Re:Zero - The King of Pride

"Arche," Emilia murmured, brushing bits of snow off the frozen statue of a slender, stern-faced young man. "I owe you an apology. We met a girl named Anri a few days ago and we let her stay in your house because she had nowhere else to stay and my bed wasn't big enough for three. I'm sorry but I think you'd understand. You were always a very generous person and I know that you'd want to do whatever you could to get weary people out of the cold."

Subaru swallowed hard as he brushed a few flecks of snow off the statue of a pretty girl around Petra's age. Her face was frozen in an expression of absolute terror, her eyes were huge and thin streams of tears were frozen against her cheeks.

Emilia told me that this girl was named Amarie. I really wish that she hadn't said that.

I did not want Emilia to tell me all the elves' names. I did not want to start thinking of them as real people, people trapped by a terrible curse whose lives have been put on pause because of Emilia's mistake.

People whose lives have effectively come to an end unless I can find a way to help Emilia break the curse…

"Maiel," Emilia said, gently rubbing snow off a beautiful elven woman whose face was contorted in fear. "I'm glad to see that you're still doing well. I wanted you to know that I'm still working hard to try to find a cure it's just that… I've had a few setbacks…"

Emilia lowered her voice as she continued talking.

This is awful! I thought that this would be a simple chore and to some extent it is. There's barely any new snow on the statues since I cleaned them off the other day but Emilia is making a point to talk to every statue as if it were an old friend, which I suppose that it is…

Emilia is telling each of them about her adventures over the past few months. Sometimes, I hear her whispering and I can guess that she's talking about me. That's fine though. But to listen to her carry on these one sided conversations…

This is all so goddamn sad! And Emilia did this everyday when she lived in the forest! She's desperately trying to maintain her relationships with these STATUES. A relationship which currently does not exist. I'm not trying to be an asshole but all this talking to the statues is pointless. She might as well try to tell her kitchen table that everything is going to be alright for all the effect she's having.

I'm torn. I desperately want to be anywhere else and at the same time, nothing could make me move. I want to be here with Emilia. I want to offer her whatever comfort my presence affords.

Since he hadn't been talking to the statues, Subaru had been cleaning them off much faster than Emilia and he'd moved pretty far ahead of her.

Subaru took a deep breath. "So… Mili told me that your name was Amarie," Subaru muttered as he gently brushed the snow off the statue of the little girl's head.

Why am I doing this? Why am I acting like this statue is actually a little girl who needs comforting?

"She told me that you were a little sweet-heart who loved candy and dreamed of traveling," He said. "She said that you wanted to visit the capitol someday."

Subaru sighed. "You kind of remind me of Petra. That's another little girl that I know. She gave me this handkerchief, by the way. The one that I'm using to clean you off. You'll… meet her someday. Who knows? You two might be great friends!"

Subaru hesitated. "You don't… have to worry, you know. I promised Emilia that we'd break the curse and bring you all back. 'Promises are important and I must keep my promises' and all that," He muttered.

Subaru looked at the row of frightened statues. Amarie stood by her entire family. They had all been frozen together. "I know that we haven't gotten very far with finding a cure yet but… I want you all to know how hard Emilia has been working. Mili has been through hell and back trying to save you all. I mean, she never takes a break! I don't know how we're going to do it yet but I promise you that it's going to get done. Emilia won't give up until it's summertime in this forest again.

Why am I saying any of this? What's the point? I don't have an audience. No one is listening to me!

Subaru coughed. "You're probably all pretty bored from standing here for so long but just… hang in there a little longer. Emilia and I are getting back on our feet and once we wrap up restoring Emilia's memories, saving you guys is the next item on the list."

Subaru paused. "Huh. I wonder if I'm going to get a lot of crap from you guys once you're unfrozen. Maybe you're not OK with elves marrying humans. Actually, let's not think about that. I'm tired of borrowing trouble.

"The point is that, even though you've been stuck here for a long time, you can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. We're all going to come back here and there's going to be green grass in this forest. Emilia won't let you down. Trust me. She never lets anybody down when it really counts."

"Subaru," Emilia whispered.

Subaru started and spun around. He saw Emilia standing there with tears running down her face.

"Oh! Mili, I didn't hear you," Subaru said awkwardly. He coughed. "So are you done talking to the… villagers?"

Emilia nodded. She walked up to him and buried her face in his shoulder.

Subaru held her close. "We're going to heal them, Mili. It's just a matter of time. Nothing will stop us."

Emilia nodded. "I know, Subaru. As long as we're together, we can do anything."

Felt sat in the carriage with Beatrice and Puck, slowly traveling to the capitol. Reinhard had been summoned to the palace before Felt had even left the army camp and Garfiel and the twins had already returned to the capitol separately.

Army officers had been questioning the spirits for the past few days. The questions were repetitious and the spirits' answers were unchanging. Finally, Felt had put her foot down and demanded that the spirits be released into her custody and Reinhard had backed her up.

Crusch's officers felt they had no choice but to acquiesce. Subaru might be missing but he was still the heavy favorite for the throne. Moreover, after the selection started, Subaru had given Felt executive power over his faction in case he and Emilia were ever out of contact in an emergency.

Felt had demanded that the spirits be returned and the officers had been unwilling to argue.

"Are you guys OK?" Felt asked the spirits.

Neither one answered. They'd hardly spoken on this trip at all. Puck seemed morose and miserable, staring off into the distance with nothing to soothe his loneliness but Beatrice. Beatrice by comparison seemed to be in much better shape. Her eyes were hard as agates but her expression was thoughtful. She looked like someone wrestling with an unsolvable problem.

"Look, I'm really sorry, guys," Felt sighed, "I never wanted to put those damn magic-suppressing bracelets on you. I'm going to demand that the sages' council takes them off as soon as we reach the capitol. We should get there first thing tomorrow. But at least you'll be spending your time back in the Astrea manor with us. You'll be more comfortable and we'll be here to take care of you until Subaru gets back."

Puck whimpered.

Felt shook her head, "Puck, I swear! I never meant to take you away from Subaru! I was trying to save him from that witch!"

"Killing the witch would kill Subaru, I suppose," Beatrice said in a soft voice.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Felt asked.

Beatrice seemed to shake herself out of her reverie and gave Felt her full attention. There was no friendliness in her expression. "Perhaps Subaru is bewitched, perhaps our memories have changed, I suppose. Either way, Betty knows that her Subaru would not be willing to live in a world without the half-elf," Beatrice flatly.

Felt gaped at her. "Beako! That witch is dangerous! Who knows what the hell she's doing to Subaru now that she has him alone? She already almost killed Subaru and me! How do we break this enchantment on him?!"

Beatrice didn't answer right away. "If Subaru is bewitched then it was done using the power of an Authority, I suppose. It cannot be undone by normal magic," Beatrice said, petting the despondent Puck who sat on her lap.

Felt rubbed her forehead in frustration. "Alright then, how do we convince Subaru that he's been bewitched?" Felt asked. "Subaru won't be willing to die for this girl anymore if he realizes that she's just tricking him."

Beatrice sighed. "Witchcraft of this type is powerful but… never perfect, I suppose," Beatrice murmured, her attention still focused on Puck. "Warping memories of the past is complex. There are always paradoxes in our memories that can't be resolved."

"What kind of paradoxes?"

"If Subaru's memories have been modified, then the elf was inserted where she should not be, I suppose. This will create flaws in the memories. There is an old legend of a famous knight who was bewitched to think that an evil woman was his wife. The spell was broken when his son came to rescue him and the knight realized that the witch was not the boy's mother."

Felt frowned, mulling that over. "I don't get it."

Beatrice stared out the window with a pensive look on her face. She spoke as if she was talking to herself, "Because the son's mother was not the witch, simply replacing the mother with the witch in all of the knight's memories would lead to obvious inconsistencies. The wife and the witch would behave very differently in most situations, in fact. For example, the witch's powers would trivialize many problems that the knight remembered them facing together in his modified memories. But strangely, the knight could not recall the witch having evermade use of these powers in all the time that they had been married. This is because the wife that the witch had replaced in those memories had no magic to use.

"If the magic attempted to clean up those inconsistencies then this only creates still more memories to fix because the outcomes of these remembered situations would be different than what he recalled due to the witch doing things that the wife would not or could not. If the witchcraft tried to make the son be forgotten about entirely, then more and more memories would need to be removed and the man's mind would become fragmented. These are the paradoxes that Betty spoke of. If Subaru found such a paradox in his own memories then he would be convinced that he was bewitched, I suppose."

"OK," Felt sighed. "That at least gives us a plan, right? We take Reinhard, we find Subaru, and we have a parlay."

Beatrice gave Felt a dirty look. "We wouldn't be in this situation at all if the little thief and the red knight had done that in the first place and hadn't threatened to kill the witch, in fact!" Beatrice hissed.

"Hey! You can't blame me for that!" Felt protested, "I didn't know that Reinhard was going to have his kill-switch flipped by all this! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get Red willing to kill anybody? Heikel is still alive! Think about that!"

Beatrice didn't answer.

Felt closed her eyes with a sigh. "Beako, tell me the truth. Is there really any evidence that Subaru isn't the one being bewitched?"

Beatrice shrugged, "Betty is just… keeping an open mind, I suppose."

Felt buried her face in her hands with a moan. "Fuck me. Garf told me that I wasn't looking at things objectively. He warned me but I was too burned out and broken to see it. If I'd just asked Subaru to talk instead of being so determined to kill the witch…"

Beatrice didn't answer.

Felt shook her head. "Beako, when you guys were hiding in the cave, why didn't you and Subaru tell us that you were there? Why not try to talk to us?" Felt asked.

Beatrice looked at Felt incredulously, "The little thief is either an idiot or she thinks that Betty is. The entire Lagunican army was hunting down 'The Witch of Envy' with intent to kill her on sight, in fact. The only persons who could have suggested to the army that the half-elf resembled the Witch of Envy were you and the others. You put all of Betty's family in danger, in fact! Does the little thief really think the army would have considered Betty's Subaru an unacceptable sacrifice if it meant killing the witch?" Beatrice grated.

Felt's eyes widened.

Puck roused himself from his stupor to glower at Felt. "And Rem didn't help either, Felt!" Puck growled. "She said terrible things to my Subaru. I would have obliterated her on the spot if I'd had more magic at the time. She told Subaru that they were enemies now and that the next time they met, she and Subaru's former 'friends' would kill the witch and likely kill him."

Felt stared at Puck in shock. "What the fuck?!" She gasped.

"The little thief sounds surprised," Beatrice said dully.

"We never said that we'd attack Subaru! We were trying to help him! We wanted to stop the witch! And the soldiers were not supposed to know about the witch's appearance! The whole 'Witch of Envy' thing was supposed to be kept confidential. Only Crusch and her top trackers and officers were informed. Until Rem… accidentally let it slip to some of the troops…" Felt whispered in dawning understanding. Felt stared off into the distance open-mouthed for a long moment. Then she shook her head and continued, "And just for the record, Crusch was not supposed to send out people with a 'search and destroy' attitude. We wanted to talk to Subaru. We were trying to protect him from the witch!"

"Apparently your soldiers didn't get the memo, Felt," Puck growled.

"Just wait until I get my hands on Rem," Felt growled.

Beatrice sniffed. "Betty has no concern whatsoever for the little thief's welfare, I suppose, but the blue maid will crush the little thief effortlessly."

"I was going to let Garf do it," Felt grumbled. She scratched her head. "Beako, do you know how Subaru… feels about us right now?"

"Betty's Subaru was very angry," Beatrice replied. "He felt betrayed, I suppose. Nobody except for Betty and Bubby trusted him."

Felt flinched. "Beako, what was Subaru's plan when you guys split up? Maybe we can still find him and try to talk this out."

Beatrice shook her head, "Subaru's plan was to escape the country so that we would all have been safe. Then he wanted to write letters to the little thief and the red knight, in fact."

"Letters?"

"To convince them that Betty's Subaru was still Betty's Subaru. To try and work things out, I suppose," Beatrice sighed.

Felt held her forehead as if she was in pain. "OK, what else?"

Beatrice shook her head, "To find a way to fix everyone's memories, I suppose. But Betty's Subaru didn't have any ideas for how to do it."

"Great," Felt sighed. "And you really have no idea where that portal sent them? Just between us, I mean?"

Beatrice shook her head. She gazed out the window and her brow furrowed as she returned to deep thought.

Puck perked up. "Betty, I'm starting to wonder if maybe that girl really was a witch trying to trick us," Puck mumbled.

"Oh?" Beatrice asked in an incurious voice.

"You opened a portal when you were nowhere near the library. And the portal moved Subaru far enough away that we couldn't sense him anymore. I know how much mana that would take. There's no way that you had even close to enough mana to pull off a stunt like that, especially after your mana got drained in the Sanctuary. If the girl could give you all that magic then she must be far more powerful than she led us to believe," Puck said.

Betty's head snapped around to give Puck her undivided attention.

Felt frowned. "Wait, the witch gave you the ability to open the portal?" Felt asked.

Betty stared at Puck intently. "Betty did not take any magic from the half-elf," Beatrice emphasized. "Betty could not, in fact. Betty can only take large amounts of mana from persons she has a strong bond with."

Felt frowned. Beatrice's tone was that of someone trying to prompt their listener.

Felt realized that the spirits hadn't been left alone since they were captured and would have had no time to talk without numerous eavesdroppers.

Puck looked up at Beatrice, his dull expression slowly giving way to confusion. "Wait, then where did you get all that magic? You didn't draw it from Subaru. I would have felt it."

"Betty did not draw it from Betty's Subaru," Beatrice agreed.

Puck looked annoyed, "So who then? Not Subaru, not me, and not the witch, who else is there?"

Beatrice gave Puck a frustrated look.

Puck thought about it for a moment and then his eyes widened.

"What?" Felt asked in confusion.

That night after dinner, Anri returned to the other cottage while Subaru and Emilia tidied up.

When they finished cleaning up the kitchen, Emilia had doused the fire and they'd crawled into bed.

He gently wrapped his arms around her, trying not to touch the bandages. "Am I holding you too tight?" Subaru whispered.

Emilia shook her head and snuggled deeper into his warmth, a smile on her face. "No, it feels good," She murmured.

Subaru sighed in contentment.

"So tomorrow we bring Anri to meet Victoire," Emilia murmured. "It's going to be very hard to say goodbye to her. She's been a good friend.

Subaru took a deep breath. "Mili, there's something I think we should talk about," Subaru said slowly.

"What's that?"

Subaru made a face. "Well… The other night, Anri told me that she needs our help."

Emilia rolled over to face Subaru and nodded. "Of course. We do owe her our lives, Subaru."

"No argument, but listen to the whole story first. Apparently, House Griest is trying to finish off her homeland. They're sending a new army to crush them in a couple of days."

Emilia blanched. "Subaru, I want to help Anri too but… we can't fight off a whole army!"

"I agree," Subaru said. "I was about to tell her 'no' but I guess she realized that was what I was going to say because she made me an offer."

"What was that?"

"First of all, she offered us a home. She asked us if we'd come to Siros with her. She claimed that we wouldn't have to hide there and that we'd be safe."

Emilia squinted at him. "In Gusteko?" She asked dubiously.

Subaru shrugged. "Yeah, I don't know about that one either. Anri claims that Siros isn't like most of Gusteko and that people are most accepting there. Maybe it would work out for us, maybe it wouldn't. It's an idea. Anri also offered to help us get the spirits back."

"How?"

"She claims that she can use diplomatic pressure to make Lagunica release them," Subaru replied.

Emilia bowed her head. "Daddy…" She whispered. A few moment's later she looked up at Subaru. "If she's right then we could have Beatrice and Puck back without having to confront Reinhard."

Subaru nodded. "I know. I've had quite a few nightmares about bumping into Reinhard again. It's an appealing offer if it will work. I don't think Anri is lying but she might be overestimating her influence. The final thing she offered is she said that she'd give us access to the Grand Archives."

"She mentioned those when we were talking," Emilia recalled. "She said if we could find information about my curse anywhere, that would be the place."

Subaru nodded.

Emilia looked away, her face twisted in doubt and worry.

Subaru sighed. "Mili, I… I feel like this is the only chance we have left. If we don't go to the Archives to try to learn about your curse, then what will we try next? I feel like… we either try to go there or… we just give up," Subaru said quietly.

Emilia glanced away and bit her lip. A dozen emotions flickered over her face. She looked back at Subaru, her face conflicted. "What do you think?"

Subaru sighed. "I think that if we have any avenue left to pursue that might make everyone remember you, we need to take it. Restoring your memory would solve almost all of our problems right now."

"But can we really help Anri? Even if we wanted to, what could we do?"

Subaru shrugged. "I don't know. This army is a completely different kind of problem than we're used to. I'm not sure what we can do about that."

"But at the same time," Emilia said slowly. "We can't just abandon Anri. Not after everything that she's done for us."

"Yeah," Subaru sighed. "I feel the same way."

"And this might be our last chance to find out how to lift the curse on me," She whispered.

"Yeah, it might be."

Emilia bowed her head for a long moment. "Subaru, I know that this is going to be dangerous," She whispered. "And I know that I shouldn't be willing to risk seeing you get hurt for anything…"

Subaru waited. "But…?" He prodded.

Emilia's face tightened, tears flowing down her face. "I'd do anything to make Daddy remember me!"

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 entirelymy 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.