41: The Second Step
As the door closed behind him, the smile vanished from Subaru's face.
It was already night, but even after a full day of work, he chose not to rest.
Despite being utterly exhausted, he sat down at his desk and began recalling the day's events, checking for any oversights.
"First of all, the initial favorability this time should be quite high. Everyone believes my reward is becoming a servant and charging a 'normal' Meteor.
But once Reinhild brings the magic ore, that favorability is likely to plummet.
But it doesn't matter.
I'll just install the battery then return most of the magic ore.
After all, I only said 'some' magic ore—Reinhild's misunderstanding is on her.
Who knows, it might even skyrocket the Astrea household's reputation.
Even if it doesn't, that much magic ore means Bernie's barriers can be used freely. Years of effort won't have to be reduced to just serving as a shelter."
Subaru grinned slyly as he recalled what Bernie had shown him in the second loop.
The once-abducted sister of the strongest magic-user had built a fortress over several years with her brother.
That fortress shouldn't have fallen so easily, but Reinhild's presence had made the cautious magician complacent.
The more one understood the girl's strength, the harder it was to imagine anyone daring to attack the Astrea household.
However, now that he knew how brutal the future battles would be, Subaru, determined to minimize casualties, wouldn't allow the mansion's myriad magical traps to become mere decorations.
His choice this afternoon was largely to stock the mansion with sufficient ammo—magic ore.
"I've made the best possible decision. Now it's up to you."
Subaru recalled the man who had entered the reception room after him that afternoon—Otto Suwen.
Since Reinhild would be leaving the mansion tomorrow, and Otto had the background of a merchant and internal affairs officer, Subaru was sure Otto would be the one preparing the magic ore for him.
Although he'd considered many candidates, Otto was undoubtedly the best one.
He couldn't help but pray.
"To the misfortune spirit attached to Otto, I'm begging you—show your strength. Ideally, let Otto discover someone bulk-purchasing magic ore and accidentally stumble upon a transaction site. That would be perfect."
Subaru sincerely "blessed" Otto with a heartfelt curse.
To Subaru, Otto wasn't much of a fighter, but he held great importance in Reinhild's heart.
If Otto died, Reinhild would surely go all out against the unknown force.
And with the girl's strength, Subaru figured the enemy wouldn't last a single day.
The magic ore they had stockpiled would then revert to his side.
It was nearly the ideal scenario.
After some daydreaming, Subaru shifted his thoughts to the rest of his day.
After careful consideration, he decided not to hide the servant skills he'd gradually picked up in the previous loops.
He knew that concealing them might get noticed by the experienced staff, and once discovered, his impression score would likely drop to zero.
Fortunately, his decision proved wise. Even without hiding his skills, Subaru's two weeks of acquired techniques still fell far short of the veterans who'd worked in the mansion for years.
However, his full-effort attitude won their appreciation.
Just as he'd expected, Subaru temporarily gained the right to choose his own work assignments.
'As always, they take good care of newcomers.
When faced with someone who already has some capability, they'll let him work on familiar tasks while adjusting to the environment.
That means I can get out for supply runs.'
'No problem. I haven't exposed my knowledge of the mansion.
I even asked where to get common items like brooms before grabbing them.
I curiously asked about the aerial corridors… No problem.
All of my reactions match someone visiting the Astrea mansion for the first time.'
Satisfied with how perfectly his plan had unfolded, Subaru nodded and looked over his schedule for the next day—Winston, Roswaal, the Rom incident in the afternoon.
Finally, Subaru closed the book and lay down on the bed.
He dimmed the magical lamp to a very low setting, then closed his eyes.
Before long, he opened them in panic and turned the light slightly higher, repeating the cycle several times before finally falling asleep.
.
.
.
Ding-ling-ling~~
Subaru sat up, opened his eyes, and turned off his phone alarm.
Then he removed the battery.
One advantage of a flip-phone over a smartphone, he thought, was that removing the battery meant it truly used no power.
Even though he had only woken up 30 minutes earlier than usual, the pain in his eyes was sharp.
Still, thinking about his plan, Subaru put on his workout clothes and headed outside.
He nodded to Winston, who was practicing martial arts, and began performing a radio calisthenics routine next to him.
Before long, Subaru noticed Winston looking at him—his systematic movements had caught the man's attention.
Technically speaking, this version of the routine had been improved by Winston himself and was good for physical fitness.
"Subaru, what were those moves just now?"
"Radio calisthenics. It's a form of exercise from my homeland, designed for fitness."
"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt—I need to take Subaru to prepare for a meeting with Lord Roswaal."
Winston seemed like he still wanted to talk, but the servant assigned to take Subaru to Roswaal had arrived on time.
Subaru politely said goodbye, returned to his room using "changing clothes" as an excuse, and began jumping up and down with excitement.
After calming down, he looked at the plan on his desk, recalled the recent events, and showed a confident smirk.
"Although I didn't interact much with Winston in the later loops due to Lust, I know from the first loop and Reinhild's assessment in the fourth loop that Winston is a proud warrior."
"With that kind of personality, he'll probably assume he owes me a favor.
In the first loop, Winston improved the calisthenics routine and returned it to me.
There's no way he can improve that much in just a week.
So now—I have a favor owed to me."
According to Reinhild's evaluation, Winston was the second-strongest person in the mansion, and even across the kingdom, few could rival him.
Besides being powerful, he was also the mansion's head butler.
With this favor in hand, Subaru believed that with a little nudging, Winston would agree to take him to the Adventurer's Guild on day four.
And only then would Subaru's words carry true weight.