A carriage traveled in the night, in it two people were sitting one in front of the other, their hair were red like flames, and their eyes were a light blue, one was older, dressed with a white uniform and a thin blade at his hips, Heinkel Astrea, the other was a child, a sword on his back, seemingly too great for him, his clothes were more for nobles, Reinhard Van Astrea.
"Father, is something troubling you?" Reinhard asked as he looked at his father, who seemed deep in thought, he sighed and raised his head, which was looking at the ground.
"Your grandfather, I hope he and Subaru won't meet." Heinkel spoke tiredly, Reinhard gave a small smile.
"They would get along, even if they would eventually fight." Reinhard answered as the two made their way to the mansion.
"I hope we won't make a scene in front of him, otherwise he'll seriously start punching us until we stop." Heinkel gave a small smile, he leaned on the window and looked outside, as the moonlight lit their path.
The two arrived at the mansion, they immediately noticed how there was some noise coming from inside, they were welcomed by the maids, soon enough they walked towards the dinner room, where the noise, once entering the room they immediately saw a lizard man on the table.
"We were surrounded by forty bandits, while we were one hundred, we had no experience whatsoever, since we were still merchants, and our weapons were all in one of our carriages, and there, there the boss, armed with a small knife, sneaks up from behind a bandit and stabs him!" Hiain spoke as he walked on the table, while maids, butlers and residents alike listened closely.
"The bandit falls to his knees, while the boss covers his wound, the shock is so great in the enemy that they stop for a moment, and lo! The one the boss stabbed was their leader, sending the bandits in shock. He immediately picks the fallen swords, and with all of his might, throws it towards me, I pick it up, and start fighting, I fell 7 bandits by myself that day!" Hiain gesture and faked having a sword in hand.
"Did Halibel give you some of his stuff? I remember you taking the sword and accidentally stabbing a guy by stumbling towards him." Weilz spoke up with an annoyed look, Hiain slapped him with his tail, and he immediately grabbed it and launched him off the table.
"Ya wanna fight dumbass!?" Hiain shouted with anger as he stood up, Weilz grinned and took a step forward.
"As if you can, coward lizard!" He shouted as the two got in a fight, throwing punches and kicks at one another.
"Shouldn't we stop them?" Asked Carol while turning towards Subaru, who was laughing loudly at the two.
"Nah, this is the usual." Subaru grinned as the two continued punching each other, Reinhard noticed a small golden haired girl sitting next to him, at his right.
"Big bro, what happened next?" She asked, referring to the story, two other faces sat at the table, one was an old giant looking after the small girl, sitting beside her.
As the two entered the room, everyone noticed in the room, as even Hiain and Weilz stopped fighting for a moment, until.
"Rein! You're back!" Subaru shouted, as he stood up and gave a high five to Reinhard.
"I see you're doing well, Subaru." Reinhard answered with a smile, the two then walked towards the table, and Subaru made Reinhard sit next to him.
"Felt, pay attention when you eat!" Rom spoke as he patted Felt's back, making her cough up some food.
"So, how did the journey go?" Subaru smiled while eating, Reinhard shrugged his shoulders.
"I mainly spared with Cecilus and drove off a few witch beasts." He answered without much emphasis, Subaru nodded with a smile.
"I guessed that much, I hope they make it there quickly." Subaru remained silent for a second, showing concern on his face.
"Regardless, tomorrow you are going to train me!" Subaru shouted as he pointed to Reinhard, surprising him.
The evening went by with Subaru and his friends taking the spotlight, leaving no room for any hard feelings, as they partied all evening, having those around them giggle or laugh, so the day ended.
"Subaru, breakfast is ready." A feminine voice rang in the room, Subaru stood up and from the doorstep he noticed an old lady calling him, he soon got up and hurried to get breakfast.
Once there he noticed Felt and Reinhard together, with Reinhard taking care of her as she ate almost as much as Cecilus.
"Felt, please be more careful with the knife!" Reinhard worried about the girl, as she greedily ate all on the table, Subaru giggled at the two, he walked towards the table and was served too.
"Good morning you two!" Subaru waved his hand as the two noticed him.
"Big bro!" "Subaru!" Both of them smiled while seeing the boy, sitting on the table the two immediately got closer.
"Did you sleep well, Subaru?" Reinhard asked as Subaru nodded while eating, the two chatted a bit, talking about various arguments, Subaru sometimes spoke of a few stories, the rest of the group slowly joined, and all were at the table.
"Alright, we can begin training, please go change your clothes, we will start as soon as possible." Reinhard clapped his hands as everyone nodded, the five went to their rooms, and met at the armory of the estate, where they would choose their weapons.
"Hey brother, what are you looking for?" Weilz asked as he noticed Subaru walking around, searching for some weapons.
"I want to try other weapons, while the yang sword makes me good, I can't use it at all times, I want another weapon to rely on." Subaru checked at the various weapons, mainly swords, but spears, shields and hammers were there too.
"I think you should just try them, instead of searching for one, ask Reinhard for help." Hiain was examining a few knives, searching for a suitable one.
"Right, gimme a second." Subaru rushed out of the armory and arrived at the training grounds, where Reinhard was waiting with a sword in hand.
"Oh Subaru! Do you need something?" Reinhard asked as he noticed his expression, the boy nodded and took his hand.
"Help me find a suitable weapon!" Subaru dragged him away, surprising him as he stared with a confused look.
"You already have one of the best swords in the world, why do you need a weapon?" Reinhard questioned as they arrived, the rest already took a weapon and waited for the two.
"I can't always use it, and you noticed that I'm actually terrible with the sword." Subaru looked around, Reinhard remained silent for a while, and then rushed in.
"Try this." Reinhard came back with a whip in his hand, the rest was quite confused, but Subaru took it in hand nonetheless.
"Hey guys, how powerful would this whip be if I lit it on fire?" Subaru held a malicious smile while feeling the soft weapon in his hand.
"Oh, I guess that would be absolutely terrifying." Idra commented as he quickly rushed out of the room, the group went back to the training grounds, the blue sky above their heads as they faced the sword saint, they gave a powerful shout and their strength grew.
"Alright, let's see how strong you are, don't worry about me, don't hold back." Reinhard smiled as they all charged him, Hiain began by throwing a knife, which was easily deflected, followed by a fireball sent by Idra, the sword saint cut the ball in half, dissipating it.
"Your throw is too obvious, try to hide it better." Reinhard advised as the rest of the group got closer, first Weilz threw a hammer strike, which Reinhard dodged swiftly by sidestepping it.
"Always plant your feet when using an heavy weapon." Reinhard gave a small slap on Weilz's back, making him trip on the ground, soon after he dodged sideways and there Hiain missed with his knife, Reinhard went for a kick, which was blocked by Gustav, who put his shield between the two, yet the two were launched back, their feet delved the ground, leaving a clear sign of their path.
"That's some power right there!" Gustav shouted as he knelt on the ground, tired after taking one hit, lastly Subaru tried to attack Reinhard with his whip, making wide arcs with it and staying outside of range, he somehow felt like each strike made him improve thousand folds, and yet his whip was nowhere near Reinhard.
"Good Subaru, try to use less power and instead move with your whole body." Subaru did just as told, and instead of remaining with his foot on the ground, he began spinning around and his strikes became swifter each time.
Suddenly Weilz attacked from behind, this time he used far less strength, with his hand close to the top, he made the hammer run through his hand, sideways he tried to hit Reinhard, yet he disappeared, leaving the both of them confused.
"That wasn't bad, you really coordinate well." A voice was heard and Reinhard was on top of Weilz's hammer, smiling as the two were astonished.
Immediately Weilz threw him in the air, Hiain followed with three knives and a Idra threw another fireball, both the attacks were deflected with a single swing, in the meantime Gustav launched Subaru in the air, this time flames covered his body, as a red sword appeared on his hand, the two blades met, an immense hot wind covered the ground, hot enough to melt the ground.
"Good job!" Reinhard shouted as Subaru was sent on the ground, he landed and gave him a hand.
"Yeah, except that was supposed to make you sweat!" Subaru shouted annoyed, he got up as he smiled, the group began once again with the training, this time they practiced their swings or aim, everyone noticed an unnatural improvement, Subaru, who never held a wip, was quickly stopping from hitting himself and each swing made him better, Weilz's strikes became immensely more powerful, and Gustav blocked all of those hits.
"Subaru, I was thinking of your fight, and it seemed like you were wasting a lot of mana, the flames consume a lot, you can keep it up thanks to that magic enhancement, but without it you'd have a lot of trouble." Reinhard advised as he let out his flame, he was thinking about it for a while.
"What if I force the flames to stay put?" Subaru wondered as the flames enveloped his body, his wings spread far, in the chaos of the flame, with no particular shape, he slowly focused, the flames spreading everywhere quenched, and took a more defined shape, the wings seemed to become more bat like each moment, yet it wasn't perfect yet, it only happened for a few seconds, before returning in their chaos.
"Guess it'll take some time, hope you'll help me with it!" Subaru smiled while giving a pat on his back.
"Sadly I'm terrible when it comes to magic, and Ezzo doesn't know about yin magic, much less these flames." Reinhard answered as his mouth set in a hard line.
"Oh, guess I'll have to figure it out myself, thanks anyway!" Subaru gave him a thumbs up, the two smirked and returned to their training.
"Ahh, they sure are giving their all." From the side, a lone boy looked at the warriors, animals surrounded him, big and small, he concentrated and constantly spoke with the animals.
"Otto, you should train your body too." A woman came from behind him and smiled, Otto looked at her unsurprised.
"That's not my job, and there's no need to be strong if you can't even get to me." Otto smirked as animals surrounded him, Carol immediately smacked him in the head.
"I reached you, now what?" Carol smirked as Otto looked at her, massaging the back of his head, she handed him a sword and he took it, and walked towards Reinhard.
"Hum, could you train me too?" He asked, Subaru and Reinhard looked at him for a second.
"Of co-" "Who are you again?" Subaru interrupted Reinhard mid sentence, Otto stomped his foot and shouted.
"What are you saying!? You took me out of my house!" Otto gritted his teeth with anger, Subaru laughed and looked at him.
"Alright, let's get you in shape." Subaru smirked as Reinhard and Otto began sparring lightly, mainly to teach Otto the basics.
"I guess the sword doesn't suit you, maybe we should find a better weapon." Reinhard suggested after a minute of sparring, Otto wasn't the best with a sword, so the two arrived at the armory, and Otto began searching around, a few minutes passed and he and Reinhard came out with two weapons, one was a spear, the other a sling.
"A sling uh?" Subaru scratched his chin, Otto tried it a bit, making it spin at high speeds.
"I could use some mana stones with it, and it would be quite powerful." Otto explained with a smile, Subaru giggled astounded.
"Damn Otto, that's straight up evil." Subaru gave a pat on his back, Otto glared at him annoyed.
"Shall I test it on you?" Otto hissed with a malicious smile, Subaru smirked as he took his weapon, and the two began fighting.
Otto, while never using a spear, was already managing to send a flurry of attacks, he was surrounded by various animals, birds to insects, worms and spiders, aiming him by limiting Subaru's vision, predicting his movements with their senses, biting him and helping.
Subaru instead was forsaking his magic for the sword, he did not arm the insects, he remained in a defensive stance waiting for an opening.
"Ah, ya learned a few tricks and already got cocky!" Subaru shouted as he finally went on the offensive, his sword deflected the spear and he immediately got closer within the pole, leaving Otto defenseless.
"Look who's talking!" Suddenly an explosion engulfed Subaru from his side, blowing him away from Otto, who took his chance and put his spear over his throat.
"I guess I win." Otto stated as his spear hung over Subaru's throat, he smirked and suddenly he was shrouded in flames, the spear became red hot, and Otto managed to jump back, having predicted that magic.
"I ain't easy to take down!" Subaru shouted with a smile, his form became of fire and shadows, and the heat unbearable.
"I guess you're not the child of war for nothing!" Otto smiled as he put down the spear, the two laughed with a smile, Otto then turned towards Reinhard.
"So what's the deal with me learning so quickly?" He wondered while tilting his head, Reinhard gave a smile.
"The divine protection of teaching, it makes you learn faster while I'm teaching you." Reinhard explained with a smile as both Subaru and Otto sighed, they watched as the rest trained, Grimm joined Gustav as the two faced Weilz who was refining his strikes while Weilz blocked more efficiently.
The day went on as the fighters learned more and more, eventually they reached high noon and went to take a Bath.
"Yeah!" Subaru and Otto jumped in the immense bath, Reinhard facepalmed with a smile as the others entered the room.
"Subaru, that isn't proper behavior while in another's house, please be more respectful." The rest of the group got in the bath too, Subaru sbuffed with a smile.
He sulked in the bath, until he gazed at Reinhard with a malicious smile, Otto looked at him and the two had the same evil expression on his face.
""Get dunked!"" They both shouted as they launched water on Reinhard, yet somehow he was completely unaffected.
They looked at him with a deadpan, the two tried to splash water on him, yet not a single drop came close, they tried again and again.
"Guys, splash him!" He shouted as immediately the others joined him, first Weilz and Hiain began to rise waves of water towards him, yet miraculously none have hit, Idra joined too, yet his help didn't amount to much, lastly Gustav joined and a movement of his arm practically raised half of the water in the bath, yet nothing has hit Reinhard.
"Alright, what the actual fuck!" Subaru shouted as he grasped for air, the others sat down on the bath while Otto floated on the water.
Reinhard laughed as he watched the group, the bath went on normally, Reinhard Otto and Subaru played together, even if whenever Reinhard splashed them, he would create a tsunami.
Gustav and Grimm would somehow have deep conversion as they drank together a bottle of alcohol, while Hiain and Weilz punched each other. Idra watched the two, mimicking a referee.
They got out of the bath and went to eat, after lunch Reinhard had some work to do, the group stayed and took some tea together, while Otto and Subaru walked out of the mansion.
"Hey boss, ya going out?" Suddenly Weilz exited from the mansion and walked next to the two, Gustav too was with him.
"We have some free time, would you mind our company?" Gustav asked with a smile, Subaru nodded and the four of them walked outside, the group walked around the streets, Subaru stood on Gustav's shoulder, they walked on the noble's district with people recognising Subaru, yet no one came near.
"So where are we heading?" Weilz asked as Subaru was sitting on Gustav's shoulder, he closed his eyes for a second, as if thinking deeply, then pointed in a direction, which had no streets towards it, yet Gustav simply nodded, and Weilz picked up Otto, confusing him, and the two quickly made their way on top of a building and sprinted where Subaru pointed.
As the people around noticed the four, they made their way around the roofs, until they arrived at the slums, at the very outskirts of the city, where a familiar old man was admiring flowers.
The four landed behind him, he remained unflinching, remaining there admiring the flowers.
"Ah, Subaru, it is a pleasure to meet you." His voice was calm as he stood on the field, his mouth was slightly curved up as he turned towards the four.
"Sup old man! I see you're admiring the field." Subaru went down from Gustav's shoulder and walked next to the old man, the rest remained behind him.
"Yes, it's always a pleasure, regardless, what brings you here?" Wilhelm questioned the boy while turning towards the flowers, the image of the sword devil crowned by a field of flowers was an image of dignity Subaru already impressed in his mind.
*Snap* and into something else.
"Uh? What was that sound?" Wilhelm raised an eyebrow as Subaru held a strange object in his hands.
"Oh, I took a picture, this scenery is too beautiful to only keep it as a memory." Subaru smirked as he turned the object around, Wilhelm noticed his back while he admired the flowers.
"I don't know what a picture is, but if this is what you wish to do…" Wilhelm then turned towards the other three, he met eyes with Gustav and Weilz.
"I believe we haven't presented to each other, I am Gustav, lord Subaru's bodyguard and advisor." Gustav gave a small bow, Weilz did the same.
"I am Weilz, a mere bodyguard for my brother." He too gave his name as they stood back up, the sword demon nodded.
"A pleasure for me too, I believe we met yesterday." Lastly Otto gave a nod to Wilhelm, who fixed his gaze on him for a few seconds.
"It appears all of you have become stronger since yesterday." Wilhelm complimented the four.
"Yep, we trained with Reinhard and it helped a lot."
"Reinhard? I see." Wilhelm whispered as he put his hand on his beard.
"We first fought him together, but didn't manage to land a single hit, he is re~ally strong!" Subaru smirked thinking back at the fight.
"Indeed, he is strong." Wilhelm narrowed his eyes, no longer smiling.
"But I'll hit him one day! Be the last thing I do!" Subaru exclaimed with his finger towards the sky.
"Ah, that's quite the determination!" Wilhelm roared with a smile.
"But you have to hit me first, then you can challenge him." He recalled his fight, Subaru laughed at the suggestion.
"Hey, do you want to join me?" Subaru asked with a smile, surprising the old man who looked at him with widened eyes.
He remained silent for a few seconds, thinking deeply, but he eventually spoke up.
"What do you wish to use this old sword for?" Wilhelm asked in a serious expression, Subaru smirked and put his hands behind his back.
"You wish for vengeance against something, right? You'll have my help." Subaru exposed Wilhelm's intentions, surprising him.
"You really are something, boy." Wilhelm's mouth formed a smile as he looked at Subaru in the eyes.
"The white whale, help me take it down, and you'll have my sword." His smile faded as he spoke that name, the sheer bloodlust was immense, yet Subaru remained unflinching.
"I'll make sure to not kill it by accident, and you get your precious final hit." Subaru leaned forward and gave him a small punch on his arm.
"So you'll join pleiades, uh? Glad to have you in." Weilz smiled as he gave a hand to him, the two shook hands and smiled.
"Anyway, we'll be heading to Roswaal's mansion, we want some magic training too." Subaru spoke with a smile, Wilhelm was surprised by the name, yet he nodded.
"Well, since the sword demon joined us, I think it's worth it to party." Weilz gave a grin as Gustav narrowed his eyes.
"We should call the rest at least, lord Subaru, you may go back to the mansion, if you would do us-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, go get drunk all you want." Subaru waved his hand as he and Otto walked back.
Once back the other two adults went to get a drink, while Subaru Reinhard and Otto remained in the mansion.
The five went to a tavern, where they all took some drinks.
"Damn, the boss got you in? He's great." Idra spoke up while patting Wilhelm's back, the rest was getting drunk quickly.
"It is obvious why he is considered such a fearsome opponent, his eyes have seen war and death." Wilhelm shared his thoughts with the others.
"He is the child of war, he has fought many times, getting us out of death's grasp." Gustav waved a glass of vine in his hands, recollecting the past.
"The boss wasn't always like that though, you remember when he was still a teen? He despised himself so much!" Hiain smirked half drunk, he was immediately smacked by Weilz.
"A teen? What is that supposed to mean?" Wilhelm asked with a raised eyebrow, the group sighed.
"He once was a young adult, trying to survive in the harsh Vollachian empire, with some great ideas he managed to gain some money and start to sell some products, in his travels he had all of us join his group." Gustav recollected the past, remembering various moments.
"One day, as our group managed to reach the hundred, we got involved in a rebellion, where the divine general Olbart got involved, he turned the boss into a child, and from that day he began changing." Weilz took a sip from his beer.
"He managed to somehow get away, but the real trouble started when we met Todd fang. I won't go into detail, but from one hundred we remained in five." Hiain drank an entire bottle in one swoop, his expression sour.
"I am sorry to hear that, it must have been rough." Wilhelm looked down, the group continued to drink in a bad mood, yet soon after they began partying again.