The Aftermath

The mood was complex, they just killed Elsa, the bowel hunter. It was a mix of happiness, surprise, and mixed feelings towards the three outsiders. They weren't particularly dangerous, but…

Felt " Uhh, Emilia? I want to give this back to you…"

Felt took out the insignia and motion for Emilia to take it. However-

Emilia " Hold on, the insignia's glowing! Reinhard! Come and take a look at this!"

Felt " Huh? IT'S FUCKING NOT-"

Reinhard " It is! Hold up Felt!"

While Reinhard interrogated Felt, Yasuda went to investigate the broken black gem.

Yasuda " Hmm… Dull on the outside and shiny inside."

Yasuda " Puck! Can you come here for a minute?"

Puck " Sure, what for- Oh that."

Puck seemed displeased with the mention of the black gem.

Puck " I can already tell, it's a Onyx mana crystal. It's also disguised to be fake."

Yasuda " You look displeased…"

Puck " Of course I am! Elsa was probably planning to use it for a spell that would destroy everyone!"

Puck " It was originally used as a short-term energy generator for travelling."

PucK " To be used like this is a disgrace to its counterpart!"

Yasuda " Counterpart?"

Puck " The Yin mana crystal! That was made for spell-casting!"

Yasuda " Oh."

Yasuda " Why did Elsa use this then?"

Puck " Technically, the Onyx mana crystal holds more mana than its counterpart. But it burns through it faster, so it's inefficient."

Yasuda " And with the Yin mana crystal, you could cast multiple big spells."

Puck " Let me correct you; Multiple medium spells. There isn't enough mana for one big spell."

Yasuda " Let me take a wild guess! It's not supposed to be used alone, but used with your own mana?"

Puck " For an outsider, you know a lot."

Yasuda " Oh come on! Anyone smart enough could deduce that! You would be dumb if you couldn't figure that out!"

Puck " Huh. True."

Common fantasy knowledge dictates every one of Yasuda's guesses.

Yasuda " Plus, where we come from, there's a thing called fiction."

Puck " Ah. Makes even more sense. Imagining worlds different from ours is common."

Yasuda was tempted to correct Puck, but as far as Puck knew, they came from beyond 'The Great Waterfall'. Which was a part of their world. And Yasuda doesn't know how ' The Great Waterfall' works, so he refrained from saying anything till he learned more.

Yasuda " So what now?"

Puck " We take this and give it to Reinhard, he should know how to deal with this."

Yasuda " Ok! Let's go!"

Yasuda still had more questions, specifically on authorities. But he would be suspicious if he asked away.

Puck " Reinhard! Can you deal with this Onyx mana crystal?"

Reinhard " Sure, I'll deal with it after I deal with Felt being the 5th Royal candidate."

Puck & Yasuda " Huh?!"

Rom " Yep, the insignia glowed in Felt's hands."

Felt " This is annoying, I never wanted this."

Subaru then popped into the conversation-

Subaru " Wait a minute! If this insignia was with Emilia… That would make her a royal candidate too!"

Emilia " You're correct!"

Fukada " That begs the question… Why did you let it be stolen in the first place!"

Puck " As much as I hate to admit it, she's right."

Emilia " Well, considering Felt has the Divine Protection of Wind Spirits, we had no chance against her. She would just run away."

Felt " Damn right I would!"

Reinhard " Well, either way. I got to drag Felt so I can register her as a Royal candidate."

Rom " I'll come too."

Felt " Oyy! Rom! Urgg, I have no choice, huh?"

Rom " Unfortunately, nope."

Reinhard " Emilia, I trust you have everything under control here? As for Elsa… I think it's best for me to take responsibility for her death. Is that ok?"

Everyone " YES, PLEASE!"

Yasuda " I really don't want to become well-known on my first day here."

Fukada and Subaru " Ditto!"

Reinhard " Done deal. Now, I'll see you later!"

As Reinhard and Rom dragged Felt out, Emilia pocketed the insignia and faced us.

Emilia " Since you three helped us, the least I can do is provide shelter at my benefactor's place. "

Subaru " Sure, we have nowhere else to go. You two agree?"

Yasuda " Yep!"

Fukada " Going with the flow! That's what we do!"

Emilia " Good! Let's go!"

We headed outside and walked to a nearby inn, where we met up with a pink-haired maid.

? " I presume you found the insignia?"

Emilia " Yep! And these three helped!"

The maid looked towards us, presumably searching for any Ill-intent. Satisfied with us two, she looked towards Subaru with a hint of disgust. But eventually relaxed and let us in.

Ram " My name is Ram, working as a maid to Roswaal L. Mathers and to Emilia."

Yasuka " I'm Yasuda Toshio, she's Fukada, my younger sister, and he's Subaru Natsuki!"

Ram " Siblings? You two seem like two misshaped puzzle pieces, you don't fit together."

Subaru " True-"

Yasuda " Oh shut up Subaru! You can barely do any housework!"

Ram " I'm not surprised."

Emilia " Ram!"

Puck " This is extremely amusing."

Emilia " Puck!"

While Emilia scolded Puck and Ram, we leaned back and enjoyed our ride.

After 5 minutes, Yasuda spoke up.

Yasuda " When are we reaching our destination?"

Ram " In 12 hours."

Emilia " It's a mansion located near Irlam village. Though I guess that doesn't mean much to you."

Ram "?"

Puck filled Ram in on our situation.

Ram " That might explain the witches scent on Barusu, and the two other scents on Sudaya and Kadafu. Either way, my suspicions of them are low now. Though Rem might be more suspicious of them." [A/N] I just moved the first two letters to the end to make Ram's version of Yasuda and Fukada's names.

Yasuda " Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to take a nap now. Wake me up when we reach the mansion."

Emilia " Sure, you two should rest too. It must've been a long day for you."

Yasuda soon fell asleep…

Yasuda POV

Wh-where am I? Am I dreaming?

? " Yes and no. This interaction will be looked upon as a dream but it's real."

Ah-

You're… That voice from the fight with Elsa!

? " Yep. My name isn't important, let's say I'm the witch who transported you."

Why?

? " To help Subaru, of course!"

So you were the one who transported us-

? " Correction; I transported you, the other two were transported by two other witches."

And who are they?

? " Fukada was transported by a witch-friend of mine and Subaru was transported by the witch of Envy, Satella."

? " And Satella is the reason why witches are hated. She killed the other witches and engulfed the world in darkness 400 years ago. However, due to complications, Satella herself didn't do it. But the Witch of Envy."

Let me guess, dual personalities?

? " Ding, ding, ding! It's much more complicated, but you will eventually learn."

You're not telling me?

? " No! It's not fun that way!"

Heh. What about you?

? " Ughh, fine. Truth is, I can't tell you my name because I faked my own death, same with my friend. So no one knows we're still alive, not even the other witches."

Why exactly?

? " So we could get strong and defeat Pandora, the Witch of Vainglory. Who's authority can change reality itself after certain conditions are met."

Damn. Overpowered much?

? " I know! Anyways, I'll try to help you but don't expect much. I want to keep my identity hidden."

Sure.

? " And that's all the time I have, Fukada probably is getting the same explanation from my friend. Don't worry about that. It's just Subaru who doesn't know."

Keep it a secret from him? Easy enough.

? " Ok, well bye then!"

I then wake up to the scene from before. Ram and Emilia on one side, and us three on the other…

Emilia " Oh! You're awake!"

" Yes I am! Where's Puck?"

Emilia " He's resting right now. The contract states he only has to be out from 8am to 8pm."

" Contract?"

Emilia " Yep! A spirit contract."

Subaru " Ugg, Yasuda?"

Subaru stirred from his seat, it seemed like the other two went to sleep.

" Morning sleepyhead."

Fukada " Ugg, you guys woke me up…"

Ram " Good, we'll be reaching there in 10 minutes."

" Already 12 hours?!"

Emilia " Yep. Seems like you didn't get much sleep before now."

Subaru " You are correct."

Emilia " We're passing through Irlam village right now."

Looking outside, we were indeed in a village. A peaceful one too!

Ram " I have to pick some groceries up, so can we stop here?"

Emilia " Sure. This also gives the chance for these three to meet the villagers."

Subaru " Awesome!"

Fukada " Can't wait!"

" It looks so peaceful!"

The carriage stopped and we got out. The soft breeze was so refreshing.

" When was the last time I felt like this?"

Fukada " The trip to that Island! Dumbass."

" Heh."

We split up and looked around the village. Subaru was with Emilia, Fukada wanted to go alone, and I'm stuck with Ram.

Ram " Sudaya, you'll carry the majority of things."

And I'm stuck with being the handler.

" Mhm, fine."

I followed Ram around while looking at the bustling village.

Ram " This village is a minor traveling outpost, their profits come from merchants and the mansion…"

As Ram gave me a history lesson, I spotted Subaru getting along with the kids.

Ram " Barusu is quite popular, how annoying."

" He and I are usually well liked by the kids, Subaru is usually more liked though. Fukada however…"

Is extremely bad with them.

Ram " Interesting, I might want to look into forcing Kadafu to play with the kids."

" Haha! I'll join you if you do."

Ram smirked as she presumably thought about that situation.

" Want to join him after we're done?"

Ram " Sure. I'm looking forward to seeing how he embarrasses himself."

" He probably wouldn't if Fukada or I were there. But there's still a chance!"

We continued on and eventually finished. With my arms aching no less. We headed towards Subaru.

" Yo Subaru!"

Ram " Hi again Barusu."

Subaru " Oh hello Yasuda and Ram."

" Looks like someone is popular-"

Subaru " Don't. That nickname is super embarrassing."

Ram " I'd like to hear it-"

Ram had a massive grin, as if she found something like a weapon.

Subaru " Moving on-"

" No-"

Subaru " MOVING ON."

Ram looked at me, I knew what she was signaling.

" I'll tell you later." I whispered to Ram.

? " Subaru! Come! Hmm? Ram? You're here too? Well then, you come too!"

Ram " Alright, Petra."

Subaru " Petra, this is my friend Yasuda. You gotta say hello!"

Petra looked at me, her eyes sparkled for a moment before she smiled widely. She also touched a blue flower beside her red ribbon.

Petra " Hi Yasuda! My name's Petra! Petra Leyte!"

" You got that from Subaru, am I correct? Damn, Subaru already made a difference!"

Subaru " For good or bad?"

" You decide. Anyways, let's go."

We followed Petra to the other kids to find them playing with a little dog. Ram seemed discomforted at the sight of the dog.

Petra " Meili! Show everyone the puppy!"

Meili " Right! Here everyone! Look at him!"

Subaru " Aww, so cute!"

Subaru and I kneeled and tried to pet the dog. But it bit the both of us.

Meili " Bad puppy! Don't bite other people!"

Ram noticed what just happened and rushed to us.

Ram " Sudaya, Barusu. Are you ok?"

Subaru " I feel fine."

" Ditto."

Ram " Still… I still want to check it out, just in case. Let's go."

Subaru " Well, looks like we're going! Bye everyone!"

Ram dragged us back to the carriage and met up with Emilia.

Emilia " Ram? What happened?"

Ram " Hold on a second…"

Ram muttered something and a strange sensation fell upon me. It felt like something snapped.

Ram " I was right, that 'puppy' cursed the both of you."