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“Andddd the holy dragon mentioned for the 500th time in a book that’s supposed to have nothing to do with the dragon.”
The exhausted sigh of Felt could be heard as the sound of a page being flipped slightly echoed throughout the room. The chair creaked as she leaned backwards, looking up at the ceiling in boredom.
“Aghh, this is so boooring! That was just one book, how many more do I gotta read?”
She complained, glancing over to her right and being assaulted by the sight of a large pile of books.
They towered over her, with a stature matching that of Flugel’s tree. She groaned, tossing the book she had just read to the side, its large form landing with a resounding thud.
“Ugh, that damn Sword Saint prick! When I see him, he'll wish he was sorry”
Slamming her fists on the table, Felt quickly looked around to make sure the coast was clear.
Stretching her arms and yawning, she laid her head down on the table.
“Y’know what, screw all of this Royal Selection crap, I think I deserve a nap.”
—
“GOOD MORNING AXE KICK!”
SMACK
“AHHHHH!! WHAT THE HELL!?”
A loud shriek came from the young lady shortly after having her nap disturbed from a kick to the back of her head.
Rubbing the back of it, she quickly turned in anger to the source of her annoyance.
There stood a young man with jet black hair, a very rare sight in the Kingdom of Lugunica, wearing clothes that further made him stick out like a sore thumb. His scary eyes and grin were on full display, clearly laughing at the reaction he got.
“What the hell big bro!? I was just taking a small nap, what do you think you’re doing!?”
“Well Felt, that ‘small nap’ of yours ended up being 2 whole damn hours! Rein told me to check up on you since he assumed you were studying hard for the selection and I thought so too.”
Glancing to his right, Subaru saw the massive pile of unread books Rein had left for Felt, only to then look to his left, to see just one textbook he assumed Felt had read, on the ground.
“But it looks like you were too busy dozing off and you only managed to get through one book! You’re not even halfway done, that was just the beginning, you hamster!” he said
Felt blushed, she did not like the fact that she was being exposed for all of this, especially by someone like Subaru of all people.
“G-give me a break big bro! Y’know how it is, sometimes a nap is mandatory.”
“Yeah, and you know what else is mandatory? Keeping up with your studies! Though I’m not one to talk really…”
Subaru muttered that last part out towards himself, making sure Felt didn’t hear so that she wouldn’t have a way to tease him back.
“Oh shaddup! Reading all these books is so boring and hard! Aughh, I just want to go back to sleep!”
Felt’s head slumped on the table as she groaned in annoyance, heavily debating on bolting out of the room to go play with Rom-jii or do anything that wasn’t studying.
“Jeez Felt, you really need to stop complaining, you sound like a chipmunk.” he said while chuckling to himself.
Felt had turned her head away in annoyance at Subaru's words, starting to get sick of his shenanigans.
“I sound like what? There ya go again with those dumb, what do you call it again? Subaruisms? Yeah, you’re doing that again!” she said while pointing at him.
“Pfft, all I’m saying is that all your squealing makes you sound like a chipmunk, maybe you should get two more and form a band!”
Subaru laughed, clearly Felt wouldn’t get the reference he was making, and that’s what only made it funnier for him. He considered further teasing her with references she wouldn’t understand, but he didn’t want to keep distracting her from her studies.
“Agh! Screw you big bro! Tell me whaddya mean by that, what are these phrases you keep sayin?”
“Listen Felt, as much as I’d love to tell you, you shouldn’t worry about my stories or quips.You should be more focused on your studies as a Royal Candidate! Now chop chop young lady!”
As Subaru finished lecturing Felt, he had begun walking away, going to do something else, but not before turning to her to tease her one last time.
“Smell ya later, hamster!” he grinned, before shutting the door as Felt threw a book at him in anger.
“Get the hell out! I swear, you are gonna pay for this!” Felt let out a defiant roar, her chair rocking back and forth as she stood on it.
—
It was now much later in the day, late enough for the Magic Hour Crystal to gleam blue with the time of water, or, what it more importantly signaled: dinner time. In the corridors of the Astrea estate, Felt was walking towards the dining room. Normally, Reinhard would escort Felt to dinner, proclaiming it was his duty as Felt’s knight.
Though Felt was getting sick of being treated like a constant damsel in distress, so eventually, Reinhard would surprisingly allow Felt to come to dinner or move about on her own, with the exception of breakfast.
“Finally! It feels like I was in that library for ages! Those chumps will be amazed that I didn’t only read one book, the amount will definitely leave them shocked hehehe.”
She only read 2 books.
As Felt approached the dining room, she was able to make out some distant chattering. Most likely dinner had already been served by Carol and Grimm, or as Felt liked to refer to them as, Granny and Gramps. She figured they were awaiting her presence, so puffing out her chest, Felt struggled for a second before finally pushing open the doors to the dining room.
“What’s up losers! Were ya waiting for me?” Felt said as she crossed her arms
With making a grand entrance like that, one might assume that all eyes and attention would be on the young princess.
However, much to her dismay, she did not get the desired reaction she had hoped for. After all the time studying and sleeping, all she had got was….
“And as the five souls surrounded him, he tried to protect himself by putting on the springlock suit…”
To see the expression of her own knight, Reinhard Van Astrea, listening very intently while nodding his head to whatever story Big Bro was talking about.
“...but the plan backfired, it ended up killing him!”
As Subaru finished telling his story, Reinhard immediately started clapping, showing his astonishment over the tale. Whatever Subaru told him was so interesting, that Reinhard even started writing it down in his journal, baffling the princess even more.
“A…fascinating story, Subaru. Though I can’t help but think back to what you said earlier, wasn’t this story intended for children?” Reinhard questioned with a cautiously grim expression.
“Well not really, the first 4 games were never made with a child audience in mind, it just sorta grew into that after a while. That’s when I kinda lost interest in it.”
“I see, and what of this William Afton you spoke of? Truly, a dangerous man like him who survived that gruesome death should not be allowed to roam the streets, especially if Felt-sama is around.”
“....You guys…”
“Huh? Oh don’t worry Rein, the story is completely fictional, and heck, even if someone like him did exist, you would have no problem killing him.”
“Guys, helloooooo?” Felt spoke up.
“I appreciate your faith in my strength Subaru, but really, I’m sure someone such as myself would have a bit of difficulty with this ‘Purple Guy ', if nothing else he is the scarier antagonist.”
“Blah blah blah, enough with the self-deprecation, you’re amazing Reinhard. Now, let me tell you about the Bite of…”
“GUYS!!!!” Felt shouted.
After having been ignored the second she stepped into the room, her patience had run thin. She thought of not saying anything at first, but not being noticed repeatedly after the two idiots continued to converse had set her off.
Subaru had jumped slightly from Felt’s squealing, being so immersed in his storytelling had made him unaware of Felt’s presence. Reinhard had remained in place but turned his head in Felt’s direction in surprise.
“Finally! Jeez, it felt like I was invisible to you guys, the hell are you doing!?” With her dagger poking out in petty frustration, Felt questioned them.
“Oh Felt-sama! I’m truly sorry, Subaru was in the middle of retelling a story from his homeland. I was so deeply immersed that I didn’t register that you were here.” Reinhard’s face was painted in honest bewilderment. Had his DP’s failed him, or had he been so earnestly enticed by Five Nights At Freddy’s?
“O-oh hey Felt, How’s it going? We were waiting for you but I got kind of bored so I thought of telling Rein some—”
Subaru was in the middle of explaining when suddenly he found Felt hurling towards him with an impossibly ferocious snarl.
“YOU!!!!!”
“W-WHOA! HEY FELT WAIT A SEC-AGHH!” A guttural, somewhat girly shriek of surprise erupted from Subaru’s mouth.
Subaru nor Rein had time to respond as the feral beast crashed into Subaru and knocked both of them down onto the floor, spilling utensils and food along the way.
“WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!!!!!!!!!” Felt had shouted again in anger.
“F-Felt-Sama! Please stop, you’re hurting Subaru, what is the matter!?” Reinhard questioned as he pulled his liege off of his friend.
He did not know what had made his liege act the way she did, perhaps it was due to them ignoring her, or maybe it was due to some other mistake of his.
Regardless, it was his duty as her knight to assist her in any way possible, and with what was happening right now, he did the best thing he could think of for his liege.
After pulling Felt off of Subaru, he brought one of his hands to her face, and after a short second, the princess was fast asleep. Although there probably would have been much better ways of handling the situation, Reinhard thought draining some of her mana would be best.
“Subaru are you alright? Are you injured anywhere?” Reinhard asked.
After placing his liege down on a chair, Reinhard walked over and lent a hand to Subaru, which he graciously took and hoisted himself upwards. Despite everything that just transpired, Subaru was smiling and chuckling a bit, confusing Reinhard.
“Yeah, I’m fine Rein, no injuries here, I’m as clean as a whistle!” Subaru said cheerfully while pointing to himself.
Reinhard detected no lies from Subaru, which was a relief to him, the last thing he wanted was Subaru or his liege being gravely injured in his own household, Reinhard would never forgive himself if that happened.
So seeing Subaru’s smile and that he was telling the truth filled Reinhard with relief, so he began to smile as well with his friend.
“I am relieved, I was not expecting Felt-sama to act like that at all, I wonder what had caused such a reaction?” he wondered.
“Yeah, trust me I was surprised too, I know Felt can be a bit hyper sometimes, but that really caught me off guard.” Subaru said while scratching the back of his head.
“Though I probably had something to do with it.”
“What do you mean Subaru?” Reinhard asked.
As Subaru was about to explain, the two of them heard groaning coming from behind them, they both turned to see Felt was beginning to wake up from the slumber Rein had put her in. Her eyelids fluttered open and looked around, before looking straight at Subaru and Reinhard.
“Eh!? She’s already awake? Rein I thought you said you drained her mana!?” Subaru asked
“Oh, well I only drained enough to knock her out for a minute”
“You could have said that first so I would have more time to prepare!” Subaru said.
“Huh, w-what happened, I don’t really remem-” Felt said until all her memories came flowing back into her mind. She instantly turned to look at Subaru in anger.
“Oh I remember now! Big Bro, I’ll fuckin’get yo-”
“Felt-sama! Please relax, you just woke up, let Subaru explain himself!” Reinhard instantly appeared between Subaru and Felt, which slightly shocked the drowsy princess.
With Reinhard’s sudden intervention, Subaru took this as a chance to quickly fix the situation.
“Felt look, I’m sorry about earlier, and I’m sorry we ignored you when you got here, we didn’t mean to! Believe me, I’m an idiot, but I’m not a jerk who would ignore my favorite pipsq-uh I mean my little sister!” Subaru stammered out quickly.
Seeing as her expression still hadn’t changed, Subaru sighed as he knew he had to change his approach.
“Look, all I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry for earlier, please forgive me.” Subaru pleaded while bowing towards Felt, surprising both her and Reinhard.
For a brief second, nothing was said, and Subaru was starting to panic internally, but soon the silence was broken by a long sigh.
“Jeez, you really are an idiot Big Bro, and you as well Rein.” Felt sat with her arms crossed, her feet bobbing up and down.
The Sword Saint laughed nervously while scratching the back of his head, he could tell she was mad, but she would not be jumping at them to maul their faces off anytime soon.
“Stand up you idiot, look I’m sorry too, I don’t know why I acted like that. I guess it was being holed up in that room for hours and this jerk making me read all those damn books that caused it.”
Subaru raised his head in surprise at Felt’s words, thinking he was in the clear, he was about to thank her, when Felt raised her palm at him in a stop motion.
“But I’m still upset at you! Teasing me and making all those weird references or Subaruisms as you like to call it, while not telling what they mean or where they come from really pissed me off!” Felt exclaimed.
There it was, well Subaru figured that it was only right for Felt to call him out like this, he didn’t take her own feelings into consideration, and the last thing he wanted to do was to hurt Felt’s heart.
“I’m sorry Felt, I should have realized soo-”
“Shaddap! What are you, Reinhard? Enough with all of the apologies already!” Felt said as she interrupted Subaru.
Reinhard felt slightly hurt by her words, but he realized it was better for him to not interfere and let his lady handle things how she wanted.
“Instead of getting on your knees and begging for my mercy, I have a better idea of how you can earn my forgiveness.” Felt smirked.
Ah crap, Subaru thought internally, this was it. Felt was going to make him do something that would make him wish he didn’t piss her off in the first place.
Whether that’s showing off his crossdressing skills as “Natsumi Schwartz”, to being her humble servant that does everything for her, or even worse, being her personal cookie handler for a week, Subaru dreaded all possibilities.
Reinhard looked at his friend solemnly, he could feel the despair emanating off of Subaru. He prayed that whatever punishment his liege was to give Subaru, it would at least be a merciful one.
“The hell are you guys looking so depressed about? I haven’t even said anything yet! I’m not gonna subject ya to some kind of…what didja call it, Big Bro? A nineteen eighty four dystopia or somethin’?” Her face scrunched up deep in thought about the meaning behind the words, but once again, Subaruisms simply escaped her. That wouldn’t stand for much longer.
“Guh?” the two idiots said in union.
“Anyways, Big bro, I have decided on your punishment. I want you… to tell me the stories to all those references you keep making!” Felt declared.
There was a long pause among the three, the two were at a complete loss for words, not expecting this answer from her at all.
“Eh?” Subaru muttered, still confused over her declaration.
“Oh dear, at least Felt-sama is being merciful, I feared something far more devious.” Reinhard deflated with relief.
“What are you so puzzled about? Did I make ya hit your head on the way down? You heard me! I want you to tell me all the stories for all those references you keep making!” Felt repeated.
“Uhh, Felt, I’m fine with doing that, but are you sure there isn’t something better you could ask for? I don’t want to interrupt your stu—”
“Like you're one to talk! You already did that earlier with all the teasing, and plus, I already did enough studying, so you and Rein can shut it!”
While it’s true that she did study, she did not specify how many books she read, since she didn’t want Rein catching her with a half truth. She felt that one of them was about to ask further about it, so she moved the conversation along.
“A-anyways, start telling me one of your stories now! I want to learn something else that isn’t boring politics or that damn stupid dragon for the 500th time.”
“F-Felt-sama! It is unlady-like to call the Divine Dragon stupid.” Reinhard pleaded.
“Be quiet already! Anyways, tell me now Big bro” Felt demanded for the last time.
Subaru looked at Felt and saw the determination simmering in her eyes. He knew that when Felt wanted something, she wouldn’t stop until she got it.
He sighed, turning to look at Reinhard, who only gave a shrug, and then back to Felt, still awaiting his answer.
“Alright Felt, you win, but just a warning! You’re most likely going to feel very confused and think I’m crazy after I’m done telling you.” Subaru said as warned her.
“Oh please, I already think that with everything else you say, even with our first meeting I thought you were just some weirdo creep.” Felt admitted honestly.
“Ouch!” Subaru said while holding his heart in fake pain, earning a chuckle from Reinhard.
“Alright, now, where should I begin? Let’s see, hmmm aha! I know the perfect story to start with!”
Felt and Reinhard looked at Subaru in pure anticipation, curious to see him finally tell him a story from his mysterious homeland.
“Let me tell you guys the story of…Dragon Ball!” Met with his iconically cringey pose, Subaru began the first of many heartfelt tales of his homeland gone by.
—
Some time later, the young man concluded his long explanation with a smug expression while crossing his arms.
“Well, what did you two think? I bet you both love my storytelling skills, am I right?”
There was a brief silence after he had concluded his story. Taking a look at his audience, he could see Reinhard with a puzzled look, tilting his head in thought. While Felt had an annoyed look on her face.
They did not like his storytelling skills at all.
“Subaru, not to be rude or anything, but I think we are more confused than we were before you told us the story.” Reinhard admitted while chuckling nervously.
“Yeah, seriously what was that! That story made no sense and the characters sounded dumb, what was the name of it again?”
“Ah it was Dragonball,” Subaru answered.
“I thought you said Dragonball was going to be a cool story! Why did it suck so bad?”
“That’s because it was Dragonball Evolution, which is known for having a notoriously bad story.” Subaru chuckled, repressing laughter after flooring their expectations.
“What!? There’s multiple versions of it? And you chose to tell us the story of the worst one!?”
Felt was very close to jumping at Subaru again but Reinhard held her down.
“Regardless if it’s a bad story or not, Felt-sama, I think there are some good things about it. Subaru, do you think you can tell me more about this Goku character you speak of? I heard he’s pretty strong.” Reinhard asked with stars in his eyes.
“Rein, don't encourage him! Tell him off for dropping this dump of a story on us!!” Felt demanded while trying to shake Rein out of his excited trance.
“Sure Reinhard! Well there’s not much else to say about him, he’s just super strong, kind and loves to battle. If he was here, he would love to fight you.”
Ignoring the raging princess, Subaru smiled as he told him about the legend Son Goku, and what made him so iconic back in his world.
He couldn’t lie, he was beginning to feel a bit homesick thinking back to his world, but now was not the time for that. With Reinhard listening so intently, he pushed his worries to the back of his mind.
“While I’m glad you think that Subaru, surely Goku-san would be far more interested in a stronger opponent here than me” Reinhard said while looking down dejectedly.
Felt looked at her idiot knight and was about to say something, but before she could, Subaru suddenly asked Reinhard a bizarre question.
“But would you lose?” Subaru questioned.
“Nah, I’d win.” Reinhard answered confidently.
Felt and Subaru looked at Reinhard in surprise, even Reinhard himself looked confused for a second. He had no idea why he just said that, it was almost like something had possessed him to.
The words were so familiar to him, yet at the same time, they were so foreign.
“A-anyways, Big Bro, you owe us a better story than that. You better give us a good one or imma stab you!” Felt threatened while grabbing a fork and pointing it at Subaru.
“W-woah put that away Felt! Fine, you win, sheesh.” he sighed.
“Alright, you guys want a good story? Fine, I’ll stop playing around then” he said cheerfully.
Reinhard and Felt once again looked at Subaru in anticipation, he thought for a bit before his eyes lit up with excitement.
“Alright you two, listen closely, this time I’m going to tell you some real good stories” He grinned.
—
It was now the next day, the sunlight shone through the windows of Astrea estate as the sun rose. The residents of the mansion were already wide awake, going about their usual activities, all but the exception of one man.
“Maaaan, what a night that was, I feel like death.” A grim joke slips out of Subaru as he yawns and gets ready for the day.
Subaru was walking down the hallway to the dining hall. It was time for breakfast, and he apparently overslept, which was rare for him. Ever since he was brought into Reinhard’s residence all those months ago, he’d usually be one of the first up, either helping the staff around with chores, or just walking the mansion out of boredom.
However, today was not one of those days, though he supposed it’s not too surprising that he slept in, considering the events last night. He stopped for a second to recall last night's events.
Subaru snickered as he remembered the enthusiastic look of Reinhard immediately wanting to know the next story after the one he just finished, writing down whatever important details that were in them. Felt on the other hand would be dumbfounded at the tales, not being able to comprehend if what he was talking about was true or not.
He was never really confident in his storytelling skills, to be completely honest, he only picked it up from his parents. Subaru remembered all the times his parents had told him fairy tales or bedtime stories to help him fall asleep.
Like the times his father had teased him by telling him scary stories right before bedtime, causing Subaru to cry and his father getting smacked by his mother.
Or the times his mother would tell him a fairy tale whenever it was raining outside, either to entertain him or calm him down from the loud roars of thunder.
Though he never admitted it in front of his parents, in reality Subaru enjoyed the times they told him stories.
Of course, he didn’t need such things anymore as he grew older, but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t feeling nostalgic over it. Taking a look at his reflection in the window, he noticed a stray tear fall down his cheek.
“Ah…” he muttered as his eyes widened in realization.
He missed his parents, it only made sense for him to feel sad over not seeing them. Though, for as strong as that yearning came to be, he steeled himself, wiping the tears from his eyes. Now was not the time to get depressed, he had two goofballs waiting for him and his crazy stories.
“Better to not keep my audience waiting” he smirked as he approached the dining room.
Taking a second to prepare himself, he pushed open the door and energetically announced his arrival.
“Natsuki Subaru makes his grand entrance! How’s that guys? Are you happy to-” met with such a sight, he couldn’t find it in himself to continue.
The dining room was completely empty, the table had plates and silverware neatly prepared, but no breakfast or maids were in sight. He looked to where Felt and Reinhard would normally be seated, but again, they were also missing.
“Ah crap, I know I overslept but it was only 10 minutes! At least I think so…” Worry crept in that Subaru had somehow slept past some rare mansion-wide outing.
Unfortunately for Subaru, he failed to realize the presence hiding in the corner right behind him. Smirking to herself, she saw this as her chance to pounce.
“Gotcha”
“Eh!?” Subaru gasped at the sound of the voice breaking him out of his thoughts.
He attempted to turn towards the sound of the voice, but his reaction was too slow.
“YOUR FLANKS WIDE OPEN BIG BRO!” Felt shouted as she tackled him from behind.
“ACK!” Subaru shouted in surprise from Felt crashing into him.
Thankfully, Felt didn’t hit him too hard to knock him down, but judging from him rubbing his back with an annoyed expression, she could tell that it still stung for him, just what she wanted.
“Felt you crazy rat! Do you have some sort of sick fetish for tackling people!?” Subaru yelled.
“What- no! What kind of sick perverted stuff are ya on about? I just thought it was a good opportunity to sneak up on ya.” Felt said while chuckling to herself.
“Well your definition of sneaking and mine are totally different! I swear, if we were on any heist, you’d be the one to ruin it!”.
“Hey take that back! I’ll have you know I grew up in the slu-”
“Yeah yeah, I heard this story from you and Rom dozens of times. Look Felt, I admire you for living through that rough life, but it still doesn’t change the fact that you suck at being sneaky!” Subaru exclaimed as he cut Felt off.
Subaru’s words had cut right through Felt like a knife, of course she would never let him have the satisfaction of being right, but it still shocked her from his plain honesty.
“O-oh yeah? Like you know anything about being a good thief Big Bro! From what you told us, you’ve been nothing but a-uh, what was it again? Ah right! A shut in! That’s right!”
“I may have been a shut in Felt, but even I can tell, you definitely aren’t on the same level as someone like Nathan Drake.” Subaru smirked.
“Huh? Oh you punk, that’s not fair! You can’t just use a Subaruism on me out of nowhere like that, especially one that you haven’t told me or Rein yet!”
She started punching his abdomen lightly while pouting in anger, to which Subaru could only laugh and marvel at Felt’s cuteness.
“What’s the matter? I thought you said you didn’t like my dumb stories Felt, if you still think that then there’s no reason for me to keep telling you anymore.” He grinned.
“Screw you! I only said that because you told us that one bad story of Dragging Balls or something.” Felt said while struggling to remember the exact name of the story.
“It’s Dragon Ball you doofus.” he said as he corrected her.
“Who cares!? I’ve had enough of you, c’mere!” Felt said before she jumped over him and landed on his back.
“H-hey! Get the hell off of me! I swear, I need to talk to Rom and Carol after this so they take away your cookie privileges!”
“Not when I’m done with you! You ain’t going anywhere until you apologize!” she yelled back.
“Oh why you little-”
“Subaru, Felt-sama, what are you two doing?” Reinhard asked while staring at the two in confusion.
“Eeep!” Felt and Subaru squeaked in union.
Felt immediately jumped off of Subaru at the sound of Reinhard’s voice, her face red in embarrassment. Subaru brushed himself off while directing an annoyed look at Felt. Seriously, that little devil was going to pay for all the back injuries she had inflicted on him.
“Rein, where the hell were you? You didn’t even come to wake me up like you always do, and don’t mistake that as me wanting you to do that! I’m just confused.” Felt ask while also shooting down Reinhard’s hopes of his lady starting to soften up on him.
Subaru was going to quip in with a snarky comment, but he felt it wasn’t worth the resulting kick to the spine or a punch to the face, so he decided to stay quiet.
“Oh, well when I woke up this morning, Auntie had asked me if I could come along and help them with buying groceries from the capital. That’s the reason why there was no breakfast this morning and also why I did not come to wake you up.” Reinhard explained.
“Oh really? Nevermind then, I thought you were doing something more fun than hanging out with this los-”
“Oh well that’s not all Felt-sama, oh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off.” Reinhard said as he apologized for his rudeness.
“Oh come on Reinhard, you know Felt, she doesn’t mind a good story afterall.” Subaru said teasingly.
“Hey! Just what are you doi-” She asked but was cut off.
“Is it really okay Felt-sama? I don’t want to burden you two with a pointless story.”
Felt gave Subaru an annoyed side glance, to which he grinned even more at her reaction. She was put on the spot yet again, just how did he keep doing it!? She swore to herself that she would make sure to come up with something that would knock him on his ass for all of this.
“Ugh, sure, fine! Go ahead, for once Rein, save me from all this torture Big Bro is putting me through!” She pleaded in desperation.
Both Subaru and Felt could see from Reinhard’s reaction that his eyes lit up in excitement from her answer. He was more than happy to oblige.
“Well if you two insist. It was nothing out of the ordinary at first, I was merely just sitting outside waiting for Auntie and the maids to finish their shopping. I sat there for quite some time, only to then meet a familiar face who was just passing by” Reinhard said as he recalled.
“Oh? And who was this familiar face Reinhard? Was it a secret lover of yours?” Subaru asked teasingly.
“No, it was Julius actually,” Reinhard said while smiling.
“Ack! Julius? Oh great, just wonderful.” Subaru said sarcastically.
“What’s the matter, Big Bro? I thought you and Julius were best buds? I’m sure that he’d love to hang out with you.” Felt grinned as she nudged his arm.
He scoffed at her words. Subaru may have had many unknown references he could use to confuse her and Rein, but when it came to teasing Subaru back, she knew that Julius was the perfect ammo to use against him.
“Oh yes Subaru! Julius had actually asked me how you were doing, you two should definitely set some time to meet with each other!” Reinhard said while practically beaming with happiness
Subaru cringed at both Felt’s teasing and Reinhard’s sheer positivity. He hated the fact that this was where the conversation had led to, and he wasn’t going to let it continue any further.
“A-alright enough! Seriously, you guys sure know how to bring up that jerk in any way possible!” Subaru shouted.
Giving her a side glance, Felt still had the same smug face she had before, which annoyed him. He would definitely find a way to get revenge on that little devil one way or another.
Deciding to move his glance away from Felt, he turned to see what Reinhard’s reaction was, not thinking he would have been affected by his shout.
However, as soon as he chose to look at Reinhard, he could see how his words had made Reinhard shrink back like a sad puppy.
Subaru instantly felt guilty upon seeing his face, deciding quickly that he had to rectify the situation as fast as possible, even if it meant doing something he didn’t want to.
“Ughh fine! Look Reinhard, I’ll go hang out with Julius at some point just to make you happy.”
Reinhard’s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing those words, but before he could say anything, Subaru held a finger up to him.
“BUT, only on two conditions: number 1, increase this little princess’s study material.” he said while giving Felt a sly grin.
She instantly glared at him and was about to throw a fit, only for Subaru to continue.
“Number 2: give my thanks to Emilia-tan, I still haven’t thanked her after all this time.” Subaru said while reminiscing about the time when Emilia had saved him all those months ago.
“Of course Subaru! I’ll make sure Felt-sama gets all the best books for the royal selection and I’ll make sure to thank Emilia-sama for you.”
“Hey wait! I didn’t agree to thi-”
“Anyways! Continue telling us about your trip, Reinhard. Surely there must be some amazing things that happened while you were out!”
“Oh well, besides that, nothing really interesting happened- Oh! Actually Subaru, I had told Julius about your many stories that you had told Felt-sama and I!” Reinhard said.
“You WHAT!?” Subaru exclaimed.
“Huh? Is that a bad thing Subaru?” Reinhard asked innocently.
“N-no not really, but that prick doesn’t deserve to hear any of my sto-” Subaru said before being elbowed in the stomach by Felt.
She didn’t care about Julius, but she did enjoy seeing Subaru’s reactions of his name being mentioned and praised by Reinhard every time.
“Continue on Rein! Big bro’s loving every second of it!” Felt said while chuckling.
“Oh I’m glad to hear that! As I was saying, I was telling Julius about some of the stories you were telling us, and at first, he did not seem that interested, but when I had mentioned your name, it was almost as if something in him had flipped.”
Subaru continued dying inside from Reinhard’s words, just why was that jerk Julius always so interested in anything that had to do with him, he wondered. Nevertheless, he had to keep his composure and just listen away.
—
“And soon enough, it was not just Julius that was interested, but many citizens had gathered around and they too became enamored with your stories!” Reinhard said in joy.
Subaru was shocked beyond belief, people actually liked the stories he had to tell? Such a thing baffled the young man, surely it was just because Reinhard was telling them it, he is of course the Sword Saint, anyone would be interested in what he has to say.
“Wow Big bro, I would have never thought that your shitty tales would actually gain anyone else’s interest outside of us.” Felt said in amazement.
“Oh shut up! They probably don’t even know it was me that told you guys originally. They definitely enjoyed them because it was Reinhard saying it.” Subaru refuted with a self deprecative edge to his words, scratching the back of his neck.
Felt’s expression instantly turned to one of annoyance, she hated it whenever Subaru would doubt himself, even over the smallest things. She was about to slap him in frustration towards his words, but before she could, Reinhard spoke up.
“Oh Subaru you’re mistaken, when I was done telling everyone your stories, I had explained that they had all originated from you” Reinhard said.
“...Huh?” Subaru said in confusion.
“Trust me when I say this, I would never take the credit away from you Subaru, I made sure every single person knew it was your name who told these stories.”
Subaru would not easily believe this, so what if they knew it was him? They probably didn’t care that it came from a nobody like him. Reinhard was surely just trying to uplift his spirits.
“Come on Reinhard, no need to exaggerate, you don’t gotta make me feel bett-OUCH!” Subaru was saying until Felt had elbowed him in the ribs. Rubbing his sides, he turned to look at her angry face.
“Seriously, I know you're dumb, but not dumb enough to think Rein is lying to you! Listen to what he has to say for once before you go and start hating yourself!” Felt said while scolding him.
Subaru was once again stunned, he really was being put on the spot here, but not in a bad way, Felt and Reinhard were trying their best to positively reassure him, and here he was denying them that.
The concept of loving himself or just accepting any sorts of praise towards him was always a foreign concept to Subaru, much of it he thought he didn’t deserve.
Although his opinions on himself would not change, he decided he’d continue to hear out Reinhard.
“Alright fine, you win, I’m sorry for acting like that, Reinhard, and I’m sorry for being an idiotFelt.” He said as he apologized to both.
Reinhard was about to tell Subaru he had nothing to apologize for, which was crazy coming from him, but he saw his liege give him a look that signified to not say anything and to just continue on.
Reinhard hesitated to speak for a moment, but eventually relented, he knew this would make Subaru happy and it would grant him more confidence in himself.
“Like I was saying Subaru, when I had told everyone there, Julius included, that all of these stories had come from you, they were all surprised. None of them had ever heard such strange tales before and when I had mentioned your name, it only increased their interest!”
Subaru stared at Reinhard with a confused face, but he continued to listen without saying anything. Felt looked at him and Rein with a satisfied face, this was exactly what this idiot needed to hear, she thought to herself.
“To my surprise, everyone had started to bombard me with all sorts of requests! Some had asked me if you were telling the truth about these stories, others wanted me to retell them again, and some even wanted to hear from you personally. I really think people are fascinated by your stories Subaru!” Reinhard said he beamed in joy.
Subaru had to move back from Reinhard after how close he got, not realizing that he had gotten a bit too close from his praisings of Subaru. Seemingly realizing this, Reinhard quickly readjusted himself and made an apologetic gesture to Subaru.
After a while of being silent, Subaru finally snapped out of his thoughts. He still had a hard time processing what Reinhard had told him, and truth be told, he wanted to reject it.
However, he realized that not only would that be incredibly disrespectful to Reinhard, his friend who had no reason to lie to him, he also realized another important thing.
Felt would most likely kick his ass if he were to upset Reinhard again, and despite Subaru being much taller and larger in build, Felt’s gremlin nature terrified him. He shuddered thinking about what Felt would do to him, before pushing those thoughts away and shaking his head.
Turning to look at Reinhard, who gave him a curious look, all the while Felt had sat silently, waiting to see how Subaru would respond this time.
“Reinhard, seriously, thank you.” Subaru said, shocking both the Saint and princess.
Out of all the answers they expected, this was the least likely they were prepared for. Knowing how stubborn Subaru was about accepting good qualities about himself, the two were certainly not expecting to hear a thank you from him.
“I have to be honest, I’m still not one hundred percent on believing people genuinely enjoyed the stories I told you guys, or that some of them actually want to meet me and hear them in person.”
As Felt and Reinhard were about to speak up, Subaru continued.
“But, I still think it’s only right that I give my thanks to you guys. For Felt, who just keeps beating it into my thickskull to prove how dumb and wrong I am.”
Upon hearing his words, Felt cracked a toothy grin, this loveable idiot of hers was finally starting to at least come to his senses.
“And to you Reinhard, seriously, I’m such a big idiot to doubt your words, when you are the most honest guy I know. I’m sorry for thinking you were lying to me. I just have a hard time believing that some people might actually like things about me, so compliments and all that are kinda icky to me.” Subaru said in complete honesty, no hints of hesitation or exaggeration in his words.
“Subaru, you don’t have to apolo-”
“I’m going to stop you right there, yes I do have to apologize, I would never be able to forgive myself if I had hurt my best friend's feelings. So don’t try and use my own words against me, ya hypocrite.” He said while grinning.
Reinhard sat speechless for a moment, before his expression had also grown into a smile. Upon seeing the two idiots reconcile, Felt stood up with her hands on her hips, a satisfied smirk on her lips.
“Now that you two lovers are done making up, how about we get something to eat already? Seriously, all that talking has me starving. Hey big bro, your leg is looking pretty tasty right now.” Felt joked, at least Subaru hoped she was.
“Y-yeah! Reinhard, you had mentioned you were helping Carol with groceries yeah? Come on, let's go get things set up, before that little devil eats us both alive.” Subaru muttered that last part out.
“Hmm? Did you say something, Subaru?”
“D-don’t worry about it! Come on, let’s go already, don’t want to keep our princess waiting!” Subaru said as he quickly pulled Reinhard out of the room, the clueless Sword Saint looking back to wave at his liege as they left.
After they had left, Felt plopped back down onto her seat. She was completely exhausted, dealing with those two sometimes annoyed her, it was like she was their damn mother. Despite all that, however, she could only smile after everything that happened over this week.
Felt was still by no means happy about participating in the Royal Selection. If anything, she just wanted to leave it behind and go back to living her life like how it was before. However, she realized that a small part of her was beginning to appreciate this new life. Especially with Reinhard and Subaru, two of the most important people in her life right now. As much as she didn’t want to admit it to their faces, Felt loved them both, thinking of them as her new family.
And with that thought in mind, Felt decided that this was something she was going to have to live with, regardless if Subaru and Reinhard drove her crazy or not.
“I guess it’s not so bad, huh?” Felt asked herself, before her eyes slowly started to close, positioning herself better to rest. Falling asleep quickly after doing so, a smile on her lips as she did.
—
It was the next day, the birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and the wind was blowing. The many green leaves of the trees fluttered as the wind blew against them gently. While the sun was out, it was still a bit early, not too early that there were no people out and about in the capital, but early enough that Felt and Subaru were still asleep.
“I suppose those two are still quite drained after yesterday.” Reinhard had said while chuckling to himself.
Despite some of the manor still being asleep, with the exceptions of the staff, Reinhard had always typically been the first to wake up first. This was most likely due to some of his Divine Protections that had allowed him to always be an early bird.
With that being the case, Reinhard would find himself with not much to do, he considered going to wake up his liege, but seeing as how she had fallen asleep yesterday in the dining room, he figured he would let her get her beauty sleep.
As for Subaru, he was a bit of a heavy sleeper, which was not a surprise, even to Reinhard, with how energetic Subaru had always been around them.
Seeing that the maids did not need his help with chores this time, Reinhard figured it would be best to go out into the yard and practice his sword skills, even though as the Sword Saint, there wasn’t much for him to train.
As he was approaching the manor's front door, however, Reinhard heard something odd. He could hear what sounded like talking, and not just a single person talking, but rather, a group of people. He noticed that the noise had continued to get louder, as if they were getting closer to the door.
Confused, Reinhard hesitated for a moment, before pushing open the door. What he saw only added to his confusion, not expecting the site outside the door at all.
—
“Huh? I’m surprised you woke up at the same time as me Felt”
“I can only say the same to you Big bro, you hear that noise too?” Felt asked.
“Yeah, I mean that’s what woke me up, and I’m assuming it was the same for you.”
“Where the heck is that idiot, usually he’s the first to wake us up, he better not be doing anything dumb.”
“Come on Felt, be easy on him, he’s probably helping with chores or something again. I’m sure he’s fi-” Subaru said before he was interrupted.
The noise from earlier seemed to grow, making the two jolt in surprise. They both turned in the direction it was coming from, the same direction where the front door was. Looking at each other, they nodded before walking towards the source of the noise.
Felt thought it was probably some annoying pricks that were there to slander her, not that she cared of course, but it was still annoying regardless. Subaru on the other hand worried that it could have been trouble. He didn’t think it could be the bowel hunter, but he still worried it was some kind of problem that had Reinhard currently distracted.
To their complete surprise, however, what met their vision was not anything that was a threat. Instead, Subaru, Felt and Reinhard gazed at the large crowd of people that appeared out of nowhere, seemingly growing in excitement upon seeing Subaru appear.
“What the!?” Subaru shouted.
“THERE HE IS!” a young boy shouted.
“IS THAT HIM? PLEASE TELL ME THAT’S HIM!” another screamed in joy.
“SUBARU-SAMA PLEASE TELL US A STORY!”
“YEAH! WE LOVE YOUR STORIES!”
“IS IT TRUE THAT GOKU-SAN IS THE STRONGEST!?”
Subaru stood there completely shocked, this entire group of people were not just a regular group of adults or teenagers. Rather, they were a group of young children, some about Felt’s age and some even younger than her.
Of course, it was not just children by themselves, there were many adults that stood behind the young audience, most likely their parents, to which Subaru could see the apologetic looks on their faces, most likely dragged here by them.
Subaru turned to look at Reinhard, who was just as stunned as he was.
“Uh Rein, did you ever mention to us the age of the people you told my stories to?” Subaru asked nervously.
“You’re welcome, Subaru.” Reinhard said with an innocent smile on his face.
“I didn’t thank you!? You could have at least warned us ahead of time you goofball!”
“Now’s not the time to argue, ya idiots! Can’t ya see there are kids here!?” Felt yelled.
Seeing the argument between the three, the children began to laugh, finding the trio's interaction with each other hilarious. Seeing this, the three turned to look at the reaction of the kids and their smiling parents.
Subaru turned to look at Reinhard and Felt for guidance. Felt upon seeing his gaze only gave him a shrug, she was not good with kids, so this was entirely up to him. Reinhard gave him an apologetic look as he scratched the back of his head. Seeing this, Subaru sighed, it seemed that this was slightly his fault anyway for telling them those stories. So, seeing as he started it, he went to fix it.
Subaru walked up closer to the crowd, overseeing the large amount of people that stood there. He could see all the children's excited looks, all of them were waiting to hear a new story from the source, Natsuki Subaru, himself.
Glancing one last time back at Reinhard and Felt, he could see the both of them giving him a thumbs up, wishing him luck without even saying it. Turning back to the crowd, he took a deep breath and exhaled. His scary eyes focused and determined, standing confidently, he pointed his finger to the sky while posing.
“Everyone! My name is Natsuki Subaru! Dumb, ugly, weird and broken beyond repair! Prepare yourselves!”
“Let me tell you all a story.” Subaru said while smirking.