Chapter Text
“Yeah, I slept well last night. I am feeling in top top shape, Emilia-tan” said in a cheery manner, which is incredible because if he hadn’t watched him all night, he would have believed this entire fake mask.
“I really don’t understand what you say but you need to sleep properly, it’s not good to follow Otto-kun,” said the half-elf candidate to her knight in response.
“Huh, did anyone call me?”
“Yeah, they were talkin’ about how stupid you look while tryin’ not to use the pancakes as pillows.” their military officer said.
‘He is one of the people that I should also not underestimate besides the target, after all he was one of the perpetrators for killing the famous bowel hunter, and any interference from him could ruin my mission, though not that I cannot kill him anytime’
“Ram really should be more praised for being able to bear such unprofessional disgusting people in the mansion” The red-haired maid sighed and snorted in a disdainful manner at the knight and minister of internal affairs while continuing to serve the table, along with the maids.
“You don’t need to be this cruel nee-sama and it’s not Subaru-sama and Otto-sama's problem if they looked that pathetic in the morning” the small maid with orange hair said while trying in a poor attempt to defend her… beloved?
“Ahhhh, Petra, when you say it like that you did more damage to my maiden heart than help” said the black-haired knight in a dramatic pose and with a high voice full of energy while putting his hand on his heart.
“Quit the drama thing, you make me look embarrassed even though you're the one that's doing that, I suppose”
‘She is also one of the people who form a potential danger to my mission since she didn’t stay separated from her contractor very often, hell, she even tried to enter the bathroom with him sometimes’
“Ahhhhhh even you, Beako?! I might spank you if you keep teasing me like that!”
“Huhhh w-wha-what are you talking about, stop treating me like a kid when I am the one who should punish you when you make a mistake, I suppose” shouted with a full red face and a glare at him.
‘Maybe she is not that much of a danger after all…’
“Anyway Natsuki you don’t forget about our meeting with the noble in the Margrave Domain two days from now”
“I know I know, I don’t have amnesia to forget it.…. at least not yet…..but do we really need to accept every invitation from these nobles? I mean I thought nobles hate me”
“Yes, you should. It’s our job as rulers of the domain to looooook to our people.” said the margrave with an irritating smile and tone in the round table in front of Subaru.
‘His tone is really irritating’ Fydor's eyebrows twitched due to the tone.
“I really hate that tone” his target muttered before continuing “You're right but isn’t it in the first place your job this kind of shit ?”
“I hate to take his side, Natsuki-san, but he is right here,” said Otto while he regained some of his composure and energy after Garfiel's teasing.
“Hoooow cruel~” said Roswaal without gaining any more attention to him besides the smug smile of Petra.
“What do you mean, isn’t Captain a knight? My amazin’ self didn’t deny that my captain is capable of doing everythin’ but normally this type of meetin’ shouldn’t concern him as a knight?” said Garfiel while pausing from the savage devouring of his food which caused a glare from his demi-human sister —
‘Did he eat a part of his dish?’
“Normally this type of political meeting should be attended by me and Emilia sama due to the royal selection matters or the margrave due to the obvious reason that it’s his domain, but the noble was one of the people who really admire you and he has gained a lot of money after you slayed the white whale which caused the trading routes to become easier and safer and due to that his trading profit increased to a high level……and not to mention you need to fix some of your reputations in the nobles' world after the incident you caused in the Royale castle…” he sighed and took a deep breath after the long talk.
“Hu-Huh I kinda understand it now, you could just stop at the first reason you don’t have to mention the last part” said with a wry smile.
‘He really hates nobles huh’ He thought while recalling the information about his socially suicidal scandalous accident in the royal castle.
The breakfast then continued silently, the maids and servants of their new mansion continued to enter and leave the hall room, which had a count of 72, which is much higher than the number of their previous servants in the burned mansion.
‘I already counted all the maids and servants and observed them thoroughly after I checked the main members of the camp, and I didn’t find much valuable information regarding him other than the usual banter and some maids’ attempts to flirt with him….’
Fydor continued his observation at the sight that was happening at the start of the morning; it was his 32nd day when he first started his mission, and he kinda understood the routine of this famous black-haired knight that came out of nowhere and killed 2 great mabeasts and a monste- an archbishop and one of his ‘colleagues’ in one week.
And cause a lot of trouble for ‘Mom’ plans.
He really understood his personality during the few days he observed him. Maybe even better than most of the residents of this big mansion.
And he could easily say that his understanding of him rivaled that of the contracted spirit that spent most of its time by his side, or that’s what he thought at least.
The weird routine that he follows contains waking before the sun rises, not even the maids of the mansion were awake at this time, and it’s not like he sleeps early so that’s why he wakes early.
He also always brushes off questions about waking up early with ‘The early bird catches the worm’, and responds if they insist that it’s just his way of sleeping, or not sleeping maybe? But in truth, he just sleeps late at night, if he even sleeps, it’s probably out of caution.
‘I expected nothing less than this, even in his comfort zone where he should sleep without any danger he is still cautious…’
But it’s not that weird at least for Fyodor who is capable of not sleeping for a week and still functioning properly with a minimal amount of sleep.
It’s just weird that unlike the knight his lack of sleep has a purpose, which is to do his missions like what he does now, but he couldn’t really make him understand what it is that makes him wake at night.
‘Cautious? Maybe but then why does he sometimes sleep? Does he not sleep unless certain conditions are present?’
At first, he thought that it was his instincts that were warning him that someone was watching him while he slept ‘which is me’ and that made him awake but he quickly brushed it off because Fydor’s Divine Protection of Ambush made his presence completely hidden not even the Sword Saint would catch him, or at least would have some trouble doing it.
So, Fydor studied his environment and every small change from the temperature to the wind and even his tossing and turning in his sleep.
He didn’t really reach a decisive conclusion to that enigma but he at least understood some conditions that he wouldn’t sleep under, like he didn’t sleep too much or never on cold nights, and he kinda understood a pattern of his instincts by just studying him sleeping.
Anyway, he closed his notebook while writing something he learned this morning from the exchange with the maid about something like ‘the knight having some fetish(a word he learned from the knight)on being humiliated by a maid.’
‘It kinda explains his loyalty or love for his half-elf mistress…’
One may think it’s a bit aggravating to write his own tendencies but Fydor won’t think of something like this.
That knight is a monster and he needs to know what makes him a monster so he can do his mission, which is a blessing that contains a rare opportunity.
An opportunity that will enable him to reach his goal or at least put him one step ahead.
He knows that strong people should have a monstrous nature, it’s a synchronized thing you can’t be strong unless you are inhuman, if you have a human nature then you are simply not strong. He knows that from experience from his ‘mom’….
‘I know that you’re hiding something, it’s just a matter of time to discover it. Even if you put on that mask of cheerfulness and weirdness, it won’t work on me, I have already faced a monster and I know that to be able to kill one you need to become one of them, so it’s obvious what you are’
‘Even if others don’t see it, I see it, Natsuki Subaru’
“And I will not fail at my task, not at this opportunity that I have been impatiently waiting for, I will definitely succeed in my mission…..”
“I will definitely kill you Natsuki Subaru”
He muttered his last words with venom and killing intent so high that the birds of the tree, where the long black-haired assassin was watching his target with sharp eyes, escaped unnaturally.
After their routine breakfast, every other resident of the mansion went to do their respective jobs.
By the way, he had thoroughly studied every person in the mansion every maid, every servant, and even their rooms, so as not to fail his mission.
His rare shadow jutsu and shinobi techniques, which allowed him to bind with shadows and hide within them, along with his divine protection of ambush, made it possible for him to search and observe the whole mansion easily, which he did except for his target room which he didn’t enter.
He wasn’t that reckless to take that risk of being exposed even with his disguise skills that compete with the best shinobi skills in the world, and even surpassing it in some aspects, he knew, saw and heard about his famous intuition, and even ‘mom’ considers him a threat, so he was satisfied with observing his room from the outside, not that he was scared that he didn’t even search his room when it was empty of him, it was just a precaution measure….
Anyway, the half-elf left to study her Royal selections matters, which he checked whether they contained any information about his mission but didn’t find any, other than the cotton bear that looked like the beast of the end that her knight made, while looking disgusted with a weird expression that he didn't understand…
The weird clown master of the mansion left for his office, where he also watched and searched the place and found interesting things in it, but it wasn’t his interest at the moment to do anything with this information and the things he found, so he left it at the back of his mind because it didn’t help him with his mind.
As for the maids, he didn’t find anything useful other than romance and explicit novels, and other kinds of nonsense that didn’t help him.
But he found an interesting thing, the blue-haired maid, who was known to everyone how important she is to him, or at least that's what he was showing to everyone, he observed his target talking to her every night during his information gathering, he thought of taking advantage of her or using her as some kind of hostage.
But those kinds of things only worked with his regular and normal targets, not someone who killed an archbishop and hindered ‘mom’ plans FOR GOD'S SAKE, he is an anomaly he needs to keep reminding himself of that fact.
He knows that even the most ruthless and monstrous people have an interest in humans and relationships but unlike him and other weak people, their point of view on these relationships is weird and unnatural. They handle the people around them as if they were some kind of property like what ‘mom’ is doing with him, so he will likely kill him and her if he thought of doing something stupid like taking her hostage.
Anyway speaking of the devil here he is again with his ‘routine’…
“I mean sure Terra, it is nice to chat with you all and have to clean the dishes behind the savage Garfiel, like hell how does someone eat some part of the plate while eating, but it would be nicer if some kind of dishwasher existed.” said while washing the plates along with the maids of the mansion in the kitchen.
‘He really ate some part of that dish…’
“Subaru sama its really would be fantastic, but what's more astonishing is your imagination it’s full of fantasy things to be able to make such a stupid thought into words” said Petra with stars in her eyes while standing beside him and the other maid named Terra, which caused a wry smile from him.
“It’s even more absurd than fantasy, how you even came up with the idea about something called a ‘machine’ that washes dishes instead of us, but I gotta admit you have some imagination, Subaru-sama; but you use it in the wrong place you should maybe use it in writing” said the the medium tall brown hair Demi human named Terra.
“Writing huh I wrote some romance fanfic back home when I had a lot of time…” he muttered which made Fydor re-question his origin and the meaning of ‘fanfic’.
“R-R-Romance?” muttered shockingly one of the maids, who had orange tall hair with freckles on her face, who was eavesdropping in the background while brushing the ground on their conversation, ‘what was her name again’—
“Huh did you say anything, Annie?”
“Hu-huh n-nothing” She blushes and then goes away while almost stumbling on the ground, gaining a smirk from Terra and an irritated face from Petra.
“Anyway, it’s kinda harsh thing to say but I mean you have a point, it will really helps us but it’s easier said than make, this machine will absolutely be hard to make, so ladies let’s forget it for now and focus on washing the Battle remnants that garfiel caused in the plates” said in more renown cheerfulness and energy which cause the two maids and the others at the kitchen to giggle at his antics.
Fydor began to understand his reason to do this ‘routine ’, he really needs to know and survey his surroundings and he is really good at it even better than Fydor though he hates to admit it, so that’s why he does the servant's chord despite being a knight, ‘which is a smart thing to do I gotta admit.’
But despite his goodness at surveying his surroundings he seems to hate being around people a lot? Or maybe get tired? He really didn’t know, though not that it causes a problem, this man is really hard to understand.
He then followed him. After an hour, he found him alone in the corridor, after he had left the kitchen, carrying out his corridor cleaning duty assigned by the blonde demi-human head maid, Frederica.
He understands and learns about her pattern of splitting jobs and tasks in the mansion. So, he already knows that his target job today will be alone in this corridor brushing the dirt on the walls and ground and furniture and cleaning the glass.
He knows that also his target is not stupid or oblivious about his surroundings like he looks and he already also memorized and understood Frederica's pattern——-
“Huhhhhh, finally some space ” his target sighs while muttering this, letting his mask crack a bit and showing a bit of his tiredness? or his true form?.
He continues brushing the ground with a silent and distorted expression for like 30 minutes.
Then something strange happened he stood without moving and had an unreadable expression on his face.
Even with his secret and inhuman training he had in his vanished village, Even with the skills he had accumulated in his missions, even with his sharpened instincts that he forcibly continued to rely on to survive his ‘mom’ whims by reading her body language and face expression to try and not upset her, he couldn’t read or understand what happens in his mind in these times he detached from reality.
All he could do was continue to watch him in silence and fear trying as much as he could to not let his presence show.
If you breathe even a bit more than you should, you will die
If your sweat shows, you will die
If your crazy heartbeat continued to rise, he will hear it and you will die.
All his instincts in these dammed moments continued to scream warnings and all he did was let the devil be with himself and not disturb him in these moments.
He quickly recalled all his memories from the start of the day to know if he did something wrong to make him angry or if he did some kind of mistake that let him know his presence?
‘Was my killing intent earlier this obvious???’
But unlike previous instances of this kind of freeze, this one lasted much longer, perhaps half an hour.
‘No, I am sure he didn’t realise it or else he could kill me at that moment’
‘Maybe because he didn’t sleep well tonight because it was a cold night’
When this type of situation occurs, he forms a kind of countermeasure to it by leaving him alone and going to check on other residents and collect information that actually makes him know every other resident very well to help him on his mission, not that he was trying to stay as far as possible from him because he was so scared,it was just to help him in his mission..
And because of that he became very knowledgeable about the residents, but of course not as knowledgeable as this terrifying creature who, unknown to him how, seemed to know and memorize every resident in the mansion,, including what made them happy or sad, truly a sickhead manipulator. He did it without even needing any of his shinobi skills or inhuman training.
‘Maybe I should go and check on Terra in the garden’ he was about to go before seeing him twitching and twisting.
‘SHIT SHIT SHIT I really should have left the moment he was tensing after he entered the corridor, ’ he cursed his recklessness he will die he will die’
‘Should I attack him now? If he already knows about my presence should I attack him?’
“Huuhhh,” he sighed, his expression still unreadable, and let his left hand push the vase over ‘unintentionally’.
It cracked and broke. He crouched down, picking up one of the fragments, and then——
“That will be enough,” he said, sticking it into his pocket. Then, without any expression, he took one of the fragments of the vase from under his fingernails. It started bleeding, and half of his index fingernail almost split.
He then took the nail and put it in his pocket, and began to leave the corridor after cleaning up the mess he had caused “unintentionally,” sighing as he thought, ‘Nee-sama is really going to rebuke me for this mess if I leave it.’
After confirming that he had left the corridor, Fydor’s heartbeat finally steadied, along with his breathing. He stopped thinking about the strange things he had said and done. In the end, only one thought remained in his mind—
‘He really hates nobles, huh…’