“I don’t get your energy, Leo. It’s always the same speech every week, that old man’s obsessed with getting his daughter hitched. I was hoping to at least get a glimpse of her today, but it’s just the same as always.”

“If you took up arms for love, then you shouldn’t be here. To be a knight is a dream come true, and we’ve gone this far even though we’re still inexperienced! Sure, it’s a little repetitive, but we’re guarding the people who keep this country alive! We’re the wall of order to keep chaos at bay!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that romantic spiel of yours too many times to count. Seriously, man. It would be fine coming from anyone else, but you’re not like us normal people. That loyalty of yours is scary, I’ve seen what you turn into when you’re serious.”

“That’s the difference between us and animals. For the sake of good, we can become monsters. The Great Spirit blessed me with this power, and I want to use it to its fullest. What good is being strong if you don’t have anything to fight for?”

“You keep repeating that mantra over and over, but you’ve never cared about anything! Look around you, look at what you’ve done! You’ve destroyed the peace you swore an oath to protect, you’ve become the very thing you always said you were protecting us from!”

“I have kept my promise! I have fought only for the country, I want nothing more than for a stable peace to return! This is the only way I can use my power! I know what I’m becoming! This is all I can do to repent and return to what I once was!”

“This world has no room for monsters! Leave with your traitorous friends and never return to this holy fortress! Whether you rot in an alley somewhere or seek repentance with the monks you murdered, I don’t care! I banish you from my kingdom!”

“Leo! What are you doing? Orders were to evacuate once the civilians are safe!”

“I can still fight just fine! I’ll stay at the vanguard and defend everyone while they’re being relocated!”

“You’re not a pretty boy standing in the palace anymore! The world’s not your game to play, so do as you’re told! Fall back and-Gaah!”

“Papa, why do we never see any people anymore? It’s always so empty everywhere we go…”

“This world has been cast in shadow, and I have been showing them salvation. You will eventually come to understand the darkness that I face. When that time comes, you will become a light to pierce the veil and show them truth.”

“You say weird things sometimes, Papa.”

“Half of you is human, and the other is devil. When you learn the meaning of that, I pray that you can come to forgive me.”

----------------------------------------

Leo’s eyes snapped open, trembling as he stared at the arched ceiling above him, his knuckles hurting as he gripped the sheets tightly in his fingers. His heart was racing in his chest, distorted dialogue still running through his head as he slowly came to his senses. He groaned as he looked to his side, squinting at the bright light shining through the tall windows on one side of the room.

The light of day was calming, and as his hand idly moved to his chest, the voices were fading away, though they remained in his memory as he sat up, his fingers trailing along the spot where the injury had been.

“It’s gone…” he said under his breath, before he was distracted by a dissatisfied sigh from the foot of the bed, and when he looked forward, he realized that he hadn’t been alone.

A short girl with a round face and unreasonably large hair drills sat with her legs crossed on a bench, keeping her unusually colored eyes fixated on the yellowed pages of a thick book she held in her small hands as she spoke with a haughty tone. “You’re awake, I suppose. It’s quite annoying to listen to your fretting in your sleep.” She gave an exasperated noise as she closed the book, kicking her feet to hop off the bench and start walking towards the door. As she opened it with little effort despite her small frame, she paused, facing away from him and lowering her head. “...Betty thinks you should be careful not to mention devils around here, in fact.”

With that, she was gone, leaving the door to close shut with a creak, leaving him to ponder the strange interaction on his own. “Was she...watching over me?” he asked himself, before pinching the collar of the nightshirt he found himself in and pulling it forward so he could look down at his chest. “Not even a scratch. Is this what healing magic can do?”

He felt surprisingly calm, despite what had happened in such a short time. Waking up without his memory, the fight with Elsa, his strange conversation with that woman who reminded him of Nyx, and now finding himself in yet another unfamiliar place. By all rights, he should be panicking, but as his brain caught up to his body rousing from sleep, he couldn’t pretend to be anything but serene. These clothes were not what he had been wearing before, and he could think of no reason why he’d be captured. Someone had healed and housed him, so they must be good people.

His eyes widened, and he jolted as he twisted in the bed to plant his feet on the ground, unsteadily stumbling toward the inner wall to hold himself up with a hand on the surface. Slowly regaining his balance, he made his way to the door. He ignored the exhaustion in his bones and the cold tile on his bare feet, his gaze hardening as he reached for the door.

“Where are you two? Are you here?” he asked, blinking as his vision blurred, and his hand missed the doorknob, his leading foot dragging on the ground as he found himself facing the ground. “Please be safe, Felt, Rom…”

He let out a sigh as he felt his face land on something soft, his body weight held up by smooth hands gripping his elbows as he groaned, tilting his head up to look at the person who had caught him.

The first thing he noticed was the strikingly bright sky blue of her hair, which covered most of her face aside from her left eye and her slightly frowning mouth as she looked down at him, neither moving for a few moments before she spoke in a low, flat tone of practiced neutrality. “Sir, your friends are safe in their own rooms. I will confirm now before you attempt anything, you are a guest but you may not assault me.”

“Sorry for bumping into you…” Leo replied in a confused voice, surprised by the strange insult as he stepped back and rolled his heels on the floor before a smile crossed his face, his hands lifting to either side of him. “I’m fine, I was just disoriented.” He laughed, puffing his chest forward and patting it to show that he wasn’t in pain. “But if they’re alright, that’s good! I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to them...Oh, but Rom was seriously hurt. I should go check on him, just to be sure-”

“Sir, you should rest here. Healing magic only works as quickly as your body allows. Now that you are awake, I must report back. You may see them during merienda, but not before. I was told to inform you if you were already awake.” As she spoke, the girl subconsciously wiped off her chest where he’d collapsed, straightening out the maid outfit she wore before clasping her hands together in front of her apron, delivering a bow.

“Oh, you don’t need to do that. I’m not nobility, I’m pretty out of place here…” Waking up to a large room with warm sunlight was nice, but he also liked the cramped and quiet space inside the Loothouse. “Er, where is here, exactly? I can guess that Emilia’s involved, is this her mansion? And, who are you and that other girl?”

“Lady Emilia has taken residence in Master’s estate, but she does not own it. You are correct, however, in guessing that she requested assistance to heal you.” She stood back up, reaching a hand to motion to the bed. “Please, continue resting. I will monitor you while you sleep.”

Leo held his hands in front of him, backing up as she took a step towards him. “You don’t need to watch me. Really, I was pretty comfortable already, and I had company earlier. I get that I can’t go out yet, but I’ll just do some warmup exercises or something.”

“Sir, you suffered a deep wound. It will take you longer to recover than this.” Her tone was a little more forceful now, her footsteps heavier as she pushed him to back up towards the bed, though her hands moved to once again lace together in front of her as she gave a small smile, her eyes closing as she tilted her head. “It is Master’s order that I observe you until you are ready to be seen. I will stand here, so if there is anything you need of me, please refer to me as Rem.”

He blinked, and his hands lowered, his eyes narrowing as he stopped retreating, his feet planting on the floor. “Rem, huh? Nice to meet you, I’m Leo. But, I’m kind of getting the sense that I’m out of the loop. Is there a different reason I’m not allowed out of this room?”

The question was just a shot in the dark with no real basis, but the way her limbs locked and her professional smile flashed into an annoyed glare for a brief second told him that he had been more spot on than intended. “Am I correct in thinking that is a command?” she asked, and he hesitated, before nodding. She sighed, giving another short bow, notably less formal than before, before continuing. “Master doesn’t feel it necessary to take action, but you have a suspiciously strong miasma of the Witch around you. Lady Emilia has already given a valid explanation for the weapons you were carrying, but that is something that can’t be reasonably explained without hearing your own words. I apologize for stepping out of line with a guest, but I must ask you what your connection to the Witch is.”

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Her stare was piercing, betraying a strength that didn’t match the way she carried herself as he frowned, reaching a hand to scratch his head. “I understand the Cultist thing, sort of, but I don’t really know anything about a Witch. Is that the half-” He blinked, cutting off the question as he thought back to what the other girl had said earlier. She had specified that talk of devils was a bad topic, but she must have been referring to elves since the words seemed to be interchangeable. Now that he thought about it, Emilia resembled the woman in his dream too. Was that why she had been so annoyed by his constantly referring to her by her species earlier? “Eh, nevermind. I don’t know anything, I barely remember anything before yesterday. Well, yesterday as in the day before the fight...How long has it been since then?”

He felt small under her hard gaze, but soon, the pressure lifted and a smile crossed her face as she shook her head. “It has only been a single day, sir. That’s why it’s so important that you remain still until you can properly walk again.”

He was about to retort that he was already clearly back to normal, before a loud thud sounded, the partially open door swinging inward as Felt’s pained yelp echoed in the room, the girl holding a hand to the top of her head where she’d slammed it directly into the wood.

“Oww...Why’s everything so heavy here?! That thing would have broken if it was one of Old Man Rom’s!” she complained, staggering into view before grinning as she saw Leo. “You’re alive! That mean maid wouldn’t say anything when I asked about you, she’d just-” Her eyes went wide as she pointed a finger at Rem. “There’s another one! How many of them are there? Why do they look the same?!”

“You brat, don’t go insulting my business.” Rom said, lumbering behind her as Leo noticed the sling over his formerly separated arm, now reattached with a visibly jagged line where it had been sliced. “You’re looking less dead than last time.”

“Your arm is alright? I can’t believe it really could be saved…” Leo said, and the old man gave a hoarse laugh, patting the sling with his functional hand.

“The little lady is an exceptionally skilled healing mage. I won’t be fighting any battles for a while, but I should be back in good shape in a few days.” To demonstrate the miraculous level of recovery he had gone through, he clenched the fingers of the offending arm into a fist, keeping his hand closed for a few seconds before relaxing. “Good to see you on your feet, Felt was bouncing off the walls waiting for you to wake up.”

“We really won!” the girl said, beaming as she pumped her fists in the air above her head and twirled on her feet towards Leo, before laughing as she leaned against his side and reached to playfully slap at his cheek with the back of her hand. “I totally didn’t notice Elsa was about to ambush us, but you jumped back right before she could do anything! It was like you saw the future!”

The boy frowned, before setting his hand on the top of her head, rubbing her hair and shaking his head. “Don’t be ridiculous, nobody can do that. I just…” He sighed, kneeling down to bring his head level with hers as her smile dropped, an inquisitive look in her red eyes. “I figured you should be the first to know, Felt. It’s hardly complete, but I regained some of my memories. I still can’t recall who you were saying I stole that dagger from, but I know my name now. Thank you for not telling me until I found out on my own.”

For several seconds, Felt’s stare didn’t falter, before she let out a deep exhale, stepping back and lowering her hands to poise in front of her chest as she glanced down between his feet. “...You were kind of cool when you fought that guy, but you were really scary too. You’re not going to go back to that, are you?”

He felt a twinge in his chest at the sad expression on her face, and he put on a smile as he reached to pat her shoulder. He had to choose his words carefully, recalling the still-fresh memories that had pounded at his mind recently. “I don’t know the full story, but that person terrifies me even more than you. My name may be Leo Borealis, but it would feel too unnatural if you called me that now. I’d be more comfortable if you kept calling me Ford.”

She looked back at him, before a small smile brightened her face, and she straightened her back, posing proudly with her thumb on her sternum. “I was useless back there, all I could do was run around like a little kid. It kind of made me realize that I haven’t really ever tried to be any more than I am naturally. Well, I’m not going to fall behind you anymore, Ford. I’m going to get strong enough that I don’t need Old Man Rom to defend me anymore.”

“You’re a few decades too early to be casting me aside like that, brat.” the giant said, rolling his eyes to look at the maid, who had watched the conversation in silence, never leaving her professional stance, but now had cleared her throat to get their attention.

“Master wished to wait until Leo had recovered before allowing you to visit, but now that it seems that Sister was unable to stop you, I will not attempt to separate you anymore.” Rem delivered a bow, before turning to stiffly walk to the door. “You are welcome to explore the mansion, but please be careful not to damage anything. If you require assistance, call for either of us and we will appear.”

With that, she crossed the threshold and started to walk down the hallway, disappearing around a corner as the three watched from the doorway.

“She’s as weird as the other one.” Felt commented, frowning. “It’s like they’re under some kind of spell or something.”

“No, they’re simply doing their duty well.” Rom said, sighing and stepping out of the room. “I’m sure they’re normal people in private, but don’t go prying into their lives. Working for nobles is exhausting.”

“You talk like you’ve been in that position before.” Leo said, and the giant grumbled, holding his hand to the X-shaped scar on his shoulder.

“It’s in the past now. Were you once among the upper echelon before?”

Felt blinked, turning her head to Leo as he hummed, before he crossed his arms and shrugged. “I’m pretty sure I was noble, but I don't have much context. I’d rather not think about it too much.” Given the contents of his memory, he doubted he was even in the same world he had come from. After all, he had apparently caused an apocalypse, but here, it seemed relatively peaceful outside the weakly guarded Poor District. “By the way, do you know where we actually are? Is this still that city we were in?”

“I asked the other maid about it, but she just glared at me and refused to answer!” Felt complained, cutely puffing her cheeks out before pressing them in with her pointer fingers. “And Emilia’s not finished with training yet, so I wasn’t able to ask her anything while you two idiots were asleep! Seriously, does nobody know who this ‘Master’ guy even is?”

“You’re on named terms with her now?” Leo asked, raising an eyebrow. “Weren’t you just recently calling her a half-devil?”

The indignant puff of air from the girl’s mouth told him the answer even before she spoke. “We talked things over last night and decided we’d be back on neutral terms. I got to screw around with Puck this morning, he told me a lot of interesting things!”

“Puck? That’s her spirit, right?” Leo asked, and Rom sighed, waving his hand as he started to shuffle down the hall in the opposite direction from where Rem had gone.

“I’m not interested in the prattling of spirits. I’m going back to sleep.” he said, stopping in his tracks as he found Felt standing in front of him, a grin on her face as she held her fist to her heart in a salute.

“Don’t forget to join us later! We’ve gotta at least thank the person who saved you two!” she said, laughing as Rom smiled, setting a meaty hand on her small head and shaking it in his grip before she stepped aside to let him pass.

“Don’t act all polite, it doesn’t suit you. Of course I’ll be there, I’m curious about the kind of man who sponsors a half-elf publicly.”

Leo idly closed the door behind him as the giant started on his walk again. “Aren’t you a demihuman too? Wouldn’t you support her?”

“Bah! I have no skin in that competition of theirs. Just a bunch of pretty faces vying for power, nothing will change for the smaller folk. Take it from me, boy. Demihumans don’t like half-elves any more than humans do.”

Leo had no response to that, glancing at Felt for any indication of what he should say, but she simply shrugged. “I don’t really care either way. As long as I get paid, I’m good. Never dealt with someone like the Bowel Hunter before, but I’m used to living in danger. Only thing a small girl in the slums needs to know is how to fight and steal.” She blinked, before her mouth opened as she tapped her fist against her palm. “Speaking of that, Puck said he’d try training me! I’d better go before he gives up! See ya, Ford!” With that, she flapped her arm in the air in a wild farewell before taking off running down the hall, swiftly passing by the slow-moving old man and leaving Leo alone with his hand on the doorknob.

He blinked, before groaning as he held a hand to his forehead, a headache starting to return as the hall went quiet. “Maybe I should get some more sleep too, so much has been going on lately…” With that, he opened the door again, stepping inside before finding himself staring face to face with the small girl from earlier. She saw on a small wooden stool in the middle of what seemed to be a library, that same large book in hand as the two made eye contact.

The mutual staring contest lasted for several seconds before Leo was able to fully process what had happened. He backed up to look around the hall. When he still could see Rom’s back slowly departing, he looked back inside, only to find that the girl was still there. She had not said a word through the whole exchange.

“Um, sorry. I thought this was my room…” he said, stepping back into the hall. He was about to close the door when the girl closed the book, sighing as she shook her head.

“Betty is at fault for not expecting you to reenter, I suppose. I thought you would join Felt.” Her tone was uninspired, and her face was completely unreadable as she simply watched him, her strange eyes not blinking as he stepped back into the room to let the door close behind him.

“Is that your name? Betty?” he asked, and she slowly nodded.

“Betty thinks there is no one else I could be referring to, in fact. I am Beatrice.” She left it at that, returning to her reading as he looked on, confused by the simultaneous disinterest and invitation she seemed to be giving. She had stopped him from simply leaving, but she didn’t seem like she wanted conversation either.

“Oh, well, it was you who healed me, right? Thank you for taking care of me, Betty.” he said, and she glanced back up at him as he stepped closer.

“Don’t get too close or you may get hurt, I suppose. You reek, in fact.”

He stopped in his tracks, startled by the slight edge in her voice. Somehow, that was believable coming from her, like he’d be dead before he walked in if she really wanted it. “I don’t have anything to do with the Witch.” he responded, and she shook her head.

“Betty is aware of that. I mean that you are repulsive to spirits, in fact.”