Re: Level (never) Zero

A Re:Zero x Solo Leveler crossover fanfiction.

Chapter 4: 100% maximum effort.

I woke up, I felt something soft holding my hand, as I woke up it was Rem, she fell asleep in the chair holding my hand.

Seeing her like this made my heart break, I was so glad she was back, even if the time we spent together was lost to the sands of time… I am glad I can reforge the relationship we had, and this time, I would be better, she deserved better.

She opened her eyes and was exceedingly glad to see me awake, as I was no doubt mauled to high hell by the mabeasts jaws, even if the damage was mostly cosmetically.

She looked at our hands and I pulled in close "I am glad… you are okay" I said.

She was flustered, her face most definitely beet red, I could feel the heat of her blush so I had no need to see it.

"Seems like the curses got lifted… then again I kinda broke them on my own, still better safe than sorry" I said.

The kids of the village send a small paper with their wishes for my speedy recovery, since I did not need a cast like last time. I smiled as I folded the letter and put it on my pocket.

Rem began to apologize, it was heartbreaking seeing her like this.

Putting herself down, comparing herself to her sister.

So I stopped her mid tirade with a finger flick to her forehead.

"IIIIIIIDIOT~ it's obvious you aren't your sister, thank God for small miracles, this mansion would gone to hell if that was the case, you are you, and Ram is… well… her… you may be twins, but you are also individuals, and you cannot be saying this negative things about yourself. You are a beautiful woman, hard working, and have bigger breasts than your sister" I said with a chuckle.

She tried to hide her chest but I just laughed "Sorry about that… but… you helped me, you worried for me, you are a sweet person whose life got messed up by those fanatics, you had your misgivings due to the witches scent on me, I can't fault you on that, but now, I hope I at least managed to earn your trust?"

"I am the substitute for my sister" she said.

"That's a rather bad way of looking at yourself, but… who will your sister be able to replace you with? There is only Rem and there is only Ram, I get that Ram lost her horn, I don't know the details as it seems private so I won't ask, but I only know her from now, I have no way of knowing how she was before, I like to observe people and judge them by how they are in the moment rather than in the past" I said as I wiped the tears of her eyes.

"How about it? Anyways, remember what I said the night when we were escaping the mabeast? In my town there is a saying that onis (demons) laugh when you talk about the future about tomorrow… so let's do that, let's sit one day, and talk about our futures, our hopes and dreams and laugh… you and I" I said as I held her hands.

"So laugh Rem, as your laughter and smile is a treasure"

"I was soo pathetically weak, but…thinking about losing anyone from here… it gave me the courage to find more strength to be able to protect this little happiness I found with you all"

Rem cried tears of joy as she hugged me, I gently patted her hair affectionately.

It was then that I remembered something important.

We caught the mabeast tamer.

"Rem… is the mabeast tamer…?" I asked.

"Yes, I secured her in an undisclosed location, I asked lady Beatrice for her cooperation, some of the snacks you gave me went to her as payment" she said while whipping her tears.

"Don't worry, I can get more later, but this does make things easy, I will interrogate her, please tend to the mansion as usual." I said as she smiled and left.

She must be feeling like summer finally arrived.

"Secret Quest: Assassination Plot, cleared, please select your reward] said the pop up window.

This time, I decided to get the boxes, apparently the blessed/cursed boxes had items that you WANT (blessed) and NEED (cursed).

I needed a way to help Ram, and also help Rem's low self esteem, I needed to snag Ram away from Roswaal, and the best way would be to fix her horn, as to cut her dependency of him... from what I know it's impossible. However the system that gave me these abilities doesn't care much for that and will help it come true

I got a key, this one for a door by the abba seller.

The key was of the S rank… that meant the monsters there would no doubt kill me.

But I still needed to go.

Anyways… I also got rewards from the boss monster, I got a skill rune "Bloodlust" which was rather amazing. Also I noted that the more I increase my intelligence stat, it affects my gate as well, meaning that I could, given enough time, surpass Puck.

Would that not be awesome?

Also apparently I unlocked a new title.

[Beast slayer: +40% increase damage against beats type enemies]

[Sage candidate: +20% increased mana recovery and ability to wield more elements]

Basically I now recovered 900 units of mana per second, meaning I could cast Shamak indefinitely if I so wished to. Of course that would be stupid, I needed to relearn some of my old magics and find new ones.

I dressed up with my new tracksuit and went to look for our little prisoner.

Forbidden library/Beatrice's room

Opening the correct door in the first try again and greeted Beako.

"Yo, Beako, thanks for accommodating my sudden request, I thank you very much for your help" I said with a smile.

"I didn't do it for you, I did it for Rem who bought my help with the snacks-kashira" she said

"Oh… I see… and here I thought to give you some new snacks you never seen" I said as I pulled a box of pocky that I bought beforehand.

She blinked as she saw the red and pink boxes for the chocolate and strawberry pocky respectively.

I opened both and took one and showed it to her.

"Want one?" I asked.

She took one and tasted it… seeing her looking at me and the boxes in gave them both.

The little girl tied up was looking at our interplay "Ano… am I… to be interrogated or what?" She asked.

"I don't know, will you talk?" I asked.

She pouted, "Mister, you suck at interrogations"

"No, because I am not gonna interrogate you about your employer, rather I am gonna ask about your previous partner… Elsa"

Her look changed, "what about her?I heard she had a mission so she will be coming for-"

"She won't, well unless she can revive herself, since I pierced her heart with an icepick" I said in a cold analytical way.

"Lies…. That's a lie… YOU LIE!" She yelled.

"Do I look like a liar?" I asked.

I have to say, Subaru Natsuki is a lying liar who lies, but in this context I am not.

"She died with a smile, content even, it seems she had been waiting for someone to finally stop her" I said.

She started crying, as she knew that it was so, Elsa became a curse puppet.

"I don't wish to interrogate you, I just wish to talk to you, I understand why you done this, but let's talk" I said to her.

And so we started to talk.

We shared snacks, and gave her some carbonated drinks.

She was more than delighted at the snacks, never had any like these before, my charisma won over her fear of her boss.

"Seems like my title of lolimancer is bearing fruits uh?" I thought with dismay.

"Oh? Your boss is called Mama, uh? I see, any idea who hired you for this mission? No? Yes I see, so besides all that I at least got some good information" I lied.

"Did you now? How so-kashira?" Beako asked.

"The person who hired her MUST have known about the area first, how did they know about the barrier crystals?" I said.

"Th… that is true-kashira, you are actually really smart uh?" Beako said.

"Wow, that level of trust is all I get?" I asked with a wince.

"Regardless, what should we do about her? She tried to kill the villagers-kashira" Beako asked.

"Let me ask you this, what will happen now that you failed?" I asked her knowing the answer, as it's also a rather obvious trope.

"I will be hunted down and killed" she said with a sigh.

"Tell you what, how about this, work with us, I will arrange protection for you, as well as meals as well as a place to sleep, in exchange you will now work with us, is that ok?" I said with a toothy smirk.

She sighed, as she saw no other way to survive, also from the drop from the mabeasts I obtained...

[Ring of silence, Rank: B, Skill: Allows the user to seal negative miasma]

[Necklace of Wolgarm Fangs, Rank: C, Skill: Increases Agility and Dexterity during combat by 20% Sense increased +25 when equipped]

The Ring of silence was an ideal method to help control the miasma she unconsciously releases, which attracted the mabeasts, so now we have another problem, that would be… the fact that she is gonna be killed by her old group.

Knowing that she has a tracking spell makes things easy. However does it? Knowing my luck it's never easy and mother probably used her authority or something, got to say, those are bullshit, and I should know cause they used and abused them so much while when I used any it was a real pain in the ass, metaphorically and literally.

First, check with Beako if there is anything like a spell or an authority and see if she can break it or knows a way, that is plan A, plan B is do the same but this time with Puck, plan C is wait till morning and do my daily quest and get a blessed box, plan D would mean…

"Beako, can you detect any spell or curses on her? If so can you break them?" I asked.

She looked at the girl who was eating chocolate pocky.

"It seems like it does, however the matrix of the spell is so interwoven, it would take a rather long time to unravel, for if I do it quickly I could trigger a bobbytrap within the spell and accidentally kill her-kashira"

The skills I had, magical wise, were sorely lacking, I had a lot of combat skills, but none in the magic department, Shamak doesn't count as it's more like a utilitarian skill.

Beako and Puck's mana drain ability would come as a boon if I could copy it.

Just then an image of an adventurer boy and a loud blue haired girl who called herself a goddess entered my mind.

I shook my head… "no… that's not cannon that did not happen and I didn't almost get eaten by a giant djarian hamster"

Coming back to reality I gave the ring to Meili, the mabeast tamer who marveled at the fact her miasma got "muted", she was now able to live without fear of accidentally endangering people.

Let's see what Puck has to say about this.

Couple minutes later

I found Emilia conversing with lester spirits, after finishing, as I killed my presence and waited for her to finish her part of the deal she made with Puck, I 'appeared'.

"SU-SUBARU!?"she shouted in fright.

"Yo, morning Emilia-tan, I am all AOK, I am sorry for having you worry over me," I said with a bow "I thank you very much for taking good care of me" I said with complete honesty.

She blinked, unable to understand the emotion washing over her.

It was then when Puck materialized.

"AHHHH I can't take this ambient 'Neko-punch'" he said as he gave me a right hook.

"OI! What's with that Puck?" I said as I gave him a noogie.

"Mab, don't take it the wrong way, it's due to how awkward Lia was feeling that it made me do it" he explained.

"Hey Puck, do you think you can help me with this problem I am having?" I asked.

And so Puck and I began to chat, with Emilia-tan listening in.

"The ring is a nice touch, to think there was a metia with such ability" he said as he nodded sagely.

"Is there any media or magic device, or spell that could help us with her… problem?" I asked hopefully.

"Uhmm well, no… not that u can think of the top of my head, I am sorry I wasn't useful, just when you need it, I'm feeling bad, since you saved my darling daughter" he said feeling down.

"Hahaha, don't sweat it my little friend, I will be able to find a solution soon" I said "hopefully soon"

After doing some exercises with Emilia-tan, who was worried that I would open my wounds and such, I took a bath and helped around the mansion a bit, Rem was adamant that I take it easy.

Roswaal was plotting something I could tell, for I knew he had hired Elsa and Meili not to truly kill her, but to act as foils, once she overcame said obstacles due to my intervention her reputation would soar.

Underhanded? Yes, Duplicitous? Absolutely!

Necessary? Unfortunately, yes.

Emilia-tan is a half-elf, to make things worse, she was a dead ringer for the witch of Envy's look, so all these things would help differentiate her from the witch that they see her as.

So, that meant I had to play ball… for now.

Besides he could kill me rather easily, my level was not even NEAR being able to take him on.

My current level was at 35…

It all meant that I had to go to the capital.

Thinking of, I am quite sure a flag was set, knowing Emilia probably got a hold of him…

And so I secretly snuck into the pantry and got the best leaves for a great tea, as my intelligence stat got big it also showed me how to do things in a better way, obviously it only did so when my emotions where calm as I still am rather impulsive when taking action or when I feel that either myself or the people I care are slighted, even if it ends up being detrimental to me, be it physically, psychologically or emotionally.

It was then when I heard a carriage arrive.

A dandy old (gentle)man was waiting outside, this old man, no way I could ever forget him.

"Good day, may I inquire what brings you to Roswaal-sun's mansions?" I said with a slight bow.

"Isn't it boring waiting out in front all this time? Maybe take a breather?"

The old man on the box seat widened his eyes in surprise as I came with some tea. The dragon carriage was still parked by the front gate of the mansion.

"Forgive my rudeness. This is somewhat unexpected, and so, please watch out below again." With that, the aged gentleman leaped down from the box seat. Just as before, his landing was nearly silent. He continued, "I shall do as you suggest. Certainly, my throat has become slightly parched."

"Well, then, here you go. I didn't know what you liked, so I just brought the most expensive tea I could find."

With what could only be called expertly movements I poured the piping hot water over the starliner that held the tea leaves, it was exactly at 70° so the temperature was optimal and would not ruin the flavor of the leaves.

The aged gentleman had a mild smile on his face as he accepted the tray. The expression deepened the age-appropriate wrinkles around his mouth, I noticed, studying him intently now that he was close, when…"Whoa, what the…?"

Suddenly, a light impact from the side took him by surprise. He quickly found the culprit—the land dragon was poking its snout into my shoulder. The jet-black creature regarded Subaru with sharp, reptilian eyes.

Its gaze felt strange, but not uncomfortable. Perhaps he simply didn't feel any hostility in those gentle eyes.

The gentleman quickly addressed me. "M-my apologies. This land dragon is the finest one in our house, but…"

"Ah, no, don't worry about it. Actually I feel lucky to get so up close and personal." I said as I gently caressed the dragon. I knew her, how would I ever forget her.

Petrasche...

"I am relieved to hear that. I must say, it is rare for it to react in this manner." After apologizing for the animal's discourtesy, the aged gentleman turned his blue eyes on mine as well. My body tensed, as if I were suddenly at knifepoint.

The gentleman continued. "—If I may ask, are those battle scars?"

I sighed, while I did heal all my wounds it would be NUTS, if I did not get any scars, what, did I have Avalon on me or something? It would create too many questions, uncomfortable ones at that… so I decided to leave cosmetic damage on, I could take care of it at a later date.

"These? Well, a bunch of things happened, but I wouldn't go as far as calling them battle scars…" I said.

"They are from the claws and fangs of beasts. That is why you are favoring your left side, yes?" he asked

"…"

I was surprised the old man could tell exactly what had left the white traces exposed by the rolled-up sleeves of his track jacket. It was true that I had been favoring my left side ever since I had been 'injured'.

"—I am deeply sorry for my repeated offenses. It may not be a question you wish to answer." Apologizing in response to my silence, the aged gentleman took a cup of black tea and brought it to his lips. He commented, "A fine taste. It has a considerable kick to it, I think."

"…Well, I didn't exaggerate. It seriously is the most expensive tea in the mansion. I'll have a pink-haired maid on my case if I get caught for this…" I said with a nervous chuckle.

That was no hyperbole, either. Ram would have quite the lecture waiting for him if she found out he used the "Do Not Touch" top-class tea without permission.

"But it is also the way it is served, it has to have a combination of perfect water temperature, straining, and mixing in order to bring forth the best of the leaves"

The aged gentleman kept one eye closed as he apprised me with the other.

"Now then, what do you want from this old fossil after buttering me up with such wonderful tea?"

Faced with the man's calm demeanor and shrewd discernment of my ulterior motive, I could only tense up. As a youth, I knew he was sorely outmatched in this war of words, so I promptly raised the white flag."Ya got me. My name is Subaru Natsuki. At the moment, I'm an apprentice servant here at Roswaal Manor. I'd at least like to ask what your name is."

Acknowledging his status as a novice, he hoped to get his senior to offer a shred of mercy.

Seeing me meekly bow my head, the aged gentleman relaxed his expression.

"My, that is polite of you. I am called Wilhelm. I currently serve the House of Karsten, and that work has brought me to this place."

"Wilhelm, is it? Thank you very much… I'd be really grateful if you could at least tell me what brings you here… Ah, er, would you like to come inside?"

"I believe that the envoy is speaking about the matter?"

"Well, yeah, but they won't let me in on that. It's no fun to be left out of an event and not advance the story, so I figured I'd approach it my way." I replied with a bit of cheek.

I knew this was not a man to spill secrets about important matters. But gradually growing on people was my specialty. I wasn't just a delinquent without any talent for reading the mood and adding the fact that I also had a high stat in charisma…

For a brief moment, Wilhelm was at a loss for words at my rather ambitious behavior.

"You remain level headed at unforeseen developments, and when your motives are exposed, you do not cower but only grow more defiant—Such a personality will assuredly incur displeasure." he said with a slight amusement in his tone

"…So you're saying I can't even take a hint? Yeah, I've been told that a lot, however I want to be of use for the woman I love, so I wish to know so I can prepare and become better for her" I said.

"As I do not know your position within this manor, I cannot carelessly run my mouth. I hope you understand."Wilhelm's expression sharpened for a brief moment, then softened as he politely brushed off the impudent request. If things continued this way, I would just wind up making Ram angry.

"I will say, you do seem very close to Lady Emilia. It does not look like you are a mere servant."

"Emilia-tan and I don't look like an odd pair to you?" I asked.

"'Tan…'?"

Wilhelm raised an eyebrow at the odd manner of address. Then, he smiled thinly as he realized the nature of Subaru's feelings.

"When you add "tan" to a name, where I am from, is a form of endearment" I replied with a smile.

"You walk a treacherous path indeed. She may become the next queen of Lugunica one day." Wilhelm said.

"Right now, we're just a super-cute girl and a dull servant boy. With the infinite future ahead, you never know what'll happen. When you asked your wife to marry you, Wilhelm, did you think she was the loveliest woman in the whole world?"

"My wife—"

Subaru's radical assertion made Wilhelm slip for a brief moment. He immediately nodded.

"I see. Certainly, it is just as you say. I think of my wife as the most beautiful in the world. I felt like everyone was staring at her, and I needed to woo her while I could. Pathetic, yes?"

"Maybe? But does it matter? You loved her and love is not really rational is it? I'm like, if she has to end up with someone, might as well be me, even if I'm 'unworthy.' It might take a lot of persistence, but that's my win-win ideal." I said with a smirk.

"You certainly act according to some very amusing logic. Fascinating, really. However, in the end I am a mere driver. I do not think I shall be of much service."

"Well… there is no logic in love, is there?" I said.

He looked directly into my eyes.

Just as I wanted.

He was a warrior trough and trough, by looking into my eyes he would be able to see it.

The many deaths, mine, of the people I cared about, my own failures and the sheer strength of will to continue even if all is lost.

"You are an interesting lad" he said with an amused chuckle.

I simply smiled.

And so both me and Wilhem-ji exchanged stories as I was rather interested in hearing more about his late wife.

"However—it would seem we are out of time."

"That's Rem coming out with… Who is that?"

The familiar blue-haired maid was leaving the mansion with someone unfamiliar. Based on Wilhelm's behavior and their previous conversation, I could only expect a single person to be.

Felix Argyle, the androgynous girly boy that could confuse any straight men.

The visitor noticed my gaze and responded with a teasing smile.

"Hey, it's normal to fall in love with a beautiful person at first sight, but don't you know it's rude to stare?" The speaker was a girl with a lovely face, her flaxen hair cut semi-long. She was tall for a girl, almost the same height as Subaru. However, her figure was terribly delicate, and her every action was terribly feminine—everything just screamed girl at you.

Too bad I had no desire to be harrassed by him.

"Oi, you shouldn't tease other men like that, you know? Even if you are girly looking you shouldn't underestimate how a man could react to such blatant provocation" I said.

"Inpawsible, Felix has been discovered so quickly? How did you nyawit?" He asked.

I put my finger on his neck "looking at that" I said.

"Oh? You have been looking at me like that soo attentively-nya?" He said as he nudged at me.

I simply gave him a flat stare.

"Ahh… is no fun if I can't get a reactnyaaion from you, still I see what the lady said about you is true, you are rather unflappable" Felix said.

"You got to be ready for anything, so I gather whatever you guys were speaking about…?" I said.

"Yes we are done with it, now behave ok? Otherwise Felix-chan will have to punish nyo" he said with a wink and a smile.

Both left in the carriage.

Wilhelm and Felix

"—And did you fulfill your duties as envoy?" Wilhelm asked.

"Well, of course. I would never fail to do anything my Lady Crusch requests of me. Oh, Grandpa Wil, you're such a worrywart!" he said with a smile.

Servant and envoy conversed as the land dragon left Roswaal Manor far behind.

Wilhelm sat on the box seat, guiding the land dragon effortlessly. Behind him, the pale-haired girl poked her head out the window of the dragon-drawn carriage.

In one sense, there were few places more suited to a private conversation.

"But I have to say, Grandpa Wil, I didn't expect you to speak to that boy while you waited. You don't like talking to people, do you?" he said.

"That is a most grave misunderstanding." Wilhelm said with a slight frown.

"Oh, is it now? Sowwy.—It's just that you like slicing people more than talking to them, right?" he said with a smirk.

"…That is an even worse misunderstanding."

Felix had only been teasing, but Wilhelm offered no elaboration. The girly boy pressed his lips together in a pout, displeased with the stony reaction to his provocations.

"You're no fun. What, it was more fun listening to that boy than your dear Ferris? He didn't seem that special, but you like him that much, meow? You think he's actually so strong he's hiding his abilities?" he asked.

"He is an amateur—a cub without a mane. Nor does he have any talent worthy of mentioning. I am certain he is very ordinary…" he said but looked deep in thought.

"So why then, Grandpa Wil? You said you hated riffraff meowst of all."

Everything the gilyboyl said painted him in the worst possible light. In response, Wilhelm calmly raised a hand and pointed at his face.

"It's his eyes."

"—Eyes?"

The girly boy lowered his head as he inquired. Wilhelm simply raised his gaze, thinking back.

"The lad's eyes interested me ever so. They said he has crossed the boundary of death. Many come close to the line, stop, and draw back, but…" Wilhelm lowered his eyelids in thought as his words trailed off. "Those are the eyes of one who has crossed once, no…several times, and returned. I know of no such being. You might say I was compelled by curiosity, also… he had fire… one that I once saw long ago" he said remembering the eyes of his dear departed wife.

But the girlyboy blithely dismissed Wilhelm's expression of wonder. "Meow, that doesn't make much sense…"

This time, Wilhelm answered with a strained smile. The gender fluid boy continued, adding, "But if that's true, Grandpa Wil, that boy's won't find an easy path to follow."

Felix narrowed his eyes as he tossed a glossy gaze toward the broad back sitting against the box seat.

"Having the Sword Devil, Wilhelm van Astrea, interested in you is as unfortunate as the Witch having a thing for you."

If only he knew…

Emilia camp

"So, you are going back to the capital uh? Do you think I could also tag along? I wanna check up on old man Rom and Felt, also… well never mind that, I owe that appa seller something and I intent to stand by my promise" I said.

Emilia-tan took a bit of time to understand where I was going with this, and then remembered that I had told him that once we returned I would buy him a dozen of his best fruits.

While that may be true, it was also to obtain the help of the other candidates, and crush the so called sage council rather backward way of thinking and stomp a bit on their egos.

I wanna make them soil their pants for speaking shit about Emilia-tan.

Rosewaal decided that it would be a good idea, as well as having a checkup, that way we can kill 2 birds with one stone. This also played a vital role to engage with the other candidates, as well as entering the special dungeon.

Currently my level was around 40, I had a high Agility and Intelligence, while I had an okay level of Strength and Charm, which was enhanced via equipment that I donned. All in all I was about the same in ability wise as Julius, which made it ideal to teach him a small lesson

Logic can't stand against the world, as it is irrational.

It took some pleading but she saw that it would be a good thing. And so we left towards the capital.

The ride to the capital was smooth, and I saw the chance to do it all over, to do it right.

Chapter end