Chapter summary: Reinhard is depressed and Subaru finally defeats his worst nemesis. They really should've not made him this drunk...
In just an hour, Subaru had managed to down his second bottle of whiskey. They were quite large bottles too. At this point, even Beatrice was surprised by his alcohol tolerance. Last time he folded a lot sooner.
"His tolerance has improved massively in a year, just like his physical abilities, I suppose. As expected from Betty's Subaru, in fact."
Initially, Subaru promised himself only one drink and no more. However, between Satella allowing him to relax (she prevented him from spilling his secrets four times thus far: "Thanks, Tella. Lov' you, hun"), and Emilia, egged on by Echidna, offering him more and more to drink, Subaru's truly did give in to peer pressure.
All of the Royal Candidates were quite curious about Subaru, as he rarely spoke about himself, even the proud Priscilla was interested, who found him more entertaining than her own jester. After the spirit that possessed the Merchant Princess explained to Emilia how a drunken Subaru could hopefully help clear up the mysteries surrounding him, the half-elf somewhat begrudgingly obliged ("It might be a bit unfair to do that to my knight, though...") to assist the possessed merchant in her efforts.
As it turned out, the drunk Subaru was even more eccentric than the sober one. He stumbled around, bumped into tables when he went for refills, and kept constantly apologizing to someone under his nose. Echidna did not know to whom exactly, but he was oddly tender toward this imaginary person, for whatever reason. ("Is he hearing voices inside his head? Maybe it's just a sign of inebriation.") Initially, the partygoers had been content to watch and laugh, while Anastasia-Echidna had gone right to work, attempting to gain any useful information from the drunken knight. So far, she had been unsuccessful. To her seemingly throwaway question about him organizing the White Whale subjugation expedition, Subaru, in his drunken state, vigorously praised Rem, a person who, according to Emilia's words, was a maid of Mathers' estate that was devoured by Gluttony. Subaru was the only person who remembered her, the only person who remembered victims of Gluttony that lost their names, which was yet another oddity about him. He claimed that if Rem hadn't helped him, he would've run away from Lugunica and given up on Emilia altogether. Those were rather touching words, but useless ones, all things considered, since his loyalty to his liege was now absolute, something he did not forget to redeclare. The only useful thing she managed to learn was that the fabled metia that helped in subjugation of the White Whale was likely a family heirloom – he said he had it "from the day one". Unfortunately, Russell Fellow was currently in possession of this valued item as a part of their deal. Subaru said it was probably worth around twenty holy gold coins, which sounded rather cheap, but fox spirit knew that Russell, as a collector, would value it much higher than that.
Among the stream of rather useless information were the things he was chatting about with Al about: most of them seemed beyond her understanding, probably some sort of local references, since they were from the same place, but some of them included things like food preferences, and other mostly irrelevant things like that. Honestly, Echidna paid very little attention to their banter.
"So what do you like the best here, bro? From the food, I mean."
"I like the bu-u-urgers here, Hoshin's "invention", no doubt. Pretentious je-e-erk, snagged all the cool things. Me-e-eat is rather good here, ve-e-ery tender, probably good ecology or somthin'. The tea sucks, though, or maybe it's just that Ram is the wo-o-orst maid in existence. Nah, it's de-e-efinitely Ram's fault – when it's Petra, Rem or Fred it's ok. I was surpri-i-ised there's so little rice or fish food in here, but I guess that's just the asian in me speakin'."
"Not a lot of deep water here, so fish is a rare delicacy. And it's all river fish, too, given, you know, no seas in here."
"Makes sense. I was also surprised by the lack of mayo. Se-e-eriously, it was to-o-orture!"
The inebriated knight placed a hand over his heart in the most overly dramatic fashion possible.
"I had to re-invent the stuff with Rem and Ram. Most people in the ma-a-ansion liked it. Still not perfect. Needs to be better. Maybe add whiskey? Haven't tried that, yet." What a madman.
"Don't really like the mayo."
"Gasp! You're no longer my bud, Al. No more bud privileges. Na-ah. Gone. Poof!"
"Ah, don't be like that, bro. Everyone has their own taste."
"Cool to see that okonomiyaki made it too, even if Beako and Emilia-tan can't cook for shi-i-it. Hate that your bitch ruined such a co-o-ol bonding scene, tho."
Reinhard and Wilhelm looked rather guilty. It did not help that they had the second argument after facing Theresia.
At the same time, said bitch just turned in Subaru's direction.
"What are you gonna do, bimbo? Stab me with your toothpick in the middle of the party? I'm sure half of the people here would want your head for that. You've already done your worst, it won't faze me anyway."
Of course, he was still rather mad at her, both for ruining his attempts to mend the rift in the Astrea family and for humiliating him in a failed loop by forcing him to prostrate himself before her and then beating him up on a whim, not to mention the whole "appa incident".
Priscilla was surprisingly civil. She could appreciate his honest hostility, they were enemies after all, and there was no deceitful "respect" in his words, unlike in what others told. She preferred people like that to those who groveled. And the commoner was right that half of the party would turn against her in such a case.
"Ayo, man. Not cool. I'm not bad-mouthing your chick."
"I dunno how you handle her. Emilia's one bi-i-ig pain in the ass, but compared to yo-o-ours – Angel."
"Hah, she can be a handful sometimes. What can I say, I love to play with fire."
"Aldebaran."
"Sure-sure, Princess. I'll shut up."
Emilia had mixed feelings about Subaru right now. On the one hand, he stood up to Priscilla, which was honestly quite cool of him, but on the other, his comments about her were also rather rude.
"But I was the one that pressured him to drink in the first place... Maybe it's because I am so mean to him, he's so... brash. And I've always created so much trouble for him..."
Filled with guilt, she decided to stop encouraging him to drink more.
Emilia's refusal to continue further did not make Subaru drink less, unfortunately, as Otto had quickly replaced her, almost forcing the alcohol down Subaru's throat and goading the black-haired boy into doing embarrassing things that he could exploit later. Garfiel barely paid attention to his Captain, as he and Mimi shared another glass with their arms intertwined. Sadly for Subaru, who told them about this drinking tradition, he did not get the chance to do so with Emilia, although not because she found it weird or embarrassing, but because she decided to abstain from drinking for the rest of the evening. When Garfiel did pay attention, he shouted in support, loudly proclaiming that Subaru was "Da coolest guy evar!". So did Mimi, in that regard, truly the power of Lolimancer at hand.
Even Julius, Reinhard, and Felix had gotten involved.
Felix quickly became drunk, trying to drown out the feelings of self-loathing he felt for allowing Crusch to be infected with the cursed dragon blood and having no clear way to treat her from it. At least Subaru could help, but that did not felt good either. In his opinion, they were already owed Emilia Camp far too much (they had cooperated quite a lot in the past year), and having someone else's knight treat Crusch's affliction felt incredibly humiliating to the one who was commonly called the greatest healer in all of Lugunica.
The former two were simply curious to see how a drunk Subaru would act. ubaru was already quite eccentric, so how would he act when alcohol was added to the mix? Even more eccentric, as it turned out.
Julius was a bit afraid that he would have to duel Subaru again, and given the fact that his ladies had forgotten him, it seemed that the nasty-eyed knight alongside his contracted Great Spirit of Yin would have a lot greater chances than during their mutually embarrassing display in the capital. He still had great chances to win the theoretical bout, but a rather big part of him wanted to give Subaru his victory. The knight still berated himself for having treated him poorly back then, and he hoped that Subaru does consider him his friend, even if a bit begrudgingly. His state was rather unknightly at the moment, but Felix looked the same way, so Julius did not judge. Besides, plenty of Royal Knights were drunkards as well, and Emilia's knight had to be convinced by the entire party to let loose.
Reinhard was there mostly at the insistence of his liege. Although, he was rather concerned about his friend's well-being . Right now Subaru was clearly the most inebriated person in the party, surpassing the drinking pace of both Al, Otto, Wilhelm and even Heinkel. The whiskey bottles were a bit smaller than the wine bottles, yes, but given the alcohol content, Subaru was clearly drinking a lot more alcohol. Considering what Great Spirit-sama said, he had a hard limit, after which his body and mind would give in. Therefore, the Sword Saint chose to stay by his side, so that he can at least catch him when that happens.
"Just in case."
"His tolerance is a bit ridiculous, nyah. Do you think you'll byeat him in a drinking contest, Reinhard?"
"I don't think I am qualified to attend that kind of contest, Felix. I am immune to the effects of alcohol after all…"
Sword Saint was a bid dejected by the atmosphere. He drank a bit, yes, but he always missed the fun aspect of drinking.
"Yo-o-ou're too op ma-a-an!"
With each drink, Subaru steadily complained more and more. The previous powerscaling discussion was still stuck in his head. He had Tella, true, but Return by Death felt like a double-edged sword most of the time.
Sword Saint, in the meantime, was beginning to feel more and more down. From his perspective, the two of them felt like complete opposites: Subaru always did a lot for someone who was naturally given very little, while he himself felt like he did very little compared to just how much was given to him.
"I'm not strong, Subaru, all I possess are nothing but tricks."
He did not mean "strong", as in physically strong ("Being a monster, I have that in spades."), but rather "strong", as in being able to protect those who couldn't protect themselves. That was his biggest issue, since even the kingdom where he lived restricted what he could do and who he could help. Technically, the day he helped Subaru protect Lady Emilia he violated several rules in doing so, but given he helped save two Royal Candidates that day, no one took notice. That was the main reason he served Lady Felt, so he could lend a hand to whomever needed it, once the old rules will be dismantled. Although in that case, he would just like to have a peaceful, idyllic life somewhere far away from the chaos of the cities.
"I can't even draw my sword, Reid, unless it deems its opponent worthy, see?"
Reinhard tried to draw his sword to show him the impossibility of this action. The scabbard moved with the sword, almost as if they were fused together, making it impossible to retrieve it. At least he could still bash with it.
"It rarely deems anyone worthy, but I guess I should be happy about it. After all, the people who can get it to react tend to be incredibly troublesome individuals."
The fact that Reid rarely deemed anyone worthy also meant that there wasn't anyone who could be a great threat to the well-being of the world, and that, from Sword Saint's point of view, was a good thing. ("Albeit this logic is not flawless either, as people like Regulus Corneas and Elsa Granhiert were not considered worthy despite their disturbing nature. Still, I prefer to think that my efforts were not needed to subjugate such monsters, and that someone else could have accomplished it better than I ever could. Like Natsuki Subaru and Garfiel Tinzel.") Reinhard, knowing his monstrous nature, did not believe he was worthy to stand against someone who threatened the entire world. Unlike his friend, who would probably find a lot more use of this "gift", if he had it.
"Ho-o-old up! Let me try!"
For a second, Sword Saint thought that Subaru had read his mind. In truth, no one had asked him for something like that. He hesitated for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders and detached the sheath from his suit once more.
"What's the worst that could happen?" You have no idea.
"Sure, Subaru, here."
Subaru approached Reinhard (bumping into the leg of another table yet again on the way there) and grabbed the handle of the sword. As soon as he placed his hand upon the blade, Subaru's eyes widened slightly. For some reason, the handle felt somewhat familiar to him, as if something deep inside his soul already knew what he was doing. It reminded him of Satella. This was similar to the odd affection that he felt when he met her face to face for the first time a year ago. Or maybe it was like what he felt recently – another missing piece of himself?
"I'm telling you, Reid, this is gonna be the funniest prank ever!"
Thinking nothing of it, Subaru began to pull.
Instantly, Reinhard heard an all-too-familiar sound, a sound that he never thought his ears would pick up on, especially in this situation: the soft click of the scabbard allowing the swordsman to unsheathe the blade within. Reinhard's surprise was so great that for a moment his shock became visible on his otherwise always inscrutable face. Similarly shocked, were two others, who had personally witnessed that blade being wielded just a few days ago: for the first it was against his wife, for the second – against his mother.
"Subaru-u-u, you dunderhead! Stop embarrassing... me..."
Emilia stopped her scolding immediately, her eyes wide in complete disbelief as she began to realize the unbelievable scene that was unfolding before her.
At first, everyone ignored Subaru's antics, expecting him to fall on his ass, since they expected him to try and fail to pull out the fabled Dragon Sword. However, in a move that would change the course of history forever, something truly incredible happened before them. Under the eyes of everyone in the room, the sword started to exit from its scabbard. At that moment, everyone's minds went blank at the sheer impossibility of what was happening in front of them. Even the drunken Al, the ever-playful Felix, the nerdy Julius, and even Garfiel and Mimi (who had been preoccupied with one another during the initial commotion) could only stop and stare in disbelief. Even Heinkel, who had previously been in a drunken stupor, woke up completely sober with his jaw hanging wide open. The room fell utterly silent. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. With a final grunt, Subaru pulled the Reid out, ignoring the stunned reactions of everyone around him.
"Huh, I feel like King Arthur after he pulled out the Excalibur."
There was a smug grin on Subaru's face. Of course, only Al understood the reference.
The weapon in his hands was the epitome of perfection. Its blade was so clean that even dust refused to settle on it. The edge glowed faintly, reflecting the light coming from the mana crystals placed around the room. The air surrounding it whistled as it moved, humming a melody of death to whoever faced the wielder.
With a swift motion, too swift for what was expected of him, Subaru turned around to the recent offender – a table he had just recently bumped into, raised a blade and with a single swoosh… turned the entirety of said table, alongside all its contents, into a pile of fine dust. It was a perfect strike, the technique was so clean that even Reinhard himself completely approved it. For a brief moment, it looked like he had achieved true perfection, worthy of the Sword God's blessing. The move reminded the Sword Saint of his own blow against the Bowel Hunter a year ago. However, unlike him, who had blown up the loot house but failed to kill the intended target, Subaru was a lot more merciless, his strike way more concentrated on the objective, leaving almost nothing left of his "mortal enemy".
"And fuck you too, table. I swe-e-ear, these things are worse than Ju-u-ulius."
If Julius hadn't been paralyzed by the event, he would probably have been hurt by those words.
"Ha! I knew you were bullshittin', Rein!"
"Woah, Envy, look how cool he is!"
Back in her Garden, Satella squeaked like a giddy schoolgirl watching her crush show off. In truth, that assessment was somewhat correct.
There was a moment of silence at the party. Some people looked at the blade in his hand, some at the pile of dust where the unfortunate table used to be, but no one ushered a word. Subaru looked around, utterly confused.
"Wha- why are you so quiet all of a su-u-udden? I-i-is there somethin' on my face?"
He touched his face, leaning on Reid as if it were a worthless stick and not the legendary weapon revered by the entire world that it was. Had Reid Astrea been here, he would certainly have approved. As everyone continued to stare, he opened the cork of another bottle of whiskey and began to drink it straight from the bottle. After downing about half in one go, he stopped and replaced the still-open bottle with a loud thud.
And so, in her reckless greed, the Great Spirit Echidna just unleashed the full power of the black-eyed knight, thus changing the flow of history forevermore.
Author comment: Disclaimer: No tables were harmed during production of this fanfic.
Update: Slight revision of this chapter. Mostly fixed grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. No serious alterations to the plot.