Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1 : PROLOGUE
"Ol Shamak"
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Hearing that spell, Subaru and Beatrice were engulfed in complete darkness.
A split second later, piercing light assaulted his eyes.He covered them with his arm, wincing.
The sudden jump from the dimly lit library to jet-black darkness and then to the bright midday sun in mere seconds was painful.
‘Wait… sunlight?!’While waiting for his eyes to adjust, he could already hear the sounds of dragon-drawn carriages, the loud haggling of rival merchants trying to outdo each other, and the general hustle and bustle of a thriving city.
Subaru clutched at his side instinctively. The small, gentle, and delicate hand of his spirit was no longer there.
‘This isn’t funny!’He reached for their contract. Nothing.
The familiar warmth of their bond was completely gone.“Beako!!!”He shouted, looking frantically left and right like a madman.
Some onlookers began murmuring among themselves, but he didn’t care.
He kept running in circles, calling her name desperately.He tried activating Cor Leonis, but it refused to respond — as if it had been sealed.
Unlike the contract, however, the Authority itself still existed somewhere inside him. That realization only made the dread worse.
It wasn’t simply terminated or blocked. It felt as if the contract with Beatrice had never existed in the first place.
For a Spirit Arts user, contracts were everything. This was the second time he had formed one with Beatrice, and it was anything but temporary.
The feeling of wrongness that spread through his body was blood-curdling. An important part of him had been violently snatched away. All he could do was panic.
“What the hell!! What the hell!! What the hell!!”
‘What the hell did you do… Al!!!’
After running around for a few minutes, the familiar yet alien scenery finally forced him to stop in his tracks.
He leaned his back against a wall, legs weak, nausea rising in his throat.‘
T-this place… it’s…’
“The royal capital of Lugunica.”
Natsuki Subaru’s mind was in absolute overdrive as he tried to process the situation he had been forcibly thrown into.
The alley where he had been saved, the ruins where they first introduced themselves, the appa stand, the slums, the loot house, the pain, his promise, his death, his return …Snippets of his disastrous first day in this world flashed violently through his mind.
He wanted to deny it, but the truth was undeniable. His displacement from the watchtower wasn’t just spatial — it was also temporal.
He knew for certain that this is the same day that he was summoned to this world, because he vowed to never forget.
Falling to his knees, hyperventilating, eyes glistening with unshed tears, Subaru whispered brokenly:“N-no… please… Everything… everyone… gone.”
“You guys… left me… again…”He felt disappointed and disgusted with himself for saying those words out loud, but the ever-present loneliness he had tried so hard to bury came rushing back, stronger than ever.
Natsuki Subaru was spiraling into the deepest pits of despair.
Distant whispers from passersby barely registered in his ears.
All noise was filtered out except for the firm, measured footsteps of someone approaching him.
His eyes remained glued to the ground as the footsteps grew louder — not aggressive, but deliberate, as if the person didn’t want to startle the shivering boy.
A moment later, a clean white handkerchief entered his blurred vision, followed by a gentle, concerned voice that cut through the static in his mind.“Excuse me, young gentleman. Are you alright?”Lifting his head slightly, Subaru felt a wave of comfort, security, and a tiny morsel of relief wash over him at the sight of the knight’s uniform and the recognizable sword resting at their waist.
“Reinhard…” he muttered, a weak chuckle escaping his lips. “Your ‘nice guy’ index is still off the charts, heh…”Slowly raising his head to meet the person face-to-face, his words died in his throat.
Eyes as blue as a clear sky stared back at him. Hair as red as a ripe appa was tied neatly in a ponytail. A gentle, disarming smile adorned a small, delicate, and undeniably feminine face.
“Apologies. I don’t believe I’m the person you’re referring to, but allow me to introduce myself,” the young woman said, still holding the handkerchief in her left hand while her right rested tightly on the hilt of her sword.
She offered a slight, elegant bow of her head.“My name is Adelheid van Astrea, the Sword Saint of the Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica.”A bright, warm smile lit up her face.
“You gotta be kidding me…?” Subaru muttered, eyes wide, mouth agape, fresh tears forgotten.
Natsuki Subaru’s displacement from the watchtower wasn’t just spatial and temporal but also otherworldly