"A. . .Agh. . .sir. . .?"

The bartender of the bar stuttered with his words, stunned with the current display of what he just saw.

On one hand, he was terrified.

And on another. . .

'This kid saved my ass. . .if it weren't for him, those slave traders probably would've killed me!'

The bartender thought as Subaru sheathed his enchanted blade and wakizashi as he began walking to the destroyed entrance of the bar.

". . .Sorry about your bar mister."

"N-No! It's fine, you saved my neck so don't worry about it."

"If you say so. . ."

He then turned his attention towards the slaves that were too stunned to speak.

"Listen, those guys are dead. Meaning they no longer have any ownership over you. So you're free now! Go out and live your lives, you're no longer slaves."

Subaru exclaimed to the group of demihumans as one spoke out.

"Is. . .Is that really alright sir? We're really free?"

"Of course you are. Don't let me stop you. Unless you want to be slaves again, then be my guest."

Subaru then turned around and walked off. Leaving the group of freed demihumans to process what just happened before they began to thank him.

All Subaru did was wave as he made his way to the backroom where the younger demihuman girl he encountered earlier was.

When he opened the door, he saw her curled into a ball, as if she was trying to hide herself from the very world itself.

"Hey. You alright?"

From the sudden voice, the girl jumped in alarm but calmed down the moment she saw Subaru.

"Y-Yeah. . .did you really. . .you know. . .?"

The young girl struggled to form a sentence, a situation where she encountered a human defending her was something she'd never thought of happening before.

"Yeah. . .I told you didn't I? I said I'd cut those slave traders down so that way, you'd have nothing to worry about."

The girl whimpered as her lips quivered and her tears threatened to leak out of her eyes.

"B-But why. . .? I'm a demihuman! A filthy animal! A monster! Nothing more then a meat bag that other people get to use, so why?!"

She asked as Subaru took a moment of silence before answering.

". . .Because where I'm from. Slavery isn't a thing. And when I heard about the laws here, that slavery was legal and that anyone could get away with kidnapping anyone. . .especially children. . .it didn't sit right with me."

The girl started to cry as the tears were freely running down her cheeks.

"And more importantly, you asked for help. I don't care if you're a demihuman or a human. You asked for my help and that's what I did."

Subaru smiled as the demihuman girl instantly hugged the sorcerer, crying her eyes out.

"Mister. . .mister. . .I was so scared. . .no one wanted to help me. . .!!!!"

The girl exclaimed as Subaru continued to pet her head as he let her vent out her frustrations.

'This girl has been through hell. . .something that no child should go through. . .maybe it wouldn't be so bad to let her tag along with me for a bit.'

He thought to himself as he continued to comfort the little demihuman child until she fell asleep in his arms hours later.

Currently, Subaru could be seen cleaning his blades as the bartender went in.

"It seems she fell asleep."

The bartender stated.

"Yeah. . .and thanks again for allowing us to stay here. We'll be out of your hair by morning."

Subaru replied as he sheathed his blade.

"Oh no! Don't worry about it. You can stay here as long as you need. Even if you'll be a well known topic amongst the common folk. . .it's rather positive things rather than negative."

"Still doesn't erase the chance of more people like those slave traders coming after me."

The sorcerer stated as he looked at the bartender.

"R-Right. . .so what do you plan to do now?"

". . ."

Subaru contemplated for a moment.

Sure he was in an unknown world, and even then he was already getting himself into trouble. If he were to think about the people he has met back in his world like Chihiro, Mr. Shiba, Hakari, or even Hiyuki(even though she had fought him the moment they met). . .he'd be lying if he said he wasn't worried about how they took his disappearance. But he did have faith that they'd be able to handle things in his absence. More so, how he was going to help Chihiro with retrieving Kunishige's stolen enchanted blades if he was stuck all the way here.

But for now though. . .

"I'll continue to free any enslaved demihumans I come across...an cut down any slave traders that try to stop me."

Subaru declared with an determined look on his face as all the bartender could do was simply sweat and nod.

MONTHS LATER. . .

As Subaru said, for the past three months, he has been going around saving enslaved demihumans from slave traders all around Kararagi. He'd raid their hideouts and cut them down like animals, while freeing the demihumans who were slaves. Because of this, his reputation was growing amongst the populace, earning him the nicknames; "Kararagi's Shadow" or "The Black Tiger of Banan".

These were simply because of the fact that Subaru would appear during the night and from what witnesses say, Subaru's main attack would always involve a black tiger so it made sense to him.

Subaru also decided to adopt the demihuman girl and named her Yuki. The name meant snow,  reflecting the quiet and peaceful nature of a snowy landscape. Her snow white hair reminded him of the snow so he decided to name her that.

Apparently, Yuki was part of an endangered group of a demihuman species that were based around the White Tiger. And her mana pool was so immense. That's why so many slave traders were after her. So aside from exploring Kararagi and raising her, he had to protect her from any slave traders that tried to kidnap her in broad daylight or in the dead of night.

He also taught her hand to hand combat and basically everything she needed to know. As she wanted to learn how to defend herself and help Subaru fight off any slave traders that they came across. He still had yet to decide if she could fight with a weapon or not. She was already pretty good with fighting with her hands.

That was pretty much their daily routine.

Currently, Subaru and Yuki we're currently visiting the Bartender the sorcerer met his very first day in Kararagi. It became a habit after Subaru cut down the slave traders that tried to kidnap Yuki all those months ago.

The guy just seemed so insistent on their company. Though Subaru didn't really think much of it. After all, free food and drinks for them, as long as they protected the bartender from harm.

That was the deal they made. Even though Yuki wasn't as strong, she still knew how to carry her own weight. With time, she'd be better.

"Papa, when we get there I want lots of food!"

Subaru smiled and rubbed her head.

"I'll make sure you get all the food you want Yuki."

From hearing that, Yuki's excitement skyrocketed as they entered the bar.

"Oh! Mister Natsuki, what a big surprise!"

"Yep. We just got done exploring. . .and fighting more slave traders."

Subaru explained as he and Yuki sat down at the table they usually sat at.

"So the usual right?"

"Yeah. The usual for both of us."

"You got it."

With that, the Bartender simply left to the kitchen to make their meals. And while they waited, Subaru told Yuki stories of what he'd done back in his world. Her favorite being his encounter with Genichi Sojo.

Subaru explained to her about how Sojo wielded a blade called "Cloud Gouger". The blade had three specific abilities, the first one being "Mei". Which summoned thunder, the second one being "Kou" which summoned water. And finally "Yui", which summoned ice.

As Subaru continued telling her about Cloud Gouger and Sojo, a voice suddenly made itself known.

"Ohhhh. . .that indeed does sound interesting. You must have been pretty strong to have fought and survive against someone like that, right?"

". . .!"

Subaru quickly turned around to where the voice came from, only to see a wolf human with relatively long black fur clad in a dishevelled black kimono possessing worn-down purple accents. He also had a golden kiseru in his mouth as he smirked. He honestly gave off a laid-back vibe with his demeanor, but even then. . .

'This guy. . .his spirit energy is just. . .huge. But more importantly. . .'

He looked at Yuki who was looking at the man curiously.

'I can't trust this guy. . .he could be a threat.'

Subaru thought to himself with his hand tightly gripping his wakizashi.

"Who. . .who are you? And what do you want?"

The young swordsman asked as the mysterious demihuman hummed.

"That's a pretty good question. One I won't answer unless you defeat me or entertain me long enough. As for who I am. . .let's just say I was hired by some slave traders to take that kid off your hands-!"

*SHING!*

That's all it took. That one sentence was all it took for Subaru to act. In seconds, he was already in front of the demihuman, with his wakizashi clashing blades with the kunais the demihuman held.

"Whoah! You're pretty quick on your feet aren't ya?"

"Yuki...run. Now!!!

Subaru shouted as the little girl ran towards the backroom.

"I wouldn't want to trash this place due to our fight. So why don't we take this outside, eh?"

The wolf demihuman said as he pushed Subaru back and vanished from the bar as Subaru quickly followed behind.

The two swordsman ran across Banan until they made it to an area that could be said to be peaceful. A pretty clear sky in the background, lush green grass, and a steady stream of water.

As Subaru landed onto the ground, he saw the demihuman standing there looking at the distance.

"This place is one of my favorite spots to train, or even relax whenever I feel like it."

He then turned around with a little smirk on his face.

"Maybe it'll do the same for you."

". . ."

"What? Nothing to say?"

The demihuman asked.

". . .I have nothing to say to an enemy that will soon be cut down. What you said earlier has told me everything I need to know."

Subaru stated coldly as he kept his guard up.

"Well. . .so much for a friendly talk. Show me whatcha' got kid."

Without wasting any time Subaru sped forward, unsheathing his wakizashi as the wolf demihuman threw some throwing daggers at his general direction.

In response, Subaru simply deflected them with his blade. As he got closer and closer, he swung his wakizashi horizontally as the wolf demihuman vanished and quickly reappeared behind Subaru with his own katana unsheathed, getting ready to swing it down on him.

"!!!!!"

Subaru quickly turned around and countered the downward swing coming down on him.

'He's fast. . .!!'

"Ohhh. . .you have pretty fast reflexes as well. Not bad kid!"

Subaru quickly jumped backward to gain some distance.

". . .Your equipment."

"Hm?"

"There's something going on with your weaponry. I was able to sense an odd presence on those throwing daggers you threw at me. . .and I further confirmed that suspicion when I blocked that attack."

Subaru stated as he sweated a bit.

And in response, the wolf demihuman took a quick puff of his kiseru before answering with a confident smirk.

"That was my curse arts. Ya see' I'm an' expert in curse arts. It's my specialty, killing curses are my trump card. I just fuse a piece of my fur or nails that I cursed into weapons to cast a curse that no matter what, will kill my opponent. So if ya' wanna survive, I suggest you take this more seriously."

The wolf demihuman explained.

". . .I see. In that case. . ."

Subaru placed his wakizashi in his mouth as he began to unsheath his enchanted blade.

'Yoru. . .'

Four different colored tigers soon appeared around him as his enchanted blade turned into a purple darkish shade of color.

The wolf demihuman hummed in surprise.

"Never seen magic like that before. . .interesting."

The wolf demihuman said.

"Prepare yourself. . .cause I will cut you down, no matter what."

Subaru stated with a cold determined look in his eyes as the showdown between the two swordsmen was about to begin. . .

. . .
. . .
. . .
TO BE CONTINUED. . .