Subaru cleared his throat and then spun in front of John, striking a pose as he thrust his finger into the sky, calling out, "My name is Natsuki Subaru! I'm completely new around here! Nice to meet you!"
After already passing the Clarent to John, the Furry Dog looked at John and asked puzzledly, "Sir, do you know this person?"
John answered flatly, "No."
At this moment Subaru seemed to have suddenly realized that a talking dog-person was standing right next to him and conversing with him. His facial appearance appeared stunned for a brief moment, before it shone with realization. 'So I do understand their language, great! But do they understand me?'
"Sir, may I know your name?" Subaru then asked John, waving his hand in a small courteous bow.
My name? As John thought this, he immediately received an answer from within himself.
Name: Mordred Pendragon
Nicknames: The Treacherous Knight (former), Knight of Londinium (former)
Following the realization that his name was Mordred, John pondered of who he is and recalled more information:
Name: Mordred Pendragon
Nicknames: The Treacherous Knight (former), Knight of Londinium (former)
Apparent Age: 16
Height: 5'9 (175 cm)
Weight: 143 lbs (65 kg)
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Traits: royal bloodline, dragon bloodline, blood of a witch, humanoid, semi-Heroic Spirit, Round Table Knight
Inner ambitions and desires: to become a great king and surpass your father King Arthur, finally receiving his recognition in the afterlife.
After being stunned for a moment, John answered, "You can call me Mordred."
His own gut feeling was telling him that he was Mordred Pendragon and that it is the truth, and it seemed that he now occupied Mordred's body, so why not use that name.
Subaru's face brightened. 'I knew it! He will probably give me a quest to unlock my knight class.'
"Sir Mordred, I'm new around here. Can you please tell me how I can become a knight?" Subaru asked with a smile.
Tell him how to become a knight? Mordred looked at Subaru stunned. Just what was Subaru expecting of him?
Subaru looked at Mordred with expectations for a moment, while Mordred was unsure of how to respond.
A silence descended for a while.
Making use of this moment of silence, the kid that was just saved patted Mordred's arm, saying, "Emm, mister knight."
Mordred looked down at the kid who now had both a grateful and apprehensive expression. He faintly smiled and asked, "Yeah? "
"Thank you for saving me, mister," the kid said with clear gratitude in his tone and eyes.
"Sure, no problem, kid. Just be careful on the streets next time," Mordred lightly said as a grin formed on his face, showing off his white teeth and small sharp canines at the side.
Mordred felt quite accomplished. He just saved a life here! If he did nothing and didn't use his superhuman strength that he just got, then this small kid would have been trampled to death. It isn't often that you experience this kind of feeling.
"Mmm," the kid nodded, his expression slowly turning into a scared one, looking reluctant to speak further.
"What's wrong, kid? Did something happen?" Subaru lowered his body as he asked the kid worriedly, interjecting.
"It's that… The groceries that mom made me buy are all thrashed. When I get back dad will probably beat me up," the kid voiced out quietly with apprehension.
Mordred's eye slightly twitched. So the kid wanted him to give him money. What money? Mordred didn't have a single penny in the currency of this world anyway.
Mordred let out a breath. Thinking about something, he placed a hand on the kid's shoulder and said, "Kid, there's nothing more valuable than life… in life. I won't give you any money. Do you know why? Because it's an important lesson. You could have just died right now! Drill it into your head. What you should do next is be honest with your parents with what happened and with your feelings, and then promise to work back the money you lost. If your father beats you up then that's good too. I'm sure that in the future this memory will serve you as a reminder of how easily you can lose your life in this world. It's my gift to you, a valuable lesson."
The kid stared at Mordred for a while, before his eyes lit up and he nodded vigorously. "I understand. Thank you, sir! I will remember it!"
At this moment Mordred basically gave the kid 'nothing' and packaged it nicely, and then the kid was super grateful for it. Since when did he become so eloquent?
Mordred nodded with a smile, saying, "Go back now." After patting the kid's shoulder one more time, his expression turned more solemn as he looked at Subaru and the Furry Dog. He waved his hand and said in a low voice, "Let's leave. I made holes in the damn street, better to get out of here quickly."
Subaru was stunned for a moment, before he nodded his head and hurried up after Mordred with a grin. Having met the Knight of Treachery on the street right after he had crossed over to this world, Subaru was absolutely certain that it was the beginning of the main storyline of Camelot! There was no other option!
'Interesting. I wonder if it's an introduction to Mordred before he begins the Rebellion Arc, showing how he's still a righteous knight and all. Then I will probably be the one who will save King Arthur in the future. How cool!' Subaru had his own thoughts.
"It was well said, Sir Mordred. That kid will surely remember this lesson," the Furry said. "By the way, I'm Glen, Glen Percy. Pleased to make your acquaintance, sir Mordred."
Mordred lightly nodded his head at Glen.
The three of them walked along the street for a while.
Mordred's mind was in chaos at this moment, thinking of how he should react in this situation. It seems that Subaru thinks of him as a knight and someone from this world. And he wants him to tell him how to become a knight?
Mordred knew that from now on Subaru is someone that the entire world will revolve around, because he's someone that cannot die and would be resetting the world over and over. Mordred at least knew that for the best benefits he should stick close to Subaru. Since Mordred now had strength, he should make good connections with Subaru.
'It is definitely the first loop. Subaru's excitement and foolishness is not something that could be faked,' Mordred thought to himself.
Mordred looked at a Subaru and started small talk, "Natsuki Subaru, you said that you're not from around here. Care to tell me where you come from?"
Subaru thought for a moment, before saying, "According to the template, a small nation to the east."
'Heh, in such worlds international relations are generally very lacking, so I can just say that I'm from some other country and most people would simply accept it,' Subaru thought.
However…
"Lugunica is the easternmost country on our continental map," Glen said, looking at Subaru confusedly.
"Yeah, I'm from Lugnica," Subaru said, nodding.
Glen bark-chuckled. "We are in Lugnica."
"Wait what?! Aren't we in Britain? Then what about Camelot-o?!"
Mordred suddenly stopped his footsteps as with his sharp eyesight he noticed a peculiar looking man near them - he had a very muscular body, wore a very skimpy vest which exposed almost everything and held a straw of grass in his mouth. He was a merchant selling all kinds of fruits at his stall, standing with arms crossed in front of his thick chest.
Seeing Mordred pause at his stall along with Subaru, the man said, "Those are some weird looking clothes you have. Are you two tourists?"
Mordred slightly smiled - it was the Mr. Save Point Guy that's selling appas. He said, "You could say that."
The man hummed and said, "It's clear at a first glance." He then pointed to his goods and said, "By the way, I have all kinds of fruit here from all over Luganica, the freshest you'll find. Take a look!"
'So Mordred is also not from around here?' Subaru looked at Mordred surprised, before nodding his head. 'I see, so he's in the starting city on some kind of mission…'
Mordred glanced across the various fruits at the stall. Most of the fruits were ordinary, but there were also some exotic ones that he didn't recognize.
Looking at a random plate, Mordred realized that he was able to read this world's writing. He then glanced around at various plates - the alphabet looked like hieroglyphs, but he was indeed still able to understand everything.
In the first place - John wasn't Japanese, but he now clearly spoke and understood Japanese after he crossed over. Earlier John had this realization too, but he didn't have any time to think about things carefully yet, so he simply accepted the ability to talk as some kind of a transmigration perk.
'I remember that Servants receive general information about the world they come to from the Holy Grail when summoned, also learning the world's language and slang words. Was it the same with me? I was summoned with a Holy Grail and I'm a Servant? Then who summoned me?' Mordred thought to himself.
'I can't read this.' Subaru squinted his eyes, looking at one of the price plates.
"You can buy several different kinds of fruits to try, I'll package them for you, misters," the fruit merchant said with a warm smile, seeing Mordred's puzzled and amazed expression and Subaru's dull expression as the two of them looked at the fruits on his stall.
Mordred was woken up from his musings by the voice and looked at Mr. Save Point Guy, smiling, he said, "Maybe another day, mister. See you later."
A faint smile formed on Mordred's lips as he thought, 'It seems like I indeed received general information about this world, though it's all common things that basically everyone knows in this world.'
Mordred knew various basic information about this world like the names of the major nations on the continent and the types of coins used as the currency here in Lugnica, which he would never recall just based on his shallow novel memory, but he still didn't know a lot - for example he didn't know the prices of things or the current political situation.
'But that's fine, I'll manage. It's already good that I don't need to learn how to read and write!' Mordred thought.
Walking down the street for a while, Glen looked at Mordred and said, "It must be the first day that you came to the capital, Sir Mordred, right? May I ask where you come from?"
Where do I come from? After thinking for a moment, Mordred answered, "I would rather not tell."
"Fine then. I won't pry," Glen said, spreading out his palms in acceptance.
The three of them made some small talk as Mordred started entering an empty side alley nearby.
"Sir Mordred, where do you plan to go? I can show you around Lugnica if you wish and show you the good spots. I have some free time now," Glen Percy said, his dog mug smiling.
"That would be awesome, Glen! It would be nice to explore this place together," Subaru said, grinning at Glen.
'Cool, this must be the introductory quest that will show me around the city!' Subaru thought.
But Glen ignored Subaru completely and only continued looking at Mordred.
Mordred paused and slightly smiled as he looked at Glen. "Thanks Glen, I think it would be great. I'm glad we met, but let's leave it for another day. I have things to discuss with this Natsuki Subaru here."
Mordred sent a faint glance toward Natsuki Subaru.
"That's…" Glen appeared quite disappointed.
"Sure! Then let's meet later, Glen. It was nice to meet you!" Subaru interjected with a smile. He made friends and was talking with a real humanoid dog-person, just how cool is that?
"Glen, how can I find you in the future?" Morder asked. He was now clear of Glen's intentions, but Glen was still the only 'person' from this world that he knew, and he even sort of liked this dog-person. Mordred wanted to keep this connection.
Glen's puppy eyes seemed to lit up. "Well, I'm sort of unemployed right now. I guess you can find me…"
Glen Percy then explained where Mordred can find his family's business, and him along with it. After that he soon left the alley.
At that point Mordred and Subaru were the only ones left in the alley, looking at each other.
'Mordred must be one of the crucial characters, I must stick to him,' Subaru thought.
'Because Subaru has
After looking into himself, something like claivorance told Mordred that he also received the Blessing and Curse [Return by Death] from Satella and the Witch of Envy!
He didn't know if the loop would trigger if he died himself, but he felt that he should at least be able to remember the loops along with Subaru when the latter dies. Perhaps Mordred Pendragon was summoned to this world with his strength to help Subaru, so that Subaru does not suffer so much? - It was Mordred's conclusion, also based on one Re:Zero fanfiction that he read.
Mordred didn't want to become Subaru's lacky or his follower, his whole life revolving around Subaru, but to have the best control of the loops and to gain the best benefits from looping and this world, he knew that he should stay close to Subaru and stay on top of the plot.
After a while, Mordred had made up his mind. He already had a general understanding of all of his physical stats and had already asked himself what he's capable of, recalling all of his abilities - he has everything that a Heroic Spirit Mordred Pendragon has, but he is not really a Heroic Spirit. From now on, he decided to pretend that he's the real Mordred Pendragon summoned from another parallel world or from the Throne of Heroes.
After some consideration, simply capturing Subaru and killing him when Mordred wants to reset time, as enticing as it was, wasn't an option. Mordred's version of Return by Death was given to him by the Witch of Envy - the same witch that wouldn't allow Subaru to tell anyone about his ability, so that they cannot abuse it to harm him. If Mordred, who knew about Subaru's Return by Death from the start, started abusing it like that, then he could surely have this ability taken away by her.
'I always wanted to do it!' Mordred thought to himself excitedly.
Looking sternly at Subaru, Mordred took off his sword from his shoulder with a swing and reversed his grip. Holding his sword with both hands and pointing it downwards, Clarent struck the stone floor with its tip with a clang.
Holding his sword in front of him, Mordred announced proudly with a cold demeanor: "I am Mordred Pendragon, the one and true heir of Arthur Pendragon."
A smirk appeared on Mordred's face as he looked at Subaru with suspicion, saying, "Now then, I have one question for you, Natsuki Subaru - just how the hell do you know about Britain?"