Felt and the others followed the river south for the better part of an hour before they found Subaru. He sat there, dripping wet and wringing out his clothes as his friends rode up.
Subaru started laughing. "Anybody else want to go for a swim? The water's fine!" He shouted.
"Captain! Are you alright?" Garfiel demanded as Patrasche came to a stop.
"Oh, I'm great!" Subaru chuckled. "I even got my monthly bath out of the way!"
Garfiel and Felt jumped off the driver platform and raced to Subaru 's side.
"We saw what happened to Vincent and the Ironborn when we were coming back with the wagon!" Garfiel exclaimed. "That was insane!"
"Subaru!" Felt snarled, squeezing him tight. "Don't you ever do anything that crazy ever again!"
"I promise nothing," Subaru said with a laugh.
Felt sighed and pressed her forehead against his chest.
Beatrice struggled to get out of the wagon, so Reinhard helped her. Beatrice rushed right to Subaru 's side, and he knelt to give her a big hug. "Betty's contractor is completely mad, in fact!" Beatrice huffed. "But… Betty is glad that you're safe, I suppose…"
"Lord Subaru," Reinhard whispered. He looked around, clearly uncertain if he still belonged there. "I…" He trailed off.
Subaru gave him a fond smile. "Get over here, Red. Give us a hug," He said, seizing him in a large embrace.
Reinhard 's eyes widened in shock. His eyes grew watery, and he hugged him back.
"Subaru Natsuki!"
Subaru looked up just as Crusch rode up with Felix and Julius. Mimi rode behind Julius, and she quickly slipped off the dragon before it had even stopped so she could rush to Beatrice 's side.
Subaru sighed. "Hello, Crusch," He said dully.
Crusch slid off her dragon. She stared at Subaru for a moment as if weighing what to say. "I'm… glad that you're still alive," She said finally.
Subaru actually chuckled. "Thanks, Crusch. You too," He snickered.
Crusch flushed. "Subaru Natsuki, what fate has befallen the Ironborn? Are they destroyed?"
"Uh, unfortunately not," Subaru admitted. "They're still out there. You can break the things into dust, and they'll still try to reform."
"Then they'll be back," Crusch said darkly. "How long until they reform?"
"They've been broken into tiny flakes and scattered everywhere from here to the mouth of the Gandahar Jungle," Subaru said. "It'll be weeks. Maybe even months if we're lucky, but after that, they'll be back. And the next time, Vincent will be ready to go on the offensive with his whole army."
Crusch nodded. "But still, this will give us valuable time to prepare," She murmured. She gave him a considering look. "What do you plan to do next?"
"I need to head to Gusteko," Subaru said at once. "A friend of ours is in big trouble. She needs our help."
Crusch looked awkward. "Subaru Natsuki," She muttered, "I… I daresay that much of the world could use your help right now! " She said in the tone of one making a reluctant admission. "What will we do about the Ironborn? We need to have a plan to defeat them!"
"That's another good reason for going to Gusteko," Subaru said firmly. "We need to learn more about the Ironborn: where they come from, how to fight them, and what their weaknesses are. And if there's anywhere in the world where that information can be found, it's at the Grand Archives at Siros."
Crusch digested that and then slowly nodded. "I see. Yes, perhaps that is the best strategy for now. In addition, I must warn you to depart from here forthwith. Before our rendezvous with you, we happened to catch sight of the Lagunican army marching toward Priestella. It 's being led by Colonel Brasca, one of the late General Brendig's toadies and Duke Montefort's niece. I need scarcely tell you what her reaction would be should she find you here."
"Nope, that part seems clear enough," Subaru nodded fervently.
"Felix and I will go and distract them," Crusch said awkwardly, climbing back into her saddle. "That should give you ample time to make your escape." She hesitated. "Please. If you do learn anything of value regarding the Ironborn, send me word."
Subaru nodded. "I promise, Crusch," He said simply.
Felix and Crusch rode off.
"Subaru Natsuki," Julius said, sounding puzzled. "You said that you are traveling to Gusteko?"
Subaru nodded. "A certain mutual friend of ours is in trouble, and she needs help."
Julius digested that, and then he actually smiled. "Then the winds of fortune have woven an interesting web of circumstance," he said, "I must also return to Gusteko to reunite with Lady Anastasia and to return Miss Mimi to her care. Subaru Natsuki, I formally request permission to again be your companion on this journey."
Subaru surprised himself by smiling back. "Sure thing, Jules. You're always a good man to have at our side. Even if you are annoying as hell," He twitted.
Jules chuckled. "And you, Subaru Natsuki, are and remain a great man. Even if your ego does dwarf some nations."
Subaru actually laughed.
"What's going on?" Mimi asked Beatrice in confusion. "Why are they saying mean things in a nice way?"
Beatrice gave Mimi a patronizing sigh. "Silly, Mimi. This is simply how some people show affection, in fact," She explained in an airy tone.
"Err…Why?" Mimi asked slowly.
Beatrice hesitated, groping for an answer. "….Betty has absolutely no idea, " She admitted quietly.
Julius and Subaru both flushed awkwardly.
Felt coughed. "Hey. We need to meet up with the twins and see if we have enough space for everybody to escape together," She broke in. "Gramps and the twins went looking for a bigger ride."
"Wait. You think the twins are going to come with us to Gusteko?" Subaru asked in surprise.
"Yeah," Garfiel nodded. "We found out on the way here that Roswaal is actually waiting for them up there."
Subaru frowned. "Alright then," He grumbled. "I've been meaning to have a long talk with that clown…"
"Yeah. I want a piece of that action," Garfiel grumbled. "I still haven't forgiven him for the Sanctuary attack."
"I'll go and search for them," Julius offered, remounting his dragon and pulling Mimi up behind him. "You had all best plan our route of departure and do so swiftly."
Julius rode away.
"Ah, Cecil," Vincent said serenely. "It's just like the old days, isn't it?"
Vincent reclined beneath a tree with his hands folded behind his head. Cecilus struggled to start a campfire.
"What?" Cecilus asked in confusion.
"It's just like the old days," Vincent said fondly. "Remember during the fight for the throne? Just you and me against the world? Spending all of our time together?"
Cecilus blew on the embers, trying to get them to burn. "I do miss all the time we spent together, " He admitted. "But I'd rather we spent it in a nice bed instead of a cold bedroll."
Vincent chuckled. "Victory has made you soft, Cecil," He chided.
"You should talk! Getting you off of that boat when the Whale attacked was bad enough. Not to mention shadowing you through that jungle."
"Still, you do look good in a dress," Vincent commented seriously.
Cecilus flushed. "What I'm trying to say is, what's the point in winning an Empire if you're still spending all your time fighting for it?" He complained.
"To renounce war is to renounce what is best in life," Vincent replied. "Any truly free man is a warrior. Otherwise, he's nothing more than a slave to those men who fight to preserve his safety and possessions."
Cecilus sighed, struggling to start the fire. "Life according to Vince," He muttered.
"Hm. That might be an idea. Perhaps I'll write a book when this campaign is over," He said thoughtfully.
"Vince, if you don't mind my saying so, you're taking this whole mess awfully well," Cecilus pointed out as the fire finally began to build. "Subaru Natsuki has completely outfoxed us! The Ironborn are destroyed, and now the two of us, just the two of us, are limping back to the Crystal Palace in defeat!"
"A minor skirmish in a major campaign," Vincent waved it off. "And the Ironborn are not destroyed. Just temporarily… unavailable. Subaru Natsuki did ruin my opening gambit, but I still have all the advantages. Victory is only a matter of time."
"I've always admired your fortitude, Vincent," A woman's voice said pleasantly.
Cecilus was on his feet in the blink of an eye. He held the hilts of swords firmly, looking around the clearing for the intruder.
A moment later, a small person with pink hair strolled calmly into view. Her eyes burned like yellow lanterns, and her gray face was a network of fine scars that looked like cracks.
"Sphinx," Vincent said calmly. Cecilus immediately started to draw his swords, but Vince gestured at him to stay his hand, and Cecilus backed down with a growl at the tiny elf. "I confess, I wasn't expecting to see you so soon."
"Well, you must be running out of time by now. I thought that I would offer you a last chance to salvage our alliance."
"Alliance?" Vincent raised an eyebrow while Cecilus seethed. "Sphinx, I would remind you that you poisoned me two years ago. And you never lost an opportunity to remind me that without regular doses of the antidote, I would die in short order. An 'alliance' isn't precisely what I would call our relationship."
"A small concession to my own safety," Sphinx waved it off. "Don't forget, with my assistance, you managed to break the Arcani's power as well as the Senate's and to secure the rule of the Empire all to yourself."
"Yes, that was most appreciated," Vincent acknowledged. "Your list of Arcani operatives was extremely helpful."
Sphinx looked off into the distance. "I'm very old, you know, Vincent," Sphinx said in a meditative voice. "One of the problems with being old is that you don't change very much. Nor do you expect others to do so. I kept seeing you as the brash young boy that I met all those years ago."
Vincent shrugged. "Things change," He said.
"So they do," Sphinx mused. "I must admit that I was very impressed by your efforts to double-cross me. Don't get me wrong, I was absolutely livid at the time, but it was still very good work. How long were you storing the dregs of each antidote that I gave you to build yourself a buffer?"
"Oh, from the very beginning."
"Clever boy," Sphinx acknowledged. "But you haven't gotten any more supplies in months. You must be just about out by now. And without any more antidote, you're as good as dead. So, I'd say this would be a fine time to renegotiate our arrangement."
Vincent chuckled. "And exactly what did you have in mind?"
"It's very much like our original deal," Sphinx said. "The Demi-Human Alliance will aid you in consolidating control over Vollachia. Then, when everything is ready, you'll attack the Dragon Kingdom, and we'll ensure your victory. Following this, you ensure that demi-humans are placed in positions of authority."
"If they deserve it," Vincent reminded her, "I have no objection to a General staff composed solely of demi-humans, but only if they prove to be superior in all the necessary skills."
Sphinx waved her hand dismissively. "That is a non-factor. Demi-Human superiority is simply science."
"Perhaps, but I might prefer a little bit more proof before appointing my new General staff," Vincent said in an amused voice. He cocked his head. "I assume that you want more now. That was, as you said, our original bargain, ignoring the factor of the poison, but after all this, I can't believe you'd be satisfied with going back to the same old arrangement."
"Very perceptive," Sphinx muttered, "I still haven't forgiven you for that double-cross."
"I thought so. And what else do you want now?" Vincent said with a chuckle.
"Your harem."
"You want my harem?" Vincent said in surprise. "I didn't know that about you, Sphinx. If I'd known you had an interest in beautiful women, I could have given you several treats over the years."
"I want your harem dissolved," Sphinx elaborated. "You will repopulate it entirely with demi-humans."
Vincent chuckled. "I'm sure that the people of the Empire will be quite surprised at this new fetish that I've apparently acquired," He remarked.
"The future Emperor of Vollachia will be one of us, raised in our traditions," Sphinx continued. "I've already prepared four candidates for your harem. They're all extremely beautiful. Two cat-girls, a kitsune, and a snakeskin."
"Beauty is delightful," Vincent interjected, "But the bigger concern is power and brains. I need powerful and brilliant offspring, not simply good-looking ones."
"I am aware," Sphinx waved this aside. "You will have no objections here. The cat-girls are powerful mages, and the kitsune and the snakeskin are some of our most gifted operatives in stealth and assassination."
"Sounds promising," Vincent admitted. "So, just to summarize, our new deal requires me to ensure that all my children are of demi-human blood, bring the Empire and the Dragon Kingdom around to your demi-human supremacist ideology, and live out my days as your comfortable puppet. Have I nailed all the pertinent details?"
Sphinx pulled a vial of dark green liquid out of her robe. "Do we have a deal?"
Vincent considered it for a moment. "I will give you… none of those things, " he said calmly.
Sphinx stared at him, her face expressionless. "I never thought that you would die for pride alone."
"Well, first, allow me to make you a counteroffer," Vincent said cheerfully.
"And what's that?" Sphinx grumbled.
"Do you remember Libre Fermi?" Vincent asked.
Sphinx stiffened. "An old friend of mine. Long dead now. Why?"
"Terrible what happened to her, wasn't it?" Vincent commiserated. "Libre was an authentic political genius! She breathed life into the Demi-Human Alliance almost singlehandedly. And she was popular! Most Lagunican demi-humans still bless her name in their prayers even today. She came so close. She almost convinced a large number of the human peasants to support the Alliance's goals. Before she was murdered, I mean. After that, the Demi-Human Alliance was pretty much finished. The rest of the war was simply detail," He finished sadly.
"Where are you going with all this?"
"How much would you give for the identity of her murderer?" Vincent asked calmly.
Sphinx stared at him. "Libre died in battle. Her murderers were killed the same way."
"No," Vincent smirked. "That's what you told everybody happened. And they believed you. Why wouldn't they? Lots of people died like that. But Libre was assassinated with magic. Her body was cut to pieces with powerful spells."
"Are you accusing me?"
"No. That's something for the Alliance to do," Vincent said cheerfully. "I understand why you did it. You were sick of playing the second fiddle. You knew that you could direct the Alliance much better than Libre ever could, but she kept refusing to listen to your suggestions. So you got her alone during the battle, and you killed her when you thought that nobody was looking. Then, after the battle was over, you went back for her body to cover up the evidence… but you couldn't find it."
Sphinx said nothing.
"For the first few weeks, you walked on eggshells," Vincent continued. "Always wondering who could have taken her body and when they might turn up to expose or extort you. But then you started to relax. You took command over the Demi-Human Alliance, and you led it through the tail end of the war. But the problem was, despite your protestations to the contrary, you weren't half the leader that Libre was, nor even a passable politician. The only thing that you excelled at was sorcery which was the niche where Libre tried to keep you. You see, the problem with you as a leader, Sphinx, is that you keep trying to find magical and technical solutions to social problems. There was no more outreach to the humans or suggestions of compromise even when the Alliance's manpower started to dry up. That's why the Alliance collapsed."
"This is all ancient history," Sphinx murmured.
"Not so ancient," Vincent disagreed. "Hypothetically, what do you think would happen if the Alliance was given evidence on a silver platter that you murdered Libre Fermi?"
Sphinx didn 't answer.
"I mean, she was and still is way more popular than you," Vincent noted, "I think that you'd find the whole Alliance joining forces to hunt you down and kill you! Heck, the kingdom might even help them do it. Imagine that: the kingdom and the Alliance working together to kill an unfinished, incomplete witch. It's kind of poetic, really."
"You have Libre's body?" Sphinx demanded.
Vincent smiled.
"I think that you're bluffing."
"No, you don't," Vincent said with a laugh, "You know me better than that."
Sphinx stood completely silent for a long moment. "We could still die together. If you don't get more of the antidote that I make for you, you'll die. Your reservoir of antidote must be nearly exhausted by now. "
"Oh. Actually…" Vincent hesitated and then shrugged. "It turns out that I don't need the antidote anymore. I'm cured!"
Sphinx started. "What? How is that possible?"
"Well, Sphinx, after deciding that our relationship wasn't exactly serving my needs anymore, I decided to find a new patron. A much more bumbling one, I admit, but she suits my purposes."
"What are you talking about?"
"Just before the Night of Bloody Knives," Vincent mused, "We captured an intruder in the Hall of Relics. Someone had broken in to steal one of our treasures, specifically Typhon's ring. Unfortunately for her, our alarms were designed specifically to detect if we were under attack by Archbishops or anyone else possessing an Authority. The palace guard captured her. She seemed to have no control or understanding of her powers. She was difficult to pin down at first, but ultimately, Cecilus did bring her to heel, and he dragged her before me. The witch begged me for her life, and she offered me gifts in order to ransom herself. First and foremost was a cure for the poison. I was skeptical at first but very impressed with the results of what she gave me. Secondly, she told me where to find Libre Fermi's body to blackmail you as needed. And finally, she told me all about the Ironborn, the staff, and the key to my ultimate victory."
Sphinx stared at him in disbelief. "Who… could possibly have offered you such a thing?"
Vincent chuckled. "Thank the gods for the Witch of Gifts."
To Vincent 's surprise, Sphinx actually staggered back a step. "…You didn't. You… you didn 't …" She whispered in horror.
Vincent frowned. "She was useful, and it seemed like more than a fair trade. By her own admission, she is the weakest witch to ever live. I granted her her freedom, and she gave me what I needed."
"You didn't free her!" Sphinx spat. "You never captured her! She's just playing you for a fool!"
Vincent considered the charge carefully and then shrugged. "So far, everything seems to be going just fine and I haven't seen her reappear to demand anything else from me or to interfere in my goals. Honestly, I must say that I like her deals more than yours."
Sphinx fumed. "The Deceitful Witch's purpose is never what it seems, and her strength is always greater than she reveals," She grated. "She will discard you the instant that you outlive your usefulness. She has always destroyed everyone foolish enough to trust her. "
Vincent 's eyes narrowed. "Who says that I do?" He growled. "We made a bargain. As far as I'm concerned, that's all that she's good for. I have my Ironborn now, and if I'm lucky, I'll never see the witch again."
"You will not be so lucky," Sphinx warned him in a dire voice. "You think that you can control her? Pandora isn't a woman. She's a force of nature. No one controls her. She devours those foolish enough to try. She has a dream, Vincent. A beautiful, terrible dream that will make monsters of us all… And she'll stop at nothing to make it real."
"Ah. Then it is fortunate that I have you to help me prepare for her," Vincent said cheerfully.
Sphinx 's eyes widened and then narrowed. "I see. That's your offer. Evidence of Libre's death remains hidden so long as I do your bidding."
"You nailed it," Vincent smiled. "All the same, I don't think you'll find it that unpleasant to work for me. I am soon to become ruler of both the Empire and the Dragon Kingdom, and unlike its current regime, I have no objection to demi-humans occupying high positions. Nor of having demi-humans for my children. So be of good cheer, Sphinx. You're going to get what you wanted. You're going to change the world for demi-humans everywhere. You're going to be a hero. And all you have to do to get it is be a good little dog and do exactly what I say."
Sphinx fumed. "…And what sort of tasks do you have for me?" Sphinx asked quietly.
"First and foremost," Vincent said, "I need more Ironborn. More importantly, I need Ironborn, who can be assigned to follow the orders of my junior officers. Where can I find more of them?"
"At the Forge."
"And where is that?"
"I have no idea," Sphinx said smugly.
Vincent looked annoyed. "Well. Finding out is your first task. Do we have a deal?"
Sphinx stared at him for a long moment. "I accept."
Vincent looked surprised. "Hm. I thought you might have argued a bit first."
"I accepted because I want to be here to see the look on your face when you discover what sort of devil's bargain you actually made by taking the witch's salt," Sphinx said with venom.
Vincent made a face. "You're awfully self-righteous for a woman who's been trying to kill me for the past week."
"What are you talking about?"
Vincent looked annoyed. "Don't waste my time, Sphinx. Have you already forgotten about reviving the White Whale and sending it to attack me? Not to mention the draugr attack," He snorted.
Sphinx stared at him in silence. "I did not revive the White Whale. I lack the power to do so. And I sent none of the draugr that I 'd managed to take control of beyond the edge of the jungle. The risk of them falling into enemy hands was too great."
Vincent frowned at her.
Sphinx suddenly smirked. "On a related note, did you ever discover how Subaru Natsuki escaped from your palace?"
Vincent raised an eyebrow at the unexpected change of subject. "Yes. We found an old abandoned escape tunnel in the Hall of Relics. Now sealed up."
"Hm. How interesting."
"Interesting?"
"Then Subaru Natsuki left your palace through the Hall of Relics," Sphinx said thoughtfully. "How strange that your much-vaunted 'Authority alarms' didn't get triggered this time," She hissed.
Vincent 's face clouded in worry.
"I hope that Rom and the twins picked out something big enough for everybody," Subaru muttered. "If Patrasche has to pull a wagon all the way to Siros, she's really going to make her displeasure felt."
"Seriously? That's what we're worried about right now?" Felt asked sarcastically. "A Lagunican army is about to descend on us, an army that would be happy to murder us, mind you. Red's lost his power, the Vollachian Emperor has found the ultimate weapon, and we're about to go back to Gusteko where at least half of us are wanted criminals. But sure, let's worry about the earth dragon's feelings!"
Patrasche bent over Felt 's head and snorted. The dragon sent a gust of hot air straight down the back of her shirt.
Felt looked shocked. "Whoa! OK, I take it all back! Let's do whatever we have to do to keep the dragon happy!"
Patrasche gave a satisfied cluck.
From the back of the wagon, Emilia let out a faint moan.
"Lia!" Puck cried out, his expression worried sick.
Subaru raced over to the wagon as Emilia 's eyes fluttered. She peered around blearily.
"Lia! Are you alright?!" Puck said desperately, throwing himself into her arms and holding on for dear life.
Emilia smiled gently. "Daddy," She whispered.
Subaru watched the reunion with a familiar mix of fondness and jealousy. He gave them a moment, and then he cleared his throat.
Emilia looked up at him with a smile.
"Mili, are you alright?" He asked.
"I'm fine, Subaru. I-"
"Where is Betty's mother's Book?!" Beatrice cried out frantically.
Beatrice grabbed the side of the wagon and fought heroically to pull herself over the rim. Unfortunately, the tiny spirit was lacking in upper body strength and she fell back down to the ground.
Subaru calmly lifted her up into the wagon.
Emilia frowned, and then her eyes widened as she remembered. "Subaru! I met a woman in the Od Laguna! She took the Book! "
Subaru blinked. "A woman? Who was she?" He asked.
"I'm not sure…" Emilia trailed off with a worried expression. "She had long white hair and dark eyes. She said that… the Book was hers."
"Mother!" Beatrice gasped, her eyes shining with awe.
Puck showed no reaction to the news whatsoever.
"Maybe," Subaru cautioned Beatrice. "It's possible that she was lying."
Emilia 's eyes widened. "Subaru! I saw something! In the Od Laguna, I had a vision!"
Subaru nodded. "Yeah. Reinhard and I had a few ourselves."
"I… You and Reinhard?" She asked, thrown off step. "You went into the Od Laguna?"
"Not exactly," Subaru said with a shrug. "It was more like the Od Laguna came into us. The visions were pretty freaky, but you don't need to worry about them. They're all fake."
"Fake?! What do you mean?"
Subaru shrugged. "The Od Laguna is where reality and possibility collide. Reinhard and I went through three different possible timelines that never happened. The visions are all scary enough, but you can safely ignore them."
"No," Emilia swore. "Subaru, I know that what I saw was real!"
Subaru frowned. "Mili, what did you see?"
Emilia opened her mouth and then hesitated. "I saw… a strange witch with a bow saving the elves," She said finally.
Subaru cocked his head. "Um… OK. Why is that important?"
Emilia 's face was carefully blank. "I guess that it's not," She shrugged.
Subaru frowned, and Puck looked suspicious.
I can 't tell Subaru about what I saw, Emilia realized because I am going to learn the name of the witch who ruined my life. And then I 'm going to make her pay for it.
If Subaru knew that I 'd seen the person who murdered my parents and attacked the forest, he'd know that I'd never quit searching until I got revenge for the way that they ruined all those lives. And he'd definitely try to stop me.
Even ignoring the fact this person frightened Regulus, Subaru would still try to keep me as far away from danger as possible.
I can 't tell him what I'm planning. I'll need to figure this out entirely on my own.
At the moment of making this decision, Emilia suddenly felt terribly lonely.
"Subaru," Emilia quickly pressed ahead, "Where do we go now?"
"We're headed to Gusteko," He said.
"Gusteko?"
Subaru nodded. "We need to find the secret of the Ironborn. And I probably forgot to tell you this, but I met with one of Anri's shadows at the Crystal Palace. They say that she's in danger. She needs our help."
Emilia 's eyes widened. "Anri's in trouble ?! Then what are we just sitting around here for?! Let 's go!"
Before Subaru could reply, Julius came riding up on his earth dragon with Mimi behind him. In their train, Rem drove an enormous carriage pulled by four dragons.
Subaru inspected the huge carriage. "That's… pretty big," He muttered. "How did you get that?"
"We told them that Miss Crusch would pay for it," Mimi pipped up.
Subaru shook his head with a rueful smile.
Just when Crusch and I were finally starting to get along …
"We need to depart at once!" Julius said. "Brasca's forces are just over that bend. They know that you are in the area, and they have brought a full continent of dragon cavalry. If they see us, we'll never escape."
Subaru nodded and quickly unhitched Patrasche from the wagon, which the dragon met with clear relief. The dragon stretched and shook herself with a happy expression, her scales rattling and clattering.
"I'll ride Patrasche," Subaru said, putting the saddle on Patrasche, "The rest of you get in the carriage. Julius, let's you and I ride ahead a little ways and make sure that there's no trouble. Brasca might have sent out scouts ahead."
"A wise precaution," Julius nodded as Felt, Garfiel, and Reinhard climbed into the carriage.
Emilia came to Subaru and helped him saddle the dragon. "Mili, you're exhausted. Maybe you should ride in the-"
"I'm riding with you," Emilia said calmly.
Subaru sighed, knowing better than to force the issue.
Subaru climbed up into the saddle, and Emilia climbed up behind him. Puck drifted down onto her shoulder and Subaru lifted Beatrice into the saddle, putting her in front of him.
Beatrice looked nervously at the riding dragon.
"Alright!" Subaru shouted. "Let's get out of here while the getting's good!"
Subaru kicked Patrasche, and she sprang off like a shot with a wild cry of joy. Julius quickly paced him as the carriage followed them over the hills and to the north.
"Ugh! This is infuriating!" Lye snapped.
That night, Lye and Capella wandered the streets of Hahn, a large town high up in the Vollachian mountains. It was so high up in the mountains that there was still snow on the ground despite it nearly being summer. The hour was late, but the streets were still busy, and people bustled in every direction.
None of the town residents had the slightest inkling that they were walking by a pair of literal monsters, two of the worst mass murderers in history.
Lye was livid, and normally, he 'd have already killed someone just to vent his frustration, but his orders were to be discrete, and to Lye, that instruction meant just one thing: Don't kill anybody.
Any form of greater subtlety like 'try to blend in' and 'don't attract attention to yourself' did not occur to him.
Lye and Capella passed a large inn with firelight shining through the windows.
Lye sniffed the air and peered through the glass. His face lit up. "Oh! I think they're serving Cioppino! Do we have time for a snack?"
At this question, Capella clapped both hands over her mouth and violently retched.
She collapsed onto the snowy ground, doubling over with a dry heave. She hacked, retched, and finally spat out a mouthful of phlegmy threads, the clear sign of an empty stomach that was still fighting to purge itself.
Lye looked at Capella nervously. She 'd been almost completely silent on this mission. Ordinarily, that would be a huge improvement compared to Capella's normal narcissistic and taunting personality, but now, Capella was beginning to scare him.
This was the first time that Lye had seen Capella since he 'd dropped her off at the Cathedral for the Lady's punishment. When they'd met tonight, he'd barely recognized her.
Capella had always been skinny, but now she was nothing but skin and bones, her eyes sunken and unhealthy-looking. All night, she had compulsively kept wiping her mouth with her sleeve. Her expression was haunted, and each time that Lye mentioned food, she nearly threw up.
Lye was becoming very confident that he did not want to know how the Lady had punished the Archbishop of Lust. He was even more confident that he wanted to stay very much on the Lady 's good side.
Lye sighed, stepping around a filthy beggar who sat on the curb wearing a tattered gray cloak. "I give up. Our information must be wrong."
"The Gospels are never wrong!" Capella said, her weak voice sounded like shards of grinding glass.
"We've searched the entire city! I know that the Lady sent us to find Regulus, but he's just not here!" Lye pointed out.
"Why does the Lady want him anyway?" Capella moaned.
Lye smirked. "The Lady is really mad at him. First, he takes the charm away from Subaru Natsuki, and then he lets the elf escape, " He almost purred. "The Lady said that he ruined her whole plan. I can't wait to see what she 'll do to him."
Capella shuddered, and her face turned green. "What charm?"
Lye shrugged. "I don't know," He said indifferently. "Subaru is supposed to be under some sort of enchantment so that no witch can find him unless he goes looking for her first. But apparently, he had some sort of charm the Lady had given him a long time ago, and that allowed her to keep tabs on him anyway. But when Regulus captured the elf, he accidentally stole the charm, too. That meant the Lady couldn't find Subaru after the elf was captured. It ruined her whole plan."
Lye scanned the street with an expression of disgust. "Alright. I give up. He's not here."
"We can't just leave empty-handed!" Capella cried out, terror written all over her face.
"Where the hell is left for us to look?!"
She ignored the question. "Do you know what she'll do to us if she decides we failed ? " Capella's voice shook.
No. And I don 't want to know either.
Lye face-palmed. "Capella, unless I pull down on this street lamp," He gestured toward a nearby metal lamppost, "And a secret tunnel opens up in the street; we have searched every single inch of this city! He 's not here. He 's not exactly unobtrusive, you know! We'd notice him pretty damn quickly if he were anywhere inside of twenty miles! He's just not here. "
Capella shivered. "Let's… let's just… check the town one more time," She said plaintively. "If we search hard enough… maybe she'll believe us when we say that it wasn't our fault."
Lye snorted. There 's nowhere left to look! But I guess she makes sense. If we have to go back empty-handed, the more effort that we put into searching, the better our odds of convincing the Lady that it really isn't our fault.
"Fine," Lye gave in. "But before we do any more searching, I'm going to get something to eat."
Capella dry-heaved and fell to her knees, her body trembling. She burst out in a coughing fit, then knelt there, panting.
Lye made a face. "…Tell you what, I think I'm going to leave you out here while I eat, " He said without a flicker of sympathy. "That OK?"
Capella shuddered as her stomach finally settled. "When I find him," She whispered hoarsely. "I'm going to shove my foot all the way up his ass and out of his mouth."
Lye snorted. "I wonder if he'll respond by telling us about 'his right' not to be sodomized."
"…my rights…" A voice whispered.
Lye froze in place, and he looked sharply at Capella. Capella made it clear that she had heard it as well.
Lye stared at the beggar seated on the curb in disbelief. Then he tore off the beggar 's heavy cloak.
Regulus sat on the curb, staring off into space with a haunted expression.
"Regulus?!" Lye gasped.
Even now, Lye couldn 't quite believe it. Regulus looked filthy; his white suit was a dingy gray, and his hair was tangled and matted. His face was covered in dirt, and his eyes were sunken and hollow. He looked like a man who had barely survived a natural disaster and long ago had given up any concern toward his appearance.
"What the hell happened to you?" Capella moaned, climbing back to her feet and rubbing her queasy stomach.
Regulus didn 't answer. He didn't even seem to be aware of the fact that someone had spoken to him.
"Not the elf," Regulus whispered, staring off into the distance. "Just leave me alone. Please. No more. I don't want the elf. I never wanted the elf. Just keep the elf. Please…"
Lye and Capella stared at one another, the loathsome enemies briefly united in shock.
Lye scratched his head in confusion. "Regulus! The Lady wants to talk to you! She wants to know what happened-" He grabbed his shoulder and squeezed hard enough to feel the bone tremble under his hand.
To Lye 's shock, he discovered that Regulus's invulnerability appeared to have vanished. He'd either lost it, or his mind was too broken to use it.
"The Lady," Regulus whimpered.
"Right, the Lady wants to see you!" Lye said, relieved that he was making some headway here. Even Capella looked unsettled at Regulus's broken mind. "She's really mad at you!"
"A message… the Lady…" Regulus said in a hollow voice. "He said… I have to give the Lady a message…"
Lye looked in disbelief at Capella, who could only shake her head. "Alright. What's the message?" He asked helplessly.
Regulus stared off into the distance with the same haggard, haunted expression. "He said that… he got tired of waiting…"
Well. That 's where we stop for now. Part 6 of this series, can you believe it? I finally broke 1 million words.
This arc was really difficult for me to write. I took a lot of chances, and I made a large number of mistakes along the way. The best I can say is that I hope this will make me a better writer in the long run.
Part of the trouble with Part 6 was because a lot of this was originally going to be the back end of Part 5. In my original plan, The Ironborn were sleeping under Girali instead of Daphne, and Sonas wanted to control them. However, the staff would be stolen by Cecilus, and this would build up Vincent as a new threat to our heroes and the entire world. One of the main reasons I separated the story was, in addition to the damn thing just getting way too long, I didn 't want to introduce Anise in the same volume that Pandora revealed herself.
As a result, I needed a new plot and new stakes. I 'll start out by addressing the elephant in the room which is Regulus and Emilia. As far back as Part 2, I knew that Emilia would have to be the one who finally confronted Regulus, but by the time I reached Arc 6, I fought like hell to keep it from happening. I suffer along with my characters and I just didn't want to put Emilia through that hell.
I worked on this story for about 16 months. And for three-quarters of it, I desperately tried to avoid giving Emilia and Regulus that confrontation. I tried every other plot line that I could think of. And then (this is a little hard to explain if you 're not a writer, but bear with me here) Emilia sat me down and told me to knock it off. She said, 'Things have to happen when it's time,' and it was time for this.
When you 're writing, and you get that kind of message from a character, there's really nothing you can do but give in, so I took her advice, and the story quickly fell into its current shape. I spent a ton of time working on Emilia's captivity, but I can't say that I'm really satisfied with it. It still feels weak and thin to me. Emilia just doesn't get undermined in the way that I wanted, and it doesn't really give Emilia the chance to grow and overcome her circumstances that I wanted her to have. Emilia does exceed everyone's expectations, including her own, by defeating Regulus. She realizes that he's terrified of Pandora and that she can use that against him. She uses her brain and courage against Regulus's overwhelming power. But it just didn't pan out as well as I hoped. I was worried sick that this plot point would sink the whole book, and I'm still waiting to see how people felt about it.
Emilia 's kidnapping is one of the few scenes in the original web novel that stuck with me but that was because I found it at least 50% annoying. When I read the scene in the web novel, it seemed like, at first, Emilia was going to be too stupid to even realize that she'd been abducted despite waking up naked in a strange place. It felt like she expected to be able to simply walk out the door by her own request.
You may think this is stupid, but I found writing Emilia 's "5 Days of Torment," as I describe them in my outline, to be physically painful. I hate Regulus and having to crawl inside of his skin and see what he sees and feel what he feels was abhorrent to me. I still felt like Emilia should have been made to suffer more during her sojourn in Regulus's mansion so that the final payoff would be stronger, but I couldn't find a way to make that work. I didn't want to descend into torture porn. Initially, the time spent in Regulus's mansion was much more violent, but I discovered a few important lessons about writing violence. Violence against your characters requires stakes to be meaningful. If they're a main character and the reader doesn't believe that you'll seriously hurt, main, or kill your character, then investment is minimized. This is actually the same problem with canon Subaru. The suffering he goes through only has meaning to him. No matter how much he suffers, the reset invalidates it. I realized that if all that Regulus was going to do was physically abuse her, the mansion saga would get boring fast. So, I rewrote the sections to put an emphasis on Regulus's domineering and brainwashing.
To me, Regulus is a terrible character to work with for a couple of reasons. One, he 's so OP that he's a threat that the good guys need to run away from rather than fight, so you can't use him in most situations. This is known as the Superman problem in fiction. People understand that OP heroes are bad, but folks tend not to realize the fact that OP villains can be just as boring. If the villain is OP, then you can't use him very much. He's a threat to run away from rather than confront, and that prevents you from using him as a character. He's more like a storm on the horizon. The other problem is that Regulus is extremely boring to me.
I should be clear about what I mean by that. When I first introduced the Archbishops back in Part 2, I wrote their backstories to try and get a firm grip on their characters. Capella and the Gluttony triplets all had sympathetic backstories (we might see them at some point) that don 't excuse what they do, but they do explain how their poor choices ultimately reduced them to irredeemable monsters.
Regulus … just didn't have any of that. When I tried to dig into the character, there was just nothing there. He's just… a cowardly, mean-spirited little bully with more power than he knows what to do with. There's nothing in his history that would give anything that he does pathos. He's just a selfish sociopathic coward.
That was really the only thing I was able to dig out of Regulus 's back story when I tried writing it: I knew that he was terrified of the whole world. No one ever acts like this big of a control freak unless they're utterly terrified of not being in control. Anyone with Regulus's kind of power could easily have conquered entire nations, but that's not how Regulus behaves. He needs a small kingdom to rule over where he can maintain absolute control. Anything else frightens him.
I think that establishing that Regulus 's power separates him from the world, denying him any form of sensation or pleasure, is very important to the character. It shows just how far he's willing to go to keep himself safe.
As a result, Regulus is kind of pathetic when you stop and think about it. He lives in a dollhouse just so he can hide from the outside world. Even after he 's almost literally invincible, he's still afraid. He just changes what he's afraid of.
Believe it or not, my version of Regulus is actually afraid of his wives. Not necessarily that they could hurt him, but he 's afraid that they could laugh at him. That's the other thing that I was sure of: Regulus remembers every single time in his life that anyone has ever laughed at him. He lacks the emotional tools to deal with it, and more than anything else, he fears being laughed at because it makes him feel small and weak.
To me, there 's just nothing interesting to Regulus. He's just too small and pathetic to make a good villain. He's a very ordinary kind of evil that is buttressed by giving him an enormous amount of power that he literally doesn't know what to do with. Regulus is sort of the Deloris Uxbridge of this universe in that he's a very banal and ordinary kind of evil, and because we've all encountered people like Regulus (or at least people who would act like him if they could), he's a very personal kind of enemy.
I rewrote Regulus to focus on emotional manipulation, acting like an insane reverend or cult leader. I 'm not sure if this is true to the character as I think Regulus is both too dumb and too lazy to be manipulative or an effective cult leader. I devised the Mirror Room as a tool that Pandora had once given him when she still wished to cozen him as a means to bypass those limitations. I doubt that Regulus has the skill to try and break anyone emotionally without the Mirror Room. He'd just physically abuse them until they either gave in or he killed them.
As a result of all this, Emilia 's arc in the mansion didn't really live up to my expectations, mainly because I couldn't think of any way to make Regulus act like a more interesting character.
I enjoyed watching Regulus be broken by Al, though. It was finally time to establish that the Archbishops weren 't nearly as powerful in the grand scheme of things as they were acting. Originally, there was a scene after that where Echidna encountered Regulus and she would finish him off, reclaiming her stolen power. I regret cutting that scene purely because Echidna's thunderstruck reaction to how full of himself Regulus was, compared to how little of her power he could actually use, struck me as entertaining. Echidna would have canceled his ability and obliterated him without any effort at all. The scene would have helped establish the power gap between the Archbishops and the witches in a way that I don't think Al's confrontation with Regulus or even Daphne's fight with Lye did.
Regulus and Vincent are both characters that I view as foils for Subaru. They 're the sort of men that Subaru could have become under different circumstances. Regulus represents Subaru's fears of abandonment and desperate need for affection if it was permitted to consume him. In fact there is a seriously, seriously dark What If story that I've wanted to tell for a long time where Subaru really goes completely to the dark side and becomes very much like a smarter, more effective Regulus. Unfortunately, this What If story also required that Pandora be revealed as Anise, so it's been on the back burner for a couple of years.
Vincent, on the other hand, is a cold ruler who Subaru could have become if he didn 't have his friends to keep him grounded. Vincent is smart, even brilliant, and he truly desires to have Subaru as a friend since Subaru is the only man that he's ever regarded as close to an equal. Vincent genuinely doesn't understand Subaru's dislike of him since he views manipulation as just a normal aspect of interpersonal relationships, especially for an Emperor or anyone else on that level of influence.
And yes, Vincent and Cecilus do have a thing going on, although not necessarily a healthy one. Vincent respects Cecilus as much as he does anyone. Much like his sister, he believes 'respect' is more valuable than affection. It's not an uncommon attitude among Vollachian aristocrats.
When Subaru first came to this world after more than two years of hiding in his room, his personality was very weak and malleable. He could easily have become someone very different. If he hadn 't met Emilia and had bonded with someone else, he could have become a very different character. Vincent is who I think Subaru might have turned into if he had met Priscilla in that alleyway and bonded with her. Regulus, or rather the 'Pontiff' that we see in Subaru's vision, is who he would have become if he had met Lye or someone else who fed his desires of being special and being too important to worry about ordinary people's concerns.
What I managed to do with Vollachia 's culture didn't satisfy me. Partially because a lot of the ideas I wanted to use for Vollachia ended up being used in Girali, and Vollachia felt a little thin to me as a result. I knew that Regulus lived in Vollachia with his harem, and I knew that Priscilla's father had a harem. So, making Vollachians anti-feminists just made sense to me. I also borrowed a lot of Vollachian social structure from Sparta. The ways that they treated the kholops (kholops is a Russian word for serf) were directly inspired by the Spartan helots, but those were slaves, not serfs. It might have been easier to make the kholops slaves instead, but after spending the whole last arc dealing with slavery, I wanted to back away from that concept a little.
I 'm also a little worried about Priscilla's portrayal. Priscilla was always intended to be a strong and haughty character, but in this book, we see how she behaves around someone that she truly adores and even considers to be her superior. Poor Priscilla's heart is now broken. Priscilla's role in the story made me very nervous because she's supposed to be a strong and domineering character, but she also has a heart and is capable of real tenderness when she cares about someone. This meant that I needed to show Priscilla's more loving side, especially in regard to Vincent. I'm not sure how well this all worked out.
I 've been planning to introduce the Ironborn for a while now. They're the main force behind Helios's army, and I wanted to bring them back. Still, robots and fantasy don't always fit together well, even if you're officially establishing them as golems. I guess we'll see how folks feel about them. But now that our gang has defeated Capella and Regulus, we need a new villain to maintain tension until the witches are ready for their big reveal. Daphne would like to report that while rocks are very filling, they're also not terribly nutritious.
I 've wanted to reveal Sekhmet's story for a while now as well as to imply that not all the witches necessarily deserve all the bad press that they've gotten. Carmilla is actually one of my favorite witches. In my story, Carmilla is completely at the mercy of her power, and she can't stop everyone from finding her irresistible. I wanted to play with the concept of Carmilla's power as an analogy for a beautiful girl being threatened by all the male attention that she didn't ask for and can't control. I compare Carmilla to a pretty young high school girl who discovers that one day, her body is the focus of all the men in the room, despite it being the same body that she had all her life. Suddenly, it feels like she's the center of attention everywhere she goes, and sometimes that attention feels threatening.
And we finally get our first hints of Satella as a character. She 'll play a large role in future installments.
The revelation of Pandora being Anise was something that I 've been terrified that my readers would roll their eyes at. I've been planning it since at least Arc 4, but now that it's here, I have no idea how it will be received. For those who are curious, Anise Adora (Anesidora) is one of the mythological Pandora's titles. It means 'She who offers up gifts' in Greek. This is, broadly speaking, how Pandora sees herself. 'Pandora' means either 'all-gifted' or 'all-giving,' again, either way: very much as Pandora sees herself.
I do like Pandora as an adversary because I think she has some depth to her. Pandora, being the weakest witch of all time, needs to work and plan to achieve her goals rather than relying on brute force. I think that Pandora is complex, having goals and ambitions beyond simply being evil and I enjoy playing with her for that reason.
I 've been waiting to depower Reinhard for a long time now. He really needs to spend some time as a 'mortal' before he can grow as a character. Felt will, of course, be intimately involved in this as she has a bit of growing up to do herself.
The other day, I heard that there was an arc of the real re:zero story that had Sphinx building an army of the undead in Vollachia. I 'm being completely honest when I say that I had never heard of that while I was writing this story.