Chapter Text
Heinkel stumbled through the streets of the capital. He knew it wasn’t good to be drunk at noon-time, but he was so far beyond caring it wasn’t even funny. And what did Marcos know, bossing him around like that? It wasn’t like Marcos had lost his wife, so who was he to tell him he needed to ‘move on’? Marcos didn’t even have a wife! Asshole.
Heinkel was approaching a bridge above one of the capital’s waterways, getting closer to the edge than he probably should have.
Normally, this wouldn’t matter, but as Heinkel approached, he stumbled over an out-of-place stone. Being too drunk, he was unable to right his movements.
Thus, Heinkel was sent reeling into the water, head slamming into the rocks below.
Subaru wakes up, and his head is killing him.
“Holy…” Subaru swears to himself for a moment, gripping his head. His last memory was stepping out of the convenience store, but now he was here. Had he gotten hit by a car, or something? Was this the universe’s punishment for all his jokes about Truck-kun?
Subaru felt soaked, too.
Subaru’s eyes flew open, and he realized that he was half-submerged in water, in some kind of river. But what was even stranger, was that his clothes were all wrong. Brown leather pants, black boots, and… is that a sword?
Subaru leapt to his feet. He was taller, too. Subaru swayed slightly, but leaned over to check his appearance over the river. Sure enough…
“I’m someone else?!” Subaru exclaimed, in a voice slightly deeper than usual.
His hair was flaming red… like anime red, not strawberry blonde. He even had red stubble! Subaru touched his red stubble in awe.
And the guy he was possessing looked… kinda old. Not old old, but adult old. Subaru was only seventeen, but whoever this guy was looked old enough to have two kids and a mortgage.
“Ooookay,” Subaru said, stepping away from the river. “Alright, step one. Gather more information.”
Subaru found some nearby steps leading away from the banks, and a minute later, Subaru was back on street level. And what he saw…
“Demihumans… and lots of them, too…”
Subaru quickly came to a realization.
“I’ve been transmigrated to another person’s body… in another world!”
“This looks like a medieval-style fantasy world, where demihumans are commonplace and adventure isn’t far away!” Subaru decided. “And I must have been transported into the body of an important hero! I have a sword, after all, and leather armor, pretty basic but not bad for starting gear. But what was I summoned for? Do I have to fight a demon king?”
Subaru was so excited that even his pounding headache, persistent nausea and the fact that he felt like a drowned rat didn’t get him down. However, now that Subaru was thinking about it, maybe eating something would make him feel better.
He walked over towards a green-haired man who seemed to be selling apples.
“What’re these?” Subaru asked.
“These are appas,” the man said. “You wanna buy some? Best appas around.”
Subaru fished around in his pockets and eventually found a small coin purse. Bingo!
“How much?” Subaru asked.
“Two copper apiece, a silver for a dozen,” the man answered.
Thankfully, the designations of the coins were pretty simple. There were two types of golden ones, from what Subaru had in his wallet, but only one type of copper and silver.
Subaru handed the appa salesman a silver coin. “I’ll take a dozen!”
Looking pleased, the appa salesman put a dozen apples in a sack and handed them to Subaru. “Thanks for your business! Hope you enjoy,” the man said.
“Thanks!” Subaru said. Taking one apple out of the bag, he bit into it. It tasted like the best thing he’d had all day--almost like whoever had this body before didn’t feed it properly.
Subaru didn’t dwell on it though. He went a few paces from the appa salesman before sitting down, deciding to enjoy his apples in peace and hopefully get rid of this horrendous headache in the meantime. After that, he’d look around for more information.
Subaru was three apples deep into his bag when he heard a commotion.
“Where is it? Where is it!?” a silver-haired girl with pointy ears (an elf?) seemed to panic, before looking angrily at a blond-haired girl. “Stop! Thief!”
Subaru got up and jogged towards the commotion, just as the silver-haired girl started to shoot icicles beneath the blonde girl, trying to trip her up. The crowd made anxious noise and parted in the wake of the fight.
Woah! Real magic? Subaru thought.
Subaru ran towards the silver-haired girl, able to keep up with her pretty well. This body wasn't too bad -- he was actually pretty fast!
“Hey, miss?” Subaru asked. “Do you need help?”
“She stole… something important from me!” the silver-haired girl said.
At this point, though the girl was running as fast as she could, weaving through people, and Subaru was keeping pace, the blonde girl running across rooftops had seemingly vanished.
Subaru wasn’t about to turn down an adventure on his first day of being isekaied! Especially if a cute girl needed his help…
Hold on, am I too old to think that way now? Subaru thought, squinting. Internally he was 17, certainly, but he really looked two decades Emilia’s senior. Never mind, ponder this later. Man, I don’t know if I like being middle-aged.
“I’ll help you find her,” Subaru said. “My name is Subaru, and yours?”
“I’m Emilia,” Emilia said, sounding a bit relieved. "We've got to follow her, let's go!"
Eventually, Subaru had to admit that he and Emilia had truly lost the thief.
But, they’d been able to trail her for a while, which gave them some clues.
“Based on her directions, she was heading in the direction of that part of the city,” Subaru said, waving his hand towards the way she’d run.
“That’s towards the slums,” Emilia said.
“Well, maybe she stole it because she’s poor and wants to sell your item off,” Subaru suggested.
“Puck, what do you think?” Emilia asked.
Subaru was startled by the appearance of a floating cat materializing in front of them.
“Woah!” Subaru said.
“This is my spirit partner, Puck,” Emilia said.
“Hm…” Puck said, seeming to think. “Why don’t you contact the lesser spirits? You can ask if they’ve seen her. I’m Puck, by the way!”
Puck floated over to Subaru.
Subaru grinned.
“I can tell you have good intentions, so take care of Lia, okay?” Puck said.
“Yes, sir!” Subaru said, with a friendly salute.
“Alright. I’ll disappear for a while, so you can contact the lesser spirits. Wake me up right after, okay, Lia?” Puck said.
Emilia nodded, and with that, they had a plan ready to go into action.
After asking the lesser spirits (Subaru watched from far away in awe at the light show) Emilia and Subaru had been directed further into the slums. Upon asking around (Emilia said it would be a bad idea for her to ask, so she'd stayed a little bit away while Subaru questioned the locals) the two been told to try a dilapidated building at the end of the slums, what they’d called “Old Man Rom’s loothouse.”
Subaru accompanied Emilia there, and with Puck, the two approached the door.
Subaru knocked on the door. “Hello?”
“Password?” a gruff voice answered.
“Uh, none, but we’re here to inquire about… an item?” Subaru tried.
The door slid open, revealing a giant man, who Subaru presumed to be Rom.
“You…” the giant’s brow furrowed and his face turned hostile. “An Astrea. I should have known.”
An Astrea? What’s he talking about?
“Uh, my friend here got something stolen from her and we’re trying to get it back,” Subaru said.
Rom’s hand tightened around his club.
“If you give me my insignia back, then we won’t have any trouble,” Emilia said. “But I need that back! It’s really important to me. So give it over, please.”
“Ain’t no way, unless you’re a paying customer,” Rom said.
Subaru could sense that if things continued this way, that there would be a fight. “We can do that!” Subaru said.
“Huh?” Emilia and Rom were both startled out of their hostility.
“We can pay. I have money,” Subaru said. He’d had one of those gold coins with the dragon on it, and ten more gold ones with a picture of a man on it. He wasn’t sure that it amounted to much, but he was willing to try.
“I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Emilia said, getting flustered.
“I don’t mind!” Subaru said.
Emilia bit her lip. “Well, I suppose I do really need that back…”
“Alright, then,” Rom said, calming down a bit. “If you're paying, that makes you a customer... come inside. But no funny business, alright?"
“Thanks!" Emilia said. "My insignia is about this big, and it has a jewel inside." Emilia followed after Rom, trying to explain what she’d lost.
“We don’t have anything like that,” Rom said.
“Really?” Emilia said, looking despondent. “That blonde girl stole it from me this morning.”
“Oh, Felt? She’ll be bringing today’s haul tonight,” Rom said.
“Oh!” Emilia said, a bit more cheerful. “Good!”
“Though, I have to admit, I’m surprised to see someone like you in the slums. Heinkel Astrea, is it?” Rom said, pouring himself a drink.
“What?” Subaru said.
Rom waved his hand. “You know, what with you being… Deputy Knight Commander and all. Or whatnot.”
I’m what now? Subaru internally panicked. Wait… Heinkel Astrea… that must be the body I’ve taken! And now this guy’s telling me I’m a Deputy Knight Commander? That’s beyond amazing!
Emilia turned to him, eyes rounding. “You’re the Deputy Knight Commander? Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“Well, you know,” Subaru said, sweating slightly and trying to think of an excuse. “Sometimes when people hear I’m a knight, they get kind of intimidated and don’t want me to help. So, I didn’t mention it.”
Subaru didn’t know if that was a logical excuse, but it seemed to be the right thing to say.
“Oh… that’s understandable, Sir Heinkel,” Emilia said. “I really appreciate the help.”
“No worries… it’s my job!” Subaru said.
They chatted idly while waiting for Felt, though Subaru couldn’t help but feel Rom’s suspicious gaze on him. Subaru wondered if the two of them had a history. Or maybe, Rom had a history with someone in his family? Subaru didn’t forget the way Rom had noted his last name before his first.
“You? But you’re…” Felt reacted in shock upon seeing Emilia.
“The item’s original owner, right? But we’re willing to barter,” Subaru said, quickly smoothing down the situation.
“Urggh… alright, but if you’re tricking us somehow, old man Rom’s gonna beat you up!” Felt said. “And since I got hired to steal that specifically, you’ve gotta barter with my client! She’ll be here soon.”
“Hired to steal that?” Subaru wondered aloud.
Emilia frowned deeply. “… Who is this client?” Emilia asked, a bit suspicious.
“Aw, no, I ain’t ratting ‘em out,” Felt said. “You can see when they get here.”
It was more of a wait for Felt’s so-called client, to the point it was getting late in the day, and Subaru was getting impatient. He’d dropped his appas when he’d run after Emilia, and he was starving and exhausted. Not to mention, still slightly damp from waking up in that river. He felt awful, and he didn’t even have a place to sleep. Maybe Emilia would let him nap on her couch or something for a night.
Subaru was about to complain about the wait when a high-pitched scream broke the silence. Blood suddenly spurted from Emilia’s stomach as she collapsed.
“Emilia! No!” Subaru shouted. He grabbed the hilt of the sword at his waist, pulling it out.
“My, my, it seems the item’s original owner was here… there’s no way I could negotiate under these conditions,” a voice said. A figure lunged toward him, but Subaru pulled up the sword to block the attack.
Subaru’s block was more than just luck, and more than than his pitiful training from Kendo. There was some kind of… instinct, within him, within his body and his muscles, that knew how to wield this sword.
But it wasn’t enough.
Subaru had successfully blocked the first blow, but that didn’t stop the woman from pulling out a second blade, and slicing Subaru’s stomach open.
Subaru collapsed in a heap as his blood soaked into the dirt.
“Emilia… I’ll… save…” Subaru reached towards Emilia.
Everything went dark.
Subaru sharply inhaled, a hand flying to his stomach.
He looked down, but his leather armor was intact, and there was no blood spilling down his outfit. He was still ‘Heinkel’, if that was his proper name, but he was no longer… dying.
“You wanna buy some? Best appas around,” the appa salesman said.
Subaru stumbled away from the stand.
He… he needed to get back to the loothouse.
Subaru started running.
He didn’t know how he’d been healed, didn’t understand how his clothes weren’t torn and bloody, but he didn’t have time to question it. He had to save Emilia! He couldn’t just leave her in the clutches of that assassin.
Subaru saw a street that was emptier than the others. He ducked down it to hopefully cut down on time, running blindly towards his destination--
--only to be thrown to the ground as he unintentionally shoulder-checked someone.
“Ow!” Subaru said. His shoulder ached in a way that meant it was starting to bruise, and given he’d sent himself flying to the ground just by running into this person, they seemed like they must be built. But Subaru got back up, dusting off his pants and ignoring his skinned knees, ready to throw an apology at this stranger and continue towards the loothouse.
“Father! I’m sorry! Are you hurt?”
Subaru stopped cold.
He turned to the person he’d bumped into.
Their hair was fire-red, just like his.