6 Months After the Negotiations

You turned around as Elsa suddenly pulled her black jagged blade out, getting ready to rip you apart.

She licked her lips and smirked. "It's been fun, (Y/N)-kun, but this will end with my victory!" Elsa dashed at you, blade extended outwards.

"Akra!" You shouted while imagining the familiar bright light engulfing your body. At the very last moment, you used your now-enhanced speed to twist away from Elsa's sudden attack. At the same time, you pulled out one of your three swords that rested on your back, secured in tight-fitting sheaths.

Elsa stopped where she was and violently turned towards you. The two of you were in an open spot that was surrounded by trees, so there was no cover to go to while on the offensive.

This time, you met her attack. Eyes following her movements, you stopped her slash with the blade that Julius had given you more than half a year ago.

"Nice try," you said through gritted teeth. "But I've gotten stronger, you know. I'm not going to die any time soon."

Elsa grinned with masochism and leaped back, preparing another attack. But before she could charge at you again, you pointed your arm at her. "El Strahl!"

A beam of bright light, which was as wide as a person, engulfed Elsa, and she grimaced in pain. One thing that you learned over the past few months was the fact that Elsa was very weak to magic, and you used this to your advantage. Even if you still couldn't use a ton of magic at one time, this would be enough.

As the beam faded, steam could be seen rising from Elsa. She had been burnt by the light, and a fire was lit in her eyes. With a misleading smile, she commented, "Ara~ that hurt! This can only get better if I get to see your bowels!"

As her burns healed rapidly, Elsa exchanged her jagged blade for her two standard ones in her cloak.

This time, you took the offensive and charged her before she could recover. With your single sword, you attacked the Bowel Hunter with a speed and strength that matched hers. 

If this was a battle of physical endurance, Elsa would have won because of her regeneration and your limit on mana.

However, you were able to use magic other than Akra, as you demonstrated before.

"Crescent Moon!" As you locked blades with Elsa, yours began to glow with light. This was the mana that was collecting in your sword.

Within a half second after you yelled its name, the Crescent Moon sprang from your blade. True to its name, it was in the shape of a crescent moon, and when it reached Elsa, it separated her top half from the bottom.

This attack was reminiscent of Moon Breathing from Demon Slayer, and you used this variant because the actual techniques would take way too much mana.

You actually had a similar attack, but it was on a whole different level, and it took about 80% of your mana to cast it. In a 1v1 battle, exhausting mana was a definite no, so you used Crescent Moon this time and settled with dismembering the Bowel Hunter.

And that was enough, as a whistle blew, ending the match. "(Y/N)'s victory!!!" 

Subaru climbed down from his position in a tree while you deactivated Akra, and walked towards you with a thumbs up. "Man, that was amazing! I would be obliterated by her, but you won! Congrats on breaking the tie! Now the record's 31-30!"

Elsa, who had finished regenerating her body together, sprang up as if nothing had happened. The combat clothes that she had been wearing had a line through them, so it looked like she was wearing a crop top. "That was so exciting! I thought that I was going to die!"

You smiled and shook your head. "You say that every time."

"Hmm... I suppose that I do. But that's because I really do! You are a very thrilling fighter, and I enjoy my fights with you even more than the ones with Garfiel~"

Over the past six months, you and Subaru started to train together. Without strength, defeating the Witch Cult would be nearly impossible, so the two of you started a training arc.

Since everyone was still at Annerose's mansion, Subaru decided that an obstacle course would be a great investment to make. In the span of a week, Garfiel, with guidance from Subaru and occasionally you, had created the obstacle course where Clind, the suspicious butler, trained you and Subaru in parkour.

Along with that, Subaru had taken a whip as a weapon and you trained your magic with telepathic guidance from Echidna, and you trained with your swords. The two new swords that you have were gifts from people who had heard of Feeding Lugnica and The Crusaders. 

Speaking of those, the White Whale was able to feed 1,000 families before its remains were used up.

And now, The Crusaders was slowly growing. Membership applications weren't exactly flooding in, but that was fine. There were currently seven members, including you and Subaru. Technically, there would be eight of Echidna/Omega counted, but she was a secret for now.

As for the inventions that brought in funds, you had been decently busy working with Subaru to make things from your world. 

First off was a revolutionary item: the printing press. With this, communication around the world would become much faster, as informational papers could be mass-produced and books easily copied.

To go along with the printing press, you introduced newspapers. Now, news could be shared by newspapers instead of only flyers and spoken words.

Of course, to go along with the printing press and newspapers, typewriters were needed. Advanced technology like computers was impossible for now, so simple things like this were being made. 

Apart from these was the bicycle. This was actually really popular, and you and Subaru agreed to call these "Fuji Bikes," which was named after a bicycle brand that existed in both of your worlds.

You haven't made any weapons yet, but you did make the Swiss Army Knife. This was a handy multi-tool that nobody could possibly hate on.

That was it for all of the items, but those aren't the only things that you and Subaru came up with.

Food. Don't forget food.

For some reason, Subaru was insistent on making some mayonnaise, so that was actually the first food that the two of you made. 

Unfortunately, the Krusty Krab already invented hamburgers, so you couldn't introduce those, and Kararagi, one of the four great countries, actually had a lot of Japanese food. (The founder of that country, Hoshin of the Wilderness, must have also come from Japan.)

So, with that, there was only one other food that you could come up with: pizza.

That sums up the new things about The Crusaders, so let's get back to your current situation. You trained against both Elsa and Garfiel, and the latter two fought each other every now and then.

Both you and Subaru did basic strength training together, but you were the only one who participated in the practice bouts. While you fought Elsa and Garfiel, Clind taught Subaru how to fight with a whip.

Now, you were strong enough to beat Elsa in a duel (where any serious injury to her was a loss) if you used magic. Without magic, you were able to fight for about a minute before being overwhelmed.

Against Garfiel, you narrowly lost every single time. Elsa was fast and skilled, but Garfiel was strong and his sense for battle was on another level. His Divine Protection of Earth Spirits, which let him control the shape of the ground as long as his feet were touching it, was pesky, but the battle was over as soon as he transformed into his beast form. He was beginning to be able to think rationally while being transformed, so you couldn't defeat Garfiel without killing him at that point.

With that said, you are now a lot stronger than you were when you came to this world. Before, you would have been destroyed by those three thugs, but now you could hold your own against the Bowel Hunter.

Getting back to the conversation, you said to Elsa, "Well, I might actually like my fights with you the most since I barely have to hold back. You don't die, so I only have to worry about not destroying our surroundings."

Subaru acted like he was going to cry. "I've been left behind!" he said dramatically. "When did (Y/N) get so stro-OWWW!"

Beatrice showed up behind Subaru and kicked him in the shin. "Betty thinks that Subaru is being annoying, in fact." When Subaru turned to her, she added, "Subaru is strong in his own way, I suppose." Even though Beatrice teased Subaru, she still cared about him. After all, he was the person who took her out of her library and promised to make their time together worth remembering with fondness. 

Subaru was about to say something witty to his contracted spirit, but those added words stopped him. "Aww! Beako's so cute when she's being honest!"

Beatrice humphed, but your attention was taken away from her when Clind entered the scene.

Adjusting his monocle, the butler stated. "Your battle was impressive, but I have several points of advice for both of the duelists. Report."

You nodded your head, signaling for him to go on.

"I shall begin with (Y/N). If you are more aggressive against familiar enemies, battles will be ended quicker. However, your current method leaves more opportunity to consider your options. Nevertheless, you do not need assistance in thinking faster, no? Qualifying."

Clind's assessment was suspicious as always. As of lately, he has been making it more and more obvious that he suspects you of something, and that thing may be your connection to Echidna. But he played this comment off as if he didn't just say something alarming.

Moving on to Elsa, he said, "And you should take the battle more seriously. If you would not toy with your opponents, you would kill them more efficiently. Notice."

Elsa dismissed his words while you actually thought about them. "You see~, I can't help it! Blood is so warm, and bowels look so beautiful!"

For a moment, Clind looked like he was ready to give up on life, but he quickly changed his expression to his usual stoic one. "I must now attend to Annerose-sama." He bowed and left quickly.

As the butler strode away, Subaru nudged your arm. "You better go too. We leave tonight to go to Crusch's mansion, so you should get rested up."

You smiled, and replied, "Yeah, you too. It's going to be a long trip, so don't wear yourself out too much before we go."

"Don't worry. I'll do a little more parkour and then I'll head in." Subaru smiled reassuringly, and you shrugged your shoulders. He can do whatever he wants.

"Well, don't strain yourself too much," you told him as you turned around. As you walked towards the mansion, Elsa followed you.

"(Y/N)~" she called out. "Can I go out and kill some people~? I've been thirsting to see some bowels, but I've only been fighting you and Garfiel!"

You sighed. "We've been over this. You can't go killing people unless they're Witch Cultists. I'll make an exception if someone attacks you first, but try not to kill people just because you want to. We need to keep your new reputation up."

Elsa groaned. "But I've been bottling up this urge for sooo long! Can't I kill at least one person? I'll hide the body and frame somebody else for the death!"

You stopped where you were and faced Elsa. "To be honest, that sounds interesting, but I can't let you do it. Again, we need to keep a good reputation now, so we need to not kill innocent people."

Elsa pouted, but you waved her off. "And besides, it's been six months since anything has happened. Something's sure to come up soon. You'll have your time to have fun when it happens."

Elsa's face brightened up, and she almost skipped behind you for the rest of the way to the mansion. 

Even as you headed towards your room, she followed you with giddiness. When you finally reached your door, you looked back with concern. "Uh... do you need anything from me?"

Elsa shook her head quickly. "Nothing at all~"

She looked like she was hiding something, but you dismissed any suspicion. She was being weird, that's all. You opened your door, and a shriek came from behind it.

Meili was sitting on the floor, frozen in place. She was holding knitted dolls of you and Reinhard, whose faces were pushed together.

Elsa began giggling, and your face turned pale. This wasn't your room.

It was Meili's.

"S-sorry about that. I guess that I made a wrong turn somewhere..." you mumbled, trying to act like nothing weird was happening.

Meili slowly lowered the dolls, and she laughed nervously. "Onii-san saw nothing, right?"

You nodded your head with conviction. "Yep. I didn't see that you somehow have a doll of me. I didn't see it kissing Reinhard's doll. Have a nice day."

Meili's door creaked shut and you lowered your head and headed to your actual room. Elsa was too busy laughing to follow, so you were left alone with your thoughts.

And Echidna.

'Oh my, it looks like Meili ships you and Reinhard. Should you make her dream a reality?'

'Echidna, if you keep talking, I will find your physical body and strangle it.'

'That would be quite problematic, you see. For I have made two new acquaintances today. What would they do if I were no longer with them?'

'What?! What do you mean, you made two new acquaintances?!'

'You see, when I was traveling, I happened upon a young girl who lived alone. This was Colette, and I stayed in her house, with permission, of course, and I discovered Palmyra the following day. Colette was cast away from her village, as the villagers deemed her as being a 'witch'. That was so amusing and ironic! If only they knew who I was! As it turned out, Colette possesses the Beast Protection Meteor, which I created four hundred years ago. It turns the user into a beast when they are in danger, and she had killed many people that way, even though all involved parties were oblivious of that fact. They merely assumed that she attracted beasts. She and her friend seem attached to me now, so I will be bringing them with me on my travels.'

By the time Echidna finished her explanation, you were in your room, laying on your bed. 

'You know, you'd think that after six months together, you would have learned to summarize your explanations, but you still like to talk a lot, don't you?'

'Nonsense. I only add the details that I deem necessary. However, I have thoroughly enjoyed the knowledge that you have provided me, so I will take my speech length into consideration.'

 Over the last half a year, Echidna has absorbed vast amounts of information from your memories. 

First, she studied the history of your world. You led her to documentaries about the Roman Empire, Alexander the Great, Age of Enlightenment, Napoleonic War, Industrial Revolution, World War 1, World War 2, the Cold War, and modern day 2021.

You only remembered these because one of your history teachers was awesome and you actually learned things in their class.

Next, Echidna studied science and math. She learned physical science, geometry, chemistry, algebra, earth science, trigonometry, and biology - and she loved every single one of them.

Most of the things that she learned from these subjects was new information for her, and her greed was overjoyed. There were so many applications for this information - so many possibilities!

And on top of that, she watched a lot of anime. 

Somehow, she watched over nine hundred episodes of One Piece, three hundred-sixty six episodes of Bleach, and seven hundred-twenty episodes of Naruto/Naruto Shippuden. She also watched Assassination Classroom, Death Note, Classroom of the Elite, No Game No Life, and Dr. Stone on her own. 

Together, you two have watched Your Name, Your Lie in April, I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, Sword Art Online Abridged, Rascal Doesn't Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Hellsing Abridged, Clannad, Toradora, and A Silent Voice.

Echidna even branched out and watched plays, which included some Shakespeare and more recent ones like Hamilton. Along with those, Echidna watched some movie series such as Harry Potter, The Avengers, The Fast and the Furious, The Lord of the Rings, and even Shrek. 

She was now very cultured.

 'Yes, I am now knowledgeable about your world. And in this world, I am sure that I will be able to create wonderful things. However, I do not support the starting of an industrial revolution. I do not want this world to fall into the same destruction that yours is experiencing, so I suggest that you follow my example and create items that will not require the exhaustion of natural resources.'

'Actually, that's a great idea. I'd hate to have my mark on this world to be one that slowly destroys it.'

'Of course my ideas are wonderful! I am the Witch of Greed, and my endless knowledge continues to grow. Ah- that reminds me. I have recovered more than half of my original power. It seems that I overestimated the time that it would take me to recover my control of mana, and I should be at my original power within the one-year anniversary of our contract.'

'Wait, are you serious? That's awesome!'

'Yes, yes it is. It will not be much longer until I am able to safely cast teleportation magic, so I will be able to physically meet with you soon.'

'What do we do when you finally meet up with me? You look like the Ryuzu clones, so are we going to have to tell the truth?'

'There are three options: tell the truth, meet in secret, or I can cast an illusion spell to change my appearance.'

'That last option seems like the best one if you can keep it up for a while.'

'If I can obtain a powerful mana crystal, I will be able to use it to sustain an everlasting illusion that hides this body's appearance. Of course, if one is aware that I am using an illusion, they will be able to see through it, but until they have doubts, only the most powerful magic users will be able to see through my disguise.'

'Great! Where can we get one?'

'Tsk. You should already know. That revolting girl is looking for one in order to rematerialize the Great Spirit of Fire.'

'Oh. So what I'm getting from this is that they're pretty hard to find.'

'Indeed. I estimate that it will take another six months until you even hear word of an opportunity to obtain one.'

'Well, in that case, let's not worry. There's no need to rush things yet, so let's tackle these things when the time comes.'

'Are you sure that your relaxed approach is appropriate? Is a more aggressive strategy not more fitting for this situation?'

'I've learned that when you have a lot of things to do, it's best not to give yourself more stress by adding more impossible things to do. The impossible can become possible over time, so I'll be patient.'

 'Those are surprisingly wise words. Perhaps my intelligence is beginning to rub off on you.'

'Who knows? Maybe I've always been smart.'

'...I believe that we both know that this is a lie.'

'You little-'

Time Skip

After the events of this weird day, you prepared to leave for Crush's mansion, where you were going to personally deliver the magic stones from Elior Forest and to talk to her, Wilhelm, and Felix about your progress and future ideas.

Of course, you weren't going