This is about a broken girl

11 July 422

Priscilla looked angry. Truly a novelty, what a glorious surprise-

But my irritation at the prospect of cleaning after whatever she had messed about with her new fief was big enough to drive any ounce of sarcasm hidden, only to be replaced by some dull hints of annoyance.

I wasn't angry, just annoyed.

Both at the fact that Erindor was so close to the Barielle Estate, and at the fact that the blonde was sure as hell going to make quite the common thing to harass me with 'requests of help'.

Is this the medieval 'Is your fridge running'? I can see an odd correlation between the two seemingly unconnected things.

...Yet my attention was drawn at the fact that when I was allowed to finally get off from my ride, the young woman had restrained herself from hound me that very moment, keeping herself looking around instead of pressing some importance over a quick discussion of what she might have caused with her presence here.

I waved at Al, the helmeted guy replied with a quick wave of his lone arm. I noticed someone shorter peeking from behind him, and I blinked in surprise when I realized whom it was.

Really short, something that was a strong sign that dignified his still-developing body. The young boy with pink hair and red eyes looked to be slightly surprised by my stare, but he didn't seem willing to shy away as I took note of his butler-like clothes.

Who would have thought that Schultz would have appeared so early on.

My mind quickly brought up the little info available about this little guy. Loyal to the core to Priscilla, the blonde loved him like a son (for some reason that sounds so odd and so wrongs), and I can now see why Subaru described his appearance as if 'inducing an immoral feeling'.

I was having way too many vibes about another pink-haired guy from another series and... hopefully, that connection didn't transcend beyond the mere hair color.

Turning back to the owner of this little stronghold, I was given a stern look from the woman. I started to approach her, slowly but steadily, eyeing warily around for any signs of clues that could help me make understand what truly was wrong here.

While I wasn't going to ignore the possibility that she might as well have made use of this 'emergency' excuse just to annoy me after the little 'loss' suffered against my lack of interest over her 'self-proclaimed' supremacy over everything and everyone, the probability of this being the case was dashed away by a couple of elements that were already evident there without even starting a conversation.

The first clue was her lack of arrogance, her lack of interest in flaunting around with some big greeting that would then be filled with a mix of self-compliments and swift insults delivered to good ol' me.

Priscilla's posture was quite tense, not enough for it to make it appear she was truly scared, but that would highlight that she herself was slightly concerned with what was going on within the castle she has inherited.

I finally stopped beside her, ready to hopefully greet her without getting burned for no apparent reason, but before I had the chance to even mutter a single word, the woman huffed and started to pace right towards where the main entrance of the stronghold was.

I blinked, silently walking to try and keep up with her as our combined retinues started to follow our movements. I was confused, not too much, but still surprised by her lack of verbal interactions.

I expected the silence to last for a longer time, but this wasn't the case as my ears were assaulted by a curt but strong sentence.

"It's your fault."

I blinked again, my features hardening a little at that. "What?"

"It's your fault," She repeated, her tone tightening. "You pressed me to take this fief. And now I've to deal with this non-negligible issue."

I hummed at those words, even more confused at the direct confrontation I was being subjected with... for something that might have happened there without my knowledge?

This was the first time I had to come and aid some other settlement outside of Erindor's sphere of influence, but the genuineness of her voice over my 'guilt' seemed to be incredibly truthful on her part. Which made me question more about what the hell was going on here.

"Care to elaborate my crimes, Priscilla?" I asked politely and she huffed.

"Baroness," She corrected swiftly, a hint of annoyance in her voice. "And the crime is that you hadn't mentioned that my 'husband' had a demon in his dungeon."

...A demon?

My brain was thinking deeply about this little detail, starting to draw some lines about what truly was happening right now.

"That's a big accusation?" I pointed out cluelessly, making the woman pause mid-walk, interrupting both me and the rest of the following behind us right in that little corridor underground.

"A massive slight, a deplorable offense," She replied sternly. "And-"

"Can tell me what kind of demon it is?" I interjected with a question. "You know, the one that I was supposed to somehow be aware about when it was hidden to the rest of the world... despite the fact this is the first time I've ever come to this place."

She looked incredibly annoyed at the control I had over the conversation, silently resuming her walk while she pondered over my question.

"It looks like a young girl," The orange-haired woman started to describe. "Pink-hair and some infuriating dark-blue eyes."

...Oh no.

I did forget about that so... I guess I can see it really as a fault of mine.

To think that I would have truly miss that very important bit about Leip... I really need to write some stuff down. Perhaps a magicked diary that I could only write in and read from.

But let us step to the issue in the room- castle.

It was one of the few events that were never explained well in the story, but that I had some backstory about since the demon was connected with the story of EX Volume 2.

Lewes Meyer was a strange young woman that was several hundreds years ago had decided to make a deal with Echidna over preserving the integrity of the Sanctuary.

In exchange for the Witch of Greed to actively protect the special settlement, the girl had to forfeit her body and mind to the devious woman... and from there Echidna had made quite some experiments about.

Cloning was the first thing she did, taking notice of the young girl's absurd magical potential, and started to try out to make the best clone possible.

Subaru had to deal with some of the clones back when he and Emilia had decided to free the Sanctuary, but then Echidna had exploited the chaos created by the situation to hijack one of the latest, best clones produced out of that, calling herself 'Omega'.

But that story was barely fitting with the current instance and the reason why that detour was necessary is connected to the fact that the first clone ever was one of the culprits that had sparked the Demi-Human War.

Her name was Sphinx, and while her appearance and mannerism were the same as a girl of her age, her grasp over reality itself... wasn't.

The first clone was an incomplete mess. It didn't have proper emotions, but just diluted forms of those, and her mind was terribly fragmented from some sloppy work from Echidna.

The only one to actually live Sanctuary, the 'Witch' Sphinx became important for supporting the Demi-Human alliance... and for killing Libre Fermi during the final hours of the War.

Nothing much was known afterwards... except that she somehow was abducted by Leip Barielle and tortured by the man.

It was never mentioned the extent of the damage impressed on the girl, now how did the crazy bastard even manage to subdue someone as strong as the girl... but she was here and... I groaned.

"You mean to tell me that you've not recognized her by just her appearance, Priscilla," I chided quietly about it, drawing a frown out of the young woman's face.

"Beg your pardon?" She retaliated soon after, causing me to watch behind us and at the retinue, noticing some of the guards tensing up a little at my comment.

"A couple of decades ago, Lugnica had to quell a rebellion caused by numerous Demi-humans. The Demi-Human War was intense, but brief... and what made it truly memorable was the presence of someone that was considered the Witch's Legacy," I explained very quickly. "Someone that was magically strong enough pressure Roswaal J Mathers to rely on melee fight her way against her."

"That sounds so absurd and... tell me her name then!" Priscilla shot back without hesitation, causing me to blink in surprise at that, yet I still complied.

"Her name is... Sphinx."

Her anger quickly disappeared at that single word, replaced by a shocked expression on her face.

"So you know about her?"

"Everyone that had the chance of learning about the stories of the War recognize her name," I pointed out calmly, glancing once more at her guards. "In fact, if you had asked your new guards about this, they would have surely told you at least a fragment of what I just told you. Perhaps failing to offer a name as that detail is quite difficult to learn about."

She glanced back at the nervous-looking soldiers and then let a sigh leave her lips, saying nothing else as I continued with the little interrogation.

"Did she retaliate early on? Did you do anything to-"

"When I found her, she was incredibly tense about getting tortured again," The Baroness admitted with a stern voice, rather irked by my pressing but still offering some more insight over the situation. "She sounded happy that my 'foolish husband' would never return back, and she almost teared up when I, in my infinite mercy, gave her the chance of leaving that horrible place."

And here is the little 'Priscilla' filter that I was missing about, yet up until now the story wasn't explaining what got Sphinx to react badly enough to make Priscilla freak out so much.

"But?"

There was some silence... then she sighed.

"Then she asked me a silly question, one that I was quick to provide an answer too and... she got angry," The young woman pointed out with a hum. "She said that I was lying to her, that I was going to hurt her too because I was a liar 'like him'."

"You were forced to leave the room where you found her," I concluded with a sigh. "Still, did she try to make a run for it? Perhaps exploiting the chaos to-"

"No. I had guards set by the only two ways she could have gone after that," The woman interjected quickly. "She is still in that room."

Well, at least there was some good news out of this messy issue. Now I had to ponder well how I was going to solve this little predicament.

"What kind of question did she ask you for her to know you were lying?"

My query was carefully-phrased to bring up the fact I was aware that Priscilla could have actually lied about anything related to the inquisition of the clone.

"She asked about my name. What kind of lies do you think I could have said to make her react so badly?"

It was like a challenge, one she knew she would have lost if I had pressed on, but also won because it would have gotten me in deep waters over the fact I actually knew about her real name.

I hummed, moving my stare away as I finally noticed that we were finally there.

I didn't deign her an answer, merely stealing a glance at the closed-up hallway that had just a single open door visible from where we had stopped.

"I will have to approach this alone," I stated calmly, while glancing at my guards. Some of them looked unsure about my decision, but I gave a solid nod to make them back away from any attempt to not follow the order.

"I will come with you," Priscilla replied fiercely. "This is my castle, and Sphinx is my issue."

"Despite your sense of invincibility thanks to the necklace, you shouldn't be getting silly over the magical prowess Sphinx has," I countered with a huff, causing her to tense up a little at me bringing up her 'three-hits save' that was currently hanging by her neck. "Plus, I'm sure enough to say that I will not be attacked during this little interaction."

"And you call me 'arrogant'?" The orange-haired woman shot back, causing me to snort in amusement at that remark.

"I've yet to lie to her, Priscilla," I said as I started to walk through the corridor, luckily for me nobody had followed behind me as I reached inside the room and... I was greeted with quite the unexpected sight.

There were some magical candles offering some illumination over the room, enough to give me some proper look of the dreadful place.

There were two wooden tables that were both stained in dry blood in the center, more trails of red were painting the floor and up to some workbench with rusty tools that would were meant to be used to torture people.

Yet the subject of the abuse wasn't visible at first, the candles offering just enough light to show the main elements in that room... and only the shivering of a cloaked figure giving me clues where the little clone was.

I glanced there, taking a couple of steps inside and stopping between the two tables. With my eyes fixed on the piece of cloak covering the small frame of the 'Witch' I took a couple more steps, right up until I was close enough to crouch to look better at the poor girl.

Gone was the insensible clone that had brought some important rebellion in Lugnica, gone was the blank expression and the educated mannerism.

I could only see a visible blue eye staring back at me with a remorseful glance, the other one covered by some of the various bandages over her head.

Her long hair were now hidden, or actually gone, as only a few pink locks managed to pass through the medical bandages.

Her lips were twitching as quick, furious whispering was leaving her mouth.

I'm sorry, she was saying, she lied.

It was a continuous rehearse of this theme, enough to bring even more distress at merely glancing at what happened to her.

I sighed and nodded. "She did lie."

Her whispering stopped as I let out those words.

Her lone eye widened a lot, expressive incredible awe and surprise.

"You know that. You really do?"

I nodded and... she trembled again. "T-That's good." She nodded to herself, breathing nervously as she looked away for a moment.

I hummed. "I'm not going to hurt you, Sphinx."

Her trembling ceased again, her lone eye widening even more than before as the girl glanced at me with utter shock.

"You know me? You know what I did?"

I nodded at both of her questions, causing her to flinch.

"A-Are you going to hurt me too then?" Sphinx continued panicky. "I- I did some bad things. I'm a naughty girl and... and the only way to absolve my horrible deeds is... is to suffer."

...

I sighed, then I reached out for the top of her head.

Her visible eye closed shut, and her body tensed as if waiting for more pain as I slowly hovered my palm over the top of her head and... patted her there.

Her fear lasted for a couple of silent minutes, her tension slowly melting the more she failed to perceive any harm on herself.

I was careful in my ministrations, trying my best to now show any aggressive attempt in that simple action of care as I know how easy to mistrust the broken clone was.

The girl sniffed, her lone eye starting to let out some tears down to her cheek as she tried to make sense of what was going on in that very moment.

"W-Why?" She bawled a little, her arms slowly reaching to cover her face. "W-Why aren't you punishing me? I'm bad and-"

"You are not bad," I stated calmly, my face still displaying some sadness over the situation. "You once were, yes... but now. Now you are just a victim."

More silence, more inner musings over what I was supposed with what I was looking at.

Sphinx in EX Volume 2 was a terrible monster that lacked any moral compass. She cared, and she was slowly understand what friendship was through her attachment to a younger Rom but her brutality wasn't just something that could be ignored out of a little scene or two.

But now? Now I was assisting to something that answered so many questions over the fate of the girl and why it was never brought up in the Canon Stories.

If Priscilla had to deal with this on her own, knowing how she had been so foolish to label the clone as a 'Demon', I wouldn't be excluding that she had ultimately killed her after the attempt made at the first contact.

And I was now here to deal with this mess on my own. I was glad that the situation wasn't truly that bad... but I was also unsure how to tackle the problem early on.

I could feel a feeble note of her magic still present by merely patting her head, I could see it rushing all around to try and heal the damage inflicted on her body... but failing as there was just so much to do, and so little energy to accomplish it properly.

I didn't need to glance beyond the robe to know how little food she had to get when Leip was alive, her arms being too boney even for someone as childish as her.

Blinking again, I decided to speak up again.

"You need to be brought out of this place," I muttered quietly, gaining her attention as she lazily and silently stared up at my face. "Your body isn't receiving back enough energy. You need to eat something, and be checked by some healer."

She blinked. "So... you want to get me out of there?"

I nodded back, and her body shivered briefly. "But what if someone hurts me when-"

"I can assure you that this isn't the case," I interjected quietly but seriously. "Even if they tried, they would have to go through me first."

Sphinx gave a slow nod and I carefully moved to pick her up... but just as I had my arms ready to lift her up from the ground and in my hold, she spoke again.

"A-Actually," She said with a nervous tone. "W-What's your name?"

...Oh God, now that I was this much close to her that she had to ask about that?

I was expecting this to happen but... not this suddenly, or at least not this later on in the interaction.

I had expected it to be the first thing she would have asked about, perhaps even never considering that she had already asked this to the previous 'challenger'.

And despite my lack of opportunity to make a different decision, I found myself thinking about the kind of implications giving up my name now would entail.

Sphinx was in a horrible shape. She was tired, scared and hurting everywhere. She didn't have people to trust... except the ones that were willing to give up their greatest treasures.

Regulus had been the blatant clue of this, but it was something that had been severely hinted thorough the series for a long time now.

Real names had some importance to them. May it be for abilities, of for connections... maybe even for feelings and ambitions.

Everyone stuck well to their false masks, unwilling to let out their true selves to unknown people all for the sake of preserving their life, their integrity.

And I had done just that, all for the sake of avoiding some unpleasant inquiries from people all around.

It was tiring enough that I had to make sure that I didn't give too much out of my real home, all for the sake of not having some horrible mistakes to happen because of any words of mine.

Even pondering over the chance of offering my real name, the one beyond 'John Bukharin', left me in a state of abject fear for my future here in this crazy world.

Until now I had won battle after battle, but now I was set to possibly fail if I didn't make some unfair concessions to someone that couldn't even bring herself mentally to manipulate people.

I wasn't talking to Lewes Meyer, I wasn't talking to Echidna...

I was talking to someone that couldn't even be considered anymore as Sphinx.

The girl looking so nervous, so fearful, so tired of living in the dark, just failed to stand up to that character I knew about.

So instead of thinking about a secondary way to avoid answering that question (to which I knew there wasn't truly one about), I merely nodded and... told her my real name.

It was a heavy action, one that sounded so odd considering how I had to just deliver two words out of my mouth.

It's been a while since I had used that name, it's been a while since I've been called as such and... the girl didn't lash out once I replied to her query.

There was a moment of quiet from her, a moment of silence to think over my words as she seemed surprised by both my genuineness and the 'oddity' of the name given.

But ultimately... she nodded. Sphinx sighed tiredly, her head calmly settling on my chest as I lifted her off the floor and in my arms.

The girl snuggled close to my body, seeking out the warmth coming from it as I noticed how cold her skin felt to the touch.

God knows how long she had been sitting on the cold stone ground, but it was a miracle she hadn't experienced any hypothermia out of this.

What truly got me to pause for just a second was how frail she actually felt within my hold, how fragile her limbs and chest looked to be from this closeup.

I didn't linger any longer in my thoughts as I knew that she needed utmost attention the quickest possible.

I took a couple of steps toward the door, carefully stepping outside that horrible room as I made my way back to where I had left Priscilla and the retinue.

The guards tensed up a little as they spotted the little cloaked thing on my chest, but they eased up as Priscilla herself started to approach, her pace slow and calmer... but her eyes dignifying some interest over my visible success.

"She let you get her out that room?" The orangette asked quietly, almost awed... if not annoyed by it. "Did she even ask you about your name or-"

"She did," I hummed quietly, noticing that Sphinx's breathing had dropped to a stable quiet one, and her visible eye was now close. She had fallen asleep. "And I've answered her correctly."

"That's... odd." Priscilla conceded without making any issue out of it, knowing that I would get 'suspicious' about her real name. But while I had a certain need to tease her a little over this, the fact that I had to get Sphinx some proper check up overwhelmed this little need of mine.

"Indeed," I remarked curtly. "Now, if you would excuse me, I need to have this girl checked properly by a healer-"

"She was in my castle. She is supposed to be my subject," The woman pointed out sternly. "As such, you've no mean to-"

"Do you wish to deal with an incredibly explosive case as hers? Do you wish for her to die so suddenly because she doesn't trust you?"

My voice slammed her reasoning back, forcing her red eyes to stare strongly at me to try and exert some dominance over me.

"This is my castle-"

"And I am well beyond your station with my role, Baroness!" I stressed out with a hint of anger, starting to get annoyed by her words. "If you wish to advance some 'legitimate' grievance over my decision, then please send something to the king so that someone can verify how Sphinx got there and why, albeit she isn't a subject of yours, should she be restrained at your court."

...

"And with your permission, I will take my leave."

There was no resistance to that, and I was quickly followed by my retinue as we continued to walk up to the entrance of the stronghold and right where we had left our Earth Dragons.

The return home was uneventful, yet my mind was lost in the storm born from that infuriating standoff I had to go through with Priscilla. I had expected her personality to be fiery, but I had completely forgotten how much of a petty bitch she could still be.

Hopefully for her, she wouldn't commit any stupid retaliation for this, because I was sure going to return the favor with twice the strength and ferocity!

Afterthoughts: Sphinx is here... somehow and quite the fragmented girl. Canon never explains what happened once Leip got hold of Sphinx (neither how he pulled that mad shit or why he didn't use her early on). The only thing that I know for sure is that considering that humans were the worst in the story, I could see the bastard hurt her a lot for the sake of getting a willing puppet to manipulate and use against his own nation.

...

Also... an unofficial Omake with a crossover!

Omake EX 1: Visitors from Beyond the Sea (1?)

It was supposed to be a normal day.

A day filled with paperwork, new projects, playing with the cubs, more projects, training my magic and... even more projects.

The potential to expand even more Erindor to become a proper modern city was there to be taken, the chances were all high and the resources were all here to work with.

I was prepared to deal with everything and everyone, from good news to bad ones, from complaints to positive remarks towards my leadership.

With my schedule today filled to the brim as usual, I entered my office ready to headbutt into the usual tower of paper and ink that just waited for me.

But just as I took a seat by my good chair, with my left hand grasping at the first paper and my right one taking the nearby pen, I commenced with the morning ritual of doing at least twenty forms and four reports to send back to the capital.

It was an easy job, nothing that truly tired me up, and I was sure as heck going to enjoy this much peace after the messes I had to deal with up until now.

I was tired of dealing with too much drama and action, I needed my much-needed load of simple work that nowhere put me close to be killed.

Writing down the first lines, I took a pleasant sigh as this day was sure going to be another one for my career as the Mayor of Erindor-

"Mayor Bukharin, we've just received some urgent news from the Port of Fomore!"

I almost jumped in sudden fright as I registered the booming voice that only Ser Orestes could muster up so unexpectedly.

With my chair rocking a little and with a panicked look directed at the man standing right by the now open door, I slowly regained my bearings as I noticed his serious look.

"What is the situation? What happened?"

"Mayor, we've received some important reports from the garrison stationed there that a ship has requested permission to dock and..." The weary knight took a moment to ponder how to continue the explanation. "Well, the guards have mentioned that the cargo of the ship was Demi-human slaves, while the owner vehemently repeats that these aren't actually Demi-humans but some other term."

I took a deep breath and frowned at the odd situation presented. I suppose slavers were getting quite desperate now that the Kingdom had advanced even harsher additions to the current laws against slavery... but to hear them actually coining new terms to address Demi-humans? Now, that was quite dumb.

"And the reason why they weren't arrested already?" I inquired with a certain degree of annoyance, as this argument was depriving me of the opportunity of continuing with more serious stuff.

Instead of explaining verbally, Ser Orestes pushed as document across the table, retreating his armored hand once the paper was in front of me.

I blinked in surprise at the lack of response about my query and my eyes started to read the content of the paper. It was an authorization... just not one signed by the Royal Kingdom of Lugnica.

Neither by Vollachia, Kararagi or Gusteko.

In fact, the authority mentioned that was responsible for this certificate was... a Templar Order. I frowned at the name, but I paled as I glanced down at the small element drawn on the paper.

Fuck. Okay... how the fuck is this possible?

Re Zero shouldn't be bordering with that other series. It shouldn't.

Even though both are set in medieval-like settings, this just wouldn't make sense. Because of their deities actually limiting their world up to just a single Pangea-like continent.

Yet there was no reason to doubt the authenticity of the document and I... sighed.

I glanced at the supposed name of the owner of the document.

Eric Adrian Vaughan.

...

Fuck.

"I suppose the reason why they didn't get arrested is something about diplomacy. Right?"

"They have diplomats on board, yes," Orestes admitted with some hesitation and surprise. "I'm surprised you thought of this."

"I might be aware of whom is onboard and... yes, those are not Demi-humans-" Keidrans and Basitins. "- and technically their government allow slavery... I guess, the garrison has requested my presence."

"And I've seen to contact Prince Fourier considering that this is the first contact with a legitimate new nation," Orestes pressed on, freezing me on spot at these implications. "It would be proper for a representative of the Royal Family was there to assist at the situation."

"Indeed..." I agreed absently. "I suppose we will be going now."

The old knight nodded, but just as he turned around to leave, two smaller figures rushed inside and stopped in front of the desk.

"Papa, what's going on?" Fritz inquired quickly.

"Yes, Orestes mentioned that there were Demi-humans but-"

"Not Demi-humans," I corrected Hans quickly, sighing at their dual surprise at that correction. "I suppose I will explain once we're all in the carriage."

Their foxy ears twitched at once. "Wait, we're coming too?" The youngest twin asked giddily and I nodded.

Both rushed outside giggling, probably to get themselves ready for what was going to happen. Hopefully, Hannah was going to survive the eagerness of the two Fox boys so early in the morning.

Meanwhile, I leaned on my chair's back with my eyes staring at the ceiling as I started to think deeply about what I was supposed to do now that I had to deal with such a strange situation.

Sure, I still didn't have everything planned out to deal with everything in this world... but to consider this outwordly development.

Now I can definitively say that things were just going to be a mess to solve diplomatically...