Upload date: 5/21/2018 [M/D/Y]

Re: Life in a fantasy world ~ Arc 1: Fated Encounter

Chapter 2: Second time's the charm

I opened up my eyes to the everlasting darkness, a pitch black darkness like no other, a place a go to contemplate on what had just happened, "So, there's a murderer waiting for us at that place, and the thief is already dead by then… the earlier we reach there, the better…" As I was deep in thought, a figure appeared in front of me, staring at me with lifeless eyes.

This space is my private space, no one has ever been able to reach here, no one but one person, and that was, "Help..." the Witch of Envy, or Satella as she calls herself. To me she's just a blob of shadow, her real face and body were being held back by the witch genes fighting for control, so I never got to see how she really looked like.

"So… do you have something I can actually use this time?"

She'd only appear a few times whenever I return by death, I assume it's because of the witch genes of envy's interference. The most she could handle is a few words before vanishing into the darkness, I felt very pitiful but I just couldn't feel it in myself to feel pity for her, rather, I might have lost that part of me when I ran away eight years ago, or maybe I just couldn't feel pity for something that looks like a shadow mixed with pudding.

"You know… I met a half-elf today…"

I said while fiddling with the sage's box in my hand, just then, she frantically tried to reach me, though it was futile, "Just say what you need to say already…" I got up and walked over to her, "She had silver hair and purple eyes, she says she resembles you a lot, so yeah…"

"...her…"

"What was that?"

"Protect her…"

She said with a struggling voice, "And what's in it for me if I protect her?" I said as lackluster as ever, "Witch… cult is finding her…" She replied, but she then vanished instantly. My mouth twisted into a frown as I got back up on my feet, putting my sage's box into its sack, and whispered, "Say no more…"

Light flooded my eyes and I was shown Emilia's radiant smile once more, she had her hand out for that handshake. A blinked a few times before accepting it, "Hey, Emilia-san… I think I have an idea on where the thief went…" "Really? Where?" I pocketed both my hands and flicked my head, signaling her to follow me.

We headed past the bustling city, past a few guard stations, and into the slums of the Capital. "Subaru… are you sure this is the way?" "I've never been surer of something my whole life…" We passed through the wooden bridge, over the mucky waters, and stopped right in front of the old wooden bar.

"Is this the place?"

"This is the place…"

In front of us was an old rusted wooden door, not sure how those two words fit together but let's let it be. At times like this, one would just barge in and ask everyone to freeze or something like that, the door was unlocked, but I have my manners and I'm still waiting for a person to arrive.

"Knock, knock?"

I said while banging on the door. I heard heavy footsteps, a big man most likely. Some rustling chains and a then it stopped, "For the rats?" A deep voice asked. A riddle, are you serious? And an easy one to add to that, "Poison…" taken straight from the book, damn, no wonder these guys died back there. "For the whale?" "A fuckin harpoon"

"To the dragon we are?"

"Complete and utter shitbags am I right?"

Some floorboards squeaking and the door opened, revealing a rather large man, oh wait, it's a giant. White fur on his chest, wearing some torn pants and an open air vest, long eyebrows, seems to be around his mid hundreds or so. "Oh, never seen you younglings before, Felt's gotta stop telling people the password…" "Not that it'd be hard to find out anyway," I say with an indifferently.

"Okay, if you return the-"

"Woah, hold it Emilia-san, that's not how you do things…"

"Eh? Really, then…"

"Come on, get in, hey old man, is Felt in yet?"

"Felt's not here yet, she'll be back in a few though… so what can I get you?"

He goes over to the back of the counter and puts out two empty glasses, I grabbed one for myself and slid the other for Emilia, "I'll have your weakest alcohol please" "Then… I'll just have water…" He took out a barrel and turned on the tap, he did his thing and I got my drink, he cracked open a bottle of water and poured in a glass for Emilia, we then drank. "You a light drinker… eh?"

"Subaru… and no, there's just something coming up, and it needs my full attention… you are?"

"Names, Rom…"

"Right… this is Emilia, she the one who has business with Felt…"

"So you're accompanying her?"

"Kinda… got business of my own here…"

As I finished my drink, a tossed Rom a bronze, he took it happily. The door suddenly opened, and guess who came in? "Yo, Felt…" The blonde haired, red eyed, petite girl from earlier came in wearing a cheeky smile, holding something in her hand, "Yo, hey Rom-ji, you can- W-wait, why are you here!"

Seems she just noticed me, "Think you got the wrong person…" I pointed over to Emilia. She jerked to her head to face Emilia, "Why are you here! Why did you let them in Rom-ji!?" "Eh? I thought they were the ones you were doing business with?"

"No! I told you I'd ask them the questions! And they weren't supposed to be here till 6!"

"Well, that's what you get for using the most common riddles in the world…"

"The most common you say? Hmm, guess I'll change it"

The giant said, almost not caring about the fact that he let in a bunch of strangers. Just then, Emilia stood up, pointing at Felt, Puck came out as well, "Okay, you are to return the Insignia right now! I'll let you off the hook if you do… please…" "That last part totally blew you off you know… anyway, sit down…" I stood up and forced her down on her seat, I then faced Felt who turned away and made a run for the door. "H-Hey, Subaru, she's!"

"You'll never catch me!"

"I've cast a spell on the bar, no one can leave without my consent…"

As she opened the door, she was blasted back and conveniently landed on a chair. I sat on the chair opposite and looked at her, "Why don't we make a deal, we'll buy the Insignia back from you? Don't really wanna mess up some broke kid" "Hey, don't call me that!"

"Don't call you 'Broke' or 'Kid'?"

"Urgh, both!"

"Anyway, how does that sound, Emilia-san?"

"Oh that's okay, as long as I get the Insignia back, I'm fine it's just I don't have any money on me right now, so negotiations won't be possible in my end…"

"God… is that Insignia even yours? Nevermind, here, this is as much as I have right now..."

I tossed out my sack, and emptied it, "What's that box?" "No, everything but the box…" I quickly retrieved the box and hid it in my coat, "This is something that I hold in the highest regards, don't even think about taking it…" "If it's that important to you then it's gotta have a high value am I right?" She shoots me a greedy smile.

"Actually, if you sold this to anyone else, I'm pretty sure the most you'll get is half a bronze coin…"

"Gah, that bad! Fine then… about ten Silvers?"

"That's all I have now, don't think of me as someone poor you hear…" She shot me an annoyed look, "Hmph… that's actually a lot…" She said in a low voice, enough for me to hear her, "A-Anyway, there's already someone coming over to take this if you want it your gonna have to wait and see what they're willing to pay"

"Fine by me, I'm waiting for that person too you see…"

I walked over to counter and waved at Rom, "One more please…" "Coming up…" He got to work and I sat down with my head on the table. I let out a long sigh, "Hmm… what do I do, Ram is probably waiting for me in the carriage, I hope I don't make it back late…" "You're worried about that? Seriously you've got to work with your priorities a bit…"

"Hey you, how'd you know I'd be here and why are you helping that girl, are you her knight in shining armor or something?"

"I have a name you know… and no, I'm not her knight, I'm helping her because you stepped on me back in the alleyway!"

"Geez… I was in a rush, you'd do the same if you were in my situation"

"No, I wouldn't choose to go through an alleyway in the first place…"

We went on with our light bickering for a while, that was until I felt a disturbance in the barrier I made, "Haah… okay, looks like it's my turn to do business…" I got up from the seat and did a few stretches, the four in the room looked at me, a bit confused, "Eh, Subaru…" That was until I took out two daggers from my belt and spun them around my arm.

"Woah, nice knives you got there…"

"Thanks, I've been taking good care of them"

"Subaru, what are those for…"

Emilia asked me with a pretty scared voice, Puck starting to get on the defensive, to which I reply, "It's for the business I was talking about…" "But didn't you say we were going to negotiate with her?" I walked forward to where the interference was and got ready, "Negotiating was what you said, Emilia-san, I said we'd buy the Insignia from her, if she's not willing to sell it, then my plans already failed, times already out anyway…"

"Hey, I never said I wou-"

"Felt, the person who hired you, a tall woman with a large chest right?"

"R-Right… what about it?"

"She's going to kill you all in the next few seconds… brace yourselves, PUCK!"

The next second, a section of the wall broke open and just who do you think came out, "Welcome, bitch!" she threw a kukri knife at Emilia, but Puck was able to shield her with an ice barrier. I rushed forward and tried to jab at her side while she was still in the air, but she had a second kukri knife ready and parried my strike, going over me and landing square on the ground.

"My, my, you are an observant one…"

"You can say I had some future knowledge…"

The other three, Puck excluded, looked at us shocked, what was once a friendly atmosphere turned tense and deadly. The woman licked her lips and started running for me, swinging her single kukri knife at me. I ducked down low and did a quick punch to her gut, swept her legs, and grabbed her hands, effectively pinning her to the ground.

"So harsh… you do realize I'm a lady don't you?"

"I don't discriminate between gender so sorry about that…"

I twisted her arm so that it bent in an awkward way, to my surprise she did giggle, "Haah… I may have underestimated you, dear…" "It seems you have… and please don't call me dear, it's really creepy…" I held her down forcefully, not intending her to make any moves, but despite my efforts she was able to jab me in the chest, she probably had to dislocate her shoulder to do that. She pushed me to the side and quite literally stabbed her kukri knife at my face, the blade dug deep into my skin, pretty sure fracture my facial bones there.

"An opening!"

Rom shouted, and he rushed over with a club on his hands. He swung it at her but due to his slow speed, she was able to easily dodge it. The giant swung again and again, but he kept missing, just then, she was able to land on top of him, aiming a strike for his head, a strike that would instantly kill. "I've had fun… but I got bored…"

"Rom-ji!"

"I won't let you!"

Puck and Emilia fired off several ice spears at her, it hit the kukri knife but didn't stop it. The knife impaled him on his shoulders, and he was down, "ROM-JI!" Just then, Felt rushed in, she was fast, so fast that my eyes could barely keep up. She unsheathed her knife on her belt and circled around Elsa. She stopped and dashed straight for her, but she just moved to the side and kicked her off.

"Puck, I need to help Subaru"

"You got it Lia"

Puck took the lead, firing off several more ice spears which she sidestepped out of the way, "I do wonder how a spirits insides look like… I might be able to find out today…" "I really doubt it, lady, though I can say I'm interested in what your insides look like too… just yours though…" She let out a girly chuckle, "Looks like we have the same tastes…" She flung her knife at Puck but he easily deflected it with an ice barrier.

Meanwhile, Emilia was trying to find me, but she I was long gone, I had already activated Timelapse and had hidden in the shadows, though, Emilia nor the others know that "Puck! I can't find Subaru!" "I'm right here Emilia-san!" Using my two daggers, I stabbed into her back, puncturing one or two vital organs. I then kicked her off but she spun in the air and easily got back on her feet, "Hahaha! Yes, I knew you were a great dance partner!"

She rushed over to me once more, her arm, which I'm pretty sure I dislocated, was surprisingly back in its position, "So are you some kind of killer that can use healing magic or something?" I said while dodging her strikes, "Oh this" Our blades clashed, small sparks flying out, I twisted my body and shoved her off of me, "That's just how I normally work…" She tried to lunge for me but Emilia and Puck interfered with a few ice spears.

As her attention was taken away, I hurried over to Rom and Felt, "Can you fix him! Please!" "Yeah, yeah, but listen, I need you to run out and call for help, this woman's crazy and it's gonna take a while if me and Emilia-san are the only ones fighting, go to a guard station or something, tell them a killer is in this house and if they don't listen to you… don't come back here"

"But"

"Just go!"

I gave her a pat and showed her to the door, she opened it and ran for her life. A kukri blade went for me but I blocked it with both my daggers, she looked through the window and saw Felt escaping, "Oh, you let one of your dance partners go" "Oh, not for long" She threw one of her kukri knives through the window, intending to stab her before she goes any further, though the knife just bounced back and stabbed her right in the arm, "Sorry but nothing leaves without my permission"

"Really, you surprise me every time…"

It seems she has let Felt go, for now, her attention was now fully on the three of us. "Now, Emilia-san, Puck, shall we continue to dance with our guest?" "Subaru, this isn't the time to joke around," she said while firing off more ice spears at the killer, "Come on, you can at least enjoy the dance," she said to us as she dodges the ice spears.

"Well, I sure am having fun, Puck on my mark okay?"

"You got it Subaru!"

I rushed forward and threw my daggers straight for her, she went between them and tried to slice at me, but she has already fallen into my trap, "El-Shamak!" A black cloud engulfs the both of us leaving the other two untouched, that was the signal for Puck to fire "Here you go!" A barrage of icicles was thrown straight into the cloud, hitting everything and anything inside it, "Puck! Subaru is still in there!" Emilia scolded him, but before she knew it, I was already beside her, "I'm right here, Emilia-san…"

"S-Subaru! Geez, don't scare me like that!"

"Yeah, sorry about that…"

I made the black clouds dissipate and there on the floor lied a bloodied woman, ice spears stabbed all over her body, she struggled to get up, but it seems like she was still alive somewhat. "Your pretty persistent, that was an attack from a great spirit, I applaud you," Puck said while yawning.

"Hah… may I have your name?" She asked me. For some reason, I felt good about it, I'm pretty sure I shouldn't but it shows me she respects me as a power, so as a fellow fighter, I'm obliged to tell her, "Natsuki Subaru… Lone traveler…"

"Elsa Greinhart… Bowel hunter… let's dance sometime again…"

"Doubt that'll ever happen," I said. She then closed her eyes and dropped dead, no way she'd be alive, not with those wounds pouring gallons of blood out. "Haaah… okay Subaru, my times up, I'll leave the rest to you…" "You got it Puck" he disappeared into light particles and went into Emilia's crystal necklace but not before giving me a high five. The two of us rushed over to Rom, Emilia started to heal him.

"Well that went better than I thought, no one died…"

"Subaru, you could have died you know!"

"Nah, I doubt I'd die so easily"

"Ugh, you worried me you know!"

As we continued our bickering, the sunset and it was night time already, time flies when you're in near-death situations right? I stood up and walked to the wall where I threw my daggers. They were stuck to it so I had a hard time trying to pry them loose, but I was able to do it.

But as I turned back to Emilia, I saw Elsa, she was already up and was about to throw her kukri knife straight at her, "Emilia watch out!" My warning made it to her too late though, she was only able to move her body a few inches away, making the kukri knife strike her legs instead of her back, the damage wasn't as fatal but it was still bad.

I activated Timelapse and was already beside Elsa, I kicked her sides and she flew off to the wall, but she landed on her feet. She looked over to me with a lewd smile, "Let's dance some more…" "Creep…" Her wounds were already nonexistent, the holes Puck bored were already gone, "Or would vampire be a more accurate description?"

"Well… I don't really hate the sun and onions don't really bother me… though I do like seeing bloodied bowels if that counts…"

"More than enough actually… Emilia-san, heal yourself up, I'll hold her off…"

She nodded and went to it right away, I faced Elsa again and whispered, "Time for round three…" We both went forward, our blades clashing, yet again, she circled around me and stabbed me in the waist, I held her hand there and used my other hand to grab her head, then I brought it down for smashing her face to my knee, then I activated Timelapse once again, getting back to my position beside Emilia, both my daggers in hand, and the wound gone.

Elsa stumbled in her steps as she looked at me with bloodlust, "Such a professional dancer!" She jumped into the air with one leg, using the other one to kick her knife which she threw up moments prior. The knife went straight for Emilia, I wasn't the best at hitting flying objects so I stretched out my hands, "Murak!" The knife started to go up and luckily missed Emilia's head by a strand of hair, though she was a little bit too busy to notice that.

"Haah… I'm really glad I met you…"

"I don't think I can say the same…"

Just then, I felt the barrier around the bar getting interfered with again, someone was on top of the house it was back up, I hope. I backed off from Elsa and sided with Emilia, sitting on the ground, "Giving up already are we?" "No, this is no longer my fight…" Then, the ceiling came crashing down in an instant, dust quickly filling the room.

"And backup is here baby!"

From the debri, a fiery haired man came into view, his clothes were those of a royal guard off-duty, and a sword sheathed on his waist, but it wasn't any sword it was, "Dragon sword?! Who knew the sword saint would come in to save the day!" "Well… I just happened to be passing by and that little girl asked for help" He pointed to Felt who was peeking from the side of a wooden beam.

"Hah, still, didn't know the great Reinhard van Astrea would just be casually walking around the slums"

"It was thanks to the barrier around this bar, the odd magic just caught my interest is all"

"Ah, I see… so it was partly me… well then Reinhard, this is your opponent, Elsa Greinhart, please be don't be nice to her"

Reinhard then looked over to Elsa, her smile only getting bigger by the second, "Elsa Greinhart… the infamous bowel hunter of the north they say… for your crimes, I will end you here and now, I hope you are ready…" "Well… I was having so much fun, is it really okay for me to have even more fun now?" I'm taking it that she's ready.

"Come, bring forth that sword… one that has only slain the worthy…"

"No, I'm afraid that's not possible, the dragon sword would only be wielded against foes it deems worthy…"

I took from the ground, a rusted sword, "Yo, Sword saint, catch!" I threw it over to Reinhard and he caught it. He then examined it and nodded, "This will do… uh…" "Natsuki Subaru, call me Subaru"

"Alright then Subaru, I shall end it here and now…"

Elsa dashed forward and stuck Reinhard several times which he blocked with the rusted sword, I watched as sparks flew off their blades, the moonlit battle was definitely one graceful dance one can say. "Oh, Emilia-san, I have bandages, let me help…" From my belt's single pocket, I took out a bandage roll and helped fix up her leg, "Thanks Subaru, I still need to heal up Rom…" she said while finishing up her own wounds.

While she was busy with Rom, I glimpsed back into the battle between the sword saint and bowel hunter. It was a one-sided battle and it seems like Reinhard wasn't even trying all that hard, just taking a few steps and lightly swinging his sword, while Elsa, on the other hand, is jumping around making spinning slashes that have no effect on him, it's so one-sided it almost hurts to watch.

"Subaru, I'm finished with the healing…"

"Reinhard! Mana's all yours bud!"

"Thanks for that Subaru…" Reinhard planted his feet into the ground and raised his sword in a very mainstream swordsman's pose, "I shall show you the power of sword saint, bowel hunter" "Yes show me!" As Elsa lunged forward, the rusted sword glew a bright blue, and the next moment, it was an explosion.

"Kah! Pwah, dust everywhere…" It seems the whole bar was torn down, I was surprised it made it this far though, "Well, that's the sword saint for you… but still, it was some power you showed her, doubt she's gonna survive that…" "I appreciate the compliment…"

I got up and looked all over, the place was in ruins, no way it's getting back from this state, kinda feel bad for Rom now. "Now that that's over with-" a pile of wood burst into the air and Elsa could be seen diving down, aiming a strike for Emilia, "Don't think so…" I threw one of my daggers at her which prompted her to dodge and kick away from her trajectory. She landed on a wooden beam and stared at the two of us. "Keep your bowels fresh… I'll have them next time…"

"Sorry but bookings closed past sunset, please wait tomorrow to make a reservation"

She giggled in delight and ran off into the darkness. I helped Emilia up and we checked on Rom, Felt coming along too.

"Rom-ji…"

"He'll be fine for now… is he your family?"

"Kinda… he's like a grandfather to me…"

"I see…"

"Oh yeah, here, I guess I owe you one… just be sure not to lose it so easily"

"Of all the people, we're hearing that from you…"

"Ya got a problem with that?"

"Oh yeah, I do!"

I gave her a flick to the forehead, "What was that for!" "That was for stepping on me in that alleyway, you should learn to respect your elders… no, that'd make me sound like gramps over here, learned respect people older than you!" "I'm eighteen you know!"

"Well, I'm twenty!"

"So what? Your still a kid!"

"Excuse me!? Emilia-san I think is it me or does she make no sense?"

"I think it's her Subaru…"

After all that banter, Felt handed over the Insignia to Emilia, it was just as I imagined, a bluish purple circular-triangle pendant with a golden dragon imprinted on it, a red glowing jewel was set in the middle, "Ah, thanks…" Reinhard had a look at the Insignia, and once he did he grabbed Felt's hand, "This can't be…" "H-Hey…"

"Excuse me, what's your name? Age? Where do you live?"

"Ugh… Um, Felt, I'm 18 and I live here in the slums… ouch, that hurts!"

"Sorry Subaru, Emilia… but you don't mind if I take her do you?"

"Nope, I'm still kinda mad at her for stepping on me"

"You're still on that!?"

"Then, I must go immediately, here, your Insignia…"

He handed over the Insignia to Emilia and left quickly, so quick that I couldn't see where he went. Now all that's left was me Emilia and Old man Rom, "Well then… guess that's a days work done, we did it!" "Yeah, thanks a lot, I don't think I could've done it myself…"

"No problem, anyway… I guess we'll leave a note for Rom here, tell him Felt's been taken by Reinhard or something, more importantly, can you walk? Your legs still seem to be bleeding out of the bandage a little…"

"Of course I'll be-"

"That's a no, alright I'll help you out…"

She put her arm around my shoulder and I lifted her up to her feet, "So, we going to see this Ram person you were talking about?" "Ah yes, she should be waiting near the gate, I told her to stay there in case we got separated" So we had our directions, now all we had to do was make it there in the shortest amount of time, "Well then, let's not waste any time moping around now…"

.

We through the now quite Capital, activity had dropped by a fraction of what it was in the morning, which was good, the streets weren't packed so it was easy to find our way. In no time, we've reached the gate, a Pink haired maid looking around worried. Once she spotted us, she immediately rushed over, "Emilia-sama, are you alright!?" "Ah, It's okay Ram, just a little bruise on my leg, we can return to the mansion now, also, I'd like to bring a guest…" Ram looked over to me and bowed, "Of course, Emilia-sama…"

She went over to the carriage and opened up the door, letting the two of us in, she herself then went on to the driver's seat, and we were off, another successful loop beaten, it seems I've been getting better and better at this lately, oh well, time to relax and enjoy what happens next. I closed my eyes and fell asleep…

A/N

Carlos2013-duran

I hope that Subaru stays with Rem

You're gonna have to be more specific bud, by stay with Rem, do you mean stay with her in the capital or something like that? Cause he's going to be leaving her behind in all that action almost all the time.

Tales from Puck

Subaru's ego made me cringe

I don't know where you're going with this story but it's well written

I think Subaru's going to find what he's looking for in Arc 5

That's what I was aiming for

Well thank you very much

If we ever get there then yeah, that's gonna be him going 'Now's the time to get revenge'

Basscus

Your not the only one who liked the changes

Good to hear!

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Character sheet!

1.)Old man Rom

Age: Mid hundreds

Likes: Alcohol, Felt

Dislikes: War torn times

Magic: N/A

Weapon of choice: Club

2.)Felt

Age: 18 (supposed)

Likes: Rom, money, stealing

Dislikes: Being called broke, being called a kid

Magic: N/A

Weapon of choice: One-handed knife

3.)Elsa Greinhart

Age: Mid-twenties

Likes: Bowels, fighting to the death

Dislikes: Pests that interfere during battle

Magic: N/A

Weapon of choice: Northern kukri knives

4.) Reinhard van Astrea

Age: Mid-twenties

Likes: Unknown

Dislikes: Disappointing people

Magic: Swords art

Weapon of choice: Any weapon

Dragon sword (special case)

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Well guys, next is the next chapter for Forgive me, back into the white whale battle! Let's gooo!

Got called by the cops just this night, twas nerve-racking, apparently some guy saw me walking around town in a weird way and thought of I was sneaking around, so he got the fu***** cops involved and I lost all that valuable exercise time talking to officers!