It was a slow waking up for Felix. "Nyaa?" he murmured, feeling disoriented. The bright lights above him didn't fit his room… had he fallen asleep in Crusch's office? He pushed himself up, clutching his head, just as he realized he wasn't any place he recognized before.
"Where am I?" Felix said, glancing around quickly. He was in a theater-inspired room, clearly sponsored by a wealthy noble (the expensive maroon fabrics on the chairs made that obvious) but instead of a stage for plays or an arena for swordfights, the chairs faced towards a strange reflective screen instead. What purpose it served was unknown to him.
But more importantly…
"Julius? Reinhard? Wilhelm!" Several of Felix's friends were splayed across the floor, unconscious, even though several of them should by all logic be hundreds of miles away. Luckily, they were stirring as well.
"Felix?" Julius' confusion was justified. "Where are we?"
"I don't knyow!" Felix said. The more he thought about it, the worse the situation was. At first glance, it seemed they all had been kidnapped-but who could possibly be powerful enough to overpower Wilhelm van Astrea, the Knight of Knights, and worst of all, the Sword Saint himself?
"Reinhard, do you remember what happened?" Julius asked Reinhard, who had just sat up from the floor.
"No," Reinhard said, sounding disturbed. "Just a few minutes ago, I was with Lady Felt…"
Julius's face hardened at the bad news. "I see…"
Felix had to resist the urge to comment on the grimness of the situation.
"We should search for the exits," Wilhelm said.
"Oy! You guys are here too?!" Subaru's voice called. Subaru along with another member of the Emilia camp, Garfiel, walked towards them.
"Subaru-kyun?" Felix called. "You woke up here too?"
Subaru scratched his head. "Yup. A movie theater… have we been isekaied? Er, reverse-isekaied, in this case?"
NOT QUITE.
They all started at the voice, and several of the knights immediately went for their weapons. Even Reinhard attempted to draw his sword.
To everyone's surprise, the Dragon Sword Reid began to slide out of its sheath, the mark that this individual was a worthy opponent.
WOAH! UM, PLEASE PUT THAT AWAY. THERE'S NO NEED FOR THAT!
Sensing he had the upper hand, Reinhard brandished the Dragon Sword Reid, despite the fact that he wasn't sure of the source of the disembodied voice. "Tell us where we are and what you've done, or I'll be forced to take drastic action," Reinhard threatened.
Garfiel smirked. "Yeah, get him!" he shouted.
I'M ON YOUR SIDE! AND I'M ONLY TRYING TO HELP. YOUR FRIEND HERE, SUBARU, HAS BEEN THROUGH A LOT-WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO KNOW WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON WITH HIM?
"Eh! That's a terrible deflection! What do I have to do with this?" Subaru protested.
"I'm more concerned about the kidnapping, nya!" Felix agreed.
WELL, IT'S WHY I BROUGHT ALL OF YOU HERE. TO SEE SUBARU'S MEMORIES.
"You can see the memories of others?" Wilhelm asked grimly. This strange being seemed to have a multitude of abilities, and even if it felt intimidated by his grandson's monstrous power, Wilhelm worried they might still be in trouble.
I CAN, AND I CAN PROJECT THEM ON THAT SCREEN.
"So you brought us here to spy on Subaru's memories," Wilhelm raised a brow.
Subaru seemed to realize something. "Wait, do you know about-" he trailed off.
YES. I KNOW ALL THAT YOU REMEMBER.
Subaru sucked in a breath.
"Subaru, what are you talking about?" Julius asked.
"I can't… you can't put them in danger like that!" Subaru suddenly said. "If you really know what I'm talking about, then you know what she'll do!"
"What?" Felix said.
Garfiel's brow creased in concern.
"Subaru, who are you talking about?" Julius asked.
The environment in the room was still tense and unsure. Reinhard gripped the Dragon Sword Reid, and the various knights still felt tempted to go for their weapons.
I CAN KEEP HER OUT WITHOUT ISSUE. ACCEPT MY GIFT.
"You… you can?" Subaru said. He wasn't sure he believed it, but if it was true…
"Once again, I must ask you to explain-" Reinhard started.
PLEASE JUST WATCH THE FIRST EPISODE! IT WON'T TAKE LONGER THAN AN HOUR, AND IF YOU WANT TO LEAVE AFTER THAT, I'LL LET YOU!
"Really?" Felix said cautiously. "How do we know you will?"
"A contract," Wilhelm demanded. "Otherwise, we have no reason to trust you."
IF THE MONSTROUS SAINT PUTS THE SWORD AWAY!
Reinhard slipped the Dragon Sword Reid back into its sheath. At the same time, a strange golden light reached toward Wilhelm. "Promise you'll release us after one hour, and that you will not attack anyone here," Wilhelm said.
I HEREBY VOW THAT IF YOU SO CHOOSE, I WILL RELEASE YOU AFTER YOU WATCH THE FIRST PART OF THE MEMORIES. THAT PROCESS WILL TAKE UNDER AN HOUR. I WILL NOT HURT ANYONE HERE.
Once the light died down, Wilhelm relaxed. The other knights followed suit, to an extent.
The projector, an object which only Subaru knew the name of, flickered to life.
"I see… so we're doing this then," Subaru puffed out a breath.
NOW SIT AND WATCH THE SCREEN! IT WILL PAUSE AUTOMATICALLY IF YOU START TALKING OVER IT.
Subaru was the first to sit in one of the seats. His face was cautious and grim, chewing on his lip in a nervous gesture. Felix couldn't tell what he was thinking, but followed suit. He sat two seats away from him, with Julius directly by his side. Garfiel nearly bodily climbed over the two knights to sit directly next to Subaru, who flashed him a weak smile. Reinhard chose a spot a few rows down, and Wilhelm one several rows up, as if avoiding him.
"Do we really wanna be doing this?" Garfiel broke the tense silence.
"I don't know if we have a choice," Julius said. "If we want to resolve this peacefully, that is. Subaru, I'm sorry it's come to this. I know they're your memories. Normally, I wouldn't suggest going along with this, but a battle between Reinhard and an enemy worthy of the Dragon Sword Reid…"
"Could cause massive collateral damage," Wilhelm murmured grimly. "Destroying entire towns, potentially erasing a country off the map, if this enemy even comes close to Reinhard's level. We don't even know where we are."
"And they'll follow the contract, right?" Garfiel said.
Wilhelm nodded firmly. "The contract was bound to their Od, I could feel it. Though I know not what we're facing, they should be forced to release us as promised."
"Yeah. Well, sorry, cap'n," Garfiel apologized.
"It'll be fine," Subaru said, before muttering, "At least, I hope so."
His words didn't ease the tension much at all.
Everyone sat in silence, waiting for the show to start.
"This is bad… very bad…" a pained voice said.
"Cap'n?" Garfiel said, frowning. The darkness made it difficult to judge, but Felix couldn't help but agree with Garfiel. The voice sounded a lot like Subaru.
"Subaru? What's wrong?"
A convenience store appeared on screen, surprising the Lugnican viewers. The architectural style was extremely odd and square, not to mention the glowing lights, presumably caused by some kind of magic stones but still unlike anything most of them had ever seen. The inside of the convenience store appeared, with Subaru there.
"There's cap'n!" Garfiel cheered, enthusiastic.
"It's an unusual library you're in, Subaru," Julius said.
"Library?" Subaru blinked.
"The shelves are full of books," Julius pointed out, gesturing towards the magazines. "It's not in a script I recognize, though…"
"Eh… that's not quite right, Julius…" Subaru said.
"I've never seen that script anywhere either," Wilhelm mentioned, narrowing his eyes. "It doesn't look like it's from Gusteko or Karagi. How mysterious…"
"Fitting Subaru-kyun himself, then," Felix said. The boy's origins had always been unclear. Felix's theory had always been that Subaru was something akin to a Vollachian refugee, but this didn't look like Vollachia at all. There was a distinct lack of jungle, for one. Maybe he grew up in an isolated area of Karagi?
"Ah, I see. This is where they suck you in."
The screen flashed to another scene.
"No… Run! Hurry!"
Before the knights could truly comment on it, it flashed back to Subaru, who contemplated between potato chips and natto.
"Wait there…"
"What is this?" Felix said, frowning.
More than anything, it was confusing. Why were they cutting between Subaru in this strange locale, and then going back to someone (maybe Subaru?) gasping for help on the floor? It was disturbing, sure, but it also made little sense.
"That'll be 363 yen," the clerk at the counter said.
"Such strange-looking and fantastical technology," Julius commented, as more of the convenience store was revealed. "Tell me, is this real?"
"Yup," Subaru said. "It's where I'm from. My homeland, you'd say."
Garfiel's face lit up. Subaru never talked about where he was from. "Woah, where are you from, then?"
"Probably nowhere you've heard of," Subaru muttered. "But considering we're seeing it, I'll be more specific. You could argue that I'm from beyond the Great Waterfall."
That created some level of surprise and alarm within all the other viewers.
"Truly… beyond the Great Waterfall?" Julius said, in disbelief. "Is that possible?"
"Such a strange place being shown seems to support his conclusion…" Reinhard said. "Still, it's hard to believe."
"I know it's difficult to accept," Subaru said. "Which is why I don't really tell anyone. But maybe this thing will prove it if we keep watching."
Interest once again piqued, everyone turned their attention back to the show.
As the Subaru from the store walked outside, a car drove by through the night.
"Wait, what was that thing?" Julius interrupted.
"It's a car, they're used for transport," Subaru explained.
As the two talked, the viewing paused to accommodate their dialogue. The frame it was frozen on had just switched, and treated them to a clear view of Subaru with blood dripping down his mouth.
"Cap'n!" Garfiel gasped in disbelief. "What happened?"
"Ah, how unflattering," Subaru said, nervously. The picture really wasn't, with the blood and sweat, but that was far from Felix's biggest concern, seeing the injured Subaru.
"Is this real, Subaru?" Felix asked.
"Yes," Subaru said, before glancing around, as if the acknowledgement was a forbidden thing. "I'm not sure how much I should say, though."
Felix nodded, though he didn't really understand, as Julius decided to hold his questions about Subaru's homeland until after this violent memory was complete.
"Hang on… no matter what… I'm going to save you…" Subaru's pale hand reached out and grasped someone else's. Blood pooled on the floor.
The screen switched for a final time. Subaru, standing on the street at night. As he did so, white-and-purple warped his vision. Subaru rubbed his eyes, at first thinking he was just seeing things, but only moments later appearing in Lugnica.
"You teleported?" Felix exclaimed.
"I see… so that's how it is…" Julius said.
Subaru puffed out a sigh of relief. "You believe me?"
"It makes sense," Wilhelm said. "Besides the machinations of this strange being, we have your word, and you always did have such odd mannerisms."
"That's amazing!" Garfiel proclaimed.
"I wonder what his world is like, to have produced Subaru," Julius mused.
Subaru gave him a side-eye for that comment.
"I'd say I was dreaming, but this is obviously really happening. Totally not fake. So does this mean… I've been summoned across the universe to another world!?" the screen-Subaru screeched.
Felix barely resisted a snort at screen-Subaru's half-crazed expression.
At least he seemed to realize it quickly, Julius thought. Minimal confusion.
After the title card, Felt was shown, leaping from building to building in the capital, holding a glowing royal insignia.
This didn't create much of a reaction from most of the knights beyond vague interest. Reinhard however grimaced, knowing that the insignia wasn't hers, but was instead Emilia's stolen one. He wondered if that would be revealed.
The screen switched back to Subaru. "Well, from the looks of things, I'd say this is some kind of fantasy world with medieval-style culture…"
"Fantasy world? Medieval?" Julius glanced at Subaru for confirmation.
"Medieval was a time-period in my world," Subaru said. He didn't really want to explain the concept of fantasy. "I was just guessing at what your culture was like, mostly…"
"I see," Julius said, though the explanation was bare-bones.
"A realm where demi-humans are commonplace and there's always a war or an adventure to go on!" Subaru said, excited.
An interesting reaction to being teleported, Wilhelm thought to himself. Subaru seemed quite excited by the prospect of adventuring through this new world. Though, Subaru wasn't the only young lad he knew who had a glorified view of dangerous things like war and adventure.
"A place where demi-humans are common?" Felix said. "Do you not have many?"
"We don't have any," Subaru explained.
"None?" Felix said, shocked. "Were they all killed?"
"No! No, definitely not," Subaru said. "We just never had any."
"Then how did you know about their existence?" Julius asked.
"Well, in my world, there are stories about this sort of thing happening," Subaru said. "No one really believes the stories are real, but it's a popular concept. We don't really have magic-users either. The idea of demi-humans and magic are basically considered fiction."
"So you were excited to see all these new things. I see," Wilhelm said.
"Yeah, of course," Subaru said. "And the stories all frame being teleported to another world as a sort of coming-of-age thing, so I got excited. I thought it would be really fun."
"I'm sure you quickly realized that getting teleported to another realm without any knowledge or resources wasn't going to be easy," Julius said.
Subaru huffed. "Bastard," he said, in lieu of confirmation.
"I'm sure cap'n figured it out in the end!" Garfiel said. "He ended up being Emilia-sama's knight, right?"
"That is true," Julius conceded. He was kind of interested to see how Subaru went from poverty to knighthood in a single year.
"Agreed," Reinhard said, nodding.
Subaru was a bit flattered, but he was also struck with worry that they would figure out the truth of how he did it: Return by Death. What would happen then? Would he die?
"And here, I'm…" A shrill cry could be heard, and the screen showed a child who had fallen in front of a dragon carriage. "This is it!" Subaru said. "It's my turn!"
"What do you mean by that?" Julius murmured. Subaru turned bright red, hiding his face in his hands.
"This must be the event where I produce my first magic!" Subaru said, while doing strange poses.
Felix burst out laughing. "Subaru! What's that?!"
"That's just how it goes in the stories, okay?!" Subaru exclaimed, obviously embarrassed.
Felix only laughed harder.
Julius snorted as well, and Subaru immediately whipped around. "Don't you laugh at me too!"
"You gotta admit it's a little funny, cap'n," Garfiel said.
Subaru slumped. "Yeah, yeah…"
Reinhard pitied Subaru, though he couldn't help but smile.
Luckily, a knight saved the child just in time as the crowd cheered.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Guess I'm not quite ready to use magic… I can't read this," Subaru thought to himself as he came upon an appa stand.
"You couldn't read?" Julius said.
"Yeah," Subaru said. "I mostly got it now, though ro-glyphs are hard."
"Hm," Julius said. Another obstacle Subaru had to overcome.
Subaru attempted to barter with the appa salesman, but it was clear his money didn't have much worth in this world. The appa salesman ordered him to be on his way.
"No money either," Felix said.
"How'd you even end up getting anywhere with no money, cap'n? And how'd you join up with Emilia?"
"I must admit, I'm curious to see that myself," Wilhelm said.
"Oh yeah, I suppose most of you guys probably don't know the story of how I joined the Emilia Camp," Subaru said. "Who here knows about that, just Reinhard?"
"Reinhard?" Garfiel perked up.
"Indeed. I met Subaru in the capital, I believe on this very day."
"Really!? That's great!" Garfiel said.
"It seems like he is in desperate need of your assistance," Julius said.
"Okay that's true, but you don't need to rub it in," Subaru grumbled.
Julius smirked slightly.
"I'm not sure how much help I was," Reinhard said. "But we shall see."
"I'll just have to go around information gathering first," Subaru said. The screen showed a few of his misadventures, including him wandering into a woman's restroom, a demihuman-only bar, and accidentally being shoved into a river.
The viewers mostly either looked amused at Subaru's antics, or felt sympathetic to his struggles.
Subaru sat in an alley. "Is this how it's supposed to be? Where'd my protagonist status go! Damn it."
Subaru pulled out a metia, scrolling through contacts.
"Ah, is that…" Wilhelm started.
"The device you used to track the White Whale!" Felix finished.
"Eh? How did cap'n get a hold of somethin' like that?" Garfiel wondered aloud.
"It must be a strange technology from his world," Reinhard said.
"That's right," Subaru said, snapping his fingers.
"My cell phone still works… but what's the point of still having it!"
When the others glanced at Subaru for confirmation, he shrugged. "The communication function was disabled."
"Still, it's far from useless," Wilhelm said.
"That's true," Subaru said. "I was just frustrated in the moment."
"My starting gear is way too wimpy… you need a more substantial welfare program to satisfy pressure-free generation kids like me! I don't even have Excalibur or anything! … And besides, if I was summoned, where was the cute girl who summoned me?!"
Beneath the unusual words and unorthodox expectations (summoned by a cute girl?) Wilhelm could recognize the underlying feelings of frustration that came with being stuck in the middle of nowhere with nothing. Still, Subaru was taking this remarkably well-almost too well. He didn't seem to be thinking of family members he potentially left behind. Had he already lost his family?
"Someone's eventually going to nyotice if you keep screeching to the heavens like that, Subaru," Felix said.
"I'm sure everyone in the capital thought I was a total weirdo," Subaru said.
Julius, though tempted to tease Subaru by saying everyone still thinks that, decided to refrain. He should probably keep antagonizing Subaru to a minimum. At least for now.
"Did she summon me here only to leave me alone? Hey, is she finally here? The cute girl who summoned… me…" Three men came into view. The screen switched to Subaru's baffled face.
While there were a few chuckles from the audience at the mix-up, Subaru couldn't help but be on-edge. This was it. If Reinhard showed up, then the movie (the anime? Was this an anime?) about his life wouldn't be able to show everyone Return by Death. And if he didn't…
Well, hopefully whatever brought them here wasn't lying about being able to stop Satella.
"What are you babbling about? If you don't want to get hurt, cough up whatever you've got!" One of the thugs grabbed Subaru by the collar.
"You got mugged?" Wilhelm murmured. While unfortunate for Subaru, he was curious to see how Subaru would handle the situation. Subaru was capable of great feats, as proven by his success against the White Whale and his rumored defeat of the Great Rabbit, yet his strength level was low enough where the thugs might pose a legitimate threat. Getting out of the situation might require some interesting strategy.
"Beat 'em up!" Garfiel cheered. Subaru cringed, knowing that wouldn't happen. Hopefully Garfiel's positive image of him wouldn't be completely destroyed by the end of this viewing.
"Actually, this is where I come in," Reinhard said, puffing out his chest slightly in a rare display of pride.
Suddenly, Felt started running through the alleyway. "Move it, move it! Out of my way!" "Is that the cute girl who summoned me?"
"Is that where you met Lady Felt?" Julius couldn't help but ask.
Reinhard shook his head. "I must have just missed her."
"Summoned? I don't know what you're talkin' about! Sorry, live strong!" Felt jumped past Subaru and onto the rooftops.
"She just abandoned cap'n!" Garfiel pointed out.
"Ah, it wasn't her obligation to pick fights on my behalf," Subaru said. "Besides, she's not like a royal knight or anything. Just a civilian… and she was in a hurry."
"Hm, I guess that makes sense," Garfiel said, despite looking slightly dissatisfied. The other knights nodded, generally agreeing with Subaru's logic, even though Felt's actions seemed cold at first glance.
"Hey, that didn't happen to make you less hostile toward me, did it?" Subaru asked. One of the thugs crossed their arms. "Actually, it rained on our parade and made things worse."
That confirmed Wilhelm's line of thought. Subaru's attempts at diplomacy likely meant that the man wasn't confident in his ability to fight the thugs.
Almost as if to prove the thought wrong, Subaru immediately started thinking about how it was the destiny of anyone summoned to a parallel world to have supernatural powers. Then, Subaru threw a strong punch, hitting the biggest thug in the face.
The viewers cheered as screen-Subaru took out another with a roundhouse kick.
"Fuck yeah!" Garfiel shouted.
"That's the first time I ever hit someone!" Subaru said, shaking out his hand.
"... You truly are a total novice," Julius said.
"Well-" Subaru struggled to come up with a retort. "Not everyone spends their whole lives training, Mr. Perfect!"
"Heh, you're pretty hopeless, nya," Felix said. "But if you've really never fought anyone before, that was a pretty good hit."
"I'll take the compliment," Subaru decided.
Reinhard didn't comment on the situation, though he felt confused. He hadn't realized that Subaru had entered combat with the three thugs before he'd even arrived. Maybe they'd all gotten back on their feet, and Subaru had called for help then?
Subaru confidently declared he'd beat the last one, but the moment the thug pulled out twin knives, Subaru panicked and started begging for forgiveness.
"... Aww," Garfiel said in disappointment, who'd been hoping to see Subaru win.
"I suppose it's only natural, if you haven't been in many fights…" Julius said.
Wilhelm sighed as well.
The thug gave Subaru a hard kick to the face, which seemed to cause Subaru immense pain. Then, the two previous thugs recovered, and Subaru immediately began being brutally beaten down by the trio.
Everyone winced at the sudden brutality.
"Reinhard, are you going to show up soon?" Felix asked.
"Yeah! You're gonna help cap'n, right?" Garfiel said.
Reinhard slowly shook his head. "I don't… remember this."
Everyone whirled their heads around.
"When I retrieved Subaru in the alleyway, he hadn't been beaten up at all," Reinhard said. "Subaru, do you know what's going on?"
"Yeah," Subaru said, deciding to test the waters. "It happened, but… it didn't stay that way? Sorry for being vague, but this is an alternate timeline of sorts." Subaru cringed at the admission, even though it wasn't a complete explanation of Return by Death, but nothing bad happened as he said it.
"I'm still confused," Felix said.
"I would appreciate it if you could be more straightforward, Subaru-dono," Wilhelm said.
"Alright. Here goes," Subaru said, breathing in. "I can… Return by Death!"
His words rang out across the theater. Nothing happened.
"Return by Death? What does that even-" Felix started, but he stopped as Subaru suddenly burst into tears.
"I can… I can Return by Death!" Subaru hiccuped. "I can Return by Death-"
Subaru dropped to his knees. Garfiel, who was the closest, crouched down in concern.
"I can Return by Death… finally, I can say it…" Subaru sobbed.
Everyone was alarmed by the sudden change in behavior in Subaru.
"Subaru, what are you talking about?" Reinhard asked.
It took Subaru a full minute to control his tears before he was able to launch into a semi-coherent response. "Every time I die… I go back to a previous point in time," Subaru said. "Usually… just a couple of hours or days." Subaru tried to wipe away his tears, but they just kept coming.
"That isn't… possible…" Julius said, before a realization suddenly dawned. "No… you knew everything. You knew the position of the witch cult, where Sloth's fingers were, that you could be possessed… are you saying that's because you died?"
"Yeah, I did," Subaru said. Subaru leaned forward, resting his head against the chair in front of him. "It hurt… It hurt so much, Julius…."
Julius reared back, as if struck. He started pacing through the rows of the theater.
"It's unheard of, and yet…" Reinhard was deep in thought. "Perhaps an extension of yin magic, like the Sand Time protection on the Pleides Watchtower, which can distort time and space. Your affinity is yin, correct?"
Though no one else in the theater had studied Sand Time, Reinhard's logical words made Return by Death sound credible. Not to mention, everyone in the theater trusted Subaru in one respect or another. If he, through tears, had promised this was true…
Acceptance was beginning to sink in.
Wilhelm was the first to speak. "And so all of that… your conspicuous timing, your knowledge, your strategies…" Wilhelm said.
"It was all this power. I'm sorry," Subaru said.
Wilhelm closed his eyes. "How many times did…?"
"Huh?" Subaru asked.
"How many times did we fail against the Whale?" Wilhelm's voice was uneven.
"Ah, not at all…? The first time I brought the Crusch Camp, you killed it," Subaru said. "In the loops leading up to it, I was killed by other factors. The only information I really knew about the Whale going in was its location."
Wilhelm breathed. "I see. Then I didn't fail Theresia, after all… apologies for sounding relieved, Subaru-dono. To act in such a way after receiving such horrible news is truly disgraceful." Wilhelm sounded somewhat disgusted with himself.
"It's fine," Subaru said. "It's something to be proud of… I really appreciate that everyone tried so hard and killed it on the first go, so we didn't have to do it over."
Wilhelm pursed his lips at that, seemingly disturbed by such an admission.
"So how many times have you died?" Felix knew he had to ask.
"Ah, seventeen," Subaru said numbly.
"Seven- seventeen?" Felix had expected a high number, but he was still amazed. "I can't even imagine dying once, let alone that many times." If what he says is true, it's a bit of a miracle he hasn't gone mad… or at least fallen victim to combat fatigue…
"Subaru, I apologize for failing to protect you," Reinhard said. "It seems clear to me now that in this 'timeline', as you called it, you are fated to die against Elsa."
"Unfortunately, yes," Subaru said. "Don't worry about it, Reinhard. It's not like you even knew I existed this time around, or that I was in trouble."
"Ya knew stuff ya shouldn't in Sanctuary too," Garfiel said. So my amazin' self wasn't enough to protect us all… It was a strange thought. For once in his life, Garfiel doubted his strength. Had he only won those fights because Subaru had helped him reach a winning situation? Or had he simply not been around when Subaru died?
"Yeah, I died in Sanctuary," Subaru said, with a laugh that sounded broken.
Wilhelm felt a stab of regret. As much as Wilhelm respected Subaru, even he had to admit that Subaru's behavior was sometimes very erratic. Maybe he should have paid more attention to Subaru's fluctuating emotional state… if he had, perhaps he'd have noticed something was wrong sooner.
"And all this time, you've been ensuring the success of the Emilia camp behind the scenes," Reinhard said, sounding impressed.
"More like I've been ensuring the Emilia camp doesn't all get eaten by Mabeasts behind the scenes," Subaru said. "It's not political like that. I don't… dying is so awful, I just couldn't…"
"I'm sorry, Subaru, that wasn't what I was trying to imply," Reinhard said. "Please forgive my callousness."
Subaru had finally stopped crying by this point, though the puffy eyes and tear-streaked face gave him away. "It's fine, no worries. And thank you guys… for listening…"
"It's no problem, cap'n," Garfiel said. He offered Subaru his hand, like his big sister always had when he started crying when he was little. Subaru teared up a little more, and took Garfiel's hand.
"We should continue to watch if we want to finish in an hour," Wilhelm said. "But Subaru, rest assured that the rest of us will be here for you in any way we can. We won't let this type of thing happen again."
"That's for certain, nya!" Felix added.
Julius felt a stab of repressed guilt. "Of course. I agree, as well."
"Thanks," Subaru said. I feel better… yet entirely exhausted. And as though I could sleep for a week… He was so anxious, yet so free. In fact, the idea that Subaru at any time could shout, 'I've been killed before!' without being hurt felt kind of fake.
Subaru squeezed Garfiel's hand, grounding himself.
Larkins drove a foot into Subaru's beaten face, smirking as he did it.
The atmosphere was different now. The conversation that Subaru had just had, in addition to the knowledge that he would soon die, hung gloom over the watching. That didn't stop Julius from commenting somewhat saltily as soon as the show started up again, however.
"Aren't these people now a part of your camp, Reinhard?" Julius questioned. "Yet we see them now beating Subaru…"
Reinhard sagged. "Indeed. While I was aware they had a criminal history, they had reformed themselves and are quite helpful in the Felt Camp… I had no idea they would do something like this."
And of course, there was no way for him to know, given the circumstances, Julius thought. So he can't be faulted for negligence… still, such shady figures being key Felt Camp members…
"That's enough." The screen panned to show Emilia, silhouetted by the light of the alleyway. She demanded that the thugs return what was stolen from her. Once she realized the thief had already gone by, she ran past the thugs, as if to leave.
"Really? Even Emilia's leavin' ya?!" Garfiel said, in disbelief. "After that heroic entrance?"
"No, just you wait," Subaru said. Though his voice was hoarse from crying, he sounded legitimately excited.
Emilia turned around. "But still… I can't overlook what's going on here!" She summoned ice crystals, quickly dispatching the trio, and then summoning Puck to threaten them into leaving.
"Now that's Emilia!" Garfiel cheered.
"Emilia-sama is quite generous," Reinhard said. "It makes sense she'd assist you."
"T-that's my Emilia-tan!" Subaru said, recovering with a shaky smile.
"You saved me… thanks." "Don't move." Emilia stared him directly in the face, until Subaru averted his eyes, blushing slightly with a small smile.
Wilhelm couldn't help but smile slightly at Subaru's shy awkwardness as well. The exchange was a good mood-lifter and distraction from the heaviness of the previous conversation.
Emilia took his averted gaze as an admission of guilt, until Puck confirmed that Subaru didn't have malicious intent. As Emilia panicked slightly upon realizing Subaru didn't know where her stolen item was, Subaru attempted to get up and collapsed.
There were slight murmurs in the theater.
"Ferris always forgets how delicate you are, Subaru," Felix said, trying to distract everyone with banter. It worked, at least in part.
"Delicate? What am I, a flower?" Subaru protested.
"Nyo, you're right, the better descriptor is frail, like an old woman," Felix said.
"Eh?!"
"Blown over by a stiff breeze," Felix continued.
"Like you're one to talk," Subaru said.
"Well, I was locked in a basement in my childhood. What's your excuse?" Felix said.
"I… what?" Subaru said.
"You are distinctly weaker than most," Reinhard mentioned. In truth, Reinhard didn't want to pry, but seeing this, it worried him how easily his friend could be beaten to near-death by people he knew had extremely below-average combat potential. "Is it a side effect of your summoning? Apologies for my forwardness."
"No, I've always been like this," Subaru said. "But most people in my world are nowhere near any of your levels. In fact, I'd say the average person has… hm, maybe Otto-level strength." "Otto?" Garfiel remarked, surprise. "Wow, cap'n, the people in your world are weak!"
Wilhelm couldn't help but agree. A world full of people as weak as Subaru? It was a miracle they hadn't all been slaughtered by Mabeasts… though, if there had been no Witch of Envy in their world, then perhaps there were no Mabeasts at all.
"It's more like all of you guys are freakishly strong," Subaru said.
"What should we do?" Puck asked Emilia.
"It's none of our business. He won't die. We'll just leave him."
"What?" Garfiel complained. "She keeps flipping back and forth!"
"A pretty heartless attitude from someone who could heal you right then, nya!" Felix said. He almost seemed to take personal offense as a healer.
"Don't worry, she'll change her mind about this again," Subaru dismissed.
Puck questioned Emilia, believing she'd still help him, while Emilia objected to the idea. Subaru, vision going blurry, thought to himself, She's even super cute when she's mad… that's a parallel world fantasy for you…
"Subaru-kyun liiikesss her," Felix teased.
Subaru didn't take that with embarrassment, though his face turned a bit red. He puffed out his chest. "Of course! Emilia-tan is the cutest."
Subaru woke up on a hairy lap. He questioned the situation, then got briefly confused, thinking the lap he was on was Emilia's. "I didn't know cute girls were this hairy..."
Garfiel started cackling at Subaru's mistake.
"This is so embarrassing!" Subaru said, flushing. "I thought no one would ever know about this!" As excited and nervous as he was at the prospect of someone being able to repel Satella so he could tell his friends, it seemed like they were only seeing his most awkward early-Subaru moments, at least to start. Half of these memories he'd buried forever.
"How do you even get in these situations, Subaru!" Felix said, though his laughter was a bit forced. He elbowed Julius. "Come on, Julius, laugh. It's funny."
Julius let out a semi-amused sigh. Though, despite the humor in the situation, he had a hard time being amused after learning Subaru had died seventeen times over the course of a year. And in addition, he was also made slightly uncomfortable by Subaru's strange attitude about women. Still, Julius was reluctant to nitpick the man's character after receiving the news he'd apparently been brutally murdered multiple times, and Subaru didn't seem malicious. Maybe he'd mention it later… or maybe not. He might just worsen the situation given Subaru's contrary nature towards him.
Emilia revealed she'd stayed with Subaru the whole time he was unconscious, then proceeded to argue unconvincingly that she'd done it for personal benefit, so that she could ask Subaru where her insignia had gone.
"She lost it?" Wilhelm couldn't help but say in disbelief. How irresponsible.
"Nyo wonder she was in such a hurry!" Felix said.
"Well, Emilia's got it now, so," Garfiel said.
"Indeed. Subaru and I assisted her in retrieving the insignia," Reinhard said.
"Wait… Felt stole…" Felix said. "And you were there-"
"That's how you found the fifth candidate, I take it," Julius said.
Reinhard could only nod. "The exact method of finding the fifth candidate was kept secret, as this information could potentially be damaging for both candidates if revealed… I hope you can understand."
"You're forgiven by my amazin' self!" Garfiel shouted, seemingly not realizing that Reinhard was discreetly asking them to not share that information around. Everyone sighed.
I'll just talk with him about it later, Reinhard decided.
Subaru, realizing that she'd spent so much time healing him in exchange for a nothing favor, seemed inspired by her generosity. "Anyone who lives like that… is going to end up wasting their whole lives!"
Julius couldn't help but give a wry smile. Though for a moment they'd seen a slightly foolish side to Subaru, they now bore witness to his virtuousness. Subaru truly was the type of person who would go out of his way to help others.
Subaru offered to help find the insignia, making up a fake reason to help her, just as she had. While Emilia hesitated, Puck assured her that he didn't hold any malice. The two started to search the capital.
Reinhard couldn't help but chuckle at their attempts at 'searching', including Subaru trying to pry into an abandoned building and waving around an amateurish doodle of Felt. It was a cute doodle. Maybe he should ask Subaru to draw her again, so he could give it to his Lady.
The two sat on a balcony, taking a short break, deciding to quickly introduce themselves. "My name is Natsuki Subaru! Not only am I clueless, I'm also broke beyond compare!"
"When that's all you say, you really do sound hopeless," Puck commented. "I'm Puck! Nice to meet you!" Puck flew into Subaru's hand, as Emilia commented it was unusual to see someone touch a spirit casually.
Julius found the situation fairly interesting. It was an early warning sign of Subaru's high spirit affinity… though of course, Subaru, unaccustomed to spirits, wouldn't have noticed the signs.
"Where are you from?" Emilia asked. Subaru said he was from an island nation to the east.
"Is that true, Subaru-dono?" Wilhelm said.
"Yup, I was being truthful. Not that it really helped me here," Subaru said.
Fascinating… Wilhelm couldn't help but wonder at the geography of Subaru's world. It looked and sounded fairly alien to their own.
As Emilia explained that there was no island nation to the east, she seemed to realize the situation Subaru was in, seemingly lacking both money and common knowledge. "You might be in an even more precarious position than I am… Subaru, was it?" Emilia asked. Subaru blushed, coughing slightly.
"Awww this is so cute!" Garfiel said.
Wilhelm couldn't help but agree. He's absolutely smitten…
Emilia began to theorize Subaru was a noble, by judging his fingers. Subaru waved off the question.
"If you don't mind, Subaru," Reinhard asked. "What was your position in your old world? Were you a noble, as she said?"
"Not exactly," Subaru said. "My world doesn't have nobles, everything is structured differently. My dad worked for a big company, he got paid well. So we were pretty well-off economically… though the standard of living in my world is a bit higher than yours anyways…"
Though curious, Reinhard let the subject go. Subaru seemed to be lost in thought.
Subaru asked for Emilia's name. "I'm… Satella," she said.
Felix gasped in disbelief while Garfiel shot up from his chair in indignation and confusion. Meanwhile, all Julius could do was gape at the audacity one must have to make such a claim. Did she really mean it? Wilhelm and Reinhard, for once unified, exchanged a grim glance.
"Woah guys, it's not like that!" Subaru waved his hands.
"Then what is it?" Felix asked. "Why would she say something like that?"
"She thought it would be dangerous to retrieve her insignia, so she gave me that false name to try to scare me away," Subaru explained.
"Oh," Garfiel said. He sat back down. The tension in the room eased a few notches.
"Still… what a risk," Wilhelm said. "If she'd said that to someone with sufficient power, they might have tried to eliminate her…"
"I think seeing me beaten up by random thugs assured her I wasn't a threat," Subaru said.
"I suppose that's true," Wilhelm said.
"It's still nyot a good idea!" Felix said. Most in the room couldn't help but agree.
"Regardless, I'm glad it was only that, and that there was a sufficient explanation," said Reinhard. He thought Emilia was a kind woman, it would be sad if she turned out to be a witch cultist.
"This might be awkward though, since you don't know what Satella means," Julius said.
Subaru gave a short laugh. "You have no idea…"
"I see… Satella… that's a nice name!" Subaru said.
"Baha-ha!" Garfiel laughed. "You have no idea!"
"Is she going to correct nya?" Felix wondered aloud.
"You have terrible taste," Puck said to Emilia, before vanishing behind her hair.
"Right, time to get back to asking around!"
"No, she's not," Felix said.
"Hopefully you refrain from referring to her as such in public," Julius said.
If only, Subaru thought to himself.
"Subaru, do you get the feeling that child is lost?" Emilia asked. She pointed out an unsure-looking green-haired child. Subaru questioned if they truly had time for that, but Emilia strongly insisted on helping the little girl.
"Emilia truly has a powerful moral compass," Julius said, respect for her growing. Previously, he'd seen her as naive, but he could respect someone who held fast to their ideals. That's what he did as a knight, after all.
"Indeed. It's interesting to see this side of her," Reinhard said.
Felix agreed as well. While Crusch was the best candidate of all, and he thought her significantly more qualified than Emilia, he was starting to see why the Dragon Tablet had chosen Emilia as a Royal Candidate in spite of her heritage.
Emilia attempted to comfort the girl and ask her where her parents were, but the girl only started crying harder.
"What I have here is a grooved-edge ten-yen coin!" Subaru said. He distracted the girl with a magic trick, cheering her up.
"You're good with children, Subaru-dono," Wilhelm said.
Subaru grinned. "A magic trick or two will cheer anyone up!"
Subaru and Emilia started leading the girl back to her parents.
"People who don't know us probably think we're a married couple and child, right? How embarrassing," Subaru said.
"At best, I can't see you as anything more than her older brother," Emilia said.
Garfiel started laughing hysterically.
"Oh come on!" Subaru complained.
"How… how can you flirt with her so confidently after this… when she responded to you like that!?" Garfiel howled.
"Well technically it never happened!" Subaru said, flushing red. "And you know, most people say that looking young is a compliment!"
"Not if they think you look twelve," Felix said.
"I don't look like I'm twelve!" Subaru protested.
Reinhard tilted his head. Subaru did have a bit of a baby face, but it was clear from the eyes of any normal person that he was an adult, above fifteen. "She is a half-elf, correct? Considering most elves have vastly longer lifespans, it is probable that she has difficulty judging the ages of others," he said.
Subaru thought on that for a second. "That makes sense. She tends to really underestimate how old people are sometimes…"
The girl found her mother, causing both Subaru and Emilia to smile. After, the two sat on the bridge, and started discussing the 'benefit' they'd each gotten from helping the little girl. Emilia argued she'd done it so they could search with their minds at ease, while Subaru said he was getting tomorrow's good deed out of the way.
"Are you both allergic to simply saying you were inclined to something kind?" Julius said, exasperated.
Subaru scratched his head. "Well, Emilia kept pretending to be selfish, so I just went along with it…"
Julius sighed, putting his head in his hands.
"You're basically the type that wastes their whole life, aren't you?" Emilia said.
"You're the last one I want to say that to me."
"You're not a bad boy, though."
"Why are you treating me like I'm younger than you, again?!"
"Hm, before now, I've never given much thought to Lady Emilia's age, but it is possible that she is the oldest out of all the candidates, given her heritage," Wilhelm said.
"Kinda," Subaru said. "Her age is complicated, actually. But emotionally speaking, she's not older than the other candidates at all."
What Subaru meant is that since Emilia was frozen through the past hundred years, her mind hadn't had the chance to age while her body had, but without context, most everyone else in the room thought he was simply calling her immature.
Emilia mentioned that making guesses on her age likely wouldn't help him, because she was a half-elf. As she said this, she hid her face.
"Now I get it," Subaru said.
The theater waited, curious, wondering what realization Subaru had come to.
"No wonder I thought you were so cute! Elves are always beautiful, right?"
Garfiel gave a half-crooked smile, as did most of the rest of the room.
"Aw. She's gonna be so happy you said that, cap'n," Garfiel said.
"Ah…it's a shame she won't remember, but I appreciate you saying that," Subaru said. And Subaru felt fond looking back at this, too. At the time, he hadn't realized what he was saying would be so impactful to Emilia.
Emilia looked shocked, and repeated that she was a half-elf.
"Yeah, I heard you," Subaru said.
Emilia seemed to be in complete disbelief.
Felix felt an odd kinship with Emilia. Though regular demihumans weren't as hated as elves and half-elves in the public sphere, he could relate to the likely discrimination she'd dealt with.
Then, Puck shot out of her hair and gave Subaru a tiny punch.
"What'd you do that for?"
"I just had to do something about this unbearable tingle I feel!" Puck said.
"Ah, you've earned the respect of her Great Spirit," Wilhelm said.
"Indeed." Julius found it fitting that Subaru would end up a Spirit Knight.
Puck and Emilia, though clearly quite touched by what Subaru had just said, didn't fully explain their feelings. Instead, Emilia just said they should get back to searching.
"Subaru is chronically underinformed," Julius said.
"I wouldn't be if they'd just explained anything!" Subaru complained.
"I don't imagine they realized you had no idea about commonplace discrimination or the taboo on the Witch's Name," Reinhard mentioned.
The two decided to go back to the scene of the crime. They attempted to ask the fruit seller where Felt might have gone, but Emilia revealed she didn't have money, causing the appa seller to tell them to scram.
"Mister!" a little girl's voice called. It was revealed that the girl they'd helped earlier was actually the appa seller's daughter.
"What a happy coincidence, nya!" Felix said.
"Now he'll feel awkward for tellin' ya off!" Garfiel said.
The screen changed to Emilia and Subaru in the slums. A brief flashback reveals that the appa seller had recognized the doodle, and recommended they search for Felt in the slums.
Reinhard felt a pit in his stomach, knowing that Subaru was walking closer to the potential danger of Elsa.
"Did he send nya the right way?" Felix asked.
"Yep!" Subaru said.
"So your favor did come back around to help you," Wilhelm said.
As the sun began to set, Puck revealed that he would soon need to go to sleep, as his ideal staying time was 9 to 5. With some encouragement from Emilia, he entered back into his pyroxene crystal.
Though few understood screen-Subaru's odd comments about Puck's time limit (civil servant?) the theater began to notice that night was falling and that the pair's strongest combatant was out of commission.
I can already see this not going well… Julius thought.
Emilia summoned lesser spirits to ask about the location of Felt. Subaru looked on in amazement.
The night continued to get darker.
"Does she really live in a place like this?"
"The lesser spirits said they saw someone like Felt going in this direction."
The two talked to a man in the slums, who pointed them to Old Man Rom's loothouse and suggested that they negotiate to get it back.
"Negotiate? When she's the one that stole it, nya?" Felix said.
"It likely is the best way to avoid a fight, unfair as it may seem," Reinhard said.
They arrived at the loothouse. Subaru volunteered to go in first, and Emilia agreed, despite a little bit of skepticism in Subaru's abilities. "Do your best!" she said.
"Yeah! You can do it!" Garfiel said.
Reinhard clenched a fist.
"I'll go in first. You stay outside and keep watch." In a deeper voice, Subaru said, "I won't be back too late, but you can have dinner without me."
"Don't say dumb things like that," Emilia said.
"It is an odd thing to say," Felix said.
"I was imitating my dad," Subaru admitted.
A few of the people in the room looked at him in curiosity.
"You've never talked about your family much, Subaru," Wilhelm said.
"Ah, I'll tell you all about them later," Subaru said. Let's get this part over with…
"Don't come in until I say it's alright, Satella," Subaru said.
Emilia looked at him in slight shock.
"Did she forget she named herself that?" Garfiel said.
Julius just sighed.
"What?" "N-nothing. If you can get my insignia back, I'll apologize."
At least she's realizing she probably shouldn't have done that, Julius said. Though, I suppose she can't be faulted for Subaru's lack of understanding about how this world works… anyone else would have chastised her for it already, and so the lie wouldn't have gone on this long.
Subaru entered the loothouse, only to find it mysteriously empty. Subaru questioned why there wasn't anyone there guarding the significant amount of stolen merchandise. Subaru stepped into something wet. Looking down, he realized it was a pool of blood.
"... Well, that ain't good…" Garfiel said.
The camera panned to reveal the bloodied corpse of Rom.
Reinhard bit his lip, feeling a bit sick at the sight. Through the last few months, he'd grown to be quite friendly with Rom, who was wise and also cared about Felt's best interests.
Wilhelm blinked, furrowing his brow at the sight. He felt faint recognition upon seeing the corpse, though his main worry was with Subaru in this situation.
Subaru breathed heavily, looking horrified.
"Oh dear, you found that?" a feminine voice said. "Well, I have no choice, then."
There was the sound of metal tearing through flesh as Subaru was thrown across the loothouse, tumbling to the ground.
"Oh shit!" Garfiel said.
"So this is it for you," Julius said, frowning deeply.
"...Yeah," Subaru sighed.
"Ow, that burns-" Subaru looked to his stomach, which had been sliced open by the blade. "Oh crap… is all of this my blood?" Subaru coughed up blood.
That's definitely a fatal wound, unless Emilia and her healing magic come to save him in the next five minutes, Felix thought.
"This is bad… very bad…" Subaru collapsed to the floor.
The door opened. "Subaru? What's wrong?"
"Oh no," Garfiel said.
Subaru dug his nails into his arm. He didn't like dwelling on his old deaths, because he hated seeing what happened to his loved ones as he was dying. And in this, Emilia…
Subaru tried to warn Emilia, but he could only croak weakly. "Run… hurry…"
Emilia didn't hear him, and she was swiftly cut down.
At first, Felix had felt somewhat skeptical at Subaru's explanation of 'Return by Death.' But now, seeing this hyper-realistic vision of Subaru bleeding to death on the floor… and Subaru endorsing it as the truth…
Slowly and painfully, Subaru reached his hand out toward Emilia.
"Wait there… I'm going to… save you…" Subaru grasped her hand.
Then, Subaru was back at the appa stand.
"So you really can…" Felix murmured. "That's… that's horrific! What kind of cursed power…"
Subaru wasn't offended by his statement, despite the slight accusatory tone. "I ask myself that every day," he said.
"Indeed. Though, at least his power helps him continue to live," Wilhelm said.
"Death is horrible! Everyone should only die once!" Felix declared.
"Uh…" Subaru said.
"We agree, Felix," Reinhard said. "It would be much better if Subaru received a Divine Blessing that allowed him to protect himself, rather than having to suffer the consequences of being powerless."
Reinhard's easy agreement seemed to deflate Felix's anger.
"...Yeah," Felix said.
There was an awkward silence.
"Sorry for making it about me, Subaru-kyun," Felix said. "I don't hold it against you."
"It's fine!" Subaru assured. "It is kind of a messed up power…"
"We're glad to have you with us, Subaru," Julius said. "But it is a shame you've had to suffer like that."
"Never knew you had it in you to be so sincere, Julius," Subaru murmured.
"Now I'm gonna protect cap'n so he doesn't have to die anymore!" Garfiel said, still holding on to Subaru's hand.
"Indeed. Garfiel, is it?" Wilhelm said.
"Yep! Garfiel Tinsel! Don't forget it!" Garfiel said.
In truth, while the new Emilia Camp member seemed confident and enthusiastic, none of the others had truly had a chance to evaluate his strength.
Hopefully he has the power to back up his claim, Julius said. After all, Garfiel is the only one who will be consistently in contact with Subaru after this. But if he's weaker than we expect, we can simply inform Emilia and others of similar strength, and they can protect him moving forward.
Subaru looked around the street in confusion. He checked his belly, only to see that the wound was gone. "Oh right, Satella! Damn it, didn't Puck ask me to take care of her?"
"And she never told you her real name." Julius facepalmed.
Subaru, not realizing the truth about the situation, decided he needed to get back to the loothouse as soon as possible.
"You don't realize what's going on, nya?" Felix asked.
"Well, it is a weird situation," Subaru said. "Time travel by death wasn't at all my first thought… all I could really think about was how I'd promised to save Emilia…"
"That may make things significantly more difficult for you," Wilhelm said.
"Still, cap'n can do it!" Garfiel said.
"He likely just needs a minute to get his bearings," Reinhard agreed.
"All of you have way too much faith in me…" Subaru muttered.
Subaru ran into an alley, encountering the thugs again.
"Seriously?!" Felix said. "Was that even the same alley?"
"I think they might have been trailing me, thinking I was an easy mark as a confused tourist," Subaru said. "Which I was, if I'm being honest."
Screen-Subaru theorized that the three might have singled him out to get revenge for the last time they'd met.
Julius shook his head. Events are repeating themselves, and he still doesn't realize… well, I can't blame him too much. This must all be a serious shock.
Since Subaru was in a hurry, he decided to comply with the muggers' demands instead of fighting them. The shortest one wasn't satisfied with that, however. "Now act like a dog. Get on all fours like a dog and howl, 'Help me!'" the thug jeered.
Reinhard winced. Camberley. A bit vicious, and never knows when to quit.
The rest of the theater felt similarly disgusted and either glared at the screen, or, in Julius' case, meaningfully side-eyed Reinhard.
Subaru's eyes grew angry. "Don't get cocky, bastard!" With a quick movement, Subaru uppercut the thug with the twin knives.
"And so, knowing that thug was the most dangerous from your past experience, you targeted him first," Wilhelm observed. The potential of his power is already coming into play…
Subaru landed a roundhouse kick on the smallest thug, knocking him out. Then, after a semi-nonsensical comment about truancy and swinging around wooden swords, Subaru kicked the third thug between the legs, causing serious pain. The third thug stopped fighting, instead supporting himself against the wall.
"I'm in a hurry! Don't get in my way again!" Subaru said.
"That was so badass!" Garfiel cheered.
"And that wasn't what happened," Reinhard said. "Did you-"
"Yeah, I died again," Subaru said.
"Seriously?!" Felix said.
"...Yeah," Subaru said.
"Even not knowing that you'd gone back in time, you should have at least called the Royal Guards if you truly thought someone dangerous was still there!" Felix said.
"I didn't know the Royal Guards existed, to be honest," Subaru said. "...Though maybe I should have guessed."
"...Ah," Julius said.
"Yeah, but anyways, there were definitely ways I could have been more efficient or strategic in these first few loops… but I didn't know anyone, I was totally panicking the whole time… and I didn't even realize I time-traveled…" Subaru said.
"That's only realistic, when you think about it," Wilhelm said. "You don't need to apologize for that, Subaru-dono."
"Ah, thanks," Subaru said.
The scene changed to Subaru at the loothouse. "Don't freak out… don't freak out…" Subaru crept towards the door. As he was about to knock, Subaru's face was full of fear and unsurety. "Am I stupid?"
"You're quite brave, Subaru," Reinhard said. He had a difficult time imagining what it would be like to go into a place like that, fully knowing that you might suffer and perish. For him, that was never a question.
"Yeah, you're just tryin' to save 'milia!" Garfiel said.
As much as Subaru appreciated their praise, he had to disagree. There's a fine line between brave and stupid… he thought to himself. I definitely crossed it.
Subaru pounded on the door. It was answered by the giant who'd previously been seen murdered. Screen-Subaru looked at the guy in shock.
"So you showed up before the killer did," Julius said. "That's good… it gives you some time to work with, even if you don't succeed this time."
"Yeah, I probably wouldn't have been able to salvage the situation at all if Elsa had attacked them before I met the appa seller," Subaru said.
Wilhelm recognized the giant as his foe from the demi-human war. Frowning, but deciding not to comment on the information, Wilhelm simply filed it away for later.
Rom drank a few gulps of beer. After some back-and-forth banter between Rom and Subaru, Subaru finally decided to ask how Rom could be alive. "Actually, this is a dumb question, but… Have you died recently?"
Rom laughed, taking it as a joke. "Well, I admit I'm an old man at death's door, but I ain't really died yet."
Reinhard smiled half-fondly at Rom's good humor, but he, like everyone else in the theater, couldn't help but feel on-edge. After all, they had no idea when Subaru's killer would be arriving.
"Okay, then have you seen a girl with silver hair?"
"I ain't seen anyone that conspicuous."
Subaru started to wonder if it had all been a dream.
"Were nya thinking you had precognitive visions?" Felix asked.
"I was kinda considering that," Subaru said. "But I wasn't sure at all. In this loop I was mostly trying to buy back Emilia's insignia and then get out of dodge."
"You were still trying to retrieve her insignia, even after going through all that?" Wilhelm said, a tad surprised. "Most would have given up…"
"I wanted to repay her for her kindness in the alley!" Subaru said. "And since I promised to help her, I got really focused…"
Subaru discussed the insignia he was looking for, and he and Rom came to the conclusion that it would be with the loot Felt was bringing in that day. Subaru mentioned that he didn't have any money, but that he had things to trade.
The people in the theater were just as curious as Rom to what Subaru had brought with him. "What kinda stuff did ya bring from home?" Garfiel asked.
"Just that bag full of snacks, my tracksuit, and my phone," Subaru said. "The phone being what you would call a 'metia.' Since it was the only thing of worth I had on me, I was planning to trade it to Rom for the insignia."
Subaru truly is like a child sometimes, Julius thought, though he didn't mean it condescendingly. Proud and naive… but exceedingly well-intentioned. It is only someone like that who would trade away everything of value that they owned, just to help someone else they'd just met… Emilia is certainly lucky she stumbled upon him in her time of need.
Subaru showed Rom the corn potage snack as an example of a unique item he had to trade, and Rom began to eat it.
"You just implied you were gonnya trade that and he started eating it?" Felix protested.
Subaru shrugged. "Eh… it was irritating at the time, but it wouldn't have been enough to buy the insignia. All of this got undone anyway," Subau said.
Felix grumbled slightly.
Subaru waited for Felt to arrive with the insignia. He waited outside the loothouse, observing the area around him in the slums. "I guess, in any world, there are people with money and people without…"
Moments later, Felt arrived. She didn't recognize him, but she easily brushed him off by saying she didn't remember people. Disregarding that, Subaru explained to Felt he wanted to negotiate for the insignia, to her happiness.
Julius grimaced. The killer is bound to be arriving soon… night is falling, and in the last loop, Rom's body was found when it was dark out.
Inside, after Felt and Rom greeted each other and bantered, they got down to business. Felt showed Subaru the insignia, which glowed as she held it.
"It's glowin'!" Garfiel said, pointing. "So she's a Royal Candidate for real, huh?"
"Was there ever any doubt?" Julius said.
"Nah… just cool to see, I guess," Garfiel said, scratching the back of his head. "It really glows, like 'n all the stories!"
Subaru told them he had no money, but brought out his phone to trade. He took pictures of their faces. Though the two were shocked by the flashes of light, they were intrigued by the photos of them that Subaru showed them.
"Them's me and Felt's faces. What sort of magic is that?"
"I told you, it's a mystical item that can freeze a moment in time."
"Freeze a moment in time?" Julius echoed.
"It's a 'photograph'," Subaru said. "Maybe it'd be better explained by saying that it can instantly create a hyper-accurate portrait."
"That's fascinating," Reinhard said. "So it has multiple functions?"
"Yep!" Subaru said. "A phone has many uses, that one was just the easiest to show off."
"What can I get out of this 'metia'?" Felt asked.
"I'd say there's no doubt it'll fetch more than that insignia."
"Then that settles it! This cell phone for that insignia! Negotiations complete!" Subaru reached for the insignia, but Felt snatched it away.
"Nope. Not yet."
"Why not?"
"You're not the only one I'm negotiating with this for. Besides, I nabbed this because I was asked to. My client told me I could get ten holy coins for it!"
"That's not an insignificant sum," Julius said.
"Nor can it be a coincidence that the insignia was the target," Wilhelm said. "It seems quite obvious to me that someone was trying to sabotage Emilia's chances in the Royal Selection."
"Oh, definitely," Subaru said, though he wasn't sure exactly who.
Did Roswaal do it? Roswaal hired Elsa to attack the mansion later, but would he really have hired Elsa to steal Emilia's own insignia when he wants her to win? Well, maybe the gospel told him to. Yeah, that's probably it.
"The metia you have is worth at least twenty holy coins… no, there are probably fanciers who'd pay more for a thing like that."
Despite the fact that Subaru was in the lead in the deal, Felt insisted on waiting for the other client to arrive so they could all negotiate together. As she said that, there was a knock at the door.
Subaru braced himself. This would be another painful loop.
"Over here. Care to sit down?" Felt said as Elsa the Bowel Hunter walked into the building.
"So it was her!" Garfiel growled. "I thought I knew her voice, and you kept calling her Elsa, but now it's clear as day that she's the one who killed you!"
Elsa questioned the outsiders present in the deal. Felt revealed that Old Man Rom was there to protect her, while Subaru was there as her bidding rival.
"Well, this situation is going to go downhill fyast," Felix said.
Elsa didn't immediately attack the group. Instead, she first attempted to negotiate. Taking a drink of milk, she said, "I see… I understand the situation now."
Subaru offered up his insignia, saying that Rom evaluated it at twenty holy coins.
"As it happens, the client sent me with some extra funds," Elsa said.
"The client… so you were sent to fetch it, too?" Subaru asked.
"That's right. The client is the one who wants it. Would you happen to be in the same business?" Elsa asked.
"Being in the same business as me would mean they're unemployed!" Subaru loudly announced.
"Ahaha! Nice one, cap'n," Garfiel said.
"Subaru, no," Felix said. "She's going to kill you."
"Yeah I don't think saying that helped matters," Subaru said.
"Maybe if you'd pretended to be a saboteur as well, she might have let you go with the insignia," Julius said.
"Doubtful. She wanted it bad," Subaru said. "But I might have been given a better shot if I'd taken that route… ah well, too late now."
Elsa pulled out a bag of money. Rom counted twenty holy coins, to Felt's shock.
"Don't make such a pathetic face," Rom told Subaru. "Your metia is worth no less than twenty… as I see it, victory in this deal is leaning towards the boy."
Subaru jumped into the air with excitement.
"I don't imagine she'll let you leave," Julius said, with slight dread.
"Yeah, no, here's where things go wrong," Subaru said.
Elsa finished her milk. "Well, this deal has ended in disappointment for me, but I'll be taking my leave now. By the way, what do you intend to do with that insignia?"
Subaru proudly declared he'd return it to its original owner.
"Oh no," Garfiel said.
"That's the wrong answer indeed," Wilhelm said.
Darkness overtook Elsa's face. "So you're with them, then."
"I knew it!" Garfiel said. "Ugh, she's so evil!"
Felt tackled Subaru out of the way of a fatal strike. Rom pulled out a club and attempted to attack Elsa, but she dodged and parried with ease.
"Don't worry! There's no way Old Man Rom will lose!" Felt said, confidently.
"Uh-" Felix started.
"Yeah, he lost," Subaru said, grimacing.
"Poor guy," Garfiel said. "Fighting a vampire like Elsa ain't a piece of cake!"
"A vampire?" Wilhelm said.
"You should see the way she regenerates, I say ain't no way she's not a vampire," Garfiel said.
Wilhelm's brow furrowed. Vampires weren't real. Perhaps the young lad simply saw her incredible fighting prowess and decided that she must be a vampire as a result.
Elsa sliced off Rom's arm in a gruesome display. Felt screamed as blood spattered across her face.
Reinhard felt his heart stutter. He didn't typically feel emotions deeply, but he was certainly developing a distaste for this assassin who tormented his lady. He would never let this happen in this timeline.
Elsa stabbed Rom in the throat with a broken glass.
"You bitch… how dare you!?" Felt joined the fight, attempting to strike at Elsa.
Elsa easily parried.
"How wonderful… I can see you are loved by this world. I envy you!"
Elsa sliced down, opening up Felt's organs vertically as blood splattered against the walls. Felt collapsed to the ground.
"Lady Felt…" Reinhard bit his lip. Felix shot him a sympathetic look.
He hadn't thought about how him not being there would have resulted in her immediate death. It was a common-sense deduction considering the strength of the Bowel Hunter, but he hadn't dwelt on it. Now, Reinhard wished that Felt was here with him, so he could be completely assured of her safety.
Subaru struggled to his feet as the Bowel Hunter taunted him for taking so long. He cocked an arm and ran towards Elsa, with awful fighting form.
The theater winced at the sight, knowing Subaru couldn't possibly survive against her.
Elsa kicked him across the room. "But it's no use. I can see you're a novice, and your movements are rough. You have no divine protections or techniques. I had hoped to squeeze wisdom out of you, but you lack that, too."
"Shut up! I do have my pride! After you've put me through all this…"
"I would say that you should've run, but I doubt you could have outrun an enemy like Elsa anyway, nya," Felix said. "There wasn't much hope, here…"
"You did face death with dignity…" Wilhelm said.
"Thanks guys…" Subaru sighed.
"I do acknowledge that you have extraordinary determination. If only you could have done that sooner, things might have gone differently for these two." The screen switched, showing their corpses.
Subaru grimaced.
"Don't fall for her taunt," Julius said, seeing Subaru's expression.
"Huh?" Subaru said.
"She's seen your fighting ability. Despite your extraordinary determination, she's fully aware that no matter how you fought her, that you had no capability to defeat her… and neither did Felt or Rom. She was simply tormenting you," Julius said.
Subaru thought back to how tough Elsa was when she attacked the manor. "I suppose you're right… but on the other hand, I did manage to change fate, even if not by myself. I don't mind that she said that, because I was given another chance."
Subaru squared up again. As Elsa swung her blade toward him, remembering how she always aimed for the belly, Subaru spun around on his foot and jumped backward.
"Ah hell yeah!" Garfiel said.
He used the surprise of the dodge to swing his foot around, landing a hard kick on Elsa. Though it shoved her back, it didn't seem to do any real damage.
"Getting in a hit on someone like her is no easy feat," Reinhard complimented.
"Yeah… though at no small cost…" Subaru said.
Subaru looked down, and saw that his belly had been sliced open.
Elsa revealed a second blade. "Are you surprised? I opened up your belly as we passed by one another."
Subaru collapsed to the ground.
The air was solemn and quiet in the theater as Subaru started to die again.
Elsa crouched down in front of him. "As I thought… your guts have such a lovely color!" she said, sounding thrilled.
"This is sickening," Felix growled.
It hurts… it hurts… it hurts it hurts! Subaru thought.
"Does it hurt? Are you suffering?" Elsa asked,
It… doesn't hurt?
"In pain? Sad? Do you want to die?"
"This is so fucked up!" Garfiel said. "What a psycho bitch!"
"A monstrous woman," Julius said in agreement, voice full of disgust.
Die? Am I dead? Am I still alive? When will I die? I'm scared!
"Slowly, slowly, slowly-" Elsa said.
Wilhelm's face morphed into a deep scowl. If that woman weren't already dead, he would have vowed to kill her with his own sword for this.
Garfiel held tighter to Subaru's hand.
Tears streamed down Subaru's face. I'm scared…
"Yes, you're slowly losing body heat… you're slowly growing cold…"
Oh… I'm dead.
Subaru woke back up at the appa stand.
There was a moment of silence.
"I must admit," Reinhard said. "I am glad you struck her down, Garfiel."
"Yeah! Fuck that shit!" Garfiel said.
"Subaru… are you alright?" Julius asked, praying Subaru wouldn't take it as an insult.
"Well, I suppose I am now," Subaru said.
"Can anyone really be okay after that?" Felix said. It was meant to be more of an inquiry than an accusation, but Subaru's face turned into a frown and he seemed to withdraw.
"It's fine," Subaru said. "I'm fine." When no one seemed to believe this, Subaru puffed himself up. "You don't need to worry about me, that crazy assassin lady was squashed flat!"
Subaru's always had a lot of bluster, Julius said. And he's very eccentric. Has that attitude this whole time been hiding pain?
Still, Julius decided to break the silence, for Subaru's sake. The longer it went on, the more Subaru's expression was starting to crumple. "Let's get back to watching," Julius said. The look on Subaru's face was that of an animal trying to protect its wounds, and all Julius could feel when looking at it was pity. "The sooner we finish-"
"The sooner this can end, yes," Subaru said. "I agree."
Silence fell once more as attention turned to the screen.
"What's the matter, boy? You look like you've seen a ghost. Boy, you okay?"
"I have no idea what's going on anymore…" Subaru passed out in front of the appa stand. Moments later, he woke up to the appa salesman splashing water on his face and offering him water and appas for free.
"That's quite kind of him," Julius mentioned.
"Heh, Kadomon can be harsh, but he's a good guy inside," Subaru said.
"Kadomon? Wait, I don't remember him introducing himself… don't tell me that this isn't the last loop…" Julius said.
"Well, I learned his name some other day… but uh, no, it's not."
"Seriously?!" Garfiel said, growling. "Damn it!"
"How many times are you going to die against that madwoman?" Felix said.
"We're almost done, no worries," Subaru said, nodding towards the screen.
No worries? Reinhard thought to himself, frowning. He was very worried, and was barely resisting approaching Subaru from his side of the room. To do what he wasn't sure. He wasn't sure how to comfort or talk someone through something. He just wanted to be closer.
Subaru saw Emilia passing by. He pushed past the appa seller and ran toward her.
"Wait! Satella!"
Everyone grimaced.
"Uh oh," Garfiel said. "That ain't gonna go over well…"
"That's probably the rudest thing you could have said to her, not that you know that," Felix pointed out. "This is why I said it was a bad idea for her to tell you…"
"What, you predicted something like this would happen?" Subaru goaded.
"It's just asking for trouble!" Felix insisted.
Emilia stopped at those words.
"Please don't ignore me!" Subaru said. "My dying and not doing what you said were my fault! But I was desperate! I went back to the loot house after that, but I couldn't find you…"
The crowd looked uncomfortable as Emilia turned around.
"Are you gonna get shanked by one of the demihuman's in the crowd?" Garfiel asked. It wasn't an unrealistic expectation.
"Kinda close, but not really," Subaru said.
"Well, it seems obvious this is another… unsuccessful attempt. I doubt the relationship between you and your liege would be so close if this had occurred…" Wilhelm said.
"Heh. You're probably right about that, though Emilia-tan's pretty forgiving…"
"I'm sorry for only thinking of myself. But I'm glad you're alright, Satella."
Everyone winced as Subaru used the name again.
"What are you thinking?! I don't know who you are, but don't call me by the name of the Witch of Envy!" Emilia said, visibly upset.
As Emilia and Subaru looked into each other's eyes, the screen turned to a title card reading: "The End of the Beginning and the Beginning of the End."
"Is that it?" Julius said.
"But what happens next?!" Garfiel said. "I wanna see!"
"Looks like that was the first episode…" Subaru said. "Are we allowed… to leave?"
The voice returned to answer the question.
PER MY CONTRACT, I MUST OFFER YOU THE OPTION OF LEAVING. BUT ALTERNATIVELY, YOU MAY STAY, AND CONTINUE TO SEE SUBARU'S MEMORIES.
"I think the answer here is obvious," Reinhard said. "Despite what we have learned, we should continue to respect Subaru's privacy, so unless he prefers us to stay, we should choose to leave."
Reinhard's words were answered by nods all around the room. Though Garfiel was disappointed, he also nodded along, seeing the truth in Reinhard's words.
NOBLE. I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT SAY SO. BUT THERE ARE A FEW MORE FACTORS THAT MUST BE CONSIDERED. ONCE SUBARU RETURNS TO YOUR WORLD, HE WILL NO LONGER BE PERMITTED TO SPEAK ON THIS SUBJECT.
"No longer be permitted to speak?" Reinhard said, confused.
"Yeah, I'm actually not allowed to talk about it," Subaru said. "There's a taboo on Return by Death. Trying to talk about it causes pain so bad it takes my breath away-and if I try to fight through it, I'll just die and restart."
The five in the theater looked at Subaru incredulously.
"That's very suspicious… nya. Who's stopping you from talking? Did you make a contract at some point?" Felix said. For someone to do that without a contract, they'd have to be insanely powerful…
"No, but the effect is very real," Subaru said, shaking his head. I probably shouldn't tell them it's caused by Satella just yet… it's not a good thing to be associated with the witch in Lugnica. "So yeah, if we return back early, I can't tell you anything. But hey, mysterious voice, couldn't I just talk about it here? Then I can tell them everything before we go."
FROM HERE ON OUT, YOU WILL BE FORBIDDEN FROM GIVING SPOILERS.
"What?!" Subaru was slightly incensed. "But I wanted to talk about-" As Subaru tried to continue, he broke out coughing. Instead of speaking words, he coughed up bubbles. Everyone gave him slight looks of alarm. "What the hell- why won't you let me talk, bastard?!"
THEY ARE NOT HERE TO LISTEN TO YOU EXPLAIN EVERYTHING. THEY ARE HERE TO VIEW YOUR MEMORIES.
Subaru growled, gnashing his teeth.
"So if we don't continue, we'll never know what else Subaru's been through," Julius said.
CORRECT. AND I HAVE ONE FINAL LAST DEAL TO SWEETEN THE POT. IF YOU AGREE TO WATCH SUBARU'S MEMORIES OF THE PAST, I WILL PERMIT YOU TO WATCH HIS MEMORIES OF THE FUTURE.
"The future?" Reinhard said. "Can that really be the truth?"
Like a gospel, or Echidna's predictions? Subaru wondered.
THE FUTURE IS IN FLUX, BUT SEEING THIS ITERATION OF IT WILL GIVE YOU INFORMATION ON THREATS, PAST AND FUTURE. THE NEXT ATTACK OF THE WITCH CULT. THE LOCATION OF GLUTTONY. ETCETERA.
Felix and Wilhelm couldn't help it-the words location of gluttony caused them both to perk up. Meanwhile, everyone was interested in knowing where the next attack of the witch cult would be, especially Subaru.
Subaru was torn. He shouldn't let his embarrassment over his past loops stop him from allowing everyone to get such vital information, but there were other factors and potential harms too.
The one most present in his mind being Garfiel.
He wouldn't forget how Garfiel, in his mindless beast form, had killed Patrasche and torn Otto in two. Their whole group would have to see that- Garfiel would be heartbroken. Subaru really didn't want Garfiel to ever have to know.
But what if the future information helped him save Rem? And could he really let Felix and Wilhelm down by denying them information that might help Crusch?
"I could agree with this," Subaru said. "But before you guys agree, listen to me seriously."
Everyone turned to look at Subaru.
"If you agree, you're probably going to see a lot of gruesome things… you're probably going to see the worst of others, the worst of your friends, potentially even the worst of yourselves," Subaru said. "And you'll definitely see the worst of me."
Everyone was silent in the face of this solemn warning.
"Even knowing that, are you guys still willing to move forward?"
Garfiel was the first to speak. "We gotta, cap'n!"
"If you're alright with it, I must agree," Julius said.
"I concur," Reinhard said.
"We appreciate the sacrifices you're making, Subaru-dono," Wilhelm said. "And on this matter I would like to speak too. Memories are a private thing. We all must remember that there are things we all wish to remain hidden-before you critique Subaru-dono on something that we all previously did not know about him, remember what it would be like for all your secrets to be aired, and that he has generously allowed us to witness his."
Everyone nodded at this.
"Oh, yeah. One more thing. Mysterious voice, if you're lying to us, Reinhard's gonna kill you with the Dragon Sword," Felix said. "Aside from that, I also agree."
AHAHA, GREAT… the voice said. OKAY. SINCE YOU ALL AGREE, I'LL BOOT UP THE NEXT EPISODE. IF YOU EVER NEED REST, THERE ARE ROOMS AND SNACKS IN MY BEAUTIFUL POCKET DIMENSION.
"Let's just start up the next one, I wanna see what happens!" Garfiel said. There were no objections to this. The screen changed, showing the next episode.
Episode Two: Reunion with the Witch
A\N: Cross-posting from ao3. Hope y'all enjoy!