"Barusu, what are you doing?" Ram asked, unamused. It had been a while since they've arrived and she had just finished shopping while stupid Barusu played with the village kids, saying she could do it by herself as it was faster.

Subaru and the villagers were doing some weird exercises in the middle of village, everyone looking like they were having fun, with even the older folks participating. "Ram-nee, come on and join us!" he encouraged, doing a shoulder stretch, the rest of the villagers copying him. "We're doing some radio exercises!"

"'Radio?' What's that?" asked a young girl with orange hair with a red ribbon.

"It's something from my homeland, Petra-chan," Subaru explained, a smile on his face. "Ram-nee, are you done shopping?"

"Yes, Barusu. It's time to go and make lunch with my precious sister," she answered, her face as stoic as ever.

"Okay, everyone! Fun time's over, I've gotta get back!" Subaru told the crowd, all of them groaning at seeing him go. "Bye, guys! Stay safe, kids!" he farewelled, falling into step with Ram as they left the village.

"Barusu, why are you cradling your hand like that?" Ram questioned, seeing that her coworker was holding his left hand funnily.

"Oh, I got bit by a dog that one of the kids showed me, see?" he explained as he showed the bite wound. It was small and shallow, but it looked like it stung. "Kids these days, you know?"

"Only someone as stupid as you would get bit by a dog, Barusu. And kids follow a hierarchy of respect, and you clearly are on the bottom rung," she bluntly told him as she passed the heavy food supplies to Subaru, him getting overburdened immediately from all the groceries.

"Jeez, Ram-nee! How strong are you?!" he asked as he lagged behind, his face mostly obscured by the pile of food/supplies.

"Strong enough for a girl to beat you, stupid Barusu. You're a pathetic weak man in retrospect," she critiqued as they walked the rest of the way in silence with Subaru huffing and puffing as he struggled. She sighed to herself, wondering if she should inform him of a lesser-known trick to making yourself stronger and faster. "Barusu, do you have a handle on your gate without Emilia-sama?" she asked.

"Kind of? Why?"

"Listen to me carefully, as messing up will hurt you, not that I care or anything," she denied with conviction. "Open your gate and imagine the mana flowing through your body, traveling through every crevice. Make sure the mana is equal everywhere."

"O…kay, I'll try," he said as he did as she suggested, using his strong imagination to imagine his mana flowing through his body. When he opened his gate and did that, he felt the load he was carrying in his arms diminish in weight. He felt faster, stronger, the wound on his hand healing quicker than before. His thought process was even faster, allowing him to observe the world in more clarity than before. "What the heck! I feel…" he lost focus on flowing his mana, causing him to stop and the weight to come back.

"Stronger? Faster? You should be, Barusu. This is a trick that warriors/commoners use to enhance themselves, even without affinities. It's usually done subconsciously, although in your case you'll have to do it manually for a while until you get a handle on it," she informed.

"Thank you so much, Ram-senpai!" he thanked, trying to focus his mana once more through his body. He did it easily enough, getting all the benefits again, but it was like walking a tightrope, what with walking and carrying the (now) light produce. He kept it up as they eventually they arrived at the mansion with little fanfare, the two of them entering the kitchen where Rem was just beginning to start lunch. Subaru deposited the supplies on a table as he grabbed his preferred knife, Shooting Star, from its holder. He tried to twirl it around all fancy like but all he managed to do was nick himself. "Ow!" he said to himself, sucking on his finger to stem the blood flow. "Rem-rin, what are we making for lunch?" he asked.

"We're making fries and hamburgers, Subaru-san," Rem answered, smiling at his stupid antics as she began cutting some tatoes into french fry shapes.

He grabbed a spare cutting board as he quickly joined her in cutting, only hurting himself accidentally a few more times, thankfully. Subaru resolved to bandage his wounds later as he dried the tatoes with a towel, readying them for the oil. He looked over to Ram, who was currently molding the ground beef into burger patties.

"Hey, can I make us some mayonnaise for the burgers?" Subaru asked as he placed the tatoes into the oil, enjoying the sizzling noise.

"'Mayonnaise?'" Rem and Ram asked at the same time, the word foreign on their tongue.

"You guys don't have mayo?! It's a condiment from my place, it's super tasty!" he explained as he gathered the ingredients for the mayo, namely eggs, mustard, a lemon, and some of the oil from the fries. He got a bowl and whisked the ingredients together while humming, annoying Ram in the process as he wasn't working on the food. After about five minutes the mayonnaise was done and was ready to be spread over some buns. Subaru got all the buns for the burgers and added the mayo to it, confident that it would improve the meal for everyone.

Ram sighed at seeing all the work he put in as she told him sternly, "If Master Roswaal-sama or Emilia-sama don't like lunch then you'll be doing all the chores today, Barusu. By yourself," she clarified.

"Got it, Ram-senpai!" he agreed, an assured smile on his face as the three of them carried the burgers and fries out to the dining room, all of the residents of the mansion sitting at the table. Beatrice was happily playing with Puck, cooing all over him. Emilia watched on with a fond smile while Roswaal rested his head on one of his arms, waiting for the food to come. The maids and the lone butler put the food in front of each of them before seating themselves.

"Master Roswaal-sama and Emilia-sama?"

"Yeeeeees, Ram?" the lord asked with his usual drawl.

"Barusu has added a special ingredient to the hamburgers, something called 'mayonnaise.' I pray that Barusu's stupid stunt won't ruin your lunch," she said forlornly, bowing slightly at the table.

"Come on, Ram-senpai. I'm sure it will be tasty, it was where I come from," he argued.

"Let me try it. If Subaru says it's tasty then I trust him," Emilia defended him as she grabbed the hamburger and took a modest bite. Her eyebrows shot up and her eyes widened to a comical degree as she groaned in satisfaction. She chewed on it with a smile as she swallowed, saying soon after, "This tastes even better than last time!"

Roswaal raised a single eyebrow at her response before taking a bite as well, his eyes widening marginally. "This tastes ammmmmmmmmazing, Subaru-kun! I've never had anything likkkkkkkkkke it," he praised, taking another bite along with some fries.

"Nee-sama, I have to agree with Subaru-san, it really is good!" Rem enthused, munching happily on her burger.

"Lia, can we have a bite?" Puck asked, speaking for both himself and Beatrice. Emilia nodded yes as she passed her burger, the both of them taking a small bite and moaning in happiness. "That tastes awesome!" he congratulated as he floated closer to the boy. He got within a few feet of him as he said, "Subaru, good jo—"

He stopped speaking suddenly, Puck's face becoming deathly serious.

"What's wrong, Puck? You're kinda freaking me out," Subaru commented, rubbing the back of his head in nervousness.

"Beatrice, come over here," the furry great spirit ordered.

"Why, I suppose? What's the big d—" Beatrice, after approaching close enough to Subaru, similarly stopped in her tracks and had a shocked expression on her face. "You've been cursed," she told Subaru.

"Cursed? Like from magic?" Subaru asked, slightly anxious.

"Subaru's been cursed?!" Emilia asked, surprised and worried.

"Beatrice, may I immmmplore you to get rid of it?" Roswaal asked nicely. "I would hate that my newest member of my staaaaaaaaff die from something so trivial and removable."

"I'll do it, but only because Puckie would want me to," the librarian told the cursed boy, holding a hand to his chest as she undid the curse like a knot in a rope. It was done within seconds, the remnants of the curse coming out as a black mist from Subaru, specifically his bite wound from the dog.

"Oh my god, did that dog give me a curse?! What the hell is wrong with it?!" the dark-haired teen shouted in surprise.

"No dog could have done this, Subaru-san, but a mabeast can," Rem told him. "If a mabeast was able to enter the village and curse him, then that means the warding crystals aren't working…"

"And the children are in danger!" Emilia finished Rem's sentence, standing up from the table quickly, upsetting some of the utensils before her. "Puck, Roswaal-san, Rem and Ram-san, we need to go to the village and stop this!"

"Why was I left out?" Subaru asked.

"No offense, Subaru, but you aren't really combat-oriented," Puck answered with a small sad frown.

"Wait, I can totally help! Ram-senpai taught me a technique to better myself in day-to-day life!" he argued. "Plus, I've grown fond of the kids, and if they're in danger I need to be there for them," he firmly stated.

"Subaru-kuuuuuuuun can come, we're wasting time just waiiiiiiiiiiiting," Roswaal allowed, standing up from his seat as he brushed the crumbs off him. "I'll fly into the village and assssssssssess the damage and danger level. The rest of you can go onnnnnnnnnn foot and help when you make it," he said to them, walking his way to the outside.

"Wait, fly? Ros-chi can fly?!" Subaru asked, incredulous.

"Yes, Master Roswaal-sama is the only one known for his flight magic. Emilia-sama, Puck-sama, sister, and Barusu, we should depart quickly."

"I'll come too, I suppose," Beatrice piped up, standing up from her seat. "You may need Betty's Yin magic to dispatch the mabeasts. Follow me, I suppose," she ordered, going to one of the doors and using her Door Crossing to connect it to the outside of one of the village huts. The six of them went through the door, ending up at the village instantly.

"Beako, you've got to teach me that one day," Subaru remarked with an awed tone of voice. He saw that things at the village was proceeding normally, with no one thinking anything was amiss.

"Ah, Subaru! It's good to see you again!" one of the older villagers greeted, stalking closer to the group. The old man seemed to finally notice Subaru's associates, namely Emilia, and he scoffed in disgust. "What is the half-devil doing here?"

"Half-devil?" Subaru asked, looking to Emilia, only to see she was tearing up. He balled up his fists, clenching them tightly. "I don't know why you'd call Emilia-tan that, but don't you dare call her by that name," he commanded. "Where are the kids?" he swiftly changed topics.

"Over there, why?" the old man pointed to an empty clearing.

"All of you are in danger," Rem declared, somehow taking out a morningstar from nowhere, it being plenty of menacing. "The warding stones have stopped working and a small, dog-looking mabeast managed to curse my coworker," she explained. "Under the orders of Lord Roswaal L. Mathers-sama, please stay inside and stay safe."

"Of course! At once, Rem-sama!" the older man said as he went to the center of the village and told the other villagers the news.

"Puck, go around town and uncurse everyone you can find, okay?" Emilia requested, her father figure floating on her shoulder.

"You got it, Lia," he accepted and went around trying to find cursed-compromised villagers.

That left Emilia, Subaru, Rem, Ram, and Beatrice by themselves, with the lone man eyeing the morningstar hesitantantly. "Isn't that a little—"

"It's for defence," Rem interrupted. "Nee-sama, go find the broken warding stones. The rest of us will find the kids and save them," she explained her plan, all of them enacting it by going their respective ways.

Once they made it to the clearing and looked around, they found several small footsteps leading into the forest. They followed it for a while until they found another clearing, this time filled with resting children laying against fallen tree logs and such while the "dog" was playfully going around to all of them.

"It's Subaru-chan!" Petra pointed to him, getting up from her sitting position to run over to him. She had childish glee written all over her face, though her eyes were crinkled a bit in slight pain.

"Petra-chan! Good to see you, but can you get your friends away from the dog?" Subaru asked nicely, patting her head fondly.

"Huh? Why? We were just about to name her!" the girl divulged.

"We're wasting time, I suppose," Beatrice sighed as she held up her hand, pointing her right palm to the "dog" that was sitting cutely, her tongue lolling out. "Minya." A stake made of crystallized mana covered with light purple flames materialized from the air and then raced towards the hidden mabeast. It struck true, going through its small skull and getting stuck through it, the points of the stake exposed to the air while the middle was lodged inside the ruined brain of the mabeast.

Everyone was silent for a moment before the kids began to freak out, crying that their friend was dead, as it was bleeding profusely.

"Kids, please calm down!" Emilia begged them, "That 'dog' was secretly a mabeast in disguise, called a wolgarm," she explained. "It will curse you if you're bitten, which will kill you eventually if we hadn't killed it first," she explained with her bell-like voice.

"Yeah, what she said!" Subaru agreed, nodding fervently. "We didn't want to kill your pet, but it was the only way to keep you safe."

Some of the more level-headed kids, such as Lucas, sobered up and wiped their tears away, saying, "Okay, I trust you Subaru. If you say that dog—I mean, that wolgarm was no good then I believe you. And we were bitten by it."

"I-I believe in Subaru too!" Petra agreed hastily, causing a domino effect of all the kids agreeing with Subaru, and by relation, Emilia. By the end of the kids saying they trusted him, Emilia had a smile on her face.

"Let's get the kids back home," Rem suggested as they formed a protective circle around the kids. Emilia was in front, Rem was on the left, Beatrice on the right, and Subaru was guarding their six. As soon as they re-entered the village the kids dispersed and ran back to their houses, leaving the group.

Ram and Puck rejoined them after a while, the latter saying, "Lia, I uncursed several of the adults."

"Good job, Puck!" Subaru shot the great spirit a thumbs-up. "We're doing a good job so far!"

"Don't celebrate too quickly, Barusu. I went around and found four warding stones broken, purposely," Ram informed them, a distasteful look on her face.

"Isn't that dangerous? It's like someone's asking for trouble!" Emilia replied worriedly. "Where's Roswaal-san? He should be helping us."

"I can sense that he's in the forest, fighting something," Puck answered.

"Or someone," Beatrice added, twirling one of her twin drills in boredom. "Someone clearly is trying to undermine the clown's protection over his lordship, trying to hurt the villagers in the process, I suppose."

"Excuse me, Subaru!" a new voice entered the fray, a middle-aged man approaching them with a sheathed sword. "I heard what you and your friends have done and I thank you. Please, take this! It's the finest sword in the village," the man requested as he handed the sword over to the dark-haired teen.

"Oh, um, no problem! Thank you so much!" Subaru said back as he readily took the sword, watching the retreating back of the middle-aged man. Subaru unsheathed the blade and saw the light reflecting off the metal, making him smile. "Aw, yeah! A new weapon unlock!"

"Barusu, do you even know how to use it?" Ram asked snidely.

"Kind of? I swung around a wooden sword a bunch for funsies, so this shouldn't be different, just heavier."

"I wonder if there is an infestation of wolgarms in the forest…" Emilia pondered aloud.

"We are right next to a known demon beast habit," Beatrice pointed out, getting everyone's attention, most of them shocked besides Ram and Puck. "What? You didn't know, I suppose?"

"No, I didn't, at least! Why would Ros-chi put a village next to a nest of wolgarms?! That's, like, criminal negligence where I'm from!" Subaru argued, befuddlement evident on his face.

"I always thought it was weird that Roswaal would do that," Puck added his thoughts to the group, "I noticed it when Lia and I went into the village for the first time, but I never got around to asking him."

"Beako, you're knowledgeable about a lot of stuff, right? Anything we need to know about wolgarms?" Subaru asked seriously.

"Betty does not like that name, but to answer your question there's a lot to know about wolgarms. They hunt in packs and can be as big as two stories tall, though that's only if they're a shaman, I suppose."

"Shaman? What's that?"

"You don't know a lot about this world and yet you fumble around all desperate like," Beatrice critiqued. "They're magical entities who are either good or evil and use magic to change/hurt the world around them. That 'puppy' I killed earlier was a shaman, I suppose, though its small stature didn't give it away," she explained like a teacher. "Regardless, since the warding stones are now functioning once more and the clown is probably exterminating the wolgarms left and right, it's safe to say the villagers are going to be okay, I suppose."

"We should help Roswaal-san with exterminating the wolgarms. He's powerful but he's bound to miss a couple," Emilia argued.

"Emilia-tan is right, we should go out and get rid of them once and for all!" Subaru agreed, smiling cheekily at his crush.

"It'll be hard for me to locate them," Rem told them. "Especially considering the circumstances."

"What do you mean, Rem-rin?"

"I have a…sensitive nose and I could usually track the wolgarms with it, but Subaru-san smells faintly like them."

"What?" he deadpanned. "How the hell can I smell like a wolgarm?"

"You do smell faintly of the witch, much like those beasts, I suppose."

"The witch? What witch?" Subaru asked confused.

Most of them, namely Emilia, became uncomfortable to explain. "Barusu, I'll go over the basics of Lugnica when we have your study session tonight, if only so that you don't act like a buffoon. How you don't know already baffles the mind, stupid Barusu."

The group was working together like a well-oiled machine against all the enemies surrounding them. Ram was using her Wind magic (Fura, specifically) to slice the wolgarms apart using a wand, Rem was using her morningstar to obliterate their skulls with deadly proficiency, Emilia, Puck, and Beatrice were using El Huma and Minya respectively to pierce through the hide of the beasts, and Subaru was cutting them with his new sword, which he wasn't half-bad at due to practicing like a weeaboo.

There were countless dead mabeasts surrounding them by the time they were done. They were all panting for breath as they finally got a break, Subaru resting his hands on his knees while Emilia laid ungracefully on the ground.

"Good job, team! Rem-rin, I have to say you were fanatical like a demon!" he praised, her shooting a curious look at him.

"Pardon?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"It's the demonic form of divine possession. I think it's pretty cool," Subaru stated without knowing the significance of the moment.

"How do you feel about demons, Subaru-san?" Rem pressed, a hidden ghost of a smile on her face.

"Demons? Well, when you talk to them about your next year plans they'll laugh with you, so I think they're way cooler than angels or whatever. Demons are A-Okay to me."

Rem smiled whole-heartedly, now knowing that he even though he smiled faintly of the witch there was no way he could be a witch cultist. Ram also smiled a little bit, sensing that her sister would become more comfortable around the boy.

"Those were a lot of wolves—sorry, wolgarms. Do you think we got a lot of them?"

"We definitely did, Subaru. Between us and Roswaal the forest should be clear of them for the next six months or so," Puck answered before doing a fist bump with Subaru, the both of them doing mock explosions with their mouths before they giggled.

Their work was done, and it was time to head home.

"…and that's why the witch is a taboo," Ram finished regaling the tale that all children knew, yet Barusu somehow didn't. The two of them were in the young man's room and were illuminated by candlelight, the moon bright and full streaming through the windows. Ram was wearing a onesie while Subaru was wearing his one and only tracksuit as he was currently writing down I-glyphs, having a somewhat easy time understanding the rules of the written language, as it was separated into three types of glyphs, kind of like Japanese.

"Ram-senpai," he began as he stopped his writing, "are demon beasts related to Satella the Witch?"

"Yes, Barusu. She created them, along with the Three Calamities," she answered through a yawn. "They, and you for some reason, emit the smell of the witch. Witch cultists also smell like the witch, but don't stop writing, you have much to learn," she commanded, watching him go back to diligently write.

"Yeah yeah," he said dismissively as he heard her sit down on his bed. "I know it may not seem like it but I really appreciate you doing this, Ram-senpai. There's so much I don't know about the world, and learning how to read is a pretty big thing to know. I'll try harder to be a better butler and help you guys out more, but—"

He heard her snores from his bed, making him sigh in annoyance. Subaru figured he was done copying down the I-glyphs as he seeked out Emilia, wanting to say goodnight to both her and Beatrice. He first seeked out Emilia, as she'd be the hardest to find. Ironic, considering the nature of Door Crossing. He first looked outside and then her room, getting lucky when he found her in the latter with a open door, reading a book he didn't know the title of.

"Subaru? It's late. Are you here to say goodnight?" Emilia asked sweetly.

"Yep, Emilia-tan! I also wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?" she inquired as she closed her book and set it aside.

Subaru cleared his throat, his palms getting sweaty as he asked while snapping then making a finger gun at her, "Can we go on a date tomorrow?"

"'Date?'" she tested the foreign word on her tongue awkwardly.

He gathered his courage as he explained, "When a man and a woman go on an excursion alone and spend quality time with each other, that's a date!"

"Oh, so you went on a date with Ram-san when you two went to the village?" she asked innocently, cocking her head.

Subaru blushed at the notion as he made rapid hand movements to deny it, "No no no! That doesn't count! Please don't count it!"

"Okay? Why do you want to go on a 'date' with me?"

"Because I like you," his mind foolishly first thought before he actually said, "I want us to grow closer, get to know each other better. That sort of thing."

"Where would we be going on this 'date?'" she tentatively questioned.

"We'll go to the village and play around with the kids, get some supplies from the villagers and have a picnic on a grassy hill," he explained with a light red dusting on his cheeks, rubbing the back of his head in nervousness. "What do you think?"

"I don't know if the kids will still like me…" Emilia shared her thoughts. "They didn't take too kindly to me last time."

Subaru, deciding to be an empath, said, "Emilia-tan, don't take it personally. The kids are scared of the witch stories, and you apparently happen to look like her. If you didn't look like her…wait, that's it!" he snapped his fingers, a smile on his face at the thought. "What if we were fused into Virgo and had our date that way?"

"Eh? Um, maybe? Our fusion doesn't look like me completely, so that would work, but are we capable of keeping up the fusion for that long? We've never gone more than an hour or two conscious doing it."

"I'm sure we can, Emilia-tan! We just have to try it out. So is that a yes?" He looked enthusiastic, putting on his best puppy dog eyes.

Emilia sighed with a smile as she said, "Okay, we can do it."

"Woohoo!" he slightly shouted, celebrating. "It's a date then!"

"Goodnight, Beako!" he farewelled as he went back to his room. He forgot that Ram was still sleeping in his bed and, while flowing his mana throughout his body, picked her up and carried her back to her room easily enough due to his increased strength. After depositing her on her bed and going back to his room, he laid down comfortably on his bed as he passed into dreamland after readying for his date tomorrow by configuring his flip phone to wake him up early tomorrow.

It was an important day tomorrow, of course.