Replies to my Reviews

BlackSunV: So that was what sparked 'Barusu' into existence! But there's no way for Ram to have known that... unless it was a coincidence from Ram calling the perverted Subaru 'Balls' in Japanese Engrish.

Codwell: That would require Subaru and Emilia surviving the first ever loop.

Minhazz25: You're correct about the fantasy world not having any oceans... which is why whenever someone asks about this again since I don't feel like changing that small detail, I'm gonna reply "This is Fanfiction. I don't have to be that accurate."


"Gyakujaku!"

It was a beautiful morning.

"Boha?!"

The weather was sunny with just enough clouds to make the sunshine pleasant rather than harsh.

"Urgh, my back!"

It could even be felt by the sounds permeating the air.

"Oof!"

Like the sounds of tweeting birds, rustling leaves...

"Dogwa?!"

...and the various noises that escaped Natsuki Subaru's mouth as Rem beat the shit out of him in the name of 'training'.

Slamming into the ground for the fourteenth time, Rem felt a tiny smudge of approval (and sadistic glee) when Subaru immediately bounced up and charged at her again, his fists swinging.

Nimbly dodging the punch aimed at her hip, Rem lunged forward, grabbed his wrists and twisted them around, using her weight and legs to slam him down onto his stomach. A winded gasp escaped him from the impact and she sent him a disapproving glare from above as she straddled him.

"And just like that, you died again." Rem growled close to his ear. Curiously, he flinched at her words before struggling to get out of her grip.

"Isn't this a bit much?" Emilia fretted from the side. "Subaru hasn't used his powers or transformed since."

"Barusu chose not so, Emilia-sama." Ram commented while both the maid and the half-elf watched from the side of the courtyard. "I do not know of the abilities you're speaking about, but he clearly stated that he wanted to train his 'human' side as much as he could."

"Yeah, Emilia-tan!" Subaru called out, his voice muffled as Rem pressed his left cheek into the ground. "I gotta gain more EXP like this! You're cute, Rem, but don't be disappointed by a boy tossing you off him!"

Twisting about suddenly, Rem was thrown off while Subaru took the chance to back away. A chance that wasn't allowed as Rem instantly recovered and she rammed him down into the unforgiving earth, one hand slamming against his chest and the other clenched and hovered over his face.

"Don't move."

But that wasn't what had Subaru suddenly breathing heavily and quivering beneath her.

No, what Rem failed to notice was that her knee had shoved itself up between Subaru's legs as she jumped him. It was pressed up so close against his groin that poor Subaru could do nothing but whimper and shiver at the harsh contact. If he dared to move and disobey Rem's order, would she crush Subaru Jr.?!

He needs Subaru Jr.!

The surrounding cracks in the ground left no illusion how much physical strength the bluenette actually had in her legs.

Her nice, shapely, oh so deadly legs.

Why were the scary girls of this world so attractive?

"O-Okay, Rem!" Subaru held up his hands in surrender before idly patting the fist hovering over his face. "It's my fifteenth loss. How about we take a break?"

Rem didn't respond, her visible eye looking to where their hands touched before thankfully getting up and extending a hand for him. "Amazing adaptive ability, Subaru. Not only are you rather durable and stubborn, you also kept taking longer to defeat each time."

"Thanks for the review, Rem-rin!" Subaru groaned as he was easily hefted up to his feet. The maid sharply turned to him.

"What did you just call Rem?" Rem frowned in curiosity. "What does the 'rin' mean in addition to my name?"

"It's what they call a pet name." Subaru gleefully explained as he gestured to Emilia. "Just like when Puck calls Emilia 'Lia' and I add 'tan' to her name. It's an expression of affection that shows two people's closeness."

"You did call me that before." Emilia looked confused at this. "I don't remember getting that close to you, though..."

"Ouch." Subaru winced.

"Neither do I, Subaru." Rem added in agreement.

"Rem-rin, that's hurts." Subaru dramatically clenched his heart. "Even so, I'll keep pushing forward no matter what! I'll do whatever it takes to unlock your routes!"

"Keep your distance, Rem." Ram chided as she started heading inside the mansion. "I fear that Barusu might be someone who derives pleasure from harsh comments."

"Ram-chi, you're killing me." Subaru whined as Rem took a cautious step back.


Taking his bath inside the large bathtub, Subaru groaned as a day's worth of sore muscles began to relax. "To think that those twins could be such slave drivers. Ram dumps so many chores on me while Rem beats me up in the name of training."

For a brief moment, Subaru harbored the idea that Rem might be trying to kill him 'via training accident', but quickly discarded the thought. If not for the maid having healing magic, Subaru would've become quite the paralytic from having so many of his bones broken by her.

Subaru raised up his arm and flexed it, pleased to note the slight increase in muscle along with a few faint scars lining the appendage. "Not like I'm not seeing the results, though!"

"Hi, theeeeere! May I join-"

"No, you may not." Subaru turned away from the unbelievably ripped and disturbingly naked body of Roswaal L. Mathers standing behind him.

"Such an amusing reaction." Roswaal chuckled as he smoothly slid into the hot water next to Subaru. "This facility is part of my mansion, so it is my property. I'll do with it as I pleeeeease."

"Why did you even bother asking then?" Subaru grouched. "As a Japanese young man, I ain't gonna put actual effort into stopping a guy from enjoying a hot dip."

"'Japanese', you say?" Roswaal's eyes widened in interest. "I've never heard of that particular territory. As your superior, I'm suddenly bothered by how I don't know your homeland."

"It's a secret." Subaru sang. Reinhard was one thing, but the fucking clown would have to fight like a bitch to get anything substantial out of Subaru.

"That's so mean." Roswaal sighed. "By the way, it's been almost three days now. How faaaaar have you gotten along with Ram and Rem?"

"Very well, in fact." Subaru crossed. "Rem is very diligent in beating me up everyday, but I don't really speak to her much outside of our training sessions. As for Ram, I dare say that she's taking every chance to flaunt her seniority in this newbie butler's face."

"Well, you're her neeeeeeew subordinate." Roswaal shrugged. "With how much those two like to support and love each other, it's not that surprising that Ram would like to offload as many chores as she can onto you. After all, the busier you are, the freer time the twins get."

"I see..." Subaru huffed as he sunk into the hot water until his mouth was covered, blowing bubbles as he stared the... "Hey, Ros-chi. How exactly is this bath being heated?"

"That's quite simple." Roswaal patted the bottom of the bathtub. "The underside of the bathtub is covered with fire elemental crystals. When it's time for a bath, all one needs to do is infuse mana into them and the water gets heated up. We use the same thing in the kitchen, you see."

"Ah!" Subaru slapped his forehead, remembering how puzzled he'd been to watch Rem cooking the meals without any gas or charcoal. 'Like an induction cooker, I guess.' "Still, with infusing mana, it's probably not possible for someone who isn't a mage, right?"

"Not exactly. Seeing as you seem to be a complete novice, shaaaaaaall I instruct you in the ways of magic?"

Subaru sat at attention. "Yes, please!"

"Let's start with the basics. Firstly, all living things possess what we call 'Gates'. To put it simply, it's a portal through which mana passes from the inside of your body and out into your surroundings. This is your lifeline."

"Ah. So basically, it's a tap for MP." Subaru rationalized before a sudden thought occurred to him. "Hey, if I wanted to access my Gate, how would I go about it?"

"Well, your lack of training is a large problem. Very few are blessed with my talent, you see?"

"It's fine, it's fine." Subaru waved him off. "I can kinda generate water and lightning. I just need to get better at those two."

"Lightning? You can use lightning magic, Subaru-kun?" Roswaal's eyes sparkled with interest. "How about you show me?"

Subaru blinked at Roswaal... and then pointed down at the water they were both in.

"Ah. Another time, then. Magic is comprised of four primary types of elemental mana. The Fire element that deals with temperature, the Wind element that is responsible for functions outside the bodies of living things, the Water Element that governs life and recovery, and the Earth element that is responsible for functions inside the bodies of living things. By the way, I possess an affinity for all of the four elements."

"Yeah, I expected as much since Puck told me that you were a super famous and skilled magician." Subaru shrugged, a bit overwhelmed by the info dump he just received. 'It looks like this world's magic seems similar to the Bending system of the Avatar world. Add in Ros-chi's surprise and eagerness at me mentioning my lightning, it's probably a remarkable skill.'

"Of course, I can find out which affinity you have just by touching you." Roswaal offered, which Subaru instantly accepted by pressing his forehead against the mage's outstretched hand. "Well, then, please excuuuuuuse me."

Subaru fidgeted in excitement as he thought about all the different attributes as beautiful soothing and exciting places of mystical sights. 'Yes! I've been waiting for this! Is it the burning fire of passion? Or a relaxed cool guy water type? Or maybe a gentle wind blowing across the plain? Or is it solid, reliable earth?'

"Oh? It looks like you have three affinities. From the strongest to the weakest, they are Yin, Water and Wind."

"Where the fuck did Yin come from?!"

"In addition to the four basic attributes, there's also Yin and Yang." Roswaal explained. "Luckily for you, even if it's quite rare, there's already an expert in the mansion for you to learn from if you're interested."

'If I'm reading the Avatar parallels correctly, Yin would be like dark energybending, right?' Subaru crossed his arms and looked away. "If it's you, I'm all out of interest."

"No, no, no." Roswaal shook his head while tsking. "It's actually dear Beatrice."

"The nonhuman girl who constantly blasts me out of her library/room?!" Subaru threw up his arms in frustration. "I'd have better luck reading from your books in that Forbidden Library. Even if I can't read this country's language, hopefully, I can learn something from the pictures."

"What?" Roswaal turned to Subaru with a frown. "Subaru-kun, you're unable to read Lugnican?"


Apparently, Roswaal didn't approve of his servants being uneducated in the language of his kingdom. While he was surprisingly impressed when Subaru revealed himself to have already studied for more than a decade with education being mandatory in his homeland, the margrave had still insisted in the maids properly teaching him.

"You know, you're being surprisingly effective at teaching me, Ram-chi." Subaru spoke as he kept writing Lugnican letters into his paper while slowly memorizing them.

"Even if Roswaal-sama hadn't ordered us to, I could still notice your illiteracy and ignorance." Ram answered as she held up an opened book full of children's fairy tales. "If you can't read or write, I can't send you shopping, and you can't write down orders or read important notes."

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Isn't it obvious, Barusu? It's an amazing opportunity to increase my 'getting off easy' chances."

"You're too honest, Ram-chi!"

Ram looked down at her kouhai with an cold, calculating stare. "Naturally, you pervert. The more you can do, the less I have to do. And when I have less to do, so does Rem. It's win-win."

"But in exchange, I end up with a crazy high amount of work?!"

Ram tilted her head. "And that's a problem, how?"

This... damn...!

Even so, Subaru soldiered on. On top of training seriously, Subaru knew that he'd have to properly learn the language as well, his memory of his very first loop reminding him of all the signs and posters he hadn't been able to read or understand back at the capital.

'Now that I think of it, my illiteracy really was the very first problem I encountered here.' Subaru chuckled to himself just as he finished two-thirds of the work. "Hey, Ram, wanna hear something funny..."

Subaru turned around to find her sleeping on his bed.

On the positive side, Ram did mention being tired earlier and was looking pretty cute without her usual scowl.

On the negative side, the idea of the attractive Ram so blatantly disregarding Subaru's status as a young hotblooded male and sleeping right on his bed, well aware that he was literally incapable of forcing the girl off...

The quill shattered in Subaru's grip.


It was early in the morning and... there was a disturbance.

"Good morning, Beako."

'Once again, he's butchering my name, in fact.' Beatrice's eye twitched as the 'disturbance' yawned as he entered into her domain and sat right before her. "It is hard for the morning to be good when you rudely bypassed Betty's {Door Crossing} again without even knocking. If you want the morning to be good, just let yourself be blown away, in fact."

"W-Wait a minute! I'm sorry, okay!" Subaru panicked and waved his arms when Beatrice slowly raised her hand. "I just wanted to ask if you could give me some tips on Yin magic! Ros-chi mentioned that you were the resident expert."

Beatrice's interest stopped her from blowing him away. "Betty is the Great Spirit of Yin. Something far superior than that feeble description of 'expert'."

"Woah!" Subaru marveled with honest interest as he walked around her, casually poking her cheeks and tapping her hair. "Great Spirit of Yin? I don't know the technical stuff behind that, but that means that there's nobody in the world superior to you in Yin magic, right?"

"Of course, I suppose." Beatrice huffed. "Now you want to learn from Betty?"

"If I can, Beako-sensei!"

"...the last time you were here, you asked about magic that would allow one to traverse across separate worlds, did you not?" Beatrice eyed Subaru curiously, as if he were an unnatural phenomenon. "Are you from beyond the Great Waterfall?"

'The Great Waterfall? The hell's that?' Subaru frowned, gaining a visible look of confusion. "Uh, sorry. What waterfall are you talking about?"

Beatrice sighed. "As unbelievable as it sounds, your ignorance over that actually helps your case, in fact."

Beatrice kicked her legs out on her stool, visibly thinking it through before finally having an answer. "Very well. Betty shall teach you some basics. In exchange, you will reveal to Betty your ability, I suppose!"

Subaru blinked. "Huh?"

"When Betty was cleaning your wounds during your first night here, she would sometimes see scales and feel a strange power within your body. Tell Betty everything and do not you dare deceive me, in fact."

Subaru stepped back from the Spirit's pointed finger digging into his side. To think that she was interested in his Devil Fruit. Well, it wasn't like he was going to lose much by being honest to his future teacher.

"Okay, Beako-sensei! Now, listen up." Subaru took a spare piece of paper on her table and started to draw his Devil Fruit on it, somehow perfectly capable of remembering all of it's details. "My abilities come from this little beauty. It's called a Devil Fruit and this particular one allows me to turn into a Leviathan."

Looking down at the drawing, Beatrice frowned in confusion. "What is a leviathan?"

"It's kinda like a fusion between a sea serpent and a dragon."

"What?!" Beatrice's head whipped at him at a worrying speed. "You can turn into a dragon?!"

"Well, yeah-"

Beatrice clamped her hand on Subaru's wrist. "Show Betty. Now, in fact."


Emilia was still unsure on what to think of Subaru.

Yes, he had declared their relationship as friends, even if he did blush a lot around her, but even she sometimes found herself a little frustrated on how little they knew about each other.

Friends weren't supposed to be like that, right?

"That's exactly right, Lia." Puck manifested and hovered before her. "You should ask Subaru to tell you more about himself. I'm sure he wouldn't mind getting closer to you."

No matter how much she wanted that, Emilia couldn't be so selfish. Subaru was not without his duties as a new butler of Lord Roswaal's household, just as Emilia was expected to keep on studying to become the new king. Their differently-earned knowledge was similar-graded as she slowly learned by talking about it during the few times Subaru sought her out.

"Ah, there they are- HUUUUH?!" Puck exclaimed in shock. "You actually came outside?!"

"Good morning, Bubby!" Beatrice, who Emilia had never seen outside the mansion building, eagerly hugged the floating cat while Subaru happily gave her a wave she returned. "I just need to see this one's transformation abilities."

"Ah. Lia did mention that to me. Show us, Subaru."

Ah, yes. Subaru's dragon demihuman abilities. Now that she had had some time to research on them, there were several discrepancies from what she had read. Then again, people like Subaru were probably rare. It was likely that there were simply not enough books to appropriately describe Subaru's ability.

"Okay, then! Let's go!" Subaru's words were a warning of their own before Emilia was nearly bowled over by the blast of mist Subaru released as he transformed into his massive dragon form. "Woah..."

Now that she wasn't distracted by Elsa, Emilia let her eyes rake over Subaru's Beast form, adoring how the rising sun sparkled over his black and blue scales. Not to mention the mana that was currently pouring off Subaru. It wasn't as much as Puck exuded, but she was quite sure that he matched him in essence quality.

"Bubby." Beatrice's tone sounded oddly serious.

"I know." Puck's tone was similar. "The similarity is close."

"But unlikely to have any connection." Beatrice shook her head before yelling up to Subaru. "Subaru! Do you know of anyone called Volcanica?"

"Um, no." Subaru scratched a massive claw against his jaw. "Who's that?"

"See?" Beatrice made a weird gesture. "If he really doesn't know that, he truly is from beyond the Great Waterfall."

Subaru was from beyond the Great Waterfall? That... made sooooooo much sense. If that was the case, it would greatly explain why Subaru usually seemed to miss certain things that others knew to be common sense.

He had called her Satella so easily.

He had declared himself her friend.

He had called her beautiful.

He had given her the pet name of 'Emilia-tan'.

All because he literally didn't know why others usually refused to.

...was it selfish if she didn't want him to know any better?


"Oh, my..." Roswaal L. Mathers could offer little more on vocal matters as he and his maids gazed upon Subaru's draconic form. 'This is either really good... or really bad.'

"...so, this is what Barusu meant when he mentioned wanting to train his 'human' side." Ram stated blandly, although Roswaal could see that she had gone quite pale.

Rem however had gone unnervingly blank, her eyes unseeing as she gazed upon Subaru's massive form. The dragon in question had began moving about the grounds, being surprisingly careful about his heavy steps while Beatrice, Puck and Emilia were sitting on his head.

"Nee-sama... Roswaal-sama..."

Roswaal and Ram startled at the sound of Rem's broken tone.

"Is it possible... for a stranger from beyond the Great Waterfall... to be a Witch Cultist? Was Rem... wrong?"

Oh.

Oh, dear.

So that was what had bothered Rem from the start.

While Ram hurriedly tried to comfort her sister, a different type of worry overtook Roswaal's mind.

In order for Natsuki Subaru to follow the path that Teacher's Tome of Wisdom had set for him, it was heavily implied that the boy was to be utterly helpless against most of the dangers in the kingdom, always needing to rely on the abilities of others.

However, the 'boy' in question had somehow become capable of turning into a member of the most dangerous species in the world, both in power and prestige.

Why hadn't her Gospel warned him?!

'No... Calm down. Emilia and Ram still brought him to the mansion, him being heavily injured as predicted.' Roswaal rationalized as he forced himself to calm down.

Everything was still going as predicted. Hadn't Emilia reported that Subaru himself had admitted that his transformation abilities were quite recent? Hadn't he still taken on the job as a butler in his household?

This was...

This was... an expansion. Yes. That was what this was.

Things were just a little out of order for this scenario. Despite everything, the key elements were still present.

Subaru was still infatuated with Emilia, Rem was still being conflicted about her hatred of Witch Cultists being wrongly inflicted on him and the hired assassin currently in the village was due to curse Subaru later in the day.

All as Teacher had written in the Tome of Wisdom.

Everything was fine.

Everything would be fine.

Everything must be fine.


Later in the morning, Subaru hummed as he went through the Lugnican alphabets again in his room. For some reason, the maids had been acting really weird, even going as far as to make sure that Subaru had barely done any chores at all compared to the previous two days.

Rem hadn't even shown up for the usual training, which he had to use to practice some of the spells Beatrice had taught him.

'To be honest, for something that Ros-chi mentioned was rare, she gave me quite a bit-'

*knock*

*knock*

"Pardon my intrusion, Subaru." Rem demurely stated as she entered the room with a tray of tea in her hands. "I see that you're studying."

"Of course, I am." Subaru replied, only to raise an eyebrow when Rem poured and offered him a steaming cup. "Uh, what's the occasion?"

"I simply wished to share a break with you, Subaru." Rem replied as she poured herself a cup and sat on his bed. "I apologize for skipping our usual training. I... I just learned something that shook me."

"Are you okay?" Subaru instantly asked. Had Rem and Ram gotten bad news from a family member or something?

"I'll need to be..." Rem gave that disappointing answer as she took a sip from her cup, prompting Subaru to mimic her as he awkwardly tried to return to his studies. "U-Um... How is your studying coming along?"

"Not bad. I can read simple fairy tales like these now." Subaru turned around to show Rem the fairytale book Ram and given him, opening and shifting through it. It's interesting how the morals differ just slightly from what I know. It's like true cross-cultural communication. Maybe I should import a few fairy tales from my homeland. Like 'The Red Oni Who Cried'."

Rem suddenly choked on her tea, sending Subaru a startled look. "'The Red Oni Who Cried'?"

Subaru blinked at her reaction. "Want me to tell it to you?"

Rem awkwardly fiddled with the half empty cup in her hands before giving a surprisingly timid nod. "Yes, please."

Smiling at her gaze, Subaru nodded his head. "All right, your attention, please."

"Once upon a time, there lived a red oni and a blue oni." Subaru picked up a spoon with a red jewel in one hand and his quill that had a blue jewel in his other hand. He held the two together. "The two were very good friends. The red oni wanted to be friends with the people of the village. But the people were too scared to get close to him. The blue oni couldn't bear to watch, so he devised a plan to help his friend."

Subaru began shaking the quill that represented the blue oni.

""I'll make a ruckus in the village, so you come and stop me. Then the villagers will be sure to trust you." The plan worked and the red oni befriended the humans. But as time began passing by, something began to worry him. His friend, the blue oni, no longer came to visit him."

It was slight, but Subaru noticed Rem's hand tremble at that point.

"One day, the red oni went to the blue oni's house. The door was tightly shut, and a letter was affixed to it. The letter said… "Red Oni-kun, please have fun with your human friends. If I continue to hang around you, they might think you're a bad oni, too. So I've decided to go on a journey, but I will never forget you. Goodbye and please take care of yourself. Your friend forever… Blue Oni.""

Rem's hand shook again, worse than before.

"The red oni read the letter in silence over and over again. Tears fell as he began to cry."

By the time Subaru finished, his mood had turned somber. "The End."

Rem looked down into her teacup, staring at her reflection. "That's... such a tragic story."

"Yeah, it's a straight up tragedy." Subaru agreed. "But I think that it has still has some sweetness in it."

"How?" Rem didn't look up from her cup. "While it was sad that the red oni lost his friend, the blue oni had realized what had to be done from the start. While the blue oni's actions were tragic, he wasn't wrong. The red oni wanted more than he had and had gained so, but the blue oni hadn't wanted anything at all. If anything, the he had probably realized that from the moment the red oni wanted to befriend the humans, the blue oni must have felt invisible and unneeded. Rem believes that the proposed plan was simply his last 'play time' with the red oni before he finally vanished."

Subaru eyed the shaking cup in Rem's hand before gently pulling it out of her grasp to drop it back on the tray. "That's harsh. Unlike the blue oni, I would've wanted a nice reward for my actions. It's my personal belief that the blue oni was a sad, foolish person who didn't seem to believe that he deserved good things."

"Then we shall agree to disagree, Subaru." Rem conceded before pointing at the book. "Putting aside your homeland's fairy tales, did any of these stories leave an impression on you?"

Indeed, there had been a few that struck out to him. "Well, the ones that interested me most were the one in the middle, about the dragon, and the one at the end about the Witch."

Despite their inexplicable differences, they're actually two separate parts of a familiar story.

"I finally know where the name 'Dragon Kingdom of Lugnica' comes from." Subaru chuckled. "No wonder everyone acted so crazily back at the capital. It says the royal family signed a covenant with a dragon god, so it's more a folk tale than a fairy tale, right?"

"Yes, since it's true." Rem nodded. "The noble dragon still protects this nation from far away, beyond the Great Waterfall. It will do so until its contract with the royal family is fulfilled."

"Considering how Beatrice mentioned how I'm from beyond there and I'm now here, I wonder if he knows that a stranger's in his kingdom..." Subaru trailed off as he suddenly remembered something important. "Hold up, didn't the royal family in question die off? Is that contract still valid?"

It better be. Farsale might actually return from the afterlife just to whack Volcanica in the head for ditching the contract on a technicality. Especially after what was given.

"Nobody knows." Rem replied. "The Dragon rarely shows itself publicly, so nobody knows what the Dragon wants. In the nation's current situation, only the gods know… No, only the Dragon knows what the Dragon will do, Subaru."

"Oh, by the way, about this witch story… " Subaru was flipping through the book but was suddenly cut off.

"Subaru, do you know what a Witch Cultist is?" Rem looked at Subaru's face, desperate for something.

"Um, no? I have no idea what that is." Subaru frowned. "Witch Cultist... Is this related to Satella?"

"It has everything to do with her." Rem's fingers dug into the hem of her skirt. "The Witch Cult is a criminal... No, a fanatical organization that worships the Witch of ENVY. In her name, they've committed vile and abominable atrocities across the kingdom for many years, leaving grief, bloodshed and destruction in their wake."

"I see..." Subaru scratched the back of his head. "They're essentially fantasy terrorists... But I really didn't know about them until right now-"

"Then why do you smell like them?!" Rem rebutted with a harsh glare, closing the distance between them until she was looming over him. "And with such a powerful scent?! I've killed Witch Cultists before but none of them have ever reeked as much as you do now!"

"W-What?" Subaru backed into the table. "I don't know! I literally came into this world... just five days ago! For all I know, Satella herself could've been the one to drag me here!"

...s-she was probably desperate for a reason.

"What do you have which could prove that you are not a Witch Cultist?" Rem growled, a strange metallic rattle echoing from her. "What could you prove to me that you are not lying and manipulating us all like a snake?!"

"...if you want something like that, then there really is one thing I can do." Subaru sighed as he prepared to look at Death in the eye again... which happened to be another beautiful girl with lots of killing intent. Was this a theme of this world? "I'm quite sure that I'm neither a cultist or terrorist of any sort, so if I actually do something that reminds me of those monsters I remind you of... You can just kill me on the spot."

Rem only remained silent.

"You've been training me for the past two mornings now, so you should know how weak I am compared to you without transforming into a Leviathan." Subaru extended his hand to shake hers. "Because I know who I am, I'm pretty confident that I won't act in such a manner for any reason."

Rem looked back and forth between his face and his hand, until she ultimately reached for it. "I will not go easy on you, Emilia-sama's friend or not."

"I sincerely await the day when I can unlock your route, Rem-rin."

Rem closed her eyes and grabbed the edge of her dress as she curtsied. "We have an accord, then. I, Rem of the Lugnican Oni Tribe, will properly and sincerely apologize to you, if it is proven that my suspicions about you were wrong. However, if my suspicions are proven correct..."

Subaru flinched as a chained mace somehow appeared in Rem's hand, the spiky orb pressed against his chest.

"I shall smash your body into pulp, consequences be damned."

And I would kill for that if I were fully present.

Subaru feared death, just as much as a regular person would. However...

"In that case, on the very very very small chance I actually become like that, I hope you can! Kill me, that is." Subaru, whether out of bravery or suicidal tendency, patted the stunned maid on her head. "After all, I like to think myself of a person that can't handle death."

After all, if {Return By Death} took him back all the way back to that appa vendor, he'd really be unable to handle it.


Even when they went down into the village to purchase and stock up on food stuff, Rem still kept a sharp eye on Subaru. Even if she was now aware enough to be 70% sure that her new subordinate truly wasn't a Witch Cultist.

Rem knew that Subaru was an incredibly social person, but even she was a bit stunned at how the Otherworlder had somehow won the friendship of almost everyone in the village while she'd been buying the supplies.

Even the children had taken to Subaru quickly, with the boy swiftly memorizing their names and rattling them out on her way.

"Lucas wants to be the greatest woodcutter~" Subaru sang on their way, the weird lyrics flowing out from his surprisingly good singing voice. "Mildo wants to crown his mama with flowers from the fields~ Meina's gonna be a big sister just like Ram-chi~ Dyne and Cain are always butting heads for Petra's hand~ Petra herself's gonna make it big in the capital, making dresses so fancy and smart~ Meili's..."

Subaru trailed off before continuing on. "I know too little about Meili except she's got two sisters that I didn't meeeeeeeeet~"

And then he thrusted up his bandaged hand. "And she's got a puppy that bit meeeeeee~"

"What a lovely song that is~"

Both Rem and Subaru flinched away from the woman that had suddenly appeared behind them, the latter shrieking at the sight of a black haired woman in dark and provocative clothing. "Elsa?! What the fuck are you doing here?!"

"What kind of question is that?" Elsa idly asked, her serene tone at odds with the spinning black knife that suddenly appeared in her hands. "Did I not promise you and that Half-Elf that I would come back for your bowels? Although, I wonder what this one's guts looks like."

Then almost faster than Rem could see, Elsa threw the knife straight for her neck. Even as she moved to dodge, Subaru must have expected it because his arm was already moving to knock it off course.

"Oh shit, I actually hit it aside!" Subaru gushed before suddenly shifting his head aside to dodge another knife that would've pierced his skull. "That too! Was that my Kenbunshoku popping up?!"

"Hmm~ You've gotten better at dodging." Elsa hummed, both of her hands occupied with new knives.

"State your identity and business here!" Rem threatened as she brandished her mace and sent it flailing at the woman. "What do you want with Emilia-sama and Subaru?!"

Elsa let the mace fly towards her, only to nimbly dodge and grab at the chain, reeling in the maid.

Rem panicked as she was dragged towards the woman's ready blade, unable to properly counter-

"[Minya!]"

-only for several crystal stakes of Yin mana to rain down upon Elsa, saving Rem and forcing Elsa to dodge aside.

"Ah... How wonderful~" Elsa gasped, a small flush on her cheeks as she swiftly ripped out all three of the crystals that had hit her arm and started crystallizing the limb, alarming Rem when the gouged flesh rapidly healed itself. "Improved reflexes... magic acquisition... you really make me glad that I didn't kill you back then."

Subaru made a noise that seemingly spoke too little of how much he disagreed with her as he went to Rem's side. "You're not going to kill me, period."

"Mmm... You shouldn't assume that to be a good thing, Subaru~" Elsa sang a little with the butler's name, making him shudder while Rem clenched her mace tighter. "After all..."

Elsa directed her gaze upwards. "Mama wants to play with you so much. See?"

At her words, something slammed down from the sky, kicking up a ton of dust and dirt from the impact.

"What the hell?!" Subaru shouted. "Who just dropped from the sky?!"

"Subaru, we need-" Rem choked when the smell hit her nostrils. Up until this day, she had considered Subaru to have the foulest odor related to the Witch.

But Subaru's smell paled to the monster that had just arrived.

"Wonderful! Amazing! My best assassin has been held at bay! This lovely lady is truly happy she came!"

The dust cleared away to reveal a blonde girl with blood red eyes in the strangest attire Rem had ever seen, being revealing but somehow lacking the eroticism Elsa carried as two larger circular appendages could be seen sprouting out of her body just above her waist.

But worst of all... was the blatant sadistic glee in her eyes as she fixed them solely on Subaru.

"W-Who... No..." Subaru shook his head as he took a cautionary step back, his eyes wide and manic. "What the hell are you?"

With a nauseatingly lewd smile, she declared. "Sin Archbishop of the Witch Cult, representing LUST... Capella Emerada Lugnica."

And then, Rem just...

Everything turned red after hearing that.


Chapter 05: 𝕋𝕙𝕖 π•„π•’π••π••π•–π•Ÿπ•–π•• β„™π•£π• π•žπ•šπ•€π•–