Chapter Text
"What... What"s going on?" Alnath asked, as alarmed as everyone else in the Emperor"s group was.
The world around them was dissolving. The white room that gave place to the first watchtower"s test was turning into something entirely different.
This happened simply when Subaru Natsuki touched the blackened monolith that represented Rigel"s star. So it was obvious that they had passed the first test.
However, oblivious to the change, or at least not confused about the unfolding situation, Shaula just smiled and clapped her hands in satisfaction. "As expected of the Master!"
This attracted everyone"s attention. Even from Subaru himself, when well timed with the appearance of a gigantic library Shaula simply stated. "The Master passed without any difficulty! Congratulations~"
This was true, Subaru passed the test so easily that everyone was shocked and gaping.
If someone were to answer for him, they wouldn"t know how to come up with the correct answer. They had no idea how the emperor managed to deduce which monolith was the correct one.
Anyone there might as well go ahead with trial and error, but it was certain that they would go wrong until they got this right.
But something remained on Subaru"s mind. Something that made him smile.
This place was built by someone from my world. It is not difficult to suppose that the great sage was of the earth.
"That at least deserves a reward, doesn"t it Master? Please give me a big hug~ right now!" Shaula snapped Subaru out of his thoughts, as she arrived in front of him pleased with herself.
Subaru groaned in dissatisfaction but didn"t refuse. "Shouldn"t I be the one to get something here?" He said sarcastically.
Shaula pulled away with a sly smile, then she patted her head softly. While saying. "Te~hee" in a cute way.
"As expected of Your Highness." Alnath declared, happy to witness yet another conquest of the Emperor. However…
Cecilus asked the question that was on his mind. "A library, why?"
"Hmph. Shouldn"t it be obvious…?" The dwarf accompanying the group asked in disbelief. But as he received no reply. "... We are in the tower of the great sage, young fool."
"You"re pretty arrogant for a boring old dwarf, aren"t you?"
Yielding to the divine general"s provocations, the old man retorted. "Not as much as you."
"You two, I think we have more important things to deal with." Medium called, not wanting to waste time on petty fights involving Cecilus.
Shaula, like the great guide she was, started to explain the next steps. "So! look and admire, as we continue our tour of the Master"s watchtower today. I will finally present to you the Taygeta library… Any questions?"
Medium raised her hand. Shaula, noticing the first question, waited in anticipation. "What is so special about this library and these…. Hundreds of thousands of books?" Medium asked honestly curious.
Shaula looked at the various shelves completely filled with books, a finger on her lip. She frowned a little. And admitted it honestly. "I have no idea."
"...That doesn"t help much."
"Guess we"ll have to find out."
Medium looked at Subaru and nodded. But before everyone could explore, Subaru himself asked a question directed at Shaula and raised his hand.
Shaula smiled at the prospect of her Master raising his hand to ask her a question. And obviously like the great guide that she was, she would answer them with everything she knew, which wasn"t much to everyone"s misfortune.
"Shaula, you called this place the Taygeta library. So, I imagine the next test will be on the next floor: Electra. If I am not wrong."
"Exactly Master."
"Am I right in thinking that we will have to look for a staircase to the next floor from now on inside this library?"
Shaula once again frowned, trying to remember the details that her Master must have told her four hundred years ago…. Well, she failed. "I don"t know Master, I"m sorry about that. But you definitely have to go up to the next floor."
"What a guide you are, huh..." Someone spoke among the group, causing Shaula to pout.
"Well, I already expected that." Said Subaru. "Here"s the plan: while we try to understand what"s special about this library. We"ll also do a search for the stairs to the next floor. This place seems to be quite big, so let"s split up into groups."
Cecilus held up his hand.
"Yes, you can say Cecilus."
"Can I join Anya-chan here?" Cecilus smiled while pointing innocently towards her.
Arakiya growled. "No. I"ll go alone!"
Subaru pondered about her words, then he remembered the conversation he had the day before with his wife about Arakiya. "Actually, Arakiya, I hope you can accompany someone."
She frowned at that. But she didn"t complain. "With whom?" It was the only question she had.
"You can go with Medium. Try prioritizing our search for the stairs to the next floor as well as Medium"s security. But if you"re curious, be sure to satisfy yourself by trying to read one of these books we have here."
"... Right." Arakiya said as he lazily walked to the empress"s side. Medium nodded at Subaru, grateful for his decision.
"Cecilus, You should go with our friend, Guirtab. You can learn a thing or two from him by reading these books. I can already see him salivating to begin with to study each of the books."
Cecilus groaned in annoyance. He wanted to go with anyone but this decrepit old dwarf.
The old man seemed unperturbed. Just responding with the Emperor"s statement. "You"re right, Your Highness, after all that"s why I came on this trip with you. Our peoples of Vollachia and Kararagui can learn a lot from the knowledge that we"re sure to gain on this trip. So if I may, I"ll check out the entire library."
"Boss, why~?" Cecilus cried as he held Subaru"s shoulder. "What did I do to make you do this to me? Did I do something wrong?"
"I didn"t know you could be so dramatic like that." Medium snorted.
Subaru removed Cecilus" hand coldly from his shoulder. "Well, you expected an epic battle, didn"t you? Your battle begins here, surviving out of boredom alongside this old Kararagian."
"You are cruel~!"
Subaru ignored the man"s wails and concentrated on forming his small group. They were already wasting a lot of time here.
"Alnath will accompany me."
The second general in command nodded in agreement at this.
"And I"m going with the Master!"
Subaru sighed as he tried to free the girl"s iron grip from his neck. "And you come with me... Let"s go."
And with that they finally parted ways in the gigantic Taygeta library.
As stated earlier, there were hundreds of thousands of books. All with similar leather covers but different colors, green, navy blue, red. Also the title was different, there were names written for each different book that they took from the bookshelves.
"Suhail Durat..." Cecilus muttered the name of a book he held in his hands. He frankly had no interest in these books. Not at all, until he started noticing a certain weird pattern.
"Eltanin..."
He read yet another name on the cover of another book. "Tiaki..."
Then...
"Berstez Fondalfon..." The divine general"s eyes widened like plates. This name wasn"t just familiar, it was a name he knew very well.
"What was this?" Guirtab asked beside Cecilus. Trying to look at the book much higher than it is in the swordsman"s hands.
"The former imperial prime minister..."
"Who?"
"This guy here. Look."
"Berstez Fondalfon..." The old dwarf read it. Interestingly, unlike the other books, Guirtab recognized this one as being familiar, but not knowing exactly where from.
"This is the same name as the former prime minister. I know this because I killed him myself." Cecilus explained.
Until the realization hit the old man"s mind.
A long time ago, he had found this man Berstez in one of Kararagi"s city-states in the presence of the former Emperor of Vollachia at the time, known as Drizen Vollachia
It was at least thirty years ago. From what he could remember, Berstez was probably some sort of advisor to the emperor at the time. And after that, the old man never had a chance to meet him again, after all he was just an inventor at the time. It was definitely curious to find his name in such a place.
"I see…" Said Cecilus in a tone of realization.
The old man was pulled from his thoughts once more by the swordsman"s voice.
"All those names… They were people I killed."
The old scholar"s eyes widened in disbelief. It couldn"t be that, could it? The old man took the book with "Berstez Fondalfon" written on its hardcover, and then opened it.
"Hum?" Cecilus raised an eyebrow when he heard the sound of something falling to the floor.
Why was the old man lying on the floor like that?
"Don"t tell me you died old!?"
"I don"t understand. These books contain nothing written. Only the names actually change." Alnath noted, genuinely confused by this development. "What do you think of this, Your Highness?"
"Alnath, to be honest with you, I have no idea. But these books certainly have something special about them."
"Well of that I have no doubt." declared Alnath as he returned the book to its place, and took another from the same shelf. "I wonder if this is some kind of tower test. Something the sage wanted to hide inside these books and that"s why he took the trouble to do so."
Subaru put away one more book he had leafed through, unfortunately with no words written on any of the white sheets. Then he laughed. "That"s definitely it, Alnath. I like that idea."
"By the way... You really don"t know anything about these books... Shaula?"
"Well I..." Shaula nervously played with her fingers, "I-I r-really don"t know anything about this place. I"ve never been here since you left."
"And there you come again..."
Alnath was also surprised by Shaula"s insistence on labeling the Emperor as her Master, even more so when she stated that she only recognized him by smell, and that if it were for looks, everyone looked the same to her.
Shaula"s faith with Subaru being her Master was so great that even Alnath could almost begin to believe along with her. In his opinion, the Emperor had the right qualities to be considered a true sage.
Well, that one isn"t either different from the last one." Subaru put the book back in the same place he had taken it out. "So far I haven"t been able to find any kind of pattern..."
Alnath sighed. "Neither did I... But I think it"s wise to keep looking, even if it"s for a little longer. I"m sure the information contained here will be valuable."
Subaru didn"t respond as he continued with an inquisitive look on his face. Carefully observing every detail of the shelf in front of him. But something, or someone, wasn"t really helping while standing so close to him like that.
"Shaula." Subaru called seriously.
"Yes, Master?"
"Could you stop and really start to help in our search?"
She raised an eyebrow, as she touched the same book that Subaru was holding on the shelf. "But I"m already helping you Master."
"No, you don"t. Getting the same book as me won"t change anything. Do me a favor, and look elsewhere."
"Oh, I see! Look... elsewhere" She observed with a finger to her lips the tens of thousands of books inside the library that weren"t the same ones her Master was looking for.
Subaru sighed heavily and once again opened this new book he had picked up... Well, this one was no different from the others. It didn"t change a thing. Completely blank.
"MASTER!"
Subaru looked to where Shaula was pointing at the end of the hall. "What is it now..." He walked towards her and when arrived next to her saw Shaula smiling at him.
"Did you find anything?" He looked down at the book she held close to her chest. "... Well, give me away."
A vein formed on Subaru"s forehead. "...This book is just like the others! It doesn"t change a thing..." He gave Shaula an irritated look.
"You asked me to look for a book and I found it!"
Subaru massaged his temples in annoyance. But even if he was angry, he wouldn"t yell at her. "Look here Shaula." He explained smoothly. "Try again, but this time try to find a book with something written inside it. If you do, you will receive a reward. What do you think?"
The girl"s face lit up. "Serious?"
"Yep."
Shaula ran off to who knows where in search of a book to impress her master. Once again Subaru groaned in dissatisfaction when he noticed the pile of books fallen on the floor. "Look at the mess you"ve made, Shaula."
He bent down to pick up book by book. "You who explained to us that we shouldn"t damage any part of the watchtower, not even the books, and here you go and do just that... How can anyone be as airheaded as you Shaula...?"
So far Subaru and the others have come to a conclusion that they shouldn"t leave the books out of place. Not when one of the tower"s rules stated that no part of the structure could be damaged. Whether that took the books into account or not, he didn"t know.
But he didn"t want to risk making Shaula become, in her words: an unstoppable killing machine.
Subaru put all the books back on the shelf, until he realize took a peculiar book. The very last book he was going to keep back had a recognizable name. One he remembered very well, since he had first arrived in this world.
"Reid Astrea…" Subaru read the book with a frown. This name is very similar to Reinhard Van Astrea ... Don"t tell me this is some kind of descendant of Reinhard.
And once again unsurprisingly a book with white pages was shown to Subaru. However, he certainly didn"t expect to fall into unconsciousness soon afterward.
"Your Highness…!?"
Medium didn"t know why, but she did worry a little about Arakiya. Ever since she had the conversation with Subaru the night before, Medium had become more self-aware of this fact.
But she didn"t know exactly where that was coming from. Medium was as kind and nice as possible to people she knew. Even after she became an empress, she had never changed her nature as she would not let the power go to her head.
However it was just that, again, as far as possible she would be nice and kind to someone. Arakiya being a different case. There was no closeness between them. They barely talked. And Medium isn"t sure Arakiya respects her as superior.
Although now that she thinks about it. After the day before, she remembered the time she was saved from near-certain death by Arakiya. In Lupgana, the same city where she lives today, was almost the place where she would have died, had it not been for the divine general"s help.
And she never got a chance to properly thank him, and when she noticed on this trip that Arakiya, her savior, was living a bitter and meaningless life, it broke Medium"s heart.
But she didn"t know what to do about it, and neither could she.
"Arakiya-shi, why don"t we try to find out what"s inside these books. I"m a little curious."
Arakiya frowned. "Wouldn"t it be better to continue with the search for the stairs to the next floor?"
"Yes, but I"m really curious. Can we leave that for later?"
The second divine general sighed at that, but didn"t say anything to stop Medium, after all she was the empress. "Do as you wish."
"Well, I guess we can start with this one." Medium took a book and opened it. And to her surprise. "There"s nothing written..."
She put the book away, and quickly took another one, opening it to the middle pages. "I don"t understand."
Medium flipped through a third book from the same shelf of color books. "There is absolutely nothing written in these books."
Arakiya"s canine ears twitched once more at the disbelief in the empress"s voice. And followed by a rare show of interest, Arakiya approached. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean exactly that. Look."
"Weird…" Arakiya held her chin as she looked at the strange book shown by Medium.
Medium read the title and it sounded like an unknown person"s name. "It seems the only thing that changes is the title of the book and the colors of it…"
"You are right. All of these seem to follow this same pattern." Arakiya"s red eyes scanned the mysterious bookshelf of hundreds of books. And for a second she felt an unnerving sensation just looking at such a structure.
By Medium"s decision, they tried to look for a new bookshelf other than the one they were on.
"I don"t recognize any of these names. Although I can definitely say they are names of people."
"Yes…" Arakiya agreed with her. Those were definitely people"s names. Now the reason for this was totally unknown, it could mean many things, but neither Arakiya nor Medium had any idea what..
Then, faced with Arakiya"s display of disinterest, Medium returned to inspect the mystery books. Then to Medium"s surprise the other girl spoke to her.
"I think I found something interesting, follow me."
"Right behind you Arakiya-shi!" Medium put away the book he was holding and followed Arakiya.
It didn"t take Medium long to notice Arakiya"s object of interest. It was a bookshelf, but unlike the others, this one had all the books in one unique color, all the books here were of the same color..
"How strange…" Medium muttered, a little fascinated by the wall of black books. "This one shelf looks a lot bigger than the others..."
Arakiya picked up a book, and tried to read the book"s title.
Keyword: Tried.
"I can"t read it…"
"What"s written? Arakiya-shi?"
"I don"t know. But that doesn"t seem like a person"s name." Arakiya showed the hardcover of the book. Medium looked with curiosity at the strange symbols that were written there.
"May I pick it up?"
"Of course.." Arakiya simply handed over the book, so she reached for another on the bookshelf. One could say that it was basically a copy of the previous one.
This place was getting weirder and weirder, Arakiya thought. She decided to open it, but before she could, she caught the familiar scent that she usal sent in her enemies and in the battlefield.
Fear.
Arakiya could smell fear.
Someone was scared.
"…. Medium-sama, what"s the matter?" Arakiya noticed how the blonde girl"s hands holding the book were shaking. "What is the problem?"
No response.
Arakiya frowned. Something was wrong. She put the book away and approached the strangely petrified girl. "Medium-sama?"
Once more, Medium doesn"t respond to Arakiya.
"Medium-sama." Arakiya spoke loudly, making the blonde in front of her jump in fear while screaming in a very feminine way. "Aaahh!?"
"You didn"t answer." Arakiya"s red eyes stared into the blonde girl"s frightened eyes. As well as the sweat that dripped from her skin, as if she was on edge.
Medium was definitely scared, and Arakiya didn"t know why. She had never seen the blonde girl so scared like this.
"Do not be afraid." Arakiya took Medium"s distressed hand. "I"m with you here. Nothing will happen."
Medium came out of the trance he was in. She looked into Arakiya"s red eyes and finally spoke.
"I"m sorry, I just froze in fear when I read Subaru"s name in the book. I don"t know why but for a moment I felt like something really bad was going to happen…"
Arakiya narrowed her eyes. "Did you say "Subaru"?" Arakiya asked to be sure.
Medium looked back at the book at her hands, fear etched in her eyes. "Yes..." she answered.
Just to be sure, Arakiya looked around and sniffed with his heightened senses as best he could for the scent of the emperor and the others who had gone with him. She could also smell Cecilus a little further away from them. She frowned.
"He"s not that far away. I can feel him along with the guide and the general."
Medium nodded in understanding. "Sorry about that."
Arakiya looked at the black book in Medium"s hand once more, and just to make sure she took it from her hand. She read the title again but couldn"t find where Subaru"s name had been written.
To Arakiya"s surprise, Medium grabbed her book tightly. "Sorry, I"m just curious... In any case, see."
Arakiya leaned towards where Medium pointed with her finger. And once again she tried to read the strange glyphs.
[ナツキ・スバル]
"I don"t know how to read this." Arakiya said honestly. But she had understood that it was another language she didn"t know and had never heard of.
"Here." Medium pointed with a finger at each glyph she read aloud. [ナ ツキ] "Natsuki.""
And as expected, Medium ended up with the last three glyphs. [スバル] "Subaru."
"So you know how to read what"s written in it..."
"Yeah. Subaru taught me to read his name in his native language, Japanese." Medium explained as she recalled the conversations she had with Subaru. "It"s a bit complicated, but it"s also advantageous, as some of the most secret letters of the empire are specially written in this language. Subaru insisted on teaching me to read in this language."
Arakiya"s eyes gleamed with some kind of understanding. "I see. Your Highness said he"s from beyond the great waterfall. So that means…."
"That this book is written in the language of Subaru"s homeland, and for some reason it bears his name."
"But why are there so many?" Arakiya looked back and watched as the giant bookshelf stretched out with an infinity of black books. She walked over and took another. "This one also seems to have the same glyphs as well."
Arakiya took another. She frowned as she compared the two. "They are the same. Nothing changes. Technically all are written with the name Natsuki Subaru."
It was official, Arakiya was really curious about it. She had no idea what was going on. But that managed to catch her interest.
How could the Emperor"s name be written on the hardcover of these books when he had never come to such a place. Or rather, when no one had managed to get here before.
Or had someone already come?
From what Arakiya knew, and from what she"d been told, no one had really gotten here.
"Medium-sama, we should go back to the others… Medium-sama!?"
"?!"
Arakiya ran to the girl lying face down on the floor. Beside her was the book she was holding lying on the floor.
"Medium-sama!" Arakiya called as he shook her. "Medium-sama, wake up!"
"Damn it." Arakiya picked up Medium easily and lifted him into her arms. She would need to go after the others and report what she had found, as well as show them the girl"s condition.
Medium woke up once more, with all the bodily and mental pain he had suffered since the knights" last visit.
Her body hurt a lot. And she was very hungry, to the point that she thought she would die of weakness.
She was also thirsty. She desperately wanted to take a sip of water. Just something to refresh the parched, parched throat she had after screaming so hard.
Medium didn"t know how long it had been in this state. She was so confused. All she knew was what she could feel, namely pain.
She didn"t know what she would do if Subaru wasn"t here with her. Maybe she would have gone mad a long time ago if he hadn"t been.
But it was very sad that he didn"t speak a word. Maybe he had the same problem as she did and had grown tired of screaming to the point where he couldn"t speak.
It was hours later filled with the sheer agony of the excruciating pain of being hungry and thirsty. That someone finally came to bring them food and water.
The food was awful. And the water was in bad shape, it had a disgusting green color. Medium knew that water was tasteless, but this water really did taste bad.
But Medium was happy. She and Subaru had food and drink. She didn"t know what she would do if he died here and left her alone.
That night, Medium and Subaru slept without visitors. A blessing amidst the days of pure agony and suffering they had to go through.
It was on those days that she was the happiest, as she could spend all the time she had with Subaru. She could forget all the pain she"d had to suffer. And more than that, she could comfort him.
As she did, Subaru cried a lot.
In fact, they spent most of his time crying. Had she known this before, she might have spoken some kind and comforting words to him. If only she could speak with him.
She couldn"t speak. Not even cry. Just when Subaru wanted to. Frankly Subaru was so bossy. But that"s how he was, if not, how would he be emperor?
It was always sad to see him grieve for lost friends, so she grieved along with him, and it hurt a lot, almost as if they were her friends.
Was that why he cried in her arms that time in Vollachia? Why had he seen that half-elf who was once his friend?
Poor Subaru…
But at least she was here with him. She would stand along with him. They would go through this together. She was his wife, after all.
Just don"t die before me Subaru.
…
Another visit.
"Well, today I"m not in a good mood." Said an approaching voice. "But maybe you could answer me this time?"
Dead eyes stared into dead eyes.
Medium cringed in fear before this person. She wanted to run away with her Subaru. He always made them suffer in irrational agony.
Subaru also wanted to run away, but he never did. He always stuck with Medium. The two suffered together. It was at least comforting that he was here with her.
"Now tell me, how do I heal Crush-sama..."
Elsewhere in the library.
"I thought you had died..."
The old man rubbed his head dizzily. "No! Well, as hard as it is to believe, this answers our questions. I lived this man"s life. I know all his secrets, as well as the ambitions he had. I even lived the moment of his death at… your hands…"
Guitarb felt dejected after saying those last words. He vividly remembers dying to Cecilus.
Years and years of experience being assimilated inside his mind.
The old man was still a little numb from the whole series of developments. He had tried to read Berstez"s book and with that he had lived the old man"s entire life. It was as if he"d spent an eternity inside the book, but he hadn"t either.
It was really weird.
And stranger than that was talking to the person who had so casually killed him.
"I see…" Cecilus shrugged as he went back to what he had been doing for the last few minutes.
Frankly the old man was angry at the swordsman"s indifference to his well being.
"Hmph. What are you doing?" The old dwarf asked as he tried to get up off the ground.
"I"m gathering...all these...books..." Cecilus said as he once again disappeared and almost instantly appeared in front of the old man with more books in his hand.
"These..." began the swordsman just before he once again disappeared into thin air for a few seconds. "These are the books that interested me the most."
The old man felt horrified as the realization came to his mind.
"H-How m-many people have you k-killed….?" He cringes at the morbid pile of books on the floor. "Are you really going to collect every book you find?"
"There are not many..." I avoided most… Cecilus replied in a jovial manner. "Also I said, only those that interest me. After all, I want to show all those to the boss."
"This is terrible…" The old man nearly threw up. "Do you feel nothing when you do this?"
"What?"
"If each of the names in these books really belonged to people who died at your hands… I-I can"t see anything but a monster…"
"Very bold of you to say that in front of me. But don"t worry, most of them were just scum or something. Also, almost everyone went into some kind of battle. I didn"t go after them and simply murder them... in most of cases at least."
The old man swallowed hard. He knew all too well the power of the man in front of him. But it was crazy to see that many books piled up on the floor.
For a moment the old man just stared in absolute horror.
"You really do what you want don"t you?" Then he reverted to an irritated expression. "It was explained by the guide that we should not damage the structure of the tower. And here you are putting a hundred books on the floor!"
"Oh come on..." Cecilus groaned. "We are making progress here in uncovering the tower"s mystery. I"m sure my name plays an important role in this puzzle. I"m just gathering evidence or something. Besides—"
"Idiot!" The old man yelled indignantly.
"... Besides, that girl is just an airhead. She is not meant to be a real guide. See, I put these books on the floor. And nothing happened."
As if to prove his point, Cecilus placed five more books at once on the floor.
The old dwarf, Guirtab, sighed deeply. "Very well… Do as you wish. But I have a question."
"Right." Cecilus said just before appearing with three more books and placing them on top of a pile of five more.
"Where are you getting these books from? And when you…" He stopped just before he saw Cecilus appear with two more books in his hand.
"-Got these books… They are just appearing in your hand out of nowhere."
Cecilus laughed at that comment. "Ha-ha, Is that how you see me doing it?"
"I"m simply running inside the library, and taking those books that are interesting enough for me. You should know that, I ran through the desert like thunder."
"... I see." The old man said, disturbed by the abilities of this incomprehensible being in front of him.
"I won"t be long~" Cecilius said as he held up a hand and smiled jovially, suddenly disappearing before the old man.
A small gust of wind can"t help but be noticed though.
"Now where he"s gone?" The old man spoke in disbelief. He waited for a good ten seconds before the young man once again appeared before him.
"You took longer this time. How far did you go?"
Cecilus explained calmly as he assembled yet another pile of books that had caught the swordsman"s interest. Cecilus felt that he was getting closer and closer to solving the mystery of this tower by himself.
"This library is bigger than it looks." Cecilus said bluntly to which the old man nodded. "Also, I met Anya on the way, but I didn"t dare approach her, she"s mad at me. Can you believe it?"
"Absolutely…"
Cecilus returned a stinking look at the old man.
"What was Arakiya-sama doing?"
Kind of to change the subject the old man asked.
"I don"t know. I just watched her carry Medium-chan passed out in her arms just before I noticed another book that interested me."
"Come back again."
"Huh? I said I found a book that interested me."
"Not that, you idiot! Before, before that, repeat again!" The old dwarf stamped his feet against the floor indignantly.
"Anya-chan was carrying an unconscious Medium-sama in her arms…"
"You didn"t bother to ask her why Medium-sama is out!?"
"No? She will just start yelling at me. Plus I wouldn"t be of any help there anyway."
The old man groaned angrily. That idiot was something else! He ran with his little legs towards where he thought Medium-sama and Arakiya-sama were. Guirtab needed to find them and see what was happening.
Cecilus stood there, shrugged, and went back to what he was doing.
"... Your Highness!"
Subaru never felt so bad in his life. His head was throbbing so much it felt like it was going to explode.
And in the face of that headache, he heard the deep, echoing voice of someone calling to him in the back of his mind.
For a few seconds he just continued to listen. "Your Highness!"
Who was it that was calling him? And why would anyone call it Your Highness?
The image of a middle-aged man popped into Subaru"s vision. He looked a little desperate as he exclaimed "Wake up, wake up!"
When the man noticed that Subaru had finally woken up, he sighed audibly. "Looks like you"re fine..."
"Ugh..." Subaru groaned a little when he finally had the strength to turn his head and look directly at the man.
"Who are you...?" Subaru asked since for the first time he woke up since crossing the street, he was seeing a strange man wearing armor.
The man seemed to have trouble processing Subaru"s words. "W-Who am I?"
Subaru nodded, still feeling really dizzy. "Y-Yes...?"
"I"m afraid I don"t understand..." The man seemed genuinely concerned about Subaru"s condition, he helped him to stand up and stand with both feet on the ground.
"Your Highness, do you feel sick?"
Subaru suppressed a frown on his face as he ran his hand over his right arm. That particular arm hurts a lot. "Just a pain in the arm, that"s all."
Subaru looked around, noticing that he was in some sort of library. "Where am I?" asked Subaru with a bit of fear and confusion in his voice.
Alnath swallowed hard. That didn"t smell good. "We"re at the Taygeta library... Maybe Your Highness doesn"t remember that?"
"Your Highness?" Asked the boy.
Alnath just nodded at the boy in front of him. Then the man"s gaze shifted to the book that Subaru had been holding before.
He took it in his hand and read the name on it. "Reid Astrea." Strangely to the man"s confusion, the name belonged to the first sword saint.
"Your Highness, do you by any chance remember reading this book?"
The boy, still in awe, looked back at the book the man was pointing to. It was an ordinary book like the others in the library, but like those, he had never read or touched this one.
"No?"
"I noticed the confusion in your eyes. Am I right in thinking that you have no memories of anything and anyone here?"
"Ah… Are there more people here...? Hmm... I think you"re right. The last thing I remember is crossing a street just before waking up here."
"I see" To Alnath it was clear as day. This was no longer the emperor he knew. It was likely that something had happened to the man"s memory. Alnath could only wonder what that could be. And if it had to do with some trap in the watchtower. Alnath was smart, he knew that for the time being, it was best to go back and gather with the others, before anyone else is affected by the same situation as the Emperor.
"We must look for others, Your Highness. Unfortunately, I"m afraid to say that you"ve lost your memory, and it"s possible that this was because of the watchtower."
"Watchtower? Are we inside a watchtower?" Subaru pondered this. And the more he was immersed in thought, the more things became obvious to the boy. The armor, the weird library... He didn"t think it was obvious at first as he was too numb to think, but now...
"Master! I"m back!"
A female voice sounded from behind Subaru, startling him and causing him to jump back away from this new person.
"Master?"
"Lady Shaula, Your Highness is not in the best condition, I"m afraid to report that-"
Subaru wasted no time. And by noticing all the clues he had in front of him. He nearly exploded in ecstasy, for...
"That"s it! I was summoned to a parallel world!" With a shrill cry, Subaru declared a statement of fact.
He had been transported to another fantasy world!
Natsuki Subaru"s adventure in another isekai world was about to begin.