"Hey, old man — I wanted to ask about sothing. Has there been any theft around here lately?"
"You've got nerve, asking questions without buying a thing."
The fruit stall vendor let out a sigh. "That sort of thing happens all the ti around here, but…"
"The one just now was sothing else. Soone let off two or three spells right out in the open — shot ice pillars like arrows into that wall over there. Left holes all through it."
As he spoke, the vendor tilted his head, gesturing for Natsuki Subaru to look toward the stretch of wall nearby.
"So I was already too late."
The mont Subaru heard that, his mind went straight to Satella. His shoulders drooped, and a dull pang of frustration settled in his chest.
"I thought that if I could stop the badge from being stolen, maybe I could've…"
"So what happened to you, then? Did you get sothing stolen?" the vendor asked, giving him an odd look.
"It's nothing… Thank you, old man. You told all of that even though I didn't buy anything."
"It's no big deal."
The green-haired vendor smiled as he recalled the mont.
"A broke kid just like you helped my daughter find her way ho when she got lost."
Natsuki Subaru felt sothing stir in his chest. So even without him there, Satella had still stopped to help a lost little green-haired girl get ho?
"So that's the weight of fate pressing things back into shape… huh."
"Alright. New plan — I get to the Loot House before Elsa does and buy Satella's badge back!"
With his goal locked in, Natsuki Subaru set off at a brisk pace, brimming with renewed energy.]
["As I expected… every ti I step into this alley you three respawn right on cue like NPCs. Can't say I'm surprised anymore."
Natsuki Subaru pressed a hand over his face and regarded the three familiar thugs in front of him with exhausted resignation.
"What's this guy been muttering about since just now?"
"Hmph. Hand over anything valuable if you don't want to get hurt!"
Natsuki Subaru let out a cold laugh. "Running into the sa situation four tis in a row — even I've learned my lesson."
He drew a deep breath, as though gathering every last ounce of air in his lungs for what ca next.
"— GUARDS!"
"What do you think you're doing?!"
The three thugs imdiately panicked.
But Subaru wasn't done. Worried it wouldn't be enough, he pinched his voice up into a high falsetto and kept right on screaming:
"Help, sobody send a man over here!"
"Stop it, don't touch , don't you dare!"
"Shut your mouth!" The three thugs erupted in furious, humiliated rage.
"…That'll do."
All at once, a commanding red figure stepped into the mouth of the alley where sunlight cut straight through.
"Red hair, and a knight's sword etched with a dragon-claw mark — is that Reinhard?"
One of the thugs was transfixed, the words spilling out of him in a murmur.
"It seems introductions aren't necessary — though that particular title still feels a little premature for ."
— The Sword Saint, Reinhard, makes his entrance.]
"Pfft — now there's a familiar scene. Good thing Subaru didn't fall for you because of it, or things would've gotten awkward for ."
Elsa aid her quiet jab at the two sitting beside her, her mind already turning over sothing else.
"If I arranged for a few thugs to corner Subaru and then swooped in to save him at just the right mont — do you think he'd fall for too?"
Elsa rested her chin in her hand and murmured to herself, "That thod really does seem worth trying. Subaru is still so green right now, after all!"
anwhile, Emilia's expression on the other side had taken on a distinctly unsettling quality — eyes dark and stormy, as though a torrent of deeply uncharitable thoughts were cycling through her head.
"Ugh, so Reinhard saved Subaru like this too — which ans I'm no longer the only one in Subaru's heart!"
"Subaru-kun, you really are a man with a great deal to answer for."
Reinhard, sensing two gazes of indeterminate aning fixed on him, felt a faint but unmistakable pressure.
[At this mont, Reinhard was, as ever, the picture of knightly humility.
"I don't know how much help I can actually be to the young man over there, but if you intend to cause trouble, I'll have to offer so resistance."
He said it with a steady smile throughout — no mockery, no arrogance — simply stating, with calm composure, exactly what was in his heart.
"You've got to be joking — run!"
The three thugs, naturally, did not take that as an invitation to stay. They scrambled over each other in their rush to flee the alley.
After a brief exchange with Reinhard, Natsuki Subaru found himself genuinely warming to this courteous, unassuming knight.
Reinhard had offered his help if it was ever needed — but with Elsa in the picture, Subaru ultimately decided against asking him along to the Slums.
"I still don't know her na, but — have you happened to see a silver-haired girl in a white robe around here?"
"And — she's a peerless beauty, I should add!" Subaru tacked on.
"Silver hair, a robe… No, I'm afraid I haven't."
Reinhard considered for a mont, expression calm, then gave his answer.
"Then if you do see her, please tell her not to go to the Loot House no matter what. I will find what she's looking for and bring it back to her myself!"
Natsuki Subaru held Reinhard's gaze, eyes steady with resolve, making a promise to a girl whose whereabouts he still didn't know.
"Understood. If I co across her, I'll be sure to pass it along."
"Thanks! I'll repay you soday, I swear!"
Waving over his shoulder without looking back, Natsuki Subaru strode out of the alley and headed in the direction of the Slums.
"Mm. Take care, Subaru."
Midday light spilled into the alley, catching Reinhard from the waist down — shadow falling precisely across his face, making it impossible to read his expression.
...]
Watching this, Emilia turned toward Reinhard with a look full of quiet grievance.
"Why did you mislead Subaru? Silver hair is rare enough that you must have thought of , Reinhard."
"…No, I had no intention of misleading Lord Natsuki Subaru. I could feel the sincerity in his words, and I believe the other thought the sa."
"So truly, it was only that I was worried so misunderstanding might arise."
Reinhard explained, his expression composed.
"Besides, did I not agree to his request? Once I've agreed to sothing, I will see it through."
"That is my — Reinhard's — promise."
"Mo~ what a slippery answer."
Emilia let out a small sigh, decided not to press the point any further, and turned her attention back to the screen.
[Natsuki Subaru had just finished asking around for Felt's address and was hurrying forward — when in his haste, he walked straight into a woman in a black robe with a striking figure.
"Oh my, I'm sorry~ Are you alright?"
To Subaru's surprise, she was the one who apologized first.
"Fine, fine — don't let the looks fool you, toughness is kind of my thing…"
Subaru kept talking as he looked up, eyes reflexively sweeping over the face beneath the black hood.
"Huh?!"
The mont he made out her features, every drop of blood in his body seed to turn to ice.
The woman standing before him in that black robe was Elsa — in disguise.
The woman whose face alone was enough to flood Natsuki Subaru's mind with image after image of being killed.
"Fear… and rage directed at . What a delicious scent."
The look Elsa turned on Subaru was that of a predator spotting prey — her tongue traced a slow, unhurried path across the curve of her lips.
"…Never mind. As much as it tempts , I can't afford to cause a commotion right now."
Elsa said it with genuine regret, reining in the impulse, and walked straight past Natsuki Subaru without breaking stride.
Subaru instinctively turned his head and angled his body to keep her in front of him, refusing to let his back face her.
He watched Elsa drift slowly past him, the creeping sense of danger ebbing away with each step she took — and then, all at once, the tension inside him collapsed.
"The way you say things — honestly terrifying. If you're that scary, doesn't it just put all that pretty face of yours to waste?"
It must have been so stubborn refusal to show weakness that made Natsuki Subaru drag up a stiff smile and fire back without thinking.
And because of those words.
Elsa, who had already walked several paces away, vanished without a sound — and in the span of a single breath, she was back, standing right in front of him.
All at once the two were face to face, warm breath from each of them washing over the other's skin.
Every muscle in Natsuki Subaru's body locked up at once. He clenched his teeth and stared the woman down without blinking.
And Elsa — quietly, unhurriedly — savored every flicker of the unguarded fear spreading across the boy's face, her eyes lit with cool amusent.
____
👻🔥 40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🎯 100 Powerstones = 1 extra chapter for everybody
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