In a lush green forest, a bright streak of blue and red could be seen speeding its way towards a town not far from Roswaal's mansion. This of course, was Arlam Village. After hearing that there was a nearby town not far from the mansion, Subaru wanted to go check it out, after all, he didn't like staying in one place for so long. He was just free spirited like that.
Zarestia, his contracted spirit decided to stay behind in his room. And of course, Subaru did think of inviting Rem to come with him since there was the possibility of her needing to go there to buy new groceries or something. But Emilia and Zarestia instantly denied it. They still didn't let their little stunt from earlier slide, even though Subaru told them many times that they wouldn't be stupid enough to try it again...or so he hoped.
Emilia especially was against his carefree attitude about the whole situation as he thought back to their conversation the day prior.
"Subaru...why did you forgive them so easily?"
"Huh? What do you mean Emilia-tan-?!"
Subaru tried playing dumb to the question but Emilia cut him off as she had a stern look on her face.
"You know very well what I mean! Rem and Ram...they tried to kill you! How...How can you not be wary of them and just be alright with them being around you?! Do you not have any regard for your own safety?! Is that it?!"
Emilia shouted as Subaru stared at her in shocked silence. This girl reminded him way too much of someone he used to know in his past lives.
"Emilia, that's not it...I figured it was the best option if I tried to get along with them. So that way, there wouldn't be any bad blood between me and them. And besides, they wouldn't be able to kill me if they tried. And Tia wouldn't let that happen either."
Subaru stated as Zarestia nodded at his words.
"But still, how can you just forgive them so easily?!"
"I didn't really forgive them, I'm tolerating them until they can actually earn my trust. Like I said Emilia, I have had many enemies in my past that tried to kill me, some became my friends while others didn't. I want to give them another chance to prove to me that they really regret their actions and actually want to be friends with me this time. If they do, they do. And if they don't, they don't. It's their life and choices, I'm not going to judge, nor will I really care."
Subaru stated as he thought back to Surge and Scourage. He even tried to befriend Metal at one point.
"The point is, I never let my guard down around them, if they do anything, then I won't hold back. I only gave them a warning, it's their choice is they don't heed it. Won't be my problem when you lose a few maids."
Subaru stated nonchalantly.
"I...I see..."
Emilia looked down, contemplating Subaru's words before looking at him again.
"J-Just please be safe! Promise me that at least!"
Subaru stared at her before he sighed.
"Alright...if that's what'll calm your nerves then fine."
Subaru wrapped his pinkie around Emilia's pinkie.
"I promise you, I will make sure to take care of myself more. I pinkie promise."
"Thank you Subaru."
Emilia smiled at him.
As Subaru recalled that memory, he couldn't help but smile a bit.
"I just hope Emilia can come to trust those two again. And besides, I have a village to get to, so let's kick it up a notch!"
Subaru wasn't running like he used to, he was using his air shoes as he was skating, and started boosting as it looked like he was hovering from the ground a bit. Bouncing off of trees to gain more momentum, Subaru charged out of an opening and landed in the opening of the village.
And he didn't fail on the landing either, he looked quite badass if anything. As he looked around, he realized that not that much people really lived here. The villagers looked at him with curious looks while some of the children hid behind their parents. Subaru noticed their apprehension and proceeded to act professional, after all, he is a G.U.N agent.
"Hey there! This is Arlam Village right?"
Subaru asked as one of the adults nodded their heads.
"Ah! Good, I'm in the right place! I mean no harm, I swear. My name is Natsuki Subaru, I'm the new guard hired by Roswaal L. Mathers, I just came here to get a look around the domain and all. So it's nice to meet you guys!"
Subaru stated as he smiled at the villagers. Some of the adults went up to him to greet him back. However, a little girl ran up to him. She had blue eyes and reddish, brown hair while wearing a red bow got the upper hand by approaching him first.
"Hey mister! It's nice to meet you! My name is Petra!"
"Petra huh? That's a pretty nice name kid."
Subaru stated as he patted her.
'This girl reminds me a bit of Cream.'
Subaru thought to himself as he looked at the rest of the kids.
"So...I take it that those boys glaring at me from the side are your friends huh?"
Meanwhile, at the mansion. It was already high noon, already lunchtime for the residents. And Subaru had not come back yet. Emilia had kept to herself, not talking to anyone but Puck and Zarestia, seeing how she was still annoyed at Rem and Ram for the shit they pulled.
So when the G.U.N Agent had yet to show himself, she couldn't help but worry if he was alright.
"He said he was going to the village, why would it take him so long to come back...?"
Emilia muttered to herself in particular.
Zarestia sat next to her with her arms crossed, after all, she knew her contractor was safe. He was probably fooling around with the village children.
"U-Um, Emilia-sama, Rem can go check on him if you want."
The blue maid suggested.
"I have to go to the village to restock the pantry anyways. A-And I swear, I won't do anything!"
Rem stated as she remembered Subaru's words and not to long ago, Zarestia's words as well. If Subaru wanted to, he would have already killed her by now, if he really meant any harm to the mansion, going off of what he displayed during breakfast the day prior, she couldn't help but sweat a bit from the memory. How could someone so carefree and serious at once like Subaru, be that powerful? Not to mention, he quite literally brushed off the Witch of Envy as if it was just another Tuesday for him.
She really couldn't tell if he was just overly confident or arrogant. Even if he could back it up.
'He's an odd man...but he's at least sincere in wanting to help others...'
The maid thought to herself as Emilia stared at her.
"I appreciate your concern...but I'm sure he-!"
"Why not give her a chance, Lia?"
The voice of Puck made his presence known as the feline manifested on her shoulder.
"Puck?"
"You did promise Subaru before he went out earlier that you would try to get along with them. Or at the very least, tolerate them. If Subaru can do it, then why can't you? But then again, it is your decision."
The cat stated as the half-elf stayed silent before sighing.
"You're right. I did promise, after all...Rem, go check on Subaru. And please give him a piece of my mind for being late for lunch."
"U-Understood Emilia-Sama!"
Rem seemed relieved at Emilia's proposal. Who knows, she might actually get the chance to apologize, after all, it was a new opportunity to make amends.
Later on, as Rem made her way towards the village. Her shopping list in hand, she noticed in the distance, a commotion.
"1, 2, and...victory!"
"Victory!"
A bunch of the village children and the older villagers were doing the exact same weird motions that Subaru was doing. As they finished, some looked really sweaty, but visibly relaxed. They were thanking Subaru, an old woman even smacking his butt while walking off stating she felt young while the boy recoiled in fear for his innocence. But he quickly noticed someone watching him and her presence felt familiar.
"Rem? What are you doing here?"
The G.U.N Agent turned around to see the maid staring at him.
"I thought we'd all meet up after lunch to refill the pantry?"
"It is already after lunch, Subaru-sama."
The maid answered.
"Again with the 'sama', I told you to just call me Subaru. 'No Subaru-sama' just Subaru-! Wait did you say lunch already ended?"
Subaru began sweating.
"Did I really take that long?! Oh god! Zarestia is not going to be happy! Let alone Emilia! She's going to be so mad!"
Subaru exclaimed as he has had experience with angry women, one in particular that wielded a hammer came to mind. And Zarestia when she was pissed? Oh man, you would not wanna see that. And a pissed off Emilia? Her talk with him the day prior seemed to be tame in comparison to her hidden fury if unleashed. And he did not want to see that.
"Anyway...what is this, exactly?"
Rem asked as she snapped Subaru out of his panicked state.
"Oh that? I just introduced some exercises from my world to the villagers. We got along really well!"
Subaru smiled.
"...And the children?"
Rem pointed to the village kids as the boys in the group were crouched down, trying to roll like a ball.
"Uh....I showed them my spin-dash."
"Spin...dash?"
Rem asked.
"Yeah! You see, I crouch down and turn into a ball, and start spinning really fast before charging forward, like this, see?"
Subaru stated as he quite literally, turned into a ball with blue and red streaks as he began spinning and took off, rolling around Rem's legs as he then jumped towards her, prompting the blue maid to catch him as she looked at him surprised.
"How do you even do that?"
"Trust me, I've been doing this for years. It's one of my signature moves."
Subaru hopped out of her arms and went back to normal.
"So I'm guessing everything is cool between you and me now huh? Does this make us friends now?"
"Don't assume so much, I only came here to check on you and make sure you came back to be properly punished by Emilia-Sama and Zarestia-Sama."
Rem stated as she had her back turned, a small smile hidden for no one else to see.
"Well, at least you aren't trying to bash my head in again. Anyway, you came here to do some shopping right? You handle that, I have to continue playing with the village children."
As Subaru pointed towards the group of children running around playing tag.
Rem simply nodded and turned around as she went off to do her maid duties. All the while, Subaru was left entertaining the village kids. He played tag with them, ran around with them, and even showed how fast he was. And the little brats kept asking him a lot of questions like, how was he so fast? Why did his shoes look so weird? Or what was with the rings on his arms and legs?
Subaru simply gave them half-assed answers but they still wouldn't leave him alone as they all tugged on his clothes. After a bit of spending time with them, a little girl with dark blue hair and green eyes walked up to the boy, holding a puppy.
"Mister! I wanted to show my puppy! Doesn't he look cute?"
The girl showed Subaru the small animal that seemingly looked completely harmless. The damn thing had a bald spot on its head as well.
"Hmmm. . .I suppose it does look cute. Mind if I pet him?"
Subaru asked as the girl happily nodded.
Having the permission from the child, Subaru went down to pet the dog, but the dog growled.
"Eh? That's weird, I guess it doesn't- whoah!"
Subaru quickly removed his hand from a reaching distance as the animal attempted to bite him.
"That's weird, he usually never bites people."
Petra said
"I guess it just doesn't like me for some reason. But whatever, I'm not worried about it."
Subaru simply brushed it off as he turned around to see Rem patiently waiting for him to finish.
"Anyway, it's been fun messing around with you guys but I gotta go."
At this, the children started complaining.
"Do you really have to go Subaru?"
"Yeah! Can't you just stay a bit longer?"
Subaru sweat dropped at this.
"Um. . .what about this? Next time I come back, I'll show you another one of the games from my homeland. Does that sound good?"
Subaru asked.
And at his proposal, the children beamed and seemed to enjoy that. After all, the games Subaru introduced to them was fun.
"Do you promise?"
Petra asked and the G.U.N. simply smiled.
"I promise. And to make it official. . ."
He bent down to eye level and wrapped his pinkie finger with the little girl. She reminded him of a certain rabbit and her Chao.
"I pinkie promise."
At this, the girl smiled as she and her friends waved goodbye to Subaru. It was safe to say that Subaru befriended the entire village.
"Those children seemed to like you very much."
Rem commented.
"Oh you think so? I kind of had some experience when it came to children their age. I had to babysit the daughter of a friend a mine a few times back home."
"Oh really? What was she like?"
Rem asked.
"She was. . .she was one of the kindest and sweetest people I knew. She was kind at heart. And she would always try to befriend those who wronged her in the past. And she was very polite as well."
Subaru explained.
"She sounds like a very good person."
"She indeed was. She didn't like violence, but when the time came, she knew how to throw hands."
Subaru commented and Rem nodded.
"Anyway, enough about me and my past, what about you? What the story behind you and Ram? Speaking of Ram, she sounds like she'd been able to handle that situation pretty well."
At Subaru's question, Rem was silent for a good moment before she opened her mouth.
"Nee-sama, is wonderful isn't she?"
Rem asked with that same blank look on her face.
"I wouldn't really call her wonderful, that woman will cause more problems than solving them with that attitude of hers."
Subaru sweat dropped.
"My sister's self-assured nature is just part of her wonderful charm. I could never be as great as her."
Rem stated with a tone filled with. . .self doubt?
'She must feel inferior to her own sister for some reason. . .'
Subaru thought to himself.
"You worship her way too much. Ram is Ram. And Rem is Rem. You two are completely separate people with different flaws."
No seriously, if you were to compare Ram and Rem, Rem is more diligent than Ram, unlike Ram, Rem doesn't fall asleep on the job, 99% of the workload is on Rem.
"Honestly, you need to stop putting her on such a high pedestal, and focus more on yourself. That isn't normal, having that much faith in your sister...you're totally fanatical like a demon."
Subaru stated as Rem stopped walking.
"Fanatical...like a demon?"
"It's the demonic version of divine possession. Sounds pretty cool right?"
Subaru asked as he turned to look at the blue maid.
". . .Do you like demons?"
Subaru took a moment to process that question.
"From personal experience, gods or deities don't really do anything, like at all. I should know cause I dealt with a good handful of them back home, but demons will laugh along when you talk about future plans. Especially for next year and stuff."
At this response, Rem smiled. Not just a forced smile but a pure and genuine smile.
"That's a nice smile."
Subaru gave a thumbs-up.
"I'm going to tell Emilia-sama and Zarestia-sama."
"Whoah, wait a sec, I wasn't trying to hit on you!"
It was safe to say that Subaru and Rem were getting along pretty well. They made it back to the mansion and went their separate ways, of course, Subaru did get scolded by Emilia for being late. While Zarestia also scolded him a bit, the poor boy was getting bashed. After they had lunch, Subaru and Zarestia were walking down the hallway while Emilia went back to her quarters to study for her Royal selection business.
"Ok. . .it should be. . .this one!"
Subaru opened a random door and not to his surprise, the great library and a grumpy drill loli was what greeted him.
"You again, I suppose."
"Hey there Beatrice! Long time no see!"
Subaru walked in with Zarestia right behind him.
"What is it that you want from me, in fact?"
"I wanted to ask a few questions."
This prompted the girl to raise her eyebrow in curiosity.
"And what would that be, I suppose?"
"Is it normal for an animal owned by a village kid to act aggressive and try to bite someone?"
At this both Zarestia and Beatrice looked at the G.U.N. Agent with mild confusion.
"What are you talking about Subaru?"
"I agree with her, what are you talking about, I suppose?"
"I mean, that when I was at the village, this little girl wanted me to pet her small puppy. I bend down to do it, but the dog immediately tries biting me, and growling at me. What's even more weird about this is the fact that the dog was seemingly owned by the that village girl. And the children seemed to have been playing with that animal for some time now."
Subaru explained as Beatrice's eyes slightly widened.
"Are you referring to a shaman, I suppose?"
"A shaman?"
Subaru asked.
"A shaman, is a Mabeast that is capable of shapeshifting into this adorable-looking animal. It usually serves as the leader of the pack of Wolvarm, I suppose."
"Hold on, so that wasn't some normal puppy?"
Zarestia shook her head as she continued for Beatrice.
"Not at all, chances are, that small dog already bit the children in that village, and as a result. . .cursing them."
"!!!"
Subaru was shocked, these things were capable of placing curses? Seriously?
"What kind of curse is it?"
Subaru asked, his face being that if complete seriousness.
"The curse the wolgarm placed on those children is that of where they feast on your life force, of mana in this case. And the only way to get rid of it, is to kill the one that placed it to begin with, I suppose."
Subaru slowly gripped his fist in anger as blue and red lightning danced around him slightly. Unnerving Beatrice quite a bit as well as catching Zarestia off guard.
". . .Subaru-?!"
"Damn it all! We need to get out there, now! Before it's too late!"
Subaru literally sped out of the library and sped out of the mansion as a blue and red blur, leaving behind a gust of wind as he past by Rem and Ram.
"Was that Barusu?!"
The startled pink maid asked.
"I-I think it was Nee-sama, but where would he be going at this time of night?"
Rem asked to no one in particular, he seemed to be in a pretty big hurry as well.
"I can answer that question for you maid."
The two onis looked onward to see who's voice it was, and to their surprise, it was Zarestia. Standing there with her arms crossed.
"Subaru, that idiotic contractor of mine went on ahead to kill of some Mabeast."
The Great Spirit of Murder stated, leaving the two confused as to why Subaru would be out there this late at night. And seeing their confusion, Zarestia sighed and began explaining.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hopefully, Subaru isn't too late. Hopefully, he can save those children in time.
TO BE CONTINUED. . .