Greed Chapter 1: Another world
Subaru, Emilia, and Beatrice arrive in a new world, with Subaru preparing himself for an encounter with his counterpart, having a feeling that the Natsuki Subaru of this world won't be an ally to him this go around.
("...you are right, but not every world needs fixing. Some worlds need to run the course of events. Others need help because the stuff that happen there are just...unjust.")
'That asshole, it would've been different had you told me that from the very beginning.'
Subaru thought to himself, finding it annoying that he says this now...but he also knows that there's got to be a reason why the watcher would say this.
Aside from that, he along with Emilia and Beatrice all three looked around their new surroundings as they slowly realized they recognize the forest they are in.
'This is...why would we end up here?'
"Isn't this...near the Miload Mansion?" Emilia asked as she was positive that they are back at home. Subaru and Beatrice both noticed Emilia's question before Subaru responded with:
"Yeah, I was thinking that as well." He paused for a moment before starting to lead the group towards where the Miload Mansion was located. "We should get going."
"Wait." Beatrice said, causing Subaru to stop on his tracks.
"What's wrong, Beako?" He asked, having a feeling that something's bothering her. She was silent for a few seconds before asking a simple question.
"Who was that?"
"Hm?"
"Who was the person you were talking to earlier, I suppose?"
"Yes, I was also wondering who that was." Emilia added. "I was also wondering...why were we in a different world with another you."
As she said this, Emilia recalled that Subaru had made a peaceful family with Rem, causing something in her to feel...discomfort by it.
Subaru was taken aback by this but took a moment to think carefully before he responded:
"That guy...is some watcher, an observer if I were to say. He's a prick but someone who can just allow us to jump to different worlds where I made different choices...mainly bad ones." Subaru looked down while having said this, reminding himself of the Sin Archbishop of Pride and the Purge King mainly as the two versions of him that went the dark paths.
"...I'm not proud of what I've learned thanks to that jerk, but I can see just how screwed up I could've become without you all." As he said this, he looked at Emilia and Beatrice with a smile on his face.
Despite the amount of gruesome deaths he had to suffer to save not only them but also Rem, Ram, Otto, Garfiel, Petra, Frederica, the people of Arlem, Ryuzu, the people of the Sanctuary, Roswaal to a degree, and many others he cares for.
He looks up before hearing Emilia telling him,
"If something's bothering you Subaru, we are here for you." As she says this, Subaru couldn't help but feel relieved when that was said.
Beatrice approached Subaru to grab his hand while adding into what Emilia had said:
"And as your contracted spirit, it is Betty's obligation to help you, in fact."
With that said, Subaru felt determined as he knows he has two important people that can help him in this world.
'With Emilia-tan and Beako, I can beat this world's challenges.'
"There's still one more."
'One more?' Subaru questioned in his mind, surprised by the sudden voice of the watcher.
"Are you okay, Subaru?" Emilia asked as she noticed how surprised he suddenly was.
"Y-Yeah, I'm okay." He responded before turning his attention to the sky, more specifically to the watcher as he continued to speak to him:
"Yes, although Emilia and Beatrice could be enough to take on...the obstacles here, but one more person will be useful for you."
'Wait, who?'
As he asked this mentally, a sudden small light caught the attention of him, the silver haired half elf, and the great spirit Beatrice.
"A spirit?"
"Not quite."
The small light approached the trio before creating a bright light around them for a couple of seconds before the area of the forest returned to normal.
"What was that?"
"That was the arrival of one of our friends." As Subaru said this, he looked with confidence as he noticed the watcher had sent in one of the smartest people he trusts. "Good to see you again, Otto."
"Natsuki-san? What am I doing here? What happened? I was in Priestella a second ago."
The merchant spoke in shock since he was helping the people of Priestella before suddenly appearing in the forest near the Miload Mansion.
"Calm down, Otto. You are not in any danger."
As the boy said this, he approached his best friend to pat him in the back while saying:
"You are here because we will require your assistance."
"Assistance? For what exactly?"
Subaru looked at Otto before starting to think on how complicated it might be to explain what's going on to him, though...
"To make a long story short, we are in a different world."
"A different world?" Otto asked as he paid close attention to the words Subaru was about to say next.
"Let's make it easy for you and me, this world is the same as ours...just think of it as a world where events have gone differently."
"Okay. How did we end up here then?"
"Well..." Subaru rubbed the back of his head to try and think on this question since the watcher is still someone unknown to him. "Let's just say that the person who sent me here has some motive and is a prick. Despite that though, I have learned a lot about all of us, including you. What would've happened had we not met."
As Subaru finished saying this, he remembered how in the first two worlds, Otto Suwen was a debt slave.
Otto was uncertain exactly what Subaru was getting at...but he's confident that whatever his friend is up to, he'll need to be there by his side to help him out.
After all, they are friends. He sighed before saying:
"Alright Natsuki-san, how can I help you out?"
Subaru smirked before the two fists bumped each other.
"At this moment, we just started the journey in this new world."
Otto nodded at Subaru, understanding that there's no information to go off of right now, prompting him to be on guard the moment they start moving. He turned to see Beatrice and Emilia nearby.
"Emilia-sama, Beatrice-sama, it's good to see you again."
"You seem well, I suppose." Beatrice said as she noticed that the merchant looked completely fine despite how his legs were severely injured back when they dealt with Lye Batenkaitos in the waterfall city of Priestella. Otto hadn't even noticed this, which prompted him to move his legs around, realizing that he's back to full strength.
"That's...unexpected but much appreciated."
"It's good to see you okay." Emilia said with a smile, making Otto feel appreciated.
"Thank you, Emilia-sama."
He bowed with respect to her when saying this before turning towards Subaru, seeing that something had his attention for a brief moment.
The boy looked at his three allies for this world before looking forward.
"We will head this way."
And with Subaru having said this, he began to lead the group to the Miload Mansion.
With Beatrice quickly holding Subaru's hand by his right side, Emilia walking on his right side and Otto on his left, the boy felt more confident than before.
As they were starting to walk, Otto realized that they were close to the Miload Mansion.
"...Natsuki-san, you mentioned that this is a world similar to ours, correct?"
"Yes."
"Then what exactly are we here to do?"
"I'm not sure." As he answered Otto's question, he began to think of possible ideas of what could've been the change for this world.
'If we are near the Miload Mansion, then there are only a few changes I could see. The stuff related to Sanctuary, the things in Priestella, or the events related to the watchtower. That's the only thing that comes to mind...otherwise it would make no sense being here.'
With all of the possible scenarios going through his mind, Otto tapped him in the shoulder to get his attention.
"Hm?"
"I was wondering, you mentioned that you knew of my fate had we not met. I was curious if you could go more in depth on that?"
"Yes, I'm interested to know more about the other Subarus from the other worlds." Emilia said, curious what happened to the other versions of her knight. The merchant took note of this, confusing him for a brief moment.
"Do elaborate on this." The merchant said, with his curiosity increasing. Subaru looked up at the sky for a few seconds before explaining everything he had encountered since the start of this abrupt adventure.
The first thing was explaining how he had first encountered the watcher, how he had and still doesn't trust him before arriving to the first world, the world of Natsuki Subaru, the Sin Archbishop of Pride.
"Wait...Sin Archbishop..."
Emilia and Otto both refused to believe something like that would happen, knowing that Subaru is a good person.
Beatrice also believes in Subaru and knows her Subaru won't go down that route...but since she has interacted with the Purge King Natsuki Subaru, she can see a version of her contractor joining the witch's cult.
"Why would another Subaru join the witch cult?" Emilia asked, worried by the answer.
Subaru wanted to answer the full truth to Emilia...but revealing Return By Death to either of them might put them all in danger.
So, he chose his words carefully when answering her question.
"Because he chose to be prideful. He chose to do it all alone for you, Emilia-tan."
"For me?" She tilted her head when her knight had answered the question. "What do you mean?"
"He...took a different path. A lonely path."
Emilia could hear Subaru's voice of sadness, prompting her to just hug him while also not asking any further questions on the topic.
Subaru appreciated this but he knew that he needed to continue in explaining this to Otto at least.
He continued to talk about the world of the Purge King, something Beatrice is somewhat familiar with.
He explained how that version of Natsuki Subaru was blamed for Rem's death and he was forced to run away, which led him to a dark path.
"That...must've been tough for him, I suppose." Beatrice spoke as she looked down.
"With him...I understand why he went the route he ended up...but I won't forgive him for killing Beako."
Otto and Emilia were taken aback by this, not expecting any version of Subaru to kill Beatrice...then again, considering what they have learned about these two versions...
"It must've been hard...Natsuki-san, to encounter an evil version of yourself."
"It was...and perhaps I would've helped them originally if I really thought thoroughly on why they went the wrong path." There was a moment of silence, his allies fully understanding the hell that Natsuki Subaru had gone through. He continued to look up before turning his gaze forward, remembering his talk with the Natsuki Subaru that ran away and started a family with Rem. "What's done is done. I have to help this world's version of me now."
"Not alone you won't." Otto spoke proudly as he grabbed Subaru's arm. "You won't deal with facing this version of yourself alone. If he's anything like the others, I'd like to knock some sense into them."
As Otto says this, he as well as Subaru both think back on when Subaru was on his own in the forest of the Sanctuary, how he looked like he wanted to die as well as wanting to take everything on his own.
("That's really all the strength you have. Putting on a tough act for a girl you love is fine. And you can play tough for a girl who likes you, too. No one would object to that. But that's as far as it goes! You know you're not good enough, don't you? You know you can't reach, don't you? You want to look good for the girl you like, don't you?! You want to be someone the girl who likes you can be proud of, don't you?! Then why don't you just accept someone's help?! Someone like...a friend!")
Those words were what Subaru needed at the time, perhaps they could've been the words to help Pride and the Purge King.
Despite this, Subaru saw that has a good memory since Otto was there when he needed someone.
Otto recalled that memory as something he might need to do if this version of Natsuki Subaru they will be dealing with.
Perhaps they needed guidance and the version of him in this world wasn't there to give it.
Emilia was unsure if she could see a version of her knight in the wrong path like the one that joined the witch cult and the one that turned into a tyrant...but she was willing to help her knight in beating his counterpart.
Beatrice holds her contractor's hand tightly as she wants to be right by his side when he beats whatever evil Natsuki Subaru they encounter.
"Well then, lead the way." Otto said as he stood right by Subaru's side.
Subaru nodded at his friend as he led them towards the Miload Mansion.
Opening his eyes, trying to stave off his sleepiness, he blinked rapidly in an attempt to wake himself up.
Though his consciousness hung in a bleary haze, his sluggishness only lasted for a few seconds.
Immediately after his consciousness came to from his sleep, his waking brought energy back into his body.
"Ah."
In contrast to his body being awake, all that escaped from his mouth was a dullish voice.
At a glimpse, it seemed like he was still half-asleep, but this was one of the most important rituals he did in the morning.
By lying on his back with his head up whilst he let out that voice in that manner, a lot of information could be conveyed through to him.
He made sure to undertake each of these actions every morning. This was the proof that Natsuki Subaru had reached the morning without making any grave mistakes.
"*Yawn*"
Taking off his blankets as he yawned, he lifted his body up, swiveling his feet down off of the bed. He roughly scratched his head as he looked around the room he was in.
It was a room he had become used to seeing―― it was luxuriously furnished and included a canopy bed in the room in which he entered from.
But, where Subaru had woken up was not the canopy bed, but rather a sofa placed further within the room. He passed the nights as of late there, wrapped up in a futon, curled up into a ball.
Actually, no, this had been a bedtime habit of Natsuki Subaru's in these years. Be as it may, there wasn't any big reason for him not to sleep in his bed.
It was just that he'd end up laboring to try and prepare the environment so that it'd be as comfortable to sleep in as possible.
As a result of trial and error, he had learnt that he felt more comfortable by lying down and sleeping on the sofa than sleeping in a bed.
And ever since, he'd kept doing that.
That's all there was to it.
Rubbing his eyes, Subaru got off from the sofa that he had made into a bed and went to the bathroom so he could get dressed.
As he washed his face in the bathroom that was adjacent to his bedroom, he deliberately looked at his soaked face reflected in the mirror.
His face looked tired and gave the impression that he was about to collapse. His face looked frayed with dejection.
These three things sapped at his morale.
In an attempt to stiffen that expression, Subaru clapped his face with both hands using all of his strength.
A dry sound accompanied the tears that welled up; in order to wash away them, Subaru poured cold water onto his face.
Once again, he looked at his wet face in the mirror.
And whilst carefully kneading his face, eyes and cheeks, he said,
"Smile...you gotta smile, if you can't, then...die."
Chanting this incantation, Subaru bent his mouth into a terrible, crooked smile.
He flashed his white teeth, his smile narrowing his eyes, so the whites weren't visible all around anymore.
His own countenance was like that of a villain's he had been friends with for a bit more than 18 years.
He could camouflage his eyes, his facial expression, and his countenance with no issues.
"Oookay, okay. Keep it like this."
After checking his smile, Subaru dried his face with a towel and hurriedly changed into his clothes.
When he spent time at the Mansion, Subaru's appearance was not garbed in a servant's uniform… rather, he wore the formal attire of a noble.
Even if he took off his jacket, he would keep snug in a casual white shirt with its sleeves rolled up.
However, such appearances were now naturally required.
They were quite stuffy, but he really couldn't do anything about it.
He was obligated to have an appearance appropriate to his position, because it was the position Subaru himself wanted.
"Soon it'll be the usual time."
Straight after he had changed into his clothes, he looked up to the Magic Hour Crystal that had been furnished above the room's door.
It had a dark green hue, signifying that it was morning.
It showed that his time for getting out of bed was soon.
In some way, it seemed like this morning he had spent just a little bit too much time practicing his smile.
In a few minutes, a punctual girl would knock on his door as scheduled.
Before that, he needed to finish everything he hadn't done yet.
Shifting his attention, Subaru unbuttoned his shirt down.
There, attached by a thin chain was a pendant fastened to the "Black Crystal" which he never removed, even when sleeping.
A mysterious, sparkling black crystal.
Squeezing it in the palm of his hand, Subaru closed his eyes.
The crystal stone was cold and hard to the touch―― when it tucked into the palm of Subaru's hand, its presence grew stronger as if firing up; it started to pulse as if it was a living thing.
Naturally, he started to unconsciously count its strange beat's rhythm and frequency as it rested in his palm.
With a stronger beat as it reached its full power, the crystal stone's beat grew stronger and faster.
Just before its pulse perfectly overlapped with the pulse of Subaru's own heartbeat, someone suddenly burst through the door.
Subaru's eyes widened as this was not a part of how the daily routing was gone, meaning one thing.
'Something new has happened.'
"Subaru-sama? Are you here?"
'Reinhard? Shouldn't he be with Garfiel?'
With this, Subaru knew that something had changed drastically since for the past hundred of times redoing this day, it had always been Petra to greet him and Reinhard having his usual training session with Garfiel.
To have the Sword Saint here would mean only one thing.
'Someone dangerous is here.'
"I wouldn't say that."
A female voice spoke out to him, having read his very thoughts on this shift of a situation.
'Echidna.'
Subaru thought to himself before preparing to leave the bathroom to talk to the Sword Saint, curious to know what exactly is going on.
He stepped out of the bathroom to see the Sword Saint standing right next to Petra.
"Subaru-sama." The little maid called out with a smile, always happy to see him.
Subaru looked at her with a 'smile' before turning towards Reinhard.
"You called for me?"
"Yes, I don't mean to bother you, but Roswaal-sama has asked me to get you."
"...okay."
Subaru was hesitant as to why Roswaal would want to speak to him...hell why is everything suddenly changing at a whim.
He thought back on the multitude of times he's repeated the day and he knows that the only things that have cost him his life so far was his inability to smile in a way where Emilia doesn't lose her mind and kill them all and the conversation with Garfiel.
He crossed his arms as he contemplated ending this loop since things are too out of the norm to keep this going only for a voice to go against this.
"You should see what he wants. Learning more information could help when you restart the day."
'...'
Subaru remained silent as he just closed his eyes, thinking back to each conversation he's had with Roswaal up to this point.
He opened his eyes with a dead glare while responding to the Sword Saint:
"Lead the way."
Reinhard nodded at Subaru before turning around to the hallway before walking with Subaru and Petra right behind him.
While they were walking towards Roswaal's office, Petra looked at Subaru before asking him:
"Subaru-sama, how are you doing this morning?"
Subaru turned towards Petra's direction, noticing what she had asked him.
"Very pleasant. I got to see your cute little face this morning."
"Subaru's still saying such things. … Ah, but there are clouds hanging over the sky beyond the forest, it seems that the weather may get worse this afternoon. I have plans to go shopping this afternoon, I hope it'll stay sunnyyyyyy."
Reinhard looked at Petra when she said this, trying to keep a friendly smile but at the same time being reminded of someone.
Subaru noticed this and immediately changed the subject by asking Reinhard:
"Shouldn't you be training with Garfiel today?"
"Yes, we were about to start but then Roswaal-sama's closest maid, Ram-sama, had approached the two of us to ask for your presence."
"I presume Garfiel did not wish to join you for that." Subaru speculated, knowing how much the demi human boy hates him.
"Apologies."
"No need to apologize, it's just something I expected from him at this point."
As Subaru said this, he thought back to the successful loop of the Sanctuary, knowing how pissed off the demi human boy must've been when he had been sent to the sidelines, unable to truly help them in stopping the Great Rabbit.
'Perhaps if I had figured a way to ask him to help, maybe he wouldn't be with such hatred towards me.'
"We have tried multiple attempts to convince the boy, but he wouldn't budge." Echidna jumped in, reminding Subaru that they have attempted this before.
Subaru kept his blank expression as he heard this, knowing that the words the Witch of Greed had said were true.
After a few seconds of pure silence, the three arrived right in front of the door leading into Roswaal's office.
As he was about to go for the door, Petra immediately took the chance to assist him.
"I got it, Subaru-sama!"
Petra opens the door for him. Subaru gives her a smile while saying:
"Thank you, Petra."
He gives him a nod before slowly entering the room with Reinhard right behind him.
"Weeeeeelcome, Subaru-kun."
Roswaal spoke with a friendly tone while Subaru remained with a blank expression.
"So, Roswaal, what did you want from me?"
"So direct. Perhaps I gooooot you in a bad mood."
"...it's nothing like that, I just want to know why you called me here."
Roswaal continued to have a friendly smile as he turned his attention to Reinhard and Petra, having noticed the two just now.
"Maaaaay I ask if Subaru-kun and I speak in private."
Subaru turned towards Petra and Reinhard, noticing that the two were waiting to see what he was thinking about what was said.
Subaru remained silent for a few seconds before nodding, showing that he agrees that he and Roswaal should speak alone.
The little maid bowed with respect while the Sword Saint nodded while saying:
"If you need my assistance, I will be outside." The Sword Saint spoke out as he stepped outside with Petra right by his side.
Subaru looked at the Sword Saint and all he could think is how guilty he is for making Reinhard so miserable.
"You did what you had to do."
'...'
"All for the sake of that foolish girl."
'Echidna...'
Subaru hated when Echidna insulted Emilia for whatever reason.
Echidna knows that it annoys the boy but she just can't help but hate the silver haired half devil.
Subaru turned towards Roswaal to tell him:
"Okay, it's now the two of us. Let's talk."
Subaru sat down calmly and looked at the clown, at his partner in crime, wanting to see if he could give him a hint on what could've caused this sudden change.
Roswaal continued to have his friendly exterior while pulling out a familiar book.
"Hm?"
"Do you remeeeember this book?"
Subaru looked at the book, having been such a long time since actually seeing the thing.
"It's been a while."
"A while?" Roswaal questioned with interest, finding that response interesting. "Soooo, we have had this chat before?"
"No." Subaru responded with a blank expression, attempting to keep any information to himself which Roswaal had noticed.
"Oh. So this is a paaaaaaaarticularly new situation."
"Yes...now, why did you bring the book out? There's got to be a reason why you are pulling this out now."
"Yes...there's a reason why. A new proooooblem will arrive, one that requires me to inform you, Subaru-kuuuun."
"Wait, so the book is telling you to tell me this?"
"Yes."
Subaru closed his eyes as his thoughts turned towards Echidna.
'What do you think about this? It's your book that's telling him to do this.'
"That is true, but this information isn't enough to start again. You'll need to investigate more, if you ask me."
'Is it because you are greedy and want to know what's going on?'
"You know me all too well." Echidna spoke with a bit of teasing while also agreeing with the question.
Subaru would chuckle at this had it been back in the Sanctuary when he and Echidna were a team for the first one hundred loops.
Right now, he just doesn't give a shit except for this odd anomaly. He got up before turning towards the window of Roswaal's room.
"I'll investigate this on my own."
"Whaaaaatever you think is right, Subaru-kun."
Subaru didn't look at Roswaal as he left Margrave's office only to end up encountering Reinhard and Petra, who were waiting there for him.
"Subaru-sama!" Petra said as she bowed at him, catching his attention.
"Did everything go well?" The Sword Saint asked.
"Yes. I just need you two to do me a favor and to check on Emilia-tan for me. There's something I need to take care of."
"Would you require any assistance with your new objective?"
"..." Subaru was silent as he knew that the Sword Saint wanted to help him to feel useful after...after the events of Priestella.
He took a few seconds before responding:
"I'll be okay, I just really need someone I trust to check on Emilia-tan."
"Understood." Reinhard nodded at Subaru before making his way towards Emilia's direction.
While this was happening, Subaru turned his attention to Petra to see that she wants to help however she can.
Subaru looked at her for a few seconds before turning his attention to his left side where a room with a sleeping beauty was being held.
"Check on Rem for me, please."
"Okay." Petra bowed as she said this before going off to Rem's room, knowing how important she is to Subaru.
He took a moment before turning towards the path downstairs in order to leave the Miload mansion.
"You do realize that she won't be happy that you won't be seeing her today." Echidna points out, reminding him of what had happened on a previous loop when he sent someone else to see the silver haired half devil.
Subaru was silent as he was gathering his thoughts before responding to Echidna's comment.
'I'm aware. But this loop's purpose is to find out what changed.'
"Wise choice."
Subaru didn't have a change of expression from this response from Echidna since he figures that she knows what his response was going to be to her comment.
As he was about to walk out of the mansion, he had a thought.
'Beatrice.'
He wouldn't have someone check up on her while he goes off to basically die all for the sake of achieving the perfect loop.
'I promise to see you on the next loop, Beatrice.'
Subaru, Emilia, Beatrice, and Otto all four get closer and closer to the Miload Mansion, all of them somewhat on edge as they don't know what exactly they will be encountering.
During this twenty minute walk, Otto had used his divine protection to ask the animals to check if danger was ahead for them, that way they don't walk into a death trap.
As they were close to arriving, Subaru turned towards Otto to ask him:
"Any word from your animal friends?"
"No, so we can only assume that we aren't in any real danger for now."
"How come?" Emilia asked as she tilted her head slightly. Otto turned towards the silver haired half elf to answer her question with:
"I told them to tell us if there's anything dangerous in front of us. Because they haven't said anything, we can only assume that there's no real threat right now."
"Then at the very least we can be calm for now. But until we know what the me of this world is like, we should keep our guards up."
Beatrice, Emilia, and Otto agree with this and nod at what Subaru had said, understanding from the other worlds the boy had traveled, more specifically the first two, that the Natsuki Subaru they encounter might not be friendly.
The four walked a couple of minutes more until suddenly they noticed someone walking in the forest.
This prompted the four to be on guard for a brief moment before recognizing the hair.
"Wait a moment, he looks like—"
"Garfiel!"
Emilia shouted the demi human boy's name, causing him to turn around as he wasn't expecting anybody to be out in the forest.
He turned around to see who was calling him.
When he spotted Emilia, he was on edge for two reasons; the first being that he wasn't expecting her to be out and about and the second being...well because it's Emilia.
"Oi. What're ya doin' out here? Wait a minute, when th'hell did ya grew yer hair?"
Emilia and the others noticed the caution on Garfiel's voice, as if he was slightly afraid of Emilia. There was also the comment on Emilia's hair but for now that had to be ignored.
"We were just...walking around." Emilia answered hesitantly since well she didn't have a proper response to the demi human boy's question.
Garfiel had his guard slowly up as he didn't know what would happen next only for his mind to immediately notice Subaru.
"Hey Garfiel, how are you doing?"
"..."
Garfiel didn't respond to the boy's question as his anger was boiling up.
"...this might be a problem." Otto whispered to Subaru, having noticed the anger Garfiel was showing the moment he noticed his friend.
Subaru also noticed, having thought back to the few loops where Garfiel Tinsel did not trust him at all.
Before the demi human boy said anything to Subaru, he noticed Otto which caused him to target his anger towards the merchant:
"So ya finally came yer ass back here, after quittin' on us!"
"What...are you talking about, Garf?"
"Don't get friendly with me!"
Garfiel started approaching in a hostile manner which prompted Otto to slowly walk back as his senses were telling him that he's in immediate danger.
Before he could approach Otto's position, Subaru got in between the two as he told Garfiel to stop on his tracks.
This only caused him to be aggrivated with Subaru, prompting him to punch the boy to the side.
"Get outta my way! Ya ain't th'boss f' me!"
Subaru was sent flying onto a tree, with the impact hurting his back though nothing fatal.
"Subaru!" Beatrice and Emilia both shouted in unison with Beatrice turning towards Garfiel angrily.
"What's wrong with you, in fact?!"
Garfiel turned towards Beatrice's direction and was about to make a response only to stop right when he was about to speak.
He was at a pause to see the great spirit of the once forbidden library out and about.
"Th'hell?! What're ya doin' out here?!"
None of this was making any sense. Emilia was out and about, Beatrice was also out and about, Otto had returned, and Subaru looks...
"...You!" Garfiel spoke towards Subaru before approaching him. "What th'hell's goin' on?!"
Before he could reach his target, Otto as well as Emilia and Beatrice got in between the two.
"You are not hurting Natsuki-san!"
"tsk." Garfiel clenched his fist angrily, hating how close Otto is acting with Subaru after having been months since he had left the group. He was tempted to push his way through to reach Natsuki Subaru's position but because Emilia's right there, prompting him to be more hesitant than usual.
"...I'll get my revenge on ya both!"
With that being said, he jumped away as he felt his life would've been in danger had he tried to fight Emilia.
Once Garfiel Tinsel had left the area, Otto and the two girls lowered their guards after a minute.
Beatrice was the first to instantly turn around to check on Subaru.
"Are you okay?!"
"...yeah. I'm fine."
Otto and Emilia both turned to help the boy back up on his feet as they were caught off guard by what had happened.
"So...Garfiel hates us in this world, doesn't he, Natsuki-san?"
"Yeah, seems like events in the Sanctuary must've went to shit." Subaru said as he assumed this was the cause for Garfiel's sudden hatred towards the two.
"...he mentioned something in relation to Otto leaving." Emilia said as she worried how things had gone if what Subaru was saying was true.
"One way to find out is to investigate, I suppose."
"Agreed. We won't know until we find the me of this world. He'll have the answers we are looking for."
Emilia, Otto, and Beatrice nodded before turning towards the direction Garfiel had gone off to, seeing that perhaps this was the way towards Miload Mansion. Subaru slowly started to lead the way as he was the main one that needed to confront his counterpart.
'Evil, misguided, or completely delusional, I'll find out what path you chose, Natsuki Subaru of this world.'
Author's note:
Yes, we are back here with another chapter on Natsuki Subaru's birthday (April 1st).
Also yes, we are getting Season 3! Literally I had posted my Re:Zero Season 2 review video a day before Season 3 teaser trailer came out. So yeah, I will be doing some content for Re:Zero on my GreenWarrior291 YouTube channel (yes, I'm plugging my channel here cause well why not). Otherwise I will have this story be updated biweekly, so hopefully you all enjoyed the chapter.