29 Meeting a frightened Oni

While Subaru was talking with Mordred, Puck and Emilia pulled away to also have a talk.

"And what do you think?" Emilia asked.

Instead of answering, Puck floated up in front of Emilia's face. Then their foreheads met as Emilia closed her eyes.

Puck used a form of shared consciousness. Instead of talking, he could directly transfer to Emilia the way he felt and explain it better than with words.

A long while later, Emilia opened her eyes, her expression filled with surprise and amazement; she also appeared quite dumbstruck.

Emilia put Puck on her hand and looked at him. "So that's how it is. You're not joking?"

Puck shrugged his shoulders. "I'm serious. Mordred is just too strong, so I wouldn't joke about it."

Puck never sensed any malice, hostility or ill-intent from Mordred whenever he checked, and he even made body contact with Mordred a few times to get a better read of him.

Emilia looked downwards with an ashamed expression and muttered quietly, "Mordred is such a strange guy, even setting his sights on a half-elf like me…"

Puck let out a heavy sigh as he felt a mix of powerful emotions from his foster daughter. After a long while, he said, "Actually, I think you're better off staying close to Mordred rather than Roswaal."

Emilia looked at Puck with surprise. "Really?"

"Really." Puck nodded.

***

The carriage continued on the way. Throughout, Subaru was simply unable to stay silent. Once again, he was also quite loud and outgoing, aiming to get everyone's attention, but it was apparent that he was quite unhappy and bitter.

In Mordred's eyes Subaru's behavior appeared quite childish which certainly didn't help in the Japanese boy's love endeavors.

Emilia herself seemed to enjoy the lively atmosphere, but at the same it could be seen that she was quite ashamed by her attendant's - Subaru's - behavior, as the boy was clear of his dislike of Mordred and it showed in his stark remarks.

At one point Puck had transferred to Emilia his read of Subaru as well and she couldn't help but feel sorry for Subaru and his childish "love" for her and his jealousy of Mordred. With it Emilia couldn't help but look at Subaru even more as a kid.

Meanwhile Mordred forced himself to show a tolerant attitude, only appearing slightly annoyed on the surface. Naturally, the reason he was nice and tolerated Subaru in the first place was so that he could easily receive the boy's cooperation and access to his knowledge about Celestial Bodies when needed. Being forceful (torture) or using a special method was also possible, but being nice was his first plan.

Apart from his patience being tested, Mordred didn't suffer a loss by being nice. However, Subaru's behavior was slowly getting on his nerves - Subaru was blatantly searching for ways to insult him and sow discord between him and Emilia - not that it was getting Subaru anywhere, as in fact, Subaru was only stupidly ruining his own chances with Emilia even further.

Apart from tolerating Subaru, during the trip Mordred talked a lot with Puck and tried to imitate a spirit - trying to absorb mana from the atmosphere. He made attempts for several hours non-stop, but in the end didn't succeed.

Drawing mana from the atmosphere was supposed to be as simple as breathing to spirits, so since Mordred didn't succeed despite trying hard for such a long time, it was quite clear that he simply couldn't be like Puck or Reinhard and make use of the mana from his surroundings.

Mordred felt some regret, but he accepted his situation calmly, being already prepared for it. Given that he had a normal Magic User's Gate, it was something to be expected.

"It's the Arlam village outside. We're almost there," Emilia said at one point.

Looking out the window, one could see that the carriage was approaching a rural village, peaceful, serene and simple. To both Mordred and Subaru the village was giving a vibe of a typical village from an isekai story.

'All things considered, the population of this village should be quite small. It has no special resources and little value.' Mordred observed the surroundings carefully as they were passing by.

Eventually the carriage passed through the center of the village, a bridge over a small river and then reached a mansion up a hill.

Meanwhile Rem detected her sister approaching thanks to their shared connection and was already waiting in the courtyard of the mansion when the carriage arrived.

It was a sunny early afternoon. Rem stood by herself not far from the entrance, waiting politely with her hands in front of her to greet the guests.

Soon the carriage stopped not far from Rem.

Suddenly Rem's expression twisted with shock when the first person that walked out of the carriage was a strange unfamiliar man with a frightening aura of power and a terribly thick stench of a witch. In fact, the stench was so strong and disgusting that Rem could feel it from a mile away.

'So she's Rem,' Mordred thought as he looked at a blue haired maid with a complicated expression.

Seeing the terrified visage of Rem, Mordred understood well that after dying for around 350 times, the miasma around him must be quite strong, certainly far stronger than the one that Subaru had in the anime at this point after dying only three times.

"You're scared. But you don't need to worry, I don't have any bad intentions," Mordred said as he raised his hands in a placating manner. "My name is Mordred."

In response, Rem only remained stiff and frozen like a scared kitten. The strength emanating from Mordred along with the powerful stench of a witch stopped her from doing anything else. At that time Rem unavoidably thought back to that night when the Witch Cult massacred her village…

"Mordred is one of the Royal Candidates. He saved my life in the capital and Roswaal agreed to teach him magic as a reward. He'll be staying in the mansion as a guest from now on," Emilia explained as she stepped out of the carriage with a puzzled look, trying to dispel any misunderstandings.

"Emilia-sama, this man…" Rem began, but only finished in her thoughts: 'This man is dangerous. He's certainly someone from the Witch Cult!'

"Ah." Puck pulled out his head from within Emilia's hair and observed in surprise, noticing the strange atmosphere and the enormous fear emanating from Rem.

"Rem, is everything alright? You're acting strangely in front of our guest," Ram said emotionally as she walked toward Rem from the carriage driver's seat.

"Onee-san…" Rem appeared at a loss for a long while.

The strange atmosphere didn't escape Subaru's eyes as he had also already stepped out of the carriage and observed quietly. 'Now, that was a strange reception.'

"I apologize for my behavior," Rem finally said as she barely controlled herself. She then crossed her legs, touched the hems of her skirt and bowed courtly in front of Emilia and the others. "Dear guests, welcome to Roswaal's Manor."

"Dear guests, welcome to Roswaal's Manor," Ram parroted as she also bowed next to Rem.

"So you must be Rem-chan!" Subaru called out as he stepped forward with a smile. "Just as cute as your sister, I only hope that you aren't as cold-hearted!"

Rem looked at Subaru in confusion.

"This is Barusu. He's also a guest," Ram introduced.

"My name is Subaru! Stop twisting it and making it sound normal! Barusu sounds like a blinding curse!" Subaru snapped as he looked at Ram.

"Ram made a mistake. I apologize, Barusu," said Ram.

"What's the point of apologizing if you're just going to do it again anyway?!" Subaru called out.

"It's rare for Sister to make a mistake. Dear guest, are you sure that your name isn't Barusu?" Rem said with the same quality of voice as Ram.

"Ah, now I'm getting attacked in stereo! Just great!" Subaru clutched his head in dismay, acting melodramatically.

Emilia lightly chuckled, before her expression turned more serious. "Subaru, it's good that you're getting along well with Ram and Rem. Now let's enter the mansion, I reeeally need to have a talk with you."

"Emilia-tan…" Subaru looked at Emilia. "Yes, let's enter! I'm going to live in this place with Emilia-tan from now on and she wants to have a talk with me. I have a feeling that something is about to happen. I can't stop thinking about it and my heart is pounding!"

Subaru pounded his chest to the rhythm of his own heartbeat.

Emilia forced a wry smile.

"Rem, did you hear that? Truly the words of a perverted man," said Ram.

"Yes, I heard that, Sister. Truly the words of a lecherous man," said Rem.

"So it's going to be like this. You really are sisters. But I have to admit, you're quite cute when you talk like this!" Subar said as his gaze wandered between the two maids. "And the maid outfits are just perfect!"

"Oh no. I'm currently being indecently humiliated in our dear guest's head, Rem."

"Oh no. I'm being violated right now in the head of our dear guest, Sister."

The twin maids turned to Emilia.

"Emilia-sama, please seek justice for us!"

"Emilia-sama, please save us!"

"It's reaaaally not good to tease him too much…" said Emilia. "I don't doubt it's something that Subaru would think, but I don't think he could do anything to you and get away with it. Ram and Rem, don't you think you're playing too much in front of an important guest?"

Emilia subtly pointed with her eyes at Mordred who was only watching with amusement.

"Eh, so you don't doubt that I would actually do something to them?!" called out Subaru.

'How peaceful and nice would it be if Subaru simply disappeared?' Mordred couldn't help but think at that moment. He was annoyed by Subaru, though he did enjoy the verbal abuse that Subaru was receiving.

"Yes, Emilia-sama. Mordred-sama, my sister is sorry for what she's done," said Rem.

"Yes, Emilia-sama. Mordred-sama, I'm sure Rem will reflect on this," said Ram.

Ram and Rem declared their remorse without a shred of remorse in sight.

Following that there was a short introduction of the new staff of the mansion that Mordred brought with him. Ram then started unpacking everyone's baggage along with Nadia and the cook (Ozwell), Emilia brought away Subaru, while Rem began to give a tour of the mansion to Mordred.

The mansion was incredibly massive which was certainly way too much just for two maids to take care of. The hallways were grand and long, painted in warm colors.

Mordred walked with Rem as she began to bring him along. Although Rem kept up a tough front, it was apparent that she was incredibly nervous and was basically shaking in fear.

At that moment Rem really couldn't help but be scared as she warily looked at Mordred with one eye, with the other being covered by her light-blue bangs.

The witch's stench around Mordred was simply overwhelming. Rem imagined that even the Sin Archbishops wouldn't have a stench as strong as this one. Because of that, the oni was nearly certain that Mordred was very likely a powerful Archbishop of the Witch Cult, maybe even its leader.

And there was also Mordred's strength. The aura of strength that Mordred emanated also put Rem on edge - she certainly couldn't provoke a person like this!

In front of Mordred Rem felt like a mouse in front of a cat, or more accurately - like a mouse in front of an evil and cruel cat very likely with torture tendencies.

She cursed in her heart that she was forced to give a tour to a person like this. From now on, is she also going to live with this person under the same roof?! How could Roswaal let such a person live here with her and her sister?!

This thought was terrifying!

"Rem, right? I'm not sure why you're so scared, but you really don't need to worry like I said," Mordred said, trying to give Rem a natural and small, kind smile.

"Dear guest, please forgive Rem. I was simply surprised by your strength and foreign appearance," Rem replied, aiming to use an emotionless voice like Ram but failing - her wariness was still evident.

"Didn't Roswaal-san tell you that I would be coming?" Mordred asked.

"Lord Roswaal did mention that we would have guests, but he didn't mention the details."

"So he didn't mention that a Royal Candidate would be coming over?" Mordred asked.

"Lord Roswal did. It was Rem's mistake…" the oni said. She then motioned to the room they approached and said, "Dear guest… Mordred-sama, this is the Guest's room. Now please follow me."

Mordred hummed and followed along silently. He saw that his questions were only making Rem more nervous.

He also guessed a few other things. Seeing how casually Ram and Rem behaved earlier with Subaru and didn't act as professionally as they should in front of a guest Royal Candidate, and how Rem was the one assigned to give Mordred a tour, it seemed that it was arranged by Roswaal - likely to test his nature.

"Is Roswaal-san here?" Mordred asked as he followed.

"Lord Roswaal is absent at this moment. He should return soon for a late lunch," Rem said with a shaking voice.

"I see…"

"Mordred-sama, this is the lavatory." Rem opened the door to a room, displaying the inside.

Mordred nodded and was about to move on, but before that he asked Rem to teach him how to use the toilet. It turned out to be a good decision because Roswaal's manor was a little special, being powered by a ton of mana crystals that were sucking in mana from the atmosphere - it was an incredibly expensive and high-class mansion.

Following that, the tour continued. Bathroom, dining Room, kitchen, garden…

It took a long time for Mordred to go through the entire mansion. During that time he was rather quiet as he followed behind Rem and attempted to memorize the layout of the enormous mansion.

Finally, Rem brought Mordred to what was supposed to be his new room.

The room was clearly one for the upper class. The bed was big enough for about five people, and the room itself was around 40 square meters in size. Apart from the bed, there was a houseplant by the window, some simple furniture, and paintings on the walls, the space being mostly empty.

"Mordred-sama, your servant will find you later. You can relax for the time being," Rem said courtly as she invited Mordred into the room.

"-If Mordred-sama requires anything, please tell Rem," she then added.

Mordred hummed, thinking in his heart: 'Rem is so frightened. Should I have a sort-of honest conversation with her already to ease her worries?'

After thinking for a while, Mordred decided against it. He wanted to ensure that he had a check-pooint first before doing anything rash. He lightly smiled and said, "Thank you, Rem. I would appreciate a bottle of water… No, not a bottle, you don't have bottles here. Just bring me a jar of fresh water and a glass."

Rem looked at Mordred puzzledly. "Mordred-sama, we do have bottles. Do you want me to pour water into a bottle for you?"

Mordred chuckled. "I was talking about plastic bottles. Never mind, just bring me a jar of water and a glass."

"Yes, Mordred-sama."

"Thank you, Rem."

Mordred let out a silent sight as the doors closed behind him.

It appeared that he had to deal with a Rem that was frightened to the core that he would murdered her - the complete opposite of what Subaru had to deal with.

After calming down his thoughts, Mordred walked toward a mirror over a closet and looked into it for a while calmly. He wanted to kill himself soon and test how far back he would go.

It would be perfect now if Mordred's checkpoint was updated to now or reached back before his deal with Roswaal. At the very least, he really wished that it had at least passed his fight with Elsa - otherwise redoing Day One that went quite well once again would really suck.

Though if he went back to Day Two, then he would have locked away Subaru in a cell of the Astrea Manor and kept him out of the meeting with Roswaal and Emilia.

He was aware that according to Echidna's deduction, the Return by Death's checkpoints are manually set by Satella. From his own observations he could also add that they would usually take place after Subaru overcomes a life threatening event. However, there also seemed to be some mysteries regarding it and it seemed as if the insane Yandere Witch of Envy had a hand in it as well.

Mordred laid down on his bed on his back and closed his eyes, trying to relax. He quietly whispered, "Now would be a good time for a checkpoint. Satella, please…"

Mordred then let out a sigh. He felt quite strange and ashamed by asking for something from the witch like this, and also acting like he knows things that he shouldn't, but he felt that if some of his assumptions are correct then Satella already knows a lot about him (just like she knew about Subaru in the original), probably including the fact that Mordred is aware of some mysterious things about this world which a version of him could have told her.

'It never happened that Subaru asked the witch for a checkpoint update, but he's retarded, so it isn't much of a surprise that he didn't. It would be too easy for him otherwise. Besides, it's a different world and I'm also different from Subaru, not in danger of dying all the time, so I can still hope, who knows.'

After a few moments, Mordred opened his eyes and stood up. He then summoned his sword.

'If I go back at least several hours then I would also not say the 'warning' that I gave Subaru and would simply walk away earlier without saying anything. It was unnecessary,' Mordred thought back, feeling a little regret by acting on impulse back then.

He let out a breath, gritted his teeth and suicided once again in a clean and painless manner.

…

Mordred opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling for a while.

'I know this ceiling.'

The ceiling was the one of his room in Roswaal's manor.

"Great! Thank you, Satella!" Mordred voiced his gratitude, even though he wasn't entirely sure if the witch listened to him earlier or it was a coincidence.

*Crash*

At that moment Mordred suddenly heard the sound of a ceramic or glass item crashing against the floor outside his room. It didn't take him long to figure out what had just happened.

"Oh for fuck's sake!"

******

(AN: So in the next chapter we'll meet Beatrice and we'll also witness Subaru's resolve! Next chapter drops on Sunday (tomorrow) when Power Stones reset at 18:00 CEST (Europe/Germany) / 12:00 ET (USA). Writing isn't my job and I can't write consistently, so I'll try to at least inform when the next chapter drops from now on.)