The Sage and The Sword Saint

by KnoxxWatt

After being forgotten by the world, he was accused and tortured by the people he called his friends. Fortunately for him, despite the Great Spirit's words, some people don't take her words for granted and believe him, including a certain red haired knight and a Vollachian princess. Although a little late in his rescue, the Sword Saint vows to protect his forgotten friend.

5. Unexpected Visitors

Chapter 5

Unexpected Visitors

It all began that one fine afternoon when the sound of dragon carriages approaching the Mansion reached her ears.

The rest of the members were in the reception room, enjoying a tea break brought about by the newest resident of their mansion. Carol had a placid smile, infected by the giggles and laughter she could hear all the way in the kitchen. Her high spirits wavered ever-so-slightly upon hearing the rumbling of wheels approaching the mansion.

Keeping the knife she held in her hand down on the cutting board, she wiped her hands on her apron to head out to the entrance hall and greet the unexpected visitors that had arrived here in the absence of the household's serving master—which could never mean anything good.

Just as she had turned around, about to leave the kitchen, a tap on the kitchen window drew her attention. It was her husband, Grimm, who had been watering the plants outside, calling her, his countenance successfully unsettling her.

"…royal knights…dragon carriage…" He informed as she opened the glass window, resulting in a surge of anxiety within her.

What could the Royal Knights want with them despite being aware that Reinhard was absent from the Mansion? A horrid possibility entered her mind. Did they somehow find out…

Did Heinkel do something?

She immediately shook her head. No, that couldn't be the case. He wouldn't endanger Louanna and no one else outside the Astrea household had been made aware of the presence of an extra guest in their midst. Whatever the purpose of their visit might be, Carol could not lose her calm and stir up their suspicions.

In the worst case scenario, she could have Grimm request the others to hide Subaru while she distracted the knights. But until then, she had absolutely nothing to worry about.

—Or at least, it was what she hoped.

---

"All of your thoughtless actions will come back to haunt you one day."

His elbow resting on the window-sill of the dragon carriage, Julius's blank eyes stared out the window and off into the distance with the trees rushing past them as they moved closer to their destination—the city of Flanders. One of the oldest cities of Lugunica with great historical importance, if Julius had been here for any other purpose he would have been overjoyed by it. It was not everyday he got the opportunity to visit this city.

With the situation at hand though, Julius was anything but happy. Touching his bangs out of habit, Julius let out a sigh. The words of the Sin Archbishop, the very last time he had seen him, swirled in his mind depriving him of his sleep and his peace of mind.

"I'm a man with no 'Name' or history, Julius. I'm only whatever you make me. And you're the ones who made me a villain more and more everyday."

Julius had not tortured an innocent man and now was certain of that fact. An innocent man would not have escaped. Even from Julius's initial interactions with him, the very first thing that man had done was scream his lungs out all of a sudden for no reason at all, leaving Julius quite shaken, and then proceed to try and escape from the carriage while on their way back to the Capital. Had Ia not informed him of the Sin Archbishop's plans, the cultist might have very well slipped away back then.

Yet, despite everything, even when that person was appealing to him with all the bitterness and spite in the world, Natsuki Subaru had still played Julius for a fool and Julius had fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

"Don't you know, Julius… you reap what you sow."

He did indeed. He had, even for an instant, believed in the archbishop's words and he was now facing the consequences for it. He sighed again, feeling the warmth of his breath on his hand as his fingers continued to fiddle around with his purple locks of hair falling on his face.

"You seem tense, Julius-senpai." A voice drew his attention as his golden eyes drifted over to meet the two sitting opposite his dragon carriage.

They were his two junior knights, who had joined around a year ago. Since none of the more veteran knights were available to accompany him for the trip, he was forced to bring along these two rookies. He couldn't find the heart to deny them, especially after they had begged him to let them come with him here.

The one who had spoken, Zacharias, was a teenager around sixteen years of age but with the personality of a tween, mischievous and rebellious with a propensity for bending the rules to fit his interests. While it was true that he was a troublesome child, his divine protection would prove to be extremely useful in the task they had set out to perform, which was the reason Julius had agreed to take him along with himself.

Zacharias's emerald green eyes turned to gaze at the discomposed Julius, already disinterested in the conversation he was having with his companion.

"It is only natural. This is an important mission. I would also suggest you two to stop joking around as well. This is not a picnic," Julius replied with a stern voice.

"So uptight!" Zacharias complained, leaning his head against the back with an out of place smile.

"Zacharias, this is serious. We are here to do a job."

"Don't worry, Julius-senpai! If they're hiding anything, we'll teach them a good lesson!" The third person in the carriage, the hot-headed Finn, opened his mouth as he punched his right fist on his left palm, with a certain excited gleam in his blue eyes.

Julius held his head as his two hopeless juniors discussed their course of action once they reached their destination. He worried about the future of his two juniors, who continued to be without a care in the world, despite the gravity of their assignment.

"Let me tell you, Zacharias. If they're hiding something, their eyes would reveal their fear. One look at us Royal Knights and they would be cowering in place," Finn said, his seriousness and confidence as he spoke making Julius sigh and Zacharias laugh.

"Too bad Reinhard-senpai isn't here. It would have been a sight to see! Watching him cowering in fear!" Zacharias joked, making his companion glare at him.

However, hearing his junior's words had a different effect on Julius as he grimaced, looking out to the approaching Astrea Mansion. To come here while distracting Reinhard away was a tactic Julius would never endorse, but even he can't deny the fact that if Reinhard was the one who helped the archbishop escape, his presence there would only serve to be a hindrance. They would not be able to find a thing with Reinhard there.

Once again, Julius looked out with a rising discomfort in his heart, when he was suddenly greeted with a warm sensation near the palm of his hand. He glanced down to observe his spirits hovering above his palm.

He gave them a strained smile and said, "It is alright. I am fine." But his spirits seemed unconvinced as they continued to hover near him. "…I just hope I never have to deal with him again," Julius whispered his confession followed by a tired sigh, out of earshot of his two juniors.

---

"Carol-sama, it's been a while," The Finest of Knights, Julius Juukulius spoke as he gave her an elegant bow. "I must say, it seems as though your loveliness has only further enhanced since the last time we met. It truly is quite hard to believe that you are no longer in your prime."

"Please stop with the flattery, Sir Juukulius," Carol responded with a sigh. Her eyes momentarily fluttered over in the direction of Grimm, who was eavesdropping on the conversation from the adjoining hallway, but she returned her focus to the three in front. "I believe you are well aware that the Young Master is currently in the Royal Capital. What could be the purpose of your visit?" Carol asked, a hint of confusion entered her face as she did.

"I have no easy way to say this but…" Julius began avoiding eye contact as much as possible. "I regret to inform you that… the Sin Archbishop we had captured in Priestella had escaped four days ago. …That is the reason we are here."

Carol Remendis, who had lived her life as Theresia van Astrea's attendant and Roswaal J Mathers's bodyguard, clenched her fist and did not allow her stoic demeanour to falter. For all she knew, she could be completely misunderstanding their purpose. They had yet to completely state the reason for their visit and Grimm had probably informed the others by now.

"I am sorry, Sir Juukulius. I still fail to see the purpose of your visit."

"I apologise for being unclear. …But as I have mentioned before, we are here searching for the Sin Archbishop."

Carol felt her heart almost stop upon hearing Julius utter those words. She swallowed her breath and directed her perplexed gaze at the three knights, asking, "I don't understand. Why would you wish to search for an escaped Sin Archbishop here in the Sword Saint's domain?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know anything!" A brash young blonde knight, standing beside Julius spoke, earning Carol's indignation as she straitened her eyes at him. "Felt-sama's and Priscilla-sama's camps had defended him in Priestella, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say-"

"I apologise if I was being unclear before as well, but we are not harbouring any Sin Archbishop here," Carol said sharply, cutting him off. "But if I have misunderstood your intentions and you are simply here to request for Young Master's assistance, you will have a better chance if you return back to where you came from."

"I-I apologise for Finn's behaviour. He is young and-" While Julius stuttered, trying to defend his junior's actions, only for his efforts to be futile when the knight named Finn opened his mouth without thinking once more.

"Hey lady, aren't you being extremely impolite to your guests? It almost makes us believe that you really are hiding him. If that scum is here, confess now and we'll let you off. But if you deny it and we find him, we'll make sure to arrest all of you," the blonde knight threatened Carol.

But before Carol even had a chance to respond, "It's your incompetence that allowed your so-called Sin Archbishop to escape. Don't come blaming us for your faults!"

Carol turned out in the direction of the voice and so did the knights. They were greeted with the sight of a very angry Felt, glowering at them, her hands on her hips as she walked towards them. Carol heaved a sigh of relief. If Felt was here, it meant Subaru had been safely guided out of the reception room elsewhere.

"Felt-sama, it's been a while since-" Julius tried to diffuse the situation

"Save it, cowards! Explain to me clearly why you're here in Reinhard's absence," Felt demanded, stomping her feet. "You didn't let us take him and now you come here accusing us! If that's the only reason you're here, get out!"

"Felt-sama, I apologise for the trouble we caused, but we do not mean to accuse you or any member of your camp of anything," Julius replied, and Felt and Carol raised their brows inquisitively.

"What do you mean?" Felt asked.

"We are currently conducting searches in all possible places we think the Sin Archbishop might have run off to. This includes the residences of all the knights and candidates who he might possibly…" Julius stopped, hesitating before he could utter the next words. "…he may want… to exact revenge upon. My own residence and the Hoshin Company's headquarters as well as the area around it have been under scrutiny as well," Julius explained.

"Sir Juukulius, why are you here then? We have not committed anything against him for him to wish revenge against us," Carol asked.

"As I mentioned, we are searching everywhere possible. An important thing to remember is that the Sin Archbishop was injured when he escaped. We are also searching all the places where he may have… had help," Julius replied with great hesitation and Carol could hear Felt grinding her molars.

"If you idiots are so sure he's a Witch Cultist, why don't you go search their hideouts instead of here?"

"We will…" Julius answered.

"As soon as we find where they are," the other brown-haired knight standing beside Julius interjected, making Julius look down in shame.

"So, it's as I thought. You knights are just trying to cover up your incompetence," Felt said and Carol couldn't help but agree.

By putting on a front that they are trying to search for the Sin Archbishop that slipped from their fingers, the knights were simply trying to appease the public and probably the sage council too while they're at it, that they are doing their jobs. The fact that the one they had even managed to capture with great difficulty had slipped away from right under their noses must have left a permanent black mark on their records.

"Don't listen to them, Julius-senpai! What do they know about how hard it's been for us?" Finn spoke out bitterly in defence for the knights, but neither Julius nor the other knight said a word of agreement.

"I understand it's troublesome for you. So far, only Emilia-sama and the others have been somewhat cordial to our request till now. Even Ferris and Wilhelm-sama were reluctant to have the Karsten Manor and the area around it searched… especially due to Crusch-sama's current state," Julius revealed with his eyes cast down.

While Carol had not been in Priestella to know clearly what had happened to Crusch Karsten, from his grave voice and Felt's own frown, she could understand that it was nothing pleasant.

"Oh, and let's not forget!" The brown-haired knight exclaimed all of a sudden. "Priscilla-sama broke a few of our men's jaws who'd gone to search her place."

"Heh!"

The knight's words had drawn a small unconscious chuckle from Felt while Carol sighed at her liege's reaction.

"Let's see how much longer you can smile like that! Once we're done scouring through this place, you'll be begging us to let you go!" Finn remarked rudely once again to which Felt paid no heed.

"Hah! I can't wait to see your terrified faces once Reinhard's back," Felt mocked the cowardly knights.

While Felt's unlady-like attitude usually made Carol hold her forehead in hopelessness, for the first time ever, she felt somewhat glad about Felt's feisty personality. Hearing her words, Julius frowned, Finn glared at her in anger and the other… smiled, completely unaffected by Felt's threat.

Carol felt apprehensive about the knight in question. But before she had a chance to pursue the reason for the knight's indifference, Julius spoke up, distracting her away from the knight in question to the more alarming issue at hand.

"Felt-sama, I apologise from the bottom of my heart for the trouble caused—but this is something we must do. Even you must admit how suspicious the timing of the Sin Archbishop's escape and Reinhard's return are. Please Felt-sama, let us-"

"—Tsk!" Felt clicked her tongue. "Yeah, yeah! Go ahead, you prick! Search all you want, but I'm definitely throwing you all out in ten minutes!"

Julius bowed before her with a grimace on his face. "I thank you, Felt-sama. That is—" began the Spirit Knight as six spirits glowing with different colours manifested and started dancing in the palm of his hands. "—sufficient for us."

Both Felt and Carol's eyes widened in horror.

"Finn, Zacharias, let us go," Julius commanded. Finn responded with a salute, but the brown-haired knight, Zacharias, gave no response. He seemed distracted, his eyes darting everywhere until, "Zacharias?" Julius called out to him again.

"YES, SENPAI! LET'S GO! YOUR SIX SPIRITS AND THE THREE OF US WILL HAVE NO TROUBLE SEARCHING THROUGH THIS ENTIRE PLACE!" Zacharias exclaimed, or rather shouted excitedly while Julius sighed. Both Carol and Felt seemed taken aback by the sudden loudness but it seemed such behaviour was commonplace for him.

"Zacharias, what are you doing!?" Finn exclaimed in a panic. "You get excited too easily! Are you trying to alert the Archbishop of our presence!?"

"If the Archbishop is here," Zacharias pointed out, to which Julius nodded.

"Indeed. That is why we are here to search," Julius responded as the spirits swirling around on the palm of his hand dispersed and the knights walked in.

"Fuck!" Felt cursed under her breath. Under normal circumstances, Carol would have asked her liege to mind her language but at that moment she couldn't, when the very same thought fleeted across her mind, the instant she saw the six spirits fly away in different directions.

---

A few minutes earlier in the reception room as the Felt camp was enjoying a relaxing break, "...three royal knights….are here…for escaped sin archbishop…." Grimm had burst into the room all of a sudden, delivering the news with great difficulty in his hoarse voice.

Hearing his words, their eyes widened in horror. Subaru felt his breath stop as a phantom pain spread throughout his body, like all his nerve-endings were set on fire and he was being boiled alive.

The tiny bleak dark room that had been his home for about two months (or more)—he did not want to return back under any circumstances whatsoever. He raised his hand to heart thumping erratically in his chest and clutched it. In doing so, he could feel the tip of his trump card hidden in his shirt well out of view from the others who were watching him in pity.

He bit his lips in frustration. This was precisely the kind of development he had foreseen and it was the reason why he had not wanted to spend the rest of his days with the Felt camp. As long as he was still here, his past would continue to hunt him down. Yet, he had gone against his instincts and now he had not only put himself but everyone around him in danger as well.

His head down, fists clenched, eyes shut and a bitter sigh, he began, "I knew I shouldn't have-"

"If you're going to say it's better for you to have left, you should just shut up, big bro!" Felt glared at him and then, she turned to face everyone. "Hide him everyone! I'll go distract the knights while you hide him. Quick!" She ordered while the others nodded their heads in tandem, ready to do whatever it took to hide him.

Before Subaru even had a chance to protest, Ezzo had grabbed his hand and was dragging him out of the room as fast as he could.

"Where are you taking me?" Subaru asked, looking back while Ezzo kept pulling him forward.

"We'll leave through the back entrance in the garden," Ezzo replied.

"…"

Subaru grit his teeth as his face contorted into a frown. He was grateful—really grateful for the help, which was why he wasn't resisting as they were trying to hide him.

But knowing his luck—

"Yes, senpai! Let's go! Your six spirits and the three of us will have no trouble searching through this entire place!"

—Subaru doubted he could escape this easily.

A shout from the entrance hall reached their ears and the others—Ezzo pulling him in front and Gaston, Rachins and Camberley behind him—gasped. Their eyes widened.

"Six spirits!!" Gaston exclaimed in a low whisper as they came to a sudden halt and looked around in fear and confusion regarding their next course of action.

"Tsk!" Subaru clicked his tongue. "So it's Julius again, is it? So much for never wanting to meet me again…" Subaru grumbled under his breath, gritting his molars. His anger then changed into a scornful laugh as he turned his head to look back.

'Fine!' If only Julius had left him alone, Subaru would have left without once glancing back. But if Julius caught Subaru here… If that was how that infuriating man wanted it, Subaru would be sure to make Julius's life hell.

"What do we do now!?" Rachins asked in a panic.

"Isn't it obvious? We just do what we're planning and get him out of this-"

"No, wait!" Ezzo stopped Camberley's words, raising his palm at him and then looked back and forth the quiet hallway in consternation. "Go up!" He ordered them after a few seconds of thought and the trio looked at him with a look of bewilderment.

"Have you gone crazy!?" Camberley nearly screamed at Ezzo's words but quickly covered his own mouth in horror.

"How are we supposed to hide him from the knights if he's-" Rachins too agreed with Camberley, but Ezzo interrupted him and just said, "Trust me!"

The trio gulped and began leading Subaru up while Ezzo ushered them up the staircase from behind.

Subaru, who had stayed silent during the exchange, sighed at the clueless faces of the former thugs. "If you're searching for an escaped convict, what is the first thing you would do?" He asked, and the three looked at him in confusion while they ran up the stairs.

"Who knows!? Why does it even matter?" Rachins asked in annoyance.

"Oh wait! I know!" Gaston said. "Block off the exits…" He answered weakly in realisation, and Subaru nodded while the eyes of the remaining two widened.

"This is ridiculous! If they block our exits, how are we supposed to hide him!?" Camberley complained as they reached the topmost floor of the mansion.

"This is exactly why I didn't want to stay here!" Subaru exclaimed in exasperation, which made everyone turn silent and look at him with visible annoyance on their faces.

"Subaru-san, that's not going to help us right now," said Ezzo with clear pity in his eyes.

"But it's true, isn't it? If only I wasn't here, you wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble," Subaru remarked with a rueful smile. The nails of his right hand dug into the skin of his left, feeling every bit of the hatred pouring out towards himself.

"Even if you say that, it's not like we can do something about it-" Gaston said, scratching the back of his head.

"There is," Subaru said, raising his hand to his chest, feeling the hidden knife inside his shirt for a second time that day.

"Just let me go alone," he explained and their eyes all widened at his words. "I'll find a way to escape on my own and you don't have to bother yourself with me ever again."

"How the hell are you planning to do that?" Rachins said and Subaru closed his eyes and answered, "I'll find a way."

If Subaru restarted enough times, he was sure he could find a way to escape from this situation while making sure that the Felt camp's involvement in his escape did not get exposed to the knights. …There was just one problem with his plans.

—He had not Returned by Death even once since he had arrived here.

As such, it was impossible for him to tell where his savepoint lied. It terrified him to no end at the thought of ending back in that prison cell. All he could hope was that Satella wouldn't let him down.

"—Agh!!! Just shut your mouth up!" Rachins gave him a look of annoyance.

The others too ignored his words and grabbed his hands, pulling him along the corridor. Subaru's eyes widened as he looked at them in bafflement. He tried to free his hands from their grasp but failed.

"I am serious! Why are you helping me? I am nothing but trouble! Just let me go, I'll fix everything somehow!" Subaru insisted in desperation.

"I don't know why I'm helping you, alright! I admit I don't know if I can trust you, but I'm not ungrateful! Just think of this as me repaying the debt from earlier today!" Camberley responded, while Subaru looked at them with a dumbfounded expression.

"I'm the one with the debt here. Let me… go… and I'll fix everything…" Subaru struggled, finally making them come to a stop. It seemed they were finally tired of his resistance. To his surprise, the four around him looked at each other as if their thoughts were in complete sync and then back at Subaru. He had a very bad feeling about what they were thinking.

"We're really sorry about what we're about to do…" Gaston said, guilt overcoming his face and Subaru raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"Sorry about… what…?" He asked and all of a sudden, he felt a hand touching his back, his eyelids became more and more heavier and he felt drowsy.

"…About this, Subaru-san…" Ezzo's voice—was what Subaru guessed—said, as his eyes shut close and he fell onto the ground.

---

"—Argh!" Subaru grunted as he blinked his eyes open. He didn't feel uncomfortable in the least—his body felt quite rested on the relaxing bed he laid upon. Rather, it was the sudden loss of consciousness that left his mind feeling heavy.

"How long have I been out…?"

He sat up on the bed and looked around the empty room. It was a room like any other guest room in his mansion, including his own. He wondered why he had been left here and walked to the door and turned the knob.

—It was locked.

Subaru's eyes widened as he turned the locked doorknob in desperation, trying to open the door. He grit his teeth in frustration as he slumped onto the ground, his hand clutching and pulling at his white hair.

Surely, they weren't planning to lock him here for the entire duration the knights were here, were they? He didn't even want to imagine what would happen if the knights happened to come here to inspect this room. Just what were they thinking locking him here? He had absolutely nowhere to hide.

While he continued to panic, every single sound he heard made his hair stand on its end. He looked around the room in desperation, trying to search for an escape. And the more he realised he had no escape, the more Return by Death was beginning to feel like a better choice… until his eyes drifted to the window.

As convenient as it was, Return by Death was something he hated using, especially with the uncertainty of his savepoints. And he really wanted to stall using it until there was no other option.

Slowly walking over to the window, he looked down and gulped. He was on the third floor of the mansion. How on earth was he supposed to escape from this? It was at moments such as this, he wished he had his whip with him. His eyes darted around the room trying to search for ropes or anything that could fulfil that purpose and his gaze landed upon the sheets laid neatly upon the bed.

He took them off and tied the ends into a knot to use as a makeshift rope. He tied one end on the curtain rod and pulled it twice to make sure it was taut. Once he believed it was tightly secured, he grabbed onto its other end and looked down, out the window once again. The instant he did, he froze in place and began to rethink his decision.

…Maybe he was being a bit too hasty here. If the others had locked him here, they must have had a plan in mind, right? If he was too hasty and he accidentally fell to his death… well, that wouldn't exactly be too bad, since he would just Return by Death and maybe try and improve things next time around (even if he hated the idea of falling to his death).

The real problem would be if he fell and broke a few bones, but somehow ended up… not dying.

—That would definitely be bad.

With how stiff his body felt from just lying in bed the entire past week, he did not have any trust in his strength to carry him through.

He took a step back from the window, loosening his grip on the 'rope'. Maybe he should trust in Ezzo and the others and wait this out—

Footsteps reached his ears from the corridor with someone slowly approaching the other side of the door.

'Fuck this! I'm out of here!'

Subaru stepped closer while he partially pulled the curtains over to cover the rope from view. Gripping on to the sheets, " Bon voyage!" He said to himself as he jumped out the window.

Once he was sure he was nice and (questionably) safe outside the room hanging onto the makeshift rope with a death grip, the first thing he needed to do was not look down under any circumstances whatsoever. As long as he didn't immobilise him, he can work something out… probably.

Now that the first part of his plan had succeeded, he decided it was time to move on to the next part. And that was when he realised—he was stuck.

The sheets were not long enough to even reach the second floor like he had intended, his feet barely touching the top of the lower window and his arms were already starting to get fatigued.

'This is definitely the stupidest thing I've ever done!' He exclaimed internally as a result of his rising panic. But upon replaying his own words in his head, he paused for a second and shook his head vigorously. '…No, scratch that. I've done a lot of stupid things. This is definitely one of the stupidest things I've ever done!'

He closed his eyes and began to assess his options. He could go back up the room he came from. But that would mean sitting quietly doing nothing and waiting for the danger to pass—something Subaru was really bad at, and he was sure it definitely wasn't going to pass by smoothly with no troubles.

The second option would be to try and reach for the window of the neighbouring window on the third floor, which was much closer. If he were to build up enough momentum, he could probably reach it. And empty guest rooms were usually not locked, so he might have a chance of escaping through there.

To his incredible surprise, the partially open window he was eyeing and assumed would have great difficulty opening, swung completely open with great force as a bang sounded from the window hitting the edge of the frame. From it a figure leaned out, extending his arm at Subaru, reaching out. Subaru's eyes widened.

Kicking his feet in the air to drift closer to the wall, he pushed his feet and propelled himself forward, swinging on the rope trying to reach the hand. Each time he missed, he swung back like a pendulum, kicking his feet against the wall to generate even more force. After what seemed like forever but five or six times in reality, he finally reached the hand and grasped on to it tightly.

---

At the time Subaru was swinging on his makeshift rope to reach the other window, Ezzo was walking back to the room he had locked Subaru in as he slouched, already exhausted by the mess they were in.

Unfortunately, he cannot behave anything out of the ordinary and raise the knights' suspicion. Right now, all they had was that the timing of Reinhard's return and Subaru's escape was 'suspicious' and it was the only reason they were here. However, even Julius himself seemed to believe that despite how supportive Reinhard was of Subaru's claims, he wouldn't do something like this.

Searching the Astrea estate would put the Royal Knights at ease and they would just leave them alone afterwards. As long as they behaved normal and successfully hid Subaru for the duration the knights were here, they had nothing to worry about.

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. While initially they had believed they could pull one over on the knights, the spirits made the situation much more difficult.

Subaru must have woken up by now. When Gaston had spotted a spirit approaching, they had hurriedly locked Subaru up in the nearest room they could find and had left to divert it away. Now that the coast was clear, he had to think of a way to hide Subaru and fast, while the others were busy distracting the four spirits inside the mansion. He just hoped Subaru wouldn't resist too much.

Ezzo unlocked the door of the room he had left Subaru in and entered with a tired sigh. The moment he saw the room, all the colour in his face drained away.

"Subaru-san…?"

—It was empty.

---

Meanwhile, on the floor directly below, inside one of the guest rooms, Felt had her hands on her hips as she continued to shout relentlessly at Julius. His head down, he listened to her as he desperately tried to get a word in. Rom stood beside Felt, silently observing them, interjecting when required.

"I said ten minutes! Guess what? Ten minutes are up! Get out!" She shouted, negotiating with Julius to get him to leave.

"I regret the inconvenience caused but this is-"

"Necessary? Well, I don't want to hear it! Like I said, get out!" Felt said and Julius flinched at her words.

"Felt-sama, please try to understand. We cannot abandon the search in the middle like this without a good reason."

"Oh, I've got a good reason alright," she replied, stomping her foot in fury. "You've pissed me off!"

Rom gave a tired sigh. "It would do you good to leave now, young one. If you keep on, she might just ask Reinhard to hunt you down," Rom too spoke out after Felt to convince him to leave them alone.

"Believe me, Felt-sama," Julius said, as he bowed his head before the duo in apology, while Felt stood by the doorway, crossing her arms and tapping her feet in impatience. "Doing this brings me no pleasure-"

"Shut up!" Felt clicked her tongue and looked ahead in annoyance, not even bothering to look at the bowing knight. "Don't talk like you didn't have a choice! If you don't have the guts to accuse Reinhard to his face then-"

All of a sudden, Felt froze and stopped speaking.

'What the hell!?'

While her sight was still on the window, she noticed it—Subaru's shoes swinging back and forth near the top of the edge of the window.

First, she blinked thrice to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Next, her jaw dropped as she turned to Rom to check he was seeing the same thing. He had and he had the most dumbfounded expression on his face that Felt had ever seen on him. Finally, she returned her gaze to the window while her eyes and the corner of her lips twitched.

'What the hell is big bro doing!?'

"Felt-sama…?" Julius raised his head to look at them, scrunching his brows after Felt had suddenly gone all quiet.

"You know what! I don't even want to talk to you right now! Get out of here!" Her finger pointing out the door, she glared at him while he looked at her with confliction. Within her mind, she was thanking the dragon for the fact that Julius had his back turned to the window at that moment.

"Felt-sama, I truly am sorr-"

"Yeah, yeah, you're sorry. We know. I do suggest you get out before you anger her any further," Rom said, grabbing the purple-haired knight's upper hand while ushering him out the room in a hurry.

Julius looked at Felt one last time before exiting the room and she quickly shut the door of the room behind her. Placing a hand on her chest, she heaved out a sigh of relief and wasted no time rushing to the window and opening it.

"Just what is he trying to do!?" She exclaimed as she looked up and he was already gone.

—All she found was a sheet that he had tied up at the ends, dangling from the upper window.

---

Once Subaru felt his feet landing on the firm ground, he sighed out in relief while still breathing heavily. While it wouldn't have been too difficult to do this task, he had just recovered from his injuries and this was probably the most taxing thing he had done in months.

He opened and closed his hands into a fist, waiting for the stinging pain to subside which accompanied the red marks in his palm. He was definitely not going to do anything like this for a long time after this.

"Subaru-senpai, what exactly were you trying to do?" The person who had helped him up, asked him. It was the same brown-haired knight who had helped him back in the prison cell.

"I'm grateful for the help and everything but who exactly are you and why are you helping me?" Subaru looked up to stare at him in suspicion. It was one thing if the two of them knew each other, but he couldn't help but feel wary when an actual stranger kept trying to help him so much.

Of course, there are kind people who would help others without expecting anything in return but this person seemed anything but that.

"When you look at me with such suspicion, it hurts, senpai! I was only trying to help you!" The knight said playfully as he clutched his heart feigning sadness.

"What the hell are you—wait, senpai?" Subaru inclined his head in confusion as to why this knight was referring to him as such.

"I am Zacharias Lane of the Royal Knights, joined a year ago, probably after you became Emilia-sama's knight, though I can't say for certain! I found you here using my Divine Protection of Wind Tracing. Pleasure to meet you again!" He did a little salute as Subaru watched him in bewilderment.

"Wait, you really believe I'm… I was Emilia's knight?" Subaru asked.

"Of course, I do! I wouldn't be helping you if I didn't. Well, I'd love to chat longer with you but that's not possible right now. Let's talk after this is over." Without wasting a moment, Zacharias pushed Subaru out of the room and pointed down the stairs. "Go down! Hurry!"

"Uh… OK," Subaru replied hesitantly and stepped down. As he looked back up, his eyes widened when he saw one of Julius's spirits zoom past by the corridor. He understood why Zacharias was in such a hurry to get him to go down.

The spirit did not seem to have noticed him yet but Subaru did not want to confirm it and risk exposing his presence to it. So he continued to run down the stairs as fast as he could.

His relief turned to horror the moment he set foot on the lower floor.

Right in front of him, hovering before his face was a sole tiny red dot, a spirit he had come to know quite well since the fight against Petelguese.

The second floor corridor was completely empty with no signs of escape and no help either. He was stuck as the fire quasi-spirit—Ia encircled his head and all he could do was watch in absolute horror.

'It's over,' he thought as the spirit seemed to inspect him from head to toe.

"Ia, please…" Subaru requested, teary-eyed and a shaky breath, but all in vain as the spirit flew away from him.

He froze in place in the corridor, not even attempting to hide anymore, despondent as his time with the Felt camp had finally come to a close. This loop was a dead-end. Soon Ia would inform Julius and they would all be captured. All because of him. Because he was too weak and indulged in the kindness of the Felt camp, they were now in huge trouble.

He had to fix this. Before Felt and the others got in trouble, he had to—

"Get in, big bro!"

Before he even had a chance to take out his knife and pierce a hole in his neck, he fell on his back as his eyes widened. He had been tackled from the front and then he felt himself being dragged by his shirt's collar into a nearby room by another pair of hands.

The collar of his shirt pressed against his neck and the moment he felt himself being released, he coughed, holding his neck while gasping for air.

"Just what are you trying to do, gawking in the middle of the hallway like an idiot!? Are you trying to be found!?" However, instead of any apologies for handling him so roughly, he was instead greeted with a scolding.

He looked up from where he sat on the floor, his eyes still clouded in despair, and it was Felt shouting at him while Rom watched him with pitying eyes as he shut the door behind them.

"What exactly would you have done if Julius had seen you? You would have been in-"

"It's over…" Subaru mumbled out in hopelessness stopping her verbal assault as both Felt and Rom looked at him in confusion.

"Big bro, what are you-" She began to ask, concern spreading over her crimson eyes, but he interrupted her once again as he folded his legs and brought them closer and wrapped his arms around them, while burying his face between his knees.

"It's over. Ia saw me. She'll tell Julius now and they'll capture me again and you along with me," he replied, his voice muffled from his position.

Felt and Rom stood in silence for a while, unable to think of what to say. When she finally did speak, all she could ask was, "So you're going to give up? Just like that?"

"Yes," he answered curtly. After all, there was nothing more left for him to do than die. As fond as Subaru was of challenging fate in addition to his extreme dislike of giving up, he could not take any chances and endanger the ones that had protected him.

"I won't accept it! Get up, big bro!" Felt commanded him, but Subaru could no longer find the strength to listen to anything she had to say.

His eyes refusing to look at them, he heard a sigh.

"Kid, which one exactly did you say who saw you?" He heard Rom's voice asking him.

"…Ia… the fire spirit…" Subaru answered tiredly.

"Hmmm… that is strange," Rom said, making both Subaru and Felt look up at him in confusion.

"What's so strange about it?" Felt asked as Subaru narrowed his eyes at the old man.

"Because I was with the knight just a few minutes ago and I even saw the spirit talk to him, but he didn't seem to be any more suspicious of us," Rom replied with a hand on his chin and Subaru looked at him in shock.

"Wha…?" Subaru couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Bro, are you sure you saw the spirit?" Felt asked with a puzzled expression but Subaru nodded his head in certainty.

"Yeah, I'm a hundred percent sure!"

"Then maybe the spirit didn't tell on you," Felt theorised but Subaru shook his head.

"That's impossible. There's no way Ia won't snitch on me," Subaru responded with tears falling down his eyes.

Because it was Ia herself that had cut off all avenues of escape for Subaru back then.

---

When Subaru was first captured, Subaru had spotted Joshua among the nameless people and had hoped reuniting Julius with his comatose brother might help his case. The resemblance was there. With Ricardo confirming they smelled the same, it was irrefutably proven that Joshua was Julius's younger brother.

Unfortunately, only Subaru remembering Gluttony's victims ended up convincing Julius that he really was a part of the Witch Cult. He was already enraged by the fact that Subaru kept claiming he was a knight, but with this, his rage grew tenfold, and he was certain Subaru was holding Joshua hostage in exchange for his own freedom.

Subaru had realised Felt was right and his situation was hopeless. As long as they refused to listen to him, sitting quietly without doing anything would achieve him nothing. He had to escape at all costs and find a way to fix everything before the damage became irreversible.

His first escape attempt was during the carriage ride to the Capital from Priestella. The caravan included the carriage transporting Subaru and another different one transporting Crusch, among many others.

Clenching his fists as much as possible while Julius tied him, his hands slipped out rather easily as he wiggled out of them after relaxing his hands, when he found himself alone.

He would have managed to escape, if not for Ia, who had been secretly planted on Subaru by Julius and had snitched on him. In a desperate attempt to escape, he jumped off the back of the carriage.

—Only for him to be crushed to death by the second carriage following behind.

The pain in his body was on a whole another level. His body was pulverized by the impact, sent flying to the front and then crushed to death as the caravan of carriages heading for the Capital ran over him, one by one. His skull was crushed. His ribs were crushed. There was only the sound of wheels and pain as they ran over him while the flames of his life thinned and vanished.

The first thing he did upon Returning by Death was scream. Pain had claimed every inch of his body. He could not hear anything beyond the tinnitus in his ears.

The next moment, he felt himself being slammed down into the ground, his vision and hearing returning to him. It was Julius tying him up in the back of the carriage once again, as they prepared to head out to the Capital.

Subaru's sudden scream had gotten Julius on his guard, and had immediately shut him up by gagging him, worried that Subaru was calling for his allies. And unfortunately for him, he was bound tighter this time, making him unable to free himself as easily as before.

He did however, manage to loosen the gag around his mouth, and called out to Ia.

The spirit seemed surprised he was aware of her presence, and was about to inform Julius when Subaru called out to her to stop her.

"Ia, please…" He begged her to let him go. That he was innocent, but to no avail, as the spirit informed Julius immediately, shutting down all his means of escape.

---

"You should just let me go… I'll fix this somehow and you can live in peace without me burdening you." As Subaru sat unmoving, despairing at the memory of his previous attempts at escape, he heard a tired sigh, already sick of his wailing.

"Big bro, let us assume for a second that you do get caught. Did you forget? I'm a Queen candidate for Od's sake!" Felt said, stepping right in front of him and peering into his eyes. "They can't touch me or Reinhard! The most they can do is place me under house arrest like they did with Priscilla. I will absolutely not allow them to get to you," she said with conviction but it didn't improve Subaru's mood in the slightest.

"You shouldn't be getting punished because of me in the first place!" He argued. "You've helped me so much and all I've ever done is cause you trouble," he said with his eyes cast down.

Both Felt and Rom stared hopelessly at him, unable to think of what they could say that could get his spirits up. With a tired sigh, Felt walked closer to him and hit his head lightly. He looked up at her in surprise, but her crimson transfixed themselves right on his.

She scratched her blonde hair and asked, "Say, big bro… let us think of a scenario where our roles were reversed. Where I was saved by you and now you're going to fall into huge trouble because of me. Would you abandon me?"

Subaru looked at her in shock and then bit his lips. "O-Of course not. …But this is different from-" He attempted to answer in hesitation.

"How is it different, kid? The only thing that has changed here is who is indebted to whom," Rom cut him off, stopping him from continuing his nonsense reasoning any further.

"That's… I…" Subaru stumbled, unable to answer. "I wouldn't just abandon you because I don't owe you anything. You're my friend so-"

"See! You do understand!" Felt responded with a victorious smirk, and Subaru felt his eyes widen.

"I… I…" His eyes began watering up and he sobbed, unable to speak anything intelligible. He shut his eyes tightly as he clutched his chest in pain. In shame.

Because it was then that he realised. They were not the ones who didn't believe in him.

—It was him who had the least faith in them.

In his defence, the last time someone had called him his friend, that same person had refused to believe him in the end.

"I… I don't…"

"Besides bro, even if you convinced us, do you really think you could convince Reinhard to let you go? He's going to hunt you down and kidnap you every single time. Just how many times do you think I've tried to escape this place?" Felt answered, puffing her chest rather proudly at how experienced she was.

"That's not something to be proud of," the old man responded and a shiver ran down Subaru's spine just thinking about it. Trying to escape Reinhard was definitely going to be a huge problem.

"…Give it up, bro! That arrogant prick has gone to the lower floor after searching this one, but it won't take him long to come back up here if he notices us gone for too long. Let us help protect you, big bro."

"But Ia saw me-"

"Senpai, how about you let me take care of that!"

All three of them jumped up in shock and turned around to look at the doorway, with Zacharias standing at the doorway with a grin on his face.

Felt and Rom's eyes widened in horror. "What are you-" Felt glared at him in anger, but Subaru raised a hand to touch her arm, calming her down.

"Don't worry, he's… an ally," Subaru informed them, but they continued to look at him with apprehension.

"It makes me so glad to hear you call me that!" Zacharias exclaimed joyously as he walked out the door and leaned over the railing of the stairs.

The three looked at him in confusion wondering what he was about to do and to their shock, he began shouting, "JULIUS-SENPAI! DID YOU FIND SOMETHING?"

A moment later, an annoyed voice replied to his question, "Nothing as of now. Did you manage to find something, Zacharias?"

Subaru's eyes widened upon hearing Julius's answer. Did Ia not tell him?

"NOPE! NOTHING HERE!" Zacharias replied and leaned back, with Julius seemingly satisfied with the answer.

"Big bro, shall we move now?" Felt offered him her hand.

Subaru stared at her hand for a while before taking it and getting up once again. Although still hesitant, he'll let them drag him around for now.

---

If Ia was asked who was the most important in her life, it would obviously be Julius. Julius was her precious contractor and she would do absolutely anything to make him happy.

When she was first asked to keep an eye on that raven-haired boy with the high spirit affinity, she did her job sincerely. She believed it would make Julius happy.

When that boy planned to escape, ignoring his pleas, she told Julius because she thought it would make him happy.

When she helped Julius beat up that boy in the prison cell, she did as Julius wanted because she thought it would make him happy.

But the longer the time passed, she realised… Julius was not happy. Everytime he walked into that prison cell, the only thing she felt emanating from him was regret and guilt.

When he sat in that dragon carriage, while he was coming here, she could sense his reluctance to come here.

"Ia, please…" When she heard that pitiful plea for the second time at that mansion, she began inspecting the boy from head to toe. She wasn't mistaken. It was the same white boy with the high spirit affinity that Julius had been searching for, and she was about to snitch to Julius, so he could capture this person again.

It was then that she realised—it all began with him. It was his fault. This person was the reason Julius was so sad all the time.

He needed to be kept away from Julius, and if Julius never found him, he would not be sad anymore.

So for the first time in her life, she lied to Julius.

—She lied to him because she wanted him to become happy again.

---

Running down the stairs with Zacharias at the front, Subaru in the middle and Felt and Rom behind him, Subaru felt embarrassed about their current battle formation. He had tried to protest against it, but the three had shot him down with the words, "You have no say in this!"

With Zacharias's Divine Protection leading the way for them, away from the prying eyes of the spirits, they safely descended to the first floor. According to him, his divine protection allowed him to see, sense and detect even the tiniest movements around. Unfortunately for them, this was where he had to part and search for his companions and convince them to leave.

Leaving them to themselves, Subaru, Felt and Rom heaved a sigh of relief. They were obviously not out of danger yet, but with how smoothly things had proceeded for now, they hoped their current streak of luck would continue for some more time.

Instead of descending down the central staircase to reach the ground floor, where the knights might be waiting, they decided to continue ahead to the rarely used stairs at the far end of the corridor.

Subaru had already exhausted his strength from his stunt from earlier and was beginning to move sluggishly. He was breathing heavily as well and he was sure it was the adrenaline rush that was allowing him to run right now. The moment it wore off, he was definitely going to collapse.

"That's it! If you keep running like that, we're definitely gonna get caught!"

Subaru's eyes widened when without warning, Rom lifted Subaru into a bridal carry and ran at the fastest speed he could.

"My pride as a man!" Subaru exclaimed, covering his face with his hands while he squirmed around in embarrassment.

"Kid, if being carried like this makes you lose your pride as a man, you lost it the day both Reinhard and Remendis carried you to your room after your rescue."

"—Ahhhh!?" He shrieked at the revelation. "I was princess-carried by an old lady!? Why did you have to tell me Old Man Rom! I would have lived happily not knowing that!"

"Stop being so annoying! You can't run on your own so we have no choice but to carry you!" Felt scolded him.

"I can run just-"

"Quiet, big bro!" She shut him while she peeked down to the ground floor. Finding no one there, "The coast is clear," she said. "We can go down… I think." She did not hesitate to add her uncertainty at the end.

"No wait! Something's coming!" Subaru pointed with his finger as he spotted a soft glow approaching them from the distance in the corridor and they immediately rushed into the nearest room they could find.

"This is probably the first time in my life I'm glad this mansion has so many rooms!" Felt exclaimed in relief. She looked around the room and then proceeded to walk to the window and look out of it while Rom finally let Subaru down.

"That was probably Aro," Subaru mumbled as he tried to recollect all the spirits Julius was contracted to. "Spirits cannot phase through walls, can they?" He asked, just to be certain that they were really safe.

"I hope not!" Felt answered, leaning out the window and Subaru wondered what she was looking at. But before he could ask, "Don't worry. That's not going to happen." Rom patted his back in reassurance.

"But even if she can't, what if Aro thinks this room is suspicious because it's locked and calls Julius here to investigate it… that is if Ia hadn't already informed him about me? Is it alright to stay in this room for too long?"

"That's what I'm trying to think of, big bro…" Felt replied, with a frown on her face, biting her nails as she turned around to face him.

"You mean… you have no plans to get out of this either?" Subaru asked, a rising panic beginning to occupy his mind as he glanced back and forth between his two companions.

"Kid, take my advice and don't get too caught up in plans. Things rarely go according to what we have planned out," Rom said, but his words were of no help to Subaru and the more he thought about the Felt camp getting caught, the more he panicked.

"What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?" Subaru muttered, as he paced around the room frantically, trying to think of an escape.

"Big bro, you need to calm down. I told you didn't I? Even if we are caught, it might not turn out as bad as you think." Felt frowned, but no matter what anyone said, he was unable to regain his composure.

"But if that happens you might lose the selection, won't you?" Subaru asked, guilt wrecking his mind. "What are we going to do now? If the spirit saw us and told Julius to come here, what do we do? What if Ia changed her mind and told Julius? What if one of the knights stumbled on this room and thought it was suspicious and tried to get in? What if we thought the coast was clear and tried to walk out, only for Aro to see us? It was a really bad idea letting me live here, wasn't it?"

"If we weren't trying to hide right now, I would have smacked you, Subaru-sama!" An angry new voice greeted his ears, making him narrow his eyes.

He blinked, wondering if he had heard correctly. Both Felt and Rom were holding their heads with a sigh hearing his panic-induced rapid-fire spout of worst case scenarios, but neither seem to have spoken.

He then turned his attention to the window and his eyes widened in shock. "…Wha- …Carol-san? You can fly?"

"Of course not! I'm on a ladder," Carol replied as Felt walked upto Subaru and pulled him towards the window.

"You really need to stop panicking before it rots away the rest of your brain, son," Rom said with a sigh.

"And since that is obviously not happening as long as you stay in this room, get out and follow Granny!" Felt told him, pointing her finger out and Subaru saw the ladder Carol stood on as he peeked outside the window. "We'll deal with the spirit."

He stared at the ladder for a while with Carol beckoning him to climb down following her, unsure of what to do next. That was until Felt gave him a light push on his back, giving him the brightest smile she could, her canines prominent as she did. He let out a deep breath and nodded, and began climbing down the ladder as asked. As long as he didn't have to hang onto a makeshift rope from the window, he was fine climbing down outside.

But even when everyone was helping him, even after everything that Felt had said, in a corner of his brain, the same thoughts reiterated in his mind over and over again. He understood what Felt was saying, but at the same time, he really didn't want to put anyone in trouble.

"Carol-san, I'm really sorry," Subaru whispered out an apology, his head looking down once they reached the solid ground. "I know you guys want to help me, but still…"

Carol kept quiet and didn't respond to his words. Instead, she turned her head to Flam and pointed at the ladder, which Flam picked up with no difficulty and walked away carrying it. Subaru watched in bewilderment, wondering how strong exactly the twins were.

"Subaru-sama, please follow me," were the first words she said when she finally opened her mouth. Subaru's face scrunched into a frown when Carol conveniently ignored everything he had said and they walked ahead. Grassis walked in front as the lookout while Carol and Subaru followed behind, ducking under the windows.

"…"

As they walked in silence, Subaru could not find the words to break it. He was racked with guilt, unable to do anything to help anyone, having to rely on others all the time.

To his astonishment, "Grassis, stop here," Carol instructed her granddaughter, while both Subaru and Grassis turned to look at her in confusion. They were currently behind the kitchen where there were few windows and a less chance of getting caught by the knights inside, but Subaru still believed it was risky stopping here like this. As Carol was looking at him, her poker face did not betray even the tiniest hint of her feelings, forcing Subaru to take a small step back at her gaze.

"Subaru-sama, you're outside now. This was your chance to run away and put into action whatever you had in mind. So why haven't you done so already?" She asked and Subaru's eyes widened in shock.

Grassis was equally shocked hearing Carol's words, and tugged at her grandmother's skirt, but Carol simply patted her head, offering her no explanation.

"I…" Subaru fumbled, unable to answer Carol's question. Was she giving him the opportunity to leave as he wanted from the very beginning? If that was the case, it was a good thing, wasn't it?

—And yet, Natsuki Subaru could not move.

His feet were planted in place and a sharp stinging pain shot through his heart.

"You did want to leave, correct?" She asked a second time.

"…Y-Yes…" He answered with great difficulty as his breath got caught in the back of his throat.

"Then why do you look so hurt right now when I suggested it?" She asked, both her and Grassis looking at him in pity.

"…No, th- …that's not-"

"Subaru-sama, you're forty years too early to think you're capable of fooling me," Carol sighed and stopped him from speaking any further of his excuses as she reached her hand out to stroke his head. He flinched at the sudden touch but she continued patting him, making him calm down eventually. "You may think you've been hiding it well, but ever since you woke up, all I could see was a child afraid of getting hurt."

"I…" Subaru hesitated and then with his eyes closed, he confessed with great difficulty, "I don't want to get hurt." The memories of Beatrice and Emilia accusing him, Wilhelm capturing him, Felix and Julius torturing him, Otto, Ram and Garfiel not believing in him haunted his mind.

"But I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of me either," he admitted as the horrifying memories of Felix and Julius's death in the first prison loop replayed itself in his memories.

Even after everything that had happened, Subaru did not wish to seek revenge. It wasn't out of a reason as simple as indifference. The truth was simple—Subaru was a coward. He was too scared of hurting even the ones who wronged him, so how could he let the people who helped him suffer because of his failures?

He did not want to get hurt, but he would rather run away and let the Felt camp stay out of trouble, no matter how much he hated it.

"Subaru-sama, I regret to inform you of this, but from the moment we swore our allegiance to the candidate who declared she would destroy the kingdom, we were never going to stay out of trouble. If we are to encounter difficulties either way, we might as well do it to help a friend. Therefore, even if you do not wish for it, we will still protect you."

Subaru's eyes began tearing up at Carol's words once again. They were outside under broad daylight, where any of the knights or the spirits could see them, and yet Carol had made them stop here just so she could instil this into Subaru's head.

"Why…?" Subaru sobbed as he asked her that question. "Why did you save me? Why do all of you consider me a friend? I haven't done anything for you guys! I've been nothing but a bother, right? I was accused of being a Sin Archbishop by the Great Spirit Beatrice, wasn't I? So why do you believe in my words and try to protect me?"

He could not understand. Why were they helping him so much? Rem and Ram didn't trust him back then during that first tumultuous week at the Roswaal Mansion, and for very good reason. Garfiel didn't trust him in the Sanctuary either, again because Subaru was the suspicious one there. Even Emilia and Beatrice… they didn't believe him in Priestella. So why were these people, who had known him for about a week, being so kind to him?

"Subaru-sama, whatever I am doing at this moment is based on what I have observed so far. I refuse to let preconceived notions of others dictate my actions. I am sure it is the same for all of us here. None of us, after interacting with you, believe you are an Archbishop."

"—"

"I do not deny the fact that you are a rather troublesome individual. Unfortunately Subaru-sama, I have dealt with individuals far more troublesome than you in my youth. It would take a lot more than giving us extra workloads or stealing a knife to get me to lose my patience."

Subaru gasped. She knew. She was aware that he was the one who had stolen it all along, but she still continued to treat him with kindness.

"If the knife with you makes you feel safe, please keep it with you. It is not a crime to be afraid and it is certainly not a reason for you to deserve the hell being presented to you."

Hot droplets rolled down Subaru's cheeks. But more warm was the tiny hand of the peach-haired girl that took his hand in hers and pulled him behind her as they rushed away from the mansion.

After everything everyone was doing just to protect him, after listening to everything that Felt, Rom and Carol said, he could not find the strength to resist or protest against their actions anymore. So he let himself be dragged by Grassis quietly without conplaints. If they wanted to help him… maybe he should let them help him.

They had not even taken a few steps forward when they noticed in the distance. In front of them was the Yin spirit, Nes, hovering near the front gates of the mansion, closing off their exit. Fortunately for them though, the spirit didn't seem to have noticed the three approaching, with her attention elsewhere.

The old man Grimm was before the spirit making strange symbols with his hands, with Nes watching it intently. It wasn't until Subaru's eyes moved to the ground that he noticed what Grimm was doing.

"Shadow puppets!?"

Under the hot overhead afternoon sun, Grimm was making shadow puppets on the ground to distract the spirit. Subaru felt a light tap on his back. He turned around to see Carol suggesting they go back and they began backing away stealthily, avoiding any noises to prevent drawing Nes's attention. The distance between the gates and the mansion seemed like forever, but once they reached the mansion, Subaru placed his hand over the window sill of a guest room they were standing near and heaved out a sigh of relief.

"It seems quasi spirits truly are like children," Carol commented, having managed to reach a safe enough distance, out of sight of the Yin spirit. "Earlier, Camberley managed to distract one of the spirits by getting it to chase after the light being reflected onto the ground by a mirror. And Rachins even challenged the fire spirit to a contest."

Subaru watched Carol with a dumbstruck expression upon hearing her accounts. Surely distracting the spirits couldn't have been that easy, right?

"Grandmother, someone is coming!" Grassis warned them, but it was too late.

The bathroom door of the room by whose window the three were standing by, clicked and open and out walked a blonde man in the knight's uniform, probably the third knight that had come here to search the Astrea Mansion grounds.

The knight had his back to them while the three froze in place, trying to stay as quiet as possible. He hadn't seen them yet and the three prayed he would walk out without looking back even once. To their great fortune, just as the knight put his hand on the door knob to exit the room, the door slammed open right on his face, knocking him out.

"Ezzo!" The three silently screamed in unison.

"Subaru-san!" Their saviour cried as he looked at the three out the window, placing a hand on his chest as he breathed out in relief. "I was so scared when I couldn't find you," Ezzo whined while Subaru and the others climbed into the room, ignoring the unconscious person that lay there.

"Ezzo, you're the best! If I'm honest, you didn't really seem like the most reliable kind of guy! I'm so glad I was wrong!" Subaru said as he raised his thumb in approval, only for Ezzo to stop crying in joy and look at him in bewilderment.

"I agree. I never thought a day would arrive where I would be happy to see Ezzo-sama!" Carol agreed while the little Grassis nodded vigorously.

"Even Carol-san!?" Ezzo exclaimed.

Carol sighed at his reaction. Walking over to the knocked-out knight, she bent down to take his pulse near his neck as well as check his condition.

"Your timing was truly perfect, Ezzo! How did you even know we were here?" Subaru asked.

"Oh that? She guided me here," Ezzo said, pointing at the door.

Subaru's question was immediately answered when Flam entered the room behind Ezzo. From what he had been told earlier by Carol, Flam and Grassis had the Divine Protection of Mindspeak which allowed them to communicate with each other via telepathy. Grassis must have informed her and Flam, who was probably close by had called Ezzo and immediately came to their rescue.

"Ezzo-sama, I hate to interrupt your reunion here," Carol began and all of them turned to look at her. "It seems like this knight won't stay unconscious for too long. Please lead Subaru-sama out. I'll deal with this knight here," she requested Ezzo.

"Count on me!" He nodded his head in sincerity and beat his chest, asking them to rely on him. He was about to lead him out when—

"Huh, do you want something Grassis?" Subaru stopped, feeling her tugging at his sleeves.

Grassis nodded her head and gestured with her fingers, asking him to bend down. So he did. And to his utter surprise, she raised her hands and began patting his head.

"It will be alright, Subaru onii-san. You'll be safe soon."

"…Grassis?"

Subaru looked at her in confusion, while Carol, Flam and Ezzo smiled warmly at the scene.

"It's as I said, Subaru-sama," Carol said as he turned to look at her. "Even if you do not want us to worry over you, we will still do it all the same."

Subaru turned his black eyes back at Grassis and she simply nodded her head in confirmation at Carol's words. Subaru looked down as a gentle smile found its way onto Subaru's lips. He did not know what he had done to deserve all the kindness being shown to him, but he was grateful to everyone nonetheless.

"…I see. Thank you for worrying about me. But I'm fine now," Subaru said as he looked at her with a soft smile and raised his hand to pat her head. Then he stood up, and turned to Ezzo. "Lead the way for me, Ezzo!"

"Yes! Follow me!" With those words, they stepped out of the room as they began discussing their other options.

"We can't run out from the main gate because Nes is guarding that place, with Grimm-san keeping her distracted with great difficulty. Are there any other exits?"

"If the spirit is distracted there and not patrolling the mansion ground… could we maybe… climb over the wall to cross it?" Ezzo suggested.

"But… won't we be in plain sight of the knights if we try to do something like that? It might have been easier with Reinhard here but they might see us from the windows-"

"Is someone there?" While discussing their escape routes, a possibility much much worse unfurled itself as a voice, clearly Julius's, called out to them from the far end of the hallway.

"Hide somewhere!" The panicking Ezzo hissed as he immediately shoved Subaru into the nearest room he could find and shut the door behind him.

Having been shut inside a room all of a sudden, the dazed and confused Subaru looked around. The first thing that drew his attention when he entered was how dark the room was. It took a while for his pupils to dilate and his eyes to adjust to the dim light. The curtains were drawn in over the windows, just a narrow slit of light extending onto the floor but fading just as soon as it entered. There was a single candle dimly illuminating the dark room, placed on a bedside table. The next scene he laid his eyes upon made his eyes open wide as he felt his breathing nearly come to a halt.

There was a beautiful woman with long golden hair, seemingly in her late twenties, sleeping peacefully on the bed of that room hidden from the outside world, and showing no signs of ever waking up.

"…Reinhard…?" He muttered in a soft whisper, the woman's striking resemblance to Reinhard leaving him shocked.

A wave of nostalgia flashed over him as he lay witness to the sight before him. Memories of the quiet nights he had spent talking to a sleeping beauty like the one before him bubbled up in his mind.

A ton of questions encircled his mind, mostly because neither Reinhard nor any of the other residents had spoken up about this woman. Why was she asleep? Was she also a victim of Gluttony? Had Reinhard also lost someone precious to him just like he had the day after they had defeated Petelgeuse?

He walked closer to her, observing her quiet breathing. Outside the room, he could hear muffled voices of people arguing and he couldn't help but chuckle ruefully at the irony of the situation. The whole mansion was in turmoil, and yet, this woman slept peacefully, unaffected by it all.

The door of the room rattled as if it were being opened forcefully. Seeing no hiding places other than underneath the bed of the Sleeping Beauty, "Sorry for disturbing you," he mouthed as quickly slid under the bed, slightly pulling the sheets down from the sides to prevent the knights from noticing his hiding spot.

Subaru had managed to secure his hiding place and right on time as the door flew open, and he peeked from under the bed. Julius walked, a lot more agitated than normal, probably as a result of Ezzo denying him entry into the room.

The moment Julius walked in, Subaru backed away from the edge and placed a hand over his mouth, to stop even his breathing from being overheard. He was now certain.

This was the end. He was going to get caught soon. He had two options: to live and allow the Felt camp to face the consequences, or to die and fix this situation the next time around. Even if Felt had said, they didn't mind getting caught if it came down to it, Subaru did not want it to come to that if he could help it.

He slid his hand into the hidden pocket in his shirt and brought out the knife, taking a good look at it. His black eyes reflected off of the glossy side of the knife in the dimness while he stared at its sharp edge. His hands shivered and his breath became heavier as he slowly raised it towards his neck.

This was the second time he was killing himself near a Sleeping Beauty. The moment he felt the cold touch of its tip against the skin of his throat, he imagined… or rather recollected the memory of the blood pouring out of his neck, the light in his eyes having faded.

The distant memory replayed itself in his mind. One he hadn't thought of in a long time, but one that left a profound impact on him. The commanding view of his own death, the remorseful faces of his comrades, and the tearful screams of his first love.

"Why…why?!! Why, Subaru-dono…how could you do this so easily…!"

"…Weakling, coward. Everyone has precious people leave them, don't they? …Pushing all your pain and hardship onto everyone else… Are you satisfied with that?"

"Even though you told me that you love me…!"

Subaru did not understand how he was supposed to feel at the memory. His feelings for those people had been tainted by the recent events and he was certain that even if they laid their eyes on his corpse, the greatest reaction they would have was probably disgust. It wasn't enough to stir him into removing the knife from his neck.

"Julius-san, please stop. You can't go in there," he heard the desperation in Ezzo's voice, still trying to stop the purple-haired knight from proceeding any further.

What did stop Subaru from driving the knife deeper was a single thought. How would Felt and the others feel if they found Subaru's corpse here after they had worked so hard to protect him?

Having already seen the despair spreading across Reinhard's handsome face at his death once during one of his failed loops, he did not want him to ever have that expression again. And he did not want that expression on Felt or any of the others either.

To the ones that had helped him so much, he wanted to put his faith in them and he wanted to stay with them.

As the knife, still held in the grasp of his hands, trembled with them, the cold tip still touching his neck, he closed his eyes and without even meaning to, he whispered out in desperation, "Reinhard, please save me…"

"Please Julius-san, this place is extremely important to Reinhard-san. He's your friend, isn't he? Don't touch anything here. You won't find anything," Ezzo begged, trying to stop Julius.

"I… I have already lost the right to call him a friend, the moment I stepped foot in this place in his absence," Julius said, his voice filled with guilt and regret.

"—Then why did you do it, Julius?" It was a new voice that posed the question to the Knight of Knights.

Everyone's eyes widened as they stopped in their tracks, including Subaru himself. Tears of relief began pouring down his face as he removed the knife from his neck and kept it back in his pocket. Peeking from under the bed, Subaru had never been happier to see that hair as red as a blazing fire and eyes as blue as the skies.

"Reinhard…" Julius said as the Sword Saint stood patiently near the door, waiting for Julius to speak.

---

A few minutes earlier, in the Royal Castle, Reinhard stood at the centre while the Sage Council looked over at him from the top, and Marcus from the sides while a Royal Knight kept asking him the same questions over and over.

"And why was it, Sir Reinhard van Astrea, that you were unable to reach the Pleiades Watchtower?"

Reinhard looked at the knight in confusion and then turned to look at Marcus. "Hasn't Anastasia-sama already explained the reasons for our return?"

"She has," Marcus responded. "But we wish to hear your account of the journey."

"I-I see," Reinhard said, as he turned back to face the sage council again. "We had successfully reached Mirula, but once we headed out from there into the sand dunes, we were unable to close the distance to the tower despite travelling for an entire week."

"What do you believe could be the cause of that?" The knight questioned.

"Anastasia-sama theorised that it may be a result of the Sage's magic. It might be a deterrent to stop people from approaching the watchtower."

"Did you manage to figure out a way to overcome it?"

"No. As I mentioned, we were unable to cross the dunes so we had to return back."

"Do you believe you would have been able to reach a solution had you not returned?"

"I do not believe so. We had already spent a week with no progress."

"Did you ever try anything to cross the sand dunes?"

The knight kept asking and Reinhard kept answering, but the more he answered, the more he got the sense that they were talking in circles and the discussion was not progressing any further.

The longer he stayed away from the mansion, the more worried he felt. While Subaru had reassured him that he would be fine, Reinhard still did not wish to leave him alone for longer than necessary.

'Reinhard, please save me…'

A cry for help resounded directly in his brain loud and clear. He froze in place, unable to speak anymore.

"Sir Reinhard?" The knight asked, as the other watched him in confusion when he went all silent all of a sudden.

But all that was in his mind right now was that voice calling out to him. It was without a doubt Subaru's.

"Reinhard, is something the matter?" Miklotov spoke up, breaking his silence and looked at him with gentle eyes.

"I must leave. Su- Felt-sama seems to be calling for me," Reinhard responded in urgency as he left not a second later, and his audience were left watching in shock as the only thing left in his place was a strong guest of wind.

---

"Julius, I believe Ezzo already told you that this is my mother's room and that it is not to be opened," Reinhard asked, pain filling up his eyes.

Subaru's eyes widened. So the Sleeping Beauty was Reinhard's mother.

"…You are too kind, Reinhard. However, therein lies your weakness as well. We are simply afraid the Archbishop might have tried to take advantage of it after your stunt in Priestella," Julius tried to justify but Reinhard looked down in sadness instead. "We only wish to ensure that the people you are close to are not in any danger because of his escape."

"Let us assume he did come to me, wishing for my help. He has not harmed a single soul ever since we first saw him, Julius. Does it really necessitate such measures?"

Julius winced, taking a step back, but he placed a hand on his chest and composed his breath before he directed his resolute gaze on Reinhard.

"Reinhard, there is an entire city that has been affected by the Witch Cult, including my brother and Crusch-sama. By helping him escape, you will not only take away the only means of curing-"

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR BULLSHIT!" A furious voice interrupted him, stomping on the ground and ordering Julius to stop. It was the blonde princess, marching into the room in rage as she glowered at the purple-haired knight.

"…Felt-sama," Julius bowed in regret. "I apologise for the inconvenience. We'll leave as you requested."

"SHUT UP! You're not going anywhere!" Felt shouted as everyone, including Subaru stared at her in shock.

"Felt-sama, what do you…" Julius began, but Felt glared daggers at him, forcing him to come to a stop.

"You're not going anywhere until I give you a piece of my mind!" Felt said, and Reinhard, Ezzo and Subaru sighed.

'So that's what she meant!'

"You've had that person for two months and you still haven't gotten any information from him! That just proves he's most likely innocent. But you still kept torturing him and when he escaped, you just went around blaming everyone else! This is why I hate the knights!"

"Felt-sama, all we have done is interrogate-"

"Don't give me any of that nonsense! I know what your 'Interrogation' means. Your two assistants outside, they're searching for a white-haired boy. When we had left him back in Priestella, his hair was black."

"—"

"Do you seriously think when Reinhard tried to protect him back in Priestella, he was just being kind? What about Priscilla? You seriously think she would do something like that out of kindness? How dumb do you think they are? He can detect lies, you know."

"But-"

"I said shut up! After getting no information from him, it must have been obvious that he wasn't an Archbishop. So why did you continue to torture him?"

"…I didn't-"

"What were you trying to prove by beating him up everyday? That if you kept doing it, something would change? That somehow he would become guilty? Well guess what, Mr. Finest of Knights? It won't change the fact that you tortured an innocent man!"

"—"

Unable to answer, Julius just hung his head down, shaking it desperately in response.

"You failed to do a single thing. You captured an innocent man, let the actual Archbishops run away and then you were simply taking the frustrations of your inadequacy out on him, weren't you? You were beating him, simply because you could. Just like that time at the beginning of the Royal Selection when you beat up-" Felt suddenly stopped, and held her head and all of their eyes widened.

"…Beat up who…?" She muttered, her face contorted in pain as she struggled to remember and at that moment Subaru wanted to do nothing more than get out and stop her.

"Felt-sama!" Fortunately for him, her knight was the one who rushed to her support in a panic as he held her, trying to calm her down.

"…I-I…hurt…" Meanwhile Julius wasn't faring any better as he whispered softly, tears nearly falling out his eyes as held his forehead in pain.

"Julius, I think you should leave," Reinhard said. "We'll talk about this later."

"Julius-senpai, I think our work here is done. Your Archbishop isn't here. Let's go," Zacharias said, a troubled smile on his face, as he dragged the dazed Julius out.

Once certain that they were gone, Ezzo took hold of Felt, and helped her walk out. Reinhard stayed in the room for a while longer. Once the rumbling of wheels started again and began to move further away from the mansion, which felt like forever to Subaru, he heard footsteps approaching him.

"You can come out now, Subaru," Reinhard said, as he lifted the sheets from the sides and bent down to peek under the bed. "They're gone."

Subaru heaved out a sigh of relief as Reinhard helped him up and they walked out together. It was then that he noticed a grin on Reinhard's face and gave him an inquisitive gaze.

"It seems even my mother has helped protect you."

Subaru's eyes widened in surprise as he chuckled. "Yeah… she did," he replied, patting the rather satisfied Reinhard's head.

"Thank you," he turned around to see the Sleeping Beauty one last time, bowing his head before her, before exiting the room and closing the door behind him, returning it back to its state of quietness and solitude.

---

"I swear if there's going to be any more surprise visits…" Felt began as she popped down on the couch of the reception room. Looking all around her, everyone else seemed drained of their energies too, as they lifelessly rested on the sofas with the twins attending to everyone.

'How much energy do these two seriously have!?' She thought as her eyes followed them, handing a tea cup to Subaru.

"I told you so," Subaru said in a nonchalant manner.

"Don't you 'I told you so' me as if this has nothing to do with you!" Felt exclaimed, but Subaru's attention was no longer on Felt.

Beside him, while she couldn't hear their conversation clearly, she was sure Reinhard had asked him whether Subaru wanted him to cool his tea down, at which Subaru shook his head vigorously.

"This cannot go on like this forever!" Ezzo complained as he rested his head against the back of the sofa. "We need to find a solution to this problem quickly."

"But with this, I hope that… at least Julius would come to his senses and maybe start questioning everything that has happened," Reinhard sighed in sadness.

"Oh, he's questioning everything alright. I don't think he'll be coming back here anytime soon," A new voice announced as he entered the room, and everyone sat up straight to look at the guest in surprise.

"You!" Felt jumped out her seat and pointed her finger at him. "What are you doing here?" She was grateful for his help and everything, but she couldn't help but be surprised when he suddenly popped up out of nowhere.

"…I…let him in…he helped…today…" Grimm answered, entering behind him.

"I see. Then I must thank you again, Zacharias. I am once again in your debt," Reinhard spoke to the brown-haired knight that had entered.

"Please stop, Reinhard-senpai. I'll get really embarrassed if you continue," the junior knight, Zacharias said, while grinning. "The moment I heard Ferris-senpai can't come due to being unable to leave Crusch-sama unattended, I begged them to let me come."

"Thank you for your help—wait, again?" Subaru asked, raising his brows at Reinhard.

"He was the one who drugged the guards which allowed me to help you escape," Reinhard responded. The rest of the members looked at him in gratitude while Zacharias rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Considering how troublesome Subaru was too, it would have been quite a chore for Reinhard to rescue him alone so Felt was grateful for that as well.

"Thanks for the help! It would have been so great if all knights were like you!" Ezzo cried and the others nodded their heads.

"The knights are all dumb! He looks so weak, he doesn't even look like he can fight! Why the hell do they even think he's a Sin Archbishop?" Rachins commented.

"Are you defending me or insulting me!?" Subaru retorted, but then he gave a disappointed sigh. "I can't really deny it either."

"Wrath rotting their brains in Priestella was one thing, but how dumb are they to still keep pursuing big bro like this?" Felt said as she crossed her arms in anger.

"I think most of them have realised Subaru-senpai is probably innocent…" Zacharias responded with a tired sigh. "It would have been different if they hadn't done anything yet, but after everything that's already been done… it's just easier to accept he is lying than to besmirch their own honour by admitting they tortured an innocent man."

"Knight's honour again? Just how far are they willing to go for the sake of something like that?" Camberley said in annoyance. Most people in that room did not have a very good impression of knights, but this only made them fall further in their eyes.

"…I don't believe all knights are the same, Felt-sama," Reinhard defended, but then he nodded his head. "I do agree this is becoming a bit of a problem. If this search persists…"

"…We have to do something to reverse Subaru-sama's situation as fast as possible," Carol finished Reinhard's words as Felt nodded.

"Louis Arneb," Subaru said, his face scrunching up into a bitter frown with burning rage seeping out into his voice as he spoke the name. It was the name of the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony who had eaten his memories. Subaru clenched his fist as he put down the tea cup. "We'll have to find her and-"

"I'm going to stop you right there, kid," Rom spoke up all of a sudden, interrupting him and the others looked at him in puzzlement.

"Old man, what's going on?" Felt questioned him, but instead of answering her, the old man turned his gaze to Subaru, a grave expression coming over his face.

"That's one way to go about solving this situation, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you have any actual leads on the whereabouts of that Archbishop. Trust me when I say this, but witch cultists can be extremely slippery. If you chase her blindly, finding her could take days or it could take years."

Carol sighed. Raising her hand to her head, she closed her eyes to massage her temples. "So what do you suppose we do?" She asked, just as frustrated by their inability to do a thing as everyone else.

"Astrea!" Rom called out and Reinhard straightened up in his seat before responding, "Yes!"

"What would you say about making another journey? This time with us?" Rom asked, and all of their eyes widened, immediately understanding what Rom was talking about.

A third journey to the elusive Watchtower, one that Reinhard had already failed twice at.

A deathly silence surrounded the room as they waited for Reinhard to speak. Reinhard bit his lips as he looked at everyone in shame. "I… I don't know if I'll be able to make it. I don't know if it is possible to reach the Watchtower."

"Take me with you then, Reinhard. You'll take me there and I'll find a way," Subaru said with such certainty that everyone around him was left dumbfounded by his confidence. It might have been baseless confidence, but to Reinhard, it was reassuring enough to bring his hopes up.

"Very well, then. We shall go to the Watchtower and meet the Sage. …If it is you, I'm sure we'll reach it somehow. I trust you," Reinhard responded.

It made Subaru's confidence falter. Having the Sword Saint relying on him was a tall expectation to fulfil, and it weighed heavily on his mind. Regardless, he decided if he wanted the Felt camp to stay out of trouble, clearing his name was something he had to do. Therefore, not succeeding was not an option he had.

"Thank you, Rein-"

Right as he was speaking, the door to the reception room burst open, startling everyone in the room as they jumped up in shock. They turned their collective attention to the door and their eyes widened upon seeing the second set of unexpected visitors walking into the room.

"Rejoice, commoners! Your favourite Princess has arrived to make your miserable lives wonderful again!" A voice boldly proclaimed, as three sets of sighs escaped from beside her.

It was the Sun Princess, currently supposed to be under house arrest, standing at the doorway with one hand on her hips, and the other pointing her open fan in their direction, with a bright and mischievous smile adorning her beautiful face.

---

Rewritten as of 02/15/2023.

Beta reading credits to Reactionist.