Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Subaru Natsuki, a neet from Japan who had been transported to another world, woke up from his slumber in the middle of the night.

The first thing he noticed was the absence of his dear Beako who would normally be sleeping by his side.

This was a rather rare thing. They had been really close to each other ever since they made their contract 9 months ago. She wouldn't leave him alone in the middle of the night for no good reason, specially considering his "tendencies".

Subaru rose up from bed and headed out of his room.

Walking through the halls of the Miload mansion he started to look for Beako.

But something else started to bug him, it was too quiet.

It was the middle of the night, of course it would be quiet, however, he couldn't get rid of this weird feeling that something was wrong.

There was no a single sound that would be expected such as zodda bugs, nothing at all.

It was in the middle of him being deep in thought that a sound startled him, the sound of a white bird landing outside the window.

That sure was ominous, the fact that the white bird that appeared to be a dove was the only sound that he heard so far.

At least it wasn't a crow or an owl.

He continue to wonder what could be going on, when...

An image crossed his mind, of how something like this had happened before: Elsa's attack during the events of the sanctuary.

He started to run, he couldn't find Emilia, Otto, Ram, Petra, Garfiel, or Frederica. He was even hoping to find Roswaal to a degree, anything would be better than this silence.

Then he remembered, Rem. He had to make sure she was fine, so he ran as fast as he could.

He would never let anything else happen to her, not again. Even if he had to die over and over, he wouldn't lose her.

He arrived to his destination.

The door was closed, which was a good sign.

He opened the door and found...

Rem completely fine in the bed.

He sighted a breath of relief.

"She has no way of interfering, so there was no need to remove her."

A voice came from behind, but it wasn't a voice Subaru was familiar with.

He turned around to face the person standing behind him.

It was a rather strange sight. He found a woman? child? she was right in the point where it could be debated wheter she was either of those.

Regardless, she was beatiful, not as much as his EMT, but he knew that had he met her before Emilia, he might of have considered her the embodiment of beauty itself.

He ain't beating the "lolimancer" allegations, is he?

But there was something more important that he needed to adress.

"What do you mean "remove"? Did you do something to the others? And what are you wearing? Please put on something more decent." Those were the questions he needed answered.

The girl smiled at him, sort of her way of saying that he responded in the exact way she expected him to.

"No need to react in such a way, I can assure you that they are safe" She takes a small pause before continuing.

"Unlike that girl over there" she said as she looked at Rem.
"The others could have gotten in the way of our "time alone", don't you think?"

"What do you mean by that?" Subaru stared at her with a mix of confusion and suspicion, plus a bit of anger.

"It seems that you aren't a fan of me, so before you start hating me, lets go straight to the point."

"Natsuki Subaru" Her smile grew as she pronounced his name.

Subaru's suspicion grows as he stares at her, ready for whatever she might say.

"Marry me."

...

...

...

"What The Fuck!!"

It appears he wasn't ready at all.

Chapter Text

"Marry me"

...

...

...

"What The Fuck"

To say that Subaru was confused would be an understatement. He had prepared himself for all sort of different possibilities when everyone disappeared and when he was waiting for the woman in front of him to state why she was doing this, but marriage was definetly not one of thing that crossed his mind.

What did that even mean? Was she a crazy fan of the knight that killed the White Whale and Sloth? Probably not, he didn't even do much in those fights. It was mainly Crush's army, the Iron Fangs, and as much as he hates to admit it, Julius. Maybe she was interested on his position as a knight of a candidate instead. Nah, this doesn't seem likely either. There are way better options out there if what she cared for was status, most nobles would be better in this regard.

So, perhaps she was hoping to get benefits if Emilia won the throne, also unlikely. Most people would believe that Emilia has no chances of winning the throne, it would make more sense to get with Reinhard or that bastard of Julius. Wait, what about Felix? He might dress as a woman, but he is still straight right? Not like there would be problem with him having different preferences, it was just thought. And Al... yeah there's no way.

What was he even wasting his time thinking about? Back to what matters, her motives for doing this.

To begin with, how did she get rid of everyone? In the camp there is people like Garfiel, Emilia and Beako, who are all really strong. Then there is Roswaal, who is the greatest magician of the kingdom of the dragon.

Just who could get rid of someone like him so effortlessly?

"First, I have a question that I need you to answer."

Pandora looks at him in the eyes, her smile unwavering.

"Hmm, what is it that you want to know?"

Subaru exhales as he prepares.

"Who are you?"

There is a pause that lasts only a few seconds before Subaru continues.

"I mean, you somehow made everyone except for Rem disappear. Among those people was Roswaal, who is probably one of the strongest persons I know. Right behind Reinhard of course."

There is another short silence, this one slighly longer than the last one.

"That's why... I first need to know who you are. You didn't even introduce yourself, so I don't know your name."

Pandora seems to be deep in though for a moment before she finally opens her mouth.

"My name is Pandora."

"And as for who I am. That's a rather complicated question that I suppose I will have to asnwer if I plan to spend eternity with you. Keeping secrets would be a rather bad idea after all."

"Eternity?" Subaru asks confused.

"Ah yes, you see, you are a very special individual, for me and many others"

"At this very moment, I am the one that loves you the most in the entire world."

Subaru face twists his face at this statement, not beliving it one bit, and as he is about to argue against it...

"Or that's is what I would have said if it wasn't for her."

"Huh?" He gets interupted.

"She has gone to great lenghts for you and you alone, her love is just so overwhelming. I bet Petelgeuse was envious of you."

"Bringing you from a land far far away. With all sort of things happening since you arrived, you have acomplished so much."

"You brought a change that hasn't been seen since the time of the witches..."

"And I just can't take my eyes off you."

Subaru felt goosebumps as he heard that line. It felt like it was full of love, but he couldn't be certain of how real those emotions were. More important than whether the loves she shows him is real or not, there were multiple things she said that caught his attention.

She knows that he is from beyond The Great Waterfall, but more than that, she know of his connection with Satella. Is it because of the smell of the witch? But that doesn't quite explain how she knows of his origin. And also...

Does she know about Return By Death?

"I really need to ask you again. Just who are you?"

"And... do you know about that?"

Pandora appears confused for the first time.

"What could you possibly be refering to?" She tilted her head as a gesture of her confusion.

Subaru gets a slight sense of relief after hearing that. At the very least it appears she doesn't know about RBD, that's good.

"Going back to your other question, the one about just who I am"

"Well... "

"I am Pandora as mentioned before."

"The Witch of Vainglory, and something akin to the leader of the Witch Cult"

She says nonchalantly, as if she didn't just reveal one of the most horrifying things posible for Subaru.

Chapter Text

It was like time had stopped, or to be more precise, Subaru's brain had failed to comprehend the words that came out of the girl's mouth. He had been wondering if he heard her correctly, or if perhaps this was some sort of nightmare. Most of them would involve those damn rabbits, so this was a nice change of pace, it was less painful at the very least. He did have other nightmares aside from those involving small animals, but those were also about painful experiences of the past, his deaths and stuff plus a potential world where he didn’t manage to save everyone.

Not only those he didn’t save in failed timelines, but the one he failed in the final one: Rem. He had learned some stuff thanks to Echidna, about how it was the witch of envy who gave him his power. About how she only cared about saving him and everyone else didn’t matter. That this was the reason he had failed to save Rem, even if he had the resolve to die as many times as it took for his happy ending.

He, at the very least knew that Gluttony was the one responsible. Meaning that the goal was obvious, to find and interrogate him, to take revenge in an attempt to get her back. However, there hasn’t been any news about him in 9 months and as time passes his worry about Rem’s state does nothing but increase.

Subaru does spend time with her daily, telling stories about everything that happened that day. He doesn’t know if she can hear him, she probably can’t.

He had heard stories in his old world of how people in comas were able to still perceive the real world to a degree. Of how the voice actor of Bugs Bunny, who amidst his coma responded with an iconic line from the character in reaction to what was happening around him. Regardless, the way Glutton’s power worked implied no possibility of “his Rem” still being there. Even if she was conscious, she wouldn’t have her memories. How would that feel? To be in a coma, still aware of what happens around you, and have a complete stranger speak to you everyday of what he did. He would surely look like a creep from that point of view.

Subaru sighted. Rem, I will bring you back no matter what, I lo…

“Ack, what was that for?!” Subaru was forcefully awakened from deep thoughts when he felt someone pinching his arm.

“You remained silent for longer than usual and weren’t responding at all, which is why I took matters into my own hands. I suppose my presentation had a strong impact on you as expected, although the reaction itself took a different form.” Pandora seemed slightly annoyed for some reason, even if it was almost imperceptible. Maybe she felt ignored.

“The fact I felt pain suggests I am not dreaming, doesn’t it?”Now aware of what was going on in his surroundings, Subaru’s brain finally realized the implications behind the girl wearing the title of “Witch” and of “Leader of the Witch Cult”.

He immediately tensed up becoming weary of the person in front of him, which he should have been since earlier in retrospect, from the very beginning even.

Subaru didn’t fear witches as much as he should, maybe it was because of his origin as someone from another world, maybe it was because he had already met seven of them, or maybe it was because of his very direct connection with Satella. The reason he was being especially careful, was more due to them being part of the Witch Cult, rather than them being a witch. He knew that if she wanted him dead, then he would be no more than a pile of ashes by this point.

The witches were incomprehensible but it was born from twisted morals that they committed their heinous deeds. On the other hand, the Witch Cult was full of crazy and sadistic bastards that often did what they did for the fun of the game.

He struggled to imagine her as the one leading them, but he wouldn’t let his guard down, even if he could be snapped like a stick. Other than that, he had more than a few questions that needed answers like…

“I find it strange for a witch that I have never heard of, not even from Roswaal or Beako, to have the desire of bringing back Satella. Mind explaining that? Witch of Vanity.”

“No needn’t act with such hostility. You should use my name, instead of my title.”

“If answers are what you seek then you should be more considerate with your choice of words. You get more with honey than vinegar after all.”

“You can’t expect me to not act hostile when you introduce yourself as a witch as a member of the witch’s cult, the leader no less.” Subaru’s eyes narrow as he watches Pandora.

“You really don’t like me, it seems. The world would be so much better if you showed a fraction of the care you have for the girl in the bed to everyone. I have noticed you deliberately standing between me and the bed with the desire to protect her, even when you are aware of your own weakness”.

“Don’t you dare talk about Rem when it was your people that left her in that state!.”
Subaru’s anger is palpable. Pandora had once again made a comment that appeared to have been unsensible.

“Ara, it seems like I said something I shouldn’t have. But you have taken one of “my people already”, there should be no reason to still hold onto such animosity”

“That’s not how that works. He was the one that started it, and it was after we fought back that gluttony appeared and did this to Rem”

“I see, so the problem lies in gluttony themselves. Once they are gone, you will no longer be bound to your desire for revenge” Author: Pandora respecting gluttony’s pronouns ayo. “In other words, we could let this go if I were to offer them to you. But which one was it?”

“Huh?” Subaru was confused by these words.

“Which gluttony was the one that did it? Taking into consideration that they took everything it might have been Roy. Although, in Lye’s case, it would depend on the quality of the meal. And well, due to Rui’s “special circumstances”, it probably wasn’t her.”

“Wait wait wait, there is more than one gluttony?! And three no less?!” The world really wouldn’t let Subaru take a break it seemed.

“Is it the same as the white whale, where killing the real one gets rid of all three of them?!”

“Hmh? No no no, they are their own entities independent of each other, mostly. They are siblings”

Subaru loses his balance from the weight of the news, but manages to hold onto the edge of the bed and support himself so as to not fall to the ground.

“You gotta be kidding me.” His voice sounds weak and somewhat trembling.

A realization makes him fully stand up, removing his hand from the bed.

“What about the other’s? Are there multiple Sloths?”

“Not really, you completely got rid of him and now the witch factor is harboring inside of you. Authorities should only be held by an individual at a specific point in time. Gluttony’s case is an exception that even I lack the answer to” Author: For real Tappei, you said that authorities couldn’t be divided or shared or something. So what’s the explanation for the gluttony trio?

“Phew, It's not like I was planning on hunting the other sins, but it's still a relief that in case I had to face them, I would only be dealing with one per sin.” Subaru releases a breath he had been holding, and relaxes his shoulde…

“Wait no! I am not supposed to relax. I am still right in front of a witch that claims to lead the witch cult and that sent my friends away!! And Roswaal, I guess” The last part being said with an apathetic tone.

Pandora giggles at this display of clumsiness from Subaru.

That’s cute Subaru blushes slightly right before pushing those thoughts to a side due to remembering a similar attitude from Echidna, who used it to manipulate him into trusting her.

“Anyway, why is it that you are interested in me? I am honored to have such a pretty girl want to marry me but… I already have a number 1 and 2 in my heart. There isn’t really any room left.”

“Ah yes, I am perfectly aware of the love that resides in your heart and about those that said love is directed towards.”

“You have shown just how deep that love runs on multiple occasions. Love is such a wonderful thing isn't it?”

“Despite how weak you appear, it has let you achieve great victories over insurmountable odds, all in hopes of protecting those dear to you.”

“It's truly magnificent.” As her eyes are filled with emotions, Pandora claps for a few seconds as a display of her fascination.

“I have been observing you for a while, and have seen the anomaly that you are, which is where my interest in you started”

“A rather erratic behavior, a willingness to put yourself in danger for the sake of strangers, a forgiving heart like no other, and the ability to bring people together to accomplish great things.”

“You have shown that you are a unique one, that none can match you.”

Subaru blushes for the second time. “Well that's… rather flattering. But I'm just a NEET that 's trying to get its happy ending. Everyone around me is so capable, so strong, so smart, that sometimes I wonder if I am worthy of walking by their side. But I don’t want to lose them, and I don’t want to leave them, so I will be by their side and make myself worthy as I go.”

“You are magnificent in your imperfection.”

“So I’ll ask again. Natsuki Subaru, marry me and spend eternity with me.”

“You know what? Sure, if you bring my friends, plus Roswaal, safely here, I might be willing to do it” Subaru isn’t really serious, and instead is hoping to figure something out when everyone is here.

“If that’s all it takes, consider it done.”

Pandora claps her hands and as if reacting to it, Subaru blinks, with everyone in the Emilia camp appearing the next instant.

“What’s going on?” A drunk Otto says as he looks around, sobering up as confusion fills him.

“Barusu, what did you do this time?” Ram accuses Subaru of being responsible for the current circumstances with absolutely no evidence.

“Ohhh myyyyyyy, This is Interestiiiiiing” Roswaal adds in an annoying tone. That's the author 's personal opinion. That Roswaal speech pattern is annoying in written format.

“Subaru-sama, I am glad to find you well”. Frederica, even in this situation, keeps a professional demeanor, although there are slight cracks in her smile that denote an air of anxiety.

“Subaru what’s happening? We were reaaaaaaaally worr…” Emilia couldn’t finish her sentence as she laid her eyes in the presence that she hadn’t noticed until that point. The one responsible for the tragedies of her past. The one that ruined the happy family that she once had, referring to mother Fortuna, and Geuse.

“It appears you remember me, what a shame. I was hoping that we could start from zero the next time w…”

“UL HUMA!!!” A giant ice pillar takes over most of the room, with no consideration for the people within.

The “Witch of Glaciation” and the “Witch of Vainglory” met for a second time.

Chapter Text

“UL HUMA!!”

The giant ice spear had pierced its target with perfect accuracy. This attack had been unproportional to the task at hand, if the objective was to kill but a single person, a huma or el huma would have sufficed. By employing such an oversized weapon, a young boy had been caught in the collateral damage.

It could certainly be considered a miracle that only the boy had suffered an injury from the indiscriminate wrath of the half-elf. Some like Roswaal could even swear that, for a few moments, the room had felt larger, almost as if to accommodate for the ice that tried to occupy most of the space within and to aid in the survival of the ones present but failing to save a single person.

A side of Subaru had been blown off, small enough to ensure that he wouldn’t die immediately, but big enough to guarantee a slow bleeding death that no healer present in the room could possibly save him from. Subaru would have to die.

Return by death, the cursed ability the witch had granted him, would be used after 9 months of peace and it was Emilia no less who was going to be the cause of this. But it didn’t matter, he would repeat and only he would know, only he would remember, and that was for the best.

“Subaru!!” Two voices resonate throughout the room, the owners of said voices being Emilia and Beatrice. It hadn’t taken long for their minds to catch up with what was going on, for Emilia to realize what she had done. Which is why Beatrice’s voice was full of pure worry while Emilia’s had worry with the addition of guilt and other complex emotions.

They both ran to his side in order to aid him however… “You shouldn’t attack without paying attention to your surroundings, it could have ended really badly for the innocent bystanders.”

Emilia and Beatrice, who had turned their gazes to Pandora when she spoke, looked at Subaru once again, just to be met with a rather surprising sight.

Subaru was perfectly fine, there were no traces of injury to be seen. Everyone in the room was surprised and confused about both Subaru’s and Pandora’s healthy state despite such a catastrophic attack. Emilia was the only one that understood that this was the power of the witch, that she somehow could manipulate the world to do her bidding, whether this ability had any type of weakness or was otherwise omnipotent was unknown.

Everyone's reaction to Pandora's presence varied.

Otto had no idea what was going on, he was confused, and worried, he felt a sense of dread fill him without quite understanding why. The effects of the alcohol he had been drinking before this ordeal started were long gone.

Roswaal kept a somewhat calm demeanor, a hint of amusement, and while these emotions weren't fake, he was hiding his anxiety behind a mask. Roswaal lost his guidance 9 months ago, but he still remembered everything it said to him up to the point it was burned. Yes Subaru had deviated from the path the book had foretold, but even then, there was no way for such a change to have taken place off the events of the sanctuary. He would have to observe everything with a conflicted mind.

Ram was dominated by worry, she knew Roswaal the best out of everyone, only the witch of greed herself could compare on that aspect. This meant that she could see everything he was hiding behind a mask of serenity, and she didn't like how things were looking. Ram didn't know another person with as much knowledge as him, he had lived way longer than most after all and had been a student of the very embodiment of greed for knowledge. So for him to be completely clueless of just what kind of entity they were facing, it was worrisome to say the least.

Garfiel would have normally been ready to launch himself at anyone that threatened him and those he cared about, he was the shield meant to stand between them and their enemies. But he felt it, his animalistic instincts told him that this individual was dangerous in a completely different way Reinhard was. He already knew he was weak, that he had only killed Elsa because she had been distracted, because he got lucky. Even so, he still had some pride on his strength left, said pride was shattered when he realized he had been cowering in the face of a seemingly little girl.

Petra was a brave and smart girl, there was no doubting or denying that. She wasn't naive enough to not realize the danger, she wasn't enough of a coward to run away leaving everyone behind. But even if Petra was brave and smart for her age, she was still a young girl. She wasn't smart enough to figure out a course of action, she wasn't brave enough to stand in the front of the danger, which is why she limited herself to hugging Frederica as a way of seeking comfort.

Frederica had to remain calm and collected, not only because she was a maid, but also for the sake of her junior that she loved. It was her job to protect her, a child wasn’t meant to face so many death or life situations at such a young age. She would make sure to at least be there when she was needed, it was the bare minimum she could do.

Beatrice the great spirit of yin was at a loss for words. As her title suggested, she was the greatest user of the element of yin, the one connected to time and space. It was because she understood those concepts better than anyone that she couldn't fathom the power that the platinum girl possessed. That sort of mastery should be completely impossible, spells with such control over reality wouldn't be allowed by Od Laguna. That this power wasn't connected to the world would be the most likely explanation, an authority. The person in front of them was either an archbishop of sin or a witch. But how would that be possible? All the witches aside from Envy should be dead. Beatrice was the most confused she had been in a long time.

Emilia was still filled with anger at the sight of Pandora, however, she was now capable of keeping that emotion at bay if only because of the fear of harming someone else again if she attacks while enraged.

Although everyone was confused by the current situation, the one that was the most dumbfounded was Subaru, he had felt the pain of his body being pierced, he had accepted that he was going to die and felt the cold embrace of death approaching, but it never arrived. He now found himself perfectly fine, all the pain and blood gone like they had been naught but a figment of his imagination.

"Now that I have fulfilled my side of the deal, would you accept my offer of marrying me? Subaru."

"What are you talking about?! What deal?! Subaru would never marry you, he is my knight" Emilia felt like she was going to lose whatever control over her emotions she had regained. It was absolutely enraging for the one that stole so much from her to reaper seeking to take even more.

"That is indeed the case, but it's also true that you almost killed said knight, that said knight would be dead if it wasn't for me"

"Hkk" Emilia had no way of responding, she was assaulted by guilt since the words of the witch were indeed the truth, she had almost killed her knight.

"It's fine Emilia! You just let your emotions control you for a moment. I would have been fine even if she didn't do anything."

"Sorry Subaru but she is right, in fact."

"Beako?"

"The injury was severe enough that even I couldn't have saved you, I suppose." Emilia flinches at those words.

"NO, I am telling you, I would have been fine because..." Subaru can't finish his sentence, not because the witch intervened, but because he stopped himself being more than aware of the consequences of finishing that sentence, he had tried many times to tell Beako after all.

"You can't take him!" Even though Petra didn’t have a full understanding of the situation, she understood that Subaru was someone important to her and that the mysterious girl was trying to take him for herself.

"Petra is right, Natsuki san is part of this camp and we won't allow you to take him"

"My amazing self won't allow you to steal the captain" Garfiel was still unsure of his strength, but whether he was strong or weak didn’t matter, he had things he had to defend regardless of his ability to do so.

"It iiiiiiiis as they are saying, Suuuuuubaru kun is a rather important member of this camp. We aren't letting him go so easily."

"Barusu would make the worst husband imaginable anyway"

"Oi, nee sama. That was out of place."

"We had already reached a deal tho, that he would consider accepting my offer after I brought all of you back."

"Subaru? Is that true?" Emilia says with a betrayed expression hoping that Pandora is just lying.

"Yes I said that but..."

"Natsuki san was probably trying to have everyone's support to deal with this, he only said that so we could be with him to help him."

"Ara, does this mean that you deceived me?"

"Sorry?"

"There is no need for that. It's only understandable to have those close to you for a decision as important as marriage, especially when you can't have your parents with you."

It goes without saying that Subaru wasn't a fan of that comment, even if he had come to terms with the fact that he would never see them again it still hurt to be reminded of this truth. Although some negative emotions started to invade him, he still remained calm enough to realize something.

When the ice pillar struck him he was sure that he was going to die, the injury was fatal enough that it had made him believe that it was the end of his peaceful 9 months with no deaths, this was not the case. Pandora reverted the damage in an instant without the use of water magic. If she was a witch, then it made sense to assume that to have been her authority. And if she really cared about him as much as she claimed, it meant that…

“For me to die in her presence the death would have to be instantaneous.”

Chapter Text

A sense of dread started to invade Subaru, one born out of the idea of him not being able to die. A fear he can't imagine many have experienced, to be scared of the prospect of not being able to end your own life. In his specific case, he was scared of not being able to go back on time, that eventually something would happen and he wouldn’t be able to change it.

He had to come up with something, some way to get out of this situation. He was scared of a confrontation with her thanks to how easily she had avoided death before. She was powerful, imposing even. However, she seemed reasonable enough to listen to others and to be willing to negotiate. So even if it was reckless, he would have to bet on that, that Pandora would understand where he is coming from when making his request.

Rejecting her didn't seem like it would work. He had already declared where his heart belonged and, although acknowledged, wasn't enough reason for Pandora to give up the whole marriage idea. So he would have to pretend to consider the idea of being with her.

"I still have trouble understanding what you see in me. I am not sure why you are so adamant about marrying me." Subaru was short in breath, he had to take a few seconds to recompose himself and continue.

"So I will like some time, to think things over, to discuss them with the rest of the camp." With everything that he wanted to say out of the way, all that was missing was to wait for Pandora's response to the request. Would she accept it? Would she put conditions in order to accept? Would she otherwise reject it? Would she get angry? That somehow seemed unlikely to him.

"I suspect you are just attempting to get as much time as possible, to get your allies together and think of something, even then, I will allow it." This was great news for everyone in the room, they really needed all the time possible in order to figure out something out of the current situation.

"However" This single word was enough to turn the calm into fear and expectation.

"I will only give you three days. To ask a young maiden in love to wait for a response is rather mean, so I will only give you that much. My heart is beating and I can only do so much to control it, unlike you I am not capable of the patience required to wait almost a year."

Everyone knew that this was a jab meant for Emilia, the one that after so much was still unable to answer the love she had been blessed with by the young boy. Some were prepared for Emilia to lash out, whether through her ice magic or just through words. For a moment it seemed like she would just do that, but she hesitated.

Emilia wanted to yell at her, to kill her, to say that Subaru was "her knight", but... was she really worthy of it? could she say that she deserved the endless love he gave her? She wasn't sure, not after leaving him waiting for so long for a response, not after... almost killing him.

The pain in Emilia's expression was plain to see for everyone in the room, they could see the guilt as it threatened to overflow her, as tears seemed like falling out of her eyes.

Subaru hated this, but what could he do? He had already tried to claim that he didn't care, that he was fine, but to anyone that didn't understand his power, he would appear crazy. They knew how much he loved her, he made this very clear everyday, but for someone to completely dismiss the fact that they had almost died by the hand of someone beloved to them, he would look like he was wrong in the head for forgiving something like that so easily, even if it wasn't Emilia's fault, even if it was really Subaru's fault. All he could do was tighten his fist in his own impotence.

"I will be leaving you now. I will be back at, let's see, late afternoon in three days."

"I am looking forward to your response."

Pandora starts heading for the door, with no one really knowing what to do in this situation, she reaches it and starts crossing it.

It's only as she closes the door behind her that Emilia finally regains the resolve necessary to say something. She ran to the door in order to confront her once again, but she was completely gone, she disappeared the moment they lost sight of her.

"Darn it" Emilia's frustration becomes palpable once these words leave her mouth.

"Who says "darn it" anymore?"

"Subaru, this isn't the moment for that."

"Emilia is right. We have more pressing matters to handle, in fact."

"I know, I was just trying to lighten up the mood, but I know we have a really big problem between our hands."

"Thaaaaaaat's for sure, however, I believe everyone is tired and overwhelmed right noooooooow. It is my belief that it would beeeeeee better to leave it for tomorroooooooow."

"Yeah you are right, everyone needs rest after everything that happened."

The rest of the room remains silent and just nod in agreement, no one has the strength for anything after that, even Ram doesn't feel like throwing her usual jabs.

"We can talk about how the womanizer of Barusu is trying to create a harem tomorrow." Never mind, she is still capable of her usual insult even in such situations. It makes you wonder, if she would even be able to do it in the presence of the witch of envy.

"I regret teaching you what a harem is, it really is coming back to bite my ass."

"It's only natural that Barusu doesn't think of the consequences of his actions."

Although they were having their usual banter, and although some light giggles could be heard from the likes of Garfiel and Petra, they all lacked their usual emotions. Both the laughs and the banter felt tired.

Sighs could be heard through the room. "Oooooookay, everyone back to your rooms, tomorrow is going to be a looooooong day."

Everyone nodded and went their ways.

As Subaru walks side by side with Beatrice he puts his hands in his face in a display of desperation.

"Ahhhhhh, what am I going to do?"

"Regardless of what happens just know that Betty will always be with you."

"I know. I am aware that I have the best spirit in the world" Subaru pets Beako in the head, instead of reacting annoyed, Beako puffs out her chest, and puts a hand on her hip.

"It's only natural that Betty is the best there is, she is after all, the only spirit to the best contractor ever."

"Haha, you are right. You really are the best." Subaru lets out a small laugh, while still holding a tired subtone, shows that he has relaxed a little now.

They now find themselves arriving in the room they share.

"Well, time to sleep. Got to be ready for whatever happens tomorrow. We might have to contact the other camps to inform them of the situation. We are dealing with a witch after all"

"You noticed, I supposed?"

"Not really, she told me directly, even knowing that my reaction wasn't going to be a favorable one."

"I see..." Beatrice seems lost in thought for a few seconds. "And... Do you think she really means it, in fact?"

"The marriage thing?"

"Yes, in fact. She claimed that she was rather fond of you."

"I can't say for sure, part of me believes her, part of me doesn't."

Subaru hesitates a few seconds before continuing. "The love that she declared seemed real, the way she spoke and the light on her eyes didn't feel fake, however..."

"However?"

"Even if she truly loves me, it doesn't necessarily mean that she won’t do anything to harm me." Echidna, another witch that declared that she held feelings for him was like that. Her eyes, her words, even though she would lie in order to get what she wanted, they didn't seem fake when she declared her love. The part of her having feelings for him felt genuine, just like Pandora. And yet, the results of contracting her would have been devastating for him, even though she loved him. Heck, even the witch of envy is similar in this aspect. She claims to love him, and it is thanks to her giving him RBD that he was able to save all the people he cares about. All of that is true, however, she hasn’t allowed him to tell those he cares about his power. He now understands the dangers of telling those who he thinks he can trust. If he had been allowed to speak freely, its easy to imagine that Roswaal would have done anything to use him as a puppet with the knowledge of how his ability works. It was only do to the information he was missing that Subaru was able to defeat him in the end. Even so, why is it that the witch doesn’t allow him to tell Beako? Is it really just her being envious? Its hard to tell what really is going on with her, especially with her having a personality disorder, with the witch of envy and Satella being completely different. Did the two personalities find themselves in control at different times? Had they come to an agreement on the specifics of his ability? Just what is the witch?

"Ahhhhh, no more thinking. I am tired and it is time to go to bed with my cute Beako." Beako was startled by him yelling out of nowhere and just nodded in response.

Subaru lies down in bed with his eyes closed alongside Beatrice. It is as he is trying to fall asleep that he notices a white dove outside the window. Whether this was the same bird as before is unclear to him.

Subaru shivers a little at this sight, the encounter with the great rabbit crossing his mind for just a moment. It was also the second time he saw one of those in such an unbelievably short amount of time. Subaru is a little anxious at this sight but comes back to his senses as he notices Beatrice's worried expression. After reassuring her that he was okay and noticing that the bird was gone he decides to go back to sleep.

"Tomorrow will be one hell of a day. I will need a lap pillow from Emilia-tan if I wish to survive it." With these final words, Subaru's consciousness finally fades away as he falls asleep.

Chapter Text

The next morning everyone remained quiet during breakfast, none dared to speak of what happened last night. Instead, a meeting was called by Otto right after everyone finished eating.

"To begin with this meeting, I believe it's important for everyone to retell the events from their perspective so we can get a general view of the situation."

"Since Natsuki san was the most involved with the events we will leave his story for last. For now all I can say is that I was in the office chatting with Garf when everything went black, I don't really have any recollection of what happened after until we were transported to Rem's room." Otto starts with his side of the story.

"Come on Otto bro, don't just skip the details, tell them the part where you were drunk as hell, everyone noticed how bad you looked yesterday. Even now you seem to not be doing well, you know the whole after effect. What was it called?"

"Hangover."

"Yeah that, Otto bro was drunk as hell yesterday and was ranting about how he..."

"STOOOOP, I will have to stop you right there Garf." Otto was glaring daggers at Garf while a crimson red filled his face.

"Yeah yeah, my amazing self will keep quiet"

"Anyway, leaving Otto sama's secrets aside. I can confirm that my experience yesterday was similar. I had just finished everything that had to be done at the mansion alongside Petra and we were getting ready to go to bed when I lost consciousness out of nowhere.” Petra just nods to confirm Frederica’s claims.

"I seeeeee, it appears that everyone experienced the same as me and Ram."

"It seems that way Roswaal sama"

The way Roswaal already knew what Ram experienced implied that they were together, in the middle of the night at that. Garf glared at Roswaal with hatred and a sense of defeat, while the rest decided to keep quiet and not get involved with whatever the master and the maid were up to at those late hours. The fact that Ram had openly displayed her love for the clown 9 months ago didn't help their case.

Smart enough to understand that they were likely together when everything happened, but not enough to figure out the sexual undertones, Emilia asked the question everyone had been avoiding.

"What were you two doing together so late?" She asked innocently and became confused at everyone's reactions of "I can't believe she actually asked."

"Well..." Roswaal started to answer before he was interrupted by Subaru. "Emilia tan, you can't just say it even if you are curious, it's clear something was going on, and part of me wants to know, but another part of me just shivers when it comes to imagining anything having to do with Roswaal. What I am trying to say is that... They were probably doing stuff but you should keep those kinds of thoughts to yourself."

Emilia just tilts her head in confusion, not quite getting what Subaru was talking about.

"As expected of Barusu, the lack of sensibility and respect for Ram's privacy is on full display."

"Wait, does that mean that I was right?"

"Kindly eat a thousand needles" Ram declares as she just scoffs at him.

"Hey, that only applies to breaking promises, you can't just order me to do it without a good reason."

"Haaaaaaaah" Beako sighs as she grows tired of how they have been wasting time. "Aren't we supposed to be discussing something important right about now, I suppose?"

"AH, you are right. Getting the conversation back on track, that's my cute Beako" Subaru says as he headpats Beako with everything he has.

"I swear, my contractor can be such a hassle" She says trying to sound tired when it's obvious that she is enjoying the affection.

Roswaal just looks at the lolimancer and his spirits as he thinks about how Beatrice attempted to get back to the topic and then proceeded to get distracted herself.

"Soooooooo, Emilia sama, does everyone's experience match yours?" Roswaal says as he shifts the attention to Emilia.

"Ah, mmmhh... Yep, I was having trouble sleeping so I decided to talk to some minor spirits, that's when everything went quiet and the next thing I knew was that I was in Rem's room with everyone."

"Wait, does that mean that I was the only one sleeping at the time?!" Subaru points at himself in surprise as the revelation hits him.

"That seems to be the case, in fact" Beatrice was supposed to be sleeping as well, but she had actually just finished healing some scratches in Subaru's arms when the events occurred, but that is something that she can't say aloud.

"Last but ceeeeeeeertaintly not least, what about you Suuuuuubaru kun?"

"Well, I woke up in the middle of the night and noticed my cute Beako wasn't next to me so I decided to go look for her. As I was walking down the halls I started to feel like the mansion was too quiet and started to run trying to find anyone. That's when I remembered Rem. Worried for her safety I rushed to her room, thankfully she was fine. It was then that I heard a voice behind me, the voice belonging to Pandora"

"The platinum chick?" Garf asked, while Emilia grew somber at her mention. Subaru noticed this, he was worried about Emilia but decided that they would talk about it later and continued.

"Yes, Garf. After that she..." Subaru hesitates for half a second "Asked me to marry her."

Emilia feels a sharp pain in her chest as she imagines Pandora marrying Subaru, to put it simply, she hates the idea. She believes the pain comes purely from her hatred towards the witch.

“And Captain wanted to accept but couldn’t due to the princess and the rest of us appearing in the room?”

“What?, no. I already have Emilia tan and Rem.”

“She is on the smaller side body wise, which matches the taste of Natsuki san, aka the lolimancer.”

“I do not like little girls Otto, the only reason I told her I would consider it was so I could earn more time for us to deal with a witch.”

“A witch?” Ram raises a brow at the mention of a witch.

“She declared herself openly as one to me.”

“That means that she wields an authority, which was likely what allowed her to get rid of Betty and the rest in order to talk to my contractor.”

“But the Witch of Envy is supposed to be sealed. Does this mean that this “witch” is a different one from her and the Witch of Greed.” Frederica, as someone serving under Roswaal, understood how terrifying witches could be. So terrifying that someone could spend almost half a millennium obsessed over one of them, which probably was a Roswaal thing more than anything else. Regardless, the idea of multiple of these entities was unnerving.

“There is indeeeeeed multiple witches, seven to be more precise, each one corresponding to a sin. The problem is that Envy is sealed while the others are dead, my teacher included among those.” Roswaal says as he skips over mentioning Hector.

“That’s the thing, she declared herself as the Witch of Vanity, not one corresponding to the other sins.” Subaru himself had to skip over the fact that he had already meet every other witch, including Satella herself.

“Vanity huh.” It appears even Roswaal isn’t familiar with that title.

“Betty doesn’t know anything about a Witch of Vanity, in fact. Mother never mentioned it to Betty. If even Mother was unaware of this “Pandora”, then there’s basically nothing we can figure out about her, I suppose.”

“Weeeell, the thing is that she not only declared she was a witch, but also that…”

“What else did she say Subaru sama?”

“She kind of called herself “something akin to the leader of the Witch Cult”, and did so while aware of my hatred towards them.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaa?!”

“The leader of the Witch Cult?!” There is no need to emphasize how shocking of a revelation this would be to any inhabitant of this world.

“Wait Natsuki san. What do you mean, “something akin to the leader? There is a clear distinction you just made there.”

“Well, I don’t really know. She didn’t articulate any further since the conversation got sidetracked.”

“Whatever, regardless of if she is a full blown leader or just a figurehead or something, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that she is, to a degree, commanding the most hated organization in the world, and that she declared her affection towards Natsuki san.”

“But why? Why does she want Subaru sama?”

“Any ideas Suuuubaru kun?” Roswaal had his own ideas of course, like the possibility of this “Pandora” being aware of the ability Subaru possessed. Maybe she found out somehow and is trying to acquire him for her own goals, those were the kind of things Roswaal was considering.

“I have no clue, she claimed to have been observing me from the very beginning.”

“The very beginning?”

“Ah” Shit, they don’t know that I am from another world, so they wouldn’t understand what I mean by “the very beginning" like I would.

“I just meant the day I arrived at the capital.”

“Aaaah, so the day we met?” “But how is that the beginning? Beginning of what?” Emilia was about to ask what he meant, but someone spoke before she could.

“So, what else did this “witch” say, I feel like we are wasting too much time, in fact.” Beako, feeling that her contractor was uncomfortable when it came to the topic of his first day in the capital, decided to move the conversation and change topic.

“After that she declared she wanted to spend eternity with me.”

“Eternity?”

“That doesn’t make sense, I suppose. Betty’s contractor is human and won’t get to live and eternity. Which is exactly why you need to leave some descendants for Betty. Betty would first have to approve of your partner of course.”

Subaru faintly grows red as he sideyes Emilia, who as usual, is oblivious to what they are talking about.

“Does this imply that she can live forever?” Ram decides to move the conversation forward. She doesn’t have time to talk about Barusu’s failed love life.

“Maybeeeee, there are documents pertaining to attacks of both Greed and the deceased sloth from around a 100 years ago. Soooooo There is the possibility of sin archbishops having eternal life achieved through their witch factors.”

“But like mentioned before, Subaruuuu kun has a regular human lifetimeeeee.”

“It's no use, we lack the needed information.” Subaru is really trying to wrap his head around everything, but there are just too many missing pieces.

“True, it would be better to wait for the other camps to arrive.”

“Suuuuubaru kun, did you send letters to everyone?”

“Yes, I made sure of doing it first thing in the morning, even before breakfast.”

“Wait, why did the captain have to do that, doesn’t it make sense for the princess to do it, for image and stuff.”

“That would certainly be a concern under normal circumstances, but we are in an emergency right now. So it was better for Natsuki san to send them since he has the strongest connection to the other camps.” Subaru had fought against the White Whale and the sin archbishop of Sloth alongside both the Crusch and Anastasia camps. The Crusch camp considered itself indebted to him, while he had formed a friendship with Julius, Anastasia’s knight, even if Subaru would never admit it.

“Oh, I heard that the captain fought alongside the other camps against the White Whale and Sloth.”

“Ah, what if that is it?”

“What is it?”

“The reason Pandora wants Subaru sama. Maybe he wants him because he killed the whale and Sloth, an attempt to get him out of the picture.”

“But how does that translate to marriage? Could it be that it was a lie? The whole affection for Subaru thing.”

“I don’t think so, it felt really genuine.” Subaru really believed that regardless of the hidden nature of Pandora, the feelings she declared she had for Subaru were genuine in the same way Echidna’s were.

“Genuine huh?” Emilia’s expression grows darker once again, making Subaru regret his words.

There is a little moment of quiet.

“When should the other camps be arriving, I need to start preparing for the number of guests we will be receiving?” Frederica asked, trying to destroy the silence.

“Weeeeeeell, it should be around half a day in distance between here and the royal capital, thaaaaaaat’s assuming they come and do so immediately after receiving the message.”

“I only informed them that we had an emergency that possibly involved them as well. I didn't go into details of what this emergency was, just that we wanted to meet everyone in this mansion for a meeting.”

“That’s for the better, explaining the details in person is the most sensible thing to do, especially when talking about a witch and the WItch Cult. Had the full details been in the letter, it could have caused quite a lot of problems had it been intercepted by someone else and gone public.”

“But isn’t the information in the letters still one capable of creating paranoia if it leaked? You know, the whole “emergency meeting between the camps of the royal selection” would look pretty worrisome. That’s just my amazing self’s opinion.”

“I know Garf, still, we need to express the fact that we are dealing with an emergency, otherwise some like the Anastasia camp might refuse to come. There really isn't much that can be done regarding that.”

“By the way Natsuki sama, did you make sure to address the letter for the Anastasia camp specifically to Julius sama?”

“Yes I did, I had to grit my teeth and write a cordial letter to that bastard asking for him to persuade his camp to come, I hated the whole thing but I did it.”

“I am glad to see that Subaru and Julius are still great friends.” Apparently the idea of her knights making friends is all it took to raise her mood, even if just a bit.

“Emilia tan, how did you even reach that conclusion?”

“Taaaaaking into consideration how we couldn’t really get anywhere on our own, it would be in our best interest to wait for the arrival of the other caaaaaamps in order to formulate a plan with them.”

“If the Crusch camp decides to aid us, then we could use Crusch’s divine protection in order to corroborate Pandora's words. To see if what she says of wanting to marry Natsuki san is true, and to know what exactly are her plans regarding him.”

“Wait, doesn't that make me seem like that kind of partner that puts their lover through a lie detector to see if they truly love them or if they are cheating?!”

“Lie detector?” Emilia tilts her head wondering what Subaru is talking about.

“Having the swoooooord saint here would also be pretty reassuring on its own.” Emilia’s question was ignored.

“Siiiiiiince the letters were sent during fire time, then they should be arriving around earth time.”

“Okay then, the meeting is dismissed, everyone can return to their rooms to relax while we wait for our guests to arrive.” Otto decides to conclude the meeting there.

“Let’s go Beako.”

“You don’t need to tell Betty.” Both Subaru and Betty leave the room with direction to their room.

A few hours later.

“Sup bro” Al raises his arm, his only one, in a gesture.

“Oh, you are the first to arrive Al.” Subaru greets him at the entrance door of the mansion.

“Natsuki san, why did you invite Priscilla knight?”

“Hm? Ah, the thing is that me and Al are from the same hometown, so there was some stuff about this whole situation that I wanted to talk about with him.” Subaru was referring to how Pandora knew he was from another world, from Japan. It is that which makes him invite Al as a fellow japanese citizen.

“Is that sooooo” Roswaal stares with interest at the pair of otherworlders.

“Subaru sama’s hometown” Petra can’t help but be immensely intrigued by that.

“Barusu’s hometown” Ram can’t help but be immensely unsettled by that.

“What did you call me here for tho? If it has to do with us sharing hometowns, then… don’t tell me it actually happened.”

“What happened?” Al seemed excited for some reason, which confused Subaru.

“You know. Did a rift in space open, letting things come through? Please tell me there is a Playstation 2!”

“No rift in space opened, and even if it did and a Playstation 2 came through it, it would still mean nothing since there is no electricity!”

“Haha, I guess so.” It was hard to tell whether Al actually thought a rift in space opened, or if he was just joking in order to lighten up the mood.

While Subaru and Al bicker about mysterious things to everyone but them, steps can be heard from a distance. These steps carry a sense of confidence so prominent that the sound they produce is enough to transmit the absolute majesty of the individual.

“Al stop acting like a fool, also, who gave you permission to enter before mineself?”

The sun princess enters the room, and immediately proceeds to reprimand the man she calls her jester. It makes you wonder if Al is into that kind of stuff.

Everyone stares at her in surprise since they weren’t expecting her to appear.

“Priscilla?!” Even the one in charge of inviting everyone was in shock, revealing that she had arrived completely uninvited and unannounced.

Chapter Text

“Priscilla?! What are you doing here?!” Subaru was taken by surprise when the Sun Princess arrived unannounced.

Priscilla stares at him for a brief moment before asking. “Who are you?”

“You don’t remember me?!” Subaru had thought that he had left quite an impression due to all that happened when they first met, however, it seems like all of that was so trivial to Priscilla that it wasn’t even worth keeping in her memory.

“Come on princess, we already went over this. He was the guy that made a fool of himself in the royal castle in front of everyone. The one that got beat up by that Julius guy.”

“Hmm, I can’t remember.”

“Sorry Pal, I did what I could. You will have to raise your affection points from zero. Better start looking for the flag events.”

*Sighs* “Anyways, can you explain what she is doing here? I am pretty sure that I only invited you.”

“Well, before leaving I had to ask her permission to spend the night at your house.”

“What is she, your mom?!”

“I am just kidding. What actually happened is that she found me while I was reading the letter, so I explained that you wanted me to come to talk about something and that the other camps would be there as well. She then decided that she was also coming. I tried to stop her, but you know how she is. When she sets her mind to do something, even dying more than 50 times wouldn’t allow me to make her reconsider..”

“That’s a weird way to put it but whatever.”

“So, she is here because she is bored?”

“Pretty much… gaaah” A fan hits Al in the head making him cry in pain.

“Al, don’t judge mine reasons with your baseless ideas.”

“Then, why are you here?”

“The world is made to work at my convenience. The fact that mineself became aware of the invitation means that there is something here to be gained, I just had to decide whether it amused me or not.”

“That’s basically the same as being bored but whatever.” Priscilla’s way of thinking is truly quite something, maybe she is crazy in a completely different way Petelgeuse was.

“When is the meeting taking place and what is it about?”

“There is a situation going on, however, we will need to wait for the other camps to arrive before explaining anything.”

“So we are the first to arrive?” Al asks.

“Surprisingly. I thought Priscilla was the time to make people wait “because that’s her privilege as someone superior”, or something, but you two arrived first somehow.”

“Commoner, show me the way.”

“The way?” Subaru tilts his head confused about what Prsicilla is talking about.

“To my guest room of course.”

“You are staying for the night?!”

“But of course. Were you expecting me to make another half day journey this late? Don’t tell me that you didn’t prepare anything in advance?”

“I mean, the room for the meeting was cleaned properly, I guess.”

“I suppose that even a decent level of hospitality is impossible for that half-wit.”

“This has nothing to do with Emilia, it was me who had a lapse of judgment and forgot to take into consideration how late it was.”

“Regardless of whose job it was to prepare these things, it's still the master’s responsibility to make sure everything goes right when she is the one hosting others. At the very least she should have assigned the correct people for the correct job rather than an incompetent dog.”

“You weren’t expected to come in the first place, you showed up completely uninvited, meaning that there was no way to predict and prepare for such an unforeseen development.”

“That might apply to mineself, but it doesn’t apply to Al or any of the actually invited guests. The problem is that you admitted to having never considered how late they would be arriving, making it impossible for them to leave and spend another half day on their way back without proper rest..”

“Ugh.” Subaru didn’t have any rebuttal for what Priscilla was saying. Afterall, it was obvious that the guests wouldn’t be able to just return to their homes after the meeting was over. It was more than likely that they would be expecting for the proper accommodations to have been made for their arrival, and that Emilia, as the host, would have looked really bad for not having taken proper measurements.

While Subaru was looking at the floor defeated, a door opened revealing two maids, Frederica and Petra.

“Priscilla sama, a room has been prepared for you, please follow me.”

“Hmf, I suppose that at least the maids can work fast to fix their mistakes once they have noticed them. Sadly, once the guests have noticed the problem, a stain has been made in the reputation of their master.” Priscilla follows Frederica while Petra stays behind with Subaru.

“Thanks for saving me there Petra.”

“You should be thanking Frederica neesama. I am ashamed to admit that I didn’t realize our lack of preparations until she mentioned it.”

“It's okay Petra, everyone somehow forgot to consider it.”

“It's unusual for Neesama to miss a detail like that.”

“I suppose so, it seems everyone has been more affected by the events of the other night than they were leading on.”

“Frederica is a real hard worker, she is very dedicated, but I guess that even experienced hunters let a rabbit get away from time to time.”

“It’s not her fault, it's just that a lot has been going on.”

“I know. I wasn’t blaming her.” Subaru smiles at Petra and starts petting her. “You really love her don’t you?”

“It's not just her though.” Petra murmurs, the words being too quiet for their sound to reach anyone but herself.

…

…

…

“What is going on here?” Crusch is incredulous as she witnesses the slayer of The White Whale, the Great Rabbit (allegedly), and the sin archbishop of sloth, running around in a hurry as he brings box after box into a room.

As Subaru is running around he notices the Crusch camp that had just arrived and stops to greet them.

“Crusch san, I am glad all of you made it.” He seems genuinely happy to see them.

“‘I am grateful for the invitation of course, but can I ask, what’s going on? Why are you running around carrying boxes?”

“Ah, this? A certain bratty princess didn’t like her guest room’s decoration and demanded for it to be redecorated.”

“So those boxes are?”

“Paintings and stuff.”

“Subaru kyun sure has it hard.” Felix appears from behind Crusch alongside Wilhelm.

“Would you require assistance with those boxes, Subaru dono?”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but I can’t.”

“And why is that?”

“Priscilla asked for me to be the one to do it, I think she finds amusement in my suffering or something, that sadistic woman.”

“Did you really have to invite that bitch big bro?” A new voice joins the conversation as two silhouettes emerge from the other side of the entrance door.

“Felt sama, please watch your language.”

“Felt! Reinhard! I am happy to see you.”

“We feel honored by your invitation..”

Reinhard, noticing that there are others present, shifts his attention to them, where he is met with the sword demon’s gaze.

“Honorary grandfather.” “Reinhard dono.” Their gazes meet and soon an awkward silence fills the space around them, with no one daring to say something, it appeared that it would remain like that for a while, however…

“Barusu, I need you to help me carry their things inside and show them the way to their rooms.” Ram appeared to save the day.

“Right on it nee sama” Subaru was thankful for her intervention as he himself had no idea what to do.

…

…

…

“I apologize for our late arrival, Subaru dono.” The finest of knights apologizes.

“What’s with the “dono”? It's suspicious.”

“It's only proper for me to address you in such a way now that you have acquired the position of a knight.”

“Please stop, it's giving me goosebumps.”

“It seems that even your accomplishments and status were unable to change you at your core.”

“Now you are just making fun of me!”

“If you two have fun all by yourselves, you will make this gal feel lonely.” Anastasia says as she fakes a tear.

“I am not having fun with this guy!”

“I apologize for not taking it into consideration, Anastasia sama.”

“It’s fine, rather than just staying here in the entrance, would you mind showing us the way, Natsuki san? I imagine that the others have already arrived.”

“Yeah, we were just waiting for you two to arrive to start the meeting.”

Anastasia and Julius follow Subaru to the room where the meeting is set to take place. Everyone is already in their places making small talk waiting for the last guests to show up, and now that they have, it’s time to start.

“I will likeeeeeee to thank everyone here for taking the time to assist at this meeting. There have been rather worrisome developments that happened the other night, these events are what we will be discussing tonight.”

“Now, if you will, Emilia sama.”

“Thank you Roswaal.” Emilia takes over the role of speaker at Roswaal indication. “A threat to the whole kingdom is what we have faced the previous night, it is because of this that we assembled this meeting where we request the assistance of the other camps.”

“The enemy in question is a witch named Pandora, someone that proclaims to be the leader of The WItch Cult.”

Chapter Text

Emilia’s words echoed in the room as it remained in silence. The witch cult was a serious topic that should never be joked about, so for her to proclaim something like that, especially taking into consideration her own circumstances, it must mean that she is completely serious. Even then, the idea of a person coming out to declare themselves the leader of such a group, someone that they had never heard of, a witch at that, it was hard to believe. So everyone turned to face Crusch, who was known for her Divine Protection that allowed her to read when someone was lying.

“She is telling the truth.” Crusch, being aware of the expectations being placed on her, responded by affirming Emilia’s words.

The room falls into silence again, with every person in the room digesting the information, and wondering just what it means. The members of the Emilia camp, being aware of the weight of their claims, wait for everyone to be ready to proceed with the meeting.

“If this “Pandora” is the leader of the cult, how is it that we never heard of her?” Wilhelm is the first one to ask a question.

“There is no way to be sure of the reason, but we believe that it might have to do with the power she wields.” Beatrice, as one of the best informed when it comes to witches, it's the one to answer.

“The power she wields?”

“Authorities, powers wielded by witches in the past, and now by the Archbishops of sin.”

“Witches? As in multiple?” For the longest time, the word witch was knowingly used to refer to one individual, and one alone. Knowledge of the existence of other witches is scarce, only a few being aware of this truth.

“That is right. This is not the type of information that can just be divulged like nothing, but we are in desperate times, and it is crucial for all of you to be aware of certain things if we wish to deal with this threat. It is the logical path forward, in fact.”

“To explain, there was a time where seven witches existed in the world. The witch of envy was one of them, and the most terrifying one. Each witch possessed a witch factor that granted them an authority. Authorities allow the users to manipulate the world beyond what the rules of it allow. They manifest differently depending on the user. There is no real distinction between the witches and the archbishops, they are just the wielders of authorities from different generations if you will.”

“What happened to these witches?” Felt is the next one to intervene.

“They died and were forgotten by history as the witch of envy consumed half the world.”

“I can verify that everything that you have said up to this point has been truthful, however, it remains unanswered how you know so much, is it just due to your status as a great spirit and the long life that comes with it?.”

It is clear to Subaru that Beatrice had wanted to avoid touching upon certain personal matters, but it was impossible for no one to wonder where her information came from. “I am personally connected to one of the witches.” This information does not result in positive reactions due to the general bad connotation that comes with the word witch, but Beatrice is allowed to finish before anyone jumps to conclusions.

“Mother created me as an artificial spirit”

“With mother you are referring to one of the witches?” Crusch takes over the role of asking the question for obvious reasons.

“That’s right, Echidna, also known as the witch of greed, was who created me, in fact.”

Anastasia twitches a tiny amount while holding her scarf.

“Wouldn’t that mean that you are more than 400 years old?”

“That is indeed the case.”

“Being a great spirit usually implies longevity due to the time it takes to turn into one, however, could this imply that the witch created her from the beginning as one?” Julius, as one of the more experienced art users wonders the implications of Beatrice having been created artificially.

“That’s right, in fact”

“To be able to create such a powerful living being, is this the power of the witches?.”

“Mother could be considered an exception of sorts, since it was her magical research that led to my birth and not her authority. Mother and the witch of gluttony would be the only ones capable of creating life, I suppose.”

“So, is this “Pandora” one of the other four witches then?” This time it was Priscilla that made the question since she seems to have an interest in Pandora, probably just as the center of the incident, she believes that it is with her that the world wants her to obtain something, whether it be amused or something else.

“That's one of the things, actually. I have no information on her in particular. As far as I am aware, she isn’t one of the seven witches of sin.”

“Then, who is she?” While they now have a better understanding of the witches, they have yet to learn where Pandora fits in all of this.

“We don’t knooooooooow, that's why we request everyone’s help to deal with this unknown foeeeeeeeeee.”

“If she really is the leader of the witch cult, then she is certainly someone that can’t be ignored.” Reinhard adds this observation, after all, it is his job as the sword saint to deal with the threats that the kingdom faces.

“Ah, it completely escaped my mind due to the absurd information dump, but what is she after exactly? Did she state her intentions when you meet her” Felt snaps her fingers as she asks the important questions.

“That’s true, you mentioned meeting her the other night, but not anything about the circumstances or the events that led you to decide that a confrontation with her was unavoidable.” Anastasia then is the one to continue the train of thought.

“It’s unavoidable, we have no choice but to deal with her.” Emilia loses her calm demeanor and a hint of hatred can be detected in her words. While this hatred has its roots in Pandora's actions a century ago, there might be another reason why she wishes to confront Pandora, one that maybe even she isn’t fully aware of.

“Stop wasting mineself’s time and just explain yourself.”

“Well…” It was awkward for Subaru to have to state that this basically omnipotent being that they wanted to deal with, was looking to marry him. How is he even supposed to explain that?

“Pandora declared her intent to marry our dear Suuuuubaru kun over here.” Without consideration, Roswaal just explains the motives of the witch, meanwhile, Ram wonderes in what kind of fucked up reality are they in.

“It wasn’t enough to dress like a clown, now you have decided to honor your appearance and started telling bad jokes.

“Yeah, you can’t just joke in a time like this.” It is here where they notice the genuinely worried and horrified expression in Crush's face.

“Oi oi, you can’t be serious.” Felt says as Crusch just nods, confirming that Roswaal was indeed being serious.

“... Pffft, Hahahhahahah.”

“Felt sama, please mind your manners.”

“Fuck off Reinhard, there is no way I ain’t laughing at that. Like, how the hell do these things keep happening to big bro?”

“Subaru kyun, are you sure you aren’t cursed? Need me to check just in case.”

The group continues to tease Subaru for a while before moving on.

“It might seem like a joke, but as Crusch has already verified, we are entirely serious that the reason Pandora infiltrated this mansion was to demand Subaru’s hand in marriage.”

“Do we know why she wants Subaru dono as her partner?” It was a confusing situation for Wilhelm, especially since he had some experience dealing with witches and understood their nature to a degree.

“Could it be related to his position as Emilia’s knight or his subjugation of the White Whale and Sloth?”

“We have already considered the different possibilities but have failed to reach a proper conclusion. She claimed that it was out of affection that she desired the marriage with Subaru, but we can’t know for sure. That’s why we were hoping Crusch could assist us with her divine protection of wind reading in order to figure things out.”

“So you want me to talk to Pandora or to at least be there while someone else asks her questions?”

“Absolutely not!” Felix rises from his seat protesting against the idea. “Crusch sama can’t risk being near something as dangerous as a witch, she is in no condition to something like that.”

“Ferris” Crusch looks at Ferris with empathy, understanding that they are only trying to be the best for them, even if they can be very aggressive about it.

“We undeeeeeerstand the risks implied, but saaaaaadly she is our only option.”

“Reinhard, couldn’t you just ask for her divine protection and do it yourself?”

“I apologize for my inadequacy but that’s not really possible Felt sama.”

“And why is that?”

“While I could ask for it and receive it, the problem lies in it being a unique divine protection that only one person can have at a time, meaning that Crusch sama would lose it if I were to wish for it.”

“I guess it’s not really an option then.”

While everyone moves on with the conversation Subaru is stuck in the part of Reinhard just being able to ask for divine protections, even unique ones. He wonders just how OP can Reinhard get. Truly an unfair world.

“It seems that I have no choice but to do it myself.”

“I am still very much opposed to Crusch sama putting herself in such risk.”

“We understand, but we can continue discussing this later. To begin with, we aren’t even sure if we will be granted a proper opportunity for conversation, so we should consider a plan in case things turn out for the worst and a fight breaks out.”

“Why don’t we just give her what she wants? It’s not like the commoner is irreplaceable.”

“What did you say you bitch?”

“Priscilla sama, please refrain from making such comments.”

“I undeeeeeerstand where you are coming, Priscilla sama, but it’s not like Pandora offered peace in exchange for our dear Suuuubaru kun. There is the possibility that nothing will change even if we turn him in. Regardless of what happens regarding him, Pandora remains the leader of the witch cult, and as such, it's a threat concerning all of us.”

“Then, what is it that you are planning on doing?”

“We aren’t sure, that’s why this meeting was called.” Subaru answers her question, a little irritated at the idea of being offered as a sacrifice.

“Meaning that you need to rely on others to deal with your problems. It seems that the half elf is truly incapable of handling her camp. Be grateful that this whole situation has caught mine interest, otherwise I would have left long ago.”

These comments aren’t seen in a positive light by any of the members of the camp, but before they can say anything, someone else makes a move.

“Oi oi princess, don’t tell me you are actually thinking of getting involved. You know that a witch is no small deal.”

“Are you telling me what to do Al?”

“Of course not, I am just saying that it’s not worth the risk. I was willing to hear him out since it was my bro who was asking, but a witch is seriously bad news.”

“I made my decision.” With this response Al just sighs and resigns himself to the hell incoming.

“I guess I am going to have a lot of work to look forward to.”

“With that it seeeeeeeems that both the Crusch camp and the Prsicilla one are in. What about the Felt camp?”

“Hmm? You don’t even have to ask, you are free to use Reinhard however you want.”

“I will be happy to be of assistance” Reinhard says as he does a small cordial bow.

“And the Anastasiaaaaaaa camp?”

“Well, it’s certainly quite the position you are putting us on. If information that the Anastasia camp backed out while all the other camps fought such a high threat as a witch, it would certainly not be a good image. We are in as long as we get proper compensation.” Anastasia finishes her sentence with a wink.

“We can certainly woooooork things out.”

“Noooooow that everyone is in, and is aware of the basic information needed, we can proceed.”

“Shouldn’t the question of who was going to participate have been before all the talk about there being seven witches and stuff? It feels like you revealed really important information before even knowing if we would help.”

“It is understandable for Felt sama to think that waaaaaay, but such risks are necessary when dealing with what we are dealing with here. If we asked you if you were willing to follow us to deal with a witch that you had never heard of, it would be only naaaaatural for you to have questions. It was important to provide part of the picture beforehand since it would only lead to confusion otherwise.”

“I suppose that makes sense.”

“Now, I beeeeelieve it would be best for us to retell the events of the other night when we met Pandora. Can you do the honors Suuuuuuubaru kun?”

“Right, of course.”

From here Subaru explains the events of how he woke up alone in the middle of the night and decided to search for the other residents in the mansion. Of how he grew concerned once he realized he couldn’t find anyone, and of how Pandora appeared out of nowhere when he went to check the wellbeing of the sleeping Rem. Many in the room were not aware of the whole deal with her, but the details were left vague by Subaru since it wasn’t particularly relevant and it was deeply personal.

From there the other members of the camp explained their version of the events while confirming the others. It all summarizes into the idea that everyone except for Subaru lost consciousness and disappeared for a little while due to Pandora. Only truly realizing that something was going on once they came back.

“So what you are telling us is that Pandora sent everyone away aside from Subaru, where they didn’t remember anything that happened, all in order to talk to him alone about marriage. If it wasn’t for my divine protection I would believe that you have to be joking, sadly, there is no wind of untruth. I never expected to doubt my wind reading as much as I have done today.”

“How does Subaru kyun end up in such a ridiculous situation?”

“I wish I knew.” Maybe Echidna was right, maybe he does have some talent to seduce witches, after all, this would be the third one to show romantic interest in him.

“So, it's the idea to formulate a plan to deal with this Pandora, who seemingly can do whatever she wants as if the world did her bidding, with the little information that was provided to us?”

“We are in the same boat as you, we have next to no idea of how to deal with this.”

*Sigh* “From what you have told us, it sounds like killing her is not an option since she would just reappear without any damage. She can also make someone like Roswaal, the greatest magician in the kingdom, disappear without him realizing what’s going on. And on top of that, she is the leader of the witch cult, which possibly means having to deal with its members as well. The only positive thing is that she seems willing to negotiate and hasn’t just taken what she wants by force, meaning that we have some form of leverage in Subaru.”

“Betty would rather not rely on that too much. It is possible that she is being patient for now, and has decided to take a more passive approach. Bety doesn’t want to even imagine how things would go if they were to be angered and decided to go full offensive. There is also no we Bety is even considering giving her contractor away, I suppose.”

“As expected, we have to be absolutely careful. For now, finding out her motives is our top priority, which is where Crusch comes in. After that, Reinhard is our only hope when it comes to direct confrontation, since even Roswaal seems to be not enough. If even Reinhard is outmatched, then there is probably no realistic way for us to do anything.”

“I can’t possibly believe for there to be a power capable of doing anything, there has to be a trick or weakness behind it.” Anastasia proposes the idea of there being something more going on.

“Maybe, but the facts right now are that we aren’t aware of such a thing. We can only hope for some hints to reveal themselves when Crusch talks to her.”

“Well, I gueeeeeess this is enough for now. This meeting has gone for far too long, and we aren’t really getting anywhere. Plus, it’s already way too late. It would be beeeeeetter for everyone to rest so we can efficiently use our remaining time before the witch comes back.”

“Which would be?”

“Two more days, although, she didn’t speeeeecify a time aside from *in three days*, so in three daaaays that's all we know.”

“Not quite as much time as I would wish, but I guess reality is like that sometimes.” Anastasia starts heading to the room’s doors alongside Julius.

“I guess I’ll get going if someone can guide me towards my guest room, I kind of already forgot where it was. I swear, I will never understand why nobles love mansions so much, such a waste of space that takes a monumental effort to maintain.”

“I can guide you. Felt sama, I already memorized the mansion.”

“How the hell? It's true they gave us a tour, but you can’t have possibly memorized it from just that.”

“It’s thanks to my divine protection of…”

“Of course it’s a fucking divine protection.”

Everyone goes their ways as they prepare for a new day, unsure of what to do with the imminent threat rising in the horizon.

Chapter Text

As a new day arrives, the timer for Pandora’s arrival continues to tick.

Beatrice opens her eyes and notices that Subaru has yet to wake up. It’s possible that the recent events have been weighing down on him, as if he wasn’t stressed already. Beatrice might not understand the cause of his nightmares, but she still worries about him and wishes to be able to help in any way she can. However, she has felt even more useless than usual recently. Seeing Subaru almost die in front of her when Emilia’s hatred got out of hand was painful, especially because she understood that she couldn’t have saved him, that he only survived thanks to Pandora.

Out of nowhere, a white bird lands outside the window of their room. It stays there looking towards them with great intensity. Its gaze manages to unnerve Beatrice enough for her to stand up and approach the window, hoping to scare it away, however…

“Hhhgg…” Subaru starts moving in his sleep as his face distorts in discomfort.

Beatrice shifts her attention towards him as he slowly reaches for the side of his arms to start scratching himself.

“Subaru.” Beatrice murmurs as she goes back to his side to calm him down with some healing magic.

As she sits there, healing him, she looks back to a now empty window.

…

…

…

By the time Subaru arrived, everyone was already there ready to eat breakfast. From what Beatrice had told him, he was allowed to rest due to being the one probably most affected by the recent events. Everyone for the most part was happy to let him rest.

Regardless, it was time to start his day, and so he decided to sit in the same place as always with Beatrice in his lap.

It appeared that his side of the table was decided as the one for the knights, as he noticed Julius, Reinhard, Al, and Felix sitting to his sides. To be more precise, Julius was on his left side, while Reinhard was sitting to his right. Then Felix and Al were in the left and right extremes respectively.

“It is an honor to be in the presence of a great spirit.” Julius directs to Beatrice, which results in the interesting scene of the greatest of knights showing respect to a little girl sitting on a guy’s lap. Anyone unaware of the status of the little girl as a great spirit would be confused.

“Hey, I’ve heard everything about your divine protection of seducing spirits, I see right through you. You won’t steal my cute Beako.” Subaru says as he holds Beako as some sort of plushie that they are trying to take away from him.

“Subaruuuu!” The embarrassed great spirit protests against the way she is being treated with the bare minimum of effort, as if she didn’t actually mind but was only protesting in order to attempt to maintain their no longer existent image as a proud superior being.

“I was merely showing respect towards the great spirit. You should feel both blessed and proud of having formed a contract with them.”

“Of course I feel blessed! No one loves my cute Beako more than me!” Subaru declares his love for his cute spirit with strong words that come in a playful manner, similar to that time in his first week in the mansion.

“Ahhhhhh, Subaruuuuu!” The great spirit continues to have her pride tarnished to the amusement of others. Emilia giggles, Anastasia, Julius, Reinhard and Crusch smile, Al, Felix, and Felt laugh, and Priscilla alone looks unamused by the scene of the knight and his spirit.

The doors open and both Frederica and Petra enter the room with the breakfast in a cart. Frederica carries herself perfectly, meanwhile Petra lacks experience but has shown great potential and growth in the 9 months that she has been working on this mansion. She has surpassed Ram long ago in the way of the maid.

“Sorry for the wait.” Frederica says as she starts serving everyone while Petra does the same thing right after her.

“Enjoy your food.” They both declare as they leave the room, probably to attend their other duties. (can’t help but think I made them sound more like waitresses than maids)

They start to eat soon after.

…

…

…

Everyone is finishing their food, but before anyone can get up and leave, Subaru has something to say.

“I was thinking, shouldn’t we prepare something for when Pandora arrives?” His question draws the attention of everyone in the room. With everyone looking at him, he gets a little nervous but continues.

“I know our plan so far is to try to figure out everything we can through Crusch’s divine protection of wind reading, and to throw Reinhard at Pandora if things go wrong. But, shouldn’t we prepare ourselves for the worst case scenario.”

“I am talking about something like preparing a sealing technique. Surely we could seal her away. Something like, sealing technique no jutsu.” While no one understands what that last part was about, Roswaal ponders the idea proposed by Subaru.

“It’s ceeeeeertaintly an interesting thought, one that has the potential to work. However, it would need to be somethiiiiiing that barely gives Pandora the time to react, otheeeeerwise she would just rewrite whatever we attempt to do.”

“So what are our possibilities?” Subaru asks, but before Roswaal can answer, it’s Beatrice that starts explaining.

“The Witch of Envy was sealed through a combination of Yin magic and sealing stones, however, it is believed that even then, she still has some influence over the world.” Subaru could agree with that, he was stolen from his world and granted an authority by the witch that is said to be sealed. It’s hard to call the seal efficient because the being that is sealed still has the ability to do such things. No, that’s wrong. It’s not that the seal is weak or inefficient, it’s just that Satella is THAT strong.

“As the great spirit of Yin, I can take care of using magic to seal her, in fact. We would just need the sealing stones, which Roswaal can surely acquire, I suppose.”

“Don’t worry about the sealing stones, the Hoshin Company would be more than sure to provide them.” The smile Anastasia provided while saying this wasn’t the most reassuring to Subaru, especially taking into consideration his first impressions of her back at the capital, but regardless, it’s going to be Roswaal who is going to have to deal with whatever she is planning, so who cares?

“That’s great and all, but sure are we that we can seal her? Wouldn’t she just break free?”

“We can’t be sure, Felt-sama. But as Lady Beatrice mentioned, this was the method used to seal the Witch of Envy herself. If it doesn’t manage to seal her, nothing will.”

It’s at these words that Priscilla notices her knight thinking about something. Something that he isn’t telling anyone.

Of course, Al it’s thinking about a certain thing he could do. This something would, in theory, work in Pandora and seal her away. The thing is, he isn’t planning on just revealing something like that, especially not in front of the greatest magician in the kingdom, who would surely realize that Al’s technique it’s something that there exists no records of. He could attempt to lie, but that is not an option with Crusch here. When it comes to what matters most to him, Priscilla will always be the top priority, and he will do whatever he has to do to protect her. So, if shit really hits the fan, he would have no option but to do it.

“Al, what are you thinking about?” Priscilla herself calls for him, as she knows that he has been hiding stuff from her for the longest time.

“Hmm? I was just thinking about how I would do whatever it takes if you were at risk during the confrontation with Pandora.”

“I see.” Having said that, Priscilla looks at Crusch who doesn’t seem in any way bothered by what Al said, which means he wasn’t lying.

“But how are we going to do this?”

“As stated before by Roswaal, it’s clear Pandora would use her authority the moment she notices what we are planning. For example, based on your accounts, she is completely capable of vanishing people. It would be easy for her to just get rid of whoever is casting the Yin magic.”

“Our only hope would be to catch her off guard, which will require planning.”

Within that room some of the smartest and strongest people in the kingdom of Lugunica could be found. The three camps that subjugated the White Whale and the sin archbishop of sloth were there. The strongest magician and the sword saint himself. It would be impossible to even imagine a plan executed by these individuals to fail, and yet, the possibility of everything going wrong was there. The laws of this world didn’t apply to the witches, there were no guarantees when it came to dealing with. In order to have the best possibility of success the plan had to account for every possibility, no matter what happened, it couldn’t be allowed to fail.

…

…

…

“Well, that’s enough for now. I can’t believe we didn’t think of any of this yesterday, but I suppose that’s what a good night of rest will do. It sure helps clear the mind.”

“Indeed, with everything decided, it's just a matter of preparing the stage and getting proper rest in anticipation for Pandora’s arrival.”

Once again, everyone went their own way. Subaru himself had nothing to do, since at this stage most of the prep work would be taken care of by Anastasia and her Hoshin Company. Roswaal would also be occupied dealing with the preparations alongside her. Even Beako would be involved to a degree as the best Yin magic user available. And so, Subaru had no option but to go with the other nights to just do something while they waited for their turn to do something.

Suddenly, as the knights crossed the main door leading to the yard…

“Ahhh” A small bird passed flying next to Subaru, coming out of nowhere and surprised him.

Subaru stumbled backwards. “Are you okay Subaru?” The first one to reach for him and catch him was Reinhard.

“Yes, I am okay.” Subaru quickly reassured Reinhard that it was nothing, that he got surprised by the bird coming out of nowhere, and that it wasn’t something for him to worry about.

“Still, it didn’t know you were scared of birds.” It wasn’t meant to mock him or anything, but coming from Julius, Subaru couldn’t help but interpret it that way.

“Shut up you jack ass. Everyone has their things they fear. I would rather not talk about it.”

The topic was dropped due to how obvious it was that there was more to that fear. Instead, the knights went to the Arlam village to spend the time. Taking some time to rest and have fun was important in its own way.

Chapter Text

“Victoryyy!” The voice of the villagers echoes throughout the village, with Subaru’s voice being the loudest one of the bunch.

It had been a few days since Subaru had done his morning radio calisthenics. Having gone to the village with the other knights, he decided to make them join the villagers.

“The villagers really like you.” Julius approaches Subaru alongside the others.

“Subaru-kyun is like a celebrity.”

“It’s an admirable view.”

Julius' comment isn’t appreciated by Subaru because it’s Julius saying it, Felix is just messing with him, and Reinhard is highly overestimating him due to his own lack of self worth.

“By the way, I hadn’t mentioned it before, but where are Wilhelm and Al?”

“Wilhem decided to stay by Crusch's side in my stead.” It was a decision made in consideration for the peace of mind of the catboy knight. Crusch wasn’t on top form due to the attack of gluttony that left her without her memories, as such, Felix grew a little more overprotective of her. Wilhelm staying behind was so he could have fun with the other knights without the worry eating at his consciousness.

“What about Al?” Subaru really hadn’t noticed where he went.

“I don’t know where Mr.Al went. He had disappeared by the time we decided to go to Arlam village.” Al was just like Subaru, he understood Subaru in a way no one else could, this is because they both originate from the same place. Al alone could understand Subaru’s situation of finding himself in another world, of trying to survive in a world where there are individuals with monstrous strength. It is because of this that he couldn’t help but have a sort of sense of comradery with him that made him worry about him doing something out of place.

Despite the complicated emotions swelling inside him, Subaru still decided to move forward with the day alongside the other knights.

“Well, is there anything you want to do? I do have to warn you that Arlam is a small village, so don’t expect much in the way of entertainment.”

“That’s fine, I didn’t have anything particularly in mind. Lady Anastasia usually tells me that I don’t know how to have fun and relax.”

“Felt-sama says the same, that I should learn more from Subaru.”

“I understand what they mean, but I also feel that Subaru-kyun has a little too much fun.”

“He could indeed stand to act more befittingly to his status as a knight to a candidate.”

“Guhh” The conversation quickly shifted to Julius reprimanding Subaru for his lack of proper etiquette.

“Don’t you dare act all high and mighty just because you are a pretty boy, who is strong, and is regarded as the finest of knights.”

“Subaru-kyun, I think you are only complimenting him.”

The conversation continues with Subaru “insulting” Julius while he shrugs it off and Felix laughs at their shenanigans. Meanwhile, Reinhard watches these interactions with a small smile. He didn’t quite understand Subaru, but as someone he wanted to consider a friend, he wished to help with his pain.

Reinhard couldn’t read minds, there was just no divine protection that allowed just a thing, but he could read emotions. He could tell when he was consumed by negative feelings, and such a thing had happened just a few minutes ago due to the unknown location of Aldebaran. But Reinhard was glad that now Subaru was feeling better, after all, he could tell that Julius and Subaru really got along.

“Reinhard, back me up here. Tell this fucker to… Reinhard?”

“Nothing, I was just grateful to you.”

“Huh, sure.” Subaru didn’t really realize how much it meant to Reinhard the way he treated him. The familiarity and lack of formality was a fresh and welcomed experience, Subaru was similar to Felt in that aspect.

Reinhard walks towards and joins the group in order to continue the boy’s outing.

…

…

…

Meanwhile…

“Would that be all?” A mysterious figure appears to be negotiating with Anastasia. The man isn’t wearing anything specially concealing, the aura of mysteriousness comes from the convenient way the dark covers his face as he sits in a fancy chair in a fancy office.

“Is there anything else a gal could possibly need?”

“I hope not, you have already requested much from me.”

“Ah, but don’t get me wrong, needing and wanting are two completely different things. This gal could never be truly satisfied.”

“I suppose I understand the feeling as a fellow merchant.”

“I feel like “merchant” is too small of a label for someone like you.”

“Is that an insult?”

“You can take it in whatever way you want, but you can hardly argue against it with how well informed you are thanks to your organization.”

“It’s your fault for being so careless about it. There was no way we wouldn’t notice a meeting happening with all the candidates in a single place alongside their knights. I do have to admit that, while we managed to gather some intel about it, the specifics remained a mystery, so I would like to thank you for coming to me and saving us some work.”

“Well, since your organization is all about protecting the kingdom in the shadows, going so far as to threaten the sword saint in the past, I just thought that you might as well do your job and lend us a hand here.”

…

…

…

Anastasia had already left a few minutes ago, leaving the mysterious individual all by himself sitting at his desk.

The mysterious individual looks at the floor while thinking, while its expression is shown to be darker compared to the attitude he seemed to take during negotiations.

“Once again the pieces are moving and change intensifies. As if it hadn’t been enough with the subjugation of the White Whale and the defeat of a sin archbishop.” The recent events had strengthened the belief he had in the words he had uttered in the past months.

“Change like this is comparable to that during the time of the witches.”

…

…

…

The day of fun had nearly reached its end. The night approached and thus it was time to return to the mansion for sleep. Everyone had to be properly rested for what awaited them the day after, sleep was essential for this.

Many plans had been set in place for the precise moment they were all waiting for. They had no way of knowing if they would work, but they had prepared everything they could, at least that’s what they had decided, with Anastasia having agreed to proportionate everything. All that was left was to be ready to improvise in case something happened, after all, things hardly ever went according to plan.

Even with all this preparations, Subaru still sighed while thinking of what was to come.

“Don’t worry Subaru, Anastasia-sama has absolutely acquired everything we require, all that would be left is for us to carry our duty with diligence.”

“I don’t want to hear anything from you right now. Especially not about “diligence”, you are bringing me bad memories.”

They arrive at the mansion where the last preparations are being finished, and after a bit, they all head to their rooms for proper rest.

…

…

…

There’s a forest near Arlam village. Many things had happened in this forest back when Subaru arrived in the mansion. Experiences that only he could properly remember, but that doesn’t matter right now.

There’s a white silhouette in the darkness of that forest, a silhouette so white that it’s impossible for the darkness to properly hide her. To add to this, a white bird lands in her hand, making it impossible to miss her. But that’s in case someone was looking for her, after all, it was already really late at night, a time where everyone should be already asleep.

“I see, a wonderful effort.” The white silhouette says to the bird, answering to whatever message it had transmitted to her.

The two seemed to have understood each other, and so, the white bird leaves as the white silhouette of the young woman too beautiful for this world stayed there.

“The time is getting close.” Pandora declares.

Chapter Text

Everything was in place. Anastasia had honored her word, and in exchange for some compensation, she had acquired what had been deemed needed to oppose a witch. Multiple plans had been prepared, even if one failed, another one would be deployed in hopes of succeeding. This process would repeat until the witch was defeated, or they ran out of options.

But before that, they would try to get as much information as possible through the use of Crush’s divine protection. Pandora’s motives, her goals, her plans, everything they could learn that would potentially help against her and the cult.

All that was left was to wait for the promised time, for the witch’s arrival.

…

…

…

The mana crystal indicated that earth time was starting as its color switched from blue to yellow. And as if responding to this change, a knock was heard on the main door of the mansion.

Knock Knock

Everyone had heard the knock once it had happened. They were all reunited rather close to the entrance after all. Even so, it felt like the sound of the knock had resonated in a unique way that commanded for it to be heard. Maybe it was just the tension everyone was feeling at the time that resulted in such a unified feeling towards the simple sound.

Subaru stood up to approach the doors and open them to receive their “guest”. It had been decided for him to be the first face Pandora saw as a way to appease her and make her lower her guard. To show that they hadn’t tried to help Subaru escape during those 3 days, that they were keeping their side of their deal. Hopefully this would give them more room to work before she grows impatient.

Creeeeeak The door opens and Subaru is met with the figure behind it.

“Ahhh, I have been waiting to see you again.” Her facial expressions denoted longing. There was a faint red in the cheeks that became rather pronounced due to how unusually pale her skin was. The beauty of her snow white self was otherworldly, enough to take the breath away from anyone fortunate enough to witness said beauty. Enough to make one declare absolute loyalty to her purely out of adoration. However, Subaru was special. He was blessed daily with the sight of who he believed to be the most beautiful person in the entire world, which likely applied to both this one and his previous world. So, if the woman in front of him was the very personification of beauty, and yet Emilia was the most beautiful in the world. Then that meant that Emilia was more beautiful than the concept itself. Having Pandora right in front of him, this was the conclusion Subaru had arrived at.

“EMT!” Subaru declared out of nowhere.

“It appears as though it's going to take a rather substantial effort to release you of the spell your love for Emilia is.”

“Hmm?” Subaru had been too distracted to hear what Pandora had said, but regardless, it seemed she recognized Emilia as her greatest obstacle. Maybe she understood something about the origin of the love Subaru felt for her.

“If I may.” Pandora passes by Subaru and enters the Miload mansion.

…

…

…

Everyone was already in position. Pandora had arrived and a select few stood in the same room as her. Emilia was obviously left off the discussions as her losing control of her emotions could result in a fight breaking earlier than planned. Which is why those in the room were: Crusch due to her divine protection, Reinhard as the one protecting her and the rest, Felix as he wanted to remain by her master’s side, Subaru as Pandora’s priority remained to keep her under control, and Beatrice as Subaru’s partner. Everyone else was elsewhere either ready to intervene once it was their turn, or hidden as they had no place in the actual confrontation.

“It seems like they are going to start soon.” Otto transmitted this message to the others. Despite not being in the room, Otto was still capable of knowing what was going on due to his divine protection.

“Hmmm…” But Otto wasn’t the only one that understood what was going on in that room. Ram was capable of seeing the situation through her clairvoyance. Of course, her clairvoyance only transmitted what she could see through another’s eyes. She was incapable of hearing anything they were saying. So the two together would work to keep everyone else informed of how things progressed. This way a signal that alerted the enemy of them making their move would be unnecessary, they would already be aware of the current developments and would respond when the time was right.

…

…
…

“As you can likely deduce, Subaru sama asked for a little time before making a decision in order to figure something out. I possess a divine protection capable of telling whenever someone is lying. My purpose is to understand what you truly want.” Crusch was nervous but she had to put up a strong front. She wondered if the Crusch Felix knew would have been nervous as well, but maybe she would have been in a worse state. The truth is that losing her memories resulted in a certain level of ignorance. Everyone in the world had been taught to fear the witch’s name as one of the earliest lessons in their life. But Crusch had forgotten all about that. The kind of fear that had been instilled into everyone’s brain since they were little was something Cursch no longer had. So, perhaps she was truly the most adequate to stand before a witch.

“I believe I made my motives very clear before. I came to join Subaru Natsuki in marriage, that’s my desire.” Pandora declared with no hesitation.

Everyone in the room stares at Crusch at that moment, and so she nods.

“She is telling the truth.” So she really means it? But why?

“What do you seek to achieve by doing that?” A very important question.

“Do I need a reason to seek to be by the side of the person I love?” Pandora smiles in a way that made Crusch understand she was telling the truth even without her divine protection. Pandora was truly in love with Subaru, but…

“So you truly love him, it seems to be true. However, that doesn’t necessarily answer my question. Is there any other reason for you to seek his heart? I want a yes or no answer.”

“If I am to be truthful, then the answer is yes. I do have more than one reason.”

“I knew it, then…”

“However, I believe it to be a little different from what you expect.”

“The way things were going, he would likely be able to put a stop to my dreams. But even so, I love him, that much is true. To marry him would place him in my side, and at the same time, it would keep him there. Isn’t that just a wonderful idea? To fulfill two desires with a single compromise. Love is truly such a beautiful thing.”

“The appearance you are giving, I don’t think you understand love the way a normal person would.” Crusch stared at Pandora with resentment, for some reason she detested the love she spoke she had for Subaru.

“Ara, what a mean thing to say. You should understand that what I feel is very real and genuine. You have the power to understand that I haven’t told a single lie, yet you refuse to believe that which you don’t like. You hide behind the idea that there’s always the possibility that I am just insane, that I believe something that isn’t true. You use the one flaw of your power as a barrier to protect your heart.”

Pandora was turning the conversation on itself, with her being the one in control and questioning Crusch instead. Both Subaru and Felix were emotional people, Subaru more so, however, it was Felix’s master whose values were being questioned and so…

“How dare you imply something like that about Crusch Sama?!” He stood up from their seat.

But before they could properly act on their impulses, Reinhard placed his hand in front of them.

“I would prefer it if you didn’t try to provoke my friend.”

“Ara, what could you possibly be talking about? I was just telling the truth.” Felix reacted to that by stepping further in Pandora’s direction.

“I believe we are wasting time here. Isn’t it better if we get this done as soon as possible?” Pandora wanted Subaru after all, that much was confirmed by Crusch, so it was a good incentive to keep the conversation on track.

“Very well, let's move on. What else do you wish to know?” This time she directed her attention to Crush, wanting her to continue her questions.

“Ah… what exactly are your plans with Subaru sama? I doubt you are just planning to live a retired couple's life with him in the countryside.”

“Oh my, that’s precisely what I was planning on doing.”

“What?!” Both Subaru and Felix said in unison, very much doubting her words.

“The wind of untruth blows.”

“Sorry, It was just a small joke. Surely you can forgive that.”

“We don’t have time for games.”

“Aren’t you being a little inpatient? I understand that you worry deeply for Subaru, which is where your lack of patience comes from, however…”

“It seems as though the worry you hold in your heart it’s a little different from that of someone like the sword saint over here.”

“The sword saint worries for his friends, that much is easy to see. You seem to be about the same, but there’s more than just that.”

“That’s… Subaru sama is an ally to my camp, so it’s only natural that I worry about him as an ally.”

“No” Pandora rejects the notion. “It's not a simple worry for an ally that drives you. Does that mean you are trying to hide something? Doesn’t seem that way. Perhaps you aren't even aware of it.” Felix doesn’t like what is being implied here.

“Hmmm, there seems to be a certain emptiness in your persona. A lack of life experiences that one would expect from having lived a set amount of years. Ah, I see. It was gluttony, wasn’t it?”

“You!!” Felix was losing it. Reinhard once again had to stop him, it wasn’t time yet.

“Then that means that it's a subconscious thing. A remnant of your old persona. Something that belongs to them rather than to you.”

“You have lost many things due to Gluttony’s power, I am sure. Among those things, you lost precious feelings to you. But you know, this works perfectly for me.”

“What do you mean?” Even Cursch herself was losing composure at that point, and any attempt at hiding contempt was gone, showing it clearly in her expression.

“You aren’t the only one that lost something precious due to Gluttony. Subaru himself lost one he held dearly to his heart. I am sure you are aware of it.” Now it was Subaru who wanted to silence Pandora. The only reason he didn’t do anything was Beatrice’s hold on his hand tightening, trying to comfort him.

“I am aware of Rem’s situation, as we were both victims in the same incident. What about it?” Crusch’s emotions were still clear, but at least she was willing to listen.

“Then it stands to reason that it was the same Gluttony that got both of you. What name did they use to introduce themselves?”

“What are you talking about?” Felix intervened, wondering what the meaning of that question was.

“Hmm? I had assumed Subaru had explained it to you. Since you seemed to be so closed before Gluttony ate your memories. Surely it made sense for him to inform you of every new piece of information he acquired about the perpetrator.”

Subaru hadn’t meant to hide information from them, it had simply slipped his mind with everything he had in his mind. But Felix cared about Crusch deeply, to the degree it could easily turn into an obsession.

“I even offered to give him Gluttony in exchange for the incident to be left in the past, a sort of peace treaty if you will.” Pandora says as she makes the situation worse.

“Subaru kyun” Although it was the usual way that Felix used to refer to Subaru, the tone of his voice made it sound very different. “What’s the meaning of this?” The smile in its face was far from reassuring.