Never knew I was going to get a 1k+ views 46 favs and 68 follows within 24 hours.
Anyways, here's another chapter just as I promised. Enjoy the story.
Original: 3,682 words.
Edited: 4,806 words.
"This is so hard!"
The compliant voice of the half-elf rang out over her room, feeling the emotion of frustration, which she rarely experiences at times even with Fortuna and Geuse around, conveying her general mood at the moment.
The source of her frustration wasn't something any person would expect from a 7 year old kid like her. Especially at the Piece of parchment she's currently holding in her hands.
No, this was something the people of this world doesn't know about. An existence only a certain rare few were aware of about it. An existence that goes beyond the imagination of men and demihumans alike. An existence one did not thought it actually existed before. And that is—
"How does he even understand these chicken scratches? Muu, Subaru told me these were the written characters from his homeland. But these doesn't look like any of those I, Ro, and Ha-Glyphs Mother Fortuna and Geuse taught me."
Emilia grumbled as she pouted at the written characters 一 Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji 一 in three separate parchments, which the human boy she met and befriended 25 days ago and said these were characters that the people from his homeland used a long time ago. And still is relevant today.
The half-elf girl scratched her head more times than she did in her entire life as she wondered how the boy knew how read these characters, which to her looked like chicken scratches, and pouted once more as she remembered five days ago he managed to learn the I-glyphs in the first twenty days since she first met him. Which it took Emilia herself months in comparison to do so, even with Fortuna teaching her the best she could.
She remembered the sheepish smile he had in expense to Emilia's pout at the speed he managed to learn the written language much faster than she thought he would be able to. It made her jealous at how well he had done so far.
If given the time, he'll might as well be able to learn the Ro and Ha-glyphs in the next few months at this pace.
But, she remembered the time she introduced the human boy to Mother Fortuna.
Mother Fortuna had mixed reactions at Subaru, him being a human boy lost in the forest and all. But, eventually, after a lot of convincing on her part and Subaru promising that he'll do what he can about the conditions Mother Fortuna placed on him, she allowed him to stay. Especially since he was the first human child to come to Elior Forest alone. Without anyone accompanying him.
Some of the conditions her mother figure placed on her friend was that he'll do chores around the village, helping some of the villagers if possible. As well as visiting to play with Emilia regularly was also part of the conditions Mother Fortuna told Subaru that he should keep.
The last part made Emilia happy. Subaru's company made the times she played with him all the more enjoyable, especially someone around her age, despite Subaru being three years older than her. But she ignored that fact as he had been the first person with black hair she saw in her entire life.
More than that, literally a day after he came to the village with her, he requested that he wanted to learn magic.
That surprised Emilia, and even Fortuna herself, who wasn't expecting the boy who to learn magic.
Initially, she refused on teaching him magic, but the boy with same nasty stare as her father's sister, to which she liked both of their eyes, heavily insisted on. Even to the point of pestering her with every opportunity he has.
Eventually, Fortuna gave in to Subaru's request, to which the black-haired boy grinned in response to the acceptance of his request. Which made the Half-Elf girl happy for her human friend.
Since then on, Subaru's been learning to use magic, to which they discovered his affinity lies in Yin Magic. An elemental branch that was rare to begin with, and something that Emilia didn't know existed beforehand.
Fortunately enough, there was a decent Yin user in the name of Braun, who was both a friend and a kind person, and he was tasked by Fortuna to teach the boy Yin magic. To which the Elf obliged her request.
During the very first day of Subaru's magic training, Emilia came and visited the two as she watched in the distance to see how her human friend would fare in learning the mystic art of magic. An art that fascinates her.
Much to her surprise, it ended in a complete disaster.
An explosion of black smoke came out of Subaru that covered the entire meadow where Braun had taught him.
As a result, it was shown that Subaru had put in too much mana into that spell. Consequently leaving him paralyzed, nearly unable to move from the effects of his first magic spell which was called Shamak. A spell that removes the target's awareness from their surroundings except themselves.
"Subaru, you dummy."
She said at the memory of how reckless her friend had been.
She nearly cried at the thought that Subaru wouldn't be able to play with her since he couldn't move after that catastrophe of a spell. And she was scared at the thought she almost lost the only human boy she made friends with.
Fortunately, Braun assured her that Subaru will fine and it'll take half a day for him to move again. Much to her heart's relief.
During the time of his recovery, Emilia managed to carry Subaru to the Princess Room where they made the rest of the day there for him to recover from Mana Depletion.
At the time, when Subaru was being carried by her, the boy was surprised by her strength and was being embarrassed that he was carried by a "girl" which was supposed to be a boy's duty to carry to begin with.
"What's wrong being carried by a girl?"
She remembered the question she asked to the black-haired boy. Back when she didn't what it meant for her friend.
"Well… girls are all about beauty and the boys are all about their masculinity. And besides, it's the duty of the boy to carry the girl they liked and keep them from getting hurt. That's what being a man is... at least that's what dad told me."
That was the response Subaru gave to the question Emilia asked him about. And she even argued that it isn't wrong for a girl to do what a boy couldn't. Especially when said boy wasn't able to move to begin with.
It went on and on about that topic. Arguing back and forth about it. But, in the end, they had a good laugh on their way to the Princess Room.
In there, after some time later, Subaru, who recovered a bit, showed her the written characters of his homeland when Emilia was curious as to where he was from and how different was that place compared to hers.
The contrast was made quite clear to the silver-haired girl who knew nothing of Subaru's origins.
Subaru lived in a big city, whereas Emilia lived in a simple village hidden in the forest. The difference of lifestyle was also apparent too.
Subaru came from a place where magic doesn't exist, which Emilia was surprised that such a place existed. He even pointed out there was a thing called "science" that made the life of his people different than the magic they used here in Elior Forest.
Although Emilia didn't know the fact the human boy was from another world, but she was convinced in her naivety that there is some places in Lugunica or in the other surrounding countries that there was a village or town that didn't know magic existed. As a result, she kept that belief from Fortuna and even from Subaru deep in her mind.
At the topic of Subaru's homeland's written characters, she was motivated to learn the characters from Subaru, since he's the only person to know and read them, and he promised that he'll teach her of that. In return, Subaru would be taught how to read and write the I, Ro, and Ha-glyphs in exchange for those lesson. To which Emilia agreed.
With that, every night, the two made it a regular routine where Subaru teaches Emilia his country's written language, and Emilia herself teaching Subaru hers.
It was a wonderful learning experience, having to learn something new while having to teach someone who didn't know as well. It was something that Emilia, in her young mind, wouldn't have thought was possible until it did.
Although the difference between their learning skills was becoming clear, as seen when Subaru managed to write and read the I-glyphs, even to the point of being able to read a children's book with little difficulty, in just twenty days. Nevertheless, Emilia was still determined and continued to learn from Subaru, and Subaru learning from her.
She looked out of the window and saw it was nearly noon, and she remembered something from a while ago.
"Subaru says to meet him after his lesson with Braun and he has something to show me. I wonder what that is?"
Emilia thought out loud as she wondered what the human boy has in store for.
"But first, let me study this thing for a bit."
In one of the few open meadows Elior Forest has to offer to the Elves. There, two figures of differing heights were seen on the distance.
One was an elf, with blue-hair and orange eyes, while the other was a human boy with black-hair and eyes bearing a nasty stare.
The Elf was standing proudly while the lying form of the boy, breathed heavily as his body spread on the ground.
"That's all for the day, Subaru. I'm impressed, you've managed to improve your Shamak to the point it's unrecognizable from the first time you've casted it."
The Elf complimented at the tired boy, who was still lying on the ground exhausted. Bis Mana Reserves nearly depleted from all the Shamak casting he did.
"Yeah, thanks by the way."
The boy responded in gratitude to elf while panting in exhaustion, having experienced this tiring feeling each and every time that he had let his Gate rest before resuming their magic training. As to let it exercise a bit as his Gate wasn't exactly on top shape when he started learning magic from Braun.
Ever since coming to this world, Subaru, being a 10 year old that he is, was an impressionable child. Seeing things that he didn't saw before was something a kid like him would've want to experience firsthand. And magic was one of them.
After convincing Fortuna, which he later discovered to be Emilia's aunt and not her actual mother, which was odd, and he was excited that he was going to learn magic after she gives in to his request. And when he later found out that his affinity was Yin magic, and Yin magic was considered to be rare in this world, he felt that he was someone special. Especially when that kind of magic wasn't something that could be easily be found elsewhere.
That is until he discovered that Yin magic is essentially magic for debuff specialists.
He was almost disappointed at that fact, but he managed to convince himself that, according to his experience to the Final Fantasy games he played before coming to this world, debuffing your enemies would give your comrades an exceptional advantage; in which he used this sort of tactic in winning boss encounters. And that was something he looked forward too if that were to occur.
But, in his excitement, when he first casted the Yin magic, Shamak, a "basic" spell, it ended in an unexpected disaster.
As a result of that, he couldn't move for half a day, and that worried Emilia, to the point he almost saw her cry because of that.
Although she looked very cute when he saw her that, but it nearly broke his heart that he had worried her that she couldn't play with him when he's paralyzed. To which he admitted to be true as he couldn't do anything about it.
Despite all of that, his and Emilia's bond grew stronger back when they first argued that boy should do that and a girl would do that. And it went on and on until they laughed it off as something they would later fix if they had the opportunity.
He remembered during the previous nights that he taught her how to read and write the written characters of his homeland 一 Katakana, Hiragana, and Kanji 一 to Emilia. To which the Half-Elf girl has difficulty both in writing and reading. While Emilia taught him how to write the I-glyphs, which she said was the basic of this world.
At first he had difficulty about that too, but when he realized that they were similar to the small kana characters that were represented by the exact same glyphs as their full-sized counterparts. And that was when he knew that learning these glyphs is going to be easy picking.
Secretly, in his mischievousness that any kid around of his age has, he didn't tell Emilia about all of that. To the point he used to it to its maximum potential.
When he managed to reach the stage where he can read I-glyphs with little difficulty, especially on a children's story book. He knew how Emilia will react. And she did not disappoint.
Having seen her pouting face, which was so cute his heart melted each time he saw it, he grinned at his achievement while his half-elf mumbled at how smart he is. Which further increased his ego at the success he made.
There was one point when Emilia was making her pouting face, he pressed his finger on her face and her pouted deflated like a balloon, especially when he saw air coming out of her mouth from that. To which all made it much cuter than Subaru thought would be. And that made the boy look forward to it more.
But it wasn't all of that though, as he saw in Emilia's eyes the determination to learn the written characters of his country Japan, he would do so the best he could.
However, the mention of his homeland made him frown.
After it was revealed that Elior Forest wasn't found in Japan, and Emilia, in her words, she doesn't know anything about Japan but is aware of countries like Lugunica, Gusteko, Vollachia, and even Kararagi.
It was then the young boy knew, he wasn't in his world anymore.
His memories of that world haunted him. The trauma of keeping the expectations of the people about being Natsuki Kenichi's son haunted him. And it was still apparent even when he stayed in this world for nearly a month now.
Even in this world, he was scared of the fact, of being alone and unable to keep the expectations people had in him, and it was going to haunt him if he couldn't do it.
No, he has to do it. He couldn't bear the thought that he'll be powerless if he wasn't able to do something about it.
But, he found hope in the form of Emilia. The silver-haired half-elf girl, with a cute face and beautiful eyes.
She wasn't like anyone he met before, and she didn't have the high expectations the same as those who his dad considered as his friends. And she certainly didn't think he was anything special other than being her friend and all that.
She viewed him like he was her equal, a kid who hasn't have a genuine friend to talk freely and play with. And she was literally a friend who he could count on with his troubles.
Of course, there were often times that he was jealous about what she has and what he hasn't.
One of those being her physical strength.
Despite her small figure, she managed to carry a boy like him in a distance which he knew was an equivalent to several blocks from the meadow to the house under the tree, which was referred to as the Princess Room. Which was something that bothered him about its name that he couldn't tell if it was intentional or not.
He was both amazed and jealous that she had the strength and stamina to carry someone like him without breaking a sweat. And it made him insecure about his own strength.
Then that lead to their first argument that a boy should do that, and the girl so on and on.
Nonetheless, his friendship with Emilia was one of the best things he had after coming to this world. And he was happy to meet a good and kind Half-Elf girl like she was. Especially when she's awfully kind and a bit of a temperamental girl she was if push comes to shove.
"Oi, Subaru. You done daydreaming over there?"
Braun's voice cut off Subaru's thoughts as he turned back his attention to the blue-haired elf. Who was still standing there with his proud look still remain on his face.
"Sorry, Braun-sensei. Is our training over?"
"Yes, that's what I told you a few minutes ago… Well, aside from that, you said you have something to show me in secret before going to meet Emilia-sama, right?"
"Oh, right. Almost forgot about that. Kuro come here."
In the same moment, when he called Kuro, a black dot suddenly appeared in between Subaru and Braun. To which the latter was shocked at the sight of it.
"Subaru... Do you know what that is?"
The young boy shook his head.
"No. But the ones Emilia has, though she got dozens of them, says they're Fairies. And mine look like a stark contrast to the Fairies Emilia has."
He answered while drooping his shoulders at the time when Emilia shown her the Fairies, while his, though not showing it to Emilia, is an entirely different thing. Especially when he contracted the thing on the first chance he had.
"Fairies… well, Subaru, it's wrong to call a Lesser Spirit a fairy. Don't you know that Fairies are evil creatures?"
"Ehh! Fairies are evil creatures!?"
The look of surprise on Subaru's face, as well as the shocked tone, made it quite clear he didn't know any of these things.
Braun sighed as he placed his left on his hip as he explained.
"Yes. Fairies are evil creatures. But to think you've contacted a Lesser Spirit, a Yin Spirit nonetheless."
"Lesser Spirits?"
He asked the as he looked over the black dot, Kuro is he named it.
"Lesser Spirits are beings born from Mana. They took in forms, or colors, signifying their affinity to the six elements. One Lesser Yin Spirit such as the one you called Kuro being one of the rare Yin Spirits this world has seen."
"Cool. Then… what does it mean for someone like me to contact one? I mean, Emilia has called many of them before, what does it do?"
"Those that managed to do, based on what you said about Emilia-sama, is that they have a rare affinity for Spirit Arts. In which you have an affinity to as well."
Subaru's eyes brighten at this.
"Then—"
"Yes. You are one of very rare individuals who have an affinity to be able to use the Spirit Arts."
Standing up, Subaru jumped from his placed in joy. Excited at the prospect of being more than a debuff specialist. A Spirit Arts user sounds cooler the more he heard about it.
"Now, now, don't get too excited."
Braun said in order to calm down his apprentice who was grinning at the thought of having something that most people didn't have.
"In order to become a Spirit Arts user one must make a contract with said Spirit. Which begs the question, where did you meet it?"
"Oh, he appeared out of nowhere last week. It was nighttime and just I was about to go to sleep, Kuro appeared and he just stayed with me since then."
The blue-haired Elf put his hand on his chin as he contemplated what it meant based on his apprentice's words.
"Did you make a contract with… Kuro, I suppose?"
"Contract? I dunno about that, but it was something that I need to snap my fingers once a day and calling him if I need or want him to appear. Why, Braun-sensei?"
Braun went to the nasty eyed boy, and crouched to Subaru's level as he explained.
"What you said just now is the conditions of the Contract that you and Kuro made. In order to maintain your relationship as Contractor and your Spirit, you must uphold your contract with Kuro if you want him to stay with you, Subaru."
"What if I didn't do one of the conditions? What will happen?"
He asked, having a feeling that something bad will happen if he broke his Contract with his Lesser Spirit.
"If you cannot uphold your contract, then the connection between you and the Spirit will be severed. And if that happens, it would be hard pressed to remake the contract you had with Kuro. Which is difficult if it were to occur. It's rare, but it's highly possible if you're not careful about it."
The blue-haired Elf's explanation brought Subaru a sudden reverence and the knowledge of the consequences should he break something as important as a Contract made by him and Kuro. Which is something akin to a promise as valuable as someone's life.
Braun placed his hand on the black-haired boy's shoulders as he looked at him in the eyes as he said.
"That's why, you must do your very best in keeping the Contract that bonded you and Kuro. Promise me, Natsuki Subaru, you will do as you were contracted to. For Kuro, and for Emilia-sama as well."
Subaru nodded, now knowing the importance of such a task. A Contractor and Contracted Spirit must hold their promises.
"Good."
He said with a small smile at his human apprentice whom he had taken a liking of this past month since Fortuna told him to train the boy. Which made things livelier in this Elf's long lifespan.
"Now, if I remember correctly, you should be meeting with Emilia-sama now, right?"
The boy made a panicked expression the moment Braun said those words to him, which the Elf assumed Subaru forgot about that.
"Shoot! I almost forgot! Thanks, Braun-sensei, I gotta go now! See you later! Come on, Kuro, let's go!"
He waved his magic teacher goodbye and went his went with his contracted Lesser Spirit in tow, disappearing as the boy ran toward the direction where the Half-Elf girl was waiting.
"May the Spirits be with you, Subaru. Be safe where you go."
Braun called out to Subaru, to which the boy waved again to the Elf. Grinning at his Elven Mentor and thanking him for today's lesson.
"...That kid grew so much in this past month. I wonder how well he will do if I add morning spell drills in his schedule? Hmm... this is something I should consult Fortuna-sama with.
As Subaru ran as fast he could, passing by familiar Elven faces as went by. Surprising a few of them but nonetheless gone back to their regular routines as the boy ran toward where his Half-Elf friend was.
He had memorized the layout of this Village like the back of his hand. And if there was something Subaru is proud of, it's his very good memory to remember stuff like this.
As he continued at his current pace, he saw the person he was looking for and it looks like she was waiting for him. Especially when it looks like she had been there for some time now.
When he went close, the girl noticed him as she crossed her arms as she pouted at the approaching human boy.
"Muu, where were you, Subaru? I thought you wouldn't come."
"Sorry, sorry."
The boy with a nasty stare apologized to the pouting Half-Elf. Which he still finds it very cute to see every time she gets angry.
She's even cuter when she's mad.
Subaru thought briefly before grabbing Emilia's hand suddenly. Surprising the girl at his action.
"Wha—"
"No time to explain, let's go!"
He cut her off before she could say anything as he ran with Emilia in tow. Toward the place he has in mind for today.
Not knowing what her human friend has in mind, she soon find herself keeping up with the boy. All the while said boy grinned at her as he led the way to the place of their destination.
After some time, the scene changed from the forest trees to an open field where the Half-Elf didn't know such a place was there to begin with. As if it was hidden from her until found it and brought her here.
She looked at the field with an awestruck expression as she saw something she hadn't thought she would see in Elior Forest.
It was an open field of flowers spanned as far as the eye can see. With different colors, both beautiful and amazing to behold.
It was something Emilia never thought she wanted to see until nown
"Amazing…"
"You liked it?"
The Half-Elf looked at her friend, the one she found wandering in the forest nearly a month ago, with a nod and a happy smile. Showing the boy at her response.
The boy grinned at the sight of his friend's acceptance.
"Great! Now I have something to show you."
He grabbed her hand once more and made it to the field of flowers with the Half-Elf amazed at the sight when she came close to the sea of flowers.
As a few moments went by, with Emilia enjoying every second of it, smelling the fragrance this field of flowers has. Before she heard Subaru say.
"Emilia, please close your eyes. I have a surprise for you."
She looked at the boy confused, but she nonetheless did what he said and closed her eyes. Not knowing what the boy had in store nor what it was. But she trusted him enough to know it was safe.
Emilia felt something placed on her head, something soft and it smelled good.
"Now open your eyes. Do you like it."
Heeding his words, she opened her eyes and touched the object on her head. All the while giving a surprised look on her face as she saw the boy smiling brightly at her.
"Did you make this for me, why?"
She asked, not knowing the exact reason why Subaru made a flower crown for her. Her confusion at this gift wasn't something she was used to.
He gave her another bright smile as his face softened pleasantly as he answered.
"Because I wanted to see if you could look any cuter."
With that simple response, and a smile that made her even happier. She couldn't help but herself to smile at his answer.
"Subaru you dummy."
"Yep, that's me! You're most dummy of a friend you could ever have! Me, Natsuki Subaru!"
With those words alone, the two laughed joyfully as they played on the sea of flowers with the brightest of smiles on their faces.
The last scene is inspired by a certain post in the Re:Zero subreddit and dialogue has been directly taken from a guy. Props to him/her everyone!
That's all for now. gabrielchiong11, also known as Mamon Ramon in Reddit, and see you guys later.