harbinger of pride 8

Terror and Dread And The Round An' A Half Table

They all sat around a table in the Astrea manor, with large windows to the outer walls of the room that allowed for light to luminate the area. The table in question was long, spanning from one side of the room to another. Furthermore, the table was oak, all straight until the very end, where it curved from right to left in a apparent spherical design. Being that it was an informal and so sudden situation, the host (in this case Subaru) could not prepare a meal, rather he and other members decided tea would be best.

To the end where the half-sphere was, Natsuki Subaru sat. To his right, Wilhelm, followed be Ferris, on his left. With the opposing side being Reinhard and Felt respectively.

An awkward silence existed once everyone was properly seated, only ten minutes ago the nasty-eyed boy found two members of the Crusch camp in his room. Twelve minutes ago he found Felt and Reinhard waiting outside for him. So, to be logical, or at least thinking he was logical, he invited the opposing groups to tea. Ultimately, this confused Wilhelm and Ferris, who expected to be either kicked out or promptly arrested for trespassing. While on the right, the Sword-Saint sat calmly, though looking down to the table in front of him with a somewhat grim expression. Even as Felt seemingly struggled to contain her excitement.

"So." Subaru spoke, the table turned their eyes to him, "Why are you all here?"

"…"

"To ask you quest-"

"To know how you got so freaking damn powerful!" Felt shouted, cutting Ferris off in the process as she stood, throwing her hands to the table and leaning towards Subaru.

"Felt" Reinhard intercepted the girl, "That isn't prope-"

"Who gives a shit Rein? Its just us and bro-" saying this, the girl slowed down a bit awkwardly, she looked at Wilhelm and Ferris, the oldened man who watched the girl with a face that twisted an odd expression as the man had been taken aback. While the kingdoms Blue, gave an awfully dirty glare, one ridden with murderous intent.

"My bad-" Felt continued, "But the point still stands." She folded her arms and moved quickly to come lean in towards Subaru. "I'm not leaving till we can get some answers."

Subaru stared at the blonde girl for a second, he then looked to Karsten's represented party, "Which is the same reason I guess you were looking through my room?"

Wilhelm could only nod slowly, bearing a shameful glaze while Ferris folded his arms, puckered his mouth, and looked elsewhere defiantly.

"Excuse me Subaru, but Ferris and my grandfather did what?" Surprised, the Sword-Saints eyes widened into disbelief as he glared across the table, looking to the demi-human and then slowly to his grandfather.

A pause.

"It is true, I was not prone to entering your room Mr. Natsuki." Wilhelm bowed his head in disgrace as he apologized to the raven-youth, "However, our situation led us to entering you room, we were about to leave as you entered."

"I see..." Subaru looked to the grey-haired man and then to Ferris who shook his head and gave a sly smile. "You got anything to say?"

"Sorry, but I don't know what got over me." Ferris apologized, widening his hands on each side as he moved them outward.

The raven-youth sighed. Leaning back, he felt his body relax, he shook his head slowly and slightly, closed his eyes for a second and then looked back to Wilhelm, "It's fine, there was nothing in there that I'd be concerned about."

"Realllly?" Ferris responded.

"Oh yah." Subaru gave a smile, he raised his hand and pointed his finger to himself, "All the good stuffs in my head."

"Is that right?" Felt placing herself into the conversation once more spoke.

"Of course, why would I hide my secrets somewhere so obvious?" The raven-youth rebutted in a matter of fact like tone.

"And what might these secrets be Natsuki Subaru? Almowst everyone in the capital is dying to know how you killed the big dumb fish." The healer spoke closing one eye as he raised a brow on the other.

"If I may, didn't lady Crusch say the whale was punched in one blow?" Reinhard asked as he leaned into a calmer posture, relaxing his shoulders but shifting his body to Felix who questioned Subaru.

"Yah!" A ruby-eyed girl rose, "How'd you kill the whale big bro? Last I saw you, you got your ass kicked by that knight?"

Ferris let a giggle pass as the room looked to Subaru.

"Yah. Go figure." The raven-youth paused, he looked to the table for a split second and then back to the people who surrounded him, "Well, it's as I told this one maid of the Matthers. A good magician never reveals his tricks. But in saying that, obviously I could summarize a lot of my success to trial and error."

Reinhard nodded in affirmation, understanding Subaru's words not to be a lie, everyone in the room looking to the red-head for confirmation before looking back to Subaru, including the Sword-Demon.

"So that's it? you just tried again and again and eventually landed a hit that would kill the whale?" Felt crossed her arms, "I'm sorry bro, but I'm having a hard time believing that was it!"

Subaru chuckled in reply before calming down and opening his stance. "I understand, that's not it. What I'm going to say-" He rose his hand and pointed his finger towards the ceiling but at a height so it would be below his eyes, "And I can't say anything more then this-"

The rounded table went silent, all attention now was completely on Natsuki Subaru.

"I formed a contract with a being more powerful than myself." he paused his nasty-eyes, looking from the younger Astrea to the older, "And due to the contract, itself, it would be hard to explain what or why that thing is, but they are not bad, and our contract was formed on good goals." He let out a sigh and crossed has hands together, his pointer fingers and thumbs aligning to touch while the rest of the fingers crossed one another from up to down.

"Wait?" Felt rose her eyes, "That's it?" frantically the young girl looked to her knight, who subtly nodded in conformation.

"So." Wilhelm rose from his chair swiftly, looking downwards, his hands tightly closed to his sides, "That is all.." an upset aura began to ring from the man, the room caught onto this sudden change quickly. "All those years.." Reinhard knew. "All those years I tracked that beast down.. All that effort.."

"Wilhelm-" Ferris was cut off.

"ALL THOSE YEARS FOR YOU TO COME ALONG LIKE THIS, TO WORK FOR NOTHING!" The Sword-Demon was alive once more, angrily he raised himself, he turned to Natsuki Subaru, rage in his eyes, "You, Natsuki Subaru- You did nothing to deserve what you have now. You did not work hard. You were able to kill a beast because of a contract?! The same beast my own wife died too?! There was no glory to what you did, no revenge, my wife is dead, and I couldn't avenge her!"

"Woah- hey, wait-" But Subaru could not have a say.

"Do you understand how much I sacrificed, how much I've lost?! To have you.. come here like this, be like this.. it is not right." The Astrea continued, his tone passing down as regret began to poor over the man like an unexpected rain.

"Wilhelm, Subaru didn't know." Ferris now rose to stand beside the older man, glaring to the man's eyes intensely as he tried to reason. "He did what he could, what he thought was best, it wasn't personal, right?" the cat looked to Subaru, who could only nod slowly to the situation.

"I-" Wilhelm stuttering on his words looked down in disappointment. A moment in silence past before the man spoke once more, not daring to look away from the ground, he closed his eyes and bent his head in an apologetic style, "I.. apologize for that outburst.. I've seen the fault in my action." Pausing once more, the man took a breath, "If you all would find it in you to understand, I will be taking my leave now."

Subaru looked to Sword-Demon with pity. Now having a grasp of the man's situation, a regret begun to build up inside of him. It was not right for him to be as casual as he was about the whale, not when people have faced tragedy, not with people akin to Wilhelm who have devoted their life to revenge after loosing a loved once. Subaru sighed, he stood up form his chair, "I understand." Pausing for a mere second, "None of us will hold any of this against you."

Wilhelm looked to Subaru with any act of semblance he could, then slowly tucking in his chair, the man would walk out of the room.

"Geez" Ferris still in his place turned to Natsuki Subaru, "I better keep track of him. Who knows what might happen." The cat looked to Reinhard and then Felt, but then back to Subaru, "Be more careful, you're going to meet a lot of people like Wilhelm if you keep doing what your doing." On that last note, the cat-knight left.

Silence covered the room once again as the party of five turned to three, with an awkward air remaining.

"Do you…" Subaru turned to Felt, who at this point had the same depleted expression as Subaru, "Have any more questions?"

"Well.." The girl paused, "I got a ton.. but I think it's best if we settle today and come back another time."

"Right." Subaru nodded.

The ride back between the healer and former knight was quiet. Ferris had not planned on pushing the man for words as the demi-human had a brief idea onto what Wilhelm felt, what the pain of loosing someone close to you was like. Ferris didn't believe Wilhelm was in the wrong for his outburst, it was a normal reaction. But in saying that, as a servant to his lady, and being the man he was, Wilhelm should have known the reputation that he had to hold. Even if everyone else in the room had their own short comings. "Whatever. "Ferris would think, he was lighthearted at nature and wouldn't dare to scold the Sword-Demon by himself.

What The Blue decided to do, was tell Crusch, not in a tattling way, but more-so to acknowledge what happened and what way they should view not only Natsuki Subaru, but the Felt camp. Ferris then looked back to the Sword-Demon.

Wilhelm to this point had been silent, staring down the man seemed to be lost in thought, a position Ferris had not seen the blue-eyed man in. He had a face contorted in emotion, mostly sad sentiments, but surprise and slight shock aided the man all to well. (Surprise at what?) The cat further wondered, (Natsuki Subaru? Yah that would make sense. The guys a bit of an awed-ball, wouldn't blame Will if his cocky attitude got to him.) But Ferris was always to think a step further, knowing what the White Whale meant to Wilhelm, it was likely that he was sort of angry at Subaru for how casual he acted about killing it. Afterall, the Whale killed not just numerous of Wilhelm's own comrades, but his very own Wife, Theresia Astrea. So, Ferris would approach the Sword-Demon when the time was right, it would make sense to let him cool down first and have some alone time.

Silence remained, but, it began to rain. The carriage slowly began to cover in water. One drop, then another, first it was spitting, then it was a wash.

"Huh, didn't expect rain today." The demi-human with yellow eyes blurted as he looked to the window.

"His eyes.." Wilhelm spoke.

Ferris turned to the butler, full attention as the man solemnly gazed at the ground.

"…His eyes were different."

In a warm bed, the Spirit Knight awoke. Julius Juukulius began to open his amber eyes. Slowly but surely light illuminated his face. He recognized the room instantly to be his. It was his bed, and none other. He felt stronger then the last time he was awake, most likely due to the vast amounts of healing over the past few days. From Ferris to his spirits, he was able to gradual restore his body to health. Looking around, the room was empty, no one was present but himself. So, the mauve-haired Knight rose slowly, making sure he was fine, he put himself upright, pushed the sheets before him and took a step out of his bed.

The last time the knight was awake, he was recovering from the Matthers attack. Slowly, the man was able to recall what had happen, from the Whale to an arrest, to the Witch Cult, all of it came to Julius instantly. But he calmed himself, he knew getting overwhelmed now would contribute to nothing. If he was at home, he would find either his brother or Anastasia, whichever one he came across first, then he could get the information he needed to fill in the gaps.

As for how he got to his bed, he didn't remember much past his arrival to the capital. He knew he passed out at the gates to the city, and he recalled Ferris' emphasis on them being alright. That was good then. "How long as it been then?" Julius asked casually as he put on his Knights attire. The quazi-spirits called back out, but not with an answer he would expect.

"Several days.. That doesn't make sense?" Julius moved quickly as he buttoned his shirt, "I understand that I was exhausted, but several days is a long time." Although his contracted-spirits stood their stance.

That was it then, the Spirit-Knight thought to himself, growing in urgency, he was sure he'd have to find the rest of the Anastasia camp to know if everything was alright. Did his absence have an affect on the camp? How about Natsuki Subaru, what happened with him?

Quickly, the man moved past his door, opening it. He walked outside. Strangely, there was this hallow feeling to the manor. It was as if the house was completely empty, with not a person in sight, no matter which room, hall, or entrance he entered, there was nobody.

Julius now slightly unhinged made his way to the entrance of the manor. Still, nobody. Despite this, his spirits gave no warnings or indication that anything was wrong, nothing was, they reassured him. It was just strange to see nobody. He moved to open the doors to the main entrance. But walking out, it was not the sun that illuminated his eyes, nor the moon to shine over his face. It was.. "A completely white sky?"

But nonetheless, the capital. So, Julius walked, and he looked around the yard, nobody still, not even an insect or bird. Thus, the man continued. It was Lugnica after all. But something was off, all the buildings were the same in design and structure, however, it was as if the world was drained of its colors. The streams, the stalls, the pubs and the towers, all an assortment of white, grey, and black. Nevertheless, as the man would search for an hour and not find any thing, he would theorize this world was completely devoid of life. Handsome as he was, Julius continued, he had no reason to stop. His spirits did say nothing was wrong. The day would pass, but time stood still. Hours upon hours came and went, and Julius had made it around from the markets to the upper noble district. If this continued any further, the upright Julius would have to sleep and try again when he awoke. So, he decided he would finalize his quest for the day.

By this point, Julius had concluded that he was in a dream, it was his best answer. While confusion and dread did pay a visit every so often, the Knight remained steadfast, he would not give up his search till he couldn't continue any further.

The next day came, Julius looked once more, this time to the slums. The conclusion, nobody was found. The Knight knew at this rate it would take him possibly years if he chose to look in every building. Deciding this as a last resort, he would visit the edge of the city. But, beyond the walls of the false Lugnican capital. A vast nothingness awaited the man. It was… all white. Surreal almost, their existed nothing. Terror and dread would have filled the man had it non been for his loyal quazi-spirits, who kept on reassuring him, they urged him to continue, so, Julius did.

But on the third day. It was different. He knew, Julius knew, it was in his gut, he was being watched. As he walked down what would be the merchants district, he felt a panic begin to engulf him. He felt it, it was judging him, it was observing him. He began to run. But as the Knight called to his spirits, they did not reply. Horror and dread.

On the fourth day, he was at the Karsten domain. Julius had a vague idea on why he was visiting this place, but he let that idea subside, he was now allowing his instinct to guide him. The lioness's domain stood still. Non changing. Julius Juukulius walked to the main doors; this would be the first house he would explore. But the doors would not open, so, the Knight moved to look through the windows.

Black, an endless sea of black. The void.. it would stare into him, all he could do was gaze back.

On the fifth day, he was depleted. With no ending in sight was this the fate of the Spirit-Knight? "Am I too wonder this world forever!" he shouted, "Where am I? What is this place?" He shrieked. His sanity, it was losing itself. "My spirits." He called out, "Where has the Od sent us too? This place is more like a prison than the capital!"

But the spirits arranged them self's neatly before Julius. In pattern, they were the only beings in existence with color, so the man begun to cherish his spirits very dearly and let go of all else.

On the sixth day, it returned. It wasn't threatening this time, but it was curious rather. As if it was simply observing Julius for all he was, his quazi-spirits included. They, the spirits, roamed around the man in a defensive manner, and it got the gesture. Now satisfied, as it may have been, motioned to the castle.

"The castle…" The last major landmark to visit.

On the seventh day, Julius walked to the castle. His journey had come full circle as he passed his house in the noble's district mere moments ago. Time didn't exist in this place; time didn't matter when everything was in constant. The spirit-knight would walk across a downed drawbridge, pass by the walls of the castle. Finally, he would walk to the throne room. This feeling, it was, indescribable, every step he took, it was as if he was walking to something vast and unexplainable, it was surreal, this emotion, what was any of this?

One step to the door, it was open by a crack.

Two steps, he pushed by, opening both gates in the process.

Three steps, he was in the throne room.

A Fourth step. It was, who was, why was?

A man, he sat in the Kings throne, purple hair, sickly pale skin.

"Who is-"

But the man, he looked to Julius, with his right arm to support his head, as he leaned into the royal authority. He was covered from foot to waist in blood. Opening his mouth, his face began to contort, and staring Julius directly in the eyes, sickly, he smiled.

With a big gasp, the man awoke to the world again. Rising, sweat covered the Spirit-Knights forehead as he panted desperately. Holding his arms crossed to his chest, a feeling of terror and dread covered the man. He was focused but non-focused, his gaze giving in and out.

"yo, wait-" Ricardo ran into the room, passing by in the hall, the Wolfkin took quick note of the knights existential crisis. "Julius, everythin' good bro?" Moving to his side, Ricardo shifted his large frame to reach the amber eyed man's shoulder.

"I-" Julius fell silent as he was able to pace himself. Calming down, he looked to Ricardo beside him slowly, then looking back too his hands which he held out in front of him. He paused, then reaffirming his position, Julius spoke almost as if he were exhausted. "I'm fine. It was just a bad dream." He reasoned. "Nothing serious.."

The beast-man begun to raise a brow, "I thought the Spirit-Knight couldn' have nightmares?"

"This.. was different." The Knight trailed off.

"If ya say so?" Ricardo still skeptical moved away from the bed to stand before the noble.

Julius in return took a deep breath, signing through his nostrils and looking back to Ricardo, Julius regained his peace. Continuing, he spoke "What have I missed?"

The commander of the Iron Fang looked back to Julius, then raising his right arm to cusp his chin, he let out a lengthy, "hmmm." Before putting the past into summary. "Well, seven days." The Wolfkin replied, "Mostly a bunch'a lil' stuff."

"Did I now?" (Several days, just as in the dream.)

"But I wouldn't worry all that' much, the lil' lady put everythin' in control while ya' were out." Ricardo continued, "Same business as usual."

"That's good to hear." The knight began to raise himself from his bed, slowly but surely he got up. "Where is Lady Anastasia now?"

"Erem." Ricardo looked puzzled by the question, "She's lookin' fer' someone."

"Right, and who would that be?" bringing his amber-eyes to Ricardo's, Julius let out a curious gaze. He began to think, Anastasia was looking for someone? As in she, herself? It would make sense if it was Mimi, or any of the triplets, but anyone outside the camp, why not hire an informant to find that person?

"Same person everyone is lookin' for. Subabro took this country by storm." Ricardo relaxed his posture as he folded his arms. He leaned against the wall beside the door as Julius gathered his Knight's uniform and other various possessions.

"A week's time and nobody knows where Natsuki Subaru is?" The Spirit-Knight almost scoffed, "What's his reputation like?"

"Well.." Ricardo looked upwards to the ceiling, "Some really love the guy. Lotta people see bro as an' underdog."

"Right." Julius added.

"An' others.. Well their skeptical, theres just to much mystery to 'em right now." The Wolfkin acknowledge his wording as he nodded his head slowly.

"That makes sense." Moving right, the mauve-man grabbed a small red napkin from the drawer closest to him which he then folded neatly and tucked away in his undercoat. "Anything else I should know?"

Ricardo paused, he thought for a moment, then continuing he looked to Julius once more, "Well, the lil' ladies obsessed with him."

"What?" Julius was taken aback, "What do you considered obsessed as Ricardo?"

"The type were she's doin' constant background checks, conspiracy theories, that ol' bit." Nonchalantly, the beast-man joined Julius as the two began to leave the room they were in.

"Conspiracy theories, what do you mean by that?" The knight further inquired.

In response, Ricardo began to chuckle a bit, "Her most recent one, the lil' lady thinks he's a Vollachian noble. Or some' sorta' refugee who left his past."

"A Vollachian?" Puzzled, Julius rose his right arm to cusp his chin. "I never took Natsuki Subaru to be a Vollachian?"

"Neither do I." Ricardo added, "My thought's that bro's got crazy luck."

"Luck? Is that it?" The nobly dressed man rose a brow. The two continued down the hallway. Side by side, Ricardo would explain a few more of Anastasia's theories. "You said he didn't have a traceable heritage? As if he one day suddenly began to exist?"

"That's what our info suggests." Ricardo too now had a confused look. "Really', unless bro come's out to us em' self, we'll never know."

"That's, not reassuring at all." As the two warriors reached the main hall, Joshua, Julius' younger brother begun to walk towards them. He took quick notice of his older brother's recovery and anxiously rushed towards the two.

"Brother, your awake!" Joshua exclaimed, "Not that I would ever doubt your full recovery, I'm glad you've returned!"

"I'm glad to see you too Joshua, is everything well here at home?" The amber-eyed man smiled towards his sibling.

Joshua slowly begun to frown, "Well, yes, and no."

"No?" Julius now concerned.

"Well you see, our fair Lady Anastasia, it would appear…" Joshua trailed off for a second.

Now serious, Julius looked to Ricardo, who in reply only gave a shrug, then he looked back to his brother.

Now getting to the point, the boy with a monocle put his hands together nervously, "It seems that Lady Anastasia has developed something of an obsession with that nasty boy you beat jus weeks ago. What was his name? Nastumi-"

Julius sighed, he lowered his head, placed his hand to his forehead and gave out a groan of disappointment, "Is it that bad that I should be concerned?"

"W-well." The monocled boy was at edge, "Not necessarily, perhaps you should talk to her, she might be going too far."

"Ricardo?" The Spirit-Knight then looked to his warrior counterpart.

"Yah." The Wolfkin replied, "Best ya check on the lil' lady, she'll be happy to see ya anyway' Julius."

"Okay." Julius nodded, "Where could I find her?"

Joshua replied, "While Lady Hoshin is out right now, brother. I suggest that you should wait for her here. But it is ultimately up to you if you deem searching for her is for the best."

"No." the amber-eyed man responded logically, "I'll wait here. I'll need you two to inform me on recent events."

"R-right." Joshua nodded.

Ricardo smiled and the three would sit down at a table to the yard of the Juukulius estate, beside a spitting rain.

"To recreate myself, as according to this book, and by the knowledge of you, my only mentor." Subaru stared at Stride, who only smirked. "I must be swift and disciplined, creative but focused. I must embrace my new self and forget the old!" Subaru continued. "I have to be better, each and everyday, only then can I be satisfied with who I am!"

Stride looked to the pile of books beside Natsuki Subaru, the unorganized mess had multiple pages shoved in between. The room they sat in, that Subaru physically sat in. Was a mess of a dwelling-space in the Astrea residence. Apparently not allowing anyone to clean one's 'Safe Space Study Zone' as his contractor put it, was an awful idea. Although, for his credit, it did seem as if the raven-boy had a good footing towards his idea on self-improvement. But when it came to executing this future firsthand, the Vollachian wasn't as confident in the boy's words.

Stride himself had manifested a physical form that only Natsuki Subaru could see, he was the same man that Subaru met at Flugels tree. With the same sickly skin, the same violet robes, and the same royalty in posture.

"Thou seemingly articulated the right thoughts, but now not in action." Stride responded to the boy as if replying to Subarus usual antics.

Subaru staring blankly, moved his hands together to from a cusp, and let out a deep breath. "Stride, I wouldn't worry one bit. I have all of this under control."

"Do thou really?" The deep-lilac-haired man replied mockingly.

"But of course!" In full confidence, Subaru moved to the books, pulling pages and papers out of the pile. Furthermore, the prideful boy would proceed to explain each page in detail, with a smile albeit, and would give astonishing detail onto some of the most famous writings in world-history. "To conclude," The Raven-boy gave an informal bow, "It's amazing how much one can do when they put their mind to it!"

"Of course, that's true. Mine venerable self reached that conclusion many years ago." Stride blatantly replied.

"Oh Sushh-" The nasty-eyed boy replied hastily. "I've put together a plan for our next few actions if you're curious."

"Consider mineself intrigued." Stride responded.

"Well, now that I've explored the capital, I feel satisfied with what I've learned, I have a basic knowledge of anything major that's happening. And with that promise to Heinkel, I made." Subaru paused for a second before continuing, "I have to save his wife."

"Of course." Stride would smile, "Thou art thee Hero."

"Thanks." The raven-youth glossed over the sentence the former Archbishop made, "We also said, more or less, that we would visit Beatrice for information on the Witch Factors."

"Thou plan on returning to the Matthers?" The Vollachian nobility raised an eye.

"Just a visit, to get the knowledge we need, I'm confident I would be able to beat him, if not, I'll just re-start." Casually, Natsuki Subaru begun to collect his books, one after another as he placed them into a black bag, this included books on folk-tale, human nature, and political behaviour. Lastly, he included a journal full of blank pages.

"It is thine choice." Stride could only rebute in the same tone as his contractor.

"And as for what happened today. I need to get some background knowledge on the Astrea's before I decide to approach their family." Subaru looked to Stride, "Do you know anything about them?"

A pause, the sickly man begun to frown, "Mine-venerable-self knows of thee past fifty-years before now."

"You do?" Subaru slowed down, then he looked to the one known as the former Sin-Archbishop of Pride, "Meaning you died fifty-or so years ago?"

"Thine are correct." Stride answered with a bored-tone, "A useless death, but perhaps mine-venerable-self did provide quite the spectacle."

"A show?" The otherworldly boy probed gradually, "There's a lot more too you isn't there?"

"In due time, mineself will reveal all to thou." Pride resumed, "But now, thou must focus on thee current objective."

"Right." Subaru nodded, "But there's one more thing I need to figure out."

Stride perked an eye.

"Now, I'm not sure if I'll feel right about this, but I'm going to ask Heinkel for support. I've concluded that despite being either drunk or hungover, the man would still make a valuable ally." The raven-youth reached towards a detailed paper with scribbles all over it, "Apparently, he's the Deputy Commander of the Knights of Lugnica, and being an Astrea, I can only expect him to be strong."

"How does thine-self plan to convince the drunkard? Not with booze mineself expects?"

"No Stride.. It's not liquor. It's his Wife." Subaru continued.

"Thee Wife?" Stride responded as the pale-man had the hint of a smile.

"Beatrice has got that big library. Somewhere along the line I remember hearing that it's at least four-hundred years old. This disease, this slumber that that Women's in. Its unknown to even the Kingdoms best healers. That's why I've got this nagging suspicion that its knowledge was lost to the past."

The Vollachian rebutted "And if thine are wrong?"

"Then no foul done. I promised I'd awake his wife, never said it would happen tomorrow." Subaru shrugged as he reached to find an Appa in the side component of the previously mentioned black bag. Taking a crisp bite of the scarlet fruit, the raven-boy with nasty-eyes moved to the door of the room. He looked back once, he had everything he needed.