Chapter 6
A New Beginning
"Disgusting pigs!", she said in disgust as she knocked down, with great difficulty, two of the river bandits who had escaped from the defenses of her two attendants and tried to attack her.
Al was engaged in battle with around three to four men, while Heinkel was single handedly holding back at least eighteen men, while managing to protect the little Schult who was grabbing on to him tightly. Even she had to admit she was impressed.
This was fine for now, but how long would it take before they managed to overwhelm them with their numbers. The river bandits just seemed to come more and more, almost as big as a little army.
This problem would be easily solved if she just went to the boss and revealed her identity. Selena's men would safely escort her to Vollachia.
-But then what would she do?
Until then, she was sure she would somehow manage. But now, after struggling against mere river bandits, she began to doubt it. Unsure if she still even had the Yang sword's protection, would she even be able to emerge victorious in Vollachia? While she was intelligent, what would she even do against the Witch Cult, who defied all logic, if they were truly involved in the uprising in Vollachia like she had suspected?
"Al, Schult, Heinkel, we're leaving this ship this instant!", the girl demanded. The best course of action would be a tactical retreat.
"...What!?" Her three attendants stared at her in shock.
"Princess, you do realise the situation we're in right now! Even if we want to leave, we're in the middle of a river and they've got the life boats. There's no way to do it!", her knight exclaimed as he blocked the attacks of the river bandits that had attacked their ship.
"Fool! Do you not understand or do I need to explain it to you! If we're in the middle of water, we'll obviously swim!"
"...Are you serious right now!? How the hell are we supposed to drive them away and safely escape at the same time? You and Schult can't fight, we've got our hands full just trying to protect you!", Heinkel said as he displayed his prowess with the sword, easily knocking down the attackers.
"Just knock them out and then jump while they're down!", she answered.
"That's easy for you to say when you're not the one fighting!" Heinkel retorted. "I regret the day I decided to join you!"
"The feeling is mutual, old man!", Al agreed.
"If you idiots have time to joke around, then I believe you certainly have the time to jump! Stop fooling around and just follow me!" With that, she dove off the ship and hit the water.
"Wait, Princess/Priscilla-sama!", she could hear the two grown men panicking from above.
"Schult, you hold on tightly to me! We're jumping now!" Knocking out the two men approaching them, Heinkel prepared himself to jump.
She heard the sound of her Camp members diving in behind her.
She had been holding her breath and was trying to move as far away from the ship before she surfaced. The water was rapid and it had become quite difficult for her to swim. However, she would survive. After all, the world was designed to operate in the way that works best for her.
However, the same could not be said for the people on the ship. She could hear the commotion and was sure they believed she was drowning to death. She had made the decision to jump in a split second.
But her plan seemed to be going smoothly. Once they inform Selena Dracroy of the tragedy, maybe the assassination attempts would stop. At the same time, she bought herself more time. All she had to do was wait for the Watchtower group to return. If they succeeded in bringing the Sage back, he could fix her situation.
The momentary relief she had gained was immediately turned to horror when she realised that she had been going down instead of up. She pushed herself against the water trying to rise up, but as soon as she reached the surface, the waves coming from the sailing ship came crashing down on her and pushed her under once again. She had immensely underestimated the force of flowing water. The river was more turbulent than she had expected.
She struggled for even a single breath of air in the rapids. She kicked with her feet trying to get her head above water, but everytime she reached the surface, the pressure of the waves would once again dunk her underwater.
Water filled her lungs and took away her ability to scream or even breathe. The time she spent underwater was so much longer than the time she managed to keep her head above water. She was suffocating. She was drowning.
She cursed the world for her predicament. The world operated in her favour? What a joke! Her luck had run dry in Priestella, after it had saved her from her hopeless situation. First, Wrath had escaped, despite the efforts she had taken to secure her, and she had lost her Yang Sword and her luck. Then, the repeated assassination attempts when she returned back to her mansion. Now, even after being aware of it, she still tried to cross into Vollachia, realised just how disadvantaged she really was, made a bad decision and was currently drowning.
Where were those idiots? Hadn't they dived into the water behind her? What was taking them so long to save her? She thrashed around desperately trying to search for them.
What made her think jumping from a boat was a good idea? There were a million other methods to solve her problems. So why did she choose this? Was it really worth it?
She couldn't remember. She couldn't think. All she could do was struggle in vain as body felt like it was on fire. She was tired. She wanted to sleep. And so, she stopped moving.
She was going to die right after her life was saved from a fate worse than death at the cost of someone else's, without ever saving him. Even now, she was just waiting for her companions to come save her, without once thinking if they were even alive. How did that make her any different from a parasite, leeching off of the good will of people?
-No, this was unacceptable. She still had lots to do. She had to make sure those three were safe. She had to save that black-haired boy who saved her life in Priestella.
She jerked awake and once again, she kicked with her feet and pushed her hands against the water, desperately trying to break through the surface. For the brief moment that her head was in the air, she looked around, but she couldn't find any of her companions. Her head went under when another wave crashed down on her.
"PRISCILLA-SAMA! CAN YOU HEAR ME?", a desperate voice, other than the sound of the beating water, echoed in her ears.
Her face rose above the surface again. She was met with an unbelievable sight. The water was on fire. No, that's not possible. It was a man with flaming red hair. He had spotted her and was approaching her. There were two others tied behind and in front of him and he was swimming towards her with great difficulty.
'How foolish!', she thought. 'If only he dropped the two others behind, he would have been able to safely escape to the shore without a problem.'
As she went under once again, she was overcome with exhaustion.
"Priscilla-sama, the water has pushed us very close to the shore! We'll be saved soon. Don't sleep just yet!"
Despite the man's advice to stay awake, she didn't have the strength to do so anymore. She was tired after being pounded by the water like a ragdoll.
-And so, Priscilla Barielle let go of her consciousness, just before she could have reached the safety of the shore.
"Has this room always existed?", the puzzled Ram stared at the door, holding a mop in one hand.
She had finished cleaning the area when a door had popped out of nowhere.
She clicked her tongue at the extra work she had to do as she brought her hands to the doorknob and turned it.
-It was locked.
Just which useless person had locked an unused room! Now even more work was created for her by having to get the key to the room.
'My uselessness is not an excuse for you to be slacking off on the job, Nee-sama!'
The retort that suddenly sounded in her mind surprised her as she felt a sharp sting in her forehead. She shook her head and massaged her temples as she dismissed her auditory hallucination as a product of her lack of sleep.
Once the pain subsided, she looked at the door once again. She should probably get the key.
Resting the mop against the wall, she left the bucket in one corner of the corridor as she left the place to get the key to the mysterious room. She had worked in this mansion for at least a year and she doesn't remember ever encountering that room.
As she walked through the corridor, a small figure bumped into her. It was Petra who was rushing around trying to set up the table for dinner. She apologized and quickly ran to the dining room.
The girl was cute, but when it came to her work, she was rather slow, unlike Ram herself. Unfortunately, it was upto Ram to teach her quickly, so that she doesn't somehow end up embarrassing Roswaal in the future. Frederica just spoiled her too much.
Speaking of Frederica, the blonde maid was carrying a tray of food in her direction and stopped on seeing Ram.
"Are you done with cleaning the mansion?", she asked.
"Of course! When Ram does a job, she does it to perfection. Her expert hands have left the mansion sparkling.", the pink haired maid boasted as she puffed out her chest in pride.
"Then why did you leave them there?", Frederica pointed to the mop and the bucket of dirty water resting on the far end of the corridor.
Turning around, Ram noticed it too and blushed slightly. Did she accidentally forget about it and leave it there? Whatever the case, there was no way she was going to admit that to Frederica.
Then looking at the tray of food, she frowned a bit. She took the tray from Frederica's hands.
"I'll take this to Roswaal-sama. You go pick that up over there. Try not to ruin Ram's hard work while keeping them back."
"...Unlike Petra, you're not cute at all.", Frederica sighed.
"Ha! Mere words cannot be used to describe Ram's cuteness." Ram turned around and left Frederica as she walked to her beloved Master's room.
However, unlike two month ago, she wasn't walking to his room with excitement, but rather with dread. Roswaal just suddenly lost all hope one day and simply shut himself in his room. In the beginning, he would at least occasionally come out but eventually, even that stopped.
Everyday, someone would take him his meals to his room. He would give a bare minimum response, but other than that he refused to interact with anyone else in the mansion.
Ram was frustrated at her inability to help the people she loved. Rem was asleep, with no signs of waking up. Even beating up that Sin Archbishop had given her no clues on how to wake up her sister. And now, her Master had fallen into despair and shut himself in his room, and she had no idea what had caused it.
"...Roswaal-sama.", she knocked. "I have your dinner. May I come in?"
Silence.
Assuming that as permission, she opened the door and found him in the same condition she had left him that afternoon. He was leaning backwards against his chair and his eyes looked dead, not even acknowledging her existence.
The room was still messy. There were various books, crumpled scraps of paper, ink stains and various editions of the 'Dragon News', with one of them having a neatly cut rectangular hole in the middle, spread across the floor. Most of the text in them was smudged, and she was unable to read anything from them.
Putting the tray down on his desk, she turned to face him.
"Roswaal-sama, I brought your dinner. Please eat."
"..."
"Emilia-sama and Beatrice-sama returned from the Capital yesterday, after failing to reach the Watchtower."
"..."
"You still haven't met yet after they've returned. Please, go talk to them once."
"..."
"...Also, regarding the Sin Archbishop of Pride captured in Priestella two months ago….."
Roswaal's finger twitched.
"...Emilia-sama informed us he escaped while they were still at the Capital.", she looked down bitterly delivering the news. That piece of trash could remember the victims of Gluttony and now her only lead to save Rem was gone.
But to her shock, when she had looked up, Roswaal had stood up and energetically walked towards her. Although initially happy at him finally responding to her, her joy vanished the moment she saw his face.
He was grinning from ear to ear like a madman. Ram felt extremely hurt. Roswaal knew how important Rem was to her. And yet, he was smiling at the news of the Archbishop escaping.
She had really believed they had managed to correct him in the Sanctuary. Was she wrong in believing that?
Roswaal came close to her and grabbed her shoulders excitedly.
"How?", he asked. This was the first time in two months he was actually speaking to her, and the first thing he asked her was how the Sin Archbishop she detested had escaped.
Ram was almost in tears, trying her best to not let them come out as she answered, "W- We don't know. The Royal Knights believed the Sword Saint had rescued him, but …their search had turned up empty."
The moment she said this, Roswaal pushed Ram out of his room and shut the door. A little while later, he emerged dressed in his outdoor clothes and without his signature walked through the hallway, with the confused Ram closely following behind him.
The moon was high up in the sky but the world seemed darker than ever. Stepping outside the mansion, he walked in the darkness as Ram felt a sense of foreboding. He arrived at the stables where the ground dragons were kept.
She spotted Otto inside the stables, desperately trying to feed the disobedient Patrasche, but was failing. It looked like Otto hadn't noticed them yet.
"Otto-kun, please move aside."
On hearing the voice he hadn't heard in a while, he turned around in astonishment.
"Margrave, when did you come out?", the gray-haired internal affairs officer asked, only to be ignored completely. As Roswaal got closer to Patrasche and tried to pat her head, "Wait Margrave! She's been in a really bad mood! If you get too close-"
The ground dragon bit Roswaal's hand.
As drops of blood trickled down his hand and to the ground, Ram glared at Patrasche furiously. That ground dragon was lucky enough to be given a home, fed and taken care of, and yet, she had so ungratefully bit the hand of the master who was simply trying to pat her head.
Roswaal, however, didn't seem to be affected by it at all and continued to stand there with a neutral expression on his face. He took out his hand from the ground dragon's mouth, revealing the grotesque and bloody bite mark. The two around him panicked seeing his wound.
Ram rushed to his side to try to stop the bleeding-,
"Roswaal-sama, I'll get Bea-"
"Otto-kun, since when has she been like this? If I remember correctly, Patrasche-chan has never been so hostile.", he spoke without his usual accent.
-Only to be completely ignored by Roswaal.
Glancing back and forth between Ram and Roswaal with concern, he hesitatingly answered, "...Around the time we returned from Priestella. Whenever I try to ask her why she's so uneasy, she just keeps screaming 'I don't know' over and over. …I honestly have no idea what to do. She hardly eats and if this continues, it'll be really bad."
"-I see.", Roswaal said, closing his yellow eye. Wiping the blood off his hand with a handkerchief, he once again got closer to Patrasche. This time however, instead of trying to pat her head, he just bent closer.
"Patrasche-chan, eat now. We've a long journey to make. We're going to meet your master."
When the words left his mouth, both Otto and Ram stared at him in confusion. Patrasche herself stood still, and was looking at Roswaal.
Patrasche's master? What was that supposed to mean? Wasn't Roswaal technically Patrasche's master?
Patrasche, after a while, bent down and began eating, while Roswaal patted her head with his other hand.
"If you're ready, let's leave.", the blue-haired mage said as he got up on the ground dragon, soon after she was done eating.
"Wait, Roswaal-sama! Where are you going now? It's already Water Time and you've not had your dinn-"
"I'll be back by tomorrow.", Roswaal told her coldly, as Patrasche ran off into the distance leaving the two confused members of Emilia Camp behind.
"What just happened? I've been trying to feed Patrasche for two months and I failed, and he just comes out suddenly and does it in ten minutes and then, just leaves without telling us why!"
"Even Patrasche recognises how great the difference is between you and Roswaal-sama."
"What's that supposed to mean!? I was the one who-", Otto was going to defend himself further but looking at Ram's expression, he stopped.
"Ram-san, are you alright?", he asked in concern.
"...Disgusting! Using the excuse of being concerned to stare at the maidenly Ram with your perverted eyes!"
"...Let's go back inside.", Otto said, not retorting back against a single word she said.
They walked back to the mansion as an uneasy silence surrounded them.
"Ram, was that Roswaal? Where did he go?", just as they were entering inside, her silver-haired liege asked her.
"How rude, I suppose! Betty and Emilia were gone for two months and he left without even meeting us, in fact!", the drill haired spirit beside Emilia puffed her cheeks angrily.
"Beatrice looks reaaaally cute when she's angry!", Emilia happily said as she pinched Beatrice's cheeks.
"Stop that, in fact!", she stomped her foot as she turned to Ram and Otto. "These two have yet to say where that clown left, I suppose."
"We don't know, Emilia-sama. He just left with Patrasche without telling us where he was going, just telling us he'll come back tomorrow.", Otto answered.
As Emilia turned to look at Ram, the happiness on her face was replaced with concern as she walked closer and hugged her.
"...Emilia-sama?"
"I don't know what happened, but you had a reaaaally sad expression on your face just now. If there's something bothering you, tell me. I will help in any way I can.", the silver-haired half-elf gently stroked her hair.
"I'm fine, Emilia-sama." Despite her words, Ram still gave in to the hug as she desperately tried not to cry.
The sword swung towards Subaru, with the full intention of sending him flying through the air. In an instant, he lunged forward to intercept it with his own sword. Although pushed back a few steps, he managed to successfully stop the attack directed towards him, generating loud cheers from behind him.
His opponent, the handsome red-haired knight, too smiled, impressed by his performance.
"That was great, Subaru! Your skills in blocking my attacks have improved considerably, even though you have failed to land even a single attack on me."
"Why'd you have to phrase it like that!? I was feeling real proud of my progress until you said that!"
Reinhard's lips immediately curved downwards. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to demean your progress."
"And now you're apologizing again!"
Honestly, Reinhard's constant apologizing irritated Subaru. He had to do something about it in the future.
"Shall we put an end to this?"
"Maybe one more round, and then we'll call it a day. Is that OK?"
"That's completely fine. Are you ready to begin?"
"Yup, here I come!"
And with that, Subaru gripped his wooden sword tightly as he rushed towards Reinhard.
It had been a week since he had been rescued by Reinhard from the prison cell and about three days after the 'Surprise Visit' by the knights.
Having been healed by Ezzo and being unable to stay quietly indoors, he had begged Reinhard to train him, which he very reluctantly obliged.
While he had improved decently with a sword, he still hadn't managed to land a single hit on Reinhard. He dealt blow after blow, but all his attacks were effortlessly blocked. Well, he wasn't the Sword Saint for nothing. But still, his inability was causing him to grow more and more impatient.
"Subaru, your movements are becoming extremely wasteful. You're using too much force. Clear your head before striking, otherwise your attacks will become meaningless."
"I know that! You don't have to tell me that again and again!", Subaru barked angrily, surprising Reinhard. But as soon as he said that, he regretted it. Reinhard was helping him train and he was being extremely ungrateful.
Subaru stopped. Seeing the gap that existed between them, he couldn't help but feel useless. Maybe they should stop the session for that day. He's not going to improve any further any time soon.
"Hey Rein, I'm sorry for losing my cool. Maybe we should stop for now.", he smiled sadly.
No response.
Subaru had noticed it ever since the day Zacharias had visited. Reinhard had become increasingly distracted. Subaru couldn't help but feel concerned about it.
"...Rein?"
Still no response.
"Reinhard!", he shouted startling the red-haired knight, making him reflexively swing his sword towards Subaru.
Unable to dodge or block the blow in time, the sword made contact with Subaru, sending him flying backwards.
"Subaru!" "Subaru-san!" "Big bro!"
Fortunately for him, Subaru had already mastered the skill of falling about a year ago when Wilhelm had pounded him every day back at the Karsten villa. Combining that with his training in parkour, he tucked his head in, wrapped his arms around himself and easily executed a perfect roll, effectively neutralising the blow.
Coming to a stop, he laid down perfectly flat on the ground as the other three rushed to his location.
"Subaru, I'm extremely sorry! I wasn't paying attention and-"
"It's alright, Rein. I'm fine. …..Also, about earlier, I wasn't making any progress, so I was kind of getting frustrated. Sorry for that."
"No, I…", Reinhard looked at Subaru in concern. No, concern was an understatement. He looked like he had just killed someone. It made alarm bells ring in his head.
"Big bro, are you alright?", Felt asked as she and Ezzo helped him get up. "What the hell, Rein! Pay more attention!"
"I-… I'm…. sor-…."
"Don't worry about it. It was a mistake.", Subaru said as he rolled down the sleeves of his black dress shirt and began dusting off his clothes.
"Are you hurt anywhere?", Ezzo asked.
"No, I don't think so. I don't feel hurt anywhere.", he replied as moved his limbs around trying to search for any injuries.
The three others heaved a sigh of relief after confirming he was fine.
Suddenly-,
"Subaru-senpai! It's me. I'm back. What are you doing there?"
It was the junior knight they had met a few days ago, sprinting across the garden to them, with a troubled expression on his face.
"Hey Zacharias!", Subaru smiled as he waved at him. But noticing his expression, he asked, "Is something wrong?"
"Just got here from the Capital and came here as soon as I could. Grimm-san told me you were here.", Zacharias said, breathing heavily as he reached them.
"Glad to see you again, Zacharias. Shall we go inside?", Reinhard offered but Zacharias shook his head.
"No, let's just stay here for sometime.", he said as he looked guiltily at Reinhard. "...I'll be leaving soon anyways. I have some work. I came because…...", As Zacharias said those words, he unhooked a very familiar item attached to his belt and threw it on the ground.
"My Guiltywhip!", Subaru excitedly picked it up and began happily swinging it around.
"That's yours, big bro?"
"You can use a whip, Subaru-san?"
"Yeah! Clind-san had taught me how to use this. Thanks a lot, Zacharias!"
"How did you even manage to get it?", Felt asked curiously.
"...I was actually doing something else and I remembered. It was just laying in the Knights Garrison after your arrest ...So, I stole it. I almost got caught, but somehow in the end it all worked out and I got it.", he said, rather uninterestedly. That was unexpected. Even though Subaru had met him only once, he had expected Zacharias to be more …cheerful.
"Zacharias, what's wrong?", Subaru asked worriedly.
"It's nothing.", he dismissed. Smiling sadly, he asked, "So Subaru-senpai, did anything new happen in the last three days?"
"Well, I asked Reinhard to train me, and it seems to be going well. In fact, far better than I thought it would."
"That would be due to my 'Divine Protection of Training Mastery'."
"...That makes sense. There's no way I could have progressed even this much without it.", Subaru looked down in sadness.
"Big bro, you should stop saying that! You've done really well so far, blocking this idiot's attack.", Felt said, closing her fist and pointing at Reinhard. "It's just been two days! You'll do even better, I'm sure!"
"I'm sure about it too, Subaru-senpai!"
"By the way, did you manage to find anything about Subaru-san's memory or Heinkel-san?"
Zacharias smile fell instantly as he guiltily turned to Reinhard. "...Reinhard-senpai, I have information for you about the Deputy Commander."
All of their gazes immediately turned to face the junior knight as his expression turned bitter.
"What did you find?", Reinhard grabbed Zacharias' shoulder, desperate for any information he could get.
Zacharias adopted a more neutral expression, as he reported his findings.
"I broke into the Commander's cabin and took a peek at the logs. Apparently, around a month ago, Priscilla-sama, her knight, her little butler and the Deputy Commander were last spotted on a ship on the Great Tigracy River near the Vollachian border. Later on, that ship was hijacked by river bandits from Vollachia."
"So, she's become a prisoner of war in another country?", Subaru asked in concern.
"Why was she even trying to get into the Empire?", Felt wondered.
"If they're in Vollachia, how can I….", Reinhard's hands shook as the only lead they had received indicated he was going to be unable to rescue them.
"Wait, Reinhard-senpai! There's more. The river bandits seized the ship and let all the sailors return back on a small boat. I copied down the testimony of one of the sailors who had returned back. Here!"
He took out a sheet of paper from his shirt pocket, unfolded it and handed it to them.
(The ship departed as scheduled and everything was going normally.
The members of the Priscilla Camp seemed to be getting along rather well with the crewmates. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.
And then, around half a day after we had departed, river bandits hijacked the ship.
Al-sama and Heinkel-sama managed to single-handedly hold them back. But there were too many of them and they were starting to get pushed back. Suddenly, Priscilla-sama demanded they jump from the ship and after some back and forth, they prepared to jump.
She jumped first. Her attendants, although reluctant, jumped into the water behind her.
We tried to stop them, but they had already jumped. And we didn't see them surface after that. That was the last we had seen of them. Either she safely got to the shore or she drowned.)
Subaru and the others looked at the paper in confusion.
Why would Priscilla just jump from a ship at the first sign of trouble? It didn't seem like her. They were alive, right? She always said that the world works in her favour, so she had to be alive. Subaru sincerely prayed for their safety.
-If she was dead, what was even the point of losing his 'Name' and going through all of that pain? He had been betrayed by his own allies, but he had held himself together, believing that at least he had managed to save someone from a fate worse than death.
"The knights are still searching around the river for any signs of them, but... the most they've been given is a month. If they're not found by then… they'll be declared dead.", the brown-haired knight informed them sadly.
"...Reinhard?", Felt patted his back.
"Excuse me, Felt-sama.", Reinhard said as he turned around and began walking away.
"...Wait, Reinhard!", Subaru tried to stop him, but he was gone.
"I'm sorry. …I should leave now.", Zacharias said guiltily as he began to leave.
"No, stay here! I'll go talk to him.", Felt told him.
"Wait, I'm coming with you! Ezzo, you stay here with Zacharias.", Subaru followed behind her as they entered the mansion.
"He's probably gone to his mother's room.", Felt said, unsure of what to do.
The previous day, Carol had told the two of them about the entire story of the Astrea family. Even Felt was surprised to hear about it. About how Heinkel used to be a good father, and defended Reinhard. That the reason he had become this way was simply due to his frustration of being unable to do anything, especially regarding his wife.
It still did not excuse him for neglecting and abusing his son, though.
But if they used to be close during Reinhard's childhood, it was understandable why Reinhard was so worried about his father, even though he didn't really deserve it.
He remembered the drill-haired little girl who used to sit on a step stool in front of the door. He started to feel guilty but soon dismissed the thoughts.
Even though Echidna had condemned her to four hundred years of isolation inside that library for her curiosity, Beatrice still held her in high regard. She snapped back at anyone who insulted her mother, including Subaru himself.
It was hard for anyone to blame their own parents. If for some reason, Subaru's parents suddenly started hating him (even though it was what he wanted), he would have felt extremely sad. He would have thought that it was somehow his fault and that he did something wrong.
Considering Reinhard's personality, that was probably how he felt as well. And it pissed him off that the reason for that was the man he admired the most.
-Wilhelm had blamed his four year old grandson for murdering his grandmother.
He had done so in Priestella as well. Just three days ago, he had come to incriminate Reinhard again. He was making it harder for even Carol and Grimm, who were his friends, to defend his actions. It had completely shattered the image Subaru had of Wilhelm.
As they neared Louanna's room, Felt and Subaru wondered what they should say to Reinhard. But their thoughts were interrupted, when they heard a voice echo from the entrance of the mansion.
"-please let me see him!", a familiar voice reached Subaru's ear.
"I…. I'm…..", Carol stumbled.
"I'm not here to expose you. I just want to see if Subaru-kun is really safe."
Subaru's eyes widened.
'...You're kidding me, right? It can't be!'
"Who is that?", Felt asked as she changed her direction and headed towards the entrance.
"Patrasche-chan, wait here! I'll come back soon. With him.", Roswaal said as he walked to the door of the Astrea Mansion.
As soon as he opened them, it alerted the maids of the mansion, working in the kitchen, who immediately came out to greet him.
Roswaal's eyes began to almost water on seeing the one who had come to greet him. She was someone he had once considered extremely important to him. A precious friend for whom he had once disobeyed the Tome of Wisdom to save.
"Pleased to meet you …Carol…san. I'm the current head of the Roswaal family. My name is Roswaal L Mathers. I believe my grandmother was an acquaintance of yours. I am extremely sorry for arriving on such short notice."
As Carol heard him introduce himself, her eyes shook with sadness and guilt as she held her hand near her chest.
"...Julia.", she whispered in grief.
Her whisper of that name, as if it was extremely important to her, made him immensely happy from the bottom of his heart.
"Please forgive me, Margrave Mathers. …I seem to have lost my composure. It's just… Your grandmother was one of my best friends. I'm sorry that because of me-"
"Carol-san, Grandmother was blessed to have been adored so much by people like you. I'm sure she was glad she could protect you."
"Thank you, Margrave Mathers. Pleased to make your acquaintance. But…", she smiled sadly. But then immediately looking at him in confusion, she said, "Do you have any business with the Young Master?"
"-I'm here to meet Natsuki Subaru."
Carol's eyes widened in horror at his words. It made him feel guilty seeing that expression on her face, but he could not stop now.
"I heard the Sword Saint was the one who most likely rescued him. I know that he is innocent and he is Emilia-sama's knight. So, please let me see him!"
"I…. I'm…..", Carol stumbled.
"I'm not here to expose you. I just want to see if Subaru-kun is really safe."
"...I'm sorry, I do not understand what-"
"Carol-san, please-"
"Rozchi, you're supposed to look good without your clown makeup! How do you end up looking even creepier!?"
'He was alive! He was really alive!' As soon as Roswaal heard the voice, his eyes became filled with life after seeming dead for two months.
From the back emerged the boy he had been desperate to see alive. However, his grin faded as soon as he came into view. The boy's hair was not raven-black like he had expected, but was instead a snow-white colour, similar to his teacher.
"Subaru-kun... your hair…."
"Ah, this?", he said, brushing his hair with his hand. "It's nothing worse than what happened in the Sanctuary. So, don't worry.", Subaru said sarcastically.
Roswaal was once again overcome with guilt but quickly drove those thoughts away. It doesn't matter. Subaru was still alive. That was all that mattered. He plastered the smile back on his face.
"Hoooooow hurtful, Subaru-kun! I took all this effort to come here to see whether my cute subordinate was doing alright, but yoooouuu seem to be angry instead!", he faked being hurt, but it seemed to disgust him further.
"Hey, big bro, are you still sure we shouldn't throw him out?", a voice came from beside Subaru.
The blonde princess, Felt, that the Sword Saint had sworn to spoke out as she tightly held Subaru's sleeve. Was she standing beside him this entire time?
"No, it's fine. The creepy clown won't do anything for now."
"I am staaaanding in front of you, Subaru-kun!"
Felt still looked unconvinced, while Carol was watching their interactions with utter confusion.
"So, what do you want? Why the hell are you here?", Subaru asked Roswaal coldly.
"...I told you. I am here toooooo see you, Subaru-kun.", Roswaal paused for sometime before continuing, "…That half-devil just returned-"
"-Half-elf!", Subaru shouted angrily as he glared at Roswaal. "Don't you dare call her that again!"
The moment those words left his mouth, Roswaal broke into a mad grin. He was afraid that Subaru had begun to hate the Emilia Camp after his torture, but it looked like he had nothing to worry about. Natsuki Subaru would never stop loving Emilia.
"I'm sorry about that. I may haaaaave gotten too emotional and said something rather unpleasant. I'll make sure to apooooologize to Emilia-sama once we return back."
The three of them around him were immediately stunned into silence on hearing his words.
"...What do you mean by 'we'?", Felt asked suspiciously.
"...It means exaaaaactly what it does, Felt-sama. I'm grateful to you for having taken care of our knight all this time, but I believe we've imposed on you long enough. It's tiiiiiime for him to come back.", Roswaal said happily.
"...Margrave Mathers, I don't think-", once again Carol tried to speak before being interrupted by Felt herself.
"You're not taking him anywhere!", she angrily glared at the margrave. "He's my big bro! He's part of my Camp now! After you people refused to even listen to him in Priestella, there's no way I'm letting you take him! Get out!", she protested, hugging the white- haired former knight possessively, while continuing to glare at Roswaal.
Roswaal, however, was not worried in any way whatsoever. He simply pointed his index finger at Subaru's face, causing Felt's eyes to widen in shock.
It was obvious Subaru was considering whether to go back. Roswaal was confident Subaru would return to the Emilia Camp.
"Felt-sama, this is noooot about what you want. This is about what Subaru-kun wants. If you truuuuuly care about him, you should let him go back to the people he loves."
As soon as Roswaal said those words, Subaru looked at him with pity. "Is that really what you think I want, Roswaal?"
Roswaal's smile twitched slightly. "Whaaaaat do you mean?", Roswaal asked in confusion.
"Big bro, you're seriously not going to go, right?", Felt asked, almost in tears, while still hugging him.
Subaru smiled and patted her head. And then, with a more serious expression, he turned to Roswaal.
"Let's talk, Roswaal. Just you and me."
Roswaal just cluelessly nodded his head, hoping Subaru would give him the answers he wanted.
They stepped outside into the garden to talk after excusing themselves.
"Soooooo, what did you want to talk about, Subaru-kun?"
"...How are the others doing?"
"Nothing seems to have changed much, from what I heard from Ram. ….I haven't talked to them directly in a long time.", Roswaal replied regretfully.
"...Is that so? So, they're all happy. …How did you remember me?"
"You seeeeem to forget I'm a Witch's apprentice.", Roswaal answered proudly, making Subaru hold his breath.
"...I realised one day, I no longer had my Tome of Wisdom, aaaaand was bound by a contract to protect the Camp members. For me, it seemed as if my hard work of four hundred years was looooost in a single day. I desperately used all my knowledge in maaaaagic to try to understand what it was that I was forgetting. Combine that with your immunity against authorities, within a weeeeeek, I had all my memories of you restored."
"But then, if you remembered me, why didn't you do anything?", Subaru asked angrily.
"...I thought you would die before I could save you."
"..."
"I heard what happened in Priestella from Ram. …..And I heard she had gone to your prison cell.", Roswaal replied sadly.
"So you just gave up and locked yourself in your room?"
Roswaal didn't answer.
"...I can't believe you were the first person to remember me because of how important I am to your goals.", Subaru shuddered.
"But, nooooow that you're alive, it doesn't matter.", Roswaal grinned as he spread his arms. "Once we return, we can fooooocus completely on how to get your 'Name' back. Beatrice and Emilia-sama were extremely hasty. We'll also have to make sure they don't repeaaaat it in the future."
"... I'm sorry but you're going to have to do it alone."
"...What did you just say?", Roswaal thought he had misheard Subaru.
"I'm not going back."
As soon as the words left Subaru's mouth, Roswaal started to panic.
"But don't you want to go back to Emilia-sama and Bea-"
"They are happy without me there. I don't want to go back and ruin it. I'd rather stay here where people actually want me here.", Subaru looked down as he answered sadly.
"If you're worried about no one trusting you, I'll convince-"
"Yeah, and everyone in the mansion will immediately believe you because they trust you very much!", Subaru said sarcastically.
"Even if they don't trust me, as long as it's my orders, they won't-"
"Disobey you? Do you seriously think your maids will never try to go behind your back and try to get rid of a suspicious intruder?"
Was he talking about one of his loops? Had Ram or maybe even Rem, ever tried to kill him behind his back? Roswaal's guilt kept stockpiling but he continued to ignore it. He couldn't stop now. Not after he had come all this way.
"So, you are just going to abandon Emilia-sama and Rem, then? It is true that Emilia-sama did hurt you once, but that's all it takes for you to give up on her! What about Rem? She has done nothing to you. Was being hurt once all it took to stop loving-"
"JUST WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HOW MUCH IT TOOK!", Subaru screamed suddenly, shocking him.
The white-haired boy was crying. It was the first time he had ever seen Subaru cry. He had seen Subaru become angry, become afraid, panic, smile and a plethora of other reactions. But he had never seen him cry. He had heard about it several times from Beatrice, but this was the first time he was actually seeing him cry. And now that he saw it, he realised it. Beatrice was right. -Subaru was still a child. A child he had sought to break and use for his benefit.
"-I'm not made of stone, Roswaal.", Subaru said.
"..."
"I waited a year for her to give me an answer! She didn't understand love, so she needed time to think. But she didn't even think twice before she called me a Witch Cultist! …I think getting rejected once was enough for me."
Roswaal couldn't say anything and just listened silently as Subaru vented.
"And then there's Rem! You know, earlier I used to be sad about her coma. Now, somewhere in the back of my mind, I can't help but feel happy she is! I'm disgusting, aren't I? She has done nothing to me. And yet, I'm sure, if she was awake, she would definitely be the first to try to kill me. …...I don't want to feel this way about her. I really don't. But it's the truth. …I'll be happy if she wakes up, but I just don't want to meet her."
"...Are you going to abandon Beatrice too? After you promised to not leave her lonely ever again.", Roswaal asked Subaru.
"I didn't abandon anyone! They're the ones who refused to believe me. She was the one who said even with the miasma, without the Gospel, that person can't be a Witch Cultist! …For once, I want to believe what Carol-san and Felt have been trying to tell me. That it isn't my fault! It may not entirely be their fault, but it certainly wasn't mine!"
And then, wiping his tears from his eyes, he looked at Roswaal with a determined expression.
"They made their choice. I made mine. I don't really have them. I know it wasn't entirely their fault. -But I'm not going back.", the white-haired boy declared.
This was it. Roswaal had no other choice left.
"-If that is the case, I've decided as well. I will no longer be sponsoring the Candidate Emilia, in the Royal Selection."
The moment he said it, Subaru stared at him with complete horror.
"...W-Wait! …You can't….. what about-"
"I've already told you before. The only reason I did it was not because of her, but because of the strongest card she holds, that is you Subaru-kun. Without you, she is guaranteed to lose the Royal Selection. I'm simply cutting off a useless asset."
"Don't you dare-"
"I have every right to do so. You defeated me in the Sanctuary and forced me to change my entire way of life. I am unable to do anything now due to the soul-binding contract I have with you. All of this was because of you. -Even if you were to go to hell, I'll blindly follow behind you. If you have decided to abandon Emilia-sama, so have I."
"-", Subaru grit his teeth, unable to say anything.
"She can continue to stay in the mansion how she has been till now. However, I will no longer support her in the Royal Selection. …Of course, you can still save her. All you need to do is come back.", Roswaal grinned widely. With this, Subaru would definitely come back.
But instead, he took a deep breath and glared at Roswaal.
"...I'm not going back. And you're going to continue supporting Emilia."
Roswaal felt himself growing more agitated as Subaru spoke.
"That's not going to happen. You can't have everything you want. That's too greedy."
"Heh! The man who wants to revive the Witch of Greed, is lecturing me about being too greedy. No wonder you're failing at it so badly."
"You should stop talking about things you don't understand!"
It seemed that Subaru had managed to get on Roswaal's nerves as he accidentally released a wave of Goa towards Subaru. By the time he realised it, to his horror, it was too late to stop it. Subaru was going to die because of him.
But then, just before the fire could burn him to ashes-,
-A red dot materialized in front of Subaru and absorbed all the fire.
"A spirit?", Roswaal blurted in confusion.
"Not a waste of my Spirit affinity anymore, is she, Ezzo?", Subaru smirked as he mumbled to himself.
Then, the minor spirit hovering energetically in the air came back to rest on Subaru's arm and dematerialized.
"Meet Antares. Or An as Felt calls her. She's my new spirit."
"...what is….. going on?", a hoarse voice called out from behind.
"It's nothing, Grimm-san. I was just showing off my An in front of Roswaal.", Subaru smiled smugly.
Subaru had contracted another spirit. He had truly moved on. He really was not going to come back, no matter what Roswaal did. As soon as the realisation hit him, he felt the life drain from his soul. He had lost his strongest card.
'Betty will be really sad once she remembers him again.'
"Grimm-san, please continue your work. I'm really sorry for disturbing you."
Grimm seemed unconvinced but Subaru managed to push him away.
And then, turning towards Roswaal, he smiled sadly.
"It's not my fault. I wasn't the one who did anything wrong. I knew that before… but I couldn't quite convince myself of it entirely… That is until I talked to you. Thanks for that."
"..."
"Even after they knew how weak I was, do you know just how hard I had to work for Rem, Ram and Garfiel to not ki-", Subaru suddenly stopped and clutched his chest as he breathed heavily. What had just happened? A contract? He didn't know. He didn't care.
Subaru shook his head and continued to speak.
"No one trusted me. Not even Beatrice and Emilia. ….But the entire Felt Camp knew me as someone the Great Spirit accused as a Sin Archbishop. And they still helped me. I understand now that no matter what happens, they won't betray me. …Or at least I hope so.", he muttered the last part out feebly.
"I'm not going back. I don't really hate Emilia and the others, but they're happy on their own and they never needed me. Felt and the others do. Because of them, I got a second chance at life after being betrayed by almost everyone I loved. So, I have made my decision."
"..."
"-This is my Zero. And I'll do everything right this time. Reinhard, Felt, Priscilla, and everyone who tried to protect me despite not knowing who I am, I will not disappoint any of them."
Roswaal remained unresponsive as it felt like his dreams were shattered. Both of his guides, The Tome of Wisdom and Subaru, were gone. What was he supposed to do now?
"Roswaal, your hand! That's a bite mark! What happened?", Subaru suddenly asked in concern. Roswaal laughed weakly. He was noticing it only now?
"...Come with me.", Roswaal gestured as he trudged to where Patrasche was waiting.
As Subaru followed behind him in confusion, he soon spotted her.
"...Is that-"
The white-haired boy excitedly ran over to his ground dragon. Even though Patrasche had no idea who Subaru was, she still allowed him to pat her and hug her as she returned his affections. As he watched them, he wondered if Subaru would agree to come back once his 'Name' was restored properly. Once Emilia, Beatrice and the others remember him and beg him to come back, would he listen then?
"Rozchi, thank you! Thank you so much! Patrasche, I'm so happy to see you again.", Subaru laughed as Patrasche licked his cheeks.
He looked so happy. Should Roswaal really destroy this happiness by forcing him back? But then Roswaal had destroyed the lives of a lot of people. What made Subaru any more special than them?
"Roswaal, you know, you didn't let me complete what I was saying before.", Subaru said suddenly, drawing Roswaal's attention.
"I'm not going back. And you're going to continue sponsoring Emilia."
"..."
"But you're pretty dumb, you know. Just because we're in different Camps doesn't mean I can't help you if you need it. I'd love to have another Tea Party with that wicked witch.", Subaru smirked.
Roswaal's eyes widened. Subaru still wanted to help him? He had obviously thought of what Subaru had proposed. But he dismissed it because it would be harder to keep an eye on Subaru. But if Subaru was volunteering to help…..
"Now, let's go find Ezzo and get your hand fixed. I'll go talk to Reinhard in the meantime.", he said as they walked back into the mansion.
"Reinhard, let's have a talk!", Subaru cheerfully burst into Louanna's room, surprising both Reinhard and Felt, as the two jumped up from their seats.
"What's with both of your faces? You were supposed to cheer him up, not join him, Felt!", Subaru reprimanded her, placing his hands on hips and giving a sigh.
"Cheering me up-", Reinhard was about to ask but was interrupted.
"Huh! You're the one who looks out of place here!" But Felt lips immediately curved downwards on seeing Subaru's complexion. "…But you look a lot better than you did the entire past week. I guess you're really going back."
"Of course not! What gave you that idea? After my cute little sister was begging 'Don't take my big bro away!', how could I even think about- ow!", Subaru said as he vigorously patted Felt's head, messing up her hair, but then cried out in pain.
"I-I never said anything like that! Stop that!", Felt blushed as she pouted and stepped on his feet.
Even though he was sad, at that moment, watching his liege and his best friend bickering made Reinhard immediately break into a smile. He was sure if his mother was awake right now she would be smiling too. The only thing that would make this better if he knew his father was alive.
Reinhard found himself mourning again when suddenly, he felt someone's hand brush through his hair gently. Looking up, he saw Subaru was once again patting his head.
"Reinhard, we'll definitely find your father! I'm sure they're still alive. If they were really dead, the knights would not be searching for them. They must be receiving tips about their location. Besides, their ….corpses would have been found by now." Reinhard knew Subaru himself felt he was being too hopeful, but he wasn't entirely wrong. Their deaths weren't confirmed yet. They could still be alive.
"-And once we find them, you should really punch him!", Subaru said, surprising Reinhard.
"Wh-"
"-Big bro's right! That guy is an asshole! He neglected you, created trouble for us, and even held me hostage during the Witch Cult attack! We know you love him, but it's time for you to understand that it wasn't your fault!"
"...I-"
"Reinhard, we'll definitely help you find him. But the two of you really need to talk it out after that. I know how big of a hypocrite I am saying this, but…. instead of putting all the blame on yourselves, just tell him how you really feel."
Subaru pulled a chair close to Reinhard and sat down, with his stomach hugging the backrest. He then turned to look at Louanna before he continued, "...I understand he had his own problems, but it still doesn't excuse his actions."
"It was his fault, not yours! You really need to give him a piece of your mind! If he really is a good father, he will listen to you. You might have a chance at improving your relationship with him."
As the two lectured him, he couldn't do anything but nod. But even if they told him that, he knew couldn't do it. Because it really was his fault. If he wasn't such a monster, his father and grandfather wouldn't have been so hurt.
Subaru and Felt seemed to know that Reinhard did not really get anything they said and sighed. But at least they tried. They just didn't want Reinhard to feel guilty or blame himself.
Reinhard felt really grateful that they really cared about him. From the very beginning, these two were the only people who saw him as Reinhard, not the Sword Saint. In fact, when he had first met Subaru, the raven-haired boy back then had completely ignored that fact. He still regretted the fact that he had let him go with Emilia back then. But now he was really glad that the white-haired boy was not leaving them.
A few minutes earlier, just as he was about to leave the room hearing the sounds in the entrance, Felt had come running to him, almost in tears and hugged him tightly, explaining how Subaru may be leaving them. If Subaru was going to leave, how was he supposed to protect him? He didn't want to lose Subaru, right after he had thought he had lost his father.
"You're really not going to leave, are you?", he asked. He immediately regretted asking him that.
"I'll stay here as long as you want me to. I won't go anywhere." Subaru didn't seem to mind Reinhard's question at all as he answered honestly while smiling.
"...But what about Emilia-sama? Don't you want to go back to the girl you're in love with?"
Both Subaru and Felt's eyes widened as he said it.
"Big bro, you're in love with big sis?", Felt asked him in shock. Normally, she would have loved to tease him about it, but remembering that event made her feel even worse.
-He was condemned as a Sin Archbishop by the girl he loved and his contracted spirit.
"Reinhard, how did you know that?", Subaru asked hopefully.
"...Doesn't everyone know about it? You yourself told everyone-"
"Yeah, I did. Before my 'Name' was eaten. But I have never once mentioned it after that. Do you remember more about me?"
"...I-I remember rescuing you in the back alley and the Loothouse… and your…. declaration at the beginning of the Royal Selection…. and everything that happened in Priestella", Reinhard answered weakly.
"-What!", both of his closest friends exclaimed together.
"That's literally all the times we've met! What about the White Whale or any of the other events you weren't present at?"
"...The White Whale followed by the Sin Archbishop of Sloth, …and the Great Rabbit a week later."
"Wait, so you remember everything about me!"
"How? Why? Since when? Why didn't you tell us before?", Felt immediately grabbed his collar and shook him back and forth as she interrogated him.
"...I-I received the Divine Protection of Perfect Recollection after Zacharias first arrived that day. It's when I began to remember everything. ….I didn't know I remembered everything until Subaru told me just now. …It's why I didn't mention it."
Felt let go of him and began happily patting his back as she happily turned to Subaru. "Big bro, this is awesome! Rein remembers you! I'm so proud of you, Rein!"
However, as Subaru rested his chin on the backrest of the chair, he didn't look too happy. "Is there something else you're not telling us?"
"Big bro?", Felt looked at Subaru in puzzlement.
"...No.", Reinhard averted his eyes.
"Don't lie to me, Reinhard! You'd make a terrible Poker player!"
"Big bro, you're using words I don't understand again!", Felt pouted.
"If you don't want to tell me, that's alright. I'm not telling you tons of things either. …But it's clearly something that's bothering you. If it becomes too much, just tell me."
Reinhard debated in his mind whether he should ask about that memory he saw. Of Subaru dying. But in the end decided not to say anything. Subaru respected his decision.
"Rein, if you're alright now, you think you can meet Roswaal now?"
"What! He's still here?", Felt exclaimed.
"He was injured, so Carol-san was searching for Ezzo. Besides, he still hasn't met the master of the mansion. Let's go!", Subaru said, as he got up from the chair and pushed it aside.
The master and her knight followed behind him as they closed the room of the Sleeping Beauty. Reinhard hoped that the next time he entered this room, he would have better news about her husband.
"Will you two let go of my hands already!? I told you I'm not going anywhere!", Subaru's face was completely flushed as the princess and her knight sat on either side of him holding on to him, with the princess glaring at Roswaal.
"Myyyyyy, Subaru-kun seems to be so loved. Please don't worry, Felt-sama. I am nooooot taking him ba-", Roswaal stopped as Ezzo released his completely healed hand. "I seeeee that you have finished healing my hand. Thank you, Ezzo-kun."
"Heh! No matter how much you try, you can't beat me at healing magic.", Ezzo taunted Roswaal pettily, while Zacharias just looked at him in pity. The margrave however, did not seem to care very much about it.
"See, he said it as well! If he tries anything funny now, Rein can just beat him up! So please let go! Being held like a child is really embarrassing!" And with that, Felt and Reinhard reluctantly let go of his hands, but continued to be wary of Roswaal.
"I thought you were here to take big bro back. What made you decide to change your mind?", Felt asked suspiciously.
"...It's whaaaaat Subaru-kun wanted. But I'll be viiiiiiisiting him, of course, from time to time.", Roswaal replied. He seemed to look a lot better than he did about twenty minutes ago, when Subaru had left him to talk with Reinhard.
Subaru honestly did not know what to think about him. That man was prepared to sacrifice anything, if it meant fulfilling his goals. However, like Ram, Subaru also believed that beneath that cruel exterior was a man capable of redemption. Or at least he wanted to believe so.
Most of the people he had come across had hurt him, but they weren't cold and heartless like he had originally assumed. He had even fallen in love with the girl who once murdered him. Even Priscilla, without any memory of him, had tried to protect him, because he was innocent.
He had heard that Roswaal had once sacrificed his own life to save Carol's. And today, if he was here to force Subaru back like he said…. Then why had he brought Patrasche here, even though he could have simply flown here on his own? Subaru realised there was no harm in helping Roswaal, as long as it didn't endanger anyone else.
"Soooooo, Subaru-kun. What do you plan on doing now?"
"Search for the Priscilla Camp obviously!", he answered, making everyone shift uncomfortably in their seats.
"Subaru, I know I'm the last person to be saying this… but as Zacharias had informed us…"
"...They might really be dead.", Zacharias completed Reinhard's sentence. "Is it really alright to be delaying this for too long? You are accused of being a Sin Archbishop."
"...I….", Subaru hesitated.
"Subaru-sama, there are just three people that remember you, and it's because of rather extraordinary circumstances. Surely, you can't be satisfied with just that much. I doubt everyone will remember you so easily on their own."
"I have a proposal.", Roswaal interjected. "I will help seeeaaarch for the Priscilla Camp and Subaru-kun can focus on his 'Name'.", he announced.
Listening to Roswaal's proposal, the others seemed to believe that it was the best course of action. The Margrave had a lot more connections than them and he wasn't being suspected by the Kingdom for harbouring a Sin Archbishop. He was better suited for the task. However, reversing the effect of Authorities was something they believed only Subaru could do.
"I agree with it as well. Besides, knowing that bastard, he might just barge into the house all drunk unannounced like he always does.", Felt joked.
"I…..", Subaru was still unsure but Reinhard reassured him.
"You had something in mind, didn't you? What did you want to do, Subaru?"
Subaru looked down for a bit, unable to meet his eyes, before finally announcing, "...I want to go to …the 'Pleiades Watchtower'."
Everyone in the room was shocked by his suggestion. Subaru felt extremely guilty, suggesting it to Reinhard, who had already failed to reach it two times. But to his surprise-,
"Very well, then. We shall go to the Watchtower and meet the Sage. …If it's you, I'm sure we'll reach it somehow. I trust you."
Although it should have made him happy, having the Sword Saint rely on him, weighed heavily on him.
"Thank you, Rein-"
"The hell is happening here? I just returned, expecting to see the servants welcoming me back. Instead, you're all gathered here neglecting your duties! I'll fire all of you!", a drunk voice suddenly cut through the parlour, startling them and making them all turn towards the door in shock.
The man was none other than Heinkel Astrea, the one they were trying to search for so desperately.
'He really did barge into the house all drunk unannounced!', everyone, even Roswaal, exclaimed internally.
"Huh! What's your problem? You look like you've seen a hollow.", Heinkel said as he swung the bottle of alcohol in his hand. "You-"
However, before he could say anything else, he was suddenly tackled to the ground, barely balancing himself.
Reinhard had ran over to him and hugged him tightly as Heinkel froze in shock. His bottle slipped from his hand and shattered to pieces on the ground. He seemed to have sobered up quickly as he stood wide-eyed wondering what the fuck was going on.
Seeing Heinkel's expression gave Subaru a strange sense of satisfaction, even with his dissatisfaction at this turn of events.
And then-,
"Rejoice, commoners! Your favourite Princess has arrived to make your miserable lives wonderful again!", a voice boldly declared.
It was the missing Sun Princess, standing at the entrance with one hand removing the hood from her face and the other, pointing her open fan in their direction, with a bright and mischievous smile adorning her beautiful face.
Hi again everyone. I'm sorry about the delay. I was completely burned out, so I took a break and rewrote the entire chapter, but it ended up becoming longer than I thought and I do not really have a beta reader, so there might be a lot of mistakes.
As for the chapter itself, I wanted to use Roswaal in this fic as he is rarely used in the re:forgotten fics. I thought he would be interesting to use.
Also, about the fire spirit Subaru contracted, it's the same spirit from Pride If. I just gave her a name and used her in the fic. Why make an OC spirit, when there's a canon spirit available? Although we have barely seen it in Ayamatsu, so I guess it does count as an OC.
They've finally decided to go to the Watchtower. The journey will start in another one or two chapters. Also, Priscilla's finally here! I've been wanting to write her for so long.
Anyways thanks for reading and please give any criticisms you have. I'll see you next time. :)