"So...how is he?" Subaru asked as he looked at the unconscious giant.

"He'll be fine. He's just unconscious." Zarestia stated.

Subaru hearing that, breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's good. Now, we can all relax peacefully. Wouldn't you agree Ti...a....?"

The moment Subaru turned around, he saw Zarestia glaring at him. If looks could kill, then he would be dead right now. The glare she was giving him was glaring into his very soul!

"T-Tia...what's with that very scary look you're giving me?"

"You idiotic contractor...how could you do that without me?!"

"W-What?!"

"That stupid plan of yours! Handling, that disgusting woman by yourself, and having all the fun for yourself! You should've let me help you, you idiot!"

Zarestia pouted as she got all up in Subaru's face. With the latter not knowing what to say. Before he could react, Zarestia pulled on his cheek.

"Ow!Ow!Ow!Ow!Ow! Zarestia my cheek!"

"Next time you're going to let me handle her! I wanted to cut her up with my wind magic!"

"Y-Yes! Whenever we encounter her, you'll fight her with me! Happy?!"

"Hmph! That will suffice. But you'll repay full in kind later on as well!"

"Yes! Yes! I'll make sure of it!"

Zarestia after a few seconds, stopped pulling his cheek as she seemed happy with the results, her contractor did amazing as always, that woman obsessed with bowels stood no chance! The state of the Loot House was enough proof as it is. Zarestia's idiotic contractor was indeed strong!

While the duo of spirit and contractor had their moment, the silver haired woman approached the small blond girl that was caring for Old Man Rom that was currently unconscious due to his wound.

"Is this old man your family?"

"S-Something like that, he's the only one I have... he's like my grandpa."

"I see. I only have one family member, too. But he's always asleep at the most important times."

(Yeah no shit Emilia. Sorry guys I just really dislike Puck)

"I thought you'd be a lot harsher on me. I'm sorry. You saved my life and I can't let a debt go unpaid. I'll return what I stole, keep it hidden so no one steals it again!"

"It feels funny, having you give me that warning."

As the blond girl opened her palm to the silver haired woman revealing the insignia, the red haired knight looked at the jewel with wide eyes.

The stone...was glowing.

"Hm?"

Subaru also noticed the sudden change in the knight as he saw the said knight quickly speed towards the blond girl as he roughly grabbed her by the wrist.

The blond gasped as her wrist was grabbed roughly by the Sword Saint.

"H-Hey! You're hurting me! Let go!"

The knight glared at the jewel shaken.

"H-How can this be?"

He then looked at the blond sternly.

"What is your name?"

"Huh? It's Felt."

"And your family name? How old are you?"

"I don't have anything fancy like a family name! I'm about fifteen, I think. I don't know my birthday just let me go!"

" ...I'll need you to come with me. I'm sorry but I can't allow you to refuse."

"Oh screw off and get over yourself! Just because you saved me-!"

The Sword Saint was simply going to suck her mana to knock her out but was quickly interrupted as a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Now now... Mr. "Sword Saint" I'm sure that's enough don't ya think?"

"You're the boy that fought the bowel hunter..."

"Glad you recognize me. You see, me and my partner over there came to see that old man to check up on him."

Subaru pointed towards Zarestia who was standing behind him.

"I didn't know he had a granddaughter though...you said your name was Felt right?"

The blond girl now known as Felt meekly nodded her head.

"Ok then. "Sword Saint". You do know you were going to kidnapped someone right?"

"I'm aware of that but-!"

"I'm not done yet. Last I check, being a knight doesn't mean kidnapping someone right?"

"..."

"Subaru, I know you can hold your own against the Sword Saint with no issues at all but I think you should let this happen."

" ...Alright then. If there's a reasonable reason for this."

Subaru let go of the Sword Saint's shoulder as Zarestia managed to talk him out of whatever he was planning. The Knight then quickly knocked Felt unconscious as he bid his farewell to the Silver haired girl and Subaru and Zarestia as he left with Felt in tow.

The silver haired lady then approached the duo of spirit and contractor.

"U-Um...excuse me. I forgot to thank you for saving me earlier."

"Hey come on! It's no problem at all. After all, I'm used to to stuff like this!"

"That's not something to be proud about you idiot!"

"Haha! Sorry! Sorry! Anyway, what's your name ma'am?"

The silver haired woman looked a little hesitant, but smiled as she spoke.

"My name...is Emilia. No family name, just Emilia."

"I see, well it's nice to meet you Emilia. I'm Subaru, Natsuki Subaru! And this is my spirit and partner, Zarestia."

"Hmph! Make sure you remember it foolish girl!"

"I see, it's a pleasure to meet you both as well."

The lady now known as Emilia extended her hand towards Subaru as he did the same. They both smiled at each other as they shook hands.

"So do you two have anywhere to stay? If not then you two can stay at the mansion where I currently reside at, I want to repay you for saving me."

"Hmmm. I mean, we do need somewhere to go until further notice. What do you think Zarestia?"

"Wherever you go Subaru I'll always follow. As long as the people there don't bring you any unnecessary harm then it's completely fine with me."

"I see...alright then Emilia. We accept!"

With this answer, Emilia smiled as they made their way out of the destroyed loot house and began walking down the street of the slums.

They all made small talk with each other until they heard a voice call out to them.

"Emilia-sama!"

"Oh! Ram!" Emilia responded, relieved to seeing the maid driving a dragon carriage.

'They have maids in this world as well?! Niiiiiice.' Subaru thought to himself as he saw the maid in pink hair approaching. Perhaps going to this mansion wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Emilia-sama, I've been looking all over for you. I only found you after asking around the market. I was told you were pursuing a thief. Why are you in this place?"

That was when Ram noticed Subaru.

"Wait...is that ugly weirdo the-!" She was interrupted by the voice of Subaru's great spirit, Zarestia.

"It would be wise to watch your tongue and refrain from insulting my contractor, MAID."

"!!!"

Ram could feel the killer intent radiating off of Zarestia. She wiped a trickle of sweat that was sliding down the side of her face.

"Hey hey! Zarestia calm down. I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it."

Subaru placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"...Fine." Zarestia answered as she calmed down a bit.

"I'll explain everything on the way Ram, all you need to know is that this boy and his great spirit saved my life and they don't have anywhere to go at the moment, so I'm taking them with us to the mansion. His name is Subaru."

Emilia explained to Ram as the maid said nothing and simply nodded as they began walking back to the carriage.

Zarestia and Subaru were behind the pair while Zarestia was silently judging the maid. She could tell immediately something was off with the pink maid the moment she saw Subaru.

'She's suspicious...of him...and I guess to an extent, me as well.'

Zarestia knew this, and she had a burning feeling that something was going on or that something or someone else was at play here. But, she would need to make sure before she jumped to conclusions, for now, she would need to make sure to protect her dumbass contractor from getting into more trouble.

They soon eventually made it onto the carriage where Subaru immediately fell asleep as Zarestia placed him on her lap. It was then that Emilia began to make small talk with the great spirit of murder.

"Um...so...how did you and Subaru meet?"

"...I met him back in Kararagi. I was trying to find the thief who stole my Light Sphere and eventually ran into him."

Zarestia began petting Subaru's head as she continued telling Emilia.

"In short, he helped me and I deemed him worthy after witnessing his skills up close. And no else is more worthier to be MY contractor but this idiot on my lap."

"R-Right..." Emilia sweat-dropped at Zarestia as she witnessed the spirit being very protective of Subaru.

They continued talking for a bit until Zarestia felt tired and went to sleep as well. Leaving Emilia and Ram to be the only ones awake. Soon enough, Ram began speaking.

"Emilia-sama...where exactly did you meet that man and his spirit?"

"I met him and Zarestia in an alleyway, thinking that they were the ones that stole my insignia. But I immediately realized my mistake and apologized and left them there. I eventually made it to that loot house...and well...we fought that woman. But Subaru and his spirit came in and fought her effortlessly!"

Emilia stated as she smiled to herself.

'Good, it wouldn't do good for Roswaal-sama to experience some sort of failure due to your mistake.'

This of course was unsaid as the maid thought to herself. What worried her more though was the fact that the man currently sleeping with his great spirit handled the bowel hunter with ease, as Emilia stated.

'That man could be a potential threat...'

Ram thought this until she shook it off and came to the conclusion that everything would be handled once Roswaal returned. They soon made it back to the mansion and eventually came to a stop in front of the entrance, and standing in front of the carriage was a made that looked identical to Ram except she had blue hair.

"Welcome back, Nee-sama, Emilia-sama."

The maid bowed as she greeted the two women. But she glanced curiously at the duo who got out of the carriage after Emilia. She wondered who the woman was but the moment she saw the unconscious man on her back...she glared heatedly. Her glare had so much malice in it.

'WITCH CULTIST!!!'

Rem thought this in alarm and was about to charge at the pair but Ram stopped her as she could feel Rem's anger due to their connection.

"Rem, I can feel your animosity towards the man, and I share it, but you need to calm down."

"But-!"

"We can't do anything. He saved Emilia-Dana's life and he's a guest. The only thing we can do is wait for Roswaal-Sana'a decision on the matter."

Rem although she hated it, obliged to her sister's command as she calmed down but hid her anger under as she made a plain facial expression as her and Ram began to take Zarestia and Subaru to their guest rooms for the night, while Emilia went back to hers, bidding the pair good night.

The maids eventually took the duo to their room, Zarestia placed Subaru on the bed as she petted his head and messed with his hair a bit, but immediately turned serious as her bloodlust arose, and it was all aimed at the two maids.

When they turned around to leave and placed their hands on the door knob, they heard speak ominously.

"I'm aware of the animosity you hold towards Subaru."

"?!"

Both twins froze, as they turned around to see the spirit glaring at them. Slight winds flowing around the room as some of the objects fell off the counters and desk.

"N-Nee-sama, who is that woman?!"

"...Emilia-sama said that woman...that woman is a great spirit...the great spirit of murder, Zarestia."

"W-What?!" Rem exclaimed in alert.

If the woman in front of them was indeed a great spirit then that would mean...the "Cultist" in front laying on the bed as her contractor. This made Rem more angry as she slowly began to glare at the duo.

"The maid is right. I am Subaru's contractor as I assist him in combat and other things. And in this case, to protect him from the likes of you while he's unconscious. I could sense your malice and urge to kill him the moment you saw him, Maid!"

Rem's expression changed to a heated glare as she now no longer needed to hide her emotions.

"So you assist him while he commits atrocities then? That's fitting for your title or being the beautiful reaper, being in a contract with a filthy cultist! You must have came here in a attempt to bring your precious devil back."

"Rem? What do you mean?" Ram asked.

"He smells like the witch, nee-sama." Rem replied full of hatred as she readied her morning star.

"What?!" Ram panicked as she pulled out her wand, pointing it towards Subaru who was currently laying on the bed.

The winds grew more as Zarestia's anger flared up. How dare they accuse her contractor of being in league with the cult? They didn't know a damn thing about him, let alone barely any proof! Her contractor was not a damn cultist, he was a damn hero! He told her of all of his adventures, his hardships, his past, everything! And there was no way in hell she was going to let some mere maid attempt to kill and accuse her contractor of such a notion.

"Your notions of who my contractor is, what he does, what he has been through, and what he has done is completely skewed! He's no cultist! He doesn't even know that is! And besides he's a hero where he comes from!"

"Don't you dare lie!"

Rem yelled as she swung the morning star towards Subaru's head.

"Wait, Rem-!"

Ram tried to stop her sister, only to find herself and Rem flung to the wall as a medium sized dent formed due to the impact. Zarestia had used her wind to send the two maids flying as she also deflected the morning star, she then picked the two up using her wind as she restrained them.

"L-Let us go you monster!" Rem screamed

"Then stop attacking my contractor. And it's very hypocritical to call me a monster when you're trying to murder an innocent person."

Zarestia simply replied as she kept glaring at the twin maids, tightening her hold on them.

"You don't know what he's been through, these past few days. And the last thing he needs is a pair of damn idiots who absolutely NOTHING about him attempting against his life. He's here because of the whim of your lady, so at least have the common decency to respect her wishes. If anything you should be grateful I'm being this lenient, had it been him awake and you openly attacked him, you wouldn't last 5 seconds or had I been in another mood then I would have killed you instantly."

"Y-You have the gall to-!"

"Rem, it's fine. She's right." Ram said while glaring at Zarestia.

"He saved Emilia-sama's life. The only thing we can do is wait for Roswaal-sama to make a decision on the matter."

"But nee-sama-!"

"That's final, Rem." Ram interrupted her sister
sternly.

"...Tsk!"

Rem begrudgingly lowered her weapon as Zarestia released her hold on Ram. The maid was facing away from the spirit and contractor duo while giving them a hateful, spiteful glare from the side.

"...I assume you won't let us remove his odd clothing and items then?"

Ram asked as she and Rem fell to the floor after Zarestia released them.

"After the display you and your idiotic sister displayed before me? Why the hell would I even let you get close to him?"

Zarestia responded.

"...That is fine then. But at the very least let Beatrice-sama inspect him once he wakes up."

The pink haired maid tried to reason with the spirit.

"That choice will be up to Subaru, not me."

"...Understood. Rem, let's go. We must inform both Roswaal and Beatrice-sama of the new...guest."

Ram said the last word tinted with slight disdain. Of course this was noticed by Zarestia as she made a slight gust of wind and launched it towards them as it cut the wall.

"Watch your tone! If anything you two were in the wrong. And next time you two even THINK about attacking him again, you better hope that he even thinks about letting it slide."

"Rem, let's go." Ram continued without saying anything, silently heeding the warning.

Rem nodded as she turned around and glared at the young man.

"This isn't over."

She warned as Zarestia glared and replied.

"Oh, I know. You best watch yourself."

Rem said nothing and soon left the room, leaving it only Zarestia and the sleeping Subaru in the room. Zarestia silently made her way to Subaru and simply cuddled him as she swore to herself to protect him, even if it meant going against the residents of this damn mansion.

Soon enough, the morning came as the sunlight shined through the window, prompting the sleeping boy to groan and slowly open his eyes.

"I...I don't know that ceiling..."

Subaru commented as he woke up a few hours early with a yawn, stretching his arms while not fully remembering what had gone down in the last couple of days. Until his mind caught up with his body, forcing him to sit up with a startle.

"Oh crap, Emilia!"

"Good morning, Subaru." Zarestia greeted as she rose from the side of the bed as well.

"It's still an hour away from dawn and you've been through a lot recently. So I recommend you rest."

"Zarestia what happened?! Where...Where are we?"

"We're in a guest room within the Half-Elf's mansion, she brought us here after the fight with that disgusting woman."

"...I see." Subaru relaxed a bit.

Subaru breathed a sigh of relief, it seems after the previous day, he could finally relax, both him and Zarestia. Or that's what he thought.

"Subaru." Zarestia called out to him. Her voice completely serious.

Subaru knew something was up by the way her tone was.

"What is it?"

"The maids here hold clear animosity against you."

'So there are maids in this world as well-wait...what?'  Subaru thought in quick alarm as he looked Zarestia.

"They tried to assassinate you while you were unconscious."

"What the hell? Why? I literally just got here!"

Subaru asked as he was shocked, but also annoyed in pissed off. Last he checked Emilia brought him here to repay him for helping her in the loot house back in the slums. So to find out that the maids of the said mansion SHE brought him to, annoyed him to no end.

"They accused you of being a witch cultist. Because you apparently have the smell of the witch on you." Zarestia explained as she had an angered look on her face.

"Witch cult? I...I barely know anything about the witch cult, if any at all! And what do they mean by 'Smell of the Witch'?"

It was then that Zarestia explained everything about the Cult and the smell. She explained that the Witch Cult were pretty much a group of lunatics,with their main goal being to resurrect the Witch of Envy, Satella. She also explained that cult members usually have the smell of the witch coated on them.

After the explanation, Subaru was stunned into silence that soon turned into anger as he realized something...his name...was aligned with this so called witch, but not only that...he apparently has the smell on him despite not being a cultist. Without thinking, he got up from the bed and simply punched the wall, holding back enough to leave a visible dent in the shape of his fist in the wall.

"DAMN IT!"

Zarestia was silent as she knew Subaru had every right to be pissed. I mean, the situation was completely unfair. Her contractor just found out that his life was attempted against while he was asleep. Anyone would be pissed by that.

"You know what? It's whatever, if they attack me again then I'll have no reason to hold back against people who want to kill me, it'll be in self defense. And aside from that, I dealt with far worse beings, a few ignorant maids are nothing compared to the stuff I went through."

Zarestia knew what he was talking about as Subaru told her if his adventures back in his world. She saw Subaru open the door and leave as she got up and soon followed after him.

As they walked, they both soon realized that they were walking in circles. Subaru instantly came to the conclusion that the hallway was a looping hallway. So he looked at one of the many doors and walked up to one and opened it. Inside was a huge library filled with books, and in the center of it was a little girl with bling hair with twin drills. She looked like a pink and red gothic loli.

"What a profoundly aggravating man you are I suppose."

Subaru walked inside with Zarestia following closely behind him as she noticed the girl to be a spirit almost instantly.

"What the hell is a kid like you doing in a library like this?"

"Who are you calling a little girl?! I'll have you know that Betty is far older than you, in fact! And how did you figure out the entrance to my Forbidden Library so fast?!" The little girl answered back while glaring at the annoying man.

"You idiot. That girl is a spirit like me." Zarestia stated as she appeared near Subaru and entered the loli's sight of vision.

"Like I care Zarestia, she looks like a little girl."

Zarestia sighed.

"I'm very sorry about my idiotic contractor."

"Oh? Another spirit, I suppose?"

"Yes, I am the beautiful reaper, Zarestia. And you are?"

"Beatrice. The great spirit that resides in this mansion, I suppose."

Subaru watched as the two spirits conversed with each other until eventually interrupting both of them as he asked.

"So...what is this place? Are you the librarian or something?"

"Hmph! This is Betty's multi-purpose room. As well as the forbidden library, which holds lots of information worth four hundred years, I suppose."

Subaru nodded his head in understanding.

"I see, thank you for the info, Beatrice."

"Don't think to much of it, I suppose."

Beatrice got up from her small stool as she began walking towards Subaru, her expression turned into a small glare that didn't really...scare Subaru. She told him not to move to which he obliged as he could tell that Beatrice's intentions were to not harm him, if anything, out of everyone in the mansion, Emilia and Beatrice were the chillest people in the estate.

Beatrice eventually made it to him and placed her palm on his abdomen.

"So...what's this about?"

"I'm gonna extract some of your mana, I suppose."

"Oh, I see. We'll go on then, no one is stopping you."

Subaru remembered the time when Zarestia explained mana to him. He remembered that she stated that mana was everywhere. It was in the atmosphere, living beings, etc. She also explained the use of gates, which intrigued Subaru but he eventually decided to not learn it as he had no idea how to use his gate, and he already had a multitude of things in his arsenal either that be his chaos powers, his chaos energy, or just his physical abilities, mana was no where near as powerful as chaos energy but it was still powerful in its own right, he was willing to admit that.

Beatrice said nothing as she began to take some of the boy's mana. She immediately noticed his gate was...immature, as the gate itself was as small as a baby's. But, she did sense something else, it was greater...more powerful...

'W-What is this, in fact...?'

Beatrice opened her eyes wide as she realized that whatever this was, wasn't mana, it was something else entirely. When she looked at Subaru she could see some kind of black and blue aura...she could tell that Subaru was different. She even started speculating if he was even human or not.

"I'm done human. You may go now."

Beatrice pointed towards the door and made a 'shoo shoo' impression with her hand, as if she was swatting away a bug.

"Heh! Bold of you to assume I'm even human to begin with. Even then, I'm no normal human, I might as well not be one." Subaru stated as he turned towards the exit with Zarestia following behind him.

But before he left through the door, he stopped as he turned around.

"And Beatrice..."

The little spirit opened her one eye to look at him.

"I'm the Ultimate Life Form. Don't forget it."

With that out of the way, he and Zarestia left, leaving Beatrice confused to what he meant by "Ultimate Life Form"

"He's too arrogant, I suppose. What a nuisance."

She sat back down as she went back to reading one of her books, but she was still very curious about the man that was just in her library.

Meanwhile with Subaru and Zarestia. They were both walking back to their room. But right when they were about to open the door to their room, they heard to voices.

"It seems the guest has woken up nee-sama."

"Yes, they have woken up indeed, Rem"

Subaru and Zarestia turned to look at the direction the voices came from as Zarestia scowled, while Subaru himself, grew a slightly serious expression.

The women in front of them...

Were the maids that Zarestia told him about. These were the maids that tried to murder Subaru in his sleep. Subaru got on guard as he stared at the maids and their plain expressions.

Thus...started Subaru's first day in the Roswaal Mansion

TO BE CONTINUED...