Chapter Text
Re:wind
Time began to flow backwards quickly, Subaru watched as time rewound, everything flowing at a certain speed. Subaru had seen it all, the death of the blonde-haired girl and the big man there, then the death of the half-elf. When everyone was dead, someone came out of the shadows, it was the one who had killed them. She was a tall woman with black hair, purple eyes and a very good figure. She was looking at the lifeless bodies lying on the ground and grinning.
Subaru felt angry when he saw the expression on her face. Time was still rewinding, for a while Subaru had been trying to stand still and use his strength to see what was happening, but when he saw everything, he reduced his strength and his own body began to flow backwards in the rewinding time.
Until the time came when he met the three bandits, there he stopped the rewinding of time and waited. He leaned his back against the wall, closed his eyes, the waiting was quite boring, the three bandits were late this time for some reason.
After a few minutes, he felt three presences again, Subaru opened his eyes and saw familiar faces. The skinny thug immediately told Subaru to drop the bag in his hand or he would beat him up.
Subaru ignored the skinny thug's eyes, raised his head a little and looked like he was looking for something. Seeing this the thugs were getting angry, the fat one lunged at Subaru, who effortlessly avoided the attack.
Seeing Subaru avoiding him and doing so without looking at him, the fat bandit took a step back in surprise.
A few seconds later a voice was heard from above, “Out of my way” and the blonde-haired, red-eyed girl darted between them again.
The girl looked back and then took a deep breath. Then she realized where she was standing. She was between four people. Suddenly she said, “Heh?”
Subaru looked at her and smiled and waved, while the other three thieves looked at her puzzled.
“Hey little lady, are you running away from someone?” Subaru asked and smiled again.
The girl looked at Subaru, then looked behind Subaru, “...” the girl did not answer.
Then she started to run again. “Stay strong,” she said and climbed over the far wall and out of sight.
Subaru let out a sigh.
Not even a minute later, the white-haired half-elf ducked into the alley, but this time there was a gray cat gliding beside him.
Subaru immediately recognized it as the giant cat that had frozen the entire kingdom.
“Give back what you stole,” the woman said.
Everyone looked at each other again, “Did you steal something from her?” asked Subaru.
The three thieves shook their heads no.
Then the four heads turned to the white-haired woman. The girl lowered her head slightly as everyone looked at her, she looked embarrassed.
“Did any of you see a young girl with blonde hair pass by here?” the flying cat asked.
“She was here a little while ago,” he pointed to the opposite wall, “then she jumped over that wall and disappeared,” Subaru said.
The cat and the half-elf gave him their full attention, the half-elf looked suspicious, but the cat just nodded. While this was going on, the three thieves had walked away without saying anything, Subaru noticed this and tried to figure out where the thieves had gone.
“Heh, at least I won't have to knock them out again,” he said and shrugged his shoulders.
“Let's go Puck, we need to find that thief as fast as we can,” he said.
Puck nodded and the two of them drove past the Subaru.
“Hey, wait, let me help you look for that girl,” he said in an excited tone.
The two looked at Subaru, “Why do you want to help us?” asked Puck.
"You saved me from those thieves, they were trying to rob me before you came. After you came, they ran away, I don't know why, but they seemed scared of you," Subaru said and pointed at Puck.
Puck nodded, “I see, it's normal that they were afraid of me.”
As Puck spoke, Subaru's attention shifted to the half-elf, looking at him with fascination.
“Hey you pervert, stop looking at my daughter like that!” he said, but his tone was more amused than angry.
Subaru immediately turned his attention from her to Puck, who looked embarrassed.
“Excuse me, oh where are my manners? My name is Natsuki Subaru, what are yours?” she asked.
“My name is Puck,” the cat replied.
The girl next to him seemed to be thinking about something, after a while she answered Subaru's question, “m-my name is Satella,” she stammered.
Puck looked at her in surprise, but then turned his head towards Subaru.
It was as if the two of them were expecting a negative reaction.
Subaru put his hand on his chin, “I see, you have a beautiful name Satella, nice to meet you, nice to meet you too Puck.”
The two of them were quite surprised by Subaru's normal reaction, even Satella's mouth opened a little in surprise, but she quickly pulled herself together.
When they left the alley they started walking along the market road, Subaru following them silently, of course he couldn't take his eyes off the beautiful half-elf.
“Hey Subaru, did the damn brat stare at my daughter?” Puck shouted, but there was no anger in his voice.
Satella blushed at Puck's words.
Subaru walked over to Puck, "Of course I'm going to admire someone so beautiful, Puck. Don't you think she's beautiful?" he said with a smile.
Satella's face was very red at Subaru's compliment, the same color as Reinhard's hair.
Puck chuckled, “Of course my daughter is the most beautiful Subaru in the world, so don't think I'm going to give her to you right away,” Puck said as he landed on Subaru's shoulder and began to praise his daughter.
“Subaru, thank you for the compliment, but I'm, you know,” Satella said, and before she could finish, Subaru interrupted her.
“Half-elf?” he asked, Satella nodded.
"What's wrong with that? Look, I don't have a problem with you or your race, all I see when I look at you is a beautiful and kind girl, so let's put aside these racial problems, okay?" said Subaru, his voice full of unwavering confidence.
Satella felt completely embarrassed, unable to say anything, she looked at Puck.
“Lia, he's telling the truth, he has nothing against you, in fact he's quite trustworthy,” Puck said.
Subaru looked at Puck, “Puck, can you understand if I'm lying?” he asked in surprise.
Puck nodded, "Yes, I can, Subaru, and you don't have any hatred for my daughter, only love for her. As much as it makes me happy, I won't give her to you, you womanizer!" he said and started threatening Subaru again.
Subaru giggled at this, Puck glided over to him and hit him on the cheek with his paw.
Subaru yelled “HA!” and grabbed his cheek, “You monster, you hurt me!”
Satella was looking at Puck and Subaru with concern on her face. Puck and Subaru looked at each other and started laughing.
Subaru grabbed Puck and started rubbing his cheek, “This is my revenge, you monster,” he muttered.
Puck was surprised at first when Subaru grabbed him, but his surprise faded as he began to rub her soft fur against his cheek.
Satella watched the two of them in amazement. She was especially amazed at what Subaru had done. Because humans were always wary of great spirits, but Subaru was the opposite, he was not afraid of her or Puck.
Subaru was teasing Puck and Satella until a girl's cry could be heard in the distance.
The three of them turned in the direction of the sound and saw a girl crying in the middle of the street. Subaru recognized her immediately, but tried not to show it. When they approached the girl, she looked at them in surprise. When she saw Satella, she took a few steps back and started crying again.
Satella and Puck didn't know what to do, while Subaru smiled and pretended to lose the money like he had done the last time. The girl stopped crying and looked at the money in Subaru's hand in surprise.
“Sir, how did you do that?” she asked, her eyes still on the money.
Subaru chuckled, “A magician doesn't reveal his secret to anyone, son,” he said, then handed the girl the money, “You can keep this, it's very rare, don't lose it,” he said with a smiling face.
The girl nodded and happily took the money.
“What is your name, son?” he asked.
“My name is Plum sir, what is yours?” she asked.
“My name is Natsuki Subaru, nice to meet you Plum,” he bent down and patted her head, “Now why are you crying, do you want to tell me?” he asked.
Plum looked around, “I lost my mom, I can't find her,” she said sadly.
“I see, so shall we help you find your mother?” he asked and held out his hand to her, then looked at Puck and Satella.
She took Subaru's hand, Satella came over to them and Plum immediately took Satella's hand with her other hand.
Satella was surprised at first and didn't know what to do, but her surprise disappeared when she saw Subaru looking at her with a smile.
“Wow, Subaru, you are so good with children,” Satella said.
“What can I say, I'm quite charming,” he said, puffing out his chest proudly.
“Yeah, you're a child magnet, you pervert,” said Puck, obviously teasing Subaru.
Subaru turned to Puck and said, “What are you talking about, you furball,” then poked Puck's forehead with his finger.
Puck started giggling.
She never once let go of their hands as they searched for Plum's mother, and from a distance they looked like a family. But everyone was looking at the half-elf girl with disgust on their faces, which spoiled the whole sweet atmosphere. Subaru noticed this, and even when the gaze wasn't directed at him, he felt uncomfortable.
“I need to properly research the history of this world as soon as possible, but first I need to learn how to read and write,” he thought seriously.
After a while, a woman's voice was heard behind them, shouting “Plum!”.
The trio and the great spirit turned around and saw the woman calling for her daughter. The woman knelt down and opened her arms. Plum let go of both their hands and ran towards her mother.
Plum went to her mother and hugged her tightly, “Mommy!” she said, her voice tearful.
“Oh my baby, where have you been, you just disappeared from my sight, you don't know how worried I was,” said the woman hugging her daughter tightly. "Thank you for finding my daughter, I am in your debt," the woman then kissed her daughter's forehead, "Plum is my only daughter, I don't know what I would do if something happened to her," she said with concern in her voice.
The three of them looked at her with happy expressions and she thanked them several more times. She even thanked Satella, which surprised her.
The woman started walking away with her daughter, slowly disappearing from sight, when suddenly he heard a voice next to him.
“Subaru?” someone called.
When they turned towards the voice, they saw the red-haired, blue-eyed knight standing there, smiling kindly at them.
“Rein!” Subaru said and went to him, making a fist and holding out his hand towards him.
Reinhard held out his hand too and they bumped fists.
Satella and Puck looked at the two of them in surprise. Reinhard turned his head towards Satella.
“Emilia-sama, greetings, I didn't notice you, please forgive my disrespect,” he said.
Subaru watched as Reinhard called Satella by a different name, “So Emilia, huh?”
Emilia immediately tensed and lowered her head slightly. She began to crumble under the weight of her lie, and Puck was looking at her sullenly.
“Now you'll have to explain everything, Lia,” Puck said in a whisper, and Emilia tensed even more.
Subaru turned to Reinhard and said, "Rein, this Emilia had something stolen and we are trying to find the thief. Do you want to help us find the thief?"
Emilia and Puck watched with their mouths agape as Subaru didn't question Emilia's lie and asked Reinhard for help with the thief.
Reinhard smiled at Subaru, “Of course I would like to help you find the thief,” he replied.
With Reinhard joining the group, they resumed their search. Subaru chatted with Reinhard and asked people they came across about the thief. Unfortunately, they did not get a positive answer from anyone they asked.
After a while they came to an apple stall. Subaru approached the apples with interest.
“Hey son, do you want to buy an appa?” he asked.
Subaru put his hands in his pockets and showed the vendor his empty pockets, “Tehhee,” he said.
“Don't call me tehhee, son, if you don't have money, get off my counter, you're taking up my space,” he said angrily.
Emilia and Reinhard were watching Subaru in amazement. Subaru, who was trying to talk to the salesman but was being bullied by the salesman, was trying to get information about the thief, but the salesman said, “If you don't have anything to buy, I am not responsible to answer you,” and refused Subaru.
“Daddy!” a voice called out.
The salesman turned in the direction of the voice and bent down, and the girl came and hugged him. Then she saw the people helping her.
“ Mister and Miss!” she stopped hugging her father and ran to Emilia and handed her a flower.
Emilia looked at the flower, not knowing what to do.
“Please accept the flower, this is Plum's way of thanking you,” the woman said, approaching them. The woman was Plum's mother.
Emilia took the flower and hung it somewhere above her chest. Subaru admired Emilia a little more, she looked even more enchanting with the flower.
The salesman looked at them in surprise, “Son, do you know my daughter?” he asked.
“Kodomon dear, Plum went missing about an hour ago, these young men found her and brought her back to me safe and sound,” Raksha, the man's wife replied, smiling.
“I understand dear, hey you son,” Kodomon said.
“My name is Natsuki Subaru sir,” he replied.
"I see Subaru, you were looking for someone, right? Do you have any idea what they looks like?" he asked.
Subaru took out a pen and paper and quickly drew a representation of the thief on the paper. The others just stared at Subaru, and after a few minutes Subaru handed the paper to Kodomon.
Kodomon's mouth dropped open when he saw the detailed drawing, “Wow, son, that's a very detailed drawing,” he said. Plum, Raksha, Puck, Emilia and Reinhard involuntarily approached Kodomon to see the drawing.
Everyone was amazed at the detailed picture, Emilia and Puck the most surprised because the exact picture of the thief was right there on the paper.
“Wow, Subaru, your drawing skills are quite amazing,” Reinhard complimented, and the others nodded.
Subaru did nothing but smile and give them the thumbs up, clearly embarrassed by the compliments.
Kodomon looked at the picture again, “This girl's name is Felt, she lives in the slums, she appears here sometimes and steals things, she is quite fast so no one has caught her so far,” Kodomon said.
They all nodded, and just as they were about to leave to look for Felt, Kodomon called out to them, “Hey, take these as a treat,” and handed them a paper bowl of appa.
Subaru gladly accepted the appas and thanked the man.
Subaru gave them each an appa and they set off in search of Felt. There was a peaceful silence, the three of them eating their appa.
“Hey Rein, do you know where the slums are?” he asked.
Rein looked at Subaru and nodded, “Follow me,” he said.
Subaru put the appas in a bag and started to follow Reinhard, followed by Puck and Emilia.
Subaru came up to Reinhard, “Hey Rein, be as careful as you can in the slums, something tells me something bad is going to happen there.”
Reinhard raised an eyebrow at Subaru's serious demeanor, looked at him for a moment, then nodded.
“I understand Subaru, if you say so, you must know something,” Reinhard said.
The sun hadn't set yet, but it would in a few hours. Subaru pretended not to know everything, but he had detailed knowledge of many things. The only thing he didn't know was the killer's abilities. Something told him that the killer was going to cause them a lot of trouble.
Subaru sighed quietly. They had entered a slum, the whole place was rundown, it made him sad that this was such a part of the magnificent capital city.
“Judging by the state of this place, the leaders don't care about the poor,” he said.
The others turned their heads towards Subaru.
"What? Did I say something wrong?"
“Subaru, what do you mean by that?” asked Reinhard.
"Well, my friend, the poverty here means that the rulers have left the people to their fate. I imagine that many nobles despise the commoners, and this is a consequence of that, but they don't know something. The homeless people here not only increase the crime rate, but also make it easier for things like diseases and plagues to spread. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that they should get rid of the people here, but to give them a better life, it would make more sense to give them jobs they can do and good shelters to stay in, so that they can contribute to the economy of the country and reduce the risk of crimes and plagues," Subaru said.
The others looked at him in surprise.
"What now? That was a simple thing I mentioned, there are more difficult and complex things I haven't mentioned yet, don't look at me like that, I'm getting embarrassed," Subaru said, his face starting to redden.
As they continued to search, Subaru was trying to flirt with Emilia every now and then, but to no avail, while Reinhard was looking at the two of them and giggling, Puck had gone into protective father mode and was threatening Subaru.
Seeing Reinhard giggling, Subaru said, “You seem to be having fun, Rein?” he said with a laugh.
“Sorry, my friend, but your clumsy flirting with Emilia-sama makes me laugh,” he said as he continued to laugh.
Subaru blushed and laughed, "Oh Rein, you don't know what love is. One day you will fall in love and I will be there to tease you," he said with an evil smile.
A bead of sweat formed on Reinhard's forehead, this time he didn't smile, he looked shy.
Emilia was looking at Subaru, she couldn't get used to him talking to the sword saint like he was her best friend.
Puck saw Emilia's expression, "Don't worry about it Lia, the boy is having a normal conversation with a half-elf and can touch a higher spirit without fear. You should be surprised that he's chatting with the sword saint like best friends," Puck said, but there was a hint of surprise in his voice too.
Subaru saw a man up ahead, went up to him to find out where Felt lived and started asking questions. The man did not answer Subaru.
“Since you won't talk, sir, how about a proposition?” he took out a gold coin from his pocket and showed it to the man.
When the man saw the gold coin, he looked at Subaru intently.
“Yes, what do you say? Tell me where the girl Felt is and this gold coin is yours,” he said.
The poor man answered all Subaru's questions and Puck confirmed that he was telling the truth. Subaru gave him the money and thanked him.
When he returned to his group, he again saw puzzled faces looking at him.
"Oh my God, what happened now?! Why do you keep looking at me like that!" he said in surprise.
"Subaru, don't you think you gave him too much money? You could have given him copper or silver coins and he would have given you a straight answer," Reinhard said and the others nodded.
Subaru's mouth fell open as the truth hit him, “Actually I don't know what other coins look like, that's why I gave him a gold coin,” he said to himself.
Subaru only knew about the gold coins, and that was because Reinhard wanted to pay him for finishing his chips.
Subaru didn't accept the coins, but he took one to examine it and then gave it back to Reinhard.
“We're friends Reinhard, I can't accept this, I'm the one who offered you,” Subaru said, leaving Reinhard dumbfounded.
Anyway, I found out where Felt lives, he lives with a guy called Rom in the loot house on the hill up ahead.
“Now we're going to go in there and I'm going to tell them that I want to buy the stolen stuff, let's not do anything to provoke them, understood?” asked Subaru as the group made their way to the loot house.
Reinhard nodded.
“But Subaru, why do you need to buy from them what was stolen from me?” asked Emilia.
"Look Emilia, I understand it was stolen from you, but look around, it's a big dump, do you think they steal on purpose? They steal to live another day, they steal to go to bed full that night. Maybe with my money their lives will be a little bit better. So please just let me talk and don't attack. Oh, and Puck, stay alert, if there is an attack on Emilia, defend, but don't attack. Is that clear?" he said firmly.
Puck looked at Subaru, “I understand Subaru, but we'd better hurry, it's night and I have to get back to the crystal as per our contract.”
“To the crystal?” said Subaru. Puck pointed to the green crystal around Emilia's neck.
“Got it, I won't question it too much,” he said.
“Rein, my friend, be on guard, I want you to protect Emilia,” said Subaru.
Reinhard said, "I understand, Subaru, but you? Shouldn't I protect you too?" he asked.
“Don't worry Rein, I may look weak, but I don't die easily,” he said smiling and giving them a thumbs up.
So they arrived at the door of the loot house, Subaru knocked on the door and after a while a voice was heard.
“What's the password?” said the voice.
“I don't know the password, I came to buy something,” said Subaru.
A large man opened the door and invited them in.
They went in and sat down at the counter and the big man offered them milk.
"Tell me son, what do you want to buy?"
"Oh you misunderstood, sorry, I am the one who will pay, the lady next to me will buy," he said and pointed to Emilia.
Emilia was surprised at first when Subaru brought her into the picture, but she quickly recovered and explained what she wanted to buy.
"What I want to buy is a brooch, with a red jewel and a gold pattern on it," Emilia said.
"I'm sorry, young lady, but we don't have such a brooch here," the man said.
“Not at the moment,” said Subaru, "I think Felt will bring it soon. Anyway, sir, what is your name?"
The man looked at Subaru, who only had a calm smile on his face.
“My name is Rom,” the man said and took a drink and started to drink.
“Nice to meet you Rom, my name is Natsuki Subaru, the lady next to me is Emilia and the gentleman with red hair is Reinhard,” said Subaru, deliberately avoiding giving Reinhard's last name.
Rom analyzed everyone carefully. When he looked at Subaru he was calm, when he looked at Emilia his eyes widened slightly, but when he looked at Reinhard his confusion was at its peak.
“Is something wrong, Rom?” asked Subaru.
“No, no problem,” Rom said, but there was doubt in his voice.
“Anyway Rom, I have something I want to trade for the brooch, can you measure its value?” Subaru said, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
Everyone there looked curiously at what Subaru was pulling out.
“It's called a phone, it's quite rare and I'm the only one who has it, it has a few features, one of them is that it allows you to store a memory in time,” Subaru said as he opened the phone and took a picture of Emilia and Reinhard.
The sudden flash of light shocked everyone except Subaru. Then Subaru showed them the photo.
Everyone stared at the phone with their mouths open.
“Looks like a pretty rare metia,” Rom sighed thoughtfully.
“Metia, huh?” Subaru thought to himself.
“How much do you think this metia is worth?” said Subaru.
“It's the first time I've seen a metia like this in my life. I think it's worth more than 20 holy coins,” said Rom. Reinhard and Emilia took a deep breath.
“Twenty holy coins?” he asked and looked at Reinhard.
Reinhard whispered to Subaru, “Holy coins are worth more than gold coins, 100 gold coins are worth 1 holy coin.”
Subaru was stunned by the value of the holy coins.
“I see,” he said in amazement.
At that moment Felt came in, she looked around and saw 2 men and a woman talking to Rom.
Felt was surprised to see Emilia and Subaru and took an attack position.
“What are you doing here mister and how did you miss find this place?” said Felt with concern in her voice. Subaru waved at her and motioned for her to come and sit down.
“Don't worry Felt, we're not here to fight, we're here to buy the brooch you have,” Subaru said and the others nodded their heads in agreement.
Felt let her guard down and sat down at the counter, Rom handed her a glass of milk.
“As you can see Felt, I want to buy the brooch you are holding, I also have a metia, Rom said it costs more than 20 holy coins,” Subaru said, he showed Felt the phone and took a picture of it too. At first the bright light surprised Felt and made her utter a string of curses.
Subaru chuckled at this, then showed her the picture. Felt looked at it in amazement.
“There you see, you can have him if we make a deal,” Subaru said.
Felt looked at Rom and then spoke, “Someone else made me an offer before you, I have to hear her offer first, she will be here soon.”
Subaru looked at Reinhard and Emilia, then said to Rom, “Rom, is there a room where you can hide Emilia and Reinhard? I have a feeling the woman who is coming is not normal.”
Rom looked at Subaru in surprise, but then stood up to show them where the other room was.
“Rein, protect Emilia, if you are discovered, you will have to protect everyone except me, I will take care of the woman, but then I may ask you to fight her, so wait for me to give the signal, okay?” said Subaru with determination in his voice.
Reinhard agreed to his friend's request and they went to the room Rom had shown them.
Once everyone was in their seats, all they had to do was wait. Rom served Felt and Subaru another glass of milk each.
After a few minutes there was a knock at the door, everyone looked at the door, Felt went and opened it.
When the woman came in, she looked around, kept her eyes on Subaru for a while, then came and sat down in the chair.
“Oh, there seems to be an extra person here,” she said, her voice had a seductive tone.
Subaru looked at her, she was beautiful, very beautiful. When she sat down next to him, he just looked at her.
“I'm here for the deal we made, can I have the brooch?” the woman looked at Felt, then took out a pouch of money from inside her cloak.
“I have the brooch, ma'am, but there was another bidder here,” Felt said and looked at Subaru.
“Hoho, so that's it, what's your offer then, boy?” said Elsa, glancing sideways at Subaru.
“My offer is a metia, a metia that only I have, Rom told me it would cost more than 20 holy coins,” Subaru said and pulled out his phone.
“I see, my offer is 20 holy coins, unfortunately the person who wanted me to buy the brooch didn't give me more money,” the woman said, the smile on her face not fading for a second.
“So she wants to buy it like me, but she is not the one who wants the brooch,” he thought.
Felt looked at Rom, “Well, old Rom, what do you think, which offer should we accept?”
Rom thought for a while, his eyes darting from the Subaru to the woman.
“Hmmm, I think it would be better to accept the offer of this boy here, after all, the exact value of this metia is not clear, the minimum value is more than 20 holy coins, if we can find a good buyer it can be sold for 40 holy coins,” Rom said and accepted Subaru's offer.
The smile on the woman's face faded slightly, then she got up from the table and picked up the money pouch.
"I see then, my deal is done. What is your name, boy?" the woman said, looking at Subaru, a charming smile on her face.
“My name is Natsuki Subaru ma'am, what is your name?” he asked.
“My name is Elsa Granhiert, nice to meet you,” she said and extended her hand towards Subaru to shake his hand.
Subaru extended his hand and they shook hands, but when her grip tightened, Subaru knew things were about to get serious.
“Fufu, and the person who hired me to get the brooch told me that if the deal is canceled I have to kill everyone there,” she said and suddenly pulled a knife from her cloak and cut Subaru's arm.
Subaru couldn't even react when his hand was cut, half of it was cut off and it was on her. Subaru kicked Elsa and stepped away from her, holding her cut hand to stop the blood on his hand.
"Subaru-san!" shouted Felt.
Rom reached for his stick under the table, things were getting dangerous.
At Felt's shout, Emilia and Reinhard came out of hiding.
The two of them froze at what they saw, Subaru's arm was severed and bleeding badly.
“Subaru!” said Reinhard and Emilia at the same time.
The two of them came to his side and got into position to protect their friend. Meanwhile Elsa was watching what was happening with a smiling face, but then she noticed Subaru's face. There was no expression of pain on Subaru's face, just a calm expression.
“Rein, don't protect me, protect the others,” Subaru said.
“But Subaru, your arm?” said Reinhard, concern in his voice.
“What about my arm?” said Subaru and showed him his two healthy arms.
This stunned everyone in the room.
“Oh, what's going on?” said Felt with his mouth open.
Rom just looked at Subaru in amazement, no words came out of his mouth.
Emilia was dumbfounded, she covered her mouth with her hand and her eyes were wide open.
Reinhard didn't know what to say, this was the second time today that Subaru had stunned him, “Heh, but how, when?” was all he could say.
Elsa was surprised at first, then she started laughing, “Wow, so you have the ability to regenerate, no wonder you didn't dodge my attack,” Elsa said, her voice sounding playful.
“Well, you could call it regeneration, but I couldn't dodge your attack, not that I didn't,” Subaru said, laughing.
Subaru walked towards Elsa, but before he did, he picked up a sword he saw on the side and held it in his left hand.
“Alright ma'am, let's introduce ourselves properly this time, I'm Natsuki Subaru, just a normal guy,” Subaru said and took a fighting stance.
“Fufu, my name is Elsa Granhiert, I am the bowel hunter,” she said and charged towards Subaru.
Elsa's speed was so fast, she was hard to see.
Subaru effortlessly blocked Elsa when she attacked him from above, sparks flew when the swords clashed. Elsa immediately drew back and attacked again, this time from behind Subaru, who again blocked her but this time punched her in the stomach.
Elsa was knocked back a few meters by the impact of the punch and started giggling, “You're pretty good Subaru~,” she said with a blush on her face.
When Subaru saw Elsa blushing, every hair on his body stood on end, “Why are you blushing?” he asked in surprise.
“Haa~, it was such a good blow that my intestines contracted and my stomach was punctured,” she said with pleasure.
Everyone in the room looked at Elsa with a disgusted expression. Even Puck came out of the crystal and looked at Elsa with a puzzled expression.
Elsa attacked Subaru again. Subaru blocked Elsa's every attack and occasionally kicked or punched her.
“Why don't you cut my flesh with that sword~,” Elsa muttered.
Subaru was getting restless by the second.
“No thanks, I don't want to cut you with this poor sword, I will only use it for defense,” said Subaru.
Elsa's face fell, she attacked again, but this time she threw several blades towards the others, but they were blocked by Puck's ice wall.
This time Subaru punched Elsa in the face and sent her flying into the wall, “Sorry Rom, I ruined the wall,” he said with fake sadness.
“Don't worry kid, I'll fix it later,” Rom said, he had the table stick on his shoulder and was waiting.
“Hahaha, what a good night, fighting with someone to entertain me,” said Elsa, climbing off the wall, covered in blood, with extra blood coming out of her nose and mouth.
Subaru looked at her with an exasperated expression.
Elsa attacked again and again, each time Subaru blocking her attacks.
Suddenly Rom lunged towards Elsa and tried to hit her. Elsa effortlessly dodged him and landed on the end of his big stick. Elsa looked at Rom with a disgusting grin.
Rom made a few more attacks, Elsa dodged him, then Elsa counterattacked and blocked Rom's stick, then lunged forward and cut off Rom's arm.
“Old man Rom!” shouted Felt, and as he lunged forward he was caught by Reinhard, Felt stomped but could not escape Reinhard's grip.
"Let go of me!" said Felt.
Subaru grabbed Elsa by the throat and threw her against the wall again, harder this time.
Taking advantage of this, Rom immediately stepped back.
Subaru looked at Rom and his severed arm, the man was losing blood by the second, if this continued he would die in 5 minutes, Emilia was trying to heal him but she was only reducing the blood flowing from the wound.
“Tch,” Subaru said, “Rein take my place, I will fix Rom.”
Reinhard nodded, “Subaru, can I have the sword?”
Subaru looked at Reinhard, “Dude, you already have a sword hanging around your waist, why are you coveting my sword?”
“Well, Subaru, this sword cannot be drawn on people it doesn't approve of, so it's of no use to me right now,” Reinhard said.
“Hmm, I see,” said Subaru, handing the sword to Reinhard, all the while Elsa was on the other side getting excited about her new opponent.
Reinhard raised the sword and took the position, “I am Reinhard van Astrea, sword saint I will fight you or surrender.”
“Haa~ how nice, entertain me sword saint,” Elsa said seductively.
Reinhard grimaced.
When the battle started Elsa rushed forward, she tried to hit Reinhard, it was futile, he had reflexes faster than Subaru, dodging every attack and hitting Elsa, knocking her off balance.
When Elsa attacked again Reinhard broke her knife, "Will you surrender? Your dagger is broken," he said.
Elsa pulled out another dagger and once again Reinhard broke her dagger.
“Will you surrender?” asked Reinhard.
“If I lose my daggers, I use my hands, if I lose my hands, I use my legs, if I lose my legs, I use my bones, if I lose my bones, I use my life,” she said and threw herself at Reinhard again.
“I thought Reinhard was quite strong, why doesn't he just end the fight?” said Subaru.
“He's limiting himself, waiting for you to heal Rom,” said Emilia.
Subaru blinked, “Wait, Rein thinks I'm going to cast a healing spell?” said Subaru in surprise.
Emilia, Felt and Rom nodded.
Subaru slapped his hand to his face, “Oh God, give me patience,” he said, then he fixed Rom's hand.
Everyone there suddenly turned to Subaru, including Elsa.
“Why are you looking at me?” said Subaru, feeling all eyes on him, “And shouldn't you two be fighting?” he shouted.
Reinhard and Elsa, recovering from their daze, started fighting again, except that Reinhard was no longer holding back.
Elsa lunged at him, as she always did, and Reinhard channeled the mana in the air into his sword, and the sword began to glow, and a huge beam shot out of the sword. It blew up Elsa and half the building.
Subaru looked at the destruction in amazement, "My God Rein! I told you to fight her, not vaporize half the building with her!" he shouted.
Reinhard chuckled and scratched the back of his head.
Subaru sighed deeply, “Oh Rein, what am I going to do with you,” he said, then turned towards Felt.
Felt came up to Subaru and lowered his head slightly, “Thank you oni-chan, you saved me and Rom's life,” he said.
Subaru smiled and patted her on the head, “Don't worry Felt, anyone would have done that.”
Everyone there giggled at this scene. Felt didn't like Subaru touching his hair and started to tease him. The tense atmosphere softened.
Just then Elsa came running out of the rubble, covered in blood. The smile on her face was wiped off and replaced by anger.
Elsa ran to the group to take at least one life.
Subaru grabbed Rom's stick and blocked Elsa's attack, then sent her away with a punch.
Everyone watched as Elsa disappeared from sight.
Subaru breathed a sigh of relief and then turned around.
“There's an assassin sent into the unknown,” he said and chuckled, “Anyway, now that we're done, Felt, could you please give the brooch to Emilia?”
As Felt nodded Rom's baton was cut and fell to the ground, everyone looked at the baton and then at Subaru.
“No shit,” Subaru said, but before he could continue, a huge cut appeared on his stomach and blood started gushing out.
“Subaru!” everyone there said, including Puck, but because of the time limit he inadvertently went into his crystal.
Everyone ran to bandage the boy's wound.
The atmosphere there was horrible now, nobody knew what to say, Emilia and Reinhard almost cried, Felt stood there not knowing what to do. Rom was almost in the same situation as Felt.
“Wow, who would have thought that Elsa would almost cut me in half?” said a voice.
When they looked in the direction of the voice, Subaru was standing where he had just been, without any wounds, not even any marks, dirt or blood stains on his clothes.
“What, did you really think I was dead?” said Subaru, “Seriously, didn't you see how I just healed my arm and Rom's arm?” asked Subaru.
The truth hit everyone like a stone, Subaru was not dead and he was not injured, or so it seemed.
Subaru turned to a stunned Felt, “Felt, now please give the brooch to Emilia.”
Open-mouthed Felt looked at Subaru and then at Emilia. He took out the brooch and went to Emilia.
As he handed it to her, the jewel in the center of the brooch began to glow. Reinhard and Subaru noticed it.
Reinhard suddenly broke out in a sweat.
“What, now, here?” he said.
He rushed forward and grabbed Felt's hand.
"Felt? What's your last name? How old are you?" he said excitedly.
Subaru was watching what was happening, he realized that Reinhard's reaction was not unwarranted, but he didn't understand why he was acting like this.
"I have no last name! I'm fifteen!" said Felt, trying to break free of Reinhard's grip, but he couldn't escape.
“Son, you'd better let Felt go,” Rom said angrily.
“I'm sorry, sir, but I can't let him go,” he said and cast a spell to knock Felt unconscious.
Rom walked towards Reinhard, Reinhard did the same to Rom and took them both in his arms.
Subaru was both surprised and giggled at the sight.
“Rein I'm not going to ask what you did, I know there is a reason for what you did, so be nice to them, okay?” said Subaru.
Reinhard's heart melted when he saw his friend's trust in him, he smiled and nodded, “Of course Subaru, I'll be nice to them, I have to go now, I hope to see you again,” Reinhard was about to leave when Subaru called out to him.
“Hey Rein, give this to Felt or Rom, this metia is theirs now,” Subaru said and handed his phone to Reinhard.
"But Subaru, they stole my brooch, you don't need to give them such a valuable metia," Emilia said.
"We discussed this before, Emilia-tan," Subaru said and handed the phone to Reinhard.
“-tan?” Emilia asked in surprise.
“Oh, don't worry, it's like the pet name we give to people we care about in my hometown. If you don't like it, I won't say it again,” Subaru said as he waited for Emilia's answer.
Reinhard chuckled quietly at their conversation and walked away with Metia, looking forward to meeting his friend again soon.
“No, it's actually the first time someone has been so nice to me, so you can call me whatever you want Subaru,” Emilia said.
Seeing an opportunity to tease Emilia, Subaru said, “Then you won't mind if I call you Satella,” he said with a chuckle and wiggled his eyebrows up and down.
Emilia let out an exasperated sigh, but for the first time in her life she didn't get angry when someone called her “Satella”, because she knew Subaru was a nice guy and was teasing her.
“No mister, you can't call me Satella, I'm not her,” she crossed her arms angrily and puffed out her cheeks.
Subaru chuckled at the sweet gesture, when suddenly a voice was heard from a little distance away.
“Emilia-sama?” a voice called out.
The two turned toward the voice.
“Ah Ram, is that you?” said Emilia.
Subaru looked at the person approaching, she had pink hair and red eyes and was wearing a maid's outfit.
The person called Ram approached the group and greeted Emilia, then looked at Subaru.
“Emilia-sama, who is this beggar?” she said, disgust in her voice.
Subaru raised his eyebrows and Emilia raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise at Ram's words.
“Ram, this is Natsuki Subaru, he found my lost brooch and saved me from danger several times, please don't insult him,” she said with a hint of anger in her voice.
“Understood Emilia-sama, I will not speak rudely to Natsuki-san again,” Ram said, bowing slightly at Emilia's words.
Emilia nodded and turned to Subaru.
"Subaru said you're not from here, do you have a place to stay?" asked Emilia.
"I came here today, Emilia-tan, and I don't have a place to stay, nor do I know anyone except a few people I met today," said Subaru with a sad face.
Emilia looked at Subaru, "Then do you want to come with me and stay at the mansion? At least I can do that for the person who saved me and found my brooch," Emilia said with a smile.
“A mansion?” asked Subaru, quite surprised by Emilia's offer.
"Exactly the mansion of my sponsor. What do you say, do you want to come?" said Emilia, waiting for Subaru's answer.
Subaru thought for a moment, “Yes Emilia-tan, I accept your offer.”
So Subaru, Emilia and Ram walked to the carriage pulled by the earth dragon, got in and drove to the mansion.
And so ended Subaru's first day in another world.