Chapter 7
Before The Journey
"Rejoice, commoners! Your favourite Princess has arrived to make your miserable lives wonderful again!" the presumed missing Sun Princess brazenly declared.
All of them, with the exception of Reinhard, stared at her gobsmacked.
Subaru finally broke the silence. "Priscilla, where were you? We were just about to go search for you!"
"We-"
"Princess, I'm sorry for interrupting you, but right now, we need to treat Schult." her one-armed knight suddenly came up behind her, said pink-haired boy under his arm.
Carol immediately got up, beckoning the sick child into the mansion while calling for Ezzo.
"What happened to him?" Felt asked, concern clear on her face.
"We almost drowned, y'know, barely made it out alive. He's had a fever ever since then." Al answered, handing Schult to Carol as she left the room with Ezzo.
Heinkel, meanwhile, had finally begun to recover from his son's sudden hug, shoving him away. "I get it! That's enough!"
Although disappointed at his rejection, Reinhard was nonetheless overjoyed that his father was safe and sound.
"Don't you dare interrupt me again, Al, if you wish to keep your head attached to your body!" Priscilla threatened.
"He was just trying to make sure your sick butler got treatment, you're the one unreasonable here!" Felt interjected, causing the arrogant matriarch to glare at her.
"Well, it's alright." Al half-joked. "The Princess' been pretty kind as of late. Before, she would've beheaded me by now." he shuddered lightly as he spoke.
"I'm always kind, fools! You imbeciles are the ones unable to recognise my benevolence!" she stomped her foot angrily.
"As if that's true!" Felt retorted.
"I used to believe that too, but I guess she's not that heartless considering how she tried to save me in Priestella." Subaru smiled, making all of them, including Priscilla herself, look at him in surprise.
Soon a wicked smile came over her face as she went up to him and sat herself down beside him.
"See! Even this commoner knows it!" she said proudly while pointing at him with her closed fan.
"...Big bro, you're going to regret trying to defend her, you know!"
"As much as I want to deny it, I'm pretty sure I will." Subaru sighed.
"So, bro, you're really not a Sin Archbishop?" Al questioned, curiosity in his voice.
Subaru opened his mouth to respond, only for Priscilla to interrupt him.
"Of course not! I said so before, haven't I? Or do you doubt my judgement, Al?" Priscilla haughtily snapped, glaring angrily at her knight.
"...Princess, honestly I'm surprised you'd actually defend someone this much." Al said, confusion prevalent.
"I'm kind of suuuurprised as well, Priscilla-sama. But then again, it iiiiiiis our Subaru-kun. If I'm not wrong, has he perhaps helped you in sooooome manner?" Roswaal asked. Priscilla's momentary silence seemed to answer his question for her.
"Clown, you don't sound like you're talking about a stranger. Do you remember who he is?" Priscilla questioned back.
"Of course, I dooooo, Priscilla-sama. He's a knight under myyyyy domain."
"He was a knight under your domain. Now he's one of my knights!" Felt corrected him. Subaru looked surprised while Roswaal grit his teeth and Reinhard smirked.
"Felt, I'm not your-"
"You are now! As soon as you get your 'Name' back, I'm making you my second knight!" Felt smiled,
"I-I…." Subaru looked completely speechless at her declaration while Priscilla just clicked her tongue.
"Subaru-senpai, you're going to become a knight again!" Zacharias said excitedly.
"I'm happy for you, bro! If you've really helped Princess, I'm seriously grateful!" Al said cheerfully, scratching the back of his neck, "But now that I think about it, when did he help you? The last time we'd met he'd already lost his 'Name'."
This made them all curious as they began to stare at her questioningly.
"Is thaaaaaat true, Priscilla-sama?" Roswaal stood up as if realising something, anger building up inside the Margrave. "From the stooooory I had heard, you were supposed to be guarding the Sin Archbishop of Wrath, but appaaaarently, Gluttony had helped her escape, and then Gluttony went on to eat Subaru-kun's 'Name'. Where were you when that happened? How exactly did Subaru-kun help you?"
At this point, most of the others had figured out what Roswaal was trying to imply. Subaru had most likely lost his 'Name' because of Priscilla's mistake.
As the enraged Roswaal inched closer to the Sun Princess, Al and Heinkel blocked his path.
"Even if such a thing did happen, I don't see how it's the Princess's fault. It's no one's fault but the Witch Cult's." Al said rather seriously.
"Then, how did Subaru-kun lose his-"
"...Nothing like that happened, Roswaal, you're jumping to conclusions. I've never helped Priscilla before—isn't that right, Reinhard?" Subaru deflected, staring at the red-haired knight, causing a torrent of emotions to flash through Reinhard's eyes. Priscilla herself seemed surprised by it.
Finally, Reinhard answered, "...It's the truth, Roswaal-sama. Priscilla-sama had nothing to do with Subaru losing his 'Name.'"
Felt could tell very well that Reinhard was lying, and she knew she was incredibly biased towards Subaru, but she couldn't help but blame Priscilla. Her arrogance had probably cost her, and Subaru was the one to face the consequences in her place by going through two months of torture at the hands of his own allies.
Subaru was extremely kind, he would definitely protect people like Priscilla and even forgive the ones who'd wronged him. But the same could not be said for Priscilla. With this revelation, it had finally become clear why someone like her had tried to protect Subaru.
Despite wanting to call her out, Felt kept her silence as she observed Priscilla stay uncharacteristically quiet. For the first time in her life, the arrogant princess looked conflicted, as she quickly unfurled her fan and hid her face behind it.
As soon as Subaru had managed to finally calm everyone down, they sat back at their seats while Reinhard stood beside Felt.
"So, you were planning on going to the Watchtower?" Heinkel asked, finally breaking his silence to bring the conversation back on track.
"...Before we tell you about it, Priscilla-sama, this is something-"
Al responded first. "You don't have to worry about us exposing you—we're in an unfortunate situation ourselves. For now we'll be in your care!"
All of them stayed quite unsure of what to say until Subaru finally broke the silence.
"...I guess it's fine then, isn't it?" He said as he looked at Felt and Reinhard. While Reinhard seemed to accept it, Felt seemed reluctant, though she stayed silent.
With seemingly no objections, Subaru continued. "We were thinking about ways to restore my 'Name,' and honestly, I can only think of the Watchtower. I tried to search for the Gluttonies for a year, but I couldn't find anything until they attacked in Priestella. So, this watchtower seems to be our best bet."
He mumbled. "Although going to a tower named 'Pleiades,' is setting up a lot of red flags in my head."
Felt didn't understand. What was wrong with the name of the Watchtower?
"...Oh, because your name is Subaru!" Al exclaimed, but then paused as if realising something. "Wait a minute, are you?-"
"Oh right, I lost my 'Name', so you don't remember it."
"What are you commoners going on about?"
"It's nothing, just that we have the same hometown." Subaru answered nonchalantly, making everyone widen their eyes in surprise.
"Subaru's hometown?!" Reinhard thought, alarmed.
"So, Rein, you know how to get to the Watchtower?" Subaru quickly diverted the topic. The Sword Saint wanted to ask more about his hometown but reluctantly decided to let it go; both Subaru and Al seemed like they did not want to talk about it. Maybe he'll ask once everything is fixed.
"It wasn't as evident when I was flying there, but during the trip through the desert, it felt as if all of my divine protections were malfunctioning…If I am being honest, if we are travelling on the ground, I am unsure if I'll be able to direct you to the tower." Reinhard said regretfully.
"It's alright, Rein. We'll find a way." Felt tried to reassure him.
"...There's one more problem." Subaru added, looking dejected. "Remember the Witch's Scent around me that made Beatrice think I was a Sin Archbishop? It also makes me prime Mabeast bait, and from what I've heard that place is crawling with them."
"Oh, I know about that! It's what you used to defeat the White Whale, didn't you Subaru-senpai?"
"I've heard about it from Julius and Ferris as well." Reinhard also confirmed.
Heinkel, on the other hand, looked astonished. "Wait a minute, kid! You defeated the White Whale?"
Subaru grimaced, "Yeah, but it wasn't just-"
"You have to tell me about it later, how you slew the monster that killed mo- Theresia van Astrea!" Heinkel demanded, his expression desperate.
Felt realised how easy it was to forget that the previous Sword Saint was his mother; of course he would want to know how that monster died. But now was not the time.
"We also have to decide who's going to the Watchtower." Felt pointed out, returning them back to the topic at hand.
"About the first problem, I remember Anastasia-sama had a map made which led to the tower. When I asked her about it, she said it was the one thing she couldn't, under any circumstance, forget. Maybe we could…." Reinhard trailed off, but Felt clearly understood what he was implying, her mouth contorting into a mischievous smile.
"I'm on it! Leave it to me!" Felt declared.
"Tsch, once a thief, always a thief!" Priscilla sneered, causing the former thief to glare at her angrily.
"About that second problem; I'll be there to protect Subaru, and I'll make sure to train him as much as I can, to ensure that he can defend himself…it's all I can do." Reinhard mumbled.
"That's not the problem here. No matter where we go, the Mabeasts will keep chasing us down as long as I'm with you." the mean-eyed boy turned thoughtful. "Maybe we can ask Meili-"
"Rejected, Subaru-kun. She does nooooot know who you are. She is moooore likely to kill you than protect you."
Felt did not understand what they were talking about, but from their words, it seemed as if what Subaru had suggested was a bad idea.
"...Then, what do we do?"
"-If it is a proooooblem, in addition to the Sword Saint, I'm willing to accompany you to defend the caaaaarriage on the way to the Watchtower." Roswaal grinned like a madman at his proposition.
The moment he said it, Felt instinctively knew it was a bad idea to let him come with them.
"Yeah, about that, let's decide on who's going to the Watchtower later. First, let's solve the other two problems first." she said, wanting to avoid discussing the matter.
While she hated Reinhard forgiving his father so easily, she hated Subaru for agreeing to Roswaal's conditions even more. It was obvious from Subaru's words that he had once suffered due to that clown. And yet, he didn't seem to be particularly angry at him.
And so, since Subaru wouldn't kick him out, she quickly wrapped up the meeting to drive him away.
Unfortunately for her—-,
"Commoners, we have decided! We will stay here until the Watchtower's capture." Priscilla declared as she walked out onto the parlour, as if it was her own mansion.
Felt cursed her luck for having to be stuck with that arrogant princess.
"It can't get any worse than this…"
"OW!" Felt cried out as the fan once more struck her head.
"I have been lenient so far, but even I have my limits! You are greatly testing my patience and it is getting harder to ignore your mistakes. This sentence alone has ten!" Priscilla chided her.
"If this is you being lenient, I don't even want to think about you being strict!" Felt hopelessly stared at her merciless teacher, only to be completely ignored as all of her mistakes were pointed out to her.
"Why are you here? Where's Rein and Granny?" Felt whined.
"I overheard earlier about how you seem to be showing reduced interest in your studies with each passing day. Naturally, being the benevolent person I am, I volunteered to teach you." A smug grin found itself onto Priscilla, as she brought the fan she was holding up beside her face.
"I don't need your benevolence! Give it to someone else and stop annoying me! Because of you, I'm going to miss watching Big bro train!"
Priscilla sighed in disappointment. "How ungrateful! But I suppose that was to be expected from a lowly gutter rat."
Felt's eye twitched as she glared at Priscilla. She had been tolerating Priscilla's abuse so far, but being called a gutter rat rubbed her the wrong way.
"TAKE THAT BACK!" she shouted.
Priscilla was mildly surprised by her outburst, but she didn't say anything. Her expression hidden behind her fan, she quietly waited to listen to what Felt had to say.
"Don't you dare compare me with those losers! Those bums, who don't evebother to even try to get out of the poor district or better themselves, I hate them! I'll never be like them!"
"-In that case, prove it to me."
Felt paused, looking up in surprise.
"Prove to me that you are not a gutter rat from the slums."
"-?"
"Despite being from the slums, your Dragon has recognised you as a Candidate to be King. You have been given the opportunity to better yourself, and yet you continue to slack off when it comes to the duties you are supposed to perform."
Did Priscilla really think Felt didn't know that? Felt did not deny the fact that what Priscilla said was true, but she still disliked the fact that she had to run for King to achieve her goals. She would have been satisfied with a normal opportunity.
However, now that Priscilla was forcing her to study, Felt regretted all the times she had tried to escape while Reinhard was still here. She would rather have had him as a teacher instead of this pain in the ass of a woman!
"Prove to me that you're not a gutter rat, but indeed a King Candidate worthy of standing against mineself. If you are able to do so, I'll take my words back and I'll even apologise."
Priscilla of all people would apologise to her? Felt thought she was joking at first, but then realised she was completely serious.
Felt hated studying a lot. She didn't get how she could even apply a majority of the things she was forced to learn in her daily life. She would have much rather liked to watch Subaru, Ezzo and the others train and learn from them instead. But if it meant proving the arrogant woman beside her wrong, she'd gladly do it.
And so, her rigorous study session began as Priscilla ruthlessly drove her on, continuing to abuse her with every mistake. However, now that she was actually concentrating on her studies, she noticed that she was gradually making fewer mistakes, a fact emphasised by her hated teacher's decreasing strikes.
After she was done for the day, Priscilla took the book she was studying. Opening a page, she asked, "Which battle marked the first major victory for the Demihuman Alliance during the Demihuman War? Taking your lack of intelligence and poor memory into consideration, I'll give you a minute to answer. Prepare yourself for punishment if you fail."
'Oh that's easy!' Felt smirked as she quickly scribbled down, 'The Battle of Aihiya Swamp', confident that it was correct. Rom had told her about the battle several times, so this was one answer, she knew without even having to study.
And then, Priscilla hit her head with her fan once again.
"Hey! What was that for? I was right!" Was this girl so petty, she wouldn't acknowledge Felt just because she didn't want to apologise? She puffed her cheeks in anger as she glared at the red-blonde princess.
"Your handwriting is ugly! I can't even read what you've written, fool!"
Felt took a look at her notes, and cringed at how illegible it looked. She begrudgingly wrote down the answer again in a clearer manner while grumbling under her breath.
"Look! I've written it correctly." she said smugly. "Go ahead! Apologise to me!"
There was no response.
"Stop ignoring me, dammit! Apolo-", she shouted in annoyance and turned around to face Priscilla, only to realise she wasn't even looking her way. Rather, she was instead peeking out the window.
Curious to see what had piqued Priscilla's interest, she took a peek as well.
Down in the garden, Reinhard and Subaru were training, with the latter struggling to defend himself while the former kept pounding him relentlessly with attack after attack.
"Oh good, they're not done! I can still go see them!" Felt exclaimed gleefully.
"You wish to see that pathetic display of him being pounded by the Sword Saint? How barbaric!"
"Don't call it pathetic! Big bro's trying his hardest! And you're being a big hypocrite! Unlike you I don't like watching helpless people getting beaten up!"
"Do not cast your foolish delusions upon me. There have been only very few incidents that have managed to entertain me." she snapped, closing her fan before looking back out the window. "I do not deny that hard work deserves to be rewarded. However, claiming to work hard when you're unable to get results is a pointless endeavour."
"But he is getting results. Rein isn't going easy on him, and although he's struggling, big bro's managing to block and dodge his attacks, isn't he?" she answered proudly for her big bro.
"And what exactly is so impressive about that?"
"It's only his fourth day of training." she answered smugly as she saw Priscilla's eyes widen and her lips parted in surprise.
"He's never trained with a sword before?"
"No. Besides some basic training, he's never used a sword in his life."
Priscilla glanced at their training once again. "In that case, I suppose I owe him an apology."
Felt was momentarily surprised by hearing those words come out from Priscilla's mouth. Shaking off the shock, Felt shoved the answer paper in her hands into the matriarch's face.
"And what about me! Apologise now!" she demanded.
Priscilla took the paper from her hand and read the answer. "You have indeed answered correctly. It was to be expected when the person teaching you was mineself. I will surely apologise." she smiled mischievously. "If you are able to perform equally well tomorrow."
"...Tomorrow!?"
"Obviously! It is insufficient to judge based on the results of a single day. In addition, teaching you has been extremely beneficial in staving off my boredom." Priscilla smirked, making Felt grit her teeth in anger.
"Why you…."
"Do you not wish to watch them train anymore? If you're late, they might finish for today." The Vollachian candidate walked out of the room, ignoring the angry blonde princess.
Stomping her feet, Felt exited the room behind Priscilla, while complaining the entire way.
All of a sudden, Priscilla abruptly turned down a completely different direction.
"Hey! Where're you going? The garden's this way!" Felt exclaimed in confusion.
"If you wish, you can go on ahead—I have something I must attend to." Priscilla promptly replied before leaving.
Felt glanced back and forth between Priscilla and the way to the garden, curiosity pulling against her desire to see Rein and Big bro fighting. In the end, her curiosity won and she decided to follow the arrogant princess.
It didn't take her long to find out where they were headed. Soon, Priscilla knocked on a door further down the hall, the door opening to reveal Carol behind it.
"Ah, Priscilla-sama—please, come in." The older lady warmly smiled.
As they entered, Felt saw Priscilla's little pink-haired butler sitting up on the bed while Carol was feeding him.
"Priscilla-sama!" Schult exclaimed cheerfully upon seeing her.
"Are you doing well, Schult?" Priscilla asked, her tone gentle, something Felt had never expected to hear from the normally boisterous woman.
"Yes!" he said joyfully, before his expression saddened. "I'm sorry for troubling you so much. But I'll get well soon and work twice as hard!" Schult declared as he adorably pumped his fists in the air.
Priscilla laughed as she went to sit down beside him.
"In that case, make sure to rest properly and get well soon: that is your job as a child. You simply need to be cute and be spoiled by everyone. You have no other work that needs to be done." she said as she wrapped her arms around him and patted his head.
Schult leaned into head pat, reminding Felt awfully of a small puppy. "Yes, Priscilla-sama."
"If you need anything, simply tell Al. If that fool dissatisfies you in any way, tell me—I'll punish him accordingly."
"Al-sama is a very nice person, though, I'm sure he'll take good care of me."
Priscilla ignored his defending of Al, and stood up from the bed. "I see you're having lunch. If there is nothing else, I'll take my leave." Then turning to Carol, she said, "If you need anything regarding him, please inform any member of my Camp. Make sure he gets the best treatment possible."
"As you wish, Priscilla-sama." Carol bowed as she, before moving to once again continue feeding Schult.
Priscilla walked out the room and began heading to the garden as Felt just speechlessly stared after her.
To say she was surprised was an understatement. She had never thought that Priscilla was the kind of person who could care about someone other than herself.
Even when trying to protect Subaru back in Priestella, she had assumed Priscilla was trying to absolve her own mistake in doing so. But here, what she saw had made her rethink her evaluation of the sun princess.
"Hey, wait up!" she shouted as she ran after Priscilla.
"You dare make me wait, commoner! Your dawdling will make us miss their training!" she scowled as she tapped her heels in impatience.
And in a matter of seconds, she had once again ruined Felt's impression of her.
"Don't make this my fault!" the smaller princess yelled, stomping down towards the garden.
As they began walking together again, Priscilla spoke once again, "I'm surprised the Sword Saint can spend so much time this way instead of working towards the Royal Selection."
"I have no need for him right now, so he's free anyways. If he wasn't training big bro, I'd have made him do some gardening instead."
Priscilla gazed at Felt at that, her expression incredulous. "Gardening?"
"He really likes flowers and he's great at gardening. I can't think of a better job for him. Even Granny says that Sword Saints make excellent gardeners."
"...Your logic is as nonsensical as you are." Priscilla sighed. "It seems we're here."
The two arrived out onto the mansion's gardenscape. There was no one there except for Subaru and Reinhard training and neither seemed to have noticed the two princesses enter the garden.
As the two sat down on the grass, Priscilla suddenly asked her another question.
"He was supposed to be the half-witch's knight, wasn't he?" she said, pointing her finger at Subaru. "And yet, it seems like he doesn't even know how to fight."
Felt frowned as she heard Priscilla's question.
"Actually, it bothers me too. I'm grateful to Big Sis for the Loothouse and everything but, it pissed me off that no one bothered to actually train him properly. The only thing he knows is how to use a whip and do some parkour."
Priscilla herself grimaced as she heard her answer.
"I don't want him to become a powerhouse capable of destroying the world or anything—his strengths lie elsewhere. I just want him to be able to protect himself, in case he gets in trouble and we're not with him. That's why I agreed to let Rein train him, even though he should be resting."
—-But apparently, the Emilia Camp had never thought about such a possibility.
It wasn't a bad thing to want to protect him themselves, but considering his reckless personality, did they seriously never consider the possibility of him running off alone somewhere he could possibly die? Were they seriously that naive to think that they'll always be there to help him? Even if he can't fight too well, he should've been capable of at least defending himself long enough for help to arrive.
Because of his situation, Subaru had over relied on magic he barely understood, which just ended up with him breaking his Gate. And to make matters worse, as part of his agreement with the great spirit which stated he could not contract with any minor spirits, he couldn't use magic at all by himself, making him effectively useless in a fight without Beatrice.
In a lot of ways, the world had conspired to keep him weak. It must have discouraged him immensely, enough for him to choose to use a whip instead of a sword when finally given the choice.
The Emilia Camp was supposed to take care of him and make him stronger, but had failed to do so. Felt did not know what horrors Subaru had faced, but she could not deny the fact that they were partly responsible for his low self-esteem and his disgusting habit of self-harm, that Reinhard and Ezzo had informed her about.
"Honestly, I don't think he's weak or talentless like everyone else seemed to call him. I mean, just by contracting a single minor spirit that's not even the same attribute as him, and with Reinhard teaching him how to reinforce his body with mana, he's improving."
"I suppose he's…adequate." Priscilla mumbled, before harrumphing condescendingly. "If only you took from your two hardworking knights as examples, then perhaps you'd be less of a gutter rut."
"Ugh! I hate you! I try to be proud about something, and then you just have to go and open your big mouth!"
"Hmph!" Priscilla furled out her fan and turned away.
"Felt, Priscilla, what are you doing here?" Subaru suddenly called out, having finally noticed them after finishing for the day.
"I was watching you train. You're doing an amazing job, big bro!" Felt cheered, pumping a fist into the air.
"Doesn't feel like it though. I feel like I'm getting pounded like mochi everyday." he replied in a depressed tone.
"That's not true, Subaru. You're doing an extremely good job defending yourself. I'm sure you'll only improve in the future." Reinhard interjected as he began walking towards them.
As soon as she saw Reinhard, Felt ran over and tackled him, hugging him tightly. "Rein! I won't complain anymore! Please come back to teach me!"
"Felt-sama? What's wrong?" Reinhard asked, confused by his Lady's sudden display of affection. "Wait, why does your forehead look raw?"
"It's all that bitch's fault!" she growled, pointing at Priscilla.
Her sudden exclamation startled both Subaru and Priscilla, who were talking to each other, as they turned to look at her.
Sparks flew between the two princesses as they glared at each other.
"How rude! Even though I rewarded you for your hard work!"
"What reward?! All you've done is smack me the entire time I was studying!"
"I allowed you to see his training because you wanted to, didn't I?"
"I would've gone to watch anyway, if you weren't here!"
Their argument grew increasingly heated, until..
"I hate you! Because of you, Big bro lost his-"
"Stop it both of you! You have to live together for a while, so just get along for now!" Subaru suddenly stepped in.
The two of them stopped and looked at him. They took a deep breath and turned away from each other. Despite how she was presenting herself, for an instant, Felt had noticed the hurt flash across Priscilla's face.
Very reluctantly, she began her apology, "I'm sorry about that big bro. I was here to support you, and not-!"
"AHHHHHHH!" a scream suddenly reverbreated from the mansion.
"Was that Ezzo?" Felt asked worriedly, as they rushed in.
"Hahaha! That's hilarious!" Felt laughed as Ezzo told her what had happened.
Apparently, Al had gone out to do some shopping for Schult, but if he wore his helmet, everyone would recognise him. So he had the brilliant idea of disguising himself by wrapping his head with a bandage and went out.
When he returned, he'd tried to greet Ezzo, but when the mage saw the silhouette of the mummified one-armed man, he had screamed in terror and fainted, alerting everyone in the mansion.
"It might be funny to you but it's hurtful to me, Felt-chan." Al responded in a dramatically heartbroken tone while clutching his chest.
"Was that seriously the best disguise you could think of?" Subaru asked, his eyes full of pity and incredulity.
"At least now you understand my decision to take this fool under me. He never fails to amuse me!" Priscilla said.
"I can totally see why now! Hahaha!" Felt agreed.
"You're hurting me, Prin-" Al perked up. "Wait, did you just praise me?"
"Aren't you supposed to be the second best mage in the Kingdom?" Gaston asked with a raised brow.
"Ahhh! Please forget that ever happened!" Ezzo cried out in embarrassment, covering his face.
They all continued to make fun of the two until Carol walked in and interrupted them.
"Oh, it seems you're all here—Heinkel-sama has just sent a letter, it seems the Astrea mansion in the Capital has been cleaned. Cromwell has also confirmed that Anastasia-sama is in the Capital."
"That's great! That means we can do it tonight! If we successfully steal the map, we can leave for the tower in the next two days." Felt said, gleefully rubbing her hands together.
All of them were anxious yet curious about the Watchtower. Obtaining the map would be the first step to reaching the tower, but would they be successful? They didn't know, but they wouldn't find out until they tried.
"Rachins, Camberley, you're coming with me! Reinhard too!" Felt ordered, before her expression turned mischievous. "I would have taken Ezzo as well, but I'm not so sure now after today."
"Nooo! Please stop it!" Ezzo begged as they laughed.
"Julius, there's a new restaurant in town, and Mimi's been pesterin' me to go there since forever. Let's go together!" Anastasia grabbed Julius's hand and tried to force him up.
But Julius brushed her off, and continued on with his paperwork.
"I am happy you thought of bringing me along, but I must refuse. I still have a lot of work to complete—please go on ahead without me, perhaps I will join you next time."
Anastasia pouted and pulled him by his hand once again.
"Ya can always work later. Let's go!"
But Julius once again managed to release himself and resumed his work.
"I am extremely sorry, Anastasia-sama." he spoke in a sombre tone.
Anastasia was extremely worried about her knight. He'd been this way ever since they had returned from Flanders, a week ago.
They had gone there to search for the escaped Sin Archbishop in the Sword Saint's home, but had returned empty handed. There was no Cultist there and Julius had returned in a catatonic state.
He had recovered by the next day, but ever since then he'd busied himself with training or work, not bothering to take even a single break.
Echidna was already in bad condition after realising she was starting to forget details "she must not forget," whatever that meant. Now, even Julius was making her worried.
"I swear, if that cat-eared knight of Crusch has done somethin', I'll make sure to give him a piece of my mind!"
"Why, Anastasia-sama? Ferris hasn't done anything wrong." Julius asked in puzzlement.
"Why? Don't you remember how he had berated ya that day? If the Sin Archbishop wasn't at the Sword Saint's mansion, it wasn't your fault!"
"I do not really mind it; Ferris only said it because he was worried about Crusch-sama." Julius answered, without looking up from the paperwork.
"Then what's the problem?" Anastasia pleaded. "Julius, you're my knight. I want to help ya, but I can't do anything if ya don't tell me what's wrong!"
Julius felt ashamed at having troubled his Lady this much, causing her to worry so much over him. He hesitated answering her question, but one glance at her concerned expression made him give in.
"It's not the Sin Archbishop escaping that is plaguing my mind."
"Then what is it?"
"Anastasia-sama, that person… he was a Sin Archbishop, wasn't he?" he asked, begging for reassurance to alleviate his doubt.
Anastasia looked gobsmacked. Of all the things she had expected him to say, that was certainly not it.
"Of course, he is! Beatrice-chan confirmed it, didn't she?"
"That's exactly it, Anastasia-sama. We have only the words of the Great Spirit to accuse him. There was no other evidence condemning him.…was I tormenting an innocent man for the last two months?"
Anastasia was surprised at this revelation. She now understood why Julius was working so hard—he wanted to distract himself from thinking about the consequences of such a thought, the prospect that he'd been torturing an innocent man.
She did not understand why he'd begun to doubt himself, but she was sure his worries were pointless. After all-,
"Beatrice-chan is a Great Spirit. She's been around for hundreds of years and is extremely knowledgeable. She wouldn't have accused someone of being a Witch Cultist without bein' sure of it, don't ya think?" she gave a light smile to cheer him up.
Suddenly, she heard an irritated grunt. She quickly gazed around her surroundings in surprise, but found nothing.
"Huh, must've been my imagination…"
"Ya have nothing to worry about. If ya can't believe her, then believe in me." she gave a light tap on his back, as she pulled his arm again, forcing him to get up. "Now stop working! Let's go out!" she said cheerfully as Julius began to give a weak smile.
"As you wish, Anastasia-sama." he said as Anastasia finally managed to get him out of the room.
Unbeknownst to the master and knight, a pair of crimson eyes glowed through the window of the room. The blonde thief had been lying in wait for this exact opportunity. She gave a ferocious smile as she slid the window open, as quietly as she could and climbed inside, inviting her companions in.
To say the atmosphere was uncomfortable was an understatement. The Vice-Captain of the Royal Guards stood around, his foot tapping the ground impatiently. It was then that a young redhead knight appeared out of practically thin air, glass in hand.
"Do you need anything else, Father?" Reinhard asked happily, his sudden appearance making him flinch.
"Ah, no. It's fine." he answered uncomfortably, taking a sip from the glass of wine Reinhard had just served him.
Heinkel could have been in a bar, drinking his miseries away, but instead he'd been forced to be here because of this stupid Royal Selection. Why did he even bother to come at all if he was just gonna be forcefully saddled with his estranged son?
"Are you hungry, Father? Shall I prepare something for you?" Reinhard asked once again.
"No, I'm not really hungry."
"I see, in that case, shall I prepare the bath for you?"
"Wha-? I mean…maybe later."
"Then should I-"
"MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, DAMN IT!"
Reinhard's expression turned from a smile to a hurt frown resembling that of a kicked puppy.
Seeing his expression grow dejected, Heinkel immediately regretted his outburst.
"-Tch!" he clicked his tongue as he calmed down and responded. "I don't need anything. You can go ahead and do whatever you want."
Reinhard's expression lit up "Yes, Father!"
At this point, Heinkel couldn't ignore the fact that there was something seriously wrong with his child. Heinkel had neglected him for so long, ruined his reunion with his grandfather and held his Master hostage during the Witch Cult attack. And yet, Reinhard kept following him around like a lost duckling.
He was a terrible father, so why didn't Reinhard hate him? After all, Heinkel hated Wilhelm.
For as long as he could remember, Heinkel had always been incredibly scared of his father. When he was a child, he remembered all the times he was clobbered by Wilhelm, and his look of disappointment every time he made a mistake. He was the son of the Sword Saint and the Sword Demon. But unfortunately, he had neither of their talents with the sword. That fact had seemed to irritate Wilhelm even more.
Wilhelm was a terrible father. He was an excellent husband and an incredible hero, but a terrible father.
Theresia, on the other hand, was the one he loved the most in the world, besides his Louanna. She was the most gentle person in the world and treated him with patience, no matter how many times he failed.
-And he'd been the one who'd sent her off to her death.
He clenched his fist and grit his teeth as he recalled the events of that fateful day. He was supposed to be the one who fought the White Whale that day.
But before he could have left, his mother had come begging him to stay instead. She'd kept warning how something terrible was going to happen, calling it her mother's intuition, should he go and had desperately tried to stop him. It had ended with her volunteering to go in place of him, dying to that monster and then becoming a puppet of the Witch Cult.
Every now and then, he still couldn't help but wonder how his family would have turned out if he had been the one to go fight the White Whale that day and died instead. Would Reinhard have grown up with loving grandparents instead of an alcoholic father?
Reinhard was the one who'd slayed Theresia in the end, and he hadn't even shed a single tear while killing his beloved grandmother. And yet, he'd cried tears of relief upon learning of his abusive father's safety.
Heinkel had sworn to be a better father to Reinhard than Wilhelm was to him. And he had managed to fail spectacularly.
And yet, Reinhard had hugged him simply because Heinkel was safe. He had absolutely no idea how to respond to his son.
Maybe he should say something to him, but what? What was a parent who'd neglected his child for so long supposed to say?
"Reinha-"
"It seems Felt-sama is calling me. I'll take my leave now." Reinhard suddenly interrupted as one of his divine protections activated. But just before he left, he turned around and asked, "…Apologies, were you saying something, Father?"
Heinkel thought for a moment, before he finally answered, "Take care, son…Now go!" He waved his hands, shooing him away as he then turned his face away.
"Yes! I will, Father!" Reinhard gave a bright smile as he flew off into the sky.
Heinkel was finally left alone in the mansion.
"I wonder what trouble that brat got into." he sighed, as he took another sip of wine.
"This is seriously bad! They're everywhere! How do we even escape?" Rachins whispered as he peeked outside the room they were hiding.
Camberley grunted, turning to their esteemed thief leader. "Why'd you have to be so damn greedy? We could've escaped the moment we couldn't find the map, but you just had to steal all that stuff! Now everyone's here!"
Felt, who was holding a huge bloated bag, the sack barely holding all the goods that'd been stuffed into it, hugged it defensively.
"Can you blame me? Just look at this stuff!" she said, opening the bag and scouring through it. "Conversing mirrors, flash bombs, and… I don't know what this is, but I feel like it'll be useful! Ana's been hoarding all of the stuff we got after defeating the Witch Cult—it's not fair! Reinhard said big bro was the leader in the Witch Cult hunt, so we deserve it too!"
"That's fine and everything, but how do we escape now! I don't think they've noticed anything yet, but unless we do something, we'll get caught!"
"Maybe if we hide long enough, they'll go away?" she sighed. "Should have brought Zacharias!" She paused, thought about what she'd said for a moment before shaking her head, "No, he's useless in this situation. Volcanica's flaming ass, I wish Reinhard was here! He'd just knock them out and we wouldn't have anything to worry about!"
Suddenly, the door to the room they were hiding in opened up. Felt and the three thieves tensed up in panic, prepared to pounce as soon as the door opened before-
"You called for me, Felt-sama?" her red-haired knight asked in concern. "I've already knocked everyone out, so you don't have to worry about anything for now."
Felt stared at Reinhard, her eyes filled with a mix of palpable relief and fright as she calmed her rapidly beating heart. "How the hell did you get here so quickly!? Wait, don't answer that! Let's just leave…"
"Did you get the map, Felt-sama?"
"No, it's not in her room. She must be carrying it on her." Felt said in frustration. "We know where she went, but stealing it from her when she's surrounded by her bodyguards is impossible. What should we do?"
"Maybe we can wait for her to get alone and then, we'll steal it from her?" Camberley suggested.
"Felt-sama, I suggest we first check out the situation and then decide our course of action."
"Yeah, I guess. Let's go!"
"It's a bit windy today, don't ya think?" Anastasia commented as she held on to her hat that threatened to fly away at every gust of wind.
Julius held onto the cape draped around his shoulders as it flapped about him. "I do agree. The wind's rather strange today. I hope the weather won't become too bad."
Another sudden breeze blew as Anastasia's hat went flying ahead.
"Mimi will get it! Mimi will get it!" Mimi answered excitedly and ran ahead to jump and catch the flying hat ahead as she waited for the others to catch up to her.
"Caught it! Mimi wants hambulgar now! My Lady, hurry up! Captain, let's race!"
"Sis, please wait! You're walking too fast!" Hetaro and Tivey were breathing heavily as they tried to catch up to her, with Anastasia, Julius and Ricardo walking slowly behind them.
"Hetaro's a weakling! But Mimi's super fast!"
"Wahahaha! Ya sure are excited! Wait up for me!" Ricardo laughed as he walked towards her.
This was the first time in a while that Julius had left the Juukulius Mansion to enjoy a simple outing—he shouldn't occupy his mind with pointless thoughts and unnecessarily worry her.
After all, his worries were unfounded. Probably. His liege was confident he had done nothing wrong and he sincerely hoped she was right.
He looked over at Anastasia as she was fixing her wind-jumbled hair, lips pursed and cheeks puffed out in annoyance.
"Do you need some help, Anastasia-sama?" Julius asked.
"I'm fine, Julius. Let's just get there quickly before the wind becomes worse." Anastasia responded just as another gust of wind blew, messing up her hair once again.
"Rein, what the hell are you doing!" Felt yelped, breathing heavily as she and the others finally caught up to Reinhard.
"I'm sorry, Felt-sama. I could not retrieve the map." he answered, looking down gloomily, feeling disappointed in himself.
This was something they absolutely had to succeed in. He had to get to the tower. He had to return Subaru's 'Name'. But how was he supposed to reach the tower if he was failing to steal a single map?
"Of course, you can't! Are you trying to get us caught? How long do you think before Ana begins to suspect that there's something up with the wind?"
"How fast… are you, man! …I couldn't…. even see you…..!" Rachins panted, doubling over with his hands on his knees.
Camberley, meanwhile, had collapsed face first onto the brick road, his voice muffled as he talked through the gravel. "I can't… walk anymore.…I wanna go home."
"Shut it, both of you! Look, they've gone inside." Felt pointed her finger at Anastasia and the others, as the purple haired merchant and her retainers entered the restaurant.
"Quickly, hide, before they spot us!" The blonde thief ordered as she kicked Camberley, rolling him over to some nearby bushes.
"You're mean!" Camberley cried out in pain after they had hidden themselves properly, finally getting off the ground.
"Yeah! That sun bitch's started rubbing off on you!" Rachins agreed, making her scrunch up her face in disgust.
"Don't you dare compare me with-"
"Felt-sama, it looks like they have settled in. What shall we do?"
Just as Felt was about to complain, Reinhard interrupted her. She turned to look at the restaurant that the Anastasia Camp had just entered.
From their position in the bushes, Anastasia was clearly visible through a large window, her position right across the street from where they were.
"Shall I try to steal it again?" Reinhard asked.
"Did you not learn your lesson earlier!? You can't just brute force it! Just snatching her purse would get us caught immediately!"
Reinhard looked remorsefully at Felt—he did not know what else he could do. Seeing his expression, Felt sighed as she patted his head.
"Reinhard, I know you're worried about Big Bro, but you need to be patient."
Placing her hands on her hips, she puffed her chest proudly as she began, "From my years of experience as a thief, I've gotten tons of valuable thieving wisdom! If you want to steal something, you need to wait for the right time."
"...The right time?" Reinhard asked, curious about his liege's supposed wisdom.
"Ana is an extremely cautious person, as you can see-" Felt began pointing out at the merchant princess across the street. "-She's a merchant, she constantly has her hand on her purse. You can't steal something from her that easily without getting caught… I guess you've learnt that by now, Rein."
Reinhard nodded his head gloomily.
"To steal from her we need…."
"...A distraction." Reinhard completed her sentence.
"Exactly!" Felt smiled as she raised her index finger into the air. She turned to the window as her eyes darted everywhere searching for something she could use.
And then—-,
"Mimi!" she exclaimed with a bright smile. "We have our distraction!"
Reinhard watched his Master curiously wondering what she had thought of. To his surprise, she began opening up the bag of metia she was holding and picked out a few scraps of paper. Taking out a nifty self-filling metia pen, she began vigorously scrawling out onto the paper, her eyes narrowed and her tongue stuck out in concentration as she continued her sketch.
"Felt, what are you doing?" Rachins asked, curious to know what she was planning with them.
"She's inside a restaurant. We steal the map, she puts her hand inside her purse trying to take out her money and finds out the map isn't there—we'll be caught immediately once they realise we're in the Capital."
Satisfied, she blew on the ink before folding the sheet of paper, lifting it up in her hands and showing it to them. "After we steal it, we replace the map with this. She won't even know it was stolen unless she tries to open it." she explained with a mischievous smile.
As Felt then went on to explain her plan, Reinhard listened to her with awe when suddenly-,
'A new Divine Protection.' Reinhard thought as his eyes widened.
Determined to steal the map, he clenched his fist and observed the positions of the people sitting inside the restaurant carefully. He had to be extremely fast if he wanted to enact Felt's plan successfully.
And so, he dashed into the restaurant with the sheet of paper Felt had folded earlier, unnoticed by even Felt and the others.
"Hambulgar is here! Mimi's hungry! Let's eat!" Mimi rocked back and forth on her chair adorably as the food they'd ordered arrived.
"Mimi, be careful! With the way you're shakin' the table, ya might drop the food." Anastasia warned.
"Mimi will be careful! Let's eat!"
Without a care in the world, Mimi had a bright smile as the waiter carefully placed their food on the table.
Julius smiled as he watched her. He felt a little jealous, wishing he could be the same as her. To have no worries in the world, to simply enjoy the present to the fullest; indeed, it was a blessing only few in the world had.
He wanted to enjoy the meal. He wanted to not worry his Lady. But the more he tried to ignore those thoughts, the more the cries of the accused Sin Archbishop came flooding in.
He was a Sin Archbishop, wasn't he? His Lady was sure of it. The Great Spirit Beatrice was sure of it. He himself was confident about it until last week. So why had that changed?
Why did what Felt say affect him so much? Who did he beat in the Royal Castle's ground that day? Why did it hurt so much remembering that detestable Sin Archbishop's face?
"Julius, you're frownin' again!" Anastasia pointed out. "Smile a bit, won't ya? Just enjoy the time we're havin' here. Ya have plenty of time to worry later!"
Julius smiled bitterly at her words. He was making her worried again. He should just stop thinking about it. He'll also have to apologise to Reinhard and Felt later.
He took a deep breath as he brought his attention back to the dinner table.
Mimi had happily picked up her hambulgar with both hands and brought it to her mouth to take a bite.
Just then-,
A strong gust of wind suddenly blew. As everyone looked around to see what had happened, Mimi took a bite. Only for her teeth to strike against each other after biting through the air. Her hands were empty and her hambulgar was gone.
"...Mimi's hambulgar?" she looked at her empty hands, tears beginning to fill her eyes. "Where did Mimi's hambulgar go?"
The others around her began to panic.
"Sis, it's not a problem. We'll buy another one."
"Mimi, I'll buy as many hambulgars as ya want. Just don't cause a-"
"GIVE ME BACK MY HAMBULGAR!"
Just as they had feared, Mimi began rampaging in the restaurant, demanding her food back, while the Anastasia Camp desperately tried to control her.
Julius got up from his seat as well to help, when suddenly another breeze blew. He followed the path and to his surprise—-,
'Reinhard?!'
He blinked his eyes and the figure standing behind Anastasia was gone. Stunned for a moment, he began vigorously rubbing his eyes.
Julius was probably extremely tired. His guilt at having betrayed his own friend was causing him to hallucinate his presence. He should probably apologize to Reinhard as soon as possible.
With great difficulty, they managed to get everything back to normal as Anastasia ordered another hambulgar for Mimi.
As she opened her purse to pay for the food,
"Huh! Did I count wrong?" she questioned in surprise.
"What is it, Anastasia-sama?" Julius asked.
"...I think I may have miscounted the money I brought with me today. I seem to have some extra coins with me. Just enough to pay for another hambulgar."
"Father, we did it! We have everything we need!" Reinhard came back cheerfully an hour after he had left, as the others followed behind him with dumbfounded expressions, while Camberley happily munched on a hambulgar.
"Finally! It's about time we get going!" Heinkel sighed with relief. "The longer we're here, the greater chance there is of Da-, of Wilhelm finding out."
"Yeah, let's leave." Felt sighed with disappointment.
Heinkel raised his eyebrows at her lack of enthusiasm. "Huh, you don't seem too happy."
"...I feel really concerned about the future of your son." the blonde princess replied, her eyes dejected.
"Me too, kid. Me too." Heinkel sighed. "So, what exactly did he do?"
"In the blink of an eye, he stole the map in the middle of a restaurant after getting the Divine Protection of Thieving Mastery, and no one even noticed him!" she cried. "He even went back inside a second time to pay for the hambulgar Camberley's eating!"
"What? I was hungry!" Camberley said with his mouth full as everyone turned to stare at him.
"I didn't even know that was possible. Also, stealing was supposed to be my thing!"
Heinkel stood silently for sometime before he finally burst into laughter.
"Ahahaha! The Sword Saint, the Hero of the Kingdom has become a pickpocket!"
"It's not funny!"
Felt shouted, Heinkel continued to laugh, and Reinhard, whose pride at having retrieved the map turned to embarrassment.
Heinkel laughed the entire way back to the mansion.
Hi again everyone! I hope you like the chapter.
Thanks a lot to my beta reader, Antic Master for helping me a lot with improving this chapter.