Uploading date: 10/13/2018 [M/D/Y]

Re: Life in a fantasy world ~ Arc 3: Sweet and Harsh Reality

Chapter 1: The Town of Fareille

"It's time to wake up sleepy head! Wake up, wake up" I say while rocking the bed back and forth, the person sleeping on said bed grumbled in annoyance as they covered themselves up with a blanket, my blanket. "Hey, If you're not going to wake up I'll make sure you won't get any mayo for the next five weeks"

"N-No! I'm up, I'm up, I suppose!"

Shooting straight up, my blanket flew out of the bed and onto the ground, the spirit, with her ruffled hair reforming back to their drills, looked at me with pleading eyes, "Good, now that your up, go and take a bath" I say while pointing finger out the door, she looked at me, rather shell-shocked.

"Great spirits don't need to shower, I suppose!" She retorted, not at all wanting to leave my bed, what a whiny great spirit Beatrice had turned out to be, "No, remember, you're no longer a great spirit, so you can't whine about not wanting to take a shower. And what kind of great spirit oversleeps anyway?"

"Your so cruel, I suppose. Doing something like this to Betty…"

So, let's recap everything that had happened so far. Two nights ago, I had finally made contact with the assassin that has been tormenting this mansion for about a week or so, speaking in terms of loops I'll have you know. After successfully driving her and her other friends off, I retire back to the mansion and took a few hours of well-deserved rest. After waking up to a sleeping maid, I tell her how annoying she is, and then leave, right after, I had gone over to the library for a little discussion with Beatrice, things happened and I happened to stop her from dying, though regrettably, I technically did kill her a few times…

"Your petty little words are no match for my unwavering heart, you'll never make me feel guilty so you might as well give up"

The two of us had reached a mutual agreement, though you probably only heard the words 'If she follows me, she gets to disappear', the actual agreement was a little more complex. Firstly, she was to be my contracted spirit until her disappearance, secondly, she is to drop her alias as a great spirit and refer to herself as simply 'A young girl' and she would be serious in that. Though that may sound random, it is absolutely necessary for her disappearance. Thirdly, due to her being an artificial contract, we are under a bounded contract, and as such we have our conditions and consequences. I've already stated the conditions, so onto the consequences.

One, both of us share a connected gate, meaning any mana I or Beatrice lose or gain will result in both of us losing or gaining mana.

Two, neither of us are allowed to get mana from a non-volatile source, so we are only able to absorb atmospheric mana and self-generated mana.

Three, if the contractor, in this case, me, were to die, the same would happen for Beatrice, though, it doesn't work the other way round.

Four, if I am afflicted with a certain [Redacted], then Beatrice will also perish to the same [Redacted]. This doesn't apply the other way round.

"Why should I take a bath if I don't need one, I suppose!"

"Because young girls are supposed to take baths in the morning, why else?"

After we were done with forming the contract, I head over to Emilia and Roswaal and negotiated for a higher position on the camp, and I managed to snag it before some other dude got it, and so we decided to go and meet this guy and cancel all his entry into the camp, which brings us to now.

"No fair, I suppose! Why did you have to make such an absurd condition!"

"It's all so I can make you disappear without a hitch"

I drag her out of my room and out into the hallway, dropping her onto the ground, "Treating Betty like she is trash, is something wrong with you, I wonder?!" She blurts out rather angrily while turning her head away in a pout, I yawn, I hadn't any sleep last night, because I was studying for my position, damn witch tricking me into doing this. Anyway, the other reason I didn't sleep was that Beatrice was sleeping in my bed, I'm not really comfortable with sleeping beside a 'Young girl', and I'm definitely not comfortable with Ram scoffing to me about it.

"Rem, you there?"

I knock a door, the one adjacent to the one I just left, I hear footsteps from the other side and a little panting too, the doorknob turned, "Yes, Rem is here, I have finished cleaning out the new room, Subaru-sama" Rem shows herself with a duster in hand, bowing down like any proper maid should, I am now her superior.

"Good, good, we'll be filling that room with a lot of things so don't tire out just yet"

"Rem isn't the kind to tire out from a mere sweeping, Subaru-sama…"

"You say 'mere sweeping' but you literally cleared out a whole library, you make me feel like my time as a butler was nothing…"

"In truth, Subaru-sama, it truly was nothing. Nee-sama has at least worked some amount of time to take some stand against Rem, but Subaru-sama hasn't even worked a week yet, what you've done truly doesn't amount to anything, but regardless, I appreciate the help, Subaru-sama, even if it accounts to nothing"

"Okay, now you're just rubbing it all over my face… anyway, mind taking Beatrice in for a dip, she won't do it unless someone does it for her, and I can't exactly do that, you know?" Pointing over to Beatrice who was still sitting down on the hallway, I ask Rem for assistance. "I understand, Subaru-sama, it would be an honor to help bathe the great spirit"

"That's where you are wrong maid, Betty is simply a young girl- Gah! Why is Betty being forced to refute, I suppose!"

"It's how a contract works, you are to be referred to as a 'Young girl' so accordingly, you have to make sure people think of you as one too"

"Why has fate bound me with such a cruel contractor, I suppose!"

Rem decided to pick Beatrice up and drag her away, leaving me alone, free from the whining of the spirit child. "Okay, let's take a look at the new room shall we?" Having said that, I walk into the room Rem just walked out of, and the first thing I noticed was, space, just a butt load of space.

"I know the library was big, but man, this is a little much…"

Not only was it open, but it had an elevated second floor kind of thing as well, with stairs to accompany it. Being as big as a lounge, this would be the perfect place for a multi-purpose room, "And that's exactly what we'll make it into! We'll get a few walls in to separate some rooms for personal room and… yeah, this is great!" I nod off to my thoughts and before I know it someone was behind me.

"Ahem"

"Oh, Nee-san, morning"

I turn around and not to my surprise, there was Ram, with her usual bored and indifferent look, "The carriages have already arrived, they had replied rather quickly, a bit too quickly for Ram's pace but quick nonetheless, make sure you get ready Barusu… or would you rather me call you Barusu-sama?" she asks keeping with her indifferent look.

"Umm, I'd rather you not, makes it sound like you're mocking me or something…"

"Who's to say I wasn't mocking you?"

"Gh… you really know how to hit me with words don't you, Ram?"

"Only a master of words such as Ram would be able to do such a thing, don't you think?" Dropping her indifference, she shoots me a rather smug look, kinda ticks me off a little, but I hold it in, "So, we're leaving already? They're pretty eager to see me then"

"You're getting ahead of yourself, Barusu, the person made no mention of you. He only wishes to speak with Emilia-sama and Roswaal-sama"

"Really now! Interesting, this guy thinks he can just brush me off, well well, I'll show him that I'm not something you can just ignore!"

"Barusu, I suppose you could tone down your voice a bit? Ram's ears will die if you scream anymore" Showing a rather displeased look, Ram turns around and walks away, leaving me and my temper behind. Snapping out from my sudden rage, I walk to catch up with Ram, "So Ram, tell me a little about this guy"

"His name is Menkalin, he was born in Gusteko and moved to Lugnica it seems, he is a little older than the both of us and he is a rather well-known man, or so I heard anyway… To be completely honest, I don't exactly trust him much, he gives the air of a traitor, though I don't have anything that proves it…"

"If Nee-san is suspicious, then I'm sure there is something in the works behind the scene here…"

"Hmm, your unwavering trust to me is admirable, if you continue to do so, I might just think of you more like a human"

"Okay, now that was just plain mean Nee-san…"

We both make our way down the hallway and split off soon after when he passed the kitchen. I sent on without her and reach the dining hall where everyone else was idling in. "Morning guys" I greet them as i entered.

"Good morning, Subaru"

"It's~ good to see that you've already recovered so quickly"

"Recovered is a stretch, I've still got a few sore ribs here and there, but I guess this is nothing to worry about, something like a few broken bones is nothing to me… ah, also, I've read up on all the books you gave me last night, Emilia-san, was a nightmare but I managed through all of it…" I slump down to a sit beside Emilia and rest my head on the table with a sigh, it really was tiring.

"E-Eh?! You're already done? You read all the books in one night?!"

"Uh yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what I said?"

"My~ Subaru-kun is rather diligent in studies, isn't he? Even without a single distraction, I~ would have taken at least two whole days to absorb everything. You truly~ are something admirable"

"Oh no, it takes me at least one day to finish a book, if I continue on like this, both Roswaal and Subaru will leave me behind, I have to study harder!" Though she intended to say that all in a low voice, we both heard it. An excellent resolve she's shown nonetheless, but it's for naught I guess, "There's a difference between being able to do something and wanting to do something… but I guess you could brute force your way with willpower"

"Hnn, I wouldn't advise that Lia, you'd tire out before you'd finish anything… You should just go at it at your own pace" Awakening from his slumber, the grey cat spirit landed on the dining table with a fluffy yawn, his fur is as silky as ever huh. "Morning, Subaru…"

"Mornin"

"Mhm," Roswaal starts nodding his head, with his hand on his chin, "I whole~heartedly agree with the great spirit, we do want a healthy king after all… And looking at our team~ as of now, with Subaru-Kun's quick-wittedness, the great spirits title, my backing, and Emilia-sama's natural charm, we have a chance..."

"Emilia-san's natural charm is rather ironic isn't it, though you are right, she does give the air of a beautiful mature woman, despite how naive she is…" We all, with the exception of Emilia, nodded to that sentiment.

Soon after, the door opened and in entered three more, Rem, Ram, and Beatrice. Oh, and it seems Beatrice has a new hairstyle, "Good job on her hair Rem, seriously, your like the mother of all jack of all trades, as expected of Rem…"

"As far Rem remembers, Rem has never given birth to, nor taken care of a child, Subaru-sama, but I do thank you for the compliment. Nee-sama's hair is rather short so it is difficult to stylize and Emilia-sama's hair is being taken care of by Puck-sama, Having the chance to do Beatrice's hair is like a dream…"

Beatrice looked rather displeased, no, she was fuming with rage, and it was all directed at me. She approached me with her fist shaking, is she going to try and punch me? With that flimsy frame? I should stop her before she hurts herself. "Haah…"

Haah? What's supposed to mean? After that sudden sigh, she takes the seat beside me and sits down quietly, well that was rather anticlimactic now wasn't it? "Isn't this the moment where you're supposed to let out all your rage on me or am I just stupid?"

"If Betty were to be foolish enough to play along with you, then I truly would be nothing more than a young girl, a great spirit should keep her composure all the time, something like this won't make Betty budge at all, I suppose"

"Eh, your sure acting all mature"

Ram and Rem then came forth with a set of trays and served the usual glorified dishes they always made, just this time, I wasn't there to help. They never cease to amaze me now, do they? "So… the usual it is?" "The usual indeed, Subaru-sama…" They proceeded to lay out the metal trays, the drinking glasses, and the bottles of sauce and mayo.

The perfect like any man could have wished for, I have just gained, the only probelm is…

"Uh? Wait, why is the mayo bottle out already?" It's only been a minute or two and we're already out of mayonnaise. I look around and I can see why. It seems not only Beatrice, but everyone else has taken an extreme liking to this dressing that I've introduced, damn it, I really should have just kept the mayonnaise to myself!

The day passes on and we all prepared for our leave, it was about noon when we decided to set out, some place called Fareille, a town south of Roswaal's territory. If it's that far south, there's no wonder why I haven't heard of it, that place isn't exactly walking distance, "So, how does this town look like?" I ask Roswaal, who should be familiar with the land surrounding his own territory.

Putting on a thoughtful look he replies a little hesitant, "The last~ time I've been there was quite some time ago, so my memory of it might be a little~ fuzzy… but I do know that it is quite the sight. As far as looks go, one could mistake it for a very large village, the houses are simplistic and the~ people don't exactly wear flashy clothing, I've heard it's because the people of the town would rather it not turn into a big hotspot. That being said, it's rather famous for its sudden snow season that happens later in the year..."

"Snow? So it's somewhere near the mountains huh? Well, I can see why he's taken a liking to it, must remind him of home or something… So is that it? There anything special about it besides snow and olden looks?"

"Other than that, I~ wouldn't say there is much appeal, in the end, it's simply a town that snows"

"That sounds boring, I suppose…"

"Saying it's outright boring is jumping straight to conclusions, from the sound of it, this place sounds more calming that boring… a calm town by the mountainside, sounds like it would make for a rather good vacation site don't you guys think?"

"In fact, many lower nobles visit the place, Subaru-sama…" Returning from the driver's seat, Rem enters the conversation with surprising information, "Rem has heard that many lower nobles were originally commoners so that may be the reason why they decided to go to a town with such a rural setting…" She took her seat beside Emilia.

"Ah, I guess that makes sense… anyway, how long until we reach Farielle"

"It won't be long, we're almost there…"

I take a look outside the window, and I can barely make out what could be the roof of village houses, so they really are a town with a village look huh. Wanting to take a better look around, I hop out into the driver's seat with Ram and scanned the surroundings, not much plantation around, we were going up a mountain, not a hill so that is expected.

"If you're just going to look around, you might as well just get off the carriage, Barusu, your disturbing Ram's perfect concentration"

"Aww come on Ram, do you really hate me that much? And, you never know when there could be bandits on the road yeah?"

"Bandits wouldn't be a problem, not when Ram is always watching" She huffed rather proudly while holding onto the reins, just how big does her ego get? "How can you be so sure about that?" I sit down beside her, the driver's seat is much more comfortable than I expected, not the kind I'm usually used to sitting on.

"Ram's clairvoyance can see through anything within a one-mile radius, bandits aren't going to get the jump on us anytime soon, with me on watch, a rather exquisite ability for a person befitting of Ram don't you think, Barusu? You may compliment Ram how you like"

Okay, she's got one hell of an ego right there, "Wait, so is that why I feel like I've been watched everywhere I walk! Was that you peeping on me?!" No, it definitely was, there is no other explanation for such a thing! She saw everything or at least some things without my consent, wait, then maybe she heard me say things? No, clairvoyance doesn't let you hear anything does it, it's only seeing, right?

"Look at your sorry face, it's rather pitiful… and yes, it was indeed Ram, but don't get the wrong idea, as your supervisor at the time, it was something that Ram had to do, and I didn't want to physically be in the same room as you, so this ability of Ram's is rather convenient"

"I feel so violated! Please don't do that to me ever again"

"I'm afraid I won't be able to promise you that"

"What are you, my mom?!"

After a little longer, we finally made it to the town, and as expected, it was calm, and simplistic. "Good day sir, madam…" The gatekeeper who happily left his post to greet us, bowed down in a respectful manner, "You are here to visit a bit, yes?" He asked me. I turned behind and banged on the glass window, "Yo, Rossy! How long are we staying here again?"

"My~ you needn't be so loud, Subaru-kun"

"Oh, sorry, thought these carriages were soundproof…"

Roswaal peeked through the window and talked a bit with the gatekeeper, he then let us enter after talking about some rules and things. Ram guided us towards an inn that we were supposed to stay in, and I look around the town, "For such a calm town, there's a lot of people here isn't there" I can see people talking, playing, and some performing, but the overall feel is calming, this would indeed make for a great vacation spot.

Once we arrived at the inn, we see a man approaching towards us, was this the Menkalin guy? No, this looks more like a butler or personal assistant, "Greetings, Roswaal-sama, Emili-sama, and sir… I'm afraid to tell you but Menkalin-sama has encountered a problem while coming here so he wishes for you to wait a day until his arrival…"

"Is he okay?" Emilia asks worriedly to the butler, and he shakes his head, "There is no need to worry, Emilia-sama, it was merely a transportation problem. His carriage broke down as he was coming and it needs to be fixed before he's to continue, I do hope you enjoy your stay until then…" He shows us inside the inn and everyone enters, well everyone but me and Beatrice.

"Yo, we haven't introduced ourselves properly now haven't we?"

"Ah, sorry for my rudeness… Tau Epsilon, a pleasure to meet you…"

He's a really formal guy, and he's bowing posture is extremely professional, such a graceful bow, "Natsuki Subaru, nice to meet you, this here is Beatrice, a good friend of mine" Me and Beatrice take turns shaking his hands, a firm handshake, this guy has a strong grip, "Will you be coming in?" He asks us while holding the door open.

"Oh, no, not really, we're going to check around the town a bit before we get in"

"Of course, the town of Farielle is a rather great town for sightseeing, I do wish you return for dinner"

"Will do, see ya" I wave off and walked off to the distance, Beatrice following behind me. "What was that about, I suppose…?" Beatrice asks, giving me a skeptical look, as if she's already seen through me, "You were giving off a rather hostile feeling to the man, though only Betty has been able to feel it"

"Heh… that guy, he had a faint smell on him that I'm a little concerned about…" That's right, he has a string of miasma around him. Miasma is extremely hard to clear out, but it isn't impossible, that guy was able to clear out his miasma to some extent, but I was still able to catch onto it, but if he has some miasma, then obviously, it can only mean one thing.

"I've marked him as a hostile, his eyes, the way he shook our hands, his whole posture, no doubt, he's a professional assassin… and he's also marked me as a target, he's able to smell the miasma around me and not only that, but I refused his offer when he asked if we're going inside, that can be interpreted as an 'I don't trust you' kind of gesture, we've already put ourselves in a bad position by being here"

"Wait, an assassin? Then wouldn't it be a bad thing to leave the girl there, I suppose?! If worse comes to worst, Bubby would destroy this whole town, you know" Giving me a worried glance as she should, Beatrice told me of the impending doom that could possibly await us, quite scary that Puck could do that.

"There's nothing to worry about Beatrice, it's not the assassin part that we have to worry about, you see this Menkalin guy is probably going to try and negotiate his position back, it is in his full benefit that Emilia is alive until then, there won't be an assassination until after said negotiations fail, so there's no need to rush things…"

"Then…"

"What we should be worrying about, is the fact that he's a witch cultist…" Quite stunning information, even Beatrice was a little shocked, "If we mess up somehow, there will be blood everywhere, cultists attack in groups, a lone wanderer doesn't exist unless they're on some spy mission or something, Rem should have noticed the lingering scent in the air and is probably on high alert, that's why we can leave Emilia's protection to her, for now, our job is to stand still and watch what happens around town…"

I lead her to what could only be a playground, it was open and there aren't that many people, but it was enough so that we wouldn't be spotted too easily, "Wait, why are we here, I suppose?" Beatrice stopped just in front of the playground, looking rather hesitant to enter for some reason, "Why do you think we're going here?"

"No… no, no no, Betty doesn't approve of this, I suppose!"

She was about to run away but a mysterious force stops her from going any farther, "Now Beatrice… it's time to play…" Grabbing her by the shoulder, her facial expressions deteriorates, one of despair, doom, death, whatever you want to call it, "Nooo!"

"Curse you…" she spouts out as I push the swing she sat on, she keeps on cursing me but I think she's actually enjoying this, though that might just be because of the consequences of our contract, "Guh…" she kicks at me shin, though she didn't put much power in it, there was still a little bit of pain.

But that wasn't the end of it, she turned around and started to kick me all around my leg, weak they were, painful, they were as well, "Alright, alright, i'll stop then, heh" Letting go of the swing, it quickly hops off and sits down by a nearby bench and sulks by herself, does she really it that much?

"I use to enjoy the swings a lot when I was little, heck, I still do to this day, I was sure you'd like it as well…" I decided to sit on the swing myself. "Don't lump Betty with the likes of you, I suppose. Such a thing isn't fit for someone like me"

"Eh, so you really didn't like it? Hmm, then what do we do about that… maybe you'd rather go on a slide, or maybe one of those sandboxes to make some mountains or something"

"Do you not understand Betty when she says she dislikes this place, I suppose?!"

Geez she's so loud, didn't know spirits could be this much of a hassle to satisfy, she's also dragging quite a lot of attention to us, it's probably because we're dressed in rather fine clothes, "I thought that our contract would trick you into actually liking this place but I guess that won't work, then we'll have to actually do something then" I get off the swing and kick some dust up, Beatrice came by my side and we left abruptly.

"Now… I'd love to go scout and take out some people, but doing that would probably put them on high alert"

"You're saying some rather scary things, I suppose"

The miasma is leading me to many different locations, I'll probably scout it out later tonight with rem so we can trickle down their numbers before anything bad happens, "Well, since there's nothing much we can do now, we might as well go and eat back at the inn, the suns starting to set… I want to see how much I can get out of that guy without causing any suspicion"

We took a few detours around the town just so I at least know what is where, it'd be pretty awkward if I got lost while scouting the place. There were several food stands and many jewelry stores around town, even blacksmiths were here, I did hear that this place was located near a mine so it's understandable that they have these store around. Moreover, I see many mercenaries and merchants in this one area, must be the adventurer's district where most of the excitement takes place in.

"While I'm here, I might as well go and buy some new equipment" I say while taking a glance at a store that caught my eye, "Count Betty out, I suppose, I'm going straight to the inn" she didn't even leave a second for me to reply, she just went off on her own, darn her for leaving me all alone, or should that be the other way round? No, she's older than me by a long shot, she's not supposed to leave me!

"Ah, well, nothing to be done about it now huh?"

With her leaving, I decided not to waste time either, I walk over to the weapons shop and open the door, a bell chimes as I enter, "..." A shopkeeper, and another guy inside, I don't know either, the guy looks like your usual mercenary, not too buffed but I can tell he's kinda strong.

"Afternoon, there something you'd like?" The shopkeeper asks while sliding his arms down the counter, he has a rather nice collection of weapons, though, the weren't exactly my type of weapons, "You have anything that can top this?" I drag out Elsa's kukri blade from my sack and showed it to the shopkeep, he examines it and gave me a surprised look.

"A Northern Kukri, you must be crazy rich to have one of these, heard they're one of the best made in Gusteko… If you're looking for something more lighter or sharper than this, then I hate to say it by all my products are inferior, what's some rich guy like you doing in this town anyway?"

"Rich is an overstatement, I just got a proper job like, a week ago, and I didn't buy it from anyone, I scavenged it from an assassin that set their sights on me, regrettably, I couldn't kill her, but I got her blades, so it wasn't a total waste" Having heard that, the two shivered. The shopkeeper returned the blade to me.

"Since I don't have anything better than that, maybe I could interest you in some other equipment?" Showing me over to a section of the store with clothing, storage bags, and many other things, I was intrigued. "Each of these cloaks are enchanted, and these sacks are weaved with bits Yin gemstones to increase their storage space, honestly, their the best I have to offer you"

Indeed these were interesting, especially the enchanted cloaks, it's like the ones Elsa wore at the capital I'm suspecting, "You got any that cancels out smell? I need two of those" Scanning through the cloaks, the shopkeeper takes out four, all of them have the same colour but were for different sizes, "Take your pick"

Picking out two that would suit both me and Rem, I tried out mine, not only does it look nice, it feels nice too "How much for both of them?" "Fifty silvers for each" Man these things are not expensive as I thought they are, good thing I snuffed out some money from Roswaal just before we left the mansion.

"Deal, also, give me your biggest sack" I put down a gold coin, a few silvers, and a copper down on the counter and bought them all just like that. I then left the store, time to head back to the inn for dinner or whatever. I stuff the cloaks down into my newly bought sack and they fit rather nicely, these sacks are rather great, it's only twice the size of my old one and it can hold up to five times more, a good deal I struck with this.

"Oh, well look who's come to pick me up…"

Stopping in my tracks, I faced the figure in front of me, "So what's this all about, Rem?" It was indeed Rem, it seems she's decided to come for me, the sun's already set and everyone's probably eating dinner, though I don't think she came here just to call me in, "Rem's senses have been going off the charts since coming here, Rem can't hold herself anymore, so Subaru-sama, Rem would like you to help Rem with satisfying this urge"

"If you say it like that, it would make quite a lot of room for misunderstanding you know? But I get it, I'm also kinda itching to go and just chop some heads off, but we'll have to do it quickly, luckily I got was prepared for something like this… Rem, listen closely, we're only killing lone cultists, attacking groups whether they are two or ten is off limits, and we also don't want them or anyone else to find out what we're doing, got it?"

"Understood, Subaru-sama…"

With that, we ditched dinner, going through to an empty side of town, we decided to go out for a little night hunting, the fun is just about to start...

A/N

Okay, so as I said, this is a set-up arc to prepare for the next so it won't have too many big things happening in it… Anyway, onto other matters.

It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, my writer's block doesn't cease to kill my writing and I fear I might actually start getting worse at writing because of this, well, we'll just have to wait until arc 4 hits so I can spam out chapters since it's easier that way!

Also, anyone going to watch Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken! I know I am! The manga was just too good!

Character sheet:

1.) Tau Epsilon

Age: 20-ish

Likes: N/A

Dislikes: N/A

Magic: None

Weapon of Choice: Any

