Felt and the spirits got back to the Astrea manor early the next morning. Beatrice, Puck in her arms, wordlessly followed Felt as she stormed into the house. Puck seemed indifferent to where he was or to where he was going. Beatrice’s eyes were cold but her mind was clearly very much elsewhere.

Felt found Rem sitting on the bottom of the mezzanine stairs. Garfiel was leaning against a wall nearby.

“Hey, shrimp!” Garfiel called out in a friendly tone.

Felt ignored him.

Garfiel’s smile faded as he noticed Felt’s grim face.

“Rem,” Felt said calmly although her eyes were as hard as stone. “Is there anything that you would like to share with me?”

Rem’s gaze flickered to the spirits and then back to Felt. “Miss Felt, you sound upset.”

“Very perceptive. I’d like to hear more about what you said to Subaru in the cave.”

Rem looked up at Felt with a blank face. “I explained to him that he was making a mistake.”

“Did you or did you not threaten to kill him?” Felt growled.

“What?!” Garfiel started.

Rem glanced away.

“I want an answer!” Felt demanded.

Rem stood up. “I simply told him the rightful consequences of associating with a witch-”

“Enough!” Felt said, shoving Rem back against the wall.

Rem stared at Felt in shock. Rem was taller than Felt by a head and Felt had no chance against Rem in a fight whatsoever but right now Felt’s tiny body was trembling with rage and her red eyes were wild.

Felt’s face was close enough to kiss Rem. “Rem, are you with us or against us?” Felt hissed.

“I’m on the side of all good-”

“Shut the fuck up, Rem,” Felt spat, pointing an accusing finger in her face. “You have betrayed all of us and you did it deliberately. Is this something that the clown told you to do?!”

“I have heard nothing from Lord Roswaal since we left the Sanctuary.”

Felt glowered at her. “I have cut you a lot of slack since we left the Sanctuary, Rem!” She grated. “I let it go when you didn’t tell us about Subaru being in the cave! I ignored that you ‘accidentally’ told the soldiers about the witch! Have you even wondered what the consequences of telling everyone about the witch could be? If another ‘Witch Hunt’ is declared, all that blood is going to be on your hands!”

Rem’s jaw dropped.

“Now I find out that you threatened to kill Subaru and you told him that we all wanted to do the same! Because of you, Subaru thinks that trying to get in touch with any of us is a suicidal idea!” Felt drew back, shaking her head in disgust. “No more, Rem! Do you understand me?! You are leaving this place just as soon as we can find a carriage and you can go back to the manor and wait for Roswaal or… go to hell for all I care! And if I ever even suspect that you have done anything to sabotage our chances of bringing Subaru home safely, I will spend every last gold coin he ever gave me to make sure that nobody ever finds your body!”

Felt turned on her heel and stormed out of the manor, bumping into Ram who had just walked in the door.

Ram opened her mouth to protest Felt’s plowing into her, then closed it again when she saw the look on her face.

Felt slammed the door behind her.

Rem watched Felt leave with an expression of absolute shock on her face. She seemed badly shaken by the finality of Felt’s pronouncement.

Rem looked at Garfiel. The young demi-human had his arms folded across his barrel chest. His normally boisterous demeanor was unusually solemn. He looked disappointed and turned his face away.

Rem’s face grew conflicted and she sat back down on the stairs.

Garfiel sighed and bent down to the spirits, “Come on, Little Bit,” He said to Beatrice. “We have some comfortable rooms for you for as long as you’re here.”

Beatrice made no response.

Garfiel gently lifted Beatrice onto his shoulder as she cuddled with Puck. “Don’t worry, Little Bit,” He whispered. “We’re going to take good care of you until we can bring the Captain home again.”

Beatrice whimpered.

“Garf, what has happened here?” Ram demanded.

Garfiel winced. He glanced at Rem who was staring down at the floor.

“OK,” Garfiel sighed, “So, here’s the thing…”

That morning, Anri returned to Emilia’s cottage.

“Morning, Anri,” Subaru said, putting on his shoes.

“Good morning,” She replied. “Good to see I got here before you two could embark on another culinary disaster.”

Subaru and Emilia shared a helpless glance.

“You are a very harsh critic, Anri,” Emilia complained.

Anri started to make the last of the porridge and even started to slice up some fruits to put in it.

Subaru bit his lip. Then he and Emilia shared a long look. “Anri,” He began, “Emilia and I have discussed your request.”

Anri sat up straighter.

Subaru made a face. “We’re willing to help you as much as we can. I know that we owe you. Honestly, I’d like to think that we’d try to help you even if we didn’t owe you anything. I’m just not sure what I can do. My name is mud right now with at least two kingdoms. I don’t really have any assets that could help you win a war.”

Emilia nodded. “We’re not entirely sure what we can do yet but if we can help you, we will.”

Anri broke into a broad smile and bowed her head. “Thank you both so very much. I’ve watched you both accomplish great feats. With you at my side, I know that there’s hope for victory.”

Subaru looked at Emilia incredulously. She gave him an amused smile.

Subaru shook his head with a chuckle. “You know, for a Princess, you are a seriously bad judge of character.”

Anri shrugged. “Well, obviously! Don’t you ever read fairy tales? If the Princess doesn’t fall for the evil witch’s transparent lies, you don’t have a story!”

Subaru laughed.

It didn’t take Garfiel much exploring to find Rom’s tavern. Felt had described it several times and the slum dwellers didn’t seem to mind pointing it out to him as soon as Garfiel said that he knew Felt.

Garfiel entered the tavern and found Felt sitting near an enormous mountain of an old man who stood behind the bar.

Felt sat on a barstool with her forehead resting firmly against the bar. “Pour me another one, Gramps,” She slurred.

“Felt, you just regained consciousness!” Rom objected.

“I know! That’s the problem that I’m trying to fix!” Felt giggled. “Aren’t you proud of me, Gramps? I finally developed that debilitating drinking habit that always entertained you so much!”

Garfiel walked into the tavern and Rom’s sharp eye nearly pinned him to the ground. Rom casually reached for something under the bar. Garfiel knew that it must have been some kind of weapon.

“Hey, you must be ‘Gramps,’” Garfiel said, walking up to the bar. “Felt’s told me a lot about you.”

Rom’s clouded brow cleared. He started cleaning a glass. “Hey, you must be ‘the fleabag.’ I’ve heard a lot about you too,” Rom replied.

Garfiel flashed him a grin.

Rom sighed, looking down sadly at his drunk granddaughter who was struggling to pour more liquor into her glass and spilling a great deal on the bar. “Want a drink?” He asked Garfiel.

Garfiel hopped onto a stool next to Felt, “Thanks, Gramps, but I’m actually here looking for an order of ‘shrimp.’ Besides, I have a drink,” Garfiel said, picking up Felt’s glass and downing it in one shot.

Garfiel cringed, “Damn, Gramps! What the hell is this? Lantern oil? Mabeast blood?”

“Hey!” Felt objected, impotently tugging on Garfiel’s shirt, “That was my drink!”

“Shrimp, don’t you think that you’ve had enough?” Garfiel asked kindly.

“Of course not,” Felt burped. “If I thought that I’d had enough, I wouldn’t have poured myself another drink!” Felt said logically. She made a grab for the bottle sitting on the bar and completely missed it.

Garfiel gently pushed the bottle just out of her reach.

Felt gave him a grumpy look, “Hey, what are you doing here anyway? I figured it would be Reinhard who came looking for me.”

“Yeah, I spun him a story about you going shopping.”

“He bought that?” Felt said, sounding embarrassed.

“Yup. You know, Reinhard might be the one person in the world that I’m capable of tricking,” Garfiel mused.

“I feel,” Felt belched, “So sorry for the both of you.”

Garfield sighed. “Look, shrimp. This mess isn’t your fault.”

“Ugh,” Felt groaned, putting her face down on the bar and covering her head with her hands. “This mess is entirely my fault, Garf! If I had just listened to you and realized that I was too worked up to handle the situation, Subaru would be home by now! I would have realized how serious it was when Rem opened her mouth to all those soldiers about the Witch and I would have made Red promise to behave himself when we found Subaru! I should never have told Crusch about the Witch at all! I should have just said: ‘Subaru is lost in the woods and the Cult is after him. Please help us find him.’

“I always thought that I was clever but I can’t believe how much I fucked up just as soon as Subaru wasn’t around to hold my hand! If a Witch Hunt starts it will be just as much my fault as it is Rem’s!”

“What is a ‘Witch Hunt,’ anyway?” Garfiel asked.

Felt muttered something indistinct.

Rom picked up the bottle and put it away under the bar. “A Witch Hunt happens once every few generations or so. The last one happened when I was a boy. It starts with reports of sightings of silver haired half-elves: people who look like they could be the Witch of Envy. Rumors start flying, lurid stories about witchcraft and magic rituals performed in human blood. Then the mobs start to form and they go after these supposed witches and any other easy targets. They’re usually just minorities or people the community doesn’t like. By the time the dust settles, the corpses are stacked up like cord wood. It’s a mass slaughter across the entire continent.”

Garfiel swallowed hard.

“Yeah, what he said,” Felt agreed, trying to lick the last few drops of alcohol out of her glass.

Garfiel sighed, “OK. Enough, shrimp. We’ve spent the past few days feeling sorry for ourselves. The Captain needs us.”

Garfiel effortlessly scooped up Felt and slung her over his shoulder.

“Hey, fleabag!” Felt complained, slapping his back ineffectually. “Get your hands off my ass! You’re not even my type anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. You like redheads,” Garfiel muttered.

“What was that?!”

“Time to get back to work, shrimp,” Garfiel declared. “We are going to find the Captain and bring him home.”

“Right,” Rom said, coming out from behind the bar. “Let’s get busy.”

“You coming, Gramps?” Garfiel said in surprise.

“I never abandon a drinking buddy,” Rom replied. “Simple rule, never broke it.”

“Your wound is healing nicely, Mili,” Anri said, after removing her bandages. “And I see absolutely no reason why we need to bandage it again,” Anri added in a pointed aside to Subaru.

Subaru sighed and nodded.

“Thank you, Anri,” Emilia said warmly.

“I know that it’s early for lunch but let’s have a quick meal before we head out,” Subaru suggested. “We don’t know what kind of food Victoire will have on hand.”

“Subaru, we should also bring some food with us, just in case,” Emilia added. “Victoire might be roughing it if she couldn’t risk going to market.”

“That’s a good idea too,” Subaru said.

“Emilia, let’s you and me make a quick soup,” Anri said. “It’ll go a lot faster if we keep Subaru out of it.”

Subaru gave her a chill look. “Gee, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Anri said calmly.

Subaru sat at the table as the girls started making soup. Out of boredom, he picked up Anri’s rapier that she had left lying against a chair and examined it.

I don’t know much about swords but this certainly looks like good workmanship. It even looks like there are some fine engraving on the blade.

Subaru noticed something in the cross guard that intrigued him. It looked like two tiny containers on opposite sides of the hilt’s cross guard that could be unscrewed and opened.

Subaru did unscrew one but found it was empty.

“Anri,” He called. “What are these little chambers for?”

“Hm?” Anri asked looking at him. “Oh. Those are reliquaries.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s a place where you can store… good luck charms, I guess? There’s a long history in Gusteko of powerful warriors and rulers carrying little good luck charms in their weapons and armor. Like the bone shards of a saint or an important ancestor.”

Subaru barely refrained from gagging.

As he inspected the sword more closely, he suddenly had an idea.

He looked over at the counter and grabbed a pair of tiny pyroxene crystals a little smaller than marbles that sat there.

“Hey, Emilia,” Subaru said, walking up to her, “Do you think you could charge those crystals with lightning magic for me?” Subaru handed them to her.

Emilia picked them up with a frown. “Good idea, I’m not sure I want you trying to charge any more stones.”

Subaru made a face. “Jeez, Emilia. You are a very strict instructor, you know that? Tell you what, how about you show me the right way to do it and I’ll copy you?”

Anri continued to peel vegetables for lunch while Emilia held a crystal in each hand and closed her eyes. “Subaru, what do you need magic crystals for anyway?”

“I have an idea involving Anri’s sword.”

“Please don’t break that,” Anri muttered with a worried expression. “It belonged to my mother, you know.”

Subaru sighed. “I’m not going to do anything to it.”

“Subaru,” Emilia asked, frowning. “What are you going to do with the sword? Do you even know how to use one?”

“Sure. The pointy end goes in the other guy.”

“Subaru,” Emilia moaned.

Subaru sighed. “No, Emilia. I don’t know how to use a sword. I always meant to ask Reinhard for lessons but I guess we were too busy and then all hell broke loose. But I do have an idea for an experiment. It’s kind of like when we were making the engine.”

“The what?” Anri asked.

Subaru chuckled. “Long story.”

Emilia put the charged stones down on the table. “Your engine,” Emilia said smiling fondly as she resumed peeling vegetables. “It seems like so long ago that we were building that.”

“I know,” Subaru muttered. He took the stones and walked back over to the table.

Subaru shook his head and sat down, studying the rapier

This is kind of a wild idea but if I play it right, I think that I could turn this sword into a formidable weapon. I noticed that the rapier has a wooden handle over its tang. That makes the sword easier and more comfortable to grip. Wood is also a good electrical insulator. So if I connect these two crystals to the sword, I bet I can get a current flowing through the blade. The sword won’t be a lightsaber but when someone makes beat or parries the sword, they should get a shock.

I doubt that the shock would do anything more make them jump but remember, this is a world of magic and witches. It’s not a huge leap to assume that maybe the sword that you’re fighting against is cursed. ‘Anyone who would try to put iron to the monster Subaru must themselves be sterner than steel, lest the shock of the blow itself put deep wounds into their soul.’

OK, so maybe I’m overselling this but the point is, if the person I’m dueling is afraid of me, if they’re afraid to parry my sword because they don’t understand what it’s doing to them, then that’s one hell of an advantage. Even if they’re wearing a full suit of armor and have no reason to be concerned about a rapier at all, the shock will make them think that I’m attacking their soul.

If my enemy panics then I don’t need to be a great swordsman. I can persuade him to run even if I’m incompetent with a blade.

Subaru carefully worked the two crystals into the reliquaries of the cross guard.

Lucky these crystals are small enough to fit.

He gingerly touched the wooden handle and felt nothing.

Then he carefully stretched his finger out to the flat of the rapier.

There was a bright spark. “Ouch!” Subaru shouted, putting his finger in his mouth.

It’s like touching a hot stove. No real damage but it’s one hell of a surprise. In a tight spot that could be all that Anri needs.

“Subaru,” Anri asked, looking at him in confusion. “What did you do?”

Subaru smirked. “Try touching the blade.”

Anri looked unsettled as if thinking that she was being set up for a prank but she walked over to Subaru and gently touched the flat of the blade.

There was a brilliant spark and Anri jumped back with a curse. “Subaru! What did you do?!”

Emilia sighed. “Oh. He’s just being clever again,” She murmured in resignation.

Subaru chuckled. “Can you try to not make it sound like a bad thing, Mili? Here, take it by the hilt this time,” He turned the sword around so that Anri could grab it by the hilt.

She hesitated but she gingerly reached out and grabbed the hilt. She frowned in puzzlement. “The sword… feels fine now,” Anri murmured.

“The charge is running through the blade, not the hilt,” Subaru explained. “You can hold it like that safely but anyone you fight is going to be in for quite the surprise.”

Anri slowly touched the blade against the wooden table.

Nothing happened.

She looked at Subaru in confusion.

He smirked. “Try touching the blade to the door knob,” He said.

Anri nodded and did as she was told.

As soon as the blade touched the metal doorknob there was a brilliant spark and Anri jumped back almost dropping the rapier.

“What did you do, Subaru?” Anri asked in awe. “Did you enchant my sword with lightning?”

Subaru scratched his chin. “Actually, that’s not such a bad way to look at it.”

“How did you do this?” Anri asked.

“Check the reliquaries,” Subaru replied.

Anri unscrewed the compartments and pulled the stones out. She looked up at Subaru with a baffled expression. “I don’t understand,” She admitted.

Subaru chuckled. “Well, you really don’t need to understand why it works. Honestly, I’m still trying to figure out why we can touch those stones with electrocuting ourselves at all.”

“Maybe the stones sense how you want to use them, Subaru,” Emilia suggested, still chopping vegetables.

Subaru frowned. “Um… well, I guess I don’t have a better theory,” He admitted. “But anyway, the important thing is that if you put those stones in your sword before a big fight, you’ll have one heck of an edge. Just tell them that your sword is enchanted or cursed or something. You can probably convince someone in a full suit of armor to cut and run if you shock him enough times.”

Anri’s face was like a child with a new toy. “Thank you for the lovely gift,” She said warmly.

“No problem,” Subaru replied. “But I wouldn’t put those crystals in the sword until you need them. The magic in them isn’t permanent and you don’t want to drain it before you need it.”

Anri nodded, “Right.”

Felt, Garfiel, and Rom returned to the Astrea manor to find Rem once again sitting on the lowest step of the mezzanine with Reinhard scowling down at her. Rem stared down at her feet. Ram stood nearby looking impassive and Beatrice sat in a chair with Puck on her lap, both looking disinterested and miserable.

Felt still dangled over Garfiel’s shoulder.

Garfiel walked over to the mezzanine. “Hey, Red. I guess they’ve already brought you up to speed,” Garfiel said, noting his angry expression.

Felt snorted. “Redheads! Now I get it!” She laughed drunkenly.

“Miss Felt!” Reinhard hurried over to Garfiel and then stepped behind him so that he could look at Felt’s face in concern. “What has happened to you?”

“I’m drunk, silly!” Felt chuckled. “Oh, Red. You look so cute when you’re acting all concerned about me!”

Reinhard cocked his head in confusion.

“Red,” Felt said plaintively, clearly trying to sound like a sick, helpless child. “My tummy is feeling very upset right now. You want to kiss me and make me feel all better?” Felt asked, flinging her arms around his neck.

Reinhard turned as red as his hair.

“Oh boy,” Garfiel sighed, looking over his shoulder at the grinning Felt and the stupefied Reinhard. “OK, you guys need to stop talking behind my back,” Garfiel grumbled, setting Felt down on the floor where she leaned back against the wall.

Felt grabbed her stomach. “Oh Gods, I feel so sick,” She moaned. “I think I’m going to throw up…”

“Well, not in here you’re not!” Heikel shouted, walking into the hallway with a grim Fein right behind him. “Reinhard, I don’t want these freaks-”

Heikel stopped talking as a room full of people, several of whom were easily capable of killing him, shot murderous looks in his direction.

Heikel quickly stepped out of the hallway and departed.

Garfiel sighed, “OK, now that that annoyance has been dealt with, we need to come up with a plan to find the Captain.”

“Unfortunately, I fear that is going to have to wait, Master Garfiel” Reinhard said. “We have both been summoned to the royal palace to give testimony about Lord Subaru.”

“What?!” Felt startled out of her drunkenness.

“The sages’ council has been convened and Lady Crusch has already addressed them,” Reinhard said in a worried voice. “I have great concerns about what is happening.”

“Fuck!” Felt said, staggering to her feet and nearly falling over. “Well, this is great timing! Come on, I need to go and make myself ‘pretty.’”

Rem stood up. “I will assist-”

“Rem, if you so much as lay a finger on me, I will rip out a yard of your guts!” Felt snapped.

Rem flinched, looking truly hurt by Felt’s words.

“I will assist you then,” Ram said in an impassive tone.

“Fine,” Felt muttered as she struggled to walk up the stairs.

Early that afternoon, Subaru, Emilia, and Anri were riding Patrasche across the northern plains toward the Gusteko border.

“Subaru,” Anri shouted, “Should we go back and get the wagon now?”

Patarsche gave a squawk of protest.

“Well, that’s one vote for ‘no,’” Subaru yelled back. “Let’s sync up with Victoire first before we start worrying about supplies. Besides, maybe we can buy a wagon dragon in Stoneybrooke. Does it have a market?”

Anri shook her head. “Well I’ve never been there before but, from what I’ve heard, not really. We tend to locate our safe-houses in isolated ares where they won’t attract much attention. But if Victoire went looking for a dragon she might have been able to… find one.”

‘Find’ presumably being a euphemism for ‘steal’ in this case…

“OK, well that’s promising,” Subaru replied.

“Grandfather told me that the safe-house is right up here past that grove,” Anri called.

“Did your grandfather tell you where all the safe-houses were?” Emilia asked.

“Of course! It was part of my education. You never know when that information will come in handy. Although, I don’t think he was planning on it being of use quite so soon,” Anri sighed.

Subaru saw a house not far way and made for it.

“Princess!” A shrill voice called.

Subaru reined in Patrasche and looked off into the woods.

Victoire walked out of the bushes with a somber look on her face. Her fancy clothes were dirty.

“Victoire, what are you doing out here?” Anri asked in confusion.

Victoire looked awkward. “Yeah, I’m sorry about this, Princess. I know that waiting out here in the bushes is a lot less secretive than hiding in the house but… I just couldn’t fucking wait in there…”

“What do you mean?” Anri asked.

Victoire sighed and looked up at Anri sympathetically. “The short answer is that this house needs to be added to the list of the ones that we can’t use anymore. What’s worse is that it looks like those Griest fuckers… caught up with Gabby, Vera, and Wolfgang before I got here…”

“Vera?!” Anri gasped in horror. The girl slipped off the dragon and dashed toward the house but Victoire caught her in a tight grip as she ran past.

“Let me go! Let go of me!” Anri demanded.

“Hey! Princess!” Victoire shouted. “Take my word for this: You do not fucking want to see what’s in that house! Look, you just… Princess, don’t let what happened in there be your last memory of them…”

Anri’s face twisted in horror and she went limp, laying back against Victoire’s breast with tears streaming down her face.

“What happened here?” Subaru asked.

Victoire looked up at him and her expression darkened.

Subaru glared back, remembering her hording the medicine that Emilia needed.

Finally Victoire sighed. “I can’t say for sure how it happened but Griest has located two of our safe-houses in rapid succession. I don’t buy that this is just a big fucking coincidence. My best guess is that the Shadows have been compromised.”

“You think you have a traitor?” Subaru asked.

Victoire thought for a moment and then shook her head. “No fucking way.”

Anri sighed. “Victoire, I know that Shadows say that they would die before-”

“Let me stop you right there, Princess,” Victoire cut her off. “I haven’t succumbed to fucking sentimentalism here. I’m saying it’s not a traitor because that wouldn’t make sense.”

“What do you mean?” Anri asked.

Victoire shrugged. “Compartmentalism is a big thing with spies. None of the Shadows know where all of the safe-houses are. We’re not even supposed to discuss it with one another. That means if one of us goes rogue, they can’t take down the whole system. To knock over all the safe-houses that have been compromised so far, Griest would have had to subvert an awful lot of us. Either that or your Grandpa switched sides,” She said sarcastically, “I don’t buy it.” Victoire looked up at Emilia with a dark expression. “Hey, Princess, I just have to ask. How many demi-humans have you been sharing safe-house locations with?”

Anri sighed. “Victoire,” She said in exasperation, “Subaru and Emilia only know about two safe-houses at this point and they never had a chance to tell anyone about them anyway!”

Victoire’s mouth thinned but she didn’t protest.

Anri looked at the house. “Vera,” She whimpered. Anri gently shook her way out of Victoire’s embrace and walked away, her face buried in her hands.

“Princess,” Victoire called after her. “Look, I hate to be a pill, I really do, but we’re rapidly running out of any fucking places to hide. Unless we plan to camp out under a damp rock someplace, I think that we had better make a rush back to Siros.”

“Siros is under siege!” Subaru objected.

“No, it isn’t, you dip-shit!” Victoire said mockingly. “The province is under attack but the city isn’t surrounded! Even if it was, there are secret ways in.”

Subaru scoffed. “You don’t know that any of those ways are still secret! Even if you can get in, you’re going into a box! A box that’s very likely to be broken open any time now!”

Anri sighed and shook her head. “I guess… if this is to end in flames… then my pyre should be in Siros with my people.”

“Yeah, well that’s a happy thought! Let’s not go there just yet,” Subaru grumbled. He thought for a moment. “How far away is Siros?”

“A little more than a day by dragon,” Anri said in a dead voice. The somber princess walked off a short distance and squatted down on the ground where she started rummaging through her bag.

Subaru scratched his chin. “Alright. Let’s get back over the border for a while.”

“Why?” Victoire asked suspiciously. “We should be going back to Siros before things get fucking worse!”

“Do you have supplies for the trip, Victoire?” Subaru asked bluntly. “Emilia and I didn’t pack enough food to last four people for several days. I doubt we can travel in a straight shot through a province at war. So, if we’re dodging patrols and assassins, let’s assume that it takes us four days to get there, just to be safe. Do you have a tent or sleeping rolls?”

Victoire scowled up at him.

“Subaru,” Anri said excitedly, jumping up and closing her bag. “You’re right! We need to go to Ganaks.”

“Ganaks?!” Subaru asked in surprise. “Why Ganaks?”

“Because there’s a communication network there. For a few gold coins, you can send a message instantly to all the major cities on the continent. Including Siros!”

“What do you want to tell them?” Subaru asked.

“For one thing, that I’m still alive!” Anri said pointedly. “For another, I want to tell them to hang in there because we’re coming to help them!”

Subaru and Emilia stared at each other incredulously. Anri said this as if they were an army coming to relieve the soldiers.

Subaru scratched his chin. “OK. I guess that makes some sense,” Subaru admitted. “And we can do our shopping there too. I really think we need to replace some of the stuff we lost when we were separated from… the spirits…” Subaru said to Emilia in a somber tone.

Emilia bowed her head sadly.

“Princess,” Victoire said sharply. “I’ve really got to object here. No matter how Sanshi knows about our safe-houses and the Shadow network, your safety is in the trash right now! The Shadows know how you fucking think better than you do-”

“Which is exactly why,” Subaru interrupted. “We’re going to go off script. We’re not going to another safe-house, we’re going to be camping out in the woods. Once we have supplies we won’t need to visit any safe-houses on our way back to Siros. We’ll just make a beeline for it. If the Shadows are compromised then they’ll be out of their element since they’ll be searching for us out in the woods and we won’t be following a route that they expect.”

“It’s a good idea, Victoire,” Anri supported Subaru.

Victoire frowned. “Kid,” She told Subaru in a neutral tone. “You are seriously underestimating a Shadow’s resourcefulness if they really are playing both sides. But I got to admit I don’t have any fucking better ideas. I don’t have enough food to last us the whole trip if we need to hide out in the woods or take the long way around.”

“Hey, Victoire, did you manage to locate a dragon?” Anri asked.

“A dragon?” Victoire asked in surprise. She frowned. “Um. Was I… supposed to do that?”

“No but we have a wagon full of supplies that we should try to bring back to Siros,” Anri explained. “We can’t afford to waste anything right now. Besides, Patrasche can’t carry all four of us.”

Victoire scratched her chin. “OK… so I guess we need to find an earth dragon,” She said dubiously. Then she shrugged. “Well, I’m sure I can persuade some smelly dirt farmer to part with one.”

‘Persuade’ has so many subtle meanings, Subaru rolled his eyes.

“Great!” Anri said. “Why don’t you do that and grab the wagon while we go to Ganaks?”

“Excuse me!” Victoire said incredulously.

“We should multitask, Victoire,” Anri said calmly. “We don’t have a lot of time to squander!”

Victoire glowered at Anri. “Princess,” She grumbled. “Could I have a quick word with you? In private?”

Anri sighed but nodded and the pair walked off a good distance.

Subaru and Emilia slid off Patrasche and stretched their stiff muscles after the long ride.

Subaru looked at the pair who were standing some ways away. Anri had her unbroken arm folded across her chest and her expression was sullen. Victoire looked frustrated and was waving her arms animatedly but Subaru couldn’t hear what she was saying.

“I get the impression that she’s not saying anything nice about us,” Subaru mumbled.

“She’s not,” Emilia agreed.

Subaru glanced at Emilia and a grin spread across his face. “Oh right. What are they saying?”

“Subaru,” Emilia chided. “It’s rude to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Subaru said serenely. “So… you’re not listening to them?”

Emilia giggled. “Well… I didn’t say that.”

Subaru chuckled. “Come on, what are they saying?”

Emilia listened. “Victoire is furiously trying to convince Anri to let her come with us.”

“Which is dumb. There isn’t room on Patrasche for anyone else even if we wanted to take her,” Subaru object.

“Anri is reminding Victoire that you still want to kill her because of… what she did,” Emilia continued in a shocked voice. She glanced at him in confusion.

Subaru made a face. “Remember? She drank all the medicine? She didn’t even need it all! Anri told me that her wound was small!”

“She probably wasn’t thinking very clearly while trying to deal with a wound that wouldn’t close,” Emilia excused her.

Subaru grunted. “Trust me, I know what that’s like. It was still a shitty thing to do.”

Emilia listened for a time and her face grew affronted. “Victoire is assuring Anri that she can handle you. She says that you’re a… well, I’m not going to repeat the words she’s using…”

“I can imagine,” Subaru chuckled.

“…She says that you’re nothing but a skinny, pathetic example of a man with a deluded opinion of how powerful you are!” Emilia said in a tone of great offense.

Subaru snorted. “That’s news to me! I always thought that it was the rest of the world that had the deluded opinion of how powerful I was!”

Emilia listened and then shook her head. “She’s trying to convince Anri that she should get away from us. That we’re politically dangerous. That nobody in Siros would approve of her associating with a foreigner and… a demi-human.”

Subaru rolled his eyes. “Mili, is Victoire an absolute idiot?! Why is she talking like this to Anri when she knows that this is just going to enrage her boss?”

Emilia shook her head, glaring at Victoire.

Subaru heard muffled shouting. He glanced over at them and saw Anri pointing her finger in Victoire’s face, looking truly livid.

“Hm,” Subaru said, sounding amused. “I guess Anri wasn’t happy to hear that.”

“No, she was not,” Emilia agreed. “She’s ordering Victoire to locate a dragon for the wagon and to bring the wagon to an inn… someplace. I can’t really follow what she’s describing. She says that we’ll all meet there.”

“I wonder if some more time alone will improve Victoire’s attitude,” Subaru muttered.

Anri and Victoire walked back over to the others. Anri’s expression was furious and Victoire’s was sullen.

“Alright,” Anri said in a business-like voice. “Victoire is going to locate a dragon and fetch the wagon for us. Then we’ll meet at the crossroads between Sanshi and Siros.”

“It’s not a safe house, is it?” Subaru asked.

Anri shook her head. “It’s just a little inn that I’ve passed by a few times. It’s a pretty shabby place. Not somewhere anyone would look for a princess.”

Subaru nodded. “OK, sounds like a plan,” He said as he and Emilia remounted Patrasche.

“We’ll see you there tonight, Victoire,” Anri said, her stern tone softened by guilt.

Victoire didn’t look pleased by this plan but she bowed her head. “Whatever you say, Princess.”

Anri returned to Patrasche and Subaru helped her climb up in front of him.

“Hey, dickweed!” Victoire called.

“Yeah?” Subaru didn’t bother to ask if she meant him. Emilia scowled at her but Anri seemed to have no appetite for more conflict with Victoire.

“I just want you to know,” Victoire said calmly but her eyes burned. “That if any harm should befall the Princess while she is in your care, I will make you very fucking sorry that you were ever born!”

Subaru gave her an annoyed look. “Acceptable terms,” He said in a chill voice. “Incidentally, do you have contacts in Ganaks?”

“Contacts?” Victoire asked.

“Yeah. Like another Shadow that we could reach out to so that we could try to get some information while we’re there.”

Victoire thought for a moment. “Yeah. I think that Mikael is still working as a bus boy at Miss Lilian’s restaurant.”

“Is there a password?” Subaru asked.

“Password?” Victoire asked vaguely.

“How will he recognize that I’m on his side?” Subaru asked incredulously. “He’s not going to blow his cover and talk to me just because I ask!”

“It’s OK, Victoire,” Anri murmured. “We can trust him.”

Victoire flared her nostrils. “‘Famished,’” Victoire said, “It’s an easy word to work into the conversation in a restaurant,” She said, walking away.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Subaru mutter, turning Patrasche and dashing away south.

Felt adjusted the same yellow dress and coronet that she had worn at the royal selection announcement. Rom had returned to the bar since he had not been summoned to the palace and he wouldn’t be able to get in.

Reinhard sat nearby on one of the two beds in the room.

Felt glared at herself in the mirror, looking herself over with a critical eye. “How do I look, Red?”

“Exquisite, Miss Felt. I rarely see you dress up in this manner for social occasions,” Reinhard replied.

“This isn’t a social occasion, Red,” She said as Ram began applying her makeup. “I’m going into battle right now and I need to be suitably equipped.”

Reinhard stared at her, “Miss Felt, is this another joke that I’m missing?”

“No, she’s just facing down foes that we couldn’t handle, Red,” Garfiel muttered, walking into the bedroom and sitting down next to Reinhard.

“Did the royal council tell you what this was all about?” Felt asked, trying not to move her mouth.

Reinhard shoot his head. “They told me nothing. Just that we have been summoned to give testimony.”

“That can’t mean anything good,” Garfiel grumbled.

“Probably not,” Felt said. “We better all be on our toes here. This is going to be a long day.”

Rem entered the room. “Your carriage has arrived, Miss Felt,” She said in a small voice.

Felt glared at her.

“You are finished, Miss Felt,” Ram said stepping away.

“Super,” Felt sighed. “Alright, let’s go,” She said, putting her arm through Reinhard’s as they left the room and headed toward the mezzanine.

“Reinhard!” A taunting voice called out from behind them.

“And the day keeps right on giving…” Felt muttered as the group turned around to see Heikel walking toward them with a sardonic look on his face.

“Father,” Reinhard said in a distant voice.

“Reinhard, we really need to talk. I have no issues with you keeping a mistress. At least you’re finally starting to act like a real man,” Heikel said with a mean smirk, “But keeping her in the house? That’s really poor form. Also, can you pick someone less scrawny next time? If we really have to present mistresses publicly, let’s at least try to make sure that they’re moderately attractive.”

Reinhard looked enraged and he started to walk toward his father but something pulled him back. He looked down to see that Felt had an iron grip on his wrist.

Felt didn’t even bother to look at Heikel, “Come along, Red. We have important things to take care of. ‘Important things’ do not involve Heikel.”

Reinhard gave his father another glare but he obediently followed Felt down the mezzanine stairs as did Ram.

Garfiel and Rem watched them go.

“So,” Garfiel said nonchalantly, walking over to Heikel, “What was all that about?”

Heikel gave him a look of disgust, “Don’t talk to me, freak. My son may tolerate demi-humans but I don’t.”

“Funny, I was under the impression that you were the one being tolerated around here,” Garfiel replied.

Heikel scowled at him, “Be very careful, freak. In a gentleman’s company, words like those would be considered a cause to fight.”

“Heikel, I seriously doubt that you would know anything about being a gentlemen,” Garfiel replied with a smirk.

Heikel bared his teeth. “I have had all I will take from you freaks under my own roof,” Heikel shouted, drawing his sword and swinging it at Garfiel’s neck.

Garfiel caught the blade in his hand guard. A thin stream of blood flowed steadily out of Garfiel’s palm but Garfiel just kept smiling with all his sharp teeth.

“See, this is why I can’t respect knights, bozo. They all rely on their equipment. But once you take that away from them,” Garfiel punched Heikel in the chest, ripping the sword out of his hands. Garfiel’s blow sent him flying head over heels and skidding to a halt on the floor.

“They got nothing,” Garfiel laughed, tossing the bloody sword on the ground and sauntering over to Heikel’s prone body.

Heikel leapt to his feet and tried to run away but Garfiel grabbed him by the throat with one hand and slammed Heikel against the nearby wall, lifting him high over his head without any evident strain.

Heikel desperately tried to break Garfiel’s hold but the demi-human’s grip was like iron.

“Heikel,” Garfiel said with a savage grin, “For the past few days, I’ve watched you treat Reinhard like shit. I’ve watched you call the shrimp every name that your tiny, little brain can think of for ‘whore.’ Let’s just say, my magnificent self has had more than enough of all your bull. If you keep pushing Red and Felt then I promise you, something really, really bad is going to happen to you.”

“Help me!” Heikel wheezed in a barely audible voice to a maid dusting furniture below the mezzanine. The maid jumped slightly then pretended she hadn’t heard anything. She quickly finished her dusting and then hurried away.

Garfiel snickered. “See that’s the funny thing about treating people like shit, Heikel. I’ve watched you abuse the people who serve your family since I got here. But if you treat people like shit then nobody is going to have your back when you really need them to. I bet I could arrange an ‘accident’ for you right here and nobody would ask any questions,” Garfiel growled.

“That’s enough, Garf,” Rem said in an impassive tone, “This is neither the time nor the place.”

“What?!” Garfiel demanded. “Are you going to take his sid-” Garfiel noticed that Rem had taken her mace out.

“Lord Heikel,” Rem continued in the same distant tone, “I have immense respect for your son and Miss Felt. If young Garf and I took you out somewhere and conveyed to you the full measure of our disapproval for your rank behavior, your son would be very upset. His anguish would also upset Miss Felt who has gone through tremendous personal loss and hardship recently. It would not be incorrect to imagine that your life hangs entirely on our conviction that your death would upset Sir Reinhard and Miss Felt more than your continued crass bullying does. I would strongly urge you to do everything in your power not to change our calculations for the worse.”

Heikel eyes bugged out as he looked at Rem.

Rem stared at him, unblinking. “Put him down, Garf. As I said, this is neither the time nor the place,” She repeated.

Garfiel flashed the blue-haired maid a grin and dropped Heikel who fell to the floor.

Heikel scrambled back away from them then got to his feet and ran through the manor. He didn’t even bother to pick up the bloody sword that he had dropped.

“Nicely done, Rem. You always did have style,” Garfiel chuckled.

“You need to learn subtlety when you are threatening to kill someone, Garf,” Rem said flatly, taking his bleeding hand in her own, “If that maid had decided to go and sound the alarm rather than pretend that nothing was happening, we would both be fighting for our lives right now.”

“Come on. We could have taken a bunch of maids and manservants,” Garfiel muttered as Rem began to use magic to heal his wound. “Hell, I could have taken ‘em all myself. That way you wouldn’t even need to get your hands dirty!”

“Could you have ‘taken’ the entire city?” Rem asked pointedly. “Such combat easily spirals out of control, Garf. You are not in the Sanctuary anymore. You could easily be forced to fight a hundred trained soldiers. You need to think carefully before acting.”

Rem finished healing his wound. Garfiel frowned and grumbled something under his breath but he seemed to be taking Rem’s comment seriously.

Garfiel made a face. “So what if the prick keeps causing trouble, what then?” Garfiel asked her.

“We will choose a quiet place and time and resolve the matter discretely,” Rem said calmly.

Garfiel grinned at her but his smile quickly faded away, “You really fucked up when you turned on the Captain. You get that, don’t you, Rem?” He asked.

Rem glared at him. “You and Felt keep saying that I betrayed Subaru. No one has even brought up how he betrayed us!”

“And how was that again?” Garfiel asked skeptically.

“Do not be foolish, Garf,” Rem grumbled. “You saw him leave us behind.”

“Yeah! He led Capella and the other Cultists away from us and we got away easily!”

“Enough, Garf! You know that’s not why he did it! He ran away because he was trying to protect the Witch! We didn’t factor into his decision at all.”

Garfiel looked at her skeptically. “And what would you have wanted him to do instead? Stay with us and fight Capella again? We didn’t have much luck last time. Imagine if her friends in the Cult had joined the fight. They would have ripped us all apart!”

“His actions are not the issue, Garf!” Rem said through clenched teeth. “His intentions are!”

“So the Captain did the right thing for the wrong reason and that’s why you’re pissed,” Garfiel said sarcastically.

“Garf! What happens next time?”

“Next time?”

“Yes. What happens if your precious Subaru Natsuki gets us all into another situation like that? When Capella found us, Subaru managed to come up with a plan that kept us all alive. What happens if next time he can only save one person? Do you really think that he’d pick you?”

Garfiel stared at her in amazement. “Of course not,” Garfiel answered. “That thought never even entered my mind. If we wind up like Doug and Susan in the burning tower someday and there’s only room for one person in the escape, the Captain is just going to save the person most dear to him. That ain’t me. And if someday I had to make that same call, I wouldn’t be saving the Captain either. And Rem? Just for the record, I never thought that if it really came down to it, you’d choose to save me before anyone else. We all have somebody we’ll die to protect and folks that we’ll only protect if we can. It’s just that simple. Why are you holding the Captain to a standard that you yourself can’t meet?”

Rem glared at him. “This is different!”

“Why?”

“Garf,” Rem grated. “Subaru abandoned us for a Witch! He decided that he loved a Witch more than he loved his friends! He decided that he trusted a Witch more than the people who had stood by him and would have done anything for him! What kind of man does anything like that? Subaru Natsuki was never the man that he let us think he was. Subaru has betrayed us all.”

Garfiel shook his head and sighed.

Julius, Aldebaran, and Felix were exhausted. They had left the capitol yesterday morning and ridden all night to reach the village of Iruk as fast as possible.

They had crossed the border by skirting the cursed Elior forest and now found themselves in Iruk.

The riding dragons were exhausted. The three riders hid their mounts near the village and left them with food and water to rest and recover while they went to investigate.

Julius and Felix had taken off their knightly uniforms to remain inconspicuous although they both wore their swords. Julius was wearing clothing that any traveler might have had chosen: brown pants and a plain white shirt.

Felix had returned to wearing his dress with obvious delight. Julius had delicately attempted to explain to his long time friend that, while he completely supported Felix’s fashion choices, perhaps wearing a colorful and flowery dress when they were trying to remain inconspicuous was not the best strategy. Felix had declined to pick up on his friend’s subtle hint and Julius had let the matter drop.

Julius was forced to admit that Felix’s fashion sense was the least of their worries. Al’s normal clothing was odd but not something that would instinctively make one think of either Lagunica or knights but Al had flatly refused to remove his helmet.

Julius understood the kingdom’s desire to have the three factions work in unison on this investigation but he was rapidly starting to wish that the kingdom had just sent him north alone.

The three stood hidden in the trees a short distance from the village, inspecting the scene.

“Well, you don’t see that everyday, nya,” Felix observed.

The village was festooned in huge icicles like giant stalagmites growing out of the ground. Some of them were larger than trees.

“Yup,” Al replied. “I think I’m glad that I missed this fight.”

“So what should we do, nya? Just fan out around the village and try to blend in?”

Julius sighed. “My friends, I think that perhaps… blending in is beyond the realm of possibility at the moment.”

“Why are we making this so complicated?” Al asked. “It’s not like anyone here is a serious threat. Let’s just walk in, ask our questions, and walk back out.”

“What makes you so certain that they’ll answer us?” Julius muttered.

Al tossed a small pouch in the air and then caught it again. The bag made a tinkling sound. “Lady Priscilla thinks of these things. I’m sure they’ll be only too happy to tell us whatever we want to know.”

Julius made a face but he had no better ideas so the three walked into the village.

It was immediately apparent that blending in would have been a futile effort no matter what they had worn. The entire village was on edge after the recent battle and the three strangers approaching brought out a cry of alarm from the locals. The villagers crowded together nervously to see what their intentions were.

Al snorted. “What did that report say? That the witch killed a couple hundred people?” He murmured to Felix and Julius. “There aren’t more than a few dozen people living here!”

The three approached the crowd.

“So, is this Iruk?” Al asked without preamble.

A tall man in ratty clothing and a florid face was pushed forward by the crowd. He swallowed hard and nodded.

“Great. We have some questions about the recent attack. We have gold. Answer our questions and we’ll give you gold. Sound good?”

Julius felt slightly pained by the bluntness of this approach but he couldn’t argue with its effectiveness. It was obvious by their excited faces that the villagers were now firmly willing to cooperate.

“Are you here to ask about the witch?” The tall man asked.

“Yup. What happened?”

The tall man scratched his chin. “How much do we get if we tell you?”

Al shrugged. “You answer my questions, you get the bag of gold. I like to keep things simple. Where did the witch come from?”

The tall man thought for a moment. “We don’t really know. She was apparently staying in that house where the strangers lived.”

“They weren’t there a few days ago,” An old woman shouted. “I live across the way so I keep an eye on that place. That house has been empty for months. A woman came in the dead of night a few days back. Then two more showed up the same way.”

“Alright, who lived in that house?” Al continued.

The villagers looked at one another.

The tall man shrugged. “Nobody lived there. They were strangers.”

“They were strangers but they had their own house here?” Al asked skeptically.

The tall man hesitated seeming to struggle to put his thoughts into words. “They were outsiders, OK? Folks pop by once in a while and go into that house. They kept to themselves and we ignored them. No one ever stayed more than a few days.”

The crowd murmured in agreement.

“That’s small town life for you, I suppose,” Al mused. “OK, fine. Who came to that house?”

“There were three women and a man,” A man with pockmarks all over his face said. “There was the witch, a grown woman, and a girl.”

“Any idea who the girl was?” Al asked.

A woman shrugged. “Only saw her once. She was dressed like the child of a nobleman.”

“Any idea who the other woman was?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“This is going nowhere fast,” Al grumbled to himself. Al thought about it and then moved on. “OK, let’s get back to the witch. When did you guys realize that she was in the village?”

“Well, that strange woman came into the village around sunrise,” A fat man remembered.

“The witch?”

“No, the other pretty lady. The one with the big boobs!” He said with a foolish smile.

Al sighed. “Look, buddy, I like breasts as much as the next man. Probably more. My years of working for my employer have made me quite the connoisseur-”

Julius winced at that comment.

“-But does this have anything to do with the witch who wrecked your town?”

“Yeah! The witch was fighting that woman!” The fat man replied.

Al paused for a moment in thought. “OK. Anyone know what they were fighting over?”

The villagers shook their heads.

“OK, what did the witch do after the fight?”

“She was hurt real bad,” One woman recalled. “The boy came out and bought a wagon. Then he brought the witch out of the house, all swaddled in blankets. He and the other girl loaded the witch in a wagon and left.”

“What about the boy?” Al replied.

“He bought some food and then he left,” Another woman recalled. “We tried to stop him but…” She trailed off.

“The little fink drew steel on us!” An old man spat. “We were just trying to protect our homes but he drew a sword on us and told us to back down or he’d kill the lot of us! He’s a Witch Cultist for sure!”

“We let them leave,” The tall man continued. “We’d already been through enough. We aren’t going to risk our necks to kill a witch. That’s our lord’s job.”

“Makes sense to me,” Al shrugged. “Say, does anyone know the boy’s name?”

“Subaru,” A young girl replied.

The villagers looked at her in surprise.

“How do you know that?” Al asked.

“The witch kept screaming it during the fight. She was saying stuff like: ‘You will never touch my Subaru ever again!’”

“Huh,” Al murmured. “So what then? They all just left?”

“Yeah. The witch, the boy, and the girl from the house went north in the wagon,” A young girl said. “Dunno what happened to the other one.”

“OK, what about that woman the witch was fighting?” Al asked.

“She’s over there,” The fat man pointed around the back of a nearby house. “We tried to clean up the mess but couldn’t. It’s all frozen solid.”

Al cocked his head at the man but agreeably walked over to where he was directed.

Al turned the corner then stopped in his tracks. He let out a low whistle. “Holy shit. Hey, Julius! Get over here for a minute!”

Julius glanced at Felix and then walked over to Al. Felix followed close behind.

Julius turned the corner and his jaw dropped. Frozen in a heap against the side of the house’s cracked and broken stone wall were the shattered remains of a woman encased in solid ice. Her body was in pieces, frozen to the ground and her skin was sprouting completely unnatural looking ice flowers all over her body.

“Well, that’s pretty gross, nya. Thanks for sharing this with us, Al,” Felix muttered.

“Yeah but is that who I think it is?” Al asked. “Is that the Bowel Hunter?”

Julius and Felix looked closer at the woman’s frozen corpse.

“Nya! I think it is!”

“The witch killed the Bowel Hunter?” Julius murmured. “Was the Bowel Hunter tracking down the witch or was the witch hunting the Hunter?”

“That’s clever, Julius, nya,” Felix chuckled.

“Is there any connection between the Bowel Hunter and the Witch? Or between the Bowel Hunter and Subaru Natsuki?” Julius asked.

“Nya. Well, they met before,” Felix said. “The Bowel Hunter almost killed Subaru.”

Julius looked at Felix in surprise. “I never heard about that!”

“No? Didn’t Reinhard tell you, nya? That’s how they first met.”

Julius frowned, thinking back. “I remember Reinhard saying that he rescued Subaru Natsuki when the boy was forced to fight unarmed against an enemy to protect Miss Felt,” He replied. Julius’s eyes widened. “Subaru Natsuki tried to fight the Bowel Hunter bare-handed?!”

“Nya, it didn’t go very well,” Felix said calmly. “I was one of the healers treating him after Elsa Granhiert attacked him.”

Julius was beyond shocked. Truthfully, he had not taken his dear friend’s stories about his newfound master’s incredible courage and kindness very seriously. Julius loved Reinhard like a brother but he was well aware that Reinhard was rather naive. Julius had largely assumed that Subaru Natsuki had simply found some way to mislead or trick Reinhard into having such a ludicrously high opinion of him.

But some acts truly were impressive. The Bowel Hunter was the terror of the continent. Julius was confident that he could have faced her as long as he had his sword. But without it?

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Julius was honest enough with himself to admit that, in a similar situation, he would have run like a rabbit. He would have stood his ground to protect Lady Anastasia, with the full understanding that he was sacrificing his life for her, but to throw away his life for complete strangers?

Perhaps he had grossly underestimated Subaru Natsuki.

Of course, there was another possibility.

“Felix,” Julius began. “Is there any chance that the fight could have been staged?”

“Nya?” Felix asked, cocking his head.

“Subaru Natsuki’s encounter with Elsa Granhiert,” Julius said slowly. “Could it have been arranged by mutual contrivance to allow Subaru Natsuki to look like a hero without ever actually being in danger?”

Felix looked at Julius incredulously. “Nya. Julius, I don’t like Subaru either but that’s just stupid. There were four of us trying to save him that night and frankly, I had almost no hope. He came within inches of dying. It’s an absolute miracle that Subaru lived at all, much less made a complete recovery.”

Julius nodded. Julius had complete faith in Felix’s judgment. If Felix said that it wasn’t possible then it wasn’t possible.

Felix’s eyes narrowed however. Julius’s question had raised an idea for Felix. A miracle? Felix thought. How did he survive that injury, nya? There was no way that he should have survived. Did he have help? Could he have offered the Witch her freedom in exchange for his own life? Maybe I should talk to Crusch about this, nya.

Felix shook himself out of his reverie when he realized that Al was walking back over to the villagers.

Julius and Felix followed behind.

“One last question: How many people got hurt during this fight?” He asked casually.

The tall man scoffed. “Look at all the damage she did?!”

“Yeah, thanks, I have eyes,” Al replied calmly. “That doesn’t answer my question. How many people got hurt or killed?”

The villagers grumbled. They clearly didn’t like the answer that they were forced to give.

“Cool. Thanks for the info,” Al said, casually dropping the money pouch on the ground.

Al turned around without a word and started walking back toward the riding dragons, whistling a happy tune.

Julius bit his lip looking at the money pouch and then back at the villagers’ greedy faces. He had been wondering how Al would divvy out the reward. It was now apparent that Al didn’t care about doing so. He had simply dropped the reward at the hungry villagers’ feet and made the question of how equitably the reward was shared among the locals their problem.

This went quite a bit beyond the bounds of knightly behavior but Al and Felix were already walking out of the village and Julius reluctantly hurried after them. He had no authority to deal with this dispute in Gusteko and the more attention he drew to himself, the more likely it was that he was going to be revealed as a foreign knight, further entangling his kingdom in this international incident.

The three remounted their cranky riding dragons. They had been fed and rested but they were still tired.

“OK so it appears that most of Voivode’s complaint was lies,” Al muttered.

“Nobody was hurt at all, nya,” Felix agreed. “And at least arguably the witch was acting in self-defense when she fought the Bowel Hunter.”

“So shall we return to the capitol now?” Julius asked.

Al snorted. “Be serious, Jules. The dragons won’t go half that distance right now. They need to rest.”

“Nya. But we need to report to Crusch immediately!” Felix protested.

“That’s why we’re headed to Ganaks,” Al replied.

“Ganaks?” Julius asked.

“Yeah. It’s the closest town over the border. They have a communication system there. We can report our findings to the capitol instantly. More importantly, we can get a good night’s sleep in a real bed before we head back,” Al explained.

Reinhard had provided the spirits with a small but well-furnished room in the Astrea Manor. There was a spacious bed and comfortable chairs. The room could easily have been used to host visiting nobility.

The spirits neither noticed nor cared about the provided luxury.

Puck was splayed out face down on the bed. He hadn’t moved in hours and he had no interest in moving.

With their magic shackled, neither spirit had given much thought to trying to leave the room. Puck couldn’t even climb off the bed without assistance from Beatrice.

Beatrice paced around in circles, talking about magic, their mother, and their shared history. This was the first time the siblings had been left alone in days and Beatrice was eager to discuss what she had discovered. She was completely unaware that she really didn’t have an audience as Puck was completely focused on his own misery.

I lost my Subaru and I have no way to get him back… With this accursed slave collar wrapped around my wrist, I’m as helpless as a real cat.

I waited four hundred years to find him and I lost him in just a few weeks. Now he’s off somewhere in the wilds. I don’t know if he’s lost or hurt or if he’s even still…

I can’t believe what a failure I am…

I should have murdered the witch the instant that I realized what she was. It might have even broken her spell. It’s… not impossible…

Even if slaying the witch didn’t break the spell, even if Subaru hated me or even killed me for it, at least he’d still be safe! Reinhard and Felt would have taken good care of him and Betty would be there.

Subaru would be safe and he’d be alright… without me…

Now, because I hesitated when Subaru needed me to be decisive, I’ve lost him. Maybe I’ve lost him for good.

I spent four hundred years roaming the world in a desperate search for ‘that person.’

I’d started to think that I’d never find them and that my creator had given me this impossible geas out of some kind of sadistic amusement.

Then I met Subaru and all those lonely centuries suddenly became worth it. I found meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in my life all in an instant.

I knew in that moment that I’d destroy the world to protect him. A world without Subaru would be the worst hell imaginable. But as long as Subaru was there, the world was a wonderful place.

Subaru’s heart is too big for his own good. He tries to help everyone. And he’s a wonderful person. I love that about him. But when he declared that he was going to help a Witch of all people, that was when I needed to put my foot down and demand that he get away from her.

Even if he refused to let me kill her, if the witch had just been sent out into the wilds alone, Subaru would still be here and… we’d all be together…

This bed should have Subaru in it. It’s too big just for Betty and me. I never imagined that a stupid piece of furniture could make someone feel so lonely…

Beatrice abruptly stopped pacing. “There is no other possible conclusion, in fact!” She said triumphantly. Beatrice had been talking about her theory for the better part of two hours. Puck was barely listening, often just looking off into the distance with a defeated expression or burying his face in the bed and wishing that he could just pass out.

“What does Bubby think?” Beatrice asked.

It took Puck a moment to even muster the energy to reply. “What do I think about what?” Puck asked, not bothering to try and conceal the fact that he hadn’t been listening.

Beatrice fumed. “Mother! What does Bubby think about Betty and Bubby’s mother being the one who rescued Subaru?!”

Puck sighed. “Betty, are you… sure about this? Neither of us had heard from your mother in centuries. We both figured that she was long since dead. Now you think that she’s been wandering around the world all this time?”

“Yes! Betty is certain, in fact!”

Puck did not look altogether pleased by this. “Betty, so what would that mean? Your mother didn’t die, she just abandoned us? I wouldn’t exactly be thrilled to hear that.”

Beatrice flushed. “Mother did not abandon Betty and Bubby!” She protested sullenly. “Mother gave Betty and Bubby their important tasks, in fact! Betty to guard the library until the arrival of ‘that person’ and Puck to locate and protect ‘that person.’ It makes perfect sense that Mother would return for her children once she knew that Betty and Bubby’s important tasks were complete!”

Puck sniffed. “Then where is she?” He muttered.

Betty frowned. “Maybe Mother is with Betty’s Subaru? Perhaps she used her magic to save Subaru from the red knight and is now planning to help Subaru come and rescue Betty and Bubby, in fact!”

Puck glanced away, seeming to choose his words carefully. “Betty, are you really sure that this was your mother’s power that you were lent? Maybe it was someone else who just felt like your mother. I mean, if your mother did give you the power to open that portal then why didn’t she try to save us too?”

Betty snorted and looked away from Puck, seemingly offended. “Betty knows the touch of Mother’s power! She would never mistake it. There is no doubt that Mother gave Betty the ability to open the portal to save Betty’s Subaru, in fact!”

Puck noticed that Betty had ignored the second half of his question but he let the matter drop. He laid his face back down on the bed and considered taking a nap.

Beatrice resumed pacing around the room. “Betty and Bubby need to get out of here! Betty’s Subaru needs them! Betty’s Mother needs them too, in fact!”

“And how do we plan to do that?” Puck muttered, his voice muffled since his face was pressed against the bed covers. “I doubt that Felt and Reinhard will just let us walk out the door. Especially if we tell them that we’re going to go looking for Subaru. They might even try to follow us and hope that we’d lead them to Subaru. What’s worse is that we still have these stupid magic suppressing bracelets on!” Puck growled, shaking his arm angrily. “Unless we can get these off, we’re completely helpless! We could be taken prisoner by a group of school children who wanted pets!”

Beatrice fumed and stamped one tiny foot. “Betty hates this! Betty wants her magic back! Betty wants her Subaru! Betty wants her Mother!”

“Believe me, Betty, I totally agree with you-” Puck replied. Well, I agree with most of what you’re saying anyway, He thought. “-But before we can do anything else, we need to figure out how to get these bracelets off! We’ll never escape until we do. And worse, even if we did escape, we have no idea where Subaru is! We can’t sense him as long as we have these bracelets on! So our first priority needs to be to figure out how to get them off! Any ideas?”

Beatrice sighed. “Evil Sealing Stone Bracelets are very hard to remove, I suppose. They require immense power to unseal. The red knight could do it-”

“But he won’t, Puck said dismissively. “Reinhard still isn’t convinced that the witch didn’t put us under some kind of spell just like she did to Subaru.”

Beatrice rolled her eyes. “The blue maid is too weak but she wouldn’t do it for Betty and Bubby anyway.”

Puck frowned. “What about Garf? He’s pretty strong and he might do it for us if we asked him.”

Beatrice rocked her hand back and forth uncertainly. “It’s… possible. Betty isn’t sure if he’s strong enough, I suppose.” Beatrice sighed. She shook her head angrily. “Where is Roswaal when he’d finally be useful, I suppose?!”

Puck snorted. “He might be useful but I won’t ever make the mistake of trusting him again after that Sanctuary fiasco! If Roswaal was here, it’s an open question if he’d free us or try to take us hostage to get leverage over Subaru!”

The pair were silent for a time.

“Betty, can you think of anyone else who could take these bracelets off us?”

Beatrice flushed and shook her head. “Betty… doesn’t know many people, I suppose.” She thought for a moment. “Betty expects that Subaru or the elf could do it.”

“Yeah but if we were still with them, we’d have never had these bracelets put on in the first place,” Puck sighed.

Beatrice climbed up on the bed and sat next to Puck.

Puck started to doze.

“Something went wrong, in fact,” Beatrice murmured after a time.

Her intense, worried tone pulled Puck back from sleep. “A lot’s gone wrong, Betty,” Puck muttered, his face pressed into the covers. “What are you talking about?”

Beatrice was quiet for a long moment. “Something went wrong with Mother’s portal. Someone… something interfered.”

Puck looked up and saw that Beatrice’s face was deeply concerned.

“What are you saying?” Puck asked in rising fear.

Beatrice looked worried, even afraid. “Subaru and the elf did not end up where Betty’s mother wanted them to…”

“Well, we need to go shopping for traveling supplies,” Subaru said, trying to write a shopping list in his head as Patrasche raced across the plain. “Mili, do we need anything for the cottage while I’m there?”

“Wait, aren’t you guys going to come back to Siros with me?” Anri said sounding hurt.

“We’re just hedging our bets, Anri,” Subaru said. “You don’t know how folks in Siros will react to you hosting us. If we need to get out of there to protect you, I want to have a backup plan ready.”

Anri looked offended. “Subaru, what kind of girl do you think I am?! You’ve both helped me so much already. I would never turn my back on you.”

“Anri,” Emilia said firmly. “We would never allow you to be put in the position where you had to make such a choice.”

Patrasche flew down the road leading to Ganaks. The city was clearly visible in the distance. It looked like an immense walled fortress that was literally carved out of the mountain. At it’s front was a mammoth water wheel at least a hundred feet tall, turning ponderously under the flow of the enormous waterfall it sat under. Behind the wall was a towering spire of rock. The city looked like a mountain that had been shaved, with the peak still presence in the middle and the rest of the mountain had been dug up and ground down.

“Well, that’s pretty impressive,” Subaru said.

Anri nodded. “Ganaks is kind of a sore point between Lagunica and Gusteko,” Anri commented.

“Why is that, Anri?” Emilia asked.

“Ganaks used to be part of Gusteko,” Anri replied.

“Wait, really?” Subaru asked in surprise.

“Yeah! I read about it a lot growing up. It’s kind of a big deal back home. As a matter of fact, Ganaks used to be the capitol about two hundred years ago. Then Gusteko attacked Lagunica but the dragon appeared to defend the kingdom and Gusteko was defeated in a terrible rout. Lagunica captured a big slice of southern Gusteko including Ganaks. The nobility considered this the final straw in a series of incompetent decisions by the King and they rebelled. When the dust settled, Gusteko had fragmented from a strong monarchy into a loose confederation of states and the former royal family wasn’t strong enough to force the nobility back in line. The dominant power in the country became the church and the former royals were re-dubbed House Griest.”

“I never heard that story,” Subaru murmured. “And I thought that I studied this area.”

“Why were you studying Ganaks, Subaru?” Emilia asked.

“Well, I didn’t study Ganaks specifically,” Subaru explained. “But I did study the politics and history of a lot of northern Lagunica. After all, that was where Roswaal’s domain was and I figured it would be fertile ground for us to find support.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, Subaru. I get the impression that Lagunica really wants to sweep that bit of history under the rug,” Anri added. “Grandfather told me that even a few centuries later, there’s a large undercurrent in Ganaks that isn’t happy under Lagunican rule and would rather rejoin Gusteko. Don’t ask me why anyone would want to be part of Sanshi but there it is. Apparently, Ganaks has a military governor in the city in order to keep the peace. There used to be riots in this town pretty regularly.”

Subaru thought about that. “Anything else about Ganaks we should know?”

Anri thought a moment. “I know that it has a lowest demi-human population in Lagunica,” She remembered. “Ganaks’s wealth comes from the great mine. When it was part of Gusteko, demi-human slaves worked the mines but Lagunica had outlawed slavery so following the conquest of Ganaks, the demi-humans were set free. The locals were pretty angry about that. Racial violence is pretty common in Ganaks so the demi-humans steadily migrated out. There are only a few thousand left in a city with a population of a hundred thousand. They all live in the slums and work in the mines.”

Subaru glimpsed a piece of paper nailed to a post as they fly past. He reined in Patrasche and slid down.

“Subaru?” Emilia asked. “What are you doing?”

Subaru walked back to the post and pulled the sheet of paper down, reading it with a dark expression.

“What is it?” Anri asked.

“‘Lost Princess,’” Subaru read. “‘House Griest is offering a sizable reward for any information regarding the location of Princess Kairei vas Sirosse an Ithil. She is missing and believed kidnapped by outlaws. House Griest is terribly worried about her and requests any assistance in order to find her. Reward: Five hundred gold pieces.’”

Subaru shook his head. “Well, isn’t that just great. There’s even a picture. Good likeness, too,” He admitted, passing the flyer to Anri.

“Five hundred gold pieces?!” Anri demanded in outrage. “Malcolm an Griest thinks that my capture is only worth five hundred gold pieces?! I can’t believe that he’s so cheap!”

Subaru raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, Anri,” Subaru said sarcastically. “If I ever speak to Prince Malcolm, I’ll be sure to let him know that you find his attempts to locate, capture, and most likely execute you on a budget very offensive.”

“I agree, Anri,” Emilia said in disbelief. “I think that you’re worrying about the wrong aspect of this.” Emilia frowned. “Subaru, if these flyers are common around here than we can’t risk bringing Anri to Ganaks.”

Subaru nodded. “Yeah and it gets even worse.”

“Worse?” Emilia asked in surprise.

Subaru pulled a second notice off the post. “‘Be on the lookout for a foul witch. This silver haired half-devil…’ What the fuck, ‘half devil?!’” He demanded of nobody.

Emilia bowed her head, looking miserable.

Subaru shook his head with a scowl. “For God’s sake, we actually competed to rule this festering kingdom?! Why? We should have packed up all our friends and moved out of country and then burnt the place to the fucking ground!”

“I hear that Siros is nice,” Anri commented.

Subaru looked at her.

Anri shrugged. “Just in case you were looking for a new home.”

Subaru chuckled. He continued reading. “‘This witch is believed to have enchanted Subaru Natsuki and is attempting to spread chaos and pestilence throughout Lagunica. Kill on sight.’ Oh, for fuck’s sake!” He said, hurling the flyer to the ground.

“Is there a picture?” Anri asked.

“No. But it hardly matters, does it?” Subaru said, remounting Patrasche. “Nobody would have much trouble picking Emilia out of a crowd.”

Emilia didn’t say anything.

“Well, one thing is obvious,” Subaru muttered. “Neither one of you can go to Ganaks right now.”

Honestly, this is a lucky break for me! I don’t have to let Emilia go somewhere dangerous now! I have the perfect excuse to leave her behind somewhere safe!

“What?!” Emilia objected.

“Subaru, I have to go with you!” Anri shouted.

“Whoah, whoah! One at a time, please!” Subaru complained.

“Subaru,” Emilia said in a dangerous voice. “You have to stop treating me like a porcelain doll!”

“Emilia, this is different!”

“How? How is this different?!” She demanded.

“You know how!” Subaru shouted. “Don’t be obtuse! People are actively looking for you around here. If you guys come into Ganaks, you’ll just attract more attention. Nobody there is looking for me or has any idea what I look like. I can go in, do the shopping, and get out. Nice and easy. You coming isn’t making anyone safer, it’s just adding more risk.”

“Subaru!” Emilia protested.

“Emilia,” He said simply. “You know that I’m right.”

“Then let me come with you, Subaru,” Anri said. “The authorities in Ganaks don’t have any kind of relationship with Sanshi. If I was discovered, so what? Lagunica isn’t going to hand me over to Malcolm an Griest.”

Subaru snorted. “You’re giving the authorities here way too much credit. I met the governor once, General Brendig. He’d not only capture and sell you to Sanshi, he’d frame it to the sages’ council as a means to improve Gustekan-Lagunican relations instead of just an excuse to line his own pocket!”

Anri shook her head. “Look, Subaru, I… I just have this feeling! I really need to go with you!” She said awkwardly.

“No,” Subaru said flatly.

“Subaru,” Emilia objected. “I don’t like the idea of you going to Ganaks alone either.”

“It’ll be fine, Mili,” Subaru assured her. “I’m just going shopping and to deliver a letter. Even I can’t screw that up too badly.”

“You shouldn’t go alone, Subaru!” Anri agreed. “Let me come!”

Subaru ignored her and scanned the wide plain around Ganaks.

“There’s an old abandoned farm house back in those trees. I doubt that it’ll be comfortable but you should both be safe there and out of sight for a few hours.”

Subaru directed Patrasche over to the farm house and reined her in beneath the shadow of the trees.

Subaru helped Anri slip down and then Emilia.

“Subaru,” Emilia said pensively. “I don’t like this.”

“Me neither!” Anri agreed. “Let me come with you!”

“I’ll be fine, Mili,” Subaru assured her, ignoring Anri. “I’ll be in and out.”

Emilia bit her lip.

“Subaru!” Anri protested.

“Anri! You’re not coming!” He said firmly.

Anri scowled.

Subaru looked at the distressed Emilia. “I’ll be fine, Mili,” He reassured her. “I’ll keep my head down and stay out of trouble.”

Emilia gave him a worried look but finally nodded.

Anri sighed and unbuckled her rapier. “Here, Subaru, take this,” She said, passing him the sword belt.

“Are you sure?” Subaru asked dubiously. “I hate to leave you unarmed.”

Anri snorted. “Right back at you!” She said mockingly. “And you might avoid some trouble just because people can see that you are armed. Predators tend to avoid prey that can defend itself. I can’t use my sword for another day or two anyway,” She gestured toward her broken arm. “Besides, I’ve got Emilia here. She can fend off a regiment singlehandedly.”

Emilia smiled warmly at Anri.

Subaru sighed. “Well, try not to test that theory while I’m gone, please?” He said buckling the belt around his waist.

Anri nodded. “Here. This is the letter. You should probably send it to my Grandfather. My uncle might be on the front lines right now,” Anri said, passing him a piece of paper.

“What’s his name? I doubt that this will work if I just say: ‘A letter for Anri’s grandfather.”

Anri rolled her eyes at him. “Tell them that it’s a letter for Patriarch Gustov of Siros. They’ll know who it is.”

“OK,” Subaru replied.

“Be careful and don’t take too long!” Emilia said.

Subaru nodded and rode away.

Reinhard and Felt sat side by side in the carriage. Ram sat on the other seat, looking out the window with a bored expression.

The pair seemed to be looking every way except at one another.

“Miss Felt,” Reinhard murmured. “Are you… feeling better?”

Felt took a deep breath. “Don’t worry about me, Red. I’m tough as iron. That Witch would have had to work a lot harder than that to break me… Thanks for asking, though,” She added.

They were silent a moment.

Felt coughed. “Reinhard, were you able to… obscure the spirits’ involvement in Subaru’s escape?”

Reinhard nodded. “I was guided by you in this matter, Miss Felt. As you predicted, the sages who heard my report assumed without question that it was the Witch who opened the portal, not Miss Beatrice. They did not ask me for confirmation and so I was not required to correct them.”

Felt sighed in relief. “Good. I was worried that the sages’ council might have tried to seize or even destroy the spirits if they knew that the spirits had helped a Witch escape.”

“Luckily, that does not appear to be the case, Miss Felt. I’m sure that the sages consider the spirits to be largely beneath their notice,” He said.

Reinhard frowned. “Forgive me, Miss Felt, but… are you certain that the spirits do not share Subaru’s bewitchment? They did help the Witch to escape, after all.”

“They helped Subaru to escape,” Felt corrected. “You can’t talk to them for five minutes without realizing that they hate the Witch. But after Rem’s…,” Felt’s voice trailed off in a snarl.

Reinhard’s face was grim as he met Felt’s eyes and they shared a moment of silent fury at the blue haired maid’s betrayal.

Felt shook her head and sighed. “Reinhard, you have to remember that Rem convinced the spirits that we all wanted Subaru dead! I don’t blame the spirits for trying to protect him from us under those kind of conditions. I would have done the same thing! Believe me, the spirits’ loyalty to Subaru is ironclad. They’ll do whatever they have to in order to protect him. The problem is that Subaru believes that he’s in love with the Witch and that leaves the spirits in a tight spot…”

Reinhard shook his head. “I confess that I’m… less certain of their loyalties, Miss Felt. I’m worried that the spirits might in some way have been corrupted by their time spent with the Witch. We should devote ourselves to hunting her down and ending her as quickly as possible in order to free our friend from her web of lies.”

Felt bit her lip. Beatrice said that killing the Witch would make Subaru try to kill himself… Until we sever the connection, killing the witch is a no-no. Or at least we need to be ready to protect Subaru from doing any kind of self-harm until we can break the spell.

The problem is, I know that this is the wrong time to tell Red about this. He’s already suspicious of Beatrice. If I tell him that she’s warning us not to kill the Witch, he’ll take it as confirmation that the Witch has corrupted her. I need to tell him about this but I’d better wait until he’s had time to realize that Beatrice is still Beatrice.

Anyway, even Reinhard isn’t going to be able to find Subaru for a good long while. Subaru’s too clever. Plus, Subaru is safely over the border into Gusteko and that means Reinhard can’t reach him.

“Miss Felt,” Reinhard murmured.

Felt started, realizing that she had been lost in her own thoughts. “Yeah, Red?”

Reinhard looked at her intently. “Miss Felt, I hope that you will accept my most sincere apologies for all of this.”

Felt blinked. “Apologies? What do you have to apologize for?”

Reinhard hung his head like a little boy fearing that he was about to be scolded. “This fiasco is entirely my fault, Miss Felt,” Reinhard sighed. “If I hadn’t been such a fool as to fall for Roswaal’s transparent trick, Subaru never would have been bewitched and you never would have been so grievously wounded by this foul witch.”

Felt shook her head. “None of this was your fault, Reinhard,” She said gently, taking his hand. “Roswaal tricked all of us, not just you. Even Subaru was fooled. Nobody is ever going to be careful enough or smart enough to not be conned once in a while. What’s important is that when we needed you, you were there. You ran yourself ragged trying to find Subaru and the spirits. You,” Felt’s voice dropped to a whisper. “You even held me together when I was ready to fall to pieces… Thank you for that.”

Reinhard took a deep breath. “Your thanks are completely unnecessary, Miss Felt. It was my great privilege to offer my feeble support to a brave and noble hearted woman such as yourself. I can think of no higher honor than being permitted to be of service to you in a time of need.”

Felt looked Reinhard in the eye and swallowed hard. She seemed to be searching for what she wanted to say.

She hesitated and then deliberately coarsened her voice. “Anyway, Red, stop blaming yourself for this mess like a dope. The only person to blame here is the witch and we are going to make her very sorry that she ever thought up this scheme! Then we are going to get our gang back together and put Subaru on the throne!”

Reinhard nodded firmly. “I look forward to that, Miss Felt. Thank you for your wise counsel. You are truly a wonder, resolute and steadfast as the northern star. I’m not sure what I would do without you to keep me true to my course.”

Felt’s mouth moved but no words emerged. She moistened her lips and seemed to be at a loss for what to say.

“We’ve arrived,” Ram said in a bored tone, making both of them jump. They’d completely forgotten that she was even in the carriage.

Felt glared daggers at Ram but Ram either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

The sun was setting as Subaru approached the huge gate of the great city of Ganaks. The enormous water wheel was even more impressive close up, grinding steadily as the water kept falling. The water in the pool below the wheel stank of chemicals.

This is a mining town. They probably use that wheel to help crush ore and then dump the contaminants into the pool. Very forward thinking of them. That way they’re spreading their poisons all the way down river.

The city walls had to be forty feet high and they completely encircled a city that was miles and miles across. All that could be seen of the city inside was a titanic rock formation rising up from behind the walls like a mountain.

There was only one gate into or out of Ganaks, an enormous gateway like a mountain pass that was guarded by a massive portcullis.

Since there was only one way in or out of the city, the entrance was always swarming with travelers. To facilitate easier travel, the authorities had divided the gate into two sets of three lanes, one for incoming traffic and one for outgoing. In the first lane were people mounted on swift two-legged riding dragons. In the second lane were wagons pulled by four-legged earth dragons. In the last lane were pedestrians and the slow wagons pulled by trudging people.

Subaru moved through the gate quickly. Due to the sheer amount of traffic, the gate guards settled on keeping an eye on the crowd at large and didn’t bother to inspect any individuals.

Beyond the gate, the city lay spread out before him. The city seemed to be built in levels. The center of the city was the enormous spire of rock. It had whole posh neighborhoods and many roads spiraling up to the summit. Inside the great walls there was also an enormous open pit the size of a canyon.

That must be the Great Ganaks Mine, Subaru mused.

The pit looked like a strip mine, a vast open wound in the earth punctuated by several deeper pits within it and a few shaft tunnels as well. Homes were built around and even inside the pit but these were much shabbier than the others that Subaru saw.

There were levels on the lower part of the great spire that looked as if they catered to business and the middle class.

Subaru briefly paused Patrasche after entering the gate, wondering where to go. There was a massive suspension bridge that led from the gate to the nicer neighborhoods on the great spire. There were also two ramps that led down toward the shabby houses and the mine.

“Hey!” A crude voice shouted from behind Subaru. “Stop holding up the line!”

Subaru nudged Patrasche and they trotted quickly across the suspension bridge. On the other end was a posh neighborhood that reminded him of the royal district in the capitol. The homes were palatial and the stores dealt in exotic luxuries.

Hell. I have no idea where to go. Where do you find a store to buy a tent? For that matter, where do you find a communications system?

“Hm. Excuse me, buddy!” Subaru called out to a guard.

“Sir!” The guard snapped to attention.

“I was looking to buy a tent. Any suggestions on where I could find one?”

The guard thought for a moment. “There’s a branch of the Hoshin Trading Company two streets that way, sir. They’ll likely have whatever you need.”

“Thank you!” Subaru replied. “Oh. By the way, would you happen to know where I can find the… communications thing? I need to send a letter to Gusteko immediately.”

“The communications system is located in the mayoral palace. It’s the largest building around, three blocks over. You can’t miss it.”

“One more question, have you ever heard of a place called ‘Miss Lilian’s?’”

“Of course! It’s world famous! Straight down this street. Are you new to our city, sir?” The guard asked.

“This is my first visit,” Subaru replied.

“A bit of information for you then, sir,” The guard pointed down off the spire. “This is ‘Hightown,’ and as fine a place as you’re likely to find in the world. The levels on the spire below this are called ‘Midtown.’ That’s a decent place to find goods and lodgings if your pocket is a bit thin. The neighborhoods that are built off the spire are called ‘Lowtown.’ You can reach those by going down the ramps. You don’t want to go down that far, sir.”

“Um. Why not?”

The guard gave him a puzzled look. “Because the demi-humans live down there, sir. You never know what they’re scheming.”

Subaru didn’t answer right away. “Thank you. That was most illuminating,” Subaru said in a flat voice.

“At your service, sir! Always!” The guard saluted and returned to his post.

“The sages’ council demands answers!” Choi shouted.

Felt stood before the council dressed once again like a young noblewoman. Crusch stood nearby in her uniform.

“I understand that, your Excellency,” Felt said politely, albeit through clenched teeth. “However, as of yet, we do not have answers to give you.”

“Is that all you have to say?” Choi demanded. “A royal candidate is out wandering the woods with a witch and that’s all that you have to say?!”

“Lord Subaru may be a royal candidate but he is also a free man!” Felt shouted back. “He is permitted to associate with whomever he wishes. That is not a crime. Beyond that, all we know for certain is that Lord Subaru was last seen in the company of a demi-human woman. Anything beyond that is pure supposition!”

“This silver haired half-elf was recovered from someplace called ‘the witch’s tomb’ and you expect us to believe that she is not a witch?” Choi said. “This woman was powerful enough to escape the Sword Saint without apparent effort and yet you ask us to conclude that she is not a witch?!”

“I ‘ask’ this council to rely on evidence and not speculation,” Felt snapped back, losing her patience. “All we know for certain is that Subaru was seen with an elven woman.”

“Although that is certainly bad enough,” Aghart sneered. “A candidate for the throne of the Dragon Kingdom of Lagunica associating with a demi-human woman? What will the people think?!”

“Perhaps they would think that Lord Subaru is open-minded and nonjudgmental,” Felt suggested in a hiss.

“Watch yourself, dust rat!” Aghart snapped. “You stand before the sages’ council.”

“The girl may speak crudely but she raises a valid point,” Dore interjected. “What exactly is Lord Subaru Natsuki accused of?”

Choi stared at Dore as if he was an idiot. “Associating with a witch!” Choi shouted.

“A charge for which I have yet to see any evidence,” Byrd interjected. “The only fact not in dispute here is that Lord Subaru was last seen in the company of an elven woman. I would take this opportunity to echo Miss Felt and remind this august body that this is not a crime. Even if some among us would wish otherwise,” Byrd finished, with a sour look at Aghart.

Choi shook his head. “Byrd, this hearing is not taking place in a law book. This is a matter of grave concern for the ruling council! What if Subaru Natsuki has been bewitched and enchanted?! What if he has become an agent of this witch due to magic?!”

“What evidence is there of enchantment?” Aghart retorted. “If someone willingly travels with a witch, we should conclude that he is traveling with a witch willingly!”

“Oh my,” Byrd said with a yawn. “The charges against Subaru Natsuki are certainly piling up now. Could we see evidence supporting one of them? Just for variety’s sake?”

“That’s enough,” McMahon gaveled. The ancient man thought for a moment. “Lady Crusch, do you have anything to add?”

Felt glared at Crusch and ground her teeth. If that bitch slanders Subaru again, I’ll punch her right here on the floor of the council chamber and I don’t care what the consequences are!

Crusch looked awkward and cleared her throat. “I have just heard back from our investigators. It appears that Vlad an Voivode… grossly misrepresented the situation of the ‘attack’ at Iruk. There were no casualties in Iruk at all. It appears that the Witch engaged in a battle with Elsa Granhiert the Bowel Hunter-”

Felt gasped. Images raced through her mind of Subaru’s broken body at her grandfather’s tavern.

“But the witch managed to kill her. Subaru Natsuki and the Witch appear to have disappeared again in the company of an unknown person. They were last seen headed northwest but we have failed to pick up their trail and we are uncertain if they remain in Gusteko or have returned to Lagunica.”

The sages glanced at one another.

Felt carefully hid a smile. They’re impressed that the Witch killed Elsa and they don’t know how to react to it! It’s taken the wind out of their sails in attacking Subaru. Thanks, bitch! At least you finally did something helpful!

The sages appeared lost in thought for a long moment although Choi and Aghart looked increasingly annoyed.

Byrd cleared his throat. “I move that this… ‘hearing’ be dismissed due to lack of evidence so that we can focus our attention on locating Subaru Natsuki.”

“Wait,” McMahon mused. “Perhaps it would behoove us to perform a brief investigation on the charges of Subaru Natsuki’s involvement in witchcraft. This might give us some… deniability with the other nations should new evidence of his malfeasance later come to light.”

The other four sages looked at him in surprise.

McMahon stroked his beard. “It would also… remind the public that, even when a new king sits on the throne, this council’s authority is still potent and must be respected.”

Choi and Aghart nodded while Dore and Byrd appeared dubious.

Crusch looked smug.

“Your Excellencies!” Felt cried out. “I protest! By your own admission, there is no evidence supporting these accusations! This isn’t an investigation it’s a fishing expedition! You’re dragging my lord’s good name through the mud!”

“Be calm, Miss Felt,” McMahon waved his hand dismissively. “If we find no evidence then the investigation shall simply be dismissed. All in favor?”

McMahon, Aghart, and Choi raised their hands.

Felt scowled up at them. “If I may say so, I get the uncomfortable sense that your excellencies are playing politics rather than administering the law.”

“Do not grow overbold, Miss Felt,” McMahon ordered. “By three to two there shall be an investigation of these allegations against Subaru Natsuki. We are adjourned.”

He gaveled.

Felt stormed out of the meeting with a scowl on her face.

Felt found Garfiel leaning against the wall just outside the council chamber.

“You were listening to the hearing?” She muttered.

“Yup. I got here for the tail end of it anyway.”

“Any thoughts?”

Garfiel shrugged. “Well… this sure is fucked up,” He grumbled. “But at least it looks like they’re just blowing smoke and are going to dismiss the charges in a few days anyway.”

“They are going to pay for this,” Felt growled.

“Oh yeah? How’s that?” Garfiel asked.

“Come on, fleabag,” Felt said, storming away. “Where’s Red?”

Garfiel hurried to catch up with her. “Reinhard asked me to say goodbye for him. During the meeting, Heikel showed up and ordered Reinhard to go to Mirula and start combing the desert for the Captain. Apparently, Heikel got a solid tip that Subaru and the witch were seen in the Augria Sand Dunes.”

Felt shook her head and scowled. “That fucking asshole. The kingdom knows that Subaru is in Gusteko! Subaru isn’t hiding somewhere in the middle of the kingdom just so that Reinhard can catch him! And even if he was dumb enough to come back here, there’s no way that he made it from Iruk to Mirula in two days! Heikel is just trying to make work for his son.”

“Yeah. I think we’re going to have to do something about that guy sooner or later,” Garfiel grumbled. “Something permanent. Where are we going, anyway?”

Felt growled. “We have a story to tell. We are going to every bar in town.”

“Score!” Garfiel cheered.

“Starting with Gramps’s,” Felt added.

Garfiel’s enthusiasm dimmed a bit.

Subaru rode up to a large building with ‘The Hoshin Trading Company.’

Subaru slid off Patrasche. “Wait here, OK? I’ll be right back.”

Patrasche snorted.

Subaru smiled and patted her face affectionately before walking inside.

The building was spacious and elegant but now that Subaru was looking for it, the first thing that jumped out at him was that there wasn’t a single demi-human in the place.

“Hello, sir,” A man in an elegant looking doublet said. “Can I help you find anything?”

“Yes, actually. I’m looking for a good tent. We’re going to be doing a lot of traveling and we’d like to be comfortable.”

“Oh, I think I have just what you’re looking for,” The man led the pair over to a section of the store where the items had an outdoor theme. “This tent is our latest model. Fully waterproof, top quality mystic insulation for withstanding both extreme heat and intense cold, complimentary fire kiln for keeping a fire inside the tent, smoke venting roof, and heavily padded floor. This is the next best thing to being at home. You can also get two sleeping rolls at seventy five percent off by purchasing this tent.”

Subaru nodded. “How much?”

“Ten gold pieces.”

Damn! That’s expensive!

“Sold,” Subaru said carelessly. “I also need some bags of preserved food. Some water bottles would be nice too.”

Subaru left the store as the sun set. All in all, he’d spent more than twenty gold coins during this shopping trip but Subaru felt like at least they were finally ready for whatever the world could throw at them on this trip.

He struggled to attach the tent to Patrasche’s saddlebag.

I know that was a little profligate but I need to remember that I have no idea how this will all turn out. Even if we wind up in Siros safely, our long term goal is still to break the curse on Emilia and reunite with Beatrice and Puck. Once we identify the cure, we have no idea where we might need to go to find it! We might find ourselves going into the tundra of northern Gusteko, the deserts of western Karargi, or the jungles of southern Vollachia. I want to be prepared. The tent should be comfortable and durable and that’s important. Our quest might take weeks. Hell, it could take months! We need to be ready to deal with the unexpected. Assuming that we can trust the salesman, and I don’t think that Anastasia employs liars, the water bottles are enchanted. They can make potable water from bad water. There’s a limit, obviously. It can’t work with raw sewage but if we find water that we’re slightly iffy about drinking from, we can still refill our supplies and that might be important some day. The food we bought is also high quality and should keep for months without spoiling. Yeah, I spent a lot of gold today but we still have plenty more and I think that we’re actually prepared for wherever our journey takes us.

Subaru remounted Patrasche.

“Alright, girl, we just need to mail a letter and then we can head back to Emilia.”

Subaru had left Patrasche in a small city park next door to the city hall. Patrasche seemed to appreciate having green grass under her claws rather than hard stone.

The mayoral palace looked more like an administration area than a palace but it was still huge and even after sunset, crowds of people were still coming and going.

Subaru pulled his hood as far over his head as he could then walked up the stairs.

There was a huge lobby inside, stone stairs that climbed up another two levels. There were counters covered by iron bars and a large group of people stood behind the counters, peering through windows in the bars like bank tellers.

Subaru glanced at a city guard standing inside. “Excuse me,” He said. “Where can I send a letter via the communications system?”

“Right over there, sir,” The guard pointed up the stairs to the second level.

“Thanks,” Subaru nodded and marched up the stairs.

Keep your head down, Subaru. There are a lot of guards here. If anyone figures out who you are, you’re in for one hell of a fight.

Subaru got to the second level and found a worker that didn’t have a line waiting in front of them.

The woman behind the counter was a pretty young blond girl. “Can I help you, sir?” The woman said primly from inside her window.

Subaru pulled Anri’s letter out of his pocket. “I need to have this sent to Patriarch Gustov in Siros.”

“Of course, sir. And who may I ask is sending it?”

“It’s from Anri,” Subaru replied. “Err… ‘Kairei,’” He amended.

“Excuse me, sir, but you don’t look like a ‘Kairei.’”

“Take it up with my parents,” Subaru deadpanned.

The woman blinked in surprise.

Subaru sighed. “I didn’t write the letter. I’m just delivering the letter.”

“Oh,” The woman said in understanding, taking the letter. “We do the need the name of the purchaser if it’s not the same as the author.”

“Lucas,” Subaru replied.

“Last name?”

“I’m a peasant,” Subaru said, fighting not to roll his eyes.

“Ah,” The woman said, writing a few things down.

“When will this letter be delivered?” Subaru asked.

“It will transmitted within the hour, sir. I can’t say how long it will take for the people in Siros to respond and deliver it however.”

Probably not long. I’m guessing that letters to Anri’s family get priority. Especially if they’re from Anri who everyone considers to be missing and in danger right now.

“Alright,” The woman finished. “That will be twenty gold coins,” She said, sticking out her hand.

What?! Are you serious?! Is this just an excuse to print money or something?

“Problem, sir?” The woman asked in confusion.

“Not at all,” Subaru growled, pulling out twenty gold coins.

“Thank you, sir,” She said kindly. “Do you want a receipt?”

“No thanks,” Subaru muttered turning away.

“Have a wonderful day, sir!” The girl called after him.

Subaru grumbled something under his breath.

Subaru reentered the park and found a full troop of city guards passing by on patrol. Subaru kept his hood low as he walked back to where he’d left Patrasche.

Even after sunset, the park was crowded. The park was full of roses and romantic couples were everywhere. They were strolling, talking, sniffing the fragrant flowers, or drifting off into shadowy glades for a bit of privacy.

Huh. Too bad I couldn’t bring Emilia here. When was the last time I really had an opportunity to take her someplace nice?

Fuck. Have I ever done that?

I’m a pretty shitty boyfriend…

Subaru found Patrasche, sniffing at a rosebush with a happy expression.

Huh. Who would have thought Patrasche was a flower lover.

Or maybe she’s just thinking of adding more vegetables to her diet.

Subaru noticed someone else nearby. They were wearing a hood and also sniffing a rose.

Subaru made sure to turn his back to them before speaking to Patrasche.

“Hey there, girl,” Subaru said, patting her head. “You ready to get out of this crummy city?”

“Subaru Natsuki?” A voice behind him said in shock.

Subaru spun around before he could think better of it.

The hooded man was wearing a spotless white Royal Guard uniform. He had golden eyes, purple hair, and a refined demeanor but he was staring at Subaru in shock.

“Julius Juukulius,” Subaru muttered.

Oh come on!

How the hell did I just bump into this jerkass in a huge city? Do I have some ‘Divine Blessing of Bad Luck?’

Or does my Authority just like to watch me suffer…

Actually… that would explain an awful lot…

Alright, well this is bad but it certainly could be worse. Julius sure as hell isn’t Reinhard. And frankly, I’ve wanted to slug Julius ever since that dinner party in the capitol when he spent most of the night fawning all over Emilia.

On the other hand, this is still pretty dangerous. Julius is considered one of the best fighters in the kingdom, plus this park is full of guards, and I’m trapped inside a walled city!

Julius recovered from his moment of shock and gave a slight bow of his head. “I am flattered that you remember me, my lord.”

You really shouldn’t be. The way you were gushing over Emilia last time we were together burned you into my mind and not in a good way. If Reinhard hadn’t talked me out of it, I would have knocked you sprawling!

“It is greatly reassuring to find you in good health, my lord,” Julius said.

“Yes, thank you very much for checking up on me,” Subaru drawled. “I hope that you won’t have any trouble finding your way home. Also, you can skip the ‘lord’ stuff, Jules. I’m pretty sure that any lordship I ever had is void at this point.”

“I wouldn’t be privy to those kind of decisions, my lord,” Julius responded. “My dear friend Reinhard, as well as Miss Felt, are extremely worried about you traveling in the company of a witch. I was sent to investigate charges of witchcraft levied against her in this area. It was my great good fortune that I ran into you. I truly had no expectation of locating you but by chance and fate I stumbled over you while waiting for Aldebaran to finish making a followup report to the capitol via the communication system.”

Could my luck possibly get any worse?!

“So what are your intentions, Jules?” Subaru asked in an overtly bored tone as he looked over the thirty guards in the park. The formerly marching guards had stopped in their tracks and they all stood there looking stunned and frightened at Subaru. “If you’re going to ask me for a place to spend the night, I wish you’d brought fewer folks with you. If you were hoping to take me away, you’d need a lot more.”

Julius frowned. “I am bidden to return you to the capitol, my lord. And to do justice upon the witch,” Julius said firmly.

“Well, I’m deeply sorry about the state of your mission, Jules, because you’re going to fail in both of those objectives,” Subaru said.

Julius paused. “I’ve been told that you have been enchanted to believe yourself to be in love with the witch. I will do you the courtesy of accepting your emotions at face value. Therefore, I doubt that this impasse can be settled with words.”

“So I assume that means we’re about to fight,” Subaru grumbled, grabbing the hilt of Anri’s rapier.

Subaru quickly touched the reliquaries. Shit! Anri didn’t give me the lightning stones! Isn’t that just my luck?!

Julius nodded. “Yes, but I would prefer if this remained a duel between gentlemen.”

“Meaning what?”

“These city guards are innocent of any aspect of the dispute between us. I’d like your assurance that you will keep them out of the fight.”

Subaru blinked. Well. That’s a statement I never thought that I’d hear from a noble. I think I could actually learn to like Julius… if he hadn’t been slobbering all over Emilia… and if he now wasn’t threatening to kill her…

Yeah, this is never going to be a guy that I’ll like.

“I have no quarrel with them. As long as they stay out of the fight, they have nothing to fear from me,” Subaru said.

“Splendid,” Julius said, drawing his elegant longsword.

Subaru drew Anri’s rapier.

Subaru held his rapier at the ready. Julius seemed completely relaxed.

“I just have to ask, Jules: How do you think that this fight is going to work?” Subaru asked in a bored tone. “I’ve killed trolls with my bare hands. You’ve seen me shrug off magical sword blows without any effort and you are… much more breakable than that. I don’t really grasp what you’re thinking in picking a fight with me.”

Julius seemed completely calm. “I have heard quite a bit about your extraordinary exploits. I am aware that you are a considerable warrior and, at the very least, my equal in combat. To simply engage you in a sword fight would be folly.”

“Yeah. That was kind of my point.”

Julius gave him a patronizing smile. “Please, have no concerns. I have a better grasp of strategy than that, my lord. I spoke with Reinhard about you extensively before departing on this mission. You may have incredible power in melee combat but you have no ranged abilities. In contrast, I have plenty of options for attacking at distance thanks to my loving spirits,” Julius held out his hand and Subaru saw six tiny balls of light, each about the size of a marble, spinning in a circle in his palm.

“All I need do,” Julius continued. “Is use my magic to wear you down while remaining at range where you can not retaliate. Victory shall inevitably be mine.”

Fuck! I completely forgot about Julius’s spirits! How the hell can I compete with that?! He has attack magic and he can use spirits to grant him superhuman strength and agility. And his powers don’t have a five second time limit which doesn’t even matter because I have no way to close the distance to him! What the fuck can I do?! I don’t have any attack magic or any way to attack a spirit at all!

Subaru’s eyes widened. Wait a second. The Spirits always seem to react when I-

“I truly regret having to do this, Lord Subaru,” Julius said as the spirits that now surrounded his wrist like a spinning bracelet began to whirl faster. “Fell Goa!”

“Pridebreaker!” Subaru roared in reply as he pointed at Julius.

Julius staggered back a step, clutching his head. “What- What did you do?!” He demanded.

The spirits whirling around Julius’s wrist broke formation and flew away from him. Julius’s face contorted in horror as the six tiny balls of light entered an orbit around Subaru’s head. Subaru suddenly heard six new voices in his mind, all proclaiming their undying love for him.

Yes! I knew there was a reason that the lesser spirits always ran away when I used this trick! Julius’s spirits may not be the products of witchcraft but they’re still products of magic and that means that Pridebreaker can control them! Awesome!

The bad news is that binding spirits to me feels very different than binding mabeasts. When I used Pridebreaker on the mabeasts, it somehow locked them to me even after I stopped using my Authority. These spirits feel different. Like… Like I need to keep channeling Pridebreaker rather than just casting a spell and letting it go. I think that if I stop channeling, the spirits will break free and go back to Julius.

Well, that’s not a big deal. Now it’s my turn to use some spirit magic! Hey, spirits! Hit Julius with that ‘Fell Goa’ thing!

The spirits didn’t respond, simply floating in a circle around Subaru’s head and chanting their adoration for him.

Huh? Why isn’t this working? Subaru’s eyes widened. Oh fuck! Is it my contract with Beatrice? It prevents me from making contracts with other spirits and maybe that means I can’t even use their magic with Pridebreaker? Or maybe Pridebreaker doesn’t let me use spirit magic? Or maybe I just don’t know how to use it?

Oh great! I took the spirits away from Julius but I can’t use them! They’re making me a very nice glowing crown and that’s the extent of their usefulness!

Oh well. I denied them to Julius. That’s something. Now he’s just a normal man.

A normal man with decades of experience at sword fighting facing a guy with a couple of children’s kendo classes under his belt…

OK but at least I have Indomitable!

…Wait… I… I don’t know how I know this but I DON’T have Indomitable right now! I can’t use it while I’m channeling Pridebreaker! If I want to use Indomitable then I’d have to let the spirits go!

But that puts me right back where I started because Julius can attack me at range with his spirits and I have no way to respond. Even worse, Pridebreaker’s cooldown takes hours! If I let the spirits go to use Indomitable, I can’t take them back!

“What have you done?!” Julius demanded, enraged.

Bluffing time! Subaru shrugged. “Well nothing personal, Jules, but since you said that using magic was inbounds for this fight, I thought that I’d show you a little bit of mine. Your world has granted me complete agency over its magic. You attempted to use your spirits against me and now they belong to me.”

“You fiend!” Julius roared. All semblance of his normal composure had vanished. His face was pale and tears streamed from his eyes. “How dare you brainwash those innocent spirits into your bondage?!”

Subaru shook his head. “If you don’t like what happened, Jules, just remember that you brought these spirits into a one on one fight yourself.”

These spirits are actually kind of annoying. Honestly, it’s like being surrounded by six preschoolers who are just constantly begging you to play with them. Their thoughts are all… childlike. Their minds are full of first impressions with barely any concept of past or future. It’s like having six babies’ minds sharing my own. These spirits don’t have a fraction of the emotional maturity or intelligence that Puck and Beatrice possess.

Less emotionally mature than Puck… now that’s really saying something.

Jules charged forward swinging his sword.

Subaru triggered Reason and Judgment.

Hm. According to what you’ve read, sword play is mostly about skill and wits. Technique matters more than brute force and muscle. That’s encouraging because, short of using Indomitable, it appears to be clear that Julius is far stronger than you. His sword is also heavier and if you’re not careful he will simply brush your slender rapier aside.

You need to use leverage to your advantage. Use Reason and Judgment to plan your sword stroke with care. Parry his sword so that his sword tip is almost touching the hilt of your rapier. That gives you all the leverage and his heavier sword should be a disadvantage as its weight will make it harder to push back against your rapier.

Try to hold your own as best you can using Reason and Judgment to measure each stroke and aim your parries with precision. Think carefully before each stroke. Remember, Julius will absolutely capture you and then try to kill Emilia if you lose this fight.

Subaru restarted time.

Julius stepped forward swinging a quick strike, slicing just above Subaru’s shoulder.

Subaru triggered Reason and Judgment.

He’s aiming for your throat. Does he assume that this won’t kill you or is he angry enough to really want you dead now?

Irrelevant.

Strike your rapier right there against the tip of his blade. Block his strike with the part of your blade just above the cross guard and then push his sword back. Make sure that your sword is on top of his when they push against each other. The leverage is all on your side then.

Subaru restarted time and quickly struck Julius’s sword at the very tip. Subaru pushed the knight’s sword away.

Huh. Actually, holding Julius’s sword back is pretty easy as long as I put pressure in the right place. His swing stopped cold. It’s not even really a block. I thought the blades would lock and I’d need to push him back but his sword practically bounced off mine.

Julius feels like he’s falling back. That’s promising. Maybe this won’t be as hard as I thought.

Subaru stopped time with Reason and Judgment.

Don’t be foolish. Julius isn’t retreating, he’s attacking. He’s clearly surprised by how well you deflected his sword but he’s not at a loss. He’s trying to bring his sword down under your guard and slash your stomach.

Use the same technique. Block his sword tip with the base of your blade and take the initiative away from him.

Subaru restarted time and caught the next stroke on his blade and knocked the sword away.

Julius yielded a step backwards and retaliated with a strike from the other direction.

Subaru slipped into Reason and Judgment to aim and measure his sword stroke. Then he slid out of the frozen moment, parrying Julius again. This time Subaru tried to lift his rapier off Julius’s blade and go for a quick slice to Julius’s shoulder. Julius managed to avoid it but he again gave ground.

Julius raised his sword over his shoulder with both hands and held it out almost horizontally, pointing at Subaru. He stood his ground and waited.

What the hell is he doing? He looks horribly off balance and how does he plan to attack me like this?

Subaru triggered Reason and Judgment.

It’s a defensive stance. Look at his feet. His weight is almost entirely on his back foot. He’s goading you to take a swing at his sword. When you do, he’ll use the rotational energy you provided to retaliate against you with a slice at your neck.

The obvious strategy to counter this appears to be: Don’t strike his sword. His sword being extended so far in front of his body limits its maneuverability and it’s only protecting the upper half of his body. Feint toward the blade then throw a cut at the knee on his other side. He won’t be able to move the sword fast enough to defend. He’ll have to fall back.

Subaru restarted time and threw a light cut toward Julius’s blade. Julius smirked as Subaru appeared to take his bait. Julius’s smile faltered and his eyes widened as Subaru’s sword missed striking his own blade by millimeters and slashed down toward the knight’s exposed legs.

Julius drew back but he swung his sword at the same time, sending an awkward slash toward Subaru’s neck.

Subaru froze time.

You’re lucky that Julius is off balance. Had he a bit more leverage that blade would have slashed open your throat. Luckily, your rapier can move much faster than his heavy longsword. Strike the tip with your blade and knock it away.

Subaru restarted time and contemptuously slapped Julius’s blade away.

Julius snarled at Subaru, his normally calm and composed face twisted with frustration and fury.

Huh. At least he looks as annoyed as I feel!

This dance continued for several minutes with Julius, despite his long years training with a blade, being held at bay by Subaru. Subaru kept slipping into Reason and Judgment, planning each cut with precision. Subaru could tell that his own technique was laughably clumsy but he managed to knock Julius’s blade away each time and prevent the knight from slipping under his guard.

This is NOT fun! This doesn’t even come close to being a fair fight! I have absolutely no chance of landing a strike against Julius without taking one in return! All I can do is keep pushing his sword back but Julius knows tricks to keep slipping by me so that every parry is an act of desperation! I’m the only one at risk here! I don’t dare go on the offense so Julius doesn’t have to do anything but Attack, Attack, Attack!

I need to shift this. I need to make Julius get nervous enough to start fighting more defensively or I’ll just be dancing here until he gets lucky!

God, I hate fighting without Indomitable!

After the next parry, Subaru raised a fast cut toward Julius’s neck.

Julius stepped back again but this time the knight tripped over something and stumbled. Subaru eagerly pursued. Julius recovered instantly and swung his great sword down directly above Subaru’s head.

Subaru triggered Reason and Judgment.

Well, isn’t this just perfect. You blundered into an obvious feint like a complete novice which, in all fairness, is exactly what you are. It is actually rather impressive you’ve lasted this long against Julius but that overhead strike can not be blocked. You don’t have enough time to parry and divert it. At best he’s going to cut into your shoulder badly and likely shatter your collar bone. That alone might be enough to put you into shock although it’s not a killing stroke.

Luckily, Julius’s frustration has made him sloppy as well. He’s badly off balance and overextended. You can get under his guard.

Subaru restarted time and leaped forward.

Julius’s eyes widened in surprise as Subaru leaped toward to him. As a result, Julius had completely mis-aimed his stroke. Julius’s hand and hilt connected with Subaru’s shoulder with stunning force but his heavy sword hit nothing but air. Before Julius could recover, Subaru had the tip of his rapier at his throat.

Julius scowled at Subaru but he dropped his sword and raised his hands in surrender.

“You lose,” Subaru said bluntly. “You are no match for me. If you value your life and the lives of these guards you will depart and trouble me no more.”

Julius slowly nodded. “I will do as you command,” He growled through clenched teeth. “I am unable to best you and… I thank you for your mercy, Subaru Natsuki. Both for me and for these men.”

Subaru started to turn away. Then he hesitated. He looked at Julius and saw the tears streaming down his face.

Subaru took a deep breath and then make a quick decision.

“Here,” He said to Julius. He canceled Pridebreaker. The six spirits were released from Subaru’s control and immediately flew back to Julius.

The knight looked up at Subaru in shocked gratitude that rapidly hardened into suspicious. “Why?”

Subaru shrugged. “I have also been deprived of my spirit partner. We shared a special bond that was one of the most profound of my life. I remember the pain and the heartache of the moment when we were separated. I choose not to impose that pain on another.”

Julius gave Subaru a confused frown.

I might regret giving the spirits back to him at some point but I’m pretty sure that if I stole Julius’s spirits from him, I’d regret that decision immediately. Someone who’s never bonded with a spirit can’t imagine the pain of being separated from them.

Besides, there’s also the distinct possibility of Beatrice accusing me of two-timing her. Yeah, definitely want to avoid that!

Julius gave a formal bow but he never took his eyes off Subaru. Subaru thought that he might even have seen a glimmer of respect in his hard eyes.

Subaru quickly climbed up onto Patrasche. He scowled down at Julius and the assembled guards. “Listen. I don’t care what you guys do,” He snapped to all the men, “But don’t you dare try to follow me. I won’t be so nice the next time around!”

“Halt!” A voice thundered.

Subaru looked up to see a group of more than a hundred guards marching quickly into the park. At their head was an ancient man with a smooth bald head and several ugly scars across his face. His expression was a seething scowl.

Fuck. General Brendig! He’s the Governor of Ganaks. Even at cocktail parties he had a take-no-prisoners philosophy! One of the soldiers must have gone for help while I was fighting Julius! What the hell is wrong with me? Why didn’t I assume that would happen? Because I thought this was like a video game and the world would hit the pause button while Julius and I were dueling? Fuck me!

“Kill the witch!” He roared. “Loose arrows!”

Subaru nudged Patrasche and the riding dragon took off like lightning.

Hey! When the fuck did I become ‘the witch?!’ I mean, I am but Brendig can’t possibly know that! He’s just labeling me that way. What an asshole!

Subaru raced off through Hightown and behind him he heard alarm bells sounding throughout the city.

Willard Pickett and Lord Zyst had rushed to the castle that evening on Grand Duke’s Montefort’s request. The entire city was in an uproar. Outside the castle, slum dwellers, peasants, and demi-humans had all gathered together in protest, chanting their support for Subaru Natsuki and their contempt for the sages’ council. Willard and Zyst’s carriages had fought their way through the crowds with difficulty.

They found Montefort casually seated on a stairway not far from the great council chamber, calmly eating nuts out of a bowl with a glass of wine beside him.

“What… is the emergency?” Willard asked, gasping for breath. He leaned on his cane while looking longingly at the stairs where Montefort sat. Sadly, Willard knew too well that if he sat down, he would be unable to get back up unassisted.

“I assume you came through part of it,” Montefort replied.

“What are all those people doing out there?” Zyst asked.

“They are an enormous crowd of people from the slums and the surrounding communities here to protest the actions of the sages’ council and they are the result of a masterful political move by our opponent versus a series of major fumbles on the part of our allies,” Montefort explained.

“What do you mean?”

Montefort sighed. “It all started when Lady Crusch attempted to present her report to the sages’ council the other day. I believe I informed you of her intent, did I not?”

The two men nodded.

“Well, I discovered that, following the ostensible Witch of Envy’s miraculous escape from the Sword Saint, the sages’ council became rather more concerned about Subaru Natsuki’s witch than I had expected. Aghart, who possesses a legendary hatred for demi-humans in general and witches in particular, went so far as to wonder if Subaru is working with the witch willingly. Choi also suggested the idea had merit.”

The two men just stared at Montefort who continued eating his nuts. Montefort’s statement was so bizarre that they both attempted to parse it multiple times looking for some semblance of sense.

“I assume that the other sages laughed at them?” Willard asked.

“Oh no. The other sages were furious. Still, with only those two pushing for an investigation, I assumed that the matter was settled then and there. Unfortunately, Miklotov McMahon choose that moment to add another serious blunder to this mess.”

“What did he do?” Zyst asked.

“He decided that, even though these allegations of Subaru willingly cooperating with the witch or indeed, the elf being a witch at all were unsubstantiated, they merited an investigation by the sages’ council just to be sure,” Montefort continued.

Willard made an incredulous face. “Why would he do that?”

“He probably wanted to reassert the sages’ council’s independence,” Zyst mused. “A strong new king is likely to reduce the privileges and authority of the sages’ council and the royal assembly significantly. McMahon probably wanted to find a way to remind Subaru Natsuki that the council could still check him if it so chose.”

“Very good,” Montefort raised his glass in salute before drinking from it. “That was indeed McMahon’s plan. Clumsy but effective. With no evidence, the investigation would drag on for a few days and then be dismissed. Unfortunately, Subaru’s dust rat decided to take McMahon’s fumble and run with the ball.”

“How?” Zyst asked.

“She spread word around the city that the sages’ council were investigating Subaru Natsuki on charges of witchcraft even though the sages themselves had made the mistake of admitting on the record that there was no evidence. The slum dwellers reacted in a very predictable way. They are outside protesting their preferred candidate being railroaded without cause by the ‘wicked nobles’ who conspire against him. I never imagined the kind of support that Subaru Natsuki could command among the lower classes. I was blind to the depths of his appeal.”

Willard and Zyst both looked at each other in deepening fear.

Montefort drained his wine glass. “We are in a crisis, gentlemen. I really must apologize for previously recommending a wait and see position. Events have spiraled out of control and we must take action. Immediately.”

Willard nodded. “What about the sages’ council’s investigation?”

Zyst’s face screwed up in thought. “McMahon has no stomach for this kind of heat from the public. He must be planning to cancel the investigation first thing in the morning.”

“Indeed he is. McMahon doesn’t want this kind of strife in the capitol and at the end of the day, he really doesn’t care who sits on the throne,” Montefort said. He shook his head. “I suppose age catches up to us all. McMahon would never have made this kind of blunder ten years ago.”

“Then we need to immediately come up with something better to stick onto Subaru Natsuki than the cry of ‘witch,’” Willard grumbled.

“Sadly, that is no longer possible,” Montefort said, standing up. He shrugged. “The die has been cast, gentlemen. Will we or nill we, we are all in now.”

Zyst and Willard looked at each other in confusion. “Meaning what?” Willard asked.

“Let’s say that we do come up with some credible scandal to pin on Subaru Natsuki in a few months. After McMahon dismissed the last investigation with prejudice, do you really believe anyone will think that we are acting in good faith? Another investigation will just play into the narrative that we are the manipulative noble conspiracy that everyone claims us to be.”

Zyst frowned. “What are you saying?”

“I am saying that, like it or not, an accusation of associating with witches and practicing witchcraft is our only option now so we had better make sure that this sticks.”

“What are you talking about, Montefort?” Willard asked in confusion. “Between the three of us we control a commanding number of members of the royal assembly. We can manage anything we want!”

Montefort gave Willard a patient look. “Willard, our allies will stick their necks out if we demand it but they won’t place them on a chopping block for us, no matter what we threaten or how sweetly we ask. Next time we start an investigation into Subaru Natsuki, the ensuing riot will make what’s happening outside tonight look like a children’s play date. The members of the royal assembly will measure the risks and decide it’s far safer having us angry at them than to have every peasant in the kingdom hunting them down, not to mention infuriating the man very likely to sit on the throne, even if it takes a civil war to get him there.”

“So what do you suggest?” Zyst asked.

Montefort shrugged. “We play the hand that we are dealt. Come tomorrow morning, Subaru Natsuki must be persona non grata in the eyes of the kingdom and of the law. I hope no one was planning to sleep tonight, we have a great deal to do.”

“What about the protesters?” Willard asked.

“I’ve arranged for them all to be detained on charges of sedition. They will arrested shortly.”

The capitol was rolling with fury tonight. Huge crowds from the slums and beyond had shown up at the castle to protest their champion being investigated for witchcraft despite no evidence being provided in support of these charges.

Rom stood near the front of the crowd where Felt and Garfiel had managed to erect a crude stage. Felt and Garfield stood on the platform and they were riling up the crowd.

“The nobles want to go back to ‘business as usual,’” Felt shouted to the massive crowd. “Put a new King on the throne and get things back to normal. But normal never worked for us!”

“Yeah!” a few people cheered.

“You know where I come from. I grew up in the slums. I never met my parents. If not for Lord Subaru, I’d be a sneak thief right now. And I’d probably be selling my body for every other meal! But Lord Subaru gave me a chance. He knew that there are people stuck in poverty in this kingdom, not because they deserve it but because there are serious forces making sure that once you wind up in the slums, that’s where you stay! He paid me and my Grandfather to go around finding out how people got down here. He wanted real numbers and real stories because that’s how you devise a real solution! Subaru Natsuki is committed to emptying the slums and giving us all the lives and respect we deserve!”

The crowd cheered.

“But change never comes free! The nobles are feeling the heat right now! They know that when the selection ends, Subaru Natsuki will be their King. They will do anything to prevent that from happening. They’re accusing Lord Subaru of witchcraft! The man who protected Arlem from Gusteko soldiers. The man who hunted down the Whale. The man who killed two Sin Archbishops with his bare hands. And they’re calling him a witch?! They even admitted publicly that they have no evidence! None! How stupid do they think we are? There’s a reason they’re using such transparent lies! They’re scared! They know that they’ve got nothing! They know that if they don’t stop him now it’s going to be too late. But I have news for them! It’s already too late!

“We all know who the rightful King is and we’re not going to let them railroad him! It’s time for a new era for our kingdom! A Lagunica for everyone, not just for the nobility! A Lagunica where everyone is given the chance to prove themselves. A Lagunica that believes in all of our potential!”

The crowd cheered and applauded.

Rom nodded, looking impressed. Heh. That’s my Felt.

Felt stepped back and gestured Garfiel to come forward. The boy looked awkward but he gamely walked to the front of the stage.

“Hey. You all don’t know me. My name is Garf. I come from the Sanctuary. I’d be dead right now, and so would all of my friends and neighbors, if Lord Subaru hadn’t rescued us. The Witch Cult destroyed my home but we all got out safely and I got to help Subaru Natsuki kill a Sin Archbishop before we made our escape.”

The crowd applauded and cheered wildly. Garfiel flushed at this approval. He looked at Felt nervously and she gave him a proud grin.

Garfiel cleared his throat. “You all can probably tell that I’m a demi-human,” Garfiel said, flashing his sharp teeth with an ironic smile. “Never thought much about it, to be honest. The Sanctuary was mostly demi-humans. A few humans too, I guess, but so what? What’s the big deal? We all bleed the same color right? We all eat the same food! I’m a demi-human. So fucking what?!”

The crowd applauded.

“I never really thought about what it mean to be a demi-human. Not until I left the Sanctuary. And as soon as I came to the capitol I discovered that, guess what, it really does matter! You know what I’ve heard since I got here? ‘Stupid mutt!’”

The crowd roared in protest.

“‘Didn’t you see the sign? No pets allowed!’”

They all shouted again.

“‘Get the fuck off my property or you’ll wind up like all the other animals I hunt!”

The crowd roared and cursed.

“Now we got a lot of humans here tonight. Humans who also believe that Lord Subaru is going to make their lives better. And maybe they think that what’s going on with demi-humans isn’t their problem? Well, buddy, you better think again. Because the nobility? The power brokers in this kingdom? They view us all as trash and it’s no better being the trash on top of the heap than being the trash stuck on the bottom!”

The crowd applauded.

“But that’s the way they want it! They want us to keep ripping each other apart while they kick back and watch. They throw us a scrap and we fight over it! No more, you hear me?! It’s a brand new world! Cause their table is piled high with food and from now on, that’s where our share comes from!”

The crowd cheered.

Rom looked around and frowned. He saw the the royal guard moving into position, surrounding the crowd.

He knew what that meant.

He made a sharp beckoning gesture toward Felt. She moved over to Rom with a frown.

Garfiel had finished his impromptu speech and was following Felt over to Rom when a stranger jumped onto the stage. He had wild eyes and a lunatic grin under a blond mod haircut that looked as thought he had cut it with a dull knife. Small, curly ram’s horns peaked through his hair

“Rejoice new believers! A new era is come!” The man cheered, holding both hands over his head. In one hand he held a glowing blue crystal, in the other was a glowing red crystal.

The young people in the crowd looked confused while their elders stared at the man in terror and then stampeded away. The young quickly followed them though they had no idea what was going on.

Rom gaped at the man for a moment then grabbed Felt in one enormous hand. He reached out and yanked Garfiel down off the stage.

“Run!” He barked at Garfiel as he turned and fled.

He heard Garfiel racing behind him.

“Gramps!” Felt shouted in protest as Rom carried her tucked under one arm. “What the fuck is going on?!”

“I know those crystals!” Rom shouted as they ran past all the royal guards who didn’t react to them. The guards may have planned to arrest the crowd but they clearly recognized that they had much bigger problems right now. “They’re used by the the Demi-human Alliance. They explode!”

Rom, Felt, and Garfiel fled the scene as fast as they could.

The alarm bells were ringing in the castle and the royal guard leapt into action. They raced to surround the man with their weapons drawn.

The man’s lunatic grin never wavered.

“Surrender now or you will die!” The lead knight commanded in a great voice.

The man just laughed. “My life is meaningless! I am here to protect the new believers! Fear not, people of the world for I come with joyous tidings! The King will return!”

“What are you babbling about?” The knight demanded.

“What was will be, what is will be no more!” The man shouted. He seemed to be announcing this to the heavens rather than speaking to anyone actually present.

Another man leaped up onto the stage, his expression was furious. Several other people climbed up behind him. “Marcos! What are you doing?! This wasn’t the plan! You were supposed to wait for the guards to get in range and then blow everyone up! Not scare the civilians away! What the hell were you thinking?! Lady Capella will be furious!”

Marcos kept laughing. “My instructions come from a higher authority, foolish Victor! I do only as my Goddess commands!”

“What?!” Victor asked incredulously.

“She must have him! She must have all of him! All that there is, for her need is very great!” Marcos cried out in religious ecstasy.

Victor scowled at Marcos. “Traitor! Peteleguese’s Fingers are just as crazy as their master! Lady Capella should have strung you all on barb-wire when Petelguese rebelled! Kill this fool! Kill- Urk!”

One of the people who stood behind Victor, a cockeyed girl with short blond hair that stuck out in all directions like straw and leopard spots down her neck, had plunged a knife full into Victor’s back without batting an eye. “You are a fool. You serve degenerate pretenders to a glorious legacy beyond your understanding,” She said, dismissively to Victor as he gasped and fell to the ground in front of her, desperately trying to reach the knife embedded in his back. She turned her gaze toward Marcos. “And you are mad! You bow before a fake! Or hasn’t the Gospel enlightened you to that point?”

Another of Victor’s companions, a massive man with bull horns turned on the girl. He drew a long cruel dagger and the pair began to fight.

The royal guards looked at one another helplessly, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

Marcos just kept laughing. “All glory unto the rightful ruler of this world: The Child of the Unconquered Sun! The Empyrean King!”

“Guard!” The commander hissed at a royal guard armed with a crossbow. He gestured toward the cultist and the archer quickly nodded, taking aim.

“Praise the Sun!” Marcos screamed in ecstasy as he brought both crystals high over his head and smashed them violently together.

A great crater appeared in the earth.

That night, Emilia and Anri sat beside the ruined farmhouse in silence.

Anri had tried to tempt Emilia into conversation to distract her but Emilia was fixated on Subaru’s absence.

Anri had spent the last hour or two in the woods.

She finally came back, looking tired.

“What were you doing back there?” Emilia asked in an incurious voice.

Anri chuckled. “Setting traps. Just in case we need to get out of here in a hurry. It’s something that Vera… worked hard to teach me,” Anri sighed, her face growing morose.

Before Emilia could respond, the pair heard alarm bells peeling far off in the distance. They looked up and saw the portcullis of the great gate of Ganaks slam to the ground like rusty iron teeth.

Emilia’s heart stopped. “Subaru,” She whispered.

“Hey, we don’t know that this has anything to do with him,” Anri said weakly.

Emilia looked at her incredulously.

Anri flushed and nodded shamefaced. “Just… wishful thinking.”

Emilia bit her lip and stood up. “I’m going to go in after him,” She said.

“How?” Anri asked incredulously. “There’s only one gate and it’s a walled city. You’ll never get inside!”

“I have an idea,” Emilia said slowly. “I’m going to try to rescue Subaru.”

“Alright, as long as you have a plan, I’m game,” Anri said standing up. “Let’s go.”

“No,” Emilia shook her head. “Just me.”

“He’s my friend too!” Anri protested.

“That has nothing to do with this, Anri. I’m not even sure if I can get into the city this way. But two of us are going to get caught for sure,” Emilia said. “Wait here until sunset tomorrow.”

“And then what?!” Anri demanded.

Emilia looked at Anri in misery. “I don’t know, Anri,” Emilia said in a broken voice. “I don’t have Subaru’s gift for planning. I wish I did. I wish I could tell you what to do if things go wrong. But if we’re not back by sunset then we’re probably not coming back at all and you’ll need to think about how to help your people without us.”

Anri’s face paled but she nodded.

“Anri-” Emilia began.

“I’m not saying ‘goodbye,’” Anri said firmly. “You two will get out of that damn city just like you’ve gotten out of every ridiculous trap and ambush since the day I met you. I’ll see you here by tomorrow night. Hey, if you’re going into town, see if you can bring me some hot food while you’re at it. Dinner consisting of nothing but raw vegetables is getting pretty stale.”

Emilia smiled at Anri and took off running into the night. I really wish that I had a plan! She thought.

Anri had a look of dread on her face as she watched Emilia leave.

She reached into her bag and rummaged around inside, finally pulling out a small, black book.

She began to frantically flip through the pages.