Greed Chapter 6: Knowledge

As Natsuki Subaru got to the first floor right when Emilia exploded on Reinhard, beginning their fight, he began to think.

'This is annoying. If my counterpart knows what I did to Felt, then what else can he learn?'

"That's what makes it interesting." Echidna chimed in, seeing this as another chance to converse.

'Not now, Echidna. I need to see what I can learn from my counterpart.'

"I would suggest finding his allies. They could give you the information you need."

Natsuki Subaru remained silent as he was already thinking this though it is nice to see that he and Echidna are on the same page.

He prepared to leave the mansion to find his counterpart's allies only to suddenly hear a sound of windows and walls being destroyed.

'What the?!'

Although things don't usually surprise him, he was intrigued when he noticed Garfiel being shoved into a wall by what seems to be an ice sculpture that takes after his figure.

'...what?'

"That witch. It seems like she has some tricks up her sleeve."

'...hm. That could be useful.' Subaru began to think on how an ice sculpture of himself can keep his Emilia distracted...though that could also come with some downsides.

He shook his head before running outside, not wanting to distract himself from what's important.

Once outside, he ran around as he followed the noise of explosions going around.

As he focused his hearing on these said explosions, he can tell that there were two fights going on.

One involved Ram as he can feel the wind changing every few seconds.

He used his senses to tell that the pink haired oni was confronted by...Emilia.

He knows how she fights and noticed that the temperature in the direction of their fight was dropping.

On the battle to his right side, he can tell it was Roswaal due to the amount of fire he was smelling as well as being the only other person that was sent to deal with his counterpart's allies.

The one facing the margrave must be someone with high level magic, knowing that not many can even stand against Roswaal L Mathers.

'If my counterpart is still in the mansion, his version of Emilia being distracted by Ram, and I doubt Otto can truly keep Ros busy for long...it can only mean that—'

"My Beatrice is indeed the best option to confront Roswaal."

Subaru was silent as he stopped in his tracks.

He still feels immense guilt when seeing Beatrice and still has a hard time facing Emilia...especially when this version that's with his counterpart is the same one before going insane from the trials.

"Quite the dilemma you have found yourself in. Which do you wish to talk to or better yet, which would make it easiest to confront: the half-devil girl or my precious daughter?"

'...' Subaru didn't want to answer this question as even he knows that this one's tricky.

The best choice would be to go to one, retry, go to the other, then retry multiple times until he can perfect both choices and see which would be perfect to act on.

Unfortunately for him, he can't just repeat events over and over again due to one fact...his counterpart is looping with him.

'This...is an annoying problem.'

"Why not give me the choice? I can make it simple for you."

He thought about what Echidna had asked him. If he gave the option to her, she would rather choose Beatrice considering that she can't stand Emilia.

Though she will only choose Emilia if it means she can get something out of it, perhaps seeing her in a miserable state.

He knows his partner in crime, he knows how she functions.

'No.'

"Isn't it a bit rude to think of me like I'm some heartless maiden?" Echidna said as she figured out what Subaru was thinking of her.

'...I'll just go see Beatrice...' Wanting to get this over with, he made his choice.

Seeing Beatrice outside would be an actually nice scene since he wanted nothing more than to have her be out of her self-made prison.

Before he could even go see Beatrice, he felt a wind-based attack heading towards his direction.

He ducked just in time as the attack passed by his head and hit the tree right behind him.

As the tree began to fall towards his direction, Subaru jumped out of the way before turning towards the direction of Ram's fight to see her get sent flying towards him.

He got up and managed to catch her, not wanting to allow any of his people to get hurt.

Ram looked at Subaru with a blank expression once she realized who it was that had caught her.

"Are you okay?"

"...Yes Subaru-sama. Could you let me down now?"

"Right. Sorry."

Subaru set Ram down, knowing that she felt extremely uncomfortable being in his presence. Once back up on her feet, the two turn as Emilia was approaching them while saying:

"Please Ram, stand down."

"...Emilia-sama, you are indeed strong. I will acknowledge that. However, I must listen to Roswaal-sama's orders."

As Ram had her wand ready for battle, Emilia paused herself as she finally had spotted Subaru right next to the oni maid.

"Subaru? Is that you?"

"...Emilia..."

Subaru still struggled to look at this Emilia as this was the one he had wished to see for so long.

He does care for his Emilia and will protect her no matter what...though the way she turned out was his fault.

He closed his eyes as he calmed himself down, knowing that this was the opportunity to speak with her, to get information on his counterpart.

Right as Ram was about to resume her fight with Emilia, Natsuki Subaru grabbed onto her arm while saying:

"Hold on."

As he said this, he slowly approached Emilia which caused her to be mixed.

On the one hand she doesn't want to harm him because he looks like Subaru, but on the other hand she feels a bit threatened by his presence.

Natsuki Subaru caught onto this which caused him to say to the silver haired half elf:

"No need to be alarmed, Emilia-tan. I'm still Natsuki Subaru, the same that you know."

"..." Emilia was hesitant for a second by this, not feeling any malice in Natsuki Subaru's voice...however her instincts were still telling her to keep her guard up. "Stop."

Natsuki Subaru stopped on his tracks when he heard Emilia say this, wanting to show that he'll cooperate.

Emilia appreciated this though she remained with her guard up.

She looked at this version of her knight closely as he had his hands up, noticing his eyes.

"What happened to you? Why do you look...so lonely?"

Lonely isn't the right word but that's what Emilia perceived, to which Natsuki Subaru was taken aback by this question.

He didn't think it to be loneliness, if anything Otto in the previous loop had it more closely but he can only perceive this as her being nice.

"What a stupid—"

'Echidna, no.' Subaru spoke out in his mind with a sharp tone, not wanting to hear anymore of the witch of greed's insults thrown towards Emilia. As he put a stop to that, he answered her question with:

"I wouldn't say loneliness...I would say that I just want one thing, and that's for everything to go perfect. For all of you to reach that happy future." Subaru paused for a second before he looked up at the sky, "That's why I want to ask, tell me about your Natsuki Subaru. He looks so lively, full of energy compared to me."

"Subaru is always working so hard, it makes him such a reckless dunderhead."

"Dunderhead? Right, who says that anymore." Natsuki Subaru chuckled at this, having been a while since he's heard Emilia use that word. "How long have you known the other me?"

"Over a year I believe." Emilia responded, not really having thought about how long her knight and her have known each other. This response had not only Subaru's attention but also Echidna's attention.

"A year? Wait, what is he to you?"

Emilia smiled when she heard this question, always excited to say with pride:

"Subaru is my knight!"

"Your knight. Hm."

Natsuki Subaru crossed his arms as he thought into what was said, prompting the next question to be asked:

"So...he beat the trials?"

"Subaru? No. I beat them." Emilia spoke proudly when saying this, knowing deep down that it was thanks to her knight.

Ram was indeed surprised by this, almost like she couldn't believe it. Natsuki Subaru remained his blank expression though on the inside he wasn't sure he could believe it.

'How? How did she beat the trials?'

"That is unnerving. A whore like her, beating my trials? Preposterous."

Subaru didn't want to disbelieve Emilia's claims that she beat the trials, especially after witnessing it himself...however considering how different his counterpart is, perhaps events had gone differently.

'Echidna, is there a possible route where Emilia would beat the trials?'

"Unfortunately no, we had tried but she would always fail."

'Then how—no, I'll figure that out later.' As he stopped himself from thinking, he prepared to question the silver haired half elf only for a sudden explosion to happen nearby them.

This reminded Natsuki Subaru that there's still Beatrice to question.

He looked at Emilia one last time before turning towards Roswaal and Beatrice's battle while telling Ram:

"Don't kill her but capture her. For Roswaal's sake."

"...Understood."

"What? Wait, Subaru."

As Emilia tried to stop this world's Natsuki Subaru from running off since she still had questions was stopped on her tracks when Ram got in between her and Natsuki Subaru.

"Ram?"

"I apologize, Emilia-sama, but if you wish to not get hurt, I suggest surrendering."

"Please, let me talk to Subaru."

Ram had a blank expression as she moved her wand in a fighting stance before throwing a wind attack.

Emilia noticed this and quickly jumped away from Ram's attack, forcing their fight to continue.

As Emilia quickly countered Ram's attacks with a few icicles, Natsuki Subaru was running towards the location Roswaal L Mathers and Beatrice were at.

As he was closing in, Natsuki Subaru thought closely on the information he had gained.

'Echidna, you don't think that Emilia could be lying?' Being something very unlikely, he still needs to see the possibility that this could be happening. Echidna quickly responded to her partner's question:

"I doubt a bitch like her could lie. She can't even handle the trials without breaking down like a little—"

'Thanks Echidna, no need to add unnecessary comments.' Natsuki Subaru interrupted, not tolerating this kind of slander towards Emilia, regardless if it's his version or his counterpart's version.

As he returned to focus on what's in front of him, he saw Roswaal flying up in the sky as he threw a variety of colored orbs towards the Great Spirit of the Forbidden Library.

Beatrice moved her hand up as she created an invisible barrier to counter Roswaal's attack.

Subaru figured that Beatrice was using some sort of Barrier Conjuration ability, which he knows from his many lessons of Yin magic that it can protect the user and their allies by having a wall to counter magic attack.

Natsuki Subaru was impressed by this, having a chance to see Beatrice in action.

"I'm so proud of her."

'Yes, she's amazing.'

As Natsuki Subaru and Echidna to a degree watch the fight between Roswaal and Beatrice, the two were on equal footing for a bit before Roswaal was slowly gaining the upper hand.

"I suuuugest you give up. I wouldn't waaaant to hurt you."

"...I won't give up, I suppose. I won't let you harm Subaru!"

As she said this, she quickly shouted Minya, causing a few purple projectiles to be created before being fired right at the Margrave's direction. His smile remained as he easily deflected these attacks away with fire magic before commenting:

"This haaaaas been quite the dual, Beatrice. Unfortunately, yooooou aren't making much progress."

"What are you on about?" She questioned as she had her guard up.

'She's not using any powerful yin magic, meaning that she can't cast anything bigger without the risk of running out of mana first.' Natsuki Subaru thought, knowing full well that if Beatrice wanted to end things quickly and efficiently, she would use high level attacks.

"My dear Beatrice has quite the affinity with Yin magic, making her the master. Unfortunately, her mana runs out extraordinarily fast before she can show off any of her strongest attacks."

'Basically she has poor mileage...makes me think of a car.'

It had been quite some time since Natsuki Subaru even thought of anything resembling home, causing him to pause if only momentarily before his focus was back on the fight.

He observed as Roswaal was approaching Beatrice's position, prompting the Great Spirit of the Forbidden Library to walk back slowly as she was intimidated by the way he was approaching her.

Just as he was about to close the gap, Beatrice tries to use more yin magic.

"El Min—"

"Minya."

A few purple projectiles from Natsuki Subaru's location were fired from his position, prompting Roswaal to jump back in order to avoid the attack.

He turned towards Subaru's direction as he prepared to counter-attack only to stop himself the second he saw his partner in crime.

"Weeeeell, you gave me quiiiite the scare."

"..."

Natsuki Subaru gave Roswaal L Mathers a blank expression before turning his attention towards Beatrice. The little loli spirit turned towards the direction of where she saw the purple projectile shot from.

The second her eyes aligned with Natsuki Subaru, she was taken aback as she was indeed happy at seeing him for only a second before noticing just how different this Subaru is from hers.

There's also the indicator that she has no contract connection with this Natsuki Subaru, causing her to be back on guard.

She prepared to use all of her remaining mana to attack this Natsuki Subaru if he did anything sketchy. He noticed this which prompted him to turn towards Roswaal to tell him:

"Leave us."

"Are you suuuuure?" The Margrave asked, being a tad bit skeptical of this request. The two stared at each other for a moment before Roswaal closed his eyes while also shaking his head.

"As yoooou wish, partner."

Roswaal bowed at his partner before leaving the scene, allowing Subaru to speak with Beatrice in a less hostile environment.

Despite this, Beatrice remained having her guard up as she had no trust towards this version of her contractor.

"Stay back!"

"..."

Subaru didn't like the way Beatrice was acting right now since it reminded him too much of his Beatrice.

("Stay the hell away, I suppose!")

This Beatrice didn't have the exact same look as the one from his world, the look that says it all.

The absolute hatred, despair, and self-loathing all in one.

This one for sure disliked him though that could be because her Subaru was captured by his people.

"...that person you know as Natsuki Subaru will be fine. He isn't hurt or killed—"

"—I don't believe you." Beatrice interrupted, being firm in her belief that this Natsuki Subaru isn't here to try and defuse the situation. "If you want something, then say it, I suppose. Don't act like you are here to help."

'How did...'

"—she came to that conclusion, you ask? It's simple. She's been learning you through your counterpart. It's possible that something's telling her that you aren't an ally."

'But how?'

This thought was bugging him though he needed to get back on track, and that was by getting information.

"Okay then. Let's say that I'm not here in good faith, then tell me about the person you made a contract with then." He paused as he began to approach her. As he took a few steps forward, he continued with only a simple name, "Natsuki Subaru."

Beatrice lifted her hand up as she gave this Natsuki Subaru a cold stare.

"I'm warning you; I won't be used to harm my contractor, I suppose!"

"I know. You are loyal to a fault. Even when that leads you to such a devastating place."

"...the hell are you talking about, in fact?!" Beatrice spoke with anger, disliking the way Natsuki Subaru phrased that. He looked at her with a blank expression as he approached her, making her scared enough to accidentally trip on herself and fall to the ground on her back. As she was trying to regain her composure as she was getting back up. Natsuki Subaru stopped himself in his tracks as he just stood there, watching her with deadpan eyes, causing Beatrice to be more intimidated by him than by Roswaal.

"Wh-What are you, in fact?"

"...Just someone who wants everything to go perfectly." He responded, being honest with the little loli spirit. He looked at the classic dress that's unique to Beatrice, seeing that it's all dirty from the floor she fell onto. "Sorry for getting your dress dirty."

"..."

"Now then." He got close to her as he asked, "Tell me about your contractor. Why did you make a contract with him?"

"..."

Beatrice had no response for this Subaru as her attention was drawn to something else. This was enough to catch Natsuki Subaru's attention, prompting him to turn around to check what was her attention.

'What's going on?'

The second he turned towards the direction of the mansion, he saw what seemed to be smoke and a little bit of signs of fire.

'What the—'

"Oh my, did I catch you at a bad time?"

A voice spoke out, a voice that had made the little loli spirit nervous since she had a feeling that this voice belonged to a certain gut loving woman.

By the way her contractor had described her...it made her nervous since she doesn't have enough mana to have another fight.

Natsuki Subaru wasn't surprised by this, prompting him to turn towards the woman's direction.

"I was wondering when you would show up, Elsa Grainhart." As he said this, he thought back to the loops prior to the massive change on how the Bowel Hunter would show up near the end of the day.

Seeing her arrive now made him question a few things...though those wouldn't be a priority for now.

"Have you gathered any information on Gluttony?"

"..."

Natsuki Subaru didn't like this silence from Elsa Grainhart, prompting her to ask once again:

"Have you gathered any information on Gluttony, Elsa Grainhart?"

"..."

She remained silent though continued to have what seemed to be an "innocent" smile. This only prompted Subaru to be bothered.

"Elsa!"

"I have gathered nothing." She responded. "Though I'm curious, when you started to burn the mansion like before, did you get Meili out? Or have you chosen to leave her for dead?"

There was a pause as he can clearly tell that she's readying herself to kill him depending on his response.

"Natsuki Subaru."

"Hm?" Elsa tilted her head when she heard this, a little confused by this response.

"That's the person who is responsible for this."

She pulled out her knives once she heard this.

"So, are you admitting to this being your fault?"

"That's one perspective to see this. Though the Natsuki Subaru you should be after is—" He paused himself for a moment, thinking back on this entire loop and how it's not in his favor. "Actually, forget it. If you behead me, you can have my guts."

Once again like in many loops before, he saw that she was taken aback from such a request though not as much as before. Natsuki Subaru looked around for a few seconds before accepting his fate, noticing that Beatrice had managed to escape without him noticing.

'Heh, clever girl.'

He looked up and just closed his eyes, accepting the embrace of death as he felt nothing for a few seconds before everything was dark. While he was in the process of dying, all he knew was that he needed a plan.

'Natsuki Subaru. I need to know, what are you?'

"Welcome back, Natsuki Subaru." Echidna spoke in a calm manner as she drank her tea as usual while seated in her usual chair. Natsuki Subaru, right across from her, just gave her a stare before taking a drink from the cup in front of her. "Having gotten used to my bodily fluids, I see."

"You always love that joke, don't you?" He questioned as he gulped the entire tea in one go. Echidna just chuckled while responding:

"There's some truth in my words."

"Regardless, we need to speak about what had happened in the previous loop." Subaru said in a serious tone as he set his cup onto the table where Echidna had placed it.

Echidna smiled as she knew that this conversation was much more serious than before.

"Ah yes, your counterpart. Quite a fascinating foe." She said with a calm gesture, prompting her partner to question her.

"Did you pay close attention to the previous loop?"

"Yes. Your counterpart does seem to have a capability to see through your memories."

"I know and that can be a problem. I can't send Reinhard now if he's going to be talked into turning on me." He said this while crossing his arms, annoyed that the strongest card he had was suddenly reversed on him.

"Yes, that can be concerning." Echidna said as she began to get serious, knowing that she needs to play her role as someone who can help Natsuki Subaru overcome any obstacle that gets in his way. "It's possible he's receiving these memories one at a time rather than all at once."

"What brings these thoughts?" Subaru asked, wondering what comes to this conclusion for the Witch of Greed.

"As you spoke, he had memories of the Sword Saint's previous candidate he served under. That shouldn't have been possible since he wasn't there for it. There's also the fact that your counterpart also experiences different events by the way he's acting."

"He also doesn't have the crystal I have from you." Subaru added, having been something he noticed the first time he met his counterpart. "With the information the other Emilia had said, it makes it clear that she somehow beat the trials in my counterpart's place, meaning that our contract wasn't created."

"That is a likely possibility given the fact of that whore not being a mindless puppet like the one from this world."

"But how? No matter how many times Emilia had attempted the trials, she would always fail." Subaru questioned, feeling as if perhaps there's something he hasn't considered.

'The only thing I can think of is Puck.' Subaru thought...however, 'He could've been a key of sorts...but he refused to cooperate. Hell, he refused to leave the crystal.'

He still had anger towards the cat spirit since he should've been there by Emilia's side, knowing damn well that Puck played a big part in how his Emilia turned out by the end of the events of the Sanctuary.

'Damn you, Puck.'

As he calmed himself down, he heard Echidna say:

"Yes, it is possible that her contracted spirit might've played some role—"

"—but that implies that we didn't try every single possibility." Subaru said sharply.

"I would like to remind you, Natsuki Subaru, that you were the one to decide that the half-devil's spirit was useless to get help from."

"..."

Subaru crossed his arms as he had a very annoyed expression, knowing what Echidna was speaking about.

Having had so many wasted loops in trying to release Puck or even wake him up, he had viewed this task as pointless and felt that he could deal with the situation on his own.

"Yes, I had made the call to change tactics at that time but from what I can tell, he doesn't seem to be thinking like I am. There must've been a change that caused the Sanctuary to be freed by Emilia as well as a way where my counterpart had made a contract with his Beatrice."

Subaru thought of the numerous possibilities that could have led to an outcome of both Emilia and Beatrice being saved. Eventually, he came to a conclusion:

"If Emilia was saved through possibly freeing Puck, then alternatively Beatrice was saved by that phrase 'that person'. That's the only way I can see my counterpart actually succeeding."

"That is a possibility but I wouldn't be too sure with Beatrice."

"What do you mean?" Subaru asked as he was curious to hear what his partner had to say.

"Beatrice would be much more protective of your counterpart if she believed that he was 'that person'. Also, you could've used that phrase to save our world's Beatrice."

"I know but it wasn't right." He justified, knowing that the phrase would've been nothing more than a lie. "There's also the fact that Beatrice wanted to die. That phrase would've helped in her wanting to die."

"Not entirely." Echidna said as she prepared to clarify, "From your early interactions with Beatrice during the first few stages of the Sanctuary situation, she made a comment about what she wanted. Someone who would place her first in their heart, someone that would look at her first, want her first. She wanted to be number one of "that person's" heart. Your counterpart isn't acting like that from the looks of it. It's almost like she's placed him as her number one."

A sudden slam could be heard the moment Echidna finished speaking, startling her for a moment as she looked at Natsuki Subaru.

"Hm. It's been a while since you've been this angry." The Witch of Greed pointed this out as her partner took a few deep breaths, calming himself down.

"It's only frustrating that my counterpart got all that I wanted and is just here to make my life hell."

Natsuki Subaru said this since he's mad that a random alternate version of himself to just enter his world to mess up all the hard work he had done.

"What's worse about my counterpart is that he's probably in this new loop with me."

"I was hoping to speak about this." Echidna said as she had some time to think about this specific problem. "From the memories I've looked through, there's an indicator that he can't loop himself."

"What did you see that I didn't?"

"The way he acts. The way he seems to be playing his life is if it's his last. Even when things go wrong, it seems that he's playing it to the very end."

"..."

Natsuki Subaru thinks back on his encounters with his counterpart.

"If that's true, then why risk being here? Why risk it if there's only one chance to change something?"

Echidna was silent as she thought of a possible solution to answer any question.

"There's a way to answer all these questions with a simple solution."

"And what might that be?"

Echidna smiled as she began to explain how they can get answers from Natsuki Subaru's counterpart.