Re:Zero - The King of Pride

Subaru knocked on the door of their room in the inn. He pretended not to notice that Felt was hiding behind him.

"Who is it?" Emilia asked sharply.

"It's me," Subaru answered.

There was a short pause before Emilia opened the door, her face clouded in confusion. "Why did you knock, Subaru?"

"Because we have a guest," Subaru said awkwardly.

There was a long pause until finally, Subaru sighed and side-stepped, removing Felt from her hiding place before she could react.

Emilia 's eyes widened in happiness. "Felt?! What are you doing here?" Emilia stepped forward, extending her arms to embrace the girl but Felt fled to Subaru's side, staring at Emilia in fear.

Emilia 's face grew pained and her arms fell.

"Subaru," Emilia said in a pained voice. "How did she get here?"

Subaru sighed. "Look, we have a lot to talk about and the hallway isn't the best place to do it. Can we all go inside and talk there?" He asked Felt.

The girl nodded silently.

"So that's where we are," Subaru finished.

Emilia sat on the bed, Subaru leaned against the opposite wall, with Felt seated on the floor beside him. Felt had chimed in a few times during his explanation but she was sweating profusely and she avoided looking at Emilia if at all possible.

"Then the collar can't be removed?" Emilia asked intently.

Subaru made a face. "I'm sure that they can be removed. But we don 't know how and if these things really are explosive, I definitely don 't want to experiment!"

"That's horrible!" Emilia said.

Felt took a deep breath. "So, what's our next move, Subaru?" She muttered, looking at the floor.

"First, we try to 'rent' Garf and get him out of those god-damn fields!" Subaru said at once.

Emilia frowned. "Subaru, where are they going to sleep?"

"I'll talk to Rose on my way out," Subaru said. "The inn is almost empty. We shouldn't have any trouble getting another room. If Bran comes by while I'm gone, tell him that we're interested in buying some slaves. I don't trust Sonas further than I can throw him but he might agree to negotiate with us just to keep us happy."

Emilia nodded. "Subaru, while you're down on the Shelf, can you keep an eye out for Willa and Miko?"

"Who?" He asked.

"Wait," Felt said looking at Emilia for the first time, "How do you know about Willa and Miko?"

"You know them?" Emilia asked in surprise.

Felt scowled. "I just asked you that! "

"Hey! Can one of you bring me up to speed?" Subaru complained.

Emilia sighed. "While I was out shopping today, I bumped into Ellen, one of the women that you saved from the slave camp."

"All the way out here?!" He asked incredulously.

Emilia nodded. "She came here looking for her daughters. She says that they're slaves in Girali and she asked if we can help free them. I promised her that we'd find a way."

Subaru looked annoyed. "Mili, we're starting to spread ourselves awfully thin here!" He complained.

"Subaru, this place is like hell! Willa and Miko deserve to be freed as much as Felt and Garfiel!"

"No argument!" He snapped back. "If I had my way, all the slaves would get to go home! But we're running out of money and we need to stay focused! Unless you want to try and touch off a revolution here, we can't save all the slaves."

Emilia pursed her lips. "Subaru, I promised Ellen that we'd try to help her."

Subaru rubbed his forehead. "Ugh. Promises are important and I must keep my promises," He grumbled.

"Huh? What does that mean?" Felt asked.

"So can we help them?" Emilia asked, ignoring Felt.

Subaru stared off into the distance for a long time with a sullen expression. "We'll try , " Subaru said finally. "Alright? We will try . Our priority remains getting the Book and rescuing Garfiel and Felt. If we can do all that and save those girls? Great. We 'll do that. If we can't do it, if the risks for trying to save them just get too high then we walk away and get out of here. Agreed? "

Emilia looked pensive but finally, she nodded.

"Alright," Subaru sighed.

"You two go down to the Shelf, Subaru," Emilia disagreed. "I'll go check in with Rose and see about finding them a room. Then I'll find us some dinner out in the market. I think that we're going to want to talk in private tonight."

Subaru looked surprised. "You don't want to come with us?"

Emilia shook her head and gave Felt a sidelong glance. Felt was resolutely staring at the floor rather than at Emilia.

Subaru sighed in understanding. "Alright," He muttered. "We'll be back soon."

"Oh!" Garfiel sighed in rapture as he devoured a plate of teriyaki chicken. "This is awesome! I've barely eaten in days!"

As luck would have it, Felt and Subaru had encountered Bran on their way to the Shelf and Subaru had asked him about acquiring another slave for manual labor.

Clearly thinking nothing of it, Bran had ordered a passing guard to escort them down to the Shelf and let them select a slave.

Subaru had also mentioned to Bran that he might be interested in purchasing some slaves.

Bran had assured him, "Master Subaru, I am quite confident that if you succeed in your plans for the island, the Governor will be happy to assist you in this matter."

Subaru still didn 't trust Sonas as far as he could kick him but he accepted that this was the best that he could do for now.

Subaru arrived on the Shelf and the guards formed up the strongest slaves for inspection. Subaru made a show of inspecting them all as Garfiel struggled to control his face and failed badly.

Meanwhile, Felt was off talking to Xiao, Baagh, Willa, and Miko. Subaru made it a point to ignore all of them.

Subaru finally selected Garfiel from the line and paid his rental fee.

Captain Smite was not remotely pleased with this choice and he warned Subaru that Garfiel was not broken yet and that he could be dangerous.

Subaru forced a smile onto his face, despite wanting to tear Smite in half. He calmly marched over to a boulder the size of a cow that sat near the edge of the Shelf. He triggered Indomitable and with one blow sent the boulder flying out across the desert where it crashed into the earth and slowly bounced and rolled to a stop.

Subaru smirked up at the shocked bull-man and told him, "Thanks for your concern, Captain, but I think that I can take care of myself."

Now the four were all eating dinner together in Subaru and Emilia 's room. Emilia had already returned from the market and acquired a small feast for them.

Garfiel sat on the floor, grinning widely as he ate.

Unlike Felt, Garfiel had accepted Emilia with a friendly nod and a shouted: 'Hey! So, how's it going, Frosty?'

Emilia blinked. "Frosty?" She'd asked in confusion.

Felt remained subdued in the room. She fussed with her chopsticks as she struggled to eat a bowl of white rice. Emilia had offered her a spoon but Felt had given a barely audible demure. "Subaru! How do I eat this?!" She demanded in frustration.

Subaru carefully hid a smile as he reached out with his own chopsticks and deftly picked up a grain of rice.

Felt stared at him incredulously. "Are you shitting me?! " She demanded. "You expect me to use two sticks to pick up rice ?! "

Felt threw her chopsticks across the room and proceeded to pick up a pile of rice in one hand.

"I'm a slum, girl, alright?" She said pugnaciously. "No reason to make things so fucking complicated. I'll just eat with my fucking hands!"

"Damn, shrimp," Garfiel chuckled. "You are in one seriously bad mood considering that we just got the biggest stroke of luck that we've had in weeks."

Felt grumbled something under her breath as Garfiel finished his yakisoba and tossed back an onigiri .

Garfiel gave a prodigious belch that shook the rafters.

Felt shook her head, "Jeez, fleabag. Would it really kill you to hold it in for once? "

Felt is still awfully scared of Emilia, Subaru thought sympathetically. That 's why she's acting out like this. I guess I can't blame her. I still remember bits and pieces of being attacked by the frost flowers and I didn't even get the worst of it. I blacked out.

Garfiel grinned at Subaru and then smashed both his huge fists together. "Alright, Captain! We're all here! What's the plan?" He said, sounding like a quarterback asking for the next play.

"To get you and Felt out of those collars is our first priority," Subaru said matter-of-factly.

"No argument here," Garfiel replied, picking up a scallion pancake and devouring it. "But how are we going to do that? There's a ton of guards in this city."

Subaru squinted at him. "Well, my first thought is to try and buy your freedom."

Garfiel looked surprised. "Wait. Just us?"

"What am I? Made of money?" Subaru complained.

"Nah, Captain, I get it but… there's an awful lot of suffering people in this town. Felt and I made friends with two girls down in the pit. And… well, I don't know if I feel sorry for Koh, exactly but… Well, I mean, we gotta do something about all of them, right?" He asked plaintively.

"Like what?" Subaru asked quietly.

"I dunno," Garfiel said, swallowing a slice of pancake. "Organize a slave revolt, free the slaves, and then bring them back to Lagunica where slavery is illegal so that they'll be safe?"

Felt rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Garf," Subaru sighed. "I feel like there's a couple of important factors in that plan that you haven't considered."

Garfiel shrugged. "Hey, it's a just broad outline, Captain! OK, so I'm not a master strategist. I don't claim to be. You are though so how are we going to break all the slaves out? "

"We're not," Subaru said shortly.

Garfiel blinked, looking up at Subaru in surprise.

Subaru sighed. Jeez. Garf, looks so damn disappointed …

Subaru took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Garf, but we… we just don't have the resources to handle something like that right now," He admitted earnestly. "We can't fight an entire city! Not to mention the army of mercenaries that seem to be parked on their doorstep. And our priority here is to break the curse on Emilia and find the spirits before we deal with other challenges. After freeing you two, of course," Subaru amended.

"And Willa and Miko," Emilia added.

Subaru made a face but nodded.

"You guys know Willa and Miko?" Garfiel asked in surprise. "We've been sleeping with them lately."

Subaru raised an eyebrow at Garfiel. "So you and Willa-"

"Not like that!" Felt said in disgust. "Seriously, boss. Use your head."

Garfiel smirked. "We met them when we first came here. I'm glad we're going to help them at least. They 're nice girls," Garfiel said.

Felt grumbled something under her breath.

Subaru frowned and stared down at the floor, deep in thought.

"What's wrong, Subaru?" Emilia asked.

Subaru didn 't answer right away. He thought hard and then finally he took a deep breath. "Alright, let me just throw this on the table. Does all of this seem… I don't know, a little… convenient to anyone else? "

Garfiel snorted. "Captain, I don't think anything about this situation is convenient ! "

"Shut up, fleabag," Felt said intently. "Subaru's right. Something is messed up here."

"What do you mean, Subaru?" Emilia asked quietly, trying not to interact directly with Felt.

Subaru shook his head. "We rescued Ellen a few weeks ago," Subaru began, " Way over in Lagunica. We come to this little city on the other side of the continent which has hundreds of people living here, not to mention all those mercenaries, and somehow you bump into Ellen on the street! She tells you about her kids who also happen to be enslaved in Girali, and you promise to try and help her.

"In addition, Garf and Felt come to Girali, which again, must have hundreds of slaves, and somehow by an even bigger coincidence, they meet Willa and Miko! The exact same people that we're going to end up looking for! That is one hell of a lot of coincidence!"

Garfiel frowned. "What are you saying, Captain? You think that Willa and Miko are up to something?" He asked dubiously. "They don't really seem like the type."

Subaru shook his head. "No, I'm not saying that. What I am saying is that something is seriously weird about all this and that we had better try and figure out what it is. "

Felt nodded. "Yeah. No more surprises, please."

Garfiel looked confused. "Alright. Well, putting that aside for now, what are we going to be doing here? "

Subaru sighed. "Alright. So, while we were wandering up north, we bumped into a witch named Korë. She told us that the only way to break Emilia's curse was by recovering a magic Book from the flying island."

Garfiel stared at him. "Captain, is this some kind of joke?"

Subaru chuckled. "Nope. This is really our plan."

"We're trusting a witch?" Felt asked skeptically.

Subaru shrugged. "Unless somebody has a better idea," He said calmly.

Felt made a face and rolled her eyes heavenward. "Alright. Sure. Why the hell not? The Gods know this isn't the craziest thing I've done since meeting you… So, how are we getting up there?"

Subaru sighed. "Well, do you guys remember Otto?"

"Otto?" Garfiel growled.

"Give it a rest, fleabag!" Felt said in exasperation. "I'm sick of all your whining! Otto is a really nice guy, even if he does happen to be dating your grandma!"

Garfiel stared at her in disbelief. "Shrimp! How would you feel if some weird lady started sniffing around your Grampa?!"

"Oh, Gramps has cut a wide track through the slums, believe me," Felt said matter-of-factly. "He's got a long list of ladies who admire his… err, attributes. I've lost track of how many times I've had to ask someone to stop talking before they gave me more details about their night with Gramps than I really needed to know. As long as they made me breakfast before they left in the morning, they were OK with me."

Garfiel stared at her, his jaw on the floor.

Felt shook her head. "Jeez, Garf. You don't always have to protect the women in your family from other men, you know. The Gods only know what you would do if Frederica started dating someone."

Garfiel stared at her in incredulous horror and started to rise to his feet. "Frederica is dating ?! Who?! Why didn 't-"

"Garf," Subaru sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I feel like we're getting off-topic here."

Garfiel reluctantly sat back down. "Look, Captain. I love you, man. But stay far away from my sister. "

Subaru blinked. " What ? "

"I'm just saying, I want to make sure that you don't start going after my sister. Remember, you're the only man in our core group not currently attached!" Garfiel blinked and then frowned at Emilia. "Actually, how serious are you two?"

"Very serious," Emilia murmured.

"Oh!" Garfiel laughed in relief. "OK. No bachelors left in our group! That's awesome."

"What about Red?" Felt asked in a jagged voice.

Garfiel stared at her for a long time and then shook his head. "OK… Yeah, I'm not touching that one, shrimp. I've done some pretty stupid things in my life but even I 'm not dumb enough to put my foot into that bear trap. "

"Otto is on the way here," Subaru cut them off before Felt could retort. "He should be here tomorrow or the next day. He's bringing us a new invention called a 'balloon' that can hopefully help us reach the flying island. Meanwhile, we're already started to arrange getting a meeting with Sonas so that we can buy your freedom. Then we head for the island."

"Huh," Garfiel muttered. "I wonder if I'm afraid of heights…"

"You two are not coming," Subaru said flatly.

"Huh?! Why not?!" Garfiel protested.

"Because it didn't occur to me at the time to design the balloon for four people," Subaru said patiently.

Garfiel folded his arms across his chest, looking ready to pout.

Felt looked at him in amusement for a moment before changing the subject. "What do we do with the Book after we get it?" Felt asked intently.

Subaru spread his arms. "I have no idea," He admitted.

"Seriously?!" Felt demanded.

Subaru made a face. "Yeah. Korë is apparently trying to keep me on a tight leash for the time being. She told me to bring it to the Od Laguna but I have no idea where that is and I'm assuming that neither of you do either."

"Did you ask Grams?" Garfiel suggested.

Subaru thought about it. "No, I don't think of it," He said, rubbing his chin. "I guess we were too fixated on trying to reach the Book. Good call, Garf. I'll ask her when she gets here."

Garfiel nodded. "Good plan, Captain. Man, that old lady knows a lot! "

Subaru sighed. "Ignoring the Od Laguna for a moment, once we get the Book and get out of here, our next top priority is to find the spirits, no matter where they're being held. I don't know how they're being treated and I'm terrified of what people might be doing to them."

"The spirits are at Torgon Tower," Felt said at once.

Subaru blinked. "Really?"

Garfiel nodded. "They tried to send us all there. Err. Well, that was before they revealed that they were just going to kill us, " Garfiel said with a grin.

Subaru 's face went white. "Then there's a chance that they already kille-"

"No!" Felt cut him off. "No. The spirits left the capitol safely. We watched them go but… we couldn't save them," She said shamefaced. "And Julius is keeping an eye on them because he got stationed there too. I'm sure that they're safe for now."

Subaru sighed in relief. "Julius is watching them. It feels weird to say it but that's some of the best news I've gotten in weeks."

Garfiel finished off his dinner. "Alright. So, free Felt and me from slavery," He counted off a finger, "Get the Book, rescue the spirits, and find the Od Laguna," He put up four fingers. "Then what?"

Subaru chuckled. "I have absolutely no idea, Garf. If we manage to get that far alive, I'll be very impressed."

Garfiel laughed out loud.

"Subaru," Felt said intently. "What about Red?"

Garfiel stopped laughing instantly. "She's right, Captain. Red is going to be a problem," Garfiel said in a worried voice. "And now that he thinks that Frosty is messing with Felt's memories too, he's more dangerous than ever."

Emilia started. " What ?! "

Felt bit her lip and looked away.

"See," Garfiel picked up the story, "When the shrimp figured out that it wasn't the Captain's memories that were screwed up but ours, she knew that we had to find you. But Red didn't believe us. He thought that the reason our memories were screwed up was just because you were now putting the spell on more people."

Emilia looked at Felt incredulously. "Wait! Felt, if you know that I'm not a witch," She demanded. "Then why are you still treating me like this?"

Felt's head snapped around and she glared at Emilia with such venom that Emilia drew back. Her eyes were wet with tears but her cheeks were dry. "Why?!" Felt snarled. "You're asking me why?! Well, that's easy, little Miss Non-Witch! It's because I also remember you almost killing me! I remember you torturing me half to death and I know for a fact that those memories are real!"

Emilia flinched back violently and seemed to collapse in on herself. She looked down at her feet and her eyes filled with tears.

Subaru looked back and forth between Emilia and Felt. Felt had pulled her knees to her chest and sunk her head down on them, pointedly not looking at anyone.

"Err," Garfiel said awkwardly. "I don't know about the rest of you guys but I'm beat. Maybe we should turn in for the night?"

Subaru gave Emilia a quick embrace and squeezed her tight. "Good idea," He said, standing up. "Mili managed to get you two your own room across the hall. I'll show you."

Subaru opened the door and Felt was the first one out, leaving without a backward glance. Garfiel left more slowly casting sympathetic looks at both Felt and Emilia.

Subaru paused long enough to give Emilia a fierce hug. "I'll be back in just a minute!" He whispered in her ear.

Emilia nodded without looking at him.

Subaru looked pained as he left the room.

Emilia sat there and slowly shook her head. "Why does my magic only bring pain?" She whimpered.

Felt and Garfiel quickly got settled on their beds in the room that Emilia had rented for them.

"Damn, shrimp," Garfiel sighed, stretching out on the soft mattress. "When was the last time that we slept in a real bed?"

"Since we left Mirula," Felt answered in a dead voice. "A week or two, I guess."

Garfiel sat up. "You OK, shrimp?" He asked. "You don't sound so good."

"Me? Oh, I'm great," Felt said bitterly. "We finally find Subaru and then I get to spend a few hours in the same room with the damn elf who tortured me!"

Garfiel looked pained. "Yeah… I guess that you're still… pretty upset about that…"

"Yeah! Fucking weird, right?!" Felt snapped, turning her back toward Garfiel. "I know that I'm being so unreasonable. After all, the elf already apologized for almost killing me and giving me nightmares for months so where do I get off making this happy reunion so fucking awkward?!" She said bitterly.

Garfiel thought carefully before responding. "I don't think that anyone thinks that you're being unreasonable. I didn't say that and neither did the Captain…"

Felt curled up in a ball and lay there silently.

"Shrimp, nobody expects you to be able to just… get over what happened to you," Garfiel said gently.

"I do!" Felt slammed her head into the pillow. "We have real problems, fleabag! The whole world feels like it's falling apart around us! Red is off doing… god knows what! The kingdom is hunting down our friends and family, Sphinx is building an army to attack Lagunica and maybe even the other nations for all that I know, and the Witch Cult is hunting us down! We don't have time to deal with my emotional hangups!"

"Felt, I think that I can safely say that I'm speaking for myself, Red, and the Captain when I say: Healing your wounds are always going to be one of our top priorities."

Felt curled up in a ball and stared up at the ceiling. "I don't know why I didn't see this coming," She moaned. "The whole time that we were looking for Subaru, I didn't even think of this possibility… Oh, fuck it, who am I kidding? I just didn't want to admit it…"

"Admit what?"

Felt sighed. "How scared I am, " She whispered in a small voice. "The whole time that we were searching for Subaru, I kept telling myself that I'd be fine when I saw the elf again. I knew that she wasn't a witch, that Subaru must be right when he said that we were all friends once. I knew that she'd cursed me by accident and that I needed to let it go. But every time I look at her, all I can think of is the Frost Flowers and how it felt when their roots started boring into me, cracking open my bones, and sucking out the- " Felt retched.

Garfiel looked at her sympathetically.

Felt whimpered. "I always thought that I was stronger than this…"

"You?!" Garfiel asked incredulously. "Seriously, shrimp?! Felt, you are without question, the toughest goddamn person I've ever met in my frigging life!"

"Be serious, fleabag," Felt said dismissively.

"I am! You're tougher than all of us put together!"

Felt gave him a skeptical look.

"Look, shrimp. It's easy to be tough when you're somebody like Red or the Captain. Anybody who starts trouble with them is going to regret it real fast! Or even me, I can handle myself in a fight and most folks don't come after me when they're looking for trouble.

"Being tough means overcoming the shit that life throws at you and nobody has endured more shit being thrown at them than you, Felt. You've taken everything that life has dished out and you kept coming! That's real strength! When the shit at the Sanctuary went down, you were the one who held us all together. You even kept us moving in the right direction while the Captain was gone! No matter what happened, no matter how hard you got hit, you kept getting back on your feet and kept on going, dragging all of us behind you!"

"Until now," Felt grumbled.

"Fine. Until now," Garfiel snorted. "So you're not fucking invincible! Most of us aren't! Do you remember when I was trying to pass the Sanctuary trials and I broke down after seeing that vision of my Mother abandoning Frederica and me with Grams? How she promised she'd come back but never came back? I was crying like a baby and you stayed there and held me all night! You even forced Ram to make me breakfast the next morning!"

Felt started. "Wait! How did you-"

"I knew," Garfiel shrugged. "Making me breakfast to cheer me up wasn't the sort of thing Ram would normally have thought of. At first, I thought that maybe Rem talked her into it but later on, I figured out that it was you."

Felt made a face. "I just… figured that you needed a good pick-me-up. You needed to know that somebody cared about you."

"I did," Garfiel emphasized. "I mean, not so much Ram doing it. It was obvious that it wasn't her idea and she's a lousy cook besides. But having somebody there who cared enough about me to arrange something like that… that meant everything. I did have somebody who cared about me. You. That's what gave me the strength to get up and keep going."

Felt didn 't answer right away. Finally, she sighed. "Hey, somebody has to keep you out of trouble, fleabag. You 're like that annoying little brother I never wanted."

He snorted. "Yeah, Fredericka said almost the exact same thing. Besides, Felt, you're probably the same age as me."

"Yeah, right," She scoffed. "I'm definitely older."

"How you figure?" Garfiel retorted. "You don't even know how old you are!"

"I'm basing it off of maturity, fleabag," Felt said, starting to smirk. "Nobody ever had to convince me that I couldn't fight a couple of Sin Archbishops singlehandedly."

"You are just never going to let me live that one down, are you?" Garfiel chuckled.

"Probably not," She admitted.

The room was quiet for a minute.

"I've got to figure this out, fleabag," She whispered.

"Figure what out?"

Felt sighed. "I need… to find a way to get past this thing with the elf. We're in serious danger, Garf. The only way we're going to live is if we can work as a tight team. And that means that I need to be able to deal with the elf without…" She trailed off.

"Hey, don't you think that you're expecting a little too much from yourself, shrimp?" Garfiel criticized.

Felt sighed. "I need to expect a lot from myself, Garf. I have a lot to make up for. This whole mess is my fault."

Garfiel snorted. "Bullshit! Bullshit. Nobody thinks that this is your fault except for you! Not me, not the Captain, not even Frosty! We got into this mess due to a ton of mistakes and bad decisions and everybody had a hand in making them worse! That 's why we're going to fix this shit. Together. As a team."

Felt digested that. "You know something, fleabag? Sometimes, not often but sometimes, you're actually pretty smart."

Garfiel chuckled. "Well, I've got to have some way of keeping up with you, shrimp."

Felt was silent. "Some days, I feel the same way about you," She admitted.

Garfiel thought for a while.

"You know, shrimp, I've been thinking-"

"Garfiel's been thinking," Felt groaned. "This can only lead to good things."

Garfiel picked up his pillow and threw it at Felt 's head.

Felt burst out laughing as she pulled the pillow off her face.

Garfiel smiled. Shit. When was the last time that I heard the Shrimp laugh? I think we were still in the Sanctuary …

"Alright," Felt said. "What's this brilliant thought of Garfiel's that will shake the continent?"

"I wouldn't go that far," Garfiel admitted. "But I did have a thought. Assuming that Grams and… Otto," Garfiel trailed off in a growl, "Really do arrive tomorrow, the Captain and Frosty will be trying to reach the island."

"Yeah. So?"

"So, I'm not crazy about spending the next few days just sitting around here and twiddling my thumbs while we're waiting for him to reach the island and then find the book. We should find something productive to do."

"Like what?"

"Well, we're finally free from our labors thanks to the Captain and we'll have some free time while he's trying to fly up to the island. What about trying to sync up Koh, Xiao, and Baagh?"

"…And do what?"

"Hey, we know that there's some kind of weapon in those tunnels that Brendig is digging and we know that he shouldn't get it. Maybe we could try to find some way to find and steal the weapon or just find a way to rebury it so that Brendig can't get it!"

Felt stared at him incredulously. "And, even assuming that we could do one of those things, and I don 't know that we could, what if we tell those three about the weapon and one of those guys decides to take it for themselves? " Felt pointed out.

Garfiel shrugged. "All I'm saying is that if we do nothing somebody is going to take the weapon and it 's probably not anyone that we want to have it. So we should do something to try and prevent it. I mean, if this weapon really is all that powerful, what are we going to do if the Witch Cult shows up at the last minute, trying to claim it? There 's nothing that we could do if Regulus or Capella came to town to play."

"Actually, Capella isn't a problem anymore," Felt replied.

"Huh?"

Felt chuckled. "Yeah. Subaru told me about it. Apparently, he and the elf managed to capture Capella while they were in Gusteko. She's in prison now."

"Seriously?! That's awesome! One of their best fighters is out of commission!"

"Yeah," Felt said, her voice growing somber. "But it won't help us very much. We watched Regulus destroy an entire forest singlehandedly. If he shows up, there's still nothing that we can do. We couldn't even fight Lye if he showed up to take the weapon!"

"I think that we could handle Lye if we really had to," Garfiel disagreed.

"We didn't do such a great job last time," Felt grumbled. "He was kicking all of us around like we were nothing."

Garfiel shrugged. "Hey, we still sent him packing that time."

"We won't have Rem or the spirits now," Felt reminded him.

"Yeah, but we'll have Grams here this time. I bet that we could handle it. Anyway, we're getting ahead of ourselves. For right now, we need to play spies or something. Learn everything we can about Girali and its players, try to figure out how to get the collars off, and maybe even find that weapon. And we need to do all that while making sure that nobody notices us unless we want them to."

"Oh! Is that all we have to do?" Felt asked sarcastically.

"We'll be fine, shrimp. Your brains and my brawn. We can make it work," Garfiel said complacently.

"I hope you're right, fleabag," She sighed. "Let's get some sleep. I'm exhausted."

"Good plan," Garfiel said, settling down in bed.

He frowned.

"Hey, shrimp! Give me back my pillow!"

"Nope!" She tittered.

"You bitch," Garfiel sighed.

Subaru returned to their room. He found Emilia standing out on the balcony, staring out across the desert with a depressed look on her face.

"Mili," He said gently, putting his arms around her. "Are you OK?"

Emilia sighed. "Subaru, I have hurt… so many people with my magic."

Subaru held her tight. "Yeah, I know how you feel."

Emilia shot him an annoyed look. "Subaru, you can 't know how I feel. "

Subaru met her gaze calmly. "Yeah, you're right. After all, it's not like since coming to this world I've been busy fomenting unrest and revolution all across the continent. Gusteko is in the middle of a civil war, Lagunica is poised to have a civil war, and Girali may just be the flash point for a new world war! I killed thousands of people just while rescuing Anri and Julius! How many people have you hurt again? " He snapped.

Subaru hesitated and then winced. I didn 't mean to make this all about me but I just couldn't help it.

Emilia 's face twisted in sympathy and she turned around to wrap her arms around him and held him close.

"Subaru," She said gently. "You really need to get over what happened in Gusteko."

Subaru stared at her. "Get over it?! " Subaru asked incredulously. "Excuse me, did you, Emilia, just tell me to get over something?! That seems kind of hypocritical coming from the 'martyr of the Elior Forest,' don't you think?"

Emilia 's lips thinned. "Subaru," She said in a warning voice. "You can't compare what I did to my family to what we did in Gusteko-"

"Oh you're damn right, I can't," Subaru grumbled, covering his eyes. "You froze, what? A few hundred people? I've burned thousands of people to death this month alone! Beyond that, Gusteko is in the middle of a civil war thanks to me!"

"Subaru-"

"Plus Lagunica and Gusteko are ready to attack one another, the peasants are rioting from Ganaks to Costuul, the Demi-Human Alliance is apparently threatening new terrorist attacks, and the royal selection had been canceled so that Lagunica can focus on its new imaginary Witch Hunt, and it's all because of me!"

Emilia hesitated, swallowing her arguments in favor of looking at him sympathetically. "Subaru…" She murmured.

He shook his head. "Emilia, it's just… crazy! I have been on this world for less than three months and in that time, I have completely shattered the peace of half the world!" Subaru continued, sounding both terrified and helpless. "Plus, the spirits are in jail somewhere and Felt and Garf have been made slaves and it's all because of me!"

Emilia held him tight. "Subaru, it's going to be OK," She whispered.

He shook his head. "I never imagined that I could cause so much damage. Rem was right about me. I can cause more harm by accident than most people can on purpose. Millions of lives across the continent are objectively worse because of what I 've done."

"Subaru, that's not true," Emilia assured him.

Subaru laughed without humor. "The hell it isn't," Subaru protested. "Gusteko is in the middle of a civil war because of me. Lagunica has declared a Witch Hunt because of me and maybe has a civil war on the horizon. A Witch Hunt isn 't just going to make folks look for us, they'll be dragging all kinds of innocent people before an inquest on trumped-up charges of witchcraft."

Emilia held him tight and squeezed him for a long moment. "Subaru, first of all, Gusteko was experiencing a civil war long before we ever went there," Emilia reminded him. "The most powerful provinces were already at war. The other provinces were never going to stay out of it for long."

"Great, so I just expanded their war," Subaru said in a dead voice. "Not to mention that Lagunica is threatening to attack Gusteko and maybe even Kararagi now. Which will give Vollachia carte blanche to attack Lagunica."

"Subaru, you can't control how Vollachia or the Sages' Council reacts to what's happening in Gusteko!" Emilia said.

"Mili, does it even matter if it's my 'fault?'" Subaru said in a despairing voice.

Emilia cocked her head. "What do you mean?" She asked in an uncertain voice.

Subaru sighed.

"Look, you're saying that it's not my fault because I could never have predicted these outcomes. OK, maybe that's fair enough. But does that even matter? All of those innocent people who are going to get caught in the crossfire of stupid nobles or witch hunters don't care whose fault it is that they're going to suffer. After three months of my being here, this whole world looks like an ant hill that's been hit by a cavalry charge. Everybody is scurrying every which way and no one is sure what to do next. It feels like everybody is prepared to start fighting everybody else any day now!

"The only good news that I've gotten so far is that the Inquisition hasn't formally been declared yet. That should be the final nail in my coffin. I can't imagine anything worse than people running across accusing anyone they don't like of witchcraft and dragging them off to the flames all because of me!"

Emilia lifted her chin and took a deep breath. "Subaru," Emilia said firmly. "If a Witch Hunt is formally called, it will be because of me, not you."

Subaru shook his head. "Mili-"

"I'm the one who looks like a witch, Subaru," She said bitterly. "If it was just you alone, nobody would be thinking of 'witches' in association with you at all!"

"Bullshit," Subaru said in a flat voice. "I've been declared a witch too, remember? They were always going to paint me that way as soon as I stirred up enough trouble. They might even be grateful to me for handing them an excuse. The nobility now have a golden opportunity to sidestep the law and wipe out all their political enemies. Frankly, Mili, if you hadn't been with me, you would have been able to disappear like a rumor. Nobody would be hunting you at all."

"And then I'd be all alone," Emilia reminded him.

Subaru shook his head. "No. No, you'd be with Puck because if not for me, the Witch Cult would never have gotten involved and Roy would have never eaten your name."

"Subaru-"

Subaru sighed. "I really should go down in history as a witch. I've done more to destroy this world than anyone since the Witch of Envy was sealed. And the really galling thing is, I didn't mean to do any of it! I just keep blundering into causing more and more trouble!"

Emilia took a deep breath. "What happened to the Subaru who always said 'As long as we're together we can do anything?'" Emilia snapped. "Subaru, what's going on? It's not like you to just… want to give up like this!"

Subaru gave a bitter laugh. "Mili, it's exactly like me to give up like this! I did nothing but give up for most of my life. The 'we can do anything' Subaru was just me trying something new since you met me. And it didn't work out."

Emilia looked at him somberly. "Subaru, what's really making you act like this?" She murmured.

Subaru sighed. "Mili, I just told-"

"I know, Subaru," She cut him off. "I know exactly how desperate our situation is. But what's making you want to just give up? You've never acted like this before."

Subaru was silent.

"Did you change your mind about what we could accomplish together?" Emilia asked with grim humor.

"No. Not… exactly," Subaru muttered.

Emilia waited.

Subaru sighed. "I still believe that we can do anything together, Mili. I just… I'm just starting to wonder if we should be doing anything. "

Emilia frowned, digesting that. "I don't understand."

Subaru rubbed his forehead. "Mili, it just feels like… no matter what I try to do or how good my intentions are, everything backfires on us! We rescued the Sanctuary but you wound up getting cursed! Or your name got eaten or whatever you want to call it, " He amended. "We rescued a group of slaves but then Reinhard found us and stole the spirits. We tried to help Anri but then we dumped her into an even bigger war. We destroyed the army that Gusteko was using to threaten Lagunica but ended up causing Lagunica to threaten Gusteko instead! I don't know, Mili. I just…" He trailed off.

Emilia waited. "You just what?" She coaxed.

Subaru sighed. "I just… I feel like… I feel like maybe I 've been cursed. It seems like no matter what I do, it 's just going to keep making everything worse. Maybe it's a side-effect of the Authority. Maybe people consider Authority wielders to be witches because bad stuff happens around them in spite of their actions. Maybe terrible things happen to the folks dumb enough to be around witches no matter how hard the witches try to avoid it …"

Emilia held him close. "That's a pretty grim way to look at things, don't you think?" Emilia whispered.

Subaru shook his head. "When I was a kid, my Mom read me a story once. I don't remember the specifics exactly but it was about a kid who wanted to be big."

"Pretty common," She commented.

Subaru nodded, his face pressed against her chest. "He wanted to help his parents and his siblings but he felt like he was too small and weak to do it. So he wished on a star to be bigger."

"Did his wish come true?"

Subaru gave a grim chuckle. "Oh, it came true alright. The next morning he awoke and he was a giant! He was bigger than their whole house. At first, he was really happy. He could help his father work the fields. He could run to town to get groceries for his mother in just a few steps. He dug out wells for his neighbors and he gave all the local kids rides on his head."

"Sounds fun!" Emilia smiled.

Subaru sighed. "It didn't last. The boy had a lot of power. Too much. He couldn't use it effectively."

"What do you mean?"

"The boy tried to help his father fix the roof. He was so big that he didn't even need a ladder. But because he was so big, he couldn't nail down any shingles without breaking the entire roof. He tried to help his mother pick apples from the orchard but each time to tried, he uprooted the trees. He tried to play ball with his siblings but since nobody was anywhere near as strong or fast as him, it wasn't much of a game and they all asked him to stop playing."

"Well, that's not right. This is a very dark story, Subaru. What is the moral of it supposed to be?"

"I don't know if there's a moral necessarily," Subaru replied. "Maybe 'don't try to grow up too fast?' I don't know. The part that stuck with me is that the boy wanted to help and by all accounts, he had the ability to help but he just… he couldn't help. His power was so dangerous that he wasn't able to use it constructively. He had so much power that what really occupied all of his attention was just… not letting that power hurt other people, never mind trying to find some way to use his power to help people. The boy eventually runs away and hides in the desert to protect people from himself."

"Is that how the story ends?" Emilia objected. "That's awfully depressing."

Subaru sighed. "No. He wishes on another star to be normal again and the next morning he's just a boy and he goes home where everyone is happy to see him now that he's no longer a giant. Honestly, I always thought that it was a terrible story. It felt like the story was telling kids not to try to exceed people's expectations because nobody will like them. But maybe the book had a point. If you're too much stronger than the folks around you, they 'll be scared of you. And maybe they should be, no matter how hard you try to be kind to people."

Emilia looked at Subaru in concern.

He shook his head. "Mili, I've never tried to hurt anyone who didn't try to hurt me first. That should make me feel better but… all I can think about is all the people that I hurt by accident or maybe I hurt them without even realizing it. I feel like … a giant clomping through the countryside, trying to be constantly careful of where I put my feet. I feel like I could crush someone who just happened to be standing nearby by sheer accident. Or maybe I could even hurt someone that I care about…"

Emilia digested that. "You've been thinking about this for a while, haven't you, Subaru?" She asked softly.

He sighed. "Ever since I spoke to Korë. She told me that everyone around me was at my mercy whether I like it or not. I thought that was such a strange way to put it. But she's right. I… I just don't want to… deal with the responsibility of having everyone's lives in my hands and I know that nobody else is comfortable with their life being in my hands. "

Emilia hugged him tight. "I always have been," She whispered. "I've trusted you since the day we met and I've never had a reason to regret it."

Subaru buried his face in her chest, his voice weary and frustrated. "I don't know what to do now, Mili. I really don't. I was hoping that we could get your name back and break your curse, rescue the spirits, and then… go hide someplace. Like maybe northern Gusteko or southern Vollachia. Someplace that doesn't have a lot of people and where nobody would be looking for us. But would the world ever get tired of looking for us?"

Emilia 's lips thinned. She took a deep breath. "Subaru, this isn't the time to think about those things," She said firmly. "Our priority is to get my name back and to rescue the spirits. We should be planning things out a few weeks at most, not years and decades on end. Of course, you're going to feel overwhelmed if you're trying to plan our family's entire future! We need to focus on getting back together. Then we'll all work together to figure out what to do next."

Subaru shook his head. "Mili, I'm sorry. You were the one who needed to talk tonight and instead, we spent all this time dealing with my crap."

Emilia gave him half a smile. "Well, maybe it's given me some perspective."

There was a knock at the door.

Subaru 's face was pained. "I'll get it," He said, oddly grateful for the distraction. "Well, I guess the 'kids' couldn't sleep tonight," He muttered as he walked to the door and opened it.

Subaru found himself seized in a tight embrace. "Mister Subaru!" Otto said happily.

Subaru gasped for breath. "Hi, Otto," He grumbled.

Subaru craned his head over Otto 's shoulder and saw two girls with pink hair standing behind him. One wearing a robe and holding a tall staff. The other was in shorts and wearing sunglasses. "Hello, Alpha and Delta," He muttered.

"Good evening, Lord Subaru," Alpha intoned.

"Hi!" Delta said cheerfully.

"I wasn't expecting to see you both come out here," Subaru commented, worming his way out of Otto's hug.

"As luck would have it," Alpha murmured, "Beta returned from her quest just before Otto departed. We shared with her what you told us."

"Beta was all fired up to head off again and explore the Elior Forest for clues," Delta chimed in. "But we convinced her that it had already been a few weeks. The trail wasn't getting any colder at this point and she agreed to stay behind and watch over the others."

Alpha nodded. "This allowed me to join Delta and young Otto on their journey," She continued. "I thought that perhaps my knowledge of the Lady's habits might prove useful in preparing for your journey into the sky."

Subaru nodded. "Well, we're very glad to see you both," He remarked, glancing at Emilia who nodded in agreement. Her face was still pale and drawn but she seemed to be putting some effort into pulling herself together.

"Any chance of getting some food?" Delta asked. "We haven't eaten since breakfast and all of the shops are already closed for the night."

Subaru nodded. "Yeah, we have some leftovers. But first, we need to go grab Felt and Garf."

"Garf?!" Delta squealed in delight.

"Garf?!" Otto gasped in horror.

"What are they doing here?" Alpha asked calmly.

Subaru sighed. "Let's… go grab them first. This isn't so interesting a story that I want to hash it out repeatedly."

Felt pulled the pillow over her face. "Garf!" Felt snapped. "We're not legendary heroes! We can't move mountains with our own hands!"

"Why not?" Garfiel scoffed. "Every 'hero of legend' started the same way we are now! A ragtag group of misfits working together to thwart evil!"

"Garf," Felt sighed. "You have read way too many fantasy novels," She complained. "I know that Subaru is pretty amazing in his own way but even he can't singlehandedly overthrow an entire city! Much less a city that's currently occupied by an army led by a man with a serious grudge against him! All Subaru has to back him up is us, the elf, and maybe some of the slaves."

"What about Baagh?" Garfiel murmured. "He used to be a rebel. He introduced me to some of the remaining sympathizers. I think that if they believed that they had a chance to win, they'd jump at starting a rebellion."

"Yeah but I don't have a lot of faith in those guys," Felt replied. "They reminded me of some of the street gangs I knew back home, rough and tumble kids who went around making trouble for the authorities and felt like they were striking a blow for the slum-dwellers and never realizing that when they slapped the authorities, the authorities slapped back and everyone in the slums felt the blow!"

"That's kind of pessimistic, don't you think?" Garfiel criticized.

"Yeah, well growing up in the slums tends to make you a pessimist!" Felt reminded him. "Besides, I don't know if we should be stirring up any more trouble right now. Everything has gone crazy lately! Garf, I don't care if means that I'm a coward, I just want to get everything back to normal for a while before we try to change the world again. I've been on the run for weeks! I need a fucking break!"

There was a knock at the door.

"Who could that be at this time of night?" Garfiel wondered.

Felt stood up to answer it.

"I feel like everything is just spinning out of control, Garf," She said in a small voice. "I don't want to deal with any more surprises!"

Felt opened the door and found herself staring at a tiny pink-haired elf wearing outlandish clothing.

"Hi, Felt!" She said cheerfully.

Felt couldn 't stop staring at the Ryuzus. "So, these are both your grandma? "

There were now seven people sandwiched in Subaru and Emilia 's room. Otto and the Ryuzus devoured the food that the group hadn't finished earlier.

Emilia was trying to be as unobtrusive as possible while everyone ate and Garfiel was picking sullenly at some food, giving Otto dark looks.

Felt had to poke Garfiel repeatedly to get him to answer her question.

"Hm," Garfiel grunted. "Yeah. Well, something like that. When our Mother left the Sanctuary, Frederica and I were left under Ryuzu's care."

"All of them?" Felt asked awkwardly.

Garfiel shook his head. "Mom never knew there was more than one. Nobody in the Sanctuary knew except for me and Frederica. And the Ryuzus swore us to secrecy. Alpha, Beta, and Gamma all mothered us. Delta was more like a… I don't know, a big sister, I guess, to us growing up," Garfiel gave Delta's new outfit a quizzical glance.

"Lord Subaru," Alpha murmured. "We must find a way to free young Garf and Miss Felt from bondage."

"Absolutely!" Delta shouted. "I can't stand to think of them in chains! We have to get them out! I don't care if we need to kill every single-"

Subaru clapped a hand over the startled elf 's mouth.

"Delta," Subaru grumbled. "Can you try to be a little bit quieter? I don't think that we want everyone in the goddamn city to know what we're planning."

Felt raised an eyebrow at Delta. "Yup, I can see that she had a profound influence on you, " Felt sighed to Garfiel.

Garfiel shot her a foul look.

Delta nodded sheepishly and Subaru took his hand off the tiny elf 's mouth.

"Do we have a plan, Mister Subaru?" Otto asked.

"A rough one," Subaru admitted. "OK. So Emilia and I had a meeting with Governor Sonas and he offered us a thousand gold pieces if we could reach the island and turn off that weird beam."

"A thousand?" Otto's eyes widened.

"Yeah. So I assume that once we have that gold, Garfiel and Felt's freedom will become much more negotiable. Incidentally, Alpha, do you know anything about that beam? What is it, and why it's there? People think that it's responsible for the curse of eternal night on Girali"

Alpha shook her head gravely. "I've read that some of the Witches tried similar means to amplify their powers over long distances in the past but never did they use it for something as simple as to curse a region."

"Well, what kind of things did they use it for?" Subaru asked.

"A number of things. Getting vision on places deep underground, transferring power from one site to another, reshaping the world's underlying lei lines, modifying the landscape. There were many such possibilities. Anyone who needs to use this manner of 'blunt hammer' approach to curse a region is not very experienced in their craft."

Subaru digested that. "Alright," He sighed. "Well anyway, we're going to try to reach the island first thing tomorrow. With some luck, we'll be able to land there, find the Book, and deactivate… whatever it is. Then with any luck, we'll buy Garfiel and Felt's freedom and head back to the Lagunica to find the spirits."

"Yes!" Garfiel shouted, doing an arm pump.

"By the way, Otto," Emilia broke in, "We got you a new contract."

Otto perked up. "Really?

"Oh, right," Subaru muttered, digging around in his satchel. "I almost forgot about that."

He handed Otto a sealed envelope. Otto broke it open and quickly scanned it with Alpha and Delta reading over his shoulder.

"Oh my! Master Ebenezer wants us to ship a full cargo of pyroxene crystals from Girali to Priestella!" Otto read.

"Good price?" Subaru asked.

Otto nodded. "Master Ebenezer says that the shipment will almost certainly be sold at a loss so he's offering me a fixed rate and a bonus for any money that I manage to save exceeding his projections."

"Sounds wonderful," Emilia murmured.

Otto nodded. "Yes, but there is one problem. This arrangement would require us to leave at dawn in two days. We won't be here to help you."

Subaru took a deep breath. "Well. Then we'll just have to make sure we reach the island tomorrow."

"We can't just abandon you!" Otto protested.

"We'll be fine, Otto," Subaru assured him. "You have a lot of mouths to feed and a business to run! You go and take care of business."

Otto looked guilty but he nodded.

"So… that's the plan," Subaru shrugged. "Did the balloon turn out OK?"

"Better than expected," Alpha murmured. "The scale model prototype that I designed worked just as you predicted-"

"Although, we couldn't figure out a way to get it down after it took off," Delta interjected.

"Also," Alpha added. "I tested the full-sized balloon to ensure it was airtight before shipping. We even added some small enchantments to the materials to ensure strength and durability," Alpha finished.

"Awesome," Subaru said. "Seriously, great job, guys. Also, Otto, when you go see Ebenezer to collect your pay, feel free to show him the engine. I think he's really excited about it."

"Just one more matter," Alpha murmured. "If you do reach the island, I implore you to search the Lady's archives most carefully for any books that mention the Mammon Machine. My sisters' lives may depend on it."

Subaru nodded. "We'll do our best, Alpha. We promise. Incidentally, I don't suppose that you know any spells that would get those collars off Felt and Garfiel?"

Alpha shook her head. "If I could do so safely, I would have already done so."

"Fair enough," Subaru sighed. "Alright. Well, I guess that's pretty much everything then."

"Captain," Garfiel whispered in a low voice. "What about the weapon?"

"What weapon?" Otto asked in surprise.

Subaru drummed his fingers on the floor. "I'm not sure," He admitted. "We have no idea where it is or what it is."

"Yeah, Captain, but I think we're all in agreement that we don't want Brendig to get it," Garfiel added pointedly.

"No doubt," Subaru agreed. "But for right now, I don't know how we can stop him. Alpha, do you have any idea what kind of weapon they might be looking for?"

Alpha shook her head. "I am sorry, Lord Subaru. Nothing that I read in the Lady's Archives ever mentioned this area. It is possible that the Lady's private library might contain further information. It is also possible that our mistress simply was never aware of this weapon at all."

I don 't believe that, Subaru mused, thinking back to his dream where the witches had traveled through the half-buried tunnels. Then again, I 'm not going to bring that up. 'Hey guys, good news! I had a dream about the Witch of Greed exploring tunnels that were probably in Girali! That proves that she was here and looking for the whatever!'

Yeah, I don 't think I want to see the looks on people's faces when I say that.

"Well, her island is here," Subaru said. "So she must have come to this area at some point for… something. Do you know anything about how she died?"

Alpha shook her head. "We do not. Her prized student, an ancestor of Lord Roswaal brought her body to the Sanctuary and to the resting place that she had prepared for herself. He answered no questions. It is possible that the Lady did not die in this region at all. She might have died far from here and her island drifted to this location on the wind."

Subaru frowned. I mean … that's possible but I don't know if that's likely…

Maybe she didn 't die in those tunnels. Maybe she only died years later.

He shook his head. "We'll deal with these matters in order of urgency. First, we focus on the Book and freeing our friends. We need to be ready to run before we do anything in regard to this weapon. As soon as we grab it, I'm pretty sure that we'll be dealing with whole armies trying to chase us down and we need to be prepared for that."

Subaru looked around. "Is there anything else that we should discuss?" Subaru asked.

Felt thought for a moment. "Maybe one thing, Subaru," She said. "I'm not sure what Koh's game is in all this. He was sent to bring us to Girali and to make contact with the local rebels."

"The rebels that don't exist as I recall," Subaru muttered.

"Yeah. The only reason I bring this up is that Koh is a member of the Demi-Human Alliance. If he finds out about this weapon, we can be sure that Sphinx will know about it ten minutes later."

"Sphinx?" Alpha said sharply.

Everyone turned to look at her.

"You know her?" Felt asked in surprise.

Alpha 's impassive face looked almost flustered. "Er… Perhaps. A long time ago. Truthfully, I thought that she was long dead…" She trailed off, looking disturbed.

Felt 's eyes narrowed. "Actually, that brings up an interesting point. According to Koh, Sphinx looks an awful lot like you guys. "

Alpha and Delta shared a worried look but they didn 't say anything.

Subaru decided to break the silence. "Where I come from, a sphinx is a mythical creature that's half man and half lion. And has a weird fondness for talking in riddles."

"I dunno about the lion part but the rest sounds spot on," Garfiel grumbled.

Felt stared at the Ryuzus for a long moment and then moved on.

"Sphinx has big plans," Felt warned them. "She thinks that the recent uprisings are giving her the chance to demand demi-human equality around the world and especially in Lagunica. It's not a bad idea," She quickly assured Garfiel, "But I'm still worried about what might happen if she found out about some ancient weapon buried beneath Girali."

"Does Koh know about it already?" Subaru asked sharply.

Felt sighed. "I don't know what Koh knows. I don't even know what Sphinx knows, " She admitted. "Sphinx talks in riddles and despite all her lofty talk of deals and alliances, she was definitely holding things back. For all I know, Sphinx sent Koh out here specifically to find the weapon for her and we were just a distraction."

Subaru rubbed his forehead. "Alright. That's a tomorrow problem," He muttered.

Subaru glanced around. "Alright, if everyone's done eating, let's get to bed. Tomorrow could be a long day."

There was a frantic knock on the door.

Subaru sighed. "Come on! Who the hell could that be?! "

"Master Subaru!" Bran's voice called came through the door. "I must speak with you!"

Subaru got up and answered the door. Bran was standing on the other side, looking frightened.

"Master Subaru, the Iotuns are preparing to attack the Shelf! You offered to assist us! Is that offer still valid?"

"What?!" Garfiel asked incredulously.

Subaru thought it over and then nodded slowly. Yeah. Let 's see if I can scare Sonas a little.

"How many are attacking?" Subaru asked.

"It looks like only four but that's enough to completely demolish the Shelf! Will you come?"

Emilia stood up. "Yes. We will," She murmured.

Subaru gave Emilia a morose look and then he closed his eyes in resignation.

Garfiel took a deep breath. "In that case-"

"You all stay here," Subaru said firmly. "This fight is out of your weight class! We'll deal with the Iotuns!"

Subaru and Emilia followed Bran out of the room and shut the door.

Garfiel sat there sulking.

"So," Felt murmured said to the pink-haired elves. "Are we expecting a new Ryuzu to wake up any time soon?"