Chris' POV
So far I have given them a description of how Kazuma should look, or in general, be dressed, and given how many resources Priscilla has at her disposal I should be able to find him sooner rather than later.
As I was mulling over the details, the door to my room was slammed open, startling me a little bit. Clearly, that had been Priscilla's intention when barging in like that, given her satisfied smirk.
"Do you have any news on Kazuma, since you are ripping doors off their hinges?" I asked, getting straight to the point.
"Aldebaran, why don't you come in and tell our dear guest what the other servants discovered," Ugh her voice reminds me of when Senpai used to order me around.
"I have told you to stop calling me that!" A man in ruffed-up clothes, scars, and a helmet complained as he walked into the room.
"So what did you want to tell me?"
"Ah yes, a man similar to what you described, green clothes and all was seen riding out of town on a carriage just yesterday, he was traveling south-east towards Cramlin, we have prepared a carriage for you, that is ready to leave when you wish," Aldebaran finished.
"Yeah, I am ready, as long as you packed enough food," I joked, jumping out of the bed, as I walked up to them, double-checking that I had all of my gear on me.
Kazuma's POV
"Aren't you two getting tired of this!" Subaru complained after I threw him the coin back. With no surprise, Felt was still not figuring out how to perform {Steal}, not that I knew any way of teaching it to her either way.
"Just deal with it, you have the easy job here," I shot back, as I gave Felt the go-ahead to try again with the wave of my hand. Being a teacher is fucking tiresome.
"You can't teach me if you won't at the very least guide my stance," She complained.
"We've been at it for hours, isn't it clear that I can't teach you this, all I have ever done is reach out my hand and yell out {Steal}!" I yelled out in frustration as I pointed my left hand outwards, accidentally activating it and stealing from a certain pink-haired maid.
(Maybe she hasn't noticed. Remember, whatever you do, do not open your hand to check for what kind of panties she is wearing, it will get you killed immediately) My thoughts rumbled around in my head, like empty wine barrels.
"Kazuma," Ram said, her voice ice-cold as she slowly stepped up to me and presented her right hand to me, "Give them back, NOW!" she ordered as she caught my gaze, and I think that is the fastest my hand has ever moved.
"Good, now Barusu, while it is good to entertain our guests, that still doesn't excuse you from fulfilling your duties as a butler, come with me at once," I wish I had someone like Ram in my mansion, someone that can actually order those three idiots around.
Just look at Subaru, he suddenly regained strength to get up and briskly walked back into the mansion without even as much as a complaint. When he was back inside she turned back on me. "This never happened, understood!?"
"Y-yes, mam!" I nervously agreed, when they were both out of sight Felt started laughing so hard she fell to the ground. It pissed me off a little, so I lightly kicked her in the stomach, which she latched onto, and slammed me into the ground.
"ouch, hahaha, that was, hahaha," she kept on giggling, and her smiling face actually made me relax a little. Until I joined her in the giggle fit, damn that contagious laughter.
After a few minutes, we managed to calm down, and sit back up.
"Kazuma, the notorious panty thief," She declared with a chuckle.
"Hey, don't give me such a perverted title," I complained half-heartedly.
"Why am I wrong?" She countered with a grin.
"It's not intentional, it just steals whatever I find the most valuable," I explained
"Wow... you must really like panties, what other girls have you stolen panties from?"
Chris' POV
"ACHOO!" Why did I suddenly sneeze?
Megumin's POV
"ACHOO!"
"Eww, that's disgusting," Aqua audibly complained as she was now covered in my snot. "Why didn't you cover your face with your elbow?"
"I won't do that, I can't get this dirty," I protested.
"Why are you wearing that shut-in's ugly tracksuit anyway? It is too big for you,"
"Uh, I didn't find anything good to wear, so I picked his tracksuit," I lied as my face started to feel warm.
"But he hasn't washed that thing in 3 weeks," She annoyingly pointed out. His smell is the only thing that is calming me down right now.
"What's with you these past days Aqua, you have been so on edge, do you also miss Kazuma?" Darkness pointed out as she rose from the sofa.
"No, it's just that I have been getting a lot of debt lately, and if we don't find Kazuma soon, they might take the mansion as payment,"
"Aqua, the mansion isn't yours to give away,"
"What do you mean, I am also a part of this party I have every right to write off my debt with the mansion if I so please,"
"NO!" Both me and Darkness erupted in unison.
"The mansion literally stands in Kazuma's name, just for this reason, any debts we gain can't be force claimed by any debt collectors?" Darkness explained.
"What, since when is Kazuma suddenly so responsible with money?" Aqua asked in shock, and we both just stared dumbfoundedly at her.
"He is literally the one giving you, your allowance, without him, you wouldn't have any money to spend!" I yelled at her.
Knock, knock, knock. Three urgent and heavy knocks could be heard from the entrance door.
"I'll take care of that, you try and get through to her," Darkness said as she left the room, but before I even got back into the discussion with Aqua the door leading to the hallway got slammed open.
"IRIS?!" I erupted in shock, as Darkness and Claire came running after her.
"Where is Kazuma?" Her frantic antics reminded me a little bit of... myself.
In response to her question I just pointed at the black ball with a tiny red dot, that was now laying on top of a pillow, so no one would try to roll it like Aqua had done right after I explained what had happened to Chris. Luckily nothing had happened when she rolled it.
"What, he is in that black ball?" She asked as she crouched down to take a closer look at it.
"We don't know for sure, but it is the only lead we have so far in trying to find him,"
"Ok, give me a full status update," Iris requested, and I was happy to oblige
Time Kazuma has been missing: 6 days.
Subaru's POV
"Eh, Ram, what exactly did Kazuma steal from you, since you are clutching onto it so tightly?"
"That not something you need to concern yourself with, Barusu, you go to the kitchen and help out Rem, I will be joining you two in a moment," She commanded as she briskly walked in another direction. What did Kazuma steal from her?
"Hopefully we are making something less complicated for the evening, my fingers can't handle much more abuse," I muttered to myself as I walked towards the kitchen.
"Ah, Subaru, I need you to do the dishes, try to avoid rubbing your fingers off this time," Rem said as I entered the kitchen, barely giving me a side-glance.
"I will do my best," I retorted as I started to do the dishes.
Kazuma's POV
As I and Felt were just laying there I could hear tiny footsteps approaching, which made me sit back up to see a frustrated Beatrice, staring daggers at me. Oh yeah, I was supposed to finish showing her the memory.
"Ok, I got to go do something with Beatrice, see ya later," I informed her before I walked over to Beatrice, and the death stare vanished.
"Can't I join you two?" Felt shot-in as she dashed over to us.
"Eh, you got to ask Beatrice, it's her library," I quickly avoided any responsibility.
"Well, Beatrice what do you say, can I join?" Felt hopefully repeated.
"No, your presence would be far too much of a distraction, I suppose," Beatrice responded immediately, not even missing a beat.
"I can be stealthy, you won't even notice I am there," Felt argued, much to the annoyance of Beatrice.
"Can you read, I wonder?"
"Eh, no not really,"
"I will let you be in my library when you can actually read, otherwise you are taking up valuable space, I suppose," Beatrice stated as she took my hand in hers and guided me into the library.
Felt's POV
I can't be there unless I know how to read, huh, well then I will just learn how to read, wait, who can teach me to read. Maybe one of the maids, hmm given the smell they should be working on something in the kitchen.
5 minutes later
I saw the blue-haired maid busy with making the food, with Subaru somehow messing up doing dishes, with the pink-haired one sitting by and remarking how bad of a job he was doing.
"Oh, miss Felt, what is the reason you have come?" Ram, I think it was, asked as she sat up a little bit.
"I want to learn how to read, could one of you teach me?" I asked, why was this so embarrassing.
"This fits in rather well, I could teach both you and Subaru how to read and write, Barusu you can stop your feeble attempt at the dishes, it's about time you learn how to read and write, so you can go from "A useless butler" to " A not so useless butler"," I couldn't stop myself from chuckling at that remark, as Subaru dropped whatever he was holding.
"So are we going to study in my room?" Subaru suddenly asked, receiving a disgusted look from Ram.
"No, are you insane, there is no way I am stuffing a royal guest into the same room you sleep to study, we will do our classes in the study room next to Felt's room, pen and paper will be provided, please be there in 5 minutes," Ram informed us.
"Wait, that is on the other side of the mansion, that will take me at least 6 minutes to get there," Subaru complained,
"Oh, so you will be late for your first class Barusu, shame on you for setting such a bad example for the other students," Ram teased before I rushed over to the study room.
3 minutes later
"Well, it would seem you're a fast one, should we start then?" Ram inquired as she was carrying a few books, bottles of ink, and blank papers.
"Yes, I need to learn this as quickly as possible," I agreed immediately, as we went inside to the study room.
After another 3 minutes, Subaru came panting through the open door, and he got hushed by Ram before she sat him down at another table.
"We will be starting with learning how to write and read the alphabet," Ram explained as she helped me make some sense of this inked gibberish.
Kazuma's POV
"Go lay down on the bed, I will join you shortly, I suppose," Beatrice said as she went behind one of the bookshelves.
"Heh," I just silently noted to myself as I went to lay down on the bed.
"Ok, I found it," I could hear Beatrice say before her tiny footsteps got closer, and I could see her carrying the basket with mana stones, and a black book.
"What's that book for?"
"It's for my own little test, don't pay it any mind," She evaded the question, as she handed me the basket, which I received with my left hand. "Now let us pick up where we left off, I suppose,"
We did as we had done last time. With her laying on top of me, with my left-hand holding the basket, and my other hand on her cheek, with her tiny right hand on my cheek. I thought it would go as normal, but after just a minute of Beatrice doing her blank stare she cut off the link. Her butterfly pupils were now gigantic.
"R-re-res," she frantically muttered to herself.
"Eh, Beatrice, are you ok?" I asked testingly as I tried to lightly shake her back to her senses.
"RESURRECTION MAGIC!" She yelled out in something between a mix of excitement and fear.
"Thanks a lot for the hearing loss, I suppose," I complained in a similar fashion to her.
"Kazuma, do you not understand how big this is, resurrection magic has merely been a theory, but this is marvelous, getting you connected back with your friends just became far more important, in fact. Maybe she can even get Mother back to me," Her eyes were sparkling as she went on her happy little rant, not even able to sit still on my lap.
"Beatrice," I spoke softly to grab her attention.
"Yes, what is it, I wonder?" Her smile was as odd to see, as it was cute.
"Who is your mother?" I asked, and her smile lessened considerably, but I feel like her eyes would have glowed red if she was a crimson demon.
"I can show you," Beatrice said as she put my hand back on her cheek and her hand back on my cheek. "We just reverse the mana stream so you can see my memories, I suppose" Hmm, does it really favor me to get this close to her, wasn't the plan for me to just disappear after I was finished gathering enough mana for Beatrice. But it would be better to be on her good side.
"Ok, {Drain touch}" I chanted, as I was first hit with an empowering effect before things suddenly went black. Before I woke up next to a log house.
"What is it, I suppose," I could hear Beatrice say as my eyes adjusted to the light, or is this her memory because she doesn't look any different. She suddenly turned her head towards me, "You can look at me all you want, but I won't give you anything," Wait, was she talking to me?
"Uh, ungh," I could hear behind me as I turned to see a pink-haired girl, with blue eyes in a coat covering her mouth.
"Silent again, gosh what a boring and cowardly girl you are," Damn Beatrice, that's harsh, if she was Yunyun, she would be running away crying right now.
Suddenly the door to the cabin opened, and I could see a woman in a black dress, and her white hair reaching all the way down to her waist. Her eyes were a little obscured, but I could see her wearing a warm smile.
"Beatrice, What's with the attitude?" She gently reprimanded.
"Lady Echidna..." The pink-haired girl said in aww.
"Is this how I taught you to behave towards others? She asked rhetorically, yeah very basic tactic for parents.
"Uh... You're mistaken, Mother! I didn't do anything," I got such a sudden urge to slap Beatrice for lying, but this was a memory so my hand would probably just pass right through her. "It's just, this girl was..."
"I see... Then why don't we hear what she has to say?" Well, if that pink-haired girl is anything like Yunyun she would get really stressed about now, maybe run away while saying sorry.
"Wha... um... well, yes I am very sorry, I saw her standing there, looking so very wistful, and I was simply captivated by what I saw," She explained herself quite well with a minimum amount of stammering, maybe comparing her to Yunyun would be an unfair comparison.
"Hmm, captivated, you heard what Ryuzu said about you, Beatrice," in response to her mother's reprimands she just lowered her head in shame.
"Calling you childish wouldn't be correct, given you are one, but you need to train on your patience and tolerance, even though you are special, it doesn't give you the right to look down on others," Echidna continued, she was really giving it to her, I can respect that. Got to get to them before they turn stupid, crazy, or arrogant.
"Now with that over, this is Beatrice, she is like a daughter to me," she continued on calmly.
"I am not "like" your daughter, I am your daughter, I suppose," Beatrice complained, she seemed a little slighted by that comment from Echidna.
Beatrice's POV
Did my eyes really look this empty, while I was looking into his memories? What do you see, I wonder.
"I have been lonely for so long, taking care of this library all by myself, but maybe you are "That person" so I can finally leave," I whispered into his ear while stroking his chin with my free hand.
I know this process drains me of my mana, but I somehow feel safer and stronger doing all of this with him. Can I just close my eyes, while still feeling his warm body under me? As long as I can keep my focus up, it should be fine. I'll just lay my head on his chest.
Ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump,
His heartbeat is very calming, but I won't let that stagger my focus... not... even a little... bit.
Kazuma's POV
The scene shifted again from Beatrice and Ryuzu carrying dirty clothes together, to them sitting by the river.
"Roswaal is really annoying, he is completely intolerable, I suppose,"
"I think Roswaal was just standing up for me, since you were being mean to me," The pink-haired girl countered.
"I-I wasn't trying to mean, I suppose," Beatrice stammered out, clearly she didn't want to be perceived like that before she regained her composure. "It was far more refined than that,"
"You realize opening door after door and just ending up in the same room is scary, right? I thought I was never going to escape," The girl countered, ah, so that is what she had tried to do towards me, or is this somehow different.
"It was just a bit of Yin magic, I suppose," she weakly excused as she looked away from her, a little ashamed over the whole ordeal. "Nothing to be so dramatic about,"
"I see," Another familiar voice rang out, and it would seem a young Roswaal had appeared, so the memory can't be that old, maybe a few decades, though he looks a little different.
"So you also have no right to be so dramatic over when I did the same thing to you, using Yang magic," he countered, without doing his annoyingly dragged-out words, seems he must have picked that up when he got older.
"Ugh," was the only sound coming out of Beatrice in response to that comment, well it would seem she was at a loss for words.
"That is such a great expression, your face is my second favorite, our teacher's face being the first, of course," Ugh, cringe, can we speed up this memory, this is reminding me too much of Subaru fawning over Emilia, whenever Roswaal starts talking about Echidna.
"What do you think you're saying?!" Yeah, tell him off, Beatrice.
"You're just some guy that was born with incredible luck, who just happened to find the best teacher in the world, I suppose, so don't let it go to your head!" I know that the first part wasn't aimed at me, but I still feel attacked.
"Ryuzu, just come to me straight away if Beatrice bothers you again, I will spank her bottom and teach her a lesson," Well, that is official, I am nicknaming him Pedowaal.
"Hah! Ryuzu is never going to rely on you, I suppose, go on, tell him," Beatrice ordered.
"Thank you, if anything happens, I will be sure to let you know," oof, betrayed.
"How dare you, I suppose!" Beatrice yelled before she lowered her head in a mix of frustration and disappointment. Suddenly everything started to get foggy, and the sound got muddled, and the next second I was back in the library, with Beatrice sleeping soundly on my chest.
Hmm, I need to know. I reached my hand out to one of her curls, grabbed the very end of it, and slowly stretched it out as far as I could possibly manage, then I let it go. Did I expect it to spin this much, no, am I happily surprised it did? Yes.
"Hmm," Beatrice weakly protested as she turned over, but she didn't wake up. I mean, I am not against taking a nap.
Subaru's POV
"This doesn't make any sense!" I could hear Felt yelling in frustration, for the third the writing was different, but it has a lot of similarities to what I already knew.
"It is understandable, Miss Felt, living in the slums could not have been the best environment for learning how to read and write," Ram said in a calm and understanding tone. "As for Barusu, he has no good excuse," Her tone shifted to a condescending one when talking about me.
"Hey, I am learning, faster than her I might add," I defended myself, even though I had a week's headstart.
"Barusu that is just immature," She shot me down immediately, well someone is clearly the favorite.
"Can we take a break from this, it's not going anywhere," Felt somberly complained, a complete shift from her more tireless training when it came to learning something from Kazuma, even though she has made more progress here.
"Very well miss Felt," Ram said in a calm tone, assuming the lesson for today to be over I started to pack my stuff.
"Not so quick Barusu, since you brag about reading so well, you can start by reading this, and then tell me later what it is about," The book she had slammed down on my desk was similar in thickness to a knitted fist.
"How am I supposed to finish this by tomorrow?" I protested, while she just looked at me like I was stupid.
"Did I say you had to finish it by tomorrow?" She asked rhetorically, and suddenly I did feel very stupid, as I lowered my head a little.
"YAWN, I feel like just going to bed for now," Felt said, as she got out of her chair.
"Very well, your bed is made, and your grandfather has fallen asleep on the sofa downstairs, would you like us to move him into your room?" Ram asked in a professional tone.
"Nah it's fine, let the man sleep, I'll be fine by myself," Felt said as she left the room.
"Now, Barusu, that will conclude today's lesson, I recommend you get some sleep because it is going to be a hard day tomorrow," Ram dropped the formal tone she had used with Felt, as she gave me that advice before she left.
The next day was a repeat of the one before, with the distinction of Ram bringing refreshments for her students. Which went down:
Subaru's POV
I didn't like tea that well, it was always so bitter, but I think Felt is overreacting a little.
"Are you trying to poison me!?" Felt hysterically screamed as she rubbed her tongue on the curtains.
"Miss Felt, this is merely tea, you a free to add sugar if you find it distasteful," Ram calmly explained.
"Ugh, it's still nasty," I said after taking a sip.
"Careful, or you will invoke the wrath of the mansion's finest tea leaves," Her cold tone returned when talking to me.
"So how are my students doing?" Ram asked, now in a softer tone.
"I got a little help from Kazuma, so I finally got the alphabet down, but grammar is still hard, and getting words down on paper takes a lot of time," Felt explained.
"That is good to hear, and wonderful progress Miss Felt," Ram complimented.
"I read some of the stories in the book you gave me, and I didn't expect you to give me a book about fairy tales, but-"
"What did you read in the book, and can you recall what the stories were about?" She cut me off.
"Well I remember the one with the dragon and the one with the witch, so know I why this place is named "Dragon's kingdom of Lugnica"," I explained.
"Even I know that but that tale, but it is just used as an excuse to explain away why the poor are in such a shitty situation, it's not just because the contract can't be upheld with the dragon, it's because the kingdom is being run by a bunch of incompetent fools, while us living in the slums just get stomped on," Felt complained.
"That sure got you fired up Miss Felt," Ram smiled like you would with a younger sibling.
"I do want to tell one of the fairy tales I have from my home country if time would allow it, of course?" I gently asked.
"I'll allow it since we are on our break,"
"It's the one about the crimson demon that cried,"
"Oh, storytime," Felt said excitedly as she put the tray of cookies in her lap.
I picked up a spoon to signify the crimson demon, and I used my pen to signify the blue demon.
"Ok, so there once were two demons living in the forest, the crimson demon and the blue demon, they were inseparable friends, but one day the crimson demon wanted to befriend the people of the nearby village, but when he tried to approach them they got really scared and ran away,"
"The blue demon witnessing his friend getting very sad about not being able to befriend the villagers, hatched out a plan, [I will make a huge scene that will scare everyone, and then you will come and stop me, after that they will certainly be your friends] the blue demon said,"
"The plan worked, and the crimson demon befriended the humans in the village, but as time passed he noticed that his friend the blue demon stopped coming by to visit him, so the crimson demon decided to go over to the blue demon's house to check up on his friend, but when he came there the place looked abandoned with a letter attached to the door, in which the blue demon wrote,"
"[Dear Crimson demon, please be sure to have fun with your new human friends, I am afraid they will end the friendship you have achieved if you keep hanging out with me, so I have therefore decided to go on a journey, I am not sure if I will ever return, but you will always be in my heart, goodbye, and please take care of yourself, your friend now and forever, blue demon,]"
"Reading the letter over and over again in deafening silence, the crimson demon started to cry, and with that, the story ends,"
"That's a sad story," Kazuma and Ram said in unison. Where the fuck did he come from.
"Don't you know it is rude to sneak up on people?" Ram questioned him on his manners.
"What do you mean, I waved to you guys when I got into the room, Felt even waved back, you two must have been too focused on the story," Kazuma argued.
"In any case, that story is just filled with idiots," Ram shot in.
"That sure is a harsh critique, though I am not denying it, but probably why I both hate and enjoy the story, the blue demon's sacrifice is really appealing, but it's stupid because he doesn't get anything out of it, I like to be rewarded for the effort I put in," I explained.
"No, the blue demon is the better one, since he is willing to sacrifice his own happiness so that his friend can get the new life that he was yearning for, but by not appreciating his friend, the blue demon wrongly thought he would be happier without him," Felt argued
"Yes, if the crimson demon really wanted to make friends with the humans, he should just have cut off his horns and went to them,"
"Sounds a bit extreme, I think personally he should just have brought some food to share with the villagers, then maybe his demon friend could have joined in the fun, and nobody would have needed to needlessly sacrifice themselves," Kazuma shot in his suggestion.
"I mean if they cooked on your level that would be sure to work," Felt complimented him and his suggestion with that.
"What if you had to choose becoming friends with one of the demons, which one would you rather be friends with," Ram stood up in the middle of all of us with her right-hand finger raised. "The crimson demon that wishes to be taken care of by others," Then she raised her other hand with the same finger, "Or the blue demon basking in his own self-sacrifice,"
I thought for a second before I picked both hands. She looked a little shocked before she scuffed.
"What a boring answer," Ram whispered before she walked over to Kazuma.
Kazuma's POV
Blue demon reminds me a lot of Darkness, and Aqua, while the crimson demon here just has to be either Yunyun or Megumin... crying.
"I would befriend the crimson demon," I blurted out without thinking too long about it.
"I'll be friends with the blue demon," Felt answered after me.
"Very well, Subaru is the indecisive adulterous type and Felt values a friend willing to sacrifice themselves for her,"
"What about me?" I asked, still vary of if she was going to hurt me in some way, even though I didn't detect any hostile intent.
"That will conclude today's lesson, be ready for your duties tomorrow Subaru," She completely ignored me, well I guess my choice didn't matter.
"And don't tell this story to Rem," She more ordered than said, as she sent us death stares.
"O-ok," we all agreed in unison.
Over the next 3 days, the mansion fell into a sort of routine, Kazuma and Felt would go out hunting in the morning, then they would come back around dinner time. After dinner Felt, Subaru and Kazuma would go out in the garden and try to teach Felt {Steal}. After that Subaru and Felt, would go with Ram to the study room and study how to read and write, while Kazuma would go to the library with Beatrice. Until Rem woke Subaru up early that day to go buy food at the market. So they ended up leaving together with Felt and Kazuma.
Felt's POV
We arrived in the village like we usually did got the stone, and I saw 7 children playing together, wait I have only seen 6 children on our other visits, maybe she is new like me. Might as well go over and ask while Kazuma is busy selling stuff to the other villagers.
"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked.
"Oh, it's backpack girl," One of the boys blurted out as they all shifted their focus from the blue-haired girl with the puppy to me.
"Where did you guys come up with that name?" I asked, just a little bit offended.
"Because your brother carries you out of the forest each day on his back," The little chubby boy reiterated.
"He is not my brother," I corrected him.
"Ah, so he is your boyfriend," The little girl with orange hair and a red ribbon shot in.
"N-no he is not that either," I stuttered out, as I started to get a little flustered.
"Then how do you two know each other?" The little blue-haired girl questioned.
What the heck am I supposed to say to that, I mean it would sound pretty insane if I were to tell them the hold truth, but I might as well entertain the kids a little.
"So we met in the city while fighting off a known murderer, she had long black hair and quite a daring outfit, she was very skilled with her knives, and it seemed like she almost played with us, even when we had a magic-user casting giant ice spikes at her, and when it came to a little pause in the fighting, that man over there took the opportunity and stabbed her in the back, and saved the rest of us," I said pointing to Kazuma.
"WOW!" All of the kids except the blue-haired one said with astonishment and some clear admiration in their eyes.
"That sounds rather cowardly," The blue-haired girl said in a cold tone.
"Well, the murderer tried to do the same to us, so she was just as cowardly," I argued, though I felt something was off about this little girl.
"But you guys were multiple people, fighting all of you at once would be stupid from her perspective," The girl continued to argue.
"Ok, Uhm, I am just gonna leave,"
"I also want to meet this hero, I want to show him my doggie," She said as her tone turned cutesy, ok fuck no, something was most certainly off about her.
"I am sorry, but we are a little busy, but you can go and talk to our other friends, shopping over there," I said, pointing to Subaru and Rem.
"So are the kids holding you up?" Kazuma suddenly asked as he had gotten close to us.
"Do you wanna pet my doggie, mister?" She said holding the little puppy up to him.
"No thanks, I am more of a cat person," He quickly shot back, as he grabbed onto my shoulder and pulled me away from the girl rather forcefully.
"But he has taken a really big interest in you, mister," She continued, as he walked closer with her puppy outstretched.
"Ok, put him down on the ground, and step to the side, and I will pet him," Kazuma relented, with a more jovial tone. With the little girl following his instructions.
"It's both," He whispered only loud enough for me to barely hear it, as he stepped towards the puppy.
"NOW!" The little girl shouted, as the earth Kazuma was standing on turned into quicksand.
I rushed the girl, but the puppy had changed size and placed itself in front of me, as it continued to grow to an enormous size. Before I could even react, a hand was placed on my shoulder, and I was thrown backward, maybe 10 meters. I was luckily able to nail the landing. Then I saw that the dog had grown to the height of the trees surrounding the village, it was an oversized wolgarm. With Rem facing off against it. What kind of weapon did she use?
"What the fuck just happened?" Subaru yelled as he rushed over to me.
"Kazuma is drowning, I yelled, pointing to the arm flailing around out of the earth, with a rope,"
"I see it," Subaru said, as we both rushed over to pull him out of there.
"PULL!" I yelled as we both grabbed ahold of the rope, with Kazuma holding onto it for dare life, as we managed to free his head.
"PULL HARDER!" I yelled as we finally managed to get Kazuma out of there, and onto solid ground.
CRASH
The sound of multiple trees getting knocked down rang out, as pieces of wood came flying towards us, I ducked down and covered Kazuma.
Bonk "Ah fuck!" I could hear Subaru yell out as he most likely got hit by one of the wood pieces.
When I looked back at the fallen trees I could see a monster with horns and a serpent's tail standing there, as multiple other mabeasts rushed into the village, it was utter chaos. With people getting ripped apart left and right. I suddenly felt Kazuma's hand on my shoulder, with him holding onto Subaru with his other hand as he yelled out {Concealment}.
The mabeasts that had been approaching us suddenly looked around widely, as Kazuma dragged the both of us near the village's well. He nodded for me to grab the rope on his side, I did as he mouthed something and suddenly the rope attached itself to the well's bucket and the metal handle atop of the well. When he threw the bucket down I understood what he wanted me to do, as I grabbed ahold of the rope and lowered myself down, until I reached the water.
After a few seconds, Subaru also joined me, and I could now see he was bleeding a lot from the left side of his face. Until Kazuma also joined us.
"We need to be silent, if they find us, we are dead," Kazuma whispered with both me and Subaru nodding in response.
The screams didn't last long, but the sounds of a chain being dragged back and forth, with the sound of bones getting crushed, and fleshed ripped. Until the chain stopped being dragged, as a burst of childish laughter echoed down to us. I know the water was cold, but that laughter still made me shiver uncontrollably.
"Where are they, oh the blood," As we heard those smug words Kazuma put an arrow onto the string of his bow and prepared to shoot. The tiny footsteps of the girl came closer and closer until they stopped by the well.
"Hello down there," She said as something peeked over the edge of the well, which Kazuma shot instantly, and even I could see he hit.
"Fuck," Why wasn't he happy
"Oh, just as I suspected, you're a good shot, but unfortunately for you, I am not stupid enough to peek over," She mocked.
"Why are you doing this!?" Subaru yelled out, clearly confused.
"Because you monsters killed my big sister!" She yelled with pure hatred present in her voice.
"Why does this always happen to me?" Kazuma muttered to himself. "How do you even know it was us?"
"I know it's the brown-haired boy that killed her since that blonde fucking bragged about it, do you know how bad it is to see your family's head torn off, and laying there to rot!?" Kazuma looked at me with angry eyes, as he facepalmed.
"Sorry, but how was I supposed to know?" I mouthed to him.
Kazuma's POV
"Can't say I do know that, but you have to understand it was in self-defense," Subaru actually argued with her, did he not remember how crazy that woman was.
"Oh, how close were you with this blue-haired maid?" Her tone shifted to something more sinister.
Then she threw something down the well, which Subaru caught, and then we could all see that it was Rem's severed head. Which he immediately dropped into the water so it was now floating around in front of us.
"Monster!" Subaru roared, with the echo almost making me clutch my ears.
"Now you know how it feels,!" She spat back at us. "Now for my next trick, I will make you all blow up," She then threw balls into the well, but I countered by casting {Wind breath}, causing the balls to shoot back out of the well.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Seriously, why does that make me think of Megumin right now?
"Magic bombs," Subaru noted in a frightened tone.
"ARGH! GO AND KILL THEM!" The little girl's voice ordered as if she was on the verge of throwing a tantrum, as multiple giant bats rushed down into the well.
{Lightning} I chanted out in desperation, as a bolt of lightning shot out of my hand and rushed through all of them, killing them instantly. But there was still the problem of them falling onto us. Luckily for us, we managed to dodge most of them, and then used their bodies to help us stay afloat.
"Yes, throw the boulder in, that will be sure to kill them," The little girl happily agreed with someone we couldn't hear.
"Any more tricks?" Felt and Subaru asked in unison?
"Swim to the bottom," I yelled before diving under as we could feel the vibrations of something big being rolled around up there. After what felt like a minute of swimming straight down, I felt the bottom, with Felt and Subaru right behind me.
This is the only chance I have, please, for the love of Eris let this work, {Wind breath} I put my all into it as the wind rushed out and blew the water away, and when it was maybe 50cm above use I screamed {Freeze} as the water above us froze solid.
"I have to say, that was impressive Kazuma," Subaru complimented.
I could barely hear him because I was panting heavily from pushing myself that hard.
"But we are going to run out of oxygen if we don't find a way out of here," Felt said as she grabbed my katana and her dagger and started to try and scrape her way out of here, but it only led to her letting in more water.
"Tired... nap, wake me... later," I muttered out as things went dark until I suddenly found myself in a very familiar chair, but this time Eris wasn't here to greet me. Maybe something was holding her up. Instead, I just saw multiple mini-versions of myself look at back me with excited grins.
Subaru's POV
"Kazuma, Kazuma, please wake up," Felt screamed at him as she cried on his chest.
I think in the end, he stopped us from dying by getting crushed to death, and instead, we are now going to die by asphyxiation. But on the bright side, I was able to learn a lot from this loop, thanks to Kazuma and Felt. So a little girl caused all of this because we killed her big sister in self-defense.
"I'll fix all of this, so just save your breath," I said as I leaned back on the mossy well wall, as things started to go dark.
Chris' POV
As we were traveling in the carriage, I could feel someone was trying to mess with time. How to explain this. Imagine you are in a pool, with a water level that always rises, and suddenly someone is trying to drag you back to the deep, together with the water level.
Whoever was doing this was extremely powerful, but I could maybe try to resist it, so it wouldn't be possible. I was prepared to resist it, and it felt like a whale slammed itself into me, which I was able to resist for only a second. But I knew I had disrupted this time shift if just a little bit.
The last thing I heard was someone slamming open a door, as I fell asleep on a soft bed.
Subaru's POV
I came back to my senses as I suddenly stood in the garden with Kazuma and Felt practicing their {Steal} skill on me. Wait, the checkpoint must have changed again. But how, what made it change.
"Ah fuck," Kazuma yelled out as he fell to the ground clutching his head.
"What's wrong Kazuma?" Felt worriedly asked, as she placed his head on her lap.
"Headache, really bad headache, feels like hammers are being thrown against my skull," Kazuma explained.
Hmm, is Kazuma also affected by the loop? No, but he didn't have a headache last time.
"Just lay here, I will take care of you, Subaru can you go and grab something to help him with his headache?" Felt asked.
"Yeah, sure, right away," I said as I left them alone, and ran into Ram and Rem. It was really good to see Rem completely fine again. That severed head is going to haunt me, in my dreams.
"Eh, Kazuma needs something to help him, with his sudden headache, do you two have anything?"
"I will try and help, sister you get the thing," Rem said, as Ram ran to fetch something.
With that, the chapter ends, revealing a lot of new stuff.
So quick note, in the dubbed anime they say ogres, and in Japanese they say Oni. So I just went for "demon," since that is the revelation Subaru has in the in the anime.
Also did you like the new chapter.