Chapter 19 - 019 : Loot cellar again

Inside the loot cellar Rom appraise Subaru cell phone with interest in his eyes

Hmm…" Rom nodded.

"This is certainly something. If I were to take care of it, in terms of blessed gold coins maybe fifteen…no, I could absolutely get more than twenty for this. I believe it's worth that much."

Rom's business sense sparked; his eyes were shining as he made his appraisal.

While Subaru thought he was unsure how proud he could be to get the seal of approval from someone in the business of selling stolen goods, it certainly did put him at ease. His nostrils flaring with confidence, Subaru turned to Felt.

"Well, there you have it. This is the card I have to play. Like I said, it's worth more than twenty blessed gold coins. So now, I'd like to trade you this for that badge you've got."

"I see you seem to make that face a lot, but it really is annoying."

Apparently unimpressed that everything looked as though it was going according to Subaru's plan, Felt made a face. However, that didn't change the fact that this new information made the deal sound even better to her.

"Well, to be honest, I'm happy that I've got a guarantee that I can turn this mitia into cash. It looks like I don't have to doubt you anymore about it being worth twenty blessed gold coins, either. I accept the card you have to play."

"Right?! So anyway, it looks like our negotiations have gone well. It'll be your job to sell it, but I wish you the best of luck! Now that's wrapped up, how about we go off somewhere and have a drink to celebrate our success?"

Subaru quickly walked over to Felt and put out his hand to take the badge, but Felt slowly pushed it back.

"Wait a minute. Why are you in such of a hurry?"

"Life has its limits. You've got to treat every second of it as precious, and it's a shame to waste any—"

"Right, right, enough of that," Felt said, narrowing her red eyes, and with a calm attitude stuck at the heart of her doubts.

"Why do you want this badge in the first place?"

But while Felt didn't know Subaru's intentions, he knew hers. Subaru knew why Felt was so desperate to negotiate the best deal possible. He knew who she was trying so desperately for. So after a pause, he told the truth.

"All I want is to return that badge to its rightful owner."

"…What?"

Telling the truth was the most sincere thing he thought he could do. So while Felt's eyes opened wide, Subaru just repeated what he said before.

"I want to return that badge to its rightful owner. That's why I want it. That's all."

Felt's red eyes glinted full of animosity, but Subaru stayed silent. He didn't have it in him to joke around at this point, so he just bowed his head.

"…Felt, I don't think he's lying," said Rom.

"Don't you be tricked by him! This has got to be a joke! Return it to its rightful owner? By paying all of this money to buy it back from the person who stole it? How stupid can you get? If that's what he wanted to do, he should have brought a guard with him to round us up!"

Of course Subaru couldn't do that. Rem didn't want to get the guards involved. That's why Subaru had refused Reinhard's offer. Subaru couldn't go against Rem's wishes.

It was the least that Subaru could do, and it was his answer to the one who had saved his life.

"If you're going to lie, do a better job of it! Even if you act like you're serious, I won't be tricked! If I don't… That's right. I won't be tricked…" Felt said, as if shaking some thoughts from her head, ending in a feeble-sounding voice.

"Felt…" said Rom in a caring tone with a painful expression, probably knowing what was going on inside Felt.

Either way, it didn't look as though Felt was going to change her mind. In other words, negotiations had failed.

"…Who is it?"

Suddenly, Rom's expression changed and he looked toward the entrance. Subaru, still in a state of shock from the negotiations breaking down, was too late to react to Rom's voice.

"It could be my client. It does seem a little early, though."

Felt went over to the door, with her angry expression still on her face, and reached to open it. Subaru suddenly identified the impatient feelings welling up inside him.

The loot cellar, a knock at the door, Felt's client—all of those signals could only lead to one thing.

"Don't open the door! We'll all be killed!!"

It was earlier than Subaru had expected. From the windows he could see the sun still high in the sky. It was too bright to be past sunset.

The first and second times around, despair had come knocking after sunset. Subaru hadn't let his guard down about their limited time, but still, this was way too early.

Subaru still hadn't accomplished anything he needed to do to change this world. Subaru didn't make it in time. Her hand was already on the door, and it was pushed open from the outside, and the reddish light of early sunset swept the dimness of the cellar away. And then…

"If i didn't get instructions from Emilia-sama not use violence and try to end it in peaceful way i will consider your suggestion to kill all of you" said a girl with medium length sky blue hair as she stepped into the cellar.

"Rem you can't said something bad like that lightly, no matter what they still need to give an option how to settle this problem " Following her was A beautiful girl with silver hair and purple blue eyes. "I'm so glad you're here… I won't let you get away this time."

Upon seeing the girl, Emilia, walk in through the door, Felt wordlessly stepped back.

"You two really are a persistent woman, aren't you… Why couldn't you just give up already?" said Felt, sounding as though she was on the verge of grinding her teeth together.

"Unfortunately, this is not something I can give up on. …If you'll be a good girl and hand it over I won't hurt you," replied Emilia, the tone of her voice incredibly cold.

As Subaru felt the tension of the atmosphere in the cellar rise, he couldn't help but shiver.

Why was Rem and her Emilia-sama is here?

The sun had only just begun to set. The first time around he and Rem hadn't even reached the entrance to the slums yet. By the time they had reached the loot cellar, the sun was completely down.

"…Which must mean that without me, she would have found this place a lot faster…"

Subaru couldn't describe how he felt, with the uselessness of his actions across both space and time so thoroughly proven.

"And if not for helping me Rem definitely will follow her Emilia-sama and she will not end up dead in the loot cellar "

But even as he drowned in his empty feelings, the situation advanced without him.

As Felt continued to step back, she had already crossed from the center of the room to the back, and Emilia while continuing to block the exit, changed her stance and pointed her palm forward.

With the faint sound of shattering air, Emilie activated her magic. It seemed that her specialty really was ice magic, and as icicles formed in the air in front of the palm of her hand, the temperature of the room dropped.

"I only have one demand of you: Return the badge. It is very precious to me."

There were six icicles floating in the air. The tips were rounded, so that their power seemed more in their weight rather than their sharpness. However, it was clear that if one hit, it would do far more damage than if a stone were thrown.

Of course, Subaru himself was counted among the possible targets, and so he tried his best not to incite Emilia, just wordlessly looking on.

"Emilia-sama, if there is a fight please leave it to me and protect yourself "

Rem take a step forward with a flail in her hand that she take out of nowhere with cold eyes scanning the room.

"…Rom," called Felt, a little over a whisper.

"I can't make a move. It's your fault for bringing in such a troublesome thing along with such a troublesome opponent, Felt," replied Rom, his giant body tensed as he shook his head.

Rom had at some point grabbed his club and still held it in his hand, but his arm was slack and he didn't look ready to swing it. He seemed to be gripping and releasing it as though he was still hesitating.

"You're going to give up before the fight's even started?" said Felt, challenging Rom.

"If this were an ordinary magic user I wouldn't be complaining, but…this one's a problem, also the other one look strong too " replied Rom, with a hint of admonishment in his voice, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Emilia.

In Rom's stare as he looked down at her was both an extreme sense of caution and an element of awe.

"The maid over there you're not human right?and you're an elf…aren't you, miss?" said Rom, his lips shaking.

Subaru looked up reflexively. Rom guessed that she was an elf. This is also the first time he see the girl in close range, now he think this is no wonder she is beautiful because from all of the fantasy stories Elf always describe as a race full of beautiful girl and handsome boy.

"Not human...?"

Subaru fell very shock because from the moment he know her, except very strong physically Rem look like any other girl he know.

"You're right even if i didn't have an obligation to answer but if it can make you more cooperative and return the badge, i will tell you I'm from Oni race"

But upon hearing Rom's question, Emilia closed her eyes for a few moments, and then after a small sigh, she responded.

"Technically, you're mistaken. Only half of what I am is an elf," she said in a tone as if she was making a painful confession, and Subaru furrowed his brow.

Hearing Rem Answer Rom's questions Subaru open wide his eyes 'Oni..race' even if he didn't know what race is this, he still can't believe it he think she is a human like him.

However, the other two had a much more exaggerated reaction, especially Felt, and with a shudder she continued to step back and said,

"A half-elf…and with silver hair?! You…you can't be…"

"I'm not her! We only look the same! It's… It's a problem for me, too."

Subaru didn't know what was going on, but he could tell that this was a conversation that Emilia didn't want to be having.

However, Emilia denial didn't seem to calm Felt down; rather, it put her even more on edge, and she turned her red eyes full of animosity toward Subaru, who was still standing silently on the sidelines.

"You… You set me up, didn't you?"

"What?"

"I thought it was fishy when you said you wanted to return this thing to its owner. The fact that you kept me from hiring people to block her way was also part of the plan, wasn't it? You two are in this together, aren't you?!"

As Felt said those words, gushing full of hatred, Subaru realized that Felt was having another misunderstanding.

"Huh…? What do you mean? You two aren't together?"

"Return the badge?"

Emilia and Rem seemed puzzled as to why Felt was turning on Subaru, and why he want to return it but Felt just laughed.

"Ha! Cut the act! I'm the one who's backed in a corner here. So go ahead and take this badge from me and laugh at my stupidity, why don't you?"

"Oh, come on. Just because you're at a slight disadvantage doesn't mean you have to cave so easily," replied Subaru.

"That's all you have to say after bringing they here? Damn it, I've been had!" said Felt, roughly scratching at her blond hair and clicking her tongue.

Emilia seemed to frown at Felt's far-from-ladylike attitude, and Subaru gulped at the dangerous state of circumstances and misunderstandings, not knowing where to fix his gaze.

But just then…a black shadow silently seemed to slide in and creep up behind Rem and Emilia.

"Rem! Behind!"

A sensual smile melted into the shadows and raced forward, and a silver glint seemed to squirm as it lunged toward the two girl white neck. There was a loud clash, not the sound of steel cutting through bone but of steel shattering glass. As Emilia was thrown slightly forward there was a bluish white magic circle activated behind her head.

The light of the magic circle took the tip of the blade and had just bȧrėly kept the silver-haired girl alive.

And for Rem, she is leapt forward and swept her morningstar to behind her and try to launch counterattack but the target is successfully avoiding her attack.

Emilia who leapt forward and turned around, her silver hair waving, and behind that curtain of hair Subaru could see a gray-colored furry animal standing and lifted up its nose, proud of its save before looking toward Subaru.

"That was just in the nick of time there. You saved us even if you just warn Rem"

"A cat... that can talk?"

"A spirit, a spirit, huh? Ah…ha-ha… That's wonderful. I haven't ever opened the stomach of a spirit before."

Lifting her dangerous weapon in front of her face, the woman's expression as one of ecstasy. It was the murderer Subaru had seen so many times before: Elsa.

Both Rem and Emilia were immediately on guard in response to the sudden new arrival, but the first one to react was neither of them.

"Hey! What's the meaning of this?!" Felt yelled, stepping forward with her voice raised in anger.

Felt pointed a finger at Elsa and then took the badge out of her pocket with her other hand.

"All you're supposed to do is buy this badge from me. Turning this place into a bloodbath was not part of our agreement!"

"Buying the stolen badge from you is certainly what I came here to do, but it's hard to hold any negotiations if its owner had already come and taken it away. So, I decided on a change of plans."

Felt's face was red with anger, but upon seeing Elsa's eyes fixed on her, wet with murderous intent, she gulped. Elsa looked on, with an almost loving gaze, at Felt's fear.

"I'll just kill everyone here, and then I'll pick that badge up from the sea of blood afterward," said Elsa, all while holding the expression of an affectionate mother on her face. She then tilted her head and continued on cruelly, "You weren't able to do your job. Do you really expect me not to throw away something that's useless to me?"

"…"

Felt's face twisted as if in pain, but the emotion behind it was not of fear, but something else. Elsa's words must have touched upon something sėnsɨtɨvė, deep inside her. Subaru didn't know what that was, but…

"Don't give me that, you bitch!!"

…it was enough for Subaru to shout out in anger at Elsa, and forget about how weak he was compared to her. Elsa turned and looked at Subaru, surprised, and she wasn't the only one. Felt and Rom turned to Subaru even Rem and Emilia was no exception.

However, the one most surprised was none of them, it was Subaru. He couldn't understand himself, just why he was so angry. In part because he could not understand it as this emotion rose up inside him, he spit all of it out.

"Is it really that fun for you to pick on such a little kid, you intestine obsessed sadist?! Just because things aren't going exactly the way you planned, you're going to wreck everything and throw a tantrum?! What are you, five?! How about you treasure life for once?! Do you know how much it hurts to have your stomach ripped open?! I know!!"

"…What are you trying to say?"

"I'm just taking this moment to let the unforeseen sense of justice inside me rant about the injustice of this damn world, and right now, to me, the injustice of this world is you, and this situation, so right now I'm channeling all of my anger about everything on to you!"

As Subaru's shouting continued to make no sense to her, Elsa let out a rare exasperated sigh. But while Subaru was kind of hurt by her nonserious reaction, with spit flying, he shouted one more time.

"All right! That's realy enough buying time for you right?!"

"That was such an amazingly lame tirade there, I want to write it down and leave it for future generations. …Guess I'll have to respond to your expectations, huh?"

Compared with Subaru's shouting and stomping, Puck's voice was aloof and detached. Elsa immediately looked up, but all around her, from all sides,were sharpened icicles, more than twenty in all.

"It seems I haven't introduced myself, little lady. My name is Puck. I'd like it if you at least remembered my name, as you say farewell to this world."

Immediately afterward, the icicles flew at Elsa.