"Subaru? Subaru!" His vision unblurs as he hears Emilia's voice. "Huh?" Subaru asks. "Is it okay if we stay at motel for the night?" Subaru remembers the events of his previous loop as his stomach turns. "I have to change this outcome!" He thinks to himself. Subaru shakes his head. "No. I have a bad feeling something will happen back at the mansion; we have to get back and evacuate the villagers and Beatrice now." Ram looks at Subaru with concern. "What makes you think that?"
"I have a feeling The Witch Cult will arrive soon, and I want to make sure nobody is harmed."
Ram replies. "I suppose I have no choice then." Subaru thinks to himself. "Wow, she's been complying a lot..."
Subaru runs over to otto, who is sleeping soundly in the carriage. Subaru knocks loudly as Otto jumps up and screams. "O-oh, it's just you Mr. Natsuki" Subaru explains to Otto that they needed to evacuate the villagers and everyone back at the mansion to safety in order to avoid a witch cult attack. "I'll pay you extra!" Subaru smiles. "Ah- alright then Mr. Natsuki!" Rounding up the three, they hop inside the carriage as Otto starts to drive away from the capital. "We should get to the village around the afternoon Mr. Natsuki!" Otto turns to say. "Thanks again Otto!" Subaru smiled and gave a thumbs up. Otto smirks. "As long as I get to sell my oil then I'm fine taking you guys there!". Ram tugs on Subaru's sleeve. "What made you feel like The Witches Cult would attack Lord Roswaal's mansion?"
"Since Emilia was announced as a candidate, I've just had a bad feeling about this."
"I heard The Witch's Cult will go after silver-haired half elves, so I suppose you do have a good point." Ram replies. She yawns and grabs the blanket from Subaru's luggage. She gets close to him, pulling the blanket over the two as Ram leans against Subaru to get some rest. Subaru looks down at her with a worrisome face. He strokes his hair. "I don't want to lose you again!" He thinks to himself. Noticing Emilia made herself comfortable in a resting spot, Subaru makes himself comfortable with the maid as he drifts to sleep as well. Otto looks back at them. "Ugh! Everyone gets sleep but me! Life is so unfair!"
With the sun glazing through the light blue sky, Subaru awakens to Otto shaking him. "We have arrived Mr. Natsuki!" He looks at him and smiles. He gets up and pays Otto the bag of coins he promised. Hopping out of the carriage, the two girls lay asleep still. Subaru asks Otto to help him round up everyone in the village. Soon enough, everyone was around the water fountain where Subaru stood. "Hello everyone! Sorry to get straight to the point but we need to evacuate all of you to somewhere safe. We have a great suspicion that some people calling themselves The Witch's Cult plan to attack here soon and we want to make sure nobody gets hurt." Worrisome voices start arising through the crowd of villagers. "I knew something like this would happen! It's all because of that silver-haired half elf in the mansion!" A voice from the crowd calls. Subaru responds. "I know, but we need to evacuate you all as soon as possible to make sure nobody gets hurt or killed." The villagers all speak among themselves until one speaks up. "Let's hurry then!"
Subaru runs over to Otto. "Otto, we're going to need way more carriages than this, do you have any buddies that could lend transportation along with the villagers' carriages?" Otto shouts back from a distance. "I have some people!" Otto informs the villagers that took care of the carriages to round some up. Grabbing his friends from the village, they prepare the carriages and start lining them up along the pathway, Ottos being the leading carriage.
Subaru stands around, watching them round up the carriages as Ram approaches Subaru from behind. Ram hugs Subaru from behind as his skeleton jumped out of his body. "Jeez, it's just me. Stupid Barusu." Subaru sighs in relief as he says, "Sorry, I'm a little on edge, and good morning Ram" he smiles at her. Ram makes a pouty face ash she grabs his hand and brings him over to the carriage. "What is it?" Subaru asks as Ram goes inside of the carriage and comes out, revealing the cloak. "I bought this for you at the capital while you were making arrangements with Otto.." Subaru looked down at the black and orange coat with a pained expression on his face. He grabs it and clenches it tight to his body. With tears welling up in his eyes, he looks at Ram. "Thank you..." Subaru had flashbacks of Ram happily looking at Subaru wearing the cloak. She must have thought it looked good on him. Ram sees his reaction and asks. "What's wrong Barusu? It's just a stupid cloak." Subaru's tears escape his eyes as he embraces her. Ram being confused, didnt stop Subaru from doing this. Subaru pulls away as he puts on the cloak, pulling the hood above his head. "I have to go get Beako out of the mansion..." Subaru says. Ram nods. "Don't aggravate her this time, Barusu." Subaru runs towards the path to the mansion. Looking at the sky, very dark and stormy clouds linger above the mansion. "Its going to be rainy today huh?"
Arriving at the mansion, Subaru chooses the random door his gut told him to go with, and unsurprisingly he ends up at the forbidden library. "Yo, Beako. I need you to leave here." Subaru scratches his cheek, expecting a question as a response. "And why should I do that, I suppose?" Subaru rolls his eyes. "The Witch Cult is coming, and I don't want you killed." Beatrice squints her eyes. "And how do you know, I suppose?!" Subaru's eyes widen, catching himself with his own mistake. He backs himself up, "I don't know for certain so it's just a gut feeling."
"I am more than capable of protecting myself I suppose! However, our contract must have me come with you." Beatrice says in response. Subaru leads her out of the library. "Let's go then, I suppose!" He mocks Beatrice as she pouts saying "hm!" In response.
Arriving back at the village after getting a good night's sleep, Otto waves from the group of carriages that are fashionably lined up. "Mr. Natsuki! You're back! I've gotten more carriages which should be able to carry everyone, let's go!" Subaru takes a deep breath. "Alright everyone! It's time!" The wind gets heavy as Subaru pulls his hood down, letting the wind blow on his hair. The group of villagers look up at the dark clouds surrounding them above. "Everyone board onto the carriages!" Subaru holds his fist up as the villagers quickly enter the carriages in groups. Subaru signals Ram and Beatrice to come with them as they board Otto's carriage. Emilia yawns, awakening. "Subaru? What's going on?" Subaru looked at her in disbelief. "You just woke up?!" Otto boards onto the carriage, looking at Subaru to announce their depart. "I'll explain it to you later, Mili, but for now, good morning" Subaru stands at the top step of the back of the Carriage. Putting up his fist again, Subaru announces loudly to the villagers. "We are making our departure! Carriage drivers! Ready up!" Subaru climbs back into the carriage as Otto nods at Subaru with a smirk. "I just hope we won't meet the cult on our way out of here..." Subaru thinks to himself. Otto whips the land dragon to drive forward into the dark, cloudy day.
Ram peeks out of the carriage upon the couple of seconds they started departing. Ram looks over at Subaru. "Barusu, the villagers seem uneasy about leaving." Subaru cheerfully says "Hey, don't worry! If the worst happens Beako over here will keep us safe!" Beatrice looks over at Subaru and pouts. "And why should I do that I suppose?" The 4 talk amongst themselves for a while. Otto looks back at Subaru saying "We are out of the Mathers domain!" After about 20 minutes of riding in the carriage, Subaru is kicking back, relaxing on Ram's lap. "Finally, we made it away!" He thinks to himself. Ram looks down at Subaru. "Barusu, you look cute in that cloak I bought you!" Ram says, putting the emphasis on 'I'. Subaru looks at her with a mad look on his face, all the while blushing. "If you like the cloak so much how about you marry it?" Everyone hears thunder in the distance. "Make sure you guys take cover in there!" Otto looks back at Subaru. He nods in response. Subaru peeks out of the back of the carriage, admiring the dark sky. "I always loved stormy days" Subaru thinks to himself. Suddenly, they get engulfed in white fog. Subaru's nerves kick back in as his eyes widen. "Huh? What's happening?!"
"This isn't good. Barusu, get down!" Ram was looking out of the carriage through the provided windows with a stern look on her face. Subaru looks over at Ram. "Huh?" Beatrice gets up with no sign of fear or concern on her face. "It seems that the White Whale is here, I suppose." Subaru asks, "The White Whale?"
"It's one of the three great mabeasts created by the witch. Now isn't the time to be talking though I suppose."
"This isn't good. Beako, think you could hold it off?"
Beatrice scoffs. "Absolutely not, I suppose! That thing killed the previous Master Swordsman like it was nothing!" Subaru looks up at the fog in disbelief. He sweats as he feels the fog get increasingly denser and more humid. "Damn, I can't see anything. "Villagers? Are you okay?!" His call comes to no response. He pulls out his phone and turns on the flashlight, pointing it from behind the carriage. Suddenly, he sees a massive eye. With a dark yellow iris, and a pitch-black pupil, it looks down at Subaru, shrinking to focus its vision on him. "Th- THE WHITE-"
He was interrupted by Ram shouting. "Al Fura!" unleashing a devastating gust of wind that seemingly pushes the White Whale back, giving them a few seconds to get ahead of it. "Barusu, stay down! We've lost our Divine Protection of Wind Break!"
"Divine Protection of Wind Break?"
"It's a Divine Protection that allows land dragons to bypass the effects of wind! But what's the point of talking about it now when it's no use!"
"So that's why the carriage started jumping up and down suddenly..." Subaru says to himself. He hears carriages behind him. He peeks up, as he can see carriages in the fog. Hearing a deep roar, fog was blasted toward the carriages behind them. "Huh? Where did the other carriages go?" Ram responds. "They must have fled." Subaru puts his face into his hand in stress. "Why did this have to happen now?!" Ram responds. "That doesn't matter. It's here, and we have to deal with it." Beatrice peeks out of the back of the carriage and sends a round of ice shards made of mana to the whale. The whale tracked back, giving them a few seconds to get ahead of it. However, they are no match for the speed of the monster. Ram turns to Subaru once again. "Barusu, I don't think we will be able to outrun it!"
"Just when things were going good...." Subaru thought to himself. Subaru checks his cellphone and sees that the time is 22:42. He thinks that this may come of some use eventually so he tries to remember it as hard as he can. "2242, 2242, 2242" he repeats to himself as Ram interrupts. "Barusu, what's that strange device?" Subaru quickly responds, "It's a bit of future technology called a cellphone." Beatrice points at it. "That's a very strange device I suppose." Subaru yells back at them. "Nows not the time to talk about this!" Subaru peeks out of the back of the carrige again, and sees the whale tracking behind them, catching up to them at a disturbing and alarming pace. Subaru looks down in defeat. "No.. I've failed.." Subaru looks back at Ram, who gives him a worried look. Subaru quickly runs over to her and holds her close to his face. She blushes. "Ram... even if this infinite loop brings me much pain... I promise... I WILL SAVE YOU!" Ram looks at him nervously confused. He doesn't care anymore, as he pulls in to kiss her. Their lips make contact as Ram's eyes widen. The white whale finally catches up to the carrige as white fog overtakes everyone. Subaru sees Ram's widened eyes as his vision faded to white. "I promise..."
"Is it fine if we stay at a motel for the night?"
Subaru stands there in a dazed state. He looks up at Emilia thinking for a little. "Subaru are you okay?"
"What can I do to make this outcome change? Think back... think back!" Subaru remembers Reinhard's and Julius' faces, as Subaru feels a wake of hope. "Can we go to the guard station actually? I have to talk to Julius or Reinhard about something." Subaru tells Emilia. Ram looks back at Subaru "What for?" Subaru sighs, having heard that too many times. "Don't worry about it." Emilia thinks for a minute as she says, "I guess we can go there then."
They head to the guard station with Otto's assistance. With the relievingly short ride, Subaru hops off of the carrige. "Thanks for all your help Otto!" Otto waves back at him with a smile. "No problem! If I get to sell my oil I bought out of season, I see this as a win!"
"Again, hah" Subaru thought to himself.
They arrive at the guard station and Subaru asks one of the people guarding the place if he can speak to Julius. The person agreed to Subarus request, seeing it was urgent. Julius approaches the group as he asks. "What did you need me for, Mister Natsuki?" Subaru bows down to him as Subaru starts. "I need your help! In 2 days, the Witch Cult will attack Roswaal's domain, and I need a lot of people to help stop that!" He sweats a little, knowing the response he was about to receive. "The Witch Cult you say? How exactly do you know that they will attack then?"
"I got an anonymous tip from someone. I can't verify if it's authentic, but I have to take this seriously. Also, I have a device that tells me when and where the White Whale will next appear. It seems that next time is tomorrow at 22:42" Julius' expression turns stern. "We will need to get far more people if we want to take on the White Whale." Subaru responds. "I know, but what about Reinhard? I heard he had incredible strength."
"Unfortunately, Reinhard is out for business purposes for a while. He did not specify when he would return."
"Do you think you could get enough people to take on that beast?"
"I will certainly try to. Thank you for the information." Julius smiles. Subaru felt relieved. He was able to get some of the strongest people in the country to help fend off this white whale. "By the way, where are you located so I can contact you when or if I am able to get some help?" Julius asks Subaru. "I'm not entirely sure if I should go back to Roswaal's mansion or stay in a motel." Julius nods. "I believe you should stay somewhere close, try doing the motel so I can contact you with any updates." Subaru nods with a determined look in his face "Alright!"
Subaru turn to Ram and Emilia as Julius walked away. "Good news! I think we've gotten the help of Julius and he's planning to get far more people to help fight this cult." Emilia says cheerfully, "That's good to hear! Should we go to a motel for the night?" Subaru nods. "Let's do it." With that, the three head to the motel they originally stayed at in Subaru's previous loops. Ram and Subaru have a chat for a while until they hear a knock on the door. "Huh?". Hearing a voice from behind the door speak. "It's Julius. I would like to update you!" Subaru opens the door and lets Julius inside and sit at the small table in the motel. Ram bows down as she says "I'll prepare some tea" Julius responds happily. "I love some late-night tea!"
After taking a couple sips of their tea, Julius starts. "I've managed to get the help of several other royal guards and the iron fang. We will attack at 22:42 tomorrow you said?" Subaru looks at him. "The iron fang?" Julius starts. "The iron fang is the mercenary team of the Hoshin company."
"I see. Hopefully we can knock out that beast and the Witch's Cult!"
"I hope so too."
Finishing up their tea, Julius gets up. "Alright Mr. Subaru Natsuki, I'll be off to prepare for the fight. Thanks to you, we might be able to defeat the white whale! Get some rest my friend." Julius says with a smirk. Subaru looks back at him with a determined look on his face once again. "Alright!" Julius exits the room. Subaru changes to his nightwear in the bathroom as he steps into bed. "Goodnight Ram!" Subaru says as he faces the wall. Subaru couldn't get an inch of sleep however. "Damn it... I'm getting that feeling of being a kid the day before a field trip" He says to himself, complaining. "May Ram assist you with that?" Ram says, climbing into Subarus bed. She holds him and strokes his hair. "Perfect" Subaru relaxes and passes out quickly.
Subaru awakens the next morning to a knocking at the door. He groggily wakes up. Opening the door, an old man with a formal uniform appears behind the door. "Hello, are you Mr. Subaru Natsuki?"
To be Continued