Arc 5 – 11, 'A Surprising Reunion, A Fated Reunion, and an Unintended Reunion”

Arc 5 – Chapter 11, “A Surprising Reunion, A Fated Reunion, and an Unintended Reunion”

After the meeting with the strange man in the hood, the journey proceeded with no further incidents. Occasionally, Emilia would glance into the water, deep in thought, but she covered her discomfort with a smile before anyone could question her about it.

The only distinct feature of the man they’d encountered was his hood, but he seemed to have some kind of connection to Emilia. From Emilia’s perspective, his behavior would have been fairly courteous. He may have been a little extreme in describing her hair but, more importantly, Emilia’s silver hair rarely made a good impression like it had on him.

Subaru: “Speaking of which, the recognition hindering cloak...”

Subaru suddenly noticed that the effects of Emilia’s magical cloak, the one she always wore to keep her identity hidden, did not affect the man just now. If the cloak had been operating at its normal effectiveness, the man would only have been able to notice Emilia’s presence. However, he had apparently seen Emilia’s silver hair.

Meaning that the man could resist the cloak’s spell.

Subaru: “Beako.”

Beatrice: “So you’ve noticed it, in fact. Emilia and Garfiel haven’t and are walking around oblivious, I suppose. Careless children, in fact.”

Beatrice, walking by Subaru’s side, knew exactly what he was worried about.

As she led Subaru away from Emilia, Subaru brought his hand to his chin and frowned.

Subaru: “I don’t think he used any trick, but that guy was just suspicious. The cloak’s cognitive obstruction shouldn’t be easily resisted.”

Beatrice: “So he’s either proficient in magic, or he has some blessing ... anyway, he’s not just an ordinary man, I suppose. What a bother, in fact.”

Subaru: “Should we say something to Emilia?”

Beatrice: “That’s not necessary, in fact. If he were acting with malice then Emilia probably would have noticed it, I suppose. We don’t need to over scrutinize this, in fact.”

Hearing Beatrice’s assertion, Subaru replied with a “I see” and accepted it.

Beatrice had spoken what she believed to be correct. Since she often spent time observing humans, and had been paying close attention to Emilia’s attitude, Subaru listened to her. There was no need to unnecessarily provoke unease.

Even so, Subaru and Beatrice must at least remain alert.

In this vast city, meeting the man again by chance was unlikely. But there was a chance that he sought to actively contact them, so they needed to be wary.

Garfiel: “Hurry up, Captain. If ya g’slow’s Beatrice then’d be sundown by’time we get back.” Beatrice: “Stop saying unnecessary things, I suppose. Smelly, annoying creature.”

Garfiel turned back at them and was laughing happily in response to Beatrice’s rude insults.

Suddenly, his expression changed. His ears moved back and forth, and his nose twitched.

Subaru: “What’s wrong?”

Garfiel: “Nah’s just, near t’hotel... c’sorta hear’n argument.”

They turned the corner as Garfiel finished talking and Subaru also heard the commotion. Indeed, it sounded like someone was furious.

Subaru: “It sounds like it’ll turn into a fight, what a mess.”

Garfiel: “Seen’s th’Captain caused a fuss during th’negotiation, ya really have a right say’s a mess? If I weren’t at th’Chamber of Commerce, y’would’ve been taken by th’guards.”

Subaru: “That’s just my irresistible charm... Emilia-tan?”

Subaru suddenly found Emilia, who had just caught up, running past him and called out to her, but she paid him no attention.

Emilia: “That voice, it sounds really familiar... actually, I think that’s Joshua’s voice.”

Subaru: “Ah, you’re right. That does sound like the voice of that weak bastard.”

Emilia: “I’d be worried if he was in trouble. Let’s go.”

Leaving the less tense Garfiel behind, Subaru raced after Emilia. Turning another corner, he could finally can see the Water Plumage Pavilion, where,

???: “Alright asshole, how many times are you going to make may say this!? Stop being stuck up and call your master here already!”

Joshua: “You’re so barbaric that I wouldn’t even call my brother here, much less my master! Please leave while I’m still capable of speaking calmly!”

???: “Can you really not understand what I’m saying, oi? Let’s go, bastard!”

A young man with purple hair—Joshua stood with his arms spread in front of the hotel, quarrelling with another man. Although he was facing away from Subaru, his physique was clearly quite burly. Judging from his attitude, a brawl with Joshua would be inevitable.

Emilia: “That’s enough!”

In the time it took Subaru to judge the two men’s difference in combat prowess, Emilia had already rushed over and separated them. Having been jerked away, Joshua wore an expression of abject shock.

Joshua: “E-Emilia-sama!?”

Emilia: “I was on my way back from my business when I heard you two. Arguing in front of the inn like this. What’s the reason for your quarrel? Calm down and tell me about it.”

She spoke as if mediating an argument between two children. In that moment things settled down.

—Garfiel sighed disappointedly, as if to say “Aww, no fight?”, as he caught up with them.

Joshua: “Everyone is arriving one after another... my apologies for troubling you.”

Emilia: “It’s no problem. Now, please tell me about your argument.”

Joshua: “How could I trouble Emilia-sama with such a petty thing...”

Joshua stubbornly refused Emilia’s intervention in the matter, as if worried that Emilia would use this opportunity to her advantage. If that was the case, then he was being paranoid. Even in a hundred years, Emilia wouldn’t be able to come up with such a cunning idea.

???: “There ain’t much to what happened. I was sent here, but this guy wouldn’t let me in. So, I was gonna have to fight him.”

In that tense moment, the man arguing with Joshua spoke up. His sharp eyes glared at Joshua with malice, and his voice was dangerous as he complained about his reception.

Joshua: “How many times are you going to make me say it? If you’re going to disguise your identity at least do an appropriate amount of preparation. Even wearing your neat clothing, you can’t hide your true nature. You can only push a lie so far!”

???: “Oh well excuse me! Hey, I don’t like dressing up like this. I’m running someone else’s errand! Ah, fucking understand what I’m saying!”

The man scratched his head, frustrated, as Joshua refused to accept his claims. Even with Emilia’s interference, the two were still stuck of argument.

Emilia: “Really, how can we set things straight like this? Subaru, how should... Subaru?”

The two stubborn men and a confused Emilia all turned to Subaru, who stood with his hand on his chin, frowning thoughtfully. His gaze rested on the man who had been arguing with Joshua.

Emilia: “What’s the matter, Subaru?”

Subaru: “No, I might be mistaken... but I think I’ve seen him somewhere before...”

???: “Huh? What, oi. Are you picking a fight with... hk!?”

Hearing the dialogue between the Subaru and Emilia, the man’s sharp gaze turned in their direction. But after seeing Subaru, he immediately stiffened.

His lips trembling, he pointed at Subaru.

???: “Y-You... that time with Reinhardt...!”

Subaru: “That time with Reinhardt is really specific... ah” ‘That time with Reinhardt’ was Subaru’s main clue.

And then Subaru realized who he was. He was more well dressed than before, and his demeanor was slightly different, but his malicious eyes hadn’t changed.

Subaru: “Chin! Chin, right!? Wow, long time no see. Why are you here?”

Chin: “Don’t act like we know each other! Who is this ‘Chin’!? My name is Larkins!”

Subaru: “So it’s Chin after all!”

Larkins: “Shut up!”

Subaru dropped a hand onto Chin’s shoulder, and Chin — Larkins, hurriedly shrugged it off. Subaru pouted at his cold attitude.

Emilia: “Do you know him?”

Subaru: “Ah. Well, he’s a familiar face that reminds me of when I first met Emilia-tan in an alley. That was when she rescued me from a robbery.”

Emilia: “Eh, that’s ri... uh, a robbery?”

Subaru: “The next time was when you were called to the King Candidate Conference and I got stuck in an alley with Priscilla and he got his friends to attack us. Yeah, he’s a great guy.”

Beatrice: “To a lady like Betty he sounds like scum, in fact.”

Hearing Subaru’s words, Emilia and Beatrice reacted thus. Garfiel, who’d been hanging back, cracked his knuckles loudly, and Joshua’s expression became even more serious.

Reinhardt: “Larkins. I have said this many times, but your words as a messenger lack mindfulness. Although people can grasp the general situation, believing you is difficult.”

Larkins: “Bastard, whose side are you on!?”

Reinhardt: “I’m on the side of justice. And, in this case, I think it was inevitable that my friend’s brother would misunderstand.”

Turning away from a fuming Larkins, Reinhardt smiled Joshua, who returned him with a rather embarrassed one.

Joshua: “Long time no see, Reinhardt-sama. This time, it seems that my blunder has caused your messenger to...”

Reinhardt: “The fault is ours, Joshua. Also, that honorific is so annoying. I know it’s been a long time, but acting so distant makes me feel a bit lonely.”

Joshua: “Although my honorable elder brother and Reinhardt-sama are friends, right now they are also political opponents.” (nii-sama)

Reinhardt: “You haven’t changed. You don’t have to always imitate Julius in that regard.”

Reinhardt gave a wry smile, while Joshua seemed to clenched his teeth.

—Anyway, the commotion had died down safely. Although the temporary problem was gone, it was replaced by the emergence of other questions. That was,

Subaru: “Even so, if both of us were called here then what’s Anastasia planning to do?”

Reinhardt: “The invitation sent to us said that she wanted to exchange a useful piece of information in return for something. Although we thought that Anastasia-sama may have been up to something, we didn’t expect that Emilia-sama and you have been invited as well.”

Subaru: “Are you saying that we should be prepared for something even more shocking?”

Reinhardt: “That’s a possibility. What about it, Joshua?”

One of the masterminds of the appointment, the young man shifted his monocle and said, “I guess we’ll see”, to deflect the topic.

With his usual pleasant demeanor, Reinhardt turned back to the hotel.

Reinhardt: “This is a pretty rare structure, the Water Plumage Pavilion. I’ve heard that this style of architecture only exists in Kararagi.”

Subaru: “Ehh, that’s surprising. You haven’t seen it before either. You’ve never been Kararagi?”

Reinhardt: “Yeah. I’m banned from going abroad because of fear of a breach of the treaty between each country. I even have avoid the borders. We’re close enough to Kararagi as is, so Pristella is pretty much the limit of where I can go.”

Emilia and Subaru were stunned at Reinhardt’s prohibition on travel. Maybe it was a joke, but the lightly laughing Reinhardt didn’t indicate that it was.

Asking about it would feel a little uneasy, so they pushed that line of questioning back.

Subaru: “We’ve been here for a while, and it’s kind of tiring to just linger near the entrance for so long. How about we go inside, since Felt isn’t here yet?”

Reinhardt: “Sure, I’m not supervising her right now. Sometimes she runs off to play around. It’s nice to relax once in a while.”

Larkins: “...sometimes? Isn’t she always just playing around?”

Reinhardt: “Larkins, did you say something?”

Larkins: “Nope, nothing. So, can I go already? This is fun and all but let’s hurry this shit up.”

Larkins muttered a curse under his breath after requesting permission to leave. Reinhardt couldn’t help a sigh.

Reinhardt: “Join Camberly and Gaston in guarding Felt-sama. Although there should be no danger, Rom-dono didn’t accompany us, and if Felt-sama takes any dangerous action, you have to be there to stop her.”

Larkins: “Ya I got it. What are you gonna do?”

Reinhardt: “I’ll stay with Emilia-sama at the inn. If anything happens, send me a signal with fire magic, and I’ll be there in five seconds.”

Larkins: “You ain’t kiddin’, are ya, oi.”

Finished, Larkins squeezed past Subaru. Halfway past, he gave a Joshua a hard glare, still wary of Reinhardt. He was really the model of petty evils.

Subaru: “Well, let’s go inside. We’ll say hello to Anastasia-san and tell her that Reinhardt’s here.”

Reinhardt: “I believe Joshua’s in charge of that. Well, let’s get going.”

Joshua: “...yes, I am. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

Joshua looked slightly lost. Was it because the situation had played out strangely? In order to comfort him, Subaru, Reinhardt, Emilia, Garfiel, and finally even Beatrice dutifully followed him into the inn.

Subaru: “I’ll feel bad if I shove everything onto him.” Reinhardt: “I’ll join Subaru in accompanying him.” Emilia: “Ah, the two of them are going, I will too.”

Garfiel: “‘If th’Captain’n Emilia-sama are doin’ it, my amazin’ self’s gonna too.”

Beatrice: “Betty doesn’t want to be the only one excluded from it, in fact... but it wouldn’t bother me too much even if I were, I suppose.”

Subaru/Emilia: “Yes, you’re adorable.” (Hai, kawaii kawaii はい、可愛い可愛い )

Subaru and Emilia, walking to her left and right, both petted her gently. Beatrice swatted their hands away, annoyed, then obediently grabbed their sleeves.

Joshua: “In here. Anastasia-sama is entertaining guests right now.”

They were at a different room than the original dining hall. Subaru eyed Joshua wearily. Subaru: “Guests? Did she invite even more people?”

Joshua: “...you’re about to find out, whether or not you look at me with that menacing gaze.” Subaru: “Come on, my eyes aren’t that scary!”

Joshua: “I can understand you even if you don’t raise your voice like a witchbeast.”

Subaru: “That’s pretty harsh, and what kind of witchbeast? Dog, rabbit, or whale? Pick one.”

These were Subaru’s top three most annoying witchbeasts. Although, to him, the others all seemed to be some lion-faced beast, so they made no extreme impression on him.”

While Subaru was sorting through his memories, Reinhardt gently whispered “Whale”, interrupting Subaru’s train of thought.

Reinhardt: “Whale, you’re talking about the White Whale, right, Subaru?”

Subaru: “...yeah, that’s right. That’s the worst whale. There were so many times where I thought it was dying and it just refused to die. Thinking back on it, it was such a miracle.”

In fact, the increase in the number of white whales honestly did make their victory a miracle.

That witchbeast was such an amazing creature, and the disaster it wrought was also extraordinary. It had caused so much suffering that even now, Subaru’s chest tightened in pain at the thought.

Reinhardt: “The subjugation of the White Whale, would you mind telling me about it in more detail later? I’m not a man who’s completely unrelated to that monster. Although, that would be a be a long story to tell.”

Subaru: “—Of course. As for your story, if it’s hard to tell then you don’t need to.”

Subaru was only vaguely aware of Reinhardt’s experiences with the White Whale. To Subaru, the battle with the White Whale was the fruit of an old swordsman’s decade-long obsession with vengeance. And Subaru also knew of the Sword Demon’s origin, and of his relationship to the red-haired youth. As to what had happened between them, Subaru had no way of knowing.

—This wasn’t a topic that Subaru could pursue out of curiosity, was how he judged it.

Reinhardt: “Thank you.”

Thus, Reinhardt responded briefly to the Subaru’s thoughtfulness.

Subaru sought nothing other than that.

Seeing Reinhardt’s lowered gaze, Subaru gave a long sigh. Emilia and Beatrice looked at him, worried, and Subaru gave them an “I’m alright” smile.

Joshua: “We’ve arrived. Please wait in this tea room until their meeting ends.”

Joshua, who’d finally led them to their destination, gestured to a cross-style door. Hanging on the door was a paper scroll. Subaru, although delighted, felt that his Japanese soul had become quite a bit strange.

But, his optimistic thoughts could only exist for a brief while.

Joshua: “Excuse me. Would you mind being with other guests?”

He directed the question at the guests already occupying the tea room. Someone inside, who shifted slightly, responded.

???: “—Sure. We don’t have much to do right now.”

That calm voice gave Subaru a start. It was impossibly familiar. Not only that, Subaru had only just been thinking about its owner.

No one aside from Subaru seemed to notice it; that is, no one but Reinhardt. His face became stiff, his blue eyes swaying with hesitation.

Joshua, having not noticed, opened the door. There was a quiet sound of wood on wood, as the occupants of the tea room came into sight.

Then, the occupants, seated on mats of cloth, looked over to the new guests.

Reinhardt: “—Honored Grandfather.” (ojisama)

Wilhelm: “Is that, Reinhardt?”

The voices of the grandfather and the grandson overlapped.

This was the unintended reunion between Reinhardt Van Astrea and Wilhelm Van Astrea.