Chapter 7: Unexpected Consequences
All of Subaru's being was consumed by pain. His chest hurt; breathing hurt; his head was pounding. But perhaps more pressing was the sensation that his back was being clawed apart. With great hesitation he opened his eyes, and in small movements muted by agony he caught a glimpse of a teary-eyed, blood spattered Emilia tending to him. Just what had he screwed up this time?
It didn't take long for memories of being held hostage and beaten to come back. More confusing were hazy memories of dying. Had he died? Actually, had he died twice?
Shaking the disturbing thought away his eyes went searching for wounds on Emilia. To his confusion, despite her being absolutely drenched in blood, she didn't seem to be hurt at all. Whose blood was that then? It couldn't be his, Subaru was pretty certain he couldn't lose that much blood and live. Shoving aside the reemerging nonsensical feeling that he had died, if it wasn't his or Emilia's blood would that make it the mercenaries? As hard as it was to believe that seemed to be the most reasonable explanation. If Emilia hadn't done something to the mercenaries he wouldn't be here, safe and sound.
"I'm sorry," Subaru's scream-worn voice rasped out.
"Subaru!?" Emilia thoughtlessly wrapped him in an awkward hug from behind, relieved to hear Subaru awake again.
As much as Subaru tried to hold it in, he couldn't help but cry out in pain at Emilia's unintentionally rough treatment.
"Why don't you let me take over and keep him company while I finish treating the wounds on his back," suggested a voice that Subaru hadn't heard before.
"Ah. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" Emilia trailed off in a frenzy of frantic rapid-fire apologies. Subaru managed to force his trademark grin across his face, and Emilia calmed down ever so slightly.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. It's my fault for being useless again." The words of self-reproach barely scratched out of Subaru's throat, yet Emilia's recoil was such that it would have seemed more fitting if Subaru had yelled.
"I'm always relying on you to take care of me here, everytime I try to do anything I just make things worse. That monster in the snow, I stab myself and make you have to worry about me. The mercenaries, I get caught and make you have to kill people to save me. I can't do anything!"
"That's not right at all!" Emilia thundered with uncharacteristic intensity, unshed tears glistening in her eyes. "Both of those were my fault! If I'd have done more, you wouldn't have gotten hurt at all. If I hadn't worried so much about being nice to the people trying to kill us, if I hadn't been so afraid of my power that one time, I could have ended both fights easily."
Left unspoken were further regrets a century in the past. If she'd done anything back then, if she hadn't run away like a scared little girl, then maybe Geuse and Fortuna would still be with her. Emilia hated her cowardice-hated that her inaction kept hurting everyone around her.
"I don't want it to be all on you. I want to be worth something, be a friend worth having. I couldn't own up to the reputation my Dad has, couldn't be a good enough son to repay them even a little bit for being my parents, couldn't be a good enough guy to keep a single friend. And now-now I can't do a single thing for the only friend I've ever had! I'm just as weak, stupid, and useless as I've always been!"
Subaru's already worn voice grated miserably as long simmering doubts bubbled forth. Emilia couldn't help but watch on silently in stunned confusion. A concerned onlooker finally decided to break his silence.
"Both of you did one thing and only one thing wrong-you did something dangerous, when I couldn't be around to watch over you two," a slight hint of reproach colored Puck's speech.
"Lia, there's nothing wrong with wanting to show mercy. Just make sure you don't put yourself in danger." Puck tried to meet eye to eye with Emilia's downcast gaze, but let up and turned to Subaru.
"And you, for someone who's supposedly so useless, you do realize you could have beaten all those guys yourself in a straight fight, right?". Puck's question was met with Subaru's disbelieving gaze.
"Not a single one of them could use magic, a single minya from you could have disabled or killed any one of them, had you not exhausted your mana during practice. It won't be that much longer before you're stronger than them physically too. Lia's so strong because she unconsciously uses her mana to reinforce her body, and you're starting to do that too, albeit nowhere near as well."
Puck paused to let the message sink in. Seeing that he still hadn't hit the mark, Puck was forced to point out the obvious.
"Subaru, do you really think you'd have been able to carry someone your own size and weight a few kilometers through the snow as you were in your old world? Much less do so with a knife in your leg?"
Subaru's eyes widened in realization. Picking up Emilia shouldn't be easy for him. Carrying her that kind of distance should have been impossible for him, much less in a princess carry.
"I really don't know what to do, I want you both to believe in yourselves, but I also want you two to stop being so reckless. Honestly!" Puck pawed himself in the face in frustration.
"Now if we're all done blaming ourselves for things that other people did, we really do need to let Clarissa finish dealing with your wounds," at Puck's cue Clarissa who had been nervously watching the events up to now finally went to work.
"Ah. Ouch. Clarissa?" Subaru's question was pointed to Emilia and Puck.
"That's the name of the girl you and Lia saved, she has some training as a healer and probably saved your life." Puck gave a wink as a hint at the end of his explanation.
"Thanks for taking ca-Ah," Subaru couldn't hold back a pained cry midway.
"I don't want to be a big baby, but can you be a bit gentler?"
Seeing Emilia's concerned gaze, Clarissa bit back the kind of sarcastic reply that she reserved for ungrateful patients. To be honest, it hadn't been all that bad compared to many of her past cases. She'd seen grown men in tears from lesser wounds. Although her fear of Emilia had been tempered by the realization that she really was just a scared kid, that didn't change the fact that she had the ability to be seriously scary and she had no intention of risking setting her off.
"You're welcome. And I'm sorry, but there's no way to make this hurt less."
"I was afraid of that," with a deep breath Subaru resigned himself to a long evening.
"Puck is there any chance you could use some magic to clean all the blood off of Emilia?" Subaru asked.
"Hmm...that is an idea. Lia let's go outside for a bit, I don't want to get everything in here wet." Puck's face was twisted with a mischievous grin.
"Eh, outside? But Subaru…" Emilia trailed off in concern.
"I'll be fine for a few minutes. That blood actually makes you look kinda scary. Someone as cute and pretty as you has no right looking that scary." Subaru jested light-headedly.
"All right. I'll be right back." With great concern Emilia allowed herself to be separated from Subaru.
As soon as the door closed, "Can you try and get the worst of it done while she's outside?"
Subaru's question bewildered Clarissa. Her lack of response must have conveyed her confusion.
"She's already blaming herself for everything that happened to me, seeing me in pain is just making it worse," Subaru explained.
"I see. The worst is actually almost over. Just a bit more and it'll time to bandage all of this up." Clarissa smiled softly as she gave the news.
"I haven't told the others yet, but we'll need to get you to a more experienced healer as soon as we get a chance to make sure your lungs are healing correctly. Given that you're awake and talking I think you'll be fine, but given my lack of experience with such wounds I'd rather be sure."
"Where would we find one, I only know of the one village nearby?" Subaru's question brought about an awkward silence.
"I used to live there, and my old master is the town healer. I think I can convince him to take a look." Clarissa's tone was morose as she trailed off.
"Used to live there? Did they sell you, or were you taken?" Reading between the lines Subaru drew the conclusion that one of the two was likely the case. Subaru, like any child, had the annoying ability to innocently poke at wounds without even realizing it.
"Sold. They sold me after your friend's ice flowers spooked the village a few weeks ago. From what I overheard they traded me for her elimination and the waiving of this year's protection money."
Her voice was flat. Neither anger nor sadness bled through, the only emotion perceptible was resignation.
Subaru, however, felt a burning rage. Everything about the situation felt wrong to him. Emilia scared them, so they wanted her killed? They needed something, so they sold one of their own in to slavery? Was this really how the world worked?
"Why? Why would they do something so horrible to one of their own?" The blaze of righteous indignation roared in Subaru's chest.
"That's the thing. I'm not one of their own. As an orphaned demi-human it's amazing I lived this long without being enslaved or worse." Calm acceptance answered Subaru's fury.
"What does being a demi-human have to do with it? You're still a person!" Ignoring the burning in his throat, Subaru could not hold back screaming his honest opinion.
Clarissa cast him a sad smile, "If everyone thought that way, the world would be a kinder place."
It was a bit of a tautological statement. Subaru thought that way because he was kind. If everyone thought that way, it would be because everyone was kind. If everyone in the world was kind, then of course the world would be a kind place.
"Of course. Everyone would think that way if they weren't idiots," Subaru huffed in frustration.
A fool had just declared that it was the whole world, not him, that was stupid. For some reason the very thought was unbelievably funny to Clarissa. To find someone who thought this way had long seemed impossible, and upon discovering one they implied that to think differently was stupid. Yet despite all improbability, such a fool did exist. The fact that she had seriously thought that a kind world could only be a world of fools brought forth cynical laughter. It wasn't the fool she was laughing at though, it was herself. She'd be damned if it didn't sound obvious when he said it that way.
Now that she thought about it, for everyone born half human to loving parents, two such fools had existed. Looking at Subaru through her divine blessing there was nothing to be found but kindness, selflessness, and self-doubt. The villagers around her had had the shade of kindness, but they'd also been stained by fear and desperation. Even when gazing through a mirror she couldn't use her divine blessing on herself, but not for the first time she wondered what she would see. Today she'd been afraid and desperate, interested only in securing her own survival. Would she look like the villagers that sold her?
Her musings were cast aside as Emilia and Puck re-entered. Emilia's hair was disheveled and frizzed as if it had been windswept by hurricane force winds. Her gaze was cast away from Puck, arms crossed, a splendid pout on her face. The impression she gave was not far off from that of a puppy that had had it's favorite toy taken away. She was, however, clean and somehow already dry, to Clarissa's confusion.
Subaru, however, let loose a knowing chuckle, "He gave you a whirlpool wash didn't he?"
Emilia merely gave a high pitched, "Hmph," in response.
"Whirlpool wash?" Clarissa's confusion was practically palpable.
"Yeah he sucks you up inside a giant water vortex, spins you around a bit, then lets you down and blowdries you with a bit of fire and wind magic. The end result is right in front of you." The knowing look in Subaru's eyes suggested that he too had been the victim of this treatment.
"There's a lot wrong with this, but is it really okay to get that wet outside when it's so cold?" Clarissa's eyes were scrunched and Subaru wouldn't have felt it out of place for there to be a question mark floating above her head.
"Emilia hasn't ever really been bothered by the cold, and for some reason I've kind of been growing immune myself lately." Subaru's explanation drew an odd look his way from both Clarissa and Puck.
Puck had always been sure to use warmer water and to dry Subaru off quickly in such instances to avoid harming him. Subaru had seemed better adjusted to the cold lately, but Puck had assumed that that had just been Subaru acclimating to the climate.
Inspecting Subaru's mana in detail Puck was surprised to find a small amount of fire mana, a very familiar fire mana. Circulating inside Subaru was a tiny bit of Emilia's mana. Looking at Emilia's mana closely he could make out trace amounts of Subaru's mixed amongst it. Furthermore, on both of them was the slightest bit of miasma, the Witch's miasma.
Puck had never suspected any involvement from the Witch of Envy with Subaru's arrival to their world. People had arrived from behind the waterfall before after all. Even still Puck wasn't ready to assume such an involvement, Subaru had no memories of the witch and it made little sense to assume that the Witch had an interest in a random kid from another world. Puck's could only assume that Subaru was an innocent bystander entangled with the Witch purely for his association with Emilia. Although why it seemed there was no attempt being made to possess Emilia was beyond Puck. Nor did Puck have any clue why the witch would entangle Subaru and Emilia's magic.
Still Puck needed to say something so that the kids wouldn't go looking into anything too much. Looking into matters involving the Witch had the potential to go very poorly.
"Looks like being exposed to Emilia's magic so much has made you a bit resistant to the cold," and like the best of lies it wasn't really a lie, but rather a misdirection that did his status as a spirit made by Echidna proud. Any protest threatened by Clarissa's disbelieving gaze was silenced by Puck's discrete yet frosty glare.
That slightly worried expression on Emilia's face stripped away any pride Puck felt at his little white lie. Obviously the girl who accidentally froze her entire village would be upset about unknowingly affecting her friend with her magic.
"Don't worry Lia, I'd say that your magic is protecting him to be honest," Puck assured Emilia.
At least Puck was honestly convinced this was most likely the case. When Emilia's ice flowers had budded on Subaru they had not only done little to no damage, they had also served to immobilize the knife in his leg and stop the bleeding. Perhaps the cold might have even numbed the pain. Having a tiny bit of Emilia's mana inside of him did help explain these events. While Emilia wasn't immune to her own power, the effect was less on her then on others. It was afterall not a coincidence that of all the people frozen by Emilia's magic only Emilia herself had thawed.
"I just got done discussing this with Subaru, but we need to get him looked over by a more experienced healer. Since he is doing amazingly well, I'd like to go today if possible." A fidgeting tail was the only sign of Clarissa's discomfort.
"Mah, that's probably not a bad idea, but the only place I can think of-" Puck was interrupted.
"Would be the nearby village. More specifically my instructor."
"What will we need to pay him for the treatment?" Emilia went to go check her stash of pyroxene crystals as she asked the question.
"This time Lia," Puck's voice took on a hardened edge, "I believe that this is owed to us."
A fang poked out from Puck's mouth, "If they have any complaints they can feel free to address them to the Beast of the End."
"But I'd feel reaaaally bad threatening them rather than paying them," Emilia half chided Puck.
"Lia, Subaru is hurt because they wanted to have you killed or worse. If the cost of our mercy is just a bit of medical treatment, they should be thankful. Besides, a bit of intimidation might convince them not to try something like this again." Puck tried his best to hold back a menacing face, and perhaps succeeded as Emilia's takeaway was merely that Puck was mad rather than thinking that Puck might annihilate the villagers.
"Sorry to ask this of you," Puck turned towards Clarissa, "but I'll have to ask you to accompany us." Puck was answered with a small nervous nod.
Puck's reasoning behind the request was simple, he needed someone to assess whether the healer was doing their job properly. After all if something happened to Subaru, Emilia would be sad. Besides, it would be just a tiny bit depressing if Emilia's number two fan wasn't around anymore.
As soon as it became clear that they were setting out, Emilia gently picked Subaru up. Subaru averted his eyes in embarrassment, a faint blush on his cheeks
"Sorry that…" Subaru trailed off as reprimanding glare from Emilia met his gaze.
"I mean thanks," Subaru corrected himself.
A gentle smile crossed Emilia's face, "I'm not going to get upset just because you need a little bit of help now and then."
It was in a subdued quiet that a floating cat, a cat girl, a silver-haired half-elf, and a boy from another world made their trek towards the nearest village. The howling wind and crunching of the snow beneath their feet doing little to quell anyone's nerves. Of the four only Clarissa could be seen shivering. True to his claim, Subaru seemed almost completely unbothered by the weather, and Puck and Emilia had never been bothered by the forest's climate.
As they made their way within eyesight of the town, the slight bustle of activity quickly came to a halt. Everyone quickly hustled inside and the echoes of slamming doors resounded across.
That the silver-haired girl was approaching, with Clarissa free and in towe, could only mean that the attempt to eliminate her had failed. The villagers could only cower as they waited for her to reap her vengeance.
In Emilia's field of vision there was only one exception, the man with whom she had often traded was in the open, bowing, his face practically planted in the snow. Slowly, Subaru still in her arms, Emilia approached the prostrate man.
"I'm sorry. Please forgive us. We had no choice." Just barely, the frantically uttered begging reached Emilia's ears.
"Raise your head, please," Emilia softly instructed.
The man did as asked quivering in abject terror the whole way. His head rose to a height where his line of sight now met her legs and feet. His trembling was violent enough that it looked as if his arms would soon be unable to support his body.
"Look at me please."
As the man forced his quivering body to raise his head to look at the half-elf of his nightmares, Subaru managed to turn his head to catch a glimpse. At the sight of the man's abject terror in the face of Emilia, Subaru had the irrepressible urge to laugh. Said urge was expressed not in laughter, but rather in a coughing fit.
The composed, almost cold expression Emilia had mustered melted away immediately, replaced with whole-hearted concern.
"Subaru!" The sight of her frantic exclam, brought the man bowing before Emilia to a startled halt.
"I'm all right," Subaru assured, taking deep breaths. "It's just I had a funny thought that all the times this guy talked with you to sell you stuff, he can't have ever actually talked to you."
Emilia's forehead scrunched in confusion. Quickly giving up on puzzling out what Subaru was trying to say and quickly gave him a concerned examination.
"Subaru, are you sure you're ok. I reeaallly don't get what you're trying to say at all." She continued to inspect him, not unlike what Subaru imagined a mother might do after their child hit their head.
"I'm fine, trust me. It's just...how do I explain..." Subaru trailed trying to find the words to explain it.
"My mom used to say that hearing and listening aren't the same thing. So it's kinda like that." Subaru attempted to explain after a few moments of pondering
Emilia tilted her head slightly to the side, "But if you heard something, doesn't that mean you'd have had to listen to it?" she questioned in a bewildered rising intonation.
"No. I mean like not paying attention or thinking about the other person and what they're saying." This explanation seemed to get through if the sudden light in Emilia's eyes was anything to judge by.
"You mean like when I tell you I have chores to do, and you keep pestering me to go play with you?" If Subaru wasn't mistaken there was the slightest hint of a smirk on Emilia's face at that moment.
"T-that's different. The point is no one who's actually met you could be afraid of you." Though Subaru's voice was weak there wasn't a doubt of hesitation in his declaration.
Emilia's eyes widened ever so slightly and a blush ran across her cheeks. As her eyes glanced to the man who was now staring at them dumbfounded.
"Subaru, you dunce! You made me forget about him." There was no real bite in Emilia's scolding, rather she looked embarrassed.
"Good. I could tell you were about to do something stupid, that look in your eyes wasn't you at all." Subaru confronted Emilia with a self-righteous smirk, all the while suppressing the urge to let her know that he had never been called a dunce before.
"Something stupid I was just going to-" Subaru quickly cut in before Emilia could finish.
"Let me guess, you were going to accept that they were afraid of you and pretend to be all scary so they wouldn't feel bad about trying to kill you."
Emilia's silence was all the confirmation he needed. Subaru gently shook his head with a fond smile. Subaru rolled in Emilia's arms to look at the man in question. He really would like it if Emilia would let him down to try and stand on his own, but he was pretty sure that would end up with his ears and cheeks pinched, and her carrying him anyways; Emilia could be really stubborn when she thought something was for his own good.
"Oi, stand up," Subaru abruptly instructed..
"Since you two have apparently never met, this is Emilia. She's a really nice girl who's apparently decided to forgive all of you." Subaru brashly spoke for Emilia.
"S-Subaru! And I'm not just forgiving them, it's for my benefit after all. You need a doctor and I need a place to buy supplies." Emilia nodded with her eyes closed, as if to convince herself that she believed her explanation.
The man before them had stopped shaking, and at this point seemed more an odd mixture of dazed and relieved than scared. It really had been quite a shock to watch what he had thought to be a witch coming to strike him down in vengeance, behave like a naive little girl quibbling with her best friend. The friend part had been quite the shock too, the whole town had assumed he was her pet, toy, or some spawn of a witch cultist worshipping her. To the contrary they seemed to be on fond enough terms that her response to him teasing her had been for her to tease him back rather than striking him down. Now that he noticed it, the boy in her arms was wrapped in bandages and had some blood on him, had he been hurt when they went after the girl?
"If we've got that out of the way we probably should get to the doctor before it gets too late. I still want to have you two in bed before dark." Puck floated up to Lia's shoulders and broke up the conversation.
A startled jump later, Emilia took the hint hidden in Puck's somewhat stern gaze and regrouped with Clarissa as she guided her to the town healer. Puck, however, remained behind for a bit.
"Make no mistake," Puck's icy voice echoed, "this village only stands because seeing it destroyed would upset that girl. Lia forgave you and Subaru's choosing not to hold a grudge, but I'm not as softhearted as those two."
There was no trace of Puck's normal jovial disposition. Instead what was coming forth was the measured rage of the Beast of the End. The man had thought he had been afraid of the girl who looked like the witch, it was now clear to him that what he had experienced wasn't even at the starting line of true fear. As he was awash in the freezing weight of the spirit's glacial aura, he found himself unable to move-he found himself unable to even tremble.
"I think I'll have you be my messenger," Puck ordained, his expression flat.
"Should anyone leave even a single scratch or bruise on either of them ever again, I'll show this village a true monster."
His threat delivered, Puck floated away without any further words of parting. His message was well received and would spread across the village soon enough, or at least it would when the old shopkeeper found the wherewithal to move his legs again.
As Puck popped back in, "There you are Puck, did you have something you had to do?" Emilia asked.
"Nyathing too important. Just checking on something real quick." Puck's voice was once more jovial.
Any more ponderings were cut off as Clarissa rapped on a door twice, "Are you in Rum-sensei?"
Subaru resisted the urge to laugh. Rum? Was this guy seriously named after an alcoholic drink... actually now that he thought about it did rum even exist in this world.
A balding, yet kindly looking man opened the door. Upon setting eyes on their guide, he momentarily paused. A sad yet cautiously relieved look came across his face, or at least that would be the impression that an experienced adult would take away. To Subaru it looked like he'd been holding it in all day and really needed to go to the bathroom.
"I'm glad to see you're okay," Rum looked to be at a loss for words.
"Those two over there managed to save me," she gestured over to where Emilia was carrying Subaru.
Despite the unexpected startle of seeing the spitting image of the Witch of Envy, it did not escape the man's notice that the boy in the girl's arms was clearly hurt.
"Well get the boy in here and I'll take a look," Rum squashed his fear and prepared to get to work.
As they walked in he gestured to a makeshift bed in the center of the room. Rather than an actual bed it was closer to a wooden table with sheets layered on top. While most of his work was indeed house calls, it was not unusual for a wounded person to be brought in and this had served as a solution well enough. An actual bed would be ruined by blood too quickly.
Emilia took great care in setting him down gently, making sure to lay him on his side. Without much adieu he set to work, consulting with Clarissa about what had happened and what had been down.
It was an hour or so of inspections and piecemeal healing before they finished. The whole while Emilia fidgeted anxiously on the other side of the room. Having finished the town healer finally took notice of her worry.
"He's healing up just fine. If everything goes well he'll be back to normal by morning."
Her hand to her chest Emilia let out a deep sigh of relief.
"Thank you sooo much," she gave the doctor an honest, heart-melting smile.
"Still, I'd like him to stay overnight, so I can check that the healing is taking properly every few hours. You can come and get him in the morning." Rum gave his orders in what he hoped was his most reassuring voice.
"I'm not leaving Subaru by himself," Emilia's voice carried an unexpected edge to it, beyond what could be written off as childish stubbornness. The slight chill in the air and Clarissa's shaking head were enough to convince Rum to leave it.
"I don't have another bed, but I'll bring out a chair and some blankets."
"That's fine. Thank you."
Rum hurried off, a bit spooked and eager to get some distance. He took his time gathering the blankets and chair, hoping that a few minutes break would help him wrap his head around what was happening. As he returned to the room the girl had not budged an inch from the boy's side. He walked into a conversation and chose to wait for them to finish, or at least he wanted to avoid interrupting them; he was pretty sure that angering the silver-haired elf was a very bad idea.
"Emilia, you can go home and sleep. I'll be alright for tonight." The boy almost appeared embarrassed about something.
"Absolutely not," her hands on her hips Emilia looked for all the world like a like a little girl playing at being a stern mother.
"What if something happens again and this time I'm not around. Besides there won't be anyone…" Emilia trailed off a distinct sadness in her voice.
Subaru however could make out the unspoken, "I don't want to be alone." As much as he wanted to apologize-as much as he wanted to fuss over her getting enough sleep Subaru knew what she wanted to hear the most, "thanks."
"You should try and get some sleep, I think that's supposed to make you get better faster," Emilia gently fawned over Subaru's well being.
"I'm really tired, but I just can't you know," Subaru explained.
"I could sing you a lullaby, would that help?" Emilia offered.
"Please no," Subaru's drooping eyes widened, "you know I think you're amazing, but your singing is the stuff of nightmares."
"You're so mean sometimes," Emilia's face puffed out in an indignant pout, "but considering how a mabeast ran away from us the last time I practiced you might have a point."
Sensing an opening Rum brought the chairs and blankets to Emilia's side.
"Oh, thank you," Emilia quickly took a seat next to Subaru immediately clasping on to his hand.
No sooner than she had wrapped the blankets around herself did she begin to nod off. In short order, she slumped over with her head resting on Subaru's side.
Clarissa was the only one who didn't seem too surprised by this outcome, "She did use up a huge amount of mana trying to keep you alive, Subaru."
A brief pause later, "To be honest, I'm amazed she woke up again at all today."
"That sounds about right, she was probably too busy worrying about me and everyone else to realize she was exhausted," smiling down on her fondly, he carefully repositioned her to a more comfortable resting position.
Rum couldn't help but ask, "Just how did the two of you meet?"
It was the question of the day, just how did a normal boy end up friends with the Witch's doppleganger. He didn't seem to be her pet or anything nor did he seem to be worshipping her. So the question of what drove the two together remained a mystery.
"Well I kinda fell from the sky one day, she saved my life, and then we became friends," Subaru answered with all of the naive bluntness of childhood.
Rum and Clarissa were stricken silent, trying to make sense of anything that was happening today. Before the conversation could continue any further, Emilia's pained whimpers drew Subaru's attention back to her sleeping form. He gently began to stroke her hair with his free hand and she quickly calmed down.
"I should have figured she'd have nightmares again after today," Subaru gave a resigned sigh.
In response to Subaru's ministrations, Emilia's face snuggled up against Subaru. Before long Subaru's eyes too drifted closed and the two were finally asleep. Unwilling to disturb the two, Rum and Clarissa retreated to another room. The two took seats at a dining table and spent a few moments awash in an uncomfortable silence.
The first to break the silence was Rum, "First of all I owe you an explanation, there's no way to apologize, but you do deserve to know what happened."
Rum took a deep breath and mustered his courage before continuing, "As you know trade's been pretty bad this year for our village, just a couple days ago the mercenaries came to collect their annual protection fee and there was no way we could pay."
"At first we tried offering up the location of the elf girl in the forest, trying to get rid of two dangers to our village in one go That wasn't enough so we had to vote on one person to sell into slavery to meet this year's fee…"
Rum trailed off seemingly unwilling to state the obvious. Forced to sacrifice one of their group they'd chosen to cast out the outsider demi-human. There was no option not to sacrifice someone, trying to stand up to the mercenary group would only end up with the village raided and burned to the ground with everyone doomed to perish from starvation and exposure.
Such was life in this impoverished region of the Mathers family's territory. What had been fertile farmland a hundred years ago, was now reduced to a near tundra. Forced to adapt the villages near the forest had transitioned to an economy that eked out a meager existence on trade. Lacking in any meaningful resources the territory received little to no support and protection from their lord.
The many mercenary bands borne of the region's abject poverty had banded together and seized the opportunity, using intimidation to extract what little wealth there was to be found and enjoying a lucrative slave. Indeed the region's sad fate had been turned into opportunity for those greedy or desperate enough. It had seemed a useless situation, until recently.
When Emilia exited the forest to trade she brought with her pyroxene crystals, pyroxene crystals that had to have been mined in the forest. With those crystals a path forward could be carved, such an export would enable the village to establish and rebuild, to be worthy of the protection of both the kingdom and their liege lord. There was only one problem, the forest was hers. Anyone who entered was run off by her for their own "safety". To have Emilia moved wouldn't just be removing a potential danger and undesirable, it would securing a meal ticket and the safety of their town.
Such details were only understood surface deep by Clarissa and would be completely beyond Emilia. Surprisingly the only one in the house other than Rum, who could likely be able to grasp the realities of the situation would be Subaru with his modern education. It was also true that this was a situation where no apology could be issued. In the end, as regrettable as it was, everyone in the village would make the same decision again.
Even now Rum had the urge in the back of his mind to try and kill Emilia in her sleep. With her gone, they could take the forest. With the wealth resulting from the pyroxene crystals even Clarissa could be saved. Only two things stayed Rum's hands: fear of failing and the inescapable impression he'd had of Emilia as a lonely kid with only one friend in the whole world.
Rum wouldn't explain any of the details to Clarissa. He had no intention to beg for the town's forgiveness. He just felt that she deserved to know why-deserved to know that it wasn't out of malice but of desperation and need.
"I can't say that makes it any better," Clarissa took a deep, shaky breath, "but I understand."
"That's more than we could ask for," Rum ended abruptly on that thought, unsure of just what to say.
A length pause later he broke the silence, "Did she take out all of the mercenaries?"
"No," Clarissa shook her head, "she just took out the ones that took me. The men were too... distracted to move quickly."
A pitying look took perch on Rum's face, "Did they-"
"Every single one of them at least twice each in the single day they had me. Demi-humans might be disgusting in their eyes, but apparently I was still appealing enough to take to bed." Her voice was flat, only the slightest bit of anger distorting it.
"I-," Rum tried to say something but was quickly cut off before he could get a word out.
"Don't say you're sorry. I won't forgive this village; I can't forgive this village. But I don't want to hold a grudge. If you start feeling sorry, if you regret prioritizing saving the village over one person that makes what happened meaningless. I can't move on if all of this happened for no reason."
As much as Clarissa wanted to cry, as much as she wanted to scream, her eyes wouldn't water and her voice wouldn't raise. Ever since she had been freed she'd felt akin to a marionette, being dragged about aimlessly by unseen strings. If anger, sadness, and the right to choose her own fate had been taken from her-then what was left?
"If the rest of them are still out there, then they'll be back for revenge," Rum surmised.
"They shouldn't know the specifics of the deal, if you run away now you should be able to stay free," Rum's voice had an odd desperation to it. "No one will begrudge you for it. We're likely going to be wiped out anyways, everyone who can will be trying to flee in the next couple of days anyways."
"What about you?" Clarissa couldn't help but ask, her eyes widened in surprise.
"I doubt these old bones would make it without good preparation, I'll just have to wait and see. Perhaps the little witch sleeping in the other room will take care of the rest." Rum's wistfulness suggested he very much doubted that outcome.
"Get some rest, I'll wake you up if I need your help with the brat," his parting words said Rum made his way to his room leaving Clarissa alone to her thoughts.
Giving up on making sense of anything she made her way to the makeshift cot that had been made for when she needed to be around overnight to help out with medical emergencies. She curled up in herself and slowly drifted off to a fretful sleep.
It would be at the crack of dawn that the whole house would be awoken. An incredible racket was coming from outside, the sound of several people banging pots and pans together as loudly as they could.
"Bandit raid!" The groups' shouts echoed.
Clearly the retaliation that Rum had feared had arrived, albeit much faster than anticipated.
Afterword
First off I'm incredibly sorry about the long gap between updates. I got rather sick, not covid though, in December. Besides not being well I've been working 6 or 7 days a week. I had intended to get this out last Saturday but migraines said otherwise.
This chapter was a bit of a slough to write too. There's really that desire just have Subaru healed and move on, but dragging Emilia into the village is something that is absolutely pivotal. But at least Subaru is healed and we can move towards the end of the prologue. Most of the setup is done, so now the fun can start.
Fun fact: before adding in the title and going back for edits I ended the draft at 6,666 words long.
Another Fun Fact: I really could not come up with a name for Rum at first so I started trying to find a pattern in Re: Zero names, but couldn't really come up with anything. Then the thought that we have a Ram, Rem, and Rom crossed my mind. So clearly Rum and Rim are still missing. I'm not very good at naming things: Clarissa's name came from the thought that she would be a character seeking Clarity about what her divine protection is telling her and having a co-worker named Larissa. Boom name made, I just gave up and moved on.
