Chapter 5. The Liquor
Morning, July 12.
"I truly apologize." The strong man said this as he slammed his head into the ground.
This was the southern fortress city. The man before them was none other than the supreme commander of the southern border. And in front of him stood Reinhild and Subaru. This was the seventh stop on their journey.
As the fortress that constantly had to be on guard against the southern empire, the soldiers here were said to be second only to the capital's knight order.
Especially in recent years, with the royal family who had contracted with the Divine Dragon all dying of a deadly illness, and with the empire's strongest god-general, Cecilus, inexplicably invading Lugunica several times, this city might appear calm on the surface, but in reality it had always been under level-2 alert.
And today, the magic formation had sensed Reinhild "sneak into the city." Even though Reinhild had activated her Divine protection, the formation still detected the arrival of a swordsman equal in level to Cecilus. And Subaru, with his black hair and black eyes common in the south, didn't help matters.
"Don't move, Cecilus."
When Subaru realized what was happening, he was already surrounded by soldiers. Now he could also see countless heavy crossbows on the walls, all aimed at him.
"Wait, I'm Natsuki Subaru, knight of the Lugunica's knight order, follower of royal candidate Felt. This is my identification."
—Back to the present.
"To think you are the hero who defeated the Sin Archbishop and the Three Great Mabeasts. Well, of course, only a warrior of your caliber could accomplish such feats. This is a rare chance. Please, I must ask you to give my men some guidance."
After a brief exchange, the commander suddenly laughed aloud. Clearly, while the crisis had been resolved, the misunderstanding had not.
—What do I do? Subaru looked at the four towering men in front of him, their arms thicker than his legs, all bowing and saying "please instruct us." Cold sweat ran down his back.
—Reinhild, help me!
Subaru sent a pleading look toward Reinhild, who had nearly erased her presence.
"Hang in there!"
Subaru suddenly heard Reinhild's voice, then saw the girl secretly pump her fist at him. Instinctively, he looked at the others—clearly they hadn't heard.
'This is the Divine protection of Telepathy. As long as we're in visible range, I can transmit my voice.'
'Reinhild wishes to use the Divine protection of Mind-Reading on you. Do you consent?'
—Consent. Whoa, as expected of Reinhild.
'Thank you for the praise. If Subaru didn't want to, just refuse. He won't insist. But I feel if it's you, Subaru, you can win. I'll help too.'
"Sir Subaru."
"I understand, but I'm really not that amazing. At the time, it was mainly thanks to Crush's excellent command."
Although Reinhild had watched the show for quite a while, in the end she quietly knocked out the four giant men.
.
.
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Night, July 12.
The bonfire lit up the night sky, and the banquet to welcome the hero began.
Because they were all soldiers, most of the activities were simple contests of strength or skill: arm wrestling, archery, tug-of-war, eating contests, drinking games.
Reinhild frowned as she watched Subaru from afar. Naturally, as the central figure, Subaru was surrounded by people pressing him to drink. Or rather, many wanted to make up for the humiliation of the afternoon by getting him drunk. Because the Divine protection of Mind-Reading had not been lifted, Reinhild knew this was Subaru's first time drinking, and he already wanted to stop.
"That's enough."
The girl's voice froze the heated atmosphere. Everyone turned to look at the red-haired girl.
"Sorry, I think I'm a little drunk too."
Noticing the tense air, Subaru quickly tried to smooth things over.
"How about this—if you can get me drunk, then I'll go along with you."
Reinhild looked into their eyes as she spoke, then snatched Subaru's cup and drained it in one gulp.
Divine protection activated → "Thousand Cups Without Falling."
"How admirable! We won't bully you. For every cup you drink, we'll drink three!"
"Woooaaahhh!!!"
Amidst the cheers, Reinhild's first time drinking began.
.
.
.
"Reinhild, are you okay?" Subaru watched Reinhild sway with each step.
"I feel a bit dizzy."
"You really didn't need to do that." Subaru sighed, looking at the soldiers strewn across the ground.
"Don't move too much, I'm afraid I'll break a bone."
Subaru said as he lifted Reinhild in his arms. The girl, who had been about to struggle, instinctively stopped after hearing Subaru's words.
"I won't break a bone. And even if you did, I would take care of you."
"Reinhild… thank you."
"It's not for Subaru. I just don't like seeing someone important drink alcohol."
"So that means I'm an important person to Reinhild!"
"???" Reinhild tilted her head in confusion, then her face turned even redder.
'So cute.'
The boy's heartfelt voice and affection reached Reinhild's consciousness through the Divine protection.
—So this is what they call love.
Looking at the boy's profile, feeling the firmness of his chest, and the arms holding her up, Reinhild for the first time in years felt warmth and safety welling from the bottom of her heart. Her head grew dizzier, and her relaxed consciousness gradually blurred under the power of alcohol.
For the first time in fourteen years, the girl fell into a completely defenseless sleep.
.
.
.
—What is this…
When Reinhild awoke, she wrinkled her brow at the thick smell of alcohol. Ignoring her body's fatigue, she abruptly sat up. This was a completely unfamiliar room, and outside, the sun was already nearing its zenith.
"I didn't even change clothes?"
Looking at the alcohol-scented clothes on her body, Reinhild didn't know why she felt, besides relief, also a faint trace of disappointment.
She shook her head sharply, then suddenly froze. On the table not far away sat porridge and other food, and on the bed was a small indentation.
Reinhild touched the indentation with her hand. In her mind flashed the image of Subaru sitting on a chair, sleeping while leaning forward. Without realizing it, a faint smile appeared on her face.
Reinhild put on her shoes and walked to the table. On it was a half-finished cup of water. Picking it up, Reinhild suddenly recalled a blurry memory of Subaru helping her drink water when she had woken up midway.
She picked up the note—it reminded her to drink the hangover medicine. Even though she no longer felt hungover, Reinhild still downed it in one gulp. Then, guided by the Divine protection, she went to the kitchen and saw Subaru.
"Reinhild, you're awake! How are you feeling? Ah!"
[Mung bean soup over rice?]
The Divine protection suddenly gave this feedback, and Reinhild couldn't help but laugh. Indeed, clearly too much had been added, and it already looked like soup more thanrice. Subaru was adding water, trying to cook a second batch.
"Millet mung bean porridge? For me?"
"Yes, wait—"
Before Subaru could stop her, Reinhild closed her eyes and savored it. Obviously, the ingredients were ordinary, and clearly it was a failed dish, but…
"It's delicious." Reinhild said.
"Let's eat together."
Interlude: A Day in the Life of a Demon Maid
July 25th, Royal Capital, Roswaal Mansion.
"Another one of that guy's souvenirs?"
"Sister! Is something the matter?" Rem looked up in surprise at her sister who had appeared in the doorway, then hurriedly stood and asked.
"It's rest time now, Rem—don't keep yourself so tense. I just came to drink tea." Ram said as she set the tray she was holding on the table, then naturally sat on the bed and took a sip of tea.
"Really, if you're so worried about him, wouldn't it be better to follow after him?" Ram sighed as she watched Rem keep sneak-peeking at the trunk, then looked at the large chest with some curiosity.
"By the way, what is it this time?"
"I don't know yet, it hasn't been opened. It's rare for Sister to care this much."
"Ram just doesn't want us suddenly having mushroom dishes every meal, or you pestering him about whether to eat fruit." Ram spread her hands and said.
"Although part of the reason is that Subaru-kun sends a lot, the main reason is actually that at first I couldn't bear to use the food Subaru sent, and in the end I felt too embarrassed to throw away the things Subaru gave me." Rem gave a somewhat embarrassed smile.
"Don't overly coddle one person. And honestly, isn't it ultimately that guy's fault? He should send less, or—like some other times—not send food at all." Ram said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Sister is right." Rem looked back at the chest. As Ram had said at the beginning, this was something that Rem and Beatrice had worried over and had asked for during that unlucky fellow's travels, and Subaru had kept his promise to have the Astrea Trading Company deliver packages every so often.
"Anyway, open it quickly. Your work condition has been slipping lately."
"My apologies." Rem bowed her head. Not receiving Subaru's parcels for half a month had indeed made her frequently distracted and even given her the urge to go look for Subaru.
"Pardon my intrusion." Rem opened the chest with the gentlest motions. Perhaps because it had been half a month since the last souvenir, the contents inside were a bit plentiful.
"Three items and two letters? He actually sent a meteor hammer—so typical of him!"
"Really? I rather like it. Is it a specialty from the Southern Fortress?" Rem picked up the weapon that excited her, then read the note tied to it aloud. But since this was a room, she suppressed the urge to swing it about; she simply pressed her hand to check its hardness, then lightly tossed it a few times to confirm the feel.
"Looks like they went to three places again—Rem, read everything out to me."
"All right, Sister." Rem set down the weapon and opened the report letter.
"Arrived at the Southern Fortress on July 12th, we were surrounded because they thought we were spies… On July 18th, somehow our travel funds were nearly exhausted! We'd only been to eight cities and we were already out of money! I don't know if it's luck or what, but today we happened to arrive at the gambling city Carmel."
"It looks like we'll be able to meet him in person soon—congratulations."
"No, no, no, Subaru-kun must have a plan, right?" Rem said as she turned the page.
"As expected, nine out of ten bets lose. If I hadn't stopped in time I might have been forced to work in the mines, but we did manage to replenish our travel funds. Those casino owners were so furious they accused us of cheating—how laughable… I never expected Reinhild would actually use a casino-guaranteeing Divine protection (PS: Game Center's Divine protection: gambling table guaranteed win). Fortunately I didn't know at the time—no, wait, using a Divine protection like that probably shouldn't count as cheating, right? Well then… I also didn't expect several casino bosses to be unable to swallow their losses; they sent killers and thugs, and they got into a fight outside… We've now set off on a new journey."
Rem lowered the letter and let out a long breath.
"Subaru-kun seems very happy!" Rem said, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly. Seeing Rem like that, Ram let out a sigh.
"Rem, Subaru loves that girl called Reinhild very much, but Roswaal-sama also loves that unknown witch."
"Sister!"
"You know how things are between Roswaal and me now—if you don't give up, anything is possible. Besides, I can take care of this mansion now." Ram proudly puffed out her chest; for Roswaal-sama she'd increased her servant fighting effectiveness from one-fifth of Rem to one-third of Rem. Handling a 'small' mansion in the capital alone was no problem at all.
"Is it really okay to keep going like this? Rem, you can go pursue the happiness you want—I'll stand by you." Looking at her sister asking seriously, Rem sighed.
"Sister, do you know? Sister is my past—Subaru is my future. I'm willing to do anything for you all, but my heart always feels empty." Rem pressed her hand to her chest, as if something important were missing there.
"My memories are covered by a layer of fog. Everything feels very reasonable, but also completely unreasonable. For example, why didn't I confess to Subaru when we were in the Royal Capital? Or at the mansion? I wanted to bind Subaru to my side so badly—my feelings back then were even stronger than they are now—so why didn't I express myself?" Rem painfully clutched her head, then waved to reassure the worried Ram.
"You mean—" Ram, sitting back down on the bed, had a serious light in her eyes.
"Sister, do you remember meeting Subaru?"
"Subaru found us hiding at the tavern. I passed out because of the side effects of fully demonizing, and when I woke up you and Subaru had already made an agreement… Something's off, though—it seems reasonable, but it's completely unreasonable." Ram thought seriously and slowly furrowed her brows.
"That's right, Sister! I know myself—I'm a stubborn person. At that time I had sealed my heart even more; there's no way I would be shaken by just a few words. At the very least someone would have to bet their life several times over to wake me. And even if I were awakened, my thoughts that my sister was perfect—only becoming like this because she lost her horn—wouldn't disappear just because of a few words. Yet in the Astrea territory I changed because of Subaru's few words."
The two sisters drank their tea while thinking, and finally Ram set her cup down.
"I see. So it wasn't that you self-destructed, but that you were completely defeated while fully demonized—and the one who defeated you at your peak, you think, was that Reinhild. Indeed, from Garfiel's account, she might be stronger than me."
"Then that must be it. Stronger than Sister, the one Subaru likes, with obvious Astrea family features, and I heard initially the Dragon Sword was in her hands."
"I understand. I suppose it's about time to get to work." Ram left the bed and picked up the tray.
"Rem, whatever you want to do I'll help you. Because in my heart there's only you and Roswaal-sama—reluctantly, there's also half a… one-quarter of Subaru."
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