Re; A Hero’s New Life in a New World!

Chapter 9 — “Curses and Corpses”

After becoming a guest at the Roswaal Manor, Subaru spent his time either trying to find out who killed him, exploring the large Mansion to look for anything out of the ordinary, or visiting everybody. Eventually, Ram came into his room, gave him tea, and had a long conversation with him.

Eventually, they began to talk about the Fairy Tales of his homeland—also known as Japan. They were specifically talking about the fairy tale starring a Red Demon and a Blue Demon. Ram called the tale stupid, but Subaru said that what she said was an ‘extreme opinion,’ so, she walked up to him, and asked him a question.

“Which of the two demons would you rather be friends with,” she asked him, lifting up one finger from her left hand, and another finger from her right hand. “The red demon, who can only wish and be taken care of, by others, or the stupid blue demon, who basks in self-sacrifice.”

Subaru picked both of them, causing Ram to say that he’s the ‘undecisive adulterous-type,’ afterward, they began to talk about the fairy tails of Lugnica, only the story about the Dragon which is protecting the country, though.

“Wait, Ram, there’s another story I want to talk to you about.”

“Which one?”

“The one about the demons.”

“A fairy tale about demons? Sir, could you please elaborate?”

“Oh, well, it’s a story about a tribe of demons wanting to control the world and all of its Mana. Apparently, the leader of that tribe transformed into a Demon God by contracting with a spirit. Unfortunately, transforming into the Demon God made all the Mana in his surroundings to come to him, causing him to go insane with all the Mana he collected. He killed the other demons and almost destroyed an entire country until the first Magic Emperor stopped him.”

Ram didn’t respond, but it appeared that she was trying to remember the story. “…Ah,” she said. “I remember that story, but I do not know if it is true or not. However, apparently, the skull of the Demon God is located very close to a village in the forsaken region. A statue of the first Magic Emperor was placed on top of the skull.”

“What’s the forsaken region? And, who’s the Magic Emperor?”

“The forsaken region is supposedly the area where the aforementioned demons lived. Now, only the peasants of this country live there. The Magic Emperor is a title given to the strongest Mage of this Kingdom. Additionally, the holder of the title is also officially recognized and acknowledged as the leader of the Kingdom’s Order of the Magic Knights.”

“That sounds pretty cool. Who’s the current Magic Emperor? Or will there be a big vote later, to see who will become the new one?”

“The current Magic Emperor is Julius Novachrono. Many people expect the next Magic Emperor to be his son, Selim Novachrono. But, who knows? The child is only 12 years old, and his Magic hasn’t developed too much.”

“Ah, I see. But, I have a question, Ram.”

“What is your question, sir?”

“Do you think demons are still out there?”

“…”

Once again, she didn’t respond. Moments of silence later, she finally decided to say something.“I’ve stayed too long,” she said, ignoring Subaru’s question for her. “I’ll come again, to notify you when dinner is ready, sir.”

After dinner, Subaru returned to his room, to continue to attempt to try and find out who had been the one killing him all these loops. Subaru immediately covered the notes he had taken, with pieces of paper that Lugnican language’s alphabet written on it, when someone opened his door.

It was Justice.

“Hey, Subaru. Ram and Rem are busy with their work, so they asked me if I could help you study.”

“Damn it! I wanted a cute girl to help me study! Not a guy!”

“You’re stuck with me today, sorry, I guess. Anyway, let’s see what you have down…”

Justice picked up the sheets of paper that had the alphabet of the country’s language written on it. After lifting it up, he noticed that there was another stack of paper on Subaru’s desk. Justice went to pick it up, but Subaru blocked the papers with his hands.

“…What’s on there, Subaru?”

“Nothing important… just some words I had trouble writing…”

“Can I see? I could help identify the mistakes you made on them. I’ve learned how to read and write the language two days ago.”

“…No.”

“Why not?”

“—Eh?”

Justice sighed. “What’s wrong? Tell me the truth.” Subaru looked downwards and sighed, as well.

“…I think, tomorrow, someone will attack this Mansion.”

“…How do you know that?”

“I… I can’t tell you.”

“If we are to believe your supposed theory, what should we do?”

“Well, I’m planning on leaving tomorrow, and hide in one of the hills overlooking the Mansion. If I find the people attacking this place, I’ll try and contact you… but there’s no way I could run fast enough to enter the Mansion…”

“You can’t use Communication Magic either…” Justice said, as he sighed afterward. He reached for a small bag that was tied to his hip. He pulled out a small little ball from it, and tossed it to Subaru. “Keep that.”

“Is this a Metia?” Subaru asked while examining the tiny ball.

“No, it’s something from my world. It allows two people to communicate with each other, even if they are very far away. If you speak into the ball only I will be able to hear it, as it will go straight into my mind.”

“Telepathy!”

Justice’s hand was then engulfed with Fire Magic. He shot all of the concentrated Mana at Subaru. The fire didn’t seem to have any effect on Subaru nor the ball.

“What was that for?!”

“The ball will protect you from a few attacks, and will shatter after that, so make sure to take care of it so it won’t break. Anyway, goodnight,” Justice said. He yawned and put the pieces of paper back onto Subaru’s desk. “I’ll see you off tomorrow like everyone else. Don’t spend your entire night studying.”

“Right.”

The next day, Subaru told everybody he was leaving. Everyone—save for Beatrice and Puck—went to go see him off. Roswaal asked if Justice was going, to which he responded, by saying that he still had to protect Emilia, and Subaru leaving the Mansion, simply meaning, that leaving the Emilia Camp, was his own decision.

“Thank you all so much.”

Subaru then left the Mansion. Emilia followed him out, and stated that she still felt heavily indebted towards him. Subaru said that she didn’t need to be, and said his final goodbye to her. They waved to each other, as Subaru left. As it started to get dark, Subaru went to one of the hills that overlooked the Mansion. He was shrouded by some trees, so no one from the Manor would be able to see him.

He pulled out the tiny ball Justice gave him and tried to talk to it. “Um, testing, testing,” he said, awkwardly talking to the ball. “Justice, this is me, Subaru, I’m at the hill closest to the Mansion. Wait, can you hear me, or what? Helloooooo? If you can hear me, respond, please. Testing, testing, hello?”

“Yes, Subaru! I can hear you!” Justice responded, frustratedly.

“Alright, good to know. As soon as I see the perpetrator, I’ll tell you. …But, I have a question for you…”

“Hmm?”

“Why did you believe me? I didn’t give you any reason to believe me, whatsoever…”

“I am able to sense whether or not people are lying, with my Mana. I learned how to do that, through the training I received from my world,” he answered. A few seconds of silence later, he added onto what he said. “…And, well, you’re just not the type of person that would lie about this kind of thing.”

Subaru didn’t respond. “Uh, Hello?” Justice said.“Subaru, what happened?” he asked. Still no response. Many seconds went by, and Justice began to hear panting. “Justice,” Subaru screamed. “It’s Rem!”

“What?”

“The person attacking me! It’s Rem!”

Justice gasped loudly. “Subaru, hold on! I’m coming! Tell me where you currently are!”

“I’m running away from her, at the moment. But, right now, at—”

Subaru began to scream, then, his scream was cut off. Justice knew that the tiny ball he gave to Subaru had broke. He pulled out his sword, dashed out of the Mansion, and headed for the closest cliff that looked over the Mansion. He ended up in a forest. As he continued to run, he could hear people converse.

“Do not play dumb! Your bald-faced lies can only take you so far, when the witch’s smile lies thickly upon you!”

Once he heard Rem’s yelling, he knew he was getting closer to where they were. He could hear them converse more, but since they weren’t loud enough, Justice couldn’t hear them. Then, he heard Subaru yell.

“Why don’t you remember?! Why do you all keep leaving me behind?! What did I do to you?! What am I supposed to do?! What did I do wrong?! Why do you guys hate me so much?!”

Justice could really hear the anguish in Subaru’s voice. But, he knew he was close to where he and Rem were. He was just hoping he’d make it in time to save him.

“I really like the both of y—”

Then, Subaru’s voice could no longer be heard. When Justice finally arrived at the area where Subaru and Rem were at, he was mortified. There, the corpse of the black-haired boy laid. Tears and snot practically covered his face, while there was blood flowing from his neck. He was angered by the two maids, Ram and Rem, standing there.

“Nee-sama, that was not necessary. We could’ve gotten information from that pig.”

“Roswaal-sama only sent us to confirm whether or not he was a spy. Not interrogate him, Rem.”

“Nee-sama, Rem knew he was no good. He was sitting on that hill planning to kill us all. He was using a meteor, I assume, to tell his possible teammates to come here and get rid of Emilia-sama.”

“That does not matter anymore. For now, we’ll have to get rid of his body.”

The maids notice Justice charging towards them, holding his blade in his hands, with an angry expression on his face. They knew that he was going to get revenge for Subaru. Rem fired the spiked-ball from her flail at Justice, who parried the attack with his sword. Immediately, Justice dashed towards Rem and her extended sliced arm off.

Justice kicked her in the abdomen before she could scream. The kick sent her flying towards a tree. The impact with the aforementioned tree knocked her out. “You—!” Ram said as she fired a gust of wind at Justice. He sliced through the wind with his sword, though, some parts of his armor was cut.

Ram was enveloped by a pillar of wind. She launched blasts of wind, which Justice would slice through with his sword. And so, the two would continue to fight, under the night sky.

Subaru woke up screaming. He saw the two maids look at him with worried faces. Seeing them caused him to scream even more. Later, Emilia came to comfort him. He tried to tell her about Return by Death, but he couldn’t tell her without experiencing a fearful sensation.

Soon, Emilia and Justice made Beatrice go talk to Subaru, as they believed that, her draining his Mana might have done something to him. Then, Beatrice made a contract to protect Subaru, as he blackmailed her with Puck.

“I shall grant your wish, I suppose. I, Beatrice, on my honor, am henceforth bound by this contract. Temporary or not, a contract is a contract. I’ll grant your nonsense favor.”

Tears rolled from Subaru’s eyes to his cheeks. “Seriously?” he asked. “I can’t believe I’m crying because of a little girl…”

“Don’t call me a little girl! And, if you tell Bubby, you’ll regret it, I suppose! Hmph!”

Subaru couldn’t sleep, at all. He only kept on seeing nightmares. Nightmares of Rem trying to kill him, Emilia crying, Justice trying to get revenge on Rem. Even in his dreams, Subaru wasn’t able to do anything. He hated himself. He hated himself for being so useless that he couldn’t do anything.

During the end of the third day, he was sleeping. He continued to see the same nightmares that haunted him. Just as Rem was about to kill him, once again, he could feel someone hold both of his hands, causing his nightmare to get banished. He was soon woken up by a kick from Beatrice to his face.

She explained to him that it was the fourth day and let him stay at the Forbidden Library, for the time being. Subaru read countless fairy tails, but the one he was most interested in, was the one about the demons trying to take over the world. Soon, Beatrice stood up from her stool.

“Bubby is calling me. I don’t care if you stay here. You’ll be safe here, I suppose,” she stated, leaving the library. Subaru walked up to the doors and hesitantly opened them. Realizing it was morning, he fell onto his knees and began to laugh, claiming that it was “this easy.”

Author’s Comments

Ahhh, it’s me, Mugen. Once again, I am VERY sorry for this Chapter coming out late. I was deathly sick from last weekend to this one—I am not exaggerating—so I was not able to upload a Chapter. You guessed it, this Chapter was also supposed to be longer, but I wanted to get something out, so, I released what I already had written. I really need to fix up my uploading schedule, man.

I plan on giving you guys two Chapters on one day, just not this week though, as I will be extremely busy with finals. Speaking of finals, due to them, there is a high chance that I will not upload any Chapters this Friday, but, if I do, then expect that Chapter to be very rushed and short.

Anyways, I hope that Re:Hero can return to becoming a weekly release soon. That’s all I have to say, see you guys next Chapter!

Until Next Time!

— Mugen