Author's Note: I do not own Re: Zero. This fan fiction is a non-profitable work. I make no money out of it. I am just writing this for fun.
And Subaru won't have Return by Death in this fanfic.
Hope you guys enjoy it.
"Dialogues are shown like this" and 'thoughts like this'.
Chapter-10
Subaru was shocked when he saw the person who commissioned Felt to steal Emilia's insignia. After all, he traveled with this busty lady just this morning. Can there be such a freaky coincidence?
Elsa also noticed Subaru. She gave a wide grin and said "Ara~, it seems that we have Pervert-kun and his partner as guests here. Why is it I wonder?"
Listening to his nickname Subaru shouted indignantly "Hey, it isn't nice to throw dirt on someone who you just met once."
"Ara ara, there is no need to hide. I noticed you staring at my breasts this morning."
Seeing that his gig is up, Subaru did the thing every gentleman would do in this kind of situation. He bowed and banged his head on the table and apologized "I am truly sorry. What I did is beyond my … control?" Subaru sounded hesitant at the end of his sentence.
"Fufufu, it is okay. It is a natural reaction for a boy of your age to react like that. I don't mind knowing you more personally." Elsa said with a wide grin.
Subaru blushed at this and wanted to reply. But he stopped himself from doing so when he noticed the ice-cold glare Emilia was giving him.
"So, do you two know each other?" asked Felt who was watching them conversing from the side.
Subaru, feeling that the situation won't be good if Emilia thought they both know each other, hurriedly explained "No, we are complete strangers. We both coincidentally traveled to the capital in the same cart. That's it."
Emilia seemed to be satisfied with this answer.
"So you are ogling at the body of a complete stranger you just saw. Ewww, pervert." Said Felt while looking at him with unconcealed disgust.
"Hey, I was not ogling at her. I just took a few subconscious glances from the effect of teenage hormones, that's it." Said Subaru in an effort to keep the last remaining scraps of his dignity, which is denied by Rom as he said "I feel like you said the same thing but with different wording."
"That is not the same at all. Besides, don't we have something important to do other than discussing how perverted I am?" Subaru said in an effort to divert the topic.
"I was also meaning to ask the same thing. I didn't expect there to be so many people during our deal. Care to explain?" asked Elsa without her expression faltering.
Felt pointed at Subaru and Emilia "These two are your competition and Old Rom is here to make sure that you won't try anything funny."
Elsa just gave a smile and turned towards Subaru and Emilia (who is still in her anti-recognition robe) and said "So you two are in the same business as me, huh?"
"Being in the same business as me means they are unemployed." Subaru said unabashedly.
At this Old man Rom started laughing only to receive a blank stare from Felt. "What? I found it funny." Grumbled Old man Rom.
"Anyhow, the insignia goes to the person who bids the highest. This is a dirty job and there is no such thing as first come first serve." Saying this, Felt took a seat at the table where Rom, Emilia, and Subaru are sitting.
"I don't mind." Elsa took a seat beside Subaru while saying this.
"You don't mind me sitting here, do you? After all, we sat even closer this morning." Elsa leaned into his ear while saying this and traced his guts with her finger. 'No, now is not the time. Just a few more minutes and I can do as I please with them.'
Subaru blushed at her intimacy and stuttered a reply "N-n-no, I don't mind. Please sit where you feel comfortable."
"Fufufu, now let us get to negotiations, shall we? I offered ten holy gold coins for this previously. I wonder how much Pervert-Kun and his companion offer for this insignia." Said while she finally put some distance between herself and Subaru.
Subaru gave a smug expression and said "Competing with me in money? For me, any problem that can be solved by money is not a problem at all. Hahaha." Saying this Subaru put a bar of Sacred gold on the table.
"Huh, even though it is a bar of gold, I don't think it would be higher than 10 holy gold coins. You need to offer more gold to win this, Big bro." said Felt while she is eyeing the bar of gold. Even though Felt can't see the see value of that gold bar, it is not the case with Old man Rom. "That's not it Felt-chan-" he took the gold bar in his handed and inspected it. Then he gasped and put the gold bar down with shaky hands "It is not normal gold. It is sacred gold. If you sold it to some magicians, its price can go as high as forty holy gold coins."
Felt gasped and immediately stood up "Big bro, you are offering this complete bar for insignia?" asked Felt with glowing eyes.
"Yep." Subaru kept it short. If it is not sufficient he can just take another and then another.
Felt then turned towards Elsa and asked "So miss, how much do you offer in exchange?"
Elsa then took a small bag and emptied the holy gold coins in it on the table. "This is all I have." She said without a change in her expression.
Old Man Rom counted the amount and said "Twenty in total. Sorry miss, but the deal goes to the kid here. If you don't have anything more to say pack your things and get out of here."
"Yahooooo!" Subaru got out of his seat and celebrated. In return, he got weird looks from the people sitting around the table.
"What? There is nothing wrong with a little celebration." Saying this he turned to Elsa and started "By the way miss ….?"
"Elsa, you can call me Elsa."
"Miss Elsa, you won't get into any trouble for not securing this insignia, would you?" Inquired Subaru.
"It can't be helped. It is my client's fault for not providing sufficient funds." Elsa said like it was not her problem.
Listening to this Emilia's ears perked up "Client? So you are also hired by someone to steal the insignia. Can you tell me who is your client, Elsa-san?"
"Sorry, but that is a business secret." Replied Elsa.
"Pleaaase Elsa-san. It was very important to me to find the culprit behind this." Emilia pressed forward without relenting.
"Oh, I don't understand why it is so important to you." Said Elsa with a smile.
At this Emilia sighed and slowly removed her Anti-recognition robe. Felt gasped when she saw her "So it is you?" She then turned towards Subaru and said with hurt in her voice "So you played me for a fool huh? You must be laughing inwardly."
"You are wrong Felt, I genuinely wanted to trade the gold bar for insignia. You stole it because you want to have a good life for Rom and yourself, didn't you? I don't want to take that happy life from you. So even though we can fight for it, we offered trade." Subaru said these words from his heart.
Looking into the eyes of Subaru, Felt can feel his sincerity, so she gritted her teeth and replied "Fine, as long as I get that Sacred gold, I will forgive you."
"Sure, I can even give you head pats as compensation." Said Subaru relieved.
"Who wants your head pats, hmph" Felt turned away in embarrassment.
"Ara~ ara~, it is nice to see you both banter. But aren't you forgetting me here?" Came a sultry voice.
"We are sorry Elsa-chan, but can you please tell us who told you to steal Emilia-tan's insignia? As you can see she is the original owner and she wants to know who is targeting her." Subaru started urging Elsa for information.
"Fufufufufufu" Elsa was just chuckling without answering.
"What is so funny about it?" Asked the perplexed Emilia.
"It is funny alright. What use do you have for my client's name when you all are dying here?" replied Elsa with a sadistic grin forming on her face. There is pin-drop silence in the loot house.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY WE ALL ARE DYING HERE? ARE YOU KIDDING US?" It was Felt who broke the silence.
Elsa turned towards Felt and said "Of course, even though I didn't pay for insignia, I can just take it from your dead bodies. And now even the owner is here, it just shows how pathetic you are at your job. What more did I expect from a slumdog?"
"Y-y-you.. you.." Felt took some breaths and said through her gritted teeth "You didn't plan to let anyone live from the beginning, did you?"
"Bingo! But sadly there is no prize for guessing that right."
"YOU BITCH!" Felt activated her divine protection and rushed Elsa. She delivered slash after slash only for them to miss completely.
"Oh my, you are loved by the world. I am very jealous." Saying this Elsa took a kukri knife from nowhere.
"But that doesn't help you." She directly slashed toward Felt's guts. Felt saw Elsa's blade inching towards hers in slow motion, but she isn't able to respond fast enough. She can hear Old Man Rom screaming in the background. 'So this is it.' She thought, resigning herself to death. But she found herself in a warm embrace.
*-CLANG-*
There is the sound of a knife hitting a metal block. She opened her eyes to see that she was saved by Subaru, whose face was getting slowly covered in silver starting from his neck.
"Big bro.." She said with tears in her eyes.
"No need to be afraid. As long as I am here, everyone walks out of here alive." He put her down and continued "Go to safety."
She did as she was told. By this time Subaru completely activated his silver skin. Even his hair turned silver and is flowing in the air wildly. He then turned his piercing silver eyes to Elsa and said "You were serious about killing us."
"Yes, I am. After all, I want to see those guts of yours." She licked her blade saying his.
"The only thing that would be visible today are the broken bones of yours." He got into the stance saying this.
"Oh, this is going to be interesting." Elsa also got into stance saying this.
"Elsa Granhiert, the bowel hunter."Elsa introduced herself.
"That is a pretty ominous title. Natsuki Subaru, remember the name of the person who teaches you to value every life." Even though Subaru said this, he can see that Elsa is going to be a problem. He can't find any openings in her defense. It may due to his inexperience in fighting, but still, it will be very hard to restrict her without killing her.
Author's Note: Sorry guys for the late update. This has been a pretty hectic month with all projects and semester exams. But you can expect regular updates from now on.
