I Admire You

Her hand was outstretched in a fist with bite marks upon it as she held it out to the twin maids. While I knew what they were most likely ta

Her hand was outstretched in a fist with bite marks upon it as she held it out to the twin maids. While I knew what they were most likely talking about, I wasn't going to just let myself be excluded on something like this. So I jumped over the railing and landed on the ground with a roll in order to break my fall. Praise be to Adelheid for giving me this awesome body! 

Everyone in the open room turned towards me with serious expressions as I picked myself up from the ground and unsheathed the two knives from my belt. Ram turned to me with narrowed eyes and asked me quite the simple question.

“Can you confirm that she was cursed? You were with Beatrice, weren’t you?” I gave her a serious nod and spoke up as I widened my stance slightly in preparation for whatever fight might come next with a shaman.

“Beatrice uncursed her just minutes prior, there definitely is someone who's using curses, that’s for sure.”

“I’ll stay at the manor in order to protect Ms. Emilia, you three-”

“What was that sound? Is everything alright?” 

I awkwardly coughed at Emilia’s concerned voice, I did make a pretty loud sound- wait. This wasn’t the time for this. However Subaru turned towards her with a casual smile, and a hand on the side of her maid dress.

“We’re about to find out, but don't worry about that. We’ve got it covered.” I gave her a once over, as she brushed off the elven mage who was probably more competent that she was. So at that I decided to speak, leaving her uniformed wasn’t the greatest idea.

“We’re going to track down a curse user, if I remember correctly Puck has a time limit so it's probably best that you stay here . . . though I can’t say for certain that I know the extent of your abilities.” I was sure Emilia could hold her own, but without Puck it could be dangerous. At least I trusted that I had a pretty good reaction time.

“So you are doing something dangerous again? Knowing you though I doubt I could talk you out of it.” She flicked her gaze over to me and gave me a small smile. “Make sure to look after her, alright?” Subaru looked a little surprised before giving me a smile and putting a hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t worry, you can count on this guy.” I blushed lightly at the action, and smiled in response. However I turned to Rem with the same expression.

“And I’m certain I can count on the two of you as well.” Subaru seemed to puff up her chest a bit at that, but Rem seemed to take it as false bravado. 

“Well then I won’t try and stop you, its probably pointless to tell you to try and look after yourself properly then too.”

Subaru formed a bead of sweat on her head at that and gave an awkward chuckle in response.

“It’s not like I’m trying to avoid looking after myself or anything . . .” Emilia held her hand up to Subaru’s chest and Subaru blushed vibrantly at the action. Was Emilia groping her? My lip twitched and I prepared to softly pull Emilia’s hand away, but it looked like Subaru was enjoying the contact a little bit too much.

So I let it be.

“Go with grace, may the blessings of the Spirits be with you.” Ah, a blessing. That makes a lot more sense. Emilia is way too pure to go around molesting those around her. Though even Subaru seemed slightly surprised at the action as Emilia pulled her hand away.

Emilia turned to me during Subaru’s stupor and repeated the same prayer while holding a hand against my heart. Causing Subaru to get slightly jealous! 

“What’s that mean, and you don’t need to do him too, you know!”

“It’s a good luck prayer, it means come back safe, so you better.”

“Thanks Emilia, we’ll do our best.” Subaru was determined, but my next words were a bit more light hearted.

“Thank you Emilia, I’m certain none of us are intent on dying, so we’ll make sure to make it back.” I gave her a thumbs up as Subaru pointed at the door.

“Then we’re off!”

We made our way outside, and immediately started sprinting. Though I knew we could be faster. I picked up Subaru in my arms, and booked it. Rem easily made her way next to us while Subaru blushed in my arms. Though instead of pushing me away she held me tight and screamed in panic.

“H-How are you two going so fast!” I didn’t think about her words too much and instead spoke to Rem.

“I’ll be counting on you for directions, as I’ve never been to the Village myself.” She gave a hum of approval and she moved a bit ahead of me allowing us to easily make our way to the village as Subaru clutched on tight. The wind batted against us, and our clothes thrashed in the wind, but my companion held on tight.

After a few minutes of full sprinting we made our way down to the village and a series of lit torches were held ominously as we approached. My heart tensed against Subaru as we slowed down to a woman holding a torch in hand, and I set down Subaru beside me who was approached by Rem during Subaru’s dismount.

“What has happened?” Rem's voice was quick, her eye flicking over to Subaru for a moment before turning away, in the past I was certain her gaze would hang for much longer, but I’m assuming Subaru’s correct call here inspired some trust.

“Several of the village children have gone missing, many of us are searching for them.” Subaru’s eyes widened at the words as she nearly keeled over causing me to steady her with a hand, and my eyes to flick down to the knives tucked securely in my belt.

“No- It couldn’t-” with those disjointed words Subaru sprinted off and I began to follow after her alongside the three others in our group. We approached odd shining green crystals embedded in trees, yet oddly one of them wasn’t glowing at all.

“The barrier has been broken.” 

“What does the barrier do?”

“It keeps Mabeasts away from the village.” Rem’s voice was tense, and my fist clenched in annoyance. This was going to be difficult.

“Mabeasts?” Subaru spoke up, but I already knew of such creatures.

Adelheid spoke about those in passing before, magical creatures designed by an ancient witch to kill people. With the three most dangerous ones being something I should avoid at all costs.

“Unholy creatures of the Witch’s creation. They have powerful magic and live in this forest . . . only the barrier kept them away.”

I drew my knives and my eyes flicked down to the tracks of children moving, completely absent of beast marks. They either came here of their own volition or were mind controlled. A terrifying concept.

“What!? This close to the village there could be even more of those damn dogs?”

“These tracks- I don’t see any from a Mabeast. They either were lured inside or were controlled.”

Rem’s eyes widened in response, and then she frowned.

“Such a powerful Mabeast wouldn’t need to use such tactics if it possessed that sort of ability. A lure is more likely but with the lack of animal tracks-” She cut herself off as she came to a dangerous conclusion. “. . . or a child led them deeper within. It could be a shapeshifter, though that type of Mabeast is extremely rare, it could instead be a Spirit that possessed one of the Children. Or maybe all of this is just a trap to divert our attention away from the Mansion.” 

I gulped lightly at her words. Shit, this could be really bad. Hopefully my Spirit affinity could do something in that case, but I couldn’t count on it. 

“All of the footprints are that of a child, I don’t think its a trick to turn us away, but whatever it is . . . it's bad.”

Subaru too looked extremely perturbed at her words before giving me a shaky smile.

“The code is Appa Juice, now let’s go.” She paused and turned to the woman who had been going with us,”Make sure everyone is accounted for, and be careful of anyone who is acting suspicious.” 

“All right, and thank you.” She ran off after that, and the three of us were left alone staring into the forest with bated breath. Then she stepped forward. It was Subaru of course, ready to rush into danger with a gulp and tense shoulders.

“What are you doing?” Rem spoke up with a serious expression and Subaru barely gave pause as she answered.

“I have to get out there and rescue those kids.” I nearly shook my head, but I caught myself as Rem spoke up.

“You aren’t a fighter, leave this to James and I. It’s better if we go in while you stay behind instead of putting yourself at risk like this.” I agreed, but I knew she was better being watched with us then being here when a dangerous monster was on the loose.

“I’m not doing that, I’m not going to just sit on the sidelines while you two fight. I can use magic, and even if all I can do is be a shield, then that’s what I’ll do.

“She makes a good point Subaru, this is going to be very dangerous. Are you sure you don’t want to leave this us while you keep the village safe back here?” 

“After saying something like that can I really just sit back and watch? I’m going with you two and that's final.” She was pointing straight at us and I gave Rem a light look before she spoke up with intrigue.

“Why are you even willing to go so far for this village? What about it is so important that your willing to fight despite not being a fighter?”

“Everyone whose missing, everyone who lives in this village. I understand them, and their dreams. Petra, who wants to move to the capital and make clothes. Lucas, who wants to be the best woodcutter in the whole village like his dad. Milda, who wants to make a flower crown for his loving mother. Maina is excited for her new baby sister, and the brothers Dine and Cain are always fighting over which one of them will be lucky enough to marry Petra.” She let out a few breaths to catch herself, and then she continued.

“All of those kids matter to me. I know them, and I promised them we’d do radio calisthenics tomorrow. I keep my promises, and I make sure others keep theirs. No matter what happens, I’m going to make sure those kids get to do those exercises with me tomorrow. I’m going in their, no matter what.”

That’s insane. She’s insane . . . but I can’t help but admire that determination, even in the face of death. It was something I wasn't certain if I could handle, the responsibility, the pressure, the pain. It was a lot, yet she was still here. My heart even fluttered a bit at her overwhelming desire to save the people close to her.

“Subaru . . . I admire you.” She blushed furiously and I let out a small cough as I realized what I said.

“Er, you know what I meant. You're a good person.” Her blush settled a bit and she smiled.

“Thank you . . . It means a lot to hear that.” 

Rem was smiling as she stared at our little interaction.

“Very well then, I’ll be keeping an eye on you two.”

I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast acquired a new vow. 

It shall become the Wings of Hope that break the chains of thy Fate. 

With the Birth of the Hanged Man Arcana, You have obtained the winds of blessings that shall lead to freedom and new power. . .

Rank 1: Doubtful Maid of the Manor: When assisting another individual, Social Stats are increased.

Looks like she really did come around in the end. I couldn’t help but smile at her words. Though the Hanged Man . . . self sacrifice and the fear of taking action to change your fate. That’s something I’ll have to worry about in the future. For now, we have a bunch of children to save.

“Thanks Rem, though I’ll be needing you to make sure I stay out of trouble and him to watch my back.”

“Right.” She pulled a chain out of nowhere, and attached to it was a massive spiked ball. A flail. That’s an awesome weapon, but I have no idea where she got that.

“Nice Flail.” I looked slightly downwards towards her with a smirk.

“Thank you.” She returned the smile in kind.

We started moving through the brush, and Rem started sniffing the air like a bloodhound while I watched the area around us for any sneak attacks. 

Though for some reason I felt . . . warm? It wasn’t a bad thing though. Almost like the Sun was shining through me, and strength was permeating my body. I clenched my hand on my daggers as what I presumed to be the adrenaline finally hitting.

And god damn did it hit. Because I felt ready to kill some monsters.

“We’re close, I can smell something alive.” Rem is a bloodhound. Though I guess I already knew she had a good sense of smell.

“The kids?” 

“I’m not sure, but it doesn’t smell like wild animals.” They started sprinting ahead and I spotted a clearing that they went right into. 

“This reeks of a trap.” I muttered the words, but the sentiment was felt as Subaru took a combat stance and Rem did the same with her massive weapon. I reviewed what I was capable of in my head, and I wasn’t working with too much. 

I knew I had some debuffs thanks to my whole Persona thing going on, as well as being a well off swordsman, but that was about it outside of my resistance to a bunch of random effects like curses. Hopefully we wouldn’t need to deal with any curses at all, but in the case that we did I could take a blow.

The children were up ahead lying down upon a hill and Subaru shouted out in a mix of hope and panic.

“The kids!” She held her hand up to the mouth of a little girl with orange hair and she breathed out a sigh of relief. “They're alive.”

I kept searching around the area, but I couldn’t spot a single thing. Why were these kids just left here?

“If left alone they might not make it.” Rem’s words were like ice through Subaru and I, yet she turned back to them with a frown.

“I can’t undo this curse with my level of skill, but I’ll cast a healing spell to comfort them. When it's safe we can take them back.” Subaru clenched her fist and turned to me after Rem’s words.

“Damn it, isn’t there anything I can do?” I put a hand on her shoulder causing her to pause and give me a light look.

“Don’t beat yourself up just yet. No one has died-” My words however were cut off by the little girl beneath us trying to speak out with a soft voice filled with weakness, yet a fragment of hope.

“S-Subaru?” The shaky voice sputtered out of the little girl, and it rapidly became quieter as she made her way through the word.

“You’re awake Petra?” 

So this was Petra then. Subaru smiled as she leaned downwards, and gently held Petra’s hand with her own as though to soothe her.

“Good,you’re awake. We’re going to take you back soon alright.”

She let out a weak cough. Then she muttered three words.

“One still is . . .” Then she went unconscious again. 

“Shit.” Subaru gave me a surprised look before her eyes widened. 

“The girl with the braid is missing, we need to find her!” She grabbed my arm and prepared to sprint off when Rem told her to wait.

“Wait, there’s no point in going out there. If the Mabeasts took her then it's already . . .” She was right, but I doubted that would stop Subaru.

“Petra says another girl was taken away, I get what you’re saying, but she asked for my help. She put her friend before herself! I’m not going to let her hard work amount to nothing. I have James to watch my back, we can do this.”

Rem seemed a bit bothered by this but gave a slow nod.

“Alright . . . just don’t die. I’ll be there once I bring the kids back.”

“Yeah, because you can smell it right?” Rem froze, I froze, it felt like the whole world froze. Then Rem gave a slow nod.

“Yes . . . your curse. James told me about it.” My jaw slightly dropped, and Subaru turned to me incredulously. Many emotions passed through her eyes, until she inevitably settled on sheer confusion.

“Y-you knew? You knew I smelled like that witch and still did all that crap for me?” 

“W-well yeah. You didn’t seem like a bad person, and you needed help. It would be wrong of me to just leave you all alone with such a fate.” She stopped talking and twiddled her thumbs a bit before seeming to come to a realization and blushing.

Rank 9: My Wonderful Andromeda - When assisting the bearer of the Death Arcana, all Parameters are increased.

“O-oh. I see.” She licked her lips just a moment, before she cleared her throat with an awkward laugh and grabbed my wrist with a blush. Then she started to drag me along with her into the forest. A determined expression on her face, she was completely committed to saving those kids despite the fact that she knew she could die.

I couldn’t help but follow along. 

This was the person I’d chosen to help. This was the person I’d chosen to follow.

I’d made the right choice.

AN: We are back with another one, and the Death Arcana only grows as we get ever so close to completing this arc. His Persona also draws close to awakening, and the power that comes with it is quite strong. Thus is the power of a Demi-God Persona.

I enjoy reading your comments and questions, so feel free to leave some down below!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed it!