A/N: Going forward, I'm not sure if I can pump out a chapter every couple of days like I have been, because Arc 1 is pretty easy to work out, but everything BEYOND Arc 1 is very up for interpretation in many ways, so it'll take longer to create new content that I'm proud of– That being said, I will also be making extra chapters as well which might help pad out the time when I'm sorta stuck.

Also stay tuned after for a quick Q&A at the end where I'll answer some questions or concerns people/explain some things! I'll probably do those occasionally if questions arise that won't be directly answered by the story anytime soon.

Chapter Five

Unspoken Words

A carriage had been prepared for the group's exit from the Capital City, drawn by two of the horse-sized lizard-like creatures, which Subaru finally learned were called 'Earth Dragons'. They seemed to deny his attempts to pet them, which was disappointing, but they also seemed particularly wary of Meili for some reason.

"Requesting ligers to ride would have been much quicker, but not for transporting company, unfortunately," Julius had commented as he checked the contents of the bag compartment on the side of the carriage.

Subaru noticed that Joshua looked quite nervous at the mention of beasts faster than Earth Dragons. He wondered if ligers were something fierce, imagining huge sabretooth tigers of sorts, even though the name would imply something more akin to a tiger mixed with a lion. Imagining the frail guy flailing around on a large cat did make for a nice image in Subaru's mind at least.

As they had been told, Subaru and Meili had their wrists bound. It wasn't too tight, but it was enough to be uncomfortable, especially with his left arm still healing. While his bone had been repaired, it felt like his muscles still hadn't recovered.

Julius assisted them in getting into the back of the carriage. It wasn't too fancy, perhaps to be inconspicuous, but the elegant white-and-gold tapestry that covered the back made certain that it would only be mistaken for a covered wagon from far away.

"My brother and an appointed carriage driver will take turns at the front," he explained to them. "Normally it is inadvisable to go out at this late hour, but with my spirits guidance, we should be fine."

"Hey hey, you make it sound like there's bandits or monsters out there," Subaru commented.

Julius smiled. "Of course there are. This is but a fact of this world, I am afraid."

Subaru sat back and sighed. He had no doubt in Julius' ability to protect them at this point, so it could truly be a boring ride to wherever they were going.

As they were left to themselves for a moment, Subaru nudged Meili who was looking at the floor of the carriage.

"So, you know where we're going, right?"

The girl nodded. "I assume it'll be Picoutatte."

"Ah, I see," Subaru said, acting as if he knew where that could possibly be. "How long til we get there?"

"Hmm…" Meili lifted her bound hands to her face, putting a finger to her chin. "If we take the main roads then maybe… Three days?"

"Three days? I can hardly sit in a car for a couplea' hours," Subaru grumbled.

"Hmph, how do you think I feel?" The girl shivered as if recalling a difficult memory. "It took me five days to get to the Capital… No time to bathe or eat, it was awful and boring."

Subaru sniffed himself. "And here I thought it was me— Ow!" He scooted away as the girl kicked his shin. "I'm kidding!"

The boy would probably not be smelling the greatest if it wasn't for the fact that he had been given a clean shirt to wear, and his tracksuit had been washed of its blood stains. How exactly was a mystery, but he could only assume water magic did the trick somehow.

At least I've got my identity still, he thought, fluffing the collar of his favorite orange-and-black tracksuit. Since there wasn't really anything like it in this world, it was nice to be able to stick out and be intriguing to anyone who saw him.

…Though his first day in the Capital had mostly been the denizens of the city being angry at him.

"So this.. Pico.. Pico.."

"Picoutatte."

"Right," Subaru said with a thankful nod. "Where is it compared to here?"

Meili raised an eyebrow to him. "You have no idea about anything, huh? And it doesn't seem like you can read or write– How can you even talk?"

Subaru shrugged. "Let's just say school and I don't really get along much."

"Well… Picoutatte is one of the five Capital Cities of Lugunica, to the southeast of here," the girl said, smiling proudly, likely at being able to share her knowledge with someone older than herself. "It's known for being a major trading city— But it's.. really boring."

"That last part sounded pretty subjective, but.. A trading city huh?" Subaru could imagine a lot of interesting characters being there. From what he'd seen in the Capital, there was mostly Humans and what he could only label as 'Demi-Humans' from his knowledge of fantasy stuff. (Little did he know— He was totally correct to use that term.) But it made him wonder what kind of things he might see there, even if his time there is spent as basically a prisoner.

The covered carriage rocked a bit, and he could see two figures sliding in at the front. The flaps at the back opened as Julius climbed inside, taking a seat near the front.

"We will be travelling almost nonstop," he informed the two of them. "We must not keep them waiting for us for any longer than we have."

"So, who exactly are we going to see?" Subaru prodded for information, and was surprised when Julius finally gave it.

"Anastasia Hoshin, head of the Hoshin Trading Company."

"Wow, now you're an open book huh?"

"Apologies, you never know what eyes or ears lie in wait," Julius stated, bowing his head slightly. "It was for Milady's safety."

"Milady…?" Subaru's eyes widened, wondering now if they were going to see Julius' wife or something. As a knight who seemed pretty powerful… It would certainly make sense, even if his proper air was a bit irritating at times.

Julius raised a finger as he explained, smiling as he seemed proud of what he was going to say. "Not long ago, Lady Anastasia was shown to be eligible to enter the Royal Selection," the knight explained. "To become ruler of Lugunica—"

"—and I, Julius of House Juukulius, have become her knight."

The first night of their journey brought about renewed exhaustion in Subaru, but every time he tried to nod off, a bump on the road would spark pain in him and jolt him awake.

It seemed like a few hours had passed when he gave up, slumping down in the seat and looking to Meili, who was laying on the opposite side atop the long seats of the carriage, seemingly sleeping just fine.

Must be nice…

Then he glanced towards Julius. The knight had a soft glow about him that illuminated the dark interior slightly. This, he had explained, was due to him controlling his spirits constantly to help guide and protect them.

"Unable to sleep, Subaru?"

The boy groaned. "Yeah, this ain't exactly first class… Why couldn't that damned cat healer or whatever just patch me up!"

Julius smirked. "Felis is a good knight, but he gets quite upset when his patients rush back out into danger."

"I get it, but how am I supposed to rest?! You got any boring stuff to talk about to get me to sleep?"

"Do you require a bedtime story? I might have expected it from Ms. Portrouche—"

Subaru shot him a glare, and Julius chuckled softly. "I just wanna know more about what we're getting into here… It's fine to talk while you're doing your thing right?"

Julius nodded. "I can concentrate and speak," he confirmed.

"Great, then for starters… What's the Royal Selection all about?"

For the next few hours, Subaru learned much about the new world he found himself in, but it all seemed to provide more questions in the end. It was fascinating though, leaving Subaru as excited about his potential future as he was the first moment he had arrived.

Julius explained to Subaru how the royal Lugunica family had all perished, and the Sage Council who were left to run the Kingdom turned to an ancient tablet. Upon that tablet, they learned that five priestesses would be found amongst the people using special Dragon Insignias.

"Insignias, huh…" Subaru had trailed off, a dark thought crossing his mind.

That half-elf had one of those… Does that mean…?

He learned a little bit about the great dragon Volcanica, the Great Sage Flugel, and a witch named Satella who had come into conflict four-hundred years ago, as Julius told him of Lugunica's founding and how the prophecy is important. The past of this world sounded too grand and epic to be true, but the way Julius described it, there seemed to be no doubt.

Soon enough during their talks, Subaru had noticed Joshua shift the reins of the Earth Dragons to the other man sitting up front. The sky above also seemed to be growing lighter and lighter through the opening in the front.

"Ah, morning is nearly here," Julius stated. His eyes showed hints of tiredness, but he didn't falter in his duty, which came to no surprise to Subaru.

From what he had garnered from Meili, they were heading on an eastern road, then they would come to a road winding south that goes straight towards Picoutatte.

Watching the sunrise in another world would be pretty awesome, Subaru thought, beginning to stand.

"Subaru."

Julius' sudden word made him pause, looking towards the knight, who seemed to be gazing at the floor of the carriage.

"You seem to not know many common facts of this country— Nay, this world's history," Julius continued. "May I ask why that is?"

Subaru gulped. He hadn't really thought of an adequate excuse for this, due to everything that had happened yesterday. If he told everyone he came from another world with technology well beyond what this one seemed to have, would he be deemed insane?

I'd better play it safe, he decided. Remembering Julius' words that Lugunica was the farthest country to the East, he formulated a half-truth to tell him.

"I'm from far away," he answered. "So far that I'm kinda out of touch with this sort of stuff."

Julius didn't seem satisfied with that answer, staying quiet. Subaru wished he could say what he wanted, but it seemed too difficult. But maybe there was another thing he could tell him? Something that not even Subaru truly understood…

"But, recently I… I started to get this weird feeling," he began.

His thoughts raced, wondering if this was a mistake. It was a trump card, after all, being able to use his Return by Death ability. Did he trust Julius enough? What about his brother, and the other driver, who might be listening in?

After a moment of deliberation, Subaru took a deep breath and it spilled out of him in a jumbled mess.

"I… When I—When I die, I return to life and… I… start… ag…ai…n ….."

All sound in the area ceased, as did the sense of the carriage's movement. Subaru's mouth remained open in mid-speech, and Julius seemed to be frozen in place, no part of him moving.

A cold feeling began to fill the air around Subaru. His thoughts had ceased, only the awareness of what was happening being processed in his mind.

Whispers echoed through the deathly chill, inaudible and unable to be understood, yet each word spoken seemed to make the boy's mind tremble more and more.

He felt something slithering within himself, writhing and grasping at his heart. The terror that filled him had nowhere to go in this frozen time, so it merely compounded over and over, a sound like white noise seemingly trickling into his brain, growing louder and louder, dread wriggling its way into his very soul, going deeper and deeper and then—-

It stopped. Time resumed, the noise of the world returning, and Subaru began to gasp heavily, bringing his bound hands up to clutch at his chest.

"Subaru..?"

Julius looked at the boy with wide eyes. Subaru looked all around, trembling as the memory of those feelings remained burned into his mind.

"Wha.. what just…"

"You said you had a weird feeling, and now you seem to be having an attack of sorts. Do you need assistance?"

Subaru shook his head, trying to rid himself of the lingering fear.

"I'll just.. get some air." Subaru moved to the back flap, opening it and pushing his head out, taking rapid breaths— Then, as he glanced down at the path rushing by beneath them, he realized something. "Er… How are we going this fast?"

BADUMP! They hit a hard bump, and Subaru suddenly found himself falling out of the back of the carriage.

Luckily, Julius had reacted in time, rushing forward and holding Subaru by the back of his tracksuit. The boy gasped and flailed his bound arms, noticing how the wind seemed to part around them as they moved.

Pulling hard on Subaru, Julius managed to bring him back inside. He fell hard onto his ass, groaning and looking up at Julius incredulously.

"Apologies. Most Earth Dragons are known to have the Divine Blessing of Wind Evasion," Julius said, as if that explained it away. "We are travelling much faster than it may appear from within."

"Divine… what?" Subaru slowly got up, wishing he could rub his rear after the fall, but his hands were tied in front of himself. Thanks to this mishap, his earlier fears had mostly subsided, so he filed those concerns to the back of his mind for now.

"You truly are lost, Subaru," Julius said with a sigh.

Meili sat up, groggily groaning and rubbing at her eyes. She then blinked tiredly at Subaru and narrowed her eyes.

"Why are you so noisy…?"

The next day of travel went mostly uninterrupted. They had brief stops for everyone to do their business, stretch their legs, as well as prepared quick rations that had been brought along from the Capital.

By the time night came again, they had settled in for another quiet ride, with Julius protecting the carriage. Subaru was feeling much better now than he had thus far, having a semi-normal experience, like he was just hanging around… Friends.

Friends… Even with his hands bound, it was a nice sentiment, though he wasn't sure that they could be considered more than 'companions' yet, or at least they likely thought of him as such at best. Still, he wasn't alone in this world, and that was as good a start as he could ask for, even if he didn't have any kind of crazy powerful magic spells to cast. Then again… Did he have that capability?

When it seemed like a good time, Subaru asked Julius. The knight offered to cease his defenses for a moment, touching the center of Subaru's chest and closing his eyes. Subaru felt growing discomfort at the touch, before the knight opened his eyes again and shook his head, making Subaru's spirits drop.

"Your gate is quite weak," he stated.

"Great, thanks," Subaru muttered. "So you're saying I'm a weakling forever?"

"Not quite, it is merely as though you have never utilized it til now," Julius said. "Most who have any talent for channeling mana through their gate would have likely practiced as a child."

Subaru didn't know what to say about that, so he joked it away. "Ah, well, I was preoccupied with games and other things, ya know."

"Well, every person is entitled to the path they seek," Julius said with a small smile. Subaru narrowed his eyes at the violet haired man, feeling like that was a subtle jab at him. "You seem quite affiliated with the Yin element, were you aware?"

"Yin? Like…shadows?" Subaru perked up, feeling excited. "That sounds pretty strong! I probably can't make the oceans part or incinerate mountains, but… Wait, what exactly can I do?"

"It is quite rare," Julius stated. Lifting his other hand, the small black spirit that Subaru had seen before appeared. "It is often utilized in weakening and subduing opponents."

It's just… Debuffs?!

"I have a spirit contracted with this element, though she is quite fickle," Julius continued, unaware of Subaru's internal deflation.

"She?"

Ignoring that questioning word, Julius removed his hand from Subaru's middle and sat back, gazing down at the spirit in his palm. Subaru rubbed at the center of his chest, taking a second to try and feel out his gate, wondering if there was some way to tell it was really there.

So I really can learn magic… I gotta figure this out more whenever I can! As the only person who Subaru knew with Yin magic, asking Julius might be the play eventually, but he secretly hoped that some other potential teacher would come along at some point. After all, it would be terrible to become indebted to one person too much.

Grinning, Subaru began to think about all of the possibilities, when the carriage suddenly came to a fast stop, nearly sending its occupants into the roof of the vehicle. Meili let out a high-pitched squeal as she fumbled over, looking around in sleepy confusion.

Julius arose quickly, leaning in towards the front. "Joshua?"

"B-Brother… We have an issue here," the boy's voice said, sounding shaken up.

The knight quickly exited the back, turning to Subaru as he saw the boy trying to follow. "Stay here, and be safe."

"But–" Subaru watched as Julius left without saying much more. He scowled and turned to Meili, who was patting at her hair to fix her bedhead. "I'm just gonna sneak a little peek, then I'll be back, alright?"

"What are you–"

Before Meili could say anything more, Subaru hopped out and began to sneak around to the front of the carriage. The others seemed to not be present there, and the Earth Dragons seemed distraught, growling at something ahead.

"Hey now, easy–" He tried to pat their sides with his bound hands, but they knocked him away. He stumbled back, then quickly ducked down as he saw movement ahead of the carriage. "Almost blew it… Huh?"

Julius, Joshua, and their hired driver stood, staring at a thick wall of fog that seemed to obscure the world ahead of them.

Just some thick fog? I get it's dangerous, but surely–

A rancid smell hit Subaru's nostrils. He had to cover his mouth and nose with his hands to stop himself from retching at it. The others seemed to be doing the same already, and Subaru could only compare the scent to something akin to rotting fish.

"S-Subaru."

He turned to see Meili approaching, her face even more pale than normal in the moonlight above.

"Meili? What's wrong?"

The young girl shook her head. "We.. w-we shouldn't be here, it's… It's not s-safe."

Before Subaru could ask what she meant, a loud, high-pitched howl reverberated across the darkness, one so powerful that the entire ground seemed to rumble in its wake. His hands still bound, Subaru could only wince at the pain, as it felt like his bones were rattling intensely from the shock of the coo of something that Subaru could only assume was very large.

That's when Meili screamed. He turned to her, seeing that she was looking up ahead of the carriage. Subaru did the same, his eyes widening.

Large didn't really do it justice. What he saw was incredibly massive, despite being far away. It seemed to be swimming through the night sky high above the ground, just barely visible over the heavy wall of fog ahead of them.

A pale, whale-like beast.

What… is that? He could feel his legs trembling at the mere sight of something so huge. It might have made for a beautiful sight in the glittering moonlight, were the circumstances different, but that was only because Subaru had no idea of the beast's true danger.

Hearing whimpers, Subaru barely managed to break his eyes away from the creature, and ran to Meili's side. The girl was crying and had slumped against the carriage. Unsure of what was happening, he touched her shoulder, only for the girl to suddenly push her face into his chest, sobbing and shaking.

Subaru did all he could in the wake of such terror– He was there. He put his arms up and over the girl to hold her, not daring to look towards the fog again, closing his eyes as she writhed and made uncomfortable noises of fear.

Is that a demon beast…? He himself felt a bit shaken up, but there was no way he'd show that if he could help it. Her connection to them must be pretty strong, and that thing…

I don't know how someone could survive against something like that!

It took the entire night for the fog to dissipate. Even then, the air about the entire carriage ride had shifted drastically after that. Meili hadn't said a word since then, keeping to herself in the corner of the vehicle, and Julius seemed much more on alert even in the daytime. Subaru got what little sleep he could after staying up all night worriedly, after insisting Julius should do the same.

By the time Subaru awoke, the carriage had come to a stop. He looked over to Meili, who had passed out at some point as well, and decided to not disturb her, slipping out of the back.

Soon, he returned with her portion of food. When she woke to its aroma and began to eat, he tried to act nonchalant, though the tension was quite awkward.

"Sorry," Meili said simply as she finished the bowl of food and set it aside. Her pale face blushed slightly as she looked away.

"You don't gotta' be sorry," Subaru insisted, "It's good that you're alright. I won't ask too many questions… Yet, at least," he joked.

She didn't yield at his joking, confirming that it was as bad as it had seemed. Subaru decided right then and there that he'd cheer this girl up before they arrived at Picoutatte, no matter what it took!

Thus began Subaru's self-titled, 'Two Days in Dad Joke Hell'!

By the time the city became visible across the plains at the end of those two days, Meili was looking much more cheerful and hopped up to see it from the front of the carriage. Subaru had sacrificed a lot of his dignity during the process, but it had been a worthwhile struggle. Julius as well seemed to be in higher spirits from it all, which was a bit worse since Subaru might have to ask him for magic training eventually.

Will he ever let this down?...

The City of Picoutatte held architecture that resembled an Arabian style, the buildings mostly white structures with red rooftops as well as rounded buildings with blue domes, with many curved archways leading into various sections of teh city. Tropical-looking trees littered even the outskirts of the town, giving it the appearance of a thriving oasis in the midst of what was not really a desert around it.

It was an awesome sight to Subaru, as if he was travelling to an entire other part of the world,his existence in this new world thus far, and even in Japan, feeling so small already.

As they grew closer to its entrance, the carriage began to slow down, before coming to a complete stop just outside of the large, arched gates of sandstone color.

Julius opened the back, Subaru peering on after him, letting out an audible gasp at what he saw.

"Whoa–!"

Subaru pointed at the creature he saw. It was a large wolf-like beast of gray-and-white, and on its back was what appeared to be a small child with orange twin-tail braids and cat ears atop their head, their white tail with an orange tip swaying out from behind their coat that matched those colors perfectly.

"Double whoa!" Subaru's exclamation at the two strange sightings as he got closer made the catlike person look his way, pointing at him.

"Make that a triple whoa, mister stranger!" The girl exclaimed, her ears and tail twitching in a manner that Subaru had seen some house cats do when spoken to.

"Mimi," Julius stated, getting her attention once again, "This is quite important, due to our incredible lateness. Where is Lady Anastasia?"

"Mimi thinks that the boss is at the trading company again," the girl answered, her mannerism and way of speaking incredibly joyful, "She's been hard at work because of the stolen gems!"

"I see. Then I shall go there myself to ensure that her needs in the negotiations are met," Julius stated. "Brother–" He peered around the carriage, Joshua's head looking around and back at him. "Please take them to the Iron Fangs. You as well, Mimi, if you would."

Mimi threw a hand up in the air and gave a bright smile, exclaiming loudly, "'Kay!"

With that, Julius nodded to Subaru and Meili before heading off, not saying anything to them. Whatever these 'negotiations' were, they seemed to be important enough for him to leave quickly. As Subaru returned his gaze to Mimi, he jumped a bit when he saw that she was staring into the carriage intently.

"Hey hey, is my sissy in there?"

"...Uh."

Subaru looked over to Meili, who was looking away as if not hearing anything about her crimes nor Mimi's words. He had to imagine Meili with cat ears of sorts, and even then there wasn't a resemblance, so there must not be any sort of kinship there. The catlike girl flailed her arms in the air as nobody said anything, and her ears flattened as she made an adorable noise of distaste.

"Hey hey don't ignore Mimi! Mimi will come in there and–"

Joshua sighed heavily at the front, before calling back, "We must go. Mimi… Is your family still at the barracks?"

"Yep! Mimi will be the escort!" As if completely moving on to the next thing, the chipper girl rode off on her beastly mount towards the front of the carriage, and the party continued on into Picotatte.

It was here in this city of bustling trade and dark memories for the Kingdom of Lugunica, that Subaru learned the harsh reality of this new world that reflected his old one:

Money truly was everything.

To Be Continued.

Next Chapter: Family Blood

Author Q&A #1:

Question: "Will the rest of the cast have a presence in this story?"

Answer: "Of course! Rem, Ram, Roswaal, Beatrice, Otto, Patrasche, Garfiel, Frederica, Reinhard, Petra, the Crusch camp, the Priscilla camp, the Arch Bishops– They may come at earlier or later points in time than usual, but they are planned to be major parts of the story, either in similar ways to canon or completely new ways based on the context of this story. (Hint Hint: The Third Arc of this story will, in fact, include many of those first characters I listed, and may feel a little familiar!")

Question: "What's the nickname for this version of Subaru?"

Answer: "I definitely hadn't thought of that, but it's pretty cool that someone would try and figure that out! The meaning behind the story's title hasn't really been invoked or revealed yet in the story (I've got no idea when it will be) so I might have to hold off on this for now. For now, with Meili being the crux of the whole thing, Dadbaru seems pretty fitting."

Question: "What's up with Ram and Roswaal?"

Answer: "For anyone familiar with Arc 4/Season 2, you know that Roswaal's Tome of Wisdom has been guiding his actions for a long time, and has made him create the building blocks for certain scenarios that Subaru had encountered up until the end of that arc. Here, without Subaru in his unsuspecting favor, who knows what those tomes have told him to do. After all, this boy who appeared in Lugunica might still be the key to what he needs…"

That's all for now! Short, sweet, and simple, until more questions arise! Thanks for reading, and make sure you drop reviews to know how it's going thus far!