Chapter 26: A Minor Break, to Ignore All of Our Trauma
Solaire still felt shivers down his spine from that. "Well, that was… something."
Oscar agreed with his fellow knight. "Indeed... Being in a castle full of Vampires…"
"And all those human corpses…" Emilia said, looking a little green.
"Some of them looked... half eaten, but also… like some of them used to be Vampires... guess Vampires are cannibals along with being bloodsuckers," Subaru added on.
"However, we now know where they live, thanks to this adventure. They'll be exterminated soon enough." Oscar said with determination.
Solaire looked to be in thought. "Still, Serana did not seem like a bad person, especially among her... brethren."
"If one hundred snakes that came through your door tried to bite you, while twenty of them tried to help you, would you keep your door open for all the snakes?" Oscar asked, quite skeptical.
"That tells you that not all monsters are evil," Subaru answered.
"But would you really risk it?" the knight asked.
"I've done it before."
"He has," Solaire chuckled a bit and backed him up. "Patches is proof enough."
"I... see."
As the party made it back into the safe walls of the base, the first person to greet them was…
"Welcome back, trogs!"
…none other than the thieving Undead, Patches, himself.
"Speak of the devil," Subaru groaned.
Patches snickered a bit. "Well, I did hear my name."
Emilia, meanwhile, looked around the area. "How is everyone holding up?"
"The father-daughter duo are still waiting on their weapons, and I don't know where the cat has wandered off to." Patches answered.
BOOM!
The four saw smoke coming out from the roof of the castle, with multiple elements spewing out in multiple directions.
Emilia merely sighed. That was her Tutor's handiwork alright... "There he is."
Patches, meanwhile, continued. "And as for Aela and Erik… ehh…"
Subaru's eyebrow raised at that. "Training?"
"I honestly hope so," the bald Undead said.
Oscar decided to take his leave. "I need to go talk to Isran. I'll tell him what happened."
Subaru nodded in agreement. "All right, talk to you later."
Solaire also began to walk away. "I should probably go check up on Seigmeyer and Seiglinde."
"I'll tag along with you!" Patches said, following behind the sun-loving knight.
As the others walked off, Subaru and Emilia were left alone.
Emilia decided to speak up. "Hey, Subaru?"
"Hm?" Subaru snapped out of dissociation to look towards the half-elf.
"That monster you were referring to…" Emilia started, trying to figure out how best to word her question.
"What about it?" the Japanese man asked.
"Were you… talking about Satella?"
"I... guess you could see it that way, but I was referring more to the Witches in general," Subaru answered honestly. "You know how they were seen as disastrous monsters?"
Emilia nodded, remembering what Subaru said about them, "Um, yes?"
"Well, they were... chaotic, yes, but not inherently evil." Subaru explained, but Emilia didn't seem to get it right away.
"What do you mean?"
"Like, take Minerva for example," the nasty-eyed Undead said. "She was the Witch of Wrath, so you'd expect her to be the most violent of them all, but guess what? She was a healer."
Emilia was quite surprised at that piece of knowledge. Quite contradictory. "She was? I didn't know that."
Subaru nodded. "Yep. Minerva hated when someone was hurt, and her Authority reflected that. She was the best healer that ever lived, but her power had... disastrous consequences."
"Disastrous how?"
"Whenever Minerva healed someone, she pulled Mana from the surrounding environment to restore someone, and the Od Laguna had to fill up that vacant spot. So... if she healed too many people at once, then refilling the land's mana would cause various natural disasters to happen in random areas, oftentimes in habited areas," he explained.
Emilia began to see why Minerva, as well as the rest of the Witches, were so hated despite their good intentions. "Oh, dear. That does sound bad."
"Yeah... but, that's enough about the past. We need to focus on the here and now."
"Mm." Emilia nodded in agreement. "What are you thinking of?"
"Well, we know where the head honchos are at, so we don't have to worry about finding them... we need something that will help us beat them without inflicting too many casualties," Subaru explained. "Because if those guys are anything like that one Vampire we fought when we met Serana, then we're in for a big fight."
Emilia began to think of possible ideas. "We could bomb them from above?"
"Well, where are we gonna get the bombs from?" Subaru asked.
"We… could ask Odahviing?"
Subaru raises an eyebrow at the thought. "He knows where to find bombs?"
"Doesn't he have fire breath?" the amethyst-eyed woman asked.
Subaru tilted his head a bit. "True, but they're probably gonna stay in their castle, which Odahviing's Fire Breath might not be able to penetrate."
"Mmm…" Emilia thought a little more. "I could freeze it whole?"
Subaru shook his head. "Probably not the best idea. Oscar did say that they had a resistance to cold.
"I was actually thinking of trapping them in the ice, but all right then..."
"Might work for a while, but there may be surviving humans in there they use for... cattle. Trapping the Vampires in there would mean trapping the people in there too."
"I could train up to Al Goa levels?"
"Wouldn't hurt."
Emilia smiled. "Great! Any other ideas?"
"Well, if we're gonna attack, it's gotta be during the daytime." Subaru noted. They wanted to keep the Vampires inside the castle.
"Makes sense. Anything else?"
Subaru couldn't think of anything else. "We'll plan it out as we go. Right now, let's focus on training."
"Right!" Emilia nodded, to which Subaru's mind decided to make him remember something.
"Oh... by the way... about what happened in the cave…"
Emilia's face turned slightly red as that was mentioned again.
"It was just... like, he basically threw me on you, so it wasn't…"
"I, um, I didn't mind…" Emilia shyly said.
"Right," Subaru agreed. "So, let's just forget it ever happened.
"Sure…" Emilia said, before whispering, "If you want to…"
"Huh?"
Emilia immediately went even redder. "Nothing! Absolutely nothing!"
"Okay... well, like I said, let's just forget about it," Subaru said, before turning around, and semi-whispering. "Don't want Ella to start being compatible with Envy."
"Right, right…" Emilia definitely didn't want to anger her friend's lover.
So, Subaru and Emilia went on their way. Emilia went to train with J'zargo, and Subaru went to meditate. But despite being away from each other, they still thought about one another…
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Meanwhile, deep within the forge, Andre of Astora was working tirelessly on these swords. They may not have been masterpieces, but he still put his heart and soul into his craft.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Wiping the sweat off his brow, he examined the sword he had been hammering out. Giving it a few test swings, he nodded to himself, deemed it ready for usage.
"Ah… there we go," he said, as he put it aside, and grabbed a new piece of metal.
"Hello!" Solaire said, as he walked in. "How goes the smithing?"
"I've finished one of the swords Seigmeyer requested. Try it out." Solaire took the sword from Andre's hand, and swung it a few times.
"Hmm... Yes, this will do nicely,"
"Wonderful. Now, I…" Andre's smile shifted into an angry expression. "YOU!"
"Huh?!" Solaire was confused by this sudden aggression.
However, he saw that Andre wasn't mad at him, but at someone behind him. Turning around, Solaire saw that Patches had followed him in, and was now frozen in surprise.
Patches looked around for a bit and saw that the blacksmith wasn't referring to anyone else. "Eh... Top of the morning?"
"YOU BALD LITTLE THIEF!"
Solaire just looked confused. "Did something happen while we were gone?"
Andre immediately pointed to Patches in a rage. "This little rat tried to steal my crafting materials from me three hundred years ago! Then he threw me down a hole!"
"Sounds like me, but that doesn't sound familiar," Patches admitted.
Andre looked even more pissed and yelled, "YOU DON'T EVEN REMEMBER?!"
"When you've tricked as many greedy men as I have, they all seem to blur together."
"I WAS JUST TRYING TO PERFECT MY CRAFT! WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU?!"
Patches thought about it, before simply shrugging. He honestly didn't know.
Andre proceeded to scream in rage, charge at Patches, and beat him with his hammer.
WHAM! CRACK! SMASH! SLAP! BASH!
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
"OW! STOP IT! OW! SOLAIRE! AREN'T YOU GONN- OW! HELP ME?!"
Solaire wisely decided to not intervene. "I'll be on my way."
And so, Solaire left Patches to get his just desserts, while the bald Undead yelled at him, "I'LL REMEMBER THIS — OWW!"
"Please do."
And so, the knight left the two men to scream to their hearts' content.
""AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—""
Seigmeyer and Sieglinde walk up to Solaire and ask about the yelling. "Is everything okay? We heard yelling."
"Nothing serious," the bucket-helmeted knight said.
They could still hear Patches screaming for help in the distance.
"Oh." Seigmeyer put two and two together.
Sieglinde looked a bit concerned. "Should we… help him?"
Solaire shocked his head. "No. He must suffer the consequences of his actions."
Sieglinde just shrugged and went along with it. "All right, then. You're the expert."
Meanwhile, at the top of the castle, steamy things were going on...
Erik panted in exhaustion. "Augh… ahh… please… no more…"
"Are you sure?" Aela asked. "We can keep going."
"This isn't what I thought we'd be doing when you said "stamina training"…"
"Perhaps, but this is the most efficient method, and you need improvement."
"Right… just… lemme catch my breath…" Erik said, putting down the weights.
Six hours. They had been on the grounds of the castle, doing it for SIX HOURS straight. Erik was just about ready to collapse, but Aela was somehow still perfectly fine.
"All right, I guess we can take a quick break, to give you a second wind," Aela said. "But later."
J'zargo merely sighs in annoyance. "J'zargo wonders if all humans are this oblivious to suggestive commentary."
Subaru chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I know, it takes a while."
Emilia… didn't get it. "I don't get it."
Subaru just patted her shoulder. "You will when you're older."
In actuality, Aela and Erik were doing laps around the castle with weighted clothing, trying to increase Erik's stamina. Get your mind out of the gutter, dear readers.
Erik huffed and puffed, trying to regain his breath. "How much longer... I don't think I can keep up…"
Aela gave him a smirk. "Too bad, I don't care what you think."
Emilia and Subaru, meanwhile, watched in curiosity. It had been a few hours since they finished doing their own things, so they both came up here to watch the werewolf and human train.
Subaru nodded in agreement. "Bit harsh, but necessary."
"Necessary how?" Emilia asked.
"If Erik can't get into proper shape, he's gonna start slowing down." The Great Sage explained.
"Yes, but how is being mean helping?" the half-elf asked.
"To help motivate him. It depends on the level of self-esteem or ego they have. If they have a big ego or large self-esteem, you need to knock 'em down a bit. Be critical or harsh to help them improve. Likewise, if they have little self-esteem, then you encourage them and compliment them on their progress," Subaru explained, remembering a certain anime that involved training.
Emilia narrowed her eyes and looked back to the two. "I don't think Erik has a big ego…"
Subaru nodded. "Yeah, he might be in a bit of a middle area, so a bit of both is necessary."
The amethyst-eyed girl started to get it and nodded.
J'zargo was merely annoyed. "They irritate J'zargo to no end."
Subaru started to head back inside. "Yeah, I'm gonna go to bed…"
Looking at the darkening sky, Emilia followed him. "Same."
"Have fun, you two," J'zargo chuckled.
Author's Note: Yeah, this was a pretty chill and short chapter. No conflicts, no nothing. However, that doesn't mean that something important isn't happening. Infinite?
(Yes, I have come to make an announcement. No, it isn't about Shadow the Hedgehog. I have decided that once me and Erna are done with Elder Souls… I will no longer be collaborating with him. At least, not for a long time. No, we didn't have a falling out or fight or anything of the sort. I just finally decided that I have been neglecting my own Fanfics for too long, and it's time I finally do something about it. Both for the stories I've already told, and for the ones I have yet to tell. So, once we get done with Elder Souls, I promise you all that I will finally continue where I left off. I cannot apologize enough for making you wait, and I will seek to righting that wrong. -Infinite.)
And now, onto more cheerful topics… the comments!
Jaymezians: Yeah, Harkon is a bad father who only cares about his own selfish interests, and we're gonna make sure that he gets what he freaking deserves.
Kifhjoofff: Incluso si este fic es súper oscuro en ocasiones, siempre intentaremos tener algo de comedia aquí y allá. Incluyendo que Subaru aterrizó accidentalmente en el pecho de Emilia.
As a special announcement, I have also made a Twitter account to post my art, so if anyone is interested in checking it out, /ErnaloreProf is the link.
If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is /3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules
Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!
- Ernalore & Infinite the Celestian