5 Chapter 5

Makoto was hesitant about opening his eyes.

Every time he did so and opened them, he was met by Appa seller Kadomon, which meant only one thing, and that was the fact that he died at the hands of either the bowel hunter or someone else while trying to protect his friends.

However, this time something seemed different in a lot of senses of this word.

First and foremost, he didn't hear anyone shout, 'Ya buying something, lad?' And second, he felt a soft feeling under his spine, a cozy feeling of a feather-filled bed. Wait, bed?

In an instant, the boy opened his eyes to the unknown ceiling in an unknown place.

"Where did fate bring me this time?" Makoto said it almost sarcastically.

Part of him was relieved that he wasn't dead, but he also felt worried about his comrades yet again.

"Where is Emilia-san? Felt and Rom? Is anyone here in the first place?"

He slowly stood up, noticing that he was in a strange kimono-like robe. He put on the slippers prepared specifically for him.

He took some moments to appreciate the beauty of his surroundings as he proceeded towards the door.

"You are quite rude for a guest, I suppose."

"?"

The moment he tried to open the door, he stumbled across the blonde girl calmly sitting on her chair while drinking seemingly freshly brewed tea.

Her tone seemed monotone, and her attitude was cold enough to make someone distance themselves from her, but despite that, her presence was strong enough to even blur the image of the gritty pile of books in her back.

Makoto could only gaze in awe at a doll-like girl piercing him with her thoughtful gaze.

"I am sorry; it seems I opened the wrong door." He smiled, scratching the back of his hair. "Also, it would be good to know where I am, haha."

Beatrice narrowed her eyes at his statement.

"Quite ignorant of you to fall asleep in an unknown place." The girl sighed. "But even that isn't enough to stop this rotten smell coming from you."

"!?"

An arrow stung Makoto's heart.

"I-I smell??" He hurriedly started to sniff himself, but strangely, he wasn't really smelly or something like that.

"In fact, you do smell, but not in the way you are thinking as of now, I suppose." She then revealed her eyes, looking toward his face. The boy was quite surprised to see something like butterflies in the blonde girl's eyes, but it was another world, and there is nothing to be surprised at, as he guessed.

"But it shouldn't concern you; instead, you can express your gratitude and leave this instant."

Makoto got more confused than he was now, but a quick realization hit him.

"You were the one who healed my wounds, right?" Makoto said in a smile as he exhaled relief. "I thought you disliked me, but it seems you were acting like this because I did not express my gratitude, right?"

The girl questioned looked towards the boy.

"Actually, Betty didn't."

She was cut off as the boy humbly bowed to the girl.

"You really saved my life there, so thanks!"

At this point, the blonde loli was taken aback even more by the innocent attitude of the boy.

"So you are not the cultist."

"Cultist?"

"It doesn't concern you, I suppose." The girl finally stood up from her chair and looked up towards Makoto. "You are quite short."

"Ugh, I know that I am not the tallest person in the world, but it hurts, you know."

"You are indeed strange, but this Betty should give you that... I find your careless attitude funny, I suppose."

"U-Uhm...Thanks?"

Makoto truly didn't know what to say in a situation like this, but that thing aside, he wanted to ask where his friends were.

"Miss...Umm…"

"Call me Beatrice."

"Miss Beatrice, do you know where I am and where are my friends?"

The girl, Beatrice, sighed.

"Answering your first question...I would say you are in Lord's Roswaal L. Mathers's mansion, and as to answer your second question, the half-elf girl is here as well."

Makoto sighed. A relieved sigh escaped his mouth.

"Thanks to God, she is alright!" Makoto clenched his fists. "It means I won this loop, haha!"

It was a small victory but an impactful one for Makoto, who managed to shake off the annoying assasin after his and Emilia's throats.

"If there are not any questions, then I would like you to leave."

"Eh? Already?"

"Betty is not a lazy person like you, and she has a lot of work, I suppose."

Makoto narrowed his eyes.

"Is it me, or are you saying this because you want me to shake me off?"

The blonde girl looked aside.

"I don't know what you are trying to say, hmph!"

Makoto chucled.

"Well, I still want to thank you for saving my life and not making me start everything over!"

He bowed his head down yet again, and Betty just nodded.

"I like people who are grateful for the kindness shown to them, I suppose." She said. "Now, shoo, shoo, this busy me has a lot of work."

She extended her hand forward as the door wide opened.

"Huh?"

A strong gust of wind made Makoto fly away from the room as the door near his face closed with a huge force.

A confused ahoge holder tried to open the door again, but he saw nothing but an empty corridor right now.

"Is it also magic?"

He confusedly asked himself.

"Sister, sister, our guest is finally awake and acting really weird."

"Rem, Rem, you are right, our guest might be a super weirdo."

Makoto's face paled at strange nicknames and insults flying towards his back.

"Okay, these were kind of hursh words towards the person you don't even know!"

He turned himself over, spotting two identical figures staring at him while leaning at each other.

"Twin maids…?"

The girls, separating from their hug, closed their eyes and bowed in an elegant manner.

"We are glad that you are finally awake, dear guest; we are glad to welcome you to the Lord's Roswaal L. Mather's mansion."

Their voices sinking with each other, they chirped those words in unison.

"U-Umm...thanks?" Makoto worriedly chuckled.

It was strange for him to see maids in this age and era...or maybe it is supposed to look strange for him as in this era it is something common.

Regardless, he took a moment to analyze their appearance and was quite surprised to see such beauty beside him.

His cheeks reddened looking at them as they looked at him with visible question marks around them.

"Rem, Rem, is it me or our guest is trying to fantasize about us?"

"Sister, sister, he looks so innocent yet he might be a closet pervert."

Stepping back as they, with caution, started to give the boy their weird gazes.

"Do you think I am some kind of animal!?" Makoto asked, bewildered.

It wasn't even a mere 5 minutes after he woke up, and he was already seeing a lot of ruckus around him.

"First of all, my name is Makoto Naegi, and I am glad to meet you both."

Calming himself Makoto extended his hand forward towards the twin maids, asking for a handshake.

His smile was reassuring as the pink-haired twin looked towards him with her crimson eyes as if sanning whether he was an enemy or a friend, but one glance towards the boy was enough to say that he can't hurt a fly.

She made the gesture and introduced herself.

"My name is Ram, and my sister's name is Rem; as said earlier, we are glad to make an acquaintance with you."

Makoto widely smiled at this gesture of Ram and nodded his head, his eyes meeting the blue-haired maid, Rem.

"?"

For some reason, she was staring daggers at him, and he could just tell it through a glance.

"It is early in the morning, and you are already throwing a scene, Makoto-kun."

Makoto's eyes caught a silver-haired half-elf. A reassuring feeling filled his heart as he saw her breathing and alive, not dead, at the hands of Elsa.

"Emilia-san! You are alright!"

He cheered as he saw the girl before him.

"In a situation like this, it should be me who says those words, you know?" The half-elf also smiled in the face of her savior.

A normal boy saved her life and retrieved her insignia, and for that, she was grateful to him. Of course, she doesn't even know who he is or where he comes from, but it was clear that he has no ill intentions.

"Rem, Ram, it is alright to be at ease with our guest; he was the one who saved my life after all."

The maids bowed their heads down at the words of Emilia.

"We sure do as you will, Emilia-sama."

Again, it was said in unison.

.

.

.

"I don't even know how to repay you."

"Eh?"

Makoto did know what she was talking about, but he never even thought about gaining something in return.

"If you are talking about that, then you don't need to feel worried; after all, I did it out of good will."

"Good will? Is there anyone who risks their lives out of goodwill??"

Makoto proudly pointed his finger towards himself.

"This kind of person stays near you, you know? Plus, I hate when someone is troubled, so that's why I helped, I suppose." Clearly trying to imitate Beatrice, he gained a few chuckles from Emilia.

"Still, my pride won't allow me to not express my gratitude, so please make a request for what your heart wants, and I will do anything within my reach to do it."

Makoto's sweat dropped at how dramatically she said those words.

It took a moment for Makoto to think of anything as an idea struck his head.

"Than, if it is okay, I will make one request as a reward."

Emilia perked her head in anticipation of the boy's request.

"Will you be my friend?"

"…"

It was an obvious choice for a person like Makoto and Emilia, or better yet, be called part of her somehow knew that he was going to say the very same thing, but she didn't expect herself to be that surprised to hear that in real life.

"Are you sure that's enough?"

For this question, the lucky student answered with another gleeful 'Hm?' sound coming from him.

"…"

Emilia was, of course, glad that someone was willing to become friends with her since she had none. But even that was surprising; she was a half-elf and often faced hardships because of that, but to think that one day she would meet someone who didn't care for her race was kind of good.

A soft smile escaped her face as she looked towards the said boy.

"If you really don't mind, then I am willing to become your friend!"

Makoto would have smiled too, if not for Emilia hiding her face from him.

"Umm, why are you hiding your face from me?"

"B-Beacuse…uhh…"

"Simply because she is shy."

A sudden voice rang through Makoto's and Emilia's heads as an orb of light appeared before Makoto revealed it to be the high spirit Puck.

"I must say that you aren't as greedy as I imagine you to be."

Makoto's sweat dropped at High Spirit's remarks on Makoto for some reason being greedy, but he placed them aside.

"Last time I was unable to say my thanks to you, Makoto-kun, but now I am more than willing to listen to whatever request you got for me as well~!"

"Ugh, again with that...is it really strange to see a person helping someone out of their good will??"

Emilia and Puck nodded without a single stance, which made the boy wince at the cruelty of this world.

"I mean, I said earlier that I don't need anything in particular, but if you are willing to hear me, then I would say I would like to become friends with you too, Puck. Will it do?"

Puck just huffed out the air.

"I can't say whether I should be amused or disappointed by your lack of greed or the fact that you are 100% serious when you say that... But since that's what you want, I shall accept you as a friend of mine!"

With that, the cat-like spirit shook Makoto's hand with his fury and small palm.

"Let's try our best to get along!"

Makoto had an amazing talent for making people feel warm around him, and to say that his talent was working quite well is to say nothing at all, as clearly Puck and Emilia were smiling because of it.

In Emillia's case, it was a surprise at the kind nature of the boy, while Puck, as a spirit, was amazed by such pureness from the boy.

Spirits are naturally sensitive creatures, so tracking what the soul of the person says is nothing but walking in the park for them. Puck concluded that this pureness of heart was clear proof that this boy would make a good spirit mage—maybe he would be the greatest spirit mage?

"We are sorry to interrupt you, but the owner of this mansion, Lord Roswaal, has arrived. We are humbly asking to meet him in the dining room."

Ram and Rem both appeared to be bowing down slightly.

Makoto gulped… He was about to meet the owner of this giant place.

.

.

.

The dining room was as big as Makoto had thought it was.

In fact, it is quite fitting for a mansion of this size as well.

"Whoever this Roswaal is, he is surely very highly regarded as a noble."

"Well, he is, but he is quite..."

"Hm?"

"She wants to say that he is quite extravagant, I suppose."

Beatrice said in a calm voice, scaring Emilia, who was quite surprised to see the high spirit girl.

"It is rare to see you here, Miss Beatrice."

"I guess it should not concern a girl like you, hmph!"

Makoto chuckled, seeing the tensed atmosphere around the room.

"It seems you don't like Emilia that much, Beatrice-chan."

"Why are you suddenly using 'chan' honorifics? I don't remember that we were that close."

"Eh? So mean of you to say that. I thought we were now friends!"

"To dare to say that in front of me, you are quite gutsy, I suppose."

Makoto chuckled at Beatrice's little comment. It might not seem like it, but somehow both he and the spirit girl were glad to talk with each other—despite the loli spirit not admitting this fact.

Emilia, on the other hand, was feeling quite...jealous.

She clenched her fists, not knowing what to do with this unknown feeling.

Makoto was her first friend and her savior, and for some reason she didn't want him to talk to anyone beside herself. It was quite a bad feeling, she thought to herself in silence.

"I see you are lively as ever, Betty~!"

"Onii-chan!!"

Suddenly Beatrice's mood switched to complete 360, as from a monotone little girl she turned into a lively and lovely child.

She ran towards the cat spirit as she took him into her hands.

"You should not treat Makoto-kun like that; he is a good child, don't you think?"

"Betty knows that just...Anyway, let's play a lot today, Nii-chan!"

Puck smiled as he patted the girl's head as she started to run around.

Makoto himself looked at her with a soft smile.

'So she does have a soft side to her, huh?'

Despite the world and era, kids always acted the same, but Makoto sighed, remembering that since the girl is a high spirit, she might pretty much be older than him by tenfold.

"What a lively moooood~!"

"?"

Makoto turned himself towards the source of the voice as he half coughed on his own saliva, seeing the man beside him who appeared out of the blue.

Dark blue hair, fancy suit, and...

'C-C-Clown makeup???'

Makoto was in a bit of awe, mixed with confusion, seeing such a man.

'M-Maybe there is a sense of fashion in this world... Surely, after all, no one would be wearing this, right?'

"You seem to be inspecting me from head to toe, deaaaaar guest~"

"U-Uhm…Hello, just I am quite amazed by your...koff...appearance, haha."

The man in question had a happy tear.

"I am so glad that you recognize my sense of fashion!"

'I am not…'

The man was strange—so strange that it made Makoto uncomfortable. He wasn't sure who was under that make-up, but he didn't have the slightest good impression on him. His senses were screaming to be wary of this clown, and it was confusing.

"We are glad that you are back in one piece, Roswaal-sama."

"Oh, Ram and Rem! Good job on looking after the mansion while I was absent. I hope the lunch is ready."

Makoto, in bewilderment, turned towards Emilia, quite literally pointing his finger towards the clown guy, Roswaal.

"Sigh... I was trying to warn you that Roswaal-san is quite a unique person."

"Well, unique is an understatement."

"Makoto… I know I am not supposed to say it, but please be extra careful around Roswaal-san; sometimes even I don't know what he might be up to."

If it were just a warning, Makoto would have nodded without a second thought, but seeing Emilia's worried expression, he was more than concerned now.

.

.

.

The food was quite tasty, and it wasn't much of a difference from the food of his previous life. If all this seemed more like European food,.

"Wow! This soup is amazing!"

Makoto had stars around his eyes as he was saying those words with a pure and innocent smile.

Emilia chuckled at Makoto's cute expression with bits of sauce around his mouth and a satisfied smile.

"It seems your food is to Makoto-kun's liking, Rem~"

Rem bowed a bit upon hearing those soft words.

"It is a pleasure to be praised this much, but I believe my older sister had a great deal in this meal too."

Makoto answered with yet another smile.

"Than this dish is really super good, Rem, Ram!"

Maids, both, looked away from the boy, clearly trying to hide the trace of a soft, crimson-red shade on their faces.

"Makoto-kun seems to be a lady killer, hm~?"

"M-Me? Ahaha, as long as I would like to agree, I have never had a proper conversation with a girl in my life."

The one last sentence sounded more sad than sarcastic, which made Roswaal laugh even harder at the boy's manerism and lack of self-confidence.

"You don't need to worry about trivial things such as this, Makoto-kun. After all, you are my guest, and I am more than thankful to you for saving Emilia-sama."

At this, Makoto narrowed his eyes.

"Umm, it might seem blunt and out of the blue of me to ask, but..." He said. "Why are you calling Emilia 'Sama'? I thought that you were the owner of this mansion, Roswaal-san."

"Well, of course I am the owner of this mansion, but to call someone higher than me in status without honorifics is something akin to making a crime."

"Wait, does that mean that Emilia is a noble as well!?"

At this point, Lord Roswaal couldn't hold his laughter.

"So you saved her without even knowing who she is! That's so fascinating to hear!"

"I just did what everyone would do. That's all."

"Even so, you saved her, the royal candidate to the throne of Lugunica, without even a second thought?"

Makoto raised his eyebrow, looking now towards Emilia.

"Royal Candidate? Is it some kind of title?"

"So you are really from a far land considering that you don't know about the current situation of the kingdom you are in right now~" Roswaal raised his index finger in a swift manner. "Since you don't know about the current situation Lugunica is in, I shall take the liberty to tell you the information needed if you don't mind."

With that, Roswaal cleared his throat and began his 'fascinating' story.

"Lugunica, as we know, is a kingdom that is being protected by a Dragon himself."

'So this world has dragons? Well, I guess it is a cliché for another world to have dragons in it."

"The royal family of the Lugunica made a contract with a dragon so the mighty dragon will protect us but one thing led to another and unfortunate as it is Royal family one after another was wiped out by unknown disease which spread quite fast if I may say...in matter of months the royal family was no more alive with all its descendents being long dead."

"Wait if the royal family is dead it means dragon is not protecting Lugunica anymore?"

"Fortunatly no as Dragon is confirmed to be protecting the kingdom even now...but his motives are unclear and perhaps only he knows what his purpose is...well, we got delayed from our original topic. As I was saying, since the royal family is no more it was decided that soon there should be election to determine who is going to be the next rightful ruler of the Lugunica."

"Wait wait so you mean to tell me that Emilia has rights to become a ruler of this kingdom!?"

Makoto one way or another understood from Roswaal's information that the insignia he managed to retrieve is the proof that person has rights to become a leader of the whole kingdom.

He looked towards the half elf in desbelief while she hid her crimson face.

"And as the saviour of future queen of the Lugunica you deserve a handsome reward, Makoto Naegi, so what does your heart wants?"

That...took Makoto off guard, he never did anything expecting to get something in return.

"Umm... nothing, really; I just did what everyone would in the situation I was in."

Emilia raised herself from the table.

"You are not everyone, so please accept the reward, okay?"

"Uhh, I am really okay with no reward after all you guys saved and healed me. Isn't that enough?"

"It is quite good that you are so humble, but it would be even better if you would accept the reward."

Roswaal flicked his fingers as Rem and Ram brought around three pouches of gold.

"Wh-What!?"

Roswaal smiled.

"There is enough money for you to live a good and peaceful life three times over, Makoto-kun, so please don't think too much about it."

Makoto's face muscles froze. He really didn't do anything in particular to deserve so much as a reward, so he wanted to refuse, but...

"Nope, I insist that you take it as a reward."

"Roswaal-san is right; you should take at least this much as your reward."

"I would say you would be a complete fool if you didn't take it, I suppose."

"If I may have word in this, then Lia and Roswaal are right; you should take this with you."

Makoto closed his eyes from the pressure.

"Okay Okay!" He gave in. "I will take the money. Sorry, and thank you all in advance."

Everyone and even Rem seemed to be satisfied by Makoto's answer, even though Luckster himself didn't like the idea of getting money for nothing.

__________________

It has been a long time, and I shall say that I am changing my mind. Fuck following the canon plot. I will do the story that suits my tastes and will re-shape it however I like.

While Makoto will be dying and having the insane situation where Subaru was in (I will even come up with my own mind-fucking deaths), I want to make this story feel more original.

I read all of your comments, dear readers, all over again, and I must say that I am quite surprised.

As was requested, I won't follow the original, so many events and interactions would differ, with some OC characters being involved too. (I won't add too many OCs so it won't become a Wattpad-type Y/N story.)

I shall say another thing, and that would be the fact that Makoto won't be in Emilia's camp nor in the camp of any other royal candidate. Hehe, I don't want to spoil much, so you shall wait for future chaps and men, Fuck this boring arc. I tried to come up with some interesting plot twists and then decided to destroy that shit. I was too blind to follow the canon so much, so I hope you will like the future changes I planned for this fanfiction of mine.