Taking a detour through the merchant's district, Pleiades had been leading his team to Rom's Loot House efficiently enough when his eye had caught something else. The sight of a small girl with green hair, shaking her head around looking for someone.

"That child, do you think she's lost?"

Emilia interjecting in, had called attention to the new task at hand. Subaru gave a glare at the child wondering if the girl should be helped or not but Pleiades stood still whilst staring at her shaky eyes and cringed at the sight of Plum.

Pleiades unfortunately knew all about Plum...and Kadomon…and Raksha. They'd been one of those who had their heads melted off by Shaula's stinger, a brutal fate for a loving family who had been misfortunate enough to have met [Natsuki Subaru]. That was supposed to be the fate for every one of those people and Plum, an innocent child, had been no different. Pleiades was involuntarily reminded by his stolen memories of that feeling of steep fear Plum felt when her parents had been killed in front of her eyes shortly followed by her own death.

"I'm disgusting."

And remembering all of it left a bad taste in his mouth. Pleiades cursed himself under his breath that it's what he gets for deciding to go with his plan of reading their books. He silently hoped that his future reunions wouldn't become as emotionally painful as this.

"I get you want to help her, but don't you think that'd slow us down to getting to the Loot House? If we keep up our current pace we could probably get there by the end of the hour."

Followed by Subaru, making a counter-argument towards Emilia. He didn't think much of the girl, wanting to instead pursue their current goal, but if Emilia and Pleiades had a differing opinion towards his own he'd back down.

"Yes, it would slow us down, but that girl still needs our help!"

Emilia did not falter against Subaru's plea. Pleiades was always reminded of her compassionate side. He knew everything about it, obviously. It took Pleiades a quick second to come to the conclusion that just a few minutes of time would be needed to help Plum, he already knew Emilia would help the girl without Subaru anyways.

"It'll be fine, Subaru. We'll get the girl to her mother in no time."

Pleiades reassured Subaru that not that much time would be wasted in giving the girl the help she needs, and Subaru backed down from his proposition and went with the words of his new allies.

"I'll take things from here, Emilia."

Pleiades, being the first one to approach Plum, gulped down the guilt he had for the terrible fate befell on her that he'd been responsible for committing and extended out his hand to introduce himself as someone friendly.

"Looking for your mother? I know right where she is, I could take you to her if you wish."

Plum hesitated for a few more seconds due to the uncanny sight of both the girl who looked like the Witch behind the white haired man as well as the gritty appearance of Pleiades who had scary looking sharp eyes, a scar on his head, and a case of a hazy left eye that seemed to hold secrets deep within. However she soon calmed down after realizing from Pleiades's attempt of a smile was someone trying to be friendly and took his offer after the calm smile he gave had dealt with her fear.

"Thank you, sir."

Plum took hold of Pleiades's hand and made sure to follow his footsteps. Subaru and Emilia walked behind his figure, both appreciating Pleiades's helpful demeanor from the few impressions they got from him.

"He talks about being a monster but all I've seen him do is help."

Subaru had to admit, however much his counterpart seemed creepy in many aspects, he'd been nothing but a source of help who already proved his worth by saving Subaru from street thugs shortly after meeting him. So the way Pleiades talked about being this kind of brutal mass murderer disheveled Subaru. That someone who looks as kind as him was guilty of an unimaginable amount of sins left Subaru baffled.

In no time, not a few minutes after meeting Plum, Pleiades had already approached the mother, Raksha, and gave her a wave indicating familiarity. Before Pleiades could say a word, Plum had let go of his hand and ran towards her mother, jumping into her arms with joy.

"Oh there you are! Where did you run off to!"

Laughing with glee, the mother who was beginning to worry for his daughter had her impending anxiety squashed once Plum entered her arms.

"That scary looking man helped me!"

Plum pointed at Pleiades with a smile on her face, somewhat catching him off guard to be called out like that in public.

"Now Plum, that's not how you thank people who helped you, be more kind. And you, thank you for helping my daughter."

Pleiades gave a smile to the mother and they both nodded at each other in mutual agreement. Turning his back on those two, Pleiades returned to what the gang of four's objective was, catching Felt.

"I feel relieved that she'd been reunited so quickly. You reaaally seem like a experienced man, Pleiades."

A real 'experienced' guy, Subaru thought. So experienced that he had taken the hand of the little girl and led her directly to her mother without any sort of struggle or backtracking.

"Almost as if he knew where she'd exactly be."

Subaru hoped this didn't mean what he think it did, that this was only a coincidence. But the backstory Pleiades gave didn't work in favor of defending the potential crime that had been committed, and the feeling of doubt festered in his heart. Subaru's doubt formed in the shape of 'maybe Pleiades would stoop down to even that level.'

"Yeah, you got to her so quickly that it was a bit off putting!"

Those words being said by Subaru, Pleiades got a clue that Subaru had a creeping suspicion on his efficiency. Since when did [Natsuki Subaru] become a detective, Pleiades wondered. It didn't matter to him anyway, Subaru should know the answer by now.

"It's nothing, really. Let's get back on our thief hunt, shall we?"

With a nod from Emilia and a sigh from the disappointed Subaru, the gang returned to walking in the direction of the Loot House. Puck returning to Emilia's crystal to save energy and with Subaru giving a worrying glance towards Pleiades every so often during their short journey. Subaru pushed down the doubt to the back of his head, and came to the conclusion during their walk to the Loot House that now was not the time to address his suspicions to Pleiades.

Not much time had passed since helping the girl, but the gang was now officially in what'd be called the slums district.

"It hurts to see the outer parts of the capital like this. This place is so run down…and the people here seem cold and hungry. Are you sure this is the kind of place where my insignia would be sold?"

Emilia frowned at the sight of the slums. Something she didn't want to be reminded of, but for it to be a necessary sight. She silently told herself to be reminded to address these issues once the Royal Selection had begun, and hoped for her spotty memory to be able to deliver on that.

"Ah, we're close to where we need to be. Don't fret too much Emilia, we'll get your insignia very soon."

"Hm, you've been very kind since we met, Pleiades. I'm reaaally glad to have come across you and Subaru. Just make sure to teach your little brother some lessons on what being a benevolent person is."

Subaru's mouth gaped open upon hearing the equivalent of a rejection being dropped onto himself by a cute girl he just so happened to take a liking to.

"For a different version of myself!? Seriously!?"

Subaru silently thought to himself as he pretended to have invisible tears roll down his cheeks.

"Hey! You think I wouldn't hear that, I'm still right here!"

At Subaru's cry, Emilia gave a giggle which further engraved a heart break within him.

"I'm sorry for saying it but you definitely need to learn a thing or two from Pleiades. I'm not trying to say he's better than you or anything, but a kinder heart would be a welcome addition."

Subaru crossed his arms and pouted in disapproval of how Emilia slandered his name even whilst she closed her eyes and shaked her hands in an attempt to comfort Subaru's insecurities.

"Alright! We're here!"

Whilst Emilia and Subaru's heads turned back to where Pleiades yelled out, Pleiades set his fists on his hips as he looked towards the building in front of him. They had arrived at the Loot House, and in only thirty minutes.

"And you're sure about this?"

Emilia had been slightly astonished at how quick this was all occurring, and wondered if Pleiades was acting reckless in this situation.

"Yup! A hundred percent this is where the thief will be. Here, I'll just knock and you'll see, okay?"

He was certainly a person you could call eccentric, Emilia had come to the conclusion of.

"Okay?"

Taking Emilia's head falling to her side as a yes, Pleiades was given his free reign of trust from her and took to knocking on the door, which naturally summoned the attention of the one behind that door. That being the owner of the place, Rom.

"For a whale."

Rom took to this as being an expected guest or one of his employees, who hopefully took into consideration the illegalness of this activity, and was covert enough to remember the established fact of there being passwords.

"The jig is up, Rom! We're here for a jewel."

Rom had been confused by the voice of someone he had never heard of before, but came to a conclusion that it was new people who were well informed of what kinds of dealings he made, likely from other customers. It's always nice to see new customers getting in on the goodies, more money for him.

"What? Oh, new customers."

Rom stopped pouring out his drink and got off his chair, then set his massive hand onto the door's locks to allow the person who stood behind inside. And upon opening that door, Rom was met with a shock that there were more people waiting outside than from what he had believed. Coupled alongside his business being called a 'jig' worried Rom further that this wouldn't turn into a dealing, but some sort of group of vigilantes looking for a fight. Another thought from Rom being that perhaps the funny looking boy was just an eccentric weirdo, many like those existed out here in this forsaken country.

"And what jewel have you come here lookin' for, boy?"

The old man stared down at the white haired boy with a tinge of disdain. Pleiades, who interrupted Rom's drinking time, came here looking for Dragon's know what. A jewel could've been anything. And this poor fool, who somehow seemed to be familiar with who Rom was despite Rom himself not remembering if he'd ever seen someone like him around, waltzed in in his Loot House expecting the issue to be dealt with easily. But Rom knew all too well, you don't just get back stolen items for free, you're gonna have to negotiate with him first.

"Well I know that stingy daughter of yours took something very important from this girl right here."

Rom's attention was caught on the mention of having a daughter, that could only mean one thing to him.

"Ya' mean Felt? Ah, she probably got you caught up in one of her jobs. Sorry for that but if you're looking to buy back that jewel you best wait until she comes back with the goods."

"Buy? Why do we have to buy back something that was stolen."

Emilia turned her head to the side in confusion and thought that this was her insignia that was being talked about, right?

"Loot House rules."

Subaru's eye twitched at such a barbaric business rule and wondered how long it'd take before this whole blatantly illegal den would come crashing down.

"Well that's a real shitty policy that'll be sure to put you out of business!"

Rom took Subaru's comeback to consideration, thought about it for a few seconds, and then laughed senselessly on the young boy's poor judgment.

"Hah! This business has been going for years! Ain't no way I'm shutting down this place any time soon, even if I'm getting old. Now take your seats and wait till Felt comes back."

Emilia, Subaru, and Pleiades walked into the Loot House, which was dotted with all sorts of material on the walls as well as the floor, and sat down onto the chairs that faced the counter. Emilia and Subaru, that is, Pleiades had touched the bottom of the chair in preparation to begin discussing the matter with Rom before he was interrupted by the voice of that man's apparition.

"The bowel hunter will be getting here soon, ten minutes or so if my old noggin could remember properly. If you've got a plan up your sleeve, it best be done now."

Pleiades smacked his head upon forgetting how soon Elsa would've arrived at the scene. He gave a nod to the apparition of Rom and briskly walked over back to the entrance.

"That reminds me, there's someone I have to bring here. Stay here and wait for Felt's arrival, will you?"

Subaru scratched his chin at the weird change in Pleiades's pace and gave his nod of agreement.

"Oh, that's fine with me, Pleiades."

With Emilia's affirmation, Pleiades opened the door and prepared to exit the building.

"Hold on, bring who!?"

Rom had spoken up, his suspicions on what the white haired boy was up to rose up again. Those freakish eyes of his were too distrustful for Rom.

"That's a surprise!"

Pleiades ran out of the Loot House in a hitch, leaving Rom to worry further about what's to come of his shop. The day was getting more and more unusual for everyone.

"This plan is pretty dumb, but it'll probably work!"

Pleiades huffed out as he pressed his legs against the dirt, running uphill to an open area of the slums. Upon turning his head whilst grabbing on his knees to get a good look at his surroundings and a fresh breather for a couple seconds, Pleiades straightened his back, stomped his leg to the ground with all his energy and opened his mouth. Thinking this is what'll garner Reinhard's ear for sure.

"REINHAAAAARD!"

Pleiades in his quick planning came to the conclusion that if this was what [Natsuki Subaru] did back in the alleyway to get Reinhard's attention, surely it would work again here. That Sword Saint was filled with too many divine protections to not hear this cry for help.

As he had expected, a brief flash of light accompanied the scream shortly after it had exited Pleiades's lungs. It was within that red flash of light, that the Sword Saint, Reinhard Van Astrea appeared before Pleiades.

"I heard that you yelled my name in a frantic nature. Is there something I need to assist with, citizen?"

Once the dust settled down from Reinhard's appearance, it was his vibrant red hair that contrasted against the brownish slums that Pleiades was able to notice about him first. It was the famous Sword Saint in the flesh.

"Isn't that just funny. You actually showed up!"

Good old Reinhard. Pleiades's old buddy, and his number one on his former target list. Pleiades nuzzled his shoe against the dirt out of a sense of embarrassment that he never got to see inside Reinhard's head, and likely won't ever have the chance to do so anymore.

"Yes, I was actually wandering near the slums on my day off when I heard you yell for my name and I do have a divine protection that gives me an enhanced sense of hearing."

It was something Pleiades had expected, Reinhard had proven to him before that he could come up with the silliest things in the nick of time before.

"You just love being overpowered, don't you? Anyway, I called your name because there's a problem I need you to deal with that I'm afraid not even the Lugunican guards could handle."

Reinhard's eyes rose in intrigue, and thought that this call for help had more nuance to it than he initially thought it would've.

"The Bowel Hunter plans on attacking that building, of which my friends are inside of, very soon. I need you to get there before she can so those inside can remain safe."

Reinhard turned his head to the direction that Pleiades pointed whilst talking and saw that the location didn't stand out at all from the surrounding buildings. On why someone as infamous as her would be arriving at a location like that confused Reinhard, even further perplexing him that his divine protection of wind reading was not going off, meaning Pleiades really meant what he said.

"I'm surprised you speak the truth on such a thing, I detect no lie. I won't question how exactly you obtained that information for now since this is supposed to be an urgency."

"Get em, Rein."

Reinhard dashed off the ground in a hurry to the Loot House so fast that Pleiades had been interrupted from taking the action to begin running after him by all the dirt that came off the ground where Reinhard had taken his hasty steps.

"Even now I wonder what memories he held of [Natsuki Subaru]. Maybe it was a bad thing I got whisked away so soon."

After he cleared the dirt off his clothes, Pleiades kicked off the ground and began chasing after the wind Reinhard left behind. The first one to appear in the scene of the Loot House being the Sword Saint. Opening that door, Reinhard noticed three people, something that slightly surprised him was the person at one of the chairs having a striking resemblance to the person he had just spoken to, perhaps they were brothers.

"Reinhard Van Astrea. I was asked to arrive here to deal with a threat."

On the completely bizarre appearance of someone so famous, Emilia and Rom's jaw had dropped, Rom's jaw harder.

"So this was the person he was referring to, what a load off."

Rom covered his face with his hands and laid his arms onto the table to take in the throbbing headache that was just about to form.

"The Sword Saint was the person Pleiades wanted to bring!?"

Subaru remained at a loss of why some knightly looking guy showing up was so surprising, and tried to make out what he could discern from the title that Emilia spat out that this was likely some super chivalrous and famous knight, if calling him a saint was correct.

"Damn it, Rein! You're too fast for even me to keep up with!"

The door had been flipped open again by Pleiades, who was panting onto the floor attempting to catch his breath.

"Apologies for tiring you, but you said I needed to get there before the Bowel Hunter could."

"The Bowel Hunter!?"

Rom, Emilia as well as Puck went in shock by the name Reinhard so slyly dropped. Subaru remained further confused on what any of that was supposed to mean, and felt distanced from the rest of everybody else. Silently cursing himself for not knowing enough about the world he had just been summoned to in not less than an hour ago.

"She'll be here soon."

Once Pleiades had given his warning to the rest of the others, a knock on the door was heard which caused all to remain silent. Emilia and Subaru tensed up on the ominous nature of the knock coupled with what Pleiades had just said whilst Reinhard prepared to stand his ground, with Rom only narrowing his eyes to see just who it'll be.

As the people inside the Loot House continued to stay still, careful not to make any unwanted noise. The deafening silence inside was interrupted again by a second brief knock on the door followed by the voice of a girl calling out to those inside.

"Old Man Rom? You in there?"

Once those inside realized that this wasn't the voice that belonged to the infamous Bowel Hunter, those that truly understood the fear of having to confront such an opponent gave a breath of relief and Rom stood up to open the door for the lady that had no clue what was happening.

"Y-yeah Felt, no password for now. Somethin' unusual is happening right now."

Whilst Rom jiggled open the door, Felt gave her own commentary on the unusualness of this day.

"Unusual? Yeah, you wouldn't believe what I just heard. Some guy yelled out for the Sword Saint so I had to take a detour so I wouldn't get cau-"

But before she could finish her version of the events, she cut herself off and went into shock at not only the visage of the half-elf she had just stolen a jewel from earlier, but the completely out of place fiery red haired knight that was well known for being the epitome of justice.

"What the hell!?"

Felt tried to step back but her shoulder had been grabbed onto by Rom, who held a concerned look on his face, something that she considered to be inconceivable.

"Felt, I need you to get behind me. The Sword Saint's sayin' that the Bowel Hunter is gonna show up here."

Felt became irritated that someone would dare interrupt her profiteering business like this and felt bad for the strange lady that offered her a living just to take a random elf's jewel.

"What? But I got a client coming here real soon!"

Pleiades put his hand to his temple in frustration that somehow Felt hadn't already known who the Bowel Hunter was.

"That client IS the Bowel Hunter!"

Felt was left silent by the bombshell that Pleiades dropped on her cranium. That certainly explains why her client looked so out of the ordinary, like there was more to her than she gave off.

"You've got to be joking. Felt, just what mess did you get caught up in?"

Rom's headache was further aggravated by Felt's stumbling. Had it not been for that white haired freak, they'd probably be dead soon enough without any all powerful knight to show up to their door.

"Hey! She was offering me a hefty sum for some royal jewel."

"Royal? So you admit that you're the thief that stole my insignia!?"

Emilia had jumped out of her chair on the mention of her insignia, and found herself astonished at how brazen Felt was about it, not even trying to conceal her crime.

"Ten holy coins is ten holy coins!"

Felt waved off her hand at Emilia, which made the half-elf's face turn more red with anger.

"Uh, guys, isn't the Bowel Hunter or whoever coming to this place right now?"

Subaru had wanted to drop into the conversation to be useful for today, something he's aiming for ever since his recent frustration of not getting whatever those fantasy world titles were supposed to mean festered inside.

"Right! Felt, come here."

"Ugh."

Felt heeded to Rom's call and slowly stepped towards the old man until she passed him.

"Good. Now everyone that isn't the Sword Saint, get behind the counter!"

With Pleiades's earlier warning of the Bowel Hunter having approached, the people of the Loot House trusted in him and followed his request, with Emilia and Felt being the first to lay their backs behind the counter, followed by Rom kneeling on the floor whilst overlooking Reinhard.

"I will do the best of my ability to keep you people safe."

"Right…"

Pleiades, the last one other than Subaru to get behind the counter, made an eye of mockery towards the back of Reinhard's head before stooping down to lay his back to let that hero take care of his problem.

"Your life is in good hands, Subaru. That guy is one damn overpowered monster."

Subaru got a hint of the disappointment Pleiades felt to be handing the fate of his life in the hands of another, reminding himself of his pride, and swallowed that feeling up to comply with the fortune teller's instruction.

With everybody except Reinhard having huddled behind Rom's counter, they could only wait in anticipation for when the Bowel Hunter arrived. Only seconds passed by in silence before another knock was heard on the door.

"Identify yourself."

Reinhard called out to the door, stood fast with his hand tightly gripped onto his sword's hilt.

No response came though. A few more seconds of silence passed by before a deafening crash from the roof. Everyone from below had yelled out in the confusion, and as they moved their heads above in their attempt to see what made that sound, one by one they almost instantaneously noticed the figure that came down from the roof. The first sight was the black boot of the Bowel Hunter followed by the rest of her slender body clad in that dark and revealing outfit, with the most distinctive part being her purple eyes that glowed with the bloodlust of a killer.

Elsa gave a quick lick of her lips from the impending impact as her arm, outstretched with a kukri blade, was being flung right at her target, Emilia. Only to be met with disappointment upon landing on her feet once she realized that the blade had been deflected by the pesty Great Spirit of Fire.

"You most certainly caught me off guard there with how fast you move, however no nasty old murderer is hurting my Lia!"

"My my, and I just wonder how a spirit's bowels would look once they plop exposed on the floor."

With another quick lick of her lips in hunger for the half elf's bowels, Elsa flipped out another of her blades and dashed towards the counter to rip it out, and instead was met with a white gloved hand that shattered what she held.

"I'd rather you not ignore me, it is my job to protect those people from you."

Elsa squawked at the smirking Sword Saint's face as her blade had been put out of use a second time and retreated to the other end of the Loot House to prepare for dealing with the massive headache that was Reinhard.

"Reinhard Van Astrea."

"Elsa Granhiert."

As Elsa smiled at the fact that she'll be fighting such a famous person, Pleiades looked around the counter and noticed the bat that Rom regularly held close to himself.

"Rom, give him your club!"

Upon hearing Pleiades's plea, Rom gave him a short nod and hastily grabbed onto his massive club that was under his counter, proceeded by that bat being thrown at the Sword Saint, who caught it and turned back to face the impending battle head on.

The people behind the counter watched in amazement as the Bowel Hunter pulled out two more blades from her back and practically began dancing with the Sword Saint who continually deflected the blows with Rom's bat, chipping away at the steel until those two blades in her hands had become no more.

"Would you be willing to surrender now?"

Reinhard, who had been unscathed by the all out attack from Elsa, reaffirmed his smile and heart of justice by having offered her a peaceful means of ending this battle. Elsa, on the other hand, groaned from the headache she had just developed and took that idea to be a complete joke. She only needed more time until she could hone her bladesmanship and come back stronger than before, ready to strike at the Sword Saint's bowels at a moment's notice. Surrendering would dishonor her name, her title, and her 'family'.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. Just what would my mother think of me?"

"A mother? It must be painful to see your daughter grow up into a dangerous criminal. But if you don't wish to surrender, then I'm afraid this fight will end with your death."

Elsa smirked upon Reinhard's honey combed words of her 'mother', as well as the knightly death sentence she was provided with and prepared herself from the impending counter-attack he'd have to do.

His counterattack being the bat he held in one of his hands being slowly formed into a bomb that will strike where Elsa stood and blow her to smithereens, that was his plan to end Elsa's terror.

The counterattack was set off, and everyone in the Loot House had their eyes engulfed by the blinding light that consumed the poorly constructed wooden structure in its violent vibrating energy, causing the roof to collapse onto the ground.

After the massive explosion had finished its destruction, the area had quieted down to murmurs of confusion from what had happened. Leaving the place eerily silent until the first one had realized what just occurred and spoke up.

"My-my house!"

Rom cried out as he watched everything he worked for in the years he had raised Felt continually collapse in front of his eyes, demolished in one stroke of the Sword Saint's swordplay.

After the dust had been settled and the noise of clutter ceased, Subaru had spoken up to clear the silence that left the Loot House.

"That was…surprisingly easy. That damn beast saved our asses here."

Subaru was instantly punched in the arm by a jealous Pleiades, who made a silly face for him to hide the emotion.

"It was easy because of my foretelling, don't attribute our victory to Rein."

Pleiades knew that he was right on this, in the memories he held the battle with Elsa had gone on much longer and even ended up with Rom and Subaru being seriously injured. Which Emilia and Reinhard, who were nodding in agreement to Pleiades's assertion, didn't know about.

"Ah but now that Elsa's gone, what will that mean for you two?"

Emilia wondered about what the Natsuki brothers would do after this. They'd been a great help to her and helped get her insignia back within her sight in less than an hour after having met. She thought of any kind of reward she could give to them, it was the least she could do in an act of kindness of helping a clumsy woman who couldn't even protect her own belongings.

"Right…"

Subaru was clueless as to what could be continued on from this, so he'll have to rely on Pleiades's fortune telling for now. Which has pissed him off enough already as he doesn't want to be dependent on someone else, even if that someone is supposed to be some sort of alternate version of himself.

"On that one, I'd like to say that-"

"That we'd love to continue being with you, Emilia! We're totally homeless and that sort of thing right now so you wouldn't mind if we crashed with you, right!?"

Pleiades stared at Subaru's interruption with a poker face and nearly face-palmed himself upon understanding that it was just his old nature of being a horny seventeen year old, the good old Subaru being exemplified once again. Something which Pleiades would never openly admit made him jealous, that his undeveloped self from the beginning is closer to being the [Natsuki Subaru] Pleiades was able to form the image of from the memories he'd stolen than everything he'd gone through to get back his memories. Which was…beginning to sound oddly concerning for Pleiades, but he stopped himself from thinking of it any further so that he could smack some sense in Subaru.

"That was literally what I was about to ask her."

"Wait, seriously!?"

Subaru blushed out of embarrassment that his rash thinking made the situation awkward.

"Oh, the stupid and useless me, being outshined by my own clone."

Subaru solemnly thought to himself. He's been no help so far, which Subaru hopes he could change if time goes on soon enough. Pleiades is expecting something greater from him, that he knows.

"What my little brother said is true, we actually don't have a home right now nor do we have anything to do here as we just got here. So we're thinking if we could travel alongside you to wherever you live."

Emilia thought of Pleiades's offer, but was quickly convinced when Puck had given a nod of approval to the proposition.

"You've already helped me so much, it'd just be rotten of me if I turn down your off-"

Before the offer could be accepted by Emilia, she had been interrupted by the loud sound of the wooden planks that crashed down earlier by Reinhard's antics suddenly beginning to move. From which a badly damaged Elsa exited out of, with the last blade that she had been holding in her right hand aiming right towards Emilia.

"Shit, I was so caught up in celebrating the victory I completely forgot what had happened to [Natsuki Subaru] afterwards!"

Pleiades, in his panicked thoughts, hastily grabbed onto his whip. If he had nothing better to defend Emilia with, then perhaps if he hit with enough accuracy, he could whip Elsa's blade out of her hand to save her.

Reinhard was caught in disbelieving shock at the Bowel Hunter's entering of the picture, and worse yet he was all the way across from Emilia, who he noticed was the one that was being charged towards by Elsa, at the other side of the room. He began running towards her but much doubt formed in his mind that he could reach her in time.

Felt and Rom stood still in the confusion and stared in anticipation of what Emilia's fate would be.

Subaru quickly reacted to Elsa's reappearance as well, using the best thing he could do for now, his arms. Rushing over to Emilia's side, he had managed to push her out the direction of Elsa's blade and fully embraced what was to come from being disemboweled.

Pleiades's eyes further bulged as he watched Subaru hold out his arms in order to open up more space from Emilia away from Elsa.

"Does he have a death wish!?"

This is bad, very bad. Subaru had no bat by his side to at least take some of the blade's cutting edge this time. If Pleiades didn't give it his all at this very moment, Subaru, the progenitor to [Natsuki Subaru] could die.

Yelling out in ferocity and desperation to save Subaru from such a fate, Pleiades threw his whip between the closing distance that Elsa and Subaru shared with all his might. But Pleiades didn't get his whip to hit Elsa's blade, as he had swung too soon in the panic. Instead the whip had traveled in between Subaru and Elsa's quickly closing distance. And Pleiades shrieked upon realizing that he couldn't do any more in this short amount of time left.

Elsa's blade had passed through the whip, which expectedly cut down the whip in half. The whip surprisingly took some of the blade's main blow, as its thick guiltylowe skin had been strong enough to slow down the kukri blade's cutting edge. But the thickness of the whip's skin was not enough, and Elsa's blade had struck right into Subaru's bowels.

"That boy got in my way."

Elsa spat out with disdain. This mission had been a total failure for her, and it was likely due to that white haired freak and his annoying brother. She could've swore that it was their voice she heard when the sound of help was called earlier.

As Elsa hopped back to exit from the scene, Subaru's colors had drained from his face from fear. His short twitching sounds exiting from his mouth being the last thing he could mutter out before the blood from his fully exposed intestines began gushing out.

"Subaru!"

Pleiades, Emilia, and Reinhard had yelled out in unison whilst approaching the falling Subaru in order to tend to him in whatever way they could. Pleiades in particular was feeling completely awful at this very moment and began to blame himself for Subaru's wound.

"I failed, I failed, I failed."

Tears began to pour out from Pleiades, and he was sure he'll forever lament himself for allowing Subaru to get hurt like this.

"No, you didn't fail. Don't blame yourself, Pleiades. I can still heal him."

Pleiades was shortly snapped out of his fear that Subaru would potentially die due to him having not done enough, and took Emilia's words into consideration until he could calm himself.

"Hey, I think I proved myself useful today…a fantasy in another world, an insane version of me included in the package. Heh."

Subaru thought in deteriorating excitement as his vision got darker, until it went pitch black, alongside his consciousness. He'll consider this a good day even amidst this, very different from the usual one for sure.

"With my healing he should be able to remain stabilized, you've already done enough so don't get worked up about him too much."

Pleiades sighed in disappointment towards himself, but knew that nothing further could be done. Emilia was right, but that disappointment won't go away for a long time. Pleiades was absolutely sure he could've done better.

"If only I hadn't slipped up. He didn't need to experience this."

"It'll be fine, Pleiades. I must thank you for informing me of the Bowel Hunter's impending movement. If you weren't here today, Felt and Rom, and maybe even Miss Emilia wouldn't have survived. So please, don't take it too hard on yourself."

Pleiades groaned that he needed a pep-talk from Reinhard of all people and took his mind off this matter any further.

"But now that we're all safe, I do have to ask. Just how exactly did you know that the Bowel Hunter was coming to this very spot?"

To that question, Pleiades tried his best to make a grin despite Subaru's condition whilst turning his head towards Reinhard and spoke up in most earnesty.

"Foretelling."

Reinhard, nearly stepping back in surprise upon detecting no lie, took Pleiades's answer with a sense of shock and tried to come to a logical conclusion on how such a power could've been acquired.

"Are you…perhaps a secret descendant of the Evil Eye Tribe?"

Pleiades met Reinhard's question with absolute confusion. Just how did he come to that conclusion, Pleiades wondered.

"I understand you're confused. Then, I may be wrong on that. The Evil Tribe have been confirmed to be long extinct, however there are rumors going around that there are still some pockets of them left alive. I was wondering this because of another rumor concerning them, that they somehow had the ability to see events from the future, which seems to be most likely what you are capable of."

Pleiades dropped his eyes in apathy that Reinhard gave him some obscure information that didn't correlate to a single ounce of what he actually had and thought of telling Reinhard the real truth of it before reminding himself of his confusing first day where for some reason his heart was tightly groped on by a dark hand for dropping too many hints of his power.

"Rein, I'm not some secret Evil Eye guy. It's just something I was able to develop from reading a lot of books."

Reinhard was further shocked that what Pleiades admitted turns out to be a truth, and began to wonder if books could really do that for you.

"And I detect no lie from that…you're serious, aren't you?"

Reinhard's disbelief was confirmed with a nod from Pleiades.

"Well then, Lia, you better start studying harder! You may just end up unlocking this power."

Emilia blushed in frustration from Puck's comment, she also shared Reinhard's disbelief. For one thing in particular.

"It's hard to believe that books could do that for you. Even Beatrice hasn't unlocked that sort of future sight, and she's holed up in her library all day!"

"Right, Beatrice…"

Pleiades thought back to that bright girl. That bright girl, that bright girl that he strangled to death, that bright girl who trusted him, that bright girl who didn't resist whilst he choked out the life out of her to the very end. That bright girl, who isn't bright right now, because Pleiades isn't [Natsuki Subaru].

"Hey so, I know I've just been standing around here doing nothing but, you came here to get this back, right?"

Felt had walked into the conversation, and showcased the jewel that she had thieved from Emilia earlier today. To which Emilia made a short gasp upon remembering her real reason for being here and covered her mouth in embarrassment.

"My insignia!"

"Well, you guys did save me and old man Rom back here. So I'm sorry, no hard feelings, alright?"

At a distance away from the two who held the conversation, it was Reinhard who gasped at what was held in Felt's hand. The insignia glowed in Felt's hand, something he couldn't dare to overlook.

Approaching Felt and taking hold of her arm, tightening his grip on it upon Felt's resistance, Reinhard inspected the oddity further which only confirmed his means. Felt was chosen as a candidate by that jewel.

"Hey! Get yer hands off Felt!"

Rom yelled at Reinhard, the sudden change of attitude in the Sword Saint's demeanor greatly throwing off Rom.

"You must understand that this woman, Felt, the insignia glows in her hand! I cannot overlook such a thing occurring before my eyes, it would be a crime not to!"

"I don't care if that thing is glowing on my hand or not, let go of me!"

"Felt, let Reinhard take care of you. The reason why the insignia is glowing whilst you're holding it is because it's indicating that you are a candidate for the throne."

Pleiades interjected in to diffuse the situation. It was a pain to see any more arguing to unfold, he knew that Reinhard would get his way anyhow. But preferred that it not resort to any mana drains.

"Felt's a what!?"

Rom was at a total loss of Pleiades's claim. Somehow the little girl he took care of was royalty. But that did bring some questioning on how he found Felt in the first place.

Recollecting his thoughts on his past, Rom remembered the abandoned nature of Felt. As if she was someone who was kidnapped and then left for dead, it was luck that brought Rom to pick up that little street girl from freezing to death.

Emilia had also been in shock at what Pleiades told, but if Reinhard's plea was true then it must be done. Justice was something Emilia wanted for this nation.

At the behest of Pleiades, Felt stopped attempting to resist Reinhard's whim and complied with whatever would have to happen to her afterwards. The idea of being royalty didn't sit with her as well as it would've with many other common folk. The royalty were rotten people, but if she's a candidate for the throne, Felt knew she could change that in some way.

"Heheh, my little girl, becoming royalty right here before my eyes. Thank you, Subaru. Thank you for letting me relive this moment."

Pleiades had been caught off guard by the unusual reappearance of Rom's apparition, who was weirdly satisfied right now. He looked towards it, trying to make sense of why it had come out of the blue, and remained at a loss.

"What I'm trying to say is, there ain't no use for me left for you. No reason for me to keep being with you either. So if you want me gone, I'll be gone, forever."

"So you mean, you've moved on?"

Pleiades whispered under his breath to not attract unwanted attention. This was getting very unusual for him, the voices had never been this independent before. And, it was new as well. Pleiades couldn't have believed Rom would ever say this to him.

"Goodbye, Subaru Natsuki."

Uttering out his final words, Rom's apparition faded away before Pleiades, which left the perplexed white haired boy in astonishment. This gave him a new idea, that the voices in him could be somehow satisfied? Or maybe it was just some unexpected thing with Rom in particular. Pleiades thought to himself that he'll have to consider this weird conversation in future interactions with those voices.

"So, moving past Felt's new position, will this mean you and your brother will be housed at Miss Emilia's home?"

Pleiades snapped out of his trance with the voice of Reinhard entering his ears. That reminded him, the problems of the mansion will be the next thing he must deal with along with Subaru.

"Yes, that's right. If that's what they wish, I'm in no position to deny them that."

Emilia stepped in, to clear up any further questioning. Before Elsa had interrupted the conversation, she gave her approval. So it will remain that way.

Pleiades gave a small smirk to Emilia's statement, his first day revisiting the scene hadn't gone as bad as he thought it could've. Subaru did more than what he might think he did for today. Pleiades reminded himself that he used to drown himself in self hatred until he found his idol.

Pleiades looked up at the radiant sunset that was no longer blocked by the existence of a roof, and hoped for a better future that he could share with Emilia, Beatrice, Puck, Reinhard, Felt, Rom, and everyone else he was to meet but most importantly, himself.

Author's Note: Finally, with Arc 1 complete, I can move past that invisible barrier of mine of being stuck in the capital and move onto the mansion arc. I need to rewatch episode 4-11 of season 1 and get my outline more detailed if I want to keep being consistent, Gluttonybaru's memories only being that of the successful loops throw me off.

Something I want to address would be my prose. I want to hear your gripes with it, and some ways I could improve it. As sometimes even I get confused from what I was trying to convey on a few spots during my rereading of it.