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Chapter 20: Meeting the unfamiliarNotes:

Shorter chapters for the next week, because we have finals coming up.

EDIT: 4444 views!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 20

Tanya inwardly groaned at the prospect that she would have to find either two teachers or ask Roswaal to teach her both shadow and light magic. That would mean that she would have to pay him twice the amount of money or whatever else he wanted! Suddenly an idea lit up her mind like a comically large lightbulb. The library! Maybe she could ask Beatrice for books on these two topics. The little girl seemed knowledgeable enough on the topic of magic.

Unfortunately lunch came first. As much as she wanted to learn about magic it would be unbecoming of her position to be too late for her meal. So she made her way to the dining room together with Beatrice and reserved all her burning questions for later.

Inside were all the familiar faces of the Emilia camp except two new ones. One was a floating grey cat (a spirit perhaps?) and the other was a black-haired boy with exceptionally mean looking eyes.

"Oh hey, who is that Nazi loli?" he asked with a grin.

She froze in place and her eyebrow twitched. How dare he call her that! Where did he even learn that word from? Existed Nazis in this world? That was improbable seeing as concepts like democracy or communism were completely unheard of in this feudal society. A fact that she aimed to rectify soon. (Not the communism part, but the democracy one.)

And what in the Kaiser´s name was a "loli"? Some obscure memory told her that she knew that word, but the meaning behind it had been long forgotten. Whatever it was, it didn´t sound like a compliment. She was sure that it hadn't been used in the empire which meant that it came from...

Japan. Oh no. Was he a reincarnate too?

That meant that this unassuming looking boy was extremely dangerous. He potentially knew about technology like guns or airships and modern transportation which meant that he could counteract many of her future plans. She would need to either kill him or sway him to her side. Another reason why an alliance with the Emilia camp was so important.

With all the false calm she could muster she pressed out:

"Hello, I am Tanya von Degurechaff and candidate for the throne. I believe we had not the pleasure of being introduced to one another."

"Hi! My name is Subaru Natsuki and one day I will become the most trusted supporter of my beautiful Emilia. Nice to meet you!" he cheered.

Tanya was baffled by this shameless display of childish innocence. Was he stupid or something? The name at least was a clearly Japanese name so her theory had been correct.

"Our deaaaar Subaru haaaas his way with words you see. It is simply paaart of his charm. He is currently employed as a butler on a probation."

She gave Roswaal a thankful nod for the information. Her trip had already been worth it just for bringing her attention to the existence of this otherworldly boy. What other dangerous secrets were hidden in this land?

"Well, Subaru... my dear maid toooold me that you defended the village quite bravely in our absence. It would have been truly a hoooooooorrific tragedy to lose my loyal subjects if you had not identified the threat. As a sign of my gratitude aaaand in honour of your heroic deed I will grant you a wish. Anything you may desiiiiire..."

"In that case I want my trial period to end and become fully employed here!"

"You know thaaat I would have arranged for that to happen anyway? How could I have let you go from my services when you proved already to be so uuuuseful? After that whole ordeal I thiiiink he you have rather well earned your full employyyyyment, don't you think?"

He smiled more brightly than he had any right to.

"Oh... ah... well, in that case I want to learn how to fight. My magic and sword skills are kinda limited at the moment..."

"Even though that are technically two wishes I will glaaaadly grant your request!"

If Tanya wanted to estimate the threat level of the boy then she needed concrete facts. What could he accomplish? How dangerous were his abilities? Hopefully her interest in Subaru wouldn´t appear suspicious.

"If I am allowed to ask, what exactly happened to warrant such a reward?"

"Rem, I believe you are better suited for explaining the details. Please enlighten our guest about what happend while we were in the capital. Emilia is suuuuurely curious as well."

"Yes Lord Roswaal" replied the maid dutifully.

"Subaru went to the village the day before yesterday and found out with the help of Lady Beatrice that a mabeast had crossed the magical barrier. Later he was able to track down the beast which had abducted several children at this point. Subaru and I managed to evacuate them safely and defeated the one responsible for cursing them. Although I sustained only minor injuries, Subaru was not so lucky. His wounds were healed by Lady Beatrice, but he has been unfortunately cursed. I humbly beg of you Milord, please track down the responsible witchbeasts until night break or I fear for Subaru´s life. It is much to ask from you Lord Roswaal, but else he will not be able to serve you much longer."

Tanya wondered how curses functioned. Were they immediately noticeable? If not than she could use them as a weapon...

"Oh, yeah... that little detail kinda slipped my mind." said the boy in question while he scratched his neck in an embarrassed fashion.

"Worry not my sweet Rem. Even if he was not a valued employee of mine I would not hesitate to save him. It shall be done."

Her respect for the ridiculously dressed man grew a tiny bit when he showed how much he cared for his subordinates. Wasting such a valuable resource would have been shameful. Instead through establishing trust by saving his life would only lead to a better workplace relationship between the two.

"Subaru you dunderhead! If you got hurt the why aren't you in bed instead of sitting here? You should rest!"

"Thank you for your concern Emi, but I wanted to see you in person. Only the sight of your marvellous beauty could truly cure my wounds. Also who says ´dunderhead´ in this day and age anymore?"

Only years of experiencing the most uncomfortable pains prevented Tanya from openly cringing at the clumsy compliment. This boy possessed the social awareness of a rock! Even the poor Emilia had no words to voice her opinion on such idiocy.

"Regardless of how interesting the last few days have beeeeen, I think we should now begin with our meaaal..."

Damn, Roswaal´s voice was annoying. Why did he talk that way? Was it a trick to make other people around him uncomfortable? If yes, then he was very effective.

Notes:

Subaru´s full backstory will be explained later