Re; A Hero’s New Life in a New World!

Chapter 10 — “Lap Pillow”

“Subaru!”

The seventeen-year-old boy saw Emilia in the corner of his eye. “Subaru,” she said. “Please, come here,” she grabbed his arm and started to walk. While walking, Subaru began to hear the wailing of a young girl. Emilia brought him to a dark room, Subaru was shocked by the scene he saw.

Beatrice was leaning against a wall. Gordon was looking down, clenching his fists, with a remorseful expression. Roswaal had a saddened expression, as well. Justice stood next to Roswaal, sad, with his arms crossed. There was Rem, laying on her bed, eyes closed. Ram was hunched over her twin’s bed and was crying. Subaru walked up to Rem’s bed. He couldn’t understand what happened.

Subaru extended his hand, to feel Rem’s pulse, immediately, his hand was slapped by Ram. “Don’t touch her,” she exclaimed after she slapped away Subaru’s hand. “Don’t touch my little sister…!” Her eyes were streaming with tears. Seeing this, Subaru began to walk away.

“She died of weaaaaakness. It was as if she merely fell asleep.”

Subaru stopped walking.

“The method was more of a curse, than a spell.”

Hearing that, Subaru was even more confused. He had thought that Rem had been the Shaman cursing him in the previous timelines. Subaru’s shocked expression made Roswaal narrow his eyes at him. “My dear guest,” he said. “Haaaaaave you any idea what might have occurrrrred? After this happened to a dear member of my staff, I happen to be a bit angry.”

“Subaru,” Emilia said, grabbing the sleeve of his tracksuit. “If you know anything, please tell us.”

He merely shook his head at this. Even though he wanted to tell everyone about his Return by Death ability, and everything that has happened, he was afraid of the shadow hands coming back. He then felt something swiftly cut his cheek, as well as a lamp behind him. He saw Ram staring at him, with her arm extended.

“If you know something, spit it out!”

She then proceeds to fire a blast of high-speed wind at him. Just as Justice pulls out his blade from his scabbard, Beatrice practically teleports in front of Subaru. Simply by extending her small hand, she created a barrier, which protected both her and Subaru from the gust of wind.

“I keep my promises. I am contracted to protect him, I suppose.”

“Lady Beatrice…!”

“Roswaal, he spent last night in the Forbidden Library, so surely, he has nothing to do with this—”

“There is no need to emphasize the situation at hand.”

Roswaal turned to Beatrice and lifted his palms ’till they were facing the ceiling. Eight orbs of different-colored lights appeared. Four spheres over each palm. The orbs represented all of the Eight Magic types he was able to use; Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, Yin, Yang, and Soul.

“I am sure you are aware of that?”

“Tch. You lack finesse as always, I suppose,” the little girl said. “With just a little bit of ability, and slightly more diligence than others; blessed just a tiny bit in your heritage and instruction… you still think highly of yourself?”

Beatrice began to emit a pinkish light. The whole room began to shake a bit, as the power she was releasing made the very air itself twist.

“…How haaaaarsh. Shall we find out the difference between someone like you, who hides in their room, firmly stuck in the paaaaaaaaast, and someone like me, who constantly progreeeeesses onwards?”

The two stared at each other, prepared to fight.

“Howeveeeeer, for you to guard him with your life like that, means you must have taken quite a liking to him.”

“Save the jokes for your makeup and weird fetishes, I suppose.”

Roswaal heard the turning of pages behind him. Gordon held his own opened purple grimoire in one hand. While his other hand was practically touching Roswaal’s back.

“…Don’t you dare move…”

Justice stood in front of Subaru, his blade in his hands. He was protecting him, from Ram’s vicious gaze. “Man,” he said. “I don’t know if attacking each other is a tradition of this Manor, but I cannot allow you to hurt Subaru.”

“Whatever!” Ram exclaimed, standing up. “Not like any of this matters, anyway!”

“Quit standing in my way and let me through. To avenge Rem, if you know anything of it, tell me, all of it,” she continued. “Help me… Help Rem…”

“I’m sorry Ram, despite all this, I choose to trust Subaru. Subaru, please. If you can help Ram and Rem, please do.”

“I’m sorry.”

Subaru turned around and was about to walk out of the room. Justice notices this, puts his sword back into his scabbard, and quickly rolls out of the room. He swiftly picks up Subaru bridal style. He jumps through the window, backward. Shielding Subaru from any of the glass trying to hit him. The room everyone was in, practically exploded.

“I swear, I’ll kill you!!!”

That voice petrified Subaru. As the two men were falling, Justice extended his arm, until it was facing the ground.

“[Fire Magic]: Leo Ruzenas!”

A great amount of fire was generated from Justice’s hand. The fire then hit the ground and took the shape of a giant lion. The two landed on the lion’s head, and rolled down from there, to its torso, and to its tail, before landing on the ground. Justice then puts Subaru down. The lion dissipates.

“Let’s go!”

“…Why are you helping me?”

“Oh, that’s because—”

Justice remembered. He remembered that when he was transported to this world, that someone—a woman, told him to “Protect Subaru Natsuki,” an order which he diligently followed. But, at the moment, as he tried to tell Subaru, time froze, and everything turned black and white.

Purple mist—no, shadows were enveloping the area. He could see a silhouette approach him. Even though he wasn’t able to see them clearly, he felt as if it was a woman approaching him.

“—him.”

“—tell him.”

“—Don’t tell him.”

She then left. Right after that, the shadows began to dissipate, and the color was beginning to return.

“…Well, we’re both from different worlds, right? Neither of us knows much of this world, so, we should help each other, whenever we get the chance!”

“Don’t even think of trying to escape.”

Ram jumped out of the broken window. Wind protected her from breaking her legs. She began to slowly walk closer to Justice and Subaru, the wind enveloping her entire body. “I don’t want to fight you, Ram,” Justice said, standing in front of Subaru, intending to protect him. “But I will fight you, if I have to.”

“Then die along with him.”

She shot a gust of powerful wind at Justice, who sliced the wind, with his sword. Two Roswaals flew out of the broken window and high into the sky. Not long after, a glowing Beatrice also flies out of the window, with Gordon on a flying broom following her. Emilia and Puck also jump out of the window and start shooting icicles at the flying Roswaals.

It was basically a civil war, at this point.

Justice, Emilia, Beatrice, Gordon, and Puck vs. Two Roswaals, and Ram.

At this point, Subaru was on his knees. All the people he loved and tried to save were fighting one another as if they were participating in a war between nations. “Why is this happening?” he kept on thinking to himself. Beatrice noticed that he was kneeling down, and flew over to him, while Gordon, Emilia, and Puck were fighting the two Roswaals.

She stood in front of him, her hair, swaying in the wind. She paid no mind to all the destruction occurring, behind her.

“…Are you also going to turn on me, after this battle is over?”

“You’re under the wrong impression, I suppose. The contract I entered was to protect you. I do not recall saying anything about a time limit. You assumed incorrectly that there was one, I suppose.”

Subaru groped through his memories while Beatrice, looking at him out of one eye, glanced away. Beatrice was using that contradiction between their “assumptions” about the details to continue her pact with Subaru. It suddenly struck Subaru how a girl with a viper’s tongue and a foul-tempered horse’s personality like Beatrice could show such deep compassion.

“You cling to hope for your own convenience, I suppose. What was lost cannot be reclaimed. You’ll have no more chance to explain yourself to the older sister; you threw that away. No matter which is lost, those sisters will never be complete again.”

“—But I cared about those two… and I wanted to protect them!”

“You believe you know something about those sisters, I suppose. No matter which is lost, they won’t be restored to what they were. However, that doesn’t matter to you, anymore, I suppose.”

She extended her small hand to him, offering to help him get up.

“At the very least, you need to die somewhere I cannot see you, or else I’ll have bad dreams. So, I’ll help you escape this domain.”

Subaru grabbed her hand but realized something. Her hand did not feel like the hands he felt the other day.

From the broken window, came a book. The book flew at high speeds, and stopped right in front of Subaru, though, it was still floating. It wasn’t just a regular book—it was a grimoire. The grimoire was tattered, covered in dirt, and was emitting dark-red energy. Its pages began to turn by itself.

Beatrice stared at the book, as if she’d never seen it before. Soon, the pages of the book stopped turning. A sheath of a sword appeared in the middle of the book. Subaru slowly grabbed the sheath and pulled out a large dark broadsword. Despite the sword looking extremely heavy, to Subaru, its weight seemed like that of a regular sword’s.

Not even thinking about where the grimoire came from, and whose it was, Subaru used the sword, and stabbed himself in the chest. He looked at Ram, and stated, “I swear… I’ll save… you all…!” Saying his last words, and breathing his last breath, Subaru lost his life. His lifeless body collapsed onto the ground.

“I’m back here again,” Subaru said, as he looked at the same ceiling he had seen many times before. He then noticed the two maids standing next to his bed. He reached out and grabbed their hands, “I knew it,” he said. “I’m not mistaken.”

The two maids slid away from him and began to ridicule him. Soon, Justice and Emilia arrived at his room, to check on him. After a bit of talking, Roswaal arrived at the mansion, and Subaru requested to work at the house as a butler. After Subaru finished some of his work, he went to the garden to relax. Emilia was talking to some gazebo, so Subaru talked to Justice and Puck.

“By the way, what type of Magic does Emilia-tan use,” Subaru asked Puck.

“Technically she isn’t a Magic-User. Same goes for her contract with me. She’s a user of Spiritual Arts. Magic users cast Magic with their own Mana, but those who use Spiritual Arts draw Mana from their surroundings.”

“And, how are those any different,” Justice asked.

“Basically, it depends on whether you use a gate. It’s something within your body that controls the flow of Mana. Through the Mana, you both draw Mana in, and expel it out.”

“It’s like a tap for MP, then.”

Puck flew over to Subaru and poked his nose. “You should have one too, Subaru,” Puck said. “Want me to find out your attribute?”

“Y–Yes!”

“Initially, Magic users were only able to use just a few types of Magic. But, as time passed, more types of Magic has been discovered, so, the possibility of one’s attribute is practically limitless.”

Puck’s tail touched Subaru’s forehead.

“Myon, myon, myon, myon, myon.”

The spirit narrowed his eyes and returned his tail. “That’s weird,” he said. “Just yesterday, I could sense a bit of Mana coming from you, even though the amount of Mana you had was extremely small. Today… I can’t even sense the slightest bit of Mana from you, nor some Magic Power.”

Emilia and Justice were both surprised by this. Subaru didn’t say anything, he could only remember that in one of the previous timelines, he had a Magic Attribute, as well as Mana.

“O–Oh well. I’m going to go help Rem with the chores now, bye!”

The next day, Subaru went to Justice, to ask him about curses, but he stated that he knew nothing about this world’s hexes. He suggested that they go to Beatrice about this topic, so they did.

“You two want to know more about shamans?”

“Yeah, Subaru wants to know how to avoid curses.”

“I hope you two realize that there is someone who lives in this Mansion, that focuses on curses. But, to answer your question, there isn’t a way. Once a curse is activated, there isn’t a way to undo it, I suppose.”

“Huh?”

Justice and Subaru realized that Gordon lived in the Mansion, and felt guilty about forgetting about him.

“Only masters in Hexing Magic are able to undo them, unfortunately, there aren’t many of them, nowadays. However, before the curse is activated, they are just simple spells, I could easily undo them.”

Later, the subject of the Witch’s scent came up. Apparently, Subaru had the witch’s scent on him, and only a few people in the world could smell that scent. Beatrice was confused by the fact that neither of the two men in the Library knew who the “Witch” was, nevertheless, she still explained.

“There are two types of Witches. The first, a race consisting of only women who live in the independent country of the Witches’ Forest ruled over by the Witch Queen. And, the Witch of Envy.”

Subaru remembered one of the fairy tales he had read. It was about the Witch of Envy. He couldn’t remember much about it, though.

“Long ago, she devoured the other six witches, who bore the name of the remaining deadly sins, and drained half the world dry. She’s the worst of the worst, I suppose,” Beatrice stated.

“Legends say that she was starved for love. Legends say that she doesn’t understand human language. Legends say that her body never withers, weakens, or dies. Legends say, that even though she was sealed by the powers of the Dragon, Sword Saint, and Four Priestesses, they were unable to destroy her flesh.”

The two stared at her, listening to every word she said.

“Legends say that, she was the unified daughter of the Demon God that tried to steal all the world’s mana and another species. Legend says that, she is a silver-haired half-elf.”

Silence fell upon them.

Rem finished most of her household duties during sunset. She walked around the Mansion looking for more work to do. She noticed something… “off.” While looking around, she saw Justice, her sister, Beatrice, Gordon, and Roswaal—everyone that lived in the Mansion, aside from Subaru, Emilia, and Puck.

Ever since the boy had arrived at the Mansion, she never trusted him, not one bit. So, now that he and Emilia are “missing,” she was freaking out. She thought Subaru killed Emilia. “By the time something happens, it will be too late,” were the words that have been echoing in Rem’s mind since Subaru came to the Mansion.

Rem, now running in the Mansion, searching for someone to help her find Subaru and Emilia, was on the verge of having a mental breakdown, about how she failed her mission to protect Emilia from Subaru.

—And then, she found Subaru sleeping on Emilia’s lap.

“Subaru-kun? Is he simply sleeping?”

“Yes. Doesn’t he look like a child?”

Rem walked closer to see Subaru. She also wanted to confirm whether or not he was sleeping, or if he was pretending to sleep, so he could surprise-attack Emilia. She felt no malevolent Mana surrounding him, and knew that he was sleeping. She sighed in relief.

“It appears that Subaru-kun cannot do any more work today.”

“Yes, he’s done for today. What a bad boy. It’s only his second day of work, yet he’s already taking a day off. When he feels better, you can punish him.”

“Seeing him like this, I almost don’t want to. I shall inform my sister that Subaru-kun will be useless for the rest of the day.”

“Rem, Subaru is a good person.”

The blue-haired maid was shocked to hear this. Nevertheless, she respected Emilia’s words, so she politely bowed, and left.

Subaru woke up late in the night and went to the Forbidden Library. He was frustrated with the fact that he cried on Emilia’s lap, and so on. He also gave Beatrice a pet name, “Beako,” much to her dismay. He learns that it’s possible to detect a curse before activation and that one need’s to have physical contact with their target to induce a curse.

The next day, Ram and Rem were in the kitchen, preparing breakfast for everyone. Subaru barged into the room in his butler outfit. He was holding onto a sleepy Justice’s arm.

“Justice and I are going to the village today. Is there anything we need to buy?”

“First off, I didn’t know you swung both ways, Barusu. Second, we are running low on seasonings. However, Rem and I will be heading to the village with you two. We don’t know what weird things you two will be doing.”

Author’s Comments

Yo, everyone, I’m back. Once again, sorry for the delay of releasing a chapter. Honestly, I don’t think I can post a chapter every Friday, anymore. I’m changing the release dates to every Tuesday, as it’s more convenient for me, and Tuesdays are the days I try to finish everything I’ve started to work on, like this series.

Anyway, are you surprised? TWO chapters released at the same time? I know this is unbelievable, but believe it! I promised that I would try releasing two chapters in one day, as an “I’m sorry, please forgive me” gift, and that’s exactly what I did. I’ll admit it, these two chapters are short, I know.

But hey, I made a promise, and I kept it, and that’s all that matters… I guess. Next chapter will have many scenes that weren’t in the Light Novel, nor anime, so be prepared! I can’t wait to get started on it! I know that I’ll enjoy writing the chapter, and that you all will enjoy reading it!

Until Next Time!

— Mugen