Upload date: 2/9/2018

Forgive Me [Arc3] ~ Remake

Chapter 2: Preparing for the fated day

It was nearly noon, outside Crusch's mansion were Rem, Felix, Wilhelm, and Crusch herself. It's been about an hour since she has returned with news on Subaru's situation. A carriage had been prepared for Rem so she could return to Roswaal's mansion at once, only, without Subaru.

"Well then, it seems this is where we part ways," Crusch said, "Yes, Thank you for all you have done, Crusc-sama, Rem shall be taking leave right now..." She said politely with a bow before walking towards the carriage.

"Um... if Subaru-kun happens to pass by... please relay Rem and Emilia-sama's goodbyes, Rem wasn't able to..." Her voice was literally breaking down at this point, it made everyone uncomfortable.

"Yes... Ferri-chan can do that, Rem-chan..."

"Thank you so much..."

With one final bow, she enters the carriage and takes her seat, the other waved their goodbyes as the carriage slowly made it's way to the gate.

Inside, it was silent, it was calming, but it wasn't right, since she was the only one there it would be natural that everything was quiet, but, the atmosphere was most definitely not calming.

Rem's eyes were slowly losing their usual glimmer. Her face was already flooded with tears, whispering his name as she wept onto her legs, "Please... come back..." She murmured with a voice completely drowned out by emotions.

Meanwhile, Subaru was walking through capital's market district, he was headed towards a familiar building, though it was technically his first time seeing it, in this timeline anyway.

"Reinhard has left capital... Priscilla is just a no... Anastasia is gonna be tricky... and maybe I can bait Crusch out with that Royal Treasurer..."

He had to use all the information he had gathered in the past loops to help him, and now the first step was about to be taken. He was in front of his desired destination, it was a restaurant, and with the smell reaching his nose, it seems like it was a fast-food one.

He opened the doors and scanned the building, the one he was looking for sat at the corner. It was a young lady, she had pale lavender hair which stretched down to her waist, she wore a long white dress with a fur hat along with a scarf, her appearance is somewhat of a cute girl, but her personality would equate to one of a greedy predator.

"Hey, Anastasia? You have a moment?"

He approached her and suddenly the atmosphere tensed up, he glanced around the room, many people were sitting down but on guard, probably her bodyguards.

"Watch it Onii-san, if you come any closer, Mimi may scream," The little kid sitting beside Anastasia said before waving her staff at him.

"Yeah... definitely don't want to make a little kid cry"

"W-What?! That's not what Mimi meant!"

"Your Subaru from that day aren't you...?" She raised her hands and waved it around, suddenly everyone had eased up, "So, what brings this unexpected encounter? Normally you'd need an appointment... but this seems personal, perhaps you'd like to talk to Julius?"

"Tch, as if... no, this is more business related, and if you ask me, it'd have some big profit" That was his hook line, and it seems like it had worked, "Well then... let's hear it..." She made that face, the face he saw last time, a greedy one, it seems like she was going to extract all the information she can again, something he can't let happen if he wants her input.

"You see... I plan on forming an alliance for a subjugation group... to take down the Hakugei" Her face perked up, so did everyone else in the room, looks like he had already got her interest, "I see... so you want me a to aid you? I'm confident with my Mercenary group and they'd be thrilled to take on a strong opponent... though, I doubt they'd be able to take on such a monstrosity alone..."

"Of course... I'm also getting Crusch-san's help... so if your interested why not drop by at her place, say... later this afternoon?"

"The Karsten household? Very well... though how much can I trust your credibility? About the Hakugei and all?"

"One hundred percent... though, if you believe me or not it's up to you..." He says with complete confidence, he gets up and walks towards the exit, Anastasia seemed dissatisfied but curious nonetheless, "Is that really the same person from before?" she wonders.

.

"Haah! One down... two more to go, not sure if I can keep up this facade long enough though" Just pretending to be good at negotiations was tiring, putting up a strong front so that they don't get any information you don't want them to have.

He reaches into his pocket and takes out his cellphone, "Time for round two..." Looking at it, he had memories of the last loop, the one where they encountered the Hakugei, "Rem... please be safe..."

She sat there, hugging her legs, weeping, mumbling his name longingly over and over again. They had already gone half way past the Lifays Highway, they had already passed Flugel's tree a long way back.

She looked through the window, seeing her face getting reflected, her eyes had hints of red in them, her face had both new tears and dried out tears, but there was something else, it was a fog.

"..."

It wasn't just any fog, it was extremely thick, it was more like a giant cloud than a fog but it was very famous, it was the fog created by the Hakugei, a deadly fog that no one has escaped from.

"S-Subaru-kun..."

It suddenly made sense, why he wanted her to rush back quickly, any later and she'd have been caught in it, but then the question is, how did he know?

"Natsuki Subaru, nice to meet you Russell-san, I'm in need of your assistance" Subaru politely bows as he greets himself.

In front of him was a man, say half a head taller than Subaru, he had dark blonde hair and wore mostly red business attire, he had an air of professionalism. "I'm planning on forming an alliance between the Anastasia, Emila and Crusch camps... I have already got the first two done, but the Crusch camp may be a bit tricky..."

"I understand... so may I hear the conditions of this alliance?" He said with a 'Let's get this over with' expression.

"Conditions are as follows; The alliance will be on equal terms, the Emilia camp will put in their mining rights for the Elior forest's magic stones..." His demeanor instantaneously changes once Subaru mentions the mining rights.

"Shared mining rights you say... well, do continue..."

Seeing that he's interested put Subaru at ease, "Later this afternoon, the negotiations will begin, Anastasia will be present, as well as Crusch, I shall be there as the representative of the Emilia camp"

"The Emilia camp... may I ask what your position is in that camp..." Subaru put on a smirk, "Hehe... Natsuki Subaru, knight to the half-elf Emilia, that's who I am... or that's what I want to be..." He whispered the last part to himself.

"Oh, the knight... I see, then I shall take part in these negotiations... but, in exchange, you'd have to offer something to me, no?"

"Yeah, I've already got that covered..." He grabs his smartphone from his pocket, and opens it in front of him, "This is a Metia, I plan on forming a subjugation group in the alliance, we will be taking down the Hakugei and this Metia will be able to tell us the time or location at which it will appear... is that satisfactory?"

Subaru was slightly sweating, will the lie work? Who knows. Russell was inspecting it from a distance and was genuinely curious about it, "I'm unable to appraise it, so it really must be a Metia... yes, this will do... though, It seems you'll be needing it for the Subjugation, yes?"

"Yeah... I'll hand it over after the subjugation's complete"

"Excellent"

'Two down... one to go' he said to himself.

Felix and Wilhelm were standing by the gate, the was already setting and they were about to go back inside before they saw someone approaching, "A-Anastasia-sama?"

"Why hello, Wilhelm-dono, Blue-kun..."

"May I ask what brings a rival Royal Candidate to the Karsten residence?" Wilhelm asks, "Perhaps you have business with Crusch-sama?"

"Why yes I do, It has something to do with an alliance as far as I know" This confused Felix and Wilhelm, "Um, Ferris hasn't been told about any alliance being formed, let alone knowing you'd be coming nya..."

"Oh? I'm sure Natsuki-kun has informed you, yes? He is the one that invited me after all"

Hearing Subaru's name being called, the two looked at each other shocked, "Um... Wil-ji... could Subaru-kyun have possibly ditched Emilia-sama nya?" Felix whispered to Wilhelm.

"I highly doubt it... even though we've known each other just for a little while, I'm sure Subaru-dono isn't the kind to just leave like that... I really hope not..."

Seeing the two mumbling Anastasia sighed, "It's impolite to just ignore a guest now is it?"

Hearing her the two snapped back in position, "A-Apologies Anastasia-sama... early today, we were told that Subaru-dono wouldn't be leaving and that he may not return anytime soon... so we haven't seen him as of now..."

She gave them an annoyed look, "And he said there was big profit too... looks like he tricked me into this, he's more dirtier than I thought he was..."

"Anastasia-san your here already?" Subaru came from behind her, Russell Fellow walking beside him, "Ah there you are Natsuki-kun, you had me worried there for a second... oh, Russel-san, seems like you're serious about this whole thing now aren't ya?"

"Of course I'm serious, I've already made someone I'm close to, cry for this, ain't gonna let it go to waste..." He walks over to Felix and Wilhelm. Wilhelm gave a relieved sigh while Felix slightly glared at him, "Hey guys... I'm guessing Rem told you I was leaving right?"

"You've got some nerve coming back, Subaru-kyun..."

"Right... please, for now, forget everything Rem had told you... I had to get her back Roswaal's mansion for what comes next..."

"So, you made her cry on purpose, huh, Subaru-kyun?"

"Okay... maybe I was a bit too harsh..."

"That's quite enough Ferris... we can't keep our guest's waiting..."

The sun had finally set and everyone was inside Crusch's office, the abrupt visit was unexpected and had taken them by surprise but seeing that there were many important people involved, it would be rude to dismiss it.

"So he called you as well, Russel Fellow..."

"Yes, the shared mining rights that the alliance offers is something too great to ignore, and it has to come through the Karsten estate first, so it'd be natural that I come along"

Crusch looked across the table, to the one who was responsible for the meeting, "Natsuki Subaru, can you please restate the reasoning behind wanting to form an alliance?"

Subaru righted himself, "Yes... the most important reason for me wanting to form this alliance is so I can gather forces to aid in taking down a threat that is nearing the Mather's domain, Emilia-sama is put at great risk so it must be taken care of immediately... there are other political reasons but we can put that aside for now..."

He tried to sound as formal as possible, mostly because Russell Fellow has a high image of Subaru, with him introducing himself as Emilia's knight. Crusch stares at Subaru intently, "I can accept that... though, if you have anything else you'd like to add, please say..."

"Right... in addition to the shared mining rights, the Emilia camp also provides... the time and location for the next appearance of the Hakugei..."

After he finished saying that, everyone looked at him, though only the members of the Crusch camps seem surprised, he took out his cellphone and flipped it open, "This is my Metia, it can tell me the time at which the Hakugei will appear..."

"And apparently, I have an ability... no, it's more like I'm cursed... through this curse, I can find out about certain things, that's how I found about the Hakugei's location..."

Though it all seemed skeptical, Anastasia and Russel seemed to believe him, though Crusch still has her doubts, "Can you explain how your Metia works?"

"Well, it has many things it can do but for it to be able to find out the timing of the Hakugei's appearance... the event must first happen once while the Metia is active... then it records that moment and makes... a prediction for the next appearence..." He did tell the truth, though it was stretched out pretty far, it may activate Crusch's blessing, but she didn't do anything.

"So you are implying that you have encountered the Hakugei before?" The atmosphere suddenly got tense, then Subaru answered, "Yes..." it took everyone by surprise, they thought he would deny it at first, then have Crusch make him admit, but that didn't happen.

"It happened not long ago, The Hakugei was about the size of a mansion, a large horn on its head with excessively large yellow eyes, it goes around in a fog and can produce some sort of high-density mist that has a tendency to erase someone's existence..."

The last bit of information peeked everyone's interest, "Erase someone's existence, you say? Where'd you hear that from, Natsuki-kun?" Anastasia asks.

"It happened last time, I was traveling back with a close friend, the Hakugei attacked us, I was able to survive because she sacrificed herself to save me..." He looks at up to the ceiling, his face twisted in regret and guilt, "When I got back, no one remembered her, it was as if... she never existed, they told me I went alone, they told me that no one used that room, but for some reason I remembered, I clearly do..."

He was hurt deeply as he tapped into those memories, "Then... about this curse, we'd like to know more about it"

"Haa... that's not really something I can do, part of the curse stops me from talking about it, I think this is just about how much I can tell you... sorry about that..."

"I have one last question... why do you think we'd need information on the Hakugei?"

These were the question he was prepared to answer, he had Russell help him piece out the bits of information he collected from the different loops and he had come to this conclusion, "It's only mere speculation but... firstly, I've noticed a lot of traffic here, it seems you've been stacking up your armory and it looked much more than just restocking supplies, seems like you were preparing for a battle"

Crusch narrows her eyes at Subaru, probably due to the fact that he was literally giving away information to Anastasia, but it meant that he was correct.

"Secondly, taking down the Hakugei isn't an easy feat, but would you do so, you'd be rewarded indefinitely, taking down the great mabeast that terrorized the world for four hundred years will definitely get some attention from the crowd... and finally, Russell told me about something about Wilhelm having some sort of grudge against it, so I was thinking it'd be useful information to give"

Hearing the last one Wilhelm gave a surprised look then sighed, "Although I can't really prove it, the evidence still stands... so, what will it be, Crusch-san?"

"Huh... seems like you've seen completely through me... though I still hold many doubts and have numerous amounts of questions, I will choose to trust you for now, so I'll take part in the alliance..."

"Then the deal is made..." Russell finalized it.

.

"Haaah, I'm not cut out for these sort of things," Subaru said as he slid down the chair, "Even though, that wasn't half bad, Natsuki-kun, I'd say it was more than satisfactory"

"Really? It's all thanks to Russell-san..."

"So then, Natsuki-dono, our end of the deal should take place after the completion of the Subjugation, yes?"

"Yep, I'll keep it safe till then"

It was night-time, everyone was preparing for tomorrow's battle, Subaru on the other hand, was in a library inside Crusch's mansion, he had to find his place in the battle, and while being bait was a big role, it was a risky one, so he had to find a way to minimize the risks.

He picked up a book that, from his knowledge of the language in Lugunica, said 'Yin Magic', that's what he was hoping it said anyway. He flipped through a few pages and read through the fundamental basics of Yin magic, until someone came in.

"Subaru-dono, there you are..."

"Ah, Wilhelm-san, you were looking for me?"

Wilhelm walked up to him and saw the book he was reading, "Trying to strengthen your magic prowess despite your gate being in bad shape... well enough of that, I wasn't able to thank you before"

"Thank me? For what? I was thinking it'd be 'It's your fault we have to fight' kind of thing..."

"Not at all, you see all of us have a history with... the Hakugei..." He said in a serious voice, laced with hatred "Fourteen years ago, that beast took away my wife's life during a subjugation quest to hunt it down... her name was Theresia van Astrea..."

He said her name longingly, "I see... I'm sorry for your loss... wait... van Astrea... eh?! That means your related to Reinhard in a way yes?"

He nods, "I am his grandfather, Wilhelm van Astrea, Subaru-dono, thanks to you, I am able to avenge the person most precious to me, I thank you for granting this man the opportunity he has been searching for, for a long time..." he bowed down respectfully.

"Ah... it's... no problem at all... hehe..." They both chatted for a bit before Wilhelm left Subaru to his book, he kept on reading it through the night, until he fell asleep.

A/N

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[Subaru]: Natsuki Subaru, DESU!

[Emilia]: Watashiwa Emilia, DESU!

[Beatrice]: The Great Spirit, Beatrice, Desu! I suppose...

[ReveiwR524]: The Author, ReveiwR524 DESUUU!

[Betelguese]: Those are my lines... desu...

...

Looking good, there, many things will change, hope you guys are liking it currently. Warlock chap will come up at around 16/2/18, the latest GMT.

Gonna work on the split chapters in TPP (been calling it APP all this time sumanai) well see ya next week, gonna take my time and study the hell out!