Chapter 21: Guidance
"We should get back on the road," Eula said, quickly quenching the fire. "I have a short schedule planned for you."
"Didn't you just get here?!" Subaru retorted.
"I had formulated a short plan for you while coming here and adjusted it as needed after meeting with you." Almost like magic, everything was washed and set for Subaru to reset into his inventory. "I will be teaching you the basics of being an adventurer, and that cannot be accomplished without exploring."
"Understood, Eula-sensei!"
Eula froze upon hearing Subaru's form of address, gaining a shade of pink on her cheeks that neither Subaru nor Paimon could see. "… Please just call me Eula."
"No can do, Eula-sensei! You're my teacher, aren't you?"
Eula sighed and shook her head. "Is… Is there no way for you to stop?"
Paimon chuckled. "Subaru always attaches a term like that to everyone no matter what they say. Better you get used to it, Eula!"
"… Very well. But I will have my vengeance. Come with me."
"Oops."
Subaru quickly absorbed all his equipment into his inventory once again and trailed behind after her, Paimon floating in tow.
"On our way to our destination, I will need to ask you some questions," Eula carried on. "Do you know how to glide?"
Subaru stopped walking, making Paimon look back at him. "What's wrong, Stinky Space? Need to vomit again?"
Subaru didn't grace her with a response; he hardly even heard her. The very mention of gliding proved to him just how different his first reality was from the current one. He remembered the way he would always nearly fall to his death, with Amber laughing over him as he did.
"Will we ever go back to those days…?"
"What a granny-like thing to say, Stinky Space!"
Paimon's words finally knocked him out of his stupor. "A-Ah, sorry about that," he murmured. "Anyway, Eula-sensei, I do know how to glide, but I don't think I'm an expert."
"Eh?" Paimon wondered out loud. "You know how to glide?"
Subaru sighed, mentally cursing Paimon for not being more conscientious of her words. "Yeah, I don't remember how, though."
"Understood," Eula said, cutting through anything else they could say. "How is your skill with climbing?"
"Like rock-climbing? I mean, I can do it for short cliffs, but don't expect me to keep up if there's any danger involved."
"Rock-climbing? Why would I be talking about a sport here?"
"…Wait, what are you talking about?"
"Climbing with your inventory, of course."
"…"
"I shall ask again, how good are you with it?"
"How can you climb rocks with your inventory?!"
Paimon chuckled nearby. "Eula, Stinky Space here just got his inventory yesterday. He never learned how to climb."
Eula blinked in surprise. "An inventory so late in your life? Is everything about him so…"
"Stupid? Stinky? Space-y? Paimon completed her sentence for her.
"My word was 'Unusual', but that is similar enough."
"Hey, I'm right here!" Subaru chided, pointing a finger at the two of them. "I'm listening to everything you're saying!"
"Well, that sucks for you, doesn't it, Stinky Space?!"
"Gah! Why would you wound me so, you fairy loli?!"
"Enough!" Eula ordered them, turning them into rigid statues with gazes fixed on her. "… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have spoken of you in such a way, Mr Subaru."
Subaru slightly loosened his firm shoulders. "It's okay, Eula-sensei. It's all good fun, really. We weren't arguing either, we were just bickering with each other."
"Mhm! Paimon and Stinky Space do this all the time!"
Eula sighed yet again. "It would seem that my understanding of informal social cues leaves much to be desired. In any case, let us return to our training. Mr Subaru, do you have a Wind Glider with you?"
"No."
"Okay." With a flash from her inventory, a pair of blue wings connected to a chassis was presented to him. "I will be loaning this to you for now until you can pay me back."
Subaru looked down at the wings with trepidation. He still remembered those black wings that Amber gave him; they looked nothing like the set before him at that moment. A part of Subaru felt as though he was betraying Amber by taking those wings, but a larger, more rational part of him said that it was pointless to look at it in such a way. Amber had not cared for him as much in his current reality. If that was the cost of saving Mondstadt from Stormterror, however, then so be it.
The wings felt sleek and smooth, flexible yet rigid. However, Subaru noted the disconnect button that Amber showed him once was not there in that glider.
"You can keep it in your inventory for now, we will not need it anytime soon."
Finally noticing how most people stored their wings, Subaru still hooked the contraption onto his back before letting it dissolve into sparks and enter his inventory.
"Alright, what's next?"
"Follow me, both of you," Eula decreed, starting to jog along the southward path.
Paimon looked at Subaru with a raised brow, to which Subaru shrugged. "Where are we going?" Subaru called out while keeping up with the lady.
"Your training will commence soon," Eula said. "We need to change locations first."
"Okay…?"
Paimon shook her head at him, floating alongside them as they ran.
On their way, they experimented with some of the things that Eula had mentioned earlier. Inventory Climbing was easier than Subaru had thought. The normal way of pushing an object into your inventory was to hold it in your hand and call forth the feeling you associate with it, hence triggering the power of the inventory. However, there is a size limit to what can be added, and if anything bigger than that is attempted to be entered, such as solid cliff surfaces, an attachment is made instead. As such, all that Subaru had to do was call on the feeling of his inventory as he pressed a palm upon the rock of a cliff, thereby letting the palm stick to the surface.
They even tried gliding for a while. Paimon was thrilled to fly alongside Subaru for once, and Subaru himself felt the wind in his hair and his new wings to be extremely nostalgic. Eula briefly commended him for his skill, even though he was still rustic.
As the sun went lower in the day sky, but not enough to call it sunset, they stopped before a giant tree. The tree's leaf span was so wide that it shadowed the water of the brook behind it. Many shiny flies fluttered about the tree, giving it a much more mystical look.
The most important part of the view, however, was the Statue of the Seven placed upon a pedestal in front of the tree. Subaru faltered upon the sight of that Statue, once again remembering the Archon of that land. Amid the divine presence of that statue, he couldn't help but wonder why their archon hadn't come to offer his help in the last times Mondstadt had been destroyed.
"This is Windrise," Eula declared. "This is the place where Lady Vanessa had ascended to Celestia as she neared the end of her life. This tree had been left in her wake."
"It's huge…" Paimon commented, tilting her body back to look for the peak.
"Why are we here?" Subaru asked.
"This is merely a rest spot for us. We will need our energy for our next destination."
"Oh? What are we doing?"
"Do you have your weapons ready?"
Subaru's breath hitched in his throat. "… Why?"
"One of the most vital aspects of being an adventurer is combat capability. That will be our last test for the day."
A shudder ran through his body as he thought once more of those masked creatures. Once again, he was forced to remember the larger foe he'd fought and nearly died against.
"… Do we have to?" Subaru whispered out, not finding it in him to breathe.
"Yes, you must," Eula decreed. "You may have defeated a mitachurl once, but that does not turn you into an expert combatant. You need to develop your skills further."
"I…" Subaru faltered. As he was being asked to go into battle, he started to feel as though he didn't want that. He didn't want to risk his life for nothing. However, under Eula's steely gaze, there wasn't much that he could do about it. "I-I'll bring out my spear and whip."
Eula faltered for a moment. "You use a whip?"
"I-It's the weapon I'm most used to. I don't know how to use them both at once, but I want to try learning."
Eula blankly stared at Subaru for a moment. "Very well," she said, not belying anything from her expression. "As long as you are able to keep up with our training."
"… Before that, can I try something?" Subaru said, pointing at the statue. "I want to try touching that."
"Oh yeah!" Paimon cried. "Last time that black stuff came out of you, hadn't it?"
"Yeah, and remember how that is killing me?"
"… Right, that vision inside you. Everything about you is so weird, Stinky Space."
"Don't turn this against me, you fairy loli! But yes, I still need to check this out. Eula-sensei, do you mind?"
Eula's cheeks reddened once more at the use of his title, but she swiftly nodded. Grinning, Subaru jaunted up the stairs and to the statue. Presenting himself before it, his eagerness faded as he remembered why he was there.
'Is Return by Death dependent on that black stuff within me, or is it separate from it?'
Wanting to find out, Subaru gently placed a hand atop the smooth marble surface of the Statue.
The wind blew around them, its sound providing a sharp contrast to the pull Subaru felt from within him. He felt that structure within himself being forcibly opened, the Statue pulling away the thing that accumulated within. However, not much of it could be found. A few wisps of black emerged from Subaru's body, pulled into the now glowing ball atop the hands of the bust of the Anemo Archon.
"That… wasn't so bad," Subaru said, taking his hand away and slightly flexing it.
"You said it! Paimon remembered so much more smoke last time!"
"Right? That means…"
'Return by Death isn't dependent on this thing within me. I can freely die as many times as I want. … I can't say if that is a good thing, however.'
"That was just the collection from a few days," Subaru said. "Barbara-San said that it would take a few months for it to go full."
"Eh? She did?" Paimon asked. "I thought it went like, 'oh you have a problem!' then 'I already know!'"
"W-well, semantics, you know? That's what she was going to say, that's what I meant!"
"… riiight."
Eula walked up to the two. "I trust that you've learned what you needed?"
"Yep! Thanks for letting me, Eula-sensei!"
"I-it was nothing. Let us move on, then."
"Okay!"
It didn't take them long to find a small nest of hilichurls, especially with Eula guiding them. About 10 of those creatures were tending to themselves at a camp, bordered by a tusk-like fence.
"I do not think you are ready for another mitachurl yet, so I did not bring you to a camp with one."
"… thanks for your consideration." Subaru bit his lip nervously upon looking at those creatures. Certainly, he found it easy to defeat them the first time, but they resembled the mitachurl enough to give him flashbacks of that monster.
"Um, you guys can handle this, right? Paimon can stay way away from this, right?"
Subaru wanted to joke back, but he couldn't find it in himself to do so. Not when those creatures were there before him.
Eula, the ever-observant one, sensed his distress. "Let me tell you why we destroy hilichurl camps," Eula began. "Normally, they do not cause any issues. They live their own lives and have their own natures. Unfortunately, a part of their nature is to steal from other people for their own continued survival."
Subaru certainly knew that. He remembered how those hilichurls he met when he first arrived in Teyvat had stripped him of his clothes, leaving him behind to be beheaded at the whims of that mitachurl.
"That is why we are commissioned to destroy their camps. This current group had recently harassed a group of merchants, who'd reported the same to the knights and the guild. As an adventurer, it is your duty to take care of matters like these."
"Wait, so not the knights?"
"The knights are responsible for protecting Mondstadt City exclusively. They do get involved in matters outside, but only if they are deemed a threat to Mondstadt as a whole. Smaller matters such as hilichurl camps are handled by the guild, which is a blessing to most of us knights."
"Right."
"Hey, don't ignore Paimon! What will Paimon do?"
"You can stay back here," Eula appeased her. "Mr Subaru will handle this himself."
"Wait, me?!"
"Don't worry, I will be here in case of emergencies."
"Isn't this emergency enough? You… You want me to beat those guys by myself?!"
"… Hmph. You claim to have defeated a mitachurl and now you are so afraid of a few hilichurls? Where's your courage?"
Subaru froze at her words. Once again, he remembered Amber's words.
'Be as Brave as a Knight.'
'Why should I be Brave?! I want my death to be worth something! I don't want to die like this!'
'What's the point of dying if you accomplish nothing?'
When things were rough, she had refuted those words so easily. Those words that he chose to live by, to fight by. Upon facing her own death, she refuted them.
What did that make of him, then? Someone that faced death so frequently, yet stuck to those first words of hers religiously? He hadn't even realized it, but ever since he heard Amber's fearful words, he'd realized just how scared he was. He used to use her first words to help him move past his fear, but what else did he have now that those words lost their meaning?
Stormterror. That was all that was left. He'd been fighting for so long so that he could face Stormterror someday. He decided then that his new reason would be Stormterror, for he knew the threat that it posed against Mondstadt and how it had to be stopped.
After all, there was no point in dying if you accomplished nothing.
"Can we move to the camp with the Mitachurl instead?" Subaru couldn't stay as weak as he was, after all.
Eula smiled. "For now, these hilichurls are enough. I will take you to the mitachurl camp soon. Consider that my vengeance for your cowardice."
"Harsh…" Despite that, Subaru recalled the feeling of his inventory and pulled out his whip, followed by his polearm which he left hovering behind his back. "When do we start?"
A/N: I'm no longer going to apologise for the hiatus. I'm tired of making these false promises, so just take it that I'm way too lazy to keep to a schedule. I'll put out new chapters whenever I feel like it.
Now, I've got quite a few things to say. Yes, this chapter was short, but it's something that should have been added into the previous one. Also, I've been looking back after hearing so many reviews about how long this is dragging out, and I realised that this last death loop has gone over 5 chapters. I'll confirm it right now, this will end with the next chapter.
I've got some bad news though. Ever since Honkai Star Rail came out, I've come to realise just how bored I was of Genshin. Yes, I've quit Genshin Impact. This doesn't affect this story, though. I'm actually going to come back for the Fontaine release, which I think is next week. But until then, I've not been playing Genshin. Nowadays I just log into the game and I have to sit and think about where to spend my resin. I really don't have anything valuable left in that game for me save for the story elements, and gacha is something I can get with other games too. So yeah, I'll be back for Fontaine, but until then, I'll stick to struggling to raise my characters in Honkai Star Rail.
I will still work on this story, though. I will admit, I'm a little intimidated by how popular this story has become, but that is pressuring me to keep releasing new chapters, excusing my horrid upload rate.
This chapter may seem as a bit of a disappointment to eager fans; it's short and it doesn't really have a lot of action or anything like that. However, this chapter was mainly for me. In these last few chapters, I'd realised I'd lost track of Subaru's personality. I had to go back and try to secure him once more, affirming his beliefs. As in, how has he changed after Amber shunned her first words to him? I've been so stuck on the Abyssal Infection Cure business that I'd lost track of defining Subaru's character instead. That's why this chapter is so short, I've localised it to fix those things I've failed to mention in this death arc. A single chapter is not enough for that to be detailed enough, but I'm hoping that the next chapter, the end of this death arc, will finally placate my worries on my loss. It was partly why I struggled with this chapter so, and part of why my laziness made me procrastinate on this.
Another thing my laziness took hold of was Eula. I have no idea how to write her. I feel like I've done her better justice after a quick review of the chapter, but if someone has a good read on Eula, let me know what I'm missing. I fail to see what makes her unique outside of a Naruto-like hatred from the masses and her screaming about vengeance. The vengeance is the only thing I could incorporate, if that wasn't obvious. Seriously, I'd pick up the story after a month of procrastination, write a few words, hit a roadblock and start feeling self-doubt on whether I was portraying these characters correctly, then fall into a slump and ignore the story for another month.
Please Review!
artem-abramov-2004: As I've mentioned, I struggle with writing Eula. However, I do realise the impact that she has on the story, especially with Amber. She's going to be pivotal in the romance between Subaru and Amber, but I will struggle with her. I'm glad to see that you can forgive Rosaria, though. In the end, she was only doing her job.
Wicked.A: It took me 3 years for my driving license too, but I had the COVID and travelling excuse. Thanks for the love, though. And I promise that more emergency food jokes are coming soon.
Keroro: Unfortunately, I had deleted that. It would have been good if I put it up, though.
The Heretic Slayer 69: No, don't worry about coming back so late. I take so long to upload, it doesn't even matter. The Subaru x Amber sort of just happened, I kept them together for a while, and I realised how much Amber meant to Subaru. Call it a Male fantasy, but I do want to see them together.
Anyway, that's all for now. I'll see you... man, why am I feeling nostalgic? I'll see you next chapter.
