As Garfiel explained what the Sanctuary was to Emilia, Subaru thought about something.
There was one person missing, he hadn't noticed it due to the confrontation between Garfiel and Mamoru.
Subaru: Wait, where's Rem?!
Garfiel looked most surprised at Subaru's outburst.
Garfiel: Ha?! Rem is here?
Otto peaked his head out of the window between the carriage and the driver's seat.
Otto: Ah, sorry. I forgot to mention that Rem went out on her own to look for you.
Subaru: Wait, why didn't you mention this before?
Otto: I was just beat up five minutes ago! I obviously had other things on my mind!
Subaru sighed in relief as he looked out the window, looking at the people in the sanctuary.
They looked just as wary of them as the first time they got here, well not like anything would have somehow changed.
Once they arrived at the place Roswaal was resting at, Subaru noticed Ram talking to Rem who looked slightly worried about something.
Once Rem noticed Subaru in the carriage, she smiled slightly, although Subaru wasn't able to tell due to the distance between them.
Once they got close enough, Subaru got out of the carriage as he walked up to Rem and Ram.
Subaru: Yo! Rem-san, Nee-sama! Glad to see that you're doing okay.
Rem: I should be saying that to you, Subaru-kun. I was a little bit worried when you suddenly dissapeared.
While Rem looked relieved, Ram merely showed a irritated look on her face.
Ram: Of course Barusu can't help but make every women around him stressed out. It must be his disgusting fetish.
Subaru: What do you mean by that?! Do I really make women stressed out?!
While Subaru and Ram were talking like they usually would, Mamoru put his hand on his chin as he thought about something for a second.
Then he snapped his fingers as he finally figured something out.
That snap of his finger caught the attention of everyone around him.
He then pointed his finger at Ram as he said...
Mamoru: You're a woman.
There was a long akward silence after that as Mamoru looked calmly at Ram.
Ram then looked at Mamoru with a irritated look as she said...
Ram: Despite the fact that the two of you look nothing alike, it's easy to tell that you're his son judging by your sheer stupidity.
Despite Ram's words, Mamoru didn't falter, he actually smiled smugly as he spoke once again.
Mamoru: "Every woman" you say? That includes you. Does that mean that you were worried about Father?
Ram was silent for a second before using her iconic "Hah" as she dissmised Mamoru's words.
Ram: I merely said that since it would take far too much of my precious time to name every single woman that Barusu worried. Why would I be worried about a dog like Barasu?
Subaru:...Why a dog?
Subaru looked exhausted from this conversation as he decided to change the topic.
Subaru: Well, it doesn't matter anyway. Can we go see Roswaal now?
At his question, Ram raised her eyebrow in confusion.
Ram:...You're not worried about the evacuated villagers that came here before Sloth's attack?
Ah.
Subaru forgot to ask since he already knew that they were okay.
Subaru: W-Well, I figured that someone as great as you would be able to handle this.
Ram smiled smugly.
Ram: Heh, it appears that you're finally starting to learn your place. It's a good thing that you don't get cocky because you accidentally defeated Sloth.
At the last part of her sentance, Subaru noticed that Mamoru's eyes widen slightly as his body twitched a little.
This was a good indication that he should end this conversation before Mamoru does anything stupid.
Subaru: Guess we should go talk to Roswaal now...
Ram nodded as she lead them to where Roswaal was currently resting at. Ram and Rem entered the room first as they both stood at the end of the room.
Emilia and Subaru walked towards Roswaal's bed and Mamoru was leaning on a wall as he had his arms crossed.
Roswaal: Ah~ Emilia-sama, Subaru-kun, Mamoru-kun and Rem. It's soooo good to see you again~
Subaru: You're looking pretty rough there, what happened?
Of course, Subaru already knew what happened, but he had to play dumb for now.
Emilia: What could have hurt you so badly?
Roswaal: Hm~ Where do I begin...
Emilia: Um...Before that, what is this place? Ever since we got to this Sanctu- No....Ever since we made contact with the barrier i've had this anxious feeling in my chest....I've heard that it's called the sanctuary, but...
Roswaal smiled, but before he could say anything, someone interupted him.
Mamoru: It would be more logical to call this place the Witch's graveyard, no?
No one noticed it, but Rem's eyes slightly narrowed as she looked at Mamoru.
Roswaal smile widened as he said...
Roswaal: Yes~ The Witch of Greed, Echidna. Met her end here long ago, so in my mind it's worth calling a "Sanctuary" also, these lands have been overseen by the Mathers family for generations.
Emilia: So, that means that the Mathers family and the Witch of Gre-
Roswaal: Echidna.
Emilia: Eh?
Roswaal: Please use her name when you speak of her, calling her a Witch makes her sound evil, doesn't it? That's not veeery nice, is it?
If there was one thing Mamoru had to agree with Roswaal, it would be that statement.
Emilia: So um...The Mathers family and Echidna have been acquainted for a long time, and that's why you oversee this place.
Roswaal: That's right~ But "oversee" is a bit of an exaggeration.
.....
His sentance ended there.
That wasn't what was supposed to happen, he was supposed to go on about the barrier and so on.
Mamoru narrowed his eyes as there was something off about Roswaal this time...
Roswaal: Although, I consider it a bit more important to talk about a more..."interesting" topic, no?
Subaru also seemed to notice the change in behaviour from Roswaal.
Roswaal: Wouldn't you agree....
........
........
........
........
Roswaal: Witch's child?
Emilia flinched as she heard his words.
Rem's and Ram's eyes widen as they looked at Roswaal.
Subaru doesn't know how he should react to that.
And Mamoru....
Mamoru was calmly in the same position as before, not a single sign of a diffirent emotion on his face.
Emilia: H-Huh? Wha-
Roswaal: Ah~ It seems that there's a bit of a misunderstanding, I wasn't reffering to you, Emilia-sama.
Emilia looked more confused than ever as she looked at Roswaal, slightly worried.
Emilia: Eh? But who are you reffering to...?
Roswaal didn't answer as he simply locked eyes with Mamoru. Everyone looked in the same direction as Roswaal.
If Mamoru listened carefully, he would probably have been able to hear a quiet sound made by chains.
He boredly looked at Roswaal as he said...
Mamoru: That's quite an accusation you've got there, clown. You must have somekind of evidence to back it up, right?
For a moment, Roswaal and Mamoru stared at eachother, causing the tension in the room to skyrocket.
But then Roswaal relaxed as he put both of his arms up in surrender.
Roswaal: Well~ It is a simple little theory of mine~ Nothing concrete or anything.
Mamoru: Really? You sounded oddly confident when you said that, Witchcultist.
The moment he called Roswaal a Witchcultist, a spiked ball was sent flying straight for his head.
Mamoru rolled his eyes as he simply caught the spiked ball with one hand as if it was nothing.
To make sure that Rem didn't throw it again he grabbed the morningstar with both of his hands and crushed it. As if it wasn't even made of metal.
The moment everyone realized what happened, Emilia gasped in shocked as she saw Rem trying to kill Mamoru as if it was nothing.
While Subaru simply started sweating, what would happen now?
Mamoru boredly looked at Rem, she was glaring at him while Ram just looked surprised by her sister's actions.
Mamoru: You know, I'm not really sure why you thought that would work. It's almost insulting really.
Before anyone could say anything else, Garfiel burst in to the room.
Garfiel: What are ya morons talkin bout now, huh?!
Subaru: (Crap! He must have heard Roswaal call Mamoru the Witch's child...This is bad, really bad..)
No one answered for a few seconds, although all eyes were layed upon Roswaal and Mamoru.
Roswaal smiled at Garfiel as he said...
Roswaal: Nooothing to worry about, Garfiel-kun~ We simply had a small...argument~
Mamoru looked away annoyed as he started to walk towards the door.
Naturally, Garfiel stood infront of it, stopping Mamoru from leaving.
Garfiel: And where tha hell are ya going, ya little shit?!
Mamoru: Clearly all of us need to relax, so i'll be leaving now to cool off. Now move.
Garfiel: Tch- And if I don't do tha?
Mamoru was silent for a while, but then he looked Garfiel straight in the eye and calmly said...
Mamoru: Move, or be moved. And I advise you to pick the first option.
Garfiel glared at Mamoru before a large smirk appeared on his face as he got in a fighting stance.
Mamoru sighed before he put both of his hands on his own shoulders, confusing everyone around them.
Ram was about to say something, but before she could Garfiel and Mamoru switched places as Mamoru used his Authority of Envy to switch places with the blond haired demi-human.
Mamoru was now right infront of the open door and he simply sighed as he walked out while muttering something about Garfiel, but Subaru wasn't able to hear what.
Garfiel looked around, a confused look present on his face as he looked behind him and noticed that Mamoru was gone.
Garfiel: Oh, that little shi-
Ram: Garf!
Garfiel froze as he heard the commanding tone of Ram.
Ram: That's enough. Since you're here, you might as well explain to them about the house arrest.
Garfiel: But-
Garfiel tried to protest, but Ram's look quickly shut the young Demi-human up.
Subaru was still looking at the door as he thought about this whole interaction.
Roswaal simply had a grin on his face the entire time.
*later*
Mamoru sat on a tree stump as he looked at the sky deep in thought.
Mamoru: Witch's child, huh...So he knows then...There's the first change then...
Not like he was surprised by that result, the only point in time where nothing important changed was back in the loot house, after that there were constant changes in the timeline.
Roswaal knowing about him being a child of the Witch makes the events to come much more dangerous.
For all Mamoru knows Roswaal might switch his entire strategy up, although he doubts that result, it's alteast important enough to consider.
Frankly, Mamoru doesn't think changing his current strategy would be worth it. Roswaal follows the book of wisdom, so whatever changes came from him being alive are most likely minimal.
Maybe there will be more assassins?
Maybe the Black Serpent will come?
Well, he doubts the latter option, since the Black Serpent is uncontrollable.
Before Mamoru could fully decide on his next actions, he heard footsteps infront of him.
He looks back down from the sky and stares at the person infront of him.
Rem.
Great, as if he didn't need to deal with enough stuff now.
Rem: Why did Roswaal-sama call you the Witch's child?
Well, this question was to be expected, it was one hell of a thing to accuse someone of.
Mamoru boredly looked at Rem.
Mamoru: No idea.
Rem glared at Mamoru, she clearly didn't believe his words.
Rem: Are you saying that Roswaal-sama lied?!
Despite her raising her tone of voice, Mamoru didn't look the tiniest bit worried.
Mamoru: Do I think that a guy that looks like a sex offender is lying? Yes, yes I do.
Rem was about to say something, but she held her tounge as she walked back to the place where Roswaal was resting.
Honestly, to Mamoru it was a big surprise that she didn't attack him. Although that might be because he crushed her morningstar.
About 2100 words.
Meme: