Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: The Nameless Man

Reinhard van Astrea had a busy schedule. Or, at the very least, busy to anyone looking in on the outside. In truth, he enjoyed spending time with Felt-sama. Especially when teaching her.

Any normal knight would have been infuriated with Felt's attitude, but to Reinhard, it was a breath of fresh air. She didn't see him as an all-powerful weapon or a monster meant to slay other monsters. She just saw him as... well, as Reinhard. Most of the time, that is.

Sometimes, she saw him as an annoying teacher. Such as right now.

"…and with the final battle of the Demi-Human War taking place in the —"

"Yeah, I get it, the demi-humans lost and the humans were even more racist after that…"

Reinhard gave his mistress a weak smile. "That's a bit of an extreme take…"

"Oh yeah?" Felt asked. "Barring Felix, how many demi-human knights do you know?"

"Uhh… none."

"Exactly," the little blonde said. Reinhard smiled at his lady's antics, only to suddenly stiffen. Something was off, something she didn't notice. "Hmm? Rein? You good?"

"…We are not alone."

Felt's eyes widened as she subtly grabbed her dagger and scooted closer to Reinhard.

The red-haired knight narrowed his eyes, as he looked towards the room's door. Whoever they were, they were outside. Quickly opening it, the Sword Saint froze, as he came face-to-face with a black-haired man wearing strange clothes, and nasty eyes. He knew that man.

This was the man who led him to Felt-sama, saving her and Emilia-sama from the Bowel Hunter, only to disappear, and then lured Reinhard into the middle of nowhere to fight the Sin Archbishops of Greed and Gluttony, only after he had led the other Camps to the White Whale.

The Nameless Man.

All five of the Camps participating in the Royal Selection had their own experiences with him, their own stories to share. A mysterious individual responsible for assisting the Camps during times of crises, but never revealing his origins, his reasons, or even his name.

The man with no name waved. "Howdy."

"You have returned…"

"Oh, were you expecting me?" he asked Reinhard.

"I had my suspicions you would come back one day. Why have you come this time?"

Giving the Sword Saint a wry smile, he said, "To enlist your assistance."

"…In what regard?"

"Tell me, how would you feel about taking another crack at the Pleiades Watchtower?"

Reinhard's eyes widened at the way the Nameless Man referred to the Watchtower. It was no secret Reinhard journeyed to the Watchtower years ago, but it resulted in failure.

"For what purpose...? The Royal Family is already gone," Reinhard said.

"The purpose is mine. You're the means."

"…And what do you seek in the Pleiades Watchtower?"

"That is none of your concern," the Nameless Man curtly said.

"Then I am afraid I cannot agree to such a request. Although you helped me find Felt-sama and led me to the Sin Archbishops of Greed and Gluttony, your motives are completely unknown."

"Is that so? Oh, well. I guess the Witch Cult will get there before any of the Camps…"

Reinhard and Felt's eyes widened at that, something that the Nameless Man did not fail to notice, as Reinhard asked, "They aim to infiltrate the Pleiades Watchtower?"

"As sure as the sky is blue. Now, ask yourself, do you want that to happen? Do you?"

Reinhard was silent for a moment. As much as he hated to admit it, he could tell that the Nameless Man was speaking the truth. Reinhard knew better than to ask how he knew this. All he could do was reluctantly agree, to make sure such a disaster didn't come to pass.

"Very well," the Sword Saint said. "I shall accompany you to the Pleiades Watchtower."

"Great. Grab whatever canteen and snacks you want, and meet me in your front yard."

Reinhard informed Carol that he would be heading out, asking her to watch Felt for a bit. Once that was taken care of, he made his way to the front yard, where the Nameless Man was waiting for him, and… stretching? Well, his black-and-orange outfit was certainly form-fitting.

Finishing his stretches, the Nameless Man asked, "You know which direction it is, yeah?"

The red-haired knight nodded. "I do."

The Nameless Man smiled, as he suddenly… climbed up on Reinhard's back, wrapping his arms around the Sword Saint's neck, much to his surprise. "This is... rather unorthodox."

"I'm an unorthodox person," the black-haired man said. "Now… jump."

Reinhard raised an eyebrow, but he obliged. The Sword Saint leapt across the country.

While the Council of Elders wouldn't approve of what he was doing, he figured that they could make an exception for him, as due to the Witch Cult, this was an emergency.

After a few hours, Reinhard reached the Augira Sand Dunes, and soon after getting through the Mabeast-infested desert, saw the Pleiades Watchtower just up ahead.

The Nameless Man got off Reinhard's back and said, "Alright, before we go in, I gotta warn ya… there's an invisible force field around the Pleiades Watchtower, so if you wanna know where you're going, you're gonna have to see, which means you gotta make a sandstorm."

The red-haired knight tilted his head. "A sandstorm?"

"Yeah. I mean, unless you're able to see light on the non-visible spectrum…"

"So, that explains why I could not reach the Watchtower…"

"Yep. So, what's it gonna be?"

Reinhard raised his hand up and brought it down with great force, causing the sand to erupt in front of them. As the sand blew, he could see what he could best describe as a moving doorway.

"It... moves...?" Reinhard asked, still amazed at the sight.

"Yeah. I should also warn you that there's a sniper inside the Watchtower, so you're gonna have to be extra nimble," the man wearing black-and-orange clothes explained.

Reinhard nodded. "Understood."

After the black-haired man climbed back on, the Sword Saint made a break for it.

There were flashes of light that were shot at them, but Reinhard was able to dodge or deflect them, along with avoiding the barriers. Soon enough he had made it. He was... actually inside the Pleiades Watchtower. Reinhard could barely wrap his head around the thought.

As the Sword Saint looked around the empty walls of the structure, the Nameless Man looked around the inside of the structure, as if expecting something. "Alright, give me a second…"

"What is it? You're not injured, are you?" Reinhard asked.

"No, I just gotta figure out where she's hiding. Luckily, I know how to lure her out."

"Her?"

"Shh!" he shushed Reinhard, before clearing his throat. "Ahem… Where it began… I can't begin to know when… But then I know it's growin' strong… Was in the spring… And spring became the summer… Who'd have believe you'd come along? Hands… Touchin' hands…"

Reinhard couldn't believe what he was hearing. He is... singing...?

"Reachin' out… Touching me, touchin' yooouuuuu… SWEET CAROLINE!!!"

"BAM, BAM, BAM!!!"

"Found her," the Nameless Man said.

Reinhard instinctively prepared himself to block more shots from what he assumed to be the sniper but nothing happened. Reinhard put his hands down, but he remained on-guard.

"You can come out now!" the Nameless Man shouted.

The mysterious sniper soon came out of the shadows, revealing... a scantily clad woman, her voice the same one that replied to the Nameless Man's singing. "Wait a minute… MASTER?!"

"Hello, Shaula. Sorry it took me so long."

Shaula? THIS was Shaula? Really? Reinhard was trying to comprehend that THE Shaula... was a woman, and had apparently tried to kill them... and... she called the Nameless Man... Master...

"Oh, Rein? Can I trust you to not reveal her identity to anyone outside this place?"

Reinhard snapped out of his thoughts, as he quickly said. "I... uh... Very well…"

"Cool. Shaula, when we're out of here, your public alias will be "Starkeeper." Got it?"

"I'm going with you, Master? Yay!" Shaula cheered.

The Nameless Man smiled. "Great. Let's head upstairs."

According to Shaula on the way up, there was a series of Trials that needed to be done in order for them to leave, with the first one being on the following floor. The three of them entered a complete white void of a room with only a single black monolith that was floating in the middle.

Strange… Reinhard thought to himself, as the Nameless Man touched the monolith, only to have more of them appear, all of them full of stars, representing constellations. "What is this?"

"A puzzle," the man replied, before pointing upwards. "See those stars up there?"

"Yes?"

"Touch them."

Reinhard merely raised an eyebrow, but he did so. Jumping up, the Sword Saint touched the constellation, and within moments, the room around them warped, changing into…

"A library...?" Reinhard murmured, looking around at all of the –

"Don't touch any of the books."

Reinhard looked back towards the Nameless Man, asking, "Why not?"

"They'll fuck up your mind. Trust me," he said. Reinhard didn't know what he meant by that, but he followed the Nameless Man's advice. "Smart choice. Alright, let's keep going up."

Passing the library full of seemingly dangerous books, they went up the stairs, even higher up into the Watchtower until they reached another white room. In this particular room, there was a sword in the middle, which the Nameless Man gestured to Reinhard to go and touch it.

Reinhard did so, approaching the sword and cautiously grabbing onto its hilt. Out of thin air, a man with red hair, an eye patch, and a red kimono appeared. Is that...?

"Hauroy Rallior," the ghost said, introducing itself. "How 'bout you, little fish?"

"...Reinhard Van Astrea, current Sword Saint of Lugunica."

"Hehe," Hauroy chuckled. "Prepare ta get yer ass whooped, omae."

Reinhard instinctively grabbed onto the hilt of the Dragon Sword, and was able to pull it from its scabbard. I was able to unsheathe the Dragon Sword... perhaps he really is...

"Good luck, we're gonna leave you to it!" the Nameless Man cheered.

Reinhard narrowed his eyes as he was forced to fight against "Hauroy."

The two swordsmen charged at one another, and their attacks began moving so fast it was almost incomprehensible for human eyes to see them. Only Cecilius has ever been able to keep up with me this much... there is no question... this must be Reid Astrea himself…

"Heh. Yer good… but not good enough,"

Using his sword to go on the defensive, Reinhard said, "I cannot utilize my full strength in order to not destroy the Pleiades Watchtower, therefore I am forced to limit myself…"

"Ha! Yer loss, bucko!" Reid laughed. Reinhard grunted a bit as he felt Reid trying even more to defeat his descendant, knocking him off-balance. Reid raised his chopsticks –

"HEY, REID, LOOK! BOOBIES!!!"

"HUH?! WHERE?!"

To Reinhard's surprise, Reid actually fell for the trick. Taking advantage of the situation, the Sword Saint slammed the flat side of his weapon into his ancestor's gut, sending him flying.

Reid groaned, as he rubbed the top of his head. "Fuckin' hell, Flugel…"

The Nameless Man smiled. "Gotcha, bitch."

"Fine, ya win," Reid said, rolling his eyes.

As the three of them went up the next set of stairs, Reinhard thought over what he heard. The Nameless Man's name was… Flugel? Where had he heard that name before...?

The tree.

Flugel's Tree.

The one that was used to bring down the White Whale. But then that would mean… But that tree was planted hundreds of years ago... how would he have been around back then...?

"Alright, we're here."

Reinhard snapped out of his thoughts. "Here?"

They were now in a room that was so high up, they could touch the cloud themselves. Suddenly, the three felt a great pressure as the clouds parted, revealing a giant blue dragon lying down.

That dragon… it was…

"The... Divine Dragon…" the redhead whispered.

The Divine Dragon looked down at the newcomers, and spoke. "Thou, who hath reached the top of the tower, step forth through the first floor, almighty petitioner. I am Volcanica. In accordance with the ancient covenant, I ask the will of thee who hath reached the summit."

The Nameless Man, no… Flugel looked towards Reinhard. "That's your que."

"Oh, umm… alright…" Reinhard stepped forward and prepared to… apparently face the Divine Dragon, as he said, "I am Reinhard van Astrea, current Sword Saint of Lugunica."

"Very well," Volanica said. "Let the Final Trial begin."

Reinhard's eyes narrowed. I guess it's a fight after all...

"Yo, see that scale on his chin?" Flugel asked.

Reinhard looked around to see what the nasty-eyed man was referring to, and… there. He saw that underneath Volcanica's chin, one of his scales had a white scar. "Yes, I see it. Why?"

"Hit it."

Reinhard decided to go for it, as he hasn't been wrong yet. He jumped forward and hit the scale "Flugel" referred to. In response, the Divine Dragon threw him off with one of his claws, and as the two of them battled, "Flugel" and Shaula simply walked towards the back of the room.

"Alright, which one was it again...?" The black-haired man shrugged, as he just placed his hands on every single indent on the column located in the back, as the other two kept fighting. Eventually, he hit the right indent, as Volcanica faltered, slowing down and then stopping. Reinhard, meanwhile, lowered his sword, assuming the fight was over.

"Is it over...?"

"Yeah," Flugel said, as he approached Volcanica. "You can leave us."

"Actually, I would very much like some answers."

The Nameless Man turned around. "Eh? And why would you get any?"

"I assisted you on your quest, for whatever purpose you came here for."

"Ugh… Fine. I suppose I can at least hear your questions… But make them quick."

"Who are you, truly?" Reinhard asked.

"Oh? Worried about what I am in this grand story, whether I'm a hero or a villain?"

"Truth be told, I do not believe you are a "villain." You are clearly against the Witch Cult, and have provided invaluable knowledge, but you are still an enigma," Reinhard said.

"And it shall remain that way," Flugel said.

"...Then may I at least know your name?"

"That would be a dangerous thing to do," Flugel, if that even was his real name, said. "Names have power, especially in my line of work, where they can be used against you."

"I swear on my duty as the Sword Saint that I will not reveal it to anyone without your consent," Reinhard vowed. Flugel didn't give him his name, but he did give him a thoughtful look.

"…Not now. But we will certainly meet again. Ask me again next time, then we'll see."

"…Very well, but I will say this," the Sword Saint said, his face becoming very serious, very quickly. "If you pose a threat to Lugunica and her people... then I will stop you."

Flugel stared at him for a moment, before smiling. "You'll try."

Reinhard merely sheathed the Dragon Sword and walked away, leaving Shaula and Volcanica alone with Flugel, silently praying to the Od Laguna he didn't make a mistake just now.

Back at the manor, Felt remained in her room, but she couldn't study. She was far too anxious. She couldn't believe it. Her, worrying about her superhuman freak of a knight…

"Dammit, where is he...?"

"Right here, Felt-sama."

Felt immediately turned around and saw Reinhard at the door. "REIN!!!"

To Reinhard's surprise, Felt immediately ran into him and hugged him tightly.

"Oh, well this is certainly new…"

"Are you okay?!" Felt asked.

"Yes, I am physically well."

"Don't leave me alone like that again, idiot…"

"I…" Reinhard was still for a moment, before saying, "I won't, Felt-sama."

Author's Note: Yep, I've thrown my hat into the one-shot ring. As some of you may know, I might not be around to write anymore stories. Because of that, I've decided to post a bunch of ideas I've had, to show that they existed. The following is a list of stories that will appear, with one chapter being posted each day for twenty-two days straight.

The Nameless Man: Subaru from the far future (between Arc 9 and Arc 12) goes back to the start of Arc 1, and rather than becoming Emilia's knight again, decides to hide his name and control everything from the shadows. Consists of one chapter (completed).

The World of the Od Laguna: A teenage Wilhelm and all his friends get sucked into their favorite MMORPG during the launch of its newest update, and realize that in order to return to the real world, they need to beat the new final boss. Consists of two chapters.

Natsuki Elven Babysitter: Ten-year-old Subaru and his parents find themselves as neighbors to seven sisters, and weird things happen around them, from shadowy stalkers to weird talking animals. Not that Subaru minds. Consists of three chapters.

Slothful Warlock & Wrathful Witch: Driven out of their homes by the Black Serpent, the elves of Elior Forest, led by Fortuna, now reside in the Roswaal Mansion, while Geuse goes to find the other Authorities before Pandora does. Consists of one chapter.

Princess Dungeon: After the death of his grandmother, a young Reinhard runs away from home. In order to redeem himself, he decides to rescue the princess from the labyrinth that was created a century ago from the Mad Mage. Consists of two chapters.

Returning from Option One: Right after the events of the first Tales from the Multiverse, the five Camps meet up at the Miload Mansion to go over everything they learned, much to the confusion of their allies who missed the party. Consists of three chapters.

From 1612 to 2019: The world of the Od Laguna appeared in the middle of the Pacific Ocean right after the Great Calamity, and over four hundred years later, Subaru and Emilia are navigating day-to-day life in their magical world. Consists of one chapter.

Nobles and Demons: After Satella's disappearance, Subaru killed Pandora, and vowed that he would let nothing happen to her once he had her back. Four hundred years later, Subaru stepped out of the shadows to greet Lugunica. Consists of two chapters.

The Interviews: Subaru is abducted by the Japanese government after coming into contact with the Witch of Envy, and is put to work interviewing the various mysterious beings that have been arriving in the last decade. Consists of three chapters.

To Purge a Galaxy: The four nations have waged war against the stars, much to Subaru's horror. Teaming up with the Resistance, he now has to ensure that the Order of the Od Laguna does not exterminate every planet containing life. Consists of four chapters.

If you want to see some chapters before others, please let me know in the comments.

So! You all know I have created my own website where I've posted a bunch of my art, so, if you're interested in seeing that, visit https://eowen5.myportfolio.com/! And I'm pretty sure as you all know now, I have also made a Twitter account to post my art, so if anyone is interested in checking it out, https://twitter.com/ErnaloreProf is the link.

If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is https://discord.gg/3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules.

Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!

- Ernalore

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: The World of the Od Laguna

Wilhelm Trias entered his bedroom, where his desktop was waiting. After a tiring school week, he was ready to enjoy a quiet Friday night, especially while his parents and siblings were out of the house. Sitting down and typing into his search bar the magic words, Wilhelm found himself staring at the home screen of his favorite MMORPG… The World of the Od Laguna.

Logging in, he found his avatar, and smiled. Looks like that new update, Beyond the Great Waterfall, was out. Seems like the Sword Devil had a new place to play in.

"Really wish the devs workshopped the DLC's name, but oh, well. Let's see what this new update is all about…" Clicking the terms and services (without bothering to read them, because no one does), Wilhelm ran the new program, clicked "enter," and then… darkness.

"The hell? Did the power go out?"

Wilhelm scrambled to get up from his desk, fumbling blindly in the dark, trying to find his room's light switch, before tripping and falling on… grass… instead of carpeting?

Wilhelm slowly got to his feet as he rubbed his head. "What the hell...?"

Looking around, he noticed that light was peering through his hands. Did everything become brighter, and if so, how? Wilhelm knew he didn't turn on his room's lights. Taking his hands off of his eyes, the brown-haired teen found himself outside… and it was daytime?

"What the...? Am I... dreaming? Did I get knocked out from the fall...?"

Getting up, Wilhelm wiped the grass stains of his… outfit? Wait a minute, outfit?! Black pants, long coat, gray vest and white shirt. This was… his avatar's outfit. Wait…

"I keep saying this... but what... the... hell...?" he muttered. Walking up to a nearby hill, he noticed that a walking distance away, he saw… a very familiar walled city.

Was that… Flanders?

"Okay... I'm either dreaming... or I'm high…"

Quickly walking through the gates, Wilhelm looked around to see that there were the usual civilian NPCs all around the city, but as for the adventurers, the players…

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

"This is so not happening!"

"Get my the devs, right now!"

"I wanna go home!"

…they were just like Wilhelm.

He watched them all freak out, from cat-like knights, to canine bards, to lizardmen and orcs, all of them weren't acting as adventurers were supposed to… But they did act as normal people who suddenly found themselves in… wait… Am... am I... inside the game...?

This would be extremely cool, if it wasn't for the fact that there was probably no way out. But that was a problem for later. Right now, Wilhelm needed to gather his bearings.

"Okay, think, think, think... what do I do...?" But as the teenager was scrambling to think of what to do, he heard a magical, yet familiar sound coming from his magic bag. Fishing it out, he pulled out a golden flip-up mirror, the size of his hand. Isn't that my conversation metia?

Those items were given out to players as the in-lore explanation of the game's on how the players were able to message one another, outside of telepathy skills and magic scrolls. But he thought that was just flavor text, did these things actually replace the message system now?

And if so, who was calling him?

Wilhelm reluctantly activated it to see who was calling him, and on the other side of the "screen," he saw his friend, the one he had partnered with the most in this game.

"Theresia? You're here, too?"

"Using my IRL name instead of Sword Saint? Not a good look for you."

"Sorry, just... overwhelmed."

The image of the red-haired girl rolled her eyes, before saying, "Yeah, whatever, it's fine. Anyways, I'm at that flower field outside Flanders. Meet me there, Wilhelm, pronto."

"On it," the brown-haired teen said. Quickly making his way there, Wilhelm found a familiar redhead waving at him, still wearing her pink cape, and white armored boots and warrior dress.

She's just as pretty here as she is in the normal world, Wilhelm thought to himself, before quickly shaking his head. Now wasn't the time for that. "So... you got sucked in, too."

"Oh, what gave it away?" Theresia asked. "Was it my knight outfit? Or is it the fact that my hair is now so bright and red that it could look like the background of the McDonald's logo?"

"Oh, cut the sass, everyone's freaking out right now."

"Yeah, maybe for anyone under Level 60. I'm kinda psyched about this!"

"Seriously?! You're not even the slightest bit concerned we may be stuck here for good?!"

"I mean, yeah, it'd kinda suck to not be able to see my parents and siblings again, but hey…" Theresia pulled out her sword. "I've got superhuman strength and a cool sword now, sooo…"

Wilhelm sighed. "Whatever... I guess it would be useless to ponder how this happened."

"Yep! So… oh, hold up, I've got a call coming in, gimme a second,Theresia said, as she pulled out her metia. "Hello? Oh, Julia, what's going on? Where? Yeah, I'll be there in a bit."

"Julia, too?" Wilhelm asked, "Is it everyone who logged in?"

Theresia shrugged. "I dunno. C'mon, let's go."

"Where's she at?"

"Nearby lake. Let's book it."

Wilhelm nodded as he followed Theresia.

Theresia and Wilhelm ran, and after fifteen minutes, they reached a familiar woman with blue hair, wearing white pants and a purple cape, along with her red-and-black cape. Looking up with their heterochromatic eyes, Julia smiled at the two teens, and said, "There you guys are."

To Wilhelm's shock, Julia's voice... was not a female one. No one in their group used voice chat whenever they played, and Julia was no exception. And now… he kinda knew why.

"Oh, shit," Theresia said, connecting the dots. "You're a…"

"Guy? Yeah. I decided to play as a woman when this game came out, and I just got used to it," Julia said, their voice switching between a masculine and feminine one, before looking down at their character's body and smirking. "Well, at least I can look at my avatar naked now."

"Well, if you're good with this, then you might as well go for the full thing," Theresia said, before grabbing out of her magic bag a bottle and handing it to her blue-haired friend. "Here."

"Hmm?"

"It's a volubilis potion. It changes your voice," Theresia explained. "Well, at least that's what the flavor text says. Might as well see if that translates to reality now that… you know…"

"Nice," Julia said, before taking a swig of the potion and clearing her throat. The two teens could hear that her voice was now smooth and seductive, as she said, "How's this? Oh, that's sexy…"

"And slightly unnerving, given what I know now," Wilhelm said. "Speaking of which, how do we address you? Do we use your player name or… wait, what even is your IRL name?"

"Altair. But you can keep calling me Julia."

"Works for me, Julia!" Thereisa smiled, as Wilhelm just rolled her eyes.

"So... what now? We're stuck in a video game and cut off from the real world."

Theresia nodded at Wilhelm's concern, as the red-haired girl began to theorize. "Well, given that the game has basically become reality, it's safe to assume that our HP is tied to our physical well-being. If that is true, then anything above Level 70 will easily wipe the floor with us."

"And…" Wilhelm gulped. "What happens if we die here?"

"I would assume we die for good, until we get someone or something to revive us. But I recommend we don't test that," the red-haired girl said, much to the nervousness of the others.

"Agreed. So, not that I'm in a rush, but... how would we even get out of here? We beat the final boss months ago," Julia said, as Theresia's eyes widened in realization of something.

"…We need to beat the new one."

Wilhelm smacked his face with his own hand. "Right, the new update…"

"Exactly. New biomes, new races, classes, magic systems, weapons, lore, enemies, items, and most importantly of all… a new final boss that makes the Witch of Envy look like chump change," Theresia said, as Julia let out a small chuckle at the memory of the Witch.

"I still can't get over the fact that the game director modeled Satella after his wife."

"The facial features, maybe," Theresia said. "But I doubt she was actually born with silver hair."

Wilhelm nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's blonde."

Moving on from the romantic gestures of the game director, Theresia said, "Okay, so, there's a new final boss. The question is… what is it? And more importantly, where do we find it?"

"Let's check the world map…" The brown-haired teen pulled out his standard map, but when he tried to read it… the ground shook beneath them. An earthquake. "What the –?!"

"Huh…? WIL, LOOK!" Theresia yelled, as she pointed at the map.

"Huh?!" Wilhelm looked down, as he and the others saw the Land of the Od Laguna, their whole world… suddenly zoom out, as four more continents appeared, slowly approaching and surrounding the central one, like the four points of a cardinal compass. "Whoa…"

"Look at the size of all of them…" Julia whispered. "That's… that's like four Od Lagunas."

Theresia nodded. "No wonder the update took so long to release…"

"Yeah, no joke," Julia said, examining each part of the new map. "They could have made, like, four sequels to this game, but instead… they made this monster of a DLC?!"

"At least it was free…" Wilhelm said, causing Thereisa to huff.

"Except for all of the micro-transactions… Wait a minute, HOLY SHIT!"

Wilhelm and Julia looked over to their friend. "What?!"

"Guys, do you remember the in-game store?!"

"Yeah, what about… it…?" Wilhelm's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, shit…"

Theresia nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, if the game is now real, then that has to mean that all the cheat items that only rich losers would buy… they have to be somewhere…"

"The cheat items?" Wilhelm groaned. "Really?"

"Yeah, you know, like, "The Fabled Lance of Dragon-Slaying," or something like that," Theresia said. "Crap that makes player-killing others and clearing dungeons way easier."

Wilhelm frowned. "Don't tell me you want to get them…"

"Well, why not?" Julia asked. "Theresia always typed about them in the chat. If they're even half as OP as she claimed back then, killing the new final boss with them should be easy."

Wilhelm let out a long-suffering sigh, before the brown-haired teenager relented. "Normally, I would be against this sort of cheating, but... we kind of need every advantage we can get."

"Sweet!" Theresia whooped. "And while we're at it, we could look for our old raiding party!"

"If they're on at the moment…"

"Let's hope they are," Julia said, the expression on her face becoming serious. "We were the weakest members of the raiding party when we took on the Witch of Envy. Without them…"

"We'll be screwed and resort to grinding…" Theresia groaned. "We gotta call them."

"I think we should do that," Wilhelm said.

"Try and call them?" Juliua asked. "Yeah, let's try and call them."

"I meant the grinding, but whatever."

"Oh yeah, that too... Know any good farming spots?"

Wilhelm thought it over for a few seconds, before saying, "Vollachia has some good bosses, but if they don't respawn now, then maybe some of the local mobs in the Augira Sand Dunes?

"Well, whatever we do, we are not doing that Great Rabbit boss fight again," Theresia said. "The way they shredded through armor… I'm getting flashbacks just by thinking about it…"

"Maybe we should… go beyond?" Julia asked, as the others looked at her.

"...Are there any towns close to the border?" Thereisa asked.

"Maybe. For all we know, this update created a bunch of coastal towns."

The red-haired girl thought about it. "Hmm... Should we risk it right now?"

"Look, we can establish a base of operations first. If we play it safe, we could end up getting more XP from a challenge, rather than just farming a bunch of lower-level monsters."

Thereisa nodded along at what Julia was saying. "Alright... but let's stay close and clear of anything that looks too high level. Remember, we don't know if we can... come back."

Wilhelm grimly nodded. "Right."

"Alright," Julia said, looking at the other two. "Where to first?"

"I vote for Picoutatte."

"Why? Farming Valgren?"

"No, because last time I checked, our "Great Knight" and his girlfriend were there, doing some kind of campaign," Wilhelm said, causing Theresia's eyes to widen in realization.

"Well, let's go meet them," the red-haired girl said.

Close to the borders of Picoutatte, the "Great Knight" was running for his life.

Watch Dog, one of the players that helped take down the Witch of Envy, was actually a sixteen-year-old by the name of Grimm Fauzen. In other words, an ordinary high schooler.

Said high schooler was having a bad day, from getting sucked into the World of Od Laguna, to now running for his life from a bunch of monsters, yelling, "Shit, shit, shit!!!"

Why did he choose the guardian class? That heavy-ass shield was slowing him down!

He was gonna die, he knew it! He would never get to experience all the good stuff life had to offer ever again! Never to tease his little brother! Never hug his mom! Never kiss his girl–

"UL GOA!!!"

PWOOOM!!!

The monsters were blasted away from a fireball, as Grimm turned around to see a pink-haired half-elf with a staff. But rather than panic, Grimm let out a sigh of relief, as his savior was one of the people who helped them during the Witch Campaign. "Oh, Sphinx, it's you, thank God…"

"You too, huh?" Sphinx asked. "It's surreal, isn't it?"

"Grimm?! GRIMM?!"

The purple-haired boy turned around to see his blonde bombshell girlfriend, Carol Remendis, now wearing her avatar's outfit, crash into him with a hug, as she asked him, "What the hell is going on here?! I settled on my couch after soccer practice to play a bit, and now…"

"You too, Carol?! Is everyone we know here?!" Grimm yelled.

"I know that my friends are…" Sphinx said.

"Bloody hell…"

After a few minutes of hugging her boyfriend, Carol stood up. "Okay, it's… probably for the best that we find as many of our friends as we can. Safety in numbers, and all that."

"Good call... who knows if we're under SAO rules…" Grimm said.

Sphinx nodded. "I certainly would like to not die to a bunch of PK'ers. I shall accompany you."

"Right... let's see if anyone else is on…"

Sphinx nodded in agreement, as she kept up her supposedly calm and calculated demeanor. In reality however, she was scared and anxious deep down, as she should be.

She was still the same twelve-year-old girl, the same old Ryuzu Meyer, from real life. The only difference was now that she was in her in-game avatar, and that she was an expert at having a poker face. She kinda had to when roleplaying with a bunch of people older than her.

I just hope I'll be able to leave... seeing Mom and Dad, and... Beatrice...

Looking around, Grimm asked, "So, where do we go…?"

Carol surveyed the area, before saying, "If we want to regroup with our friends, we should head to Piccoutatte. Towns should still be safe zones, so we can gather our bearings there."

"Yeah, good call…"

"Let's go," Sphinx said, as the three of them headed out.

Elsewhere, a certain giant and snakeman were scrambling to figure out what to do. Cromwell, whose in-game username was Valga, cursed at the situation. "Shit! This is bad…"

"Calm yourself. I'm sure that if we regroup, we can all figure something out…"

"Right…" the giant said, agreeing with Libre. "What now?"

"I suggest we head to the closest town," Libre said, the snakeman looking around the area. "We shouldn't be out here. Too many monsters and possible player killers for my taste."

"Yeah…" Valga agreed. "What's the closest town again?"

"Picoutatte, I believe."

"Then let's haul ass."

"Right," the snakeman said, as the two of them began their long journey.

Soon enough, the three different groups would be reunited in Picoutatte, reunited in this new world. But before they even get the chance, all of them will face a great challenge before them.

But how would they leave? That would be a far greater problem.

Author's Note: If anyone is interested in doing those Alpha's Absolute Cinema reactions in the comments like they do with ThinkMind, go right ahead. So! For this universe…

- Pretty much every character in this story exists in what is the equivalent of our real world. Wilhelm and everyone in his age group are high schoolers, Roswaal was probably just a salaryman, Ryuzu is just a middle schooler, at best. I'm not sure what jobs Valga and Libre would have, probably something blue-collared?

- Subaru is indeed the creator of the MMORPG that this alternate reality has been based upon. As the party continues exploring this world, they would discover that he sent himself, along with thousands of players, into this fantasy land in the hopes that he could bring back his wife, Satella, who died of cancer in the real world. Yes, this is indeed CreatorBaru from EternalWhisper's variant art fic.

- This is more of a Log Horizon situation as opposed to Sword Art Online, as the video game elements of the former basically become real, while the latter has people's consciousness transported within the game as their bodies stay behind. There's a working ecosystem and society, and the ex-NPCs are living people.

- Before coming across Subaru as the final boss of this world, the party would go on various different quests given to them by the local adventurers guild in Picoutatte, which would basically act as their base of operations. Before leaving the guild to search for Subaru, most of their adventures would be light-hearted.

FirstGlazerSubaru: First off, let me just say that your name is funny on so many levels, but anyways, I'm glad you enjoyed the first one-shot. Hope you stick around for the rest!

DanteFollower12: Que bom que você gostou de todas essas ideias.

superdrive: I can already imagine how the highlights would play out, from Subaru being antagonistic towards the Royal Candidates, to insisting he's not a good guy, and killing Al while making sure he can't use his Authority. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to make this a full-fledged story, hence why it's in a one-shot series with the rest of them.

Doodle_4: Since I'm also posting this on FFN, I wouldn't be able to easily swap out chapters like ThinkMind does with his series. It's actually 1612, but whatever, I'm happy to see that you'll be sticking around until the very end for the stories you wanna read.

RogerVT: Are you referring to Urban Fantasy? I did consider adding that one for this collection, but I decided that the maximum chapters each "universe" would have would be five, and that series had six. Now, sure, maybe I could have merged a couple of the chapters together, but I didn't for two reasons. One, I didn't consider that until writing this response, and two, I kinda already have done the promotional material for this collection, and I don't wanna rearrange it. Ten is a nice number of stories, and I'll keep it that way. Maybe I'll release it as another mini-series, who knows? Unless you weren't talking about Urban Fantasy, then I might need some clarifying details from you.

LGKRO: Glad to see you're back to your usual antics with that cooking and peak nonsense. Moving on from that, I'm happy to hear you're so excited for what's to come!

H57Sans: There's nothing funny about To Purge a Galaxy, but I'm happy to hear that you're looking forward to it. Wouldn't it be the other way around, with Subaru revealing that his name is derived from a star? Unless I somehow misread your comment…

VH_S: Thanks for the praise! You're gonna get all three chapters of your first request this week, and then the three of your other requests next week, so keep an eye out for those! Although, the first one might have a different name depending on how things go…

So! You all know I have created my own website where I've posted a bunch of my art, so, if you're interested in seeing that, visit https://eowen5.myportfolio.com/! And I'm pretty sure as you all know now, I have also made a Twitter account to post my art, so if anyone is interested in checking it out, https://twitter.com/ErnaloreProf is the link.

If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is https://discord.gg/3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules.

Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!

- Ernalore

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: The World of the Od Laguna II

Even when running at full speed, Wilhelm, Theresia, and Julia were days away from Picoutatte. They'd normally use ground dragons for fast travel, but something was up with them; they were acting almost… wild. Maybe because they were now alive and technically had free will?

"Great, just after I spent that money for that sick ground dragon armor..."

Julia gave Wilhelm a funny look. "Why aren't you wearing it?"

"He means armor for the ground dragons," Theresia said. "They added it a few updates ago."

"Oh. Guess I never saw it…"

"Well, you did like to fly everywhere," Wilhelm said.

"Only because of that necklace I won," Julia explained, showing off the pendant on her chest. "My avatar might look like a wizard, but I can't cast any magic. I'm more like a monk."

Theresia blinked. "Wait, you can't use magic anymore?"

"Never could. I used items and misdirections to make it look like I could."

"Seriously?" Wilhelm asked. "How did we never notice?"

"I'm guessing because whenever we were all together, it was during raids," Thereisa guessed. "You know, where we'd focus more on our own avatars and attacks, so as to not die."

Julia gave them a pained smile. "Yeah... starting to regret it."

"Maybe you could learn now?" Wilhelm suggested.

"I can try…"

"That's the spirit!" Theresia cheered.

Wilhelm rolled his eyes, before asking, "Alright, what's our ETA...?"

"I dunno, about an hour?"

Julia groaned. "I know the map got bigger, but I swear it was not this big in the game…"

"Probably because when this was still a game, the devs didn't really care about realistic distances and times," Theresia said. She stopped running, though, as soon as she heard something, and signaled to the others to stop. Something was rustling in the woods.

Theresia and Wilhelm readied their swords while Julia readied her fists, and out of the woods, five massive tan monsters emerged, with sharp teeth, ears, and bumps on their backs.

All three of them could tell that those were ogres.

"Oh, that's not good," Julia said.

"Too bad. Let's do this," Wilhelm said, as he and Theresia quickly charged in.

As Julia threw some of her metal balls at the ogres, as Theresia and Wilhelm dodged the ogres' clubs, slashing where they could with their swords. Wilhelm quickly cut the achilles tendons of the ogres, while Theresia sliced their necks to deliver a killing blow. In under a minute, all five of the monsters were down for the count, with the three players examining their kills.

Theresia let out a low whistle. "Huh. That was pretty easy."

"Well, we are over level 50, right?" Julia asked.

Wilhelm nodded. "Yeah, I suppose you're right…"

"Let's just keep going," Theresia said. But before any of them had a chance to move on, there was a roar, as something else emerged from the bushes. Giant round body, a massive nose, yellow eyes, blue skin, pointed ears and teeth. It was a troll, no doubt about it.

"...If we get out of here, I will never play this game again," Wilhelm deadpanned.

Julia nodded. "Ditto."

"Quit your babying and cut off its head!" Theresia yelled.

Wilhelm nodded, as he jumped forward with a surprising amount of speed, and sliced the head clean off. He was… surprised by how easy that was. Like cutting through warm butter. "Huh…"

"KEEP YOUR GUARDS UP!!!" Julia yelled.

"Why? Trolls can't regenerate from decapitation."

"No, but they can still move!"

Wilhelm was then suddenly kicked by the troll's foot.

As the young man scrambled to recover, the others watched as the beheaded troll began moving, as it touched parts of the ground, searching for its head. "Oh, come on!"

"Does anyone have a torch?!" Julia asked.

"I've got one!" Theresia answered, as the red-haired teen jumped, climbing up to the troll's shoulders, pulling out a pipe, lighting it, and dropping it down its neck. "Boom, bitch!"

"I didn't know you smoke," Wilhelm said.

Theresia jumped down to the ground, saying, "I don't, but I thought my character would look cool as an edgy smoker or something like that... Wait, does that mean I have lung cancer now?"

As the troll burned from the inside out, Julia said, "I doubt it, considering what you just tossed down the troll's gullet was a magical pipe. Like, the kind that makes illusions."

"Okay, good... Well, let's get the hell out of here before something else shows up."

"Yeah, hold on, gimme a sec."

Theresia and Wilhelm just raised an eyebrow, as Julia went to the troll's burnt corpse, fishing through its throat, and pulling out the pipe, before walking back to her horrified friends.

"...Ew," Thereisa cringed in disgust.

"I'll wash it!" Julius yelled.

Wilhelm sighed, as he said, "Let's just go…"

Elsewhere, a giant and a snakeman were also making their way to the city, while also having their down discussion, as Valga said, "I'm telling ya, they made the map bigger…"

Libre shrugged. "I'm not saying that you're lying, but…"

"Whatever," the giant huffed. "Anyways, how far are we from Piccoutatte?"

"I don't know, half an hour?" Libre guessed. Valga only sighed as they hoped they could get there without issue, when the snakeman suddenly said, "Hey, look! On the horizon!"

"Huh?" Valga looked around, before Libre pointed a bit far off, as the giant zoomed in to see a familiar structure far out, causing hope to rise in Valga's heart. "Is that...?"

Libre nodded. "I believe it is."

"...Let's huff it."

Walking through the city walls of Picoutatte, Grimm looked over the horizon in fear and worry. Glancing over to his girlfriend, he asked, "You think the others are okay...?"

"How the hell should I know?" Carol asked.

Grimm sighed, as he looked... well, grim and could only look in concern for the others. Sphinx, meanwhile, noticed the look on his face, and asked, "What do you hope to find?"

"I don't know... our guild here, alive and well? Maybe they found out about it beforehand and…"

"And what?" the half-elf asked.

"We don't know if we can leave... we may never see our families again…"

Carol sighed, before saying, "That is definitely concerning."

Sphinx was quiet at that, wanting to go back to her family as well, although she kept that to herself. Suddenly, Grimm raised his head, asking, "Hey, what's that over there?"

"What is it?" Carol asked, perking up. "Other players?"

"No, there's too many of them…"

Sphinx pulled out a spyglass to see whatever Grimm was seeing. He was right about the massive number, she could see a small army's… worth… of… "Battle stations. Now."

"What is it? A raid?" Carol asked.

"Mm. One of the goblin varieties."

"Ugh... just our luck…"

Making her way up the hill, Theresia smiled as she saw their destination. Picoutatte. They had made it. Wilhelm and Julia followed behind her, as the brown-haired teen sighed. "Finally…"

Julia had to agree with him there. "Yeah, let's see who else is here…"

As the two girls admired the scenery and tried to figure out if any of their friends were there, Wilhelm suddenly noticed something making its way to the city. "Uhh... ladies?"

Theresia looked over to her friend. "What?"

"Remember when raids were added...?"

"Like, randomized mob attacks?" Julia asked.

Wilhelm grimly nodded. "Mhm…"

Theresia was now getting worried. "Why are you bringing it up now…?"

"Just a guess…" Wilhelm said, as he pointed to the goblin army approaching Piccoutatte.

"Ah, fuck a duck," Julia cursed.

"Shit! We gotta go!" Theresia yelled, as the three of them sprinted towards the army. Once they reached it, they began slicing through the first wave of goblins they came across.

"Just our fucking luck!" Wilhelm yelled.

"Suck it up, Sword Devil!"

"Oh, shut up, Sword Saint! I have a right to complain!"

"WOULD YOU BOTH SHUT IT?!?!"

"Huh?!" Wilhelm turned around, to see a giant smashing a bunch of the goblins with their giant club, as a snakeman sliced up several more of them with a double-sided sword. "Valga?!"

The giant smiled. "Whassup, noodle boy?!"

"Yeah, we're here, too!" the snakeman added.

"Glad to see you're both here!" Julia said, as she kicked another goblin.

"Talk later, fight now!" Theresia yelled. For the next few minutes, five of them mowed through goblins and hobs, leaving only the giant-sized champions. "Fucking assclowns!!! The next one that tries to touch my ass, I'm chopping off their dick and leaving them alive!!!"

The goblin champion roared, charging in, ready to –

"AL GOA!!!"

PWOOOM!!!

The approaching champion burst into flames, as the remaining goblins were also wiped out by the several powerful fire spells, much to the group's surprise. "ARE YOU GUYS OKAY?!?!"

The others looked over to see Sphinx, along with Carol and Grimm, running towards them, as Valga smiled at the sight of… well, Sphinx, mostly. "Hey, Half-Pint! You're alive!"

Theresia couldn't help but smile, too. "Sphinx, thank God -"

Before she could finish, Theresia was tackled in a hug by a familiar blonde. Despite her being way more petite than Thereisa, the red-haired girl was sent to the ground and nuzzled.

"Theresia!" Carol cried, as she kept hugging her friend. "Thank fuck you're here!"

"Carol?! You're here, too?!" Thereisa asked, squeezing out of her friend's hug.

"So… am… I…" Grimm wheezed out, exhausted from the run.

"…Who are you, again?" Wilhelm asked.

"It's me, Grimm! You know, your classmate? Carol's boyfriend?!"

Wilhelm snorted, breaking character. "Yeah, I know. I was kidding."

"Ugh…" Grimm groaned. "That wasn't funny in school, and it's still not funny here…"

"Come on in. We have much to discuss," Sphinx said, pointing towards Picoutatte. Everyone nodded and entered the city, leaving the charred corpses of the goblin army behind.

Thanks to the successful goblin extermination, the locals were grateful to the adventurers, even offering them an office to conduct their meeting. Entering the office, Wilhelm looked over Thereisa and Julia, asking, "Everyone alright? No contracted diseases or curses?"

"…Excuse me?" Libre asked.

"I was talking to my friends."

Thereisa sighed, as she said, "We're fine, Wil."

Grimm nodded. "Yeah, we didn't run into any Mabeasts."

"Let's consider ourselves fortunate," Sphinx said.

Looking at the others, Theresia said, "So... I assume everyone knows what the deal is?"

"Indeed," the pink-haired half-elf said, as everyone looked towards her. "On the day the Beyond the Great Waterfall expansion was released, from what I can tell, anyone who logged on to The World of the Od Laguna that day seems to have been transported into the… game."

"This is something out of a shitty isekai," Carol grumbled.

"Well, good news, we might know of a way out… by beating the game. Again."

Libre understood what Wilhelm was referring to. "Right... fuckin' SAO."

Theresia tried to brighten the moon in the room a little bit by saying, "Look, we just have to level up a bit, find the new final boss, and kick their ass! Easy-peasy and lemon-squeezy, right?"

"But we have no idea who they are or where they might be, and thanks to this expansion pack, the world map is five times larger than that of the original game," Sphinx said.

"Then we get all the help we can," Wilhelm said.

"Like what?" Libre asked. "Start a new guild?"

"Perhaps…" Sphinx said. "But I believe that our main priority now is to get a lot stronger."

Valga sighed. "So... lots and lots of grinding."

"Yes. Whether we like it or not, we're the highest-level players in the game, and we're all, as of right now…" the pink-haired half-elf trailed off, as if choosing her words, before saying, "...mid."

Wilhelm groaned. "It's like Shadow of the Erdtree all over again…"

"More like, "I just figured out how to see my friend list," and no one above Level 70 is online," Sphinx said, as she fiddled the air with her finger, as if scrolling. "We're the top of the top."

"They must have heard of what happened…" Theresia said.

"Maybe, but if they did, they never logged on. I'm looking through our old Witch Subjugation Party… none of them are online…" Sphinx said. "I could just list the missing…"

"And that's looking more and more unlikely…"

"We were the weaker members of the Subjugation Party… Without the others, we would have died to the Witch of Envy…" Julia said, causing others to grumble at the memory.

"...What about the current Authority users?" Theresia asked. "Are they online?"

"…Never sent them a friend request," Sphinx admitted.

Valga cursed, "Shit... we could really use those god abilities right now."

"…I guess we're doing this the hard way," Wilhelm said, sighing.

"Great. We're all gonna die," Libre deadpanned.

"Maybe, but the odds of it will decrease a whole lot if we gather everyone who is online… I see that Miklotov and Bordeaux are here… Tholter and Pivot… along with a few others…"

Valga snorted at what Sphinx said. "Lots of help they're gonna be…"

"We'll make do with what we have," Thereisa said.

"Alright…" Wilhelm said, nodding. "Let's get to work."

Elsewhere, in the bottom of a dark dungeon, in the inverse of an infernal palace, a creature stirred around and awoke. It growled as it stretched and observed its surroundings.

"It worked… it actually worked…"

He did it. He was in the game.

The monster looked over to the side. "Satella…"

The corpse of the Witch of Envy was on the floor, having not decayed at all since she was killed. She looked at peace as she remained unmoving. "I swear… I'm going to save you…"

Four eyes became two, horns receded into his skull. In a matter of moments, the dragon-like devil was gone, replaced by a black-haired man wearing brown robes and a hood.

"I swear, Satella… your hero is going to save you…"

So vowed Subaru Natsuki, creator of The World of the Od Laguna.

Author's Note: I know this fic said that there were Authority users within the game, but I'm not sure what they would be. Probably players who got the powers of some bosses or NPCs they killed and/or helped. Anyways, to continue expanding upon this reality…

- The world this game is based upon has elements from a bunch of isekai anime in it, not just that of Re: Zero, as evidenced by the trolls and goblins that appeared. Our party would end up fighting a bunch of new monsters once leaving the continent they have known and exploring the four new ones from the DLC.

- Our main cast does indeed consist of characters who were around during the Sword Demon Love Story, as shown that characters Like Tholter and Pivot are hanging around, along with the young versions of Miklotov and Bordeaux.

- What you saw at the end there was Subaru in his dragon form, which he would use in his final battle against the heroes. If you need a more solid visual idea of what he looks like, think of Satan from Helluva Boss, mixed with the features of the dragon form of CreatorBaru from Eternal Whisper's variant art fic.

- Before the final battle would occur, Subaru would go completely insane and proclaim himself a god and take Theresia while singing a villain song. When the actual final battle occurs in Subaru's lair (which would be within the Od Laguna's equivalent of Hell), his goal of reviving Satella would succeed, but when she sees what her husband had become, she would be horrified at what he became.

Well, with all the worldbuilding out of the way, it's time for the comments!

H57Sans: I'm now interested in trying to figure out how and why the four nations would become paranoid of the stars themselves. But, yeah, it's not a comedy, it's a war drama based on interstellar genocide. Interestingly enough, if To Purge a Galaxy became a full-blown series, both that story and this one would end the same way… with Subaru turning into a mentally unstable monster and becoming the protagonists' final boss.

VH_S: Thank you for the praise! Glad to have made your day!

superdrive: Can't write 'em all. Such is the tragedy of having so many ideas and not enough time to flesh them out. Don't worry, there will be other chapters for you to enjoy.

Sewenhinte (Guest): Overlord is also a good comparison to make to this story. But to help you understand them, Log Horizon is kinda like Overlord, except thousands of players were sent into the new world. Sword Art Online would basically be if the players from Overlord were sent into the game YYGDRASIL, rather than the New World.

Doodle_4: I can't take the visual idea of old Wilhelm playing games with the boys. It's like that one scene from the first episode of Smiling Friends, where the Boss is on Discord.

LGKRO: I'm glad you're enjoying this series! But to clarify a few things, Subaru isn't a salaryman here, he's the creator of the game, ala Sakurai or Miyazaki. Unless that "all" you snuck in there changes the context. I'm gonna assume "Wilkes" is what you call Wilhelm, given the context clues. I see you didn't use "peak" this time. How interesting…

DanteFollower12: Eu sempre quis ver alguns personagens de Re: Zero em um cenário de fantasia genérico, participando de aventuras clássicas de RPG, e tê-los dentro de um mundo de videogame foi o melhor cenário que consegui imaginar. Stride provavelmente apareceria como um antagonista, talvez como outro jogador trabalhando para Subaru. Na verdade, existe uma arte oficial do CreatorBaru (como estou chamando essa versão do Subaru) em EternalWhisper's Variants, Variants, and More Variants!, especificamente no capítulo duzentos e três. Inclui até mesmo sua forma de dragão... mais ou menos.

So! You all know I have created my own website where I've posted a bunch of my art, so, if you're interested in seeing that, visit https://eowen5.myportfolio.com/! And I'm pretty sure as you all know now, I have also made a Twitter account to post my art, so if anyone is interested in checking it out, https://twitter.com/ErnaloreProf is the link.

If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is https://discord.gg/3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules.

Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!

- Ernalore

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Natsuki Elven Babysitter

Kenichi Natsuki yawned as he stretched himself on the couch. It was another tiring day at the office, but worth it to provide for his lovely wife, Naoko, and their young son, Subaru.

They were worth the whole world to him. Especially Subaru. His little boy was so full of life and energy. He wanted to be just like his old man, which nearly made Kenichi shed a tear at that. He promised he would help him however he could. However, now wasn't the time for that, as it was late at night, and Kenichi was ready to just relax and listen to the evening news.

"In other news, it's been one week since the odd meteorological phenomenon that occurred over Tokyo," the reporter said. "Scientists still have no explanation over what happened…"

"I bet Subaru would love to know about that. He's been so obsessed with space for years."

Kenichi looked over to his beloved Naoko, as she sat down next to him. He had to agree with her on that front. "We named him after a star, should we have expected anything less?"

"Technically, we named him after a set of stars," the brown-haired woman corrected her husband. "Regardless, I think you're right. He'd love to be an astrologist."

"Astronomer, dear," he corrected her.

"Now who's getting technical?"

"Hey, you started it!"

Naoko giggled, before asking, "Before we get settled in, could you be a dear and make sure Subaru's asleep? I'd rather not have him stay up all night secretly playing his DS."

"Yeah, I'm on it," Kenichi said, getting up from the couch.

He made his way up to Subaru's room quietly. He was keeping an ear out to make sure Subaru wasn't playing Mario Kart on the other side of the door, when suddenly, he smelled... something.

It smelled like… blood? But mixed with burnt diapers? Did Subaru do some sort of late-night "chemistry" with a bunch of laundry detergents to make some potion? Whatever it was, it didn't smell good. Kenichi quickly made his way to his son's room, and he was met with…

…a sight he was not expecting in the slightest. One straight out of a nightmare.

It was a woman, given her shape and build. She wore some kind of dress of black and orange, and had what appeared to be long silver hair. He couldn't see her face, as it was covered by the strangest part of her. It looked like... smoke or black fog emanating around the woman's head and back, it held a cape-like structure or a veil like a wedding dress devoid of all color.

She was kneeling down in front of Subaru's bed, and holding hands with his son, who thankfully was still asleep and looked unharmed, but whispering, "I love you… I love you… I love you…"

"Who are you?! How did you get into my house?!" Kenichi yelled. The figure turned and noticed him, only to suddenly… transform into smoke… and exit through the cracks in the window.

"What the hell...?" he muttered. As glad as he was that the figure was scared off by him, he was still utterly confused at the sight of it just… phasing through the wall like some kind of ghost. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to think about it, as he heard Naoko running up the stairs.

"Kenichi?! What's going on?!"

"I... there was... there was someone watching Subaru…"

"What?!" Naoko gasped, "Like… a child predator?"

"I don't know... she kept saying "I love you" over and over again…"

"Where'd they go?" Naoko asked.

"She... turned into smoke... and flew out the window…" Kenichi said, as Naoko silently stared at her husband. "Look, I know how insane that sounds, believe me, but I know what I saw."

Naoko was still quiet, but she slowly nodded. "I'm calling the police."

"Please do. I'll make sure Subaru's okay."

A little under an hour later, the cops had arrived in the neighborhood, and were going over the story Kenichi had provided them with. "Then she jumped out the window and I lost her…"

"The window was open?" the first officer asked.

"No... she opened it insanely fast and jumped out," Kenichi lied. He knew that they wouldn't believe him if he said that she turned into smoke. "I have no idea how she got in the house."

The second officer nodded, writing it down. "Mm-hm. Any other details?"

"No sir. I couldn't see her face, and she left the second she noticed me."

"Alright, I guess we could do a search for all convicted sex offenders in the area," the first officer said. "Check their alibis, match descriptions, that kind of thing, but we can't do much else."

"Were there any other features you saw that could narrow down our search?"

Kenichi nodded at the second officer's question. "She had… silver hair."

"Silver hair…" the first cop repeated, writing it down. "Probably hair dye."

"So, a shotacon and a weeb," the second cop joked.

"Thank you for your time, Natsuki-san. Please, enjoy your night."

"Uh, thank you, officers," Kenichi said.

As the police car drove off, Kenichi turned around, heading back into the house, where Naoko was waiting for him in the foyer. "Are you okay, sweetie? You're sure she didn't hurt you?"

"Yeah. Didn't even touch me."

"And what about Subaru?"

"She was holding his hand, and maybe graced his face, but nothing else."

Naoko's face was a grimace. "I see…"

"How's Subaru?" he asked. As he was talking with the police, he asked for Naoko to stay with their son, who was woken up from all the commotion, and ask him a few questions.

"He was... surprisingly calm," Naoko said. "He said he felt warm and safe."

"Huh. Kind of hard to imagine that he slept through… that…"

A couple blocks away, a silver-haired half-elf was arguing with her split personality. "You absolute idiot! Now we've got the police after us because you couldn't keep it in your pants!"

"Really? Scared of a few donut pigs?"

"It's not that! Now Subaru's parents think we're a pedo! They'll never let us near him!"

"Then we get rid of them," the Witch of Envy personality said.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!" Satella shouted, consequences of being heard by the locals be damned. "They are off limits! Subaru would hate us forever if something happened to them!"

"Mmm…" Envy thought it over for a bit, before saying, "I have an alternative solution."

Satella sighed, before asking, "What is it?"

"After what happened, now both the Natsukis and the other families in the neighborhood will want their children safe," Envy said. "What if we offered to keep an eye on them?"

"What? You want us to be a babysitter?"

"Yesss…"

"And what makes you think that they won't suss us out as Subaru's stalker?"

"Hair dye?" the split personality suggested.

Satella was quiet for a few seconds, before saying, "If we get caught, this is on you."

"This is technically your body, sooo…"

"And you're a parasite I can't get rid of," Satella bit back.

"I'll take over eventually."

"Then you can go to Hell with me."

"Mmm…" Envy grumbled for a bit, before asking, "How's everyone else doing?"

"Actually caring about someone other than Subaru? The world must be ending."

"Let me remind you that, without money, there is no shelter, and not only that, but you starve, which means I perish," Envy said. "We need the others to help us survive in this world."

"Aren't we immortal?" Satella asked. "We can't starve."

"I can still get cranky when hungry."

"Trust me, slut. You can certainly burn out now."

"Mm?" Satella turned around to see… "Oh, it's you. Hey, Echidna."

"Your Authority, and by extension your immortality, was linked to your mana reserves," Echidna said. "There is no mana in this world, so you will eventually run out and be mortal again."

"How long, by your estimations?" Satella asked.

"Hard to say," the white-haired woman said, as she started walking alongside the silver-haired half-elf. "However, given that we still give off mana in very small increments... I'd say you have until next summer before you completely drain, and that's if you don't use any magic at all."

"Alright, guess we better figure out how to adapt to this world, then."

"Quite. Come on, the others are waiting for you."

Satella nodded, following behind. "Right."

As his wife was doing the dishes in the kitchen, Kenichi peeked into the living room to check on their son, who was still watching cartoons, and no sign of anyone stalking him. Good.

That night, a whole week ago, had given the Natsuki couple a real scare.

Especially given what Kenichi saw. He knew he wasn't hallucinating or anything like that, but no one would believe him if he said the woman turned into mist and flew out the window.

Well, no one, except for Naoko, who asked, "Everything alright in there?"

Kenichi nodded. "Yeah, everything's just fine."

"That's… good to hear…" There was no sign of the stalker, nor any calls from the police. Regardless, they haven't let Subaru out of their sight. They won't take that chance again.

KNOCK-KNOCK!

The couple immediately turned their attention to the knock that came from the front door.

"I'll get it," Kenichi said. He opened the door, and his stomach dropped at the sight… of a silver-haired woman wearing black clothes. Is... is this some kind of sick joke?

"Hi, new neighbor! I'm Satella, my sisters and I just moved into the house across from you!"

Strange... her voice sounded familiar, but... different? It wasn't the same as the stalker's that night. Shaking himself out of it, Kenichi said, "I... uhm... I see. Nice to meet you, as well…"

"Honey? Who is it?" Naoko called out.

"Some new neighbors are moving in next door."

"Is that so? Let me take a look…" Naoko came to the door, and visibly flinched when she saw Satella with her silver hair. Gulping, she said, "Hello there… I assume you're the… the…"

"New neighbors, yeah. I'm Satella, by the way! And you are…?"

"I'm Naoko... Kenichi's wife."

Satella smiled. "Nice to meet you both!"

Naoko nervously nodded. "You as well…"

"Mom? Dad?" a younger voice called out. "Who is it?"

"No one, honey!" Naoko lied, hoping her son wouldn't be interested in –

Too late. The ten-year-old Subaru came into view of the door, much to the dread of his parents, as Satella knelt down to the boy's eye level. "Oh, hi! What's your name, little guy?"

"Subaru Natsuki, ma'am," the little boy said. "How do you do?"

"Oh, my, such good manners! And you're cute, to boot! I just wanna pinch your cheeks…" Satella cooed, as she looked back up towards the parents. "You must be so proud of him."

"Yes, we are…" Kenichi said, resisting the urge to grab Subaru and keep him away from the woman. "Thank you for stopping by, but my wife and I have some plans that we must get to..."

"Of course! Be sure to stop by anytime, I'm sure Typhon will love playing with you!" Satella said, as she turned around to walk back home, but not before giving little Subaru a wave good-bye.

The older Natsukis quickly took their son inside and closed the door, before taking a peek out their window to see a couple other girls moving boxes into the house Satella was heading to. "Should we... call the police? I mean... you said she had silver hair, what if that's her?"

"I dunno… it could just be a coincidence…" Kenichi said. "And that would be profiling…"

"I know but... moving in next to us a week after what happened...?"

Kenichi had to agree with his wife there. "Yeah, that's what worries me…"

"What should we do...?" Naoko asked.

"I don't know… I really don't know…"

Meanwhile, the seven Witches of Sin were moving into their new home. Well, most of them were, as Echidna was just bossing them around. "That's it, keep bringing them in…"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it," Minerva growled, bringing in more boxes.

Carmilla, meanwhile, glared at two of the girls. "I'd go faster if you helped…"

"It's not our fault... we have low... stamina…" Sekhmet said, lying on the pavement.

"And I'm too busy supervising," Echidna added.

"Right, "supervising." As if it's so damn hard to help us move in," Minerva said.

Before anyone could say anything else, Satella walked by. "Hey, guys, I'm back…"

Minerva dropped her boxes. "Seriously, Ella? I get you wanting to meet your old in-laws, but won't your appearance make you the primary suspect in what Envy pulled last week?"

"I'm fairly certain the words "common sense" aren't exactly in her vocabulary," Echidna said. "Neither is the term "registered sex offender," but I'm sure she'll learn both of them, eventually."

"Yeah, that wasn't very smart, Satella…" Carmilla said, as she carried the last of the boxes inside. "I know you wanted to see him, but... it could cause a lot of problems to come up…"

Satella sighed. "Look, they'd probably freak out if they saw me walking down the street. At least by introducing myself, they'll not only know who I am, but also not flip when they do see me."

Minerva groaned. "I hope you know what you're doing."

Satella nodded. "So do I, Minerva… So do I…"

Author's Note: A lot of these stories are a lot of "what you see is what you get," so there isn't a lot of bonus trivia about their worlds I can tell about it. That makes me want to ask you, should I just focus on trivia based on that specific chapter and the events within it, or do everything in one go? Let me know. Anyways, enough about that! For this reality…

- The Great Calamity occurred, but rather than Satella getting sealed as its ending, time and reality kinda got messed up, and characters from that era have now started showing up in Japan years inhabited by a ten-year-old Subaru. Basically, think of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid with a bit of time travel sprinkled in.

- Aside from the seven Witches, a few confirmed others who have arrived in Japan include Reid, Volcanica, Zarestia, the Ryuzu clones… and a few others. Including a certain someone who was responsible for the events of this story to take place.

- Everyone who came from the world of the Od Laguna does their best to adapt to Japan, with most of them taking jobs that match their personalities and talents. Echidna becomes a scientist and Carmilla becomes a model, stuff like that.

- Despite hiding a bit better each time, Naoko and Kenichi are completely freaked out by what is going on, while Subaru, the innocent kid he still is, instinctively trusts all the newcomers. Which includes people like Hector and Pandora.

- If this became a full series by the end Satella would come clean about everything by the end, making Kenichi wonder what awful thing his ancestors did in the past to be haunted by what he thinks are a bunch of fey, Naoko will freak out that her son is a monster magnet, and Subaru will think that it's the coolest thing ever.

Well, with all the worldbuilding out of the way, it's time for the comments!

ItsAHobby3213: Glad you find the concept so interesting. I know you said that you like all the ideas, but be sure to read them all and let me know what you think of each one!

IrisEvan: Insert Alastor laughing at Vox's proposal clip here.

VH_S: Nothing more to say except that's a great comment.

Guest Name (Guest): As much as I think your idea makes sense, but I don't want that particular universe to be constrained by the existence of Authorities or the lore of Lugunica or stuff like that, I want it to be its own thing. So, if I ever do get the chance to revisit The World of Od Laguna, I'll probably just ignore the Authority wielders' existence.

DanteFollower12: Fico feliz que tenha gostado do último capítulo. Quando você diz "aliado", quer dizer que o Subaru seria um aliado do Wilhelm e de seus amigos? Acho que seria interessante. De qualquer forma, quanto aos subordinados, não sei se o Subaru teria algum, especialmente Vollachianos. Talvez o Stride Vollachia, não sei.

Doodle_4: Why do I feel like CanonBaru would not be okay l with singing a song about how evil he is, and also, why would his sanity have any effect on his singing?

LGKRO: Yeah, someone gets it! Think of Satan's song from Helluva Boss, and you've got the right idea! That last version of Subaru would definitely be following that trope, too! Also, I noticed that you didn't use "cook" here. An inverse of last time, interesting…

superdrive: You're the second person who has recommended Stride Vollachia to me as an antagonist, but also the first one who mentioned the other Sin Archbishops, even if it was in passing. But I don't know about Subaru and Satella having a kid in that fic…

Jerami: You're the second person who has mentioned the Sin Archbishops as a group of antagonists, but the idea of them just being NPCs that would have died before all the players got isekai'd is interesting… especially the idea of Pandora still kicking around.

JamesKael: Glad to see people still reacting to the previous chapters. I am also intrigued by the idea of Subaru being a saint. I've never heard of someone calling John "Juan." But I'm more intrigued by the idea of people thinking of Earth as some sort of paradise, and making Subaru some sort of celestial being. Makes me wanna write a fic about it.

H57Sans: I'm happy to see your comment being so well-received. If Subaru is managing the Od Laguna, wouldn't that technically make him God? Since the Od Laguna is more like a machine from what I've heard, wouldn't that make its user God? Would that make Hoshin a follower of the previous Subaru? Also, would people be trying to reach Earth?

So! You all know I have created my own website where I've posted a bunch of my art, so, if you're interested in seeing that, visit https://eowen5.myportfolio.com/! And I'm pretty sure as you all know now, I have also made a Twitter account to post my art, so if anyone is interested in checking it out, https://twitter.com/ErnaloreProf is the link.

If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is https://discord.gg/3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules.

Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!

- Ernalore

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: Natsuki Elven Babysitter II

Another week went by, and the Witches managed to spice up their house to their respective style. There were only three bedrooms, so most of them had to share, with Daphne just sleeping in her Centipede Coffin in the basement. But it was their home. And along with this city, it would be the epicenter for a lot of things to come, involving them and many others…

At the start, the Natsukis were also keeping a close eye on their new neighbors, but nothing suspicious was afoot. No strange gazes towards them, no unannounced visits, no nothing.

Eventually, the Natsukis had to move on with their lives. Especially considering the fact that winter break was now over and spring had come, so Subaru was now starting fifth grade.

Meanwhile, the Witches were able to get a few jobs.

Echidna, obviously, became a scientist after skimming everything she needed to know about Earth science after a month of research, and forging a degree. Minerva managed to apply for construction given her strength and healing abilities she could use when no one was looking.

Carmilla had become a model, thanks to her looks, and Satella was able to get some contracted work singing anime openings and original songs for a recording studio, thanks to her voice.

And as for Sekhmet... Well, she actually got herself a job as a Twitch streamer. Apparently, people were willing to tune in to a hot, lazy woman that just laid around all day, while still talking to them. It was the most amount of effort she had to put into anything. Daphne and Typhon couldn't do any work, with Echidna homeschooling the latter. Overall, they were quite well off.

But of course, they couldn't stay inside or work all the time, which meant going out and interacting with the neighbors. Which, of couse… included the Natsuki family.

The Witches, especially Satella after the stunt Envy had pulled, had to tread carefully not to set off any red flags in their behavior, which meant acting as normal as humanly possible. When asked about them all being "sisters," Echidna explained they just considered themselves as such, with Sekhmet being Typhon's adoptive mother as the only actual familial relation.

Speaking of Typhon, given that the little green-haired girl and Subaru were the same age, that gave them ample opportunity to play with one another when the boy was not in school.

The other Witches had to REALLY drill it into Typhon that she couldn't use her Authority at all, or it could scare a lot of people, especially given how fast information travels here. If there were any video evidence of the Witches using their Authorities, the results could be catastrophic.

Of course, while the little green-haired girl understood that on principle, it was a lot harder to do in practice, as shown one day, when she saw outside, playing with Subaur. "Hmm… Hey, Baru!"

The little boy looked over to his friend. "Yeah?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

Subaru nodded. "Of course!"

"Great! Follow me!"

"Okay!" Subaru said, as he followed Typhon. The two ten-year-olds walked into the forest behind the park, surrounded by trees. Looking around, he asked, "So, what's the secret?"

"See that tree over there?" Typhon asked.

Subaur nodded. "Yeah, what about it?"

The little girl smiled, as she put her hands around the trunk of the tree… and lifted. Subaru's eyes went wide as Typhon lifted the whole tree over her head like she was a Kryptonian.

"Wow…" Subaru looked towards his friend. "You have superpowers?!"

"Yeah! Isn't that cool?!"

"Yeah! How did you do that?!"

"Uhh, I dunno, I just can!"

"Can your sisters do that too?!"

"Not exactly, but kinda!" Typhon said, as the bushes moved.

"Ty! Subaru! Are you back here? The others sent me to…" Minerva came upon the sight of Typhon powerlifting a tree while Subaru watched. "Shit…"

"…Are you guys superheroes?" Subaru asked.

Minerva sighed. "No, we're just... weird. Ty, put the tree down."

"Awww…" While Typhon put the tree back, Minerva kneeled down in front of Subaru.

"Look, Subaru, I promise we'll tell you everything when the time is right, but until then, you can't tell anything, not even your parents, about our secret," Minerva said in a serious tone. "Okay?"

"What?! Why not?" Subaru asked. "This is awesome!"

"Yes, you have to understand, when people get older, their view of the world gets more... solid," the blonde woman said. "And when adults see something they can't understand, it scares them."

"Grown-ups can get scared?"

Putting her hand on Subaru's shoulder, Minerva smiled. "Of course. Grown-ups get scared all the time, but they put on a brave face to make sure their kids are safe. So, promise you won't tell anyone about us, and I promise we'll tell you more about us, when the time is right."

"Okay…" Subaru nodded. "I promise…"

"Thank you," Minerva said, standing up. "Now, come on, you two. We're making some sushi."

The two kids followed Minerva, but as they left the forest… Subaru couldn't help but feel like he was being watched by someone. Looking back, he called out, "Hello? Is someone there?"

Nothing. No response.

"Subaru, come on!" Minerva's voice called out.

"Coming!" he said, as he followed her.

He hoped it was nothing bad.

A couple of days after the whole superpower reveal and talk, Subaru was walking home from school, when he noticed something along the street he was walking through. "Huh?"

A couple of boxes left on the street were rustling around… Was there a stray cat? Subaru approached the boxes to get a better look, and out of the boxes popped out a… lizard? Some kind of weird iguana? He didn't know what exactly it was, but it sure as heck wasn't a cat.

It was mostly sky blue, but had black spikes, and... were those... wings...?

Subaru decided to approach it. "Hey there, little guy…"

It looked right at him, and much to Subaru's surprise... it spoke.

"Flugel...? Is it truly thou...?"

"WHOA!" Subaru jumped back from the box. "You can talk?!"

"This one can indeed, but... Flugel, why is thou... a child?"

Subaru looked confused. "Flugel? What's that?"

"You... do not know your alias...? How old art thou?"

"I'm ten years old, mister…?"

"Ten...? Most strange…" the little lizard said, before looking back at Subaru, who was still waiting for a name. "In any case, I am the Divine Dragon, Volcanica. Might I have your name?"

Subaru nodded. "I'm Subaru Natsuki, Volcanica-san."

This is indeed Flugel, no doubt... yet, why is he a child? Has this one been sent back to his past? Volcanica wondered. He needed to get some answers… and Flugel here would help him.

Back home, Kenichi got off work early, and was currently helping Naoko with dinner. Or, more accurately, he was trying to figure out what his wife was making. "What's for dinner, honey?"

"Pilaf with peas!" Naoko said, with a smile on her face.

"Delicious. Is Subaru home yet?"

Almost as if on cue, they heard the front door open, and the soft, yet excited sound of footsteps. They also heard their son happily say, "Mom! Dad! Look what I found!"

Kenichi and Naoko came to look and… WHAT THE HELL WAS THEIR SON HOLDING?!

It looked like some sort of mutant reptile, mixed with a bat. And to make matters worse for the parents, when it opened its mouth, it said, "Greetings, head and headwife of House Natsuki."

"Can we keep him?!" Subaru said, his voice completely happy and innocent. He was holding that thing like someone would a puppy, or a very grumpy cat. Kenichi and Naoko's hearts were completely still, having trouble processing what they were looking at... and what they heard.

"…I'm calling Animal Control," the brown-haired matriarch said.

"This one does not need to be controlled, thou can assure you," the crocodile-like thing said.

Naoko looked like she was about to faint. Kenichi, meanwhile, slowly approached his son, trying not to make any sudden movements, as he calmly said, "Subaru, put the… animal… down."

"Dad, he's not gonna hurt anyone! And he's not just any animal, he's a dragon! See! He has wings!" Subaru said, showing off the animal's wings, while Kenichi was more focused on its teeth, claws, and barbed tail. It was nothing short of a miracle that Subaru wasn't hurt yet.

"Yeah, I see them, champ. It's just… dragons aren't real. They're just fairy tales."

"This one can assure you dragons are very much real, as thou can see," the creature said.

"Oh, my God, it's actually talking," Naoko whispered.

The blue reptile titled its head. "That was not obvious before?"

"Okay…" Naoko began to sweat, as she began talking to herself. "So, this is real, I'm not having a mental breakdown, and there really is a mutant dog thing talking to us right now…"

"Madam, this one is no dog or mammal."

"Please stop talking," Naoko begged the alligator-looking monster.

Subaru, despite his young age, could now see that fear on his parents' faces. Looking down, he murmured, "I guess Aunty Minerva was right about grown ups being scared…"

Kenichi sighed, as he decided to try and play this diplomatically. Looking at his son, he began to say, "Look, Subaru, even if this actually is a dragon, you can't possibly take care of it…"

While Kenichi continued about responsibility and Subaru was retorting with whatever he was saying, Volcanica was instead focusing on something else. He mentioned Minerva, and now that he could sense it... he was picking up quite a lot of miasma at the house next door…

"I promise I'll walk him, and feed him, and pick up his –"

"That will not be necessary. This one will vacate to the forest nearby. Thou will be allowed a moment of respite," Volcanica told the family, as he then jumped onto the ground and bowed to Subaru. "Until we meet again, young Subaru Natsuki. May the stars illuminate your path."

Before anyone else could say anything, the little dragon squeezed through the door.

"I... I just…" Naoko sputtered. "What just happened...?"

Subaru stared at the semi-open door Volcanica had escaped through, before he turned back towards his father, tears threatening to escape his eyes. "Why couldn't I keep him?!"

Kenichi coughed. "Well, son... I don't think he would've... liked being kept…"

"It's better than him being alone in the streets like some kind of stray!" Subaru shouted, as he ran upstairs to his room, clearly upset. Kenichi knew he had his work cut out for him.

Both in comforting his son, and possibly calling an exterminator.

Across the street, it was a pretty average day for the Witches, until they heard... something scratching at their back door. Daphne was the first to ask, "Did we get a dog?"

"No. It's probably a stray or something," Satella said, as she went to check the door. When she opened it… nothing could've prepared her to see a chibi version of her old friend.

"…You've got to be joking," Echidna said, standing behind Satella.

"So, this one was correct… I did sense some miasma here…" Volcanica muttered to himself, as he walked into the house, only to get tackled into a hug by a certain green-haired girl.

"VOLC-CHI!" Typhon squealed, as she squeezed the tiny dragon.

The others, meanwhile, stared at the sight. "What... the... hell?"

Carmilla had to agree with Minerva's statement. "How… is this… possible…?"

"This one could ask you all the same," Volcanica said.

"Long story short, reality kinda got rewritten after the Great Calamity, and we end up here," Satella summed it up. "Happy? Good, now it's your turn: Why are you here and tiny?"

"This one doesn't know," Volcanica answered. "The last memory this one possesses before getting sent here was guarding resting at the Watchtower's peak... and now I am here."

"The size… of a… cat," Sekhmet added.

"Indeed... and the strangest thing remains... It was a young Flugel who found this one."

"Oh?" Daphne tilted her head. "Subarun found you first?"

"Indeed... although, it seems you all already know of his presence."

"Please tell me his folks didn't see you," Satella begged.

"Would that... be undesirable?"

"You look like you came out of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, what do you think?"

All seven of them didn't like the silence that came from the dragon. Eventually, the Witch of Greed decided to bite the bullet and ask, "The Natsukis already saw you, didn't they?"

Volcanica looked down in shame. "This one cannot lie and say no."

"Great…" Minerva groaned. "What do we tell them?"

"Maybe say... he's a robot...?" Carmilla suggested. "Or an experiment from Echidna's work...?"

Volcanica nodded. "They might believe the latter…"

Sekhmet raised an eyebrow, before asking, "Did you... talk to them...?"

"This one did," the little blue dragon admitted.

Satella could feel herself dying a bit on the inside. "Oh, dear…"

"Alright, I'll go over and spin something to the Natsukis to keep them from panicking," Echidna said. "Meanwhile, you can stay here… as long as you're fine eating from a bowl, doggy."

"...This one feels disrespected," Volcanica said.

As the Witch of Greed and the Divine Dragon broke out into an argument, Satella grimaced in thought. If both the Witches and Volcanica showed up here… who else could be next?

Author's Note: I found out that there's another fic with a similar title to mine. I also decided to do any additional universe trivia for the next chapter. Comment time!

Scattershot98: Glad you found this so interesting. I haven't seen a lot of reverse isekai that have been intriguing, so I figured I'd write a familiar premise based on some fics. And as for Satella and the allegations, a lot of real-life people have (unfortunately) beaten the allegations, and since Satella is a hot chick, I'm sure it'll be even easier for her.

JamesKael: I'm curious to know what your expectations for this universe were. I had to look up what a "Hachishakusama" is, but I can see your line of thought with it. You'll also be happy to know that Pandora and Hector won't be appearing any time soon, so relax.

Irene4728: Yeah, there's something appealing about a little Subaru who isn't depressed yet, but somehow is attracting otherworldly forces just because of who (or what) he is.

LGKRO: Yeah, Subaru's parents are in for a bad time. First, they're being haunted by what they could probably think is a ghost or some other supernatural entity, and then a girl that kinda reminds them of said supernatural entity moves in. Luckily, Satella is smart enough not to try anything with Subaru. If it was completely up to her (and not Envy), she would let Subaru choose once he grew up, and accept any decision he made.

Doodle_4: Technically, that was Envy, but you did get the point across.

VH_S: Glad you found the last chapter so fun and the world within it pleasant.

DanteFollower12: Você não é a primeira pessoa a dizer que gostou do tema de isekai invertido. E obrigado por querer esclarecer seu comentário anterior, eu entendi.

H57Sans: The universe actively tries to hurt Subaru, and him not giving in is what makes him so great. Why the extra "A" in shotacon? People thinking of Subaru as an angel is definitely a cool idea. And I'm sure people could develop a spell to send them to Japan, given that I personally think that it was an Al Shamak spell that summoned Subaru.

Kifhjoofff: ¡Sí! ¡En este capítulo verás a Subaru y Typhon hacerse amigos!

So! You all know I have created my own website where I've posted a bunch of my art, so, if you're interested in seeing that, visit https://eowen5.myportfolio.com/! And I'm pretty sure as you all know now, I have also made a Twitter account to post my art, so if anyone is interested in checking it out, https://twitter.com/ErnaloreProf is the link.

If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is https://discord.gg/3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules.

Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!

- Ernalore