Chapter Text
Morning, two days after arrival.
Subaru finished dressing himself. He and Satella have been resting in the inn in Kararagi for two days now. They need to make a move to Pleiades watchtower as soon as possible to reclaim the watchtower for their own use and not in the hands of the witch cultists.
Wearing his sunglasses and his cloak, he grabbed his wallet and goes outside and explores Kararagi to buy supplies for him and Satella.
He walked around for a while. He noticed that while the street was still busy as usual, there’s now a permanent sense of dread permeating from the townspeople. Whispers of the cult’s growing influence is a common occurrence nowadays. He also heard that Hoshin company is now bankrupt, due to the ‘Day of Despair’ incident.
Subaru didn’t need to think hard for the reason: Her knight’s involvement pretty much caused her reputation to plummet, and with Pandora’s involvement, the whole incident became a well-known tragedy to everyone. Combining both and they pretty much ruined her life, forcing her, along with her camp, to disappear from the public’s eye.
He sees that most of the shops are now selling weapons of any kind, likely because of the increasing demand and getting attacked by bandits or cultists became a much more common occurrence in this time.
Subaru didn’t need those things since it would be a burden to carry along and he was pretty sure those weapons are pretty much useless in the long run due to their quality. He, along with Satella, decided that buying food and tools are more important in their journey to the watchtower.
While Satella can use her power to quickly travel, she was not in full strength due to her constant usage of erecting a barrier to prevent Pandora from kidnapping him during his years on earth and even then, it will certainly attract wrong kinds of people.
They decided to move city to city to avoid drawing suspicion. And when in the desert, where the watchtower can be seen, then Satella can teleport them to the watchtower since many Witchbeasts is now repopulated, according to Satella, which prevents anyone from following them.
Back to the present, Subaru is still searching for any shop that sells supplies. His eyes then spotted a certain shop in the distance, he went there and noticed the nameplate: The Hero’s Respite.
‘Quite a name there.’ Subaru noted, ‘Considering the current world, the name itself could be in honor of someone or an invitation for a death sentence.’
He then went into the shop.
“Coming!” A voice shouted from the counter, revealing…
“Suzuki-san!? I never thought to meet you again this fast!” It’s none other than Petra Leyte, now grown up, who greeted him.
“I just need to buy some supplies before leaving Kararagi.” Subaru stated.
“Already?” Petra asks, “You’re leaving now?”
“Yeah, my destination is quite far from here and it was quite urgent.” He replied, “I need some tools and food—”
“Okay!” Petra goes off immediately, without Subaru’s input.
“……” Subaru just stayed there, speechless.
He decided to just walk around the shop. He noticed that the items are quite abundant in stock. In fact, he thinks that he’s the first customer in a long time, considering the quality of the product on the shelves.
Petra then returned with a lot of supplies both in food and tools, “Here you go! All of the highest quality supplies this shop has to offer!” She smiled.
“Petra-san, you don’t need to—” Subaru tried to speak but was interrupted by Petra.
“And all of them are FREE! Consider it a gift for saving my life, Suzuki-san.” Petra continued.
He remembered that. Before entering Kararagi, he stumbled upon Petra who was getting attacked by a group of bandits and fended them off. She was apparently paying respect for him at his grave (or a makeshift one) at the time.
“Petra-san, I knew you wanted to repay me for saving your life. But is your shop going to be fine?” Subaru asked.
At the mention of her shop, her smile disappeared, replaced with sadness, “I…I intended to close the shop in near future.”
“Why?” Subaru asked, her shop is one of the few shops that sells supplies, surely people will swarm to her shop for that.
“It's just that…everyone values weapons more than supplies and…” Petra wanted to say something but her mouth became dry all of the sudden, she looked at a certain item on the shelf.
It was a replica of his iconic tracksuit. Subaru assumes that it was handmade by Petra herself as a tragic keepsake.
Petra notices this and asks, “Suzuki-san…can I talk to you for a minute? I promise it won’t take long. Just need to vent something.”
Subaru paused and think, 'I knew I'm on a time limit, but Petra seems to need someone on her side for this moment. Hmm…"
After some consideration, Subaru decided to be her listener, ”Go ahead. I’m all ears.” Subaru replied.
Petra then starts asking, ”Suzuki-san, do you know whose tracksuit that you are seeing right now belongs to?”
“I know, it’s from a man named Natsuki Subaru, isn’t it?” He replied.
“Yes.” She then continued, “He was one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. I only knew that he appeared out of nowhere yet achieved something not even the Sword Saint can do. And yet…” Tears started to fall from her eyes, “He died, not by the cult but the one he called friends!”
She then broke down, sobbing, “He didn’t deserve any of this! He should be alive, not—not forgotten by everyone and treated like a cultist! It’s not fair!!”
Subaru didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to reopen his old scar this soon. But for Petra’s sake, he needed to.
“And I—I forgot him. The boy-no, the man that I loved died with me blissfully unaware of it, how cruel is that!?” She tearfully rambles on.
‘Wait, Petra has a crush on me?’ Subaru realized, his eyes widened for a sec, ‘This—This is getting awkward, considering my age now.’
“And now…the whole world’s gone to hell. I wanted to help but it went nowhere. What—What should I do?” She asks Subaru.
'It's just like before…' Subaru remembered the time where she tried to apologizes for her initial mistrust of him, and now she was asking his advice. He decided to answer, “I believe you should continue to do what you are doing, Petra-san.”
He then kneels down to Petra’s height, “From what I’ve heard of Natsuki Subaru. His greatest quality is his strategic mind and luck. But to me, I think his determination is his best trait.”
“H-Huh?” Petra asks.
“Think about it. He faced many opponents far more powerful than him, yet he overcame them all. While his mind is a factor, his will is what pushed him to achieve his goal.” Subaru paused for a while then continued, a small smile appeared on his face, “Do what you think is best to help them, everyone has their own needs after all. Don’t be discouraged so easily.”
Petra slowly stopped crying, she knew that Subaru wouldn’t give up this easily. How would he feel if he saw her right now?
“You’re right.” Petra wipes off her tears, “He would encourage me to continue helping other people. If I can help at least one person, that’s enough for me.”
Petra then got up, “Thank you, Suzuki-san, for listening to my rant. By the way…” She paused, “Do you know Subaru-sama personally? Or are you related to him in any way?” Petra asked Subaru.
Petra didn’t want to doubt her savior, but his clothes reminded her of Subaru so much it hurt. She needed to know right here, right now.
“No.” Subaru quickly replied, too quickly, “I’m not related to Natsuki Subaru in any way.”
Petra didn't fully believe his word. But from his tone, he probably has his own reason for it so she didn’t press further.
“Okay…” Petra is satisfied with his answer…for now.
“Anyway, I will take some of the supplies then.” Subaru packed all of the supplies in his bag, “Thank you for helping me.”
“No problem, Suzuki-san! Please come next time!” Petra replied and waved goodbye to Subaru.
After Subaru left, Petra left in her own thoughts, ‘Suzuki-san definitely has some connection with Subaru-sama! In fact, the entire time talking with him feels like I'm talking to Subaru-sama himself!’ She slowly smiles and gets back to her work with renewed vigor.
Remembrance of the Dragon: A Grown-Up Maid - END
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