章 8: Chapter 8. Encounter at the loot house
Old Man Rom narrowed his gray eyes as he stared at the spirit arts user and the armored knight. His eyes were filled with strong caution and even stronger reverence.
As Felt looked at the two intruders, she also began to feel defeated.
Clang, clang, clang.
Seeing the negotiations going smoothly Orion took three slow steps into the warehouse, his armored shoes causing discernible noises as he walked. Looking at Felt, he said, "We're not the guards, so we have no interest in punishing you. We only want the insignia back."
As Orion slowly turned to look at her, Emilia nodded her head in agreement. "If you return it now, I could consider it finished."
"Damn it!" Felt gritted her teeth. Groaning out, she put her hand in her pocket and took out a three-cornered emblem, presenting it to Orion in her fingers. "Here."
Orion quickly approached Felt closer, covering the scene with his bulky armored body, and smoothly took the insignia from Felt's hands.
"You'll let me go, right? Onii-san?" Felt looked up at Orion with shining eyes like those of a pleading cat.
However, before Orion could answer, a dull and suspicious sound was heard from the outside that interrupted his train of thought, together with Subaru's exclamation: "Damn! Seriously? An assassin?!"
Afterwards, Orion heard Reinhard's calm voice, "In the end Orion-sama's prediction turned out to be correct. Black clothes, black hair and a curved blade characteristic of the north nation. You are the 'Bowel Hunter', am I correct?"
"Bowel Hunter? What's with that super creepy nickname?" Subaru commented at the side.
"It was derived from her unique killing style. Her name is known even in the capital as that of a dangerous individual. It is good that I came here."
As Orion returned to the doorframe and to Emilia, he saw the scene of Reinhard standing straight at the ready next to Subaru and the small dwarf.
At the same time, an attractive young woman in a trenchcoat was brushing off the debris from her clothes after she apparently crashed into the slums' building behind her during the previous confrontation.
The woman placed her fingers on her face as she devilishly smiled and chuckled. "~Haha! How wonderful! I moved in to eliminate what seemed to be the most annoying person here first, but it turned out to be someone very special. I'm so happy!!!"
"..."
After a moment's pause, the Bowel Hunter's expression turned more focused as she eyed Reinhard and continued, "You are Reinhard, right? The knight among knights, born to a line of sword saints. How incredible! To think I'd encounter such an interesting opponent today!"
In contrast to the Bowel Hunter's heated gaze, Reinhard remained cool as he replied, "There are many things I'd like to ask you. I strongly recommend you surrender."
The assassin seductively licked her lips with her red tongue as she scanned the scene again. Eventually, she placed her finger on her lips and hummed, "Hmm. It's really unfortunate though. I would love to dissect all of you here, but I'm afraid I'll have to leave it for another day. Until then, do take good care of your bowels!"
In the next moment, she turned into a blur as she began running off somewhere, quickly disappearing from sight.
Reinhard frowned, but after looking back at the group at the warehouse, he squeezed his fists and remained in place.
Meanwhile Orion blinked his eyes twice. 'She… ran off?'
It wasn't quite what he expected.
There was no fight!
Elsa simply escaped.
Of course, she was totally outmatched here. The fact that all of her targets were together and Reinhard stood in the open to protect them also worked against her. He knew this. But escaping without even trying to fight was not something that he thought the battle crazy Elsa would do!
"Hey, Reinhard! Won't you chase her?" Subaru called out.
Reinhard began walking closer toward them as he shook his head and explained, "I also feel regretful, but we can't know if she has an accomplice who can finish the job, so I can only let her go. In this situation my priority is to protect the two Royal Candidates."
The ideal outcome was the assassin hurtling herself at him, and then he could proceed to easily apprehend her in open space by grappling her. With no obstacles or people nearby, he could exercise his full strength to swiftly capture her.
Unfortunately, she chose to escape.
'The Bowel Hunter is as troublesome as I thought. There's a high chance she'd try to strike again, so I cannot let down my guard,' Reinhard secretly thought.
"I see. That makes sense," Subaru muttered.
Reinhard ignored this and asked, "At any rate, did everything go well for you?"
"... Ah, yes. We have the insignia," Orion replied, aware that this question was mostly directed at him. He then turned toward Emilia with a small smile and extended his left hand, "Here."
Emilia received the insignia with both hands, then looked up at him with a grateful smile as she bowed her head. "Thank you, Orion-san."
"You're welcome." Orion lightly smiled.
"... No thank you for me, huh?" Subaru quietly muttered at the side.
Emilia turned to him with a soft smile and said, "Thank you too, Subaru."
Subaru waved his hand. "No, it's fine. I didn't do anything deserving of thanks. I'm just complaining that there was no chance for me to do something useful today."
"Yaaawn!" At this time, the small cat spirit materialized itself on top of Emilia's shoulder with a yawn. He lazily looked at the others and said, "Thanks, Orion. Thanks Subaru. My time is running out, so I have to leave now."
Subaru muttered, "What do you mean by your time is running out?"
Emilia looked at Puck. "I'll be safe with Reinhard and everyone. You can take a rest, Puck."
"Mmm. Thanks too, Reinhard. Gonna sleep..."
After Puck dematerialized, looking as if he had died, Subaru asked, "What was that about? Can he only stay in the human world for a limited time?"
Emilias said, "I'm not sure about the 'human world', but Puck can only stay with me from 9 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon. He had to disappear now, which means it's around that time."
"What the? Is he a public servant?" Subaru commented.
Orion was silent, only thinking, 'Is it really fine to share this kind of information?'
At this moment, Reinhard cleared his throat. Looking toward the two other people inside the warehouse, hiding in a corner, he spoke up, "I'm afraid that we'll have to question you about what happened here."
At this, Felt gulped in fear.
Taking a step closer, Reinhard asked, "What is your relation to the Bowel Hunter? Please, answer truthfully."
"It's the first time I've seen this woman. There's nothing I can tell you 'bout her," the giant said without a fuss.
At the side, Felt pursed her lips tightly as she remained quiet.
"The small one totally knows something," Subaru stated what was on everyone's mind.
Felt bit her lower lip as everyone's gazes gathered on her and she said, "She was my client. She was the one who asked me to steal the insignia. But I don't know anything apart from that! I didn't know she was some kind of killer!"
"... I see. We'll ask you more questions later, so I'm afraid we'll have to apprehend you," Reinhard calmly stated.
"What?! But the two here said they'll let me go if I return the thing!" Felt called out.
Reinhard replied, "Perhaps I could have overlooked the situation earlier, but now the case concerns an infamous killer and a Royal Candidate's life, so I cannot."
"Damn it!" Felt cursed.
Old man Rom tightened and loosened his grip on the wooden club. "It seems that we're out of luck, Felt."
Subaru sighed and commented, "As they say, you reap what you sow. You should have known that when you deal with this kind of dangerous business, you'd get caught eventually."
These two were thieves and criminals, the lowest of the low. Why would he speak up for them when he didn't even know them?
Seeing how Emilia was silent and seemed to have no intention of intervening as well, perhaps to find out more about the assassination attempt, while Felt and Rom looked to be in despair, Orion spoke up, "Reinhard, is it really necessary?"
Of course, he did not want Felt and Rom to be captured, or Felt to be around Reinhard. Ideally, he just wanted them to be ignored completely until he became an official Royal Candidate!
Everynone, including Reinhard and Subaru, looked at Orion.
Orion continued, "You know that she can't give us any more useful information. I already promised that I'll let her go. Can you close your eye on this? And you too, Emilia?"
Reinhard and Emilia looked somewhat surprised by Orion's attitude.
Emilia ascertained Felt's pleading face, then said, "If it's so important for you to keep your promise, then I suppose I could."
She shrugged her shoulders with a wry smile like it couldn't be helped. Looking at Felt, she added, "But if possible, I'd prefer you stopped doing this sort of thing entirely."
Felt opened her mouth, as if to immediately rebuke, but only ended up opening and closing her mouth as a gold-fish as if to not blow her only chance at getting away. After a few seconds, she said, "... I'll try."
Emilia sighed. Even she could detect such an obvious lie.
Beside her, Reinhard forced a small smile when he also saw through the little girl's attitude, taking it for what it is. After he looked around, he glanced at Orion and said, "Considering my duty as a knight, I shouldn't overlook your actions either. However, it's my day off, and furthermore, if the victim does not file a complaint, I suppose it would be difficult to pursue the matter due to a lack of evidence… Haha. Seriously, I don't actually know the situation, so…"
Emilia chuckled. "~Haha. You're a bad knight, Reinhard."
Reinhard plainly smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "A knight follows orders."
"Well, that was certainly an unexpected turn of events," Subaru said. Turning to Orion, he continued, "I didn't quite expect this from you, Orion. Are you sure we can let them go? What if they're NPCs important to the story?"
Orion slightly narrowed his eyes. After hearing Subaru's words, he was uncertain how to respond for a long while. Eventually coming up with a suitably reply, he cleared his throat and said, "Let's just ignore this. I doubt they will run away, so we can always question them. Is that right?"
As Orion looked at Felt, she quickly replied, "Y-yeah! We're not going anywhere!"
Old Man Rom added, "You can rest assured 'bout that. We don't want to have wanted posters of our faces everywhere and the Sword Saint chasing after us. I'm already old, so I'll probably just close the business."
"Well, that settles it then." Subaru clapped with his hands.
"Thank you, Onii-san!" Felt called out cheerfully toward Orion.
"Hn, thank you, mister." The giant bowed his bald head after making contact with Orion.
Orion faintly nodded, let out a breath and then turned away. He coughed into his fist as he looked at the others and said, "I guess we're done here."
'C'mon! Let's leave this place quickly before Reinhard notices anything wrong with Felt!!!'
'Don't look at Felt, don't look at Felt, don'tlookatFeltdon'tlookatFelt…'
In the next moment, a bright flash of light surrounded Orion, and as faded, he returned to wearing his tracksuit, both his armor and sword being gone, making him feel much lighter.
Felt and Rom were floored, while Reinhard marveled at this scene again. "It really is an interesting ability, Orion-sama. Today is the first time I've seen something like this."
Orion just shrugged and didn't reply.
He then saw Subaru staring daggers at him with his eyes, with eyes of greed, but he also ignored him.
Emilia approached Reinhard at this moment as she felt out the insignia in her pocket. She said, "Reinhard, I still have yet to thank you for coming out of your way to help me on your day off. Thank you."
Reinhard gently smiled. "There is no need to thank me, Emilia-sama. The reason I'm here is only because of Orion-sama."
"Mm." Emilia hummed and looked at Orion, her expression looking somewhat complicated.
Orion could imagine what she was thinking. Basically - she wanted to be grateful and not suspect her benefactor, but it was strange how he knew about all this and about the assassin. An 'intuition' was a bit too sketchy of an excuse to believe. And it was also strange how he went out of his way to help her so much when he could have failed her in the Election.
He even did not want the witnesses, Felt and Rom, to be detained, which might be the most suspicious point.
'But, I'm a guy from another world with strange magic. Couldn't I have a precognition ability or something?'
Either way, the encounter at the loot house ended like this. Emilia retrieved her insignia without Reinhard spotting Felt and Elsa escaped without a fight.
…
Soon enough, the group gathered to leave.
At the same time, the dwarf thug was finally allowed to leave, and he scuttered away in a hurry.
As Orion, Subaru, Emilia and Reinhard began walking back, Reinhard said, "Emilia-sama, there is a chance that we are being watched and you might be targeted once we separate. I also have to escort Orion-sama, so how about you spend a night at the Astrea Manor?"
"Spend a night there? I can't do that. My… allies will worry if I don't come back."
Reinhard said, "Then we can send a servant to inform them about this. My worry is that either of you could be assassinated when I'm not nearby, even if you're assigned a squad of knights. The Bowel Hunter is a very dangerous killer, after all."
Subaru asked curiously, "Is she so strong that even a squad of knights could be wiped out by her?"
Reinhard: "Well, it isn't necessarily that she is strong, but she is good at her job. I heard of a situation when even Cecilus Segmunt, an extremely skilled warrior famed for his speed, was unable to protect his client from the Bowel Hunter's blade."
Emilia gasped. "Ah! She's that dangerous?"
Reinhard sternly replied, "Yes. That's why I recommend you stay at the Astrea Manor before Roswaal-sama can receive you."
Emilia was silent for a while, before she nodded, "I understand. If it is like you said, then I'll take you up on your offer. Thank you."
Reinhard gently smiled. "There's no need to thank me. It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Astrea household, Emilia-sama."
Subaru prodded Orion. "His nice guy levels are off the charts, huh?"
Orion only shrugged in response.
Subaru continued, "Anyway, that was seriously one hell of a first day. I guess GM wanted us to witness all the events and meet all the crucial NPCs."
Orion smiled. 'Yeah, and I hope I'll get a reward.'
Until now, the Campaign Mission was not completed yet. He could only guess that it was because the day was not over yet or he hadn't yet escorted Emilia and Subaru to safety.
The events were quite different than in the original, as neither Subaru nor him straight out protected Emilia from an assassin's blade while being injured in the process, but Orion still felt that if Roswaal wants to use Subaru or him for his goals, he would still pull them into his clutches, inviting them to his mansion to thank them.
Regardless of any complications, he had to fulfill his mission first and foremost, and see the result.
At this moment, Subaru suddenly exploded with a raised voice: "But what the hell is it with my powers not being unlocked yet?! Is it a glitch?! Or are there special conditions? Damn, I don't want to be useless!!!"
"A glitch?" Emilia asked as she tilted her head, observing Subaru's sudden mental breakdown.
Reinhard gently smiled. "Orion-sama, you and Subaru use quite unique vocabulary. I suppose it can only be expected of someone from beyond the Great Waterfall."
Orion was silent as he did not want to blabber something unnecessary. Eventually, he said, "I think it's surprising that we still use the same language. The written language you use here is different though."
Reinhard said, "I see. So you write using different letters?"
Subar chimed in, "Yeah, basically. When we first got here, we couldn't even read the signs. It was pretty tough to get around."
"That certainly sounds tough."
Subaru said, "All's well that ends well. But we'll probably need to learn how to read your language now. Aaah! What a pain."
***
///Announcement: I recently caught up on the Mushoku Tensei anime and had a strong desire to write a MT fic. That's why I'm focused on writing it right now while I'm brimming with motivation and ideas. I'm not sure when I'll pick up the Re:Zero fic.///
///Another announcement: I lowered the effect of Strength and Agility stats back to what they were before. I also increased the starting Integration percentage to 10%. The reason for that is explained in the Servant Status Window. Basically, it's because stats are all about just the physical body without any use of mana. Using mana, the strength and speed gets enhanced further by several times, so it only makes sense to make the base strength more reasonable, even if it seems lacking compared to Servant's all-out strength.///
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