..." Frederica said with a sweatdrop.

"Well, as for Otto...He may not look like it, but he's actually reeeeeaaaally smart. He and Shadow help me with my studies from time to time" Emilia said.

"I heard that Roswaal-sama even made him the Head of the Internal Affairs of Emilia-sama's Royal Selection Camp. So he's indeed smart" Rem said.

"If Ram has to give a good quality about Otto, then I'd say that he's a great stress reliever" Ram said, having remembered that one time when he tried waking her up, and she ended up beating him to a pulp for annoying her from her sweet dreams.

"Yes! The Crybaby Merchant is the perfect punching bag! Yup~!" Shaula exclaimed in an oddly cheerful way.

"He's still a living being, you know. He holds his own feelings" Frederica said with a sweatdrop.

"Actually, it's really amazing how he is tolerant towards all the verbal and physical insults that he took in the past month" Rem said.

"Well...It comes to show the fact that Otto-sama is one of the normal, if not the only normal person in this Camp..." Frederica thought while chuckling nervously.

"Emilia-sama. I feel like the presences of both Barusu and Shads had poisoned you" Ram said.

"Really?" Emilia asked.

"Aside from our own opinions regarding them, haven't Barusu and Shads influenced your behavior? And especially Barusu, considering the fact that he's around you the most" Ram said, causing Emilia to look down into the bath water with a solmen look on her face.

"It's not that...It's just...The Royal Selection will begin after two months from now, and when it does, I'm afraid that both Subaru and Shadow might get hurt. Yes, both of them are strong and they train everyday continuously with little rest, but if they stay longer, they will get wrapped in all of this and I don't want that. I know from only looking at them that Subaru isn't the political type, and Shadow doesn't want to get caught within the mundane affairs of this country, so I'm just worried about them" Emilia said.

"Emilia-sama, if you feel like this is bothering you, why don't you go and ask them about it yourself? You don't know what's on their minds" Frederica said with a gentle smile to Emilia.

"Huh?" Emilia asked, confused as she raised her head to face Frederica.

"Frederica is right, Emilia-sama. Rem's Shadow-kun may look so serious, but he's a really nice person once you get to know him" Rem said with a rather cheerful smile.

"I can have small tolerance with Shads, but Barusu looks like a pitiful criminal to Ram" Ram scoffed her reply.

"That wasn't the point you two, but what I'm trying to say is, that you should ask them whether they want to continue being by your side or not. Although the answer is visible to everyone" Frederica said.

"Huh? How so?" Emilia asked.

"They didn't complain at all when they were with us the entire past month. Shadow-sama can simply go to the Sanctuary where all the residents of Irlam Village are, since he is famous amongst the villagers for being their protector, and Subaru-sama can simply take Shaula and leave. After all, he once mentioned that he was a traveling adventurer, but they just chose to stay. I don't know why Shadow-sama stayed with us, but if we are to speak about Subaru-sama, his reasons to stay were for Shaula to be properly educated and for you, Emilia-sama" Frederica explained.

"Me? Why?" Emilia asked.

"Emilia-sama, Subaru-sama is one of the few people aside from Madam Natsumi and Shadow-sama that are by your side despite you being a Half-Elf. That means that they're not bothered by it. So that's my own opinion, but I think that they won't leave anytime soon. However, that's just my opinion. If you still have doubts, just ask them yourself, Emilia-sama" Frederica said, causing Emilia to blink at her for a few seconds, before a warm smile appeared on her face.

"Thank you Rem, Ram, Frederica..." Emilia whispered.

"Heyyyyyy! What about me~?!" Shaula started whining like a kid, causing Emilia to giggle at the cute act.

"And Thank you too, Shaula" Emilia said, causing Shaula puff her chest, causing her breasts to bounce.

Suddenly, the door of the bathing room flew open, and in came Beatrice, steam literally came out from her ears and she looked completely livid.

"Ugh! So annoying, in fact! Betty steps on him, she kicks him, she even sends him flying! And yet, he's so persistent! If the Door Crossing spell will not work, then is this Betty's only refuge, I wonder?! No matter! Better than nothing! Betty shall pass the time here, I suppose!" Beatrice exclaimed loudly, before Emilia was seen getting out from the bathtub and advancing towards the loli Spirit.

"Now that you're here, you might as well join us, Beatrice" Emilia said to Beatrice.

"Betty wonders if she might as well not? This is not funny, in fact" Beatrice said with an angry huff.

"Ah! Beatrice! Puck's bathing!" Emilia exclaimed while pointing towards the bathtub.

"Eh?! Where, I wonder?!" Beatrice also exclaimed, with her eyes literally having hearts in them and she was also drooling.

Emilia, however, had another plans, as she then picked Beatrice up and threw her to the bathtub. Beatrice then looked behind her to see Emilia cutely sticking her tongue out to the loli Spirit as she was falling into the bathtub.

"Why you! But It's futile, in fact!" Beatrice exclaimed, before she was suddenly suspended in midair, where she was inches away from falling into the warm water.

"Flying Betty shall not fall for your schemes, in fact!" Beatrice angrily said, only for Rem to tug on her right sleeve, Ram to tug on her left sleeve and Frederica to place her hands on her shoulders.

"Don't say that, Beatrice-sama" Frederica said.

"Let us be together tonight" Ram said.

"I have long wanted to wash Beatrice-sama's hair" Rem said.

And as the three maids said that with smiles on their faces, Beatrice was pulled into the bathtub, her clothes immediately dissolving away, and her drill-shaped hair was now straightened up, just like Shaula, whose brown hair had been untied from its scorpion tail-shaped style, making it flowing down her back.

"Just what is with you all, I wonder?! Have you all been corrupted by that strange boy, I wonder?!" Beatrice asked in annoyance while being seated in the bathtub, causing the girls to giggle, and Emilia herself was pondering on that question at the same time in her head.

"That really...Might be true..."

---

A month later. Margrave Mathers Domain

"Ugh...It's so cold. It's that time of the year, huh?"

Subaru woke up to the chilling cold that struck his sleeping body. He was already annoyed at the cold weather, but then he remembered that it was already winter. He also had to get out of bed because he had a training session with Shadow.

Over the past two months, lots of stuff happened.

Subaru had learned even more Demon Magic spells, and he was still trying to train with weapons. And Subaru found out that aside from knives, whips were a natural to him, and so, he decided to go to his sister, Natsumi, who was a specialist in weapon creation to the point of being called 'The Blacksmith Knight'.

However, for that, Shadow introduced something special...

---

Flashback. A few days ago

"A new weapon?" Natsumi asked while looking at Subaru.

"Yes. It's really gonna help me in battle" Subaru said.

"But why? I've inspected the weapons that you stored and they were of amazing quality. Why would you need any more?" Natsumi asked in confusion.

"You see, Natsumi, I don't see myself holding a sword or even a rapier. I can see myself fighting with a katar, a knife and a whip. I don't know how to explain it to be honest" Subaru answered while scratching his head.

"I see. Well, to be honest with you, I myself don't see a sword being suited on you at all. So yeah, I get what you mean" Natsumi said with a nod. She then looked at Subaru while crossing her arms, her face placed into a thinking frown. A few seconds later, her eyes widened, and a light bulb appeared above her head.

"Oh! I have an idea! How about a whip with a debuff or something?" Natsumi asked, her eyes glittering with excitement.

"Huh? But how are you gonna make a weapon like that? Even Reinhard's Zerofuku is nothing more than a Mana-infused weapon that you created through fusing a normal sword with Mana, alongside some of Reinhard's hair strands" Subaru mused in confusion.

"Well...I'm still experimenting it...But it's still a no-success...You can fuse weapons with Mana so that they become useable by only their wielders, but I can't fuse the elemental Magic nature..." Natsumi pouted cutely at her own sense of dissatisfaction.

"...Actually, I think that might be possible" Shadow calmly said, causing both Subaru and Natsumi to look at him.

"Really?!" Both of them asked with awestruck faces.

"Yes. But in order for you to understand it, allow me to explain it in full detail" Shadow said, before snapping his fingers, causing a blackboard and a piece of chalk to appear out of nowhere behind of the Ultimate Lifeform, and this made both Subaru and Natsumi blink in confusion.

"How did you...?" Subaru trailed in his question, unable to even comprehend what just happened.

"Seriously, Subaru? You're asking this when you're in a world where Magic is the most normal thing around?" Shadow asked with his eyebrow raised upwards, questioning Subaru's brain capacity.

"...You've made your point" Subaru sighed in defeat.

"Okay. Allow me to explain something about Demons" Shadow said, before staring to write at the blackboard with the chalk finger.

"Demons are made out of information stored in a higher realm of existence called the Akashic Records. The information is taken from the imagination of lesser beings, or mortals, or Humans, specifically from things like religious beliefs, mythologies, cyberpunk lore, fairy tales and so on. So it solely depends on your imagination. As such, there is another realm that manages the gathering of the Demons. Naturally, Demons and angels alike, they enter a realm called The Expanse, a realm that transcends the past, present and future. But the process of taming Demons was considered impossible, until a Human, who was fascinated by the existence of Demons, created the Demon Summoning Program in order to understand Demons and even summon them. However, there is a function that is considered extremely rare in the Demon Summoning Program, and not everyone has it" Shadow explained.

"And what is that function?" Subaru asked.

"Another realm that in only accessible through the Demon Summoning Program, but only for those who are deemed worthy: The Cathedral of Shadows. This world allows its user for additional benefits, like fusing multiple Demons together to gain a new and stronger one" Shadow answered.

"Whoa! Cool! Now that could come in handy!" Subaru exclaimed in joy.

"Well, Subaru, you have this function. You were deemed worthy by the Cathedral of Shadows, but this function is useless if you don't have at least two Demons with you. You only have Mephistopheles, so you will have to work on that. Fortunately, I have the solution for that" Shadow said, wiping out his phone.

"And that is...?" Natsumi asked.

"A function called Demon Market. It allows you to purchase Demons. The power and variety of the Demon is directly proportional to its purchase price. So it will be easy for you to fuse Demons. However, there's a catch that seems to hinder some progress here" Shadow said.

"Huh? What now?" Subaru grumbled in annoyance.

"It seems that the laws of this world are affecting the balance of the Akashic Records. So normally, you would have been able to summon any Demon you want, but now, due to the influence of the will of the world, or Od Laguna as you call it, people with the ability to summon Demons are only categorized by the Races that they can summon" Shadow said.

"Races?" Natsumi asked, which in turn caused Shadow to wipe out his previous writing, before his hand that held the chalk piece started to write at the board in a rapid and vigorous pace, and after just a few seconds, a huge schedule with lots of names found itself drawn and written all over the board.

"Races, or Species, is the categorization used to distribute Demons. Like I said before, Demons are made out of pure information that is created out of a Human's imagination. Desires give birth to the energy called Magatsuhi, which the Demons feed on by killing Humans and absorbing it, as Magatsuhi is the energy required for Demons to manifest in a physical form in the real world, since a manifestation of a fantasy can't even exist normally to begin with. So Demons use Magatsuhi to maintain another form of energy called Magnitite around their bodies in order to manifest in the real world without causing the Akashic Records to collapse, where this would result in a forced 'reboot' function, which in turn would cause the destruction of reality as we know it through a weapon called The Void, a wave of blackness induced by the Akashic Records control system, the Astrolabe. Simply put, nothing can exist inside The Void, even concepts, so if concepts cannot exist, then so does anything that draws breath and life in the world. Anyways, returning to the topic at hand. Demons are made out of pure Human imagination, which manifests metaphysically as information in the real world. This information can be manipulated to summon Demons through the Cathedral of Shadows. However, due to the laws of this world restricting the ability to summon Demons, a person is limited to specific Demons to summon, and those specific Demons are categorized depending on their races. For example, Subaru here can summon Demons from the races of Tyrant, Vile, Fiend, Foul, Elemental and Mitama. For example, you can check Mephistopheles' race, and you will find that it's Tyrant. However, aside from summoning Demons, there is another function that can prove very useful for weapon's manufacture" Shadow said.

"Huh? What's that?" Natsumi asked, her eyes gleaming in excitement.

"The Black Basement Forgery. This allows the user to use Demons as weapons. The process is simple. By using this function, instead of fusing Demons together, you simply take one Demon, dismantle its information, before rearranging it as a weapon" Shadow answered.

"Whoa! So in that theory, if I used, say Thor, I can get his Mjolnir?!" Natsumi asked in excitement.

"Actually, yes. You can get the special weapon of a Demon, provided that they had a special weapon tied to their lore. And if the Demon didn't have a special weapon, The Black Basement Forgery will accustom itself to produce a new weapon out of the Demon" Shadow said, before turning to Subaru.

"So while there are limited options for you in terms of summoning Demons, you can still use other Demons from the Races that you can't summon to manufacture weapons from them. Anyone can use The Black Basement Forgery, even Otto" Shadow said.

"Hey! Why am I included?! And why does it feel like an insult?!" Otto, who was tending to Furufuru, his Earth Dragon, yelled in an annoyed comical manner.

"...Because it is" Shadow said coldly.

"YOU'RE THE WORST!" Otto yelled with comical tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Anyways, as I said, you don't need to have the potency to summon Demons. Anyone can use The Black Basement Forgery, as long as they can buy Demons from the Demon Auction in the case of people without the ability to summon Demons" Shadow said.

"So I can use it too?!" Natsumi asked, literally beaming with excitement.

"...Yes, Natsumi. And you can also summon Demons, but you're unable to use the function of the Cathedral of Shadows. It's actually only exclusive to Subaru, as he's the only person so far that I sensed to have the ability to use it" Shadow said. He then sweatdropped upon seeing Natsumi jumping up and down in joy like a kid that got a new pair of socks on their birthday.

"So, back to the main topic, Subaru, you said that you want a new weapon, right? The Black Basement Forgery can allow you to make weapons with elemental affinities, buffs and debuffs" Shadow said to Subaru, before taking out his phone. He then moved his finger in a frantic motion, before showing to Subaru the picture of a large black, round mascot-like figure that had an evil grin that showed its sharp teeth, and it was wearing a purple jester outfit.

"This is Black Frost, A Demon of the Night Race. This will be the most suitable for your own choice of weapon" Shadow said, before then proceeding to click furiously on his phone. A minute later, a small burst of light appeared out of thin air, and then it faded the moment it appeared, revealing something in Shadow's hand.

It was a whip, around 5 meters in length. It had a large black D-guard in its handle, which was black too. The guard also had white diamond-shaped dots that appeared to be glittering. The guard also had a purple pointed jewel at the end of the pummel of its handle, making it appear as an item of luxury, a beautiful piece of art that would be tainted if presented to the battlefield.

"Whoa! That looks cool!" Subaru exclaimed, taking the weapon from Shadow's hand and inspecting it with his eyes.

"This is The Naraka Whip, A whip with the ability of Black Frost. Black Frost is a Demon that can drain Water and Ice, and reflect Dark and Fire. Those are the supportive buffs that you gain when you're equipping this weapon. However, the debuff from it is different: Basically, anything that you hit with the whip with the intent to assault with be instantly frozen in ice blocks. Even if your enemy catches the whip, it will only result in the area that caught the whip to become instantly frozen" Shadow explained.

"Awesome! I'll keep this baby on my hip all day!" Subaru exclaimed with a grin.

"Shadow! You're a saint!" Natsumi exclaimed while tackling Shadow in a hug, wrapping both her arms around his waist while crying comical tears.

"...Don't touch me" Shadow groaned with a comical annoyed expression.

Flashback End

---

"Huh...Come to think of it, Natsumi was so happy about it" Subaru muttered to himself while dressing up. He also made sure to wear a scarf and a winter version of his green blazer. He then fastened Naraka Whip to his waist, before marching outside his room.

"Well, I better go check on the others. Let's start with Shaula, then Beako, then Shadow, then Emilia-tan, then everyone else except for Roswaal, Puck and Otto" Subaru said to himself.

Unknown to him, a certain gray haired merchant sneezed while checking some documents on the desk in his room with his puffy eyes that were completely drained from the lack of sleep.

---

At the same time. With Shadow

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Rem"

"Yes, Shadow-kun?"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Rem has some free time before resuming work, so Rem helped herself to stare at Shadow-kun's sleeping face. It's to help get my spirits up and restore Rem's energy!"

"...What kind of fucked up logic is that?"

As Shadow opened his eyes, he found Rem sitting beside his bed on a chair, gazing at him.

He already knew that she was here, considering the fact that he doesn't need to do human's necessary activities like sleeping, eating and even breathing. However, the fact that someone is in his room, and a girl no less, not to mention that this was the girl that his heart thumped for whenever she was around, made Shadow feel nervous and irritated.

"I appreciate if you don't stare at me like that" Shadow said, trying to avoid eye contact with Rem.

"Huh?! Why?! Did Rem do anything bad to Shadow-kun?! Rem's sorry! So please don't leave Rem!" Rem exclaimed with tears building in the corners of her eyes.

"What the hell?! I ain't leaving you just because of my dislike of eye contact! Have some self confidence already!" Shadow half yelled at Rem.

"Huh? Shadow-kun doesn't like eye contact?" Rem asked, wiping the tears in her eyes.

"Well, it's something that I can't even explain. It's plain rude at times under certain circumstances, but eye contact makes me nervous. I just don't know why" Shadow answered.

"Don't worry, Shadow-kun! You're still amazing even when you're shy and afraid of something as stupid and pathetic as eye contact!" Rem exclaimed with a sweet smile.

"...The way you say it makes me feel like I'm some sort of a loser" Shadow said with his face cringing comically. He then blinked upon feeling the cold air around him.

"Huh. It's unusually chilly today" He said.

"Yes. The weather is rather cold today. This morning is unusually brisk. Wow! You were able to notice the cold weather! How perceptive of you, Shadow-kun!" Rem exclaimed in a happy tone, causing Shadow's face to cringe once again from the rather weird remark.

"...Anyone can tell that it's cold today, even someone like Otto can do something as silly as this" He said.

Unknown to him, a certain gray haired merchant sneezed for the second time this day inside his room while holding a mountain of documents, causing the paper to fly and scatter across the room like leaves. The merchant stood there in a state of comical shock, before screaming like a girl that had seen a mouse in her room while tearing apart his hair with both hands.

---

A few minutes later. The kitchen

"Alright, Shaula. Roll the potato around the blade of the knife to properly peel it. Don't move the knife, only the potato"

"Yes! Aye Aye, Foxy Sis! Yup~!"

In the kitchen, Frederica was making lunch, while teaching Shaula in her maid duties.

Despite it being a slow and extremely painful process, Frederica was doing a tremendous job drilling maid work into Shaula, who under normal circumstances, would have never done anything like obeying orders from someone other than Subaru. But thanks to Subaru telling her to follow Frederica's orders, Shaula was extremely obedient to the Demi-Human's orders, despite it being strict.

There were indeed times where Shaula was a complete pain, Frederica was extremely tolerant towards her. Overtime, Shaula learned to actually like and obey Frederica, and while it wasn't on the same level as her obedience towards Subaru, Shaula still placed Frederica like a big sister figure, something that made Frederica tear up in joy sometimes, and also resulted in Shaula being scolded for hours by Subaru as the white haired boy thought that Shaula might have been mean and troublesome to Frederica.

Frederica then kept on watching Shaula as she peeled the potatoes. At first, it was a disaster. Shaula had this 'idea' of trying to peel the potatoes using her Hell Snipe, only for the result to be that the potatoes were turned to balls of burned coal. It took Frederica 2 weeks to teach Shaula how to use a knife to peel potatoes, and she was showing a good progress, even if it was slow and agonizing at times.

"Look, Foxy Sis! Shaula peeled it good! Yup~!" Shaula exclaimed, showing the piece of potato that she finished peeling, which looked like a distorted figure of a rock due to all the sliced pieces of the vegetable piece, which caused Frederica to sweatdrop, but also giggle at how cute Shaula was.

Despite having an extremely developed body, Shaula was acting like a young kid.

"Not bad, Shaula. You're making progress. Keep up the good work" Frederica said, causing Shaula's face to brighten up, before she started to peel potatoes at a comically rapid pace, making Frederica giggle, but also sigh from inside her brain, as she and Rem will be the ones to clean all of this mess after everything here was done.

"Good morning"

"?!"

Frederica then turned around to see Shadow and Rem entering the kitchen, causing her to make a courtesy bow to him.

"Good morning, Shadow-sama, Rem" She said politely.

"Oh! Shaula! Good morning!" Rem exclaimed with a smile, greeting the scorpion humanoid Mabeast.

"Good morning, Blueberry!" Shaula exclaimed, not taking her eyes off peeling the potatoes. Afterwards, Rem then went in front of the stove to help Frederica prepare lunch while Shadow stood silently and observed the three maids doing their job. A few moments later, Subaru entered the kitchen, greeting everyone upon doing so.

"Mornin', everyone" He said.

"Good morning, Master!" Shaula exclaimed, not taking her eyes off her frantic potato peeling performance.

"Uh...What are you doing, Shaula?" Subaru asked in a sweatdrop.

"Shaula's making potato soap for Master! Master will eat Shaula's potato soap, and he will love it so much that he will agree to have Shaula as his personal concubine! Yup~!" Shaula exclaimed.

"What kind of bullshit is this?! Stop saying stupid stuff first thing in the morning!" Subaru yelled comically.

"...By the way, Rem. It can't escape my mind that you're wearing so light despite the brisk weather" Shadow said to Rem.

"Well, that's natural. Nee-sama and Rem are used to this kind of weather. And besides, Rem won't wear winter clothes until we enter the earnest stage of the Glacial Period" Rem answered.

"The Glacial Period...This must be the equivalent to Winter Season here" Subaru muttered.

"What was that, Subaru-sama? Did you say something?" Frederica asked while looking at Subaru.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. I'm just thinking something out loud. Don't worry about it" Subaru answered.

"Won't you be better with your Glacial Period outfit right at this moment of cold weather? I mean, if you feel uncomfortable speaking about it, I could just ask Roswaal for you" Shadow said.

"It's fine, Shadow-kun. Nee-sama and I are used to this like Rem told you" Rem said with a smile to Shadow, before turning once again to the stove to resume her duties.

"I see. If you say so" Shadow said.

"Speaking of Nee-sama, has anybody seen her?" Subaru asked.

"Nee-sama said that it was cold for her to get up from bed, so she decided to sleep a little more" Rem answered.

"Didn't you just said that you two were used to this?!" Subaru yelled out.

"Hahaha...That's so like Ram. Apologizes in advance to you, Subaru-sama" Frederica said with a nervous chuckle.

"Ugh! I can't accept that! I'll just go to her and tell her that living servants don't get to sleep late regardless of the temperature outside! Come on Rem, Shaula, Shadow!" Subaru exclaimed before marching outside the kitchen.

"Yes! I'm coming, Master!" Shaula exclaimed, before throwing the knife she had in her hand to the air, and then she ran to follow Subaru.

"...Why am I involved into this?" Shadow grumbled in annoyance.

"Well, if Shadow-kun insists on going, then Rem will go too!" Rem exclaimed.

"...I never said that I want to go. Don't put words into my mouth" Shadow grumbled, before he and Rem followed Subaru, realizing that he had nothing to do at the moment. And right after they left, Otto started entering the kitchen.

"Good morning, Frederica-san. Can I have some-"

"Otto-sama! Watch out!"

"Huh? Wha-WOAH!"

And just as he entered, Frederica tackled him to the ground in order to protect him from the knife Shaula had thrown. And if she dove a few centimeters to the left, Otto would have had a knife stuck to his skull.

"Are you alright, Otto-sama?" Frederica asked.

"Yes...I am. Thanks, Frederica...san...?"

Otto trailed and Frederica suddenly froze. Both of them stayed on the ground in silence upon realizing their positions.

Frederica was literally on top of Otto, her breasts pressing on his chest, with their faces being inches apart. One single wrong movement, and their lips would lock together.

It didn't take a few seconds for their faces to be redder than Reinhard's hair, and right afterwards...

"NOOOOOOO!"

"UGUAHK!"

...Frederica, flustered to the point of explosion, jumped up to her feet, hugged her breasts with her left arm and used right hand to slap Otto in the face, sending him rolling in comical fashion like a cart wheel, before he got slammed into a rather expensive looking vase, and a bowling strike sound could be sworn that it was heard.

"Ah! Otto-sama! I'm so sorry!" Frederica exclaimed in worry, before running towards the hurt Otto.

"...Is that what Humans call 'Tough Love'? It looks rather...Pathetic" Shadow, who turned around briefly to watch the hilarious show, remarked, before sighing and marching with his hands in his pockets to follow Subaru, Shaula and Rem to Ram's room.

---

A few minutes later. Margrave Mathers Liquor Storage Room

"...So much dust. Look at the amount of dust that you left. As expected, you're so useless and you can't do anything right. How pathetic, Barusu"

"Hey! This isn't my job here! I'm a mage, not a butler! Also, I know that you're still annoyed from being forced out of bed, but how long are you gonna hold a grudge?! Stop being mad already-Huh?"

After waking up Ram, Subaru got slapped so hard that his cheek was still sore with a palm mark on it. And Ram punished him by giving him a broom and forcing him to clean the liquor room of the mansion, something that wasn't on his job list when he applied to be a part of the Emilia Camp. All that happened after Rem and Shaula returned to the kitchen, and Shadow was just observing both Subaru and Ram right now.

Suddenly, as he was advancing to apologize to Ram, Subaru's foot stumbled onto something. He then looked underneath his feet, only to see a handle fastened to a wooden tile on the floor.

"Hey, Ram. Look. I think I found a secret door. Do you know what's in it?" Subaru asked the pink haired maid.

"Not at all" Ram simply answered. She then saw Subaru kneel down and pull the wooden tile off the floor.

"Don't do that, Barusu. There might be bats waiting to fly out the moment you open this tile. Just open it when I'm out of here, and also make sure to lock the door behind you and take Shads here with you" Ram said.

"...And what is the use of locking the door anyways, Raspberry?" Shadow scowled at Ram's words. Subaru then opened the wooden tile, its small door opening after a few forceful tugs.

"Whoa. Will you look at that. That's quite the collection" Subaru said, gazing at the bizarre collection of alcohol bottles.

"Those all must be alcohol then, considering the fact that we're inside a liquor storage room" Shadow added.

"Come to think of it, Ram heard that Roswaal-sama's grandmother was a heavy drinker" Ram said.

"Oh...Those were here ever since Ros-chi's granny was around...That means that these stuff have been here for a long while. They must cost a fortune by now, don't you guys think?" Subaru asked.

"Don't ever think of that, Barusu. I know that you struggle to understand the simplest of stuff, but don't even think about drinking alcohol" Ram said.

"I wasn't even thinking about that! Besides, I'm 17. I can't even drink alcohol, and even if I can, I don't even drink and will never ever do!" Subaru exclaimed.

"Oh! Subaru! Shadow! Ram!"

"?!"

The three occupants of the storage room turned around to see Emilia, wearing a white dress that left her shoulders and some of her upper cleavage bare to the world to see. She was smiling at the three of them, which caused Subaru to smile back at her.

"Good morning, Emilia-tan!" He greeted.

"I heard lots of rummaging voices from this room. No wonder it was you guys" Emilia said entering the room.

"Good morning, Emilia-sama" Ram greeted her superior with a courtesy bow.

"Good morning, Ram. Good morning, Shadow" Emilia greeted back.

"...Morning" Shadow muttered calmly with a slight nod.

"Anyways, what are you doing here?" Emilia asked.

"I was telling Barusu that no matter how his life was hard, pointless, worthless and miserable, alcohol was never the answer" Ram answered.

"Oh. Subaru. Why didn't you tell me that you were suffering?" Emilia asked in concern.

"What?! No! I would never do that! I'm already underage to even drink, and I don't think that I'll never resort to that to drown my problems away" Subaru said jumping to his feet.

"Hm. I see. The drinking age in Lugunica is 15, by the way. So if you're that age then you have nothing to worry about" Emilia said.

"...What the hell? Isn't that the age of a Junior High Schooler?" Shadow asked with a cringed face.

"I don't know what a Junior High Schooler means, but no. This is actually the legal drinking age in the country of Lugunica" Emilia said.

"...I can't even imagine Petra getting drunk 2 years from now" Shadow said with a slightly disgusted face.

"Yeah...I think I get you on that" Subaru said with a nervous chuckle, before he turned towards Emilia with a smile.

"Anyways, don't forget, Emilia-tan. Tomorrow is our date" Subaru said.

"Huh? It's tomorrow. I see" Emilia said, her face slightly sweating.

"And here's to hoping that it won't get cold tomorrow" Subaru said, causing Emilia to gasp, making Subaru, Shadow and Ram stare at her with confusion plastered on their faces.

"And speaking of the weather, aren't you cold in that outfit?" Subaru asked.

"H-Huh? No. I don't feel cold in the slightest. If anything, it's quite toasty" Emilia said with a nervous smile while fanning her face with her hand.

"Is everything alright? You're acting really weird" Shadow asked.

"Well, I have some things that I need to take care of. they came up so suddenly. Bye" Emilia said in a hasty matter before departing from the room. Silence screamed for a few seconds, before Ram broke it.

"Hah. The things that she is busy with are simply trivial matters that aren't even worth mentioning. In other words, you mean less to her than those things, Barusu" Ram mocked Subaru with a smirk.

"...Yeah. I second that. Can't imagine her following someone like you" Shadow said, before walking outside the room with his hands in his pockets.

"What?! No! I think it's more like she's flustered about our date together tomorrow!" Subaru yelled.

---

The next day. Margrave Mathers Mansion

"Whoa! It's freezing! I could die from this!"

Subaru woke up with a yell, shivering from the cold with the snot drooling down from his nostrils being frozen.

Last night, the nervousness and the extremely cold weather made it really difficult for Subaru to sleep, and it was difficult to the point that he dreamt of a bunch of mini Roswaals with wings picking him up from his bed, and that's when he woke up to the alarm of his phone that he set to wake up to his date with Emilia.

Only now, however, troubles were starting, and this unbearable cold weather was the beginning of it.

Subaru then picked himself up from the bed with the blanket of his bed wrapped around him. He then walked out of his room, only to find Beatrice in the hallway.

"Oh. Beako" Subaru calls out the Spirit, who turns around with an annoyed look on her face.

"What do you want, I suppose? I have no time for you, in fact" Beatrice said, before spinning on her heel and walking away from the white haired boy.

"Why are you awake this early in the morning?" Subaru asked while watching Beatrice walking away.

"I don't have to answer you because it's none of your business, I suppose" She answered while still walking away.

"Oh well. Regardless of that, It's easy tp catch a cold in with sudden changes of weather, so be careful" Subaru said.

"I'm not so weak that you need to worry about me, I suppose" Beatrice said, still walking away.

"No no. It's not you that I'm worried about. It's Rem. She'll have to take care of you if you catch a cold and will have to make porridge for you, but then she will find it difficult to find you. So if you come down with something, try to behave, okay?" Subaru said, which caused Beatrice to turn around with a comical angry look on her face.

"Now why should Betty be criticized over a hypothetical story with a hypothetical ending, I suppose?! In any case, Betty is so busy, so don't let Betty repeat herself, I suppose!" She yelled before releasing a burst of Mana from her hand, causing Subaru to be flung out in a comical fashion from the window, landing right on the snow, where Shadow was standing leaning on one of the mansion walls while smoking a vape in his hand, releasing puffs of vaporized oil with flavored scents from his mouth.

"...You angered the Drill Loli again?" He muttered to Subaru, who yanked his head from the snow that he fell onto.

"More like she created a problem out of nothing!" The white haired boy yelled.

"Subaru? What's wrong?" Emilia, who was just passing by, asked upon seeing Subaru buried in the snow.

"It seems that your date with Subaru has to be postponed due to the weather" Shadow simply said, to which Emilia's face brightened up upon hearing those words.

"Good idea! I also think we should postpone it since the weather is so cold! I know you were so excited about it and I made a promise to you but...Oh! And it's not only because I promised you! I was also looking forward to it myself, but since the weather is so cold, then we don't have a choice! Well then, bye, Subaru!" She exclaimed her speech in a rather hasty manner, before marching rapidly, leaving a stupefied Subaru looking at her with comical wide eyes as she walked away from him, while Shadow released a puff of smoke after inhaling some from his vape.

"...Subaru Natsuki: The Unlucky Guy Of The Century" Shadow said with a small smirk on his face.

"Is it me, or she appeared to be a bit relieved about the date being cancelled...?" Subaru asked, still wide-eyed, causing Shadow to shrug his shoulders.

"Don't ask me that. I never talked to a girl in a casual manner like you do" Shadow said, before he watched Subaru jump to his feet.

"Oh well! Maybe tomorrow will be better! Besides, there's no way the weather will get so cold to the point that a blizzard would hit!" Subaru exclaimed, causing Shadow to blink, before releasing another puff of smoke from his mouth.

"...Be careful of what you wish for" Shadow muttered.

---

The next day

Subaru woke up from his bed early that day, not because that he was an early worm, but because he felt that the temperature of his body dropped to an insane degree...And he was right. It was so cold, that his mucus froze in the shape of pointy icicles protruding from his nostrils. He sat up with a comical stupefied expression on his face, before picking one of the icicles coming out from his nose and breaking it, examining it for a few seconds before turning his head to the side, only to see his desk, chair and the walls of his room being completely frozen and covered in thin ice.

"Okay! Something's obviously going on here!" He yelled out loud.

A few minutes later, Subaru was sitting in the kitchen, wrapped in a blanket while having a cup of tea made by Shaula in his hand. Despite that, Subaru was shivering in a rapid pace to the point that he couldn't even lift the cup up to his mouth.

"Master! Are you alright?! Should Shaula warm you up?" Shaula asked with worry.

"Th-Th-Thanks for th-th-th-the offer, Sh-Sh-Shaula. Just the th-th-th-thought of doing that raised my temperature by 3 d-d-d-degrees" Subaru said with his teeth clattering together from the frigid temperature.

"Oya Oya~. What's the maaaaaatter, Subaru-kun? You look raaaaaaather unweeeeell" Roswaal said while entering the kitchen with a stretched smile. He was also wearing a fluffy version of his clothes, with cotton fur all around the collar and sleeves.

"Well what do you think is the matter?! It's so fricking cold! Damn sudden temperature shifts!" Subaru yelled.

"Goodness. I never thought that you have a faaaaaaaaint heart. If you keep your mind and body in optimal condition, you'll find out that you can remain caaaaaalm no matter how cooooold it is" Roswaal said.

"It's not convincing when it's coming from someone that's dressed in so many layers of clothes as you! I'll devlope homicidal tendencies at this rate!" Subaru yelled, before Shaula took out a handkerchief and placed it in front of Subaru's nose, to which the latter blew his nose in.

"I seeeeee. Indeed we may be reaching our liiiiimit" Roswaal said with a slightly sympathetic gaze directed at Subaru.

"No way you just said that. Do you know more than you're letting on?" Subaru asked.

"Do you have a hard time handling the cold weather then?" Roswaal asked as he saw Subaru blowing his nose in the handkerchief that Shaula once again took out.

"I complain when it gets cold in the winter, and in the summer when it gets hot. Also when I'm sleepy in spring, and when the Matsutaki Mushrooms are expensive in the fall. Just like any other person you know?" He said before blowing his nose once again in Shaula's handkerchief.

"Curious about the outside?" Roswaal asked, making Subaru turn his face to him.

"Well, yeah. Of course I am. If it's snowy outside, I'm worried about the village's fields and how the villagers will clear it away when they return to the village from The Sanctuary" Subaru said.

"You don't have to woooorry about thaaaaaaat. Garfiel won't let anyone outside The Saaaaaanctuary anytime sooooooon. However you and Shadow-kun seem to be quite fond of the villagers, especially the kids, aaaaaaren't you?" Roswaal asked.

"Well, that's by chance. I don't like children to begin with because they're so impulsive due to their young age. But they love me so I don't have much of a choice" Subaru said.

"I see. I see. That's what you call a Tsundeeeeeere" Roswaal said.

"Ugh! My nose is killing me! *Sniffle* *Sniffle* Oh man! This sucks! *Sniffle*" Subaru said while blowing his nose in Shaula's handkerchief.

"Don't worry, Master! Shaula will take care of all of Master's sniffles! Yup~!" Shaula exclaimed.

"Well then, you can rest eaaaaaasy. This frigid cold isn't effecting the village. It's only ocurring around the maaaaansion" Roswaal said, before walking away and outside the kitchen.

"Wait a minute. How is that even possible?" Subaru asked in confusion.

"Well, we have two beeeeans that are taking care of that matter heeeere" Roswaal said.

"Huh...Wait...You don't mean..." Subaru trailed in his words, having realized something.

"It certainly isn't Blueberry or Raspberry. Foxy Sis can only use martial arts, and Edgelord seems to be too grumpy to be even caring, and I don't think that the Crybaby Merchant could do anything like that. Yup~" Shaula said.

"Well I guess that narrows it down then" Subaru said.

"Indeed it doooooes. So when it comes down to what's cauuuusing this, you don't need any further explanaaaaaaaation" Roswaal said with a smile.

---

A few minutes later

"Natsuki-san. Can you tell me what's going on? And why is snow falling in the middle of the Brimstone Period?"

"I suppose that we're about to find out about that, Otto"

"...It's really obvious, you know. I can sense the massive Mana burst from behind that door"

After confirming with Roswaal about the cause of the strange shift in temperature, every occupant of the mansion, including Shadow, but except for Beatrice decided to gather in front of the cause.

Emilia's room.

"Emilia-sama. I'm sooorry for the early disturbance. Do you have a moooooment to spaaaaare?" Roswaal called to Emilia.

"Roswaal?! H-Hold on! Just a minute, okay?!" Emilia's voice could be heard from behind the door, which in turn made Roswaal react by looking at Subaru.

"Gooooo ahead then" He said to the white haired boy, prompting him to extend his hand to the door knob, but the moment he touched it, he recoiled back.

"Whoa! What the hell?! It's freezing! Are you alright in there, Emilia-tan?!" Subaru asked in concern.

"Huh?! Subaru is here too?!" Emilia asked in shock from behind her door.

"Well yeah of course I'm here too, but that's not the point! Don't you have something else to say?!" Subaru asked out loud.

"Huh?! Well...Let's see. Ummm...Good morning" Emilia said.

"Hmm...What a good classic greeting that was..." Subaru said with a calm smile.

"...Are you serious?" Shadow asked with a comical scowl on his face.

"Well, never mind that! I'm opening the door! And if you happen to be changing, thank you!" Subaru called out as he marched and grabbed the door handle.

"Wait! Don't you mean to say 'Sorry'?!" Emilia asked, but the answer that she received was the door of her room opening.

And the moment it did, a blast of chilling wind erupted, as if there was a blizzard coming out of the room.

"What the hell is going on?! It's freezing! Hey, Otto! Come here and stand in front of me to protect me from that cold gust!" Subaru exclaimed.

"So I'm nothing but a meat shield to you?!" Otto yelled out comically.

"Y-You shouldn't enter someone's room without having their permission! You're being reeeeeaaally rude! I mean...I...Uh...Just...Just start over, okay?!" Emilia exclaimed, looking flustered while being in the middle of the mini blizzard that froze her entire room and covered everything in thin ice.

"Alright then. That would be Emilia's suggestion, but what does the Clown of an owner of a mansion such as this have to say?" Shadow asked with a comical cold expression.

"You may enter if you wiiiiish" Roswaal said.

"Alright. I'm entering. Shadow, help me out" Subaru said, which in turn caused Shadow to blink for a little bit before sighing out. He then extended out his palm and called out.

"Blaze Number: Thermo Pulse"

"?!"

Just then, the blizzard was rapidly replaced by a wave of intense heat, and the room instantly turned from a huge deep freezer to a massive, room-sized furnace.

"Now it's so hot! Can't you moderate?!" Subaru yelled at Shadow.

"Bite me" Shadow simply said.

"Emilia-tan! What's the reason of this ridiculously low temperature?!" Subaru called out.

"What do you mean?" Emilia asked while spreading her arms to her side, as if she was trying to hide something behind her.

"...It's really obvious that you're hiding something" Shadow muttered.

"Emilia-sama! What's this? What happened?!" Otto asked as well.

"It's okay, Lia. At this point, I don't that it will be possible to hide this anyway" Puck's voice could be heard from behind Emilia. Everyone looked at the direction of the sound, only to see Puck tied in what appeared like a mini-coffin with small chains, with his head being the only thing visible.

"Puck. You're not even giving my any help here. And I was that close to convincing them" Emilia said with an annoyed expression to Puck.

"Yeah no. It will take you a thousand years in order to barely trick any of us. Even someone like Otto would never fall for something as petty as this" Subaru noted.

"Why do you have to include me in as if I was some sort of an incompetent imbecile?!" Otto yelled out his frustration at Subaru's insult at him.

"I'm really sorry for causing all that trouble. Don't be upset with Lia and Betty because they're looking out for me" Puck said.

---

A few minutes later. Dining Hall

"Uhh...So I may have studied a lot about Spirits, but what's a Magic Release Period? Is it like mating season or something?"

"How rude of you, Subaru. Spirits don't have those anyway, and besides, I'm not an animal"

As Subaru asked this question while everyone was sitting in the still frozen dining hall, Puck answered it before licking his paw and using it to brush the fur on his head.

"...I have no idea how to respond to that" Subaru said.

"...Then don't" Shadow said in a sarcastic tone.

"The Magic Release Period is a phenomenon that occurs to those who have powerful Magic and large amounts of Mana. The strength of one's Magic depends on the nature of their Od, and that makes it highly restrictive" Rem explained.

"When you say 'Od', isn't that basically the term that is given to describe someone's soul? I know that it's connected to someone's Gate, so does that mean that it stores up the Mana inside the body in order to pass it through the Gate so that a mage can use Magic, correct?" Subaru asked.

"I'm surprised how you're so smart. Nevertheless, those are so simple things, so I can imagine that even a plankton minded individual like you Barusu could understand something like that" Ram stuttered out her words, as she was shivering from the cold, despite having an oversized pink blanket wrapped around her body, making her look like a walking balloon.

"You're so demanding today. Can't stand the cold huh?" Subaru asked.

"Ram refuses to be pitied by a disgusting individual like you. Just go and die like the imbecile you are" Ram spat out, still shivering.

"That escalated so quickly!" Subaru yelled.

"Heh...That's karma to you, Natsuki-san..." Otto said while also stuttering and shivering from the cold.

"Ugh...Betty guesses that this explanation is going nowhere with the two maids explaining it, I suppose. Anyways, That boy is right. The Od is the place where Mana is stored so that it passes it through the Gate in order to use Magic" Beatrice explained.

"And if someone's Od reaches its limit of Mana, the person is fooooorced to release all the Mana inside" Roswaal said.

"You're talking as if the person would explode, but doesn't the accumulation of Mana inside the body without being released would only cause Mana Poisoning?" Subaru asked.

"In some caaaaaases, yes. However, people with maaaaaaaaaaasive Mana quantities don't have to risk Maaaaaaana Poisoning. The Mana inside of them are so big to the poooooooint that it filters itself. Think of Mana as a plate of fooooooood. You must preserve it inside cooooooling temperatures so that it doesn't rot. However, people with lots of Mana don't have to wooooooorry about that, since the massive amounts of Mana inside of them fiiiiiiilters itself due to the maaaaaaaaasive amount of it. But people with average or low amounts of Mana do nooooooot have that option, so they're moooooooore exposed to the Mana Poisoning phenomenon. And on the other haaaaaaaand, people with overflowing Mana amounts have to releeeeeeeease the Mana inside of them on regular basis or else they might exploooooooode from the inside out" Roswaal explained.

"I see...Releasing the pent up Mana before your body explodes...That's like constipation" Subaru said, causing Beatrice to spit the tea in her mouth from his remark. She then placed her cup on the table and slammed her hands on it afterwards, glaring at Subaru.

"Choose better words, I suppose!" She yelled while pointing at Subaru.

"Huh. I think I get it now. So this frigid temperature is the result of Puck releasing excessive Mana" Subaru said.

"Yes. I'm reeeeeeeally sorry for all of this trouble" Emilia said while slightly bowing her head.

"Hey, Shadow. Do Demons have this kind of phenomenon too? Do they have Mana Poisoning and Magic Release Period?" Subaru asked, and upon mentioning the word 'Demons', everyone turned their sights towards Shadow, and even Roswaal's smile instantly vanished. Shadow just looked at everyone with a cold impassive expression for a few seconds in silence, before he spoke.

"Subaru. Before I answer this question, there is something that I forgot to mention to you" Shadow said.

"Huh?" Subaru raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Aside from Information Demons, there are three types of Demons that are not tied to neither the Expanse nor the Akashic Records. The Demons of Sharpness, or Sharpers, are the aggressive type, to the point where they almost always only approach others to attack. They are the most active, physically strongest, and most militant type of Demon. They describe the torture they inflict upon mortals as "a game". Sharpers all share varying degrees of bloodlust and sadism, but there is a very small random probability for a Sharper to be born less aggressive. Their auras make mortals want to fight and be more aggressive. The second type is the Demons of Gap, or Gappers. prefer to work alone and experiment with beings, weaponizing them. They are quite cunning and self-serving, but often behave calmly and majestically. They can see the particles of Chaos energy in every living or inanimate creature, and their primary goal is to release more Chaos energy into the world, in the form of various monsters. They are aware of their strength, and so they try to create deals with other Demons or threaten weaker ones to provide them with the necessary components for experiments. Their auras make mortals feel weak and dizzy, and sometimes want to vomit. The third type is the Demons of Wave, or Wavers for short. are the least aggressive type of Demon. However, they are the weakest physically and have a low spectrum of emotions. They are often in a meditative state, which is how they inhibit their absorbed souls. They have a fondness for water, and they are located in isolated water forests. Their auras have a relaxing and calming effect on mortals. Those three specific types are unbound by the laws of the Akashic Records, hence are not bound by the laws of the worlds they inhabit. Their anatomy is completely different, as while Information Demons are made out of pure imagination, Sharpers, Wavers and Gappers are made out of pure Seither, the corrupted version of Mana. The source of energy used to use Arcane Magic" Shadow said.

"Arcane Magic?" Subaru asked, curiosity sparking inside of him.

"Arcane Magic is the Magic used by Highests, or beings that you call Angels, however, unlike Angels that are made out of information in the same manner as Information Demons, Highests are angels made out of pure Seither, just like Sharpers, Gappers and Wavers. What makes Arcane Magic more different and unique is that the Magic of this world as we know it now is nothing but a diluted and weaker version of it, and unlike this world's Magic, Arcane Magic is special in the fact that it is more effective against elements that are ineffective against it" Shadow said.

"Huh? What does that mean, I wonder?" Beatrice asked, becoming interested in the topic.

"For example, a Fire spell of the Arcane Magic is not only effective against an element like ice, but is also effective against the original fire spell. You guys have seen it earlier. The Fire Number: Thermo Pulse is a Fire Arcane spell" Shadow said.

"Wait...So that means..." Subaru trailed, unable to complete his words upon the realization.

"Well, the cat's out of the bag already. Yes, I am a Highest, a Zero-Class Highest, a degree that is higher that all but the Elite degree" Shadow answered.

"So, Shadow-kun's an Angel?" Rem asked.

"Well...Yes...Something like that" Shadow answered.

However, that question did nothing to ease the tension around. It's expected, considering the fact that Shadow had just revealed that he was an unworldly existence that was similar to the Demon that they fought in the slums.

But help was already on the way.

"Hey guys! What's with the tension?! Shadow helped us to take down that thing back in the slums! If he really wanted to kill us all, then he would've done that a long time ago! Besides, he's helping us already in lots of ways!" Subaru yelled out.

"Yes! Rem believes in Shadow-kun, even if he already had the intent to kill us all!" Rem exclaimed.

"You're not helping Terios-san here at all, Rem-san..." Otto said with a nervous chuckle.

"I guess that we caaaaaaaan trust Shadow-kun. It's not like he meeeeeeeans any harm for us. He also protected that viiiiiilage of Irlam for so long, so we preeeeety much owe him a lot" Roswaal added.

"I guess I can trust Shadow too. After all, he promised to help Lia in the Royal Selection" Puck added.

"...If my sweet cute little sister Rem trusts Shads, then Ram can trust him too" Ram said with a blank expression, albeit she was still shivering from the frigid cold.

"I don't mind at all Shadow-sama. You also helped the people in the Sanctuary, so I thank you from the depths of my heart" Frederica said with a smile.

"See? That wasn't that hard!" Subaru exclaimed, before looking at Shadow, only to see him staring at him with wide eyes. He was completely taken aback by people accepting him. It's true that he didn't tell anyone back in the village about his origins, and not even Reinhard knows about this, but to be accepted just like that was really weird...But in a way it was satisfactory, as if a huge weight had been lifted off Shadow's shoulders.

"Well, to be honest with you, I already figured out that you weren't a Human to begin with. I mean, how could someone know lots of knowledge about Demons? Also, Natsumi and Reinhard also noted that out to me when you first introduced the Cathedral of Shadows and the Black Basement Forgery, so don't think about it too much, man. You're cool with us" Subaru said with a grin that flashed his teeth, before patting Shadow on his shoulder. For a few moments, Shadow simply looked at Subaru who was smiling at him, feeling a sense of warmth that overwhelmed him. He then looked at Rem to see her giving him the sweetest smile ever, and then at Otto, Emilia, Frederica and Puck, who were smiling gently at him. He looked at Ram, who, despite having a cold face most of the times, was flashing a small smile at him. He then looked at Beatrice, who still had a cold expression while staring at him, but the gleam of acceptance in her eyes told Shadow that she was also not against this, and finally, he looked at Roswaal, who still flashed his stretched clown smile, and honestly, he didn't mind it at all, but he was annoying at times.

Nevertheless, he was secretly happy for the sign of acceptance.

"...Thank you" He muttered underneath his breath.

"Huh? What was that?" Subaru asked, causing Shadow to revert his face into his cold scowl.

"...You have five seconds to get your hands off my shoulders or else I'll bite Otto's fingers off" Shadow said coldly.

"Why am I the one to have his fingers bit off for something that I didn't do?!" Otto yelled out comically.

"Okay! Then in that case, I shall never remove my hand!" Subaru exclaimed with a grin.

"You're simply throwing me to the wolves just like that?!" Otto yelled at Subaru.

"Anyways, you told us about Demons and Angels, but you didn't answer my question about whether or not Demons need to release the Mana inside of them" Subaru said, sitting on his chair.

"I was about to get to it actually. Information Demons don't use Seither unlike the three types mentioned before. They use Magatsuhi as their food, which is eventually converted to Mana for them to use Magic. However, the thing that all kinds of Demons share is that they don't need to release the Mana inside of them, because they have an infinite pool of Mana, and they don't need to do the normal Human activities like sleeping, eating or even breathing" Shadow answered.

"I see. So in a sense, Demons are way better and flexible than Spirits when it comes to Mana management" Subaru said.

"Don't you feel like that you've just insulted both me and Betty, Subaru?" Puck asked with a sweatdrop and a nervous chuckle.

"Anyways, that's really an extreme way to relieve being packed up. Does this happen to you very often?" Subaru asked Puck.

"Once or twice a year at most" Puck answered.

"Well, I don't complain about you releasing your Mana frequently, but I still don't understand why the weather became so intense all of a sudden" Subaru said while looking around the dining hall.

"At first, I just let out a little out at a time, but I had quite a bit more Mana stored up than I usually do, and no one said anything when it got cold so I thought, 'maybe I can get away with a little more? Yes! I definitely can! Good thing they're simple-minded!'. And here we are. Teehee~!" Puck finished his explanation before bonking his head playfully with his paw, and a comical star appeared above his head.

"What a sloppy job!" Subaru yelled, making Puck chuckle.

"For a Great Spirit like Puckie, This is something like a permanent plague to him as he can never truly get rid of it, in fact. For out of consideration of how cute and fluffy he is, you should stop overreacting like this-Uggghh" Beatrice was defending her brother, only for her nose to start becoming runny and she groaned as she sniffled cutely.

"See? You're sniffling too. And you have to be honest to me about the fact that you were creating a barrier around the floors of the mansion to seal the cold. Isn't that right?" Subaru asked before watching Beatrice blowing her nose in a handkerchief, before she casted her gaze sideways, with her nose being slightly red.

"Betty doesn't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about, in fact" She said, causing silence to scream in the room due to the fact that this was an obvious lie. After a few moments, Emilia broke the ice...Pun intended.

"You see...Puck and I are sorry for causing all this trouble. The Magic Release Period should be over soon. Right Puck?" Emilia said, before turning to Puck.

"Yes. It'll be over soon. Just give us two days and everything will return to normal" Puck answered.

"With the way things are going, you will soon find the frozen bodies of Ram, Otto and I rolling around the mansion" Subaru sarcastically said before turning to Emilia.

"Isn't the weather affecting you too, Emilia-tan? I wanna know so that I can see what you'll wear for winter" Subaru said to Emilia, causing her to poke her fingers together.

"Well...You see, I have a contract with Puck, so this Mana flux is affecting me differently. In short, despite the weather being so cold like this...I...feel completely fine" She said before slumping her head downwards in shame and embarrasment.

"...Don't you feel bad for your daughter figure, Kitty Kat? I think we should come up with a plan" Shadow said, and suddenly, Subaru gasped before standing up from his seat.

"Wait! That's it! We don't need to stay inside the mansion! Beako is containing the cold with her barrier! So if we all just stay out of the mansion until this whole thing blows over...!" Subaru trailed, having a dramatically shocked expression on his face while he was talking.

"Impressive as always, Master! Shaula supports your decision! Yup~!" Shaula exclaimed, her eyes glittering in admiration for Subaru.

"Besides, the weather is mild today! So if we can just-"

---

A few minutes later

"Doesn't seem like it'll be letting up soon, I suppose"

"W-What the actual fuck?!"

Subaru screamed at the top of his lungs upon seeing the weather outside.

It was raining...No, it was pouring, like Od Laguna had a bad day and decided to cry onto the world.

"I don't think we can camp out in this" Emilia noted.

"No! If we have a tent then-" Subaru was about to continue, but Roswaal suddenly cut him.

"Subaru-kun...Do you want meeeeee, the lord of the maaaaaaansion, to sleep outsiiiiiiide, in the middle of the raaaaaaaain?" Roswaal asked, his face was smiling, but judging by the dramatic lights around him, he was indeed angry with Subaru's suggestion.

But even that didn't seem to make Subaru stop talking.

"Well, maybe there's something you can do with your Magic, right? Like charging an extremely big fire ball, and blasting it at Puck to regulate his temperature or something?" Subaru asked, making exaggerated poses of shooting fire balls from his hands.

"That degree of control would be diiiiificult. One incorrect movement of my hand and the entire mansion would be engulfed in fiiiiiiire" Roswaal answered.

"Aw come on! Why does it feel like our choices are a flood from above us or a fire from below? Wait! That's it! A flood from above and a fire from below!" Subaru suddenly yelled, startling everyone.

"...Can you please stop shouting? My eardrums are this close to bleeding" Shadow said annoyingly while placing his pinky finger inside his ear.

"What are you saying?" Emilia asked in confusion.

"It's a riddle back in my hometown! And the answer is: A bath! In other words, the best way to beat the cold is...!" Subaru trailed dramatically.

"What is it? Tell me" Emilia asked with anticipation.

"It's to gather all the Fire Mana stones in the mansion and place it in the big bath. Then for the next two days we will have a hot spring session! What do you all say?!" Subaru exclaimed in a series of dramatic poses.

"Impressive as always, Master! You have my respect! Yup~!" Shaula exclaimed.

"Unfortunately, that will be impossible" Ram noted, with Shadow averting his face and placing a closed fist to his mouth, trying to block a laugh from escaping.

"What?! Why?!" Subaru asked in shock.

---

A few minutes later

"Is all of this...Mayonnaise?!"

Upon entering the big bath of the mansion, Subaru was shocked to see the large pool of the big bath being filled with frozen Mayonnaise.

"Yes! Rem was told by Shadow-kun that you love it so much, and I remember last time...Rem didn't make enough and Subaru-san was angry by it. Rem doesn't care that much about Subaru-san, but Shadow-kun told me not to upset you. So this time Rem used the big bath" Rem said before heading towards Shadow. Puppy ears and tail suddenly appeared magically at Rem's form before she bowed in anticipation.

"If Shadow-kun wishes to praise Rem, Rem doesn't mind!" She said, before Shadow patted her head with a grin.

"ARE YOU STUPID?!" Subaru yelled at Rem, which in turn made her gasp.

"You're right, Subaru-san! The Mayonnaise is frozen! Rem couldn't make her job right!" Rem exclaimed in shock and horror.

"No! That's not what I meant!" Subaru yelled.

"But worry not, Shadow-kun! I shall boil it into a nice warm Mayonnaise bath!" Rem exclaimed while looking at the frozen Mayonnaise pool.

"If you do that, you'll earn the wrath of every Mayo lover in the world!" Subaru yelled, before turning to the others. He saw Shadow trying to suppress his chuckles but was starting to fail in this. Otto was lying on the frozen ground, laughing his ass out while holding his sides, Ram and Beatrice were smirking mockingly at Subaru, Roswaal's smile was wavering and it was completely obvious that he also was trying to hold his laughter, and Emilia was staring in confusion at the situation in front of her.

"Stop laughing you guys!" Subaru yelled.

---

A few minutes later

"Goodness! It's still so cold, even net to the fire place!"

Subaru, Ram and Otto were sitting next to the fire place, but even then, it was still frigid cold.

"But if it wasn't for this, everyone would've been frozen solid. Wanna test it out?" Puck asked.

"Yeah! How about we DON'T do that?! Instead of slowly releasing your Mana over the next two days, can't you just unleash it in one massive blast and be done with it?!" Subaru asked the Great Spirit of Fire.

"In that case, does it mean that you're planning on giving me...The permission to destroy everything and everyone living in the world?" Puck asked, releasing the last few words in a menacing manner, with his cute face being formed to an evil smirk.

"That would be a No!" Subaru yelled, remembering the last time Puck was in his true form. It took Reinhard to completely obliterate him.

"I was just kidding! Teehee~!" Puck chuckled cutely.

"So I take it that this Magic Release Period thing happens to everyone, but with people with massive Mana amounts, right?" Shadow asked.

"Yes indeeeeeed. In my case, I use my Mana on a daily basis, which keeps it regulaaaaaated. My duties require that after aaaaaaaaall" Roswaal said, before looking at Ram, who averted her gaze to the side, a bright pink blush formed on her face. Subaru seemed to notice this and spoke out.

"Why would you look at Ram when you said that? Actually, never mind. I don't wanna know" Subaru said while sighing.

"I maintain the Forbidden Library and use my Door Crossing, I suppose. Oh right, and recently using Magic to smack away a certain noisy Human has been helping me, I suppose" Beatrice said while raising her head proudely.

"Yeah Yeah. Very cute" Subaru said sarcastically, which in turn made Beatrice pout cutely, puffing her cheeks.

"I believe that this ain't the case for both Rem and Emilia. No offense, of course" Shadow said.

"None taken, Shadow-kun. And yes, you're right. This phenomenon happens to people with high Mana reverses" Rem said.

"I'm not a strong Magic user either...Oh! But I've been exposed to Puck's Mana for as long as I remember. I'm sorry about that inconvenience" Emilia said bowing her head in shame and embarrassment.

"Emilia-tan is beating herself up over that" Subaru said before turning to Otto and Frederica.

"I'm the same as Rem-san and Emilia-sama. I have affinity for Earth Magic and can use the three tier spells of said affinity, but a single Al Dona takes my entire Mana supply" Otto said.

"I never used Magic. But I know that my affinity is Earth, same as Otto-sama. However, I only resort to martial arts and close combat" Frederica answered.

"Well, what about you, Puck? When was the last time you released a massive amount of Mana? For reference of course" Subaru asked the cat Spirit.

"Let's see...I think it was back then when Roswaal came to pick up Lia from Elior Forest. It's kinda embarrassing to say,, but I think I made a big fuss back then" Puck said while scratching the back of his head with his paw.

"Oh yeeeeeees. It was an exhilrating expeeeeeeeerience" Roswaal said.

"You came at me so suddenly, I was taken aback. Hehe" Puck said and giggled.

"It was reeeeeeally the first tiiiiiiime that I participated in such a laaaaaaaarge scale baaaaaaattle. At least I think so. Indeed, we spent a full day and night clashing in eaaaaaarnest" Roswaal said.

"So what exactly happened there, Emilia-tan?" Subaru asked.

"I heard that the maps of the world had to be redrawn after their battle" Emilia answered.

"Nope! Don't like that! Operation 'Betting friends against each other is hereby rejected!" Subaru yelled.

"Aww..." Puck pouted.

"Don't give me that! No changing the geography through fighting! Apologize to Inutaka!" Subaru yelled at the Spirit.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Tarataka!...Was that okay?" Puck sarcastically threw an apology to a person that he didn't know about and even said their name wrong.

---

30 minutes later

"Ooookay...I didn't expect that"

Shadow sweatdropped upon seeing Subaru, who made a crown and fire scepter out of Ice Magic, standing in front of the group of Irlam villagers that Shadow brought from The Sanctuary.

The story so far was as follows:

Shadow was helping Rem, Emilia and Subaru to gather wood for the fire place. After some back and forth talking, Subaru came with the idea of 'The Roswaal Mansion's First Wild And Crazy Snow Festival' through using the snow that came from Puck's Mana Release Period after the rain had subsided. And sure enough, the rain stopped and snow engulfed the entire mansion shortly afterwards, and was after half an hour of Subaru declaring his idea. However, apparently, Subaru wanted to have even more fun, so he decided to bring the villagers of Irlam here, which in turn required Shadow's assistance, considering the fact that for some unknown reason, Garfiel refused to let anyone outside the barrier surrounding The Sanctuary. So Shadow was necessary for his ability to teleport using Chaos Control to instantly teleport all the villagers in one full sweep to the village, then escort them to the mansion.

Subaru was in awe of how Shadow's teleportation ability had so much scale, but decided to focus on what he had in hand.

"The snow had enveloped the mansion and our hearts! White as pure as light and as far as the eye could see! But just as the dark is eventually replaced by light, the snow will eventually cease! Bid farewell to the frozen skies, and welcome our Out-of-Season Snow Festival! Now! Let's go to New York! Ready?!" Subaru roared out, being on a large step higher than the villagers to oversee and talk to them. In the crowd was Rem, Ram, Roswaal, Emilia, Otto, Frederica and Shadow. Emilia, Roswaal, Otto, Frederica and Rem were smiling while hearing Subaru speak, while Ram was simply staring with a bored expression on her face, and Shadow was leaning to a wall, watching while smoking his vape.

But upon hearing the word 'New York', the villagers were in confusion, not knowing what that term is.

"YEEEEEAAH!" But that didn't stop the children from cheering in excitement, despite not knowing what the term that Subaru spoke meant.

"We'll all go to New York no matter what it takes! Are you all excited?!" Subaru roared out, raising the scepter in his hands up high.

"YES!" This time, all the villagers called back to Subaru's question in excitement, raising their fists in the air.

"...Give me a break" Shadow groaned, taking another puff from his vape.

"But where is that place?" Mild asked.

"It's a city located in the country where Subaru and Shadow live" Petra answered.

"Subaru said it's swirling with loving desires!" Dine exclaimed happily.

"Yeah! Swirling!" Lucas yelled out with mucus coming out of his nose.

"The rules are simple! Each one of you will do their best into making the best and unique snow sculpture! And the winner will get an amazing prize!" Subaru exclaimed.

"Will we get to go to New York?" Mild asked.

"I'm sorry, but that can't happen at the moment. But I promise you that the prize of winning the festival will be as amazing as going to a trip there! Are you all ready?!" Subaru exclaimed.

"YEEEEAAAAH!" All the village roared in excitement.

"...I hate my life" Shadow muttered, releasing a puff of smoke from his mouth.

---

A few minutes later

"I never thought about the idea to make a Snow Festival here"

"Well, I figured out that if we can't hide it, might as well enjoy it, you know"

Emilia was amused about Subaru's idea, and to say that she was excited would be an understatement.

Subaru saw this as an opportunity to wind up, especially considering the fact that they already have lots of pressing matters in hand. The problems of Garfiel in The Sanctuary, the Witch Cult, and not to mention the war that Shadow said that will find itself three years from now hitting this world.

So letting out some stress would be fine, despite the fact that Subaru was told by Shadow that their training will be thrice as hard as the normal day.

"Hehe. I'll work hard to beat the band and make the best sculpture" Emilia exclaimed in excitement.

"Uhh...Nobody says 'Beat The Band' anymore, Emilia-tan" Subaru said with a sweatdrop, before looking around him to see all the villagers working in the snow to make their own snow sculpture. Subaru had already organized the judge team to rate each snow sculpture that everyone would create. The judges were Subaru himself, Roswaal, Shadow and Muraosa the vice chief of Irlam Village.

"Huh?" Subaru hummed in confusion upon realizing that someone was missing.

---

A few minutes later

"Ah! I found you! It's working out nice out there! I never could've done it without you adjusting the barrier range for us!"

"Honestly, all of that is a huge fuss, in fact. I could've expanded the barrier even further so that they could've their Festival in the village, I suppose"

Subaru, who saw that Beatrice didn't attend the Festival with them, found her in The Forbidden Library, and Beatrice, as usual, made a grumpy comment on how all of that was nothing but a huge nuisance to her, despite Subaru entering to thank her for her efforts to help him.

"That would've been disastrous for the village, let alone for my first date with Emilia-tan. It would've completely ruined the Flower Garden in the village, you know?" Subaru asked.

"Betty does know, and Betty doesn't care about it at all, in fact" Beatrice said, not even turning around to face Subaru, only giving him her back while they were talking together.

"Anyway, Beako. Don't you wanna come with us to join the fun? There's no need to be shy" Subaru asked of the loli Spirit.

"Betty is not shy, I suppose. She's too busy right now. Shoo Shoo" She said, waving her hand to dismiss Subaru. The white haired boy then had a mischievous smirk on his face as he approached the unaware Beatrice with a snowman head-shaped snowball.

"Aw come on. Everyone should play now and then. Especially children!" He exclaimed before placing the snowball on Beatrice's head, causing her to gasp and yell cutely from the chilling sensation of snow being placed on her head, and the next thing that happened was Beatrice releasing a shock wave that blew Subaru from the Forbidden Library and out of a window, causing him to land into the snow, right beside the children of the village, who immediately noticed him.

"Hey look! It's Subaru!" Dine exclaimed.

"Where did you come from?" Mild asked while smiling.

"Taste my powerful snowball!" Lucas exclaimed in excitement, before the children started throwing snowballs at Subaru.

"Man, you kids sure have a lot of energy even in this frigid weather..." He said with a nervous chuckle before standing up to his feet.

"However, you'll soon realize that the ones that are in danger from the snow...Are you" Subaru said those words in a dramatic fashion, right before a large snowball found itself being slammed into his head from above.

"Do you wanna have another one? There's a lot from where that came from" Puck said with a casual smile, creating another snowball out of Magic.

"Absolutely not!" Subaru yelled.

"Hey Subaru. Look at what I made" Petra said, showing Subaru a small cute rabbit made out of snow.

"Oh! It's a snow bunny! That's so cute Petra!" Subaru exclaimed.

"So, you think I did a good job?" Petra asked.

"Absolutely! Put why don't we decorate it? Check this out!" Subaru said before placing two red berries and two leaves on the snow bunny, giving it two red eyes and two ears made from leaves.

"Wow! Look at what you did! It's just like a real funny rabbit!" Petra said in delight while cuddling the snow bunny with her face.

"Just seeing you happy makes me so pumped up too! Alright then, how about we take this thing to the next level then?!" Subaru asked before taking the snow bunny from Petra, then making some adjustments on it. And while Petra tried to stop him, Subaru just kept on going on, adding a tail, a pair of wings, a cockpit, a missile launcher, and the wheels of a tank, and the result was a weird hybrid between a rabbit and a tank, something that, judging by Petra's cutely livid expression, was not appreciated at all by the little girl.

"How's that?! The Ultra Super Mecha Flying Weapon! Bu. NNy. Of. Snow-ACK!" Subaru kept on showing off, but was brought to a halt when Petra angrily threw a snowball at his face. She then walked angrily with the weird creation that Subaru created.

"Well, I guess Petra's into real robots than super ones..." Subaru said while wiping off the snow from both his face and head.

"You literally had to screw things up for a little kid, did you?" Shadow asked while marching towards Subaru with Otto by his side, and he was still smoking his vape.

"By the way, I heard that you have to put a special type of flavored oils in those things so that you have the flavors in it" Subaru said to Shadow, pointing to his vape.

"Yes. I placed the Pina Colada oil into it" Shadow said before taking another puff of his vape.

"Pina Colada? What's that if I may ask?" Otto asked.

"It's a mixture between rum, coconut milk and pineapple juice" Subaru answered, causing Otto to raise an eyebrow at those terms, before his eyes snapped open in realization.

"Oh! You mean coco milke and pineappa juice! But wow! What a mixture! It certainly seems exotic and different!" Otto remarked.

"...Pretty sure that would be beneficial more than these oil caskets that you have brought to the mansion" Shadow said, taking another puff of his vape.

"Please don't remind me. If it wasn't for Natsuki-san over here, I would've became a debt slave for Russell Fellow" Otto said.

"Well, from my own researches around the Capital, it seems that this Russell guy is the head of a secret organization called the Six Tongues" Shadow noted.

"The Six Tongues? What is that?" Subaru asked in confusion.

"I'm yet to know any significant information about it, but it seems that this organization is created by a person called Bordeux Zellgef, a councilman in the so-called Sage Council" Shadow said.

"For some reason, while I haven't met that Sage Council, I feel like I hate them already" Subaru said with an uncomfortable expression.

"Same here. They are really delusional. Either that, or they're just trying to play everyone" Shadow said, releasing another puff of white smoke from his mouth.

"Huh? What do you mean by this, Terios-san?" Otto asked.

"...All that I'll say is that this Royal Selection, as whole, is nothing but complete bullshit" Shadow said before turning tails and waking, leaving a shell shocked Subaru and Otto staring at his retreating form.

"N-Natsuki-san, do you think...?" Otto trailed in his speech, still shocked.

"Yeah...I think he realized it too...About the Dragon Blood..." Subaru muttered, before his eyes were lifted up upon noticing something, only to see Beatrice, with her cheek on her hand, looking from the window that she blew Subaru away at the sight of children and villagers playing with the snow.

"Honestly, he just can't help himself, I suppose" Beatrice boringly said, before Puck flew to her, his hands crossed under his furry chest.

"I think that Subaru just wants you to play with him, Betty" He said, gaining Beatrice's attention.

"Actually, I was kinda hoping you would do that too" He added, smiling at his little sister.

"Puckie..." She called his name, before looking at the sight in front of her.

Minutes later, Beatrice was seen walking towards Emilia, who was still happily working on her snow sculpture. Emilia noticed the loli Spirit and blinked at her.

"Beatrice?" She called her name.

"Puckie insisted that Betty should do that, I suppose. So Betty will be joining you for a while, in fact. You should be grateful, I suppose" Beatrice said, not looking at Emilia., causing the silver-haired Half-Elf to flash a smile.

"Just know that I don't plan to lose" She said to Beatrice.

With Subaru, he was walking beside Puck after departing from Shadow and Otto, where the latter stated that he had the idea of asking the former to tell him how to make the Pina Colada juice so that he can use it as a best seller item in his merchant business, or so he says.

Subaru just chuckled nervously at the thought. From deep within, he just wished good luck for the poor unlucky merchant. He literally deserves it for putting up with their persistent bullying towards him.

"Their sculptures really seem to be coming together" Puck noted, snapping Subaru from his thoughts.

"They are. Although I kinda admit that it's a letdown that they're all leaning more towards realism. Also, we need Shadow's opinion as a judge in this competition" Subaru said, before cringing upon looking at a certain sculpture, having seen a sense of Deja Vu flashing before his eyes.

"This one looks...Unique" Subaru said with his eyes twitching.

"I'm glad that you like it, Subaru. This Wolgram is my best art" A young villager with brown hair said while holding his shovel.

"Is that the kind of art that when it swallows you, you'll forget what work is?! Because that isn't funny! I like that it makes an impact, and I can tell that you put in lots of effort! But because you clearly chose the lack of consideration for your judge, I can only give it 7 points!" Subaru half-yelled.

Meanwhile, with Emilia and Beatrice, Emilia was using her hands too make her sculpture, but then she stopped upon seeing Beatrice using Wind Magic at her own sculpture.

"Hey! That's cheating! You know you shouldn't do that!" Emilia said to Beatrice.

"Betty doesn't remember seeing a rule stating that she can't, I suppose" Beatrice said.

"It's not allowed! No Magic allowed, alright? You should never cheat. You have to use your own hands to grasp victory" Emilia said, causing Beatrice to stop using Wind Magic, pout at Emilia for a second, and then then advanced towards her ice sculpture and started using her hands to shape it, which then made Emilia smile at her.

"Wow! Everything looks so beautiful!" Subaru exclaimed while patrolling the area with Puck.

"By the way, who are the judges of this competition?" Puck asked.

"Well, there's me, Shadow, Roswaal and Muraosa as our secret judge. I figured that if anyone knew who the judges are, some will start making under the table bribes and deals to win the prize" Subaru answered.

"Do you think someone will go that far?" Puck asked, causing Subaru to snap his fingers in a stylish manner.

"Of course. It's a top tier out-of-the-world item, and I'll be the one presenting it myself" Subaru answered.

"Wow. You're really going too far despite that not being your problem. You're really generous, aren't you?" Puck said to the white haired boy.

"Other than you, it's Emilia-tan who's dealing with the most, right? So of course I'm helping out" Subaru said.

"As far as I'm concerned, Subaru, that part of you is kinda...Y'know" Puck said with a wink.

"No, I don't know. You said a bunch of words, but none of them made any sense, at least to me only" Subaru said, before he saw Shadow walking towards them.

"Oh Shadow. What's up? Did you help Otto?" Subaru asked the black haired Highest, who just took a deep breath from his vape, before releasing a huge smoke cloud. The cloud then formed itself into Lugunican words, which said 'He was pathetic, but I helped him and he cried so much after tasting the Pina Colada drink'.

"Haha. I see" Subaru said with a nervous chuckle.

"Hey, Shadow-kun. Come and see this. Nee-sama and Rem made this sculpture together" Rem said calling to Shadow, which in turn also caught the attention of both Subaru and Puck.

"I didn't know that you two would be participating in this. I thought you were just helping out" Subaru said.

"No, Barusu. Our artistic sense have obviously attracted you to us both instinctively" Ram said with a proud smirk on her face.

"I'm not sure what to say about you treating me like a moth drawn to a flame, but show me. What kind of reason that made you participate in a freezing cold snow festival anyway, Ram?" Subaru asked.

"You expect Ram to rot in bed while Rem and the others are having an enjoyable time playing in the snow?" Ram asked with a scowl.

"...That's was one hell of a bitter response. But I suppose that this means that you didn't want to be left out, right?" Shadow asked with a calm expression on his face.

"Rem so wished to have fun with Nee-sama that I asked her to join me" Rem said.

"Don't you feel a little guilty for making your little sister beg like that?" Subaru asked.

"I admit that her love for me gives me some sort of a superiority complex. So go ahead and envy me" Ram said with a proud grin.

"...Weirdo Raspberry" Shadow said, before looking at the sculpture covered in a large piece of cloth that was next to the two Oni sisters.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Now presenting: Ram and Rem's finest work, displaying their hard work, artistic talent and sisterly love" Ram said with a proud grin.

"That's right! And with Nee-sama's great guidance, I produced the best work ever!" Rem exclaimed while puffing her chest in pride.

"...Did you just admit that your big sister didn't do anything?" Shadow asked with a sweatdrop.

"I think she just did" Subaru answered him.

"So, what did you call your sculpture?" Shadow asked.

"We named it: The Magnificent Statue of the Shadowaal!" Rem exclaimed.

"Goodness...I can tell where this is going" Subaru said.

"...I have a cringing bad feeling about this" Shadow said while holding his judge board.

And just like that, Rem pulled the cloth off the sculpture and when it was all finally off, Subaru and Shadow's eyes twitched like crazy upon seeing a hulking figure that looked like a perfect, but uncomfortable ice sculpture that presented Shadow with the clothes of Roswaal standing in front of them.

"Nee-sama wanted the sculpture to be of Roswaal-sama, but Rem wanted it to be of you, Shadow-kun" Rem said.

"After searching for a compromise, this was the solution we reached" Ram said.

"The only thing that you compromised is Shadow's happiness! Look at him!" Subaru yelled, and sure enough, Shadow was gritting his teeth in anger.

"Oya Oya~ Why are you all gathered heeeeere for? Is it some sort of a graaaaand event? And...This is...?" Roswaal, who have just arrived, have noticed the sculpture right in front of him, and simply froze, even his smile vanished and was replaced with a look of absolute confusion and slight discomfort.

"Roswaal-sama...Ram is so embarrassed, but please, take a look at what we have made" Ram said to Roswaal.

"Yes. We would love to hear your unbiased opinion. And please don't hold back" Rem followed with her words.

Subaru, Shadow and Roswaal simply stared in silence for a few seconds at this...Weird thing in front of them, before they started to speak of their judgement.

"Sorry, but...5 points" Subaru said raising an open palm with his five fingers.

"Same here...5 points" Shadow followed with the same manner.

"Out of 5, right?" Ram asked with a cheeky grin before pointing at Subaru and Shadow with her two pointer fingers.

"Out of 10! I'm just hoping that you'll get discovered in the future, that's all!" Subaru yelled,, and sure enough, Ram felt like lightning had struck her head straight, causing her to opt a mixture of shock and horror on her face as she took a few steps back.

"I-Impossible...! It can't be!" She gasped in shock.

"What about you Roswaal-sama?" Rem asked with slight hope, and Ram looked at her master, who just stared at them with a smile, raising both hands. For a second, Rem and Ram's eyes lighted up and they were about to cheer and celebrate, only for them to slump in defeat upon seeing that Roswaal rose only four fingers, indicating that his score to the work of the Oni sister was 4 points, which in turn caused Ram to dramatically fall to her knees to the snow with wide eyes,

"F-Four points...?" The thought echoed in the pink haired Oni maid.

"So 10 points is the max?" Puck asked.

"Yes, but there are four judges in total, so that makes the perfect score a total of 40 points" Subaru said.

"I do admit that the quality is sort of satisfaaaaactory. That being said, it just...Sends a shiver down my spine" Roswaal said, his entire head twitching while he said those words. This made Ram slam her fist into the soft snow.

"Ram knew that our concept wasn't wrong, but the Shads part of it ruined everything" Ram said while gritting her teeth.

"...I'm still right here, you know" Shadow grumbled his reply.

"No, Nee-sama! It doesn't make sense that a combination of our ideals could be wrong!" Rem said to her sister.

"Hey, Subaru" Emilia said walking towards the white haired boy.

"Oh. How's it going with you, Emilia-tan?" Subaru asked.

"My sculpture is almost done. Beatrice is also working hard too...Huh? What's this?" Emilia answered Subaru, before looking at the statue that Rem and Ram made.

"Please don't tell that you like this abomination. You will make Shadow have nightmares" Subaru said.

"...I won't sleep that night. Thank you very much for your concern.

"I don't know. It just...Has a weird sense to it" Emilia said.

"Hey Subaru! Shadow!"

"?!"

Both Subaru and Shadow turned around to see Mild, Lucas and Dine walk towards them, before they pulled them forward.

"We have made our sculpture too! Come and see it!" Lucas said, before they led the two to a rather deformed version of two statues made of snow featuring comical goofy versions of both Subaru and Shadow. Subaru was having his pose were he is pointing to the sky, while Shadow was seen holding his sword, but the facial expressions were completely blank, in a comical way though.

"I see. Not bad at all" Shadow said.

"Hey. Why don't you stand next to it?" Dine asked, causing both Subaru and Shadow to look at each other, before both of them stood beside their own statues, posing in the same manners as it did.

"Not bad, but the real Subaru had nasty eyes!" Mild said.

"Super nasty eyes!" Lucas exclaimed stretching his eyebrows.

"Let's fix it then!" Dine said before the kids moved to make adjustment to Subaru's statues, only to result in the head being cut off.

"Oh! Subaru's head was cut off!" Mild exclaimed.

"Decapitation! Hahahahaha!" Lucas said before laughing, and his two friends joined in as well, causing Subaru to opt a comical teary expression on his face.

"Hey! Death by decapitation is nothing to make fun of! That's serious!" Subaru yelled out with tears in his eyes. This scene was watched by both Puck and Emilia, who stared a little at it, before laughing their hearts out.

"Master! Look! Shaula has made her own ice statue!" Shaula, who arrived while holding a perfectly designed and ripped version of Subaru, who was naked, even showing everything, including his private parts.

"Shaula calls it: Master With His 12 Inches Knocker! Yup~!" Shaula exclaimed.

"What the hell is this?! It's detailing my entire body as if it's the real deal, but why is it naked?! Also, what kind of stupid embarrassing name that you came up with?!" Subaru yelled at the humanoid Mabeast, before a loud bang was heard, followed by Shaula's statue being blown to snow instantly, and then everyone turned to the source to see Shadow holding a gun with his eyes opened wide. His pupils were dilated and broken blood vessels could be seen engulfing his entire sclera area, as well as the fact that he was holding a white revolver gun pointed forward with smoke coming out of the muzzle.

"Sorry...But its sight...Irritated me to the point that I had to kill it" Shadow muttered behind his gritted teeth.

"That's also me, you know! You have just killed me!" Subaru yelled at the Highest.

And this caused Emilia, Puck and the children to laugh even more at the sight, while Shaula was tearing up in a comical manner, sobbing at the remains of her sculpture.

And the fun continued, the children, the grownups and everyone was either playing with the snow, makes sculptures or observing it. Everyone was laughing and even those who didn't laugh looked like they were having fun.

Shadow just looked silently at this view, having remembered something from back then...

"Hey Shadow..."

"Yes, Maria?"

"When we visit Earth one day, I want to make a snow man!"

"Snow man?"

"Yes. It's a big statue made of balls of snow! I heard it's really popular! Oh! And a snow angel too! It's were we bury ourselves in the snow and start waving our arms and legs on the surface! I can tell that it's so fun!"

"How exactly can you tell that something is fun when you haven't experienced it?"

"Shadow...It's all about feeling it. In anticipation for something, you just imagine yourself doing it. And that makes you eager even more to do it"

"I see...Though I still don't understand"

"Shadow..."

"Yes?"

"Let's make a pinky promise"

"Pinky promise? For what?"

"Let's promise each other that when we arrive at Earth...We go to make a snow man...You, me and grandpa"

"..."

"Well?"

"Heh...Very well. It's a promise then"

"Yay!"

Having remembered this memory, a tear unconsciously rolled down Shadow's cheek. Though no one noticed it due to being immersed in all the fun activities that they were having.

"Maria...I..."

As he started to speak in his mind, Shadow looked into the sky. The illusion of the face of a beautiful girl with sun kissed blonde hair and sky blue eyes appeared, smiling at him.

"I did it...I...Made a snow man"

Finally, a piece of Shadow's heart was glued back to its rightful place. It may be a small piece, but in time...Every piece will mend itself together.

He just have to be patient...That is all.

---

A few hours later. Inside the mansion

"Everyone! Thank you for your hard work! The Roswaal Mansion Snow Festival has turned to be a success! It's all thanks to you! When Puck's Magic Release Period come around again the next year, let's make another festival!"

As Subaru was making his cheers, everyone was having a glass of drinks in their hands. And while Roswaal and Ram had alcohol in their glasses, Rem, Subaru, Otto, Frederica, Shadow, Shaula and Emilia were having the Pina Colada, which was successfully made by Otto, supervised and taught to him by Shadow.

The results of the Snow Festival was Petra winning due to the Tank-Bunny hybrid that Subaru helped Petra creating, and the prize was Subaru's pack of corn potatoes, which Petra found extremely yummy as she ate on it alongside the other kids as they were returning to Irlam Village.

And now, the entire grounds of the mansion was covered in various snow sculptures and right now, inside the mansion, everyone was celebrating the success.

"And with that being said, Cheers!" Subaru exclaimed, raising his Pina Colada cup to the air, to which everyone responded by raising their cups and yelling 'Cheers!' as well.

The feast continued for the residence of the Mathers Mansion, as Ram burned through the alcohol storage like a pro, Emilia and Beatrice observed Puck taking a bath inside an alcohol cup with adorable smiles on their face, with Subaru watching. At the side, Otto, Rem and Frederica were discussing with Shadow about how amazing the taste of the Pina Colada drink was, and Shadow was telling Otto that making a partnership with Rom in order to gain more rum from him will make his profits as a merchant skyrocket, and in turn Otto hugged Shadow's leg like a beggar that found a goldmine in a trash can while crying like a big baby, much to Shadow's chargin. All the while Shaula was munching through the food lying in the large table, stuffing her face in a comical manner.

"You did great work today, Shadow-kun" Rem said to Shadow.

"Right back at you. You did great too, Rem. I will make sure to reward you extra" Shadow said, clanging his glass with Rem's.

"Oh you don't have to. I'll just gaze at your sleeping face a little longer from now on" Rem said with a sweet smile.

"Uhh...Did you say something creepy just now?" Shadow asked.

"Who me? I don't think I said anything of the sort" Rem said with the same sweet smile, before clanging her glass once again with Shadow's.

"Incidentally, Shadow-kun, Subaru-kun. What are your opinions about driiiiiiiiiiiinking allllllllllllcohol? Are you guys the type to turn red and say...'I don't want...To go home tonight...', or perhaps anooooooother reaction similar to thaaaaaaaat?" Roswaal asked both the white haired boy and the black haired Highest.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't have that much experience with alcohol. Besides, Shadow's Pina Colada drink is super delicious. You should try it out too, Ros-chi" Subaru said swaying his glass slightly.

"...It's not a big deal. I just made it because Otto was whining like a bitch. I think he said some weird things too. 'Please help me become a successful merchant', he said. 'I don't wanna die poor', he said. 'Please don't make me die as a virgin', he said..." Shadow kept on saying things, all while replicating Otto's voice.

"I'm pretty sure that I didn't say that last one!" Otto yelled at Shadow.

"Oh is that sooooo? Giving the personalities of both of you two made me think that you would pursuuuuuuuue such luuuuuuxuries to appear to be more coooooler" Roswaal hummed his words to Shadow and Subaru.

"Children shouldn't be drinking! If you do that it will reeeeeeeeeally stun your growth!" Emilia said to both Subaru and Shadow, lecturing them like a strict mother.

"Just so you know, I'm nowhere near young to drink according to your laws" Subaru said.

"...Same here. I just turned 100,054 last month" Shadow said taking a sip from his drink.

"See? Even Shadow is-Wait. What?" Subaru was speaking to Emilia, before realization struck him after his brain registered what Shadow said. Shadow then blinked upon seeing all eyes staring at him in shock and disbelief, even the emotionless Beatrice and the childlike Shaula was staring with wide eyes.

"What?" He asked coolly.

"Shaaaaaadow-kun. Did you just saaaaaaay that you're ooooooold to the point of predaaaaaaating even the Great Four Spiiiiiiirits, who are more than 1000 years ooooooold?" Roswaal asked, and while he was elongating his words, his face was still twitching.

"Uhh...Yes. Remember? I'm a Highest, an Arch-Angel. Even the youngest of my race are around 5000 years old by now. We're immortal beings. The concepts of Life and Death don't apply to us, we don't age and we can regenerate from conceptual destruction" Shadow said taking another sip from his glass.

"So, in other words...You can't die?" Subaru asked.

"With normal means and most supernatural means, yes" Shadow answered. But this made the tension even higher in the air. Seeing this, Subaru decided to cut the thread.

"Well, Emilia-tan. I would love tell you that I'm turning 18 this year, so I'll be a fully grown adult!" Subaru exclaimed with a grin.

"Well, I don't think that an adult would act so boisterous, but I didn't know that you were turning 18. I...Uh...Assumed that both of you and Shadow were a lot younger" Emilia said, having somehow caught on Subaru's intention.

"Oh really? How old did you think we were?" Shadow asked.

"Um...12? No! 13! 13!" Emilia said, but upon seeing Subaru and Shadow's annoyed faces, she decided to give them an additional year of age from her own assumptions.

"That would make us younger than Felt! More importantly, what about you, Emilia-tan?" Subaru complained, but then asked Emilia about her age.

"I can assure that I'm not 13. And that I'm old enough to drink" Emilia said with a somewhat proud smile.

"I never doubted it, and if you were 13, I'm pretty sure I'd be considered a criminal" Subaru said with a sweatdrop.

"Why would you say that?" Emilia asked in confusion.

"Well...Hehe...Because you're so adorable that I might make a crime whenever you're around" Subaru said with a slight blush.

"So what about the alcohol? Puck said that I'm not allowed any" Emilia said with a calm smile, completely changing the topic all of a sudden.

"You just straight up ignored me!" Subaru yelled, causing Shadow and Ram to flash mocking grins at him, much to his annoyance.

"Of course I said that! It's because drinking is what bad grownups do, and if I see any drinker approach Lia, I'll take 'em down! ATATATATATATATATATATATA!" Puck exclaimed before swinging his tiny paws in a rapid manner, punching the air with fast punching movements.

"That said, I don't seeeeeee a problem with an exception for toniiiiiiiight. See, it would be a shaaaaaaame if all of this well-aged aaaaaaaalcohol that I found in the ceeeeeeeellar would go to waaaaaaste" Roswaal said, pouring a glass of alcohol, before handing it to Emilia, who reluctantly took it from Roswaal's hand.

"...I have a bad feeling about this" Shadow muttered before taking a sip from his drink.

---

10 seconds later

"Mmmmmmm~ *chomp* *crunch* Whatshhhhhh the matter, Subaruuuuuu...? *hic* Why there are too many of you h-*hic*-ere? It's unfair!"

"Uhhh...Ahhh..."

As Subaru watched with wide eyes and rosy blushes, Emilia was swaying back and forth, left and right. It was only just one glass, and even that glass was only big enough for a few sips, but that was all that it took to turn Emilia into a complete drunk.

"All of those Subarus are hogging up the sceeeeeence!" Emilia exclaimed before throwing herself at Subaru, causing both of them to fall directly to the ground.

"Uhh...Emilia-tan. Stop it please, You've got crumbs on your...Uhh..." Subaru trailed in his speech, as he considered himself a gentleman to not tell her about the fact that she had crumbs all over her cleveage.

"Alcohol is so great~ It's not fair that you guys hid such a wonderful thing from me!" Emilia said to Subaru before grabbing him by the arm.

"Everybody has been hiding...Hiding...Hiding lots of things from me! Ehehehe! Haaaaa~" She said befoer giggling and falling to sleep, resting her head on Subaru's lap.

"AHHHHH! This girl is just so cute!" Subaru yelled, his mouth somehow shaped into a heart.

"Hmph. I knew that this would happen" Shadow muttered.

"Shadow-kun!" Shadow then turned to the side to see Rem staring at him with half-opened eyes, and judging by her flustered cheeks, she did indeed drink.

"Yes? What is it, Rem?" Shadow asked.

"*Chomp*! *Chomp*!" Rem then suddenly started biting on Shadow's right shoulder, but the black haired Highest didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest.

"Uhh...What was that for, Rem? Are you by chance a lightweight?" Shadow asked, causing Rem to raise her head up so suddenly to look at him.

"Don't you take me for a fool! Shadow-kun, Shadow-kun, Shadow-kun" She said.

"You said my name three times now. What's going on?" Shadow asked with a genuine confused expression.

"I'm normally very serious because my job demands it, but since today is about having fun, I let my guard down. Either way, this is aaaaaaaall your fault, Shadow-kuuuuuuun" Rem said, before then slumping and hugging Shadow's waist, as he was also sitting not far away from Subaru on the floor. The sight of Rem hugging his waist made Shadow unable to resist patting her head.

"*meow*...*meow*..." She purred while sleeping on Shadow's lap.

"...Are you cat now?" Shadow asked, before looking at Ram, Roswaal and Shaula. Otto was already so wasted to the point that Frederica had to carry him to his room, but it's been already so long, and he was really worried now.

Oh well, it's not like Otto can even restrain Frederica. She can splatter him into the wall, so he thought that there was nothing to worry about.

"From my own limited knowledge, I thought that Oni can hold their liquor due to their psychology" Subaru said.

"Well, obviously. You're right. After all, Ram has been drinking with the elders back in her village when she was very young" Ram said while pouring another glass, before starting to gulp it down.

"Is it me, or did you just admit to underage drinking? But then again, you don't seem to slurp on your words or even turning red from all the wine that you just chugged" Subaru said as Ram finished her glass in one bottoms up.

"Now don't be ridiculous. I have experience *burp*" Ram said before burping in a cute manner, causing Subaru to blink at this.

"Well, Subaru. If there's anything that we've learned tonight, it's that certain girls who don't know how to drink should keep it that way" Shadow said, taking a sip from his Pina Colada drink, preferring not to drink alcohol, especially after seeing Roswaal pouring some at Puck, who was lying inside a small cup as if it was a bathtub.

"Now that's a quite extreme proclaimaaaaaaation" Roswaal said.

"Excuse me. Sorry for being late" Everyone who was awake turned around to see Frederica, whose clothes were slightly messy. A shoulder strap was loose, revealing her bare left shoulder, which had some sort of a red mark on it. Her hair was also slightly messy, with her face having some weird marks all around it, and her li[s seemed to be smeered red from something unknown, as if she was hit so hard that her mouth bled, but her teeth seemed to be intact.

And of course, everyone caught on.

"Wow...Otto is already on the move...Can't blame him, though...The alcohol took a huge tool on him. He drank so much in one go. Although it's so worrisome that Shaula is drinking like a maniac, but she doesn't seem to be turning red anytime soon..." Subaru thought, seeing Shaula rapidly chugging glasses of alcohol one after the other without any sign of stopping.

"Uhh...Frederica. There is something on...Uhh..." Shadow trailed in his speech, pointing to his face while taking to Frederica, who in turn took a small mirror out from between her breasts, before looking at it. A second later, she gasped before blushing beat red. She then took out a handkerchief and started removing the stains around her mouth in a frantic manner. Roswaal and Ram were smirking calmly at this, and Puck was chuckling, while Shadow was calmly sipping on his drink and Subaru was cringing at the sight of Frederica trying to cover her crime.

"It's clearly obvious that they were this close to doing it..." Was the collective thought of the five occupants of the room. Subaru then blinked upon realizing that there was one person missing. He then looked at the direction of the balcony, only to see Beatrice staring at the window from outside the balcony.

"Huh...Beako is antisocial as ever" Subaru muttered, before looking at Shadow.

"Hey, Shadow. Mind helping me out here?" Subaru asked Shadow, who blinked at him.

"...Very well. It's not like I have anything else to do, but I have to somehow keep Rem occupied, you know" Shadow answered, pointing at the blue haired Oni maid clinging to his waist.

"Oh. Okay. Hey, Emilia-tan. Can you take care of Rem for me while Shadow and I go fetch Beako?" Subaru asked the drunken Emilia, who swayly stood up.

"Oooookaaaay~...C'mere, Reeeeeem~Ehehehehehe~" Emilia moaned out her words before fetching Rem in her arms. She hugged her so close that their chest squished against each other, and Emilia started cuddling Rem's face with her own. It was a breathtaking scene that made even Shadow blush slightly.

"Ahahahahahaha~ You're sooooooo cute, Rem~" Emilia mused while cuddling the still sleepy Rem.

"I...I wanna take a picture" Subaru muttered.

"I'm burning it into my eyelids as we speak" Ram exclaimed with a comical grin and a comical spark in her eyes could be seen.

A few moments later, both Shadow and Subaru were walking to the balcony, their cups in their hands, and a third cup was in Subaru's other hand, which was for Beatrice, who looked at both of them arriving towards her for a second, before shifting her gaze back to staring at the night sky.

"Are you gonna stand the whole time all by yourself? If you keep on being alone, You won't ant to do anything" Subaru said.

"That was an unjustified slander, I suppose. And none of your business, either" Beatrice shot back, not looking at both males.

"Don't say that. Here. Have a drink" Subaru said, handing Beatrice her drink, to which she reluctantly took with a puff of her cheeks.

"And don't worry. It's not alcohol. It's fresh delicious Pina Colada" Shadow pointed out, causing Beatrice to yank the glass of Pina Colada forcefully from Subaru's hand.

"Do not treaty Betty like a child, I suppose. Other than Puckie, Betty is the eldest one in this mansion, in fact" Beatrice said.

"Oh! Check that out! Emilia-tan and Rem are wrapped around each other even more than before!" Subaru exclaimed while looking at the other direction, which caused Beatrice to growl angrily at him.

"You're being unbelievably rude right now, I suppose!" Beatrice yelled out.

"Wait! You've got it all wrong! Those two are getting cozy way in a way that would make any guy happy! And it's not that they've soiled my heart or anything, but damn I wanna a camera!" Subaru exclaimed, steam literally coming out from his nostrils in a comical way.

"That wasn't persuasive in the slightest, I suppose!" Beatrice yelled back.

"...Don't you have a camera in your cellphone? And aside from that, are you a freaking imbecile?"

"My thoughts exactly, in fact!" Beatrice yelled her agreement on Shadow's acussement against the white haired boy.

"Anyways, I don't know, I don't wanna know how old you are, but judging by your appearance, I can't just bear giving you alcohol. Nevertheless, we can still toast. Here. Cheers" Subaru said, moving his cup towards Beatrice's, but she didn't hit it as intended. She just growled cutely, which in turn forced Subaru to clang his glass with her own, before he and Shadow leaned on the balcony, drinking their cups of Pina Colada and enjoying the sweet taste of coconut milk, pineapple and rum inside their mouths. Beatrice then soon followed their example, holding her cup with her petite hands before starting to cutely sip on her drink.

"Huh...Stars..." Shadow muttered while directing his gaze to the sky.

"Yeah...It's crazy and cool how many stars you can see from here. Well then, since you don't have anything else to do you two, allow me to tell you something about stars. Every star has its own unique name and its own unique story. For example, this is the North Star. If you ever got lost, you can just follow it and it will lead you home. Well, it only points to the north anyways" Subaru explained while pointing at a large star in the sky.

"...Subaru. That's south" Shadow said sipping on his drink.

"You're backwards, I suppose" Beatrice added her two cents, which in turn caused Subaru to gasp before pointing at an M-shaped constellation.

"W-Well, this M-shaped constellation is called Cassiopeia!" Subaru exclaimed, trying to hide his anxiety.

"Betty doesn't know what an M is, so it doesn't look like any shape to me" Beatrice said while raising an eyebrow in confusion. At that time, Ram, holding Rem on her back, and Frederica, supporting Emilia by placing the latter's arm around her shoulder, entered the balcony, with Shaula tailing them.

"What are you doing now, Barusu?" Ram asked.

"Pardon our intrusion" Frederica said.

"Hey hey~ Are ya telling secrets? Tell us already, Subaru and Shadow~" Emilia moaned, still drunk to the bone.

"Shadow-kun. Shadow-kun. Shadow-kun" Rem muttered Shadow's name three times again under her breath.

"Master Master! Tell Shaula where is her own star!" Shaula called out in her usually chirpy manner.

"Hey, girls. I was just telling Beako about some of the stars in the night sky" Subaru answered.

"The shiny stars~!" Emilia moaned out before raising her fist up in the air.

"Shadow-kun. Shadow-kun. Shadow-kun" Rem muttered Shadow's name three times for the third time this day.

"Well then, the challenge that you've all been waiting for...It's time for us...To look for Subaru..." Subaru said with a rather cool expression, which in turn caused Ram and Beatrice to look at him with looks of comical disdain, Frederica smiled nervously, Shaula cheered like a kid, and Shadow simply kept on taking sips from his drink.

"Wait Wait! Why are you looking at me like that?! It's true that Subaru is my name, but I'm named after a star constellation!" Subaru exclaimed with an embarrassed blush.

"How cruel of your parents to give you the name of brilliant stars that you could never live up to, I suppose" Beatrice said, her head hung down low in disappointment.

"Forever doomed to be compared to their great majesty, yet you don't shine. It's rather sad" Ram said with a disappointed face as well, which in turn caused Frederica to swaetdrop at this.

"Why do you two have to gang up at me like this?!" Subaru yelled.

"Subaru. It's the Japanese definition of Pleiades. Pleiades is a word in Greek language that means Messier 45, or The Seven Sisters, hence the star cluster of seven stars. Starting from the eldest sister to the youngest, there is Maia, Alcyone, Merope, Asterope, Calaeno, Taygete, and Electra. Maia is the eldest sister and stands apart, famed for her beauty and solitary life. They lie in a large constellation called Taurus, one of the infamous Zodiac Signs" Shadow muttered out his explanation as he took a sip of his drink right after finishing the explanation.

"Ram doesn't understand some of the words that Shads said, but the talk about those Seven Sisters does sound a little amusing to Ram. Not bad, Shads" Ram said.

"Betty seconds that, in fact. It's better than thee white haired boy's rambling, I suppose" Beatrice said with a nod.

"You two are so mean!" Subaru yelled in a comical manner. And just then, Puck came while floating inside the cup that he was bathing in with alcohol.

"Don't worry Subaru. Stars are a symbol of hope, so that means that it's not too early to give up" Puck said.

"Thanks for the...I...Really don't know whether that was an encouragement or you're also making fun of me, but thanks anyways" Subaru said with a slump of his shoulders.

And just then, small glowing balls started surrounding the mansion and the night sky, causing Emilia to open her eyes and look at them.

"Oh! Look! There's so many Snow Spirits!" She exclaimed while looking at the night sky, causing everyone present in the balcony to look as well.

"Wow. That's incredible" Subaru muttered, amused at the sight of so many Snow Spirits engulfing the night sky, and even Beatrice and Shadow were staring in silent awe at the beautiful sight. Subaru then noticed Beatrice looking mesmerized, which in turn made him smile before opening his mouth to speak.

"Well what do you think? The Snow Festival was fun, wasn't it?" He asked her, which in turn caused her to look at him with a silent scowl, before averting her gaze to the balcony, not answering him and with the scowl still on her face. However, even someone as cold as Beatrice was completely captured by the beautiful sight of the Snow Spirits dancing and shining in the beautiful curtain of stars surrounding the world.

"Well...It wasn't bad. Betty will give you that, I suppose" She answered, causing Subaru and Puck to smile at this. Puck then drank the last of the alcohol inside the cup he was sitting in, placed the cup aside, and then started charging Mana inside his petite kitty body.

"Alright then! Then I'll use the last bit of my extra Mana to share the snow with all the people who are living in the Capital!" The Cat Spirit exclaimed, before charging a massive ball of snow. The ball then burst upwards to a giant beam of snow that erupted into a massive curtain of snow that engulfed the entire sky around the country, and soon enough, snow started to fall on the entire Capital of Lugunica. People from all around the areas of the Capital stared in awe at the snow, even the approaching danger stared at the snow for a while in admiration, before the kid with dark brown hair and jagged teeth licked his lips in anticipation at the sight.

After a while, Beatrice exited the balcony, leaving everyone else outside, which in turn made her come face to face with Roswaal.

"What's this? So have you finally had enooooough with your little prisk with Subaru-kun?" Roswaal asked while still seated next to his glass of alcohol.

"You shouldn't tease anybody in that outfit, in fact. Betty doesn't find it funny in the least, I suppose" Beatrice answered while walking away.

"Goooodness. You can't be hooooonest, can you?" Roswaal mused, and just before Beatrice's hand was about to touch the doorknob, Roswaal shook a glass of alcohol that had a few cubes of ice in it. But Beatrice didn't even turn around.

"This is for you. Not having a siiiiiingle drop on such a magniiiiiificent night would be a criiiiiime. Or are you still staying faiiiiithful to his woooooords?" Roswaal mused once again.

"Don't get it wrong, in fact. Betty is just passing on that opportunity, but not because of that boy's request, I suppose. Long ago, Betty's Mother discouraged her from doing so, and that's all, I suppose" Beatrice said before turning her head slightly to look at Subaru, who was happily taking with the others while watching the snow fall from the balcony.

"What that boy said had nothing to do with Betty, I suppose" She said.

And so, the night went on. The happy event is over. However, our heroes must enjoy every single second of it, because unknown to them, danger will soon place its claws on their lives, completely flipping it upside down.

---

The next day. Daytime

"Puck. I was just thinking. Maybe we should have asked for Subaru and Shadow's help from the beginning. That way, we wouldn't have to feel all anxious about it"

"Yeah. You got a point, Lia. Although, it wouldn't have been good if they both turned out to be some people that always rely on others for everything. Then again, I don't think that that's the case right now. I've seen more than enough to say that they're not and will never be like that"

Puck and Emilia were talking about their issues and about the fact that they should've came clean with both Subaru and Shadow about Puck's Magic Release Period.

As this talk was made, it is clear that the snow around the mansion have almost melted completely, giving way to the grass and flowers to bloom and grow once again.

And that gave way for the main event of today: Subaru and Emilia's First Date.

"Hey. You remember what Subaru said on the toast last night?" Emilia asked as she was brushing her hair.

"That we should make another Snow Festival in the next year's Magic Release Period? Normally I wouldn't assume that I'll be interested, but knowing him, I think that he will make things next year even more lively" Puck said.

"Me too. I feel like this side of him is just so...You know" Emilia said.

"Indeed it is. I feel like it's extremely 'You know' as well" Puck exclaimed while crossing his bows around his furry chest.

"Next year, huh? I wonder what will happen that far into the future. I wonder how it will be" Emilia said, having finished brushing her hair.

"At this point, I hope that it will turn out okay for you, Lia. Even if the Snow Festival that he talked about won't take place as he is planning.

"You're not against the idea, aren't you?" Emilia asked.

"No. Not at all. In fact, I enjoyed it, but I wonder if Subaru will still be happy with you until next year comes around. You know, The runes binding him courtesy of the Witch, all of these scars on his body are the result of your indirect actions. It's not that you will forget that, but it's just important for you to remember that. That said, I can't wait for the next Snow Festival to come, considering the fact that if this happens, I'll be able to freely release the additional Mana that I have stored, since I never had anything big to release it on before, and I can't think of anyones other than Subaru and Shadow to help make something as dire as that appear as fun" Puck said to Emilia, whose lips were pursed closed for a while, before their shot up to a bright smile.

"Yeah...You're right. I'm hoping that happens again as well, Puck" Emilia said, to which Puck gave a sympathatic smile to her.

"Even then, the fact that Shadow was an ungodly being, or an Arch-Angel, or a Highest as he called it kinda shocked me. I mean, I couldn't even read his mind or emotions even when he was sleeping, but I think that it's safe to say that he's on our side. I don't want another version of Reinhard Van Astrea rooming around the world with the intent to destroy everything. So I'm glad that Shadow looks like a good guy" Puck said.

"Mmhmm. I'm also glad that I got to be friends with unique people like Subaru and Shadow" Emilia said, before noticing Puck's said smile.

"Huh? Is something the matter?" She asked in confusion.

"Huh? No! None at all. Anyways, it appears that it will be hot today, so take care" Puck said while waving his tiny paw at his contractor and daughter figure.

"Will do! See you later!" Emilia said before leaving her room and walking to exit the mansion.

Outside the mansion, an anxious Subaru, who was holding a picnic basket in his hands, was standing nervously, fidgeting on his blazer in anticipation for his first date with his crush. He then smiled in a goofy manner upon seeing Emilia approaching him.

"Were you waiting for long?" Emilia asked.

"N-No. I just got here" Subaru stuttered his words while blushing nervously, as in front of him was a beautiful angel with a beautiful white dress, and a radiant smile that brought the combined light of both the sun and the moon to shame.

Basking in Emilia's beauty for a few seconds, Subaru's goofy smile turned into that of confidence and resolve, intending on making this day the best day ever in their lives.

"Well then. Shall we get going?" He asked of his date, resolve steeled to move forward.

And his answer? A nod with a beautiful smile from one of the most beautiful beings in the whole world, before they started marching outside the mansion to head to the flower bed behind the village of Irlam.

From one of the rooftops of the mansion, Shadow watched while smoking puffs of his vape, and he had a small smile on his face while seeing the scenery in front of him. His smile then soon turned to a serious blank stare as he remembered what the future will have for all of them.

"You better enjoy these calm peaceful days to their maximum, everyone...Because what will happen next in the future...Will bask this future in either roses...Or blood..."

As Shadow had those lingering thoughts clinging and ringing inside of his mind, he released a puff of smoke from his mouth, before looking at the sky.

"I wonder...What will tomorrow be hiding for all of us...?"

---

And Done!

Alright! Finished this chapter! But sorry for all the delay, guys! This chapter marks the end of Arc 1. Next chapter will be the beginning of Arc 2, so hold on your seats.

Okay. Now an important IRL matter to speak of.

Tomorrow, I'll be joining the army, meaning that I won't have much time to update my stories, but there will be vacations in between my whole 1 year of service in the army, and I shall be finishing my army service in 1/9/2023. And I promise you all that I shall finish my two stories, and who knows, maybe I'll get even more ideas while I'm in the army, so look forward to it!

And as always, please like and comment on my story. Your encouragement that comes from your comments on my story is giving me the will and determination to move forward. And thank you for reading!

Next Chapter: Returning To The Capital

Until Next Time And Next Chapter!

Jude Warble, Out.