Arc 1: A Parallel Paradise!

Chapter 8: Second Chance.

Subaru let out a sigh as she watched the trio of men walk in front of her. Honestly, she didn't expect her bluff when she encountered them to actually work, but it seems everything went smoothly for her.

"What are you sighing about? you make me sick." The dwarven man with a bowl cut hairstyle said to her. Despite wanting to sound brave, there was no mistaking that his voice was a little shaken.

"Oi, don't antagonize her, she might curse you…" The big man with a deep threatening voice scolds the small man, his voice laced with fear.

"Tch. I ain't goin' to lie to you, I hate you on a personal level, but I can't afford to lose access to that place. Try anythin' funny I'll kill you." The sickly purple hair man named Chin threatened her, despite his bravado and fierce glare, he kept his distance away from her.

"Do you guys want to carry those tones with me? Don't blame me when your kid's born different."

Subaru smirks darkly at them, making them shiver and avoiding eye contact with her. She really can't believe that her bluff actually works, as well as for her to actually encounter them for a second time by a mere accident, if she had to guess this was fate at work.


After recovering from the aftermath of reading the book, cleaning herself of the blood as much as possible, Subaru was about to run to the loot house, only for her to accidentally run straight into someone at the end of the alleyway, sending both of them tumbling to the ground.

Subaru and the man both push themselves as they slowly rise from the ground and groan in pain.

"O-ouch…"

"Ugh…"

Subaru's eyes went wide when she saw who she accidentally ran into, it's the same man that threatened to kill her or sell her in the previous loop, the purplish haired bandit that wields two knives.

―Why is it these guys again?!

"What the hell?! Who-"

Whatever he was about to say was cut short when he laid his angry gaze on her, his black eyes widened upon seeing her own pair of unique black eyes.

Her black eyes, with white iris, seem to send him an unnatural shiver as his gaze changes to that of fear for a split second, before it settles into cautiousness.

He glances to his right and left, his friend didn't seem much better either, they didn't even collide with her, yet they too seem to be uncomfortable of her by their slight expression of disgust.

Subaru gaze at the trio of bandits before her as she dusted her cloth off and pick up her plastic bag, it's the same guys from her last loop, but this time they seem surprised as if they didn't expect to run into her, which was probably the case since last time, they were the one who stumble upon her.

The purplish hair bandit in particular, Chin if she recalls his name from the previous loop seems different this time, instead of bravado she expected from him, his eyes now show slight fear of her, which is weird to Subaru since she didn't have any weapons on her unlike him, beside even if she does have weapon, she's weaker than him.

But what made her more confused was that the trio also seems to be sick upon seeing her, it's as if she produces bad smells judging by their expression. Just like the rest of the crowd earlier.

Subaru didn't know what this body smells like, since on the last loop people seem to have no problem being near her.

Slowly she lowers her gaze to her arm and brings it closer to her face, she takes a sniff…

This body doesn't smell bad so why is it that they look so uncomfortable to be near her? The shop owner was on the verge of throwing up compared to them.

Perhaps it because she have a little bit of blood scent on her, which make sense for their reaction since she was literally bleeding on the ground moments ago, but that didn't explain the behavior of the crowd way earlier. Subaru shake her head, banishing the question into the depth of her mind.

―No use thinking about it right now...

"Wh-what are you trying to do?" The small man to Chin left sneered at her, but to her it sounded pathetic as she could hear how his voice stuttered.

Chin eyed his dwarven friend cautiously. Suddenly, a big hand landed on his shoulder.

"O-Oi let's get out of here, this girl is bad news…" his friend said to him in a hushed tone.

"Tch."

Without a word, Chin turns his back on her, walking away from her along with his bigger friend.

This also causes confusion to his dwarven friend, assuming dwarven was a real race from what she learns about Rom's being a giant.

"O-Oi… Wait up!" The dwarf calls out to them and runs after them.

Subaru didn't know what to make of this, this seems to be a new event to her, last time this trio nearly killed her or even worse if it was not for Satella saving her.

And if Chin has weapons… just in case, she can't afford to lose him. She opens her mouth.

"Yo! Chin!"

With that simple call from her, all three of them stop as Chin quickly turns to look at her, his eyes widened with shock and his skin turn paler.

"Y-You… How do you know my name?!" he yells at her as he takes a step back.

The other two turn to look at the situation as they glance between Chin and her in concern.

Subaru smiles at this, she needs to play her card right. Right now, for whatever reason beyond her, Chin fears her, and that alone assures her that he won't harm her for now.

She is weak, that is for certain, on the last loop her punch didn't even faze them, that's why she need bodyguards, and she didn't care if they come from bandits as long as they can help her defeat the black-haired woman and save Satella as well Rom and Felt.

She answers Chin questioned by simply giving him her best friendly smiles, which for some reason further horrified them.

Subaru takes a step forward, and the trio take a step back. Realizing this, Chin steps forward and brandishes his knives.

"If you… come any closer to us, I'll kill you!"

Subaru knew that she needed to take the risk right now, however, she stopped her advance. After all, cornered animals usually attack the predator when they are toyed for far too long. Of course, Subaru didn't think of herself as a predator, far from it, but she needs to be one to assault to win this situation favorably. Reaching inside her pocket Subaru produces her cellphone and aims it at the trio.

Chin upon seeing the weird object in her hand braces himself as a "Click" Sound runs through the object as well as a bright white light blinding them for a moment.

"Gah!" the trio cried out as they were blinded momentarily.

Chin opens his eyes, expecting to be attacked only for him to see the girl haven't moved an inch, with amused smiles plastered on her lip.

Subaru actually has a nervous smile on her lip, so far, they haven't attacked yet, they were still cautious.

Her gaze lowered from them as she looked at the perfect image of the trio with funny expressions on their faces, and she struggled to keep up her smiles from twitching.

―This is funny but I'm playing with fire here!

She gazes at the trio, Chin was still on the defensive, glaring daggers as sharp as his knives at her, playing the hero while the dwarf at his side looks stunned, and the big man looks ready to punch her to death.

Slowly she shows them the photo.

"What the?!" Chin roared as he saw the perfect image of his and his friend in the device in Subaru hand. The image was way too perfect to be a painting.

"What I have here in my hand is your "Moment", I could erase your moment, and all three of you will be cursed!"

"How dare you!" Chin yelled, however, he didn't take a single step to her, possibly fearing for being cursed.

"I could remove them from you and your friend."

The trio exchange their gaze before looking seriously at her.

"W-what do you want from us?!" the dwarf asks her, trying to mask his fear by being spiteful to her, though his body was shaking.

"What do I want from you, you ask? Well, it's simple, help me with something and I'll let you go."

"If we help you… then you let us go?" the bigger man cautiously asks her.

Subaru nods. "If you help me with a little problem, I'll let you go. I want you to guard me."

"Tch, can't you just use that thing to help yourself with?" Chin asked her, his eyes glared dagger as sharp as his knives.

"Unfortunately, I can't. It concerns the loot house…"

Subaru let out a sigh as she put her palm against her cheek, making her look sad.

"The loot house…?"

"Yes, won't you gentlemen help this frail little lady?" Subaru asks softly, her soft voice carries a tone of sadness, her gaze penetrating them in an attempt to make them pity her.

They look at each other before whispering something. Chin looked at Subaru before nodding his head.

"Tch. Fine. We'll help you."


She let out a silent sigh as she watched the trio walk in front of her as they arrived at the slum.

She really doesn't know how that plan actually works, it's like magic that it works and speaking of magic…

Subaru gazed down at her palm as the memory of her in the loot house played in her mind. She outstretched her palm toward the sky, her face was that of concentration.

"HAH!" she let out a shout.

"Gah!"

"What the hell?!"

"Hk!"

All three of them stumbled as they turned to look at her, their faces having various emotions ranging from fear and shock all the way to anger.

Subaru brought her hand closer to her face as she examined it.

―Was it actually real? No, it's real, the book implants that memory in me, so how do I even manage to do that?

Whatever it was that helped Subaru to summon flames in the last loop seems to not be helping her this time.

"Oi! Don't try anything funny!" the mushroom hair dwarf yells at her.

"Are you tryin' to kill us?! Huh?!" Chin glares fiercely at her. His hands dangerously hanging over the knives handle at his back.

The big man beside him clenches his fist in anticipation of attack, which she can guess that if she got punched by him, he pretty much would send her flying.

In hindsight, she shouldn't shout; so as to not threaten them further.

Subaru raises both of her hands up in the air to try to calm them.

"Relax, it's nothing! I Swear!"

―Time to use my training as a crossdresser!

"I-I was just afraid, I thought I saw a rat. I-I'm sorry…"

She clasps her hand together and brings it closer to her chest as she gives them the best puppy eyes she could muster. Pride be damned, she can't afford to lose them, they're much stronger than her.

"Tch, don't try anything funny." With a nod of Chin head, the trio resume walking to the direction of the loot house.

Subaru let out a sigh of relief, she really shouldn't have done that, but her curiosity gets the better of her, beside deep inside she knew she couldn't possibly conjure magic as she doesn't even know how magic works.

―Should I read the Book of Wisdom?

Subaru glanced down at the hidden book inside her plastic bag. Then she glances at the trio before her.

―No, there's too many risks here, what if they steal my book?

Subaru let out another sigh, keeping her greed for wanting to know more in check is hard, it's like something someone would just do without really knowing why.

The book ability to see the future really tempt her to read it, it's like playing a game on 'Easy Difficulty' all the while reading guide on the internet to see what event will come up in the game, besides, right now she didn't care for spoiler since lives were at stake here, and it's pretty much real.

At first, she thought that the book was like a quest log that took the form of a book that tells her what to do to accomplish her quest, but now, it's clear it's more than 'A Quest Log', as can be proven when the book shows her the past loop. Besides, unlike a quest log where one can read on what to do to finish a quest, this book burns memory into her mind, into her brain.

But she can't afford to read it right now, Subaru gazes at the trio walking in front of her as she hugs the plastic bag tightly.


The sun is still in the sky by the time they reach the loot house.

Subaru was toying with the idea of tipping to the guard about the black-haired woman, yet because of Satella insistence on not involving guards, it makes her abandon that idea altogether.

On another note, since Satella confirmed the presence of guards in this city, that means the guards haven't done their job. At least, at the Slum.

―As expected of Medieval fantasy, certain parts of the town are all abandoned. Does the King not care at all?

As Subaru was thinking about this, Chin steps forward in front of the loot house and knocks on the door.

A gruff voice suddenly calls out within the house, no doubt it belongs to Old Man Rom.

"For a rat…"

"Poison."

"For a white whale…"

"A harpoon."

"To the noble dragon lord, we are…"

"Shitbags."

―So, this place has a password huh.

Subaru observes as the door slowly opens revealing a giant man.

Old Man Rom, now that Subaru can see him clearly in the sun, is what she expected from someone living in the slum and running a shady business. He is a dark skinned, bald head old man with a hardened expression. His decorated long eyebrows as well as his body hair is white in color, perhaps because of his age. He wore a tattered black shirt as well as black pants and had no shoes, Subaru doubted that he could afford them considering the slum livelihood. He is filled with scars and markings of a warrior, no doubt that he fought pretty often when he was young, perhaps he could be a war veteran too.

"So, it's you three huh."

"That shady girl has some business with you."

Chin pointed his thumb at Subaru's direction over his shoulder.

Old Man Rom eyes glance at her direction and glare as their eyes make contact, his eyes filled with distrust and suspicion.

"That young lady has business with me you said…"

Old Man Rom motioned with his head for them to enter the loot house.