Subaru Natsuki, who returned from the new Three Kingdoms

It's clear that God is chasing after him, determined to mold him into an unparalleled strategist.

"It's fate!"

Natsuki Subaru walked down the corridor, unable to help but sigh softly.

"It really was fate!"

Betty, who was walking ahead, turned around and glanced at him.

She suddenly began to wonder if agreeing to go out with this person was a mistake.

……

Two figures, one tall and one short, walked through the empty mansion and arrived at the back garden.

The morning dew still lingered on the petals.

Emilia stood alone beside the flower bushes, looking down at a newly blooming white flower.

Hearing footsteps, she instinctively looked up.

Emilia's eyes lit up the moment she saw Subaru Natsuki.

"Pleiades."

She put down the flower petals in her hand and walked towards Subaru Natsuki.

At this point in time, Emilia was still full of curiosity about Subaru Natsuki.

From their first meeting at the stolen goods warehouse, Natsuki Subaru acted as if he had known her for a long time.

He knew her name.

He knew that she had once saved him.

He would look at her with a nostalgic yet affectionate gaze.

Emilia couldn't remember anything.

She had been wanting to find an opportunity to have a proper talk with Subaru Natsuki, to ask him where they had met before and what had happened between them.

However, their conversations were always interrupted by various unexpected events.

Now that Subaru has finally come to visit Roswaal's mansion, Emilia naturally doesn't want to miss the opportunity.

She had just approached, and before she could even speak, a small gray head popped out from between the silver hair.

Parker spotted Betty walking next to Subaru Natsuki at a glance.

"Betty?"

"elder brother!"

Betty had been puffing out her cheeks and deliberately maintaining a cold demeanor, but upon seeing Parker, her butterfly-shaped eyes immediately lit up, and her cheeks relaxed instantly.

She stood on tiptoe and eagerly stretched out her two short arms.

Parker nimbly jumped into Betty's arms.

"Brother, Betty misses you so much!"

Betty immediately hugged him tightly, rubbed her soft cheek against Parker's soft fur, and then reached out her little hands to rub it again and again.

The arrogant demeanor he had displayed when facing Subaru Natsuki vanished completely in an instant.

Emilia looked at them with some surprise.

Betty rarely left the forbidden library on her own initiative.

I was surprised to find myself in the garden with Subaru Natsuki today.

Parker clearly noticed this as well.

He nestled in Betty's arms, his face still bearing his usual relaxed and gentle smile, but his gaze subtly swept over Subaru Natsuki.

The Natsuki Subaru standing before him gave him an inexplicable sense of unease.

He felt an almost instinctive affinity for the dark-haired boy, yet always maintained a degree of wariness.

Especially after last night, Natsuki Subaru's aura seemed to have changed in some way.

Parker didn't reveal these thoughts; he simply looked up at Betty and asked casually, as if in a normal conversation:

"Betty, what brings you to the garden with Subaru today?"

"This guy was the one who came to see Betty first."

Betty held Parker to her chest as a shield, freeing one hand to point at Subaru Natsuki beside her, and her round little face lifted up again.

He said he made a promise with his brother and Emilia to study magic together every morning.

"Betty only came here to keep her brother company."

Emilia hesitated, "But I've invited you several times before, and you never agreed..."

Wait, Emilia realized another puzzling thing:

"A promise? Subaru... When did I make a promise with you about this?"

"Amelia, have you forgotten?"

Natsuki Subaru answered subconsciously:

Only after saying that did he suddenly realize what he had said.

The two agreed to learn magic every morning, which happened during their previous return from death.

When he was first kicked out of the forbidden library by Betty, he happened to fall in front of Emilia and Parker, which gave him the opportunity to learn about the Veil.

Since this has not yet happened, Emilia is naturally unaware of it.

Natsuki Subaru opened his mouth, wanting to explain.

But just as he was about to bring up the previous reincarnation, the familiar pressure fell on his heart.

Words that had not yet been spoken were forcibly stuck in his throat.

It seems that the 'shadow of destiny' in this world still forbids him from revealing the matter of returning from death.

"Was it a promise from a long time ago?"

Emilia's voice came from in front of me.

Natsuki Subaru looked up and found that the confusion on her face had turned into understanding.

She seemed to...believe in fate!

From Emilia's perspective, Subaru Natsuki learns about his past self.

My past self has unfortunately lost many memories.

So it seems quite reasonable that the two of them had made a promise to learn magic together a long time ago, but he had completely forgotten about it.

Emilia felt a pang of guilt as she thought about this.

"I'm sorry, Subaru."

"I completely forgot about such an important agreement."

"It's not your fault, it's all fate's fault..."

Natsuki Subaru waved his hand, his heart filled with a myriad of sorrows.

"Let's get started!" Emilia quickly encouraged him.

"and many more."

Subaru Natsuki raised his hand to correct him.

"We didn't agree to learn magic together."

"You taught me magic."

"So that's how it is."

Emilia nodded seriously. So she was Subaru's magic teacher. Because Subaru looked young, Emilia easily accepted this fact and encouraged herself again:

"Let's get started right away!"

She agreed without the slightest hesitation.

Parker, who was being kneaded in Betty's arms, watched this scene and was speechless.

How could my daughter be so easily led by the nose?

Subaru only said "a long time ago," and she took the initiative to find all the reasons for him.

Is this the legendary saying that daughters are no longer under their fathers' control once they grow up?

But this is for the best.

This is a good opportunity to take advantage of teaching magic to observe Subaru Natsuki again and see where the strange sense of incongruity in this boy comes from.

Parker didn't expose the two of them; he simply broke free from Betty's embrace and flew to the center of the garden.

Emilia found a small round table.

The four of them sat around the table facing each other and began to discuss what kind of magic Subaru Natsuki would be suitable to learn.

Puck floated in front of Subaru Natsuki, closed his eyes, and felt for a moment.

"Subaru's Yin attribute compatibility is quite good."

"You can start by learning a spell called Veil. Although it doesn't have much offensive power, it can create a large area of ​​black mist to obscure the enemy's vision, making it very suitable for protecting yourself."

"Need not."

Subaru Natsuki shook his head.

"I already know how to do this."

Parker opened his eyes.

Although the gauze curtain is simple, it's not some common magic trick.

On the contrary, this magic is based on a series of isolation spells developed by him and Betty's mother, the Witch of Greed.

It is absolutely impossible for an outsider to learn it.

How could Natsuki Subaru know that?

"You already know how?"

"Correct."

Who taught you that?

"You."

Subaru Natsuki answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Parker's smile faltered for a moment.

This doesn't match his memory at all.

He had never taught Subaru Natsuki any magic before.

Just now, we could explain it by saying Emilia lost some of her memories, but does that mean I've lost my memory too?

But now that you mention it, I do seem to recall paying some memories as a price when I made the contract with Emilia...

Parker almost fell into deep thought, but after realizing that if he continued like this he would become like Emilia, being led by the nose by Subaru Natsuki, he quickly shook his head and pulled himself out of his thoughts.

We can't let the father and daughter be led by the nose by that blond-haired guy!

Let the facts speak for themselves:

"Subaru, could you use the veil to show me once?"

"of course."

Subaru Natsuki mobilized the magical power within his body.

A wisp of black smoke immediately rose from his palm, gathering into a small, slowly churning black cloud above their heads.

Although it was small in scale and the technique was still somewhat crude, it was indeed a veil of Yin-attribute magic.

Parker looked up at the black mist, his expression gradually becoming serious.