The Vollachian Chronicles.
It has been two months since the child of war claimed the throne, and for the last two weeks Vollachian Chronicles has been handing out information about the country's status.
Today's news is the latest victory against the numerous rebellious tribes, achieved by none other than the blue lighting, Cecilus Segmunt, by single handedly defeating more than 500 enemies all by himself, at this very moment the troops under Cecilus Segmunt are bringing the rebels to his majesty.
The battle ended no longer than thirty minutes after it had started, with the blue lighting swiftly defeating all of the rebels, their fate shall be decided later on by either the emperor or one of his subordinates.
Other events of lesser Importance is the gathering of elves and half elves ordered by the emperor, the reason for this choice hasn't been spread yet, rumor has it that the emperor has plans not only for the elves, but for the wolfman and the mole people too, many would disagree with his choice, but he also has his own desires and ideas.
"This is the first page of the newspaper, boss, the idea of spreading news like this is surely helpful, the people will surely know of you even in other cities that dot throughout the empire ." Idra spoke with a smile, as Subaru flipped to another page, the press was created without posing much of an issue and the first journal was established in the capital.
"The magic school is doing good, the engineering team is inventing stuff at an incredible rate, Cecilus hasn't blown up the capital, alright, now, what about the issues?" The two were in the throne room, or rather, former throne room as now there was a grand table, of circular shape; a few other people were inside, just his usual group with Priscilla and Vincent too.
"Most of the nobles ran away with the gold, those who weren't close to any border shouldn't have escaped yet, but the few who were near it might have already reached other countries." Gustav spoke up with a few papers in hand, where a few names of nobles were listed .
Subaru remained in silence with his arms crossed while Priscilla fanned herself as she turned towards him.
"Brother you do know what they could do, right?" Priscilla asked while glaring at him, Subaru gave a long sigh as he leaned on the table,
"Best case scenario, mess up our relationships with other countries, worst cause war." At his words, Idra and Hiain jumped from their seats with surprised faces.
"War?! How can a few nobles lead to war?" Asked Idra while punching the table, Priscilla sighed as Vincent spoke up.
"Depending on their words and the influence their families have in said countries they can make it seem like we're preparing for war, Subaru's army is a threat, and he has Halibel and Cecilus at his side." Vincent explained while glaring at the two, Subaru remained silent for a while as Gustav spoke up.
"We could send Halibel to find them, transporting the goods back might be a problem." Gustav scratched his chin as the other thought about it, Subaru stood up and looked confused at them.
"Can't we just ask the other countries to search for them?" The group looked at him surprised, then a few giggled at his words.
"Yeah," said Vincent, "we will ask our greatest enemy for help, and they will surely welcome us with their arms open." With a sarcastic tone he crossed his arms, the group agreed with him.
"Your enemy, I don't have any problem with them, I don't know them, and it's worth a shot." Subaru answered with a neutral expression, the others were looking at him surprised.
"You are the leader, it is your choice to make, but it will take a great deal of persuasion to start without issues." Priscilla stood up from her seat and walked towards the exit.
As she was opening the door, a man with gray hair walked in, with a carefree attitude and a smile on his face.
"Ulbik, what are you doing here?" Vincent asked with poison in his voice as the man walked past Priscilla.
"A plague, the bringer of death," he said with an ominous voice, "shall strike the land of smiths and wipe out their city." Ulbik spoke, surprising everyone in the room, Vincent and Subaru were deep in thought, as Vincent stood up first.
"Evacuate the city of Glarasia and take them somewhere isolated!" Vincent shouted giving orders, but no one moved, as they waited for the emperor's order.
"If you want others to die, that is," Subaru said with absolute confidence "close the city, not a single one soul will enter nor leave the city gets in or out without my permission supervision!, The price for disobeying it is death" The others immediately wrote down the orders as Vincent and Priscilla looked at him surprised.
"Check the water and exterminate any animals such as rats or pigeons, burn the excrement and corpses, have everyone wash themselves and especially their hands after any kind of contact, and distribute masks that cover nose and mouth!" Subaru ordered everyone as the members of Pleiades were already moving.
"Why would exterminating rats help or washing hands or whatever you said?" Vincent asked in pure confusion and ignorance, Subaru laughed with a smile as he raised a finger.
"Where I come from, people already tested that these things work, so shut it, and let me work." Subaru took his tongue out towards Vincent as he walked out of the room, those inside soon followed, Subaru immediately ordered for a carriage and was preparing to depart immediately.
"Bring me all the healers from the magic school! They must be ready to depart immediately!" Subaru gave orders to his companions, in less than a day, the preparations were completed, and the emperor with a total of 500 people walked out of the capital.
Thanks to the road built by the Pleiades their journey was relatively quick, taking less than a week to arrive, and the power up granted by cor leonis.
Subaru immediately got down from his carriage, and once he entered the city, he was met with a terrible spectacle.
The streets were filled with sick people trying to go on with their day, some were feeling a fever, others instead were clearly in no condition to work, Subaru walked around the city, keeping a piece of cloth in front of his mouth, the more he entered inside, the worse it got, he found a few corpses here and there, filled with bubbles on their body.
The citizens recognised him, and they looked at him with pleading eyes, filled with sorrow for the loss of a dear one, or simply out of the pain they felt, he could spot some children mourning their parents too.
"All the sick ones have to get inside a house to rest, the healers have to check immediately what sickness it is, first to get healed are those who can be healed faster, then those in critical conditions!" Subaru gave his orders as his troops moved immediately, the healers were already checking the illness, the troops were checking how spread was the illness and separating the ill from those without any symptoms.
"The plague already started, yet Ulbik usually gives the commandment prior to the calamity." Vincent spoke as the two were checking the situation, he too had a piece of cloth over his mouth.
"He might have had knowledge of it beforehand, but he merely kept it a secret until it happened." Priscilla commented too as she walked around with a fan over her face.
The group checked the city and the three wondered about the possibilities as they asked why this hadn't been communicated sooner.
"We sent a messenger to the capital some time ago, when this plague had just begun, yet we had no reply." One of the administrators of the city replied, he was one of the few who wasn't sick, Subaru wondered about it.
"He might have died, either from sickness, or…" Vincent wondered while scratching his chin.
"Ulbik took care of him, he might have realized that if I got to know about it beforehand, I could have prevented it." Subaru bit his lower lip in anger.
The city went on like this, with healers trying to do everything they could, but they couldn't figure out how to heal the illness effectively, in the meantime Subaru managed to slow down the spread of the sickness by containing the ill people and making sure everyone washed their hands and did not have contact, last thing he did was burning all the corpses.
"Boss, this ain't your fault." Weilz put a hand on Subaru's shoulder, as the five of them watched the corpses burn, many people surrounded them, family members or dear friends, mourning their losses.
"You couldn't have prevented this." Hiain spoke up with a comforting tone, but he was immediately smacked by Weilz, Subaru looked down and answered.
"I should have, even if those damn stargazers had a hand in this." Subaru clenched his fists, his anger was clear, the group was right outside the city, it was in the middle of the night, the only light came from the fires of corpses, making the shadows of the presents dance in darkness.
"I'll just make it even harder for them to do this again, Gustav, how is the healing going?" Asked Subaru with determination in his eyes, the group smiled but they knew that Subaru would overwork himself again.
"The healers have only managed to soothe the pain of the ills, they have yet to understand how to cure it." Gustav spoke up as Subaru wondered what to do next.
"All our healers aren't that great with illnesses, is there a healer that could help us out?" Subaru spoke his thoughts as he wondered what to do next.
"The kingdom of Lugunica has some good healers, but I doubt they will even listen to us." Idra spoke up with a bitter smile.
"It always ends up with that kingdom, well then, prepare a few messengers announcing my arrival. I wish to meet the king and that sword saint guy I've heard about, they can decide where to meet." Subaru gave his order as he raised his hand, the members of Pleiades around him prepared to do as he said immediately, while other people were surprised.
"Your majesty, to ask Lugunica for help, isn't it too much?" One of the people around him asked with a concerned tone, Subaru turned around, seeing the people all around him, with eyes filled with resent
"Then die," he said, surprising everyone "I'm asking their help to save you all, they have better healers, that's all." His tone was cold, after speaking those words he walked away, the group quickly prepared a carriage, the messengers already departed, while Subaru with his group was getting ready.
Two weeks had passed since his orders were given, the city got in worse condition by the day, with more people dying, or getting sick, by this time the messengers reached the capital, where they were met by the king, the person sent was Gustav, together with Idra.
The two had been let inside the country, a few knights were supervising them as they quickly made their way to the capital, soon enough they managed to get an audience with the king.
They entered the room, various knights were inside, among them a man with green hair and steel plate armor, and a red haired boy, not much older than Subaru, with a sword on his back.
In front of them, a throne adorned with red, with various chairs next to it, and a dragon depicted behind them, sitting on those chairs were various old men, and on the throne, king Randohal was sitting on it, the two kneeled down.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, leader of Lugunica." Gustav spoke to the people inside, many of them were already looking with hatred at the vollachians, while others were quite curious.
"We have come to announce a request from our leader, Natsuki Subaru, he wishes to meet with all of you, including the sword saint." Idra spoke with a clear voice showing great respect with his gestures.
"What is the reason for this sudden request?" Miklotov asked while stroking his beard, Idra stood up and looked at the council.
"Many reasons, due to recent events he asks if the meeting can be done as soon as possible, for a matter that interests your country." Gustav spoke with a clear voice, yet a serious tone, the council was quite surprised by his words.
"How can we trust the bloodthirsty vollachian empire? How can we be sure that it isn't some wicked plan of the child of war? Known for bringing war wherever he goes." Bordeaux spoke with a concerned yet powerful tone, Idra giggled lightly, as they immediately apologized.
"Sorry for my reaction, but if you think that Subaru likes to go to war, you are absolutely mistaken, he made sure that the least amount of people died while conquering Vollachia, the last thing he wants is to go to war." Idra explained with sincerity in his voice, the council was surprised by his words, and they decided to give them a chance.
Randohal smiled at the two, and gave out his order, understanding what the council decided.
"You may communicate to the child of war that he shall be welcomed in Lugunica, Reinhard, you shall accompany him from the moment he enters the kingdom." The king walked away from the room, the two immediately moved to arrive in Vollachia, meanwhile Subaru was close to the border, ready to depart immediately.
"The city of Glarasia is stabilizing in terms of illness, but many people are starting to show their discontent with the current orders, those who aren't ill are losing time and money while staying at home." Hiain gave a report from Glarasia, the group was waiting with a few carriages ready near a small town close to Benedict domain, where the group was waiting for the messengers.
"Is Yorna going there?" Subaru asked the group as he looked to the North, waiting impatiently.
"She is on her way, and as you've asked Priscilla and Vincent are taking care of things in the capital." Weilz answered while standing next to Subaru, the group was ready to depart immediately.
"Bo~ss, a leading actor is not supposed to be standing still like this!" A childish voice rang out as a kid in a blue and pink kimono appeared in front of him, with an annoyed tone he showed his displeasure in a theatrical manner.
"I hate this too, we just have to wait for Gustav and Idra, and we'll immediately go." Subaru answered as he looked at Cecilus jumping around on one foot.
"Hey boss," Cecilus said "There's someone hiding there, shall I catch him?" He continued walking like before as he spoke to Subaru, who silently nodded.
In a flash, Cecilus seemed to disappear, as he stood in front of the person hiding, he immediately took the person and brought him in front of Subaru.
"Please don't kill me!" The person asked as he brought his hand over his face, terrified immensely,Subaru looked at him, he was a demi human with claws, and quite young too.
"He's one of the mole people, they have been discriminated against since their betrayal against the king of thorns." Hiain spoke up as he looked at the boy with pity in his eyes, Subaru crouched down and looked at him.
"Don't worry, none of us will hurt you, we were just on guard." Subaru answered with a smile, the boy slowly looked at him while calming down, he slowly got up.
"May I know you are you?" The boy asked still with his guard up, he looked at the group confused.
"I'm Natsuki Subaru, the leader of pleiades!" Subaru pointed a finger at the sky, speaking proudly while emanating confidence. The boy was completely surprised and almost panicked.
"You're the emperor, are you here to kill us?" He asked, Subaru laughed loudly and shaked his head.
"Noope, I was doing another thing, but in the meanwhile tell your leader that next time I come here, I wish to talk to him." Subaru answered in a childish voice at the boy, who nodded and walked away, the group remained still, waiting for Gustav and Idra.
A few days passed, and the two messengers came back, the group departed immediately on a carriage, with Cecilus fighting anything he came across, bandits, mabeasts, wild animals, making their journey far quicker.
The group made its way in the kingdom, where they were moving towards the city of Picoutatte, the closest city to the empire, where they planned to pass the night. Once the city got closer, they suddenly sensed something approaching at incredible speed, Cecilus drew his swords, and prepared.
The moment that something reached the ground, to everyone it seemed like red flames were in front of them, those red flames took shape, rather they were a kid not much older than Subaru, with a smile on his face, and a sword on his back.
Cecilus immediately ran towards the boy, slashing with his sword, the red haired boy unsheathed his sword, and met the hit, red and blue clashed, as the power behind the hits was such that wind pressure was formed, the two took a jump back, as Cecilus readied himself.
"Cecilus, stop!" A commanding voice sounded through the sky, but Cecilus did not hear it, or didn't mind it, as he prepared another attack, this time much more powerful.
The two fighters stood one towards the east, the other to the west, they moved forward, as the sun watched from above, while the ground trembled beneath their steps.
"Stop it!" A voice came between the two, as a wall of flames was erected, the two fighters looked at the south, where a being of flame and shadow looked at them with terrible eyes, as if piercing their soul.
"Are you two idiots done?! Making me use all my mana for a mere sparring." The flames vanished as the two withdrew their swords, Subaru stood between the two, who sheathed their blades.
Subaru then crouched down in exhaustion, as he used cor leonis to give his fatigue to his friends.
"Sorry boss, I was caught up in the moment, this leading actor can't stand down from such a worthy opponent!" Cecilus smiled as he put his hands behind his head, Subaru glared at him in anger.
Then he snatched away the two katanas at his hip, while Cecilus looked at Subaru with a heartbroken face.
"These are confiscated, no fighting until I tell you to, now, I assume you're the sword saint." Subaru turned Towards the red haired boy, who kneeled down in front of him.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, your highness, I am Reinhard Van Astrea." Reinhard spoke with a clear voice, he wore white clothes, making a contrast with Subaru, who was wearing black clothes with hints of orange and a black mantle.
"Why is he kneeling?" "I dunno, maybe he's tired." "Why are you kneeling?" Subaru asked while looking at Reinhard, who exchanged his gaze with a confused expression.
"I am showing respect to the emperor of another country." Reinhard answered as he stood up, Subaru scratched his cheek with a neutral expression.
"Well, you don't need to kneel to me, stand proud, Reinhard." Subaru spoke with a solemn tone, Reinhard nodded as the two gave each other a handshake.
"Perfect, your majesty" "call me Subaru." "Subaru, we may move to the city of Picoutatte, you have a room ready." The group immediately departed for the city, with Reinhard leading them, and before sunset, the group reached the city, where they passed the night.
"Alright, we have a free evening, I'm going to take a stroll around the city." Subaru spoke loud as he walked to the door, Weilz walked next to him, intending to follow.
"You can't go out without an escort, Subaru!" Reinhard called out as he walked next to him, Subaru sighed and turned around.
"And you should be in school, not escorting me." Subaru answered with a cheeky tone, which Reinhard didn't understand at first, before he could answer, Subaru got out of the room and was exploring the city.
"There's an awful lot of merchants here, maybe we could ask for some nice shops." Weilz asked as he looked at a smith, admiring the weapons, Subaru was instead admiring the city, looking at the people around him.
"I could buy something for everyone, I also need to properly thank Yorna and Priscilla, they helped me a lot." Subaru looked at a few stalls searching for a nice souvenir.
The two wandered around for a while, until at one point they asked for a nice shop, they were told about a certain family of merchants and they walked towards the shop.
"The place should be nearby." Weilz scratched his chin as he looked around, Subaru too checked around, until he noticed something strange.
He walked away to an alley, where a kid with platinum hair was crouching down and speaking with someone.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" "Ahhh! Wha-" The kid turned around scared as he noticed Subaru, who looked at a cat.
"I was, wait, who are you first?" The boy asked a bit flustered, Subaru laughed as he crouched next to him.
"What, you were talking with the cat or something? Anyway…" Subaru joked around as he petted the cat, the boy went pale as Subaru joked around, with an expression that said 'spot on'.
"Wait, you were actually talking to the cat?" Subaru asked with extreme curiosity, the boy gazed away as he felt Subaru's gaze on him.
"Yes, I can talk with animals." The boy dropped his shoulders as he spoke, Subaru looked at him with complete surprise and astonishment.
"That's so cool! Hey, what's your name, I'm Natsuki Subaru!" Subaru held his hand forward as Otto scratched his cheek while he looked at the hand.
"That name is awfully familiar, well, I'm Otto sewen, pleased to meet you!"