Chapter Text
“I’m in a fantasy world!”
The high-pitched scream of a delirious teenager echoed through the plaza of Lugunica's royal capital. His name is Natsuki Subaru, and his scream, which startled many onlookers by his unusual appearance, explained his current situation quite well.
Without a second thought, Subaru began walking through the streets. An excited smile and eyes shining brightly for his future accompanied him every step of the way when a situation caught his attention.
“My child!” A woman’s scream echoed throughout the place.
The reason was obvious enough to anyone. A boy no older than eight was standing in the middle of the street as a carriage approached at full speed. The boy seemed to be in shock, as was his mother, so even with time to move, he could only stand still and watch as the carriage came ever closer to an accident.
The place wasn't short of spectators, but whether it was surprise, shock, fear, indifference, or some sort of bystander effect, no one moved from their seats. Many saw disaster coming. Subaru? He saw an opportunity.
“Here it is! The moment I can test my incredible magic in this fantasy world!” he shouted excitedly.
His scream was completely improper for the horrific situation that was about to unfold, but the Subaru paid no attention to that, caught up in its own delusions of heroism.
With a ridiculous pose, he pointed his hand at the boy. Subaru himself had no idea what he intended with such an action, but sooner rather than later something happened, though not what Subaru had intended.
“Look out!” A man in armor jumped out.
The man's ability to leap, grab the child, and safely walk away, all while remaining completely unharmed, was impressive and was acknowledged with applause from the crowd. However, Subaru wasn't paying attention to any of that; instead, he was focused on the knowledge that had suddenly flooded his mind.
“This is… My cheat skill! Yes!” With a leap, the boy, completely out of the surrounding atmosphere, completely forgot about the previous incident as he returned to walking through the streets with an even more excited pace than before.
This confirms it! I have a cheat ability! It seems a little weak, but I'm sure I'll become an amazing hero with it. Maybe it needs a little training? Natsuki Subaru! The best marksman in the world!
Now I just need to find the girl who summoned me, and my adventure will officially begin once and for all.
Those were Subaru's thoughts as he wandered the streets without a care. This time, he decided to continue his search for the supposed girl who brought him to this new world.
However, Subaru would soon realize that even with his new cheat ability granted upon his arrival in this new world, things wouldn't be so easy. From being rejected at an apple stand (appas, apparently) to not being able to read. Then slipping up and entering the women's restroom, only to be slapped. At the end he enters a demi-human-only bar, which eventually causes him to fall into the river that runs through the capital.
To sum up, a disaster.
Subaru was sitting on the stairs of an alley, going through his belongings.
When Subaru was summoned to this fantasy world, he had his nearly dead flip phone, a bag of chips and instant ramen, his wallet, and little else with him. It can't be a good thing that the only things he'd brought from his world got soaked, not counting Subaru himself and his own clothes, of course.
“This sucks! Where’s the beautiful girl who summoned me?! Where’s my starting equipment?! I have a trap skill, but it’s useless without a bow!”
Subaru shouted his demands to the world in that alley. And for better or worse, the world responded.
The sound of an analog clock ticking echoed in his head.
Clock
"Eh?"
However, he didn't have an opportunity to think about it.
Footsteps approached slowly but surely. Subaru, who was busy sorting through his things, hadn't noticed, but as soon as he heard the footsteps, he immediately raised his head in excitement.
“Here she is! The girl who summoned me!...” He shouted with excitement that quickly faded.
“Hey! What is this idiot talking about?”
"I have no idea."
“You better put your stuff down if you don’t want to get beaten up!”
In front of him wasn't the beautiful girl of his fantasies; reality struck him again, this time in the form of what appeared to be three thugs. Their clothes were shabby, their looks unpleasant, and they clearly exuded evil intentions.
Their appearances were nothing special, but if Subaru had to say anything remarkable, it was that their heights were strangely different. One was short, the other average, and the last one was surprisingly tall and strong for a thug.
They began to slowly approach Subaru, ready to take his things by force if necessary, while Subaru slowly walked backwards.
However, an unexpected movement caught Subaru's attention.
A girl with golden hair and red eyes wearing worn-out clothes and a dagger at her waist was heading in the direction of the alley where Subaru and the thugs were.
The girl arrived at the scene of the fight, where she was forced to slow down to avoid the few obstacles. Her arrival caught the robbers' attention, and Subaru couldn't help but think the pretty girl was the one.
“You must be the girl who summoned me!” Subaru shouted, hopefully.
The absurdity of that statement caught the girl's attention enough for her to stop for a second and look at the situation Subaru was in. Her sharp ruby eyes and razor-sharp instincts allowed her to immediately discern what was going on, but she also knew the thugs wouldn't go so far as to kill the boy. Combined with her haste, she decided she had neither the desire nor the need to intervene.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying, but live strong!” the girl shouted.
With that, she went on her way and began to jump up and down the walls and across the ceiling, as no one on earth could claim to be able to do.
Both Subaru and the thugs looked on in silent surprise at the randomness of the event.
“Did that make you less inclined to rob me?”
“Actually, it’s the opposite. It made me angry, and now I’m even more eager to beat you up." the average-sized one replied.
The others seemed to agree, as they walked towards Subaru once more, frowns and unpleasant smiles on their faces.
Shit! Just what I needed! No, calm down, Natsuki Subaru! It's tradition that all protagonists who go to another world are super powerful. I even have a cheat ability! It doesn't seem very useful now, but...
“You messed with the wrong person!”
With that shout, Subaru, having considered him the greatest threat of the three, rushed without a second thought toward the largest person in the room. However, something strange happened. Subaru didn't simply run toward the thug; he seemed to be slithering, like a snake, almost as if friction didn't exist in the room.
A normal person would have fallen immediately, but these new powers came with incredible instincts.
Whether by luck or by absolute surprise that Subaru ended up choosing to fight, and even more so with such strange and supernatural movements, the biggest thief could not avoid the blow to his nose.
I'll think about it later! One down!
With a high-speed gliding turn, Subaru directed a kick at the smaller guy, pushing him into a wall.
Two less, I can do this!
“This is my first time hitting someone for real! I can feel this fantasy world making me stronger!” Subaru said, waving his hand.
Subaru turned his gaze to the last remaining thug, the medium-sized one. With a fearless smile, Subaru was about to finish the fight when the thug pulled a pair of knives from behind his back.
Subaru's first instinct was absolute panic. He wanted nothing more than to kneel and beg for forgiveness to avoid having another hole torn through his body by the very sharp and dangerous weapon.
However, a new and unfamiliar instinct compelled him to continue forward. Subaru knew that this new instinct must be his new cheating ability in action. Without stopping, despite his fear, Subaru advanced like a snake. His strange movements confused the thief, who decided to slash toward where he expected Subaru to be at the moment.
However, as if made of soap, the knives slipped from Subaru's skin.
The thief wanted to attack again, but Subaru was too close for him to react properly.
“Take this!”
Just before his fist connected with the thug's chin with an uppercut, the sound of a clock ticking resonated in his mind.
Clock
Luckily for Subaru, whatever had happened didn't change what was going to happen anyway: a straight punch to the chin, and the thug fell to the ground.
Subaru was breathing heavily from his first fight as he looked down at the knife-wielding thug on the ground, who was struggling to get up. With the adrenaline rushing out of his system, he could feel the pain in his hand from the inexperienced punch, and he also felt strangely tired considering how little exercise he'd actually done. Some sort of song that sounded like emotions was playing in his head as well; he knew it had something to do with his cheat power, but he ignored it for the moment.
However, there was something else Subaru felt: satisfaction.
Subaru Natsuki had made it. He had overcome his first test on the road.
“Take it! Natsuki Subaru is ready to dominate this new worl - Argh!”
Subaru's celebratory shout was cut short by a sharp blow to his knee, causing him to scream even louder, this time in pain. A pained Subaru managed to look behind him. There stood the big thug, wiping away the bit of blood coming from his nose; this time he seemed furious with Subaru. To the left, the small thug was also getting up, even angrier.
While Subaru thought they were both knocked out, the truth was they were simply a little dazed. Partly from surprise, partly from pain. The truth was that Subaru was too weak to do anything as serious as knock them out, even for a few seconds.
Ignoring the sound of emotions earlier was a mistake. If he'd been paying attention, he might have noticed it before he got to this point.
“Now I’m really going to kill you, you little shit!” the bigger thug yelled, cracking his knuckles.
Subaru could see more deeply than any telescope how the punch was coming straight for his face, but the pain in his knees prevented him from doing anything.
“Argh!” He screamed in pain.
The direct blow to the face sent him sprawling to the ground, clutching his face as blood, snot, and tears began to ooze from every orifice. The smaller boy joined the fray, his deceptively small legs leaving cries in Subaru's bones with every kick.
It wasn't long before the halfling's daze wore off, and he joined the beating.
The beating was brutal. In his arms, legs, ribs, and head, every part of Subaru's body creaked, and he howled in pain. Subaru had long since stopped screaming in pain and simply moaned while trying to protect his head and neck as best he could. Subaru's current power was strong enough to destroy the thugs in seconds, but Subaru couldn't focus on that; only one thought came to his mind.
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts.
Why does it hurt so much? Why is this happening to me?
Time seemed to drag on for Subaru; all the hormones that could have helped him cope with the pain he was currently experiencing seemed to have been used up in the previous fight. Every punch, every kick, every sprain, every broken bone—everything was felt completely.
Am I going to die? I haven't achieved anything yet…
Subaru was slowly losing hope of continuing when a voice that sounded like silver bells interrupted.
“Stop right there, villains!”
With all the strength he had left, Subaru turned his gaze toward the voice. A beautiful maiden with silver hair and violet eyes amazed Subaru. She was the most beautiful person Subaru had ever seen. Her arrival seemed to light up the alley with her beauty.
The entire room paused, the pause long enough for Subaru to tune in again to the “emotional music” around him. He focused mainly on the girl's.
Even its music was beautiful, a silver bell filled with multiple emotions: determination, grief, and sympathy. There was also fear, anxiety, and sadness, but Subaru silenced them as if they didn't exist.
“Please give me back what you stole from me.”
Those words seemed to bring Subaru back from his reverie. The thugs, who also seemed lost, though probably for a different reason, also snapped out of their shock.
Clock
Subaru already had a good idea of what the clock's sound meant, and the disappearance of his musical sense of emotion basically confirmed it. He delved back into his instincts to identify his newfound power and find a way out of his current predicament.
Will I inflict wrath on someone while I inflict it on myself too? This is useless! There's a bit of super strength involved, but I'm too battered to even move, damn it.
They hurriedly pointed the girl in the direction of the blonde thief who had passed by earlier. The silver-haired girl seemed about to leave with those words, taking Subaru's hopes with her, however, in the end.
“Even so, I can’t help but act in a situation like this.”
The girl turned her gaze toward the thieves, and with a simple gesture, chunks of ice manifested in the air before hurtling toward the thieves at a decent speed. There wasn't a grand light show, magic circles, or any major surprises for the first magic Subaru had seen in this world, which was a little disappointing for the boy from another world; still, he couldn't help but feel amazed.
Magic…
The blow wasn't too strong, but the little one was still completely knocked out; however, the other two got up with grimaces of pain on their faces.
“You think that was enough to scare us!? It’s still two against one!” The knife-wielding midget yelled.
“You’re right, two against one; it’s not fair." the girl said.
“Why don’t we match it then?” said another voice.
The voice sounded androgynous and seemed to be coming from the girl's direction, even though no one else was there. Not for much longer, though.
A gray cat with a tail as long as its body appeared out of nowhere with a flash. It had an earring in its ear and a small purple backpack with it.
“A-a spirit!” The thugs shouted simultaneously.
The spirit's threat seemed to be enough to finally scare away the bullies, but not before shouting their threats, which were returned by the apparently very dangerous spirit of the silver-haired girl.
“T-Thank you so much-”
When the bullies left, Subaru tried to get up using his newfound super strength to thank the girl, but he fell before he could get very far. Subaru could feel his consciousness fading as he listened to the girl and the spirit arguing over something he could barely hear.
Ah, she looks pretty even when she argues. That's a fantasy world for you...
Clock
When Subaru woke up, he noticed two things: first, he was in a very hairy lap…
Later, I'll think about that later.
And second.
My cheat skill changed again.
Subaru's first "cheat" skill wasn't much of a challenge. He had insane vision, could see dozens of kilometers away perfectly, and was an expert at shooting and throwing things, and although he hadn't tried it, he knew that anything he threw or shot could travel incredibly far.
It was the perfect skill for a marksman. He'd even picked up a rock along the way in case he needed it. He planned to use it against the thugs before his ability changed to that strange sliding skill.
However, that ability that had helped him with the bullies before was also gone, replaced by the Emotional Music skill. Subaru was too numb with grief to try it before, but with that ability, he can bend people's emotional notes; he might even have gotten the thugs to commit suicide out of sadness.
It's a shame such a powerful ability was wasted like that. Although I'm a little relieved it's gone, mind control isn't a very heroic ability.
“I don’t know what it says about my ability that I gained another mind-control ability, though that one seemed a lot more pathetic.” He muttered aloud.
“You seem to be thinking pretty hard there, buddy.” The spirit’s voice, a little higher-pitched than usual, interrupted his thoughts.
And it reminded Subaru of the first thing he noticed when he regained consciousness: his head was in a furry lap.
“Aah! What kind of high-pitched voice is that!?” Subaru shouted at the spirit as he jumped up.
His body moved strangely well for someone who had taken a beating not long ago, and Subaru noticed.
“Oh? I feel fine.”
“I heal you; in exchange, you have to answer me a question." replied the silver-haired girl.
She hadn't said anything until now, just staring at Subaru with sharp eyes. She seemed to be trying to be intimidating, but all Subaru could see was a pretty girl. Still, he nodded.
“Where is my insignia? It’s very important to me." she asked again.
“Sorry, no matter how many times you ask me, I have no idea what you’re talking about." Subaru replied.
The half-elf stared at him for a while, until her expression changed completely.
“Huh? Did I make a mistake?”
She's a bit of an airhead, isn't she? Not that it matters; she looks cute.
A bit of panic and a few warnings later, and the half-elf was heading for the alley's exit, ready to continue her search. The cat, still in its giant form, hadn't moved and spoke to the boy, stunned by the farewell.
“Sorry for her words; she can be really dishonest at times.”
It's more than that... She appeared out of nowhere, saved a nobody like me, healed me, and then asked for nothing in return, not to mention that beautiful melody...
Subaru could still remember those silver bells when he still had his power to hear emotions.
Someone like that… Will completely waste their life!
Clock
As if confirming his resolve, the sound of the clock echoed in Subaru's mind as he rushed to the girl's aid. He hadn't even confirmed what his previous power was doing, but that didn't matter to the boy anymore; it didn't seem like his powers would last long anyway.
With a cheap excuse and a lot of determination, Subaru managed to convince the girl to help her with her search.
Subaru was confident that if enough time passed, he'd eventually acquire a power that would help him find the thief. He'd changed his power five times while in this new world, and it's impossible for it not to change more during the search. His assumptions weren't wrong, but he'd forgotten one crucial detail. He'd spent far more time with his Marksman power than with any other; that meant one thing—his powers don't change over time. There was another factor Subaru didn't know about, and that dashed his hopes.
Why doesn't it change?!
An hour had passed since Subaru and the girl began searching for the elusive thief. Naturally, as two people with virtually no experience in the royal capital, their search was far from fruitless. Subaru's attempts to pull off increasingly ridiculous stunts in an attempt to prove his usefulness by wasting their time definitely weren't helping either.
Currently, Subaru and the half-elf were relaxing on a balcony overlooking the capital. Subaru leaned on the edge with a disappointed sigh.
“I know I said I’d help you with the search, but why is this place so huge?!”
“Of course it’s huge; it’s the capital of the kingdom of Lugunica; how is it possible you don’t know that, huh…?”
“Right! We haven’t introduced ourselves!” Subaru shouted.
He took a step back, stuck out his hip, brought one hand to the other side of his waist, and raised the index finger of his other hand to the sky in a strange discus pose.
“My name is Natsuki Subaru! Not only do I have no idea where I am, but I’m also broke beyond compare! It’s a pleasure!”
The girl looked at him strangely, but the little spiritual cat did not hesitate to introduce himself again.
“My name is Puck! I’m a Great Spirit; it’s a pleasure, Subaru!”
With his introduction over, Puck flew into Subaru's hands, where Subaru took the opportunity to stroke his soft fur.
“It’s strange that someone could touch a spirit so casually. Where are you from, Subaru?”
The beautiful half-elf's use of his given name immediately embarrassed Subaru, but he didn't bother to correct her.
“I come from very far away. If I had to follow the clichés, I come from a small island in the east." Subaru replied boastfully.
The girl bowed her head.
“Lugunica is the furthest country to the east; beyond that there is no other country.”
“Huh? Really?”
"You don't know where you are; you can't read, you have no money, and you have nowhere to live. You might be in a worse position than I am."
“Aah! It’s okay! I don’t know your name yet, though!”
“My name?… Satella.”
Clock
A pause followed her response. It wasn't the proper reaction for a person to have their name mentioned. It couldn't be a coincidence that Puck looked at Satella with the same surprised look someone like Subaru would have.
Subaru himself knew there was something wrong with the name, so he decided to avoid using it as much as possible; however, he didn't say anything to avoid being rude. Instead, he said another thought that had come to his mind.
“It’s a beautiful name.”
Satella seemed surprised by the compliment, as well as a little guilty and nervous. However, they both ignored those concerns and continued the search, even though it wasn't going as it should.
Subaru's fingers itched, his mind wandered all over the place, and his hands kept going to his flip phone. It seemed as if he constantly needed to do something. Subaru knew what it was; it was his new power. It seemed less like a power and more like a How-To guide injected into his brain, and that guide was related to a special kind of technology, dimensional travel technology.
Numerous designs and ideas were in Subaru's mind; many were futuristic, and Subaru knew he wouldn't have the opportunity to do much with them, but there was one thing he could work with: his cell phone.
“Subaru… Are you right?” Satella’s anxious voice brought him out of his head.
Subaru didn't know if she was anxious about his state of mind or his lack of results in the search for the insignia, but Subaru didn't ask.
“I’m sorry, but I think I have to do something quickly.”
“What? Subaru?”
But Subaru ignored it, changed gears, took out his cell phone, and crouched down next to a fountain. Satella and Puck stared curiously at the strange device that might as well have been alien to them.
Subaru, without hesitation, extended the practically useless signal antenna and carelessly snapped it. Using his teeth, he bent it into a makeshift screwdriver, which he used to open the phone.
Once inside, Subaru's hands basically moved on their own. Arranging wires, removing copper pieces, and making holes in the plate, his hands moved like those of a skilled surgeon, almost on autopilot. He did some strange things, like adding a piece of plastic from his bag or asking Puck for help cooling his screwdriver to a specific temperature. It all took about 15 minutes, but when Subaru finished, the phone was the same as before.
Subaru sighed in relief when his phone turned on properly after the mess he had made inside.
Satella and Puck, who didn't understand what had just happened, looked at Subaru with their heads tilted.
“Subaru… What just happened? Why did we stop?” Satella said.
“Sorry, sorry, it was like inspiration struck me right away, and I knew I had to do something.” Subaru scratched his head, embarrassed.
Satella pouted slightly.
“And what was all that for, Subaru?” Puck asked.
Subaru coughed into his fist, excited to tell them what a cool thing he had accomplished, but he stopped.
They probably wouldn't understand how special what I had done was, so it wasn't worth explaining, but I could tell them something else.
"This!"
With a flick of a switch, Subaru snapped a photo of the couple. It was still daylight, so there was no flash, only the sound of the shutter that captured the image of the spirit and his contractor. Subaru turned the screen toward them, showing an exact image of their faces.
Subaru decided to pass his tinkering off as creating the camera, but what he added to his phone was another quality. His phone's battery is now connected to an other-dimensional power source. Normally, he wouldn't have the tools to harness other-dimensional energy on a decent scale. But to power a phone battery? Easy-peasy.
Although how long the battery would last receiving power all the time without stopping is another story… Maybe I could add a button to stop it from sending power?
Clock
Or maybe not…
With that, all of Subaru's knowledge of other-dimensional machines disappeared as if they had never been there.
That was disconcerting, to say the least.
He turned his gaze to the half-elf, who seemed surprised by what the screen was showing.
“Is that… me?” She said it in a low voice.
Even Subaru realized there was something wrong with that statement. Puck tried to cover the portrait of Satella from the Metia with a worried look, but it was too late. Satella seemed strangely disturbed by her own reflection; however, she shook her head as if she wanted to forget the image before giving Subaru a clearly fake smile. She looked fragile, as if the sight of her own face had hurt her.
Subaru realized that he hated that look on her.
“L-let’s continue, shall we?” Satella said as she started walking again, looking for clues.
Puck glared at Subaru angrily for a moment before heading back towards Satella's hair, where he hid once more.
What did I do!?
Subaru was undoubtedly the most confused by the whole situation, but he decided to follow the duo anyway. The atmosphere was awkward, and Satella seemed a little lost, but she continued on without any major problems other than that—and the lack of results, of course.
That changed a second later.
“Subaru, that girl over there looks like she needs help, doesn’t she?” Satella said.
She was pointing at a little girl with green hair and a pretty dress. Her eyes were watery, and she was looking around the crowd as if searching for someone.
Subaru was going to warn them about the lack of time they had to search for the insignia, but considering that Subaru had already made them waste a lot of time working on his phone, he swallowed his worries and got to the point.
“Shall we help her?” he asked.
Satella seemed surprised by his question, but she nodded and walked straight over to the little girl.
When the girl saw a figure approaching, she immediately cried out in hope.
"Mom!"
However, her hopes were dashed when she saw that the person standing in front of her was not her mother.
“Sorry, I’m not your mom, but I’d like to help you find her.”
The girl's response wasn't something Subaru expected, but it wouldn't have surprised anyone in this world. The girl began to cry. Satella panicked, trying to help, but her inexperience in this sort of thing was evident.
Subaru was about to help, but something else occurred to him.
Can my current power help? Let's see... Stopping someone's movement as long as I don't move? I guess it would be useful in a fight with allies. Helping a little girl? Useless. It'll be the old magic trick.
A magic trick later, and Subaru was walking hand in hand with Satella and the girl named Plum.
“Isn’t it like we’re a little family holding our daughter’s hand?” Subaru asked, blushing.
“At best, you’d just look like the older brother." Satella replied.
“How young do you think I am?!”
Fortunately for both of them, they managed to find their mother quickly and said goodbye with smiles. However, the situation still hadn't changed. They still had no clue as to where to find the thief.
As they discussed the pros and cons of helping the girl, Satella made her own revelation.
“I’m a half-elf." she said.
"I see…"
Her tone of voice was low. She hid her gaze from Subaru, expecting judgment and contempt, but what she found was something she would never have expected.
“No wonder you’re so beautiful. Elves are always beautiful in every story." Subaru continued.
“Huh?” Satella said.
“Huh?” Said an equally confused Subaru.
“I-I’m a half-elf.” Satella said, puzzled.
“Yes, you already said it.”
“I am a silver-haired half-elf." she said once more.
“Yes, I noticed." Subaru replied simply.
“Y-You!”
As if she couldn't bear the embarrassment any longer, she crouched down, hiding her gaze from Subaru while holding her head in her hands and burying her face in her knees.
Puck, who had been hiding for a long time since the previous issue, flew at full speed towards Subaru's face and punched him; of course, considering he's 30 centimeters tall and basically a ball of fur, that sounds a lot more threatening than it actually was.
This led to a minor argument between the two, which Satella eventually ended when she got over her earlier embarrassment.
“Subaru, you're a dunderhead!”
“Who says “dunderhead” these days?”
“And you’re making fun of me! Hmph!”
Clock
Please give me something that can help us find the thief!
Get stronger by consuming blood?! What, I'm a vampire?! I'm seriously starting to think this cheat power is completely useless.
Subaru could only slap his face with the palm of his hand while blaming his bad luck.
“Subaru?!”
The blow startled Satella, who was walking beside him.
“It’s nothing; I just remembered something important. If you want to solve a case, the most important thing is to return to the scene of the crime.” Subaru lied, kind of.
Although he felt foolish for not thinking of it sooner, the truth was that Subaru was just a little frustrated at having a cheat skill that had basically been of no use to him so far.
It turned out the place where the incident occurred was near the same fruit stand that had rejected Subaru not long before. And just like that time, Subaru was rejected, and Satella, equally broke, was rejected as well. Just when Subaru was about to give up and look elsewhere for clues...
“Big sis!” Plum’s shout as she ran toward them reached everyone.
It turns out that Plum is the daughter of the man from the fruit stand, now introduced as Kadomon. As a thank you, she decided to help Satella and Subaru, using Subaru's barely coherent drawing to identify the thief, Felt.
With a new lead and a smug Satella, they set off for the slums searching for Felt and the Loot House.
The slums were a depressing place. Destroyed houses, unmaintained dirt roads, and people sprawled in random places with sloppy clothes and downcast eyes. The fact that it was late at night definitely didn't help.
“Should we go back? It seems dangerous; we can look for that insignia tomorrow.” Subaru asked.
“No way!” Satella replied.
This argument had been going on for a while but was interrupted by Puck's yawn.
Apparently, spirits like him expend a lot of mana maintaining a physical form, so he can't manifest all the time—only about eight hours a day. Since Puck spent so much of his mana watching over Subaru all day, he was actually out of fuel to continue. Satella decided to simply see him off, while she and Subaru continued on their journey.
Satella had tried to ask the spirits; the sight amazed Subaru. Although the spirits couldn't give Satella an exact location, they could approximate the direction they should be heading. For the rest of the journey, Satella tried to ask the locals, but they all flatly refused to answer.
However, it was a different story when Subaru did. Subaru hasn't paid any attention to himself, but even though Satella treated his wounds, his clothes are still torn and covered in dirt and dust, and there are even traces of dried blood around the place. Thanks to this, the townspeople felt sympathy for the duo's plight and helped them with their search.
Whether due to bad luck or address issues, it still took them a few more hours to reach the place, and by the time they arrived, it was completely dark. Lighting the place up with his now infinitely charged cell phone, Subaru prepared to enter.
“Okay, Satella, leave everything to me.”
They stopped Satella for a second. Subaru looked at her strangely.
"What's happening?"
Satella shook her head.
“It’s nothing; when we’re done with this, I’ll apologize.”
Subaru wasn't sure what she was talking about, but he nodded with a smile before entering the place.
Okay, this place looks creepy, power… No, you need a name that matches your strength, Stellar Gear. That'll be its name. Okay, Stellar Gear, give me something good…
Clock
Getting information about people within my area? Not bad. Wait? Another power where I can't move while using it? Useless!
Subaru had the idea of activating the power for a microsecond or so to check the whole place instantly, but his instincts told him it wouldn't work the way he thought. So he decided to keep it as just another unused power.
Shining a light around the place, he found nothing but what appeared to be a bunch of random (probably stolen) items: swords, armor, dolls, lots and lots of stuff.
“Is anyone there?”
Subaru had a bad feeling about the place, so he took a step forward to get deeper when he heard the sound of a puddle being stepped on. The sound caught his attention, so he shone the flashlight toward his feet, and there he saw it. What he was stepping on was a pool of blood.
Immediately, Subaru's breathing began to quicken as the flashlight illuminated the source of the blood: an older, muscular man with his throat slit and an arm missing.
A silent cry came from Subaru. He was about to turn back when a voice interrupted him.
“Oh? Did you see that?”
The voice sounded horribly unconcerned for the mess in the place.
Immediately afterward, a sickening sound was heard as Subaru's body was thrown into the center of the room. Subaru was barely able to understand what was happening as a sharp pain burned in his stomach. With effort, he managed to reach out with a hand to understand what was happening.
Blood, his own blood.
Subaru felt the warmth in his stomach contrast sharply with how cold his body was becoming. He was about to faint from the pain when another voice spoke up.
“Subaru? Are you okay?”
Satella!
“S-sat-” Subaru tried to warn her, but to no avail.
Another body was thrown beside Subaru. Satella's body, which had been perfectly fine a few seconds ago, was now bleeding out along with Subaru. With the remainder of his strength, Subaru dragged his body to take the half-elf's increasingly cold hand.
With a final effort, Subaru activated his newfound power of information gathering. The range of that power in exchange for rendering Subaru unable to move could be ridiculous. Subaru could easily sense all the people in a large shopping mall and their movements. The smaller the area, the more information Subaru gained.
In this little loot house? Basically, the minimum range at which his intelligence-gathering power can be deployed.
In a macabre way, Stellar Gear gave Subaru a power that would definitely help him if he were still alive.
Elsa Granhiert …
Emilia… ?
Subaru died.