60

Chapter 60: Endangered dignityNotes:

I am not dead.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Chapter 60

Darkness.

Darkness everywhere.

Why was it so dark?

And her head hurt like a tank shell had fallen on it. Tanya groaned in pain before she bit the inside of her cheek to quiet down. It wouldn't do to show weakness if a stranger walked in. Where was she even?

"Milady, you have awakened! I am so relieved!"

Milady? Who talked like that? Had someone mistaken her for some snobby noble or something? Well, she technically became one after she earned the label of "von" in her name, but that was just some meaningless title.

From the sounds of the voice whoever was speaking seemed overjoyed at her waking up. Probably not an enemy then. Despite her dry throat she decided to test the waters.

"Wh-where am I?"

"Why, home of course!" replied the voice from somewhere to her left, answering nothing.

Tanya had no home. There was only ever a drafty tent or a featureless barrack for her. They had been so many, so interchangeable that at some point they were blurring together. Mud and dust were the only reminders that she brought with her from one country to another. In an ever-changing war there was no place for her to rest or call her own.

Could the invisible woman mean the blasted orphanage? No, that was not home either...

"A-and where i-is that?" she croaked.

"Oh, you poor dear! You must be terribly thirsty! Here, drink!"

A cup, or what she presumed to be a cup, was brought to her lips and she eagerly gulped down the soothing fluid. The possibility that it might be drugged or poisoned came to her mind, but she dismissed it. In her current state she would be unable to fight back anyways.

"To answer your question, Milady... You are under your knight's protection, in his mansion."

Her knight? What nonsense was this woman talking about? Could this be a title or a codename she never heard of before? The nurse assumed that Tanya knew what she was talking about, so asking too many questions could come off as suspicious. Worst case, they retired or demoted her because the general staff believed her to be mentally compromised!

"Is the location classified?"

"Classified? Hmm? Do you mean if this mansion is a secret, Milady? No, of course not! Everybody in the city knows it. How could anybody miss the estate of the Sword Saint?"

City? Sword Saint? What the hell was going on here?

"Ehm... Pardon me, Miss..."

"No need for such formalities, Milady! You can simply call me Britta!"

"Ms. Britta... Why is it so dark?"

"Eh? Oh, forgive me Milady! Master Reinhard ordered that you may not be disturbed so we put a sleeping mask on you! Let me take that off!"

Silky cloth shifted over her face and suddenly light hammered her retinas. Instinctively she magically forced the muscles in her eyes to constrict faster than normal to get a clear picture of her situation in half the time it would take for a normal human.

She apparently was in fact inside a mansion. Thick satin curtains kept most of the light out, but it was still bright enough for her to marvel at the opulent tapestry and furniture. This room must have been a noble's bedchamber at some point. The maid at her bedside even looked the part with her antiquated dress and frilly bonnet. Very strange...

"My thanks, Ms. Britta. Although I must ask... why am I here?"

"Oh, Master Reinhard said you fell unconscious after your eyes were glowing all weird. No offense, Milady."

Glowing eyes were a common side effect of high mana output. Nothing unusual and, judging from the continued sharpness of her sight, also nothing harmful.

"Anything else? Wounds? Trauma?"

"No! Nothing of the sort! But I believe it had something to do with a magical artefact of some sorts. Like a golden necklace that you brought home, Milady. A magician was supposed to take a look at it, but he apparently didn't do a very good job if it knocked you out like that. Some of the others say that he straight up disappeared."

Could she be describing her Elenium Type 95? Was that poor woman so uneducated as to mistake a computation orb for a necklace? From how she called a mage or magical technician a 'magician' it seemed like she was of rather simple upbringing.

But wait...

If the Type 95 had glowed golden then that meant that it had been used! Schugel that old bastard must have messed with again! Oh, the next time they crossed paths she would wring his neck until-

"Milady?"

"Yes?"

"Nothing. You just looked very... serious for a moment. Nevertheless, I am sure that Master Reinhard will do a better job at explaining than me and he should return any moment now. At first he was adamantly guarding your side throughout the whole night, neither eating nor sleeping at all, but then he remembered your ball and had to take care of cancelling your attendance. He was so paranoid that he posted ten guards outside the door even though he went out for only a little trip."

Woah. That was a lot to unpack. One thing at a time please.

"The ball?"

"Yes! It is today! In fact I believe it started already! What a shame that you cannot visit such a huge festival in your honour, Milady! It must be hard to miss out on meeting so many nice young lads vying for your attention... My heart bleeds for you, Milady."

Ugh. Just no. Tanya didn't want anyone lusting after her, thank you very much. Especially not some smug nobles or similar upstarts who were still green behind the ears. Or worse... Her iron will squashed the unbidden memories of that particular disgusting Russi pervert with utmost prejudice.

"Well if Master Reinhard had stayed a few minutes longer then he wouldn't have to deliver those grave news. On the other hand you should take it easy for the next few days, Milady. I know you are a strong fighter, – by the Dragon did that trophy down in the entrance convince me of that – but you must not stress your body until we know what caused you to faint, yeah? Going to the ball would be entirely too much."

Oh, that wicked woman! Now she was egging her on to go there despite the obvious memory loss! If she didn't she would appear as if anything was wrong with her constitution, which it was not! Being X, that hellspawn, was certainly to blame for this mess!

Suddenly a new voice startled her.

"My Lady, you are awake!"

Alarmed, she grabbed for a pistol that was not there. How had this very noticeable, white-clad man eluded her detection? Perhaps the damage to her mind was greater than believed. Tanya did not even notice the door opening!

"Yes, I am." she responded cautiously.

Was she really? Everything about this scenario felt like a fever dream to her. Could this be an elaborate hallucination caused by the Ilodlan Flue?

"Are you feeling well, Lady Tanya? I was very concerned for your health!"

"Yes, yes. I am more than fine really. Well, I guess I have a bit of a headache, but otherwise I am in operable condition. Say, you wouldn't happen to know where my adjutant is at the moment?"

"Pardon, I do not know who you mean."

"Vish-, Lieutenant Viktoriya Serebryakov."

Still no recognition showed itself on his handsome face. Running out of options she decided to use a name civilians might be familiar with, so Tanya grit her teeth and bit out: "Colloquially also known as the Devil's Handmaiden."

"I am afraid, Milady, that I cannot recall you ever mentioning this name before."

They had talked before? How many memories stole Being X from her?

"Then maybe the rest of my troops?"

"Could you by chance be talking about the 204 th ?"

Okay. Now it was obvious. This was definitely, one hundred percent a fever dream. Forming a whole new battalion would take months. Not even the cursed computation jewel could wipe the last few months entirely from her mind. She would test this theory a last time.

"Who is the official leader of the empire?"

"That would be Vincent Vollachia."

Yep. This was fake. Most likely a 'trial' from the wannabe god. It would take more than a cheap trick like this to make her bow to his nonexistent divinity!

"Fuck this. I'm out!"

She threw off the insanely comfortable blanket, grabbed her regular computation orb from the nightstand and marched right over to the nearest window. With one mana reinforced punch she shattered the intricate construct and rained glass shards everywhere. Unconcerned, Tanya climbed onto the windowsill and jumped. 

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So far Subaru wasn't too awed by the festivities. Well, calling it 'festivities' was perhaps giving it too much credit. Even the proms at his old school had felt livelier than this. Of course there was music and drinks, but most people were just standing around, talking about topics that he knew nothing about.

"Oh, Lord Dragen! I have heard that your new customs policy on bridges is very successful!" or "How is your lovely daughter? I bet little Annelise must be growing quite a lot if she comes after her father! Haha!"

That kind of stuff. Their polite smiles and fancy clothes reminded him uncomfortably of Roswaal who was busy intermingling in the crowd, no doubt discussing deals of great importance. Initially Subaru had thought their behaviour to be weirdly endearing, but when he saw them repeat the same gestures and phrases over and over again that amusement turned quickly into apprehension. So much acting and dishonesty put him on edge.

He was no longer the naive, young boy he had been a few weeks ago. Subaru at least liked to believe that he changed and grew as a person. Since he learned the true meaning of suffering he was automatically more on guard than he was before. After all, death and misery were going to haunt his dreams for the rest of his seemingly eternal life.

As the band began to play their third song of the evening his mood was soured substantially by the dull nature of the event. It appeared as if this entire night was doomed to be a waste of time, because most nobles were almost instinctively avoiding Emilia or shooting her disgusted looks. Meanwhile he was staying near Emilia's side to show his solidarity. Naturally he was not going to leave her alone when she needed his support right now.

He would have gladly begged the stunning half-elf for a dance to distract her from the discrimination she was facing, but sadly he had no idea how to perform anything appropriate for the time period of this world. Embarrassing Emilia with a poor performance in front of people who would immediately use every mistake against her was unacceptable. Her life in a society that hated her was already hard enough without the ridicule.

Surprisingly, a single man approached their corner which filled Subaru with distrust.

"I wish a pleasant evening to you, Lady Emilia."

"Likewise, Lord Tellert."

They knew each other? Her tone sounded clipped, so they probably did not have the best relationship. Feeling protective, he stepped forward and put on his cheeriest smile.

"Hello! My name is Subaru Natsuki and I am going to become the knight of the most beautiful woman in this room!"

"S-Subaru you dunderhead! Don't go around saying stuff like that!"

Aww... It was adorable how she blushed!

Promptly another person spoke up from behind his back.

"Yeah, Subaru! I would need to smack you if you repeated that in the presence of my Lady! Nya~"

"Hehe... sorry. Uh... Why are you even here Felix? Shouldn't you be with Crusch?"

"Politics are so boooring. I already had to sit through an hour of small talk with the nobles today, so I wanted some diversion. Nya... And with you around something amusing is bound to happen! Like a drunken cat playing with porcelain! Nya!"

"Thanks? Wait, that sounded like a insult-"

Emilia interrupted him: "And who might you be? Are you perhaps Felix Argyle, knight of Lady Crusch?"

"Subaru, you should have introduced me! Anyways, yes I am!" she grinned while bowing. "In the flesh. Nya..."

Didn't they meet at the royal selection previously? Why the introductions? He would ask Rem for more etiquette lessons.

"I am very thankful for your assistance in Subaru's recovery. I will be forever grateful if he recovers."

"Aww... It's nothing! I healed worse!"

"He is the best healer in Lugnica after all!" added the grey-haired lord.

"Yes, but- wait... did you just say 'he'? Felix is a girl!"

"What gave you the idea, Subaru? It is pretty clear that he is a male."

Oh, Emilia-tan... why did she have to crush his dignity like that? No it couldn't be! Felix was not a man! Or...

But...

Why...

"Haha, your face looks rather distraught! What's the matter, Subaru? Is something troubling you? Nya~" the catg- no, catboy teased.

He was going to strangle that stupid, lying, backstabbing, deceptively attractive-

"You did not have any improper thoughts, did you Subaru?" asked his love and a cold shiver ran down his spine.

How did pure, innocent Emilia-tan come to that conclusion?

"D-definitely not! I only fantasize about you!"

"Eww…"

"Wait, that is not how I meant it!"

"I knew all along that you were a dirty pervert, nyaaaahahaha…"

Could this day get any worse? He shouldn't have jinxed it.

Notes:

Oh, no! What could have happened to Tanya?

I promise I stop with setting up mysteries ;)

(Although they all have explanations)