Saying today was exhausting would be a massive understatement for the silver-haired half-elf. From sunrise to sunset its been nothing but unfortunate event after unfortunate event.
So many things left unanswered. The perpetuator behind the bowel hunters motives. The fact that a royal candidate, one that bares the same physical characteristics of the late royal family no less, was somehow a thief fighting for her life everyday in the slums. These 2 things are massive conundrums on there own right but they were nothing compared to the elephant in the room.
She was on deaths door...not once but twice, and somehow this "ability" is connected to Subaru, a boy who's origins remain a complete mystery.
Questions upon questions, they all boggled her mind as she clutched the bandages on her arms. While the wounds she had have been neatly patched up and are only slightly sore now, many of them are gurenteed to leave scars on her pearly white skin. Normally one would feel dejected about gaining such marks, especially a women, but for Emilia they made her feel somewhat at ease.
They served as a permanent reminder of today's events and proof of her success throughout this endeavor. Her being the only one with any permanent wounds was considered a victory in her book.
As the Half-elf sat in the cushioned chair, she looked towards the still unconscious Subaru, wondering what the best course of action would be after he awakes.
"*sigh* I'm gonna sleep for 3 days straight once I get back to the manor"
"Well I do believe you've earned atleast that much, considering everything you've been through."
Reinhard was sitting across from her in a cushioned chair with Subaru in the middle, laying on a well furnished and comfortable bed. Reinhard had his right ankle on top of his left knee and was sipping tea as he conversed with the royal candidate.
"I-I suppose so... Reinhard-san, thank you truly."
The sudden gratitude was unexpected but welcomed nonetheless. The sword saint gave her a faint smile as he sipped his tea and relaxed further into his chair.
"Think nothing of it Emilia-sama. I just did what any other knight would do."
Upon hearing this the Half-elf gave a curious eyebrow raise.
"Last I checked knights don't offer a stay at there household on a whim or abduct children for that matter."
Reinhard choked on his tea ever so slightly and looked at her with a slight amount of panic.
"W-Well to be fair it would've been unethical and downright treason if I didn't offer you a place to rest and treat your wounds! Also i-it wasn't necessarily an abduction more of a-"
"They also don't go out of there way to serve drinks or offer to do there guests hair or give them clothes to change in. If I didnt know any better I'd say you were a master butler rather than the sword saint."
"I..."
Reinhard took a moment to calm himself. It's been a long time sense someone could get him riled up like this. It was entirely unpleasant.
The sword saint gave out a slight chuckle as he relaxed his shoulders and began to lean back into his chair once more.
"Well I tried to learn the bare minimum in etiquette to follow in the steps of my honorable grandfather but I must admit I'm still lacking in certain areas."
Emilia could only give out a barely contained chuckle in response.
"Reinhard-san I don't know if this is my place to say this but your a little too humble."
Reinhard gave out a dry chuckle of his own. He then proceeded to move his right leg back onto the floor and put the tea he was sipping back onto the tray to his left.
"So I've been told... Emilia-sama I apologize if this is a sensitive topic but what exactly is your relationship Subaru-san?"
Emilia's ears shifted ever so slightly. She paused for a moment to truly think about who she was to him and vice-versa. Technically speaking this was the longest they've ever known each other but at the same time Emilia had known Subaru quite a bit longer.
"Relationship? I don't know if you could even call it that but... he's someone I owe a great dept to. I don't think I would've had the courage to fight as hard as I could without him there."
Reinhard took a moment to digest what she said and gave a somber look.
"I see. I wish I could've arrived before a fight even broke out. Had Felt-sama not found me when she did then..."
"But she did find you. And you found us, thats all that matters."
Emilia said this with more conviction then she was aware of. You could count on 1 hand how many times she's been this unwavering in her resolve. It was more then enough for Reinhard to leave that train of thought, leaving a deafening silence until Emilia continued.
"*Ahem* Anyways I have to admit that I was suprised that you showed up when you did. It wasn't even 5 minutes between Felt running and you arriving to save us. You really do live up to your title."
It was obvious that she was only changing the topic to avoid the steady awkwardness but Reinhard chose to ignore it and play along.
"I-I suppose so...however I was only able to arrive as quick as I did because I had a waypoint. Without it the situation could've been much more dire."
Emilia's eyes gave a look a confusion until she remembered a certain detail from one of her past... lives.
"Ah that makes sense. You were following Subaru's scent then."
Reinhard showed even more confusion then Emilia did upon hearing that.
"I don't believe I follow? I was following the abundance of mana that you expelled during your fight with elsa. That was the sole reason I arrived as quickly as i did. "
Emilia's eyebrows were slightly furrowed as she tried to understand the meaning behind what he was saying.
"Wait you mean you didn't follow Subaru due to the..."
At this point Emilia was holding her forehead with her pointer finger and her thumb, trying to understand this major inconsistency.
Reinhard could sense the confusion plaguing her so he thought it right to try and understand what was so strange about what he said.
"I'm sorry Is something the matter miss?"
Before she answered she took a long breath. She didn't know why she felt so nervous talking about this. Was it the paranoa of that shadowy hand coming back or was it the fear that Reinhard might look at them differently if she addressed it. Whatever the case may be she needed to get to the bottom of this. Something wasn't adding up and it was about time she got actual answers.
"Reinhard... can you not sense the witches miasma on him?"
"!"
Reinhard stiffened once he heard that. Of all the things he expected to hear this was by far the least plausible conclusion he could've arrived at. He didn't let it show but his guard was officially up.
"I was not aware of it, no. Wait one moment"
Reinhard closed his eyes and stood perfectly still.
"Im sorry, wait for wha-"
"Now I see it. It's...incredibly potent aswell. Do you know what could've caused this?"
Emilia shifted in her chair ever so slightly.
"Not particularly, I've only met him today."
Reinhard slightly narrowed his eye.
'A half-truth. The wind blew when she said didn't have any ideas but it stopped when she said they only met today. A lie due to not wanting to express theories that could cause more confusion, or maybe it's something more personal? Wouldn't be a stretch considering her...image. Regardless she's been completely honest aside from that. No need to hammer down on that one topic, I'll address it further later.'
"I see..."
"So... just to be clear you can sense it now but you weren't able to previously?"
"Indeed. I asked Od lugunica to grant me a divine protection to sense curses and magical scents. In hindsight. I'm suprised I've never thought to ask for it prior. "
"Thats..."
'Somethings not adding up. Back then, back when I first truly met him, he mentioned the miasma on Subaru. So if he didn't have any incentive to seek out a divine protection for it then how did he-'
Flashback=
"The doctor said that his heart was crushed."
End=
"..."
"Say are there any doctors on file that can sense miasma?"
Reinhard took the meaning of her words at face value. He was obviously missing context but there was no reason to avoid answering.
"A rather odd question. To my knowledge no, no doctor within the capital of Luginica holds such an ability."
'If Reinhard never had the ability back then and if no doctors are capable of smelling the witch then who was it that-'
"Apologies for the interruption. There is a guest waiting outside."
A soft but firm voice came into the room. An old maid with a surprisingly fit physic had come into the room and addressed them both completely unannounced. Under normal circumstances this would be seen as incredibly disrespectful considering the difference of status but Reinhard seemed quite use to it and Emila was not one for hierarchical standards so neither one saw any problems with it.
Emila looked towards Reinhard, wondering who would be visiting him this late at night?
"Reinhard were you expecting someone?"
"None for the next 3 days."
He said matter of factly.
"She asked for lady Emilia specifically."
The Half-elf looked at her with bafflement. Understandably so considering that no one, aside from the staff here, knew where she was.
"Me? Who could possibly... OH MY OD RAM! I completely forgot about her!"
Reinhard looked towards her with mild curiosity and a bit of amusement.
"Im guessing complications have arrived?"
Emilia slapped her own forehead in frustration.
"That's putting it mildly! I'm such a freaking dunderhead!"
The pink haired maid was ready to burst a blood vessel from rage.
Being told to supervise her lady while she perused the inner market area was a simple enough task. So why pray tell, was she walking across the the ass end of the Luginica capital. Well the answer was quite simple. She lost her lady. Or more accurately her lady lost her.
The two were meant to meet up at the carriage after she (begrudgingly) agreed to separate for an hour and see to their own errands. The maid had done her due diligence and arrived 10 mintues prior to the meeting but after 40 minutes of waiting it was abundantly clear something was wrong.
She knew in the back of her mind that separating was a bad idea but Roswaal-Sama's orders were absolute. Any requests given from Emilia-sama were to be followed, no questions asked.
This is her reward for following her orders. Having to search the entirety of Lugunica for a girl that can't follow her own instructions.
Regardless she was certain that she was on the right track. She had used her clairvoyance on insects to track down her location, leading her to the place she least expected.
The moon illuminated the sharp spikes adorned on top of the elegant gate. Behind the gate was a luxurious acre of land which held a massive manor that even rivaled her masters. She was standing at the entrance of the Astrea Household. While fairly decorative, it was obvious from the surplus of guards, the many training areas and well kept barracks, this was less of a home and more of a military base.
The maid took a sharp sigh as she sat on a decorative stool with her arms crossed.
No later her lady had come through the front gates. The maid was taken aback by many things. For one her lady's attire was completely different. Her hair was no longer combed down but was now in a ponytail with her bangs being slightly parted. She wore a dress reminiscent of a bulgarian maden. You would think that the red accents would clashed with her eyes and silver hair but they just...didn't. Her white sleeves were slighty translucent and baggy with red cuffs and white zig zagging highlights. It even took into the multple bandages on her body by- wait bandages? What had her lady down withini the past couple of hours to warrent so many of them. The fact that she's just now noticing her wounds futher cemented the absurdity of her attire. It was quite frankly perfect on her and the culprit was obvious.
On the girls left was the legendary sword saint. She had heard of his quite frankly ridiculous amount of divine protections and it wouldn't be surprising if one of them was used to pick out that specific dress. The maid expected him to escort her to the carriage considering she was a royal candidate. What she didn't expect was for him to be carrying some unconscious boy with him.
"Emilia-Sama I did not realize we were in the buisness of picking up strays."
The maids scowl was barely contained by a mixture of pride and professionalism. Emilia saw it regardless and could only look down in guilt.
"Im sorry for not telling you were I went..."
There was an awkward silence between the two until the maid spoke up.
"In any case I believe it's about time we took are leave Emilia-Sama. Roswaal-Sama is presumably distressed with how long we've been gone."
"Your right... I'll be right there in a moment."
The maid gave a curt nod as she headed towards the carriage. Emilia looked towards her right and locked eyes with the man who she had grown an immense amount of respect and admiration for.
"Reinhard I know I've already said this but seriously, thank you so much. I wouldn't have been able to protect anyone if you weren't there."
The sword saint could only shake his head and give a reassuring smile.
"Think nothing of it. I'm just grateful I was able to fulfill my duties, both long and short term. Without you I never would have found the person I would swear my sword to."
As he said this he handed the unconscious boy into Emilia's arms. The Half-elf was suprised with how light he was.
"Speaking of which I believe it's about time I've tended to her. She's bound to wake up soon in a sour mood but I atleast want to offer an apology."
He said as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Emilia could only chuckle at this.
"Im sure having Rom there will smooth things over. Or it could make it 10 times worse, I'm not entirely sure."
"Heh only time will tell... farewell Emilia-sama, should you need my help never hesitate to ask."
"Thank you, till next time Reinhard-san"
As the two departed. The maid took a slide glance at her and the boy.
"So we're taking that boy with us? Remind me to purchase disenfectant and dog treats before we travel."
Emilia looked at her in bafflement towards her brazen remark but didn't question it considering how much of a sour mood she was likely in.
"Ram I truly appreciate you coming to get me. Once we get back could you make arrangements to get this man properly situated."
"If "properly situated" means giving him a thorough wash then consider it done. I will not tolerate someone smelling like wet dog within Roswaal-Sama's abode."
The Half-elf blinked.
"I didn't think that would be necessary, those he really smell that bad?"
Ram gave a long glance at the boy before grabbing the reins of the carriage
"...quite"