A few months passed. You could say things improved.
After the disaster that was the fight against Clind, we had to debunk our old version of what happened at the Sanctuary, and with that talk about who Roswaal really was.
Despite her young age, Annerose handled the truth with maturity, resisting the emotional impact that this revelation entailed.
She thanked us for sabotaging Roswaal's plans. Even so, his death could very well have meant the end of Annerose, since she was the next vessel. The reason she still possessed her own body was a mystery.
Another new development was Clind joining the faction. Having been forgiven by Emilia and Annerose, he felt indebted to them, or something like that. He also joined because he was bound by the contract he had made to protect the lands belonging to the Marquis and his family; therefore, he had no choice but to stay. He even swore an oath to that effect, pledging to serve our cause.
It took me a little while to assimilate him as an ally, but Subaru had befriended many people who killed him and/or his allies in other timelines. It was not such a rare thing in this world.
Meanwhile, Betty and Echidna started spending a lot of time together, though Echidna still kept her identity a secret. It was great not having to look after Betty, as it gave me the free time I needed to get stronger. When I lost my curses, my body returned to normal, and I started training hard to regain the physical condition I'd had with Shooting Star, but a few months wouldn't be enough.
So I asked Garfiel for help, and he was happy to participate in my routine as a sparring partner. That way, my rate of progress increased.
Meanwhile, I began planning a trip to the Royal Capital, which I would undertake in the coming days. I wanted to see Felix to ask him about the Sacrament of the Immortal King, the magic that revives the dead.
It was possible that he didn't want to give me the information, so I was prepared to offer something in return... or force him to open his mouth, in the worst case scenario.
I almost forgot: there's another important thing I haven't mentioned yet.
"Hi, Ram."
"... It's about time, Leandoor."
Yes, she came back. One day she simply started moving and talking again, although she still needed to be told what to do; otherwise, she would just stand there, staring into space.
Since my fight with Clind, I had dedicated myself to taking care of her, because Rem would come back and I wouldn't know how to face her if I let anything happen to her sister.
Besides, Garfiel needed a mental break: he'd become too frustrated with everything that happened at the Sanctuary. That's partly why I added him to my training.
Then, with Betty's help, I learned to perform the mana transfusion in record time and from then on I took care of Ram, giving her the mana she needed and talking to her to stimulate her mind.
I spent hours whispering words of encouragement, stroking her head, and squeezing her hand. I knew she was listening, even if only subconsciously.
"I'm sorry," I said, sitting down next to her on the bed. "I'll come earlier next time."
"... It doesn't matter."
She didn't insult me or complain. She seemed indifferent to everything, which wasn't good, but it was still better than having her in a vegetative state.
As usual, she lay back, resting her head on my legs as I began the treatment. The process lasted a few minutes, which led to awkward silences and uncomfortable eye contact, as Ram stared at me, barely blinking.
Her eyes were expressionless, instead of sharp. I was curious to know what she was thinking, but I didn't want to ask her now, as that would make me lose my concentration and make mistakes during the transfusion: it would be like hyperventilating while blowing up a balloon... or something like that.
I finished with that and looked at Ram, waiting for her to get up, but she didn't.
"Hey, my legs are going to fall asleep if you stay there."
"..."
Ram said nothing and didn't move. I gradually became nervous being treated this way.
Why was she acting like that? Could it be...?
"What on earth are you thinking about?" I finally asked.
"... Rem" she replied after a few seconds.
"Rem, of course. What else could it be?"
I wanted to slap myself. I'd had a slight suspicion, but at that moment I felt stupid for having misinterpreted Ram.
Anyway, it was better this way. I didn't want any more emotional responsibility.
"Just before she died, she asked me not to let you blame yourself."
"Oh."
Yes, that sounded like something Rem would do. To think she would say such a thing in her final moments...
Ah, it looks like it's beginning to rain.
Damn it.
"Leandoor..."
"I'm fine," I said, wiping my face and forcing myself to be serious.
With Rem mentioned, I remembered I needed to talk to Ram about the trip. I'd take her with me just in case: my plan was to go, get the information from Felix, and come back, but knowing my luck, something might happen that would keep me away from the mansion for a while...
"We're going to the Royal Capital." I announced. "Elsa and Meili are coming with us."
I hadn't originally planned to bring them, but those two insisted so much that I finally gave in. Their argument was that I had promised to protect them from Capella, and by leaving them here alone I would be breaking my word. In fact, they were right: I could take much better care of them if I kept them close.
That's why I had no choice but to let them get together.
As for the journey itself, I wouldn't use a carriage but would travel quickly with the Yin sword. I didn't want to be gone for too long, and it seemed too cruel to separate Otto from Frederica when they were so close to making a breakthrough.
Last time I interrupted them unintentionally, and Otto deserved it, but above all, I'm an empathetic man. I know perfectly well how sad it is to feel alone and how wonderful it is to have someone special by your side.
In my case, it only lasted a while, but I was happy while it did. There wasn't a single night that I didn't remember that feeling.
"Let's learn to be better... together."
Rem saved me that time, but I let her die.
It was no longer a question of guilt or moral obligation.
I needed her; I longed for her with love, with fear, with fury. I had to get her back before I lost myself, before I became an empty puppet, before I fulfilled expectations.
Only in this way could I escape this cycle.
***
The streets of the Royal Capital were busier than I remembered. Perhaps today was a holiday? The atmosphere wasn't exactly cheerful.
In any case, I was struck by the amount of movement and murmuring.
I was currently heading to the Karsten mansion, accompanied by a girl with braided blue hair, a maid with long pink hair, and a mysterious figure covered by a magical robe that concealed its identity.
Of course, it was Elsa. I went to the trouble of asking Echidna to knit her a garment like the one Emilia had, but with a distinctive touch.
Ram was walking behind us, Elsa was to my left and Meili to my right, holding my hand.
It should be said that she was not happy about that.
"I can walk alone!"
"Not without attracting attention. I want to get there without any problems."
"You're mean! I'm getting bored!"
"When my meeting is over, I'll let you run around the city as much as you want."
Meili puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, but didn't insist, knowing that I wouldn't give in.
"And when are we going to visit that blacksmith?" Elsa interjected. I promised her three new pairs of daggers made by Nadir. Anyway, I had no idea how I was going to convince him to forge something so mundane, knowing his personality.
"Later," I replied, looking at the knights trotting past.
My intuition told me that something big was happening, but I didn't remember anything important happening in the Royal Capital between arcs 4 and 5: the anime hadn't shown anything about it.
Perhaps it was another event caused by the changes I made... Damn butterfly effect.
"Let's hurry."
I could have appeared directly at the entrance or inside Crusch's residence, but that would have been too ostentatious, so I chose a more distant but discreet location for the portal.
After a few minutes of walking, I arrived at the mansion and greeted the guards at the entrance.
"Good day, gentlemen. Could you inform the Duchess that Leandro Lagostena is here to see her?"
"The duchess is not present at the moment," one of them informed me, in a cordial tone.
"Shit," I said reflexively. "I assume Felix isn't home either."
"Well, about that—"
When the first guard began to respond, his partner reacted and quickly silenced him with an elbow that made him wince.
"Ugh! You son of a—!"
"I'm afraid we're not authorized to discuss that. However, you should be able to find Lady Crusch in the knights' garrison. An important meeting is currently taking place."
I bowed my head, unfazed by the amusing interaction between the guards.
"Thank you. I was right: something is happening."
I turned around and headed to the designated spot. This unexpected setback led to more complaints from Meili, but I silenced her by buying her a caramel apple on the way. To my surprise, Elsa wanted one too, so I ended up buying one for her (because I'm fair), one for Ram (because I'm generous), and one for myself (because I wasn't about to be the only one left without).
The garrison was a building adjacent to the royal palace, like the arena where I had my duel with Julius. Returning to this area brought back memories of when I didn't yet know how tangled my fate was: when everything seemed like a dream, not a nightmare.
It was just before I made the damned mistake of creating a firearm, before I understood that this wasn't my first time here. Now I knew my freedom was limited to fulfilling a mission that hadn't yet been explained to me.
There were a few knights at the entrance to the compound. They were moving and talking nervously; they were clearly worried.
When they saw me, everyone started murmuring in surprise.
"It's him."
"What is he doing here?"
"I thought he would be more imposing."
"Shh! He might hear you."
Actually, yes... I was listening to them and I didn't like hearing their criticisms about my appearance.
Then one of them approached, looking at me with interest.
"Sir Leandro, right?"
I nodded listlessly.
"It seems I've become a little famous."
"Your exploits have certainly transcended borders. What brings you here?" He got straight to the point. I liked that.
"I'm looking for Crusch Karsten. I was told I might find her here."
The knight became more serious.
"That's right. Did you come to help?"
"Help?" I frowned. "With what exactly?"
"So you don't know. Well, that makes sense, since it all happened just yesterday."
My curiosity had reached a fever pitch. I was about to question the knight about this problem that had everyone preoccupied, but he gestured for me to follow him.
"The assembly is about to begin. Please come with me."
I was led to the office of Marcus, the captain of the knights. The door was closed, but the sound of a heated argument reached my ears clearly.
"This is a disgrace! It's the height of incompetence! How could your men allow something like this, Marcus?!"
I recognized Bordeaux's voice, one of the members of the Council of Wise Men. He was the old man with the bushy eyebrows who insulted Emilia at the royal selection conference.
"Do you have any idea what will happen if other nations find out?! We'll be the laughingstock of the world!"
There was no reply, presumably because the old man's words were true. Otherwise, I doubted a man like Marcus would remain silent in the face of a reprimand.
"Reinhard has already been sent to deal with the fugitives, but if it's a matter of rescuing hostages..."
Julius spoke next, and he sounded frustrated. I could just picture him clenching his fists.
"I will deploy the troops," Marcus announced. "I will send at least ten rescue squads to support Reinhard."
"How will they know where to look?" Bordeaux questioned. "Perhaps those wretches aren't even in the kingdom anymore."
Who was the old man referring to? I couldn't wait to find out what was happening.
"It's impossible that they left Lugunica. We haven't received any reports from the border posts."
There was a brief silence which I used to enter the room, leaving the girls and the knight waiting for me outside.
In addition to the three characters I mentioned previously, there were also Wilhelm and Crusch.
Felix's absence struck me as very odd. He should be with his lady, especially in a critical situation like this. In fact, it would make more sense for Felix to be here instead of Crush, given his position in the royal guard.
All eyes instantly turned in my direction when I opened the door.
"Leandro!" Crusch and Julius reacted first, looking surprised but happy to see me.
"Sir Leandro!" Wilhelm murmured my name, studying my figure carefully.
"You?!" Bordeaux looked at me as if I were an intruder.
Marcus was the only one who maintained his composure in the face of my unexpected appearance.
"What have you come for?" he asked calmly.
"I'm looking for Felix," I said directly. "Where is he?"
"Didn't you hear?"
"About what?"
Suddenly, all eyes fell on Crusch.
She had a gloomy expression, as if something was tormenting her.
"Felix... is missing," she said, looking at the ground.
"What? How did that happen?"
The news alarmed me. Another damn setback.
"There was a riot in the Prison Tower last night," Marcus explained. "All the prisoners inexplicably escaped. So far, we haven't been able to catch a single one."
"Shit."
That was bad. In fact, it was quite bad, since only a very skilled person would be capable of pulling off something like that, which implied the possible involvement of a troublesome villain, not to mention that there were now many dangerous people at large.
However, that wasn't my biggest concern.
"And Felix?"
"According to witnesses, he was last seen at the mansion. No one saw him leave, but he was nowhere to be found when they searched for him."
"Ah..."
"We believe that his disappearance is strongly related to what happened, but we have not been able to determine exactly what the cause was."
"I see..."
I sighed in resignation. I would have to find Felix.
Crusch and Julius had approached me, both with hopeful faces.
"Leandro, what are you going to do?" Crusch broke the silence, hesitating to express her doubt, which sounded more like a request than a conjecture.
"I will help," I said, tilting my head slightly and answering firmly.
Both their faces lit up. Julius almost smiled.
"Knowing we can count on you is a relief."
"Thank you," Crusch said, squeezing my hand. "With you here, we should be able to catch the fugitives and find Felix without any problems."
There was the hero effect, doing its thing.
"Guys, you're overestimating me..."
***
"As for the squadrons, their assigned routes are..."
"Excuse me, captain."
Just as Marcus was beginning to explain the route the knights would take to search for Felix and the fugitives, I decided to interrupt him. Given the situation, everyone looked at me quite intensely.
"What's going on?" Bordeaux raised his eyebrows (an epic feat of strength). "You'd better have something useful to say."
"I suppose the plan is to divide into squads and move quickly to cover as much ground as possible."
"That's right." Marcus confirmed.
"That would take too long. There are few places where such a large group of fugitives could hide. We should start ruling out areas."
"What if they scattered?" Marcus countered.
"It's not in their best interest. We'd find them much faster with this plan. They probably stayed together and hid well."
"How can you be so sure?" Bordeaux joined the debate.
"There's a good reason why they would do that, something you were unaware of..."
"Well, don't play coy!" exclaimed the old man. "What's this all about?!"
Although I was neither a knight nor an official, it seemed that my merits had given me credibility, enough to capture the interest of such a relevant political figure as Bordeaux.
I gathered my thoughts before speaking further. I was about to blurt out a disguised truth, and I didn't want to make a slip-up in front of Crusch.
"Somewhere in Lugunica, there is an underground city controlled by a criminal organization. It serves as a kind of refuge and headquarters. The villains have kept it a secret for many years."
"What?! Impossible!"
"He's telling the truth," Crusch confirmed, though she looked just as perplexed as the others.
"How did you know about this? And why didn't you reveal it until now?" Marcus asked the obvious question. His tone was harsh, almost accusatory.
I stared at him, remaining calm in the face of his questioning.
"The information popped into my head recently," I replied, shrugging my shoulders. "It's not like I wanted to hide it."
Again, everyone looked at Crusch, seeking confirmation. She nodded.
"That's very ambiguous," Bordeaux complained.
"I have a special power. Thanks to it, I can know things about the future."
Although RBD was not related to the memories I obtained from my Doppelganger, what I said was true and could be interpreted as a justification.
"And you didn't know about the disaster that was going to happen here?" The elder of the Council of Wise Men challenged me once more.
"I can't know everything, only some things."
"And you say the fugitives are hiding there?" Julius mused. "We could catch them and destroy a major base of operations: killing two birds with one stone."
"Do you know how to get there?" Marcus was laconic and precise in every one of his statements. He was, after all, the captain of the knights.
"Not in the conventional way," I smiled.
"What do you mean?" Julius looked at me curiously.
"The city is inaccessible unless you have a special magic talisman, something only those who live there possess... However, I have this."
I stepped aside and extended my arm, summoning the Yin Sword in front of everyone.
"That is...!" Wilhelm froze mid-sentence.
"One of the ten legendary swords!" Julius exclaimed, astonished.
It was not surprising that experienced swordsmen could sense the aura of my sword and recognize its quality.
Ignoring the subsequent questions about the sword, I closed my eyes and focused on the image my mind retained of the underground city.
My other self (the hunter) was there with Elsa. Although I didn't remember exactly what happened back then, the important thing was that I could use that memory to open a portal to the city.
I brandished the sword, creating a rift in the air.
"This will lead us straight to the villains' lair. Autobots, roll out!"
"...?"
"Just ignore me."
At this point, I didn't even care if they didn't understand my references: it had simply become a habit.